Pedro Gomes/WireImage via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The biggest story in Israel is not the Iranian strikes targeting the Golan Heights last week, or the opening of the new U.S. Embassy on Monday, or even the Nakba Day protests planned for Tuesday.



No, Israelis are all talking about Netta.



The 25-year-old force of nature, Netta Barzilai, won Saturday night's Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Toy," which she described as an anthem for the #MeToo movement. There was a lot of very enthusiastic chicken dancing (her trademark, apparently), bright colors, bizarre back-up dancers and Israelis went nuts.



"Thank you so much for choosing different," she said when she won. "Thank you so much for accepting differences between us."



She added: "It's an empowerment song for everybody, for everybody who's been struggling being themselves -- struggling with their bosses, with the government, with someone stepping on them."



The contest on Saturday, held in Portugal, was the 63rd annual edition of the singing competition. The contest this year pitted representatives from 43 countries against each other in a contest that combines judges and fan votes.



Back home, in Tel Aviv, crowds celebrated into the night.



Netta graced the front pages of Israeli papers on Sunday morning.



Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even mimicked her now famous dance move Sunday morning.



"Netta, you're a real darling," the prime minister tweeted. "You have brought much respect for the state of Israel! Next year in Jerusalem!"



The last time Israel won Eurovision was 20 years ago, when Dana International picked up the top prize with Diva. The 2019 Eurovision song contest will take place in Israel.



Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 13)  Former Senate president Edgardo Angara has passed away. He was 83.

This was announced by his son, Senator Sonny Angara, in a tweet Sunday.

The younger Angara said his father passed away due to an "apparent heart attack."

"We are still arranging funeral arrangements for my father but will keep everyone posted too. We ask for prayers for the repose of his soul," he said in another tweet.

Angara was elected to the Senate for four terms, and served as Senate President from 1993 to 1995.

He also served under the Estrada administration as the Agriculture Secretary from 1999 to 2000, and as Executive Secretary in 2001.

In May 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte appointed him as the special envoy to the European Union.

Messages of sympathy

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque recalled the former Senate president's contributions to the country.

"Mr. Angara's contribution to nation-building was immense and his name will always be prominent in the pages of our country's modern political history. He will be missed," Roque said in a statement.

Senator Loren Legarda described Angara "a great man, a visionary, an indefatigable worker, esteemed public servant, deep thinker, one of the Philippines' most brilliant minds, (and) a dear friend."

Senator Nancy Binay, one of the closest colleagues of Sonny Angara in the Senate, also extended her sympathies to the family.

Senators Miguel Zubiri and Joel Villanueva, meanwhile, remember Angara as their mentor.

"He taught me to focus on the important pieces of legislation that would make the most impact for the country rather than picking fights and taking on controversies," Zubiri said.

Villanueva said the former senator treated him like his own son.

"I am out of words to adequately express the sorrow I feel at this moment," Villanueva added.

National Privacy Commission Privacy Commissioner Raymund Liboro also lauded Angara for his legislative work.

"Millennials owe Sen. Ed Angara a debt of gratitude for ensuring them a more protected future through his authorship of 21st Century laws like the Cybercrime Prevention Act and the Data Privacy Act," Liboro said.

The late legislator also authored landmark bills like the Senior Citizens' Act, PhilHealth Act, and Generics Act.
Philemon Yang Archives

Cameroons Prime Minister, Philemon Yang has called on members of the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement, CPDM in the North West region to see May 20 as a day of national pride, national unity and living together as Cameroonians from all parts of the country.

Speaking as Head of CPDM Regional Delegation to the North West, the Prime Minister enjoined members in the 7 Divisions to take active part in the organization and celebration of May 20 festivities.

In every meeting held with the Sections, he urged them to stand up and denounce acts by those who want to divide the country, insisting that Cameroon is one and indivisible.

Mr. Yang said, President Paul Biya has been doing everything possible to solve the Anglophone crisis through dialogue, adding that, We are all involved in the process of dialogue which the Head of State has put in place. Dialogue is a continuous process and not an event.

To Philemon Yang, the only means to bring peace back in the region is for locals to corporate with administrative authorities and security forces.

Cameroon is not a perfect society; there is no perfect Society in the world. Violence and criminal activities will not make us successful. In 2010, during the Head of States visit to Bamenda, he told the people the process of nation building requires determination, courage and patience. We ought to exercise patience, Yang told CPDM members on Nkambe.

This years May 20 event will be a daunting one for Security forces in the two English speaking regions as insecurity continues to show its ugly head with Ambazonia fighters threatening to deal with anyone who goes to the ceremonial ground for the event.
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Temperatures may have been peaking just over 20 degrees on Monday, but inside a vehicle parked on Water Street it was much hotter.

Photo: Trevor Rockliffe

Inside the silver SUV were two small dogs locked in for well over an hour according to witnesses.

The Kelowna SPCA was called to the scene after receiving several complaints from the public.

Animal attendant Pat Lamontagne of the Kelowna SPCA arrived with several blankets in hand, which he used to cover the windows of the vehicle to provide some shade to the two pups.

You leave your dog in the sun, even with the windows rolled down, it is going to be on average 10 or 15 degrees warmer in the car, he says. Anything close to 20 degrees (outside) you have to take your dogs with you out of the vehicle.

Lamontagne used a small thermostat to check the temperature inside the vehicle, and received a reading of 38 degrees before the blankets were thrown over the windows.

RCMP arrived shortly after Lamontagne. An officer monitored the situation ensuring the dogs were not over come with heat exhaustion.

Police are the only officials who are able to break a window into a locked vehicle if an animal is in distress, and they encourage the public to call them if they see a dog inside a hot car instead of trying to handle the situation alone.

The owner, who was from Alberta, returned to her car before the dogs showed signs of distress.

She was issued an order from the SPCA and given a educational lesson on leaving your pet inside a hot vehicle by the RCMP.

Regional District of the Central Okanagan (RDCO) bylaw officers did not attend the scene, however, under the new Responsible Dog Ownership Bylaw RDCO bylaw officers can now issue a fine to any owner who leaves their dog in an enclosure or vehicle without adequate ventilation.

Only bylaw officers can issue the $150 tickets.

The Kelowna SPCA attended a second call for a dog left in a hot vehicle on Monday. Animal care attendants will be forwarding the owners information to bylaw where a fine could be levied based on the Regional Districts discretion.
Photo: Contributed The Tesla is probably the flashiest electric car on the market.

The Sustainable Environment Network Society is hoping to get people revved up about electric cars.

SENS will be hosting an electric car show Thursday, May 24 at the Schubert Centre in Vernon from 7-9 p.m.

Participants will have a chance to take an electric vehicle for a test drive, hop on an electric bike and check out a number of solar and wind displays.

Inside the Schubert Centre, people can ask questions and have lively alternative energy discussions.

There will also be information on the costs and benefits of electric modes of transportation and the environmental impact of going electric.

The event is free to attend.

Keli Westgate, provincial Green Party candidate and SENS member, said electric cars are the wave of the future not only because of the skyrocketing price of gas, but because of an increase in environmental awareness.

We're seeing interest rise all the time on these, said Westgate. It's amazing how little noise these cars make and how they don't make things smell bad. More and more car companies are realizing this is the way of the future.

Some of the best selling EVs are the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt, Toyota Prius Hybrid and the Tesla.

According to plugincars.com there are several pros and cons to owning an electric vehicle.

The pros include home recharging, cheap to operate, quick and quiet and there are no harmful tailpipe emissions.

However, as it is an emerging technology, there are a few drawbacks.

The cons include a somewhat limited range, a long recharging time, limited places to recharge an electric vehicle away from home and EVs tend to cost a little more.
Photo: @EmergMgtRDOS

After a rapid climb that lasted about a week, the water level in Osoyoos Lake has remained steady on Saturday.

The lake was at 916.37 feet at 4 p.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey  down a minuscule amount from the level overnight.

The stabilization has a lot to do with the peak level of the Similkameen River passing through the confluence of the Okanogan and Similkameen rivers, just south of Oroville, Wash.

The mighty Similkameen was running at about 400 cubic metres per second on Saturday afternoon, according to federal data, well below the speed of 640 cubic metres when it peaked on Thursday.

Officials have said that with a heat wave expected, the Similkameen levels will likely climb again in the coming days which could be consequential for Osoyoos Lake.

The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, Town of Osoyoos and Ministry of Transportation are currently planning on ways to prevent erosion and obstruction on roadways from floodwaters.

"This inter-agency cooperation will be better able to project and plan for variables as situations change," the RDOS said in a news release.

A total of 53 properties in Osoyoos are under an evacuation order. Non-residents are asked by the local governments to stay away from evacuated areas, and a traffic stop is set up at 45th Street control access to the area.

Sand and sandbags are available at several locations in town, which can be found here.
Photo: @EmergMgtRDOS Flooding through a road in Osoyoos on Friday.

A public information meeting will be held this week for residents in Osoyoos regarding the town's flood situation.

The meeting, will take place on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Sonora Centre, held by the Town of Osoyoos, Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen and officials from the province.

The town said residents can expect to hear updates on flooding as well as information on flood protection and support services available.

The water level in Osoyoos Lake shot up about three-and-a-half feet between May 5 and May 11, according to the U.S. Geological Survey which monitors the lake.

Officials have been challenged with managing Osoyoos Lake due to a high inflow from the Okanagan River and not as much room to let water out, due to backup from the confluence of the Similkameen River and Okanogan River in Washington state.

As of Saturday night, 53 properties remained evacuated in the town.
Colton Davies

While heavy flood mitigation work done in the past week at Twin Lakes has improved the dire flood situation, it has also exacerbated the need for a plan to better manage high water.

The Lower Nipit Improvement District, which is responsible for supervising the lake, has been advocating for more than 10 years for agencies to create a water management plan for the unique kettle lake.

"We've been writing letters to the regional district, to the ministry, water stewardship, our MLA to tell them we need a contingency plan," LNID chairperson Coral Brown said, who said the lake is being 'used as a reservoir.'

The north lake at Twin Lakes, known locally as Lower Twin Lake, has no natural outflow and water flows into it from the south lake, which is higher in elevation.

Brown said the issue is there's nowhere to store water without affecting development and property somewhere else. And any decision requires liaising with private property owners, government agencies and the Nature Trust of B.C.  which owns most of the land around the two lakes.

While they are permitted to pump out minimal amounts into Park Rill Creek, moving three-eights of an inch daily, Brown pointed out it isn't helping much, because the lake is rising about five inches each day.

"If you do the math... it'll probably take us a couple years to get the water down."

The issue of water management has led the LNID to begin a process of having the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen take over the community as a service area.

"It really needs a more professional service... We're volunteers, we're not really professional engineers or anything of that profile to meet the needs of managing this watershed," resident Craig Hunter said.

Brown said she plans to make a motion for the LNID to formally begin that process at their annual general meeting on May 20.

But she admitted those plans haven't been prepared yet, as she, like other residents, work to barricade their properties from the rising lake.

Since the ice fully melted on April 18, Brown said the lake has risen seven feet, and said it will still rise another three feet from snowmelt at higher elevations.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 13)  A radio broadcaster was killed Saturday in Zamboanga del Sur.

Labangan town police said Carlos Matas, a journalist of Baganian Broadcasting Corporation in Pagadian, was ambushed by four unidentified gunmen.

His body was found in Barangay Noboran, Labangan, bearing multiple gunshot wounds.

Matas, who was known to his listeners as Caloy, was also the provincial coordinator of the Cassava Farmers Association in Zamboanga del Sur.

The initial investigation showed a .45 pistol and an M-16 rifle were used in the ambush based on the fired cartridge cages recovered from the crime scene.

The suspects fled toward the direction of Barangay Langapod, Labangan after the incident.

An earlier police report said Matas and two other companions were ambushed on May 8 by gunmen also in Langapod.
Photo: The Canadian Press A TV screen shows file footage of the demolition of the 60-foot-tall cooling tower at its main reactor complex in Yongbyon, North Korea, on June 27, 2008 during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, May 13, 2018. North Korea said Saturday that it will dismantle its nuclear test site in less than two weeks, in a dramatic event that would set up leader Kim Jong Un's summit with President Donald Trump next month. Trump welcomed the "gracious gesture." The signs read: "Leaders of the United State and North Korea should have belief." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

North Korea said Saturday that it will dismantle its nuclear test site in less than two weeks, in a dramatic event that would set up leader Kim Jong Un's summit with President Donald Trump next month. Trump welcomed the "gracious gesture."

In a statement carried by state media, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said all of the tunnels at the country's northeastern testing ground will be destroyed by explosion, and observation and research facilities and ground-based guard units will also be removed.

Kim had already revealed plans to shut the test site by the end of May during his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month. Analysts say that while the closure of the site is important, it doesn't represent a material step toward full denuclearization.

"A ceremony for dismantling the nuclear test ground is now scheduled between May 23 and 25," depending on weather, the Foreign Ministry's statement said, adding that journalists from the United States, South Korea, China, Russia and Britain will be invited to witness the dismantling.

The ministry said the North will continue to "promote close contacts and dialogue with the neighbouring countries and the international society so as to safeguard peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and over the globe."

Trump, in a tweet Saturday, thanked North Korea for its plan to dismantle the nuclear test site, calling it "a very smart and gracious gesture!"

Following the Moon-Kim meeting, Moon's office said Kim was willing to disclose the process to international experts, but the North's statement Saturday didn't address allowing experts on the site.

South Korea had no immediate response to the statement.

The North's announcement comes days after Washington announced that the historic summit between Kim and Trump will be held June 12 in Singapore.

South Korea has said Kim has genuine interest in dealing away his nuclear weapons in return for economic benefits. However, there are lingering doubts about whether Kim would ever agree to fully relinquish the weapons he probably views as his only guarantee of survival.

During their meeting at a border truce village, Moon and Kim vaguely promised to work toward the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula, but made no references to verification or timetables.

North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of "denuclearization" that bears no resemblance to the American definition. The North has been vowing to pursue nuclear development unless Washington removes its 28,500 troops from South Korea and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan.

Some experts believe Kim may try to drag out the process or seek a deal in which he gives away his intercontinental ballistic missiles but retains some of his shorter-range arsenal in return for a reduced U.S. military presence in the South. This could satisfy Trump but undermine the alliance between Washington and Seoul.

Kim declared his nuclear force as complete in December, following North Korea's most powerful nuclear test to date in September and three flight tests of ICBMs designed to reach the U.S. mainland.

North Korea announced at a ruling party meeting last month that it was suspending all tests of nuclear devices and ICBMs, as well as the plan to close the nuclear testing ground.

Kim said during the meeting that the nuclear test site's mission had come "to an end" because the North had completed developing nuclear-capable intermediate-range missiles, ICBMs and other strike means.

The North also said for the first time at the meeting that it had been conducting "subcritical" nuclear tests. These refer to experiments involving a subcritical mass of nuclear materials that allow scientists to examine the performance and safety of weapons without triggering a nuclear chain reaction and explosion.

North Korea's reference to such activity is designed to communicate that even without underground testing, the country intends to maintain its nuclear arsenal and be a "responsible" steward of those weapons at the same time, said Andrea Berger, a senior analyst at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

Still, the closure of the underground testing site could be a useful precedent for Washington and Seoul as they proceed with the nuclear negotiations with Pyongyang, analysts say.

"Now that North Korea has accepted in principle that agreements should be verified, U.S. negotiators should hold them to this standard for any subsequent agreement," said Adam Mount, a senior defence analyst at the Federation of American Scientists. "It will make it more difficult for Kim Jong Un to deny inspections now that he has placed them on the table."

North Korea has invited the outside world to witness the dismantling of its nuclear facilities before. In June 2008, international broadcasters were allowed to show the demolishing of a cooling tower at the Nyongbyon reactor site, a year after the North reached an agreement with the U.S. and four other nations to disable its nuclear facilities in return for an aid package worth about $400 million.

But in September 2008, the North declared that it would resume reprocessing plutonium, complaining that Washington wasn't fulfilling its promise to remove the country from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The administration of George W. Bush removed North Korea from the list in October 2008 after the country agreed to continue disabling its nuclear plant. However, a final attempt by Bush to complete an agreement to fully dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons program collapsed that December when the North refused to accept U.S.-proposed verification methods.

The North went on to conduct its second nuclear test in May 2009.
Photo: Dave Ogilvie

Hydro crews were called out Saturday night after a car crashed into a power pole in West Kelowna.

The sedan smashed into the utility pole about 9:40 p.m. on Glencoe Road, just past a curve at Scharf Road, breaking the pole at the base.

Fire crews responding to the scene moved back in case the wires come down.

The road was closed for a time overnight.

It's not known if there were any injuries in the crash.
Country-music star Kip Moore played the South Okanagan Events Centre Saturday night in Penticton.

Supported by Drake White and Fairground Saints, Moore put on a strong performance in front of an enthusiastic crowd with hits from three studio albums. Photographer Jordan Shade was there to capture the moment.
Husband, wife and four children aged nine to 18 believed to be responsible for worst attack in more than a decade

At least 11 people have been killed and dozens injured in multiple suicide bombings at three churches in Surabaya, Indonesias second-largest city, in a coordinated attack police said was carried out by one family and their children.

The Indonesian police chief, Tito Karniavan, told reporters that investigators believed one family  a husband and wife, and their four children aged between nine and 18  were the perpetrators of the worst attack the country has seen in more than a decade.

The first explosion at the Santa Maria Catholic church, which killed four people, was followed by attacks at the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal church and GKI Diponegoro church minutes later on Sunday.

Police identified the mother as Puji Kuswanti and said that she and her two daughters, Fadila Sari, 12, and Pamela Rizkita, nine, bombed the GKI Diponegoro church.

At the same time, the familys two teenage sons, Yusuf, 18 and Alif, 16, rode motorcycles close to the entrance of the Santa Maria Catholic church, where they detonated their bombs. Their father, Dita, drove a car bomb into the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal church.

The blasts occurred within minutes of each other, just after 7.30am (0030 GMT) on Sunday morning as parishioners were heading into the churches for services.

Karniavan said he suspected the family involved had recently returned to Indonesia from Syria, where hundreds of Indonesians have travelled to join Islamic State , including entire families.

Isis claimed responsibility for the attacks through its media agency, Amaq, but did not produce any evidence for the claim.

President Joko Widodo joined Karniavan on a visit to the scene in Surabaya on Sunday. They jointly condemned the attacks as barbaric.





Church in flames after bomb attacks in Indonesia  video

East Javas police spokesman, Frans Barung Mangera, said 41 injured people were sent to hospital on Sunday, among them two officers who were guarding the churches.

The coordinated attacks in the predominantly Muslim country came days before the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Indonesian intelligence agency officials said they suspected the Isis-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) was behind the assaults. The militant group is headed by Indonesias leading Isis proponent, Aman Abdurrahman, who is said to have ordered the 2016 Sarinah attack in Jakarta , which killed eight people.

Sundays attacks follow a deadly prison riot at a maximum-security detention facility in West Java last week, when Islamist inmates killed five officers after taking them hostage, and controlled three prison blocks for 40 hours.

The church attacks were probably linked to the prison hostage standoff, said Wawan Purwanto, the communication director at Indonesias intelligence agency.

The main target is still security authorities, but we can say that there are alternative [targets] if the main targets are blocked, he said.

News of the riot at the Mako Brimob detention centre, for which Isis also claimed responsibility, has reverberated through jihadist networks, said Todd Elliot, a Jakarta-based security analyst from Concord Consulting.

Whatever happened in Mako Brimob has certainly reinvigorated domestic militants. Online jihadi social media has been abuzz in the last couple of days with celebratory messages and calls for more attacks, said Elliot.

However, the degree of coordination  multiple bombings at three locations just minutes apart  suggests the Surabaya attack was well planned.

As far as the capabilities of Indonesia jihadists, this was definitely a well-organised and well-coordinated attack, said Elliot.

Sidney Jones, a terrorism analyst, reinforced that view. This is the deadliest attack that Isis supporters have been able to mount so far, she said in a text message. Most of their earlier bombing attempts failed.

Another terrorism analyst, Noor Huda Ismail, who has been monitoring the chatter of extremist networks on social media, said Indonesian women have been expressing increasing desire to get more involved in violent extremism.

On Sunday, those same networks discussed the woman allegedly involved in the Surabaya attacks. If confirmed, it would be the first time a woman has detonated a suicide bomb in Indonesia.

It will change the whole landscape of radicalisation in Indonesia because first when you are a woman involved it sends a message  I open up jihad for you.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A member of the bomb squad outside a church in Surabaya. Photograph: Antara Foto/Reuters

Hours before Sundays attacks, Indonesias counter-terrorism squad shot dead four suspected terrorists from the JAD network in Cianjur, West Java. Police seized two handguns and three bags containing explosives.

Police ordered the temporary closure of all churches in Surabaya on Sunday, and a large food festival in the city was cancelled.

Indonesia is home to significant numbers of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists but there are concerns over rising intolerance. Extremists have mounted a series of attacks against Christians and other minorities in recent years.

Indonesian police shot and wounded a man who attacked a church congregation in Sleman town with a sword during Sunday mass in February. The radical Islamist, who had wanted to fight with Isis in Syria, injured four people.

Sundays attacks were the deadliest since 2005, when a series of car bombs killed 23 people on the resort island of Bali. The worst terror attack in Indonesia was the Bali bombing of 2002, when 202 people were killed.

Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report
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This conference is organised by the iEER project, in cooperation with the European Committee of the Regions. iEER is an Interreg Europe funded flagship project bringing together 10 regions around Europe. Initiated by a group of regions awarded with the EER label and led by the Helsinki-Uusimaa region, iEER has been aiming to define smart paths and solutions to boost regional entrepreneurship ecosystems supporting young entrepreneurs. The project has come to its midpoint and on 2223 March 2018, the participating regions will present their findings and launch the action plans based on the work carried out during the last two years.

The event will bring together actors from across Europe to share their experience and good practices regarding entrepreneurial regions' development and will also look into how to implement these practices in a different territory. Concrete steps and transferable good practices from around Europe will be presented. Participants will leave with ideas on how to improve their regional support for startups and entrepreneurs and how to utilize the European structural funds therein.

Check out the programme and register here
Shakhtar now have an unassailable five-point lead over Dynamo Kiev, who have won the domestic title 15 times, with just one game to go.
"Now we've opened up every law enforcement action that the United States takes, where other countries will think 'Aha, I can impose this economic pain or this tariff or this market access restriction, and I can use this as a chit to trade off against more favorable treatment with the law enforcement case," said the former official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter by his current employer.
Home builders have picked up on the trend and increasingly are designing homes and subdivisions to appeal to women's preferences, including singles. Pat McKee, president of McKee Homes, a builder active in four North Carolina markets, has found that in some of the company's developments, significant percentages of the homes  upward of 50 percent in one case  were purchased by single women in their 30s, 40s and older, so this is not just a phenomenon limited to younger singles. Many of these buyers, he said, "are tired of living in apartments and now feel confident enough to buy a new home."
This kale gratin is the best of steakhouse-style creamed spinach with a rich mineral backbone that makes it work even better with big steak and red wine. If you want to jack it up a bit, add some bacon to the onion when you are cooking it for the bechamel. If you want to take it from simple to spectacular, add a top layer of sourdough bread sliced into half-inch pieces for a dipper you can eat with your hands.
St. Louis and Washington, D.C., were also competing for the fair, but the rivalry between New York and Chicago was center stage. Chicago was young, but enterprising, and was already the second-largest city in the United States. It was a beacon of prosperity in "the West." New York was the largest and most well-established city, and in most ways, it was more advanced than Chicago. It was a beacon of prosperity in the world. To many, New York was the obvious choice to host the World's Fair, but Chicago  always the underdog  possessed something in this competition that New York did not: grit and determination.
"The love that has brought and will bind Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle together has its source and origin in God, and is the key to life and happiness," Curry, 65, said in an emailed statement.
Around 8 p.m. Sunday, a 24-year-old man told police he accidentally shot himself in the left hand in the 2800 block of South Ridgeway Avenuye in Little Village. He was taken in good condition to Mount Sinai Medical Center.
About 2:35 p.m. in the 4700 block of South Kildare Avenue in the Archer Heights neighborhood, a 34-year-old man was shot in the right calf by a stranger he asked for a cigarette lighter while walking in an alley, police said. The unknown male replied that the 34-year-old man was in the wrong area to be asking for a lighter, but said he had something for him, police said. The shooter went to a gray jeep, got a handgun from under a seat and shot at the other man five or six times, hittiing him once, police said. The man self-transported to Loyola University Medical Center and is in good condition, police said.
After picking up his two children, ages 1 and 3, from their mother's home in the 1100 block of Boxwood Drive on Friday and dropping them off with a babysitter, as he did most mornings, prosecutors said Ixtlapale-Mitro returned to the multi-unit apartment building and set fire inside two closets. His children and their mother shared the apartment with the woman's sister and mother. Authorities described Ixtlapale-Mitro and the woman as "exes," but it wasn't clear whether the pair was ever married.
Last July 5, Eames posted a video to his Facebook page of Shorty attacking a cat that managed to escape his yard alive. Five days later, he posted a video to his YouTube page where he can be heard encouraging his dog while it mauls another cat. In that video, Eames isn't visible, but can be heard laughing and telling Shorty "good boy" as he encourages his pet to "get that b---h!," according to Assistant State's Attorney Kathleen Conniff.
Afghan security forces have struggled to combat the Taliban and IS since the U.S. and NATO formally concluded their combat role in the country in 2014, shifting to a support and counterterrorism mission. The Taliban have seized control of districts across the country, and the two groups have carried out attacks in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in recent months that killed scores of people.
The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee is an associate professor of history at SFA and the executive director of the association. He can be contacted at sosebeem@sfasu.edu; www.easttexashistorical.org.
On ABC's "This Week," Bolton said Trump will raise the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea as well as the detention of South Koreans when he sees Kim. Both issues are of intense importance to U.S. allies. But Bolton hedged on how far Trump might take any human rights criticism of a regime the United States has previously accused of mass incarceration, torture and starvation of civilians.
Troy police pledged to add a cat if it could reach 10,000 Twitter followers by April. It took just eight days to go from 4,000 to 10,000.
Mike Mendoza will line up on Columbus Drive with 35,000 other runners for the start of the Chicago Marathon. If all goes to plan, the former Marine will cross the finish line then head straight to OHare, hop on a flight to Boston and race 26.2 more miles the next morning.
"We really covet our country and city environment there," Smith said. "That is the single most important aspect of this entire discussion that we hold very dear. I think that's probably why we have such intense emotion about all of this. Not only have many of us lived there for decades, and raised our families there, but we are a family as a community."
Troopers then initiated a pursuit as Fidanza fled south on I-65 at speeds reaching 120 mph. Officers deployed "stop sticks" at several locations as she continued the chase, and they were able to slow her down, but she traveled through a construction zone along I-65 in Lake County.
It is customary to insert the caveat that the Iran agreement isn't perfect, that it has obvious flaws, that it could be much better, and so on. But actually it is, or was, quite good. It has provided an unprecedented window into every nook and cranny of the Iranian nuclear program; divested Iran of its stocks of highly enriched uranium that can be easily made into fuel for bombs; and halted Iran's steady progress toward nuclear weapons for at least a decade.
Climbing will also return to the park's most notorious dune, Mt. Baldy in Michigan City, but only in limited capacity, Wilkinson said. The beach and trail next to Mt. Baldy has been opened to the public since last year after a four-year hiatus after 6-year-old Nathan Woessner, of Sterling, Ill., was swallowed by an 11-foot hole on the giant "living" dune in 2013, but climbing was prohibited unless accompanied by rangers. This year, there will be 50 supervised hikes conducted at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Sundays and 5 p.m. Fridays for those who've never stopped wanting to climb the park's most recognizable asset.
Country

United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
"There's tremendous bird biodiversity there as well," Garness said. In fact, the park is listed as one of Illinois' Important Bird Areas by the National Audubon Society. "In spring and fall you see lots of migrating warblers, and there are also lots of butterflies," she said. "It's a major resting point for the monarch because there are so many milkweeds growing there." Monarchs need milkweeds to lay their eggs, she said.
"We're doing it because that's exactly what our patrons said they wanted us to do. And then we'll still have a section farther by the hill that people can still bring in blankets and bag chairs," Jarvis said. "We're trying to combine the best of both worlds and pretty much have a price point for everybody from general admission up to the front row."
1 dead, 1 injured in Pueblo East Side shooting

An Oct. 7 shooting near East Fourth Street in Pueblo has left one man dead and another injured.
The Pacific Symphony of the United States will perform at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing Tuesday, the last destination of its five-city tour in China.

The tour started on May 9 with a concert at the Shanghai Poly Grand Theater, followed by performances in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, Wuxi in east China's Jiangsu Province, Chongqing in southwest China, and Beijing.

The orchestra will perform works by Leonard Bernstein in celebration of the centennial of his birth. It will also perform Ravel's "Daphnis and Chloe Suite, No. 2," "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Mussorgsky; and Mozart's "Violin Concerto No.3," featuring renowned violinist Pinchas Zukerman.

"The music was carefully selected," the orchestra's music director Carl St. Clair said at a pre-performance fan meeting on May 8. "I want Chinese audiences get to know us gently, and you will begin our friendship in this concert very easy."

This is the Pacific Symphony's first-ever tour to China and first international tour since the orchestra toured European capitals in 2006.

"Thousands of pounds of cargo and millions of dollars of instruments made their way across the ocean. It is an incredibly exciting opportunity for us," John Forsyte, president of Pacific Symphony, said at the fan meeting.

The Pacific Symphony was founded in 1978 and is currently under the baton of Carl St. Clair, who is widely recognized for his distinguished performances and commitment to new music and music education.




China's top legislature has published a draft revision to the Criminal Procedure Law to consult public opinion.



The draft was submitted to the National People's Congress Standing Committee for review in late April.



Key revisions include introducing default judgments, codifying the practice for leniency in guilty pleas, and expedited trials.



The revision will adjust certain provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law to avoid conflict with the Supervision Law.



The Criminal Procedure Law was created in 1979 and has undergone two major revisions, in 1996 and 2012.



Members of the public can either visit the congress website, npc.gov.cn, or send their opinions to the top legislature by mail. The deadline for submitting opinions is June 7.


 Flash

Former Malaysian Prime Minster Najib Razak said Saturday that he was stepping down as head of his United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition following the defeat in the general elections.

The announcement was potentially put forward by the decision of the new government to bar Najib and his wife from leaving the country pending investigation of alleged corruption.

"As the president of UMNO and the chairman of Barisan Nasional, I made the decision that I am stepping down as president of UMNO and chairman of Barisan Nasional with immediate effect," Najib told a press conference at the UMNO headquarter in Kuala Lumpur.

The resignation is to take up the responsibility for the defeat in the general elections, he said.

UMNO had led a multi-party coalition to govern Malaysia since the country's independence in 1957 until the election defeat on Wednesday.

Najib said in a statement earlier in the day that he was leaving the country to take a break. He also promised he would announce a decision related to his post as UMNO and BN chief upon returning to the country.

However, it was soon followed by a tweet saying that he had been informed that the immigration department of Malaysia doesn't allow him to leave the country.

"I respect this instruction and will stay in the country with my family," he said.

Mahathir Mohamad, the 92-year-old new prime minister, confirmed later on Saturday that he had instructed the travel ban for Najib and his wife.

"There are a lot of complaints against him, all of which have to be investigated," he told a press conference.

"If we found some of the complaints are valid, we have to act quickly because we don't want to settle with the problem of extradition from other countries."

Mahathir, with 22 years of premiership as UMNO and BN chief, fell over with Najib since 2015 after accusing Najib of corruption related to the state investment company 1MDB. He subsequently joined the opposition and handed his former camp an astonishing election defeat.

Mahathir has vowed to reopen investigation into 1MDB after taking office.




 Flash

Iran and Bolivia discussed to further cooperation in defense and technical sectors, Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Major General Hossein Baqeri said on Saturday.

The Iranian top commander made the remarks in a meeting with the visiting Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Bolivia Admiral Yamil Octavio Borda Sosa in Iran's capital Tehran.

The visit of the high-ranking Bolivian delegation to Tehran would hopefully lead to closer relations between the two countries' armed forces and the two nations as well, Baqeri was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency.

Iran sees Bolivia as a country resisting the U.S. ambitions, Baqeri said, adding that Iran respects the Bolivian armed forces which have made a lot of efforts to achieve the independence of that country.

He said that Sosa would also visit the Iranian Ministry of Defense to get acquainted with the potential of the armed forces.

For his part, the Bolivian official said the aim of his visit is to bring the two nations closer and to reach good mutual agreements.
 Flash

Millions of Iraqis headed Saturday to polling stations across the country to elect the next parliament, for the first time after defeating the Islamic State (IS) group.

The polls kicked off at 7:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) as voters lined up to cast their ballots.

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi hailed the election as an important achievement of the Iraqi people after defeating the IS terrorists and unifying the country.

"This election is decisive for Iraq's future, so the voters should actively participate in the voting," Abadi told state TV Al Iraqiya after casting his ballot at Karrada polling center in the capital Baghdad.

Iraq's President Fuad Masum, a Kurd, cast his vote at a polling center inside the Royal Tulip Alrasheed hotel in the heavily fortified Green Zone, Baghdad.

He said there exists a channel of dialogue between the central government and the Kurdistan region, when asked about post-election ties between the two sides which were strained after the independent referendum by the Kurds in the northern Kurdistan region last September.

Iraq's Vice President Nuri al-Maliki, head of State of Law Coalition, was the first top official to cast his vote at the same polling center. "This is an important day in Iraq's history," Maliki told reporters.

"Election is the only way to give democracy a success, and I call on all the people to choose whoever they believe as proper person to be their representative," Maliki said.

At the first minutes after the opening of a polling center in Salhiyah neighborhood in downtown Baghdad, Kamil Khudir was very happy to be the first to cast vote.

"I hope the election would bring about a better life for the Iraqis after years of chaos, violence and poor governance," he told Xinhua.

In response to IS threats to disrupt the voting, Iraqi government has deployed a large number of security forces across the country, creating a three-layer protection for all polling stations.

Still, there were sporadic attacks in the provinces of Salahudin and Diyala.

An explosive device was detonated near a polling station in Mes'hag area of Salahudin province Saturday, killing four security guards. In Diyala's provincial capital Baqubah, security forces killed two suicide attackers.

About 24 million Iraqis are eligible to vote in the race in which around 7,000 candidates are vying for 329 seats in the parliament.

The 8,959 polling stations across the country will close at 6:00 p.m. local time (1500 GMT). The election results are expected to be announced in 24 hours afterwards.




what is with the Trumpeteers?!



For decade after decade, we've been well aware that North Korea is not to be trusted any further than we can trust Russia...er, well - never mind that now. And since the latest Kimmy has taken over, it's gotten even worse - and everybody on every side of aisle knows that he's a lunatic and crazy and dishonest as Donald Trump...er, well - never mind that now.

What I don't understand about the Trumpeteers is that all of a sudden NOW - because the two greatest liars who have seats of power on earth have smiled at cameras - they believe that North Korea is going to change its entire history of behavior and the leader Kim Jong Un is going to suddenly honor all his promises and deals!

Are they truly that so fully entrenched in the Trump Cult that they have no reasoning power of their own?

This isn't even deep stuff!
 Flash

Iranian lawmakers have submitted a bill to Majlis (parliament) to adopt measures which would safeguard nuclear deal implementation by the signatories of the accord except for the United States, official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday.

Based on the bill, the Iranian government has to ask for "reliable, full and comprehensive" guarantees from the Europeans plus Russia and China for the implementation of the deal, Chairman of Iran's Majlis Nuclear Commission Mojtaba Zonnouri told IRNA.

The talks with the European countries should not last for over a month, Zonnouri said, adding that the move by Majlis is in response to the May 8 decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to leave the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Zonnouri went on to say that according to the bill, if the Europeans failed to provide Iran with guarantees or violated it after offering the guarantees, the Iranian government will start the nuclear fuel production in full cycle.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that he has ordered foreign minister to consult with European countries, Russia and China within one to two weeks over the issue.

"If Iran's national interests are secured, we will remain in the deal," Rouhani said.

On Tuesday, Trump announced U.S. withdrawal from the international Iranian nuclear deal, saying that Washington will not extend the waiver for the unilateral sanctions against Iran.




 Flash

Newly elected Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday named three ministers in his "small cabinet" and announced the establishment of a "council of elders" to advise the government, taking the first step in governing the country.

The three new ministers, all leaders of the component parties of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, are finance minister Lim Guan Eng, defense minister Mohamad Sabu and minister of home affairs Muhyiddin Yassin.

Mahathir announced the appointments at a press conference after a meeting attended by key PH leaders.

The three names falls short of his earlier promise to announce 10 ministers and are much fewer than the previous number of more than 25.

Mahathir, admitting that "many of us have less or no experience regarding a government," said some expertise of those with knowledge or previous knowledge of any administration needed to be tapped.

He said a special team of eminent persons, called the "council of elders", has been formed to advise the government on economic and financial matters during the transitional period.

The council include former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, former central bank governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, former national oil firm Petronas CEO Hassan Merican, renowned billionaire Robert Kuok Hock Nien and Jomo Kwame Sundaram, an economist.

According to Mahathir, the team will assist in shaping up policies and programs to achieve the 100-day promise that PH had made to the people. Thus, he said the lifespan of this team will be 100 days.




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Twisted Sister said: According to Clara a Trump supporter is a Monster. Call me a monster but do not call me Late For Dinner. The weed of the week is volunteer soybeans, AgPhd.



edit: AgPhd is sponsored by Dow Chemical. Click to expand...

Sister, I do not think you are a monster. You've always been very civil and sweet. I have very good friends who voted for Trump. They are wonderful people. I was just blowing off steam, my friend.
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AKRON, Ohio -- A 26-year-old man is dead and a 20-year-old man is seriously injured after an unidentified person fired shots into a vehicle they were in Saturday afternoon, police say.

The shooting happened just after 2:30 p.m. on Manchester Road near Longview Avenue in Akron's Lane-Wooster neighborhood, police said in a news release.

Police responded to the shooting and found the two men. The 26-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene and the 20-year-old man was taken to a local hospital in serious condition, police said.

The men were stopped in a vehicle when a car drove up next to them, police said.

A person got out of the car and fired shots into the vehicle. The shooter left the scene.

The car is described as a small silver Ford, police said.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Saturday's crime and courts comments section.
AKRON, Ohio - Three people were injured Saturday evening in a drive-by shooting on the city's southwest side, police said.

The shooting happened about 6 p.m. on the 1100 block of Florida Avenue, nestled between East Avenue and Interstate 76 in the city's Kenmore neighborhood, Akron police said in a news release.

Officers who responded to the shooting scene found a 29-year-old man with a gunshot wound, police said. He was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Authorities soon learned that a 22-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman arrived at a Barberton hospital with gunshot wounds. Their injuries are also not life-threatening, Akron police said.

Investigators say that the three injured people were chatting outside a house on Florida Avenue when a vehicle drove by, and a person inside the vehicle opened fire.

No suspects have been publicly named, and no arrests have been made.

This post will be updated if additional details about the shooting are released Sunday afternoon.

If you'd like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Universities can stir big controversies in cities when they gobble up land around them in order to grow.

Neighbors of Case Western Reserve University have no need to fear anything of the kind.

The CWRU 2015 master plan, which the university released after three years of tweaking verbiage, emphasizes that the university can grow within its existing footprint while becoming greener, more welcoming and more cohesive.

CWRU President Barbara Snyder, who described the plan publicly for the first time in an interview Tuesday, said the document shows how disjointed parts of the university's 267-acre campus in University Circle could be better connected to each other and adjacent communities.

Those areas include low-income, predominantly black portions of Cleveland's Fairfax, Hough and Glenville neighborhoods, and East Cleveland.

"It's about inviting people to come here," Snyder said. "We want the campus and the neighborhoods to be connected to each other, and we want the community to feel welcome."

Vision for renewal

The plan shows how CWRU could renew itself by removing some 20 buildings, while selectively replacing them and renovating others.

Snyder declined to say how costly it could be to carry out the plan. She said the university is raising unspecified sums for projects to be completed in 5 to 10 years, while others are long-term visions.

Some items already underway include the $15 million Nord Family Greenway, a swath of walkways, trees and grass that sweep from East Boulevard to East 105th Street across the front yard of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Now in the final weeks of construction, the greenway officially opens May 31.

The university is also moving its medical and dental schools to the $515 million Health Education Campus scheduled for completion next summer at Chester Avenue and East 93rd Street, next to the Cleveland Clinic.

Authored by the Boston-based landscape architecture and planning firm Sasaki Associates, the plan shows how CWRU could overcome physical legacies of its past.

Knitting it together

One is that CWRU grew out of the 1967 merger of the Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University, two historic campuses that still feel sharply separated by Euclid Avenue.

A second is that the old Case Institute campus south of Euclid Avenue was built from the 1920s to the 1970s with a wall of buildings on high ground that overlook Martin Luther King Jr. Drive with blank facades and faculty parking at their lower level rear entries.

"It's not a very beautiful view of the backs of a lot of buildings that doesn't say welcome to me," Snyder said.

The plan envisions removing and replacing buildings and carving new campus gateways with grand staircases and fresh landscaping along MLK Jr. Drive.

Big move on MLK

But the plan also proposes eliminating MLK Jr. Drive between Cedar Glen Parkway and Euclid Avenue, and moving heavy commuter traffic onto Stearns Road, which would be converted from one-way southbound to a two-way street.

"We think it would be great for long run," Snyder said. "We're not unrealistic here, but we like to dream."

CWRU has room to grow within current boundaries in part because it acquired 21 acres for a future west campus along East 105th Street that includes the former Mt. Sinai Medical Center campus, and the Maltz Performing Arts Center, housed in the Temple-Tifereth Israel.

Completing an expansion of Maltz center is among the university's near-term goals, Snyder said. So are:

- Closing a portion of Bellflower Road between East Boulevard and Ford Drive to all but emergency vehicles in order to expand Mather Quadrangle.

- Creating a new center for visitor and student services in a glassy, ground floor expansion of Crawford Hall, the Brutalist-style concrete building overlooking Euclid Avenue at MLK Jr. Drive.

- Improving Lucia Nash walkway, the internal path that connects Ford Drive to destinations such as L'Albatros Brasserie and freshman dorms north of Juniper Road.

- Adding a pedestrian-only phase to signals at Euclid Avenue and Adelbert Road, a critical crossing point where heavy traffic often conflicts with hundreds of students on foot.

- Finishing the top two floors of the Think[box], the innovation lab at the southwestern corner of campus.

Other projects envisioned in the plan include joint development with the Cleveland Museum of Art of the 4.2-acre former Cleveland Institute of Art property at 11141 East Blvd., plus construction of a 173,000-square-foot interdisciplinary science and engineering building on the former Case Institute campus, with a grand staircase extending down to MLK Jr. Drive.

Snyder said the latter project is among those for which the university is actively raising money.

Delayed unveiling

CWRU accidentally posted the plan on its website in March, but put it back behind a password after The Plain Dealer downloaded a copy in April.

"Turning it into a publishable plan took much longer than we expected," Snyder said.

The university is not required to share its plans with the city, although any individual projects that emerge from it would require building permits.

Two former Cleveland city planning directors reacted positively to the plan.

Robert Brown, the city's top planner from 2005 to 2014, said the glassy expansion of Crawford Hall "would transform what is now an off-putting, fortress-like corner of the campus into one that displays the activity and energy of the university and engages Cleveland's main street."

Hunter Morrison, the planning director from 1980 to 2000, said he also liked the idea of opening up the hard edge of the former Case Institute campus.

Today he said the CWRU campus creates a "Maginot Line" that divides the university from Hough and Fairfax to the west.

"It's like two different worlds physically, let alone culturally," he said.
Q: Giant Eagle now requires that the cashier scan your driver's license if you are purchasing liquor, propane, lighters and other items. Is there information embedded on the card that Giant Eagle can obtain by scanning it? If not now, how about when the new higher-security licenses are issued starting this summer?

I'm retired. I definitely don't look underage.

This seems like an invasion of privacy into information that Giant Eagle shouldn't be able to demand. When I called the complaint center, the employee insisted this had always been their policy. But this has never happened to me before at the three Giant Eagle stores I have shopped.

Just because they want to scan my license doesn't mean they should be able to. I guess my response should just be to shop at other stores.

Thank you for looking into this. Maybe Giant Eagle will change its policy.

R.H., Brecksville

A: After your email, I've heard from a couple of other Giant Eagle shoppers, one who is more upset than you over this new policy. In one young woman's case, she said she was used to getting her ID checked, but said the cashier swiped the mag stripe on the driver's license without warning or asking permission.

On current Ohio's driver's licenses, the mag stripes contain everything that's on the front of your license. A few states don't allow a driver's license to be swiped because the licenses contain biometric data such as fingerprints.

The information on the mag stripe won't change on the new higher-security licenses that Ohio will start offering as an option on July 2. The U.S. government will impose new travel restrictions requiring more secure identification starting in 2020. So if you have a standard license, you won't be able to use it to check in at airports starting Oct. 1, 2020. You also won't be able to use an old license to go into federal facilities or military bases.

The new high-security licenses (called compliant DL-ID) will have a little less information printed on them. For example, the new licenses won't list your weight or hair color on the front, said Lindsey Bohrer, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

That's good news for those who feel compelled to provide their accurate weight to the BMV. (Does anyone really do that?)

All of the information including weight and hair color will still be on the mag stripe.

Back to Giant Eagle, the grocery chain did recently update its checkout procedures in Ohio involving age-restricted products, said spokesman Dan Donovan. The policy now mirrors practices the company has had for years in other markets, he said. The policy involves products such as alcohol, tobacco, lighters, lighter fluid and cold medicine.

"With the revised procedures, team members ask customers who may not appear to meet the necessary age requirements to provide proper identification," Donovan said. "To best ensure that we maintain our high standards for being a responsible retailer, team members are also scanning the identification cards of these customers."

Since you're retired and could not be mistaken for being underage, it seems the cashier misunderstood the company's new policy and made a mistake, Donovan said. The policy should affect only those "who do not appear to meet the age requirement" versus "everyone who purchases age restricted items," he said.

I asked Donovan whether Giant Eagle is storing any of the information from licenses it swipes, and, if so, what the company is doing to protect the information.

"The state of Ohio permits select pieces of data from the identification to be stored for a short period of time. Our revised checkout procedure is in line with the state's direction," he said. "We take steps to ensure that the identification data obtained during the checkout process is as secure as payment and other information we process for all of our customers."

For those who haven't heard of the new higher-security drivers licenses, there are two important things you should know:

First, you can't walk into a registrar's office and walk out with your license the same day. You will be issued a temporary card and your permanent license will be mailed in about 10 days.

Second, you will be required to produce several documents to confirm identity and residency:

You'll need something that confirms your full name, date of birth and residency, such as your birth certificate or passport.

And you'll need something with your Social Security number, such as your Social Security card or a W-2.

And you'll need proof of residency, such as an insurance policy, car title, bank or credit card statement, pay stub, property tax bill, etc.

For more information, go to: https://services.dps.ohio.gov/BMVOnlineServices/DL/AcceptableDocuments
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In one week, The Trump White House went from a new high, with the president greeting three Americans released from North Korea, to a new low, with the president's special assistant mocking the terminal illness of American war hero Sen. John McCain.

Just days after First Lady Melania Trump introduced her anti-bullying campaign, "Be Best" President Trump's special assistant Kelly Sadler chose to "Be Bad" to Sen John McCain, who is terminally ill with brain cancer.

In a White House meeting, Sadler said McCain's opposition to the confirmation of Gina Haspel, as CIA Director, "doesn't matter" because "he's dying anyway."

Kelly Sadler was following President Trump's pro-bullying campaign to "Be Worst"

In 2015, Trump infamously said of former Vietnam POW John McCain, "He's not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."

While McCain spent 5 years in Vietnam's 'Hanoi Hilton' being tortured to the point that he can no longer lift his arms past his shoulders, Donald Trump was getting 5 Vietnam deferments and his groove on at New York City nightclubs.

McCain had also turned down an early opportunity to be released from the prison. When the prison commander found out McCain was son of a Navy Admiral, he offered to release McCain. McCain refused, because the Navy code of conduct called for the first to be captured to be the first released. McCain wouldn't leave unless those captured before him were set free.

As of this writing, Sadler has not resigned or been fired, and neither she or the White House has issued a public apology.

White House Secretary of Lying, Sarah Huckabee Sanders refused to even acknowledge the slur when repeatedly asked about it in Friday's press briefing. "I'm not going to comment on an internal staff meeting," said Sanders, of the meeting that was no longer "internal."

Instead of issuing a public apology Saturday, Sanders reportedly harshly scolded her communications office staff for the slur being leaked.

Until Sadler is fired, resigns or publicly apologizes, the White House press corps should ask Sanders at every press briefing if and when Sadler will be fired, resign or apologize.

Chief of Staff, John Kelly has the authority to fire Sadler, and should have done so on the spot. At the very least, he should have demanded Sadler or Sanders issue a public apology to the Sen John McCain, his family, and the American people who McCain heroically served in Vietnam, and has honorably served in the U.S. Senate.

I would hope that as former Generals in the U.S. Marine Corps, Chief of Staff Kelly and Defense Secretary of Defense James Mattis address Sadler's remark with her and the president, but all 'Hope' may have left the White House when the Obamas moved out.

Given Trump's past disparagement of McCain, Sadler is more likely to be given a raise and promotion, instead of being fired. Your taxpayer dollars at work, being paid to "the best" hires, as Trump promised.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - When JoAnn and Bob Glick visited The Children's Museum of Cleveland over Thanksgiving with their daughter and two grandchildren, the couple was so impressed that they've donated $250,000 to support the museum's mission.

"We loved everything about it, to be honest," JoAnn Glick said of the experience. "The building is beautiful, clean and bright inside. When we walked into the museum's Wonder Lab and saw all of the water activities, our eyes lit up. Children and parents were engaged, and the staff was very friendly. It was just a great environment."

Last November, after having given up its longtime digs in University Circle, the CMC took up residence in the historic Stager-Beckwith mansion, 3813 Euclid Ave. in Cleveland's Midtown neighborhood. The couple's generosity will make possible the completion of a new permanent exhibit, the Meadow, described as a "sensory-rich" space designed specifically for babies through age three.

"After our visit we met with the Executive Director Maria Campanelli and asked a lot of questions, including what was the next major exhibit that they would want to developed, JoAnn Glick" remembers. "She immediately said the Meadow, and that it was a dedicated space for ages 0-3. It was a perfect match."

Bob Glick is founder, former CEO and chairman of Dots, the national specialty women's apparel chain. He serves on the boards of the Cleveland Foundation, University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center, and more. JoAnn is a registered nurse and community volunteer.

The Meadow feels like an indoor park, where parents of toddlers can park strollers off to the side and get down on the carpeted floor and bond with their little ones. Toddlers can run around and explore, and have play with tools that encourage literacy, math skills and problem solving, in an atmosphere that's private to their age group and size.

The $250,000 gift isn't all that the museum recently celebrated. In early May, the 100,000th visitor, Gabriel Leighton, of Parma, came with his two sons, both in a stroller, and was surprised with a big gift basket and free admission. This wasn't Leighton's first visit; it was his sixth.

"As parents to small children, we often walk a fine line between environmental enrichment and safety," said the 37-year-old Cleveland Clinic nurse, whose two sons are Xavier, nearly 3, and Ellison, 10 months, with another child, a girl, on the way.

"I feel it's critical that our children feel like they can explore, wonder and experiment, zooming in on the micro level," he added. "While at the same time, we parents want them to be safe and easily accounted for, zooming out on the macro level. CMC provides all of this. I'm absolutely grateful that this is a resource in Cleveland."

The Meadow joins the museum's other permanent exhibits. In the aforementioned Wonder Lab, children explore whirlpools, jets, rivers and fun-filled water tables. Kids also build ball tracks on the magnetic wall, and more.

In Adventure City, children build, work, climb and even shop in the market.

"The exhibit's open-ended environment inspires the next generation of designers, problem-solvers and collaborators," according to the CMC.

Arts & Parts is a sun-filled art studio where children can work with various materials, tools and supplies. On the third floor, Making Miniatures is a collection of dolls donated by Cathy Lincoln, whose family owned Lincoln Electric, and dollhouses, including one that replicates the Stager Beckwith Mansion. Two more permanent exhibits will open by year's end.

The museum can be rented out for kids' birthday parties and other special occasions. Throughout summer, the museum will host food trucks on Mondays and Fridays.

Because the museum is historic and retains many of its original architectural details, adults enjoy going there, too. But, for safety purposes, adults can't go on the premises unless accompanied by a child. The museum does offer one-hour guided tours the first Thursday of each month. Each tour can accommodate a maximum of 20 adults.

The museum is in the midst of a $10 million capital campaign to further renovate the building.

"The Children's Museum of Cleveland's capital campaign was based on the belief that Cleveland, which cares so much about its children, would support a reimagined children's museum," said Campanelli. "I continue to be inspired by generous donors like JoAnn and Bob Glick, who make a commitment to support the development of Northeast Ohio's youngest learners."

The Glicks are thrilled about what their visit to museum turned into.

"We are both longtime Clevelanders and have been very involved over the years with supporting Cleveland and the underserved," said Bob Glick. "It's a true passion of ours. This is important to us, and will be one of many gifts we plan to make to the Cleveland community."
WESTLAKE, Ohio -- North Olmsted High School Seniors slayed the red carpet Saturday night on May 12 at La Centre, 25777 Detroit Rd., Westlake, to celebrate and dance the night away at their prom.

This year's fashion trend was an ode to spring, as many ladies opted for a duo-pattern look that showcased a plain colored top with breathtaking floral patterns splashed across the skirt. Others chose a sleek classic style, with perfect glitz, sparkle and shimmer that was just right for a beautiful night out.

A whole rainbow of colors made their way across the red carpet including soft pink and blue pastels, and vibrant purples and greens. Bold red dresses dominated and were always paired with the perfect red lipstick to match. Polished metallic brocade suits were a hit as well as the timeless tux with bow ties that complemented their dates' outfits.

Browse the photo gallery above for all the sensational looks, and see more Northeast Ohio prom photos here.

--Judie Vegh
How we reported this story: The Plain Dealer gained access to the juvenile court hearings detailed in this story, by agreeing not to identify the family members involved to protect their privacy. Though they are American born, some of them have adopted names to reflect their Moorish American culture. We have followed the same conventions when assigning them pseudonyms.

All the information in the story came from observing court proceedings, court documents and interviews.

CLEVELAND, Ohio  On the last Tuesday in March, in an eighth-floor courtroom high above a dense fog hiding downtown Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Magistrate Ginny Millas faced a weeping mother and a father so anguished he struggled to speak.

During two days of testimony, Millas had listened to people argue the fate of a 14-year-old girl with a brain tumor.

Cleveland Clinic specialists say chemotherapy is the only way to treat Zara Ali's tumor, save her failing eyesight and possibly her life.

Her parents have resisted. They've been doctoring their daughter with "natural and holistic medicine," gentler remedies they believe will heal her.

Herbal cures have long been part of Zara's family life and are in keeping with their religion, said her father, who came to court each day wearing a red fez, as many Moorish Americans do.

On a single, sad fact all agree: The tumor cannot be removed by surgery.

"This is a hard decision for the court to make because you haven't done anything wrong," Magistrate Millas told the couple more than once.

The jurist could do nothing, as the girl's parents had asked.

She could order that Zara begin chemotherapy and allow her to remain at home.

She could order the chemo and, if Zara's family refused to follow through with the treatment, remove the girl from her parents' custody and force her to undergo arduous medical treatment in the care of strangers.

"I don't want the county to have any part of my daughter," her mother had said. "Not when I'm a good parent and I do what I'm supposed to do for my child. I would not put her life in jeopardy."

There are no obvious heroes and villains in this story.

This is a story of a fierce clash of beliefs. On one side, there is trust in Western medicine and the authority of physicians and courts; on the other, a faith in alternative medicine and the freedom to decide what's best for your child.

It's the story of a frightened girl in the middle whose options are few. A girl doctors say is running out of time.

At an impasse

Zara seemed so healthy  kind, loving and upbeat.

Then came the headaches and the vomiting and a trip to the Cleveland Clinic ER in September.

She was treated for hydrocephalus, a dangerous buildup of spinal fluid in the brain, once known as "water on the brain."

Neurosurgeons installed a shunt to relieve the pressure and doctors diagnosed the culprit: a rare type of brain tumor  slow-growing and noncancerous, though hardly benign.

An MRI revealed the mass of star-shaped cells wrapped around vital blood vessels and arteries in her brain, which is why the tumor is inoperable.

It presses on her pituitary, the pea-sized master gland that drives the production of key hormones; her thalamus, gray matter that relays sensory information vital to motor control; and her brain stem, the bridge between spinal cord and brain that regulates basic body functions such as breathing and heart rate.

The tumor had done the most damage to her optic nerves, leaving her legally blind in her left eye and with only half the vision in her right.

No one knows how long the tumor has been there or how large it will grow, but doctors warn puberty could kick it into high gear. So could radiation, potentially transforming Zara's "low-grade tumor" into a malignant, cancerous one.

In October, parents Omar and Rosalind Ali met with Dr. Stacey Zahler, a pediatric cancer specialist at the Cleveland Clinic.

Zahler recommended two chemotherapy drugs administered once a week over the course of a year. The aim was to shrink the tumor or, at least keep it from getting any bigger to save Zara's remaining eyesight.

Her parents wanted to go a different route.

Chemo, they believed, would lay waste to her immune system, killing good cells along with the bad ones and maybe even their daughter too.

Frankincense, turmeric and a homemade tea weren't toxic, Mom said, and there were stories all over the internet about people using essential oils, frankincense in particular, to melt their tumors. They also asked Zahler about vitamin C and hydrogen peroxide infusions. They assured her they'd done their research.

Missing from the equation was the child herself.

What did Zara want? Not chemo, her parents said, and according to bioethicists, the older and more mature the child, the more her opinion should matter, particularly with cancer treatment, where outcomes are never guaranteed.

But Zara struck Zahler as younger than 14, reacting more like her 8- or 9-year-old patients when she talked with the family "about scary things," sometimes leaving the room or covering her ears.

Zahler and a team of doctors grudgingly agreed to hold off on conventional treatment with one caveat. They would monitor Zara's condition and if the tumor progressed, they'd know they couldn't afford to wait any longer.

That day came at the end of December following her first visit to Dr. Lisa Lystad, a Cleveland Clinic neuro-ophthalmologist. It was time for the chemotherapy, Zahler said.

The Alis disagreed.

The Clinic called 696-KIDS.

A fine line

Caregivers at hospitals are mandated by law to report suspected instances of child abuse and neglect to Cuyahoga County's Division of Children and Family Services' 24-hour hotline.

In early January, a social worker with an elite medical investigations unit inside the child protection agency filed a complaint in juvenile court.

Zara's parents weren't getting her the tests doctors needed to assess her tumor, he reported.

"The child's condition could become life-threatening should it not be treated properly," the complaint read.

County social workers had never knocked on the Alis' door before.

The couple, representing themselves, responded with a flurry of paperwork on "Moorish National Republic" letterhead, arguing that the complaint should be dismissed, questioning the legitimacy of the court and objecting to the county messing with their family.

They didn't want a court-appointed investigator questioning their daughter without them. They didn't want a "complete stranger" mucking around in their business, the Alis wrote. They had the right to raise Zara "without outside interference."

They also rejected the notion that their daughter could die if not treated with chemotherapy.

It's understandable that some parents want to try every herb and oil, no matter how unproven, before subjecting their children to treatments with myriad side effects, said Tamara Chapman-Wagner, deputy director of the county child welfare unit that caught Zara's case.

While doctors and social workers want to be sensitive to mom and dad's wishes, "it's a fine line," she said.

"You have to understand the sense of urgency. Is there time for them to try holistic stuff? How long before the child deteriorates or before the child dies?"

The Division of Children and Family Services investigated more than 560 reports that involved some form of medical neglect in 2017, about 4 percent of the 14,117 referrals the agency investigated by last year.

Though each referral is different, the happiest are those that can be resolved by connecting parents with resources they didn't know existed, such as free transportation to and from medical appointments.

Parents who refuse treatments for their very sick children are as rare as the tumor that has invaded Zara's brain, doctors and social workers say.

One such case made headlines in 2013. Sarah Hershberger, a 10-year-old Amish girl from Medina County, was diagnosed with cancer and began chemotherapy treatments at Akron Children's Hospital.

After witnessing their daughters hair fall out and other side effects  including fatigue and nausea  her parents believed chemotherapy was killing Sarah, according to court documents.

They began treating her with "natural, holistic medicine" instead. A legal battle ensued - and an appeals court ruled that parental rights are not absolute.

Even though the family was told Sarah would die within a year, rather than agreeing to the chemo, they went into hiding.

They emerged two years later in 2015, pictures of a rosy-cheeked Sarah, age 12, topping stories that ran everywhere, from the Medina Gazette to Great Britain's Daily Mail. A family attorney declared her cancer free. A judge said "she no longer shows signs of being sick" and closed the case.

The Alis were ready to fight the same battle for their right to make medical decisions for their daughter.

In mid-February, assistant prosecuting attorney Amy Carson asked the court to compel treatment. If the parents didn't allow medical care, the court should get tough and grant the agency temporary custody or remove Zara from home.

Carson laid out her reasons: the girl's prognosis worsened the longer treatment was delayed.

Millas heard the parents out: They wanted a second opinion.

Doctors at hospitals like the Clinic, they said, are trained for two things  to dispense drugs and do surgery. Their minds are closed to anything else.

Chemo is expensive, they added, so doctors have a financial motive for recommending it.

The magistrate said she needed two crucial tests  another neuro-ophthalmological exam and an MRI - scientific proof of the need for immediate medical treatment.

Until she knew Zara's condition, she couldn't determine whether the girl's parents were guilty of neglecting her medical needs. If they were, Millas could override the Alis' "constitutionally protected parental rights."

A new hearing was scheduled for March, when the tests would be completed.

But Millas warned she might have to force chemo after hearing the new test results. "The court's not going sit idly by and let a child face potential blindness."

Sovereign Moors

That the Alis would want to turn to alternative medicine to treat their daughter doesn't surprise Spencer Dew, a professor of religious studies at Centenary College of Louisiana who has studied Moors.

"It's not like that's really so fringe in today's science-denying, hipster, new age world," Dew said. "Lots of people do that. And Moors have been doing that since the beginning, since the '20s. There's always been this emphasis on homeopathic stuff, maybe in part out of self-sufficiency because early Moors probably couldn't go to the big segregated hospitals."

Chemo is manmade  its not organic, Zaras father Omar argued.

Moorish Scientists are members of a religious practice that borrows heavily from Islam, and was founded in Chicago in 1925 by the charismatic son of former slaves, known to followers as Prophet Noble Drew Ali.

He teaches that all blacks have Moorish roots, specifically in the "Moroccan Empire" (hence the fezzes and other ceremonial garb), but were stripped of their Muslim identity through slavery.

The Prophet "had a profound influence on W.D. Fard and Elijah Muhammad, who were both members of [the Moorish Science Temple of America] before they established the more militant Nation of Islam," writes biographer Sholomo B. Levy. He also helped establish "African Americans as one of the largest segments of Muslims in the United States."

Today, the Moorish movement is "radically fractured and diverse," said Dew, not unlike Christianity, which is made up of thousands of kinds of Christians.

While membership is hard to gauge, there are reports of hundreds of branch temples in the United States, including at least one in Cleveland.

There are Moors who engage "in American citizenship as a religious duty," Dew wrote in the Journal of Law and Religion in 2016, and others who claim to be "outside the jurisdiction of American legal authority."

"Sovereign Moors" often carry Moorish ID cards in place of driver's licenses, a practice that frequently lands them in legal hot water, as it did Omar Ali.

Convicted of running a red light and failing to produce a driver's license, he took his grievance to the Eighth District Court of Appeals, represented himself and lost.

Some Moors will "go to court and they'll say, 'I'm a flesh and blood human being,' " Dew said." '. . .I don't have to honor you as a judge.' "

This was Omar's tactic in juvenile court. He remained standing while others sat, a move Millas took as a sign of disrespect. He argued that juvenile court wasn't a legitimate court, because it wasn't a federal tribunal, established in Article III of the Constitution.

While Dew has seen plenty of " 'I don't need a driver's license' cases," this one stumps him. He can't think of another instance where a claim of sovereignty involved the health of a child.

"I've never heard of a Moor turning down medical care," he said.

"Call 911, please"

Omar Ali was not standing on March 22 when Dr. Zahler took the stand the first day of the hearing.

Instead, he fought to hold his head upright, often resting his forehead on the conference table in front of him. His body convulsed with fits of coughing. Wife Rosalind rubbed his back and gently brushed the black tassel of his fez behind an ear to keep it from falling in his eyes.

He seems to be having some difficulty focusing right now  and being able to deal with this, an attorney assigned to advise Omar told the magistrate.

"We're going to have to keep going," Millas answered.

The most recent MRI showed the tumor had not gotten any bigger  a result the Alis pointed to as reason to believe their holistic ministrations were working.

But that didnt mean the tumor wasnt progressing Zahler said  there was evidence that despite the shunt, it was trapping more cerebrospinal fluid, mainly on the left side of Zaras brain.

The results of the new neuro-ophthalmological exam showed that the partial vision in her right eye had not changed  again a sign to Zaras parents that their daughter was doing well. But the vision in her left eye, already bad, had gotten worse.

When treated with carboplatin and vincristine, the two chemotherapy drugs Zahler had recommended, 70 percent of patients saw their tumors shrink or stabilize, the doctor said.

Rosalind Ali's co-counsel, Margaret Isquick, a public defender, asked Zahler to focus on potential side effects, including a weakened immune system, numbness and tingling of hands and feet, nausea and vomiting, hair loss and kidney damage.

Those could be counteracted with antibiotics, anti-nausea and other medications, Zahler explained, and the flushing of her kidneys with IV fluids before and after every treatment. But there was no question chemo was toxic to healthy cells as well as diseased cells.

"Side effects are largely reversible once you finish taking it," Zahler continued, though some, such as rare high-frequency hearing loss, were not.

Suddenly, Omar, coughing uncontrollably, keeled over.

Zahler moved to his side with lightning speed.

"Mr. Ali . . .Are you having a pain in your chest?"

"Yeah," came his muffled response.

"We're going to call 911, please," Zahler said as lawyers fumbled for their phones.

After paramedics loaded Omar Ali into an ambulance, magistrate Millas said she didn't know what ailed Zara's father, but that the stress of the case could have played a part.

"I see the stress you're going through," she told Rosalind Ali "and . . . it is distressing - the court's finding it extremely distressing. . ."

Rosalind stood, shaken. She felt ganged up on for disagreeing with a doctor, she said. Crushed by the power of the county and the Clinic.

She had wanted to bring in her own experts but a key witness, "a woman in the field of natural remedies," was out of town.

She'd sought a second opinion but it had yet to be completed. She needed more time, she said, to present her case. She was a mom who worked long hours and acted as caretaker for her father as well. This was all too much.

"Hopefully I won't drop," she said.

Millas was sympathetic but firm. There would be no more delays.

". . .We can't let a child suffer," she said.

Dr. Zahler was briefly called back to the stand.

Millas had question for her: Could the tumor kill Zara?

The answer was complicated, the doctor said, but the bigger the tumor got, the more pressure it would exert on Zara's brain stem. That could stop her breathing or her heart. If and when that might happen was anyone's guess.

For certain, Zara was going blind.

In the months they'd been arguing about how to treat the girl, her eyesight had deteriorated, testified neuro-ophthalmologist Lisa Lystad.

In November, a month after her ER visit, Zara could read an eye chart. By late December, when Lystad first examined her, she couldn't.

Sometime between Christmas and New Years, she had pinhole vision in her left eye  she could see the big "E" on a card held close to her face.

By the end of February, Zara could no longer see the "E" or count the number of fingers held up in front of her.

There was no technology to restore the vision she'd lost, said Lystad. All they could do was try to save the vision she still had. That meant shrinking or stabilizing the tumor.

Would turmeric or frankincense do that, Magistrate Millas asked?

"Turmeric has been used in Ayurvedic medicine, which is a form of medicine based in India and primarily used for inflammation," Lystad said. "It has never been used [for] brain tumors.

Frankincense, she said, "has never been shown to be useful in any medical condition."

Good cop, bad cop

The next day, Omar Ali was again at his wife's side, leaning on a long, carved walking stick. After being examined in the ER, he had been released.

"They gave me two prescriptions that I didn't fill because I normally heal myself with herbs," he said.

Though he'd missed the previous day's testimony, he told the court he believed his daughter's vision was "somewhat" improved because of the herbal medicines they were giving her.

He knew this because Zara said she wasn't wearing her glasses as much as she used to. "Mom and Dad, I can see better," she'd volunteered.

"Do you have any fear that your daughter would be blind?" Millas asked.

"No I do not," he answered.

The Alis offered no witnesses, nor did they present studies to bolster their claims that less toxic treatments were just as effective in combating their daughter's tumor. They seemed deflated and overwhelmed.

There was nothing left but final arguments.

Prosecutor Amy Carson took a Good Cop approach. They wanted Millas to compel medical treatment but not take Zara from her parents. Given the possible side effects of chemotherapy, the teen would benefit from their "loving care."

Though she appreciated the Alis' religious beliefs, "there is settled case law that the religious faith of the parents . . . does not permit [them] . . . to expose the child to progressive ill health and death, which I think is the case here."

Public defender Isquick spoke for the family as Rosalind Ali listened, tears rolling down her cheeks.

The shunt was doing its work because Zara had had no dizziness or vomiting for months. No one was proposing another surgery to deal with the additional fluid buildup in her brain, so it was not a life-threatening emergency. The vision in her right eye was stable. The tumor was slow-growing, so they'd like time to let the alternative therapies work.

The Alis would continue to take Zara to all of her doctor's appointments and monitor her progress with blood tests and other exams.

Steven Wolkin, a child custody attorney representing the investigator the Alis never wanted nosing into their lives, came on as Bad Cop.

Zara's parents weren't willing to work with doctors, he said, because they refused to get their child proper medical care.

Theyd made the case about them  their distrust of the Cleveland Clinic, their fear of chemotherapy  rather than about what was best for their daughter.

What assurances did Millas have that the Alis would follow a court order?

He hammered away at their fitness as parents until Rosalind had enough.

"I'm outta here," she announced, as she headed for the door.

Millas banged her gavel. "Ma'am, stop. . . "

"No," she answered. "He is outta line. . ."

"How dare he," Rosalind fumed as she stalked off down the hall. "Like we're unfit? How dare he?"

Back in the courtroom after tempers had cooled and with sheriff's deputies standing by, Isquick asked that some of Wolkin's comments be stricken from the record.

The mother didn't deserve such a smearing of her reputation . . .

Millas stopped her. "You know, thats what we live through  Im a third gender person smeared daily.

"No one gets to go through life in a bubble . . . Life's just messy. None of this is easy . . . We're all doing the best we can."

But Wolkin had raised a fair question. Millas turned to Zara's father.

"Here's the court's puzzle. You've said you are not of the government. You don't even think this proceeding is legitimate, and that's OK to believe in and I respect you for that. But why would the court believe you would follow an order from an illegitimate source?"

Omar looked steadily at Millas. The only way he'd agree to the chemo?

"Under threat, duress or coercion."

"Stay of execution"

On that last, hazy Tuesday in March Magistrate Millas read her decision aloud.

The parents' concerns about chemotherapy were "well founded" and medicine could make no promises.

Still, the girl's vision was going and two-thirds of patients with the kind of tumor Zara had responded to the recommended treatment.

She had found a clear path through the fog: In a little over three weeks, she ordered, Zara would have to start chemo, though she could do it while living at home.

Because the parents' relationship with doctors at the Cleveland Clinic had curdled, they could take her elsewhere to be treated. They could not leave the county, other than to pursue the court-ordered medical care. And they'd have to surrender Zara's passport, if she had one.

They had 10 days to file their objections.

Afterward, Zara's parents processed the news.

"I'm just devastated," said Omar.

"I don't want us to be labeled as quacks," Rosalind said, her face swollen from tears. She leafed through pages of research she'd never presented, including one suggesting the "potential use of Boswellia essential oil (frankincense) for prevention and/or treatment of a wide variety of cancers" including brain cancer.

"I don't want it to sound like we were these parents giving her a little stuff out of the kitchen," she said weakly. "That was not the case."

As for the magistrate's decision? Omar said they planned to fight it.

He would ask, he said, for "a stay of execution."

Epilogue

On April 20, the Alis asked the court for more time, as they were seeking "medical advice" from Dr. Duncan Stearns, head of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology at UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital.

In his initial assessment after examining Zara, Stearns indicated that delaying treatment in the short term would cause minimal risk and suggested that Rainbow Babies' own neuro-ophthalmologist examine the girl before deciding if chemotherapy is immediately necessary, according to eight pages of doctor's notes filed with the court.

The notes suggested that his opinion differed from the Cleveland Clinic's on two key points:

If they did go the chemo route, he would recommend monthly treatments with a single drug  carboplatin  to start, rather than the weekly, multi-drug regimen advocated by the Clinic.

He also said: "I would not have sought court ordered therapy."

In a motion dated April 27, Wolkin, representing the court-appointed investigator, urged the court to enforce its previous order and instruct social works to pick up Zara and take her to Cleveland Clinic to begin chemotherapy.

Millas scheduled a new hearing for Friday. Until then, Zaras treatment would have to wait
CLEVELAND, Ohio - On Thursday one of the most celebrated aircraft of World War II will embark on a new mission when the B-17F Memphis Belle is unveiled after 13 years of restoration at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton.

Three days of special programs and events, May 17-19, are planned in conjunction with the unveiling, including World War II static aircraft displays, re-enactors with vintage vehicles, memorabilia and artifact displays, and guest speakers.

The Air Force Museum Theatre will also screen two movies that were made about the famous bomber -- a 1944 documentary, "Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress," and the 1990 "Memphis Belle," a fictionalized flick with little resemblance to actual events concerning the aircraft.

The Memphis Belle was celebrated as the first U.S. Army Air Forces heavy bomber to return to the United States after completing the required 25 missions in Europe. At that time, bomber crewmen had only a 25 percent chance of reaching that goal without being killed, captured or badly wounded.

According to various stories, the aircraft was either named for the pilot's fiance, who lived in Memphis, or was drawn from a 1942 movie starring Joan Blondell.

The bomber started its combat tour in November of 1942, subsequently dropping bombs on targets in France, Belgium and Germany. These targets included aircraft factories, munitions plants and submarine bases. Its 25th mission was on May 17, 1943.

None of the crew were ever badly injured, though their plane returned from one mission with most of its tail shot up by a German fighter.

After it's return to the U.S. in 1943, the Memphis Belle went on a cross-country tour to support the sale of war bonds, stopping in more than 30 cities including Cleveland.

Following the tour, the bomber served as a training aircraft, and then was destined for scrap until it was rescued by the city of Memphis in 1946. It was displayed in that city until obtained by the Air Force museum in 2005.

Museum curator Jeff Duford said in recent publicity materials that the Memphis Belle is a salute to the 25,000 U.S. heavy bomber crewmen who were killed in combat during the war, and the more than 8,000 heavy bombers destroyed.

"How does one climb inside of this aircraft knowing that I'm probably not going to come home, and I don't have to do that one time; two times; three times; 10 times - I have to do that 25 times," said Duford.

"These crewman were faced with choices that we are not faced with in our daily lives, and thousands of them made the choice to do their duty and selflessly fly these missions in order to defeat an evil regime," he added.

Restoration of the aircraft included corrosion treatment and filling an extensive list of missing parts.

When replacement parts could not be found, they were fabricated, according to Case Simmons, museum restoration specialist.

"So that means going to the blueprints, figuring out what goes into that, how they did it and trying to re-create that process," he noted in a museum publicity release.

Included among the parts that had to be fabricated were gun mounts, all of the flooring, new sheet metal on the right vertical stabilizer and left bomb-bay door, the cockpit windscreen, and rear vertical stabilizer spar.

Meticulous attention to detail went into painting the Memphis Belle in the same coloration and markings that it bore on its 25th mission. This included deliberately painting sections of the plane a slightly lighter color to match the fading that would have occurred.

After the unveiling, the Memphis Belle will be kept on permanent public display in the World War II gallery of the museum.

(The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force is located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton. The museum offers free admission and parking, and features more than 360 aerospace vehicles and missiles, and thousands of artifacts displayed in more than 19 acres of indoor exhibit space. For more information, visit www.nationalmuseum.af.mil.)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Authorities in Ohio say a sheriff's deputy is in critical condition and a suspect is dead after a shooting.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the Franklin County deputy was shot shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday. No names or other details were released.

The Franklin County Sheriff's Office says on Twitter that an "active investigation" is underway.

The department asks for "thoughts and prayers ... for one of our own."
NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio -- Store theft, Lorain Road: North Olmsted police arrested a GetGo employee April 28 after a company loss prevention officer said the employee was suspected of taking money from a cash register.

A store manager showed officers a closed-circuit video in which the suspect appeared to take money, according to police. He was accused of taking $140. The manager said money was also missing on other occasions.

The suspect admitted taking a total of $420 to pay bills, according to police.

Officers charged the suspect with petty theft.

Petty theft, Great Northern Mall: Macy's department store called North Olmsted police about 1:20 p.m. April 26 regarding a suspected shoplifter.

A store loss prevention officer said he saw the woman conceal three infant clothing items in her purse, then place them in a Macy's bag before leaving the store. The store employee stopped the woman and recovered clothing valued at nearly $119.

Police arrested the woman on a misdemeanor petty theft charge.

Shoplifting, Great Northern Mall: Police arrested a woman about 4 p.m. April 27 after Macy's security accused her of concealing six items of men's clothing and two leather purses valued at about $245 before she left the store.

A store loss prevention officer stopped the woman and recovered the merchandise.

Police charged her with petty theft.

Petty theft, Brookpark Road: Police responded April 27 to Walmart regarding two women suspected of shoplifting.

The women are accused of taking men's underwear, socks and shirts without paying for the merchandise. The items were valued at about $65.

Police charged both women with petty theft.
PARMA, Ohio - A 41-year-old Parma man is under investigation in connection with his 18-month-old son's death, police said.

Parma police arrested a 41-year-old man Saturday in connection with his 18-month-old son's death.

The man walked into a Parma police station about 9 p.m. Saturday and told the officer at the front desk that "he wanted to turn himself in for a crime," Parma police spokesman Capt. Kevin Riley said in a news release.

Officers quickly learned that the man's son was in his car in the police station's parking lot, Riley said. The 18-month-old boy was unresponsive when police found him.

Paramedics took the boy to University Hospitals Parma Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Riley said.

The 41-year-old man had lacerations to his arms when he arrived at the police station, Riley said. He was taken to MetroHealth for treatment, and he is currently under arrest with a police guard.

The man has not been charged in connection with the toddler's death. Authorities continue to probe the incident, and additional details will be released by Parma police when they become available, Riley said.

If you would like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section.
WESTLAKE, Ohio -- Breaking and entering, Detroit Road: A witness called police about 11:40 p.m. April 28 to report that two men were trying to break into the Bee Clean Car Wash at the intersection of Dover Center Road.

As officers arrived, they saw two men running out of the car wash and a third man waiting in a nearby vehicle.

Police captured both the suspected running thieves after a foot chase. The third man surrendered without attempting to flee. The thieves were in such a hurry to flee the police that they left all their tools lying on the floor of the office they had just broken into, according to police.

The runners, a 50-year-old Lakewood man and a 31-year-old

Cleveland man, are charged with felony breaking and entering, as well as possession of criminal tools. The waiting driver, a 33-year-old Parma man, is charged with felony complicity to breaking and entering.

Assault and robbery: A woman called police about 6:30 a.m. April 28 to report that her boyfriend had assaulted her, held her down and stolen cash from her purse.

The incident happened at the woman's apartment.

The suspect lives in Ravenna, so Westlake police contacted the Portage County Sheriff's Department, which arrested the 47-year-old man on assault and robbery charges.

Suspicious incident, Crocker Park: A caller to Westlake police at 4:30 p.m. April 28 said a man was passed out in the mulch in front of a Crocker Park store, and his skin was turning blue.

Officers found a 22-year-old man. He was unresponsive, but onlookers were providing first aid.

Officers administered Narcan, a medication used to reverse suspected opiate overdoses, which appeared to revive him. Westlake firefighters provided additional treatment and took the man to a nearby hospital.

Police are considering whether to file charges.

Gunfire, Framingham Drive: A resident called police shortly after midnight May 3 to report hearing gunshots around their house.

Officers responded but could not find anyone or anything out of place. Later in the day, at 10:51 a.m., another resident called to report that they had found a bullet hole through the front of their house. They had also heard the gunshots the night before, but thought it was just fireworks.

Detectives are following up.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Saturday's crime and courts comments section.
I don't know how this is going to turn out Tuesday-- but I feel strongly enough that Stenchy and Ben Ray are compulsive liars that I'm willing to risk a grand on it. Here's how this all started-- an e-mail from Levi Tillemann, the progressive candidate running in the suburban Denver district (CO-06) currently held by conservative Republican Mike Coffman. Hopefully you'll remember a few weeks ago when the tape came out of Stenchy trying to bum rush Levi out of the race . I've known Stenchy for over a decade and that kind of crap never ends when it comes to him. He's as sleazy and corrupt as any Republican.

What Levi explained in his e-mail was that Stenchy and his henchman, DCCC chair Ben Ray Lujan, haven't ceased their slimy tactics when trying to force their crooked candidate, Jason Crow, into the general election against Coffman, by forcing Levi to quit. In fact the title of the e-mail was Dropping out?

On Sunday, May 6, DCCC Chair Ben Ray Lujan told National Public Radio that polling shows very clearly that the only candidate in this race that has a chance to defeat Mr. Coffman is Jason Crow.





Last night on an appearance on The Young Turks with Cenk Uygur, Levi made a bold pledge: If Ben Ray Lujans claim proves true, for the good of the nation and party, Levi will withdraw from the primary in order to increase the chance that Democrats take back the House.





But unfortunately, both Jason Crow and the DCCC have a long history of working together to deceive the voters of Colorados 6th Congressional District. Lujan has not complied with four separate public requests to release his polling data. We suspected they might be at it again, so Levi took matters into his own hands.





On May 9, Levi for Colorado commissioned a poll on the race through Public Policy Polling (PPP). PPP predicted they would have results by Monday, May 13. Of note, PPP is the same polling agency Mr. Crow used for his much touted head-to-head poll against Coffman.





If this new poll shows (as Mr. Crow and his allies claim) that Levi is at a dramatic deficit relative to Mr. Crow in a head-to-head matchup against Mike Coffman, Levi will withdraw from the primary on Tuesday.





If, on the other hand, this is another example of Mr. Crow and the DCCC lying to voters and inventing "alternative facts," then we say enough is enough. Jason Crow should withdraw from the race and the discredited DCCC should immediately suspend all efforts to interfere in Democratic primaries nationally.





Integrity used to be considered an asset in pursuit of public office, and getting caught in a bald-faced lie was often enough to end a career. Donald Trump has removed all shame from GOP politicians. Mr. Crow and the DCCC seem to have contracted that same virus. They seem to believe lying is OK so long as they can get away with it. We as Democrats, must reject this race to the bottom.





Integrity matters to Levi Tillemann. The question is: Does integrity matter to Jason Crow?





Help us fight for truth and democracy.
Let's be honest: When gender-swapping famous roles, Hollywood writers usually don't change much beyond the names and pronouns. A female Indiana Jones would still make droll quips and get dragged behind vehicles. But if you really want to see how weird Hollywood's gender standards are, imagine some famous existing movies with the roles reversed. Think about ...

5 The Shape of Water: A Lonely Guy Takes A Fish-Woman Home And Sticks His Dick In It

The Shape Of Water is an Oscar-certified Best Picture story about a mute woman who has an immediate connection with a mysterious fish creature being held captive in a secret government science lab. When the military decides to kill the creature (because Michael Shannon can't not be evil), she takes it upon herself to save her species-transcending soulmate and smuggle him out of the lab. Go, empathy!

She then takes the creature home and fucks it in a bathtub.

On one level, it's refreshing to see a movie that portrays female sexuality in a non-shameful or judgmental way. But that said, imagine this movie is about a lonely male janitor who lives at home by himself and jerks off in the bathtub every morning. He finally sees a sexy lady fish-creature in a lab, bonds with it over a mutual appreciation of hardboiled eggs, and decides to take it home and stick his very human penis in it. Suddenly, this spiritual love connection between human and fishier human becomes the story of a dude who gets the oddest boner whenever he eats sushi.

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Also, what would this guy's Octavia Spencer friend think? I highly doubt they'd say, "Finally, you've found someone who understands you on a level that transcends language!" More likely, it'd be, "Did you seriously fuck that lab fish? What is wrong with you? Also, you might wanna have a doctor seal your dick off before whatever lobster gonorrhea that you definitely acquired makes it to your brain."
Hilarious mistranslations -- they're not just for baffling foreign movie posters . Tools like Google Translate are remarkable accomplishments that can expand the frontiers of human communication, but like all technologies, sometimes they mess up in really goofy ways and we can laugh at them. Way to try to change the world, ya dunderheads! Here are five times translation attempts -- and the humans doing them -- didn't quite nail it.

5 Google Translate Turns A Broccoli Raab Festival Into The World's First "Clitoris Festival"

What does grelo, the leafy-green vegetable native to northwestern Spain, have in common with the human vagina? Unless there are any exotic sex positions we're unaware of, not much. That is, unless you live in the town of As Pontes in Galicia, which holds a yearly festival honoring the vegetable, also known as "rapini," or "broccoli raab" in the U.S. It's the Galician equivalent of Lollapalooza, we're guessing.

When local officials attempted to translate the Galician word "grelo" into Castilian Spanish for their website, Google Translate mistook it for the Portuguese word "grelo." Which, it turns out, is slang for a part of the female anatomy. The resulting translation invited tourists to take part in a "Clitoris Festival" -- or to be more exact, "the Fair of the Clitoris Bridges," which sounds like something out of Tolkien's private notebooks.
Bahrains opposition Al-Wefaq party is calling on the countrys Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa to resign after the latter expressed support for Israels latest attack on Syria.

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Bahrains opposition Al-Wefaq party is calling on the countrys Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa to resign after the latter expressed support for Israels latest attack on Syria.



In a Tweet earlier this week, Al-Khalifa said that Israel had the right to defend itself. Al-Wefaq has described the remarks as a disgrace  [and] a crime against Islam, the Palestinian cause and the nation as a whole.



The group noted that such statements do not represent Bahrain or its people, who reject a normalization of ties with Israel.



In recent months, Manama has come under growing criticism over its expanding relationship with Tel Aviv, which many Arabs regard as an act of treason.



Al-Wefaq added that the exchanges between the two regimes will fail in acquiring legitimacy.









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When Donald Trump took the presidential oath of office 16 months ago, he promised the hour of action had arrived.

For all his many faults and foibles, no one could accuse the property tycoon of failing to live up to this pledge.

His short period in power has lurched from one crisis to another, many self-inflicted by a man who delights in crass stunts and stirring up trouble.

These are rollercoaster times, even for a former reality television star who became the worlds most powerful man. Brushing aside growing domestic furores over dubious payments to his lawyer and links to dodgy Russian oligarchs, Trump is pushing forward fast on three foreign policy fronts that could reshape the world order.

In his short period in power, Donald Trump has lurched from one crisis to another, many self-inflicted by a man who delights in crass stunts and stirring up trouble

They are all huge gambles  and the stakes could not be higher.

His supporters praise his boldness as proof he will Make America Great Again. But his detractors and most diplomats warn his dramatic steps could unleash dark consequences for the United States, key allies such as Britain and billions of people around the planet.

I am a pessimist over his gung-ho actions on all three fronts: Iran, Israel and North Korea. These are three of the worlds most explosive places and I fear his posturing stance, defying norms of diplomacy, could backfire dreadfully.

Yet as much as I dislike the man, with his bigotry, silly tweets and bombastic brand of politics, I must be honest.

It is just possible that it takes a maverick President prepared to challenge all conventions to unlock some of the most intractable problems of our age.

Yesterday, North Korea announced it will begin dismantling its nuclear test site in less than two weeks, with journalists invited to witness the process.

The news came in the same week that three American detainees held captive in North Korea were returned home, to be greeted at the aircraft door by Trump himself.

Even by the showman Presidents own self-adoring standards, it was a compelling piece of theatre and an extraordinary development in Americas dealings with the rogue state. In less than a year, Trump has gone from childishly taunting Rocket Man and threats of unleashing fire and fury to calling Kim Jong Un very honourable.

Even by the showman Presidents own self-adoring standards, it was a compelling piece of theatre and an extraordinary development in Americas dealings with the rogue state

That has led some Republicans, and South Koreas President, to suggest Trump wins the Nobel Peace Prize. Absurd? Well, perhaps it might turn out no less absurd than his predecessor Barack Obama winning the prize at the outset of his Presidency.

For all his articulacy, charm and smartness, Obamas passive style  dubbed leading from behind  achieved little of consequence on the great global issues. Today, No Drama Obama has been replaced by the most unpredictable  and at times infantile  US President I have seen in my lifetime. A man who needs his name or cards with pictures reportedly inserted in security briefings so he keeps reading them.

Obamas one big foreign policy breakthrough, apart from being in the White House when US special forces found Osama Bin Laden, was the 2015 Iran nuclear deal dumped by Trump last week.

This drives a wedge between the US and Europe, especially France which stands to lose substantial trade with Tehran as sanctions are reimposed. Theresa May rightly joined her counterparts in Paris and Berlin to condemn Trumps daft decision.

That has led some Republicans, and South Koreas President, to suggest Trump wins the Nobel Peace Prize. Absurd? Well, perhaps it might turn out no less absurd than his predecessor Barack Obama winning the prize at the outset of his Presidency

Yes, the deal was flawed. But it brought a rogue state back into the international fold  and the United Nations said Iran was honouring the pact.

Ominously, Iranian leaders are already muttering about restarting nuclear enrichment to higher levels than before.

Trumps team believes tougher sanctions will restrain Irans military adventurism as funds dry up and force it back to the negotiating table.

Some even hope this creates sufficient pain to provoke dissent on the streets and prompt regime change.

This would be a big win for the White House. Yet we should not forget that for all Trumps tough rhetoric, the seeds of Irans renewed strength were sown by the disastrous invasion of Iraq, followed by Western timidity over Syria. It extended its footprint by filling vacuums.

After pleading with Trump not to rip up the deal, French President Emmanuel Macron warned the decision would lead to war. Already the missiles are flying.

Israel accused Iran of launching a rocket attack on the Golan Heights, called up reservists and carried out air strikes on Tehrans forces in Syria. And Saudi Arabia blamed Iranian allies in Yemen for firing at its capital Riyadh.

These highlight tensions rising across the Middle East tinderbox, already home to cruel proxy conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

Trump is turning up the heat on two simmering struggles that could dwarf even these two terrible wars  the ancient split between Shia and Sunni Muslims, plus the depressing Israel-Palestine struggle. The threat of a nuclear arms race in this volatile region is terrifying.

Trumps next big gesture comes tomorrow: opening the US embassy in Jerusalem  70 years to the day after Israel declared independence  to mark recognition of the divided city as its capital. He puzzled diplomats by reversing decades of US policy with this concession while asking for nothing in return.

It is a bitter irony that in so doing Trump may be fanning the flames of potential devastation in one region, just as he is receiving plaudits for moving a step closer to averting Armageddon in another.

Asked this week if the release of the North Korean prisoners was his proudest achievement, Trump said that would come when we denuclearise that entire peninsula.

On that front, I still have cause for profound scepticism. Kim Jong Un may have pledged to destroy his nations nuclear test site, but many experts suspect it had already partially collapsed back in September.

Besides, it seems unlikely the family dictatorship running the worlds most repellent regime will give up the protection afforded by weapons of mass destruction that it spent decades developing. Not least when history shows North Korea uses peace talks to hide military and weapons build-ups.

The Presidents defenders say North Korea shows how his self-confidence, inconsistency and flamboyant lack of caution can wrong-foot foes as well as friends. They believe he can defy all usual laws of diplomacy.

The concept of this shallow and vain character following his predecessor on to the Nobel podium seems risible, but if Trump pulls off peace in any of these turbulent hotspots with his disruptive approach to diplomacy, he deserves it.

Sadly, I fear his naivety is only stoking, not solving, the worlds great problems.
Pictured: Andrew Murray

Three months after Jeremy Corbyn hired hard-Left union fixer Andrew Murray as a political adviser, and ex-Communist Murray is still waiting for his Commons pass.

Security vetting checks normally take a couple of weeks at most.

We dont know whats going on, fumes a worried Corbyn aide.

Dog trusts it has nothing to do with Murrays tendency to spout pro-Russian propaganda

Jack Straws disgraceful role in the Blair governments complicity in the torture of a Libyan dissident by Colonel Gaddafis regime reminded Dog of a wisecrack by Alastair Campbell in 2001. Asked why Blair replaced Robin Cook as Foreign Secretary with Straw, Campbell replied: Because Jack will do what we tell him to do.

Liz Truss managed to combine a ministerial visit with a dig at Cabinet colleague Boris Johnson. The animal-handling course at Basingstoke Tech features a blond lizard called Boris, she tweeted with the hashtag #hardtohandle. Serves Bojo right for rubbishing the PMs Brexit plan as crazy.

Serenas enduring passion for cast-offs

Is the fiancee of Scots Nat MP Stewart Hosie saving up for a honeymoon? Serena Cowdy, 37, whose affair with Hosie, 55, led to the break-up of his marriage, has launched Deerheart Design, which sells antlers decorated in gold. What better way to add sparkle to an old cast-off?

Is the fiancee of Scots Nat MP Stewart Hosie saving up for a honeymoon? Serena Cowdy, 37, whose affair with Hosie, 55, led to the break-up of his marriage, has launched Deerheart Design, which sells antlers decorated in gold

Ruth Davidson has barely stopped smiling since announcing she is pregnant, but every silver lining has a cloud. On a visit to Edinburghs Scotch Whisky Experience centre, the Scottish Tory leader, normally partial to a wee dram, sighed: Looking forward to when Im allowed a snifter of the amber nectar once again.

A tawdry Brexit tale

Arch-Brexiteer and devout Catholic Jacob Rees-Mogg has anointed a patroness of Brexit  7th Century St Etheldreda (aka St Audrey) as she died on referendum day June 23, albeit more than 1,300 years before the 2016 vote. So poor were items of clothing later made to commemorate St Audrey that she gave us the word tawdry, says Jacob. But we wont settle for a tawdry Brexit.

The daft call by ex-Tory Minister David Willetts and his Resolution Foundation to award 10,000 to 25-year-olds is no surprise. The foundations driving force is director Torsten Bell, the policy wonk responsible for many of Ed Milibands clangers as Labour leader, including the risible Ed Stone setting out his 2015 Election manifesto pledges.

David Cameron, wife Samantha and Rebekah Brooks, Rupert Murdochs favourite executive, were all at Londons River Cafe on Thursday. It seems only yesterday that Dave got into hot water for borrowing his chum Rebekahs horse Raisa. A pal insists it was a coincidence and they were at separate tables.
Typical Russians, eh? They kidnap a man and his pregnant wife in broad daylight, then hide them in a secret prison in an Asian airport where they wield sinister influence.

There they begin to torture him. Despite the fact that she is obviously pregnant, they chain her to a wall and put a hood over her head for five days. Next, they swathe her from head to toe in duct tape (in agony, because one of her eyes is taped open) and fly them both to Syria so the man can be tortured more thoroughly for several years.

With the two chained and bound prisoners comes a delivery note from the Russian spy chief to his Syrian opposite number: 'This is the least we could do for you, to demonstrate our remarkable relationship.'

Libyan dissident Abdel Hakim Belhaj speaks after receiving a letter of apology from the UK government

This is the sort of disgusting behaviour we have come to expect from the Kremlin. Except that I have changed the details. This story is not about the Kremlin. It is about the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, and our allies in the CIA. And the man we helped kidnap, Abdul Hakim Belhadj, was not sent to Syria, but to Libya, whose then despot we were courting.

All the details of this unspeakable, lawless operation are known and cannot be denied. They came out into the open only because a group of militiamen happened to stumble on the papers in an abandoned office in Tripoli. The Government has admitted the truth by apologising for them, and writing a large cheque (with your hard-earned money, of course) to Mr Belhadj's wife, Fatima Boudchar.

Nobody is even trying to deny them, though the Labour Ministers in charge at the time (2004) seem to be having some trouble remembering the episode.

There are plenty of things you can think about this, including whether those involved, politicians and civil servants alike, ought to face some kind of justice. I would not hold out many hopes.

My point is this. So much of our current frenzy against Russia and Syria is based on a claim of moral superiority. Do we have any such superiority if we kidnap people and send them to tyrants to be tortured?

So shouldn't we stop pretending that our hostility to Russia and Syria has a moral purpose  and explain what, in that case, our motive really is? Or are we embarrassed that our motive is almost as sordid as the miserable Belhadj episode?

A tiny gleam of light in the endless, swirling, flatulent fog of the European debate: the possibility that Britain may remain in the European Economic Area, so getting rid of three-quarters of the EU's laws, while not madly damaging its trade with EU countries, is just about alive. One day, people will realise what a good idea this is. Advertisement

Certainly since before the 2003 Iraq invasion, which members of the current Government mostly supported, this country has been implicated in the most horrible actions, many of which will probably remain secret for ever.

Strangely, many of these kidnappings and much of this complicity in unspeakable tortures was justified by our moral fury against Al Qaeda, a movement with whom we now co-operate in Syria.

It is also quite possible to argue (and I do) that the Iraq invasion was the gravest political mistake of our age, closely followed by David Cameron's attack on Libya.

We are now hurrying towards serious war in the Middle East, lashed to the strange, seemingly unhinged figure of Donald Trump, whose vain, pouting, writhing performance on Tuesday night was one of the most frightening things I have ever seen in my life.

Could it possibly have been plainer that he views us not as allies but as minions? And why shouldn't he, if we collaborate with the CIA in actions like these?

A proper British government would cease this sort of co-operation, whatever little treats and pats on the head we may be offered in return. And a proper British government should also stand aside from war policies in the Middle East which will only lead to still more terror, torture and pain.

Flawed: Rosamund Pike stars a terrorist in the new film. Pictured: Pike attends the '7 Days in Entebbe' premiere during the 68th Berlinale International Film Festival Berlin

Talking of war, and Syria, many of you may have noticed frequent references in the media to a body called the 'Syrian Observatory for Human Rights', often quoted as if it is an impartial source of information about that complicated conflict, in which the British Government clearly takes sides. The 'Observatory' says on its website that it is 'not associated or linked to any political body'.

To which I reply: Is Boris Johnson's Foreign Office not a political body? Because the FO has just confirmed to me that 'the UK funded a project worth 194,769.60 to provide the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights with communications equipment and cameras'.

That's quite a lot, isn't it? I love the precision of that 60p. Your taxes, impartially, at work.

Feminism's pointless fight Why do feminists make fusses about nothing, such as the current persecution of a man in a lift who asked, jokingly, for someone to press the button for the ladies' lingerie floor? It is because they long ago achieved their aims, but admitting it would mean they'd have to find something else to do. Don't take my word for it. The playwright David Edgar recounted last week that as far back as the 1970s, a feminist manual written by the militant Anna Coote 'had to be quickly revised because so many of its demands had been won'. In fact, the Left won almost everything it wanted years ago. That is why we are in such a mess. Advertisement

The president of Peking University (yes, despite our feeble cultural kowtow of saying 'Beijing', they still call it that) says students should not be encouraged to question or to think critically because it 'hinders steps for the future'.

He should obviously come here, as so many British students (and professors) are frightened out of their wits by any departure from orthodoxy, he'd fit in very well.

A soppy movie shot through with danger

Rosamund Pike is one of the cleverest and wittiest actresses of our time, as she showed in the wonderful An Education. And it is interesting to see the 1970s, that lost decade, so meticulously recreated in her new film Entebbe, an OK but flawed account about the hijacking of an Air France jet.

The great thing about Entebbe was that the bravery and skill of the Israeli commandos meant almost all the hostages were saved, and the terrorists were killed. This was a distinct turn for the better in an era when hijackers far too often got away with their crimes.

Nobody wept or wondered if this had been the right thing to do. These disgusting people, Germans among them, had actually separated the Jewish passengers from the others. They were bad enough before they did that. After they did it, they had passed into a zone of evil from which there can be no return.

But there is something dangerously soppy about the film's attitude towards the hijackers. Sure, they were human. That is precisely why their actions deserved to be ended and punished with violent death. Because they knew better.

The film's apparent belief that negotiation, even with such people, is a good thing is simply untrue. It is precisely because we have talked to and rewarded so many terrorists, from the PLO to the IRA, that terrorism continues to flourish.

If all terrorists died as the Entebbe criminals died, there would be a lot less terror.
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Now that we can almost count on one hand how many days there are until the Royal wedding, it's fair to say that the world has got wedding fever.

And to celebrate the upcoming nuptials at Windsor Castle, FEMAIL has rounded up some of the most elaborate dos to take place recently in Australia or involving Australians.

From Aussie Home Loans heiress Deborah Symond's lavish island bash to Victoria's Secret model Shanina Shaik's intimate family ceremony in the Bahamas, we take a look at five of the biggest weddings in recent months.

With the Royal wedding mere days away and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured) set to tie the knot, FEMAIL takes a look at the other weddings to help get you in the celebratory spirit

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured) will wed on Saturday May 19 at Windsor Castle

Just last month, Aussie Home Loans boss John Symond's daughter (pictured) tied the knot with her long-time beau wearing a $200,000 wedding dress - and the wealthy family hired out an entire resort for the occasion

Deborah Symond walked down the aisle with her Sydney society fiance Ned O'Neil in April surrounded by 120 esteemed guests and the couple's very famous fathers

Deborah Symond and Ned O'Neil

Just last month, Aussie Home Loans boss John Symond's daughter tied the knot with her long-time beau wearing a $200,000 wedding dress - and the wealthy family hired out an entire resort for the occasion.

Deborah Symond walked down the aisle with her Sydney society fiance Ned O'Neil in April surrounded by 120 esteemed guests and the couple's very famous fathers.

For the illustrious occasion, the couple booked out Hamilton Island's exclusive Qualia resort for their three-day-long celebration - and then exchanged vows in front of Mr Symond and Ned's father Denis O'Neil, a superyacht broker and the owner of Rose Bay Marina.

The couple flew 120 of their closest friends and family into North Queensland; they used the hashtag #Neborah on Instagram to show off the day's festivities - Deborah wore a custom-made Christian Dior haute couture gown she had curated in Paris

Deborah - who launched her own successful fashion retailer to rival the likes of Net-A-Porter - wore a custom-made Christian Dior haute couture gown she had especially curated in Paris over the last year.

The blush pink ensemble, which featured an applique bustier and flowing hemline, reportedly set the family back $200,000 - and the bride was fitted in Dior's Paris headquarters early last year, before organising several stays at the Paris Ritz in between alterations.

The couple's wedding itself was as elaborate as the dress. After flying 120 of their closest friends and family into North Queensland, the pair embraced the hashtag #Neborah on Instagram to show off the day's festivities.

Stunning cream-coloured floral displays adorned the podium where they were married and a crisp white piano played tunes for the loved-up couple to dance to.

Victoria's Secret model Shanina Shaik (pictured) also tied the knot recently in an intimate ceremony in the Bahamas with her close friends and family - for the occasion she wore a custom-made Ralph and Russo gown

'I wanted it to be simple, bohemian, and elegant... I love a boho style and I wanted to give it a little twist by incorporating lace,' Shanina told Brides of her Ralph and Russo gown

She accompanied the dress with countless diamonds by celebrity jewellery Lorraine Schwartz, who also designed her engagement ring

Shanina Shaik and Greg Andrews (DJ Ruckus)

Never one to shy away from the spotlight, Victoria's Secret model Shanina Shaik tied the knot with serious style in April, wearing not one or two but three beautiful dresses for various elements of the occasion.

The 27-year-old plumped for an off-the-shoulder sheer white lace gown by Australian-born designers and standout Royal wedding favourite, Ralph and Russo, for the ceremony itself.

She also wore a gorgeous sleeved dress by design sister duo Zimmermann for her rehearsal dinner, and later another bejewelled gown while celebrating at her reception.

Shanina wed DJ Ruckus at a romantic beachside venue in the Bahamas, alongside family and friends. The pair reportedly flew in separately for the event in 'his and hers' private jets, but the wedding itself was rustic and low key in style, featuring a neutral palette, jerk chicken and conch fritters.

'I wanted it to be simple, bohemian, and elegant... I love a boho style and I wanted to give it a little twist by incorporating lace,' Shanina told Brides.com of her Ralph and Russo gown.

She accompanied the dress with countless diamonds by celebrity jeweller Lorraine Schwartz, who also designed her engagement ring.

Sylvia Jeffreys (pictured) wed last year in Ooralba Estate in the Kangaroo Valley before 160 guests, including fellow Channel Nine stars Richard Wilkins and Lisa Wilkinson

The Today Show presenter Sylvia wore a layered, princess-style custom Rebecca Vallance gown, which featured a plunging neckline and intricate beading

Sylvia Jeffreys and Peter Stefanovic

The Jeffreys/Stefanovic do was a ceremony for wedding lovers the country over.

Opting for a lavish ceremony at the exclusive Ooralba Estate in the Kangaroo Valley, the pair wed before 160 guests, including fellow Channel Nine stars Richard Wilkins and Lisa Wilkinson.

The Today Show presenter Sylvia wore a layered, princess-style custom Rebecca Vallance gown, which featured a plunging neckline and intricate beading.

Her bridesmaids, meanwhile, wore blush pink dresses, while the groomsmen looked sharp in black suits with white shirts and black bow ties.

Model and TV presenter Lauren Phillips had a picturesque Victorian wedding in December last year (pictured)

For the occasion, the 30-year-old (pictured) wore a custom-made gown designed by Con Ilio, with a tulle train and veil, and tied the knot before 180 guests - the happy couple's decor also featured a glass marquee inspired by Pippa Middleton

The couple encouraged guests to mark theor momentous occasion by sharing snaps and clips from the day using the hashtag: 'meetthepharks' - and their wedding featured a starry guest list

Lauren Phillips and Lachlan Spark

If fairytale nuptials are your thing, then look no further than model and TV presenter Lauren Phillips' picturesque Victorian wedding in December last year.

The 30-year-old wore a custom-made gown designed by Con Ilio, with a tulle train and veil, and tied the knot before 180 guests in Flinders.

According to reports, the happy couple's decor also featured a first of its kind seven-and-a-half-metre high glass marquee inspired by the nuptials of Pippa Middleton, the sister of the Duchess of Cambridge.

The couple encouraged guests to mark theor momentous occasion by sharing snaps and clips from the day using the hashtag: 'meetthepharks'.

Among the starry guest list were the likes of Lauren's Kids WB co-host Shane Crawford and his partner Olivia Anderson, WAG Rebecca Judd and husband Chris, model Kris Smith, AFL star Jonathan Brown and wife Kylie, Australian skateboarder Corbin Harris, Nova's Michael Wipfli and Channel Nine reporter Clint Stanaway, who was the MC.

Sunrise presenter Edwina Bartholomew wed her fellow journalist partner Neil Varcoe in a country wedding at the end of April, before 160 guests at the couple's farm, Warramba, located north west of Sydney - she was the third in her family to wear her wedding dress

Edwina Bartholomew and Neil Varcoe

Sunrise presenter Edwina Bartholomew wed her fellow journalist partner Neil Varcoe in a country wedding at the end of April, before 160 guests at the couple's farm, Warramba, located north west of Sydney.

The TV star was the third in her family to wear her wedding dress.

The delicate, lace-detailed gown was first worn by her much-loved grandmother in 1944 and her veil was given to her great grandmother by her sister for her wedding in 1915.

Following this, it was lovingly restored by Melbourne designer, Sonia Cappellazzo, who owns Cappellazzo Couture.

Edwina's wedding featured all sorts of beautiful details, including homemade honey for every guest to take home with them and glamping tents for those who didn't live nearby.
A young mother who suffered a tragic stillbirth at the beginning of last year has opened up about the joys of finally becoming pregnant.

Melbourne lifestyle blogger Sarah Jane Young posted on Instagram on Sunday about her pregnancy, confessing she and her husband are 'finally expecting our rainbow baby - a little boy'.

Sarah added that her 'IVF miracle' is due in October of this year, and said that 'somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true'.

Melbourne lifestyle blogger Sarah Jane Young (pictured) is pregnant, after the tragic stillbirth of her daughter Charlotte Rose last year

In 2017, the young mother shared a heartbreaking image of her stillborn baby daughter's feet (pictured)

Sarah (pictured with her daughter Mia Grace) added that her 'IVF miracle' is due in October of this year, and she is over the moon

Writing on her blog in more detail, Sarah said that's it been '488 days since we lost Charlotte Rose'.

What is a rainbow baby? A rainbow baby is a baby born shortly after the loss of a previous baby due to miscarriage, stillbirth, or death in infancy. Advertisement

The family - who had been expecting to enjoy every moment of the birth of their second daughter - were instead left mourning over her death in the hospital in 2017.

The infant was tragically stillborn, leaving her parents and her sister with a few moments to build memories of her in candid photographs.

'In that time [since she lost Charlotte Rose]: I've watched them take away my baby girl to be cremated, I've cried a million tears and I've spent days on the floor sobbing for my baby, but I've kept going for Mia Grace's [her daughter] and my family's sake,' Sarah wrote.

'I've cried a million tears and I've spent days on the floor sobbing for my baby, but I've kept going for Mia Grace's and my family's sake,' Sarah wrote (pictured with Mia Grace)

She said that she has 'done what I've needed to do in order to survive', consulting countless doctors and specialists for scans, injections and blood tests.

'I've had egg collections and experienced hyper-stimulation, put on 6kg from all the IVF drugs, felt deeply depressed and flat at times, had seven embryos that didn't survive, but... ONE that did!'.

That 'little miracle embryo', she added, 'is now our rainbow baby boy'.

The new baby is due in October 2018, and the mother said she feels 'alive again'.

She said that she has 'done what I've needed to do in order to survive', consulting countless doctors and specialists for scans, injections and blood tests

Sarah (pictured with Mia Grace) also shared the serendipitous moment in which she found out she was pregnant - a rainbow shone across her stomach and she 'just knew'

Speaking about how she found out she was finally pregnant, Sarah explained that it was one of those serendipitous moments when she 'just knew':

'The night before we went to do bloods to confirm the pregnancy, I was showering around sunset,' she wrote.

I remember the happiest of tears rolling down my cheeks

'The sunshine was beaming across the bathroom and through the dripping shower screen. Shining right onto my belly was a rainbow! I couldn't believe it and I remember the happiest of tears rolling down my cheeks.'

She said that she couldn't believe what was happening, and that 'Charlotte was right there with me... guiding me and reassuring me that our storm was finally passing'.

Sarah added that even though she and her partner have a name in mind, they're not quite ready to share it yet.

Sarah (pictured pregnant in 2016 with Charlotte Rose) penned several candid posts about the loss of her daughter on her Instagram page and blog

The young mother and her partner were left mourning over their second child, Charlotte Rose, after the baby was stillborn in January 2017.

In an emotional admission shared on Instagram at the time, Sarah candidly opened up about the loss of her daughter - and the heartache that followed was almost beyond words.

'While your little life was way too brief, in that very short time YOU have proven to me that a mother's heart is NEVER, ever full,' she wrote.

'Our hearts are beyond broken and there will never be day that goes by where we don't think about you - our sweet baby girl.

'What I wouldn't give for a lifetime of your belly-ballet-ninja routines for hours on end again... In the words of your PoPo just a few days ago, "a mother's love for her daughter is immeasurable".'

Sarah said she couldn't believe what was happening when she was pregnant, and that 'Charlotte was right there with me... guiding me and reassuring me that our storm was passing'

The mother-of-one also previously revealed how her daughter's death took a toll on her as she regained some strength to speak out about the traumatic experience.

'Waking up today with an even emptier heart,' she said.

'The pain is worse... The distance from our baby girl is greater... The anger couldn't be stronger... The seconds are longer and my world has stopped.

'It's hard to ever imagine smiling again and trying to be strong for our precious Mia Grace is so, so incredibly hard.

'BUT... My blessings have been magnified tenfold and my amazement in a mother's capacity to love and nurture her family is at its highest.'

Last year, on Mother's Day, Sarah and one of her best friends, Jo, set up the Charlotte Rose limited edition lipstick 'in memory of all the babies who grew their tiny wings too soon' (pictured while pregnant with Charlotte Rose)

Last year, on Mother's Day, Sarah and one of her best friends, Jo, set up the Charlotte Rose limited edition lipstick 'in memory of all the babies who grew their tiny wings too soon'.

'We raised $13,289.02 for Bears of Hope and it was the perfect way to honour BOTH the babies lost and their mums, on what can be such a tough day for many,' she wrote.

'One year on, I sit here a different person, but a happy one. I rub my 17-week belly and struggle to hold back my excitement.

'No amount of time will ever heal the loss of Charlotte and I will carry this pain with me until the end of time.

'However, it's because of her, we will have him in our arms in no time.'

To read more from Sarah Jane Young, visit her blog here. You can also follow her on Instagram here.
Most parents have heard of 'controlled crying' or the 'cry-it-out' method before.

And while some people swear by it, others are not so convinced - even labelling it a cruel night-time routine.

If you're looking for something a little more soothing, experts at Flinders University are turning to the 'bedtime fading' technique to help youngsters find that elusive perfect time to fall asleep.

Experts at Flinders University are turning to the 'bedtime fading' technique to help youngsters find that elusive perfect time to fall asleep

Study co-author Dr Michael Gradisar monitored the sleeping patterns of 21 Adelaide children aged 1.5 to 4 years over two weeks.

And after assessing the same children two years after the test was completed the researchers noticed those kids were falling asleep quicker and with ease.

They also threw less tantrums when it was time to fall asleep and woke up less throughout the night.

'Given the sleep problems across this stage of children's development, providing a quick treatment that is easy to implement offers promise to parents and clinicians alike,' Dr Gradisar said.

Firstly, choose a consistent time every morning that you want your child to wake up by

So how do you do it?

Firstly, choose a consistent time every morning that you want your child to wake up by. For example, 7am.

For a few nights delay your child's bedtime by 15 minutes (from 7pm to 7.15pm). If you notice you child is taking a little while to fall asleep at this time, delay it for another 15 minutes.

Continue this process until your baby falls asleep quickly.

It works on the theory that a child will float off with ease if they're tireder - but that time isn't necessarily the same for every baby

It works on the theory that a child will float off with ease if they're tireder - but that time isn't necessarily the same for every baby.

'Sleep problems affect many young children, with between 20-67 per cent of preschoolers taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep,' Dr Gradisar said.

'Between 4-18 per cent take longer than one hour. Night-time waking is also common with children frequently needing a parent to initiate or reinitiate sleep.

'Sleep disturbances result in insufficient and fragmented sleep for both children and parents, as well as trouble the next day.'
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She got engaged to her millionaire boyfriend at Christmas, receiving a 12-carat diamond engagement ring worth an estimated $3M.

And Dell Technologies heiress Alexa Dell, 24, looked blissfully happy as she celebrated her engagement to millionaire Harrison Refoua, 40, at upscale Hollywood eatery Ysabel on Saturday night.

The billionaire heiress, whose father is worth an estimated $23.5 billion and is the 37th richest man in the world posed up a storm with her millionaire real estate investor as they welcomed guests to their lavish celebrations.

Slipping into an extravagant, ivory gown by Christian Dior, Alexa gave a taste at the sumptuous wedding celebrations to come.

Billionaire heiress Alexa Dell, 24, looked blissfully happy as she celebrated her engagement to millionaire Harrison Refoua, 40, at upscale Hollywood eatery Ysabel on Saturday night

The corset style neckline made the most of her enviable physique, cinched in at the waist with soft flower embellishments.

Featuring a semi-sheer overlay, the piece fell to the floor, and she let the stunning gown take centre stage, teaming it with a pair of emerald-cut diamond drop earrings.

Wearing her brunette locks in a sleek centre parting, Alexa kept her make-up neutral, adding lashings of mascara and a touch of sparkling eyeshadow to complete her look.

The heiress put on a tactile display with her millionaire fiance, who she has been dating for a year, flashing the sizable ring as they posed for pictures.

Harrison proposed with a 12-carat diamond engagement ring worth an estimated $3M at Christmas, which she proudly flaunted on Instagram at the time

The billionaire heiress, whose father is worth an estimated $23.5 billion and is the 37th richest man in the world posed up a storm with her millionaire real estate investor as they welcomed guests to their lavish celebrations

Meanwhile Harrison looked dapper in a black tailored suit and crisp white shirt as he cosied up to his stunning fiancee.

The duo also posed alongside her father Michael Dell, 53, and philanthropist mother Susan Dell, who dazzled in a black corseted dress similar to that of her daughter.

They were joined by Soraya Refoua, who also opted for a black bejewelled gown and encrusted shoes, for a sweet family picture.

Alexa also posed alongside pal Mary Kitchen who set the pair up on a blind date, who was dressed in a red ruffled gown, writing on Instagram: 'Thank you for introducing me to the love of my life!'.

The duo also posed alongside her father Michael Dell, 53, and philanthropist mother Susan Dell, who dazzled in a black corseted dress similar to that of her daughter, and joined by Soraya Refoua

Alexa's corset style neckline made the most of her enviable physique, cinched in at the waist with soft flower embellishments as she posed with pals

Guests enjoyed cocktails and food at the rooftop party, taking in the lavish surroundings and LA skyline for the celebrations at the party

Other guests at the lavish party included Alexa's grandfather Alex Dell, and his pal, who looked smart in black tie attire.

Posing for further pictures, the heiress was joined by two little girls in bridal-inspired dresses, in a hint to what her wedding day day flower girls may look like.

Alexa, whose billionaire father Michael is the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies got engaged at Christmas, receiving a jaw-droping 12 carat emerald cut diamond set in a pave halo.

At the time Hamish Shephard, Founder of Bridebook.co.uk, the leading wedding planning app and website told Femail of the ring: 'A 12-carat diamond engagement ring would likely start from $500,000, but could easily cost several million dollars based on its cut and brilliance. This engagement ring most likely cost in the range of $2-3million.'

The art collector and branding consultant was presented with the eye-popping diamond during a candlelit dinner on the beach at The Four Seasons in Kona, Hawaii, which is owned by her father.

Alexa also posed alongside pal Mary Kitchen who set the pair up on a blind date, who was dressed in a red ruffled gown, writing on Instagram: 'Thank you for introducing me to the love of my life!'.

Other guests at the lavish party included Alexa's grandfather Alex Dell, and a pal, who looked smart in black tie attire

The heiress put on a tactile display with her millionaire fiance, who she has been dating for a year, flashing the sizable ring as they posed for pictures

Slipping into an extravagant, bridal gown by Christian Dior, Alexa gave a taste at the sumptuous wedding celebrations to come

Posing for further pictures, the heiress was joined by two little girls in bridal-inspired dresses, in a hint to what her wedding day day flower girls may look like

Alexa has been dating millionaire real estate investor Harrison for a year after being set up on a blind date by mutual friend Mary Kitchen, following the breakdown of her relationship with Tinder CEO Sean Rad.

Alexa first hit the headlines as an 18-year-old in 2012 when a photo of her family dining on a private jet on the way to Fiji made it on to the infamous Rich Kids of Instagram Tumblr.

Days later she had her Twitter account suspended over security concerns after documenting her every move on social media, including exact dates for when she'd be shopping in New York or attending her high school graduation dinner.

Aged 20, she started dating Tinder CEO Sean Rad, then 27, after meeting him on the dating app.

Alexa studied at Columbia University and completed an internship at W magazine in New York.

How Michael Dell made his fortune Alexa's father, Texas-born Michael Dell, 52, started off selling 19 computers out of his dorm room at the University of Texas during his freshman year. He'd made $80,000 by the end of term and, unsurprisingly, did not return for his sophomore year. In 1984 at the age of 19, he founded Dell with just $1000 after deciding to sell computers directly to customers, cutting out the middleman and passing on a reduction of 15 per cent on typical prices. His direct-selling model revolutionised the market and just eight years later, he became the youngest CEO ever to earn a ranking on the Fortune 500. He started selling computers online in 1996, the same year Dell launched its first server, leading to internet sales of $1 million in sales a day from dell.com. By 2001 the company was the world's largest PC maker. In 2016, Dell merged with computer storage giant EMC. At $60 billion it was the largest ever technology acquisition. According to Forbes, he is the tenth richest man in tech and number 38 in the world ranking of billionaires. Through the Michael & Susan Dell foundation, he's provided $1.38 billion in funding to organisations that support education, health and family economic stability in the US, India and South Africa since 1999. The entrepreneur is married to Susan Lieberman and the couple share four children. Advertisement

On LinkedIn she states she's been working as a Brand and Business Development Strategist for startups for the past four years, as well as contributing to her parents' Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

Most recently, the foundation donated $36 million to rebuilding parts of Texas ravaged by Hurricane Harvey.

In an interview with Nextshark.com she revealed that her privileged upbringing hasn't been without its pitfalls, saying that all challenges people go through are 'relative'.

Who is Alexa's new fiance Harisson Refoua? Arshia Harisson Refoua, 40, is a wealthy property investor who seems to prefer keeping a low profile, compared with his Instagram-loving partner. However, he hit the headlines in 2014 when he sued his former tenant , presenter Kelly Osborne, for damages of $50,000, claiming she had trashed his apartment. According to TMZ, Arshia Refoua filed a lawsuit which alleged that Kelly allowed her dog to urinate in the West Hollywood home and caused water damage after leaving the bath tub running. He also accused Kelly of destroying the home's hardwood floors by failing to clean up the dog waste before she vacated the property. The legal move came after the star sued for the return of her $18,700 deposit which he claims he withheld to repair the condo. The pair settled the dispute in 2015 when Osbournes attorneys filed for the litigation to be dismissed. Each side agreed to pay their own costs and fees, but no other terms were divulged. Although he has nowhere near the level of wealth of her father, Refoua is thought to be a multimillionaire, thanks to his property investments. In 2016, he bought the Creekside Place Retail Center in Santa Clarita Valley for $9.65 million. Advertisement

'As most kids have experienced, Ive had friends in the past who werent always what they appeared to be. It really sucked at the time, but now Im grateful to have experienced what I have.

'Its helped shape my ability to judge character and because of that Ive been able to surround myself with more positive people in life.'

She described her hobbies as hiking with her friends and French bulldog Colette, or travelling on long weekends to experience new cultures.

Alexa and her new fiance have had quite the jet set time in recent weeks, with Instagram snaps showing them in Florence, Venice, Tuscany, Paris and Aspen.

They also stopped off in London and Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle enjoyed secret getaways before news of their engagement broke.
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With the sun shining in Her Majesty the Queen was in especially good spirits as she joined her husband Prince Philip for the final day at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in the private grounds of the castle.

In light of the good weather the monarch arrived wearing a pair of chic sunglasses as well as an enormous smile on her face.

The 92-year-old looked her elegant best in a fuchsia pink coat with a chic grey piping meticulously paired with a matching hat as is typical of the royal.

The Queen donned a pair of sunglasses as she arrived for the final day of the Royal Windsor Horse Show in the grounds of the castle

The monarch looked her elegant best in a meticulously thought out pink coat and matching hat as she was greeted by guests

With the sun shining in Her Majesty the Queen was in especially good spirits as she joined her husband Prince Philip for the final day at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in the private grounds of the castle

The Queen watches in excitement the retirement of her horse Barber's Shop at the Royal Windsor Horse Show

In light of the good weather the monarch arrived wearing a pair of chic sunglasses as well as an enormous smile on her face

The Queen spent time greeting those taking part in today's events which sees riding enthusiasts take part in various horse trials.

Earlier on Sunday the Duke of Edinburgh, 96, arrived in his Landrover flashing a grin as he wound down the window to speak to staff upon entry to the event.

There had been concerns that Philip would not be attending his grandson Prince Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle on Saturday as he had been convalescing after hip replacement surgery five weeks ago.

The Countess of Wessex (centre left) with the winning team in the DAKS Pony Club Mounted games Royal Windsor Horse Show at Windsor Castle

The Queen's racehorse Barber's Shop was led through the parade ring by Katie Jerram as the Queen looked on

The 16-year-old horse who is being retired after winning many times for the Queen was led around the ring

However, it was reported that his royal highness has 'ditched his crutches' and is set to make an appearance at St George's Chapel in just six days time.

Philip appeared to be in good health at the wheel of a Land Rover Freelander, as he joined hundreds of spectators at the final day of the event.

His daughter-in-law, Sophie Countess of Wessex, and granddaughter, Lady Louise Windsor, 14, joined him at the event.

The mother-and-daughter arrived at the event on a horse and cart driven by young Louise who is a keen rider. The young royal inherited a love of horses from her grandmother the Queen, 91, and was taught to ride at a young age.

With the sun shining Her Majesty appeared to be in particularly good spirits at the event on Sunday

The Queen spent time greeting those taking part in today's events which sees riding enthusiasts take part in various horse trials

Prince Philip appeared to be in good spirits as he arrived for the final day Royal Windsor Horse Show in the private grounds of the castle

Sophie Wessex looked every inch the proud mother as daughter Lady Louise took the reins of the carriage

His daughter-in-law Sophie Wessex arrived on horse and cart driven by her own daughter Lady Louise, 14

Lady Louise is already an accomplished horsewoman and has previously competed in carriage driving at the event

Arriving behind was the Queen's cousin and his wife Prince and Princess Michael of Kent who put on an animated display riding on a horse and buggy

Princess Michael of Kent seemed keen to capture the memories on camera and was seen taking snaps on her mobile phone

Sophie Wessex could too be seen snapping away unsurprisingly wanting to capture her daughter's proud moment

More recently Lady Louise has taken up carriage-driving, a past-time beloved of her grandfather, Prince Philip, 96, who is credited with popularising the sport in Britain.

Lady Louise is already an accomplished horsewoman and has previously competed in carriage driving at the event.

Arriving behind was the Queen's cousin and his wife Prince and Princess Michael of Kent who put on an animated display riding on a horse and buggy.

Lady Louise looked smart in her horse riding gear complete with elegant tophat and silver brooch while her mother was chic in navy and camel

The general mood appeared to be one of frivolity with Sophie and Louise seen sharing a joke aboard their pony and trap

Lady Louise appeared to have caught a fit of the giggles as her mother took a sip of water on Sunday

There had been concerns that Philip would not be attending his grandson Prince Harry 's wedding to Meghan Markle on Saturday as he had been convalescing after hip replacement surgery but he appeared to be in good health today

Philip put on an animated display at the wheel of his Landrover as he rolled down the window of the car to speak to staff

Princess Michael certainly considered it a day to remember and could be seen snapping photographs on her mobile phone from the rear of the carriage.

Harry and Ms Markles wedding on May 19 will have been timetabled to allow the Queen to attend the show and to make sure the nuptials did not clash with its organisation.

The annual show, just a short distance from Windsor Castle, is one of the Queen's favourite equestrian events of the year and the only occasion on which members of the public are able to enjoy the palace grounds.

It sees competitors taking part in a range of events from show jumping to dressage, along with displays from The Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery and DAKS Pony Club.

The mother-and-daughter kept out the chill by sharing a blanket as they waited to do a circuit of the park
It is less than a week until Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tie the knot at their ceremony in Windsor.

To celebrate the occasion Lifetime has released 2.5million movie based on the couple's relationship airing in the US this evening and in the UK on May 14.

And it seems that royal fans may be in for more than they bargained for with new stills from the film seeing the couple in a very compromising position.

One scene sees Prince Harry's (Murray Fraser) romantic proposal to Meghan (Parisa Fitz-Henley) at their Kensington Palace cottage recreated resulting in a steamy love scene.

New scenes from Lifetime's Harry and Meghan movie imagines the couple in a rather compromising position

After popping the question Harry can be seen tenderly kissing the hand of his new bride-to-be.

The scene quickly escalates with the couple sharing a passionate embrace.

In a later scene Meghan can be seen completely naked, although viewers can only see the actress from the shoulder up as she joins her prince in the bedroom.

Several steamy love scenes see the Prince (Murray Fraser) and Meghan (Parisa Fitz-Henley) sharing passionate exchanges

At one point both actors are completely naked, although audiences will only see them from the shoulders up

The naked couple can be seen snuggling up together between the sheets before sharing a few tender kisses.

'I don't need my life to be this perfect royal picture. I just need you,' Harry whispers to his fiance Meghan as they lay in bed in the short scene.

The film's director Menhaj Huda last week revealed that Buckingham Palace officials are reportedly 'seriously worried about the sex scene' teased in the trailer.

The actors are also seen snuggling up together in a passionate embrace between the sheets

The film's director Menhaj Huda revealed last week that palace officials are 'seriously worried' about the sex scenes in the film

And while the US reviews suggested that the love scenes are 'tame' they won't hit the UK until tomorrow.

Announced back in January 2018, just under two months after Harry and Meghan announced their engagement, the film will explore how the couples relationship blossomed from a first date in 2016 to a November 2017 engagement.

Fitz-Henley has called Meghan Markle 'a natural role model', adding: 'It was a privilege to play her.'

Reviews have claimed that any love scenes are rather tame and infrequent

A Royal Romance will air on Lifetime on Monday, 14 May at 9pm just five days before the real Harry and Meghan (pictured) tie the knot

While Murray is relatively new to on-screen roles his co-star Parisa is best known for her role as Reva Connors in Jessica Jones back in 2015.

A Royal Romance will air on Lifetime on Monday, 14 May at 9pm.

Lifetime is on the 164 channel on Sky and 208 on Virgin. The film airs on the Sunday night in the US.
On my right, theres a pair of lips overblown with fillers in a stand-out trout pout. Behind, are three smartly dressed women, all with super-smooth foreheads and unnaturally slanted eyebrows, who look like they all see the same, heavy-handed Botox doctor.

On my left, theres an older woman with so much filler in her face that, when she smiles, her eyes almost vanish behind her bulging cheeks.

Welcome to the Aesthetic and Anti-ageing Medicine World Congress (AMWC) 2018, the frontline of cosmetic medicine. If this is the face of the future, its looking alarmingly plastic.

Of course, not all the 12,000 delegates who gather annually in Monaco for this, the biggest meeting in the global anti-ageing calendar, look peculiar.

Alice Hart-Davis revealed the latest cosmetic procedures set to transform our appearance as seen at the Anti-ageing and Aesthetic Medicine World Congress

In fact, many of the doctors, surgeons, nurses and dermatologists look glowing with health, and just rested and fresher in testament to their world-class skills.

For four days, we will pile into the huge amphitheatres of the Monte Carlo conference centre to listen to doctors, surgeons and thought leaders talk about every conceivable cosmetic topic.

We will watch the latest hands-on techniques in sculpting the face with injectable fillers, or honing the body with fat-busting lasers, and hear about the new developments in the sometimes outlandish field of cosmetic aesthetics.

So, whats coming next? This is what you need to know . . .

INJECTABLE SKINCARE TREATMENTS

We are all familiar with the idea of injecting Botox to reduce muscle movement in the face, or injecting fillers to plump cheeks, but those in the know are moving on to injectable treatments which moisturise skin from the inside.

These wonder-substances are gels made from hyaluronic acid, a naturally occurring substance which holds many times its own weight in water.

Much runnier than normal filler gels, these injectable moisturisers sit just beneath the surface of the skin and soften it from within.

Theres Volite from Allergan, Skin Boosters from Restylane and Redensity from Teoxane.

But doctors are raving most about Profhilo. It does more than moisturise; it kick-starts the production of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid within the skin, making it look smoother. Also, it takes two treatments of ten pinprick injections a month apart (other brands take dozens of injections). Patients are having it injected in their faces, on their decolletage and even tummies.

The cost is about 900, at salons including Waterhouse Young in London (waterhouse young.com), the Riverbanks clinic in Harpenden, Hertfordshire (riverbanksclinic.co.uk), and Dr Sarah Tonks in Knightsbridge (thelovelyclinic.co.uk).

Alice revealed doctors are raving about Profhilo's ability to boost the production of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid for the illusion of smoother skin (file image)

GROW-YOUR- OWN FACELIFT

You may have heard of PRP  the vampire facial technique, where the platelet-rich plasma (thats the PRP bit) is extracted from your own blood, then reinjected into your face.

The aim is to stimulate the growth of new collagen and elastin in the skin.

The latest development uses concentrated PRP and stem cells  the cells in your body that can develop into many different types of tissue  extracted from your fat, to rejuvenate the face. The technique is pioneered by Mr Kambiz Golchin, a consultant plastic surgeon who practices in London and Dublin.

If this cocktail of stem cells and PRP is injected into skin lightly damaged by laser treatment, the stem cells will act as building blocks. They can regenerate as fat cells or skin cells, whatever is needed, he says.

Many doctors shared concerns over the trend for oversize lips and claimed to be reluctant to give young women the look (file image)

This means the procedure has an extraordinary, grow-your-own-facelift effect. Extra fat can be added too to counteract hollowness under the eyes.

The procedure takes around three hours and costs upwards of 10,000, but the results will last around five years (kambizgolchin.com).

DISSOLVE A DOUBLE CHIN

A decade ago, there was an injectable treatment known as the flab jab, which was based on a chemical called deoxycholic acid. This dissolved fat in the area where it was injected (the fat was excreted by the body) and was effective, if uncomfortable. But because the technique did not have official approval, it was eventually banned.

Now, a new injectable fat-buster called Belkyra is due to be launched in the UK later this year, also made from deoxycholic acid, but with a much better pedigree. It is from cosmetic industry leaders Allergan and already has approval from the American Food and Drug Administration which polices such products. A patient is expected to need two treatments of Belkyra to treat a double chin, and each will cost from 800.

Does it work? Yes, though there is a certain amount of stinging when the product is injected and swelling for several days, says a friend of mine who has tried it.

Belkyra is set to launch in the UK this year as an injection that can shift stubborn fat across various areas of the body

Even more exciting, according to insiders, is the way that Belkyra is being trialled on the body. When injected into, say, a stubborn roll of fat on the lower tummy, it can flatten it as effectively as liposuction, and also works on moobs, those unsightly fatty male breasts.

In the meantime, there is Aqualyx, a similar fat-dissolving injection, already available at a number of clinics in the UK.

Dr Sach Mohan has been successfully using Aqualyx to sculpt jawlines for five years at his London clinic, and his Fat Loss Facelift (seen on Channel 4s How To Lose Weight Well) has a keen following. It costs from 700 to treat a double chin, and from 1,400 for the chin and jowls (revereclinics.com).

BLAST YOUR CELLULITE

The newest  and decidedly hardcore, painful and invasive  way to tackle cellulite is with a process called Cellfina.

It involves using a miniature scalpel to slice through the fibrous bands that pull fat into the lumps that appear as cellulite. This might not sound too enticing, but people who have tried it rate it highly.

In the UK, the practitioner to see is Dr Apul Parikh at the PHI clinic in Londons Harley Street (from 2,500, phiclinic.com).

Dr Apul Parikh has begun tackling cellulite using a new process called Cellfina and has already been highly rated by those who've tried it (file image)

INTIMATE REJUVENATION

An unstoppable trend in recent years has been the growth of intimate rejuvenation, using lasers or radiofrequency probes to rejuvenate and tighten slack vaginal tissue, an issue that can arise as women age.

Though the procedures are offered by cosmetic clinics, they are genuinely helpful in treating mild stress incontinence and prolapse after childbirth.

In the UK, many cosmetic clinics (including revereclinics.com, phiclinic.com, cosmetic skinclinic.com) are offering these treatments. Leading consultant gynaecologist Dr Tania Adib is championing intimate procedures as part of an all-round approach to womens health before, during and after the menopause. She offers ThermiVa treatment at the Mallucci Clinic in Chelsea, from 3,000 (mallucci-london.com).

THE BODY IS THE NEW FACE

the trend for body treatments has been observed by Dr Tracy Mountford in her practices in Buckinghamshire and London.

Many of her female patients, who are already having regular procedures such as Botox, fillers and pigment-busting Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) on their faces, are now treating their bodies to a similar level of attention.

What exactly are they doing? Everything, she says. From Tixel skin tightening and resurfacing the decolletage (from 550) to ultrasound skin stimulation, which encourages remodelling of the collagen to tone up the upper arms (from 2,500 at the cosmeticskinclinic.com).

Alice says the new-generation of breast implants will be 30 per cent lighter than traditional version and will be more transparent under mammography (file image)

Likewise, full-body LED beds will soon be the 21st-century take on sunbeds.

A short session under red LED light calms inflammation and stimulates the growth of collagen, leading to firmer skin.

Just now, there is only one full-body bed, the BodyBoost bed, in the country, at trustedlight therapy.co.uk in Suffolk, which is said to ease back pain and improve eczema as well as skin firmness. A 25-minute session costs 70.

LIGHTER BOOB IMPLANTS

New-generation breast implants made with silicone gel filled with hollow spheres are 30 per cent lighter than traditional implants, as well as more transparent under mammography.

Cosmetic surgeon Chris Inglefield is already using them at London Bridge Plastic Surgery (lbps.co.uk). These could be the way of the future, though experts advise caution over new types of implant that cant yet show long-term safety trials.

Mr Rajiv Grover, former president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, explains: There are 35 or more implants on sale in Europe because they are classified as medical devices which only require a CE mark.

A CE mark can be obtained by treating a handful of patients with a 6-12 month follow up. Often the real issues with medical devices take longer than this to emerge.

THE BIG LIP BACKLASH

All the doctors I spoke to are concerned by the way so many young women are chasing the full-lipped look.

Its a huge problem for reputable practitioners, who are reluctant to give young women the disproportionately big lips they see on social media.

Dr Arthur Swift, a leading plastic surgeon from Montreal (drarthurswift.com), explains to potential patients that beauty is all about proportion.

To this end, he measures their facial features with a special pair of calipers, then, if necessary, gives them a small, but appropriate, dose of filler. Then, he says, I can tell patients: Now, you are perfectly proportioned, dont do any more! 

Dr Swift does not practice in the UK, but cosmetic doctors who do similarly careful work with lips include Dr Jonquille Chantrey in Alderley Edge, Cheshire (drjonquille.co.uk), Yvette Newman, a highly qualified nurse-injector at Absolute Aesthetics in central London (absoluteaesthetics.co.uk) and cosmetic surgeon Sherina Balaratnam at S-Thetics in Buckinghamshire (sthetics.co.uk). Prices for lip fillers start from 500.

A WORD OF WARNING

I left the conference slightly uncomfortable at how much more acceptable the whole aesthetics industry is becoming.

Uncomfortable because of the surprisingly relaxed attitude to regulation in the UK aesthetics industry  anyone can buy fillers or a laser and start using them on patients.

Never has it been more important to only see a well-qualified, recommended practitioner you trust  even if it does cost more.

One of the more vexing aspects of aesthetics is that while you dont even notice the good work, you certainly notice the bad, as I did on the overdone women outside the conference centre.

As the industry continues to grow, they may well become the norm. I hope Im wrong, but I wouldnt bet on it.
Bored? Listless? Ready for a change? Well, good, because from tomorrow we can all expect a little mayhem and excitement to zing its way into our lives. Why? Because Uranus  the planet of change  is about to switch signs.

Uranus is moving into Taurus, one of the three earth sign constellations in the night sky, for the first time since 1942. This rare move, taking place at 4.16pm BST, heralds a massive energy shift  and its big news for all of us.

Whatever your sign, you need to brace yourself for the changes coming your way, for Uranus is the planet of chaos.

Ever noticed the way your life seems to go in seven-year cycles  seven-year itch, anyone? Thats because Uranus only changes signs once every seven years, throwing cosmic curveballs with abandon.

As you read this, the great disruptor of the skies is on the march, and after tomorrow some things are never going to be the same.

Astrologer Yasmin Boland reveals how you can work with the energy changes of Uranus's move to liberate your life (file image)

Frightening? On the contrary! Remember there is always a solution to every problem, including one to the wild, untamed rule-breaker Uranus. The key here is to work with the energies of change, and not against them. Uranus is the planet that causes us to evolve and pushes us to our limits.

Uranus can give you the power to free up your life  promoting change, fostering it, looking at where you have been stuck in a rut. The questions everyone needs to ask themselves are simple: where do I feel trapped? Where do I need liberation? Where do I crave changes?

Then you can harness the Uranian energy to write an exciting new chapter of your life . . .

ESCAPE FROM A RELATIONSHIP RUT

If your relationship feels stagnant, do something to add a little excitement. Uranus is moving into Taurus, whose ruler is Venus, the planet of love. That makes this planetary placement especially good for shaking up your love life.

If you and your partner are stuck in a rut, tap into the energies by doing something that no one would expect you to and which is quite different to anything you have done before. Use your imagination! If you want change, you have to act.

Yasmin advises being open to relationships with someone different to anyone you've previously been with. She suggests searching for love online (file image)

MOVE ONLINE TO FIND TRUE LOVE

Single and dont want to be? The first key to this new planetary placement is to forget about whoever you think is your type. You will fare far better in love if you explore what it feels like to be with someone completely different to anyone you have been with previously.

Also, note that Uranus is the planet of technology. Put that together with Tauruss loving ruler Venus and you get . . . the rise and rise of dating apps. If youve never dared to try your luck online, nows the time.

STRIKE OUT ON YOUR OWN

Job boring you to tears? Put it this way: either you can change it or it could change by itself, when you least expect it, possibly leaving you high and dry.

So, steer the change  dont stay stuck out of fear. Remember, Uranus is the planet of change and Taurus is a very material sign (since its ruler Venus is all about love and abundance.)

The move of Uranus is going to make it easier for people to radically change the way they earn an income. Theres no reason you cant be one of those people. In particular, money made online is going to be very well-starred under Uranus in Taurus. So, if youve been sitting on an idea for making your fortune digitally, now is the time to expand that plan.

Yasmin advises making radical career changes and possibly using the internet to make money instead of being stuck in a job out of fear (file image)

STOP KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES

dissatisfied with your lot? Be careful what you wish for! In the first few weeks of Uranus in Taurus, it will be easier for the Universe to usher in the changes you say youre craving.

In particular, more and more people will be asking themselves, How on earth did I allow myself to get trapped into this big mortgage/this financial roller coaster which is sucking my life away? Whats important to us  what we value  will change. Of course, we are not all going to end up living off-grid, growing our own food and drinking rainwater.

However, there will be more and more people wondering if the money they earn to buy things they dont need to impress people they dont like is really worth all the stress. Keeping up with the Joneses by buying a new car, a bigger house, or going on ever more luxurious holidays could become less of a priority.

PREPARE FOR A RAINY DAY

Worried about cash? Change is coming in the money markets, too. Taurus, the sign Uranus is moving to, has a lot to do with money, capital and wealth, including banking.

If you have ever visited Wall Street in New York, one of the hottest money centres on the planet, you will have seen their very Taurean 11ft Charging Bull statue which has become a symbol of Americas dash for cash.

Yasmin recommends being wise with money in preparation for a change in the financial markets (file image)

Expect a roller-coaster ride on the share and property markets and sudden reversals of fortune. But theres no need to panic. Panic is the enemy. Instead, be sure to have something set aside for a rainy Uranian day.

A DRIZZLE OF MAKEOVER MAGIC

Unhappy with your appearance? Remember Taurus is associated with the planet of femininity and beauty: Venus.

So Taurus has a strong feminine and fashion vibe, making now the perfect time to update your look. Go for a bold makeover that will surprise people (including yourself!) If youve been wanting to lose weight, tap into change-making Uranus and shake up your exercise routine. If your wardrobe has had its day, Uranuss move into fashion-friendly Taurus gives you the perfect excuse to invest in new outfits. Why not go for beautiful natural fabrics, since Taurus is an Earth sign and loves all things environmentally-friendly?

FEEL YOUR TRUE POWER

Be yourself! Uranus is very much the planet of individuality, so if you want to embrace the changes Uranus is offering, then you need to be true to your highest self  the best part of you.

This is a wonderful time to override any fear you have about change. So tune in to what you really want  the Uranian energy will push you along. There will be disruption, but harness the energy and enjoy the ride. And try to care less about what other people think.

Yasmin suggests investing in a makeover and embracing individuality (file image)

Remember, Taurus ruled by Venus is all about the feminine, while Uranus is the planet that splits conventions wide open.

There is change coming for women, thats for sure. It will be even more intense in the coming seven years, as womens roles shift and we see a whole new Womens Liberation movement starting up.

WHAT THE MOVE MEANS TO YOU

From an astrological point of view, the area of your life mentioned below is where you, in particular, should prepare for disruption. Its also where you can expect the chance to break free of anything that is holding you back.

Remember, though, that because Uranus is unpredictability incarnate, the change that springs to mind when you read your forecast may not be the one you get! All we know is which part of your life (and your horoscope chart) the changes are coming in.

Do read your Rising Sign if you know it, too. Your Rising Sign is calculated from your time, date and place of birth, and will give you a more accurate forecast, more akin to having a one-on-one personal astrology reading.

If you dont know your Rising Sign, visit www.moonmessages.com/freechart and cast it free. If your Rising Sign is different to your main or sun sign, read your Rising Sign first. It might feel odd, but you will soon see how much more deeply it resonates.

Pisces (pictured) is advised to keep an open mind as changes in self expression are expected

HOW TO PREPARE: A SIGN-BY-SIGN GUIDE

Aries (Mar 21-Apr 20)

Expect changes in your finances. Disruption is due and financial liberation is possible. Follow your unique genius when making money. Digital ventures are recommended.

Taurus (Apr 21-May 21)

Your whole life is up for change. With Uranus in your sign, its inevitable, so look at where its needed most and go for it! Do things your way as much as you possibly can.

Gemini (May 22-June 22)

Change is due in your spiritual life. Dont have a spiritual bone in your body? That could well shift now. Already spiritual? Expect an evolution. You are being woken up.

Cancer (June 23-July 23)

A whole new tribe of friends is coming your way. Your social circles will alter massively. Expect more online friends, too. Ensure your personal and professional goals foster independence.

Leo (July 24-Aug 23)

Any big, unforseen changes are likely to come at work. For some, a total career change becomes possible. The work your soul wants to do can now be done. Your ambitions are evolving.

Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23)

Unexpected, long-haul trips away are forecast, not to mention big changes in your life philosophy. Allow yourself to experience new cultures, too. Shake your-self out of a philosophical rut.

Libra (Sep 24-Oct 23)

Be open to exciting new developments in your sex life. Try something different with your beloved  or find a new one! Find out who you truly are. Seek out financial success online.

Scorpio (Oct 24- Nov 22)

Uranus will be acting mainly on your love life, so massive changes are forecast in at least one very important relationship. Be your real (best) self in all your relationships. Most of all, try to live and let live.

Sagittarius (Nov 23-Dec 21)

Expect upheaval in your daily routines  its what you need after a few torpid years. Be yourself in the work you do and give your wellbeing routines a boost.

Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 20)

changes are due regarding romance, creativity and children. If youre artistic, give it free rein. There will be developments in the arena of romance.

Aquarius (Jan 21- Feb 19)

Expect disruption at home and with family matters. If you want a major life change, thats possible. Make your home a symbol of who you are. An unanticipated house move (or moves) are likely.

Pisces (Feb 20-Mar 20)

Big changes are coming in the way you think and express yourself. Suddenly you have the courage to be yourself! Keep a very open mind and ideas will burst forth. Dare to think differently.

yasminboland.com
A couple who have been best friends since they were toddlers have celebrated their wedding  even though they haven't lived on the same continent for over 30 years.

Loe Cuarto, 36, and Kathleen Hernandez, 35, first met as babies in Switzerland when their parents became close friends.

Loe's family moved to the US in 1986 and eventually settled in Philadelphia, but the young friends lost touch again until they were 18.

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Love a long time coming: Loe Cuarto, 36, and Kathleen Hernandez, 35, recently tied the knot after knowing each other their whole lives

Hanging out: The pair met when they were babies in Switzerland and became close friends as they grew up

Kathleen, an office manager who lives in Geneva, and her family flew to the US for a vacation in 2000 where the teenagers reconnected but their relationship remained platonic.

It wasn't until Loe's mom Nemita sadly passed away in 2009 that the pair began to text every day after Kathleen reached out to offer her condolences.

Loe, a sales associate, was thrilled when Kathleen booked a two-week vacation to Philadelphia in 2009 and the pair finally shared their first 'magical' kiss.

Since that moment, the couple has maintained a long-distance relationship between the US and Switzerland, seeing each other in person every six months.

After eight years together, the couple tied the knot in Las Vegas in December 2017 and Loe plans to move to Switzerland in August to live with Kathleen for the first time.

Long apart: Unfortunately, Loe's family moved to the US in 1986, separating the friends

Going way back: Kathleen said of Loe 'I remember being with him every day'

Growing together: The pair lost touch for years after their separation

Although Loe says there wasn't a dramatic proposal, the simplicity of the pair's wedding made it really special.

Kathleen said: 'Loe is my childhood sweetheart. I remember being with him every day.

'We were at kindergarten together. And if we weren't there, I was at his house or he was at mine.

'We used to play all day long. At one point, we even had the same haircut.

Loe added: 'When we were 17, Kathleen and her parents flew to the USA for a vacation. We had not seen each other in so many years.

'At that time we probably felt something but we were afraid to say it because growing up we had felt like family.

Reunited: The pair met again in their late teens in 2000 (pictured), when Kathleen's family came to the States for a visit

Re-connected: After Loe's mother died in 2009, Kathleen reached out to him to offer her condolences, and the pair began texting

'We lost touch then for a while and my mom sadly passed away in 2009. The very next day Kathleen reached out to me to offer me her condolences.

'Back then everyone had a Blackberry, and she asked me to give her my pin.

'We didn't think it would work internationally but it did miraculously. We began texting every single day.

'At that time I had a girlfriend and she had a boyfriend so it was platonic. I remember her asking me: "What do you think would have happened if you had never left Switzerland?"

'And I was being flirty and I said, "Well we probably would have ended up together."

'A few months later me and my girlfriend at the time broke up and me and Kathleen started talking more and more frequently.'

Meant to be: Before their relationship became truly romantic, Loe even joked that they 'would have ended up together' had his family stayed in Switzerland

Coming together: When Kathleen came to Philadelphia for a visit in 2009, they finally had their 'magical' first kiss

Working hard: The pair have maintained a long-distance relationship since, seeing each other in person every six months

'After my mom passed away she became such a good support to me. In 2009, she came to visit for two weeks and that's when everything started to change.

'We kissed for the first time on that trip and it sounds really corny but I remember in that moment I thought that this was it.'

Loe said the biggest barrier to their relationship was the distance, but he was never tempted to end the relationship because he feared he would lose his best friend.

'Over the years, people would always ask me how I could keep a relationship going when my girlfriend lives thousands of miles away in Europe.

'I never once thought about cheating or anything like that because this was legit my best friend in the world, and I couldn't imagine life without her.

'I love Kathleen's loyalty, she is the type that always motivates me to do better.

'When I was younger I was a knucklehead and a troublemaker but Kathleen is the opposite and she has brought calm to my life.'

Kathleen added: 'Our wedding was just pure happiness and love.

Making it happen: Loe and Kathleen were married in December in Las Vegas

Lots of love: Loe plans to move to Switzerland to be with his new wife once his visa is approved

'Loe's father and some of our friends from Philadelphia were there.

'My parents, my brother and my maid of honor flew all the way from Switzerland to witness our special day.

'I feel so lucky and blessed. Who would've thought I would end up with my childhood sweetheart? Sometimes, I still can't believe I've married my very first friend.

'But I believe in destiny and what's meant to be will be.'

Loe plans to leave for a new life in Switzerland once his visa is approved in the summer and said he can't wait to start a family with his long-term friend.

'I'm very excited. It will be the best thing that ever happened. I've been waiting for this for nine years now.

'A family is definitely on the cards, we'd love to have kids.

'When I look back at those pictures of us from back then it is really surreal. Sometimes I think about it, and it's amazing that it worked out.'
Salt flats have an irresistible drama. Here are three of the most spectacular . . .

BREATHTAKING NAMIBIA

Onkoshi Lodge is filled with flamingos during rainy season and offers beautiful sunrise views

Onkoshi Lodge overlooks Namibias Etosha (Great White Place) salt pans. Marvel at the magnificent sunrises and sunsets.

INSIDER TIP: Go in the rainy season (November-April) to see flamingos.

DETAILS: Eight-day/five-night itinerary from 2,995 pp, valid until June 30, 2018. Price includes flights, one night in Windhoek B&B, two nights camping in Etosha and two nights at Onkoshi Lodge B&B, coxandkings.co.uk.

GO WILD IN THE U.S.

Badwater Basin is a great location for trying sandboarding on flat dunes

Death Valley offers sand dunes, wetlands, canyons, creeks, mountains and thrilling camping. Badwater Basin is a surreal salt flat covering nearly 200 sq miles. You cant camp on the delicate salt itself but there are sites nearby.

INSIDER TIP: Try sandboarding on the Mesquite Flat Dunes.

DETAILS: Flights to Las Vegas (about a 2-hour drive from Death Valley) from 416 return, virgin atlantic.com. Visit nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/backcamp.htm.

BACK TO BASICS

Meerkats can be spotted whilst exploring Botswanas Makgadikgadi Pans National Park

Camp overlooking Botswanas Makgadikgadi Pans National Park and explore on a quad bike. Go bird-watching, on game drives and walk with bushmen.

INSIDER TIP: Look out for meerkats (and bring a torch).

DETAILS: Three-night Kalahari Suricate Safari from 2,550 pp based on two sharing, including internal flights to Maun, accommodation, all meals and drinks and activities, expertafrica.com. Return flights to Maun from 969, flysaa.com.
Many of would be outraged if our G&T was served without a slice of lemon or lime.

But according to a gin expert these garnishes should be avoided at costs when it comes to making the perfect gin & tonic.

Sam Carter, a senior ambassador at Bombay Sapphire, told Business Insider that the citrus fruits add 'mustiness'.

The expert, who has 22 years experience in the drinks industry, said the perfect ingredients for a gin & tonic are actually ginger and mint.

A drinks industry expert said the perfect gin and tonic is made with ginger and mint, not lemon and lime

According to Carter, lemon and lime that has been sitting around in water can ruin the taste of your drink.

He said: 'It just adds a real fusty, mustiness to it.'

Carter advises that ginger, which should be put in the glass first, and a spring of mint are the perfect addition to a G&T because they 'pull on two of the botanicals in the gin'.

He also said the perfect mixture is one part gin and two parts tonic, and the more ice the better.

And your enjoyment of your G&T can also be affected by your choice of glass, with a balloon glass being the preferred choice and a burgundy red wine glass at a close second.

Sam Carter, a senior ambassador at Bombay Sapphire, says the fruits can make the drink taste 'musty'

These glasses allow the drinker to get their noses right inside them, giving them a good whiff of the drink - part of the enjoyment of a good G&T.

Carter said the choice of tonic made a huge difference, and revealed that Fever Tree and Schweppes Cucumber Tonic were his favourites.

Gin lovers were sent into a frenzy recently when popular brand launched Premium Pink Distilled Gin & Tonic cans for 1.80 a tin at four major supermarkets in time for the first May bank holiday weekend.

Gordon's Pink Gin, which launched last year, is said to taste of raspberries and redcurrants with a touch of juniper.

It has now been pre-mixed with Schweppes Tonic in tins, which are on sale at Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and the Co-op.
The number of children and teenagers with type 2 diabetes  a condition more typically associated with middle age  has soared by 25 per cent in just four years.

The condition is caused by eating too much and exercising too little. It is not usually diagnosed until later in life because it tends to take years for problems to accumulate to such an extent that blood sugar levels spiral dangerously out of control.

The latest figures show that in 2016-17, the number of people under 20 with type 2 diabetes was 1,043  the first time it has risen above 1,000. In March 2013, the figure stood at 836.

The number of children and teenagers with type 2 diabetes  a condition more typically associated with middle age  has soared by 25 per cent in just four years. (File photo)

If left uncontrolled, type 2 diabetes can lead to blindness, infections resulting in amputations, and an early death.

Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said the 25 per cent rise had occurred was because Britain had totally failed to stop obesity in its tracks in the early years.

One in three children leaving primary school is now overweight or obese, according to the National Child Measurement Programme.

In the worst areas one in two is affected. Mr Fry said: We have ignored these rises in childhood obesity. Now we are living with the consequences.

If left uncontrolled, type 2 diabetes can lead to blindness, infections resulting in amputations, and an early death. (File photo)

As The Mail on Sunday reported last week, TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has accused Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt of running scared over the issue.

He revealed he wanted to question Mr Hunt on his series Britains Fat Fight over whether the Government planned to curb junk food adverts aimed at youngsters but had been fobbed off.

A Health Department spokesman defended the Governments record on diabetes, saying: There is nowhere in the world setting more stringent sugar reduction targets than this Government has set.

We are also taxing sugary drinks, helping children to exercise more and funding research on junk food advertising. We are monitoring progress closely and have not ruled out taking further action.
Every woman of child-bearing age  including teenagers  should have a pregnancy test before undergoing NHS surgery, say experts.

At the moment guidelines state female patients should be asked if they are pregnant before an operation.

But a new study warns this approach is 'unfit for purpose' and could cause 'unnecessary harm' to the mother-to-be or her unborn child, as many women do not realise they are expecting in early pregnancy.

A new study warns this approach is 'unfit for purpose' and could cause 'unnecessary harm' (stock image)

Study author Dr Michael Wilson, of Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, said guidelines merely required staff to ask, 'Is it possible you are pregnant?'

'If the patient says 'No', that is the end of the guidance,' he said. 'With all of the technology that we have at our disposal, there really isn't any room for subjective evidence  which is what the guidelines ask. We should be finding objective evidence, which is a very simple urine pregnancy test.'

Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said it was surprising the guidelines 'appear to leave open a risk' to women who did not know they were pregnant, and their unborn children.
A 5,000-a-week psychiatric hospital where a young sculptress was found dead last autumn has been heavily criticised by a health watchdog for letting patients take illegal drugs into their rooms.

Daisy Boyd, 28, the granddaughter of River Cafe co-founder Rose Gray, apparently took her own life at the Nightingale Hospital in London last October, months after she split from her publishing heir fiance Dan Macmillan.

She died after cocaine and razor blades were apparently smuggled into her room in the upmarket treatment centre in Marylebone, which specialises in addiction and eating disorders.

Daisy Boyd, 28, the granddaughter of River Cafe co-founder Rose Gray, apparently took her own life at the Nightingale Hospital in London last October, months after she split from her publishing heir fiance Dan Macmillan (pictured above with Daisy)

Now the Care Quality Commission, which regulates hospitals, has published a scathing report outlining a series of failings at the Nightingale  including the charge that not enough was being done to stop illicit substances being taken onto the premises.

The document was based on several visits that inspectors made in mid-January  more than three months after Miss Boyd died.

A summary of the CQCs findings said processes and procedures needed to be reviewed at the Nightingale to tackle the problem of illicit substances, which it described as a significant challenge for staff to manage.

The report explained that staff did search patients on admission and targeted their searches at other times if there was cause for suspicion, but the problem was nonetheless a frequent one. Overall, it gave the institution an amber rating, meaning it requires improvement.

Nightingale Hospital - a 5,000-a-week psychiatric hospital - has been heavily criticised by a health watchdog for letting patients take illegal drugs into their rooms

Daisy Boyd was found dead at the Nightingale on October 5 last year.

A year earlier, she had celebrated her engagement to Dan Macmillan, great-grandson of Tory PM Harold Macmillan and heir to a 300 million publishing fortune, at a lavish party at Londons River Cafe, co-founded by her grandmother, who died in 2010, and Ruth Rogers.

At a pre-inquest hearing in March, her father, Tim Boyd, said: She was certainly showing other patients that she had cocaine.

He also voiced concerns about security, adding: The fact anybody can wander in and out is a major issue.

Daisy Boyd was found dead at the Nightingale on October 5 last year. A year earlier, she had celebrated her engagement to Dan Macmillan, great-grandson of Tory PM Harold Macmillan and heir to a 300m publishing fortune, at a lavish party at Londons River Cafe, co-founded by her grandmother Rose (left), who died in 2010, and Ruth Rogers (right)

The CQC also noted that a string of problems identified in its previous report, published last June, had not been fixed, including the lack of an alarm system to summon help in an emergency and staff having insufficient training to support patients with addictions and eating disorders.

The hospitals amber rating remained unchanged.

A Nightingale spokeswoman said staff did their best to prevent illicit substances being brought on site but it was difficult as patients were legally allowed to come and go as they pleased.

She said that since the CQCs inspection, the hospital had enhanced its comprehensive action plan to address the issues raised.
A disabled pensioner died after he was badly scalded while taking a shower and left for six hours because a carer failed to carry out a routine check on him.

Grandfather Alan Pavitt, 79, suffered severe burns after falling and accidentally knocking the hot tap on.

He should have been found by a home help at a 10am visit scheduled to coincide with when he had his daily wash. But she was late and told police she assumed the widower was out after letting herself in at 10.45am and finding the flat empty, claiming she did not try the bathroom door.

The carer claimed she returned at 1pm but had forgotten the key code so couldnt let herself in.

It wasnt until 2pm when she went back for a second scheduled visit that Mr Pavitt, who lived alone in Romford, east London, was found collapsed in the bath.

Alan Pavitt died after falling and turning his scalding hot tap on at home. He was left for six hours when his carer failed to check his house. Pictured with grandaughter Talia (10)

Alan Pavitt suffered severe burns after falling and accidentally knocking the hot tap on at home. He should have been found at 10am but was not discovered until 2pm

The grandfather was scalded and taken to hospital with 11 per cent burns when he was finally found in his bath at home

However, the carer failed to relay the severity of his condition to a 999 operator and it was around 4pm before he was taken to hospital with 11 per cent burns.

The former postman, who had limited mobility after a previous stroke, developed kidney failure and died nine days later in March 2016.

Police investigated but found insufficient evidence to prosecute the carer or the firm she worked for, Westminster Homecare, in connection with Mr Pavitts death.

But senior coroner Nadia Persaud later ruled at Walthamstow Coroners Court that the failure to check his whereabouts and wellbeing at 10am delayed treatment and contributed to his death.

Yesterday Mr Pavitts daughter-in-law Shelley Pavitt, 43, said she was still haunted by thoughts of him suffering alone for so long.

Alan Pavitt died after an accident in his Romford home after a carer from Westminster Homecare failed to find him slumped in his bathroom. Pictured right with wife Christine who died before he did

Former postman Alan Pavitt was left in agony. His family have said they have been left angry and upset over the thought of him alone and in pain. Pictured with wife Christine who died before he did

When we got to hospital he was in agony, she said. There was literally no skin on his leg. He had been really sick because of the shock and had lost so much fluid from the burns that he had gone into kidney failure.

She and her family are concerned about inconsistencies in the unnamed carers version of events and are taking legal action against Westminster Homecare for compensation.

Nicole Brendel from law firm Slater and Gordon, who is representing the family, said: They cannot turn the clock back but by sharing their own painful experience they hope to stop these kind of mistakes happening to anyone else.

A spokeswoman for Westminster Homecare said they continued to offer their sincere apologies to the family of Mr Pavitt and confirmed the carer concerned had been sacked.

'Westminster Homecare prides itself in providing trained care workers to deliver excellent social care to all our service users,' she said.

'In this instance the care worker involved who was fully trained, failed to follow policies and procedures of the company and as a result caused a delay in Mr Pavitt receiving medical treatment.

'The care worker was dealt with immediately following an investigation and dismissed from our employment.

'Westminster Homecare worked in a transparent manner along side the Local Authority safeguarding team and fully co-operated with the Coroner's inquest. This was a tragic accident that should not have occurred.

'Our condolences and offer of support remain with Mr Pavitt's family.'
The Awkward Age is published by Vintage, price 8.99. To order a copy for the special price of 6.74 until 10 June, click here or call 0844 571 0640; free p&p on orders over 15

THE STORY

In the five years since her husbands untimely death, Julia has focused on the happiness of her indulged 16-year-old daughter Gwen and resigned herself to a singleton future. Then she meets James, 55, divorced, easy-going and a respected hospital consultant. The couple fall in love, an unexpected romance that rejuvenates Julia in all sorts of ways. Even her former father-in-law notes that, at the age of 46, she is looking young and luminous. Its when James moves in with Julia that the problems begin  not between the middle-aged lovers, but between Gwen and Nathan, the 17-year-old son James brings with him.

At first the two grate on each other, disrupting the harmony of the household and threatening their parents precious second chance at happiness. But worse is to come when the teenagers fall for each other, leading to a game-changing dilemma that forces Julia and James to take sides. The result is a tangled and brilliantly observed family drama, superbly crafted, sparklingly told and completely absorbing.

A very smart, soulful, compelling, elegantly written domestic novel Nick Hornby

THE TASTER

On their first date, timed to coincide with Gwens geography field tripJulia had sat, prim and awkward and resistant, had spoken little but had drunk a great deal of red wine and had eventually launched herself upon James in the taxi home with an alarming and volcanic hunger, and had spoken her first honest, unguarded words to him, hungover and ashamed the next morning. This was an English first date, as she remembered it. To James, its speed affirmed his growing conviction that they were meant to be together.

THE QUESTIONS

1. Is Julia too indulgent towards Gwen? Should parents always put their children first?

2. Jamess ex-wife describes Julia as unchallenging. Is she right?

3. Which characters do you find most sympathetic?

4. Is Julia right to be horrified by the relationship between Gwen and Nathan?

5. What advice would you have given to Gwen when she faces her big dilemma? What do you think of the choice she makes?

6. Teenage years are considered to be awkward? What awkward ages do adults face?

7. How significant is the death of Gwens father in the way she behaves?

8. Blended families are increasingly common. What are the biggest challenges they face?

9. Theres an observation in the novel that good parenting sometimes means making your children unhappy. Do you agree?

10. What do the characters learn about themselves by the end?

THE AUTHOR

Author Francesca Segal

Francesca Segal grew up in London, the eldest daughter of an editor and the academic and novelist Erich Segal, author of Love Story.

When she was four years old her imaginary friend was a secretary who took dictation of her stories, and, she says, her aspirations have wavered very little since. In one form or another she has written fiction ever since (though she has never had another secretary).

Too intimidated to apply for English literature, she went to St Hughs College, Oxford, and read experimental psychology instead, in which she later began (and then abandoned) a PhD. She now cherishes a fantasy of going back to undergraduate life and reading English but almost certainly wont do it. Dont we all wish we could re-do our teenage years with the confidence of our thirties and forties? But then we would miss out on all our most interesting mistakes.

Francescas first novel, The Innocents, was a contemporary recasting of Edith Whartons Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Age of Innocence, and won the Costa First Novel Award in 2012. As well as Wharton, Francescas most venerated and beloved authors include Nick Hornby, A S Byatt, Edward St Aubyn, and Elizabeth Jane Howard, among others.

She lives in London with her husband, her identical twin daughters and a part-time ragdoll cat, named Hestia, to whom she is both devoted and violently allergic. Francesca believes it isnt just teenagers who can go through an awkward stage  adults can hit them in later life, too. I think there are multiple awkward ages, she says.
For years, Lucy Fry struggled with depression but shunned medication, regarding it as an unnecessary substitute for therapy. She reveals what changed her mind  and her life

'I was sceptical about medication and believed I needed to dig into the origins of my depression,' writes Lucy

When is it good to take antidepressants? Until recently I would have answered hardly ever, preferring to believe that medication, unless used in cases of severe depression, bipolar or schizophrenia, was merely a way of sidestepping legitimate sadnesses, which were better faced and worked through via therapy.

I see now how puritanical  not to mention ill-informed  this sounds. But in my defence I had my reasons. Ten years ago, aged 26, I had a breakdown, triggered by confusion over my sexuality and my decision to leave a steady job and go out into the wilderness as a freelance writer. Gradually I realised I was in trouble: panic attacks, hopelessness and hours of tears daily meant that earning became nigh-on impossible.

I went to see a psychiatrist, who put me on an antidepressant medication (Citalopram) and suggested that I start therapy. The idea was that the medication would help to lift my head and heart to a place where I was better able to engage with the therapy and start to challenge my negative core beliefs. Indeed, my weekly sessions with a psychotherapist became part of a long and meaningful unfurling, an ongoing journey towards becoming more self-aware, fulfilled and open.

I confided in friends and family that I was in a relationship with a woman and started to carve a career as a journalist. The therapy helped me to understand that the way I thought about myself wasnt helpful or self-caring, and it gave me space to explore my past: traumatic incidents during childhood that still caused me to doubt myself.

I was sceptical about medication and believed I needed to dig into into the origins of my depression

As for the antidepressants, I think they did have a small initial effect: simply by taking them I acknowledged that I was struggling and stopped pretending that I was fine. I dont think it was supposed to be a long-term thing, but somehow it ended up that way. After just one follow-up session with the psychiatrist I began to get three-month prescriptions from my GP instead. I was afraid to stop taking the medication and yet still the hallmarks of chronic moderate depression hung around: negative self-talk, pessimism and a propensity to drop into sadness, sometimes with frightening speed and intensity.

Eventually, after another terrible self-hating day triggered by an argument with a close friend, my partner begged me to see my GP. He suggested doubling the dose of my medication, but I thought, Enough, and decided to follow my instinct, which was that it wasnt making a jot of difference.

I decided to come off the medication completely  and guess what? Once I was off it, everything remained the same. I didnt feel worse and I didnt feel better. Now I was convinced that antidepressants didnt work! And still I walked around with stress on one shoulder and anxiety on the other. Every few months Id be ambushed by a ferocious sadness and have to withdraw from life for a couple of weeks until the tears dried out.

Oh well, I thought, maybe this is just me. Ive always felt things very deeply. Maybe the lows come with the highs. But at least Im not on meds. At least whatever I feel is real.

Clearly, I had developed a prejudice. I had joined the increasing number of people sceptical about what they believe to be the overuse of antidepressants, those who believe we must dig deeper into the origins of our distress and look at what, both as individuals and a society, were getting wrong. This group has many complaints about antidepressant medications.

One is that theyre making the pharmaceutical industry lots of money while silencing (rather than addressing) the anguish felt by millions of people trapped in a world where old-fashioned community is disappearing and weve become addicted to technology.

This argument resonated with me and I was determined to carry on with life  and therapy  unmedicated. Whenever the subject of antidepressants came up with friends Id sigh, thinking how sad it was that some people chose to numb themselves when they could be walking unarmoured through their days. I regarded moderate anxiety and depression less as chemical malfunctions in the brain and more as signs that something in a lifestyle required changing.

So in an attempt to cure myself, I read a different self-help book every month, went on personal development courses and meditated daily. I felt sure that if I was courageous and willing, I would be able to go through the darkness, tweak my thinking and emerge into the light a happier, more balanced me.

'It was revelatory. I didnt realise how much stress Id been living with until it was reduced,' writes Lucy

Yet still the negativity persisted. All that worry and self-criticism was getting worse. Then, late last year, after an intense few months that included the birth of our first child (to whom I am the nonbiological mother), financial pressures and work-related disappointments, I tripped into a sadness of epic proportions. Even the simplest things such as calling a friend back seemed to require too much energy. My self-belief was minimal and I was exhausted  not just as most new parents are, but as though a virus had ravaged my body until walking felt difficult. A virus of sadness, perhaps?

In retrospect, the trigger for this depression is fairly obvious. I was physically, mentally and emotionally spent. Perhaps if Id been able to take a couple of months off and recuperate somewhere hot Id have bounced back without medical help. But that wasnt an option: my family needed me to work, to love, to play, so I acquiesced and visited a new psychiatrist. It was one of the best things Ive done in years.

Firstly, I was completely open with this doctor about my concerns that medication would turn me into a zombie, an idea Id gathered from books, films and occasional stories told by friends. Secondly, I explained how much I valued therapy and how I felt Id be a failure in that regard if I succumbed to medication.

Well, he asked, what has therapy given you? This was an easy question to answer, I replied: therapy had transformed my day-to-day life in wonderful and interesting ways. I understood my past much better, had unravelled many issues that held me back and felt more able to be myself.

Yes, he nodded, and those are wonderful things. But you are still suffering with depression. Dont you think its time to try something new?

I felt an upward shift in mood and my anxiety reduced. It was revelatory

I was too tired and desperate to argue. I agreed to try some pills and he prescribed what he felt to be the right medication for me (an SNRI  serotoninnorepinephrine reuptake inhibitor  prescribed for alleviating depression, anxiety and panic). He also reassured me that this time Id be closely monitored, unlike ten years earlier. After a dodgy couple of weeks where side effects included headaches, nausea and a fuzzy, detached feeling, the drugs started to kick in. During this time I returned for a checkup.

Soon after I felt an upward shift in mood, but it was around six weeks (and another checkup) later that I noticed how reduced my anxiety was  probably just 20 per cent of what it had been for years. I was concentrating better and felt more able to step back and argue with the critical voice inside my head (which was also quieter).

It was revelatory. I didnt realise how much stress Id been living with until it was reduced. Most of my worries about side effects were unfounded: I didnt balloon in size and I was far from a stupefied zombie. Quite simply, I began to feel more resilient  but not at the expense of my emotional range, merely the highest highs and the lowest lows. What on earth was happening? Could this really be down to medication?

Is it time to get help? Three signs you may need to take medication 1 Is there an obvious recent cause behind your feelings? If youre going through something traumatic such as unemployment, divorce or grief then its more than natural to feel sadness, anxiety or even to struggle with work or socialising. We wouldnt prescribe antidepressants immediately, but rather hope the patient can get social support and use the experience, however upsetting, as a kind of personal healing, says psychiatrist Carmine Pariante. But if that person is still crying every day six months later and cant get out of bed or has been off work for one to two months, its time to think about medication. 2 Are you wondering why you bother with life? If youre feeling suicidal or as if life might not be worth living, its time to take action. One question we always ask  even if someone seems to be doing OK  is, Have you ever considered that life isnt worth living any more? says Pariante. Even with a doctor people can go to great efforts to appear as if theyre coping, but when we ask that specific question we often get the truth. 3 Are you waking early? Sometimes people with depression sleep all the time, but the most classic sign is waking up very early, say 3am or 4am, and not being able to get back to sleep, says Pariante. People who are clinically depressed have an already elevated level of stress hormones, so their levels peak too soon when the stress hormones naturally begin rising very early in the morning. Advertisement

Then, after Id been taking the drugs for a month, a groundbreaking study by Oxford University confirming that antidepressant medication works was released. Whats more, some were found to be tolerated better than others, while others are more effective. And guess what? The pills Im currently taking were proven to be more effective than those I was on after my first breakdown.

I was intrigued to know what it was about antidepressants that helped produce such astonishing results. Our current understanding is that new brain cells are produced in everyday life, particularly abundantly when the brain develops in childhood, explains psychiatrist Carmine Pariante from Kings College London and the Royal College of Psychiatrists (rcpsych.ac.uk). But even as an adult you continue to produce new brain cells and connections between them, which allows you to consolidate memories and learn new things about life. Antidepressants increase the creation of new brain cells, which allows a person to begin to judge life differently and perhaps change the negative way theyre looking at it.

From a pathological point of view, antidepressants do the same thing as psychotherapy, he continues. The final outcome for the brain is essentially the same  thats why the combination of the two is the strongest tool we have, and why they are best prescribed together. Antidepressants make the work of psychotherapy more effective but theyre both about learning.

This was quite hard for me to hear. I still believed (and do to this day) that most mental-health issues are either symptoms of underlying trauma or come about because of a nasty, critical inner voice acquired during childhood. Im also still committed to the idea that with therapy and lifestyle changes, such trauma can be worked through, and that tackling depression with medication alone is to deny oneself the chance at life-enhancing personal growth.

Yet having experienced first-hand what an enormous difference the correct medication can make, I now realise where I went wrong in the past. To disregard antidepressants merely because they reduce the severity of depression symptoms (or purify our emotional life) is stupid, even masochistic. Also, to reject antidepressant medication because you wish to understand whats caused the depression in the first place is like refusing painkillers when youre suffering from a migraine. If you take medication, it doesnt mean you must give up on trying to find the cause of your migraines and reduce their frequency.

The therapy I had over the years did a huge amount to help me reframe my views, but it wasnt the only solution and, when things got especially stressful, I needed an extra boost. It feels such a relief to struggle less. Whats more, I feel no shame about being on medication, nor any pride that I struggled without it for years  just a little regretful that I struggled for so long.
Shes a pro on both sides of the lens, so who better than supermodel photographer Helena Christensen to share selfie-ready handbag essentials with us?

I love big sunnies, and this summer I wont be going anywhere without a pair from the collection I created with Pared. Sunglasses, 185, Staerk & Christensen + Pared, paredeyewear.com.

My wow-factor lipstick is Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Fascinante [31, chanel.com]. For a more casual look, Armani Lip Magnet in Glow [above, 30, armanibeauty.co.uk] works as a blusher and lip tint.

I always carry hand lotion with me  my favourite is Farmers Hand Cream [14, welshlavender.com].

Lip balm is one of my essentials, and Vaseline Aloe Vera Lip Therapy [1.50, tesco.com] is as good as any.

Who doesnt love a classic Mulberry bag? The new Amberley [550, mulberry.com] is just gorgeous.

After collaborating with Huawei on its recent See More photography project, I cant get enough of the new P20 Pro Smartphone. It has a Leica triple lens so the picture quality is amazing. 799, consumer.huawei.com/uk.

For Helenas advice on how to take the perfect selfie, visit you.co.uk

THIS WEEK I'M BUYING...

TREAT: Im obsessing over this little gem of a dress in Pantone Emerald from Rixo. Bring on the summer parties 265, rixo.co.uk

STEAL: A multi-trend box-ticking floral skirt with a frilled asymmetric hem. Add a white tee and sliders and off you go. 59, stories.com

WHAT TO WEAR FOR A ROYAL RETREAT

Hoanib Valley Camp in Namibia

Tipped as Harry and Meghans honeymoon destination, Namibia is set to be the travel hotspot this year and beyond. If awe-inspiring landscapes and near-total seclusion are your thing, head to the Hoanib Valley Camp (opening next month) for the full safari experience. 535 per person per night based on two sharing. timbuktutravel.com
Victims of rip-off copycat websites are being urged to put up a fight to get their money back.

The Mail on Sunday has been swamped with correspondence from readers following our investigation last month into tricksters who set up websites to look like official government sites  and then charge users inflated sums for services that should be free.

Among the many victims is Liz Young, from West Sussex, who fell foul of a website imitating the Canadian governments service for ordering an electronic travel visa to the country  known as an Eta.

Liz Young fought hard to get her 40 back from the copycat website that charged her 80 for a 4 visa

Arranging her Eta just before a visit to her son and family in Ontario last September, she discovered she had been charged 80  20 times the usual price of seven Canadian dollars (4).

Furious, she contacted the Canadian government, but it could not or would not help. She then directed her attention back to the copycat firm and demanded it refund her payment. She says: It claimed I was paying for all sorts of extras. I said I did not want them.

With the holiday season looming many families could be caught out like Liz  as they collect essential travel documents such as visas, passports, driving licences and European Health Insurance Cards.

They are being urged to double check the authenticity of websites they use before entering any personal and payment details.

The imposters trap the unwary with websites that look uncannily official and often appear at the top of internet search results. Such websites, justifying their fees on the checking of documents that they do, are not illegal. But many do mislead.

Often they include disclaimers stating they are not an official government service. But this information is usually buried in text well below the eye-catching online buttons that encourage people to click through to start the application  and payment  process.

Even when buyers reach the payment page, the amount they are being charged remains ambiguous. This is what happened to the Dhesi family, featured in our investigation last month, who paid 150 for two Etas that should have cost a total of 8.

Other families have come forward after being tricked by the website they used  Canada Access. Interestingly, Canada Access no longer offers the Eta service.

For some documents, such as the European Health Insurance Card, alarms bells should ring loudly for British travellers who land on a payment page. This card, which entitles the holder to the same state medical treatment as locals in European countries, is issued free by the UK Government.

Liz Young, who travelled to Canada with her daughter and granddaughter, refused to take no for an answer from the copycat website she ended up using. She demanded her money back.

She says: I stuck to my guns because I am not wealthy and could ill afford to pay 80 for something that should have cost 4. It took some perseverance but I kept on at them and I got back 40.

Chris and Mandy Larkin were caught out by an imposter website when buying an Eta before a trip to Toronto last summer

Liz no longer has the website details but her bank account showed the refund came from Etavisa-gov.ca and was paid in dollars.

She adds: I count myself fortunate that I did not have my daughter and granddaughters passports handy when I arranged my Eta  and therefore only bought mine. I warned my daughter who was extremely careful when she applied for her Eta.

Chris Larkin, 63, from Bridport in Dorset, was also caught out by an imposter website when buying his Eta before a trip to Toronto last summer. He paid 150 instead of just 8 for two Etas. He says: I thought it was the Canadian government I was dealing with. It was only when I checked my credit card statement three weeks later that I realised what had happened.

He says: I had the added worry that the visas might not be valid. I took the websites emails with me in case but fortunately they were not needed. The way they are allowed to do business this way is a disgrace.

Chris attempted to retrieve his money via his bank but without success.

Some lookalike websites include reassuring wording about quibble-free refunds if made within a certain period  though this is unlikely to amount to a full repayment.

Consumers are being urged to double check the authenticity of websites they use

Mike Andrews, of the e-crime team at National Trading Standards, says it can be worth pestering hard for a refund. This is because many copycat operations do not want any adverse publicity which could impact on sales.

Where a buyer is tricked by a pure scam  which is when the service simply runs off with your money with no documents to show for the payment  the chance of recompense from your card provider will be greater.

Hannah Maundrell works for consumer website Money. She says: If you are left out of pocket, whether or not you get your money back can depend on what you were paying for and how you paid.

If you paid with a debit or credit card you might be covered by either the chargeback scheme or Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act  this would cover you if the goods or service you paid for were never available or if the seller disappeared.

Alex Neill, a director of consumer group Which?, says more work needs to be done to stamp out copycat websites.

She adds: While progress has been made, search engines and enforcement agencies must take action to prevent people from being caught out by unscrupulous operators.

'Copycats can still buy adverts on searches for some government services, so always check for gov.uk on the address for UK services and take nothing available on Google or other search engines for granted.

We've been flooded with emails from readers following our investigation into tricksters

Google says: Given we want the adverts people see to be useful and relevant, we have policies that prevent adverts for paid products or services that are available from a government or public sources for free or at a lower price. The only proviso is where they offer a clear added value. If we discover websites that are breaking this rule, we take appropriate action.

A Bing spokesperson says users can complete a form on its website to report questionable ads  and that once alerted, it will remove those that breach its policies.

Travellers need to be particularly alert when searching online for the US electronic travel authorisation  called an Esta.

This vital digital document for anyone planning travel to the United States has proved a goldmine for copycats and scammers. Many imposter websites pop up in online search results.

The Esta, which is valid for two years, costs just $14 (10) if purchased through the official US government website. It needs to be organised at least 72 hours before departure. But the internet is awash with imitators that are raking in fortunes from unsuspecting travellers.

Jane Martin (name changed), from Lincoln, fell into this trap, paying a lookalike  US-visa-application.org  $60 (44.50). During the application process she was given no indication of any added service charge  with only the standard $14 Esta fee highlighted.

She says: When I made the payment I understood I was authorising a credit card payment of $14. I only discovered the charge was $60 when I received an email from the website. I complained immediately and requested that $46 be returned.

Jane is still waiting to hear the outcome but she is not holding her breath. She adds: Had the website been up-front about its charges I would not have gone ahead. Basically it tricked me.

Only a deeply-buried disclaimer reveals the website is not affiliated to the US Government and informs applicants they can use the official website instead. But there is no mention of the official websites address.

The copycats wording informs users that if they do opt for the official route you wont benefit from our additional support and services. The Mail on Sunday attempted to contact the website to discover what these services include. The phone number on the website did not work and email contact was ignored.

Jane at least received her Esta and was able to travel. Others have not been so lucky. Reader Derek Joy recently paid $79 to website usvisaesta.net but no Esta was forthcoming.

He says: I should have been in Florida last week to compete in a sailing race but instead I have had to stay at home following the race online. It does not have quite the same buzz as being there.
Ross McEwan, the chief executive of RBS, was quick to declare that his bank had reached a milestone moment when it agreed on reparations of $4.9 billion (3.6 billion) in the US to atone for its role in the financial crisis.

Its a funny old world when a multi-billion pound payment for misconduct sends your share price up, but lets be charitable  its a significant step on the slow journey to becoming a normal bank again, albeit a full ten years after the meltdown.

Hold the champagne, though: so long as the appalling behaviour of its Global Restructuring Group towards small and medium-sized firms remains unresolved, then RBS cannot claim to have cleaned its slate.

The wretched entrepreneurs who fell into the hands of the GRG division expected it to help them through a period of trouble, but instead were exploited, bullied, asset-stripped and abused.

Its a funny old world when a multi-billion pound payment for misconduct sends your share price up, but its a significant step on the journey to becoming a normal bank again

About 6,000 firms were under the control of the GRG between 2008 and 2013, and of those about a quarter are putting in a complaint  an unacceptably high rate for any organisation. Others no doubt have suffered in silence.

RBS is going through these and reckons it will have dealt with most of them by the late autumn. A process for those in deadlock, overseen by retired judge Sir William Blackburne, is in place. This wont do the trick. The conflict between firms and lenders has turned so toxic it is hard to see how it will be put right.

The banks behaved abysmally. RBS and Lloyds  as we set out on these pages again this week  were the worst offenders. The complainants are not always entirely blameless and, in a minority of cases, are bogus bandwagon-jumpers. Others have become obsessive conspiracy theorists.

The anti-RBS campaign is also infested with chancers seeking to enrich themselves via the victims, some of whom are desperate enough to listen to anyone who claims they can help. The antics of these unscrupulous individuals and their deluded supporters threaten to taint an important cause.

The sheer volume of complaints shows just how deep the problems go.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of particular cases, the scandal at RBS and at Lloyds goes to the heart of what a bank is for. It is not to rack up huge profits and bonuses for the executives, but to channel money to individuals to improve their prosperity, and to entrepreneurs to build businesses. This is a key part of our system that continues to misfire.

The banks behaved abysmally. RBS and Lloyds  as we set out on these pages again this week  were the worst offenders

Ross McEwan, who came in several years after Fred Goodwin, is sometimes unfairly vilified for problems he inherited, rather than created.

He has tamed Freds risky, sprawling global empire and slimmed it down into a smaller, safer and more manageable bank. Now he has drawn a line under the crisis-era mess across the Atlantic, following an earlier milestone in February as RBS reported its first annual profit for ten years.

He is expected to start paying a dividend again in the second half of this year and the Government is likely to start selling down its 71 per cent stake before next April when the new tax year starts.

Credit where its due for all that. But lets not forget that, as taxpayers, we are nowhere near getting our money back, or that the behaviour of RBS and Lloyds created a lost generation of entrepreneurs.

To avoid this ever happening again, we need proper supervision of lending to firms, which is at present largely unregulated. There should also be an Ombudsman and a tribunal for redress, a clampdown on unfair contract terms and regulation of action groups to keep out the shysters.

The banks could redeem themselves by playing a productive role in local economies, by backing growth firms, including spin-outs from universities and high tech start-ups. Yet they are rushing to close branches and to airbrush out past sins. Will they ever learn?
Rolls-Royce is facing a bill upwards of 750m after its flagship Trent engines

Embattled engineer Rolls-Royce has banned all but essential staff travel as it faces massive bills to fix faults in its high- tech airplane engines.

Boss Warren East has urged staff to swap face-to-face meetings for teleconferences where possible and asked them to find any way to reduce indirect costs.

The firm is facing a bill upwards of 750million after its flagship Trent engines, which are used by airlines all over the world, started deteriorating faster than expected.

It was revealed last week that Rolls-Royce, which has already axed hundreds of managers, could also quit its plush headquarters in central London as it seeks to save cash.
Shell shareholders are being urged to vote against boss Ben Van Beurden's 7.8m pay packet

The boss of oil giant Shell is facing the threat of a revolt over his 7.8million pay packet.

Institutional Shareholders Services, a leading investor advisory group, is recommending that Ben van Beurdens pay is voted down at the annual general meeting later this month.

ISS said it also wants more information about how the 60-year-olds bonus was affected by an incident in Pakistan in 2016, when a fuel tanker operated by a Shell Pakistan contractor exploded, killing more than 200 people.

Shell said that it disagreed with several of ISSs concerns.
Gerard Walsh co-founded the group

An influential MP has called for an urgent inquiry into a group set up to sue Royal Bank of Scotland on behalf of small investors, following a Mail on Sunday investigation into a fraudster at its centre.

Norman Lamb also blasted the Ministry of Justice for doing nothing to probe the RBoS Shareholders Action Group, which he says should have been regulated.

His concerns, raised in Parliament last week, come after a seven-month Mail on Sunday probe found the group was co-founded by a fraudster, Gerard Walsh.

The Irish businessman has been trying to help himself to 3.75 million out of a 200 million settlement that the bank agreed to pay investors who signed up to the action group.

Lamb has separately written to Justice Secretary David Gauke asking for a meeting to discuss the action group.

He praised The Mail on Sunday for having pursued a thorough investigation into the activities of this company.

The Liberal Democrat MP named Walsh as someone who has a track record of personal and business insolvency and who has faced allegations of fraud.

He has been described as a fraudster by a civil court.

Lamb said the group should have been regulated by the MoJ, which runs the Claims Management Regulator.

He suggested that the MoJ had chosen not to regulate the group based on assurances given by a lawyer associated with Gerard Walsh that everything is fine and that regulation is not relevant in this case.

But Lamb added that other lawyers had advised the action group company that they come within the regulatory remit.

I am really concerned about a double jeopardy here, the MP said at a debate hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking, which he co-chairs.

People who have already lost through the appalling behaviour of RBS [are] now at risk of losing again with this settlement money leaking out all over the place, potentially improperly.

He added: There are criminal sanctions where there is a failure to properly get registered in the regulation system.

These people, if they are taking money out of the settlement pot, away from innocent victims, need to be pursued It needs to be investigated, and investigated as a matter of urgency.
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For decades their roof lines were as distinctive as a cathedral's spires and millions flocked to worship at the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet and dessert bars.

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The Fat Pocket Pawn Shop at North Versailles in Pennsylvania is one of hundreds of former Pizza Huts shot by Ho Hai Tran

The classic dine-in Pizza Hut restaurant with its red roof and trapezoidal windows is now a rare sight in Australian suburbs

The El Centenario Mexican Restaurant in Hermitage, Tennessee, still features the classic trapezoidal Pizza Hut windows

Seaspray Pools at Ferntree Gully in Victoria has lifted a former Pizza Hut off the ground to sit above its main entrance

Artists and authors Cahill, 33, and Tran, 32, have provided Daily Mail Australia with a selection of their images taken before and after publication of their 2016 tome.

'The project came about as the result of a conversation spanning a few years,' Cahill said. 'We would drive past a repurposed hut in western Sydney on a fairly regular basis and invariably chuckle about how this building, now serving out its days as a Salvation Army store, was so clearly an old dine-in Pizza Hut.'

Cahill is from Albury in southern New South Wales and Tran from the Hawkes Bay region of New Zealand

'We both grew up in small towns in the 90s where the local Pizza Hut restaurant was a fairly big deal,' Cahill said.

'At that time the restaurants, which were known for their buffet-style offerings and red-checked tablecloths, were frequented by families and school groups making it quite a hub in small town New Zealand and Australia.

Atlanta Title Loans in Snellville, Georgia, is one of many old Pizza Huts turned into a money lending business or pawn shop

Many of the former Pizza Huts located by Chloe Cahill and Ho Hai Tran are vacant; this one was found in Atlanta, Georgia

The Masjid Al Baq Mosque in Bethpage, New York, has had its roof flattened and windows bricked in since its Pizza Hut days

'When we started to notice these huts after so many years it was particularly interesting to us how they seemed to hide in plain sight.

'The Salvation Army hut, for example, still has the original parking lot sign, the classic trapezoidal windows, and lots of other little elements that hinted at its former life.'

At some point Cahill and Tran's conversation turned from their first discovery to wondering how many other huts were out there in Sydney and NSW.

'Our hunt began in earnest by looking around the greater Sydney area, then expanding to the whole state and carried on like that in ever-increasing increments until it became apparent to us that in order to do the body of work justice we would have to travel to the home of the hut, the United States,' Cahill said.

'While we were shooting in various locations around Australia and New Zealand we began the task of researching locations in North America.

Chloe Cahill and Ho Hai Tran began their 'Pizza Hunt' quest after spotting this converted restaurant that is now a Salvation Army store in Liverpool, south-west of Sydney. The find led the pair on an international journey to find more converted huts

The Church of Our Saviour at Boynton Beach in Florida is easily recognisable as a former Pizza Hut by its trapezoidal windows

Seoul Hoikwan Korean restaurant at Belfield, in south-west Sydney, was once Australia's first Pizza Hut, opened in 1970

'The project was at that time the most research-intensive work we had done to date and we started to collate information from the historical feature on Google Street View and from comments and coordinates deep in long-forgotten web forums.'

The pair used a map of locations worthy of investigation to plot a course across the US starting on the west coast driving south to north, then to Florida. They travelled as far south as Key Largo then back to the midwest and southern states, eventually making their way to the east.

Cahill described the journey as 'essentially zig-zagging our way to areas where we believed there were clusters of former huts.'

Pizza Hunt contained only about 70 of the huts the pair found and photographed.

'Our ambition changed from documenting those in our immediate area to creating the most comprehensive taxonomy of the remaining huts as possible,' Cahill said.

'We know it is, and can only ever be, partial because there was never any single record of all of the dine-in huts worldwide and because so many have already been demolished.

Easy Money lending in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is among hundreds of old Pizza Huts converted to house new businesses

Rosa's Mexican Restaurant in Shawnee, Oklahoma, has had a paint job and its windows squared off but is still recognisable

Ho Hai Tran and Chloe Cahill travelled to the US deep south to capture Bourbon Street Bar Lounge in Irondale, Alabama

'That said, we also know there are so many more in South America and in terms of the body of work it would be a dream to hunt out and capture those for posterity.'

While every fresh discovery was a small victory the team inevitably had favourite finds.

'The cover of the first edition of the book features one of our favourite huts, the Copycat,' Cahill said. 'It's a printing and copying place in Pennsylvania.

'Our other favourites tend to be the most surprising variations on the hut theme - the Simply Stereo hut in St. Charles, Illinois and The Y-By Rentals hut in Wenonah, New Jersey.'

Among the converted Pizza Huts were bottle shops, pawn shops, and plenty of non-pizza restaurants.

'Probably the biggest surprises were all of the churches, temples, and mosques,' Cahill said. 'The religious buildings of different kinds in former huts are so numerous and varied, in surprising and delightful ways.'

This bottle shop within an IGA grocery store in Frankston, Victoria, has received a new paint job but kept the iconic hut roof

Artists and writers Ho Hai Tran and Chloe Cahill (both pictured left) travelled across Australia, New Zealand and the United States in search of former Pizza Huts which housed new businesses to produce their award-winning book Pizza Hunt (right)

Cahill and Tran have their own theories why people are interested in these re-imagined Pizza Huts.

'The question of why people love the old huts has certainly driven this project and given it some natural momentum,' Cahill said.

'In finding and cataloging the buildings we're always encountering more stories from locals about their own memories of dining at a particular hut and one things is clear: for the people who grew up dining in the restaurants, the buildings hold a special place in their memories.

'So special that even after the building has changed hands and been repurposed and renovated the structure itself still calls to mind that time of dine-in fast food, all you can eat slices, and the dessert bar dreams were made of.'

When the pair was first starting out on Pizza Hunt they launched a Kickstarter campaign. They aimed to raise $20,000 and $30,000 was pledged.

'Pizza Hunt is a photographic record of our journey to find the iconic Pizza Hut restaurants that were erected in their thousands in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s,' their Kickstarter appeal said.

Holiness Tabernacle Church of God in Christ in Woodbridge, Virginia, retains its Pizza Hut windows and was painted white

Los Burritos Mexicanos in St Charles, Illinois, is one of many Pizza Huts in the United States turned into a Mexican restaurant

Olsens Funerals, at Revesby in NSW, has lost its hut-shaped roof and the windows have been altered to become rectangular

'The book will feature a carefully curated selection of these original dine-in "huts". Today, only a handful of these huts remain and they now have second lives as grocery stores, pawn shops, gospel churches, liquor stores and funeral homes, among other things.

'Since capturing our first hut we have traveled over 14,000km between Australia, New Zealand and the USA in pursuit of them all.

'Although most have been repurposed, refurbished or relocated, the buildings are still readily recognisable and, for many who dined at Pizza Hut in the '70s, '80s and '90s, call to mind a time of dine-in fast food and self-serve sundaes.

'As kids growing up in the '90s, the local Pizza Hut was a place of wonder. A world of red checked tablecloths, pizza by the slice and an endless supply of soft serve.'

Copycat printing at California in Pennsylvania is one of artists Chloe Cahill and Ho Hai Tran's favourite converted Pizza Huts

Hawkes Bay Seafoods in Hastings, New Zealand, is located near where Pizza Hunt photographer Ho Hai Tran grew up

While Pizza Hut moved away from the dine-in experience years ago the chain still operates a few such restaurants in Australia. While Domino's now calls itself the world's largest pizza chain based on sales, Pizza Hut is second and has more stores.

Founded by brothers Dan and Frank Carney in Wichita, Kansas, in June 1958, Pizza Hut is part of Yum! Brands Inc - which also owns KFC and Taco Bell - and runs more than 16,000 outlets around the world.

The first Pizza Hut was a simple brick building with an unremarkable roof. The red roof design was introduced in 1969 as the brand grew internationally.

The Carney brothers hired college friend and architect Richard D. Burke to distinguish their restaurants from the competition. Pizza Hut folklore has it that the brothers were unable to afford Burke's upfront fee and instead offered him $100 per store built using his patented design.

The Great Wall Chinese restaurant in Glendale Heights, Illinois, can still be identified as a former Pizza Hut by the windows

The Trevino Smith Funeral Home in Bryan, Texas, has had its distinctive windows blocked out but its past life cannot be erased

Simply Stereo at Hoffman Estates in Illinois has undergone major renovations since its heyday as a Pizza Hut restaurant

Cahill said she and Tran had been pleased with how Pizza Hunt was received. The work won Best Series at The Centre for Contemporary Photography's annual prize and has been acquired by universities and libraries including New York's MoMA for their permanent collections.

'As time passes and more of the buildings inevitably disappear the work's being recognised as being of some cultural significance outside of urban architecture circles where the buildings have long been a curiosity,' she said.

The pair's search has thrown up cases of mistaken identity. A sex shop in Illinois which they suspected might have been a hut fell of their list after further research and conversations with the former and current owner.

'The Illinois red herring wasn't unique,' Cahill said. 'There were lots of similar stories in different states but it was key that we could verify a building was at some point a dine-in hut.
A grandfather who spent more than five months in hospital after he was hit by an allegedly stolen semi-trailer while sitting in his car has revealed his horrific injuries for the first time.

Kerry Small remembers nothing of the runaway truck's impact but has been told how the semi-trailer ploughed into his vehicle while he waited in traffic at Singleton in the New South Wales Hunter Valley last year.

'I would like to be able to talk about it mate but I dont remember anything about it,' Mr Small said.

The 67-year-old, who was released from hospital about six weeks ago, knows all about the terrible injuries he sustained in an incident witnesses said left parts of the town resembling a 'war zone'.

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Kerry Small was in this red Holden Cruze when he was hit by a runaway truck at Singleton

The scene of the crash at Singleton in October last year. Kerry Small's red vehicle is at centre

This vehicle was among five smashed by an out-of-control semi-trailer at Singleton last year

Kerry Small, 67, spent more than five months in hospital after his car was rammed by a truck

Retired maintenance engineer Kerry Small was hit by this runaway semi-trailer at Singleton

'I got two broken legs to start off with,' Mr Small said. 'And five - no, seven, eight - broken ribs.

'I got a punctured lung, a brain bleed where I cut my head open. I got a broken neck, two breaks in my spine.

'I got a broken shoulder and the internal injuries.

'Other than that, I wasn't too bad.'

Mr Small, a retired maintenance engineer from Muswellbrook, was the most seriously injured of eight people hurt when a man ploughed a semi-trailer into five stationary cars at Singleton, causing 'absolute carnage'.

Rodney Johnson, 29, had allegedly stolen the semi-trailer from a service station at Murrurundi - more than 100 kilometres away - about 7.30am on October 11 while its driver was paying for fuel.

Emergency Services workers examine Kerry Small's crushed red Holden Cruze at Singleton

One witness said George St, Singleton, looked like a war zone after the horrific truck crash

Retiree Kerry Small suffered two broken legs and other fractures when hit by a semi-trailer

Police pursued this allegedly stolen semi-trailer before it crashed and burst into flames

Police initiated a pursuit and deployed road spikes as the truck approached Singleton at speeds estimated at 100km/h.

The semi-trailer continued for a few kilometres after hitting the spikes, crossed a bridge then crashed and burst into flames on George Street about 8.45am.

Mr Small was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital in critical condition. He still has no memory of the crash, which occurred when his red Holden Cruze was caught in a traffic jam.

'As far as the accident itself I couldnt tell you anything about it. I only know what I was told,' he said.

'I dont know what I was doing I dont even remember leaving the place where I live.

'I know a lot of things that people told me but as far as the crash goes I wouldnt have a clue.'

Firefighters work on cleaning up after a horrific truck crash in Singleton in October last year

A semi-trailer slammed into five cars and several buildings after a lengthy police pursuit

He knows he is lucky to be alive. 'So I'm told,' Mr Small said. 'Everybody seems to be saying that.'

Mr Small, who has lost 25kg since the crash, describe the pain he is still experiencing as 'seven out of 10'.

His eldest son Aaron said his father faced a long road to recovery.

'He's very, very lucky,' the 49-year-old said. 'Doctors told us it was only the size of him that saved his life.

'Apparently he told one of the paramedics that he's seen the truck coming but he had nowhere to go but he doesn't remember saying it.'

Mr Small is staying in an apartment in Newcastle while a new home with ramps and other modifications is prepared for him near Port Macquarie at Fern Bay.

'I'm not too bad,' he said. 'I'm walking around on a stick. My legs won't support me by themselves.'

'I've got a job lifting my arms up.'

The scene after Rodney Johnson allegedly ploughed a truck into five stationary cars last year

The Royal Hotel and a vehicle parked outside were both hit by an allegedly stolen truck

Johnson, the driver of the semi-trailer, was arrested at the scene, taken to hospital with minor injuries and underwent mandatory tests.

He was refused bail and faces 24 charges, including negligent driving, dangerous driving, furious driving causing bodily harm, stealing a motor vehicle, leading police on a pursuit and assaulting police.

'I couldn't say anything about the bloke,' Mr Small said.

'I hope he gets as much time in jail as what I did in hospital or better.'

Retiree Tony Deakin, who survived the crash with his wife Jenny, described the aftermath of the incident as like a 'war zone'.

Witness Debbie Anderson described her terror as she sat in traffic and saw the truck hurtling towards her at high speed.

'It was like something that you'd see on the movies,' Ms Anderson said.

'I don't even know how fast he was travelling, he was absolutely flying.

'I was in complete disbelief.'

One witness described the scene after the Singleton truck crash as resembling a war zone

The semi-trailer crossed a bridge and barreled down George Street before its fiery crash

Kerry Small has trouble walking after the crash which broke both his legs and one shoulder

Meri Basci said she was on her way to work when she saw the truck being driven 'erratically' over the bridge before it crashed and burst into flames.

'I saw a lot of dust under his wheels... it all happened so fast,' Ms Basci said.

'I couldn't even understand how he could drive that fast over the bridge without hitting anyone or anything.

'A second later all I could hear was a big bang and a lot of black smoke.'

NSW Ambulance Inspector Luke Wiseman said it was 'chaotic' when paramedics first arrived before 9am with a number of 'distressed people'.

'The scale and suddenness of the incident and the fact that is has happened in a smaller community means a lot of people are in shock, so it was a challenging scene,' Mr Wiseman said.

Huge blankets of black smoke could be seen and one witness reportedly said there was a 'huge fireball' with cars 'all over the road'.

George Street, Singleton, after a semi-trailer took out five parked cars in October last year
Red Rooster regular Gabriel Dimech has heard the rumours of his favourite fast food outlet's demise and is doing everything he can keep the chain alive.

Mr Dimech dines at the Lakemba Red Rooster in Sydney's south-west every day and has done so for years.

He was there as usual having an original burger with barbecue sauce on Wednesday afternoon, his 42nd birthday. Sometimes he returns at night.

'I eat it every day,' Mr Dimech said. 'I don't eat McDonald's. I don't eat Hungry Jack's. I don't eat Kentucky Fried Chicken. That's all c**p.'

Red Rooster has been in the news recently after a small group of franchisees warned the chain was in dire trouble and restaurants were facing bankruptcy.

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Gabriel Dimech (left) is on first name basis with Red Rooster shift supervisor Muharram Hussan

An ibis stakes out its territory at a Red Rooster outlet at Summer Hill in Sydney's inner-west

The whole roast chicken at Red Rooster sells for $12.99 - $4 more than at a supermarket

This customer cuts a lonely figure at Lakemba's Red Rooster; business picks up at night

Regular customers who love their 'Red Rooter' fear the classic Rippa Roll could disappear while skeptics question paying $4 more than at Woolworths or Coles for a comparable roast chicken.

The prospect Red Rooster could be in trouble was raised in a submission to a Senate inquiry into the Franchising Code of Conduct. The chain's owner insists everything is fine.

Those complaining represent just a tiny fraction of all Red Rooster franchisees but what they are saying is harming the entire chain.

Red Rooster was founded by Peter Kailis family at Kelmscott in Western Australia in 1972, four years after KFC - then Kentucky Fried Chicken - opened its first local restaurant at Guildford in Sydney.

From the start, Red Rooster's speciality has been roast chicken but recent menu additions have seen the appearance of lamb and fish and chips.

Red Rooster on busy Liverpool Rd, Summer Hill, was quiet at lunchtime on Wednesday

Lunchtime at Red Rooster in Summer Hill; the drive-through was doing steady business

The Rooster Roll contains roast chicken with herb stuffing and creamy mayo in a warm bun

Whether or not that is a good thing, you won't be seeing the news on TV. One of the unhappy Red Rooster franchisees' complaints is that the company has not spent money on free-to-air advertising.

The authors of the recent senate submission have called themselves the Franchisee Association of Craveable (FAC), referencing the parent company which now controls Red Rooster, Oporto and Chicken Treats.

'The association is alleging that the Franchisor is not acting in good faith in regards to the Franchise Agreement which has resulted in a poor business model,' the submission states.

However, Craveable Brands says it has had no direct contact with the association, which it estimates represents as few as 2 per cent of all its franchisees.

Craveable operates 570 Red Rooster, Oporto and Chicken Treats restaurants in Australia. More than 360 of those restaurants are Red Roosters.

The 'chicken loaded chips' menu option is a try of chips, loaded with chicken and gravy for $5

The little Red Rooster outlet at Sydney Airport's T3 domestic terminal was quiet at 11am

Red Rooster's popular chicken mega box (pictured) includes a quarter chicken, crispy strip, six potato bites, regular gravy and chips with a 375ml can of soft drink. It sells for $11.99

While the submission warns many Craveable franchises are in 'distress' it has only been the fate of Red Rooster that has attracted much public interest.

Oporto, it seems, does not stir the same widespread passion among fast food diners, while most Australians have never heard of Chicken Treats.

For the record, Chicken Treats was established by Frank Romano who brought his Mediterranean method of seasoning and cooking birds to Western Australia in 1976.

Chicken Treats now bills itself as 'an iconic Australian chicken brand' with a network of more than 60 stores across WA and Queensland.

The FAC submission which started the scare states that 'recently there have been many franchisees in distress '

'There have been recent insolvent franchisees,' it states. 'There are many more on the verge of bankruptcy.'

One-man operation: A cook prepares meals at Lakemba Red Rooster about 3pm on Wednesday

Customer Gabriel Dimech's Red Rooster rewards card is almost worn out with constant use

Craveable counters that of all new business set up in Australia, 80 per cent are no longer around after five years, while only 5 per cent of its franchises suffer the same fate.

The company says its most recent franchisee survey, conducted last year, found an 80 per cent satisfaction rate. Red Rooster is, in fact, expanding.

One of the FAC franchisees' complaints is that they are required to buy some products from suppliers at prices higher than charged by a supermarket.

'A very good example is Mount Franklin Water carton which can be bought for $11 every day price at IGA and costs $18 through Craveable suppliers,' the submission states.

Another complaint is over the Red Rooster loyalty scheme which rewards customers with $1 for every $15 spent.

FAC claims the reward scheme was a 'direct hit' to franchisees without any contribution from Craveable and was introduced without warning or cost-benefit analysis.

Gabriel Dimech (left) visits Lakemba Red Rooster every day; he is pictured here with store manager Muharram Hussan, who has been serving Mr Dimech for more than three years

Red Rooster at Lakemba was quiet at 3pm on a Wednesday but the business is going well

Some franchisees complain home delivery has further increased their costs with little benefit

'It is a conservative estimate that the average store has lost over $25,000 to this program,' the submission states. Again, Craveable denies this.

The loyalty program allowed rewards earnt at one restaurant to be redeemed at any other of the same brand.

Mr Dimech told Daily Mail Australia his well-worn card had sometimes topped $100 in credits but all his rewards were used in the same store.

Red Rooster also provides a delivery service, launched three years ago, as well as having arrangements with Uber Eats and Menulog.

Last year Red Rooster's then chief executive Chris Green said home delivery would be the 'silver bullet' for the company.

'Woolworths and Coles don't deliver roast chickens, so there's sort of a hole in the market,' Mr Green said.

However, the disgruntled franchisees see delivery as a further cost, particularly if customers are using the rewards program.

The classic Rippa Roll (pictured) with two original crispy strips, lettuce and herb mayonaise

Among Red Rooster's biggest sellers is the classic Rippa Roll (pictured) which sells for $7.49

The disgruntled franchisees also claim there is a conflict of interest between Red Rooster and Oporto which operate 'very similar businesses' - selling cooked chicken.

'The common complaint for Red Rooster chicken has been "it is the same chicken, which is available at the local supermarket for half the price",' FAC states.

'[But] a simple move like adding flavours and sauces cannot be done because that competes directly with Oporto, Red Rooster's sister brand.'

However, when Daily Mail Australia visited several Red Rooster stores this week a whole roast chicken cost $12.99  a long way from half the price of a $9 supermarket bird.

All stores we visited were clean - except for one filthy men's toilet - and operated by a small staff.

At Sydney Airport's domestic terminal, Red Rooster was competing with Mad Mex and Hungry Jack's outlets, as well as the nearby Sumo Salad, Wok On Air and NRG Express.

Red Rooster has moved from its traditional chicken fare into lamb offerings such as a wrap

Two of the stools at Red Rooster's Summer Hill outlet have had a good workout over the years

This ibis at Red Rooster's Summer Hill restaurant was grateful for the scraps customers left

One passing flight attendant convinced two colleagues to choose the chicken shop for an 11am snack. 'Do you want to get some Red Rooster before it goes?' he said.

A couple of hours later at Summer Hill, on busy Liverpool Road in Sydney's inner-west, the young woman behind Red Rooster's counter was not run off her feet.

Between 1pm and 2pm about 10 customers passed through the doors but the drive-though was doing steady business and the store also offers in-house deliveries as well as Menulog and Uber Eats.

The Red Rooster at Lakemba, on Canterbury Road in Sydney's south-west, was a little busier shortly before 3pm. Half a dozen customers took up some of the 10 chairs, two long tables and two booths.

Among them was Mr Dimech, enjoying his regular chicken burger meal.

'This store's fine,' Mr Dimech said. He works in the Coles supermarket at Maroubra, where the local Red Rooster has closed.

Red Rooster roasts its chickens for 55 minutes; pictured is the Lakemba outlet in Sydney

Red Rooster at Summer Hill had 10 walk-in customers - and one ibis - between 1pm and 2pm

'I come here all the time. The food tastes good. It's easy to eat.'

Mr Dimech said he ordered a variety of meals. 'Always change it, mix it up all the time,' he said.

The store's shift supervisor, Muharram Hussan, gently disagreed. 'Every day, same thing,' he said. 'The original chicken burger. He'll come in the night time and buy the same thing.'

Mr Hussan, who described Mr Dimech as his best customer, said he had seen an article about Red Rooster's supposed woes on Facebook but seemed unconcerned.

Craveable hit back at the anonymous franchisees on May 4 with a press release which has not had as much publicity as the franchisees' claims.

'The figures correct false assertions made by a small group of store owners, badged as Franchisee Association of Craveable, who claim they are on the point of bankruptcy,' the company said.

Craveable Brands, which in turn is backed by Australian private equity firm Archer Capital, employs 11,900 people in metropolitan and regional Australia.

Craveable Brands, owner of Red Rooster, says its franchisees earn on average $135,000 a year

Red Rooster has specialised in roast chicken since it opened in Western Australia in 1972

The company's CEO Brett Houldin said the 'overwhelming majority' of Craveable's franchisees were happy with the support they received in areas such as financial assistance, training, marketing, IT, store design and market access.

'Our store owners earn on average $135,000 per year with annual sales growing by 4.3 per cent per year, which is 59 per cent more than the average $84,600 full-time worker in Australia,' Mr Houldin said.

'That makes claims of stores nationwide on the verge of collapse a ridiculous assertion.'

Daily Mail Australia spoke to one Red Rooster operator who said his restaurant served 1,250 customers last week. That figure had remained stable for two months.

Takings were between $19,000 and $23,000 a week, with fixed costs of $4,700 and a wages bill of $7,400.

Red Rooster has more than 360 chicken restaurants across Australia and is still expanding

Red Rooster management describe the introduction of home delivery as a 'silver bullet'

Mr Houldin said Craveable was committed to the profitability and success of its franchise partners, including Red Rooster operators, by helping them lift store performance and improve their profit margins.

'One way we help out store owners is through our buying power, with recent tenders delivering additional financial benefits of $11,000-$25,000 per store per year,' he said.

'Of course if store owners believe they can buy the same quality goods at a cheaper price elsewhere we are happy to consider that.'

The company said FAC had never made contact with Craveable about any of its grievances.

Daniel McDouall has five Red Rooster restaurants in south east Queensland and sits on the official Red Rooster Franchisee Advisory Council which represents all franchisees.

Red Rooster at Sydney Airport (pictured) competes against several other fast food outlets

While chicken is still the core of Red Rooster's menu it is now selling lamb and fish meals

Mr McDouall said the 'wider franchisee community of Red Rooster' was not associated with the renegade group and the bad publicity they had generated was unhelpful.

'Family and friends call asking if everything is OK,' Mr McDouall said. 'The frustrating thing is everything is OK.'

Mr McDouall recognised each market was different and no business model was a 'one size fits all' proposition but over the past 12 months his revenue was up and costs were down.

In his experience Craveable management was always approachable. 'They've been nothing but supportive,' he said. 'It gives us a lot of confidence.

'It is quite an exciting future for the brand and Red Rooster. I certainly think we've hitched our wagon to the right brand.

'Weve got a really strong brand that's been around for 45 years. It's an iconic Australian brand and its going to be around for another 45 years.'
The 'Dr Death' linked to a scientist's suicide death has been slammed as 'ghoulish' by critics as we reveal he is offering elderly people free memberships to his euthanasia organisation.

Assisted suicide advocate Philip Nitschke, 70, was instrumental in 104-year-old British-Australian ecologist David Goodall's lethal injection in Switzerland this week.

The highly regarded scientist was surrounded by tearful relatives and a friend and died after listening to Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy'.

Dr Nitschke - who jokingly described himself as the event's 'music director' - has confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that his group has begun offering free memberships to people aged 90 and over.

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Final moments: Dr David Goodall is seen at an assisted suicide clinic in Liestal near Basel, Switzerland, shortly before he died at 11.30am on Thursday

Dr Goodall, above, was renowned world-wide for his work in botany and ecology

Dr Goodall, right, will not be having a funeral as he does not believe in the afterlife

A room at the clinic in Liestal, believed to have been the one where the British-Australian scientist later died surrounded by his family

Preparations: Picture shows instruments for suicide a room in Liestal near Basel, Switzerland

'What we see now is a wave of baby boomers, who were born just after the war, and are now getting into their twilight years,' Dr Nitschke said.

'These people have demanded choice - women were in pursuit of reproductive rights - and now they're at the end of their lives, demanding choice again.'

Those words sparked intense backlash from critics who claim Dr Nitschke is promoting 'suicide on demand'.

'Why aged 90? What is the (line) for suicide on demand on for healthy people?' said euthanasia critic Lyle Shelton.

'I think it's ghoulish and macabre and I think a lot of elderly Australians would be worried - Philip Nitschke seems to think there are some lives not worth living.'

'I've got a great aunty who is in her early 90s and she's a valued member of our family.

'I would never want society to send a message to older Australians that somehow their time is up.'

Dr Nitschke has long been dubbed 'Dr Death'. He is seen with a so-called 'death machine' in his Darwin home on September 24, 1996

Dr Nitschke is pictured above with David Goodall and lawyer Moritz Gall. Goodall was the oldest member of Exit International

Dr Goodall is pictured at work in the 1950s. He had a long and successful career ahead of him

Dr Nitschke has long been dubbed 'Dr Death'. Immediately following Dr Goodall's death was trolled with comments like 'you're sick'.

'There's been lots of very nice comments too,' he said.

'It is a cutting edge social issue so there are strong views - if you got worried about that sort of thing, you wouldn't do anything.

'You've just got to let it go. There are people, and there are plenty, who will never agree to this.

'They've got strong religious convictions, they cant even accept the most basic situation, a terminally ill situation.

The 'Peaceful Pill' handbook distributed by his Exit International group has been linked, rightly and wrongly, to some of Australia's most infamous deaths.

Gold Coast trio Margaret Cummins, 78, and daughters Wynette and Heather, 53 and 54, were members of Exit International and died after obtaining deadly nitrogen gas from a home brewing group last June.

Dr Nitschke has been campaigning for legal euthanasia since the mid-1990s

Triple suicide: Margaret Cummins, 78 (back left), Heather, 53 (right) and Wynette (front) were found dead on the Gold Coast in June 2017. The death was linked to Dr Nitschke's organisation

Margaret had the typical conditions of a 'woman of her age', Heather was diagnosed was early-onset dementia and Wynette suffered cerebrovascular problems.

The women were found by Heather's husband at their exclusive apartment on Ephraim Island.

In another incident, Dr Nitschke's initially thought his book had been used as inspiration for a Sydney father's 2016 gas killing of his wife and two autistic children.

But he later discovered that it actually was another man with a similar name.

'We keep a list of who accesses the handbook online', Dr Nitschke explained after the mix up.

Dr Nitschke initially thought the deaths of Maria Lutz (centre) and their children Elisa (left), 11, and Martin (right), 10 could be linked to his book - but it was a mix-up

He legally helped four Australians die by euthanasia in the Northern Territory in 1996, before the Federal Government intervened and changed the law.

Unlike many, Dr Nitschke did not enter the divisive debate because of a sick friend or relative.

He entered medicine late in life and was living in Darwin when the chief minister, Marshall Peron, began to make noises about changing the euthanasia law in the mid-1990s.

'I thought it was a good idea, too (but) I was so taken aback by the immediate hostility of the Australian Medical Association.

'I was annoyed by the fact my new profession medicine was doing everything they could to wreck and thwart it.'
Over 30million of money intended for charities will be creamed off by websites charging hefty fees over a decade, a report today finds.

Tens of thousands of pounds donated to help the victims of the Grenfell fire tragedy was taken by websites rather than finding its way to survivors and the families of the bereaved.

While cash donated to those caught up in the Manchester terror attack bomb was also top sliced and pocketed by the websites.

Steve Lucas, from the research consultancy Development Economics, estimates that between 2011 and 2021 up to 31m worth of taxpayers' Gift Aid could be taken by online fundraising firms in fees.

Websites have come under heavy criticism for creaming off massive fees from money donated to good causes. Tens of thousands of pounds donated to help the victims of the Grenfell fire tragedy (pictured) was creamed off by websites

He found that websites took an estimated 2.9m of money intended for charities in 2016.

And he found that this could surge to over 4 million a year by 2021.

He said: 'Over 70 per cent of the public think it is unacceptable for crowdfunding platforms to take a cut of the Gift Aid meant for good causes.

'Our research shows that the amount of taxpayers' money meant for charities that is being taken by household names such as JustGiving is rising and will be over 4 million by 2021.'

Stephanie Peacock, Labour MP for Barnsley East, said: 'Millions of pounds of taxpayers' money in Gift Aid meant for some of the most important causes in our communities is instead going to private companies.

'People want their Gift Aid to help people and make a positive change to lives. The great Gift Aid robbery must stop.

While cash donated to those caught up in the Manchester terror attack bomb (pictured, floral tributes left in the city square last year) was also top sliced and pocketed by the websites.

'These platforms must stop taking a cut of Gift Aid now.'

Crowdfunding platforms claim Gift Aid from the UK government on behalf of individual givers and then are expected to pass this on to charities.

But some of the leading platforms including JustGiving have found a loophole where they claim as much as 5 per cent of the taxpayers' Gift Aid as a platform fee, before passing the remainder on to the good causes.

MPs voiced their concerns over the hefty fees during a parliamentary debate on the issue in the wake of the Grenfell fire last year.

Meg Hillier, the chair of the parliamentary public accounts committee, said: 'This is a very high percentage fee and the cost of doing this is much less than 25,000.

'It would be a sensible, reasonable, humane and a morale gesture of good will if JustGiving took a lesser fee or waived it in the circumstances.'
Oklahoma's Republican Governor Mary Fallin vetoed a bill on Friday that would have allowed adults to carry handguns without a permit.

Fallin also signed another bill that permits religious organizations to exclude same sex couples from adoptions, managing to anger both gun and gay rights groups on the same day.

The twin actions announced late Friday were among more than a dozen decisions on legislation taken by the term-limited governor as she clears the decks in her waning months in office.

They also followed a tumultuous session of the Legislature that saw striking teachers march on the Capitol, prompting lawmakers to raise taxes including on the state's powerful oil and gas industry, to fund increases in education spending.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (seen in file photo) vetoed a bill late Friday that would have authorized adults to carry firearms in public without a permit or training

Her veto of the gun bill dealt a rare blow to the National Rifle Association in a conservative state. But the proposal to authorize adults to carry firearms without a permit or training was opposed by law enforcement officials, who said it would weaken background checks and hurt public safety.

In a statement announcing her veto, Fallin stressed her support for the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms and noted she had signed concealed and open carry measures in the past.

'I believe the firearms laws we currently have in place are effective, appropriate and minimal,' she said.

The bill is similar to so-called 'constitutional carry' legislation adopted in a dozen other states.

The NRA blasted Fallin for what it said was ignoring her promise when she ran for re-election in 2014 to support a constitutional carry gun law.

'Make no mistake, this temporary setback will be rectified when Oklahoma residents elect a new and genuinely pro-Second Amendment governor,' said Chris Cox, NRA executive director for legislative affairs.

Handguns are on display at the NRA convention in Dallas last week. Fallin's veto of the gun bill dealt a rare blow to the National Rifle Association in a conservative state

Fallin is in her second four-year term and cannot run for re-election this year. Several Republicans running to succeed her had called on Fallin to sign the measure.

The adoption decision also prompted an angry response, this time from LGBTQ groups, who said it was a license to discriminate against gays and lesbians.

The bill written by Republican Sen. Greg Treat provides legal protections to faith-based agencies that won't place children in LGBT homes because of religious or moral convictions or policies.

The Family Equality Council, which advocates for LGBTQ families, said the law allows religious groups 'to discriminate on the basis of their belief that LGBTQ people should not be raising children.'

Freedom Oklahoma, another LGBT advocacy group, threatened to sue the state.

'Make no mistake, we will fight for the most vulnerable Oklahomans targeted by this law. Our message to Gov. Fallin and the lawmakers who championed this travesty is simple: We'll see you in court!' said Executive Director Troy Stevenson.

But Fallin's action drew support from Oklahoma's Catholic bishops.

'The new law will bring more adoption services to the state and allow crucial faith-based agencies to continue their decades-long tradition of caring for Oklahoma's most vulnerable children,' the bishops said in a statement.

The adoption law goes into effect November 1.

In a third decision on Friday, Fallin vetoed a bill that would have allowed the state to sentence some juveniles to life in prison without parole. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that juveniles should not be imprisoned for life without the chance for parole except in rare cases. Fallin said she vetoed the proposal because she believes it violates that high court decision.

Oklahoma has at least 41 inmates serving no-parole sentences for crimes committed when they were 17 or younger.
A father-of-five who migrated from Mexico to Texas six years ago got a chance to see his family - and meet a new family member - in an emotional reunion at the fifth annual 'Hugs Not Walls' event.

More than 300 families joined Marcelino Pizarro at the US-Mexican border on Saturday for the event, arranged by the El Paso advocacy group Border Network for Human Rights. The reunion was approved by US government agencies.

The event gives families separated mainly by deportation the chance to briefly come together and catch up.

Marcelino Pizarro (center) greets his daughters Fatima (right) and Denise (left) and his granddaughter Aitana

It was the first time Pizarro got to meet his granddaughter. He's pictured above with daughter Denise and granddaughter

Pizarro, pictured above with his family, left Mexico six years ago and now lives in Texas

Pizarro is pictured above with his daughter Denise and Fatima, his granddaughter

The 36-year-old said the hardest part is leaving his family, but he's glad to reunite with them

Pizarro, an undocumented migrant who jumped the fence into the US six years ago, was at the event to see his children, brother and other family members.

I wouldnt trade anything for these moments, he told Reuters. We have to enjoy them as long as we can.'

The 36-year-old lives in Texas with two of his sons. He said he fled Mexico because he was receiving death threats from inmates at the juvenile detention facility he worked at.

Pizarro said one of his brother's was killed by gang members.

At the 'Hugs Not Walls' he got to see his children who still live in Mexico, including his 18-year-old daughter Fatima Paola and her daughter, Aitana. It was the first time Pizarro got to meet the little girl.

I would see my friends, my cousins, all with their dads and I would get sad and cry. I wish he could have been here as I grew up, Paolo said.

Each family that attends the event gets only three minutes to greet each other, exchange hugs and talk. Although the time is short, Pizarro said he enjoys getting the chance to see his family.

Each family who attends the Hugs Not Walls event gets three minutes each to greet their family members

More than 300 families attended the event this year, organized by the El Paso advocacy group Border Network for Human Rights

Another family at Saturday's event greet each other at the fifth annual Hugs Not Walls

The event gives families separated mainly by deportation the chance to briefly come together and catch up

To make sure no one crossed the border during 'Hugs Not Walls' participants in the US had to wear blue t-shirts and those in Mexico had to wear white shirts

Family members line up for a chance to greet their family members at Hugs Not Walls

'The hardest part is that its over. We have to accept it, but its hard,' he told the outlet.

Sandra Guerta was also at the event with her husband, Lorenzo. Guerta, who lives in Texas, told the Albuquerque Journal that they got up early to make it in time to reunite with her mother, who she hasn't seen in more than 10 years.

Martin Portillo, 22, used his three minutes to propose to his girlfriend Daisy Arvizu, 21. He told the Albuquerque Journal that it was important Arvizu's family, who lives in Mexico, was present when he popped the question.

Families want to be together especially for these moments, he said.

'Hugs Not Walls' took place days after Attorney General Jess Sessions said parents and children entering the US illegally will be separated.

If you cross this border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. Its that simple, he said during a visit to San Diego. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law.

To make sure no one crossed the border during 'Hugs Not Walls' participants in the US had to wear blue t-shirts and those in Mexico had to wear white shirts.
Two grandfathers are lucky to be alive after they got lost and spent the night in dense bushland in the freezing cold without food and water.

Geoff Dinning, 71, and Adrian Twit, 78, were hiking in Tatong, Victoria's north-east when they lost their bearings and quickly became disoriented.

The two men from Wangaratta set off at 8.30 Friday morning at Whiskey Creek Trail, 2.5 hours from Melbourne, 7 News reported.

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Two grandfathers, Geoff Dinning, 71, and Adrian Twit, 78 (pictured) are lucky to be alive after they got lost in dense bushland without food and water on Saturday night. The men had to stay overnight withstanding temperatures as low as three degrees

The men were geocaching and reportedly looking for a 'mysterious rock formation', Mr Dinning said.

Geocaching refers to the trend of treasure hunting in nature using map coordinates and GPS enabled device.

Mr Dinning said their hike was supposed to be a one-hour round trip and so they left their phones in the car.

The men were familiar with the bushland as they had visited the site three times before.

They revealed to 7 News how they survived the night in the freezing bush without food and water.

Two two men from Wangaratta set off at 8.30 Friday morning at Whiskey Creek Trail. The lost grandfathers were found cold, barefoot and with minor cuts including a bleeding foot

Mr Dinning (pictured) reveals how the men survived the night in the freezing bush without food and water. 'I sat down with my back to the log and cuddled over him to keep him warm,' he said

'I sat down with my back to the log and cuddled over him to keep him warm,' Mr Dinning.

Their families had raised the alarm with police when they failed to return at 3pm Friday.

The hikers were found by deer hunters in the area before police and rescue services arrived at midday on Saturday.

The missing grandfathers were found barefoot in the cold with minor cuts including a bleeding foot.

While the men reportedly didn't use their phones for geocaching, in a previous Border Mail article Mr Dinning explained his technique of using a 'compass, a rough pin on a GPS and memory alone.'

Two two men from Wangaratta set off at 8.30 Friday morning at Whiskey Creek Trail in Tatong, 2.5 hours from Melbourne
The row over the Kremlin connections of the founder of a pro-Brexit think-tank deepened last night after new evidence emerged of his links to President Putin.

Documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday appear to contradict denials by billionaire Christopher Chandler that he and his brother Richard helped Putins associates take control of Russias state-owned energy giant Gazprom.

Christopher Chandler, whose Legatum Institute has helped Boris Johnson and Michael Gove to lobby the Prime Minister for a hard Brexit, reacted with fury after this newspaper reported that the brothers had links with Putin through their company Sovereign Global.

But now his protestations have been undermined by material published by his own brothers company. The Goodness of Business, a pamphlet published last month by Richard Chandlers Clermont Group, states that after he and Christopher placed their own director on the board, they teamed up with Putin to launch a management coup at Gazprom.

Documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday appear to contradict denials by billionaire Christopher Chandler (left) that he and his brother Richard (right) helped Putins associates take control of Russias state-owned energy giant Gazprom

The Goodness of Business, a pamphlet published last month by Richard Chandlers Clermont Group, states that after he and Christopher placed their own director on the board, they teamed up with Putin to launch a management coup at Gazprom

A separate document, an investor profile of Gazprom, tells how Sovereign assured the Presidential administration it could rely on its support to reform the energy giant.

It led to a modernising drive which turned the company into the 37 billion energy giant it is today.

The revelation is a further embarrassment for Christopher Chandler, who was described by MPs in the Commons earlier this month as an object of interest to the French.

They suspect him of working for the Russian intelligence services and being linked to money-laundering. Mr Chandler strongly denies the claims.

After our story about the links to Putin appeared in November, Legatum Group issued a statement which said: Gazprom shares were widely held by major institutional investors. One is not in cahoots with Putin merely because one owns publicly listed shares of a Russian company. To suggest that Sovereign was instrumental in the installation of anyone at Gazprom is a verifiable misrepresentation.

After the MPs made their allegations, the group said: Any implication that there is any link between Christopher Chandler and the Russian Federation, Putin or the Kremlin is utter nonsense.

An extract from Clermont Groups pamphlet The Goodness Of Business, which has a foreword by Richard Chandler

But the Clermont paper, which includes a foreword by Richard Chandler, states: In 2000, Sovereign succeeded in appointing Boris Fyodorov, Russias former minister of finance, to the board of directors of Gazprom. This was the first time that an independent director was placed on the board of a state controlled company in Russia. Fyodorovs ascension to the board was a turning point in the battle for reform at Gazprom and in Russia.

Critically, it then says that after Gazproms management resisted change Sovereign appealed directly to President Vladimir Putin. As a result, Alexei Miller, a young economist and close ally of the president, replaced Gazprom CEO Rem Vyakhirev in 2001. With the ousting of the old guard, Gazprom began to modernise.

The investment profile of Gazprom, published by the Chandler company Orient Global, backs this version of events, saying: Sovereign, being the largest shareholder in Gazprom after the Russian government, assured the Presidential administration they could rely on the support of minority shareholders whose votes could be essential in providing the crucial swing seat on Gazprom board.

How The Mail on Sunday broke the story in November last year

Last night, Legatum stuck to its denials  and tried to distance itself from the Clermont document by saying Richard Chandler had struggled to recollect events. Clermont said its communications department had written the passages in error.

Four MPs, including three former Ministers, used the legal protection of parliamentary privilege to make the allegations about Christopher Chandler, based on documents circulating in intelligence circles.

Tory MP Bob Seely told the Commons that the claims were based on papers which originate from Monacos Surete Publique, the police department that manages security and foreign residents.

The brothers sold their stake in Gazprom shortly before they split their fortune in 2006: the intelligence files containing the accusations about Christopher Chandler were written in 2005.

Christopher Chandler used his share of their fortune to found the Legatum Group, a Dubai-based private investment firm: the Legatum Institute is its charitable arm. Richard Chandler used his share to set up the Clermont group.

This newspaper has exposed how the institute helped Mr Gove and Mr Johnson to write a secret letter to Mrs May last autumn setting out their blueprint for a post-EU Britain. The institute denies taking a line on Brexit, but has established strong links to hard Brexit-backing Ministers, MPs and campaigners.

Mr Chandler says he plays no part in the running of the Legatum Institute or influencing its work.

A Legatum Group spokesman said of the Clermont document: In the event that Richard Chandler played any part in writing the passage at issue, he did so trying to recollect events which took place some 17 years previously.

His approach was most likely an attempt to make the story simpler as the point of the document appears to be to highlight the importance of corporate governance, not the minute details of how and with whom Sovereign worked.

A Clermont spokesman said: The fact our communications department used a shorthand to describe Sovereigns engagement with its investment in Gazprom does not detract from the truth, which is that Sovereign engaged with Gazprom solely through the investment bank, United Financial Group, and as part of a broader consortium of minority shareholders.
Anthony Scaramucci has defended aide Kelly Sadler for her 'dying' joke about John McCain and has called for the White House official who leaked the news to be fired.

The former White House Communications Director took to Twitter on Saturday to call the leaking 'inexcusable', adding that 'the people who leaked that are gross and should be fired.'

In another Tweet 'The Mooch' added: 'If we fired people for every misstatement, everyone would be out of work. It is the breach of trust that is firable.'

Last week Sadler told colleagues in an internal meting that President Donald Trump shouldn't worry about Sen McCain's opposition to CIA director-designate Gina Hsaspel's nomination because 'he's dying anyway'.

Her comments have sparked outrage by the McCain family and public figures including Mitt Romney and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Republican senator is currently fighting terminal brain cancer.

Anthony Scaramucci has defended Kelly Sadler for her joke about Sen John McCain last week

The former communications director said the person who leaked the news should be fired

The 'inexcusable' comments made by Sadler sparked criticism of insensitivity as Sen McCain is fighting terminal brain cancer

Republican candidate Mitt Romney shared his anger over Sadler's comments on Twitter, saying anyone who mocked the Arizona Senator 'only humiliate themselves'.

'John McCain makes America great. Father, grandfather, Navy pilot, POW hero bound by honor, an incomparable and irrepressible statesman,' he wrote.

'Those who mock such greatness only humiliate themselves and their silent accomplices.'

McCain was also defended by former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said the comments and the associated fall-out should be a 'wake-up call to all Americans to think about how we speak to each other about our politics'.

The movie star said the war veteran was a 'hero who has given his entire life in service to this country'.

On Friday, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders would not apologize for the remark, and confirmed to reporters Sadler was still employed at the White House.

Despite efforts from the President and senior staff to clamp down on whistleblowers, information from the White House continues to leak to the press.

Later on Friday, Sanders held a meeting with the White House communications team, where she was allegedly more upset about the fact Sadler's comment had leaked, than the comment itself, Axios reported.

Communications aide Kelly Sadler said Trump shouldn't worry about McCain because 'he's dying anyway'

Sanders' fury and sadness were said to be visible to those in the room, as she told off staff for sharing the content of internal meetings with the press.

'I know this conversation is going to leak too, and that's just disgusting,' she said.

During the meeting, a senior staff member reportedly stepped forward to defend Sadler's remark.

Strategic communications director Mercedes Schlapp said: 'You can put this on the record... I stand with Kelly Sadler'.

Sanders encouraged the rest of the communications staff to stand behind Sadler, not because of her comment, but because she was the victim of a leak.

A source who was in the meeting told Axios Sanders had told staff Sadler was out of line, but the Press Secretary was angrier about the leak.

She said the leak was 'selfish' and criticized using the press to air internal grievances.

Sanders also reportedly told staff the leak had dampened what was meant to be a good day for the White House, as three American prisoners were freed by North Korea.

Arizona Republican Senator John McCain (pictured) is suffering from brain cancer and recuperating after a recent surgery, but could hold the deciding vote as to who becomes CIA director if he is well enough to return to Washington

Fellow Republican Mitt Romney said anyone who mocked John McCain only served to 'humiliate themselves'

Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a lengthy comment in defense of John McCain on Saturday

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders (left) told reporters Friday that communications aide Kelly Sadler (right) still has her job despite mocking Sen. John McCain's battle with cancer, and later defended the aide to other staff

Sanders ultimately told a dogged White House press corps that there had been no sacking in the West Wing over the latest scandal to rankle the president.

McCain is recovering from brain surgery in Arizona, and has begun to talk publicly about his wishes for his funeral. He has pointedly said he doesn't want President Donald Trump to attend.

McCain has been openly hostile to President Trump's decisions, but Sadler told staff his opinion didn't matter because: 'he's dying anyway'

Should he be healthy enough to return to Washington, he could cast a deciding vote in a tough roll call on Haspel's nomination.

Sadler has yet to comment about her flippant jab at McCain. It is not known if either she or the White House has apologized to the McCain family.

A source told the Hill on Thursday Sadler had called McCain's daughter, Megan, but the contents of that phone conversation is not known.

Comments from White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney on Saturday suggest there may not be any public apology forthcoming.

'You have to have some freedom to speak, in a private meeting, candidly,' he told Fox News, calling Sadler's comment a 'bad joke'.

'I'm really disappointed that someone would undermine the President by leaking... clearly the leak was designed to hurt that person.

'It also ignored the harm it would do to the McCain family, which is doubly inconsiderate.'

Sadler, a mother-of-three, is a former opinion editor for The Washington Times. She's married to Frank Sadler, who previously served as 2016 presidential campaign manager for Carly Fiorina  another outspoken Trump critic.

The senator's daughter Meghan, a regular co-host on 'The View,' said on the show Friday that Sadler is unimportant and  unlike her father  won't be remembered for long.

Before confirming Sadler's continued employment on Friday, Sanders initially dodged DailyMail.com's question, refusing to 'validate a leak out of an internal staff meeting, one way or another'

Mrs. Cindy McCain, the senator's wife tweeted a stern message directly to Sadler on Thursday after news of the comment broke

'Kelly, here's a little news flash, and this this may be a bit intense for 11 o'clock in the morning on a Friday,' Meghan McCain declared, but we're all dying. I'm dying, you're dying, we're all dying. ... I really feel like I understand the meaning of life, and it's not how you die, but how you live.'

'The thing that surprised me most,' she continued, 'is I don't understand what kind of environment you're working in where that would be acceptable, and then you can come to work the next day and still have a job.'



'My father's legacy is going to be talked about for hundreds and hundreds of years,' she said. 'These people? Nothingburgers. Nobody's going to remember you.'

On Thursday the senator's wife Cindy hammered Sadler on Twitter, writing: 'May I remind you my husband has a family, 7 children and 5 grandchildren.'

'The View' co-host Meghan McCain, the senator's daughter, marveled on Friday that Sadler has been allowed to keep her White House position

Sen. McCain had urged lawmakers to reject Gina Haspel's nomination to lead the CIA, based on her role in the enhanced interrogation program during the Bush Administration

The White House hasn't denied the accuracy of reports about Sadler's comment to a group of two dozen fellow communication staffers. It issued a tepid statement praising the anti-Trump war hero McCain, who has called the president the equivalent of a tinhorn dictator.

'He has declined to distinguish the actions of our government from the crimes of despotic ones,' McCain writes in his forthcoming memoir. 'The appearance of toughness, or a reality show facsimile of toughness, seems to matter more than any of our values.'

A White House official tried to take the high road, saying in a statement that '[w]e respect Senator McCain's service to our nation and he and his family are in our prayers during this difficult time.'

Trump already has a history of touching a political 'third rail' by publicly bashing Sen. McCain. During a 2015 Republican candidate forum in Iowa, the future president doubted aloud whether McCain was really a war hero.

'He's a 'war hero' because he was captured,' Trump said then, referring to McCain's years undergoing torture as a prisoner of war.

'I like people who weren't captured.'

Minutes later in a scrum of reporters, Trump was asked about the bone spur in his heel that resulted in a medical deferment from the Vietnam War draft.

Which foot was it? Trump said he couldn't remember.
Julian Tobias has been charged with driving under the influence of cocaine

Former Cleo Bachelor of the Year finalist Julian Tobias has been charged with attempting to drive under the influence of cocaine.

According to The Daily Telegraph, court documents allege that Tobias was in the driver's seat of a white Holden ute when he attempted to drive the car in 2017.

The incident allegedly took place at 4.30am December 2 in Watsons Bay.

Former Cleo Bachelor of the Year finalist Julian Tobias (pictured) has been charged with attempting to drive under the influence of cocaine

The incident allegedly took place at 4.30am December 2 in Watsons Bay (Pictured: Tobias with a female friend, who has no relation to the charges)

Police said in a statement: ''On analysis of the blood/urine the 39 year-old man was issued a court attendance notice for "Attempt drive while under influence of drugs"' (Pictured: Tobias with model Juliana Forge, who has no relation to the charges)

If found guilty the socialite, known for starting iconic Kings Cross hotspot The Club, could face maximum nine months in prison.

New South Wales police said that an alleged incident had taken place in Watsons Bay.

The statement said: 'Police attached to the Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command were making routine patrols of Watsons Bay when they saw a vehicle with its lights and engine on at the end of Pacific Street.

'Officers approached the vehicle and when they spoke with the male driver he was allegedly impaired.

'The man underwent blood and urine testing in hospital.

'On analysis of the blood/urine the 39 year-old man was issued a court attendance notice for "Attempt drive while under influence of drugs".'

Tobias is next expected to appear at Downing Centre Local Court June 15, 2018 after his appearance on Friday.

If found guilty the socialite, known for starting iconic Kings Cross hotspot The Club, could face maximum nine months in prison
Before she married Donald Trump Jr, Vanessa Trump was reportedly one step away from becoming royalty after falling in love with a Saudi prince.

According to a report, Trump dated Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud for three years and the two even lived together before they broke-up shortly after 9/11.

The prince left the country after the terrorist attack as reports later cited that his Saudi ambassador father, Bandar bin sultan Al Saud, had indirect ties to Al Qaeda, according to CNN.

Vanessa Trump nearly married Saudi prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, whom she dated from 1998 to 2001 before they broke up after the 9/11 terror attacks

Prince Khalid went on to marry British aristocrat Lucy Caroline Cuthbert in 2011, above

In 2017 the prince, pictured with his wife, was named the Saudi ambassador to Germany

After Prince Khalid, a member of the powerful Al Saud dynasty, left the country, their relationship fizzled.

'They dated from 1998 to 2001 and lived together...They were planning to marry [at the time]. They were inseparable,' a source told Page Six.

'Bandar treated her as if she was his queen. It was the complete opposite from Don Jr. They were together 24/7. They were a real couple,' the source added.

A source close to Trump has dismissed the seriousness of their relationship.

'They dated in her early 20s. They never lived together and were not planning to get married,' the source said.

Prince Khalid's father Bandar bin sultan Al Saud, who is close with the Bush family and who worked as the Saudi ambassador to the US from 1983 to 2005, insisted after 9/11 that 'Saudi Arabia has nothing to hide' and called the terrorist attack 'the worst thing to happen to us'.

However when the US captured a big Al Qaeda operative and in the raid found two phone numbers with American links to the ambassador, one phone number for a company that managed his estate in Aspen, Colorado and another for a bodyguard who worked at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, according to CNN..

The CIA and FBI later concluded that there was no evidence that anyone from the Saudi royal family had knowingly supported the 9/11 terrorists.

In 2011 Prince Khalid, an Oxford graduate, married British aristocrat Lucy Caroline Cuthbert, the niece of the Duke of Northumberland.

Before dating the prince, Trump had a five year relationship with Latin King Valentin Rivera

The high school sweethearts dated for five years even while Rivera, above, served time in jail

The relationship ended when Trump, pictured above in 1998, was 20 after she reportedly got close to Leonardo DiCaprio

The two tied the knot at the Oxford Register Officer in a simple ceremony that cost just $226 (167), despite the two hailing from families worth multi-millions.

He went on to become Saudi ambassador to Germany in 2017.

Trump's relationship with Khalid followed her romance with Latin Kings gangster Valentin Rivera.

Trump and Rivera dated for five years after they first met in elementary school.

During their teenage years Rivera joined the Latin Kings and Trump would even drive him to his meetings and drug runs in New York City.

However the pair grew apart after Rivera served a 16-month prison sentence on Rikers Island and after she reportedly began to get close with actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

When she was 16 the two exchanged love letters as Rivera served time in prison.

In one of the letters she says: 'I miss you a lot, especially since it's my birthday coming up. And I wish you were here to celebrate with me', according to Page Six who obtained the letter.

'But you'll be out [of prison] for my 18th birthday. I can't wait till that year because a lot is going to happen. My 18th birthday, you'll be back in my arms, my prom, and I want to get pregnant and have a baby with you after January,' she wrote in the letter, dated December 1993.

She went on to marry Donald Trump Jr in 2005 with whom she shares five children

In November she filed for divorce in Manhattan Supreme Court after 12 years of marriage

One letter reveals Vanessa tried to break up with Rivera six months into his prison sentence, telling him she wanted 'more than just a phone call'.

'I know it's tough for you up there and I don't do anything to help the situation. And I love you and I want you more than just a phone call. I want to be able to hold you and make love to you, but that can't happen,' she said.

'So my decision is for the best and only the best, but whenever you need someone to talk to or if you need clothes or anything I'm here, just call,' she added.

They ended up staying together until Vanessa was 20. Rivera claims she allegedly had an affair with Leonardo DiCaprio after meeting him at a club at that time.

Rivera would go on to serve time for negligent homicide after accidentally shooting a friend did.

A few years later Trump, 40, went on to marry Don Jr. in 2005 with whom she has five children.

In November she filed for divorce in Manhattan Supreme Court after 12 years of marriage.
Jim Ratcliffe, whose 21 billion fortune puts him at the top of the Sunday Times Rich List

A 'publicity shy' chemicals tycoon who grew up on a council estate has been revealed as Britain's richest man with a jaw-dropping 21 billion fortune.

Jim Ratcliffe, founder and boss of chemical giant Ineos, topped the Sunday Times Rich List this year - sailing ahead of a record 145 billionaires now living in the country.

The 65-year-old, who grew up on a council estate in Greater Manchester, saw his wealth increase by an astonishing 15.3 billion between 2017 and 2018.

He shot to the top spot from 18th place after the success of Ineos.

The company's annual turnover is about 45 billion and it employs more than 18,500 people at 181 sites across 22 countries.

Its products are, among many other things, used to clean water, make toothpaste, manufacture antibiotics, insulate homes and package food.

Ratcliffe owns a 60 per cent stake in Ineos which is valued at 21 billion.

The 65-year-old, who grew up on a council estate in Greater Manchester, saw his wealth increase by an astonishing 15.3 billion between 2017 and 2018

From council estate to CEO: Jim Ratcliffe was fired after just three days in his first job and isn't proud of his A-level results but built his staggering fortune in just 20 years Born in 1952, Jim Ratcliffe grew up in a council house on Dunkerley Avenue in Failsworth, a small town between Manchester and Oldham. He was sent to Beverley Grammar School when his family moved to Yorkshire. As well as being football mad, he founded the school's industrial society during sixth form. He got a 2:1 degree in chemical engineering at the University of Birmingham. On his first day, he was embarrassed to see he was nearly at the bottom of a list of 99 undergraduates ranked by their A-level results. He worked for BP during a summer holiday after graduating and was offered a job. But he was fired after just three days because his boss had seen his medical report and wasn't keen on him working there with mild eczema. Ratcliffe went on to work as a trainee accountant at a pharmaceuticals company before moving to Esso then Courtaulds. In 1992 he mortgaged his house to buy BP's chemicals division for about 40 million. He only started his first business weeks before his 40th birthday and founded Ineos aged 45 in 1998. During the next 20 years he built his empire. Ratcliffe married his first wife Amanda Townson in 1985. The pair, who have two sons, divorced in 1995. He has a daughter with his second wife Alicia. Cutting a svelte figure, he does distance running and triathlons to keep himself in shape. Source: The Sunday Times Advertisement

Ratcliffe at a news conference in 2014. He was fired from his first job after just three days

The UK's largest privately owned company, Ineos's headquarters is just a stone's throw away from Harrods in London.

Its operations were moved to Switzerland in 2010 after a spat with the Labour government over a VAT payment, but it returned to the UK in 2016.

Last year Ratcliffe acquired the clothing brand Belstaff, whose jackets are worn by David Beckham.

But the mogul maintains a relatively low profile and has previously been described on the Rich List as 'publicity shy'.

The wealth of the 1,000 richest people jumped by 10 per cent this year in the 30th list compiled by the Sunday Times.

London is the number one city in the world for billionaires, with some 93 born, living or with their businesses based in the capital.

More women and entrepreneurs are also emerging among the country's financial elite.

Robert Watts, the compiler of the list, said the economic landscape is changing in Britain.

'Gone are the days when old money and a small band of industries dominated the Sunday Times Rich List,' he said.

'Aristocrats and inherited wealth has been elbowed out of the list and replaced by an army of self-made entrepreneurs.'

Hotel tycoons Sri (left) and Gopi Hinduja, who are in second place on the Sunday Times Rich List with a 20 billion fortune

SECOND PLACE: 20.644 billion

Sri and Gopi Hinduja the teetotal vegetarian hotel tycoon brothers

Hot on the heels of Ratcliffe are brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja.

Sri, 82, and Gopi, 78, oversee their family's global business empire.

Hinduja Group invests in oil and gas, IT, energy, media, banking, property and healthcare.

Their main British company, Hinduja Automotive, turned over nearly 2.7bn in 2016-17.

In 2014 the Hinduja brothers bought the 1,100-room War Office in Whitehall where Winston Churchill plotted the defeat of the Nazis.

Raffles Hotels & Resorts plan to open a luxury hotel in the historic building.

Sri and Gopi, both teetotal and vegetarian, live in a 250 million palatial home overlooking St James's Park.

The 67,000 square foot mansion is made up of four interconnected Georgian houses.

Sir Len Blavatnik, who is in third position on the rich list. The music mogul is worth 15 billion

THIRD PLACE: 15.259 billion

Music mogul Sir Len Blavatnik who was knighted for his jaw-dropping charity donations

Sir Len Blavatnik owns Warner Music Group, which raked in a mouth-watering 2.65 billion last year.

The Ukraine-born billionaire, who became a UK citizen in 2010, was once at the top of Britain's rich list but slipped a few places after a 723 million dip.

Not afraid to party like he means it, Sir Len once enlisted Joss Stone to sing on his yacht.

As well as enjoying his riches, the music mogul has also made some unbelievable donations to charity, earning him a knighthood for philanthropy in 2017.

Among his financial gifts was 75 million to Oxford University.

As a gesture of thanks, the famous institution now has a Blavatnik School of Government.

Simon (left) and David Reuben. The metal tsar brothers are in fourth position - hot on the heels of Sir Len Blavatnik

FOURTH PLACE: 15.096 billion

Metal tsars David and Simon Reuben who control five per cent of the world's aluminium output

David Reuben, 79, and his brother Simon, 77, made their fortunes from carpets, metal and property.

But their role in the Russian aluminium industry placed them firmly on the map.

The pair, dubbed the 'metal tsars', control five per cent of the worlds aluminium output through their Trans-World Metals operation.

Their two main operations, Reubros and Aldersgate, are valued at 14 billion, up nearly 1.79 billion on last year.

The brothers, who left Russia in 2000, had made about 1.3 billion over the previous decade.

Among their UK property investment portfolio are Millbank Tower and the John Lewis Partnership HQ in Victoria.

Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, worth 14 billion, is in fifth position on the list of the UK's most wealthy

FIFTH PLACE: 14.667 billion

Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal whose family has a stake in Queens Park Rangers

Lakshmi Mittal, 67, provides the steel for one in four of the worlds cars.

His father built a steel firm in India and the metal industry has been a part of his life since childhood.

He made his billions by acquiring and turning around underperforming rivals across the globe.

Mittal has lived in London since 1995 and owns three houses in Kensington Palace Gardens worth more than 300 million.

His family has a small stake in Queens Park Rangers football club.

London is the number one city in the world for billionaires with 93 - as 'an army of self-made entrepreneurs selling chocolate, sushi and pet food' muscle aristocrats out of rich list

BY IAIN BURNS FOR MAILONLINE AND PRESS ASSOCIATION

Self-made entrepreneurs have almost completely displaced those who inherited their wealth in the list of the UK's 1,000 richest people.

Of the super-wealthy living in - or connected to - Britain, 94 per cent have acquired their great fortunes through their own work.

Meanwhile more billionaires - 93 - live in London that any other city in the world.

In 1989, only 43 per cent of the entries were self-made - with the bulk either aristocrats or landowners.

Of the super-wealthy living in - or connected to - Britain, 94 per cent have acquired their great fortunes through their own work. Left: Chairman of INEOS petrochemicals plant Jim Ratcliffe. Right: Tony Pidgley, a Barnardo's orphan worth 310m

'Proud gypsy' Alfie Best (centre with Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford on TV show Eamonn & Ruth: How The Other Half Lives), who accumulated a 250m fortune from caravans and holiday parks

In 1989, only 43 per cent of the entries were self-made - with the bulk either aristocrats or landowners. Pictured: Two of the people on the list to have inherited their wealth, Hugh Grosvenor (right) and Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken (left) of the brewing dynasty

But now the Sunday Times Rich List is dominated by grafters, with the compiler of the first 28 editions of the catalogue - Philip Beresford - praising those on the list as 'Thatcher's children'.

Top of the list is a 'publicity shy' chemicals entrepreneur whose wealth leapt 15.3 billion in a single year, while Sir Philip Green and Jamie Oliver saw their fortunes slide.

Jim Ratcliffe, 65, chief executive of Ineos, topped the list with a fortune of 21.05 billion, leapfrogging his way from 18th place year.

He once lived in a council house in Manchester before going on to Beverley Grammar School in East Yorkshire.

Mr Ratcliffe, whose firm is currently locked in a legal battle with the Scottish government over its moratorium on fracking, emerged in pole position after additional details led to a 'substantial revaluation' of his assets.

The Sunday Times has previously described him as publicity shy.

Ineos's director Andy Currie and finance director John Reece shared in his fortunes, joining Ratcliffe in the top 20, taking joint 16th place with fortunes of 7 billion each.

Also featured on the list are Tony Pidgley, a Barnardo's orphan worth 310m, and 'proud gypsy' Alfie Best, who accumulated a 250m fortune from caravans and holiday parks.

James Watt and Martin Dickie, who set up the craft beer firm BrewDog, are also featured on the list

There are now 141 women on the list, with Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken of the brewing dynasty ranked highest at number six.

She and her financier husband Michel de Carvalho - vice chairman of Citigroup - increased their wealth by almost 20 per cent over the past year to 11.1 billion.

Aristocrat Hugh Grosvenor is still the UK's youngest billionaire at the age of 27 having inherited his fortune and his title - 7th duke of Westminster - following the death of his father two years ago.

His property empire includes 300 acres in Mayfair and Belgravia, as well as properties in Oxford, Cheshire, Scotland and Spain.

His wealth grew by 444 million in the last year to 9.96 billion.

Three more self-made figures on the list are Penny Streeter, who founded a recruitment firm while living in a homeless refuge as a single mother and James Watt and Martin Dickie, who set up the craft beer firm BrewDog.

There were also a growing number of people whose fortunes were built on selling food and drink - including the founders of Hotel Chocolat and the Sushi Daily creators.

At second place on the list were the Hinduja brothers, Sri and Gopi, worth 20.64 billion

At second place on the list were the Hinduja brothers, Sri and Gopi, worth 20.64 billion.

Their fortune jumped by 4.44 billion on 2017, with their India-based car manufacturer Ashok Leyland and Mumbai-based IndusInd Bank having a particularly successful year.

British-American industrialist-turned-media mogul Sir Len Blavatnik came in third place with 15.26 billion to his name.

The 60-year-old was knighted this year for services to philanthropy - recent donations include 50 million to fund the Tate Modern's new wing, and 5 million towards the Victoria and Albert Museum's new entrance, as well as funding the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University.

This year is the 30th anniversary of the Rich List, with the top 20 now worth a combined 218.6 billion - increasing their cumulative wealth by 33. 5 billion in the last year.

Of the 1,000 people on the list, 145 are billionaires.

Elsewhere, Arcadia boss Sir Philip Green's fortune took a tumble - his reputation was dragged through the mud following the collapse of BHS after he sold it to a man twice declared bankrupt for just 1.

It later emerged that the department store's two pension schemes had a combined shortfall of 571 million, risking the future of their 19,000 members and prompting MPs to call Sir Philip to give evidence in front of a parliamentary select committee.

Falling sales at his flagship brands Topshop and Miss Selfridge as well as his promise to contribute 363 million towards the pension deficit led to Sir Philip's fortune dropping by 787 million to 2 billion.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver exited the list completely following a rocky year for his eponymous restaurant empire - it is still undergoing restructuring after racking up debts of more than 70 million.

Elsewhere, Arcadia boss Sir Philip Green's fortune took a tumble - his reputation was dragged through the mud following the collapse of BHS after he sold it to a man twice declared bankrupt for just 1

In January the chain announced 12 of its 37 branches were to close.

Financier Ernesto Bertarelli and his wife Kirsty saw the biggest decrease in wealth, losing 1.48 billion due to falls in Ernesto's pharmaceutical company stakes, the list's author said.

The couple are now 11th on the list.

Robert Watts, who compiled this year's list, said: 'Britain is changing. Gone are the days when old money and a small band of industries dominated the Sunday Times Rich List.

'Aristocrats and inherited wealth has been elbowed out of the list and replaced by an army of self-made entrepreneurs.

'Today's super rich include people who have set up businesses selling chocolate, sushi, pet food and eggs.

'We're seeing more people from humble backgrounds, who struggled at school or who didn't even start their businesses until well into middle age.

'Meanwhile, technology is also playing a bigger part in helping more young people make their fortunes and small companies to grow.

'Britain's rich are getting richer, but the cast of Britain's 1,000 richest people is an ever-changing and increasingly diverse cast of people.'
Bianca Jagger has called for an end to the oppressive political regime in Nicaragua which has led to dozens of deaths and thousands of people marching on the streets in protest.

The human rights defender and former actress, who was born in the Central American nation, said she grieved for the dead, many of whom were only teenagers, and called for President Daniel Ortega to go, now.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega delivered a speech during an official rally in Managua on April 30, 2018. Thousands of Nicaraguans marched peacefully through the capital in a mass demonstration to demand justice following the violent suppression of a wave of protests that left scores of people dead

A demonstrator fires a homemade mortar during a protest march against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's government in Managua, Nicaragua on May 9

Speaking ahead of an address to the Oxford Union on Tuesday, Miss Jagger, 73, who was married to Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, said: For decades, Ortega was a revered figure in the country thanks to his role as one of the political leaders of the Sandinista revolution that overthrew the murderous dictator Anastasio Somoza and vowed to bring democracy and a fairer, more equal society to Nicaragua.

Though I didnt always agree with the Sandinistas, I supported the revolution, speaking out in Washington against American military intervention. Now I must speak out again: President Ortega has become the new Somoza, enriching himself at the expense of his countrys poor, silencing political opposition, doing sweetheart tax deals with the wealthiest and most corrupt people in the country and, like Somoza, using the army and the police to crush dissent.

Bianca Jagger has called for an end to the oppressive political regime in Nicaragua

About 50,000 people died during the revolution in the country and in the war against the American-backed Contras that followed. But the recent bloodshed was, Miss Jagger said, a betrayal of everything they died for.

The latest unrest began last month after Ortega approved cuts to pensions and social security, sparking the biggest challenge to his authority since he took office in 2007. Human rights groups estimate there have been at least 49 deaths during clashes with police, and a further 650 injured.

Although Ortega has since rolled back on his plans, fresh protests took place in the capital, Managua, last week. Now serving his third term in government after scrapping the limit on presidential terms, Ortega has banished all serious political opposition and gained control of television stations while he and his family have amassed a fortune, she said.

Miss Jagger, who runs the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, said the Oxford address will be streamed online to students in Nicaragua, who have been leading the protests. Shockingly, it is the students  Nicaraguas future  who have borne the brunt of the violence, she said.

And students who make up most of the disfigured corpses in Nicaraguas mortuaries. Some were shot, some were burned, others were tortured by the police, reportedly by having their eyes gouged out.

Miss Jagger, born Bianca Perez-Mora Macias, left Nicaragua during the 1960s to study in Europe because of Somozas similarly violent suppression of young people.

She said she had had a deep sense of foreboding about the situation in Nicaragua for some time.
It can zap weeds with lasers, harvest crops without complaint and perhaps even dig farmers out of a Brexit-sized hole.

Hailed as the potential saviour of the British farming industry, Earth Rover is a robot device designed by the scientists responsible for a ground breaking Mars Rover project.

Thanks to cutting-edge optical imaging and 3D camera technology, Earth Rover prototypes have successfully monitored individual crops, spotting diseases and determining when they are ready to be picked.

On a roll: An Earth Rover tends a field. Its on-board computer will also enable it to perform selective harvesting, ensuring crops are picked at precisely the moment that they are fully grown

The Rover, which is around a year away from being rolled out to British farms, will also be equipped with lasers to destroy weeds and intelligent plant recognition technology to avoid singeing valuable crops.

Its on-board computer will also enable it to perform selective harvesting, ensuring crops are picked at precisely the moment that they are fully grown  a potentially huge factor if migrant labour dries up when Britain leaves the EU.

The British company behind the project, also named Earth Rover, is working with Harper Adams agricultural university and RAL Space Autonomous Systems Group, which designed the ExoMars rover  a European Space Agency robot due to land on the red planet in 2020.

The device is currently completing field trials at Pollybell Organic Farm in Doncaster, and the farms finance director James Brown is optimistic that the technology can offer British farmers a bright future.

The British company behind the project, also named Earth Rover, is working with Harper Adams agricultural university and RAL Space Autonomous Systems Group, which designed the ExoMars rover  a European Space Agency robot due to land on the red planet in 2020

He said a fleet of six Earth Rovers armed with artificial intelligence technology enabling them to communicate with one another would do more work than 200 farmhands.

Its not a huge secret that Government policy has been to get net migration down. Weeding and picking crops is hard work and one of those jobs that is ripe for automation, Mr Brown said.

Paul Harter, chief technology officer for Earth Rover, added: This is the future of farming in Britain.

Earth Rover is informed by space technology but these robots are very simple and user-friendly for British farmers.
David Miliband will tomorrow launch his comeback in UK politics by joining an all-party move to stop hard Brexit cheerleaders Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg holding Britain to ransom.

The former Foreign Secretary, pictured, will deliver the broadside on a shared platform with former Liberal Democrat Deputy Premier Nick Clegg and ex-Tory Cabinet Minister Nicky Morgan.

In a move that is bound to renew speculation of a new Centre Party, they will call on MPs to reject siren calls to completely sever the UKs deep economic ties with the EU.

David Miliband launches UK comeback - with war on the hard Brexiteers (stock image)

Writing in todays Mail on Sunday, the trio warn: A hard Brexit wont create Global Britain. It is merely a path to a fantasy island of our own where we will have reduced access to our largest markets and a diminished standing in the world.

Mr Milibands participation in the anti-hard Brexit campaign is the clearest sign yet that he is ready to return to frontline politics in Britain. He moved to the US to work for an overseas aid charity after humiliatingly losing the Labour leadership contest to his brother Ed in 2010.

Many Labour MPs hope he will succeed Jeremy Corbyn and ditch the partys raft of controversial Left-wing policies.

The trios move came as Theresa May launched her own bid to end the Cabinet feud over the type of Brexit deal.

Days after Mr Johnson scorned her crazy plan for a customs partnership with the EU, the Prime Minister hit back at claims it would make cutting ties with Brussels pointless, saying: You can trust me to deliver.

I will ensure that we take back control of our laws. So Brexit means that, while we may sometimes choose to take the same approach as the EU, our laws will be made in Westminster, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast, with those laws tried by British judges.

Mr Milibands participation in the anti-hard Brexit campaign is the clearest sign yet that he is ready to return to frontline politics in Britain (stock image)

And in an apparent olive branch to Mr Johnson  who famously pledged that quitting the EU would mean an extra 350 million a week for the NHS  Mrs May said: There will be billions of pounds we used to send to Brussels which we will be able to spend on domestic priorities including our NHS.

Messrs Miliband and Clegg and Ms Morgan show no such restraint in attacking the hardline Brexiteers. They say: Less than six months before the deadline for concluding the terms of our departure, hard- Brexit demands are holding the countrys negotiating position to ransom.
Meghan Markle's mother has been pictured collecting the 'peace offering' flowers her ex-husband left on her doorstep.

Thomas Markle Sr left a pot of blooms at Doria Ragland's LA home yesterday ahead of their daughter's wedding next week.

The gesture seemed to go down well when the yoga instructor found the present some hours after.

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Meghan Markle's mother is pictured collecting flowers at her doorstep left by her ex-husband

Thomas Markle Sr left a pot of flowers at Doria Ragland's LA home yesterday

The peace offering comes as it was revealed that Meghan's father had secretly collaborated with a British paparazzi photographer to stage a series of pictures  despite pleas from Prince Harry for the media to leave his future father-in-law alone.

Thomas, who will walk his daughter down the aisle at Windsor Castle on Saturday, was caught on CCTV willingly posing for faked photographs that were been sold to newspapers around the world.

Together with other pictures taken with his co-operation, they will have netted up to 100,000 ($130,000).

The footage obtained by Mail on Sunday shows Thomas arriving at internet cafe with photographer Jeff Rayner.

The staged photos come despite Kensington Palace issuing warning to publishers to respect Mr Markles privacy.

Doria Ragland and Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games closing ceremony in September 2017

Mr Markle, 73, married Ms Ragland in 1979 but were divorced nine years later when Ms Markle was just six.

Thomas is clearly trying to work his charm on Doria before the wedding, a source told the Sun.

With the eyes of the world on them both, it makes sense. There have been various squabbles in Meghans wider family, but her mum and dad have remained largely silent and both want to do their absolute best for her.

After attending his ex-wifes home, Mr Markle is believed to have returned his house in Rosarito, Mexico.

Ms Markles parents have yet to visit London yet even with the royal wedding only being one week away.

The Queen and Prince Philip will be visited by the couple days before the Windsor Castle ceremony.

They will also meet Prince Charles and Camilla, best man Prince William and Kate.

Kensington Palace announced that Markle Sr would be walking Meghan, 36, down the aisle when she marries Prince Harry  ending months of speculation over whether he will attend.

Ms Ragland will also be at St. George's Chapel for the nuptials and will travel to the picturesque 14th Century church in a car with her daughter on the day.

Last week Kensington Palace said: Its very important to Ms Markle that her parents have roles in her wedding.

The 73-year-old has spent the past week making preparations for his trip to London, including getting measured for a suit and visiting a pharmacy in his adopted hometown.
Racist posters that call for a halt on immigration and accuse Asians of 'putting Aussies out of work' and 'hogging seats on public transport' have been found at a busy Sydney shopping centre.

One of the posters, that declares 'No more Asians,' 'It's not the face of Australia' and 'We speak English,' was found covering a pole in the centre's car park.

The other was stuck to a shopping trolley and read 'This trolley was stolen by an Asian and dumped here.'

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The anti-Asian posters (pictured) have been lambasted online for their multiple spelling mistakes

Photographs of the posters were shared on Reddit by a user who found them at Top Ryde in the city's northern suburbs.

The large black and white poster accuses Asians of discriminating against white people through employment and applying for public housing without any right.

'Stop Asians illegally using concession cards. Stop Asians seat hogging on public transport,' it reads.

The signs were lambasted over the social media platform for their multiple spelling mistakes.

'I have trouble understanding how someone can simultaneously have such a poor a grasp of the language (employees...only employ) and write this legibly. Look at that ampersand,' wrote one user.

'C'mon man. I get your point but when you do this it makes your already-moot point look even worse... that or it's satire...' said another.

The second sign was found tapped to a shopping trolley and read 'This trolley was stolen by an Asian & dumped here'

Mayor Jerome Laxale told Daily Mail Australia that he was horrified that the posters had gone up in his municipality and that he had sent rangers out to make sure they had been taken down.

'Posters like that have no place in Ryde,' he said.

'Ryde is an extremely multicultural and diverse community. We vale all our community members and celebrate out diversity.'

He later shared a video of himself tearing down one of the posters found at a bus stop.

It is unclear who put the posters up but it is not the first time they have appeared in the area.

In February last year a Chinese-Australian property investor found the exact same poster stuck to his billboard advertisements at a construction site.

Similar posters have been found in 2014 and 2017, stuck in prominent positions across the area

Mr Yancheng Wang found the posters glued to the advertisements on two occasions and said he had no idea of who the perpetrators could be.

In 2014 a smaller version of the poster, which read 'No more Asians. It's not the face of Australia. We speak English. Save our Aussie culture,' was discovered on an auction sign on Buffalo Road.

The posters come at a time where Nazi group Antipodean Resistance are doing more 'hits' across Australia. The group are known for using the cover of darkness to put up posters that express hate speech against minorities including Jews, Asians and homosexuals.

Antipodean Resistance denied any connection to the posters.
Three police officers are in hospital after they went to investigate reports of a dead body in a hotel room in Georgia.

The DeKalb County officers entered a room at the United Inn & Suites in DeKalb where a chemical agent was present.

The officers started to feel sick and hazmat and EMS responded to the scene.

DeKalb County medical examiner and law enforcement stand outside the United Inn and Suites after they fell ill while investigating a dead body found inside a room

A DeKalb County law enforcement officer talks to a person inside a guest room at the United Inn and Suites Hotel Saturday

Officers were called out to investigate a dead body found inside a room that had a strong chemical smell which began to make the officers sick, leaving three to be sent to hospital

Emergency crews then evacuated the third floor of the hotel after they picked up traces of a hazardous material that could have been responsible for the death.

The conditions of the officers are unknown.

HAZMAT crews arrived on the scene and they picked up traces of a possible substance.

Firefighters do not know if the possible substance killed the person found inside the hotel room.

A DeKalb County law enforcement officer talks to guests at the United Inn and Suites

Several floors of the motel had to be evacuated after the officers became unwell

A man died during a brutal assault at the motel last month.

The attacker initially stayed on the scene, but later left on a MARTA bus, police said.

When officers arrived, they found the 35-year-old victim unconscious outside room No. 320.

The venue is also not recommended by travellers on TripAdvisor having a one star rating with one recent customer to the property described it as being 'Gangta's Paradise'.

It read: 'The hotel does have good people working and residing in it, but this is a permanent residence for some of the tenants, which is weird that this is being run as a hotel. I had requested to switch rooms due to the tenant above me stomping and the staff kept giving me the run around to do so. The room had a smell of cigarettes. My advice is cheaper isn't always better. DON'T STAY HERE!!'
Everyone has experienced the mild discomfiture induced by a crowded lift. But finding himself pinned to the back of an elevator at an international relations conference in the US last month, distinguished British-based academic Richard Ned Lebow couldnt resist lightening the claustrophobic atmosphere with a two-word quip.

It led to him being accused of sexism, prompted high-minded debate on both sides of the Atlantic and now threatens to blight his exemplary 53-year career. He also believes the case has chilling implications for freedom of speech.

Yet as the professor of international political theory at Kings College, London, tells The Mail on Sunday today, he thought nothing of it at the time.

Richard Ned Lebow, 76, professor of international political theory at King's College London, made the remark at the International Studies Association (ISA) annual convention, held in San Francisco, last month (pictured: Professor Richard Ned Lebow and his wife Carol boomer, 73)

What floors would you like, people at the back? came the enquiry in the San Francisco Hilton hotel lift. Ladies lingerie, Prof Lebow shot back cheerfully.

It raised some laughs but as the lift disgorged its occupants floor by floor, one of his fellow sardines was left unamused: Simona Sharoni, a professor of womens and gender studies.

Had she confronted him and made her displeasure known, perhaps the episode might have ended there and then. But Prof Sharoni, 57, was apparently too shaken. Instead she complained of harassment to the International Studies Association, (ISA), organisers of the conference. The ISA agreed Prof Lebow had violated its code and later ruled that he compounded his crime by dismissing his accusers complaint as frivolous. He has been given until Tuesday to apologise. Prof Lebow is standing resolutely firm.

Professor Lebow's (right) joke was overheard by Simona Sharoni, a professor of women's and gender studies, who later reported him

He calls the affair mind-boggling and says: My biggest concern is for younger colleagues, who are not as established in their profession as I am, who may find that if they say something that offends it could be the end of their careers.

His case, he says, violates freedom of speech. He likens it to book-burning by the Nazis in the 1930s.

Of the ISA, which named him distinguished scholar of the year in 2014, Prof Lebow says: They have two sanctions: they could stop me attending future annual meetings for as long as they like or they could expel me.

From my perspective there is no way I am apologising because I havent done anything wrong.

If I did apologise it would show that crazy people like this one can intimidate associations  and it will have a chilling effect on everyone. This is also about an issue of humour and the idea that humour is now becoming off limits. Those who know Prof Lebow, who is American, agree he is an enlightened, reasonable man, in step with modern thinking. His wife Carol has taught gender and the law for many years and says she knows quite a lot about real cases of sexual harassment and how difficult they are to take to result.

Married for 42 years, they have three children, who are academics, and two grandchildren.

As a young teacher, long before the first bra was burned in anger, Prof Lebow championed womens rights in his own modest way.

Indeed, softly spoken and courteous, he has impeccable liberal credentials and is far from the sort of person given to making jokes redolent of the 1970s TV department store sitcom Are You Being Served?, as some reports have implied.

Professor Lebow joked that he wanted to be let out at the ladies' lingerie department - a joke that would be considered tame on Are You Being Served? (pictured, a still from the show)

During the 1960s, he was a freedom rider  a civil rights activist who rode on buses, testing bus stations were complying with the Supreme Court ruling that banned racial segregation in the Deep South.

He has written 35 books, taught strategy at the US national and naval war colleges and served as scholar-in-residence in the CIA during the Carter administration.

Until now not once has either a colleague or student complained about him. So at a time when he should be reflecting with satisfaction on his much-garlanded career, he now finds himself fighting to preserve his reputation. As he prepares his appeal, his home has begun to resemble a war bunker.

Yesterday The Mail on Sunday found Prof Lebow and his wife manning computers, fielding incessant phone calls and answering supportive emails flooding his inbox.

The extraordinary case comes against a backdrop of sexual paranoia on American campuses.

Accusations of every other kind of bias have grown in number too. At the same time the definition of what constitutes harassment appears to have broadened.

Until now not once has either a colleague or student complained about him. So at a time when he should be reflecting with satisfaction on his much-garlanded career, he now finds himself fighting to preserve his reputation. As he prepares his appeal, his home has begun to resemble a war bunker

Prof Lebow has spent much of his career in the UK and says he has witnessed an unhealthy trend to suppress free speech here too.

The 76-year-old adds: This is another example of where, alas, the UK imports the worst of America as opposed to the best. There is a chill in universities.

He refers to the anti-intellectual tenor of demands to ban conservative speakers from universities. Universities should teach tolerance and be places for anybody to express almost any opinion provided it is done in a respectful and within the law, he says.

The #MeToo climate probably had a bearing on his own case, he says. One of the downsides of any positive movement is that it attracts people like this [Prof Sharoni] who want to exploit it for their own ends, which is what she is doing. Also in the shadow of #MeToo, I suspect some bodies dont want to give any impression theyre not responsive to complaints of harassment by women, no matter how silly. So had this happened before #MeToo, the result might be wildly different, but thats just my guess.

He asked Mark Boyer, executive director of the ISA, on what grounds the organisation could police speech in a lift.

Prof Lebow has spent much of his career in the UK and says he has witnessed an unhealthy trend to suppress free speech here too. The 76-year-old adds: This is another example of where, alas, the UK imports the worst of America as opposed to the best. There is a chill in universities

I was told that the fine print of the conference registration form I signed gave them the right to do that, he says.

Of the ladies lingerie phrase, he explains that in his youth it had become a stock catchphrase because lifts had operators who would call out the floors in department stores. He points out it has been used in various comedies and one of the Harry Potter films.

Prof Sharoni, who has described herself as a survivor of sexual harassment, once compared the Israeli treatment of Palestinians to rape. She rejects criticism that she is politically correct by saying it is a blanket excuse used by misogynists.

Meanwhile, her adversary remains determined. Im not giving in, says Prof Lebow. I think I have a responsibility for more vulnerable members of my profession to stand firm. I have a responsibility to publicise my grievance and to try to create a debate that might make this kind of behaviour less common.
When Mary Watson of the San Francisco Examiner turned up at Oscar Wilde's hotel room in the city, she was hoping to write a story that would enable her readers to picture his 'at-home manner'. By the time she reached his door at Palace Hotel, she was thinking of herself as a big-game hunter seeking her prey.

'I saw the lion in his lair,' Watson later said, 'saw him stirred up, poetically speaking, and an interesting process it was.'

The playwright and poet performed a disarming routine. When Wilde dramatically threw off his cloak, his valet appeared behind him and caught it just before it hit the floor. Then, settling down on the sofa, Wilde artfully arranged himself in the languid, half-reclining pose made famous in images of him by the age's celebrity photographer, Napoleon Sarony. His every gesture was designed to create an air of seductive ease.

When Mary Watson of the San Francisco Examiner turned up at Oscar Wilde's hotel room in the city, she was hoping to write a story that would enable her readers to picture his 'at-home manner'

And it worked. Such was the effect that Miss Watson needed a moment to compose herself. She was concerned about her horizontal interviewee 'transgressing any social rules', as she demurely put it. But the performance was not yet over. No sooner had she begun the interview than Wilde's valet burst in with an album that urgently needed the aesthete's autograph. Oscar waved away the obligation, saying with heavy innuendo: 'I am too much engaged just now.' His intention seemed clear  Oscar the journalist's prey had become Oscar the hunter.

Today, Wilde's semi-seduction of his interviewer seems as unsubtle as it is peculiar. Could this be the same man who was to become history's most celebrated gay martyr? Why was he so set on stirring up female desire?

The answer lies in his early life when Wilde discovered the effect his seductive charms could have on women  and how he exploited it to his own advantage as he made a name for himself as a writer.

Indeed, so successful was Wilde the womaniser that he became the object of widespread obsession, driving his female fans half-crazy with desire and enraging fathers and husbands who feared the effect he was having on women's morals.

Never was this Wilde-mania more apparent than on a year-long lecture tour of America, which saw him surrounded by the sort of celebrity hype now reserved for teenage boy bands.

The year was 1882, long before the affair with Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas that was to prove his downfall. Back then, Wilde's sexuality was still in flux, although he had already developed a reputation as something of a ladies' man.

As a student at Oxford University, he had persuaded a young woman to sit on his lap. Her mother entered the room and caught the pair together. Later, she caught Wilde kissing her daughter in the hallway. 'Oscar,' the mother scolded, 'the thing was neither right, nor manly, nor gentlemanlike in you.'

Today, Wilde's semi-seduction of his interviewer seems as unsubtle as it is peculiar

There were plenty more willing to take the girl's place. Among them were Florence Balcombe, who would go on to marry Dracula author Bram Stoker, and Violet Hunt, an auburn-haired writer who Wilde promised: 'We will rule the world, you and I  you with your looks and I with my wits.'

In truth, after leaving Oxford in 1878, Wilde struggled to find a niche. 'I'll be a poet, a writer, a dramatist. Somehow or other I'll be famous, and if not famous, I'll be notorious,' he told friends.

He set about trying all these careers in turn (and a few more besides) while living on the modest sum of 200 a year after his father's death. He curried favour among those who might be able to help him, dividing his attention between prominent figures in education and art. On one occasion, he offered his services as a personal shopper with an excellent taste in neckties.

For all his hustling, he was hardly making a living, let alone making his name. But then came his break: struck by his dandyish demeanour, Punch magazine made him the face of Aestheticism  an artistic movement concerned with poetry and beauty  and from this, Wilde's reputation began to grow.

Soon after, he was offered a US lecture tour by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte, whose production of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera Patience  which satirised Aestheticism  was touring America. Who better to help promote it than the man who was the very personification of the movement?

Wilde's motives for accepting Carte's offer were equally mercenary. His first play, Vera, had failed and his finances were stretched. The invitation could not have come at a better time.

And so on Christmas Eve 1881, Wilde, then aged 27, wrapped himself in a fur cloak and boarded the SS Arizona at Liverpool.

LEGEND has it that on his arrival in the United States in 1882, Wilde breezed through customs by telling officials: 'I have nothing to declare but my genius.'

There is no firm proof that he uttered those words  the anecdote was first recorded 30 years later but what is certainly true is that Wilde and his advisers soon discovered that America adored him and that sex sells.

Wherever the young, handsome aesthete went, crowds of adoring women would follow. So great were their number in New York that policemen were forced to hold the crowds back so that Wilde could find a path through them. Despite questions over his sexuality from critics  one, with a veiled nod towards his homosexuality, branded Wilde an example of 'unmanly manhood'  female groupies clustered outside his hotels.

Word of Wilde's powers of attraction quickly spread, with lecture halls packed full of women less interested in his quick wit and artistic insights than in gazing at his long raven hair, his elegantly turned legs, the tightness of his trousers and the smoothness of his cheeks.

At 6ft 4in and about 14st, he cut an imposing yet elegant figure. And Wilde revelled in the attention. Audiences gossiped about his 'mashing'  late 19th Century American slang for arranging himself in seductive poses and behaving as a womaniser.

And so on Christmas Eve 1881, Wilde, then aged 27, wrapped himself in a fur cloak and boarded the SS Arizona at Liverpool

A thumbnail biographical sketch sold on trains told of how fathers watched in amazement as, before their eyes, their daughters became 'love-sick maidens' who declared Wilde a 'perfect raving angel'. Their righteous indignation was whipped up by newspapers, which gleefully reported the worrying effect Wilde's lectures could have on otherwise-upstanding ladies.

Satirists mocked the mood of hysteria. Men swore they'd make him pay for being 'the perverter of our wives by means of your idiotic art twaddle', according to one US newspaper.

Naturally, Wilde had little patience for such complaints. 'America is the only country in the world where Don Juan is not appreciated,' he countered, while pronouncing on women's looks as if conducting his own personal Miss America contest. 'I am obliging beautiful young ladies,' he said, as he signed autographs for his female admirers in front of the man from the Albany Argus newspaper. 'I make it a point to grant my autograph to no others.'

His unlikely Lothario act sent sales of his literary works soaring. Only a year earlier, English critics had turned up their noses at Wilde's poems. Now his American admirers were snapping them up.

Lines excised from the English edition of his poems for being too risque were included in the US versions, adding to his notoriety. His verses turned nature into an erotic playground.

Under Wilde's influence, a yellow iris offers its throat to a dragonfly's kisses, trees stoop to peck a swooning nymph, and lilies air-kiss the wind. But it was what he appeared to be confessing about his own love life that fascinated Americans. 'I am too young to live without desire,' one poem declared. Every line fuelled his fans' fantasies, with composers of popular music doing their utmost to capitalise on the hype with songs dedicated to Wilde-mania.

Former journalist Monroe Rosenfeld captured the mood perfectly with a rowdy song called Oscar Dear! that soon became a hit. It was an invented story full of innuendo about a character called Oscar, his wandering hands, and the girl who loved him despite them. It cheerfully encouraged men to find their inner Oscar and to become, as the song put it, 'just a little wild'.

'Oscar dear, Oscar dear,

How flutterly-utterly-flutter you are.

Oscar dear, Oscar dear,

I think you are awfully wild.'

By the time Wilde returned to London in January 1883, his celebrity was assured. An eager public snapped up every morsel of gossip about their idol and swallowed them so quickly that their truth was rarely questioned.

His unlikely Lothario act sent sales of his literary works soaring. Only a year earlier, English critics had turned up their noses at Wilde's poems. Now his American admirers were snapping them up

This, ironically, plumped up his reputation to such an extent that it gave him the financial means to marry the daughter of a leading barrister a year later.

'I am going to be married to a beautiful young girl called Constance Lloyd,' Oscar told actress and socialite Lillie Langtry. He was as elated as his bride-to-be.

He designed her engagement ring himself, forming a heart from pearls and diamonds (his favourite gemstone). He also gave her a pet monkey to keep her company while they were apart.

But during the summer of 1891, poet Lionel Johnson dropped in on the Wildes and brought along Lord Alfred Douglas, an angel-faced 21-year-old Oxford student who went by the nickname 'Bosie'.

Wilde was instantly infatuated. He treated him to tea and then introduced him to Constance.

The illicit love story between Oscar and Bosie began that very day  with the shattering consequences that are so well known.

When it came in 1895, Oscar's unmaking was swift and grim. Shamed in court for 'the love that dare not speak its name', he was stripped of his possessions, publicly humiliated, estranged from his wife and two young sons, imprisoned and forced to carry out menial tasks and hard labour for two years.

The face of Aestheticism became prisoner C.3.3.

Such was his ignominy that after his release he took a new name and lived as Sebastian Melmoth. Oscar Wilde was no more.

Long before his death in Paris in 1900, the man who had driven women wild with desire simply ceased to exist. Few dared to stage his plays. His literary reputation was in tatters.

The greatest wit of the age had disappeared because society could not accept his sexuality. Seldom has a downfall been so complete.
Most people believe there are not enough NHS nurses to keep patients safe, a survey has found.

Nearly three quarters of UK adults believe there are too few to provide adequate care, according to the poll by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).

More than a quarter were concerned that the shortage of nurses could mean their family did not get the care they need as a result, while 17 per cent were worried it might not be safe.

Meanwhile, almost a third of people in England thought employing more nurses was the top priority if the NHS secures additional funding, while 26 per cent backed hiring more doctors.

Most people believe there are not enough NHS nurses to keep patients safe, a survey has found

Theresa May has vowed to deliver a long-term financial plan for the NHS this year, amid a growing funding crisis.

According to latest figures, the NHS is short of around 43,000 nurses across the UK, the RCN said.

Janet Davies, chief executive of the RCN, blamed politicians for failing to address the shortage.

In a keynote address at the organisation's annual congress in Belfast on Sunday, she will say: 'This situation could have been avoided. It was no accident, it was sadly inevitable.

'The reason we have so many vacancies is because of short-sighted cost-cutting in past years, and ineffective workforce planning driven by finance and not the needs of patients.

'We warned this would happen, but were called scaremongers.

'This is a failure of politicians and policymakers - with an inability to recognise the value of nursing, an unwillingness to listen to those of you who are working in the service, and a lack of political will to address it.'

The RCN is calling for safe staffing legislation to be introduced across the UK, to ensure accountability for shortages.

Nearly three quarters of UK adults believe there are too few to provide adequate care, according to the poll by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN)

Wales became the first country in Europe to implement safe staffing laws for nursing in 2016, placing a legal duty on health boards to employee enough.

Nicola Sturgeon has also promised to introduce a staffing law, with draft legislation expected this year, however it is not currently planned in England or Northern Ireland.

Ms Davies will say: 'You know how the care we are able to provide is totally compromised by short staffing, and we cannot repeat this often enough: mortality levels increase when the level of registered nurses falls.

'We know our patient outcomes are better when there are more nurses to care for them.

'The current shortages are not only dangerous but a vicious circle too. Poor staffing levels are the number one reason for working-age nurses leaving the NMC register.

'Good nurses do not want to do a bad job. We must stop this.'

Around 1,600 UK adults, including 1,400 in England, took part in the YouGov survey.
Suzel Mackintosh, 23, sustained horrific injuries when she was attacked by a Staffordshire-pit bull crossbreed

A model who was left looking 'like The Joker' after being mauled by a savage dog has vowed to rebuild her career.

Suzel Mackintosh sustained horrific injuries when she was attacked by a Staffordshire-pit bull crossbreed.

The model spent a week in hospital and had plastic surgery on her face after the attack on New Years Eve.

However, despite doctors' best efforts, the 23-year-old still finds it difficult to lift her upper lift due to muscle damage.

'I patted the dog and it just went for me. I fell back and I could feel my nose hanging off,' Ms Mackintosh told the Daily Star Sunday.

She had been visiting friends in south-west Australia when the dog attacked her after the group went camping in the remote Pemberton area.

Ms Mackintosh said she and friends had played with the animal during the day and then placed it in a vehicle when night fell.

She said: 'I went to get something from the car and it jumped on my face. I did nothing to provoke it.'

Devastated Ms Mackintosh thought her horrific injuries had dashed her dream of becoming a model.

Ms Mackintosh said she and friends had played with the animal during the day and then placed it in a vehicle when night fell

Ms Mackintosh had been visiting friends in south-west Australia when the dog attacked her after the group went camping in the remote Pemberton area

Despite doctors' best efforts, the 23-year-old still finds it difficult to lift her upper lift due to muscle damage

She even contemplated 'not being around anymore' as she recovered in hospital.

But Ms Mackintosh, of London but originally from Perth in Australia, decided to return to Britain and pursue her modelling dreams.

She went on to take part in a video with online comic Jack Jones, which has more than 2million views.

Despite her determination online trolls still taunted her for her looks.

'One guy wrote, "did you have to many d***s shoved in there on Friday night?"'

But Ms Mackintosh, of London but originally from Perth in Australia, decided to return to Britain and pursue her modelling dreams.

She went on to take part in a video with online comic Jack Jones, which has more than 2million views and plans to be a spokesman for domestic abuse victims

But Ms Mackintosh chose to ignore the hateful comments and now plans to be a spokesman for victims of domestic abuse.

She herself had been in a troubled relationship from the age of 17 for two yeasr.

She added: 'I want other women to know that no matter what, you should still do the things you want to do.'

Ms Mackintosh has never received an apology from the dog owner, which she says 'hurts more than the injuries'.
On the outside Silicon Valley Community Foundation touted itself as an organization dedicated to building and strengthening the community - but behind close doors employees reported widespread bullying, sexual violence and racism.

In the 11 years the foundation has been around it has reeled in big-time donors such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings. Both have donated billions of dollars to the organization over the last few years.

According to the foundation's website, the company is the largest community foundation in the world and manages assets worth some $13.5billion.

In a bombshell report last month, the Chronicle Philanthropy reported that employees at the company were routinely targeted by the foundation's top fund-raiser Mari Ellen Loijens.

Mari Ellen Loijens (left) resigned following allegations she bullied her colleagues and made racist and sexually charged comments. CEO Emmett Carson (right) was placed on administration leave

Several current and former employees, like Maria Moreno, said the environment at Silicon Valley Community Foundation was toxic and Carson ignored complains

Several current and former workers spoke out about the allegations telling the New York Times in an article published Friday that Loijens often bullied and demeaned her colleagues and made sexually and racially insensitive remarks. One employee even said Loijens threatened 'to kill' someone.

I personally went to HR on more than five occasions, and I was only there for one year, Elizabeth Dressel told the Times. But the culture was supported by (CEO) Emmett (Carson) because the sole focus was to increase the size of the funds.

Dressel, who left the foundation in 2012, said she had tried twice to talk to Carson about the toxic environment but he brushed her off.

He was definitely not open to a conversation about her at all, she said.

According to Dressel, Loijens also made racist remarks and one time referred to a black employee as a 'slave'.

She told the Times that the woman was working late and Loijens approached the woman and, 'OK, slave, come into my office'.

Several employees said Loijens was allowed to get away with her behavior because of how much money she brought in for the company.

She brought in the money, made the place bigger,' said former executive Rebecca Dupras, adding that Carson allowed it because he could 'go out and be a superstar'.

Dupras left Silicon Valley Community Foundation last year telling the Times that working with Loijens had become too much.

Carson claimed in a tweet that he was unaware of what was happening. Several workers said they left the foundation because of Loijens' behavior

Moreno called Carson out after he issued a statement saying fixing the issues within the company was his number one priority

'(Carson) could have stopped this and reined her in, and he didnt,' she said.

Another employee, Dory Gannes, said Carson pushed his team to raise as much money as possible because he wanted the foundation to be one of the nations biggest philanthropies.

There was this bigger is better mentality, Gannes said.

She left in 2016 after two years following a dispute with Loijens. Our world was driven by scale  how many clients we had, how many grans we processed, how many countries we made grants to,' she said.

Dupras said she was also targeted by Loijens during an employee meeting. She told the Times that when she told the group she wasn't feeling well, Loijens responded with a sexually charged retort.

She said I was pretty good looking and might be pregnant, Dupras said. She said, You might want to get that checked out.

Another former worker alleged that Loijens threatened her staff telling one woman who had met with a donor by herself, which was against the rules, that if she caught the woman doing that again she would kill her.

Shortly after the allegations surfaced, Loijens resigned from the company. Carson has since been placed on administrative leave and the director of human resources at the foundation also resigned.

In a series of tweets to address the backlash, Carson posted that he was unaware of the rampant turmoil and urged employees to come forward.

I am responsible for workplace culture. I am deeply troubled and regret that former staff felt they could not report inappropriate behavior and urge any other staff to come forward. Listening and fixing this is Priority#1.

One one worker at Silicon Valley Community Foundation said Loijens referred to a black employee as a 'slave' and threatened to kill another woman

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (left) and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings (right) are among the top donors for the foundation

Former employee, Maria Moreno, called him out tweeting: Please stop acting like you did not know! I reported both you and Mari Ellen to HR July 2017. At the end of the day, I was the one who had to leave the foundation bc it was a toxic work environment.

The Times reports that Carson is now negotiating his exit and won't return to the foundation. A law firm was also hired to conduct an investigation.

Zuckerberg and other donors have remained largely quiet about the allegations. Representatives for the Facebook founder and Hastings told the Times they support the actions of the foundation's board, which placed Carson on leave.

Since 2011, Zuckerberg has donated some 45 million shares of his company's stock to the organization, worth roughly $1.8billion at the time they were given. GoPro's founder Nicholas Woodman donated stock worth $500million in 2014, and that same year WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum donated $566million worth of stock.
We come from different political parties with distinct histories, policies and ideological beliefs. There have been many occasions when we have disagreed with one another. There are many issues on which we still don't see eye to eye.

However, when it comes to putting our country before our political parties, in the debate about Brexit we are unequivocally united.

Less than a year before we quit the EU, and less than six months before the deadline for concluding the terms of our departure, hard Brexit demands are holding this country's negotiating position to ransom. Whether viewed from within Parliament, from outside, or from overseas, this is cause for grave concern.

We come from different political parties with distinct histories, policies and ideological beliefs

There is, however, a way forward. Over the coming months, MPs will have the chance to table amendments to Bills  and vote for those amendments  which can prevent the country from suffering the long-term damage that a hard Brexit will cause. Parliamentarians who champion the hardest of Brexits will stubbornly resist any such amendments, and the pro-Brexit press will angrily protest, but what is the role of MPs if not to improve and protect the lives of their constituents? The referendum result did not hand the most ideologically fervent Brexiteers a mandate to take the UK out of the EU on any terms.

That is why the three of us are joining forces to appeal to MPs from all parties to take back control of the direction of Brexit. Tomorrow, at the Tilda rice mill in Essex, we will call on Parliament to reject completely the siren calls to sever the UK's deep economic ties with the European Union. Cheerleaders for a hard Brexit insist it is the only way to forge a buccaneering future for our country as 'Global Britain'.

The swashbuckling rhetoric may sound exciting but the reality of the choice we face is far harder. For Tilda, an iconic British firm which has been based in the UK for four decades and sells rice in more than 50 countries, the alternatives to Customs Union membership do not guarantee the same level of barrier-free access for its products in the rest of the EU and will require the firm to relocate part of its processing unit.

The swashbuckling rhetoric may sound exciting but the reality of the choice we face is far harder

Countless businesses across the UK are similarly troubled by the Government's failure to come up with a workable way forward. Whether you voted Leave or Remain this is a deeply worrying situation, and one which poses serious economic risks. The Government knows this. Its own analysis concluded that every post-Brexit scenario will come at a cost.

Even a comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU predicted the UK will see growth drop by 5 per cent over the next 15 years compared with current forecasts, as a result of additional bureaucratic border checks. The ensuing economic pain will be felt in every part of the country. This is not Project Fear; it is project reality based on the Government's own analysis.

Nor will any future bilateral deals, which the Government predicts will add just 0.2 to 0.7 per cent to GDP, be easy to secure, with other nations insisting upon their own regulatory and environmental standards, such as the American demand that UK consumers accept chlorine-treated chicken. In this volatile world, in which a protectionist US President threatens trade wars across the planet, is this really the time to go it alone?

The truth is that Britain is already proudly, and powerfully, global. Under current arrangements we can trade with European countries but also, as a leading player in an ambitious bloc, with world nations. The EU is already in the process of striking wide-ranging deals with Japan, Canada, Singapore and Mexico, and the negotiating muscle of 27 nations is far more likely to achieve expanded trade with China and India. When it comes to trade, distant nations come into focus through the lens of the EU telescope. A hard, destructive Brexit reverses the telescope: those nations closest to us appear more distant, and those further away fade from view.

They must set aside party loyalties and place their constituents at the forefront of their minds. They must put our country first

Of course, important though the debate about our customs arrangements are, 'frictionless' trade is only possible if the UK is part of the level playing field of regulatory standards and barrier-free supply chains which the Single Market (or similar with the same benefits, as the Brexiteers promised us) provides. If the UK is on the outside then the services sector, which accounts for about 80 per cent of UK economy, will suffer, our global aspirations will be hindered and UK-wide economic harm will follow.

A hard Brexit won't create Global Britain. Instead it is merely a path to a fantasy island where we will have reduced access to our largest markets and a diminished standing in the world. It is not just responsible, economically, to find a better way forward. It is profoundly in the national interest.

So when MPs finally vote, at the end of this year, on the Government's Brexit 'deal', they will be grappling with questions which strike at the heart of our representative democracy and the future of Britain. Does Brexit improve their constituents' lives? Does the final deal match the promises made in the referendum? Will severing our economic ties with Europe create, or diminish, Global Britain?

This will be a judgment which only elected representatives can take. Whatever party they belong to, and however their constituents voted in 2016, MPs must do what they believe is best for the future. They must set aside party loyalties and place their constituents at the forefront of their minds. They must put our country first.
The revelation was made as new Home Secretary Sajid Javid posed for a photo with a sniffer dog at Heathrow Airport

Police were called to the Home Office after crystal meth was found in a toilet, it has emerged.

The drug, which featured in the hit TV series Breaking Bad, was found by security guards alongside a pipe in a disabled toilet.

The revelation was made as new Home Secretary Sajid Javid, who was appointed a fortnight ago following Amber Rudd's resignation, posed for a photo with a sniffer dog at Heathrow Airport.

Mr Javid posted the picture on Twitter with the message: 'We have impressive four-legged friends helping sniff out drugs, cash and illicit goods. Go Trigger!'

According to the Sunday Mirror, the drug was found on May 3 at the Home Offices Marsham Street headquarters.

Some 5,000 staff work in the building.

It was the third such incident to occur in six months at the Home Office - which is the lead department for the nationwide war on drug use.

Yet police decided not to launch a full investigation - the reason for this was not know by Government officials.

It was the third such incident to occur in six months at the Home Office - which ensures the nationwide war on drug use

An insider said: 'Everyone in the building is talking about this. Were the lead department in the war against illegal drugs so its hugely embarrassing when theyre found under our noses.

'Our job is to break the bad guys, not to feature in an episode of Breaking Bad.'

Last year a crystal meth and pipe were discovered in another Home Office disabled toilet and just a month ago cocaine was found elsewhere in the building.

The Met Police told the newspaper: 'A small quantity of suspected class A drugs were found discarded in a communal area.

'The substance was seized by officers and taken to a local police station. Advice was provided to security staff. No suspects have been identified at this time'.
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Protesters swarmed Amazon headquarters in Seattle on Saturday to demand that the company fork-out millions in proposed taxes.

More than 100 people participated in the 'March on Amazon' protest which began at Seattle Central College before heading over to Amazon headquarters in South Lake Union, according to KOMO News.

'We are demanding council to not backslide on $75million dollar tax,' said city council-member Kshama Sawant, who organized the protest along with the Affordable Housing Alliance.

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More than 100 people participated in the 'March on Amazon' protest which began at Seattle Central College

A Facebook post describing the demonstration said that the march was intended to protest the online retail giant's 'corporate extortion of our city'

After beginning at Seattle Central College, the march headed over to Amazon headquarters in South Lake Union

Jeff Bezos (pictured), Amazon's founder and CEO, is the world's richest man with an estimated net worth of over $90billion

'Let's call Mayor [Jenny] Durkan's bluff,' Sawant added, referring to the mayor's push for a lower 'head tax' on businesses.

A Facebook post describing the demonstration said that the march was intended to protest the online retail giant's 'corporate extortion of our city'.

Not everyone, however, was supportive of the marchers, with one person telling KOMO News that policy changes affecting Amazon negatively could have a devastating outcome.

'This is ridiculous,' said Keith Steinke. 'They shouldn't dare Amazon to leave. I wouldn't want to see the consequences if they do.'

Amazon recently announced that it has halted construction on a massive new project in downtown Seattle over a proposed 'head tax' passed by the City Council in a 5-4 vote earlier this week.

The 'head tax' refers to a $500 per-person tariff the city wants to impose on big-businesses that will help pay for social programs like caring for the homeless.

The local government is expected to raise $75 million dollars from the tax, with Amazon, the city's largest employer, expected to fork over at least $20 million of the total sum.

Since the first vote was taken by committee, a second vote is scheduled on Monday for final approval of the 'head tax' proposal.

Council member Kshama Sawant addresses her head-tax rally at Seattle Central College before marching to the Amazon Spheres on Saturday. The event was hosted by Sawant and the Affordable Housing Alliance

Amazon, along with Alaska Airlines, Expedia and others have all vocally come out against the bill.

Mayor Durkan said that she will not support the 'head tax' proposal, arguing that the city should not risk hurting businesses who provide vital jobs to hard working people.

'Unfortunately, the bill that pass out of committee hurts workers by stopping these good jobs, so I cannot support it,' Durkan said in a statement.

'I will continue to work with council and remain hopeful that council will pass a bill that I can sign,' she added.

The city wants to institute a 'head tax' which will force big businesses to fork over $500 per-person they employ (Pictured: Amazon HQ)

Organizers of Saturday's march argue that they are fighting against 'Amazon's bullying' and want to tax 'big business to fund affordable housing.'

'We must stand up against Amazon's bullying! We cannot allow them to continue putting corporate greed before the rights and well-being of their workers and the cities they reside in!' the march's Facebook page said.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and CEO, is the world's richest man with an estimated net worth of over $90 billion.
Gripping video captures Florida police officers reviving a man who had overdosed on opioids.

Officers from the Pasco Sheriff's Office were seen saving the life of a drug user was was completely unresponsive but was saved thanks to the quick use of Narcan.

He had a strong pulse but wasn't breathing, pinpoint pupils, and he began turning blue in the face meaning death was just minutes away.

A police body camera video captured a call that saw deputies responding to where an unresponsive male was suffering the effects of an overdose

After deputies administered the Narcan, the man, who was not breathing, became fully alert and responsive just a few minutes later

The responding deputies administered Narcan, or naloxone hydrochloride. The drug essentially reverses an overdose.

Narcan is a nasal spray and is the first and only FDA-approved form of naloxone which immediately treats the effects of those who have overdosed.

Body camera video captures a call deputies responding quickly to the call in January where the unresponsive man was left fighting for his life after suffering from the effects of an overdose.

Deputies administered the Narcan and he became fully alert and responsive, even sitting up to talk, within three minutes of being given the medication.

The responding deputies administered Narcan, or naloxone hydrochloride through the nose

The drug essentially reverses an overdose and works very quickly to reverse the effects

Within three minutes the man was sitting up trying to understand what had just happened

'Our main goal here is to save lives, to give a person another chance,' said Corporal Sherryl Johnson-Tandy, who tracks the agency's Narcan use and provides deputies with training.

With the unfortunate rise of the opioid epidemic in Pasco County, nearly 1,000 Pasco Sheriff's Office employees have become trained in the use of Narcan and carry rescue kits on them while on duty.

The chemical agent has been deployed 65 times in Pasco County since March of 2017 to those who have overdosed on opioids.

'2017 was the first year that Pasco County began to experience some of the consequences associated with the opioid crisis,' said Captain Mike Jenkins to Fox13.

'We recognize that we cannot arrest our way out of this problem,' said Capt. Jenkins. 'So, the deployment of Narcan is one of the strategies we are utilizing to address this issue.'

Police and paramedics work to stabilize the man who almost lost his life
President Donald Trump demanded Senators on Capital Hill approve a government spending package that sees money allocated for border security and a wall before the August recess or not go on break at all.

In a fiery tweet posted on Saturday, Trump wrote: 'The Senate should get funding done before the August break, or NOT GO HOME.

'Wall and Border Security should be included. Also waiting for approval of almost 300 nominations, worst in history. Democrats are doing everything possible to obstruct, all they know how to do. STAY!'

In a fiery tweet posted on Saturday, Trump wrote: 'The Senate should get funding done before the August break, or NOT GO HOME

An unprecedented $1.3 trillion spending package funding the government until September was passed in March by Congress

An unprecedented $1.3 trillion spending package funding the government until September was passed in March by Congress, with $1.6 billion of that money allocated for border security.

Trump has made clear, however, that he wants more funding from congress for his border policies, including money for a proposed wall the President claims will stem illegal immigration pouring in from the south, according to CNN.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell leads the Republican majority in the US Senate

Trump has even floated the possibility of supporting a government shutdown in autumn if lawmakers can't come up with the border money.

It remains unclear why the President specifically targeted Senators and not members of the House of Representatives.

The commander-in-chief has repeatedly complained about security progress on the country's southern border.

In fact, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen nearly submitted her resignation to the President earlier this after Trump reportedly berated her about the issue during a White House meeting.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that the president has growing increasingly angry with Nielsen over what he feels is the country's inability to adequately secure its border.

A senior administration official later confirmed the incident to Reuters, saying: 'He lit into her.'

On Wednesday, Donald Trump and Kirstjen Nielsen (pictured) got into a heated argument during the Cabinet meeting focused on immigration

A DHS spokesman said in a statement on Thursday that the New York Times story 'alleging that the Secretary drafted a resignation letter yesterday and was close to resigning is false.'

Nielsen 'is hard at work today on the President's security-focused agenda and supporting the men and women of @DHSgov,' he added.

The White House declined specific comment on whether Trump berated Nielsen, her supposed resignation letter and on whether Trump retained confidence in Nielsen, who took over at DHS in December.

'The president is committed to fixing our broken immigration system and our porous borders. We are a country of laws and the president and his administration will enforce them,' White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement on Thursday.

Nielsen is in charge of the 20,000 border agents who work at Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Elsewhere in Matias Romero, Oaxaca State, Mexico, migrants taking part in the caravan marched to protest against Donald Trump on Tuesday. Trump appeared to be talking about the caravan in his speech on Thursday when he mentioned the rape of women who make the journey to the U.S.

Central American migrants taking part in the 'Migrant Via Crucis' caravan towards the United States get into a bus as they start leaving a sport complex where they were camping in Matias Romero, Oaxaca State, Mexico, on Thursday

One person at the meeting said Trump railed at the whole Cabinet over what he said was its lack of progress in keeping out illegal immigrants, the Times said.

Trump has become frustrated in recent weeks over growing numbers of illegal border crossings after a drop during his first year in office, the Times said, citing several officials.

Trump believes Nielsen and other DHS officials are resisting directives that parents be separated from their children when families cross illegally into the United States, to deter them from entering, the newspaper said, citing the officials.

Trump's hard line against illegal immigration is a centerpiece of his presidency as he pursues an 'America First' agenda that includes a proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, saying it was needed to stem the flow of immigrants and drug trafficking.
Suicide bombers from the same family killed at least 13 people and wounded 41 in attacks on Christians attending Sunday morning services at three churches in Indonesia.

All six family members were killed in the attacks in Surabaya and at least 41 people were injured, in acts that Indonesia's president condemned as 'barbaric'.

The bombings were the worst to target churches in Indonesia since a series of attacks on Christmas Eve in 2000 killed 15 people and wounded nearly 100.

Religious minorities in Indonesia, especially Christians, have been repeatedly targeted by militants.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said that the father exploded a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother was with daughters aged 12 and nine for her attack.

Mr Karnavian said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently the Islamic State group controlled significant territory.

Smoke billows from burning debris at a church in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia May 13, 2018

An Indonesian anti-terror policeman stands guard at the blast site following a suicide bomb outside a church in Surabay

A member of the police bomb squad unit examines the site of an explosion outside the Immaculate Santa Maria Catholic Church, in Surabaya, East Java

Firefighters are seen at the site of a blast at the Pentecost Church Central Surabaya after the savage attacks

Police assist a woman looking for family members near the site of a blast at the Pentecost Church Central Surabaya after the gruesome attacks

Indonesian anti-terror policeman stands guard at the blast site following a suicide bomb outside a church in Surabaya today

Police stand guard as Christian devotees attend a Sunday mass at the Saint Petrus church in Bandung after the blasts today

The extremist group claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency.

The first attack struck the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church in Surabaya, police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters.

That blast was followed by a second explosion minutes later at the Christian Church of Diponegoro and a third at the city's Pantekosta Church.

A witness described the woman's attack at the Diponegoro church, saying she was carrying two bags when she arrived.

'At first officers blocked them in front of the churchyard, but the woman ignored them and forced her way inside. Suddenly she hugged a civilian then (the bomb) exploded,' said the witness, a security guard who identified himself as Antonius.

An armed member of the Indonesian Mobile Brigade Corps stand guard during Asian Games preparation carnival on a main street in Jakarta after the savage attack today

Members of police bomb squad inspect wreckage of motorcycles at the site where an explosion went off outside a church

Officers walk past debris at Santa Maria church where an explosion went off in Surabaya, East Java

Debris are seen at a church where an explosion went off in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia

A person injured from a blast at the Indonesian Christian Church is evacuated to a waiting ambulance in Surabaya

Firefighters try to extinguish a blaze following a blast at the Pentecost Church Central Surabaya

People carry a body bag containing a victim of a bomb blast at The Immaculate Santa Maria Church, at Surabaya Surgical Hospital in Surabaya

K9 police examine a site following attacks outside the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church after the grim blasts

Mr Mangera said three unexploded homemade bombs - two at the Pantekosta church and one at the Diponegoro church - were detonated by a bomb squad.

Shattered glass and chunks of concrete littered the entrance of the Santa Maria Church, which was sealed off by armed police.

Rescue personnel treated victims at a nearby field while officers inspected wrecked motorcycles in the car park that had been burned in the explosion.

A street merchant outside the church said she was blown several metres by the blast.

'I saw two men riding a motorbike force their way into the churchyard. One was wearing black pants and one with a backpack,' said the merchant, Samsia, who uses a single name. 'Soon after that the explosion happened.'

President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo visited the scenes of the attacks and described them as 'cowardly actions' that were 'very barbaric and beyond the limit of humanity'.

In Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, the Indonesian Church Association condemned the attacks.

'We are angry,' said Gormar Gultom, an official with the association, who urged people to let the police investigation take its course.

Indonesia's two largest Muslim organisations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, also condemned the attacks.

Separately, national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto said police fatally shot four suspected militants and arrested two others early on Sunday in West Java towns. It was not clear whether the shootings were connected to the church attacks.

'They have trained in order to attack police,' Mr Wasisto said, identifying the militants as members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Islamic State group-affiliated network of about two dozen extremist groups that has been implicated in a number of attacks in Indonesia over the past year.

Jakarta police placed the capital and surrounding areas on high alert, while the transportation ministry warned airports to be on guard.

The church attacks came days after police ended a hostage-taking ordeal by imprisoned Islamic militants at a detention centre near Jakarta in which six officers and three inmates died. IS claimed responsibility.

Indonesia has carried out a sustained crackdown on militants since bombings by al Qaida-affiliated radicals in Bali in 2002 killed 202 people. In recent years, the country has faced a new threat as the rise of IS in the Middle East invigorated local militant networks.

Christians, many of whom are from the ethnic Chinese minority, make up about 9% of Indonesia's 260 million people.

Police officers stand guard near the site where an explosion went off at Santa Maria church in Surabaya

A damaged motorbike is seen at the scene outside a church following a suicide bomb in Surabaya

Indonesian bomb squade examine the site following a suicide bomb outside a church in Surabaya

Indonesian bomb squad police officers inspect a blast site in front of a church in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia

Two armed members of the Indonesian Mobile Brigade Corps stand guard during Asian Games preparation carnival on a main street in Jakarta

The church attacks came days after police ended a hostage-taking ordeal by imprisoned Islamic militants at a detention center near Jakarta in which six officers and three inmates died. IS claimed responsibility.

Indonesia has had some major successes tackling militancy inspired by al Qaeda's attacks on the United States in 2001. But there has been a resurgence of Islamist activity in recent years, some of it linked to the rise of Islamic State.

The most serious incident was in January 2016 when four suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a shopping area in central Jakarta.

Churches have also been targeted previously, including near-simultaneous attacks on churches there at Christmas in 2000 that killed about 20 people.

Pope Francis prayed for victims of the suicide bombing.

Francis on Sunday expressed his spiritual closeness to the Christian community in Indonesia, especially in Surabaya.

Francis asked faithful in St. Peter's Square to join him in prayers to the 'God of peace so that he will make these violent actions stop, and that in the hearts of all there will be room not for sentiments of hatred and violence but of reconciliation and brotherhood.'

The pope has often draw attention to minority Christian communities that have been targets of persecution or other violence.
The scratches Allison Baden-Clay left across her husband's neck and chest were the only signs of the desperate fight she gave before he murdered her.

The morning after her husband, Gerard, killed her in her Brisbane home, he dumped her body by the creek and calmly rang triple zero. It took ten days to find her body.

Now, Allison's heartbroken parents have opened up about their guilt at not doing more to help her leave the the abusive relationship that eventually led to her death.

Gerard Baden-Clay (pictured right) was convicted of murdering wife Allison (left) in 2014 and handed a life sentence for his crime

Allison's parents, Geoff (right) and Priscilla Dickie (middle) along with her sister Vanessa (left) Fowler, are sharing Allison's story as part of a collaboration with Griffith University

The Dickies, who are now raising their three granddaughters after their mother was murdered and father sentenced to life, say they will teach the girls to follow their hearts, be independent, and know when to leave an abusive relationship

Allison's parents Geoff and Priscilla Dickie, along with her sister Vanessa Fowler, are sharing their heartbreaking story as part of a collaboration with Griffith University.

Speaking to the Courier Mail, Mr Dickie spoke about his daughter's gradual isolation and decline from a successful career woman to someone who was broke, forbidden from calling her parents and left with just $20 to her name.

Over Allison's 15-year marriage, Gerard's abuse intensified until she was left completely dependent and isolated.

She had no money and was only given access to buy groceries and relatives were banned from ringing the couples home number.

The Dickie's told the publication they saw the signs, but that they didn't intervene because of the social customs during the time.

'It's just old school. We saw all the signs at different times. Once Allison was isolated from us  that was a sign,' Mr Dickie said.

The morning after he reported his wife missing, Baden-Clay told police two scratches he had on his face (pictured) were from shaving and that the scratches on his body came from a caterpillar.

After he killed her he dumped her body in a nearby creek and then calmly called police

He said they would talk to her about it and try to coax her into leaving, but despite their attempts she stayed.

Her sister Vanessa, said that Allison's family were concerned but they didn't want to do anything that could make it worse for her.

'So we stepped back, because she said to us that she was strong  which she was. And we knew that if she needed us, she knew that we were always there for her.'

Gerad's behaviour became more controlling. He deleted the numbers of family members from her mobile and blocked them from calling their landline.

She told her parents it was broken when they complained their calls were not getting through.

The creek where Allison's body was found after a ten day search

Pictured: A police photograph taken of the Baden-Clay household in Brisbane, submitted as evidence in the murder trial

Allison (right) was survived by her three young daughters, who Baden-Clay (left) is now banned from having any contact with

TIMELINE OF THE GERARD BADEN-CLAY CASE April 20, 2012 - Allison Baden-Clay reported missing by husband Gerard from their home at Brookfield in Brisbane. April 30, 2012 - Her body is found on a creek bank several kilometres away. June 13, 2012 - Gerard Baden-Clay charged with murder and interfering with a corpse. July 15, 2014 - Jury finds him guilty after six-week trial. July 17, 2014 - An appeal is filed. December 8, 2015 - His murder conviction is set aside and substituted with a conviction of manslaughter. July 2016 - Prosecutors return to the Court of Appeal to try and reinstate the murder conviction August 2016 - Murder conviction reinstated by the High Court, Baden-Clay is re-sentenced to life behind bars Advertisement

She became dishevelled, wearing shoes that were worn through and falling apart.

During a family gathering, one of the last times her parents would see her alive, they watched as she handed back a credit card to Gerard.

Vanessa says he brought her sister down from a well educated woman to nothing.

The fact that he controlled the finances was a major reason for her not leaving. She felt she could never provide for her children.

'Not only did she have to protect her children, she also had no finances to go,' she said.

Now, the family is trying to make sure no other lives are lost to domestic violence.

Griffith Universitys MATE Bystander Program, which currently offers training programs to the corporate and business world, is aimed at changing ideas around domestic violence and not getting involved in other peoples relationships.

The program is targeting businesses in the hope it will educate people on the misconception that domestic and family violence only affects lower socio-economic areas.

Her parents (pictured) want to share their experience so that others can learn the warning signs

Baden-Clay pictured with their three daughters at Allison's funeral

Vanessa said the people need to see controlling behaviour as a warning sign. That people need to get involved and no longer mind their own business.

Allison's parents are now bringing up her her three daughters and say they will teach them completely different life lessons.

Priscilla said she had always told Allison that marriage has its ups and downs and that it was only a matter of getting through the bad times.

Now she teaches her granddaughters to follow their hearts, to be independent and to recognise the warning signs of unhealthy relationships.
Several former writers from Roseanne's original run have spoken out, trashing Roseanne Barr over her support for President Donald Trump.

In interviews with Buzzfeed News, four writers said they were upset when they learned that actress Roseanne Barr's character was a Trump supporter - but some said they were 'pleasantly surprised' by the reboot.

The show has returned to massive ratings, with over 18million tuning in for the first episode on March 27.

'I don't recognize that character,' said one writer, who asked to remain anonymous fearing profession repercussions.

The writer took issue with the latest episode, in which character Roseanne Connor fears her Muslim neighbors are terrorists, but then learns they are just struggling to make ends meet like her own family.

'I believe the original character would've said, 'Who cares [about having Muslim neighbors]?' And now she's saying she does care,' the writer said.

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The writer took issue with the latest episode (above), in which character Roseanne Connor fears her Muslim neighbors are terrorists, but then learns to accept them

Former writers Stan Zimmerman and Lois Bromfeld were both upset that Roseanne Barr and her character are Trump supporters, but said they were surprised at how good the reboot is

Writer Stan Zimmerman, who worked on Roseanne for two seasons, told the outlet: 'A lot of people involved in the show were surprised when she turned right-wing and supported Trump because that was just not the person or her character that we had known.'

Although the reboot has never mentioned Trump by name, the first episode clearly signaled Roseanne Connor's support for him in her arguments with her liberal sister, saying that she liked 'that he talked about jobs'.

Barr has said it was her idea to make her character a Trump supporter, telling the New York Times: '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.'

Four writers from the original run did return to work on the reboot, so the disgruntled sentiment is not universal.

ABC, which airs the show, declined to comment to Buzzfeed, and representatives for Barr did not respond to requests for comment.

The writers who did complain focused their criticism on the character's support for Trump.

'I don't think that Roseanne Conner would've voted for Donald Trump,' said Miriam Trogdon, (above) who worked on the show for two seasons

The cast of the reboot are seen above. The ABC show returned to massive ratings, with more than 18million tuning in for the premier on March 27

'I don't think that Roseanne Conner would've voted for Donald Trump,' said Miriam Trogdon, who worked on the show for two seasons. 'I don't think that she would've, but apparently she did.'

'But the original Roseanne, I think, would have been more upset at his attitude toward women and his misogyny,' Trogdon said. 'I think that the original Roseanne would've questioned how a super-rich guy like this would have any sense of what a lower-middle-class family like the Conners were going through.'

Trogdon said that she didn't think actors should ever share their personal politics.

Another former writer, Lois Bromfield, said she was shocked when she learned that Barr is a Trump supporter.

'I don't know her that way. I know her as a really open, liberal person,' said Bromfield. 'I don't know what the deal is with [her current politics]. I don't quite get it. I guess something changed in her life or maybe I just didn't know her that well.'

The show often depicts arguments between Roseanne Conner (left) and her Hillary-loving sister Jackie (center), though the characters manage to overcome their differences

'Roseanne is a really big supporter of women and human rights and animal rights,' Bromfield said. 'Roseanne is not a bigot, she's not a backward person at all, so her liking Trump is just so odd. It comes out of left field.'

The writers acknowledged that the difficulty in separating the actress, who has been outspoken in favor of Trump, from her character confused matters. 'It is sometimes hard to divorce Roseanne Barr from Roseanne Conner,' Zimmerman said.

Despite their criticism, Zimmerman and Bromfield said they have enjoyed the reboot despite not sharing the star's politics.

'I came in holding my breath thinking, What am I in store for?' Zimmerman said. 'I was pleasantly surprised watching. The first episodes were so smart and witty.'

'I really didn't want to love it. I wanted to be pissed off because I know she supports Trump,' Bromfield said. 'But I have to tell you, I just got suckered right in. It's really good.'
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Thousands of residents in Canada's British Columbia have been forced to evacuate their homes as heavy flooding has left some families trapped in the rising waters.

Since the flooding began Thursday, more than 30 people have had to be rescued from the flood waters in Grand Forks, one of the hardest hit areas in British Columbia, according to officials.

Warm weather has been melting heavy snowpacks causing rivers and streams to overflow into towns, engulfing and destroying homes and cars.

With 23 states of emergency having been declared so far and 3,000 residents ordered to evacuate, more flooding is expected next week as high temperatures are in the forecast.

A home damaged by flood waters is seen in an aerial view in Grand Forks, British Columbia, where more than 30 people have had to be rescued from rising waters

A duck swims past Rick Sylbester as he walks across a flooded street after moving a vehicle to higher ground in the desert town of Osoyoos

A ranch surrounded by floodwaters is seen in an aerial view near Grand Forks, one of the worst hit towns

While residents typically experience flooding each year, some said this year's water level is the highest they've ever seen.

'I just packed up my dad, my son and my dogs and we ran,' Alanna McNabb, a local resident, told CBC. 'The water was just incredible, how fast it came up.'

'I was in disbelief. Never in a million years would I have thought it would be that bad,' she said.

Officials say this year's flooding is worse than the 1948 flood that destroyed entire towns in southeast British Columbia.

Grand Forks' fire chief Dale Heriot said residents and emergency crews are working around the clock sandbagging and rescuing those trapped in their homes.

However, the sandbagging efforts have not been as helpful as in the past with water seeping in through the foundation, according to residents.

Though water levels appeared to be receding on Saturday, he said the town expects the water levels to rise once again due to predicted warm weather.

Todd Manuck carries sandbags to his neighbor's house as water from Osoyoos Lake floods the street and properties

A pickup truck surrounded by floodwaters is seen in an aerial view in Grand Forks

More than 3,000 British Columbians have been ordered to evacuate and 23 states of emergency have been declared

Canada's only desert town is feeling the effects of flooding as well.

Since Thursday, the town of Osoyoos has seen massive flooding coming from Osoyoos Lake.

Some are claiming the waters have risen more than a foot high, leading to a state of emergency being declared on Thursday and a number of neighborhoods being evacuated.

The town has also ordered people to stop pumping flood or groundwater into the sewer with sump pumps, fearing it will cause the system to break down.

Meanwhile, residents in Westbridge have begun to preserve by shutting off the power in their homes and cooking on wood-burning stoves.

One resident who has been living in the region for 40 years said she has never seen flooding as severe as this.
A woman who has been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that 'turns skin to stone' is doing all she can to raise awareness of the ultra-rare illness.

Trish Rainbow-Noack, now 58, was diagnosed with scleroderma two years ago after she began feeling unwell and noticed her skin was hardening.

She was originally told she had lupus, but doctors changed their diagnosis after she was admitted to hospital and told she was having a heartache.

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Trish Rainbow-Noack was diagnosed scleroderma two years ago after she began feeling unwell and noticed her skin was hardening (pictured before diagnosis)

The 58-year-old grandmother-of-nine is slowly turning to stone as a result of the the horrific autoimmune disease

Ms Rainbow-Noack's daughter wrote on social media that the illness 'causes hardening of the skin and affects the internal organs like the heart, liver and kidneys

On the family's fundraising page, 500,000 Steps for Scleroderma, Ms Rainbow-Noack's daughter Tamara describes her mother's illness.

'It causes hardening of the skin and affects the internal organs like the heart, liver and kidneys,' she wrote.

'It is a life-threatening disease. There is no cure.'

Ms Rainbow-Noack said the illness has totally minimised her quality of life and left her unable to enjoy life with her two children and nine grandchildren.

Doctors told the New South Wales woman that her life expectancy was between two and five years.

But Ms Rainbow-Noack refuses to believe she is dying.

Ms Rainbow-Noack struggles to close her hands due to the hardening of her skin

The mother-of-two is undergoing a trial stem cell transplant, which has seen improvement in her lung capacity but is only a temporary solution for the illness - which has no known cure

She told 9news.com.au: 'It's hard for anyone to think you're dying because my family is everything to me.

'There's always hope you're own of those miracle cases.'

Ms Rainbow-Noack is currently undergoing trial stem cell transplant, which has improved her lung ability from 58 per cent to 85 per cent.

However this will only lengthen her life.

Last year Ms Rainbow-Noack told the ABC that when she was diagnosed in June 2016 neither she or her GP had heard of the illness.

Ms Rainbow-Noack told 9news.com.au : 'It's hard for anyone to think you're dying because my family is everything to me. There's always hope you're own of those miracle cases'

'When I first read up about it, I got very teary because it's basically described what I was going through ... what I thought I had been imagining,' she said.

Determined for no one else to go through the same trauma, Ms Rainbow-Noack and her family are doing all they can to raise awareness of the disease.

Last year the family walked 470km between Narellan and Ariah Park to raise $30,000 for research into scleroderma.

This year the family are taking it even further

Determined for no one else to go through the same fear of not knowing Ms Rainbow-Noack and her family are doing all she can to raise awareness of the disease

On the Facebook page Tamara wrote: 'This year we have raised the bar, we are going to walk further than before over 500km in two weeks from Port Macquarie to Narellan from 16th June 2018  29th June 2018.

'It will be an epic journey following the coastline, we will be climbing hills like we have never climbed before.

'Its going to be an incredibly difficult walk but we are up for the challenge.'

The family have set up a donation page and are raising money for Scleroderma NSW.

Tamara, her husband and her father will be completing the walk while their mother trails behind in a support vehicle.

The walk begins on June 16 and will end on June 29, which is World Scleroderma Day.
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The grieving father whose four children, estranged wife and mother-in-law were all shot dead inside their rural home in a suspected mass murder-suicide has spoken out for the first time since the tragedy.

Aaron Cockman said his four autistic children  Taye, 13, Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn, 8 - looked 'peaceful in their beds' after they were allegedly shot by their grandfather Peter Miles.

In an emotional address to media outside the Margaret River police station Sunday, Mr Cockman chillingly claimed Peter Miles had made a calculated decision to murder three generations of his family before committing suicide.

'Peter didn't snap. He's thought this through. I think he's been thinking this through for a long time,' he said.

'All these kids died peacefully in their beds. The (police officer) that went through, he said they looked all peaceful.

'How the hell Peter did that I still can't figure out, but if someone did it ... he did a good job, he did a really good job.'

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Grieving father Aaron Cockman, whose four children, estranged wife and mother-in-law were shot dead inside their rural home, has broken his silence about the tragedy

Peter Miles (second from left in suit and blue tie) is reportedly suspected of shooting dead his wife, Cynda, (back right), his daughter Katrina Miles (left in red dress) and her four autistic children aged from 8 to 13 (pictured) before shooting himself

'Peter didn't snap. He's thought this through. I think he's been thinking this through for a long time,' Mr Cockman claimed

A stunned Mr Cockman spoke candidly about his ongoing custody battle with his estranged wife, revealing he had been cut off from his children six months ago and was desperately fighting to get them back before the massacre.

'I used to drive around town just hoping to see them - but that anger I felt is gone,' he said.

'If it wasn't for Kate's parents and the whole turn around, I'd still be with her and the kids.'

He said he was frustrated with his estranged wife's family after being denied the right to see his children, 'but this is not how I'd want to get back at them'.

'This is a whole new level. The anger towards them now is completely gone, completely gone.'

Mr Cockman said his parent-in-laws were not the 'people you want to get on the wrong side of', and that before being cut off from his children, he and Mr Miles were best friends.

'He (Peter) was an awesome man, before all this blew up.'

'I haven't talked to them since they cut me off from my kids.

'I don't feel angry. I feel tremendous sadness for my kids. But I don't want anyone to feel angry.

'Anger will destroy you. I'm tremendously sad but I'll get through this.'

Peter was said to have 'sounded strange' the day before he allegedly shot three generations of his family before taking his own life on their remote 'Forever Dreaming' farm in Osmington, Western Australia.

The grandfather suspected of shooting of his wife, their daughter and four children (pictured together) before turning the gun on himself 'sounded strange' the day before the mass shooting, according to neighbours

Three generations were found shot dead at the rural farm in Osmington, 15km east of Margaret River in Western Australia, including Katrina Miles and her four children (pictured together) aged between 8 and 13

Neighbour Richard Dossor said he spoke to the 61-year-old, who was found with a bullet wound as he lay slumped in a deck chair on the veranda, about doing farm maintenance work on his property.

'[He was] just not someone who I would have thought was keen to find a new client or customer,' Mr Dossor told The West Australian.

'He didn't seem enthusiastic if you know what I mean?'

Police confirmed the three firearms located at the scene of the murder-suicide belonged to Peter and that he was a suspect of shooting dead his wife Cynda Miles, 58, their daughter Katrina Miles, 38, and her four autistic children  Taye, 13, Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn Cockman, 8.

In a press conference on Saturday, Western Australian Commissioner Chris Dawson said two officers attended the scene shortly after receiving a 000 call from a male, thought to have been Peter, at the Osmington property, where all seven family members lived, at 5.15am on Friday.

The call lasted two minutes. He would not confirm if Peter, who once worked at Margaret River Senior High School as a farm manager, made the call however investigators are not looking for any other suspects.

A neighbour told ABC News he had spoken to a man who lived at the property just hours before the bodies were found.

'I was talking to him on the phone last night, I was going to ask him to come over tomorrow. He seemed very vague,' he said.

Just two days before the shooting, the grandfather posted an ad looking for 'vineyard and farm work' on Gumtree, The Australian reported.

'I have over 30 years farming experience and over 12 years vineyard experience,' Peter wrote.

'I have extensive handyman abilities and experience with a wide variety of farm equipment, can repair fences, and tidy up on the property from storm damage.

'I have lived in the Margaret River area all my life and welcome all enquiries.'

Neighbour Richard Dossor said he spoke to the 61-year-old, who was found with a bullet wound as he lay slumped in a deck chair on the veranda, about doing farm maintenance work on his property (pictured) but he didn't sound 'enthusiastic'

Peter's wife, Cynda Miles (left and right), was an active member of local community group Transition Margaret River which seeks a happier and more sustainable future and ran her own business

The grisly murder-suicide at a remote farm house (pictured) in Western Australia has shocked the nation. It is the worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996

Commissioner Dawson would not confirm rumours that the murder-suicide was sparked by financial hardship.

He said the children's father Aaron Cockman - a local builder who is estranged from Katrina - has been informed of the tragedy and was 'devastated'.

Despite sharing on Facebook last month that her ex 'does not stop stalking (her)', police have confirmed that Mr Cockman is not a suspect.

The grisly murder-suicide at the property, 15km from Margaret River, shocked the nation and has become Australia's worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.

Katrina is thought to have home schooled her four children at the farm after they moved there when her marriage broke up.

Peter and Cynda bought the farm in 2014 and planned to live a sustainable life with their daughter and grandchildren.

A neighbour told ABC News he had spoken to a man who lived at the property (pictured) just hours before the bodies were found however he seemed 'very vague'

Just last week, the grandfather posted an ad looking for 'vineyard and farm work' on Gumtree (Osmington property pictured)

Two officers found one male dead outside the home (pictured) on a veranda, one female deceased inside the house and another female and the four children dead inside a 'conversed shed structure' - who all had suffered gunshot wounds

The children's grandparents (Cynda pictured) bought the farm in 2014 and planned to live a sustainable life with their family after their daughter's marriage breakup

Katrina is thought to have home schooled her four autistic children, Taye, Rylan, Ayre and Kadyn Cockman, at the farm known as Forever Dreaming (pictured)

Katrina (pictured) is believed to be estranged from her children's father, Aaron Cockman, but despite sharing on Facebook last month that her ex 'does not stop stalking (her)', police said Mr Cockman was not a suspect

Commissioner Dawson on Friday described the incident as a 'significant tragedy'.

He said a 'male person' had phoned police about an hour after nearby residents woke to the sound of gun shots.

'Based on what we do know, this is clearly a tragedy... police located seven persons deceased. Four children and three adults,' he said.

Another neighbour, Felicity Haynes, told Daily Mail Australia that Cynda and Peter had moved to the countryside to build the sustainable farm as a home for Katrina, her daughter and three sons.

'Cynda and Pete moved out from town three years ago ... they had started to build a river farm and had done fabulous work growing their own vegetables and building dams,' she said.

'That's what makes it so tragic. They were building a self-sustainable farm to raise the family there.'

This image shows the kitchen of the remote farm where a mass-murder suicide was discovered early Friday morning

Two adults were found dead outside a building on the rural property, before the bodies of four children and another adult were discovered inside. Pictured: A bedroom in the house

Osmington community consists of dirt roads similar to the dusty track at the sustainable farm (pictured) where seven bodies were found

Inspector Chris Dawson (pictured) addressed the media on the tragedy on Saturday morning and would not confirm rumours that the murder-suicide was sparked by financial hardship

In a press conference on Saturday morning, WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said all three long-arm firearms found at the Osmington property, where all seven family members lived, were registered to Peter

Police Commissioner of Western Australia Chris Dawson holds a press conference as Augusta-Margaret River Shire President Pam Townshend looks on outside Margaret River Police Station

A friend of Katrina told The Australian she 'worked tirelessly to provide her children with everything they needed'.

'I always admired her for her strength The kids were kind, gentle, smart and beautiful children.'

Her mother Cynda was an active member of local community group Transition Margaret River which seeks a happier and more sustainable future.

The well-loved local also owns a craft company, Soft Salvage, where she turned recycled materials into decorative pieces, news.com.au reported.

Nearby residents said they heard gunfire around 4am but dismissed the sound as coming from kangaroo shooters (farm pictured)

On the farm's website, Cynda Miles wrote of watching her grandchildren play with the animals.

'Forever Dreaming is our forever farm. It is here that we will grow as much of our food as we can, sit on the veranda and watch the birds, and watch the grandchildren immerse themselves in the animals and everything else that happens on a daily basis,' she wrote.

Police were met with horrific scenes when they arrived at the 30 acre farm with two houses on Friday morning.

Nearby residents said they heard gunfire around 4am but dismissed the sound as coming from kangaroo shooters.

Police were met with horrific scenes when they arrived at the 30 acre farm (pictured) with two houses on Friday morning

A neighbour told the ABC he had spoken to a man who lived at the property just hours before the bodies were found

Julia Meldrum, deputy president of the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River, told Daily Mail Australia the district was in deep shock after the horrific discovery on the remote property (pictured)

Another neighbour who lives across the road from the property told Fairfax he hadn't heard anything unusual.

'There was nothing much I could tell [police],' said the semi-retired farmer, adding he didn't know the residents very well.

'I'd seen who I assume was the father out in a paddock one day, on a tractor. But I didn't have the opportunity to say hello.'

Julia Meldrum, deputy president of the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River, told Daily Mail Australia the district was in deep shock.

'It's devastating,' the distressed mother-of-two said.

'It's just shock and devastating for the community.

The grisly murder-suicide at a remote farm house (pictured) in Western Australia shocked the nation as one of the worst shootings in the nation's last two decades

Police are believed to remain at the chilling scene where children were among seven people found dead for several days

Signs leading to the family farm (pictured) which was bought the Miles family about four years ago in late December

The tiny community of Osmington has a population of a couple of hundred where farmers make up most of the tight knit town

'I actually feel like vomiting. The shire has a population of 14,000 people but each town is very close knit.

Jan Walsh told Australian Associated Press they lived in a very 'caring town'.

'There's retired people who live down here, there's ex-farmers,' she said.

'It's just a wonderful place to live and everyone's so friendly.

'You wave to everyone coming down Osmington Road and you don't even know them.'

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE MASS SHOOTING - Investigations are turning to Peter Miles, the husband of Cynda Miles, father of Katrina Miles and grandfather of her four children all found shot dead - Police found seven bodies at the family farm in Osmington, 15 km from Margaret River in WA, after being called there just after 5am on Friday - All three long-arm guns found at the property were registered to Peter Miles - Four of the victims were children, three were adults including Peter Miles - The victims suffered gunshot wounds - Three firearms were found at the scene - Katrina's estranged husband, Aaron Cockman, is not a person of interest - Locals say the family that lived at the farm were respected and contributors to the community - Osmington is in the Margaret River region, which is renowned for its surf breaks and vineyards - Osmington had a population of just 135 people in the 2016 Census - The region consists of a handful of roads, farms, vineyards, horse studs, holiday chalets, luxury accommodation, a small church, a five-star dog retreat and gourmet dining Advertisement

'In Margaret River there's a lot of children and a lot of young families. It'll be devastating for the community. It's touched many people, people I'm sure will know one another.

'The shire will be doing whatever we can to provide support and whatever else we can do in addition... I've got young children as well. It's just devastating.'

Shire president Pamela Townshend said the town would struggle to come to grips with the horror.

'It's an isolated rural area. There's no centre of town. Everyone comes into town to do their shopping,' she said.

'There's a lot of giving each other vegetables, cooking each other meals, looking after each other when they're ill - very connected in deep ways.'

Flowers are left next to a police roadblock where police are investigating the death of seven people in suspected murder-suicide

Flowers and a note marked 'Katrina and family' lay at the site where seven bodies were tragically found

Shire president Pamela Townshend believed the deaths should lead to further debate about gun and family violence

'Everyone's involved in everyone else's business in a small town so it's going to be a huge shock for this town.

'The shire will provide as much support as we can for our town, for the community and for the remaining family members.

'There are community members already rallying to work out a support response for the family. We're already seeing this rallying.

Councillor Townshend believed the deaths should lead to further debate about gun and family violence.

'Once again we are faced with this problem in families with gun violence and male violence, assuming it is male violence,' she said.

'We need to have it firmly on the table to talk about it and not just have it as an isolated mental health issue of one person. It's society's problem.

Osmington, about 260km south of Perth, is a 10-minute drive east of the Margaret River township.

The tiny community, which ABS data shows has about 135 residents, mostly consists of farmland properties and vineyards.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
A white woman berated four Afghan men eating at a Canada Denny's last month, in a horrific display of racism.

The tirade was caught on camera and shared on Facebook by Monir Omerzai, 26, who immigrated to Canada 13 years ago.

In his post he said: 'Every culture and every human being should be respected it does not matter what color you are where you came from'.

The five-minute video filmed on April 21 in Alberta has gone viral with more than two million views.

Four men who immigrated to Canada from Afghanistan were sitting at a Denny's on April 21 when they were berated by Canada woman Kelly Pocha on April 21, pictured above

Pocha threw a foul-mouthed tirade at the men after she thought they were talking about her in their native tongue at the restaurant at 12:50am

The incident took place around 12:50am as the four men were speaking in their native tongue Dari, when a Cranbrook woman identified as Kelly Pocha sitting in the next booth over turned around and began to tell off the men, according to the Calgary Sun.

'Shut your f****** mouth. Cause you know what? Youre dealing with a Canadian woman now, and I will leap across this table and punch you right in the f****** mouth,' she says as she starts her rant.

The men at the table simply laugh off the woman as she mocks their laughter.

'Go back to your f****** country,' she says.

'Don't say like that. Just respect. Just respect,' one of the men at the table say to the woman, ticking her off.

'Excuse me? I was born and raised here. I am Canadian,' she responds before getting cut off.

'It doesnt matter, were all Canadians. Yes, were all the same  Im a human being, were all human beings,' the man behind the camera says.

She then gets up putting her knees on her seat to turn around and hover over the men saying: 'You know what? You're not dealing with one of your Syrian b****** right now. You're dealing with a Canadian woman. And I'm not going to be talked down to by you,' she says.

'You laugh all you want. That's a prime example of why we don't want you here...You know you guys need to go back to where you came from,' she adds.

A Denny's employee then approaches the groups sitting in adjacent booths.

The woman claimed that one of the men 'eyed her up' and was 'glaring' her.

'Speak English if you're gonna speak. This is Canada, speak English,' she says before she leaves.

The video has sparked fury over her xenophobia.

One man, pictured above, asked her to respect them, provoking further her angry tirade

In the video the men say that she is drunk when she gets up and tries to yell at the men

A Denny's employee asks the groups to leave, Pocha pictured leaving with her husband

Omerzai says he's deeply upset by the incident.

'The hate that we get from people for no reason, just to have a dinner there. It shouldnt turn out to be like that,' he said to the Calgary Sun.

In light of the video, Pocha was fired from her job at car dealership Cranbrook Dodge.

Pocha, speaking with Lethbridge News Now, admitted her comments were racist but says she was provoked.

'If I could take it back, I would. But I can't,' she said.

'What people are seeing isn't the whole story. I was put down as well...Yes, I made some comments that shouldn't have been said...I even went back to Denny's and apologized to the manager, to the server. I told the manager if I could apologize to the men that were there, I would, for my actions. Because I mean, that's not who I am,' she added.

She admitted she was drinking that night and the argument sparked when the men started 'talking in their own language' and she thought they were laughing at her.

A police investigation was also launched after the video was posted and is ongoing.

'On April 21, 2018 at approximately 12:50am police were dispatched to Denny's along the 400 block of Mayor Magrath Drive South in response to a report of a disturbance between patrons at two tables,' police said in a statement.

'After consultation with police, restaurant staff made the decision to exercise their right to refuse service to both groups and asked that they leave. Both groups eventually complied and left the restaurant without further incident,' the statement continued.

Police also clarified that officers did not escort either party out and that the group of males did not pay for their food before they were asked to leave.

Police arrived to the scene around 12:51am. By 1am the group of men left and at 1:05 Pocha and her husband left.

Denny's is yet to respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

The video was posted by Monir Omerzai, pictured above, who was at the table that night

He posted on Facebook thanking people who have supported him since the video went viral

A letter of apology: Denny's has since released this statement in light of the incident

Police arrived on the scene and both parties were out of the restaurant by 1:05am that night

On Twitter the chain posted a statement by Deborah Gagnon, the president of Dencan Restaurants.

'I am the most senior executive responsible for the actions that took place in our restaurant in Lethbridge, Alberta. We as a company are shocked and saddened that this happened at all, let alone that it took place in one of our locations and in front of our guests,' she said.

'Please allow me personally, and on behalf of our entire company, to apologize to the four men that were subjected to the tirade while they were in our restaurant...The incident highlights the need for our company to continue to invest in critical dispute intervention training for all our team members which I will personally oversee

'This should never happen in our restaurants, or anywhere,' she added.

Since the incident many Canadian politicians have spoken out against the racist tirade.

'Racist, bigoted comments have no place in Alberta. Our government is always working to foster acceptance and better understanding of our differences. By working together, we can make life better for all. Everyone is welcome in Alberta,' Rachel Notley, Premier of Alberta tweeted.

'I am embarrassed to learn that this incident happened in Lethbridge. We are working hard to address racism and bigotry but can not prevent ignorance and the hostile behavior of individuals...The work continues,' Mayor of Lethbridge Chris Spearman wrote on Facebook.

Premier of Alberta said 'racist, bigoted comments have no place in Alberta' after the incident

The Minister of Immigration added that the video was 'appalling' in a Twitter statement

'The bigoted sentiments expressed in this video are appalling. Alberta is, and always has been, a welcoming home for hard-working newcomers from every corner of the world...The disturbing sentiments on display in this video are an affront to Albertans' belief in the dignity of all human beings,' Jason Kenney Minister of Immigration, Employment, Social Development & Defense said on Twitter.

Since the accident Omerzai has received an outpour of support online.

'It's amazing how there are so many good people out there. I am just thankful I am in Canada. There are still good people out there, and I believe in that, big time,' he said to CBC.

'We should always be good to each other. We just have to respect each other,' he added.
Pakistani authorities have barred a U.S. diplomat, involved in a road accident that killed a motorcyclist in the capital Islamabad, from leaving the country.

Two US security officials said Saturday that the plane at Nur Khan air base arriving to carry U.S. military attache Col. Joseph Emanuel Hall out of Pakistan has returned after he failed to get clearance.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Officials said Saturday that a plane carrying U.S. military attache Col. Joseph Emanuel Hall (pictured) out of Pakistan returned after failing to get clearance

Hall is accused of running a red light and killing Ateeq Baig on April 7 (Pictured: Hall's car)

A senior Pakistani Intelligence official later told The New York Times that Hall was questioned by police in Islamabad.

Hall is accused of running a red light and killing Ateeq Baig on April 7.

The US serviceman has been placed on a travel ban 'blacklist' and ordered to remain inside the country, Pakistan's Interior Ministry said.

The U.S. embassy and Pakistan's Foreign Office declined to comment.

Officials in Islamabad have demanded that the US waive Hall's diplomatic immunity in order to face trial but so far America has refused.

In what the Times described as retaliation, Pakistan placed travel restrictions on US diplomats based in the country in a sign of worsening relations between the two countries.

Two US security officials said Saturday that Hall was returned to Nur Khan air base (pictured) to face questioning by Pakistani authorities

The restrictions were placed on the US diplomats the same day Pakistani nationals working in Washington DC were ordered to stay within a 25 mile radius around the city.

American diplomats have long complained about harassment from police and security officials in Pakistan, who repeatedly get stopped and ticketed for petty offenses that take valuable time and energy to resolves.

South Asia expert at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington Michael Kugelman (pictured) said this 'development could well develop into a full-blown crisis for relations'

Since President Donald Trump took office last January, US-Pakistan relations have soured considerably, with the administration cutting $1.3 billion in annual aid to Islamabad for security purposes.

Relations were further strained when Trump stated publicly that Islamabad has 'given us nothing but lies & deceit' in a tweet posted earlier this year.

'This is a development that could well develop into a full-blown crisis for relations if it's not resolved soon,' said South Asia expert at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington Michael Kugelman.

'Since Joseph is understood to have diplomatic immunity, Pakistan's refusal to let him leave the country will be seen by Washington as a wholly unjustifiable and illegal act,' he added.

The father of man killed in the accident, Idris Baig, said in a recent interview that Col. Hall must face justice in Pakistan and was satisfied to see the authorities had not let him leave the country.

'We are ready for agreement but on the condition of his arrest,' he said, referring to Colonel Hall.

'My son will never come back and we will consult with our relatives and village community before negotiating the agreement. So far no government official or U.S. Embassy official has offered us the agreement.'
Four Florida men have allegedly been caught on camera beating up a gay couple.

Authorities say the group were all caught on camera last month and are now facing felony hate crime charges.

The brutal attack occurred on April 8 and shows Rene Chalarca and his boyfriend, Dmitry Logunov being brutally attacked by four men after the Miami Beach Gay Pride festival.

The couple had been holding hands just before the alleged assault by Luis M. Alonso Piovet, 20; Juan Carlos Lopez, 21; Adonis Diaz, 21; and Pablo Reinaldo Romo-Figueroa, 21. They have all pleaded not guilty.

The victims told investigators they were holding hands after leaving a public bathroom located at Ocean Drive when the men approached, calling them an anti-gay slur in Spanish and attacking them physically.

From left, Luis M. Alonso Piovet, 20; Juan Carlos Lopez, 21; Adonis Diaz, 21; and Pablo Reinaldo Romo-Figueroa, 21, right, each face up to 30 years behind bars for the alleged attack

The April 8 beating was captured on surveillance video, which police say shows Lopez and the others repeatedly punching Chalarca and Logunov in the face so hard they fell to the ground

It was dusk at Miami Beach, the annual gay pride parade was over, and Rene Chalarca and his boyfriend, Dmitry Logunov, shared a hug when they were attacked

They were waiting in line for a public bathroom along Ocean Drive when they were knocked unconscious. The entire attack was caught on surveillance video

'They were calling us f*****,' said Logunov told CBS Miami.

Speaking to Local 10, Logunov added: 'I fell on the ground and somebody started beating me up. I didn't even see the faces. It was that quick. He [Chalacra] tried to protect me.'

A bystander then tried to get involved but he was attacked.

Helmut Muller Estrada was knocked unconscious and awoke in a pool of his own blood after trying to protect the victims.

Estrada hit his head so hard on the concrete that his injury required four stitches.

Chalacra shows his head injury that left him unconscious after the beating

Dmitry Logunov (left) and his boyfriend, Rene Chalacra (right) say they were holding hands when they were attacked by the suspects on April 8

The incident took place after the Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade on April 8 (pictured)

'We confronted the guys and asked them, 'What the hell? Why did you guys do that? That's unfair.' And that's all I remember,' Helmut Estrada said.

'Everything happened so quick,' Muller Estrada told the Miami Herald. 'I was so angry and I just wanted to defend these guys regardless of their sexual orientation. It doesn't matter.'

Chalarca said he believes he and his boyfriend were attacked simply because of their sexuality.

The April 8 beating was captured on surveillance video, which police say shows Lopez and the others repeatedly punching Chalarca and Logunov in the face so hard they fell to the ground.

Dimitri Lugonov and Rene Chalarca attend a court hearing May 10 for the suspects accused of attacking them in South Beach

Rene Chalarca is convinced the attack was a hate crime

'We were together,' Chalarca told WPLG, 'So for me, it's like, yes, it was a hate crime.'

The day after the incident, Miami Beach police released surveillance video of the attack, asking the public's help in finding the men.

The suspects ended up turning themselves in accompanied by an attorney, after their faces were seen all over the news and also on social media.

The foursome were charged them with aggravated batter.

During the assault, police said, the four men called the victims 'maricones,' an anti-gay slur in Spanish.

Under Florida's hate-crime enhancement law, the state charged each man onThursday with aggravated battery committed with prejudice.

The men each face up to 30 years behind bars for the crime.

Miami Beach presented Muller Estrada with a medallion reserved for recognizing acts of heroism and intervening in the attack.
Two officers from Moorooka station went to see if the man was okay

A 93-year-old man got to spend the day with two kind police officers after commuters called police concerned for his safety.

Earlier on Sunday police were called by a number of motorists driving along the Ipswich Highway through Rocklea in Queensland.

They were calling out of concern for an elderly man who was seen walking along the highway the wrong way through traffic.

Sergeant Matt Davies and Constable Dane De Jager found Frank as he was trying to get to the shops so that he could buy a new USB for his computer

Two officers from Moorooka station went to see if the man was okay.

After driving through the area Sergeant Matt Davies and Constable Dane De Jager found Frank.

He told police that he was trying to get to the shops so that he could buy a new USB for his computer.

Police decided to help the 93-year-old in his quest for the computer part.

The officers drove Frank, who police described as 'adventurous', to JB Hi-Fi at Oxley.

The officers then kindly dropped him home after he was done.

Police uploaded an image of the three during their adventure, with Frank pictured grinning at the camera between the two officers.

It was captioned with: 'Was a pleasure meeting you Frank, stay safe!'
Saturday Night Live has taken a rare break from mocking President Donald Trump, with one segment even admitting it's been a good week for the administration.

Unusually, both guest host Amy Schumer's monologue and the episode's cold open avoided politics - a rarity in the Trump era, in which Alec Baldwin typically appears to impersonate the president.

The Weekend Update segment devoted only three minutes to politics, and the episode's only other jab at Trump was a throwaway line during a parody of The Handmaid's Tale.

The episode opened with several of the cast members' mothers joining them on the set in honor of Mother's Day. Several of the moms made fun of SNL for its habit of piling on Trump.

Kenan Thompson's mom told him that she likes the show, 'except for all of the political stuff', adding 'We get it!'

Live from New York, its the moms! #SNL pic.twitter.com/eH6xDu5IaG  Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) May 13, 2018

Kenan Thompson's mom (above) told him that she likes the show, 'except for all of the political stuff', adding 'We get it!'

'Enough with the Trump jokes,' said Luke Nell's mother (with him above). 'And why doesn't SNL ever talk about crooked Hillary!?'

Chris Redd's mother (above) was fed up with the political jokes as well: 'I don't understand why everyone's focused on Trump at all when you should be focused on Jesus,' she said

Even Amy Schumer (above), who has made headlines before for her anti-Trump jokes, avoided politics entirely in her monologue, focusing instead on her body image and vagina

When Mikey Day reminded his mother that he was in a production of The Crucible in high school, she replied that the play about the Salem witch trials was 'a lot like the witch hunt against President Trump.'

'Enough with the Trump jokes,' said Luke Nell's mother. 'And why doesn't SNL ever talk about crooked Hillary!?'

Chris Redd's mother was fed up with the political jokes as well: 'I don't understand why everyone's focused on Trump at all when you should be focused on Jesus,' she said.

'Jesus isn't president, mom,' the comic responded to his mom. 'And that's the problem!' she said.

Even the Weekend Update segment, which usually uses the Trump administration as a punching bag, devoted only three minutes to politics.

Weekend Update's Colin Jost (above) admitted 'President Trump had a pretty good week'

'Sure, this has been a decent week for Donald Trump,' observed co-host Michael Che (above). 'The same way a decent date with R. Kelly is to go home dry.'

'You know, I've gotta admit President Trump had a pretty good week,' said co-host Colin Jost.

'He secured the release of three American prisoners from North Korea, and when he greeted them at the airport he didn't even say 'Wait, I thought they were Americans.''

The three freed hostages were all ethnically Korean and believed to be naturalized US citizens born in South Korea.

'Trump bragged that him greeting the freed hostages was probably the highest ever TV ratings for 3 o'clock in the morning, which is not true,' Jost continued.

'The 3am ratings record was set on Election Night by liberals hoping they were being pranked.'

'Sure, this has been a decent week for Donald Trump,' observed co-host Michael Che. 'The same way a decent date with R. Kelly is to go home dry.'

The hosts also made a few quick jokes about former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, Robert Mueller's probe, and Trump's exit from the Iran deal.

'You know the only part of that deal Trump has read was the signature on the bottom that said Barack Obama,' said Che. 'Trump is undoing so much of Obama's work that he's going to start fading away in old pictures like Back To The Future.'

Che (left) attempting to read a joke about Rudy Giuliani, only to be interrupted by his 'step-mother', played by Melissa McCarthy (right)

After moving on to non-political news, the Weekend Update segment ended with Che attempting to read a joke about Rudy Giuliani, only to be interrupted by his 'step-mother', played by Melissa McCarthy.

The lengthy gag saw McCarthy pull up a seat and distract Che for several minutes, leaving him unable to deliver the punchline.

The episode's only other mention of Trump came in an easily-missed line during a parody of The Handmaid's Tale, played as a spoof on Sex And The City.

The episode's only other mention of Trump came during this parody of The Handmaid's Tale

Coming up this season on Handmaids in the City... #SNL pic.twitter.com/dTqlMEQ7yp  Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) May 13, 2018

'Who would've thought we'd be having three-ways in our thirties?' said Aidy Bryant, in reference to the handmaids' role bearing children for politically powerful married couples in the fictional dystopia.

'Three-way? How about a one-way ticket out of here?' Schumer's character replied.

At the end of the sketch, one handmaid mentions that she is 'Trump-atized'.

SNL's sudden retreat from political humor comes as broadcaster NBC Universal prepares to host powerful advertisers at a party on Sunday and presentation on Monday for Upfronts Week.
Despite the firearm-related deaths of seven people near Margaret River, Australia still remains an example to the world on the necessity of strict gun control, West Australian Premier Mark McGowan said.

The bodies of three adults and four children were found at an Osmington property, in the south-west WA on Friday.

The entire family had all been shot by firearms licensed to grandfather Peter Miles, who was among the dead.

Grandfather Peter Miles, 61, is suspected of murdering his entire family before turning the gun on himself in Osmington, east of the Margaret River in WA on Friday. Four children are among the dead: Taye, 13, Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn, 8

Despite the firearm-related deaths of seven people near Margaret River, Australia still remains an example to the world on the necessity of strict gun control, West Australian Premier Mark McGowan (pictured) said

Neighbours have paid tribute to the family at a memorial in Margaret river community centre for the victims of the Osmington shooting

Peter's wife, Cynda Miles (left and right), was an active member of local community group Transition Margaret River which seeks a happier and more sustainable future and ran her own business

The WA premier was on Sunday questioned about 'nasty comments' from foreigners including Americans.

The question was whether Australia still remains an example of 'excellent' gun control after the mass shooting.

'We have some of the tightest gun laws in the world and I think we're an example to the rest of the world that you need to have very careful and strict controls when it comes to gun ownership and gun usage,' Mr McGowan said.

'In this case, it appears, all of the firearms involved were licensed and there was the appropriate management of those firearms as best you can.

WA Police Commissioner (pictured) Chris Dawson said it was 'not unusual' for Mr Miles to have three weapons attached to his one firearm license at the rural address

'It was a farming property. In some ways there's not much else that I can see from the outside that could have been done.'

WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said it was 'not unusual' for Mr Miles to have three weapons attached to his one firearm license at the rural address.

'I've not got any additional information that would cause me particular concern about the gun licensing arrangements in this particular matter,' Mr Dawson said.

An opinion piece by Siraj Hashmi, published in the Washington Examiner on Friday, notes that Australia is often touted by US gun control advocates as 'the shining role model' to reduce mass shootings since its 1996 gun buyback program.

Peter Miles, 61, (pictured with blue tie) is suspected of shooting wife Cynda Miles, 58,daughter Katrina Miles, 38, and four grandchildren Taye, 13, Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn Cockman, 8

But it also cites the 2014 Lindt cafe siege in Sydney, where hostages were held at gunpoint and two died.

'The point is this: while some data suggest that super-strict gun control has cut down on gun violence and gun-related deaths in some cases, there's still no guarantee that you're safe,' Hashmi writes.

The Osmington incident was Australia's worst mass shooting since Tasmania's Port Arthur massacre in 1996, where lone gunman Martin Bryant killed 35 people.

The children's father, Aaron Cockman, is not being investigated by police despite a marriage breakup with his estranged wife.
A 15-year-old girl has been killed and five young children injured in a horrific car crash after a car rolled off a highway in South Australia's mid-north.

A 35-year-old woman was driving with six children in the car when the Toyota Landcruiser left Germein Gorge Road in Bangor and rolled, police have said.

Major Crash investigators including specialist MedSTAR paramedics arrived to the scene on Germein Gorge Road near the intersection of Yellow Cutting Road just after 11am on Sunday May 13.

A 15-year-old girl has been killed and five young children injured in a horrific car crash after a car rolled off Germein Gorge Road (pictured) in South Australia's mid-north

'A 15-year old child has died and a seven-year old child is significantly injured, it is an extremely tragic event with the mother driving the vehicle at that time,' Senior Sergeant Stephen Murray told the Adelaide Advertiser.

A 15-year old girl died at the scene and a seven-year old boy was seriously injured and later airlifted to hospital.

Four girls, aged between four and 11, have sustained non-life-threatening injuries,

'Given today being Mother's Day, I think it is an extremely tragic event,' Senior Sergeant Murray said.

Police said the female driver is assisting police with their investigations.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and Brazilian Foreign Minister Nunes Ferreira

witness the signing of the MoU between the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations

and the Alexandre de Gusmao Foundation of Brazil (Source: VNA)



Minh made the statement during talks with Brazilian Foreign Minister Nunes Ferreira on May 12th, who is on an official visit to Vietnam from May 12th-13th.

The officials agreed that the Vietnam-Brazil relationship has recorded positive development across fields, especially in their closer political ties, which was showed through regular visits and meetings by senior leaders and ministry and sector officials.

The economic ties between the two countries have also witnessed significant expansion, with two-way trade in 2017 hit USD3.87 billion, up 12 times in the last decade.

For his part, Nunes affirmed Brazil considers Vietnam as an important partner in Southeast Asia.

He spoke highly Vietnams increasing role and position in the region and the world, as well as his countrys determination to strengthen and expand the friendship and all-around cooperation with Vietnam.

Minh and Nunes underlined the need for the two sides to enhance exchange of visits, especially among senior leaders; promote the effective implementation of the Intergovernmental Committee on Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technological Cooperation; as well as maintain regular political consultations at deputy foreign minister level.

They agreed to continue implementing signed cooperation agreement, while completing the legal framework for their bilateral cooperation in the fields of diplomacy, defence industry, trade, investment; and fostering connection and direct partnership among their business communities.

The two sides also pledged to closely cooperate and support each other at international organisations and multilateral forums.

The Vietnamese official took the occasion to urge Brazil to soon recognise Vietnams market economy.

The officials witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the two countries diplomatic academies, and those between the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations and the Alexandre de Gusmao Foundation of Brazil./.
World renowned aviation experts say the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was a planned and deliberate criminal act.

It's been four years since the flight vanished en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014.

What happened to the Boeing 777 and 239 people on board, including eight Australians, remains one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.

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Experts believe MH370 pilot captain Zaharie Amad Shah (pictured) 'deliberately' brought down the plane

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur in 2014 with 239 people on board

A panel of internationally renowned aviation experts shed new light and revealed chilling discoveries about the flight's final moments on Sunday night's episode of 60 Minutes.

They all agreed that the probability of it being an accident was 'one in a trillion' and that pilot captain Zaharie Amad Shah 'deliberately' brought down the plane.

'I think the general public can take comfort in the fact that there is a growing consensus on the plane's final moments,' veteran air crash investigator Larry Vance told the program.

He believes the pilot 'was killing himself' and took the aircraft to the most remote place possible so it would 'disappear'.

'Unfortunately, he was [also] killing everybody else on board, and he did it deliberately,' Mr Vance said.

Former Australia Transport Safety Bureau head Martin Dolan added: 'This was planned, this was deliberate, and it was done over an extended period of time.'

Experts say the pilot (pictured) 'was killing himself' and took the aircraft to the most remote place possible so it would 'disappear'

Aviation experts forensically reconstructed the flight's final moments on Sunday night's program of 60 Minutes

According to Simon Hardy, a Boeing 777 pilot and instructor, Captain Zaharie avoided detection of the plane by either Malaysian or Thai military radar by flying along the border, crossing in and out of each country's airspace.

'As the aircraft went across Thailand and Malaysia, it runs down the border, which is wiggling underneath, meaning it's going in and out of those two countries, which is where their jurisdictions are,' Mr Hardy said.

'So both of the controllers aren't bothered about this mysterious aircraft. If you were commissioning me to do this operation and try and make a 777 disappear, I would do exactly the same thing.

'As far as I'm concerned, it's very accurate flying because it did the job and we know, as a fact, that the military did not come and intercept the aircraft.'

Boeing 777 pilot and instructor Simon Hardy took 60 Minutes inside MH370s final moments through a series of flight simulations.

The MH370 pilot captain made an unexplained and strange turn to fly over his hometown of Penang

Authorities combing through the Indian Ocean for remains of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have discovered two huge structures (pictured) on the sea floor

After reconstructing MH370's actual flight plan, Mr Hardy made a chilling discovery that the captain made an unexplained and strange turn to fly over his hometown of Penang.

'So I spent a long time thinking for this about what this could be, what technical reason is there?,' he said.

'And after two months of thinking about it, I finally got the answer - somebody was looking out the window. It might be a long, emotional goodbye or a short, emotional goodbye to his hometown.'

The Australian Transport Bureau's final report shows the moment of the recorded contact with MH370 before it vanished forever (above)

Former Australia Transport Safety Bureau head Martin Dolan spearheaded the two- year search for the doomed flight in a search zone covering 120,000 square kilometres of sea.

The largest search in aviation history was suspended in January last year.

The search area was based on the assumption that MH370 fell out of the sky in a steep, uncontrolled 'death dive'.

The assumption was disputed by Mr Hardy and Mr Vance, who believe the plane was ditched in a controlled landing.

Mr Vance believes the majority of the aircraft is still intact.

'If we don't end up finding the aircraft in the search area, then the conclusion is that yes, we focused on the wrong set of priorities,' Mr Dolan admitted.

But while the panel said finding the missing plane 'isn't necessary', they are confident the wreckage will be discovered.

'When you look at it and you go back into the history of commercial jet aviation, with fare-paying passengers on board, we've always found the plane,' international air-safety expert John Cox said.

'To have one that we can't find is probably aviation's greatest single mystery.'

The Malaysian Government struck a deal with exploration firm Ocean Infinity to resume the search in an area north of the original zone, that scientists now believe is the likeliest crash site.

The search restarted in January and is expected to end by mid-June.

Mr Cox remains hopeful they will find the wreckage.

'If you take history and you look back, it says we'll find it, we always have,' he said.

'So if history is our guide, I remain optimistic.'

No sign of the plane was found in a 120,000 square kilometre sea search zone and the Australian-led hunt, the largest in aviation history

Mr Dolan added: 'There are the families of the 239 people out there that at the moment still do not have an answer to what happened to their loved ones. I'm still passionately committed to finding this aircraft.'

Amanda Lawton's parents Bob and Cathy Lawton were on the fateful flight with friends Rodney and Mary Burrows.

'The world needs to know what happened to MH370,' she said.

'How does a Boeing 777 disappear and could this happen again? We need to find our loved ones. We're in so much pain - my sisters, family... it doesn't get any easier.'

She pleaded to authorities to not give up and continue searching.

'It has to be found,' Ms Lawton told 60 Minutes.

'We want to know where our loved ones are, their final resting place and what happened The search must go on for that closure. Please don't give up.'

The hunt restarted in January, with a research vessel deploying eight high-tech drones to scour the seabed

On board the doomed MH370 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing were six Australians and little has been found during the four year search (debris pictured)

The Australian, Malaysian and Chinese governments called off search in January 2017, almost three-years after MH370 disappeared but Ocean Infinity (pictured) continued the search

Crews have been searching for the Malaysian Airlines aircraft (stock image) since it vanished more than four years ago but have had little luck in finding any remains
The sister of murdered fusilier Lee Rigby says she refuses to be scared of terrorists as she continues to comfort the family of one of the Manchester Arena bombing victims.

Courtney Rigby, 16, was only 12 when her brother was butchered by Islamist fanatics Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, in Woolwich, south London, in 2013.

Last year, on the fourth anniversary of her brothers death, 22 people were killed in the Manchester terror attack.

Courtney Rigby, 16, was only 12 when her brother was butchered by Islamist fanatics in Woolwich, south London , in 2013

Courtney Rigby has befriended the bereaved family of Olivia Campbell - one of 22 fans who died in the attack at the Ariana Grande concert last May

Fusilier Lee Rigby was hacked to death by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale outside his barracks

Courtney had been visiting her sibling's grave before seeing the news of the arena terror attack on TV that evening.

But instead of feeling frightened, the teenager felt a responsibility to help.

'Most people expected me to become more scared. But it was the opposite really. Showing fear in times like that empowers the terrorists and nobody wants that,' she told the Daily Star Sunday.

'Most of them [victim's families] were in the same position I was. Watching the news, waiting for a name and desperately trying to contact family.'

Floral tributes and a message that reads 'We Stand Together' are pictured in Albert Square in Manchester on May 24, 2017 following the terror attack at the Manchester Arena

Courtney Rigby has befriended the bereaved family of Olivia Campbell - one of 22 fans who died in the attack at the Ariana Grande concert last May.

She has become friends with Olivia's older sister Chelsea, 19, and gives her advice on how to cope with the grief of losing her sibling.

Courtney is driving a campaign called Siblings Stand Together, which forms part of the Lee Rigby Foundation.

It urges bereaved youngsters to support each other.
Theresa May issued a public plea for warring Tory Brexit factions to get behind her today - as Michael Gove dismissed the idea of extending the transition period beyond 2020.

The Prime Minister urged people to 'trust' in her ability to get a good deal from Brussels as she scrambles to thrash out a Cabinet compromise on future trade arrangements.

Mrs May is facing the threat of a major escalation in the Tory civil war if she tries to force through plans for a customs partnership with the EU.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said there were 'significant questions' about the idea today - suggesting it would mean the UK acting as the 'tax collector' and regulatory enforcement agency for the EU.

He also flatly ruled out keeping the existing customs arrangements beyond the end of the mooted transition in December 2020, saying the government needed to 'crack on'. 'I don't believe in an extension,' he told the BBC's Andrew Marr show.

Theresa May (pictured at church in her Maidenhead constituency today with husband Philip) is facing the threat of a major escalation in the Tory civil war if she tries to force through plans for a customs partnership with the EU

On the BBC's Andrew Marr show today, Michael Gove said there were 'significant questions' about the customs partnership plan, but admitted neither UK option was 'perfect'

Boris Johnson launched an extraordinary public attack on the partnership concept last week after a 'War Cabinet' discussion ended in deadlock - branding it 'crazy' and warning it would be a betrayal of the referendum vote.

There are claims today that half the full Cabinet roster could also be opposed to the proposal - which would see the UK collect tariffs on behalf of Brussels and then offer businesses rebates.

But Irish deputy PM Simon Coveney upped the pressure on the government today by insisting the alternative 'Maximum Facilitation' customs option is not acceptable.

'I'm not flexible when it comes to border infrastructure, I never have been,' he told the BBC's Andrew Marr show.

He warned that there would be a 'very difficult summer' for the Brexit negotiations unless progress was made on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic by an EU summit in June.

In a message posted on her Facebook page, Mrs May said: 'You can trust me to deliver. I will not let you down.'

Mrs May stressed the UK would stay aligned with Brussels on some issues as there had to be 'compromises' after withdrawal.

'The path I am setting out is the path to deliver the Brexit people voted for.

'Of course, the details are incredibly complex, and, as in any negotiation, there will have to be compromises.

'But, if we stick to the task we will seize this once in a generation opportunity to build a stronger, fairer Britain.'

Mrs May sought to soothe Brexiteer concerns by insisting 'our laws will be made in Westminster, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast, with those laws tried by British judges'.

Echoing the Leave referendum's pledge that cutting ties with the EU will mean more money for the NHS, the PM said: 'Brexit means there will be billions of pounds that we used to send to Brussels which we will now be able to spend on domestic priorities, including our National Health Service.'

Irish deputy PM Simon Coveney upped the pressure on the government today by insisting the alternative 'Maximum Facilitation' customs option is not acceptable

Boris Johnson (pictured attending Cabinet last week) launched an extraordinary public attack on Theresa May's post-Brexit trade plans

Mr Johnson responded to Mrs May's latest comments about Brexit on Twitter today

Mr Johnson responded on Twitter: 'PM @theresa_may is absolutely right to say once again that Brexit must see us take back control of our borders, laws, and money - so more can go to the NHS - with our own international trade policy and free trade deals.'

Mr Gove said: 'It's my view that the new customs partnership has flaws and they need to be tested.'

He added: 'Across Government, across Cabinet, there is agreement that neither of these two models is absolutely perfect.

'And with the new customs partnership, Boris pointed out that because it's novel, because no model like this exists, there have to be significant question marks over the deliverability of it on time.'

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer branded Cabinet divisions over proposals for a customs arrangement 'farcical'.

He told BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show: 'I think we are in a farcical situation at the moment, nearly two years after the referendum the Cabinet is fighting over (the) two customs options neither of which frankly are workable, neither of which are acceptable to the EU.'

But he refused to say how Labour would reconcile the party's stated position of leaving the single market with the ensuring a soft border - or how Britain could stay in an EU customs union without giving up its ability to strike trade deals elsewhere.

The PM has split ministers into working groups as part of the efforts to thrash out a deal, after her favoured blueprint of a 'customs partnership' ran into furious opposition from Euroseptics.

Brexit Secretary David Davis is to work with Business Secretary Greg Clark and Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradleyon the 'maximum facilitation' proposal  which focuses on using technology to streamline customs checks.

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer (pictured right) branded Cabinet divisions over proposals for a customs arrangement 'farcical'

Mr Gove seemed satisfied with his appearance on the BBC's Andrew Marr show today

Business Secretary Greg Clark, pictured left in Downing Street last week, has been ordered to work with David Davis (right) on the Brexiteers' favoured 'Max Fac' customs solution

Another group, involving Environment Secretary Michael Gove, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Mrs May's deputy, David Lidington, has been asked to see if it is possible to revive the customs partnership idea in a way that would not threaten Britain's ability to develop an independent trade policy.

There have been fears among Brexiteers that Mrs May might try to bypass the War Cabinet - which is due to meet again this week - in a bid to push through her blueprint.

But it appears she could struggle to win support from the full Cabinet.

The Sunday Telegraph said at least 12 members of the 28-strong full Cabinet opposed a customs partnership. Some sources believe the figure could be as high as 15.

One Remain-voting Cabinet minister said: 'There is a body of people who thought it was best to remain but who think if we're leaving we should do it properly.'

Another former Remainer said: 'I'm not going to support the customs partnership. My view is you are either in a customs union or you're out. A fudge doesn't work.

What are the options on the table for a customs deal with the EU?

With time ticking away on the Brexit negotiations, the Cabinet is still at daggers drawn on the shape for future trade relations with the EU.

The government has set out two potential options for a customs system after the UK leaves the bloc.

But despite a series of tense showdowns at Theresa May's Brexit 'War Cabinet' ministers continue to be deadlocked over what to do.

Meanwhile, Brussels has dismissed both the ideas - and warned that negotiations could stall altogether unless there is progress by a key summit next month.

Despite a series of tense showdowns at Theresa May's 'War Cabinet' (pictured in February) ministers continue to be deadlocked over what to do

OPTION 1 - CUSTOMS PARTNERSHIP

Under the so-called 'hybrid model', the UK would collect EU import tariffs on behalf of Brussels.

Britain would be responsible for tracking the origin and final destination of goods coming into the country from outside the EU. The government would also have to ensure all products meet the bloc's standards.

Firms selling directly into the UK market would pay the tariff levels set by Brussels - but would then get a rebate if Britain's tariffs are lower.

Supporters of the hybrid plan in Cabinet - including Theresa May, Philip Hammond and Greg Clark - say keeping duties aligned up front would avoid the need for physical customs borders between the UK and EU.

As a result it could solve the thorny issue over creating a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Mrs May has been advised by the chief whip that the hybrid option could be the only way of securing a majority in parliament for a Brexit deal.

But Brexiteers regard the proposal as unworkable and cumbersome - and they were joined by Sajid Javid and Gavin Williamson in criticising it at a tense 'War Cabinet' meeting last week.

There are fears the experimental system will either collapse and cause chaos, or prevent the UK from being able to negotiate free trade deals around the world after Brexit.

Mrs May has instructed official to go away and revise the ideas. Eurosceptics are braced for her to bring back the plan with only 'cosmetic' changes, and try to 'peel off' Mr Javid and Mr Williamson from the core group of Brexiteers.

They are also ready for Mrs May to attempt to bypass the 'War Cabinet' altogether and put the issue before the whole Cabinet - where she has more allies.

OPTION 2 - MAXIMUM FACILITATION

Boris Johnson (left) and Liam Fox have been pushing for the 'Max Fac' customs option

The 'Max Fac' option accepts that there will be greater friction at Britain's borders with the EU.

But it would aim to minimise the issues using technology and mutual recognition.

Goods could be electronically tracked and pre-cleared by tax authorities on each side.

Shipping firms could also be given 'trusted trader' status so they can move goods freely, and only pay tariffs when they are delivered to the destination country.

Companies would also be trusted to ensure they were meeting the relevant UK and EU standards on products.

Senior ministers such as Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Liam Fox believe this is the only workable option.

But Remain minded Tories such as Mr Clark insist it will harm trade and cost jobs in the UK.

They also warn that it will require more physical infrastructure on the Irish border - potentially breaching the Good Friday Agreement. It is far from clear whether the government would be able to force anything through parliament that implied a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The EU has dismissed the idea that 'Max Fac' could prevent checks on the Irish border as 'magical thinking'.
Ice cream brand Haagen-Dazs has shrunk the size of its tubs by eight per cent, but not reduced the price.

The luxury brand's tubs are being reduced from 500ml to 460ml but will still retail at 5.35.

It is the latest example of the shrinkflation phenomenon that has been widespread across food brands in the UK since the vote to leave the European Union.

Luxury brand Haagen-Dazs is shrinking its tubs from 500ml to 460ml, but keeping the price the same

The US food giant blamed rising costs and said the step was 'absolutely a last resort'.

Alex Neill, of watchdog Which?, told the Mirror: 'Time and again we've seen popular products shrinking while the price stays the same, and this latest example will leave ice cream lovers feeling cold.

'Manufacturers and retailers should be up front about any changes to their products so customers can make an informed choice about how to spend their cash.'

Britain's ice cream industry, worth more than 1billion a year, blamed rising cost of vanilla among other ingredients.

A cyclone and political unrest in Madagascar, where 85 per cent of the world's vanilla is sourced, has sent prices of the ingredient soaring.

Last year the ONS revealed the 2,529 products having fallen in size in five years.

Haagen-Dazs said the shrinking tubs were 'absolutely a last resort' and blamed the rising price of vanilla

Last year, Mars shrank the pack size of favourites including Maltesers, M&Ms and Minstrels by up to 15 per cent.

Tobelerone famously cut the number of triangles in its chocolate, reducing the overall size from 400g to 360g, making it ten percent smaller.

Some of the worst offenders were Tropicana Orange and Raspberry, which was one litre, now 850ml - a 15 percent reduction and Maltesers which was 121g and now 93g - a reduction of 23 percent overall.

The shocking scale of 'shrink- flation' has been revealed  with 2,529 products having fallen in size in just five years

Haagen-Dazs has been sold in the UK for 30 years, and launched in New York in 1976.

A spokesman said: 'Like many businesses we have been affected by rising commodity prices. Our commitment to only using premium ingredients has left us susceptible to price increases.

'We recognise shoppers are under pressure financially and haven't taken this decision lightly.'
A usually buzzing tourist hotspot is struggling to come to terms with a horrific massacre which has shaken the small town to its foundations.

Four young children - Taye, 13, Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn Cockman, 8 - their mother Katrina Miles, 38, and grandmother Cynda Miles, 58, are all dead, shot allegedly, by their grandfather Peter Miles, 61, before he turned the gun on himself at a rural property in Osmington, Western Australia on Friday morning.

Mother's Day in Australia's south-west is now a time for grieving and reflection.

Peter Miles, 61, (pictured with blue tie) is suspected of shooting wife Cynda Miles, 58,daughter Katrina Miles, 38, and four grandchildren Taye, 13, Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn Cockman, 8

A mother residing in Margaret River who asked not to be named told Daily Mail Australia although she did not know the family, the impact of the events which took place in the early hours of Friday was almost as strong as if it involved her own children.

'I just keep thinking what if it happened to my kids, what would I do, how would I cope. It's awful.'

Although it isn't peak time for tourists as the weather begins to cool, she said the coastal community was clearly flat.

'You can see it when you look at people around here. You don't even need to talk to anyone because you can tell what it's doing to people.'

The contrast between the tourist hotspot best known for boutique wineries, craft breweries and its relaxed surfer vibe and nearby Osmington is stark.

West Australian Police Commissioner Chris Dawson confirmed on Saturday that all three firearms found at the scene were owned by Peter Miles (Cynda Miles pictured)

Three generations were found shot dead at the rural farm including Katrina Miles and her four autistic children (pictured together)

Margaret River's thriving main drag on the Bussell Highway is home to surf shops, hip bars and chain fast food outlets - but two days after the shooting that shocked a nation the mood is sombre, reflected in the dark clouds that have descended on the area as the weekend draws to a close.

The busy stretch is very different to the farming hub further east Osmington, with a population of about 135, which has just one public building - St John's Anglican church - and no primary schools.

The community is mostly inhabited by farmers whose rural properties surround gravel roads - including the one leading to 'Forever Dreaming', the seemingly idyllic home where the alleged murders occurred.

The mass shooting tragedy has made international headlines and put Australia's strict gun laws under the microscope (pictured is a memorial for the family)

In a statement released on Saturday afternoon, the family said: 'We are devastated by this shocking event,' and asked for privacy

Stunned locals placed flowers and cards at the entrance to the farm on Saturday, and media swarmed to the scene of the crime and the nearby town.

By Sunday morning, they had all cleared off, leaving behind a single police car blocking the path to the farm.

A police officer at the edge of the property said worshippers who would usually flock to Osmington's church for the Sunday service stayed away - instead heading into town at Margaret River where support is being provided at the community centre.

Osmington is mostly inhabited by farmers whose rural properties surround narrow gravel roads - including the one leading to 'Forever Dreaming' (pictured)

Mr Dawson said they are not searching for any suspects in relation to the shooting which police were called to after receiving a triple-zero call at 5.15am

The mass shooting tragedy (scene pictured) has made international headlines and put Australia's strict gun laws under the microscope

The only detour around the police cordon leads through narrow, dirt roads where cellphone reception and signs of civilisation are non-existent.

Back in town, Margaret River's only gun shop was empty the day after the deaths.

A shop attendant refused to answer questions when approached by Daily Mail Australia, only saying 'no comment' and 'we have no comment to make'.

Many of Osmington's farmers are among their customers, who keep firearms on their property to assist with their work and in outdoor pursuits.

The mass shooting tragedy has made international headlines and put Australia's strict gun laws under the microscope.

Three hours drive from Perth, the town on Australia's south-west coast is best known for its wineries and being a haven for surfers with its relaxed vibe, not massacres

Previously held as a global standard-bearer and referred to by American politicians as a guide to limiting shootings in the United States, some are calling for further changes after the deaths.

The young mother's question as to how someone could deal with such a devastating loss of life was partly answered by Aaron Cockman on Sunday - father to four of the victims and estranged husband of Katrina.

In an emotional address, Mr Cockman chillingly claimed Peter Miles had made a calculated decision to murder three generations of his family before committing suicide.

'I don't feel angry. I feel tremendous sadness for my kids. But I don't want anyone to feel angry,' he said.

'Anger will destroy you. I'm tremendously sad but I'll get through this.'

In a statement released on Saturday afternoon, the family said: 'We are devastated by this shocking event.

'We are stunned and still trying to understand how this could happen.

'We respectfully ask that the community refrain from speculating on the circumstances surrounding this tragic incident.

'We thank the community for their support and ask that our privacy is respected as we grieve.'

Augusta-Margaret River Shire President Pam Townshend said the shooting was 'devastating' for the tight-knit community (pictured a memorial for the family)
British MPs have criticised Australia's law preventing dual citizens from sitting in Parliament.

Twelve of the 15 Australian MPs removed from Parliament have British and Australian passports.

Andrew Rosindell, Conservative MP for Romford, London and co-chair of the ANZAC Parliamentary friendship group, said the ban was 'absurd' given the countries' shared history.

Andrew Rosindell (left), Conservative MP for Romford, London, said the ban was 'absurd'. Scottish National MP Angus MacNeil (right) said the rule made Australia appear like an 'antiquated 19th Century relic'

He told Fairfax: 'It's utterly absurd when you consider the deep closeness and intertwined relationship for many centuries.

'It makes no sense whatsoever and I hope a solution could be found to allow dual nationalities, there are no two countries other than Canada and New Zealand who have so much in common.'

His co-chair Labour MP John Spellar added: 'Given how many people in Australia were born in Britain or are of British heritage I do not understand the mindset of the courts or the failure of the government to provide a clear interpretation.'

He said the the British system, which allows dual citizens to sit in Parliament, works very well.

Labour MP Catherine West, who was born in Australia and has lived in Britain for 20 years, said she hopes a solution is found soon.

Labour MP Catherine West (pictured with former Labour leader Ed Miliband), who was raised in Sydney and has lived in Britain for 20 years, said she hopes a solution is found soon

She would not be allowed to sit in the Australian Parliament but has served her constituents in north London for three years.

Scottish National Party MP Angus MacNeil said the rule made Australia appear like an 'antiquated 19th Century relic'.

The MPs' comments are unlikely to hasten a change in the law as PM Malcolm Turnbull continues to refuse a referendum on changing section 44 of the constitution.

It comes after The Egyptian embassy in Canberra handed Labor MP Anne Aly documents that prove she's not a dual citizen after questions were raised about her eligibility to sit in parliament.

Dr Aly, who holds the marginal Western Australia seat of Cowan, was ordered by Leader Bill Shorten to re-check the status of her citizenship.

Questions into her eligibility came just days after a High Court ruling forced the departure of five MPs and triggered a string of by-elections across the country.
Opponents of assisted dying laws coming into force in Guernsey have made an eleventh hour attempt to block the plans.

A group of politicians, called the States, put the plans forward which will be debated in Parliament on Wednesday, May 16. The group agree in principle to developing assisted-dying laws subject to conditions - including doctors being able to raise a 'conscientious objection' to the request of their patients.

But the island's 45 churches have written a letter to residents opposing the move, The Sunday Express reports. It includes the signature of the Dean of Guernsey, The Very Reverend Tim Barker.

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The capital of Guernsey, St Peter Port, is a popular destination for locals and tourists alike - there are fears it could turn into a 'death tourism' haven

The Dean of Guernsey, The Very Reverend Tim Barker, confirmed he had signed the letter against the proposals

It comes amid fears that the popular holiday destination could become a haven for so called 'death tourism'.

It also comes after British born scientist Dr David Goodall died at a suicide clinic on Thursday morning in Switzerland, aged 104, saying his quality of life had deteriorated - and he did not want to go on.

The church leaders say: 'As ministers, priests and pastors we are often closely involved in supporting and caring for those in the latter stages of life and their close family and friends.

'We believe the proposal to introduce a legal provision for assisted dying to be misplaced and indeed a danger for us as a community, particularly for the most vulnerable on the island.'

Dr David Goodall (pictured centre) died aged 104 on Thursday at a suicide clinic in Basel, Switzerland

Dr Goodall (centre) having his final breakfast ahead of his planned death on Thursday - he said he no longer wanted to go on and his health had severely deteriorated over time

The churches have been backed by Paralympic legend and disabled campaigner, Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson, who made a video for the islanders, setting out her views.

She said: 'The simple truth is that there is no safe law for assisted suicide and disabled people are particularly vulnerable if such a law is passed.'

But at a recent public meeting, according to The Sunday Express, on the outskirts of the capital, St Peter Port, a terminally ill resident said he would welcome the plan.

Disabled campaigner Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson said any law would set a dangerous precedent for the vulnerable

Martin MacIntyre, 56, has cancer and told the audience: 'I don't want to die but I would like to go my way. I don't want to be zonked out on a hospital bed.

'I'm not in severe pain and I'm not mentally anguished but that day may come. I would like to have the option.'

In his last public comments about his death Dr Goodall spoke at a press conference in Basel where he again emphasised his desire to end his life.

Asked if he had a moment's hesitation he replied instantly:' None whatsoever.'.

Dr Goodall said: 'I no longer want to continue with my life and am happy to have the chance to end it.'
Self-made entrepreneurs have almost completely displaced those who inherited their wealth in the list of the UK's 1,000 richest people.

Of the super-wealthy living in - or connected to - Britain, 94 per cent have acquired their great fortunes through their own work.

Meanwhile more billionaires - 93 - live in London that any other city in the world.

In 1989, only 43 per cent of the entries were self-made - with the bulk either aristocrats or landowners.

Of the super-wealthy living in - or connected to - Britain, 94 per cent have acquired their great fortunes through their own work. Left: Chairman of INEOS petrochemicals plant Jim Ratcliffe. Right: Tony Pidgley, a Barnardo's orphan worth 310m

'Proud gypsy' Alfie Best (centre with Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford on TV show Eamonn & Ruth: How The Other Half Lives), who accumulated a 250m fortune from caravans and holiday parks

In 1989, only 43 per cent of the entries were self-made - with the bulk either aristocrats or landowners. Pictured: Two of the people on the list to have inherited their wealth, Hugh Grosvenor (right) and Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken (left) of the brewing dynasty

But now the Sunday Times Rich List is dominated by grafters, with the compiler of the first 28 editions of the catalogue - Philip Beresford - praising those on the list as 'Thatcher's children'.

Top of the list is a 'publicity shy' chemicals entrepreneur whose wealth leapt 15.3 billion in a single year, while Sir Philip Green and Jamie Oliver saw their fortunes slide.

Jim Ratcliffe, 65, chief executive of Ineos, topped the list with a fortune of 21.05 billion, leapfrogging his way from 18th place year.

He once lived in a council house in Manchester before going on to Beverley Grammar School in East Yorkshire.

Mr Ratcliffe, whose firm is currently locked in a legal battle with the Scottish government over its moratorium on fracking, emerged in pole position after additional details led to a 'substantial revaluation' of his assets.

The Sunday Times has previously described him as publicity shy.

Ineos's director Andy Currie and finance director John Reece shared in his fortunes, joining Ratcliffe in the top 20, taking joint 16th place with fortunes of 7 billion each.

Also featured on the list are Tony Pidgley, a Barnardo's orphan worth 310m, and 'proud gypsy' Alfie Best, who accumulated a 250m fortune from caravans and holiday parks.

James Watt and Martin Dickie, who set up the craft beer firm BrewDog, are also featured on the list

There are now 141 women on the list, with Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken of the brewing dynasty ranked highest at number six.

She and her financier husband Michel de Carvalho - vice chairman of Citigroup - increased their wealth by almost 20 per cent over the past year to 11.1 billion.

Aristocrat Hugh Grosvenor is still the UK's youngest billionaire at the age of 27 having inherited his fortune and his title - 7th duke of Westminster - following the death of his father two years ago.

His property empire includes 300 acres in Mayfair and Belgravia, as well as properties in Oxford, Cheshire, Scotland and Spain.

His wealth grew by 444 million in the last year to 9.96 billion.

Three more self-made figures on the list are Penny Streeter, who founded a recruitment firm while living in a homeless refuge as a single mother and James Watt and Martin Dickie, who set up the craft beer firm BrewDog.

There were also a growing number of people whose fortunes were built on selling food and drink - including the founders of Hotel Chocolat and the Sushi Daily creators.

At second place on the list were the Hinduja brothers, Sri and Gopi, worth 20.64 billion

At second place on the list were the Hinduja brothers, Sri and Gopi, worth 20.64 billion.

Their fortune jumped by 4.44 billion on 2017, with their India-based car manufacturer Ashok Leyland and Mumbai-based IndusInd Bank having a particularly successful year.

British-American industrialist-turned-media mogul Sir Len Blavatnik came in third place with 15.26 billion to his name.

The 60-year-old was knighted this year for services to philanthropy - recent donations include 50 million to fund the Tate Modern's new wing, and 5 million towards the Victoria and Albert Museum's new entrance, as well as funding the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University.

This year is the 30th anniversary of the Rich List, with the top 20 now worth a combined 218.6 billion - increasing their cumulative wealth by 33. 5 billion in the last year.

Of the 1,000 people on the list, 145 are billionaires.

Elsewhere, Arcadia boss Sir Philip Green's fortune took a tumble - his reputation was dragged through the mud following the collapse of BHS after he sold it to a man twice declared bankrupt for just 1.

It later emerged that the department store's two pension schemes had a combined shortfall of 571 million, risking the future of their 19,000 members and prompting MPs to call Sir Philip to give evidence in front of a parliamentary select committee.

Falling sales at his flagship brands Topshop and Miss Selfridge as well as his promise to contribute 363 million towards the pension deficit led to Sir Philip's fortune dropping by 787 million to 2 billion.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver exited the list completely following a rocky year for his eponymous restaurant empire - it is still undergoing restructuring after racking up debts of more than 70 million.

Elsewhere, Arcadia boss Sir Philip Green's fortune took a tumble - his reputation was dragged through the mud following the collapse of BHS after he sold it to a man twice declared bankrupt for just 1

In January the chain announced 12 of its 37 branches were to close.

Financier Ernesto Bertarelli and his wife Kirsty saw the biggest decrease in wealth, losing 1.48 billion due to falls in Ernesto's pharmaceutical company stakes, the list's author said.

The couple are now 11th on the list.

Robert Watts, who compiled this year's list, said: 'Britain is changing. Gone are the days when old money and a small band of industries dominated the Sunday Times Rich List.

'Aristocrats and inherited wealth has been elbowed out of the list and replaced by an army of self-made entrepreneurs.

'Today's super rich include people who have set up businesses selling chocolate, sushi, pet food and eggs.

'We're seeing more people from humble backgrounds, who struggled at school or who didn't even start their businesses until well into middle age.

'Meanwhile, technology is also playing a bigger part in helping more young people make their fortunes and small companies to grow.

'Britain's rich are getting richer, but the cast of Britain's 1,000 richest people is an ever-changing and increasingly diverse cast of people.'


Twitter users have been outraged after bizarre footage emerged on social media showing a Orthodox bishop violently baptising a baby in water.

In the clip the bishop swings the naked child by its arms and repeatedly dunks him in the baptismal font.

The clergyman dips the boy in the basin three times before handing him back to the parents who seem totally unfazed.

The bishop swings the naked child by its arms and repeatedly dunks him in the baptismal font

It is believed the clip was filmed in Ayia Napa, Cyprus, at a Orthodox church.

Many online commentators have criticised the bishop's rough approach.

On Twitter, Zita London wrote: 'Oh my I bet this baby is left brain dead.'

The clergyman dips the boy in the basin three times before handing him back to his unfazed parents

It is believed the footage was filmed in Ayia Napa, Cyprus, at a Orthodox church

It is tradition for Orthodox churches to perform 'forceful' baptisms because it is seen as a solution to the declining birth rate

Another user posted: 'Omg that's the most violent baptism?! I've ever seen?!'

User @myaaa_tyn wrote: 'Baptism?? More like attempted murder.'

Mildred Tuhaise commented: 'But this sort of baptism. Aaaah. It's actually Roughism.'

Last year, a similar video emerged of a baby being violently dunked in water in a church in Georgia.
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Britain is set to enjoy another mini-heatwave early next week after a washout weekend erased memories of searing heat over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Tuesday will bring temperature highs of 77F (25C) in parts of Hampshire and Sussex - 46F (8C) higher than average for May.

Monday is also looking good with maximum temperatures of 70F (21C) in parts of southern and central England bringing a sunny start to the week.

The Met Office is predicting warm conditions for the rest of the week, with the exception of western Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Britons have already been pictured heading to parks and beaches around the country as they get ready to enjoy the impending heatwave.

Forecasters claim the 'weather gods will be smiling' on Meghan and Harry's big day on Saturday as they walk down the aisle at St George's Chapel in Windsor, with temperatures of around 64F (18C) and no signs of showers.

The sun returns! The UK is preparing for another spell of warm weather with highs of 77F (25C) on Tuesday. Pictured: Ezra Slee, 10, enjoys the sunshine at Portishead Lido in Somerset today

Bell Leech, 4, is pictured enjoying the sunshine in a field full of daisies in Portishead, Somerset on Sunday morning

Sunbathers are pictured enjoying the good weather outside Anfield in Liverpool today as they take on Brighton & Hove Albion

Britain is set to enjoy another mini-heatwave early next week after a washout weekend erased memories of searing heat over the Bank Holiday weekend. Pictured: A jogger runs along Brighton seafront this morning after rain yesterday

Conditions are starting to improve today as joggers make their way along the Western Shore in Southampton this morning

Forecasters claim the 'weather gods will be smiling' on the Royal bride and groom as they walk down the aisle at St George's Chapel in Windsor, with temperatures of around 64F (18C) and no signs of showers. Pictured: The Long Walk at Windsor

Britain is set for another mini-heatwave with good weather expected tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday and highs of 77F

Although the south of England can expect balmy weather on Tuesday, the end of the day and early Wednesday will see fresher air move in bringing temperatures down slightly to around (62F) 17C.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill told MailOnline: 'It's going to be quite a bit warmer than usual on Monday, with a repeat performance on Tuesday and possible highs of 77F (25C) in Hampshire.

'High pressure across the UK will produce 'home grown heat' that will warm up large parts of the country.

'It looks like it will turn warmer from the weekend of the Royal wedding onwards.

'Warm air is expected to come up from the near continent, with warmer-than-average conditions likely for the UK as a whole.

'Saturday looks pleasant for the wedding, with dry and bright conditions most likely.'

A Met Office forecaster added: 'A dry and warm theme is likely to continue into the weekend for much of England and Wales, and through the following week the South and East, though some rain is possible.

'The last few days of May could well stay dry and relatively warm in the South and East, with the potential for some very warm spells.'

The Weather Outlook forecaster Brian Gaze said: 'It looks like sunblock not brollies for Harry and Meghan's big day.

'The weather gods look like they'll be smiling on Harry and Meghan. The bride's worries about getting her dress wet are receding.

'With 21C highs in Windsor, parts of the country could see a royal roast for the celebrations.

Pictured: Tourists shelter from the rain under umbrellas in London's Hyde Park yesterday as showers covered most of the UK

Tuesday will bring temperature highs of 77F (25C) in parts of Hampshire and Sussex - 46F (8C) higher than average for May after rainy weather all day yesterday. Pictured: Two boys splash around in puddles in central London

'And with a warm-up following the wedding, the royal couple could do well going on honeymoon near home.'

Met Office forecaster Alex Burkill also said: 'The week ahead will see a lot of fine weather from Monday, and that is likely to continue for the royal wedding.

'Early indications are for Saturday in Windsor to be dry and bright with highs around 18C, a touch above the 17C average.

'This Tuesday could see 25C in the South, before highs return to normal on Wednesday and then edge upwards again on Saturday.'

It comes after a washout weekend across most of the UK, when temperatures struggled to make it to 64F (18C), just a week after they hit a blistering 84F (29C).

Forecasters claim the 'weather gods will be smiling' on the Royal bride and groom as they walk down the aisle at St George's Chapel in Windsor (pictured)
Director of Chak Angre hospital Le Ba Hung gives health consultation to Cambodian people (Source:vov.vn)



The event was organised by overseas Vietnamese doctors working in Chak Angre hospital in the Cambodian province, in coordination with doctors from the provincial hospital and a hospital of the Royal Cambodian Army.

Director of Chak Angre hospital Le Ba Hung said the charitable activity was funded by Vietnamese enterprises, Overseas Vietnamese firms operating in Cambodia and the hospital.

In his speech at the opening ceremony of the event, Governor of Kep province Ken Sotha highlighted the significance of the activity, especially at a time when the local health sector is meeting with difficulties.

It also shows friendship and mutual support between the two countries people, he said.

The people were provided with services such as blood tests, ultrasound examination, electrocardiogram, general examination. They also received medicines and advice on how to prevent diseases.

Those with difficult circumstances, who cant afford intensive treatment, will have their treatment funded by donors.

In recent years, many delegations of Vietnamese and overseas Vietnamese volunteer doctors, enterprises and donors have provided free medical examination and medicines for disadvantaged Cambodians and OVs living in Cambodia, contributing to enhancing the friendship between the two countries and their people in particular./.
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Before and after pictures reveal suffragettes were the early victims of image doctoring over 100 years ago.

Militant campaigner Evelyn Manesta was arrested in 1913 after smashing the glass 13 of the most valuable paintings on display at Manchester Art Gallery.

She was photographed by police outside London's Holloway Prison with a guard holding his hand around her neck.

Suffragette Evelyn Manesta was photographed outside London's Holloway Prison with a guard holding his hand around her neck (left). But when the photo was distributed, he'd been edited out

How exactly were images manipulated over a century ago? The photographer would've used scissors to cut Evelyn Manesta out of the original image. He would've then placed the cut-out silhouette of the suffragette onto a neutral background. The snapper could then use black, white and grey pigments to fill in the area where the guard's hand was. If you look closely at the doctored image you can see darker shades on her jacket and scarf where his hand should be. Advertisement

The suffragette was being pictured so police could send her images around other museums to identify her before she attacked again.

But the image that was actually distributed had the prison guard edited out.

The contrasting photographs are part of a new Suffragette exhibition at the National Archives in Kew.

The idea of editing out the presence of the warder came from the photographer, The Telegraph reports.

In his report the prison governor wrote: 'The photographer informs me that he can easily print out the Matron's arms round Manesta's neck, should it be considered desirable to do so.

'They were required in order to prevent her holding her head down.'

Kathryn Fox, Modern Domestic Records Specialist at The National Archives, told The Telegraph: 'This is one of the photographs that really shows the interaction between the suffragettes and the state, it is the sharp end of the struggle for the vote.

'The authorities began to utilise new technologies, such as photography, to record and disseminate information.'

Lillian Forrester (left) helped Evelyn Manesta damage pictures at Manchester Art Gallery in 1913. In the same year, Lilian Lenton (right) began a series of arson attacks in London, and was on suspicion of setting fire to the Tea House at Kew Gardens
An MP has called for prison guards to be issued with gas masks to stop them inhaling toxic fumes from the zombie drug Spice.

Gordon Henderson, the Tory MP for the Sittingbourne and Sheppey constituency in Kent - who has three jails on his patch - also said that inmates made so much money dealing drugs in jail they deliberately got into fights to stop being released.

The MP - who has HMP Elmley, HMP Standford Hill and HMP Swaleside in his constituency - said that Spice was such a big problem in jails that guards should be issued with gas masks.

Scroll down for video:

A prison officer locks a door at Belmarsh maximum security jail in south east London - Gordon Henderson MP claims they should be given gas masks to protect them from drug related fumes

He also said guards should be given PAVA spray - similar to pepper spray - to fend off an ever-increasing number of attacks by inmates high on Spice.

The MP said: "When prison officers enter the cell, they are at risk of harm from inhaling the lingering smoke.

Gordon Henderson MP says he is concerned over the drug trade inside prisons and the misery it is bringing to guards

"I know of a young prison officer in one of my prisons who was seriously affected by the inhalation of Spice fumes and had to be sent home because he was so ill.

"To counter that, gas masks should be made available to prison officers who enter cells in which it is suspected that an inmate has been smoking harmful substances, such as Spice.

"Stemming the flow of drugs is essential, and prison officers believe that the task of detecting drugs will be improved by the use of more sniffer dogs in prisons. I urge the Minister to consider that."

The MP added: "There has been an increase in the number of gangs in prisons: they are behind much of the organised crime, including the supply of drugs, which is big business.

"The use of drugs in prisons is a huge problem, as I am sure we are all aware. A steady supply is smuggled in by visitors, corrupt prison staff and, increasingly, drones.

"My local prisons have introduced drone-exclusion zones, but they have no real means of enforcing the ban. The problem will be solved only by installing in every prison a system to detect, track and jam drones before they reach their destination."

During a House of Commons talk about working conditions for prison officers, he said that more needed to be done to prosecute prisoners who attacked staff.

He added: "As I have done on many other occasions, I pay tribute to the fantastic men and women who work in Elmley, Standford Hill and Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey.

"I am immensely proud of those dedicated, hard-working professionals, who work in an extremely challenging environment, facing the threat of violence almost daily with few complaints and a great deal of courage."

He said, however, that violence in jails around the UK was rocketing, adding: "Ministry of Justice figures show that violence in our prisons is at its highest level since records began.

"In the last quarter, there were 21,270 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults, of which 3,029 were serious.

"At the same time, there were 8,429 assaults on prison staff, of which 864 were serious. In one quarter alone, about 4,000 serious assaults took place.

"The Serious Crime Act 2015 made it an offence to be in possession in prison of an offensive weapon, so I would have expected action to have been taken against those assailants.

"However, during 2015 and 2016, there were just 149 prosecutions, which hardly seems to be a deterrent to potential troublemakers."

Mr Henderson also said that too often 'nothing happens' after a prison officer is attacked while on duty.

He added that the increased use of spice in prisons was having a detrimental effect on emergency services, saying that prisons were seeing increased call outs to police and the NHS when prisoners were high on the drug.

The MP also revealed that he wanted to dress up as a prison guard and visit a prison to experience what it was like to be a prison officer - but was banned by the National Offender Management Service.

Glyn Travis, assistant general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association, said that what was really needed was for Spice and other drugs to be 'eradicated' from jails.

He said: "The issue for us is that gas masks simply wouldn't work with Spice fumes - they would need to have special respiratory filters, similar to the ones used when removing asbestos.

"We should not be in an environment whew we have to wear gas masks in the first place and it wouldn't work - prison officers need to be able to speak to and interact with prisoners and that's not going to be easy wearing a gas mask.

"We need to eradicate NPS and this needs an aggressive approach by the Government."

He said said the Government's claim that 70 per cent of UK jails are now 'smoke free' was 'fantasy land' as most prisons are 'awash with Spice'.

He added: "The evidence is overwhelming - there is a very acute problem with spice."

Responding to the MP's calls over prison assaults, Minister of State for Prisons Rory Stewart said: "We... need to be able to prosecute prisoners who assault prisoner officers.

"We were very proud to be able to double the maximum sentence for anybody who assaults a prison officer from six months to 12 months.

"But that requires the Crown Prosecution Service to bring those prosecutions.

"Too often there has been an attitude that, somehow, assaulting a prison officer is different from assaulting a police officer on the street."

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "Our hardworking prison officers must have the tools to do their jobs and that's why we're rolling out body worn cameras, 'police-style' restraints, and trialling pepper spray.

"We keep a close eye on the threats officers face to make sure they have what they need."
A driver is on the run after allegedly hitting an elderly man with his car and failing to stop on Sunday.

The 85-year-old lay motionless on the ground after impact at 6.40am on Darley Road in Paradise, North East of Adelaide.

The 'seriously injured' man was rushed by ambulance to the Royal Adelaide Hospital after being treated at the scene.

A driver is on the run after allegedly hitting an elderly man with his car and failing to stop on Sunday

Footage of the incident showed several other cars driving past the scene without stopping.

Police said the elderly man, pictured holding a walking stick, 'failed to cross the road in time' due to his age.





Police said the driver of the car would have known they were 'involved in a collision'

Senior Sergeant Stephen Murray told media police were disappointed the driver has not come forward considering the pedestrian's age.

'The driver of the vehicle would know they were involved in a collision,' he said.

'The front of the vehicle collided directly with the pedestrian, and the pedestrian was thrown out the way.'

A local resident described the driver as 'cowardly' in an interview with 7 News.

'That's a very cowardly person to just leave someone lying on the ground there,' a local man said.

Another woman said: 'Someone should have stopped, there's got to be more love and care and a bit more respect.'

South Australian Police have appealed for the driver and any witnesses to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 .
The deputy Irish PM today warned Brexit negotiations could be on the verge of stalling as he dismissed the customs blueprint favoured by Eurosceptics.

Simon Coveney insisted the so-called 'Maximum Facilitation' option would mean a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

He claimed the only solution was for the whole Ireland of Ireland to stay in a single customs zone - and said the UK would be in for a 'difficult summer' if there was no progress by an EU summit next month.

But Eurosceptics condemned his 'belligerent' comments and accused Dublin of posturing to force concessions out of Britain.

Simon Coveney insisted the so-called 'Maximum Facilitation' option would mean a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic

On the BBC's Andrew Marr show today, Michael Gove said there were 'significant questions' about the customs partnership plan, but admitted neither UK option was 'perfect'

Theresa May (pictured at church in her Maidenhead constituency today with husband Philip) is facing the threat of a major escalation in the Tory civil war if she tries to force through plans for a customs partnership with the EU

Theresa May issued a public plea for warring Tory Brexit factions to get behind her today - as Michael Gove dismissed the idea of extending the transition period beyond 2020.

The PM urged people to 'trust' in her ability to get a good deal from Brussels as she scrambles to thrash out a Cabinet compromise on future trade arrangements.

Mrs May is facing the threat of a major escalation in the Tory civil war if she tries to force through plans for a customs partnership with the EU.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said there were 'significant questions' about the idea today - although he admitted neither UK option was 'perfect'.

He also flatly ruled out keeping the existing customs arrangements beyond the end of the mooted transition in December 2020, saying the government needed to 'crack on'. 'I don't believe in an extension,' he told the BBC's Andrew Marr show.

Boris Johnson launched an extraordinary public attack on the partnership concept last week after a 'War Cabinet' discussion ended in deadlock - branding it 'crazy' and warning it would be a betrayal of the referendum vote.

There are claims today that half the full Cabinet roster could also be opposed to the proposal - which would see the UK collect tariffs on behalf of Brussels and then offer businesses rebates.

Mr Coveney appeared to endorse Mrs May's vision of a partnership in an interview on the BBC's Andrew Marr show.

He said the UK had made a clear commitment in last December's agreed UK-EU text that there would be no physical infrastructure on the border.

Boris Johnson (pictured attending Cabinet last week) launched an extraordinary public attack on Theresa May's post-Brexit trade plans

Mr Johnson responded to Mrs May's latest comments about Brexit on Twitter today

'That means we are not talking about cameras and scanning systems and drones here - it means we are talking about a political solution that allows for regulatory alignment in a way that prevents the need for border infrastructure,' he said.

'We are simply asking that that commitment be followed through on.'

Mr Coveney said: 'I'm not flexible when it comes to border infrastructure, I never have been.'

Tanaiste Mr Coveney said: 'To be honest we don't take our lead from Boris Johnson in relation to Brexit, we take our lead from the Prime Minister.

'She has signed up to very clear commitments, she has written to Donald Tusk (European Council President) confirming those commitments and I believe her by the way, I believe she made those commitments in good faith and I believe she wants to follow through on them.'

He said Brexit negotiations would face a 'difficult summer' if the UK Government failed to honour its commitment to agreeing a 'backstop' in the withdrawal treaty.

The backstop would mean regulations between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic would continue to align post-Brexit, even if a broader trading deal between the UK and EU failed to materialise.

This concept has alarmed unionists, who believe it would end up creating trading barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, undermining the constitutional integrity of the kingdom.

Democratic Unionist MP Sammy Wilson, one of Mr Coveney's most vocal critics, branded him 'belligerent, interfering and Brit bashing' and accused him of trying to break up the UK.

The UK cabinet is currently divided on the issue, with detractors of the partnership concept instead advocating new technology and trusted trader schemes to enable smooth trade with the EU.

Mr Johnson has been very critical of the idea of a partnership or shared customs territory, insisting it would prevent the UK taking back control of its trading policies.

What are the options on the table for a customs deal with the EU?

With time ticking away on the Brexit negotiations, the Cabinet is still at daggers drawn on the shape for future trade relations with the EU.

The government has set out two potential options for a customs system after the UK leaves the bloc.

But despite a series of tense showdowns at Theresa May's Brexit 'War Cabinet' ministers continue to be deadlocked over what to do.

Meanwhile, Brussels has dismissed both the ideas - and warned that negotiations could stall altogether unless there is progress by a key summit next month.

Despite a series of tense showdowns at Theresa May's 'War Cabinet' (pictured in February) ministers continue to be deadlocked over what to do

OPTION 1 - CUSTOMS PARTNERSHIP

Under the so-called 'hybrid model', the UK would collect EU import tariffs on behalf of Brussels.

Britain would be responsible for tracking the origin and final destination of goods coming into the country from outside the EU. The government would also have to ensure all products meet the bloc's standards.

Firms selling directly into the UK market would pay the tariff levels set by Brussels - but would then get a rebate if Britain's tariffs are lower.

Supporters of the hybrid plan in Cabinet - including Theresa May, Philip Hammond and Greg Clark - say keeping duties aligned up front would avoid the need for physical customs borders between the UK and EU.

As a result it could solve the thorny issue over creating a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Mrs May has been advised by the chief whip that the hybrid option could be the only way of securing a majority in parliament for a Brexit deal.

But Brexiteers regard the proposal as unworkable and cumbersome - and they were joined by Sajid Javid and Gavin Williamson in criticising it at a tense 'War Cabinet' meeting last week.

There are fears the experimental system will either collapse and cause chaos, or prevent the UK from being able to negotiate free trade deals around the world after Brexit.

Mrs May has instructed official to go away and revise the ideas. Eurosceptics are braced for her to bring back the plan with only 'cosmetic' changes, and try to 'peel off' Mr Javid and Mr Williamson from the core group of Brexiteers.

They are also ready for Mrs May to attempt to bypass the 'War Cabinet' altogether and put the issue before the whole Cabinet - where she has more allies.

OPTION 2 - MAXIMUM FACILITATION

The 'Max Fac' option accepts that there will be greater friction at Britain's borders with the EU.

But it would aim to minimise the issues using technology and mutual recognition.

Goods could be electronically tracked and pre-cleared by tax authorities on each side.

Shipping firms could also be given 'trusted trader' status so they can move goods freely, and only pay tariffs when they are delivered to the destination country.

Companies would also be trusted to ensure they were meeting the relevant UK and EU standards on products.

Senior ministers such as Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Liam Fox believe this is the only workable option.

But Remain minded Tories such as Mr Clark insist it will harm trade and cost jobs in the UK.

They also warn that it will require more physical infrastructure on the Irish border - potentially breaching the Good Friday Agreement. It is far from clear whether the government would be able to force anything through parliament that implied a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The EU has dismissed the idea that 'Max Fac' could prevent checks on the Irish border as 'magical thinking'.
Train bosses are racking up expenses bills of more than 500,000 a year paying for flights within the UK instead of getting the train, it has been claimed.

Network Rail spent over half a million pounds on internal flights for staff and a further 400,000 for bosses to fly abroad.

Despite claiming it always favours rail travel over staff flying, records show hundreds of flights booked from England to Scotland.

Network Rail spent over half a million pounds on internal flights for staff and a further 400,000 for bosses to fly abroad, records have shown. File image used

According to The Sun, 1,400 plane journeys were booked by Network Rail staff traveling from Birmingham to Glasgow last year and 370 from Birmingham to Edinburgh.

A total of 179 single tickets were put on expenses from London Gatwick to Glasgow as well as 148 return tickets.

Chief executive Mark Carne used a 373 company plane ticket to fly from London City Airport to Glasgow last year, the newspaper reports.

He earns 800,000 a year and could have opted for an advance train ticket for 40 instead.

Another senior member of staff allegedly put a 900 flight between Newcastle and Krakow in Poland on expenses, travelling one way in business class.

Network Rail is the publicly-owned manager of most of the railways in England, Scotland and Wales. It belongs to the Department of Transport.

Despite claiming it always favours rail travel over staff flying, records show hundreds of flights booked from England to Scotland. File image used

A spokesman insisted the organisation strives to keep staff travel expenses low.

They told MailOnline in a statement: 'Network Rail's 38,000 staff use rail above all other modes when making their journeys with over 10,000 rail journeys made every week for business reasons.

'We do allow staff to use the plane when necessary, but first class travel is banned.

'With bases from Penzance to Inverness and business interests in the US, Australia and the Middle East, flights are unavoidable but are actively discouraged in favour of rail.'

The expenses revelations come after it was found guilty of safety failings following a man being struck by a level crossing gate near Maidstone Kent.

Chief executive Mark Carne (pictured) used a 373 company plane ticket to fly from London City Airport to Glasgow last year, The Sun reports

After Doug Caddell, 65, was struck by the crossing at East Farleigh Station, Network Rail introduced a number of safety measures, including road traffic signals, audible warning devices, and protective equipment to ensure signallers were visible.

But a trial at Maidstone Crown Court concluded there was 'no good reason' for his injuries, which included brain damage and a broken neck.

The 65-year was closing one of the manually-operated gates when a driver hit it and it swung back onto the railwayman, knocking him unconscious to the ground.

Mr Caddell suffered fractures to two neck vertebrae and a brain injury as a result of his fall and needed specialist treatment at King's College Hospital in London.

He spent two weeks in hospital, where he developed pneumonia, and continues to have health problems.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps was today urged to 'stop blaming everyone else for the fuel shortages' after he claimed petrol supply levels were 'close to normal range' despite South East England still being in a crisis. Nearly one third of petrol stations in the region are still dry or short on supply - with a Petrol Retailers Association survey finding 12 per cent in the South East have run out of fuel, and 17 per cent have one grade of diesel or petrol. Under 75 per cent of petrol stations have both diesel and petrol in London and the South East, as opposed to 90 per cent in other areas - with the figures in contrast to Mr Shapps's claims that the issue is almost entirely over. Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, said: 'Grant Shapps must take his head out of sand, stop blaming everyone else for the fuel shortages and concede the most populated part of the UK is still a wasteland for fuel supplies. The reason is almost entirely down to his scaremongering actions over the last two weeks. It could have been avoided.' Pictured: Motorists put fuel into their cars at a Tesco petrol station in South East London today (left), which had some pumps out of fuel (centre), and a man fills a jerry can at a Shell station nearby (right).
Joe Tilley was last seen close to a waterfall and tourist attraction Fin Del Mundo, near to Mocoa city at around 5.30pm last Saturday

British reality TV star Joe Tilley has been found dead, his family have reported.

The tragic news was announced over Tilley's missing person Facebook page.

His family write that his body was discovered yesterday at 11:30am at the lower part of a waterfall that he was last seen at - they say search teams suggest that he fell in.

He had not been seen since vanishing in Columbia five days ago.

Jungletown star Joe Tilley was last seen close to the waterfall and tourist attraction Fin Del Mundo, near to Mocoa city at around 5.30pm last Saturday.

A fellow traveller said Mr Tilley, 24, disappeared after not hearing from him so she decided to alert his family back in Leicester.

His worried family immediately flew out to Columbia to join the search effort, the Leicester Mercury reports.

Mr Tilley's friends described him as an experienced traveller who had been in Columbia since February.

He had maintained frequent contact with family and friends, who added that it was out of character for him not to call.

Now, his family have set up a Facebook page to find Mr Tilley after this father Ian and step-father Brad Cook flew out to South America on Wednesday.

Mr Tilley stared in a Viceland documentary called Jungletown, which followed American entrepreneur Ondi Tumoner and hundreds of others who tried building the world's 'most sustainable modern town' in the Panamanian jungle.

Family have set up a Facebook page to find Mr Tilley afte rhis father Ian and step-father Brad Cook flew out to South America on Wednesday

Police and soldiers have been drafted in to search the area with dogs and drones, he added

Mr Tilley's best friend Zane Bham told the Leicester Mercury: 'Joe is a brilliant guy. He's adventurous and quite playful but he's also sensible.

'He and I travelled round Australia together for five months and it is not like him just to disappear without telling anyone what he was up to.

'He was travelling with a friend before he went missing. He would not have wanted to leave without letting her know.'

Mr Bahm said the area in which his friend went missing was 'quite rural' but that most hostels had wifi so there is a means for him to stay in touch.

Police and soldiers have been drafted in to search the area with dogs and drones, he added.

Joe, who went to Leicester's The Lancaster School and studied at Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College, was travelling in Panama before his current trip to Colombia.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: 'Our staff are supporting the family of a British Man who has been reported missing in Colombia and are in touch with the local authorities.'

Anyone with information about Joes whereabouts can contact his family through the Facebook page.
Jamie Oliver's celebrity chef mate Ben O'Donoghue has spoken out about the collapse of the British cooking sensation's restaurant chain.

The Eat Well for Less host believes the dramatic loss in attendance across Jamie's Italian restaurants reflects how Australian families have needed to tighten their budgets.

'I empathise so much with (Oliver). It's a really tough business. Rent is high, it's expensive to employ people and give good quality product,' O'Donoghue told the Courier Mail.

Jamie Oliver's chef mate Ben O'Donoghue (pictured together) discussed the collapse of his pal's restaurants chain

The Eat Well for Less star shows how to reduce spending on his new TV show (pictured with co-host Leila McKinnon)

'People have to cut discretionary spending. Attendance is down. I feel sorry for Jamie. I've spoken to him and he's expressed the same things.'

In April it was reported that Jamie Oliver's Australian restaurant group fell into voluntary administration forcing the immediate closure of at least one of its eateries.

The news came just two years after the embattled celebrity chef bought back the Jamie's Italian chain from failed hospitality group the Keystone Group.

Jamie Oliver's Australian restaurant group fell into voluntary administration forcing the immediate closure of at least one of its eateries

The administration forced the closure of the group's Canberra-based restaurant, with staff given no warning.

Restaurants in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide will now partner with the Hallmark Group.

On Channel 9's new series, the owner of Brisbane's Bullykart Kitchen's helps families identify where they can cut more than $10,000 out of their annual grocery spend.

O'Donoghue has seen first hand families take measures to pinpoint where they can be minimising their spending.

He jumped at the chance to work in television again and says there's a lot of room for him and other chefs to be giving tips which can help others.

Since taking up the gig, the father-of-three has been able to use his own advice and relate it back to his own family's shopping bill.

'Our grocery spend will be over $300 and its down to $220 to $250 now,' he said. 'What stands out is unnecessary purchases that we make.
A crackdown on British fugitives hiding out in Spain has forced them to go to extreme measures to evade justice on the Costa Del Sol.

Suspects have long travelled to hot spots like Marbella to escape police in the UK.

But life for suspected gang members and drug dealers on the 'Costa del Crime' is not as easy as it used to be after Spanish police teamed up with the National Crime Agency in a bid to bring them to justice.

A crackdown on British fugitives hiding out in Spain has forced them to go to extreme measures to evade justice on the Costa Del Sol. Pictured: Sports car in Marbella

Sources claim some fugitives are getting plastic surgery so Spaniards don't recognise them on wanted signs (example pictured in Malaga in 2016)

Sources claim some fugitives are getting plastic surgery so Spaniards don't recognise them on wanted signs, while others are building panic rooms under their luxury villas, reports the Sunday People.

Stephen Lawrence suspect Jamie Acourt, 41, was recently arrested on drug charges in Barcelona after he was caught carrying a fake Italian passport.

Stephen Lawrence suspect Jamie Acourt (pictured), 41, was recently arrested on drug charges in Barcelona after he was caught carrying a fake Italian passport

Acourt and his brother Neil were among five suspects in the racially-motivated murder case of the teenager in south east London in 1993.

Luxury resorts along the Spanish coast have been popular with British celebrities for decades.

But the National Crime Agency, often dubbed the UK's answer to the FBI, regularly release 'most wanted' lists of suspected criminals trying to hide out among the rich and famous.

Their faces are splashed on billboards as well as TV screens in both Spain and the UK.

When Acourt was arrested under the false name Simon Alfonzo he became the 81st fugitive to be caught by Operation Captura - the joint initiative between Spanish police, the NCA and Crimestoppers.

NCA head of international operations Steve Reynolds told the People about how suspects are increasingly having to swap designer shopping trips for staying locked up in their luxury homes.

He told the newspaper: 'Areas like the Costa Blanca and the Costa del Sol are the most popular with British holidaymakers and most of our fugitives.

'It's been known for people to have plastic surgery after faces have been splashed all over the papers and television.

'Some of the more high profile criminals have a gilded-cage existence where they might have these luxury villas they very rarely leave.'

Some fugitives are swapping designer shopping trips for building panic rooms under their luxury villas in a bid to evade justice. Pictured: Puerto Banus, Costa del Sol

He also told of a convicted drugs dealer arrested at a villa with its own panic room in July 2013 near Malaga.

While some try to live a normal life in Spain others are attracted to the Mediterranean coast because of its link with the drug trade in northern Africa and South America.

Barbara Windsor's ex-husband Ronnie Knight and his associate Freddie Foreman also fled to Spain after their Brink's Mat bullion robbery at Heathrow Airport.
Rudy Giuliani, one of Donald Trump's attorneys, has walked back comments he made on Friday about the president's interference with the AT&T-Time Warner merger.

Giuliani told the Huffington Post: 'He did drain the swamp ... The president denied the merger. They didn't get the result they wanted.'

However, during an interview with ABC News, Giuliani distanced himself from his previous comments and claimed that Trump 'did not interfere with the Justice Department going ahead with the case, which he had every right and power to do'.

On Friday night, Trump criticized the press for not reporting that his administration opposed the merger between AT&T and Time Warner amidst reports that his personal lawyer Michael Cohen was paid by AT&T for consulting.

'Why doesn't the Fake News Media state that the Trump Administration's Anti-Trust Division has been, and is, opposed to the AT&T purchase of Time Warner in a currently ongoing Trial. Such a disgrace in reporting!' Trump tweeted.

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Rudy Giuliani, one of Donald Trump's attorneys, has walked back comments he made on Friday about the president's interference with the AT&T-Time Warner merger. Giuliani told the Huffington Post: 'The president denied the merger. They didn't get the result they wanted'

However, during an interview with ABC News, Giuliani distanced himself from his previous comments and claimed that Trump (pictured together November 2016) 'did not interfere with the Justice Department going ahead with the case, which he had every right and power to do'

The tweet came at around the same time as Giuliani, told Huffington Post that the president had no knowledge of payments that Cohen received from corporations.

'The president had no knowledge of it,' Giuliani claimed.

The former New York mayor said that the president's policy decisions weren't affected by any lobbying or benefits given to Cohen.

'Whatever lobbying was done didn't reach the president,' Giuliani said.

Earlier on Friday, the head of AT&T acknowledged hiring Cohen was a 'big mistake'  just days after the firm had been revealed to be paying him $50,000 per month.

'Our company has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons these last few days and our reputation has been damaged. There is no other way to say it  AT&T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake,' wrote CEO Randall Stephenson in a memo to staff.

On Friday night, Trump criticized the press for not reporting that his administration opposed the merger between AT&T and Time Warner amidst reports that his personal lawyer Michael Cohen was paid by AT&T for consulting

'Why doesn't the Fake News Media state that the Trump Administration's Anti-Trust Division has been, and is, opposed to the AT&T purchase of Time Warner in a currently ongoing Trial. Such a disgrace in reporting!' Trump tweeted

In another major acknowledgement of failure, the firm's head lobbyist, Bob Quinn, who oversaw the hiring of Cohen, is retiring, according to the memo.

Reuters obtained the memo Friday morning.

AT&T said on Tuesday it had hired Essential Consultants LLC, a company used by Cohen, to advise it on working with the new administration in early 2017, around the time of Trump's inauguration.

The company admitted to paying $200,000 to Cohen for his 'insights'  even though it already had a robust lobbying operation that routinely spent $4million over just three months.

Cohen is now under criminal investigation, and the FBI has raided his home and office.

According to internal documents obtained by the Washington Post, Cohen was to assist the company in dealing with its proposed massive $85 billion merger with Time Warner.

The head of AT&T has acknowledged hiring Cohen (center) was a 'big mistake.' Cohen is now under criminal investigation

The payments were revealed by Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti, after the funds were located in same account for an LLC set up by Cohen for a 'hush' agreement with Daniels, the porn star who claims she had an affair with Trump.

'To be clear, everything we did was done according to the law and entirely legitimate,' Stephenson wrote in the memo. 'But the fact is our past association with Cohen was a serious misjudgment.'

AT&T did not hire Cohen to lobby on behalf of the company, according to the memo.

The one-year contract at $50,000 per month, from January through December 2017, was limited to consulting and advisory services, according to the memo. That would have brought the total to $600,000 for a full year contract.

Cohen is a personal injury lawyer who did real estate deals and ran a taxi company.

Although he was known to be close to Trump, he had no obvious expertise in complex telecommunications law or mergers and acquisitions.

'There is no other way to say it  AT&T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake,' wrote CEO Randall Stephenson in a memo to staff

AT&T Senior Executive VP of External and Legislative Affairs Bob Quinn (right), with CEO of The Motion Picture Association Chris Dodd, is stepping down after hiring Michael Cohen

The payments were revealed by Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti (right), after the funds were located in same account for an LLC set up by Cohen for a 'hush' agreement with Daniels (left), the porn star who claims she had an affair with Trump

Avenatti also said a company owned by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg and other corporations had paid Essential Consultants for certain services.

Essential Consultants paid $130,000 to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, days before the 2016 presidential election as part of a nondisclosure agreement that barred her from discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

Trump denies any encounter took place.

Avenatti has not substantiated his claim that $500,000 in payments tied to the Russian oligarch were reimbursement for Cohen's payment to Daniels.

But the lawyer said the payments amount to 'swamp'-style influence peddling.

'Essential Consulting was one of several firms we engaged in early 2017 to provide insights into understanding the new administration,' the firm said in a statement.

'They did no legal or lobbying work for us, and the contract ended in December 2017,' according to the firm, NBC reported.

'We don't have anything to share beyond the statement,' said a firm spokeswoman when asked by DailyMail.com this week what Cohen did or why the firm felt it needed his services.
Deputy PM Minh made the statement during talks with Brazilian Foreign Minister Nunes Ferreira on May 12, who is on an official visit to Vietnam from May 12-13.

The officials agreed that the Vietnam-Brazil relationship has recorded positive development across fields, especially in their closer political ties, which was showed through regular visits and meetings by senior leaders and ministry and sector officials.

The economic ties between the two countries have also witnessed significant expansion, with two-way trade in 2017 hit US$3.87 billion, up 12 times in the last decade.

For his part, Brazilian Foreign Minister Nunes affirmed Brazil considers Vietnam as an important partner in Southeast Asia.

He spoke highly Vietnams increasing role and position in the region and the world, as well as his countrys determination to strengthen and expand the friendship and all-around cooperation with Vietnam.

Deputy PM Minh and Brazilian Foreign Minister Nunes underlined the need for the two sides to enhance exchange of visits, especially among senior leaders; promote the effective implementation of the Intergovernmental Committee on Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technological Cooperation; as well as maintain regular political consultations at deputy foreign minister level.

They agreed to continue implementing signed cooperation agreement, while completing the legal framework for their bilateral cooperation in the fields of diplomacy, defence industry, trade, investment; and fostering connection and direct partnership among their business communities.

The two sides also pledged to closely cooperate and support each other at international organisations and multilateral forums.

The Vietnamese official took the occasion to urge Brazil to soon recognise Vietnams market economy.

The officials witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the two countries diplomatic academies, and those between the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations and the Alexandre de Gusmao Foundation of Brazil.
Three police officers who were stood down after they were filmed kicking and punching a man and woman have been reinstated and cleared of wrongdoing.

Constables James Hitchen, Sharna Thompson and Charlotte Richardson were filmed kicking a woman to the ground and unleashing more than 20 punches on a man near Perth last year.

They said in court the force was justified because the woman tried to grab one of their guns - but this could not be seen on the mobile phone footage, leading a magistrate to say they misled court.

Today, Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said the officers did not intentionally mislead the court but were just inexperienced in giving evidence and made poor court preparation.

Three West Australian police officers were put under investigation after a disturbing video of an arrest was played in court, showing them kicking a woman and punching a man in the face

A police statement read: 'Among the evidence not presented at trial was a police operations centre transmission recorded during the struggle which supported police testimony that the woman had attempted to remove an officer's firearm from the holster.'

'The IAU review found that the transmission provided critical evidence about this element of the prosecution not captured by the mobile phone footage.

'Post-trial enhancement of the footage had also corroborated the testimony of the officers that one of the accused offered strong resistance and required significant effort to restrain him.'

The incident occurred in Hamilton Hill, south west of Perth, and was filmed by witness Elise Svanberg, who described the scene as 'awful'.

'It ended up being 19 police officers and nine police cars it was awful and that's not their job,' she told 7 News.

Jacqueline Briffa faced three charges of assaulting a police officer and attempting to possess a firearm, with all thrown out in court after the video was played.

The magistrate called the allegations that Ms Briffa had tried to remove one of the guns as 'frankly nonsense' before throwing the charges out.

The man who was punched multiple times walked away with a $100 fine after being charged with obstructing police.

The incident occurred in Hamilton Hill, south west of Perth, and was filmed by witness Elise Svanberg (pictured), who described the scene as 'awful'
The government is set to issue new official guidance to ensure religious believers are free to wear crucifixes and other symbols of faith while at work.

Firms that do not abide by the new guidelines could be fined or forced to pay out compensation, it has been reported.

It comes five years after British Airways employee Nadia Eweida won her case against the airline when she was told to hide her cross while at work.

It comes five years after British Airways employee Nadia Eweida (pictured) won her case against the airline when she was told to hide her cross while at work

A nurse, Shirley Chaplin (pictured), did not win a similar challenge, however. Soon firms that do not abide by the new guidelines could be fined or forced to pay out compensation

Victoria Atkins - minister for crime, safeguarding and vulnerability - told the Sunday Express that 'discrimination in the workplace is not only completely unacceptable but also against the law.'

She added: 'We will not stand for it.'

The Government Equalities Office is expected to state the rules later this month, with one line stating: 'Employers should be flexible and not set dress codes which prohibit religious symbols that do not interfere with an employee's work.'

Victoria Atkins - minister for crime, safeguarding and vulnerability - said: 'We will not stand for it'

Companies will be told they must be flexible and show an understanding of different religions.

Commenting on the move, the Church of England said it was a 'sensible decision'.

It added: 'Christians who wish to show their faith by wearing a cross should be free to do so. Freedom of expression continues to be an important British value.'

BA check-in agent Miss Eweida, who lives in Twickenham in London, was told she had to go home from work after refusing to hide a crucifix on her necklace.

She won a case against the airline at the European Court of Human Rights in 2013.

A nurse, Shirley Chaplin, did not win a similar challenge, however.

She had been told to stop wearing her crucifix at a hospital because it endangered health and safety.
Tory rebels were today warned they risk 'plunging a knife into the heart' of Theresa May's premiership by voting to stay in a customs union with the EU.

Iain Duncan Smith raised the prospect of the Prime Minister being forced out and replaced by Jeremy Corbyn if she is defeated on the key issue.

Mrs May is facing immense pressure from both Remainers and Brexiteers to find a way through the bitter standoff on trade with the EU.

Eurosceptics appear to have all-but killed off her compromise solution of a 'customs partnership' with the EU, branding it unworkable. Environment Secretary Michael Gove said this morning that the idea was 'flawed'.

Iain Duncan Smith raised the prospect of the Prime Minister being forced out and replaced by Jeremy Corbyn if she is defeated on the key issue

Tory big beast Ken Clarke dismissed the idea that Mrs May would lose power if the Commons voted for a customs union

Theresa May (pictured at church in her Maidenhead constituency today with husband Philip) is facing the threat of a major escalation in the Tory civil war if she tries to force through plans for a customs partnership with the EU

But the alternative of a 'Maximum Facilitation' arrangement - relying on technology and trusted trader schemes to minimise trade friction - is regarded as unacceptable by many Remainers. They warn it would hurt business and mean a hard Irish border.

Around a dozen Conservative MPs have signalled they could join with Labour to back membership of a customs union with Brussels after Brexit. That would almost certainly be enough to overturn the PM's slender majority.

Speaking on the BBC's Sunday Politics, Mr Duncan Smith warned that Mrs May's leadership might not survive defeat in the Commons on the issue.

'They need to think very carefully about this. She is for leaving the customs union,' he said.

'It was in the manifesto, and all my colleagues stood on that...

'They do literally plunge a knife into the heart of government and particularly to the PM, as it is very much her fixed view.'

Pressed on whether defeat would really mean Mrs May leaving No10, he said: 'Everybody risks it because we don't have a majority.'

Mr Duncan Smith said there was a danger that some MPs would end up 'dealing with the devil' as Jeremy Corbyn was waiting in the wings to seize power.

On the BBC's Andrew Marr show today, Environment Secretary Michael Gove branded the customs partnership idea 'flawed'

But he did concede that the so-called 'Max Fac' option would not mean trade with the EU was completely fluid.

'It is not going to be completely friction free because it can't be,' he said.

However, Tory big beast Ken Clarke dismissed the idea that Mrs May would lose power if the Commons voted for a customs union.

Appearing on the same programme, he urged the premier to face down hardline Brexiteers.

Fellow Tory MP Nicky Morgan, the Treasury select committee chair, said the 'Max Fac' plan relied on 'future technology' and would 'cause enormous problems on the island of Ireland'.

Ms Morgan told ITV's Peston on Sunday: 'I think the partnership proposal is complex, no-one's entirely clear about how that's going to work.'

She added: I think the Prime Minister absolutely could come up with a proposal that would gain the support of the majority of the Conservative Party and the majority in the House of Commons, but to do that she has to be very clear that she's not going to give any truck to those who want a hard Brexit.'

Meanwhile, the Leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Evans, warned peers that they must back down if MPs overturn any of the 14 amendments they made to the EU Withdrawal Bill.

'It's now the time of the Commons to think about these and I fully expect the Lords to respect the will of the House of Commons and indeed the people who obviously voted to leave in the referendum,' Lady Evans told Peston.

What are the options on the table for a customs deal with the EU?

With time ticking away on the Brexit negotiations, the Cabinet is still at daggers drawn on the shape for future trade relations with the EU.

The government has set out two potential options for a customs system after the UK leaves the bloc.

But despite a series of tense showdowns at Theresa May's Brexit 'War Cabinet' ministers continue to be deadlocked over what to do.

Meanwhile, Brussels has dismissed both the ideas - and warned that negotiations could stall altogether unless there is progress by a key summit next month.

Mrs May also faces a potential rebellion by Tory MPs threatening to side with Labour in a Commons vote to demand the UK stays in a customs union with the EU.

Despite a series of tense showdowns at Theresa May's 'War Cabinet' (pictured in February) ministers continue to be deadlocked over what to do

OPTION 1 - CUSTOMS PARTNERSHIP

Under the so-called 'hybrid model', the UK would collect EU import tariffs on behalf of Brussels.

Britain would be responsible for tracking the origin and final destination of goods coming into the country from outside the EU. The government would also have to ensure all products meet the bloc's standards.

Firms selling directly into the UK market would pay the tariff levels set by Brussels - but would then get a rebate if Britain's tariffs are lower.

Supporters of the hybrid plan in Cabinet - including Theresa May, Philip Hammond and Greg Clark - say keeping duties aligned up front would avoid the need for physical customs borders between the UK and EU.

As a result it could solve the thorny issue over creating a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Mrs May has been advised by the chief whip that the hybrid option could be the only way of securing a majority in parliament for a Brexit deal.

But Brexiteers regard the proposal as unworkable and cumbersome - and they were joined by Sajid Javid and Gavin Williamson in criticising it at a tense 'War Cabinet' meeting last week.

There are fears the experimental system will either collapse and cause chaos, or prevent the UK from being able to negotiate free trade deals around the world after Brexit.

Mrs May has instructed official to go away and revise the ideas. Eurosceptics are braced for her to bring back the plan with only 'cosmetic' changes, and try to 'peel off' Mr Javid and Mr Williamson from the core group of Brexiteers.

They are also ready for Mrs May to attempt to bypass the 'War Cabinet' altogether and put the issue before the whole Cabinet - where she has more allies.

OPTION 2 - MAXIMUM FACILITATION

The 'Max Fac' option accepts that there will be greater friction at Britain's borders with the EU.

But it would aim to minimise the issues using technology and mutual recognition.

Goods could be electronically tracked and pre-cleared by tax authorities on each side.

Shipping firms could also be given 'trusted trader' status so they can move goods freely, and only pay tariffs when they are delivered to the destination country.

Companies would also be trusted to ensure they were meeting the relevant UK and EU standards on products.

Senior ministers such as Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Liam Fox believe this is the only workable option.

But Remain minded Tories such as Mr Clark insist it will harm trade and cost jobs in the UK.

They also warn that it will require more physical infrastructure on the Irish border - potentially breaching the Good Friday Agreement. It is far from clear whether the government would be able to force anything through parliament that implied a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The EU has dismissed the idea that 'Max Fac' could prevent checks on the Irish border as 'magical thinking'.
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China has taken a historic step in its bid to build a navy that rivals the world's finest by sending the country's first domestically built aircraft out for sea trials.

The vessel has the temporary name Type 001A and set out yesterday from Dalian after President Xi Jinping announced a 'world-class' navy under the Chinese Communist Party's regime.

The 50,000-tonne carrier is the first to be wholly built and designed in China, and is set to become the navy's second aircraft carrier by 2020.

The ship (pictured) set out for its sea trials today as part of the Chinese government's push to develop a world-class Navy. The 50,000-tonne aircraft carrier is the first to be built and designed entirely in China and is set to become the Navy's seccond carrier by 2020

The runway on the new vessel models the skip slope design of its predecessor. Though China still lags behind the United States in terms of military might, the Communist government is increasing the country's dominance in Asia, where only Japan seriously rivals it

The vessel - temporarily named Type 001A - was sent out for sea trials at 7am today as President Xi Jinping pushes ahead with modernisation in the country's Navy. Experts say that it still won't be enough to seriously challenge the dominance of the USA within the next 12 years

Currently the country only has a retrofitted Soviet-era aircraft carrier called the Liaoning, which was launched in 2012.

But CNN reports the new vessel still won't be enough to rival the United States, but will boost the navy's standing in Asia.

Sam Roggeveen, senior fellow at Sydney's Lowy Institute, said: 'This is, in and of itself, not designed to be some frontal challenge to US power in the Asia Pacific, because it simply isn't in the class of America's aircraft carriers.'

China only has one aircraft carrier (pictured, the ship at its 2007 launch), which is called the Liaoning. It is a retrofitted Soviet-era vessel, showing the marked difference between the communist country's capabilities as compared with that of the US

The new aircraft carrier weighs 50,000 tonnes and analysis of recent satellite images suggest that modifications have been made for the ship to transport an additional eight aircraft. Unlike the nuclear-powered carriers the United States fields, the Chinese rely on less innovative means of propulsion

More than 1,000 feet in length and 246 feet wide, the new ship uses conventional propulsion as opposed to nuclear and recent analysis of satellite images suggests modifications have been made to hold up to eight additional aircraft.

Its predecessor was intended more as a training base, but the new ship is likely to be deployed for combat, putting China alongside the US, the UK, Russia and France in its global capability.

But it is still the US that fields more aircraft carriers than any other country. As of this year it fields 11 nuclear-powered carriers with 'catapult' technology, in which pistons or electromagnetic rails speed aircraft up as they leave the runway.

This gives them an advantage over the Chinese planes, which rely on their own power and the ski-jump designs on both carriers.

China has sent its first home-built aircraft carrier for sea trials as the Communist government attempts to assert its military might on the world stage. Unable to use electromagnetic rails to speed aircraft up as they leave the runway, the ship instead relies on a ski-jump design

The ship is China's latest attempt to assert its military might and follows a surge of investment from 2010 to 2017, when the Navy's ship complement increased from 210 to 320. The country is fast developing capabilities to maintain presence in distant waters

Once this latest addition passes sea trials, it will need to be further vetted before it is deemed combat-ready. And plenty can still go wrong during the current trial, as the UK's HMS Queen Elizabeth proved last year when a leak left it in need of repair.

And the US Navy's newest warship - the USS Gerald R Ford - has been blighted by glitches despite it being the world's most expensive at $13 billion.

The 100,000-tonne vessel's catapult launcher, the equipment for catching planes upon landing and its radar were all found to be faulty.

Although China is far from catching up with the US, its military budget this year rose by eight per cent as the military pushes for modernisation.

The Navy's ship complement increased from 210 to 320 between 2010 and 2017, with 2016 alone seeing an increase of 18.

American sea power is expected to continue dominating over the next 10 years, but China is fast developing capabilities to maintain presence in distant waters.

Last week US intelligence suggested there is a high probability that the Chinese fired missiles to three artificial islands in military drills.
New liquor restrictions which would see the amount of alcohol available for purchase nearly halved to a single six-pack of full strength beer per day are being considered in an effort to reduce the crime rate in the remote community of Tennant Creek.

The Northern Territory Liquor commission released the proposal on Thursday, NT News reported.

Tennant Creek already has alcohol restrictions and there have been calls to make the ban permanent.

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New liquor restrictions which would see punters able to only purchase a six-pack of full strength beer per day could be introduced in Tennant Creek

Tennant Creek already has alcohol restrictions, after the alleged rape of a two-year-old girl (pictured)

The Northern Territory has the highest sexual assault rates in the country, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

There have been a number of sexual assault crimes following the alleged rape of a two-year-old girl.

In March, a five-year-old boy was allegedly sexually assaulted in the Northern Territory.

Another four-year-old boy was allegedly raped in the desert town of Ali Curung in March.

In April, a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a man who broke into her room and assaulted her.

Goldfields Hotel Motel manager Michael Webb told the publication that there has already been a massive reduction in trade at Tennant Creek

The restrictions which are already in place, involve limiting takeaway alcohol sales between 3-6pm on Monday to Saturday and limiting the amount of alcohol an individual can purchase.

Goldfields Hotel Motel manager Michael Webb told the publication that there has already been a massive reduction in trade due to people not being able to buy what they want.

Mr Webb thinks hardworking people are suffering as a result of wrongdoers.

The reformed alcohol restrictions looks at changing the trading hours from 3-6pm to 4-7pm

'I believe the individuals disrupting the community in town should be made accountable and pay, not the community,' he told NT news.

The reformed alcohol restrictions looks at changing the trading hours from 3-6pm to 4-7pm, which will also 'avoid the collision of purchasing alcohol and children walking from home.'

It will also allow workers who finish at 6pm some time to purchase alcohol.

The proposal also suggests punters able to purchase 18 units of light beer, 12 of mid strength, or a bottle of wine or spirits, up to no more than 750 ml.

It also prohibits the sale of bottles larger than 750ml, and drinks mixers with a 7 per cent or more alcohol content of more than 440ml.
A student group representing almost a million young people nationwide is joining forces to try 'putting a stop to Brexit'.

For Our Future's Sake is a new collective that represents 60 student unions from different universities across the country.

They want the public to have a say on the Government's final Brexit deal before we leave the European Union in 2019.

FFS leaders claim there are around 1.4million teenagers who were too young to vote when the UK was given a referendum on EU membership in June 2016 but believe they should have a say now they are 18.

They are organising huge group action and urging members to write to their local MPs about the broken promises of the referendum campaign and how young people will be affected by them.

For Our Future's Sake is a new collective that represents 60 student unions from different universities across the country. File image of student Brexit protests in London

Their joint letter reads: 'I am part of For our Future's Sake - a movement of young people and students across the UK who believe that Brexit will damage our future.

'Young people overwhelmingly voted against Brexit. Since the referendum result, numerous promises were made by the Leave campaign which have been shown to be completely false.

'Young people overwhelming want the current benefits of EU membership to be retained.

'However, based on the current trajectory of the Brexit negotiations this is looking highly unlikely.

'In October, you will have the opportunity to vote on the Brexit deal.

'As an elected member of Parliament, I ask that you stand up for young people in your constituency, vote against the EU Withdrawal Bill and demand a People's Vote on our future relationship with the EU.'

Among the university unions that have signed up to FFS are Cambridge, Durham, St Andrew's, Lancaster, Birmingham, Liverpool John Moore's and Westminster.

They are organising huge group action and urging members to write to their local MPs about the broken promises of the referendum campaign and how young people will be affected by them. File image used

Amatey Doku, deputy president of the National Union of Students, is a spokesman for FFS and told the Guardian yesterday: 'When over 120 elected student officers, representing nearly a million young people, call for something with one clear voice, they need to be listened to.

'Students and young people overwhelmingly voted Remain and cannot see how the government can deliver a Brexit deal that works for them.

'As an elected representative body of 600 student unions, NUS is calling for a people's vote on the Brexit deal.'

Prime Minister Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have both so far refused to entertain another public vote on Brexit.

But the Government faces continued challenges from the House of Lords on its vision for the customs union among other post EU issues.
Ken Livingstone must be kicked out of the Labour Party over his claims about Hitler and Zionism, a key Corbyn ally sad today.

In a blistering attack, Baroness Chakrabarti said Mr Livingstone had brought shame upon the party and 'aggravated' the situation by repeating offensive views.

The former London mayor is currently suspended from the party but has demanded to be reinstated and dismissed criticism of his behaviour as 'smears'.

In a blistering attack today, Baroness Chakrabarti said Mr Livingstone had brought shame upon the party and 'aggravated' the situation by repeating offensive views

Mr Livingstone, currently suspended from Labour, risked fuelling the spat earlier this month by insisting that Zionists 'collaborated' with Hitler

Earlier this month he risked fuelling the spat by insisting that Zionists 'collaborated' with Hitler.

Lady Chakrabarti said Mr Livingstone had repeated opinions that had caused the 'deepest hurt and upset and embarrassment to the party'.

'I don't believe that Ken Livingstone can any longer be in the Labour Party,' she told the BBC's Sunday Politics.

What are the anti-Semitic incidents in Labour that have reached a crisis under Corbyn's watch? Jeremy Corbyn defended an artist who painted an anti-Semitic mural in 2012, questioning why the offensive art should be removed

He was a member of a Facebook group which was awash with anti-Semitic rhetoric, and he has described anti-Semitic groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as 'our friends'

The Labour leader stood by when a speaker disrupted the launch of his party's anti-Semitism policy by accusing a Jewish MP of colluding with the press

Labour has still failed to expel former London mayor Ken Livingstone, two years after he claimed Hitler supported Zionism. He has still not apologised

Delegates at last year's Labour conference complained of a 'witch hunt' against anti-Semitism and heard from a speaker who said it was legitimate to question the Holocaust

The problem is so rife in the party the Jewish Labour Movement has had to hold training sessions for party members on how not to be anti-Semitic

Labour members and councillors have shared disgusting messages and images on Facebook describing Jewish people of controlling world capitalism and being to blame for the policies of the Israeli government

The party is failing to deal with a huge backlog of complaints and has failed to expel people even though they have committed offences such as referring to Jewish people as Yids

Corbyn ally Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, has dismissed anti-Semitism claims as 'mood music' spread by Blairites.

Labour's new general secretary Jennie Formby was accused of recruiting a party member suspended for saying Hitler was a Zionist god. Advertisement

'We can't run away from the fact that he has repeated really, really incendiary remarks.

'To compare somebody who was trying to escape Nazis with Nazis themselves, and to do so again, and again, and again and again, even when you know that this has caused the deepest hurt and upset and embarrassment to the party, is completely unacceptable in my view.'

The shadow attorney general, who produced a report into anti-Semitism in the Labour Party which some Jewish groups branded a whitewash, added: 'I find it very difficult, very difficult now to see how any rational decision maker could allow Mr Livingstone to stay in our party.

'He has brought it repeatedly into disrepute. He has brought shame upon it, and his own legacy.

'And we need to apologise to Jewish members, supporters and voters for the insult, the incendiary remarks equating people trying to escape Nazis with Nazis themselves.'

Lady Chakrabarti indicated that the Livingstone controversy - which began two years ago when the ex-MP made claims about links between Hitler and Zionists - had damaged Labour in recent local elections.

Mr Livingstone was originally let off with a suspension, but disciplinary action resumed after he made further comments on the subject.

For many years Mr Livingstone was a close friend and ally of fellow left-winger Jeremy Corbyn - although relations have been strained since the Hitler row.

Speaking on Sky News earlier this month, Mr Livingstone admitted that the row over his remarks could have been 'damaging' to Labour - but only because of 'smears' that he had stated Hitler 'was a Zionist'.

He insisted it was a historical fact that there was a 'deal done' between the Nazis and Zionists in the 1930s.

Hitler had wanted to eject Jews from Germany, and Zionists wanted to set up a state in Palestine, he said.

'They collaborated,' Mr Livingstone said. 'They didn't like each other but they collaborated to do that.'

Asked whether his insistence on linking Hitler to Jewish nationalists had contributed to Labour's failure to gain in places like Barnet, Mr Livingstone said: 'If anybody believes I said Hitler was a Zionist, yes.

'That has been very damaging.'
A grandmother from Illinois is pregnant with her daughter's twins and is due to give birth to her grandchildren in a few weeks.

The twins, a boy and a girl, were conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF) because Sheila Gumps, 43, daughter, Micaela Johnson, is unable to get pregnant after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

Johnson, 26, was diagnosed in 2015 with an aggressive small cell cervical cancer, reported St Louis Post-Dispatch.

A grandmother from Illinois is pregnant with her daughter's twins and is due to give birth to her grandchildren in a few weeks

Johnson and her husband Brandon Johnson already have six-year-old son Aidyn and they were trying for a second baby after him.

However, doctors discovered a tumor on Johnsons cervix during a routine exam and unfortunately, the only treatment option was a hysterectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiation.

The grueling treatment forced her into menopause and eventually made her infertile.

Micaela Johnson, 26, (right) was diagnosed in 2015 with an aggressive small cell cervical cancer

They waited to start treatment so they had a chance to freeze their embryos, which the doctors approved.

Johnson started hormone therapy that led to the retrieval of 19 eggs. The couple were able to freeze nine of their embryos for future use.

Speaking about being her daughters surrogate, Gump, 'I just want her to have everything she wants. As a mother, dont you want to see your child happy?'

Micaela Johnson, is unable to get pregnant after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer

Johnson and her husband Brandon Johnson already have six-year-old son Aidyn and they were trying for a second baby after him (pictured)

When the doctor first spoke to the couple about the surrogacy process Gump said, 'Ill carry the baby, if it comes to that. I will carry your children if I can.'

Johnson's cancer treatment consisted of a radical hysterectomy followed by radiation and chemotherapy. Apparently knowing the embryos were waiting 'gave me something to look forward to,' Johnson revealed. 'I could make my life pick up where it left off.'

Speaking about her grandchildren Gump said 'Im looking forward to spoiling them and sending them home.'

Johnson has been cancer-free for two years, but she still needs PET scans every six months.
A Townsville police officer suffered serious head and facial injuries after investigating a noise complaint at an out-of-control party.

The 33-year-old Senior Constable attended an address on Karanya Street, Mount Louisa, at 8.30am on Sunday following the noise complaint and was allegedly confronted by a number of party-goers.

The officer was talking to the female house owner when people began pushing and crowding-in at police, with one man obstructing an officer, police said.

The officer then attempted to arrest the man and it is alleged he ended up on the ground and was kicked in the head and face.

The 33-year-old Senior Constable (pictured) was kicked in the head and face in a vicious attack

The officer was attending a noise complaint at an address on Karanya Street, Mount Louisa, at 8.30am on Sunday

He was taken to Townsville Hospital with serious facial injuries, including a broken nose, fractured cheek and a laceration above his eye.

Police located a 30-year-old Palm Island man, and arrested him around midday on Sunday.

He was denied bail and was charged with grievous bodily harm.

He is due to appear in the Townsville Magistrates Court on Monday.

Townsville police Chief Superintendent Kev Guteridge slammed the attack on the officer and said violence towards police would not be tolerated, Townsville Bulletin reported.

'It's unacceptable that the officer has been assaulted,' he said.

'He's gone to work just to do his job, like everybody else does.'

Anyone with information on the incident is urged to contact Policelink on 131 444.
Two British medics dramatically rescued from jungle kidnappers in the Congo were preparing to fly home last night.

Robert Jesty and Bethan Davies were released unharmed after their convoy was ambushed by militia in the Virunga National Park gorilla sanctuary.

The pair, who work at Londons prestigious Kings College Hospital, were saved by United Nations peacekeepers and local authorities at the remote reserve.

The unidentified kidnappers demanded ransoms of up to 150,000 before apparently reducing it to 22,000 in the first chaotic hours.

But a hand-over was negotiated and the hostages were eventually delivered to a rendezvous point and escaped in taxis.

Their captors refused to allow the Virunga security team, whose chief oversaw the rescue mission, to arrive in park vehicles.

It is understood that members of Monusco, the United Nations peace keeping force, were also involved in the operation.

It was last night claimed that a ransom had not been paid.

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Bethan Davies and Robert Jesty pictured together at the Lenana summit on Mount Kenya

A sign carrying the former name, Parc National Albert, instead of Virunga National Park. The sign is riddled with bullet holes and rusted

Friends said their families are delighted and relieved after a gut-churning three day ordeal in the wake of their abduction.

The Foreign Office is arranging for the two, who are said to be in good spirits, to return home via Rwanda at the first opportunity.

Their safety was confirmed by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who also paid tribute to their ranger who was killed in the ambush.

I am delighted to announce that two British nationals who were held hostage in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been released, he said.

I pay tribute to the DRC authorities and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation for their tireless help during this terrible case.

Kidnapping: Two British citizens have been kidnapped while visiting the Virunga National Park, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Rachel Katumwa was an 'ecoguard' providing security on a convoy in Virunga National Park

According to a friend, the 25-year-old's only concern was for the safety of those on the convoy

The two Britons were taken hostage by rebel militia on Friday at the start of a gorilla trekking trip in the Unesco-protected sanctuary.

Little is known about exactly what took place, but their woman park ranger, Rachel Makissa Baraka, was killed and their driver injured.

A Park spokesman said their pair were treated for minor injuries but were otherwise unharmed.

Security sources said they were met in the Congolese border city of Goma and were due to be driven into Rwanda.

The park ranger colleague of Rachel Katumwa. The rangers protect tourists in the area

A village near to where the ranger was killed trying to save the British tourists from being kidnapped

A view from the plains of Mount Nyiragongo, an active volcano in the Virunga National Park

Dr Jesty, 28, and Dr Davies (age unknown) are both intensive care junior clinical fellows at Kings College Hospital.

They are the authors of several medical papers published online focusing on managing infection and disease in intensive care.

Colleagues said they travelled to the Congo because of a shared passion for exotic travel and conservation.

Neighbours at Dr Jestys 1.1million Winchester family home said his parents, an accountant and Anglican vicar, have not been seen since news of the kidnapping broke.

The Virunga Park has been plagued by violence in recent months as armed gangs execute raids to steal resources, particularly charcoal.

Last month five young rangers and a driver were killed in a militia ambush. More than 170 rangers have been killed over the past two decades.

The Unesco world heritage site covers 3,000 square miles on the Democratic Republic of Congos border with Uganda and Rwanda.

Founded in 1925, it is home to around a quarter of the worlds critically endangered mountain gorillas.

Other endangered species can also be found there included lions, elephants, hippos and an extraordinary range of rare bird species.

Mr Johnson added: My thoughts are now with the family of Virunga Park ranger Rachel Makissa Baraka who was killed during the kidnapping, and with the injured driver and the released British nationals as they recover from this traumatic incident.

John Murton, the British ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, said: The UK would like to thank the DRC authorities and Monusco for their assistance in resolving this kidnapping.

I would like in particular to praise the courage and commitment shown by the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation and the Virunga Park authorities over the past three days.'

A group of park rangers pause in front of a field post in Virunga National Park (file photo)

Attacked: The convoy the Brits were travelling in through Virunga National Park reportedly came under attack around 10am local time (file photo)
The Vietnamese delegation to the workshop was led by Deputy Head of Party Central Committees Commission for External Relations Nguyen Tuan Phong, at the invitation of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

The workshop, held on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx, attracted the participation of delegates from the members of the presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nobel laureate Alferov, representatives of the Russian scientific community and delegates from 38 international political parties.

Speeches presented at the workshop emphasised the leading role of Marxism towards the working class and people, affirming the theoretical value of Marxs ideological legacy.

They also stressed the need to creatively apply and develop Marxist ideals in accordance with the reality of each country and affirmed that the Marxism values remain at present.

Reports by the Vietnamese delegation focused on the historical values and significance of Marxism-Leninism, and the role of Marxism-Leninism in Vietnams nation building and safeguarding cause.
A son is racing against time to find his mother after 35 years of searching.

Steve Isdale, from the Lockyer Valley, Queensland, was given away by his mother Phyllis when he was just 18 months old.

His foster mother didn't tell him he was adopted until he was 16.

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Race against the clock: A son is racing against time to find his mother after 35 years of searching

Steve Isdale, from the Lockyer Valley, Queensland, was given away by his mother Phyllis when he was just 18 months old. He is pictured being held by his foster mother as a child. A woman he believes may be his mother stands beside them

The left image shows Mr Isdale as a teenager. The right image shows him as a toddler. The 54-year-old began searching when he was around 20 and even flew to Sydney

The 54-year-old began searching when he was around 20 and even flew to Sydney, where his mother had lived, to search school and electoral records.

Last year, after his foster mother's death, the father-of-six discovered letters from his real mother to her which had been hidden from him.

They provided great insight into his mother's circumstances when she gave him away - she lived with an abusive, alcoholic husband, suffered kidney problems and was finding it hard to put food on the table.

After reading the letters, Mr Isdale managed to track down his father and paternal grandmother, auntie and uncle - but all had died.

Last year, after his foster mother's death, the father-of-six (pictured) discovered letters from his real mother to her which had been hidden from him

These are the letters that Mr Isdale discovered after they were hidden from him for years

He's now racing against time to find his mother who would be 84 if still alive.

Records show she was 30 when she gave birth to him at Balmain Hospital on October 22, 1963.

Mr Isdale told nine.com.au he is desperate to find her. 'All my life I've always felt like something was missing,' he said.

'I can't forget about her. Every day I will come home and think about whether there is something else I can do to find her.'

The Australian Post worker added: 'Mother's Day and Christmas are really hard. I just can't let it go. There is something always there.'
Treasurer Scott Morrison has refused to provide yearly budget costings on tax relief plans because the Treasury data is 'not reliable'.

The Coalition and Labor are locked in a battle over tax since Tuesday night's budget.

The Government is promising $530 in tax relief for millions of low and middle income earners next year, which Labor supports.

But Labor is refusing to support Mr Morrison's seven-year plan to abolish the 37 per cent tax rate in 2024 without costings.

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Treasurer Scott Morrison (pictured) has refused to provide yearly budget costings on tax relief plans because the Treasury data is 'not reliable'. He is pictured with daughter Lily on budget night

Mr Morrison told ABC Insiders he was unable to provide yearly costings because the estimates from his own Department are not reliable.

'The Treasury in fact, say within year estimates beyond the forward estimates are not reliable, he said.

'But over ten years you can make a general estimate of the cost.'



Mr Morrison told ABC Insiders he was unable to provide yearly costings because the estimates from his own Department are not reliable

When pressed by interviewer Barrie Cassidy on why he couldn't provide the costings, he said that 'never happened' under the Rudd-Gillard or Keating Government.

'You tell me when a government has ever provided in their budget, postings up to the 4-year term,' he told the ABC.

'Chris Bowen hasn't even done it for his retiree tax, so when people want to apply the same standards to the Government that they do to the Labor Party, fair enough.

The Treasurer used the fact the yearly costings have 'never' been provided on a yearly basis

'But on this score, we have supplied the clear costing over 10 years and Labor is looking for excuse not to provide tax relief for Australians because they don't believe in it.'

Opposition Treasury spokesperson Chris Bowen told Sky News he was happy for the upcoming by-elections and federal election to be fought on tax.

Tuesday's budget pitch was speculated to be Mr Morrison's last before the Federal election.

Mr Morrison is congratulated by Coalition colleagues after he handed down his third budget

The biggest winners of the budget were people earning $90,000-a-year or less.

Workers can expect the equivalent of $10.20 a week to be tipped into their bank accounts under the government's tax relief plan.

The Federal Government also banned cash payments of more than $10,000 to tackle tax evasion, terrorists and organised crime.




Footage of the shark taken by onlookers shows it has come in surprisingly shallow

Police are searching for a 10-foot shark spotted off the Costa del Sol holiday resort of Fuengirola.

Emergency services began to receive calls about the fish around 1pm local time today and red flags were hoisted along more than five miles of coastline.

It was first seen off Torreblanca beach before new sightings nearer Malaga off Los Boliches beach of a shark thought to be the same one.

Footage taken by stunned onlookers showed the fish - thought to be a tintorera or blue shark - moving through the water.

Fuengirola beach is one of the most popular of the Costa del Sol with British and Irish tourists.

Bathers were asked to leave the water while local police and Civil Guard launched a search. It had yet to be found by late lunchtime today.

Blue shark are one of the most common species of sharks in the Mediterranean.

The same type of shark was blamed for an attack on a holidaymaker in Elche near Alicante in July 2016.

Stunned onlookers get out their phones as the shark comes within feet of them close to the coast

It is reported that the blue shark (pictured) is believed to be around 10 feet in length - it caused bathers to leave the sea

The 40-year-old victim was rushed to hospital and given stitches to a wound in his hand.

First aiders described the bite as 'large' and said he had come out of the sea with blood streaming from the injury.

Tourists were ordered out of the water the following month in Fuengirola after bathers said they had spotted a shark.

Lifeguards on jet skis helped kids on dinghies and from an inflatable water park near where the shark was spotted to safety as colleagues ran along the shoreline blowing on whistles and ordering swimmers out of the water.

Fuengirola beach was closed for five hours while patrol boats searched for the fish.

The resort of Fuengirola in the Costa del sol is one of the most popular destinations for British tourists despite several reports of sharks in recent years

The red flag was hoisted along nearly two miles of coastline.

The beach was eventually reopened after nothing untoward was found.

Last year bathers fled the sea in Cala Major near the Majorcan capital Palma.

Extraordinary pictures showed terrified holidaymakers running out of the water on June 24 as a blue shark described at the time as eight foot long - and known as a tintorera in Spanish - headed towards families with children on lilos.

Three beaches ended up being closed briefly over two days although no-one was hurt.

The shark thought to be at the centre of the scare ended up being caught and taken to shore.

Local reports at the time said it had a serious head injury, caused by a harpoon, believed to have led it to becoming disorientated and approaching packed holiday beaches instead of staying at high sea as is normal.
George Soros has joined forces with progressive groups and political action committees in an attempt to elect reformist prosecutors around the United States.

The billionaire has invested millions toward their initiative and will continue to fund other district attorney races across the nation during this cycle.

Soros donated $1.45 million to newly elected District Attorney Larry Krasner, of Philadelphia, last year.

George Soros has joined forces with progressive groups and organizations and political action committees in an attempt to elect reformist prosecutors around the United States

Soros donated $1.45 million to newly elected District Attorney Larry Krasner (left), of Philadelphia, last year. Collectively, Soros, the ACLU and Real Justice hope to organize activists and educate voters. Pictured is Shaun King, the co-founder of Real Justice

Krasner is now working toward his goal of ending mass incarceration in the city by reshaping the criminal justice system.

Soros has also donated to the American Civil Liberties Union, which received grant funding from Soros in 2014 to support criminal justice reform, according to the Huffington Post.

The ACLU is now planning voter education and outreach programs in at least 10 states.

PACs like Real Justice and Color of Change are also working in key races.

Collectively, Soros, the ACLU and the two PACs hope to organize activists and educate voters, with the goal of electing reform-minded prosecutors.

According to the Huffington Post, Soros and the progressive groups hope to start replacing more of the countrys 2,400 top prosecutors with reformers like Krasner.

They also aim to change the way the public views elections for district attorneys.

So far, they have targeted races in at least a dozen counties that collectively contain around 5 per cent of the US population.

Color of Change has raised a bout $2million and announced endorsements for three district attorney candidates, one in Texas, who has already lost, and two in North Carolina, who both won Tuesday night. Pictured is Color of Change's executive director Rashad Robinson

Real Justice PAC, which works to elect reform-minded prosecutors at the county and city level, will likely be involved with about 15 races in 2018, the group's co-founder, Shaun King, told the Huffington Post.

So far, Real Justice has raised about $1million in funding and has announced endorsements for six DA candidates in two states: California and Texas.

Color of Change has raised about $2million and announced endorsements for three district attorney candidates, one in Texas, who has already lost, and two in North Carolina, who both won Tuesday night.

Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color of Changes nonprofit civil rights organization, told the Huffington Post that they are 'starting to send a message'.

'Theres a lot more to come. Its also an opportunity for DAs who do want to do the right thing, want to be reform-minded, to actually be on the right side of history.'

Color of Change hopes to be involved in at least five more races this election cycle.
A businessman has been arrested after he was recorded sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl in a cinema - while sat next to her mother.

Every second of the vile abuse was captured by a CCTV camera, which caught 60-year-old KV Moitheenkutty engaging in sexual acts with both the child and her mother.

But Moitheenkutty was arrested only on Saturday - despite the sickening abuse taking place on April 18.

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Every second of the vile abuse was captured by a CCTV camera, which caught 60-year-old KV Moitheenkutty (shown sat between the mother and daughter) engaging in sexual acts with both the child and her mother

Police were handed the footage on April 26 by Childline, the charity said, who were given the tape by the theatre's owner.

The police, however, did not detain the man until a TV channel aired clips of the assault, according to ManoramaOnline.

The failure to act sooner has caused outrage in Edappal, which is in the Malappuram area of Kerala in India's south.

According to The Hindu, Moitheenkutty has already admitted guilt.

The businessman reportedly owns jewellery shops in Thrissur - another city in Kerala - and in the Middle East.

The victim's mother is said to have two older daughters and police suspect the youngest may have been abused in the past.

A rescue home has taken in the 10-year-old girl, while her mother has been questioned by police.

According to Gulf News, the sub-inspector of police in the region - KJ Baby - has been suspended from service for his failure to act sooner.

Police are also reportedly considering taking legal action against the mother for her complicity in the abuse.

Moitheenkutty has been charged with the use of criminal force with the intent to outrage a woman's modesty as well as sexual assault.

A member of Childline told the News Minute that they informed police 'the very next day' after being given the footage.

The man, known only as Anwar, went on: 'We delayed it by a day to thoroughly check the visuals, considering the severity of the case. It's a three-hour video, the theatre guys found it.

'We had checked the entire footage. He was abusing the mother and child at the same time, that too continuously from the beginning to the end.

'During the movie interval, he stops, goes out and then comes back to resume the sexual assault. After informing the police, we approached them every day to follow up.

'We waited till Saturday as we thought that the police should be given time to trace him. Still they didn't act.'

Meanwhile, an anonymous source told the outlet: '[Moitheenkutty's] influence as a rich businessman might have prompted the police not to take [the] case against him.'


A man from Long Island is suing Celebrity Cruises after he burnt his feet on a scorching deck of a cruise ship.

Jeffrey Mizel, 66, who works for an LED light manufacturer, filed a $6 million lawsuit in a Brooklyn Federal Court against the cruise line.

Mizel, who suffers from neuropathy-induced nerve damage in his feet, claims even three years later he is suffering painful injuries, he had to have his big toe amputated.

Jeffrey Mizel, 66, who works for an LED light manufacturer, filed a $6 million lawsuit in a Brooklyn Federal Court against the cruise line

Mizel, a father of two and a grandfather of four, and his wife, Elizabeth, were on a European cruise with friends in July 2014 when the ship stopped in Greece.

'It was very hot, so I went off the ship and went right back on again. I decided, "I'm going swimming," ' The New York Post reported.

He allegedly walked about 10 or 12 feet to the water and initially didn't realize anything was wrong.

Mizel, a father of two and a grandfather of four, and his wife, Elizabeth, were on a European cruise with friends in July 2014 when the ship stopped in Greece

'Then my wife and our friend came, and they came in the pool with me and said, "Man, wasn't that hot?" And I said, "I don't know," and I looked at my feet. From toe to heel, the skin was just hanging off.'

Michael Goldman, Mizel's lawyer, said that due to his medical condition 'he had no idea' how hot the deck was.

'There was no way to think it would be that hot,' Mizel said. 'As a matter of fact I took off a pair of shoes and left them in the cart to go to the pool. If they had just given a hint that it was that hot.'

Mizel was immediately taken to the ship's doctor and because the injuries were so severe, the cruise line offered to fly him to shore, however he said he didn't want to ruin the trip for his wife and friends.

Since 2014 Mizel has battled with infections and hospital visits. Doctors were so concerned that at one point they were considering amputating part of his lower leg

Since 2014 Mizel has battled with infections and hospital visits. Doctors were so concerned that at one point they were considering amputating part of his lower leg.

He still works, however, Mizel was forced to take on a business partner to share the workload and he has to use crutches to get around.

Celebrity X Cruises declined to comment.
Donald Trump's national security advisor refused on Sunday to say whether the United States would punish European companies that do not cease their business operations in Iran by the end of this year.

Companies within affected industries between 90 days and six months to wind down operations in Iran or run the risk of facing stiff penalties now that the United States is no longer a party to an international accord that lifted sanctions on Tehran.

National Security Advisor John Bolton said on CNN's 'State of the Union' that 'it's possible' the Trump administration will impose sanctions on companies that run afoul of the new U.S. policies.

'It depends on the conduct of other governments,' he stated.

Donald Trump's national security advisor refused on Sunday to say whether the United States would punish European companies that do not cease their business operations in Iran by the end of this year

European leaders are committed to remaining in the agreement with Tehran that lifted economic sanctions on the Middle Eastern country so long as it abided by the terms of a 2015 nuclear deal.

But a host of companies are now faced with the prospect of doing business with U.S. or protecting their interests in Tehran.

In his remarks announcing the United States' withdraw from the deal, President Trump threatened, 'We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction. Any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States.'

Bolton said in a briefing with reporters immediately after the Tuesday announcement that it would be up to the Treasury Department to determine which affected companies, if any, would get a pass.

British Prime Minister Theresa May raised the issue in a Friday phone call with Trump, a spokesperson for the European leader said.

'The Prime Minister reiterated the Government's position on the Iran nuclear deal, noting that we and our European partners remain firmly committed to ensuring the deal is upheld, as the best way of preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

'The Prime Minister raised the potential impact of US sanctions on those firms which are currently conducting business in Iran.'

Donald Trump last night tore up the Iran nuclear deal, which could force Britain's biggest businesses out of the country

Major British businesses with interests in Iran include Rolls-Royce, Vodafone and British Airways. UK companies have invested 450 billion into Tehran since the U.S. and Europe lifted sanctions after the signing of the accord with partners Russia and China.

Finance ministers in France and Germany pushed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to grant extensions or waivers to businesses that made lucrative deals with Tehran in the period that sanctions were lifted.

Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, said European states will also try to impose sanctions-blocking measures through the European Commission.

'Do we accept extraterritorial sanctions? The answer is no,' Le Maire said.

'Do we accept that the United States is the economic gendarme of the planet? The answer is no. Do we accept the vassalization of Europe in commercial matters? The answer is no.'

Le Maire is seeking exemptions for Renault, Total, Sanofi, Danone and Peugeot and other companies already doing business with Tehran.

Trump's new ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, suggested that exemptions were unlikely, saying Thursday, 'German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately.'

European companies did not have an immediate have a reaction to possibility that they would have to cease operations in Iran or be barred from doing business with the U.S. other than to say in statements that they were monitoring the situation.

'We are examining the announcement and its potential implications,' Rolls Royce said. 'We conduct business in all countries, including Iran, in accordance with all relevant UK, EU or other national sanctions and export control regulations.'

British Airways, which operates six flights a week between London Heathrow and Tehran, said, 'We constantly review our network to ensure that our routes match our customers' needs and are commercially viable.  We are in regular contact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.'

Trump's tough talk now on sanctions is at odds with what he told France's Emmanuel Macon and May just six months ago as he moved toward yanking the U.S. out of the deal.

He said in October that he told the allies 'take all the money you can get' from Tehran.

'Actually, Emmanuel called up, and he talked to me. And I said, look, Emmanuel, they just gave Renault a lot of money. Take their money; enjoy yourselves,' Trump said then.

The U.S. president said that the European leaders wanted him to stay in the deal he'd said he'd exit since he was a candidate because of the financial implications of leaving it.

'You know, Iran is spending money in various countries. And I've always said it, and I say to them: Don't do anything. Don't worry about it. Take all the money you can get. They're all friends of mine,' Trump said.
The stage invader who interrupted Britain's Eurovision performance last night has been revealed to be a Corbynista activist.

The campaigner, who goes by the alias Dr ACactivism, grabbed the microphone from SuRie as she sang in Lisbon and shouted: 'For the Nazis of the UK media, we demand freedom.'

Posts on his Twitter account reveal he supported Corbyn at last year's election, urged him to snub the Queen and praised his backing of Fidel Castro.

The man who stormed the Eurovision stage last night has been revealed as a Corbynista

Campaigner Dr ACactivism grabbed the mic from SuRie as she sang in Lisbon last night

After interrupting the Eurovision performance he shouted: 'For the Nazis of the UK media, we demand freedom'

In a video shared last year from the scene of the London Bridge terror attack, Dr ACactivism said: 'Ladies and Gents I'm here in London Bridge to endorse Jeremy Corbyn.'

'Jeremy Corbyn is the only politician that is thinking different, that is thinking for the many, for a different way of doing and thinking, Jeremy Corbyn is the only person that is thinking war is not peace, he wants to bring a different vision for Europe and for Britain, that's why I'm here to endorse Jeremy Corbyn.'

#CreativeismMovmentShow is in #LondonBridge to endorse @jeremycorbyn Why do we need to vote Mr Corbyn? Live from # https://t.co/x3aAorr1jL  DrACactivism (@DrACactivism) June 7, 2017

In other posts from last year he slammed the coverage of the General Election, writing: 'The free press? How can you call it free press? When they urge you to vote a certain party. [The] press set dogs on Corbyn.'

Quoting a tweet that said 'Corbyn praises heroism' of Castro', he chimed in: 'GOOD that at least a LEADER speak truth. Who is fooling us with neo-Fascism?'

Shortly after Mr Corbyn was made Labour leader in 2015 - and during a row about his Privy Council membership - the activist tweeted: 'Hear Hear Jeremy Corbyn snubs the Queen.

'Hopefully he never kneels at the feet of that tiny thing and shiny hat.'

The stage invader is thought to have previous history with similar stunts after he interrupted the National Television Awards in January as Dermot O'Leary was on stage.

He also stormed The Voice live final last year as Emma Willis prepared to announce the results.
Malcolm Turnbull has surged ahead of Bill Shorten as preferred Prime Minister in the first major opinion poll since the budget.

The Prime Minister's approval rating jumped eight points to 46 per cent, while Shorten's slipped three percentage points to 32 per cent.

The Coalition closed the gap on Labor 49-51 on a two-party preferred basis for the second consecutive Newspoll published in The Australian.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (pictured left) has surged ahead of Bill Shorten (pictured right) as preferred Prime Minister in the first Newspoll since the budget

The result was the equal best for the Prime Minister since the 2016 election after the Government trailed Labor by four to six percentage points for most of 2017.

But the result was a sharp contrast to a Fairfax-Ipsos poll released on Sunday night showing Labor had increased its support by 2 percentage points to 54, while the Coalition dropped to 46.





The poll of 1200 people from Thursday to Saturday, after the budget, showed Turnbull's personal popularity had increased by four points to 51 per cent, while Shorten's rose 1 point to 39 per cent.

Mr Turnbull (pictured left) enjoyed a mother's day walk for breast cancer with wife Lucy (pictured second from left) on Sunday

Mr Turnbull enjoyed a Mother's Day walk for breast cancer with wife Lucy on Sunday while his colleagues defended his Party's decision to dump a woman from Parliament

Liberal National Party preselectors in Queensland replaced female Assistant Minister Jane Prentice with a male, Councillor Julian Simmonds.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten described the dumping as an attack on women and called on the Prime Minister to intervene, the ABC reported.

'It's interesting that when it came to some of his male supporters, he stepped in to save them,' he said.

But Treasurer Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton defended the result on Sunday, saying the decision is up to party members.

The Coalition and Labor are locked in a battle over tax since Tuesday night's budget

Poll Did the budget make you more likely to vote for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull? Yes No Undecided Did the budget make you more likely to vote for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull? Yes 77 votes

No 91 votes

Undecided 8 votes Now share your opinion





'This is the thing about politics, we all put ourselves forward every three years, and if you've got a genuine rank-and-file party then they get to make these decisions about who represents them,' Mr Morrison told the ABC.

Minister Dutton said: 'We have a 100 per cent commitment to getting more women into politics, but equally we have a democratic process.'

The Coalition and Labor are locked in a battle over tax since Tuesday night's budget.

The Government is promising $530 in tax relief for millions of low and middle income earners next year, which Labor supports.

But Labor is refusing to support Mr Morrison's seven-year plan to abolish the 37 per cent tax rate in 2024.

The citizenship debacle has also heated up, forcing four MP's to resign and re-contest their seats in by-elections to be held in June or July.
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A massive new fissure opened on Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, hurling bursts of rock and magma with an ear-piercing screech on Sunday as it threatened nearby homes within a zone where authorities had just ordered an evacuation.

The fissure, a vivid gouge of magma with steam and smoke pouring out both ends, was the 17th to open on the volcano since it began erupting on May 3.

Dozens of homes have been destroyed and more than 2,000 people forced to evacuate in the past ten days.

As seen from a helicopter, the crack appeared to be about 1,000 feet long and among the largest of those fracturing the side of Kilauea, a 4,000-foot-high volcano with a lake of lava at its summit.

A massive new fissure opened on Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, hurling bursts of rock and magma with an ear-piercing screech on Sunday as it threatened nearby homes within a zone where authorities had just ordered an evacuation

The fissure, a vivid gouge of magma with steam and smoke pouring out both ends, was the 17th to open on the volcano since it began erupting on May 3

Dozens of homes have been destroyed and hundreds of people forced to evacuate in the past 10 days

'It is a near-constant roar akin to a full-throttle 747 interspersed with deafening, earth-shattering explosions that hurtle 100-pound lava bombs 100 feet into the air,' said Mark Clawson, 64, who lives uphill from the latest fissure and so far is defying an evacuation order.

Tina Neal, the scientist in charge of the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, described 'spatter that is flying tens of meters into the air.'

The lava flow was 'sluggish,' she said.

'The situation down there remains dynamic and as we've been saying for days now the outbreaks can continue to occur both uprift and downrift of the existing fissure system, or the existing fissures could be reactivated,' Neal said in a video message from the summit of the volcano.

Civil Defense officials on Sunday ordered people living on Halekamahina Road to evacuate and be on the alert for gas emissions and lava spatter.

Nearby vacation rentals were directed to cease operations to conserve water and enable emergency operations to concentrate on year-round residents.

A pair of structures sat about 100 yards beneath the new fissure on the hillside.

As seen from a helicopter, the crack appeared to be about 1,000 feet long and among the largest of those fracturing the side of Kilauea, a 4,000-foot-high volcano with a lake of lava at its summit

'It is a near-constant roar akin to a full-throttle 747 interspersed with deafening, earth-shattering explosions that hurtle 100-pound lava bombs 100 feet into the air,' said Mark Clawson, 64, who lives uphill from the latest fissure and so far is defying an evacuation order

Tina Neal, the scientist in charge of the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, described 'spatter that is flying tens of meters into the air'

Civil Defense officials on Sunday ordered people living on Halekamahina Road to evacuate and be on the alert for gas emissions and lava spatter

Nearby vacation rentals were directed to cease operations to conserve water and enable emergency operations to concentrate on year-round residents

Residents of Hale Kamahina Loop Road have been ordered to evacuate the area. Smoke and steam rise from a lava flow in the Leilani Estates

One structure was destroyed, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported, citing a spokeswoman for Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim, making it the 37th structure lost since May 3.

'We are keeping track of lava bombs. One went through the lanai (porch) roof of a neighbor's house,' Clawson said.

Neighbors sometimes douse the projectiles with water, Clawson said, adding that about eight to 10 people in the neighborhood have stayed in their homes.

Meanwhile, other fissures continued to billow smoke over homes in Pahoa, on the western point of the Big Island of Hawaii, the largest of the Hawaiian islands.

Three new fissures spewing magma opened Saturday on Hawaii's Big Island, piling lava as high as a four-story building as the US Geological Survey (USGS) warned that more outbreaks were likely.

A crack in pasture land on Kilauea's east flank was the 16th recorded since the volcano, one of the world's most active, erupted eight days ago.

Thousands of people have fled their homes on Big Island and dozens of homes have been destroyed.

The new fissure opened up in Lanipuna Gardens on Saturday about a mile east of the existing vent system that has devastated the island's Leilani Estates neighborhood, close to several homes on the edge of the field.

No significant lava flow has been reported at this time.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the fissure is also located near the Puna Geothermal Venture plant. Plant workers this week removed 60,000 gallons of flammable liquids as a precaution.

'It's right by my house, which is kind of scary,' said Haley Clinton, 17, who walked to see the new crack with her father, Darryl, and sister Jolon, 15. 'It's really cool.'

From afar, the fissure gave off dull, thumping roars that sharpened on approach to a scream from venting steam and gas, mixed with the slapping sounds of liquid lava.

Three new fissures spewing magma have opened on Hawaii's Big Island, piling lava as high as a four-story building as the US Geological Survey warned that more outbreaks were likely

A crack in pasture land on Kilauea's east flank was the 16th recorded since the volcano, one of the world's most active, erupted eight days ago

The new fissure (pictured) opened up on Saturday about a mile east of the existing vent system that has devastated the island's Leilani Estates neighborhood, close to several homes on the edge of the field

Another fissure, the 17th since the lava flows began May 3, opened about 6pm local time, venting gases the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said. Early Sunday morning, an 18th fissure was reported near Hale Kamahina Loop Road along Highway 132

This map depicts 16 of the 18 fissures that have opened up on Hawaii's Big Island so far

Within hours of opening, the fissure had piled reddish-black lava about 40 feet high and at least 150 feet in length. Chunks of magma were being spewed 100 feet in the air.

The intense heat left onlookers drenched with sweat, and the air was filled with an acrid, burned scent. But with billowing gas and smoke blowing in the opposite direction, there was no pungent smell of toxic sulfur dioxide in the air.

Shortly after the fissure opened, the Geological Survey's Hawaii Volcano Observatory said seismic activity remained 'elevated' at Kilauea's 4,000-feet-high summit. The USGS reported a shallow but small earthquake with a magnitude of 3.5 hit the island on Saturday.

Another fissure, the 17th since the lava flows began May 3, opened about 6pm local time, venting gases the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said.

An 18th fissure was also reported Sunday morning, according to Hawaii County Civil Defense. It opened up on Hale Kamahina Loop Road along Highway 132. Lava is currently spattering from volcanic activity.

Residents of Hale Kamahina Loop Road have been ordered to evacuate the area.

Video released on Saturday by the USGS shows footage of the Pu'u 'O'o crater in the eastern rift zone of the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, after the crater's floor collapsed on April 30.

The floor collapsed after magma drained to the east along the east rift zone, the US Geological Survey said. The organization estimated the deepest part of the crater was 1,150 feet below the crater rim.

The collapse of the Puu Oo crater floor triggered an increase in earthquake activity and deformation along a large section of the rift zone.

Video released on Saturday by the US Geological Survey shows footage of the Pu'u 'O'o crater in the eastern rift zone of the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, after the crater's floor collapsed on April 30

The floor collapsed after magma drained to the east along the east rift zone, the US Geological Survey said

The USGS estimated the deepest part of the crater was 1,150 feet below the crater rim

As the area affected by Kilauea's eruption widens, Hawaii residents are racing to buy respirators to cope with the ash and toxic gases spewing from the volcano.

David Baxter, 54, an employee of Pahoa Auto Parts, said the shop was selling out of respirators as soon as they get in and had sold about 3,000 so far. The shop was all out on Saturday.

'We pretty much bought up every (respirator) in the state, and we are selling them at cost - actually, a slight loss,' said Baxter. 'We need to breathe.'

Even as the volcano continued to erupt, Hawaii Academy of Arts and Sciences, a charter middle and high school in Pahoa, will resume classes on Monday after being shut for a week.

A teacher at the school, Tiffany Edwards Hunts, who lives in the Big Island's Vacationland neighborhood, said she, her husband and two children - ages 10 and six- were readying to evacuate their home.

'My husband has been doing a good job of protecting them, but it is scary for kids,' she said.

Some pets have been left behind as many residents have fled their homes, and the Hawaii Island Humane Society said it had rescued 16 dogs, three rabbits, four tortoises and four cats.

Almost all had been picked up by their owners, and 1,400 livestock and 32 horses had also been taken from the volcano zone, it said in a statement.

Following the eruption of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, experts on the West Coast of America have warned of potential volcanic eruptions involving the 13 volcanoes forming the Pacific's 'Ring of Fire.' Pictured above, a resident talks on his phone Saturday as a lava fissure erupts in the aftermath of eruptions from the Kilauea volcano

Kilauea is threatening to blow its top in the coming days or weeks, after a week of sputtering lava and forcing about 2,000 people to evacuate. Above a resident is seen near the lava Saturday

A lava fissure erupts in the aftermath of eruptions from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island, on Saturday

The US Geological Survey said a recent lowering of the lava lake at the volcano's Halemaumau crater has raised the potential for explosive eruptions

Geologists warned on Friday that a steam-driven eruption from the summit's Halemaumau crater could spew ash plumes 20,000 feet high and spread ash and debris up to 12 miles.

Kilauea's vents have been oozing relatively cool, sluggish magma left over from a similar event in 1955.

Fresher magma could now emerge behind it and the volcano is threatening to start a series of explosive eruptions, scientists have said.

Following the eruption of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, experts on the West Coast of America warned residents of potential volcanic eruptions involving the 13 volcanoes forming the Pacific's Ring of Fire.

The West Coast is home to an 800-mile chain of 13 volcanoes, include Mount St. Helens, whose spectacular 1980 eruption in the Pacific Northwest killed dozens of people and sent volcanic ash across the country, and Mount Rainier, which towers above the Seattle metro area.

The concern over West Coast volcanic activity comes as residents in Hawaii brace themselves for a possible torrent of lava flow in the wake of Kilauea's May 3 eruption.

Kilauea, on Hawaii's Big Island, is threatening to blow its top in the coming days or weeks, after a week of sputtering lava and forcing about 2,000 people to evacuate, while destroying two dozen homes and threatening a geothermal plant.

The Pacific Ring of Fire forms a horseshoe-shaped belt bridging volcanoes in South America, North America, eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand

Volcanic activity continues, as the 16th fissure erupts in a field roughly a half-mile east of the Puna Geothermal Venture facility, Hawaii on Saturday

Experts fear the volcano could hurl ash and boulders the size of refrigerators miles into the air.

'If it goes up, it will come down,' said Charles Mandeville, volcano hazards coordinator for the USGS. 'You don't want to be underneath anything that weighs 10 tons when it's coming out at 120mph.'

The last dangerous brew of magma and water in 1924, sent rocks the size of automobiles flying from the volcano.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientist-in-charge Tina Neal told Reuters that the issue on Hawaii is that underground magma could burst to the surface in large, fast-moving waves of lava.

The lava flow could also bring with it higher levels of toxic gases, as well as vog  volcanic smog  than those currently being experienced on the Big Island.

Lava is currently flowing from 16 fissures on Big Island, covering more than 117 acres of land.

'What will take a turn for the worse in terms of hazard is if hotter, fresher magma makes it to the surface, and that could be what is coming,' Neal said in a conference call on Friday.

'Once a new batch of hotter, gassier magma makes it to the surface we might see larger, higher eruption rates.'

Lava erupts from a fissure east of the Leilani Estates subdivision during ongoing eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii Saturday

A total of 17 fissures have opened up due to Kilauea's eruption on May 3

On the West Coast, 'There's lots of anxiety out there,' said Liz Westby, geologist at the US Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington, in the shadow of Mount St. Helens.

'They see destruction, and people get nervous.'

President Donald Trump issued a presidential disaster declaration for Hawaii's Big Island Friday.

Hawaii Governor David Ige said on Friday that the declaration means federal assistance will be available as the state covers costs associated with damaged roads, public parks, schools and water pipes.

The funds, approved one day after Ige requested them, will also cover costs for geologists and security personnel at roadblocks.

As many as 50 utility poles have been damaged by the lava, and hundreds have been without power since the eruptions started.

The estimated cost to protect residents over the next 30 days is expected to exceed $2.9million, according to the governor's office.

Lava flows from Kilauea volcano have destroyed 36 structures, including 27 homes, as the state continues to suffer from declining tourism despite assurances that most of its islands remain safe.

On Friday, Hawaii County Civil Defense warned residents of lower Puna to prepare to evacuate on short notice, in the event of possible gas emissions and volcanic eruption.

Geologists said conditions are prime for a major eruption within hours or days.

Kilauea's lava lake is on track to recede to groundwater levels at any time over the weekend, triggering 'violent steam-driven blasts', according to the US Geological Survey.

The lava flow creeps across the well-groomed yard of this home on Luana Street as seen from an overflight

With lava already having oozed out on Big Island streets, experts now fear the volcano could hurl ash and boulders the size of refrigerators miles into the air

A home destroyed in the recent lava flow is seen in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii, on Friday

Center lane lines are partially visible along the lava-covered road in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii

Last week, as Kilauea's magma shifted underground, a magnitude-6.9 earthquake rocked the Big Island.

Since the quake, there have been frequent aftershocks. More than a dozen fissures oozing lava have opened in the ground.

And now, scientists are warning that an explosive eruption may occur at the summit crater within weeks.

Tina Neal, the scientist-in-charge of the US Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory, said geologists don't expect the summit eruption to be life-threatening so long as people stay out of the national park.

Volcano and other nearby communities may be showered by pea-sized fragments or dusted with nontoxic ash but they aren't expected to get hit by large boulders, she said.

There are also further potential risks where lava has been erupting 25 miles east of the crater in Leilani Estates. Scientists said the molten rock there could start moving faster if fresher, hotter magma emerges from the ground.

Neal said a chemical analysis of the lava that's erupted since last week indicated it's from magma that had been stored in the ground since a 1955 eruption. It's been sluggish and somewhat cooler as a result, she said.

But Kilauea could release hotter, faster-moving and more voluminous lava because magma has moving into the area from further up the volcano, she said.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park closed on Friday due to the risk of an explosive eruption. The lodge, which has 12 rooms and 4 cottages, has had a handful of cancellations since the volcano erupted.
The Rencontres du Vietnam Association founded in 1993

From the successes of Rencontres de Moriond (1966) and Rencontres de Blois (1989), in 1993, Prof. Tran Thanh Van, Chairman of two aforementioned scientific organisations, founded the Rencontres du Vietnam Scientific Association to support Vietnam in the field of science and education. One of the main targets of the association is to contribute to the education and training of Vietnam's future generations.

Over the past 25 years, the Rencontres du Vietnam has organised a series of 13 international scientific conferences, with Rencontres du Vietnam acting as a bridge for Vietnam and the international community to meet and exchange. In addition to the top international scientific conferences, the Rencontres du Vietnam Association offers student courses, public talks, online exchanges, and exchange meetings with Nobel laureates and outstanding students.

International Centre for Interdisciplinary Science and Education (ICISE) inaugurated in Binh Dinh in 2013

One of the most prominent events in 2013 was the inauguration of the International Center of Science and Interdisciplinary Education (ICISE) in Binh Dinh, which has become a destination for scientists. That year, the Windows on the Universe conference in the ninth Rencontres du Vietnam was attended by five Nobel Prize-winning professors, one Fields-winning professor, and many other distinguished scientists.

The ICISE has organized 40 international science conferences and 16 thematic schools with the participation of more than 3,500 international scientists, including 12 Nobel laureates, two Fields winners, two Kavli-winning professors, one Shaw-winning professor, one Kalinga (ONU) and Cino del Duca (French Academy of Sciences) winner, and many other well-known scientists.

Rencontres du Vietnam 2018 attracts 1,500 scientists

The 14th Rencontres du Vietnam 2018 hosted 12 international symposiums and six specialised thematic classes with the participation of more than 1,500 domestic and international scientists, including five Nobel laureates and other distinguished scientists.

A highlight of this years programme was the international workshop Science for Development held from May 9 to 10. The workshop was sponsored by Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, French President Emmanuel Macron and UNESCO. The workshop brought together two Nobel laureates and many world-renowned scientists. In addition, the International Science Conference Windows on the Universe will be held from August 6 to 11. The seminar will be attended by two Nobel laureates and many other distinguished scientists.

Under the framework of the 14th Rencontres du Vietnam, the Rencontres du Vietnam Association will organise an exchange meeting between Nobel winners, distinguished scientists with students and the science lovers in Quy Nhon, Hue, Da Lat, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Contributions to education in Vietnam

Over the past 25 years, Rencontres du Vietnam has supported scholarships for the Hanoi University of Science under the Vietnam National University in Hanoi. A large number of students are enrolled at the Ecole Polytechnique, a French public institution of higher education and research. The programme has also connected with Brown University (through Prof. Chung I Tan) to support some students who have travelled to the US to complete their theses on their path to graduation.

Young Doctor Le Trung Quan, who received support from the Rencontres du Vietnam Association in France, is working in Vietnam.

From 1993 to now, the Rencontres du Vietnam Association has sponsored more than 35 international classes in theoretical physics, astronomy, mathematics, applied mathematics, and medicine to train high-quality human resources in these areas for Vietnam. The association helps young students and researchers to meet and study with top professors and seek opportunities to study abroad. The association also mobilised the Institute of Physics to help the Faculty of Physics under the Quy Nhon University in building teams and improving their professional capacity and scientific research.

Training high quality engineer

The Rencontres du Vietnam Association has coordinated with the Institut National des Sciences Appliquees (INSA) (French National Institute of Applied Sciences) to train high quality engineers and help link the training between the University of Education - Hue University and the INSA. From 2009 to present, the association in conjunction with INSA Center Val de Loire, Blois offered seven courses for Vietnamese students. The association also extends cooperation with INSA Toulouse to receive students from the 2016-2017 school year.

Vallet Scholarship

Since 2000, with the founding of the Rencontres du Vietnam - Vallet Scholarship Fund, with the participation of the Vallet Foundation (France), the Rencontres du Vietnam Association has donated more than 22,000 scholarships worth an estimated VND 270 billion. Each year, the association offers VND25 billion to students nationwide. Meanwhile, the association also grants about 15 scholarships (worth EUR 6,000 each) to Vietnamese students who have good academic achievements in France.

Implementing hands-on ( La main a la pate ) method

In 2000, the association co-ordinated with French professors and local education foundations to train more than 1,500 teachers in the hands-on ( La main a la pate ) method of science. The method focuses on developing children's cognitive ability in the most scientific way, helping children to find answers to their childhood questions by putting them in real-life situations, from which they can discover the essence of problem.

Since 2011, the association has coordinated with the Department of Primary Education and Department of Secondary Education, under the Ministry of Education and Training, to implement training in this method to all localities nationwide. The association also supports the deployment of the Experimental Centre of hands-on method in Quy Nhon, Binh Dinh.

Construction of three SOS villages

Together with the Support Association for Vietnamese Children in France, the Rencontres du Vietnam has helped Vietnam build three SOS villages, including the SOS Children's Village Dalat (1974), SOS children's village in Thua Thien- Hue (2000, formerly the Centre for Child Protection Thuy Xuan), and the SOS Children's Village Dong Hoi, Quang Binh (2006). Currently, the association still provides 100% for SOS children's village in Thua Thien- Hue.

In addition to seeking funding for the construction and care for children in the three SOS villages, the association has also run the Bread-Pastry Making School since 1999 to offer training for young people with difficulties and children in the SOS villages. All graduates have secured work in large hotels in Hue, Hoi An, Da Nang, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City.
An old wooden bridge over a fast-moving river in Kashmir, Pakistan has collapsed as dozens of students were taking pictures on it, leading to at least five deaths.

Javed Ayub, a tourism department official in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, said 14 students were rescued after the bridge collapsed and that civil and military rescue teams were searching for at least 11 others.

Mr Ayub said rescue workers had recovered the bodies of five drowned students.

Scroll down for video:

Clinging on: A group grab hold of a man struggling in the water below after the collapse in Pakistan controlled Kashmir

A rescue worker tries to help others get across after a makeshift bridge is used as a temporary solution

Throngs of horrified onlookers stand watching as rescuers scramble to find bodies in the water

The collapsed bridge: A rescue worker searches for bodies of the missing tourists in the Neelum river

The students, most in their early 20s, were enrolled in the medical college at Faisalabad in eastern Punjab province. Said some students from a college in Lahore were also among those who fell in the river.

'We hope for the best but it will be difficult to find the remaining (students) alive as the water flow is very high,' said Mr Ayub.

He said the hanging wooden bridge was designed for locals to use in small numbers.

'The touring youths have not realised the danger despite a warning board asking people not to overload the old structure,' he said.

The bridge, which overlooked a ravine, collapsed after some three dozen university students walked across it to view a waterfall.

Chaudhary Imtiaz, a senior government official in Kashmir's capital Muzaffarabad, said: 'We have recovered four bodies of boys and one of a girl.

'Twelve others are still missing and we don't have any hope about them (surviving) because the water is very cold.'

There are fears the planned rescue in The Neelum Valley could be curtailed by high water as emergency services continue their efforts

Police said eight of the rescued students were injured and airlifted to Muzaffarabad in a military helicopter for medical aid. The incident took place near the picnic point of Kundal Shahi, some 47 miles north of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.

The Neelum Valley is a popular tourist destination in the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir.

Kashmir is split between Pakistan and India, both of which claim the Himalayan region in its entirety.
A Department of Education employee left government computers vulnerable to hacking after downloading a virus while searching for naked toddlers, little boys, a and references to child rape, a report has revealed.

Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by DailyMail.com show the staffer typed in at least 18 illicit searches on his taxpayer-funded computer - included references to child porn.

The phrases he looked for in September, 2014, included: Very young little girls, naked toddler and too young boy.

Other search terms allude to bestiality involving children and child rape.

As a result, his computer was infected with malware, putting massive databases at risk, including student loan information.

Once a computer is infected with the software, cyber criminals can access data by logging keystrokes or monitoring the computer's activity.

A Department of Education employee (pictured) left government computers vulnerable to hacking after downloading a virus while searching for naked toddlers, little boys, a and references to child rape, a report has revealed

Investigators then searched his government computer and found graphic images of nude and nearly nude children as well as graphically drawn images of children engaging in sexual acts with adults.

They then searched the employees home and found 13 images of child porn on his computer.

The employee, whose name has been kept hidden in the files, denied any wrongdoing and insisted he entered the search terms to test the systems website-blocking protocols.

He was suspended during the investigations but then retired from government employee.

His identity remains under wraps because the case was not prosecuted.

The investigation was carried out by the Department of Educations Inspector General, but reports are not often made public.

But DailyMail.com uncovered the record while looking through investigations into misconduct my staff members.

The document reads: During the forensic examination of the computer, multiple anti -virus scans of the computer with different anti-virus products found potentially malicious files, but the creation date of those files significantly pre-dated the date on which the traffic that alerted the malware sensor occurred.

In order to determine the cause of the malware detection, OCIO began a review of web history and browser artifacts on the subject computer. During this review, on December 3, 2014, OCIO recovered from the browser cache on the computer graphic photo images of nude and nearly nude children as well as graphically drawn images of children engaging in sexual acts with adults.

Upon discovering images that could be construed as child exploitation, OCIO immediately ceased the review of the computer and notified the Technology Crimes Division (TCD) of the Office of

Inspector General for the Department of Education (ED OIG). On December 3, 2014, TCD reviewed the material discovered by OCIO and determined it to be nearly identical to material from another investigation that resulted in prosecution for possession of child exploitation images. TCD took possession of the forensic image as well as the hard drive from the computer, which had been retained by OCIO personnel.

Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by DailyMail.com show the staffer typed in at least 18 illicit searches on his taxpayer-funded computer - included references to child porn

The phrases he looked for in September, 2014, included: Very young little girls, naked toddler and too young boy. Other search terms allude to bestiality involving children and child rape

As a result, his computer was infected with malware, putting massive databases at risk, including student loan information

A second forensic image of the computer hard drive was obtained and examined by TCD. The digital forensic examination was completed on April 15, 2015.

'The examination revealed thirteen images of apparent minors and possibly pre-pubescent children in various levels of undress, including one engaged in sexual activity.

The employee was suspended indefinitely without pay during the probe.

But federal prosecutors with the Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia declined to prosecute the case because there was 'minimal federal interest and no deterrent value'.

He escaped internal punishment within the Department of Education and was allowed to retire.

Arne Duncan was Education Secretary at the time (2014). He was appointed by President Obama

The Department of Education did not respond to multiple requests from DailyMail.com for comment.

Arne Duncan was Education Secretary at the time. He was appointed by President Obama.

This case is not the first time a government employee has used their issued computer to search for illicit images or potentially hack into dataebases.

In 2015, an investigation by DailyMail.com found Department of Education employees had been caught stealing students' personal information to apply for loans, credit cards and set up new cell phone accounts.

Reports on breaches of staff conduct inside the Department of Education shows how workers stole social security numbers from a database while a man was fired for trying to look up President Barack Obamas student loan records.

In July 2015, DailyMail.com uncovered that Department of Health and Human Services employees have infected their computers with potentially dangerous viruses by watching pornography.

Documents from another Freedom of Information request showed many HHS staffers were investigated after pornographic videos and photos were found on their government-issued computers - and one was given counselling instead of being fired.

In June of the same year, Daily Mail Online revealed a Department of Labor employee admitted that he downloaded pornography on his government computer every day for months while on the job, but it took the cabinet-level agency 15 weeks to fire him.

The documents show the unnamed staffer was terminated in December, nearly four months after a co-worker blew the whistle on him with a formal complaint.

Investigators with the agency's Office of Inspector General seized his hard drive and learned he had 'visited pornographic sites for several hours a day' in the first eight months of 2014.

The man claimed he started feeding his habit by searching for pictures of actress Alyssa Milano on his work computer.

A few months earlier, in February, an investigation by Daily Mail Online revealed how government employees had been caught stealing students' personal information to apply for loans, credit cards and set up new cell phone accounts.

Reports on breaches of staff conduct inside the Department of Education shows how workers stole social security numbers from a database while a man was fired for trying to look up President Barack Obama's student loan records.
Claims Google is using up to $580 million worth of user's phone plan data in Australia to track customer's movements are being looked into by the ACCC.

Experts from technology corporation Oracle believe Google is taking an estimated one gigabyte of mobile data each month from Android phone accounts.

It is believed the information keeps an eye on user's whereabouts, and relays the details back to advertisers.

ACCC is looking into claims Google is using $580 million worth of phone data

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims explained that recently he'd had information shared with him by US experts, which was collated from details sent from mobiles running on the Android operating system.

This analysis consisted of messages received by Google, which had intercepted, copied and decrypted, the Daily Telegraph reported.

With more than 10 million people owning Android phones in Australia, and a gig of data costing between $3.60 - $4.50 a month, Google may be responsible for about $445 million and $580 million a year it could be siphoning.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims (pictured) explained that recently he'd had information shared with him by US experts

The privacy terms of Google outline that data may indicate location when searching nearby restaurants on a map, but not going on in the background of the device.

'My people are looking into it,' the ACCC's Mr Sims told News Corp.

'The more we get into this inquiry the more we realise there are lots of issues (around) competition and privacy,' he said.

'Oracle are here because we are doing the market inquiry,' Mr Sims said.

He said that shows the value of the ACCC inquiry as they prepare their presentation.
Michael Troina, 24, has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the FDNY detailing the extensive abuse he was subjected to during the 13 months he worked as a firefighter

A rookie firefighter claims his coworkers demanded that he have sex with a stripper to prove his manhood.

Michael Troina, 24, has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Fire Department of New York detailing the extensive abuse he was subjected to during the 13 months he worked as a firefighter.

Being coerced into going to a strip club was just one of many offenses Troina has accused his coworkers of, including calling him a 'f****t' and covering his car in peanut butter, toilet paper and nails.

In the suit filed Saturday the former probationary firefighter alleges he 'was singled out time and time again on account of his race and national origin as a Hispanic American male as well as perceived homosexuality'.

It added that he 'was further threatened with physical violence if he dared to report any incident of battery, harassment or discrimination to the FDNY's Equal Employment Opportunity Office'.

In the suit filed Saturday Troina alleges he 'was singled out time and time again on account of his race and national origin as a Hispanic American male as well as perceived homosexuality'. He worked at the firehouse in Tribeca from November 2015 to December 2016

Troina said one time his coworkers covered his car in peanut butter, toilet paper and nails

Troina's story was first reported by the New York Post in February 2017.

At the time Troina said he was hazed on his first day at the Duane Street firehouse in Tribeca and that the bullying occurred on multiple other occasions while he worked there from November 2015 to December 2016.

He said his colleagues had 'tried to coerce' him go to a strip club and 'regularly harassed him by encouraging him to have sex with a stripper'.

When he refused they called him a 'closet homo' and a 'f****t'.

They also allegedly told him that 'he could not do the job like the other white firefighters' because he is Hispanic.

Other abuses included stomping on his bunker gear, photoshopping his face onto a picture of a crying baby and being forced to 'eat orange juice' with a fork from 12 different plates and then wash the plates.

Troina's face was photoshopped onto the body of a crying baby. He said his coworkers frequently called him a 'f****t' and a 'closet homo'

When Troina complained about the abuse to a supervisor he was told it was 'in good fun and not to take it too hard', the suit says. The firehouse on Duane Street in Tribeca is pictured above

Troina said he complained to higher ups at one point after he was excluded from a firehouse volleyball outing, where his coworkers disparaged him with homophobic insults.

The lieutenant who Troina complained to reportedly told him it was 'in good fun and to not take it too hard'.

In the lawsuit Troina claims he suffered 'mental and emotional stress' from the 'constant discrimination and ridicule'.

'At first I sloughed it off as: "I'm the new guy." As it kept going on, it got worse,' Troina told The Post last year.

Troina was fired in December 2016 because of a 'failed evaluation', according to the FDNY.

The suit names the city, the FDNY, nine firefighters, three lieutenants, two chiefs and Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro as defendants.
The family of a British tourist who drowned within minutes of her first ever scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef have welcomed an inquest into what they believe was a 'completely avoidable' death.

Parents Patrick and Caron Farrell believe an upcoming inquest into their daughter Bethany Farrell's death will uncover a 'string of systemic failings', Courier Mail reported.

Bethany Farrell, 23, from Essex, died on February 17 2015 while in Queensland's Whitsundays, a week into her dream gap-year when she went scuba diving for the first time.

Bethany Farrell, 23, from Essex, died on February 17 2015 while in Queensland's Whitsundays

Ms Farrell drowned within minutes of her first ever scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef

She reportedly panicked during the scuba dive with Wings Diving Adventures, and drowned after she became separated from her instructor (stock image)

Ms Farrell reportedly panicked during the scuba dive with Wings Diving Adventures, and drowned after she became separated from her instructor.

She was seen surfacing a few moments later before eventually drowning.

Her body was found 15 metres on the sea-floor about half an hour later.

Mr Farrell believes the inquest will reveal shocking details on those responsible for Bethany handled themselves during the tragic incident.

He also believes it will finally bring justice to Bethany.

'No stone will be left unturned in our fight for truth and justice for Bethany,' Mr Farrell told Courier Mail.

'This inquest will no doubt promise to bring out some shocking revelations of how those responsible conducted themselves that fateful day.'

Her parents have been pushing for an inquest into Ms Farrell's (pictured) death for three years

Ms Farrell's parents believe that her death was 'completely avoidable' and have welcomed the inquest

In a strange move, Wings Diving Adventures deleted photos of Ms Farrell which could have been used by police as evidence.

It is also believed the photos would have revealed what really went wrong when Ms Farrell drowned.

Ms Farrell's parents have been pushing for an inquest into their daughter's death for three years to show the real reason as to how she died.

They will fly into Mackay, Queensland for the three day hearing set to start for May 22.

Central Queensland Coroner David O'Connell will examine training for novice divers, the conditions of the dive site Ms Farrell was at, and he will also look at the in-water supervision, Courier Mail reported.
A British woman has died after being hit by a train in an Algarve tourist resort in Portugal.

A source at the local GNR force said she had been out for a walk with a female friend who was now receiving trauma counselling.

The victim was initially thought to be 60, although investigators who are probing the crash subsequently said she was 73.

The friend she was with is also thought to be British and was also described by police as a tourist, although her nationality has not been confirmed. She was physically unharmed.

The incident led to the temporary suspension of services between Lagos and the neighbouring resort of Portimao

The woman had been out for a walk with a friend at the time who is now reportedly receiving counselling

The incident is now being probed by criminal investigators, although there is no suggestion the unnamed holidaymaker died as a result of a crime and everything is pointing to the tragedy being an accident.

It happened by the Meia-Praia Lagos station.

One well-placed source said 'It happened when she was walking across a level crossing without a barrier.

'A medical response team tried to revive her when they reached the scene but were unable to do anything to save her.

'A psychologist was mobilised to provide the friend with expert support.

'The train service along the line was suspended for around an hour but reestablished just after 11am local time.'

The alert was sounded at 10.15am this morning after she was struck by the train near Lagos' famous Meia-Praia beach, the longest in the area and popular with locals as well as visitors.

Police, firefighters and paramedics were sent to the scene but could do nothing to save her.

The woman had been staying in the Lagos Meia Praia, an area popular with British tourists

Local media reported that she was hurled over the metal barriers to the side of the tracks by the force of the impact

Local reports said the force of the impact was so great she was flung over metal barriers along the railway line.

The incident led to the temporary suspension of services between Lagos and the neighbouring resort of Portimao.

The train that hit the unnamed woman was heading from Portimao to Lagos.

Authorities did not provide any immediate explanation for the incident.

Although the railway line is fenced off, there are a number of vehicle and pedestrian-only crossing points along the stretch of line where the incident happened.
Google has banned abortion adverts in the run up the Irish referendum over fears overseas campaigners are trying to sway the vote.

Facebook has also limited advertising sales to people inside Ireland after a transparency tool accidentally revealed large numbers of anti-abortion posts were being posted from abroad.

Ireland will go to the polls on May 25 to vote on whether to appeal the Eighth Amendment, which makes abortion illegal unless the mother's life is in serious danger.

The Yes vote is currently leading in the polls but they show 20 per cent of voters are still undecided, which leaves the final result wide open.

Google has banned abortion adverts in the run up the Irish referendum over fears overseas campaigners are trying to sway the vote. Facebook has also limited ad sales to people within Ireland. Pictured: Pro-choice campaigners march in Dublin

The tech companies' ban on abortion ads comes after an accidental slip up last Friday.

For a brief period during the day a new tool designed to boost transparency over political ads in light of the Cambridge Analytica scandal went live on Facebook.

It enabled users to see the real-time location of people managing campaign pages, showing abortion ads coming out of the UK, US and Hungary among other foreign countries.

The social network quickly turned off the tool and said it had been launched by mistake.

Ireland bans political donations from abroad, but the law does not apply to social media advertising.

When the controversy came to light both tech giants decided to impose restrictions.

An anti-abortion group based in Leamington Spa paid for an ad about an Irish woman who died after travelling to the UK for an abortion.

Aisha Chithira, 32, died six years ago when being discharged from a Marie Stopes clinic in Ealing following a termination of a 22-week pregnancy.

Ireland will go to the polls on May 25 to vote on whether to appeal the Eighth Amendment, which makes abortion illegal unless the mother's life is in serious danger. Pictured: Supporters for the Yes campaign in Ireland

'This is not what care for women looks like,' the advert said. Facebook said it had violated the new rule when contacted for comment and removed the ad.

The controversial adverts were collected in a database created using software which trails through Facebook for information on why advertisers are targeting the user.

It comes after it was revealed anti-abortion groups have targeted young Irish voters on Facebook with claims that abortion makes women suicidal and causes breast cancer.

Parents also raised concerns that YouTube - which is owned by Google - has allowed videos aimed at children to be published with adverts that suggest one in five pregnancies are terminated in England.

Google's ban has been attacked by anti-abortion groups, who insist they face bias from traditional media and need social media to combat it.

David Quinn of Catholic thinktank the Iona institute recently tweeted: 'Of course mainstream media dislike social media advertising by pro-lifers. Such ads are a way of doing an end-run around media bias.

'Google are worried that the Yes side would blame them if they lose [the referendum].

'Obviously they couldn't care less if it has the opposite effect. That alone shows terrible bias.'
More women than ever before have earned a place on the list of the country's 1,000 wealthiest people.

This year a record 141 female millionaires made The Sunday Times Rich List, with lager tycoon Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken coming in first in the women's category.

The 63-year-old inherited her position running her family's Heineken beer business and took over from Freddy Heineken when he died in 2002.

Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, left, is listed as Britain's richest woman and Kirsten Rausing, right, was the second

She and Citigroup banker husband Michael, 73, have a combined fortune of 11.1billion, a rise of 1.8billion on the previous year, The Telegraph reports.

Her success has been attributed in part to a new, alcohol-free beer that the brand has launched.

She finished sixth in the overall list, with granddaughter of Tetra Pak founder Kirsten Rausing coming seventh with her and brother Jorn's combined fortune of 10.848billion.

Top of this year Sunday Times Rich List was the industrialist Jim Ratcliffe, who is worth 21.5billion, up from 15.3billion.

The 65-year-old CEO of Britain's biggest private company, Ineos, Mr Ratcliffe paid a record 2.76million for a box at the Royal Albert Hall in 2017.

His firm sells more than 60million tons of chemicals each year and the company's director Andy Currie joined Mr Ratcliffe in the top 20, as did finance director John Reece.

There was a drop in the number of people featured on the list after inheriting their wealth, with 94 per cent of the list being made up of self-starting entrepreneurs.

The financier Ernesto Bertarelli and his wife Kirsty had the biggest decreases in wealth as they lost 1.48billion due to dips in Mr Bertarelli's company stakes.

The Heineken head and her husband (both pictured) came in the top 10 of the overall list as more women than ever were featured

And for the first time since he debuted on the list in 2010, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver did not feature on the list.

Sir Philip Green, the head of Arcadia, also saw his fortune drop in wake of the folding of BHS after he sold the business for 1 to man who had been declared bankrupt twice.

Dips in sales at his brands Topshop and Miss Selfridge along with Sir Philip's pledge to pay 363million toward the pension deficit at BHS caused his financial worth to fall by 787million to 2billion.

Hindaju brothers Sri and Gopi - who are worth 20.64billion - came it at second on the overall list.

Their fortune increased by 4.44billion in the past year as their Indian car manufacturer Ashok Leyland and their IndusInd Bank had a particularly successful 12 months.

Media mogul Sir Len Blavatnik was in third place with a 15.26billion listed as his fortune.
A large cache of loaded weapons was found after police raided a Waikiki hotel room in Honolulu, Hawaii Thursday.

The raid was prompted after FBI and Honolulu police were alerted to some disturbing posts on social media, they are currently investigating the situation.

The FBI contacted Honolulu police Thursday regarding a guest in room 803 at the Equus Hotel.

A large cache of loaded weapons was found after police raided a Waikiki hotel room in Honolulu, Hawaii Thursday

They said he was claiming to be a federal agent in disturbing posts on social media, claiming his mission was to hunt terrorist cells.

The police found a high-powered rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and an array of other weapons, however the 28-year-old man staying in the room was not arrested, Hawaii News Now reported.

The weapons were legally registered to the man, and he was also legally allowed to have them in his room.

The police found a high-powered rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and an array of other weapons

The FBI contacted Honolulu police Thursday regarding a guest in room 803 at the Equus Hotel

'There was no danger. The gentlemen was here. He was a guest staying here. He left and then there was an FBI and police investigation,' Mike Dailey, manager at the hotel said.

The police found psychiatric medication in the room, which enabled them to seize the cache until a mental health evaluation can be completed. Consequently, he was taken to a hospital for that.

The police said he was claiming to be a federal agent in disturbing posts on social media, claiming his mission was to hunt terrorist cells

'There was no danger. The gentlemen was here. He was a guest staying here. He left and then there was an FBI and police investigation,' Mike Dailey, manager at the hotel said

'He had a room here and they're looking at the stuff in his room,' Dailey said. 'I don't know that there are any weapons. I think you'll have to talk to the police about that.'

The man has been living in Hawaii for about three years in a Makiki apartment, but had only been staying a the hotel for a few days.

If he is deemed mentally fit, he could get his weapons back.

The raid was prompted after FBI and Honolulu police were alerted to some disturbing posts on social media, they are currently investigating the situation
Police are appealing for public assistance to help locate a missing 12-year-old girl.

Jemma Cazalay was last seen about 10.30am on 8 May in Mill Park, Melbourne.

Family members hold grave concerns for Jemma's safety due to her age and for the length of time she's been missing.

She hasn't been in contact with any family members or friends since 9 May.

Jemma Cazalay (pictured) was last seen about 10.30am on 8 May in Mill Park, Melbourne

Jemma is described as having long brown shoulder-length hair and was last seen wearing a school sport uniform.

Anyone with information on Jemma's whereabouts is urged to contact Mill Park Police Station on 9407 3333.
According to the Vietnam Social Security (VSS), when people with e-cards visit health facilities for examinations and treatment or visit relevant agencies to solve their social insurance interests, their information can be clearly displayed by using card reader chips.

For the e-health insurance cards, in cases where users have not received their cards but their information is available on the system, the cardholders can undergo their medical examinations and treatment normally. Medical establishments only need to enter the card code, and the name and date of birth of cardholders and the system will verify whether the card is valid or not.

People can also look up the benefits of cardholders on the system, even look up the medical examination history if the cardholders have undergone examinations and treatment on the portal of the insurance sector. It is expected to help boost supervision and avoid fraudulent activities in medical examinations and treatment under the health insurance policy.

The issuance of the cards has been facilitated by the Prime Ministers direction on the grant, management and use of electronic health insurance cards.

Regarding a proposal from the Government Office on solutions to apply IT to simplify regulations and administrative procedures in issuing, managing, and using health insurance cards, as well as managing medical examinations and treatment under the health insurance policy, the Prime Minister assigns the VSS to assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with concerned agencies in drafting a Prime Ministers decision on the grant, management, and use of electronic health insurance cards.

Accordingly, the e-health insurance cards need to be affixed with Vietnam-owned technological solutions, while ensuring connectivity, interconnection, secure integration, and data sharing with databases of concerned ministries, branches, and localities.
The brother of Nikolas Cruz has said he was 'too hard on' the 19-year-old Parkland shooter.

Zachary Cruz spoke out about his relationship with older brother Nikolas in his first media interview with the Palm Beach Post on Sunday.

The 18-year-old was just released from jail after being arrested for trespassing at the Parkland high school where his brother killed 17 people on February 14.

Zachary is now preparing to move to Virginia, away from the community that his brother devastated.

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Zachary Cruz, 18, spoke out about his relationship with his older brother Nikolas, 19, the confessed Parkland shooter, in an rare interview on Sunday

Zachary and Nikolas are half-siblings who grew up with adoptive parents Lynda and Robert Cruz. They are pictured together during their childhood in Parkland, Florida

Zachary and Nikolas, who are half-siblings, were adopted when they were younger by Lynda and Robert Cruz.

Robert died in 2004 from a heart attack, leaving Lynda to raise the boys alone.

'When we were younger we used to fight a lot,' Zachary said. 'But as we got older and became teenagers we made amends and came to terms with each other and accepted that we were both different.'

'We got along (as teenagers) in the household, we would go out and hang at the pool, walk the dogs, and we used to do normal brother stuff together at home.'

However, Zachary admitted that at times he would bully his brother and was 'too hard on him'.

'[Nikolas] is a very fragile person and my mom was always there for him,' Cruz said.

The boys' lives changed dramatically in November when Lynda died from the flu aged 68.

The boys' adoptive father died of a heart attack in 2004, leaving Lynda to take care of them on her own. Lynda died unexpectedly in November. The boys are pictured holding her ashes

Family friend Roxanne Deschamps took them both in, but she kicked Nikolas out within less than a month following a violent altercation.

In a 911 call, Deschamps told police that Nikolas became angry when she took away his guns and hit her son in the face.

Nikolas fled the home and Deschamps told the dispatcher she was worried what would happen if Nikolas returned.

The 19-year-old also called 911 to report the incident apologizing to police saying that his mother had just died and he 'was dealing with a bunch of things right now'.

Nikolas then moved in with the Snead family in Parkland, who have said that he was well behaved and followed all of their rules, but appeared to be very lonely.

Then on February 14 Nikolas told the Sneads he would be skipping school, at which point he went to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School campus and carried out the deadly massacre.

He's confessed to the shooting and has been charged with 17 counts of first degree murder.

During Nikolas's trial it was also revealed that Lynda had called police 23 times over a 10-year period to report that Nikolas had been physical with Zachary and with her.

A little more than a month after the shooting Zachary was arrested for trespassing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, despite being warned to stay away.

He was recorded by security cameras riding his skateboard at the school on March 19.

According to the report Zachary told the arresting deputy that he was there to 'reflect on the school shooting and to soak it in'.

On March 19 Zachary was arrested for trespassing at the Parkland high school despite being warned to stay away. He said he was there to 'reflect on the school shooting and to soak it in'

Zachary sits in the courtroom on May 3 after having been arrested for violating his probation

He was released and then later arrested for a probation violation on May 1.

On Friday Judge Melinda Brown gave him permission to move to Staunton, Virginia, thanks to help from pro bono civil rights organization Nexus Services, which is funding his relocation.

On Sunday he stopped by the Greenacres animal hospital where his two dogs had been kept while he was in jail.

He said the mixed golden retriever named Mazie has been his dog for 15 years, and that the fox terrier mix named Colby belongs to his brother.

Both dogs are moving to Virginia, who will be working as a car mechanic for $13-per-hour car and living in a rent-free apartment with a woman whose brother was also convicted in a mass shooting incident where 12 people were shot, according to Nexus spokesperson Michael Donovan.

'When she heard [Zachary's] case it spoke to her,' Donovan told the Palm Beach Post. 'This kid is remarkably well adjusted considered with what he's been through. I believe he is gong to be a great success. He has a story to tell that can really hopefully change the way isolated, disenfranchised kids are treated in the school system.'

Zachary is hugged by Mike Donovan on May 11 after being granted permission to move to Virginia to participate in the Nexus program

Terry Ann Johnson, a Nexus director who will be Cruz's caretaker, cries as Judge Brown grants Zachary Cruz permission to move away from Florida and start a new life

While in Virginia, Zachary's six-month probation will be managed through Broward County.

He will be required to mail in a form, check in with his probation officer once a week, and have counseling once a week.

Zachary is glad to be able to relocate, saying he's ready to 'live my life'.

'I want to just finish high school,' Cruz said. 'After that I want to do anything I want to do.'

Donovan has reportedly asked Judge Brown to start an investigation into how the Broward County Sheriff's Office treated Zachary while in jail, alleging that his constitutional rights were violated.

'Police think they can make their own rules and no one wins,' Donovan said.

'BSO completely failed to step in when Zachary's brother was crying out for help. They have to find out how to actually do that job, and violating people's civil rights isn't the way to do it.'
A man was stabbed in broad daylight outside London's Royal National Theatre only moments before celebrities started arriving nearby for the BAFTAs.

Eyewitnesses spoke of their shock as ambulances, armed offices and fire engines descended on Southbank.

The victim was knifed on the theatre terrace, next to Waterloo Bridge, at around 4pm on Sunday.

A man was stabbed in broad daylight outside London's Royal National Theatre

Eyewitnesses spoke of their shock as ambulances, armed offices and fire engines descended on Southbank

It is not currently known how serious his injuries are and a crime scene is in place.

Passersby took to social media to describe seeing someone, believed to be the man who was stabbed, being treated on the theatre terrace.

Air ambulance in Southbank se1 pic.twitter.com/mmvjz8sLHx  Guillaume (@guillaumephotos) 13 May 2018

The area is known for attracting tourists and Londoners alike, with many meeting at the riverside bars to enjoy the warmer weather.

A Met statement said: 'Police in Lambeth were called to Upper Ground, Lambeth, London SE1 outside the Royal National Theatre terrace at 3.59pm on Sunday, 13 May following reports of a stabbing.

A heavy police presence was seen outside the Royal National Theatre terrace

Passersby took to social media to describe seeing someone, believed to be the man who was stabbed, being treated on the theatre terrace

'Officers, London Air Ambulance and London Ambulance Service attended and found a man aged in his twenties suffering from a stab injury.

'He has been taken to a central London hospital. A full update on his injuries awaits.

'No arrests have been made. Enquiries continue. A crime scene remains in place.'
Police were called to an Arkansas home where an unfit father went berserk and took a knife to his two-year-old daughter and her mother following a domestic dispute.

The horrific stabbing occurred on April 29 at the residence on the 1900 block of East Johnson Avenue in Jonesboro.

Police said dad Theodis Coleman, 37, had been arguing with the mother of his child, Jevena Murray, earlier that day when he threatened to kill her as well as the toddler.

The terrified woman phoned police afterward, when Coleman became even more infuriated.

An Arkansas woman called the police on Theodis Coleman after he threatened to kill her and their two-year-old daughter

Coleman is seen standing in the doorway of the home before he pulled a knife out and stabbed the child and her mother

This is the moment Coleman pulled a knife out and stabbed his two-year-old daughter

He is seen on bodycam the moment he took a knife out and stabbed the child and woman after officers walked into the home.

'The knife went through the arm of the 2-year-old victim and into the mothers arm,' according to court documents.

The toddler is heard on bodycam footage crying for some time before she was placed on the trunk of a police cruiser where a tourniquet was strapped to her arm to constrict further bleeding.

The child was then transported to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis.

Coleman, 37, has been charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, first-degree terroristic threatening, first-degree domestic battering and second-degree domestic battering

Jevena Murray said Coleman threatened to kill her and the toddler earlier that day

The Jonesboro Police Department confirmed in a press release the two-year-old and mother Murray are expected to fully recover from the attack.

The department said Coleman was charged with four felony offenses.

The charges include first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, first-degree terroristic threatening, first-degree domestic battering and second-degree domestic battering.

He has been booked to the Craighead County Jail on $15,000 bond.

The toddler is heard on bodycam footage crying for some time and bleeding on the trunk of a police cruiser where a tourniquet was placed on her arm

The police department said the child and the mother are expected to fully recover
The Trump administration is working with China to prevent telecom giant ZTE from going out of business after it was hit by an American technology sales ban.

President Trump announced he is collaborating with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to come up with a rescue plan to save the vulnerable company from collapse in a pair of tweets on Sunday.

Last week ZTE announced that its major operations had 'ceased' after the Trump administration banned American entities from selling critical technology to the company for seven years.

Congress has long seen ZTE and other Chinese telecommunications firms as a possible threat to national cybersecurity because their devices have the potential to allow surveillance by China's government.

In a tweet posted Sunday President Trump announced that he is working with Chinese president Xi Jinping to prevent telecom giant ZTE from going out of business

In the tweet Sunday morning Trump wrote: 'President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast.

'Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!'

The announcement was met with some criticism based on the concerns about cybersecurity and an underlying mistrust of the Chinese government, which Trump responded to in another tweet less than five hours later.

'China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries. But be cool, it will all work out!' he wrote in the second tweet.

Less than five hours after the first tweet announcing the collaboration Trump assured his followers that any resulting deal would benefit both countries

ZTE's fibre-optic networks depend on US components and its cheap smartphones sold en masse abroad are powered by US chips and the Android operating system.

Without access to such technology, the company has been forced to partially shut down.

'Major operating activities of the company have ceased,' ZTE said in a filing Wednesday.

Beijing has closely followed the developments around ZTE, a company with 80,000 employees headquartered in southern China.

The ban on US sales to the firm arose from its skirting of US export controls by selling to banned countries like North Korea and Iran with employees documenting how to evade American oversight.

Those actions led to a $1.2billion fine last year, with the current export ban imposed in April after ZTE allegedly failed to live up to its agreement, lying about the punishment of employees involved in the sanctions skirting.

ZTE implemented a partial shutdown this week after the Trump administration banned the sale of American technology components to the company, raising the possibility of ZTE's collapse

Trump has insisted that relations between Washington and Beijing have never been better and he has been working closely with Xi in efforts to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.

But there have been tenisions on other issues with both countries threatening each other with trade tariffs.

There has been an intense rivalry for supremacy in key technology fields such as artificial intelligence and 5G, the next-generation wireless systems in the works.

Against that background, the Trump administration has barred military and government employees from using smartphones from ZTE and fellow Chinese maker Huawei.

Trump also earlier this year blocked a deal that would have allowed a Singapore-based firm to acquire US chipmaker Qualcomm, claiming it would enable Huawei to set the pace the global rollout of 5G technology.

The trade troubles threaten a technology sector that is increasingly intertwined with major players in the United States and China.
Prime Minister Theresa May has stressed the importance of the Iran Nuclear deal in talks with the nation's President Hassan Rouhani - despite Trump's walking away.

Speaking to the President on the phone this evening, May reiterated her commitment to the deal, which the US president slammed as 'disastrous'.

A spokesman for Mrs May said: 'The Prime Minister reiterated the UK's position that we and our European partners remain firmly committed to ensuring the Iran nuclear deal is upheld.

The UK's Theresa May has spoken with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, saying it was in both nation's interest to stick to the accord

Iran's president Hassan Rouhani has spoken with Theresa May over the phone this evening

'She said it is in both the UK and Iran's national security interests to maintain the deal and welcomed president Rouhani's public commitment to abide by its terms, adding that it is essential that Iran continues to meet its obligations.

'The Prime Minister made clear that the UK condemns the Iranian missile attacks against Israeli forces and called on Iran to refrain from any further attacks. She said it was important to avoid provocative actions to ensure peace and security in the region.'

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the US would walk away from the Iran nuclear deal, calling it 'disastrous' and an 'embarrassment'

US President DOnald Trump said on Tuesday that he had 'definitive proof' Iran was lying about its pursuit of nuclear weapons when it entered into the 2015 agreement.

May also raised the issue of dual British-Iranian nationals being held by Iranian police and called for further progress to be made so they could be released on humanitarian grounds.

Both leaders 'agreed the importance of continued dialogue' between the two countries, and looked forward to the meeting of UK, German, French and Iranian foreign ministers in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the Iran nuclear deal and next steps.
Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner landed in Israel Sunday morning ahead of the US Embassy opening in Jerusalem.

The White House advisers will attend the embassy inauguration ceremony scheduled for Monday along with other Washington delegates, including US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

President Donald Trump will not be in attendance.

Both Ivanka and Jared were seen embracing Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu shortly after their arrival.

Ivanka posted several photos of her and Jared before and after they arrived to Israel. She also shared a boomerang video of her waving at at camera after they landed.

'Great to join the friends of Zion for an amazing evening commemorating the dedication of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel,' she wrote on one of the photos.

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Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner landed in Israel Sunday morning ahead of the US Embassy opening

The first daughter and her husband were greeted by US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman after they landed on Sunday

The White House advisers will attend the embassy inauguration ceremony scheduled for Monday along with other Washington delegates, including US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan (third from left in black) and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (center)

Israel launched celebrations on Sunday for the US Embassy's relocation to Jerusalem, a move whose break with world consensus was underscored by the absence of most envoys to the country from a reception hosted by Netanyahu.

Monday's slated opening of the new embassy follows Trump's recognition in December of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a decision he said fulfilled decades of policy pledges in Washington and formalized realities on the ground.

The embassy move will take place on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, while the following day Palestinians will mark the Nakba, or 'catastrophe,' commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

President Donald Trump will not be in attendance

On Sunday, tens of thousands participated in a Jerusalem march, a day ahead of the controversial US embassy move to the disputed city.

The march kicked off a week that will be full of tension between Israelis and Palestinians.

Palestinians meanwhile readied for their own protests on Monday over the embassy's inauguration, including another mass demonstration in the Gaza Strip near the border with Israel.

There are also Palestinian protests planned for Tuesday.

For Israelis, Sunday was Jerusalem Day, an annual celebration of the 'reunification' of the city following the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967. It later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognized by the international community.

This year's celebration took on added significance due to the embassy move. The annual march to the Western Wall included many hardline religious nationalists who oppose a Palestinian state.

Marchers dressed in white held Israeli flags as they filed through central Jerusalem toward the Old City with music blaring, including the song 'Toy' by Israel's Netta Barzilai, who won the Eurovision Song Contest early Sunday.

Ivanka and Jared were seen arriving to a reception for the US delegation ahead of the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem at the Israeli Foreign Ministry. She posted this photo of herself and Jared on her Instagram story

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) spoke at a reception welcoming the US delegation attended by both Ivanka and Jared. Ivanka is seen embracing Netanyahu ahead of the reception

'Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for the past 3,000 years,' Netanyahu said as Jared and Ivanka watched from the audience

Ivanka posted several photos of her and Jared before and after they arrived to Israel. She also shared a boomerang video of her waving at at camera after they landed

Some had American flags, while banners celebrating President Trump were hung by a pro-Israel evangelical Christian organisation.

Speaking to journalists in the Old City, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat hailed the US embassy move as the beginning of 'a new world order'.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- bolstered in recent days by Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal -- opened a special cabinet meeting at Jerusalem's Bible Lands Museum by again lauding the embassy move.

He later spoke at a reception welcoming the US delegation attended by both Ivanka and Jared.

'Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for the past 3,000 years,' Netanyahu said.

TENSIONS CONTINUE TO RISE IN GAZA WITH DEADLY PROTESTS A Palestinian was killed and 176 were wounded by Israeli army fire Friday as thousands of Gaza residents protested near their sealed border - part of a weeks-long campaign to end a decade-old blockade of the territory. Later Friday, vandals burned a fuel complex and a conveyor belt on the Palestinian side of Gaza's main cargo crossing with Israel, causing more than $9million in damages and disrupting the import of diesel fuel and building materials, the military said. Friday's clashes offered a preview of what will likely be a much larger protest - and possibly a border breach - on Monday when the United States relocates its embassy in Israel to contested Jerusalem amid Palestinian outrage. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the embassy there 'is causing the volcano to spew,' said 25-year-old protester Ahmed Deifallah as he stood near the Gaza border, a Palestinian flag draped around his head. Tensions continue to rise in Gaza with deadly protests ahead of the US Embassy inauguration in Jerusalem. Pictured are Palestinian protesters dragging a burning tire along the Gaza Strip border on Friday Deifallah, who is unemployed like almost half the Gaza labor force, said he would also join Monday's protest and is not afraid to die. 'We are used to confronting the (Israeli) occupation with our bare chests,' he said. 'We are used to wars and no one with us but Allah.' Friday marked the seventh weekly border protest since late March. The demonstrations have been organized by Gaza's Hamas rulers, but are fueled by despair among the territory's 2 million people. The vast majority are barred from travel and trade, while the blockade has gutted the economy. As in previous weeks, thousands flocked to five tent camps near the border - some 15,000 people, according to the Israeli military. From the camps, smaller groups moved closer to the fence. They threw stones, burned tires and flew kites with burning rags attached to them, hoping to steer them into Israel to set fields on fire. The area was quickly engulfed in thick black smoke from the burning tires. Israeli soldiers, some crouching behind sand berms, fired live bullets and tear gas volleys from the other side of the fence. The Israeli military said protesters also threw pipe bombs and grenades toward Israeli soldiers and damaged the fence. Later Friday, Palestinians vandalized a fuel complex and conveyor belt on the Palestinian side of Gaza's main cargo crossing, Kerem Shalom, the army said. It said the fuel installation is the only way to bring diesel fuel into Gaza for operating generators for hospitals and other key facilities. The military distributed a video showing Palestinians cheering as a fire was set. It was the second such attack on the facility in a week. 'Hamas continues to lead the residents of Gaza to destroy the only assistance they receive,' the army said. Nissim Jan, the director of an Israeli company that operates Kerem Shalom in partnership with private Palestinian companies, said he spent large sums to repair last week's damage. 'This time I can't repair and will not repair it. Where shall I bring money from?' he said. The Gaza Health Ministry said a 40-year-old protester was killed and 176 were wounded by Israeli fire Friday. Ten of the wounded were in serious condition, including a 16-year-old boy who was shot in the head. Nearly 800 others were overcome by tear gas or suffered other types of injuries. Friday's death brought to 41 the number of protesters killed since March 30. In the same period, more than 1,800 were wounded by Israeli fire. Despite such risks, Gaza's Hamas leader, Yehiyeh Sinwar, has said he expects tens of thousands to participate in Monday's protest. He has raised the possibility of a mass border breach, comparing protesters to a 'starving tiger,' unpredictable and full of pent-up anger. Israel has said it will prevent any border breach and has stuck to its open-fire policies, including targeting 'main instigators' and those approaching the fence, despite growing international criticism. Israel says it has a right to defend its border and has accused Hamas of using the protests as a cover for attacking the border. Rights groups say the use of potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters is unlawful. There are growing concerns that if Israel and Hamas dig in, a widespread border breach could lead to large numbers of casualties. The protests are part of a campaign to break the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant Hamas overran Gaza in 2007. Friday's death brought to 41 the number of protesters killed since March 30. In the same period, more than 1,800 were wounded by Israeli fire. Medics are seen evacuating a wounded teen during Friday's protest On Monday, they are also aimed at the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy, which comes five months after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital - a decision that outraged Palestinians as blatantly pro-Israel. The Israeli-annexed eastern sector of Jerusalem is sought as a future Palestinian capital - at least by those supporting Hamas' political rival, West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas seeks an Islamic state in the entire historic Palestine, including what is now Israel, but has said it is ready for a long-term truce. Another large-scale protest is planned for Tuesday, when Palestinians mark their 'nakba,' or catastrophe, referring to their mass uprooting during the Mideast war over Israel's 1948 creation. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven out or fled homes in what is now Israel. More than two-thirds of Gaza residents are descendants of refugees. Meanwhile, Gaza government officials announced that Egypt will open its border with Gaza for four days starting Saturday. Helping reinforce the Israeli blockade, Egypt has kept the Rafah crossing point, Gaza's main gate to the outside world, closed most of the time since the Hamas takeover. Egypt opens the crossing from time to time, mainly to allow people in special categories, including medical patients and Gaza residents studying abroad, to leave the territory or return to it. The upcoming opening was framed as a humanitarian gesture ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins next week. In Jordan, about 7,000 people participated in a 'nakba' rally in an area close to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Palestinian refugees and their descendants now number several million people in the region, including more than 2 million in Jordan. Friday's rally took place before a large stage with a view of the Dead Sea and the West Bank. One man walked onto the stage with an effigy of Trump dangling from a noose. Source: Associated Press Advertisement

'It's been the capital of our state for the past 70 years. It will remain our capital for all time.'

US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, the head of the Washington delegation, called the embassy move 'a long overdue recognition of reality'.

The Palestinians, who want their own future state with its capital in east Jerusalem, have been outraged by Trump's shift from previous administrations' preference for keeping the US Embassy in Tel Aviv pending progress in peace efforts.

Those talks have been frozen since 2014. Other major powers worry that the US move could now inflame Palestinian unrest in the occupied West Bank and on the Gaza Strip border, where Israel reinforced troops in anticipation of the embassy opening.

Most countries say the status of Jerusalem should be determined in a final peace settlement, and say moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal.

Addressing dignitaries at the Foreign Ministry, including Mnuchin and the president's daughter and son-in-law, the Israeli prime minister urged others to follow Washington's lead.

'Move your embassies to Jerusalem because it's the right thing to do,' Netanyahu said. 'Move your embassies to Jerusalem because it advances peace, and that's because you can't base peace on a foundation of lies.'

Netanyahu said that 'under any peace agreement you could possibly imagine, Jerusalem will remain Israel's capital'.

Jerusalem, which is sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians, was decorated with roadside flowerbeds in the design of the US flag and posters reading 'Trump make Israel great again'.

Israel said all 86 countries with diplomatic missions in Israel were invited to the event, and 33 confirmed attendance. Among those present were delegates from Guatemala and Paraguay, which will open their own Jerusalem embassies later this month.

Attending the Foreign Ministry gathering were representatives from Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic, but none from western European Union states - suggesting a rift within the bloc over Trump's Jerusalem move.

No-show nations withheld comment on Sunday.

The EU mission in Israel tweeted on Friday that the bloc would 'respect the international consensus on Jerusalem ... including on the location of their diplomatic representations until the final status of Jerusalem is resolved'.

The Trump administration has sought to keep the door open to Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy by saying the embassy move did not aim to prejudge Jerusalem's final borders. The US consulate in the city, tasked with handling Palestinian ties, will remain.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, the head of the Washington delegation, called the embassy move 'a long overdue recognition of reality'. Ivanka and Jared are seen smiling and clapping during Sunday's reception

Senior White House Adviser Ivanka Trump is seen during a reception held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem

Washington has not asked Israel to initiate peace moves in exchange for the embassy relocation, US Ambassador Friedman told reporters on Friday: 'There was no give and take with Israel with regard to this decision.'

Police and the Israeli military have planned major security deployments and around 1,000 police officers will be positioned around the US embassy and surrounding neighborhoods for Monday's inauguration, said spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

Israel's army said it would almost double the number of troops surrounding the Gaza Strip and in the occupied West Bank.

On Sunday, scuffles broke out between Israelis visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in east Jerusalem's Old City, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and Palestinian security officers.

The government of Jordan, the custodian of the site, sent a letter of protest to the Israeli foreign ministry condemning this as a 'provocation by extremists', a spokesman said.

Jews are allowed to visit the site but not pray there to avoid provoking tensions and police said a number of visitors were removed for not following the rules.

'It is not a provocation. It's our property,' said Nili Naoun, 42, an Israeli who arrived at the holy site with her family at 7.00am.

The Palestinians plan to demonstrate against Monday's inauguration from Arab districts abutting the Jerusalem site.

More than 40 Palestinians have been killed in protests and clashes since March 30 along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel.

WHY THE US MOVED ITS EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM The United States opened its new embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians. The opening ceremony was timed to coincide with Israel's 70th anniversary. The initiative was driven by President Donald Trump, after he broke last year with decades of US policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Trump said his administration has a peace proposal in the works, and recognising Jerusalem as the capital of America's closest ally had 'taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table.' The US opened its new embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians. The initiative was driven by Trump, after he broke last year with decades of US policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, celebrated Trump's decision, but the move upset the Arab world and Western allies. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called it a 'slap in the face' and said Washington could no longer be regarded as an honest broker in any peace talks with Israel. Initially, a small interim embassy will operate from the building in southern Jerusalem that now houses US consular operations, while a secure site is found to move the rest of the embassy operations from Tel Aviv. WHY DID TRUMP RECOGNIZE JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL'S CAPITAL, AND ANNOUNCE THE EMBASSY WILL BE MOVED THERE? There has long been pressure from pro-Israel politicians in Washington to move the embassy to Jerusalem, and Trump made it a signature promise of his 2016 election campaign. The decision was popular with many conservative and evangelical Christians who voted for Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, many of whom support political recognition of Israel's claim to the city. Trump acted under a 1995 law that requires the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem, but to which other presidents since then - Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama - consistently signed waivers. WHY DOES JERUSALEM PLAY SUCH AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT? Religion, politics and history. Jerusalem has been fought over for millennia by its inhabitants, and by regional powers and invaders. It is sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and each religion has sites of great significance there. Israel's government regards Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the country, although that is not recognised internationally. Palestinians feel equally strongly, saying that East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future Palestinian state. The city even has different names. Jews call it Jerusalem, or Yerushalayim, and Arabs call it Al-Quds, which means 'The Holy'. But the citys significance goes further. At the heart of the Old City is the hill known to Jews across the world as Har ha-Bayit, or Temple Mount, and to Muslims internationally as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary. It was home to the Jewish temples of antiquity but all that remains of them above ground is a restraining wall for the foundations built by Herod the Great. Known as the Western Wall, this is a sacred place of prayer for Jews. Within yards of the wall, and overlooking it, are two Muslim holy places, the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was built in the 8th century. Muslims regard the site as the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina. The city is also an important pilgrimage site for Christians, who revere it as the place where they believe that Jesus Christ preached, died and was resurrected. WHAT IS THE CITY'S MODERN HISTORY AND STATUS? In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly decided that the then British-ruled Palestine should be partitioned into an Arab state and a Jewish state. But it recognized that Jerusalem had special status and proposed international rule for the city, along with nearby Bethlehem, as a 'corpus separatum' to be administered by the United Nations. That never happened. When British rule ended in 1948, Jordanian forces occupied the Old City and Arab East Jerusalem. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it. In 1980 the Israeli parliament passed a law declaring the 'complete and united' city of Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. But the United Nations regards East Jerusalem as occupied, and the city's status as disputed until resolved by negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. DOES ANY OTHER COUNTRY HAVE AN EMBASSY IN JERUSALEM? In March Guatemala's president, Jimmy Morales, said that his country will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 16, two days after the US move. Netanyahu said in April that 'at least half a dozen' countries were now 'seriously discussing' following the US lead, but he did not identify them. In December, 128 countries voted in a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution calling on the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. Nine voted against, 35 abstained and 21 did not cast a vote. WHAT IS LIKELY TO HAPPEN NEXT? HAS JERUSALEM BEEN A FLASHPOINT BEFORE? Since Trump's announcement there have been Palestinian protests and wider political tensions. Arab leaders across the Middle East have warned the move could lead to turmoil and hamper US efforts to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in Gaza during a six-week border protest due to culminate on May 15, the day after the US Embassy move and when Palestinians traditionally lament homes and land lost with Israel's creation. Although the clashes have not been on the scale of the Palestinian intifadas of 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, violence has erupted before over matters of sovereignty and religion. In 1969 an Australian Messianic Christian tried to burn down Al-Aqsa Mosque. He failed but caused damage, and prompted fury across the Arab world. In 2000, the Israeli politician Ariel Sharon, then opposition leader, led a group of Israeli lawmakers onto the Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif complex. A Palestinian protest escalated into the second intifada. Deadly confrontations also took place in July after Israel installed metal detectors at the complex's entrance after Arab-Israeli gunmen killed two Israeli policemen there. Source: Reuters Advertisement

No Israelis have been wounded and the military has faced criticism over the use of live fire.

Israel says it only opens fire when necessary to stop infiltrations, attacks and damage to the border fence, while accusing Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the blockaded Gaza Strip, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out violence.

On Sunday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya traveled to Cairo for talks amid speculation over whether Egypt is attempting to calm the situation.

The embassy move has provoked Palestinian anger and led them to freeze ties with the White House.

Jerusalem's status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

In the decades since 1967, international consensus has been that the city's status must be negotiated between the two sides, but Trump broke with that to global outrage.

He has argued that it helps make peace possible by taking Jerusalem 'off the table', but many have pointed out he has not announced concessions in return from Israel.

'Tragically, the US administration has chosen to side with Israel's exclusivist claims over a city that has for centuries been sacred to all faiths,' the general delegation of the Palestine Liberation Organisation to the United States said.

The US Embassy move 'gives life to a religious conflict instead of a dignified peace,' it said in a statement.

Meanwhile, 54 Palestinians have been killed in protests and clashes since March 30 along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel. Protesters have denounced the impending US embassy move to Jerusalem during multiple demonstrations

Around 1,000 police officers will be positioned around the US embassy and surrounding neighborhoods, including the Gaza Strip (protesters pictured on Friday), for Monday's inauguration, said spokesman Micky Rosenfeld

Israel's army said it would almost double the number of troops surrounding the Gaza Strip and in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian protesters drag a burning tire during a protest at the Gaza Strip

An Israeli man confronts a Palestinian woman at Damascus gate in Jerusalem on Sunday, as Israeli nationalist settlers celebrate the Jerusalem Day in the Old City
A recently retired NYPD chief has said it should come as no surprise if more women come forward accusing ex-New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, pictured, of assault

More women may come forward to accuse Eric Schneiderman of assault, a former NYPD chief has revealed.

Four women have already accused the former New York state attorney general of physically assaulting them during romantic encounters since allegations were first reported last week.

On Sunday recently-retired New York police chief Robert Boyce said no one should be surprised if the list of accusers grows.

'Other people might come forward now,' Boyce, who left the New York Police Department last month, told ABC's Up Close.

'We've seen this in the [Harvey] Weinstein investigation, where other people came forward when we started investigating [complaints by] one or two people.'

Ironically, Schneiderman had filed a civil rights lawsuit against Weinstein and his company in February after more than 80 women accused the film mogul of sexual misconduct.

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On Sunday Robert Boyce, pictured, said he thinks more women may come forward to accuse Schneiderman of assault after four women made allegations against him last week

The 63-year-old divorced father-of-one has been accused of hitting and choking at least four women during romantic encounters. He has said denied ever assaulting any of the accusers but resigned three hours after an article about the allegations was published online

Two of Schneiderman's previous romantic partners, Michelle Manning Barish, left, and Tanya Selvaratnam, right, spoke about the politician's alleged abuse on the record last week

Two of the women who have accused 63-year-old Schneiderman of assault went on record in the New Yorker article that broke the story on May 7.

Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam told the magazine that Schneiderman 'repeatedly hit them, often after drinking, frequently in bed and never with their consent'.

Ironically Schneiderman had recently announced that he was launching a probe into why the Manhattan DA never charged Harvey Weinstein, pictured, for assault after a 2015 incident

Neither filed a police report at the time but both sought medical treatment.

A third former romantic partner, who was not named, shared similar stories of bedroom violence.

A fourth woman, an attorney in New York, said Schneiderman made unwanted advances and then slapped her when she rebuffed him.

In his initial statement to the magazine, Schneiderman said: 'In the privacy of intimate relationships, I have engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity. I have not assaulted anyone. I have never engaged in nonconsensual sex, which is a line I would not cross.'

Within three hours of the article being published, Schneiderman resigned.

'In the last several hours, serious allegations, which I strongly contest, have been made against me,' he said in a statement Monday evening.

'While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the offices work at this critical time. I therefore resign my office, effective at the close of business on May 8, 2018.'

Barish is pictured with Schneiderman in 2015. She has alleged that about a month into their relationship, he slapped and choked her in the bedroom of his Upper West Side apartment

Selvaratnam first met Schneiderman in 2016 at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. She is pictured with him in April 2017

Boyce said he hopes the special prosecutor on the case, Nassau County DA Madeline Singas, will enlist the help of NYPD detectives in her investigation.

He said detectives will try to corroborate the womens' stories with interviews, text messages, emails and other digital information.

He added that if more women do come forward it could help determine if there's a pattern to Schneiderman's alleged behavior, which would assist in building a case against him.

In his initial statement to the New Yorker, Schneiderman said: 'I have engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity. I have not assaulted anyone'

In response to the allegations New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, pictured with Schneiderman in 2014, said: 'No one is above the law, including New York's top legal officer'

On Tuesday the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced that it had opened an investigation into the allegations.

This announcement came just five days after it was revealed that Schneiderman's office was investigating Vance for his decision to not file sexual assault charges in the wake of a 2015 incident involving Harvey Weinstein and Italian model Ambra Battilana.
Club 18-30 - a brand known for cheap holidays full of sun, sex and ridiculous amounts of alcohol - could soon be coming to an end.

Specialising in trips to Malia, Ayia Napa or Magaluf, the brand operated with the fitting slogan of: 'It's go big or go home and only the legendary will do.

At its peak the company was sending around 100,000 people abroad every year and even generated a cult TV series.

Yet millennials today favour holidays that show them in a better light on social media - with passed out drunk photos no longer the look they are going for.

Club 18-30 - a brand known for cheap holidays full of sun, sex and ridiculous amounts of alcohol - could soon be coming to an end

Thomas Cook is reportedly thinking of selling the brand it has owned since 1998 and is said to be exploring options.

The high street tour operator is reacting to a change in the type of vacation young people desire - with most now wanting a holiday good enough to share on sites such as Instagram.

More than half of 18 to 25 year-olds say social media plays a factor when picking a hotel, a report published by the tour operator earlier this month claimed. They call it 'ego travel'.

If the brand is closed it would put an end to more than 50 years of the organisation, which started in 1965, when 580 youngsters were taken to Spains Costa Brava.

The brand grew during the 1980s and was the first overseas holiday for many teenagers without their parents.

By 2001, it boasted its own television show, ITV's Club Reps, which saw groups of 18-30 reps showing holidaymakers around popular destinations.

More than half of 18 to 25 year-olds say social media plays a factor when picking a hotel, a report published by the tour operator earlier this month claimed. They call it 'ego travel'

The brand grew during the 1980s and was the first overseas holiday for many teenagers without their parents

Thomas Cook tried to keep Club 18-30 afloat in recent years by turning its back on salacious advertising campaigns including slogans such as Summer of 69.

It came after five of the organisations holiday reps quit following claims they allegedly took part in live sex acts in the resort of Kavos, Corfu.

Yet despite these attempts to sort out its image, the party has continues with Club 18-30s website promising to be what the summer is all about, no ties, no responsibilities.

However Thomas Cook feels this is no longer what millennials desire and plans to focus its attention on its own-brand hotels.

Cooks Club is its answer. Designed to include better food, music from popular DJs and upmarket cocktails.

Remo Masala, the company's creative director, said: 'It's our opportunity to demonstrate that Thomas Cook is leading the way in bringing a sense of urban cool to the beach.'

The firm is believed to be on the hunt for a buyer for Club 18-30, reports the Times.

Last night, the company said: 'We remain committed to Club 18-30 for summer 2018. However, we are exploring options for the future of the brand, which could include the possibility of a sale.'
Sen. Lindsey Graham blasted the 'terrible joke' a White House aide told about cancer-stricken John McCain and said if his own aide made such an error he would apologize.

Graham, who has traveled the globe with McCain and is one of his closest friends in the Senate, spoke after the White House refused to apologize for the crude remark and press secretary Sarah Sanders fumed about leaks rather than condemning the remark.

Asked if he was satisfied with the White House response, Graham, a South Carolina Republican, responded: 'No, not really.'

He called Kelly Sadler's reported joke about McCain's opposition to Trump CIA pick Gina Haspel 'pretty disgusting.' Sadler reportedly said McCain's opposition didn't matter because 'He's dying anyway,' in reference to the former Vietnam POW with terminal brain cancer.

Sen. Lindsey Graham called White House aide Kelly Sadler's reported joke about Sen. John McCain 'pretty disgusting.'

She later called McCain's daughter Meghan to apologize.

'It's [a] pretty disgusting thing to say. If it was a joke, it was a terrible joke,' Graham told CBS 'Face the Nation.'

'I just wish somebody from the White House would tell the country that was inappropriate -- that's not who we are in the Trump administration.'

Graham continued: 'And John McCain can be criticized for any political decision he's ever made or any vote he's ever cast but he's an American hero. And I think most Americans would like to see the Trump administration do better in situations like this. It doesn't hurt you at all to do the right thing and to be big.'

Graham wouldn't directly call for President Trump to apologize, saying it was 'up to him.'

Arizona Republican Senator John McCain (pictured) is suffering from brain cancer and recuperating after a recent surgery, but could hold the deciding vote as to who becomes CIA director if he is well enough to return to Washington

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders (left) told reporters Friday that communications aide Kelly Sadler (right) still has her job despite mocking Sen. John McCain's battle with cancer, and later defended the aide to other staff

'But if something happened like that in my office-- somebody in my office said such a, such a thing about somebody, I would apologize on behalf of the office,' he said.

McCain suffered excruciating torture at the hands of the North Vietnamese during his years in a prison camp. Haspel ran a secret CIA prison in Thailand where waterboarding occurred, but says she would never restart an interrogation program under her watch if confirmed.

The White House has refused to apologize after a communications aide mocked Republican Senator John McCain's terminal brain cancer, and more leaked details from staff meetings allege staff are standing by her.

Surrogate communications staffer Kelly Sadler reportedly told colleagues in an internal meeting President Donald Trump shouldn't worry about Sen. McCain's opposition to CIA director-designate Gina Haspel's nomination.

'He's dying anyway,' she said.

On Friday, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders would not apologize for the remark, and confirmed to reporters Sadler was still employed at the White House.

'I'm not going to comment on an internal staff meeting,' she said repeatedly.

Despite efforts from the President and senior staff to clamp down on whistleblowers, information from the White House continues to leak to the press.

Later on Friday, Sanders held a meeting with the White House communications team, where she was allegedly more upset about the fact Sadler's comment had leaked, than the comment itself, Axios reported.

Sanders' fury and sadness were said to be visible to those in the room, as she told off staff for sharing the content of internal meetings with the press.

'I know this conversation is going to leak too, and that's just disgusting,' she said.

During the meeting, a senior staff member reportedly stepped forward to defend Sadler's remark.

Strategic communications director Mercedes Schlapp said: 'You can put this on the record... I stand with Kelly Sadler'.

Sanders encouraged the rest of the communications staff to stand behind Sadler, not because of her comment, but because she was the victim of a leak.

A source who was in the meeting told Axios Sanders had told staff Sadler was out of line, but the Press Secretary was angrier about the leak.

She said the leak was 'selfish' and criticized using the press to air internal grievances.

Sanders also reportedly told staff the leak had dampened what was meant to be a good day for the White House, as three American prisoners were freed by North Korea.

McCain has been openly hostile to President Trump's decisions, but Sadler told staff his opinion didn't matter because: 'he's dying anyway'

There was discomfort in the room after Sadler made light of McCain's diagnosis during a communications staff meeting on Thursday, but on Friday senior staff member Mercedes Schlapp said she supported the aide

But she ultimately told a dogged White House press corps that there had been no sacking in the West Wing over the latest scandal to rankle the president.

McCain is recovering from brain surgery in Arizona, and has begun to talk publicly about his wishes for his funeral. He has pointedly said he doesn't want President Donald Trump to attend.

Should he be healthy enough to return to Washington, he could cast a deciding vote in a tough roll call on Haspel's nomination.

Sadler has yet to comment about her flippant jab at McCain. It is not known if either she or the White House has apologized to the McCain family.

A source told the Hill on Thursday Sadler had called McCain's daughter, Megan, but the contents of that phone conversation is not known.

Comments from White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney on Saturday suggest there may not be any public apology forthcoming.

'You have to have some freedom to speak, in a private meeting, candidly,' he told Fox News, calling Sadler's comment a 'bad joke'.

Fellow Republican Mitt Romney said anyone who mocked John McCain only served to 'humiliate themselves'

Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a lengthy comment in defence of John McCain on Saturday

'I'm really disappointed that someone would undermine the President by leaking... clearly the leak was designed to hurt that person.

'It also ignored the harm it would do to the McCain family, which is doubly inconsiderate.'

Republican candidate Mitt Romney shared his anger over Sadler's comments on Twitter, saying anyone who mocked the Arizona Senator 'only humiliate themselves'.

'John McCain makes America great. Father, grandfather, Navy pilot, POW hero bound by honor, an incomparable and irrepressible statesman,' he wrote.

'Those who mock such greatness only humiliate themselves and their silent accomplices.'

McCain was also defended by former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said the comments and the associated fall-out should be a 'wake-up call to all Americans to think about how we speak to each other about our politics'.

The movie star said the war veteran was a 'hero who has given his entire life in service to this country'.

The mother of three is a former opinion editor for The Washington Times. She's married to Frank Sadler, who previously served as 2016 presidential campaign manager for Carly Fiorina  another outspoken Trump critic.

The senator's daughter Meghan, a regular co-host on 'The View,' said on the show Friday that Sadler is unimportant and  unlike her father  won't be remembered for long.

Before confirming Sadler's continued employment on Friday, Sanders initially dodged DailyMail.com's question, refusing to 'validate a leak out of an internal staff meeting, one way or another'

Mrs. Cindy McCain, the senator's wife tweeted a stern message directly to Sadler on Thursday after news of the comment broke

'Kelly, here's a little news flash, and this this may be a bit intense for 11 o'clock in the morning on a Friday,' Meghan McCain declared, but we're all dying. I'm dying, you're dying, we're all dying. ... I really feel like I understand the meaning of life, and it's not how you die, but how you live.'

'The thing that surprised me most,' she continued, 'is I don't understand what kind of environment you're working in where that would be acceptable, and then you can come to work the next day and still have a job.'



'My father's legacy is going to be talked about for hundreds and hundreds of years,' she said. 'These people? Nothingburgers. Nobody's going to remember you.'

On Thursday the senator's wife Cindy hammered Sadler on Twitter, writing: 'May I remind you my husband has a family, 7 children and 5 grandchildren.'

The White House hasn't denied the accuracy of reports about Sadler's comment to a group of two dozen fellow communication staffers. It issued a tepid statement praising the anti-Trump war hero McCain, who has called the president the equivalent of a tinhorn dictator.

'The View' co-host Meghan McCain, the senator's daughter, marveled on Friday that Sadler has been allowed to keep her White House position

Sen. McCain had urged lawmakers to reject Gina Haspel's nomination to lead the CIA, based on her role in the enhanced interrogation program during the Bush Administration

'He has declined to distinguish the actions of our government from the crimes of despotic ones,' McCain writes in his forthcoming memoir. 'The appearance of toughness, or a reality show facsimile of toughness, seems to matter more than any of our values.'

A White House official tried to take the high road, saying in a statement that '[w]e respect Senator McCain's service to our nation and he and his family are in our prayers during this difficult time.'

Trump already has a history of touching a political 'third rail' by publicly bashing Sen. McCain. During a 2015 Republican candidate forum in Iowa, the future president doubted aloud whether McCain was really a war hero.

'He's a 'war hero' because he was captured,' Trump said then, referring to McCain's years undergoing torture as a prisoner of war.

'I like people who weren't captured.'

Minutes later in a scrum of reporters, Trump was asked about the bone spur in his heel that resulted in a medical deferment from the Vietnam War draft.

Which foot was it? Trump said he couldn't remember.
Victoria Atkins has been accused of a conflict of interests over her husband's business

The Government's drugs minister stopped addressing the public on the issue of cannabis after it emerged her husband's business is farming the drug by the acre.

Victoria Atkins was tonight accused of a 'ridiculous conflict of interests' over her spouse Paul Kenward's role as managing director of British Sugar.

British Sugar was granted a Home Office licence to grow cannabis to be used in medicine on a huge 23-acre site in Wissington, Norfolk, in 2016.

The British legally grown crops will eventually be used for epilepsy drug epidiolex in the US, after being developed by the UK company GW Pharmaceuticals.

However, Ms Atkins MP for Louth and Horncastle opposes cannabis law reforms and has spoken out against the class B drug.

The Home Office said the minster had 'voluntarily recused herself from policy or decisions relating to cannabis' according to The Times.

However, campaigners fighting for the legalisation of the drug in the UK have insisted she has not stopped speaking about the issue and claimed she should stand down from the role altogether.

Peter Reynolds, president of Clear, told MailOnline: 'Obviously it is a ridiculous conflict of interests.

British Sugar grows cannabis to be used in epilepsy medicine in the US. It is farmed in Norfolk on a huge legal site after a licence was granted in 2016

'Since November 2017 there are a dozen instances of her speaking about cannabis.

'She should not have been appointed as a Home Office minister. I am sure she is a very able woman but this is a clear conflict of interests.

'She has an extreme view, she talks about it being an extremely dangerous drug that causes misery in communities and says that it has no medicinal value.

'She is a hard-line prohibitionist.'

Mr Kenward's role is not registered in the minister's list of interests, despite rules which state if a close family member has an influential role which relates to the minister's post, it should be declared.

Now it is being suggested the minister will not talk about cannabis, campaigners have questioned her role.

Paul Kenward is the managing director of British Sugar which is growing cannabis for medicinal use in the US

A bill on cannabis reform was narrowly avoided in the House of Commons earlier this year.

Labour MP Paul Flynn attempted to have the issue of medicinal drug use debated in parliament but alleged 'filibustering' from his own Labour Party meant there was no time for the debate.

Steve Moore, of Volteface, a think-tank on drug policy, told The Times: 'The medical use of cannabis and its wider decriminalisation is rising up the political agenda. But we have the ridiculous situation of the drugs minister being unable to speak in parliament or make decisions on one of the most important parts of her job.'

Instead, Nick Hurd, the policing and fire minister has been with answering questions on drugs.

Victoria Atkins MP has been asked to comment.
The event, jointly organised by the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam (CCIFV), the France Alumni Vietnam and the French Embassy in Vietnam, offered over 200 employment opportunities.

According to the French Consul General to Ho Chi Minh City Vincent Floreani, the job festival is a practical activity aimed at strengthening the solidarity and friendship between the two countries on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the Vietnam-France diplomatic ties and five years of their strategic partnership.

Nearly 50 Vietnamese and French firms, in various fields from trade, banking, distribution, accounting-auditing, communications, education, IT, construction, hotels, and tourism, participated in the event.

CCIFV Director Guillaume Crouzet said that the event aimed to create chances for enterprises and recruiters to seek high quality human resources, while providing opportunities for Vietnamese youngsters, especially those who were trained in France or under French programmes in Vietnam.

In addition, workshops were also held to develop capacity of and exchange experience with the applicants.
Kelly Sadler has promised to apologize for her crude remarks about John McCain's deadly brain cancer, according to a new report.

Special Assistant Sadler, who brazenly said in a Thursday meeting that McCain's opposition to Trump's nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel, 'doesn't matter' because 'he's dying anyway,' spoke with Meghan McCain over the phone where she expressed regret about the offensive jokes.

The senator's daughter asked Sadler to issue a public apology, but The View co-host told ABC she assumes that 'will never come.'

On Friday, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders acknowledged Sadler's remarks as inappropriate and declined to comment further during an internal meeting.

Sanders was later said to be visibly upset while speaking on the matter to the White House communications staff.

White House official Kelly Sadler (pictured at the White House on Thursday, March 22, 2018) has yet to publicly apologize over her crude remarks regarding John McCain's declining health

Sadler said Thursday that McCain's opposition to Trump's nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel, 'doesn't matter' because 'he's dying anyway'. The senator is pictured during a special Twilight Tattoo performance November 14, 2017 at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia

Sadler reportedly spoke to Meghan McCain over the phone this weekend to apologize for the crude comments

She was allegedly more infuriated about the fact Sadler's comment had leaked, than the comment itself, Axios reported.

Sanders told off the staff for sharing the content of internal meetings with the press.

'I know this conversation is going to leak too, and that's just disgusting,' Sanders added.

On Sunday, President Trump's national security advisor spoke highly of Senator McCain.

Bolton told Jake Tapper for CNN's State of the Union: 'I wasn't in that meeting, I don't know what was said or what was done. I'll just say this - John McCain came to my defense in 2005 when my nomination to be UN ambassador was under criticism.

'He and I didn't know eachother very well at the time. We certainly didn't agree on every position that he or I had taken, but he spent countless hours trying to help me out,' Bolton said.

'Much of it was behind the scenes and there was no political upside for John McCain at all, but he did it because he thought I was being treated unfairly.'

'I'll never forget it, I'll be grateful forever, and I wish John McCain and his family nothing but the best.'

When Tapper asked Bolton whether he believed the White House felt an obligation to apologize for the remarks, Sadler declined to elaborate.

Trump's national security advisor John Bolton praised John McCain in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday

Bolton however dodged to speak further when ashed questions about a White House official's callous health jokes about McCain

'I wish John McCain and his family nothing but the best,' Bolton said in the interview

He also refused to say whether the United States would punish European companies that do not cease their business operations in Iran by the end of this year.

Companies within affected industries between 90 days and six months to wind down operations in Iran or run the risk of facing stiff penalties now that the United States is no longer a party to an international accord that lifted sanctions on Tehran.

National Security Advisor John Bolton said on CNN that 'it's possible' the Trump administration will impose sanctions on companies that run afoul of the new U.S. policies.

'It depends on the conduct of other governments,' he stated.

European leaders are committed to remaining in the agreement with Tehran that lifted economic sanctions on the Middle Eastern country so long as it abided by the terms of a 2015 nuclear deal.

But a host of companies are now faced with the prospect of doing business with U.S. or protecting their interests in Tehran.

In his remarks announcing the United States' withdraw from the deal, President Trump threatened, 'We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction. Any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States.'

Bolton said in a briefing with reporters immediately after the Tuesday announcement that it would be up to the Treasury Department to determine which affected companies, if any, would get a pass.

British Prime Minister Theresa May raised the issue in a Friday phone call with Trump, a spokesperson for the European leader said.

Bolton refused on Sunday to say whether the United States would punish European companies that do not cease their business operations in Iran by the end of this year

Donald Trump last night tore up the Iran nuclear deal, which could force Britain's biggest businesses out of the country

'The Prime Minister reiterated the Government's position on the Iran nuclear deal, noting that we and our European partners remain firmly committed to ensuring the deal is upheld, as the best way of preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

'The Prime Minister raised the potential impact of US sanctions on those firms which are currently conducting business in Iran.'

Major British businesses with interests in Iran include Rolls-Royce, Vodafone and British Airways. UK companies have invested 450 billion into Tehran since the U.S. and Europe lifted sanctions after the signing of the accord with partners Russia and China.

Finance ministers in France and Germany pushed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to grant extensions or waivers to businesses that made lucrative deals with Tehran in the period that sanctions were lifted.

Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, said European states will also try to impose sanctions-blocking measures through the European Commission.

'Do we accept extraterritorial sanctions? The answer is no,' Le Maire said.

'Do we accept that the United States is the economic gendarme of the planet? The answer is no. Do we accept the vassalization of Europe in commercial matters? The answer is no.'

Le Maire is seeking exemptions for Renault, Total, Sanofi, Danone and Peugeot and other companies already doing business with Tehran.

Trump's new ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, suggested that exemptions were unlikely, saying Thursday, 'German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately.'

European companies did not have an immediate have a reaction to possibility that they would have to cease operations in Iran or be barred from doing business with the U.S. other than to say in statements that they were monitoring the situation.

'We are examining the announcement and its potential implications,' Rolls Royce said. 'We conduct business in all countries, including Iran, in accordance with all relevant UK, EU or other national sanctions and export control regulations.'

British Airways, which operates six flights a week between London Heathrow and Tehran, said, 'We constantly review our network to ensure that our routes match our customers' needs and are commercially viable.  We are in regular contact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.'

Trump's tough talk now on sanctions is at odds with what he told France's Emmanuel Macon and May just six months ago as he moved toward yanking the U.S. out of the deal.

He said in October that he told the allies 'take all the money you can get' from Tehran.

'Actually, Emmanuel called up, and he talked to me. And I said, look, Emmanuel, they just gave Renault a lot of money. Take their money; enjoy yourselves,' Trump said then.

The U.S. president said that the European leaders wanted him to stay in the deal he'd said he'd exit since he was a candidate because of the financial implications of leaving it.

'You know, Iran is spending money in various countries. And I've always said it, and I say to them: Don't do anything. Don't worry about it. Take all the money you can get. They're all friends of mine,' Trump said.
Civil partnerships could be scrapped by the government rather than extended to heterosexuals after a decline in demand following the introduction of same-sex marriages.

The Equalities Office revealed it would consult on the future of civil partnerships before a Supreme Court case starting on Monday which discusses opening them up to heterosexual couples.

Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan, a couple with two young children, are fighting for the right to enter a civil partnership instead of getting married.

Civil partnerships could be scrapped by the government rather than extended to heterosexuals after a decline in demand following the introduction of same-sex marriages

The Equalities Office revealed it would consult on the future of civil partnerships before a Supreme Court case starting on Monday which discusses opening them up to heterosexual couples

The paper, slipped out quietly in parliament, suggests that the demand for civil partnerships has declined since the introduction of same-sex marriages in 2014.

From 2007 to 2013 they averaged at 6,305 but this fell dramatically to just 861 in 2015 and 890 the year after.

The document said: If demand for civil partnerships remains low and this becomes a stable position, this might suggest that same-sex couples no longer see this as a relevant way of recognising their relationship.

The government has requested for the Office for National Statistics to research demand among heterosexual couples for civil partnerships.

In December 2005 the first civil partnerships were created in the UK and this type of union was left in place after same-sex marriage was introduced in England and Wales.

A new inequality was formed from this as heterosexual couples do not have the option of civil partnership.

Steinfeld and Keidan said they favour the union over marriage as it better reflects their relationship as a partnership of equals.

Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan, a couple with two young children, are fighting for the right to enter a civil partnership instead of getting married

Steinfeld and Keidan (right) said they favour the union over marriage. Tim Loughton (left), the MP who looked to extend civil partnerships to heterosexuals, said: There is absolutely no excuse why the government is not getting on with it and equalising civil partnerships'

Couples in civil partnerships have the same rights as married couples regarding tax, pensions and inheritance.

Tim Loughton, the Conservative MP who brought forward a private members bill which looked to extend civil partnerships to heterosexual couples, said: There is absolutely no excuse why the government is not getting on with it and equalising civil partnerships.

There is growing concern among equal rights groups who believe abolishing civil partnerships would be a retrograde step, not least among gay couples who dont want to get married, he told The Sunday Times.

A Government Equalities Office spokesman said: The Government introduced civil partnerships as a way of recognising same sex relationships before same sex marriage was available. We are proud to have now introduced same sex marriage.

We will consult before making changes to the law around civil partnerships. The policy paper published this week will inform and shape a future consultation on civil partnerships.'

Officials will analyse more up-to-date data next summer to decide Whether to phase out or abolish civil partnerships will be decided after officials observe more up-to-date data next summer. No decision will happen before 2020.
Kurdish protesters clashed with riot police today as Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan began a three-day state visit to the UK.

Mr Erdogan will meet with the Queen and Prime Minister Theresa May during his trip - which has sparked criticism from human rights campaigners and politicians.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable condemned the visit as he accused the Turkish leader of having an 'unacceptable disregard for liberal, democratic values'.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, waves to his supporters gathered outside his hotel in London

Kurdish protesters clash with police in Reading as Erdogan appears at an economic forum alongside Prince Andrew

Sir Vince said: 'May's administration appears to have substituted diplomacy for sycophancy in its pursuit of Brexit.

'By permitting a state visit and audience with the Queen, May and Johnson are essentially rolling out the red carpet for a man with a disregard for human rights, who is responsible for alarming oppression and violence.'

Critics condemn the visit based on the Turkish government's oppression of journalists, opposition politicians and human rights campaigners.

Turkey has been involved in conflict with Kurdish separatists for decades as they demand their own state, which would fall partially on Turkish territory.

Ahead of the trip Mr Erdogan called the UK a 'strategic partner and ally' - and said he he wanted to improve trade relations between the two countries.

Violence erupts as riot police on horseback tackle Kurdish protesters near the Turkish-British Tatldil Forum

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine arrive at RAF Brize Norton today as they begin a three-day state visit

'We want to continue our economic relations as the governments of Turkey and the United Kingdom without interruptions after Brexit.'

Erdogan arrived at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire at midday before travelling to Reading where he spoke at the annual Turkish-British Tatldil Forum.

He said Turkey and the UK were 'fighting shoulder to shoulder as responsible nations to defeat terrorism'.

Erdogan started a three-day visit to Britain by praising the country as 'an ally and a strategic partner, but also a real friend'

Erdogan (right) and Prince Andrew (left) shake hands at the seventh session of the Tatldil Forum

In his speech at the forum, which was established in 2011 to produce closer ties between the countries, he said: 'We want to continue our economic relations as the governments of Turkey and the United Kingdom without interruptions after Brexit.'

His aim, he said, is to boost trade from 11.8billion 14.7billion a year.

Mrs May and the Turkish president are set to discuss international issues such as the situation in Cyprus where the two nations act as guarantors.

The Turkish leader will also meet business investors during the visit and speak at the Chatham House think tank.

Prince Andrew and Erdogan pore over an iPhone during the forum

Erdogan has been described as an 'autocrat who inflicts serious harm on his own population'

Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas MP, a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign against a hard Brexit, said earlier this week: 'As we hurtle towards Brexit it's clear that the Government is increasingly willing to cosy up to repressive leaders from across the world.

'President Erdogan is an autocrat, who inflicts serious harm on his own population  yet we've flogged him millions of pounds worth of weapons and now we're inviting him over for tea.

'It would be utterly appalling if Theresa May doesn't take this opportunity to stand up to Erdogan's human rights abuses, and if the only outcome from these meetings was smiling photos with a leader who we're desperately trying to court before the Brexit crunch begins.'
This is the moment a gunman's attempted robbery on young children and families was foiled by a waiting mother - who turned out to be an off-duty armed policewoman.

Dramatic security footage shows a suspect named as Elivelton Neves Moreira, 21, approaching the crowd with a gun outside a private school in Sao Paulo.

But his attempted crime backfired when military police officer Katia da Silva Sastre, 42, pulled out her own weapon and unleashed three shots.

The video shows Moreira, who later died in hospital, falling backwards and clutching his chest before Sastre shoves him on to his front with her foot having thrown her handbag aside on Saturday morning.

Officer Sastre is being hailed a hero for her act of bravery and was honored in a ceremony by Sao Paulo Governor Marcio Franca on Sunday.

The robber, dressed in a black jacket, was seen on a security camera approaching a private school in Sao Paulo before aiming a gun at terrified mothers

Backfire: The robber, identified as Elivelton Neves Moreira, 21, paid the price for his attempted crime when military police officer Katia da Silva Sastre, 42, pulled out a gun and shooting three times

Dramatic footage shows the robber tumbling backwards after being shot by the quick-thinking mother-of-two

Officer Sastre shoved the suspect on to his front using her foot before aiming her weapon at his back. The robber died from his injuries the same day - but Sastre was commended for her actions

Although the suspect died later the same day in the hospital from his injuries, Officer Sastre is still being commended for her actions despite the 'regrettable' outcome.

Writing on Twitter Governor Franca said: 'I went earlier to the 4th BAEP in the east of Sao Paulo to honor a very special mother: Corporal Katia Sastre. Her courage and precision saved mothers and children, yesterday at the door of a school.'

As a thank you for her off-duty valor, the governor then presented her with a purple orchid plant at her police station, fittingly on Brazil's Mother's Day.

Officer Sastre is a mother to two girls, aged seven and two. She has worked on the force for 20 years and is also married to a police lieutenant.

The horrific attack unfolded Saturday as Sastre was waiting for the gates of Ferreira Master school to open.

A bandit, dressed in a black jacket, casually walked up and announced it was a robbery while pointing a .38 revolver at the group of terrified mothers and small children.

The school, in the Jardim dos Ipes suburb of the city, was due to host a Mother's Day party.

Flashpoint: The gun-wielding robber (dressed in black) lunged towards terrified parents outside the school in Brazil

Take down: He had no idea that an armed off-duty police officer was among those on the pavement. Footage shows him falling backwards after being gunned down

The officer, who was at the school with her seven-year-old daughter for a Mother's Day party, could be seen throwing away her bag as she approached the wounded assailant with her gun aimed at his body

Armed response: Officer Sastre ordered the suspect to turn over and pushed him with her foot into a facedown position

Pointing the firearm at the school's security guard and reaching out to grab the man's wallet and phone, the suspect suddenly stopped in his tracks by the officer, who had her gun at the ready after being alerted to the danger by another woman seconds earlier.

Pulling her police issued weapon from her bag, she loads the gun then reacts with speed, stepping forward and firing off three rounds, shooting the assailant in the chest and leg as he tries to fire back.

The armed man falls backwards onto the zebra crossing and releases two shots in the process as he hits the ground. The first one ricochets off the ground hitting no one, and the second jams in the weapon.

Sastre quickly backs away out of the line of fire then goes over to the injured suspect who is rolling around on the ground in agony crying out for help. She kicks away his weapon before picking it up.

Sastre, pictured, is a mother to two girls, aged seven and two, and is married to a police lieutenant

Sastre, who had gone to the event with her seven-year-old daughter, told colleagues: 'I didn't know if he was going to shoot the kids or the mothers or the security guard at the school door.

'I just thought about defending the mums, the children, my own life and my daughter's.'

Approaching the wounded assailant while still pointing her gun, she throws her bag to one side, orders the suspect to turn over and pushes him with her foot into a facedown position, then pins him down while waiting for medical help and backup to arrive.

Speaking on her act of valor she said: 'I had to act quickly to end his aggression and prevent him from harming anyone. I reverted to the training I have received in the corporation.

'It's gratifying to have been in the right place to have saved all our lives,' she added revealing she was first warned of the danger when a woman, in a grey dress, hurriedly walked past and pointed backwards saying a robbery had just taken place behind her.

Moments later the gunman appeared.

Husband of officer Sastre, military police lieutenant Andre Alves said to Folha de Sao Paulo: 'The suspect's gun fired once, but it is not known whether or not it was before Katia fired.

'The first shot ricocheted and got lost. On his second attempt at firing, the weapon locked. Thankfully she was faster than him, because when a thug discovers (their opponent) is a police officer, he shoots to kill.'

Governor Franca commended Sastre saying she had shown 'dexterity, technique and courage.'

Officer Sastre, who has two daughters, was presented with flowers by Sao Paulo Governor Marcio Franca, pictured second right, on Sunday - Mother's Day in Brazil

Katia da Silva Sastre, 42, pictured left, is honored for her actions after rounding on a gunman who threatened to shoot outside a school in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Saturday

Speaking of Officer Sastre's heroic act the Governor said: 'Her courage and precision saved mothers and children, yesterday at the door of a school'

He explained the 'homage was made because it's Mother's Day and because she is a mum.

'She went to the party to celebrate the date and a situation like this happened. She acted so precisely, so perfectly, that we decided to honour her,' the governor told Folha.

Public security secretary, Maggie Alves said: 'She pushed the children out of the way and approached the thief. She shoots, the boy shoots, the boy tries to shoot at her leg. She immobilizes the boy and calls the (emergency services). It was a perfect procedure from a technical point of view.'

However, governor Franca lamented the outcome as 'sad and regrettable'.

'It is not ideal that the suspect died. We would have preferred this had not happened. But it is a warning to those who take up a gun that they could be killed because our security professionals are well trained to protect the public,' he said.
Donald Trump Jr. and estranged wife Vanessa put their divorce to the side to celebrate Mother's Day and eldest daughter Kai's birthday on Saturday.

Vanessa and Don Jr. filed for divorce back in March but have made a point of putting up a united front on holidays for the sake of their five children, Kai, 11, Donald III, nine, Tristan, six, Spencer, five, and Chloe, three.

The couple was spotted with the eldest three children piling into two cars in New York City on Saturday afternoon.

It's unclear whether the youngest kids went on the outing with them.

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Donald Trump Jr. and estranged wife Vanessa put their divorce to the side to celebrate Mother's Day and eldest daughter Kai's birthday this weekend in New York City

Mom Vanessa walked alongside her eldest daughter Kai, whose 11th birthday was on Saturday. The family decided to move their Mother's Day celebration up a day to combine both holidays

Sons Donald III, nine, Tristan, six, followed behind Vanessa and Don Jr. brought up the rear

Despite having celebrated Mother's Day one day early, Don Jr. paid tribute to the mother of his children in a set of social media posts on Sunday.

He posted photos of the family on Instagram and Twitter with the caption: 'Happy Mothers Day to the best mom in the world. Vanessa enjoy your day, youve certainly earned it dealing with those 5 munchkins and me. #mothersday #mom #momlife.'

The president's son, 40, and the former model, 40, have been married for 12 years.

Donald Trump Jr., 40, posted the photo above to Instagram and Twitter with the caption: 'Happy Mothers Day to the best mom in the world. Vanessa enjoy your day, youve certainly earned it dealing with those 5 munchkins and me. #mothersday #mom #momlife'

The couple filed for divorce on March 15 but have tried to put on a united front for their five children, Kai, 10, Donald III, nine, Tristan, six, Spencer, five, and Chloe, three

Don Jr. and Vanessa were introduced by Donald Trump Sr in 2003 and were married in 2005

They filed for divorce on March 15 but the separation appears to have been amicable, as the two have been seen at events and family outings several times in the past two months

The couple were introduced at a fashion show in 2003 by Donald Sr.

They got married in 2005 and welcomed their first child, daughter Kai, in 2007.

It's unclear what ultimately led the couple to file for divorce on March 15, but there are rumors that Vanessa had learned her husband was having an affair with former Danity Kane member Aubrey O'Day.

Last week it was reported that Don Jr. had started dating Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, 49.

The Trump family outing on Sunday was one of the first times the couple have been photographed together since they filed for divorce on March 5

It's unclear whether the youngest children, Spencer, five, and Chloe, three were on the outing

The 40-year-old former model is pictured with daughters Kai, 10, right, and Chloe, three, left

Vanessa is pictured with her two eldest children, daughter Kai and son Donald III, nine, who goes by Donnie

Don Jr., left, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, right, were recently spotted at parties and restaurants across New York City and have reportedly been dating for the past few weeks

On Saturday news broke that Vanessa had almost married a Saudi Prince before she met Don Jr.

According to a report, Vanessa dated Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud for three years and the two even lived together before they broke-up shortly after 9/11.

The prince left the country after the terrorist attack as reports later cited that his Saudi ambassador father, Bandar bin sultan Al Saud, had indirect ties to Al Qaeda, according to CNN.

Before dating the prince, Vanessa dated Latin Kings member Valentin Rivera.

The high school sweethearts were together for five years, even during the time that Rivera served time in jail.

That relationship ended in 1998 when Vanessa reportedly got close to actor Leonardo Di Caprio.

Vanessa Trump nearly married Saudi prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, whom she dated from 1998 to 2001 before they broke up after the 9/11 terror attacks

Before dating the prince, Vanessa had a five year relationship with Latin King Valentin Rivera

Don Jr.'s father also posted a Mother's Day tribute on Sunday praising his 'incredible' mom, making no mention of wife Melania.

'This Sunday is one of the most important days of the year. It's a special opportunity to thank all of the mothers and grandmothers in our lives,' Trump said in a heartfelt video.

Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was Scottish-born and emigrated to New York in 1930.

'I learned so much from my mother. She was just incredible, warm, loving, really smart, could be tough if she had to be, but basically she was a really nice person,' he said.

'So much of what I've done and so much of what I've become is because of my mother. I miss her a lot.'

Trump added: 'America's strength has come from the love, courage and devotion of our mothers'.

President Trump posted a tribute to his 'incredible' mom Mary Anne MacLeod on Sunday for Mother's Day, making no mention of his wife Melania
President Donald Trump tweeted that Iran will no longer continue its 'bad behavior' now that he is pulling the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal and vowing to confront the regime.

Trump made the prediction in a Sunday afternoon tweet, following a week when Iranian lawmakers angered by the U.S. pullout set fire to a paper U.S. flag.

Iran has intervened in Syria's civil war on the side of president Bashar al-Assad, and last week Israeli and Iranian backed forces exchanged fire after what Israel said was an Iranian attack on its positions in the Golan Heights.

'Remember how badly Iran was behaving with the Iran Deal in place,' Trump tweeted. 'They were trying to take over the Middle East by whatever means necessary. Now, that will not happen!' the president said.

'Remember how badly Iran was behaving with the Iran Deal in place,' Trump tweeted on Sunday

Trump has long complained about how Iran was able to flex its influence as a result of the Iraq war, which ended up installing a pro-Iranian Shiite government in Iraq.

Under President Obama, the U.S. and five other nations sought to neutralize the Iranian nuclear program despite its continued support for terrorism and other violations of international norms.

Obama argued that it made sense to deal with the nuclear issue as a separate matter in order to try to achieve some progress.

Last week, Trump announced the U.S. was pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, angering U.S. allies Britain and France, who say they will try to keep the deal going.

Iran immediately announced it would increase its nuclear enrichment.

On Wednesday, Iranian lawmakers burned a paper U.S. flag inside their parliament and shouted 'Death to America.'

Trump's national security advisor John Bolton told CNN the U.S. may sanction European companies that continue to do business with Iran. 'It's possible. It depends on the conduct of other governments,' Bolton said.

Donald Trump last night tore up the Iran nuclear deal, which could force Britain's biggest businesses out of the country

New CIA director Mike Pompeo said he was 'hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well.'

European leaders are committed to remaining in the agreement with Tehran that lifted economic sanctions on the Middle Eastern country so long as it abided by the terms of a 2015 nuclear deal.

Trump warned Iran last month at a press conference with French President Emanuel Macron not to threaten the U.S. with nuclear weapons or it would pay 'a price like few countries have ever paid.'

Donald Trump's national security advisor refused on Sunday to say whether the United States would punish European companies that do not cease their business operations in Iran by the end of this year

A host of companies are now faced with the prospect of doing business with U.S. or protecting their interests in Tehran.

In his remarks announcing the United States' withdraw from the deal, President Trump threatened, 'We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction. Any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States.'

Bolton said in a briefing with reporters immediately after the Tuesday announcement that it would be up to the Treasury Department to determine which affected companies, if any, would get a pass.

British Prime Minister Theresa May raised the issue in a Friday phone call with Trump, a spokesperson for the European leader said.
An international manhunt is underway for a second suspect in the alleged kidnapping of a 12-year-old boy

An international manhunt is underway for a second suspect in the alleged kidnapping of a 12-year-old boy, who police believe was snatched over his father's $4million gambling debts.

The child was allegedly bundled into a car outside his Gold Coast home on Friday, in an abduction which may be linked to a global extortion racket.

Witnesses told detectives they saw two men in the car, which was intercepted south in Grafton on Saturday following a tip-off from a member of the public.

One of the men was arrested and will face court on Monday morning, as police widen their search for the second man.

'There's going to be so much more to this story. We're only just scratching the surface,' a detective told The Courier Mail.

The child was allegedly bundled into a car outside his Gold Coast home on Friday afternoon

The youngster has been reunited with his family, who were involved in a financial dispute with the man, police say.

The child was treated for scratches 'consistent with being bound', Detective Inspector Marc Hogan said over the weekend.

The 53-year-old suspect had allegedly fallen out with the boy's family over 'substantial' personal loans.

Officers are expected to apply for his extradition in Grafton Local Court on Monday, after which he is due to be formally charged with kidnapping for ransom.

Detective Inspector Marc Hogan told media other people could be involved, when asked if they are looking for more people.

'There is some information that we are continuing to evolve and investigate in regards to the possibility of other persons involved,' he said.

'We are not at the stage of discussing that at this point, because it would be possibly wrong for me to do that.

'But certainly our investigators are going to run it out as far as we can to make sure that anyone who may have been involved is held to account.'

Police will allege the kidnapping was part of an extortion attempt to settle a gambling debt racked up by the boy's father, believed to be about $4 million
The head of MI5 has launched a blistering attack on Russia, accusing Vladimir Putin's regime of 'bare-faced lying', 'criminal thuggery' and a 'cynical and distasteful' disinformation campaign after the chemical weapons attack in Salisbury.

In the first public speech outside Britain by a serving head of MI5, Andrew Parker said Britain did not want to escalate tensions with Moscow but that a series of recent 'aggressive and pernicious' actions directed by the Kremlin were unacceptable.

He told European security chiefs that the Salisbury poisonings were a deliberate and malign act that risked turning Russia into a 'more isolated pariah'.

And he launched a strident attack on the 'fog of lies, half truths and obfuscation' that pours out of Mr Putin's propaganda machine.

Andrew Parker, Director General of MI5, has launched a scathing verbal assault on Russia as he addressed European security chiefs in Berlin

Mr Parker's speech in Berlin is the first time he has spoken publicly since the attempted assassination of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in March.

The attack - carried out with a novichok nerve toxin which, police believe, was smeared on the former double agent's front door - marked the first use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War.

Mr Parker said: 'The reckless attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal using a highly-lethal nerve agent put numerous lives at risk, including that of his daughter.

'The attack was swiftly followed by a cynical and distasteful information campaign to sow confusion and doubt.

'The Russian state's media outlets and representatives propagated at least 30 so-called explanations in their efforts to mislead the world and their own people.'

He added: 'Whatever nonsense they conjure up, the case is clear.'

Mr Parker listed Putin's methods as 'blending media manipulation, social media disinformation and distortion, along with new and old levels of espionage, cyber attacks and criminal thuggery'.

He said Putin's machine pumped out ' a torrent of lies' after the chemical weapons attack on civilians in Syria.

Former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were exposed to military grade nerve agent Novichok in Salisbury. Russia is believed to be behind the poisoning

The MI5 director-general also urged the UK and Europe to work together to deal with an unrelenting international terrorist threat and rising state aggression.

His words are likely to be interpreted as a warning to Brussels to agree a post-Brexit deal on security co-operation.

That has been in growing doubt amid a row over whether Britain will still be allowed to participate in the EU's multi-billion pound Galileo global navigation satellite project.

But Mr Parker reserved his toughest language for Russia, saying Mr Putin's government is pursuing an agenda through aggressive and pernicious actions by its military and intelligence services.

He accusef the Kremlin of flagrant breaches of international rules, warning that the Salisbury attack was a 'deliberate and targeted malign activity'.

Forensic officers searching the area around the bench where former Soviet Spy Sergei Skripal fell ill in March

UK security forces have thwarted TWELVE terror attacks in a year since the Westminster Bridge atrocity, MI5 chief reveals The security services have foiled 12 terror plots since the Westminster attack last March, MI5 chief Andrew Parker has reveal. Emphasising the scale of the job facing counter-terrorism officials, the MI5 director-general said Islamic State continues to plot devastating attacks. He told EU spies in Berlin that 25 attacks have been disrupted on UK soil since the murder of Lee Rigby in 2013. Pointing to 45 attacks across Europe since 2016, Mr Parker warned of an 'intense and unrelenting international terrorist threat'. He said he is 'confident about our ability to tackle these threats, because of the strength and resilience of our democratic systems, the resilience of our societies and the values we share with our European partners'. The thwarted attacks include alleged plans to carry out carnage at tourist attractions, pop concerts and government buildings. Plots have also included knife and vehicle rampages across the country. Mr Parker's comments come ahead of the first anniversary of the bombing at Manchester Arena that killed 22. Advertisement

Britain's security agencies are still trying to identify those individuals behind the attack. It is understood there are several persons of interest who are back in Moscow and may have been in the UK at the time of the poisoning.

Mr Parker, who has been head of the security service since 2013, also condemned the unprecedented level of Russian disinformation following the attack, saying it highlights the need 'to shine a light through the fog of lies, half-truths and obfuscation that pours out of their propaganda machine'.

In the wake of the attack, Theresa May said 'Kremlin inspired' accounts were posting lies as 'part of a wider effort to undermine the international system'.

Mr Parker, however, praised the international response to the incident in his speech at today's event, hosted by Germany's BfV domestic intelligence service.

He noted that 28 European countries agreed to support the UK in expelling scores of Russian diplomats.

Earlier this year the Prime Minister set out her 'unconditional' determination to agree a comprehensive new agreement on European security co-operation post Brexit.

But since then, she has been locked in a bitter row with the EU over its bid to evict Britain from the Galileo programme. Galileo is the EU's rival to the American GPS system and is used by the British military to navigate.

As a result, Britain has warned the EU it could go it alone and build its own navigational satellite system.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied all involvement in the Skripal poisoning case but MI5 chief Andrew Parker is set to publicly blame him

Mr Parker, who is first head of MI5 to give a public speech outside the UK, underlined the importance of security co-operation across the continent. He stated that 'European intelligence co-operation today is simply unrecognisable to what it looked like five years ago'.

Mr Parker spelled out why an effective security partnership between the UK and Europe is more operationally vital than ever before. He said 'in today's uncertain world we need that shared strength more than ever'.

He described how the Counter Terrorism Group, which is made up of 30 European domestic security services, is the 'largest multinational counter-terrorism enterprise in the world'. This is where 'real-time intelligence sharing' involves 'thousands of exchanges on advanced secure networks every week'.

Last year, Mrs May's national security adviser, Mark Sedwill, said the threat from Moscow was worse than ever imagined. He warned that it was intensifying and diversifying.
Homeless EU migrants are set to receive payouts of thousands of pounds in compensation following a row over deportation.

Ministers will have to compensate rough sleepers who were illegally detained and kicked out of the country.

The Home Office said no further action was being taken against European citizens for rough sleeping after the policy of deporting them was declared illegal by the courts.

In the year to May 2017, 698 homeless EU nationals were targeted and removed from the country. Law firms say at least 45 are pursuing claims that run into the thousands of pounds.

Tomas Lusas (pictured) has won damages for wrongful deportation totaling more than 10,000

Tomas Lusas from Lithuania was arrested by immigration officers in 2016 after sleeping rough in London. 'One morning I was woken up in my sleeping bag,' he told the BBC. 'There were six or seven officers and they said 'Home Office'. They took my ID. Two minutes later I was in handcuffs. Two minutes after that I was in a van. I was shouting 'I'm gonna lose my job if you arrest me today.

'But nobody listened to me. Nobody allowed me to explain why I was sleeping rough.'

Mr Lusas refused to sign his removal papers and was detained at Brook House immigration centre in Gatwick for 19 days.

'It was like being in jail,' he said. 'Your freedom is taken away. And what kills you is that you don't know the end of your sentence. I've spent nine years of my life in England and I didn't want to leave just because I was sleeping rough.'

Mr Lusas appealed against his deportation and was successful. He was later awarded more than 10,000 in damages.

EU migrants who are rough sleeping can be deported only if they arrived in a country with the intention of rough sleeping.

But immigration enforcement teams were targeting rough sleepers even if they were in work or had a permanent right of residence.

The policy was halted after a judicial review in December ruled it to be unlawful and discriminatory.

Leonie Hirst, an immigration and public law barrister, said anyone from the EU or the European Economic Area who had been detained or deported in similar circumstances could now make a claim. The EU law is clear and very robust, but the policy was a very flimsy attempt to misuse the law, simply to meet immigration targets,' she said.

'It is highly unlikely, particularly given that people were targeted who were working, that this policy has done anything except cost significant amounts of public money.'

Miss Hirst said she had heard evidence that immigration teams were working to quotas.

Mrs Justice Lang ruled in the High Court that the Government was wrong to use raids on locations where European citizens were sleeping rough to verify whether they had the right to be in the country.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'No one should ever have to sleep rough, and this Government is determined to break the homelessness cycle.

'Local projects across the country are working with non-British rough sleepers, helping them find employment and accommodation or return home where appropriate.

'We have ceased all relevant investigation and action on the immigration status of EEA citizens because of rough sleeping. Complaints or claims for compensation will be considered on a case-by-case basis.'
Ruthles gangs are using refrigerated lorries to smuggle migrants into the UK, the National Crime Agency has warned.

Organised networks are cashing in on those desperate to get into the country by any means, the NCA said in a report.

Investigators at the 'British FBI' said gangs are making millions from the closure of migrant camps at Calais and Dunkirk which has had little impact on the activities of 'professional' criminals.

The NCA report said there are around 4,600 organised crime groups in the UK (stock image)

NCA chiefs said illegal migration remains one of the most serious crime threats the UK faces, with people smugglers continuing to favour hard-sided refrigerated lorries despite the risk of suffocation and hypothermia.

Organised gangs are also illegally bringing people into the country by air under false documentation, the report warned.

They may be taking advantage of more than 3,000 small airstrips, many of them with no security or controls.

Intelligence reveals organised crime groups have spent significant money buying or hiring aircraft.

'The UK has over 3,000 airstrips, presenting opportunities for criminals to use general aviation to exploit the UK border,' its NCA assessment says.

'It is highly likely that organised crime groups will continue to use general aviation in order to facilitate the illegal entry of migrants.'

Smaller airfields in rural areas have very limited security to stop the smuggling or drugs and people.

Lorries drive along a protection fence, preventing access to a circular road leading to the port of Calais, next to the Jungle. Small aircraft have also been used by smugglers

The NCA also warns the UK's 11,000 miles of coastline, with over 950 ports, harbours and marinas, presents a challenge.

'Organised crime groups facilitating illegal migrants will continue to be an issue for the UK,' the report said.

In a disturbing overview of crime threatening the nation, the NCA report said there are around 4,600 organised crime groups in the UK.

Meanwhile analysts identified a growing number of guns smuggled in from Eastern Europe and the Balkan states.

The UK remains a prime destination for foreign 'politically exposed persons' to launder proceeds of corruption. Officials said that they are attracted by a small number of corrupt accountants, lawyers and other professionals who can help hide their illegal assets.

The ubiquity of mobile phones in jails is also letting gangsters continue to run their empires from behind bars.
* US President Donald Trump on May 12 praised Pyongyang's announcement to dismantle its nuclear test site, saying it was "a very smart and gracious gesture." The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced earlier on May 12 that it will hold a ceremony for the dismantling of its nuclear test site on May 23-25, taking a step forward towards the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

* Israeli fighter jets on May 12 night launched intensive airstrikes on military targets and facilities that belong to Islamic Hamas movement in the town of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza Strip with no injuries reported, medical sources said.

* Iraqis voted on May 12 for the first time since the defeat of Islamic State. Turnout was 44.52 percent with 92 percent of the votes counted, the Independent High Electoral Commission said, significantly lower than in previous elections. Results are due to be officially announced on May 14.

* Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif embarks on a tour of world powers on May 12, state media reported, in what is seen as a last-ditch effort to save Tehran's nuclear deal after Washington's withdrawal from the accord.

* US President Donald Trump said on May 12 that Congress must have a deal to fund the federal government before the summer break in August or lawmakers would have to stay in Washington. In a tweet, Trump also said the funding bill should include money to build a wall on the border with Mexico.

* Israel closed a main border crossing with the Gaza Strip and destroyed a Hamas militant tunnel on May 12, a day after renewed violence between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces on the edge of the coastal enclave.

* Europe needs to do more to end the war in Syria, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on May 12 as she received a peace award from Franciscan monks in the birthplace of St. Francis.

* An Italian tribunal has lifted a ban on veteran centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi from holding public office, meaning he could run to be prime minister in the next national election.

* The foreign ministers of Greece and Macedonia held "hardworking and intense" talks on May 12 to bridge their differences in a decades-old dispute over the name of the former Yugoslav Republic that has complicated its hopes of joining the EU and NATO.

* Egypt's top court upheld on May 12 jail terms from seven to 10 years against 65 loyalists of the currently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group over committing acts of violence in 2013 in the capital Cairo, official MENA news agency reported.

* The World Health Organization (WHO) said on May 12 that the diphtheria outbreak has killed at least 91 people in war-torn Yemen since late October.
Meghan Markle's mother was spotted returning home from a shopping run in Los Angeles, just a week before her daughter is set to tie the knot with Prince Harry.

Doria Ragland looked cool and casual as she unloaded her groceries from her car in front of her home on Saturday.

The stylish mother sported an aqua shirt, gray vest, navy jeans and grey booties as she ran errands.

Shopping day! Meghan Markle's mother was spotted after a shopping run in Los Angeles

Doria Ragland looked cool and casual as she unloaded her groceries from her car on Saturday

For her errands run she sported an aqua shirt, gray vest, navy jeans and grey booties

She was seen taking groceries out of the trunk of her car and into her Los Angeles home

That same day she was seen accepting a 'peace offering' pot of flowers, left outside her home by her ex-husband Thomas Markle.

His flower offering follows his staged photograph stint, where Mr Markle was caught collaborating with a British paparazzi photographer to stage a series of pictures, despite pleas from Prince Harry for media to leave his future father-in-law alone.

He was caught on CCTV willingly posing for faked photographs that were been sold to newspapers around the world.

Together with other pictures taken with his co-operation, they will have netted up to $130,000 (100,000).

Mr Markle, 73, married Ms Ragland in 1979 but were divorced nine years later when their daughter Meghan was just six.

The stylish mother ran household errands days before her daughter will marry Prince Harry

That same day she was spotted accepting a 'peace offering' pot of flowers left by her ex husband Thomas Markle on her doorstep

It is not clear when she and Thomas Markle will head out to London for their daughter's big day

She finished off her errands by closing the front gate of her home before heading inside

This coming Saturday Ragland will watch her daughter walk down the aisle at Windsor Castle

'Thomas is clearly trying to work his charm on Doria before the wedding,' a source told the Sun.

'With the eyes of the world on them both, it makes sense. There have been various squabbles in Meghans wider family, but her mum and dad have remained largely silent and both want to do their absolute best for her.'

After leaving the 'peace offering' Mr Markle is believed to have returned his house in Rosarito, Mexico.

Ms Markles parents have yet to visit London yet even with the royal wedding only being one week away.

On Saturday Mr Markle will walk his daughter Meghan, 36, down the aisle at Winsdor Castle.

The Queen and Prince Philip will be visited by the couple days before the Windsor Castle ceremony.

Doria Ragland and Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games closing ceremony in September 2017

They will also meet Prince Charles and Camilla, best man Prince William and Kate.

Kensington Palace announced that Markle Sr would be walking Meghan, 36, down the aisle when she marries Prince Harry  ending months of speculation over whether he will attend.

Ms Ragland will also be at St. George's Chapel for the nuptials and will travel to the picturesque 14th Century church in a car with her daughter on the day.

Last week Kensington Palace said: 'Its very important to Ms Markle that her parents have roles in her wedding.'

The Mr Markle has spent the past week making preparations for his trip to London, including getting measured for a suit and visiting a pharmacy in his adopted hometown.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith

Peers were accused last night of a cynical attempt to undermine Press freedom by forcing MPs to vote again on a defeated amendment to a Bill.

Tory MPs accused the Lords of trying to split the Government vote by picking off the Democratic Unionist Party, which has an agreement to back the Conservatives.

A new amendment to the Data Protection Bill by crossbench peer Baroness Hollins makes concessions for the Northern Irish party so it has no incentive to vote with the Government.

But MPs said the attempt would fail and that the Upper House had no right to pervert the nature of the Bill.

The Lords will vote today on whether to open a new version of the Leveson inquiry on Press standards and regulation. It could represent a fresh threat to Press freedom if it is backed by the Upper House, as expected, and returned to the Commons.

Yesterday, Tory MPs reacted with fury at the attempt by the Lords to muzzle the free Press with a new inquiry.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said: This is a really cynical and sad attempt to pervert the nature of this Bill. Weve had a vote on this issue in Parliament and it was a victory for the Government.

This is another example of the unelected, unrepresentative Lords challenging the authority of the Commons. They do not have the right to mess around with legislation for ideological reasons.

This will feed the general view which is gathering pace that it is time to call time on the Lords. It is yet another attempt by the Establishment to shackle the free Press.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, who made a rousing speech about Press freedom during the Commons debate on former Labour leader Ed Milibands original amendment, said: If Lady Hollinss amendment were passed, it would be giving in to the vested interests of the rich and powerful to punish newspapers which had exposed their peccadilloes.

Writing in The Sun, he added: It would deter the Press from such fearless reporting in future and would be an attack on one of our most ancient and precious freedoms, a pillar of our constitution. He said fundamental questions would arise about the Lords if it became a cheerleader for censorship.

Baroness Hollinss amendment could be passed if approved by the Lords and Jeremy Corbyn whips Labour MPs to vote for it in the Commons

Senior crossbench peer Lord Bew also said he was very uneasy about attempts to open a new version of the Leveson inquiry, saying: I have a very strong bias in favour of Press freedom.

On Wednesday, MPs voted by 304 to 295 to block the establishment of a new version of the inquiry in a humiliation for Mr Miliband, who tabled it.

Despite the defeat, Baroness Hollins made fresh demands on Friday for a new inquiry. Her bid has an exemption for local and regional newspapers, so any new regulations may apply to national titles only.

Crucially, the new amendment has a clause designed to discourage the DUP from voting with the Government. Mr Milibands amendment was defeated with the support of the party, which was promised its own inquiry into the Northern Irish media in return for siding with the Tories.

The MPs, who struck an agreement to vote with the Government after the election, were given guarantees by Culture Secretary Matt Hancock.

But the clause removes the incentive for the DUP to vote against the Bill, potentially causing a headache for Theresa May.

Baroness Hollinss amendment could be passed if approved by the Lords and Jeremy Corbyn whips Labour MPs to vote for it in the Commons.

It is another bid by the Lords to impose a policy that has been rejected by the Commons, after weeks of attempts by peers to frustrate Brexit by inflicting 14 defeats on the Government.
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The devastated father of four children killed in the Margaret River massacre believes he knows why their grandfather, the suspected gunman, shot them dead as they lay in their beds.

The bodies of Peter Miles, 61, his 58-year-old wife Cynda, their daughter Katrina, 35, and her four autistic children with estranged partner Aaron Cockman - Taye, 13, Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn Cockman, 8 - were found at the Miles' Osmington property in Western Australia on Friday.

Mr Cockman said Peter had lost a son who took his own life years ago, and couldn't bear the thought of losing the other, Neil, who is gravely ill with a kidney illness.

'There's no way possible he can lose another son. He's just gone ''right... I can't live anymore so this is it for me. But I need to take out everyone with me because that will fix the whole problem'',' Mr Cockman said.

'And he's fixed the whole problem.'

Aaron Cockman (pictured), the devastated father of four children killed in the Margaret River massacre, has revealed why he believes their grandfather, the suspected gunman, shot them dead as they lay in their beds

The bodies of Peter Miles, 61, his 58-year-old wife Cynda, their daughter Katrina, 35, and her four children were found at the Miles' Osmington property in Western Australia on Friday

Peter Miles (second from left in suit and blue tie) is suspected of shooting dead his wife, Cynda, (back right), his daughter Katrina Miles (left in red dress) and her four autistic children aged from 8 to 13 (pictured) before shooting himself

Mr Cockman had been embroiled in a bitter dispute with Katrina about access to the children, who were home-schooled. He blamed Peter and Cynda for the tension and said they 'cut me off from my kids'.

'I used to drive around town just hoping to see them - but that anger I felt is gone. If it wasn't for Kat's parents... I would still be with her. I miss her so much, let alone the kids,' Mr Cockman revealed.

He said the apparent murder-suicide was 'totally' Peter's decision and speculated about the pressure that had mounted on him in the lead-up to the tragedy.

'Peter didn't snap. He's thought this through. I think he's been thinking this through for a long time,' he said.

'All these kids died peacefully in their beds. The [police officer] that went through, he said they looked all peaceful.

'How the hell Peter did that I still can't figure out, but if someone did it ... he did a good job, he did a really good job.'

An emotional Mr Cockman revealed the last time he saw his four children alive was when he took them to see The Avengers in the nearby town of Busselton two weeks ago.

Grieving father Aaron Cockman, whose four children, estranged wife and mother-in-law were shot dead inside their rural home, has broken his silence about the tragedy

Three generations were found shot dead at the rural farm in Osmington, 15km east of Margaret River in Western Australia, including Katrina Miles and her four children (pictured together) aged between 8 and 13

'Peter didn't snap. He's thought this through. I think he's been thinking this through for a long time,' Mr Cockman claimed

Mr Cockman said his parent-in-laws were not the 'people you want to get on the wrong side of', and that before being cut off from his children, he and Mr Miles were best friends.

The pair worked together side-by-side at a farm school where they would butcher sheep carcasses.

'Wed go to the high school farm and cut up sheep together... [Peter] was an awesome man, before all this blew up. I haven't talked to them since they cut me off from my kids, Mr Cockman said.

'I don't feel angry. I feel tremendous sadness for my kids. But I don't want anyone to feel angry. Anger will destroy you. I'm tremendously sad but I'll get through this.'

Mr Cockman described in chilling detail what police had told him about how the tragedy unfolded.

'[Peter] went across and shot the kids and Kat first and came back and shot Cynda in the living room. Cynda probably got up, heard the gunshots, she was in the living room. He's come back, shot her,' he said, according to The West.

'He's sent a triple-0 call, made a two-minute call or something which in that call he would have been saying, I'm guessing about not being able to handle it if something happened to Neil.

'He's gone out to the porch, made the call and shot himself. I don't know how he has done it so well. None of the kids were up out of their beds.'

Neighbour Richard Dossor said he spoke to Mr Miles, who was found with a bullet wound as he lay slumped in a deck chair on the veranda, about doing farm maintenance work on his property (pictured) but he didn't sound 'enthusiastic'

Peter's wife, Cynda Miles (left and right), was an active member of local community group Transition Margaret River which seeks a happier and more sustainable future and ran her own business

Peter was said to have 'sounded strange' the day before he allegedly shot three generations of his family before taking his own life on their remote farm, which they called 'Forever Dreaming'.

Neighbour Richard Dossor said he spoke to the 61-year-old, who was found with a bullet wound as he lay slumped in a deck chair on the veranda, about doing farm maintenance work on his property.

'[He was] just not someone who I would have thought was keen to find a new client or customer,' Mr Dossor told The West Australian.

'He didn't seem enthusiastic if you know what I mean?'

Police have confirmed the three firearms located at the scene of the murder-suicide belonged to Peter and that he was a suspect.

Western Australian Commissioner Chris Dawson said two officers attended the scene shortly after receiving a 000 call from a male, thought to have been Peter, at the property, where all seven family members lived, at 5.15am on Friday.

The call lasted two minutes. He would not confirm if Peter, who once worked at Margaret River Senior High School as a farm manager, made the call however investigators are not looking for any other suspects.

A neighbour told ABC News he had spoken to a man who lived at the property just hours before the bodies were found.

'I was talking to him on the phone last night, I was going to ask him to come over tomorrow. He seemed very vague,' he said.

The grisly murder-suicide at a remote farm house (pictured) in Western Australia has shocked the nation. It is the worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996

A neighbour said he had spoken to a man who lived at the property (pictured) just hours before the bodies were found however he seemed 'very vague'

Just last week, the grandfather posted an ad looking for 'vineyard and farm work' on Gumtree (Osmington property pictured)

Just two days before the shooting, the grandfather posted an ad looking for 'vineyard and farm work' on Gumtree, The Australian reported.

'I have over 30 years farming experience and over 12 years vineyard experience,' Peter wrote.

'I have extensive handyman abilities and experience with a wide variety of farm equipment, can repair fences, and tidy up on the property from storm damage.

'I have lived in the Margaret River area all my life and welcome all enquiries.'

Despite sharing on Facebook last month that her ex 'does not stop stalking (her)', police have confirmed that Mr Cockman is not a suspect.

The grisly murder-suicide at the property, 15km from Margaret River, shocked the nation and has become Australia's worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.

Peter and Cynda bought the farm in 2014 and planned to live a sustainable life with their daughter and grandchildren.

Two officers found one male dead outside the home (pictured) on a veranda, one female deceased inside the house and another female and the four children dead inside a 'conversed shed structure' - who all had suffered gunshot wounds

The children's grandparents (Cynda pictured) bought the farm in 2014 and planned to live a sustainable life with their family after their daughter's marriage breakup

Katrina is thought to have home schooled her four autistic children, Taye, Rylan, Ayre and Kadyn Cockman, at the farm known as Forever Dreaming (pictured)

Katrina (pictured) was her children's father, but despite sharing on Facebook last month that her ex 'does not stop stalking (her)', police said Mr Cockman was not a suspect

Another neighbour, Felicity Haynes, told Daily Mail Australia that Cynda and Peter had moved to the countryside to build the sustainable farm as a home for Katrina, her daughter and three sons.

'Cynda and Pete moved out from town three years ago ... they had started to build a river farm and had done fabulous work growing their own vegetables and building dams,' she said.

'That's what makes it so tragic. They were building a self-sustainable farm to raise the family there.'

On the farm's website, Cynda wrote of watching her grandchildren play with the animals.

'Forever Dreaming is our forever farm. It is here that we will grow as much of our food as we can, sit on the veranda and watch the birds, and watch the grandchildren immerse themselves in the animals and everything else that happens on a daily basis,' she wrote.

This image shows the kitchen of the remote farm where a mass-murder suicide was discovered early Friday morning

Two adults were found dead outside a building on the rural property, before the bodies of four children and another adult were discovered inside. Pictured: A bedroom in the house

Osmington community consists of dirt roads similar to the dusty track at the sustainable farm (pictured) where seven bodies were found

In a press conference on Saturday morning, WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said all three long-arm firearms found at the Osmington property, where all seven family members lived, were registered to Peter

Nearby residents said they heard gunfire around 4am but dismissed the sound as coming from kangaroo shooters (farm pictured)

Police were met with horrific scenes when they arrived at the 30 acre farm (pictured) with two houses on Friday morning

The grisly murder-suicide at the property, 15km from Margaret River, shocked the nation and has become Australia's worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996

Julia Meldrum, deputy president of the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River, told Daily Mail Australia the district was in deep shock after the horrific discovery on the remote property (pictured)

Nearby residents said they heard gunfire around 4am but dismissed the sound as coming from kangaroo shooters.

A neighbour who lives across the road from the property told Fairfax he hadn't heard anything unusual.

'There was nothing much I could tell [police],' said the semi-retired farmer, adding he didn't know the residents very well.

'I'd seen who I assume was the father out in a paddock one day, on a tractor. But I didn't have the opportunity to say hello.'

Julia Meldrum, deputy president of the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River, told Daily Mail Australia the district was in deep shock.

'It's devastating,' the distressed mother-of-two said. 'It's just shock and devastating for the community.

The grisly murder-suicide at a remote farm house (pictured) in Western Australia shocked the nation as one of the worst shootings in the nation's last two decades

Police are believed to remain at the chilling scene where children were among seven people found dead for several days

Signs leading to the family farm (pictured) which was bought the Miles family about four years ago in late December

The tiny community of Osmington has a population of a couple of hundred where farmers make up most of the tight knit town

'I actually feel like vomiting. The shire has a population of 14,000 people but each town is very close knit.

Jan Walsh told Australian Associated Press they lived in a very 'caring town'.

'There's retired people who live down here, there's ex-farmers,' she said. 'It's just a wonderful place to live and everyone's so friendly.

'You wave to everyone coming down Osmington Road and you don't even know them.

'In Margaret River there's a lot of children and a lot of young families. It'll be devastating for the community. It's touched many people, people I'm sure will know one another.

'The shire will be doing whatever we can to provide support and whatever else we can do in addition... I've got young children as well. It's just devastating.'

Shire president Pamela Townshend said the town would struggle to come to grips with the horror.

'It's an isolated rural area. There's no centre of town. Everyone comes into town to do their shopping,' she said.

'There's a lot of giving each other vegetables, cooking each other meals, looking after each other when they're ill - very connected in deep ways.'

Flowers are left next to a police roadblock where police are investigating the death of seven people in suspected murder-suicide

Flowers and a note marked 'Katrina and family' lay at the site where seven bodies were tragically found

Shire president Pamela Townshend believed the deaths should lead to further debate about gun and family violence

'Everyone's involved in everyone else's business in a small town so it's going to be a huge shock for this town.

'The shire will provide as much support as we can for our town, for the community and for the remaining family members.

'There are community members already rallying to work out a support response for the family. We're already seeing this rallying.

Councillor Townshend believed the deaths should lead to further debate about gun and family violence.

'Once again we are faced with this problem in families with gun violence and male violence, assuming it is male violence,' she said.

'We need to have it firmly on the table to talk about it and not just have it as an isolated mental health issue of one person. It's society's problem.

Osmington, about 260km south of Perth, is a 10-minute drive east of the Margaret River township.

The tiny community, which ABS data shows has about 135 residents, mostly consists of farmland properties and vineyards.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Thomas Markle will still walk his daughter down the aisle on Saturday  despite revelations that he posed for pictures taken by a pararazzi photographer.

His son, Thomas Jr, has said his father plans to apologise to Meghan Markle for the stunt that has left him and his family 'deeply embarrassed'.

Last night Kensington Palace was silent about claims that Miss Markles father had secretly collaborated to stage a series of faked photographs in the run-up to the royal wedding.

Thomas Markle's son (left), Thomas Jr (right), has said his father plans to apologise to Meghan Markle for the stunt that has left him and his family 'deeply embarrassed'

Photographer Jeff Rayner, camera slung over his shoulder, arrives at the Omega internet cafe at 9.50am on March 27 with Thomas Markle

... to produce this lucrative shot which was flogged to the world's unsuspecting media

Yet Thomas Jr said his father will apologise to both Miss Markle and Prince Harry privately for the pictures - but jumped to his father's defence saying that the family have been under intense pressure since the royal couple's engagement.

The palace refused to comment on the allegations, but it is understood there is no change to plans for Mr Markle to walk the bride down the aisle of St Georges Chapel on Saturday.

Both Prince Harry and Miss Markle however, are likely to be embarrassed by the revelations that Mr Markle secretly posed for pictures showing him being measured for his wedding suit and browsing articles about his daughter and the Queens grandson in an internet cafe.

Yesterday The Mail on Sunday reported that Mr Markle, 73, an award-winning former Hollywood lighting director who now lives a reclusive life in Mexico, had worked with US-based photographer, Jeff Rayner, to set up the lucrative photo deal.

CCTV footage showed Mr Markle arriving at an internet cafe with the photographer. Minutes later the pair are seen preparing to snap the future royal's father while he is sitting at a computer.

Both Prince Harry and Miss Markle however, are likely to be embarrassed by the revelations that Mr Markle secretly posed for pictures showing him being measured

A Mail on Sunday investigation established that the internet cafe pictures are just part of a series Rayner took of Meghans father. They have been published in newspapers, magazines and on websites around the world.

Mr Markle and Rayner, a 44-year-old Los Angeles-based photographer, reportedly set up at least four photoshoots.

In all of them Mr Markle appears to be unaware they are being taken and yet they were in fact contrived and shot with his co-operation.

It is not known whether Mr Markle was paid for his involvement - but the photographs are said to have sold for 100,000 across the world.

The disclosure came after warnings to the media from Kensington Palace about alleged harassment by photographers of both Miss Markles parents.

Shortly after his relationship with Meghan became public in 2016, the Prince made a heartfelt plea for the media to respect the privacy of Meghan and her family.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will marry on May 19 in Windsor

Privately there was some concern last night over Mr Markles ability to cope with the pressure of this weeks royal wedding at Windsor (pictured)

Privately there was some concern last night over Mr Markles ability to cope with the pressure of this weeks royal wedding.

It is understood that he has long struggled to handle the immense global interest in his daughters romance.

Thomas Jr told the Mirror: 'People are quick to judge but they have no idea how much scrutiny we live under.

'Ever since Megs relationship with Harry was made public two years ago we have lived our once normal lives under the spotlight every second.'

And he is said to be feeling significant stress about this weeks events, which will see him travel to the UK, take tea with the Queen and meet up with Meghans mother, his ex-wife Doria Ragland,

Standing room only! Meghan and Harrys wedding feast will NOT be a seated affair as its revealed trendy bowl food will be served as guests mingle

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not have a sitdown wedding breakfast after their ceremony on Saturday  but have plumped for trendy bowl food instead.

Their 600 guests will be standing up in St Georges Hall at Windsor Castle when they are served seasonal mini main courses, made by the Queens kitchen staff and presented to them by liveried waiters and waitresses.

Bowl food has become a popular choice for business events because it is more sociable, allowing guests to mingle and network while eating.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not have a sitdown wedding breakfast after their ceremony on Saturday  but have plumped for trendy bowl food instead

The Royal Kitchen at Windsor Castle has begun preparations for the wedding banquet

However, it is a somewhat more surprising choice for a royal wedding.

Still, Harry and Meghan hope that it will make the occasion less fussy and allow them to move around the room greeting as many guests as possible.

Guests will also feast on canapes during the lunchtime reception, which will last around two and a half hours and includes speeches and cutting of the cake. Each morsel has been crafted to be consumed in just two delicate bites.

The Queen is officially hosting the event and Buckingham Palace staff revealed that the menu would comprise classic dishes made from seasonal British produce, much from the monarchs own estates.

Harry and his bride-to-be have tasted and selected their wedding reception menu.

Six hundred guests will be standing up in St Georges Hall at Windsor Castle when they are served seasonal mini main courses, made by the Queens kitchen staff

Pictured the Royal Palaces Head chef Mark Flanagan (right) and the Royal Palaces Pastry chef Selwyn Stoby (left)

The Queen is officially hosting the event and Buckingham Palace staff revealed that the menu would comprise classic dishes made from seasonal British produce, much from the monarchs own estates

The couple apparently visited Windsor Castle to sample menu suggestions in the Great Kitchen, which dates from the reign of the 14th century monarch Edward III.

It is believed to be the oldest working kitchen in the country, having served more than 30 monarchs.

Royal chef Mark Flanagan is leading the 30-strong catering team and said: The day of the wedding has fallen very kindly for us.

All the British vegetables are just coming into season... and thats been a point of focus for us.

'We know the couple wanted us to make sure we used all of the local seasonal produce as much as possible throughout their menu, and this recent good weather is really helping us to achieve that.

The couple apparently visited Windsor Castle to sample menu suggestions in the Great Kitchen, which dates from the reign of the 14th century monarch Edward III

Guests will also feast on canapes during the lunchtime reception, which will last around two and a half hours and includes speeches and cutting of the cake

He added the couple have been involved in every detail.

Meghan is a keen foodie who used to run her own lifestyle website, which featured her favourite recipes and restaurants. She also shares a love of organic produce with her future father-in-law, Prince Charles.

Mr Flanagan would not discuss the dishes in detail but produce such as asparagus, peas and tomatoes are in season, providing a wealth of options for the chef, who has worked with some of the worlds best, including Michel and Albert Roux.

He added: Theres no experimentation on Saturday whatsoever, tried and tested and predominantly classics. Over the next few days staff will start washing and peeling vegetables, so they can save time for presentation, Mr Flanagan said.

A separate dinner for 200 is being held at Frogmore House by the Prince of Wales later in the evening.
Michael Gove has warned of significant question marks over plans for a post-Brexit customs partnership.

The Environment Secretary said the model  one of two being considered by the Cabinet  has flaws which need to be tested.

The leading Brexit campaigner set out his stall firmly against extending Britains membership of the customs union, saying it was important to crack on.

He said it was critical to have a new customs arrangement ready for the end of the transition period in January 2021.

Mr Gove refused to repeat Boris Johnsons claim last week that the idea was crazy. But in an interview on BBC1s Andrew Marr Show he allied himself with many of the Foreign Secretarys criticisms of the plan, saying it would mean the Government acting as tax collector for the EU.

Scroll down for video

Speaking on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday, Mr Gove said it was important to 'crack on' with negotiating a customs arrangement

Mr Gove also said there would need to be a solid customs union plan in place before the transition period comes to an end in January 2021

A report yesterday suggested as many as a dozen members of the Cabinet are opposed to the customs partnership, which is No 10s preferred option.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt appeared to endorse the idea yesterday. Im backing the Prime Minister  I think that we have to trust Theresa May, he told LBC radio. This is a very, very difficult situation that were in as a country but its got great opportunities for us. You cant iron out every single detail of a negotiating position in public. We have to get behind the Prime Minister and support her to do the best deal for the country.

His comments came as the Prime Minister insisted she could be trusted to deliver on Brexit. In an article for The Sunday Times, Mrs May wrote: I will not let you down. She promised to take back control of Britains borders, money and laws, but added: There will have to be compromises.

The partnership would see Britain continuing to collect EU tariffs at the border and passing them to Brussels. It would also mean close alignment of regulations.

The alternative, known as maximum facilitation, which is preferred by pro-Brexit MPs, seeks to use technology to reduce customs checks, and trusted trader schemes to deal with the Northern Ireland border.

But Mr Gove said: Across Government, across Cabinet, there is agreement that neither of these two models is absolutely perfect.

And with the new customs partnership, Boris pointed out that because its novel, because no model like this exists, there have to be significant question marks over the deliverability of it on time. Its my view that the new customs partnership has flaws and they need to be tested.

Theresa May has faced open rebellion from within her cabinet over the customs union plan - with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson calling her proposals 'crazy'

He rejected the possibility of delaying the customs deal, a proposal raised by Tory MP Nick Boles last week.

In delay there lies no plenty, as Shakespeare once said. One of the things that we need to do is to crack on, Mr Gove said.

Two Cabinet groups, each of three ministers, will meet today to discuss the proposals.

They are expected to make a presentation to the Brexit war committee tomorrow and submit a written paper next week  meaning no decision is likely this week.

Meanwhile Irish deputy premier Simon Coveney suggested the customs partnership would be accepted by EU negotiators, and that it could help solve the Irish border problem. He said British ministers had ruled out cameras at the border and insisted there would be regulatory alignment between the EU and the UK.

But DUP MP Sammy Wilson branded him belligerent, interfering and Brit bashing, adding: The fact is the border issues can all be dealt with by technology but Coveney and Co have stuck their heads in the sand, refusing to even consider this solution because it doesnt suit his aggressive republican agenda. The IRA failed to dislodge Northern Ireland from the UK with bombs, Coveney wont do it with Brexit.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not have a sitdown wedding breakfast after their ceremony on Saturday  but have plumped for trendy bowl food instead.

Their 600 guests will be standing up in St Georges Hall at Windsor Castle when they are served seasonal mini main courses, made by the Queens kitchen staff and presented to them by liveried waiters and waitresses.

Bowl food has become a popular choice for business events because it is more sociable, allowing guests to mingle and network while eating.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not have a sitdown wedding breakfast after their ceremony on Saturday  but have plumped for trendy bowl food instead

The Royal Kitchen at Windsor Castle has begun preparations for the wedding banquet

Six hundred guests will be standing up in St Georges Hall at Windsor Castle when they are served seasonal mini main courses, made by the Queens kitchen staff

Guests will also feast on canapes during the lunchtime reception, which will last around two and a half hours and includes speeches and cutting of the cake

However, it is a somewhat more surprising choice for a royal wedding.

Still, Harry and Meghan hope that it will make the occasion less fussy and allow them to move around the room greeting as many guests as possible.

Guests will also feast on canapes during the lunchtime reception, which will last around two and a half hours and includes speeches and cutting of the cake. Each morsel has been crafted to be consumed in just two delicate bites.

The Queen is officially hosting the event and Buckingham Palace staff revealed that the menu would comprise classic dishes made from seasonal British produce, much from the monarchs own estates.

Harry and his bride-to-be have tasted and selected their wedding reception menu.

Pictured the Royal Palaces Head chef Mark Flanagan (right) and the Royal Palaces Pastry chef Selwyn Stoby (left)

The Queen is officially hosting the event and Buckingham Palace staff revealed that the menu would comprise classic dishes made from seasonal British produce, much from the monarchs own estates

The couple apparently visited Windsor Castle to sample menu suggestions in the Great Kitchen, which dates from the reign of the 14th century monarch Edward III

The couple apparently visited Windsor Castle to sample menu suggestions in the Great Kitchen, which dates from the reign of the 14th century monarch Edward III.

It is believed to be the oldest working kitchen in the country, having served more than 30 monarchs.

Royal chef Mark Flanagan is leading the 30-strong catering team and said: The day of the wedding has fallen very kindly for us.

All the British vegetables are just coming into season... and thats been a point of focus for us.

'We know the couple wanted us to make sure we used all of the local seasonal produce as much as possible throughout their menu, and this recent good weather is really helping us to achieve that.

The couple apparently visited Windsor Castle (pictured) to sample menu suggestions in the Great Kitchen

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will marry on May 19 in Windsor

He added the couple have been involved in every detail.

Meghan is a keen foodie who used to run her own lifestyle website, which featured her favourite recipes and restaurants. She also shares a love of organic produce with her future father-in-law, Prince Charles.

Mr Flanagan would not discuss the dishes in detail but produce such as asparagus, peas and tomatoes are in season, providing a wealth of options for the chef, who has worked with some of the worlds best, including Michel and Albert Roux.

He added: Theres no experimentation on Saturday whatsoever, tried and tested and predominantly classics. Over the next few days staff will start washing and peeling vegetables, so they can save time for presentation, Mr Flanagan said.

A separate dinner for 200 is being held at Frogmore House by the Prince of Wales later in the evening.
The United States opened its new embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians.

The opening ceremony was timed to coincide with Israel's 70th anniversary.

The initiative was driven by President Donald Trump, after he broke last year with decades of US policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Trump said his administration has a peace proposal in the works, and recognising Jerusalem as the capital of America's closest ally had 'taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table.'

The US opened its new embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians. The initiative was driven by Trump, after he broke last year with decades of US policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, celebrated Trump's decision, but the move upset the Arab world and Western allies.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called it a 'slap in the face' and said Washington could no longer be regarded as an honest broker in any peace talks with Israel.

Initially, a small interim embassy will operate from the building in southern Jerusalem that now houses US consular operations, while a secure site is found to move the rest of the embassy operations from Tel Aviv.

WHY DID TRUMP RECOGNIZE JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL'S CAPITAL, AND ANNOUNCE THE EMBASSY WILL BE MOVED THERE?

There has long been pressure from pro-Israel politicians in Washington to move the embassy to Jerusalem, and Trump made it a signature promise of his 2016 election campaign.

The decision was popular with many conservative and evangelical Christians who voted for Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, many of whom support political recognition of Israel's claim to the city.

Trump acted under a 1995 law that requires the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem, but to which other presidents since then - Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama - consistently signed waivers.

WHY DOES JERUSALEM PLAY SUCH AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT?

Religion, politics and history.

Jerusalem has been fought over for millennia by its inhabitants, and by regional powers and invaders.

It is sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and each religion has sites of great significance there.

Israel's government regards Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the country, although that is not recognised internationally. Palestinians feel equally strongly, saying that East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future Palestinian state.

The city even has different names. Jews call it Jerusalem, or Yerushalayim, and Arabs call it Al-Quds, which means 'The Holy'.

But the citys significance goes further.

At the heart of the Old City is the hill known to Jews across the world as Har ha-Bayit, or Temple Mount, and to Muslims internationally as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary. It was home to the Jewish temples of antiquity but all that remains of them above ground is a restraining wall for the foundations built by Herod the Great. Known as the Western Wall, this is a sacred place of prayer for Jews.

Within yards of the wall, and overlooking it, are two Muslim holy places, the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was built in the 8th century. Muslims regard the site as the third holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina.

The city is also an important pilgrimage site for Christians, who revere it as the place where they believe that Jesus Christ preached, died and was resurrected.

WHAT IS THE CITY'S MODERN HISTORY AND STATUS?

In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly decided that the then British-ruled Palestine should be partitioned into an Arab state and a Jewish state. But it recognized that Jerusalem had special status and proposed international rule for the city, along with nearby Bethlehem, as a 'corpus separatum' to be administered by the United Nations.

That never happened. When British rule ended in 1948, Jordanian forces occupied the Old City and Arab East Jerusalem. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it.

In 1980 the Israeli parliament passed a law declaring the 'complete and united' city of Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. But the United Nations regards East Jerusalem as occupied, and the city's status as disputed until resolved by negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

DOES ANY OTHER COUNTRY HAVE AN EMBASSY IN JERUSALEM?

In March Guatemala's president, Jimmy Morales, said that his country will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 16, two days after the US move.

Netanyahu said in April that 'at least half a dozen' countries were now 'seriously discussing' following the US lead, but he did not identify them.

In December, 128 countries voted in a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution calling on the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. Nine voted against, 35 abstained and 21 did not cast a vote.

WHAT IS LIKELY TO HAPPEN NEXT? HAS JERUSALEM BEEN A FLASHPOINT BEFORE?

Since Trump's announcement there have been Palestinian protests and wider political tensions.

Arab leaders across the Middle East have warned the move could lead to turmoil and hamper US efforts to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

More than 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in Gaza during a six-week border protest due to culminate on May 15, the day after the US Embassy move and when Palestinians traditionally lament homes and land lost with Israel's creation.

Although the clashes have not been on the scale of the Palestinian intifadas of 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, violence has erupted before over matters of sovereignty and religion.

In 1969 an Australian Messianic Christian tried to burn down Al-Aqsa Mosque. He failed but caused damage, and prompted fury across the Arab world.

In 2000, the Israeli politician Ariel Sharon, then opposition leader, led a group of Israeli lawmakers onto the Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif complex. A Palestinian protest escalated into the second intifada.

Deadly confrontations also took place in July after Israel installed metal detectors at the complex's entrance after Arab-Israeli gunmen killed two Israeli policemen there.

Source: Reuters
A Palestinian was killed and 176 were wounded by Israeli army fire Friday as thousands of Gaza residents protested near their sealed border - part of a weeks-long campaign to end a decade-old blockade of the territory.

Later Friday, vandals burned a fuel complex and a conveyor belt on the Palestinian side of Gaza's main cargo crossing with Israel, causing more than $9million in damages and disrupting the import of diesel fuel and building materials, the military said.

Friday's clashes offered a preview of what will likely be a much larger protest - and possibly a border breach - on Monday when the United States relocates its embassy in Israel to contested Jerusalem amid Palestinian outrage.

President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the embassy there 'is causing the volcano to spew,' said 25-year-old protester Ahmed Deifallah as he stood near the Gaza border, a Palestinian flag draped around his head.

Tensions continue to rise in Gaza with deadly protests ahead of the US Embassy inauguration in Jerusalem. Pictured are Palestinian protesters dragging a burning tire along the Gaza Strip border on Friday

Deifallah, who is unemployed like almost half the Gaza labor force, said he would also join Monday's protest and is not afraid to die.

'We are used to confronting the (Israeli) occupation with our bare chests,' he said. 'We are used to wars and no one with us but Allah.'

Friday marked the seventh weekly border protest since late March. The demonstrations have been organized by Gaza's Hamas rulers, but are fueled by despair among the territory's 2 million people. The vast majority are barred from travel and trade, while the blockade has gutted the economy.

As in previous weeks, thousands flocked to five tent camps near the border - some 15,000 people, according to the Israeli military.

From the camps, smaller groups moved closer to the fence. They threw stones, burned tires and flew kites with burning rags attached to them, hoping to steer them into Israel to set fields on fire.

The area was quickly engulfed in thick black smoke from the burning tires.

Israeli soldiers, some crouching behind sand berms, fired live bullets and tear gas volleys from the other side of the fence.

The Israeli military said protesters also threw pipe bombs and grenades toward Israeli soldiers and damaged the fence.

Later Friday, Palestinians vandalized a fuel complex and conveyor belt on the Palestinian side of Gaza's main cargo crossing, Kerem Shalom, the army said. It said the fuel installation is the only way to bring diesel fuel into Gaza for operating generators for hospitals and other key facilities.

The military distributed a video showing Palestinians cheering as a fire was set. It was the second such attack on the facility in a week. 'Hamas continues to lead the residents of Gaza to destroy the only assistance they receive,' the army said.

Nissim Jan, the director of an Israeli company that operates Kerem Shalom in partnership with private Palestinian companies, said he spent large sums to repair last week's damage. 'This time I can't repair and will not repair it. Where shall I bring money from?' he said.

The Gaza Health Ministry said a 40-year-old protester was killed and 176 were wounded by Israeli fire Friday. Ten of the wounded were in serious condition, including a 16-year-old boy who was shot in the head. Nearly 800 others were overcome by tear gas or suffered other types of injuries.

Friday's death brought to 41 the number of protesters killed since March 30. In the same period, more than 1,800 were wounded by Israeli fire.

Despite such risks, Gaza's Hamas leader, Yehiyeh Sinwar, has said he expects tens of thousands to participate in Monday's protest. He has raised the possibility of a mass border breach, comparing protesters to a 'starving tiger,' unpredictable and full of pent-up anger.

Israel has said it will prevent any border breach and has stuck to its open-fire policies, including targeting 'main instigators' and those approaching the fence, despite growing international criticism.

Israel says it has a right to defend its border and has accused Hamas of using the protests as a cover for attacking the border. Rights groups say the use of potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters is unlawful.

There are growing concerns that if Israel and Hamas dig in, a widespread border breach could lead to large numbers of casualties.

The protests are part of a campaign to break the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant Hamas overran Gaza in 2007.

Friday's death brought to 41 the number of protesters killed since March 30. In the same period, more than 1,800 were wounded by Israeli fire. Medics are seen evacuating a wounded teen during Friday's protest

On Monday, they are also aimed at the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy, which comes five months after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital - a decision that outraged Palestinians as blatantly pro-Israel.

The Israeli-annexed eastern sector of Jerusalem is sought as a future Palestinian capital - at least by those supporting Hamas' political rival, West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas seeks an Islamic state in the entire historic Palestine, including what is now Israel, but has said it is ready for a long-term truce.

Another large-scale protest is planned for Tuesday, when Palestinians mark their 'nakba,' or catastrophe, referring to their mass uprooting during the Mideast war over Israel's 1948 creation.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven out or fled homes in what is now Israel. More than two-thirds of Gaza residents are descendants of refugees.

Meanwhile, Gaza government officials announced that Egypt will open its border with Gaza for four days starting Saturday. Helping reinforce the Israeli blockade, Egypt has kept the Rafah crossing point, Gaza's main gate to the outside world, closed most of the time since the Hamas takeover.

Egypt opens the crossing from time to time, mainly to allow people in special categories, including medical patients and Gaza residents studying abroad, to leave the territory or return to it. The upcoming opening was framed as a humanitarian gesture ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins next week.

In Jordan, about 7,000 people participated in a 'nakba' rally in an area close to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Palestinian refugees and their descendants now number several million people in the region, including more than 2 million in Jordan.

Friday's rally took place before a large stage with a view of the Dead Sea and the West Bank.

One man walked onto the stage with an effigy of Trump dangling from a noose.

Source: Associated Press
She's best known for being a Victoria's Secret Angel.

And Elsa Hosk looked heavenly at the Girls of the Sun premiere during Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.

The 29-year-old model looked absolutely charming in her spectacular pink ballgown which featured a figure-hugging bodice and billowing skirt.

Stunning: She's best known for being a Victoria's Secret Angel. And Elsa Hosk looked heavenly at the Girls of the Sun premiere during Cannes Film Festival on Saturday

Two decorative bows made up the focal point of the garment and a racy cut-out design teased the golden-haired beauty's bare stomach.

For a fairytale feel, the lingerie pin-up lifted the ostentatious layer, which was stitched into the bodice at the waist, in a graceful fashion as she span around on the red carpet in her glittering pink stilettos.

Elsa displayed her ample cleavage in the sweeping neckline of the strapless dress and she accessorised with a gorgeous diamond necklace to bring sparkle to her looks.

Stunning: The 29-year-old model looked absolutely charming in her spectacular pink ballgown which featured a figure-hugging bodice and billowing skirt

The runway beauty added the finishing touches of glamour with soft make-up and she wore her golden locks in perfect curls that kissed her shoulders.

Hollywood's elite descended on the hottest showbiz premiere of the night in honour of the upcoming French film Eva Husson's Girls of the Sun.

The film tells the story of a Kurdish Yazidi lawyer Bahar escapes the clutches of a gang of men following her terrifying abduction and she goes on to form a commando unit to recapture her town in Kurdistan.

Top of the crops: Two decorative bows made up the focal point of the garment and a racy cut-out design teased the golden-haired beauty's bare stomach

Dazzling: For a fairytale feel, the lingerie pin-up lifted the ostentatious layer, which was stitched into the bodice at the waist, in a graceful fashion as she span around on the red carpet

Glittering: Elsa displayed her ample cleavage in the sweeping neckline of the strapless dress and she accessorised with a gorgeous diamond necklace to bring sparkle to her looks

Husson is one of three female filmmakers out of the 21 movies in competition for the Palme d'Or. Cate Blanchett addressed the fact only three female's films were chosen after the jury's choices were criticised.

'Would I like to see more women in competition? Absolutely,' the actress adamantly stated earlier this week when the festival kicked off.

The Australian native did however note that it wasn't realistic to think Hollywood's historical women's movements would have such an immediate impact on Cannes.

As well as Eva's film, the two other female filmmakers to have been named in the competition are Nadine Labaki and Alice Rohrwacher.
She may be a former Miss Universe but Olivia Culpo also has a hidden talent.

The 26-year-old model gave a short cello performance on Saturday at the annual Best Buddies Mother's Day brunch in Malibu.

She was joined on stage by her mother, Susan Culpo, who played the violin.

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Model moment: Olivia Culpo attended the Best Buddies Mother's Day brunch on Saturday

Hidden talent: The 26-year-old model played the cello at the event. She was joined on stage by her mother, Susan Culpo, who played the violin

Before hiking up her skirt to play her instrument, Culpo posed for the cameras in a flowing white, cotton dress.

The Rhode Island native had her hair slicked back into a tight bun and hanging from her lobes were a pair of gold hoop earrings.

Olivia sauntered around the outdoor venue in a pair of white pumps.

Natural beauty: The Rhode Island native had her hair slicked back into a tight bun and hanging from her lobes were a pair of gold hoop earrings

Bow in hand: Olivia played the cello as her talent in the Miss Universe 2012 competition

Olivia is a Best Buddies ambassador.

She recently hosted four buddies at Blushington, a beauty lounge in Los Angeles, for an afternoon of makeovers.

'One of my New Year's resolutions was to continue to volunteer with the charities I support,' Culpo wrote on her blog in March.

Strike a pose: Before hiking up her skirt to play her instrument, Culpo posed for the cameras in a flowing white, cotton dress

Giving back: Olivia is a Best Buddies ambassador. She recently hosted four buddies at Blushington, a beauty lounge in Los Angeles, for an afternoon of makeovers

The event, hosted by Vanessa Hudgens, had a star-studded guest list.

Minnie Driver, John Stamos, Cindy Crawford, Kaia Gerber, and Lisa Rinna were all in attendance.

Best Buddies is a nation wide organization that's 'dedicated to ending the social, physical, and economic isolation of the 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.'

Ray of sunshine: Vanessa Hudgens hosted the Saturday brunch
USAID the American government organisation that distributes international development aid announced on Saturday that it will be contributing $19 million to help Egypts family planning efforts through a five-year programme.

In an official statement, the US Embassy in Cairo said that USAID will be joining Egypts Ministry of Health and Population to launch a new programme to strengthen Egypts family planning in response to Egypts rapid population growth.

Activities will help increase demand for family planning services and enhance the quality of services, aiming to improve contraceptive use and reduce fertility over time, the statement said, adding that the programme will be implemented in Upper Egyptian governorates as well as parts of Cairo and Alexandria.

The embassy said the new effort "comes in response to calls by Egyptian officials, including President [Abdel-Fattah] El-Sisi, to recognise how overpopulation poses a threat to Egypts national development, and is part of the US governments commitment to stand with Egypt in its economic and social development.

Since 2017, Egyptian officials have described the country's rapid population growth as an "actual catastrophe" that threatens national development plans and demands immediate attention, just like the country's war against terrorism.

Last year, President El-Sisi said that the current rate of population growth poses a threat to the nation and restricts Egypt's progress.

In October 2017, Egypt announced that its population had reached 104.2 million, with 94.98 million living within Egypt and 9.4 million Egyptians living abroad.

In 2016, Egypt saw the birth of 2.6 million babies, according to statistics by the country's state run statistics agency CAPMAS in 2017.

CAPMAS said during the same year said the annual rate of population growth in the country was 2.4 percent.

We know that USAID family planning programmes have made tremendous impact in the past. We stand poised again to be a part of the solution to the rapid growth in Egypts fertility rate, USAID/Egypt Mission Director Sherry F. Carlin said.

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His company 28 By Sam Wood has recently been accused of copying a recipe from another fitness program.

But Sam Wood says that he has the best support of all while going through the drama, his family.

'The girls know the truth - we talk about everything,' the 37-year-old told The Sunday Telegraph of his family of lovely ladies.

A little help: His company 28 By Sam Wood has recently been accused of copying a recipe from another fitness program. But Sam Wood says that he has the best support of all while going through the drama, his family

Sam cares for Snez's daughter Eve, and the pair also welcomed their daughter Willow in October.

The woes only brought the family closer together, with partner Snezana Markoski by his side through the ordeal.

'Snez is so warm, but so strong. She's unflappable!' Sam tells the paper.

Snez adds that the pair deal with online trolls by quickly doing away with them before the issue grows.

'Delete, block, ignore! We don't have time or energy to waste on negative things,' she tells the newspaper.

Close! The woes only brought the family closer together, with partner Snezana Markoski by his side through the ordeal

She added, 'The second you start to engage, you're doing exactly what they want - reacting that way - and we don't want to buy into that.'

It comes after claims made by the Sunday Telegraph that 28 By Sam Wood had been accused of copying a recipe from Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw's program Keep It Cleaner.

The newspaper reportedly obtained emails from 28 By Sam Wood that purportedly revealed it has published similar recipes to those created for the Keep It Cleaner program.

Recipe wars: It comes after claims made by the Sunday Telegraph that 28 By Sam Wood had been accused of copying a recipe from Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw's program Keep It Cleaner

Familiar: One of the recipes on both sites is choc nut cups, which first appeared on Keep It Cleaner's blog in 2016

In leaked emails, one of Sam's staff members allegedly described how she 'went in and downloaded all their good recipes'. It is not suggested that the recipes were in fact taken or that Sam had any knowledge of the purported downloading of recipes from their website.

A shocked Steph Claire Smith said she felt betrayed by Sam, someone she considered a close friend.

She told the Sunday Telegraph: 'We didn't want to believe it but after seeing the imagery and method and recipes themselves, it's blatantly obvious. We have never been on his website to look at his recipes.'

Fitspo! Sam claimed it was a recipe requested by many of his members

One of the recipes on both sites is choc nut cups, which first appeared on Keep It Cleaner's blog in 2016.

Sam claimed it was a recipe requested by many of his members.

'Our almond butter nut cups are part of our overall program and were created by our nutritionist and chef,' he told the publication.
Nick Knowles was reportedly wrapped up in his own DIY disaster after a ceiling at his home in Berkshire collapsed mere hours before he moved to his new, downsized, property.

The DIY SOS presenter, 55, moved from his 3,500-a-month rented accommodation in Eton to a smaller 1,250-a-month property in the Cotswolds, amid his costly split from ex Jessica Rose Moor.

Nick was forced to call in builders to fix the fallen ceiling at the 2m property on the last day of his lease, and hurried to ensure the change-over could still happen.

DIY disaster: Nick Knowles, 55, suffered his own DIY chaos after his roof collapsed just hours before moving to a 'downsized' house...amid ongoing divorce from ex Jessica Rose Moor

According to The Daily Star Sunday, three vans arrived at the property on Thursday to start carrying out all of Nick's furniture, but chaos descended after the bathroom ceiling collapsed.

Expected to be from damp growing inside the old building, Nick soon enlisted a barrage of builders to help get the property back to a livable condition before the inventory clerk arrived.

A source told the publication: 'The builders had to be called in at the last minute. The house is a couple of hundred years old and there was some damp, so it's hardly surprising.'

Happier times: The DIY SOS presenter, 55, moved to a smaller 1,250-a-month property in the Cotswolds, amid his costly split from Jessica Rose Moor

Despite the hectic runaround, the insider added that the repair had 'quite a quick turnaround.'

MailOnline have reached out to Nick's representatives for comment.

Nick is in the midst of a bitter divorce battle with wife Jessica Rose Moor after she demanded more than 48,000 a year from him.

The TV veteran - who shares three-year-old son Eddie with his ex - is reportedly downsizing to be able to be close to his child, who also lives in the Cotswolds, and save money ahead of the pricey split.

A friend told the tabloid: 'Nick is moving house to save money and to be closer to his son Eddie, who also lives in the Cotswolds. He knows this is going to be an expensive break up.

Working on it: Expected to be from damp growing inside the old building, Nick soon enlisted a barrage of builders to help get the property back to a livable condition

'After rent, bills and what he pays to his ex-wife and children, he hasn't got much left over.'

Jessica and Nick had married in Rome in 2012 but announced their separation in January 2016, following almost four years of marriage.

According to The Sun, Jessica, who is currently receiving 4,000 a month as part of their settlement, is demanding an extra 2,000 a month in order to fund their three-year-old son Eddie's education.

'Nick is distraught that Jessica has made these claims. She already gets 4,000 a month from him and he's funded her life for years,' a source told the publication.

Nick is reportedly refusing to pay Jessica the money and has said that he will pay Eddie's school the required fee directly.

'Nick is distraught that Jessica has made these claims. She already gets 4,000 a month from him and he's funded her life for years,' a source told the publication.
Holly Willoughby has been inundated with requests to include intimate toys in her new lifestyle blog, according to reports.

The popular This Morning host is hoping her own digital empire, centred on a blog called Truly, can replicate the success of Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop website.

Now the 37-year-old has reportedly been asked to include the self-pleasure items on there because her image would be a boost to brands.

Saucy: Holly Willoughby has been inundated with requests to include sex toys in her new lifestyle blog, according to reports

'Since Holly said she was opening the site, the offers have been relentless as the firms know it would be great for their brands', the source told The Daily Star.

They added: 'Holly has this wholesome, English Rose image. But she has shown she also has a raunchy side on sex segments on This Morning and by appearing on the Celebrity Juice show.

'It's this mix of seriousness and cheekiness that sex toy brands know will be a winner for their products, as Gwyneth [Paltrow] sells such goods with both a seriousness and sense of fun.'

Positive image: The 37-year-old has been asked to include the self-pleasure items on there because her image would be a boost to brands, according to a source

Ambition: TV presenter Holly Willoughby, who has set her sights on stealing Gwyneth Paltrow's crown as an online lifestyle guru

Representatives for Holly said the claims were untrue.

Holly's new blog will incorporate six lifestyle areas  home, fashion, baby, wellness, living and travel.

The website is expected to promote a new clothing range, as well as a homeware line similar to one she set up with Dragon's Den businessman Peter Jones.

The lucrative project, launching in the autumn, is tipped to double Ms Willoughby's fortune, which already stands at 10 million.

The new project closely mimics Goop, the website set up by Ms Paltrow in 2008.

Goop also has six lifestyle 'pillars' wellness, travel, food, beauty, style and work.

Success: Gwyneth Paltrow, whose website Goop - which she set up in 2008 - has been enormously successful

In addition, the Oscar-winning Hollywood actress sells her own skincare products alongside fragrances, vitamins and a fashion range.

A friend of mother-of-three Holly said: 'This is a big deal for Holly. She is creating a lifestyle site  a one-stop shop for all you need to lead a good life.'

Ms Willoughby, 37, is one of ITV's most popular stars, appearing on Dancing On Ice, ITV2's Celebrity Juice and presenting This Morning alongside Phillip Schofield.
Andrew Brady's ex Rachael Rhodes publicly spoke about her heartache in a blog post after it was revealed the CBB star popped the question to Caroline Flack, 38.

According to The Sun, the DJ threw more shade at the CBB star, 27, as she allegedly branded her ex 'fame hungry' in a furious tirade in the light of the proposal.

The DJ is also said to have told her friends that she was left 'heartbroken' after the hunk reportedly dumped her via text without an explanation.

'He's willing to pay the price of fame': Andrew Brady's ex (pictured) 'told friends CBB star is fame hungry for proposing to Caroline Flack just THREE months after dumping her via text'

A source close to Rachael told the publication she had said: 'He filled my head with bulls**t and it looks like he's doing the same with Caroline. How can you go from discussing marriage and babies with one woman to get engaged to another in just three months?

'He broke my heart and I bet Caroline's friends and family are all terrified it's going to go pear-shaped for them as well.

'Only Caroline will truly know how she feels about Andrew and what stuff he is saying to her, but if I was her I'd be very concerned about the relationship and how true his intentions are. If the price of fame is a diamond ring, Andrew will happily pay that.'

MailOnline has approached Andrew Brady and Rachael Rhodes' representatives for further comment.

He put a ring on it! Andrew began dating Caroline in February and announced their engagement in an Instagram post on Saturday as they enjoyed a romantic holiday

The latest update in the Andrew and Caroline saga follows Rachael's own public say on her heartbreak in which she spoke candidly about her romance with Andrew.

She claimed she didn't even receive any explanation when she was dumped by the Celebrity Big Brother star.

It's believed Andrew moved straight from his relationship with Rachael to Caroline, with a friend of the DJ's tweeting: 'Just seen @itsandrewbrady is engaged to Caroline Flack Im sure you were with my mate 3 months ago telling her you were gonna marry her? Eeeeeee!! #famew***e'.

Rachael - who has starred on Ibiza Weekender - went on to claim in her blog that she was 'ghosted' by the CBB star, who moved on to pop the question to Caroline.

As seen on screen: Whilst Andrew began dating Caroline in February, he was believed to still be seeing Rachael in January - during which time he appeared on Celebrity Big Brother

She wrote: 'My last breakup was the first one I couldnt hide my pain for. I couldnt put on a brave face anymore, Id been strong for too long. I knew it was over before it was over. I was ghosted again. It was all too familiar.

'The last time Id seen him he described our wedding to me, told me how many kids we were having and what colour their hair would be, he told my Mum what ring he wanted to get me and again, like magic  POOF. I broke.'

Whilst Andrew began dating Caroline in February, he was believed to still be seeing Rachael in January - during which time his profile was raised as he appeared on Celebrity Big Brother.

Whilst Andrew didn't mention that he had a girlfriend during his time on the show, the story came to light when a former Big Brother housemate spilled the beans.

After Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace tweeted asking whether Andrew was gay, Mark Byron replied: 'Nooo babe he's my best friend @RachRhodes_ boyfriend! X'

MailOnline previously contacted Andrew's representatives for comment.

Meanwhile, Caroline has been mocked by Love Island fans for getting engaged to Andrew after three months of dating.

The couple, who split up briefly during their whirlwind romance, announced their engagement in an Instagram post on Saturday as they enjoyed a holiday together.

However, several followers were quick to mention how fast the decision seemed to have been reached, taking their disbelief to social media.

Heartbroken: Radio DJ Rachael Rhodes wrote a blog post about her heartbreak, in which she spoke candidly about their romance, claiming that she was dumped without any explanation

Commenting on her post, which saw Caroline flash her engagement ring while Andrew bit on her finger, fans wrote: 'Cringe. Been together 5 minutes and split up once'; 'I could not be more angry'; 'are you kidding? Do you even know the guy?'

'Let me count... the reasons this is the worst rash decision in history. i mean, 3 months of drama now this, drama addicts the both of you. This is silly. Nah, i will unfollow.'

Taking to Twitter, more shocked users wrote: 'HOW ARE CAROLINE FLACK AND ANDREW BRADY ENGAGED. ITS BEEN LIKE 4 WEEK'; 'caroline flack getting engaged to andrew brady has broken my little carolly heart'; 'F**k off did Caroline flack just get engaged to a man she's literally been with for about 2 weeks.'

'Havent Andrew Brady and Caroline Flack only been together 5 seconds and now theyre engaged??? What??'; 'I need to know if Caroline Flacks engagement is legit because genuinely how do you get engaged after two months of dating and already one breakup????'; 'Is Caroline Flack actually engaged or am I really hammered?'

Ready to walk up the aisle: Caroline Flack, 38, has been mocked by Love Island fans for getting engaged to Andrew, 37, after three months of dating

Other users were happy for the couple, sharing their own romantic tales and offering kind words of comfort.

Fans wrote: 'Congrats to you both. My hubby proposed after 3 months and we are celebrating our 20th anniversary in Sept. We are immensely happy and still so in love. So ignore any negative comments saying "its too soon " haters gonna hate. Don't let anyone burst your love bubble. Much love to @carolineflack and @itsandrewbrady x x x

'Caroline Flack is engaged. Im so happy for her. Shes gonna be a gorgeous bride. Cutest lil bub.'; 'Caroline flack has had a s***e time with men, genuinely so happy to see her engaged! just shows theres someone out there for everyone no matter how long you have to wait.'

Following her engagement, Caroline thanked fans for their support and kind words.

The Love Island host took to her Instagram stories to share a sweet picture of herself adoringly gazing at her husband-to-be with her engagement ring in full view and an accompanying message.

She said: 'Thank you for so many lovely messages! Really appreciate them! It's such a lovely feeling...we're off on hols,' followed by a heart emoji.

Their relationship hasn't been smooth sailing as Caroline dumped the Celebrity Big Brother star over rumours that he was using her to get famous.

Fun in the sun: Earlier in the week, Caroline was seen in a selfie with her beau, which was artistically blurred as he did a 'rock and roll' sign with his hands

It was also claimed Andrew had 'shared a passionate kiss' with a dance teacher he met in a Chester night club, shortly after going public with Caroline.

It is believed the former Strictly star was left devastated by the split, as it came just days after she introduced Andrew to her entire family at her father's 70th birthday.

A source told MailOnline: 'First of all there was the first girl who came forward and then there was a second girl and while it wasn't proven but its broken down the trust. She's obviously very upset.'

Caroline hasn't had the best of luck when it comes to her love life over the years as she has enjoyed a string of high-profile relationships with the likes of Prince Harry and Harry Styles but nothing has ever come of them.
James Corden is set to attend the royal wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, as well as two of the receptions slated for the day.

The 39-year-old funnyman, as well as Ben Winston, his producer, received the coveted invites to St. George's Chapel, and the subsequent receptions at Windsor Castle and Frogmore House, TMZ reported Saturday.

The Late Late Show host in January appeared on CBS This Morning and cast doubt as to whether or not he'd be one of 600 guests slated to watch the prince and actress exchange vows.

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En route: James Corden, 39, is set to attend the royal wedding between Prince Harry, 33, and Meghan Markle, 36, as well as two of the receptions slated for the day, TMZ reported on Saturday

'I don't think I'll be there,' he said. 'I just want to go on the bachelor party. That's all I'm interested in with Harry.

'Wedding, sure ... he's going to have a hell of a bachelor party - that's what I'm looking forward to.'

He said that the wedding buzz in the United States was louder than it was in his native England.

'I think inherently as British people we just don't get quite as excited about anything as America does and to our detriment many times,' he said.

Guest list: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have invited James Corden to their wedding

The father-of-three - to his son Max, seven, daughters Carey, three, and Charlotte, five months, with wife Julia Carey - explained how he views the differences between British and American culture

'The greatest thing about America and certainly the greatest thing about growing up in Britain and looking at America is a boundless optimism and positivity,' he said.

Corden said that amid the 'various changes in administrations and government' - presumably speaking of President Donald Trump and his administration - he's wanted 'to shout from the top of the Empire State Building to America: Don't lose that thing!' in reference to the optimism.

'Don't lose the very thing that makes genuinely America great. Forget America great again ... America great is a boundless, joyful enthusiasm that anything is possible,' the Carpool Karaoke mastermind said.

'When someone like Prince Harry is getting married, we go, "Oh, great. We should get a little, tiny flag," and America goes, "This is amazing!"'
James Packer has headed to Mexico a little over a week after checking himself out of a private psychiatric clinic in Boston.

Looking tanned and healthy in images shared by The Daily Telegraph, the billionaire was seen for the first time since leaving the clinic when he joined friends on Sunday.

The group of seven shared an early evening meal at the businessman's beachfront villa in Cabo, Mexico.

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Out and about: James Packer has headed to Mexico a little over a week after checking himself out of a private psychiatric clinic in Boston. Pictured here in New York in 2014

Among them is Kylie Lim, who is reported to be James' current girlfriend, and her sister, Shelby.

Also in the group was James' close friend Ben Tilley and former rugby player Damien Chapman.

The friends were transported from the business magnate's ranch in Argentina to Cabo aboard his private jet.

James spent time at his ranch after leaving a treatment facility in Boston, from which he checked himself out on May 4.

By his side: James has been seen for the first time after leaving a psychiatric facility. He's in Mexico with Kylie Lim

Mates: James is with a group of friends in Cabo, including close confidant Ben Tilley

He'd spent about five weeks at the McLean Hospital in Belmont, Boston, after checking himself in with unspecified mental health issues in March.

At a cool $35,000-a-week, the exclusive 11-bedroom facility is regarded as one of America's top psychiatric hospitals, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The son of late media mogul Kerry Packer was photographed inside the facility alongside his concerned mother, Ros Packer.

Help: James spent about five weeks at the McLean Hospital in Belmont, Boston (pictured)

Resting: He then returned to his Argentinian polo estate, Ellerstina (pictured)

He then returned to his Argentinian polo estate, Ellerstina, where he spent several days, joined by his friends.

In March, James caused shock waves when he announced he was stepping down as head of Crown Resorts due to 'mental health issues.'

James was first linked to New York socialite Kylie in December last year, soon after which the pair were spotted on holiday in Aspen.
They star on two of the most popular series on television.

And it looks like Gina Rodriguez and Lakeith Stanfield are joining forces in a very intimate way.

The 33-year-old Jane The Virgin actress looked in the throws of passion on the set of her upcoming romantic comedy Someone Great in New York City on Thursday.

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And action! Gina Rodriguez was spotted filming a kissing scene with her Someone Great co-star Lakeith Stanfield in New York City on Thursday

Gina and the 26-year-old Atlanta actor were in the midst of filming a kissing scene for their upcoming Netflix romantic comedy.

They were seen sitting near a water fountain in Washington Square Park; Gina leaned over and then put her arms around him for their steamy kiss.

The TV star flaunted her legs in black denim shorts, adding a crop top with a red and black flannel top around her waist.

In the moment: They were seen sitting near a water fountain in Washington Square Park; Gina leaned over and then put her arms around him for their steamy kiss

Wow: Gina, 33, and the 26-year-old Atlanta actor were in the midst of filming a kissing scene for their upcoming Netflix romantic comedy

Passionate: The two certainly seemed to be enjoying shooting the intimate shoot together

Flaunting it: The TV star flaunted her legs in black denim shorts, adding a crop top with a red and black flannel top around her waist

She rocked a half ponytail with minimal makeup.

The star finished off the summer look with sandals that read 'Dope.'

Gina later swapped the look out for another crop top, which read 'Latina AF, have a nice day.'

Smooth operator: Lakeith flirtatiously looked at Gina

Can't resist his charm: She then leaned in for another kiss

Beaming: Gina beamed alongside Lakeith in between takes of the steamy scene

She added high waisted sweats with another flannel around her waist; she carried a denim jacket in one hand.

Gina's character also kissed Lakeith's character in the second look as well.

The star sported wavy tresses and no fringe.

Meanwhile her co-star Lakeith, 26, cut a casual figure in cuffed denim bottoms and a white T-shirt, adding red socks and Adidas sneakers.

Just us: The atmosphere seemed to be very light on set as they shared a giggle

Sweet: Gina red to her co-star as they hung out in the iconic Big Apple park

Someone Great also stars Brittany Snow, DeWanda Wise, Rosario Dawson and Ben Sidell.

The romantic comedy is about a woman, played by Gina, who endures a horrible breakup and decides to have a New York City adventure.

She and her two friends have the time of their life on their adventure before she moves across the country to start a new job.

Someone Great is set to hit theaters in 2019.

Gina currently plays Jane Gloriana Villanueva in the comedy Jane The Virgin; she's been playing the character for four seasons.

The CW network announced last month it will have a fifth season.

Chill: She later slipped into a denim jacket and dress

Stunning: Gina looked gorgeous as always
Married At First Sight star, Sarah Roza stepped out for a date with a 'mystery man' on Saturday.

Now the buxom red-head has gushed over her new 'gentleman' and in the process took a swipe at her 'ex-husband' Telv Williams.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia on Sunday, the 39-year-old revealed she's finally ventured out for her 'very first date' after she was left 'heartbroken' by Telv after the controversial social experiment.

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Hes a true gentleman and treats me like a Queen: Sarah Roza gushes about her new man as she takes a swipe at ex Telv Williams who left her heartbroken

'Since my last relationship ended in such a devastating manner and after being absolutely heartbroken, Ive finally decided to venture out for my very first date,' she said.

'Im so glad I took the necessary time I did because it was definitely worth the wait!'

Sarah continued to gush over her new man, who she insists is a 'true gentleman.'

'Hes such a lovely and extremely handsome man. Hes a true gentleman in every way possible & he treats me like an absolute Queen,' she said.

Bad breakup? Sarah's 'romantic date' comes after she took aim at her 'ex-husband' Telv and accused him of 'hooking up' with 'countless fame hungry insignificant randoms'

'Im really looking forward to seeing him again.'

Just yesterday, Sarah took to her Instagram story to document the 'exciting' date via two short clips.

In both clips, Sarah explained her date involved her four-legged friend, Frankie and the mystery male's pooch, Indie.

In a cute twist, Sarah told Daily Mail Australia her dog, Frankie is 'quite enamored' with the female bulldog, Indie.

New romance: Sarah's comments surfaced as the machinery technician, 33, debuted his new relationship with blonde bombshell Maddie Carolan

It is unknown whether Sarah's new squeeze is the same man who she attended an AFL match with in Melbourne last week.

While Sarah refused to reveal the identity of her new man she concluded: 'Im sure youll see more of him soon.'

Sarah's 'romantic date' comes after she took aim at her 'ex-husband' Telv and accused him of 'hooking up' with 'countless fame hungry insignificant randoms.'

Sarah's comments surfaced as the machinery technician, 33, debuted his new relationship with blonde bombshell Maddie Carolan.

Sarah hit back at her ex after a fan commented on one of her Instagram photos, comparing the reality TV star to Jessica Rabbit and asking if she was still single.

'Thank you lovely lady but I'm not in a rush unlike other people to just hook up with countless fame hungry insignificant randoms,' Sarah responded.

'Real love is truly important to me so I'm happy to ease slowly back into the dating life eventually when the time is right.'

Ouch! Sarah hit back at her ex after a fan commented on one of her Instagram photos, comparing her to Jessica Rabbit and asking if she was still single

After weeks of speculation, Sarah finally confirmed the MAFS golden couple had split in March.

She wrote on Instagram: 'I truly wish only the absolute best for Telv because I undoubtedly will always love and care very deeply for him. But ultimately I deserve someone who shares the same life goals and aspirations as I do.'
Ashley Tisdale and husband Christopher French attended the 15th annual Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Imagine Gala in Los Angeles on Saturday night.

The 32-year-old Disney vet stunned in a one-shoulder, little black dress for the event benefiting Type 1 diabetes.

French matched his wife in a black suit sans a tie.

Giving back: Ashley Tisdale attended the 15th annual Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Imagine Gala in Los Angeles on Saturday night

Dynamic duo: She was accompanied by her husband and fellow musician Chris French

Tisdale teamed her tux jacket dress with a pair of sling-back pumps.

And the actress was without jewelry aside from her large diamond wedding ring.

Ashley wore her hair styled in soft waves and her makeup included a heavy winged eyeliner.

Strike a pose: The 32-year-old Disney vet stunned in a one-shoulder, little black dress for the event benefiting Type 1 diabetes

Sweat it out: Before getting dressed up, Tisdale made a stop at the gym

Toned tummy: The Suite Life actress showed off her abs in a sports bra

Chris and Ashley have been married since 2014.

The two tied the knot during a secret ceremony at an undisclosed location after being engaged for a year.

French was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2015 and has been an activist for the disease ever since.
The Irwin family celebrated Mother's Day by feeding crocodiles at Australia Zoo in Queensland on Sunday.

Mum Terri and her two children Bindi, 19, and Robert, 14, were joined by Bindi's boyfriend Chandler Powell, 21, as they entertained crowds on the Sunshine Coast during a special Mother's Day show.

The group looked to be in high spirits as they watched Terri, 53, bravely toss red meat to a hungry croc while standing just inches away.

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Crikey! Terri Irwin celebrated Mother's Day on Sunday at Australia Zoo with her children Bindi and Robert

Earlier in the day, Bindi paid tribute to her mother in a heartfelt Instagram post alongside a video collage of family photos.

'Happy Mother's Day to the strongest and most beautiful woman in the world, my mum,' she captioned.

'For over 19 years, my entire life, she has been there for me no matter what. Words will never be able to describe how much she means to me I love you with all my heart, Mum.'

That's brave! The group looked to be in high spirits as they watched Terri, 53, bravely toss red meat to a hungry croc while standing just inches away

Watching in awe: Robert and Bindi were joined by her boyfriend Chandler Powell, 21

It comes after Terri revealed that she still struggles with Steve Irwin's death nearly 12 years on.

'Every day it's difficult, and after 11 years the grief goes from being a rock in your heart to walking beside you,' she recently told Sunday Night.

She continued: 'It's always there, and I never really know when it's going to hit me.'

Heartfelt tribute: Earlier in the day, Bindi paid tribute to her mother in a heartfelt Instagram post alongside a video collage of family photos

Memories! Bindi shared this adorable family photo, which included her late father Steve Irwin

Terri added that she misses Steve 'constantly,' but said that she still felt lucky to have her her 'happily ever after' with the wildlife warrior.

Steve, 44, died on September 4, 2006 while filming on the Great Barrier Reef near Port Douglas when a stingray struck him with a barb to the heart.

Last month, 'The Crocodile Hunter' received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame more than a decade after his shock death.

Irwin's wife Terri, daughter Bindi and son Robert attended the ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard along with numerous celebrities and fans.

'Every day it's difficult, and after 11 years the grief goes from being a rock in your heart to walking beside you': It comes after Terri revealed that she still struggles with Steve Irwin's death

Family: Terri and Steve had two children together, son Robert (L) and daughter Bindi (R)

Bindi teared up as she spoke about her father, telling the crowd he would have loved to have been at the ceremony.

'I never in my wildest dreams imagined this would come true,' Bindi said.

'Together we will continue to fight for everything Dad worked so hard for.'

'He was the best and most incredible conservationist, but also the best dad,' her brother Robert added during his own speech.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry has condemned "in the strongest terms" Sunday's suicide bomb attacks on three Indonesian churches which left at least 11 people dead.

At least 11 people were killed and 40 wounded in the attacks on three churches in Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya early on Sunday.

The ministry expressed condolences for the victims' families and stressed its full solidarity with the people and government of Indonesia in the fight against "sinful terrorism."

"These attacks reflect the ugly face of terrorism and its extremist ideology, which is far removed from the tolerant principles of Islam that prohibit shedding the blood of the innocent," the statement added.

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She's the frequent red carpet-goer who's married to Thor hunk Chris Hemsworth.

And cementing her style-icon status, Elsa Pataky dazzled as she showed face at the Camilla And Marc show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in a floral-embellished black dress.

Opting for a Japanese-inspired long-sleeve black dress at the Sydney-based showing, the Spanish model showed off her lithe physique in a the leg-baring ensemble.

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Flower power! Elsa Pataky dazzled in a floral-embellished black dress as she showed face at the Camilla And Marc show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

With a zip running from the top of the dress to the bottom, Elsa's autumn-esque dress turned heads as she flashed her trim pins against the media wall ahead of the famed fashion brand's resort '19 collection.

Keeping her look equally chic as elegant, the leggy blonde partnered her dress with a subtle pair of black heels featuring silver detailing.

In the way of hair, the mother-of-three opted for a side-parted up 'do.

Black to basics! Opting for a Japanese-inspired long-sleeve black dress, the Spanish model showed off her lithe physique in a the leg-baring ensemble

Style file! With a zip running from the top of the dress to the bottom, Elsa's autumn-esque dress turned heads as she flashed her trim pins against the media wall ahead of the famed fashion brand's resort '19 collection

Sweeping her strands to her right, the stunner added subtle beach waves to her structured look.

Turning for the camera, the star showed off the back of her dress while striking a stunning smile.

Elsa also added a dimmed pop of deep rouge to her lips.

Sweeping her strands to her right, the stunner added subtle beach waves to her structured look

Pals in good places: Before heading into the show, Elsa (left) was seen posing next to Matt Damon's wife and friend Luciana Barroso (right)

Skin kept dewy, the star glowed as she flashed her pearly whites at the fashion soiree.

Before heading into the show, Elsa was seen posing next to Matt Damon's wife and pal Luciana Barroso.

The star-studded event also saw fellow fashion figures gather for the show.

Stars included the likes of Victoria Secret's Georgia Fowler and Victoria Lee, Jessica Gomes, Ksenija Lukich, Tahnee Atkinson, Anna Heinrich, Carissa Walford, Kate Waterhouse and Montarna Mcdonald.

Also in attendance were Michael Klim and girlfriend Desiree Deravi, P.E Nation designers Pip Edwards and Claire Tregoning and The Veronicas Lisa and Jessica Origliasso.

White hot: Anna Heinrich sparked wedding cues when she posed in white

Flower girl! Georgia Fowler graced the event wearing a metallic rose-hued ensemble

Black on black! Victoria's Secret Fashion Show model and David Jones' newest ambassador recruit Victoria Lee cut an elegant figure in an all-black ensemble

Army chic: David Jones six-year ambassador Jessica Gomes looked glam as she wore an olive-hued ensemble

The Veronicas' Lisa and Jessica Origliasso took the media wall by storm when they showed face in all-black ensembles

Ray of sunshine: Michael Klim and girlfriend Desiree Deravi were fashionable as they smiled for cameras

Fashion nation: P.E Nation designers Pip Edwards looked fashion forward as they arrived side by side

Sporty chic: Tahnee Atkinson looked sporty chic as she attended the event in an all-green track pants-style ensemble

Statement making: Isabella Manfredi kept her style ever cool as she opted for a boho-inspired outfit

Plaid situation: Carissa Walford turned heads as she arrived in a plaid dress and red heels to match

Sunday blues: Elliot Garnaut and Montarna Mcdonald matched in blue as they arrived together
She's currently planning her nuptials to fiance John Noble and recently spent time at a fitness camp in Ibiza.

But Vicky Pattison was taking a night off from the dress shopping and cake tasting on Saturday as she hit London's Cafe de Paris for an evening of cabaret with a pal.

And it seemed the pre-wedding detox was kicked to the curb, as the Geordie Shore personality stepped out of the venue looking unsteady on her feet, clutching on to her male companion for support.

Oh dear: Engaged Vicky Pattison was taking a night off from the dress shopping and cake tasting on Saturday as she hit London's Cafe de Paris for an evening of cabaret with a pal

Impossible to miss in a bright yellow dress, Vicky, 30, was seen leaning into the unknown male, trying to cover her face by burying it into his shoulder, clearly letting loose despite boasting about the results of her fitness boot camp on the White Isle.

Caught off guard by the lights that flashed around her in the city street, she seemed taken off guard after a night of letting her hair down.

The worse-for-wear former I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! winner attempted her best strut in the floaty dress.

The one-shoulders gown was nipped in at Vicky's waist, before descending to the floor in a lightly pleated design.

You okay hun? Impossible to miss in a bright yellow dress, Vicky, 30, was seen leaning into the unknown male, trying to cover her face by burying it into his shoulder

Blinded by the light: Caught off guard by the lights that flashed around her in the city street, she seemed taken off guard after a night of letting her hair down

A thigh-split showed off her pins, yet an unfortunately-placed label could be seen at the split, fluttering about unflattering as Vicky stumbled along.

Keeping her accessories down to a minimum, merely flashing her 3.6-carat marquise-cut engagement rock, Vicky completed the outfit with gold killer heels - perhaps not the best decision on her big night out.

She wore her usual wash of bronzer and her locks in tumbling waves around her features.

Her pal seemed far from amused as he too looked bleary-eyed, attempting to support his friend whilst perhaps a little unsteady himself.

Clinging on: .The worse-for-wear former I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! winner attempted her best strut in the floaty dress

Puffing along: Earlier in the night, the betrothed Ex On The Beach star was seen puffing away at a cigarette, health and fitness be damned

His face was the picture of annoyance as Vicky hung from around his neck as they walked out of the venue.

Earlier in the night, the betrothed Ex On The Beach star was seen puffing away at a cigarette, health and fitness be damned.

Looking relatively furious as she did so, she carried a cream and gold statement purse, in keeping with the flamboyant style of Cafe de Paris.

Other half John was nowhere to be seen, entrusting his bride-to-be in the hands of the camouflage-print wearing friend.

Oh no: Other half John was nowhere to be seen, entrusting his bride-to-be in the hands of the camouflage-print wearing friend

Time well spent? Vicky's night out comes after she was meant to be a detox in Ibiza just last week

Vicky - who is planning a Big Fat Gypsy-style wedding with dressmaker Thelma Madine - was first pictured with John in the X Factor audience in October 2016.

The northern lass already dated John nearly 10 years ago, when she was 20.

The couple rekindled their old flame, and have been inseparable ever since - other than the odd night on the tiles, of course.
Samantha X isn't shy in sharing all the saucy details of her bedroom escapades.

And on Sunday, the former escort (real name Amanda Goff) opened up about her first encounter with 'lesbian porn'.

In a candid column penned for Mamamia, the 44-year-old revealed she first googled girl-on-girl action after being asked to partake in a threesome.

'There is something sensuous about women making love': In a column penned for Mamamia on Sunday, Samantha X revealed she watched 'lesbian porn' before partaking in her first threesome

Samantha confessed she was 'mildly terrified' about the prospect of the menage a trois, and had 'no idea how to turn a woman on'.

The curious call girl took to the internet to do some research, before revealing: 'There is something sensuous and gentle about women making love.'

She continued, racily writing: 'I readily admit that I am super-attracted to voluptuous women  who doesn't love the sexy dips and soft curves of a female body?'

Raunchy revelation: Samantha took to the internet to do some research about female sexuality, before revealing: 'There is something sensuous and gentle about women making love.'

After chatting with her pals, Samantha realised that everyone has different fantasies and fetishes, which shouldn't be a cause for stigma.

The blonde beauty revealed she has one female pal who watches gay porn, and another who enjoys transsexual porn.

She concluded: 'We need to stop worrying and dissecting what our tastes are and what turns us on... Because let me assure you of one thing. No one is 'normal''.

Fantasies: After chatting with her pals, Samantha realised that everyone has different fantasies and fetishes, which shouldn't be a cause for stigma

Samantha hit headlines late last year after leaving the escort industry before finding love with Channel Seven presenter, Ryan Phelan.

Sadly, the pair split in January, with Samantha sharing her heartbreak on social media.

In the wake of the break-up, the beauty bought a puppy named Little May, and has returned to university to study for a Master's Degree.
The Eurovision Song Contest was left in shock when a random stage invader snatched the microphone from British act SuRie mid-performance.

Covering the action-packed event on behalf of Australia, commentator Joel Creasey branded the man 'some absolute c**khead' for his rude interruption of her song Storm.

The intruder - who apparently goes by the moniker Dr ACactivism - said something along the lines of: 'Nazis of the UK media, we demand freedom.'

He reportedly stole the limelight during other high-profile British events, by cutting off Dermot O'Leary at the National Television Awards this year and The Voice UK back in 2017.

The European Broadcasting Union released a statement to say that it 'regrets' the Eurovision incident while confirming that the man is currently in police custody.

Reeling from the shocking stage invasion, SBS host Joel said on live TV: 'Some absolute c**khead got on stage but what a professional.

'She slayed that. The crowd are behind her.'

'Order of Merlin, First Class': J.K. Rowling praised Australia's Eurovision commentator Joel Creasey for calling SuRie's stage invader an 'absolute c**khead' on live TV

And famed British author J.K. Rowling took to Twitter to praise the 27-year-old comedian for his real talk.

'Apparently the Australian commentator called @surieofficial's stage invader 'some absolute c**khead' and I don't want to hear another word about Australia being in #Eurovision ever again,' the Harry Potter author tweeted to her 14.4 million followers.

Replying to J.K., Joel said: 'Well I am dying a little. Twas me. I have been peppering my commentary with regular Potter references too.'

'I am dying a little': Joel couldn't believe that the best-selling fiction author gave him a cheeky shout out on Twitter

The 52-year-old Brit - who is the ninth-best-selling fiction author of all time - then bestowed a wizarding award upon Joel.

'Order of Merlin, First Class,' she said.

'I absolutely adore you,' Joel gushed in response. 'Very chuffed! Off to celebrate with far too many butterbeers!'

Absolutely magic! J.K. was live tweeting throughout the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Clearly pleased as punch with J.K.'s shout out, Joel also shared a snap of the exchange on his Instagram page.

'Well, I can die happy,' he said. 'If I were to look in to the Mirror of Erised - this tweet would have appeared.'

Meanwhile, UK commentator Graham Norton dubbed SuRie a 'national heroine' for soldiering on with her performance - although she ultimately ranked 24th in the competition.

Stage invasion: A man, thought to be known as Dr ACactivism, stole the mic from the UK's SuRie during her performance of Storm

Israel's Netta Barzilai stole the top spot - causing considerable political controversy - while Aussie songstress Jessica Mauboy trailed behind in 20th place.

She performed her powerhouse pop hit We Got Love but despite delivering a stunning and energised performance, Australia suffered the worst placing in its four years of the competition.
She recently returned to Australia for the second time this year with husband Matt Damon, fuelling rumours that they may be considering purchasing property in Byron Bay.

And flying to Sydney for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia, Luciana Barroso debunked rumours that the two had any plans to move to Australia.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, she said: 'We love coming to visit the country but there are no plans to live here long term.'

'There are no plans to live here long term': Matt Damon's wife Luciana Barroso (pictured right, with Elsa Pataky) confirms the couple won't be moving to Australia... after rumours they were looking to buy property in Byron Bay

However, Luciana was quick to heap praise on the people she's met while Down Under.

'I love the people in Australia,' she said. 'Everyone I have met has been so warm and welcoming. It just makes it so easy to fall in love with this country.'

Luciana and Matt are close friends with Chris Hemsworth and his wife Elsa Pataky

And on Sunday Luciana stepped out in Sydney to attend the Camilla and Marc show for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week with best pal Elsa.

Debunked: Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, she said the couple loved the country but there were not yet any plans to make their stay permanent

It was reported by the publication that both Luciana and Elsa turned the fashion show into a girls' day out.

Staying at the Ovolo in Wooloomooloo, the two mums reportedly got a group of friends together as they enjoyed their Sydney getaway

In March, Matt Damon returned to Australia for the second time this year, fuelling rumours he was considering purchasing property in Byron Bay.

Fondness: 'Everyone I have met has been so warm and welcoming. It just makes it so easy to fall in love with this country,' Luciana said of Australian people

Friends in good places: Luciana and Matt (left) are close friends with Chris Hemsworth (right) and his wife Elsa Pataky

At the time, Luciana and Elsa were photographed at accessory store Buffalo Girl, with the shop owner suggesting the women were buying items for Bluesfest Byron Bay.

'These gorgeous girls popped in today to pick up their beautiful custom made bags, ready to rock at @bluesfestbyronbay always lovely to catch up,' she captioned the post.

Matt and Luciana's return to Byron Bay comes barely two months after they rang in the New Year Down Under with Chris and Elsa in the coastal town.

High profile friendship: Matt and Luciana's return to Byron Bay came barely two months after they rang in the New Year Down Under with Chris and Elsa in the coastal town

The high-profile Hollywood couples were also joined by Chris' brother Liam Hemsworth and fiancee Miley Cyrus.

Matt and his family also visited Byron Bay for a short trip mid-last year, further sparking relocation rumorus.
Jessica Mauboy has jokingly hit back at Ryan Reynolds - after the 41-year-old star 'slammed' her homeland's involvement in Eurovision in a scathing Twitter video on Tuesday.

Dressed as his sardonic superhero character Deadpool, Ryan took a dig at the land Down Under, which he hilariously said was 'barely on the planet'.

He openly wondered why Australia had been 'let in' to the annual song contest despite not being a European country, while making it clear that his native Canada should be given an equal chance to compete.

'Don't give me that cr*p about Canada not being part of the European family. You let in Australia and they're barely on the planet,' Ryan jibed.

Not prepared to take his taunts lying down, Jessica recorded an epic comeback of her own.

Taking to Twitter, the 28-year-old uploaded a clip with the message: 'Hey there @VancityReynolds, BIG LOVE from "barely on the planet" Australia.'

'You were wondering why Australia is here': Jessica Mauboy hit back at Ryan Reynolds after he blasted her homeland for being 'let in' to Eurovision

In the video, Jessica could be seen wearing a glittering gold top while speaking from Lisbon, Portugal - where the singing competition was held this year.

She said: 'G'day Ryan. I'm Jessica Mauboy and I'm representing Australia at this year's Eurovision.'

She continued: 'You were wondering why Australia is here. Well if you look at the map that I just made, we're just right over here.'

'We're just right over here': The 28-year-old hitmaker moved a cut-out of Australia right next to Europe

Proving that Australia is definitely on the map, she cut out the country and dragged it right next to Europe.

Jessica added: 'And will your sleeping moose really want to take on an Australian saltwater crocodile?

'Well, thanks Ryan. And if you could actually really put me in touch with Celine Dion, that would be great.'

Not happy: Ryan Reynolds wondered why Eurovision officials let Australia compete... but Canada wasn't in the contest

The land Down Under somewhat controversially joined the largely European singing competition in 2015 - and competed for the fourth time in 2018.

In his original Deadpool-themed video, Ryan campaigned to get Canada into Eurovision.

He joked: 'Our generous gift of Celine Dion alone should earn us an invite.'

'You've awakened a sleeping moose,' the A-lister added.

Of course, the reel was all in jest and Ryan was simply promoting his upcoming flick Deadpool 2 and his character is known for sarcastic quips and insults.
Tamzin Outhwaite has announced the death of her mother in two posts shared with Instagram followers on Sunday morning.

Confirming the news after uploading a photo of former stockbroker Anna Santi, the EastEnders actress, 47, thanked her mother for the positive impact she had on her life.

Captioning the image, she wrote: 'R.I.P Anna Patricia Santi. So lucky to have you as my mum. What an incredible human you were. Thank you Mum. You taught me how to live and you continue to teach me...'

Devastated: Tamzin Outhwaite has announced the death of her mother in two posts shared with Instagram followers on Sunday morning

Sharing a separate shot of her brothers Kes and Jake as children, the actress also revealed that Anna had passed away almost a month ago.

'These two beauties and I Lost our beautiful mum 3 weeks ago today, suddenly .....THE best mum ever,' she wrote.

Speaking to the Daily Mail in January, the mother of two admitted she had adopted Anna's parenting skills and applied them to her relationship with her own children, daughters Florence and Marnie.

Tribute: Sharing a photo of former stockbroker Anna Santi, the EastEnders actress, 47,thanked her mother for the positive impact she had on her life

She said: 'If theres one thing Ive learned, its that life is easier if you give things a positive spin.

'I dont constantly view the world through rose-tinted spectacles  but I do think a person who feels lucky is bound to be happier than someone who constantly feels hard-done-by or lives in a cloud of negative feelings.

'My mother, Anna, used to drum that into me when I was a child. She would say I was a lucky girl to be given such amazing opportunities, including going to the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London. So I do the same to my girls.

Moving: Sharing a separate shot of her brothers Kes and Jake as children, the actress also revealed that Anna had passed away almost a month ago

'Even if its simply that theyve drawn a picture that doesnt work out the way they wanted, instead of screwing it up and throwing it away, I always say: "Look at what youve done in a different way.

'If its a portrait of a person whose nose has gone wrong, say, turn it into an elephant with its trunk instead."'

Meanwhile Tamzin is understood to have moved fitness instructor boyfriend Tom Child, 26, into her north London home.

The actress previously dated musician Barrington Thirlway Jnr following her split with actor Tom Ellis, the father of her two children, after eight-years of marriage in 2014.
Earlier this week she made a stand as part of a march of 82 women to campaign for more female representation within the film industry.

And Salma Hayek, 51, continued to show her support for the topic, as she took part in the Kering Women In Motion talk at Cannes Film Festival on Sunday.

Sporting a sheer lace dress, he Mexican actress spoke openly to Variety about the Me Too movement and the Harvey Weinstein scandal, and she called the changes that have started to take place an 'important step' for gender equality.

Honest: Salma Hayek speaks openly about gender inequality and the Weinstein scandal at Kering Women In Motion event during Cannes Film Festival on Sunday

Speaking to Variety's Ramin Setoodeh at the event, she said: 'Personally, as a woman that has been part of this community and has had to go through the struggles that all women have had to go through, it's an important step to see this happen.'

The march she took part in at the film festival marked an important occasion, as the number of women there represented the number of female directors who have climbed up the famous Cannes Film Festival steps since its inception.

But Salma still felt that there is more that can be done to tackle gender inequality, as she said of the protest: 'It looked like we were a lot, but we were such a small number.'

Change: Speaking to Variety's Ramin Setoodeh in the panel, she said: 'as a woman that has...had to go through the struggles it's an important step to see this happen'

More to do: But Salma still felt that there is more that can be done to tackle gender inequality, as she said of the protest: 'It looked like we were a lot, but we were such a small number'

Speaking out: Salma has been a staunch advocate for the #Metoo and Time's up movement after speaking out about her experiences with disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein last year

The actress has been a staunch advocate for the #Metoo and Time's up movement after speaking out about her experiences with disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein last year, alleging that he had put pressure on her to have sex with him.

And of the scandal, and particularly Weinstein's reaction to her and Lupita N'yongo's statements against him, she said: 'He only responded to two women, two women of colour. It was a strategy by the lawyers, because we are the easiest to get discredited.

'It is a well-known fact, if you are a woman of colour, people believe what you say less. So he went attacking the two women of colour, in hopes that if he could discredit us, he could then maybe discredit the rest.'

Scandal: And of Weinstein's reaction to her and Lupita N'yongo's statements against him, she said: 'He only responded to two women, two women of colour. It was a strategy'

Shocking: She added: 'It is a well-known fact, if you are a woman of colour, people believe what you say less. So he went attacking the two women of colour'

She added: 'The predators are hiding and terrified. You feel it. It's a very palpable atmosphere.'

That being said, she also added: 'Men have the opportunity, which is so beautiful, to rethink what does it mean to be a man.'

While at the event, Salma was the picture of elegance as she opted for a glamorous look when she stepped out in a gorgeous white lace dress.

Stunning: While at the event, Salma was the picture of elegance as she opted for a glamorous look as she stepped out in a gorgeous white lace dress

One Sunday, the Cannes Film Festival highlighted the talents of a number of its female guests including Three Faces actress Marziyeh Rezaei

The outfit's light colour was offset by red silk material, which was tied around Salma's waist and her arms to add a pop of colour to the ensemble.

Keeping with her colour theme, Salma stepped out in white pumps, which had matching red straps on her ankles.

Salma styled her raven locks with a middle parting, and set them in waves as she put on a slick of bold red lipstick by Charlotte Tilbury to complete her chic look.

Photocall: The cast and crew of Iranian film Three Faces made an appearance (From left to right Solmaz Panahi, Marzieh Rezaei, Amin Jafari, Behnaz Jafari and Mastaneh Mohajer)

Stylish: Tania Casciani (R) and Romina Iniesta (L) were the picture of glamour as they posed on the red carpet to promote their film Murder Me, Monster

Happy with their work: Director Alejandro Fadel, Tania, Stephane Rideau, Romina and Victor Lopez all came to support the screening of their film at the festival

Sunday at the 71st annual film festival also saw a number of glamorous premieres take place, with the one for Argentinian film Murder Me, Monster as well as Iranian production Three Faces being particular highlights.

Female representation was strong at these photocalls, as actresses Behnaz Jafari and Marziyeh Rezaei made an appearance alongside film editor Mastaneh Mahojer for Three Faces, while producer Julie Gayet, and actresses Tania Casciani and Romina Iniesta also took to the red carpet for Murder Me, Monster.

Spike Lee also made an appearance at the festival alongside his wife Tonya Lewis, and their children Satchel and Jackson, as well as Haitian actor Jimmy Jean Louis.

Off the red carpet: Spike Lee also made an appearance at the festival alongside his wife Tonya Lewis (centre), as well as Haitian actor Jimmy Jean Louis (L)
She wowed fans with her impressive figure during a recent trip to Marbella with her six-month-old daughter.

And Ferne McCann only turned heads once again on Sunday, as she made a stunning appearance at a Herbalife event in London.

The reality star, 27, displayed her enviably slender frame in a slinky pair of striped flares as she helped set up the launch party at the Mercure Hotel.

Showing her stripes: Ferne McCann turned heads on Sunday, as she made a stunning appearance at a Herbalife event in London

Commanding attention: The reality star, 27, displayed her enviably slender frame in a slinky pair of striped flares as she helped set up the launch party at the Mercure Hotel

The former TOWIE star proved her natural sense of style in the bold blue flares - which cinched in at her slim waist, before skimming her long legs to the floor.

She kept things simple with a black vest on top, and tied her look together with summery heeled sandals.

Styling her hair into loose waves and sporting a typically bronzed make-up look, Ferne displayed her radiant complexion to all as she made a beaming arrival at the hotel.

Flare for fashion: The former TOWIE star proved her natural sense of style in the bold blue flares - which cinched in at her slim waist, before skimming her long legs to the floor

Effortless: She kept things simple with a black vest on top, and tied her look together with summery heeled sandals

Little touches: She jazzed up her look with a delicate gold pendant

Stunning: Styling her hair into loose waves and sporting a typically bronzed make-up look, Ferne displayed her radiant complexion to all as she made a beaming arrival

Turning heads: Ferne ensured all eyes were on her as she paraded her figure at the event, just six months after welcoming her daughter

The mother-of-one attended the Herbalife launch with her best pal Danielle Armstrong, and her boyfriend Daniel Spiller.

The blonde looked casually chic in a striped pussybow shirt and skinny jeans as she collected the health goods from their car, and headed inside with her beau.

Ferne looked in good spirits as she continued with her working duties, after visiting her ex Arthur Collins in prison last week.

The reality star was spotted cradling her six-month-old daughter Sunday as she left HMP Full Sutton in York on Friday - despite vowing to never see her ex again.

Tough time: Ferne looked in good spirits as she continued with her working duties, after visiting her ex Arthur Collins in prison last week

Teamwork: The mother-of-one attended the Herbalife launch with her best pal Danielle Armstrong

Chic: The blonde looked casually chic in a striped pussybow shirt and skinny jeans as she collected the health goods from their car

Helping hand: She arrived alongside her boyfriend Daniel Spiller

She had previously visited Collins at Belmarsh Prison, South-East London when Sunday was two weeks old, and told him he would never see either of them again.

The This Morning star reportedly said: 'You have ruined our lives. This is what you have done. And this is what you are missing out on.'

Ferne insisted she was 'done' with confronting Arthur and she explained she felt very 'strongly' about the 'innocent people' injured in the attack.

However since the visit, it has been claimed her jailbird ex-boyfriend took legal action to get access to the daughter he shares with the reality star.

Arthur is currently serving a 20 year sentence following a vicious acid attack at an East London nightclub in April of last year.
A whole host of big names have graced the famous festival's red carpet this year so far.

And Livia Firth and Diane Kruger only added to the star-studded line-up on Sunday, as they led the next batch of celebrity arrivals in Cannes.

The film producer, who is married to Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth, proved to be in good spirits as she happily waved for cameras outside the swanky Hotel Martinez.

Newbies: Livia Firth (L) and Diane Kruger (R) led the next batch of celebrity arrivals in Cannes on Sunday

Livia was the picture of sophistication as she arrived, in a simple black wide-neck blouse and stunning shimmering midi skirt of orange, gold and silver.

She maintained the elegant feel with low heeled sandals, but draped a striking silver rain coat over one arm in a more trendy touch.

Sweeping her ponytail to one side, the Italian producer drew attention to her enviably smooth and youthful complexion as she smiled and waves for cameras upon arrival at the hotel.

Chic: Livia was the picture of sophistication as she arrived, in a simple black wide-neck blouse and stunning shimmering midi skirt of orange, gold and silver

Her husband Colin was nowhere in sight - but the pair proved they are stronger than ever last week when they attended the Met Gala side-by-side.

The couple have endured a difficult time of late, after Livia's fling with Marco Brancaccia emerged.

They embarked on a one-year romance while she and Colin were temporarily separated, and later accused the 55-year-old of harassment when they called things off in 2016.

Stylish: Arriving next was Diane Kruger, who looked her typically trendy self in a playful blue mini dress and biker boots

Prosecutors have now reportedly revealed that they have enough evidence to go to trial with Livia's alleged stalker - which, under Italian law, means the journalist could face up to five years in prison.

Arriving next was Diane Kruger, who looked her typically trendy self in a playful blue mini dress and biker boots.

The 41-year-old gave a glimpse of her leggy frame in the striped frock, which pulled into a stiff collar and long sleeves, but cut off high at her thigh in a chic tiered skirt.

Style queen: She offset the feminine garment with chunky buckled boots, and accessorised with large cat-eye sunglasses and a fitting French beret, in trendy finishing touches

She offset the feminine garment with chunky buckled boots, and accessorised with large cat-eye sunglasses and a fitting French beret, in trendy finishing touches.

While Diane made her fame as an actress, she is well-known for her sense of style, and recently released her own fashion collaboration with H&M in Berlin, Germany.

The edit sees her curate her favourite summer fashion staples, which mixes casual and feminine cuts together with flowing materials.

Following suit was Helen Mirren, who proved to have completely recovered from her shocking fall at the festival the previous day.

Feeling all-white: Following suit was Helen Mirren, who proved to have completely recovered from her shocking fall at the festival the previous day

Aesthetically pleats-ing: The 72-year-old looked truly radiant in a white pleated maxi dress, layered beneath a matching cropped cardigan and paired with spotted loafers

Legs for days: Also heading to the hotel were Sonia Ben Ammar, clad in a thigh-skimming denim skirt

Strike a pose: The brunette proved her budding model prowess as she flipped her hair for cameras

Abs-olutely fabulous: Alessandra Ambrosio showed off her famously toned physique in a skimpy spotted bralet and skinny jeans

Suits you: Proving her chic sense of style, Alessandra layered a navy blazer on top and tied the look together with tan heels

Cool kid: She accessorised with a sleek leather shoulder bag and trendy round shades

The 72-year-old looked truly radiant in a white pleated maxi dress, layered beneath a matching cropped cardigan.

She accessorised with spotted loafers to jazz up her outfit, but opted for a natural make-up look to showcase her enviably glowing complexion as she headed inside.

Helen appeared in high spirits following her tumble on Saturday, which saw her fall flat on her face following an interview at the festival.

Also heading to the hotel were Sonia Ben Ammar, clad in a thigh-skimming denim skirt, and Natalia Vodianova, who gave a stylish twist on a suit in a pastel pink blazer and grey cigarette strides.

Think pink: Natalia Vodianova gave her stylish twist on a suit in an oversized pastel pink blazer and grey cigarette strides
A Cairo criminal court has acquitted on Sunday two police officers in a retrial for the torturing to death of a lawyer at a Cairo police station in 2015.

In December 2015, the two policemen, a lieutenant-colonel and a major in the country's National Security Agency, were convicted in the case and sentenced to five years in prison.

Lawyer Karim Hamdy, 27, was detained for interrogation at a police station in Matariya district in east Cairo on violence-related crimes and belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

According to the forensic report, Hamdy had suffered rib fractures and a brain haemorrhage.

The sentence was later overturned by an appeals court, which ordered a retrial.

Todays verdict can still be appealed.

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The first part of Channel Seven's Olivia Newton-John miniseries finally went to air on Sunday night.

And with polarising star Delta Goodrem in the lead role, it's unsurprising that audiences were divided in their reaction to the program.

On social media, the series - titled Olivia: Hopelessly Devoted To You - was loved by some, but loathed by others, with one fan even savaging: 'Watching this makes me want to fake my own death and disappear to Mexico'.

'Watching this makes me want to fake my own death and disappear to Mexico': Channel Seven's miniseries Olivia: Hopelessly Devoted To You, starring Delta Goodrem, received very mixed reviews on social media

The snarky tweet appeared to be a reference to Olivia's former partner, Patrick McDermott, who is suspected of faking his own death after he didn't return from a fishing trip in 2005.

Last year, New Idea reported that a team of investigators claimed to have tracked down the cameraman in Mexico.

That tweet was widely liked and shared on social media, however, it was far from the only negative critique of the miniseries.

Ouch! This snarky tweet was widely liked and shared on social media

Tuning out? This tweet was far from the only negative critique of the miniseries

'Cringing': One complained about Delta's acting prowess on the program

Mixed reaction: With polarising star Delta Goodrem in the leading role, it's unsurprising that audiences were divided in their reaction to the Olivia miniseries (the pair pictured together in 2017)

'Shows are supposed to be engaging - this is a struggle to keep watching,' one complained.

'Olivia must be cringing. So bad. Young Olivia was great but Delta is awful. Such a dodgy cheap production,' railed another.

'Tuned in for the lovely Delta. Tuning out because I remembered I've never been into an Australian biography telemovie in my life. Later ya'll,' another Twitter user posted.

Not impressed: One viewer appeared to take particular issue with the Australian telemovie genre as a whole

Praise: A number of viewers were left pleasantly surprised with the first part of the miniseries

Wow! Another was impressed at the way the show managed to fit in the icon's eventful life into such a short amount of time

However, a number of viewers were left pleasantly surprised with the first part of the miniseries.

'I think everyone has been expecting Olivia to be a trainwreck. It's quite good so far,' one remarked.

Another praised the skillful way the show managed to fit in the icon's eventful life into such a short amount of time.

And many were blown away by Delta's acting prowess, with one admirer gushing: '@DeltaGoodrem SO FREAKING BLOWN AWAY AND PROUD OF YOU!!!! You're out of this world. I honestly love you'.

'SO FREAKING BLOWN AWAY: Many were left impressed by Delta's acting prowess

Back for more! The second part of the miniseries is set to air next Sunday night on Channel Seven




She shares three beautiful children with her Thor hunk husband Chris Hemsworth, 34.

But this year, Elsa Pataky decided to celebrate Mother's Day with a host of other glamorous mums as she jetted off to Sydney for the first day of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

Leaving Chris at home in Byron Bay with six-year-old India and four-year-old twins Tristan and Sasha, Elsa announcing that she'd planned a 'mums go wild' trip but gushed to Monday's Daily Telegraph that parenting 'is the best experience ever.'

'It is a crazy trip': Elsa Pataky opened up about how becoming a parent has changed her life after celebrating Mother's Day with fellow glamorous mums at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Sydney

Writing on Instagram, Elsa said: 'Happy Mothers Day to all the beautiful mums.'

'I took these great mums for a fun day in Sydney to celebrate Mothers Day!' she said, before adding: '#dadswithkids #mumsgowild #zoolanderstyle.'

The gorgeous 41-year-old actress also opened up about how becoming a parent has changed her life.

'Mums go wild': Elsa said she rounded up this gang of glamorous ladies for a fun Mother's Day outing in Sydney

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, she said: 'Being a mother changes you much.'

Elsa continued: 'It is a crazy trip being a mum. It is the best experience ever.'

Meanwhile, her doting husband - whom she wed back in 2010 - also paid a sweet tribute to Elsa and his own mum.

Sharing a snap of his stunning wife and youthful-looking mother, Chris gushed: 'Happy mothers day to all the wonderful mums out there, especially these two incredible women, endless thanks.'

Daddy duty! Elsa left her three children in the safe hands of husband Chris Hemsworth, 34

Life-changing: Elsa, who shares six-year-old India and four-year-old twins Tristan and Sasha with her hunky Thor husband, said that motherhood was the 'best experience ever'

Mum's the word: Elsa admitted she's enjoying the experience of parenting

The Spanish model was definitely turning heads at the Camilla And Marc show on Sunday, which was the first catwalk to kick off the week.

Elsa's stunning Japanese-inspired gown featured intricate floral embellishments, puff sleeves and a thick zip right up the middle.

Keeping her look elegant, the blonde beauty partnered her dress with a subtle pair of black heels featuring a thin silver strap.

In the way of hair, the mother-of-three opted for a side-parted up 'do.

Black to basics! Opting for a Japanese-inspired long-sleeve black dress, the Spanish model showed off her lithe physique in a the leg-baring ensemble

Pals in good places: Before heading into the show, Elsa (left) was seen posing next to Matt Damon's wife and fellow mum Luciana Barroso (right)

Before heading into the show, Elsa was seen posing next to Matt Damon's wife and pal Luciana Barroso.

The star-studded event also saw fellow fashion figures gather for the show.

Stars included the likes of Victoria Secret's Georgia Fowler and Victoria Lee, Jessica Gomes, Ksenija Lukich, Tahnee Atkinson, Anna Heinrich, Carissa Walford, Kate Waterhouse and Montarna Mcdonald.
Bachelor In Paradise star Jake Ellis has found love with his stunning co-star, Megan Marx.

But the 31-year-old is still mourning the death of his beloved mum, Robyn, who lost her 25 year battle with cancer in January.

Taking to Instagram on Sunday, the reality star shared an emotional post as he marked his first Mother's Day since her passing.

'I miss you and I love you forever': On Sunday, Bachelor In Paradise star Jake Ellis took to Instagram to pay tribute to his late mum Robyn, making the first Mother's Day since her death

Jake shared a heartwarming old photograph which showed him proudly standing next to his mum as they each held a bouquet of flowers.

He accompanied the sweet snap with a poignant message, remembering brave Robyn.

'This first Mothers Day without you, the first time (brother) Luke and I havent been able to hold you close and tell you how how much we love you on this special day,' he wrote.

'The biggest fighter I've ever met': Jake was close to his mother who fought cancer on-and-off since her son was just six years old

He then added: 'But I know youre looking over every step we take just as youre in our hearts every single moment of each day. I miss you and I love you forever Mummy'.

Fellow Bachelorette alumni Lee Elliot and Eden Schwencke left their condolences in the comments section of the post, while TV stars Ryan Gallagher and Barry DuBois also sent their regards.

Robyn was originally diagnosed with cancer when Jake was just six years old. She spent a decade clear of the disease, before it sadly returned. The mother-of-two passed away in January.

Fighting spirit: Jake told Daily Mail Australia that Robyn 'fought all the way until the very end'

Speaking with Daily Mail Australia shortly after her passing, Jake paid tribute to the woman he described as 'mine and my brothers hero, the strongest women Ive ever met'.

'Last year (2017) was definitely the hardest year for her and my family She held on in true Robyn Ellis style, she fought all the way until the very end', he said, adding that his mum was 'the biggest fighter Ive ever met'.

A prominent campaigner for cancer causes, Jake continues to passionately support fundraising initiatives.

TV favourite: Jake was inundated by messages of support from fans after he shared his post on Sunday

'Since The Bachelorette, one of the biggest things I wanted to be a part of was [raising awareness for] Cancer Council and cancer charities,' Jake explained.

'Every event I ever did I took my mum along to. It is and will always be my passion'.
Aside from her acting and modelling credentials, she is known for her incredible sense of style.

And Aishwarya Rai didn't fall short as she arrived at Hotel Martinez in Cannes on Sunday, after stunning fans with her outfit on the red carpet the night before.

The 44-year-old wore a midnight blue wrap skirt, cinched in at the waist to highlight her hourglass figure, paired with a crisp white button down shirt - adding a touch of sophistication to the ensemble.

Classy: Aishwarya Rai looked the picture of elegance as she arrived at Hotel Martinez in Cannes on Sunday

She turned up the glamour in skyscraper heeled sandals and wore her famous raven and pink tresses in in loose waves - oozing old Hollywood glamour.

The actress added a pop of colour with a tangerine sequin jacket, which was draped artfully across her shoulders.

Aishwarya first soared to fame by taking part in the Miss India pageant in 1994 - where she placed in second position to Sushmita Sen - a beauty who later went on to win Miss Universe and forge a successful Bollywood career herself.

The green-eyed stunner went on to compete in Miss World and the glittering night culminated in her being crowned winner over an array of international competitors.

Beauty: The 44-year-old wore a midnight blue wrap skirt, cinched in at the waist to highlight her hourglass figure, paired with a crisp white button down shirt - adding a touch of sophistication to the ensemble

Since then, Aishwarya has forged a successful modelling and subsequent acting career in Bollywood, making her one of the most sought-after actresses in the Indian film industry.

Proving she wasn't just a pretty face, the star, who had embarked on architectural studies before her pageantry success, has won critical acclaim in movies such as Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Taal.

One of Aishwarya's biggest movies to date was the visual feast Devdas in 2002 - a flick which also bagged her her first ever Cannes invite.

The following year, she became the first Indian actress to be a Cannes Film Festival jury member - and has since been a firm fixture at the movie spectacle.

Stunning: On Saturday the actress delighted fans as she donned a butterfly-inspired dress for the for Girls Of The Sun premiere at Cannes

Proving her versatility as an actress, she lent her onscreen talents to Hollywood in 2004

The beauty starred opposite Grey's Anatomy star Martin Henderson in the film Bride And Prejudice, an adapted version of Jane Austin's classic Pride And Prejudice, but with a twist.

She also went on to star in The Pink Panther 2 and Provoked.
Georgia 'Toff' Toffolo had to battle a nasty cold on Sunday as she walked the red carpet for the British Academy Television Awards in London's Royal Festival Hall.

The 23-year-old I'm A Celebrity champion took to Instagram to share a hilarious snap of her posing with the cold medicine that got her into shape ahead of the star-studded awards ceremony.

Toff flaunted her ample cleavage in a plunging pink frilled floral dress as she made her way to the event, with her blonde hair styled into a relaxed up-do.

Getting better: Georgia Toffolo, 23, battled a nasty cold on Sunday as she walked the red carpet for the British Academy Television Awards in London's Royal Festival Hall

Georgia was still beaming as she made her way to the lavish awards event, despite having battled the nasty cold earlier in the day.

The Made In Chelsea took to her Instagram stories after getting all dressed up to share a snap of her posing with the cold medicine as she showed off the frilly layers of her gown.

She captioned the post: 'Day nurse I thank you.'

No more sniffles: The Made In Chelsea star took to Instagram to share of her red carpet dress as she clutched her cold medicine, with the caption 'Day Nurse I thank you'

Luckily Toff had no remnant of the sniffles as she arrived for the event, looking stunning in the pink dress covered with red floral detailing.

The frock sported peplum-style layers of fabric to highlight the star's slender physique, with quirky red crochet along the edging.

Georgia accessorised her look with a round red suede handbag, and dainty earrings, with her blonde hair tied back into a loose up-do.

Gorgeous: Despite battling a cold Toff still stunned as she arrived for the awards event, showing some cleavage in a plunging pink gown with floral embroidered detailing

Pretty: The I'm A Celebrity winner finished her look with a red round suede bag, with her blonde hair tied into a simple updo

The stars were out in force at Sunday night's 2018 Virgin TV BAFTAs, held at London's Royal Festival Hall.

Hosted by Sue Perkins, 48, the event will see the finest shows on TV battle it out for the coveted gong.

The nominations for the event were first revealed on April 4, with digital streaming service Netflix picking up six nominations across a total of 26 categories.

Amongst its more popular shows, Royal biopic The Crown scooped three, while Charlie Brooker's bleak dystopian drama Black Mirror has claimed an equal amount across the show's most hotly contested groupings.

Beaming: Toff also took to Instagram to share a snap of her look ahead of the awards show, with the dress sporting pretty peplum-like layers of the netted fabric
SlutWalk Festival founder Amber Rose wigged out and flaunted her taut tummy in black floral co-ords to shop at a Walgreens drug store in Miami on Saturday.

The 33-year-old sex-positive activist paired her midriff-baring summery ensemble with $130 Converse X Virgil Abloh Chuck 70 'The Ten' translucent high-tops.

The buzzcut biracial blonde - who split from rapper 21 Savage in March - is clearly in love with her new 'Elsa/Snow White' Sadiddy Hair weave featuring 30in full-face length and '150% density.'

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Drug store run: SlutWalk Festival founder Amber Rose wigged out and flaunted her taut tummy in black floral co-ords to shop at a Walgreens in Miami on Saturday

Off White: The 33-year-old sex-positive activist paired her midriff-baring summery ensemble with $130 Converse X Virgil Abloh Chuck 70 'The Ten' translucent high-tops

That same night, Rose (born Levonchuck) changed into a curve-hugging orange jumpsuit to introduce Miami rapper Trina onstage Hard Rock Stadium for Rolling Loud.

Coincidentally, Amber's ex-husband Wiz Khalifa - whom she divorced in 2014 - was headlining the same hip-hop festival where three-day passes cost between $425-$1K.

The Fashion Nova spokesmodel and the 30-year-old rapper share 50/50 custody of their son Sebastian Taylor, and she celebrated 'Muva's Day' on Sunday by posting a sweet mother-son snap.

'Being a mother is my greatest gift!' the Loveline podcaster - who boasts 24.3M social media followers - gushed.

Selfie: The buzzcut biracial blonde is clearly in love with her new 'Elsa/Snow White' Sadiddy Hair weave featuring 30in full-face length and '150% density' (pictured Friday)

Hype: That same night, Rose (born Levonchuck) introduced Miami rapper Trina onstage Hard Rock Stadium for Rolling Loud

Underwent breast reduction surgery on January 17: Amber dressed her curvaceous 5ft9in figure in a bright orange jumpsuit

'The Baddest': The rainbow-weaved 39-year-old currently stars in VH1's Love & Hip Hop: Miami

'Sure did!' Coincidentally, Amber's ex-husband Wiz Khalifa - whom she divorced in 2014 - was headlining the same hip-hop festival where three-day passes cost between $425-$1K

'Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!'

On Thursday afternoon, Amber proudly filmed five-year-old little 'Bash' cutely performing Queen's 1977 anthem We Will Rock You in a talent show with his classmates.

'He's definitely musical like his dad, for sure. He's just special. He's definitely smarter than the both of us. He just actually got accepted into a really amazing school,' Rose told ET last week.

'He loves Taylor Swift, he loves Chicago, he loves Journey. I take him to karaoke, he sings all the songs. He's a little performer, a little ham. He loves to be in front of the camera.'

'Being a mother is my greatest gift!' The Fashion Nova spokesmodel and the 30-year-old rapper share 50/50 custody of their son Sebastian, and she celebrated 'Muva's Day' on Sunday

'He's definitely musical like his dad': On Thursday afternoon, five-year-old little 'Bash' cutely performed Queen's 1977 anthem We Will Rock You in a talent show

'Selfie from the kid and I': The 10-time Grammy nominee (born Cameron Thomaz) will next host the hip-hop festival Rolling Loud's closing party at E11even Miami on Sunday (pictured May 1)

Meanwhile, the 10-time Grammy nominee (born Cameron Thomaz) will next host the hip-hop festival Rolling Loud's closing party at E11even Miami on Sunday night.

'I think you have to get to the point where it's not about me and him, right? So it's not about, "What girl do you have over there?" or "What guy do you have over there?"' the Philadelphia-born former stripper said of co-parenting.

'It's like, "What is your schedule? This is my schedule, let's figure out when you're gonna see the baby and when I'm gonna see the baby"...It's seamless. In a weird way, it's like we became best friends after our divorce and it just works.'
She's the darling of the fashion world.

And Diane Kruger was up to her usual glamorous tricks on Sunday evening as she arrived for the screening of Sink Or Swim at Cannes Film Festival.

The actress wore an ice blue gown, with a bejewelled corset and a one shoulder design to the French event.

Beauty: Diane Kruger was up to her usual glamorous tricks on Sunday evening as she arrived for the screening of Sink Of Swim at Cannes Film Festival

The 41-year-old accessorised her ethereal look with statement diamond earrings and a small silver clutch bag.

Her golden tresses were slicked back behind her ears in a simple style and she wore a glamorous smokey eye with a nude lip.

Last year at Cannes, Diane claimed the coveted Best Actress award at the the 2017 Cannes Film Festival for her role in In the Fade.

Glory: Last year at Cannes, Diane claimed the coveted Best Actress award at the the 2017 Cannes Film Festival for her role in In the Fade

Resplendent: The 41-year-old accessorised her ethereal look with statement diamond earrings and a small silver clutch bag

Diane has been dating The Walking Dead actor, Norman Reedus. The pair made it red carpet official back in January when they stepped out together at the Golden Globes Awards on January 7.

And while Diane reportedly purchased a $4.2 million eco-conscious loft in Tribeca last year, the loved-up duo were spotted looking at an apartment together in February.

Earlier this year, after the Golden Globes, they took a romantic vacation in Costa Rica where Reedus celebrated his 49th birthday.

Romance: Diane has been dating The Walking Dead actor, Norman Reedus. The pair made it red carpet official back in January when they stepped out together at the Golden Globes Awards on January 7

New home: While Diane reportedly purchased a $4.2 million eco-conscious loft in Tribeca last year, the loved-up duo were spotted looking at an apartment together in February

Diane has also been busy professionally. Last month, the actress jetsetted to Tokyo to promote In The Fade.

The film has enjoyed enormous critical success over recent months, having won a Golden Globe and Critics' Choice Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

However it was surprisingly snubbed at the 90th annual Academy Awards, with no nominations.

Golden girl: Her golden tresses were slicked back behind her ears in a simple style and she wore a glamorous smokey eye with a nude lip
They have been married for nearly five years, and have been dating since 2010.

And Jamie Dornan and Amelia Warner appeared more loved-up than ever on Sunday night as they enjoyed a date night at the Old Vic Bicentenary Ball 2018 in London.

The actor, 36, and his stunning wife could not take their eyes off each other as they posed for cameras on the red carpet, alongside a host of other famous guests.

Besotted: Jamie Dornan and Amelia Warner appeared more loved-up than ever on Sunday night as they enjoyed a date night at the Old Vic Bicentenary Ball 2018 in London

The couple, who share two daughters, proved to be more besotted than ever as they hit the carpet - and cast a number of cheeky glances at each other for cameras.

Fifty Shades star Jamie looked typically slick in a classic black tuxedo, complete with crisp white shirt and bow tie, as he posed with his wife on his arm.

Amelia meanwhile took centre stage in her own more glamorous version of a suit, formed of glitzy silver pleated mesh.

Playful: The couple, who share two daughters, proved to be more besotted than ever as they hit the carpet - and cast a number of cheeky glances at each other for cameras

Well suited: Jamie was typically slick in a classic black tuxedo, while Amelia oozed glamour in a glittering silver blazer and matching trousers

The actress proved her trendy sense of style in the blazer, which she wore with the lapels turned in, while the matching cigarette trousers skimmed her long legs to their cropped hem.

Letting the silver co-ord do the talking, Amelia accessorised with simple black platform sandals and styled her hair into loose waves, as she happily chatted and joked with her husband on the carpet.

The couple were joined by a number of other big names at the bash, which was celebrating 200 years of the much-loved Old Vic theatre.

Say cheese: Theatre veterans Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory also attended the event - with the Peaky Blinders actress dazzling in a bold red gown

Red hot: The dress, adorned with 3D flowers all over remained utterly sophisticated with a high neck, before skimming her slender frame to the floor and extending into a train

Theatre veterans Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory also attended the event - with the Peaky Blinders actress dazzling in a bold red gown.

The dress, adorned with 3D flowers all over remained utterly sophisticated with a high neck, before skimming her slender frame to the floor and extending into a train.

Adding a gold box clutch and matching earrings, Helen exuded glamour as she posed beside her suited-and-booted husband.

Leading lady: Also opting for red was Celia Imrie, 65 - who showed off her enviable figure in a slinky scarlet midi dress

Strike a pose: Celia playfully draped herself across the event boards for cameras

Also opting for red was Celia Imrie, 65 - who showed off her enviable figure in a slinky scarlet midi dress as she playfully draped herself across the event boards for cameras.

Imelda Staunton followed suit in a similarly chic black midi dress, complete with cowl neck and quirky pockets on each side.

Adding matching velvet court shoes and coiffing her hair to one side, Imelda proved to be effortlessly elegant as she arrived at the proceedings with her husband Jim Carter.

LBD: Imelda Staunton followed suit in a similarly chic black midi dress, complete with cowl neck and quirky pockets on each side

Loved-up: Adding matching velvet court shoes and coiffing her hair to one side, Imelda proved to be effortlessly elegant as she arrived at the proceedings with her husband Jim Carter

Ronan Keating and his wife Storm also put in an appearance, with the model showing off her impressive post-baby body one year after welcoming little Cooper.

The Australian beauty turned heads in a navy satin gown, which expanded into a more eye-catching yellow striped skirt.

Styling her hair into loose waves and sporting a deep, bronzed tan, the television personality proved her natural beauty to all as she beamed beside her husband.

Date night: Ronan Keating and his wife Storm also put in an appearance, with the model showing off her impressive post-baby body one year after welcoming little Cooper

Bold: The Australian beauty turned heads in a navy satin gown, which expanded into a more eye-catching yellow striped skirt

Glowing: Styling her hair into loose waves and sporting a deep, bronzed tan, the television personality proved her natural beauty to all as she beamed beside her husband

Lulu put on a quirky display in a silver bomber jacket, fedora and sunglasses as she fooled around for cameras, while Tim Minchin ditched the traditional suit jacket and added a top hat to his long hair.

Debbie McGee next arrived in a stunning floor-length gown, which clung to her impressively slim frame and was adorned with beads all over.

Other guests included Bertie Carvel, Sally Greene, Maureen Lipman and Meera Syal.

Standing out: Lulu put on a quirky display in a silver bomber jacket, fedora and sunglasses

You make me wanna shout! The singer animatedly laughed and fooled around on the red carpet

Quirky: Tim Minchin ditched the traditional suit jacket and added a top hat to his long hair

All that glitters: Debbie McGee dazzled in a white beaded gown, adorned with gold and bronze sequins all over

The Old Vic, based in Southwark, first opened in 1818, and found immediate success on the London theatre scene.

It has gone on to host some of the most famous shows in the theatre world, including The Duchess of Malfi, Kiss Me Kate and a host of Shakespeare works, while the likes of Kevin Spacey and Matthew Warchus have been appointed artistic director.

The theatre has organised a number of variety nights over the last week to celebrate their big birthday, and is preparing to show Dickens' A Christmas Carol as its core winter production later this year.

Giddy: Bertie Carvel beamed on the carpet with Sally Scott

Elegant: Maureen Lipman was the picture of sophistication in an orange chiffon frock and chunky black cardigan

Colourful: Sally Greene stood out in a pink shirt dress patterned with bright yellow polka dots

Feeling good: Sheila Atim also attended the event, hot off the heels of her Best Supporting Actress win at the Olivier Awards

Chic: Charity Wakefield looked stunning in a pastel pink midi dress embellished with chunky diamante brooches all over

Ready for her close up: Adrienne Warren (R), who is currently starring as Tina Turner in the musical about her life, beamed for cameras in a slinky velvet slip dress
Ronan Keating returned to the red carpet with wife Storm on Sunday, after a stressful week where his daughter underwent surgery following a horse riding fall.

The Boyzone star, 41, wore a sharp black tuxedo to the The Old Vic's Bicentenary Fundraising Ball in London, accompanied by his glamorous date.

Australian beauty Storm, 36, wore a satin strapless gown in midnight blue, with yellow patterns on its floor length skirt.

Difficult few days: Ronan Keating looked handsome on the red carpet with wife Storm after a stressful week where his daughter underwent surgery following a horse riding fall

The fashion designer's long blonde tresses tumbled past her shoulders in a relaxed, beachy style, and she wore black liner to make her eyes pop.

Ronan's youngest daughter Ali, who he had with former wife Yvonne Connolly, is suffering from broken bones after the fall which required her to be taken to hospital and have surgery earlier this week.

Yvonne, 44, who Ronan has two other children with, revealed the news of their daughter's accident on Instagram to her 25,000 followers.

Gorgeous: Australian beauty Storm wore a satin strapless gown in midnight blue, with yellow patterns on its floor length skirt

Relaxed: The fashion designer's long blonde tresses tumbled past her shoulders in a relaxed, beachy style, and she wore black liner to make her eyes pop

Injured: Ronan's former wife Yvonne shared this picture of their daughter Ali in hospital with a pink cast

Yvonne shared an image of a beaming 12-year-old Ali as she proudly sat in the saddle of her horse.

This was followed by a contrasting picture of her daughter in a hospital bed wearing sunglasses and donning a bright pink plaster cast on her arm.

Yvonne emotionally explained to followers of the family: 'Last weekend Ali had her first show on her new pony, Red.'

She continued: 'After a cruel turn of events Ali ended up in hospital on Tuesday after a fall from him (not his fault). Just home today.

Horse rider: Yvonne shared an image of a beaming 12-year-old Ali as she proudly sat in the saddle of her horse

Power couple: The Boyzone star, 41, wore a sharp black tuxedo to the The Old Vic's 200th birthday Bicentenary Fundraising Ball at the Old Vic, London on Sunday evening, accompanied by his glamorous wife

Loved up: Ronan and Storm met in 2012 when they were both working on The X Factor Australia

'Shes now out of the saddle for 8-10 weeks and missing lots of competitions we had coming up. To say she is devastated is an understatement.

'After hours of surgery to repair broken bones she hopes to come back stronger. #bionicwoman #brave #red.'

Ronan became a dad for the fourth time last year, when he and now wife Storm, 36, welcomed their son Cooper.

The pair met in 2012 when they were both working on The X Factor Australia.

Ronan recently disappointed his followers when he shared on social media that Boyzone's upcoming album will be their last ever.

He told fans: 'We've had 25 amazing years and we promise that this will be our biggest and best year yet.'

Tough week: Ronan's youngest daughter Ali, who he had with former wife Yvonne Connolly, is suffering from broken bones after the fateful fall which required her to be taken to hospital and have surgery earlier this week
Labor has hit out at the federal government's criticism of a decision to fund the upfront fees for 100,000 TAFE students.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham has questioned the announcement contained in Bill Shorten's budget reply speech, saying the promise to give more money to state governments comes with no clarity about which courses will be covered.

He said the last time Labor made changes in vocational education what resulted was a "disastrous" VET FEE-HELP program, "that subsidised everything from energy healing to basket weaving and saw billions of taxpayer dollars rorted and tipped down the sink".

But shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said Senator Birmingham's remarks were insulting to TAFE and its teachers.

"What he's talking about last time was a relationship with private sector providers, not all of whom were entirely reputable with all due respect with those who are reputable," Mr Bowen told Sky News on Sunday.

"Guess what, TAFE is reputable."

Mr Bowen said Labor's plan will prioritise courses in the national interest, where there are skills shortages.

"To suggest somehow TAFE courses are dodgy is an absolute insult by Simon Birmingham," he said, calling on him to reflect on his criticism.
Khaled Dawoud, the head of Egypt's Dostour (Constitution) Party, announced his resignation from the post on Sunday.

In a statement, veteran journalist Dawoud explained that his decision comes as an attempt to end the internal disagreements in the party, calling for new internal elections for the first time since four years.

Dawoud also announced that Sayed Kassem, the party's co-founder and honorary leader, would act as interim party leader until new elections could be held.

"I appreciate the efforts of Ambassador Sayed Kassem as well those of members of the party's general secretariat with whom I worked over the past year and half under very hard political circumstances that do not allow opposition parties to exist in the first place," Dawoud said in his statement before wishing luck to all party members.

Founded by Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei in 2012, Dostour Party leadership has had several disagreements over the timing of internal elections and candidate eligibility.

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Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen says the government's seven-year plan for tax cuts is a "cruel and sick joke" and relief should be implemented sooner.

"(The government has) tried to make this about seven years time instead of what we can all do in the next term," Mr Bowen told Sky News on Sunday.

He said he was happy for the upcoming by-elections and federal election to be fought on tax, with Labor supporting cuts for low- and middle-income earners announced in last week's budget - although would effectively double them in government.
Those who fought in the Battles at Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral during the Vietnam War are being recognised for gallantry.

On the 50th anniversary of the battles, members of the 1st Australia Task Force and associated units deployed to Area of Operations SURFERS during the Battles of Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral are being encouraged to apply for a new Unit Citation for Gallantry.

Veterans' Affairs Minister Darren Chester said the battles were among the largest and most protracted fought by Australians in Vietnam.

"The men who fought at Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral displayed collective gallantry which is worthy of the Unit Citation for Gallantry," he said on Sunday.

"Throughout the 26 days of the battle a force comprising of up to 3,000 Australians prevailed against a well prepared and numerically superior enemy."

Eligible units include:

* 1st Australian Task Force (Forward)

* 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment

* 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment

* A Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment

* C Squadron, 1st Armoured Regiment

* 12th Field Regiment, Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery

* 1st Field Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers.

Members of No 9 Squadron RAA161 Reconnaissance Flight and 161 Reconnaissance Flight who flew missions in direct support of the battles, or who were forward deployed to the Fire Support Bases, are also entitled to wear the Citation insignia.

Families of deceased veterans are also encouraged to apply for the insignia.
It's one of Australia's more efficient taxes in its collection but how its revenue is carved up is an annual bone of contention among states and territories, particularly in Western Australia.

The Productivity Commission is due on Tuesday to hand down its final report on a proposed system change on GST distribution to the Turnbull government.

Whether any of the recommendations will soothe the annual share-out issues remains to be seen but any changes suggest if a larger slice of the $66 billion in GST revenue goes to one jurisdiction, others will lose out.

The commission handed down an interim report into changing the horizontal fiscal equalisation (HFE) system last October, to which Treasurer Scott Morrison said he wanted a proper fix rather than more "band-aids and bolt-ons".

Problems surrounding the present system came to a head when WA's share shrank to less than 30 cents in the GST dollar, even as the mining boom was ending.

It forced the federal government to make a $1.2 billion top-up payment, while Labor has promised a further $1.6 billion payment should it win the next federal election.

But the commission has said providing top-ups or setting a GST floor are not longer-term solutions.

It also found the present system means states and territories have a disincentive to undertake positive changes to their tax systems and make the most of the resources and minerals they have.

As changes to a state's performance take time to work through the HFE system and influence the revenue share-out, even now WA will only get 47 cents in the GST dollar in next financial year while NSW gets 86 cents, the nation's strongest state at present.

The interim report recommended resetting the HFE system to a more "reasonable" standard, using the second strongest state or average as the basis of the carve-up rather than the strongest.

Commonwealth Grants Commission secretary Michael Willcock, who is charged with carving up the revenue pie, told a Senate committee in March all states and territories except WA would lose money under changes being looked at by the Productivity Commission.

This would force them to either cut services, raise tax or increase debt.

Using the example of Queensland and based on the 2017/18 financial year, Mr Willcock said the state would receive $729 million less in GST.

The HFE system has been in place since the GST was introduced in 2000 under the Howard government and was backed by all states and territories at the time, as all legislation has to be surrounding the consumption tax.
Australia remains an example to the world on the necessity of careful and strict gun control, despite the firearm-related deaths of seven people near Margaret River, West Australian Premier Mark McGowan says.

The bodies of three adults and four children were found at an Osmington property, in the state's South West region, on Friday.

The family had all been shot by firearms licensed to grandfather Peter Miles, who was among the dead.

The WA premier was on Sunday questioned about "nasty comments" since made overseas, including from the US, that question whether Australia still remains an example of "excellent" gun control after the mass shooting.

"We have some of the tightest gun laws in the world and I think we're an example to the rest of the world that you need to have very careful and strict controls when it comes to gun ownership and gun usage," Mr McGowan replied.

"In this case, it appears, all of the firearms involved were licensed and there was the appropriate management of those firearms as best you can.

"It was a farming property. In some ways there's not much else that I can see from the outside that could have been done."

WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said it was "not unusual" for Mr Miles to have three weapons attached to his one firearm license at the rural address.

"I've not got any additional information that would cause me particular concern about the gun licensing arrangements in this particular matter," Mr Dawson said.

An opinion piece by Siraj Hashmi, published in the Washington Examiner on Friday, notes that Australia is often touted by US gun control advocates as "the shining role model" to reduce mass shootings since its 1996 gun buyback program.

But it also cites the 2014 Lindt cafe siege in Sydney, where hostages were held at gunpoint and two died.

"The point is this: while some data suggest that super-strict gun control has cut down on gun violence and gun-related deaths in some cases, there's still no guarantee that you're safe," Hashmi writes.

The Osmington incident was Australia's worst mass shooting since Tasmania's Port Arthur massacre in 1996, where lone gunman Martin Bryant killed 35 people.

Recent US mass shootings to make global headlines include the deaths of 17 people at a Florida high school in February, 58 people on the Las Vegas Strip in October 2017 and 49 people at an Orlando gay nightclub in 2016.

Stephen Paddock, the gunman in last year's massacre, was able to purchase more than 30 guns in one year.
Rescue crews have mounted a large-scale search for a missing kayaker believed to be distressed in rough waves off the NSW south coast.

The man got into trouble in the water near the Blowhole Point Rockpool at Kiama about 2.15pm on Sunday.

Police are appealing for information to identify him and have launched a land, sea and air search between Kiama and Minnamurra.

Helicopter crews had initially believed the man, who was wearing an orange high-visibility jacket in a black fishing kayak, was not alone.

"Two kayakers reported to be in distress 2km out to sea," Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopters tweeted on Sunday.

"Conditions in the air and on the water very tricky for searching."

Boaties and beachgoers were warned to be on alert this weekend as a powerful swell pounded much of the state's coastline.

"Police and surf rescue vessels sheltering in Kiama Harbour due to awful conditions. Search will continue," Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopters posted at about 4pm.
Emergency food supplies have been flown into a small community near Hobart, cut off after flooding damaged bridges going into the area.

Five properties off Glen Dhu Road at Molesworth remain isolated after Hobart's wettest day since 1960 on Friday, and a Westpac Rescue Helicopter is delivering essential supplies and checking on the residents' welfare.

"We're flying in some basic essentials including milk, fruit, cereal and bread to help them through what is a challenging time for their community," Inspector Mark Wright said in a statement on Sunday.
Supercars legend Craig Lowndes has savaged a report he's set to retire as a full-time driver from the sport.

The six-time Bathurst 1000 winner took to Twitter to deny a News Corp report that he would be focusing only on endurance races from the end of 2019.

"The journalist and publication should be ashamed, I have NOT spoken to them," Lowndes wrote.

"For all those asking questions, don't worry when the time comes you'll hear it from me first."

The 43-year-old has already achieved extraordinary longevity in the sport, and will become the first man to achieve 650 race starts at the next meet at Winton.

The end of the 2019 season has been mooted as a potential end-date to his career, given it coincides with the end of his latest contract.

The contentious piece quotes Lowndes but not on the timing of his retirement.

"I didn't think I would have had a career as long as this," he is quoted as saying.

"And I didn't ever think I would achieve a number like that. But hopefully, I get this year and next year (as a full-time driver) and then we might get to 700."

A spokesperson for Lowndes said the report took "various quotes from different points in time/context and pieced them together for some sensationalism".
A Gold Coast bikie is behind bars and facing assault and drug possession charges after a man was punched in the face at a shopping centre.

The Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang member also threatened to stab the 29-year-old at a Broadbeach mall on May 4, Queensland Police say.

Detectives arrested the 48-year-old on Sunday after raiding a Robina home and finding ice and a "drug utensil".

He was charged with possession of a dangerous drug, assault occasioning bodily harm whilst pretending to be armed and wilful damage.

The bikie was denied bail and is due to face the Southport Magistrates Court on Monday.
The Australian government has condemned the attacks on churches in Indonesia that have killed 13 people and wounded dozens more.

A statement on Sunday from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the government stood with the Indonesian government "against this barbaric attack on peaceful religious gatherings".

Suicide bombers on motorcycles, believed to be a family of six including a woman with children, targeted Sunday Mass congregations in three churches in Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city.

In the statement the prime minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop also condemned recent attacks at the Indonesian Police Mobile Brigade Headquarters in which six officers lost their lives.

Mr Turnbull and Ms Bishop offered their condolences to the family and friends of those killed and injured.

They assured the Indonesian nation that Australia shared their commitment to mutual respect and rejected "those who sought to spread division and hatred".
Most Australians have heard of autism but less than a third of people know how to support an autistic person, researchers have revealed.

A study by Victoria's peak body for autistic people has found there is widespread awareness of the condition that affects more than one in 100 people, yet only 29 per cent of people believe they know how to support an autistic person.

When researchers asked the same question of autistic people, only four per cent of them believed people in the community knew how to support them.

The figures, released by Amaze on Monday, showed more than half of the 57 autistic people surveyed felt socially isolated and 42 per cent said they sometimes felt unable to leave the house because they were worried about people behaving negatively towards them.

"Autistic people tell us it's not their autism that disables them, it's the reactions of the other people in the community," Amaze CEO Fiona Sharkie told AAP.

"Difference should be embraced."

The findings come after a video of a horrific attack on an autistic boy in Melbourne surfaced last week, making headlines around Australia.

A teenager has been charged after the 14-year-old autistic boy was allegedly bashed and beaten with spanners by five youths outside Northcote High School on Tuesday.

Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins said her son Quinn was pushed from his bike and beaten yet "no adult stopped to help, no one beeped their horn or did anything from their cars," she told 3AW radio on Thursday.

"It's the worst nightmare of most parents who have an autistic child."

Ms Sharkie said Monday's timing of a new campaign, Do One Thing For Autism, couldn't be better.

"We're not asking people to build a rocket and discover new planets. The biggest thing people can do is not judge and criticise," she said.

While autism affects people differently, there are two common traits across the spectrum: Challenges with social communication and interaction, and particularities in behaviour, interests and activities.

Autistic people find sarcasm and idioms confusing, because they process language literally and they find it difficult to read social cues such as tone of voice or facial expressions, Ms Sharkie said.

"Don't say to an autistic person, 'give me a hand'. Say, 'can you help me lift this box onto the table?'" she said.

"If someone at work asks, 'how is your weekend?' They wonder, 'how much they should I explain? Should I say I had sex with my girlfriend?'"

Ms Sharkie also said people need to be more understanding of how environment can affect autistic people, especially locations where social gathering are common, such as cafes and sporting events.

"Autistic people can be sensory sensitive," Ms Sharkie said.

"Eating cornflakes can be like eating razor blades. Or wearing lace against their skin can feel like sandpaper."
The new legislation aims to attract investments to the sector of medical and clinical researches in Egypt while protecting the human rights of citizens

Egypts parliament provisionally approved on Sunday a 35-article law aimed at regulating the business of medical and clinical research. Parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal said the final vote on the law will be postponed to a later date.

"We do not have a two-thirds majority of MPs right now in order to be able to take a final vote on it," Abdel-Aal said.

Abdel-Aal described the law as a progressive step that will give a big boost to the pharmaceutical and drug industry in Egypt, as well as to the scientific and medical research sector.

"Due to intensive medical research, Egypt was able to develop a cure for Hepatitis C," said Abdel-Aal, adding that "as a result, the new law comes to regulate experiments and research necessary to test new drugs and vaccinations before they are licensed and sold on the market."

Abdel-Aal also said that the law goes in line with Article 60 of the constitution, which states that "a human being shall not be subjected to any kind of medical or scientific experiment without his/her certified free will and consent and in accordance with established principles in medical sciences and as regulated by the law."

"The new law comes to turn this article into reality on the ground, with the hope that it will open new horizons in Egypt for medical and scientific research," said Abdel-Aal.

Minister of Health Ahmed Emadeddin explained that "the ministry will be in charge of supervising all kinds of clinical and medical experiments and tests to be regulated by the new law."

"These experiments might be conducted by university professors, physicians, pharmacists, or veterinarians," said Emadeddin, stressing that "only animals will be the subject of pre-clinical tests, which will be conducted in certified labs."

"Egyptians will never be the subject of experiments in pre-clinical research," said Emadeddin.

The new law includes a number of chapters, the first of which deals with the objectives of the law and the instruments of medical research.

Articles 8 and 9 state that a Higher Council on the Ethics of Medical Research will be established to supervise and license all kinds of clinical, medical, and scientific experiments and research and ensure that they observe Egypt's regulations, laws, and codes of local and international ethics.

"Representatives from most concerned state institutions will be members of the board of this council, and all researchers and scientists should seek the prior approval of this council ahead of conducting any medical or clinical experiments and tests," said Emadeddin, adding that "the law states that the council should give or withhold approval within 120 days."

"This is a dramatic shift as the current regulations oblige researchers and scientists to wait for more than one year before they get a response," said Emadeddin.

Articles 15, 16, and 17 state that the rights of human beings who will be subjects of medical and clinical research shall be observed.

"They will not be subjected to any experiments or research unless they give a prior and free approval, while researchers should be highly qualified ones, with proven records in the area of medical research and experiments, and capable of observing international standards in this respect," said the law's explanatory note.

The law also states that experiments and tests shall be conducted only in medical research licensed by the Ministry of Health.

"Private clinics will not be allowed to conduct medical research regulated by the law," said the note, adding that "all precautions should be taken to safeguard human beings against hazardous experiments, and in case of violation of these precautions, medical institutions might face hefty fines ranging between EGP 10,000 and EGP 1 million as well as prison sentences."

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Laws that would broaden the Queensland government's immediate response to local government corruption will go to state parliament this week.

Amendments to the Belcarra Bill that is currently before the parliament would allow the local government minister to automatically suspend with pay any mayor or councillor charged with one of a series of corruption or integrity offences.

If the bill is passed Stirling Hinchliffe could also sack or suspend a council, councillor or mayor where it is deemed in the public interest.

The move comes after the Corruption and Crime Commission levelled a string of charges against officials of multiple Queensland councils and their associates.

Alan MacSporran, chair of the CCC, has said more charges against more councils are likely.
Monday marks the 75th anniversary of the sinking of the Australian hospital ship, Centaur, off Queensland during World War II.

AHS Centaur was en route from Sydney to Port Moresby when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, some 80km east-northeast of Brisbane, about 4am on May 14, 1943.

Of the 332 persons on board, only 64 survived and spent 35 hours in the water before being rescued and taken aboard the destroyer USS Mugford.

The Centaur's final resting place remained a mystery until January 2010, when UK-based shipwreck hunter David Mearns successfully identified the wreck.

A 200ha protection zone has been declared around the site to stop future souvenir hunters.

The Last Post will be sounded at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra to mark the anniversary.
A man has died after two utes collided on the West Tamar Highway in Tasmania.

It's believed one of the utes, a gold Toyota Landcruiser, was on the wrong side of the road before colliding with a white Hilux towing a trailer at Loira on Sunday evening. The two male drivers, who were alone, were trapped in their badly damaged vehicles.

The 28-year-old man in the Hilux died at the scene before he could be freed. The second driver was airlifted to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Police are appealing for witnesses who may have seen the vehicles or the crash.
The federal government is set to officially launch the Australian Space Agency, setting off a race between the states and territories to host the headquarters.

Innovation Minister Michaelia Cash will announce in Perth on Monday initial funding of $15 million to get the agency off the ground on July 1.

It will be headed by former CSIRO boss Megan Clark.

The government is setting up the agency to capitalise on the $420 billion aeronautical industry and create thousands of hi-tech jobs, with a review forecasting that the industry will be worth $12 billion by 2030.

There is "an extraordinary opportunity to increase our share of the growing global space economy", Senator Cash told News Corp Australia.

"Space technologies are not just about taking people to the moon, they open up opportunities for many industries, including communications, agriculture, mining, oil and gas," she said.

"An Australian space agency will support the long-term development of space technologies, grow our domestic space industry and secure our place in the global space economy."

The home of the agency's headquarters is yet to be announced.
The Minerals Council of Australia is urging the federal parliament to back the Trans-Pacific Partnership so that its benefits can start flowing to Australians as soon as possible.

In a submission to the parliament's joint standing committee on treaties, the council said the 11-country strong trade agreement will mean stronger growth, more jobs, higher incomes, lower prices and more choice for Australian consumers.

The submission reviews 10 independent modelling studies on the TPP-11 which average an estimated gain of more than $15 billion for Australia in terms of gross domestic product.

The submission also debunks anti-trade "scare campaigns" that claim the TPP-11's temporary entry of business persons and labour market testing provisions will lead to an influx of temporary migrants into Australia.

"It shows that identical labour market testing provisions in the China-Australia free trade agreement, which has now been in place for two years, have seen the number of 457 visas granted to Chinese nationals falling by 35 per cent," the council's interim chief executive David Byers said in a statement.

The TPP-11 agreement is between Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Chile. The US pulled out of the deal when Donald Trump became president.

For the resources industry, the benefits of the TPP-11 include cuts in tariffs on iron ore, copper, nickel, butane, propane, LNG and refined petroleum along with improved market access for Australian mining services businesses, Mr Byers said.

The agreement also reduces tariffs and other barriers to trade in goods and services between member countries and adopts new rules to encourage economic integration in investment, e-commerce, state-owned enterprises, intellectual property and telecommunications.

"The Trans-Pacific Partnership regional trade agreement will deliver economic, social and strategic benefits for Australia and should be supported by parliament so that its benefits can start flowing to Australians as soon as possible," he said.
All cold case homicides in NSW will be reopened and investigated as police attempt to catch the killers.

NSW Police homicide commander Detective Superintendent Scott Cook said they want to give the families of victims answers, following the announcement the first 20 cases will be sent to investigators outside the homicide squad this week.

"The review process will look at the best opportunities to solve the matter, and cases that could be solved now given the right resources will be prioritised to be reinvestigated," Det Supt Cook told News Corp Australia on Monday.

All cases and previous lines of inquiry will be reviewed, with "priority" cases sent for further investigation.

"Every case is going to get reviewed and I am sorry to the families if their case is less solvable than others. It's not forgotten and it will be looked at again and again," Det Supt Cook said.

"I think most families will understand that we have to work on evidence and if the evidence isn't there - we could spend a lifetime searching for evidence that just isn't there."

The review team will look at potential witnesses, new technology and previous lines of inquiry.
A cabinet minister admits he's disappointed that assistant minister Jane Prentice has lost pre-selection for the next election.

Ms Prentice on Saturday lost to her former staff member, Brisbane City councillor Julian Simmonds, as the Liberal National Party's candidate for the Brisbane seat of Ryan.

At a time when parties are trying to increase the representation of women in their ranks, her loss has angered some colleagues.

Queensland MP, Michelle Landry, said she was "totally appalled" at Ms Prentice's dumping.

"We've hardly got any federal females in Queensland in the government and one has been pushed aside by a young male," she told the ABC.

She claimed young women in the party have threatened to resign, but she urged them to stay and fight.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said he likes and values Ms Prentice.

"I'm personally very disappointed about Jane's loss," he told ABC radio on Monday.

But he cited the recent appointment of Brisbane barrister Amanda Stoker who replaced former attorney-general George Brandis in the Senate.

He also hopes Georgina Downer, the daughter of former foreign minister Alexander Downer, is able to run in the upcoming Mayo by-election.

Treasurer Scott Morrison doesn't expect the prime minister to intervene in Ms Prentice's case, claiming it's a matter for the LNP.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten conceded he has not always seen eye-to-eye with Ms Prentice but described her as a "formidable presence".

He encouraged Mr Turnbull to intervene and save her.
Melbourne captain Cameron Smith will have until midday on Monday to decide whether to contest a maximum two-match NRL ban for making dangerous contact in his tackle on Kevin Proctor.

The reigning Dally M medallist on Sunday drew a grade two dangerous contact charge after pulling the leg of Proctor in Saturday's win over Gold Coast.

Smith can reduce his suspension to one match if he takes the early guilty plea, but risks a judiciary record kept clean since famously sitting out the 2008 grand final against Manly for a grapple tackle.

The decider stands as only match Smith has been forced to miss because of ill-discipline.

Ironically, Smith's Storm meet the Sea Eagles on Saturday, however, some experts believe the Australian and Queensland captain is lucky not to be facing a longer ban.

"He grabs him at the leg and twists him around. If it was done to his arm, a chicken wing, Cameron would've had a month on the sideline," rugby league immortal Andrew Johns said on Channel Nine.

"I know Cameron's come out and said it wasn't deliberate, but it's dangerous."

Should Smith be rubbed out of the match, back-up hooker Brandon Smith is likely to wear the No.9 jumper against the Sea Eagles.
An all-Australian third round heat at the Rio Pro awaits Keely Andrew after she snatched victory over Hawaii's Malia Manuel in the dying seconds of their round-two clash.

Andrew trailed late on Sunday and needed a score of 4.60 or greater to progress to round three, and she picked up a 4.77 as time expired to eliminate Manuel from the fourth stop on the World Surf League tour.

"That heat was a bit frustrating at first," Andrew said.

"I had a couple of really small scores but other than that I'm happy with how I'm surfing at the moment. I'm definitely leaving that last heat with a lot more confidence."

The 23-year-old will next face top-seeds Tyler Wright and Sally Fitzgibbons for a place in the fourth round.

In 1-1.2m surf at Saquarema in Brazil, local favourite Silvana Lima also progressed when she beat 2017 rookie of the year Bronte Macaulay of Australia.

"The lefts were breaking against the current and you'd end up losing speed on them, so I decided to focus on the rights," Lima said.

"But I also knew that Bronte's (Macaulay) strong point is her backside surfing, so I stayed close to her to make it a little harder for her to catch the rights."

When round three begins, Wright, Fitzgibbons and Andrew are first up in heat one.

Heat two will feature Stephanie Gilmore and Nikki Van Dijk, the only other Australian women left in contention, who will take to the water with American Caroline Marks.

The men's event is yet to start.
A demonstrator moves a burning tyre during protests on the Gaza border on May 11, 2018

Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian man on Friday during a seventh week of protests on the Gaza border, the enclave's health ministry said.

Forty-year-old Jaber Abu Mustafa died after he was shot in the chest near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, the ministry said.

Nearly 150 other Palestinians were shot by Israeli forces during the demonstrations, the ministry said.

The death takes to 53 the number of Palestinians killed since protests began on March 30 calling for Palestinians to be able to return to the homes they fled in 1948, which are now inside Israel.

Thousands of Palestinians gathered at five different points along the border, AFP correspondents at the scene said.

Israeli forces responded with tear gas and live ammunition, according to Gaza's health ministry.

Israel's army said around 15,000 Palestinians took part in Friday's protests.

"The rioters burned tyres, threw stones at the security fence and Israeli soldiers" and also flew kites carrying incendiary devices to set fire to Israeli territory, the army said in a statement.

Israeli troops fired "in accordance with the rules of engagement," it added.

The army has been accused of using excessive force against protestors, with both the United Nations and European Union calling for independent investigations.

The protests are due to culminate early next week.

On Monday, the United States is set to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and on Tuesday Palestinians will commemorate what they call the "Nakba" -- Arabic for catastrophe -- marking the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the war surrounding the creation of Israel.

Tens of thousands are expected to gather along the border, with many expected to try to breach the fence.

In a speech on Friday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said they would "transform the Palestinian catastrophe" into an Israeli catastrophe.

The Islamist movement Hamas has controlled Gaza since 2007 and has fought three wars with Israel since.

Since the "Great March of Return" protests began on March 30, no Israelis have been injured.

Israel says it only opens fire when necessary to stop damage to the fence, infiltrations and attacks.

It accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover to carry out violence, but Palestinians say demonstrators are being shot while posing no threat to soldiers.

US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital infuriated Palestinians, who see the eastern part of the city as the capital of their future state.

Separately, the border with Egypt, the only country apart from Israel with which Gaza shares a border, is set to open its crossing for four days starting on Saturday, the Palestinian embassy in Cairo said.
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi called on Sunday for African youths "to change reality, during a speech at the Model African Union in Cairo.

The president said that African countries face the same challenges, which include unemployment, poor education, child marriage, terrorism, extremism, and illegal migration.

The Model African Union, a simulation of the African Union, is sponsored by Egypt's World Youth Forum (WYF), the last session of which was held in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh in November 2017.

El-Sisi delivered his remarks in front of 60 participating African and Egyptian young men and women following a simulation session on the challenges facing the continent.

The Egyptian president said that he is proud of the youths' capabilities, adding that Egypt will work on problems facing the youth when it chairs the AU in 2019.

El-Sisi told the attendees to prepare a new approach to address the problems of the continent, but it has to be different. We want to show the AU a fresh model showing how the youths of Egypt and the continent are able to change reality.

Last January, Egypt was elected by African leaders in Ethiopia's Addis Ababa to head the African Union's upcoming session in 2019.

The president also hailed the efforts of Egypts Presidential Leadership Programme, which was launched in 2015 to build the skills of youths and develop their leadership abilities.

El-Sisi extended his invitation to African youths to participate in the programme's sessions and modules.

"The hope for change is the hope for continuation. You are the hope who can change reality through effort, determination, and patience," El-Sisi concluded.

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An engineer for Just uses a robotic arm at the company's headquarters office in San Francisco on May 4, 2018; the firm recently started to work on a new kind of meat based on animal cells

Can a hamburger or steak be labeled "meat" if it is plant-based?

That question has sparked a debate about US food labels as key US cattle industry players have sought to crack down on marketing of proteins made from soy and other plant-based substances.

Jessica Almy, policy director of the non-profit Good Food Institute, which promotes meat-alternatives, said labels must state clearly if a product is made from soy or another plant, but they usually make sense in context.

"Regardless of whether it is made of beef, soy, or wheat, a burger tells you it can be cooked on a grill, placed on a bun, and served with mustard and ketchup," she said.

Almy also sees no alternative to labeling as "meat" new products made from animal cells grown in a lab. Such protein offerings are expected to hit US supermarkets and specialty shops within the next few years.

"These are muscles and fat. It would be extremely misleading to call it other than meat," said Almy said.

That stance has enraged some in the traditional meat industry, spurring the US Cattlemen's Association to file a petition to the Agriculture Department to reserving the term "meat" or "beef" to protein derived from slaughtered animals.

"Labels indicating that a product is 'beef' should be limited to product from cattle that have been born, raised and harvested in the traditional manner," the petition said.

The cattle association, which represents ranchers and cattle breeders, said it wants to avoid a similar outcome to the dairy industry, which has seen alternative products made of soy, almond and other non-dairy sources take 10 percent of the "milk" market.

"We started seeing these products put into the meat shelves in the grocery stores with packaging, label and design misleading the consumers into believing that perhaps it is a healthier version of the traditional meat or perhaps this is real beef," said USCA spokeswoman Lia Biondo.

"We are trying to preempt the issue, to prevent what the dairy industry is going through."

- Industry split -

The US Cattlemen's Association to file a petition to the Agriculture Department to reserving the term "meat" or "beef" to protein derived from slaughtered animals

For now, alternative meat products represent a tiny portion of US protein sales. But the items are becoming more widely used, and not just by vegetarians.

Startups in alternative food today offer products that do a much-improved job of simulating the taste, texture and smell of traditional meat. Industry players say it is only a matter of time before these options are made with animal cells, further complicating the picture.

While the USCA petition has won some support, not all in the food industry have signed on.

The Farm Bureau generally supports the idea behind the petition, but does not want oversight of alternative proteins to shift outside of the Agriculture Department.

"If it is not called meat, what is it then? We want to retain the jurisdiction under the Secretary of Agriculture," said Dale Moore, who is in charge of public affairs for the Farm Bureau.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which counts among its members meat distributors and processors, has not signed the petition either.

Chris Kerr, investment manager at New Crop Capital, a venture capital firm investing in alternative food companies, said efforts like the USCA petition illustrate a head-in-the-sand approach to shifting tastes.

"We are looking at a major behavioral shift by a whole segment of the consumer population, driven a lot by the millennials. They are very open to plant-based food, to being flexitarian," he said.

"The industry can fight this, but they are arguably fighting against themselves because ultimately most meat producers will have some stake in this and it will be a successful outcome," he added.
China's sole operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, is a repurposed Soviet ship bought from Ukraine

China's first domestically manufactured aircraft carrier started sea trials Sunday, state media said, a landmark in Beijing's ambitious plans to modernise its navy as the Asian giant presses its claims in disputed regional waters.

The carrier, known only as "Type 001A", set out for the trials from a port in northeastern China at around 6.45 am (2245 GMT Saturday), according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Footage aired by CCTV showed the imposing ship accompanied by several smaller military craft leaving a wharf and heading out to sea under grey skies.

It is the first time the carrier's engine, propulsion and navigation systems will be tested at sea, state media said, a year after the vessel first took to the water at its official launch.

Expected to be commissioned by 2020, the ship will give China a second aircraft carrier to beef up its navy as it asserts its claims in the disputed South China Sea and seeks to deter any independence movements in Taiwan.

China's sole operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, is a repurposed Soviet ship bought from Ukraine, which went into service in 2012.

Neither the Liaoning or the new ship are nuclear-powered, but both can carry around 40 planes and have similar "ski jump" ramps, an old launch system that forces aircraft to carry fewer weapons in order to hold more fuel for take-off.

The possession of a homegrown aircraft carrier places China among the few military powers with such vessels, including the United States, Russia and Britain.

But it would still be no match in size or range to the nuclear-powered vessels of the United States Navy, which has 11 carriers.

However, Beijing has embarked on an extensive project to build a "blue water" navy and modernise its two million-strong military, the world's largest.

The Type 001A carrier will displace 55,000 tonnes and use conventional propulsion, according to the defence ministry.

Chinese state media have been speculating that a third home-made aircraft carrier was in the works, but the defence ministry has yet to confirm this.

China's defence budget rose 8.1 percent to 1.1 trillion yuan ($175 billion) in 2018, but it is still only about one-quarter that of the United States.
The deadly blasts all occurred within 10 minutes of each other, police said

A wave of blasts including a suicide bombing struck outside churches in Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya on Sunday, killing at least two and wounding 13 others, police said, the latest assault on a religious minority in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country.

The three blasts all occurred within 10 minutes of each other, police said, with the first explosion at 7:30 am (0030 GMT).

Police have only given details of one attack on Santa Maria Catholic Church.

There have not yet been any claims of responsibility.

Images from the scene showed a body lying outside the gate of Santa Maria church and members of Indonesia's bomb squad poring over the rubble.

"There have been three attacks at three churches," East Java Police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said.

"We have confirmed one died at the scene, one died at the hospital, two police officers were injured and there are some civilians injured," Mangera added.

"In total 13 people are being treated at the hospital."

At least one of the attackers was killed when they detonated their bomb at Santa Maria. It was not clear if any other perpetrators were killed or injured.

The attacks come several days after five Indonesian police officers and an inmate were killed in clashes at a high-security jail on the outskirts of Jakarta.

Extremists have mounted a series of attacks against Christians and other minorities in recent years

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for that incident although police rejected its involvement.

The Southeast Asian nation's 260 million people includes significant numbers of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists but there are concerns over rising intolerance.

Indonesian police shot and wounded a man who attacked a church congregation in the town of Sleman with a sword during a Sunday mass in February.

The radical Islamist, who had wanted to fight with the Islamic State group in Syria, injured four people.

- High alert -

Indonesia, which will begin the holy fasting month Ramadan this week, has been on high alert after a string of recent plots and attacks by militants inspired by IS.

The archipelago nation of some 17,000 islands has long struggled with Islamic militancy and has suffered a series of attacks in the past 15 years -- including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, in the country's worst-ever terror attack.

A sustained crackdown weakened the most dangerous networks but the emergence of IS has proved a potent new rallying cry for radicals.

Hundreds of Indonesians have flocked to fight with IS, sparking fears that extremist outfits could get a new lease on life.

A gun and suicide attack in the capital Jakarta left four attackers and four civilians dead in January 2016, and was the first assault claimed by IS in Southeast Asia.

The assault on a district packed with malls, embassies and United Nations offices left around 20 others injured.

Previous incidents have included a 2004 suicide car bomb that killed 10 outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, twin bomb blasts that killed 22 in a market in the Central Sulawesi town of Tentena, and a suicide bombing in 2005 that killed 20 in Bali.

Seven people were killed, six of them foreigners, and more than 40 were injured when suicide bombers targeted the luxury Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta in July 2009.
Volunteers replant dozens of mangrove propagules or shoots in a field near the village of Amboanio in the Melaky Region in Madagascar, part of a WWF programme to restore the mangroves.

Hunched over the soil, Malagasy villagers work feverishly -- deft fingers planting stalks of mangrove to replace the swathes destroyed for firewood and building material.

In just two decades, Madagascar lost about a fifth of its mangrove forest area, exposing its coastline to the ocean's ravages and shrinking the nursery grounds of crabs and shrimp -- two key exports.

With sea levels forecast to rise further due to global warming, coastal villagers are rushing to try and undo the damage, with the help of conservation group WWF.

"The ocean keeps rising and rising, and it takes everything with it," lamented 36-year-old crab fisherman Clement Joseph Rabenandrasana, who travelled several kilometres (miles) from his home in Beanjavilo to Amboanio on the island's west coast to volunteer in a two-day reforestation drive.

Amboanio is a hamlet of about 50 people in the Melaky region, heavily dependent on aquaculture.

"The mangrove protects us," said Rabenandrasana, while conceding that: "I used to harvest mangrove for money" to augment a humble crabbing income which averages about 50-80 euros ($60-96) a month.

Rabenandrasana and others on the Indian Ocean island used to sell mangrove wood for construction beams, and used it themselves for cooking and heating, and to construct shelters.

"We realised too late the importance of this ecosystem," said Eric Ramanitra of WWF, driving the project to sensitise locals to the mangrove's indispensable role.

- 'I didn't know' -

Clement Joseph Rabenabdreasana, 36, catches crabs in a mangrove near the village of Beanjavilo in western Madagascar, which along with shrimp are two key exports

Found in the world's tropical and subtropical regions in more than 120 countries, mangroves serve not only as fish nurseries, but also filter water and shield coastal areas from the force of waves whipped up by cyclones.

"I didn't know that fish lay their eggs in the mangrove," said Samuel Razafimamonjy, 59, another volunteer.

Mangroves also absorb and store large amounts of carbon dioxide -- one of the greenhouse gases driving planet warming.

The WWF project helps people replant the mangrove forests and to take charge of managing and protecting the valuable resource in a country rife with political turmoil and corruption.

"Today, there are dedicated zones where the local community has to give consent for harvesting, and a limit is imposed on the size of plants" that can be taken, said Ramanitra.

But the WWF also had to find ways to compensate for mangrove sales that locals such as Rabenandrasana willingly sacrificed.

Rabenandrasana nets crabs from a small boat in canals among the mangroves near his home village.

He has now learnt to take only those larger than 10 centimetres (four inches), and throw back juveniles and egg-carrying females so as to counter overfishing.

Bigger crabs are sold for a better price, and Rabenandrasana has seen his take quadruple while helping preserve the crab stock for the future.

- Extreme climate -

Madagascar, which hosts about two percent of the world's mangroves, has lost a fifth of them between 1990 and 2010, a study found

Research published in the journal Remote Sensing in 2016 said Madagascar hosts about two percent of the world's mangroves, with eight endemic species.

Mangrove plants can range from small shrubs to tall trees tens of metres high.

Satellite maps revealed that the island lost about 21 percent, or some 57,350 hectares (141,655 acres) of mangrove between 1990 and 2010, the study found.

What remains is threatened by sea level rise, and massive sand dumps from rivers upstream disrupting the fragile balance of fresh and salt water the ecosystem needs to flourish.

With so much protection from the deeply-anchored mangrove roots lost already, river water lifts sand from the banks and transports it all the way to the ocean via the mangrove in a visible, red stream of silt.

There is reason for concern: Madagascar was already one of 15 countries in the world most affected by extreme climate events between 1997 and 2016, according to environmental watchdog Germanwatch.

Globally, mangroves are estimated to be declining at a rate of about one- to two percent per year, said the 2016 study.

The main causes are conversion of mangrove forests for purposes of agriculture or aquaculture, overextraction of wood, and upstream erosion.

Natural phenomena such as tropical storms and rising ocean temperatures and sea levels also contributed, said the study, "the impacts of which are expected to continue to increase based on current climate change projections."
Cheaper fees means far more people can attempt a lifelong dream of conquering Everest, but there are grim predictions that an increasing number will never make it home

Everest is the ultimate mountaineering "trophy", but the rising number of inexperienced climbers attempting to tackle the summit are running huge risks to reach the top of the world.

An Indian airline pilot, a builder from Ohio and a former online media sales executive are all waiting at base camp for a chance to scale the 8,848 metre (29,030 foot) mountain this climbing season.

They haul themselves up the same ropes to the top and face the same dangers of frostbite, avalanche and exhaustion -- and yet they pay vastly different amounts for the privilege.

Cheaper fees means far more people can attempt a lifelong dream of conquering the world's highest peak, but there are grim predictions that an increasing number will never make it home.

Critics warn bargain operators accept even the most inexperienced climbers

Critics warn bargain operators -- who have slashed the price of an Everest ticket to as low as $20,000 -- accept even the most inexperienced climbers. Meanwhile, more expensive rivals, who charge around $70,000, have smaller teams and require proven climbing ability from clients.

"It's a huge goal and a dream of mine to stand on top of the world," said Matt Brennan, who runs a construction company in the United States, and paid US-based Alpine Ascents $65,000 to try his first 8,000 metre climb.

"I always wanted to climb the big ones and I felt that if I'm going to do it now is the time," said the 57-year-old, who set his sights on Everest two years ago after tackling North America's highest mountain, Denali, at 6,194 metres.

- Crowded slopes -

In the 1980s the Nepal government only allowed one team per route on Everest, which meant only a handful of experienced climbers with national teams or those with major sponsorship deals could get a foothold.

Guy Cotter, who has been guiding on Everest for 27 years, warned that many new climbers lack experience

Since the limit was scrapped in the 1990s operators have crowded the slopes for a slice of the lucrative industry.

This year there are 346 paying climbers on the south side in Nepal -- just shy of the record 373 permits granted in 2017 -- and another 180 climbing from Tibet, foreshadowing a bumper year. Last year six people died.

Guy Cotter, who has been guiding on Everest for 27 years, warned that many new climbers lack experience.

"Nowadays people can go on the internet and buy the cheapest expedition onto the mountain. But there is no criteria for experience with some of these operators," said the owner of New Zealand-based Adventure Consultants.

Tenzing Norgay, the first man to summit Everest together with New Zealander Edmund Hillary in 1953, only reached the top on his seventh attempt

"They are not mountaineers. They are just people who want to claim the prize of climbing Mount Everest. They are hunting for that trophy."

Tenzing Norgay, the first man to summit Everest together with New Zealander Edmund Hillary in 1953, only reached the top on his seventh attempt.

Today amateur climbers expect to do it on their first try, prompting many to take higher risks blinded by "summit fever" and lulled into a false sense of security by the thousands who have succeeded before.

"Someone else has done this before me, so why can't I do it?" said 33-year-old Briton Daniel Horne, who used to work in online media

"Someone else has done this before me, so why can't I do it?" said 33-year-old Briton Daniel Horne, who used to work in online media.

Horne paid $70,000 to climb Everest -- his second 8,000 metre mountain -- and said it would take years to find the money and time to make another attempt if he fails.

"Unless they tell me to turn around, I'm going to keep going," said Horne.

- More deaths -

Concerns about paying clients have haunted Everest since the dawn of commercial expeditions.

Many predicted a turning point after 1996 when eight people died descending from Everest's summit, among them those with limited experience at extreme altitude.

Concerns about paying clients have haunted Everest since the dawn of commercial expeditions

"With enough determination, any bloody idiot can get up this hill. The trick is to get back down alive," Rob Hall -- a guide that year -- reportedly said.

But critics say Hall and rival guide Scott Fischer, who both died that season, were too focused on their clients' investment in getting to the summit.

"There are more incidents because people get into trouble because they have not learned how not to get into trouble. This is things such as dealing with altitude, even just technical climbing skills," said Cotter.

Many long-time Everest operators warn that inexperience -- among climbers and operators -- will lead to more deaths.

"I predict that we'll have more fatalities on the mountain until the operators mature," said Russell Brice, who has been taking people up Everest since 1994

"I predict that we'll have more fatalities on the mountain until the operators mature," said Russell Brice, owner of Himalayan Experience, who has been taking people up Everest since 1994.

He also blamed the attitude of some climbers.

"Summit fever is a real disease. People just go on. It's the blaseness of 'It's just a toe'," he said, referring to the risk of losing digits to frostbite.

Indian pilot Sandeep Mansukhani hopes to bag his first major peak with Nepal-based company Asian Trekking, which charges around $30,000.

Indian pilot Sandeep Mansukhani hopes to bag his first major peak with Nepal-based company Asian Trekking, which charges around $30,000

He said: "For people who are just starting, trying it for the first time, why not? Somebody has to try it, there has to be a chance given to everyone."

But Everest guide Ang Tshering Lama, who last year rescued a climber and his guide who refused to turn around and give up his $20,000 fee, pointed the finger at climbers' egos.

"People say, 'I climbed'. But they can't say 'I am a climber'," said Lama.

"You need to be a climber to be on this mountain."
Saturday's carnage was one of the bloodiest days in recent years in a long-running rebellion

China on Sunday condemned fighting on its border between Myanmar forces and ethnic rebels that has left 19 dead, mostly civilians, in some of the worst bloodshed on the restive frontier in recent years.

The fighting erupted on Saturday when ethnic minority insurgent groups, who are locked in a long-running battle with the Myanmar state, attacked security posts around Muse, a border town and trade hub in northeastern Shan state.

A local resident told AFP she heard gunfire through the night until early Sunday morning, with fear gripping a town that lives at the mercy of both government militias and ethnic armies fighting for more autonomy.

"We heard shooting the whole night until this morning around 6:00 am.... People are still frightened," said Aye Aye.

Saturday's carnage, which also left at least 27 wounded, was one of the bloodiest days in recent years of a conflict that has hampered Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's attempts to forge nationwide peace.

The insurgency in the northeast -- which is separate from the Rohingya crisis to the west -- is one of some two dozen ethnic minority rebellions that have roiled Myanmar's border regions since independence in 1948.

Observers believe Beijing holds significant sway over the rebels near its border with Myanmar and is a key player in Suu Kyi's faltering peace process.

On Sunday the Chinese embassy in Yangon condemned the clashes and said it had urged "relevant parties" to reach an immediate ceasefire.

The violence "made people from the Myanmar side flee across the Chinese border, and stray bullets have entered into Chinese territory", the statement added.

Clashes in the border region in early 2017 sent more than 20,000 Myanmar refugees scrambling across the border into China's Yunnan province, raising tensions between the neighbours.

Saturday's attacks were blamed on the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which claimed responsibility for the operation and apologised for the civilian deaths.

A TNLA spokesman told AFP its forces targeted a casino run by army-linked militias outside Muse.

Knut Ostby, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, expressed concern over the civilian deaths in Muse and called for swift aid deliveries to those affected.

"The UN encourages all parties to redouble their efforts to advance the Peace Process," he said in a statement.

Suu Kyi, the first civilian leader of the former junta-run country in decades, lacks control over security policy and the still-powerful military, which has retained key government posts in a delicate power-sharing arrangement.

On Saturday an anti-war protest in Yangon was broken up by riot police, who detained at least nine demonstrators.

Rights groups condemned the heavy-handed response.

"It is outrageous that the local government and police chose to confront peaceful anti-war protesters with riot shields, violence and arrests," said David Baulk, a Myanmar specialist with Fortify Rights.

burs-ssm/amu
The widow of Liu Xiaobo, Liu Xia (C), and his brother Liu Xiaoguang (L), holding a portrait of Liu Xiaobo and receiving his ashes last July

Chinese authorities have barred five Western diplomats from visiting the widow of the late Nobel laureate dissident Liu Xiaobo, diplomatic sources said Sunday.

Liu Xia, 57, has been under de facto house arrest despite facing no charges ever since her husband was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, a recognition that deeply angered the communist regime.

Liu Xiaobo died of cancer last year while still in prison after being convicted of "subversion", making him the first Nobel laureate to die in custody since the era of Nazi Germany.

The diplomats' visit came following increased concern in recent days about Liu Xia's psychological health.

The diplomats, including a French and a German envoy and one representing the European Union, tried to visit her home on Friday morning but were turned away by officials at the gate to the complex, the sources said.

The guards checked the diplomats' identities before refusing them entry without giving a reason.

Despite the daily restrictions and surveillance faced by Liu Xia, Chinese authorities still maintain she is free.

Earlier this month reports emerged that Liu Xia had told friends she was ready to "die at home" in protest at her continuing detention by Chinese authorities.

Liu Xia's friends have told AFP she is taking medication for depression and has suffered from heart problems and fainting.

AFP reporters have tried to visit Liu's home multiple times in recent years, but were blocked each time by plainclothes men.

The United States and European Union have called on President Xi Jinping's government to free the widow and let her travel abroad.

Germany's ambassador to China previously told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post that Liu would be welcomed in his country.

When asked earlier this month about western diplomatic calls for Liu Xia to travel abroad, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters: "But Liu Xia is a Chinese citizen. The relevant Chinese authorities will handle relevant issues in accordance with the law."

Liu Xiaobo was a veteran of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and was detained in 2008 after co-authoring Charter 08, a petition calling for democratic reforms.

He was sentenced to 11 years in prison for "subversion" but died in custody last July after authorities rejected his request to receive treatment abroad.
Duterte has launched a deadly war on drugs

A Philippine mayor accused of involvement in narcotics trafficking survived an ambush on Sunday, police said, four months after President Rodrigo Duterte publicly threatened to kill him.

Retired police chief superintendent Vicente Loot, a mayor in the central province of Cebu, had been repeatedly named by Duterte as one of the so-called "narco-generals" protecting the illegal drug trade.

Loot on Sunday was on a boat arriving with his family at a port in the Cebu town of Daanbantayan when unidentified gunmen opened fire and wounded four people, police said. The mayor was unhurt.

"We are looking at all possible motives and angles, including his being tagged in the narco-list, politics, or his previous work in the police force," acting town police chief Senior Inspector Irish Dilem told AFP.

Loot told radio DZMM he was urging authorities to investigate the incident but refused to speculate on the motive. He denies links to drugs

Duterte has launched an unprecedented war on drugs which has cost thousands of lives. He first named Loot in 2016 as part of his so-called "drug list" of local officials, policemen and judges whom he accused of involvement in narcotics trafficking.

Three other mayors on the list have since been shot dead, one of them while inside a jail cell.

Duterte had lashed out as Loot as he questioned the source of the mayor's wealth. In December 2017 he recounted a conversation he said he had with the official.

"Did I not tell you during my meeting with (mayors), I told Loot, 'You son of a whore. General Loot, you are a general. I will kill you'. Because (he) used government for wrongdoing," Duterte said during a disaster briefing.

Duterte's spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday's ambush.

The ambush came on the eve of local elections on Monday and two weeks after authorities released a list of over 200 elected officials with alleged links to drugs.

Rights groups criticised the issuance of what they called a potential "hit list".
Australia's Margaret River wine region is the scene of a murder-suicide that shocked the country

The grieving father of four children who were killed in a family mass murder and suicide case that rocked Australia said Sunday their grandfather was to blame for what he called a planned shooting.

Aaron Cockman's children -- three boys and a girl aged eight to 13 -- were among the seven people found dead by police on a rural property in the small town of Osmington near the Margaret River wine region of Western Australia.

The bodies of their mother Katrina Miles, 35, and grandparents Peter and Cynda Miles were also found at the property.

Cockman, who told reporters in Margaret River he was estranged from Katrina, said "Peter didn't snap".

"I think he's thought this through. I think he's been thinking this through for a long time," Cockman added in his first public comments since the shootings.

Police have yet to confirm which family member was the shooter but said they were not searching for any suspects.

Three firearms licensed to Peter Miles were found by investigators.

Cockman said that after feeling "so much anger" during legal struggles over custody of his children, such feelings had vanished.

"I don't feel angry. I feel tremendous sadness for my kids. Angry will destroy you. I'm tremendously sad but I'll get through this."

Investigators have not revealed the motive behind the shootings, with Cockman only saying he previously enjoyed a close relationship with Katrina's parents.

"He (Peter) was like my best friend and I still love who he was, but his mental attitude... there are some people you just don't get on the wrong side of... and that's Peter and Cynda," Cockman added.

Mass shootings are rare in Australia, which has strict gun laws introduced after 35 people were killed in 1996 at Port Arthur in Tasmania.

The Osmington deaths are the worst mass shooting since then.

Western Australia state Premier Mark McGowan, who travelled to Margaret River on Sunday, said he did not think gun laws could be further tightened but he would await recommendations from a coronial inquiry into the shootings.
Ismail Haniya, head of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, delivers a speech in Gaza City on April 30, 2018

The head of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas paid a brief visit to Egypt Sunday, a day before major protests are expected in Gaza over Washington's controversial Jerusalem embassy move.

Ismail Haniya travelled early Sunday and met with the director of the Egyptian intelligence services Abbas Kamel to discuss the protests known as the "Great Return March", Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are expected to rally along the border between Gaza and Israel on Monday to protest as the US opens its embassy in Jerusalem.

Hamas leaders have voiced support in recent days for attempts to break the fence into Israel, despite the possibility of it leading to bloodshed.

Hayya, who travelled to Egypt with Hanya's delegation, said Hamas had told the Egyptians "this march is peaceful and has popular support".

He said they considered the meeting a "good one that comes within the framework of mobilising Arab and Islamic support".

Arab media have speculated that Egypt, one of only two Arab countries to have a peace treaty with Israel, could ease border restrictions with Gaza and offer economic relief in exchange for protesters not trying to breach the fence.

Fifty-four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since mass protests broke out along the border on March 30. No Israelis have been injured.

The moving of the embassy, a campaign pledge by US President Donald Trump, has infuriated Palestinians, who view the eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Trump will not attend the embassy opening Monday, but his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner will.

Haniya returned to Gaza late Sunday ahead of the protests.
Iran's foreign minister said Sunday he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the nuclear deal facing collapse after Washington's withdrawal, at the start of a diplomatic tour aimed at rescuing the agreement.

"We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement," Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters after talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

Zarif will later fly to Moscow and Brussels to consult the remaining signatories to the 2015 agreement denounced by US President Donald Trump.

Washington's decision to withdraw from the deal and reimpose sanctions angered its European allies as well as China and Russia.

But on Sunday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was keen to hammer out a new agreement with its European partners to counter Tehran's "malign behaviour".

China was one of the six powers -- with the United States, Russia, France, the UK and Germany -- that signed the historic pact, which saw sanctions lifted in return for the commitment by Tehran not to acquire nuclear weapons.

As he arrived in Beijing, Zarif said Tehran was "ready for all option(s)", according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

"If the nuclear deal is to continue, the interests of the people of Iran must be assured," he added.

After their meeting, Zarif and Wang hailed the "comprehensive strategic partnership" between their countries, with the Chinese minister saying: "I hope and believe that these visits to multiple countries will... help protect Iran's legitimate national interests and peace and stability in the region."

Tehran's chief diplomat embarked on the tour as regional tensions spiked just days after unprecedented Israeli strikes in Syria which a monitor said killed at least 11 Iranian pro-regime fighters, triggering fears of a broader conflict between the two arch-enemies.

Before leaving, Zarif published a government statement on his Twitter page, slamming Trump's "extremist administration" for abandoning "an accord recognised as a victory of diplomacy by the international community".

It reiterated that Iran was preparing to resume "industrial scale" uranium enrichment "without any restrictions" unless Europe provided solid guarantees it could maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions.

Trump shot back, claiming in a tweet on Saturday that Tehran had exploited the lifting of sanctions to bolster its military and increased its defence spending by 40 percent since 2015, when the pact was agreed.

Washington's top diplomat Pompeo later said the US was looking to thrash out a new wide-ranging deal with Europe "that achieves the outcomes that protect America".

"I'm hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behaviour, not just their nuclear programme, but their missiles and their malign behaviour as well," Pompeo told Fox News Sunday.

"And I will work closely with the Europeans to try and achieve that."

But European diplomats in Tehran fumed that Washington's withdrawal could undermine years of patient work to restore commercial and diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic.

"Since the signing of the JCPOA (nuclear deal), we have gone from an atmosphere like a gold rush, to one of utter depression," said a Western trade diplomat on condition of anonymity.

"We are waiting now for how the decision-makers in the European Union will react. If the EU leans towards accommodating the US, all the progress we have made since 2015 will be lost."

Iranian hardliners -- who have long opposed President Hassan Rouhani's moves to improve ties with the West -- are already mobilising against the efforts to save the nuclear deal.

Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the Revolutionary Guards, said the country could not rely on the West.

"We hope recent events will lead us not to trust in the West and even Europeans," he said Sunday, according to the conservative-linked Fars news agency.

"The Europeans have repeated on several occasions that they will not be able to resist US sanctions."

The sentiment was echoed on the streets.

"Officials shouldn't trust France and Britain. They will never abandon the US for us," said housewife Poormoslem at a protest against Trump on Friday.

A photo on the official Instagram site of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei showed him reading a Farsi translation of Michael Wolff's blistering account of the Trump White House, "Fire and Fury", quickly picking up more than 100,000 likes.

Khamenei said last week he was highly doubtful that Europe would provide the "real guarantees" needed for Iran to stay in the nuclear deal.

But analysts said Iran was determined to maintain the moral high ground in the coming weeks.

"For the first time, Iran has the chance to show the world they are not the rogue nation they are always presented as, that they negotiated in good faith and keep to their commitments," said Karim Emile Bitar of the Institute for International and Strategic Studies in Paris.

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An Israeli man confronts a Palestinian woman at Damascus gate in Jerusalem on May 13, 2018, as Israeli nationalist settlers celebrate the Jerusalem Day in the Old City

Top US officials insisted Sunday that they could still push forward the troubled Israeli-Palestinian peace process despite outrage across the Arab world over the opening of the new American embassy in Jerusalem.

Speaking on the eve of the embassy opening, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was hopeful of success in efforts to end the decades-old conflict while National Security Advisor John Bolton said it should make peace "easier."

President Donald Trump's decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv broke with generations of international consensus that Jerusalem's status should be settled as part of a two-state peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are expected to gather along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Monday to protest the embassy opening.

The Palestinian Authority's leadership has effectively refused to speak to Trump's team since the move was announced, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is supposed to be spearheading a new drive for peace. Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization's delegation in Washington described the move as another step toward "a full-fledged apartheid."

"Tragically, the US administration has chosen to side with Israel's exclusivist claims over a city that has for centuries been sacred to all faiths," he said in a statement. "Today's move of the US embassy gives life to a religious conflict instead of a dignified peace."

Asked in an interview with Fox News Sunday about whether there was any life left in the peace process, Pompeo responded by saying "the peace process is most decidedly not dead."

"We're hard at work on it. We hope we can achieve a successful outcome there as well," said Pompeo whose first two weeks in office have been largely consumed with arranging a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

As well as the protests by the Palestinians, demonstrations are expected on Monday in other Arab capitals where governments have argued that the status of Jerusalem should only form part of a final peace agreement.

Pompeo said he was aware that there could be security concerns for US embassies and citizens in the region in the coming days.

"The United States government has taken a number of actions to ensure that not only our governmental interests but the American people in that region are secure as well, and we're comfortable we've taken action that reduces that risk," said the top US diplomat.

- 'Recognizing reality' -

Bolton meanwhile said the opening of the embassy in a city which the Palestinians also want to make the capital of their promised future state would actually enhance the prospects of peace.

"I think it will make it easier. It's a recognition of reality," he told ABC's "This Week."

"If you're not prepared to recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and that's where the American embassy should be, then you're operating on a completely different wavelength.

"I think recognizing reality always enhances the chances for peace."

Washington's ambassador to Israel also said that there is still hope for peace in the region.

Acknowledging the Palestinian anger, David Friedman told Fox that the mood "will change over time because they will understand that the United States continues to extend its hand in peace and people need to focus on what's important, the quality of life, more infrastructure, more security, better hospitals."

Friedman in the past has been a supporter of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestine Liberation Organization has decried Washington's embassy move as a "provocation to all Arabs," and the opening falls on May 14 which this year marks 70 years since Israel's declaration of independence -- which Palestinians call Naqba, their "day of catastrophe."

Fifty-four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since mass protests broke out along the border on March 30. No Israelis have been injured.
A general view of the Iranian parliament building in Tehran on June 8, 2017, one day after an attack on the complex

Iran has sentenced to death eight alleged members of the Islamic State group in connection with deadly twin attacks in Tehran in June last year, the judiciary's news agency said on Sunday.

The attacks -- the first on Iranian soil to be claimed by IS -- targeted parliament and the shrine of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, killing 17 people and injuring dozens.

"The eight defendants have been found guilty of rebellion," the president of the court said, quoted by Mizan Online.

The trial began on April 28 and those convicted can appeal against the verdict.

Five perpetrators died during the attacks on June 7 last year.

Some of those convicted were found guilty of helping the attackers.

The judiciary's press agency reported after an initial hearing in late April that 26 people were on trial following arrests after the attacks.

Some of the accused had joined IS abroad before coming back to Iran to carry out the attacks, Mizan Online said.

Iran has provided military support to the Syrian and Iraqi governments in the fight against IS, sending military advisers and Iranian and Afghan "volunteers" to the two countries.
Participants rejoice after launching a home-made rocket

Huge home-made rockets tore through the clouds Sunday as folk bands played for crowds at a rollicking festival in rural Thailand aimed at encouraging the beginning of the monsoon season.

Known as "Bun Bang Fai", the annual rocket festival celebrated in the northeastern region of Isaan is aimed at prodding gods into unleashing rain ahead of the rice-farming season.

The raucous event, which involves religious processions, mud wrestling and plenty of booze-fuelled dancing to Thai country music, also has a competitive edge.

Teams tour the rural region and compete to see who can send their home-made rockets highest.

One of the home-made rockets at the festival

On Sunday around 500 people gathered in a field in Yasothon province -- the festival's flagship venue -- to watch crews haul massive rockets made of blue pipes and bamboo onto towering launch pads.

"It takes about ten people to make these rockets," explained Asan Luamakam, a 48-year-old train station worker taking part in the competition.

"I don't think it's that dangerous... we've been doing this so long, we know what we're doing," he added.

Minutes later one rocket malfunctioned and exploded before take-off, setting a patch of grass on fire.

But it was only a momentary distraction and revellers cheered as other rockets shot into the sky, disappearing into the clouds and leaving plumes of white smoke in their wake.

Judges assess the rockets based on how dramatically they take off, how far they fly and how pretty a smoke trail they leave.

Crowds prepare to launch a home-made rocket

The festival -- which produced about one minute of rain in the afternoon during launching -- is also celebrated in neighbouring Laos, which has close cultural and linguistic links with Thailand's northeast.

"I've made rockets for 38 years and I'm a five-time champion," said 58-year-old Baramee Gonchuarakan, a Yasothon native.

"We do this because it's our way of life."
An election committee member holds up a ballot during vote tallying

East Timor's opposition coalition is set to take power as it squeaked across the line with an absolute majority, preliminary election results showed Sunday, after a fractious campaign marred by violence and mud-slinging.

It was the second general election in less than a year for the tiny half-island nation of 1.2 million that is struggling to buoy its oil-dependent economy, after a months-long political impasse saw parliament dissolved in January.

With 97 percent of votes from Saturday's election counted, the three-party Parliamentary Majority Alliance (AMP) -- led by independence hero Xanana Gusmao -- had about 48 percent of the votes.

The result means the alliance -- which includes the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) led by Gusmao, the People's Liberation Party (PLP) and the youth-based Khunto -- has secured an overall majority of 34 seats in the 65-member legislature.

The former Portuguese colony won independence in 2002 after a brutal, 24-year occupation by neighbouring Indonesia followed by 2 1/2 years of UN stewardship.

Fretilin, which narrowly won last July's poll, had about 36 percent, leaving it with 23 seats.

Despite a fractious campaign and fears of violence on election day, there were no reports of unrest.

Clashes broke out last weekend between Fretilin and opposition supporters, with more than a dozen people injured.

Parliament was dissolved and new elections called in January amid tensions between former prime minister Mari Alkatiri's minority government and the opposition centred around Gusmao's CNRT.

Alkatiri's Fretilin party collapsed after its bid to introduce a policy programme and new budget were thwarted by a hostile opposition.

"This outcome should produce a return to political stability in Timor-Leste and may allow Xanana Gusmao time to again consider looking to a replacement leader from the next generation after a suitable amount of time has elapsed," said Damien Kingsbury, coordinator of the Australia Timor-Leste Election Observer Mission.

"In terms of economic policy, it will be business as usual, which raises questions about the longer term viability for Timor-Leste," Kingsbury added, using an alternative name for the country.

The incoming government will face big challenges, especially as the clock is ticking fast on its disappearing oil and gas reserves.

Oil and gas pay for the bulk of government spending but oil revenues are in steep decline and the country has few other productive economic sectors.

About 60 percent of East Timor's population is under 25, according to the World Bank, while some 40 percent of its people live in poverty.

Providing jobs for young people and reining in public spending -- especially on large infrastructure projects -- will be key tasks for the new government, analysts say.
The embassy move will take place on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, while the following day Palestinians will mark the Nakba, or 'catastrophe',

Israelis basked in national pride and prepared for a Jerusalem march expected to draw tens of thousands Sunday, a day ahead of the controversial US embassy move to the disputed city.

Palestinians meanwhile readied for their own protests on Monday over the embassy's inauguration, including another mass demonstration in the Gaza Strip near the border with Israel.

Sunday's Jerusalem march begins a week of high tension between Israelis and Palestinians, highlighted by the embassy inauguration to be attended by a Washington delegation including US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner.

Both arrived in Israel on Sunday.

The embassy move will take place on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, while the following day Palestinians will mark the Nakba, or "catastrophe," commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

Palestinian protests are also planned for Tuesday.

For Israelis, Sunday is Jerusalem Day, an annual celebration of the "reunification" of the city following the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967. It later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.

This year's celebration takes on added significance due to the embassy move the following day.

The annual march to the Western Wall includes many hardline religious nationalists who oppose a Palestinian state, often resulting in clashes as they pass through mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem.

- 'Capital of our people' -

US embassy in Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- bolstered in recent days by Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal -- opened a special cabinet meeting at Jerusalem's Bible Lands Museum by again lauding the embassy move.

"Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible approximately 650 times," Netanyahu said.

"The reason is simple: For over 3,000 years it has been the capital of our people, and only of our people."

Police and the Israeli military planned major security deployments.

Around 1,000 police officers will be positioned around the US embassy and surrounding neighbourhoods for Monday's inauguration, said spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

Israel's army said it would almost double the number of troops surrounding the Gaza Strip and in the occupied West Bank.

On Sunday, scuffles broke out between Israelis visiting the Haram al-Sharif holy compound in east Jerusalem's Old City, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and Muslim security officers.

Jews are allowed to visit the site but not pray there to avoid provoking tensions and police said a number of visitors were removed for not following the rules.

"It is not a provocation. It's our property," said Nili Naoun, 42, an Israeli who arrived at the holy site with her family at 7:00 am.

A number of Palestinian shop owners in the Old City said they planned to close when the march passed through in case anyone tried to vandalise their shops, as has occurred in the past.

- Weeks of tension -

Israel will be vastly boosting security ahed of the embassy's inauguration ceremony

There were already tensions in the weeks before the embassy move.

Fifty-four Palestinians have been killed in protests and clashes since March 30 along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel.

No Israelis have been wounded and the military has faced criticism over the use of live fire.

Israel says it only opens fire when necessary to stop infiltrations, attacks and damage to the border fence, while accusing Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the blockaded Gaza Strip, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out violence.

On Sunday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya headed to Cairo for talks amid speculation over whether Egypt is attempting to calm the situation.

The embassy move has provoked Palestinian anger and led them to freeze ties with the White House.

But US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who has been a supporter of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, said he believed the Palestinians' position "will change over time."

He told Fox News the United States "is there to help the Palestinians" and "there is no basis" to think the embassy move will work against peace.

Jerusalem's status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

In the decades since 1967, international consensus has been that the city's status must be negotiated between the two sides, but Trump broke with that to global outrage.

Like Friedman, he has argued that it helps make peace possible by taking Jerusalem "off the table", but many have pointed out that he has not announced any concessions in return from Israel.
Cambodia made insulting the king a crime in February, triggering alarm from rights groups who warned the law would likely become another government tool to target dissent

A primary school principal in Cambodia became the first person to be charged under the kingdom's new lese majeste law on Sunday over a comment he wrote on Facebook, officials said.

Cambodia made insulting the king a crime in February, triggering alarm from rights groups who warned the law would likely become another government tool to target dissent.

The Southeast Asian country has a constitutional monarch, King Norodom Sihamoni, but is tightly run by its authoritarian premier Hun Sen, whose government relies on an arsenal of laws to silence foes.

Police said Kheang Navy, a 50-year-old principal, was detained in central Cambodia's Kampong Thom province on Saturday over the Facebook post.

"We arrested him for writing comments that insulted the King," said deputy provincial police chief Yeng Sareth, declining to elaborate on the post's content.

"For lese majeste, this is the first case," he added.

In neighbouring Thailand, which is known for its frequent and brutal deployment of a draconian lese majeste law, repeating any alleged royal insults can be grounds for prosecution.

A court spokesman said Kheang Navy was charged with the offence, which carries up to five years in prison, on Sunday and then sent to prison for pre-trial detention.

The case comes as Cambodia kicks off a three-day celebration marking the King's 65th birthday on Monday.

King Sihamoni, who took the throne in 2004, is considered a purely symbolic head of state who is largely above the political fray.

The power of Cambodia's monarchy has declined significantly in recent decades under Hun Sen, a domineering leader who has amassed strong sway over the country's courts, security forces and economy during his 33 years in office.

In recent months, the strongman's government has waged a sweeping crackdown on political rivals, critical NGOs and independent media in the run-up to July 2018 elections.

Cambodia was showered with criticism from rights groups and western democracies last year after the Supreme Court ruled to disband the main opposition party -- a verdict that effectively ensures a Hun Sen victory at the ballot box.
Saad Hariri is still likely to remain prime minister due to Lebanon's majoritarian governance system

Three key aides of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri were fired or resigned, his office has revealed, a week after a disastrous showing in the country's first general election in almost a decade.

Hariri's Future Movement lost a third of its seats in the May 6 vote, ceding ground to its Christian former allies and parties on the other side of Lebanon's political divide, including the Shiite Hezbollah movement.

The premier's chief of staff, his cousin Nader Hariri, "resigned from all his functions", according to a statement late Saturday, without specifying a reason.

The movement said its coordinator, who was also in charge of the party's election campaign, had been relieved of his duties following a review. It said another unnamed cabinet official had also been dismissed.

Despite seeing his movement lose its status as the largest party in parliament, Lebanon's delicate sectarian balance of power means Hariri is likely to remain prime minister once a deal on a new government is reached.

Hariri blamed some of the movement's losses on Lebanon's new electoral law, but admitted he and his party had "betted on a better result".
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said he has no ambition to stay after the end of his second term in 2022

A top Egyptian newspaper editor close to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday suggested that the constitution could be amended to allow the leader to serve beyond a two-term limit.

Yasser Rizq, chairman of the state-owned Al-Akhbar newspaper, made the suggestion in a column lamenting "the lack of political forces or parties... who can shoulder (presidential) responsibilities".

He went on to say that "concerning the constitution there are several suggestions... that should be discussed" both in the media and in parliament.

Sisi swept to a second term with 97 percent of votes in a March election that saw him face no serious rivals.

Sisi, who as army chief ousted Egypt's first freely elected president Mohamed Morsi after mass street protests in 2013, won his first term in 2014 with 96.9 percent of votes.

The Egyptian constitution was adopted in 2014 and stipulates that a president can serve two terms of four years each, but no more than that.

Article 226 of the constitution further stipulates that "articles pertaining to the re-election of the president cannot be amended".

Sisi has said he has no ambition to stay after the end of his second term in 2022.

Suggestions that he could serve beyond that date are not new.

Last year a lawmaker called for a constitutional amendment to allow presidents to serve more than two consecutive terms.

His suggestion sparked debate and was ultimately not welcomed.

But after Sisi's re-election this year to a second term, some analysts said he could try for a third.

"All options are open," said Hassan Nafea, political science professor at Cairo University.

"The question now is whether he will resort to amending the constitution to cancel the article that stipulates a president may not rule for more than two terms, or whether he will find another military man to take his place, or will he take the democratic choice," Nafea said.

Mostafa Kamel al-Sayed, a political science professor at Cairo University, argued there was a "big chance" Sisi would have the constitution amended.

"His supporters have started discussing this (in media), especially to amend the article" on two presidential terms, he said.
Socotra had been so far spared involvement in the Yemeni conflict, which has claimed nearly 10,000 lives since March 2015 and triggered what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis

Saudi troops have been deployed to the Yemeni island of Socotra following tensions over the United Arab Emirates' presence there, the Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen said Sunday.

"Saudi forces have arrived on the island of Socotra... to train and support Yemeni forces," the coalition announced through Saudi's state-owned Al-Ekhbariya channel.

The deployment was said to have been coordinated with the Yemeni government.

The United Arab Emirates is a key pillar of the Saudi-led coalition battling Huthi rebels in support of the Yemeni government, but has recently distanced itself from President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

A government source confirmed to AFP that Emirati soldiers were deployed to Socotra earlier this month without the approval of Hadi's government, which controls the Arabian Sea island.

The presence of UAE troops angered Socotra residents, who asserted there were no rebels on the island, the source said.

Socotra had been spared involvement in the Yemeni conflict, which has claimed nearly 10,000 lives since March 2015 and triggered what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are meeting June 12 in Singapore

The United States is prepared to offer North Korea security assurances and bountiful private investment if it makes the strategic choice to give up its nuclear weapons, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged Sunday.

The US price for normalization -- complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization -- is one Pyongyang has never before been willing to pay, seeing nuclear weapons as the ultimate guarantee of the regime's survival.

But both countries have been on charm offensives ahead of the summit June 12 in Singapore between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, the first ever between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.

On Saturday, North Korea said it will destroy its nuclear test site later this month -- a gesture Trump quickly hailed as "very smart and gracious."

Pompeo, who has met twice with Kim, described him as well-informed and attuned to western media coverage, a leader "who knows his brief" and what he wants to achieve.

The secretary said he was "convinced" Kim shared US goals.

"We will have to provide security assurances, to be sure," Pompeo said on Fox News Sunday. "This has been the trade-off that has been pending for 25 years. No president has ever put America in a position where the North Korean leadership thought that this was truly possible."

"Our eyes are wide open with respect to the risks, but it is our fervent hope that Chairman Kim wants to make a strategic change," he said.

If Kim makes such a change, he said, "President Trump is prepared to assure that there's going to be a successful transition."

- Energy, infrastructure, meat -

Pompeo dangled the prospect of a gusher of US investment in North Korea, with upgrades in energy, infrastructure, technology and agriculture, if a deal is struck.

"This will be Americans coming in...to help build out the energy grid -- they need enormous amounts of electricity in North Korea; to work with them to develop infrastructure, all the things that the North Korean people need, the capacity for American agriculture to support North Korea so they can eat meat and have healthy lives," he said.

"Those are the kind of things that, if we get what it is the President has demanded - the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of North Korea - that the American people will offer in spades."

In a separate television interview, US National Security Advisor John Bolton cautioned, however, that denuclearization has to be accomplished "before the benefits start to flow."

He said that means the elimination of North Korea uranium enrichment facilities and the dismantling of its nuclear weapons arsenal.

"North Korea has a very extensive program. It won't be easy to do," Bolton said on ABC's "This Week." "They'll have to reveal all locations. Open inspections. The deconstruction of the nuclear weapons, I think, will be by the United States with perhaps assistance from others."

He suggested that could be done at the US nuclear weapons facilities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Bolton said the US side also will discuss not just North Korea's nuclear and missile programs but its chemical and biological weapons arsenal as well.

"I don't think the president has stars in his eyes," Bolton said. "What we need to see from Kim Jong Un is that he and the entire North Korean regime have made a strategic decision that they'll be better off without weapons of mass destruction."

The summit will give Trump an early chance "to size Kim Jong Un up and see if the commitment is real," he said.
Related Egypt strongly condemns suicide bombings at Indonesian churches

A family of six launched suicide attacks on Christians attending Sunday services at three churches in Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya, killing at least 13 people and wounding 40, officials said.

Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, has seen a recent resurgence in homegrown militancy and police said the family who carried out Sunday's attacks were among 500 Islamic State group sympathizers who had returned from Syria.

"The husband drove the car, an Avanza, that contained explosives and rammed it into the gate in front of that church," East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the regional police headquarters in Surabaya.

The wife and two daughters were involved in an attack on a second church and at the third church "two other children rode the motorbike and had the bomb across their laps", Mangera said.

The two daughters were aged 12 and 9 while the other two, thought to be the man's sons, were 18 and 16, police said.

Police blamed the bombings on the Islamic State-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

JAD is an umbrella organization on a US State Department terrorist list that is estimated to have drawn hundreds of Islamic State group sympathizers in Indonesia.

Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks, in a message carried on its Amaq news agency.

"This act is barbaric and beyond the limits of humanity, causing victims among members of society, the police and even innocent children," President Joko Widodo said during a visit to the scene of the attacks.

Indonesian terrorism analyst Rakyan Adibrata said it was the first time children had been involved in attacks in the country.

East Java police spokesman Mangera said at least 13 people had been killed and 40 had been taken to hospital, including two police officers. He called on people to remain calm.

Streets around the bombed churches were blocked by checkpoints and heavily armed police stood guard as forensic and bomb squad officers combed the area for clues.

Television footage showed one church where the yard in front was engulfed in fire with thick, black smoke billowing up. A large blast was heard hours after the attacks, which Mangera said was a bomb disposal squad dealing with a device.

Jails Standoff

The attacks are the deadliest in Indonesia linked to Islamic State group and the worst since October 2005, when three suicide bombers blew themselves up in Bali restaurants killing 20.

They came days after militant Islamist prisoners killed five members of an elite counter-terrorism force during a 36-hour standoff at a high-security jail near Jakarta.

Police Chief Tito Karnavian told reporters that because many militant leaders had been captured "these groups are starting to ... retaliate."

Wawan Purwanto, communication director at Indonesia's intelligence agency, said the main target of militants remained the security forces, but "there are alternative (targets) if the main targets are blocked".

At St Mary's catholic church, the first place of worship to be attacked, the bombing happened after an earlier mass was over and when the church was getting ready to hold another service.

Separately, an internal police report reviewed by Reuters said a suspected bomb exploded in a car in the parking lot of a Pentacostal church, setting alight dozens of motorbikes.

In the third location, the Indonesian Christian Church, veiled women entered the church's yard where they were stopped by a security guard before an explosion occurred at the same spot, according to the police report.

Pope Offers Prayers

Jeirry Sumampow, a spokesman for Indonesia's church association (PGI), called on the government for more help for security at churches.

Pope Francis offered his prayers for the victims.

"I am particularly close to the dear people of Indonesia, especially to the communities of Christians of the city of Surabaya, which were hit hard by the serious attack on places of worship," he said during his Sunday prayer in Rome.

"Together we invoke the God of peace (asking him) to cease these violent actions and (to make sure) that in the heart of all there could be a space not feelings of hatred and violence, but of reconciliation and fraternity."

Nearly 90 percent of Indonesians are Muslim, but the country is also home to sizeable communities of Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, and people who adhere to traditional beliefs.

Indonesia has had some major successes tackling militancy inspired by al Qaeda's attacks on the United States in 2001. But there has been a resurgence of Islamist attacks in recent years, including in January 2016 when four suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a shopping area in central Jakarta.

Churches have also been targeted previously, including near-simultaneous attacks over Christmas in 2000 that killed about 20 people.

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Residents and bystanders were asked to evacuate their homes after a suspected bomb was found in a mosque on the outskirts of Durban, where one worshipper was killed and two others wounded in a knife attack last week

A South African mosque where worshippers were stabbed last week in an attack which police said displayed elements of extremism, was Sunday evacuated after a suspected bomb was found inside, police and private security said.

One worshipper died and two others were wounded in a knife attack in the same mosque last Thursday in Verulam town on the outskirts of the eastern port city of Durban.

On Sunday private security responded to a call from worshippers who saw the suspicious device moments before they were to conduct evening prayers.

"We can confirm that there is a device that was found at the mosque. The bomb disposal unit is at the crime scene, they are going to tell us whether it is an explosive device or what kind of device it is," elite police unit spokesman Simple Mhlongo told AFP.

A private security official Prem Balram said worshippers had told him that "a device that resembled a bomb" which was attached to a phone and was connected into a "white capsule via two cables was found under the chair at the prayer place, it was actually the moulana's chair", referring to the Muslim religious leader.

Speaking to the local eNCA television news network, Balram said the entire mosque and up to 40 homes in the vicinity were also evacuated for the safety of residents.

On Thursday, three attackers killed one man by slitting his throat and injured two others after midday prayers at the mosque.

No arrests have been made yet, but Mhlongo said last week's mosque attack showed "elements of extremism.... It shows hatred towards the worshippers," he said.

One Muslim leader said the mosque was targeted because it was a Shia place of worship that had received previous threats -- exposing deep tension between South Africa's Shia and Sunni communities.

Police Minister Bheki Cele had toured the mosque earlier on Sunday.
NEW YORK (AP) - Rudy Giuliani, one of President Donald Trump's attorneys, said he is "quite certain" the president did not know Michael Cohen was trying to sell his insight into the president.

Giuliani told The Associated Press on Friday that Trump was "surprised" to learn that Cohen, his longtime attorney and self-described fixer, brokered deals with companies looking to gain his knowledge about the president.

Asked if the president was aware that Cohen was trying to sell influence and knowledge of the president, Giuliani said: "The answer is that I am quite certain he didn't."

FILE - In this March 22, 2018 file photo, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson leaves the federal courthouse in Washington. Stephenson says the company made a "big mistake" in hiring President Donald Trump's attorney Michael Cohen as a political consultant. In an internal memo to employees, obtained by The Associated Press, Friday, May 11, Stephenson called the hiring a "serious misjudgment,'" and said that the company's chief lobbyist in Washington is leaving. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The former New York City mayor, who is part of the outside legal team representing Trump in the Russian election meddling investigation, said he asked Trump about one of Cohen's clients, a firm with ties to a Russian oligarch, the day the story broke.

"He knew nothing about it," Giuliani said, adding that he had yet to ask Trump about some of the other corporations that paid Cohen, including telecom giant AT&T.

"I haven't talked to him in detail except for the first day it came out. When it first came out, he was surprised," Giuliani said.

Giuliani also said it not appear Cohen took any steps to advance the interests of the companies that paid him and did not speak to the president on their behalf.

"There doesn't seem to be any involvement with us," he said.

In a memo to employees, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said the company's chief lobbyist is leaving the company after overseeing the hiring of Cohen as a political consultant.

Stephenson said the company made a "big mistake" in hiring Cohen and that, while everything the company did was legal, the association was "a serious misjudgment." Bob Quinn, senior executive vice president of the company's external and legislative affairs group, will retire, he said.

Stephenson, in his memo, said the company's reputation had been damaged and that the vetting process used by its team in Washington "clearly failed." The Washington team had hired Cohen under a one-year contract that paid $50,000 a month.

The Justice Department is seeking to block AT&T's $85 billion purchase of Time Warner on the grounds that it would stifle competition. AT&T disagreed, sending the battle into a federal trial. U.S District Judge Richard Leon is expected to issue a ruling next month.

Cohen, according to AT&T, said that he was leaving the Trump organization to do consulting for a "select few" companies that wanted his opinion on the president and the administration.

The company says it was contacted by investigators with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the probe into Russian election meddling, and provided "all information requested in November and December of 2017."

The company said it has had no communication with Mueller's office since then.

Other companies that paid Cohen big bucks include pharmaceutical giant Novartis, which paid Cohen $1.2 million for services, and Korea Aerospace Industries. Both have business interests before the federal government.

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Colvin reported from Washington.
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Jedd Gyorko likes playing at Petco Park even though it hasn't been his home ballpark for three seasons.

Gyorko homered and improved his batting average to .525 in 12 games against his old team, and Paul DeJong, Marcell Ozuna, Harrison Bader and Tommy Pham also went deep to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 9-5 victory against the San Diego Padres on Friday night.

"I've always felt like I've seen the ball decently here and I've had some seasons that I wasn't very good here, either. I guess I'm comfortable here," said Gyorko, who finished with three hits.

St. Louis Cardinals' Jedd Gyorko hits a home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Friday, May 11, 2018, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Gyorko is 21 for 40 with eight homers and 17 RBIs against his former team.

Gyorko was a second-round draft pick of the Padres in 2010 and played with San Diego from 2013 until being traded to St. Louis in December 2015. The Padres gave him a $35 million contract in April 2014, just 13 games into his second full big league season.

"I think you try to go about it the same way all the time," manager Mike Matheny said. "It seems to happen a lot. I don't know if there's a great explanation to it except the people that you know, the place that you're accustomed to being, sometimes you hear a few boos, that might take it to another level. But Jedd's a good hitter."

DeJong drove in a career-high four runs for the Cardinals, who scored all but one run on the homers. Four of the five long balls were off Padres rookie lefty Eric Lauer (1-2), who lasted only 2 1/3 innings.

DeJong hit a three-run shot to left in the second, with Ozuna and Gyorko having reached on singles. It was his eighth.

Bader homered leading off the third, his second, and Ozuna and Gyorko hit consecutive shots with one out to chase Lauer. It was Ozuna's third and Gyorko's fourth.

Bryan Mitchell, demoted to the bullpen after going winless in seven starts, allowed Pham's two-run homer in the sixth that gave St. Louis a 9-0 lead. It was his seventh.

The only Cardinals run that didn't come via homer was on DeJong's single in the fifth, which scored Ozuna. Ozuna scored three runs.

Pham also homered in a 2-1 victory Thursday night.

Gyorko and Pham had three hits apiece.

Cardinals starter Luke Weaver (3-2) held San Diego to four hits in five scoreless innings while striking out four and walking one.

"I thought when he had to make a really good pitch he made a very good pitch," Matheny said. "He knows what he's doing and I think he used a little of everything tonight."

Lauer, making his fourth big league start, allowed six runs and seven hits, with one strikeout and one walk.

"It was just everything was middle," manager Andy Green said. "He just wasn't executing arm-side. Everything kind of funneled back toward right-handed hitters. They have guys who hit lefties very well. Pitch variation was pretty much 85 to 89 and it becomes relatively easy for those guys. It's something he's got to learn from."

Mitchell pitched 5 2-3 innings, taking some stress off the bullpen.

San Diego's Travis Jankowski homered in the ninth, his first. A.J. Ellis hit an RBI double in the sixth, while Franchy Cordero had an RBI triple and Jose Pirela a run-scoring double in the seventh.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Cardinals: Placed LHP Tyler Lyons on the 10-day disabled list with a mid-back strain, retroactive to Wednesday, and activated LHP Brett Cecil from the 10-day DL.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Michael Wacha (4-1, 3.35) is scheduled to start Saturday night's game. He's 3-0 with 3.00 ERA in three career starts at Petco Park.

Padres: RHP Tyson Ross (2-3, 3.89) is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA in six career appearances against the Cardinals.

St. Louis Cardinals' Paul DeJong, right, celebrates with teammate Jedd Gyorko (3) after hitting a three-run home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Friday, May 11, 2018, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

St. Louis Cardinals' Marcell Ozuna (23) celebrates with teammate Jose Martinez after hitting a home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Friday, May 11, 2018, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Eric Lauer, center, looks into his mitt as he stands on the mound with catcher A.J. Ellis, left, before leaving a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals during the third inning Friday, May 11, 2018, in San Diego. Third baseman Christian Villanueva, right, looks on. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

San Diego Padres right fielder Travis Jankowski can't reach a two-run home run hit by St. Louis Cardinals' Tommy Pham during the sixth inning of a baseball game Friday, May 11, 2018, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
BERLIN (AP) - The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog says its top inspector has quit with immediate effect, just as the agency's work in Iran is once again in focus.

The International Atomic Energy Agency didn't give a reason for the sudden resignation of Tero Varjoranta, stating Saturday that it doesn't comment on confidential personnel matters.

Varjoranta, who was in the role for almost five years, will be replaced temporarily by Massimo Aparo, an Italian nuclear engineer who was most recently the agency's top inspector for Iran.

The move comes just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the United States would withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord designed to keep Tehran's atomic weapons program in check.

The Vienna-based nuclear agency says it has no indications Iran is in breach of the accord.
BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) - Twenty-six people were killed and seven others wounded in an attack by an unidentified "terrorist group" in rural Burundi, the country's security minister said Saturday.

The attack came shortly before Burundians vote May 17 in a controversial referendum that could extend the president's term. It was not immediately clear if the attack was related, although some activists said they believe it was.

Speaking at the scene, Security Minister Alain Guillaume Bunyoni told reporters that 24 people were killed in their homes Friday night and two others died of their wounds at a local hospital. He gave no further details about the attack in Ruhagarika community in the northwestern province of Cibitoke.

Army soldiers and policemen attend the scene where more than 20 people were killed in their homes in an overnight attack in the Ruhagarika community of the rural northwestern province of Cibitoke, in Burundi Saturday, May 12, 2018. More than twenty people were killed and others wounded in the attack, the country's security minister said Saturday, calling it the work of a "terrorist group" he did not identify. (AP Photo)

One survivor told The Associated Press the attackers came around 10 p.m. and "attacked households and set fire on houses." Some victims were hacked with machetes and others were shot or burned alive, she said.

Her husband and two children were killed, she said. She spoke on condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns.

"These killers attacked my family and I am very angry," said another survivor, Pascal Hakizimana. "My family is dead and to make matters worse, the army did nothing to save them even when they were not far from here."

A police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to a reporter, said four of the families targeted were headed by people he called "police agents."

"(The attackers) said when leaving, 'Where are those you trust to rescue you?" he said.

Activists expressed concern.

"This is extra-judiciary killings. What one can ask is this: Do we have to see innocent people killed whenever elections are near in Burundi?" said Gerard Hakizimana, leader of a pro-democracy civic group known as Folucon F.

President Pierre Nkuruniza, on Twitter, urged unity in the East African nation and said those who carried out the attack would be pursued and punished.

Burundi has seen deadly political violence since early 2015 when Nkurunziza successfully pursued a disputed third term. He later survived a coup attempt led by senior army and police officers, including some who fled and announced they had launched a rebel group against the government.

An estimated 1,200 people, including ruling party supporters, have died in sporadic violence since April 2015, according to the United Nations, with most of the killings blamed on the authorities and their allies.

Now Burundians are being asked to vote on a proposal to extend the president's term from five years to seven, which would allow Nkurunziza to rule for another 14 years when his current term expires in 2020.

Campaigns ahead of the referendum have been marred by hate speech, with one ruling party official sent to prison after he called for those who oppose the referendum to be drowned.

The United States earlier this month denounced "violence, intimidation, and harassment" against those thought to oppose the referendum and expressed concern about the "non-transparent process" of changing the constitution.

Human Rights Watch has noted "widespread impunity" for authorities and their allies, including the ruling party's youth wing, as they try to swing the vote in the president's favor.

Many in Burundi, a poor country that still relies heavily on foreign aid, worry that a new round of bloodshed will follow the referendum no matter its results.

Already more than 400,000 people have fled the country since April 2015, according to the U.N.

Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader, rose to power in 2005 following the end of Burundi's civil war that killed about 300,000 people. He was re-elected unopposed in 2010 after the opposition boycotted. He said he was eligible for a third term in 2015 because lawmakers, not the general population, chose him for his first term.

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Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

Residents gather at the scene where more than 20 people were killed in their homes in an overnight attack in the Ruhagarika community of the rural northwestern province of Cibitoke, in Burundi Saturday, May 12, 2018. More than twenty people were killed and others wounded in the attack, the country's security minister said Saturday, calling it the work of a "terrorist group" he did not identify. (AP Photo)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia's new leader, Mahathir Mohamad, said he barred his scandal-tainted predecessor and his wife from leaving the country to prevent them from fleeing from possible prosecution over a massive corruption scandal.

A leaked flight manifesto showed that Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor were planning to leave on a private jet Saturday to Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, fueling rumors that he was bolting the country days after a shocking electoral defeat that ended his coalition's 60-year grip on power.

"There are a lot of complaints against him, all of which have to be investigated," Mahathir told a news conference. "We have to act quickly because we don't want to be saddled with extradition from other countries."

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, right, hugs former deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, left, during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, May 12, 2018. Najib Razak says he's resigning as head of his Malay party to take responsibility for the electoral defeat that ended his coalition's 60-year grip on power. (AP Photo/Sadiq Asyraf)

Mahathir said the investigations would take some time because investigators need to contact authorities in other countries and gather evidence. He has said Najib will "face the consequences" if any wrongdoing is found.

Najib said on social media that he was planning to take a short vacation to spend time with his family. The Immigration Department, which initially said there was no travel ban, later issued a statement that the former prime minister and his wife were blacklisted from leaving Malaysia.

Mahathir confirmed that he prevented Najib from departing. He said there was sufficient evidence to investigate Najib over the corruption scandal involving the 1MDB state fund that's being investigated in the United States and other countries. U.S. investigators say Najib's associates stole and laundered $4.5 billion from the fund, with some $700 million landing in Najib's bank account and around $30 million used to buy jewelry for his wife. Najib has denied any wrongdoing.

Najib responded swiftly, saying he respects the Immigration Department's ruling and will remain in the country with his family. He also said he was committed to "facilitating a smooth transfer of power."

Later Saturday, Najib told a news conference that he was stepping down as president of the United Malays National Organization and as chairman of the National Front coalition to take responsibility for Wednesday's election debacle. The announcement came after strong calls emerged from the UMNO, the linchpin of the coalition, for Najib to resign.

Najib, 64, said his deputy, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, would take over as UMNO president.

"We accept the people's verdict with an open heart," Najib said. "Maybe this will be an opportunity for us to fix our weaknesses and shortcomings, although these are more a matter of perception than reality. God willing, UMNO will continue to live."

The National Front, which has ruled Malaysia since independence from Britain, won only 79 of the 222 parliamentary seats, losing power to Mahathir's four-party alliance amid public anger over the 1MDB scandal and a rising cost of living.

It was a remarkable comeback for the 92-year-old Mahathir, who was prime minister for 22 years until his retirement in 2003. Angered over the 1MDB scandal, Mahathir had teamed up with former foes, including jailed opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim, to oust Najib.

Mahathir said Malaysia's king had agreed to pardon Anwar, who was jailed in 2015 for sodomy in a conviction that he said was politically motivated. Anwar's daughter Nurul Izzah told The Associated Press that her father, whose sentence ends June 8, would be released on Tuesday.

Also Saturday, Mahathir appointed Lim Guan Eng, an ethnic Chinese, as finance minister, the first ethnic minority to be appointed to the powerful post in 44 years.

Since 1974, the finance minister had been a Muslim Malay. The appointment of Lim, a chartered accountant who led the wealthy northern state of Penang since 2008, reflects reforms pledged by Mahathir's alliance to heal racial divisions in the country blamed on decades-old preferential policies.

Mahathir also named former Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin as home affairs minister and Mohamad Sabu as defense minister. All three appointees are party leaders in his alliance.

Mahathir said he would name the rest of his 25-member Cabinet this coming week.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak speaks during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, May 12, 2018. Najib says he's resigning as head of his Malay party to take responsibility for the electoral defeat that ended his coalition's 60-year grip on power. (AP Photo)

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak speaks during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, May 12, 2018. Najib says he's resigning as head of his Malay party to take responsibility for the electoral defeat that ended his coalition's 60-year grip on power. (AP Photo/Sadiq Asyraf)

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, right, speaks during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, May 12, 2018. Najib says he's resigning as head of his Malay party to take responsibility for the electoral defeat that ended his coalition's 60-year grip on power. (AP Photo/Sadiq Asyraf)

Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, center, waves next to newly appointed Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, left, after a press conference to announce his cabinet members in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, Saturday, May 12, 2018. Mahathir has appointed the ethnic Chinese as finance minister, the first ethnic minority to hold the powerful post in 44 years. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, gesture as he arrive for a press conference to announce his cabinet members in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, Saturday, May 12, 2018. Mahathir said Friday he will form a lean cabinet with 10 core ministries and start the process of obtaining an immediate pardon for jailed opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad reacts to the reporters as he arrives for a press conference to announce his cabinet members in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, Saturday, May 12, 2018. Mahathir has appointed an ethnic Chinese as finance minister, the first ethnic minority to hold the powerful post in 44 years. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
President Donald Trump has called on countries to 'open their eyes' as he responded to Saturday's terrorist attack in Paris.

'So sad to see the Terror Attack in Paris,' the president tweeted on Sunday, more than 24 hours after the incident.

'At some point countries will have to open their eyes & see what is really going on.

'This kind of sickness & hatred is not compatible with a loving, peaceful, & successful country!

'Changes to our thought process on terror must be made.'

President Donald Trump has tweeted in reaction to Saturday's terrorist attack in Paris, calling it 'sickness and hatred'

In September 2017, after two dozen people were injured by a bomb in an Underground station in London, Trump tweeted: 'Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!'

The tweet is relatively tame for Trump's usual responses to jihadist-inspired attacks.

In September 2017, after two dozen people were injured by a bomb which exploded in the Parsons Green Underground station in London, Trump tweeted: 'Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!'

In May 2017, after nearly two dozen were killed and hundreds were injured by a suicide bomber in Manchester, England, Trump used similar language, saying the perpetrators were 'evil losers.'

Investigators are following the trail of a 20-year-old Frenchman born in Chechnya who rampaged through a festive Paris neighborhood slashing passers-by with a knife, raising anew the specter of terrorism in France after less than two months of calm.

Using a knife, the man identified as Khamzat Azimov killed one person and wounded four others in a festive area near Paris' old opera house.

Police shot him to death as he charged them, witnesses said.

Less than 24 hours later, investigators were questioning three people - his parents and a friend.

This is the first image to be made public showing Khamzat Asimov, the Islamic State terrorist who launched a knife attack in Paris

ISIS quickly claimed responsibility for the Saturday night attack via its Aamaq news agency, saying Azimov was their 'soldier' acting in response to the group's calls for supporters to target members of the U.S.-led anti-ISIS military coalition, a stock response.

France's military has been active in the coalition since 2014.

On Sunday, Aamaq released a posthumous video said to show the attacker calling on Muslims in Europe to 'take action in the land of disbelievers' if they can't travel to the crumbling caliphate in Iraq and Syria, which has been pounded by coalition forces.

In the video, 20-year-old Khamzat Asimov explicitly declares his affiliation with the terrorist group while speaking in French

The knifeman can be seen speaking into his camera-phone in the middle of what seems to be a park as he tells his ISIS 'brothers' to ' stay strong'

Pictures from Twitter appear to show a man lying in the middle of a street after the knifeman went on a rampage in Paris, slashing at the throats of his targets

The attacker was shouting 'Allahu Akbar' - Arabic for 'God is the Greatest' - as he slashed throats at random. Pictured: Police at the scene after the brutal attack

The man said French citizens should pressure their government 'if you want it (attacks) to end.'

SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi propaganda, obtained the video, which could not be independently authenticated.

The young man's face is covered, except for his eyes, with a black bandanna and the hood of his coat.

The video was made outside amid trees and falling rain. French authorities had no comment.

Police detained Azimov's parents in the northern 18th district of Paris and held a friend from Strasbourg in that city on the border with Germany in eastern France, French officials said.

The friend was detained Sunday afternoon.

A security official said investigators searched the Paris residence of the parents.

A heavy police presence remained at the scene of the attack which unfolded in central Paris yesterday as the Chechnya-born man went on a savage rampage

Armed police swooped on the area close to the historic Opera Garnier opera house yesterday where they were able to bring a halt to the blood shed by shooting the assailant dead

The man attacked several people with a knife, one of whom died, police said. Two were in serious condition and all the victims are in hospital

The initial attack took place on Rue Monsigny, in the 2nd arrondissement, where crowds were seen running away in panic

The official wasn't authorized to speak about the investigation and insisted on not being quoted by name.

French media reported that the family had lived in Strasbourg, and it wasn't clear if the suspect moved to Paris with his parents.

Counterterrorism investigators want to know if the assailant had help or co-conspirators.

The attacker killed a 29-year-old man and wounded four other people, one from Luxembourg, before police fatally shot him.

The suspect was on a police watch list for radicalism, a judicial official not authorized to speak publicly about the case told The Associated Press.

But he had a clean criminal record and did not know his victims, Interior Ministry spokesman Frederic de Lanouvelle said.

THE DEADLY JIHADIST ATTACKS ON FRANCE THAT HAVE CLAIMED THE LIVES OF NEARLY 250 Jihadist attacks have killed more than 245 people across France since the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shootings. Here is a recap of incidents that have taken place in the past three years: 2018 March 23: Gunman Radouane Lakdim killed four people in the southern towns of Trebes and Carcassonne, including policeman Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame who was hailed as a hero for taking the place of a hostage. Lakdim was shot dead by police after a stand-off. 2017 October 1: A 29-year-old Tunisian cries 'Allah Akbar' and kills two young women with a knife at the main train station in the southern city of Marseille Ahmed Hanachi is shot dead by soldiers on patrol. His attack is claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group. 2017 April 20: A 39-year-old ex-convict shoots dead an on-duty policeman and wounds two others on Paris' Champs-Elysees avenue Gunman Karim Cheurfi is killed by police and a note praising IS is found next to his body, with the group claiming responsibility. A sea of floral tributes to the victims of the deadly attack on the Promenade des Anglais seafront which killed 84 people in Nice in July 2016 From left: Larossi Abballa, 25, who knifed a police officer to death in Paris in June 2016, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who killed 86 people and injured more than 400 when he ploughed a truck through a large crowd in Nice in July 2016 and Radouane Lakdim, who killed four people in the southern towns of Trebes and Carcassonne, including policeman Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame who was hailed as a hero for taking the place of a hostage 2016 July 26: Two teenagers slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest in front of five worshippers at his church in the western town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, both aged 19, are killed by police. The murder is claimed by the IS. The teenagers had sworn allegiance to the group in a video. 2016 July 14: A Tunisian ploughs a truck through a large crowd gathered for Bastille Day fireworks on the Promenade des Anglais in the Mediterranean city of Nice. The attack kills 86 people and injures more than 400. The driver, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, 31, is shot dead by security forces. IS claims responsibility. 2016 June 13: Larossi Abballa, 25, uses a knife to kill a police officer and his partner at their home in Magnanville, west of Paris, in front of their young son Abballa is killed by a police SWAT team, but has already claimed the murders on social media in the name of IS. 2015 November 13: France is hit by the worst terror attacks in its history. IS jihadists armed with assault rifles and explosives strike outside a France-Germany football match at the national stadium, Paris cafes, and the Bataclan concert hall in a coordinated assault that leaves 130 people dead and more than 350 wounded. 2015 August 21: Passengers prevent a bloodbath on a high-speed Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris, tackling a man who opened fire on travellers. He was armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, an automatic pistol and a box-cutter. The gunman is identified as 25-year-old Moroccan national Ayoub El Khazzani, known to intelligence services for links to radical Islam. 2015 June 26: Frenchman Yassin Salhi, 35, kills and beheads his boss and displays the severed head, surrounded by two Islamic flags, on the fence of a gas plant in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier in southeastern France. He tries to blow up the factory, but is arrested. He commits suicide in his jail cell. 2015 April 19: Sid Ahmed Ghlam, an Algerian IT student, is arrested on suspicion of killing a woman who was found shot dead in her car, and of planning an attack on a church in the Paris suburb of Villejuif. Prosecutors say they found documents about Al-Qaeda and IS at his home, and that he had been in touch with a suspected jihadist in Syria about an attack on a church. 2015 February 3: A knife-wielding man attacks three soldiers guarding a Jewish community centre in Nice. The 30-year-old assailant, Moussa Coulibaly, is arrested. In custody, he expresses his hatred for France, the police, the military and Jews. 2015 January 7-9: Two men armed with Kalashnikov rifles storm the Paris offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo killing 12 people. A policewoman is killed just outside Paris the following day, while a gunman takes hostages at a Jewish supermarket, four of whom are killed. The attackers are killed in separate shootouts with police, but not before claiming allegiance to Al-Qaeda and the IS. Advertisement

Witnesses reported hearing the man shouting 'Allahu akbar,' the Arabic phrase for 'God is great,' during the attack that happened at about 9pm in a lively area near the Opera Garnier.

The assailant obtained French nationality in 2010, the Interior Ministry spokesman said.

He was born in November 1997 in the largely Muslim Russian republic of Chechnya, where extremism has long simmered.

Chechens have been among the numerous foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, some joining the Islamic State cause early in the fighting.

Chechnya's president weighed in after the rampage, perhaps striking a nerve by insisting Sunday that France bears responsibility for the knifings.

He said Azimov held a Russian passport only until he was 14 years old.

A forensic officer investigates at the scene last night. The Islamic State claimed responsibility, according to the SITE monitoring group

'I consider it necessary to state that all responsibility for the fact that Khamzat Azimov went on the road of crime lies completely with the authorities of France,' Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said.

'He was only born in Chechnya, and his growing up, the formation of his personality, his views and persuasions occurred in French society.'

France has counted the most foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq of all European nations, many - but not all - of North African origin.

At home, ISIS sympathizers have killed more than 200 people in France in recent years - 130 in an attack on revelers in 2015.

The last attack occurred in March near the touristic southern town of Carcassonne where an extremist with a gun killed three people, two in a supermarket, including an officer who exchanged himself for a hostage.

Like the Carcassonne killer, the Paris assailant was listed in a nationwide database of thousands of people suspected of links to radicalism, according to the judicial official.

Extremists behind multiple attacks in France in recent years have turned out to be on the watch list.

The attacker targeted five people and then fled, according to Paris police and a witness.

When police officers arrived minutes later, he threatened them and was shot dead.

Several witnesses said the attacker ran directly toward police.

Bar patrons and opera-goers described surprise, confusion and panic as the drama unfolded, with people crawling under restaurant tables, and ordered to stay inside while the police operation was underway in the 2nd arrondissement, or district, on Paris' Right Bank.

'I was working in the restaurant and suddenly I heard a woman screaming ... he came and attacked her,' recalled Jonathan, a witness working nearby who wouldn't provide his last name.

'That's when the panic started. Everyone started screaming and trying to reach our restaurant. ... The attacker just kept walking around with his knife in his bloodied hands.'


TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) - Thousands of Israelis took to the streets early Sunday to celebrate their country's victory in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Fans flooded Tel Aviv's Rabin Square in front of City Hall, with some euphorically jumping into a public fountain, after Netta Barzilai was announced the winner in Portugal with her techno dance tune "Toy." The City Hall building was lit up to spell "Toy" and electronic signs throughout the city congratulated her.

The 25-year-old Barzilai, popularly known by her first name, has become a sensation in Israel thanks to her oozing confidence, charisma and spastic performances, which include a clucking sound like a chicken and barely decipherable words, as well as the use of a looping machine and synthesizer.

Netta from Israel celebrates after winning the Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Lisbon, Portugal, Saturday, May 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

The win - Israel's first since 1998 and fourth overall - means it will host next year's contest.

Here's a look at what the win in the hugely popular song contest means for Israel:

NATIONAL PRIDE

In a country with a perpetual sense of siege, Israel tends to go gaga over any international success that reinforces its image of itself as a normal country.

Even minor sporting and cultural achievements are disproportionately celebrated, and the Eurovision is regarded as the crown jewel of them all. Many Israelis see it as proof that the Jewish state can overcome those seeking to boycott it over its treatment of the Palestinians.

"Hallelujah" became the country's unofficial national song after it won the contest for Israel when it hosted the event in the late 1970s, and Dana International became a national hero and global transgender icon when she won with "Diva" in 1998.

This year's contest smashed overnight TV ratings records, and Netta fielded congratulatory phone calls from the nation's leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called her Israel's "greatest ambassador."

"It's a moment of joy that makes everybody together, it's a consensus," said Izhar Cohen, who won Israel's first Eurovision crown 40 years ago. "Because we are separated with so many views and political sides and all that, this contest made us one country, one people and I'm so happy for that."

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NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM

The prospect of Israel hosting next year's contest in Jerusalem shines a spotlight on the contested city just as Israel marks the annual Jerusalem Day, the anniversary of what it refers to as the city's "unification" following the 1967 war, and a day before the United States is set to officially open its embassy in the city.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. It later annexed the eastern sector in a move not recognized internationally. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, a position with wide international backing.

When the Eurovision hosts turned to each country to hear their votes, Jerusalem was the only capital city not mentioned by name. As she picked up her award, Netta shouted to the audience "I love my country. Next time in Jerusalem!" There will be no escaping the issue next year unless the competition's rabid fans in coastal Tel Aviv get their way and manage to host it instead.

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GOOD TIMES IN ISRAEL

The Eurovision win comes as Israel is enjoying an unparalleled grace period. It just concluded a successful hosting of the start of the Giro d'Italia cycling race, the first Grand Tour event ever held outside Europe. The government is also relishing in Trump's warm embrace, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and his nullifying of the nuclear deal with Israel's arch-enemy Iran.

Netanyahu chose to open his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday by noting Netta's win. "These days Jerusalem is being blessed with many gifts. We received another one last night with Netta's thrilling and suspenseful victory," he said. "The gift is that the Eurovision will come to Jerusalem next year."

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WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT

The winning song's main chorus is "I'm not your toy, You stupid boy, I'll take you down." Netta has referred to it as a song about women's empowerment, and the message seems to have resonated with fans - the song racked up more than 20 million views on Eurovision's YouTube channel even before Saturday night's event.

Netta's physical appearance has upended traditional notions of what it takes to be a female pop star, and she has become a model for plus-size women. She has been unapologetic about her weight, the loud colors she wears and the funky chicken moves that have become her trademark.

On Saturday night, she won out over a sultry, hip-shaking pop star from Cyprus who wore a glittering outfit that bared her navel and flat stomach.

"Thank you so much for choosing different. Thank you so much for accepting the differences between us. Thank you for celebrating diversity," Netta said in her victory speech.

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Follow Heller on at www.twitter.com/aronhellerap

Netta from Israel celebrates after winning the Eurovision song contest in Lisbon, Portugal, Saturday, May 12, 2018 during the Eurovision Song Contest grand final. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Netta from Israel reacts as she wins the Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Lisbon, Portugal, Saturday, May 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Israeli fans celebrate after Netta from Israel won the competition in Lisbon, Portugal, Sunday, May 13, 2018 during the Eurovision Song Contest grand final. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
LONDON (AP) - Tessa Jowell, the former British culture secretary who played a key role in securing the 2012 London Olympics and used her own cancer diagnosis to campaign for better treatment, has died. She was 70.

Jowell died peacefully at the family home in Warwickshire, England on Saturday evening, her family said in a statement released Sunday.

Jowell, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year, remained a member of the House of Lords and used the platform to call for improved information-sharing and better access to medical care. Her memorable speech in Parliament moved her peers to tears.

FILE - In this Thursday, March 25, 2010 file photo, Britain's Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell laughs during a meeting with Rio de Janeiro City's Mayor Eduardo Paes, and Rio de Janeiro State's Governor Sergio Cabral in Rio de Janeiro. Tessa Jowell, the former U.K. culture secretary who played a key role in securing the 2012 London Olympics, has died her family has said on Sunday, May 13, 2018. Jowell, was 70, was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year. Among those offering condolences were former Prime Minister Tony Blair who praised Jowell's "passion, determination and simple human decency."(AP Photo/Felipe Dana, file)

"In the end, what gives a life meaning is not only how it is lived, but how it draws to a close," she said in January, with a shawl around her shoulders and her head covered by a skull cap. "I hope that this debate will give hope to other cancer patients, like me, so we can live well together with cancer - not just dying of it. All of us - for longer."

While politicians of all affiliations offered tributes and praise for Jowell's courage and her championing of programs like Sure Start children's centers as a government minister, it was her work on the Olympics that gave her a profile with the general public.

Having pushed the British government to bid for the Olympics, her joy on securing the games for London was short-lived. The following day - July 7, 2005 - four suicide bombers targeted the city's public transportation network, killing 52 people and injuring hundreds more.

On the 10th anniversary of the attacks, Jowell told those attending a memorial service that her memories of the day were vivid.

"I will certainly never forget it - neither the day itself nor the days afterwards. I was in Singapore," she recalled. "We were celebrating having won the Olympic bid when my private secretary received a call from London to be told that there might have been a terrorist attack on the Tube network.

"As the full scale of the atrocity became clear, those of us representing the U.K. in Singapore could think about just one thing: we had to get home."

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair asked Jowell to coordinate the government's support for survivors and the bereaved. She later said she often thought about July 7, but particularly during the two-minute silence at the London Games' opening ceremony directed by Danny Boyle.

"I saw the forward-looking, expansive, optimistic vision of Britain that the opening ceremony represented and I thought again that this was something the bombers and their supporters would have hated - all those nations, with their different views, their different cultures, their different traditions, coming together in a spirit of peace and play," she said.

"So it was a deeply civilized thing that we did in those marvelous two weeks in the summer of 2012."

Tributes for Jowell poured in from the many corners of British life she touched. In politics, Blair applauded her understanding of public health and the need "to shift health policy towards prevention of illness and not only cure." In sport, soccer legend David Beckham posted an image on his Instagram feed that showed him giving her a hug.

"Dame Tessa who was a passionate & amazing woman in so many different ways," Beckham wrote.

Jowell is survived by her husband, David Mills, and their children Jessie and Matthew. The family said the funeral would be small and private, but a memorial open to all would be held later.

FILE - In this Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008 file photo, Britain Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, right, and Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London 2012 Organising Committee, pose in front of a powerline pylon at the 2012 Olympic Park site in London. Tessa Jowell, the former U.K. culture secretary who played a key role in securing the 2012 London Olympics, has died her family has said on Sunday, May 13, 2018. Jowell, was 70, was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year. Among those offering condolences were former Prime Minister Tony Blair who praised Jowell's "passion, determination and simple human decency." (AP Photo/Sang Tan, file)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - Tributes are being paid following the death of Sam Nzima, the South African photographer who took the iconic image of a black high school student carrying a fatally wounded fellow pupil away from the gunfire of apartheid police in 1976.

Nzima, 83, died Saturday night in a hospital in the northwestern city of Nelspruit, said his son, Thulani Nzima. The photographer had collapsed two days earlier but did not recover in the hospital, he said.

Nzima's photograph of the Soweto student uprising galvanized international public opinion against apartheid, South Africa's system of racial discrimination that ended in 1994. The compelling photo shows 16-year-old Mbuyisa Makhubu carrying the crumpled body of 13-year-old Hector Pieterson, as Pieterson's sister reacts in horror.

FILE - In this April 27, 2011 file photo, South African photographer Sam Nzima poses with his iconic photo showing 13-year-old Hector Pieterson being carried after being shot dead by apartheid police during the 1976 Soweto uprising, in Pretoria, South Africa. South Africa's state broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, reported that Nzima, 83, died in the northwestern city of Nelspruit on the night of Saturday, May 12, 2018.(AP Photo/Denis Farrell, File)

"Sam Nzima was one of a kind," said President Cyril Ramaphosa, in a statement Sunday. "His camera captured the full brutality of apartheid oppression on the nation's psyche and history."

Nzima's photo of the dying Pieterson "caused the world to come to terms with the ... evil of the apartheid system," said South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, in a statement. "This came at a price to Nzima who was subjected to countless acts of intimidation."

Harassed by the apartheid regime, Nzima resigned from The World newspaper and left Johannesburg for his hometown Lilydale, where he was placed under house arrest for 19 months.

Nzima said that for many years he regretted taking the photo because it destroyed his career in journalism. But he became proud when he saw the lasting influence of his photo and its contribution to ending apartheid, he said.

In 1998 Nzima won the copyright for the much reproduced photo. In his later years he taught photography to young students in rural Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga Province.

Nzima's photo is the centerpiece of the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum which shows history of the Soweto students' uprising on June 16, 1976. The museum was opened in Soweto in 2002 and is one of South Africa's most visited sites. Pieterson's sister, Antoinette, whose grief is captured in the photo, has for many years been a guide at the museum.

In 2011 Nzima was awarded South Africa's Order of Ikhamanga, which honors South Africans who excel in the arts, culture and journalism.

Nzima's photo was named one of the 100 most influential photographs in history by Time Magazine in 2016.

"Suddenly the world could no longer ignore apartheid," wrote Time. "The seeds of international opposition that would eventually topple the racist system had been planted by a photograph."

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Online:

https://www.gauteng.net/attractions/hector_pieterson_memorial_and_museum/

http://100photos.time.com/
PARIS (AP) - The Latest on the Paris stabbing attack (all times local):

9:30 p.m.

A private organization in the United States that monitors extremists online says the Islamic State's news agency has released a video of a man who appears to be the Paris knifing suspect urging French citizens to pressure their government if they want attacks to end.

An unidentified man covered in blood lays on a street in Paris Saturday May 12, 2018, as two people look at him. The image was taken by a bystander who filmed the aftermath of a knife attack in Paris in which a 29-year-old man was stabbed to death and four others injured on Saturday evening. The Paris police said the attacker was subdued by officers during the stabbing attack in the 2nd arrondissement or district of the French capital.(Wladia Drummond via AP)

The alleged suspect in Saturday night's rampage was shot and killed by police after he stabbed five people, one of them fatally.

French officials have said the assailant was a 20-year-old French citizen born in the Russian republic of Chechnya. They have not verified if he is the person featured in the 2 -minute-long video presumably released posthumously by the Amaq news agency Sunday.

The man in the video speaks in French and his face is covered except for his eyes.

He blames France for its role in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group and says: "If you want it (attacks) to end, pressure your government."

The SITE Intelligence Group, a Maryland organization that monitors online extremist postings, highlighted and shared the video on Sunday.

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7:50 p.m.

The Islamic State's Amaq news agency has released a video that a jihadist monitoring group says appears to show the suspect in Saturday night's knife attack in Paris pledging allegiance to the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

It is not clear if the man in the 2 -minute-long video released posthumously was indeed the attacker. His nose and mouth are covered, and he doesn't identify himself by name.

Speaking in French, he calls on European Muslims to attack in their home countries if they are unable to emigrate to the caliphate. The video is undated, but a steady rain falls behind the man, as it did on Saturday in Paris.

The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi online postings, said the Paris attacker is the person in the video Amaq released Sunday. IS claimed the attack suspect as one of its "soldiers" early Sunday.

French officials have said the suspect in the Paris attack is a 20-year-old French citizen who was born in the Russian republic of Chechnya. Police fatally shot him at the scene of the knifings that killed one person and wounded four.

Chechnya's president identified him on Sunday as Khamzat Azimov.

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4:30 p.m.

A judicial official says a friend of the young man who rampaged through a central Paris neighborhood knifing passers-by has been detained in the eastern French city of Strasbourg.

The friend is the third person French police have taken in for questioning since the suspect in the Saturday night attack - a 20-year-old French citizen born in the Russian republic of Chechnya - killed one person and wounded four others.

The parents of the alleged attacker were picked up in the northern 18th district of Paris after their son was fatally shot by police.

The president of Chechnya identified the assailant as Khamzat Azimov.

The judicial official said the man detained Sunday was a friend of Azimov's who also was born in 1997. The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly and asked that he not be named.

- by Elaine Ganley in Paris.

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4:00 p.m.

A French judicial official says the young man who stabbed people in a lively Paris neighborhood didn't have an arrest record but was on a watch list for potential radicalism.

The official said the parents of the alleged attacker, a 20-year-old French citizen who was born in the Russian republic of Chechnya, were still being questioned on Sunday.

They were detained at their residence in Paris' northern 18th district after police shot and killed the suspect in Saturday night's attack.

The judicial official wasn't authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be named.

One person was killed and four others wounded in the knifing rampage near the Paris Garnier Opera house. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility.

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov initially identified the suspect as Khasan Azimov. He updated the man's first name, identifying him as Khamzat Azimov.

- by Elaine Ganley in Paris.

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3:15 p.m.

The head of the Russian republic of Chechnya says France bears responsibility for the fatal knife attack by a Chechnya-born man in Paris.

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said Sunday that he has been informed the dead attacker had received French citizenship and held a Russian passport until he was 14.

A French judicial official not authorized to speak publicly says the suspect was born in November 1997, which made him 20 now.

Kadyrov identified the suspect, whom police fatally shot, as Khasan Azimov.

Russian news agencies quoted the Chechen leader saying: "I consider it necessary to state that all responsibility for the fact that Khasan Azimov went on the road of crime lies completely with the authorities of France. He was only born in Chechnya, and his growing up, the formation of his personality, his views and persuasions occurred in French society."

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12:15 p.m.

A man from Luxembourg was among four people wounded in a stabbing attack in the heart of Paris.

The foreign ministry of the small country north of France said in a statement Sunday that the man was given emergency treatment and he's no longer in danger. The statement didn't say whether he was in Paris as a tourist or resident or provide other details.

A 29-year-old man was killed in the attack and four people were wounded. Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said one of the injured underwent emergency surgery, and two friends were hospitalized with less serious injuries, but all are out of life-threatening danger.

The attacker was killed by police after the stabbing near the Opera Garnier on a busy Saturday night.

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10:40 a.m.

A French official says the Chechen man behind a deadly stabbing in central Paris had been on police radar for radicalism.

The judicial official told The Associated Press that while the alleged assailant had no record of arrests or convictions, he had been on a nationwide database of thousands of people suspected of links to radicalism. The official wasn't authorized to be publicly named speaking about an ongoing investigation.

The assailant was killed by police after fatally stabbing one man and injuring four other people. The attacker's parents are under questioning. Counterterrorism investigators are leading the probe into Saturday's attack near the Paris opera house, which was claimed by the Islamic State group.

Authorities say the attacker was born in the majority Muslim Russian republic of Chechnya, which has long grappled with extremism. The Russian Embassy in France wouldn't comment Sunday.

--By Angela Charlton in Paris.

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9:50 a.m.

French officials say the Russian-born man who attacked five people in central Paris with a knife had no police record and didn't know his victims.

Interior Ministry spokesman Frederic de Lanouvelle told The Associated Press on Sunday that the man was born in the Russian republic of Chechnya in 1997 and did not have any previous convictions or arrests. He said the attacker had no link to his victims.

It wasn't clear whether the assailant had been flagged for radicalism in the past. The Islamic State group claimed he was one of their fighters.

A police official said the assailant didn't have identity documents with him during Saturday's attack but was identified thanks to DNA. His parents were under questioning Sunday.

The assailant was killed after stabbing a 29-year-old man to death and injuring two women and two men. Their lives were out of danger Sunday.

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8:20 a.m.

A French judicial official says the man behind a deadly knife attack in central Paris was born in Chechnya in 1997, and his parents have been detained.

The official said Sunday the assailant had French nationality but was born in the Russian republic. The official, who wasn't authorized to be publicly named, provided no other information on the attacker's identity.

The French interior minister is holding a special security meeting Sunday to address the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group.

The attacker was killed by police after killing a 29-year-old man and injuring four others in a lively neighborhood near the Opera Garnier on Saturday night.

A bullet hole seen on the window of a cafe located near the area where the assailant of a knife attack was shot dead by police officers, in central Paris, Sunday May 13, 2018. The man behind a deadly knife attack in central Paris was born in Chechnya and had been on police radar for radicalism, and his parents have been detained for questioning, French authorities said Sunday. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A dead body lays under a blanket after a knife attack Saturday that left at least two dead including the assailant in central Paris, early Sunday May 13, 2018. A knife-wielding assailant killed at least one person and injured four others in a lively neighborhood near Paris' famed Opera Garnier before he was killed by police Saturday night. The Islamic State group claimed the attacker as one of its "soldiers. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A bullet hole seen on the window of a cafe located near the area where the assailant of a knife attack was shot dead by police officers, in central Paris, Sunday May 13, 2018. The man behind a deadly knife attack in central Paris was born in Chechnya and had been on police radar for radicalism, and his parents have been detained for questioning, French authorities said Sunday. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

CORRECTS THE FIRST NAME TO KHAMZAT This undated photo made available to the Associated Press on the condition that its source not be revealed, shows Khamzat Azimov. The man behind a deadly knife attack in central Paris was born in Chechnya and had been on police radar for radicalism, and his parents have been detained for questioning, French authorities said Sunday, May 13, 2018. (AP Photo)

A blood trail of the assailant of a knife attack Saturday that left at least two dead including the assailant is seen in central Paris, Sunday May 13, 2018. The man behind a deadly knife attack in central Paris was born in Chechnya and had been on police radar for radicalism, and his parents have been detained for questioning, French authorities said Sunday. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Scientific police officers investigate after a knife attack in central Paris, Saturday May 12, 2018. A knife-wielding assailant killed at least one person and injured four others in a lively neighborhood near Paris' famed Opera Garnier on Saturday, and then was killed by police.(AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A bullet hole seen on the window of a cafe located near the area where the assailant of a knife attack was shot dead by police officers, in central Paris, Sunday May 13, 2018. The man behind a deadly knife attack in central Paris was born in Chechnya and had been on police radar for radicalism, and his parents have been detained for questioning, French authorities said Sunday. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A bullet hole seen on the window of a cafe located near the area where the assailant of a knife attack was shot dead by police officers, in central Paris, Sunday May 13, 2018. The man behind a deadly knife attack in central Paris was born in Chechnya and had been on police radar for radicalism, and his parents have been detained for questioning, French authorities said Sunday. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A blood trail of one of the victim of a knife attack Saturday that left at least two dead including the assailant is seen in central Paris, Sunday May 13, 2018. The man behind a deadly knife attack in central Paris was born in Chechnya and had been on police radar for radicalism, and his parents have been detained for questioning, French authorities said Sunday. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
On Monday, the United States moves its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the holy city at the explosive core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and claimed by both sides as a capital. The inauguration comes five months after President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Here's a snapshot of the city.

RECENT HISTORY

Jerusalem was partitioned after the Mideast war over Israel's 1948 creation, with Israel controlling the west and Jordan the east, including major shrines of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. In 1967, Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It expanded the municipal boundaries into the West Bank, increasing the size of east Jerusalem and annexing it to its capital, a move not recognized by most of the international community.

Flowers decorated as an American flag are seen on a road leading to the US Embassy compound ahead the official opening in Jerusalem, Sunday, May 13, 2018. On Monday, the United States moves its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the holy city at the explosive core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and claimed by both sides as a capital. The inauguration comes five months after President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Since the 1990s, the fate of the city has been a core issue in U.S.-brokered talks on setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel, with the Palestinians seeking east Jerusalem as a capital. Intermittent negotiations have failed, most recently in 2014, and chances of resuming them are slim. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he won't give up any part of the city, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says Trump's policy shift on Jerusalem disqualified the U.S. as a broker.

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POPULATION

In 2016, Jerusalem was home to almost 883,000 people, 62 percent of them Jews and non-Arabs and 38 percent Palestinians. The Arab share of the population has grown steadily since 1967, in part because of a higher birth rate. After 1967, Israel built a ring of settlement neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to deepen its hold over the annexed area, where 207,000 Jews now live.

More than a decade ago, Israel built a West Bank separation barrier that slices through Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, forcing tens of thousands of Palestinian residents of the city to cross crowded checkpoints to get to downtown areas. Israel says the barrier, which in urban areas is mainly made up of cement walls, is a defense against militants. Palestinians say it's a land grab.

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U.S. POLICY

Most of the international community, including the U.S., did not recognize Israel's 1967 annexation of east Jerusalem. The prevailing view, including by the European Union, is that the fate of the city must be determined in negotiations.

In 1995, Congress passed a bill with bi-partisan support that recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and required the U.S. Embassy to move there. Until now, presidents had signed a waiver every six months that put off the move on security grounds.

The U.S. stance on east Jerusalem now has been thrown into confusion. In its December announcement, the Trump administration emphasized that recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital does not change its stance that the two sides must work out the city's final status. But Trump quickly appeared to contradict that, declaring, "We took Jerusalem off the table."

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EMBASSY'S LOCATION

In their 1949 armistice agreement, Israel and Jordan drew a "Green Line" of partition through the city. In one area of southeastern Jerusalem, they couldn't agree and created a pentagon-shaped "area between the lines."

The new embassy will operate temporarily from the U.S. Consulate compound, which is partially located in the old no man's land and partially in west Jerusalem. The U.N. considers the area of the pentagon to be occupied territory because neither Israeli nor Jordanian forces were supposed to enter it after 1949, according to a senior U.N. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the politically touchy issue with the media.

The State Department, presenting a defense of the location, argues that in practice, part of the no man's land has been in continuous Israeli use since 1949.

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Laub reported from Amman, Jordan.
SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) - The Latest on suicide bombings at three Indonesian churches (all times local):

7:55 a.m.

The United Nations secretary-general has condemned the suicide bombings of three churches in Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya.

Women hold candles during a vigil for the victims of the church attacks in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Sunday, May 13, 2018. A coordinated suicide bomb attack carried out by members of the same family struck multiple churches on Sunday, police said. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)

A spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement saying he was "appalled" at reports that children were used in Sunday's attacks.

The statement issued Sunday offered condolences to the families of victims and said the U.N. stands by Indonesia's efforts to fight extremism and prevent terrorism.

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2:18 a.m.

Police say coordinated suicide bombings were carried out by members of the same family against three churches in Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya.

At least seven people died at the churches along with the six family members, the youngest of whom were girls aged 9 and 12. Another 41 people were injured.

Indonesia's president condemned the attacks as "barbaric."

National police chief Tito Karnavian said the father detonated a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother and her two daughters wore explosives. He said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently the Islamic State group controlled significant territory.

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6:40 p.m.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for suicide bombings at three churches in Indonesia that killed at least 13 people and wounded dozens.

The extremist group claimed Sunday's attacks in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency. The attacks in Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, were among the worst ever carried out against the country's Christian minority.

Police say the suicide bombers were members of one family, including young children and teens.

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6:40 p.m.

Pope Francis has prayed for victims of suicide bombing attacks on three churches in Indonesia.

Francis on Sunday expressed his spiritual closeness to the Christian community in Indonesia, especially in Surabaya, where the attacks killed at least 11 people at three churches during services in the Muslim-majority nation.

Francis asked faithful in St. Peter's Square to join him in prayers to the "God of peace so that he will make these violent actions stop, and that in the hearts of all there will be room not for sentiments of hatred and violence but of reconciliation and brotherhood."

The pope has often draw attention to minority Christian communities that have been targets of persecution or other violence.

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5:40 p.m.

Indonesia's national police chief says the suicide bombers who attacked three churches in the country's second-largest city were members of one family, including children and teens.

At least 11 people died in the attacks in Surabaya on Sunday and more than 40 were injured.

The national police chief, Tito Karnavian, said the family had been in Syria, where the Islamic State group until recently controlled a large swath of territory.

He said the family's father exploded a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorbike in their attack and the mother was with two children aged 12 and 9.

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9:15 a.m.

Media reports say three bomb attacks on three churches in Indonesia's second largest city of Surabaya have killed at least two people.

El Shinta radio station says the almost-simultaneous attacks occurred during Sunday morning Masses.

The latest attacks in predominantly Muslim Indonesia came days after police ended a riot and hostage-taking at a detention center near Jakarta that left five dead and five injured. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility.

Indonesia has carried out a sustained crackdown on militants since bombings by al-Qaida-affiliated radicals in Bali in 2002 killed 202 people.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Former Gov. Lincoln Chafee's unanticipated interest in running for his old U.S. Senate seat began with an email from two passionate supporters of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

A 61-year-old retired chef and a 48-year-old real estate agent worried Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse's votes were promoting an overly militaristic America. So in January they asked Chafee, a quirky Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat, whether he would be interested.

Chafee has "been able to buck the party trends and look at the issues on the merits," one of the writers, Jonathan Daly-Labelle, told The Associated Press recently. "Sheldon is a typical Democrat and locked into the party outlook, and he's not looking at things individually."

FILE - In this Oct. 13, 2015, file photo, former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee speaks during the a Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas. Chafee, a Republican-turned independent-turned-Democrat, is considering a 2018 run for the Senate seat he lost to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in 2006. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

To their surprise, Chafee quickly accepted a meeting. And on April 25, he stunned just about everyone when he publicly floated the idea of running against Whitehouse in the Democratic primary.

Chafee has said there's a 90 percent chance he'll run, and political observers say it would set up a fascinating rematch of the 2006 general election, when Whitehouse unseated Chafee, then a Republican.

And in the small world of Rhode Island politics, there's another twist - the two families have been tied for generations. Chafee's late father, John, a Republican governor and senator, roomed with Whitehouse's father at Yale, and the politicians' sons are friends.

Chafee is known for doing the unexpected. He regularly defied the Republican Party when he served in the Senate, becoming the only GOP senator to vote against the Iraq War authorization in 2002. He won the governor's office as an independent in 2010, and then switched parties during his single term in office. Later, he extolled the metric system in his Democratic presidential campaign.

His exploratory Senate bid has been similarly unconventional, marked so far by his contrasting views on the special counsel's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Chafee has bucked the Democratic line, saying he wouldn't support legislation to protect Robert Mueller, then changed his mind and said he "would have voted with the Democrats."

He has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin's assessment of U.S.-Russia relations and recently joked on a radio program: "I am not a Russian spy."

On other issues, Chafee is expected to challenge Whitehouse from the left if he runs, 12 years after Whitehouse defeated him in part by connecting Chafee's Republican affiliation to President George W. Bush.

In an interview with the AP last month, Chafee signaled support for a single-payer health care system, criticized Whitehouse's ambivalence about a proposed natural gas plant in the rural community of Burrillville, and railed against Whitehouse's votes in favor of warrantless wire-tapping and a military campaign in Yemen.

Whitehouse told the AP that he will address opponents in the race "as they become real opponents."

Robert Walsh, the executive director of Rhode Island's chapter of the National Education Association, has worked for both camps. He advised Whitehouse's 2006 campaign and then helped Chafee's 2010 gubernatorial campaign.

"It's hard to be surprised by anything Chafee does because there's a little bit of randomness in there," Walsh said. He added that he doesn't see a "compelling set of differences" between Chafee and Whitehouse that would resonate with voters. Foreign policy and a local power plant aren't enough, he said.

Chafee has a record of fiscal responsibility and supporting liberal causes like environmentalism and same-sex marriage, said Wendy Schiller, a professor of political science at Brown University, but he faces long odds against Whitehouse, whose signature issue in the Senate is climate change.

Chafee has often made his mark by playing the opponent, whether against the Iraq War, the Bush tax cuts or Rhode Island's botched investment in the failed video game company 38 Studios. But Schiller said opposing mistakes is not the same thing as getting things accomplished.

"Here's the challenge for Lincoln Chafee," Schiller said. "Sheldon Whitehouse has been more effective as a U.S. senator than Lincoln Chafee was."

Chafee, obviously, sees it differently.

"I don't think he can name any accomplishments," he told the AP.

The 2006 race was largely seen as a referendum on Bush, and it grew nasty in its final weeks, with both sides pouring money into attack ads and taking public swipes.

"I didn't hold any grudges or any animosity when he ran against me. It was, 'This is America,'" he said, adding later, "and I would expect that he wouldn't in the same way, now."

Chafee is ready for a rematch he said would likely involve "brass knuckles." He remains confident despite what he called a tough governorship - he chose not to run for a second term amid low approval ratings - and the beating he took in the presidential race, when he failed to gain traction and dropped out in 2015 before voting began.

"The critics have to remember ... that I have been right time and time again," he said, referring to the Iraq War, 38 Studios and the nomination of Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. "And they have been wrong."
DUBLIN (AP) - Ireland faces a fight to avoid a heavy loss in its inaugural cricket test match after getting bowled out for 130 and being asked to follow on by Pakistan on Day 3 Sunday.

The Irish fought back to reach 64-0 at stumps in their second innings, but are still 116 runs behind with two days left.

"Whenever you're asked to follow on and you can go 60 for none at the close, that shows big balls," Ireland player Gary Wilson said, "so I think we can take good confidence from that."

Ed Joyce (39 not out) and William Porterfield (23 not out) were there at the close of play, having been part of a batting lineup that was ripped apart by Pakistan in the first innings, in response to the tourists' 310-9 declared.

Mohammad Abbas had 4-44 while Mohammad Amir and Shadab Khan took five wickets between them as the Irish were bowled out 31 runs short of the target needed to avoid the follow-on.

Kevin O'Brien made 40 and was one of only four Ireland players to get into double figures at Malahide in the first innings.

Amir came off late in the final session because of a left knee problem and will be assessed.

"He has got a chronic knee problem, which has slightly flared up," bowling coach Azhar Mahmood said.

The Irish are playing in their first match in the longest format after being awarded test status last June.

Pakistan resumed on its overnight score of 268-6, and test debutant Faheem Ashraf (83) and Khan (55) put on 117 for the seventh wicket. Tim Murtagh was the pick of the Irish bowlers with 4-45.

The first day was washed out.
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) - A 34-year-old Mexican national is facing a possible death sentence as testimony begins this week in South Texas at his capital murder trial for the August 2014 slaying of an off-duty Border Patrol agent.

The trial of Gustavo Tijerina-Sandoval is scheduled to get under way Monday in Cameron County.

Tijerina is one of two men charged with the shooting death of Javier Vega, who was killed during an attempted robbery while fishing with his family in Willacy County. Vega's father also was wounded. Tijerina's accomplice, also a Mexican national, is being tried separately.

Jury selection began in late March.

A Border Patrol chiefs panel initially rejected Vega's death as in the line of duty. The decision later was changed after authorities determined Vega pulled his gun trying to protect others.

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Information from: The Brownsville Herald, http://www.brownsvilleherald.com
BERLIN (AP) - Fortuna Duesseldorf defeated Nuremberg 3-2 away to win Germany's second division while Eintracht Braunschweig was relegated to the third tier on Sunday.

Kaan Ayhan's injury-time winner for Duesseldorf ensured his side finished three points ahead of Nuremberg. Both sides were already assured of promotion to the Bundesliga ahead of the final round of games.

Holstein Kiel, which was already assured of third place, defeated Braunschweig 6-2 to send the visiting side along with Kaiserslautern to the third division.

Braunschweig, which was relegated after one season in the Bundesliga in 2014, almost returned to the top flight last season, but lost in a playoff to Wolfsburg.

Wolfsburg, which finished third from bottom in the Bundesliga, faces its second playoff in as many years when it will take on Kiel over two games to determine which side will play in the top division next season.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - South Dakota voters enthusiastically passed "Marsy's Law" in 2016, joining several states that embraced the constitutional amendments giving crime victims such rights as being notified of developments in their cases. Now voters are being asked to support changes to the amendment to help police and prosecutors cut down on unforeseen bureaucratic problems it has created.

The proposed changes - which the Marsy's Law campaign supports - would require victims to opt in to many of their rights and specifically allow authorities to share information with the public to help solve crimes. The changes will go before South Dakota voters during the state's June 5 primary election, months before voters in at least five other states decide whether to adopt their own versions of Marsy's Law.

Kelli Peterson, a victim and witness assistant in the Minnehaha County State's Attorney's Office, used to spend her workdays focused almost exclusively on helping victims of violent crime navigate the criminal justice system. Since the state's Marsy's Law took effect, though, she's had to spend more time calling and mailing victims, including businesses, to let them know about court proceedings in their cases, even for petty theft or trespassing. For example, she says she spent nearly an entire day last year trying to notify an out-of-state bank that someone had been arrested for trespassing in a Sioux Falls home it owned. She ended up sending a letter but never heard back.

In this Thursday, Oct. 6, 2016 photo ,Kelli Peterson, a victim witness assistant with the Minnehaha County State's Attorney's office, speaks to a victim of a crime over the phone in the Minnehaha County Administration building in Sioux Falls, S.D. South Dakota may become the first state to change the Marsy's Law constitutional "bill of rights" for crime victims of the six that have enacted it. (Joe Ahlquist/The Argus Leader via AP)

"It means that we get to spend less time with our really high-risk ... victims," Peterson said.

Five states - California, Ohio, Illinois, North Dakota and South Dakota - have a Marsy's Law on their books. South Dakota would be the first to alter its law, though Montana voters passed a Marsy's Law in 2016 that the state Supreme Court later overturned, citing flaws in how it was written.

They're named after Marsalee "Marsy" Nicholas, a California college student who was stalked and killed in 1983 by an ex-boyfriend. Her brother, billionaire Henry Nicholas, has bankrolled the ballot measures. Voters are set to decide on Marsy's Law measures in November in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Nevada and Oklahoma.

After it passed in South Dakota, at least three large counties hired new people to work with victims. Privacy provisions in the amendment have curtailed the information that some law enforcement agencies release to the public to help solve crimes, and officials say prosecutors' offices must now track down and notify a broader swath of victims about their cases.

House Speaker Mark Mickelson initially proposed getting rid of the amendment but instead reached a deal with the Marsy's Law campaign during this year's legislative session. The group is contributing financial support to promote the passage of the proposed changes to the law.

"People voted for it the first time, and we're fixing some of the unintended consequences," Mickelson said. "It strengthens victims' rights. If you were for it before, you're for it again, and if you had some concerns about it before, it's better now."

Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead said the amended measure would specifically allow authorities to publicly release the locations or business names where crimes occur, which his office has generally stopped doing since Marsy's Law took effect.

"Every armed robbery where a business name was not able to be put out, it impacted," Milstead said. "If we're not able to say that it was this business, and people remember that they saw someone come out of that business, it's made it more difficult to get tips and solve that crime."

Pennington County State's Attorney Mark Vargo, whose office added four employees at an annual cost of more than $200,000 because of Marsy's Law, supports the changes. He said he thinks they'll help as fewer people opt in to the measure's coverage.

Supporters of the new amendment are educating voters through grassroots work and digital and direct mail advertising, with the potential for television and radio, said Ryan Erwin, a strategy consultant for the Marsy's Law for All campaign.

"This is a group of people that haven't always seen eye-to-eye on everything, and really do now," Erwin said. "I know there's a genuine desire to get this passed to help law enforcement and continue to protect victims' rights."

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Follow James Nord on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jvnord
LONDON (AP) - British architect Will Alsop, whose exuberant buildings enliven cities on both sides of the Atlantic, has died, his company said Sunday. He was 70.

Marcos Rosello, a co-founder with Alsop of the London-based architecture practice aLL Design, said Alsop died Saturday after a short illness.

Born in Northampton in central England in 1947, Alsop studied at the Architectural Association in London. He cited 20th-century modernists Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe and 18th-century British neo-Classicist John Soane among his influences. But Alsop's work had a playful style all its own.

"Architects are the only profession that actually deal in joy and delight - all the others deal in doom and gloom," Alsop told The Observer newspaper in 2007.

Alsop's buildings include the green, copper-clad Peckham Library in London, which won the Stirling Prize for architecture; London's futuristic North Greenwich Underground station; and the Sharp Centre at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, a black-and-white box poised rakishly on multicolored stilts.

Alsop also completed several residential projects, other transit stations and a striking government building in Marseille, France that is nicknamed the Big Blue.

The finances of his various practices were sometimes precarious, and many of Alsop's more ambitious schemes were never realized - including plans to transform post-industrial Barnsley in northern England into a modernist version of a Tuscan hill town.

Detractors likened The Public, an Alsop-designed arts center in the central England town of West Bromwich, to a big black cow. It came to be seen as an expensive white elephant and closed after five years in 2013, to be converted into a college.

His practice, aLL Design, has offices in London; Doha, Qatar; and Chongqing, China, where Alsop had several ambitious projects in the works.

Rosello said Alsop's design ethos was "essentially to 'make life better.'"

"It is a comfort to know that due to the nature of Will's work and character, he will continue to inspire and bring great joy," he said.

Alsop is survived by his wife Sheila, a daughter and two sons.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Authorities say a Florida man has been charged with driving under the influence after crashing into a stopped and unmarked sheriff's vehicle.

The Florida Highway Patrol says Rida Boualam was headed to his girlfriend's house when he hit the back of an Orange County sheriff's vehicle. The 45-year old told officers that he had two beers before leaving home though authorities say they also found an open beer can in his car.

Four deputies were inside their vehicle but were not seriously injured. One had minor injuries.

Troopers said Boualam had a blood alcohol level of .154, nearly twice Florida's legal limit. He's been charged with impaired driving, careless driving and possessing an open container of alcohol in a vehicle.

It wasn't immediately known if he has an attorney.
Afghan security forces battled for hours against a group of attackers who stormed a government building in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Sunday after a coordinated assault that killed at least 15 people and wounded 42, local officials said.

A car bomb was detonated at the entrance to the state accounts office before a group of about six attackers armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades rushed the building, the officials said. There were multiple blasts as they fought off security forces in a gun battle that lasted much of the day.

The attack took place in a busy area of the city with many other official buildings nearby, including a school in which about 1,000 girls were trapped as the fighting raged. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

It was the latest in a series of high-profile attacks that have killed and wounded hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan this year and put heavy pressure on the Western-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani.

Most have been in capital city Kabul, but in January gunmen attacked an office of aid group Save the Children in Jalalabad, killing at least five people and wounding 25. That attack, claimed by Islamic State, followed much the same pattern as Sunday's incident.

After several hours of fighting that sent plumes of smoke rising into the sky above the accounts office, Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said that Sunday's clash had ended with all the gunmen killed.

Public health officials said that at least 15 people, including a child, had been killed and 42 wounded. Witnesses said the explosions had caused carnage among passers-by.

"I saw two rickshaw drivers on the ground with their arms blown off," said Khan Mohammad, a local resident who saw the initial blasts and the start of the gun battle.

Violence has escalated across Afghanistan since the announcement of the Taliban's annual spring offensive last month and there have been heightened security fears around preparations for elections in October.

Dozens of people have been killed in voter registration centres in recent weeks, leading to fears that people could stay away from elections that are seen as a major test of the government's credibility.

At the same time, Taliban fighters have stepped up the pressure on government forces across the country, from Baghlan province in the north, where they seized a district centre last week, to Farah in the southwest or Ghazni, south of Kabul.

Last year the United States increased its support to struggling Afghan forces, announcing plans for thousands of additional advisers and more air strikes in an effort to force the Taliban to enter peace negotiations.

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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (AP) - A book nearly five decades overdue has been returned to the San Francisco Public Library.

The copy of Eldridge Cleaver's memoir "Soul On Ice" was due back at the Eureka Valley branch Dec. 9, 1970, making it 47 years, four months and 29 days late. The library's late fee would've been $1,731.70 if it didn't cap the fine at $10.01.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports the paperback's cover is detached from its spine and there's a hole in the title page.

Branch manager Anne Vannucchi told the Chronicle last week she'd like to know who the library patron is so she can get the story behind the returned book.

A man at another branch last year returned his great-grandmother's book titled "Forty Minutes Late" - but it was more than 100 years late.

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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) - The Latest on a bear attack in western Colorado: (all times local):

3:55 p.m.

A 5-year-old Colorado girl is hospitalized in fair condition after she was attacked by a bear outside her home.

The attack happened early Sunday near Grand Junction, about 240 miles (386 kilometers) west of Denver.

The girl's mother told state wildlife officers that her daughter went outside around 2:30 a.m. to investigate noises she thought might be coming from her dog. The mother said she then heard screaming and went out to find her daughter being dragged by a large black bear. She says the bear dropped the girl after she began screaming at the animal.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesman Mike Porras said the girl suffered serious injuries and was taken to St. Mary's Hospital. She was listed in fair condition in the afternoon but chief operating officer Bryan Johnson says her family didn't want to release any more information.

____

10:05 p.m.

A 5-year-old Colorado girl is hospitalized with serious injuries after she was attacked by a bear outside her home.

The attack happened early Sunday near Grand Junction, about 240 miles (386 kilometers) west of Denver.

The girl's mother told state wildlife officers that her daughter went outside around 2:30 a.m. to investigate noises she thought might be related to her dog. The mother said she then heard screaming and went out to find her daughter being dragged by a large black bear. She says the bear dropped the girl after she began screaming at the animal.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife says officers are tracking the bear with the help of federal wildlife officers.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have added a fresh transatlantic twist to their wedding by inviting a senior US bishop to speak at next weeks service.

The Most Rev Bishop Michael Curry, the 27th presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church, will give an address at the wedding in Windsor on May 19.

The preacher, from Chicago, is to attend the service at St Georges Chapel, at which the Archbishop of Canterbury will officiate, Kensington Palace said.

Bishop Michael Curry will give an address at the wedding (the Episcopal Church/PA)

I'm thrilled that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have asked Bishop Michael Curry to preach at their wedding. @PB_Curry is a brilliant pastor, stunning preacher and someone with a great gift for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.  Archbishop of Canterbury (@JustinWelby) May 12, 2018

The Episcopal Church is an offshoot of the Church of England in the US and forms part of the broader Anglican Communion worldwide.

Ms Markle was baptised by the Most Rev Justin Welby ahead of her wedding to the prince, whose grandmother, the Queen, is head of the Anglican Church.

Bishop Curry said: The love that has brought and will bind Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle together has its source and origin in God, and is the key to life and happiness.

And so we celebrate and pray for them today.

He is the first African-American bishop to have served as the Episcopal Churchs presiding bishop, a role he has held since November 2015.

The Dean of Windsor, David Conner, is to conduct next weeks service, before Justin Welby officiates as the couple make their marriage vows.
A veteran antiques dealer trading in the shadow of Windsor Castle has invited Meghan Markle to browse his wares before he retires.

Bruce Sutton, who is closing up shop after more than three decades running Berkshire Antiques on Thames Street, said the former actress may find a hidden gem.

The 68-year-old said: She probably gets her jewellery on Bond Street or something, but Ill be open on the day if she wants to pop in.

Emma Brett, manager at Gilbeys restaurant and hotel on Eton High Street (Steve Parsons/PA)

You never know, she may just find a bargain.

Mr Sutton is one of many in Windsor and Eton set to open their businesses doors to the tens of thousands flocking to the towns for the royal wedding.

Emma Brett, a manager at Gilbeys restaurant and hotel on Eton High Street for 17 years, said: I have seen every road being tarmacked, every tree being pruned and every lamppost being painted. Windsor is going to look amazing.

The 46-year-old, whose mother was the first waitress at the restaurant in the 1970s, added: The first call I got was from an Australian News channel looking for rooms for 100 guests.

Commemorative fudge on sale at Eton Fudge (Steve Parsons/PA)

Owner Lin Gilbey added: The boys (Harry and William) came while they were at Eton, and we do such a lot with the college.

Weve been here I think 42 years and certainly were the oldest independent restaurant. These walls have seen a lot, but were very discreet.

Windsor has always done its royal duty  dont worry, were well practised.

With road closures in place and parking spots scarce, park and float services are being run to ferry in spectators.

Skipper Nathan Mobey, who works for French Brothers boat cruises, said he expects to take thousands into the heart of Windsor for the big day.

Heather Shelly has had orders from China for the wedding fudge (Steve Parsons/PA)

The 21-year-old said: All weve been told is that its going to be chaos on the river.

Its good for the town, it will be busy thats for sure, and at least it isnt in London this time.

Ive heard the pubs are going to be open later as well which isnt a bad thing.

Elsewhere Heather Shelley, who runs Eton Fudge, said she has taken orders for her commemorative sweet box from China to Argentina.

The special treat has both Eton Mess and American Cheesecake flavoured fudge in a nod to the couples roots.

She said: It was a good chance to do something a bit quirky.

It has made me feel part of the wedding, which has certainly lifted up peoples spirits around the town, theres a good buzz.

I think the younger royals are changing things and getting the public on their side. You can feel it.

Just down the road, on Eton High Street, is a striking display of wedding-themed souvenirs in the shop of Peter Bowes.

Peter Bowes who is selling wedding related items for the homeless from his shop in Eton High Street (Steve Parsons/PA)

The 65-year-old carpet shop owner is stocking mugs, plates and tea towels decorated with royal-style crests, but reflecting homelessness.

Sales from the range will be put into helping the boroughs homeless, buying necessities like hot meals and toiletries.

It is in response to a row which broke out in January after council leader Simon Dudley said the homeless would paint Windsor in a sadly unfavourable light when the worlds eyes were fixed upon the town.

Mr Bowes said: I dont know what he was thinking, he must have listened to some of the snobs of Windsor. Everyone kicked up about it though.

Its not like they want to be homeless, they just fell off.

Im hoping one of the royals speaks up about it.

Quite a lot of people have been buying the mugs, Ive sold 200 worth so far and that all goes back to help them with stuff like shaving kits, you know.

This wedding is going to generate billions, lets be honest. Lets give something back.
Three attacks, including one by a suicide bomber disguised as a churchgoer, targeted three churches in Indonesias second largest city of Surabaya on Sunday.

At least three people were killed and 10 others wounded, police and media reported.

The first attack at the Santa Maria Roman Catholic church killed two people, including the suspected bomber, and wounded 11, police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told TVOne network.

It was followed by a second explosion in a different church that killed another person. Two were rushed to hospital.

Police officers stand guard near the site where an explosion went off at Santa Maria church in Surabaya Indonesia (AP Photo/Trisnadi)

Three more people were wounded in a third attack, Mangera said.

The latest attacks in predominantly Muslim Indonesia came days after police ended a riot and hostage-taking at a detention centre near Jakarta that left five dead and five injured. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility.

Indonesia has carried out a sustained crackdown on militants since bombings by al-Qaida-affiliated radicals in Bali in 2002 killed 202 people.
Cabinet tensions over Brexit erupted again as Michael Gove said there were significant question marks over the customs partnership option favoured by the Prime Minister.

The remarks came after a plea by Theresa May for unity as she insisted she could be trusted to deliver the Brexit people voted for.

With the Cabinet split over which of two customs models to back, Environment Secretary Mr Gove said neither option being considered was perfect.

Appearing on BBC Ones The Andrew Marr Show, he was pressed on whether Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was right to brand the customs partnership option as crazy.

Mr Gove said: Across Government, across Cabinet, there is agreement that neither of these two models is absolutely perfect.

And with the new customs partnership, Boris pointed out that because its novel, because no model like this exists, there have to be significant question marks over the deliverability of it on time.

Mr Gove added: Its my view that the new customs partnership has flaws and they need to be tested.

Prime Minister Theresa May attends church near her Maidenhead constituency as she said she could be trusted to deliver on Brexit (Steve Parsons/PA)

The Environment Secretary said he was against any extension of the current customs union in order to give more time to find a new system.

Mrs May has set up two Cabinet groups to consider the customs options.

The customs arrangement with the EU that Mr Johnson opposes would see the UK collecting tariffs on behalf of Brussels.

An alternative option called maximum facilitation, known as Max Fac, would rely on new technology and trusted trader schemes to get trade to flow smoothly with the EU after Brexit.

Writing in The Sunday Times after weeks of Cabinet wrangling, Mrs May said: You can trust me to deliver. I will not let you down.

Mrs May stressed the UK would be aligned with Brussels on some issues as there had to be compromises after withdrawal.

Of course, the details are incredibly complex, and, as in any negotiation, there will have to be compromises.

The path I set out here is the path to deliver the Brexit people voted for. I will need your help and support to get there. And in return my pledge to you is simple: I will not let you down. https://t.co/zG5SBTqKWQ  Theresa May (@theresa_may) May 13, 2018

Tory former leader Iain Duncan Smith warned party MPs not to vote to stay in the customs union with the EU as some rebels have urged, telling the BBC: It was in the manifesto and all my colleagues stood on that.

So this is a very big issue if theyre deciding to break this.

Because they do literally plunge a knife into the heart of government and particularly to the Prime Minister  because it is very much her fixed view, and that is what we stood on at the last election.

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer branded Cabinet divisions over proposals for a customs arrangement farcical.

He told the BBC: I think we are in a farcical situation at the moment, nearly two years after the referendum the Cabinet is fighting over (the) two customs options neither of which frankly are workable, neither of which are acceptable to the EU.

He added: What we propose is a combination, on the one hand a comprehensive customs union, nobody credible suggests you can achieve no hard border (in Ireland) without it and also a strong single market relationship that hard wires the benefits of the single market into the future agreement.

Leading nurses have said the right to freely cross the border has to be maintained to protect essential healthcare services.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said an estimated 30,000 workers cross the Irish border each day and must be able to travel freely to care for patients.

In a keynote address to the RCN annual conference in Belfast on Sunday, chief executive Janet Davies said: No matter where they live  no matter where they work  our nurses must be able to continue to travel freely in order to care for patients.

It is of paramount importance that this right remains protected here across the island of Ireland.
At least 13 people have died in suicide attacks on churches in Indonesias second-largest city, carried out by a family of six that included two young children, police said.

All six family members were killed in the attacks in Surabaya and at least 41 people were injured, in acts that Indonesias president condemned as barbaric.

The bombings were the worst to target churches in Indonesia since a series of attacks on Christmas Eve in 2000 killed 15 people and wounded nearly 100. Religious minorities in Indonesia, especially Christians, have been repeatedly targeted by militants.

The scene of one of the bombings in Surabaya, East Java (AP)

National police chief Tito Karnavian said that the father exploded a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother was with daughters aged 12 and nine for her attack.

Mr Karnavian said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently the Islamic State group controlled significant territory.

The extremist group claimed responsibility for Sundays attacks in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency.

The first attack struck the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church in Surabaya, police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters. That blast was followed by a second explosion minutes later at the Christian Church of Diponegoro and a third at the citys Pantekosta Church.

Wrecked motorcycles in Surabaya (Trisnadi/AP)

A witness described the womans attack at the Diponegoro church, saying she was carrying two bags when she arrived.

At first officers blocked them in front of the churchyard, but the woman ignored them and forced her way inside. Suddenly she hugged a civilian then (the bomb) exploded, said the witness, a security guard who identified himself as Antonius.

Mr Mangera said three unexploded homemade bombs  two at the Pantekosta church and one at the Diponegoro church  were detonated by a bomb squad.

Shattered glass and chunks of concrete littered the entrance of the Santa Maria Church, which was sealed off by armed police. Rescue personnel treated victims at a nearby field while officers inspected wrecked motorcycles in the car park that had been burned in the explosion.

A street merchant outside the church said she was blown several metres by the blast.

I saw two men riding a motorbike force their way into the churchyard. One was wearing black pants and one with a backpack, said the merchant, Samsia, who uses a single name. Soon after that the explosion happened.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo visited the scenes of the attacks and described them as cowardly actions that were very barbaric and beyond the limit of humanity.

In Jakarta, Indonesias capital, the Indonesian Church Association condemned the attacks.

We are angry, said Gormar Gultom, an official with the association, who urged people to let the police investigation take its course.

President Joko Widodo visited the scene (AP)

Indonesias two largest Muslim organisations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, also condemned the attacks.

Separately, national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto said police fatally shot four suspected militants and arrested two others early on Sunday in West Java towns. It was not clear whether the shootings were connected to the church attacks.

They have trained in order to attack police, Mr Wasisto said, identifying the militants as members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Islamic State group-affiliated network of about two dozen extremist groups that has been implicated in a number of attacks in Indonesia over the past year.

Jakarta police placed the capital and surrounding areas on high alert, while the transportation ministry warned airports to be on guard.

The church attacks came days after police ended a hostage-taking ordeal by imprisoned Islamic militants at a detention centre near Jakarta in which six officers and three inmates died. IS claimed responsibility.

Indonesia has carried out a sustained crackdown on militants since bombings by al Qaida-affiliated radicals in Bali in 2002 killed 202 people. In recent years, the country has faced a new threat as the rise of IS in the Middle East invigorated local militant networks.

Christians, many of whom are from the ethnic Chinese minority, make up about 9% of Indonesias 260 million people.
Hat-trick hero Jamie Maclarens stoppage-time equaliser denied Rangers a famous comeback triumph in a breathless 5-5 draw at Easter Road.

Gers looked like they were set to be blown away as Florian Kamberi, Scott Allan and Maclaren put Hibs 3-0 up after a 22-minute blitz.

That left the hosts needing just three more goals to steal third place from the Ibrox men on a final day packed with drama.

Rangers Jordan Rossiter (centre) scores his sides second goal at Easter Road (Ian Rutherford/PA)

But the Light Blues mounted a stunning fightback with strikes from James Tavernier, Jordan Rossiter, Bruno Alves and Jason Holt and Josh Windass.

However, another Maclaren goal sent Gers nerves jangling and with Jimmy Nicholls men down to 10 after seeing Holt sent-off late on, Hibs on-loan Darmstadt frontman prodded home at the death to the relief of the Hibs faithful.

Gers had to better Aberdeens result at Celtic Park to claim second spot but it is the Dons who finish runners-up after a 1-0 win in Glasgow.

Neil Lennon was back in the Hibs dug-out after his midweek threat to quit  and he looked far happier at full-time after racing on to the pitch to celebrate Maclarens incredible leveller.

It took just nine minutes for the fireworks to spark as referee Andrew Dallas spotted David Bates off-the-ball tug on Maclaren inside the box.

Kamberi lashed the spot-kick home to give the hosts the perfect start.

Things got even better 10 minutes later as Lewis Stevensons deep cross found Slivka, who nodded down for the on-rushing Allan to bundle home.

And Stevenson turned provider again on 22 minutes as the hosts incredibly found themselves 3-0 up.

Russell Martin has three inches on Maclaren but was caught flat-footed as the Australian leapt to glance home.

But the Ibrox men finally got their act together and hit back two minutes later. Tavernier drove down the inside-right channel before spotting Holt on the overlap.

The Gers skipper followed his team-mate into the box before tucking home Holts cut back.

Rangers forgotten man Rossiter  making his first start since August  then slotted home after Jamie Murphy picked out his run in behind Stevenson as the visitors started to believe in themselves.

And they squared it up four minutes before the break as Rangers completed a remarkable recovery when Alves  thrown on for Goss as Nicholl switched to three at the back  swept home a stunning free-kick after Efe Amrbose illegally halted a Murphy charge.

But the thrills and spills did not let up after the break.

Allan jumped out of the way as Tavernier slid in and that allowed the Light Blues skipper to release Jason Cummings in behind. Ambrose did well to hold up the former Leith hitman but Murphy had the vision to find Holt in space as the ex-Hearts man swept home Gers fourth.

Substitute Windass put Gers two in front on 68 minutes as a Holt shot broke off his hip and wrong-footed Ofir Marciano.

But Maclaren fired fresh life into Hibs cause two minutes later as he pulled one back after being slotted in by Slivka.

Holt got his marching orders five minutes from time after picking up a second yellow and with a man advantage, Hibs made it count as Maclaren bundled home after fine work by Kambari.
Mohamed Salah rounded off an extraordinary Premier League season with his 32nd goal, a record for a 38-game sesaon.

Here, Press Association Sport looks at the statistical landmarks set by Salah this season.

Premier League records

Salah beat the previous record of 31 goals in a 38-game Premier League season shared by Luis Suarez in 2013-14, Cristiano Ronaldo in 2007-08 and Alan Shearer in 1995-96. The outright Premier League record is 34, set by Andy Cole and Shearer in 42-game seasons in 1993-94 and 1994-95 respectively.

Salah is the first African player to score 30 goals in a Premier League season.

With Tottenhams Harry Kane also reaching 30, the feat has now been achieved 11 times in all by eight players  including Shearer three times.

Salah is the first person to be named the Premier Leagues player of the month three times in one season, scooping the prize in November, February and March.

He has scored in 24 separate Premier League games this season, also a record.

With 10 assists as well, Salah is only the fifth player with 40 or more goals and assists combined in a Premier League season. Cole and Shearer managed 47 in their 34-goal seasons, Thierry Henrys 44 for Arsenal in 2002-03 is the record for a 38-game campaign and Suarez had 43 in 2013-14.

Liverpool records

Salah has 44 goals in all competitions for the Reds, the most in a debut season for the club  comfortably beating the mark of 33 set by Fernando Torres in 2007-08.

(PA Graphic)

He would need a hat-trick in the Champions League final against Real Madrid to match Ian Rushs all-time record of 47 in a Liverpool season, set in 1983-84.

His 32 league goals have seen him edge out Suarez for the most in a Premier League season for Liverpool.

Salah and team-mate Roberto Firmino are the first Liverpool players to hit double figures in a Champions League campaign  they have 10 apiece in the competition proper this term and each added one in the play-off second leg against Hoffenheim.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has arrived in the UK for a three day visit that has attracted controversy.

Mr Erdogan will have meetings with the Queen and Prime Minister Theresa May during his trip.

However, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable condemned the visit as he accused the Turkish leader of having an unacceptable disregard for liberal, democratic values.

Sir Vince said: Mays administration appears to have substituted diplomacy for sycophancy in its pursuit of Brexit.

By permitting a state visit and audience with the Queen, May and Johnson are essentially rolling out the red carpet for a man with a disregard for human rights, who is responsible for alarming oppression and violence.

Theresa May and Recep Tayyip Erdogan are set to discuss international issues such as the situation in Cyprus (Andrew Parsons / i-Images/PA)

Ahead of the trip Mr Erdogan said the UK was a strategic partner and ally and he wanted to improve trade relations between the two countries.

Mr Erdogan said: We want to continue our economic relations as the governments of Turkey and the United Kingdom without interruptions after Brexit.

Mrs May and the Turkish president are set to discuss international issues such as the situation in Cyprus where the two nations act as guarantors.

The Turkish leader will also meet business investors during the visit and speak at the Chatham House think tank.
In the upcoming exhibition by Qarm Qart, the artist's work will provide a profound and unique reading into Naguib Mahfouz's renowned Cairo Trilogy

Mashrabia Gallery will host an exhibition by artist Qarm Qart titled QARBOUSH: Echoes of Naguib Mahfouz.

The artist takes the iconic Cairo Trilogy novels of Naguib Mahfouz as a starting point, and as a lens through which he views contemporary Egypt.

The Tarboush - a brimless hat worn in Egypt and Muslim countries until the early 20th century - is at the heart of this vision, bridging past and present.

Now a historical relic weighted with symbolism of status and gender privileges, the tarboush serves as the artists canvas on which he stitches images from Mahfouz Palace Walk (Bayn Al-Qasrain), Palace of Desire (Qasr Al-Shawq), and Sugar Street (Al-Sukkariyya).

Qarm Qart (Carmine Cartolano) is an Italian artist, writer and translator based in Egypt since 1999.

In Egypt he has been showing his work in solo and group shows since 2007, several times at Mashrabiya, as well as at Townhouse and the Alexandria Center of Arts among others. His latest was joining From Rags to Riches 2, part of Women by the sea Arts Festival that was held in Gouna.

Internationally he exhibited in Italy, Bahrain and France, and London where he joined the group exhibition titled Oui, Slips, part of Pop Art from North Africa at P21 Gallery in 2017.

Programme:

The exhibition opens on 20 May at 9pm

It continues until 14 June

Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art, 8 Champollion Street, Downtown Cairo

Open during Ramadan every day from Saturday to Thursday from 11 am to 3 pm, and from 8pm to 11pm, except Fridays

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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Tens of thousands of Israelis have been marching in celebrations to mark Jerusalem Day on the eve of the US relocating its embassy to the contested city.

Police said over 30,000 people took part in Sundays festivities, as revellers waved Israeli flags, singing and dancing through the citys streets.

A small group of Israelis protested against the march.

Israeli youths wave national flags outside the Old Citys Damascus Gate, in Jerusalem (Ariel Schalit/AP)

As Israel marks Jerusalem Day, the 51st anniversary of what it refers to as the citys unification following the 1967 Middle East war, it will also host a gala reception for Mondays embassy dedication.

This will include members of a delegation led by Mr Trumps daughter Ivanka, his senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and secretary of treasury Steven Mnuchin.

Dozens of foreign diplomats are expected, though many ambassadors of European nations who oppose the move will avoid it. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania have reportedly blocked a joint EU statement on the issue.

Jerusalem Day commemorates Israels capture of the eastern sector of the city from Jordan in the 1967 war.

The fate of Jerusalem is a deeply emotional issue at the heart of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The Old City in east Jerusalem is home to key holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Nationalist Israelis view the day as a holiday marking the unification of the city under Israeli control.

However, Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Thank you President Trump for keeping your promise to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move your embasssy here.  https://t.co/eL5ETqYo4R  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 12, 2018

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the Middle East peace process is most decidedly not dead even as the Trump administration plans to open the new American embassy in Jerusalem  a move that has angered Palestinians and raised anti-US sentiment in the region.

Mr Pompeo said the US still hopes to be able to achieve a successful outcome to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He is also addressing the issue of security, saying the US has taken steps to ensure that not only are governmental interests but the American people in that region are secure as well, and were comfortable weve taken action that reduces that risk.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognised internationally. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and view the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as a blatantly one-sided move that invalidates the US as a peace broker.

Mr Trumps decision in December to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital ignited months of protests in the Palestinian territories. The weekly protests along the Israel-Gaza border are expected to culminate on Monday in parallel to the celebrations in Jerusalem.

Palestinians protest at the Gaza Strips border with Israel (Adel Hana/AP)

Since March 30, 42 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the weekly protests aimed primarily against the decade-long blockade of Gaza. More than 1,800 have been wounded.

Gazas Hamas rulers have led the protests, which are set to peak this week with the 70th anniversary of what the Palestinians call the nakba, or catastrophe, referring to their mass uprooting during the war over Israels 1948 creation.

Organisers have indicated they may try to breach the border with Israel.

Israel says it has a right to defend its border and has accused Hamas of using the protests as a cover for attacking it. On Saturday, it destroyed the sixth Hamas attack tunnel it has uncovered in as many months. Rights groups say the use of potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters is unlawful.

The bridge leading to the US Embassy compound in Jerusalem (Ariel Schalit/AP)

Most countries have traditionally kept their embassies in coastal Tel Aviv rather than Jerusalem. But after Mr Trumps move both Guatemala and Paraguay announced that they planned to follow suit.
The Salisbury nerve agent attack was a deliberate and targeted act, the head of MI5 will declare on Monday.

In his first public comments since the poisoning in March, Andrew Parker will accuse the Kremlin of flagrant breaches of international rules and warn that the Russian government is pursuing an agenda through aggressive and pernicious actions by its military and intelligence services.

The director general of the Security Service will also highlight the persistent danger from terrorism, revealing that 12 plots have been foiled by UK authorities in just over a year.

Director general of MI5 Andrew Parker (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Giving the first public speech outside the UK by a serving head of MI5, Mr Parker will join the international chorus of condemnation levelled at Moscow in the wake of Salisbury.

He will describe the attempted assassination of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, which saw the first use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War, as a deliberate and targeted malign activity which risks Russia becoming a more isolated pariah.

He will also condemn the unprecedented level of disinformation following the attack and set out the need to shine a light through the fog of lies, half-truths and obfuscation that pours out of their propaganda machine.

The attack on former double agent Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, sparked a massive chemical alert.

A huge investigation to identify the would-be assassin or assassins is ongoing.

Screens erected outside the London Road cemetery in Salisbury where Sergei Skripals wife and son were laid to rest (PA)

The British Government has pointed the finger at Russia, but Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility.

Mr Skripal remains in hospital, while his daughter was released to a secure location last month.

Addressing an audience of security chiefs in Berlin, Mr Parker will praise the international response to Salisbury, in which 28 European countries agreed to support the UK in expelling scores of Russian diplomats.

Police cordons at the Maltings shopping centre, Salisbury as preparations began to rid nine hot spots of toxic after-effects (Andrew Matthews/PA)

He will stress that European intelligence partnerships have never been more crucial to combat the intense and unrelenting international terrorist threat in parallel with growing aggression from hostile activity by states.

Mr Parker is expected to warn that Daesh  also known as Islamic State  still aspires to direct devastating and more complex attacks despite territorial losses, in the wake of 45 attacks across Europe since 2016.

Thanking European security agencies for their support in the investigation following the Manchester bombing nearly a year ago, the intelligence chief will disclose that MI5 has thwarted 12 plots alongside police since the Westminster atrocity in March 2017.

This brings the total number of disrupted attacks since 2013 to 25.

Mr Parker will say that he is confident about our ability to tackle these threats, because of the strength and resilience of our democratic systems, the resilience of our societies and the values we share with our European partners.

The director general will say that European intelligence cooperation today is simply unrecognisable to what it looked like five years ago.

Mr Parker, who has a 35-year career in intelligence, will say: In todays uncertain world we need that shared strength more than ever.

He will single out a coalition of domestic security services known as the Counter Terrorism Group, saying it is the largest multinational counter-terrorism enterprise in the world where real-time intelligence sharing involves thousands of exchanges on advanced secure networks every week.
Israeli club Beitar Jerusalem have announced a change of the clubs name to Beitar Trump Jerusalem in honour of the courageous American president.

The move comes on the eve of the inauguration of the controversial new US embassy in the city, which has angered members of the Palestinian and Muslim communities.

In a statement on their official Facebook page, the club said: For 70 years Jerusalem has been awaiting international recognition, until President Donald Trump, in a courageous move, recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Israeli club Beitar Jerusalem have renamed themselves in honour of US president Donald Trump (Niall Carson/PA)

Six-times champions Beitar are backed by a vociferous band of right-wing supporters and are the only leading Israeli club never to have signed an Arab.

The signing of two Muslim players from Chechnya in 2013 caused uproar, and when one of them Zaur Sadayev, scored on his debut against Netanya, hundreds of Beitar ultras, known as La Familia, walked out.

Beitar are currently second in the Israeli Ligat Haal, seven points behind leaders Hapoel Beer Sheva.
Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadrs alliance is the early front-runner in Iraqs national elections, with official results in from just over half of the countrys provinces.

The announcement by Iraqs electoral commission comes a day after polls closed across Iraq. The results are from 10 of the countrys 19 provinces, including Baghdad and Basra.

Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, centre, leaves a polling station after casting his ballot (AP)

An alliance of candidates with close ties to Iraqs powerful Shiite paramilitary groups are in a close second while Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has performed poorly across majority Shiite provinces that should have been his base of support.

The election was marked by record low turnout. It was the first since Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State group and the fourth since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
By Rozanna Latiff and Tom Westbrook

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad barred his predecessor, Najib Razak, from going overseas on Saturday, saying there was enough evidence to investigate his links to a multi-billion-dollar scandal.

Immigration authorities issued a travel ban on Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor just minutes after the ousted prime minister said they were leaving on a weeklong trip overseas to rest after his thumping electoral defeat.

"It is true that I prevented Najib from leaving the country," Mahathir said at a news conference, adding that doing so had averted extradition problems later.

"There is sufficient evidence that an investigation into certain things ... done by the former prime minister has to be done and, if necessary, the rule of law will apply," he said.

During a day of fast-moving events, Mahathir also named his first few cabinet ministers, including Lim Guan Eng, a former banker and qualified chartered accountant, as finance minister. Lim is the chief minister of Penang state, but is largely unknown in international financial circles.

It is also only the second time since Malaysia became independent six decades ago that the post has gone to a member of the ethnic Chinese minority.

Mahathir also named a defence minister and a home or interior minister, but said other appointments would be made later. Mahathir and Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the wife of his jailed ally Anwar Ibrahim, make up the rest of the cabinet.

Zeti Akhthar Aziz, who was internationally lauded during a 16-year stint as central bank governor, and billionaire tycoon Robert Kuok were among those named to a special team that will advise the government on economic and financial matters for the next 100 days.

Mahathir has been prime minister of the Muslim Malay-majority nation earlier, for 22 years, governing in a tough, pugnacious style.

He said the attorney general, who had cleared Najib of wrongdoing in the graft scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), had been sacked.

The attorney general, Apandi Ali, declined to comment.

As Najib came under increased pressure, the world seemed to be opening up for Anwar, who, from jail and a hospital bed, combined with Mahathir to hand out the defeat to the administration alliance.

Mahathir has said the king has indicated to him that a royal pardon for Anwar would be announced soon.

Anwar's daughter Nurul Izzah told Reuters her father was likely to be freed on Tuesday.

Late on Saturday, Mahathir met Anwar in his hospital room, where he is recovering from a shoulder operation. There was no word on what was discussed in the first meeting between the two since their alliance won the election.

NO HOLIDAY

After the ban on his travel was announced, Najib said in a Twitter message that he would respect the decision and would remain in the country.

Questions about his whereabouts were answered when he appeared at a meeting of his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) to announce that he was stepping down as the party's president and as chairman of the Barisan Nasional, the alliance dominated by UMNO that has ruled Malaysia for six decades.

Earlier, dozens of people - mostly journalists - gathered at an airport near Kuala Lumpur from where Najib and his wife were reported to be leaving for the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and tried to look into cars entering the complex.

"I'm here to catch the thief," said a man in the crowd, as riot police stood on guard. There was no sign that Najib or Rosmah had come to the airport.

Reports had widely circulated on social media and local media that the couple were named on the flight manifest of a private jet scheduled to depart for Jakarta at 10:00 a.m. (0200 GMT).

But police later said there was no flight due to leave the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport with Najib or his wife.

Najib lost the election at least partly because of popular disgust over the 1MDB scandal.

News broke in 2015 that about $700 million allegedly stolen from 1MDB had made its way into his personal bank accounts.

He denied any wrongdoing, even as U.S. authorities alleged that over $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund in a fraud orchestrated by a financier known to be close to Najib and his family.

U.S. Attorney-General Jeff Sessions called the 1MDB scandal "kleptocracy at its worst" and the fund is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries, including Switzerland, Singapore and the United States.

Filings by the U.S. Justice Department in a civil lawsuit indicated nearly $30 million of the money stolen was used to buy jewellery for Rosmah, including a rare 22-carat pink diamond set in a necklace. (Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan Additional reporting by A.Ananthalakshmi, Praveen Menon and Joseph Sipalan; Editing by John Chalmers)
KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 (Reuters) - Ousted Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Saturday that he had resigned as president of United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) party, and chairman of the Barisan Nasional alliance, with immediate effect.

"We all feel sad about what happened but as a party that upholds democratic principles, we accept the people's decision," he said, referring to the stunning defeat of the long-ruling alliance in Wednesday's general election.

Najib said his deputy Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also the former deputy prime minister, would take over as the new president of UMNO, the main component of the alliance.

Najib has been barred from leaving the country amid reports that the government was reopening investigations into a multi-billion-dollar graft scandal at a state fund he founded.

(Reporting by Joseph Sipalan and Rozanna Latiff; writing by Praveen Menon; editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
KIRKUK, Iraq, May 12 (Reuters) - Three men were killed by a bomb attached to their car in a Sunni Arab region south of the oil city of Kirkuk on Saturday in an attack which security sources linked to Iraq's parliamentary election.

Two of the dead were voters and the third an observer in a voting station near the town of al-Khan, the sources said.

Islamic State earlier claimed responsibility for the attack. The militants had threatened attacks in the runup to the vote, the first held since they were defeated last year by Iraqi security forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition.

(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli)
BEIJING, May 13 (Reuters) - China on Sunday condemned fighting in Myanmar between Myanmar government troops and ethnic militants near the Chinese border , which had caused people to flee into Chinese territory.

Myanmar's military frequently clashes with several groups who say they are fighting for greater autonomy for ethnic minorities in the area, through which much of Myanmar's foreign trade flows.

The Myanmar government said on Saturday that ethnic insurgents in Myanmar killed 19 people, including four members of the security forces, in a major attack near the main border gate with China.

Fifteen civilians, including two women, were killed, and 20 were wounded, according to a government spokesman.

The Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), made up of fighters from the Ta'ang or Palaung ethnic group, said the group had attacked a casino run by militiamen and a Myanmar army post on the outskirts of border town Muse, a few hundred meters from a river that seperates Myanmar's northern Shan state and China's Yunnan province.

China's embassy in Myanmar said in a statement that the conflict had sent stray bullets into China, along with an unidentified number of people seeking refuge.

"China's embassy in Myanmar condemns this violent incident, and feels pained for the relevant innocent people who were harmed," the embassy said in a statement, adding that it had made "solemn representations" to Myanmar's government.

China called for all parties to "exercise restraint", implement a ceasefire, and prevent the situation from escalating, so as to restore peace to the China-Myanmar border region.

Violence on the Myanmar side of the border has in recent years sent thousands fleeing through the rugged mountain terrain into China, where the Chinese government at times has set up relief camps.

In 2017, Chinese authorities estimated a flare-up of violence to have sent more than 20,000 refugees across the border, and fighting in 2009 and 2015 displaced tens of thousands of people. Ordnance has occasionally strayed into China and killed people.

Such conflict has frayed ties between China and Myanmar, which Beijing has hoped could be a key gateway in its multi-pronged "One Belt One Road" strategy to promote regional economic links.

(Reporting by Michael Martina Editing by Eric Meijer)
President Premadasa leaving Rastrapati Bhavan after a lengthy press conference. It was packed to capacity with journalists of both the print and electronic media.2.10.1992

Ranasinghe Premadasa was the common mans President.

Many articles had been written and many had spoken about late President Ranasinghe Premadasa, on his 25th death anniversary, but the writer is the one who covered his entire Presidential campaign islandwide despite all obstacles, the JVP insurrection on one side and the IPKF on the other.

Late President Ranasinghe Premadasa was truly a common mans President. Never a day passed without his mentioning Magey Dugi Dupath Janathawa.

After he was sworn in as the President his first task was to find jobs for the unemployed youth.

Summoning big-time businessmen he asked them whether they could find a way to give employment to the poor youth. No response for over a minute, he then said: If you cant I will show you the way.

That was how the garment industry programme started.

He requested late Kumara Devapriya to give the start and built the first garment factory in Kurunegala. TriStar Garments of Kumar Devapriya became world famous. That was the start. The President wanted jobs to be given to boys and girls around the locality.

Thereafter, requests started to come from several companies to start garment factories. Mr Premadasa, known for punctuality and no-nonsense, opened the BOI as a one-stop-shop, where an investor could get all paperwork and ready answers to their questions.

No postponement of any sort was entertained. No investor complained of any red tape or lethargy at the BOI.

That was how the 200 garment factories came into being. Not only garments, several other items were made in Sri Lanka. Made in Sri Lanka was found in every shopping mall in Europe. Marks and Spencer shirts sold in the UK were made in Sri Lanka.

"Late President Ranasinghe Premadasa was truly a common mans President. Never a day passes without his mentioning Magey Dugi Dupath Janathawa"



Journalists in New Delhi once asked the writer, while the latter was in the Sri Lanka Mission, how come Made in Sri Lanka shirts were found in many shopping malls in the UK?

Thanks to the garment industry projects at that time.

Today how many days does it take to get a job done in a Ministry?

President Ranasinghe Premadasa, when he was Prime Minister visited a remote area for an event. There he saw a little girl in the crowd and inquired why she had not gone to school. The little one said

Sir, we have only one uniform. One day my sister goes to school wearing the uniform that day I stay at home, the next day I go to school and my sister stays at home.

That made him think over and when he became the President one of the first things he did was to issue free school uniforms to all school children Later on, at his rallies, he said he did not care whether the Colombo schools accepted the free uniforms. He said that he had given them mainly to the children of the poor and the down-trodden.

That is how the free school uniform concept came into being.

The other important programme of his was the Mobile Service Jangama Sevawa.

He was never in Colombo during the weekends. He was far out in the country holding the mobile service. He took the entire Government machinery with him to the remotest of villages to get the problems of the poor sorted out.

He did not want the poor people to come to Colombo to get their birth certificates, and identity cards.

He told the officials before leaving on mobile service to be prepared to rough-out for two days.

The mobile service was an instant hit with the poor people.

They knew their President was physically present and their grievances could be sorted out. No official would tell a poor man to come another day.

Mr L.S. Palansuriya, the present Chairman of the NHDA was one of those who had been with President at all these mobile services and would vouch to more than what is written.

"Sir, we have only one uniform. One day my sister goes to school wearing the uniform that day I stay at home, the next day I go to school and my sister stays at home. "

The writer greeting the newly elected President Ranasinghe at Sucharitha.



A few instances covering his campaign might be of some interest.

President Premadasa addressed meetings islandwide despite many obstacles faced not only by him but also the media crew that covered his meetings.

The then JVP threat on the people not to attend his rallies was a major problem. It so happened at the Rathgama meeting those on stage were Mr Premadasa, Gamini Dissanayake, Lalith Athulathmudali, Ranjan Wijeratne. Mr Sirisena Cooray was seated on a chair by the roadside when the van that the media crew went there was not a single person at the grounds, Mr Premadasa spoke for nearly 45 minutes.

He said:

Magey dugi dupath janawata, though not in the ground, will be listening from their homes keeping the doors and windows open.

He said thanks to the JVP for their threat, otherwise, these poor people would be standing in the hot sun.

He found a solution for the unprotected railway crossings. He wanted the Ceylon Government Railway CGR to employ someone close to the unprotected railway crossings on an eight-hour shift.

Tell them to have bamboos on either side of the crossings. Later on, those manning the level crossings painted the bamboos to make them colourful and visible. Now they are no more and one hears more deaths at such level crossings.

A lot could be written about what happened during his campaign.

"That was how the 200 garment factory came into being. Not only garments, several other items were made in Sri Lanka. Made in Sri Lanka was found in every shopping mall in Europe. Marks and Spencer shirts sold in the UK were made in Sri Lanka"



Before concluding I shall relate something that happened when President Ranasinghe Premadasa visited New Delhi.

He paid a visit to pay homage at the Mahatma Gandhi Samadhi. Whilst he was there Mr Ranga the Indian Express professional cartoonist as was his practice he used to draw a cartoon of any Head of State who visited the Samadhi and get their autograph.

Now little did Ranga realise that President Ranasinghe Premadasa was himself an artist. Ranga drew the cartoon of the President and showed him.

The President, in turn, asked Ranga for a piece of paper and his pen and drew Ranga and gave it to him with his autograph.

The following day on page one of the Indian Express they carried Rangas cartoon of the President and the Presidents cartoon of Ranga and titled Ranga meets with his Waterloo.

Incidentally, my friend and former colleague Late Lasantha Wickrematungas then at the Island newspaper covered Mrs Srimavo Bandaranikes Presidential election campaign, while the writer covered the campaign of Late President Ranasinghe Premadasa.
In what can only be described as sheer arrogance, on Tuesday May 9, US President Donald Trump announced he was unilaterally withdrawing the US from the international treaty commonly known as the Iran Nuclear Agreement or the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA), and reimposing sanctions on Iran.

Further humiliating his European co-signatories and partners who warned against such a decision, the US president threatened sanctions against those who would continue to do business with Iran. Rubbing salt to the wound, and in a show of total contempt for Europes right to formulating its own foreign policy, newly-appointed US Ambassador to Germany warned business leaders that they needed to withdraw investments in and with Iran, or face US sanctions!

Trump was putting his European partners on notice -their future role within US-led alliances would be that of hewers of wood and drawers of water to their US masters! Using all manner of lies, deception and distortion the US President attempted to paint a picture of why the Europeans needed to follow the US lead in ramping up sanctions against Iran. Using Israeli fake news and outdated documents, Trump attempted to coerce the European nations to follow his lead making out that Iran had reneged on keeping up its end of the nuclear deal. This despite US intelligence sources and the UN nuclear watchdog -the IAEA- vouching that Iran had in fact kept its commitments.



The US was, through its President signalling a shift back to diplomatic practices of the colonial era -gunboat diplomacy- where the diktat of powerful nations were enforced through armed coercion. In todays context economic might/sanctions. But then, US allies in Europe should not be totally surprised by these events. Even prior to his election to the office of the US presidency, candidate Trump had shown his disdain of Americas allies.

Under the glare of international media he bluntly accused Americas European allies of not paying NATO bills and implied the US would pull out of the alliance (Atlantic Council Dec 12, 2017), conveniently forgetting the agreement was fathered by the US itself-playing on age-old western European fears of the Russian Bear and its political system - Communism/Marxism - as the eternal enemy of western democracy.

He accused Europe business leaders of cheating the American people. Though some members of NATO did protest, the US president never withdrew his charges, nor did he apologize for his warped interpretations regarding defence treaties and outright untruths regarding business agreements. The weak-kneed reaction of US NATO partners to President Trumps blatant lies and falsehoods ultimately led Trump into believing he could trample underfoot European...



In Asia, today we seem to be witnessing a similar drama. Trump is attempting to set Asian countries one-against the other rousing China-phobia in an attempt to draw the Asian countries into the US fold, using disputes in the South China Sea to gain a foothold. Japans present political leadership has forgotten that it is the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack - not from China - but by America itself. And let us not forget the US has not apologized for that crime.

The countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos et al, who are now being wooed by the US have all been subject to chemical weapon attacks and bombing of civillian targets by the US. What for us in South Asia is the saddest spectacle is to watch India - which once gave leadership to the Non-Aligned nations - seemingly physically and metaphorically embrace US designs in the Asia region. A case in point is the US-India joint naval and other exercises.

We should understand the US will continue any agreement, only as long as its interests are served. As much as the US is now pulling out of a devastated Afghanistan, abandoned its protege Ngo Dinh Diem in Vietnam, and as it threatens its European allies over Iran today, India too could fall into the same US web of subjugation as other US allies.
The find includes a document that dates back to the 16th century

Officials of the Antiquities Unit of the Customs Departement at Cairo International Airport on Sunday foiled an attempt to smuggle a collection of old manuscripts and documents that date back several centuries out of Egypt.

Hamdy Hammam, head of the Central Administration of Seized Antiquities Unit told Ahram Online that the manuscripts were contained in three books, while ten other documents were packed in seven separate parcels on their way to an Arab country.

According to Ali Ramadan, director of the Archaeological Unit at the airport's cargo village, one book is entitled Summary of the Speeches of the Princes of the Holy House.

The 277-page text is imprinted with red and black ink and bears several dates from 948-1299 Hijri (1541/2-1881/2 CE).

The second book includes of 20 pages and is dated 28 Jumada II 1334 Hijri (1915/6 CE). The third has 56 pages and bears the date 1265 Hijri (1848/9 CE).

The ten documents belong to the Egyptian Survey Authority and are dated from 1239 to 1251 Hijri (1823/4 - 1835/6 CE).

An archaeological committee from the Ministry of Antiquities has inspected and verified the authenticity of the items.

The documents and manuscripts were confiscated according to Antiquities Protection Law, No. 117 of 1983 and its amendments, and will be held until the investigation's conclusion.

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The first outreach meeting of the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) was held in Mannar on Saturday and many people had engaged in the meeting despite scepticism, OMP Chairman Saliya Pieris PC said today.

The OMP Chairman said the meeting which was attended by about 250 people was held at the Mannar District Secretariat convened by the District Secretary.

All seven Commissioners of the OMP attended the meeting. The idea of the meeting was to share our plans with the family members of the disappeared and also to listen to their stories and ideas. Many of the families are sceptical whether the OMP can give them the answers and many of them probably expect quick results. unfortunately, the process of tracing the disappeared is a complicated process. However, it is encouraging to note that people participated in the meeting although many were sceptical. We told the people our plans. We are forming our 12 regional offices, eight in the North and East and four in the rest of the country, he told the Daily Mirror.

He said the families expressed concerns that they had gone after so many commissions and institutions. There were a lot of scepticism but we invited and told them that, despite their scepticism, to engage with the OMP and think of the OMP as one avenue that can be used to trace the missing and the disappeared, he said.

Elaborating more about the meeting, he said it was based more on sharing of ideas as an outreach meeting than an investigation.

This is the first of many OMP meeting to be held to reach out to the family members of the disappeared. What was noteworthy at the meeting was that there were so many stories to be shared, their versions of the stories and how their loved ones disappeared. What was admirable is the tenacity which they have pursued. One lady's son has disappeared in 1989. We saw the courage and tenacity of the people who came there, he said.

Mr. Pieris said the fact that the people were willing to participate despite their doubts were positive. We clarified their concerns and asked them to report to us if they feel threatened by participating in the meetings, as some people raised concerns to that effect, he said. The next OMP outreach meeting would be held in Matara on Saturday (19). (Lahiru Pothmulla)
Afghanistan loses its best-known photojournalist

Last weeks suicide bomb attack in Kabul dealt a huge blow to the countrys media sector, killing 12 journalists including Afghanistans best-known photojournalist, AFPs Shah Marai.

Though little known outside the country, Afghanistan has a brave press corps running the gauntlet of suicide attacks by the Taleban and ISIS in Kabul and all over Government-controlled territory on a daily basis. Shah Marai was one of the bravest.

Shah Marai, 41, never left the country though his blind eldest son constantly urged him to do so.

The slain photojournalist comes from a family genetically pre-disposed to blindness. A father of six, he supported a large family including three blind brothers and two blind children. His only daughter Khadija, was born only two weeks before his death.

"Afghanistans best-known photojournalist Shah Marai killed in a suicide attack" "Shah Marai, 41, never left the country"



Shah Marai started life as a driver for AFP and learnt photography gradually. His bravery became evident when he began working for AFP as a photographer under Taleban rule in 1998. All foreigners were expelled from Kabul in 2000, and the bureau, with Shah Marai as its sole representative, operated discreetly from a house.

He wore traditional clothes when going out and took pictures with a small camera hidden in a scarf. It was dangerous work because the Taleban forbade taking pictures of all living beings, including animals.

One day, as he was photographing people lining up to buy bread, the Taleban questioned him.

"Among those killed alongside was a cameraman, who recently sold his bicycle to buy medicine for his ailing mother... "



He told them he was taking pictures of the bread. Luckily for him, they had no way of checking in those pre-digital days. When news photos were sent out, he signed them as stringer.

Then a few happy years came along as the Taleban were driven out in 2007 and Kabul returned to normal life, with foreigners, including the press corps returning in large numbers.

But he began to despair after the Taleban returned to wage war in the provinces in 2004. In an essay titled When Hope is Gone which he wrote for the AFP correspondent blog in 2017, he said starkly:

There is no more hope. Life seems to be even more difficult than under the Taliban because of the insecurity. I dont dare to take my children for a walk. I have five and they spend their time cooped up inside the house. I have never felt life to have so little prospects and I dont see a way out. Its a time of anxiety.

"Ahmad Sardar, a friend and another AFP journalist, was gunned down with his wife and children inside a restaurant."



There is an incredible ruthlessness about the way the Taleban have targeted those deemed to be their enemies. Ahmad Sardar, a friend and another AFP journalist, was gunned down with his wife and children inside a restaurant. Only one of the children survived. Fifteen years after the American intervention, ordinary Afghans are without money, largely unemployed and live in terror of the Taleban.

But Shah Marai bravely persisted with the job. Among those killed alongside was a cameraman, who recently sold his bicycle to buy medicine for his ailing mother. He was engaged to be married.

A young female radio reporter who died was the sole wage earner for her family, and had just moved to a better-paying job so that she could take part-time university classes.
Two suspects were arrested by the Police Special Task Force (STF) for possessing 1kg of heroin at Karandai in Palei yesterday.

Police said STF personnel at the Rajagiriya camp conducted the raid following an intelligence information. The STF also seized a van along with the suspects.

The suspects aged 27 and 37 were identified as residents of Jaffna. They were later handed over to the Palei police to produced in the Kilinochchi Magistrate's Court.
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Latest News

NBE announces revised dates for Fellowship Entrance Test (FET), NEET SS 2021 The NEET SS 2021 and FET 2021 will be conducted on January 10, 2022, and the FET on January 11

Tripura government takes initiative to help girls to prepare for NDA exam A total 250 meritorious girl students of the state will receive scholarships to prepare for defence exam

Alert: Mumbai University invites applications for PhD admission Registration for PhD entrance test will close on October 26


By Breitbart , May 12, 2018





The announcement appeared on the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) website, and appeared to be a gesture of goodwill towards the international community, which has pressured North Korea for years to dismantle its illegal nuclear weapons program. The ceremony will occur less than a month before a planned in-person meeting between dictator Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump, scheduled for June 12.

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'US exit from Iran nuclear deal will damage transatlantic relations'

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has said that the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) damaged the transatlantic relations in the long-term perspective.

According to the Der Spiegel magazine report on Friday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that Washington's unilateral decision to leave the deal would have the long-term negative consequences for the EU-US ties.

"WE ARE READY TO TALK"

"The changes that are taking place in the United States have been affecting the transatlantic relations for a long time. We are ready to talk, hold negotiations, but also stand our ground if needed." Maas said. "We believe that it is important to keep the agreement, as it is the only deal, which formally deters Iran from implementing nuclear weapons program." he added.

Germany Prime Minister Angela Merkel had spoken of her regret following US President Donald Trump's decision to torpedo the Iran nuclear deal. I believe it is wrong to unilaterally tear up the agreement, which was agreed on and which was unanimously approved by the UN Security Council" Merkel had said while addressing an audience at a Catholic conference in Muenster.
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Will try and keep it as brief as possible, apologise in advance if it isnt!

After 3 quotes to ship my car from uk to paphos I decided to go with one well known company who was recommended on quite a few Facebook groups & from a friend. Explained to them that Im not a resident yet, am applying for residency but wont be living in cyprus permanently for a few years. No problem they said! Booked car on ship for 17/4, I asked when I should drop it off in Southampton and was just sent the port opening hours, not a clear answer should it be 1 day, 2 days or 5 days before this? a few other emails made me realise theyre dont answer questions very clearly. Ended up phoning the UK transport company, they were very helpful, asked me to drop it on the 16/4. That was all very straightforward. Started to look online for the vessel as I had the number, couldnt find it anywhere, manage to find a ship sailing from Southampton to Limassol, but it wasnt leaving until 22/4, spoke to the UK transport company again they told me ship mine was booked on to was cancelled! Didnt hear a thing from the Paphos company that I had paid, not impressed. One of their employees (Mr X) emailed day before my flight out to meet at the customs office, he didnt even know ship had been cancelled or when car was arriving, I knew more than he did. Car was meant to arrive on 1/5, arrived 5/5, which was a Saturday so customs is all closed, didnt get car until 9/5, with a flat battery, lights had been left on. Mr X said to see him after, went to their office on way back, walked into their offices which were completely empty, computers on desks, not a sole in sight, containers all downstairs, seriously I could have taken anything, phoned him and he said office was closed, for me to pop back next day 12 or 1. Popped back next day, he wasnt there again, told office staff that form I got said to pay duty by 23/5, office staff spoke to him on phone and he said hed meet me 12 at customs office. I told them I was going back to the uk on 14/4, dont worry they said we can extend it to 3 months. He didnt turn up at customs office at 12, on phone he said he was going to be there at 2, but not to worry as customs lady could sort it out with me. When I spoke with her basically as I was leaving cyprus my car had to go into a bonded warehouse or I would have to pay the duty, it was Friday afternoon, everything closed the weekend so totally stuck. Ive had to pay now for bonded warehouse - its a car showroom, hoping he doesnt sell it!

Cant find anyone else to help me sort it, Gwennys are really busy due to brexit, and Facebook groups have all the same companies who keep recommending themselves!

Finding it really frustrating, anyone offer any advice? I really dont want to continue with this company.
if someone who was born in el salvador but lives in the united states is using digital banks and electronic money institutions, does fatca still apply to this if its not considered conventional offshore banking? what if they were living in canada? does fatca, canada revenue agency, oecd, crs, tiea, aeoi, ect......... still get involved in this just like conventional offshore banking as far as taxation purposes go? i know that as far as offshore banks yes! but what about these new financial institutions that are no longer considered conventional offshore banking centers? can someone please tell me. thank you.
The Lucky Lanes bowling alley in Winnebago recently recognized three women who have bowled in the Strikette League for a combined total of over 140 years. That is a lot of bowling.

Those women are Marian Ziegler, Barb Schaible and Yvonne Hanks. The trio of bowling veterans were awarded with commemorative lifetime achievement bowling pins for their commitment and enthusiasm for competing at Lucky Lanes.

While Schaible and Hanks both celebrated over 50 years in the Strikette League, Ziegler celebrated over 40 years of participation in the Wednesday night bowling league.

This has not been the first time Lucky Lanes has honored three of their most loyal patrons. In 2000, Hanks was inducted into the Winnebago Area Womens Association Hall of Fame. Schaible and Ziegler earned similar recognition in 2001 and 2004 respectively.

In addition to their years of experience at Lucky Lanes, the three bowling enthusiasts, who have all been longtime Winnebago residents, have also competed at the Minnesota State Womens Bowling Tournament for a combined total of over 80 years.

As Ziegler explains, bowling with Schaible and Hanks, as well as the 21 other competitors in the Strikette League, provides a fun and competitive atmosphere.

Its challenging and we like the comradery. Its a good bunch of people. What cheaper fun can you have, Ziegler quips.

For all three women, the love of bowling has been passed down to the younger generations. Hanks granddaughter, CharLeigh Hellman, who lives in Florida, has taken an interest in bowling. Hanks explains the social atmosphere is what made the sport of bowling such a family affair.

The girls on all the teams were very compatible, and we were out just to have fun, Hanks says. It was girls night out and all the husbands would babysit, she chuckles.

Meanwhile, Schaible tells an antidote of a conversation with her 14 year-old granddaughter, Kylie Johnson, which centered around participating in the family tradition of bowling.

As it turned out, the conversation has motivated young Kylie to continue bowling for the past three years.

My dad Ralph bowled for so many years, so I told Kylie that when I retire, shell have to carry it on, Schaible says. So she walked over to (Lucky Lanes owner Bob Van Note) and said can I join your junior league? Ive got to learn how to bowl.'

This summer at Lucky Lanes, Schaibles daughter Rhonda, along with granddaughter Kylie, will all be bowling on the same team, representing three generations of bowlers from the same family. Schaibles husband, Chuck, is also a regular at Lucky Lanes.

As for Ziegler, all five of her children, three boys and two girls, all enjoy bowling. In fact, Zieglers oldest son, Chris Petersen, who lives in Mankato, has bowled a perfect score of 300 on nine occasions. Zieglers husband, Paul, also shares a deep passion for bowling

As far as technique is concerned, Hanks, Schaible and Ziegler all have their own specific bowling style. While Hanks primarily throws a straight ball from the middle of the lane, Schaible has had success lining up on the right side and throwing a ball which hooks back towards the middle.

Conversely, Ziegler is known as a backup bowler. In other words, she lines up to the left side of the lane and throws a right handed ball which hooks back towards the middle. She credits current Lucky Lanes owner Van Note, as well as previous owner Duane McVenus for helping her refine the unique strategy.

I used to throw to the right, Ziegler says. But the way my ball was going, Duane thought it was a good idea to move me over to the left, and Ive shot it from there ever since.

Despite their vast experience on the bowling lanes, none of the women have ever bowled a perfect score. While Hanks and Schaible have each bowled career high scores of 268, Ziegler has come the closest with a career high of 288. Of the group, Ziegler remains optimistic she will attain the elusive perfect score one day.

Were not as good as Bob, but our time is coming, Ziegler laughs.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's upcoming wedding has received the official seal of approval from Queen Elizabeth.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry

The 92-year-old royal has given her approval to the marriage in an Instrument of Consent, which is a hand-written document that will be given to the loved-up couple after they tie the knot.

The consent reads: "NOW KNOW YE that We have consented and do by these Presents signify Our Consent to the contracting of Matrimony between Our Most Dearly Beloved Grandson Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales, K.C.V.O., and Rachel Meghan Markle (sic)"

The Palace said: "The Instrument of Consent is drafted by the Crown Office and is, in the case of Prince Harry's marriage, hand-written and illuminated on vellum by one of a panel of scrivener artists retained by the Crown Office. Vellum is used only for important State documents."

In a statement, the Palace also explained some of the other imagery incorporated in the document.

It shared: "The design to the left of the text incorporates a red dragon, the heraldic symbol of Wales, together with the UK's floral emblems - the rose, thistle and shamrock. It also features Prince Harry's Label, including three tiny red escallops from the Spencer family Arms."

What's more, it was revealed that the "design to the right of the text also includes the rose, as this is also the national flower of the United States. To either side of the rose are two golden poppies - this being the state flower of California, where Ms. Markle was born. Between the flowers is the Welsh leek, together with Prince Harry's Label. Beneath the Label are olive branches, adopted from the Great Seal of the United States."

Prince Harry and Meghan, 36, will tie the knot at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 19.
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Home  Just In  Explosive found at Pokhara Airport, defused

Pokhara, May 13

A bomb disposal team of the Nepal Army disposed an explosive that was kept at the Pokhara Airport in Kaski district this afternoon.

The explosive was found at Gate Number One of the airport.

The improvised explosive devise was found some hours after Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa was there. He is in Pokhara to attend a provincial security meeting here.

According to Khadga Bahadur Khatri, spokesperson of Kaski District Police Office, search for the persons who planted the explosive is underway.

Life is back to normalcy in the district now though the discovery had created a terror earlier..
Kathmandu, May 13

Hyatt Regency Kathmandu recently appointed Rajesh Ramdas as General Manager, effective from May 2. He will take over responsibilities from Sinead OReilly Henell.

With over 20 years in the hospitality industry, Ramdas has worked across various functions within Rooms division. His most recent assignment was as General Manager with Hyatt Regency Ludhiana.

A hotel management graduate from Mangalore University, he commenced his career with The Leela group as a Management Trainee in 1995, during which he did an understudy in Housekeeping. He was promoted to Assistant Manager Reservations and then transferred to the Front Office as Lobby Manager.

He then joined the preopening team of Burj Al Arab, Dubai in 1999 as Guest Services Manager and subsequently moved into the Front Office Manager role. He started his career with Hyatt as Director of Rooms at Hyatt Regency Mumbai, where he further enhanced his career as Executive Assistant Manager before moving to Hyatt Regency Ludhiana.

In his new role at Hyatt Regency Kathmandu, he will be leading a team of dedicated associates taking care of 280 rooms, restaurants and the newly renovated event venues at the property.

He has already moved to Kathmandu along with his family. In addition to being a movie buff, he is an avid reader and the travel bug has taken him to many places.
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Home  Just In  Nepal PM briefs Parliament about Modi visit, says it was full of achievements

Kathmandu, May 13

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Sunday briefed the Federal Parliament about the state visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Nepal that concluded on Saturday.

Speaking at a meeting of the House of Representatives this morning, Oli said Nepals engagement in the Ramayan Circuit, laying the foundation stone for Arun III Hydropower Project among others were major achievements of the trip.

Meanwhile, Oli claimed the visit elevated the existing relationships between the two countries into a new height, adding the government did not forget its sovereignty and national interests while hosting the VIP guest.

Likewise, the two countries have agreed to make a fresh agreement about implementation of all pending projects of bilateral cooperation by Nepals Constitution Day in September, according to him. Multiple bilateral ministerial meetings will be held to ensure its effectiveness, Oli informed.

Likewise, the countries have agreed to form a task for of technicians to explore possibilities of developing railways and waterways.

The achievements have been reflected during talks held between two sides in the course of the visit, a joint comminique issued after the visit and a press meet he hosted with his guest, according to Oli.

Oli said the government wanted to improve the relationships between two countries in all respects though India had imposed a border blockade in 2015. He said the country should make efforts to get rid of problems and promote friendship and cooperation.

Concerns over Province 2 Chief Ministers statement

Meanwhile, during his address, Oli indirectly expressed his objection to a statement of Province 2 Chief Minister Lalbabu Raut as expressed in a public felicitation programme in Janakpur last Friday.

Raut had reportedly told Modi that they would continue the struggle for amendments to the constitution. But, Oli today clarified that the statement was against Nepal governments official policy.
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
New Jersey residents may have been exposed to measles after two people with the virus visited several places, including Newark Liberty International Airport, in recent weeks, the states health officials announced.

New Jersey Department of Health said a person with measles stopped in New Jersey on April 30 while on a tour bus traveling from Niagara Falls, New York to Washington, D.C. In the second unrelated incident, a resident in Bergen County contracted measles after coming in contact with an international traveler who had the contagious virus between late April and early May.

The two infected people passed through several places, including Towne Centre at Englewood apartments from April 24 to May 2, Renaissance Office Center in Englewood on April 30, Columbia Travel Center on April 30 and Newark airport on May 2, NJ.com reported.

MISSOURI PEDIATRICIAN SLAMS 'SELFISH' ANTI-VAXERS AFTER MEASLES FACEBOOK POST SPARKS DEBATE

Health officials urged anyone who hasnt received a measles vaccine to immediately do so. Anyone who may have been exposed to the virus who hasnt been vaccinated should seek medical attention.

People with measles could develop symptoms such as rash, high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. In some cases, serious complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis could develop.

Symptoms, however, usually takes a week to two weeks to appear.

The virus spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Measles can also spread four days before and after a rash appears on an infected person, according to the CDC.

Though the disease is highly contagious, officials said children who received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine twice are considered protected for life.
NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

When I was growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, organizations that expressed any views at all similar to those voiced by Communist groups were called Communist fronts. Anyone who believed in civil liberties and for that reason defended the rights of Communists to express their hateful ideology was labeled a Communist sympathizer, or a commie symp for short.

Decent people railed against this coerced, politically correct guilt by association, because it endangered freedom of speech, freedom of association, basic fairness and especially truth.

Today a similar tactic of defamatory character assassination against people with whom one disagrees  particularly conservatives  is being employed by elements of the left, including some in the mainstream media.

Consider the attack by Heidi Przybyla of NBC News against recently appointed National Security Adviser John Bolton and an organization whose board he chaired before his appointment, the Gatestone Institute.

The headline of the hit piece by Przybyla on the NBC News website is: John Bolton presided over anti-Muslim think tank. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

Przybyla inaccurately described Gatestone as an anti-Muslim think tank, presumably because it published some articles about Muslim no-go zones in parts of Europe.

The existence of certain areas in Europe that are unsafe for non-Muslims is widely debated as politically incorrect in the European media. But it is well established that visible Jews  wearing kippahs (also called yarmulkes) or other indicators of their religion  have been attacked. A few weeks ago, a non-Jew  apparently trying to discredit such rumors by wearing a kippah  was attacked on a Berlin street.

The fact that Russian trolls may have retweeted a handful of Gatestone articles means nothing, especially as Dan Abrams Law and Crime website independently confirmed 267 retweets by Russian trolls of MSNBCs Joy Reid.

Others have been attacked as well. Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a vocal supporter of mass migration, has commented on this troubling situation. According to the Daily Express, Merkel warned: There cannot be any no-go areas  where people are afraid to go, but such places are a reality.

For some Gatestone writers to have participated in this debate does not make Gatestone anti-Muslim. It makes them pertinent.

Even a cursory look at Gatestones website shows that its writers and scholars include numerous Muslims. These include the prominent journalists Amir Taheri and Khaled Abu Toameh; President of the American Islamic Forum M. Zuhdi Jasser; Salim Mansur; and Raheel Raza, among others.

Many of Gatestones articles are, in fact, pro-Muslim  advocating human rights and civil liberties for all Muslims, including Palestinians and Iranians.

Przybyla also claims that Gatestone is somehow in the pocket of Russia because NBC News found at least four instances of known Russian trolls directly retweeting from the Gatestone account.

The fact that Russian trolls may have retweeted a handful of Gatestone articles means nothing, especially as Dan Abrams Law and Crime website independently confirmed 267 retweets by Russian trolls of MSNBCs Joy Reid.

As the noted journalist Daniel Greenfield wrote: Four times vs. 267 times. If getting retweeted 4 times makes you a Russian spy, NBC must be the Kremlin.

Everything on the Internet is public information; anyone is free to read or tweet about it. It is impossible to put something on the Internet and make it invisible to Russian eyes and impossible for Russians to retweet.

If Przybylas accusations sound familiar to those of us who lived through the Thought Police of the McCarthy era in the 1950s, it is because they are so similar.

Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., made false and absurd claims  without convincing evidence  that large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies had infiltrated the U.S. government, Hollywood, universities and other institutions and had to be exposed. After sparking a wave of anti-Communist hysteria, McCarthy was finally discredited and censured by the Senate, but not before costing good men and women their jobs and reputations.

Blaming an organization for those who read or circulate its material is McCarthyesque defamation. Attributing to an organization all the views of those who are invited to debate controversial issues is McCarthyesque demonization.

Let John Bolton be judged by his own statements and actions, for which he needs no defense from me. But the media shouldnt indulge in the discredited tactics of guilt by association, distortion and outright deceit based on ideological or political differences. Joe McCarthy specialized in these smear tactics at the height of his influence  we dont need to return to those bad old days.

I am a frequent op-ed contributor to Gatestone and often speak at its events. I also proudly serve on its board. I find Gatestone to be refreshingly centrist.

Gatestone encourages dialogue between the center-left  represented by people such as former Democratic and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and myself  and people from the center-right, represented by speakers such as John Bolton and the eminent historian Victor Davis Hanson.

I am scheduled to speak at a Gatestone event with Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Based on her own personal experiences of female genital mutilation and forced marriage, she has expressed views about abuses committed by some Muslims against other Muslims in the name of Islam.

These discussions are always informative and serious. I disagree with some of what I hear and read at Gatestone events and in its publications, but that is true of every organization of which I am aware.

Przybyla wrenches out of context a few points of view that to her seem controversial. She then not only attributes them to the organization, but makes it appear as if these views are the only ones the organization represents.

The answer to deception and falsehoods has always been truth. I urge everyone who has read Przybylas misrepresentation to go to the Gatestone website and read a wide array of its extensively substantiated articles. Then everyone can judge for themselves.

Is Gatestone an anti-Muslim think tank? Or is it an open-minded institute that encourages diverse views on a wide range of pressing subjects? Look at its website and judge for yourself. Then you can answer Groucho Marxs famous rhetorical question: Who are you going to believe  me or your lying eyes?
NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

We are at a truly historic moment in Israel's history, one that is cause for great celebration. Not only has President Donald Trump chosen to withdraw from the disastrous Obama Iran nuclear deal, but we are on the eve of the momentous opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem  a move that recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and a move greatly appreciated by the people of Israel.

President Trump's pullout from the Iran deal, although expected, became a virtual certainty when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proved through Israel's intelligence agency Mossad that Iran had been lying to the world as it continued to enrich uranium and develop nuclear weapons. Iranian documents uncovered by that same intel agency are proof positive that Iran lied. Iran? Lie? Shock.

On Tuesday, the day of the withdrawal, bomb shelters opened up in the Golan Heights and the Israeli army was on high alert as Israel braced for imminent attack.

In Israel, as we proceeded from Haifa to the Golan Heights, there were no sirens. School buses and taxis continued to run. In Tiberias at night, we heard the undeniable sound of rockets. At breakfast, we found out that that indeed there had been an Iranian rocket offensive toward Israel from inside Syria. Israel responded with strategic precision, targeting Iranian munitions storage warehouses, logistics headquarters and intel systems within its proxy Syria. Israel does what Israel needs to do.

He not only sends a message to Iran but to Russia as well, that the U.S. is back as a dominant regional player after the Obama years. He recognizes the reality that everyone else in the west willingly blinds themselves to  and that is that Jerusalem is the one and only capital of Israel.

On Saturday, Iranians marched against the United States, protesting President Trump's decision to withdraw from their nuclear deal. Maybe they should consider protesting that the $150 billion Obama gave them in cash wasn't used to benefit them, but instead to support both Irans nuclear development as well as its military budget which has grown by almost 40 percent.

Obama's Iran deal destroyed 70 years of bipartisan U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. His delusional deal abandoned Israel and Egypt, the largest Arab country, and alienated the Sunni Muslims in the moderate Arab states, guaranteeing they would face a nuclear Iran.

Iran, the leading state sponsor of terror, exports dangerous missiles and supports terrorist proxies and militias like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Taliban. The idea that it seeks a peaceful nuclear energy program is absurd to anyone with even half a brain. And as Obama turned his back on the slaughter of Christians and ignored his own red line in the Syria sand, he allowed Russia through this vacuum to become a dominant regional player in the Middle East.

Donald Trump's withdrawal from that deal was the United States standing shoulder to shoulder with our ally Israel against the rest of the world. It sent a huge signal to Iran and Shia Muslims that we stood with the more moderate Sunnis. And although Great Britain and France had joined the United States earlier in taking out a Syrian weapons facility, they chose this time to stand with Iran against Israel and the United States.

Trump has reassured the world that his word is worth more than former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama, all of whom made the promise to move the American embassy to Jerusalem. His word is worth more than any treaty and stronger than any UN resolution. He promised and he delivered.

He not only sends a message to Iran but to Russia as well, that the U.S. is back as a dominant regional player after the Obama years. He recognizes the reality that everyone else in the west willingly blinds themselves to  and that is that Jerusalem is the one and only capital of Israel. Trump is simply putting his imprimatur on what has been history in the last 2500 years: that Jerusalem has only been the capital of one peoples country or kingdom, and that people is the Jews. And that country is and was Israel.

The empires that tried to destroy Israel and its capitol Jerusalem are long gone, yet the Jews still speak the same language and practice the same religion, which is the foundation of our own Judeo-Christian nation. Donald Trump sent Iranians who are the descendants of Persia a message to reflect on their own history, and that it was the king of Persia who, 1000 years before Mohammad was even born, said that Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish people's country.

There will be no Ottoman empires or Shia nations that will destroy Jerusalem any longer. Donald Trump recognized history. He, like King Cyrus before him, fulfilled the biblical prophecy of the gods worshipped by Jews, Christians and, yes, Muslims, that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish state and that the Jewish people deserve a righteous, free and sovereign Israel.
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A bill in the Minnesota Senate that would allow schools in the state to voluntarily display the national motto In God We Trust has state Democrats spiraling into fits of outrage, because God offends them.

By waging war on God, they are showing contempt for people of faith and disregard for the history of our country.

On the floor of the Minnesota Senate, Democratic Sen. Scott Dibble suggested using Allah in place of God  as in In Allah We Trust. Dibble wondered how the bills sponsor, Republican Sen. Dan Hall, would react, since the words God and Allah (an Arabic word) mean the same thing.

Heres a little history lesson for Dibble.

In God We Trust was recognized as our nations motto more than 200 years ago when Francis Scott Key penned it in The Star Spangled Banner as he watched the Battle of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. He wrote: And this be our motto  In God is our trust.

So this motto goes almost as far back as the founding of our country. Its very much ingrained in our heritage.

Note the humility of this statement. Key was saying that the United States  a very young country at war again with the nation from which it won its independence  defers its destiny to a higher power.

God is one of the most unifying and inclusive aspects of America. The term is used by many religions to reference the Supreme Being. Christians, Jews and Muslims all refer to the higher power they worship as God, with variants in different languages all having the identical meaning.

The Democratic Party has been completely hijacked by political correctness, which is one of the reasons Donald Trump was elected president. Voters saw the assault on their religious freedoms and the war on God and people of faith by the Democrats. Thats why the faith community has rallied behind this president so intently.

There is something very dangerous about having to attack people of faith or any expression of faith, and yet Democrats continue to travel down this road, abandoning a large portion of their voting base in the process.

Who can forget when God was literally booed at the Democratic National Convention in 2012? The Democrats removed recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital, and God from their party platform and then moved to add the references back in after concerns about losing Jewish voters and Christian independent voters. However, when they added the references back in a voice vote, the move was met with loud boos on the floor of the convention.

Its worth noting that Charlotte, North Carolina  where the 2012 Democratic National Convention was held  is the same city where we recently saw the funeral service for the Rev. Billy Graham, who spoke at President Bill Clintons first inauguration in 1993.

Its a sad commentary on the Democratic Party that it went from welcoming one of the most influential religious figures in America at the Clinton inaugural to booing God at its convention just 19 years later.

The more Democrats want to take God out of our daily lives, and our childrens lives, the more they expose themselves as extremists who want to take our country down a very destructive path. This is where they completely lose honest, hard-working, law-abiding people of faith.

Protesting the bill to allow display of the In God We Trust national motto, Democratic state Sen. John Marty said: The money in my wallet has to say 'In God We Trust.' I think that's offensive.

Marty could certainly make a donation to any number of good causes that wouldnt find his money offensive. Perhaps he should start with his local school. Teachers are underpaid and always forced to reach into their own wallets for classroom supplies, which add up quickly. Im sure they would welcome the generosity of the money that so offends the senator.

What many parents find offensive are politicians like Marty, whose salaries and office staff are paid for by the taxpayers. With the many problems plaguing our public schools  safety and security being the biggest  why are Democrats like Marty working overtime trying to keep God out of schools rather than focusing on keeping kids safe in schools?

Republican Sen. Hall said he sponsored the In God We Trust legislation to bring back respect, which has been lost.

Hall said: Weve lost a lot of respect for those things in life that we should be respecting. I only assume that if you take those things out of government, if you take the things that are respectful out, you're going to put in something different.

Thats exactly what has happened. The further weve moved away from God in our schools, the more hes been replaced by the extreme indoctrination of our kids with teaching and programs that completely undercut what families teach their children at home.

Nobody seems to care that parents are offended that many schools are no longer interested in partnering with them and instead are undermining them as the primary authority in the lives of their children.

Political correctness has infected schools to the point where priorities are out of whack. Our schools lack the security they desperately need, teachers are underpaid, and yet politicians ignore these real issues and, instead, pick fights with people of faith.

As the Democrats war on God wages on, the political consequences for them will only be secondary to what this will say about us as a nation.

Openly attacking God or people of faith is the only form of acceptable bigotry left in this country.

If God is our problem, what is the answer?
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On this Mothers Day, its hard to believe that 100 years ago most women in America  except in few states  didnt have the right to vote. We could bring children into the world, but we had no say in electing the officials who would have an impact on our childrens lives and on our own.

By denying our ability to participate in our nations democracy, the concerns of women were deemed less important than the concerns of men. Since we were powerless to vote anyone in or out of office, campaigns did not seek to be inclusive and appeal to and engage women.

But times have changed.

Thankfully, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in1920, finally gave us the right to vote. And today women account for more than 60 percent of our countrys registered voters. Now we need to use this power of the ballot, not ignore it.

Women are still badly under-represented in elected office. According to the Center for American Women and Politics, only 23 of the 100 U.S. senators and 84 of the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives are women. In statewide elective executive offices, women occupy only 70 of 312 available positions  including just six of the 50 governorships. And only 1,874 of the 7,383 seats in state legislatures are held by women.

Its estimated that so far more than 500 women have thrown their hats in the ring to run for federal, state and local offices in the current election cycle since last year.

These women  and the men and women supporting them  are delivering their message to voters every single day in states from Maine to California. The platform for Americans who want to ignite change and have their voices heard is bigger than ever. Its thrilling to see so many people engaged in the political process.

Running for office is a worthy undertaking. We need more women in leadership positions on city councils, in state legislatures and governorships, and in the halls of Congress.

But another way to speak out and make your voice heard is to check in at your local polling place and vote. And what many voters dont know is that they will have two opportunities to make their voices heard in this years midterm elections  in the primary and general elections.

Nearly 139 million Americans voted in the 2016 elections. Eighteen months ago, these men and women were impassioned and motivated to be a part of an historic election.

But even though voter turnout was at a high, less than 60 percent of eligible voters actually showed up at the voting booth. The numbers surrounding the primary elections were even lower, with 57.6 million Americans  about 28 percent  participating in the presidential primaries.

Six months from now, Americans will have another opportunity to choose the men and women who represent us in local positions, state capitols and in Washington. Historically, midterm elections have much lower turnout rates than elections in presidential years.

The 2014 midterm, primary and general elections hit a 72-year low, with only 36 percent of Americans voting in the general election. The state primaries, happening now through mid-September, had abysmally low turnout rates in 2014, with about 15 percent of those eligible voting in state primaries.

Too often, voters express a sense of choosing a lesser of two evils when voting in general elections. If youve had that feeling while standing in the voting booth, think about this: those candidates were probably chosen in races where less than half of your states voting population cast ballots.

These low turnout rates often contribute to the elevation of extreme candidates on both sides of the aisle, leading many general election voters to feel discouraged with the political process and their representatives. But it doesnt have to be this way.

Last fall, I joined a breakfast and bipartisan discussion in New York City about why women can and should run for office. It was just a few weeks before the U.S. Senate special election in Alabama, and the election was making national headlines.

The importance of primaries and sending strong, viable candidates to the general election was on the minds of everyone and a huge topic of discussion. Afterward, a few women in attendance said to me: You know, Ive never once voted in a primary. I had no idea it was so important.

Every election is important. Every opportunity to elevate your voice, your concerns and your beliefs is one that should be embraced.

This year, we will again have the opportunity to participate in a potentially historic series of primaries and elections around country. Will you join us?

If you dont know when your states primary election is, you can find out here. You can also register to vote here.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg took aim at Washington on Saturday, asserting that Americans are facing an epidemic of dishonesty that poses a greater threat to U.S. democracy than terrorism or communism.

During a commencement speech at Rice University in Texas, the 76-year-old billionaire criticized politicians for their extreme partisanship, claiming that it has led to an unprecedented tolerance for dishonesty in politics.

"The greatest threat to American democracy isn't communism, jihadism or any other external force or foreign power," he said. "It's our own willingness to tolerate dishonesty in service of party, and in pursuit of power."

Bloomberg referenced the 1990s, when Democrats staunchly defended then-President Bill Clinton against charges of misconduct and dishonesty, all while Republicans joined together to attack his ethics and personal morality. He said that just the reverse is happening in todays White House.

He also talked about climate change as another example of alternate realities created by politicians endless barrage of lies.

"If 99 percent of scientists whose research has been peer-reviewed reach the same general conclusion about a theory, then we ought to accept it as the best available information  even if it's not a 100 percent certainty," Bloomberg said.

How did we go from a president who could not tell a lie to politicians who cannot tell the truth?"

He added that a climate of tolerance for dishonest politicians has been made worse by a chorus of enablers who defend their every lie.

When we tolerate dishonesty, we get criminality. Sometimes, it's in the form of corruption. Sometimes, it's abuse of power. And sometimes, it's both, Bloomberg said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made clear Sunday that President Trumps decision to exit the Iran nuclear deal didnt target Europe, but he backed the presidents vow to keep European allies or companies from helping Iran pursue a nuclear weapon.

The withdrawal wasnt aimed at the Europeans, Pompeo told Fox News Sunday. But the sanctions that are in place are very clear.

Trump said last week that the United States is withdrawing from the 2015 international Iran nuclear deal and will re-impose sanctions on the rogue nation. And he said that he will consider economic sanctions of the highest level on any European company or country that helps in Irans nuclear quest.

Iran and the other five nations in the deal, brokered by the former Obama administration, remain in the agreement, in which Iran agrees to wind down its development of a nuclear weapon in exchange for the lifting of billions in economic sanctions.

Western allies in the deal -- including France and Britain -- urged Trump to remain in the deal and have suggested that such companies will continue to do business with Iran.

Pompeo said Sunday that he worked for days and weeks with European allies to salvage the Iran deal and that he will continue to try to seek a better one, amid concerns that Iran has not fulfilled its side if the bargain.

My mission from President Trump is to work to strike a deal that achieves the outcomes that protect America, he said.

Pompeo, the countrys top diplomat, said that arguments about Iran being more emboldened by Trumps withdrawal are ludicrous.

That's ludicrous to suggest Iran feels less constraint, he said. They fired missiles into where Americans travel each day, fired missiles into Israel. I would argue they felt they could act with immunity under the deal. Iran must explain how it continues its march across the Middle East.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns vow to destroy his countrys nuclear-testing site is a good first step toward a summit agreement between Kim and President Trump, but repeated that both sides will have to take unprecedented steps.

Kim understands this will have to be big and special, Pompeo told Fox News Sunday. I think Kim appreciates the fact this is going to have to be different. . . . If we can achieve an historic outcome, both sides have to come to play.

However, he suggested that a phased-in or action-by-action type of negotiation between the leaders, as Kim has suggested, has historically failed.

Weve seen this before, and its failed, Pompeo said.

Pompeo spoke after traveling last week to North Korea to negotiate with Kim on his final detail of the summit with Trump and to secure the release of three Americans imprisoned in the country.

Trump announced Thursday that the summit will be held June 12 in Singapore.

The president will trying to get Kim to give up his nuclear arsenal in exchange for economic support.

Pompeo also suggested Sunday, in his first interview since returning from North Korea, that the United States seeks a long-term agreement with Kim, not a so-called regime change to replace him.

Our hope is that Kim wants a strategic change, and President Trump is prepared to help, the secretary said.

Pompeo also provided some specifics about how the U.S. might help North Korea, saying it would be through private-sector investment, not taxpayer money, and that it would focus on improving the countrys power grid and improve the Koreans food supply

Pompeo said last week that he told Kim while in Pyongyang that the United States aspires to have North Korea as a "close partner," not an enemy.

Pompeo, a Harvard Law graduate and former Kansas congressman, was Trumps CIA director until the president nominated him in March to be secretary of state. The Senate last month confirmed Pompeo to the post as the countrys top diplomat.

On Tuesday, Trump said the United States was withdrawing from the international Iran nuclear deal, brokered in 2015 by the Obama administration. The U.S. will now re-impose sanctions on Iran, which remains in the deal with five other nations.

Pompeo has said talks last week with Kim were "warm," ''constructive" and "good" and that he made clear that if North Korea gets rid of its nuclear weapons in a permanent and verifiable way, the U.S. is willing to help the impoverished nation boost its economy and living stands to levels like those in prosperous South Korea.

"If North Korea takes bold action to quickly denuclearize, the United States is prepared to work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on the par with our South Korean friends," he said.

Pompeo repeated that position Sunday.

Since Trump announced plans to hold a summit with Kim, questions have been raised continually about whether the two leaders have the same objective in mind when they speak about "denuclearization." To the U.S., that means the North giving up the nuclear weapons it has already built. But North Korea has said it's willing to talk now because it's already succeeded in becoming a nuclear-armed state, fueling skepticism that the North would truly be willing to give up those weapons.

Pompeo said there would need to be "complete" and "verifiable" denuclearization that would remove North Korea as a threat to the rest of the world. He said a major inspection and monitoring regime would be required to ensure the North's compliance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump sent a clear message to the U.S. Senate on Saturday that he wants spending legislation on his desk before the lawmakers take their August break.

He also blamed Democrats, saying they have held up many of his nominations for key positions and efforts to advance his agenda.

"The Senate should get funding done before the August break, or NOT GO HOME," the president wrote on Twitter. "Wall and Border Security should be included. Also waiting for approval of almost 300 nominations, worst in history. Democrats are doing everything possible to obstruct, all they know how to do. STAY!"

The president's push for speedy action on spending measures and nominations, followed a recent letter from a group of Senate Republicans, pressing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to cancel the August recess later this year.

That effort was led by Sen. David Perdue of Georgia.

This is a commitment to [McConnell] that we are willing to do whatever is necessary to get these confirmations accomplished and also to ensure that we debate the funding bills now in whatever manner they come, Perdue told reporters Tuesday.

In their letter, Senate Republicans urged McConnell to take a more assertive role in advancing spending deals and completing the necessary work on Trump nominees who are still awaiting confirmation in the Senate, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

We, and the American people, expect Congress to work tirelessly to restore American greatness.  Senate Republicans' letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

We stand ready to work Mondays and Fridays, nights as well as weekends, to ensure the funding process is not used to jam the president with a bad spending deal, the letter said. We, and the American people, expect Congress to work tirelessly to restore American greatness.

Perdue and the senators say spending more time on their pending work is particularly critical when Congress is facing what they called "historic obstruction" by Democrats.

According to Marc Short, the White House legislative affairs director, Trump has faced 89 Democratic-led filibuster votes during his presidency. By contrast, Short said, there were only 32 Senate filibusters of presidential nominees during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations combined.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A mushroom hunter's discovery of conjoined white-tailed fawns in a Minnesota forest two years ago is being hailed by researchers as a landmark case among oddities in nature.

The fawns, which were stillborn, are believed to have been the first recorded case of a conjoined two-headed deer to have reached full term and born by their mother, according to a study recently published in the science journal American Midland Naturalist.

"Its never been described before," Lou Cornicelli, co-author of the study and a wildlife research manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, told FOX9. "There are a few reported cases of two-headed ungulate fetuses, but nothing delivered to term. So, the uniqueness made it special."

In two other previous cases of conjoined white-tailed deer fawns, neither made it through the full pregnancy.

The discovery was made in May 2016, when a mushroom hunter came across the twins about a mile from the Mississippi River in Freeburg, Minn., located in the southeast portion of the state. The hunter contacted the Minnesota DNR, and the fawns were frozen until a necropsy could be conducted.

MYSTERIOUS SOUTH CAROLINA FISH WITH HUMANLIKE TEETH STUMPS THE INTERNET

Lab tests, including a CT scan and MRI, revealed the fawns had two separate had head-neck regions, which rejoined along the spine. The fawns had normal fur, heads, and legs, but internally had a shared liver, extra spleens, and gastrointestinal tracts, according to study co-author Gino DAngelo, a researcher at the University of Georgia.

Their anatomy indicates the fawns would never have been viable, DAngelo told UGA Today. Yet, they were found groomed and in a natural position, suggesting that the doe tried to care for them after delivery. The maternal instinct is very strong.

CHEETAHS CHASE TOURISTS AT DUTCH SAFARI PARK AFTER FAMILY GETS OUT OF CAR TO SNAP PICTURES

Conjoined twins are commonly found in domestic animals, especially cattle and sheep, but are rare in other wildlife, according to D'Angelo.

The conjoined fawns have since been mounted on a bed of greenery by Wild Images In Motion Taxidermy, and will now be positioned as it is just waking from a nap. The mount will eventually be moved to the Minnesota DNR headquarters in St. Paul and placed on public display, according to FOX9.

"We all thought it was pretty neat and were glad to be able to show it to the public," Cornicelli told FOX9. "The taxidermists, Robert Utne and Jessica Brooks, did a great job with the mount and treated it very respectfully."
On May 25, citizens of Ireland will vote on whether to repeal the 1983 constitutional amendment recognizing the equal right to life of the unborn and banning abortion in all cases except the health of the mother, including potential suicide.

The referendum in the predominantly Roman Catholic country will be among the first tests of new policies by Facebook and Google to address concerns about election meddling raised by the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

This month, Facebook announced it will block ads on the referendum that do not originate from advertisers in Ireland. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is vowing to have tighter restrictions on data that can influence politics.

A day after Facebooks announcement, Google said it would suspend all ads related to the referendum until after the vote.

Following our update around election integrity efforts globally, we have decided to pause all ads related to the Irish referendum on the Eighth Amendment, Google said in a statement.

Following our update around election integrity efforts globally, we have decided to pause all ads related to the Irish referendum on the Eighth Amendment.  Google statement

Ireland is one of the few developed Western nations to have strict anti-abortion laws.

Supporters of the repeal effort say the wording of the amendment does not allow lawmakers to grant exceptions in cases of rape or other circumstances. They argue that only by repealing this amendment can reasonable laws be made.

Pro-life groups say that if repealed, there will be no laws to protect the unborn at all.

One campaign slogan reads Love Both, promoting compassion for both mother and child.

Opponents of the repeal spoke out against the decisions by Facebook and Google.

A joint statement by three groups -- Save The 8th, Pro Life Campaign and the Iona Institute -- describes the tech companies' bans as an attempt to rig the referendum. They claim that the internet was the only platform available to the NO campaign to speak to voters directly, adding that is now being undermined.

James Mary McInerney, a friar at the Church of Visitation in north Dublin, said that as a Catholic it was his obligation to protect life.

We believe all life is sacred and comes from God and is a gift from God, he said.

He addressed his congregation by saying he was aware of Catholics who will vote "yes" to repeal the amendment, You cant do that and remain a Catholic.

On average, nine Irish women a day travel to the United Kingdom for abortion services, and four women a day smuggle abortion pills into the country. Current Irish law carries a sentence of up to 14 years in prison for terminating a pregnancy.

In Dublin, Irelands capital and largest city, posters for and against the referendum line every major thoroughfare. Lawmakers approved the repeal amendment in March and say if the referendum passes, they will push legislation for abortion up to 12 weeks.

Opponents are trying to gain support with headlines reading A License to Kill?

The latest polls give a slight advantage to the pro-choice, "Repeal the 8th" movement, and believe their success will depend on the youth turnout. The deadline for voter registration was May 8.

In Galway, a pro-choice registration booth was set up on the iconic Shop Street, in hopes of informing and registering progressive young voters.

In rural communities such as Doolin in County Clare, the pro-life anti-repeal sentiment holds a majority.

Some voters are opting to not vote at all. A 60-year-old taxi driver in Dublin, who said he is personally against abortion, plans to stay away from the vote. He said it was a womens issue, and women should be the ones voting.

All constitutional amendments in Ireland are subject to an open vote by the citizenry.

Ireland has a population of roughly 4.7 million people, with 78 percent considering themselves Catholic, according to the 2016 census.
The Latest on social media postings of survivors of mass shootings (all times local):

10 p.m.

Samantha Fuentes, a survivor of the attack that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, says her face "is finally shrapnel free!"

Fuentes tweeted a photo of her bruised face on Saturday, with a hospital bandage still stretching from her ear to her mouth, but her smile is wide.

She says that regardless of the fact she looks like she lost a fight, inside she's winning.

She says she wants to thank her supporters because she's been struggling hard to love her face again.

___

6:20 p.m.

The man who wrestled an AR-15 from a gunman attacking a Waffle House in Tennessee has met with students from the Parkland high school where 17 people were killed.

James Shaw Jr. and the teenagers met in Miami Saturday and shared photos of their encounter.

"I met one of my heros today," Shaw tweeted with his picture with Emma Gonzalez.

David Hogg tweeted his own selfie with Shaw, saying "lots of work ahead but young people will win."

Another image shows Shaw with 15 of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students.

The Parkland students have vowed to vowed to change gun laws to prevent future mass shootings. Shaw said it was a joy to see the fire and inspiration in their eyes.
The three Americans who were freed from detention in North Korea last week were reunited with their family days after being welcomed back to the states by President Trump and first lady Melania Trump, the Pentagon announced Sunday.

Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song and Tony Kim were released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after receiving physical examinations upon their return from North Korea early Thursday, Pentagon spokeswoman Maj. Carla Gleason said on Sunday.

The returnees have left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. All three were grateful, in good spirits and coping well, the statement read. The returnees have been reunited with their families. Their time together has been an incredibly joyous occasion.

Gleason said the three Americans asked for privacy as they return to their lives in the U.S.

Trump, the first lady and Vice President Pence met with the three Korean-Americans at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland moments after their plane landed. The plane arrived from Alaska, where it had stopped Wednesday after leaving North Korea. The former hostages, as Trump called them, left the Hermit Kingdom on Wednesday following talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

TRUMP GREETS AMERICAN DETAINEES FREED FROM NORTH KOREA

Trump had announced the three men's release on Twitter Wednesday and said they were in "good health." About a week before, he hinted that their return to the U.S. was imminent. The president later said it was a great honor to welcome the former detainees home, but said "the true honor is going to be if we have a victory in getting rid of nuclear weapons."

The three men said they thank Trump and the American people for bringing them home.

"We thank God, and all our families and friends who prayed for us and for our return. God Bless America, the greatest nation in the world," the three men said in a statement released by the State Department.

The three men were detained or sentenced in North Korea in the last couple of years. Kim Dong Chul was the longest-serving detainee among the three. He was sentenced in April 2016 to 10 years in prison with hard labor for allegedly "perpetrating state subversive plots and espionage against" North Korea. Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song were accused of engaging in hostile acts against the regime in separate incidents.

Their release comes ahead of the historic summit between Trump and North Korean Leader Kim set for June 12 in Singapore.

Fox News Lucas Tomlinson, Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Three Georgia police officers were released from the hospital Sunday after being sickened by chemical fumes while investigating a dead body in a motel room, officials said.

Officials were called to the United Inn & Suites in Decatur just after 4 p.m. Saturday about a dead body in a room on the third floor, FOX5 Atlanta reported. Three Dekalb County police officers entered the room and reported feeling dizzy and nauseous after coming in contact with the chemical that had killed a 48-year-old man in the room.

"Something in there made the officers sick," Fire Capt. Eric Jackson said on Saturday.

The FBI responded to the scene and identified Sunday the chemical found in the room as a mix of household cleaners.

Other than a combination of household cleaning solutions, no other harmful substances have been identified at this time, police told Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The officers were taken to the hospital and were said to be conscious and alert Saturday night.

Hotel guests near the contaminated room were evacuated shortly after the incident as a precaution.

"The police were telling us to leave," one guest told FOX5. "We've been out of our room for three hours... What was really the cause?"

HAZMAT crews arrived at the scene and took samples of the substance.

An autopsy will be conducted to determine the mans cause of death, which is not being treated as a homicide.

Police did not release his name as of Sunday, and its unclear if the man was exposed to the substance accidentally or on purpose.
A new report is questioning whether a culture of leniency at Broward County schools in Florida allowed Parkland school massacre suspect Nikolas Cruz to slip through the cracks.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that Cruz was suspended at least 67 days over less than a year and a half at Westglades Middle School; his infractions continued at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, until he finally was forced to leave.

Cruz, 19, is charged with 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder for the Valentines Day shooting. His lawyers repeatedly have said Cruz would plead guilty if guaranteed a sentence of life without parole, but prosecutors have sought the death penalty.

Broward County School Superintendent Robert Runcie didnt immediately return Fox News request for comment.

Florida school officials said last week that Cruz was referred during middle school to a mentoring program aimed at steering children away from the criminal justice system.

The school district last week clarified that Cruz was referred to the program while at middle school in 2013 but he didnt fully participate, and that he did not participate in the program at all while at Stoneman Douglas.

Runcie told the Sun Sentinel that Cruz had been referred to the program in 2013 for vandalizing a bathroom. Cruz did not complete the three-day stint, the district told the Sun Sentinel, but administrators havent said why.

Hunter Pollack, whose sister Meadow Pollack was killed in the shooting, said in a Tweet last week: the PROMISE program you implemented in our schools allowed 18-1958 stay to in the @browardschools. It cost 17 lives. Our school board is filled with compulsive liars. This must stop.

The PROMISE program was aimed at reducing recidivism rates for students who commit non-violent misdemeanors and keeping them out of the juvenile justice system. The program helps students develop pro-social and resiliency skills, improve academics and may address family and community struggles that may be contributing to behavior issues, according to the school districts website.

School officials said the program can last for as little as two days. Each case varies.

According to the Sun Sentinel, the school systems lenient discipline was an added public-relations benefit to showcase lower suspensions, expulsions and arrests along with rising graduation rates.

The program, according to the paper, allows a student to commit a subsequent infraction without being considered a repeat offender as long as its not the exact same violation in the exact same year. A clean slate is started the following year.

Its extremely problematic, Tim Sternberg, a former assistant principal at Pine Ridge Educational Center who administered the PROMISE program, told the Sun Sentinel. You can develop a psyche that it is OK to commit crime because you can refresh the clock every year.

More than five years ago, for instance, according to the Sun Sentinel, a high school student who used profanity toward a staff member would receive a three- to 10-day suspension. That was reduced to one to two days in recent years. The first violation for disruptive classroom behavior called for an in-school suspension of one to five days. In recent years, it was reduced to a suspension of under one day, the paper reported.

According to the Sun Sentinel, Mary Fitzgerald taught for 37 years in the district before retiring from Sunrise Middle in Fort Lauderdale in 2016 because of her concerns about student discipline.

It was so many things. I had three students bring knives to my classroom. One was out of the classroom for one day. Another had so many things on his record, he was gone for five days. None were expelled, she told the Sun Sentinel. My principal basically would tell me it was his job to market the school. He was adamant about not looking bad.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A 5-year-old girl was injured early Sunday morning after a bear attacked her outside her Colorado home when she went to investigate a noise in the yard, officials said.

The girl, who was later reported to be in good condition, went outside around 2:30 a.m. after hearing noises in the yard in East Orchard Mesa, above the Colorado River corridor in Grand Junction, that she thought was her dog, FOX31 Denver reported.

He mother told Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials she heard her daughter scream and saw a large black bear dragging the girl.

The bear dropped the 5-year-old when the mother began screaming at the animal, according to the report.

BLACK BEAR SMASHES BAKER'S CAR WINDOW, EATS 2 DOZEN CUPCAKES

The girl was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. FOX31 reported she was in good condition Sunday night.

Officials are still tracking the animal and asked residents in the area to report any bear sightings. Residents were also urged to keep put food inside and secure their trash.
New fissures have opened on Hawaii's Big Island - bringing the total to 17 - spewing bits of bright red lava several hundred feet in the air and escalating fears of violent explosions to come, more than a week after Kilauea, one of the worlds most active volcanos, erupted.

Hawaii Civil Defense officials said they went door-to-door Sunday waking people up and telling them to evacuate. At least 37 structures, including 27 homes, have been destroyed since the eruptions began. The lava has covered more than 17 acres of land.

Officials earlier reported 18 fissures, but revised the number to 17 after saying one crack that emerged never erupted lava.

The Hawaii National Guard is prepared to use ground convoys and helicopters to help evacuate hundreds of residents stuck in the southeast corner of Hawaiis Big Island should Kilauea make it impossible to get out, authorities said.

Officials also are asking vacation rental properties to close up shop in Lower Puna to relieve the demand for water and to reduce the area population so emergency operations can focus on residents who live in the area.

They also ordered all of the parks in the area to close. One of the only ways in and out - Highways 132 and 137- will remain open but only for local traffic.

Cracks along the highway have worsened in the last few days, with authorities fearing even more fissures could form. Residents have said they fear getting cut off when, not if, the major roadway gets shut down.

Im in the shelter because if the highway gets cut off, Im stuck on my property, resident Shannon Malina told Fox News. Malina has been living at one of two American Red Cross emergency shelters in the area.

David Ellis agrees.

"I think everybody recognizes that the lava outbreak is purely unpredictable," Ellis told Hawaii News Now. "I think our greatest danger is being cut off when Highway 132 is closed, and that should be soon, from everything that I hear."

Malina adds that a lot of people have been taken in by the bigger farms that have openings.

"A lot of the community is taking care of their own," she said.

Two community centers have been opened to shelter people and pets.

HAWAII VOLCANO EVACUATION ALERT MAY ARRIVE ON SHORT NOTICE, OFFICIALS WARN

"We assume the worst, and hope for the best," Ellis added.

Tina Neal, U.S. Geological Survey scientist-in-charge at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said the volcano is still highly active. The volcano could spew out hotter, fresher magma, destroying everything in its path.

"The situation remains unstable. Additional outbreaks of lava are likely."

HAWAII VOLCANO STOKES FEARS OF WEST COAST ERUPTIONS

The new developments over the weekend also prompted the U.S.G.S. to warn of possible more disaster to come. Experts are eyeing volcanic peaks on Americas West Coast, part of the geologically active Pacific Ring of Fire.

The West Coast is home to an 800-mile chain of 13 volcanoes, from Washington state's Mount Baker to California's Lassen Peak. They include Mount St. Helens, whose 1980 eruption in the Pacific Northwest killed dozens of people and sent volcanic ash across the country, and massive Mount Rainier, which towers above the Seattle metro area.

"There's lots of anxiety out there," said Liz Westby, geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington. "They see destruction, and people get nervous."

Hawaiis Kilauea volcano is threatening to blow its top in the coming days or weeks. Scientists say theres not definitive answer on when the volcanic activity will end.

Geologists warn that Kilauea's summit could have an explosive steam eruption that would hurl rocks and ash miles into the sky.

Fox News Bradford Betz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A New York City music teacher who went missing about a week ago was found dead Saturday in a wooded area in upstate New York near a hiking trail, police said.

The body of Keith Johnson, 46, of Queens, was found in a wooded area in Shandaken, a town in Ulster County, police said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. A law enforcement official told Fox News on Sunday that his death did not appear overtly suspicious, and he might have died of natural causes.

Shandaken Police Department did not immediately return Fox News request for comment.

Johnson was reported missing after family, friends and colleagues didnt hear from the teacher for days. He was seen on May 4 around 2:20 p.m. at P.S. 29 Queens School, where he worked in College Point, police said. Johnsons car, a 2006 Hyundai Elantra, was spotted the next day driving over the outbound lanes of Throgs Neck Bridge around 10:30 a.m.

Family members told CBSNewYork it was unusual not to hear from Johnson for days. Johnson, who was an avid hiker, also did not have a known history of drug abuse or mental illness.

Hes highly responsible, highly loved by his students, Johnsons friend Brian Kastan said. He loves his students, hes a great guy and thats why people are looking for him.

MISSING INFANT FOUND NAKED AND UNHARMED IN OREGON WOODS; DAD ARRESTED, POLICE SAY

Johnsons neighbor, Ken Achan, told CBSNewYork he had bumped into the 46-year-old teacher outside their apartment building the day he went missing. Achan recalled Johnson saying he was leaving New York City for a short trip.

He told me he left a lot of food out for the cats and not to worry for crying that hes going camping, he said.

Police found Johnsons car Saturday afternoon near a hiking trail. His body was located shortly after.
An Ohio deputy conducting a traffic stop Saturday was shot after a driver attempted to flee the scene before crashing his pickup truck into a pole, leading to a brief shootout, authorities said.

The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene in Franklin County just southwest of Columbus, Ohio, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

The Franklin County sheriffs deputy, who was not identified, was attempting to stop a man in a black pickup truck just after 6:30 p.m. when the driver fled the area, Sheriff's Office Public Information Office Marc Gofstein told WSYX/WTTE.

The police pursuit lasted five to six minutes until the driver crashed his vehicle into a pole.

At some point, shots were fired, striking the deputy. He was taken to the hospital and is listed in stable condition following surgery, according to WSYX/WTTE.

OFFICERS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY IN 2018

A witness named Josh told the Columbus Dispatch he saw the deputy approach the drivers vehicle after the crash.

The officer told him, Get out, get out, get out, Josh said, adding that he then hear several shot fired.

When you hear gunshots, you duck for safety, you know, he added.

Its unclear what led to the initial traffic stop. The suspect was killed during the brief shootout.

The deputy is a seven-year veteran of the force. Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin described the deputy as well-trained and well-respected by his peers.

Still a very active investigation, information will be made available when we have a chance. Thoughts and prayers are needed right now for one of our own! Franklin County Sheriffs Office tweeted Saturday night.

Another vehicle was hit as part of the chase just before the crash took place. The driver was not seriously injured, according to WSYX/WTTE.
A teenager accused of bringing a bomb to his Utah high school and placing an ISIS flag at another school appeared at a preliminary hearing Friday, as prosecutors seek to have the 17-year-old face charges as an adult.

The young man, who has not been identified because of his age, is accused of trying to blow up Pine View High School in St. George in March and replacing an American flag with an ISIS flag at another high school in February.

Pine View was evacuated after a student spotted smoke coming from a backpack.

Prosecutor Angela Adams told FOX13 Salt Lake City why the teen should be tried as an adult.

Mostly because of the risk to the community, protecting the community, she said.

ISIS-INSPIRED UTAH TEEN TRIED TO BLOW UP HIGH SCHOOL, POLICE SAY

The station reported that court documents show the teen told police that he wanted to see if he could get away with it.

"If I didnt get caught from this, if people got hurt and I could get away from it? I would have laid low for a little while, kind of see what peoples reactions were, whether there were comments about it, etc," he told police, according to the court filing.

The documents also say he thought hed lay low and then hang an ISIS flag on the school or freeway to make it look like ISIS was in Utah, according to the station.

TEXAS TEEN PLANNED ISIS-INSPIRED MALL SHOOTING, AUTHORITIES SAY

FBI Special Agent Michael Truebenbach testified he concluded that it was an "improvised incendiary device" recovered from the school, FOX13 reported.

The device, that police alleged was placed in a backpack, had a fuse leading into a metal can, with gasoline in plastic bottles to act as a fuel. There were also metal balls that Truebenbach testified that could have been used to cause more damage or kill.

Truebenbach later testified under cross-examination by the defense that the device did not properly detonate.

The hearing was adjourned to a later date that has not been set.
The results of Saturday's national election in Iraq  the first vote since the country declared victory over ISIS -- are expected within two days, the countrys election commission said.

Even with more than 10 million Iraqis voting, the election saw a record low turnout, with 44 percent of eligible voters casting ballots.

No election since 2003 has had turnout below 60 percent.

Polling station officials attributed the low number to a combination of tight security measures, voter apathy and irregularities linked to a new electronic voting system.

Hiwa Afandi, head of the Kurdistan Regional Governments department of information technology, said on Twitter that ballot scanners of boxes could be manipulated to count or spoil a vote and manipulating transmitting device for data tampering before transmission could also be possible.

The voters have very legitimate concerns that IHEC (Iraqi High Electoral Commission) must address. Afandi tweeted. I personally support them on manual recount and reviewing the technology used.

Amal, a housewife living in central Baghdad, told Al Jazeera about her difficult experience with casting her vote.

"The polling stations were far away from us and without cars allowed, it was really hard to get to the polling stations," Amal said.

The war has left more than 2 million Iraqis, mostly Sunnis, displaced from their homes, the network reported. Only 285,000 out of that displaced population registered to vote, the election commission said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is running to keep his post, and is also seen by some as a frontrunner, the outlet reported. But he still faces a tight race against Hadi al-Amiri, a paramilitary commander leading the Fatah alliance, the report said.

Al-Abadis chief rivals are political parties with closer ties to Iran, as well as the influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a staunch nationalist who campaigned against government corruption.

Nouri al-Maliki, a former prime minister, is also a strong contender and is seen as a possible kingmaker in the vote, Al Jazeera reported.

In parliament, nearly 7,000 candidates from dozens of political alliances are competing for the 329 seats, the report said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Six suicide bombers from one family  including children and teens  rode in on motorcycles and attacked three churches in Indonesia during Sunday Mass, killing at least 13 people, including the family members, and wounding dozens more, police and media reports said.

The family accused of carrying out one of the worst attacks against Indonesia's Christian minority had been in Syria, where ISIS had controlled a large territory in the area until recently, Indonesias national police chief Tito Karnavian said. The father, two sons ages 18 and 16, and the mother with two children ages 12 and 9 all took part in the deadly church bombings.

All three attacks targeting Sunday Mass congregations occurred in Surabaya, a city of around 2.8 million people in a country that holds the worlds largest Muslim majority, Reuters reported. At least 13 people, including the family members, were killed and more than 40 people were injured in the blasts.

The first attack that killed four people, including one or more bombers, occurred at the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church, police told reporters at the scene. Two police officers were among more than 40 wounded, they said. The father of the family accused of carrying out the suicide bombing had detonated a car bomb during his attack.

The incident was followed by a second explosion at the Christian Church of Diponegoro that killed two people. In a third attack, at Pantekosta Church, two more died, police said.

SUSPECT IN DEADLY PARIS KNIFE ATTACK WAS NATIVE OF CHECHNYA, OFFICIAL SAYS

A witness described the woman with two children, saying she was carrying two bags at the Diponegoro church.

"At first officers blocked them in front of the churchyard, but the woman ignored them and forced her way inside. Suddenly (the bomb) exploded," said a civilian guard named Antonius.

Shattered glass and chunks of concrete littered the entrance of the Santa Maria Church, which was sealed off by heavily armed police. Rescue personnel treated victims on a nearby field while officers inspected wrecked motorcycles in the parking lot that were burned in the explosion.

A street merchant outside the church said she was blown back several yards by the powerful blast. She said she saw two men riding on a motorbike, which Karnivan said the two teenage boys had used in their attack.

"I saw two men riding a motorbike forced their way into the churchyard. One was wearing black pants and one with a backpack," said Samsia, who uses a single name. "Soon after that the explosion happened."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the deadly attacks.

26 PEOPLE KILLED IN BURUNDI 'TERRORIST' ATTACK: OFFICIAL

The latest attacks came days after police ended a riot and hostage-taking at a detention center near Jakarta that left six officers and three inmates dead. The Islamic State terrorist group has claimed responsibility.

Indonesia has carried out a sustained crackdown on militants since bombings by Al Qaeda-affiliated radicals in Bali in 2002 killed 202 people.

Churches have been previously targeted in central Jakarta at Christmas in 2000 that killed about 20 people, Reuters reported.

Indonesia has seen a recent resurgence in homegrown militancy, the wire service reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Trump announced last week that the United States is pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, but the countrys embattled President Hassan Rouhani announced Sunday that Tehran may remain in the 2015 agreement providing European partners commit to protecting their financial interests.

If the remaining five countries continue to abide by the agreement, Iran will remain in the deal despite the will of America, Rouhani noted during a meeting with the Sri Lankan president.

Rouhani affirmed Irans commitment to curb its nuclear ambitions in the coming years on the basis that Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia  who also signed the accord three years ago  could guarantee that Iran be safeguarded from sanctions against vital areas of its economy, including oil.

The countrys foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif too is seeking to salvage the deal, this weekend commencing a tour with the other signatories in the hopes the agreement can be re-designed without the U.S.

However, not only will the US re-impose sanctions on Iran  but foreign firms dealing with the country could also be targeted, complicating rehabilitation aspirations and building skepticism that the agreement will survive.

IRAN AIMS TO BE KING OF THE HILL ON KEY STRATEGIC MOUNTAIN IN IRAQ

U.S. WANTS GERMANY TO HALT TRADE WITH IRAN

Furthermore, the controversial U.S withdrawal of the deal has highlighted schisms within Irans own political top brass, who do not want to see the country re-commit to the deal.

Senior cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said Friday that Europe was not to be trusted, and the head of the elite military wing, the Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, has also blamed officials for looking outside rather than looking at domestic potentials to boost Irans fragile economy.
The Latest on the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and protests along with Israel-Gaza border (all times local):

10:40 a.m.

A high-ranking delegation of Gaza's Hamas rulers is heading to Egypt a day ahead of a planned massive rally at the Israel-Gaza border.

The media office at the Rafah crossing point says Sunday the Islamic militant group's chief Ismail Haniyeh and other members crossed into Egypt in the morning.

Hamas declined to comment on the departure, which is believed to be part of intensive diplomacy to contain the protest and prevent a possible breach of Israel's border.

Last week, Hamas' leader in Gaza, Yehiyeh Sinwar, said international and regional mediators have come up with offers "to control" weeks of deadly protests. Hamas has organized them mostly against an Israeli-Egyptian blockade in place since Hamas overran Gaza in 2007.

The United States is opening its new embassy in Jerusalem on Monday. The decision in December to relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem has ignited months of protests in the Palestinian territories and across the region.

___

10:30 a.m.

Israel is preparing a series of festivities to celebrate the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, a move that has ignited Palestinian protests.

A reception on Sunday will include members of a delegation led by President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, his senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin.

Dozens of foreign diplomats are expected, though many ambassadors of European nations who oppose the move will skip it.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state and view the relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv as a blatantly one-sided move that invalidates the U.S. as a Mideast peace broker.
The Chechnya-born attacker who fatally stabbed a man and injured four other people in Paris Saturday night, apparently pledged allegiance to the ISIS terror network in a video made before his death.

In the video, obtained by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a man identified as 20-year-old Khamzat Azimov called on ISIS supporters living in the West to immigrate to the group's so-called "Caliphate" or else carry out attacks locally.

"They have closed the doors of immigration in our faces, so let's strike them in the center of their homes," the man said in French, adding, "We are on the truth ... despite the alliance of all these unbelievers against us, they will not fulfill their goal."

Addressing the so-called "unbelievers," Azimov apparently said: "It is you who began bombing the Islamic State ... so when we respond and take vengeance, you weep. If you wish to stop us, then pressure your government, and I am not the first to inform you of this, for other brothers who preceded me informed you of this before carrying out their operations ... but you refrained from answering [our call.]"

"It's beginning to look like he wasn't necessarily an independently inspired actor, after all," a counterterrorism source told Fox News. Amaq, ISIS' so-called "news agency" that released the Azimov video, intially said the assailant acted in response to the group's calls for supporters to target members of the U.S.-led anti-ISIS military coalition. The source described that response as "the standard template" used by ISIS after so-called "lone wolf" attacks.

France's military has been active in the coalition since 2014, and ISIS adherents have killed more than 200 people in France in recent years.

Multiple media outlets, citing French officials, have reported that Azimov's name was on a police watchlist of suspected radicals. However, Interior Ministry spokesman Frederic de Lanouvelle said Azimov had a clean criminal record and did not know his victims.

Meanwhile, a French judicial official told The Associated Press that Azimov's parents and a friend of his had been taken into custody for questioning. The parents were detained in Paris' northern 18th district and the friend was detained in the eastern French city of Strasbourg on Sunday afternoon

French media reported Sunday that Azimov had lived in Strasbourg, which is 306 miles from Paris. It was unclear if he was residing with his parents in the French capital when he carried out the attack.

SUSPECT IN DEADLY PARIS KNIFE ATTACK WAS NATIVE OF CHECHNYA, OFFICIAL SAYS

Witnesses reported hearing the man shouting "Allahu akbar," the Arabic phrase for "God is great," during the attack.

Chechnya's president insisted Sunday that France bears responsibility for the knifings, pointing out that Azimov only held a Russian passport until he was 14-years-old.

"I consider it necessary to state that all responsibility for the fact that Khazmat Azimov went on the road of crime lies completely with the authorities of France," Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said. "He was only born in Chechnya, and his growing up, the formation of his personality, his views and persuasions occurred in French society."

The attacker targeted five people and then fled, according to Paris police and a witness. When police officers arrived minutes later, he threatened them and was shot dead, police union official Yvan Assioma said. Several witnesses said the attacker ran directly toward police.

A police official said the assailant didn't have identity documents with him during Saturday's attack but was identified thanks to DNA.

Among the injured was a 34-year-old man from Luxembourg, the foreign ministry of the small country north of France said in a statement. The four people injured are out of life-threatening danger, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said.

Collomb held a special security meeting Sunday to address the Paris attack.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States would lend a hand in the investigation.

"The French authorities with all the intelligence help the United States can provide will do our best to unpack this in the coming hours," Pompeo told "Fox News Sunday."

In a statement released Sunday evening, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the U.S. "strongly condemns yesterday's terrorist attack in Paris. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with the French people and their government against this vicious act of terrorism, and pledge any assistance needed. Acts like this only strengthen the resolve of the global coalition to defeat ISIS and drive it out of existence."

The Russian Embassy in France said it has requested more information on the attack suspect. Some refugees fleeing wars in Chechnya in the 1990s and early 2000s settled in France, but Chechens have not been responsible for past high-profile attacks in the country.

Two Chechen brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, were behind the deadly bombing of the Boston Marathon in 2013.

Fox News' Catherine Herridge and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A knife-wielding suspect who slashed five people, killing one, in central Paris on Saturday night -- before being slain by French authorities -- has been identified as a native of Chechnya, born in 1997, a French judicial official said.

The parents of the suspect, who was claimed as a soldier of ISIS after the attack, have been detained for questioning, the official said.

No other information about the attacker was immediately available.

The Islamic State group, through its affiliated news agency, claimed responsibility for the knife attack, which left a 29-year-old man dead and four others injured.

In a tweet sharing his condolences for the victims, French President Emmanuel Macron labeled the attacker a terrorist.

All my thoughts go to the victims and the wounded of the knife attack perpetrated tonight in Paris, as well as to their relatives. I salute on behalf of all the French the courage of the policemen who have neutralized the terrorist, a translation of his tweet said.

France once again paid the price of blood but did not give an inch to the enemies of Freedom, Macron said in another tweet.

ISIS said the attack was in response to its calls for supporters to target members of the U.S.-led military coalition squeezing extremists out of Iraq and Syria, the Aamaq news agency said in a statement.

France once again paid the price of blood, but did not give an inch to the enemies of Freedom.  Emmanuel Macron, president of France

In the U.S., State Department officials voiced their concern.

"We are closely monitoring the incident in Paris, and understand the authorities have initiated a terror probe," a State Department spokesperson told Fox News. "Our thoughts are with the family and friends of those affected. We refer you to the local authorities for further information.

"We stand ready to provide all possible consular assistance should we become aware of any affected U.S. citizens. U.S. citizens in the France are strongly encouraged to directly contact concerned family members in the United States to advise them of your safety."

The suspect carried out the stabbing attack Saturday evening in the 2nd Arrondissement of Paris, north of the Seine River.

Counterterrorism authorities were called in to lead the investigation after Prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters that witnesses heard the suspect shouting, "Allahu Akbar" -- "God is great" in Arabic.

The assailant, after attacking bystanders with a knife, rushed at police, shouting I will kill you, I will kill you! police union representative Rocco Contento told Reuters.

The attacker was then shot by officers and later confirmed dead, Paris police said.

Witnesses reportedly said that the police first tried to use a stun gun on the attacker, but when that failed, they fired two shots, the BBC reported, citing France24.

The attack took place in a popular neighborhood near Paris famed Opera Garnier. People were asked to evacuate nearby buildings.

Police said the suspect targeted the five people.

France's BFM television interviewed an unnamed witness in a restaurant who said a young woman was at the entrance when "a man arrived and attacked her with a knife." A friend came to her aid and the attacker left, "hitting on all the doors, all the shops," the witness told BFM. He turned onto another street, and everyone scattered, the witness said.

"I was having a drink with friends and we heard a boom," a witness named Gloria, who had been in a nearby bar, recounted on Saturday night. She said she went outside to see what happened and "I saw a guy lying on the ground."

Another witness described leaving the opera house and being told to go back inside because of the attack.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb denounced the attack in a tweet.

"My first thoughts are with the victims of this odious act," a translation said.

Collomb said the lives of the injured people were no longer in danger.

Paris has been under elevated security in recent years after a string of deadly Islamic extremist attacks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sam Nzima, the South African photographer who took the iconic image of a black high school student carrying a fatally wounded fellow student away from the gunfire of apartheid police in the Soweto student riots of 1976, has died at 83.

South Africa's state broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, reported that Nzima died in the northwestern city of Nelspruit Saturday night. His son, Thulani Nzima, said the photographer collapsed on Thursday and was taken to a hospital.

Nzima's photograph of the Soweto student uprising galvanized international public opinion against apartheid, South Africa's system of racial discrimination that ended in 1994. Harassed by the apartheid regime, Nzima left Johannesburg and in 1998 won the copyright for the much reproduced photo. In his later years he taught photography in rural Bushbuckridge.
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The big business news of late has been the proposed merger between Sainsburys and Asda, something Sainsburys chief executive Mike Coupe described as good news because it would cut prices for shoppers.

This will apparently be achieved without closing stores or incurring job losses there. So it sounds as if the cunning plan is mainly to squeeze suppliers  on the basis that the greater the buying power, the greater the pressure exerted.

See also: Supply chain concerns over Sainsburys and Asda mega-merger

What a shame, then, that Mr Coupes message was rather undermined by the footage of him singing a verse of Were in the money as he was waiting to be interviewed on the deal. This gaffe appears to have drawn as much publicity as the proposed deal itself.

Elizabeth Elder and her husband Jake run sheep and cattle on 235ha in Northumberland and her husband Jake run sheep and cattle on 235ha in Northumberland

Still, I have to admit to having some sympathy, as I too am prone to sometimes giving the game away through the medium of song. It can be very embarrassing.

Bad times

No, I dont want to give any mortifying examples. I will just say that I have spent most of the past couple of months humming Noel Cowards, There are bad times just around the corner. This is generally OK because it sounds quite cheerful, as long as you dont know the words.

It is often difficult to judge how well lambing is going outside the boundaries of your own farm.

We seem to have had a fairly bad time, with fewer live lambs and more ewe losses than usual. Its not that the lambing itself has been especially traumatic, it is more that it came at the end of a long, difficult winter which has been exhausting for both humans and sheep.

However, whenever you ask other people how it has gone, they always seem to answer in exactly the same way every year.

For some, it is always an unmitigated disaster. For many, it is always not great, but could have been worse. For one or two, it has always been a great success and the lambs are the best theyve ever had.

Widespread problem

Yet you can tell there is a widespread problem when the usually very attentive fallen stock collection service doesnt turn up for three days due to overwhelming demand. At one stage the waiting time was a week as they had a backlog of snow casualties to clear. So, we conclude, it has been very rough for a lot of people, or You are not alone, as Michael Jackson might have put it.

Having got through the lambing, our family is entering another period of sustained stress as our son is beginning two months of important exams.

We have been through this before. It involves everyone else tiptoeing around the key individual, trying to be tactful when trying to find out how things are going and whether they need help, providing them with food as and when required and excusing them from other duties and activities as they concentrate on the key task.

The secret theme tune for this period has already emerged. It is from the Rolling Stones  You cant always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need. Good luck to everyone who is about to do exams and to all the families supporting them.
Thank you for reading!

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Japan Independent Games Aggregate (JIGA) is proud to unveil the award nominees for this year's show. This is the fifth year that BitSummit has held awards and of the 90 games selected for the show, a handful of stellar titles have been selected as standouts.

VERMILLION GATE AWARD - Best of Show

BLACK BIRD / Onion Games

Boyfriend Dungeon / Kitfox Games

CHUCHEL / Amanita Design

Dark Devotion / Hibernian Workshop

INTERNATIONAL AWARD - Best of International Games

Boyfriend Dungeon / Kitfox Games

Gunhead / Alientrap

Forgotten Anne / ThroughLine Games

Rising Hell / Tahoe Games

Semblance / Nyamakop

She Remembered Caterpillars / jumpsuit entertainment

EXCELLENCE IN GAME DESIGN AWARD

Boyfriend Dungeon / Kitfox Games

Eatvolve / Papadar

GRAY GROFA / TPM.COSOFT WORKS

GrayScale / aaa GrayScaleiNCSaaa aaei

GNOSIA /iaaZaaaiaaaaaaiPetit Depottoi

Semblance / Nyamakop

SIMULACRA / Kaigan Games

EXCELLENCE IN SOUND DESIGN AWARD

Artifact Adventure Gaiden / bluffmanGames

BLACK BIRD / Onion Games

Forgotton Anne / ThroughLine Games

Muse Dash / PeroPeroGames

OLIJA /  aasc Skeleton Crew Studio

VISUAL EXCELLENCE AWARD

BLACK BIRD / Onion Games

Carto / Sunhead Games

CHUCHEL / Amanita Design

Dark Devotion / Hibernian Workshop

Fugl / Team Fugl

MARE / Visiontrick Media

Pan Galactic Railway / Dave Makes

Tale of Ronin / Dead Mage

World for Two / Seventh rank

INNOVATIVE OUTLAW AWARD - Innovation in technology or ideas

Kick & Balanco / 3Balancos

aaaZaaa -Fight Crab- / Nussoft

Knuckle Sandwich / Andrew Brophy

iiiaaa iaaaaaaea (RPG TIME: The Legend of Wright) / DESKWORKS

Shadow Love / strawberry gohan

SIMULACRA / Kaigan Games

The sixth anniversary of the indie game summit will be held in Miyako Messe the weekend of May 12th & 13th, 2018 in Kyoto, Japan. Tickets are 2000 yen per day for general admission, with a 1000 yen discount for all students and free entry for elementary school students and younger.

Speaker Profiles and Timetable : http://bitsummit.jp/pages/stage.php

Venue Map : http://bitsummit.jp/pages/venue.php

BitSummit Vol.6 is produced by Japan Independent Games Association (JIGA), along with the CrossKyoto Media Partnership (KCROP), 802 Media Works, The City of Kyoto, and Kyoto CMEX (Cross Media Experience) and Indie MEGABOOTH.

For more information please visit the BitSummit website: http://bitsummit.jp/

Contact Info:

Press registration: https://t.co/rYbDF9AgjF

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://bitsummit.jp/

Twitter: @bitsummit

Instagram: @bitsummit

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bitsummit

Japan Independent Games Aggregate (JIGA) Members: Digital Development Management, Pygmy Studio Co. Ltd., Q-Games Ltd., and Skeleton Crew Studio.

ABOUT BitSummit

BitSummit is an annual festival based in Kyoto, celebrating independent game developers and development in Japan. Founded in late-2012 to support, unify, and evangelize the vibrant and innovative Japanese independent game development scene to the world at large, BitSummit has established itself Japans premier independent gaming event, attracting thousands of visitors annually, as well as a notable, International media presence. BitSummit has been covered by every leading gaming website around the world and featured in print publications such as Weekly Famitsu, Dengeki PlayStation, Games, EDGE and more. BitSummit has also been the focus of panel discussions at Game Developers Conference, IndieCade, IndieCade East, and CEDEC. Coming into its sixth year running, BitSummit continues to grow alongside the burgeoning Japanese independent development scene.
Hey Long Beach, join us as we soar through the skies of Long Beach, California for a unique look at our great city! (Click below to watch video).
New curriculum puts pressure on teachers

One of the goals of the new general education programme issued by the Ministry of Education and Training is to reduce pressure on students and give them more practical experience. But after a month-long pilot programme in six provinces and cities, experts and teachers have identified major shortcomings in the curriculum.









A class at An Vinh primary school in Ly Son island district in the south central province of Quang Nga







During the trial, more than 1,400 teachers taught more than 6,000 periods. The lessons taught were either totally new and not in the current textbooks, or were in the current textbooks but taught with new methods.



After the trial, Professor Nguyen Minh Thuyet, the programmes chief editor, confessed that the new curriculum was still quite dense. Some content was designed to be more difficult than students ability to acquire it, Nong Thon Ngay Nay (Countryside Today) reports.



"The extensive content of every lesson means that students have fewer opportunities to apply it into practice and take part in out-of-school activities," he said.



Ngo Thi Hong Lien, vice principal of Ha Nois Tay Ho High school, said that students were excited with the lessons and absorbing them well. However, the pressure placed on teachers was relatively high.



Some teachers claimed that the new curriculum has difficult content. Teachers should be trained and should actively change teaching methods to encourage students to interact more in order to have more effective teaching, she said.



ang Tuan Anh, vice principal of Nguyen Dieu High school in central Binh inh Province, agreed that training teachers was very important. Without training and orientation, teachers would struggle to teach the lessons and put more pressure on students.



"Many teachers are used to one-way teaching without much interaction with students and are reluctant to make changes," he said.



Pedagogy research shows that if students are active in exploring knowledge and practising as they learn, the lessons will go well. Teachers who prepare carefully for the lessons will have better quality classes, according to Professor Thuyet.



Lack of infrastructure



According to experts, infrastructure determines the success and failure of a new educational programme.



The new programme requires students to take two classes per day or at least six classes per week. A standard classroom should have 35 students at the primary level and 45 students at elementary level. Classrooms should be spacious enough to organize tables and chairs in groups.



However, infrastructure conditions are said to currently pose a big challenge to many schools seeking to implement the new educational programme.



According to the Ministry of Education and Training, there are more than 28,000 educational facilities nationwide with nearly 15 million students. There are nearly 420,000 classrooms across the country, about 77 per cent of which are difficult to renovate.



The quantity of equipment in the classrooms designed for specific subjects meets only 68 per cent of demand.



An education specialist said that there were now up to 60 to 70 students per classroom in big cities. Students had to study on Saturdays and Sundays due to the lack of classrooms. Meanwhile, classes in mountainous remote areas had poor conditions.



It is a worry that the new curriculum cannot be effectively implemented in case infrastructure lacks proper investment, the specialist said.



Teaching equipment also plays a big role, said Bui Thi Hong Hanh, vice principal of Vo Lao Primary school No.1 in Van Ban District of the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai.



It takes time to prepare some complicated teaching equipment. I think the curriculums editors should publish a list of resources supporting teachers and offer investments for schools to improve teaching quality, she said.



Education and training Deputy Minister Nguyen Huu o compared infrastructure with the hardware of a computer, saying it is important but does not determine everything. "The software, which is a programmes content and teachers, is far more of significant," he said.



The new curriculum is scheduled to officially take effect next year. However, Professor Thuyet said that there was still much work to do including compiling new textbooks.



He said that teachers comments after each pilot lesson were compiled for further improvement of the programme. After changes, the general education programmes assessment council would assess the content once again to improve its quality.  VNS






GA English on Sunday : News in Brief from Bonn and the region

A drug bust in Bonn leads police to a whole gun arsenal, the tram extension for the S13 starts to bug commuters, Bonns city dean steps down after financial scandal, and a 40-year-old man dies from suffocation in his own car at the Nurburgring  here is the news from Bonn and the region in our GA English News in Brief.

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Here are the news from Bonn and the region in our GA English News in brief:

31-year-old woman bunkered drugs and guns

BONN. After a tipoff coming from somebody in the drug scene apparently, the polices drug squad found amounts of illegal substances and weapons that even surprised the pros.

The apartment of a 31-year-old woman was a well-sorted trading-centre for drugs of all kinds. Beside marihuana, cannabis and heroin, there was cocaine, ecstasy and crystal meth found in the rooms of the mother-of-two as well as large amounts of money. The most surprising find though: The suspected drug dealer was armed to the teeth.

Several knives, gas and alarm pistols, different axes, stun guns, batons and even a crossbow were found. The woman, who is unemployed and drug-addicted herself, was charged with armed drug dealing.



Original text: Ulrike Schodel

Translation: Mareike Graepel

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Delays and cancelations: S13 extension bugs Bonns commuters

BONN. The S13 extension is testing Bonns commuters patience. Many are annoyed because of delays and cancelations. The info boards at the station in Beuel are filled with new timetable notes, construction site info - all because of the extension of the S13 to Oberkassel, which also causes the closure of the route between Onkel and Troisdorf.

No trains at the weekend mean replacement bus services. Rainer Bohnet, chairman of the traffic club Bonn/Rhein-Sieg/Ahr says he know that the construction is necessary: But how its conducted is a whole different question. He suggests to allow commuters and job-ticket users to use the long-distance trains for free. The test of patience will continue until June 8, thats when the construction should be finished.



Original text: Sabrina Bauer

Translation: Mareike Graepel

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Cathedral parish: Dean steps down after financial scandal

BONN. There seems to be a million-Euro scandal in the Cathedral parish Saint Martin in Bonn. The archdiocese Cologne confirmed on Friday, that the Cathedrals priest and the citys dean, Wilfried Schumacher, has stepped down. During the regular audit by the archdiocese continued mismanagement was noticed.

Between 2009 and 2014, holes in the budget were filled with longterm substance assets. According to GA information, approximately two million Euro were lost this way, used for deficit church institutions, like the Munster Carree (which is used for counseling) and other construction work. The responsible persons are not accused of personal enrichment though, according to the archdiocese. Colognes archbishop, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, has accepted the resignation.

Neither Schumacher nor other employees have been charged legally. It remained unclear if the public prosecutors office will take up the investigation. Temporarily, priest Alfons Adelkamp will lead the Cathedrals parish. The current restoration of the basilica will not be affected. A connection between the scandal and the closure of the Cathedrals shop seems likely now.



Original text: Rudiger Franz, Bettina Kohl

Translation: Mareike Graepel

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Tragedy at 24-hour car race event: 40-year-old man suffocates in his car
kacylee at 13-05-2018 07:46 PM (3 years ago) (f)

The police in Suleja, Niger State, have confirmed the arrest of the parents and relation of a bride, who disappeared after her wedding, refusing to go to her husbands home.

The police in Suleja, Niger State, have confirmed the arrest of the parents and relation of a bride, who disappeared after her wedding, refusing to go to her husbands home.

The arrest of the trio followed a complaint to the police by their son in-law, Shuaib Dauda, for the sudden disappearance of their daughter few hours after wedding.



Mr Dauda earns a living as an auto mechanic.



Aliyu Lawal, officer-in-charge of Kaduna-Road police outpost in Suleja, gave the confirmation to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday.



Mr Lawal, a police inspector, said the incident occurred on May 6 when the bridegroom complained to the police that the people he sent to the brides home to fetch her, in accordance with the tradition, did not see her.



Mr Lawal said the footdragging by the brides family to deliver the bride to the bridegroom led to the disruption of peace in the area, hence the arrest of the parents and the marriage guardian.



They were arrested on Sunday, May 6, and granted bail on Monday May 7, he said.



But Abubakar Haruna, popularly known as Zakiru and a resident of Hayi along Kaduna Road, told NAN that he gave out two daughters same day, Fiddausi to Mr Dauda and Saliha to one Muhammadu Murtala.



He said before the marriage, Mr Dauda and Mr Murtala promised to comply with all the religious and traditional obligations for the marriage such as the dowry and buying of clothes and boxes for the brides.



After the wedding ceremony, Dauda said he could not afford to buy the clothes and boxes to the bride as promised earlier.



Fiddausi, realising that Murtala (the husband to Saliha) had redeemed his promise and presented the traditional gifts and Dauda did not, ran away to the neighbouring house until her bridegroom fulfilled his own promise, he said.



Mr Haruna said already beddings, traditional kitchen wares, furniture and other domestic utensils had been taken to Daudas home, ahead of the conveyance of Fiddausi to her new home.



He explained that while they were searching for Fiddausi, the team sent by the bridegroom to fetch Fiddausi to the matrimonial home hinted Mr Dauda of the sudden disappearance of the bride.



He claimed Mr Dauda mobilised his friends who stormed his compound, insisting that Fiddausi must be produced. In the process they molested him and brutalised his wife, named Bayi.



Some other female guests from Kano were also brutalised, food items and other valuables they brought for the wedding ceremony were stolen by the hoodlums who attacked us for our alleged failure to produce the bride, Mr Haruna said.



Mr Haruna said while the hoodlums were molesting his family and his guests, the police officers from Kaduna Road outpost arrested him, his wife and his younger brother who is also the marriage guardian. The latter was identified as Umar Musa.



Mr Haruna dismissed the allegation by the police that he was arrested for disrupting public peace in the community. Rather, he explained that the police asked him to refund N260,000 to Dauda, being the amount he spent on the marriage.



Mr Haruna said when he failed to pay the money as demanded, he was detained together with his wife and his younger brother by the police.



According to him, they were detained overnight at the police outpost and were granted bail following the intervention of his lawyer, Aliyu Musa.



He said the bail was obtained on the condition that they would bring the money the following day or risk prosecution.



Meanwhile, Fiddausi has returned to her fathers house The arrest of the trio followed a complaint to the police by their son in-law, Shuaib Dauda, for the sudden disappearance of their daughter few hours after wedding.Mr Dauda earns a living as an auto mechanic.Aliyu Lawal, officer-in-charge of Kaduna-Road police outpost in Suleja, gave the confirmation to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday.Mr Lawal, a police inspector, said the incident occurred on May 6 when the bridegroom complained to the police that the people he sent to the brides home to fetch her, in accordance with the tradition, did not see her.Mr Lawal said the footdragging by the brides family to deliver the bride to the bridegroom led to the disruption of peace in the area, hence the arrest of the parents and the marriage guardian.They were arrested on Sunday, May 6, and granted bail on Monday May 7, he said.But Abubakar Haruna, popularly known as Zakiru and a resident of Hayi along Kaduna Road, told NAN that he gave out two daughters same day, Fiddausi to Mr Dauda and Saliha to one Muhammadu Murtala.He said before the marriage, Mr Dauda and Mr Murtala promised to comply with all the religious and traditional obligations for the marriage such as the dowry and buying of clothes and boxes for the brides.After the wedding ceremony, Dauda said he could not afford to buy the clothes and boxes to the bride as promised earlier.Fiddausi, realising that Murtala (the husband to Saliha) had redeemed his promise and presented the traditional gifts and Dauda did not, ran away to the neighbouring house until her bridegroom fulfilled his own promise, he said.Mr Haruna said already beddings, traditional kitchen wares, furniture and other domestic utensils had been taken to Daudas home, ahead of the conveyance of Fiddausi to her new home.He explained that while they were searching for Fiddausi, the team sent by the bridegroom to fetch Fiddausi to the matrimonial home hinted Mr Dauda of the sudden disappearance of the bride.He claimed Mr Dauda mobilised his friends who stormed his compound, insisting that Fiddausi must be produced. In the process they molested him and brutalised his wife, named Bayi.Some other female guests from Kano were also brutalised, food items and other valuables they brought for the wedding ceremony were stolen by the hoodlums who attacked us for our alleged failure to produce the bride, Mr Haruna said.Mr Haruna said while the hoodlums were molesting his family and his guests, the police officers from Kaduna Road outpost arrested him, his wife and his younger brother who is also the marriage guardian. The latter was identified as Umar Musa.Mr Haruna dismissed the allegation by the police that he was arrested for disrupting public peace in the community. Rather, he explained that the police asked him to refund N260,000 to Dauda, being the amount he spent on the marriage.Mr Haruna said when he failed to pay the money as demanded, he was detained together with his wife and his younger brother by the police.According to him, they were detained overnight at the police outpost and were granted bail following the intervention of his lawyer, Aliyu Musa.He said the bail was obtained on the condition that they would bring the money the following day or risk prosecution.Meanwhile, Fiddausi has returned to her fathers house

Post Reply I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 13-05-2018 07:46 PM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero
SO MUCH YANSH!!! Check Out Omotola's Angelic Dress To Sierra Leone President's Party

nametalkam at 13-05-2018 07:52 PM (3 years ago) (m)

For the Sierra Leonean President's Bio's Inaugural reception and Birthday Dinner, Omotola wore this lovely dress.....

For the Sierra Leonean President's Bio's Inaugural reception and Birthday Dinner, Omotola wore this lovely dress.....





In case you are wondering why she is the only one in the news from all the celebs that attended,well it looks like she went with her personal photographer....





















In case you are wondering why she is the only one in the news from all the celebs that attended,well it looks like she went with her personal photographer....

Post Reply I specialize in investigative reportage across several subject matter and sectors but mainly focus on metro events and investigation. Do leave your thoughts and opinion on my reports to let me know what you think about them. Thank you Posted: at 13-05-2018 07:52 PM (3 years ago) | Hero

ngfineface at 13-05-2018 08:03 PM (3 years ago)

(f) Mercy Johnson! Better pikin. Better wife. Always dressing well and covering her body Posted: at 13-05-2018 08:03 PM (3 years ago) | Hero Mercy Johnson! Better pikin. Better wife. Always dressing well and covering her body Reply

kacylee at 13-05-2018 08:09 PM (3 years ago)

(f) yeah she isnt Omosexy for nothing.. she is superbly endowed I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 13-05-2018 08:09 PM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero yeah she isnt Omosexy for nothing.. she is superbly endowed Reply

slimber at 13-05-2018 09:57 PM (3 years ago)

(f) Beautiful Posted: at 13-05-2018 09:57 PM (3 years ago) | Hero Beautiful Reply

victorstic1 at 13-05-2018 10:42 PM (3 years ago)

(m) why ur face look like a boxer Posted: at 13-05-2018 10:42 PM (3 years ago) | Gistmaniac why ur face look like a boxer Reply

deboalabi262 at 13-05-2018 11:09 PM (3 years ago)

(m) Who Jah Blessed, No Man Cursed...... Posted: at 13-05-2018 11:09 PM (3 years ago) | Hero Reply

deboalabi262 at 13-05-2018 11:36 PM (3 years ago)

(m) Who Jah Blessed, No Man Cursed...... Posted: at 13-05-2018 11:36 PM (3 years ago) | Hero Reply

chukkychukky at 13-05-2018 11:55 PM (3 years ago)

(m) seen Joramentity aka chukkychukky Posted: at 13-05-2018 11:55 PM (3 years ago) | Gistmaniac seen Reply

james987 at 14-05-2018 05:32 AM (3 years ago)

(m) Some people go carry show business enter 70 years. The young shall grow Sha,make una no forget. Posted: at 14-05-2018 05:32 AM (3 years ago) | Hero Some people go carry show business enter 70 years. The young shall grow Sha,make una no forget. Reply

kp45 at 14-05-2018 06:43 AM (3 years ago)

(m) Ok Posted: at 14-05-2018 06:43 AM (3 years ago) | Hero Ok Reply

EDDYPRINCE at 14-05-2018 07:01 AM (3 years ago)

(m) Omosexy Posted: at 14-05-2018 07:01 AM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero Omosexy Reply

EDDYPRINCE at 14-05-2018 07:04 AM (3 years ago)

(m) Quote from: ngfineface on 13-05-2018 08:03 PM Mercy Johnson! Better pikin. Better wife. Always dressing well and covering her body



I hope you read the post, how omosexy turn Mercy Johnson, abi u dey read go back....

Posted: at 14-05-2018 07:04 AM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero I hope you read the post, how omosexy turn Mercy Johnson, abi u dey read go back.... Reply

nature7888 at 14-05-2018 08:47 AM (3 years ago)

(m) Na real so much ynash. Beautiful though Posted: at 14-05-2018 08:47 AM (3 years ago) | Gistmaniac Na real so much ynash. Beautiful though Reply

maxzy277 at 14-05-2018 09:10 AM (3 years ago)

(m) She should watch it Posted: at 14-05-2018 09:10 AM (3 years ago) | Gistmaniac She should watch it Reply

idontno at 14-05-2018 09:16 AM (3 years ago)

(m) She is Getting old,, you can never cheat Age Posted: at 14-05-2018 09:16 AM (3 years ago) | Upcoming Reply

fineboy77 at 14-05-2018 10:38 AM (3 years ago)

(m) what is so angelic about that dress? What is the color beneath your skin? Posted: at 14-05-2018 10:38 AM (3 years ago) | Hero what is so angelic about that dress? Reply

ruthie at 14-05-2018 10:40 AM (3 years ago)

(f) we will all age..including you...so note that...your time is coming

Quote from: idontno on 14-05-2018 09:16 AM She is Getting old,, you can never cheat Age

Posted: at 14-05-2018 10:40 AM (3 years ago) | Hero we will all age..including you...so note that...your time is coming Reply

ruthie at 14-05-2018 10:44 AM (3 years ago)

(f) this make up artiste should be fired...shoddy job Posted: at 14-05-2018 10:44 AM (3 years ago) | Hero this make up artiste should be fired...shoddy job Reply

cypanyahucha at 14-05-2018 03:14 PM (3 years ago)

(m) Fyn Posted: at 14-05-2018 03:14 PM (3 years ago) | Gistmaniac Fyn Reply
Ferrari has been told to remove the winglets currently attached to the 2018 car's Halo device after Sunday's Spanish grand prix.

The FIA said recently that teams are allowed to attach the rearview mirrors to the controversial Halo concept.

But Ferrari arrived in Barcelona also with winglets on the Halo.

"The FIA received letters of complaint," Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports.

"Ferrari has now been asked to bring a modified solution to Monaco," it added. "The mirror may still be attached to the Halo, but without aerodynamic elements."

Renault has said it is also working on a mirror concept for its Halo, while Force India is preferring to sit it out for now while the FIA rules on legality.

"The performance gain is not that big," said technical boss Andy Green. "First we want to see what the others are doing and then we'll copy the best one."

(GMM)
McLaren says it has taken a "big step" in Barcelona.

The team touched down in Spain with what is effectively a 'B' spec car, featuring a radical nose design.

Fernando Alonso then qualified 8th.

"So far we've qualified 13th on average," the Spaniard said. "This is a big step forward. Everything feels faster and better."

And team boss Eric Boullier said more good progress from the once-great British team is on the way.

"The big step will be followed by many small ones," he said. "The plan is to bring new parts to every race."

Asked if McLaren can catch up with Red Bull, Alonso answered: "It's up to us. We have the same engine. So it's just the chassis that makes all the difference."

(GMM)
Toto Wolff has scoffed at suggestions Pirelli favoured the German team with a tweak to the 2018 tyre design.

In Barcelona, despite Ferrari having the fastest car in recent races, Mercedes burst back to the front row of the grid for the Spanish grand prix.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel thinks it could be because of a tweak to the thickness of the tyre compounds for Barcelona.

"I think the tyre change helped them a bit," he said.

"It's hard to say how much, but somehow it has been positive for them."

But some have gone even a step further, alleging that Mercedes successfully lobbied Ferrari to alter the tyre design for performance reasons.

"That's just nonsense," team boss Wolff blasted.

"All the teams had heavy blistering during the winter tests -- Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren, us. So Pirelli changed the thickness of the tread.

"I think they did a good job because we did not see any blistering on the tyres today," he added.

"I don't know who would think we influence Pirelli or the FIA. That's not how it works in formula one," said Wolff.

(GMM)
Spanish GP 2018

By Dan Knutson in Barcelona

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were peerless in the Spanish Grand Prix. While he had won in Azerbaijan two weeks earlier due to fate and circumstance, his victory in Spain was on merit and flawless speed and execution. Here is how the race unfolded and he won.

PERFECT

Hamilton made a perfect start from pole position to grab the lead at the start of the 66-lap race.

NOT SO

It was not so perfect for Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) who lost second place to Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari). Kimi Raikkonen maintained fourth place in the other Ferrari.

HIT AND MISS

Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo collided while fighting for position in Azerbaijan, but they managed to miss each other in the first turns in Spain. Verstappen was in fifth and Ricciardo in sixth.

WIPEOUT

On lap 1 Romain Grosjean lost control of his Haas, spun and wiped out Nico Hulkenberg's Renault and Pierre Gasly's Toro Rosso. So three cars were out on the spot. While this had no affect on the leaders, it did put the race in a holding pattern until the Safety Car came in at the end of lap 6.

START AGAIN

Hamilton again jumped into the lead when the race started again. Vettel hung on to second ahead of Bottas, Raikkonen, Verstappen and Ricciardo.

THE DISAPPERING ACT

Hamilton immediately started to pull away from Vettel, and by lap 13 the gap was up to 6.9 seconds.

STRATEGY

Most teams wanted to do a one-stop strategy, but they were worried about the tires holding up for two long stints. The top six drivers started the race on the soft compound Pirelli slicks and would switch to the medium compound. But would the second set of tires make it to the end of the race?

FIRST TO BLINK

Ferrari made the first move, bringing Vettel in at the end of lap 17.

COVERED

Mercedes covered Ferrari by having Bottas pit for his set of mediums two laps later.

LEAD CHANGE

Hamilton pitted at the end of lap 25. So Verstappen took over the lead until he finally pitted at the end of lap 33. Ricciardo had stopped a lap earlier. Red Bull was clearly going for a one-stop strategy.

BACK TO FRONT

Hamilton was back in front on lap 34 and he comfortably held the lead for the rest of his 66-lap peerless race.

THE MISTAKE

The Virtual Safety Car was deployed when Esteban Ocon's Force India smoked to a halt. With the drivers circulating slowly on the track, Ferrari decided to have Vettel pit for a second set of mediums. Ferrari thought Mercedes would do the same. That turned out to be a mistake on Ferrari's part.

FORCED TO HOLD

Ferrari had to hold Vettel in the pit box for 5.6 seconds because Sergio Perez's Force India was going by. That meant that Verstappen was able to move into third ahead of Vettel.

"Our tires didn't last as long as for the others, so we couldn't follow the same strategy," Vittel said. "We had to stop again and we obviously lost two positions, and also a bit of time during the pit-stop itself. But staying out was not an option today."

TOUCH AND GO

Bottas who pitted way back on lap 19 was finding his tires now getting worn and losing grip and heat. Could he hold on to finish second? Barely. It was touch and go as his tires were worn down to the canvas.

"Before the race we thought a one-stop would be nearly impossible," Bottas said after finishing second, "but when we saw the tyres were holding up better than expected we changed our strategy. Of course I would have rather won."

MEANWHILE

Meanwhile, Hamilton's tires were holding up well and he had no concerns in the closing laps of the race.

MINOR DAMAGE

Verstappen's left front wing suffered some damaged when he hit Lance Stroll's Williams as the VSC period was ending. But the damage was minor enough so that Verstappen did not have to pit for a new wing. Furthermore, he was able to stay in third and ahead of Vettel who had been second early in the race.

"He (Bottas) was a bit too far away, but of course I had to keep pushing, because I had Sebastian behind me," Verstappen said. "I just wanted to see how my front wing was holding on, but it seemed alright. It doesn't look as nice but it's alright."

80/20

There was an 80 percent chance of rain. But the 20 percent "dry" stayed, so there would be no rain showers to cause chaos and mix-up the running order.

SURREAL

Hamilton now has 74 poles and 64 wins. He has also now broken another Michael Schumacher record by winning 41 races from pole position.

"It's still very surreal," he said. "Every now and then I keep coming up against Michael in terms of records and it just reminds me of just what a great he was."
Lao Cai razes drug trafficking ring with 329 bricks of heroin

The police of the northern border province of Lao Cai have brought to light the biggest drug trafficking ring, arresting two suspects and seizing 329 bricks (about 120kg) of heroin worth about 69 billion VND (3.03 million USD).

















In the afternoon of May 15, local police arrested Nguyen Van Dai, born in 1975 and residing in Thach Son commune, Anh Son district of the central province of Nghe An, and Nguyen Van Ly, born in 1991 and residing in Anh Son town, Anh Son district of Nghe An for illegally transporting the heroin.

The duo drove a Ford Ranger car with 329 heroin bricks hidden in many places of the car such as floor and oil tank.

At the police station, they admitted that they were transporting the drug from Nghe An to Lao Cai for cross-border sale.

The provincial police started keeping an eye on the case from April 27, 2016.

They launched activities to uncover the ring on May 6, 2018 under the instruction of Colonel Dinh Tien Quan, Director of the Lao Cai Department of Public Security and Colonel Hoang Manh Hung, Vice Director of the department.

The case is under further investigation.-VNA
Helicopter overflight of a fast-moving lava flow emerging from fissure 20 on May 19, at 7:52 AM HST. The flow is advancing to the southeast. Lava fountaining is visible in the background. The audio is the sound of the helicopter.

VIDEOS: LAVA NEWS

HTH 5-20-2018: Volcanologist: Effects of laze could reach 15 miles downwind

SA 5-20-2018: Presence of andesite means the lava that came up in fissure 17 could have come from magma stored in an underground reservoir dating back to before the 1955 eruption, possibly as early as the 1924 eruption or an eruption in 1840.

HTH 5-20-2018: Two lava flows enter the ocean off Highway 137; Coast Guard enforcing safety zone

HTH 5-20-2018: Lava crosses Highway 137 and enters the ocean in lower Puna

Lava entering ocean at MacKenzie St Park morning of May 20, 2018 PHOTO:USGS

HTH 5-19-2018: Lava flows cause brush fires to spread toward Kamaili Road; residents advised to evacuate immediately

SA 5-19-2018: Lava flow is currently heading in the general direction of MacKenzie State Park may cross highway within 5-6 hours

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT

From U.S. Geological Survey Monday, May 21, 2018, 1:57 AM HST

KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)

1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: RED

Kilauea Volcano Summit

A small explosion occurred at 12:55 AM at Halema'uma'u crater at Kilauea's summit. It produced an ash plume that reached about 7,000 ft asl and was carried by the wind to the southwest.

Additional explosive events that could produce minor amounts of ashfall downwind are possible at any time.

Information on ash hazards and how to prepare for ashfall maybe found here: http://www.ivhhn.org/information#ash

* * * * *

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT

From U.S. Geological Survey Saturday, May 19, 2018, 4:13 PM HST

KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)

1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: RED

Kilauea Volcano Lower East Rift Zone

Eruption of lava and ground cracking in the area of Leilani Estates subdivision continues.

Beginning yesterday and into today, the rate of lava eruption has increased. Fissure 17 is weakly active now, and Fissures 16-20 have merged into a continuous line of spatter and fountaining. Flows from the consolidated Fissure 20 crossed upper Pohoiki road late yesterday afternoon and continued flowing southward. This afternoon two flows from the merged fissure complex have joined less than a mile from the coast and continue to flow southward between Pohoiki and Opihikao Rds. The lava flow from Fissure 18 is stalled. It is unknown whether the flows will continue to advance, or stop, and new lava flows are likely given the rate of activity seen at the rift zone. Volcanic gas emissions remain very high.

For recent maps of activity, see: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_maps.html

Additional ground cracking and outbreaks of lava are possible in the area. Residents downslope of the region of fissures should heed all Count of Hawaii Civil Defense messages and warnings.

Magma continues to be supplied to the lower East Rift Zone; however, a GPS instrument near the Lower East Rift Zone is no longer moving suggesting that the rift zone is no longer inflating in this area. Elevated earthquake activity continues, but earthquake locations have not moved farther downrift in the past couple of days.

USGS/HVO continues to monitor the lower East Rift Zone activity 24/7 in coordination with Hawaii County Civil Defense, with geologists onsite to track ongoing and new fissure activity and the advance of lava flows.

Kilauea Volcano Summit

Small ash emissions from the Overlook crater have occurred intermittently today. Moderate trade winds were blowing to the southwest and noticeable ashfall may happen in downwind locations.

Additional explosive events that could produce minor amounts of ashfall downwind are possible at any time. Volcanic gas emissions at the summit remain high.

For forecasts of where ash would fall if such an explosion occur, please consult the Ash3D model output here: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/activity_2018.html

Information on ash hazards and how to prepare for ashfall maybe found here: http://www.ivhhn.org/information#ash

* * * * *

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT

From U.S. Geological Survey Saturday, May 19, 2018, 9:16 AM HST

KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)

1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: RED

Kilauea Volcano Lower East Rift Zone

Eruption of lava and ground cracking in the area of Leilani Estates subdivision continues.

Beginning yesterday and continuing overnight, the rate of lava eruption has increased. Fountaining is occurring at Fissure 17, and Fissures 16-20 have merged into a continuous line of spatter and fountaining. Flows from the consolidated Fissure 20 crossed upper Pohoiki road late yesterday afternoon and continued flowing southward. This morning, the wide flow is very active and is advancing at rates up to 300 yds per hour. A second flow from the same fissure complex is also flowing southward between Pohoiki and Opihikao Rds. The lava flow from Fissure 18 continues to advance more slowly. Fissure 17 and its flow are still active but the flow is advancing even more slowly. It is unknown whether the flows will continue to advance, or stop, and new lava flows are likely given the rate of activity seen at the rift zone.

For recent maps of activity, see: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_maps.html

Additional ground cracking and outbreaks of lava are possible in the area. Residents downslope of the region of fissures should heed all Count of Hawaii Civil Defense messages and warnings.

Magma continues to be supplied to the lower East Rift Zone; however, the GPS instrument near Pu`u Honua`ula is no longer moving suggesting that the rift zone is no longer inflating in this area. Elevated earthquake activity continues, but earthquake locations have not moved farther downrift in the past couple of days.

USGS/HVO continues to monitor the lower East Rift Zone activity 24/7 in coordination with Hawaii County Civil Defense, with geologists onsite to track ongoing and new fissure activity and the advance of lava flows.

Kilauea Volcano Summit

An explosion occurred around midnight last night at Halema'uma'u with the plume extending 10,000 ft a.s.l. Moderate trade winds were blowing to the southwest and noticeable ashfall was reported from downwind locations.

Additional explosive events that could produce minor amounts of ashfall downwind are possible at any time. Volcanic gas emissions at the summit remain high.

For forecasts of where ash would fall if such an explosion occur, please consult the Ash3D model output here: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/activity_2018.html

Information on ash hazards and how to prepare for ashfall maybe found here: http://www.ivhhn.org/information#ash

* * * * *

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT

From U.S. Geological Survey Saturday, May 19, 2018, 1:33 AM HST

KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)

1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: RED

Kilauea Volcano Summit

At 11:58 PM Local time, a short-lived explosion at from Halema'uma'u created an ash cloud that reached up to 10,000 ft asl and was carried southwest by the wind. Possible trace ash fall may have occurred along Highway 11.

Additional explosive events that could produce minor amounts of ashfall downwind are possible at any time. Volcanic gas emissions at the summit remain high.

For forecasts of where ash would fall if such an explosion occur, please consult the Ash3D model output here: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/activity_2018.html

Information on ash hazards and how to prepare for ashfall maybe found here: http://www.ivhhn.org/information#ash

Kilauea Volcano Lower East Rift Zone

Eruption of lava and ground cracking in the area of Leilani Estates subdivision continues. A fast-moving pahoehoe lava flow that emerged from fissure 20 this afternoon continues to flow southeast. The flow has three main lobes. The easternmost is east of Pohoiki Road and is moving about 230 yards per hour. The westernmost of the lobes is near Malamaki Road and is moving at about 40 yards per hour. These rates may change with time and USGS crews are in the area to monitor flow advance. Other fissures remain weakly active and volcanic gas emissions remain elevated throughout the area downwind. Smoke from burning vegetation as lava flows advance is also contributing to poor air quality.

For recent maps of activity, see: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_maps.html

Additional ground cracking and outbreaks of lava are possible in the area. Residents downslope of the region of fissures should heed all Count of Hawaii Civil Defense messages and warnings.

Magma continues to be supplied to the lower East Rift Zone as indicated by the continued northwest displacement of a GPS monitoring station. Elevated earthquake activity continues, but earthquake locations have not moved farther downrift in the past couple of days.

USGS/HVO continues to monitor the lower East Rift Zone activity 24/7 in coordination with Hawaii County Civil Defense, with geologists onsite to track ongoing and new fissure activity and the advance of lava flows.

SA May 18, 2018: People airlifted out of area isolated by fast-moving lava  Residents from Isaac Hale Beach Park to Kalapana are advised to prepare for voluntary evacuation should Highway 137 become threatened.

HTH May 18, 2018: "1.86 miles from Highway 137"

HTH May 19, 2018: Another explosive eruption reported at Kilaueas summit

SA May 19, 2018: Lava flow moves 1,000 feet in an hour, Lower Puna residents told to prepare to evacuate

HTH May 19, 2018: Everyone accounted for after lava isolated homes on Pohoiki Road, according to Civil Defense

* * * * *

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT

From U.S. Geological Survey Friday, May 18, 2018, 7:53 PM HST

KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)

1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: RED

Kilauea Volcano Lower East Rift Zone

Eruption of lava and ground cracking in the area of Leilani Estates subdivision continues. Late this afternoon, a fast-moving pahoehoe lava flow emerged from fissure 20 and traveled southeast where it crossed Pohoiki Road. Estimates from Hawaii County Fire Department aerial video at 6:30 pm indicate advance rate of 300-400 yards per hour; this rate may change with time and USGS crews are in the area to try and monitor flow advance. Other fissures remain weakly active and volcanic gas emissions remain elevated throughout the area downwind. Smoke from burning vegetation as lava flows advance is also contributing to poor air quality.

For recent maps of activity, see: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_maps.html

Additional ground cracking and outbreaks of lava are possible in the area. Residents downslope of the region of fissures should heed all Count of Hawaii Civil Defense messages and warnings.

Magma continues to be supplied to the lower East Rift Zone as indicated by the continued northwest displacement of a GPS monitoring station. Elevated earthquake activity continues, but earthquake locations have not moved farther downrift in the past couple of days.

USGS/HVO continues to monitor the lower East Rift Zone activity 24/7 in coordination with Hawaii County Civil Defense, with geologists onsite to track ongoing and new fissure activity and the advance of lava flows.

Kilauea Volcano Summit

For much of the day, a steady, white steam plume rose from the Overlook vent within Halema'uma'u. Several minor emissions of ash were observed in web cameras. No significant explosions and no earthquakes greater than magnitude 3.5 have occurred in the summit area in the past 24 hours. Background seismic levels have been increasing slowly over the course of the day.

Additional explosive events that could produce minor amounts of ashfall downwind are possible at any time. Volcanic gas emissions at the summit remain high.

For forecasts of where ash would fall if such an explosion occur, please consult the Ash3D model output here: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/activity_2018.html

Information on ash hazards and how to prepare for ashfall maybe found here: http://www.ivhhn.org/information#ash

* * * * *

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT

From U.S. Geological Survey Friday, May 18, 2018, 3:59 PM HST

KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)

1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: RED

Kilauea Volcano Summit

No explosions and no earthquakes greater than magnitude 3.5 have occurred in the summit area in the past day. Background seismic levels have been increasing slowly over the course of the day.

Volcanic gas emissions at the summit remain high.

Kilauea Lower East Rift Zone

The lower (eastern) end of the fissure system is the most active area today. This afternoon, fissure17 is actively spattering and the flow is active but is not covering new ground. In addition, fissures 18, and 20 are active, and the flow from fissure 18 has traveled approximately 0.6 miles in a southeast direction. An area 50-100 yards wide, parallel to and north of the line of fissures between Highway 130 and Lanipuna Gardens, is disrupted with many cracks. This long cracked area is currently being filled by pahoehoe lava flows from fissures 20 and 21. Fissure 15 was active and produced a lava flow that crossed Pohoiki Road between Leilani and Hinalo Streets.

Volcanic gas emissions remain elevated throughout the area downwind of the fissures.

Magma continues to be supplied to the lower East Rift Zone as indicated by the continued northwest displacement of a GPS monitoring station. Elevated earthquake activity continues, but earthquake locations have not moved farther downrift in the past couple of days.

USGS/HVO continues to monitor the lower East Rift Zone activity 24/7 in coordination with Hawaii County Civil Defense, with geologists onsite to track ongoing and new fissure activity and the advance of lava flows.

* * * * *

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT

From U.S. Geological Survey Thursday, May 17, 2018, 4:54 PM HST

KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)

1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: RED

Kilauea Volcano Summit

After the explosive eruption early this morning seismic levels have been gradually increasing, but as of this report no additional explosions have occurred.

No earthquakes greater than magnitude 3.5 have occurred in the past day.

Volcanic gas emissions at the summit remain high.

Kilauea Lower East Rift Zone

This afternoon, fissure 17 is still actively spattering but the flow is nearly stalled. In addition, fissures 18, 19, and 20 have reactivated and a new fissure (21) has opened between fissures 7 and 3. An area 50-100 yards wide, parallel to and north of the line of fissures between Highway 130 and Lanipuna Gardens, has dropped slightly. This long depression is currently being filled by pahoehoe lava flows from fissures 20 and 21.

Volcanic gas emissions remain elevated throughout the area downwind of the fissures.

Magma continues to be supplied to the lower East Rift Zone as indicated by the continued northwest displacement of a GPS monitoring station. Elevated earthquake activity continues, but earthquake locations have not moved farther downrift in the past couple of days.

USGS/HVO continues to monitor the lower East Rift Zone activity 24/7 in coordination with Hawaii County Civil Defense, with geologists onsite to track ongoing and new fissure activity and the advance of lava flows.

* * * * *

May 16, 2018 Eruption of Kilauea

HVO/USGS Volcanic Activity Notice

Volcano: Kilauea (VNUM #332010)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: RED

From Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Thursday, May 17, 2018, 6:33 AM HST

Volcanic Activity Summary: At about 0415 this morning, an explosion from the Overlook vent within Halemaumau crater at Kilauea Volcano's summit produced a volcanic cloud that reaches as high as 30,000 ft asl and drifted northeast. Continued emissions from the crater are reaching as high as 12,000 ft asl.

At any time, activity may again become more explosive, increasing the intensity of ash production and producing ballistic projectiles near the vent.

Resource on volcanic ash hazards: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanic_ash/

Resource on vog: https://vog.ivhhn.org/

Current NWS information on ashfall: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/watchwarn/

Recent Observations:

[Volcanic cloud height] up to 30,000 ft asl

[Other volcanic cloud information] Drifting generally northeast

Hazard Analysis:

[Ash cloud] The ashcloud is drifting downwind to the northeast.

[Ashfall] Ashfall has been reported in Volcanoes National Park, and may occur further downwind.

[Other hazards] Ballistic projectiles may be produced should steam-driven explosions occur. Impacts will be limited to an area around Halemaumau.

[Volcanic gas] Vog or volcanic air pollution produced by volcanic gas has been reported in Pahala.

Remarks: Photos of this activity may be found here:

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/kilauea_multimedia_15.html

* * * * * PHOTO: 1924 Eruption of Kilauea. HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT U.S. Geological Survey Wednesday, May 16, 2018, 4:47 PM HST KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010) 1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m) Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING Current Aviation Color Code: RED Kilauea Volcano Summit Ash emission from the Overlook crater within Halema`uma`u has generally decreased since yesterday. Although varying in intensity, at times the plume contains enough ash to be gray in color. The cloud is rising an estimated 3 to 4,000 feet above the ground, but altitudes are varying with pulses of emission. The ash cloud is drifting slowly northward from the Kilauea summit and ashfall may occur in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and Volcano Village. Communities downwind may receive ashfall and should take necessary precautions. Several magnitude 3 or stronger earthquakes occurred beneath the summit today. The earthquakes were at shallow depth and resulted in cracks in Highway 11 near the entrance to Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Some facilities within the National Park were damaged as well. The explosive eruption of 1924 at the Kilauea summit was also marked by hundreds of felt earthquakes as magma drained from the caldera. * * * * * HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY INFORMATION STATEMENT U.S. Geological Survey Wednesday, May 16, 2018, 2:35 PM HST KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010) 1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m) Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING Current Aviation Color Code: RED KILAUEA INFORMATION STATEMENT Strong earthquakes within the summit of Kilauea Volcano continue in response to ongoing deflation and lava column drop. As of the afternoon of May 16, the floor of Kilauea caldera has dropped approximately 3 feet (90 cm). This movement is stressing faults around the caldera of Kilauea, causing them to move and resulting in strong earthquakes of up to magnitude 4.4 thus far. Employees at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and nearby residents are reporting frequent ground shaking and damage to roads and buildings. Hawaii County Police reports cracks across Highway 11 between mile markers 28 and 29. Although these are passable, motorists are urged to use caution. As deflation continues, strong earthquakes in the area around Kilauea Volcano's summit are expected to continue and may become more frequent. Areas further from these earthquakes may feel some ground motion as well, but much less severe. The shallow depths of these earthquakes make them more damaging in the immediate vicinity of the epicenter, and individuals need to take precautions to minimize damage from the shaking, including the removal of unstable items from walls and shelves. Steep slopes should be avoided as they may become destabilized during strong earthquakes. * * * * * HVO/USGS Volcanic Activity Notice

Volcano: Kilauea (VNUM #332010)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: RED

Previous Aviation Color Code: ORANGE

Issued: Tuesday, May 15, 2018, 1:23 PM HST

Source: Hawaiian Volcano Observatory



Volcanic Activity Summary: As of early this morning, eruption of ash from the Overlook vent within Halemaumau crater at Kilauea Volcano's summit has generally increased in intensity. Ash has been rising nearly continuously from the vent and drifting downwind to the southwest. Ashfall and vog (volcanic air pollution) has been reported in Pahala, about 18 miles downwind. NWS radar and pilot reports indicate the top of the ash cloud is as high as 10,000 to 12,000 feet above sea level, but this may be expected to vary depending on the vigor of activity and wind conditions.

Ash emission from the Kilauea summit vent will likely be variable with periods of increased and decreased intensity depending on the occurrence of rockfalls into the vent and other changes within the vent.

At any time, activity may become more explosive, increasing the intensity of ash production and producing ballistic projectiles near the vent.

Resource on volcanic ash hazards: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanic_ash/

Resource on vog: https://vog.ivhhn.org/

Recent Observations:

[Volcanic cloud height] 10,000 - 12,000 feet

[Other volcanic cloud information] Drifting generally southwest with tradewinds.

Hazard Analysis:

[Ash cloud] The ashcloud is drifting downwind primarily to the southwest with the Trade Winds. Wind conditions are expected to change in the next 24 hours and other areas around Kilauea's summit are likely to receive ashfall.

[Ashfall] Ashfall has been reported in the community of Pahala, at locations along Highway 11 from Pahala to Volcano, and in the Ka'u Desert section of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

[Other hazards] Ballistic projectiles may be produced should steam-driven explosions occur. Impacts will be limited to an area around Halemaumau.

[Volcanic gas] Vog or volcanic air pollution produced by volcanic gas has been reported in Pahala.

Remarks: Photos of this activity may be found here:

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/kilauea_multimedia_15.html * * * * * KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)

1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE



Kilauea Lower East Rift Zone



This morning, eruptive activity remained concentrated at fissure 17, with intermittent lava spattering at fissure 18. Earlier this morning, a new fissure (20) located near fissure 18 produced two small pads of lava. The aa flow spreading from fissure 17 advanced about 380 m (1,250 ft) since 2:30 p.m. HST yesterday. The advance of the flow has slowed significantly since yesterday afternoon. At 6:45 a.m. the flow was nearly 2.5 km (1.5 mi) in length. VIDEO: Helicopter Flyover of Puna Makai Lava Field



Volcanic gas emissions remain elevated throughout the area downwind of the fissures.



Magma continues to be supplied to the lower East Rift Zone as indicated by the continued northwest displacement of a GPS monitoring station. Elevated earthquake activity continues, but earthquake locations have not moved farther downrift in the past couple of days.



USGS/HVO continues to monitor the lower East Rift Zone activity 24/7 in coordination with Hawaii County Civil Defense, with geologists onsite to track ongoing and new fissure activity and the advance of lava flows. * * * * * Ash plume at KILAUEA summit nearly continuous this morning



Activity at Halemaumau crater increased this morning to include the nearly continuous emission of ash with intermittent stronger pulses that form occasional higher plumes 1-2 kilometers (3,000 to 6,000 feet) above the ground. This photo shows the ash plume at about 9 a.m. HST. Tradewinds this morning are blowing the ash generally to the southwest toward the Ka`u Desert. The dark area to the right of the ash column rising from the Overlook crater is ash falling from the ash cloud to the ground. PHOTO: HVO May 15, 2018

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT

From U.S. Geological Survey Tuesday, May 15, 2018, 9:41 AM HST KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010) 1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m) Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE Kilauea Volcano Summit Ash emission from the Overlook crater within Halemaumau has generally increased this morning compared to previous days. Although varying in intensity, at times the plume contains enough ash to be gray in color. The cloud is rising an estimated 3 to 4,000 feet above the ground, but altitudes are varying with pulses of emission. The ash cloud is drifting generally west and southwest from the Kilauea summit and ashfall is occurring in the Ka'u Desert. Communities downwind are likely to receive ashfall today and should take necessary precautions. The National Weather Service has issued a Special Weather Statement regarding ashfall, please see: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/ For information on the hazards of volcanic ash and how to prepare your home or business, please see: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanic_ash/ Earthquake activity in the summit remains elevated with several strongly felt events at HVO today. Most of these earthquakes are related to the ongoing subsidence of the summit area and earthquakes beneath the south flank of the volcano. For information on volcanic ash, please see: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanic_ash/ * * * * * HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT From U.S. Geological Survey Sunday, May 13, 2018, 8:28 PM HST KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010) 1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m) Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE Lower East Rift Zone Eruption Eruption of lava continues from the northeast end of the active fissure system. Residents in lower Puna should remain informed and heed Hawaii County Civil Defense closures, warnings, and messages (http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts). As of late today, activity was dominated by lava fountaining, explosion of spatter bombs hundreds of feet into the air, and several advancing lava flow lobes moving generally northeast from fissure 17 at the downrift (northeast) end of the new fissure system. As of about 7 pm, one lobe was 2 yards thick and advancing roughly parallel to Highway 132. The flow front was just over a half mile southeast of the intersection of Highway 132 and Noni Farms Road. Based on overflight images late this afternoon, additional lava from fissure 17 was also moving slowly southeast. Volcanic gas emissions remain elevated. For the most recent map showing the locations of activity, please see https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_maps.html HVO field crews are on site overnight tracking the lava flow as conditions allow and reporting information to Hawaii County Civil Defense. This eruption is still evolving and additional outbreaks of lava are possible. The location of future outbreaks could include areas both uprift (southwest) and downrift (northeast) of the existing fissures, or, existing fissures can be reactivated. Communities downslope of these fissures could be at risk from lava inundation. Activity can change rapidly. For information on volcanic air pollution, please see: http://www.ivhhn.org/vog/ Kilauea Volcano Summit Deflationary tilt continues. A robust plume of steam and volcanic gas, occasionally mixed with ash, has risen from the Overlook crater within Halemaumau. Over the course of the day, rockfalls from the steep walls enclosing the Overlook crater generated ash clouds mixed with steam and gas intermittently throughout the day. These ash clouds have been relatively low concentration and have risen at most only a few thousand feet above the ground, a few generating very localized ashfall downwind. More explosive activity generating larger ash clouds remains possible and can occur with no warning. Earthquake activity in the summit remains elevated with several strongly felt events at HVO today. Most of these earthquakes are related to the ongoing subsidence of the summit area and earthquakes beneath the south flank of the volcano. For information on volcanic ash, please see: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanic_ash/ * * * * * East Rift Zone Eruption Update For Saturday May 12 At 7 PM This is a Civil Defense Message for Saturday, May 12, 2018 at 7 PM. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports a new fissure, number 17, is opening up about 100 meters below fissure 16. At this time, steam and lava spatter activity has started from this new fissure. Minor spattering activity from fissure (16) is diminishing and no significant lava flow was issued from this area. In addition, HVO has cautioned about the possibility of an explosive eruption at Halemaumau Crater due to the ongoing withdrawal of lava from Kilauea summit lake. This could generate dangerous debris very near the crater and ashfalls up to tens of miles downwind. Due to the volcanic activity, the following are issued: Under Emergency Provisions, any looting or vandalism during an emergency is treated as a felony.

Hawaii Police Department is enforcing the Federal Aviation Administrations Temporary Flight Restriction for lower Puna area. No helicopter or drone activity is allowed without approval.

Residents of lower Puna between Kapoho and Kalapana, are advised to be on the alert in the event of possible gas emissions and volcanic eruption. There may be little to no advance notice to evacuate, so take this time to prepare.

If you evacuate voluntarily, the Pahoa Community Center and Keaau Community Center are open. Food will be provided and the shelters are pet-friendly. The residents of Puna are going through a very difficult time. We ask for your help and understanding. County, State and Federal partners continue to monitor the situation. You will be informed of any conditions that affect your safety. Thank you for listening. Have a safe day. This is your Hawaii County Civil Defense. SA: Residents of Halekamahina Loop Road have been ordered to evacuate this morning after an 18th fissure was verified by the Department of Public Works and police. HNN: Officials urge Lower Puna residents to prepare for possible evacuation * * * * * HVO Reiterates Warning About Explosive Summit Event From Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, May 11, 2018 The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory again cautions the public about the possibility of an explosive eruption at Halemaumau. This is caused by the withdrawal of lava from Halemaumaus summit lake, which leads to a phreatic (steam-driven) eruption. Such an eruption could generate ash plumes as high as 20,000 feet. The area affected by ash plumes could be as wide as 12 miles. Should this occur, the following are advised: The danger from this eruption is ash fallout. The major response is to protect yourself from fallout.

If this event occurs while you are at home, stay indoors with the windows closed. Turn on your radio and listen for updates from authorities.

If you are in your car, keep the windows closed. Ash fallout may cause poor driving conditions, due to limited visibility and slippery driving conditions. Drive with extreme caution, or pull over and park.

After the hazard is passed, do check your home, and especially your catchment system, for any impact that may affect your water quality. This is precautionary information for your safety in the event that there is a Halemaumau explosive event. Hawaii County Civil Defense wants everyone in the Volcano area to be ready, and to remain safe. Keep yourself informed and on the alert. * * * * * HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT

From U.S. Geological Survey, Friday, May 11, 2018, 4:39 PM HST

KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)

1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE



Lower East Rift Zone Eruption

Volcanic unrest in the lower East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano continues. While no lava has been emitted from any of the 15 fissure vents since May 9, earthquake activity, ground deformation, and continuing high emission rates of sulphur dioxide indicate additional outbreaks of lava are likely. The location of future outbreaks is not known with certainty, but could include areas both uprift (southwest) and downrift (northeast) of the existing fissures, or resumption of activity at existing fissures. Communities downslope of these fissures could be at risk from lava inundation.



Residents in lower Puna should remain informed and heed Hawaii County Civil Defense closures, warnings, and messages (http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/ active-alerts).



For maps showing the locations of eruption features, please see https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/ volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_ maps.html



Hawaii County CD Volcano Map: LINK

For information on volcanic air pollution, please see: http://www.ivhhn.org/vog/



Kilauea Volcano Summit

Tiltmeters at the summit of Kilauea Volcano continue to record deflationary tilt. Based on this and field observations of the past two days, the lava lake level continues to drop. Rockfalls from the steep crater walls have generated small ash clouds mixed with white condensed water vapor intermittently throughout the day. These ash clouds have been relatively low concentration and have risen only a few thousand feet above the ground generating very localized ashfall. More explosive activity generating larger ash clouds remains possible.



Earthquake activity in the summit remains elevated. Many of these earthquakes are related to the ongoing subsidence of the summit area and earthquakes beneath the south flank of the volcano.



For information on volcanic ash, please see: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/ volcanic_ash/

* * * * *

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT

From U.S. Geological Survey Thursday, May 10, 2018, 6:51 PM HST

KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)

1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE

Lower East Rift Zone Eruption

High levels of unrest related to the intermittent eruption of lava in Leilani Estates in the lower East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano continue. While no lava was noted erupting today from any of the 15 fissure vents formed thus far, earthquake activity, ground deformation, and continuing high emission rates of sulfur dioxide indicate additional outbreaks of lava are likely. The location of future outbreaks is not known with certainty, but could include areas both uprift (southwest) and downrift (northeast) of the existing fissures, or resumption of activity at existing fissures.

Earthquake activity was high in the area today. Continuing ground deformation and located earthquakes were mostly in the area around and northeast of Fissure 15 at Pohoiki Road indicating that the intrusion is migrating further to the northeast. Steaming ground cracks in the vicinity of Highway 130 continue.

* * * * *

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT

From U.S. Geological Survey Wednesday, May 9, 2018, 4:55 PM HST

KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)

1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE

Lower East Rift Zone Eruption

The intermittent eruption of lava in Leilani Estates in the lower East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano continues. Visible activity this early afternoon was again focused on the northeast portion of the fissure area. Fissure 15 broke ground across Poihiki Road, generating a pahoehoe flow about 20 m (66 ft) long. During an overflight of the area about 3 p.m. HST, geologists observed a new steaming area uprift (west) of Highway 130. During a second overflight at 4:30 p.m., the area was still steaming.

Rates of motion increased late this morning on a GPS station 1.5 km (1 mile) southeast of Nanawale Estates. The direction of motion is consistent with renewed movement of magma in the downrift direction (to the northeast).

Rates of seismicity changed little throughout the day; located earthquakes were mostly uprift (west) of Highway 130. Gas emissions remain elevated in the vicinity of fissures.

Residents should remain informed and heed Hawaii County Civil Defense closures, warnings, and messages ( http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts ).

For maps showing the locations of eruption features, please see https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_maps.html

For information on volcanic air pollution, please see: http://www.ivhhn.org/vog/

Kilauea Volcano Summit

Tiltmeters at the summit of Kilauea Volcano continue to record the deflationary trend of the past week and the lava lake level continues to drop. At about 8:32 a.m. HST, a large rockfall from the steep crater walls into the retreating lake triggered an explosion that generated an ash column above the crater; the ash was blown toward the south-southwest. Rockfalls and explosions that produce ash columns are expected to continue.

A 3D model of the Overlook crater was created from thermal images collected during an early afternoon helicopter overflight on May 8. Based on the 3D model, the lake level was about 295 m (970 feet) below the floor of Halemaumau Crater.

Earthquake activity in the summit remains elevated. Many of these earthquakes are related to the ongoing subsidence of the summit area and earthquakes beneath the south flank of the volcano.

* * * * *

HVO/USGS Volcanic Activity Notice

Volcano: Kilauea (VNUM #332010)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE

Location: N 19 deg 25 min W 155 deg 17 min

Elevation: 4091 ft (1247 m)

From Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Wednesday, May 9, 2018, 8:02 AM HST

Volcanic Activity Summary: The steady lowering of the lava lake in Overlook crater within Halemaumau at the summit of Kilauea Volcano has raised the potential for explosive eruptions in the coming weeks. If the lava column drops to the level of groundwater beneath Kilauea Caldera, influx of water into the conduit could cause steam-driven explosions. Debris expelled during such explosions could impact the area surrounding Halemaumau and the Kilauea summit. At this time, we cannot say with certainty that explosive activity will occur, how large the explosions could be, or how long such explosive activity could continue.

Residents of the Kilauea summit area should learn about the hazards of ashfall, stay informed of the status of the volcano and area closures, and review family and business emergency plans.

Resource on volcanic ash hazards: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanic_ash/

Remarks: HAZARDS

Primary hazards of concern should this activity occur are ballistic projectiles and ashfall.

BALLISTIC PROJECTILES

During steam-driven explosions, ballistic blocks up to 2 m (yards) across could be thrown in all directions to a distance of 1 km (0.6 miles) or more. These blocks could weigh a few kilograms (pounds) to several tons.

Smaller (pebble-size) rocks could be sent several kilometers (miles) from Halemaumau, mostly in a downwind direction.

ASHFALL

Presently, during the drawdown of the lava column, rockfalls from the steep enclosing walls of the Overlook crater vent impact the lake and produce small ash clouds. These clouds are very dilute and result in dustings of ash (particles smaller than 2 mm) downwind.

Should steam-driven explosions begin, ash clouds will rise to greater elevations above ground. Minor ashfall could occur over much wider areas, even up to several tens of miles from Halemaumau. In 1924, ash may have reached as high as 20,000 feet above sea level. Small amounts of fine ash from these explosions fell over a wide area as far north as North Hilo (Hakalau), in lower Puna, and as far south as Waiohinu.

GAS

Gas emitted during steam-drive explosions will be mainly steam, but will include some sulfur dioxide (SO2) as well. Currently, SO2 emissions remain elevated.

WARNING TIME

Steam-driven explosions at volcanoes typically provide very little warning. Once the lava level reaches the groundwater elevation, onset of continuous ashy plumes or a sequence of violent steam-driven explosions may be the first sign that activity of concern has commenced.

BACKGROUND

Kilaueas lava lake began to drop on May 2, 2018. From its peak on May 2 to the most recent measurement at 9 pm on May 6, the lava lake surface dropped a total of more than 200 m (656 ft). The subsidence was at a relatively constant rate of about 2 meters (yards) per hour.

Measurements of subsidence have not been possible since May 6 because of thick fume and the increasing depth to the lava surface. However, thermal images indicate continued lowering of the lake surface since that time, consistent with deflationary tilt recorded at Kilaueas summit. Therefore, we infer that the lake surface continues to drop at roughly the same rate. So, while HVO cannot report exact depths of the receding lava lake, we can monitor the overall trend.

USGS and HVO scientists are monitoring changes at the summit 24/7 and watching for signs that hazardous conditions have increased, or may increase. HVO is working closely with Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Hawaii County Civil Defense to respond to this situation.

* * * * *

This map shows the locations of fissures and an aa flow erupted since May 3 in the order that they occurred in Leilani Estates as of 7:00 p.m. HST, May 8. The purple areas are lava flows erupted in 1840, 1955, 1960, and 2014-2015. (see large map)

VIDEO: Drone over Leilani Estates at Night

Contribute: Salvation Army Volcano Relief Fund

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT

U.S. Geological Survey Tuesday, May 8, 2018, 11:18 PM HST

KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)

1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE

Lower East Rift Zone Eruption

The intermittent eruption of lava in Leilani Estates in the lower East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano continues. Activity today was focused on the northeast portion of the fissure area; two new fissure segments (13 and 14) broke ground between fissures 7 and 6. Fissure 13 cut across Leilani Street. By 5:00 pm, fissures 13 and 14 were inactive; late this evening geologists reported loud jetting and booming sounds, and some spattering, at fissure 13. At about 6:00 p.m. reports of booming sounds were reported in the vicinity of Black Sands Beach Subdivision. When HVO geologists arrived soon after, no such sounds were occurring.

Earlier this morning, geologists reported the widening of cracks of about 1 to 4 cm (0.4 to 1.6 in) of cracks on Highway 130 and Aliili road.

Rates of seismicity changed little throughout the day, but increased during the fissure activity in the afternoon. Gas emissions remain elevated in the vicinity of fissures.

HVO field crews successfully completed the installation of two new co-located seismometers and GPS receivers on the north and south sides of the East Rift Zone. Mahalo to landowners for allowing access and use of their property. HVO geologists will be in the area overnight to track and report to Hawaii County Civil Defense on the activity, and other scientists are tracking the volcano's overall activity 24/7 using various monitoring data streams.

Residents should remain informed and heed Hawaii County Civil Defense closures, warnings, and messages ( http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts ).

For maps showing the locations of eruption features, please see https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_maps.html

For information on volcanic air pollution, please see: http://www.ivhhn.org/vog/

Kilauea Volcano Summit

Tiltmeters at the summit of Kilauea Volcano continue to record the deflationary trend of the past week and the lava lake level continues to drop. Rockfalls from the steep crater walls into the retreating lake continue to produce occasional ashy plumes above Halemaumau crater. These plumes are expected to continue.

Earthquake activity in the summit remains elevated. Many of these earthquakes are related to the ongoing subsidence of the summit area and earthquakes beneath the south flank of the volcano.

* * * * *

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT

From U.S. Geological Survey, Monday, May 7, 2018, 5:59 PM HST

KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)

1925'16" N 15517'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING

Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE

Lower East Rift Zone Eruption

The intermittent eruption of lava in the Leilani Estates subdivision in the lower East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano continues. The location of activity today was focused on the southwest portion of the area.

This morning, two new fissure segments broke ground. The first (fissure 11) opened in a forested area southwest of Leilani Estates about 9:30 am and was active for only 3 hours. The second (fissure 12) opened about 12:20 between older fissures 10 and 11. By 3:15 pm, both new fissures were inactive but the west end of fissure 10 was steaming heavily.

Cracks on Highway 130 widened from 7 cm to 8 cm over the course of the day and additional cracks were found just west of the highway on trend with the eruptive fissures.

For map of recent features discussed above, see https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_maps.html

Rates of seismicity and deformation changed little throughout the day.

Gas emissions likely remain elevated in the vicinity of fissures.

Residents should remain informed and heed Hawaii County Civil Defense closures, warnings, and messages ( http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts ).

For maps showing the locations of eruption features, please see https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_maps.html

For information on volcanic air pollution, please see: http://www.ivhhn.org/vog/

HVO geologists will be in the area overnight to track and report to Hawaii County Civil Defense on the activity, and other scientists are closely tracking the volcano's overall activity using various monitoring data streams.

Kilauea Volcano Summit

Tiltmeters at the summit of Kilauea Volcano continue to record the deflationary trend of the past several days and the lava lake level continues to drop. Rockfalls from the steep crater walls into the retreating lake continue to produce occasional ashy plumes above Halemaumau crater. These plumes are expected to continue.

Earthquake activity in the summit remains elevated but has decreased over the past few days. Many of these earthquakes are related to the ongoing subsidence of the summit area and earthquakes beneath the south flank of the volcano.

This message will be updated tomorrow morning or earlier should conditions change.

HVO Contact: askHVO@usgs.gov

MORE INFORMATION

Activity Summary also available by phone: (808) 967-8862

Subscribe to these messages: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vns2/

Webcam images: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_webcams.html

Photos/Video: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_chronology.html

Lava Flow Maps: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_maps.html

Definitions of terms used in update: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/extra/definitions.pdf

Overview of Kilauea summit (Halemaumau) and East Rift Zone (Puu Oo ) eruptions:

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/extra/background.pdf

Summary of volcanic hazards from Kilauea eruptions:

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/extra/hazards.pdf

Recent Earthquakes in Hawai'i (map and list):

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hvo/earthquakes/

Explanation of Volcano Alert Levels and Aviation Color Codes:

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/activity/alertsystem/index.php

https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2006/3139/

HVO Contact: askHVO@usgs.gov

CONTACT INFORMATION:

askHVO@usgs.gov
HSTA recommends Gov. David Ige for re-election

News Release from HSTA, Sat, May 12, 2018

The Hawaii State Teachers Association is pleased to recommend Gov. David Ige for a second term because he has been a strong leader for Hawaii and the nation.

It is a privilege of the HSTA to recommend Gov. David Ige for four more years as governor because he has been a leader for human and civil rights as well as a strong advocate for Hawaiis public schools, teachers and keiki, said HSTA President Corey Rosenlee.

When President Trump issued an executive order trying to prohibit incoming travelers from Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Iran and Libya, Gov. Ige stood against this attack on people based on their religion, Rosenlee said.

As he announced Hawaii planned to sue the federal government over the immigrant ban, Gov. Ige said, Certainly we felt compelled to take a stand against the executive order which, to us, is clearly focused on national origin and religious basis. Under Gov. Iges leadership, Hawaii took this case to the Supreme Court in defense of our constitution as well as human and civil rights.

Gov. Ige made Hawaii the first state in the nation to stand up to the National Rifle Association by signing a key gun control bill, Rosenlee added.

The new law enters gun owners into an FBI database that will automatically notify police if a Hawaii resident is arrested anywhere else in the country. This common sense legislation targets people who have broken laws in other states from getting access to firearms.

Gov. Ige has been a leader for Hawaii in education, said Rosenlee. For decades, Hawaiis children have suffered in classrooms where temperatures sometimes exceeded 100 degrees. Gov. Ige was able to air condition and install cooling measures in more than 1,300 classrooms.

Gov. Ige also made a strong contract for teachers one of his priorities. During negotiations last year, he worked with HSTA for days at the bargaining table. Sometimes he stayed up with us until 3 a.m. to find compromises that would work for the state, DOE and for teachers.

In the end, an overwhelming majority98 percentof the public school teachers who turned out voted to ratify the contract. It will bring a 14 percent raise for teachers over four years. The new contract also removed the onerous and inefficient parts of the teacher evaluation system.

Gov. Ige has worked with the Department of Education to lead the nation to take advantage of the new provisions allowed under the Every Student Succeeds Act, known as ESSA. Working with 3,000 teachers and community members, the governors task force created a new Blueprint for Education.

One of the task forces key recommendations was to move to a new way of assessing students by shifting to project-based assessments instead of standardized tests. Gov. Ige has worked with the DOE for Hawaii to apply to be one of seven states in the country to move away from bubble tests to assessments that require higher-level thinking.

The HSTA plans to announce its recommendations in several other key political races over the next week.

---30---

ILind: Teachers endorse Gov. Ige over former union attorney

SA: Teachers union backs Ige for governor in three-way race

KITV: Teachers' union endorses Gov. Ige
In other news, the Supreme Court of Finland decided to uphold the conviction of aggravated sexual abuse against a man who had sexual intercourse with a 10-year-old girl near Tampere in the autumn of 2016. Critics believe that the offence should be regarded as rape.

The Finnish governments decision to end their two-year basic income trial has been a major talking point over the last few weeks. Speaking in a recent interview with the Financial Times, Finance Minister Petteri Orpo told the newspaper that Finlands current system was making people passive.

Finland's finance minister gives thumbs down to basic income pilot

Business Insider Nordic

Since the beginning of last year, the government has been giving roughly 2,000 Finns 560 a month in free money to spend however they want. But soon they will have to return to the job market.

The 2-year trial will come to an end this year as decision makers are scrapping plans to extend the project.

Finance minister Petteri Orpo, who is the leader of centre-right National Coalition party, says in an interview with Financial Times that he rejects the basic income experiment as a model for welfare reform.

He argues that the current system has made people passive.

Working life has changed through globalisation, automation. We have to reform our society in order to activate people to reach a higher employment rate and to save the welfare state. This is what I call Nordic welfare model 2.0.

His government has recently taken the welfare system away from basic income. A new activation model law forces unemployed to work a minimum of 18 hours for three months, otherwise they will lose part of their benefits.

When we look at our economy that is now growing, we have tens of thousands of free jobs that cannot be filled and more than 200,000 unemployed people. We have to look at the incentives to work, says Orpo to Financial Times.

Original article was published by Business Insider Nordic on 09/05/2018 and can be found here.

Sex with 10-year-old not rape, Finnish court rules in migrants case

RT

In a case that has triggered public outrage, a top Finnish court has upheld a ruling that sex between an asylum seeker and a 10-year-old girl didnt constitute rape. Critics are calling for harsher sentences for child abuse.

Finlands Supreme Court rejected a request from the prosecution to appeal a three-year jail term for a 23-year-old man on Thursday. Finnish media identify him as Juusuf Muhamed Abbudin, an asylum seeker, but dont reveal his country of origin.

The man was convicted of aggravated sexual abuse, although the prosecution had sought a harsher sentence on charges of aggravated rape. However, the court left the original verdict unchanged.

The incident took place near the city of Tampere in southern Pirkanmaa in autumn 2016. The man had sexual intercourse with a girl, who was 10-years old at the time, in the yard of a deserted apartment block. He also exchanged sexually charged messages with her.

Both Pirkanmaa District Court and the Appeal Court in the city of Turku convicted the asylum seeker of aggravated sexual abuse and handed him a three-year prison sentence in 2017. The courts didnt recognize the incident as rape, saying the girl wasnt forced into the sexual act or overcome by fear. The judges also ordered the man to pay the child 3,000 ($3,600).

The decision fueled fierce debates across the country. Tuula Tamminen, professor of Child Psychiatry at the University of Tampere, insisted that the child simply couldnt know what was happening in such a situation.

Original article was published by RT on 05/05/2018 and can be found here.

How Finland is using the blockchain to revolutionise financial services for refugees

ReliefWeb

Refugees and asylum seekers forced to leave their homes are often found without paperwork, posing problems for them and for legal authorities in proving their very existence.

Without paperwork, it's impossible to prove your date of birth, open a bank account, access government services, and even get a legal job. Blockchain technology offers an interesting solution here  being able to track an identity on a ledger via a unique, immutable and independently verified record provides new opportunities to tackle this problem.

The Finnish Immigration Service Migri first partnered with Helsinki-based startup MONI back in 2015, as part of a pilot project that offered refugees a prepaid Mastercard linked to their digital identity (provided by Migri). Blockchain technology, deployed via Ethereum, maintains a record of the financial transactions made with the card. This makes it easier for refugees to find employment and receive money from jobs, and also allows them to pay bills electronically  ultimately speeding up their process of becoming established in Finland. It's thought that there are now thousands of MONI users among Finland's refugee community.

Privacy concerns are valid, but the system is voluntary and Migri says that identities are always kept private.

Original article was published by ReliefWeb on 10/05/2018 and can be found here.

Sheffield girl's balloon found 1,500 miles away in Finland

The Yorkshire Post

A man in Finland was left astounded when he found a balloon believed to have been released some 1,500 miles away in Sheffield  and now hopes to trace its owner.

Arto Julkunen found the purple and blue balloon in woodlands Tampere, Finland on April 29 this year.

Written on the balloon on one side is the message: 'Lilly Butten, 9 years,' and written on the other side is: 'City of Sheffield'.

Mr Julkunen launched a Facebook appeal to see if he could find out whether the balloon was truly released in Sheffield.

The 56-year-old said: "My wife, my Labrador Retriever and I were having a normal Sunday walk in a forest when we found it. I first thought that 'Gosh, someone has thrown litter here again'.

"I decided to collect it. To my surprise I saw faint writing on it  barely visible. After reading it I couldn't believe that it was really saying 'City of Sheffield'. When I read the other side, I decided that  true or not  I have to put this on Facebook. If it travelling 1,500 miles is true, it really is a wonder."

Original article was published by The Yorkshire Post on 07/05/2018 and can be found here.

Eurovision 2018: the songs to look out for, from gay couples to toy camels

The Guardian

Look out for the other banging dance tune in the line-up: Finlands Saara Aalto with Monsters. Sung by the former X Factor runner-up, Aaltos guaranteed the fetish  and alt-right  votes thanks to her dancers leather-heavy uniforms, but she deserves a lot more because the tune is brilliant. She is this years best Scandinavian act, and also sings upside down at one point while strapped to a Catherine wheel, which is surely worth something.

Original article was published by The Guardian on 09/05/2018 and can be found here.

Dan Anderson  HT

Photo: Lehtikuva
A CHARITY volunteer who completed a 14,000ft skydive to raise funds says it was one of the best experiences of her life.

Mollie Jeffrey made the jump at Old Sarum Airfield in Salisbury to raise money for the Henley and

Peppard branch of the Royal British Legion.

Mrs Jeffrey, who is branch membership secretary, was strapped to Corporal Nathan Connolly, a member of the Red Devils, and was watched from the ground by branch members including chairman John Green.

She was persuaded to take on the challenge after talking to paratrooper Carlo Sisi at the launch of last years Poppy Appeal in Henley.

Mrs Jeffrey, from Harpsden, said: It was an overwhelming experience as those whove already done it with a lot less fuss know already.

It really did seem a huge thing to me even though I felt pretty calm immediately beforehand.

It just is a pretty strange thing to be hanging outside a plane at 14,000ft waiting to fall out, tightly attached to my handsome Red Devil.

The views on the way down were tremendous and my loyal supporters gave me a round of applause when I staggered back to them on terra firma. It took 12 hours for my ears to unpop and 24 hours to stop shaking!

Mrs Jeffrey, whose father was in the RAF, was wrapped in a Legion flag after landing and presented with a trophy and a Parachutist Badge, a military badge issued to paratroopers, belonging to Maj Sisi. She said: Carlo was the one who first inspired me to do the skydive through his extraordinary enthusiasm and his own bravery.

It has been one of the highlights of my life and so once again a huge thank-you to everyone for their donations.

She has raised more than 3,000 so far. To make a donation, visit www.justgiving.com/Mollie-Jeffrey
#stocks-summary Seoul stocks inch down on Chinese developers' debt crises South Korean stocks closed slightly lower Friday largely on the back of growing concerns about giant Chinese property developers' debt crisis. The Korean won fell against the U.S. ...
The Israel entry, performed by Netta Barzilai, won the contest, pushed over the line by achieving the highest level of public support.

There was a disappointing end to Eurovison week for Ryan OShaughnessy, when the Irish entry was placed 16th, with a total of 136 points, in Saturday night's final. 74 of those points had come from the various juries  a respectable total which itself looked unattainable as the first few votes were announced.

For an agonising while, it seemed that we might rank among the competition's most ignored damp squibs. However, lower-level points started to accumulate, placing Ireland in or around the half-way mark  where we stayed even after the public vote.

"Its unfortunate that we didnt get the points we really wanted, but thats Eurovision, Ryan OShaughnessy said afterwards. Its not as easy as just going out and playing live.

Tonight felt amazing, he added. I felt like I had everyone in Ireland behind me. I couldnt be prouder to be Irish."

The winning song from Israel had been among the pre-contest favourites. Entitled Toy, it touches on contemporary themes, including the MeToo movement. In essence a sort of novelty pop track, it is hard to get excited about.

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"I'm so happy. Thank you so much for choosing different, thank you for accepting difference between us, Netta said on stage immediately after her win was announced. "Thank you for celebrating diversity. I love my country. Next time in Jerusalem!

Whether that openness to diversity extends to Palestinians is a different question. But it is not entirely unfair to ask it, when a countrys flag features so prominently in the celebrations (as indeed would the Irish flag, had Ryan OShaughnessy triumphed).

In an interview with Israel's Kan TV, Netta proclaimed that she was looking forward to the world seeing what she described as "the Israeli carnival" when the contest comes to Jerusalem next year.

"People will see how wonderful we are, she said, what a vibe we have. Best people the best place in the world. Be good to others. And be good to yourselves."

It is, you might say, typical of the well-meaning guff which is characteristic of an occasion like this. But that the victory will give fresh focus to the campaign for artists to boycott Israel is absolutely certain.

"The winner Netta brings a completely different style to the Eurovision that we hadnt seen before, OShaughnessy said  and he was not entirely wrong  though there have indeed been what might be seen as oddball winners in the past. This is Israels fourth Eurovision victory. Their last win came in 1998, when Dana International won with the song Diva.

Hot Press' favourite  Cyprus Eleni Foureira  was finally placed second, with Fuego. A former member of the hit band Mystique, she had been a big sensation during the semi-final stage, and the contest eventually resolved itself into a straight battle for the public vote between Israel and Cyprus. Israel were ahead on points from the judges  but not by a lot, and a shift sufficient to take Foureira across the line as winner was on the cards, if she topped the public vote.

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However, it was not to be, with Netta Barzilai garnering a higher number of public votes securing the victory for Israel. What will happen next year, however, remains a puzzler. That a concerted effort will be made to disrupt the event to the greatest extent possible seems inevitable. Indeed RTE is certain to be challenged about sending an Irish entrant.

Interestingly, Paul McCartney recently decided that he would not travel to Israel to receive the Wolf Prize for Music, which was awarded to him in February. The ceremony is scheduled for later this month.

"I'm grateful to be chosen for the Wolf Prize for Music," McCartney told Haaretz newspaper. "Its certainly a great honor for me to be included among the greatest artists, creators, scientists and writers of todays history. But after reviewing my schedule I have to announce that I will not be able to arrive at the date set."

Similarly, American-Israeli actress Natalie Portman refused to pick up the so called Genesis Prize when she heard that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be speaking at the prize-giving.

So what will RTE decide? Theres interesting times ahead. That much is certain.
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Board of Health members David Rhoades, Bruce Shepley and Peter Hoyt meet on Wednesday.

Adams Board of Health May Share Abandoned Property List

ADAMS, Mass.  The Board of Health wants to be more proactive in ensuring other town departments have access to its abandoned properties list.

Bruce Shepley told his fellow members Wednesday that their office does keep a record of abandoned properties.

"I followed up on it and the bottom line is that we have one in our office," he said.

Administrative Assistant Pam Gerry said the office gets a few calls a year about the list but nothing substantial.

Shepley suggested making the file more available to other departments.

"This may not be pertinent to the Board of Health but this is a book that the town would want when they are looking at properties, community development or the auctions," he said. "I bet real estate agents or people who flip homes would also be interested in it."

Shepley added that the file may be more useful if it is digitized.

"It sounds to me like the thing that we are lacking in is the database or spreadsheet," he said. "My gut feeling is I think if we created that spreadsheet ... I think it would create a higher level of interest."

In other business, Shepley said he had no real update of the status of the former Curtis Paper Mill on 155 Howland Ave. in which the town is in the process of taking for back taxes.

Shepley said he attended a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting in which it was stated that no business should be conducted on the property because the property is not supposed to be entered at all.

"The property is not supposed to be accessed at all," he said. "No one, not even the town unless they have a warrant, to go on that property."

The town officially began the process of taking the property last year and pulled MJD Real Estate's operating permits. Owners Norman Dellaghelfa Jr. and Roberta Dellaghelfa, who used the facility for their trucking business, owe the town more than $450,000 in unpaid real estate and personal property taxes.

Since then multiple residents have come forward with the concerns that the property was still being used.

Shepley noted that the property is still out of the Board of Health's hands.
Julian Assange is in immense danger

Ecuador Hints it May Hand Over Julian Assange to Britain and the US

By James Cogan

May 13, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Julian Assange is in immense danger. Remarks made this week by Ecuadors foreign minister suggest that her government may be preparing to renege on the political asylum it granted to the WikiLeaks editor in 2012 and hand him over to British and then American authorities.

On March 28, under immense pressure from the governments in the US, Britain and other powers, Ecuador imposed a complete ban on Assange having any Internet or phone contact with the outside world, and blocked his friends and supporters from physically visiting him. For 45 days, he has not been heard from.

Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa stated in a Spanish-language interview on Wednesday that her government and Britain have the intention and the interest that this be resolved. Moves were underway, she said, to reach a definite agreement on Assange.

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

If Assange falls into the hands of the British state, he faces being turned over to the US. Last year, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions stated that putting Assange on trial for espionage was a priority. CIA director Mike Pompeo, now secretary of state, asserted that WikiLeaks was a non-state hostile intelligence service.

In 2010, WikiLeaks courageously published information leaked by then Private Bradley [now Chelsea] Manning that exposed war crimes committed by American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. WikiLeaks also published, in partnership with some of the worlds major newspapers, tens of thousands of secret diplomatic cables, exposing the daily anti-democratic intrigues of US imperialism and numerous other governments.

For that, Assange was relentlessly persecuted by the Obama administration. By November 2010, it had convened a secret grand jury and had a warrant issued for his arrest on charges of espionagecharges that can carry the death sentence. The then Labor Party government in Australia headed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard threw Assange, an Australian citizen, to the wolves. It refused to provide him any defence and declared it would work with the US to have him detained and put on trial.

On June 19, 2012, under conditions in which he faced extradition to Sweden to answer questions over fabricated allegations of sexual assault, and the prospect of rendition to the United States, Assange sought asylum in the Ecuadors embassy in London.

Since that time, for nearly six years, he has been largely confined to a small room with no direct sunlight. He has been prevented from leaving, even to obtain medical treatment, by the British governments insistence it will arrest him for breaching bail as soon as he sets foot outside the embassy.

Now, for six weeks and three days, he has been denied even the right to communicate.

Jennifer Robinson, the British-based Australian lawyer who has represented Assange since 2010, told the London Times in an interview this month: His health situation is terrible. Hes had a problem with his shoulder for a very long time. It requires an MRI [magnetic resonance imaging scan], which cannot be done within the embassy. Hes got dental issues. And then theres the long-term impact of not being outside, his visual impairment. He wouldnt be able to see further than from here to the end of this hallway.

The effort to haul Assange before a US court is inseparable from the broader campaign underway by the American state and allied governments to impose sweeping censorship on the Internet. Lurid allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 US election and denunciations of fake news have been used to demand that Google, Facebook and other conglomerates block users from accessing websites that publish critical commentary and exposures of the ruling class and its agenciesincluding WikiLeaks and the World Socialist Web Site.

WikiLeaks has been absurdly denounced as pro-Russia because it published leaks from the US Democratic Party National Committee that revealed the anti-democratic intrigues the partys leaders carried out to undermine the campaign of Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential primary elections. It also published leaked speeches of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that further exposed her intimate relations with Wall Street banks and companies.

As part of the justification for Internet censorship, US intelligence agencies allege, without any evidence, that the information was hacked by Russian operatives and supplied to WikiLeaks to undermine Clinton and assist Trumpwhom Moscow purportedly considered the lesser evil.

In response to the hysterical allegations, WikiLeaks broke its own tradition of not commenting on its sources. It publicly denied that Russia was the source of the leaks. That has not prevented the campaign from continuing, with Assange even being labelled the Kremlins useful idiot in pro-Democratic Party circles. WikiLeaks is blamed for Clintons defeat, not the reality, that tens of millions of American workers were repulsed by her right-wing, pro-war campaign and refused to vote for her.

Under conditions in which the Ecuadorian government has capitulated to great power pressure and is collaborating with British and US agencies to break Julian Assange, there is an almost universal and reprehensible silence on the part of dozens of organisations and hundreds of individuals who once claimed to defend him and WikiLeaks.

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which in February 2016 condemned Assanges persecution as a form of arbitrary detention and called for his release, has issued no statement on his current situation.

In Britain, the Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn have said nothing on the actions by Ecuador. Nor have they opposed the determination of the Conservative government to arrest Assange if he leaves the embassy.

In Australia, the current Liberal-National government and Labor leadership are just as complicit. The Greens, which claimed to oppose the persecution of Assange, have not made any statement in parliament or issued a press release, let alone called for public protests. Hundreds of editors, journalists, academics, artists and lawyers across the country who publicly defended WikiLeaks in 2010 and 2011 are now mute.

A parallel situation prevails across Europe and in the US. The so-called parties of the left and the trade unions are all tacitly endorsing the vicious drive against Assange.

Around the world, the Stalinist and Pabloite pseudo-left organisations, anxious not to disrupt their sordid relations with the parties of the political establishment and the trade union apparatuses, are likewise silent.

The World Socialist Web Site and the International Committee of the Fourth International unconditionally defend Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. If the ruling elite can haul him before a court, it will hold him up as an example of what happens to those who speak out against social inequality, militarism, war and police-state measures. His prosecution would be used to try to intimidate and silence all dissent.

If Assange is imprisoned or worse, and WikiLeaks shut down, it will be a serious blow to the democratic rights of the entire international working class.

Workers and young people should join with the WSWS and ICFI in demanding and fighting for the immediate freedom of Julian Assange.
Ray McGovern: Haspel Hearing Is A Charade Watch 79-year-old CIA veteran Ray McGovern who was violently escorted out of a U.S. Senate hearing and detained on Wednesday, has now been released and speaks with RT. Posted May 13, 2018 Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter ===== 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.
President Muhammadu Buhari via his official Twitter handle, earlier today congratulated Kayode Fayemi for winning the All Progressives Congress, APC primaries in Ekiti state. The president said he has no doubt that Dr Fayemis track record as a reformistwith a passion for education, health and welfarewill stand him in good stead in the elections.

President Buhari further urged other contestants who didnt make it at the APC primaries to lend their support to Dr Fayemi, in ensuring that the APC emerges winner in the July 14th gubernatorial election in Ekiti state.

See what the president wrote

See reactions from some Nigerians

Mr President, pls what is Fayemi,s achievement so far as the Minister of solid Minerals in ur govt, as to warrant ur endorsement for him to come back as Gov of Ekiti. Fayemi is one of the dead woods in ur administration sir. He is better of as a lecturer.  Hanny Woko (@sa_hanny) May 13, 2018

You mean your Honourable minister of Solid minerals. Contested for Governorship election while still a minister under you. I hope he will win in his local govt this time though.  Yinka (@yinkuzjyde) May 13, 2018

Ekiti people should be very careful bcoz there state university will go up times 5 of initial payment they should watch well and see what happened in ondo after APC took over from PDP even APC stop paying for senior waec which PDP did for more than 16yrs  Ephraim Chukwuedo (@EphraimChukwue2) May 13, 2018

Well present Governor of Ekiti, Ayodele Fayose has asked President Buhari not to celebrate yet as Fayemis deperation to become Ekiti governor is dead on arrival. Here is what he wrote via Twitter;
Linda Ikeji has taken to her page to share some new photos, she is seen wearing only a swimsuit.

She is widely considered to be the most successful blogger in Nigeria and even in Africa.

The new photos has gotten her many followers on Instagram excited.

This is because the businesswoman rarely shows off too much skin when she shares photos of herself online.

Linda Ikeji is known for always admonishing her social media followers to pursue their passion and achieve their dreams.

She also posts new photos on almost a daily basis revealing her look for the day.

But she rarely shows any photos of herself in swimsuits or bikini. It is not surprising therefore, that this is causing quite some buzz.

In these new photos, Linda is seen in her swimsuit, lying down on a soft recliner beside her pool under the sun as she takes in some breeze.

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Mercy Johnson has replied a fan who felt the actress wasnt being a good celebrity by not giving out money to her fans.

She recently addressed the breakup rumors between herself and her husband was dragged into an exchange by a fan who thinks she is responsible for her and her childs upkeep.

Mercy Johnson had taken to Instagram to wish mothers a happy mothers day:

My kids call it yelling when I raise my voice but I call it Motivational Speaking to the selective listenerBecause if you dont listen hmmm ,You shall chop discipline .HMD to all my mummy Friends.

However, a fan commented on the post asking why she doesnt give out money on her page as she (The fan) is suffering with her kid.

U no de dash person money i de here de suffer with pikin not happy joor

Replying the comment, Mercy simply wrote; I work dear, do the same

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A Nigerian lady with the name, Damilola Falodun recently arrived from Arab country, Oman and her experience which she narrated to a reporter was quite a traumatizing one.

According to Damilola, in Oman, most men regard black women as sex objects and they use them to satisfy their thirst for pleasure.

The lady narrated her ordeal as a sex slave in the country.

Her story was covered by Vanguard Newspaper and it is more like reading through the pains Nigerian citizens passing through in the search for greener pastures outside of the shores of the country.

Read Below:

The quest for greener pastures abroad by some Nigerian youths is on the increase despite calls by concerned citizens to desist from such practices.

The aftermath of such trips, orchestrated by touts and dubious travel agents with consequential effects, is a sordid story.

Many who embarked on such trips either to the point of destination or turned back, return to tell tales of bruised emotions or disorientation.

The plight of these young African girls who are lured into the belief that life is better outside the country has become an unending story.

Such obnoxious arrangements  call it economic migration, human trafficking or slavery in disguise- have attracted huge derision from the general public, even with the highly placed monarch, Oba of Benin, raining curses on the perpetrators.

Many people assume that the heinous trade started with foreign businessmen, but the truth is that Nigerians are either partners in crime or originally conceptualized the idea.

In a true life story, Damilola Falodun, a 22-year old native of Ekiti State is one of such victims who escaped and returned from Oman, Middle East by sheer grace.

Having lost both parents in one year, a period in time when life should have been bubbling as a promising junior level (OND) student at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta in 2014, things took a nose dive for her as she could not continue her education.

She was in a sudden labyrinth, having no one to actually depend on as her siblings were in the same survival dilemma.

Vanguards Weekend Woman caught up with her during the recently held Queen Moremi Ajasoro cultural beauty pageant in Lagos. Her story is one case too many among others who either have died or do not know how to get back to Nigeria.

Her story,

In the beginning I am a native of Ekiti State and live at Oluwaga area of Ipaja, Lagos State. Currently, my parents are late. Before then, my father was a businessman residing in Abia State.

For quite a period of time, about seven years, I never got to see him until his death in 2014. He was separated from my mother when I was much younger, due to irreconcilable domestic issues caused by his family.

Initially, he came home sparingly and after my step sister got married, he stopped coming home but ironically, he would call me especially on my birthdays to wish me well.

I was 19 years old then and in school, preparing for my Ordinary National Diploma first semester exam (OND) when I received a call from home announcing that my dad was dead.

I became devastated and had to miss the exam as a result of that. My father did not survive an asthma ailment coupled with the fact that he lived alone away from home.

As I was trying to get over his death, another death occurred and it was my mother, just four months after my fathers death.

This occurred during the start of my second semester exams. As a result, I could not sit for it and that was how I dropped out of school without any result.

My mother became hypertensive and did not survive it. She was a petty business woman who had supported us with her trading even when my father was not there for us.

I felt the pains of his absence but later got used to it. My mother was equally a caring person.

As a petty trader, I used to hawk goods to help her out in her trading. One virtue my mother imbibed in me is to be contented with the little we have in the house.

And thats what bonded us together and made us strong to overcome the ordeal of her single parenting.

In her words, Manage whatever I bring to this house and do not look at what other people are eating or doing. You never can tell how they got it.

She made sure we were all together under one roof till her death.

When I stopped schooling, I didnt get anyone to help or fund my education. Life was tough and I had to look for menial jobs to sustain myself.

I started to work as a customer care service person at a Multichoice outlet in Ilupeju, Lagos with my Industrial attachment (IT) letter from my school since I couldnt finish my studies.

And the journey started from here

My initial idea was to gather some money and start a business and later continue with my education, but through their assumed conviction, my plan changed.

According to them, it is easy to work and continue education abroad than here in Nigeria and I consented.

They also told me that working abroad is hourly, that it would enable me to create time for studies.

My initial country of interest was Canada but after unsuccessful attempt to secure Canadian visa, I opted for Oman in the Middle East and this happened in 2015.

The same twin sisters introduced me to a traveling agent, who was a pastor of a church.

The pastor who was very frequent at the resort for business was very handy to handle the transaction without us knowing his office.

We trusted and believed him because, as a man of God, everything he does would be genuine.

After about two months without seeing the visa, we decided to go to the agency by ourselves only to discover that the pastor has duped us and disappeared with our money.

In our bewilderment and still trying to overcome the shock, the owner of the office he used told us that since we were still interested in traveling, another option was Oman in the Middle East.

According to him, the country was in need of workers and visa processing was very fast. One of us became courageous and decided to go.

She eventually left for Oman and after some months, she encouraged us to come through a coded SMS message from Oman.

I was inspired, and changed my mind of going to Canada since the essence was to have a new life.

Within one week, after paying the agency from the money I saved from working at the resort, the visa was handed over to me en-route to Oman.

Life in the Middle East

On arrival at the Oman airport, a driver was sent to pick me alongside other African girls.

While on the way to their office, our passports and other traveling documents were taken from us. W

e stayed in the office for about two days before we were assigned to homes to work.

I was not privy to the nature of the job until we were told that the only job available in Oman for the African girls was house-help job called Shangala in Oman language and prostitution.

I also noticed that the reason the girl that left before us could not divulge any information to us was because every document including phone was taken from her.

The only means of communication was a coded text messages under the scrutiny of the masters.

Under the contract agreement signed here in Nigeria by the agents, unknown to us, communication or the use of phone was not allowed; hence it would be taken away from us.

It was a two year arrangement contracted by Nigerians in collaboration with their Omanis counterparts there.

The contracts were signed by the two parties secretly. The Omani agents would pay about N700, 000 to agents in Nigeria which would be used to facilitate our tickets, visas and traveling documents.

But the dubious Nigerian agents would also demand about N600, 000 from us for the same purpose already paid for by the Omani agents.

They told us that our own money was what they needed to facilitate the traveling documentation which was a lie. The moment you are gone, they signed you off.

This contract was an only girls affair, boys are not allowed. Their targets were naive young girls who showed some elements of desperation to travel abroad.

They would deceive the girls that the salary was about $5,000 a month and on hearing such, any girl in need would jump at it. That was how they lured young girls into the contract.

In Oman, we were told by the Omani lords in a simple language, You are our property. We have bought you for two years and you dont own yourself until you finish the contract.

This was why our passports were taken away from us; they called it their own property until we were done with the contract.

While there, you must work for at least one year before your salary would be handed over to you.

Now, the irony is that, the so called masters would apply some tricks that would make you not to last for three months in a place.

The moment you became frustrated and wanted to change from your home to another home, the entire contract would be canceled, and you would start all over again.

Under these conditions, many girls were inhumanly treated. Some died in the process while some became perpetual slaves to the masters.

The job description was horrible. As a maid, you have no rest for a whole year.

We must serve an extended home of about six to seven families. In Oman, they keep nuclear homes and each housemaid served the entire homes without rest or any holiday.

Other inhuman treatments include sexual harassment, violent physical attack by wicked masters, while some would push you out to make sure you did not complete your contract.

Moreover, every salary you work for before the completion of the contract would be paid in advance to the agents in Oman.

You can only have access to your salary when you complete a contract with a house.

Information about work condition was kept secret and you dare not use their phone in their absence. The experience was horrible.

Work experience in my first contract. My first work experience was in a home at Nizwa city, Oman  a family of five children with a little child to babysit.

The wife worked and catered for the family while the man stayed at home doing nothing. I became vulnerable to the idle man in the house.

I was harassed sexually every moment the wife went to work and he would not allow me to concentrate on my job and at the same time threatened me with all sorts of things.

The ordeal continued everyday on a daily basis, although he did not succeed but I was troubled emotionally and he threatened to extend my contract if I did not consent to his request.

As we were not allowed to have phone of our own, I tried to device means of getting a phone to use knowing fully well that the only way I could get out of this situation was to communicate with anybody outside the city or country who could hear me out.

With the little money I saved secretly, I managed to acquire a small phone that I always hid inside my undies for fear of losing it to them.

While his harassment continued, I thought of using the phone to make just one minute video clip of his sexual moves.

That was the only way anybody could believe me because as a foreigner and as a housemaid in a country where English language is not spoken, it may result to a case of frame up and you might be killed.

So many girls have been killed without trace because theres nothing like communication or a community gathering of foreign workers in that land.

On one fateful day when the wife left for work, he noticed that I was alone in the kitchen and began to advance towards me without his clothes on.

Instinctively, I placed the phone on video recording without his knowledge.

As he approached to get hold of me by force, I pretended to be helpless, pleading with him to spare me.

He became more daring when he observed that I am not putting up any resistance to shove him off.

While he grabbed my hand, still stark Unclad, the video recorded everything and within ten seconds of struggle with him I cleverly pushed him down and ran out of the house with the phone unknown to him.

At that moment, he became angry and went upstairs to plan how to get rid of me.

I stayed at the gate until the wife came back from work. When she saw me on arrival, I didnt let her ask me a question before I told her to take me back to the job agencys office.

My intention was not to disclose anything to them because if they knew, they would manage the situation to suit themselves and eventually get rid of me.

I kept mute until I got to the office, narrated the whole ordeal and showed them the video recording of what transpired in the kitchen.

They were all surprised and asked me how I managed to do that. I pretended to be naive and answered that I didnt know where the courage came from.

I stayed with the agency for close to two weeks before I could get another suitable family to work with.

Then, how did you manage to find your way back home under such tight situation?

When the situation became unbearable, I started thinking fast on how to wriggle myself out. One day I decided to tell the new family I worked with that my parents died.

Although, since I knew they were dead and long gone, I did not have any sense of guilt using that to pave way for me to come back home.

Funny enough, they became sympathetic but at some point, played down on it and asked me to stay and adopt them as foster parents.

When I refused, they became hesitant to let me go claiming my contract with them had not ended.

I then told them that it was a strong tradition in my place that female children must bury their dead parents and if I didnt see my parents corpse, I would die.

It was really tough as they could not agree. They communicated with the agency to hold me in the office for some time just to know if I would change my mind.

When they noticed how adamant I was, they eventually accepted and that was how I found my way back home.

I was very desperate to return to Nigeria because stories of missing black girls or dead ones found on the streets became a daily occurrence.

These girls according to reports were beaten to death, maybe while trying to escape inhuman treatment or not consenting to sexual harassment.

My coming home was a privilege because it seemed as if God gave me another chance to live.

Who funded your ticket back home?

I communicated with a family relation living in the United States who had wanted to take me out before when my mother was still alive.

When she got to know about how I was suffering in Oman, she quickly responded and sent a ticket to me.

When I told the agency that I had a ticket to travel home, they were initially hesitant but they eventually brought out my passport and cancelled Oman Visa in it.

They then took me to the airport and handed me the passport at the point of exit.

They did that so that I would not change my mind and return to Oman to live as a free person.

Of all the girls staying in Oman, no one had her passport with her. The agency keeps each persons traveling documents until they are done with you.

Its such a humiliating experience. I came back to Nigeria in May 2017 after spending about two horrible years in Oman.

While I was there, I noticed that all Arab countries treat young black girls the same way.

They will not let you have any decent job even when you are qualified for it. They see us as objects for sex and maltreatment.

How were you received when you returned?

In the first place, I was very grateful to God for sparing my life over there.

Since my family was poor, they did not know what I passed through.

I purposely did not want them to know because everyone was battling for survival too.

I came back and quietly went to a senior sisters place for a good rest I never had for the two years I stayed in Oman

Did your siblings not expect gifts from you?

Maybe they did but before then, I had sent some money I gathered through the meager salary to them.

I knew I would come back like this, so I decided to send ahead the little I had so that their expectation would not run high. It was later that I told my sister all that happened.

What did you do to integrate yourself back into the society?

I stayed with my sister while planning to get myself back into the society.

In the process, I heard about the Queen Moremi Ajasoro beauty pageant.

I had known the Kabieyesi, Ooni of Ife from a distance because he owns the Inagbe Resort where I worked before I left for Oman.

I applied for the competition and was selected after the audition. All these to me were by the divine mercy of God who has been faithful to me.

I purposely applied for this contest with the hope that if I win, I would use the office to expose the challenges young girls and women were passing through in foreign lands in search of elusive greener pastures.

I was ready to voice out the inhuman treatment of black girls in Arab countries.

They are killed for being loyal. Some are helpless and do not know how to return home from a country where nobody can hear their voice.

Syndicates in Nigeria are collaborating with their Arab counterparts to sell their own sisters without shame.

We are called slaves by these masters who cunningly pay for the tickets in advance to entice unsuspecting ones.

The free offer to travel abroad and make big money to pay back is not genuine.

Our young girls become vulnerable to many horrible ordeals abroad because of their desperation to travel abroad.

I was a victim due to the circumstance I found myself in as an orphan.

I couldnt finish my education in the country because no help was coming from anywhere and due to the kind of upbringing my mum subjected us to, I found it difficult to openly seek for help.

That was why I opted to try my luck abroad and in desperation, I went to a wrong country.

So, how were you discovered?

After passing through the beauty contest audition, we were taken to a camp for preparation for the final pageant.

In-between the many programmes streamlined for the final stage, personal interviews were one of them.

While I passionately told my story to the coordinator of the pageant, Princess Ronke Ademiluyi, she developed interest in me immediately.

She went further to alert the Ooni, kabieyesi about my story and later championed the cause for my proper integration into the society.

Although, I couldnt make it to the finals of the competition but grace of God found me when kabieyesi became interested in my case and offered me a scholarship to help me get back to school.

In clear terms and as rightly enumerated by Princess Ronke Ademiluyi during the beauty pageant, part of the overarching mission of the Queen Moremi Ajasoro was to salvage unending migration of innocent young Nigerian girls into an unknown world as victims of human trafficking and forced prostitution.

She took over my rehabilitation. As part of the overall core values of the House of Oduduwa Foundation, I am currently enrolled in the Nigerian Open University, Abeokuta Campus.

I am at the 100 level studying Entrepreneurial studies under the Ooni of Ifes scholarship scheme.

After I leave school, there will be more opportunities for me like the fashion training, entrepreneurial and empowerment programmes and other things.

Did you at any time look for the pastor who duped you in the first place?

There was no need for that because even before we left, he had disappeared.

He worked using a fake name likewise many of them and did not have a permanent place.

As for the second agent that facilitated the trip, it was a woman without a face as well.

We learnt she worked with syndicates in various African countries, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and some West African countries.

For all the girls that we met in Oman, they tell similar stories of how the same woman connects them to Oman. As I speak, she has remained faceless.

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The Nation

A NIGERIAN woman is in court against the United Airlines, claiming the carrier racially discriminated against her in removing her from her flight at Houstons Bush Intercontinental Airport following a complaint by a fellow passenger that she had a pungent odour.

Punch

As part of the moves to oust President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress in 2019, the major opposition parties and third force elements are expected to hold joint and separate talks in the coming days with a view to forging an alliance and supporting one presidential candidate.

Vanguard

By Dayo Johnson & Rotimi Ojomoyela A former governor of Ekiti State and Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, beat 31 other contestants to emerge the winner of the All Progressive Congress (APC) primary held ahead of the July 14 election in the state, Saturday.

Thisday

The Nigeria Police Force has insisted that the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, was right in his refusal to honour the invitation by the Nigerian Senate over the worsening security situation in the country and allegations of human rights violations.

The Sun

The Chairman of Nigerian Youth Support for Buhari, a group that fought for President Muhammadu Buharis candidacy in 2015, Alhaji Lawal Adamu Usman, popularly known as Mr LA, has given reasons there are persistent killings and bombings in the country.

Daily Times

A Makurdi-based legal practitioner, Matthew Nyiutsa has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to declare herdsmen in Benue state as a terrorist group.

Guardian

Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has said his successor will outperform him.

Daily Trust

Young people have taken to the streets to protest 10 years without electricity in South Senatorial District of Ondo State, lamenting neglect and marginalization by the state government.

Tribune

Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has been elected candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti State.
President Muhammadu Buhari earlier today congratulated Kayode Fayemi for winning the All Progressives Congress, APC primaries in Ekiti state. Fayemi who will be contesting July 14th gubernatorial elections in the state will run against Ayodele Fayose and other aspirants.

However, some Nigerians criticized why Fayemi, who is still the Minister of Solid Minerals didnt resign before contesting the APC primaries. They stated further that the very much criticized People Democratic Partied, PDP 16 year rule didnt tolerate people still holding certain positions to contest.

See some reactions below;

Something is not just right with this govt, under the PDP govt that u all love to abuse, no Minister ever contests election primaries without first resigning his Ministerial appointment. So where is the APC moral compass of change?  Mikhail Barnabas (@barnaby04) May 13, 2018

During the 16 years of PDP misrule, Ministers resigned before contesting for elective positions. Buhari's Minister is APC governorship candidate for Ekiti State Every single bar has been lowered into the River Niger Change  dexter st jock (@ovigho) May 13, 2018
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Adam Wood is shown in an undated, family handout photo. The sister of Adam Wood, who was one of the victims in a northern Saskatchewan school shooting, has been working with youth in the community where her brother was killed to make sure their voices are heard. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ho
This is an undated handout photo issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of Bethan Davies and Robert Jesty, the two Britons who were kidnapped during a visit to a national park in eastern Congo. Two British tourists have been released in eastern Congo two days after being kidnapped, according to announcements Sunday, May 13, 2018 by Virunga National Park and the British foreign secretary. Boris Johnson didn't give any further details, but paid tribute to the authorities from the African country and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation "for their tireless help during this terrible case." (Foreign and Commonwealth Office via AP)
KIMT NEWS 3 - The fishing opener is a long-held tradition, typically falling on Mother's Day weekend in Minnesota.

With a late ice-out on some Northern lakes, anglers have been itching to reel in a big cath.

The annual Minnesota Governor's Fishing Opener was held in the central part of the state at Green Lake in Spicer, Minn.

Every year it's in a different location, highlighting a local community as a hot spot for tourism.

We had a great time," Gov. Dayton said, "I caught three bass, which made my whole day, made my last Fishing Opener very special.
ELDORA, Iowa (AP)  A state official says another state worker has been severely beaten by a resident of the Eldora Boys State Training School.

The Des Moines Register reports that the unidentified staff member had numerous teeth smashed out and suffered broken bones in his face.

Department of Human Services Director Jerry Foxhoven told his department's advisory board at a Des Moines meeting Wednesday that the assault occurred Saturday. The school is for boys whom courts have found to be delinquent because they committed crimes. Officials say that about six weeks ago four residents beat up another staff member during an escape attempt.

In November the group Disability Rights Iowa sued Foxhoven and other administrators, saying school residents were unjustly locked in isolation rooms, strapped down in restraints and denied mental health care.
ALBERT LEA, Minn. - Less than a day after the Minnesota Governor's Fishing Opener and we're already talking about next year's big event. Albert Lea Convention and Visitors Bureau has confirmed they will host the 2019 opener.

A facebook post by the convention and visitors bureau states: "The Albert Lea Lakes Area is honored to be selected as the host site of the 2019 Minnesota Governor's Fishing Opener", said Albert Lea Lakes Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director, Susie Petersen.

Petersen went on to say, "We are thrilled this will be the first time, in the history of the event that it will be held in our area. I am grateful for the many organizations that pulled together for the opportunity to plan for the fun events and showcase our beautiful area."
MASON CITY, Iowa - For those in the mail carrier business, today marks one of their largest efforts to help those in need.

It's the 26th annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive across the nation, with many post offices, including Mason City's, lending a hand to local food banks.

Jeff Paulaus has been giving to the Hawkeye Harvest Food Bank for a few years now, and enjoys donating.

"It's always nice to give back. There's a lot of people that have a need for food, so if you drive around this neighborhood, there's a lot of good neighbors, and we just want to be part of it," Paulaus says.

This year, he's got a box and a couple bags full of food.

"Canned goods, green beans, corn, lot of Campbells soup, some other stuff that doesn't spoil. And it's not outdated, it's good stuff," Paulaus adds.

The drive was launched by the National Association of Letter Carriers in 1992. It had it's greatest success in 2016, where NALC branches collected over 80 million pounds of food for a grand cumulative total of 1.5 billion pounds over the history of the drive.

Jackie Hjelle is a mail carrier with the Mason City post office.

"I think it's a good thing. I think we should do it every year, and I like the bags that we are now passing out," Hjelle says.

Paulaus says that the idea of using plasting bags to drop food off at mailboxes is unique.

"I thought it was different that the postal service would put that in, but whatever works," Paulaus adds.

Last year, the Mason City post office and Hawkeye Harvest collected over 18,800 pounds of food, and $285 in cash donations.
AUSTIN, Minn. -- "We're the next generation that's going to be in charge of this community, so showing our support starting now is really important," says Paiton Schwab, co-president of Austin High School's Youth Leadership group.

8 years ago, Youth Leadership students came up with the idea of having a walking and running event to raise money for breast cancer. On Saturday, the tradition continued.

The students were responsible for coordinating the event on Saturday, from contacting businesses for donations, to setting up the course.

Maegan Siebe teaches first grade at Banfield Elementary School and is a breast cancer survivor. She shared her story with the runners and walkers before the race kicked off. "While cancer changed my life entirely, I think I'm still me and that's very much the person that I continued to want to be. It's just something that happened to me."

Siebe is glad to see kids do something in the community with a positive impact. "Unfortunately, a lot of times people, especially kids, don't know people who get better, and they a lot of times think cancer is a very final thing," she explains. "So i think coming out and doing something where they can help support it and make a change and kind of get involved in it helps them understand it more."

Since it's creation, Strides for a Cure has raised $20,000 for breast cancer research. The students' goal is to raise between $2,000 and $2,500 this year.
AUSTIN, Minn. - Austin letter carriers are claiming a narrow victory in the 26th annual Stamp Out Hunger campaign.

They stage a friendly competition with Albert Lea letter carriers to see who can collect the most food for distribution to local food banks. People left the food in or near their mailboxes on Saturday.

Bob Rosel of the letter carriers of Austin says 16,570 pounds of food were collected in Austin, while 16,486 pounds were collected in Albert Lea.

Nationally, the Stamp Out Hunger campaign took in about 75.3 million pounds of non-perishable food in 2017 and a total of almost 1.6 billion pounds of food have been collected since the campaign began.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea said Saturday that it will dismantle its nuclear test site in less than two weeks, in a dramatic event that would set up leader Kim Jong Un's summit with President Donald Trump next month. Trump welcomed the "gracious gesture."

In a statement carried by state media, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said all of the tunnels at the country's northeastern testing ground will be destroyed by explosion, and observation and research facilities and ground-based guard units will also be removed.

Kim had already revealed plans to shut the test site by the end of May during his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month. Analysts say that while the closure of the site is important, it doesn't represent a material step toward full denuclearization.

"A ceremony for dismantling the nuclear test ground is now scheduled between May 23 and 25," depending on weather, the Foreign Ministry's statement said, adding that journalists from the United States, South Korea, China, Russia and Britain will be invited to witness the dismantling.

The ministry said the North will continue to "promote close contacts and dialogue with the neighboring countries and the international society so as to safeguard peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and over the globe."

Trump, in a tweet Saturday, thanked North Korea for its plan to dismantle the nuclear test site, calling it "a very smart and gracious gesture!"

Following the Moon-Kim meeting, Moon's office said Kim was willing to disclose the process to international experts, but the North's statement Saturday didn't address allowing experts on the site.

South Korea had no immediate response to the statement.

The North's announcement comes days after Washington announced that the historic summit between Kim and Trump will be held June 12 in Singapore.

South Korea has said Kim has genuine interest in dealing away his nuclear weapons in return for economic benefits. However, there are lingering doubts about whether Kim would ever agree to fully relinquish the weapons he probably views as his only guarantee of survival.

During their meeting at a border truce village, Moon and Kim vaguely promised to work toward the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula, but made no references to verification or timetables.

North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of "denuclearization" that bears no resemblance to the American definition. The North has been vowing to pursue nuclear development unless Washington removes its 28,500 troops from South Korea and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan.

Some experts believe Kim may try to drag out the process or seek a deal in which he gives away his intercontinental ballistic missiles but retains some of his shorter-range arsenal in return for a reduced U.S. military presence in the South. This could satisfy Trump but undermine the alliance between Washington and Seoul.

Kim declared his nuclear force as complete in December, following North Korea's most powerful nuclear test to date in September and three flight tests of ICBMs designed to reach the U.S. mainland.

North Korea announced at a ruling party meeting last month that it was suspending all tests of nuclear devices and ICBMs, as well as the plan to close the nuclear testing ground.

Kim said during the meeting that the nuclear test site's mission had come "to an end" because the North had completed developing nuclear-capable intermediate-range missiles, ICBMs and other strike means.

The North also said for the first time at the meeting that it had been conducting "subcritical" nuclear tests. These refer to experiments involving a subcritical mass of nuclear materials that allow scientists to examine the performance and safety of weapons without triggering a nuclear chain reaction and explosion.

North Korea's reference to such activity is designed to communicate that even without underground testing, the country intends to maintain its nuclear arsenal and be a "responsible" steward of those weapons at the same time, said Andrea Berger, a senior analyst at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

Still, the closure of the underground testing site could be a useful precedent for Washington and Seoul as they proceed with the nuclear negotiations with Pyongyang, analysts say.

"Now that North Korea has accepted in principle that agreements should be verified, U.S. negotiators should hold them to this standard for any subsequent agreement," said Adam Mount, a senior defense analyst at the Federation of American Scientists. "It will make it more difficult for Kim Jong Un to deny inspections now that he has placed them on the table."

North Korea has invited the outside world to witness the dismantling of its nuclear facilities before. In June 2008, international broadcasters were allowed to show the demolishing of a cooling tower at the Nyongbyon reactor site, a year after the North reached an agreement with the U.S. and four other nations to disable its nuclear facilities in return for an aid package worth about $400 million.

But in September 2008, the North declared that it would resume reprocessing plutonium, complaining that Washington wasn't fulfilling its promise to remove the country from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The administration of George W. Bush removed North Korea from the list in October 2008 after the country agreed to continue disabling its nuclear plant. However, a final attempt by Bush to complete an agreement to fully dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons program collapsed that December when the North refused to accept U.S.-proposed verification methods.

The North went on to conduct its second nuclear test in May 2009.
KIMT NEWS 3 - Two people were involved in an accident Saturday afternoon in Cerro Gordo County.

According to the Sheriff's Office, just after 1:30 p.m. there was a two car collision at the southbound intersection of 300th Street and Orchid Avenue.

Shirley Muth, 82, of Garner, Iowa, was at the stop sign. As she began to pull away, 19-year-old Kadyn Morrison, of Manly, hit her Buick.

Authorities say Muth was cited for failing to yield upon entering a through highway. Morrison was cited for not having a valid driver's license or insurance.

Both drivers refused medical attention, and were wearing their seat belts.
AUSTIN, Minn. -- Two years ago, Austin beat Albert Lea and last year, Albert Lea came out on top. This year is the tie-breaker, and the Austin letter carriers are hoping for a victory.

The Austin and Albert Lea branches of the National Association of Letter Carriers participate in the association's food drive every year. During the food drive, while dropping off mail at homes, letter carriers also pick up non-perishable food donations left out by families.

Unofficially, Austin and Albert Lea used to compare their amounts of donations. But in recent years, they've turned the food drive into a friendly competition to see which town can collect the most food donations.

"As a letter carrier, you deliver to every mailbox in a community and you see what people are going through; The ones who are struggling a little bit... Food insecurity is an issue in every community in the country," explains Bob Rosel, a retired Austin letter carrier and coordinator of the food drive.

Rosel has been involved in the food drive ever since Austin first started participating 25 years ago. Although he has retired from the job, he stays involved in the food drive because of his love of the community. On Saturday, the on-duty letter carriers filled their trucks so full of donations, there wasn't enough room for the mail, so Rosel drove to them to relieve them of their excess cans and boxes.

The food collected in each community stays in that community. "You're donating to your friends and your neighbors," explains Rosel.

In Austin, the collected food is donated to the local Salvation Army food shelf.

Rosel urges Austin community members to remember to leave out non-perishable food items at next year's drive for their local letter carriers to pick up.
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"451" was performed during the 17th Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival on Friday and Saturday. / Courtesy of UMTF



By Kwon Mee-yoo



Uijeongbu, a satellite city located north of the Korean capital, blooms with a variety of musical theater performances from May 11 to 20 as the city celebrates the 17th Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival (UMTF). The festival attracts over 100,000 visitors annually and has gained international recognition.



This year's UMTF kicked off with an outdoor performance "451" on May 11 and 12. Created by Periplum and Corn Exchange Newbury, the incendiary open-air performance is set in a dystopian society where books are banned and burned. Held at the plaza in front of Uijeongbu City Hall, "451" offered a fiery spectacle of a firefighter who rebels against the system destroying books.



Song of the Goat Theatre from Poland presented "Songs of Lear" based on Shakespeare's "King Lear" on May 12 and 13. The troupe's artistic director Grzegorz Bral reinterpreted the characters and plot of the Shakespeare tragedy by reconstructing select scenes through music, text and body movements. Twelve powerful songs bring out emotions of the characters including madness, despair and love.



French troupe Les Ombres Portees stages "Les Somnambules" (The Sleepwalkers) at the Small Theater of Uijeongbu Arts Center on May 16 and 17. The shadow play, accompanied by live music, breathes life into an urban nightscape of an old neighborhood that is soon to be redeveloped. Four puppeteers move around a scale model of a city and convey the story, instead of being behind a curtain in traditional shadow plays.



Leonardo da Vinci explored the possibility of people flying in the 15th century and the artist's dream is revived through Spanish company Aracaladanza's "Vuelos." The show combines digital animation with props such as life-size puppets, mirrors and wings to stage the longtime dream of flying. Enrique Cabrera's choreography unravels the imagination of flight through Da Vinci's sketches and inventions.





"Vuelos" will be performed during the 17th Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival. / Courtesy of UMTF
Financial Services Commission (FSC) Vice Chairman Kim Yong-beom arrives at the agency's headquarters in downtown Seoul, last week, to discuss an alleged accounting fraud case involving Samsung Biologics with FSC officials. Yonhap



By Kim Yoo-chul



The top financial regulator is teaming up with prosecutors to widen their ongoing probe into domestic cryptocurrency exchange operators with a senior Financial Services Commission (FSC) official calling on regulators worldwide to coordinate policies on crypto-assets



"Following a request by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and the prosecution to address growing anti-money laundering compliance concerns and possible abuse of cryptocurrencies in money laundering and fraud, the FSC is looking into exchanges' corporate accounts opened in local banks," an official said Sunday.



The official said Bithumb appears to be among the primary targets of an expanded investigation, though he declined to elaborate.



While new FSS governor Yoon Suk-heun stated that he will look to ease regulations on domestic cryptocurrency trading, saying, "there are some positive aspects to cryptocurrencies"; the FSC is continuing its hard-line stance.



FSC regulates policies, while the FSS examines and supervises financial institutes under the former's supervision.



The official said collaboration with the FSS on cryptocurrency policies is part of efforts to find common ground, as inspections of financial issues have different scopes. "It's untrue that the FSC has a different that the FSS regarding cryptocurrencies."



UPbit, Korea's top cryptocurrency exchange, was raided and is now being investigated by police, leading to panic selling that eventually affected the global market. South Korea is the world's third-largest cryptocurrency market in terms of daily transactions.



"The FSC is collaborating with authorities in other countries. Our latest findings show that the domestic exchange faked its balance sheets and deceived investors. The FSC is checking UPbit's computer system with prosecutors and the FSS to audit the exchange's virtual currency holdings," said another official.



The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched a probe into cryptocurrency business. It currently has sent an unknown number of subpoenas and information requests to advisers and technology companies active in the U.S. market.



FSC Vice Chairman Kim Yong-beom stated the agency doesn't oppose the idea that blockchain technology would alter physical banking and financial services. He said the FSC is weighing the benefits of cryptocurrencies being used as a payment tool.



"Regarding the unique nature of cryptocurrencies, each country has its own assessment. That means an international discussion and cooperation among regulators to come up with policies on crypto-assets is necessary. We are seeing a steady development of blockchain technology thanks to its greater accessibility and efficiency. Because this technology has the potential to shake up today's regulations on securities, regulators have to respond to such a looming challenge," he said.


BOSCoin CEO Yezune Choi responds to a question during an interview in Seoul, last week. / Courtesy of M&K PR



By Kim Yoo-chul



Blockchain technology is something new but it is definitely promising and has huge growth potential on multiple fronts with companies dedicating themselves to it.



Facebook and Samsung, for example, have recently created teams to study how the blockchain technology behind bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, could be used in developing new products.



A few other options are also being explored. The project financing industry is one example that could benefit from distributed ledgers, as well, with BOSCoin CEO Yezune Choi pushing hard to bring credit and blockchain together in the years to come.



While it's true that there's been a lot of buzz about the pros- and cons- of blockchain in the digital currency community, Choi claims public blockchains are an appropriate application of the protocol in terms of the creation of a relevant ecosystem.



A public blockchain is basically the model used by bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin, and could be regarded as the original distributed ledger structure. The technology can receive and send transactions from anybody in the world. They could also be audited by anybody, and every node has as much transmission power as any other.






NK cuisine part of refugees' migration to South Korea



By Kang Hyun-kyung



"E-han-chi-han" or "let the cold dish beat the cold weather" was once the motto of Korean food therapy.



People in the northwestern part of the Korean Peninsula enjoyed cold noodles in the last month of the lunar calendar when extreme winter weather hit the nation.



The noodles were made with buckwheat and potato starch and were served in radish water with kimchi broth. Due to the cold weather, the broth takes the form of slush as kimchi storage jars were put outside the home and endured cold weather during the winter. People feel freezing as they finish a bowl of noodles. They rush to a heated ondol room to warm up.



"What a feeling! I wonder if those who haven't tasted cold noodles could possibly imagine what it's like," Kim So-jeo wrote in an noodle article published in the Byulgongeon magazine on December 1, 1929. The magazine was a current affairs periodical that circulated in Korea between 1926 and 1934.



Cold noodles were a joyful culinary experience that helped people overcome the monotony of long, cold winter nights.



Until the 1910s, cold noodles were a seasonal dish available only in winter, quite a contrast to current trends. Today cold noodles are a year-round dish, although the peak season is summer.



"Like other countries, Korea was an agricultural society and most people were farmers," food columnist Hwang Young-chul said. "Farmers were busy all year round, except winter, sowing seeds, and growing and harvesting crops. They were able to find time in winter to make and enjoy cold noodles together with their neighbors."



Back then, noodles were a slow dish. Making noodles was a time-consuming, painstaking work as there were no automatic noodle makers like the ones used today.



"Noodle-making was not something one person could possibly do because people used a heavy wooden-framed machine to knead and extrude noodles after mixing buckwheat powder. And usually three or four healthy men were needed to operate the traditional noodle maker," Hwang said. "So unlike today when a person can make noodles at home in just 10 minutes if they use an automatic machine, noodle-making in the past was a tough job that needed teamwork."



Technological advancement, however, made cold noodles available all year round. Among others, refrigerators and noodle makers were two major game changers that streamlined the time and procedure to make noodles.

Ice-making machines were available in Korea in the 1910s when the nation fell under Japanese colonialism. The invention of noodle makers came in the 1930s, helping people cut hours and labor in making noodles.



Cold noodles South Koreans enjoy today are different from the authentic dish when it comes to texture and overall taste of the dish.



In North Korea, Pyongyang and Hamhung, 307 kilometers northeast of North Korea's capital, are two well-known cities having their own authentic noodles.



The texture of the North Korean cold noodles is chewier than the dish South Koreans enjoy, according to So Jae-pyong, a North Korean defector from South Hamgyong Province.



"The cold noodles in Pyongyang are chewier than cold noodles in South Korea. Hamhung cold noodles have an even chewier texture than those from Pyongyang. They are so chewy it's almost difficult to bite through the noodles with our teeth," he said.



Ingredients determine the texture. In Pyongyang, buckwheat is the main ingredient and wheat powder is added in order to make the texture chewy.



Cold noodles from Hamhung are made purely with wheat starch, making their texture extremely chewy.



Unlike Pyongyang cold noodles, Hamhung noodles are served with spicy source made with red pepper and vinegar among other ingredients.



So, secretary-general of the North Korean Defectors' Association in Seoul, said the overall taste of cold noodles in South Korea was different from the authentic North Korean noodles, too. "Cold noodles from Pyongyang, for example, are bland, whereas the taste of cold noodles here is sweeter. Like southerners, however, North Koreans also add a drop of vinegar as well as mustard sauce."



"I think cold noodles have gradually adapted to southerners' tastes," he said.



In North Korea, cold noodles are served in a radish kimchi broth. Older Koreans put a chunk of steamed beef or pork into the radish water and kimchi broth and this makes it full of sodium glutamate. Those who are accustomed to it feel it is tasty. In South Korea, cold noodles are served in a clear beef broth.



It remains uncertain where cold noodles originated.



Joo Young-ha, a professor of the Academy of Korean Studies, indicates in his book "Korean Food History" that cold noodles could have begun in North Korea's Pyongan and Hwanghae provinces. People there enjoyed cold noodles as they had wheat production in spring and the regions were located near the northeastern part of China where wheat was produced all year round.



However, food columnist Hwang presents a different view. According to him, there are three prominent locations that are believed to be birthplaces of cold noodles_ Pyongyang, Seoul and the southeastern city of Jinju, defying the popular belief that cold noodles were originally exclusively from North Korea. In Jinju, cold noodles are served in a seafood broth.

"Buckwheat, the main ingredient of cold noodles, grows everywhere in the South," he said.



The Hungnam Evacuation, the massive North Korean refugees' evacuation into the South during the Korean War, was a milestone event which fueled the spread of the northerners' food culture in the South. The evacuation was part of a massive amphibious operation which lasted for 14 days from Dec. 10, 1950, months after the outbreak of the bloody war. ted in the evacuation of 100,000 North Koreans into South Korea.

Some of them settled in in Gangwon Province and some were disembarked in the southern port city of Busan.



Most of the refugees in Gangwon Province were from Hamgyong Province and they cooked what they ate in the North. Hamhung cold noodles were spread to the South by the refugees. "Abai sundae" or blood sausage made by steaming cow or pig intestine stuffed with various ingredients, is one of the North Korean refugees' dishes that has also become popular in the South.




North Korea announced Saturday it will publicly dismantle its northern nuclear test site in a ceremony scheduled for between May 23 and 25, adding it is taking "technical measures" to that end.

The announcement by the North's foreign ministry moves the communist country closer to honoring an offer made by its leader Kim Jong-un during the inter-Korean summit last month.

In an English-language statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the foreign ministry detailed the country's plans to shut down its Pyunggye-ri nuclear test ground.

It said the ruling Workers' Party and other relevant institutions are "taking technical measures for dismantling the northern nuclear test ground" in order to "ensure transparency of discontinuance of the nuclear test."

During the third inter-Korean summit on April 27, Kim told South Korean President Moon Jae-in that he would "carry out the closure of the northern nuclear test site in May," according to Seoul's presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un steps out of his private jet, Chammae-1, in Dalian, China, May 7. / Korean Central News Agency



Kim is first North Korean leader to travel abroad on plane since 1986



By Yi Whan-woo



North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is believed to be speeding efforts to make his country appear as a "normal state" in line with his move to dismantle its nuclear program.

For decades, North Korean leaders, amid rumors that they feared being assassinated, did not use planes when visiting abroad until Kim flew on his private jet, Chammae-1, to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Dalian, China from May 7 to 8.

This was the second summit between Kim and Xi.

Kim traveled by train when he met Xi in Beijing in March.

Kim is also scheduled to fly to Singapore in June for an historic summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

"His air travel may be aimed at showing he is a confident, normal leader who meets international standards," a source familiar with Pyongyang said.

Before Kim's Dalian trip, no North Korean leader had publicly gone abroad by air since Kim's late grandfather and the country's founder Kim Il-sung, flew to the Soviet Union in 1986.

Kim's late father Kim Jong-il last flew by plane with Kim Il-sung to a conference in Indonesia in 1965.

During his rule from 1994 to 2011, Kim Jong-il used only trains on dozens of overseas trips, mostly to China, as well as countless inspections of military posts, factories and other places.

He had several luxurious trains equipped with reception halls, conference rooms and high-tech communication facilities. To guard against possible attacks, his train reportedly traveled with two other trains, with one running ahead of his to check the safety of the rail line while another carried security agents and followed behind.

After Kim Jong-un took power, Pyongyang's state media outlets released photos of him looking out the windows of Chammae-1, walking down the stairs from the plane, and walking with his wife, Ri Sol-ju on a red carpet placed on an airstrip when he attended combat aeronautics contests and inspected construction work in Pyongyang.





North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, second from left, joins a welcome banquet hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, third from left, in Dalian, China, May 8. / Korean Central News Agency



Another source said the banquet between Kim and Xi and their stroll on a beachfront sidewalk in Dalian were also aimed at making Kim appear as leader of a "normal state."

The third source said unifying the time zone between Seoul and Pyongyang this month was another attempt to make North Korea appear normal.

The reclusive state turned back the clock 30 minutes and created its own time zone in August 2015 to mark the Korean Peninsula's liberation from Japanese rule and to spite the "wicked Japanese imperialists."

During a summit with President Moon Jae-in on April 27, Kim then promised to unify the time zone with Seoul again from May 5.

"I feel sad to see that there are two clocks hung on the wall of the Peace House, one for Seoul time and the other for Pyongyang time," Kim said then. "Because it is us who changed the time standard, we will return to the original one. You can make it public."





Clocks at Gaeseong Industrial Complex's liaison office in Seoul show the unified time used by the two Koreas, May 8. / Yonhap



On May 8, the North Korean authorities called South Korean officials through the liaison office at the truce village of Panmunjeom under a unified time.

"This appears to be a follow-up on the North's announcement to return to the unified time zone effective on May 5," a South Korean official said. "Now we see an end to the abnormal situations that have been caused by the difference in standard times."

Asked if there was a "meaningful" message the North conveyed through the latest communication, the official said he had no information on that.




By Yi Whan-woo



North Korea is increasingly building greenhouses in coal-mining areas as part of efforts to rebuild its economy hit by U.N. Security Council (UNSC) sanctions, according to sources familiar with Pyongyang.

The measure comes after the UNSC sanctions aimed at curbing exports of North Korean coal, one of the country's main income sources, were introduced because of the North's nuclear program.

"We can't export coal, so we've changed our lifestyle," a source in South Pyongan Province said on condition of anonymity.

The source claimed provincial residents were building greenhouses to "make a living," adding, "It will be hard to find a household that hasn't built a greenhouse in the coal mine regions."

Another source said more than 80 percent of residents in Tokchon, a provincial city, had greenhouses, which the authorities had encouraged.

The greenhouses are used to grow cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. The vegetables are sold to Sinuiju and Pyongyang using taxis and privately operated trucks.

Many in the region previously worked in the coal industry, but have been trying to make money in other ways after the UNSC adopted Resolution 2321 in 2016.

The resolution is designed to restrict North Korea's annual exports of coal to $400 million or 7.5 million tons, whichever is lower in value, to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear program.

In August 2017, Caritas Internationalis, a group of more than 160 Catholic charities worldwide, said it built 10 greenhouses in North Korea between January and August of the same year to grow vegetables for tuberculosis and hepatitis patients.

It said the greenhouses were built in Gangwon and South Pyongan provinces with German support.

It added that it had built 11 other greenhouses and repaired eight in Gangwon, Jagang and South Hamgyong provinces in 2016.
By Yi Whan-woo



North Korea has vowed to not carry out unannounced missile tests and other activities hazardous to commercial aviation, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

It said last week North Korean authorities made the promise to ICAO officials during their visit to Pyongyang from May 7 to 9, while explaining Pyongyang's nuclear program.

The visit came after North Korea announced at a plenary session of the ruling Workers' Party on April 20 that the country would suspend its nuclear and intercontinental missile tests.

"We received a solid assurance from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea that they will not be engaging in activities hazardous for aviation without full advanced notice for the other states in the region, and that they would coordinate that activity to ensure that we could retain safety," ICAO Air Navigation Bureau Director Stephen Creamer said on his return to Beijing.

Asked if this meant international airlines would resume flights over North Korea, ICAO Regional Director Arun Mishra said: "It's always a possibility. ... We're continuing toward establishing a more healthy relationship."

ICAO and North Korea's General Administration of Civil Aviation are also coordinating an air traffic management workshop.

North Korea has conducted ballistic missile tests without giving advance notification to relevant international organizations, like the ICAO and the International Maritime Organization.

Airlines take indirect routes to avoid North Korea due to the threat of unannounced missile launches that are worrisome in the wake of the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine.

France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries have advised airlines not to fly in North Korean airspace, known as the Pyongyang flight information region.




Singapore PM Lee vows to facilitate 'successful summit'



SINGAPORE  U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are expected to meet at the Shangri-la Hotel next month, according to industry sources and experts, Sunday.



Together with Singapore's iconic Marina Bay Sands (MBS), the Shangri-La has been viewed as one of the most likely locations for the June 12 summit, which was announced by Trump late Thursday.



According to multiple travel agencies and sources here, three hotels  The Shangri-La, Ritz Carlton Millennia and JW Marriot South Beach  have blocked all available rooms for the upcoming summit after the Thursday announcement.



"A day after Trump's announcement, we tried to secure rooms on the dates surrounding the summit en bloc for those coming for the summit but we heard from the three hotels that there is no room available," said a manager at a Singapore-based tour operator on condition of anonymity.



"They did not explain why but it is obvious that they stopped public sales because of the summit."



One South Korean journalist successfully booked a room at the Shangri-La Hotel for the summit through third-party booking platform Agoda Friday but received a cancellation letter Saturday.



"I lodged a strong complaint against Agoda but they replied that they had no choice because the hotel 'locked' reservations," said the journalist who is now in Singapore to report the atmosphere of the city state after the announcement.





The Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore/Korea Times photo by Kim Jae-kyoung

It is unknown whether MBS also locked reservation but no rooms are available at the hotel, according to checks on the hotel website by The Korea Times.



When asked whether MBS blocked rooms, a senior executive from the hotel said, "We have no comments on the summit. Please wait for an official announcement from the government."



As opposed to these four hotels, rooms at other popular five-star hotels in the downtown and business district areas, including Pan Pacific Singapore and Mandarin Oriental, are still available, according to checks by The Korea Times, Sunday.



Given that the Shangri-La has blocked rooms and it has a proven track record of hosting numerous high-level security meetings attended by world leaders, it is highly probable that the hotel will play host to the historic meeting.



"The Shangri-La Hotel is the venue for the Shangri-La Dialogue attended by international leaders so it would be a better choice since the staff there understands how international political events are managed," Liang Tuang Nah, a research fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, told The Korea Times.








By Park Si-soo



Leaders of the two Koreas will talk over the inter-Korean hotline "soon," South Korea's presidential office said in yet another sign of inter-Korean rapprochement before the historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12.



The hotline was installed before the April 27 inter-Korean summit -- one fixed-line telephone on President Moon Jae-in's desk at Cheong Wa Dae and the other on Kim's desk in Pyongyang. But the line has not been used.






By Park Si-soo



U.S. President Donald Trump will visit South Korea and Japan after his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore on June 12, Japanese media Nikkei reported Sunday.



The dates of Trump's visit to the two countries are not set yet. His primary goal of visiting Seoul and Tokyo would be to brief leaders of South Korea and Japan on his meeting with Kim and above all, to fine-tune diplomatic coordination over North Korea, Nikkei reported, citing unidentified diplomatic sources.





Nikkei said there was speculation that Chinese President Xi Jinping would visit Singapore when Trump and Kim meet there because China was becoming wary of the U.S. leading the effort to denuclearize North Korea.


A TV screen at Seoul Railway Station shows a satellite image of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Korea during a news program, Sunday. North Korea said Saturday that it will dismantle the test site in less than two weeks, in a dramatic event that would set up leader Kim Jong Un's summit with President Donald Trump next month. / AP-Yonhap



All eyes on dismantling of Punggye-ri test site



By Yi Whan-woo



North Korea will dismantle its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri between May 23 and 25, the first step toward its "complete denuclearization" in line with an agreement reached between the leaders of the two Koreas, April 27.



The North will also invite journalists from South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and the United Kingdom to witness the dismantlement.



Announced by its foreign ministry, Saturday, Pyongyang's plan to close its nuclear test facility is also seen as a bid to build trust with Washington prior to a planned summit between leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore, June 12.



"A ceremony for dismantling the nuclear test ground is now scheduled between May 23 and 25, depending on the weather," the ministry said in a statement.



It said observation and research facilities and ground-based guard units will also be removed.



Trump welcomed North Korea's decision, calling it a "gracious gesture."



To better verify Pyongyang's sincerity about denuclearization, the U.S. separately has been demanding North Korea to move parts of materials used in building nuclear weapons out of the country, according to multiple sources, Sunday.



Such parts include nuclear warheads, fissile material and components for intercontinental ballistic missiles.



The U.S. wants them to be removed after the Kim-Trump summit, in exchange for easing U.S.-led international sanctions on the Kim regime.



North Korea has not responded to the U.S. demand yet, the sources said.



Following the April 27 summit with President Moon Jae-in, Kim promised to shut down the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in front of the international journalists and security experts.




By Park Ji-won







Japanese diplomats in Germany are reportedly trying to obstruct a civic group's plan to erect a "girl statue" representing wartime sex slavery victims inside a museum in Bonn.







The diplomats recently visited Marianne Pitzen, founder and chief of the Bonn Women's Museum, following media reports that a girl statue would be installed inside, said Yi Eun-hi, an activist who is leading the project.







Over 200,000 South Korean women were abused as sex slaves by the Japanese army before and during World War II.







At the meeting with Pitzen, the Japanese diplomats insisted that the number of the so-called comfort women is difficult to calculate and that they "volunteered" to serve for Japanese soldiers.







However, Pitzen rejected their claims, saying, "We cannot dial history back and what happened is what happened," according to Yi.







The museum accepted the activist group's plan to erect the girl statue Aug. 14, one day before the anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, while continuing to raise funds for it.







The statue in the Bonn Women's Museum will be the second girl statue in Europe. The first was installed in Nepal Himalaya Park in Wiesent, Germany, by Korean residents and citizens of Suwon in Gyeonggi Province in South Korea in March last year. However, they failed to establish a memorial stone detailing historical facts about comfort women after Japan formally protested.


University students pay respect to those who fought and died for democracy in the Gwangju Uprising at the May 18th National Cemetery in Unjeong-dong, Gwangju, Sunday. This year commemorates the 38th anniversary of the democratic movement. / Yonhap
By Kim Jae-heun







Most civil servants working for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport travel on Korean Air for their overseas business trips, according to government data and industry sources.







About 80 percent of them have taken the flagship carrier over the past three years.







This is raising suspicion whether the ministry has a "secret" business pact with Korean Air amid the carrier's "water rage" scandal.







In 2014, when the "nut rage" scandal broke out, 14 out of 16 aviation safety inspectors at the ministry were revealed to be former Korean Air employees.







In 2015, ministry workers used Korean Air 2,837 out of 3,583 times to travel abroad, according to the ministry's data. Even the minister and his secretaries used the flagship carrier 45 times out of 48 in total.







The transport ministry, however, denied any ties with Korean Air, adding its workers use a system provided by the Ministry of Personnel Management to book flights.







"We book flights via the personnel management ministry's civil servant system. We don't use one particular carrier for all overseas travel," a transport ministry official said.







The personnel management ministry also said it is up to individual workers to choose and book airlines for their travel abroad.














South Korea's presidential office on Sunday welcomed North Korea's announcement of its plan to dismantle the country's nuclear test site, saying the move will be helpful in building trust between the United States and the North ahead of their upcoming summit.

The North's foreign ministry announced Saturday night that it will dismantle its Punggye-ri nuclear test site between May 23 and 25, and will invite journalists from South Korea, China, Russia, the United States and Britain to cover the dismantling on-site.

On Sunday, the South's presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom welcomed the announcement as an expression of the North's intention to carry out its agreement, reached during last month's inter-Korean summit, "not through words but through action."

The North's leader first promised to demolish the nuclear test site when he held historic summit talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on April 27. The move would underscore the North's commitment to "completely" give up its nuclear program.

"Ahead of the U.S.-North Korea summit, we hope that trust between the leaders of the two countries will be strengthened" by the North's move, the presidential spokesman said.












In this April 26, 2017, file photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, China's newly-built aircraft carrier Liaoning is transferred from dry dock into the water at a launch ceremony at a shipyard in Dalian. / AP



China's first entirely home-built aircraft carrier began sea trials Sunday in a sign of the growing sophistication of the country's domestic arms industry.



The still-unnamed ship left dock in the northern port of Dalian at 7:00 a.m. to ''test the reliability and stability of its propulsion and other system,'' the Defense Ministry said in a statement.



The Liaoning provincial maritime safety bureau issued an order for shipping to avoid a section of ocean southeast of the city between Sunday and Friday.



The 50,000-ton carrier will likely be formally commissioned sometime before 2020 following the completion of sea trials and the arrival of its full air complement.





China's first domestically manufactured aircraft carrier, known only as "Type 001A", leaves port in the northeast city of Dalian early on May 13, 2018. China's first domestically manufactured aircraft carrier started sea trials on May 13, 2018, state media said, as the country prepares to add a second such warship to its naval fleet. / AFP



The new carrier is based on the former Soviet Union's Kuznetsov class design, with a ski jump-style deck for taking off and a conventional oil-fueled steam turbine power plant.



China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, arrived as a mostly empty hull from Ukraine and was commissioned in 2012 along with its flight wing of Chinese J-15 fighter jets.



State media reports say China is also planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier capable of remaining at sea for long durations.



China has the world's largest navy in terms of numbers of ships, although it lags behind the U.S. in technology and combat capabilities.



It has been deployed to assert China's claim to virtually the entire South China Sea and is increasingly ranging farther into the Pacific and Indian oceans. China last year established its first overseas military base in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, where rivals such as the U.S., Japan and several European nations also have a permanent presence. (AP)




Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hold a press conference at the State Department in Washington D.C., Friday. The two diplomats met to discuss issues surrounding the upcoming summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. / AFP-Yonhap



By Lee Min-hyung



The U.S. troops stationed in South Korea are a symbol of an alliance between Seoul and Washington whose position cannot be negotiated with Pyongyang, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said after a meeting with her U.S. counterpart Mike Pompeo in Washington D.C., Friday.



"South Korea wants to reaffirm that the presence of U.S. forces in South Korea tops the list of agenda topics regarding the Seoul-Washington alliance," Kang said after having talks with Pompeo. "Neither of us discussed anything about reducing the size of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK)."



The remarks came amid sprawling rumors that the two countries may downsize the USFK or even withdraw it depending on the outcome of the upcoming summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.



The rumors sprouted because Pyongyang appears on track to prove its strong willingness to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, with the regime pledging to dismantle its nuclear test site this month.



"Any issues surrounding the USFK should be discussed between South Korea and the U.S., not North Korea," Kang said. For this reason, the fate of the U.S. troops here will not be on the dialogue table during the Washington-Pyongyang summit, and Pompeo agreed, according to her.






By Lee Min-hyung







The prosecution indicted 20 people  including six military officials  on charges of corruption and bribery regarding the defense ministry's loudspeaker project worth 16.6 billion won ($15.55 million), the Ministry of National Defense said Sunday.







The government started the project in August 2015 when North Korea exploded mines on the south side of the demilitarized zone. The project came as part of the ministry enhancing psychological warfare against the North.







Inter M, a local audio system manufacturer who won the bidding, supplied 40 loudspeakers to use for propaganda broadcasts near the border at the end of 2016.







But suspicions have since surfaced over the quality of the speakers, raising concern over possible corruption between the defense ministry and the company.







"Two of the military officials  surnamed Kwon and Song  intervened in the bidding process from February to December 2016, lobbying for the company to win the project," the defense ministry said in a statement.







"The ministry's inspection and judicial teams have since taken appropriate measures for them to take legal responsibility," said the ministry.







According to the prosecution's investigation, the loudspeakers from the company turned out to be below the military standard of delivering sound a distance of 10 kilometers.







Aside from the military officials, the prosecution also indicted sixteen others  including the company chief and brokers, according to the ministry.












Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il speaks about his plan to set up an investigative unit within the prosecution as an alternative to an "independent investigative body," over which the prosecution will have no control, at the National Assembly, March 13. The measure came in response to growing public calls to "rein in" the powerful investigative authority that operates with little accountability. / Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-keun



By Lee Kyung-min



Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il is expected to postpone his all-out moves to "eradicate" prosecution-implicated corruption, due to thinly-spread investigative manpower amid a number of high-profile ongoing cases.



The dragged-out reform efforts are further compounded by three opposition parties' united front in demanding a large-scale special counsel-led investigation into a recent online opinion rigging scandal, an agreement on which could be determined this week at the month-long deadlocked National Assembly.



The uncertainty of whether to dispatch up to 20 prosecutors and 40 investigators for the politically charged scandal ahead of the June 13 local election has confused the Seoul High Prosecutors Office, which has been pressured to push the Moon-directed reform measures. The measures are widely expected to entail setting up a new investigative unit under the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, an alternative to an "independent investigative body," over which the prosecution will have no control. The establishment of the latter has been long demanded to "rein in" the powerful investigative authority which operates with little accountability.






The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) floor leader Hong Young-pyo, right, speaks during a press conference held at the National Assembly, Sunday. Hong pledged to normalize the Assembly as well as pass an extra budget bill. Left is new DPK vice floor leader Rep. Jin Sun-mee. / Yonhap
A Korean folk music band performs at a university festival in Seoul in this file photo. / Korea Times Photo by Shim Hyun-chul



By Jung Da-min



Pop-up bars run by students on university campuses during festivals are about to fade.



The Ministry of Education sent an official document to universities May 1 to ban unlicensed bars set up and run by students on campus.



This comes at the National Tax Service's request after it received a report about an unlicensed bar at a local university during last year's festival season.



Local university student councils in Seoul and the provinces have been quick to announce the suspension of their plans to run such bars during their festivals.



The festivals are typically held in May. Students celebrate at them and had been allowed to sell Korean rice wine and beer during the gatherings.



Many students have expressed disappointment, saying one of their campus traditions is fading away.



"University festivals without such bars is like nothing," said a recent graduate of Yonsei University.



"I would feel so sad if they only sold pajeon (Korean pancakes), without makgeolli (rice wine) and beer."






In 2012 California enacted a law that bars licensed mental health providers from engaging in therapy designed to change the sexual orientation of patients under the age of 18.



Now the state Senate is considering a sequel of sorts. But this new legislation is broader in its application  so broad that some critics are claiming that it could be used to interfere with the sale of religious books, even the Bible.



Such fears may be farfetched. But AB 2943, which was passed by the Assembly last month, contains ambiguities that need to be cleared up if the legislation is to become law.



Like the 2012 statute, AB 2943 is inspired by research showing that so-called conversion therapy is not only ineffective but harmful. Unlike the earlier law, however, this legislation targets "sexual orientation change efforts" aimed at adults as well as minors.



AB 2943 would expand the definition of "unfair or deceptive acts or practices" in the Consumer Legal Remedies Act to include "advertising, offering to engage in or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual." Anyone who engaged in that practice could be sued under the bill.



Would that include religious groups that sold or even recommended books that propagated the idea that believers can use prayer to overcome "same-sex attraction"? That's what several conservative organizations and commentators are arguing. The 1st Amendment clearly protects their right to preach, and encourage adherents to follow, religious doctrine on sexual morality.



The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group, notes: "Numerous books have been written to help those struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction or gender identity confusion. Selling such books, which 'seek to change an individual's sexual orientation,' would potentially be a banned practice under AB 2943."



Supporters of the bill scoff at this. A fact sheet provided by Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Silicon Valley), the sponsor of AB 2943, asserts that the bill "does not apply to the sale of books or any other kind of goods" and that the Bible "would absolutely not be banned." Yet the bill itself makes no such declaration. And the existing Consumer Legal Remedies Act clearly applies to the sale of goods such as books, videos and other educational materials.



Another complaint by critics is that, while the bill permits therapies that "do not seek to change sexual orientation," it defines "sexual orientation change efforts" to include attempts to alter not only romantic attractions but also "behaviors or gender expressions." Under this broad definition, wrote David French in the National Review, if "a sexually active gay man or woman sought counseling not to change their orientation but rather to become celibate, then the services and goods provided in that effort would violate this statute."



Many Californians obviously reject the idea that gays and lesbians shouldn't engage in sexual activity. But many religious groups (including the Roman Catholic Church) teach that sex is permissible only within heterosexual marriage. The 1st Amendment protects their right to counsel adherents to live by those teachings.



Granted, the 2012 law banning conversion therapy for minors by licensed professionals also included efforts to change "behaviors or gender expressions." But that law regulated only the conduct of licensed professionals. Now, the state would be going further, including trying to regulate nonprofessionals. In upholding the 2012 law against a 1st Amendment challenge, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals emphasized that the statute didn't prevent mental health providers from referring minors to unlicensed counselors "such as religious leaders."



Finally, it's true that AB 2943 covers only sexual orientation change efforts that result in the "sale or lease of goods or services" and thus wouldn't affect a lot of religious communications in which no money changes hands. But what if a minister urged someone he or she was counseling to buy a book or enroll in a religious seminar that charged a fee? Treating that activity as consumer fraud would raise serious constitutional questions.



It's possible that the critics of this bill are being alarmist, but the language is ambiguous enough to justify at least some of their concerns. The Senate can allay them by amending the bill to make it clear that it can't be used against books or religious preaching or counseling about sexuality.





The above editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times. It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.


Close Korea-US coordination needed before US-NK summit



U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week that his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place in Singapore on June 12.



The need for close coordination between South Korea and the U.S. is highlighted at this point to ensure North Korea's denuclearization. In particular, Seoul needs to quell conservatives' concerns that the issue of U.S. troops may emerge as part of negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea for disarmament.



Responding to media reports about this, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said, "The President has not asked the Pentagon to provide options for reducing American forces stationed in South Korea."



Trump also denied that he was considering troops removal at the moment. Given that he has in the past penalized Korea for "paying peanuts" to retain the U.S. troops, there is a possibility that Trump may seek a reduction to save costs in the long run.



There are grave concerns here about any change to the presence of the U.S. troops, which many Koreans perceive as the backbone of national security. This perception will persist even if an official end to the 1950-53 Korean War is declared pursuant to the April 27 Panmunjeom Declaration signed between President Moon Jae-in and Kim.



There are huge expectations among South Koreans for the Trump-Kim meeting in Singapore. The latest developments, such as the release of U.S. detainees in North Korea and Pyongyang's announcement that it will publicly dismantle its nuclear test site this month, are positive signals for the U.S.-North Korea summit. But for the Singapore meeting to be a success, Korea and the U.S. first need to coordinate closely about the terms of negotiation with Pyongyang. Seoul must ensure that that our position is duly represented.



Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha visited Washington last week to meet new U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who recently met Kim twice in Pyongyang. "We talked about the fact that America has, often in history, had adversaries who we are now close partners with and our hope that we could achieve the same with respect to North Korea," Pompeo told a press conference on May 11. "If North Korea takes bold action to quickly denuclearize, the United States is prepared to work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on par with our South Korean friends."



Kang's visit reaffirmed that the two countries are on the same page regarding North Korea's denuclearization.

"We are very clear that sanctions remain in place until and unless we see visible, meaningful action taken by North Korea on the denuclearization track," Kang said.



When Moon meets Trump in Washington on May 22, Moon should make good use of the opportunity to mediate a fruitful meeting between Trump and Kim.



A hotline was established between the leaders of the two Koreas after the Panmunjeom meeting. It is expected that it will be used for the first time soon. Moon should advise Kim not to make demands that the U.S. cannot accept and make solid steps to convince the world that this time the North is sincere about denuclearization.

?
















Sewol ferry erected four years after tragedy



The Sewol ferry was righted at Mokpo Port on May 10 more than four years after it sank on April 16, 2014.



The operation, which took place in the presence of the bereaved families, received scant media attention amid the flurry of multilateral diplomacy toward North Korea's denuclearization.



Even though so much time has passed, the shock of the sinking remains deep in the hearts of many Koreans. One of Korea's worst maritime disasters, the sinking left more than 300 people, mostly high school students on a field trip to Jeju, dead. The remains of five victims are still unaccounted for.



With the ship now upright, the search for the missing remains is expected to gain momentum.



The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries will begin the search next month. Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon visited the site and vowed to exert full efforts to recover the missing remains. He also met victims' families.



Placing the vessel upright should also help the investigation _ which was stalled during the previous Park administration _ into the exact cause of the disaster.



There have been much speculation and rumors about the cause, leading to serious social division in Korean society. It is important to determine the cause to prevent a repetition of such a disaster.








By Hannah Jun





Hannah Jun
Was this the last rickshaw in Seoul, May 1948.



By Robert Neff



The first rickshaws in Korea were likely introduced sometime in 1883 by a Japanese man known only as Fuyeiko, who was in Seoul "hunting for a position." It isn't clear what position he was seeking but he did bring over 50 rickshaws and apparently sold a number of them. Unfortunately, the owners were unfamiliar with the proper operation of the chairs and many were damaged. Following the Gapsin Coup in December 1884, many people associated the rickshaws with the Japanese and destroyed most of them.



But there were at least a few rickshaws that escaped the mobs' wrath. In the late spring of 1885, a group of missionaries  including a couple of women  described their experience with riding in a rickshaw from Jemulpo [modern Incheon] to Seoul:



"First the rickshaw runners were new to their job. They would release the handlebar suddenly and we as suddenly were feet up! They would not notice a ditch and slow up, but plump into it went the wheels with a resultant bump for the rider! After a sufficient number of these unpleasantnesses an exchange was made, the baggage was put into the rickshaws and the ladies on the ponies. Now the pack-saddles on the ponies were made for carrying loads of unfeeling wood and not for sensitive humans! So after our arrival, one lady was in bed a week, the other three days! I leave to your imagination the reason why."



Despite the early setbacks, rickshaws eventually became quite popular  even with thieves and robbers. According to the Korea Review (1903):



"Burglars and robbers are getting bold in this city and doing their work in style. A number of houses have been robbed by men who ride about in jinrikshas [rickshaw]. A number raided the home of a high official not long ago. They rode up in jinrickshas, alighted, were invited in as friends, and then with drawn knives and pistols they held up all that were in the house and robbed at will."



Rickshaws remained a part of urban Seoul life until just after the liberation from Japan in 1945 when automobiles and taxis became more numerous. The rickshaw was one of the first forms of modern transportation imported to Korea, and was one of the first to disappear  ironically a victim of modernization.


Officials from the Rwandan government, KT and KT's Rwandan affiliate KT Rwanda Networks (KTRN) pose during the Transform Africa Summit 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda. Yoon Han-sung, second from left, CEO of KTRN; Yun Kyung-lim, third from left, head of KT's global business office; Jean de Dieu Rurangirwa, fourth from left, minister of ICT in Rwanda; and Kim Eung-joong, ambassador to Rwanda, third from right, are seen in this photo. / Courtesy of KT



By Baek Byung-yeul



KT announced Sunday that it had installed a high-speed mobile Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in Rwanda that covers 95 percent of the African country.



Korea's No. 2 mobile carrier said it feted the completion of the network during the Transform Africa Summit 2018 -- an information and communication technology (ICT) conference -- held from May 7 to 10 in Rwanda's capital city Kigali.



Rwanda is one of the fastest growing African ICT markets in e-commerce, e-services, mobile technology, applications development and automation. The country has a population of about 12 million people and 8.6 million people are subscribed to a mobile service. It is presumed that about 1.15 million people are using smartphones.



KT said the completion of the LTE network in Rwanda was a successful example of the company's public-private-partnership (PPP) contract.



The company was an exclusive business partner with Rwanda to install the high-speed LTE network, which took three-and-a-half years to complete.



The network coverage reached 26 percent in 2015 and surpassed the 62 percent mark in 2016.



A KT spokeswoman said this is first time for a Korean mobile carrier to build an LTE network in Africa. "There has been criticism that local mobile carriers in Korea are less capable in overseas expansion, but this is an example showing KT's capability in overseas business," she said, adding KT may consider constructing LTE networks in other African countries.



Rwanda has its government development program Vision 2020 with the aim of becoming a middle income country by then. With the country's lack of access to a port, inflated airfreight rates and surrounding instability, the government there invested in constructing ICT infrastructure to become a regional hub.



Yun Kyung-lim, head of KT's global business office, said Rwandans are expected to accelerate the development of relevant technology with the faster internet.



"Simply put, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is to converge and connect diverse industries on the basis of connectivity. In that regard, we have just begun and are now ready to join this wave of change. Also, we are closer to fulfilling the objectives of ICT vision Rwanda 2020," said Yun.



"We need to create many converged services and innovations on top of this newly constructed 4G LTE environment. I can assure you, KT, as a global partner, will come up with local innovations in addition to the network and place Rwanda as a leading African nation," Yun said.



Jean de Dieu Rurangirwa, minister of ICT in Rwanda also echoed that the network coverage was a splendid feat that KT and the Rwandan government achieved together. The minister also said the network will boost quality education, extend better medical services to rural areas, and accelerate the transformation of Rwanda' s agriculture economy into a knowledge based one.


Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Partly cloudy skies after midnight. Areas of patchy fog. Low 58F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Partly cloudy skies after midnight. Areas of patchy fog. Low 58F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
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Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 57F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 57F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Capsule reviews are by Philip Brandes (P.B.), F. Kathleen Foley (F.K.F.), Margaret Gray (M.G.), Charles McNulty (C.M.) and Daryl H. Miller (D.H.M.).

Openings

Mary Bridget Davies The Tony nominee (A Night with Janis Joplin) performs in this cabaret show. Catalina Bar & Grill, 6725 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. Sun., 7:30 p.m. $25-$50; food and drink minimums apply. (866) 468-3399.

The Gale Improv show celebrates the LGBTQ journey. Groundlings Theatre, 7307 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. Mon., 8 p.m. $16. (323) 934-4747.

Mary Bridget Davies The Tony nominee (A Night with Janis Joplin) performs in this cabaret show. Catalina Bar & Grill, 6725 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. May 13. Sun., 7:30 p.m. $25-$50; food and drink minimums apply. (866) 468-3399.

Hershey Felder: Beethoven Felder explores the life and work of the composer in this new musical bio-drama. Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Wed., 7:30 pm.; Thu., 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Fri., 7:30 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 7:30 p.m.; next Sun., 1 and 5:30 p.m.; ends May 27. $95. (949) 497-2787.

Advertisement

Soft Power A Chinese businessman and a U.S. leader find romance in this world-premiere drama/musical from Tony winners David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) and Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home). Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. Wed.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; next Sun., 1 and 6:30 p.m.; ends June 10. $30-$130. (213) 972-4400.

Whos Da Boss? Live! Drag-style send-up of the classic sitcom; with Jackie Beat. Cavern Club Theater, 1920 Hyperion Ave., L.A. Wed.-Sat., 8 and 10 p.m.; next Sun., 3, 7 and 9 p.m.; ends May 20. $35. (800) 838-3006.

The Carolyn Bryant Project This new drama co-created by Nataki Garrett and Andrea LeBlanc revisits the interactions that led to the racially motivated 1955 murder of Emmett Till, which helped fuel the civil-rights movement. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., L.A. Thu.-Sat., 8:30 p.m.; next Sun., 3 p.m.; ends May 20. $20, $25. (213) 237-2800.

Mr. Pim Passes By A visitor upends the life of a British couple in this comedy by Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne. Theatre 40, Reuben Cordova Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills. Thu., 8 p.m.; Fri., 7 p.m.; Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends June 17. $30. (310) 364-0535.

Shine Storytellers share true tales of life-changing travels. Promenade Playhouse, 1404 3rd St., Santa Monica. Thu., 7 p.m. $12; discounts available. (310) 452-2321.

Spill L.A. Theatre Works records Leigh Fondakowskis docudrama about the Deepwater Horizon oil-rig disaster for radio, podcast and streaming; with Jane Kaczmarek. James Bridges Theater, UCLA, 235 Charles E. Young Drive, Westwood. Thu.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 and 8 p.m.; next Sun., 4 p.m.; ends May 20. $15-$60. (310) 827-0889.

Tales from the Audition: From Falling Apart to Nailing the Part Tony winner Lena Hall shares songs and stories in the West Coast premiere of this cabaret show. Catalina Bar & Grill, 6725 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. May 17. Thu., 8:30 p.m. $25-$50; food and drink minimums apply. (866) 468-3399.

A Thousand Splendid Suns Ursula Rani Sarmas adaptation of the Khaled Hosseini novel about three generations of Afghan women in war-torn 1990s Kabul. The Old Globe, San Diego, 1363 Old Globe Way, San Diego. Thu.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 and 7 p.m.; ends June 17. $30 and up. (619) 234-5623.

Three Vignettes Fundraiser for A Noise Within features scenes from classic French plays, with live accompaniment by players from Pasadena Conservatory of Music. A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. Thu., 6:30 p.m. (626) 356-3103.

Dorothy Parker UnScripted Impro Theatre improvises full-length plays in the style of the 1920s-era writer and satirist. The Edye at the Broad Stage, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends May 20. $45. (310) 434-3200.

The Piano Men: Billy Joel & Elton John Jim Witter and his band celebrate the 1970s-era songs of the music stars. La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada. Fri., 8 p.m. $10-$30. (562) 944-9801.

Wood Boy Dog Fish Rogue Artists Ensemble presents a revised version of Chelsea Suttons effects-laden, macabre and mature-audiences-only reimagining of the story of Pinocchio. Garry Marshall Theatre, 4252 W. Riverside Drive, Burbank. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 3 and 7 p.m.; ends June 24. $45$65. (818) 955-8101.

Aleichem Sholom! The Wit and Wisdom of Sholom Aleichem New musical inspired by the life and times of the Yiddish humorist. Santa Monica Playhouse, the Other Space, 1211 4th St., Santa Monica. Sat., 7:30 p.m.; next Sun., 3:30 p.m.; ends June 25. $35. (310) 394-9779.

Angels, Devils and Other Things 11 short company-created plays on various aspects of the human condition. The Actors Gang Theatre, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City. Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends June 16. $25-$34.99; Thursdays, pay what you can. (310) 838-4264.

Clearly Classic: Shakespeares Twelfth Night This new series gets underway with an abridged version of the Bards comedy, preceded by an introduction exploring the plays language, themes, etc.; for ages 12 and up. The Parsons Theater, 95 N. Marengo Ave., Pasadena. Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 3 p.m.; ends June 10. $15-$30; reservations required. (626) 403-7667.

Dont Tell My Mother! Sherri Saum (The Fosters) headlines the storytelling series annual Mothers Day show. MiMoDa Studio, 5774 W. Pico Blvd., L.A. Sat., 8 p.m. $16-$25. www.dtmm-show.com.

Flight A slave in 1850s Georgia is separated from her family when she is sold to another plantation in Charlayne Woodwards drama. Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach.Sat., 8 p.m.; ends June 16. $14-$27. (562) 494-1014.

The Last Schwartz Siblings gather after the death of the family patriarch in West Coast Jewish Theatres staging of Deborah Zoe Laufers comedy; parental guidance suggested. Edgemar Center for the Arts, 2437 Main St., Santa Monica. $25-$40. (310) 392-7327.

Ojai Playwrights Conference Annual Gala Benefit Features performances of dramatic scenes and songs by special guests. Aspen Grove Ranch, 7887 Ojai Road, Ojai. Sat., 4 p.m. $250. www.ojaiplays.org.

Ripe Frenzy A high school production of Our Town is disrupted by a mass shooting in Jennifer Barclays new drama. Greenway Court Theatre, 544 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A. Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; next Sun., 4 p.m.; ends June 17. $15-$34. (323) 673-0544.

Rita Rudner The veteran comedian performs. La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada. Sat., 8 p.m. $10-$30. (562) 944-9801.

Audra McDonald in Concert The six-time Tony winner sings show tunes, standards and more with the LA Opera Orchestra. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. Next Sun., 3 p.m. $19 and up. (213) 972-8001.

Lost and Found: A Guilt Trip Through Show Business Steven Shaw looks back on his life and career in an encore of his solo show. Theatre 40, Reuben Cordova Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills. Next Sun., 7 p.m.; ends June 10. $20. (310) 364-0535.

Critics Choices

The Baby Dance: Mixed With the same finely-detailed specificity that distinguished Jane Andersons 1989 drama, the heightened racial emphasis in this substantially-rewritten mixed-cast version opens up new opportunities to personalize and deepen the characters  surpassing the original in key respects. (P.B.) Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura. Sun., next Sun., 2 p.m.; Wed., 2 and 7 p.m.; Thu., 7 p.m.; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends May 20. $30-$55. (805) 667-2900.

Bad Jews A dip in an acid-laced bubble bath, Joshua Harmons effervescently corrosive comedy about a fanatical Jewish ideologue and her more secular-minded cousins dispute over a religious artifact left behind by their Holocaust survivor grandfather receives a blissfully high-decibel staging from director Dana Resnick and a pitch-perfect cast. Harmons brilliantly caustic play frames serious issues of Jewish identity within a breathtaking blitzkrieg of invective guaranteed to make your eardrums smolder. (F.K.F.) Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A. Sun., next Sun., 2 p.m.; Thu.-Sat., 8 p.m.; ends June 17. $30-$35. (310) 477-2055.

The Chosen Learning to see past differences and getting to know the person underneath is a lesson for all time in Chaim Potoks 1940s-set novel, adapted by Potok and Aaron Posner. The Fountain gives this tale of an unexpected friendship between Brooklyn teens from different strains of Judaism a poignant staging. (D.H.M.) The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., L.A. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends June 10. $20-$40. (323) 663-1525.

I Am Not a Comedian  Im Lenny Bruce In this meticulously researched solo biography tracing the life and prosecution of the groundbreaking early 1960s comic provocateur, actor Ronnie Marmo and director Joe Mantegna offer subsequent generations not only a sense of who Bruce was, but, more important, why he mattered. (P.B.) Theatre 68, 5112 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Ends Sun., 3 p.m. $35. (323) 960-5068.

Noises Off Director Geoff Elliott and a superb cast hit the banana peel running and never let up in their crowd-pleasing reprise of Michael Frayns 1982 farce-within-a-farce, a giddy glimpse of a theatrical hothouse populated by doddering drunks, vapid bombshells, and cue-challenged stars, where titanic egos and meager talents clash, hilariously. (F.K.F.) A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. Sun., 2 and 7 p.m.; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends May 26. $25 and up; student rush, $20. (626) 356-3100.
Cannes notebook: The wonderful, improbable Palme dOr triumph of Hirokazu Kore-edas Shoplifters

Director Hirokazu Koreeda winner of the Palme dOr award for Shoplifters. (Andreas Rentz / Getty Images)

On the last day of every Cannes Film Festival, word begins to leak out about which filmmakers from the competition have been called back for the closing-night awards ceremony.

Many of us already knew, going into Saturday nights show, that Pawel Pawlikowskis Cold War, Alice Rohrwachers Happy as Lazzaro, Spike Lees BlacKkKlansman, Nadine Labakis Capernaum and Hirokazu Kore-edas Shoplifters were certain to go home with awards, though which film would win what remained a mystery.

Festival juries are notoriously difficult to predict, but several other critics shared my hunch that the Palme dOr, the festivals top prize, would go to either Capernaum or BlacKkKlansman. Both were among the most enthusiastically touted films in the competition, and they offered the jury a chance to anoint either Labaki, a Lebanese director who had just launched herself into the big leagues, or Lee, a veteran American auteur who had famously (and angrily) lost the Palme nearly 30 years ago for Do the Right Thing. Would they go with the striking new talent or the overdue veteran?

In the end, they chose the overdue veteran, though not the one some of us were expecting. In a development as startling as it was altogether marvelous, the jury president, Cate Blanchett, announced that the Palme dOr had gone to Kore-edas Shoplifters, one of the quietest, loveliest and most emotionally enduring films in the competition.

Did anyone see this coming? To judge by his genially shell-shocked reaction, Kore-eda himself certainly didnt.

Read more on this years winners
When it came time to say goodbye to Teresa Reynoso de Gonzalez, nearly two dozen people squeezed into her Fullerton hospital room.

Still more waited in the hallway. And in a nearby lobby. And in a conference room, freed up by the hospital once the crowd reached nearly 100.

Doctors thought she was a celebrity, said her granddaughter Alicia Valadez.

No, said her family. This was abuelita Tere.

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She had 13 children and 53 grandchildren and another 53 great-grandchildren. By the time she died last month at 90, she was the matriarch of a large, prosperous clan.

She and her husband, Miguel Gonzalez Jimenez, had come to California from the Mexican state of Jalisco with little money. But one small grocery store in Anaheim had grown to 40 up and down Southern California. Northgate Gonzalez Markets Inc., known for healthy, affordable food, had become one of the nations largest Latino chains, reporting about $900 million in sales last year.

While he worked with their children in the stores, she was the force at home.

Teresa Reynoso de Gonzalez was the matriarch of the family that launched the Northgate Gonzalez grocery chain. She loved a full house and hosted festive posadas every Christmas. When her grandchildren visited, she welcomed them with strawberries and cream. (Family photo )

Dona Teresa was witty, bold and blunt.

Her children say she was born a guerrera, a warrior.

Teresa was 16 years old when she fell for Miguel, a young man with an impressive mustache. The son of ranchers lived a few blocks away from her in Jalostotitlan, Jalisco.

Their romance blossomed through a peephole in Teresas front door. Her mother, Jesusita, would head to church after sunrise and Teresa would stand at the door and talk with Miguel.

One day Jesusita found his photo in Teresas bedroom. She burned it and forbade her daughter from seeing him.

Teresa ended up marrying him anyway.

The two opened a shoe factory not far from the main plaza. La Elegancia stood two stories high and employed about 25 shoemakers.

One day, a worker forgot to turn off the petroleum stove used to heat the soles. The factory burned to the ground.

My father used to say he was left with only 20 pesos, said their son Miguel Gonzalez Reynoso.

The couple borrowed money and opened a second factory, but by the 1960s it was struggling. Miguel decided to go north with his two oldest sons.

Teresa stayed behind in Mexico for nearly 10 years, a single mother raising 10 children.

Youd see a sadness in her eyes during those days, said daughter Teresa Alvarado.

Still, she rarely let her children see her cry.

Instead, she kept them busy  cooking, washing, cleaning, tending to a pig they used to stuff with leftovers, hopeful that one day hed be plump enough to sell.

At some point, Teresa grew so desperate that she thought about asking the White House for help.

She wrote to President Lyndon B. Johnson: Please, reunite my family.

She never sent that letter. But for years, she kept it in her home, tucked under a statue of a saint.

The family of Northgate Gonzalez markets matriarch Teresa Reynoso de Gonzalez meets for lunch at company headquarters in Anaheim. Debbie Gonzalez, center left, shares a laugh with her aunt Ana Rosa Gonzalez. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times )

Oscar, center right, and Ramon Gonzalez greet each other as they prepare for lunch. Ana Rosa Gonzalez is right. The 13 siblings have gathered weekly to eat together for more than 20 years. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times )

In the United States, Miguel and his sons spent years working for others: welding iron, washing dishes and driving trucks.

In 1980, he decided to take a chance. By then, his family was reunited in the U.S. He and his third-oldest son, Miguel Gonzalez Reynoso, pooled their money and bought a 2,500-square-foot market in Anaheim.

The store came with a fitting name that would eventually become dear to the family: Northgate. Porton al norte.

Back then, they were stuck with it because they had no money to change the big sign.

Miguel used to bring home groceries from his market  bruised tomatoes, wrinkling corn, cuts of chicken and carne asada cast aside at the meat counter.

Dont you have anything good in your store? his wife would tease him.

Yes, hed say. Thats for the customers.

Their children tended to every detail of the business. Marco Antonio and Hector ran the meat department. Victor stocked the produce. Teresa, Ana Rosa and Estela manned the cash registers. Jesus, then the baby of the bunch, used to bring everyone lunch.

Teresa Reynoso de Gonzalez rarely got involved with their work.

But as time passed and the stores multiplied, she offered her advice.

She was the familys peacemaker, uncompromising in her mission to keep her kin united.

Anytime there was a disagreement over business, she was called in to mediate. Her guidance was always the same: I dont know whos right, but you have to make up right now.

Be careful, she would tell her son Miguel, the companys co-president. Do not ever leave anyone out.

Over the years, her words as much as her husbands influenced every aspect of Northgate.

The familys patriarch died in 2009. The 13 siblings who range in age from 48 to 71 are co-owners of the company. They receive the same salary, no matter the position, said the son who bears his fathers first name.

Together, the children created a chain of markets that has been called the Disneyland of Mexican food.

They sell 3-foot-long chicharrones, handmade churros and lots of food Latinos want but cant always easily find.

Abuelita Tere was a particular fan of the carnitas.

Miguel Gonzalez Reynoso at his Northgate Gonzalez supermarket in Norwalk. He and his family created a chain of markets that has been called the Disneyland of Mexican food. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times )

On a recent afternoon, the Gonzalez family gathered at company headquarters in Anaheim.

It was the first time since her death on April 5 that they had shared lunch in their private dining room.

Dona Teresas children sat at one table.

Her grandchildren sat at another. (Thirty of them work at the company.)

All dressed in black, the grandchildren ate posole and traded stories about their abuela, immortalized with her husband in statues and murals all around the building.

Most of their memories centered on her home, a four-acre property in La Habra Heights spacious enough to fit all her family, her fruit trees and her birds, Bruno, Peanut and Guapo.

Everyone took turns visiting her house every day of the week: daughters, sons, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The family of Teresa Reynoso de Gonzalez at company headquarters. From left, Teresa Alvarado, Ana Rosa Gonzalez, Alicia Gonzalez, Ramon Gonzalez, Miguel Gonzalez, Jesus Gonzalez, Estela Ortiz, Maria Bolanos, Victor Gonzalez, Marco Antonio Gonzalez and Oscar Gonzalez. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times )

If someone didnt show up for some time, abuelita Tere would track them down.

I dont know how she did it, Gutierrez said. But she always knew what was going on in each of our lives.

Every Christmas, she made sure she had gifts not just for each of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren but for all of their spouses and sometimes even their spouses parents.

Christmas was the biggest day there, said granddaughter Andrea Gonzalez.

Her birthday, too, said another granddaughter, Michelle Gutierrez. That day was like a holiday for the whole family.

And Sundays, she expected everyone to attend Mass. They filled several pews at the front of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in La Habra.

When the priest would ask parishioners to turn to their neighbors and say, Peace be with you, the family would form a line to greet the woman at the center of it all.

They repeated this ritual at the hospital. One by one, they touched her with blessed oil and sang her many songs, including her favorite, Solamente Una Vez.

Only Once.

Teresa Reynoso de Gonzalez and her thirteen children. The family grew prosperous after launching 40 grocery stores in California. Still, she would often tell them, It doesnt matter what you have. What matters is how you treat people. (Family photo )

esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com

@LATBermudez
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti delivered a commencement speech in New Hampshire on Sunday, adding another notch to his travels in key primary states as he contemplates a run for president.

Garcetti flew east Saturday, speaking to graduates at Southern New Hampshire University the next morning before returning to Los Angeles, where he faces a homelessness crisis and a decision on who will be the citys next police chief.

This was Garcettis second trip to New Hampshire. In August, before publicly acknowledging that he was considering a presidential run, he stumped for Manchester mayoral candidate Joyce Craig.

In recent months, Garcetti has stepped up his presence in early primary states, visiting Nevada, South Carolina and Iowa. Last week, he addressed a labor union convention in Florida.

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In his Mothers Day speech to about 1,800 graduates of SNHUs College of Online and Continuing Education, Garcetti spoke about navigating borders both physical and psychological.

Many of the graduates had returned to school after years or decades, determined to get their college degrees amid the challenges of working and parenting. They came to the ceremony from as far away as Texas and Hawaii.

There was a contingent in the crowd from Los Angeles  Dont forget to vote, Garcetti quipped. The online division has so many students from Southern California that a graduation ceremony will be held there soon, said university spokeswoman Lauren Keane.

To get here today, each one of you had to navigate borders  borders of geography, of opportunity, borders of identity and of your own doubt, said Garcetti, 47.

He spoke of his own grandfather, who crossed the border from Mexico as a baby, and his great-grandparents, who fled anti-Semitism in Russia.

Im an average American. As I joke, Im the average Mexican American Jewish Italian mayor of the most diverse city in the world, he said.

The theme of borders extended to national politics. Garcetti urged the audience to talk to people with opposing political views. He referenced veterans, refugees and homelessness while criticizing Washington politicians for failing to bridge differences.

The pundits call it right now in our country that there are two Americas  theres the rural and urban divide, the immigrant and native-born, the coasts and the heartland, red and blue, Garcetti said. I do believe there are two Americas, but its none of those  its Washington, D.C., and the rest of us.

In Iowa last month, Garcetti made the standard Democratic candidate rounds  a training center for carpenters, a gay rights gala  without formally declaring that he was running.

Garcettis New Hampshire trip had less to do with a possible presidential run than with speaking at a school known for providing opportunities for veterans and older students, said Yusef Robb, a political advisor.

The mayor made no other official stops on the trip, Robb said.

Craig, who won her bid for Manchester mayor, introduced Garcetti to SNHU President Paul LeBlanc, Robb said, and the trip was paid for by the university.

Garcetti spoke to SNHU trustees at their recent board retreat in Los Angeles, which led to the commencement invitation, said Keane, the university spokeswoman.

In case anyone had forgotten that presidential politics were in the mix, LeBlanc slipped in a joke as he took the microphone back from Garcetti.

Thank you, President Garcetti  uh, Mayor Garcetti, he said.

cindy.chang@latimes.com
A Venice group sued the city of Los Angeles on Friday over a pair of laws recently passed by the City Council that are intended to ease requirements for sheltering homeless people.

Oxford Triangle Assn. alleges in a suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court that the city failed to fully consider the environmental impacts of the two laws. Another group, Fight Back, Venice, filed an identical suit Friday, said Jamie Hall, the attorney for both groups.



For the record: This article has been updated to clarify the context of attorney Jamie Halls quoted comment about residents concerns over the new permanent supportive housing laws. He says he was speaking generally about the ordinance.

The ordinances being challenged make it easier to build permanent supportive housing and to convert motels to units for homeless people.

The lawsuits cite the California Environmental Quality Act, which requires government officials to fully evaluate a new developments impact on the environment. The plaintiffs want to set aside the laws and force the city to require full environmental reviews for projects.

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The lawsuits dont target specific developments, but Hall said the plaintiffs are concerned about two proposed projects in Venice.

Speaking generally about the new permanent supportive housing law, Hall said residents are concerned that new developments are being shoved down their throat without any opportunity to provide for comment or feedback.

Under the permanent supportive housing law passed last month, homeless housing developments that meet a list of requirements can avoid a lengthy process at City Hall that includes environmental review and can trigger a public hearing.

The law also slashes parking requirements and allows permanent supportive housing projects to be built taller or denser than otherwise allowed.

The other law eases the way for motels to be converted temporarily into housing. To participate, motel owners must show that they had struck an agreement to lease out their building for homeless tenants.

As the laws were being debated this year, several neighborhood groups expressed concern.

Court filings identify some of the members of the Oxford Triangle Assn. as Mark Shockley, Karen E. Kennedy and Linda Giambrone Vaughn. Christian Wrede is listed as a member of Fight Back, Venice, Hall said.

Mayor Eric Garcettis office had no immediate comment.

dakota.smith@latimes.com

Twitter: @dakotacdsmith
Los Angeles County has wrongly canceled Medi-Cal coverage for thousands of residents, often leaving them without access to healthcare and needed medicines, a judge has ruled.

In a decision Thursday, L.A. County Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant wrote that the county violated state law by terminating Medi-Cal coverage for beneficiaries even though they turned in their renewal paperwork on time. The ruling orders the county to fix the problem.

About 3.9 million people in Los Angeles County rely on Medi-Cal for health coverage, according to state data. Medi-Cal, the states version of Medicaid, is funded by the state and federal government and provides coverage to low-income Americans and people who are disabled.

From December 2016 to December 2017, about 22,000 people in L.A. County wrongly lost Medi-Cal benefits, according to evidence cited in the judges decision. The problems appear to have resulted from a backlog of applications and a faulty computer system, according to court documents.

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We hope that now the county will no longer be yanking Medi-Cal from over 2,000 patients a month, and that patients in our county who desperately need this life-sustaining Medi-Cal coverage will be able to keep it, said David Kane, an attorney with the nonprofit Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in December 2016 by several Medi-Cal beneficiaries represented by Neighborhood Legal Services and other firms.

Carol Northern, one of the plaintiffs, said she was skeptical yet hopeful that the county would change its practices. Northern, who has a blood disease that requires several medicines, was kicked off Medi-Cal in 2016 even though she completed her renewal packet on time, she said.

I would go in there to file my paperwork, I never knew what was going to happen, said Northern, who lives in Palmdale. I think its going to affect a lot of people, Im flying high right now, but I still have the what ifs.

The judge found that the county had failed to uphold state law. A final judgment that includes a plan for how the county will fix the problem will be rendered in the next few months.

Once the judgment is finalized, county lawyers can appeal the decision.

This matter is still before the court, so it would be inappropriate for the county to comment before the judge can rule on a final round of submissions in the case, a county spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. However, its important to note that we are strongly committed to serving the public and making improvements in our processes wherever we can.

Despite the unlawful terminations, the countys Department of Public Social Services processes an overwhelming majority of applications on time, according to court documents.

State health department standards call for 90% of renewals to be processed within 60 days, and L.A. County completes roughly 99% within that time frame. The wrongly terminated renewals account for only about 1% of the thousands of applications the department processes each month.

But any improper termination violates state law, the judge ruled.

The countys backlog has grown in part because its computer system is set up to kick people out of the Medi-Cal program if their renewal paperwork is not received by the middle of the month. Renewals, however, are not due until the end of the month.

So county workers must manually reverse Medi-Cal terminations when an application comes in after the middle of the month, creating extra work. A report cited in the judges ruling found that 40,000 such cases as of November 2017 needed to be processed so people could be restored to Medi-Cal.

The termination system is more than a mistake; it is an institutional failure, Chalfant wrote.

The judge also ruled that the county had failed to quickly reinstate Medi-Cal for people who turned in their applications late but within a 90-day window allowed by the state.

Again, the judge acknowledged that the county processed the vast majority of such renewals on time, yet its failure to do so for some beneficiaries shows it has neglected or refused to comply with what is required under state law.

Thaddeus Moncrief, another plaintiff, had been on Medi-Cal for decades when his doctors told him he no longer had health coverage. He learned hed been erroneously dropped from the program.

Moncrief went months without his blood pressure medicine or the catheters he uses with his wheelchair. His coverage has since been reinstated, but he said he believes others continue to suffer similar problems.

Some people I know are still having some of the same issues and trying to get reinstated, and just trying to contact [the county], just to find out whats going on, Moncrief said. Its a very long and exhausting process.

soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com

Twitter: @skarlamangla
Its drizzly, its gray -- its May in L.A.

Overcast skies with occasional drizzle are expected to last at least another week, caused by a low-pressure system hanging over Nevada, forecasters said.

Its what you would typically call your May gray or June gloom, said David Sweet, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

As soon as the low-pressure trough moves on, another is expected to move into the region from the northern Pacific, continuing to keep a damper over Southern California.

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That tends to gin up a pretty deep rain layer, he said.

The layer of moisture over the region may briefly lift Sunday afternoon in coastal areas, and throughout the region Monday and Tuesday.

But starting Wednesday, the grays will once again envelop the area, lasting through the weekend, Sweet said.

The region can expect drizzles to light rain, and the foothill areas of L.A. County mountains will likely see measurable rainfall, according to the weather service.

victoria.kim@latimes.com

For more California news, follow me on Twitter @vicjkim
The U.S. is prepared to quickly lift sanctions on North Korea and promise its leader, Kim Jong Un, that it would not seek to oust him from power, senior officials said Sunday, sketching out the terms of a possible deal if Kim agrees to give up his nuclear weapons.

We will have to provide security assurances to Kim as part of a nuclear deal, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Fox News Sunday. Our hope is that Kim wants a strategic change, and President Trump is prepared to help.

U.S. officials emphasized that they are not close to finalizing an agreement with Kim, a month before he and President Trump are scheduled to meet at an unprecedented summit in Singapore. They also stressed that Kim will have to agree to sweeping concessions up front, unlike in previous nuclear deals with Pyongyang that were phased in and ultimately fell apart.

Were prepared to open trade and investment as soon as we can, John Bolton, Trumps national security advisor, said on ABCs This Week. Before that can occur, he added, We want to see the denuclearization process so completely underway that its irreversible.

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Separately Sunday, Trump vowed to help smartphone and telecom equipment maker ZTE, only weeks after the U.S. banned American firms from selling parts to the Chinese company for seven years. The Commerce Department found ZTE had failed to abide by an agreement reached after it was found to have illegally shipped goods to Iran. The presidents surprise move was seen as a concession to China, whose cooperation will be critical to the success of the North Korea talks.

Trump said in a tweet that he and Chinas president, Xi Jinping, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!

It remains unclear whether Trumps advisors have reached agreement among themselves about their negotiating goals and how far they are prepared to push North Korea.

Bolton appeared to widen the scope of U.S. demands, insisting that the U.S. also wanted to put elimination of North Koreas chemical and biological weapons and other issues on the table.

I think we need to look at their chemical and biological weapons programs, and the return of South Korean and Japanese citizens abducted by the North, Bolton said.

Pyongyang has long sought assurances the U.S. would not invade the North and is believed to have pursued nuclear weapons in an attempt to ensure the survival of the regime by raising the threat that any U.S. move to oust Kim could escalate into nuclear war.

But it is a matter of fierce debate among diplomats and Korea experts whether Kim would surrender his nuclear arsenal. He has said he is willing to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, but it is not clear he means what Washington means  and what concessions he would insist on from the U.S. and its allies.

Pompeo called Kims announcement last week that North Korea would destroy its nuclear testing site a good first step.

For decades, the U.S. and North Korea have discussed an agreement in which Pyongyang would abandon its nuclear activities in return for a formal peace treaty ending the Korean conflict and economic assistance for the impoverished regime.

But the negotiations have repeatedly broken down, often amid recriminations on both sides that the other was not complying with the terms.

To avoid repeating that pattern, Pompeo implied, Kim would have to make sweeping concessions up front, which would be matched quickly by U.S. private investment in North Korea, focused on improving its antiquated power grid and boosting its food supply.

U.S. government aid to the North is not likely, Pompeo and Bolton said.

Kim understands that this will have to be big and special, added Pompeo, who returned early Thursday from what he called a productive meeting with Kim in Pyongyang. I think Kim appreciates the fact this is going to have to be different; both sides have to come to play.

He brought home three American prisoners freed by Kim in what Pompeo said was an important gesture that helped pave the way for the meeting.

Pompeo implied that the Trump administration would not seek to overthrow Kim if he surrendered his nuclear stockpile.

The U.S. and North Korea have been hostile adversaries for nearly seven decades, since the Korean War, with Pyongyang isolated from most nations.

In addition to possessing an unknown number of nuclear devices, North Korea has more than 1.2 million troops, an extensive if increasingly obsolete ground force that poses a direct threat to Seoul, only 35 miles from the demilitarized zone dividing North and South, if hostilities broke out.

The U.S. maintains major air and Navy bases in Japan, and the Pentagon keeps up to 32,000 American troops in South Korea, part of a huge military presence in northeast Asia to support a defense treaty that requires the United States to come to South Koreas aid if it is attacked.

Its unclear if Kim will insist on a drawdown in U.S. forces or promises that the U.S. would not employ nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula, which has long been a critical if unstated component of the U.S. plan to defend South Korea as a last resort.

david.cloud@latimes.com

Twitter: @davidcloudLAT
The Land of Lincoln is in such financial disarray, its looking at selling some of the Lincoln.

The foundation that supports the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum says that prestigious memorabilia tied to the home-state 16th president could be sold to help pay back a loan taken out to buy a trove of items more than a decade ago.

If the foundation is not able to secure commitments in the very near future to retire most  if not all  of the remaining $9.7 million debt, it will have no choice but to accelerate the possibility of selling these unique artifacts on the private market  which would likely remove them from public view forever, the Lincoln library foundation said Thursday in a statement.

Officials sounded the alarm bell publicly after meeting with aides to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner this month but receiving no financial commitments. The Lincoln officials noted that theyve asked state lawmakers for money three times, to no avail.

A Rauner spokeswoman called the museum a jewel for the state.

We are certainly interested in working with the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation as they work through their options, Patty Schuh said. We are listening to their business plan.

Finding the money and getting the long-warring parties at the Capitol to agree to spending it could prove challenging.

The state is billions of dollars in debt despite approving a major income-tax increase last summer. Theres been little progress in putting together a budget this spring as a scheduled adjournment looms at months end. And its an election year, meaning that money is under the microscope as lawmakers prepare to stand for reelection.

State government runs and funds the Lincoln library and museum. The separately run foundation raises private funds to support the presidential complex. The foundation, which is not funded by the state, operates a gift store and restaurant but has little role in the complexs operations, programs and oversight.

President Lincoln in a Nov. 8, 1863, photo. Alexander Gardner

The financial issues stem from a $23-million loan taken out to bankroll the 2007 purchase of a trove of Lincoln and non-Lincoln artifacts. The foundation bought a collection of more than 1,000 items from Louise Taper of Beverly Hills, who also donated memorabilia in what was viewed as a big coup for the popular $145-million museum, which has drawn more than 4 million visitors since opening in 2005 in downtown Springfield.

The Taper collection included a beaver fur stovepipe hat that library officials are satisfied that Lincoln wore, though some critics are not convinced there is empirical evidence of an attachment to Honest Abe. There also are Lincoln eyeglasses, a billfold, and gloves he wore to Fords Theatre when he was shot on April 14, 1865. They carry some of the presidents blood.

Among the non-Lincoln items in the collection are some that could fetch big bucks to help pay off the loan, including a dress worn by Marilyn Monroe.

Museum officials are sorting out which Taper collection items were donated and transferred to the state, and what might end up for sale  if it should come to that.

One item that wont be on the auction block is the states rare copy of the Gettysburg Address, written in Lincolns hand. The long-held showcase document wasnt part of the Taper purchase.

The states collection of tens of thousands of Lincoln artifacts draws researchers from around the globe and gives the public a chance to see up close big and small pieces of history tied to the president many consider to be the countrys greatest.

Tony Leone, who once served on a historic preservation panel that had some oversight of the Lincoln library, said that losing items to pay off the loan would give the state a black eye. Leone questioned whether the library or the foundation would have priority over what part of the collection they can keep.

The museum foundation and the state have some time. The loan doesnt come up for renewal until October 2019. The lender, which was not disclosed, has been helpful with terms in the past, the foundation said.

Rene Brethorst, the foundations chief operating officer, said in an email that the sale of Lincoln items is something we are working hard to avoid.

But, if we dont secure funding, we will have to accelerate that possibility, she wrote. We dont know which items might be sold, but the vast majority of items in this collection are related to Abraham Lincoln, his family or others with direct connections to him.

While Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigans long-running dispute has complicated state government operations, the two have a track record of negotiating on issues surrounding the Lincoln complex. After some disputes, Rauner signed an executive order last year creating a stand-alone state agency for the Lincoln museum. Madigan had sought that change for years, arguing that it would free the museum from bureaucratic red tape.

Long writes for the Chicago Tribune.
Americans are facing an epidemic of dishonesty in Washington thats more dangerous than terrorism or communism.

Thats according to former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who warned in a commencement speech Saturday at Rice University that an endless barrage of lies and a trend toward alternate realities in national politics pose a dire threat to U.S. democracy.

The 76-year-old billionaire, who flirted with an independent presidential run in 2016, did not call out any politicians by name.

Although he derided Donald Trump before his election as a con and a dangerous demagogue, in an interview before the speech Bloomberg refused to comment specifically on the Republican presidents troubled history with the truth. Fact checkers have determined that Trump has made hundreds of false or misleading statements since entering the Oval Office.

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This is bigger than any one person. Its bigger than any one party, Bloomberg said in the interview.

In the speech, Bloomberg evoked the legend of the nations first president, George Washington, who as a boy, legend has it, said he could not tell a lie when asked whether he had cut down a cherry tree.

How did we go from a president who could not tell a lie to politicians who cannot tell the truth? Bloomberg asked Rice graduates and their families gathered in Houston.

He blamed extreme partisanship for an unprecedented tolerance of dishonesty in U.S. politics. People are committed more to their political tribes than the truth, he said, suggesting that the nation is more divided than at any time since the Civil War.

There is now more tolerance for dishonesty in politics than I have seen in my lifetime, Bloomberg said. The only thing more dangerous than dishonest politicians who have no respect for the law is a chorus of enablers who defend their every lie.

For example, he said that Democrats spent much of the 1990s defending President Clinton against charges of lying and personal immorality just as Republicans attacked the lack of ethics and honesty in the White House. Just the reverse is happening today, he said.

In one jab at Trump, he noted that the vast majority of scientists agree that climate change is real. Trump and many of his Republican allies have repeatedly called climate change a hoax promoted by Americas adversaries.

If 99% of scientists whose research has been peer-reviewed reach the same general conclusion about a theory, then we ought to accept it as the best available information  even if its not a 100% certainty, Bloomberg said. He added: That, graduates, is not a Chinese hoax.

He warned that such deep levels of dishonesty could enable what he called criminality. Asked what specifically he was talking about, Bloomberg noted lots of investigations going on, but he declined to be more specific.

Several Trump associates are facing criminal charges as part of a federal investigation into Russias meddling in the 2016 election. Three have already pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI. Federal investigators want to interview Trump himself, although the presidents legal team has resisted so far.

When elected officials speak as though they are above the truth, they will act as though they are above the law, Bloomberg told Rice graduates. And when we tolerate dishonesty, we get criminality. Sometimes, its in the form of corruption. Sometimes, its abuse of power. And sometimes, its both.

The greatest threat to American democracy isnt communism, jihadism or any other external force or foreign power, he continued. Its our own willingness to tolerate dishonesty in service of party, and in pursuit of power.
The seemingly endless war between Palestinians and Israelis isnt only about substantive issues of borders and land and sovereignty. It is, in essence, a war of competing narratives. This week as Israelis celebrate 70 years of victory over repeated attempts to destroy the miraculous rebirth of Jewish sovereignty, and Palestinians mourn 70 years of defeat, displacement and occupation, each side clings to its founding story as an affirmation of its very being.

One reason that peace between Israelis and Palestinians has been so elusive is that the real elements of the conflict  faith, memory, identity  have gone largely unaddressed. Diplomats focus their so-far futile efforts on the tangible issues dividing the two sides. But this is a fight over intangibles.

I recently appeared on a panel with Palestinian reconciliation activist Huda Abuarquob of the Alliance for Middle East Peace. A member of the audience asked us: Why cant Israelis and Palestinians forget the past and concentrate on the future? Instinctively, Huda and I nearly shouted together: Impossible!

It was a revealing moment in the disconnect between the West and the Middle East. For Middle Easterners, Jews and Arabs alike, we are our stories.

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We are formed by the cumulative memories of millenniums; we are contemporaries with our ancestors. Both Arabs and Jews, for example, cherish our ancient father Abrahim/Ibrahim not as a mythic patriarch but an extant example of faith and perseverance. And no less than our exalted memories, we are formed by our collective traumas.

As we enter the eighth decade of the conflict, the two sides are further apart than ever before. Palestinians see spreading West Bank settlements eroding the chances of a two-state solution. Meanwhile, Israelis witness the constant denial of their countrys right to exist, conveyed by Palestinian media, schools and mosques. And with the U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem, violence in Gaza and the West Bank will likely intensify.

And yet for all the fatalism on both sides, the Middle East is in greater flux than ever before. Fear of an imperial Iran is drawing together Israel and the Sunni Arab world. Israels massive retaliation against Iranian military bases in Syria last week was greeted with quiet satisfaction in Arab capitals. Saudi Arabias government-controlled media publishes denunciations of anti-Semitism these days, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has declared there is no Islamic obstacle to recognizing Israels legitimacy. He has also publicly faulted the Palestinian leadership for rejecting past Israeli overtures for a two-state solution.

Along with respect for the wounds of the past, we need to recognize the maximalist territorial claims of both peoples.

This radically shifting atmosphere requires a new conceptual language for peace. Each side will need to honor the others narrative. That means Israelis acknowledging the shattering of the Palestinian people and the destruction of their homeland. That also means the Arab world acknowledging the shattering of ancient Jewish diasporas in the Middle East  a million Jews forced out so that today they are scarcely a memory from Yemen to Morocco to Iraq.

Along with respect for the wounds of the past, we need to recognize the maximalist territorial claims of both peoples. Each can make a compelling case for why the totality of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea belongs by right to its side. For a Palestinian whose family fled Jaffa near Tel Aviv, what is now the state of Israel will always be part of Palestine. And for me, as a religious Jew, the West Bank isnt occupied territory but Judea and Samaria, the biblical heart of my homeland. I understand why Palestinian maps exclude the word Israel because on my emotional map, there is no Palestine.

But solving our conflict will require each side to contract its maximalist dreams, a violation of its perception of justice. And each must acknowledge the sacrifice of the other.

A successful Middle Eastern  not a Western  peace process would also draw on religious language. In the past, diplomats tried to circumvent the powerful religious sensibilities on both sides to reach a rational compromise. But for us, a peace process between secularized elites lacks legitimacy. Moderate rabbis and imams must be willing to probe their respective traditions to justify painful compromise. This is not far-fetched: Meetings between Israeli and Palestinian religious leaders have quietly occurred even as talks between political leaders collapsed.

Finally, each side needs to acknowledge the right of the other to define itself as a people entitled to national sovereignty.

On the Palestinian side, one of the great obstacles to peace is accepting that the Jews arent just members of a religion but a people. In conversation with Palestinians at every level of society, I have repeatedly heard the same refrain: We have no problem with you as a religious minority, but we cant accept your invention of yourselves as a nation.

On the Israeli side, much of the right denies the existence of a Palestinian people, insisting that it is a contrived identity whose sole purpose is to undermine Israel. Yet the majority that do acknowledge the legitimacy of Palestinian national identity understandably fear the creation of a Palestinian state when there is no sign of reciprocity.

Without illusions of an imminent breakthrough, Israelis and Palestinians can create an infrastructure for reconciliation resonant with our values and cultures. No outside power, however well-intentioned, can do that hard work for us. We need to hear each others narratives, and acknowledge that two rightful claimants share this tortured land between the river and the sea. Seventy years on, there is still no other choice.

Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. His new book, Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor, will be published this month by HarperCollins.

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A Trump supporter named John B. who emailed me recently wrote that, No one is against legal immigration. President Trump and his administration are, I replied.

Yes, Trump still wants his big, beautiful wall to stop illegal border crossings. But hes been railing against all forms of immigration since his campaign. And hes having a much easier time chipping away at legal immigration than funding his wall. In some cases, the methods are strict quotas or new rules. But paperwork and red tape work, too. For instance, this administration tripled the number of pages in green card applications. Forms for sponsoring a foreign-born spouse are nine times longer than they used to be.

Heres an overview of key ways Trump has made it more difficult and expensive to come here legally for foreign students, skilled temporary workers, green cards holders, refugees and others.

H1-B visas

The Trump administration has piled new compliance rules, documentation requirements and other regulations on H-1B visas. These changes make it much more costly for employers to use H-1B visas to hire skilled foreign workers, which is a likely reason that applications dropped by 20% from 2016 to 2018.

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H4 visas

The Trump administration announced plans to take away work permits from those with H-4 visas  the visa for spouses of H-1B workers. In 2015, the Obama administration allowed H-4s to work, and about 91,000 of these visa holders, many of whom are as skilled as their spouses, leaped at the opportunity.

Foreign students

The number of foreign students at U.S. universities was down about 17% in 2017 and likely will fall further this year. A major draw of studying in the United States is the ability to work here after graduation. Those on student visas can legally work for 12 months after earning their degrees, and STEM graduates can stay for three years under a program called Optional Practical Training. In 2016, about 200,000 students signed up for OPT, which is often a first step toward an H-1B visa.

Foreign students fear that President Trump will restrict OPT or the H-1B visa. Trump hasnt canceled OPT yet (and his administration even defended it in court) but $63,000 a year (the cost of tuition and living expenses at UCLA) starts to look like a very risky investment if paying for it depends on getting a work visa in a few years.

Refugees

Trump temporarily halted the entire refugee program last year, claiming that terrorists would get into the country masquerading as refugees. It started up again for most countries, but Trump precipitously cut the number of refugees the U.S. will accept. If admissions for 2018 continue at their current pace, 75% fewer refugees will arrive this year than in 2016. Trump even canceled a planned pilot program that would have allowed private individuals or charities to sponsor refugees and absorb all welfare costs  the kind of program Canada has had for more than a decade.

Muslim ban

Preventing terrorism was the reason given for Trumps so-called Muslim ban, an executive order that limits or altogether bars visas for citizens of several Muslim-majority countries, North Korea and Venezuela. Lower courts keep ruling against it, but the ban and related policies are having a big effect. For instance, while all refugee numbers are down from 2016, the number of Muslim refugees has been cut by 91%. Immigrant visas issued to people from Muslim-majority countries are down 26%, and temporary visitors from Muslim-majority countries by 32%.

Extreme vetting

Last year, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ordered additional security screenings for all immigrants and visitors seeking visas  a move also presented as a way of keeping out terrorists. Immigration attorney Shabnam Lotfi told me that these new procedures, are causing significant and expensive delays for visa applicants who have already been vetted under the current effective security procedures.

Asylum

The administration has directly and indirectly hampered the ability of foreigners to ask for asylum in the U.S. For instance, it cut the number of visas issued to Venezuelans by as much as 74% relative to 2013. That country is in political and economic crisis, but Venezuelans have to get to the U.S. to request asylum  and they cant get here without a visa. Meantime, the Border Patrol is discouraging asylum-seekers from Central America by breaking up families who arrive at the southern border. The government places parents and children in separate immigration detention cells, sometimes for months.

Temporary Protected Status

In a string of announcements over recent months, Trump has said hell end Temporary Protected Status by 2020 for about 437,000 migrants mostly from El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti. TPS allowed them to stay here legally after natural disasters struck their home countries. More than 80% of TPS migrants from those countries have jobs here. They have about 273,000 U.S.-born children. Many have been here for decades; they wont leave now, just as Salvadorans didnt leave between 1996 and 2001 when their TPS was rescinded.

This is just the low-hanging fruit on the immigration tree. Trump would happily prune more if he could get Congress to go along. He endorsed the RAISE Act, which would cut legal forms of immigration by 50%. He so badly wants to eliminate diversity visas and severely restrict family-based immigration that he seemed willing to trade partial amnesty for some Dreamers (the young people enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program). Still, the changes Trump pushed for would have resulted in the largest policy-driven gutting of legal immigration since the 1920s. Thankfully, they didnt make it through the Senate.

Trump campaigned that he would take steps to grow the economy by 3% per year or more. To that end, hes cut taxes and slashed regulation. But he needs legal immigrant entrepreneurs, investors and workers to keep expanding economic growth  especially with unemployment now below 4%. He wont make America great again without letting in more legal immigrants.

Alex Nowrasteh is the senior immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute and a Los Angeles native.

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Newsoms budget proposes $3 million for Alzheimers research, brain task force By Melody Gutierrez Amyloid plaques, shown here in human brains, are a hallmark of Alzheimers disease. (UCLA School of Medicine) Gov. Gavin Newsom will call for the creation of a brain health task force and dedicate $3 million annually from the states general fund to Alzheimers disease research in the budget proposal he will release Thursday, a source close to the administration said. The money for Alzheimers research would target the new grants at understanding why the disease is more prevalent in women and people of color. Former California first lady and Alzheimers activist Maria Shriver pushed for the funding to be included in the state budget. Shriver said in a statement Wednesday that the funding would make California the first state to make understanding our brains a priority. The states former first lady, whose late father Sargent Shriver was diagnosed with Alzheimers, founded the Womens Alzheimers Movement, an advocacy group raising awareness about womens increased risk for developing the disease. In 2011, she wrote a comprehensive assessment on the disease, to which Newsom  then mayor of San Francisco  contributed a portion called What one city is doing. This is personal to me, just like it is to millions of California families, Shriver said. Alzheimers is one of the largest medical, social and economic crises in our state, and of our time. I am so proud that, once again, California is leading the way. Wiping out Alzheimers is going to require bold thinking, and there is no doubt in my mind that California is home to bold thinkers who can make this happen. Facebook

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Gov. Gavin Newsom orders reinvention of troubled California DMV By Patrick McGreevy A line of people stretches around the South L.A. location of a California Department of Motor Vehicles Office on Aug. 7. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday ordered an overhaul of the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which has been plagued by hours-long wait times at field offices, computer crashes and voter registration errors involving tens of thousands of customers. Just a few days after taking office, Newsom appointed a top advisor to a new DMV Reinvention Strike Team to revamp the beleaguered agency over the next six months. By any metric, California DMV has been chronically mismanaged and failed in its fundamental mission to the state customers it serves and the state workers it employs, Newsom said in a statement, adding Its time for a reinvention. The governor appointed state Government Operations Agency Secretary Marybel Batjer to lead the strike team with a goal of modernizing the agency and enacting changes that improve customer satisfaction, employee performance and transparency. Newsom also ordered an accelerated review of initial findings of an ongoing audit ordered last year by Gov. Jerry Brown. The action was welcomed by lawmakers who have been critical of the DMV, including Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield). The egregious management failures of the DMV have been self-evident, which is why I have been calling for new leadership and a comprehensive independent audit of this troubled state agency over and over again as the problems grew significantly worse, Fong said. Last summer, Californians seeking new driver licenses complained of wait times of four to six hours at DMV offices, which the agency blamed partly on snafus caused by a rush of people trying to get Real IDs, a new identification card design required for airline passengers starting in late 2020. Delays were also blamed on computer crashes at DMV offices as the agency struggled to update its aging automation systems. The DMV also admitted that there were an estimated 23,000 errors as people either were unknowingly registered to vote or mistakes were made in their registration status as part of the states new motor voter program. The agency registered to vote as many as 1,500 people with legal U.S. residency but no citizenship. Last month, DMV Director Jean Shiomoto retired from the agency. Legislators were angered earlier this week when the DMV said it needed an additional $40 million to prevent the return of long lines at its field offices. In addition, the agency has been under fire for issuing driver licenses in the last year that do not comply with the federal Real ID standards requiring two forms of identification by applicants. Facebook

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California police unions are preparing to battle new transparency law in the courtroom By Maya Lau Just as a landmark police transparency law is going into effect, some California police agencies are shredding internal affairs documents and law enforcement unions are rushing to block the information from being released. The new law, which begins to unwind Californias strictest-in-the-nation protections over the secrecy of law enforcement records, opens to the public internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. But the lawsuits and records destruction, which began even before the law took effect Jan. 1, could tie up the release of information for months or years, and in some instances, prevent it from ever being disclosed. The fact that police unions are challenging this law is on some level not surprising, said Peter Bibring, director of police practices at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, one of the principal supporters of the new law. They have a long history of fighting tooth and nail against transparency. Read More Facebook

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Secretary of State Alex Padilla begins second term with challenge to ensure every Californian is counted By Jazmine Ulloa Secretary of State Alex Padilla takes the oath of office as his family stands by his side on Monday in Sacramento. (Jazmine Ulloa / Los Angeles Times) Secretary of State Alex Padilla was sworn in for a second term on Monday, saying he would continue the battle to protect the right to vote at a time when voter suppression efforts, online disinformation campaigns and interference from foreign adversaries have polarized the public and threatened to undermine trust in U.S. elections. I am doubling down on our fight here in Sacramento and in Washington, D.C., to defend our democracy, he said. Working on the front lines with so many of you, I know that our collective resolve has never been stronger. But the loudest applause came when Padilla promised to fight back against the Trump administrations changes to the U.S. census, saying he will ensure every Californian gets counted. Padilla, a former state senator and Los Angeles City Council member from the San Fernando Valley, led the cause for a new motor voter registration law in 2015, and a new system for online business registrations. But the programs have had experienced problems: More than 23,000 Californians were registered to vote incorrectly by the state DMV, the agency reported last year. On Monday, Padilla said he would continue to push back against false claims of voter fraud in California and pointed to the states voter turnout as proof that his office was involving more people in the democratic process, a promise he made when he was first sworn in four years ago. More than 12.7 million voters cast ballots in the Nov. 6 midterm election, representing roughly 65% of the states registered voters, the highest number of any midterm election since 1982, according to state certified results. I made that promise based on a shared belief that we are a stronger democracy and a better California when we hear all voices from all corners of California, and when those voices are not just heard but counted, Padilla said. Facebook

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Ricardo Lara, Californias first statewide officeholder to come out as gay, sworn in as insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara on the floor of the state Senate in 2016. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Ricardo Lara took the oath of office as California insurance commissioner on Monday, pledging action to boost healthcare coverage and combat climate change. Lara, a Democrat from Bell Gardens, is the first elected statewide officeholder in California who has come out as gay. He began his speech in downtown Sacramento by thanking LGBTQ leaders who came before him and celebrated the occasion. Today, because of you, weve shattered the pink ceiling, Lara said. In his inaugural speech, Lara announced the creation of an executive position in his office to address climate change. There is no other industry that has the necessary expertise to ensure that California is prepared to mitigate and reduce risk to our communities and our environment, Lara said. Our planet cant wait. Im ready, and I hope you are too. Lara served as a state legislator and in 2017 introduced a bill to create a single-payer healthcare system in the state. He promised to work with new Gov. Gavin Newsom to expand coverage across California. Lara was sworn in by retired U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who declared unconstitutional Californias Proposition 8 gay marriage ban. State Sen. President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) was on hand for the ceremony along with multiple other state lawmakers. Facebook

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New California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis says she will help expand access to universities in the state New Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, center, is shown in June talking with attendees at the Power to the Polls rally in Sacramento. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) More Californians should be given access to public universities, Eleni Kounalakis said as she took the oath of office Monday to become the states first woman elected lieutenant governor. Kounalakis was given the oath of office by Gov. Gavin Newsom, her predecessor in the job, who pledged they would work together. As lieutenant governor, Kounalakis serves on the University of California Board of Regents and the California State University Board of Trustees, she noted in a speech at her swearing-in ceremony at the main Sacramento Library. In that role, she said, she will be committed to expanding access to affordable public higher education here in our state. Its wise, its smart and it is the best way to address our rapidly changing digital economy. Kounalakis is former president of a development company founded by her father, Angelo Tsakopoulos, and served during the Obama administration as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary. In November, she won her first run for statewide office. Also attending the ceremony were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Facebook

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California meets Dutch Newsom, who steals the show at his fathers inauguration By Taryn Luna Gov. Gavin Newsom gives his inaugural address while holding his youngest son, Dutch. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) In the California political world, all eyes were on Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday until his 2-year-old son stole the show. Dutch, the youngest of four children in the Newsom brood, climbed onstage in the middle of his fathers inaugural address in a tent outside the Capitol on Monday. The unplanned moment saw the 51-year-old governors big day interrupted by the toddler, bringing levity to the ceremony. Newsom was recounting Gov. Jerry Browns last inaugural speech and reference to the Sermon on the Mount, a biblical story about two men who built separate homes on sand and rock, when Dutch approached his father, a pacifier in his mouth and blanket in hand. Now more than ever we Californians know how much a house matters and children matter, Newsom said, improvising as he scooped the boy into his arms. The governor kissed Dutch on the cheek and held him for several minutes as he continued with the speech. This is exactly how it was scripted, Newsom joked. Newsom eventually put his child down and Dutch walked to the edge of the stage before retreating behind the podium to hide from his mother, First Lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom. The crowd roared. Siebel Newsom was able to briefly divert her son only for him to return to the stage minutes later. She grabbed him again and this time, the crying toddler did not reemerge. When fires strikes, when kids cry and the earth shakes, well be there for each other, Newsom said. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who said the moment humanized Newsom, threw cold water on any theories that Dutchs cameo was planned. No, I know it was not, Garcetti said with a laugh after Newsoms speech concluded. I could see that look of absolute abject terror [on Newsoms face]. Weve all been there. Kids always think its about themselves and theyve proved it. California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) agreed. I worked in early childhood education for 20 years and theres no way you can ever get a child to do anything when you want them to do it, Rendon said. Facebook

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Fiona Ma takes oath as Californias new treasurer By Liam Dillon State Treasurer Fiona Ma. Fiona Ma took the oath of office in Sacramento on Monday as the states 34th treasurer, promising to boost Californias economy. Ma previously served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, in the state Assembly and on the California Board of Equalization. I want to thank everyone for entrusting me with this important job. I understand my role here as your state treasurer is to build that financial wall around California so that we will remain the fifth-largest economy, Ma said in brief remarks. That is my promise to you. California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye administered the oath to Ma. Following the ceremony, Ma held an ice cream social for guests. On Wednesday, she will host a public event in San Francisco to celebrate her swearing-in. State Treasurer Fiona Ma takes the oath of office. (Liam Dillon / Los Angeles Times) Facebook

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Expectations are high for newly sworn-in state schools chief Tony Thurmond Tony Thurmond shakes hands with retired Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco after taking the oath of office. (Melody Gutierrez / Los Angeles Times) Tony Thurmond took the oath of office as Californias state superintendent of public schools on Monday, promising a labor-friendly agenda before the teachers, students and Democratic officials who filled an auditorium at McClatchy High School in Sacramento to watch him being sworn in. We cant close the achievement gap without a great teacher at the head of every class, Thurmond said Monday to applause. We have to make sure we provide quality compensation and support to our teachers and our classified staff and all the educators who support our kids. Thurmond, a Bay Area Democrat who served in the state Assembly, won a hotly contested and expensive race with the help of labor leaders against charter school executive Marshall Tuck. The race took several days to sort out after Tuck held an initial lead in early returns on election night before falling behind thereafter. Thurmond was sworn in Monday by retired Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco. He was joined on stage by labor rights leader Dolores Huerta and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount). Thurmonds former colleagues in the state Assembly took turns praising him and promising to be an ally in improving schools. Many said they expected Thurmond would be a strong leader focused on improving student outcomes. We know we are going to work hard to give you the money you need and the budget you need to fully fund education and our schools so we can put our money where our mouth is and make sure our children have everything they need, Assemblywoman Connie Leyva (D-Chino Hills) said. As state superintendent, Thurmond will oversee the education of 6.2 million students at 10,000 schools. Thurmond was a member of the West Contra Costa County School Board and a Richmond city councilman before he was elected to the state Assembly. Tony is the right man at the right time to fight the federal, Donald Trump, Betsy DeVos anti-child, anti-education, anti-civil and -human rights agenda, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said. Tony is going to do that for us. Facebook

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State Controller Betty Yee takes oath of office with call for more affordable housing and healthcare State Controller Betty Yee California Controller Betty Yee took the oath of office Monday for a second term, saying she still has work to do addressing problems that include a lack of affordability in housing, healthcare and higher education. A San Francisco native, Yee is the chief financial officer of California  the fifth-largest economy in the world  having first won election to the post in 2014 before winning reelection in November. No region is spared from the widening inequality and increased poverty that plague our state, fueled by the lack of affordable, stable housing, the cost of healthcare and transportation, limited educational opportunities, student loan debt, displacement caused by disasters and more, she said. Yee was administered the oath of office by California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento before an overflow crowd that included state Senate leader Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra and San Francisco Mayor London Breed. As a public official it is about governance that delivers results and stays accountable while upholding the underlying value of dignity for all, Yee said. Facebook

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California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra begins new term promising to fight Trump policies California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra ( (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra on Monday took the oath of office for a new term, saying he would continue his role as a leading challenger to Trump administration actions that he believes are counter to the states interests. Becerra, a former 12-term congressman, has become a national opposition figure to Trump, having sued the federal government 45 times since he was appointed as the states first Latino attorney general in 2017. Weve been a little busy stopping the dysfunction and insanity in Washington, D.C., from infecting California, Becerra told an audience during a swearing-in ceremony at the California Museum in Sacramento. Whether its the criminals on our streets or the conman in the boardrooms or highest office of the land, Becerra said, the California Department of Justice, well, weve got your back. Becerra won his first statewide election as the states top cop in November, two years after he filled the post vacated when predecessor Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate. He has peppered the Trump administration with lawsuits challenging federal policies on healthcare, the U.S. census, the environment and immigration. Our state builds dreams, not walls, he said in a direct criticism of Trumps proposal to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. Just last week, Becerra led a coalition of 17 Democratic attorneys general in announcing an appeal of a federal judge in Texas that ruled the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. The ACA has been the law for nearly a decade and is the backbone of our healthcare system, Becerra said last week. This case impacts nearly every American  workers covered by employers, families, women, children, young adults and seniors  so we will lead the ACAs defense as long and far as it takes. Facebook

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California Democratic Party Vice Chairman Daraka Larimore-Hall announces bid to lead group By Christine Mai-Duc Daraka Larimore-Hall. (Dominic Parisi / Courtesy of Daraka Larimore-Hall) Daraka Larimore-Hall, a top official at the California Democratic Party, said Monday hes running to replace former chairman Eric Bauman, who resigned abruptly in November after being confronted with allegations of sexual misconduct. Larimore-Hall, a longtime state party activist and former chairman of the Democratic Party of Santa Barbara County, was one of the party leaders who urged Bauman to resign following the allegations. In an email to supporters announcing his bid, he urged both structural and cultural change at every level of our Party. He also repeated his call for a top-to-bottom investigation of the allegations, the party and its culture. In a Times investigation, 10 party activists and staff members said Bauman made crude sexual comments and engaged in unwanted touching and physical intimidation in professional settings. In order to be where we need to be for 2020, we have to confront the culture of abuse and fear that allowed someone to behave in such a vile way for so long, Larimore-Hall said in an interview. We cant brush it aside or think that our activists or our candidates or our donors are going to forget about this overnight. Larimore-Hall said his first priority would be to fully investigate the allegations and restore rank-and-file confidence in the partys leadership. The second would be to refocus the party on political priorities as the 2020 presidential election nears. The Bauman episode, Larimore-Hall said, threatens to derail the Democrats plans to help defeat President Trump and keep the seven congressional seats gained in the midterm elections. Its definitely a crisis, Larimore-Hall said. But the component parts  the energy, the enthusiasm, the volunteers, the infrastructure  its still there. We just need to direct it toward something. Larimore-Hall was elected vice chairman of the state party in February following Baumans razor-thin victory over Bay Area activist Kimberly Ellis. Ellis has announced another bid for the chairmanship and former state Senate leader Kevin de Leon is also mulling a run. The vote will take place at the partys May convention in San Francisco. Facebook

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Newsom will vow to seize this moment, and swipe at Trump in Monday inaugural address By Melanie Mason Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and his family attend an Inauguration Family Event at the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento on Jan. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Building on the theme of California exceptionalism that defined his campaign, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will depict the state as a guardian of progressive values and a counterweight to President Trump in his inaugural address Monday, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks. What we do today is even more consequential, because of whats happening in our country, read the excerpts obtained by The Times. Peoples lives, freedom, security, the water we drink, the air we breathe  they all hang in the balance. The country is watching us. The world is waiting on us. The future depends on us. And we will seize this moment. The speech casts Californias political stakes in a decidedly national scope, promising an agenda that will unify and be an example to the rest of the country. It contrasts the governing goals of Newsom, a Democrat, with that of Trump, the incoming governors perennial foil. We will offer an alternative to the corruption and incompetence in the White House, the excerpts say. Our government will be progressive, principled, and always on the side of the people. Newsom campaigned on an ambitious and wide-ranging platform, promising sweeping solutions on housing, healthcare, education and other issues that rank among Californians top concerns. In the weeks after his election, he struck a more muted tone, taking pains to emphasize his fiscal caution and need for patience in achieving those goals. The inaugural excerpts indicate a return to lofty pledges. While Newsom will vow to prepare for uncertain times ahead by building budgetary reserves and paying down debt, the prepared remarks quickly turn to a vow to be bold. Newsom has already floated several proposals for his first budget that carry significant price tags, including a nearly $2-billion plan to boost early childhood development for low-income families and a dramatic expansion of paid family leave from six weeks to six months. When asked for a preview of his inauguration speech during a news conference Sunday evening, Newsom predicted pundits would criticize his address as short on specifics. Well, of course, Im at an inaugural, Newsom said. But Ill be very detailed in the budget, a few days later. And then we will architect, in much more nuance and detail, in state of the state. I really see this as three opportunities  to communicate over the next few weeks our agenda, our vision for the state. Times staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report. Read More Facebook

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Newsom-hosted benefit concert raises nearly $5 million for wildfire victims By Taryn Luna Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom speaks at a concert to benefit wildfire victims at the Golden 1 Arena in Sacramento on Jan. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) On the eve of the gubernatorial inauguration, Californias political class rubbed elbows in Sacramento for a benefit concert hosted by Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and headlined by the rapper Pitbull. Newsom told the crowd gathered at the Golden 1 Center on Sunday evening that the fundraiser brought in nearly $5 million for the California Wildfire Foundation, a 501(c)(3) that supports the families of fallen firefighters and communities affected by wildfires. You know, a lot of folks feel anxious about not just politics, but government, Newsom said on stage before introducing the rapper and activist Common. But those firefighters, they are the antidote to the fear and cynicism; they are the manifestation of why government matters and why you should care. Top sponsors, including Salesforce, Kaiser Permanente and other interest groups, paid up to $1 million each to support the cause and curry favor with the new administration. Nathan Click, a spokesman for Newsom, said organizers sold more than 7,000 tickets. Several state lawmakers attended the concert alongside Capitol staff, lobbyists and business types, who mingled on the floor of the arena and offstage in private VIP areas. The rock band X Ambassadors and a duo called the Cold Weather Sons from the town of Paradise, which was destroyed by fire in November, were among several performers who entertained the crowd during the four-hour event. The California Rises concert is the final in a series of festivities held Sunday to celebrate the inauguration of Californias 40th governor. Earlier in the day, Newsom attended a private brunch at Sacramentos Crocker Art Museum and his inaugural committee hosted a free party for families at the California State Railroad Museum at the Old Sacramento Waterfront. Newsoms inauguration is set to begin at 11 a.m. Monday on the steps of the Capitol. Facebook

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Inauguration fever hits Sacramento as Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom prepares to take office By Phil Willon Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom holds his son, Dutch, as he and his family attend an inaugural event at the at the state Railroad Museum Sunday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Incoming Gov. Gavin Newsom doesnt officially take the oath of office until Monday, but the parties celebrating his inauguration were in full swing all day Sunday. Newsom and his family were mobbed by well-wishers at the California State Railroad Museum at the Old Sacramento Waterfront in the afternoon, where his inaugural committee hosted a free party for families. He just has charisma. Hes able to really connect with people, said Rosielyn Pulmano, an attorney from Elk Grove who came to see Newsom with her husband, two sons and her niece. I think he cares about working Californians and a lot of their issues. Newsom arrived with his wife, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and their four young children, and the governor-elect spent a good deal of his time wading through crowds, taking selfies with supporters and signing autographs as music boomed in the background. As the family toured the inside of the museums locomotives and the bevy of exhibits, Newsoms two-year-old son, Dutch, was wide-eyed, impressed by all the train cars and seemingly a little overwhelmed by the crowd. Newsom said that for his son, all that was missing from the museum was Thomas the Train, popular fictional locomotive in childrens books and cartoons . If theres one thing I can contribute to Sacramento maybe its getting a Thomas the Train exhibit for the two years olds, Newsom joked when talking with reporters afterward. Newsom said he wanted to include such an event in his inaugural festivities to highlight families and children, whose wellbeing will be among the top priorities of his administration. Youll see that not only as a preamble to the inaugural and the budget that well be submitting next week, but I think itll be a big part of the administration, Newsom said. The museum event followed a private, high-dollar brunch at Sacramentos Crocker Art Museum. A steady rain failed to dissuade as many as 200 guests who sipped wine and dined on chicken and salmon while waiting for a photo with Californias new first couple. Seen at the event were representatives of some of the states most powerful political interests, among them organized labor, healthcare companies and tribal gaming interests. A few other high-profile guests attended, too, including Larry Baer, CEO of the San Francisco Giants, and Erika Jayne, a singer and cast member of the reality TV show The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Im excited to see someone like Gavin  young, vibrant  taking over the state and leading us into the future, Jayne said after attending the brunch with her husband, attorney Tom Girardi. Hes got a lot of great plans. Attendees said the event, which was closed to reporters and held under a tent in the museums outdoor atrium, did not include prepared remarks by Newsom. Among those seen leaving the event were representatives of AT&T, the California Medical Assn., Uber, Kaiser Permanente and the State Building and Construction Trades Council. A fundraising invitation obtained by The Times offered bundled tickets to all of the inauguration events, including those on Sunday and the Monday ceremony, ranging in price from $25,000 to $200,000. The money will be collected by a committee specifically organized to pay for Newsoms inaugural weekend. Sundays festivities are scheduled to end with a benefit concert headlined by Pitbull at the Golden 1 Center, home of the NBAs Sacramento Kings, to raise money for the victims of Californias recent deadly wildfires. Among the attendees at @GavinNewsoms pre-inaugural leadership brunch: Real Housewife of

Bev Hills @erikajayne. Im excited to see someone like Gavinyoung, vibranttaking over the state and leading us into the future. Hes got a lot of great plans. pic.twitter.com/561NHiy2XQ  Melanie Mason (@melmason) January 6, 2019 Facebook

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As Newsom inaugural events begin, he unveils more state budget promises on education and paid family leave Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, seen here last April, will propose new state budget efforts on paid family leave and education subsidies. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Californias incoming governor, who must send his first state budget plan to the Legislature this week, has already signaled a significant new focus on programs to help families and children from infancy to college. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom campaigned on a platform that included a number of child-focused efforts specifically aimed at helping lower-income families. The price tag for the initial efforts is expected to approach $2 billion  a cost paid out of an unrestricted tax revenue windfall that could be one of the largest in state history. Newsom may also seek help for families through new subsidies paid by California employers. The governor-elect is expected to propose a dramatic expansion of paid parental leave  from six weeks to six months  according to an internal document provided by a source close to the Newsom transition team, first reported on Sunday by the New York Times. The document doesnt offer a full explanation for how the program will be funded, saying instead that the budget will set a goal of ensuring that all newborns and newly adopted babies can be cared for by a parent or a close family member for the first six months. Employers across the state are currently assessed a payroll tax that helps offer a subsidy to parents who temporarily leave their job to care for a newborn. Newsoms plan, according to the document, would pay for some of the new costs by shrinking the mandated cash reserve of the state fund that administers the program, allowing more of the money to be paid in benefits. The increase in paid leave would not all happen at once but instead be phased in over a multi-year period. A task force to help implement the expanded care plan is also envisioned, according to the document. It would determine whether two parents could split the six months of paid leave and whether an extended family member could be enlisted to help care for the child of a single parent over the six-month period. The incoming administrations focus on young children will also include $1.8 billion in new spending on early childhood education programs, with a particular focus on training childcare workers and pushing for more California schools to offer full-day kindergarten. Those costs, according to an overview memo obtained by the Los Angeles Times, are considered to be a one-time expense while leaving the long-term costs of the effort to be determined later. More community college students would get free tuition under a third initiative expected in the new governors budget plan. Newsom will propose spending $40 million to offer a second year of tuition-free college to California students, according to an outline provided by a transition official, first reported by Politico. Students are already eligible for a single year of paid tuition under a plan agreed to by Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers in 2017. The incoming governor embraced the idea of free community college during the 2018 campaign as part of a broader focus on additional investments in higher education. Education is an economic development strategy, Newsom said at a higher education forum last spring. We need to significantly increase the investment from the general fund of this state on higher education. Theres no greater higher return on investment. Whether the proposal would be targeted to students based on a familys financial need is unclear. Many low-income students are already eligible for fee waivers at community colleges. The new governor must submit his full state budget plan to lawmakers no later than Thursday. Facebook

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Gavin Newsom and his family decide Sacramento is the place to be The Old Governors Mansion State Historic Park in Sacramento. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will move his family into the mansion. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and his family will give up the Marin County life and move to the Victorian-style governors mansion in Sacramento after he takes the oath of office Monday. Newsom and his wife, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, had debated whether or when to relocate to the state capital since his election in November. The couple have four young children and expressed reservations about moving in the middle of a school year. To best serve the people of California while also maximizing family time together, the Newsoms have therefore decided to move to Sacramento, said Newsoms spokesman, Nathan Click. On Monday, they will move into the Governors Mansion  along with their four children, their two family dogs, and their family bunny rabbit  and reside there for the immediate future. The Newsoms currently live in Marin County. Gov. Jerry Brown and his wife, Ann Gust Brown, moved into the grand house in 2015 after it underwent $4.1 million in renovations to update electrical and plumbing systems, as well as to remove lead-based paint and install a fire sprinkler system and other security features. The mansion was built in 1877 and has been home to 14 governors, but before Brown it had not housed a California governor for nearly half a century. The state bought the mansion from a wealthy Sacramento hardware merchant, Albert Gallatin, in 1903 for $32,500. It was one of the few California homes at that time to have indoor plumbing. Facebook

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Newsom announces top labor, business liaisons as he prepares to take office Julie Su will be secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency for Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom on Friday named two advisors on issues related to the California economy, each recognized for their expertise on business and labor. The incoming governor will appoint Julie Su as secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency and Lenny Mendonca as chief economic and business advisor and director of the Governors Office of Business and Economic Development. Su, 49, has served as state labor commissioner under Gov. Jerry Brown since 2011 and has led an office tasked with the enforcement of Californias labor laws. She won a MacArthur Foundation genius grant in 2001 and previously worked as a civil rights attorney representing low-wage workers. In her new position, Su will be tasked with coordinating the work of several workforce departments in state government, including those that administer unemployment benefits and oversee the relationship between agriculture workers and employers. Mendonca, 57, has been a longtime advocate for rethinking government operations as co-chairman of the nonprofit organization California Forward. Previously, he was partner at McKinsey & Co., a global management consulting firm. While he will be a key advisor to Newsom on the states economy, Mendonca will also lead the office often referred to as Go-Biz, designated as a high-level way to encourage job growth and economic development. In his new role, Mendonca will help ensure that California is rolling out the welcome mat to current and future California businesses and growing a sustainable economy for every Californian, said a statement from the Newsom transition team. Newsom will take the oath of office as governor Monday. He has previously selected key advisors on the state budget, legislative affairs and the executive branchs wide array of agencies and departments. Facebook

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Joshua Groban, aide to Gov. Jerry Brown, sworn in to California Supreme Court By Taryn Luna California Supreme Court Justice Joshua Groban gives remarks after he is sworn into the court by Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday. (Taryn Luna) California Supreme Court Justice Joshua Groban, a lawyer and longtime aide to Gov. Jerry Brown, was sworn into the states highest court Thursday in Sacramento. The ceremony marked Browns fourth appointment to the state Supreme Court and gave the seven-member bench a Democratic majority. We live in a highly chaotic, ever-changing and ever-confusing world, Groban said in prepared remarks at the Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building. But Im happy to report that Im joining an institution whose fundamental purpose, at core, is to provide stability and consistency amidst this chaotic place we live. I look forward to doing that with a sense of reflection, respect, fidelity to the law and compassion. None of Browns appointees, Groban included, have judicial experience. Groban served as legal counsel to Browns 2010 gubernatorial campaign and joined the administration as a senior advisor to the governor, overseeing the appointments of some 600 judges over the last eight years. Prior to working with Brown, Groban, 45, practiced law for more than a decade. In perhaps his final public appearance before his successor, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, takes office next week, Brown pushed back on notions that he stacked the court. I dont want this to be known as a Brown court, the governor said before administering the judicial oath of office. First of all, the so-called Brown appointments do not agree with themselves and nor should they. They are individuals. They will differ. Its not anybodys court. The governor called the court a high calling and said Groban possesses the values for the job. Probably, next to my wife, Ive talked to no person as much as Ive talked to Josh Groban, Brown said. I think youve talked to him more, Californias First Lady Anne Gust Brown interjected. I cant tell you what the hell hes going to do, Brown later quipped. I warned him, dont screw up, at least not at first. Facebook

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California campaign watchdog agency seeks law barring use of campaign funds to fight harassment claims Former state Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia). ( (Steve Yeater / Associated Press)) Elected officials accused of harassment or discrimination would be barred from using political contributions to cover their legal defense costs under legislation proposed by Californias campaign watchdog agency. The state Fair Political Practices Commission has agreed to pursue a law change to clear up confusion after an attorney for one former state lawmaker argued political funds could be used in such legal defenses. Commission Chairwoman Alice Germond said putting a prohibition into the law would provide some much needed clarity. As chair, I would like to show the public their lawmakers are held to a standard that is above reproach, Germond said in a statement. People dont give money to campaigns for lawmakers to use it to defend their own bad behavior, so lawmakers shouldnt be able to use it in that manner. The issue came up a year ago when an attorney for former Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia) sought a formal opinion from the FPPC after the Senate launched an investigation that later concluded Mendoza likely engaged in a pattern of harassment against female aides. Mendoza resigned in February under threat of expulsion by the Senate. In a Jan. 10, 2018, letter, Cassandra Ferrannini, an attorney for Mendoza, wrote to the FPPC that she believed Mendoza should be allowed to establish a legal defense fund able to defray his legal expenses in defending himself against the allegations. The use of campaign funds for attorneys fees under these circumstances would fall squarely within the scope of legislative matters, since it involves the alleged conduct of a legislator with regard to legislative staff that he supervised, Ferrannini wrote. The commission staff originally issued an advice letter that said Mendoza may use campaign and legal defense funds to defend himself from claims of sexual harassment that arose directly out of his activities or status as a candidate or elected officer. But the panel later rescinded the letter after some members questioned using campaign funds to fight sexual harassment claims. That left uncertainty about what was allowed, which Germond said could be cleared up by a new law. The FPPC is still looking for a legislator to carry the bill, a spokesman said. Facebook

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Californias landmark police transparency law takes effect after court denies police union effort to block it California Supreme Court building (Eric Risberg / Associated Press) A new state law allowing the public disclosure of internal police shooting investigations has gone into effect after the California Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a bid by a police union to block it. The law opens to the public for the first time internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Employees Benefit Assn. challenged the law last month, asking state Supreme Court justices to decide that the law only apply to incidents that occur in 2019 or later. The court rejected that request Wednesday, allowing members of the public to seek all applicable records held by police departments. Union president Grant Ward said in a statement that his organization was disappointed with the decision and is now seeking other legal options. We feel this is a statewide issue and should be considered accordingly, Ward said. Last month, the city of Inglewood authorized the destruction of more than 100 police shooting investigations and other records in advance of Jan. 1, when the disclosure law was scheduled to take effect. California law requires police departments to keep such records for five years, and Inglewood City Council voted to destroy records older than that. Mayor James T. Butts has said the decision had nothing to do with the new law. In Los Angeles, Police Chief Michel Moore has said that complying with the new disclosure rules could take hundreds of thousands of hours of work. State Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the author of the transparency law, has said she has no immediate plans to propose changes to it. Facebook

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Few complaints of racial profiling are sustained by police agencies in California, state panel finds CHP Officer J. Nelson stands outside the office of Gov. Jerry Brown as activists in 2015 support requiring the tracking of police stops. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Law enforcement agencies in California sustain few citizen complaints of racial or identity profiling, according to a report Wednesday by a state panel set up to help reduce bias in policing. The states Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board recommended in its annual report that law enforcement agencies improve training and adopt clear guidelines for tracking and reporting data on who is stopped by officers. The panel said that 453 law enforcement agencies in the state received 9,459 civilian complaints in 2017, including 865 complaints alleging racial or identity profiling. Of the racial and identity complaints that reached a disposition that year, 1.5% were sustained, 14.6% resulted in officers being exonerated and 83.9% of complaints were not sustained or were determined to be unfounded, the report said. A clearer picture of the issue is expected from a 2015 law that requires police agencies to report demographic data on all detentions and searches. The first reports by the eight largest agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, are due to be submitted in April. California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, whose office oversees the board, said tracking of all detentions and searches will be helpful to understand the scope of the issue. The Boards recommendations will help make our law enforcement agencies more transparent and promote critical steps to enhance, and in some cases, repair the public trust, Becerra said in a statement Wednesday. Facebook

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California housing crisis podcast: What Minneapolis decision to end single-family zoning might mean for California A view of downtown Minneapolis in 2014 (Stephen Maturen / Getty Images) Theres a national movement brewing to roll back zoning rules in cities that only allow one house on a plot of land. The epicenter of that movement is Minneapolis, which passed a plan last month to eliminate single-family zoning citywide and let landowners build duplexes and triplexes on residential property. On this episode of Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast, we talk about the reasons why Minneapolis leaders took this action, including their desire to combat a history of racial exclusion and spur more housing density to fight climate change. We also debate how Minneapolis decision might affect housing politics in California. Our guest is Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender, who helped shepherd the new zoning rules to passage and a former San Francisco city planner. The episode also crowns 2018s Avocado of the Year  the most ridiculous story exemplifying Californias housing woes  and includes our predictions for the most under-the-radar important themes in housing politics in 2019. Gimme Shelter, a biweekly podcast that looks at why its so expensive to live in California and what the state can do about it, features Liam Dillon, who covers housing affordability issues for the Los Angeles Times Sacramento bureau, and Matt Levin, data and housing reporter for CALmatters. You can subscribe to Gimme Shelter on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and Overcast. Facebook

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How young immigrant Dreamers made flipping control of the House a personal quest By Jazmine Ulloa Gabriela Cruz, who was brought to the U.S. illegally when she was 1, couldnt vote, but in the final hours before the Nov. 6 election, she was making one last run to get people to the polls. The sun was setting in Modesto when she found Ronald Silva, 41, smoking a cigarette on a tattered old couch behind a group home. He politely tried to wave her off until she reminded him he had a right that she as an immigrant without citizenship didnt have. It could really make a change for us, said Cruz, 29. Read More Facebook

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Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will propose almost $2 billion for early childhood programs (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Seeking to frame his new administration as one with a firm focus on closing the gap between children from affluent and poor families, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will propose spending some $1.8 billion on an array of programs designed to boost Californias enrollment in early education and child-care programs. Newsoms plan, which he hinted at in a Fresno event last month, will be a key element in the state budget proposal he will submit to the Legislature shortly after taking office Monday, a source close to the governor-elects transition team said. The spending would boost programs designed to ensure children enter kindergarten prepared to learn, closing what some researchers have called the readiness gap that exists based on a familys income. It would also phase in an expansion of prekindergarten and offer money to help school districts that dont have facilities for full-day kindergarten. The fact that hes making significant investments with his opening budget is really exciting, Ted Lempert, president of the Bay Area-based nonprofit Children Now, said Tuesday. Whats exciting is the comprehensiveness of it, because its saying were going to focus on prenatal through age 5. A broad overview document reviewed by The Times on Tuesday shows that most of the outlay under the plan  $1.5 billion  would be a one-time expense in the budget year that begins July 1. Those dollars would be a single infusion of cash, an approach favored by Gov. Jerry Brown in recent years. Most of the money would be spent on efforts to expand child-care services and kindergarten classes. By law, a governor must submit a full budget to the Legislature no later than Jan. 10. Lawmakers will spend the winter and spring reviewing the proposal and must send a final budget plan to Newsom by June 15. Though legislative Democrats have pushed for additional early childhood funding in recent years  a key demand of the Legislative Womens Caucus  those actions have typically come late in the budget-writing season in Sacramento. Quite frankly, to start out with a January proposal that includes that investment in Californias children reflects a new day, state Sen. Holly J. Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) said. The governor-elect will propose a $750-million boost to kindergarten funding, aimed at expanding facilities to allow full-day programs. A number of school districts offer only partial-day programs, leaving many low-income families to skip enrolling their children because kindergarten classes end in the middle of the workday. Because the money would not count toward meeting Californias three-decades-old education spending guarantee under Proposition 98, which sets a minimum annual funding level for K-12 schools and community colleges, it will not reduce planned spending on other education services. Close behind in total cost is a budget proposal by Newsom to help train child-care workers and expand local facilities already subsidized by the state, as well as those serving parents who attend state colleges and universities. Together, those efforts could cost $747 million, according to the budget overview document. An expansion of prekindergarten programs would be phased in over three years at a cost of $125 million in the first year. The multiyear rollout would, according to the budget overview, ensure the system can plan for the increase in capacity. Lempert said the Newsom proposal is notable for trying to avoid the kinds of battles that in recent years pitted prekindergarten and expanded child care against each other for additional taxpayer dollars. The reality is we need to expand both simultaneously, he said. Another $200 million of the proposal would be earmarked for programs that provide home visits to expectant parents from limited-income families and programs that provide healthcare screenings for young children. Some of the money would come from the states Medi-Cal program, and other money from federal matching dollars. Funding for the home visits program was provided in the budget Brown signed last summer; the Newsom effort would build on that. Emphasizing a policy area with broad appeal in his first state budget could reflect Newsoms political sensibility about the challenges ahead. Democratic lawmakers and interest groups will be especially eager to see how Newsom addresses the demand for an overhaul of healthcare coverage in California  especially after a 2017 effort to create a single-payer, universal system fizzled. The path forward on healthcare is complex and costly, making early childhood education a more achievable goal in the governor-elects early tenure. Newsom is likely to face considerable demands for other additional spending. In November, the Legislatures independent analysts projected that continued strength in tax revenues could produce a cash reserve of some $29 billion over the next 18 months. Almost $15 billion of that could be in unrestricted reserves, the kind that can be spent on any number of government programs. Kim Belshe, executive director of the child advocacy organization First 5 LA and a former state health and human services secretary, said the initial Newsom budget proposal suggests the next governor will focus on a comprehensive approach to improving outcomes for children from low-income families. School-ready kids deserve quality early learning, strong and well-supported families, and access to early screening services, Belshe said. Newsom understands the whole child, multifaceted needs of our kids and is clearly ready to lead. Mitchell, the chair of the Senate budget committee, said shes eager to see the details of the governor-elects proposal to determine whether it might signal the beginning of an even broader expansion of early education efforts. Similar efforts have been hindered by a lack of money and ongoing debate over which services to help children 5 and younger need state funding the most. Universal preschool, in particular, has been debated for more than a decade. California voters rejected a ballot measure to fund a full prekindergarten system in 2006. Its clear theres a new movement afoot trying to engage on investment for universal preschool, Mitchell said. How we invest, and how we prioritize that investment, is going to be a great conversation for the coming months. Facebook

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California Politics Podcast: A final conversation with Gov. Jerry Brown No Californian has served longer as governor, signed more laws, granted clemency to more felons or waged more high-profile campaigns than Gov. Jerry Brown. Brown will leave behind a unique legacy when he packs his last belongings for the trip from the governors mansion in Sacramento to his Northern California ranch. His final two terms in office could be his most consequential. The governor reviewed some of the more notable moments from the past eight years in a far-reaching interview with The Times on Dec. 22. This weeks podcast episode includes extended portions of that conversation. Facebook

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A sagging economy could doom a 2020 ballot measure to raise commercial property taxes, Gov. Jerry Brown says Gov. Jerry Brown, at his Colusa County home on Saturday, said a ballot measure to raise commercial property taxes could struggle in 2020. (Randall Benton/For The Times) An effort to remove commercial property in California from the tax limits imposed by the landmark Proposition 13 could be felled by an economic slowdown, Gov. Jerry Brown said. In a Saturday interview with The Times at his Northern California ranch, Brown said liberal activist groups that have successfully placed the proposal on the November 2020 statewide ballot shouldnt read too much into early poll numbers showing support for the plan. That isnt as easy as you think, Brown said. Because youre going to be in a downturn of the business cycle. And youre talking many kinds of business. And the cost of doing business in California is already high. The ballot measure would allow counties to more frequently assess the market value of commercial property in California than allowed under Proposition 13, a 1978 ballot initiative that amended the state constitution to place strict limits on assessing property values and taxation for both homeowners and businesses. An analysis of the new measure, which qualified in October for the 2020 ballot, estimates it could bring in some $10.5 billion a year in new tax revenue. The business community will fight it, Brown said. And the minimum wage, the family leave, the environmental rules  business[es] have left California, thats going to be the big argument. And I think thats something you really have to think a lot about. The governor, who leaves office early next month due to term limits, declined to either endorse or oppose the ballot measure. He said Californias economic health in two years time could be a key factor in how voters weigh the proposal. Well be in a recession by then, Brown said. So its anybodys guess. Facebook

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Inglewood to destroy more than 100 police shooting records that could otherwise become public under new California law By Jack Dolan Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts (Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times) The city of Inglewood has authorized the shredding of more than 100 police shooting and other internal investigation records weeks before a new state law could allow the public to access them for the first time. The decision, made at a City Council meeting earlier this month, has troubled civil liberties advocates who were behind the state legislation, Senate Bill 1421, which takes effect Jan. 1. The law opens to the public internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. The legislature passed SB 1421 because communities demanded an end to the secrecy cloaking police misconduct and use of force, Marcus Benigno, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said in a statement. Inglewood PDs decision to purge records undermines police accountability and transparency against the will of Californians. California law says police departments must retain records of officer shootings and internal misconduct investigations for five years. The city of Inglewood, however, had kept records longer than that, including case files of police shootings dating to 1991. State Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the author of SB 1421, intended for her bill to allow public access to all qualifying records held by a department, no matter the date of the incident. Inglewood City Council approved the destruction of records that have been in the police departments possession  more than 100 cases  longer than required by law. The city staff report and council resolution describing the action makes no mention of the new police transparency law. Instead it says the affected records are obsolete, occupy valuable space, and are of no further use to the police department. It added the traditional method of destroying such records is to shred them. It is unclear whether the records have since been destroyed. A spokesman for the Inglewood Police Department along with Inglewoods city manager, attorney, clerk, four council members and Mayor James T. Butts, a former Santa Monica police chief, did not respond to requests for comment. Inglewoods City Hall is closed the last two weeks of December. The Inglewood Police Department has a reputation for secrecy and using excessive force. In 2008, the departments officers fatally shot four men in as many months, three of whom turned out to be unarmed. The U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil rights probe and found significant flaws in the way the department oversaw use-of-force cases and investigated complaints against officers. Civil rights advocates still question why Inglewood police opened fire on a couple found sleeping in a car in 2016, killing them both. California police have a long history of shredding records to avoid scrutiny of their actions. In the 1970s, the LAPD famously destroyed more than four tons of personnel records after defense attorneys began requesting them as part of criminal cases against their clients. The move resulted in the dismissal of more than a hundred criminal complaints. In response, the Legislature demanded that records be preserved but then took other measures, supported by police unions, to ensure the public had very little access to them, making California the most secretive state in the nation when it comes to police misconduct. Skinners legislation begins to unwind those laws, which have been on the books since 1978. No video or audio of the Dec. 11 council action is available on the citys website and neither are meeting minutes or any record of the decision. A city spokeswoman, Courtney Torres, confirmed that the council had voted in favor of the police records purge, and said all the relevant reasons for the decision were included in the city staff report. The Jan. 1 implementation for SB 1421 has prompted other police officials to act. A police union in San Bernardino is asking the state Supreme Court to determine that Skinners bill only applies to incidents that occur in 2019 or later. Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore sent a letter to Skinner earlier this month warning that complying with the law in regard to older records in the departments possession could take hundreds of thousands of work hours. Facebook

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Federal officials question California DMVs process for issuing Real IDs (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has notified the California Department of Motor Vehicles that its process for providing residents with federally recognized identification cards is not adequate. DMV spokesman Armando Botello said Friday that 2.3 million residents who received Real IDs under the current process will have to submit additional documentation when their cards are renewed in five years but will be able to use them in the meantime. The DMV is developing a way for residents to submit more documentation online or via email to comply with the stricter federal requirement, he said. But some state legislators are upset about delays in notifying them of the problem and say Homeland Security could eventually require additional documentation provided by current holders. The DMV has known for a month that millions of Real IDs theyve been dolling out are potentially invalid, Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno) said. The DMVs only hope is that the Department of Homeland Security takes pity on California and gives the DMV more time to fix this mess. Real IDs are a new kind of driver license and identification card that federal law will require legal residents to present when boarding domestic flights or visiting military bases and other federal facilities starting Oct. 1, 2020. The DMV has only been requiring one form of documentation, including a current lease or utility bill, to verify the residence of a card applicant. But the federal government said in a Nov. 21 letter to the agency that two such documents are needed. On Friday, DMV Director Jean Shiomoto released a letter defending the current process but said her agency will start requiring a second document to prove residency in April. In order to minimize confusion among our customers, the CADMV will work to inform individuals who have been issued a Real ID under the current process that their card will be accepted for official federal purposes, even if their renewal occurs after the October 1, 2020, final enforcement date for Real ID, Shiomoto wrote to the federal agency. Legislative officials worry there is still a possibility that those issued Real IDs in the past might be required to present a second document to have their cards designated as compliant. The more complex process for obtaining Real IDs has led to hours-long waits for customers at DMV field offices this year, although wait times have been reduced recently by an increase in staffing. Shiomoto last month announced that she is retiring amid problems with the motor voter registration system and after the governor ordered an audit of her agency in response to the long wait times. On Friday, Assembly Republican Leader Marie Waldron of Escondido blasted the DMV for waiting a month to tell legislators of the problem. This is unacceptable and flies in the face of security for our citizens, which is what Real ID was created for in the first place, she said in a statement. Facebook

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Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom taps Keely Bosler to be his finance director Keely Bosler, the director of the California Department of Finance, will continue in that role under Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom. (California Department of Finance) Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom on Friday appointed Keely Martin Bosler as director of the California Department of Finance, continuing the role she has served under Gov. Jerry Brown since August. Bosler will become Newsoms chief fiscal advisor, and will play a pivotal role in shaping Newsoms spending plan for the state that will lay the foundation for his top policy priorities. Newsom must roll out his first budget plan within days of taking office on Jan. 7. Californias brighter future depends on a strong, stable fiscal foundation, Newsom said in a statement released Friday afternoon. Keely is an accomplished public servant of sound fiscal judgment. She understands that state budgets are more than numbers on a page  they are value statements affecting the fate and future of millions of families reaching for the California Dream. We are fortunate to have her on our team. Prior to being appointed finance director, Bosler served as Browns cabinet secretary for two years and, before that, as the chief deputy director for budget in the Finance Department for three years. Earlier this year, Brown picked Bosler to lead an audit of the Department of Motor Vehicles, which had come under fire for long wait times at DMV field offices and numerous computer problems, including errors in the new motor voter program that registered Californians to vote. As we have discussed, long wait times at the Department of Motor Vehicles do not reflect the high standards of service that Californians expect from their state government, Bosler wrote in a letter in September to DMV Director Jean Shiomoto. The audit is still ongoing, but Shiomoto has since announced she will retire at the end of the year. Facebook

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Californias legislative analyst, after decades of nonpartisan research for lawmakers, calls it a career Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor, who has led the state research unit since 2008, will retire on Dec. 31. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Only five people have led the independent research office of the California Legislature since its creation in 1941. And each of them has had a pretty simple mantra to live by in reviewing public policy proposals and government programs: Call it like you see it. The job of any analyst, to me, is you maintain that nonpartisanship, Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said. Taylor, 65, will retire from the post at the end of December after a four-decade career with the research team that began, as he likes to tell it, just after the passage of the landmark property tax rollback, Proposition 13, in 1978. He became the leader of the office, with the title of legislative analyst, in October 2008. Two months later, state government found itself in arguably the worst fiscal crisis in its history  a projected shortfall that ultimately grew to $42 billion by the following winter. There were forces beyond our control, Taylor said of that time. But dont underestimate the policy changes that were made afterward. Those changes, most notably a boost in taxes paid by high-income earners and a robust state budget cash reserve fund, have helped lead to successive years of fully funded government services. The state is projected to have some $24 billion in reserves by the end of the current fiscal year. Taylor announced his intention earlier to step down this year. Leaders from both houses of the Legislature select the analyst, who leads a staff of almost five dozen researchers. The office provides in-depth reports on pending legislation, as well as on broader policy topics like education and healthcare, and produces an independent analysis for every proposed ballot measure. A succession of lawmakers and governors alike have praised or panned the work of the Legislative Analysts Office based on their own political worldview. Taylor said his staff is mindful that they work for legislators, but try to ignore the rhetoric that follows the release of a major report. People are going to do what theyre going to do with our information, he said. They dont always like it, but they appreciate that we give them our best advice. Taylor oversaw a transformation in the way the Legislative Analysts Office distributes its information, embracing the release of research reports through social media instead of relying on traditional printed copies and journalist roundtable events. But he said the work of the researchers has remained largely unchanged through the decades. Having an independent take on things, I think, is good for the Legislature, he said. No replacement for Taylor has been announced, which means a short transition for his eventual successor before Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom sends his first budget proposal to lawmakers in early January. Taylor, who lives in the Sacramento suburbs, said he will honor the tradition of his predecessors in stepping away from public policy debates in order to give the new analyst space to lead the team as he or she sees fit. He said he hopes to travel in the coming years and spend time with his children who have moved to the East Coast. Forty years in state government, Taylor said in why he was stepping aside now. Isnt that enough? Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown sues to save California sentencing laws By Don Thompson, Associated Press (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown sued Thursday to protect one of his signature actions in office, a voter-approved measure that allows most prison inmates to seek earlier release and participate in rehabilitation programs. His administration filed a lawsuit challenging a pending 2020 initiative that seeks to toughen criminal penalties as part of an effort to roll back reforms adopted by voters within the last decade. Browns lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court contends the measure lacked enough valid signatures to overturn a previously approved constitutional amendment. County officials and California Secretary of State Alex Padilla certified the signatures in July but said they were submitted too late to qualify for last months election. The lawsuit names Padilla and the ballot measures official proponent, Nina Salarno Besselman, president of the advocacy group Crime Victims United. Padilla said the measure exceeded the required roughly 366,000 valid signatures, equal to 5% of votes cast for governor in 2014. Browns lawsuit says he used the wrong threshold. It says changing the state Constitution requires 8%, or more than 585,400 signatures. That makes the pending initiative more than 150,000 signatures short, the lawsuit says. Hes wrong, said Jeff Flint, a spokesman for the campaign backing the measure. He predicted a judge will be reluctant to reject a measure that already has qualified for the ballot. The secretary of state told us how many signatures are required, and thats how many we collected, Flint said. Padillas office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The measure would reverse reforms adopted by voters through Proposition 47 in 2014 and Proposition 57 in 2016. Proposition 57 allows most inmates to seek earlier paroles, and Proposition 47 reduced some drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. The combination has helped keep Californias inmate population below a population cap set by federal judges. Corrections department spokeswoman Vicky Waters said the measure gives corrections and parole officials broad discretion to protect our communities and fashion a rational system of rehabilitation and punishment. This new initiative unlawfully seeks to supplant the departments constitutional authority to implement these critical reforms to our criminal justice system. The pending initiative would shorten the list of crimes that qualify for earlier parole and change some theft crimes from misdemeanors back to felonies. It would also increase the number of crimes for which DNA is collected, a list that was limited when some crimes went from felonies to misdemeanors. Those supporting the tougher penalties say easing criminal penalties has increased the number of dangerous criminals on the streets, but those backing the changes say they have helped reduce mass incarceration and rehabilitate convicted criminals. Facebook

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California Supreme Court orders records unsealed in pardon of ex-state Sen. Roderick Wright Former state Sen. Roderick Wright (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times) The California Supreme Court has granted a request to unseal court records involving Gov. Jerry Browns decision last month to pardon former state Sen. Roderick Wright for felony convictions involving lying about living in his legislative district, officials said Thursday. The court order was in response to a request by the nonpartisan First Amendment Coalition, which argued that the public has a right to know what information went into the governors decision to grant clemency to Wright. This is an important victory for public access to court files involving the exercise of executive clemency, said coalition spokesman Glen A. Smith. We are gratified the court has recognized that these decisions should be subject to the same public access rules that apply to other judicial records under California law. The court gave Browns office until Jan. 2 to redact confidential material before giving the court documents that can be released to the public. The court files submitted by the governors office include letters of support for a pardon and an internal review of Wrights case. The court denied a motion to unseal the records of all clemency cases but left open consideration of requests on other individual cases. Browns office is currently evaluating the courts decision, said spokesman Brian Ferguson. The governor argued against unsealing records in a recent court filing that said confidentiality is consistent with historical practice and is supported by state law. In pardoning Wright on Nov. 22, the governor wrote: 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. Facebook

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California political watchdog agency fines BART, urges prosecution over using public funds for campaign A Bay Area Rapid Transit train leaves the station in Oakland in this 2013 file photo. (Ben Margot / AP) Californias state political watchdog agency on Thursday imposed a $7,500 fine against the Bay Area Rapid Transit District and called for a possible criminal or civil prosecution over allegations the district used public resources to campaign for a 2016 bond measure. The state Fair Political Practices Commission levied an administrative fine against BART for its failure to disclose spending on YouTube videos, social media posts and text messages to promote Measure RR, which authorized $3.5 billion in general obligation bonds. Though the panel lacks authority to seek criminal charges over the misuse of public funds, it also urged county district attorneys in the BART service area and the state attorney general to pursue possible criminal or civil charges over the spending of taxpayer dollars for campaign purposes, Commission Chairwoman Alice Germond said. It is the concept of misusing public funds that I think we all here are very disturbed about, and we want to send a warning and not create a precedent that is a minor, little slap on the wrist, Germond said, adding that the referral to criminal prosecutors would further send a message that this is wrong. Commissioner Brian Hatch also called for the state Legislature to consider granting the FPPC power to go after public agencies that spend taxpayer money on campaigns. Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) called on the agency to increase the fine to the maximum level of $33,375. The proposed $7,500 fine represents a slap on the wrist for a very serious violation of the law and the publics trust, Glazer said in a letter to the panel. In supporting the fine recommended by the staff, Germond said BART has agreed to pay the penalty. Somebody did something wrong and they have admitted it, she said. A staff report said there were factors in favor of a fine below the maximum. Although the Commission considers BARTs violations to be serious, the absence of any evidence of an intention to conceal, deceive, or mislead; the voluntary filing of the delinquent campaign statement; and the absence of a prior record are mitigating, the report said. Facebook

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California police union seeks state Supreme Court review of new law disclosing internal investigation records Los Angeles Police Department officers. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) A police union is asking the California Supreme Court to block the release of internal officer investigations before a new state law takes effect next year. The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Employees Benefit Assn. filed a petition Tuesday asking justices to rule that only investigations of incidents that occur after Jan. 1 would be available under the law  and not those the department has on file from years prior. The litigation comes after this years passage of Senate Bill 1421, which opens to the public for the first time internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. The law goes into effect Jan. 1, and the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department has told the union it intends to make available in response to public records requests all the information it has. The union is very concerned about any plans to retroactively apply Senate Bill 1421, Grant Ward, the unions president, said in a statement. We believe retroactive application violates our members rights and we hope the California Supreme Court will consider the serious issues raised by our legal challenge. The bills author, Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), does not agree with the unions interpretation. She has said her legislation should apply to all the records in a police departments possession because the law simply declared that affected records were no longer confidential. If the record exists, its disclosable, Skinner said. A decision on what records will be available under the law is key to how far-reaching it will be. If the court restricts access to incidents that occurred prior to 2019, those cases will not be subject to public scrutiny. The police union in San Bernardino County is not the only one raising concerns about the law. Earlier this month, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore sent a letter to Skinner expressing concern that his agency would be overwhelmed if the law required the department to disclose older incidents. Even if the law only applied to the previous five years, Moore wrote, it could take nearly 300,000 hours of work to comply with its provisions. The LAPD operates with a guiding principle of Reverence for the Law; as such, we will diligently comply with SB 1421, Moore wrote. We maintain, however, that a retroactive implementation of SB 1421 will be exceptionally burdensome and would require significant reallocation of front-line investigative personnel. Skinner said if complying with the law becomes untenable for law enforcement agencies that maintain records for a long time, she would consider modifications. But she said agencies did not raise this concern during discussion over the bill. SB 1421 went through multiple committee hearings, multiple floor debates, extensive opportunity for all parties to weigh in on concerns with its structure, she said. That was not an issue that was raised by law enforcement at the time. Facebook

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Gov. Brown warns of backlash for Republicans in 2020 if Obamacare repeal is upheld Gov. Jerry Brown at the National Press Club in April. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) Gov. Jerry Brown warned Republicans on Tuesday that repeal of the Affordable Care Act would devastate the partys political chances in the 2020 election. Brown, speaking at a Sacramento Press Club event moderated by Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton and Brown family historian Miriam Pawel, said a federal judges ruling last week to strike down the 2010 law  if upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court  will build such a backlash that the Democrats will not only take over the Senate, theyll win the presidency and will win with the kind of momentum, particularly on the issue of healthcare, that [the law] will be replaced probably with something even better. The governor, who leaves office in less than three weeks, said he did not believe the ruling by a Texas judge would ultimately prevail. I think the decision will probably be overturned, Brown said. Few states have embraced the law championed by former President Obama more than California, both through its healthcare exchange, Covered California, and by expanding access to government-funded services under Medi-Cal. Some 12 million Californians now receive healthcare through Medi-Cal, and Brown said a final ruling affecting the federal dollars that subsidize that care would be a serious blow. California would not be able to afford it without the subsidy, the governor said. Facebook

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Bars in Los Angeles, San Francisco could stay open until 4 a.m. under new bill A bar in Sherman Oaks (acuna-hansen) For the third year in a row, a California lawmaker is trying to keep bars open until 4 a.m. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) is reintroducing legislation that would allow Los Angeles, San Francisco and seven other cities to extend the sales of alcohol in bars, clubs and restaurants by an additional two hours. Nightlife brings people together, fosters creativity and innovation, supports small businesses, and creates middle-class jobs, Wiener said in a statement. Its time to embrace our nighttime economy and give our cities the tools they need to foster the best nightlife possible. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill by Wiener, writing: I believe we have enough mischief from midnight to 2 without adding two more hours of mayhem. Should this years measure, Senate Bill 58, advance through the Legislature, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom would decide whether to sign it into law. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has endorsed SB 58, saying the city should have more flexibility than it does now. Every community has its own needs, and cities should be able to make informed decisions about what nightlife hours make sense for residents, visitors, and neighborhoods, Garcetti said in a statement. The bill would create a five-year pilot program where Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, West Hollywood, Long Beach, Coachella, Cathedral City and Palm Springs could decide to allow restaurants and bars within their cities to serve alcohol until 4 a.m. with the approval of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Facebook

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Bars in Los Angeles and San Francisco could stay open until 4 a.m. under new bill A bar in Sherman Oaks. (Acuna-Hansen) For the third year in a row, a California lawmaker is trying to keep bars open until 4 a.m. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) is reintroducing legislation that would allow Los Angeles, San Francisco and seven other cities to extend the sales of alcohol in bars, clubs and restaurants by an additional two hours. Nightlife brings people together, fosters creativity and innovation, supports small businesses and creates middle-class jobs, Wiener said in a statement. Its time to embrace our nighttime economy and give our cities the tools they need to foster the best nightlife possible. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill by Wiener, writing: I believe we have enough mischief from midnight to 2 without adding two more hours of mayhem. Should this years measure, Senate Bill 58, advance through the Legislature, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom would decide whether to sign it into law. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has endorsed SB 58, saying the city should have more flexibility than it does now. Every community has its own needs, and cities should be able to make informed decisions about what nightlife hours make sense for residents, visitors and neighborhoods, Garcetti said in a statement. The bill would create a five-year pilot program where Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, West Hollywood, Long Beach, Coachella, Cathedral City and Palm Springs could decide to allow restaurants and bars within their cities to serve alcohol until 4 a.m. with the approval of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Facebook

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Californias DMV director announces retirement amid problems with motor voter program (Kent Nishamura/Los Angeles Times) The director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles will retire at years end with a number of questions unanswered about the implementation of a major voter registration system and long wait times experienced by customers for much of the past summer. Jean Shiomoto will not continue in her current role as Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom takes office, and announced to staff several weeks ago her intent to retire at the end of the year after 38 years in state service, spokesman Armando Botello said in an email to The Times on Friday. Newsoms transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on who might lead the department in 2019. Shiomoto was appointed DMV director by Gov. Jerry Brown in the fall of 2013, having served in prior leadership roles with the department. DMV officials have been sharply criticized by lawmakers in recent months for delays in serving customers at its field offices across the state. Last week, DMV officials revealed errors in registering California voters for the November election  mistakes that followed a series of problems in the rollout of the states new motor voter registration system. Secretary of State Alex Padilla last week said he had lost confidence in Shiomotos leadership as a result of the voting registration problems. Facebook

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New law could break the stalemate over housing on the site of a near-vacant Cupertino mall By Liam Dillon For more than a decade, developers have tried to build new housing on the site of an all-but-empty mall in Cupertino, a city in the heart of Silicon Valley and home to Apple headquarters. A well-organized group of neighbors, upset about traffic, building heights and the potential loss of the communitys suburban lifestyle, turned away every plan. Now, for the first time, the stalemate might be broken  thanks to a decision made in the state Capitol. In an effort to address Californias housing affordability problem, legislators passed a law last year that requires cities and counties to approve housing projects if they comply with local zoning rules and other standards, forcing some resistant communities to agree to new homebuilding. In September, the city of Cupertino, citing the state law, approved developer Sand Hill Property Co.s proposal to build an office park and more than 2,400 homes where the Vallco Shopping Mall sits. Read More Facebook

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Local government was a last bastion for struggling California Republicans. Not anymore By Mark Z. Barabak Theres no shortage of watery metaphors to describe the disaster that befell California Republicans this midterm election. A blue wave. A Democratic tsunami. But the most apt may be a flood, with the casualties steadily rising as the vote count climbed in the days and weeks following Nov. 6. Eventually half the GOP congressional delegation was washed away, along with the entire slate of statewide Republican candidates. In Sacramento, Democrats claimed 29 of 40 state Senate seats and seized three-quarters of the 80-member Assembly  the largest number since 1883, when Chester A. Arthur was serving in the White House. Read More Facebook

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For the Republicans left in Californias Legislature, fewer lawmakers will have to do more work By John Myers From January to late summer every year, the California Legislature is a perpetual motion machine. And in the new year, the people most likely to struggle in keeping up will be Republicans, vastly outnumbered but still responsible for representing millions of the states residents. There are 22 standing committees in the state Senate, plus at least a dozen more subcommittees or special committees. And after Novembers election, only 11 Republican senators will be left to divvy up the work. To the victors go the spoils. To the vanquished go the extra assignments. Read More Facebook

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Californias DMV failed to finish registering 329 new voters before November election (Los Angeles Times) Officials at the California Department of Motor Vehicles said Friday that the agency failed to send information for 329 new voters to state elections officers in time for the November election, the latest revelation in a string of mishaps regarding voter registration. Secretary of State Alex Padilla responded with a blistering letter, calling on Gov. Jerry Brown or Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom to replace Jean Shiomoto, the DMV director. The Director of DMV has lost my confidence and trust, Padilla wrote. In all, the agency revealed that 589 mailed voter registration records that should have been processed under election deadlines werent sent to Californias secretary of state until late November, including forms from 260 drivers who had intended to update their address on existing voter registration records. The DMV had been instructed to not send registration forms that came in after Oct. 22, but the voters in question had forms that were postmarked before the deadline. In some cases, when the postmark wasnt legible, the agency said, documents inside indicated the voter had intended to finish their registration in time for the Nov. 6 election. The DMV recognizes the pause in transmittals was an error and affected the timing of the registration of the 589 individuals referenced above relative to the November election, Shiomoto wrote in a letter to Padilla on Friday. The pause was due to a misunderstanding on the part of the department, for which we take responsibility. Those who were trying to update their address for voter registration would not have been blocked from casting ballots. But officials said its unclear whether any of the 329 new voters were able to participate in the election. Shiomoto said in her letter that DMV will work with elections officials. The errors were not related to previous DMV mistakes about registering voters, problems associated with the rollout of the states new motor voter law. In those cases, multiple registration forms were sent to local elections offices for some voters, some people were assigned the wrong political party preference and others who are noncitizens were incorrectly placed on the list of registered voters. DMV officials have yet to respond to questions posed by The Times over the last several weeks about who knew of those mistakes and when. Facebook

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Newsom appoints a labor advocate and a former staffer as his chief deputy Cabinet secretaries By Taryn Luna A labor advocate and a San Francisco political operative have accepted positions in Gov.-elect Gavin Newsoms new administration. Angie Wei, a Capitol insider with deep ties to organized labor in California, will serve as a chief deputy Cabinet secretary with a focus on policy development. As a legislative director and chief of staff at the California Labor Federation, Wei has represented more than 1,200 unions and 2.1 million workers in Capitol fights over a host of policy issues, including drug-pricing transparency and paid family leave. The governor-elect also tapped Jason Elliott, a policy advisor to Newsom during his time as mayor of San Francisco and a chief of staff to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, as another chief deputy Cabinet secretary overseeing executive branch operations. Elliott and Wei will serve under Ana Matosantos, Newsoms previously
By the time Californias primary election day arrives in June, its possible the state will be very close to having 20 million registered voters  a historic milestone that state elections officials reported last week is within sight.

Dont applaud just yet. The history of modern California politics suggests as many as two-thirds of those voters wont even cast a ballot next month. Thats a civic dilemma, sure enough. But theres also a good chance the no-shows will affect one partys candidates in heated races for Congress differently than all others.

California is overflowing with lieutenant governor hopefuls  so many candidates, so few duties 

Its presidential elections, like the one coming up in 2020, that entice voters to cast ballots. The primary in an off-year election such as 2018, even with a hugely important race for governor, fails to capture the publics attention.

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No gubernatorial primary has attracted even 35% of registered voters since 2002. The last time that a majority of Californias electorate showed up for a non-presidential primary was 1982. Four years ago, turnout hit an all-time low of 25%.

A safe bet is that only about 6 million votes will be cast in next months election  the kind of apathy made even more remarkable by the fact that so many ballots are now sent through the mail. Millions of them may just sit on kitchen tables, never to be turned back in.

The problem doesnt strike equally among subgroups of California voters. It turns out that Republicans are usually among the most reliable. Research by Political Data Inc., a for-profit company that partners with candidates and campaigns from both major parties, suggests the statewide advantage for Democrats could drop by as much as 3 percentage points in June.

The analysis shows even greater danger for the states most powerful party in the battleground congressional districts currently represented by Republicans.

In the Central Valley district of Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), Democrats have a 17-point registration advantage. But if the models are right, that could drop to less than 6 points among those who actually cast votes next month.

The shifting fortunes are even more notable in two Southern California districts where the GOP incumbent is retiring. In the race to replace Orange County Rep. Ed Royce, there are six Democrats and seven Republicans appearing on the ballot. In overall registration, there are only about 3,800 more Republican voters than Democrats in the district. But turnout models that use past non-presidential primaries suggest there could be 15,000 more Republican ballots cast in June  a huge leg up, especially in a district where Democrats already fear being shut out of the November election.

As Californians shed their political party labels, independent voters are close to outnumbering Republicans 

A similarly outsize GOP electorate could show up to the south in the race to succeed Vista Rep. Darrell Issa, thwarting Democratic plans.

A large part of the story is the disappearance of unaffiliated independent voters in primaries. The research suggests as many as 3.5 million of them might skip the June election. And because most of them lean Democratic (they are not nonpartisan, just loosely partisan), thats another boost for Republicans.

That indifference seems especially ironic when you consider that Californias top-two primary  where political parties dont limit participation  was custom-built for independents.

Of course, the past doesnt have to be prologue. Even the best models could be wrong, perhaps failing to measure the political intensity of an era dominated by President Trump. But hes not on the ballot, and elections arent won by enthusiasm as much as they are with action. Its up to millions of Californians to decide if they want to get involved.

john.myers@latimes.com

Follow @johnmyers on Twitter, sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast
Glendale City Council members hit another milestone last week in their years-long project to connect the Glendale Narrows Riverwalk to the other side of the Los Angeles River after they approved completing the projects second phase.

The first phase of the project was completed in 2012 and included equestrian arenas, an art installation as well as a trail and picnic areas along the Riverwalk.

The second phase is designed to add two small parks, one called Flower Plaza Park and the other Confluence Park, to the Riverwalk.

Construction of a bridge over a flood-control box culvert that will connect segments of the trail is also part of the project.

Flower Plaza Park, located adjacent to Flower Street and Fairmont Avenue, will connect already completed bike paths to the north and south. Confluence Park will be near the Los Angeles River and Verdugo Wash, adjacent to the Ventura (134) Freeway.

Once finished, it will complete a 1-mile stretch of pedestrian and bike trails along the Riverwalk within the city of Glendale.

According to a staff report, construction of the second phase will be funded by a Proposition 84 grant, Measure R funds and funds allocated from Gas Tax and Parks Development Impact Fees.

The third phase of the Riverwalk project will involve construction of a walkway and bike path over the Los Angeles River that will link the Glendale Narrows to Griffith Park.

Another bridge, over the Verdugo Wash, which will connect the Glendale Riverwalk to north Atwater Village, is also in the works.

In September, Gov. Jerry Brown earmarked a $20-million bond measure to fund the path via state Senate Bill 5  known as the California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection and Outdoor Access For All Act.

The funds now await voter consideration in the June 2018 primary election.

The second phase is expected to complete by next October, according to Glendale public works director Roubik Golanian.

jeff.landa@latimes.com

Twitter: @JeffLanda
After decades of isolation under communist rule, Shanghai was emerging on the world stage, bolstered by an economic resurgence, and I wanted to be part of it.

It was 1988, and my U.S. employer moved me to Shanghai, Chinas most progressive city, to manage a new performing arts theater.

It was a chance to create a new business enterprise in this enormous authoritarian country, gaining international management experience and building my resume.

My first task was to monitor the theaters construction. I was soon circulating among Chinese government officials to understand how to navigate the red tape I would need to untangle to open and operate the theater.

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This included meeting with the director of Shanghais cultural affairs office. His staff would approve, monitor and even censor the programs I proposed for the theater, he told me. I had anticipated this, but even knowing it was possible, I had some concerns.

A change in plan

Then, in April 1989, Democracy Spring arrived. In Shanghai and Beijing, thousands of students marched, demanding greater freedom of expression.

Shanghais roadways swelled with so many marchers that getting to my office was dangerous. Martial law was declared in Beijing, and the military appeared on some streets in Shanghai.

Tensions continued to escalate.

In the early morning of June 4, a colleague phoned to tell me about Beijings Tiananmen Square, where more than 200 people were killed (later estimates said it was many more), 7,000 injured and thousands arrested. Our company ordered all expatriate employees to evacuate to our countries of origin and await further instructions.

Taxis to the airport were scarce, but I eventually flagged one. The driver swerved around barricades and overturned buses, maneuvered through rice paddies and delivered me in time to board the last commercial flight out of Shanghai for the foreseeable future.

Back in Southern California where I grew up, I increasingly thought of the young people who had sacrificed so much for freedoms I took for granted. Could I respond in any meaningful way?

As the manager of a theater, I realized I was uniquely positioned to express ideas onstage. It would require an unusual degree of cooperation and trust, beginning with Shanghais cultural affairs office.

I wanted to go back.

By August, the company considered the city safe and let me return to a China that was very changed. A purge of ranking officials had humbled this once-confident city.

I was welcomed back to work by one of our Chinese employees who had just returned from re-education. His face bore marks of a beating, and he was missing some teeth.

Seeing him stiffened my resolve to do something.

The director of the cultural office, who had somehow survived the political turmoil, talked of his support for the arts and how the new theater would play a vital role in Shanghais resurgence as an international cultural capital.

I shared my hope that staging concerts, dramas, modern dance performances, operas, ballets and other kinds of performing arts from around the world would challenge Shanghai audiences, which he acknowledged with an encouraging nod of the head.

At our third meeting, he introduced the chief censor, who explained the intricacies of approving artists and programs.

But then something extraordinary happened.

There is a saying in China, he said, that the first time we meet we are friends, the second time very good friends, but the third time we meet we are family.

Family matters

With construction finished and the theater opening soon, I proposed presenting a touring modern dance company. The arts censor objected to the title of one work in the troupes repertoire called Prayer, which, he said, had forbidden religious overtones.

My suggested title change was the more secular Meditation. He accepted that and left the artistic content untouched, a sign, perhaps, that things were loosening, maybe even a nudge toward more creative expression.

Three years later, as my Shanghai posting ended, I looked back on the hundreds of performances and performers from 15 countries: Meryl Tankards avant-garde dance company from Australia, American productions of Driving Miss Daisy and The Joy Luck Club, and works by George Balanchine, all unseen to date in China.

It was my tribute to those who sacrificed for freedom. And it made me a firm believer that people of goodwill from vastly different cultures, whether they visit for three days or three years, can share a vision for a better world.

Departure Points, a monthly column, explores the ways in which traveling changes us, whether its a lesson learned or a truth uncovered. You may submit a first-person essay of 700 words or fewer to travel@latimes.com with Departure Points in the subject line. Please include your first and last names and your contact information for editorial consideration.

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravel
As I boarded the train at Londons Waterloo Station, I could not get that infernal pop song by the Dixie Cups, out of my mind.

I was indeed going to the chapel, but not to get ma-a-a-rried. I was going to get a good look so that when the clock strikes noon on Saturday, I can toast my TV with a glass of bubbly knowing a bit more about the site of Meghan Markle and Prince Harrys royal wedding.

St. Georges Chapel is on the grounds of Windsor Castle, the oldest continuously inhabited royal residence on the planet. With 13 acres, the castle is also the largest.

William the Conqueror chose this spot overlooking the Thames in 1070, and since then, it has been home to 39 monarchs.

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On the early spring day I visited, the clouds spit intermittently and cast a gray light. From the train station, I followed the tall, fortified walls of the castle, and although I was here to check out the chapel, I couldnt resist following signs to the State Apartments. Theyll give me extra context, I told myself, but really, I was just curious.

Grandeur and glitz

They were even grander than I had expected  shimmering gold furnishings with satin and silk upholstery and wallpaper in ruby red and emerald green  the result of Charles IIs attempt to outdo Frances Louis XIV in splendor.

The ceilings, painted by Antonio Verrio, show gods and goddesses in shades of bubblegum pink and baby blue frolicking above the Queens Audience Chamber, the Queens Presence Chamber and the Kings Dining Room. It is difficult to imagine that these are working rooms regularly used for ceremonial occasions and not film sets.

Countdown to the Royal Wedding  Your complete guide to the royal wedding 2018

Amid the glitz are paintings by Holbein, Van Dyck, Rubens and Canaletto. I was particularly struck by Rembrandts thoughtful A Young Man Wearing a Turban and his 1642 Self-Portrait in a Flat Cap with its earthy palette. What would he make of his glittering surroundings?

I stepped outside under glowering skies and caught sight of a building that is more filigree and air than stone. This was it  one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in the world. I wandered inside St. Georges Chapel, and once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I gasped.

A general view of St. Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle. (Dominic Lipinski / AFP/Getty Images )

One of the volunteers heard me and laughed, admitting that after years of working here, she still cant believe her surroundings.

The chapel is a classic cross-shaped structure with a transept, nave and two side aisles. The ceiling looked as though skeins of lace had been stretched across it and magically turned to stone; the windows shimmered as if gemstones had been pressed into glass.

The original building dates to the 13th century, but the chapel was finished in 1483 during the reign of King Edward IV.

The chapel seats 800, far fewer than the massive St Pauls, where Harrys parents, Diana Spencer and the Prince of Wales, were married in 1981. And it doesnt have the political associations of Westminster Abbey, a stones throw from Parliament, where Harrys brother, Prince William, married Kate Middleton in 2011.

St. George, the chapels namesake, is a bit of a mystery. He was probably an officer in the Roman army who died around 300, and King Edward III chose him as the countrys patron saint in 1350, although he had never been to Britain.

Edward III, inspired by the chivalry of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, set up his own chivalrous order, the Order of the Garter, whose spiritual home is St. Georges.

Nearly 700 years after the orders founding, the monarch recognizes men and women from a variety of backgrounds who have devoted their lives to public service, appointing them into the order. Every June, the queen, knights and ladies parade in their grand velvet robes and plumed hats in the Garter Day procession held here.

Fine, peaceful and hallowed

Invitations just printed at the workshop of Barnard and Westwood for Prince Harry and Meghan Markles wedding. (WPA Pool / Getty Images )

The chapel has also been the site of royal baptisms, communions, marriages and burials. I wonder whether Prince Harry chose this site partly because of his baptism here in 1984 and also as a nod to his father, the Prince of Wales, whose prayer service was held here in 2005 after his marriage to the Duchess of Cornwall, better known as Camilla.

One of the most beautiful statues in the church is Matthew Wyatts memorial to Princess Charlotte, who died in 1817 during childbirth, along with her son. Artists from the Regency era really know how to do death  possibly because there was so much of it.

A robed Charlotte points upward while a winged angel carries her baby heavenward and mourners draped in white marble fabric surround the scene.

Charlottes death hit Britain hard. The entire population went into mourning, much as it did after Diana died in 1997.

St. Georges feels somewhat mournful and far away. It is no surprise that Queen Victoria adored the chapel, calling it fine, peaceful and hallowed.

Her eldest son, Edward VII, is the only royal to be baptized, confirmed, married and buried here. His marriage to Alexandra of Denmark in 1863 came two years after the death of Victorias husband, Prince Albert. The widowed queen entered the chapel by a private walkway and shed a tear as she observed her sons wedding from an oriel window  a decorated bay window Henry VIII had built for his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

Yeomen of the Guard march outside St. Georges Chapel after the Royal Maundy Service. (Chris Jackson / Getty Images )

After hours in the chapel, I stopped in the gift shop, where I asked a volunteer whether he could show me Victorias secret walkway. He pointed to a courtyard behind the shop. Above was a tiny wooden door and a raised boardwalk.

She used to go out there and walk around at night, he said. Then, with a twinkle in his eye, he gestured to the courtyard, Thats where Henry VIII saw Jane Seymour for the first time.

She was the third of his seven wives and is buried next to him under a marble slab  I almost didnt see it as I walked through the choir. You need to look where your feet are stepping.

On Harry and Meghans wedding day, the couple will be given titles by Queen Elizabeth II. The Duke of Sussex is thought to be the likeliest choice, which would make Markle Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Sussex.

Sticking to the couples plans to make this royal wedding a joyous celebration of the people, the first to congratulate them as husband and wife will be the 2,000 charity workers and local schoolchildren who have been invited to watch from inside the castle walls.

At 1 p.m., the couple will ride through the pretty Berkshire town of Windsor in a carriage before returning to the castle for their reception. The picturesque route will offer plenty of opportunity for the newlyweds to share their day with the public.

As I left the chapel to undertake the route on foot, the clouds parted and an early spring sun emerged  a good omen, I think.

Windsor Castle from Long Walk, Windsor, England. (Charles Bowman / Getty Images/Robert Harding World Imagery )

Spring is here (the-uh-uh)

The sky is blue (Whoah-oh-oh)

Birds all sing

As if they knew

Todays the day

Well say I do

and well never be lonely anymore.

Chapel of Love, The Dixie Cups

If you go

THE BEST WAY TO LONDON

From LAX, American, Air New Zealand, British, Delta, KLM, Lufthansa, Norwegian and Virgin Atlantic offer nonstop service to London. United, Delta, KLM and American offer connecting service (change of planes). Restricted round-trip airfare from $772, including taxes and fees.

Trains from Londons Waterloo Station leave every half hour for the Windsor & Eton Riverside station. The journey is an hour. For tickets, go to National Rail. Tickets cost about $17 to $28.50, depending on the day and time

Tourists ride in a horse-drawn carriage past the main entrance of Windsor Castle. (Tolga Akmen / AFP/Getty Images )

Windsor Castle, Open 9:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. through October. Last entry is 4 p.m. Admission, adults, about $25.30; children 17 and younger, about $14.75; seniors and students $23, children 5 and younger, free. The Castle is completely closed May 17-19 and June 17-18. It will have different closing times on May 24 and June 15 (last admission 3 p.m., closes at 4 p.m.)

St. Georges Chapel, closes at 4:15 p.m (last entry 4 p.m.) Mondays-Saturdays in order to prepare for the evening church service at 5:15. The chapel is closed to visitors on Sundays, as services are held throughout the day. Worshipers are welcome to attend the services.

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravel
Coordinated suicide bombings carried out by members of one family struck three churches in Indonesias second-largest city on Sunday, police said, as the worlds most populous Muslim nation recoiled in horror at one of its worst attacks since the 2002 Bali bombings.

At least seven people died at the churches in Surabaya along with the six attackers, the youngest of whom were girls ages 9 and 12, according to police. An additional 41 people were injured.

Indonesias president condemned the attacks as barbaric.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said that the father detonated a car bomb, two sons ages 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother and two daughters wore explosives.

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Karnavian said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently the militant group Islamic State controlled significant territory.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement carried by Amaq, a news agency affiliated with the militant group. It didnt mention anything about families or children taking part and said there were only three attackers.

Indonesias deadliest terrorist attack occurred in 2002, when bombs exploded on the tourist island of Bali and killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. But the fact that children were involved in Sundays attacks in Surabaya shocked and angered the country.

Jemaah Islamiyah, the network responsible for the Bali attacks, was obliterated by a sustained crackdown on militants by Indonesias counter-terrorism police, with U.S. and Australian support. But experts on militant networks have warned for several years that the estimated 1,100 Indonesians who traveled to Syria to join Islamic State posed a threat if they returned home.

Karnavian identified the father as Dita Futrianto and said he was head of the Surabaya cell of Jemaah Ansharut Daulah, an Islamic State-affiliated network of about two dozen extremist groups that has been implicated in a number of attacks in Indonesia in the last year. He identified the mother as Puji Kuswati.

The attacks occurred within minutes of one another, according to Surabaya police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera.

Karnavian said that Futrianto drove a bomb-laden car into the citys Pentecostal church.

Kuswati, with her two daughters, attacked the Christian Church of Diponegoro, the police chief said. Based on their remains, Karnavian said, the three were all wearing explosives around their waists.

The sons rode a motorcycle onto the grounds of the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church and detonated their explosives there.

A witness said the woman arrived at the Diponegoro church carrying two bags.

At first officers blocked them in front of the churchyard, but the woman ignored them and forced her way inside. Suddenly she hugged a civilian then [the bomb] exploded, said the witness, a security guard who identified himself as Antonius.

Shattered glass and chunks of concrete littered the entrance of the Santa Maria church, which was sealed off by armed police. Rescue personnel treated victims at a nearby field while officers inspected wrecked motorcycles in the parking lot.

A street merchant outside the church said she was blown several yards by the blast.

I saw two men riding a motorbike force their way into the churchyard. One was wearing black pants and one with a backpack, said the merchant, Samsia, who uses a single name. Soon after that the explosion happened.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo, who visited the scenes of the attacks, described the bombings as cowardly actions that were very barbaric and beyond the limit of humanity.

In Jakarta, the nations capital, the Indonesian Church Assn. condemned the attacks.

We are angry, said Gormar Gultom, an official with the association, but he urged people to let the police investigation take its course.

Indonesias two largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, also condemned the attacks.

Mangera, the Surabaya police spokesman, said police responded about 9 p.m. to an explosion in a residential building in Sidoarjo, a neighboring district.

He confirmed televised reports that three people, including a child, were inside the fifth-floor flat at the time of the blast. A bomb squad was checking the building, he said, and hundreds of people were evacuated from the neighborhood.

Separately, national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto said police fatally shot four suspected militants and arrested two others early Sunday in West Java towns. It wasnt clear whether the shootings were connected to the church attacks.

They have trained in order to attack police, Wasisto said, identifying the militants as members of Jemaah Ansharut Daulah.

Jakarta police placed the capital and surrounding areas on high alert, while the Transportation Ministry warned airports to be on guard.

The church attacks came days after police ended a hostage-taking ordeal by imprisoned Islamic militants at a detention center near Jakarta in which six officers and three inmates died. Islamic State claimed responsibility.

Despite Indonesias crackdown on militants since the Bali bombings, the country has faced a new threat in recent years as the rise of Islamic State in the Middle East invigorated local militant networks.

Christians, many of whom are from the ethnic Chinese minority, make up about 9% of Indonesias 260 million people.

UPDATES:

4:55 p.m.: This article was updated with Islamic State claiming responsibility for the attack, two of the suspects identities and details on the timeline.

5:50 a.m.: Updated to clarify that the 13 dead included the six bombers.

4:40 a.m.: Updated to raise the death toll to 13.

3:50 a.m.: Updated to raise the death toll to 11 and state that the bombers were members of one family.

This article was first published at 11:55 p.m. Saturday.
William Allen High School students celebrated their prom Saturday night at The Palace Center in Allentown.

Scroll through the photos above, and or click through the photo galleries from this year's prom here:

MORE PROM

If these photos have you looking for more prom, check out the photos from last year.

Don't forget to check back to lehighvalleylive.com/prom for full coverage of the celebrations across our region.

SHARE YOUR PROM PHOTOS

Don't forget to tag @lehighvalleylive in your Instagram photos and @lehighvalley on Twitter - we'll highlight the best pics!

BUY THESE PHOTOS

Are you one of the people pictured at this prom? Want to buy the photo and keep it forever? Look for a link below the photo caption to order prints in a variety of sizes or products like shirts or coffee mugs.

Saed Hindash may be reached at shindash@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @SaedHindash. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook.
A woman was hurt in a weekend shooting in Allentown, city police said.

The incident happened around 2 a.m. Saturday in the area of 15th and Union streets. The woman was found at St. Luke's University Hospital in Fountain Hill with a gun shot wound to each of her ankles, said Police Capt. John Hill.

The victim has been uncooperative with investigators, Hill said.

Police are seeking witnesses. Those with information are asked to call Allentown police at 610-437-7753.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Two men wanted on drug and aggravated assault charges, respectively, were arrested Friday in Lehigh County, the U.S. Marshals Service announced.

From left, Joel Torres, and David King.

Joel Torres, 23, no address provided, and David King, 34, no address provided, were apprehended by members of the violent fugitive task force without incident, authorities said.

The Marshals Service said Torres was apprehended in the 1000 block of Cherokee Street in Fountain Hill. He was wanted by Northampton County Adult Probation for violating parole conditions. His original felony charges were for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. Torres was taken to the Northampton County Prison, awaiting disposition of his case.

King, was wanted by Pennsylvania Probation and Parole Agents for violating supervision conditions, was apprehended in the 400 block of Greenleaf Street in Allentown, authorities said. His original charges were for felony theft and he also had prior aggravated assault charges.

The Marshals Service said King is being held by state parole and expected to be transported to a state correctional institution.

The United States Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force is comprised of members of the Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania State Probation and Parole Agents and the Northampton County Sheriff Department's Criminal Warrant Unit.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
If Congress won't close the "ghost gun" loophole -- and that prospect seems unlikely, even with popular demand running high for common-sense gun restrictions -- state legislatures must lead the way.

Ghost guns are rifles, shotguns or handguns that can be purchased legally, usually on the internet, and assembled at home. No registration or background check necessary -- and no serial numbers. These weapons are a favored source of untraceable guns for criminals. They're also a hit with many law-abiding gun enthusiasts and hobbyists.

Ghost guns have been used in single and mass killings across the country. The sales of these parts and kits can be banned outright -- the New Jersey Legislature is considering this possibility now -- but this can be a difficult flow to track.

At the least, gun kits should be regulated as other firearms are, requiring that sellers conduct background checks to ensure buyers are free of criminal records and mental health/domestic abuse restrictions. Gun components sold in kits should be identified by serial numbers. Sellers should be licensed.

Last week people in the Lehigh Valley learned through a local example how ghost guns can be obtained by felons.

Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin announced that a state trooper had been justified in shooting and killing an armed man, Aaron Ibrahem, in an Allentown-area Walmart in March. Martin said the weapon that prompted the trooper's fire had been bought in parts and assembled by Ibrahem, even though he was prohibited by a criminal record from buying or possessing a gun.

Martin said Ibrahem was able to buy a serial-numbered slide/barrel, also known as an upper, for a Glock .40-caliber handgun, and then attached it a frame/receiver, or a lower, to make it functional.

"Ironically, this integral part of the pistol may be purchased legally on the internet (eBay) without scrutiny -- no ATF form required," Martin wrote. "It is not considered to be a firearm."

Martin said he's forwarding his report to federal and state legislators, hoping they'll adopt legislation to close the loophole.

Pennsylvania legislators have introduced a dozen gun-related bills since the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., in February. Among them are measures to make it tougher to buy assault-style weapons, ban bump stocks and require background checks for all sales, including private transactions and those at gun shows.

Those all deserve to be adopted, but it's anyone's guess whether the Republican-controlled Legislature will report any of the bills out of committee. A measure to regulate or ban ghost guns should be included. And passed.

In New Jersey, it's already illegal to make a handgun, rifle or shotgun without a license. Part of a package of gun restrictions moving through the Democratic-controlled Legislature now is a ban on the purchase of parts that can be assembled to make a firearm without a serial number. The Senate is now taking up the Assembly-approved package. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy has said he will sign them.

A federal law regulating ghost gun transactions is the best approach, to help stem the flow of firearms to people who can't pass a background check. Barring that, state lawmakers must show how it's done.
ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trumps national security adviser said the U.S. could impose sanctions on its European allies if they continue to deal with Iran under the nuclear deal.



National Security Adviser John Bolton also commented on This Week Sunday on the U.S.'s imminent move of its Israeli embassy, saying that relocating the embassy to Jerusalem will make peace "easier" because it recognizes the "reality" that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.



On Iran, Bolton responded to a question from ABC News' Chief Global Affairs Correspondent and This Week Co-Anchor Martha Raddatz about the reaction of European allies to Trumps pulling the U.S. out of the nuclear agreement last week.



The leaders of the U.K., France, Germany issued a joint statement, emphasizing their, quote, continued commitment to the nuclear deal, Raddatz said. Will the U.S. punish countries or companies who keep ties with Iran?



Bolton noted that Trump said in announcing the U.S. exit from the Iran nuclear deal that countries that continue to deal with Iran could face U.S. sanctions."



Europeans are going to face the effective U.S. sanctions, already are, really, because much of what they would like to sell to Iran involves U.S. technology, for which the licenses will not be available, the national security adviser said.



Bolton asserted that Iran has been increasingly exercising its military power in the Middle East "under cover" of its nuclear deal with the U.S. and its European allies.



"Iran was shifting the balance of power in the Middle East until President Trump got out of this deal," Bolton said. "If you look at the advances that Iran has made under cover of this agreement, its conventional military and terrorist advances -- in Iraq, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Yemen, since 2015 -- Iran was really on the march."



Trump on Tuesday announced that he is taking the U.S out of the Iran nuclear deal and will reimpose economic sanctions on Iran at the "highest level" and will also target "any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons" with sanctions.



Raddatz asked Bolton what parts of the agreement Iran was violating. "The allies say nothing. The inspectors say nothing," she said.



"Well, the inspectors don't know everything," the national security adviser said. "You can't say honestly that Iran didn't violate the deal, because we don't have adequate inspections."



He added that a "fundamental flaw" of the deal struck under former President Barack Obama was that "we have never had an adequate declaration from Iran of their prior military activities in connection with the nuclear program."

"That just violates every precept of sound arms control negotiation," he added.



"Nor have we had, since the implementation of the deal, adequate, really any, inspection of military facilities where the weaponization activities of the Iranians might be conducted," Bolton said.



Bolton also addressed the planned opening on Monday of the U.S.'s new embassy in Jerusalem.



Raddatz asked if moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would make it harder or easier to achieve a peace deal between Israel and Palestinians, who want east Jerusalem as their capital.



"I think it will make it easier," Bolton said. "It's a recognition of reality. If you're not prepared to recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and that's where the American embassy should be, then you're operating on a completely different wavelength. I think recognizing reality always enhances the chances for peace."

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
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

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Culture / Art Republik

May 13, 2018 | By Art Republik

Have you ever noticed that the art world bears many resemblances with superhero comic books? If you think of artists as superheros  each one with their own superpowers  you can see how in some instances they come together in groups.

Instead of the Avengers and the Justice League, Cambodias own supergroup is called Stiev Selapak, which loosely translates with the art rebels. It was founded in 2007 by six artists and photographers: Heng Ravuth, Khvay Samnang, Kong Vollak, Lim Sokchanlina, Vandy Rattana, and Vuth Lyno.

The group came together after a class with a French photographer Stephane Janine in 2006, gathering individuals with a passion for art, but coming from different fields.We became friends and later on we did our exhibition together, called 14 + 1 or 14 students plus one teacher, remembers Khvay. We asked ourselves how could we share what we had developed with the world. At the time Vandy was the one who had a better understanding of photography and had the idea of us forming a group.

In an art environment lacking institutional support and attention for experimentation, joining forces was mandatory. We wanted to learn from each other, share information about art and photography and help each other, explains Lim. When we started in 2007 there were no other art collectives like ours in Cambodia. It was only after that we heard there were similar groups in Indonesia, in Thailand and Vietnam.

Back then all the artists from Stiev Selapak were working day jobs in order to sustain themselves and their art practices, but they were already looking for new opportunities to grow. In 2009, with the support of Baitong Restaurant, the group managed to open a gallery space in a small wing of the restaurant on street 360 named Sa Sa Art Gallery.

Young and determined, the artists from Stiev Selapak were yearning to explore new experiences and art practices. We needed a space to showcase our work that was open to experimenting, says Lim. At the time, the only exhibiting opportunities were presented by the French Institute, Java Cafe and Meta House, so young artists working in non-conventional mediums were looking for a place to start. Sa Sa Art Gallery assumed that role.

We were also interested in sharing our knowledge about art for creating discussion and developing art together, says Samnang. Indeed, the gallery hosted a number of exhibitions by young Cambodian artists and, along the way, developed a loyal audience of art advocates in the local Cambodian and expatriate community.

Later Sa Sa Art Gallery merged with Bassac Art Projects, an initiative of curator Erin Gleeson, to create SA SA BASSAC, a gallery and resource centre dedicated to creating, facilitating, and sharing contemporary visual culture in and from Cambodia. We were keen to mix our energies in order to create a better, more serious gallery, explains Lim. While Erin took care of the writing, managing and communication part of the operations, the group was more skilled in the technical side of putting up a show. The idea was successful, and today, SA SA BASSAC constitutes a pivotal space for the development of contemporary art in Cambodia.

When a new branch called Sa Sa Art Project was created, they started running a whole new series of activities, including a residency program with local and international artists. It is tricky for Cambodian artists to go abroad, so we tried to get international artists to come here and bring different experiences, practices and techniques, explains Lim. Thats how we can open a new page for our local artists, and allow them to learn and grow day by day, breathing new life into the Cambodian art scene. At the same time, the international artists can learn about us and from us, says Lim.

Although the group members are very close, they never do actual work together: It was never something discussed, making work together or not, Lim points out. We might do it in the future, but for now we are busy curating and organising events together. We have been invited to the Sydney Biennale to bring individual work that collectively represent our vision.

Looking at all that Stiev Selapakhas have done since 2007, one can gauge the impact they had in grooming a new generation of artists and people in the cultural field through classes and teachings. We asked ourselves how we would make and keep the new generation interested in art, says Khvay. We have no art classes in school, so we decided to make our own. And we have been quite successful. Heng and I have been teaching drawing and very hands-on, technical things, while more recently we have started art history classed by Vuth and Roger.

Many young artists attending these courses now stay around to exchange ideas, while others have taken what they have learned and applied it in their work as fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians or stage designers. We dont want our students to necessarily stick to the visual arts, says Khvay. We simply want to open their sensitivity to art and bring that knowledge to everything they feel called to do.

Khvay notes how making money was never part of the conversation for Stiev Selapak, and the interest was focused on growing the cultural environment in Cambodia, saying, It is about developing together and share with the new generation. This ethos is what made our space successful.

In a country like Cambodia where most people are occupied in meeting their basic needs and are unfamiliar with art, to become an artist is very hard. In this regard, the artists from represent role models for the community, proving that an art project can survive and thrive if there is energy and passion. Keeping to their reputation of art rebels, Lim concludes, People know we are weirdos, so if they are looking for something strange, they know they should come to us!

More information at sasaart.info.

This article was written by Naima Morelli for Art Republik 18.

This is part of Better Together, a series of conversations about how people have banded together in innovative ways to create, exhibit, teach, discuss and archive art in Southeast Asia, brought to you by ART REPUBLIK both online and in print.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Indian Judiciary since 1993: Independent but Unchecked and Unbalanced

by Kunal Ghosh

Our Constitution-makers decided to follow the western model of parliamentary democracy in which there are three main organs of the state, the executive (that is, the government run by a Council of Ministers) and the legislature (that is, the Parliament) and the judiciary (that is, the system of courts headed by the Supreme Court). Their powers are separated and they are independent of each other. However, this independence is not absolute; it is subject to the checks and balances that each is to apply on the other two. A properly functioning state has these three organs countervailing each other in a dynamic equilibrium.

In the S. P. Gupta vs Union of India: Transfer of Judge case of 1981 and subsequently in the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association vs Union of India case of 1993, the learned judges of the Supreme Court (abbreviated to SC hereafter) gave such verdicts that had the effect of taking away all powers from the executive, read the government, to appoint or transfer judges. They vested these powers in a Collegium system created by the SC itself. The Indian Constitution had given these powers to the Parliament which was exercised by the executive appointed by the Parliament. Needless to say, the Collegium system finds no mention in the Constitution.

Any action of the executive, that is, the government can be challenged in a court of law, and in case of an appeal, the matter is finally dealt with by the SC; it may uphold the action of the government or declare it void. Thus there is a check on the executive that is exercised by the SC. Previously the executive had the powers to appoint and transfer the judges; but now since 1993 the executive has been deprived of that power. Therefore, there is no check the executive can apply on the judiciary.

The legislature (that is, the Parliament) still has one check on the judiciaryit can impeach a judge. But impeachment is an extreme step and the procedure is lengthy and made intentionally cumbersome by our founding fathers, so that no one can bring an impeachment motion frivolously. They intended that the extreme step be reserved for the rarest of the rare case. The judiciary, however, has a check against the legislative, in the sense that the SC can strike down a law passed by Parliament. The sum total of the current situation is that the legislature, except the extreme step of impeachment, has no mechanism of applying checks and balances against the judiciary, so necessary for smooth day-to-day functioning of the state.

It is true that many previous governments have misused their powers against the judiciary by arbitrary and motivated transfers and other measures. No doubt that reform of the system had been necessary. The National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) Bill, which was unanimously passed by the parliament and the State legislatures, addressed the question of reform adequately. But the SC, in its present intransigent avatara, struck the Bill down, and since then there has been an impasse over the Memorandumof Procedure (MOP) for judicial appointments between the executive and the judiciary. The impasse has lasted over two years and is continuing. In the meantime several symptoms of malfunctioning of the judicial system have come to the fore.

In an article titled, A Nascent Caste on the horizon: The Judicial Dynasties, June 28, 2016, News Bharati English, web-link http://www.newsbharati.com/Encyc/2016/6/28/The-Judicial-Dynasties, I had drawn attention to two dynasties, the Thakur dynasty and the Chandrachud dynasty of the Supreme Court. Since that article was written, the Chandrachud dynasty has been strengthened by the transfer of Justice Dhananjaya Chandrachud from the Allahabad High Court to the Supreme Court. I missed a third one then. The present chief justice of the SC, Justice Dipak Misra, is the nephew (son of a brother, to be precise) of a Chief Justice of India of the previous generation, Justice Ranganath Misra.

For examples of Bhaai-Bhateejaa-vad or nepotism in judiciary, one should see an item, Allahabad HC (abbreviation of High Court) Judgeship List: Its All in the Family One-third of Short-listed lawyers are Related to Judges, The Times of India, March 12, 2018, p. 9. This is not the first time that this problem has cropped up. Also In 2016 the Bar Association of Allahabad had complained and then Chief Justice of the SC, T. S. Thakur, rejected more than ten candidates, recommended by the Allahabad High Court, after a check by the Intelligence Bureau.

In a far more serious development, four senior most judges of the SC led by Justice Chalmeswar held a press conference in the national Capital in January 2018, and questioned the prerogative of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) to allocate sensitive cases to different judges. This public attack on the CJI is unprecedented and against all norms and conventions. Further, it is against the service rules and the code of conduct. Yet, the CJI soft-pedalled the issue and the government took no step beyond certain Minsters making statements of disapproval. This emboldened the erring judges and since then there has been public criticism of the CJI by some SC judges. Two SC judges wrote letters to the CJI lamenting that the CJI had not asserted the independence of the judiciary in the face of interference by the executive and released to the press. Consider a hypothetical situation where a Cabinet Minister questions the prerogative of the Prime Minister (PM) to allocate portfolios; can the government function if this happens? Even then the PM is said to be only the first among equals, whereas the CJI is a rank superior in a definitive hierarchy, entitled to a higher salary.

Article 121 of the Constitution bars parliamentarians from discussing the conduct of a judge, except when an enquiry committee, appointed by the House, submits a report holding the judge guilty. It is obvious that the founding fathers intended to put the judges on a high pedestal and shield them from public criticism. This is because a societal perception of high dignity of the judiciary is essential for a democratic republic. How does the spectacle of senior SC judges publicly sniping at the CJI fit into this scenario?

In a further development a seven-party Opposition combine, on April 21, 2018, has brought an impeachment motion against the present CJI. This motion is well within the constitutional provisions although it smacks of a party-political thrust, because it comes in the wake of the dismissal by the SC of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) for a fresh probe into the death of Justice H. B. Loya, who had been hearing a case against the President of the main ruling party, the BJP. As per convention the judiciary is never to be drawn into politics, but in the present atmosphere of free for all, the political parties have thrown all cautions to the wind.

As a result of all the listed above and many more misdemeanors on the part of judges of various High Courts, our judicial system as an institution is losing credibility in the public eye. The government should make immediate moves to stem the rot. The government should invoke Article 143 of the Constitution and make a Presidential Reference to the SC to seek clarification as to what remains of the much-vaunted checks and balances that the executive and the legislative wings are supposed to apply against the judiciary, the extreme step of impeachment being an unpractical measure for day-to-day functioning of the state. The President should ask: are the checks and balances part of the basic structure of the Constitution or not? As of now, the judiciary in India is independent but unchecked and unbalanced.

Further, the government should advise the President to issue a stricture, that is, a sternly critical and censorious remark, against the four judges, who held the afore-said press conference in January 2018, for violation of the Service Rules and the Code of Conduct. Such a Presidential stricture would be without precedence, but an exceptional and unprecedented development requires an exceptional response.

Dr Kunal Ghosh, a retired Professor and Head, Aerospace Engineering Department, I.I.T., Kanpur, is a Visiting Professor, Mechanical Engineering, I.T., Nirma.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Loss of a Sane Voice in Troubled Times

TRIBUTE

by Sanjay Parikh

It is often difficult to write about a person with whom you were close for several decades. So many thoughts come to your mind, some are chronological, bound by time and events, but many are those, which are eternal, which constituted that personhis sensitivities, concerns, simplicity, love and compassion, to which you were a witness.

Justice Rajindar Sachars life can be easily encompassed by his achievements as a judge and later his immense contribution in public life. The loss we have suffered, the void it has created, is immense. A man who was thinking and speaking about the concerns of the people and the nation persistently and also penning down his ideas on every crucial issue, is no more. Many told me in personal conversations that they have lost a mentor, a guide, a fatherly figure, a visionary, a man who was like a protective umbrella over themalways available at the time of crisis. No movement, no meeting on human rights and social issues was complete without his presence.

Many a time he would sit on the ground in solidarity with the farmers, oustees of development projects and trade union workers at Jantar Mantar. He told me often that he finds himself more comfortable and at home when he is with the people listening to their problems. I remember once we were going on a fact finding mission in Jharkhand and had to cover a long distance. On the way he asked the driver to stop the car and told me, Yaar chai ke talab lagi hai (Dear I feel like having tea). I looked around and found a small dhaba having a wooden bench. I said whether we could stop elsewhere. He immediately replied, what is wrong here? We sat there and he enjoyed sipping tea sitting on the bench. In one meeting, when all of us were feeling oppressed because of heat as even fans were not working, Justice Sachar though sweating but at ease, was willing to go ahead with the proceedings.

He was the President of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties from 1986 to 1995. This organisation, which Jaya Prakash Narayan started, was closest to his heart. Not a day would go without his enquiring about its activities as well as about its members. He will have his firm views on what position the PUCL should take on important national and social issues, but only after listening to everybody. He preferred introducing himself as a worker of the PUCL rather than his being a retired Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court or the UN Special Rapporteur on Housing.

Born in 1923 at Lahore (now part of Pakistan), he had many heart-rending stories to tell about partition. His ideas on political governance were clear and profound. He had been a part of freedom movement since his childhood: his father, Bhimsen Sachar, was a freedom fighter who became the first Chief Minister of Punjab (1952) but was detained during the Emergency. His close association with Rammanohar Lohia and other veterans during that time had shaped his ideas. His thoughts on all crucial issues were therefore, very clear as they arose from his love for the people, the nation and a firm belief and faith that everyone, irrespective of religion and caste, has to be treated equally, without any discrimination.

His remarkable report on the status of Muslims speaks about his concerns. The Report is not only about a community but how people in that situation, irrespective of religion, have to be dealt with under the Constitution by a welfare State. When asked to speak about his report he very candidly declined as he felt that it was not proper to justify his report after he ceased to be the Chairman of the High Powered Committee and it was for the government in power to implement it and for the people to judge. Instances such as this exemplified his remarkable objectivity and maturity.

I met Justice Sachar for the first time along with my senior, Justice S. Rangarajan. They were good friends. Justice Rangarajan had earned a great reputation for being a fearless and bright judge in the Delhi High Court during the Emergency. He quashed the detention of Kuldip Nayar who was imprisoned during the Emergency for showing courage as an independent journalist. Justice Rangarajan suffered and was transferred to Gauhati as a measure of punishment. That is an interesting but different story. Justice Rangarajan joined the Supreme Court Bar as a senior advocate in the earlier part of 1982, after retirement as the Chairman of the MRTP Commission. When I started to work with Justice Rangarajan in 1982, I heard heaps of praises from Justice Rangarajan for Justice Sachar.

Very soon in 1985, after retirement as the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Justice Sachar joined the Supreme Court Bar and from those days, my association with him and daily interactions had been constant. Those days were different and the nuanced level of discussion between two great persons was worth listening to. Justice Sachar would often provoke Justice Rangarajan on some issue by saying, Ranga, you are wrong and then would follow the dialogue in which no jurist or philosopher would be spared. The discussion remaining inconclusive was the best part of it.

Justice Rangarajan left Delhi to settle down in a village in Tamil Nadu in 1988. Thereafter, I started to work even closer with Justice Sachar and our association was very enriching. He introduced me to several peoples movements and in particular, the PUCL. We did many remarkable cases together in the Supreme Court: from mandatory declaration of assets and criminal antecedents by MPs/MLAs, NOTA, challenge of the draconian POTA, telephone tapping, police encounters, challenge to domicile requirement for Rajya Sabha, etc. PUCL judgments have been cardinal incivil rightsjuris prudence and are referred to in all-important judgments, including in the recent Right to Privacy decision of the Constitution Bench. He was keen that all PUCL cases of significant importance be collated into a book, which was accomplished and in 2017, the book Taking Human Rights Forward: PUCL judgments was published by Vani Prakashan, Delhi. He in particular was sad that after the Supreme Court gave judgment on declaration of assets, all the political parties ganged up together and unanimously opposed the judgment and brought an ordinance, though the Supreme Court later struck down the said ordinance. He was, in his last days, very sad about the decline in the judiciary, growing tension among the communities, human rights violations in Kashmir and erosion of values in public life.

There are many deeply touching personal encounters but this is not the time to discuss them. I intend to write on them separately, may be when we decide to publish a book on him. But I must say at least one thing: whenever he went outside and retuned to Delhi, he would immediately call me Sanjay, tere pass haziri laga raha hoon ki wapis aa gaya hoon (Sanjay, I am marking my attendance that I have come back.) Each time, this sentence touched my heart.

Only day before yesterday, I went to see him in the ICU. Though in immense pain with oxygen mask and feeding tubes, he smiled, looked at me and held my hand in his hands, warm with love. He could not speak but I understood what he was trying to tell me, Mark my attendance but for not coming back but for leaving...forever!

I find a desert today: of selfishness, divisions, greed, hatred, which is spreading rapidly everyday. It is so distressing, so painful; it leaves one alone. In this chaos, he was the voice of sanity, which we have lost. A great loss indeed!

(April 21, 2018)

The author is a Supreme Court Advocate and a Vice-President, Peoples Union for Civil Liberties.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > India-China Relations on the Mend

Indias first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, proudly supported Chinese Prime Minister Chou En-lai. He had emerged after defeating the First Front Army commander, Chiang Kai Shek. The Chinese Premier had supported Indias movement for Independence when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said that the freedom of India was not dependent on the victory of Allies in the Second World War, which was a foregone conclusion when America declared support to Britain and such other democratic forces.

Still Nehru was able to get the backing of the Congress. It made the declaration even though Mahatma Gandhi believed that Adolf Hitler, leading the fascist forces, would emerge victorious. That Chou En-lai had betrayed Nehru by launching the attack in 1962 was a severe blow that Nehru could not survive.

After that the non-aligned countries together had amended the Colombo proposals and retrieved partially the prestige of Nehru. The proposals recognised the new border where China had delineated through its forces. New Delhi showed annoyance by calling back its ambassador in Beijing. Relations between the two countries have remained sour since.

It appears Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted the China-dictated border. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can argue that it has accepted what was de jure. What is hailed as a historic moment is abject surrender to Beijing. It is practically a defeat. Had the Congress Party done so, it would have been paraded as a force which had sold India.

Modi, with his flowery speeches in Hindi, may go down well with the people who cannot understand the intricacies of the border problem. But surprisingly, the party has the support from the Nagpur headquarters from where the RSS high command operates.

China and India have seldom agreed on where the actual border line is. Nehru said that he had asked the Indian Army to oust the infiltrators and clear its territory. Since then the relations between the two have been more or less hostile. Some time ago, India showed its muscles with the stand-off at Doklam. China had to withdraw its forces behind the present border. Prime Minister Modis trip last September for BRICS did reduce the tension.

The positive side of Modis trip then was the reiteration by the two countries to fight against terrorists. But here too Beijing elucidated its own theory. Yet, the friendship of China and Pakistan is only getting stronger to the concern of New Delhi. Not long ago, Beijing had begun stapling visas of Indians visiting China from Arunachal. China wanted to indicate that it was a separate territory and not part of India.

New Delhi has borne the humiliation quietly. China had accepted without demur the maps showing Arunachal Pradesh as Indias territory. To recall the dispute over a small territory lying between Arunachal and Chinas border, the status of Arunachal Pradesh has been seldom questioned. Tibet for China is like Indias Kashmir which too has raised the standard of independence. There is, however, one difference: the Dalai Lama is willing to accept an autonomous status within China. Kashmir today wants independence. Maybe, the Kashmiris will come round to accept a similar status one day. The problem is so complicated that a minor change can lead to a major catastrophe. It is not worth risking.

The Dalai Lamas visit to Arunachal Pradesh last year had brought back the memories of the days before the Chinese annexed Tibet. Nehru did not raise any objection at that time because he was on personal terms with Chinese Premier Chu-En lai.

The Dalai Lamas visit did not raise doubts about Tibet but it renewed the debate of its annexation by Beijing once again. China called his visit a provocation. It had warned India that the Dalai Lamas visit would affect the normal relations between the two countries. Indeed, it intensified with Doklam. Yet, India managed to hold its own.

In fact, Chinas problems with India have roots in the British demarcation of the India-China border. China refuses to acknowledge the McMahon Line that demarcates Arunachal Pradesh to be a part of India. Any activity that takes place in this area is viewed by China skeptically.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharamans visit to the disputed territory despite Chinese protest showed that New Delhi was prepared for hostilities if it came to that pass. Then the Indian soldiers did not have shoes for a mountain combat. India is now a power to reckon with.

It looks as if China would go on provoking India to exhaust its patience. When war is ruled out this is the only option China has. How to retaliate, without resorting to hostilities is the situation India faces.

Beijing is trying to revive the India-China Bhai Bhai scenario. Soon after days after Prime Minister Narendra Modis first visit to China after the Doklam standoff between the two countries, a statement issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that both sides possessed the maturity and wisdom to handle their differences through peaceful discussion and by respecting each others concerns and aspirations.

They also agreed to use the Special Represen-tatives Meeting on the boundary question to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement. The two militaries will strengthen confidence-building measures and enhance communication and cooperation to uphold border peace and tranquility, said the statement.

Meanwhile, China and India have agreed to build a high-level cultural and people-to-people exchange mechanism between the two nations. The informal summit meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping also stressed on the need to strengthen the China-India Closer Developmental Partnership so that the two will always keep to the right direction.

The latest move is aimed at further strengthening the bilateral ties between the two nations. On the last leg of his two-day visit, the Indian Prime Minister and Chinese President walked along a sidewalk on the shores of the Wuhans East Lake and later sailed in the same boat for peace, prosperity and development in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. This augurs well.

The author is a veteran journalist renowned not only in this country but also in our neighbouring states of Pakistan and Bangladesh where his columns are widely read. His website is www.kuldipnayar.com
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > What Is My Philosophy?

by Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd

After I wrote Why I am Not a Hindu and Post-Hindu India the Brahmin-Banias (the castes that control the Hindu spiritual system and the whole business system of India) of Telugu States threatened to kill me. Several cases were filed against me. The intellectuals from these two most wealthy and most educated communities ask me: What is your philosophy? Why are you writing such books? These are important questions. Since I am challenging their religion after Ambedkar in a more serious way, they have a right to ask such questions because religion is a philosophical domain. If I do not have a spiritual philosophy of my own I have no right to create a crisis in their cozy life and religion.

The questionwhat is my philosophy?tormented me for quite long. Do I live with Indian philosophy or with universal philosophy? In the struggle for formulating my philosophy it struck me that philosophy could never be region, or place or area-specific. Since I am part of the universal Nature I do exist like any other person in the world with a universal philosophy. As a personnot just as a man or womanI inhale air, drink water, eat food of my labour or of othersin childhood and in very old age only of othersI sleep, walk, wear clothes like anybody else in the world.

Indians lived in forests like all universal people, they deforested land and brought it under cultivation like others in the world. They tilled it with the help of cattle power; they domesticated and nurtured them. This must have happened in the pre-Harappan times. However, Harappans were the first persons who built the first city of the world, named after themselves. The Human (I deliberately use H capital for Human) civilisation reached an advanced stage during the Harappan period.

The Harappans built the civilisation on the riverbed like the people of other parts of the world. They migrated to outside and they allowed the migrants from outside. In this whole process Human labour of Indians like the labour of others in the world played a key role. In early civilisational zones like Mesopotamia, no individual persons name could be identified but in India Harappans, who built the early civilisational city, could be identified. Such names like Beerappa, Veerappa Marappa are very popular among cattle rearers and culture and economy builders in South India. Hence my philosophy is of labour as life is of tilling is building, is of teaching in the field. My philosophy is that of learning by trial, experimentation and error. It is universal, not national. What is done here could be done anywhere else by applying the same method.

It was accidental that I was born in the place where I was bornpapaiah Pet, Warangal district, Telangana. It is accidental that I live in Hyderabad India, with a body of given colour and with the caste identity that I was born with. But if I were to be born in any other place Japan, Germany or Israel I would have been born as one among them, who lived there or right now are living there. Hence, philosophically I am a Human being.

All Human beings are universal in nature. Thus knowing of my universalness makes me think of my commonalities with other Human beings and my identity as an individual being, who is part of the larger universe. That makes me think my universality is larger than my particularity. I was a shepherd in the childhood and student as an adult and a professor of a university in my later years; as of now an activist of Anti-Brahminism to change the status food producers, cattle grazers, pot, shoe-makers and so on.

The weakest mind and body of some Indians, over a period of time, constructed a notion of a Brahman. This notion of a Brahman is Anti-Human. This notion has been constructed in primitive times in an underdeveloped language called Sanskrit. The concept Brahman const-ructed a Human living process in seclusion and non-engagement with nature and labour. With English, a universal language advancing in India, the universal concept of the Human came to be realised with much more clarity than in all other Indian languages, whose development was thwarted by the followers of the secluded small-minded thinkers who lived around the notion, Brahman.

Thus, the negation of the notion of Human (all inclusive) philosophical Indian is killed by the Brahman. The producer of food is reduced to nothing. The Brahman, for example, has shown cow as an animal superior to the Human. The followers of the Brahman have considered production as pollution. Establishing a belief of animal superiority to Human is exceptionally de-humanising. The Brahman introduced animal worship as worship of the divine. Destruction but construction was the Brahmans essential nature. A pot-maker, brick-maker, shoe-maker, shepherd, carpenter, cattle economist, a cultural drummer all were declared Untouchable to Brahman. The only way to change this situation is that the Brahman must be made to make bricks, build houses, graze cattle in order to make the followers of the Brahman Human. As of now they are not Human. They are Inhuman.

When the Brahman power was established before my own eyes in New Delhi in the 2014 elections, they started killing Humans with the primitive underdeveloped mind of the Brahman that Cow is divine and any disrespect to cow is disrespect to the Brahmin. The believers in the Brahman never believed in Human as the higher stage of development of organic life. Their notion of the Brahman as divine is very narrow and localised. They mix up the divine and the nation, in a manner that their divine could never evolve into universal.

The followers of the Brahman kept Humans around them divided and sub-divided and kept them arrested in underdeveloped languages, thinking process and hence the caste system survived. They have never fully grasped the magnitude of the notion of God. Since the notion of God is universal they did not understand its power. They survived around the notion of the Brahman as the divine, which in itself was an unphilosophical mundane notion.

Any philosophical notion is universal. Any notion that has no universal validity that notion has no philosophical validity. The Brahman is an uncivilisational notion. It does not believe in equal creation of all Human Beings. They unspiritually validated some getting created from head, some from shoulders, some from the thighs and many from the feet. The Dalits of my time are seen as people that have come into the universe without the Brahmans creation. This obviously means they have been created by the universal God along with rest of the global Human beings as equals. They are looking towards that universal God for liberation. The slaves of the world, the Blacks of the world and the women of the world got liberated by the same universal God. The Indian Brahman negated the existence of 300 million people of the world and made the remaining 600 million people unequal to one another. Philosophically this is an untenable creation story.

The universal God creates all universal people in the same manner or if they evolved, the evolution also happens in the same mannerfrom monkey to Chimpanzee to Dalit or from monkey to Chimpanzee to Shudra or Brahman. They cannot be created in one way in a part of the worldas equals and only in India they cannot but be created as unequal. This proposition in books written by the same Brahman is a Satanic work.

Any divine notion is unifying but the notion of the Brahman that got constructed in the land of India is divisive. It did not allow the mind of the followers to develop and that underdeveloped mind did not allow the Humans in this land with a brutal force of violence not to develop on par with a universal Human. Their mental status remained animal worshipping, with a view that the Brahman lives in the body of the Cow. Since the followers of the Brahman were under-developed philosophically and linguistically the universal God or prophets who developed universal language to understand the powers of God could not get into their mental frame.

Since my generation acquired the universal languageEnglishand the philosophical depth of the universal as against the local Brahman, I needed to spell out and leave the universal idea of God and Human for future advancement of the Human. The notion of God deals beyond the Human. It deals with creation or evolution of the universeland, water, life, plant, animal Human and so on. But the Human is the highest of that creation or evolution. No such Human can be subordinate to animal. But the Brahman has done that very diffidently. Because the Brahman hardly understood the Nature, as he either remained in the worship of stone or animal or sat for a long time in a sitting posture called Yoga, he has not developed universal knowledge. As a result the body and brain of the Brahman has not developed to grasp the whole phenomenon of the universe.

To understand the strength of the Nature the Human had to engage in labour. The Brahman abhorred that.

The Brahman in that sense is animal-like. He has not yet reached the stage of the Human. No Human can consider an animal as divine. The spiritual underdevelopment of the Brahman (though they called it AtmaSoul) has turned out to be an unproductive being with a similar body like any other Human. But the Brahmin body is unproductive though it consumes material resources like any other human body.

Those who survived around the idea of the Brahman lived long in India, but they have not evolved into the Human. Now the Indian Human has to be spiritually integrated with the universal spiritual notion of God. The notion of the nation is only part of that universe.

Prof Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is the Director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Gachibowli, Hyderabad.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > The Congress of Hope and Unity

by Binoy Viswam

Members, sympathisers and friends of the CPI would consider the 23rd Congress of the party as a milestone in its history. But, the relevance of the Congress does not end there. It crosses the party barriers and would become something significant for the whole of Indian Left. The Congress held at Kollam, Kerala would be marked as a political catalyst that paved the path for building the broad platform of secular, democratic and Left forces to fight the menace of fascism. The threat is real. The danger of fascism is looming large over the future of the nation, like the sword of Damocles. This sword is hung on a single horse-hair of the RSS ideology. That ideology has sowed poisonous seeds of communal hatred in society. It is indebted to the unending greed of finance capital. The Narendra Modi Government during the last four years has acted as the stage-manager of the dangerous bunch of thoughts. It was implementing the agenda of Hindutva, which is nothing but the Indianised version of Hitlerite fascism. The wounds it caused to the secular foundation of the country are so deep. The minorities, the Dalits, the women, the childrenall are living in an atmosphere of fear.

Its promise of achche din is torn into pieces and thrown to the winds. Workers rights are snatched away, farmers are shot down, women are raped, violence against children is ever growing, universities and other centres of higher learning have become laboratories of Hindutva offensive; unemployment has crossed all limits, prices are sky-rocketing. Income divide has reached alarming proportions, where 73 per cent of the nations wealth has reached the hands of one per cent of the population. The Communist Party is emphatically clear that such a situation should not be allowed to continue. The country needs a change, its people are looking for it.

The cardinal task before the party Congress was to work out a realistic strategy which could combat the threat posed by the RSS-BJP. The line emphasised in the political resolution adopted by the party Congress is devoted to meet the challenge. The slogan of a secular-democratic-Left platform provides the direction of future struggles. That slogan is the outcome of the attempt made by the CPI to apply the principles of Marxism visa-a-vis Indias complex situation. When this idea was first mooted, many people failed to understand its relevance. Some even went to the extent of attributing baseless intentions on the CPI. It was not by mistake that the CPI proposed a broad platform; not a united front. In the present situation there is no ground for building a united front with various political forces based on a common minimum programme. As the fight against the fascist forces is an urgent necessity there is no meaning in sparing time only for unending polemics. At this juncture a broad platform is the only viable proposal that a serious Left party committed to the Marxist ideology could put forth. As a political party with immense experience of struggles and sacrifices the CPI is proud to see that the idea of a broad platform has become the focal point of all political discourses.

It is the objective analysis of the objective situation that makes Marxism the science of Revolution. During the course of history while applying the principles of Marxism, the Communist Party in all countries had come across a crucial question. It is regarding the main contradiction in society. Analysing the concrete situation the CPI came to the conclusion that the main contradiction today is the struggle between communal fascism led by the RSS and the secular democratic forces. Thus the party was clear about the main enemy and the urgent need to fight it. It is from that conviction the idea of a broad platform of secular-democratic and Left forces emerged. Categorising it as a platform instead of a united front, the CPI was expressing its vibrant dialectics in under-standing the political reality through the prism of Marxism.

There are people who approach the issue only as a matter of relationship with the Congress. That would lead to narrowing down the scope and goal of the struggle against the RSS. It should be noted here that in the chapter dealing with the broad platform the CPI did not even mention the name of Congress. It doesnt mean that the struggle against fascism should keep at a distance away from the Congress. The Congress, which is a secular party, has a role to play in the struggle. But as long as it remains committed to providing corporate neo-liberal policies, the united front with them does not arise. The question of electoral understanding with various anti-BJP forces including Congress would be discussed and decided according to State-specific situations, as and when elections come.

The pressing need of the time is to evoke confidence among the masses that Narendra Modi could be prevented from coming to power again in 2019. That a vast majority, 69 per cent of masses who voted against BJP in 2014 are still there. Even those 31 per cent who voted for him in 2014 are now disillusioned. Mobilising them on a viable platform, broad and flexible, is the strategy to unseat the present most hated ruling class from power. All those who believe that secularism is the cornerstone of Indian democracy and progress do share this view. They include varied segments in the society who may not be associated with any particular party. The tactical line adopted by the 23rd Congress provides the platform for rallying such millions in the historic battle to oust the fascists from power.

The outcome of the 22nd Congress of the CPI-M needs to be mentioned here. After prolonged discussions the CPI-M also has come to a political position more or less on the same line with that of the CPI. This will strengthen the process of Left unity and communist unity in the country. The united Left strategy to fight the forces of fascism together with all possible secular, democratic forces will give a new impetus to the struggle. Naturally, the CPI is proud that it has also contributed in the process of dialogue in this direction. Hence the 23rd Congress marked a new stage in Indias patriotic struggle to defend secularism, democracy, national sovereignty and socialist goals. It could be rightly called as the Congress of hope and unity.

The author, who has been elected to the National Council of the CPI at its latest Congress in Kollam, Kerala, is a former Minister of Forests and Housing in the erstwhile LDF Government in Kerala.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Party Congress and After

The following are reflections of a veteran CPI-M sympathiser after the partys 22nd Congress at Hyderabad.

In an article titled Two Faces (The Telegraph, March 27), this writer had speculated on the possibility that the Party Congress of the Communist Party of India-Marxist might well rethink the earlier decision of its Central Committtee not to have any alliance or understanding with the Indian National Congress going forward.

Happily, intense and informed deliberations within the Party Congress have led to such a rethink; the CPI-M Party line now leaves open the possibility of an understanding with the INC, although refusing any alliance. This final openness clearly suggests that all factions and State units of the Party have come to recognise the quality and magnitude of the challenge that the Republic faces.

It may be said that whereas the Left overall may not bring great numbers to bolster the secular cause in todays day, its cognitive standing and probity still carry important weight in influential pockets of the public consciousness and among opinion-makers who may not necessarily subscribe to any hard Leftist doctrine.

It has been the grouse of the Left that the Indian National Congress has been the original perpetrator of Neo-Liberal Economic policiessuch as have over the years contributed to deprivations at the ground levela complaint not without substance. Yet, it has also been apparent, especially with Rahul Gandhis fairly insistent articulation on the matter, that the Congress is set to rethink some of the more abrasive features of class rule, and to return policy to address the needs of the vast indigent sections of society. That the erstwhile UPA in which the Congress and the Left were partners gave to the nation an admirable package of rights-based legislations must be recalled as a fact of watershed importance It is of course regrettable that those legislations have not received the sort of delivery that could have substantially transformed millions of lives, but the new positive rethinks within both the Congress and Left camps suggest the possibility of a fresh assay in the near future.

It could not have escaped notice that the Congress of the day seems fiercely critical of the loot that corporate sharks have engaged in to the brazen jeopardy of the people at largeindeed a loot that seemed to be facilitated by complicit sections of the law-enforcement agencies with more than a happy nod from the political heads of the state. This conjunction of perceptions furnishes the ground rules for two grievously urgent alternate agendas: one, to re-establish the primary claim of the people of India to national assets; and, two, to return a fair-minded, autonomous clout to a slew of financial and law-enforcement agencies and democratic institutions which have seen fatal erosion during the last four years. And, might one add, to restore to the nation an intellectual life that may once again thrive in an atmosphere of free and rational explorations of reality.

All that will, of course, requireas the Party Congress of the CPI-M underscores in one voice, that the Bharatiya Janata Party is defeated at the hustings between now and the the General Elections of 2019, and most of all in the General Elections of 2019. The CPI-Ms new Party line must therefore oblige it now to rethink some of the commitments it may have made with respect to State Assembly Elections over the coming year.

Clearly, if the chief objective is to defeat the BJP, it would make little sense to go with the JD(S) in the coming Karnataka poll scheduled for May 12. There is already reason to conclude that the JD(S) may not be averse to teaming up with the BJP in the event that no party gets a clear majority. Thus, every vote in the JD(S) kitty could be a vote for the BJP. Given that an understanding is now permissible with the INC, the Left, which cannot be said to have any of its own stakes in Karnataka, must follow the main concern of its new Party line and help the Congrss come to power in Karnataka. Indeed, in the months to come, wherever the Congress is in direct two-party contest with the ruling BJP, the logical course for the Left must be to bolster its chances of defeating the incumbent BJP.

More rigorous analysis will surely follow with respect to other States where neither the Congress nor the BJP are major players. In such States, one would expect all secular formations to make an honest determination of who is best placed where, and to pool resources to ensure one-on-one electoral contests.

The author, who taught English literature at the University of Delhi for over four decades and is now retired, is a prominent writer and poet. A well-known commentator on politics, culture and society, he wrote the much acclaimed Dickens and the Dialectic of Growth. His book, The Underside of ThingsIndia and the World: A Citizens Miscellany, 2006-2011, came out in August 2012. Thereafter he wrote two more books, Idea of India Hard to Beat: Republic Resilient and Kashmir: A Noble Tryst in Tatters.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > PIPFPDs Homage to Dr Ashok Mitra

Co-Chairpersons of Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (India Chapter) Dr Syeda Hameed and Tapan K. Bose and General Secretary of PIPFPD (India Chapter) Vijayan M.J. have issued the following statement after the demise of Dr Ashok Mitra.

Dr Ashok Mitra (1928-2018) is no more. Economist, politician, political and literary author, analyst, columnist, Dr Mitra was known to the world in many different contours, that truly reflected most of his life. For the members of the Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) in both countries, we pride in that we got to see another face of this quintessential intellectual as an advocate of peace, justice, democracy and people-to-people relationsamidst hostility.

That Dr Ashok Mitra left us on the Inter-national Labour Day, is just a classic coincidence that reflects on his lifelong focus on working class politics, economic theorisation around the Marxian frame and undeniable people-centrism. He was formerly Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, the Finance Minister of West Bengal and a Rajya Sabha member from the State, in the Indian Parliaments Upper House.

Ashok-da headed the Indian Chapter of the PIPFPD during some of the very troubled years of Pakistan-India relations. If the limited war at Kargil had inflicted enough scope for an all-out war between the two South Asian neighbours, the attack on the Indian Parliament House and the war cries that followed, led to an eyeball- to-eyeball situation between the two nuclear countries. The first NDA regime, led by A.B. Vajpayee of the BJP, was up against the militaristic authoritarianism of General Parvez Musharraf. Speaking about reviving India-Pakistan relations was a taboo, with peoples platforms like the PIPFPD almost facing extinction under the jingoistic nationalism of the conservative elements in society and polity.

The Bangalore Convention of the Forum in 2000 had audaciously decided to take forward people-to-people relations as the core focus, including efforts to build relations with the people of divided Kashmir. Ashok Mitra chaired the Forum into its historic Joint Convention in Karachi, where more than 500 Indians and Pakistanis from all walks of life interacted with each other openly and came out with the historic Karachi Declaration, in the year 2003. Referred to as the Karachi turnaround, the Convention was instrumental in reducing tensions and putting the relations back on to the track of ceasefire monitoring, dialogue and non-interfering co-existence. Despite the Agra logjam, caused by nationalistic arrogance, the interventions by a host of people, including Dr Mitra, opened the borders (literally at Munabao-Rajasthan and Kashmir, along with opening up the rail and bus services) for the people of both countries. Families got re-united, people were able to visit relatives, trade relations restarted and even the conservative governments had to control belligerent voices and attitudes.

Dr Mitras vision and courage immensely guided the Forum in undertaking a fact-finding mission to Gujarat, in the aftermath of the Godhra violence and the Gujarat pogrom. It led to the PIPFPD becoming one of the first international platforms to bring out a report on what was happening in Gujarat and the impact it had on the criminalisation of society. The PIPFPD helped in relief and rehabilitation, but also the legal assistance of victimsthrough solidarity groups.

Dr Jayati Ghosh wrote about Ashok Mitra in her review of A prattlers tale: Bengal, Marxism, Governance, published by Samya, Kolkata 2007: It is difficult to write about those whom you love. Curiously enough, the difficulty is not only because of the fear of excessive partiality: it is also because love brings with it the freedom to be exasperated. And intimacy creates very complex and textured perceptions, often too nuanced to be easily captured in mere words.

The Forum members across India and Pakistan express our grief at the loss to the movement in the demise of Dr Ashok Mitra. We are orphaned in many senses. However, the conviction, intelligence and courage reflected through his life, especially in calling out totalitarianism and hegemonic capitalism, will be cherished by all of us. We vow to live for the battles he lived for.

Nigah buland sukhan dilnawaaz jaan pursoz/ yehi hai rakht e safar mir e karvaan ke liye

(Lofty eye, dulcet speech, feeling heart/only this is the baggage of the caravans leader)
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Goodbye Bhai: The struggle will continue

TRIBUTE

by Prem Singh

His full name was Bhalchandra Bhai Vaidya but people used to call him Bhai Vaidya. I always addressed him as Bhai. In our village, it was an accepted norm to call a father Bhai and a majority of people followed this practice. I came in personal contact with Bhalchandra Bhai Vaidya after my father passed away, therefore I never really missed that close connection one feels with ones father. Before the re-launching of the Socialist Party, he used to call me Professor, but I would always call him Bhai. An invisible thread of the almost familial relationship that developed between us from the very first meeting continued for all time ever since.

While he was working in the Socialist Party for the last seven years, he considered everything suggested by me in the policy matters of the party very seriously and had an endearing sense of respect which he displayed clearly. He would give brief hints when was asked about his opinion about policy decisions, resolutions, memorandums, even press notes/releases of the party. Whether it was a government decision or a national-international incident or event, in order to send a statement of the party, he, as President of the party, used to every time send an SMS through his mobile phone from Poona, giving some directions and suggestions regarding it. I worked with him as general secretary and spokesperson of the party.

I remember when I took a stand against the so called India Against Corruption (IAC) and the Aam Aadmi Party, on the basis of the Constitution of India and the socialist ideology, Bhai always said that the party was firmly behind me. There was no deviation from any member of the Socialist Party during the deceptive headiness provoked and organized by those vested interests in defense of neo-liberalism. This unequivocal support could happen solely due to Bhais personality, understanding and ideological perseverance.

He died on April 2, 2018 from pancreatic cancer, shortly after he was admitted to Poona Hospital on March 26, barely three weeks after his ailment was first detected. I learnt about his illness only after he was admitted to the hospital. Dr Abhijit Vaidya told me on phone that operation or chemotherapy at his age were not suitable. He also said Bhai was insisting to go back home from the hospital. But this was not to be and he took his last breath in the clinical confines of the hospital. Several comrades from Poona and Maharashtra visited him there. The news of Bhais death was a sudden blow for the comrades on our side in Maharashtra.

I reached Poona on April 3 to bid last good-bye to Bhai. His mortal body was kept for the last glimpse at Sane Guruji Smarak, the head-quarters of the Rashtra Seva Dal (RSD). There was a continuous flow of people from the morning to the late afternoon; they were coming to offer their last salute. There were a large number of women among them. Sainiks and Sainikayen of the RSD kept working the whole day with promptness to help and facilitate the visitors. At 4 pm the officers of the police administration came and wrapped the body of Bhai with the national flag. On reaching the crematorium, a police band played as a token of respect and he was also given a gun salute, after which his body was taken to the electric crematorium. This state honour was given to him due to his position as a former State Home Minister of Maharashtra (1978-1980) and erstwhile Mayor of Poona (1974-75).

I was surprised that thousands of people participated in the last journey of a leader who was away from the corridors of power for the past three decades, who fought anonymously in remote towns and villages against governments bringing in neo-imperialist slavery to the nation. People thronged the funeral journey to the cremation ground, a distance of about two- and-a-half kilometres. Among the crowds that surged to bid their last farewell and offer their respects were the activists of the Socialist Party (SPI) and Samajvadi Yuvajan Sabha (SYS), forcefully raising revolutionary slogans like Bhai Vaidya amar rahe (Bhai Vaidya will remain immortal), Bhai tere sapano ko ham manzil tak pahunchayenge (Bhai we will take your dreams to the destination), Lokshahi samajwadzindabad zindabad (democratic socialismlong live long live), Bhai Vaidya ko lal salaam (red salute to Bhai Vaidya), ladenge jeetenge (we will fight, we will win), samajwad lana hai, bhoolo mat bhoolo mat (have to bring socialismdo not forget, do not forget). But they were merely a fraction of the milling sea of humanity.

Most of the people present there were not activists but from the general civil society. It was evident that they were influenced by the rare personality of Bhai that was an amalgam and wonderful combination of love, service and compassion. Almost all the newspapers, Marathi and English, published reports on his demise. One newspaper wrote that his honesty was actually the stuff of legends. I found that like Kishanji, Bhai had no sense of bitterness or malice towards anyone. Medieval saints have described sahajta (innateness) as a rare quality which, it is acknowledged, can be attained only by a rigorous practice of austerity. Bhai had attained this innate spiritual nature through great perseverance in life.

He participated in the Quit India movement of 1942. When some people were acting as informers of the imperialists, then at the age of 14, Bhai was participating in the decisive battle of the Independence Movement. Gandhi gave a call to the British to Quit India, but it was led by young socialist leaders. It is natural that in 1946, at the age of 18, Bhai became a member of the Congress Socialist Party (CSP). In 1948, he joined the Socialist Party, through which he continued his long political struggle that prominently included the Goa Liberation struggle (1955-1961) and the JP Movement (1974-77). During the Emergency he remained in jail under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) from 1975 to 1977. He had an important role in the Rashtra Seva Dal and became its President in 2001. Bhais wish was that the Rashtra Seva Dal should take the responsibility of cadre building for the Socialist Party so that the youth could be saved from the grip of communal politics.

Bhai was an MA in Sociology and Political Science. He was a multi-dimensional and studious person. However, he was essentially a political person. Born out of the womb of socialist movement, Bhai, like Gandhi, was deeply influenced by the thoughts of Jyotiba Phule and B.R. Ambedkar. At the global level he had done a thorough study of the ideologies/systems of capitalism and communism. He used to keep himself updated with the articles and books published on various subjects.

In my opinion, the political innings of Bhai, that started after 1991, was more important. That year, against the constitutional values and provisions, the Congress imposed New Economic Policies on the country. At that time senior BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee had said that the Congress has now taken over the work of his party (BJP). This illegitimate decision was to breed disastrous consequences for the society and nation-building, something the society and nation are still facing. It is true that instead of waging a political battle against the neo-imperialist attack, most of the socialists made power the goal of politics. In doing so, they not only destroyed the socialist movement but also defamed it.

However, the fact remains that a compre-hensive and decisive ideological challenge to neo-imperialism was put by the socialists. Socialist leaders/thinkers such as Kishan Patnaik, Sachchidand Sinha, Vinodprasad Singh, Surendra Mohan, Bhai Vaidya, Justice Rajindar Sachar, Pannalal Surana, Dr G.G. Parikh, Sunil initiated a big venture to create a small but new political stream as a genuine alternative to neo-imperialism. It is also notable that in main-stream politics, socialist leader Chandrashekhar had constantly opposed the New Economic Policies from the beginning.

Bhai became the General Secretary of Samajwadi Jan Parishad (SJP), formed in 1995. When the Socialist Party was reinstated in 2011, he was made its President. At that time his age was eighty plus. He did not want to take this responsibility. But on the insistence of Justice Sachar and young socialists, he agreed to be the President. He carried out that responsibility actively. After 1991, Bhais life was spent in constant struggle against neo-imperialism. He fought a long struggle against the privatisation of education.

It is not that other leaders or political organisations are not active in opposition to neo-imperialism. But they are either confused with the concept of development or they accept capitalism, the conjoined twin of imperialism, as the only path of development. Bhai clearly stated in the Socialist Partys policy statement and in his several comments that actually Communists are not ready to leave the idea and model of capitalist development. They consider industrialisation as the yardstick of development. Bhai used to consider the democratic socialist ideology as an alternative to capitalism. He had firm conviction in the imminent defeat of capitalism. From this ground of faith, he continued to inspire the Socialist Party workers. That inspiration is alive even after his death.

Goodbye Bhai! You rest in peace but the struggle for equality and freedom will continue against neo-imperialist designs.

Prem Singh teaches Hindi at Delhi University and is President of the Socialist Party (India).
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Karnataka Polls, Kathua Case, Putin Returns

EDITORIAL

The campaign for the Karnataka Assembly electionsthe polling for which is scheduled to take place on May 12is drawing to a close and there is as yet no clear winner in sight despite BJP chief Amit Shahs braggadocio. But what is unmistakable is the fact that the poll speeches of PM Narendra Modi have been exceptionally low in standard and there is much strength in the view of electoral experts, apart from Congress stalwarts, that they dont recall a PM having sunk to such depths as Modi did this time in his campaign addresses while launching diatribes of varying intensity against his favourite targets of assaultthe namdaars (meaning the dynasts of the Congress) in general and Rahul Gandhi, the present Congress President, in particular.

However, whether such tactics would yield the desired electoral dividend from the standpoint of the ruling party at the Centre is anyones guess though several observers are openly saying that extra-electoral means, resorted to primarily by the BJP as a party, could tilt the balance in its favour. If that really happens then the resultant clash between the ruling party and the Opposition at the Centre would attain unprecedented severity and even irreversibility in the days ahead.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the Oppositions move to impeach the Chief Justice of India, that has thankfully been withdrawn of late, a welcome step on behalf of the Supreme Court has been largely endorsed by wide segments of the press. This relates to the shifting of the case of abduction, drugging, gangrape and subsequent brutal murder of an eight-year-old child in J&Ks Kathua district to Pathankot in Punjab. As The Hindu aptly pointed out:

It is unfortunate that despite the horrific nature of the crime, which took place over several days in January, when the girl from the nomadic Bakherwal community went missing, some sought to see the incident along sectarian lines. Contradictions on communal and political lines came to the fore. The formation of a Hindu group in support of those arrested by the J&K Police Crime Branch, and the action of some lawyers in Kathua in heckling the police when they came to file the charge sheet, contributed to the impression that the atmosphere in the town is too vitiated for the conduct of a fair trial.

What is significant is that the Supreme Courts step has been supported by impartial public opinion not hostage to sectarian and partisan considerations. That augurs well for a speedy and fair trial which is now only to be expected.

On the international plane, Vladimir Putins assumption to power in the Kremlin as the Russian President for a fourth term is a major development that has received considerable global publicity. Though there have been several public protests against Putins rule, it may not be difficult for the Russian leader with an iron fist to overcome this internal opposition. More difficult would be to fix the economic slowdown and reverse the course of the confron-tationist Russian foreign policy with the West (something for which the latter is doubtless responsible).

It is good that in his inaugural address Putin has promised to stay focussed on domestic issues, parti-cularly the economy. But his economic collaboration with Beijing may not be of much benefit for India unless Narendra Modis informal summit with Xi Jinping at Wuhan breaks new ground that is highly unlikely. Nonetheless Putin once again in power has been welcomed by those Indian observers of the Russian scene who, despite all the vicissitudes of recent times, have not lost faith in him as a reliable friend of India regardless of whosoever is in power in this country.

May 10 S.C.
Chinese smartphone maker Coolpad group on last day said that its unit has sued three group firms of smart phone company Xiaomi. In a statement, the company said that their subsidiary Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific (Shenzhen) Co filed a lawsuit against Xiaomi Telecom Technology Co, Xiaomi Technology Co and Xiaomi Factory Co for using its patent without authorisation.

They also demanded that the Xiaomi companies should immediately stop production and sale of some smartphone models including Mi, MIX2. They had filed a similar legal case against Xiaomi in January.

However in a statement, Xiaomi said that they will fully cooperate in the investigation by authorities on the matter.
Saturdays were the most special of days each week for mother and son.

They always involved time and talk together, a game of gin, a bite to eat and faithfully watching the afternoon cooking shows on PBS, especially those with chefs Lidia Bastianich and Jacques Pepin, the son remembers.

"She was just everything. She was so kind," he says. "Her smile. She saw good in everyone. There was never a bad word. Sometimes I would joke with her that she'd probably invite Charles Manson in for coffee."



These recent weekends and today, the first Mother's Day without her, make the loss of Clara Calvanese Sarno on April 20 at the age of 84 even more poignant for those who loved her, especially her son, Domenic J. Sarno.



His close friends will tell you the mayor of Springfield and his mother maintained a classic Italian mother-son relationship in which she was the center of the family's universe and she quietly - and proudly, but humbly - watched him rise through the ranks of the political world in the City of Homes.

So close were they that the mayor often operated from a "satellite office" at either Mercy or Baystate medical centers or the Weldon Rehabilitation Hospital as his mother endured her health challenges in recent years. He says he'll forever be thankful to each of the healthcare organizations for the kindness they showed him and his family.

An immigrant who came to Springfield in 1960 after growing up in Nazi-occupied Italy, Clara Sarno and her husband, Alfonso, were married for 56 years. They worked side-by-side, he as a barber, she as a seamstress in their respective shops on Dickinson Street and raised three children, also including daughter, Giovanna (Joanna) Cummings, and second son, Alfonso.

"Both my parents taught me a lot about hard work. My father has given me my toughness. My mom has always given me my kindness and compassion," the mayor shared this week. "She always saw the good in people. She also taught me that little things mean a lot."

For Clara Sarno, what was to have been a three-hour wake stretched into seven hours, and her family is grateful to the mourners who came to express their sympathies. "The outpouring warmed my heart," the mayor says. "People from all walks of life told us of how both my mom and dad had done something special for them."

Tough as he may be, Sarno's talk about his mother is punctuated frequently by tears. Never a day had passed that the two did not talk to each other at least once and sometimes twice, so the loss of her physical presence is still raw for him. Each morning when he arrives in his office at City Hall, he says, Sarno turns on a memorial lamp given to him by a friend as a condolence gift and says, "Good morning, Ma." At the end of each day, the light is switched off with a wish, "Goodnight, Ma," he reports.

"She was suffering, and I know she's in a better place," Sarno says as he shares how he, his siblings, their father and family members worked together to ensure she was brought home for her final days and surrounded by family, sharing the foods she craved (his wife, Carla, prepared one of her favorites, ceci beans with onions) and always with a loved one in her presence.

"She was a simple woman, a great mom" Domenic Sarno says. "Everywhere I continue to go, people tell me how much she took pride in her seamstress work and how much they will miss her."

Indeed, he acknowledges his mother can be credited with his personal style, right down to perfectly fitted shirt cuffs and tailored pants. "We would always kid around about it, my hair and my dress always being just right," and she, herself, "was always very stylish," with a fondness for high-heeled shoes, Sarno adds.

They'd also kid about how the mayor often suffered the slings and arrows of public criticism, one of the reasons that while proud of his success his mother once confided, "I wish some day you could do something else." "I'd tell her, 'Ma, don't be mad. Not everyone likes me. It's OK.'"

It was the journey taken by her and his father as immigrants from Bracigliano, Italy, back in the 1960s and his learning of their experiences to become American citizens which, in part, drives his personal perspective on immigration today for which he's been recently criticized.

And, it was another of the lessons learned from his mother that Sarno says has helped him deal with such criticism: "She taught me patience, to be patient and kind."



Cynthia G. Simison is managing editor of The Republican. She may be reached by email to csimison@repub.com.
ORANGE- A regional team of firefighters rescued a hiker who was injured Sunday morning after sliding down a slope then falling over a rock ledge on Tully Mountain.

The fire department initially received a call about the injured hiker at 7:30 a.m. It took about 2 1/2 hours to rescue him, Orange Fire Capt. Mark Fortier said.

Ten Orange firefighters were assisted by personnel from Athol and Royalston Fire departments and the Western Mass Regional Rescue team, which is made up of firefighters from a variety of departments trained in technical rescues, he said.

The crew had to use ropes to rescue the victim and carry him down the mountain.

The hiker was taken to Athol Memorial Hospital for treatment of injuries. Fortier could not say how badly he was injured.

The man fell and slid about 25 feet down a slope and then rolled over a rock ledge, falling another 10 feet, Fortier said.
STURBRIDGE - An osprey hit by a tractor trailer truck is recovering after being rescued by Massachusetts State Police troopers.

The tractor trailer driver, who is from New Jersey, reported he had struck a large bird on Route 84 westbound last week. The bird had been injured but was still alive, state police said.

State Police Trooper Sergio Figueiredo responded and scooped up the bird up with a blanket and he and two other troopers who responded brought it to Tufts Wildlife Clinic in Grafton, police said.

The staff at the clinic identified the bird as an osprey and found he had a broken wing. The staff put a pin in the wing to help heal it. Police thanked the troopers and the medical staff for their rescue and care.

"We also thank the trucker who cared enough about the osprey to call us and report what happened. Because of them, this little guy has a wing and a prayer," state police said on Facebook.
The Massachusetts man caught on video camera jumping on the hood of a school bus on the Massachusetts Turnpike had his driver's license suspended, according to a Boston Herald report.

Kevin Crowe, 42, of Dorchester had his license suspended after the state Registry of Motor Vehicles deemed him an immediate threat, the newspaper reports.

Massachusetts State Police requested the RMV to ban Crowe from driving after a May 1 incident on the Mass. Pike in Newton. The suspension began last week, the Boston Herald reports.

Crowe is facing charges of disorderly conduct, negligent driving, failure to use care in stopping and marked lanes violation in Newton District Court.

A video shows Crowe stopping his Toyota Corolla in the middle lane of the Mass. Pike in Newton. He climbed on top of the hood of the bus. No students were inside at the time.

Bus driver Joseph Rizoli said Crowe asked, "Why are your windows dark?"

"I don't know what the hell this guy was going to do, I thought he was crazy, he came to the front of my bus again after a failed attempt to get into the passenger door and jumped on the hood of the bus," Rizoli told MassLive.

Crowe told the Boston Herald he was checking to make sure the kids on the bus were fine. He told the newspaper the incident wasn't road rage and he was a just a "concerned citizen."
A police officer in one Massachusetts community was able to get a family out of a burning home along with their four pets.

Wilmington Police Officer Kevin Skinner acted fast Saturday morning around 1 a.m. when he arrived at an Ohio Street home and found the back porch in flames.

A neighbor called 911 to report to fire.

"Officer Skinner arrived on scene within a few minutes and found that the back porch was on fire and that the fire was quickly spreading," police said. "The two residents, unaware that their home was on fire, were awoken by Officer Skinner. He assisted them in rounding up their four pets, two dogs and two birds, and then evacuated them to safety."

The Wilmington Fire Department put out the blaze with the help of firefighters from Tewksbury and Billerica. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
PARIS - The Islamic State terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for a knife attack in Paris, France, that left one victim dead and several others wounded on Saturday evening.

The attack that took place in the city's 2nd arrondissement or district was carried out by a "soldier of the Islamic State," according to the New York Times, quoting the terrorist organization.

The attacker was killed by authorities, but not before stabbing one person to death and leaving two victims "gravely injured" while two others were "lightly injured," according to CNN.

He is alleged to have shouted "Allahu akbar" during the attack, which translates to "God is great" in Arabic, the New York Times reports.

The attack occurred in a popular tourist destination, not far from the right bank of the Seine river.

France has suffered multiple terrorist attacks in recent years, including shootings at the offices of weekly satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in 2015, and a deadly truck attack that killed dozens of people in Nice in 2016.

French President Immanuel Macron commented on the recent attack over social media Saturday. "France is once again paying the price of blood, but will not cede an inch to enemies of freedom," Macron said.
PITTSFIELD - Police are searching for a teenage boy who was recently reported missing out of Pittsfield.

Police say 15-year-old Jakob Beth may be in the company of his mother, Rebecca Yaklin. Yaklin does not have custody of Beth, police said.

Police further stated Beth and Yaklin may be in the Adams County area of Pennsylvania.

Beth is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing around 150 pounds. He has brown hair and eyes.

Anyone who believes they may have information regarding the whereabouts of Beth and Yaklin have been encouraged to contact the Pittsfield Police Department Detective Bureau at 413-448-9705.
The purchase of a "sex doll" online led to the arrest of a level 3 sex offender on child pornography charges.

State Police say an e-commerce company alerted the Massachusetts State Police Cyber Crime Unit about an odd online purchase. A man, identified as 48-year-old Sean McClure of Shirley, bought a "love doll" sex toy, which resembled a child, State Police said.

"The purchase of such an item violates the corporation's user agreement and terms of service," State Police said. Authorities did not identify the company.

Trooper Jeffrey Perry quickly learned McClure is a registered sex offender in Massachusetts. He has several convictions for indecent assault and battery and rape of a child on his record.

McClure has child pornography possession convictions along with incestuous marriage convictions, records show.

Investigators from the Cyber Crime Unit arrested McClure on Thursday in Shirley.

State Police said they executed a search warrant at his home and discovered numerous images believed to be child pornography.

He was charged with possession of child pornography and distribution of obscene matter.
SPRINGFIELD- With more than 1,000 graduates in total receiving degrees from Bay Path University on Saturday at the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield, the Longmeadow institution celebrated their achievements and the largest graduating class in the university's history.

Charles Coe, poet and writer, received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree for his masterful creativity at Bay Path University's 121st commencement ceremony held Saturday at the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield.

Coe, this year's commencement speaker, is known for his ability to skillfully blend words and ideas into a variety of artistic forms that resonate with young and old. He is the author of books of poetry including All Sins Forgiven: Poems for My Parents and Picnic on the Moon.

His work has been set to music by such composers as Beth Denisch and Robert Moran, "Requiem for Edith"; and Jerry Noble and Kara Noble MFA '18, "The Things I Kept." He is currently working on his third book of poetry.

Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Coe attended Earlham College, but he proudly states he received an alternative education in "the school of life." He is a resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

An Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters was also presented to Dr. Vana Nespor, who retired from Bay Path in 2017. Joining Bay Path in 1999, Nespor was instrumental in launching the One Day A Week College program for adult women on the Longmeadow campus.

In time, additional locations across the state were open to accommodate the overwhelming demand of the program, transforming the lives of thousands of women, according to the university. Nespor played a key role in the development of The American Women's College, a revolutionary learning model serving adult women online. Prior to retirement, she undertook a comprehensive research program that confirmed the impact of the university's unique educational model.

Graduates and their families shared images on social media with the hashtag #capturebaypath.
SOUTH HADLEY - Political leaders and residents honored the late Ted Belsky on Saturday, unveiling a plaque with his name to recognize his decades of hard work on many projects including advocating to build a new park in town beside the Connecticut River.

A section of the Hadley Falls Canal Park is now called the Ted Belsky Overlook. Located along Canal Street in the Falls Village, it offers a wide vista of the river.

The plaque inscription reads: "In recognition of his enduring effort to document the historic significance of Hadley Falls Canal and advocate for its protection, conservation, and preservation."

Belsky died four years ago when he was 87.

The Holyoke native moved to South Hadley in 1956, and taught history at American International College from 1969 until his retirement in 1982.

Although no longer a professor, Belsky continued teaching about the importance of the Hadley Falls Canal, the first navigational one in the country. Until his death he worked to raise awareness of its role in the town's development.

In a 2011 interview with The Republican, Belsky said the Hadley Falls Canal "made possible the development of industrial New England all the way up to the Canadian border."

"As the Industrial Age in South Hadley got started, they used the canal as a raceway to bring water to flow over the turbines in the mill. That's how the mills got their power," he said in the interview. "At one time, more paper was generated here than in all of New England combined...The Congressional Record used to be printed on South Hadley paper."

U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, attended the May 12 ceremony to honor Belsky, who was one of his professors when he attended American International College.

"He was a great friend, to me, professionally and personally," Neal said following Saturday's ceremony.

"He fulfilled the title of citizen every day of his life," he said.

Belsky's three sons, Michael, Charles and Richard attended the ceremony.

"We thank you for honoring Ted in this manner," Charles "Chip" Belsky said. "Canal Park is a quintessential Ted Belsky project."

Former state Sen. Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, spoke during the ceremony, quoting from a section of the Langston Hughes poem, titled Freedom's Plow:

The eyes see there materials for building,

See the difficulties, too, and the obstacles.

The mind seeks a way to overcome these obstacles.

The hand seeks tools to cut the wood,

To till the soil, and harness the power of the waters.

Then the hand seeks other hands to help,

A community of hands to help-

Thus the dream becomes not one man's dream alone,

But a community dream.

Not my dream alone, but our dream.

Not my world alone,

But your world and my world,

Belonging to all the hands who build.
The Pulse check report issued by a consortium of multilateral development banks and trade research institutions, recounts the views of sub-Saharan banks on multi-lateral development banks (MDBs) responses to uphold a well-functioning trade finance market.

The report, which brings together perspectives & insights from 70 trade finance executives from 20 countries, unanimously calls for an urgent switch in the focus of support programs towards private sector and smaller enterprises to avoid a second wave insolvency crisis that threatens greater, and far more widespread, economic hardship on the continent than we have seen till now.

Demand for trade finance instruments in the first half of 2020 seems to have flattened compared to growth expectations, while banks, supplying those instruments, have typically flown to safety restricting their lending to existing clients. Overall, according to interviewees, the market has contracted from at least 10% on average from 2019 levels in volume and even greater in value because of furloughed projects and investments. Full recovery is only anticipated by end of 2021 at the earliest.

Banks interviewed mentioned that their main constraints revolved around risk uncertainties / macroprudential limitations to extend credit outside of their comfort zone, especially during a persisting pandemic.

The report makes several priority recommendations for MDBs. These include a switch in focus to private sector support, increasing availability of risk-sharing instruments as well as a more granular funding offering. The report also illustrates the need to emphasise pooling of efforts and resources across MDBs and DFIs operating in Africa to respond more effectively to the unfolding situation.

Contributing organisations include the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), the Banque Ouest-Africaine de Developpement (BOAD), the East African Development Bank (EADB), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Trade Center (ITC), the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), and the Trade & Development Bank (TDB).

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Center of the UniverseThe writing has been on the wall for over a decade and a half.OntarioNo Longer a Place to Prosper Published on October 1, 2015Ontario, once Canadas economic powerhouse, has experienced an historic reversal of its fortunes within Confederation over the past decade. For decades after the Second World War, Ontarios household income never failed to surpass the national average by 10% to 20%, and its unemployment rate was always below the national average. This superior economic record was achieved despite periodic recessions due to the cyclical nature of its manufacturing industries such as automobile factories. Ontarios enviable economic performance made it a beacon for people from the rest of Canada and around the world. Given its above-average income and large population, Ontario was the lynchpin of the federal equalization scheme redistributing income from so-called have to have not provinces.Since 2003, however, economic growth in Ontario has lagged the national average every year. Chronic slow growth sent Ontarios unemployment rate above the national average for the first time on record in 2007. A sputtering economy and rising unemployment culminated in Ontarios real per-capita incomes falling below the Canada average for the first time ever in 2012. Weak revenue growth and rapid government spending resulted in a doubling of Ontarios provincial debt, triggering two ratings downgrades of that debt.The disturbing trend of these statistics can be seen in the everyday lives of Ontarians. Ontario was once a beacon for migrants from across the Canada and around the world. Ontario in 2002 attracted over half of immigrants arriving in Canada; by 2014 it was no longer their preferred destination, with its share falling to a record low. Since 2004, there has been a net migration of its population to other provinces, as people vote with their feet and leave for better opportunities elsewhere. Youths have borne much of the burden of a faltering economy, with their 16% unemployment rate over 10 points above the adult rate, the largest such gap in the country.The deteriorating competitiveness of Ontarios economy is reflected in how business investment in manufacturing and finance, its traditional bastions of industry, has been surpassed by utilities and transportation, both driven by government investment in infrastructure. The reluctance of the private sector to invest reflects a range of government policies that hurt business. Ontario has the highest labour costs in Canada, reflected in everything from a 50% hike in the minimum wage to creating new statutory holidays. The cost of electricity is also the highest in Canada, reflecting a decades-long view of energy policy as a tool of industrial planning and environmental change rather than a service providing reliable power to industry and consumers at the lowest possible cost. Meanwhile, the continued rapid growth of government debt and the introduction of a new Ontario pension plan promise further tax hikes on firms and households in the near future.This study begins by reviewing the broad trends in real GDP and household incomes and then ex-amines why its labour-market performance has been so abysmal in recent years, especially for youths, leading directly to a discussion of why interprovincial migrants are leaving and overseas immigrants are avoiding Ontario. The final section reviews the role of the Ontario governments policies in the slowdown, notably the attempt to buttress growth through higher government spending and deficits, the failure of more government capital spending to kick-start more business investment, and the use of energy policy to guide industrial development, which succeeded only in raising costs for both households and businesses in Ontario.It is a matter of deep concern for all Canadians that its leading province has become a laggard. The Ontario government naively looks to a lower exchange rate for salvation but, after two years of a lower dollar, there are few signs that devaluation alone will improve Ontarios economy. This is not surprising since the real problem in Ontario is the wide array of government policies that mistakenly signal that the public sector, not the private sector, is the engine of economic growth.The West is the best so f-ck the rest Bonanza.
ANN ARBOR, MI - Chelsea High School students arrived in style at Michigan Stadium on Saturday, May 12, for prom.

The theme was "Starry Night," and students danced at the Jack Roth Stadium Club.
FLINT, MI--Over a hundred Goodrich High School students attended the masquerade theme prom at the Holiday Inn Gateway Center, Saturday, May 12.

Abigail Kline, 15-years-old, attended the Goodrich Prom 2018 with Gordon Brown, 17-years-old. The couple added a unique touch to the night by crafting their own corsage and boutonniere.

"We forgot to buy some (corsage and boutonniere) so we spent six hours at my house making our own," Kline said.

The venue at the Holiday Inn Gateway Center was decorated with masquerade masks, chandeliers and black and gold drapery.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - East Kentwood High School students celebrated Prom 2018 in downtown at the DeVos Place Convention Center on Saturday, May 12.

The theme was "Hollywood Nights'' and they arrived in style looking like celebrities trendy dresses and suits. The students swag was undeniable.

MLive's Grand Rapids Press was there to photograph all the fun, special moments shared among prom-goers, including their moves on the dance floor.

Prom season is ending soon in West Michigan. MLive has covered as many proms as possible this season. Many students look forward to the annual high school milestone.

Watch for other prom coverage this weekend, including Forest Hills Northern.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Forest Hills Northern High School students celebrated their 2018 prom at the Grand Rapids Public Museum on Saturday, May 12.

The theme was "Under the Stars.'' Decked out in the latest fashion and style trends, students enjoyed a festive evening in the unique venue.

As the fourth Prom of the Week poll winner, Forest Hills Northern guaranteed MLive's The Grand Rapids Press would be present to take photos of their special night.

Prom season is coming to a close in West Michigan. MLive has covered as many as possible to highlight the annual milestone.

Watch MLive this weekend for other prom coverage, including East Kentwood High.
Education

Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu.

Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu.

Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events:

International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu.

EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu.

Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale  an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s  will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets  June Homecoming: Participant  $18 per person; Sustainer  $25 per person; Benefactor  $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler  Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events:

SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available  for information call 610-275-1960

Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above)

SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m.

Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.  4 p.m.  computers are available during those hours.

Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863.

Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376.

Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com.

The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes:

Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at

other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020.

CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313.

The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events:

Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m.

Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30.

Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301.

For Kids & Families

The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443.

Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950.

Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required.

The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950.

Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus.

Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage.

Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun.

Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train.

Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world!

Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class.

Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org.

Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583.

Community Events at the Ambler Y:

-YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register.

Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org.

Health

Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot.

The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information.

Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245.

Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net.

Spring Aquatic Programs  UDHS Pool:

-Summer is just around the corner  Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required.

 Shallow Water Aerobics  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR.

 Adult Swim Instructions  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR

-Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21.

-Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday  Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m.

-Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons.

-Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates.

Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994.

SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com.

Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org.

Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs:

FITNESS CLASSES

Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month.

Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30  9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000.

Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30  7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047.

New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m.  12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30  4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931.

Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325.

Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes.

Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com.

Librarytalk

Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744

www.upperdublinlibrary.org

APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS:

Storytimes: Please register in the library.

o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m.

o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m.

o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m.

o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6.

APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS:

North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee

APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS:

NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org.

One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register  contact info above.

Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744.

o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register.

Meetings:

Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m.

Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m.

Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org.

For children and teens at Blue Bell:

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m.

* May 14  Despicable Me

* June 11  Alpha and Omega

* Special Events

* April  watch for date of spring/Easter events

* April 14 at 4:30 p.m.  Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children.

* April 14 at 7 p.m.  Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided.

* April 16 at 1 p.m.  Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King.

* April 16 at 1:30 p.m.  Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes?

* April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button.

* April 30 through May 3  Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults.

* May  sign up for Science in the Summer

* June  sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children

* June  sign up for Summer Reading, all ages

For adults at Blue Bell:

* Daytime Book Discussion Group  fourth Tuesday, Jan  April at 1:30 p.m.

* April 26  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Night-time Book Discussion Group  third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.

o April 19  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges

o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked?

*Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs

* Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class.

* Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class.

* Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m.

* Giant Book Sale, April 29  May 3

o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults!

o Held during library hours.

o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m.

o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join.

* Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series

o May 11 at 1 p.m.  Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society

* Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room.

* Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read.

* Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome.

* Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome.

*Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older.

* Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours

* Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours

* Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday!

Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library.

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* For adults:

* Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn.

* Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net

* Special Events:

* April 14 at 1:30 p.m.  Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian.

* April 19 at 7 p.m.  Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m.

* April 21 at 7 p.m.  Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades.

*May 2 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

*May 10  Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*May 12 at 1:30p.m.  Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman.

*May 17  Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*June 13 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

Meetings and Lectures

The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833.

The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200.

The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/.

LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings.

Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org.

Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org)

-Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them.

The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter.

For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps.

Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin.

Special Events

The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County.

The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065.

Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members.

Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex.

The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com.

The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348.

The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org.

Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163.

The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu.

The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com.

The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net.

Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages.

13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries.

Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family.

The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler.

JPRN  Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them  Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike.

Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies.

Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately.

Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways.

Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table.

Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp  Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall:

-Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store.

Music and Theater

The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220.

Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html.

Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free.

The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org

Religious News

The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276.

Reunions

St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net.

Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572.

Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779.

Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net

Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net

The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411.

Support

New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149.

PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931.

The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296.

Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656.

Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group  every other Wednesday, 7  8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support  second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner  Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers  Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information.

CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7  8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich,
"There will be some pieces in past years that probably won't happen this year, just due to concerns about COVID. We likely won't be serving food, and no Santa house, but Santa will come into town and help us light...
By By:

Dr. Francis R. Souder, 85, formerly of Telford, died Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 in the skilled nursing unit of Peter Becker Community, Franconia Township. He and his wife Marion R. (Parker) Souder celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary in July.

Born in Souderton, he was a son of the late Elvin B. and Mary (Rittenhouse) Souder.

A 1938 graduate of Souderton High School, he received his undergraduate degree in 1941 from the University of Pennsylvania where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Souder went on to receive his medical degree from Hahnemann Medical College in 1944 and completed his internship at Hahnemann Hospital from Oct. 1944  July, 1945.

He served with the U.S. Navy Medical Corps for 30 months in San Diego and Long Beach, Calif. during WW II and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant prior to his discharge. He entered his second tour of duty during the Korean War where he served in Panama City, Fla. as the medical officer for the Panama City Naval Air Station and the Tyndal Air Force Base.

Dr. Souder owned and operated his family practice on Main Street in Telford from 1947-1989. He served on the staff of Grand View Hospital, and as its president, and taught at the Grand View Hospital Nursing School. He was a member of the Pa. Medical Society, the Bucks County Medical Society, Diplomat American Academy of Family Practices, and served on the board of trustees at Grand View Hospital, Sellersville.

He was a member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Telford, where he sang in the church choir. He was also a member of the MacCalla Lodge #596 in Souderton, the Raja Shrine, and Lehigh Consistory.

In addition to his widow, he is survived by a son, Dr. Ronald L. Souder, and his wife Susan L. of Green Lane; a daughter, Susan J. Souder, and her husband Stephan Russo of New York, N.Y.; five grandchildren: Jennifer A. Souder of Philadelphia; Emily E. Souder of Philadelphia; Kathryn A. Souder of Washington, D.C.; Noah Russo of New York, N.Y., and Rebekah Russo of New York, N.Y., and two brothers: Attorney Elvin B. Souder of Souderton and Dr. Lawrence Souder of Souderton.

Memorial services will be held on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 12 p.m. in Trinity United Church of Christ, 101 S. Main St., Telford, with calling hours following the service.

Interment will be private in Trinity UCC Cemetery Telford.

Memorial contributions may be made to Grand View Hospital, 700 Lawn Ave., Sellersville, Pa. 18960.

Arrangements are by Sadler-Suess Funeral Home, Telford.
Building Homes for Heroes donates home to war veteran and her children
May 13, 2018

John Bolton Once Sabotaged A Deal With North Korea - He Will Try To Repeat That Feat

The Washington Post published a half-truth story today about the U.S. occupied al-Tanf border station between Syria-and Iraq. Downplaying the possibility of military action around al-Tanf it inserts this strange nugget:

Mattiss main focus of late has been preparing for possible conflict with North Korea.

Why is the Defense Secretary Mattis preparing for conflict with North Korea? Why is this his "main focus"? Ain't we all gonna have peace and love after Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un meet on June 12 in Singapore? No? Why am I not surprised?

I suspected all along that the whole theater between Trump and Kim Jong-un is a setup designed to fail. North Korea offers a phased denuclearization in exchange for a peace treaty and (partial?) U.S. withdrawal from South Korea. The U.S. is unlikely to accept that. For U.S. hawks nothing less than total capitulation is acceptable. But even if North Korea offers all its nukes at once the U.S. will demand more. It will likely ask for intrusive verification access to all North Korean military facilities and the like. North Korea will surely reject such inspections as a danger to its defense capabilities and as a breach of its sovereignty. The Trump administration will spin that into a reason to heat up the conflict.

That would be a replay of the situation in 2008. Following the six-party-talks North Korea blew up (vid) the cooling tower of its sole reactor. It submitted information about its nuclear program as had been agreed. The U.S. did not fulfill its part of the deal, taking North Korea off the "terrorist supporter" list, but demanded additional verification access. That ended the deal.

From a forensic report at that time:

The unraveling of the landmark deal to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programs began just weeks after its high point -- the televised destruction of the cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear reactor in late June -- when U.S. negotiators presented Pyongyang with a sweeping plan for verifying its claims about its nuclear programs.

Under the proposal, heavily influenced by the State Department's arms control experts, the U.S. requested "full access to all materials" at sites that might have had a nuclear purpose in the past. It sought "full access to any site, facility or location" deemed relevant to the nuclear program, including military facilities, ... The United States pressed ahead with the proposal despite warnings from China, Russia and other countries that it was asking too much of the xenophobic North Koreans, officials said. North Korea immediately balked and the once-promising talks were at an impasse.

The Under Secretary of State for Arms Control was -up to 2005- one John Bolton. He had hired the hawkish "experts" and continued to influence the department after he had moved to the American Enterprise Institute. The intrusive inspection issue is said to have been his idea.

John Bolton is back selling Kool-Aid to those around him. He is now Trump's National Security Advisor. In February he published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal which falsely argued that an attack on North Korea is legally justified. On March 9 Bolton was on Fox news and said (video @~4:00 min) it would be an upside to have top level talks as fast as possible because they would fail and the U.S. could then take the next step.

Bolton is now described as the man most influence over Trump:

Mr. Bolton is emerging as an influential figure, with a clear channel to the president and an ability to control the voices he hears.

...

Even if Mr. Mattis had wanted to fight for the [nuclear deal with Iran that Trump nixed], it is not clear how much he would have been heard. Mr. Bolton, officials said, never convened a high-level meeting of the National Security Council to air the debate. He advised Mr. Trump in smaller sessions, otherwise keeping the door to his West Wing office closed. Mr. Bolton has forged a comfortable relationship with the president, several people said, channeling his America First vocabulary.

Bolton has long argued for waging war against North Korea and he is now in charge. It is thus not by chance that Mattis is working on plans to attack North Korea.

But now, ten years after Bolton sabotaged the six-party-deal, North Korea has, thanks to Bolton, high-yield nukes and can hit targets within the continental United States.

Would Trump be willing to risk an attack on North Korea and the inevitable retaliation?

Posted by b on May 13, 2018 at 17:38 UTC | Permalink

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May 13, 2018

The MoA Week In Review And Open Thread 2018-24

Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:

On this day in 1985 the police of Philadelphia engaged in a gun battle with members of the black radical group MOVE. After it had fired some 10,000 shots without much result the police built an improvised "barrel bomb" from military grade explosives and and dropped it from a helicopter onto the groups house. The bomb killed 5 adults and 6 children. The resulting fire destroyed 61 homes and made 250 people homeless.

Use as open thread ...

Posted by b on May 13, 2018 at 17:50 UTC | Permalink

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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Honor Guard greeted the family of fallen Orlando Police Department Lieutenant Debra Clayton when they arrived in Washington, D.C. for Police Week.

Central Florida's fallen officers honored at memorial

Names will be engraved at National Law Enforcement Memorial

Honor Guard greeted Lt. Debra Clayton's family during arrival

OPD Police Chief John Mina and other officers are in the nations capital to honor four fallen Central Florida law enforcement officers.

The officers names will be engraved at the National Law Enforcement Memorial.

Clayton was killed in the line of duty during the search for Markeith Loyd. Orange County Sheriffs deputy Norman Lewis lost his life in a vehicle crash the same day.

The other two names to be placed at the memorial are Matthew S. Baxter and Richard Sam Howard. Both were Kissimmee Police officers who killed in August after responded to a call.

More than 21,000 names are engraved onto the walls at the memorial.
National Geographic WILD is home to a big family of animal caretakers and rescuers. In these special episodes, check out how the Men of WILD are helping all kinds of creatures one case at a time.

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Canada to Manning: Come

Here So We Can Deport You
(Newser)  Israel is preparing festivities Sunday to celebrate Monday's opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem, a move that has ignited Palestinian protests and raised fears of further violence. As Israel marks Jerusalem Day, the 51st anniversary of what it refers to as the city's "unification" following the 1967 war, it will also host a gala for Monday's embassy dedication that will include a delegation led by President Trump's daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Dozens of foreign diplomats are expected, though many ambassadors of European nations who oppose the move will skip it. Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967 and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and view the relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv to the contested city as a blatantly one-sided move that invalidates the US as a Mideast peace broker.

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Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital ignited months of protests along the Israel-Gaza border that are expected to culminate Monday in parallel to the celebrations in Jerusalem. Since March 30, 42 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the weekly protests. More than 1,800 have been wounded. The protests are aimed to peak this week with the 70th anniversary of what the Palestinians call the "nakba," or catastrophe, referring to their mass uprooting during the Mideast war over Israel's 1948 creation. Organizers have indicated they may try to breach the Israeli border. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said Israel would celebrate. "President Trump promised to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and he did so. He promised to move the American Embassy to Israel and he is doing so. Of course we will all celebrate this day, a real celebration," he said.

(Read more Jerusalem stories.)
(Newser)  Two European cyclists found dead in Mexico may not have died by accident after all, the BBC reports. Turns out that Krzysztof Chmielewski, from Poland, and Holger Hagenbusch, from Germanywho were found in southern Mexico in late April and early Mayprobably didn't just fall from a narrow path into a ravine. "Our investigations up to now indicate this was an intentional homicide," says prosecutor Luis Sanchez. Among the clues: Chmielewski has a possible bullet wound, he was found next to his companion's bike rather than his own, and photographic equipment is missing, the LA Times reports. The finding follows weeks of agitation on social media and stories in Mexican and European media about the men.

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For Hagenbusch's brother Reiner, the newly appointed prosecutor is a much-needed development. "The Polish cyclist was decapitated and had a foot missing," Reiner wrote on Facebook after visiting Mexico to identify his brother's body. The bodies were badly decomposed; Mexican authorities say they were likely killed on April 19 or 20, the New York Post reports. Chmielewski, 37, and Hagenbusch, 43, were experienced cyclists who had traveled through dozens of countries and met recently in Chiapas. Last weekend, nearby residents walked to the highway marker where the bodies were found; they carried a white bicycle, a worldwide symbol to commemorate cyclists who have died while biking. (Read more Mexico stories.)
(Newser)  A Nigerian mother claims she and her family were booted from a United Airlines flight because of what they called her "pungent" odor. Per the Houston Chronicle, the mother has filed a civil suit alleging discrimination on the part of the airline. The suit claims the woman, Queen Obioma, and her children were boarding a San Francisco-bound flight in March 2016 when Obioma arrived to her seat to find it occupied by a man, who was white. When the man declined to move, Obioma eventually agreed to take a different business-class seat, according to the suit. Obioma says she went to the bathroom before takeoff and upon her return the man blocked her from sitting back down. The suit claims Obioma was then escorted from the plane and informed it was because of her body odor.

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As the Miami Herald notes, most airlines reserve the right to remove foul-smelling passengers at their discretion. However, Obioma says she and her family were victims of racism. The suit claims United "wrongfully singled out Ms. Obioma and her children because they were blacks, and punished them because a white man did not want them on the plane." The family eventually made it to San Francisco, albeit five hours late, and on to Canada where Obioma's children attend school. In a statement emailed to news outlets, United Airlines declined to comment on the "pending litigation involved in this matter." Obioma is asking for punitive damages and attorney's fees. (Read more United Airlines stories.)
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Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reports that economist Daron Acemoglu has accepted his invitation to come to Armenia and assist in drafting a policy designed to lift Armenia out of its economic doldrums.

Pashinyan, in a Facebook post, says that there is still no specific date when Acemoglu, a Professor of Economic at MIT and co-author of the book Why Nations Fail (2012), will arrive in Armenia.

Born in Istanbul to Armenian parents, Acemoglu completed his PhD at the London School of Economics and is best known for his work on political economy.

As for Acemoglus views on Armenias economy since independence, he has written:

"Armenia could have looked much more like the Czech Republic or Estonia and what we got instead is a country that looks much more like Azerbaijan or Uzbekistan, which is a real shame." (USC Institute of Armenian Studies conference; April 9, 2017)
By Vahan Bournazian

From the stage in Republic Square, Prime Minister Pashinyan called on us to step up if ever he is in the wrong. Today I answer that call.

Deputy Pashinyan was elected Prime Minister by the leverage of the people amassed in Republic Square.

As a candidate, Pashinyan had on two occasions the responsibility to announce to the National Assembly who he would work with in his new government, and he declined to do so.

If todays list of ministers had been announced then, more than half of those amassed in Republic Square would have, or should have, left. There are more women than men in this country, and civil society organizations, most led by women, were essential to this movement, and yet only two women are appointed as ministers. There are plenty of qualified women leaders, and a peoples government needs to reflect the people.

Unfortunately, this is not the only mistake.

Born in California, but as the grandchild of survivors of the genocide, I choose to reside and work in Armenia as my personal response to genocide. In 1989, in violation of my visa, I stood on the steps of the Matenadaran to support the Karabagh Movement. In 1998 and 1999 I taught law at Artsakh State University in Stepanakert. I have lived and worked in Yerevan since 2004. I am an RA citizen as of 2013. My dedication to Armenia should not be questioned, and yet the new Minister of Economic Development and Investments, when a deputy in 2012, announced that my type of people destroys Armenian society.[1] For you see, by chance I was born both Armenian and gay.

In May 2012, two individuals fire bombed the gay-friendly DIY bar in the basement of a residential building on Parpetsi Street. Considering gas lines, the fire could have spread and caused loss of life to residents. Thankfully, it didnt. Under the RA criminal code terrorism includes committing explosions and arson to violate public safety and to intimidate. But the perpetrators, supported by todays Minister of Economic Development and Investments, were only charged with vandalism. Upon personally bailing out one of them, todays Minister justified the criminals by stating at that time that they had acted correctly in the context of our society and national ideology.[2]

Thus, todays Minister of Economic Development and Investments, while a deputy, announced publicly that attacks against fellow Armenian citizens, who happen to be gay, is correct. He said that it was correct to commit a crime. In so doing, he violated his ethical duties as a deputy, and he incited others to commit crimes. After his comments, DIY bar was attacked a second time.[3] This is the phenomena of hate speech and hate crime.

Even if building a political coalition was a priority for Prime Minister Pashinyan, a man who can stand up to our former President could have also nicely asked ARF to choose someone else  someone other than todays Minister of Economic Development and Investments.

Armenia today is different, yes, but not new. A new Armenia must be welcoming and inclusive of all citizens. A new Armenia cannot have as a minister a person who justified and incited hate.

My grandparents did not survive a genocide, an act of the highest level of discrimination, for me to live in a discriminatory Armenia.

(Born in California, Vahan Bournazian resides in Yerevan where he conducts research and teaches human rights.)




New Delhi:

With the exit polls predicting the BJP as the single largest party and the Congress close second in Karnataka, the Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) has kept its cards close to the chest.

Reacting to the exit poll projections which showed his party emerging as the kingmaker in Karnataka, the JD(S) chief HD Deve Gowda on Sunday said he was not yet prepared to accept or reject anything and asked people to wait for the results day.

I am not prepared to accept or reject anything, lets wait for 15th May, we will get to know the reality, the Janata Dal (Secular) chief said while asked to comment on exit polls and his partys role.

There were media reports that if the Congress failed to secure a majority in Karnataka Assembly elections, the JD(S) could support the party.

While speaking to a private news channel, JDS spokesman Danish Ali squashed speculation of supporting the BJP and said that it was the Congress responsibility to reach out his party.

Also Read | Enjoy your weekend, we are coming back: Siddaramaiah tells party workers

According to the exit polls conducted by various media organisations and public opinion observers, Karnataka may witness a hung Assembly with the Congress and the BJP in neck-and-neck and JD(S) emerging as the kingmaker.

A post-poll survey conducted by News Nation predicted that the BJP may garner 38 per cent of the votes with 99-108 seats whereas the Congress may reduce to 75-84 seats with 35 per cent of the votes. The exit poll predicted a kingmakers role for the JD(S) with 31-40 seats.
New Delhi:

In what it looks like the Congress partys acceptance to the possible fractured mandate in Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said that he was ready to sacrifice CMs post for a Dalit.

I am ready to sacrifice chief ministers post for a Dalit, ANI cited Tv9 Kannada quoting Siddaramaiah as saying.

Siddaramaiahs statement was seen as a significant sign that the Congress party was considering alliance talks with the JD(S) in case of a hung Assembly as predicted by the exit polls.

As soon as polling for 222 of the 224-member Karnataka Assembly concluded on Saturday, different media organisations and poll observers started to predict possible scenarios about the results.

Most exit polls predicted a hung assembly in Karnataka with the BJPs emerging as the single largest party with 99 seats and the Congress close second with 84 seats. The post-poll surveys claimed that the Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) will be the kingmaker with nearly 40 seats.

It was highly unlikely for the JD(S) to tie-up with the BJP as it had a bitter experience forming a government with the saffron party in 2008 and the alliance ended on a bad note.

Although the Congress and the JD(S) had shared the dais before and similar to the BJP, the alliance with the grand old party was also not successful, there were chances that both parties could once again come together to form a secular government.

Earlier, there were media reports that if the Congress failed to secure a majority in Karnataka Assembly elections, the JD(S) could support the party.

While speaking to a private news channel, JDS spokesman Danish Ali squashed speculation of supporting the BJP and said that it was the Congress responsibility to reach out.

Meanwhile, the JD(S) chief and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, keeping his cards close to the chest, said that he was not yet prepared to accept or reject anything and asked people to wait for the results day.

Gowda and Siddaramaiah share a bitter relationship. Siddaramaiah, who was once a key JD(S) leader, was sacked by the former prime minister in 2005.

He later joined Congress and became the chief minister of the southern state.

There were speculations that Gowda could support the Congress and in return ask for a chief minister of his own choice, therefore, Siddaramaiahs statement was seen as a significant move by the Congress before election results.
This is Peter Hitchens's Mail on Sunday Column

Typical Russians, eh? They kidnap a man and his pregnant wife in broad daylight, then hide them in a secret prison in an Asian airport where they wield sinister influence.

There they begin to torture him. Despite the fact that she is obviously pregnant, they chain her to a wall and put a hood over her head, for five days.

Next, they swathe her from head to toe in duct tape (in agony, because one of her eyes is taped open) and fly them both to Syria so he can be tortured more thoroughly for several years.

With the two chained and bound prisoners comes a delivery note from the Russian spy chief to his Syrian opposite number: This is the least we could do for you, to demonstrate our remarkable relationship.

This is the sort of disgusting behaviour we have come to expect from the Kremlin. Except that I have changed the details. This story is not about the Kremlin. It is about the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, and our allies in the American CIA. And the man we helped kidnap, Abdel Belhaj was not sent to Syria, but to Libya, whose then despot we were courting.

All the details of this unspeakable, lawless operation are known, and cannot be denied. They came out into the open only because a group of militiamen happened to stumble on the papers in an abandoned office in Tripoli.

The government has admitted their truth by apologising for them, and writing a large cheque (with your hard-earned money, of course) to Mr Belhajs wife, Fatima Boudchar. Nobody is even trying to deny them, though the Labour Government ministers in charge at the time (2004) seem to be having some trouble remembering the episode.

There are plenty of things you can think about this, including whether those involved, politicians and civil servants alike, ought to face some kind of justice. I would not hold out many hopes.

My point is this. So much of our current frenzy against Russia and Syria is based on a claim of moral superiority. Do we have any such superiority if we kidnap people and send them to tyrants to be tortured? So shoudnt we stop pretending that our hostility to Russia and Syria has a moral purpose  and explain what, in that case, our motive really is?

Or are we embarrassed that our motive is almost as sordid as the miserable Belhaj episode?

Certainly since before the 2003 Iraq invasion, which members of the current government mostly supported, this country has been implicated in the most horrible actions, many of which will probably remain secret forever.

Strangely, many of these kidnaps and much of this complicity in unspeakable tortures was justified by our moral fury against Al Qaeda, a movement with whom we now co-operate in Syria.

It is also quite possible to argue (and I do) that the Iraq invasion was the gravest political mistake of our age, closely followed by David Camerons attack on Libya.

We are now hurrying towards serious war in the Middle East, lashed to the strange, seemingly unhinged figure of Donald Trump, whose vain, pouting, writhing performance on Tuesday night was one of the most frightening things I have ever seen in my life. Could it possibly have been plainer that he views us not as allies but as minions?

And why shouldnt he, if we collaborate with the CIA in actions like these?

A proper British government would cease this sort of co-operation, whatever little treats and pats on the head we may be offered in return for it. And a proper British government should also stand aside from war policies in the Middle East which will only lead to still more terror, torture and pain.

*********

Talking of war, and Syria, many of you may have noticed frequent references in the media to a body called the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, often quoted as if it is an impartial source of information about that complicated conflict, in which the British government clearly takes sides. The Observatory says on its website that it is not associated or linked to any political body.

To which I reply: Is Boris Johnsons Foreign Office not a political body? Because the FO just confirmed to me that the UK funded a project worth 194,769.60 to provide the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights with communications equipment and cameras. Thats quite a lot, isnt it? I love the precision of that 60p. Your taxes, impartially, at work.

********

Rosamund Pike is one of the cleverest and wittiest actresses of our time, as she showed in the wonderful An Education. And it is interesting to see the 1970s, that lost decade, so meticulously recreated. But I am not quite sure about the OK, but flawed new film about the 1976 Entebbe hijack.

The great thing about Entebbe was that the bravery and skill of the Israeli commandos meant almost all the hostages were saved, and the terrorists were killed. This was a distinct turn for the better in an era when hijackers far too often got away with their crimes.

Nobody wept, or wondered if this had been the right thing to do. These disgusting people, Germans among them, had actually separated the Jewish passengers from the others. They were bad enough before they did that. After they did it, they had passed into a zone of evil from which there can be no return.

But there is something dangerously soppy about the films attitude towards the hijackers. Sure, they were human. That is precisely why their actions deserved to be ended and punished with violent death. Because they knew better. The films apparent belief that negotiation, even with such people, is a good thing is simply untrue.

It is precisely because we have talked to and rewarded so many terrorists, from the PLO to the IRA, that terrorism continues to flourish. If all terrorists died as the Entebbe criminals died, there would be a lot less terror.

******

The President of Peking University (yes, despite our feeble Cultural Kowtow of saying Beijing they still call it that) says students should not be encouraged to question or to think critically because it hinders steps for the future.

He should obviously come here instead, as so many British students (and professors) are frightened out of their wits by any departure from orthodoxy, hed fit in very well.

******

Why do feminists make fusses about nothing  such as the current persecution of a man in a lift who asked, jokingly, for someone to press the button for the ladies lingerie floor? It is because they long ago achieved their aims, but admitting it would mean theyd have to find something else to do.

Dont take my word for it. The playwright David Edgar recounts this week that as far back as the 1970s a feminist manual written by the militant Anna Coote had to be quickly revised because so many of its demands had been won. In fact the left won almost everything it wanted years ago. That is why we are in such a mess.

*****

A tiny gleam of light in the endless, swirling, flatulent fog of the European debate: The possibility that Britain may remain inthe European Economic Area, so getting rid of three quarters of the EUs laws, while not madly damaging its trade with EU countries, is still just about alive. One day, people will realise what a good idea this is.
New Delhi:

India is a bigger market than China when it comes to the sale of two-wheelers. Both the Chinese and Indian markets are comparable but India is growing much faster, said a top official from Harley Davidson.

"For Harley Davidson India and China are of comparable size in terms of network, products and growth, said Peter Mackenzie, Managing Director, India and China, Harley Davidson.

"In fact, India is bigger than China in the two-wheeler market and is growing faster. Both represent global potential,'' he added. The Indian customer is also younger and better product educated than many other markets making them a unique demographic, he added.

The majority of the growth has come in the 250cc-500cc but the higher end segment of 600cc plus is also showing significant growth.

With all the competition coming into the 600cc plus segment, we will see strong growth and a migration towards lifestyle oriented products,'' added Mackenzie.



Harley Davidson is numero uno in the 600cc plus variants, mostly due to India-manufactured Street 750, but Mackenzie politely refused to comment anything regarding companys intention of bringing out a sub-500cc range variants, which is mostly dominated by cult bike brand Royal Enfield.

But it is clear that Harley Davidson does not need any local partnership to lure the Indian market unlike BMW, which has partnered with TVS Motos and Truimph, which has tied up with Bajaj Auto.



"Most of these tie-ups are focussed on accessing a manufacturing footprint in India but we have already significantly invested in our own plant here and so we do not need a local partnership to help us,'' said Mackenzie.

"We are constantly evaluating what the customers want and tweaking our range accordingly and so this electric vehicle is our next step towards that effort,'' said Mackenzie.

The tweaking of Completely Built Units (CBU) duties has improved the price of companys imported bikes such as the Road King, Road Glide, Street Glide and the CVO TM by Rs 2.60-3.70 lakh. But, Mackenzie think that it wont improve their sales.

"It's early days yet and we will need to wait and watch,'' he said.

"The recent duty reductions have improved the price positions but I don't expect a big impact on demand,'' he added.

The company on Sunday launched its Chennai dealership and will not focus on Tier 2 cities to increase its footprint.

"Right now, we have 27 dealerships and we will open several more this year. This is part of our global target to hit 150-200 dealerships in four years.'' said Mackenzie.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is expected to declare the Class X examination results on May 30, 2018.

Earlier, speculations had been rife that the results for Class X will be announced alongside the Class XII results.

The Class X examination took place between March 5 to April 4 while the Class XII examinations were conducted from March 5 to April 13.

Meanwhile, ahead of the board results, the CBSE has made some changes in passing criteria for the Class X students from 2017-18 session.

The candidates of Class X board examination will now be exempted from mandatory separate pass criteria in the subjects, which have a component of 20 marks internal assessment and written examination of 80 marks, according to the notification released on 27 February 2018.

Read | CBSE Board Results 2018: Know how, when and where to check Class 10th, 12th exam results

"That, the current batch i.e. the batch of class X, which is taking class X Examination in 2018 with five main subjects (having 20 marks as internal assessment component as per scheme of studies) may be exempted from the mandatory separate pass criteria in the subjects having component of 20 marks internal assessment and Board examination of 80 marks," the statement read.

So, the candidates just need to secure overall 33 percent marks i.e. internal assessment and written examination to qualify the CBSE Class 10th examination.

It will be a great relief for students since CBSE has exempted additional subjects from mandatory separate pass criteria norms.

Additionally, the board has extended the provision of replacement of subjects to National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) students. Securing 33 percent in each subject (both Internal and board examination) has also made mandatory for the students.

Read | DU Admissions 2018: Delhi University to start online application process for UG courses from May 15

The Examination Committee of the CBSE held a meeting on February 16, 2018 in Delhi to discuss the process. The move came after noting that the current batch (2017-18) has from a different assessment background.

For more details, candidates are advised to visit cbse.nic.in
New Delhi:

Itas time to send congratulatory messages to Karan Patel and Ankita Bhargava as the adorable couple will soon welcome a little bundle of joy in their family.A The two talented actors, who tied the knot on May 3, 2015, are all set to embrace parenthood.

Karan confirmed the good news while talking to a leading daily.

"It's sinking in slowly, and I am ecstatic. I can't go through the emotions and transformations, which Ankita is going through. It's a beautiful phase for her as she will graduate from a wife to a mother. I plan to spoil our baby silly with love and pampering once he/she is born. We would like to have two kids - both Ankita and I are the only children of our parents and we understand the need for a siblingaa, The handsome actor told Bombay Times.

Interestingly, Ankita broke the news to Karan by going to his showas set. ''I kept thinking about ways to do it and even searched the internet. We had been trying to have a baby for some time, so when it was confirmed, I just showed up on his set and entered his vanity van. He guessed it from the way I smiled. I didn't have to spell it outaa, Ankita told Bombay Times.

Karan, who is winning hearts as Raman Bhalla in Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, has a jam-packed schedule. His popular daily soap runs from Monday to Saturday and he is busy with the shooting.

The popular actor told Bombay times that his schedule was lighter now and he gets home by 8:30pm now.

Tag team .... YY A post shared by Karan Patel (@karan9198) on Feb 20, 2018 at 1:22am PST

Though the couple is yet to decide any names but Karan wished to have a daughter. aI would love to have a daughter, as baby girls are their fathersa angels. I am looking forward to changing nappies and waking up at odd hoursaa Karan told Bombay Times.
New Delhi:

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday launched a scathing attack at the Congress and accused the party of shielding former finance minister P Chidambaram after IT department filed an FIR against the leader in the alleged disproportionate assets case.

Addressing a press conference on the issue, Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that IT departments action against Chidambaram was the Nawaz Sharif moment for the Congress.

The defence minister called out Congress president Rahul Gandhi to investigate the allegations against Chidambaram.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is himself out on bail should come out and tell us if he is going to investigate this case involving one of his leaders, Sitharaman told reporters in New Delhi.

She alleged that by failing to disclose his and his familys foreign investments to the tax authority, Chidambaram violated the Black Money Law brought by Narendra Modi government to prosecute Indians having illicit wealth abroad.

As per the Income Tax estimates, Chidambaram Familys illegal assets in 14 countries and 21 foreign bank accounts are expected to be worth three billion dollars, Sitharaman said citing IT departments charge sheet.

Earlier on Friday, the Income Tax Department had filed four criminal cases against the former finance minister and his family.

The case was filed in a Chennai court under the sections of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.

Sitharaman alleged that Chidambarams wife Nalini, son Karti and his wife Srinidhi did not disclose their immovable assets worth Rs. 6.1 crore in the UK, and Rs.3.28 crore in the US.

Reacting to the charge sheet filed against the former UPA minister, BJP president Amit Shah said, This explains why despite Supreme Courts orders Sonia Gandhi, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh & then FM P Chidambaram dragged their feet on formation of SIT, one of the first decisions taken by Modi govt, to fight Black Money! How could they indict their own selves?

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

North Korea on Saturday said that it would dismantle its Punggye-ri nuclear test site between May 23 and May 25, pledging to blow up the tunnels in front of foreign media. The decision comes ahead of the historic meet between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore.

According to KCNA news agency, the Pyongyangas Foreign Ministry said that the tunnels would be destroyed and observation & research facilities and ground-based units would get removed. A Reporters from China, the United States, Russia, South Korea and Britain would be allowed to cover the nuclear test site to show its dismantlement in a transparent manner, the statement read.

Donald Trump lauded N Koreaas move to destroy its nuclear test site and called it asmarta and agraciousa.

North Korea has announced that they will dismantle Nuclear Test Site this month, ahead of the big Summit Meeting on June 12th. Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture! a Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2018

Punggye-ri has hosted all six of the North Koreaas nuclear tests, the latest and so far, the most powerful one in September 2017, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday had said that if North Korea agreed to surrender its nuclear arms, Washington would work with Pyongyang to rebuild its impoverished economy.

A "If North Korea takes bold action to quickly denuclearize, the United States is prepared to work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on par with our South Korean friends," Mike Pompeo had said in a statement.

(With agency inputs)

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Suspected suicide bombers targeted Mass congregations in three different churches in Indonesia's second largest city Surabaya on Sunday morning.

The dreadful incident claimed at least 11 lives and wounded scores more including two police officers, police said.

The first attack took place at the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church in Surabaya, killing four people, including one or more bombers, AP quoted a police official as saying.

Minutes later another explosion struck the Christian Church of Diponegoro while the third hit the city's Pantekosta Church, the police official added.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo rushed to Surabaya in the aftermath of the attacks while Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi took to Twitter to express her grief over the incident.

"Deepest condolences to the victims and families of the bombing victims in Surabaya. #UnitedAgainstTerrorism#WeAreNotAfraid," she tweeted.

Deepest condolences to the victims and families of the bombing victims in Surabaya.#UnitedAgainstTerrorism#WeAreNotAfraid  Menteri Luar Negeri Republik Indonesia (@Menlu_RI) May 13, 2018

The bombings were carried out by at least five suicide bombers, including a veiled woman having two children with her, a senior police official told on condition of anonymity.

Also Read | Nawaz Sharif admits Pakistan's role in 26/11 Mumbai attacks

A witness described the woman with children, saying she was carrying two bags at the Diponegoro church.

"I was frightened... many people were screaming," a 23-year-old eyewitness told AFP after the blast.

Indonesia has been on high alert following the attacks by homegrown terrorists, while some accused the ISIS group of the same. So far no one has claimed responsibility for the bombings during Sunday services.

However, the police have closed off all three locations as they are working to identify the victims. The attackers are yet to be identified.

Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Jakarta issued a statement condemning the attacks, took place in Surabaya.

"These attacks on peaceful worshipers are an affront to the tolerance and diversity embraced by Indonesians. The United States stands with the people of Indonesia, and we offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims," the statement read.

Read | North Korea to dismantle nuclear test site; 'Thank you', says Donald Trump

Indonesia, the most populous Muslim-majority country, has witnessed a number of attacks, claimed by Islamist militancy in recent past.

The 2002 attack is considered to be the worst-ever bombing in the history of Indonesia, which killed 202 people outside a bar and nightclub in Bali. Following the bombing, the authorities launched a crackdown on extremist groups.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
A suspicious man in black clothes was repeatedly seen near the site where a 7-year-old girl was found dead Monday in Niigata, local officials said Saturday.

Tamaki Omomo is believed to have been murdered on the same day her body was found on the train tracks.

She told a friend earlier in the day that she had been approached by a man in black clothes and sunglasses while on her way to school.

The police have been investigating that lead.

According to an education board official, a man wearing black clothes and a black mask was seen on a street talking to himself near her school on Tuesday afternoon.

On Wednesday evening, a junior high school girl was chased by a man whom she described as in his 50s, on a street about 2 km from Omomoas school.

She also described the man as wearing black clothes, the official said.

According to a police autopsy, Omomo was strangled. Her body was found by the railroad tracks after being struck by a train on Monday night.
The Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris has said that there was never a time he turned down the invitation of the Senate.

The Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris has said that there was never a time he turned down the invitation of the Senate.Speaking in Kano on Saturday on a local Radio Station, Idris affirmed that he has never at any time refused to honour the invitation of the Senate, because he holds them in high esteem.The IGP said the invitation of the Senate according to the letter sent to him was on Senator Dino Melayes case which is before a court and discussing such will amount to prejudice and contempt.He said he has no cause to refuse to answer the call of the Senate if the issue has to do with national interest and issue.He explained that since assumption of office in June 2016, he has appeared 10 times before the Senate on different issues of national importance, noting that he holds the lawmakers in high esteem.The recent claim by the Senate that the reason for inviting me is to brief them on the recent killings in some part of the country could be an afterthought which can be seen from the headings of their invitation letters, the IGP stated.The senate at plenary recently declared the IGP an enemy of democracy and unfit to hold any public office within and outside the country for failing to honour its invitation thriceSpeaking on the spate of killings in the country,Idris said that new area commands have been created in some volatile environments with the deployment of additional Policemen to Zamfara,Birnin Gwari in Kaduna, Benue and Taraba States.He also said the mop up exercise of prohibited arms and weapons across the country has led to the recovery of over 5000 prohibited arms from wrong hands .According to him, it is a continuous operation as those in possession of such arms will be prosecuted after the expiration of the window created for voluntary submission of illegal weapons.
A member of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos was reportedly shot dead yesterday after the election had ended.

A member of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos was reportedly shot dead yesterday after the election had ended.According to reports last night, the member, identified as Nurudeen Olanose, was allegedly shot at Central School, Dopemu, during a fracas that ensued after voting had ended yesterday.Sources said two others members suffered injuries, even as a report said they are in critical condition.Meanwhile, nine people have been arrested and taken to Area G Police Division in Agege, according to a source.NAN report quoted the Police in Lagos as saying yesterday that three persons had been arrested over their alleged involvement in the killing of one man during the APC LG congress in Agege.The spokesman of the command, SP Chike Oti, confirmed the arrest to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).He, however, did not mention the names of the victim and suspects.Oti said that the suspects had been taken to the State CID, Panti for interrogation.He said that preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects and victim were not accredited for the election.We confirmed that one person was killed on Saturday at Central Primary School, Oniwaya Agege.Three persons allegedly involved in the killing have been arrested.The suspects have been taken to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti for interrogations.The victim was killed outside the venue of the APC ward election.The victims and those arrested had nothing to do with the election as they were not accredited, Oti said.An eyewitness, who preferred anonymity, had earlier told NAN that there was crisis at the Agege venue of the congress after reading of list of delegates allegedly favoured one camp and marginalised another.He said there was shooting from inside the venue and a bullet hit a man at the gate of Central Primary School, Oniwaya, Agege.Meanwhile, the chairman of Ojodu Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Julius Oloro, has said that those who have held office for more than two terms were unanimously disqualified from the All Progressive Congress (APC) council congress.He said the development led to the peaceful conduct of the congress at the Ojodu LCDA.He said the leadership of the party had instructed that the youth should be given the chance to seek elective offices in the coming election.According to him, Ojodu LCDA adhere to the instruction made by the party hierarchy, noting that party chieftains want fresh but experienced party men to take over from the old guards.That is why we did not witness rancour in the council during the ward and council congresses. After so many years of one issue or the other, we decided to unify to endorse the candidates put forward for the election.
The immediate past governor of Plateau state and senator representing Plateau North senatorial zone, Senator Jonah Jang will be arraigne...

The immediate past governor of Plateau state and senator representing Plateau North senatorial zone, Senator Jonah Jang will be arraigned before the state high court Jos by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) for alleged N6.3 billion fraud.Senator Jang who has been held in EFCC custody since last week will be moved by EFCC from Abuja to Jos for the arraignment on Monday.The Nation gathered in Jos that Senator Jang will be arraigned before Justice Daniel Longji of Plateau State High Court in Jos on the 12-count charges filed against him by the EFCC.The EFCC had preferred 12 charges against him over an alleged fraud amounting to about N6.3bn.The ex-governor, who currently represents Plateau-North Senatorial District, allegedly embezzled some special funds released to the state by the Central Bank of Nigeria. He was said to have done so two months to the end of his tenure as governor in 2015.A team of lawyers acting for the release of the senator had last week filed a motion on notice before a federal capital territory (FCT) high court in Abuja in an attempt to enforce his release on bail.The team of lawyers comprising of Christopher Eichie, Yakubu Philemon and Kola Oseni have prayed that the former governor be granted bail on health ground claiming that the suspect is diabetic.Apart from asking for his unconditional bail, the legal team is asking the federal high court to order the EFCC to pay Senator Jang the sum of N500m as damages for his detention without trial and to offer him public apology in two national newspapers.Meanwhile youths from the state under the aegis of the Jang Support group have confirmed to The Nation that they will protest what they term jungle justice of the senator. They queried why the senator was detained for 1 whole week, when he has been faithful in honouring all invitations by the EFCC.
There were wailing and anger yesterday at Idi-Oro area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital when a young girl was allegedly shot dead by a memb...

File Photo: Some NSCDC officials during a parade

There were wailing and anger yesterday at Idi-Oro area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital when a young girl was allegedly shot dead by a member of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC).The girl, simply identified as Kofoworola, was shot dead at about 12:00 noon after the dust settled following a clash by hoodlums.It was learnt there was a clash among hoodlums in the area while the local government election was going on peacefully.There was restriction of vehicular movements because of the election.An eyewitness who spoke in confidence said a white patrol vehicle conveying about eight men of the NSCDC arrived the area expectedly to quell the clash.One of them was said to have shot twice into the air to scare the trouble makers.But he had hardly achieved the quelling when the man allegedly pointed his gun straight and pulled the trigger.Kofo, as she was fondly called, with the bullet coming out of her left eye, leaving her dead instantly.The law enforcers reportedly left the scene immediately.The eyewitness said Kofo came to buy drug from a store where she was killed.Wailers said Kofo, 17, just finished writing her Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE).The incident immediately drew a crowd of angry sympathisers, mostly youths.When a team of policemen arrived the scene, the crowd prevented them from taking the corpse to the hospital.It took efforts of Kofos uncle who appealed to sympathisers for several minutes before they allowed the police take away the corpse.When contacted, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Corp, Olusegun Oluwole, however said information available indicated one of the hoodlums must have shot the teenager dead.He however added he was yet to receive official report of the incident.He said police were already investigating the incident, adding the Corp would also investigate the matter.Governor Abiola Ajimobi attributed the incident to the resurgence of the cult war.In a statement by his Special Adviser, Communication and Strategy, Ajimobi condoled with the family of the victim and vowed to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.Ajimobi said: I want to use this opportunity to condole with the family of the victim for the irredeemable loss.Let me again warn that those bent on scuttling the peace that we have enthroned across the state in the last seven years will live to regret their action.I have directed the security agents to ensure that they fish out the perpetrators of the crime and ensure that they are brought to justice. I want to appeal to the good people of Oyo State to join hands with the government to sustain our hard earned peace.
The Nigeria Police Force has alleged that the Inspector-General of Police ( IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris was invited by the Senate because of ...

The Nigeria Police Force has alleged that the Inspector-General of Police ( IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris was invited by the Senate because of Sen. Dino Melaye and not the killings across the country as claimed.The senate at plenary recently, declared the IGP as enemy of democracy and unfit to hold any public office within and outside the country for failing to honour its invitation thrice.The senate had refused the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in-charge of operations and other senior police officers to represent the IGP when he was invited on April 26.The recent claim by the Senate that the reason for inviting the IGP is to brief them on the recent killings in some part of the Country is an afterthought which can be seen from the headings of their invitation letters, ACP Jimoh Moshood, police spokesman said in Abuja on Saturday.Moshood said that if the invitation was for him to brief the senate on strategies adopted in tackling killings in the country, it would not have been planned for a national television.The Senates action to cover the appearance of the IGP on National Television is against National Security, unconventional and it negates global security practice,he said.The spokesman said that the letter the senate wrote inviting the IGP clearly showed that the invitation was not about the killings but about Dino.From the headings of the invitation letters, it is very clear that the IGP was invited on those occasions by the Senate purposely because of Senator Dino Melayes criminal indictment,he said.Moshood said that the purported list of killings in Nigerian this year by the senate, was shocking, unfortunate and capable of worsening the security situation in the country.It is mischievous and heinous to play politics with peoples lives; even if it is a soul.The release is speculative and not supported by any fact. Office of the Senate President does not receive or process security report from State commands,he said.He said that the Force as a law abiding entity would continue to uphold the rule of law in all its ramifications.The Force insists on due process of the law and once again implores the Senate not to whip-up sentiments or resort to self-help but to allow the rule of law and justice to prevail on the whole matter, he said.
The Borno Police Command says it is investigating the activities of ritualists to curb their nefarious activities in the state.

The Borno Police Command says it is investigating the activities of ritualists to curb their nefarious activities in the state.The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Damian Chukwu, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri on Sunday.Chukwu said detectives were probing the two isolated cases of the killing of a young lady a month ago and the recent forceful removal of the eye of a 58-year-old with mental problems in Maiduguri metropolis for suspected ritual.He recalled that the lady was found murdered with her throat cut off in a hotel room in Maiduguri.It is not that the cases usually happen. These two cases are isolated incidents, he said.The commissioner assured residents that investigation is ongoing to unravel the perpetrators.NAN reports that residents of 202 Housing Estate in Maiduguri were yet to recover from the shock after the brutal removal of the eyes of the man believed to be an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) within their neighbourhood.Sources told NAN that the incident occurred on Thursday, less than 24 hours after the lifeless body of a seven-year-old girl (name witheld) was found at Mairi ward in the metropolis.Mr Gulumba Galtimari, a resident of the estate who confirmed the incident, told NAN that the victim was pinned down by suspected ritualists before gorging out his eyes with sharp object.Galtimari said: We saw the man screaming helplessly with no one to come to his aid. We tried our best to know his name or where he came from to enable us reach out to his families but to no avail.Malam Yahya Muhammad, another eye witness, told NAN that efforts to ameliorate his pain at the hospital proved abortive.We took him to the state specialist hospital and the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, but we were told that the hospitals were on strike so they cannot attend to him.We also put an extra effort and took him to the State Psychiatric Hospital, but we learnt that the facility has not been operational in the last four years due to the Boko Haram insurgency.We later took him to the Eye Hospital but they said they dont have bed space to admit him.Eventually, we took him back to where we picked him from and dropped him there. All we could do to him at that moment was to give him food and some pain reliever prescribed by a pharmacist to reduce his anguish.Two days after, we were able to locate his family members in Konduga. After we told them what happened, they said there was nothing they could do because they are financially incapacitated to take care of him, Muhammad said.Meanwhile, Mr Dogara Yohanna, the father of the seven-year-old victim, said the deceased was earlier declared missing for about six days.Yohanna said she was last seen when her mother sent her on an errand to buy Maggi cube but never came back alive.I leave everything to God, said Yohanna as he cried profusely.However, Mr Ibrahim Wada, a resident of Tasham Bama, said that more than 12 of such ritual cases had occurred in the area in 2018.Wada said that the high incident of serial ritual killings going in the area demand an urgent action by security agencies in the state. (NAN)
Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola has said that his administrations first term coinciding with the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP)-led ...

Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola has said that his administrations first term coinciding with the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP)-led federal government between 2010 and 2015, remains his only regret as governor.Aregbesola, who described the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan as the worst in the history of Nigeria, said the only regret I have is that my administration coincided with the PDP led administration.Speaking during the fourth edition of Ogbeni Till Daybreak, he explained: As a matter of fact, PDP superintended the most irresponsible government in Nigeria.If I have had the opportunity of working with a serious government at the federal level between 2011 and 2015, Osun would have been an eldorado.The governor expressed commitment to his resolve to complete all his projects before the end of his tenure in November.Aregbesola, who told the audience that he has surpassed his predecessors in the area of infrastructural development, said the quality of the interchange bridge built by his administration at Gbongan along the Ibadan -Ilesa express way would remain one of the best in the country.According to him, such a project could only be found in metropolitan cities like Abuja, Lagos, Kano, and Port-Harcourt.
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye has reacted to social media criticisms ...

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye has reacted to social media criticisms over his declaration that non-tithers will not make heaven.Pastor Adeboye, who spoke on Saturday at the churchs Northern Regional Camp in Jos, Plateau State, reiterated his warning that tithing was a necessary condition to inherit the Kingdom of God, adding that none of the requirements should be left out.Pastor Adeboye drew criticism from several celebrities and on-air personalities after he warned about the dangers of ignoring tithing during the April Holy Ghost Service of the Redemption Camp along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, stated that born-again Christians, who do not give to God one-tenth of their income, may not make heaven.Giving a message on the theme: Stronger Than My Enemy, the Daddy G.O. admonished the congregants to ignore those criticisms from those who have been attacking me on the internet but who do not know they are also attacking the church.The man of God quoted from the scripture in Matthew 23:23 where Jesus rebuked the scribes and pharisees for not complying with all the tenets of the Kingdom.The minister asked the congregation, They say Pastor Adeboye only talks about tithes, is it only what I preach? Dont I talk about holiness, healing, prosperity, salvation?Dont let anybody deceive you because if you meet Jesus on the Last Day, you dont say I stopped paying tithes because somebody said it is wrong, he added.Speaking earlier, the G.O. also made reference to one of his critics, a pastor who used to run one of the biggest churches in Europe, but whose congregation have now dwindled.While stressing the need for members to avoid mockers, he drew an analogy of madness, which he categorised into three. The first are those, who are already mad and on the streets; second category he said is made up of well-dressed individuals, who might not appear mad but are actually mad, in Yoruba they are called Were Alaso; and the third category, he said, are those who stand by to watch the mad dancing.The two-day programme features ministration for pastors children, Workers and Ministers Conference, anointing service and an inter-denominational service.
JERSEY CITY -- The family of a man killed in a 2015 crash in Bayonne hosted a fundraiser on Saturday to sponsor a community event in September.

Jason and Mary Sellers have been hosting "Tyler Sellers Day" at the Bayonne skate park every year for his birthday since he was fatally struck by a vehicle on Route 440. To raise money for the event, the family hosted a tricky tray at the Moose Lodge in Jersey City.

Tyler Sellers, an avid skateboarder, was killed while crossing the busy stretch of roadway on Nov. 2, 2015 with his friend Sabore Worrell by a driver traveling more than 100 mph. The driver of the vehicle, Waqas Ibrar, was found guilty of vehicular homicide and is serving 12 years in prison for the crash.

Check out photos from the tricky tray in the gallery above.

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
JERSEY CITY  Officials are planning to reveal details about an agreement that was reached to relocate the Exchange Place monument that sparked controversy locally and abroad, but many Polish-Americans still do not approve of any changes.

The 34-foot statue commemorating the Katyn Forest Massacre is expected to be moved one block over from the foot of Montgomery Street to York Street. The move is being made for a $5 million park to be built at Exchange Place.

More than 100 people protested plans to relocate the statue, despite the memorial's committee and Maciej Golubiewski, Polish consul general in New York, calling the monuments proposed new home an "optimal new location."

The rally was, at times, contentious, with protesters yelling that Mayor Steve Fulop "is for sale" for allowing the Exchange Place Special Improvement District, headed by Mack Cali CEO Michael DeMarco, who called the statue "gruesome," for developing the property.

Slawek Platta, one of the plaintiffs listed in one of the two lawsuits filed last weeks aimed at halting the relocation, said there needs to be more transparency and more input from the Polish community. He said he's currently not pleased with the York Street location and looks forward to hearing more details expected to be released by Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop on Monday morning.

"If Polonia is OK with this location, than I am okay with it but I do not like this location," Platta told The Jersey Journal. "Personally, I don't, it looks pretty gruesome right now using the words of Mr. DeMarco."

A city spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.

Some raised concerns over allegations the York Street location would be above a sewer system, which the Katyn Forest Massacre Memorial Committee called "erroneous" and inaccurate in a statement.

Piotr Ulacka lives a few blocks away from Exchange Place and said his family donated to help build the monument, which he described as being of significant importance to the Polish community. He's not opposed to moving the monument to a "dignified" location, but is frustrated by the process.

"The whole point was to create a dialogue between the mayor and the community," he said. "Unfortunately it seems as though they are trying to bypass that again."

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
SOUTH BRUNSWICK -- For those who think a doodle is nothing more than a mindless scribble, check with South Brunswick High School senior Ivy Wang, whose "doodle" won first place in the New Jersey Doodle 4 Google Competition.

Doodle 4 Google competition asks students in grades K through 12 to create a doodle about what inspires them; entries were judged in five age groups and a winner was named in each state.

According to Wang, her inspiration comes from her friends. "I am lucky to have been surrounded by friends who inspire me to be the best version of myself everyday," said Wang in her Doodle statement.

"Ivy's work specifically stood out, and her emphasis on friendship and inclusion was extremely moving," said Carley Graham Garcia, head of external affairs for Google in New York City.

Wang was honored at a school assembly and will receive Google hardware.

She is now eligible for the national award, which includes a $30,000 scholarship and the chance to display her work on Google.

To submit school new send an email to middlesex@starledger.com.
The Golden State Killer brought terror to the city of Sacramento with a series of spectacularly sadistic rapes and murders, escaping every time, almost taunting the police as he picked his next victims.



But finally, they caught him, at the age of 72, thanks to a sleuthing team of detectives who used a genealogy website to track him down.



The tactic came as a shock to most Americans, who had no idea this was possible.

How an N.J. pathologist may have helped solve the 'Golden State Killer' case



Yet what most people still don't realize is the threat to privacy this case highlights: Once you submit your DNA to one of these sites, you've effectively lost control of it.



The companies say they set up guardrails, but police have access to this data for the rest of your life. Millions are volunteering their DNA. And even if you don't spit into a vial and send it, a distant cousin could catch you up in a police manhunt.



Now, this case has thrust the issue into the spotlight, much like Cambridge Analytica did for Facebook. It shows just how tentative our grip on privacy really is.



We want to catch people like Joseph James DeAngelo. But we're entering a strange new world where those efforts can trample privacy rights. A world in which there are no rules yet. Did the police cross a line with this DNA dragnet?

A GREAT TOOL FOR POLICE



A law enforcement expert at Rutgers says no; we should champion this. He's sent his own DNA to an ancestry site and has no qualms about police searching it. Before you dismiss that as Big Brotherish, consider his view.



Searching the DNA databases of law enforcement only allows police to look for matches among those with links to crime, or their relatives. Yet while most criminals are repeat offenders, not all have been arrested before, says this expert, John Cohen, a former homeland security official and police officer.



John Cohen, a national counterterrorism expert at Rutgers

Serial killers often have not. On genealogy databases, you consent to allow your DNA to be compared with that of others. That's how they do your ancestry. And that's exactly what police did here.



They created a fake personality profile with real DNA, from a 1980 crime scene of one of the attacker's rapes. The company compared it to the DNA of others, and if they created online family trees, looked for shared ancestors.



It found some: the killer's great-great-great grandparents, who lived in the early 1800s. Police used them to sketch family trees down to the present, one of which included a disgraced ex-cop, now a retiree known for his lawn rage.



Officers got his DNA off a discarded object, and voila: It matched.



They do the same for fingerprints, Cohen says: Compare them to the FBI database of people arrested, but not convicted, and those who simply provided fingerprints for their jobs.

THE FORENSIC FACEBOOK



Another analogy is Facebook. It sells itself to other businesses as a matchmaker, allowing them to directly tailor their ads to you based on your personal data.



Cambridge Analytica also managed to get data on tens of millions of Facebook users through an app that was purportedly a research tool, and peddled it to political campaigns.



Genealogy sites sell your genetic information to drug companies; more than 80 percent of users agree to this for medical research, according to 23andMe.



And when people decide to hand over their personal information to a private company that profits off it, why should we exclude law enforcement from using these databases to solve crimes? How, Cohen asks, is that in the public interest?



"Why should police be banned from using the same tools available to Cambridge Analytica?" he wonders.

Police already mine databased license plate readers to catch robbers, or social media to arrest gang members.

YES, OVERSIGHT IS NEEDED



Certainly, we need rules. This shouldn't be a fishing expedition. It should be based on a formal criminal inquiry. Misuse should be sanctioned, like a cop running the license plate of a paramour.



Any genealogical search should start with DNA from a crime scene; police shouldn't be allowed to just take a description, go to the database, and say, "Give me everyone who fits this profile."



And we need government oversight of the companies. Should they be allowed to sell your DNA profile to Big Pharma, which may someday market a drug to you based on your genetic health risks? Maybe you'd rather not know you're prone to Alzheimer's.



But Cohen is skeptical about the idea that someone will be convicted based on a dubious DNA match; the cook who used the murder knife. A license plate being in the area of a gas station around the time it was robbed is just one piece of the investigative puzzle, he says.



The same is true for DNA. A false lead from an ancestry site is no different than eliminating suspects through regular detective work; except people are more easily exculpated.



Yet there's been more discussion of privacy issues than policing potential. Law enforcement has shied away from defending its use of these databases, because it's like revealing that you're monitoring the cell phones of gang members.



And companies like Facebook don't want their data to go to the cops because they think it will scare people off the platform. As a result, he says, "The message on this has been shaped by privacy and civil liberties advocates, and by industry."



* * *



His argument seemed convincing. We can catch more criminals, he says, and play by rules that prevent abuse.



But talk to Kimberlee Moran, head of forensics at Rutgers-Camden, and you'll feel leery again. Police call her to excavate clandestine graves and investigate suspicious deaths, and she's all for using law enforcement DNA databases as often as possible, to solve even minor crimes.



These are DNA profiles of people with some link to criminal activity. New Jersey and some other states collect DNA from anyone arrested for a serious crime; and many of those convicted, even of misdemeanors.



Police can search state and national DNA databases for a match, or sometimes a near match; someone who did not commit the crime, but whose relative might have.



But to search a private genealogy site, they should have to make a compelling case that they've exhausted every other possible means, other than fishing through the innocent, Moran argues.

DIGGING INTO YOUR GENOME

She believes only the convicted should go into law enforcement DNA databases, not arrestees. That's what they now do in the UK. The European Court of Human Rights ruled it a violation of privacy to keep arrestees who were not found guilty in law enforcement's DNA databases.



But the U.S. constitution doesn't explicitly say we have a right to privacy. And police are navigating a new frontier. They have to get a court order to draw blood from a suspect to get his DNA, or root through his trash. But they apparently searched for distant relatives of the Golden State Killer without one.



The DNA stored in law enforcement databases doesn't tell you hair color or eye color, or whether you're prone to diseases. But the private labs used by genealogy companies have the ability to sequence more deeply into your genome.



The cops may find crime scene data and want to know, what race was the assailant?



A counterpoint is that offender databases are also a form of racial profiling. Using them for familial searches largely affects blacks and Hispanics, whose relatives are incarcerated at higher rates.



But do we also want police to round up all suspects of a certain race with a genetic mutation, gleaned from a genealogy website? One they may be unaware of?

A DNA DRAGNET



Police in Great Britain used a familial search in 2003 to catch a man who threw a brick through the windshield of a passing car, causing the driver to suffer a fatal heart attack. They got DNA from the brick.



Then they asked hundreds of local men to volunteer their DNA. When that led nowhere, they searched an offender database, and found a near match. They learned he had a brother who lived near the crime scene.



The teenager agreed to a DNA sample, it matched, and he confessed. But what if that brick had also contained several other DNA profiles, of workers who handled it at a construction site?



How do you argue you're innocent when police have your DNA on the murder weapon?



"That's one of the problems with DNA," Moran says. "We see it as being so infallible and so conclusive."



Meanwhile, anyone can set up a genealogy company. You're handing over your DNA without knowing what will happen to it. In New Jersey, you can have your DNA expunged from a police database if you're not convicted.



But can you ever have it expunged from a private website? We have protections against health insurance companies discriminating on the basis of genetic defects, but not life insurance companies. And we have no rules against the government doing anything with your genetic information.

GROUNDS FOR REFORM



Some lawmakers are now moving to regulate ancestry websites, just as they are demanding reforms from Facebook. Sen. Chuck Schumer just called for the Federal Trade Commission to ensure the privacy policies of DNA companies are clear and transparent.



But once you're warned, there are few limits on what they can do. And who should curate such a powerful tool? A private company, or law enforcement? How will it be protected from hacking?



Before zeroing in on DeAngelo, a false lead from a genealogy site first directed police to another retiree in an Oregon nursing home, who had a rare genetic mutation that indicated he could be related to the Golden State Killer.



He agreed to a DNA sample that proved him innocent. But imagine the cops showing up out of the blue to question your grandfather; the intrusion into your personal lives, as you anxiously await the test results.



All because you had to know if you were truly Scottish.

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Let us not say, "We told you so," but instead celebrate a new policy at Starbucks cafes:

"Bathrooms for all!"

The coffee chain came in for criticism last month after a manager at one of its Philadelphia outlets called the police to oust two African-American men who had not ordered anything, and one of them dared to ask to use the restroom. Starbucks has had a policy at many locations that only paying customers get access to its golden ticket -- a code that unlocks the bathroom door.

No more.

Company chairman Howard Schultz said in an interview Thursday that from now on, anyone who sits down at one of its tables can sit on the throne. No Frappuccino necessary.

It turned out that the two men who were subjected to police handcuffs -- and considerable embarrassment -- for allegedly trespassing were actually waiting for a third member of their party to arrive before buying drinks. That's the main reason they wouldn't leave the cafe when asked.

The incident subjected Starbucks to accusations of racial insensitivity, the Philadelphia police department to claims of complicity, and both to considerable embarrassment. Starbucks executives apologized almost immediately, followed by the city's police commissioner. Starbucks also plans to close all of its outlets on the afternoon of May 29 for employee anti-racial-bias training.

Earlier this month, the two ousted customers, since identified as Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, reached settlements with the parties. They certainly didn't appear to be in it for the money: Each will get a symbolic $1 from the city, along with its commitment to fund a $200,000 program to assist young entrepreneurs. What Starbucks gave them wasn't announced, other than assistance for their college educations.

All good. But we wondered in an April 17 editorial why businesses that beckon people to come inside don't simply allow anyone who does to use the bathroom: "It's weird to think that a place that charges $7 or $8 for an upgraded cup-o-joe will suffer any economic harm from a few extra flushes of the hopper by non-imbibers."

Some NJ.com readers accused us of wanting to force all businesses to let anyone in off the street to use the facilities. Not true. Other readers, more startlingly, linked our bathroom stance to off-the-point controversies about which public bathrooms transgendered individuals might be required to use. Huh?

Get this straight: Only certain businesses are places of public accommodation. An accounting office or newsroom should not be required to hang out a sign inviting the world to pee or poop inside. But, have you ever seen a "purchase required to use restroom" sign at Target or Kohl's? No. It would be ludicrous, especially now that brick-and-mortar stores depend on having people walk in and "look around" as one of their few advantages over online sellers.

Howard Schultz has now seen the light that came in through the bathroom window.

"... We're going to make the right decision a hundred percent of the time and give people the key," Schultz said, "because we don't want anyone at Starbucks to feel as if we are not giving access to you to the bathroom because you are less than."

Non-discriminatory bathroom policies will not stop all incidents where people of color are treated by businesses, perhaps unconsciously, as less desirable customers than white people. But the change at Starbucks shows that corporate America is becoming more cognizant of how often this happens, and that's a start.

Send a letter to the editor of South Jersey Times at sjletters@njadvancemedia.com

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Fast food restaurants and coffee houses are having their challenges these days.

Managing a McDonald's, Burger King, Panera Bread, or Starbucks franchise, among others, is not for the faint-hearted, especially when customers overstay their welcome and others want the spaces they are in. In cities, particularly, the fact that there are fewer and fewer places for people to gather exacerbates the problem.

We need better ways than we have been witnessing in recent days to deal with customers who view these private businesses as, essentially, public domains.

* In New Brunswick, finding a place to sit to eat or drink at Panera Bread on College Avenue is a frustrating exercise as, on most days, seats are occupied by people affixed to laptops, tablets and smart phones, long finished with food and/or drink, but continuing to occupy their spaces. Those who sit look down, avoiding eye contact with the folks who wait, full trays in hand.

The manager is instructed NOT to ask anyone to surrender a seat, even if, from all physical appearances, they are not drinking or eating there. Consequently, the staff simply look away.

Avoidance, though, is not a solution.

* In Flushing, Queens, a McDonald's branch has had a problem with some elderly citizens for years. The management says that they "hog the tables for hours on end but buy very little." Some say they don't even like the food but they need a place to go (despite the evident availability of a senior center nearby). The owner has repeatedly summoned the police. The police officers move the folks out; they leave, politely, walk around the block and return to the same seats.

Law enforcement may provide temporary relief, but it doesn't offer a solution, certainly not beyond the short term.

* In Philadelphia, a Starbucks' franchise has been in the spotlight given its efforts to remove two black men who were sitting and not ordering while, evidently, waiting for a third. The men refused to leave when they were told to do so. The encounter escalated, with law enforcement called and arrests made, producing extensive protests and leading to the announced closing of 8,000 franchises for several hours of staff anti-bias training later this month. The men were released, the charges dropped, and apologies were extended, but not without earning a black eye for the corporation for its race relations.

Bias can play a role in these situations to be sure, as seems evident in Philadelphia, but it's a broad and complex issue that can be dealt with in another space.

The need for gathering space extends across groups and generations, ranging from kids hanging out after school to those holding business meetings or retirees, simply enjoying a neighborhood's space as they see it, along with the unemployed, the restless, the homeless -- all joining those looking for a quick meal or a satisfying cup of coffee. Writers, too, are known to decamp to their favorite coffee houses to write.

Creating more public spaces, to contribute to the quality of urban life, is a priority in some cities; officials negotiate with developers to create it and provide tax incentives with this end in mind as well. And, in some small cities, libraries are incorporating spaces to accommodate the needs of those who wish to sit and drink.

Meanwhile, though, we need some fresh thinking about how to deal with the tensions in fast food restaurants and coffee houses. Some of the following strategies might help:

1) Posting visible signs stating store policies is a good practice. Signs allow those seeking seats to bring them to the attention of "sitters" in order to encourage them to be courteous and considerate, not only of other customers but, as several of the patrons of the McDonald's in Queens put it, "We have to have more compassion for the business."

One on one, it's probably a reasonably good strategy; if someone is intransigent, however, it can be a risky one. And many people are reluctant to be so assertive. Years ago, the iconic automat, Horn and Hardart, placed placards on every table gently suggesting that just as folks don't eat in the library, they should refrain from reading in the eatery. Not a bad idea.

2) Alter corporate policy to support a more active role for franchise managers. Why not give them more responsibility for dealing with the challenge and the training to prepare them for the role? Training in communication -- the use of persuasion, not threats or accusations -- to reduce conflict and improve relationships among patrons can go a long way.

At the same time, corporate owners and their franchise managers ought to recognize that despite the private, commercial nature of their businesses, eating establishments are often serving public purposes, adding value to neighborhoods. They might, say, try offering incentives for small groups to eat at times of low demand or offer discounts for "off" hours. Such initiatives can help a business to retain and attract patrons.

3) Regarding security, options have to be carefully chosen. Some eateries have experimented with private security officers who have special training to handle these situations, often building relationships with patrons in order to reduce conflict. Calling in local law enforcement ought to be a last resort, but, even then, that should mean arresting people as a last, not first, resort. Unless patrons are charged with trespassing, whether they order food or not, no one is violating a law by sitting in a restaurant.

Most experts stress the need to limit discretion by staff (which can increase actions based on bias) and to have clear, understandable and explicit policies for managers to follow.

Managers should work with local police departments so that if they need to call on law enforcement, responders will be those officers trained in "community policing" and mediation techniques. Using time and distance to de-escalate the situation, engaging in respectful dialogue, and injecting calm, these officers are trained to be problem-solvers rather than enforcers, acting to build community instead of further fracturing it.

We all need places to hang out. So, owners and managers of eating and coffee establishments will need to keep renegotiating use of their spaces in order to keep customers content and income flowing. That combination can help to sustain a community and, as such, is a good investment for all who live and work there.

Linda Stamato is a faculty fellow at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and

Public Policy at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, a co-director of its Center for

Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, and a frequent contributor to The Star-Ledger.

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By Michael Reagan

So Donald Trump has a date with Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12.

Good deal - so far.

As long as the president doesn't get arrested for chewing gum or hanged for spitting on the sidewalk, his meet-up with North Korea's "Rocket Man" in that spotless city might actually become a historic summit.

Singapore 2018 might even become one of Trump's legacies, though I suspect at this point he's not as fixated on legacy building as most presidents.

He's more focused on making a deal with a nasty communist regime that no previous president has been able to make.

We'll know soon enough if Singapore is for show or for real.

Meanwhile, I hope when Mr. Trump sits down to negotiate with Kim Jong Un he'll remember what happened when Ronald Reagan went to Reykjavik in October of 1986 to meet Mikhail Gorbachev.

My father's meeting in Iceland with the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was a "session" and not an official summit, but it was a huge, huge geopolitical deal at the time.

The hope was for the two superpowers to discuss ways to put limits on strategic nuclear weapons arsenals and to come up with a sweeping arms-control agreement that would bring about the major mothballing of their nukes and missiles.

I remember when my father's administration was putting the Reykjavik trip together. It was his second meeting Gorbachev, and hopes were sky high for a historic agreement that would end the scariest part of the Cold War.

Everyone in the administration - including Nancy - was excited because they thought Reykjavik was going to be Ronald Reagan's greatest legacy.

Everyone was pushing him - relentlessly - to make a deal with Gorbachev. Almost any deal.

But when Mr. Gorbachev said he wouldn't sign the document unless the United States gave up the Strategic Defense Initiative - the proposed "Star Wars" ballistic missile defense system - my father said "Nyet."

He got up and walked away from the table.

Everyone was shocked and concerned by what my father did, but the rest was history. The Soviet Union soon went bust. The Berlin Wall came down. The Cold War was over.

Saying no to the USSR when it wanted the United States to give up something was not an audible my father called on the spot. It was something he had been hoping to do for a long time.

I remember in 1976 at the Republican National Convention when he lost the nomination. I walked over to his hotel room and asked him, "Why in world would you even want to run for president?"

"Michael," he said, "for too long I've watched presidents of the United States meet with Secretary Generals of the Soviet Union.

"Every time we sit sit down with them they're asking us to give up something to get along with them.

"I want to be the first president who says 'Nyet.' That's the reason I wanted to run for president."

In order for President Trump's meeting on June 12 to be a success, and he certainly has it in him to make it one, he also has to be willing to walk away.

You can't make a deal just because you're thinking it's going to be good for your legacy.

Your legacy might be when you stand up and walk away from a bad deal.

The only way you'll ever win real victories against the people who run hellholes like the USSR, North Korea and Iran is if you're willing to walk - and they know it.

Anyone can make a bad deal - look at the one President Obama made with Iran.

So my suggestion to the president is, "Don't make a deal with North Korea just to make a deal. Sometimes the best deal is to walk away."

And anyway, Mr. Trump, with three American prisoners safely back home from North Korea, you've already got a win.

Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com.
Less than 48 hours after yelling at the cops, "I want to jump off a bridge," a suicidal 26-year-old man was found hanging in his jail cell, a laundry bag roped around his neck.



Can't exactly say we didn't see it coming. His death in March was the fourth Hudson County jail suicide in less than a year. Cumberland's jail had at least six suicides within three years.



This isn't just about taking suicide precautions. It's also about the mentally ill - many of whom shouldn't be locked up in the first place.

Hudson County to terminate medical contract after 4th inmate suicide



Roughly 20 percent of our jail population has a mental illness. In some cases, sick people belong behind bars, for a serious crime. Even there, we need to make sure they're getting good mental health treatment.



But most are being jailed for petty offenses, like disturbing the peace or loitering. These are often just symptoms of illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or PTSD. And being mentally ill is not a crime.



New Jersey in some respects has been a leader in humane jail reform. We've largely emptied our jails of poor people awaiting trial who are low-risk and don't belong there, thanks to bail reform. We are a national leader for diverting nonviolent people with drug addictions out of jail and into treatment.



But we're still trailing other states when it comes to the mentally ill. Former Gov. Chris Christie signed a law that would divert veterans with mental health problems out of jail. But what about the rest?



In lieu of criminal charges, the nonviolent but mentally ill should all get a solid plan for medication and therapy in the community, where they can get better care at a lower cost. Now, lawmakers like Senators Theresa Ruiz and Shirley Turner want to do this in New Jersey.



Each is working on a proposal, and still ironing out the details. We applaud them for jumping in. We need to create valves at every stop of our criminal justice system to filter out people with mental illnesses who don't belong there.



A few challenges to discuss in hearings: Who should be trained to identify them as mentally ill, police, prosecutors or judges? How do we hook sick people up with services during pretrial release? And most of all, how will we finance this?

Creating a monster in solitary: Editorial



You can't refer someone to treatment that doesn't exist. New Jersey currently has long waits for most mental health programs.



But bulking them up and diverting more people could mean long-term savings. The mentally ill are often released from jail no better than when they entered, setting them up for re-arrest. It's a waste of taxpayer dollars and human lives.



The risks are compounded because they also have a harder time following rules behind bars, creating a horrifying downward spiral. They are often punished in solitary confinement, a torturous practice that only exacerbates their outbursts and hallucinations.



That's probably a smart place to start: Sharply restricting solitary. Former senator Ray Lesniak led a movement to impose humane limits on its use. But Christie ultimately vetoed that bill - one of his cruelest and most unreasonable acts as governor.



Reviving it must be a priority. We also need to end this absurd cycle of arrests and stabilize people on their medication. When an inmate has diabetes or a drug addiction, we treat it. We must always do the same for a mental illness.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
During the Reagan era, I traveled a good deal in Central America, and ran into a bunch of Americans who pretended to be Canadian because they were so horrified by U.S. support for right-wing rebels in Nicaragua.

Not me, I told them. America is much more than that mistake.

I was reminded of that last week when Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill that allows Dreamers to get college scholarships to public colleges and universities in New Jersey.

We have a cruel and ignorant president, and he's at his worst when it comes to immigrants. He takes every chance to smear them with his lies, like the myth that they are more likely to commit crimes.

But we are much more than Trump, as we saw last week.

"What do we stand for?" asked Assemblyman Gary Schaer, D-Passaic, the sponsor of the bill. "What's the America I want my grandchildren to inherit?"

The first thing to know about the bill Murphy signed last week is that it will not exclude any citizen from getting a scholarship. Grants are awarded based on need, and anyone who qualifies gets one.

What it will do is increase costs. The Office of Legislative Services puts the number at $4.5 million, but that assumes no increase in the number of undocumented students enrolling in college. That's not realistic, given that the purpose of the bill is to help more of them enroll. So, let's assume the cost is double that, or $9 million.

Is it worth it? It's a fair question, in tough budget times.

Start by putting the number in perspective. The state spends $9 million every two hours, roughly. The surplus in Murphy's budget is $743 million, so reducing that by $9 million is not exactly a run on the bank.

Gov. Chris Christie spent more than $9 million paying a fancy law firm to produce a whitewash of his sins during the Bridgegate scandal. Republicans didn't complain about that.

But they did complain about this bill, which drew almost no GOP support. The charge was led by Assemblyman Jay Webber, R-Morris, who is running for Congress.

"Treating non-citizens better than citizens, I think, is fundamentally wrong," he said.

I can't argue with that principle. But the bill does nothing of the sort. It does the opposite, putting everyone on an even-footing by opening the door to undocumented immigrants who graduate high school here, after at least three years in New Jersey.

Webber is the guy who is fundamentally wrong. I called and e-mailed him repeatedly over two days, at his legislative and campaign offices, asking to hear him out. No luck.

But he loves Trump, and now I see the similarity. Running in a GOP primary, he wants to whip up resentment against immigrants to rally the party base -- even if the charge is a Fox News fantasy.

I talked to one of the Dreamers who might benefit from this, Sara Mora, age 21. She's a graduate of Hillside High School who arrived in New Jersey from Costa Rica illegally at the age of four with her parents. Her dad has worked a series of spot jobs, from fixing cars to washing dishes. Her mom cleans houses when her health allows it.

"My mom and dad are really good parents," she says. "But it was rough. They both don't speak English and don't have an education. So, I grew up understanding that I'd have to really work hard if I wanted a different life. But it wasn't unhappy. We made the best of it."

If that does nothing for you, then check your passport to make sure you are American.

Mora has no memory of Costa Rica. Her home is Hillside, and she says she never felt unwelcomed, and is taken aback by the support for Trump.

"I always felt included," she said. "I can honestly say I've never been so focused on the fact that I'm an immigrant until now."

She got through two years of community college before running out of money. Now she's applying for a scholarship, hoping to enroll at Rutgers-Newark in the fall, and maybe become a lawyer someday.

Back to the money: New Jersey spent about $230,000 to educate Mora from kindergarten through high school. Last year, the average award in the state's main college scholarship program was $7,451.

Adding this small increment will likely boost her earnings all her life, and even pay for itself in the long run by generating an average of $1,100 in added tax revenue each year, according to the OLS.

"That's number one - this inures to the benefit of the state," Schaer says.

Schaer's grandfather fled pogroms on Austria to find haven in America. My people fled the potato famine in Ireland. If you try even a little, it's easy to feel kinship with Mora and her family.

Two years ago, Christie went halfway to this point, signing a bill that allowed Dreamers to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities. This just completes the circle.

Assemblyman Jon Bramnick, R-Union, says this bill could have drawn some GOP support if it established a more limited fund for immigrant scholarships, or required that parents show proof of having paid taxes.

"Why can't there be a middle ground?" he asks. "These policies will come back to haunt Democrats."

It's possible, but I doubt it. Polls show that 60 percent of Americans want families like Mora's to have a path to citizenship, and that most view immigration as a net benefit to the country.

Trump speaks for the Republican base, not for America. He's not even trying to reach the rest of us. He's content to watch us rip ourselves apart, as long as he emerges as the winner. And it is nowhere more ugly and obvious than on immigration.

But if you're traveling, please don't pose as Canadian. If anyone asks, just tell them we are much more than Donald Trump.

More: Tom Moran columns

Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
The Trump administration is under fire after White House aide Kelly Sadler mocked Sen. John McCain's battle against brain cancer, dismissing McCain's opposition to Gina Haspel because he's "dying anyway." Many feel Trump should fire Sadler and apologize to McCain. That kind of rhetoric starts at the top. But others feel Trump owes McCain nothing. McCain is the one who said Trump is not invited to his funeral. If anything McCain should apologize to Trump. What do you think?

PERSPECTIVES

Many feel this kind of rhetoric starts at the top. Trump and McCain have a history of discord, with Trump famously claiming McCain was "not a war hero... because he was captured." Trump and Sadler owe McCain a serious apology.

I AM SO ANGRY!



COMMANDER in CHIEF MY ASS!@realDonaldTrump is OKAY w what @kellysadler45 said about John McCain! TRUMP IS NO LEADER!



The insult of SILENCE & NO APOLOGY FROM SPEAKS VOLUMES TRUMP & SERVICE MEMBERS & VETERANS!@USNavy @USMC @USAirForce @USArmy @CNORichardson  #HeSureActsGuilty (@TravelingUS) May 11, 2018

. @kellysadler45 I would advise an apology is in order to the McCain Family and @SenJohnMcCain  Harley Rouda (@HarleyRouda) May 10, 2018

John McCain is a war hero, and whether you respect him as a politician or not, hes always been loyal to America. As opposed to Donald Trump, who committed treason. How dare Kelly Sadler or anyone else in the traitorous Trump administration make fun of McCain because hes dying?  Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) May 10, 2018

But others feel McCain is in no position to play the victim. He's the one who said Trump wouldn't be invited to his funeral. If anything, McCain owes Trump an apology.

McCain says Trump should skip his funeral, wants Obama to deliver his eulogy. I'll bet Obama will even lie then by saying McCain was a good man. McCain traitor to the core. RIP if it's not too hot.  #MAGAhttps://t.co/1MTT31Y29x  Steven3657 (@SF3657) May 6, 2018

John McCain is a very arrogant and bitter man.



McCain has spent many years of his life supporting democrats and betraying the people who voted him into office.



Trump is too busy making America great to attend your funeral...

No need to not invite him.#maga #JohnMcCain  America First (@CoreyLMJones) May 7, 2018

John McCain doesn't want President Trump to attend his funeral.



Imagine that. Leaving the world the same way you came into it.....being a crybaby.#MAGA#SaturdayThoughts  GeorgiaPeach (@Real_PeachyKeen) May 5, 2018

The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Digital, Inc. property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.
New Jersey State Police are investigating a single-vehicle crash that left one person dead in Sussex County on Sunday afternoon.

A State Police supervisor said the car, occupied only by the driver, traveled off Paulinskill Lake Road in Fredon Township and crashed into a tree shortly after 3 p.m.

Authorities did not immediately identify the deceased or the make and model of the vehicle they were driving.

State Police said the crash is under investigation by their Fatal Accident Investigation Unit.

Alexis Johnson may be reached at ajohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @alexisjreports. Find nj.com on Facebook.
In the spring of 1942, America was in the earlier stages of World War II. Germany was fighting a losing battle on the Russian front. As the bitter Russian winter gives way to a muddy Russian spring, Hitler's Panzers were literally bogged down in a quagmire of mud. Great Britain's Royal Air Force was achieving air superiority over the Nazi Luftwaffe. These unexpected setbacks placed "der Fuhrer" in a very embarrassing position. Many Hitler loyalists began to question the concept of a superior ''master race."

On the other side of the world, the Japanese were pressing into Burma. From the Philippine Islands to the Chinese mainland, and most of the islands in between, the Japanese juggernaut moved ever-onward, as the Japanese eagerly expanded their empire. Their advances in the Philippines very effectively cut off one of America's main sources of sugar.

The U.S. government organized the Office of Price Administration, or, as we all called it, "the OPA." On the,4th of May, and for the ensuing weeks of early May, 1942, millions of Americans lined up in school houses, fire houses, and other public places to register with their local rationing board. Sugar is the first of many heretofore commodities to be taken-for-granted, was added to the list for rationing. "War Ration Book One" was issued by the OPA. Each person was allotted one half pound of butter per person per week.

High schools all over America were graduating students. Most able-bodied male graduates would be inducted into the military. Indeed, some of those students, including my older brother Leonard Glover, would be one of those in the class to be immediately taken into the military and given a high school diploma in absentia.

When the senior class began practicing for the June commencement exercises, the theme for the 1942 commencement was "America Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow." Like nearly every high school during those frightening times, Hamilton's twelfth annual commencement would be built around a patriotic theme: The school newspaper, "The Criterion," visited Charles Mitchell's print shop for one of the articles in the June issue. It told of the print shop students' hard work in printing up the commencement program: "The boys in print shop are busy putting together an eight page commencement program." On the inside front cover of the program, an appropriate poem by Katharine Garrison Chapman was chosen:

"With hand still unshaken by the air alarm in the night,

With ear not yet grown acute to the distant gun,

With breath not yet constricted, take up your tools again,

Saying, 'Tell them again, American'

Say it again 'till it splits their ears.

Freedom is salt in our blood;

If freedom fails, we'll fight for more freedom;

This is the land, and these are the years!"

On the evening of June 16, 1942, the class of 1942 wended their war to Trenton's War Memorial building for the commencement ceremony. One must wonder what was on the minds of those young male graduates. Each had a military obligation to satisfy. Surely it was a frightening prospect.

Instrumental music teacher Harlan Darling' Hamilton High band opened the ceremony with a stirring rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner." All the graduates had heard anthem countless times, but this time there seemed to be something relevant and soul-stirring. A spirit of patriotism permeated the auditorium.

The Reverend Thomas O'Dea delivered the invocation, beseeching Almighty God to be with America in these troubled times of war, and asking that He look over the many boys would will soon be in the thick of the combat.

Class president Chester Feehan stepped up to the podium and announced the theme for the twelfth commencement of Hamilton High School. Mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers fixed their eyes on that special graduate. Many of those boys would be in uniform before the ink dried on their diplomas. As the class of '42 marched out of Trenton's War Memorial to the majestic strains of Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance, there were many mixed emotions.

Not a small number of mothers and fathers had tear-filled eyes as the class passed by in review. How many of these boys would go off to war? How many would see combat? How many would never return?

*****

Mark your calendars: My singing partner Jack Pyrah and I will be presenting an evening of music beginning next Monday evening May 27 and every Sunday in June, July and August from 6 to 7:30 PM at Kuser Park as we begin our 13th summer music concerts. Along with patriotic songs, and songs of faith and inspiration, we will be remembering the songs of Perry Como, Joni James, Frank Sinatra and other "easy listening" numbers from what I call the "great American song book." The program is free to any and all within traveling distance of the park, with entrances on Newkirk Avenue and also on Kuser Road. Bring a folding chair of blanket and come enjoy a lovely evening of music!

Born and raised in Hamilton, Tom Glover is past president of the Hamilton Township Historical Society and currently works at the Hamilton Township Public Library as local historian in the library's Local History Collection. Visit Tom's websites www.glover320.blogspot.com which has over 900,000 visits, also www.hhs51.blogspot.com. And www.kuser-school.blogspot.com and his Facebook pages for interesting links and many items of local history and nostalgia. Tom can be reached at tglover320@optimum.net
Local officials unveiled details Friday about a long-awaited new ferry route set to debut between Carteret and New York -- including when the boat could hit the water.

The Federal Transit Administration awarded a grant earlier this week to NJ Transit to purchase a 299-seat ferry for the proposed Carteret to Manhattan route. Officials came to Waterfront Park on the Arthur Kill to talk about the $6 million grant to buy a boat.

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez and Carteret Mayor Daniel Reiman answer questions Friday about the borough's proposed ferry service to New York as U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone listens. (Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, D-N.J., worked with borough officials for 22 years to get funding to build a ferry terminal, parking and a dock next to Waterfront Park.

Carteret Mayor Daniel J. Reiman is already looking ahead to adding additional ferries for the route.

"There is additional state and federal funding for other boats, if the city owns the boats," Reiman said.

Here are five things to know about the new ferry route:

1) Who will use the new ferry?

It's not just for Carteret, local officials said.

From the beginning, Carteret's ferry was planned as a regional service that would serve nearby Union and Somerset counties in addition to Middlesex County, Reiman said.

A terminal to be built on 10 acres next to Waterfront Park is designed to accommodate three NJ Transit commuter bus routes and parking for 1,000 vehicles.

"This is designed for growth, in Carteret and in central Jersey, up to 1,000 people a day will use the boat," Reiman said. "Our plan calls for a large-scale operation."

Ultimately, Carteret's ferry terminal could be transportation hub that would also bring passengers from New York to New Jersey, Reiman said.

"It's a 50-minute trip. For us, long term, we're looking for two to three boats," he said.

2) When will the ferry begin running?

Ferry service could begin in as little as 18 months, officials said.

The $6 million Federal Transit Administration grant was made to NJ Transit. The agency will purchase a 299-seat ferry and lease it to Carteret for $1, Reiman said.

Meanwhile, environmental cleanup of the 10-acre ferry terminal and parking site is expected to be completed by the end of the year, when construction of ferry facilities could begin, Reiman said.

A large oil tanker on the Arthur Kill passes Waterfront Park in Carteret, site of a new ferry route.(Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

It could take about three to four years to release the FTA funds and build a new vessel.

But, officials can hire a ferry operator to run service with their vessels until the borough's ferry is ready.

"Nothing stops us from drawing down the existing federal money we have, to provide ferry service as soon as 18 months," Reiman said.

The ferry fare could be comparable to NJ Transit fares, he said.

3) Is this ferry needed?

Ferry service will take commuters off crowded road, buses and trains, Menendez said.

A recent Port Authority study of Trans-Hudson River transportation showed that ferries have the capacity to grow and move more people.

"More ferry service from different parts of the state is critical to overall transportation mobility, it's critical to economic opportunities and critical to get to jobs," Menendez said. "I'm a strong proponent of the national ferry program because we know ferries work."

4) Will the ferry terminal create more traffic?

The borough has agreements with developers of condos and townhouses that have been built or are proposed to fund a jitney bus to and from the ferry terminal, so borough residents won't have to drive there.

Waterfront Park and the terminal are located about one mile from New Jersey Turnpike Exit 12, connected by a wide industrial road, that can move traffic and keep it off local streets, Reiman said

5) What's next?

The ferry terminal is part of a bigger plan to make the borough a destination. New residential development has already been built across the street from Waterfront Park and more is coming.

A $12 million Marriott Hotel on Roosevelt Avenue will begin construction by the end of 2018. Construction of the Carteret Performing Arts Center will begin in the coming weeks and is intended to be the centerpiece of a new arts district.

The new development could generate ridership to the borough by ferry, Reiman said.

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto and Coroner Gerry Cvitanovich will hold a news conference Monday morning (May 14) to address the ongoing investigation into the death of Keeven Robinson.

Robinson, 22, died Thursday after being taken into custody by deputies in connection with an undercover drug investigation. Deputies arrested Robinson following a pursuit that involved two wrecked police vehicles and a foot chase, authorities said.

On Friday night, family members, friends and supporters crowded on Arnoult Street in Metairie to remember the life of Keeven "Maxx" Robinson and to demand answers as to exactly how he died while in the custody of deputies.

An autopsy was scheduled for Saturday. Robinson's relatives had the opportunity to have their own physician present, a standard policy for in-custody deaths, according to Cvitanovich.
A 23-year-old man was shot on Elysian Fields Avenue close to the intersection of Abundance Street, near Interstate 610, on Saturday evening (May 12), according to New Orleans Police.

The man arrived at a hospital in a private vehicle, according to NOPD, which sent out an alert about the shooting at about 7:45 p.m. No further information was immediately available about the shooting or the severity of the man's injuries.

According to a preliminary police report, the victim was driving near the 3100 block of Spain Street about 7:15 p.m., when a black car pulled up next to him and a man got out of the car. The victim tried to drive away, but the man starting shooting at the car, striking the victim once, according to NOPD.

At the scene, police seemed to focus their investigation on a black car stopped on the raised portion of Elysian Fields Avenue, where police had partially blocked off the southbound lane The car appeared to still be running.

A young man who walked up to the police tape said he was at his friend's house on Spain Street when he heard "a bunch of shots." He said there were at least 8 shots fired, and he and his friend got down on the ground.

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A few blocks away, NOPD appeared to be working another scene on Spain Street, where police put up yellow crime tape between Benefit and Treasure streets. It was not immediately clear if the two scenes were connected, but NOPD spokeswoman Ambria Washington later confirmed the scene on Spain Street was related to the shooting on Elysian Fields.

Three men were sitting outside a home near the scene and said they didn't see what happened, but heard gunshots close by.

"A lot of guys lose their lives over nothing," one man said, shaking his head.

Note: This story was updated Saturday night to include additional information from NOPD.
St. Augustine held a scrimmage Saturday afternoon at Tulane and 2020 receiver Khi Mathieu left fans in attendance with something to talk about.

Late in the afternoon, Mathieu, the cousin of Houston Texans and former LSU star Tyrann Mathieu, and went up for a jump ball and corralled it with one hand with a defender draped all over him.

Mathieu, who is fresh off of an MVP performance at The Opening in Dallas, made a couple difficult catches in the scrimmage.

Take a look at the video above to see the receiver's spectacular grab.
Joseph and Katherine Maggio, who operated an Uptown grocery store and saloon, were the victims of a sadistic killer a century ago this month. It was not the first axe murder in the city in the era, and it would not be the last, but the attack on the Maggios in May of 1918 is often thought of as the first clearly attributable to the so-called Axeman who terrorized New Orleans for more than a year. The case had a number of clues that had initially seemed significant to investigators, but it was never solved -- perhaps in part because of a turn of events at the Police Department that were equally tragic and equally strange.

The Maggios lived at 1901 Magnolia St., at the corner of Magnolia and Upperline; their residence adjoined the bar and grocery, as was common at corner stores at the time. The married couple, known to their customers as Mr. and Mrs. Joe, had no children, but Joseph Maggio's younger brother Andrew, a barber, lived with them.

Joseph and Katherine Maggio were still awake when Andrew Maggio went to sleep in the next room on the night of May 22, 1918. At around 4:45 a.m. the next day, Andrew Maggio woke up, he later told the police. He heard loud moaning coming from the next room. He pounded on the wall but received no response.

Panicked, Andrew Maggio left the house. He sprinted a block away to the house of another brother, Jacob Maggio. The two then got yet another brother, Salvadore Maggio. A full half-hour after Andrew Maggio had woken up with a start, the three entered the bedroom of Joseph and Katherine Maggio.

"Lying diagonally across the bed, with his feet touching the floor, was the body of Joseph Maggio," wrote the New Orleans States in that afternoon's edition. "On the floor alongside the bed and resting across the feet of her husband lay the dead body of his wife. The floors and bed were smeared with blood. The man was not yet dead. Jake Maggio summoned the police, while Andrew telephoned for the Charity Hospital ambulance. He died shortly after the arrival of the internes (sic) from the hospital."

Robbery was initially believed to be the motive, but it didn't quite add up. A metal box holding the day's receipts, estimated to be less than $50 by police, had been smashed. Investigators thought it odd that the killer or killers had ignored jewelry in the home. A safe was open but showed no signs of forced entry, but whether it contained money was unclear; Maggio had recently deposited $650 into a bank, the most he had ever put in at one time.

The killer was thought to have hopped a fence surrounding the house, then gained entry by prying out a panel in an exterior door. The intruder grabbed the Maggios' axe from the backyard and took it inside the house. He passed through the kitchen, went down a hallway and then entered the room where Joseph and Katherine Maggio were presumably asleep. He had first attacked Joseph Maggio and then attacked his wife.

The police were stumped by the fact that no one in the house had heard the attack. Blood had been splattered more than 7 feet up the wall. Had Andrew Maggio really slept through it? And why did he not enter his brother's bedroom immediately?

Several clues soon surfaced. The screwdriver used to chisel out the door panel was recovered from the back yard. In a yard next door, a blood-soaked suit and socks were found, as was a bloody razor. A block down the street, Detectives Theodore Obitz and Harry Dodson discovered cryptic words written on the sidewalk in chalk: "Mrs. Maggio is going to sit up tonight, just like Mrs. Tony."

One rudimentary theory by police was that the killer was simply insane. Another was that it was an inside job.

Andrew Maggio was held for questioning, and he soon was identified by the press as a suspect. The razor was similar to one he had taken home from his barber shop. (Evidence seemed to suggest that the Maggios had been killed with a razor and that the axe was used to mutilate the bodies to obfuscate that fact.) More damning was the discovery of a blood-stained shirt at his house.

Unexplained in the theory that Andrew Maggio had killed his brother and sister-in-law is why he would have needed to break into the house where he lived. Still, "formal charges probably will be lodged against him," police told The Times-Picayune. He was prevented from going to the funeral and was instead subjected to four hours of questioning by police.

But the case against him soon fell apart. The razor was determined not to be the one Andrew Maggio had taken home to hone. The stains on the shirt were from wine, not blood, spilled when Maggio had gotten drunk at a wedding the year before. He broke down and cried under interrogation, telling police his brother had raised him after their father died. Andrew Maggio was released from police custody May 25, two days after the killing.

"The case has taken a peculiar turn," New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Frank Mooney told the States. "It has become more interesting from the standpoint of the investigators. It promises to develop into a most perplexing one, but our hope for a solution is still bright. Tomorrow we will take up another phase."

The killing of Joseph and Katherine Maggio was never solved. But the case did take up another phase the next day, just hours after Andrew Maggio's release from jail. At 3 a.m. on May 26, Dodson and Obitz, the detectives who discovered the writing in chalk on the sidewalk a block from where Joseph and Katherine Maggio had been killed, were sitting on a stoop at Baronne and Calliope streets while investigating a series of robberies in the neighborhood. A man approached them. Dodson and Obitz "accosted" him, according to news reports about the incident, and a gunbattle began. Obitz, 38, was shot through the heart and died.

In the aftermath, two innocent men who were mistakenly identified as having been the man confronted at Baronne and Calliope were shot dead by police, who faced no legal consequences for the killings. Four days after the fatal shooting of Obitz, a teenager named Frank Bailey was arrested as a suspect at a house at the corner of Liberty and Perdido streets.

"Will the death of Detective Theodore Obitz handicap the police in their pursuit of evidence upon which to lay a foundation for disclosing the murderer or murderers of Joseph Maggio and his wife, who were hacked to death with an axe last Thursday morning in their bedroom of Magnolia and Upperline streets?" the States asked in a front-page story published May 28. "Obitz was one of the most active of the investigators in the Maggio mystery, and is said to have possessed some information that might lead to its solution."

Bailey confessed to several robberies and to shooting Obitz, though at trial he changed his story and said he had falsely admitted to the killing of the officer because he was being tortured by police. He didn't deny firing his gun in the shootout. But Obitz, Bailey said at trial, had actually been shot by Dodson, the other officer.

The jury didn't buy it. Frank Bailey was convicted of murder in the death of Theodore Obitz and sentenced to die at the old Parish Prison. He was executed just over two years later, on Aug. 13, 1920. He was 18 years old.

Before going to the gallows, Bailey angrily denounced the prosecution.

"Detective Harry Dodson, partner of Obitz, was the man who killed him," Bailey told the States in a jailhouse interview published the day before he was hanged. "One of the bullets fired by Dodson struck Obitz in the head as he was shooting at me. I fired three shots as I ran, but I am sure none of them took effect. I fired as I ran and could not take aim.

"But if I am to die for the murder of Obitz, who is going to pay the penalty for the deaths of Louis Johnson and Abraham Price, two innocent negroes who were shot down while they were hunting me?

"When I have been executed, nothing will have been taken out of this world Friday. Most persons who hang are expected to make a last request. I will make none; not to the people of Louisiana. But I will make it to God. He hears; the public do not. I am going to walk to the gallows without a whimper. If there is such a thing as a spirit coming back to earth, I do not want to come back."








This is the story below in 3 parts.





1. A long frontal boundary is hovering over the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Straits. The front is dead in the water and has lingered too long and something could develop at the tail end of the front. The area is highlighted on one of our guides below, but the NHC has not yet blinked and put up a yellow circle anywhere.









2. Note the area down by Panama (which my son says is a great place to visit) has a small purple swatch of color. No one pays attention to it because they are all watching the the blob over South Florida. In fact the stronger chance of development comes later this week in the Caribbean. Now, this area could float West into the EPAC (Eastern Pacific for Newbies) and develop there as often happens this time of year. It's kind of a crap shoot at this point what happens, but the only certain thing is we will be all be watching and trying to provide you with the best information while keeping it simple and/or trying to entertain you and ourselves a bit.





Again Part 1









Part 2









I want to explain something here on Mother's Day before I head out in search of what really makes me smile and looking forward to that as my husband said the other day "find a place by the Beach for Mother's Day" and I did..There are two issues here going on and it's important not to be distracted by what seems like the details. There is a blob of rain over the SE GOM spreading up over most of Florida. A room by the beach in the Florida Keys or Miami Beach today would be only a day a storm chaser would love. But you grab the sunshine while you can and there's always lots to do inside. Spread the money around in restaurants, stores and bars and help the economy a long a bit today while making mother happy. If your mother has passed on or wasn't a stellar mother then go out and celebrate the day, because without her you would not be here. One thing we all have in common is a mother or a mother surrogate of some kind who nurtured us or didn't. This blog is not going the way I wanted it go to. Let's go back to the weather.1. An area of disturbed weather that is harassing Floridians today. The area looks almost organized yet it is not it is mostly a blob. As it moves North it has a window of opportunity where it could develop close in to the Florida coast somewhere between the Big Bend and the Panhandle Beaches. Time will tell. Today is a good day to listen to Jimmy Buffet. There are models I could show you but I won't as I'm waiting to hit the road and still trying to figure out which make up to bring. Really. Models come and models go and in the end when dealing with a possible May GOM system it's best to watch the system. See the map below. If you do not live in that part of Florida this system is all about rain and not a name or designation.A shout out to Mike from www.spaghettimodels.com fame as he complained a while back that TWC was getting too preachy and sounding too much like a science class. What he means (I'm good at being his translator) it's getting boring and depressing. Enough already. Every time I turn it on they are either trying to teach me how clouds rise up in the sky or showing horrible stories about babies being left in a hot car. One of the reasons I used to LOVE TWC is that I didn't have to watch depressing local news stories on the news or 24 hour cable news. It showed a progression of fronts and storms and they talked about weather all the time. I don't want to hear every sad story out there and there are many great outlets available to teach people how to keep their dogs water bowl filled and to get an APP to remind them their crying child finally fell asleep or that their mother fell down and needs a necklace she does NOT want to wear to call the paramedics that she fell down. I have also had enough of the pillow guy (that one is for Jim at www.hurricanecity.com ) TWC was NOT supposed to be the Home Shopping Club. And, spoiler alert if you are sitting at home watching The Weather Channel you probably know how clouds form and that's why you are watching cause you want to see what the WEATHER is, will be or might be. Just do the fricking weather report; play some good music and feel free to do great chit chat like Dave Schwartz used to do WHILE showing us the WEATHER.As for my mother and those who mothered me properly it seems to have taken a village. I was raised living next door to my Grandma Mary and my Aunt Ada and I don't have to tell you how there was something special about my Grandma Mary ... as we have spoken on that enough. They each in their way imparted lessons to me in life about giving the dog water, walking the dog and worrying to death over leaving the baby in a parked car or the shopping cart in Publix (a reoccurring dream I used to have when I was a young mother) and they gave me a love for weather, the South, the beach and family. So here's to you Mother, Aunt Ada and Grandma Mary I am who I am from your joint efforts. Thank you. Sadly they are only here in memories and pictures. That's me as a very young mother obviously too clueless and tired to put some make up on or brush my hair for a picture but the issue that day was my oldest child and being together as family.Happy Mother's Day and enjoy the day whether you have good memories or bad ones ... whether you have kids or you don't and weather you like the pillow guy or are also annoyed with TWC as I had put actually put on News this morning rather than watch TWC because there wasn't any weather going on today...Besos BobbiStorm@bobbistorm on TwitterPs... as a special present to me I am not editing this today and may I suggest as a nation we stop fighting because we have different political views. Spoiler Alert that is why we have multiple parties and people who are Independents. Get back to the way it was when you could sit out on the porch and smoke a cigar or have a good drink while talking weather and politics with people you don't always vote the same as but who you like anyway!

Labels: beach, bobbistorm, hurricanecity, life, mothersday, rain, rant, spaghettimodels, tropics, TWC, weather
Gresham Police are asking for the public's help in locating a man wanted on an attempted murder charge after he allegedly rammed a police officer's vehicle last month.



Police say 36-year-old Vasile Manta is the previously unidentified suspect who, using a stolen minivan, rammed an officer's vehicle the night of April 30. According to police, the stolen minivan was spotted by an officer in a parking lot near Southwest Highland Drive and Southwest 11th St. The driver of the van rammed the officer's vehicle, then fled westbound on Powell Boulevard.

When the minivan got stuck on a median near the 17800 block of Powell Boulevard, the driver ran from the scene. The suspect was, according to police, armed with a gun at the time.

While chasing the man, the officer fired his gun. The officer, who is on paid administrative leave, was not identified by Gresham police. A spokesman said there was an incident that occurred to cause the officer to fire his weapon, but no details were released pending an investigation.

Despite a search of the area, the suspect was not found that night.



Manta is described as a white male, 5-foot-10-inches tall, 180 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Police said he should be considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone with information on Manta's whereabouts should contact Gresham Police at 503-618-2719. If you see him, call 911.

-- Samantha Swindler

@editorswindler / 503-294-4031

sswindler@oregonian.com
Mike Abbate recently announced his resignation as director of Portland Parks and Recreation ("Portland parks director resigns," May 7). I have known Abbate for almost 30 years. Full disclosure, he was my business partner for 10 years in a landscape architecture firm. I have worked with a variety of elected officials, government agencies, nonprofits, community organizations and private sector leaders throughout Oregon.

I would say based on that experience and knowing Abbate on a personal level, he is a person of rare and utmost integrity, and has vision for planning park systems and livable, sustainable communities that are inclusive, environmentally responsible while recognizing economic constraints and opportunities. The city has lost a strong leader, which it can ill-afford.

-- Mike Faha, Northeast Portland
By KATHLEEN PARKER

WASHINGTON -- There he was, the president of the United States, greeting the three American hostages who had just stepped back on U.S. soil after being released by North Korea, and Donald Trump couldn't help himself.

"It's very early in the morning," he noted to reporters. "I think you probably broke the all-time-in-history television rating for 3 o'clock in the morning."

Of course, he did.

The freed hostages, who had spent from one to three years in labor camps, must have felt like they had landed on Pluto. Still, they seemed happy. They were free, after all. And, big bonus: Melania was there, too.

My first thought when I saw the first lady, I confess, was: hostage exchange. But then I remembered how delighted she had seemed sitting next to Barack Obama at Barbara Bush's funeral, smiling and laughing. And, I thought, nah, there's still a chance she might see her husband's predecessor again.

Living in North Korea isn't exactly a vacation, but you wouldn't know that from listening to Trump. A month ahead of his summit with Kim Jong Un, Trump lauded the North Korean leader for his generosity, hospitality and awesome niceness.

"And he was nice in letting them go before the meeting," said Trump. "I mean, frankly, we didn't think this was going to happen, and it did."

And do we wonder why it happened? When it comes to unstable dictators seeking attention and approval from an unstable president, who can claim to divine motivations or predict outcomes? History isn't of much help with Kim, nor are assurances, or the lack thereof, from North Korean officials.

Do we really believe that Kim will give up his nukes? Asia experts are skeptical. Bonnie Glaser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies has said that the North Koreans "have still said nothing to indicate that they are willing to give up their nuclear weapons."

Whatever happens before or after this historic summit, it's the first between a current North Korean leader and a sitting U.S. president. Trump legitimately, if potentially briefly, gets to enjoy this anticipated breakthrough as a seminal event in his administration. After last year's contest of crazy talk between these two showboaters, Trump can rightfully boast that his tough rhetoric and intense pressure helped lead to the also-historic recent meeting between North and South Korea.

North Korea rejects any such notions. In a toast to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to Pyongyang, the director of North Korea's United Front Department said, "We have perfected our nuclear capability. It is our policy to concentrate all efforts into economic progress. ... This is not the result of sanctions that have been imposed from outside."

What else would a spokesman say?

Trump, meanwhile, has bragged that he had done what Obama couldn't in getting the hostages released. Then again, it's hard to release someone who hasn't been taken hostage yet. Two were arrested after Obama's watch, which would mean during Trump's.

Also, it was during Trump's presidency that 22-year-old university student Otto Warmbier was returned to the U.S. in a coma after 17 months in a North Korean prison -- and died a few days later. On balance, this would seem to diminish somewhat Trump's bragging rights, at least out of respect for Warmbier's parents, who, one imagines, might have suffered a little upon seeing the healthier hostages return home when their son had no such happy ending. Warmbier apparently had been so severely beaten for the crime of trying to remove a government sign as a souvenir that he was doomed.

Trump being Trump, the president was able to put that ugly episode behind him, distort the facts, and boast about something that wasn't true in the run-up to his face-to-face with Kim, a fateful meeting of potentially portentous consequences. Or not.

If Kim really does want to join the civilized world, restore his economy, feed his people and make nice with his neighbors -- and if Trump succeeds in effectively securing peace in the region -- then he will deserve one of the biggest nonmilitary parade any century has ever seen. The media will fill the streets with champagne and shatter the sky with air horns, while thousands of women converge on the Mall to toss their pink kitty hats into a bonfire that will burn until 3 o'clock in the morning.

Then, and only then, Trump will have earned the peace prize -- and more. And he can stand before the world and proudly proclaim that he has finally reached his goal. No one will ever surpass his ratings on this day, on this night, ever.

Kathleen Parker's email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com.

(c) 2018, Washington Post Writers Group
A 17-year-old boy Portland Police had reported missing on Saturday has been found. Jacob Verlo has been located and reunited with his family, according to an update sent from police Sunday.

The Portland Police Bureau's Missing Persons Unit on Saturday asked for help from the public in finding Verlo.

Police had responded to Randall Children's Hospital at Legacy Emanuel at 10:16 a.m. Saturday, taking a report that Verlo left the hospital while awaiting treatment.

-- Kristi Turnquist
Over 4,000 dogs and 7,000 canine fans flooded Portland's Tom McCall Waterfront Park for the Oregon Humane Society's 2018 Doggie Dash Saturday morning.

The two main features of the event were the Doggie Dash Classic, a 1.5-mile walk, and the Bridge to Bridge, a 2.5-mile fun run and walk.

After the two massive dog walks, a variety of competitions ensued, including a musical chairs sitting contest, talent challenge, costume contest and a peanut butter lick-off challenge.

To help out with transportation, TriMet allowed dogs on all trains and buses until 2 p.m.

The goal of the event is to raise money to house pets, fight animal cruelty and heal pet injuries. This year, a record high of more than $700,000 was collected as the Oregon Humane Society celebrates its 150th year anniversary.

--Mark Graves
Commuters traveling between Oregon and Washington via the Interstate Bridge might want to plan on the trip taking a bit longer than usual. According to the Oregon Department of Transportation, high water in the Columbia River is contributing to more Interstate Bridge lifts.

On Saturday, for example, there were six Interstate Bridge lifts, according to an ODOT press release. The lifts have to do with a rising river level, caused by warm temperatures melting snow.

With more high temperatures predicted for the coming week, ODOT predicts that river levels will keep rising, possibly by another three feet.

So, if you're traveling across the Interstate Bridge in the coming week, don't be surprised by more bridge lifts than usual, though, according to ODOT, weekday bridge lifts during morning and afternoon commute times will still be prohibited.

-- Kristi Turnquist
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Model, social media star, and native New Yorker Alexis Jae is a style icon at 19 years old who is unafraid of experimenting with trends and moving from one bold look to the next. Part of her stylish flare she gets from her mama, Jennice Jae, who she says is a supporter of local artisanal designers.

Related | Tyra Banks and Her Mom Recreate Iconic Mother-Daughter Duos

"She knew BOND Hardware before me and she saw that I did a photoshoot for them," Jae tells PAPER. "She was like 'Oh my gosh! You did a shoot for them!'" She told the Brooklyn-based jewelry brand's co-owners Dana Hurwitz and Mariah Pershadsingh about her mom's love for their fearless,"aggressively minimalist" accessories, and they decided to do a mother-daughter collaboration for BOND's new "Single Blade" collection  with the photos (taken by Pershadsingh) exclusively released on PAPER.

Hurwitz began designing BOND's looks as a student at Pratt Institute. It was born out of creations for herself, Pershadsingh, and friends when attending warehouse parties and "Susanne Bartsch-type" functions. The young designer wanted to make visually expressive accessories that could be worn formally as well as casually. It was nothing big at the time. "But then Sharon Needles won the first season [of RuPaul's Drag Race] and she wore one of the pieces from our prototype collection to a rooftop party at Le Bain celebrating her win."



Related | The World According to RuPaul

And while many of their previous designs took gothic inspiration, their new collection is a lot more sculptural and abstract. In 2018, BOND is turning a new leaf in terms of production by having everything crafted in New York City and made with nickel-free silver and metals, which the brand believes is much more appealing for mothers who want pieces that last  BONDs that last.

Pershadsingh says that this particular photo shoot was a good way of testing the question of "Would my mom wear it?" And as we can see with Mrs. Jae, mom certainly can.

Photos courtesy of BOND Hardware
Two years ago Patently Apple posted a report covering Apple's CEO and Jeff Williams being in India on business meeting with India's wireless carriers that were planning a huge push into 4G which would open the door for Apple's iDevices. We noted that a Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile operator, were in talks with Apple for a broader strategic tie-up.

Today we're learning that one of India's wireless carriers, Reliance Jio Infocomm, has filed a complaint against Bharti Airtel with the Department of Telecom (DoT), alleging that this major telecom is offering eSIM service on Apple Watch Series 3 in violation of license norms and demanded immediate closure of the service.

India's Livemint further noted that Reliance Jio stated in a letter to DoT that "Apple Watch Series 3 service is being offered by Airtel in deliberate and gross violation to the terms and conditions of Unified License."

Both, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are selling Apple Watch Series 3 from 11 May through their sales channels. Apple Watch and iPhone of a subscriber share the same number and subscribers can use both iPhone and Apple Watch with eSIM to make or receive calls independent of the call status of the other devices.

The eSIM is paired with the SIM in iPhone wirelessly through a dedicated network node. The node used for eSIM profile allocation contains network and user information such as operator identifier, SIM details, PIN, remote file management for managing SIM files remotely etc.

Reliance Jio alleged that Airtel has not set-up the eSIM provisioning node within India and the node being used to provide Apple Watch Series 3 service is currently located out of India in "gross violation to the license terms."

The report doesn't explain what advantage Indian based Airtel would gain by setting up the service outside the country, but to be sure, the issue is causing a lot of tension in the wireless sector. For more on this, read the full Livemint report here.

The tension is also rising on a different front regarding eSIM cards. Patently Apple posted a report in April titled "The DOJ is investigating all Major U.S. Carriers over collusion to thwart eSIM cards." The report noted that "In February, the Justice Department issued demands to AT&T, Verizon and the G.S.M.A., a mobile industry standards-setting group, for information on potential collusion to thwart a technology known as eSIM."

One of Apple's initial patents on an eSIM card and system was covered by Patently Apple in December 2012. One of Apple's first granted patents regarding eSIM and Multi-SIM last December.

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.
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Europeans Move To Protect Firms From Renewed U.S. Sanctions On Iran

05/13/18

Source: RFE/RL

European nations are moving to protect their companies from a resumption of stiff U.S. sanctions on firms doing business in Iran, in a critical part of their bid to keep the Iranian nuclear deal alive and ensure it continues to benefit Iran's economy.



cartoon by Behrang Jeddi, Iranian daily Ghanoon



British Prime Minister Theresa May's spokeswoman said U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call late on May 11 that talks are needed to discuss how the renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil and banking sectors will affect European companies operating in the country under terms of the 2015 nuclear deal that Trump has now abandoned.



Britain, France, and Germany -- along with Russia and China -- all have said they remain committed to honoring the deal and believe it remains the best way to ensure Iran does not resume development of nuclear weapons.



Iranian President Hassan Rohani also has said Iran will continue honoring the deal's curbs on its nuclear activities, but only so long as Iran's economy continues to benefit from the sanctions relief that was authorized under the deal and which enabled European companies to start doing business in Iran again in 2016.



Rohani is asking the European powers for guarantees that the benefits will continue in the future -- something that is possible only if European businesses are able to continue operating in Iran.



Germany and France, in particular, have established significant trade links with Iran. Both countries have asked the U.S. Treasury Department to consider exempting their companies from the sanctions.



If the United States continues to threaten fines against companies for violating the sanctions, France's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on May 10 that European Union states would propose sanctions-blocking measures to the European Commission to protect their companies.



"Do we accept extraterritorial sanctions? The answer is no," Le Maire told reporters in Paris, adding that France won't accept the "vassalization of Europe" by U.S. officials bent on reimposing sanctions on Iran.



Le Maire said he was seeking U.S. exemptions for French countries already present in Iran, including Renault, Total, Sanofi, Danone, and Peugeot.



He said he told U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that if he doesn't exempt the French companies, he should consider a so-called grandfather clause for deals struck in Iran since 2015 or an extension of the 90-day period the Treasury Department has set to wind down operations in Iran.

#IranDeal "I have convened a ministerial meeting with the FMs of Germany @HeikoMaas, France @JY_LeDrian , UK @BorisJohnson for next Tuesday in Brussels. First the three of them with me, and then we will meet with Iran FM @JZarif" @FedericaMog  #JCPOA #SOU2018 pic.twitter.com/E19WCmHfpk  European External Action Service - EEAS  (@eu_eeas) May 11, 2018

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz had also asked for exemptions to help German companies, Handelsblatt newspaper reported.



Much is at stake for both countries. French exports to Iran doubled to 1.5 billion euros last year, driven by sales of aircraft and automobile parts, according to customs data.



Exports of German goods to Iran rose by around 400 million euros to 3 billion euros. Around 120 German firms have operations with their own staff in Iran, including industrial giant Siemens, and some 10,000 other German companies trade with Iran.



But while France said it was ready to fight the U.S. sanctions with European countermeasures, German officials said each company will have to examine the legal implications of continuing business in Iran and make their own decision about whether to stay in Iran or honor the U.S. sanctions.



"We are ready to talk to all the companies concerned about what we can do to minimize the negative consequences" of the U.S. sanctions, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told Deutschlandfunk radio. "That means, it is concretely about damage limitation."



The new U.S. ambassador in Berlin, Richard Grenell, has been warning German companies to heed the U.S. sanctions. He was quoted by Germany's Bild newspaper as saying firms should question the morality of doing business with Iran.



"Germany, France, and Britain -- the 'EU3' -- say themselves that Iran poses a threat. Do they want to do business with a threat?" he asked.



Iran was also seeking information on May 10 about the impact of U.S. sanctions on European businesses. It asked Europe's Airbus plane manufacturer to announce whether it will go ahead with a deal to sell Iran dozens of passenger planes following the U.S. pullout.



That appears unlikely after Mnuchin said this week that he intends to revoke licenses for the Airbus sales as well as planned plane sales by U.S. manufacturer Boeing.



Meanwhile, Russia moved on May 10 to accelerate planned economic ties with Iran. The Kremlin said that Russia and its ex-Soviet allies in the European Economic Union will sign a free-trade pact with Iran next week.



The grouping includes Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan.



With reporting by Reuters and AP
My attention has been drawn to a story published by the website "www.thenewstateman.com" titled "Real Estate Collections: London's Property Market receives it's new top customer, Gyankroma Akufo-Addo from Ghana at a whopping 9.3m".



This publication is nothing but an outright lie and a total fabrication. I do not own any properties in London or in any part of the world, let alone own a "5 bed Edwardian palatial" building, valued at 9.3 million mansion.



It is important to state that this website, purposely built for publishing falsehoods, is the same website that indicated recently that my father, President Akufo-Addo, was bringing a bill to Parliament to legalise same-sex marriage - another fabrication.



Obviously the strategy by political opponents is to bandy more of such baseless stories and falsehoods around, employing the use of fake websites, with the aim of creating disaffection for the President and his administration.



I urge the good people of Ghana to ignore this and other publications from this fake news portal, and treat it with the contempt that it deserves.



......signed......

Gyankroma Akufo-Addo







Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The new Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is said to have increased transparency in governance since his assumption into office. His critics cite his outreach to opposition political parties, journalists and human rights activists as a good move.



Thousands of prisoners have been released since January. Prominent Ethiopian journalist and human rights activist, Eskinder Nega has not seen his wife and son, both settled in the United States, for 5 years. In total, hes spent nearly 9 years behind bars.



They wanted to break my spirit, they want to break the spirit of political prisoners. They want you to say, I finally give up, its too much for me, Ive suffered enough. In this story, Im happy to say that they didnt break my spirit and thats why Im talking to you, Nega said.



Eskinder is one of the founders of one of the first opposition newspapers. In 2011, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison on anti-terrorist law charges.



This is my work published on the internet after I was forbidden to publish on paper. We were forbidden to publish in newspapers after our release from prison in 2008, he added.



His colleagues agree. Manaye studied journalism at the Addis Ababa University and worked in the state press for a year. He tells our correspondent, Nathalie Tissot that news covered are sometimes buried.



I have found it difficult to work as a free journalist in a government media. I was sent to cover public meetings and press conferences of opposition parties. I covered them when I came back to the office and returned my article, I didnt find it in the next days edition, Belay Manaye said.



Today, he follows the trials of activists in the Federal High Court of Justice. Like Eskinder, this human rights activist welcomes the new Prime Minister. He reckons, there have been changes including restoration of internet services to his region, but says much more needs to be done.



He added they must lift the state of emergency immediately, without any prerequisites. For me, this state of emergency is simply an indication of the governments will to keep us in fear.



Over one thousand people were detained under Ethiopias mid-February state of emergency. Abel Wa bella is a Zone 9 blogger. Several members of this blogging group were also arrested in 2014 under the anti-terrorism law. Wa bella was released a year and a half later. Since then, all charges against him have been dropped. He then decided to set up his own independent news website, Gobena street.



The new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has promised us many reforms to open political space and create a favourable environment for the media. So we need to test this. We do not have to sit back and wait for information from government media, Wa bella said.



Expectations are high for the new Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who has been in office for more than a month now.



Human rights activists, journalists and bloggers see the recent political changes as a sign of hope.

Source: Africanews.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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19-year-old Sudanese woman has been sentenced to death for fatally stabbing the man she was forced to marry, who she says raped her as his relatives held her down.



The case of Noura Hussein has shone a spotlight on the issues of forced marriage and marital rape in Sudan, where the legal age of marriage is only 10 and marital rape is legal.



Hussein's supporters filled the courtroom in Omdurman, Sudan, and overflowed into the hall outside as the judge announced the death penalty on Thursday. Her husband's family refused an option to pardon her and rejected financial compensation, requesting that she be executed instead.



Hussein's legal team has 15 days to appeal.



"She's still in complete shock after her sentencing today," Dr. Adil Mohamed Al-Imam, one of Hussein's lawyers, told CNN. Al-Imam donated his services after Hussein's original lawyer withdrew from the case. He added that Hussein was abandoned not only by the law, but also by her family.



The harrowing details of her case have set social media and WhatsApp ablaze in Sudan. And in recent days it has captured international attention with the hashtags #JusticeforNoura and #SaveNoura. Thousands of people have shared a change.org petition.



Forced to marry at 15, Hussein ran away from home and sought refuge with her aunt for three years. She was tricked into returning by her father, who handed her over to her husband's family.



After Hussein refused to consummate the marriage, her husband's relatives held her down while he raped her. "His brother and two cousins tried to reason with her, when she refused she was slapped and ordered into the room. One held her chest and head, the others held her legs," Al-Imam told CNN.



A day later her husband tried to rape her again, and she stabbed him to death. When she went to her parents for support, they turned her in to the police. Al-Imam said the case has challenged societal expectations in Sudan that wives should submit to their husbands.



Amnesty International's Sudan researcher, Ahmed Elzobier, said it was the first time a case of this nature had attracted such attention. "Marital rape happens in Sudan often and people don't talk about it," he said. Hussein's case had changed that, he said.



Shahd Hamza, 20, was among those who came to support Hussein in court, after hearing about her case in a group chat on WhatsApp. She said that while the rape and harassment of women had long been an issue in Sudan, a case like Hussein's had never gone viral.



"People shy away from this conversation in Sudan, it's a taboo," she said. "I hope that people will now feel comfortable to speak about to their parents and grandparents about it." Nahid Gabralla, director of SEEMA, a nongovernmental organization working with victims and survivors of gender-based violence in the capital, Khartoum, was also among the crowd of supporters in court on Thursday. SEEMA has been campaigning in support of Hussein.



"In my work I've seen other cases like this. The suffering of Sudanese women is happening all the time," Gabralla said. "The case of Noura is different. She stood for her rights."

Source: CNN









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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At least one person was killed and about twenty injured on Saturday while trying to force the entrance of a crowded stadium in Freetown where the inauguration ceremony of the new president of Sierra Leone Julius Maada Bio was taking place, announced the police and the Red Cross.



While tens of thousands of people had lined up outside the National Stadium since the early hours of the day, supporters of Bio tried to rush into the compound at the passages of vehicles of official guests, reported a journalist AFP.



They were severely repulsed by the military, which led to jostling and panic movements.



I can only confirm one dead, but there are more injured, said a police source, interviewed after the ceremony attended by foreign leaders such as Liberian President George Weah, Senegalese President Macky Sall, Guinean President Alpha Conde and Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe.



SLPP officially takes over



After inspecting the troops, the outgoing president, Ernest Bai Koroma, symbolically handed Bio the scepter of power, symbolising the transfer of authority.



The two men, both dressed in white, then shook hands for a long time, to the applause of the tens of thousands of Bio supporters wearing the green colour of his Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP).



Bio, a former military officer who celebrated his 54th birthday on Saturday, won the presidential elections on 31 March with 51.81% of the votes, against 48.19% for the ruling party candidate, Samura Kamara.



He had already briefly become head of state in 1996 by overthrowing the head of the junta, Captain Valentine Strasser, of whom he was number two, before re-establishing a multi-party system and handing over power to civilians.



This time democratically elected, he was sworn in just after the results were announced on 4 April, marking the SLPPs return to business after 10 years of opposition.



During his first five weeks in office following his 4 April victory, Bio suspended the national holiday celebrations in the name of frugality, announced that public servants should be on time and reinstated the obligation to participate in street cleaning once a month.



On Thursday, Bio told parliament that primary and secondary education would be free from next September, a promise made during his election campaign.



In his inauguration speech, he again pledged to exercise power in a disciplined, honest and professional manner and to fight corruption and poverty, two scourges that undermine this former British colony in West Africa, where half the population over 15 is illiterate.



Despite the presence of mineral deposits and diamonds, Sierra Leones fortunes have been negatively affected by a civil war that killed 120,000 people between 1991 and 2002, and the Ebola outbreak that killed up to 4000 people between 2014 and 2016.

Source: Africanews.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, last Tuesday joined 49 ministers of agriculture of other countries at the opening of the biennial International Agriculture Exhibition and Conference in Tel Aviv in Israel dubbed, AGRITECH Israel, 2018.



The exhibition brought together over 600 business delegates, 120 Israeli exhibitors and over 200,000 visitors from across the world.



Turning desert to farmlands



The event offered an opportunity for other countries to learn from Israel how a country with scarce water and land could feed its people without importing much of its essential requirements.



Israel is noted for its hi-tech agricultural practice; applying the most sophisticated farming technology to turn a desert into a green field and producing various food crops, including vegetables and fruits.



The country is known to be a leader in greenhouse technology and relies heavily on irrigation, using desalinated and rain water.



In Israel, there is no waste water. Sewerage water is treated and recycled in accordance with strict standards from the countrys health sector for use in irrigating tree crops such as avocado and olive among others.



The treated waste water is fed directly to the roots of the plants such that it does not come into contact with fruits and leaves.



Knowledge sharing



During the three-day exhibition, the participating countries studied Israels technology and innovation practices to assist them to feed their countries increasing populations.



Opening the exhibition, the Israeli Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Uri Ariel, said the goal of the exhibition and conference was to promote food security in the world through the sharing of knowledge, research, innovation and technology with regard to modernising agriculture.



He expressed the hope that countries attending the exhibition would share best practices and learn the latest methods in agriculture, particularly with respect to how Israel had been able to turn a desert into fertile farmlands that were cultivated all year round.



Research/technology



Mr Ariel said Israel was willing to open up its technological, research and innovation doors to the world as its contribution to ensuring global food security.



He indicated that in Israel, there was a strong linkage among agriculture, research and technology in order to constantly stay abreast of time and the needs of agriculture.



The Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry, Mr Eli Cohen, noted that the large number of ministers of agriculture attending the exhibition was a demonstration of how the world appreciated Israeli technology with regard to farming and was ready to collaborate with us to rescue the world from hunger.



Dr Akoto



Commenting on the farming systems in Israel, Dr Akoto said the focus of Israels agriculture on the smallholder farmer was in line with what Ghana was doing, noting that there was room, therefore, for collaboration between the two countries.



He told his Israeli counterpart that majority of farmers in Ghana were smallholder farmers who fed the nation.



Dr Akoto said the government was committed to helping smallholder farmers by providing them with improved seeds and subsidised fertiliser to increase their productivity.

Source: Graphic.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has called for a review of the Single Spine Salary Structure to address the wide salary disparity in the formal sector.



Pastor Emmanuel Appiah-Kubi, a Principal anti-corruption officer at the Brong-Ahafo Regional Office of the CHRAJ made the call at a forum to mark this year's constitution week on Friday.



Reacting to concerns at the forum in Sunyani, Pastor Appiah-Kubi expressed discomfort that the implementation of that pay policy had rather widened the salary disparity in the public sector.



A police officer had earlier raised the concerns at the forum organised by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in Sunyani for officers of the Regional Police Command.



Pastor Appiah-Kubi partly attributed the rise in corruption to the poor salaries and working conditions of some public officers, and stressed the need for urgent review of the pay policy.



"If you compare public officers on the Article 71 to some of us you will find out that our conditions of service are very poor", he said.



Pastor Appiah-Kubi said corruption remained the bane of the nations socio-economic development, noting that until the menace was tackled in a proactive manner, it would be difficult to fight it.



He cited that Malaysia in particular had been able to fight and minimise corruption because it tackled the menace in a collective manner devoid of political interference and bias.



Madam Doris Gbongbo, the Acting Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of the NCCE said the rise in corruption had exposed and dented the image of the country in the international community.



She said each and every individual had a role to play and appealed to public institutions and organisations to make concerted efforts to fight the canker.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Vice Chairman of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee, Mr Kwame Jantuah is demanding that President Akufo-Addo orders the suspension of Hajia Fati, following her assault on a female journalist.



Hajia Fati although apologised to Ohemaa Sakyiwaa Awehenepa of Adom FM days after slapping the journalist who was undertaking her official duty at the NPP headquarters on May 4, 2018, many dont see her apology remorseful enough.



The incident happened barely two days after the world marked Press Freedom Day in Ghana. President Akufo-Addo had touted the countrys democracy and the conducive environment Ghanaian journalists operate at the event.



Speaking on the theme Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and the Rule of Law on May 2, President Akufo-Addo remarked:



I will say, again, that I much prefer the noisy, boisterous, sometimes scurrilous media of today to the monotonous, praise-singing, sycophantic one of yesteryear. The Ghanaian media has, in fact, enriched the nations governance by its curiosity, investigative skills, and persistence.



Analyzing the assault by a vociferous woman well known in the presidents party on TV3s NewDay Saturday, vis a vis the presidents speech, Mr. Kwame Jantuah recalled Nana Akufo-Addo ironically condemning the incarceration of a journalist in another country for merely taking pictures.



Holding the president to account based on the presidents stance on press freedom, Mr. Jantuah said the NPPs apology on the assault would have come from the highest executive of the NPP level.



President Akufo-Addo should have been the first to have indicated to Hajia Fati that her action was intolerable, he underscored.



I would have thought that based on how President Akufo-Addo presented and highlighted Ghana with regards to the Press Freedom Day and the things he said, he would have been the first person to indicate to madam Fati that you are suspended or you would have seen him recommend to the chairman or the acting chairman of the NPP that she has to be suspended because of her action.



Meanwhile, Hajia Fati has been granted a police enquiry bail after the Multimedia Group where the journalist who was assaulted works reported the issue to the police.

Source: 3news









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The primary election is Tuesday, and here is information you may need to guide you in casting your ballot.

Here's how to find your polling place.

You must vote at the polling place where you are registered to vote.

The Pennsylvania Department of State has an online polling place search tool, which can also direct you to your county election bureau.

When are the polls open?

Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. As long as you are in the polling place by 8 p.m. you have the right to vote.

How can I check if I'm registered to vote?

You can check your registration status online with the Department of State.

Another option is to check with your county bureau of elections and voter registration.

Is it too late to register to vote?

Yes, it's too late for the primary election. The deadline was April 16. But you can register to vote in the November general election if you do so by Oct. 9.

Can I still request or file an absentee ballot?

The deadline to apply for a civilian absentee ballot for the May 15 primary was May 7. These ballots had to be in the county board of elections office by 5 p.m. May 11.

For emergencies that arise after May 7, a petition for an emergency absentee ballot may be filed in county court.

Do I need to show ID at the polls?

Only first-time voters must show ID. This can be a photo ID or non-photo ID.

Qualifying photo IDs include: a valid Pennsylvania driver's license, a valid state or federal government ID, a valid U.S. passport, a valid student or employee ID.

Qualifying non-photo IDs include: a non-photo ID issued by the state or federal government, a current utility bill, a firearm permit, a current bank statement, a current paycheck or a current government check. The law requires that a non-photo ID must include your name and current address.

You might need to provide ID before voting if you have not voted in five years or if someone challenges your right to vote in that precinct.

What do I do if I'm challenged at the polls?

Your right to vote can be challenged by local election officials, poll watchers or another voter who is lawfully inside the polling place.

Challenges can only be for an individual's identity or place of residency, and the challenger must have a good-faith basis for their challenge. For example, they may not indiscriminately challenge all voters of an opposing party.

It is up to the judge of election to decide if the challenge has been made in good faith. If it is, and the judge is satisfied with your identity and residency, you must be allowed to vote.

If the judge cannot make determine if the challenge is valid, you are permitted to have another voter from the same precinct vouch for you. After that, you must be allowed to vote.

If you cannot get someone to vouch for you, you must be given a provisional ballot. If it is later determined that you were eligible to vote, your ballot will then be counted.

Can I cast a provisional ballot?

If your name is not in the poll book at the polling place, you may still vote.

Local officials must first call the county board of elections to confirm whether you are registered and in the right precinct.

If you are in the wrong polling place, you will be directed to the correct one.

If your name is not found in the voter registration database, you may cast a provisional ballot. The judge of elections will give you a receipt with your provisional ballot number so that you can contact your board of elections to check if your vote was counted.

I haven't paid much attention to the election. Is there somewhere I can get information about the candidates?

We've got you covered. PennLive and the League of Women Voters collaborated to compile this Voters Guide to the 2018 primary election.

Which congressional district am I in?

The state's congressional districts were redrawn by the state Supreme Court earlier this year, so the congressional district you voted in during previous elections may have changed.

Maps of the new congressional districts can be found on the Pennsylvania Department of State website. In addition, PennLive has created an online tool to help. Just go to this site and scroll down to the interactive map. Click on the "search" symbol in the upper left corner of the map and enter your address to find your congressional district.

For more information call the state bureau of elections at 1-877-868-3772 or your county election office.

Has congressional redistricting affected where I go to vote?

Polling places did not change as a result of redistricting.

However, residents in North Middleton Township, Cumberland County, will see a new check-in procedure, since that municipality is split between the 10th and 13th districts.

Are any polling places changing?

Dauphin County has changed some polling places in Derry and Swatara townships and Steelton Borough. Also, one Susquehanna Township polling spot has moved inside the same building.

Can I take a "ballot selfie" while voting?

If you take a photo in a polling place, including a "ballot selfie," you may not disclose how others vote or how you are about to vote.

The Pennsylvania Department of State strongly recommends that you wait until you leave the polling place to post your "ballot selfie" on social media.

Once you have voted, you are free to post the photos, since there is no prohibition, after your vote is cast, against revealing how you voted.

Can I take a gun into the polls?

Even if you are lawfully in possession of a firearm and possess the proper permits, you may not be allowed to enter your polling place with your firearm. Firearms cannot be brought into polling places which are located in one of the following locations:

inside a private property forbidding them;

a school;

a courthouse; or

any other location where Pennsylvania law prohibits the carrying of firearms.

Even if you are permitted to possess your firearm at the polls, you must be responsible with it. Anyone who acts aggressively or ostentatiously displays a firearm, and whose behavior is either intended to or inadvertently intimidates another voter or voters, will be removed from the polling place and reported to law enforcement authorities. It is illegal to use any means to attempt to intimidate any voters either insider or outside of polling locations.

What do I do if I need help at the polls?

You may have someone help you cast your ballot:

If a disability impairs you from operating the voting machine.

If you have a language barrier that prevents you from understanding the ballot.

If you have difficulty reading.

You may ask anyone to assist you as long as the person is not your employer or their agent, your union representative or their agent or the judge of election.

Can I take campaign literature into the polls?

Voters may take campaign literature with them into the polling place and voting booth if it helps them choose who to vote for, but they may not leave it there.

All other campaign material must remain at least 10 feet from the room in which voting occurs.

Can I wear campaign gear inside a polling place?

You may wear clothing, buttons hats or other campaign gear, but you must not campaign for a candidate or candidates inside the polling place or within 10 feet of the room.

Election officials are prohibited from wearing campaign items at the polls.

Who can be inside the polls?

Election officials.

Voters who are in the process of voting.

People assisting those voting.

Constables and deputy constables tasked with preserving the peace.

Poll watchers with valid watcher certificates.

Appointed election overseers.

Police officers may only be at the polls if they are voting, if the poll is in the same building as the police station, or if they have been called to address a situation there.

Who do I contact if I have a complaint about voting?

Voters who experience problems voting in the election can fill out an online Department of State form or may call 1-877-868-3772. They may also call their county election bureau.

Who can register to vote?

You must be a citizen of the U.S. and a resident of Pa. for at least one month before the election.

You must 18 on or before the election.

If you are in prison on election day on a felony conviction, you cannot vote. Voting rights are restored when you are released from prison.

Here is a guide to voter rights from the Pa. attorney general.

Can I vote if I am in prison?

If you are in prison on election day serving time for a felony conviction, you cannot vote.

You may vote if you are awaiting trial on a felony.

You may vote from prison if you are convicted of a misdemeanor. You must seek an absentee ballot and return it by the deadline.

Can I vote if I am on probation, parole or house arrest?

Yes. People awaiting trial in prison, even on a felony, may vote.

Can I vote if I was convicted of a felony in a state that takes away the right to vote permanently?

You may vote in Pennsylvania even if you were convicted of a felony in a state that revoked your right to vote.

What should I do if I believe someone has intimidated me at the polls?

It is illegal for anyone to block or attempt to block the entrance to the poll. Intimidating behavior, including words or actions, should be reported immediately to your County Board of Elections.

If you witness what you believe to be election-related crimes, please email our office at voting@attorneygeneral.gov.

Can college students vote in the polling place at their college?

College students in Pennsylvania may register at their college address or their home address. They must cast their votes at the polling place where they are registered.

What if the voting machines break?

If at least half of the voting machines in your polling place are not working, you are entitled to vote by emergency paper ballot. Do not leave without voting. If poll workers do not offer paper ballots, you may request one and they must provide it.
The man who died this morning when he was hit by a train had been walking on the tracks with his back to the oncoming train.

The Lancaster County Coroner's Office and the Pennsylvania State Police were called to Safe Harbor in Conestoga Township, Lancaster County, around 4:55 a.m. today where a train struck the man, whose identity has not yet been released, Norfolk Southern spokesman Jonathan Glass said.

"The train crew sounded the train's whistle and bells and applied the braking system," Glass said. "It can take a mile or more for a freight train to stop after the brakes are applied."

The 5,961-foot-long train was transporting 98 rail cars - including 95 empties - from Reybold, Delaware, to Enola.

The accident is under investigation. The victim's name has not yet been released.
A delay in processing licenses for doctors-in-training has some big hospitals across Pennsylvania worried that they might be facing staffing shortages on July 1, which is the beginning of the work year for residents.

Eight weeks into the implementation of a new online system for licensing that was supposed to accelerate the process, only around 17 percent of the state's 9,600 trainees have gotten their credential, according to data by the state. If they don't get those licenses they can't practice or study medicine, a story on philly.com Sunday said.

It's a story similar to the one PennLive writer Jan Murphy told Friday, regarding students who attend career schools having problems securing their license, even a temporary one. State department officials defended the implementation of the $4 million Pennsylvania Licensing System, or PALS as it is referred to, saying that technical issues and bug should be expected with the size and scope of this IT system.

Ian Harlow, commissioner of the Pennsylvania Department of State's Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs, said the problems with the career school licenses are being addressed, often within a week.

He offered a similar defense to the issues with the licenses for doctors-in-training, telling philly.com that while there has been a rocky rollout, those problems have been fixed and that the department is now processing 1,400 residents' applications a week.

"I understand where the hospitals are coming from," he told philly.com. "But I'm confident we can get them done in time."

Residents, who are largely working in teaching hospitals, make up 20 percent of the state's doctors, according to medical college data. The story noted that each spring during their three to eight years of on-the-job training, the students must submit an application and extensive documentation to get licensed.



The online system, which began rolling out in phases in November 2016, is part of Gov. Tom Wolf's efforts to modernize professional licensing and make the licensing process move quicker.

PennLive's Murphy noted it will save the state about $22,000 a month to use the commercial product that the licensing operation has been using.
Pakistani rescue workers search for bodies at the site of bridge collapse in Kundal Shahi, some 75 kilometers (47 miles) north of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani controlled Kashmir, Sunday May 13, 2018. An old wooden bridge over a fast-moving river in Kashmir collapsed as dozens of students were taking pictures on it, leading to at least five deaths. (AP Photo/M.D. Mughal)
FILE - In this March 21, 2018 file photo, Jim Parsons, a cast member in the television series "The Big Bang Theory," poses during the 35th Annual PaleyFest at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. An injury to actor Parsons has forced the cancellation of a performance of the Broadway revival of "The Boys in the Band." People who said they attended the Saturday, May 12, 2018, matinee performance indicated on Twitter that Parsons tripped during the encore and limped off while other cast members took their bows. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
Israelis wave national flags outside the Old City's Damascus Gate, in Jerusalem, Sunday, May 13, 2018. Israel is marking the 51st anniversary of its capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Injured men receive treatment at a hospital following a deadly militant attack on a government building that killed at least nine people, in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, May 13, 2018. The spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province says a suicide car bomb exploded outside the building, which belongs to the provincial finance directorate. The attackers then stormed the building, trading fire with security officials. (AP Photo/Mohammad Anwar Danishyar)
As automation becomes ubiquitous, education start-ups are positioning themselves as the nexus between today's workforce and tomorrow's jobs. Read more

When cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes started automating its quality-assurance testing last year, it knew that the move could put more than four dozen employees out of work.

Rather than simply replace them with tech, though, the Santa Clara, Calif., firm turned to tech to save their jobs.

The company signed up with Udemy, an online learning platform that teaches courses ranging from data science to sourdough bread-making. Malwarebytes identified the skills its quality-assurance testers would need to stay relevant in the rapidly changing cybersecurity industry.

Then it told its staffers to buckle in  it was time to get "up-skilled."

As automation becomes ubiquitous, education start-ups such as Udemy, Coursera, and General Assembly are positioning themselves as the nexus between today's workforce and tomorrow's jobs.

Unlike traditional college programs that can take anywhere from two to four years and tens of thousands of dollars to complete, the online schools frame themselves like vocational programs for the Silicon Valley set. They offer training in a specific skill  say, learning a programming language  in months, rather than years. Coursera offers some of its courses for free but also has programs for which it charges upward of a few hundred dollars. Udemy's courses for individuals start at $10.99, while its enterprise-facing arm, Udemy for Business, offers group rates for companies that want to sign up entire teams.

Online learning and micro-certification are increasingly appealing to individuals and businesses seeking to future-proof themselves against automation, or introduce automation without having to fire and rehire a more highly skilled workforce.

"It's completely changed how we think of training," said Brent Boeckman, global learning and development manager at Malwarebytes. "In the past, you'd have to budget to send employees across several states to do a course, you'd have to think about travel and hotel costs, and if you only had the budget to send three people you'd have to think, who are the three I can send?"

With automation predicted to displace as many as 73 million, or a third, of U.S. workers by 2030, futurists and automation experts say that retraining at every stage of a person's career will probably be the most viable path for those who intend to keep working.

The quality-assurance testers at Malwarebytes, for example, previously tested the company's software manually: They would run a program, check to see whether it logged any errors, lather, rinse, repeat. A computer now handles those mundane tasks, which frees the "up-skilled" workers to take on the more complex tasks. With their newfound programming knowledge, they're able to identify errors in the company's code base and contribute to a solution with the company's developers.

"The level of understanding between teams is now more on an even par," said Noah Christianson-Stafford, 47, a software quality-assurance engineer who started at Malwarebytes five years ago as an entry-level tester and now, having learned coding languages Python and PowerShell, can handle more challenging work.

In San Francisco, bonds trader David Gagnon, 50, has taken more than a dozen courses in programming and machine learning on Coursera to protect his own career. In his more than 20 years in the business, he's seen global trading desks go from employing 10 traders and 10 assistants, to 10 traders and a handful of computer programmers who, working together, do 10 times the trades.

"We've had huge productivity gains, and almost all of that is driven by electronic trading," Gagnon said.

Rather than wait around for automation to render his role obsolete, Gagnon pursues online retraining in his spare time, which helps him understand how the electronic systems work. Automation is far from perfect, Gagnon said, which is why having basic programming and data-science skills lets him spot errors and vulnerabilities before they balloon and cause mayhem  making him a more valuable bonds trader.

"It used to be that you could go to law school or medical school and, boom-boom, you were done," Gagnon said. "Now you have to think about how you're going to up-skill yourself every couple of years."

Futurists who say that automation will ultimately improve society rather than lead to mass unemployment have said that if everyone can do a job slightly more complex than what they're currently doing, then most people will remain employed in the automation age. But even the most optimistic of futurists aren't convinced that America's education system is equipped to retrain the nation's more than 126 million full-time workers.

The jobs of the future will probably need more education than the K-12 system currently provides, according to Byron Reese, author of The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity. This is where education platforms such as Udemy, Coursera, and General Assembly seek to make a mark, helping individuals and employers plug skills gaps that will arise from automation  and profiting from it.

Already, the online schools have seen a surge in sign-ups from businesses that want to retrain entire teams within their workforce.

Since launching its business-facing service nearly two years ago, Coursera, which is backed by venture capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers and New Enterprise Associates, now has more than 1,000 employers on board.

Udemy, which has raised funding from firms such as Stripes Group and Norwest Venture Partners, declined to say how many companies it currently works with, but said it counts PayPal, Lyft, Oracle, and Ernst and Young among its customers. Udemy for Business has grown 265 percent in the last year.

General Assembly, best known for its in-person coding boot camps, has seen its business customers double over the last year to more than 300 companies. It was acquired by one of the largest temp-staffing agencies in the world, Adecco, last month for nearly half a billion dollars.

Individuals have also sought out these platforms to bolster their skills, or to change careers entirely.

The for-profit education sector has faced growing scrutiny over its costs and efficacy, and some start-ups have failed to pass muster.

Silicon Valley's Coding House, for instance, promised to teach students programming languages and guaranteed high-salaried job placements, but failed to deliver, according to regulators. The school was fined $50,000 by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education in 2016 for making false statements and ordered to shut down.

And even if schools do right by students and don't overpromise, they still aren't a panacea. Reese likened them to home-exercise equipment  completion rates are low, and you only get as much out of it as you put into it.

There's also irony in the fact that these online schools purport to help students stay relevant in the labor market while they themselves pose a potential threat to the relevance of the existing education industry. Where traditional education institutions might hire many instructors to teach a course, online learning allows for lessons to be disseminated to an endless number of students, bypassing the faculty-intensive model.

A more radical idea is to make junior college free for everyone, or to extend high school through grade 14, Reese said. The extra two years could be vocational for some students and preuniversity for others. It wouldn't be unprecedented: At the dawn of the 20th century, when most American children left school before eighth grade, America was one of the first countries in the world to guarantee a high school education under the premise that the jobs of the future would require more education.

"This, as much as anything, propelled the U.S. into the preeminent economic position it continues to enjoy," Reese said. "Now we are at that same place again."

In lieu of major shifts in the public-education system, Gabe Batstone, chief executive of Contextere, a company that provides artificial-intelligence tools to blue-collar workers to increase their productivity, says companies, individuals, and government need to be proactive in training workers and finding ways to support those who can't retrain.

Companies have a responsibility to their employees, governments have a responsibility to their constituents, and "we all have individual accountability," Batstone said.

"We all have to take ownership of what we want to do, assess the skills we have and the ones we don't but want, and go get them."
(Left to Right) Four-year-old Eliana, David Pagan, eleven-year-old Johan, Cristine Gonzalez, and six-year-old Dean, shown here at one of the entrances of Deans school, Comly Elementary School. Dean suffers from severe lead poisoning. Read more

Our schools are crumbling.

Before the Inquirer reported on the deplorable conditions in Philadelphia schools, I heard that message from parents and students and even viewed it with my own eyes while visiting city schools. Seeing the conditions in which some of our students learn broke my heart but challenged me to act. And my proposal, the "Public School Building Renovation and Rehabilitation Program," aims to help K-12 public schools fight this infrastructure crisis.

Last year, I received a letter from a student at Cassidy Elementary, a school in my district.

This young girl, Chelsea Mungo, a fourth grader, wrote that the school feels like "a prison or a junkyard," and "it is always dirty everywhere."

>> READ MORE: Toxic City: Philly kids face dangerous, 'frightening' conditions in schools

Images from the school last year show broken and missing ceiling tiles throughout the hallways, leaking, exposed pipes, buckets in the middle of the hallway to collect the falling water and debris, and rotting wood floors in the cafeteria.

These are health and safety hazards that no child  or adult  should face in a school.

School districts throughout the state are struggling with aging infrastructure  these often-grand buildings look impressive from the exterior but have seriously antiquated interiors. Ancient wiring, outdated plumbing, fossilized heating and cooling systems have come to be the norm in many of these buildings.

I have asked students to take pictures of their schools to serve as proof of the terrible conditions where they learn. I admire our learners' resilience and dedication to education, and hope their extra efforts show people how important it is to do something quickly and effectively to ensure children learning in these conditions get the same educational opportunities as students in well-funded school districts. My support is also with our educators, who persevere through these conditions to mold our children into productive citizens.

>> READ MORE: How safe is my school? A searchable database

A recent national study found that Pennsylvania had a $419 million gap in annual maintenance and operations funding for its school buildings. That leaves low-wealth school districts at a disadvantage and forces these districts to prioritize emergency repairs from limited operating budgets that fund teacher salaries and pay for instructional equipment. Those same struggling communities also have a more difficult time borrowing to invest in the long-term stability of school facilities, meaning the status quo essentially rigs the system against low-wealth school districts.

My legislation, Senate Bill 777, would give the Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA) the authority to issue up to $5 billion in bonds paid for by revenue from an extraction tax on Marcellus Shale drilling. The bond proceeds would provide grants over several years to school districts to repair or renovate existing school buildings.

I agree with Superintendent William Hite that the community must come together to address this issue. In fact, communities all across this commonwealth need to come together to tackle this problem. I have witnessed firsthand that Philadelphia is not the only school district in Pennsylvania dealing with these issues.

>> READ MORE: Toxic City: Cleaning up Philly's contaminated schools has a huge price tag | Editorial

How can we stand by and let children endure crumbling, out-of-date buildings that pose health and safety hazards? Research shows high-quality public school facilities help improve student achievement, reduce truancy and suspensions, and improve staff satisfaction and retention  all things that benefit a strong community that supports itself and its children.

We see the problem and know the dangers. Let's take the steps to change things for the better.

Vincent Hughes is a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania Senate, representing the Seventh District since 1994.
Fans watch dark clouds roll over Citizens Bank Park during a delay before the Phillies play the New York Mets on Saturday, May 12, 2018 in Philadelphia. Read more

Gabe Kapler remembers April 29, 2017, as the night that Cody Bellinger hit the first two home runs of his major-league career, a proud moment for Kapler in his role at the time as the Los Angeles Dodgers' farm director.

But that game was notable for another reason. Phillies closer Hector Neris allowed three homers in a span of four pitches.

This is relevant now, nearly 13 months later, because Neris is struggling again. Regardless, though, of what you thought about his blown saves Friday night against the New York Mets and last Sunday in Washington, neither meltdown could match the spectacle of that ninth inning at Dodger Stadium.

And although the Phillies' season unraveled from there  they lost 24 of the next 30 games en route to a 66-96 record  Neris recovered to reel off 23 saves in his next 25 chances, including his final 20 in a row. His ERA in 61 appearances after the Dodgers debacle: 2.61.

"It sounds like there's some similarities [to this season]," Kapler said Saturday before the Phillies and Mets were rained out. "It's nice to have that history to lean on."

Indeed, the root of Neris' problems last April was familiar. He got away from throwing his signature splitter in favor of his fastball in the outings leading up to the Dodgers game, then threw the splitter only three times to the first three batters in Los Angeles. Once his confidence in his best pitch returned, success followed.

A year later, Neris has gotten away from the splitter again. He threw more fastballs (12) than splitters (seven) when he gave up two runs and didn't record an out Sunday. On Friday night, after Mets outfielder Michael Conforto hit a long foul ball on a splitter, Neris gave up back-to-back homers to Conforto and Devin Mesoraco on a fastball and a slider.

"My view is that his best weapons are his fastball and his split," Kapler said. "If he uses those in the right balance in each at-bat, he's likely to get a lot of outs and get a lot of uncomfortable swings and misses."

Although Neris has been used in the conventional closer role, Kapler never actually named a closer in spring training. He said he was inclined to allow hitter-specific matchups to dictate his bullpen usage in the late innings of close games. According to Kapler, Neris' struggles haven't altered that plan. And if a save situation arose Saturday night and Neris didn't pitch, Kapler said it would be because he appeared in three of the past four games, not because of his recent struggles.

If anything, Neris' turnaround after the events of April 29, 2017, give Kapler reason to believe in him now.

"That confidence never wavers, in part because we've seen him do it before," Kapler said. "It's different than somebody you haven't seen go through struggles, come back and be really good. He's actually done it, so that gives us a high degree of confidence."

Rainout details

Saturday night's game will be made up Thursday, Aug. 16, as part of a single-admission doubleheader beginning at 4:05 p.m.

The Phillies were still deciding on a starting pitcher for Sunday. Zach Eflin was scheduled to pitch Saturday night, but sticking with him would push ace Aaron Nola to Tuesday night in Baltimore. The Mets opted to go with righthander Jacob deGrom on Sunday, as scheduled, and move Saturday night's starter Noah Syndergaard to Tuesday.

Extra bases

Lefty reliever Adam Morgan (back) is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Sunday. Morgan is eligible to be reinstated from the disabled list Thursday, and Kapler expects he will be ready to return on or around that date.  Reliever Victor Arano (shoulder) is slated to begin a minor-league rehab assignment with a 20-pitch outing Monday for double-A Reading.
Prince Albert of Monaco, son of Princess Grace, waves as he leaves his mother's childhood home in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia on Oct. 25, 2016. Prince Albert on Friday gave a tour of the recently refurbished home to Hoda Kotb, coanchor of NBCs Today show Read more

The East Falls home where the late Princess Grace of Monaco grew up was back in the spotlight Friday morning, as the former Grace Kelly's son gave NBC's Today show a tour of the recently restored house, which he bought in 2016.

"I remember rolling on this carpet" as a child on visits to his mother's family, Prince Albert told Today coanchor Hoda Kotb as they sat in one of the main rooms of the 4,000-square-foot house, located at Henry Avenue and Coulter Street.

The tour included the childhood bedroom where Kelly, who was an Oscar-winning actress before her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956, slept in a twin bed, as well as the room where Albert had stayed as a child and that once struck the boy who'd grown up in a palace as "too big of a space" for just him alone.

Most touching of all, he showed Kotb the inside of a closet door on which the Kelly children's heights were recorded, including a line, drawn in 1931, for a 2-year-old future princess.

"Can you believe that nobody painted over this door?" Kotb asked.

"I think they realized it was part of the family's history," replied the prince.

Asked if he had advice for Britain's Prince Harry, who on May 19 will also marry an American actress, Suits star Meghan Markle, Albert suggested that if asked by the couple, he'd tell them to make sure to keep some moments just for themselves.

The prince said that "of course" he will bring his own children to visit the home of their grandmother. (Princess Grace died in 1982 after suffering a stroke and driving off the side of a steep road.) Rather than turn the house into a museum, he plans to use the house for family gatherings, for some events that will be open to the public, and to house the offices of the Princess Grace Foundation.

Though Kotb only hinted at the house's previous condition, saying it had been restored to its "1950s glamor," it likely took some work to bring it back to the place the prince remembered so fondly. Built by the princess' father, John B. Kelly Sr., in 1929 and sold in 1954, it was purchased by Prince Albert for a reported $754,000, considerably below the original $1 million asking price.

The home's previous owner, Marjorie Bamont, had lived there for more than 40 years, and died in April 2016 at age 84. In 2014, she had pleaded no contest in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court to animal-cruelty charges for keeping a number of cats and a dog in unsanitary conditions in the East Falls home.

Read more: Prince Albert of Monaco says he's bought mother's childhood home

Here's a look at what the home looks like now, courtesy of NBC's Today show.

The show also offered a 3-D tour here.
A salmonella outbreak has been traced to Rose Acre Farms, which recalled nearly 207 million eggs last month. Read more

A salmonella outbreak that led to a recall of nearly 207 million eggs has now sickened nearly three dozen people in states along the East Coast.

Thirty-five people  up by 12 over the past few weeks  have been sickened by Salmonella braenderup, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week. The outbreak, which has been traced to a single egg producer, has resulted in 11 hospitalizations. No deaths have been reported.

In April, Rose Acre Farms recalled its products after federal officials tied the illnesses to the company's facility in North Carolina, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. The recalled eggs were sold under brand names such as Great Value, Country Daybreak and Crystal Farms. They were also sold to Waffle House restaurants and Food Lion stores.

An investigation by federal officials led to an inspection of the farm's facility in Hyde County, North Carolina, which produces 2.3 million eggs a day from 3 million hens. Eggs produced at the farm are distributed to retail stores and restaurants in Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the Carolinas. Illnesses have been reported in all of the states, the majority of which were from New York and Virginia, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Rose Acre Farms is a family-owned company headquartered in Seymour, Indiana, and has 17 facilities in eight states. The Washington Post was unable to reach the company Saturday. In a statement to the Indianapolis Star, chief operating officer Tony Wesner said: "We're sorry for any concerns we may have caused consumers because some of our policies fell short of FDA standards, and we vow to do better in the future."

The company has started retraining employees and created a position called "Corporate Sanitation Manager," the Star reported.

Years ago, the company was involved in a nearly two-decade-long legal battle with the federal government. In 1990, three separate outbreaks that sickened about 450 people in three states were traced back to Rose Acre Farms. In response, the government prohibited the company from selling eggs from three Indiana farms where the contaminated eggs originated and required expensive cleanups that threatened to put the company out of business.

Rose Acre Farms sued, and a few years later a federal judge ruled that the government had overstepped its boundaries and had to compensate the company for income lost as a result of regulations. The judge ordered the government to pay the company $6 million. A federal appeals court tossed out the judgment, ruling the regulations did not hurt the company's bottom line.

After a few more years of back-and-forth appeals, the case was dismissed in 2009.

The recall is the largest since 2010, when a major salmonella outbreak tied to Iowa egg farms sickened more than 1,500 people, said Bill Marler, a Seattle-based personal injury attorney who focuses on food-borne illness litigation.

More than 500 million eggs from two Iowa farms owned and controlled by Austin J. DeCoster were recalled that year. DeCoster and his son, Peter DeCoster, each pleaded guilty to one count of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. Authorities said the DeCosters' company, Quality Egg, sold eggs contaminated with Salmonella enteriditis to several states and bribed an inspector for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in an attempt to sell eggs that were "red tagged" for failing to meet minimum industry standards.

The father and son were sentenced to three months in jail and fined $7 million.

Salmonella can come from contaminated animal products such as beef, poultry, milk and eggs, as well as fruits and vegetables. It can cause fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain among healthy people, but can lead to fatal infections among children younger than 5, adults older than 65 and those with weak immune systems.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, salmonella causes about 1.2 million illnesses, 23,000 hospitalizations and 450 deaths every year in the United States.

In April, the Food and Drug Administration ordered a mandatory recall of kratom products manufactured by Las Vegas-based Triangle Pharmanaturals after investigators found that many of the products contained salmonella. The outbreak spread to nearly 40 states and sickened 132 people.

Kratom or Mitragyna speciosa, an unregulated herbal supplement used to treat pain, anxiety, depression and symptoms of opioid withdrawal, has also been linked to three dozen non-salmonella-related deaths.

In March, the CDC investigated another salmonella outbreak that involved raw coconut and sickened 13 people in eight states. International Harvest Inc., based in Mount Vernon, New York, recalled bags and bulk packages of Organic Go Smile! Raw Coconut because of potential salmonella contamination.

In February, Triple T Specialty Meats, based in Ackley, Iowa, recalled more than 20,000 pounds of ready-to-eat chicken salad products that may have been contaminated with salmonella. The outbreak resulted in 265 illnesses in eight states. One person died, according to the CDC.
Residents of Hatboro found these racist flyers from the Ku Klux Klan on their lawns Saturday, accompanied by a bag of candy hearts. Read more

Hatboro residents awoke Saturday morning to find racist pamphlets with the admonitions "wake up WHITE AMERICA" and "stand up for your rights as a White American" strewn on lawns, police confirmed Saturday.

The pamphlets referenced the Loyal White Knights, a North Carolina group that considers itself an active chapter in the KKK.

The anonymous distributor attached plastic bags of candy hearts to the literature.

Hatboro Police Chief James Gardner said police were investigating the incident, contained to streets on the north end of town. Several residents called to report the pamphlets, which he described as "distasteful at a minimum." He said he knew of no racial tensions in Hatboro that could have triggered the incident.

"Some things are protected speech, but we have concerns with someone going around in the middle of the night and putting things on people's lawns," Gardner said. "We're taking this seriously."

The pamphlets are the latest incident of racist, white supremacist, or anti-Semitic literature distributed anonymously in Montgomery County towns or boroughs. Other areas with reported incidents over the last year or so are Red Hill, Pennsburg, East Greenville, and Upper Dublin.

A Hatboro resident who said a pamphlet was thrown on her property said she was shocked because "this had never happened before."
Former New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio, at 80, reflects on his tenure and talks politics in his new book. Read more

Shortly after Jim Florio was sworn in as governor of New Jersey in 1990, he enacted a ban on assault weapons that remains one of the strongest in the nation.

"I'm proof it can be done," Florio said in an interview last week after the release of his first book, Standing on Principle. Florio, now 80, said he wrote it partly to encourage the activists who are working to get gun-control laws passed in the aftermath of the school massacre in Parkland, Fla.

Florio, a Democrat who served as an elected official for 24 years, says there are lessons to be learned from his experience  even though he paid a price.

The National Rifle Association was instrumental in defeating him when he sought reelection, he said.

Florio had been a rising star in the Democratic Party and was viewed by some as a possible future presidential candidate. He lost to Christie Whitman in 1993, with a 1 percent margin of votes.

Before he was governor, he served in Congress for 15 years and was the architect of the federal Superfund program, which would be used to clean up thousands of toxic sites across the country. He also had the vast, ecologically sensitive Pinelands designated a national preserve.

Sitting in his Cherry Hill law office, Florio said he has no regrets about the razor-thin loss that abruptly ended his career in politics.

"I'm at peace with it," he said. The former amateur boxer from Brooklyn won't concede absolute defeat, saying his gun law "is still the toughest assault weapon ban in the country."

The NRA had opposed the ban, saying it erodes a citizen's Second Amendment rights. The gun lobby poured thousands into a campaign to get the law rescinded and to beat him.

One year before Florio enacted the ban, America had witnessed a school massacre in Stockton, Calif. In 1989, a shooter who hated immigrants sprayed a schoolyard with an AK-47 and killed five children who were Southeast Asian refugees.

Florio said another reason he wrote the book was to encourage people to become more involved in politics and to learn about their elected officials. Are the candidates laying out "long-term policies, or short term?" he asked. Do voters just want their taxes reduced, or do they want their roads improved?

When Florio, as governor, raised taxes and imposed a new one on paper goods, he faced harsh criticism. Protesters tossed toilet-paper rolls at the statehouse and called for his ouster.

The toilet-paper rolls were "a clever public relations device  I have to give the devil its due," he said, smiling. But the protesters were shortsighted and didn't understand the issues, he said.

He raised taxes by a record $2.8 billion, but he said it was necessary because a recession had unexpectedly punched a $600 million hole in the budget. At the same time, the high court ordered the state to pay $1 billion to help struggling school districts.

"The problems I faced came as a surprise to everyone," he said. His predecessor, Tom Kean Sr., had reported a $300 million surplus in the budget as his term was ending.

As a child, Florio did not dream of becoming a public servant. He grew up in a working-class family, dropped out of high school to join the Navy, and then went to college on the GI Bill to become a teacher. He was drawn to politics because of his "drive to combat unfairness."

After graduating from Rutgers Law School in Camden, he volunteered to work for the Democratic Party and was mentored by former Camden Mayor Angelo Errichetti. The two men parted ways over a disagreement before Errichetti was arrested and convicted in the FBI Abscam sting in 1981.

Later, Errichetti was caught on the FBI's surveillance tape derisively calling Florio "a Boy Scout" who would refuse the cash that FBI agents posing as Arab sheikhs were offering.

Intensely private while in office, Florio divulged in his book that his brother, Bill, was gay and died of AIDS. "We never talked about it," he said, quietly. They never even discussed the law that Florio signed banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.

In the book, Florio said that his brother "had to live in the shadows for so much of his life."

Florio also wrote that after his marriage to his first wife ended, he met his second wife, Lucinda. She was an elementary schoolteacher and lived in an apartment above his when he was a congressman.

He was serious and guarded, and she taught him how to enjoy life and loosen up, he said.

Florio also divulged that his father, Vincenzo, committed suicide while Florio was governor. His father was terminally ill and was worried his medicines "would leave my mother penniless," Florio wrote.

In the interview, Florio said that his family tragedies and life experiences influenced his political career and that he had worked hard for the underdog.

Donald DiFrancesco, a Republican who became Senate president during Florio's tenure, said Florio's gun law had earned him "a lot of credit  and a lot of heartache." He said that Florio had tried to do too many things, too soon, and that likely hurt him politically.

"I have a lot of respect for him.  He dedicated his whole life to public service," DiFrancesco said.

Trim from his daily four-mile walks, Florio said that "life is good" and that he enjoyed serving the public. He still practices law and lives in Moorestown.

He worries that politics has become a nasty word and that apathy will undermine the democracy.

Florio praised New Jersey's new governor, Phil Murphy, for his progressive agenda and said that he will bring change.

Murphy, like Florio, has taken a stand "against the special-interest groups" in the fight for gun control, said Dan Ryan, Murphy's spokesman.

Ryan also said Florio "will be remembered fondly by history."

Florio said that writing the book helped him see patterns in his life. He hopes his 10 grandchildren will better understand what their "Pop-Pop" accomplished and will appreciate the importance of being informed and involved in government.

When they were small, Florio said, he took them to the Jersey Shore and told them how he had worked to make the oceans cleaner. "As far as they were concerned," he said, "Pop-Pop's major claim to fame is bringing the dolphins back."
Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei are two of the three founders of the news site Axios. Allen came out of Politico via the Washington Post; VandeHei had co-founded Politico after work at the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. They are heavy hitters in the news business. When they purported to summarize The public case against Trump yesterday, I thought attention should be paid.

Allen and VandeHei set forth what they declared to be known knowns in a series of bullet points, of which this was the first (emphasis in original): We know Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign chair, has been indicted on 32 counts, including conspiracy and money laundering. We know he made millions off shady Russians and changed the Republican platform to the benefit of Russia.

Note that Allen and VandeHei cite no sources. Their known knowns are to be taken on their authority or as received wisdom. Unfortunately, Allen and VandeHei reveal themselves to be hacks. That is my takeaway  it is now a known known.

The indictment against Manafort is most notable for having nothing to do with collusion with Russia in the presidential campaign. The Manafort indictment is based on an old investigation that revisits conduct dating back a decade. It has literally nothing to do with the election. Allen and VandeHei omit that pertinent point.

The clock strikes 13 in their bit about the Republican platform. Byron York exposed it as a falsehood last year in his Washington Examiner column What really happened with the GOP platform and Russia. And yet Allen and VandeHei reiterate the falsehood as a known known  in their first bullet point!

Byron York tweeted this comment yesterday morning.

I asked Mike Allen via Twitter if he would correct the piece. He hasnt responded. Hes sticking with it and Im standing by my judgment that Allen and VandeHei have coughed up a shockingly crappy piece of work.
As Ive pointed out many times before, a large part of the international climate change racket is the way in which it can be turned into just another way of effecting a wealth transfer from wealthy nations to the poorer developing nations of the world, even though most foreign aid often turns developing nations into corrupt kleptocracies.

Most developing nations are increasing their use of oil and building coal-fired power plants at a rapid clip, because most of them would like to have energy sources that work. But if they can get a payoff from rich countries they are more than willing to play along with the UNs climate change charade. Thus, the Paris Climate Accord, building on previous climate meetings, promised $100 billion in climate aid to developing nations. And now at the latest follow up meeting last week, developing nations were holding up progress by asking, Wheres the cash?

Bloomberg reports:

Two weeks of climate talks organized by the United Nations finished with developing countries demanding more clarity from their richer counterparts on when a promised package of $100 billion in finance will materialize. Envoys from almost 200 nations are leaving Bonn, Germany, on Thursday without producing a draft negotiating text for ministers to discuss at the end of the year. Instead, they planned another round of negotiations in Bangkok before their annual conference in Poland in December. The holdup threatens to unravel three years of work to complete the Paris Agreement, a landmark deal reached in 2015 that set out an ambition to limit fossil-fuel pollution in all nations for the first time. . . Rich countries led by the U.S. and European Union pledged in 2009 to ramp up climate-related funds to $100 billion a year by 2020.

OMG! Theres no draft negotiating text!! The planet is doomed!

As to the question of when rich nations are going to cough up the promised dough, how does the 12th of never sound? With the wealthy welfare states (including the United States) facing fiscal incontinence as far as the eye can see, just how realistic is it that theyre going to cough up $100 billion a year, especially since the climate change racket thinks this figure is just a down payment on much larger wealth transfers in the future?

Chaser: So many European nations are stealthily abandoning their clean energy nonsense that the price of European emissions allowances has collapsed:
William Galston of the Brookings Institution argues that liberal democracy faces clear and present dangers from a rising populist tide. Unlike members of the anti-Trump resistance, Galston is not in full panic mode. In his view, the various populist movements sweeping the West, including Brexit to Trumpism, are not at this time an existential threat to democracy. However, they are beginning to question key liberal-democratic principles such as the rule of law, freedom of the press, and minority rights, he believes.

Galstons piece is well worth reading. However, David Azerrad of the Heritage Foundation finds Galstons case unconvincing. He notes that the only damning piece of evidence Galston produces is a quote from a 2014 speech by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in which he embraces the idea of illiberal democracy. But even if Orban turns out to be an autocrat (Im a bit more worried that he will than David seems to be), this would hardly show that, as a general matter, the populism sweeping the West is a threat to rule of law, freedom of the press, and minority rights.

David finds no evidence of such threats in the U.S. under Trump. Nor is there any, as I will discuss in an upcoming post.

I dont mean to suggest that populism, including the form President Trump exemplifies, is entirely benign. Populism is often associated with a cult of personality. It can create an unhealthy need to keep the public aroused and entertained. Typically, it cuts across ideological lines. Thats not necessarily a bad thing, but it can lead to day-to-day improvisation by its leader[s].

Finally, populism typically fails to distinguish between privilege and merit. In declaring war on the former, it can produce an attack on the latter.

We see some of this in Trumps America. For example, Trump has generated a cult of personality to a degree. But I would argue that Barack Obama did so to a greater extent.

Trump improvises from day to day, sometimes across ideological lines. However, this happens mostly in tweets. His policy decisions flow largely in one direction  the direction he promised to take the country as a candidate. He isnt improvising much.

Trump keeps the public aroused and entertained, but mainly by way of reacting to his opponents. It is the left that feels the overwhelming need to keep its base aroused by railing against threats supposedly posed and crimes supposedly committed by the president.

As for privilege vs. merit, Trump well understands the difference. He respects accomplishment, especially in business and the military, and is impressed by educational pedigree.

Crucially, as I will discuss in my upcoming post, Trump has not tried to deprive opponents of speech rights, disobeyed court orders, or attacked minority groups of American citizens. Thus, Trumps brand of populism is no threat to key liberal-democratic principles such as the rule of law, freedom of the press, and minority rights.

In fact, Azerrad shows that in America right now, the threat to liberal democracy comes from the mounting illiberalism of the Left. David writes:

These illiberal tendencies are most readily on display against the twin remaining pillars of liberalism: religious liberty and free speech. (The third pillar, property rights, has long since been eviscerated.) Religious liberty, once considered by nearly all Americans our first freedom, is now increasingly becoming a partisan issue as the Left pushes LGBTQ rights at the expense of the rights of conscience. The Lefts live-and-let-live ethos of the 1960s has been supplanted by a zeal to impose its views on others and a mounting hostility toward traditional Christianity. Every last baker, florist, and photographer in America, for example, must be compelled to celebrate gay marriages.

As for speech:

[T]he Lefts once-spirited defense of free speech has given way to a vigorous push to censor so-called hate speech. As it stands, America remains the only Western nation not to do so, and the Left is adamant that we go the way of countries like Canada, which punishes anyone who, by communicating statements, other than in private conversation, willfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group. Liberals are equally keen to expand campaign finance laws to restrict further the rights of citizens to express their political views. . . .

David also identifies the illiberalism inherent in the lefts transnationalism:

At a deeper level, modern liberalism is increasingly hostile to the bedrock idea of national sovereignty, which undergirds democratic liberalism. The Lefts support for transnationalism, global governance, unfettered globalization, and open borders is incompatible with sovereign countries, in the same way that their embrace of identity politics is incompatible with any genuine patriotic attachment. And without countries, there can be no liberal democracy.

American populism opposes transnationalism. In doing, it promotes liberal democracy.

To be sure, if one defines populism as Galston does  a governing system capable of translating popular preferences into public policy without the impediments [i.e. constitutionalism and liberal protections for individual rights and minorities] that have prevented liberal democracies from responding effectively to urgent problems  then, by definition, populism threatens liberal democracy. But David offers a better definition  populism as the view that the people, broadly defined, are being screwed over by the elites, either intentionally or not.

This populism entails no rebellion against liberal democracy. Our system of government provides the tools to deal with that to which populism objects.

Trump does not claim that it is constitutionalism and protection minority rights that stands in the way of his agenda, and American populism doesnt either. To the contrary, American populism appeals for closer adherence to the U.S. Constitution.

David is right, therefore, to conclude that, although the populist impulse needs occasionally to be checked, it does not threaten good constitutional government. The claim that it does, though made calmly by Goldston, seems like just another way of expressing anti-Trump sentiment.
Former Trump campaign adviser Jason Osborne has been following the continuing adventures of John Kerry with Iranian officials. The latest chapter of Kerrys conniving is taking place in Paris. Whatever Kerry is up to, I think we can be sure it is not calculated to advance the national security of the United States. Like a troubled teenager, hes hanging out with a bad crowd. What an unsavory character.

After his shout out for help identifying Kerrys friends, Osborne appears to have received a helpful response (below).

The one in front is certainly Kamal Kharazi (#Iran regime's FM from 1997-2005). The one behind the door looks very similar to Abolghassem Delfi (current Ambassador to France). See photos for comparison. Please bear in mind these ppl aren't diplomats. They're diplomat-terrorists. pic.twitter.com/4ZoSA9cyJ6  M. Hanif Jazayeri (@HanifJazayeri) May 13, 2018

Im still waiting for a response to my inquiry to Sally Yates for comment on Kerrys Logan Act crime spree. She appears to be resting on her right to remain silent, as is the the Democratic Partys media adjunct.
In Robert Mueller would prefer not to we took a look at Special Counsel Muellers reluctance to proceed with criminal case he has brought against Concord Management, one of the three Russian entities he has indicted. There I noted that Mueller appeared not to anticipate that any of the defendants would appear in court to defend against the charges. Rather, Mueller seems to have obtained the indictment to serve a public relations purpose, laying out the case for interference as understood by the government and lending a veneer of respectability to the Mueller Switch Project.

Concord Management appeared through counsel at the Reed Smith law firm before United States Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey to plead not guilty. Bloomberg provides a straightforward account of the hearing here. Reader Techno Fog posted highlights of the arraignment hearing transcript in a series of linked tweets that can be accessed by clicking below.

Just received the transcript for the May 9, 2018 hearing in the Special Counsel's Russian Troll case. A few observations on this short hearing. pic.twitter.com/uX4HfyPUEP  Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) May 12, 2018

Attorney Eric Dubelier speaks on behalf of Concord Management. Dubelier evinces a sardonic attitude to the case. When discussion turns to the question whether he represents Concord Catering (another charged Russian entity), Dubelier states: I think were dealing with the government having indicted the proverbial ham sandwich. That company didnt exist as a legal entity during the time period alleged by the government.

Dubelier, however, is big about it. If at some later time [the government] shows me that it did exist, we would probably represent them. But for the purpose of today, no, we do not.

Dubelier in any event entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of Concord Management. We will be following this case as closely as possible.
Every experienced negotiator knows that sometimes, the best deal is no deal at all. President Trump, a life-long deal maker, deserves great credit for recognizing, unlike a long line of predecessors, that there is no reason for the U.S. to pressure Israel into a comprehensive peace deal with the Palestinians. That is the background for tomorrows opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

The Palestinians are wailing and gnashing their teeth. Or is that the Associated Press doing the wailing and gnashing?

Mondays opening of the U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem, cheered by Israelis as a historic validation, is seen by Palestinians as an in-your-face affirmation of pro-Israel bias by President Donald Trump and a new blow to dreams of statehood.

Israel is a valuable ally of the United States; the Palestinians are not. Of course the American government should be biased in favor of its ally.

The festive inauguration helps harden Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejection of Washington as a future mediator in the conflict with Israel, likely ushering in a prolonged period of diplomatic vacuum in which other powers are unwilling or unable to step up as brokers.

Mahmoud Abbas says that he will reject any plan offered by the Trump administration:

In the meantime, Abbas vows to reject any U.S. proposal for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, arguing that theres nothing to talk about because of the U.S. policy shift on Jerusalem and its failure to rein in Israeli settlement expansion on lands sought for a Palestinian state. We will not accept the deal, Abbas told a PLO convention two weeks ago, referring to the plan reportedly being prepared by Trumps Kushner-led Mideast team.

If the Palestinians had actually wanted a state, they could have had one decades ago, when Israel offered them substantially everything they claimed to have been bargaining for. Now, that ship has sailed. The Palestinians have no one to blame but themselves and their leaders.

Sometimes it is hard to tell whether the AP is clueless or is intentionally misleading its readers. Like this:

Abbas, a staunch opponent of violence, hasnt offered an alternative to statehood through negotiations with Israel or found a world power willing to challenge Washington.

The APs bald assertion that Abbas is a staunch opponent of violence is absurd.

Hamas is pledging to increase the already violent demonstrations going on in Gaza in protest against the opening of the U.S. embassy. That no doubt will happen, but it is hard to imagine anything more futile. The world has grown tired of the Palestinians determination to fail. The AP says:

Abbas, who for years had banked on the U.S. to persuade Israel to cede land for a Palestinian state, felt betrayed and halted contacts with the Trump administration.

But there is no reason for the U.S. to try to force Israel into making concessions in exchange for a peace that the Palestinians have no intention of maintaining. Happily, we now have a president who is willing to walk away from the failed land for peace strategy that has obsessed prior administrations.
CHOSEN BY THE LORD

...The Lord has chosen each one of us "to be holy and blameless before Him in love" (Eph 1:4). (2)

CONSTANT ADVANCE

The Letter to the Hebrews ... invites us to realize that "a great cloud of witnesses" (12:1) impels us to advance constantly towards the goal. These witnesses may include our own mothers, grandmothers or other loved ones (cf. 2 Tim 1:5). Their lives may not always have been perfect, yet even amid their faults and failings they kept moving forward and proved pleasing to the Lord. (3)

LIVES OF LOVE

We are all called to be holy by living our lives with love and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves. (14)

A PATH OF HOLINESS

Let the grace of your baptism bear fruit in a path of holiness. Let everything be open to God; turn to Him in every situation. Do not be dismayed, for the power of the Holy Spirit enables you to do this ... In the Church, holy but made up of sinners, you will find everything you need to grow towards holiness. The Lord has bestowed on the Church the gifts of scripture, the sacraments, holy places, living communities, the witness of the saints and a multifaceted beauty that proceeds from God's love ... (15)

YOUR MISSION

A Christian cannot think of his or her mission on earth without seeing it as a path of holiness, for "this is the will of God, your sanctification" (1 Thess 4:3). Each saint is a mission, planned by the Father to reflect and embody, at a specific moment in history, a certain aspect of the Gospel. (19)

JESUS IS THE KEY

That mission has its fullest meaning in Christ, and can only be understood through Him. At its core, holiness is experiencing, in union with Christ, the mysteries of His life. (20)

ASK THE SPIRIT

Always ask the Spirit what Jesus expects from you at every moment of your life and in every decision you must make, so as to discern its place in the mission you have received. Allow the Spirit to forge in you the personal mystery that can reflect Jesus Christ in today's world. (23)

DON'T BE AFRAID

Do not be afraid of holiness. It will take away none of your energy, vitality or joy. On the contrary, you will become what the Father had in mind when He created you, and you will be faithful to your deepest self. To depend on God sets us free from every form of enslavement and leads us to recognize our great dignity. (32)

AIM HIGH

Do not be afraid to set your sights higher, to allow yourself to be loved and liberated by God. Do not be afraid to let yourself be guided by the Holy Spirit. Holiness does not make you less human, since it is an encounter between your weakness and the power of God's grace. For in the words of Leon Bloy, when all is said and done, "the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint." (34)

Source: Apostolic Exhortation Guadete et Exsultate, dated 3/19/2018)
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Indicating a tight race between the BJP and the Congress, most exit polls for the Karnataka Assembly elections on Saturday forecast a hung assembly with the JD-S likely to play the kingmaker, but were divided on which of the two national parties will emerge as the largest in the House.Of the over 4.96 crore voters, 70.91 per cent exercised their franchise on Saturday. A voter turnout of 71.4 per cent was recorded in the previous Assembly elections in 2013. The counting will take place on May 15.Polling was held for 222 of the states 224 constituencies following the countermanding of election for the Jayanagara seat due to the death of BJP candidate BN Vijaykumar, and deferment of voting for Rajarajeshwari Nagar seat over allegations of electoral malpractices.Over 2,600 candidates are in the fray, including four sitting and former chief ministers  incumbent Siddaramaiah, former BJP CMs BS Yeddyurappa and Jagdish Shettar, and HD Kumaraswamy of the JD-S.There were reports of malfunctioning of EVMs from some polling stations, and minor clashes between Congress and BJP supporters. The two parties also accused each other of inducing voters.Former PM HD Deve Gowdas JD-S, though projected to finish a distant third, is likely to play a crucial role in government formation in the event of a fractured mandate.The exit polls run by Republic TV-Jan Ki Baat and ABP-C Voter predicted that the BJP would emerge as the largest party by getting 95-114 and 97-109 seats, respectively. They put the Congress tally at 73-82 and 87-99, respectively with the JD-S predicted to get 32-43 and 21-30 seats.However, Times Now-VMR and India Today-Axis My India said the ruling Congress in the state would emerge as the largest party, forecasting 90-103 and 106-118 seats for the party. They predicted 80-93 and 79-82 seats for the BJP, respectively.Times Now put the likely tally of the JD-S at 31-39, while India Today put its figure at 22-30.News X predicted 102-110, 72-78 and 35-39 seats for the BJP, Congress and JD-S, respectively.India Today predicted the vote share of the Congress and the BJP at 39 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively. The respective prediction by Republic TV for the two parties was 36 and 38.25 per cent.The Congress had won 122 seats last time following a split in the BJP, which was reduced to 40 seats while the JD-S also got 40 seats.Both the BJP and the Congress ran a spirited campaign in the state with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the saffron charge with 21 rallies, while Rahul Gandhi and CM Siddaramaiah led the Congress bid to ensure that it defies anti-incumbency to retain power. The BJP has declared BS Yeddyurappa as its chief ministerial candidate.  AgenciesPink, ethnic boothsIn a women-oriented step, 450 pink booths called Sakhi were set up. Sending a message of women empowerment, they were entirely managed by women, right from the returning officer to the security personnel.Adding a riot of colours, the EC had set up ethnic polling booths in Mysuru, Chamarajnagar and Uttar Kannada districts where polling booths matched the lifestyle of tribal masses.
Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine (LUCOM) has officially been approved for initial accreditation status from the American Osteopathic Association Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (AOA-COCA), the programmatic accreditor for Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine in the United States.

LUCOM received provisional status in August 2013, which allowed the college to recruit and accept student-doctors and provide osteopathic education.

With this new status of initial accreditation, LUCOM has been identified to meet the requirements needed prior to graduating its first class. This status confers all rights and privileges of accreditation allowing a seven-year survey cycle of self-study and comprehensive on-site evaluation.

This endeavor was only possible through the efforts of the faculty, staff, student-doctors, executive leadership of the university, our clinical and community affiliates, our financial supporters, and our friends of the college, said Dr. Peter A. Bell, dean of LUCOM. I am especially thankful for the untold number of hours of preparation contributed by our founding dean, Dr. Ronnie Martin, along with his wife, Sherri. This process started under their watch, under their supervision. This answer to prayer is a testament to their hard work and devotion.

LUCOM continues to maintain its mission of not only training osteopathic physicians in a Christian environment, but to prepare them for excellence in the practice of osteopathic medicine. LUCOMs mission is centered around service to others, lifelong learning, and the advancement of medical knowledge.

We train osteopathic physicians to one day provide and expand access to quality health care locally and around the world. Our students are compassionate and dedicated to patient-centered osteopathic medical care, Bell said.

The curriculum LUCOM provides is unparalleled, offering an integrated, interdisciplinary, systems-based model with an emphasis on active learning. It is designed to emphasize biomedical and clinical interdisciplinary collaboration, guiding its student-doctors to develop a holistic, and importantly, an osteopathic approach to medicine. The faculty correlate basic scientific information with fundamental clinical application centered around a Christian worldview.

LUCOM also gives credit and appreciation to the Virginia Tobacco Commission with its $20.5 million matching grant that supported the construction of the Center for Medical and Health Sciences, as well as the state-of-the-art technology installed in the facility.

The Commission was and continues to be instrumental in the fulfillment of our mission; it is through their early efforts in the development of our campus that LUCOM was able to take a giant leap forward, said Dr. Kevin D. Corsini, LUCOM senior associate dean of operations and external affairs.

What LUCOM is doing is unprecedented; developing a Christian osteopathic school, without compromise, without falter, going through the legal and systematic requirements to graduate osteopathic physicians with a Christian perspective on health care and a patient-centered focus, Corsini said. Its never been done before.

In 2013, LUCOM became the 30th osteopathic medicine school in the nation, and the second in Virginia following Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine. As noted in the AOA Osteopathic Medical Profession Report (2017), one in four medical students in the U.S. attends an osteopathic medical school, with enrollment increasing approximately 25 percent every five years. DOs are projected to represent more than 20 percent of practicing physicians by 2030.

LUCOM will hit another major milestone on May 19 as it celebrates the graduation of the inaugural class at Commencement. United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and former presidential candidate Dr. Benjamin Carson will be the keynote speaker for LUCOMs degree presentation ceremony.
As we started the website redesign process, we realized the INCPAS brand needed a makeover as well. In order to have a look as progressive as our many forward-thinking initiatives, we retired the previous logo."

The Indiana CPA Society (INCPAS) has launched a brand refresh with a new logo design, website and "Transforming Business" tagline.

The new INCPAS.org was developed based on research and feedback directly from members. New features include better navigation, enhanced registration features and CPE recommendations, a responsive and mobile friendly design, and more relevant search results.

"As we started the website redesign process, we realized the INCPAS brand needed a makeover as well," said Jennifer Briggs, CAE, INCPAS president & CEO. "In order to have a look as progressive as our many forward-thinking initiatives, we retired the previous logo."

The new INCPAS logo is text-only and replaces the previous one that contained red and blue pencils in an infinity symbol. The new look includes the same blue and red color palette as the previous logo, showing an appreciation for the past with an eye on the future.

The new logo is designed to invoke a clean and streamlined feel, says INCPAS Creative Manager Katie Kirkton.

The new tagline, "Transforming Business," reflects the Societys mission to advance the CPA profession in business, learning, collaboration and diversity.

"Our transformation is part of a comprehensive effort to meet the evolving needs of our members," said Briggs. "We want to ensure they have the tools they need to continue excelling in their roles as the most trusted business advisors in Indiana."

###

About the Indiana CPA Society

The Indiana CPA Society is a statewide professional association representing nearly 8,000 CPAs and accounting professionals who are transforming business in Indiana. For more information, visit incpas.org.
David Jin, D.D.S. Your overall well-being begins and ends with your oral health. So to maintain your optimal health, you need to begin with maintaining optimal oral health. Let us help you to help yourself.

NJ Top Dentists have reviewed and approved Dr. David Jin of A Beautiful Smile Dentistry for the fourth consecutive year. Dr. Jin, a former Navy Dentist, served four different tours for a total of eight years. He started his career initially as an Oral Surgeon, but when he realized his true passion was in Cosmetic and Restorative Dentistry, he decided to become a General Practitioner.

At Dr. Jins practice, A Beautiful Smile Dentistry, he is a pioneer in technology. Currently his office is undergoing a $1 million renovation to bring to his patients the best and the latest in Dentistry. Upon completion of this renovation, his office will be the first and only office where dental implants can be completely digitized, from 3D ConeBeam CT scans, to digital treatment planning, digital surgical guides, digital implant placement, and digital final restoration.

What do all these digital treatments mean for you? Precision and accuracy of implant placement, and ultimately the result of perfection every time.

Furthermore, Dr. Jin will also have a training center in his newly renovated office, where he is able to perform live surgery and treatment demonstrations to his fellow doctors.

When you first visit Dr. Jin, he always personally welcomes you to his extended family. Dr. Jin has said These are not patients; they are my friends and extended family.

His action speaks louder than words. When his patients are in trouble, he has had made numerous hospital and rehab center bedside calls. If you are his patient, Dr. Jin will bring his expertise to you, no matter your location.

Your overall well-being begins and ends with your oral health. So to maintain your optimal health, you need to begin with maintaining optimal oral health. Let us help you to help yourself. - Dr. Jin

To learn more about Dr. Jin, please click here: https://njtopdocs.com/nj-dentists/drjin/

---

About Us

NJ Top Dentists is a division of NJ Top Docs. NJ Top Docs is a comprehensive, trusted and exclusive healthcare resource featuring reviewed and approved Top Doctors and Dentists in New Jersey online in an easy to use format. NJ Top Docs only reviews and approves providers based on merit after they have been extensively vetted.

NJ Top Docs is a division of USA Top Docs which allows patients to meet providers online before making their appointment.

For more information, please click here to contact us or visit http://www.NJTopDocs.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Taking an idea from concept into realitycreating a distinct look, feel and voice that will help people discover and engage with a brandis incredibly rewarding. Past News Releases RSS

Branding and digital marketing agency Imagine, Inc. is shining a national spotlight on Northern Virginia, earning an Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts Communicator Award of Excellence for its work on the Steins, Vines & Moonshine Trail, a Prince William County Office of Tourism branding project to collectively promote 20 tasting rooms located in the county and the City of Manassas.

Imagines contributions to the campaign include marketing strategy, branding and logo design, along with promotional materials such as a trail map, print advertisements, signage and rack cards.

"Imagine immediately understood our vision. Their expertise in campaign strategy, design and messaging is allowing us to build a cohesive brand around the breweries, wineries and distilleries in Prince William and Manassas, putting our region on the map as a tasting room destination. This recognition is well-deserved, said Ann Marie Maher, Director of Tourism for Visit Prince William, Virginia.

With entries received from across the US and around the world, the Communicator Awards is the largest and most competitive awards program honoring creative excellence for communications professionals.

Taking an idea from concept into realitycreating a distinct look, feel and voice that will help people discover and engage with a brandis incredibly rewarding. To then have those efforts be recognized on this level by some of the top professionals in our industry, is truly an honor, said Imagine CEO & Founder Patrick King.

We are extremely proud to recognize the work received for the 24th Annual Communicator Awards. This years class of entries embodies the ever-evolving marketing and communications industry, noted Derek Howard, director of the AIVA. On behalf the Academy members, Id like to applaud the entrants this season for their dedication to producing outstanding content as they continue to push the envelope of creativity.

Samples of Imagines work on the Steins, Vines & Moonshine Trail can be seen online at bit.ly/ImagineDC. A full list of the 24th Annual Communicator Awards winners is available at communicatorawards.com.
StoneGate Senior Living, LLC We are honored to have Mayor Steve Baldridge join us in celebrating nurses and the important role they play in caring for our seniors and family members, and we invite the community to join us," said William Lowe, marketing director for Highland Mark Manor Nursing Home.

Community invited to attend special presentation

Highland Park Manor Nursing Home, a nursing center and senior living facility, and Okmulgee Mayor Steve Baldridge are honoring the dedication and commitment of nurses with a special National Skilled Nursing Week celebration at the facility. The event will also take a look at the history of the Okmulgee community. The gathering is free and open to the public.

The community is invited to join Mayor Baldridge at Highland Park Manor, 1307 Miller Drive in Okmulgee, on May 14 at 9 a.m. Refreshments will be served.

Our mission at Highland Park is to serve our community with care and devotion, said William Lowe, Highland Park Manor marketing director. We are honored to have Mayor Steve Baldridge join us in celebrating nurses and the important role they play in caring for our seniors and family members, and we invite the community to join us.

About National Skilled Nursing Week

Established by the American Health Care Association (AHCA) in 1967 and always beginning on Mothers Day, National Skilled Nursing Care Week (NSNCW), formerly known as National Nursing Home Week, provides an opportunity to recognize the role of skilled nursing care centers in caring for Americas seniors and individuals with disabilities.

About Highland Park Manor Nursing Home

Highland Park Manor Nursing Home is a retirement and assisted living facility serving the seniors of Okmulgee, Oklahoma and the surrounding communities. It is a member of the StoneGate Senior Living, LLC family, an award-winning, full-spectrum senior care and housing company.

About StoneGate Senior Living, LLC

StoneGate Senior Living, LLC provides support services to senior living and care properties that offer skilled health care, assisted living, memory support and independent living locations in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas. Founded and led by a team of senior living industry veterans, StoneGate understands that careful attention to customer expectations is vital to the success of a senior living and care community. Learn more at http://www.StonegateSL.com.

Contact:

William Lowe

Marketing Director, Highland Park Manor Nursing Home

918.457.8186
For many aspiring health care workers, its not the idea of blood or needles that scares them away from the field; its their fear of math. Most nursing schools use a standard entrance exam to assess student readiness based on a variety of language and math problems, but as the scores reveal, its the math portion that causes many aspiring candidates to struggle. This often stops a potentially promising career before it ever starts.

Luckily, one Ohio nursing school is going all-in to cure their students allergic reactions to math, and his approach is helping future nurses take the entrance exam with confidence.

The way we teach math to kids in this country has been a problem for generations, says Jason Shawberry, the Campus Executive Director at Hondros College of Nursing in Toledo/Maumee. To solve this problem, Shawberry began teaching what he refers to as Math Refreshers to help his incoming Hondros College of Nursing students best prepare for the math portion of the exam and their nursing education.

We noticed that for most students  especially those who consider entering the nursing field after theyve been out of school for a while, or in another career  their language arts skills have held up well because language is a tool that you use every day, says Shawberry. But your math skills tend to fade much faster. Outside of cooking, money, or construction, most people dont use their math knowledge very often in daily life  especially if they had a bad experience learning it in the first place, which most do.

Shawberry says most students start to lose interest in math as early as the second grade, when flashcards, speed exercises, and standardized tests turn math into a skill that only a small percentage of students excel at based on the arbitrary manner in which its taught. As a result, many students grow up with mental roadblocks and self-imposed doubts that prevent them from feeling comfortable with numbers  until Jason Shawberry shows them how easily their fears can be erased.

Ive had students say they love decimals but they hate fractions, says Shawberry. I have to remind them: decimals and fractions are the same thing. You only think theyre in different categories because of the way you were taught. But once I show them on the board that sixteen-hundredths and 16/100 are the same thing, you see that light in their eyes turn on, and then they start to say, Hey, you know what? Maybe I CAN do this.

As it turns out, many of them can.

Since Hondros began implementing in-person Math Refreshers at their five Ohio campuses, the results have been impressive. After attending at least one Math Refresher, students who previously struggled with the math portion of the exam regularly scored 10-20 points higher on a retest, and some students scored as much as 40 points higher.

The Math Refresher techniques work regardless of the age of the students, says Shawberry, who has taught math to students from elementary school through college. Its really about rewiring how you think about math, and removing the roadblocks youve had in place for years, or even decades.

Hondros College of Nursing offers free 2-hour Math Refreshers several times each enrollment period. It also offers the entrance exam several times each week, for a fee of $40. While students may take exam at any point during the enrollment period, Shawberry advises students to attend a Math Refresher shortly before they take the exam, so their rejuvenated math skills are fresh in their minds.

When I see their scores go up, thats the best feeling, says Shawberry. I take as much pride in their scores as they do.

About Hondros College of Nursing

Since 2006, Hondros College of Nursing has been graduating high-quality, work-ready nurses who enter the field with exceptional clinical, communication, and collaborative skills. Enrollment is conveniently offered four times a year with no prerequisite classes for admission. Students can dive in to a concentrated curriculum without having to take pre-nursing classes or follow an arbitrary four-year timeline.

Hondros College of Nursing students can earn their Practical Nursing diploma (PN) in just 12 months and an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) in about 15 months at five Ohio campuses located near Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, Cincinnati, and Toledo. Registered nurses can earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in as few as 24 months through a CCNE-accredited online RN-BSN completion program.

The schools unique Learn and Earn Ladder approach sets Hondros College of Nursing apart from a typical educational path. After completing one program, students can work as a nurse and earn income before taking their next step  or they can keep progressing through each program to the next level. No matter which route they take, Hondros nurses always receive an unprecedented amount of support in a student-centric, family-like environment.

About Jason Shawberry

Jason Shawberry is the Campus Executive Director of the newest Hondros College of Nursing campus in Toledo / Maumee, which opened in January 2017. Mr. Shawberry has been in the career education sector for 15 years. He is an alumnus of Bowling Green State University.

About the HESI Entrance Exam

The HESI Entrance Exam, sometimes referred to as the Evolve HESI Admission Assessment (A2) Exam, is used by many traditional and accelerated nursing programs to evaluate candidates for admission to nursing schools. Each of the different HESI Exams (there are a total of 10 potential exams) is scored separately on a scale of 0 to 100. The HESI Entrance exam used by Hondros College of Nursing consists of questions in different academic areas such as: reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and math.
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This time Prof Ocquaye says he will never be part of any debate on the floor of Parliament in relation to same-sex relationships.

In a latest development, the former Member of Parliament says he will resign if pro-gay bill is brought to parliament during his tenure.

If anybody should bring such a thing to parliament and I have to preside over that, I'd rather resign than subscribe to this delusion, Prof Oquaye told Paul Adom-Otchere in a yet-to-be aired interview on Metro TV's Good Evening Ghana programme

If [a discussion] should happen, just by way of conjecturing, I would leave. I would not preside over that. No; I would not preside over that and I would not be part of that. It would be a matter of serious principle, including my Christian ideals. The reverend minister also said in the interview that same-sex relationships were created by Satan to destroy Gods best formation, that is the human being.

Earlier in the year, Prof. Mike Oquaye said the House will not be coerced to pass any legislation that endorses gay rights.
His claim has generated controversy among historians with some claiming he wants to rename the university after his uncle.

Speaking on the matter on Joy FM's news analysis show Newsfile on Saturday, Mr Baako said the president's claims were contestable.

He said: The president virtually made Dr J.B. Danquah more or less the founder of the University of Ghana, Legon. Thats what we heard but thats contestable based on other records. Even those records still mention a role J. B. Danquah played."He added: "Its not a question of absolute exclusion of the role or contribution of Dr J. B Danquah. Its a question of what the President said [which] amounts to exaggeration of the role of J.B. Danquah. When you exaggerate a truth, the essence of the truth is destroyed or undermined.

READ MORE: Rival halls clash at University of Ghana
READ MORE: University imposes library dress code to prevent girls from arousing boys

The violence began when students of the Commonwealth Hall (Vandals) and Sarbah Hall attacked each other during a walk by the former.

Multiple media reports say the Vandals chose to use the road in front of Mensah-Sarbah Hall resulting in fisticuffs and throwing of stones between the two groups.

In the process, the windscreen of two vehicles at the Sarbah Hall car park were damaged. It has also come to light that one of the Vehicles belong to Senior Hall Tutor of Mensah Sarbah Hall [Edward Benjamin Sabi].

Accra-based Citi FM is reporting that the Dean of Student Affairs, Prof. Godfred Bokpin, visited the scene of the clashes and the police to ascertain the extent of damage.

He is reported to have said the residents of Commonwealth Hall defied the orders of his office not to embark on the said walk.

Meanwhile the Senior Tutor of Mensah Sarbah Hall, Edward Benjamin Sabi is calling for stiffer punishment for the perpetartors.
The incident happened on January 16, last year, at about 1030 hours and Eghan pleaded not guilty.

A State Attorney, Mrs. Bettey Dankwa Smith told the court, presided over by Mrs. Afia Nyarko Adu-Amankwah, that quick thinking by a young man, who had gone to draw water from a stream and chanced upon the robbery attack, thwarted his escape with the cab.

He called to alert private security guards at the Pozzolina Company Limited and together with the police, blocked the road to prevent him from running away with the vehicle.

The prosecution said Eghan had convinced the driver, John Amoah, to pick a lady at Gyankrom to join them to Accra, so he branched off the Cape Coast-Accra highway and after driving for about 10 minutes, he asked that the driver stopped so that he could ease himself in the bush.

In no time, he emerged from the bush, wearing dark spectacles, pulled a gun and threatened to shoot him dead if he did not surrender the ignition key and the money on him.

Fearing for his life, Amoah did as he was told and Eghan sat behind the steering wheel and sped off.

Unknown to him a young man from Gyankrom, Ebenezer Ansah, saw everything from a safe distance and used his phone to alert the private security guards, who also informed the police and a road block was hurriedly mounted.

Eghan on seeing the road block, pulled up, abandoned the taxi cab and fled into the bush but he was arrested with the assistance of the youth of Gyankrom.

The police seized from him, a locally manufactured pistol and a pair of handcuffs.
Dozens of major websites including Reddit, Pornhub, Tumblr, and Tinder have signed on to flash bright red "alerts" in users' faces. These alerts will direct you to an online form where you can let Congress know you support net neutrality.

This widespread initiative is known as Red Alert for Net Neutrality. Here's what you need to know about it.

First, what is net neutrality again?

Net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers should let you access any legal content you want. Without it, you're looking at a world where your ISP could theoretically charge you extra to view your favorite porn sites.

Is net neutrality gone?

You may recall that in December, the Federal Communications Commission voted to kill Obama-era rules that enforced net neutrality. The change still hasn't taken effect.

Now, Senate Democrats and at least one Republican are taking steps to bring back the old regulations. On Wednesday, they'll file a petition to force a vote to reverse the FCC's decision.

What is Red Alert for Net Neutrality?

Red Alert is an activist initiative organized by Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, and Free Press Action Fund. By getting a bunch of popular websites onboard, the campaign can get countless Americans to speak up in defense of the internet they know and love.

Here's the manifesto on Red Alert's website:

"The FCC voted to let ISPs ruin the Internet. But theres an imminent vote in the US Senate to overrule them and restore net neutrality. To join the Red Alert, simply enter your contact information below. We'll send a letter to your congressional representatives letting them know you support net neutrality. Then we'll send you instructions on how to add our Red Alert widget to your website, spread the word on social media, and more."

Which sites are taking part in Red Alert?

The lengthy list of participating websites is posted on the movement's website. It includes Reddit, Pornhub, Etsy, Tumblr, Match, Tinder, OkCupid, Imgur, Vimeo, Mozilla, and Funnyordie.

How can you get involved?

Besides signing the form in support of net neutrality, you can also download your own Red Alert imagery from the campaign's website and learn how to put your own site or social accounts "on red alert."

Will Red Alert prevent me from watching porn today?
He said: "I wouldnt dispute that because deformity takes many forms- It can be mental deficiency, physical deficiency, psychological deficiency, whatever deficiency

He continued: Very often we are lucky if we do not have deficiency in one glaring form or the other and thats why I say if a person is found to be deficient, it cannot turn into a human right.

"Because psychotic inclinations are a deficiency, paedophile inclinations are a deficiency, kleptomaniac inclinations are a deficiency. And in fact, there are people who are like that. A person if all is well, why should he be a paedophile?," he quized.

He, therefore, advised the gay community channel their advocacy into seeking equal rights and legalisation into getting treatment.

So you treat it in medical forms  the medical way of treating it sometimes is by medication or if its a psychotic deficiency then its dealt with in terms of psychology and thats why mental medicines tell that there is a way of treating people which is not by medication but by psychosis, he said.
He said: "My message to all gathered here today is let us wean ourselves of selfish tendencies and desire to seek political power for economic benefit.

"That cancer has eaten deeply into our party. Let us pursue truth with a conscience and the power of conviction a belief in the ideals that established this party; a belief in the battles that we had to fight since 1979 and a quest to embrace ideas in an atmosphere of tolerance and brotherliness.
The bombers -- a mother and father, two daughters aged nine and 12, and two sons aged 16 and 18 -- were linked to local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) which supports IS, said national police chief Tito Karnavian.

Local media reorts say they may have returned from Syria, where hundreds of Indonesians have flocked in recent years to fight alongside IS in its bid to carve out a caliphate ruled by strict Islamic law.

The mother, identified as Puji Kuswati, and her two daughters were wearing niqab face veils and had bombs strapped to their waists as they entered the grounds of the Kristen Indonesia Diponegoro Church and blew themselves up, Karnavian said.

The father, JAD cell leader Dita Priyanto, drove a bomb-laden car into the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church while his sons rode motorcycles into Santa Maria church, where they detonated explosives they were carrying, Karnavian said.

"All were suicide attacks but the types of bombs are different," he said.

Coordinated attacks

The group, led by jailed radical Aman Abdurrahman, has been linked to several deadly incidents, including a 2016 gun and suicide attack in the capital Jakarta that left four attackers and four civilians dead.

That was the first assault claimed by IS in Southeast Asia.

Police on Sunday said four suspected JAD members were killed in a shootout during raids linked to a deadly prison riot this week.

Five members of Indonesia's elite anti-terrorism squad and a prisoner were killed in clashes that saw Islamist inmates take a guard hostage at a high-security jail on the outskirts of Jakarta. IS claimed responsibility.

Karnavian said Sunday's attacks may have been revenge for the arrest of some of JAD's leaders and for the prison crisis which eventually saw the surrender of the radical inmates.

"The incident angered them... and there were instructions from IS in Syria, so they waited for a moment to take revenge," he added.

The Pope offered support over "the severe attack against places of worship", while President Joko Widodo called for Indonesians to "unite against terrorism".

"The state will not tolerate this act of cowardice," he told reporters in Surabaya.

East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera confirmed the deaths of 13 people with about 40 injured in the coordinated attacks at around 7:30 am (0030 GMT).

Images showed a vehicle engulfed in flames and plumes of thick black smoke as a body lay outside the gate of Santa Maria Catholic church, with motorcycles toppled over amid the mangled debris.

In addition to the suicide blast police experts defused two unexploded bombs at the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church.

Nearly 90 percent of Indonesia's 260 million people are Muslim, but there are significant numbers of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists.

Concerns about sectarian intolerance have been on the rise, with churches targeted in the past.

Police shot and wounded an IS-inspired radical who attacked a church congregation outside Indonesia's cultural capital Yogyakarta with a sword during a Sunday mass in February. Four people were injured.

In 2000 bombs disguised as Christmas gifts delivered to churches and clergymen killed 19 people on Christmas Eve and injured scores more across the country.

Coordinated attacks

The archipelago nation of some 17,000 islands has long struggled with Islamic militancy, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people -- mostly foreign tourists -- in the country's worst-ever terror attack.

Sunday's bombings had the highest death toll since nine people were killed in 2009 attacks on two luxury hotels in Jakarta.

Security forces have arrested hundreds of militants during a sustained crackdown in recent years that smashed some networks, and most recent attacks have been low-level and targeted domestic security forces.

But the coordinated nature of Sunday's bombings suggested a higher level of planning, analysts said.
Police have only given details of one attack on Santa Maria Catholic Church.

There have not yet been any claims of responsibility.

Images from the scene showed a body lying outside the gate of Santa Maria church and members of Indonesia's bomb squad poring over the rubble.

"There have been three attacks at three churches," East Java Police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said.

"We have confirmed one died at the scene, one died at the hospital, two police officers were injured and there are some civilians injured," Mangera added.

"In total 13 people are being treated at the hospital."

At least one of the attackers was killed when they detonated their bomb at Santa Maria. It was not clear if any other perpetrators were killed or injured.

The attacks come several days after five Indonesian police officers and an inmate were killed in clashes at a high-security jail on the outskirts of Jakarta.

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for that incident although police rejected its involvement.

The Southeast Asian nation's 260 million people includes significant numbers of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists but there are concerns over rising intolerance.

Indonesian police shot and wounded a man who attacked a church congregation in the town of Sleman with a sword during a Sunday mass in February.

The radical Islamist, who had wanted to fight with the Islamic State group in Syria, injured four people.

High alert

Indonesia, which will begin the holy fasting month Ramadan this week, has been on high alert after a string of recent plots and attacks by militants inspired by IS.

The archipelago nation of some 17,000 islands has long struggled with Islamic militancy and has suffered a series of attacks in the past 15 years -- including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, in the country's worst-ever terror attack.

A sustained crackdown weakened the most dangerous networks but the emergence of IS has proved a potent new rallying cry for radicals.

Hundreds of Indonesians have flocked to fight with IS, sparking fears that extremist outfits could get a new lease on life.

A gun and suicide attack in the capital Jakarta left four attackers and four civilians dead in January 2016, and was the first assault claimed by IS in Southeast Asia.

The assault on a district packed with malls, embassies and United Nations offices left around 20 others injured.

Previous incidents have included a 2004 suicide car bomb that killed 10 outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, twin bomb blasts that killed 22 in a market in the Central Sulawesi town of Tentena, and a suicide bombing in 2005 that killed 20 in Bali.
He has courted a series of escalating confrontations over access to materials that are usually off limits to Congress under department policy.

And when those efforts failed, he threatened top law enforcement officials  mostly Republicans appointed by Trump.

In the latest episode, splashed across cable news this past week, Nunes demanded more documents and related materials for his investigation into allegations of surveillance abuse by federal law enforcement officials. His claim pitted him against not just the Justice Department, but also officials in the FBI, the intelligence community and the White House, who warned that disclosure could endanger a longtime source who is aiding the special counsels investigation.

As Nunes sees it, the cycle of confrontation is part of a legitimate effort by him and other House Republicans to conduct oversight of obstinate law enforcement officials.

But increasingly, top officials at the Justice Department have privately expressed concern that the lawmakers are simply mining government secrets for information they can weaponize against those investigating the president, including the special counsel, Robert Mueller.

Nunes was unconvinced by the warnings about the intelligence and law enforcement source, first issuing a subpoena ordering the Justice Department comply with his latest records request and then a pointed threat to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions  who is not involved in the case  in contempt of Congress.

Look, I just dont believe that the White House does not want them to comply with a subpoena from Congress, Nunes told reporters. Everything else that has come out about this investigation has been pretty damaging to their activities, he added, referring to the Justice Department.

The relationship between the Justice Department and Nunes has so eroded that when he trekked down Pennsylvania Avenue on Thursday from the Capitol to the department to discuss his latest request, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., a colleague and former federal prosecutor, tagged along at the encouragement of the House speaker to help keep the meeting civil, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Democrats believe the pattern is clear: Nunes is abusing his authority to undermine the Russia investigation.

The goal is not the information, said Rep. Adam B. Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the committee. The goal is the fight. And the ultimate objective is to undermine the Justice Department, undermine Bob Mueller and give the president a pretext to fire people.

The requests have also sent waves of tension through the department itself. The FBI is generally opposed to giving lawmakers access to any materials related to a continuing investigation. But Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general, who is overseeing the Russia investigation, has political considerations to weigh. To completely withhold information could be politically untenable  and potentially put the Mueller investigation at risk  given the support Nunes enjoys from Trump.

After months of giving into requests, Rosenstein has signaled that he is unwilling to go much further.

If we were to just open our doors to allow Congress to come and rummage through the files, that would be a serious infringement on the separation of powers, Rosenstein said at an event this month, amid reports that another House Republican had drafted articles of impeachment against him.

For now, tensions between Nunes and Rosenstein appear to have eased somewhat after Thursdays briefings, which included both classified and unclassified sessions. The department did not share the requested documents with lawmakers, but it convened officials from the FBI and Office of the Director of National Intelligence to lay out their case.

Afterward, Nunes and Gowdy said in a statement they had a productive discussion and they look forward to continuing our dialogue next week. Both sides signaled they left with the impression they had gotten the upper hand.

But the distrust, built over months of interactions, current and former officials said, is unlikely to dissipate soon.

House speaker Paul D. Ryan has repeatedly and publicly backed Nunes. When Rosenstein and Christopher A. Wray, the FBI director, came to Capitol Hill in January in a last-ditch effort to stave off an earlier subpoena, Ryan insisted that they comply and that Nunes would act responsibly. And when, weeks later, the department took rare public steps to try to block the release of a much-disputed memo drawn up by Republican committee aides from those documents, Ryan argued that Americans ought to be able to see the memo.

He offered similar support this time.

This request is wholly appropriate, Ryan told reporters Thursday. Its completely within the scope of the investigation by Nunes.

But Nunes handling of his secretive memo, released in early February, has been a source of lasting ill will. The document accused top FBI and Justice Department officials, including Rosenstein, of abusing their authorities to spy on a former Trump campaign adviser suspected of being an agent of Russia. Law enforcement officials warned that the document was dangerously misleading and pointed out that Nunes had not read the underlying surveillance applications on which his four-page document was based.

Yet Trump seized on its findings to declare he had been vindicated. And now, department officials said they were fearful that Nunes and his allies were seeking a repeat performance. More troubling, the officials said, is that Nunes actions suggest he is more interested in courting conflict than understanding the case.

In the middle of another records dispute last month, Nunes threatened to hold Rosenstein in contempt or even try to impeach him if the Justice Department did not grant access to a nearly complete copy of a document used to open the Russia investigation in summer 2016, as well as material related to the wiretap of the Trump campaign aide, Carter Page. Rosenstein acquiesced and handed over the documents, but despite Nunes repeated demands, he never read them, according to an official familiar with the matter.

That did not keep Nunes from going on television to savage those very decisions.

In another meeting, Rosenstein felt he was outright misled by Nunes staff. Rosenstein wanted to know whether Kashyap Patel, an investigator working for Nunes who was the primary author of the disputed memo, had traveled to London the previous summer to interview a former British spy who had compiled a salacious dossier about Trump, according to a former federal law enforcement official familiar with the interaction.

Patel was not forthcoming during the contentious meeting, the official said, and the conversation helped solidify Rosensteins belief that Nunes and other allies in Congress were not operating in good faith.

A spokesman for Nunes, Jack Langer, declined to comment.

Nunes made his newest request late last month. After consultation with the White House, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the FBI, the Justice Department rejected it a few days later.

Disclosure of responsive information to such requests can risk severe consequences, including potential loss of human lives, damage to relationships with valued international partners, compromise of ongoing criminal investigations, and interference with intelligence activities, Stephen E. Boyd, an assistant attorney general, wrote in a letter to Nunes.

Since then, the two sides have been unable to agree on what Nunes wants to see. Nunes insists he has never been interested in the sensitive source, but rather wants documents and other material related to his investigation into surveillance abuse allegations.

I have never referenced an individual; they did, he told reporters in recent days, referring to the Justice Department.

But at the department, the claim has been viewed as baffling. Nunes subpoena, they point out, refers to only one thing: a person.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
But when he met with the U.S. ambassador last year, he had a surprising message: He and other former Shiite militants wanted the Americans to stay.

Iraq needed their help, he said, to stabilize the country and combat the threat of the Islamic State group.

He even jokingly praised the superiority of U.S. jails over Iraqi ones. You have some things to teach us, he told the U.S. ambassador, Douglas J. Silliman.

The request represented a monumental switch for some of Iraqs most influential Shiite leaders and an opportunity for the United States to achieve its elusive security goals in the region, albeit with some unlikely partners.

But the evolving alliance means that the U.S. military is taking a risk: training, sharing intelligence and planning missions with former members of Iranian-backed militias that once fought and killed Americans.

Several former militia commanders have risen to high-level political positions. Now, a coalition of them is expected to be among the biggest winners in parliamentary elections Saturday, giving them even more prominent roles in the new government and possibly determining the future of the U.S. presence in Iraq.

The United States has expanded secretive military ventures and counterterrorism missions in remote corners of the world, but in Iraq, it is taking a different tack. Here, the United States is reducing its troop presence and gambling that common interests with former adversaries will help prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group. The bet seemed to pay off with the announcement this week that a joint Iraqi-American intelligence sting captured five senior Islamic State leaders.

And as President Donald Trump pursues a confrontational approach with Iran, the U.S. military hopes to use its evolving Iraqi partnerships to peel away Shiite factions from Irans orbit and chip away at Tehrans influence in Iraq and the region.

This is a time when Iraqi patriots can build their nation, said Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk II, the commander of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria. There is an opportunity here. We will do all we can to give them all the help they need and want.

Last year, Congress appropriated $3.6 billion to train and equip Iraqi security forces, with a priority on units under Arajis Interior Ministry. They include border guards monitoring the long Syrian-Iraqi frontier, a place where U.S. and Iraqi commanders fear that Islamic State remnants could regroup and that Iran sees as part of its corridor to move fighters and weapons to Syria and Lebanon. The funds also equip the Iraqi SWAT teams responsible for arresting and detaining terrorism suspects and train a national police force in charge of daily security.

It was the Islamic State fighters conquest of a third of Iraqi territory in 2014 that first brought together once-rival Iraqi militias and security forces with a U.S.-led military coalition in a united effort to defeat a common enemy. The United States wanted to prevent the Islamic State group from building a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, and the Shiite militias saw the Sunni extremist group as a sectarian threat.

After Iraqs regular armed forces crumbled in the face of the Islamic State blitz, a coalition of Iranian-financed Shiite militias took up front-line positions against the extremists. The militias never worked directly with the Americans, but a joint command helped coordinate their efforts to defeat the Islamic State forces.

Now, some of the most influential militia leaders are working directly with the Americans and pressing for a continued U.S. military presence.

For some of these former militants, Americas display of superior equipment and skills side by side with them in battle brought a newfound respect. Others say they had an ideological reckoning, a realization that years of sectarianism and interference from Iraqs neighbors had made their nation vulnerable to invasion. Partnering with the worlds superpower, they said, was the best way to bring Iraq back up from its knees.

We all made mistakes in the past, the Americans, as well as us, said Hadi al-Ameri, the leader of the Badr Organization, the largest of the Shiite militias that helped battle the Islamic State and the leader of the electoral alliance of former militia members, known as Fatah. Now, we need their help. We cant let our country become a playground for other powers and their agendas.

The vote Saturday could determine whether the U.S. military stays in Iraq.

Most polls show that the front-runners are the current prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, Washingtons closest ally in Iraq, and Ameri, whose electoral list includes the interior minister, Araji. If either of them lead the new government, the military partnership is likely to continue.

However, Iraqi political analysts say that the previous prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who demanded the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 2011 and still has close ties to Iran, could play spoiler. They believe he has a good chance of being included in a new coalition government, giving Iran a way to foil Americas growing influence.

So far this year, the U.S.-led coalition has trained six brigades of Iraqi border units, about a quarter of the estimated force required to seal the largely barren, desert frontier with Syria, as well as six brigades of federal police and a special Baghdad-based police force.

The tight-knit nature of the partnership is already on display in several of Iraqs security hot spots.

On the streets of Mosul, once the largest city in the Islamic State groups so-called caliphate, Iraqi counterterrorism police receive intelligence from U.S. Special Forces deployed at the regional Iraqi command headquarters there and allow the Americans access to Islamic State detainees. On the dusty Syrian border, U.S. and coalition forces provide air surveillance for the border guards newly equipped with U.S. communications and tactical gear. And on Iraqi bases outside Baghdad, coalition teams from Italy, Canada, Denmark and France are training law enforcement units.

But the partnership means the United States is working with some Iraqis who previously received financing, training and arms from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

Critics say its giving the fox the keys to the henhouse.

Its crazy, said Michael Pregent, a retired military intelligence officer in Iraq who now works at the Hudson Institute, a policy research organization. Americans are sitting with a lieutenant of Qasem Soleimani, the leader of the Revolutionary Guards, giving him direct access to American intelligence, weapons and equipment.

Indeed, Ameri, the leader of the political alliance of former militia members and a possible next Iraqi prime minister, has a long history of ties to Iran. When Gen. David H. Petraeus commanded U.S. forces in Iraq during the so-called surge of 2007, and Iranian-armed Shiite militias were killing U.S. forces, he used Ameri as a liaison to Suleimani.

But many current and retired U.S. officials who served in Iraq acknowledge that while there is a risk, you work with the partners you have.

Its like trying to do business or build relationships in Vietnam without dealing with the former Viet Cong, said Douglas Ollivant, a retired Army officer and National Security Council adviser for Iraq under two White House administrations. At some point, America needs to work with men who previously were on the other side.

Iran, a Shiite theocracy, still wields great power over Iraq, which has a Shiite majority. Iran has extended its influence into Iraqs political, economic and cultural spheres, and the Shiite militias it bolstered in Iraq give it a low-cost paramilitary force to protect its interests there.

Ameri led the coalition of Iranian-backed militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, to defend against the Islamic State groups advances toward Baghdad in 2014. Those militias were credited with helping to turn the tide against the extremist group, but some units were also accused of grave human rights abuses, including illegal detentions and extrajudicial killings.

Several other members of Ameris electoral coalition lead prominent Iranian-backed factions that have antagonistic histories with the Americans.

One of them, Sheikh Qais al-Khazali, led the militia that ambushed and killed five U.S. soldiers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala in 2007. He spent three years as a U.S. detainee. More recently, his men fought on behalf of the government in Syria, and he has been filmed in Lebanon with Hezbollah commanders touring the Israeli border.

But a regional campaign manager for . Khazalis group, Habib al-Hillawi, publicly apologized for the American deaths this month. Times are different now, he said on the sideline of a campaign rally.

And in a recent interview in his office in Baghdad, Khazali said he supported a continued  albeit limited  U.S. presence in Iraq. Limited and specific training missions would be acceptable to us, as well as an American force proportional to that mission, he said.

Araji, the interior minister, says his views have evolved to match Iraqs political realities.

A secret cable from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad in 2007 said the Americans had good information that he had been involved in smuggling the Iranian-engineered bombs to Iraq, leading to his imprisonment.

But Araji denied any wrongdoing and was ultimately released without charges. In an interview, he said U.S. intelligence officials had concluded he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When he took over the Interior Ministry  which controls the nations intelligence agencies, elite counterterrorism forces, border guards, civil defense forces and regular traffic cops  he and like-minded colleagues in the army and government sought to broker new relationships with the coalition.

That agency, too, has a deeply checkered past. While Washington had previously allocated billions of dollars to help Iraqs domestic law enforcement, the Interior Ministry had been considered too dysfunctional, sectarian and corrupt to build durable partnerships.

A decade ago, rival Shiite militias controlled the Baghdad police, a division of the Interior Ministry, and they were often implicated in kidnappings, killings and even ethnic cleansing of Sunni neighborhoods.

Araji set a new tone when, as minister, he tried to clean house. He started internal investigations and ousted about 30,000 people who had broken the law, abused their power or didnt display the type of behavior conducive to a professional security force, he said.

He also promoted several long-serving Sunnis to key positions in an effort to integrate the mostly Shiite ministry.

There have been steps to stamp out favoritism, said Gen. Ammar al-Kubaisi, a Sunni who heads the Border Guards 2nd Division, responsible for the Syrian frontier. We still need to work on this, but sectarianism is going away.

Notably, for the Americans, Araji publicly supported the international military coalition at critical moments, namely in the aftermath of a 2017 coalition airstrike in Mosul that killed more than 100 civilians.

My most important goal is to bring security to Iraq, he said during an angry debate in parliament. Iraq is in need of the friendship of the Americans.

As a safeguard, Iraqi officials have accepted a key requirement for the coalition training: U.S. vetting of each training candidate. Military commanders say this security check, which can take up to two months, is meant to root out former Shiite militia members involved in violence against U.S. forces or suspected of human rights abuses and other crimes.

Araji said he did not consider this vetting an infringement on Iraqs sovereignty but part of the process of building a stronger nation. People rejected for training know it is a black mark that will sideline their careers, he said in an interview this month at his Baghdad office. We have zero tolerance for people who have the wrong attitudes.

Ameri and Araji have cooperated with Iraqi army commanders and Abadi to formulate a multiyear training schedule with the international coalition.

So far, training has been approved through 2018. U.S. and Iraqi commanders agree that it is vital for the missions to continue through at least 2020, but further plans have been frozen until after the election.

U.S. commanders, worrying that anti-American political factions could make the coalition training a wedge issue, halted news media access to training operations during Iraqs election campaign.

Last week, they announced the closing of Americas ground forces command in Iraq, which had been active since 2014. This move is expected to decrease the number of U.S. troops deployed here, currently about 5,000, which was already a fraction of the 170,000 troops serving in Iraq at the peak of U.S. involvement in 2007.

Whoever leads the new Iraqi government will have to tackle the thorny question of what to do with the now-institutionalized militias, either by trying to integrate them into the armys command structure or leaving them quasi-independent and a potential tool of Irans.

Ameri, as a political and military leader with credibility in the pro-American and pro-Iranian camps, may be best positioned to bring the militias into the fold of the U.S.-trained domestic security forces.

If he wants to.

Ameri, who is introduced at his campaign events as the sheikh of the holy warriors, is vague on the question. In a recent interview, he said only that he believed the state should control the monopoly of force.

For now, the Americans are gambling on his sense of Iraqi patriotism, says Michael Knights, the senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and expert on Iraqi security forces.

Who is Hadi al-Ameri? Knights said. That is the fundamental question. Is he more loyal to Iran than Iraq? We will only know it when its too late.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Chairman of Forte Oil PLC and Geregu Power PLC, Femi Otedola joined millions of people globally to celebrate the 2018 Mothers Day.

The oil magnate took to his newly registered Twitter account to celebrate his mum and former First Lady of Lagos State, Lady Doja Otedola.

He wrote: There are quite a number of Mother's Days but it does not matter because they take no days off so, we shall celebrate them every time. Happy Mother's Day to my Lady Doja and all mothers. Iya ni wura.

The tweet, which is Otedolas eight tweet since he joined the social medium on May 11, 2018, was accompanied by a picture of himself and his mum, Lady Doja Otedola.

The picture was first posted by the Nigerian billionaire on April 3, 2018, when the former First Lady turned 86.

Mothers Day celebrations

The modern holiday of Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908 when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia.
Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari look-alike is a comedian who hails from Anambra state.

The young comedian is widely known as MC Tagwaye, which means MC Twin in the Hausa language.

In an interview with Daily Trust, the comedian said he was born and raised in Katsina state alongside his twin brother.

Born Obinna Simon, MC Tagwaye began mimicking the Nigerian president days after he won the Presidential election.

His ability to mimic the president has endeared him to several dignitaries, governors, ministers, directors of government agencies and private firms.

MC Tagwaye says the VIP treatment he gets when he attends any function is not only funny but also overwhelming.

However, the comedians look has gotten him some bad days also. MC Tagwaye explained how he has had to deal with lots of negative comments from friends who criticize him for mimicking the President, especially those who dont like the president.

Meeting President Buhari

Narrating his experience when he first met President Buhari, MC Tagwaye said it was more of a shock than excitement for him.

He said he had met the President in Katsina at the Economic Summit in 2016 when he asked to be photographed with him.

For MC Tagwaye, President Buhari is being perceived wrongly by the populace because many dont have the opportunity to share few minutes with him.
The President represented by a Director with National Universities Commission, Dr Gidado Kuma, said there will soon be stability and balance in the system.

Buhari made this known on Saturday at the 23rd, 24th and 25th combined Convocation Ceremonies of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi.

I have noted with great concern the incessant strikes by teachers and other university workers, even though, most of the demands are germane but the repercussions have negative consequences.

Let me assure you that this administration will very soon come up with modalities of addressing your grievances without face-offs so that we attain stability and balance in the system.

The university is unable to conduct convocations as at when due for sets of students, this is not peculiar to your university but rather an underlying difficulty the system has found itself over the years, the president said.
Nollywood Actress and Philanthropist, Tonto Dikeh who was recently made an ambassador to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), has taken it upon herself to empower some victims of domestic violence and rape.

Tonto Dikeh through her Foundation, will be empowering 16-years-old SS1 Student of Kuje Govt Girls Science, who was raped some months back in her school by counselling her, paying her school fees in a more improvised school to university level.

Another beneficiary will be the Benue State born lady who was married with two kids, and suffered domestic violence throughout the marriage that lasted for 7years.

The tragic shock that led to the divorce of the couple was that the husband forcefully slept with her 15-year-old younger sister, the domestic violence victim.

She was also empowered by Tonto Dikeh who will be paying up her university school fees and also starting up a business for her.

Tonto Dikeh has also commended NAPTIP for their good works and She also said that the beneficiaries will be counselled, rehabilitated and reintegrated into the society to prevent them from being among the vulnerable group again.

Tonto Dikeh is a good samaritan

We have previously established that Tonto Dikeh aka Poko, is a good samaritan and this is further proof.

It is very easy to guess that celebrity that can go the extra mile to play the "Good Samaritan."

Tonto Dikeh in our photo of the day, shows exactly how she will continue to be seen as that amazing cheerful giver. Tonto Dikeh like we all know is among those celebrities who love to give to needy.

You've to see the zeal and sincere passion in this photo as Tonto Dikeh makes her way through to give food to the needy. Let's just say this is one exemplary lady, celebrity and mother.

ALSO READ: Tonto Dikeh is impacting lives

The last time we saw Tonto give to the charity was when the beautiful actress in conjunction with her NGO, Tonto Dikeh Foundation, paid a visit to the Persons living with disability in the Karanmajiji Disable Colony in Abuja to celebrate the United Nations International World Disability Day.
The movie titled, "Rafiki" which was reportedly banned from showing in Kenya, in another move which has been perceived as a typical example of African censorship, is more or less the rave of the film festival.

ALSO READ: 10 best Nollywood movie mums

It is safe to say that the Kenyan-made film on lesbian love has broken new ground following its premiere at the Cannes festival.

"Rafiki" - meaning "friend" in Kiswahili - is adapted from a prize-winning short story called "Jambula Tree" by Ugandan writer Monica Arac de Nyeko.

The film, which tells the tale of two young women whose fathers are political rivals, is the first-ever film from Kenya to get a slot at the world's most prestigious cinema festival. It premieres on Wednesday in the "category, reserved for emerging directors or unexpected or marginal themes.

The ban was announced by Ezekiel Mutua, a self-described "fervent moral crusader" who runs the Kenya Film Classification Board and has described his job as "upholding our cultural and moral values through content regulation."

He railed against the film for seeking to "normalise homosexuality in Kenya" and condemned it for showing "the resilience of the youngsters involved in lesbianism."

ALSO READ: Kenyan feature film debuts at Cannes Festival

He demanded that director Wanuri Kahiu cut the "offensive classifiable elements", including "romantic scenes" and "a happy ending".

Kahiu has declined to speak much about the Kenyan ban, focusing instead on the premiere.
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It would be recalled that the man of God had said that the said meeting by witches who would appear in the form of bird was going to happen, but he would kill them.

When on Wednesday, May 9 the dead birds were found in the area, the youth reportedly petitioned the chief who then summoned the man of God for questioning.

Adomonline.com reported Nana Ofosu Gyeabour Akoto II as saying Prophet Emmanuel Osei had admitted to intentionally throwing the dead birds at the said location to create a false impression that the witches had attempted the scheduled meeting, but he overpowered them.

The chief said he and his elders have banished the prophet from the town for causing fear and panic as well as bringing the name of the Bechem town into disrepute.

Nana Ofosu Gyeabour Akoto II further said that the prophet was also fined to pay 12 goats, an undisclosed amount of money and one box of schnapps to pacify the gods of the land.

He then delegated people to go and ensure that Prophet Emmanuel Osei moved out of the jurisdiction.

However, speaking to local media, the prophet denied having admitted to the offence for which he was banished.

He is suspicious that a fellow man of God in the town had orchestrated the entire scheme just to destroy him.

Prophet Emmanuel Osei said: Im not surprised they are blaming me for this incident. It is true I prophesied about the incident but I did not put the birds there. I know one pastor in this town is behind this.

As to why he paid the fine slapped on him if he did not commit the said offence, the man of God said: I did that out of respect for the chief of Bechem but for what they have done, anyone who spends that money will be cursed.
Modjadji Marikhela narrated that: He said we should go to his place so he can relax with the baby and I agreed. When I was about to leave, his mother requested I leave Bonolo behind because she hadnt seen her in a long time.

I then told his mother that my younger sister will come and fetch her before sunset. All of a sudden he started accusing me of cheating. I told him to get lost because, me and him, we were no longer an item.

READ MORE: Redeemed Christian Church of God pastor jailed 18 months for fraud

She said the accused suddenly pounced on her and assaulted her before pulling out a shoe sewing needle and threatened to hurt her.

He then said that she would never see her baby again, while he walked towards the door of the room in which the innocent baby had been kept.

Modjadji Marikhelas 13-year-old younger sister who was a witness to the gory incident reportedly told the Sowetan that: He was trying to gain access into a room where the baby and his mother were after she had locked him out. He forced the door open and got to Bonolo before me.

He placed the baby under his armpit and reached out for the shoe needle from his pocket, and stabbed the baby in the head. He then pulled it out and stabbed her again in the stomach.

He left the baby on the ground thinking she was dead. He then returned after hearing Bonolos desperate cough and came back with a pick and finished her off. Her small intestines were exposed.

Motsai tried to hang himself in order to escape justice, but vigilant neighbours restrained him.

READ MORE: Husband catches wife sending nude photos to bank manager

He was subsequently arrested and arraigned for court. On his first appearance at Mookgophong Magistrates Court in Limpopo last Friday, Motsai reportedly told Magistrate Frans Mahodi that: She said she was going to visit her grandmothers house at a nearby township but only to find out she went to see her boyfriend.

After the magistrate warned the suspected murderer that it is inhumane what you did and you can go to jail for very long time he said I intend to plead guilty and I am prepared to go to jail for killing my baby.

He said he wanted to represent himself in court, but the magistrate insisted that he must employ the services of a Legal Aid lawyer.

Magistrate Frans Mahodi adjourned the case till May 31 for a bail application hearing.

Meanwhile, the bereaved mother, Modjadji Marikhela, has vowed to get her ex-husband killed if he is released on bail.
But in a shocking twist of events, the robbers were reportedly robbed of their loot by an even deadlier gang.

ALSO READ: Female robbery gang leader nabbed in Bauchi

Instablog9ja reports that the victims had gone to withdraw money from a commercial bank in Agbara, Ogun State when they ran into the suspects identified as Lateef and 20-year old Benjamin Oforitse.

The other three suspects arrested in connection with the robbery and recovered gun were Yusuf Owoyele, 34, Tunde Owoyele, 23 and Itunu Abisoye, 22.

Lateef is reported to have worked with several robbery gangs whose members have mostly been killed.

Notorious female armed robbery gang leader arrested in Ondo

Operatives of the Lagos State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), have arrested a 24-year-old female armed robbery gang leader who had been on the wanted list of the command for many months.

National Daily reports that the mother of two, Toyin Ogboshabi, who resides at the Bodija area of Ibadan, Oyo State, was tracked and arrested in a hotel in Ondo State following an intensive intelligence gathering by the SARS team led by the OC SARS, CSP Umar Paiko.

It was gathered that Oggoshabi also known as Big Mama in the underworld, had gone to the hotel to meet with some of her gang members and unknown to her, she was being trailed by the SARS operatives.

Police sources at the State Command Headquarters in Ikeja narrated that there was jubilation when the suspect was brought to Lagos after her arrest and that she has started making a confessional statement.

In her statement to the police, Ogboshabi reportedly confessed that though she was once an armed robber and participated in several robbery operations with her gang, she had repented and left the gang.

She was quoted as saying that her decision to quit the gang was when she started dating a senior police officer who got to know she was a robber and she confessed to him.

She said the senior officer discouraged and gave her some money which she added to the ones she realized from robbery and opened a supermarket which had been her source of income and for the training of her two children.

I accept that I was once an armed robber. But I have repented. I am no longer an armed robber. I am in love with a senior police officer who changed my life when I told him I used to be a member of a notorious gang.

He discouraged me and set up a business for me which I am using to take care of myself and my children," she reportedly said.

ALSO READ: Witnesses say lady led Ikorodu banks robbery raid

Ogboshabi arrest, according to the police, came following the arrest of one of her gang members by SARS who named her as their leader.
Chicago Tribune reports that the incident occurred in 2016 when Obioma and her two children were boarding a flight from Houston to San Francisco.

ALSO READ: Samuel Abiola Robinson accuses movie producers of racism

According to the reports, the trio were on their second leg of a three-flight journey to Ontario, Canada, from Lagos.

Obioma revealed that the white male passenger took the seat she was initially assigned to in the business-class cabin.

She was later asked to sit somewhere else after the passenger refused to give up the seat.

Just before the plane took off, Obioma stood up to use the bathroom and on her way back, was blocked by the same passenger, keeping her from accessing her seat.

According to her, she said excuse me thrice but was forced to squeeze past him when he refused to budge.

However, a crew member approached Obioma before she could sit, and said that the pilot had specifically asked that she be removed from the plane because the same male passenger had complained that he could not fly with her due to her body odour.

The complaint filed by Obiomas lawyer in Houston stated that, "At that point Ms. Obioma was lost, confused and disoriented. Her mind went blank and she was utterly befuddled.

Obioma tried to explain that her children had important school-related appointments that they could not miss but she was refused re-entry into the plane.

"Ms. Obioma watched her minor children marched out of the aircraft like criminals, confused and perplexed ... She sobbed uncontrollably for a long time.

The reports revealed that it took Obioma and her kids another five hours before they finally boarded another plane.

Unfortunately, the delay affected the scheduled appointment she had, causing her to incur more expenses.

The lawsuit also stated that, United Airlines discriminated against Obioma and her children during the incident on March 4, 2016 at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston because they were black.

White student calls police on Nigerian for sleeping in Yale University's Common room

A similar case of what can only be described as racism took place only last week at Yale University.

A white female student, Sarah Braasch, called the police on a Nigerian, Lolade Siyonbola, for sleeping in a Yale University Common room.

Braasch, who had walked in on the female first-year graduate student Siyonbola, who studies in the African Studies department at Yale, had insisted she had a right to call the police after meeting resistance from the Nigerian.

The Washington Post reported that the incident created room for a racially biased interaction between the rivals.

I have every right to call the police. You cannot sleep in that room, says the white student reportedly took a Snap of Siyonbola who responded with a burst of energy.

"Continue. Get my good side," replied Lolade Siyonbola who also gave responding police officers a headache while they tried to verify her identity.

ALSO READ: undefined

During a conversation with police officers, she had explained that Sarah Braasch earlier called the cops on her friend because he was in the stairwell and he was black, says a report by The Washington Post.
So far, there are no specifics available about what kind of vape pen was being used when the accident occurred, but Spectrum News 9 reports that St. Petersburg Fire Rescue was called to a house on the 300 block of 19th Avenue North after a fire was called in on Saturday.

Inside, the firefighters found smoke coming out of a second-story window and the body of 38-year-old Tallmadge DElia, who had multiple injuries to his face caused by an exploding vape pen.

They [vape pens] have a lithium battery and they start to generate heat, Lt. Steve Lawrence, a spokesperson with St. Petersburg Fire Rescue, told Spectrum News 9. In this case, we believe that exploded.

While authorities say the exploding vape pen caused the fire, they do not know if DElia was killed by the explosion or the fire at the moment. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the official cause of death.

Exploding Vape Pens

The long-term health effects of vaping have been reported on extensively over the last few months, including a January report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine that concluded that most e-cigarette products contain and emit potentially toxic substances through first and second-hand smoke.

Even though this would possibly be the first known death caused by an exploding vape pen in the United States, this isn't the first time someone has been injured in a similar accident. Back in January 2017, an Idaho man lost nine teeth when his vape pen blew up in his face, and a man working in New York's Grand Central Station suffered leg burns when his vape pen blew up in his pocket in November 2016.
"A toothless goat will grow teeth to bite when pushed against the wall," an old woman told me. Sadly, that was the case of the 1929 'Aba womens riot.'

The two months rebellion which is also known as the Womens War in Igbo history broke out when Igbo women from the Bende District, Umuahia and other places in eastern Nigeria, traveled in their thousands to the town of Oloko to protest against the warrant chiefs and the policies imposed by the British colonial administrators in southeastern Nigeria.

The protest actually involved women from six ethnic groups (Ibibio, Andoni, Orgoni, Bonny, Opobo, and Igbo). It was organised and led by the rural women of Owerri and Calabar provinces.

In the events of the revolts, many warrant chiefs were forced to resign and sixteen native courts were attacked, most of which were destroyed.

Over 50 women lost their lives in the process, as many others were counted among the injured.

What was the cause of the Aba womens riot?

The root cause of the Aba womens riot was not an overnight event, in truth, it was long in the making.

First of all, the indirect rule system which was instituted by Lord Lugard in 1914 had given room to the possibility for British colonial administration to rule through 'warrant chiefs.'

These warrant chiefs who were mainly top Igbo chiefs were appointed by the governor. And as result of this vested power, the warrant chiefs became increasingly oppressive within few years.

Properties were seized, and imprisonment was the lot of anyone that dare to publicly criticize them.

Furthermore, the women were already becoming dissatisfied with the white authoritarians as a result of increased school fees, forced labour, and corruption by local officers.

And in other to curb the manifestation of disorder as claimed by the immigrant masters, the alteration of women's positions in government and society was carried out.

( It should be noted that prior to 1929, women were allowed to participate in government and also, they had a major role in the market. Elite women were also privileged to participate in political movement).

Chiefly, the ultimate event that birthed the war was direct taxation. The British colonial administration had taken measures to enforce the Native Revenue Ordinance in April 1927.

The then lieutenant governor of Nigeria had consigned a colonial resident- W. E. Hunt to bring an understanding of the objectives and provision of the new ordinance through explanation to the people of the five-provinces in the eastern region.

This strategy was used to make clear the path for the direct taxation whose date of arrival was April 1928.

However, in September 1929, captain J. Cook was delegated to take over duties of the Bende division temporarily from the serving officer, Mr. Weir, until the return of Captain Hill from leave.

And within few weeks of control, captain Cook had deemed the originally stated rolls for taxation insufficient, because they did not include details of a number of wives, children, and livestock in each household.

He decided to revise the existing roll.

And it was this unreasonable and vexatious act of captain Cook that flamed up the two months fire of the Aba womens riot.

How did the Aba women's riot happened?

Record has it that on the morning of 18 November 1929, a man named Mark Emereuwa who was conducting census ( the census was in relation to taxation) on the people living in the town of Oloko, upon the instruction of the warrant chief- Okugo, entered the compound of a widow named Nwanyereuwa and instructed her to "count her lives stocks and people living with her."

Knowing fully well that this means you will be taxed based on the number of the outcome, Nwanyereuwa became embittered; and in replying, she said, "was your widowed mother counted?"

This simply means that women were not supposed to pay tax in Igbo society. Angriness was however expressed with words by the two of them.

Thus, the widow proceeded to the town square to find other women who were already deliberating on the tax issue and explained to them her sad experience.

Nwanyeruwa account prompted the women to invite other women with the aid of palm leaves from other areas of the Bende district.

Approximately ten thousand women were gathered, and a protestation insisting on the removal and trial of the warrant chief was staged.

What was the aftermath of the women's war?

It would go down in history that the effect of the Aba womens riot prompted the British administration to drop their plans to impose a tax on the market women and to curb the power of the warrant chiefs.

In addition, the positions of women in society were greatly improved as women were appointed to serve as chief warrant in some areas.

It also offered the possibility for ordinary women who could not be counted among the elite to participate in social activities.

In conclusion, it would be recalled that the scale on which the protest was carried out has never been witnessed before.

The rebellion encompassed over six thousand square miles, and the displayed bravery became contagious; as many events in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s were inspired by the Women's War.

These events include: the tax protests of 1938, the oil mill protests of the 1940s in Owerri and Calabar Provinces and the tax revolt in Aba and Onitsha in 1956.

Indeed, rebelliousness is a glorious thing. It should be preached as the salvation of an oppressed soul.

No people should hesitate to rebel against an oppressive system; for the darkness of oppression prevails where the light of rebelliousness is wanting.

And should you one day tell another the story of the women's war, remember to tell of the persuasive Ikonnia; the intelligent Mwannedia, and the passionate Nwugo.

These women were the trio leaders that led the Oloko town protest.

Remember too, to tell of madame Nwayeruwa who also played a vital role by counseling the women to protest peacefully.
The felicitation message is in a statement by the Presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu in Abuja on Sunday.

Shehu stated that Badejo-Okusanya was re-elected at the just concluded 2018 annual conference of APRAin Gaborone, Botswana.

He noted that the President also commended other Nigerian PR firms  CMC Connect, Red Media and PR Nigeria  which won continental awards at the conference.

President Buhari assured the award winners that his administration would continue to support their works in promoting positive image of Nigeria.

The President said he believed Badejo-Okusanyas inspiring and remarkable works in public relations over the years made him to stand out as a national, continental and global PR icon.

According to him, the latest endorsement of the MD/CEO, CMC Connect by his peers in Botswana is an expression of confidence that under his watch, public relations practice in Africa has come of age, despite all odds, and is adding value in developing the continent.

Buhari welcomed the various activities of the association in promoting economic integration of Africa, infrastructure and technology advancement, good governance, health and poverty reduction, among others.

He urged the association not to waiver in its determination to showcase Africa in a more positive light, as a continent with a rich culture and diversity, unique tourism, choice investment destination and an innovative, young and talented population.

He wished the APRA President a successful new tenure.

Badejo-Okusanya who holds a Bachelors degree in History from University of Benin, began his career in marketing communications in 1988 with CT & A, a Lagos based advertising agency and became a Director in 1991.

YBO, as he is often called, has a strong passion for the practice of public relations in Africa.
The case involving two Niger State residents - Mallam Dabo, Aisha and Mallam Dabo, Amina - was flagged on social media as another example of the flawed voter system. The striking resemblance of the two women and the similarities in their personal data easily made it look like it was one person.

While acknowledging that double voter's registration exists, INEC said that its investigation revealed that this particular case is not a double voter's registration issue.

"There are real cases of people who succeeded in doing double registration; this particular pair however is not the case of double registrations", the Commission wrote on the screen grab image of its investigative report posted on INEC instagram page on Saturday, May 12, 2018.

According to the report, the Commission analysed the faces, lips, noses of the women which it said are distinctively different.

ALSO READ: INEC says results will be announced electronically
The Force described the action as unfortunate, adding that it could worsen the security situation in the country.

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki's office had on Friday, May 11, released a list showing the timeline of killings in the Middle Belt since January 2018.

Saraki said it was because of this killings that the Senate invited the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, but the IGP turned down the invitation.

The police had claimed that the Senate has no power to summon the IG at will.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday, May 12, the police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, said the force is working hard to put the security situation in the country under control.

According to him, some suspects arrested in connection with the killings are being prosecuted.

Moshood said, "the release of the purported list of killings in Nigeria in 2018 by the Office of the Senate President is shocking, unfortunate and capable of worsening the security situation in the country.

"It is mischievous and heinous to play politics with peoples lives; even if it is a soul. The release is speculative and not supported by any fact. Office of the Senate President does not receive or process security report from state commands."

The police also said that they have recovered over 5000 prohibited arms from wrong hands across the nation.

The statement said the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the operation was delegated to brief the Senate on the development but his presentation was said to have been rejected by the senators.

Melaye's case

The police also criticised the Senate Spokesman, Senator Sani Abdullahi's statement that IGP Idris was not summoned over SenatorDino Melaye's arrest for alleged arms running.

Moshood insists that Melaye's case was exactly the reason the police boss was summoned.

He said the senators' plan to question Idris on television is against "global security practice."

"The Senate's action to cover the appearance of the IGP on national television is against national security, unconventional and it negates global security practice. There is nowhere in the world where security matters are discussed on national television, even the Senate deliberation and decision on the appearance of the IGP were done in a close session," the statement said.
Haruna testified before Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo of an Igbosere High Court on Lagos Island as a defence witness in the trial of the registered trustees of the church and four others.

The church opened its defence in a one-count charge of building without approval brought against it by the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) following the dismissal of its no-case submission on March 8, 2016.

The other defendants are the two engineers who built the building: Messrs Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun, and their companies, Hardrock Construction and Engineering Company and Jandy Trust Ltd.

Apart from the trustees one-count charge, the other defendants are facing a 110-count bordering on involuntary manslaughter.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Haruna, Area Commander of the Eastern Ports Command, Port Harcourt, Rivers, was the Divisional Police Officer at Ikotun-Egbe at the time the building collapsed.

He was led in evidence by the trustees counsel, Mr Oluseye Diyan.

Haruna said: On that fateful day on Sept.12, 2014 at 12.30 p.m., there was a radio communication from the police control room at Ikeja that they were receiving calls from the public of an aircraft flying at low altitude over the church.

I was directed by the Area Command to confirm the incident and monitor the aircrafts activities.

I wanted to go out and direct my men to watch out for the aircraft when I received another report of an airplane flying at a very low altitude. I went outside but I couldnt see it, by that time it had gone.

I received a call later from Insp. Lucky Ugbaja, stationed at the church that one of the churchs buildings had collapsed.

According to him, the radio room had earlier radioed the Police Airport Command to confirm whether it was carrying out any activity in the church vicinity.

Haruna said when he arrived at the churchs premises there was a large crowd and the few policemen there were trying to manage the situation.

He said onlookers kept trooping in and the crowd spilled to the roads outside the church, causing serious gridlock.

We were overwhelmed, Haruna told the judge, adding that he called for more policemen and were provided.

According to him, the floors of the collapsed building were lying one on the other,  the church members and others at the scene were engaged in rescue operations.

Those I met there were church worshipers; they were bringing out so many people from under the rubble. Most of the victims were alive. Some were injured, some were not.

Later the Red Cross, Life Savers, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) arrived and joined us in the rescue.

He said the rescue mission lasted about seven days.

During cross-examination by the prosecutor, Dr Babajide Martins, Haruna insisted that he could not recall any instance when LASEMA officials or the then Commissioner for Physical Planning, Mr Toyin Ayinde, were prevented by the church members from gaining access to the site of the collapsed building.

He said: Apart from the LASEMA GM who said he had a herculean task passing through the crowd, no other had problems passing through.

When Martins asked him why he concluded that the rescuers were church members or worshipers, Haruna said: Commonsense suggests that they were.
Adewale told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ado-Ekiti that he would focus on offsetting all outstanding salaries of workers and pension arrears within six months if elected.

He also promised to fix electricity in the state to boost the business environment, noting that Ekiti had remained unfriendly to business due to persistent power outage in most parts of the state.

Adewale further pledged to make the state a medicare destination by building specialist hospitals that would cater for the health needs of Nigerians and generate revenue for the state.

The candidate, who promised to resuscitate moribund state-owned factories, said that attention would be given to the production of the local rice known as Igbemo.

He said his administration would create vocational centers in the three senatorial districts to train residents while soft loans would be provided to enable them to be self reliant.

Adewale further said that the education sector would be repositioned for the state to regain its rightful place and geared toward innovation for the people.

The ADP candidate had clinched the partys ticket in Saturdays primary conducted in Ado-Ekiti, garnering 16,890 votes out of the 17,600 votes cast in various wards across the 16 local governments in the state.
He said the e-voting system is easier for the electorate to cast their votes in a lesser time and that it will eliminate the rigging strategy of ballot box snatching.

El-Rufai stated this on Channels Television on Saturday, May 12, 2018.

He said, "I think it can work at the national level; it has been successful, and we believe it can be duplicated across the country.

"We think that this is a very solid foundation for the development of our democracy because a credible, fair, and transparent election will determine the quality of leaders going forward."

The governor, however, said that time may not permit the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to implement the system in 2019.

According to him, it took the state a considerable time in planning for the electronic system of voting adopted by Kaduna State Electoral Commission (KADSIECOM) in Saturday's election.

E-voting saves money

El-Rufai added that the e-voting system helped the government to save about N1.7 billion that could have been spent printing ballot papers with high-security features.

He said the electronic machines can be used for the next 10 years - they only require updated software for subsequent elections.

ALSO READ: El-Rufai says Kaduna State will be 1st to use electronic voting

The governor commended state electoral commission for making sure the process was successful.
Fayose thanked the APC delegates that picked Fayemi for doing him great favour, saying they had made his task and pain of defeating an APC candidate much easier with the choice of Fayemi as their candidate for the July 14 gubernatorial poll.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, Fayose said the former Ekiti state governors victory has only positioned him to suffer a worse and more debilitating defeat than the one he dealt him in 2014.

 In 2014 when he was the sitting governor and I was not in power, I trounced him mercilessly. I gave him 16  0, defeating him in all the 16 local governments, including in his home town, Isan Ekiti, he did not win a single local government

 Now, I have been in power for more than three years and have served the people of Ekiti well. My legacy projects are there to speak for me, and for my party the PDP, as well as for our candidate in the July 14 governorship election, Prof. Kolapo Olusola-Eleka

I promise that Fayemi will suffer the worst defeat of his political career. after the July 14 election, he will not only suffer embarrassing defeat, he will go into political oblivion afterwards

He has nothing to celebrate because of the electoral disaster awaiting him. The manner of his so-called victory also leaves much to be desired as it has turned many of their party leaders and followers against him

 To those who may not know, Fayemis victory has made the condition of APC worse in Ekiti. The party leaders and members know that Fayemi has no use for any of them beyond the July 14 election, Fayose said.

He appealed to those he claimed were trampled by Fayemi, especially those of them who were members of PDP, to return home.

 PDP is your natural habitat. This is the time for you to escape from the APCs sinking boat and return home to a rousing welcome. We also invite other politicians not satisfied with the parlous state of affairs of our nation to join hands with PDP to rescue our nation

 APC is falling apart everywhere, the party, which was dead before in Ekiti, has now been buried with Fayemis victory.

 Fayemi is the final nail on APCs coffin in Ekiti. He may deceive them in Abuja but he is a paper weight at home. His arrogance alienates Ekiti people and any serious politician from him. He will meet his political waterloo on July 14, Fayose boasted.

As if second guessing the reaction of Fayose to his candidacy, Fayemi too last night issued a quit notice to Fayose and his candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, saying that APC is about to purge the state of the bad reputation it has earned under Fayoses stewardship.

We have seen a cynical approach to politics that exploits the penury of the poor and the vulnerability of the marginalised. We have seen the entrenchment of the disdain for elders, traditional institutions, and all forms of constituted authorities.
The meditative story about the intertwined fate of three Iranian women is one of 21 movies in competition at the world's biggest film festival.

It is the second Iranian work in competition alongside Asghar Farhadi's "Everybody Knows" starring Spanish star couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem.

Panahi, 57, was banned from making movies and leaving the country after supporting mass protests in 2009 and making a series of films that critiqued the state of modern Iran.

Pleas by Oscar-winning US director Oliver Stone and other supporters to let him travel to Cannes have fallen on deaf ears in Tehran.

But the bans have not stopped Panahi from working in secret and his 2015 picture "Taxi" won the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival to the consternation of his conservative critics back home.

His new film -- starring Panahi himself and veteran actress Behnaz Jafari -- puts the spotlight on the social and professional problems encountered by Iranian women, especially actresses.

Panahi is one of two Palme d'Or contenders to be barred from attending Cannes this year.
Ai was among the volunteers and rescuers who rushed to Sichuan in the immediate aftermath of the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that devastated the region on May 12, 2008, flattening entire villages.

An outpouring of grief soon turned into fury as it emerged that thousands of children were killed in 7,000 schools that collapsed entirely, sparking allegations that corruption had led to shoddy building work.

But as bereaved parents pressed for answers from authorities, they were met with a stony silence, while Ai said he was detained and beaten by police who blocked him from testifying at the trial of an activist investigating the school collapses.

Only in May 2009 did the government say that 5,335 children were killed in school collapses -- a number that was in fact far below figures given by state media previously. No official list of the victims was released.

An official investigation into construction standards for schools was promised but the results have not been published.

Ten years on, Ai is still enraged by the government's stonewalling.

"Of course I'm still furious. Nothing has changed in this matter. It concerns people's rights and dignity, the government's responsibilities, lies and corruption," he said.

'Shock is too mild'

In the aftermath of the earthquake Ai began investigating the so-called "tofu schools" -- a term likening their structural instability to the popular soft bean curd dish.

The probe sought to determine how much of the damage was wrought by natural disaster and how much was exacerbated by to human error, as well as to uncover "how this government that calls itself the people's party deals with the people's suffering".

But his activism came at a high personal price.

Once the artist commissioned to help design Beijing's Bird's Nest Olympic stadium, Ai found himself at the receiving end of the state's wrath.

He was beaten by police who blocked him from testifying at the trial of another activist, Tan Zuoren, who had separately investigated the school collapses. Ai was detained in 2011 for 81 days and had his passport confiscated for four years.

"All that has to do with our insistence on finding out the truth, insistence on investigating the list of dead students. Insistence on getting the government to tell us how these buildings were constructed."

In 2010, Ai underwent surgery in Germany to relieve pressure on his brain from a blood clot which he said was the result of the police beating in Chengdu.

The operation happened just ahead of an exhibition in Munich, where Ai produced an installation using 9,000 backpacks writing out in Chinese: "She lived happily for seven years in this world" -- a sentence from the letter of a mother of a schoolgirl killed in the quake.

"The government has the duty to provide information because it is a servant who works for you. You can't say your servant doesn't tell you what he's used your money to buy, or how many chairs are in your house or where your bed is.

"If he doesn't tell you anything, then he's no longer your servant. He's even tougher than the boss. If you ask these questions, he can beat you and even lock you up. How can you not be shocked? More than shocked. Shock is too mild. Furious."

'Government won't change'

Despite the uproar over the school collapses then, Ai said the government hasn't changed its approach.

If a new disaster were to strike, "the government wouldn't do anything differently," he said.

"It can't change. The moment it tells the whole truth, it would no longer exist... Covering up the truth is a basic condition for the existence of an authoritarian regime."

But Ai rejects any notion that his efforts were in vain.

"I didn't make any sacrifices, I did what I should and, in fact it is what I think everyone should do. It is an individual's responsibility to ask questions that have a bearing on their lives.

"The question of whether it's worth it or not therefore does not exist."

Ai eventually moved to Berlin after Beijing returned his passport in July 2015.

For now, Ai does not see himself returning to China even in the case of another similar disaster.

"My work now is on global refugees. There are lots of issues and they are all linked... Any place where human rights are harmed is a disaster for everyone's human rights.
Sunday's Jerusalem march begins a week of high tension between Israelis and Palestinians, highlighted by the embassy inauguration to be attended by a Washington delegation including US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner.

Both arrived in Israel on Sunday.

The embassy move will take place on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, while the following day Palestinians will mark the Nakba, or "catastrophe," commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

Palestinian protests are also planned for Tuesday.

For Israelis, Sunday is Jerusalem Day, an annual celebration of the "reunification" of the city following the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967. It later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.

This year's celebration takes on added significance due to the embassy move the following day.

The annual march to the Western Wall includes many hardline religious nationalists who oppose a Palestinian state, often resulting in clashes as they pass through mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem.

'Capital of our people'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- bolstered in recent days by Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal -- opened a special cabinet meeting at Jerusalem's Bible Lands Museum by again lauding the embassy move.

"Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible approximately 650 times," Netanyahu said.

"The reason is simple: For over 3,000 years it has been the capital of our people, and only of our people."

Police and the Israeli military planned major security deployments.

Around 1,000 police officers will be positioned around the US embassy and surrounding neighbourhoods for Monday's inauguration, said spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

Israel's army said it would almost double the number of troops surrounding the Gaza Strip and in the occupied West Bank.

On Sunday, scuffles broke out between Israelis visiting the Haram al-Sharif holy compound in east Jerusalem's Old City, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and Muslim security officers.

Jews are allowed to visit the site but not pray there to avoid provoking tensions and police said a number of visitors were removed for not following the rules.

"It is not a provocation. It's our property," said Nili Naoun, 42, an Israeli who arrived at the holy site with her family at 7:00 am.

A number of Palestinian shop owners in the Old City said they planned to close when the march passed through in case anyone tried to vandalise their shops, as has occurred in the past.

Weeks of tension

There were already tensions in the weeks before the embassy move.

Fifty-four Palestinians have been killed in protests and clashes since March 30 along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel.

No Israelis have been wounded and the military has faced criticism over the use of live fire.

Israel says it only opens fire when necessary to stop infiltrations, attacks and damage to the border fence, while accusing Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the blockaded Gaza Strip, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out violence.

On Sunday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya headed to Cairo for talks amid speculation over whether Egypt is attempting to calm the situation.

The embassy move has provoked Palestinian anger and led them to freeze ties with the White House.

But US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who has been a supporter of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, said he believed the Palestinians' position "will change over time."

He told Fox News the United States "is there to help the Palestinians" and "there is no basis" to think the embassy move will work against peace.

Jerusalem's status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

In the decades since 1967, international consensus has been that the city's status must be negotiated between the two sides, but Trump broke with that to global outrage.
The painting was purchased at auction Tuesday by the Nahmads, a family of art dealers and collectors that includes Helly Nahmad, owner of a New York gallery, according to two sources quoted by the Times. Nahmad did not respond to an AFP request, through his gallery, for comment.

The Musee d'Orsay's "Picasso: Blue and Rose" exhibit is being organized in collaboration with the Picasso Museum-Paris and will focus on the artist's work from 1900-1906, encompassing his critically important Blue Period and Rose Period. It will run from September 18 to January 6, 2019.

The exhibit will then move to the Beyeler Foundation near Basel, Switzerland, from February 3 to May 26, with a modified set of paintings. It is not clear whether the "Young Girl" will be part of that show.

Record-breaking sale

The painting, from 1905, was part of a major auction by Christie's of the extensive collection of the late US banker David Rockefeller and his wife Peggy.

"Young Girl," which the American collector Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo had purchased directly from the artist, was sold for the sixth-highest sum ever attained by a painting at auction, expenses and commissions included.

Four paintings by Picasso (1881-1973) have now been sold for more than $100 million each. No other painter has seen more than one piece of art reach that rarefied level.

Rockefeller, who died last year aged 101, was a grandson of oil magnate John D. Rockefeller. "Young Girl" was a centerpiece of his vast trove of artworks.
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In a filing with the US Security and Exchange Commission on Friday, Walmart said it would allow the initial public offering of Flipkart in four years at a valuation no less than what it invested in the e-commerce firm, if a grouping of minority shareholders asks for it.

US retail giant Walmart is looking to retain Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal and other minority investors such as Tiger Global for at least four years, promising that it will protect the valuation of their shareholding and offer them the potential upside of taking the company public.

In a filing with the US Security and Exchange Commission on Friday, Walmart said it would allow the initial public offering of Flipkart in four years at a valuation no less than what it invested in the e-commerce firm, if a grouping of minority shareholders asks for it.

Walmart announced on Wednesday it was acquiring a 77 per cent stake in Flipkart at a valuation of $20.8 billion.

Holders of 60 per cent of the Flipkart shares held by the minority shareholders, acting together, may require Flipkart to effect an initial public offering following the fourth anniversary of closing of the transactions at a valuation no less than that paid by Walmart under the share issuance agreement, the filing read.

The clause will help Walmart persuade Binny and Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, who was a top executive at Tiger Global, to stay with the firm for a period of at least four years. This is to ensure that Walmart is not prematurely left with ownership of a company that it does not know how to run, according to experts.

At the time of announcing the deal, Walmart had said it supported the Flipkart managements desire to go public in future. The resulting entity would be a publicly-listed, majority-owned subsidiary of Walmart, it said. The proposed IPO gives minority shareholders a reason to stay invested, as they could potentially augment the value of their shareholding.

Apart from outlining Flipkarts IPO plans, Walmart also detailed other clauses of its shareholding agreement, including the constitution of the Flipkart board for the next two years.

Flipkarts board of directors, it said, would initially have eight members, five of which would be appointed by Walmart, two by certain minority shareholders, and one would be Binny Bansal. Of the five directors Walmart can appoint to Flipkarts board, two must be unaffiliated to the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company.

Walmarts filing also said it might appoint or replace chief executive officer and other principal executives of the Flipkart group of companies, subject to certain consulting rights of the board and the founder. However, Walmart has so far expressed that it fully supports the current management of Flipkart.

Another clause that Walmart has put into the agreement is that it has the right to invest an additional $3 billion into Flipkart at the same valuation of its initial purchase. If this happens, then Walmarts shareholding in the Indian e-tailer could go up by a further 12-14 per cent, pushing its shareholding beyond 85 per cent.

Once Walmart owns more than 85 per cent of Flipkart, several rights of minority shareholders, including Tiger Global, Binny Bansal, Microsoft, Tencent and others, will be revoked such as their veto right to prevent certain significant transactions or other events involving Flipkart, their right to refusal and even their drag along rights.

Walmart said on Wednesday it and Flipkart were in talks with other investors to potentially take part in a funding round.

Among potential investors in the company is Alphabet, the parent company of Google, which has been in discussions with both the parties to invest as much as $3 billion into Flipkart. Googles backing could give Walmart and Flipkart the tech backing they require to take on Amazon.

For the Mountain View company, the move could give it access to Indias fast-growing online retail and digital payments markets, apart from a front to sell its Pixel and Home hardware lines in the country.

Photograph: Kamil Krzaczynski/Reuters.
Did top Indian business groups miss the e-commerce opportunity by focusing on replicating the Walmart model instead of following the Amazon model of online shopping?

Walmarts decision to spend $16 billion to acquire 77 per cent stake in Flipkart has focused attention on Indias top conglomerates, which are yet to build a meaningful presence in e-commerce despite being in the retail industry and years of investments.

The deal values Flipkart at around $20.8 billion (Rs 1.4 trillion), nearly 50 per cent higher than the current market capitalisation of two of Indias most successful retailers, Avenue Supermarts (DMart; Rs 909 billion) and Titan Company (Rs 863 billion).

At the deal value, Flipkart is nearly three times more valuable than the combined market capitalisation of Future Groups three listed companies -- the countrys largest general retailer in terms of revenues.

This, analysts say, raises a question mark over the retail strategy of Indias top business groups.

Globally, most of the incremental value (market capitalisation) in the sector is happening in the e-commerce space, but Indian business groups are largely investing in brick-and-mortar retail and have failed to make a mark in e-commerce, says a retail analyst, who didnt want to be named.

In the US, Amazon is the most valuable retailer with its current market capitalisation of $780 billion, more than the combined market cap of top listed brick-and-mortar retailers such as Walmart, Home Depot, Target Corp, Costco, Gap, Lowes Cos Inc, Dollar General Corp and Kroger Co.

Analysts say the top Indian business groups missed the e-commerce opportunity as they focused on replicating the Walmart model instead of following the Amazon model of online shopping, which changed the way consumers shopped as smartphones and internet connectivity became ubiquitous in the country.

For example, Tata groups online venture Tata Cliq has a small presence and offers a much more limited number of products than its bigger peers such as Flipkart and Amazon India.

Similarly, the Aditya Birla Groups foray into online business has failed to make a mark with the group shutting their online fashion apparel platform Abof within a few years, as losses expanded.

Others, however, highlight the profitability or the financial sustainability of the brick-and-mortar (offline) retail ventures of business groups such as Tata, Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla and Future Groups and scoff at their comparison with fast-growing but loss-making e-commerce ventures.

Successful e-commerce ventures are built on burning billions of dollars of cash with little visibility of profitability on the horizon. In contrast, Indias top business groups are financially conservative and largely invest in business ventures that could turn profitable a few years down the line, says G Chokkalingam, founder and MD, Equinomics Research & Advisory.

Experts also say that the countrys top business groups prefer to retain the ownership of their new ventures, but the funding needs of e-commerce ventures require equity investment from a new set of investors (or shareholders) leading to a steady dilution in ownership.

Indias top business groups are steadily expanding their cash-positive brick-and-mortar ventures even if the topline growth is lower than that of e-commerce companies.

Indias top 10 offline retailers including Avenue Supermarts, Titan, Trent, Reliance Retail, Future Retail, Aditya Birla Retail and Shoppers Stop reported combined net profits of Rs 15.64 billion during FY17 on revenues of Rs 949 billion.

Of these, only three firms reported net losses in FY17 -- Aditya Birla Retail, Shoppers Stop and Future Consumer.

Most of the offline retail businesses of the big corporates are profitable and continue to grow especially in the fashion and lifestyle vertical though grocery businesses remain a laggard.

Reliance Industries, Indias largest private sector company, invested heavily in its offline retail business -- setting up 3,837 stores across the nation -- selling everything from groceries, apparel to petro products, but has marginal presence in e-commerce.

However, for the year ending March 2018, Reliance Retails offline business revenue doubled to Rs 691.9 billion over the previous year while revenue excluding petro and connectivity grew 37 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

Aditya Birla groups offline grocery business under Aditya Birla Retail (ABRL) made a loss of Rs 6.44 billion on revenues of Rs 41.9 billion in FY17. Aditya Birla Fashion, a listed entity, however is doing much better and posted net profit of Rs 0.54 billion on revenues of Rs 66.4 billion in FY17.

One of the biggest success stories in Indias offline retail industry is Avenue Supermarts, the operator of DMart stores, which received a good response from stock investors as it focused on the mass market. Future Retail, which took over Bharti Retails business, has also done well and reported a net profit of Rs 3.68 billion on net revenue of Rs 179.8 billion in FY17.

Companies like ABRL will have to wait for an opportunity for foreign investors to come into the sector for a possible sale. The only risk is that by the time they sell it, value would have eroded, said an industry analyst.

The acquisition of five per cent stake for Rs 1.8 billion by Amazon in Shoppers Stop, a leading departmental store chain in India, is the best example of this strategy.

The way forward for Indian conglomerates will be to forge strategic tie-ups with online businesses, says Kishore Biyani, the original retail king of India.

We are open to strategic alliances with online players. That is the way forward. Our relationship with Amazon is transactional, not strategic, said Biyani, chairman of Future Group.

The deal will not impact the physical (offline retail) players much, believe analysts.

Despite the three large online players being now heavily funded, we do not expect online discounting to increase as Walmarts focus will be to drive the sale of its private labels, Abneesh Roy of Edelweiss said.

According to him, all large physical retailers are moving towards the omni-channel, including tie-ups with e-commerce players. Besides, organised retail constitutes only nine per cent of the overall retail pie in India creating enough room for all the players to grow.

Photograph: Vivek Prakash/Reuters.
Till now, Jio was primarily targeting the prepaid customer base, with only a few post-paid plans. Now, it is targeting post-paid customers, who usually spend over five times their prepaid counterparts and are more company-loyal.

The announcement of a Rs 199 postpaid plan by Reliance Jio will further stretch the process of financial recovery in the telecom sector, as other operators will be forced to do likewise.

Till now, Jio was primarily targeting the prepaid customer base, with only a few post-paid plans. Now, it is targeting post-paid customers, who usually spend over five times their prepaid counterparts and are more company-loyal.

The average monthly spending of post-paid customers was Rs 378 in 2017; prepaid users spent around Rs 67. Post-paid users were five to seven per cent of the top three older operators subscribers but contributed over 20 per cent of their revenues.

Due to the ongoing rate war, average revenue per user (Arpu) for the post-paid segment had dropped around 25 per cent; the one for prepaid users had dropped 50 per cent.

We expect Arpu to remain under pressure and cost pressure to also increase. Recovery will also be gradual from mid-FY20, financial analysts Jefferies said.

It predicted more fall in Arpu at Bharti Airtel, Idea and Vodafone, the three older majors. Jefferies said Jios new plan was aimed at the enterprise market.

Credit Suisse said it expected Jio to follow this with aggressive Mobile Number Portability campaigns. Arpu compression in India is far from over, it observed.

Some feel there would be a limited impact on the older operators, as post-paid customers are not highly price-sensitive; they value the brand and the service.

Due to the sharp rate divergence between prepaid and postpaid, the bulk of the price-sensitive postpaid segment might have already migrated to prepaid.

Also, post-paid users might not be so enthused at lower rates for international calls because of rising data usage and the popularity of such calls on WhatsApp or Skype.

Analysts say if the incumbents take on Jios offer and reduce post-paid rates, revenue would be hit by two to five per cent.

Even if the incumbents are compelled to retaliate, they are likely to keep a 15-20 per cent tariff (rate) premium to Jio. Incumbents could mitigate this risk of a post-paid Arpu fall by segmented offers and others such as family plans, which would moderate the cut in subscriber spending, CLSA said.

Nevertheless, Jios new monthly postpaid rate plan will delay Arpu recovery for the sector, it added.

JPMorgan said Jios bid was not so much a subscriber gathering exercise but more to make it the primary SIM for customers at the higher end, and to further dent the revenue base of incumbents.

We believe some of the existing subscriber base of Jio might choose to upgrade to monthly postpaid tariff plans, which would be a positive, it said, adding Jio was squarely targeting the high-end Arpu subscribers of the incumbents.

Goldman Sachs believes high network quality, coupled with value added services like access to apps, handset protection and international roaming plans would be key to retain post-paid customers.

We note that Ideas capex has been 60-70 per cent lower versus Airtel/Jio in the recent past and, as such, it could see some erosion of its high-end customer base if network quality worsens in the near term. We see little risk of erosion to Bhartis 18 million post-paid customer base, given its investments in network, but we could see some pressure on Arpu, it added.

Photograph: Shailesh Andrade/Reuters.
Old-timers say Jet boss Naresh Goyal, although still razor sharp, doesn't have the same energy he once did and this reflects in his 'baby', says Anjuli Bhargava.

IMAGE: Naresh Goyal, Jet Airways's founder and chairman. Photograph: Victor Fraile/Reuters

It's fair to say that there are two or three players in the Indian aviation space who remain quite a mystery to everyone in the sector.

To cite a few instances: What exactly does Go Air stand for and where is it headed? What is Air Asia India attempting to do?

Old-timers will remember the same question being asked about Sahara Airlines. It was never quite clear what it stood for.

Jet Airways -- which took to the skies in 1993 -- was the country's premier private airline.

Jet redefined service standards and showed people that flying could indeed be a pleasurable experience.

It came like a breath of fresh air for a country tired of the stodgy Indian Airlines and its public sector look and feel.

Jet added frequencies, smart aircraft and cabin crew, giving a new lease of life to aviation in India.

But today, as it celebrates its 25th anniversary, Jet Airways is floundering.

Old-timers say they find it hard to understand where the airline is headed, if at all it is headed anywhere.

It has lost its dominant position in the domestic skies.

The market share of Jet Airways and JetLite together has slipped from 21.7 per cent at the end of December 2014 to 17.8 per cent at the end of December 2017.

Yet, it cannot be described as having a clear and strong presence in the international movements in and out of India.

The airline looks tired and the service has lost its sheen.

On-time performance has taken a severe beating, falling below Air India's, which usually is at the bottom of the heap.

Jet's frequent flier programme -- which once read as the who's who of Indian industry -- is long forgotten by most, and finding a Jet frequent flier is now a challenge.

Pilots and cabin crew are often locked in battles with the management.

"Jet seems to be suffering from an identity crisis," says Shakti Lumba, an industry expert and former commander of Indian Airlines. Many in the aviation sector agree.

By all accounts, Jet's present state looks less than happy.

The last two to three years have been relatively calm for the industry, with the sharp drop in oil prices helping airlines world over make good money.

Jet, too, managed to turn the corner after years of making losses.

Yet its financial situation remains precarious. In March this year, the airline delayed payment of salaries.

"One would expect a listed company of Jet's size to have some back-up and a handle on finances for at least a three-month window," said an airline industry expert.

Company officials say that the airline is perpetually on a cost-cutting drive and yet the 'good days' never seem to arrive.

The airline responded by saying it did not wish to comment on why salaries were delayed and that the troubles were behind them.

Through 2017, Jet led the pack of laggards on on-time performance for eight months out of 12, with a third of its departures being late.

With its hub in Mumbai, Jet does take a larger proportion of the disruption caused by Mumbai's severe capacity constraints, but even taking that into account, the drop in on-time performance has been quite sharp.

In response, a spokesperson for the airline said they had taken "several measures to improve its performance at its hubs -- such as optimising aircraft rotations and streamlining internal processes, besides provisioning spare aircraft at Delhi and Mumbai, to overcome last minute challenges."

If flights are late, passengers say the airline has a tired look and feel about itself.

A senior aviation industry professional who was with Jet Airways in 1996 says that Naresh Goyal, the founder chairman of the airline, left no stone unturned in bringing the absolute best in the market.

"When everyone else had B737-200, Jet brought in 737-400s, the reservation system, the crew, the food, the livery -- everything was top notch."

Goyal, he says, tried to model the airline after Singapore Airlines and he succeeded.

There was a time when people used influence to get a seat on Jet's business class -- often a spot for heads of companies to meet others and even strike deals.

"That edge that Jet had in terms of a smart service seems to have gone," adds Lumba.

A second reason why frequent fliers are 'not so frequent' is that the airline is missing on many key routes.

The Delhi-Hyderabad route, for example, is underserved with only one flight a day.

"Even SpiceJet flies thrice a day and IndiGo has 11 flights a day, and I don't need to remind you who came into the market earlier," says a former Jet employee.

Jet is also absent from other routes like Kolkata-Bengaluru and Kolkata-Chennai.

Observers and commanders cannot understand the reason for what they see as Jet's withdrawal from many domestic sectors.

The airline, however, says it deploys its assets "wherever they yield a higher return on investment" and in a manner that enables it to synergise operations between its three domestic hubs and four global gateways to ensure seamless travel for its guests across the network.

Of late, the airline has been making a concerted effort to step up aircraft utilisation and that has led to its own set of problems.

Last year, the airline managed to upset its junior pilots by offering them a work-life option that sought to reduce the amount they were paid by reducing the number of hours flown.

Now, senior commanders and pilots say the airline's 'pairing optimiser', a new software to pair crew with aircraft, is creating mayhem with rosters and schedules, a charge the airline denies.

If the present is not so happy, the future too looks uncertain.

The relationship with Etihad Airways that bought a stake in the airline in 2013 has been through its own share of ups and downs, and the market buzz is that Etihad is looking to divest its stake in the carrier.

But perhaps the more serious question mark has arisen over the airline's future leadership.

The last four years have seen six CEOs come and go, with the current chief, Vinay Dube, taking charge in August last year.

Old timers argue that Goyal, 68, although still razor sharp, doesn't have the same energy he once did and this reflects in his 'baby'.

With the relationship with Etihad now on the brink, it is unclear who will steer the Jet ship forward.
IMAGE: An Indonesian Special Forces Police counter-terrorism squad member walks by burned motorcycles following a blast at the Pentecost Church Central Surabaya, in Surabaya, Indonesia. Photograph: Beawiharta/Reuters

Suicide bombings killed at least 11 people and injured over 40 others at three churches in Surabaya, Indonesia's East Java province during Sunday mass. Suicide bombers on motorcycles, including a woman with children, targeted Sunday Mass congregations.

The Islamic State group took responsibility of the attacks via its propaganda agency Amaq.

'Three martyrdom attacks killed 11 and wounded at least 41 among church guards and Christians,' it said via the Telegram messaging app.

A family of six, including two young girls, were responsible for the attacks, national police chief Tito Karnavian said.

The family -- a mother and father, two daughters aged 9 and 12, and two sons aged 16 and 18 -- were linked to local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, which supports IS, Karnavian said.

The first attack struck the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church in Surabaya, killing four people, including one or more bombers, police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the spot.

The blast was followed by a second explosion minutes later at the Christian Church of Diponegoro and a third at the city's Pantekosta Church, Mangera said.

President Joko Widodo arrived in Surabaya, the East Java provincial capital, in the aftermath of the attacks, Mangera said.

The bombings were the worst since a series of attacks on churches on Christmas Eve in 2000 killed 15 people and wounded nearly 100.

Religious minorities, especially Christians, have been repeatedly targeted by terrorists.

Widodo slammed the attacks, telling reporters: "We must unite against terrorism. The state will not tolerate this act of cowardice."
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday mounted an attack on the Congress on corruption after chargesheets were filed against family members of former Union Minister P Chidambaram and said the party had not acted on a Supreme Court order for setting up a Special Investigation Team as it would have indicted its own leaders.

BJP president Amit Shah led his party's nationwide attack on the Congress and cited the four chargesheets filed by the Income Tax department against Chidambaram's family members to allege they had illegal assets worth 3 billion dollars, a claim dismissed by Chidambaram as a dream of the chief of 'India's richest political party'.

'This explains why despite Supreme Court's orders Sonia Gandhi, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh & then FM P Chidambaram dragged their feet on formation of SIT, one of the first decisions taken by Modi govt, to fight black money! How could they indict their own selves,' Shah tweeted.

Chidambaram retorted to Shah's charge in a tweet, urging the BJP to bring back black money stashed abroad -- as promised by the party before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

'The president of the richest political party in India is dreaming of billions of dollars! Bring the money back and put Rs 15 lakh in the account of every Indian as you promised,' he said.

The BJP also directed its leaders across the country, including chief ministers, to target the Congress over the issue and fielded Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the national capital to attack the rival party.

She described the charge sheets against Chidambaram's family members as the 'Nawaz Sharif moment' of the Congress, a reference to Pakistan Supreme Court's decision disqualifying its former prime minister from holding office because of non-disclosure of assets and income earned abroad.

"The parallels cannot be missed out in this case. I am wondering if for Congress party in India, we are seeing the Nawaz Sharif moment," she told reporters in New Delhi.

Chidambaram mocked her with a tongue-in-cheek tweet.

'The buzz in Delhi is that Ms Nirmala Sitaraman will be removed as defence minister and appointed as lawyer of the Income-tax department. Welcome to the bar, Ms Sitaraman (sic),' he said.

The Income Tax department on May 11 filed charge sheets against Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets.

Sitharaman asked if Congress president Rahul Gandhi would investigate the issue involving his party's senior leader.

"The Congress party president, incidentally who is also out on bail on some financial transactions which are questionable, should certainly comment and tell the entire party and people of India whether he is going to investigate this," she said.

She pointed out that the Pakistan court had disqualified Sharif from holding office because of not disclosing assets held in foreign countries.

Sitharaman said the law on black money was brought in by the Modi government because it had pledged before the last Lok Sabha elections to fight unaccounted for money held in India and abroad.

The chargesheets or prosecution complaints have been filed by the IT department before a special court in Chennai under Section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, officials said.

Nalini Chidambaram, Karti and Srinidhi and a firm linked to Karti have been accused of not disclosing, either partly or fully, immovable assets such as one at Barton, Cambridge, United Kingdom, worth Rs 5.37 crore, property worth Rs 80 lakh in the same country and assets worth Rs 3.28 crore in the United States.

The former finance minister's family members had said the Income Tax Department charge sheets against them under the black money law were 'baseless allegations' as the overseas investments under question had been reflected in their IT returns.

Chidambaram reminded the ruling BJP of its failure to bring back black money from abroad and deposit Rs 15 lakh in every Indian's bank account, as promised by it before the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

IMAGE: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks during the press conference at BJP Headquarters in New Delhi on Sunday. Photograph: Ravi Choudhary/PTI Photo
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
(Agencia CMA Latam) - Ibovespa, the benchmark stock market index in Brazil, fell 0.75% to 85,220.23 Friday as investors took profits and turned cautious before the release of an electoral poll result scheduled for Monday.

"Today was a bit of profit-taking after the strong rise in recent days, which was driven by Petrobras," said H.Commcor's chief operating officer, Ari Santos.

The stronger dollar also weighed on the Brazilian stock . The U.S. currency rose 1.52%, to R$ 3.6000.

"There's still a bit of political uncertainty. Investors are looking forward to the next election poll that will be released next week," said Lerosa Investimentos analyst Vitor Suzaki.

by Agencia CMA Latam

For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
Japan will on Monday release April figures for producer prices, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

Producer prices are expected to add 0.1 percent on month and 2.0 percent on year after easing 0.1 percent on month and gaining 2.1 percent on year in March.

Japan also will see March numbers for loans and discounts and preliminary April data for machine tool orders. Loans were up 2.15 percent on year in February, while tool orders surged an annual 28.1 percent in March.

New Zealand will see April results for its Performance of Services Index; in March, the index score was 59.9.

Australia will release March numbers for credit card purchases; in February, purchases were worth A$25.3 billion and balances were at A$52.7 billion.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
Report: 4 civilians killed in 33 Saudi-led airstrikes, ground attacks on Yemen over 24 hours [13/May/2018] br>SANAA, May 13, (Saba)  Four civilians were killed and a woman was injured when the US-backed Saudi-led coalition aggression Launched 33 airstrikes and ground attacks, over 90 rockets and shells, on several areas of Yemens provinces over the past 24 hours, according to reports combined by Saba News Agency on Sunday.



 In Saada province, a civilian was killed by the fire of Saudi border guards in Monabeh district, while a woman was injured by burns when her home was burned in missile and artillery shelling targeted Razih district.



Also in Saada, more than 90 rockets and shells were fired toward several areas of Razih, as well as artillery and missile shelling targeted several areas of Munabeh district and Ghor area of Ghamer district.



Meanwhile, the warplanes launched six strikes on Azhor area, an airstrike on Akwan area of Safraa district, two airstrike hit Burkan and Bani-Maen areas in Razih.



In Haidan district of Saada, two air strikes were waged on Maran area, and an airstrike on Bani-Moath area of Sehar district.



In Hodeidah province, three civilians were killed in an airstrike hit a farm in Jarahi district.



Also in Hodeidah,the warplanes waged an airstrike on Sahil area in Durihimy district, an air strike on Luhaia district, and Seven airstrikes were launched on Jah area of Bait-Faqih district.



In Salif district, the aggression launched an airstrike on Rasha island, and two airstrikes on Ras-Eisa area.



In Hajjah province, the Saudi-led coalition aggression warplanes launched eight strikes on Haradh and Medi districts.





Writing by Sameera Hassn

Saba
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to Nepal was highly successful and has taken bilateral ties to new heights, Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli said on Sunday.

Oli made the remarks in Parliament while informing members about Modi's visit.



An environment was created to take forward Nepal-India relations based on mutual benefit, Oli said, while claiming that national interests were kept in mind while dealing with India and no compromise will be made.



"Once we had stressful relations with India, but that stage is now over," the Prime Minister said. "We have mended fences... There will be no more blockade from the Indian side in future."



On Saturday, Modi had tweeted: "My Nepal visit was historic. It gave me a great opportunity to connect with the wonderful people of Nepal."

Modi's latest visit was the third to Kathmandu in four years, coming in the backdrop of a six-month blockade on Nepal-India border as well as a Left victory in Nepal's elections.



The "stressed situation" that led to the blockade three years ago and hurt bilateral relations have now turned harmonious, Oli said.



Echoing Modi's statement that India respected the sovereignty and integrity of Nepal, Oli said that bilateral relations should be based on equality and India's support will be received as per Nepal's needs.



Oli told lawmakers that discussions and agreements inked will benefit both countries.



Oli said that projects on which both countries will cooperate were related to road and railways, waterways, integrated security checkposts, transmission lines and petroleum pipelines.



"The Prime Minister of India and I have agreed ... to address in a time-bound manner the outstanding issues between our two countries. This will further strengthen Nepal-India relations," Oli tweeted in English, a translation of his tweet in Gujarati.



Oli and Modi have agreed to resolve all outstanding issues by September 19, the day marking the promulgation of the new Constitution in Nepal.
CITY COUNCILS

CARLSBAD

The Carlsbad City Council will meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday in council chambers at 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive to finalize angle parking on Beech Avenue; to hear a report on the Police Ranger Program and agree to continue the program; and to discuss the fiscal year 2018-19 council goals work plan.

ENCINITAS

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The Encinitas City Council is scheduled to hold a special meeting and goal-setting/ priority planning workshop at 4 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers, 505 S. Vulcan Ave.

ESCONDIDO

The Escondido City Council will meet in closed session Wednesday to discuss property negotiations in council chambers, 201 N. Broadway. In regular session at 4:30 p.m., the council will consider rent-increase requests for an average of $9.12 for 2017 at the Westwinds Mobilehome Park; and for an average of $14.77 from 2016 through 2017 for city-owned lots at Escondido Views Mobilehome Park. The council will also hold a public hearing to discuss the one-year action plan for funds for affordable housing activities, community block development grants, and Emergency Solutions Grant money for the homeless.

POWAY

The Poway City Council will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers, 13325 Civic Center Drive, when it will hold a public hearing on the TransNet Local Street Improvement Program projects for fiscal years 2018-19 through 2022-23. The council will also report the official voting results on creating two landscape maintenance districts, which were defeated. The council will also discuss a contract for design services for the Mickey Cafagna Community Center. A closed session will follow to discuss litigation and property negotiation.

SOLANA BEACH

The city of Solana Beach will hold public hearings on new city council electoral districts at 6 p.m. Monday in council chambers at City Hall, 635 S. Highway 101, and at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the La Colonia Community Center, 715 Valley Ave. Both meetings will have Spanish translation services available.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS

CARLSBAD

The Carlsbad Unified School District board will meet in closed session to discuss student discipline at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the district office, 6225 El Camino Real. In regular session at 6 p.m., the board will review a three-year educational technology plan.

ENCINITAS

The Encinitas Union School District board will meet in special session at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at El Camino Creek Elementary School, 7885 Paseo Aliso, Carlsbad. Ten groups of fifth- and sixth-grade Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan interns from the nine district schools will present ways to reduce pollutants flowing through each schools drain system and into the ocean.

The Escondido Union High School District board is scheduled to meet in closed session at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the district office, 302 N. Midway Drive, and in regular session at 7 p.m.

SAN MARCOS

The San Marcos Unified School District board will meet in closed session to discuss student discipline and labor negotiations at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the North County Regional Education Center, 255 Pico Ave. In regular session at 6 p.m., the board will hold a brief reception honoring retiring employees. The board will also discuss forming Community Facilities District No. 11, levying a special tax within the district, and a notice of intent to sell $4 million in bonds in the district. The board will also hold a public hearing on its School Facilities Needs Analysis, and if approved, will consider adopting alternative school facility fees on construction.

laura.groch@sduniontribune.com
CITY COUNCILS

CARLSBAD

The Carlsbad City Council met in special session Tuesday to discuss litigation. In regular session, the council approved its 2018-2019 Action Plan for Community Development Block Grant funding; agreed to buy eight Ford Explorer Police Interceptors from Downtown Ford for $449,216; and awarded a contract to American Asphalt South for $44,270 for the Carlsbad Boulevard and Beech Avenue restriping. The council gave preliminary approval for angle parking on Beech Avenue. The council also heard a report on the capital improvement program and set a public hearing date for June 12.

DEL MAR

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The Del Mar City Council met in closed session Monday to discuss litigation and labor negotiations. In regular session, the council discussed its proposed Charter Amendment, which would increase local control over land use and zoning. A pending state senate bill would mandate that all cities comply with state law for zoning and land use. The council approved updating the citys Climate Action Plan to include a chapter on social equity, which means helping residents of all income levels get the benefits of energy improvements. The council also heard reports on preparations for the summer season and the San Diego County Fair, and approved a three-year agreement with the San Diego Humane Society for services. The council rejected bids for Phase 1 of the Downtown Streetscape Project and directed staff to prepare to rebid the project.

ENCINITAS

The Encinitas City Council met Wednesday to discuss the draft Housing Element. Nine possible sites were added to the plan to help achieve a state-certified plan for affordable housing.

ESCONDIDO

The Escondido City Council met in closed session Wednesday to discuss property negotiations. In regular session, the council gave final approval to reducing auto insurance requirements for taxis; approved a memorandum of understanding on the Innovate 78 regional economic development initiative with Carlsbad, Oceanside, San Marcos and Vista, and approved funding for Escondidos share; and discussed the fiscal year 2018/19 five-year capital improvement program and budget.

OCEANSIDE

The Oceanside City Council met in closed session Wednesday to discuss property and labor negotiations. In regular session, the council discussed the petition for an initiative requiring voters to approve the land-use designation of agricultural or open space land. A report was requested on the initiative within 30 days. A public hearing was held and approval given to revised accessory dwelling unit regulations. A hearing was also held on zoning changes for the Fairfield Inn and Suites Oceanside Boulevard project. The project was approved, 3-2, with the addition of a left-turn signal at the hotel and a U-turn allowed at Ditmar and Oceanside Boulevard.

SAN MARCOS

The San Marcos City Council met in special session Tuesday to discuss performance evaluation of the city manager and city attorney. In regular session, the council approved issuing bonds and refunding bonds by Community Facilities District No. 99-01 (San Elijo Hills), and gave final approval to the Murai Specific Plan west of the north end of North Las Posas Road.

SOLANA BEACH

The Solana Beach City Council met in special session Wednesday for a budget workshop for fiscal year 2018-19. In regular session, the council approved setting up the Solana Energy Alliances fiscal year 2018 and 2019 budgets, and approved a loan for its startup costs. The council also approved a three-year agreement for animal control services with the San Diego Humane Society. A closed session to discuss litigation and property negotiation followed.

VISTA

The Vista City Council met in closed session Tuesday to discuss labor negotiations. In regular session, the council approved permits for a car wash at 1350 S. Melrose Drive. The council discussed public input on renovations to Bub Williamson Park. Most amenities suggested were approved, except for the off-leash dog area, and park hours were changed to dawn until 8 p.m. A proposed zoning change at La Tortuga and Hacienda drives was tabled, and a sign was directed to be installed notifying the public of the proposal in hopes of getting more input. The council also heard reports on its fiscal year 2018-19 and 2019-20 draft capital improvement programs.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS

CARDIFF

The Cardiff School District board met in closed session Thursday to discuss litigation. In regular session, the board approved budget revisions; heard an update on bond implementation; and accepted its Measure GG Independent Citizens Oversight G Committee 2017 annual report.

DEL MAR

The Del Mar Union School District met in special session Thursday to discuss financing needs and potential funding, including a possible general obligation bond election. The board also met in closed session to discuss property negotiations.

ENCINITAS

The Encinitas Union School District board met Tuesday in closed session to discuss litigation, personnel and labor negotiations. In regular session, the board heard a report on student demographic projections related to facilities planning through 2024-2025. The board also discussed the potential impact of the citys Housing Element on school facilities. A tentative agreement to raise salaries by 2.5 percent for Classified of Encinitas employees was approved. The board also approved a 2.5 percent raise for certificated and classified management, supervisory and confidential employees, and assistant superintendents.

ESCONDIDO

The Escondido Union School District board met in closed session Thursday to discuss personnel and student discipline. The board appointed Brenda Gachuz as director of purchasing, Meggan Lokken, director of special education, and Danielle Ruiz as coordinator of special education. In regular session, the board awarded contracts and bids for various services. You Make Escondido Shine awards were presented to Jasmine Apodaca, Miguel Benitez Chamu and Abigail Linares Sanchez, Hidden Valley Middle School; Jesus Bermudez, Adelina Bulle and Ximena Rosales, the Preschool/First Years program; Kareny Lopez, Diego Ramirez and Isaac Avalos, Lincoln Elementary; and Norma Rodriguez, Adriana Rodriguez and Mayra Bucio, Central Elementary.

The Escondido Union High School District board met in closed session Tuesday to discuss labor negotiations and litigation. In regular session, the board approved buying 1,600 Dell laptops for $631,476.33 to replace students aging Chromebooks. The board also discussed district goals and a Local Control Accountability Plan update.

FALLBROOK

The Fallbrook Union Elementary School District board met Monday to celebrate its Employee of the Year and Teacher of the Year. In regular session, the board approved the job description and hiring of a full-time behavior specialist; and approved its early 2018-2019 budget assumptions.

The Fallbrook Union High School District board met in closed session Monday to discuss labor negotiations and litigation. In regular session, the board held a hearing on the bargaining proposal of the Service Employees International Union Local 221.

OCEANSIDE

The Oceanside Unified School District board met in closed session Tuesday to discuss personnel and litigation. In regular session, the board approved 1 percent and 2 percent raises for confidential and certificated-classified management employees, and heard a bond financial update. The board also reviewed and accepted its Third Interim Financial Report.

POWAY

The Poway Unified School District board met in closed session Thursday to discuss personnel and litigation. Andrew Gurgerich of the San Diego Unified School District was appointed principal of Painted Rock Elementary. In regular session, the board ratified a tentative contract with the Poway Federation of Teachers that includes a 2.5 percent ongoing raise, a 2 percent one-time payment based on base salary for 2017-2018, and a 1 percent one-time payment funded by the PFT Other Post-Retirement Employee Benefits account. The board also established the position of assistant superintendent, student support services, to oversee special education services and services including student safety and wellness.

SAN DIEGUITO

The San Dieguito Union High School District board met in closed session Thursday to discuss personnel and property negotiations. In regular session, the board agreed 3-2 to establish video broadcasting/recording of meetings, and approved a contract with Raptor Technologies LLC for 11 visitor management systems through May 10, 2019, for a one-time equipment charge of $12,749 and $5,940 for the annual fee. The board tabled discussion of a draft district governance handbook.

SAN PASQUAL

The San Pasqual Union School District board met in closed session Tuesday to discuss personnel. In regular session, the board approved an employment agreement for Mark Burroughs, who will be the new superintendent/principal. His contract will be for two years, to run through June 30, 2020 at a salary of $135,000.

VISTA

The Vista Unified School District board met in closed session Tuesday to discuss student discipline and labor negotiations. In open session, the board held a public hearing on a petition to establish the National University Academy. An item to choose the vendor for a district solar photovoltaic project was tabled.

laura.groch@sduniontribune.com
The Escondido Union School District is seeing higher numbers of special education students, and shouldering more of the costs of those programs, than it has in the past, according to a recent report on the program.

Unfortunately, special education is not adequately funded and special education needs to be augmented by our general education dollars, Superintendent Luis Rankins-Ibarra said. We will have to continue to prioritize our spending.

The district commissioned the report, titled the Escondido Union School District Special Education Review, to examine whats working in its special education program and what needs improvement.

The report covers topics including special education budgets, staff training, inclusion of special ed students in general education classrooms, and challenges of students with both language barriers and learning disabilities.

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With 16,250 students, according to the California School Dashboard, Escondido has experienced declining enrollment in recent years due to changes in the areas demographics, shifts toward enrollment in local charter schools, and other factors.

During that time, however, the number of special ed students in the district has climbed, while funding for the programs has plummeted. The problem is not unique to Escondido, but is pervasive in school districts throughout the state, as changing criteria for special education have allowed more students to qualify for the programs, school board President Doug Paulson said.

That is a huge issue, he said. The fact is that the special education population is increasing in our district, and in districts throughout the state, (and) requirements for providing instruction to those students are increasing dramatically. And meanwhile, state funding for special ed is decreasing, and not decreasing a little, but decreasing tremendously.

Between December 2016 and December 2017, special education enrollment in Escondido Union School District grew by 6 percent, but overall enrollment declined by 2.62 percent, the report found. Special education students made up about 14 percent of enrollment in December 2017, it stated.

In the fiscal year 2012-13, the district paid about $1.2 million of the special education programs $13 million budget  less than 9 percent of the total. By fiscal year 2017-18, that contribution climbed to $10.3 million out of the programs $19.7 budget  more than half of the districts special ed spending.

Although the state expects to increase education spending to the full level mandated by Californias Local Control Funding Formula for the coming school year, that will still leave local school districts short of what they need in 2018, particularly for special education programs, educators say.

Fully funding the Local Control Funding Formula is wonderful, but it still leaves us 10 years behind, Paulson said.

As the district grapples with those financial responsibilities, its weighing how best to educate students with special needs. Most schools today embrace a model of inclusion, with special ed students participating as much as possible in general education classes.

Many students with certain physical or learning disabilities participate entirely in general education, but receive small adjustments such as extra time on tests, or accommodations for vision or hearing impairments. For students with more significant disabilities, the question of when and how to introduce them to general education classes depended on their needs and the schools resources.

There are not enough general education settings available for students with different disabilities, resulting in limited general education placements of special education students, the report stated.

Moreover, it stated, there arent enough instructional aides to help special ed students participate in classes where they need extra behavioral help or tutoring. And some teachers seemed reluctant to engage with special needs students.

It appears that the culture of believing that all students belong to us is not apparent at every school site, the report stated.

Both Paulson and Ibarra said that Escondido Union School District recognizes the importance of including all students in general education classes, and is looking for ways to expand those opportunities.

We have exceeded the state target for keeping students in the least restrictive environments, Rankins-Ibarra said in a statement. We are in the process of analyzing all the information including the recommendations to come up with an action plan for additional opportunities to continue to improve our services.

That will involve finding ways to more efficiently use the limited funds, Paulson said.

We need to provide more professional development, more training for general ed teachers to make sure teachers are receiving the assistance they need in every class, he said. And we need to make sure we get more support for the teachers in the classroom with additional instructional aides and more special ed teachers.

In some cases, the report stated, language barriers can confound special education, mixing up linguistic and cultural diversity with cognitive and intellectual functioning.

That left teachers unsure whether some English learners are struggling with language development or learning disabilities, and when to refer them for assessment, the report added.

Parents contacted for the report described their childrens teachers using terms such as great, dedicated and compassionate. However, they said that general education teachers should have more training in working with students with special needs.

They also wanted more communication from teachers about their childrens progress, and wanted principals to attend meetings on their individualized education plans, the blueprints for special ed services.

deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan
Come the end of this year, someone other than Bill Horn will represent North County on the Board of Supervisors.

Termed out after 23 years of representing District 5, an area that spans nearly 1,800 square miles from the Pacific Ocean to Imperial County, Horns departure  along with that of Supervisor Ron Roberts  could herald the beginning of a wholesale change in the makeup of the board by 2020.

Vying to replace him are four candidates. Political strategists and observers uniformly believe the eventual winner will be San Marcos Mayor Jim Desmond, who has been endorsed by Horn, the Republican party, and the Deputy Sheriffs Association. The political demographics of District 5 lean heavily toward the right.

Some say it is possible that Desmond may win the seat outright in the June 5 primary by gathering more than 50 percent of the vote.

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Also running are longtime Oceanside City Councilman Jerry Kern; Jacqueline Arsivaud, a member of the San Dieguito Planning Group and chairwoman of the Elfin Forest/Harmony Grove Town Council; and Michelle Gomez, a legislative analyst and longtime volunteer.

District 5 represents a diverse population that includes the cities of Carlsbad, Oceanside and Camp Pendelton on the coast and runs all the way to Borrego Springs to the east. It includes Rancho Santa Fe, Fairbanks Ranch, 4S Ranch, San Marcos, Vista, Valley Center, Bonsall, Fallbrook, Rainbow, De Luz, Pauma Valley, Warner Springs, and Ranchita.

Desmond, 62, has been the mayor of San Marcos for 12 years and says he has learned a lot about government and government policies in that time.

Ive been able to make a lot of relationships in San Diego County and to get some things done and Im running because Im pretty much a basic government service kind of guy, he told the Union-Tribunes editorial board.

Desmond says he has the most experience of all the candidates as a leader of a city.

I want to make sure the county remains fiscally responsible, he said. I want to make sure our residents stay safe. And I want to increase and enhance our infrastructure.

Kern has been on the Oceanside City Council for 12 years and is generally considered to be Desmonds biggest challenger.

I feel I am the most qualified, coming from a full-service city on the coast, Kern said. Ive dealt with Coastal Commission issues. We have an airport. We have a harbor. We have our own water department and police department. A lot of things the county deals with Ive dealt with. I can hit the ground running.

Kern said the housing crisis is real and he would likely support some of the big housing projects being proposed in North County along the Interstate 15 corridor.

I think I can be of service, he said. Ive always been in service to the people of Oceanside.

The focus of Arsivauds campaign is what she feels is the negative influence that developers and the building industry have on the county and the excessive influence developers have with the current Board of Supervisors.

I believe, and so do the people who support me, that we are heading to a future that will look more like Los Angeles than San Diego, she told the editorial board.

We have to think about smart growth versus sprawl. We have to think about technology solutions to traffic.

Arsivaud is endorsed by a number of environmental groups and leaders and is involved in the signature-gathering campaign for the Save Our San Diego Countryside initiative. The initiative, if enough signatures are gathered by the end of this month, will ask voters to approve new regulations that would require county-wide votes for most amendments to the General Plan that seek to drastically increase the number of units that could be built under current zoning in the unincorporated parts of the county.

Gomez , 47, said shes running for supervisor because she wants to make a difference for working families.

I believe our current supervisors are sitting on a stockpile of money and reserves, she told the editorial board. And that is not benefiting our communities. Its not benefiting our working families.

She also said shes running because something must be done about affordable housing and the homelessness crisis.

We need to be making sure that were building in smart growth areas, near infrastructure, near transportation corridors, she said. We need to make sure were preserving our pristine open space, but at the same time building and developing affordable housing units.  Part of that is incentivizing developers to ensure that every time they build a project that they put some affordable housing units into that project.

Reflecting his front-runner status, campaign financial filings show Desmond has far more cash on hand to spend on the election.

This year, Desmond has received more than $73,000 in campaign donations, which have been added to a beginning cash balance of $193,000. As of the most recent reporting period, which ended late last month, he has spent about $55,000 on the campaign and has about $220,000 in his campaign coffers.

Kern,meanwhile, has a cash balance of about $85,000, having raised $17,100 this year to add to a beginning balance of more than $111,000. He so far has spent about $43,000.

Arsivaud has received nearly $27,000 in campaign contributions, including a $5,000 loan from herself to the campaign. She has spent about $19,000, has $10,000 in debts, and has an $18,000 cash balance.

Gomez has received just over $5,000 in contributions of which she has spent about $500.

HERES A SNAPSHOT OF EACH CANDIDATE:

Jim Desmond

AGE: 62

A resident of San Marcos, Desmond has been mayor of that city for the past 12 years. He is employed as a captain for Delta Air Lines and has been married for 32 years to his wife Kerri. They have two grown children.

Endorsed by among others: Supervisor Bill Horn, the Deputy Sheriffs Association and the local Republican Party.

QUOTE: I think the difference between myself and my main (opponent), which is Mr. Kern from Oceanside, Ive been the mayor of a city. Ive been the leader of a city.

Jacqueline Arsivaud

AGE: 59

A native of France, Arsivaud has lived in District 5 for more than a quarter-of-a-century. A resident of Elfin Forest since 1991, she has been married for 30 years to Alan Benjamin and has two grown children. Arsivaud is a member of the San Dieguito Planning Group and chairwoman of the Elfin Forest/Harmony Grove Town Council.

She is endorsed by former Supervisor Pam Slater-Price and many environmental groups and leaders.

QUOTE: We need to elect people to the board who are committed to preserving San Diegans quality of life and that starts with limiting urban sprawl, which I see as an existential threat for us as a county.

Jerry Kern

AGE: 65

Kern has been a member of the Oceanside City Council for 12 years and has been a resident, with his wife Blake, of that city for more than 40 years. The couple has two grown children.

Kern has been endorsed by, among others: State Sen. Pat Bates and Assemblymen Rocky Chavez and Randy Voepel.

QUOTE: I think Im well a qualified for the job. I think I can be of service. Ive always been in service to the people of Oceanside. My basic philosophy of government is were in the service delivery business.

Michelle Gomez

AGE: 47

Gomez is an Oceanside resident who works as a governmental affairs legislative analyst.

She is married to a Marine Corps veteran, Don, and endorsed by the Democratic Party, numerous labor unions and groups and the Sierra Club.

QUOTE: I am running because I think we need a fresh face and a fresh perspective. I think our current county Board of Supervisors has been there too long. And I think that they are just going through the motions rather than affecting real change.

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
Summertime is a great excuse to bury your nose in a new book. Its refreshing to cool down in the hot weather, sit in the shade and read, read, read. In August, you can revel in the printed word another way by attending The San Diego Union-Tribune Festival of Books at Liberty Station.

Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man

Just after midnight on July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis is struck by Japanese torpedoes. The ship sinks rapidly, quickly killing 300 men. Nearly 900 make it into the Philippine Sea alive. After five nights and four days, only 317 survive. Some of these men spend years fighting to clear the name of their captain who was court-martialed. The authors, both San Diego residents, researched this harrowing saga and final outcome. Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic. July 10. simonandschuster.com. 544 pages. $28.

At Least Know This: Essential Science to Enhance Your Life

San Diego resident Guy P. Harrison doesnt pull any punches in his new book, At Least Know This: Essential Science to Enhance Your Life. He nimbly tackles subjects like who we are, where we come from, how our brain works and the nature of the universe. He provides remedies and answers to the questions why we make poor judgments, poison and deplete the oceans and cling to cultural biases. Guy P. Harrison. July 10. prometheusbooks.com. 416 pages. $19.

Girls Night Out

When three friends vacation together to resolve their differences, one of them goes missing. Natalie and Lauren have to piece the puzzle together to unravel Ashleys mysterious disappearance in this suspenseful novel. What kind of dangerous secrets get revealed? Co-authors Steinke and Fenton, who live in San Diego, have been friends for 30 years. Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke. July 24. Lake Union Publishing. 369 pages. $14.95.

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Benjamin Gorman

When Benjamin Gorman attended Horton Elementary School in San Diego, his English teacher inspired him. Gormans book, The Digital Storm: A Science Fiction Reimagining of William Shakespeares The Tempest, is set in the near future inside a banks intranet. He will be speaking and signing his book. 7:30 p.m. Aug. 2. Mysterious Galaxy, 5943 Balboa Ave, Suite 100, San Diego. Free. (858) 268-4747. mystgalaxy.com.

The San Diego Union-Tribune Festival of Books

The San Diego Union-Tribune is again partnering with KPBS for the second annual Festival of Books. Over 100 authors are expected. Just like last years successful event, there will be interactive panel discussions and book signings. A dedicated childrens area and exhibitor booths will add to the fun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 25. Liberty Station, Multiple Venues, Pt. Loma. Free event admission, parking. sdfestivalofbooks.com

Davidson is a freelance writer.
The Israeli army announced on Saturday that it had destroyed a tunnel dug by Hamas  the Palestinian militia ruling the Gaza Strip  a few feet before it reached the Israeli border, and that it was also shutting down the main cargo crossing into Gaza after fire damage by protesters Friday had rendered it totally unusable.

It was the ninth such tunnel demolished in the last seven months, according to the Israeli army.

On Saturday, the Health Ministry in Gaza reported that a 15-year-old Palestinian identified as Jamal Abu Arahman Afaneh had died from wounds sustained during the protests, raising the death toll from Fridays demonstrations to two, and the total number of Palestinian deaths since protests started on March 30 to 49.

A potentially more violent week ahead looms across all Palestinian territories  along with a surge in casualties  as the weekly protests culminate with a threatened breach of the border.

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Palestinians and Israelis on either side of the Erez border crossing reported loud blasts about 8 p.m. Erez is a pedestrian crossing that 52,000 people used in 2017, according to the Israeli army, the overwhelming number for humanitarian purposes, said Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israeli army.

In addition to its immediate and practical effect, the surgical strike on the tunnel along Erez is a signal to Hamas that Israel will not shy away from exerting the full force of its military, if necessary, during a week that will include the inauguration of a new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem; Nakba Day, in which Palestinians mark their dispossession during Israels war of independence; and the start of Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar  each potent events fraught with national, cultural and religious meaning.

Palestinian authorities said that 10 missiles were launched during the Israeli strike to destroy the tunnel, causing no casualties.

Conricus said the half-mile-long tunnel had been dug for months and tracked by the Israelis for weeks.

The Hamas terror organization is trying to create a violent situation and conduct terrorist activity under the cover of riots and demonstrations next week, Conricus said, adding that the Israeli army was prepared for any eventuality.

The Israeli bombing is a miserable and failed attempt to prevent the participation of the masses of our people in the Gaza Great March of Return, Hamas said in a statement. Our answer to this attempt will be the participation of huge numbers in the march toward the border demanding their rights.

Our peoples response will come on Monday by marching to the fence, the statement said.

Israel fears that in the coming week up to 100,000 Palestinians could gather in massive demonstrations at the Gaza border and across the West Bank, where the population has so far remained indifferent to the movement in Gaza. Hamas has threatened to organize masses of people to storm the fence that separates Israel from the beleaguered enclave that has subsisted under a virtual siege since Hamas took the territory over in 2007.

The army said it is deploying three infantry brigades to potential points of conflagration, and coordinating with Israeli security services, police, firefighters and other emergency services in preparation for the week.

Conricus said the army did not have any plans for arresting or otherwise stopping thousands of people crossing into Israel if the attempt to breach the border is successful, since we are determined to avoid any infiltration into Israel and any terror attack on Israeli targets, military or civilian.

He said the army planned to use tear gas and other nonlethal riot dispersal methods and would resort to live ammunition only as a last resort. He also said Israel would try to convey a message of moderation to everyday Gazans, including instructions that they protest at a safe distance from the fence.

We are telling them not to come closer than 300 meters (about 1,000 feet) from the fence. We are telling them that anyone who comes closer than that is putting his life in danger. They should stay away, he said.

Saturdays bombing was also a signal to Israelis living on the border with Gaza, who have grown increasingly anxious as the middle of May approaches, that the army is vigilantly protecting their communities.

The indefinite closing of the Kerem Shalom border post is likely to bring even more misery to Gazas devastated population. Fuel pipes destroyed in fires there are the only vehicle for importing diesel into Gaza for hospital generators and other basic facilities.

On Saturday, the Israeli army released a video showing a few dozen Palestinians cheering as the Kerem Shalom crossing burned.

Hamas is trying to transform the border fence protests, including those expected to take place Monday and Tuesday, into covers for terror attacks, said Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, the Israeli armys chief spokesman.

Hamas action yesterday against the Kerem Shalom crossing is cynical to both Gazans and donor countries. Hamas is killing the Gaza Strip.

Special correspondent Hana Salah contributed to this report from Gaza City.
North Korea said it planned to ceremonially close its main nuclear test site this month to ensure transparency about its intent ahead of a historic summit in June with President Trump.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said the site  a mountain near Punggye-ri in a remote northeast province  would be completed in phases, beginning with the explosive collapse of tunnels. Entries and other structures at the site would also be removed.

In a statement carried in state media, the ministry said Saturday that it would invite journalists from five countries, including the United States, to view the event on May 23-25, weather permitting.

Trump, set to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next month in Singapore, praised the announcement on Twitter.

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Thank you, he wrote, a very smart and gracious gesture!

This announcement comes weeks after Kim met South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a diplomatic outpost within the demilitarized zone that has separated the estranged countries since the Korean War.

At that meeting, the two sides set a vague goal for complete denuclearization as well as efforts to improve relations that have grown strained in recent years as the North defied the international community by repeatedly testing and launching mid-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles. That, and recent underground nuclear detonations at Punggye-ri, have prompted international condemnation and economic sanctions.

Kim, who took over in 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, has presided over dozens of ballistic missile tests and four such nuclear tests, the most recent in September, which was the strongest yet. He has since declared the North a nuclear state capable of striking the American mainland with a nuclear-armed missile.

At the same time, the dynastic leader  who has traveled to China twice in recent weeks  has pursued diplomacy in the last few months, perhaps in an effort to improve his nations economy, which has been crippled over the years by its closed system and at least nine rounds of economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council.

He allowed his nation to participate in the Winter Olympics, held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, with athletes from the nations marching together under a neutral unification flag. That led to more dialogue and eventually the inter-Korean summit, only the third between their respective leaders, last month.

North Korea has offered its own concept of denuclearization that differs with what American experts might require. Many in the Trump administration, for example, say they want complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement, known as CVID, as part of any deal that might lead to the reduction of sanctions.

Its possible the North might offer concessions  the dismantling of its long-range missile, for example  but few international experts expect it to agree, at least initially, to something like CVID.

The Kim government sees the nuclear program as protection from the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea.

At a ruling party meeting last month, Kim said he would stop testing nuclear devices and long-range missiles. Its unclear whether closing Punggye-ri is a significant concession, even if theres some evidence that the process has already begun, according to commercial satellite imagery.

The site is believed to be badly damaged  perhaps even collapsed  from last years powerful test and several before it.

Some experts remain skeptical about the Norths intentions.

The test site can probably be reactivated by mining the collapsed entries to the tunnels, or another test site could be developed elsewhere. It will be prudent to monitor overhead imagery for indications of opening another site, wrote Cheryl Rofer, a scientist who blogs about national security issues.

On hand for the ceremony, the North said, would be journalists from Britain, China, Russia, the United States and South Korea. They are expected to be flown in on charter jets from Beijing to Wonsan, a port city on the nations east coast.

Its an effort, the ministry said, to show the world that North Korea is serious. Referring to the country by its formal name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, the ministry said in a statement:

The DPRK will, also in the future, promote close contacts and dialogue with the neighboring countries and the international society so as to safeguard peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and over the globe.

The governments announcement caps a week of surprises connected to North Korea. Kim met again with Chinese President Xi Jinping and it was announced that his historic summit with Trump will take place in Singapore on June 12.

On Wednesday the North freed three imprisoned U.S. citizens as a goodwill gesture. The three men, who had been accused of subversion and anti-state activities, traveled home with the U.S. secretary of State. I am pleased to inform you that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the air and on his way back from North Korea with the 3 wonderful gentlemen that everyone is looking so forward to meeting, Trump tweeted on Wednesday.

Then on Friday, Pompeo said the U.S. would provide the North with economic assistance if it gives up nuclear weapons and perhaps agrees to normalized relations.

Stiles is a special correspondent.

UPDATES:

6:35 p.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting, comments from President Trump and additional background.

9 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from analysts.

This article was originally published at 6:55 a.m.
San Diego is the only city in California seeking state reimbursement for testing the toxic lead levels in water at local schools, which has cost the citys water agency more than $400,000.

The city has done tests at 256 schools since early 2017, but must test an additional 45 schools over the next six weeks. State legislation requires water agencies to test every public school, regardless of whether the agency gets a request, by July 1.

Significantly more schools in San Diego County have been tested than in any other county in California since the state requirement began.

The state has received testing results from 552 schools in San Diego County, compared with 360 in Alameda County, 280 in Santa Clara County, 263 in Sacramento County, 193 in Los Angeles County and 169 in Orange County.

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Of the schools tested by San Diego, only four have exceeded the level of lead where California law requires them to take action.

In the San Diego Unified School District, three affected campuses  Co-Operative Charter School 2, Emerson-Bandini School and Birney Elementary School  have fixed their problems.

The fourth school was a French-English learning academy called La Petite Ecole in Clairemont.

The requirement, which came in response to a national outcry over lead in drinking water at schools in Michigan, immediately prompted complaints from water agencies that it was an unfunded mandate by the state.

San Diego filed a test claim with the Commission on State Mandates in January, something no other water agencies have done. Written arguments in the case are due by June, with a hearing tentatively scheduled for November.

Its a very long, drawn-out convoluted process with the state, Brent Eidson, deputy director of the citys Public Utilities Department, said by phone. The state never intended to reimburse us.

If the commission rules against the city, San Diegos 275,000 water and sewer customers will be on the hook for the tests. If San Diego wins, every water agency in the state will be reimbursed for the tests it has conducted at local schools.

Eidson said it would be unusual for the commission to take a compromise position and order partial reimbursement.

Its usually an up or a down, he said.

Lead in drinking water can damage the cognitive development of children.

When a campus is found to have elevated levels of lead, the schools are required to fix the problem, with water agencies only required to conduct follow-up tests.

Water agencies are required to test five drinking fountains or other water fixtures at each campus, with school officials choosing the fixtures.

San Diego Unified announced last summer that it would begin testing all fixtures and cover the added costs itself. The district also decided to raise the standard of whats considered a dangerous level of lead from 15 parts per billion to 5 parts per billion.

That makes the districts standard the same as the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations standard for lead in bottled drinking water.

Eidson said the lack of positive tests for lead shows that San Diegos water does not contain dangerous levels of lead and isnt corrosive. Lead in water typically comes from corrosive water extracting the lead from old pipes.

The water itself, as it leaves our plant and comes to everybodys individual homes, is definitely lead-free, he said. The question is whether the plumbing on your particular house, or in this case a school, has lead fixtures and is our water so corrosive that it is leaching lead.

Eidson said one reason for the low frequency of local positive tests might be that much of San Diegos water comes from the mineral-rich Colorado River.

He said those minerals, especially calcium, help create an internal lining that keeps the water separate from the pipes carrying it, which could prevent or reduce the leaching of lead.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com
The online stranger threatened and harassed children for weeks and months to send him photos of themselves naked.

That man, Vista resident Joseph Daniel Saucedo, 26, was sentenced in federal court in San Diego County on Friday to nearly 20 years in prison for the coercion that began when he pretended online to be a teenage girl wanting to exchange explicit photos with other children, federal prosectors said.

Saucedo pleaded guilty a year ago to two counts of receiving and attempting to receive photos of minors, ages 11 and 16, engaged in sexually explicit conduct. A third count was dismissed.

He faced 15 to 40 years in prison. A federal judge imposed a sentence of 19 years, seven months in prison and 20 years of supervised release, according to a statement issued by the U.S. attorneys office.

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The statement said that in the plea deal, Saucedo admitted he had posed as teenager Amy Jennings to communicate online with an 11-year-old Canadian boy. As Amy, Saucedo sent the boy pictures of naked girls and asked if he would communicate with her friend, Saucedo.

When the boy refused, Amy posted a photo of his house and threatened to shame him into texting Saucedo, authorities said. They said Saucedo displayed himself naked to the boy using FaceTime and demanded pictures in return.

Early in 2016, the Calgary Police Service was investigating child pornography and had traced images to Saucedo in Vista and connected him to the 11-year-old boys case.

Cross-border investigations came to involve the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the U.S. Secret Service and Homeland Security Investigations. San Diegos Electronic Crimes Working Group arrested Saucedo in 2016 and found cellphone evidence of nine more possible victims, federal prosecutors said.

The investigation revealed that Amy had exchanged 130 images and 66 videos, many of them child pornography, with Kik instant messaging app users.

One victim, 13, was asked to send pictures of herself naked at school, authorities said. A 14-year-old girl was urged to commit sex acts, until she reached the point of saying the threats made her think of suicide, they said.

Starting in 2015, Saucedo tormented a 16-year-old Florida girl for nearly a year after first posing as an agent looking for nude models, prosecutors said. When the girl stalled, Saucedo posed as Amy Jennings with blackmail threats. He persuaded the teen to send photos of her breasts and conduct a sexually explicit FaceTime chat with him, they said.

This case highlights the importance of strong international partnerships to target these heinous crimes, U.S. Atty. Adam Braverman said in the statement.

Saucedo was convicted in San Diego Superior Court in 2012 for unlawful sex with a minor. He was 20 and the girl was 14 at the time, authorities said.

Repard writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

pauline.repard@sduniontribune.com
Nathan Fletcher has made opposition to President Donald Trump the centerpiece of his campaign just weeks before the June 5 primary.

Thats understandable, given the central San Diego area he wants to represent is overwhelmingly Democratic and voted strongly for Hillary Clinton. What makes it unusual is hes running for county supervisor.

Nationalizing such a local election is rare, though not unheard of, and the strategy will come under question if it fails. But a lot of politics these days seem atypical, even at the local level. Actions related to Trump policies are increasingly showing up on board and council agendas.

The Republican-dominated county Board of Supervisors, like the Escondido City Council, recently voted to back Trumps lawsuit aimed at overturning Californias so-called sanctuary laws that give extra protection to certain unauthorized immigrants.

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The San Diego City Councils Democratic majority voted to have the city join a lawsuit opposing Trumps ban on refugees from certain countries. The council also passed a resolution opposing his proposed extended border wall.

A Fletcher mailer sent by the local Democratic Party was unequivocal, if broad brushed.

Republican County Supervisors Are Pushing Trumps Agenda, it says at the top of the cover. At the bottom it promises Nathan Fletcher Will Fight Back.

In between is a big photograph of the County Administration Center with a Trump: Make America Great Again banner photoshopped onto the buildings tower.

That approach seems designed to fire up Democrats in District 4, where termed-out incumbent Supervisor Ron Roberts, a Republican, argued against joining the Trump lawsuit. Trump and his agenda clearly have energized Democrats, though their hoped-for blue wave in this election year is mostly discussed in terms of congressional races.

Fletcher has become the choice of the local Democratic Party and allied groups, including the Labor Council, Sierra Club and numerous other organizations. He is well-funded and married to a political powerhouse, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego.

Through much of last year, the race was framed in the media as a likely showdown between two political heavyweights: Fletcher, a former assemblyman, and former District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, a Republican.

But things changed and little of it in Fletchers favor. Former Assemblywoman Lori Saldana, who entered the race in September, won the backing of a split-off labor group, the San Diego Working Families Council, in March. What wasnt known was how committed the group would be. A couple hundred thousand dollars later, its clear the Working Families Council is all in.

The councils backing is huge because while Saldana is well-known, she was virtually out of what little campaign cash she had raised. The councils committee has already sent a handful of mailers. Some of the pieces promote her as a champion of the environment and gun control and list votes against those interests by Fletcher when he was a Republican in the Assembly.

Andrew Bowen of KPBS reported where some of the pieces are on target and where they distort or cherry pick from both Fletchers and Saldanas records.

None of this is new to Fletcher. These tactics have been effective in the past and contributed to his defeat in the 2012 mayoral election and the special election the following year to replace Bob Filner, who resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal. Fletcher has since broadened his support among Democrats and labor considerably.

But will that be enough to withstand another onslaught?

Saldana has her problems.Though boosted by new-found resources, Saldana is facing heavy criticism herself from an independent committee for endorsing Filner for mayor in 2012 after privately warning party officials about his behavior. She went public with it after the sexual harassment scandal exploded.

Fletcher finally seems to have quelled yearslong skepticism toward him by many on the Democratic Partys progressive wing, which has long been key to Saldanas base.

He has the political chops to get things done and has paid his dues, wrote the San Diego Free Press, a key progressive voice in San Diego. And were convinced his ideological transformation is real.

But the Free Press endorsement went to Omar Passons, an attorney and community activist who has been credited for his thoughtful approach to issues and quietly canvassing the district since last summer. Even more surprising to many is Passons also gained the endorsement of The San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board.

Nevertheless, Passons still has a tough path to victory with three better-known candidates. The calculus to advance out of the June 5 primary is tricky with four Democrats, including retired San Diego deputy fire chief Ken Malbrough, and Dumanis.

Unless one candidate gains a majority of votes in June  highly unlikely  the top two finishers advance to November. With the Democrats fighting it out, Dumanis would seem to be in a good position to take one of the spots.

Supervisor races are technically nonpartisan, as are other local races, but parties often play an important role. Dumanis has Republican backing but is running like a nonpartisan.

She has demonstrated crossover appeal in the past, but never had much of a re-election threat as district attorney. She had dismal results running for mayor in 2012, finishing behind Fletcher. Her supervisor campaign has put out at least one positive mailer about her, some of which went to Democratic households.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party has funded websites criticizing Fletcher and the GOP-leaning Lincoln Club financed a mailer that depicts Fletcher as against restrictions on guns  he isnt  and Saldana as a gun-control advocate  she is. That went to Democratic households and is similar to the theme of one of the pro-Saldana mailers by the Working Families Council.

This kind of squeeze from the right and the left helped keep Fletcher out of runoff elections in both his mayoral bids.

Its always going to be a struggle when youre the candidate they dont want, Fletcher said, referring to the GOP. They know they cant beat me in a one-off.

Fletcher has a broader message than simply riding anti-Trump sentiment. But that appears to be the main theme and, unfortunately for Fletcher, one that in a distorted way also is being used against him.

A mailer for Saldana has the headline, The Polluters Best Friends above photos of three men: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, President Trump and Republican turned Democrat Nathan Fletcher.

Tweet of the Week

Goes to Ty James (@Tyjames989), Kansas City radio DJ visiting the West Coast.

Im in California and ate a burrito with fries in it. I can only assume this is exactly what Buddhists feel like once they have reached transcendent enlightenment. I have attained Burrito Zen.
Two Mexican nationals who crossed the border illegally were arrested in connection with separate assault attempts on Border Patrol agents this week, while a third man was sentenced to prison for blasting through a checkpoint in an unrelated incident last year.

On Wednesday, Pedro Damien Gonzalez Iglesias walked up to an agents marked vehicle near the border in San Ysidro and threatened him with a makeshift plastic shiv, according to the complaint. A second agent on an all-terrain vehicle arrived, and the man made slashing motions and said in Spanish that he either wanted to kill or stab them, the complaint states.

He ignored their commands to drop the weapon, and the agents were able to restrain him with a few shots of OC spray.

On Thursday, a suspicious man was seen on infrared camera in the Tijuana River estuary area near where a group of unauthorized immigrants had been apprehended the previous night. A Border Patrol agent arrived and saw Carlos Miranda-Alonso changing his clothing, according to the complaint.

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When the agent confronted him, he said he was from here and pointed to a nearby apartment building. But the agent noticed he was wet from the waist down and trembling, and the agent decided to detain him. As the agent tried to put handcuffs on him, Miranda-Alonso threw back his elbows and ran, the complaint states. The agent caught up and pushed him to the ground but the man got away again.

Miranda-Alosno then picked up a 4-foot-long wooden post on the ground and swung it at the agent, the complaint says. The agent pulled his weapon, and the man dropped the post and ran. He was arrested after a 15-minute chase.

Also this week, Jorge Garcia Osornio was sentenced to 30 months in prison Friday for crashing through a Border Patrol checkpoint in Pine Valley on Nov. 14, seriously injuring an agent.

Garcia had two unauthorized immigrants on the floorboards of his vehicle at the time. He made a U-turn on the freeway, going the wrong way, and turned around again and sped through the checkpoint lanes, narrowly missing cars. His vehicle struck a steel-framed stop sign, and debris struck a nearby agent. The agent suffered serious injuries, including blurry vision, a head wound and loud ringing in his ears, and has not returned to work since, authorities said.

After the crash, Garcia led agents on a 100-mph pursuit before being arrested.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
David Chong is president of the La Mesa-Spring Valley School Board. He also is the owner of an El Cajon gun store.

Jim Miller Jr., an attorney, is a school board member with the Cajon Valley Union School District. Like Chong, he is a member of the San Diego County Gun Owners.

Both officials are facing demands they resign their school board seats after publicly expressing support for gun ownership in ways that some say deliberately inflamed gun-control advocates, including Miller wearing a National Rifle Association cap to a meeting.

Dozens of people turned out for last months meeting of the Cajon Valley board to call for Millers resignation; a lesser number appeared before the La Mesa-Spring Valley board earlier this month seeking Chongs removal. A Recall James Miller page has been set up on Facebook by a parent in the district.

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It is the latest conflict over gun ownership to erupt in the county since 17 people  14 students and three staff members -- were killed Feb. 14 at a high school in Parkland, Fla.

Last month, the state board that oversees the Del Mar Fairgrounds heard scores of speakers weigh in on whether it should end the popular gun show that is held there several times a year.

And students at schools countywide have staged organized walkouts to show their support for gun control.

Chong and Miller said they jumped into the emotionally charged debate because they felt gun advocates were getting short shrift during the walkouts, which they said focused almost exclusively on restricting access to guns.

Chong said owning a mom-and-pop store that sells firearms and ammunition and serving on the local school board are not mutually exclusive. He stocks hundreds of new and used guns, from pistols to AR-15 rifles, at his Main Street store, AO Sword Firearms.

He said he believes strongly in both the First Amendment right to free speech and the Second Amendment right to bear arms. Both, he said, have room in the public discourse.

I absolutely identify with the feelings that the people who have spoken out have, the school violence, the senseless killings, Chong said. These kids shouldnt be dying. Its not fair, its not right. Its cruel and twisted.

But, he said, school safety is not a gun issue; its a human issue.

The calls for Chongs resignation last month came in response to a video he made and posted on Facebook endorsing El Cajon Mayor Bill Wellss run for Congress.

In the video, Chong criticizes elected officials who take firearms policy advice from kids who were eating Tide pods just last week.

Chong later explained that he was using humor when he referred to last years internet fad of kids eating the laundry detergent packets because he wanted to make a point about the folly of youth and the dangers of under-informed policy.

Residents said his comments crossed the line.

Rob Weaver, the parent of a child in the district, told the school board at a meeting last month that Chong was blatantly mocking and bullying children who are survivors of horrific events in which they have witnessed the brutal murder of their friends.

La Mesa resident Emily Green said she would be uncomfortable allowing her two children, currently in preschool and kindergarten, to attend the district school as long as Chong is on the board.

I feel like its a conflict of interest, someone who profits selling AR-15s to be on the school board and making decisions concerning student safety, Green said.

But Chong said he is well within his rights to express his opinion.

In his four years on the board, he said, he has never received the kind of public venom he is getting now.

Jim Miller Jr. of Cajon Valley Union School District (Stephani Dennis Photography )

Miller, a school board member at Cajon Valley since 2016, has earned similar ire from members of the public. Miller wore a Second Amendment T-shirt and NRA cap at an April school board meeting in El Cajon.

Miller has been an equally staunch advocate for gun rights. He has been vocal in his stance, and that has brought public scrutiny and calls for his removal from the school board.

In response to a group of more than 50 people who showed up to voice their displeasure at an April Cajon Valley board meeting, Miller said, They should, instead of showing up and disrupting a school board meeting demanding us to consider a resolution, have a conversation with the superintendent as was offered to them.

He said he is more interested in focusing on the real world, what we can really do instead of politicizing shootings and the deaths of these kids, which is horrible.

Miller said that as an elected official, he is there to support the entire Constitution, not just the part you like or dont like.

A difference of opinion, however, no matter how strong, is not cause for removal, according to legal experts.

Unless theres a violation of conflict of interest rules or misuse of school board resources, elected school board members have the same First Amendment right to express their views as any member of the public, said David Loy, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial counties.

If community members object, they have the First Amendment right to organize, campaign, and vote a board member out of office. Thats how democracy works.

Music Watson, spokeswoman for the San Diego County Office of Education, said that while her office doesnt have a direct role to play, each school districts governing board has its own policies regarding governance standards and making public statements on behalf of the board  or not.

Speaking generally, these board members have the same right to free speech as any other member of the public, Watson said. That includes in their dress.

Watson said the greater concern needs to be a broader discussion about school safety and security.

Everyone agrees we want our children to be as safe as possible when they are in our care, and I think we all agree that its our duty as educators to support our students as they grapple with tough issues, Watson said.

Thats why our focus is on continuing our partnerships with law enforcement and others to prevent and respond to threats and violence, and on providing age-appropriate, non-political opportunities for students to participate in the national dialogue around school safety.

Chong said he is happy to debate the topic rather than play gotcha wars over tangential comments.

I understand some people dont understand the need or relevance of firearms in our civil society, Chong said. I can speak to that and even work with it. There are many anti-gun people in the district and we work with mutual respect, happily even. They often tell me things like I change their view of what gun owners are like.

Miller said he is hopeful there will come a day when school districts will include a gun education component into the curriculum.

Rather than demonizing firearms, he said educating kids about guns would provide a healthy understanding of them.
Transportation funding from Californias new gas tax is flowing into the San Diego region, with more than $860 million already slated for everything from widening Interstate 5 to improving on-time performance for the Blue Line trolley to filling potholes in local roads.

That funding could soon grind to a halt, largely because many people dont trust lawmakers in Sacramento to spend the money as intended. Roughly half of voters, according to recent polling, support a repeal measure headed for the November ballot.

Before California voters decide whether to nix the newly enacted levy, however, they will have a chance to restrict how the gas tax money is spent. Proposition 69 on the June 5 ballot would amend the state constitution to require all the new revenue go to transportation.

Opponents of the gas tax  who have repeatedly accused state lawmakers of diverting past revenue from fuel taxes to pet projects  attacked the proposition. They argue that even if politicians are locked into how they can spend the new gas tax money, the funding should exclude public transportation and other projects.

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The proposition doesnt earmark the money for roads but rather a broadly defined Swiss cheese definition of infrastructure, said conservative talk radio host Carl DeMaio, who spearheaded the signature drive to put the repeal before voters.

I want 100 percent of our gas tax going into our roads. Whats wrong with that? he added.

Supporters of the measure say it should give voters confidence the state will follow through on its promises under Senate Bill 1. The law passed by a two-thirds majority last year added 12 cents a gallon for gasoline, 20 cents for diesel and increased vehicle registration fees.

After years of infrastructure neglect, state funds are finally starting to flow to local-priority transportation projects across San Diego County and our state, said Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego). Prop 69 was placed on the ballot by our Legislature so that Californians are guaranteed that those funds will continue to be spent as promised on roads, bridges and other transportation improvements, not diverted to the state budget.

SB 1 is projected to bring in roughly $5.4 billion a year for the state in transportation funding, including roughly $400 million a year for the San Diego region. To put that in context, the half-cent sale tax Transnet, collected by the San Diego Association of Governments for regional transportation projects, has been bringing in roughly $300 million annually in revenue.

Local transportation officials said the new funding will dramatically speed up projects, such building a missing ramp between state routes 125 and 94 that creates significant delays.

Its a big deal, said Jose Nuncio, the TransNet Department Director at SANDAG. Coming this summer, well see equipment working on the I-5.

The types of projects in San Diego County currently slated to receive funding with the new gas tax include:

$336 million largely for the extension of carpool lanes on Interstate 5 from Encinitas to the state Route 78 and bike paths adjacent to the freeway.

$220 million for Caltrans projects to repair and improve everything from sidewalks to traffic signals to culverts to primary highways, for example, nearly 50 miles of pavement preservation on state Route 125 from La Mesa to Santee.

$101 million for double tracking of the LOSSAN rail corridor to improve commuter travel times, as well as other smaller improvements under the North Country Transit District along the route.

$89 million for improvements at U.S.-Mexico border crossings, most notably the construction of the new port or entry at Otay Mesa and the associated state Route 11.

$50 million for local public transit systems run by San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, largely to improve on-time performance of the Blue Line trolley. The funding was obtained under a competitive grant.

$47 million for road maintenance and safety projects on local streets, from filling potholes to repaving streets to fixing traffic signals. The money is allocated to all cities in the county as well as unincorporated territories.

$14 million in active transportation grants to bike lanes and sidewalks in Vista, Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, El Cajon, Encinitas, National City, Chula Vista Elementary School District, and the County.

Coastal double tracking Interstate 5 widening construction currently under way near the San Elijo Lagoon at Manchester Avenue. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune )

The claim that the state has siphoned off money from previous gas-tax revenues stems from the early 2000s, when the legislature borrowed roughly $3.39 billion from several transportation accounts to patch holes in the general fund budget following the dot-com crash.

Critics of the new levy have latched onto this moment as evidence that the state routinely misuses fuel taxes and registration fees.

Right now, the gas tax is not going to roads, DeMaio said. Usually, it goes into the black hole of the state budget.

All but roughly $700 million of the money borrowed has been repaid. Officials have said that no transportation projects were significantly delayed. Under SB 1, the remainder of the funding is required to be reimbursed from the states general fund within the next three years.

If voters approve Proposition 69, money from the gas tax could still be borrowed for cash flow purposes, but it would also have to be repaid, said Ethan Elkind, a transportation expert at UC Berkeley School of Law.

It looks pretty airtight to me, Elkind said. I dont see any way the state can get around it. It says theres no borrowing accept for cash-flow purposes, and thats relatively unusual and unlikely.

Democrats have also championed the economic effects of the bill, which are expected to create roughly 13,000 jobs a year.

This work not only improves our transportation systems locally, but also creates jobs for the region, said Assemblyman Todd Gloria (D-San Diego) The elimination of this funding source would mean blowing a hole in each of these respective agencies budgets, slowing the progress of transportation improvement projects, and taking away good-paying jobs.

Still, voters have expressed significant frustration over the new tax, in part, because Californias roads are so poor and its gasoline so expensive.

And its not just conservatives. According to a poll earlier this year from the Public Policy Institute of California, 47 percent of respondents said they supported overturning the gas tax, including nearly 40 percent of all Democrats, more than 50 percent of independents and 61 percent of Republicans.

Driving up the cost is Californias strict environmental policies, from cap and trade requirements on suppliers to some of the most aggressive fuel standards in the world.

As gas prices at the pump continue to climb, the call to repeal the gas tax has become a favorite rallying cry for Republicans this election season.

Leading GOP candidate for Governor John Cox of Rancho Santa Fe recently joined DeMaio in submitting mountains of file boxes to the state filled with more than 940,000 signatures  more than 20 percent from San Diego County  calling for the overturn of SB 1.

Coxs campaign didnt return multiple requests for comment, but he said at a recent press event last month: The whole state is paying this tax, and the whole state wants it gone.

Staunch conservative Republican Supervisor Kristin Gaspar, who is challenging moderate Rocky Chavez in the race for Darrel Issas 49th Congressional District, is also looking to capitalize on considerable anger over the tax hike.

She supports the repeal of the gas tax, said Jason Roe, a Republican strategist representing Gaspar. It is an irresponsible and regressive tax forced on Californians to pay for Governor Browns train to nowhere boondoggle.

Still, some Republicans may tack away from the campaign to overturn the tax come November, as many business group, including the state Chamber of Commerce, have supported SB 1.

The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce endorsed Proposition 69 on the June ballot, although it didnt take a position on the repeal.

The Chamber didnt take a position on the gas tax because our members are so split on it, said Alison Phillips, spokeswoman for the chamber.

Twitter: @jemersmith

Phone: (619) 293-2234

Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.com
Cuddling her infant son in an easy chair, Katie Luckesen cracked open a picture book.

Gerald was a tall giraffe whose neck was long and slim, she began in a soft voice, reading Giraffes Cant Dance to five-month-old Charlie.

But his knees were awfully crooked and his legs were rather thin.

The scene was direct from a Mothers Day greeting card  except for the setting. Charlies room has a crib, a mobile, toy animals and other nursery standards, but its also equipped with IV stand, monitors, charts, an industrial-strength air filter.

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Moms face mask made snuggling a challenge.

We have mask kisses, Katie said.

Born without a functioning immune system, Charlie has lived in hospital rooms since he was 10 days old. His homecoming wont occur until hes undergone two procedures: open heart surgery and a thymus transplant, the latter operation so rare it is only performed at one location in the United States, North Carolinas Duke University.

Charlie Luckesen is held by his mother, Katie Luckesen where he is a patient at Rady Childrenas Hospital in San Diego. Charlie has been diagnosed with complete DiGeorge syndrome, and he needs open heart surgery and a thymus transplant. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune )

Charlie has a complicated condition and iffy prognosis, but mom is determined to give him the same loving care she lavishes on her older children, Jack, 6, William, 5, and three-year-old Amelia.

I want him to develop as a baby, she said of Charlie, not a patient.

From messy diapers to 2 a.m. feedings, mothering an infant requires patience, stamina and  above all  love. While dozens of books, from Dr. Spocks Baby and Child Care to What to Expect: The First Year, offer advice to new parents, Katie and Lt. J.D. Luckesen find themselves in a situation where theres no playbook.

Unfortunately, they have company this Mothers Day. Close to 30 moms will join Katie in spending all or part of the holiday at Rady Childrens Hospitals Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Another 20 mothers are working today as doctors, nurses and other staffers.

Every mom will receive a card and a gift from the hospital.

Every baby will receive something more important  loving attention.

For him to be so developmentally appropriate, Pavlina Otmar, one of Charlies nurses, thats because of mom. Babies need to bond, and need someone to bond to  and thats all because of mom.

Charlies room has a crib, a mobile, toy animals and other nursery standards, but its also equipped with IV stand, monitors, charts, an industrial-strength air filter.

156 days later

Growing up in Kentucky with a single sibling, Katie dreamed of being a stay-at-home parent of four children.

The fourth child arrived last Nov. 27. Since then, there hasnt been much staying at home, as Katie constantly shuttles between the familys Otay Mesa rental and the Kearny Mesa hospital.

The biggest struggle I have with the whole situation, other than the medical situation with Charlie, is making sure the other kids still feel loved and just as important, said Katie, 32. The mom part of me wants to be with Charlie all the time.

But I have to trust the nurses, and theyve been amazing.

J.D., a chaplain attached to the guided missile cruiser Princeton, flew home from deployment 30 hours before Charlies debut at Balboa Naval Hospital. Pregnancy and birth seemed normal, and Charlies parent were unconcerned by the routine newborn screening blood test.

But the results came back 10 days later, revealing deadly problems with the babys immune system. Charlie was hurried back to Balboa and then to Rady Childrens. The NICU there has been his home for the last 156 days.

Afflicted by complete DiGeorge syndrome, Charlie was born without a thymus, the organ where T cells become capable of attacking viruses and other foreign invaders. Without functioning T cells, Charlie could be killed by something as common as a cold.

Doctors also found a potentially fatal heart problem and a collapsed vertebrae in Charlies spinal column.

In December, a stent was inserted in Charlies pulmonary artery, a temporary fix until he can undergo open heart surgery. Even more critical is his need for a thymus transplant. Children with this rare condition  of 6.5 million babies born annually in North America, no more than 20 have this birth defect  often wait months, even years, for a transplant.

Hes probably going to learn to walk, to crawl in a hospital room, Katie said.

Hot mess

Electrodes on Charlies skin track his pulse and the oxygen saturation in his blood. Hes fed eight times a day, sometimes by bottle, often through a plastic feeding tube that travels through his nose and down into his stomach.

Charlies blue eyes watch everything. He doesnt seem to mind.

If it wasnt for the medical problems, he would be the perfect fourth child, Katie said. Hes so chill. Nothing really riles him.

The rest of the family cant always follow his easygoing example.

I feel that Katie and I are doing well about 90 percent of the time, J.D. said, and the other 10 percent of the time, were a hot mess. Fortunately, we havent been a hot mess at the same time.

The other children have their own worries.

What if Charlie dies? one recently asked Katie.

Katie and J.D. have anticipated this question, and decided that honesty was the best approach. Mommy and Daddy would be very sad and cry a lot, she replied, but we would get through it as a family.

Confronted with his sons life-and-death situation, J.D. reflected on his faith. As a chaplain, I think how grateful I am to God, that I do have answers  what happens if Charlie does die, where does he go, what happens? We can explain that, to some extent.

But at times, Katie said, it all seems overwhelming.

I have my days, she said. I dont think I have the option to fall apart. I have Charlie and three other kids. You do what you have to do for your kids.

And try to stay strong for him.

Skittles pancakes

Katie and J.D. divide the household responsibilities: bathing and dressing the kids, seeing the oldest two off to school, helping with homework, making sure that meals and bedtime routines continue. Neither has family nearby, but the larger Navy family has stepped in with errands, hot dinners and words of comfort.

J.D.s commanding officer offered to deliver milk and diapers. The Third Fleets chaplain, Capt. Michael Williams, filled a less-material gap.

J.D., he said, pulling the lieutenant aside, how are you doing? How are you really doing?

It made me feel like Im not just a number, J.D. said. He was concerned about me, he was really a pastor for me.

Still, J.D. is most impressed by Charlies mother.

The devotion I see from Katie  as soon as I can get home, she gets up to the hospital, he said. And she advocates right away for what Charlie needs, fighting tooth and nail, and thats one of the things Im proudest of.

Today, it might be wise to have someone supervise the three oldest Luckesens as they prepare a special Mothers Day breakfast. Last years main course: Skittles pancakes. It was disgusting, Katie said, but it was cute.

J.D. has chaplain duties this morning, so Katie will shepherd the three kids to church on her own. When J.D. comes home, shell drive north to be with her fourth child.

Hes got so much going on, so much against him, she said, but he keeps going. Hes very resilient.

Like mother, like son.
As the U.S. Attorneys Office began a crackdown on illegal border crossings this past week, many worried that the already-burdened federal court system would fracture if every person caught crossing in San Diego were charged over the course of a year, with hundreds of millions of dollars in extra detention costs alone.

With other sections of the border seeing much higher numbers of illegal crossings and overcrowded jails adding long-distance transportation costs, implementing a zero-tolerance policy for illegal crossings along the southwest border comes with a hefty price tag.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions promised at San Diegos Friendship Park on Monday that, going forward, the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security would work together to do just that, prosecute every person who illegally enters the U.S. along the southwest border.

If you cross this border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you, Sessions said in his news conference at the U.S.-Mexico border. Its that simple.

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But is it?

The system is going to buckle, and its very expensive, said Jeremy Warren, a defense attorney in San Diego.

For federal public defenders in San Diego, the first week of the new zero-tolerance policy was rough, said Reuben Cahn, the executive director of the Federal Defenders of San Diego. Attorneys struggled to meet with clients because most are being held hours away due to lack of local detention bed space.

This is not being implemented smoothly to say the least, Cahn said.

Prosecutions of illegal entry  a misdemeanor  in San Diego and Imperial counties have ranged widely over the last decade, with 1,511 cases filed in 2008 and eight in 2013, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. Prosecutors have instead traditionally focused more on felony charges against those who re-enter the country, particularly those with a criminal record or a history of numerous illegal crossings.

In the first week of the new policy, the U.S. Attorneys Office filed more than 120 cases for misdemeanor illegal entry or felony re-entry, up from roughly 98 cases last week and about 54 the week prior. While greater than usual, thats still significantly less than what it would take to charge every person who attempted to enter the U.S. undetected.

The U.S. Attorneys Office filed roughly 276 cases charging either illegal entry or re-entry in April, according to an analysis by the San Diego Union-Tribune. Border Patrol in the San Diego and El Centro sectors apprehended 6,439 people that month, according to Customs and Border Protection.

If the federal government had prosecuted every person caught crossing the border illegally into California in April, attorneys for the Southern District of California would have had to file 6,163 more cases than they did.

Thats more than 300 extra cases per business day.

In reality, the U.S. Attorneys Office in San Diego will not process everyone. In conversations with the court, the office signaled it would likely file an additional 100 cases per week from San Diego and 50 from El Centro to implement the new policy, according to Cahn.

The U.S. Attorneys Office declined to discuss the new policy this past week.

Even that extra 600 cases per month may place a huge burden on the system.

Sessions sent 35 extra prosecutors to the southwest border to bolster resources in U.S. Attorneys Offices there. Eight of those prosecutors will work in California.

The Southern District of California will need more than prosecutors to achieve the attorney generals goal.

The U.S. Marshals Service will have to find bed space to hold those charged with illegal entry or illegal re-entry while they wait for hearings and sentencing, which typically takes between two weeks and a month for those who take plea deals and fast track their cases. Because bed space for federal prisoners in San Diego is already at capacity, the Marshals Service plans to hold additional prisoners charged under the new policy in jails in Santa Ana.

The Santa Ana City Jail charges the Marshals Service $105 per prisoner per day and has a maximum capacity of 375. On Wednesday, the jail held 356 people for the Marshals.

Based on that daily rate, it would have cost the Marshals between $9 million and $16 million to detain the people who crossed the border illegally in April and were not prosecuted, depending on how long they were held. That does not include costs to transport them between Santa Ana and San Diego for court appearances.

Another wrinkle: The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that defendants shouldnt appear in shackles in court for pretrial hearings, which means that the Marshals have to staff more security per prisoner for court appearances. Adding more people per day to keep cases moving forward will further strain the agencys staffing resources.

The Marshals have been in close communication with Justice Department leadership, U.S. attorneys and staff to ensure resources on the southwest border are focused in a manner that allows uninterrupted execution of our mission while fulfilling our responsibilities mandated by the courts, said Lynne Donahue, spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service.

Beyond detention costs, judges will have to hear the cases, and defense attorneys will have to represent the unauthorized immigrants, with the pro bono Federal Defenders likely picking up the majority of that work.

The district, which serves both San Diego and Imperial counties, has 20 full-time active judges  a combination of district and magistrate seats  plus four vacancies. However, there are also nine judges on senior or part-time status who help with the caseload.

To add more full-time district judge positions requires an act of Congress, while the number of magistrates is determined by the Judicial Conference of the United States. District judges are appointed by the President.

Defense attorneys are concerned that the influx of cases will clog a system that they say was already working at capacity, and they worry that the result will negatively affect due process rights granted in the Constitution to anyone charged with a crime.

Federal Defender Cahn has made requests to the court to help attorneys have better access to clients and is waiting to hear the courts decision.

Lawyers have to have reasonable access to their clients and vice versa, Cahn said. You cant respresent somebody unless you can develop a relationship of trust and confidence.

The Federal Defenders have also seen asylum seekers come through the system this week, part of the policy change. Previously, asylum seekers who cross illegally rather than present themselves at a port of entry would not have been charged and would instead go to immigration detention to begin the process of requesting protection from their home country. Now they will go through the criminal court process before going to immigration court, which follows an administrative law process.

The attorneys have also seen people charged with illegal entry this week who were separated from their children, part of the policy that has drawn much criticism from immigrant rights advocates. Cahn said it can be difficult for attorneys to figure out the childrens location to be able to tell clients how their children are doing.

For border crossers who receive sentences greater than time served, the Bureau of Prisons will transport them to one of its prisons and detain them.

For the misdemeanor illegal entry charge, a Union-Tribune analysis showed that in April, sentences were not generally higher than three months though those sentences can go up to six months. For the illegal re-entry felony charge, sentences can be several years long or more, depending on what other convictions the person has on record.

The potential for more border crossers to serve prison sentences also translates into more money. The cost to hold someone in custody through the Bureau of Prisons in fiscal 2015 ranged from $63.35 per person per day to $184.74, according to a bureau document. Holding someone for a three-month sentence would cost between $5,700 and just over $16,600.

The bureau currently has 183,755 federal inmates, according to its website. Almost half of the prisoners are serving time for drug-related crimes. About seven percent are there for immigration-related sentences.

Peter Nunez, a former U.S. attorney in San Diego who supports stricter immigration enforcement at the border, said that what matters to him is the conviction, not the length of the sentence.

The whole point of criminal law generally is deterrence, Nunez said. Once you start prosecuting people for entering illegally, that will have some additional deterrent effect that I think will be huge in the long run. It puts a kibosh on any future attempt to legally immigrate to the U.S.

Studies on the issue have backed up that notion, although migrants motivations tend to be a factor. Mexicans coming to the U.S. for economic reasons are more likely to be deterred by prosecution than Central Americans who are fleeing crime and political instability, according to a 2017 study by the Migration Policy Institute.

Border areas like Yuma, Ariz., have taken the zero-tolerance approach for years, which has contributed to record decreases in border arrests.

Nunez said the biggest challenges for implementing the new policy would be bed space and U.S. Marshals resources, but that the U.S. Attorneys Office should be able to handle the caseload. He advocated for implementing court policies that would allow a two-day turnaround on cases.

The quicker you can dispose of the case, you reduce the impact of that logistical problem, Nunez said.

In other parts of the border, a program called Operation Streamline has fast-tracked illegal re-entry cases in Arizona and Texas for years by allowing quick plea deals to misdemeanor illegal entry charges with less jail time than the re-entry felony counterpart. Civil rights advocates have criticized that program as unconstitutional for moving cases through the system so quickly that defense attorneys dont have time to have a full meeting with their clients.

Guadalupe Valencia, a criminal defense attorney in San Diego, said he doesnt think ramping up prosecutions will keep people from crossing the border because it doesnt address why they are coming.

You dont solve problems with the criminal justice system, Valencia said. It didnt work with the war on drugs, and its never going to work on immigration. The way to solve it is have people sit down and dicuss it and try to come up with real immigration reform.

He predicted that as long as people are able to get work in the U.S. without authorization, they will take the risk of jail time and continue to come.

The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.

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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A statewide association of public information officers for cities and other governmental jurisdictions has given the San Diego County Communications Office an award for success in crisis communications, citing its outreach during the hepatitis A outbreak and the Lilac fire.

The California Association of Public Information Officers said the countys communications team demonstrated leadership in creating and managing communication strategies in both incidents.

Association President Christine Brainerd said Friday there was a lot of competition for the award  which debuted this year  but that San Diego County really stood out.

The judges found the county showed excellence in getting accurate information to the right people, customizing messages to different audiences and effectively using all forms of media, Brainerd said.

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But what really stood out was they had a plan in place in advance (of an emergency), she said. They were able to communicate fast and timely information, relevant information to their audiences because they were prepared.

The association said the county responded to queries from more than 220 local and national media requests during the hepatitis A health emergency, a public health threat that infected 588 people and killed 20. For a time last summer, it was the largest such hep A outbreak the nation had seen in two decades.

The online content on the countys website about the outbreak was viewed more than 35,000 times, and also had more than 185,500 impressions, meaning the number of times the content was displayed on social media, according to the public information association.

During the Lilac fire, the countys tweets resulted in 2.1 million impressions and 3,349 retweets. The Lilac fire started Dec. 7 and tore through Bonsall, destroying more than 150 buildings and killing dozens of racehorses.

In the news release announcing the award last month, county communications Director Michael Workman said it was an honor to be recognized as a team for our proactive and strategic crisis communications.

Our strategy is constantly evolving to take advantage of new technology and best practices, he said. We know we have to be ready for any scenario, and we work closely with our employees, partners, fellow PIOs and media to effectively serve our residents.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
Cal Fire crews confirmed seeing wreckage of a small plane on Volcan Mountain Saturday, but they were unable to verify its identity while working to control a brush fire ignited Thursday night.

Low clouds and gusty winds, as well as danger from the active fire, kept sheriffs search and rescue volunteers from guiding Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board investigators to the wreckage, a sheriffs official said.

The fire in a steep canyon was holding at 12 acres and was 90 percent contained by Saturday afternoon, Cal Fire Capt. Issac Sanchez said.

He said the terrain is so treacherous, the 130 firefighters on the blaze are pulling back at sundown and returning to the blaze at sunrise.

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NTSB investigators hope there will be something in the debris to determine the type of plane it is and positively identify it when they get to the site, sheriffs Lt. Greg Rylaarsdam said.

Authorities have not been able to determine whether the wreckage is that of a twin-engine Beechcraft Duchess that did not land at Ramona Airport when expected on Thursday.

A Beechcraft with the same tail number as the missing plane is registered to Scandinavian Aviation Academy, also known as SAA, a flight school located at Gillespie Field, according to FAA records.

This Beechcraft Duchess is reported missing after not landing in Ramona on Thursday as expected. Authorities have not said whether it is the plane that crashed on Volcan Mountain that night. (Torsten Hoff )

An FAA spokesman on Saturday said he had no further information about the missing plane or who was onboard.

A 911 caller in Julian reported seeing a plane go down, followed by two explosions, about 8:40 p.m. Thursday, sheriffs officials said.

Flames could be seen about halfway up Volcan Mountain, but the area was not accessible by ground crews or aircraft that night.

Aircraft worked the fire for a time on Friday, but strong winds and low clouds forced them to be grounded the rest of the day, Sanchez said. He said the helicopters and tankers were still not able to work on Saturday, and the same weather conditions were expected into Sunday.

Any time you have rain, cold and clouds, its good for firefighting from the ground, Sanchez said, noting the fire has spread slowly thanks to the inclement weather.

pauline.repard@sduniontribune

Twitter: @pdrepard
Eighty-five years ago this spring, Southern California experienced what is still its deadliest-ever earthquake, a 6.4 magnitude temblor near Long Beach that killed about 120 people.

The aftershocks, in a way, have never stopped.

Thats because the March 10, 1933 quake alerted structural engineers and government officials to a particularly lethal hazard that has proven difficult to eliminate: unreinforced masonry buildings.

Most of those who died in Long Beach were felled by falling debris from those kinds of structures, which are made out of bricks, hollow concrete blocks, stones or adobe and lack steel bars and other shake-resilient components.

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Building codes were changed for new construction, and the state legislature passed a measure in 1986 requiring cities in the most seismically active zones to inventory risky masonry buildings and consider ways to mitigate them, but easier said than done.

Three decades later, San Diego is still approaching the finish line.

There are 24 buildings in the city that still need to be strengthened, according to Scott Robinson, a government spokesman. Thats down from an original inventory of more than 800.

The hold-outs include restaurants, a hotel, an apartment building, a clothing store  places where people gather and where even a partial collapse could cause dozens of injuries or deaths.

So far, the city has left it up to property owners to fix their buildings, but that may soon change. Officials with the Development Services Department are discussing possible legal action  fines, injunctions  with the City Attorneys office.

We want to gain compliance to make the buildings safe, Robinson said in an e-mail.

The long lag-time between recognition of masonry-building flaws and completion of repairs doesnt bode well for other seismic retrofits that are in the offing.

Structural engineers learn lessons every time theres a major quake somewhere in the world, and they are increasingly concerned about several other kinds of buildings, even some  those with precast, tilt-up concrete walls  that are less than 20 years old.

Although some cities in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas have passed laws requiring those buildings to be strengthened, too, most  including San Diego  havent even started counting how many they have.

A bill introduced in March by a state assemblyman from North Hollywood would require cities and counties to do an inventory by 2020.

Seismically active?

San Diego used to be considered relatively safe from earthquakes. The last major one here, believed to be about a magnitude 6.0, was in 1862. It cracked adobe walls in Old Town and damaged the lighthouse in Point Loma.

When the legislature passed the 1986 law requiring cities to inventory their old masonry buildings, San Diego wasnt included because it wasnt in one of the states most seismically active zones.

City officials began doing a review any way, and initially proposed a mandatory retrofit ordinance. But that ran into resistance from property owners who didnt see the need to spend money  the costs statewide average $60 per square-foot  on fixes that might never be needed.

Richard McCarthy, executive director of the state Seismic Safety Commission, said its not unusual for a kind of amnesia to set in. Its been a long time since weve had a big earthquake in an urban area, he said. There are other societal issues that we are dealing with so its a challenge to keep earthquake awareness in the public eye.

The thinking about risk in San Diego changed as scientists evaluated the Rose Canyon Fault, which begins in the bay, snakes through Old Town and downtown, across Mission Valley, through Rose Canyon and Mount Soledad, then into La Jolla and on into the ocean, where it connects with the Newport-Inglewood Fault  the one responsible for the 1933 Long Beach quake.

In much earlier times, the Rose Canyon fault helped form some of San Diegos signature landmarks, including Mount Soledad and the bay, but it had not been considered active until new studies were done in the early 1990s.

Now its believed capable of a 6.9 temblor, and San Diego is included among the states most seismically active zones.

A hypothetical depiction of a major quake on the fault, released last September, envisions widespread destruction: Up to 2,000 killed, 33,000 families displaced, 200,000 buildings damaged, $40 billion in property damage. An offshore canyon could collapse, triggering a tsunami that would swamp the Silver Strand and send waves surging through the bay.

Scenarios like this are designed to prod policymakers into reducing earthquake hazards, and strengthening buildings is often at the top of the list. People arent hurt because the ground shakes; theyre hurt because something falls on them.

In a report released last month, state officials said there are approximately 14 million buildings in California, each with an average occupancy of 2.7 people, and more than half were built to earlier standards that, in many cases, can result in inadequate earthquake performance.

Another report, from the state Seismic Safety Commission, said retrofitting buildings can be expensive, but not as expensive as having them collapse.

Moreover, the commission said, they will draw worldwide scrutiny about why the collapses happened, who was responsible for the risks, what measures were taken to manage them prior to the collapses, and what will be done about similar buildings.

With old masonry buildings, the commission used to require cities to report their progress annually. That stopped in 2006, in part because of budgetary concerns and also because the rate of mitigation had slowed to about 1 percent of the buildings per year.

By then, about 26,000 buildings had been identified in the states most seismically active zones. Of those, 18,144, or 70 percent, had been demolished, retrofitted or replaced. That left 7,800 that had not been remedied.

Its not known now, state officials admit, how many of those remain.

The cost of waiting

Sometimes what it takes for people to act is a strong jolt.

San Luis Obispo passed an ordinance in 1997 that required the owners of 127 old masonry buildings to retrofit them within 20 years. By the end of 2003, 27 had done so.

Then the San Simeon earthquake hit. Centered about 40 miles away, it killed two people, injured 40 and caused major damage to almost 50 buildings, many made of unreinforced masonry.

City officials shortened the retrofit deadline from 2017 to 2010. They hired a seismic coordinator to help building owners with permits and offered financial credits for cooperation.

Today, all the buildings have been at least partially retrofitted or are undergoing the work.

Another lesson from that quake involves the two fatalities, Jennifer Myrick, 20, and Marilyn Frost-Zafuto, 55. They were working in a clothing store in the Acorn Building, a 111-year-old brick structure, and were killed by falling debris when the quake hit at about 11 a.m.

Their survivors sued the building owners, alleging wrongful death because of negligence. Paso Robles had a retrofit ordinance on the books at the time of the quake, and the Acorns owners had a structural engineers report identifying the seismic deficiencies and how to fix them.

The owners fought the suit, pointing out that the citys ordinance gave them until 2018 to do the repairs.

A jury ruled in favor of the families and awarded them almost $2 million combined. The owners filed an appeal, which was rejected. Noting that the overriding policy behind the ordinance is public safety, the appellate court wrote:

Nothing in the ordinance prohibits or even discourages earlier compliance. Instead, earlier compliance promotes the overriding public safety policy. To hold that as a matter of law that a building owner has no duty until after the compliance date of the ordinance would frustrate the very policy that the ordinance was designed to promote.

Myricks parents said their daughter never would have gone into the Acorn Building if she had known its earthquake risks. They pushed successfully for a bill requiring the owner of a masonry building that has not been retrofitted to post an 8-by-10 inch warning sign near the entrance. It was signed into law in 2004.

The measure calls for a $250 fine for failing to comply the first time and $1,000 for each subsequent infraction. But it doesnt require cities to enforce the law, and not many do. In 2006, the last time the state Seismic Safety Commission counted, less than 10 percent of the buildings had posted them.

A random check of half the buildings on San Diegos list of remaining old masonry structures showed none with warning signs.

Outsmarting disaster?

Jorge Meneses is president of the San Diego chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, a non-profit group aimed at reducing earthquake risk. Its volunteers are the ones preparing the scenario for a potential 6.9 temblor on the Rose Canyon Fault.

The geotechnical earthquake engineer from Carlsbad is also a member of the state Seismic Safety Commission, and well-versed on the reluctance building owners, government officials and residents sometimes have to move quickly on mitigation projects.

When we are dealing with a phenomenon like an earthquake, which we know is going to happen but we dont know when, people try to ignore it, he said.

Hes had people tell him San Diego is safe because its not close to the notorious San Andreas Fault. When he mentions Rose Canyon, they often have never heard of it, he said.

In some ways, thats not surprising. Theres still much that scientists dont know about the fault, and some that they do know has been learned only recently. Last summer, for example, researchers at San Diego State determined that the fault generates a quake in the 6.5 to 6.8 range roughly once every 700 years, twice as frequently as previously believed.

Meneses said its wrong to assume that, because San Diego last had a major quake in 1862, another one wont happen for more than 500 years. It could, in theory, happen today.

Thats why they scientists run scenarios, here and elsewhere. One released last month called HayWired examined the possible impacts of a 7.0 quake on the Hayward Fault in the San Francisco Bay Area. It projected 800 deaths, 18,000 injuries and $82 billion in damage.

The motto for the exercise was We Can Outsmart Disaster, a nod to the idea that policymakers and residents will use the scenario to retrofit buildings, strengthen roads and utility lines, and take other steps to reduce earthquake risks and shorten the recovery time if one hits.

Meneses hopes that will be the result of the Rose Canyon study, too. He said the group is about a year away from finishing.

We dont need to be scared, but we do need to be prepared, he said. And preparation starts with awareness.

john.wilkens@sduniontribune.com
The first patient was a pregnant woman in distress with a breech birth. Mark Palm landed his Cessna float plane on the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea to pick her up.

This had been the San Diegans dream for more than a decade, to provide a free air ambulance for the 220,000 villagers who live along the 700-mile waterway and who would otherwise have to row up to five days in a canoe to get help at the nearest hospital.

As an extension of his religious faith, Palm wanted to put himself in situations that mattered, where life and death hung in the balance, and here he was. Not just one life on the line. Two.

He and a nurse got the unconscious woman onboard the plane and flew off to the hospital in Wewak, about an hour away. She survived, and so did the baby, a boy.

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The mother named him Mark, in honor of the pilot.

As introductions to a new career go, this one was spot on. A large chunk of the more than 1,000 flights Palms Samaritan Aviation has done since 2010 involved childbirth complications, and grateful parents are still naming their sons Mark. Its happened eight times now.

1 / 19 Former San Diego County resident Mark Palm, President and co-founder of Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages performs a preflight inspection at McClellan-Palomar Airport on the Cessna 206G float plane that will replace the first float plane used. Once the plane arrives in Papua New Guinea, it will be outfitted with the floats that make it possible to land on water. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 2 / 19 Former San Diego County resident Mark Palm, President and co-founder of Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages visited McClellanPalomar Airport with the Cessna 206G float plane that will replace the first float plane used. Once the plane arrives in Papua New Guinea, it will be outfitted with the floats that make it possible to land on water. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 3 / 19 The Cessna 206G float plane former San Diego County resident Mark Palm, President and co-founder of Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea flying medical-care missions to small villages, will replace the first float plane he used is parked at Western Flight during a visit to McClellan-Palomar Airport. Once it arrives in Papua New Guinea, it will be outfitted with the floats that make it possible to land on water. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 4 / 19 Former San Diego County resident Mark Palm, President and co-founder of Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages prepares to land at McClellan-Palomar Airport in the Cessna 206G float plane that will replace the first float plane used. Once the plane arrives in Papua New Guinea, it will be outfitted with the floats that make it possible to land on water. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 5 / 19 Former San Diego County resident Mark Palm, President and co-founder of Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages performs a preflight inspection at McClellan-Palomar Airport on the Cessna 206G float plane that will replace the first float plane used. Once the plane arrives in Papua New Guinea, it will be outfitted with the floats that make it possible to land on water. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 6 / 19 Former San Diego County resident Mark Palm, President and co-founder of Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages visited McClellanPalomar Airport with the Cessna 206G float plane that will replace the first float plane used. Once the plane arrives in Papua New Guinea, it will be outfitted with the floats that make it possible to land on water. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 7 / 19 Former San Diego County resident Mark Palm, President and co-founder of Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages performs a preflight inspection at McClellan-Palomar Airport on the Cessna 206G float plane that will replace the first float plane used. Once the plane arrives in Papua New Guinea, it will be outfitted with the floats that make it possible to land on water. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 8 / 19 Former San Diego County resident Mark Palm, President and co-founder of Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages, visits McClellan-Palomar Airport in the Cessna 206G float plane that will replace the first float plane used. Once it arrives in Papua New Guinea, it will be outfitted with the floats that make it possible to land on water. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 9 / 19 Former San Diego County resident Mark Palm, President and co-founder of Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages visited McClellanPalomar Airport with the Cessna 206G float plane that will replace the first float plane used. Once the plane arrives in Papua New Guinea, it will be outfitted with the floats that make it possible to land on water. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 10 / 19 Former San Diego County resident Mark Palm, President and co-founder of Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages, visits McClellan-Palomar Airport in the Cessna 206G float plane that will replace the first float plane used. Once it arrives in Papua New Guinea, it will be outfitted with the floats that make it possible to land on water. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 11 / 19 Former San Diego County resident Mark Palm, President and co-founder of Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages performs a preflight inspection at McClellan-Palomar Airport on the Cessna 206G float plane that will replace the first float plane used. Once the plane arrives in Papua New Guinea, it will be outfitted with the floats that make it possible to land on water. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 12 / 19 Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages. Photo by Samaritan Aviation. (Samaritan Aviation / Samaritan Aviation) 13 / 19 Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages. Photo by Samaritan Aviation. ( Samaritan Aviation / Samaritan Aviation) 14 / 19 Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages. Photo by Samaritan Aviation. ( Samaritan Aviation / ) 15 / 19 Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages. Photo by Samaritan Aviation. ( Samaritan Aviation / Samaritan Aviation) 16 / 19 Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages. Photo by Samaritan Aviation. ( Samaritan Aviation / ) 17 / 19 Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages. Photo by Samaritan Aviation. (Samaritan Aviation / ) 18 / 19 Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages. Photo by Samaritan Aviation. ( Samaritan Aviation / ) 19 / 19 Samaritan Aviation, a medical missionary organization that operates in Papua New Guinea, flying medical-care missions to small villages. Photo by Samaritan Aviation. (Samaritan Aviation / )

On one memorable call, they picked up two women, both pregnant with twins, both in trouble. One flight, Palm said, six lives saved.

Hes not bragging. Its a comment about priorities. Samaritan Aviation is a small operation, about a dozen people and a $1.5 million annual budget, and they cant take off on every call.

Heres how they decide: If we dont go, Palm said, the patient will die.

So its people who have been chomped by crocodiles or bitten by poisonous snakes. Its tribal warfare that leaves knives embedded in chests. Its boys with collapsed lungs from falling out of trees while harvesting betel nuts.

Its not anything like what the 43-year-old Palm thought he would be doing when he imagined his life taking wing.

A calling

His grandfather, a pilot in World War II, took Palm up for his first airplane ride. He was 8.

It was noisy and a little terrifying, he said, but I was hooked.

He had other relatives, a couple of uncles and a cousin, who flew, too. Palm dreamed about a future in military aviation.

Growing up in Northern California, a pastors son, Palm helped his parents run a homeless mission in Santa Cruz and started seeing what its like to help the less-fortunate, he said. He liked what he saw.

When he was in high school, his church group went to Mexico and built houses. Another revelation: I saw how people lived in another culture without roofs over their heads.

The trip changed his life, he said, merging his boyhood passion for flight with a 16-year-olds budding religious faith.

I just felt like I needed to use my life to share Gods love in a remote part of the world through aviation, he said.

Three years later, in 1994, Palm traveled to Papua New Guinea with a college friend who had grown up there. They spent several weeks visiting remote villages. At one of them, they were asked to help a boy with an infected cut on his leg.

In the United States, they would have slathered some anti-bacterial lotion on the wound and bandaged it. In the village, those options were lacking. If the infection got worse, the boy might lose part of his leg.

Now the calling Palm felt when he was 16 had a place attached to it.

He came to San Diego and got a degree in aviation technology at Miramar College. He did his flight training at Gillespie Field in El Cajon.

When he started dating a student at Point Loma Nazarene University, he mentioned Papua New Guinea and what he wanted to do with his life. If you dont think you can be a part of that, he told her, lets just be friends.

She wanted in.

Just getting started

Kirsten and Mark Palm have three children: Sierra, 16; Drake, 14; and Nolan, 12. They live in Wewak, a port town on the north coast of what is the worlds second-largest island, located just north of Australia.

Raising a family halfway around the world has its costs. Theyve missed funerals and weddings, holiday get-togethers. But its also a chance for his children to be part of something bigger than themselves and to realize that most people dont live like we do in America, Mark Palm said.

Kirsten, who has a masters degree in education, home-schools the children. Every couple of years, the family returns to the U.S. for at least six months. Home here is Vista, where they have family and friends. Theyre stateside now and expect to go back to Papua New Guinea this summer.

Back to a place with 840 indigenous languages, where 87 percent of the population lives in rural villages, where someone calling Samaritan Aviation for help might have to hike two hours up a mountain to get cell service. Or scamper up a coconut tree.

Palm is one of four pilots working for the non-profit now, and he never knows exactly what awaits him on a flight. He remembered one call about a man with a wire in his body. He was imagining a piece of fencing hurled at the victim with a sling-shot during a tribal skirmish.

What he found was a guy impaled with an improvised spear made out of rebar. To save his life they had to figure out first how to get him into the airplane with several feet of metal sticking out of his torso. Hospital doctors removed the rebar and the man recovered.

Most patients do, Palm said  about 90 percent of the people they pick up survive.

Not all of the flights are for emergencies. Samaritan Aviation also delivers vaccines, antibiotics and other supplies to aid stations along the Sepik River.

Theyre busy enough that the first float plane they brought to Papua New Guinea in 2010 had to be retired recently. They bought a replacement in Canada, a used 1980 Cessna 206 with only 2,000 hours of flight time on it, and spent $300,000 refurbishing it.

Palm has been showing it off at fund-raising events around the Southwest, including one scheduled for May 17 at McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad. (Private contributions account for about 80 percent of the operations budget, with the rest coming from the Papua New Guinea government.)

Hes not getting rich doing this  the groups 2016 tax return shows compensation of $58,772 for 60-hour work weeks  but thats not why he does it. This is a life calling, Palm said, and I feel like were just getting started.

john.wilkens@sduniontribune.com


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33kg gold smuggling case: Defence lawyers seek to release accused on general date

Advocates, defending the accused in the 33-kg gold smuggling case and the subsequent murder of an alleged gold smuggler Sanam Shakya, have asked the Morang District Court to release their clients on general date.
When you dine with a local no matter where you are in the world, you have to take their suggestion to try a local speciality. Like this very hot summer day last summer in Rimini on the Adriatic Sea, the piadina with con sardoncini (a local fish) was suggested.

I was with my friend Jules who has lived in Rimini for 20 years and Davide who is a Rimini local and Davide was doing the ordering. I could have been easily tempted by the usual piadina with prosciutto crudo, rucola and the most amazing cheese called squacquerone. Squaquerone is a DOP cheese from the Romagna region where Rimini is and it is super soft and spreadable and super delicious!

But back to this steamy afternoon at NudeCrud with Jules and Davide. Its funny how with some friends years could pass and it seems you reunite and youve left off when you last were together. Thats how it was this summer day with Davide. Davide is quite a story teller (as many of my Italian friends are)and this particular day he had quite a story to tell. It was a story that just tumbled out effortlessly and without fear. As the story commenced I wasnt prepared for the secrets that were being divulged. As he started talking and eating it just seemed to make sense to continue until the end and the only way to describe the story was juicy and maybe even sordid. I have heard stories that were maybe even more sordid but somehow in the middle of the afternoon in Italy with old friends and a fantastic piadina, it all seemed like a scene from a Fellini movie. I am not at liberty to get into any details of the secret, but I am free to talk about this delightful piadina.



Davide explained that I MUST (yes, he was that enthusiastic) try this piadina with the sardoncini. He actually was in disbelief that in the 20 years I have visited and even lived for a short time in Rimini that I never tried it. I wasnt adverse to the fish, maybe it was just the combination of the onions and maybe its also Im so partial to the prosciutto. But the waitress explained the onions are marinated and there isnt a strong flavor. They make the piadina fresh at the restaurant. They were flaky and just perfect. The piadina has the fish, the onions, salad and radicchio. It is actually very light and is the perfect lunch to eat at a seaside town in Italy on a hot summer day in great company.





So all this talk about piadina has inspired me to share my recipe again here with all of you. Its really quite simple to put together. Its just flour, yeast, water and some sort of a fat. I use vegetable shortening but my mother-in-law uses strutto (pork fat).

Some notes on this recipe: As I mentioned, piadina is made with a handful of ingredients. There are some recipes that use yeast (like this one Im sharing)and there are some that use baking powder and even some that use baking soda. Some even use milk instead of water. Ive made the piadina with vegetable shortening and olive oil and find that using the shortening makes it very soft. And no matter where you are in the region, there will be fans for the different versions. There are even some that are very thick. I personally prefer the thinner and crispier piadina. This is the one Teresa my mother-in-law showed me and its the recipe I always make.

The piadina in Rimini are served at the table instead of bread in restaurants (and at home). They are cut into 4 triangles and placed in a basket. You could add whatever filling you like. Even Nutella is quite fabulous! They store nicely in a zip locked bag in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Piadina-Italian Flatbread Piadina is a typical flatbread from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy that is soft and crispy. It is oftentimes filled with prosciutto crudo and a local cheese from the region called squaquerone, but it can be filled with whatever you like to make the most perfect sandwich. Prep Time 1 hr Cook Time 20 mins Total Time 1 hr 20 mins Servings: 6 Author: Lora Ingredients 1 cup warm water

2 teaspoons yeast

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

4 Tablespoons vegetable shortening or pork fat or extra-virgin olive oil Instructions Sprinkle the yeast into the water in a bowl and let stand 5 mins.

Place the flour and salt together on the counter (or use your mixer) and mix together. Add the shortening and mix together with your hands (or the mixer). Make a well in the center of the flour and slowly add in the water with the yeast.

Knead until smooth, shiny, and elastic, about 10 minutes.

Add the dough to a bowl and cover and let it rest about 1/2 an hour.

Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. On a lightly floured work surface, with a rolling pin roll out each piece to form a round, 6 inches across and 1/2 inch thick. If the dough resists rolling out, let it rest for 1-2 minutes, then continue.

Heat a heavy frying pan or griddle over medium-low heat until very hot, about 10 minutes.

Place one of the dough rounds in the hot pan and prick all over with a fork to prevent air bubbles.

Cook until golden brown on both sides, flipping it over frequently to avoid scorching and to aid even cooking, about 5 minutes.

Repeat with the remaining dough rounds as directed in step 7. Stack the rounds on top of one another and cover with a dish towel to keep soft and warm.

Fill with your choice of ingredients, fold in half and serve. Or enjoy them as they are. Tried this recipe? Mention @savoringitaly or tag #savoringitaly
900MW project launch elates Sankhuwasabha folk

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Banda causes partial affect in Jhapa

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Bhoto Jatra marked (Photo feature)

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Cross-party leaders meet Indian PM Modi

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A new Advance Cookbook category, "Nostalgia," reflects on the "old." It plays on the notion that food continually connects us to each other and plugs us into the past. We don't want to lose those momentous tastes and actual formulae that built them.

Now, this was a tough category at the Cookbook Taste-off itself because there were three wonderful cooks presenting delectable Italian items. Take two food chroniclers, Paula Gati of Miller Place, and Richard Rosselli of Queens, with their popular Facebook pages, respectively: "Born Again Italian" (5,900 members and going strong) and "Italian American Men & Women Who Love to Cook" (about 8,400 followers so far.)

Both have been finalists in prior Cookbook contests.

Richard accentuates the syllables in the word to describe his dish, officially known as "Cucidati," a Sicilian fig cookie he dresses up with colored sprinkles particular to the holidays at hand. The entry, frankly, elicited giggles from a colleague who processed the online recipe submissions. It even inspired a video for SILive.com on how to pronounce the word which ultimately illustrates the world's original "Fig Newton."

On the savory side of things, Paula Gati describes her creation, "Sfincione is a specialty Sicilian pizza that has been in our family for years and years. I remember as a kid my grandmother making this, then my mom, and most recently since my mom's passing, it has become a very important tradition that I would like to keep passing down."

This dish not only won the "Nostalgia" category, it finished second in the overall contest making Paula the recipient of the Advance's $500 prize.

And let's give some love to Ginnie Ledwon's fantastical strufoli.

Ginnie is a proud Staten Island native with a 13-year stretch of schooling at soon-closing St. John's Villa and she was former owner of Impulse Beauty Salon on the South Shore.

"As a child memories of mom's own recipe was rolling out pieces of dough into long snakes," recalls the Tottenville resident. " Mom was always adding ingredients...almonds then hazelnuts. Everyone would pick and eat nuts first. So she added more and more nuts." And therefore, "Aunt Angie's Nutty Struffala" was born.

As Staten Island's six degrees of separation makes the world a smaller place, when this recipe published it set off a hazelnut farmer Brad Niemcek's Google alert at the Kickapoo Culinary Center & American Hazelnut Co. in Gays Mills, WI. Brad emailed us at the Advance wondering about the nut-centric recipe. So we sent Brad a sample of Ginnie's "Struffala." He loved the dessert and sent us back a bottle of his fresh pressed oil, a delightful and delicate product. (Thank you, Brad.)

And Brad adds his own bit of New York City nostalgia to our historic chapter. He notes, "In the late '80s, ever in search of places to bicycle, I sometimes hauled my bike onto the Staten Island Ferry and pedaled around the island. There just weren't enough good places to peddle in Manhattan."

Somehow roads (and ferries) always lead back to our beloved Staten Island.

RECIPE: PAULA GATI'S SFINCIONE

INGREDIENTS:

2 cans crushed tomatoes

1 can flat anchovies in oil (drain about half the oil)

1/4 cup olive oil

3 to 4 very large onions-sweet, about 3 pounds

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons paprika

2 cups bread crumbs-seasoned

Oregano

3 balls of pizza dough

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. I use a half sheet pan-prepared with Pam, then drizzled with olive oil. I use the pizza dough prepared or home made. But it's your choice.

The dough must be thick like a Sicilian pie. So three or four balls of dough works depending on the size.

Stretch dough in pan and let rest and then stretch to make sure it goes right to the corner. I poke indents with my thumb to make the top of the dough dimpled to hold the sauce. Set aside and cover with plastic.

Cut onions thin and saute in olive oil. Add anchovies and cook with the oil until they dissolve into onions. Cook until the onions are soft. Add tomatoes and seasoning. Taste to make sure you don't over salt..the anchovies are very salty. Cook approximately 30 minutes, simmering gently.

When sauce is done, let cool. Then top pizza dough with a generous amount of sauce. Top with breadcrumbs, then sprinkle with lots of oregano. I use the Sicilian oregano in the cellophane bag for this, because it is so fragrant.

Drizzle with more olive oil to make sure breadcrumbs are all covered and bake till bottom is brown and crispy and top is lightly browned. You can throw under broiler for a few seconds to brown the top if you would like, but don't burn! I put the whole pan on the bottom of the oven floor the last few minutes to assure that the bottom is browned.

--Paula Gati, Miller Place, N.Y.

AND THE 2018 COOKBOOK WINNERS ARE ...
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Island natives Colin Jost and Pete Davidson brought their moms on "Saturday Night Live" in honor of Mother's Day.

The "SNL" stars showcased their matriarchs in the legendary sketch comedy series' "Cold Open," doing a quick bit along with other cast members.

Most jokes revolved around some mothers being possible Donald Trump supporters -- or perhaps just sharing an overall dislike of political material on the show.

When Jost's mother, Kerry Kelly, asked who writes the political skits involving Trump, Jost was quick to blame his Weekend Update co-anchor.

"I think Alec Baldwin does a great Trump impression," said Kerry, who recently retired from the Fire Department of New York. "But why does it have to be so mean? Who writes that stuff?"

Jost replied: "Yeah, I don't know. I guess it's mostly Michael Che."

Davidson closed out the sketch with his mother, Amy Davidson.

"I'm so proud of you, Pete," Amy said. "I just don't like it when you do all the penis jokes."

Davidson responded: "Well, not tonight mom -- because Mother's Day is all about vaginas."

But this isn't the first time these mama's boys have paid homage.

In 2015, the pair honored their Staten Island moms with bouquets of flowers while watching embarrassing home videos. Davidson's video featured him as a toddler, with his mother Amy and the voice of his father, FDNY firefighter Scott Davidson, who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Jost shared a cute "Mickey Mouse medical/measles" joke from his mom. Kelly was the chief medical officer for the FDNY and recently retired with 37 years of dedicated FDNY service. She was among the first responders at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A fire that erupted on the third floor of a 3-story home in Sunnyside early Saturday morning was extinguished by firefighters (FDNY).

A call about a fire in an occupied home at 99 Logan Ave. was received by the FDNY just after 1 a.m., said an FDNY spokesman.

Twelve units made up of 65 firefighters responded to the scene, and battled the blaze until it was extinguished by 2:01 a.m., said the FDNY spokesman.

There were no reported injuries, according to the FDNY.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation by fire marshals.

FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK and TWITTER
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- An Elm Park man broke into the wrong home two months ago, and now he'll spend a few years in prison for that mistake.

Hilton Little, 26, was sentenced on Friday to four years behind bars and five years' post-release supervision, stemming from a March 13 burglary in Mariners Harbor in which, police said, the homeowner subdued him.

Police said Little, who stands about 5-foot-4-inches tall and weighs 150 pounds, entered the Arlington Place residence around 1:10 a.m. through an unlocked back door.

He went down to the basement where he attempted to swipe nearly $900 worth of electronics, including a laptop, iPad and cell phone, said police.

The 48-year-old homeowner woke up and confronted Little, whom he did not know, and detained him until police arrived, court documents said.

No one was armed or hurt during the incident, said a police spokesman.

Little was indicted on charges of burglary, stolen-property possession and petit larceny.

He pleaded guilty two weeks ago in state Supreme Court, St. George, to attempted second-degree burglary to satisfy all charges against him.

Garbed on Friday in tan institutional scrubs, the defendant declined to make a statement before Justice Stephen J. Rooney imposed sentence.

Outside court, defense lawyer Stephanie Pope said, "Mr. Little accepted responsibility for his actions and acknowledged that he was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Starbucks has announced a new open-bathroom policy in response to public outcry following a recent racial incident in Philadelphia, Penn.

The new policy will allow all people access to Starbucks bathrooms, regardless of whether or not they have made a purchase.

On April 21, two African-American men were arrested at a Starbucks in Philadelphia after one of the men was denied use of the bathroom.

The men then sat down within the Starbucks, awaiting a business meeting, as the store manager called 911 to report the men for refusing to leave.

Minutes later, the two men were arrested for trespassing.

Since the incident occurred, Starbucks has formally apologized to the two men involved, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson.

In addition, Starbucks has announced that they will close its more than 8,000 company-owned stores in the U.S. on the afternoon of May 29 to educate workers about racial bias.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Liam and Emma are America's most popular baby names, according to just-released 2017 Social Security Administration stats.

This is the fourth consecutive year Emma ranked as the most popular girl's name. For boys, Liam took the top spot -- bumping down Noah to number two.

Noah was the most popular boy's name for three consecutive years.

The agency first started creating the baby name list in 1997, with names dating back to 1880.

At the time of a child's birth, parents supply the name to the agency when applying for a child's Social Security card, thus making Social Security the source for the most popular baby names.

The top 10 boys names for 2017 in order are: Liam, Noah, William, James, Logan, Benjamin, Mason, Elijah, Oliver and Jacob.

The top 10 girls names for 2017 in order are: Emma, Olivia, Ava, Isabella, Sophia, Mia, Charlotte, Amelia, Evelyn and Abigail.

The top names that saw the largest increase in popularity from 2016 to 2017 were Ensley for a girl, going from 2426 to 965; and Wells for a boy, going from 1419 to 519.

The top names for New York in 2016 were Olivia and Liam, according to the city Health Department. The most popular baby names in New York for 2017 will be available on May 17.

To see all the top baby names of 2017, visit SocialSecurity.gov.
Energy Ministry-IBN row resurfaces at Arun III event

The long-standing dispute between the Energy Ministry and the Investment Board Nepal (IBN) has resurfaced, as Energy Minister Barsha Man Pun remained conspicuously absent from an event organised by the board on Friday to mark the laying of a foundation stone of Arun III Hydropower Project.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Council of Ministers has put Maria Plantz forward to the Kingdom Council of Ministers as nominee for the position of member of the Kingdom Council of State (Raad van State) as per October 1, 2018. This vacancy remained unfilled after Dennis Richardson left the Council of State in 2013 to become Minister of Justice. Mrs. Plantz currently serves as member nominated by Sint Maarten of the CFT, since October 1, 2015 and has previously served as vice-chair of the first Corporate Governance Council of Sint Maarten from 2010 to 2014.

Mrs. Plantz is the granddaughter of the first elected Senator of the Windward Islands, Mr. William Rufus Plantz, and is the legal representative of his estate on Sint Maarten. Prime Minister Leona Romeo Marlin is extremely happy that this important position to safeguard Kingdom relations will be filled now.

The Kingdom Council of State is a High Council of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which acts, among others, as independent advisory body to the Kingdom Government on legislative and administrative matters, including matters, which affect the Caribbean countries in the Kingdom.

Prime Minister Leona Romeo Marlin remarked, We have come to know Mrs. Plantz as a knowledgeable legal professional, with a wealth of experience gained from her career as CEO in international business. She has proven to be a valuable member of team Sint Maarten, serving the country in public functions since 2010 and I am very happy that she will accept this new role when her term as member of CFT ends on October 1.

The Kingdom Council of Ministers is currently considering the succession of Mrs. Plantz at CFT, where her departure will leave a void. We are mindful that we need to ensure that a replacement is found for Mrs. Plantz at the CFT as soon as possible. We regard CFT as an important partner to achieve improvement of our overall financial budgeting and accountability, said Prime Minister Leona Romeo- Marlin.
21 students and 3 faculty from Fort Hays State University come to give support to SXM businesses

PHILIPSBURG:--- On Tuesday, May 15, 2018, 21 students and 3 faculty will be arriving on St. Maarten from Fort Hays, Kansas to provide business and community support between May 16 and May 20. The students of Fort Hays State University (FHSU) will be paired with local businesses to provide support in areas of accounting, management, tourism, and even agriculture. This would be the third year that FSHU have come to St. Maarten and the first one that the faculty will be doing master classes. This program, now called EM.PWR Summit, will benefit entrepreneurs, professionals, managers, and business owners with one-on-one business support sessions during the week with the faculty, a panel discussion, and master classes.

The faculty of FHSU include Jessica Heronemus, a professor of accounting and a specialist in being able to detet fraud in accounting systems and the preventative measures and methods. Dr. George Babu has a PhD and DBA in Business Management studies. He has done extensive business research and has expertise in areas such as innovation & entrepreneurship, sustainable tourism, and consumer behaviour. Ron Rohlf is a specialist in communication media studies and has studied television, radio, computer networking and web development. Mr. Rohlf teaches both Media Studies and Computer Networking. These faculty are available by appointment on Wednesday-Friday (May 16-18) to support entrepreneurs, managers, and business owners for a nominal fee of $20 per hour.

On Sunday, May 20, 2018, there will be a panel discussion focusing on what it means to be resilient, s called Resilient Is... at Simpson Bay Beach Resort at from 2:30  4:30 pm. This panel discussion will include various experts and one of the faculty to will discuss ways for entrepreneurs, businesses, and the community at large to be more resilient in affordable and unique ways. Following the panel discussion, which is a gift from the organizers, at 6:30 pm on the same evening, there will be master classes on accounting, sustainable tourism and media to better equip attendees with critical tools to grow their business and manage costs. These master classes, given by the FHSU faculty, are designed to be interactive and informative and require a low registration fee.

Some of the benefits of the EM.PWR Summit is for the local community are business and entrepreneurial support, affordable tools to grow your business, personal, and professional development, customized strategies, connecting with like-minded individuals, and community engagement and support. For the students and faculty of FHSU, they will learn more about diversity, resilience, socio-economic impact, and skill development.

EM.PWR Summit is hosted by the Produce Wealth Revolution (PWR) Agency, St. Maartens first incubator providing entrepreneurial and business support services, a network, co-working spaces, and unique projects for discerning corporations.

To register for the EM.PWR summit or find out more about The PWR agency email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call/whatsapp +1-721-523-1842.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The senior students (12th grade) of the Learning Unlimited Preparatory School (LU), under the guidance of the LUPS College Counseling Department, has earned more than US $1.81 million dollars in merit-aid scholarship offers from prestigious universities around the world.

LUPSs Class of 2018, 27 graduating seniors in total, will attend colleges and universities from Vancouver to New York through Miami and across the ocean to London and Amsterdam. Several of the students received full 4 year scholarships.

A small sampling of university acceptances to date, include Georgetown University, New York University, Bentley University, Northeastern University, Fordham University, Boston University, George Washington University, Depaul University, Hofstra University, University of Miami, Clark University, Clarkson University, University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, Brock University, the University of Waterloo, Concordia University, De Montfort University, Reading University and King's College.

The college counseling process here at LU entails us working with them really for their entire career with us, said Daunesh Alcott, LUs Principal. The key focus is on their high school years because all of those credits start in grade 9 and go to a permanent transfer, it stays with them for life. So we tell our students what they do in 9th grade is as important as what they do in 12th grade in terms of their grades. They need to maintain that.

He went on to lay high praise on LUs College Counseling Department. With the other accredited schools in our accrediting body, I believe we are at the top end of any of those schools. Considering we are a small school, on an island, what we do and what our students accomplish is very impressive in comparison. There is constant communication with students and parents.  he said.

LU is accredited by the US Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). LU is a certified registered member school of SAIS, SACS/ AdvancED, NAIS, ISA. Universities and colleges throughout the world traditionally honor diplomas granted by both SAIS and SACS/ AdvancEd.

The schools College Counseling Department is headed by Mark Beland. By the time LU students reach the 12th Grade and during the course of the application period, from September through February of the senior year, each student works with Beland on various issues such as the implications of early decision/action, crafting of the students extracurricular resume, mock interview sessions, teachers recommendations, and financial aid investigation.

Our College Counselor, English teachers, and administrators work with students across the course of the academic year as they complete and perfect their applications, essays, and letters of motivation. Throughout the school year, representatives of several of the colleges to which our students apply come to LUPS to meet and provide insights to our juniors and seniors, Beland explained.

The LU College Counseling program supports each senior throughout the admissions process and helps students identify and gain acceptance to the college or colleges which suit their academic, lifestyle, extracurricular interests, and financial circumstances. This demonstrates the comprehensive process, yet again, of the value of an American-accredited LU education, he added.

Alcott added that the Class of 2018 will be more than prepared for their future endeavors, however, this didn't just happen overnight. There were many carefully planned segments and artfully executed sequences along the way. This college exploration, application and acceptance season was no exception and was both an exciting and stressful time for the Class of 2018. Now, they have all received their acceptance letters, financial aid, and scholarships; they have made decisions that will potentially impact the rest of their lives. This was an exceptional group of students.

With what our senior students have earned this year, once again the value of an LU education proves itself as it has been doing for years. We are very proud of that fact and very proud of the students, our teachers and staff, Alcott concluded.
PHILIPSBURG:---On Saturday, 10 Key Dominos team members are headed to the World Wide Rally to be held at the Mandalay Bay during the next week. Dominos holds these rallys every other year and is attended by Dominoids from all over the world. The attendance this year is expected to be a whopping 10,000. The idea is to Celebrate and award the efforts, results, further the training and knowledge of all those who attend.

Each Rally we try to bring 6 of us, but this year after Irma and all the hard work that our dedicated team members put in during the aftermath, we decided to dig deeper in our pockets and find a way to bring a few more. Sadly we cant take everyone and many well deserving team members will perhaps get the chance to attend the next one, Said John Caputo, the local Dominos franchisee. The efforts of what the Dominos St. Maarten team accomplished after Irma being the first to Open; not to sell but to give didnt go unnoticed by Dominos Corporate as St. Maarten is also set to be featured in a video about the islands recovery and how our team members rallied to help within the community and each other. The Dominos World also responded to provide assistance to them thru an internal program called Partners. Team members helping team members. Relief assistance was provided to the whole team to help them rebuild and replace what they had lost, John continued to say.

The attendees will be immersed in the latest Dominos training, awards, presentations, and celebrations which cap off with a closing party featuring a concert by Earth Wind and Fire. In all 10,000 Dominoids from around the world will attend and this certainly will be great exposure for St. Maarten since we are being featured. John Caputo is also a presenter in a break out session about thinking and marketing outside the box; taking risks. The session has been booked up to room capacity. Pizza delivery by Jet pack and delivery via Winair and Post Irma efforts will surely be shown.

Last June, St. Maarten hosted a smaller regional conference and the attendees from Latin America, South America, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, and the Caribbean and they saw St. Maarten at our bery best as the island as a whole really rallied to make it the highest rated regional meeting to date. Then just a few short months later they saw an Island devastated. I cant wait for them to see how we are bouncing back and how trying times can bring out the best in people. Im certainly proud that my team will be recognized for their efforts, John continued to say.

There is a lot to celebrate this year as Dominos worldwide has become the largest pizza company in the world surpassing Pizza Hut relating to market share and volumes; A goal that was expected to happen in 2020 but thru innovations, online ordering, and taking some risks came to fruition a few years early. Dominos operates 15,000 locations in 85 Countries around the world.
Hailstorm leaves thousands of bunches on the ground

Hailstorm, coupled with strong winds, has damaged banana plantation on huge tracts of land in western Nawalparasi, causing economic distress to the farmers who have not insured their crops.
ZTE woes loom as US-China trade tensions rise



Washington, May 13 (AFP) May 13, 2018



With a major Chinese smartphone maker on the rocks following US sanctions, the trade spat between Washington and Beijing appears to be taking a turn for the worse for tech firms in the two global economic powerhouses.

Chinese telecom giant ZTE said in the past week its major operations had "ceased" following last month's US ban on American sales of critical technology to the company, raising the possibility of its collapse.

ZTE depended on American chips and other components, and is unable to continue operating without key supplies.

US officials imposed the ban last month, saying ZTE failed to abide by an agreement to stop selling to Iran and North Korea.

While the ZTE case has a specific legal basis, the ban comes as US-China trade relations have hit a rough patch, amid an intense rivalry for supremacy in key technology fields such as artificial intelligence and 5G, the next-generation wireless systems in the works.

The US administration has barred military and government employees from using smartphones from ZTE and fellow Chinese maker Huawei.

President Donald Trump earlier this year blocked a deal that would have allowed a Singapore-based firm to acquire US chipmaker Qualcomm, claiming it would enable Huawei to set the pace the global rollout of 5G technology.

The trade troubles threaten a technology sector that is increasingly intertwined with major players in the United States and China.

"It's going to disrupt procurement, supply lines, it will affect a lot of companies in various ways," said one technology industry executive who asked to remain anonymous.

"Nobody's panicking yet but people are nervous and watching."



- Accelerating independence drive -



James Lewis, a technology specialist with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the tensions are likely to prompt China to step up efforts to disconnect from the US tech sector.

"The biggest impact will be to accelerate China's desire to have non-American sources of supply," Lewis said.

"They don't want to be held hostage" to US tech firms.

Lewis said the technology trade tensions stem from genuine concerns in Washington that critical 5G and related telecom technologies will be dominated by China-based Huawei.

"Huawei is trying to become the telecom company for the world," Lewis said.

"They are the strongest across the board in 5G... This is a place where China's model of capital works better."

Lewis said that with companies like Huawei and ZTE facing obstacles in the United States, "American companies see the opening to the China market closing more rapidly than they might have thought."

In the near-term, Lewis said, Chinese firms still depend on some elements of US technology, but they are moving to become more autonomous.

Still, he said Washington has some justified national security concerns about preventing Huawei from becoming too dominant.

Increasing reliance on Chinese telecom equipment would give Beijing an edge in global surveillance and intelligence, he said.

"The equipment is always calling home," he said. "If you control the updater and the infrastructure you have an immense advantage."

Huawei has long disputed any links to the Chinese government, while noting that its infrastructure and computing products are used in 170 countries.

A statement from Huawei said its products "meet the highest standards of security, privacy and engineering in every country we operate," adding that "no government has ever asked us to compromise the security or integrity of any of our networks or devices."



- Victory dance? -



Matt Gold, an adjunct Fordham University law professor and former deputy assistant US trade representative, said the latest problems over ZTE are unlikely to worsen relations because "the current situation is about as bad as it can get without a complete freefall."

Gold said that while the president has authority under domestic law to impose sanctions for national security reasons, such moves may violate international trade rules and laws if the actions come in the absence of war or other emergency.

In the current climate, Gold said, US lawmakers appear inclined to impose stricter limits on Chinese investments in US tech firms as a way to stay ahead of China.

The Trump administration, according to Gold, could take a risky hard-line path of imposing new tariffs and restrictions on technology, but is more likely to seek to negotiate some concessions.

He said it is probable that "after many months of negotiations, China will give the US a series of concessions, including some things they had already agreed to and some of which were promises they had given before."

And all that, Gold said, "will be face saving for President Trump, who will declare a great victory."
Trump thanks N. Korea for 'gracious' pledge to destroy nuclear site



Washington, May 12 (AFP) May 12, 2018



US President Donald Trump on Saturday thanked North Korea after it pledged to destroy its nuclear test site ahead of his summit meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

"North Korea has announced that they will dismantle Nuclear Test Site this month, ahead of the big Summit Meeting on June 12th," he tweeted.

"Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!"

The site at Punggye-ri, in the northeast of the country, will be dismantled in front of foreign media between May 23-25 -- the latest in the North Korean leader's charm offensive.

Dialogue brokered by Seoul has seen US-North Korea relations go from trading personal insults and threats of war last year to a summit between Kim and President Donald Trump due in Singapore on June 12.

But sceptics warn that Pyongyang has yet to make any public commitment to give up its arsenal, which includes missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Washington is seeking the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" of the North and stresses that verification will be key.

Punggye-ri has hosted all six of the North's nuclear tests, the latest and by far the most powerful in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.
N. Korea to destroy nuclear site ahead of US summit: KCNA



Seoul, May 12 (AFP) May 12, 2018



North Korea will destroy its nuclear test site later this month, ahead of a summit with the United States, it said Saturday, pledging to blow up its tunnels in front of invited foreign media.

US President Donald Trump praised the North's decision to dismantle the Punggye-ri test site in a ceremony scheduled between May 23-25, the latest step in leader Kim Jong Un's charm offensive.

"Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!" Trump tweeted.

Dialogue brokered by Seoul has seen US-North Korea relations go from trading personal insults and threats of war last year to a summit between Kim and Trump due in Singapore on June 12.

But sceptics warn that Pyongyang has yet to make any public commitment to give up its arsenal, which includes missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Washington is seeking the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation" of the North and stresses that verification will be key.

Punggye-ri, in the northeast of the country, has hosted all six of the North's nuclear tests, the latest and by far the most powerful in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.

Kim has declared the development of the North's nuclear force complete and that it had no further need for the site.

The latest measures will see the tunnels of the test site blown up and their entrances completely blocked, Pyongyang's foreign ministry said, according to the official KCNA news agency.

All observation facilities and research institutes would be removed, along with guards, it said, "and the surrounding area of the test ground be completely closed".

Reporters from China, Russia, the United States, Britain and South Korea would be allowed to cover the event on site to show it "in a transparent manner".

Limits on foreign journalists were due to space constraints, it said, as the site was in an "uninhabited deep mountain area".

Analysts said the move was positive but limited in its scope.

It was "not bad, but a cost-free signal", tweeted MIT political science professor Vipin Narang.

Given the stage it had already reached, Pyongyang "may feel like they don't need to test anything for a while", he said.

Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies, expected that the North "will sanitise the site before letting anyone see it".



- 'Fire and fury' -



Saturday's announcement is the latest move in a rapid sequence of events on the Korean peninsula triggered by the Winter Olympics in the South.

Tensions had been mounting for years as Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes saw it subjected to multiple rounds of increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the US, EU, South Korea and others, and Trump last year threatened the North with "fire and fury".

But since the Pyeongchang Games, Pyongyang and Washington have agreed to the unprecedented Singapore meeting, and Kim has twice visited China to meet President Xi Jinping, after not paying respects in the six years since he inherited power from his father.

The head of the UN's World Food Programme said Saturday it appeared North Korea was "turning a new page in history", following a four-day visit to the country.

David Beasley said he had enjoyed unprecedented access to the secretive state, telling BBC radio that North Korea's leaders had a "sense of optimism".

Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month affirmed their commitment to the goal of "realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula" at a summit in the Demilitarized Zone that divides their countries.

But the phrase is a diplomatic euphemism open to interpretation on both sides.

Pyongyang has long wanted to see an end to the US military presence in and nuclear umbrella over the South, but it invaded its neighbour in 1950 and is the only one of the two Koreas to possess nuclear weapons.

This week the North released three Korean-Americans it had detained into the care of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was making his second trip to Pyongyang in two months.

Trump also withdrew the United States from a nuclear pact with Iran, raising questions over whether Pyongyang would trust Washington's promises.

Pompeo Friday promised the US would work to rebuild North Korea's sanctions-hit economy if it agreed to surrender its nuclear arsenal.
Iran conservatives attack government over nuclear deal



Tehran, May 13 (AFP) May 13, 2018



As Iran's foreign minister embarked on a diplomatic tour Sunday to save the nuclear deal, his government faced mounting pressure from hardliners at home who say the West should never have been trusted.

Ayatollah Ali Jannati, the ultra-conservative head of the Assembly of Experts whose responsibilities include choosing the next supreme leader, said the government had already failed to guarantee the country's interests.

President Hassan Rouhani, the key architect of the 2015 agreement, should "present his apologies to the Iranian people for the damage caused in the cadre of the nuclear deal," Jannati said.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in Beijing on Sunday for the first stop of his tour of the remaining members of the nuclear deal.

He is due in Moscow and Brussels in the coming days.

Mirroring the line taken by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Jannati said there was little chance the Europeans would provide the assurances needed for Iran to stay in the deal.

The Europeans "have never stopped taking actions against Iran," he wrote.

The head of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, also criticised "certain officials" who "look to outsiders".

"I hope recent events will lead us ending our trust in the West and the Europeans. The Europeans have repeated on several occasions that they will not be able to resist US sanctions," said Jafari, according to the conservative Fars news agency.

Around 100 Iranian lawmakers have also signed on to a parliament bill that would set a clear deadline for the government to "obtain necessary guarantees from the Europeans" without which Iran would resume high-level uranium enrichment, according to parliament's official website.

Although conservatives have tried to score political points against Rouhani in the wake of the US withdrawal, the president has essentially taken the same line.

Immediately after US President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the deal last Tuesday, Rouhani said he had instructed Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation to prepare for "industrial enrichment without limit" unless Iran's interests were guaranteed by the remaining parties.
US wants to work with Europeans on new Iran deal: Pompeo



Washington, May 13 (AFP) May 13, 2018



US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington still wants to work with its European partners on an agreement to counter Iran's "malign behavior" Sunday despite its withdrawal from a landmark nuclear deal.

President Donald Trump's announcement last Tuesday that the US was exiting the 2015 nuclear accord was met with widespread dismay in Europe where companies now face the threat of sanctions if they do business with Iran.

But Pompeo said Washington was keen to thrash out a more wide-ranging deal with its allies as another top official said Iran had been "on the march" throughout the Middle East since the nuclear agreement was signed.

Pompeo, who is barely a fortnight into his new job, told Fox News Sunday that he had been tasked by the president "to work to strike a deal that achieves the outcomes that protect America."

"That's what we are going to do and I will be hard at it with the Europeans in the next several days," said the top US diplomat.

"I'm hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well.

"And I will work closely with the Europeans to try and achieve that."

The administration says the lifting of sanctions as part of the nuclear pact had allowed Iran to build up its military, with Trump claiming on Saturday that Tehran's defense spending had risen by 40 percent since 2015.

John Bolton, who is Trump's national security advisor, said that Tehran's military had exploited the easing of pressure on the Iranian economy to meddle in conflicts across the Middle East in the last three years.

"If you look at the advances that Iran has made under cover of this agreement, its conventional military and terrorist advances, in Iraq, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Yemen, since 2015, Iran was really on the march," Bolton told ABC's "This Week."



- 'Shifting the balance of power' -



"They were shifting the balance of power in the Middle East until President Trump got out of this deal."

Asked if Washington was now advocating for regime change in Iran, Bolton responded that it was not administration policy.

"The policy of the administration is to make sure that Iran never gets close to deliverable nuclear weapons," he added.

While he has committed to remaining in the nuclear agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea of a supplemental deal on Iran during a recent visit to Washington.

German leader Angela Merkel also told Trump on a visit to Washington late last month that the nuclear deal was insufficient in itself to curb Iran's ambitions in the region.

Germany, France and Britain were three of the six signatories to the 2015 pact which saw sanctions lifted in return for the commitment by Tehran not to acquire nuclear weapons.

Although most analysts believe the US withdrawal has effectively scuppered the agreement, Iran's foreign minister talked up the prospects of its survival on Sunday while visiting China, another of the signatories.

"We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement," Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters after talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
US ready to offer North Korea security assurances: Pompeo



Washington, May 13 (AFP) May 13, 2018



The United States is prepared to offer North Korea security assurances if it makes the strategic choice to give up its nuclear weapons, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday.

Pompeo cast US President Donald Trump's June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un as a test of the North Korean leader's commitment to change his country's direction.

The US price for normalization -- complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization -- is one Pyongyang has never before been willing to pay, regarding nuclear weapons as the ultimate guarantee of the regime's survival.

On Saturday, North Korea said it will destroy its nuclear test site later this month -- a gesture Trump quickly hailed as "very smart and gracious."

Pompeo, who has met twice with the North Korean leader to discuss the summit, said he was "convinced" Kim shared US goals.

"We will have to provide security assurances, to be sure," Pompeo said on Fox News Sunday. "This has been the trade-off that has been pending for 25 years. No president has ever put America in a position where the North Korean leadership thought that this was truly possible."

"Our eyes are wide open with respect to the risks, but it is our fervent hope that Chairman Kim wants to make a strategic change," he said.

If Kim makes such a change, he said, "President Trump is prepared to assure that there's going to be a successful transition."

But in a separate television interview, US National Security Advisor John Bolton cautioned that denuclearization has to be accomplished "before the benefits start to flow."

"I think the implementation of the decision means getting rid of the nuclear weapons. Dismantling them. Taking them to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It means getting rid of the uranium facility," he said on ABC's "This Week."

"North Korea has a very extensive program. It won't be easy to do," he said. "They'll have to reveal all locations. Open inspections. The deconstruction of the nuclear weapons, I think, will be by the United States with perhaps assistance from others."

Bolton said the US side also will discuss not just North Korea's nuclear and missile programs but its chemical and biological weapons arsenal as well.

"I don't think the president has stars in his eyes," Bolton said. "What we need to see from Kim Jong Un is that he and the entire North Korean regime have made a strategic decision that they'll be better off without weapons of mass destruction."

The summit will give Trump an early chance "to size Kim Jong Un up and see if the commitment is real," he said.
Jokelore in Nepali politics

Politicians have been using satire as an effective tool to gain power, but in doing so they risk not being taken seriously in the long run
Iran official says Europe has 60 days to give nuclear 'guarantees'



Tehran, May 13 (AFP) May 13, 2018



European countries have 60 days to provide "guarantees" to safeguard Iran's interests after the United States withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, parliament's website said quoting an Iranian official.

"The Europeans have between 45 and 60 days to give the necessary guarantees to safeguard Iranian interests and compensate the damages caused by the US pullout," Icana.ir reported.

The website attributed the remarks to Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as reported by Seyyed Hossein Naghavi, spokesman of parliament's foreign affairs commission.

According to him, Araghchi told the commission that if Iran does not receive such guarantees European leaders would have to "take the necessary decisions".

These reported remarks come as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif embarked on a diplomatic tour to try and save the nuclear deal.

Zarif arrived in Beijing on Sunday for the first stop of his tour, ahead of visiting Moscow and Brussels in the coming days.

Iran signed the nuclear deal in 2015 with the United States, as well as Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.

In Beijing on Sunday Zarif said he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the deal to save it from collapse after US President Donald Trump withdrew from it on Tuesday.

"If the nuclear deal is to continue, the interests of the people of Iran must be assured," Zarif added.
Iraq election thrown open as outsider alliances appear strong



Baghdad, May 13 (AFP) May 13, 2018



Two Iraqi anti-establishment alliances appeared set to create an upset Monday as partial results showed them leading in a parliamentary election, ahead of the incumbent prime minister's bloc.

According to partial official results obtained by AFP, the Marching Towards Reform alliance of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and communists was ahead in six of Iraq's 18 provinces and second in four others.

The Conquest Alliance, made up of ex-fighters from mainly Iran-backed paramilitary units that battled the Islamic State group, was ahead in four provinces and second in eight others.

The Victory Alliance of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has been backed by the international community, looked to have won in only one province.

If the surprise results are confirmed then it would throw open the race for Iraq's new premier, following the first elections after the defeat of IS.

The complex electoral arithmetic of the Iraqi system means that the final makeup of the parliament is still far from decided.

Several senior political figures had previously told AFP that preliminary results put Abadi in the lead, on course to scoop 60 of the 329 parliament seats up for grabs.

Abadi -- who came to power as IS swept across Iraq in 2014 -- is a consensus figure who has balanced off the United States and Iran.

The other leading challengers have often taken a stronger stance against the United States.

Whatever the outcome, there looks set to be lengthy horse-trading between the main political forces before any government can be formed.

The ballot Saturday was hit by record abstentions, with only 44.5 percent of eligible voters heading to the polls in the lowest turnout since the 2003 US-led ouster of Saddam Hussein.
Algiers, May 13, 2018 (SPS)-Algeria on Sunday expressed its firm condemnation and total rejection of Moroccan Foreign Ministers irresponsible statements against it, Spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry Abdelaziz Benali Cherif said in a statement.



Algeria expresses its firm condemnation and total rejection of Moroccan Foreign Ministers irresponsible statements against it and cooperation, in an interview with a Parisian weekly, stressed Benali Cherif.



In the face of the incredulity with which the international learnt of his allegations on last 1 May and instead of producing the irrefutable evidence he claims to have, which he actually does not have, or instead of acknowledging, the Moroccan FM chose to continue on the path of mystification and invention, said Benali Cherif.



His baseless and unjustified accusations are indicative of the flight forward policy he has chosen to adopt following the major setbacks he received in Africa, in Europe and most recently in New York, recalled the spokesperson.



They also reveal his inability to directly involve Algeria in a conflict declared by the Security Council a self-determination issue to be negotiated directly between Morocco and the Polisario Front, in good faith and without preconditions, under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), with a view to finding a just and mutually acceptable political solution ensuring the Sahrawi peoples self-determination, he continued.



Similarly, "Algeria can only strongly condemn the Moroccan FMs statements on the role it plays in the Sahel although the international community, as a whole, praises the major contribution Algeria is making to stabilize the region," stressed Benali Cherif.



Facing the virulent campaign against it, Algeria remains serene and strong drawing on the unity of its people, the solidity of its institutions, its stability and the rectitude and consistency of the principles and values that govern its foreign policy. As a neighbour State, Algeria will continue to fully support the efforts made by the UN Secretary General and his Personal Envoy with a view to reaching a definitive settlement of the Western Sahara issue, in accordance with international law and the UNs doctrine and practice in the field of decolonization. (SPS)



062/SPS/APS
Provo Temple may  again  reflect sister temple in Ogden after renovations

It was no surprise to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that President Russell M. Nelson announced on Sunday that several new temples would be built. What was a surprise was the announcement of the reconstruction of the Provo Utah Temple, which will begin when the Orem Utah Temple is completed. The Orem Utah Temple is expected to be finished in the fall of 2023. We recognize the interest this generates for people and communities in locations that will receive such a temple. At this point, limited information is available beyond the intent to build a temple ...
Modi prays at Muktinath Temple

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi worshipped at Muktinath Temple, a sacred religious site for both the Hindus and Buddhists, in Mustang district on Saturday
NA defuses bomb along Prithvi Highway

Transportation along the Madi Bridge section of Prithvi Highway in Damauli has resumed after an improvised explosive device was defused by Nepal Army bomb disposal team.
Oli briefs parliament about Modis visit

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Sunday briefed the Parliament about the two-day state visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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5 dead, 25 injured in Pyuthan bus accident

At least five persons were killed when a passenger bus veered off a road at Pakuri area of Sarumarani Rural Municipality4 along the Bhalubang-Pyuthan road section on Sunday.
US and NRA to rebuild schools

US Ambassador to Nepal Alaina B Teplitz and National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) Chief Executive Officer Yuba Raj Bhusal broke the ground for reconstruction of Kanya Mandir Secondary School, the first all-girls school in Kathmandu.
India is now facing the possibility of having to seek American F-35s if they want to have any stealth fighters to match those China is already producing and Pakistan is planning to order. This all comes down to India being forced to face the fact Russia is unable to keep up when it comes to developing and manufacturing the latest combat aircraft and military technology in general. That is why India told Russia it was no longer supporting or buying the Russian Su-57 stealth fighter.

In April 2018 India revealed that it had, in February, withdrawn from the joint development and manufacturing agreement with Russia regarding their Su-57 stealth fighter. That agreement committed India to eventually contribute over $8 billion to developing and building Su-57s. India said they might still purchase the Su-57 once it is ready for sale and might even rejoin joint development efforts. But for now, India is writing off nearly $300 million it has already invested. Because of that it is no longer obligated to spend over $8 billion to develop and manufacture an aircraft they have lost confidence in.

This project is way behind schedule while the Chinese already have one stealth fighter in service and others about to be. The American F-35 is getting good reviews and Russia is getting a close-up view because Israel recently put its first F-35s into service. At the moment Indian officials are dismissing the talk of buying F-35s. That will not change the situation India will find itself in if the Su-57 never becomes a contender and the Chinese stealth fighters do.

Some Indian Air Force officers who had first-hand experience with the Su-57 now feel free to express their frustrations with the Russian developers. As one Indian officer put it, all the current version of the Su-57 could do was take off and land. That may be overstating the situation but not by much. The Su-57 currently lacks the needed engines, sensors and electronic combat and communications systems the Russians promised. Worse the Russians refused to be open with their development partner and that may have been the key reason for abandoning the Su-57.

Were the Indians reminded of all those cost and tech problems the F-22 had? Many said it was something of an American disease. Now Russia appears to have caught an even worse case of it and their own Su-57 is the victim. In mid-2016 Russia admitted that the air force would have to make do with upgraded Su-27/30s rather than the new Su-57 (formerly known as PAK-FA or T-50) stealth fighter. The 2016 plan was for a few Su-57s being purchased for the Russian Air Force but most would be built for export customers. Russia has not yet announced how they plan to deal with the loss of Indian development money and future orders.

In 2016 Russia also told India that the planned upgrade of 194 Indian Su-30MKIs with some of the Su-57 features would delay development of the Su-57. India was apparently OK with that in 2016 as even then Indian air force experts were increasingly doubtful about how soon the Su-57 would be ready, at what price and how effective it would be. The Su-30MKI upgrade was to include an internal bomb bay, super-cruise (the ability to travel at supersonic speeds without using the afterburner) and upgraded electronics which will include improved sensors and more efficient cockpit controls. All of this made the Su-30MKI stealthier as it will be able to use passive (heat sensing) radar and longer range missiles. This is also a characteristic of stealthy aircraft. All this would cost about $42 million per aircraft. This would give India what is called a 4.5 generation fighter, compared to the 5th generation Su-57. But, like the Su-57 itself, the promised generation 4.5 Su-30MKI is now no more.

As recently as late 2015 there was more optimism. Back then the head of the Russian air force announced that their new 5th generation Su-57 stealth fighter was passing all its flight tests and was now expected to enter service in 2017. This was surprising because earlier Russia announced that they were reducing the number of production Su-57s to be built by the end of the decade from 52 to 12. Russia already has five development models of the Su-57 flying, although one was damaged in a fire. The Russian announcement did not cover specific reasons for the change. But Indian Air Force officials have been criticizing the progress of the Su-57 program since early 2015. This aircraft is the Russian answer to the U.S. F-22 and according to the Indians, who have contributed $300 million (so far) to development of the Su-57, they are entitled by the 2007 agreement with Russian to have access to technical details. The Russians were accused of refusing to provide development updates as often and in as much detail the Indians expected. The Indians know from experience that when the Russians clam up about a military project it is usually because the news is bad and the Russians would rather not share.

The Russians have been trying to conceal Su-57 problems since 2013, when Indian pilots and aviation experts had a chance to examine Russian progress and noted that the Su-57 as it was then put together was unreliable and far from finished. The Russian radar, which promised so much has delivered, according to the Indians, insufficient performance and as of 2018 that had not changed. The Indians also noted that the Su-57s stealth features were unsatisfactory. Instead of answers to these questions, all the Indians got until early 2015 were excuses and promises. Russia insisted this is all a misunderstanding, until their latest bunch of explanations and promises for solutions soon. That routine gets less effective with time and eventually fails completely.

In early 2015 the Russians were portraying the Su-57 as a specialist aircraft to be built in small numbers. This is what the United States ended up doing with the F-22, which entered service in 2005. That decision was triggered by development problems and a final price per aircraft that was deemed (by Congress) too high to be affordable. The less expensive F-35 is moving in the same direction despite years of U.S. Air Force assurances that the F-35 benefitted from the F-22 experience. That was true, but the benefit did not bring the F-35 cost down sufficiently to prevent reductions in the number to be built. While only 195 F-22s were built, more than ten times as many F-35s are to be built. But that is less than the planned amount. Originally 750 F-22s were planned, with no exports allowed. The F-35 is to be exported and it was hoped that a thousand or more would be sold overseas. But the rising cost of development and production is leading to reductions in U.S. and foreign orders. That turned around as deliveries began in 2016 and when foreign customers began receiving their F-35s in 2017 the reviews were better than expected and suddenly the F-35 is a wonder-weapon.

In contrast, the Su-57 is a 34 ton fighter that is more maneuverable than the 33 ton Su-27 it will replace. In theory, the Su-57 has much better electronics than existing Russian fighters, is stealthy and can cruise at above the speed of sound. Russia promises a fighter with a life of 6,000 flight hours and engines good for 4,000 hours. Russia promises world-class avionics, plus a very pilot-friendly cockpit. The use of many thrusters and fly-by-wire will produce an aircraft even more maneuverable than earlier Su-30s (which have been extremely agile). The problem the Indians have is that, even before 2018, the improvements did not appear to be worth the additional investment. The Su-57 costs at least 50 percent more than the Su-27. That would be some $60 million (for a bare-bones model, at least 50 percent more with all the options), about what a top-of-the-line F-16 costs. The Su-27 was originally developed to match the American F-15.

The Su-57 is not meant to be a direct rival for the F-22 because the Russian aircraft is not as stealthy. But if the maneuverability and advanced electronics live up to the promises, the aircraft would be more than a match for every fighter out there other than the F-22. If such a Su-57 was sold for under $100 million each there would be a lot of buyers. But it looks like the Su-57 will cost more. For the moment the Su-57 and the Chinese J-20 (and J-31) are the only potential competitors for the F-22 and F-35. While the Su-57 is the biggest disappointment the Chinese have admitted less serious problems with the J-20 and J-31. At the same time, China has taken their stealth fighter designs farther than the Russians did and the J-20 appears close to being combat ready.

Like the F-22, Su-57 development expenses are increasing, and it looks like the Su-57 will cost at least $120 million each (including a share of the development cost) but only if 500 or more are manufactured. Russia hoped to build as many as a thousand. Few F-22s were built because of the high cost. American developers are now seeking to apply their stealth and other technologies to the development of combat UAVs. Thus, by the time the Su-57 enters service in large numbers during the 2020s, it may already be made obsolete by cheaper, unmanned, stealthy fighters. The United States, Russia, and China are all working on applying stealth technology to combat UAVs. Thus the mass produced 6th generation unmanned fighter may be the aircraft that replaces most current fighters

The Su-57 flew for the first time in January 2010, 13 years after the F-22 did so. Once the Su-57 flew it was believed that the first 70 production models would be ordered by 2016 and be delivered by the end of the decade. The order number was later reduced to 52 and now it is 12. Some of the prototypes were to be handed over to the Russian Air Force or testing but that has not happened yet.

Russians and Indians have been doing a lot of tinkering since the first Su-57 flew. While the Su-57 is the stealthiest aircraft the Russians have, it is not nearly as stealthy as the F-22, or even the F-35 or B-2. The Russians are apparently going to emphasize maneuverability instead of stealth. India wants more stealth and would prefer a two-seat aircraft. The problems with the Su-57 engines and the defensive electronics proved difficult to solve. This puts theSu-57 at a big disadvantage against the F-22 or F-35, which try to detect enemy aircraft at long distance, without being spotted, and then fire a radar guided missile (like AMRAAM). These problems are apparently the main reason for the delays.

The Russians must export their "Fifth Generation Fighter" (which they admit is not true 5th Gen) for the project to survive. India was the key customer whose experience would attract other foreign customers. With the Indian participation, Russia now had the billions of dollars it would take to carry out the Su-57 development program. India was not just contributing cash but also technology and manufacturing capability. There are few potential export customers for the Su-57. Most potential Western nations prefer the F-35. China is unlikely to be a customer because they have two stealth fighter designs in development and flying. Russia thought India was too heavily invested to easily withdraw from the Su-57 effort, but even in 2016, it was clear that withdrawal was possible if it became obvious that the Su-57 development was going to get a lot more expensive and take a lot longer. The Russians already understood that had told its air force generals to prepare for a future full of Su-30s. Russia could not afford to buy a lot of Su-57s and Russia was to be the major user. This bothered the Indians, who are having lots of unexpected reliability and performance with the 250 Su-30s they operate. That is more Su-30s than Russia and more than any other user. India expected better tech support and was not getting it.

Meanwhile, China declared that its J-20 stealth fighter had officially entered service in September 2017. That turned out to be a bit premature because by the end of 2017 it was clear that production of the J-20 had stalled. The manufacturer had planned to build three a month initially but since mid-2017 production appears to have been zero. There are several potential problems with the J-20 but the main ones have to do with stealth (the delicate materials on the airframe that make radar detection less effective) and engines. The most obvious problem is the engines. The WS-10s currently installed are a stopgap and not efficient enough to support supercruise (go supersonic without using the afterburner and becoming easier to spot). China has had persistent problems developing high-performance jet engines. China has been developing the more powerful (and supercruise ready) WS-15 engine since the 1990s for a larger aircraft like the J-20 but has not been able to get the engine to work. Officials also confirmed rumors that a WS-15 exploded during a 2015 static (on the ground) test. That failure had been a secret but when an engine this big fails by blowing up the incident is difficult to hide.

No date was given as to when the WS-15 would be available for use or whether it would have the same vectoring (ability to move the hot jet exhaust in different directions in order to make the fighter more maneuverable) the F-22 uses. At first, a more powerful and reliable version of the WS-15 for J20 was believed possible by 2020 but changes in the shape and weight of the WS-15 would require modifications to the shape of the J-20 and that would require a lot of testing to ensure that stealth was not compromised. The factory would have to install new or modified manufacturing equipment and suppliers would have to do the same to produce the new airframe components. Meanwhile, the WS-15 reliability problems are still not completely resolved. Another potential J-20 problem is its ability to operate effectively in a wide variety of climates. For example, development and pre-production J-20s were flown frequently in a wide variety of climates during 2017 and that may have revealed unanticipated problems requiring fixes that are still in the works.

In early 2017 Chinese officials revealed that at least a dozen J-20s had been delivered to the Chinese air force as part of a new fighter squadron. This information was apparently released to help with export sales because at the time Chinese media was reporting that Pakistan had agreed to buy J-20s. Numbers were not announced and there are still questions about how effective the J-20 actually is. Pakistani interest in the J-20 may have more to do with the fact that China is the only major-power ally they have, their main supplier of weapons and, best of all, a neighbor.

India would not buy weapons, especially advanced ones from China so once the announcement about withdrawing from the Su-57 became public the discussion turned to how quickly India could get the F-35. Japan is already receiving their F-35s and South Korea will be receiving its first F-35s in 2019. Japan is assembling most of the F-35s it is buying. Not mentioned is the biggest obstacle to India getting the F-35; the India defense procurement bureaucracy. These civil servants can delay needed purchases for decades and continue to demonstrate that rare skill. Even if India decides to purchase the F-35 it will be a long time before they have it operational.
Produced from estate-grown, hand-cut sugar cane in Panama, the Cuban style rum is created by a Cuban born master blender with over 50 years of experience in the industry.

The award-winning version was distilled, aged and bottled at source, resulting in a complex, balanced and aggressive rum, with a smoothness rarely found in any spirit - in other words, the ideal sipping spirit.

We chose to enter the San Francisco World Spirits Competition due to its reputation, quality of judges, the earned respect of SFWSC and the integrity of the highly controlled blind tastings, says Andrew Troyer, Founder of AROME Spirits and a respected yacht broker.

With nearly two decades of experience, the San Francisco World Spirits Competition has grown to become one of the worlds most respected spirits competitions, thanks in large part to the esteemed judge, each with a distinct story and trusted palate.

Among them is the competitions Executive Director, Anthony Dias Blue, an author, editor, publisher and one of the most influential food, wine and spirits writers and lifestyle personalities in America.

The Director of Judging is Tony Abou-Ganim, The Master-Mixologist, and one of the leading pioneers of Americas craft cocktail movement.

The 18th edition of the San Francisco World Spirits Competition took place at the Hotel Nikko San Francisco, from 13  15 April.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The victim in the city's most recent shooting homicide was killed more than a day before being found lying in front of a vacant home, police said Sunday.

He had been moved there by the shooting suspect and an accomplice, Chief Frank Fowler said at a news conference. He identified the accomplice as 21-year-old Nick Costello, of Syracuse.

Police would not say why the suspects might have decided to move Charles E. Nichols, 37, after he was shot and killed.

Nick Costello, 21, left, and Vladimir Brown, 35

Costello is facing charges of hindering prosecution and concealment of a human corpse. Fowler said he and murder suspect Vladimir E. Brown knew the victim, but he declined to say more.

Nichols was shot in the chest and killed after midnight on May 5 on the 100 block of Lawrence Street, police learned in their investigation. A passerby found Nichols' body around 9:30 a.m. on May 7 on 108 Oberst St.

That's about half a mile away from where Nichols was shot and killed. Brown lives at 108 Lawrence Street.

Fowler declined to say why or how the suspects moved Nichols' body, and he said Brown was initially uncooperative with investigators.

Costello was found May 12 by officers with the department's Crime Reduction Team, and he was arrested.

"He gave our detectives an extremely hard time in the beginning," Fowler said. "With the help and cooperation of other citizens, we were able to determine Costello's involvement."

Fowler could not say why the pair might have chosen the home on Oberst Street except that it was vacant.

"This is indeed unusual. We don't see things happen like this very often," Fowler said.

Police said the investigation is continuing, and they asked anyone with information to call the department's criminal investigation division at (315)442-5222 or use its "SPD Tips" app. Calls and tips can be confidential.
I'm never surprised at the many guises in which "Hamlet," that most mysterious of Shakespeare's tragedies, appears on local stages. The play and its conflicted hero famously wrap themselves around the time in which it is produced and reveal what unnerves us now. The often successful Central New York Playhouse "Hamlet," unfolding in stylized contemporary dress and design with an interesting use of projections, bravely scratches beneath the surface, but never quite draws blood.

The tragedy is happily cut to a relatively trim and effective (for "Hamlet") three hours. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns from university to find that his father is dead and his mother, Gertrude, has quickly married the old king's brother. Spurred on by what appears to be the ghost of his father, who says that he was murdered by his brother Claudius, Hamlet sets out for justice, but beset by doubt and a very modern sense of existential fear, creates Shakespearean havoc for anyone in his path.

Shakespeare in modern dress is by no means an innovation, and although it often brings the universality of the Bard's plays into clear focus, the approach also lays a series of traps, most of which are avoided at CNY Playhouse. It is, however, comical to have Horatio and the guards swear "by my sword" while clutching a rifle. Pistols and blackjacks also figure prominently here.

The production, directed by Margot Reed, takes a stab at interpretation in some interesting and some unsettling ways. A few bits, like the protesting rabble shouting outside the throne room in an early scene are not followed up effectively, except by the inference given by the proliferation of red armbands and menacing undertones that Denmark under Claudius has become a fascist state.

The state of Hamlet and Ophelia's relationship is also a novel twist here, although I think it lessens the hapless maiden's tragic dimension. There are also some amusing stylistic callbacks, with a little Tennessee Williams in the pivotal scene with Gertrude in her chamber. Violent touches veer into Tarantino territory as Hamlet suffers indignities not imagined by Shakespeare.

The CNY Playhouse "Hamlet" is buoyed by several striking performances. As the Melancholy Dane himself, Liam Fitzpatrick lays out the stakes nicely with "Oh that this too too solid flesh," the first of the tragedy's three great soliloquies. The actor has a real command of the language and delivers the lines movingly. However, a danger with the play is that it can become a series of well-wrought set pieces, and the production sometimes succumbs to this tendency. What's missing is a sense of modulation, of doubt and fear pulling at the conflicted prince.The famous hesitancy gets lost in a rush of glorious language beautifully spoken.

An excellent Simon Moody is Polonius, advising his son Laertes (Michael Richard King), "This above all to thine own self be true." While not the doddering old man Hamlet mocks, Moody nails the Lord Chamberlain's pomposity and guile. His doomed daughter Ophelia is played by Lynn Barbato King, who captures the character's pathos in a fine mad scene.

As the royal couple at the center of the tragedy, Alan Stillman and Katherine Gibson cut striking figures. However, the hard-working Stillman is a bit swamped by the scope of Claudius's villainy. Gibson, looking a bit like Robin Wright as Claire Underwood in "House of Cards," with sunglasses perched on her head even in indoor scenes, successfully reveals the shock of Gertrude's understanding of her own part in the tragedy.

Notable supporting players include community stalwart William Edward White, who delivers a comic tour de force as the gravedigger who gives the famous skull to our hero. Although acted with dignity, sympathy, and presence by Miquon Jackson, somehow the parallel journey of Fortinbras, Prince of Norway gets lost in the expository rush of words early in the play.

A surprisingly large cast fills the other roles. CNY Playhouse's "Hamlet" is peopled by a real mix, with some performances sharply standing out and others more eager than experienced. This is the beating heart of community theater.

The Details

What:

"Hamlet," by William Shakespeare,.

Where:

Central New York Playhouse, Shoppingtown Mall, DeWitt.

When seen

: May 11.

Length of performance:

3 hours with intermission.

Attendance:

Around 30.

Family guide:

Appropriate at the age a student understands and appreciates Shakespeare.

Information:

315-885-8960,

.
The weather is finally starting to warm up here in Central New York. Go out and celebrate the springtime sunshine with a show. Here are our top picks for the week.

Ellis Paul

Folksy, intuitive, and inspired, Ellis Paul gives audiences a show they will remember for a lifetime. He released his first album, "Urban Folk Songs," in 1989, and has released fifteen albums over his twenty-plus year career. Paul is influenced by the likes of Joni Mitchell and James Taylor in his songwriting and performance style, and is such a fan of Woody Guthrie that he has a tattoo of Guthrie's face on his arm.

Where: Homer Center for the Arts, 72 S Main Street, Homer

When: Friday, May 18 at 8 p.m.

How much: Tickets are $20 and up (Active military, veteran, and children under 18 free). Available here.

Brian Regan

Brian Regan, a stand-up comedy powerhouse, expertly combines wit, wonder, and keen observation into his routines. He began stand-up comedy after an acting teacher in college recommended he try it. Throughout the 1980s, Regan performed across the United States, culminating in his first TV appearances on late night television and Comedy Central in the 90s. Regan has built a tremendous stand-up career over the years and his genius is lauded by the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, and Jimmy Fallon.

Where: State Theatre of Ithaca, 107 West State St., Ithaca

When: Sunday, May 13 at 8 p.m.

How much: Tickets are $39.50. Available here.

Umphrey's McGee

Hailing from the Midwest, Umphrey's McGee hit the jam band rock scene in the 1990s. Unlike jam bands that try and emulate The Grateful Dead or Dave Matthews Band, Umphrey's McGee has a jam style more relatable to Frank Zappa in style and delivery. The band is also well known for their unique mashups, where they mix original material with songs from genres across the music spectrum. Their latest album, "It's Not Us," was released in January 2018.

Where: Bud Light Amphitheater at Paper Mill Island, 136 Spensieri Ave., Baldwinsville

When: Thursday, May 17 at 7 p.m.

How much: Tickets are $30 to $60. Available here.

Ghost

Ghost is a Grammy award-winning Swedish metal band that blends heavy sounds and pop with the themes of horror and the occult. The band is known for their performance costumes, which feature skull face makeup, cardinal robes, and other church garb. Their ritual-style performances have garnered a large following in the United States - metal fans flocking to their shows to be a part of the experience. The band members were successful at remaining semi-anonymous since the Ghost's formation in 2008, but legal battles over royalties in 2017 lifted the veil of secrecy. Their latest album, "Prequelle," was released in 2018.

Where: Mulroy Civic Center Theaters, 411 Montgomery St, Syracuse

When: Wednesday, May 16 at 9 p.m.

How much: Tickets start at $37. Available here

Aaron Lewis

Aaron Lewis is a unique artist for his ability to balance angst, heavy metal, sensitivity, and rock in his role as frontman for Staind. His approach to music is down to earth and full of emotion, documenting his turmoil through thoughtful and impassioned lyrics. As a solo artist, Lewis focuses on a classic country sound, where his lyrical and vocal abilities have lent themselves to a successful solo career.

Where: Turning Stone Resort Casino, 5218 Patrick Rd., Verona

When: May 18 at 8 p.m. and May 19 at 8 p.m.

How much: Tickets start at $65. Available here

The Oak Ridge Boys

The Oak Ridge Boys, a Grammy, CMA, and ACM awarding winning harmony quintet, began as a gospel group before diving into the world of country and pop. Some of their most famous hits include, "Trying to Love Two Women," "Everyday," and "No Matter How High." In a storied career that began during World War II in Knoxville, Tennessee, The Oak Ridge Boys have continued to perform for adoring audiences throughout the decades. Their latest album, "17th Avenue Revival," was released in March of 2018. Must be 21 or older to attend.

Where: Del Lago Resort and Casino, 1133 State Route 414, Waterloo

When: Friday, May 18 at 8 p.m.

How Much: Tickets start at $25. Available here
President Donald Trump put his "America first" stamp on foreign policy last week.

Trump walked away from the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by President Barack Obama in concert with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China and Russia.

The president welcomed home three Americans that had been held captive in North Korea. Their release was a goodwill gesture ahead of the summit between Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. They will meet June 12 in Singapore, the president announced.

Gina Haspel, Trump's nominee to head the CIA, testified Wednesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Haspel faced tough questioning about her role in the CIA's post-9/11 use of torture against al-Qaida detainees at so-called "black sites" around the world. She pledged the CIA would not use "enhanced interrogation techniques" on her watch. Haspel also was asked about her participation in destruction of the tapes.

Other topics in the cartoons: Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani curbed his media appearances after getting his client into more hot water; a volcano wreaked destruction in Hawaii; First Lady Melania Trump unveiled her campaign against online bullying, called "Be Best"; and former coal company executive Don Blankenship lost the Republican Senate primary in West Virginia after Trump campaigned against him; and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigned after four women accused him of domestic violence.

Cartoons were drawn by Chan Lowe, Dan Wasserman, Dana Summers, Drew Sheneman, Scott Stantis, Walt Handelsman, David Horsey, Phil Hands and Joel Pett of Tribune Content Agency; Mike Lester, Darrin Bell and Jeff Danziger of the Washington Post Writers Group; and Tom Toles of Andrews McMeel Syndication.
Students of Liverpool High School celebrated at their junior prom Saturday, May 12, 2018. The event was held at the Holiday Inn in Liverpool.

Our gallery of photos can be found above.

Want to buy a photo?

As you're browsing the gallery, look for the "BUY IMAGE" link to order high-quality reprints and other products.

More prom photos

See all photo galleries from proms, senior balls, and other formals around Central New York.
Students of Rome Free Academy celebrated at their junior prom Saturday, May 12, 2018. The event was held at Theodore's in Canastota.

Our gallery of photos can be found above.

Want to buy a photo?

As you're browsing the gallery, look for the "BUY IMAGE" link to order high-quality reprints and other products.

More prom photos

See all photo galleries from proms, senior balls, and other formals around Central New York.
LYONS, N.Y. -- A man wanted by police in Moorseville, North Carolina, was arrested in Lyons after he accidentally called 911, Wayne County sheriff's deputies said Saturday morning.

Police made the arrest after deputies went to the address on Franklin Street where the hang-up call originated about 8:30 p.m. Friday, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported.

Jesse Graham, 53, of Franklin Street, was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and being a fugitive of justice, deputies said.

Graham was wanted on several unspecified charges, deputies said.

Graham was arraigned Galen Town Court and taken to Wayne County Jail without bail while awaiting extradition.

-- Daily Messenger, Canandaigua, N.Y.
Hafnia Tankers stays in the black

Hafnia Tankers generated an operating profit for the three months ended 31st March, 2018 of $7.7 mill and a net profit of $0.4 mill.

This compares with $12.1 mill and $6 mill reported for 1Q17, respectively. Revenue was reported as $52. 7 mill in 1Q18, compared to $53.5 mill in 1Q17. The book value of the fleet, as of 31st March, 2018 was $1,018.3 mill. At the same time, the company had $58.6 mill in cash, $556.3 mill of bank and lease debt and $52 mill in working capital. Hafnias share of the remaining capex for Vista Shipping was $72 mill, the undrawn bank financing to fund the newbuildings was $52 mill and including cash, the newbuilding programme was fully financed. In addition, there are no debt maturities before January, 2022. Gross earnings per day during 1Q18 were $13,825 per LR, $15,325 per MR and $13,850 per SR vessel. Overall, the positive trend of increasing demand for refined products and reduced supply of newbuilding tonnage continues, however short-term demand has primarily drawn down inventories instead of increasing seaborne transportation. Commercial management of the product tankers fleet comes under Hafnia Management. The three divisions - LR1, MR, and SR - have 127 ships under management, including future commitments. As at the end of March, 2018, Hafnia Tankers fleet consisted of 42 vessels. Vista Shippings order book consists of four LR1s to be delivered in 2019, with an option for an additional two vessels.




Next: BWMCs fate hangs in the balance
The SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket launched and landed successfully on the afternoon of May 11, opening up many opportunities for the future of space travel.

The first flight of the upgraded Falcon 9 rocket was actually delayed by a day, after an automatic abort was triggered on the planned May 10 launch. SpaceX was able to proceed with the rescheduled launch though, allowing the Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket to deliver its cargo to space and return to Earth.

SpaceX Upgraded Falcon 9 Rocket Nails Launch And Landing

The Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on May 11, at 4:14 p.m. EDT.

The first stage and second stage of the rocket separated after just 2.5 minutes. The second stage propelled its cargo, Bangladesh's Bangabandhu-1 satellite, into orbit 22,000 miles above Earth.

Meanwhile, the first stage returned to Earth, acing the landing on a so-called drone ship that SpaceX situated in the Atlantic Ocean, almost 400 miles away from the Kennedy Space Center.

The liftoff and landing of the Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket took less than 9 minutes. SpaceX made the whole thing look easy, but it took the company 51 flights to engineer the likely final version of the booster.

What The Falcon 9 Block 5 Rocket Means For Space Travel

The landing was the first one for the Block 5 version, but the 25th for a Falcon 9 rocket with an orbital launch. SpaceX has successfully re-flown previously used boosters 11 times.

All of these efforts have the goal of developing reusable rockets and spacecraft, which SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said is a priority in slashing the cost of space travel, to push forward ambitious missions such as the colonization of Mars.

After the successful launch and landing of the upgraded Falcon 9, Musk said that he is convinced that rockets may be launch, landed, and launched again within a span of 24 hours.

SpaceX made several changes for the Block 5 version of the Falcon 9, including an improved heat shield and retractable landing legs. The company is also working with NASA to meet safety requirements for the Falcon 9, as well as its Dragon spacecraft, to qualify them for manned missions.

NASA is requiring SpaceX to launch the Falcon 9 Block rocket at least seven times before allowing people on it. This goal will be reached sometime next year, as Musk said that he expects the rocket to have flown at least 10 times by the end of 2019.

Where space travel goes from there, only time will tell.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
iPhone batteries can be troublesome at times, especially in the case of an iPhone that exploded in a Las Vegas repair store in May.

This iPhone Explosion In Las Vegas

A male employee in a Las Vegas repair store was just a few feet away when an iPhone exploded on his desk. Surveillance footage of the explosion was leaked online on May 11.

The store and the employee are both unidentified.

The device, which was reportedly an iPhone 6 Plus, was brought to the store to get repaired. The phone suffered massive heat damage from being out in the sun, which resulted in the battery expanding and the screen getting cracked.

Based on the surveillance footage, the employee was checking another device on the right side of a desk when the iPhone 6 Plus exploded on the left side. Seconds before the explosion, smoke was visible around the phone.

The employee rushed out of the way after the explosion and began to make an emergency phone call. In less than 20 seconds, the phone burned itself out, and the fire was gone.

No one was injured from the explosion.

As of May 12, Apple did not comment on this incident in Las Vegas.

History Of iPhone Explosions

This is not the first time that an iPhone exploded. In January, an iPhone exploded in an Apple Store, and everyone had to be evacuated.

In 2016, there were reports that eight iPhone 6 devices exploded, which caused Apple to launch a free repair and replacement program for these phones. In recent years, newer models of the iPhone have also caught on fire or exploded.

There are many reasons why an iPhone would explode, including hardware failure, accessories with poor quality, or overheated batteries. In fact, this is very common during the summer months, when the temperature is hot.

"Over time, the batteries heat up and bloat," Paul Tartaglio of Gadget Repair told KTNV. "The problem is when it bloats up just a little bit, it can cause your screen to crack a lot easier."

Ways You Can Prevent Your iPhone From Exploding

The biggest thing that a user can do to prevent their iPhone from exploding is to keep it cool at all times, especially in the summer months. To cool down an iPhone, users should avoid direct sunlight, limit playing games on it, don't keep it stored in a car, and remove the case from time to time.

If the phone is overheating, then users can turn it off and recharge when they are in a cool location. Users should also speak to a repair professional.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
1. Yes. There should be absolute certainty that the election was free and fair.

2. Yes. The audit could and should lead to stronger laws governing elections in the state.

3. No. Former President Trump wants the audit to further cast doubt on the 2020 vote.

4. No. Its a waste of money, an attempt by Abbott to gain favor among Trump backers.

5. Unsure. It seems unnecessary but it may provide some worthwhile findings.

Vote

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Governor John Bel Edwards greets former Mayor Mitch Landrieu before the mayoral inauguration of LaToya Cantrell at the Mahalia Jackson Theater in New Orleans, La. Monday, May 7, 2018.
An LSU banner hangs among the flags in the State Capitol on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, during the annual LSU Day at the Capitol.
State Rep. Gary Carter Jr., announces gun-control legislation he plans to introduce while speaking at Duncan Plaza during a March for Our Lives rally Saturday, March 24, 2018 in New Orleans. More than 6,000 people marched from Washington Square Park to Duncan Plaza for a rally in support of gun control legislation.
In a move with more symbolic than practical importance, the offshore service vessel company Tidewater is winding down its local operations in favor of Houston after more than six decades of being headquartered in New Orleans.

The move in some ways is a formality, as many of the companys executives already have migrated to the Texas city, the capital of the U.S. energy industry, in recent years.

The company will likely close its office in the Pan American Life Center on Poydras Street within the next few months, costing New Orleans about 30 jobs.

Tidewater CEO Jeffrey M. Platt steps down; Larry T. Rigdon steps in Jeffrey M. Platt has retired as chief executive officer, president and board member of Tidewater Inc., a New Orleans-based offshore service ve

Like many others in the hard-hit energy industry, Tidewater and other energy service companies have suffered during oils latest boom-or-bust cycle.

Still, losing a headquarters  especially to a neighboring state  is always a blow to the region, which experienced a similar setback last month when Smoothie King announced plans to move to Dallas.

+2 Smoothie King HQ moving to Dallas: How it affects N.O., downtown arena, overall perception Five years after flirting with a move from Louisiana to Texas, Smoothie King is going ahead with it, a step that will cost the New Orleans are

And Tidewater, which supplies marine support vessels to the petroleum industry, was one of the last major, publicly traded energy companies to remain based in New Orleans since a migration to Houston began after the oil bust of the mid-1980s.

In February, Tidewater named John Rynd as the companys new president and CEO. Executives then signaled their plans in March, when they listed Houston as the dateline for a news release about an upcoming earnings announcement.

During a call with analysts on March 15, Tidewaters executive vice president and chief financial officer, Quinn Fanning, was asked about the change.

The migration, at least of the headquarters staff, is toward rather than away from Houston, he said. So we would expect to be downsizing, if not ultimately closing, the New Orleans office.

The move comes a year after Tidewater, hampered by a global slowdown in oil-drilling activity and a prolonged slump in oil prices, emerged from a prepackaged bankruptcy proceeding that wiped out $1.6 billion in debt.

New Orleans-based Tidewater Inc. emerges from bankruptcy protection Tidewater Inc., a New Orleans-based offshore service vessel company, has emerged from bankruptcy protection under a prepackaged plan that wipe

Oil prices plunged after hitting $115 per barrel in mid-2014. Although prices have recovered some of those losses, rising above $70 a barrel last week for the first time since 2014, Tidewater and other energy service companies have suffered.

+3 Even at $65 a barrel, rising oil prices not yet jump-starting hard-hit Louisiana industry GULF OF MEXICO  Dressed in work boots, blue overalls and a hard hat, Rep. Steve Scalise, the U.S. House majority whip, took in the view from 

Now, Tidewater plans to close its New Orleans office within a few months, according to Jason Stanley, the companys director of investor relations. He described the move as "a cost reduction" and added: "To be honest, this has been a transition thats taken place over quite a number of years."

In mid-2014, the New Orleans office had about 100 employees.

Many of the remaining local employees were offered positions in Houston, an offer that some have taken.

ExxonMobil relocated its offshore production operations from New Orleans to Houston in 2003. Hurricane Katrinas upheaval in 2005 only hastened the move for many companies, including Tidewater, which moved a handful of high-level executives after the storm and flirted with relocating its corporate headquarters in 2007.

In the end, Tidewaters headquarters remained in New Orleans, as did about 85 of its employees. John Laborde, a founder and former president, chairman and CEO of Tidewater, advocated keeping the company in New Orleans, but some executives who had moved to Houston after the storm pressed for the change.

"There's vibrancy and intellectual activity" in the Texas city, Dean Taylor, then chairman, president and CEO of Tidewater, told The Times-Picayune in 2007. "It's where ideas are being germinated and seminated. It's business-friendly. It's a city that works in every facet."

A decade later, however, Labordes view hasnt changed.

It has always been considered a Louisiana and a New Orleans corporation, and it breaks my heart that those who are in power now are deciding to move it, Laborde, 94, said by phone Friday from his office in the same Poydras Street high-rise that Tidewater shares.

Laborde, who retired from Tidewater in 1994, knows that Houston offers some advantages, including close proximity to much of the companys customer base and others who are hiring offshore vessels. But advances in technology have made it possible to handle more business remotely, and company executives could easily travel between the two cities for in-person meetings when necessary.

Tidewater's history in New Orleans goes back more than six decades. Tidewater Marine Service was formed in the 1950s by a group of investors led by the Laborde family, who developed the first service vessel that was designed to support the nascent offshore drilling industry.

With One Shell Square  the Poydras Street high-rise and key symbol of a time when Louisiana's fortunes soared on oil and gas  no longer bearing the oil giants name, some longtime industry observers say having Tidewater move to Houston closes a chapter in New Orleans history, decades after Houston eclipsed it as an energy hub.

Initially, New Orleans gained prominence as the closest point on dry land to where the oil and gas was being developed offshore, said Eric Smith, executive director of the Tulane Energy Institute. But such considerations are less important these days, and Houston  boasting a much larger population and a stronger economy  long ago distinguished itself as a leading city for corporate investment.

There are examples of people who have stayed, or companies that have left behind a division in New Orleans, that sort of thing, Smith added, but we have relatively few oil and gas companies headquartered in New Orleans anymore.

Tidewater Marine Services survived the oil bust of the mid-1980s and emerged from the downturn by following a path of growth through mergers and acquisitions. By 2000, the company began an aggressive new building program that allowed it to upgrade its fleet as customers pushed exploration and drilling farther into the Gulf.

Tidewater's fleet is the largest in the industry, deployed in dozens of countries, as the push to explore for and produce oil and gas offshore has ventured into deeper waters. The bulk of the fleet  more than 90 percent  works outside the U.S.

Going forward, Tidewater plans to maintain an operational base in Amelia, near Morgan City, with roughly two dozen employees. Across the globe, the company has about 4,600 workers.

At this point, the company's move to Houston is hardly a surprise, according to an industry analyst who has followed Tidewater for a decade.

It reflects, in my opinion, an evolution of the offshore market, whereby the Gulf of Mexico is becoming less important than other major offshore fields, for example, South America, the North Sea, West Africa, places like that, said John Deysher, president of Bertolet Capital LLC, an investment adviser to the Ohio-based Pinnacle Value Fund.

I think its just inevitable that the resources are going to be shifted to Houston, since its a much more accessible gateway than New Orleans, he said.

What's more, with Tidewater having only recently emerged from bankruptcy, and general uncertainty looming over the offshore industry, he said, it makes sense for the company to cut costs by consolidating its offices in Houston.

Its probably hit the bottom, and it has rebounded slowly," he added, "but I just dont think they want to be burdened with two corporate headquarters.

Laborde, however, wishes theyd reconsider.

I and some of the other old-timers  if there are any  would be very pleased if it were retained here and was not officially moved to Houston, but that may be beyond my control, he said.
if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi...
A megatrend is a global, sustained development that impacts business, the economy, and society, redefining the future . One such megatrend is the worlds ageing population.

In 2014, three companies leveraged to this megatrend listed on the ASX  aged care operators Regis Healthcare (REG), Estia Health (EHE), and Japara Healthcare. All three stocks are currently trading below their recent highs.



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Launching a startup company begins with a drive to solve an existing problem, a group of experts said.

During a recent discussion at the launch of the Management Master program in New Ventures Innovation (NVI) at Prasetiya Mulia University in Cilandak, South Jakarta, experts discussed what it took to build a startup.

Andy Zain, the managing director of venture capitalist Kejora Ventures, said aspiring entrepreneurs should first gain experience in the field. This, he explained, would build knowledge and expertise in a respective field, which would create solutions to problems in a more comprehensive way

"Someone with five or 10 years experience in a bank, for example, could discover the gaps in the process of loan obtainment for farmers in regional areas," Zain said, adding that the knowledge would better inform innovative solutions.

He further warned aspiring entrepreneurs not to get stuck in romanticizing a passion in pursuing business. The most important thing was to understand the core issue of a problem, Zain added.

"Indonesia is a huge country. Don't just solve little problems."

Read also: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/02/10/jakarta-conducive-to-startups.html

Thinking too small can also undermine the quality of the resulting product, which in turn will prevent investors from providing funds, because startups often need external financial support to grow.

"You have to see what the market is," Zain said.

Meanwhile, Elga Yulwardian, the co-founder of platform customer engagement provider Ivosights, emphasized the need for building the right team, where the skill set of every member complimented to each other.

"Perhaps it's also important to search for a co-founder that can complete the company," Elga said.

Lisa Ayu, the co-founder of agricultural startup Lima Kilo, concluded the discussion by stressing the importance of maintaining a certain level of curiosity in solving problems.

"Once we have no more curiosity to solve something, then we're stuck. So it's important to always stay curious," Lisa said. (wng)
The public ballot for tickets to Professor Stephen Hawking's thanksgiving service opened Saturday -- with visitors from the future welcome to apply.

The theoretical physicist who captured the imagination of millions around the world died on March 14 at the age of 76.

His ashes are being interred on June 15 at London's Westminster Abbey, by the graves of fellow scientific giants Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.

The world-renowned cosmologist's three children Robert, Lucy and Tim are offering up to 1,000 free tickets to the public through a ballot system, run by the Stephen Hawking Foundation.

Applicants need to give their birth date -- but eagle-eyed fans of the man who dedicated his life's work to unraveling the mysteries of the universe spotted that it can be any day up to December 31, 2038.

London travel blogger IanVisits was among those who noticed the quirk that allows people born more than 20 years into the future to apply.

"Professor Hawking once threw a party for time travelers, to see if any would turn up if he posted the invite after the party," he wrote.

"None did, but it seems perfect that the memorial website allows people born in the future to attend the service."

Read also: Stephen Hawking: a brief history of genius

"Look out for time travelers at the abbey."

Potential applicants -- from the future or otherwise -- are forewarned not to apply if they cannot arrange their own transport and any necessary visas.

The service is set to be attended by Hawking's family, friends and colleagues.

"We are so grateful to Westminster Abbey for offering us the privilege of a service of thanksgiving for the extraordinary life of our father and for giving him such a distinguished final resting place," said Lucy Hawking.

Propelled to stardom by his 1988 book A Brief History of Time, an unlikely worldwide bestseller, Hawking's genius and wit won over fans from far beyond the rarefied world of astrophysics.

Westminster Abbey will also be open to the public free of charge after the service so people can pay their respects at his grave.

John Hall, the Dean of Westminster, said: "The service of thanksgiving for the life and work of Stephen Hawking will celebrate not only his remarkable achievements as a scientist, but also his character and endurance through his years living with a devastating illness."

Hawking's death triggered a flood of tributes from Queen Elizabeth II to NASA, reflecting his impact both as a scientist and for his refusal to give up in the face of crippling motor neuron disease.
Picasso's "Young Girl With Basket of Flowers", recently sold at a New York auction for $115 million, will be loaned to Paris's Musee d'Orsay for a Picasso exhibit opening in September.

"We're very happy," a museum spokesperson said Saturday in confirming the loan, first reported in The New York Times.

The painting was purchased at auction Tuesday by the Nahmads, a family of art dealers and collectors that includes Helly Nahmad, owner of a New York gallery, according to two sources quoted by the Times. Nahmad did not respond to an AFP request, through his gallery, for comment.

The Musee d'Orsay's "Picasso: Blue and Rose" exhibit is being organized in collaboration with the Picasso Museum-Paris and will focus on the artist's work from 1900-1906, encompassing his critically important Blue Period and Rose Period. It will run from September 18 to January 6, 2019.

The exhibit will then move to the Beyeler Foundation near Basel, Switzerland, from February 3 to May 26, with a modified set of paintings. It is not clear whether the "Young Girl" will be part of that show.

Read also: Picasso painting with 25,000 owners on show in Geneva

- Record-breaking sale -

The painting, from 1905, was part of a major auction by Christie's of the extensive collection of the late US banker David Rockefeller and his wife Peggy.

"Young Girl", which the American collector Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo had purchased directly from the artist, was sold for the sixth-highest sum ever attained by a painting at auction, expenses and commissions included.

Four paintings by Picasso (1881-1973) have now been sold for more than $100 million each. No other painter has seen more than one piece of art reach that rarefied level.

Rockefeller, who died last year aged 101, was a grandson of oil magnate John D. Rockefeller. "Young Girl" was a centerpiece of his vast trove of artworks.

The Christie's sale brought in a total of $832 million, pulverizing the record for a single collection sale set in 2009, when the works of designer Yves Saint Laurent and his longtime partner Pierre Berge netted $484 million.
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Linkedin (Reuters) Dubai  Sun, May 13, 2018 06:23 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e38712e 2 World Iran,US,USA,Muslims,Science,Islam-science,khamenei,Shiites,sunni Free

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday called for unity among Muslims and efforts towards scientific advancement, saying this would make it impossible for "enemies" such as the United States to dominate Islamic countries.

Shiite Iran faces off with Western-allied Sunni Saudi Arabia for influence in the Middle East. The two regional powers back opposing sides in the conflicts in Yemen and Syria as well as rival political groups in Iraq and Lebanon.

"Today, every movement that leads to mutual understanding of Islamic groups and sects is a good thing, and this gathering is an example of the movement for the unification of the Islamic nation," said Khamenei in remarks carried by his official website.

"The scientific movement must accelerate and the Islamic nation must once again reach heights of science and civilization so that the enemies of Islam and the Americans cannot order around the heads of Islamic countries," Khamenei told a meeting about Shi'ite contributions to sciences.

Iran frequently calls for Islamic unity to help Tehran in its confrontation with its arch-foe, the United States.

Washington on Tuesday pulled out of a nuclear deal with Iran, a move accompanied by the threat of penalties against any foreign firms doing business in Iran.

Tehran denies seeking atomic weapons and says its nuclear program is for peaceful uses in areas including electricity, agriculture and medicine.
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Linkedin Wahyoe Boediwardhana (The Jakarta Post) Surabaya, East Java  Sun, May 13, 2018 22:24 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3b1685 1 National #SurabayaBombings,#Surabaya,surabaya-church-bombings,Sidoarjo,Islamic-State,Densus-88 Free

Only hours after the deadly suicide bombings at three churches in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday morning, which killed at least 13 people and wounded over 40 others, city residents were shocked by another bomb blast later in the day.

The bomb allegedly went off prematurely at 9 p.m., killing at least one of the tenants of the Wonocolo low-cost apartments behind the Taman Police station in Sidoarjo.

East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Frans Barung confirmed the incident, saying the bomb squad had been sent to the location to retrieve any remaining explosives.

No report was immediately available on other casualties, injuries or damages. (dmr)
Four suspected terrorists shot dead by members of the nation's elite Densus 88 counterterrorism squad in Cianjur, West Java had reportedly been training to launch more attacks during Ramadhan, police say.

"They were reportedly involved in paramilitary training to prepare for other operations during Ramadhan and Idul Fitri in multiple cities, including Jakarta, West Java's Bandung, as well as at Mako Brimob," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Setyo Wasisto said on Sunday, referring to the National Police's Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Kelapa Dua, Depok, West Java.

"As far as we know, the suspects were heading to Mako Brimob [to launch another attack] when the attempted arrests took place," Setyo went on to say.

He added that the suspects were members of the Jamaah Anshar Daulah (JAD) terrorist group and planned to target police stations and posts in those cities in hit-and-run operations.

The suspects have been identified as BBN, 21, DCN, 23, AR, 33, and HS, 23.

Police seized several pieces of evidence, including revolver handguns and explosive-tipped arrows.

Separately, police personnel also arrested two others in Sukabumi and Cikarang, West Java on suspicion of having a connection to the dead suspect through a sleeper cell that had become active recently, Setyo said.

The incident in Cianjur took place days after a riot broke out at Mako Brimob, which was followed by a 36-hour standoff between detainees and police, resulting in the death of five police personnel and a detainee.

The attempted arrests in Cianjur also occurred hours before three suicide bombers attacked three churches in Surabaya, East Java, killing at least 10 people and injuring at least 38 others. (ahw)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, May 13, 2018 14:27 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e39f44d 1 National SurabayaBombings,Foreign-Minister-Retno-Marsudi,foreign-embassies,Moazzam-Malik,#wearenotaffraid,#unitedagainstterrorism,#SurabayaBombings,surabaya-church-bombings,bomb-blast,terror-attack Free

An outpouring of grief and concern from the diplomatic community in Indonesia has swelled online following a string of alleged suicide bombing attacks at three separate churches in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday.

The East Java Police revealed that separate explosions had taken place at Santa Maria Tak Bercela Catholic Church (STMB), Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) and Surabaya Pentecostal Church (GPPS) in and around Surabaya. The death toll from the attacks has reportedly risen to 10 people, while at least 40 others have been injured.

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi revived on Sunday the WeAreNotAfraid hashtag on Twitter as she condemned the terrorist attack in Surabaya, saying We will not back down in the fight against terrorism while calling for unity and paying respects to the fallen victims and their families.

Deepest condolences to the victims and families of the bombing victims in Surabaya. #UnitedAgainstTerrorism #WeAreNotAfraid, Retno tweeted using her handle @Menlu_RI.

British Ambassador to Indonesia Moazzam Malik contributed a tweet of his own, condemning terrorism wherever it arises.

Condolences to the Christian victims of terrorism in #Surabaya. We condemn terrorism everywhere. This attack is unjustified & all faiths condemn it. Our prayers are with the families of the victims. May they be granted perseverance. #UnitedAgainstTerrorism #WeAreNotAfraid, he tweeted.

Other foreign embassies have also begun to issue statements in response to the attacks.

The United States Embassy in Jakarta issued a security alert to US citizens residing in Indonesia on Sunday morning, informing them to seek secure shelter, review personal security plans [] and be aware of [their] surroundings.

Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, has seen a recent resurgence in homegrown militancy inspired in part by the Islamic State (IS) movement. (tjs)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, May 13, 2018 16:19 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3a4eca 1 National terrorism,SurabayaBombings,church-attack,church,surabaya,#SurabayaBombings,suicide-bombings,surabaya-church-bombings Free

An 11-year-old boy, identified as Vincencius Evan, has died after being severely injured in a reported suicide bombing at Saint Mary Immaculate (STMB) Catholic Church in Ngagel, Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday morning.

He suffered from severe burns and broken bones all over his body, said Surabaya Bedah Hospital director Dr. Priyanto Swasono as quoted by kompas.com, adding that Evans body had been taken to Bhayangkara Hospital for autopsy.

Evans little brother, Nathanael, 8, who was also injured in the explosion, is currently still in a critical condition and receiving medical treatment at Surabaya Bedah Hospital.

At least 16 victims from three church bombings were admitted to Surabaya Bedah Hospital, seven of whom have since been transferred to Dr. Soetomo Hospital, Siloam Hospital and Ramses Hospital.

Four victims [at Surabaya Bedah Hospital] are in a stable condition, while four others are currently undergoing surgery for various injuries  such as broken bones, burns and lacerations, Priyanto explained.

Lets pray for all the victims, he added. (vla/ahw)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, May 13, 2018 13:57 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e39ad02 1 National terrorism,SurabayaBombings,Muhammadiyah,Nahdlatul-ulama,Islam,Indonesia,violence,#SurabayaBombings,surabaya-church-bombings,church,church-attack Free

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, the nations largest Islamic organizations, have condemned a series of alleged suicide bombing attacks at three churches in Surabaya, East Java, that killed at least nine people and injured dozens of others.

"NU condemns all acts of terrorism, whatever the motive and background. Islam condemns any form of violence. There is not a single religion in the world that justifies violence as a way of life," NU chairman Said Aqil Siradj said in a statement on Sunday.

NU called on the public not to be easily provoked by the terror attacks and invited all Indonesians to unite in the name of humanity.

"If you see even the smallest action that could lead to radicalism and terrorism, please report it immediately. All violent acts are contrary to Islamic values and contrary to all religious values," the group said.

Muhammadiyah also strongly condemned the bombings.

Muhammadiyah, which fights for the good of Muslim society, the nation and humanity, is strongly opposed to the suicide bombings that took place in Surabaya this morning, the head of the organizations East Java chapter, M. Saad Ibrahim, said as quoted by pwmu.co on Sunday.

East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Frans Barung Mangera told The Jakarta Post the explosions took place at Santa Maria Tak Bercela Catholic Church (STMB) on Jl. Ngagel Madya in Gubeng, Surabaya Pentecostal Church (GPPS) on Jl. Raya Arjuna and Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) on Jl. Diponegoro.

The terror attacks in Surabaya took place only days after the deadly riot at a detention center located at the National Polices Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Depok, West Java, last week.

The riot led to the deaths of five police officers and a 36-hour standoff between terrorist detainees, who seized weapons from the police, and security forces.

The attacks also come as the country gears up for major events this year, including the Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra, in August and September and the IMF-World Bank meeting in October in Bali. (ahw)
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Linkedin Gemma Holliani Cahya, Ni Komang Erviani and Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Denpasar, Batam  Sun, May 13, 2018 15:59 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3a3d32 1 National terrorism,bali,jakarta,Malang,surabaya,SurabayaBombings,security,alert-status,#SurabayaBombings,#MakoBrimobRiot Free

Jakarta has raised its alert status to siaga 1, the highest level, in the wake of suicide bombings that hit three churches and killed at least 10 people in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday morning.

Following the bomb attacks in three churches in Surabaya, all areas in the Jakarta Police's jurisdiction have been placed under the highest alert status until further notice, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Idham Azis said in a circular distributed to police stations in the capital.

East Java Police have confirmed that at least 10 people have died, while 41 others injured in a string of bomb attacks on three churches in the province's capital.

East Java Police, who have also declared siaga 1 status in their jurisdiction, have called on all churches to cancel services in Surabaya until the situation has been declared safe.

Riau Islands also raised its security alert status on Sunday morning.

Security has been tightened in areas where people are known to gather, especially in churches, Riau Islands Police chief Insp. Gen. Didid Widjanardi

Riau islands has been placed under the highest alert level.

Bali, meanwhile, has been under siaga 1 status since Tuesday evening, following a deadly riot involving terrorist inmates at a detention center located at the polices Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Depok, West Java.

"We have intensified patrols and tightened security at the Bali Police headquarters and all police stations," he said.

Bali Police have urged people across the island to stay calm and vigilant following the terror attack in Surabaya on Sunday.

"Please reduce your activities in public areas for a while and always inform the nearest police if you see suspicious activity," Bali Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Hengky Widjaja said.

He added that security at Bali's main entrances had also been tightened, including at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Gilimanuk Port connecting Bali to Java island, Padangbai Port connecting Bali to Lombok island and other major and traditional seaports across Bali.

"We also tightened security in tourist areas, places of worship and other vital objects, including consulates in Bali," Hengky added. (ahw)
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, May 13, 2018 16:40 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3a7a1e 1 City jakarta,Asian-Games,#SurabayaBombings,mako-brimob,#Jakarta,#Indonesia,church-attack,#MakoBrimobRiot,#2018AsianGames,2018-Asian-Games Free

Following a series of terrorist attacks over the past week, the Indonesian Asian Games Organizing Committee (INASGOC) and the Jakarta administration pledged on Sunday to beef up security for the upcoming Asian Games, the regions largest sporting event.

INASGOC chief Erick Thohir said the committee had coordinated with the police, the Indonesian military (TNI) and the National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN) to ensure the safety of the event that will see more than 15,000 athletes arriving from 45 countries.

[A deputy] in the committee is the operational assistant to the National Police chief, who is backed up by the military, Erick said on Sunday.

He added that the committee had coordinated with the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) and it would create an intelligence desk to prevent terror attacks during the event.

He went on to say that the committee would tighten security for journalists and spectators.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno said the city administration would prepare 6,000 CCTV equipped with facial recognition to improve security. We will conduct routine briefings with INASGOC, Sandiaga added.

On Sunday, the country was rocked by suicide bombings at three churches in Surabaya, East Java, that left at least 13 dead and dozens injured.

The incident happened just four days after a riot broke out at the National Polices Mobile Brigade (Mako Brimob) detention center in Depok. Five police officers and a detainee were killed during that incident. (wit)
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Linkedin Rizal Harahap (The Jakarta Post) Pekanbaru  Sun, May 13, 2018 22:58 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3b4236 1 National mako-brimob Free

Beni Syamsu Trisno, alias Abu Ibrahim, the terrorist inmate who died during the prison riot at the Police Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) detention center last week, has been buried in a public cemetery in Pandau Jaya village, Kampar regency, 15 kilometers from Pekanbaru, Riau.

Beni once lived in the village and his parents, wife and children still do so. The village became a second option for his grave after local residents in his hometown of Padang, West Sumatra, refused to accept his body for burial.

Pandau Jaya village head Firdaus Roza said that the villagers had initially rejected the burial plan.

Local authorities and religious leaders managed to calm the tension through a public meeting. But I told them, if not here, where?  he said, adding that the burial was attended by local residents and Benis family members.

In the village Beni was remembered as an electrician who lived with his wife and two children.

What the late Beni did was his own responsibility. Now what we can do is to assist his family members so they can live a better life, Firdaus said.

On Tuesday last week, a prison riot broke at the Mako Brimob compound, followed by a standoff between inmates and police officers. Five police officers and Beni died during the riot. (swd)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, May 13, 2018 21:00 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3aeebb 1 Business mayapada,Bank-Mayapada,rating-agency,Pefindo Free

Credit-rating agency Pemeringkat Efek Indonesia (Pefindo) has reduced its rating for publicly listed lender Bank Mayapada Internasional from idA to idA- (single A minus).

Pefindo director Vonny Widjaja said that an obligor with an idA rating had a strong capability to fulfill long-term financial commitments.

Meanwhile an idA- is a lower rating that is given [to a lender that is] relatively weaker and below average within the category, Vonny said as reported by kontan.co.id.

As a result of the rating change, Bank Mayapada is more prone to being affected by changes and economic situations than firms with a higher rating. Additionally, Pefindo also gave the lender a lower bond rating.

There are three bonds with ratings that have been reduced, namely Bank Mayadas Rp 1 trillion (US$71.8 million) sustainable subordination bond I, which was reduced from idBBB+ to idBBB, Bank Mayapada's Rp 700 billion subordination bond III 2013 (idA- to idBBB-), and its Rp 255.8 billion subordination IV bond 2014 (idBBB+ to idBBB).

The ratings for Bank Mayapada and its three bonds will be in effect from May 4 to June 1. (dwa)
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Linkedin Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, May 13, 2018 16:27 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3a759f 1 National #Surabaya,#SurabayaBombings,#IslamicState,terror-attack,surabaya-church-bombings,bomb-blast,East-Java Free

No group has claimed responsibility so far for suicide bombings at three churches in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday morning. However, some experts have linked the attacks to local cells affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) network.

This attack may be ISIS-inspired, but that doesnt mean it is ISIS-directed, Sidney Jones, a terrorism expert with the Institute for Policy and Analysis of Conflict, told The Jakarta Post, referring to the IS by another acronym.

At least 11 people were reportedly killed while dozens of others were wounded when bombs went off at around 7 a.m. at Saint Mary Immaculate (STMB) Catholic Church of Surabaya on Jl. Ngegel Madya in Gubeng, Surabaya Pentecostal Church (GPPS) on Jl. Raya Arjuna and Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) on Jl. Diponegoro.

"This is likely to be the work of ISIS supporters, Jones said.

Jones argued that unlike what happened in the past bombings in Indonesia, the Surabaya bombings were not linked to Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), the regional network associated with the global terrorist network of Al Qaeda.

Many ISIS groups have discussed bomb attacks on churches, but most have failed, she added.

Several terrorist attacks on churches in the past were carried out by JI members, who are known for their high capability in making bombs. JI has been connected to a string of bomb attacks in Indonesia since 2000, including the Christmas Eve bombings in Jakarta in 2000, the Bali bombings of 2002, the JW Marriott hotel bombing of 2003 and the Australian Embassy bombing of 2004.

Meanwhile, University of Indonesia terrorism expert Ridwan Habib shared Jones's view, saying the attacks may have been launched by the wives of terrorists currently in police detention.

A group of terrorist inmates was behind the recent deadly riot at the detention center of the National Polices Mobile Brigade headquarters in Depok, West Java. They executed five police officers after seizing police guns. Reports said they were affiliated with the IS, since IS news outlet Amaq News Agency broadcasted the incident soon after the riot broke out. The IS also claimed responsibility for the riot.

The IS group in Indonesia also has the capability to make bombs, Ridwan said.

According to Ridwan, the IS has some affiliate groups in Indonesia. The most prominent group is Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), whose former leader, Bahrun Naim, is reportedly an IT expert and has the capability to rig bombs. Bahrun was monitored by terrorism experts giving lectures to his followers on how to build bombs. Bahrun reportedly flew to Syria to fight with the IS. Unconfirmed reports suggested he was killed in Syria.

Ridwan said that, even though the IS and JI shared many views, they disagreed over who should become the target of their attacks. JI would only launch attacks against non-Muslims and foreign officials, since assaults on fellow Muslims are strictly forbidden or haram. Meanwhile, the IS has included government officials, particularly police officers, as legitimate targets, since they consider as enemies Muslims that do not adhere to their beliefs. (dmr)
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Linkedin Kharishar Kahfi, Vela Andapita and Wahyoe Boediwardhana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, May 13, 2018 12:22 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e392910 1 National terrorism,SurabayaBombings,church-attack,surabaya,East-Java,bnpt,#SurabayaBombings,Indonesia,#Asia,church,surabaya-church-bombings,#PostScript Free

Indonesians woke up on Sunday morning to reports about bombing attacks at three churches in Surabaya, East Java, flooding their social media timelines.

Photos and videos of the aftermath of the bombings, some of them graphic, spread quickly online, while the East Java Police were still gathering information of what had just transpired in the provinces capital, Surabaya, the nations largest city after Jakarta.

Below is what we know so far about the bombings.

The number of explosions

Three bombs exploded in at least three churches in Surabaya shortly before Sunday services began.

East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Frans Barung Mangera told The Jakarta Post the explosions took place at Saint Mary Immaculate Catholic Church (STMB) on Jl. Ngagel Madya in Gubeng, Surabaya Pantecostal Church (GPPS) on Jl. Raya Arjuna and the Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) on Jl. Diponegoro.

The first explosion took place at Saint Mary Immaculate Catholic Church. The second and third explosions followed five minutes apart, the police said.

Two other attempted attacks were also reported at two other churches. They are Saint Jacob's Church at Citraland housing complex in West Surabaya and Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral on Jl. Polisi Istimewa.

The bombs failed to explode.

(JP/Swi)

At 9 p.m., another bomb went off prematurely, killing at least one of the tenants of the Wonocolo low-cost apartments behind the Taman Police station in Sidoarjo. East Java Police have found a connection between the church bombings and Sidoarjo bombing, which used the same type of explosives.

On Monday morning, another bomb attack has been reported at Surabaya Police headquarters on Jl. Sikatan.

Latest death toll

As of Monday afternoon, the number of fatalities had risen to 25 people, 13 of whom were the suicide bombers, while dozens suffered from injuries, the police confirmed. The church attacks on Sunday morning killed 12 people.

Three people were killed in the Sidoarjo explosion, the father, the mother and the eldest son. The attack on Surabaya Police headquarters was carried out by a family of five, only the little girl survived.

Who is responsible for the bombings?

The Islamic State group was responsible for suicide attacks against three churches in Indonesia that killed at least 11 people on Sunday, it said via its propaganda agency Amaq.

"Three martyrdom attacks killed 11 and wounded at least 41 among church guards and Christians," it said via the Telegram messaging app as quoted by AFP.

The group has also claimed responsibility for the riot incident at the National Police's Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Depok, West Java, which led to the deaths of five members of the polices elite counterterrorism squad, Densus 88, and a 36-hour standoff between terror inmates and security forces.

A policeman stands guard outside the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church (Surabaya Gereja Pantekosta Pusat) in Surabaya, East Java on May 13, 2018. A series of blasts, including a suicide bombing, struck churches in Indonesia on Sunday, killing at least nine people and wounding dozens in the deadliest attack for years in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)

Family of suicide bombers

Suicide bombers in the church attacks are believed to be a family affiliated with Jamaah Anshar Daulah (JAD), an extremist group affiliated with the IS network, the National Police chief said.

We have identified the bombers. It is highly likely that they shared a familial background, National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said at a press conference broadcast live from Surabaya.

According to Tito, the father in the family was the bomber at the Surabaya Pentecostal Church (GPPS) on Jl. Raya Arjuna, while two male teenagers of the family carried out another suicide bombing on a motorcycle at Saint Mary Immaculate (SMTB) Catholic Church of Surabaya located on Jl. Ngagel Madya in Gubeng. The mother of the family and her two young girls allegedly carried out the mission at the Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church (GKI). Tito said the family was among IS-affiliated Indonesians deported by the Turkish government last year.

Before proceeding to the GPPS, the father allegedly dropped off his wife and two daughters, aged 9 and 12, Tito said.

One victim was identified as a member of congregation of the Santa Maria Tak Bercela church on Jl. Ngagel Madya, while the other had yet to be identified. (JP/Wahyoe Boediwardhana)

The bomb in Sidoarjo also involved a family of six.

What happened after the explosion?

Police officers have been deployed to the crime scenes to investigate and safeguard the areas, including members of Brimob and the bomb squad. The police earlier said they would focus first on the evacuation of victims.

National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian departed for Surabaya to oversee the investigation on the attack, as reported by kompas.com. The police general arrived at noon and went to the crime scenes as well as the East Java Police headquarters.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo had also flown to the city to assess the latest conditions of the ground zero, as well as visit the bomb attack victims in hospitals.

The bombings also prompted the Surabaya administration to cancel the Rujak Uleg Festival on Jl. Kembang Jepun, slated to be opened by Mayor Tri Rismaharini at noon, to commemorate the citys anniversary. A committee member for the festival, Lainin, said the cancellation was necessary as the situation was considered unsafe, as quoted by tempo.co.

The attack prompted other regions to raise its alert status to siaga 1, the highest level. The regions included were Jakarta, Riau Islands and Bali. (ahw)

Editor's note: This story was updated on Sunday at 9: 25 p.m. to include an official claim of responsibility from the Islamic State.

This story was updated on Monday at 11:15 a.m. to include the information on Sidoarjo explosion, Surabaya police HQ explosion and to update the number of casualties.

This story was updated on Monday at 2:45 p.m. to update the latest death toll.
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Linkedin Gemma Holliani Cahya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, May 13, 2018 17:56 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3a9028 1 National #Surabaya,#SurabayaBombings,bomb-blast,terror-attack,West-Java,surabaya-church-bombings Free

Three alleged suicide bombers, a woman and two children who reportedly detonated bombs at Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) on Jl. Diponegoro in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday morning, were deliberately selected to carry out the attacks to draw less attention, an expert has said.

Solahudin of the University of Indonesia's Center for Terrorism Studies and Social Conflict said terrorist groups used women and children in suicide missions because they drew less suspicion from security officers.

Women and children bombers also attract more media attention, Solahudin added.

Terror without media will not successfully spread the fear. The news value of [using] women and children as bombers is higher than using male bombers, he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Mulyanto, 55, a parking attendant at the GKI church, was quoted by kompas.com as describing the suicide bombers as a woman along with two children in black veils and vests who entered the church's front yard before the bomb went off.

Solahudin said he believed the attack was also meant to encourage others to be braver in launching other terror attacks given the fact that the alleged bombers were women and children.

This attack is also a message to provoke the group [of the alleged attackers], he said.

Bomb attacks also struck two other churches, Santa Maria Tak Bercela Catholic Church on Jl. Ngagel Madya in Gubeng and Surabaya Pentecostal Church on Jl. Raya Arjuna, on Sunday morning. At least 13 people were killed and dozens others wounded in the attacks. (dmr)
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Linkedin Vela Andapita and Wahyoe Boedhiwardana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Surabaya  Sun, May 13, 2018 15:42 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3a39f6 1 National SurabayaBombings,#SurabayaBombings,surabaya-church-bombings,terror-attack,terrorism,suicide-bombings,suicide-attack,Indonesia,#Asia,Asia Free

Witnesses have identified the alleged suicide bombers in one of the Surabaya church attacks on Sunday as women who were accompanied by a young girl.

A witness, Tardianto, who was watching as the attack unfolded from a street vendor near Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) on Jl. Diponegoro, Surabaya, East Java, said the two women and a young girl wearing niqabs hurriedly entered the area surrounding the church. According to Tardiantos account, a security officer at the church was walking behind and trying to stop them, however the two women split up before detonating their explosives. The young child reportedly survived, but suffered injuries.

The police have taken Tardianto to a police station for further questioning.

A parking attendant at the church, Mulyanto, offered a similar account, saying he saw three females rushing toward the church, kompas.com reported. The security officer was severely injured.

The police have yet to confirm the identities of the alleged suicide bombers, but if the witnesses' accounts are accurate, it would be the first case of female suicide bombers in Indonesias history.

The East Java Police said the death toll from the attacks on three churches in Surabaya had risen to at least 11 people, while at least 40 people had been injured. The explosions took place at Santa Maria Tak Bercela Catholic Church (STMB) on Jl. Ngagel Madya in Gubeng, Surabaya Pentecostal Church (GPPS) on Jl. Raya Arjuna and Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) on Jl. Diponegoro. (swd)
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Linkedin Vela Andapita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, May 13, 2018 16:15 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3a4760 1 National SurabayaBombings,terrorism,Twitter,hashtag,campaign,East-Java,church,church-attack,netizens,#SurabayaBombings,suicide-attack,suicide-bombings Free

The country was once again hit by a vicious terror attack with the deadly bombings of three churches in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday morning.

Indonesian netizens have, as previously, responded to the attack with resilience by creating hashtags designed to counter the intended effect of the terror attack.

They have come up with several hashtags to express their thoughts about the incident, such as #BersatuLawanTerorisme (Together we fight terrorism) and #KamiTidakTakutTeroris (We are not afraid of terrorists), which have all been trending on the Indonesian Twittersphere.

Several other popular hashtags are also being used, like #SurabayaWani (Brave Surabaya) or #SurabayaGakWedi (SurabayaNotAfraid), #PrayForSurabaya and #HaramTerorisNgakuIslam (Terrorists are not Islam).

Congregants attend a Sunday service, as police stand guard outside, in Saint Peter's Church in Bandung, West Java, on Sunday. A wave of blasts including a suicide bombing struck churches in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday, killing at least 10 and wounding dozens of others, police have said. (AFP/Timur Matahari)

A Twitter user named Eric through his personal account @erick_aka tweeted, Before becoming a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist or a Hindu, lets be HUMAN first. Shall we? #BersatuLawanTerorisme.

Before becoming a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist or a Hindu, let's be HUMAN first. Shall we? We came into the world like brother and sister, and now let's go hand in hand, not one before another. Deepest condolences for victims in Surabaya's bombing. #BersatuLawanTerorisme  erick kusuma (@erick_aka) May 13, 2018

Another netizen Ani Natalia @aniwinn expressed her concerns in her tweet along with a monochrome picture of Surabayas famous Shark and Crocodile monument containing the hashtag #BersatuLawanTerorisme.

We should unite and fight terrorism because we love Indonesia. #SuroboyoGakWedi #SuroboyoWani, she tweeted.

Official Twitter accounts of several ministries, like Cabinet Secretariat (setkabgoid) and Education and Culture Ministry (Kemdikbud_RI), have also posted recommendations that netizens do not share graphic pictures and videos of the bombing victims.

Penting!



Teroris berulah lagi di Surabaya. Jangan pernah memberi angin apalagi bersimpati pada teroris. Rapatkan barisan #BersatuLawanTerorisme



Sebarkan pic.twitter.com/V20jTi895L  Sekretariat Kabinet (@setkabgoid) May 13, 2018

Circulating photos of the bombing victims on social media is what the terrorists expect us to do to spread fear among us, the picture reads.

Each of the ministry and state officials tweets were retweeted by hundreds to thousands of netizens.

Three explosions  reportedly suicide bombings  occurred at three churches in Surabaya, namely Saint Mary Immaculate (STMB) Catholic Church on Jl. Ngagel Jaya Utara Raya, Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) on Jl. Diponegoro and Surabaya Pentecostal Church (GPPS) on Jl. Arjuna.

East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Frans Barung Mangera confirmed that the explosions had claimed 10 lives and injured 41 people. (ahw)
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Paris, France  Sun, May 13, 2018 07:00 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e38812a 2 World Paris,France,Islamic-State,#IslamicState,#IslamicStateAttack Free

A knifeman shouting "Allahu akbar" was shot dead by police in central Paris late Saturday after he killed one person and injured four, prompting a terror probe.

The attack took place near the city's main opera house in an area full of bars, restaurants and theatres which were brimming on a weekend night.

French President Emmanuel Macron said: "France once again pays the price of blood."

Prosecutors cited witnesses as saying the man shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) as he went on the rampage, and added that a terror investigation had been launched.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility, according to the SITE monitoring group.

"The executor of the stabbing operation in the city of Paris is a soldier of the Islamic State and the operation was carried out in response to the calls to target the coalition states," a "security source" told IS's official Amaq news agency, according to SITE.

The man attacked five people with a knife, one of whom died, police said. Two were in serious condition and all the victims are in hospital.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb hailed in a tweet the "sang-froid and reaction of the police who neutralised the attacker."

A large area was cordoned off where police, fire and rescue vehicles converged.

Shocked tourists and residents looked on from behind the security perimeter.

"I was on the cafe terrace, I heard three, four shots, it happened very fast," said 47-year-old Gloria.

"Then the bartenders told us to come inside very quickly. Then I went out to see what was going on, and then I saw a man on the ground," she added.

France has suffered a series of major Islamist attacks over the past three years, including the massacre at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the November 2015 attacks that killed 130 in Paris, and the 2016 Bastille Day truck attack in Nice.

A state of emergency put in place just after the 2015 Paris attacks was lifted in October when Macron's centrist government passed a new law boosting the powers of security forces.

Thousands of French troops remain on the streets under an anti-terror operation known as Sentinelle, patrolling transport hubs, tourist hotspots and other sensitive sites.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, May 13, 2018 23:55 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3b5e9f 4 National #SurabayaBombings,#Surabaya,Sidoarjo,East-Java,explosion,surabaya-church-bombings,terror-attack Free

Two children were rescued from the Wonocolo low-cost apartments (Rusunawa) in Sidoarjo, East Java, late on Sunday evening, following a premature bomb explosion.

Puguh, an apartment tenant, said the two children, a boy and a girl, were rescued from the apartment alive. They were apparently outside the room where the homemade bomb prematurely went off.

Three of their family members reportedly died in the blast.

I checked the blast site and found their family members laying on the floor with blood all over the place. They are presumably dead, Puguh said as quoted by local news site surya.co.id.

Puguh identified the victims as the father, mother and their eldest son.

Read also: Sidoarjo bomb also involved family of six: E. Java Police

We took the children out from the apartment, but we didnt touch other victims in the damaged room, Puguh said.

Meanwhile, East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Frans Barung Magera told Kompas TV that the two surviving children were being treated at the Khotijah hospital in Surabaya.

Frans said the police had yet to recover the bodies of the three victims, adding that a police investigation was under way.

Eyewitnesses reported that the explosion took place at the apartment's fifth floor of Block B at 9 p.m. The blast occurred only 14 hours after three bombs ripped through three churches in Surabaya on Sunday morning. The church attacks claimed at least 14 lives and wounded dozens of others. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks against the three churches via its propaganda news agency Amaq. (dmr)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, May 13, 2018 09:50 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e390211 4 National terrorism,surabaya,SurabayaBombings,church,church-attack,#SurabayaBombings,suicide-attack,Indonesia Free

An explosion at Santa Maria Tak Bercela (SMTB) Church on Jl. Ngagel in Gubeng on Sunday reportedly claimed two lives and injured at least 13 people.

One victim was a member of the churchs congregation and the other one was the perpetrator. It was a suicide bombing, East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Frans Barung Mangera said at the scene, kompas.com reports.

Victims have been taken to Soetomo Hospital and Bhayangkara Ngagel Hospital.

East Java Police have deployed personnel to safeguard the area, including members of the Mobile Brigade and bomb squad.

Police say at least three churches were hit with bomb attacks in Surabaya, including SMTB, on Sunday morning. (vla)
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia  Sun, May 13, 2018 18:45 1244 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e3aaf1b 2 SE Asia Malaysia,politics,aviation,AirAsia,tony-fernandes,poll,Najib-Razak,election Free

AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes on Sunday apologized for a controversial stunt endorsing scandal-tainted Prime Minister Najib Razak before Malaysia's general election, in which he suffered a stunning defeat.

Fernandes said he came under pressure from Najib's government before the May 9 vote, causing him to issue a video enthusiastically crediting its policies for the success of the homegrown low-cost carrier.

But the Barisan Nasional coalition, which had ruled Malaysia for 61 years, suffered a humiliating defeat Wednesday at the hands of an opposition alliance led by his former mentor and ex-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, 92.

Fernandes was strongly criticized online for the stunt endorsing Najib, who has been linked to a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal involving Malaysian state fund 1MDB.

A photo showing Fernandes with Najib on board an AirAsia plane was widely circulated during the election campaign. That plane was painted in the blue colours of Najib's Barisan Nasional coalition.

Fernandes even changed the uniforms of AirAsia flight attendants from red to blue during that trip.

But in a video posted on his Facebook page Sunday, a somber-looking Fernandes apologized for his "grave error of judgement".

Read also: Indonesia AirAsia records loss due to tax burden

"I'm sorry for what has gone on. I buckled at a crucial moment in our history," he said.

Fernandes said he had been under "tremendous" pressure from the then-government to sack popular former trade minister Rafidah Aziz, who is on the board of AirAsia's long-haul budget arm AirAsia X, because she was campaigning for the opposition.

Najib's government was also angry at him for adding extra flights to ferry people at low fares to their provinces so that they could cast their votes, and told him to cancel those flights, he said.

Fernandes said he "foolishly" thought that he could appease the government by coming up with the endorsement video as well as by repainting the plane and changing the flight attendants' uniforms.

"Under the intense pressure, I buckled. It wasnt right, I'll forever regret it but it was a decision made at the spur of the moment," he said.

"I apologize again for the pain and the hurt I caused."

The new government slapped Najib with a travel ban on Saturday as speculation mounted he was about to flee the country in a possible bid to avoid prosecution over the 1MDB scandal. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Four Indonesian beaches have been ranked among the Asia-Pacific's 50 most popular beaches on Instagram, with one even breaking into the top 15 spots.

Australian travel website Globehunters has compiled a list of the top 50 Instagrammed beaches in the region.

Here are the four local beaches that have made the cut, as reported by kompas.com.

1. Dreamland Beach, Bali

#dreamlandbeach #bali #surf A post shared by Pete (@pete19861309) on Apr 12, 2018 at 12:18am PDT

Located in Pecatu, Badung, on the resort island of Bali, Dreamland Beach came in 13th on the list, with more than 55,000 Instagram uploads.

The white beach is located 19 kilometers from Ngurah Rai International Airport, or about a 45-minute drive from the Balinese hub.

Sitting along the southern tip of the island, Dreamland is popular for surfing, with its waves attracting expert and pro surfers alike.

2. Virgin Beach, Bali

Also in Bali, Virgin Beach is located on the opposite end of the island, up north in Karangasem.

The beach sits in the 17th spot with more than 39,000 uploads.

With its northern location, Virgin Beach is a fair drive from the airport down south. Travelers arriving by air must journey a further 73 kilometers to reach the beach, approximately a two-hour drive.

Located far from the island's more popular destinations, Virgin Beach is a relatively quiet stretch, making it a nice place to relax. Swimmers, however, should be on the lookout for rough waves.

3. Ora Beach, Maluku

#orabeach #naturelovers A post shared by Travel World (@travelworld.7_24) on May 1, 2018 at 3:59pm PDT

Ora Beach is located on Seram Island in Maluku province. With a stunning backdrop of mountains and crystal clear waters, the beach ranks 22nd on the list, accumulating more than 27,000 Instagram posts.

Resorts on the beach offer overwater bungalows for visitors to enjoy the sea and surrounding coral reefs.

Visitors can also snorkel to take a glimpse of the underwater seascape.

4. Derawan Islands

#maratuaisland #paradise #kalimantan #gusung A post shared by Inese Vizina (@inesevizina) on May 6, 2018 at 7:42pm PDT

East Kalimantan's Derawan Islands come in at No. 32 on Globehunter's list.

The small island chain is composed of the Derawan, Sangalaki, Kakaban, Maratua, Panjang and Samama islands, as well as islets and submerged reefs.

The Derawan Islands offers a plethora of marine activities, including snorkeling and diving, and features marine life including turtles, dolphins and manta rays.

On Kakaban Island, visitors can also take the plunge into a lake full of sting-less jellyfish. (liz/wng)
We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011) star Exra Miller has been cast as a young Salvador Dali in an upcoming biopic.

Getty Images/Paul Cunningham

Miller will reportedly be seen as young Dali in flashback scenes. Dali was best known for his symbolism-filled surrealist work, making him one of the most erratic artists of the 20th century. Remembered for his contribution to the Surrealist movement, his work consisted of detail-oriented, overwhelming, and inexplicable, often featuring misshapen and incomplete human forms . Salvidor Dali's bizarre public antics also garnered him a tremendous amount of attention during his lifetime.

Dali Land. Dali Land will be based in New York and Spain in 1973, the story is told through the eyes of James (Frank Dillane), a young According to Deadline , revealed at Cannes, the film will be directed by American Psycho (2000) and I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) director, Mary Harron in a Biopic titled. Dali Land will be based in New York and Spain in 1973, the story is told through the eyes of James (Frank Dillane), a young

gallery assistant who helps Dali prepare for a big show. While the assistant sets out to learn from the legendary painter, per Deadline, "he instead falls down a rabbit hole of glittering

parties, personal battles, and an art world awash with money and drama."

The film also stars Ben Kingsley, Lesley Manville, and Tim Roth. Kingsley has been cast as Dali alongside Manville, who will reportedly play Dali's wife.
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Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder, is a neurodevelopmental disorder which affects communication, social interaction, and behaviour. As a spectrum condition, people may share certain challenges but these will be experienced in varying severities. Malta International Airport is extending their efforts to raise awareness of the condition by launching a new initiative with the aim of improving the airport experience for people living with autism. On the airport website, there is an online form, which must be completed at least 48 hours prior to, allowing passengers to indicate that they will bewith an autistic individual and notify the airport of their desire for extra assistance. On the form, there is also the option to order visual identifiers, such as a free wristband or cap, which enables trained staff in at various points in the airport to be able to provide support or assistance, perhaps during the check-in and security process.The airport has put further measures in place to ensure the experience can be as smooth as possible:Due to the nature of the environment, the terminal can get very busy which can be an uncomfortable increase of stimuli for passengers on the spectrum. So, the airport has designated specific rooms within the airport such as, which provide a calm environment for individuals and their companions in the transition periods in the airport.Passengers can familiarize themselves with the airport prior to the actual trip. A practice run can be booked with a staff member, subject to their availability, allowing the airport process to be demystified for individuals. The airport is committed to making the airport experience run as smoothly as possible for individuals with autism, hence they will be collaborating withto make this a reality.is a Malta-based foundation which helps over 1000 individuals with a range of disabilities. Our mission is to try to help everyone with a disability achieve this. We do this by providing individuals and their families with educational, therapeutic and leisure services., it says on the official website.

The airport also plans to deliver training sessions for airport customer service employees, in order to educate them on the developmental condition and give practical teaching, allowing them to improve interactions and offer the best possible support. For more information on this initiative and the airports continued effort to enhance the airport experience for all, head to the new webpage, https://www.maltairport.com/passenger/services/autistic-passengers/
The second season of Westworld seems to be making itself an incredibly interesting niche for itself.

Contrary to straightforward storytelling logic, its intricate plot advances even more slowly than the first season, while really upping the action, a fresh change from all the existentialism in the first season.

That is achieved by relying on flashbacks and non-linear storytelling. This season has taken to filling the gap between the two main timelines (the one, where William is young, for ease of following; and the current one) introducing vital points that actually explain decisions taken in the previous season.

However, the plot risks to become a tad too convoluted. When you have to rely on the audience not remembering that one detail from one of the first episodes for the shock factor, that is not smart storytelling.

Dolores is proving to be a more and more intriguing protagonist, owing no small part to that to Evan Rachel Woods continually brilliant performance, shifting easily between the vulnerable young woman and the fearless and ruthless leader of the rebellion. Though in the first episode of the second season she promised that the only role she has to play is herself, the direction she is going for is concerning, yet incredibly interesting.

On the opposite sides of the robot rebellion, Maeve seems to be leading a small group of people she explicitly needs and somewhat cares for. Her mission takes them to the very edge of their world, where they finally make it into the Samurai world.

That Maeve was unwilling to give up one man under her protection and command, compared to a Dolores who casually dismisses hundreds of deaths, saying not all of them deserve to make it, puts them as direct foils.

The other new aspect to Virtu e Fortuna is the introduction of the other worlds, and that there are also robot uprisings happening at them (have happened?). The episode starts with a park that is an uncomfortable depiction of colonialist India, and ends with a samurai attacking Maeves ragtag group of survivors.

With the way Westworld plays the slow storytelling game, I am in fact sure that in time we will find that the girl who survived a tiger in the Indian world will play a vital part.

That being said, Westworld has always had a problem with depicting race relations, with Native Americans portrayed as savages, for example. It remains unclear whether thats intentional and in fact a commentary (as in, to make us think that the creators of the parks are delivering colonialist fantasies to their clients) or an oversight.

New episodes of Westworld arrive weekly on HBO in the US. Sky Atlantic simultaneously airs Westworld for UK audiences every Sunday at 2am, with repeat airings on Mondays from 9pm, and episodes available on NOW TV.
For Subscribers Lawmakers accuse each other putting self interests ahead of redistricting

If new maps aren't adopted by Dec. 1, the South Dakota Supreme Court would bypass the Legislature in drawing new district boundaries
The Jewish General Hospital Foundation on May 8 announced the retirement of President and Chief Executive Officer Myer Bick and the appointment of Bram Freedman as his successor. Mr. Bick will continue to serve as President and CEO until Mr. Freedman assumes the role on August 6, 2018, after which they will work together to ensure a smooth transition. Mr. Bick will then continue his association with the Foundation in an advisory capacity.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to thank Myer Bick for his tireless and motivated leadership of the JGH Foundation over the past 17 years, said Edward Wiltzer, the Foundations Chair of the Board of Directors. We are deeply grateful to Myer for his innumerable contributions to the Foundations success, growth and development of the Hospital. He is regarded as a leader by his peers in the philanthropic sector and the Foundations external stature, as well as operating performance, have benefited immensely from his leadership and guidance.

Together with passionate volunteers and a dynamic professional team, he led two major capital campaigns that achieved $200 million and $250 million respectively. Mr. Bicks career has established new benchmarks in philanthropy that have benefited all healthcare foundations in Quebec. Strong leaders require strong successors, and the board is extremely pleased to appoint Bram Freedman to the role of President and CEO.

After a lengthy and detailed search, we are delighted to welcome Bram to the JGH Foundation family, stated Wiltzer. He has proven management skills and a strong fundraising background in the public sector. He has been an active volunteer in the healthcare sector for two decades. His proven track record and leadership style equip him well for the challenges ahead. We have built a strong fundraising engine with professional, talented and caring staff dedicated to serving the Hospital and our donors needs. I am confident that Bram is the right person to lead us to even greater success," concluded Wiltzer.

Mr. Bick spoke fondly of his time at the JGH Foundation. "I am proud to have played a role, together with my Foundation colleagues and devoted volunteer leaders, in advancing this exceptional institution through the many significant accomplishments we have achieved." He went on to say, I am pleased to pass the torch to Bram, whom I have known for years. I have every confidence that he will lead the JGH Foundation into the future to ensure that this world-class hospital and research institution has the resources to continue its long tradition of medical excellence benefitting the people of Quebec."

Mr. Freedman is a lawyer by training who began his career at Concordia University in 1992 as Assistant Legal Counsel rising to the position of Assistant Secretary-General and General Counsel when he left the University in 2003 to join Federation Combined Jewish Appeal as Chief Operating Officer and Director of External Relations.

He returned to Concordia in 2008 when he was appointed vice-president, External Relations and Secretary-General. For the last 5 years, Freedman has served as vice-president of Advancement and External Relations and helped bring fundraising to record levels at the university. Indeed, the sector went from a five-year average of $10 million in funds raised to one of over $25 million in recent years.

Under Freedmans leadership, Concordias Advancement team publicly launched the Campaign for Concordia: Next-Gen. Now, the universitys most ambitious fundraising appeal to date, which stands at over $140 million of its $250 million goal.

I am thrilled to be joining the JGH Foundation and lead this great organization that Myer, along with his team of talented and dedicated professionals and exceptional volunteer leadership, has built, said Mr. Freedman. "I am humbled and excited by this opportunity.

Freedmans move to the Foundation marks a family tradition. My grandfather was the founding chief of oto-laryngology at the JGH some 85 years ago, he says. The hospital is where my father, Dr. Samuel O. Freedman, former dean of medicine and provost of McGill University, finished his career as director of the Lady Davis Research Institute. I will now be the third generation of my family to serve the Hospital. I cant wait to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

Jewish General Hospital Foundation

https://www.facebook.com/FHGJ.JGHF/

www.jghfoundation.org

AB
The longtime strongman was born when silent films still packed movie theaters and Adolf Hitler was still a fringe politician. It was 1926, and his homeland was known as British Malaya.

Now Mahathir Mohamad is 92 years old. He is also Malaysias newest prime minister. Its been 37 years since he first had the job, and 15 since he retired from it.

All of that raises an obvious question: How old is too old to run a country?

Mahathir, for one, insists he has time left. I am, of course, quite old. No, I am very old, he said in an April interview with The Associated Press. But I can still function.

Hes right about that. Mahathir has had two coronary bypass surgeries, but still has a reasonably full head of hair. He has a forceful presence, a love of political brawling, and a fondness for jokes. He could easily pass for someone 20 years younger. He doesnt hide his age.

Young leaders do not have sufficient background, he said in the interview. And not many people with experience have survived. I have survived.

Age has long been an issue for politicians. Ronald Reagan faced plenty of questions about his mental abilities when he ran for U.S. president in 1980, and he was just 69 years old. Robert Mugabe was ridiculed as Zimbabwes dinosaur, a man consumed by greed and power who refused to give way to a younger generation, until being pushed out at age 93. During the Cold War the U.S. warily watched a Soviet leadership dominated by men in their 70s and 80s, some of whom seemed to be barely clinging to life.

But age isnt always bad.

From the point of view of the outside world, there is something good to be said about a Kremlin gerontocracy, The New York Times said in a 1976 editorial. The ruling Soviet 70-year-olds are hardly likely to push an adventurous course that would pose serious risks of thermonuclear war.

The questions about Reagan, though, resurfaced five years after his presidency ended, when he was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease. Doctors and historians still debate whether the disease affected him while he was in the White House.

The medical world  and the perception of aging  has changed dramatically since Reagan was running for office, when American men had a life expectancy of 70 years. Today, an American man can expect to live more than 76 years, and advertisements show retirees on surfboards.

Mahathir is also no Reagan, who was known for his occasional forgetfulness and supposed love of naps. If Reagans handlers carefully shaped his public image to make him appear younger, with lots of photos of him chopping wood and riding horses, Mahathir needs no such help. He looks young  or at least far younger than he is  and he acts young. The mental and physical frailties that batter many people in their 70s seem to have left Mahathir alone.

In part that could be personal discipline. Mahathir was a doctor before becoming a politician, and he regularly recites his rules for keeping young: dont eat too much, exercise and read.

There was also a strain of nostalgia that ran through Malaysias election campaign. Mahathir was an authoritarian ruler, muzzling the media and making the judiciary a tool of the government, but he also transformed Malaysia into a modern nation with a comparatively strong economy.

We are concerned about his health and not his capability, said M.K. Lum, a bank employee and Mahathir supporter. If he has received the peoples mandate and he is willing, why not?

Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia scholar at John Cabot University in Rome, said Mahathirs age worked to his advantage, with voters seeing him as an experienced leader who could move Malaysia beyond the government corruption of recent years and oversee a peaceful transition of power. Malaysia is still haunted by memories of 1969 race riots, between majority Malays and minority Chinese, that followed elections and left more than 200 people dead.

A 92-year-old man coming out to save Malaysia has a lot of traction with people angry with corruption, said Welsh, who was in Kuala Lumpur to observe the vote. He was a safe landing. He has a track record and experience.

Mahathir emphasized his age in campaign videos that tugged at voters heartstrings.

I am already old, he said to a young girl in one video, tears brimming in his eyes. I havent much time left. I have to do some work to rebuild our country; perhaps because of mistakes I, myself, made in the past.

(AP)
Americans held in North Korean prisons have endured hard labor, some were kept at times in total darkness under conditions so bleak that one prisoner tried to kill himself, and succeeded in doing so after his release.

President Donald Trump said early Thursday when he welcomed three Americans home that North Koreas Kim Jong Un was excellent to these three incredible people.

But some other Americans who were imprisoned in North Korea described harsh experiences, mirroring what more than 100,000 political prisoners may be enduring there each day.

When Secretary of State Mike Pompeos plane carrying the three newly released prisoners made a refueling stop in Anchorage, one of them asked to go outside, saying he hadnt seen daylight in a long time.

After landing at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song and Tony Kim flashed peace signs and waved their arms as they emerged from the aircraft. They were taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which aid its giving them time to decompress. The military hospital said reuniting them with families too soon can cause additional psychological stress.

Tony Kims family said in a statement that we thank God for Tonys safe return. We ask that you continue to pray for the people of North Korea and for the release of all who are still being held.

Jeffrey Fowle, who was held in North Korea for six months in 2014 after intentionally leaving a Bible in a nightclub, said he thinks Trumps words were more diplomacy than anything else, trying to improve the atmosphere before his meeting with North Koreas leader. Fowle has consistently said that he was treated well physically by his captors but suffered from not knowing what was happening with his family.

Others had more grueling experiences.

Aijalon Gomes was imprisoned for illegally crossing into North Korea from China in 2010 and sentenced to eight years of hard labor. The American, who was released in 2011, said he tried to commit suicide while in captivity. Last year, Gomes burned to death in a field in San Diego. The medical examiner said Gomes suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and committed suicide, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in February.

Otto Warmbier was imprisoned for trying to steal a political banner. He was flown back to the United States in a vegetative state and died soon afterward. What caused him to lapse into a coma is unknown.

Journalist Laura Ling, arrested for illegally entering North Korea, said she was first held in a small cell that was enveloped in total darkness when jailers closed slats on the doors. She told CBS News that she was grateful she wasnt sent to a labor camp, and that she had a room with separate bathroom after she was transferred to the capital, Pyongyang.

Former prisoner Kenneth Bae told CNN after his release in 2014 that he worked from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., farming in fields, carrying rocks and shoveling coal. That appears similar to the forced labor that political prisoners must perform, said Francisco Bencosme, Asia Advocacy manager of Amnesty International USA. The prisoners are also sometimes raped, tortured, starved and even executed, he said.

A United Nations Commission of Inquiry estimated in 2014 that between 80,000 and 120,000 political prisoners were being detained in four large prison camps.

Amnesty International USA and other human rights groups urged Trump to include human rights issues in his June 12 summit with Kim in Singapore.

We strongly believe that the United States and others in the international community should not hold back on condemning human rights abuses, the groups wrote Trump on Tuesday. They asked Trump to urge North Korea to allow international observers to visit all prisons and forced labor camps. The group also wants North Korea to take steps to free detainees held for activities that arent criminalized under international law, such as freedom of speech and religion or attempting to leave the country without permission.

(AP)
The following is via ABC7NY:

Health officials are warning residents in both New York and New Jersey of potential measles exposure.

Two people with measles may have exposed several others throughout New Jersey, including at Newark Liberty International Airport.

In two unrelated incidents, a person with measles stopped briefly in New Jersey on April 30 while on a tour bus traveling from Niagara Falls, New York, to Washington. D.C.

In a second incident, a Bergen County resident developed measles after contact with an international traveler who was ill with the measles.

The New Jersey Department of Health recommends that anyone who visited the locations listed below during the dates/times listed, contact a health provider immediately to discuss potential exposure and risk of developing the illness. Exposed individuals could develop symptoms as late as May 23.

Anyone who visited the following locations may have been exposed to measles:

-Towne Centre at Englewood apartments, 20 W Palisade Ave, Englewood, NJ 07631

April 24  May 2  any time

-Renaissance Office Center, 15 Engle St, Englewood, NJ 07631

April 30, between 1 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.

-Newark Liberty International Airport, Terminal C

May 2, between 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

-Columbia Travel Center, I-80 at Rt. 94, 2 Simpson Rd, Columbia, NJ 07832

April 30, between 9:45 a.m. and 12:20 p.m.

The Orange County Department of Health is also advising residents of a potential exposure at a Monroe medical facility on April 29.

Residents who visited the medical officer of Dr. Vladimir Zelenko on Route 17M between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. or anyone who was in the lobby around the first and second floor or at BioReference Laboratory in the building between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. may have been exposed to measles.

If you have been exposed, you are at risk if you have not been vaccinated or have not had measles.

Measles symptoms include rash, high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. It can cause serious complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis (swelling of the brain).

Experts warn measles infection in a pregnant woman can lead to miscarriage, premature birth or a low-birth-weight baby.

Measles is easily spread through the air when someone coughs or sneezes. People can also get sick when they come in contact with mucus or saliva from an infected person.

Source: ABC7NY
German Chancellor Angela Merkel lamented Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trumps decision to pull his country out of the Iran nuclear accord was making the situation in the Middle East even more difficult and warned Europeans to be skeptical of easy solutions promised by populists.

Speaking while in Italy to receive a peace prize, Merkel cited the recent escalation of Israeli-Iranian hostility that quickly followed Trumps announcement about the Iran accord as a reason for concern.

She said Germany was closely following the developments between Iran and Israel, saying that was yet another reason for further effort to resolve the conflict.

The German leader made her remarks at St. Francis Basilica, in Assisi, the saints hometown, where Franciscan friars awarded her the St. Francis Lamp for peace. Merkel was honored for the welcome Germany gave to Syrian war refugees, a decision that carried political risks for the chancellor and her party.

Addressing conflicts on her own continent, Merkel decried what she called nightly violations in Ukraine of cease-fire agreements reached in 2014 and 2015 to end the conflict between pro-Kiev forces and pro-Russia fighters in the countrys battered east.

Delivering a sweeping speech about challenges to a more peaceful world, the chancellor also cautioned against Europeans seeking easy solutions to their problems from populist politicians, whose clout has been on the rise across much of the continent.

The harder the problem is, and the easier the solution is claimed to be, the more suspicious and critical everyone .should be, Merkel said.

Even as she spoke, two Italian populist leaders, from the euroskeptic 5-Star Movement and the anti-migrant League, were meeting in Milan to try to hammer out a deal for a coalition government.

Merkel stressed the importance of countering populist statements with facts and of speaking out when people make sweeping claims about entire sections of society.

I think we should try to do two things at once: be European, but also regard our home countries as part of our identity. They dont have to be opposites, she said.

Introducing her at the ceremony was Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos, who won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for dogged efforts to bring 50 years of violent conflict in his country to a peaceful end.

Santos praised Merkel for representing those principles which ought to serve as antidotes in a world in which the ghosts of nationalism, of fundamentalism, of racism, of populism and of intolerance are surging with dangerous vigor.

For her part, Merkel warned of the damage national stereotypes can pose for European understanding.

She recalled how during the Eurozone crisis of the last decade, Greeks were branded as lazy in German media.

There are lazy Germans (too,) Merkel said. As soon as we fall into stereotypes, we destroy Europe.

Addressing the divisions around the issue of migrants to Europe, Merkel said tolerance must be always present in the European Union. She cited her own Christian faith, hailing Francis as perhaps the most famous saint.

Francis, she noted, broke the taboo of society. He embraced societys poor, which was then forbidden.

(AP)
A second Democratic senator has announced his support for President Donald Trumps CIA nominee.

Joe Donnelly of Indiana says in a statement Saturday that he made his decision after a tough, frank and extensive discussion with Gina Haspel, the spy agencys acting director.

The other Democrat whos come out for Haspel is West Virginias Joe Manchin. Both Democrats are considered to be among the most vulnerable Senate incumbents in the November election.

So far two Republicans have announced their opposition to Haspel: Kentuckys Rand Paul and Arizonas John McCain, whos battling cancer and isnt expected to be present for the voting.

Supporters are pushing for votes by the Senate intelligence committee and the full Senate before the Senates Memorial Day break.

The GOP holds a 51-49 edge, and Vice President Mike Pence can break a possible tie.

Haspel has run into criticism because she was once involved in the CIAs harsh interrogation program.

I believe that she has learned from the past, and that the CIA under her leadership can help our country confront serious international threats and challenges, Donnelly says in the statement.

Donnelly came under attack from Trump at a rally in Indiana on Thursday, two days after the states primary election determined that his Republican opponent in November will be former Indiana lawmaker Mike Braun.

Trump, who was joined at the rally by Vice President Mike Pence, a former Indiana governor, urged GOP voters to mobilize and prevent Democrats from regaining control of Congress.

The president called Donnelly Sleepin Joe and criticized the senator for opposing his tax plan and attempt to end the Affordable Care Act.

Donnelly responded by saying problems only get solved when you roll up your sleeves and put in the hard work, and his campaign said he had voted with Trump 62 percent of the time.

(AP)
Americans are facing an epidemic of dishonesty in Washington thats more dangerous than terrorism or communism.

Thats according to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who warned in a commencement speech on Saturday at Texas Rice University that an endless barrage of lies and a trend toward alternate realities in national politics pose a dire threat to U.S. democracy.

The 76-year-old billionaire, who flirted with an independent presidential run in 2016, did not call out any politicians by name.

Although he derided Donald Trump as a con and a dangerous demagogue before his election, in an interview before the speech Bloomberg refused to comment specifically on the Republican presidents troubled history with the truth. Fact checkers have determined that Trump has made hundreds of false and misleading statements since entering the Oval Office.

This is bigger than any one person. Its bigger than any one party, he said in the interview.

In the speech, Bloomberg evoked the legend of the nations first president, George Washington, who as a boy said he could not tell a lie when asked if he cut down a cherry tree.

How did we go from a president who could not tell a lie to politicians who cannot tell the truth? Bloomberg asked Rice graduates and their families gathered in Houston.

He blamed extreme partisanship for an unprecedented tolerance of dishonesty in U.S. politics. People are committed more to their political tribes than the truth, he said, suggesting that the nation is more divided than any time since the Civil War.

There is now more tolerance for dishonesty in politics than I have seen in my lifetime, Bloomberg said. The only thing more dangerous than dishonest politicians who have no respect for the law is a chorus of enablers who defend their every lie.

For example, he noted that Democrats spent much of the 1990s defending President Bill Clinton against charges of lying and personal immorality just as Republicans attacked the lack of ethics and honesty in the White House. Just the reverse is happening today, he said.

In one jab at Trump, he noted that the vast majority of scientists agree that climate change is real. Trump and his Republican allies have repeatedly called climate change a hoax promoted by Americas adversaries.

If 99 percent of scientists whose research has been peer-reviewed reach the same general conclusion about a theory, then we ought to accept it as the best available information  even if its not a 100 percent certainty, Bloomberg said. He added: That, graduates, is not a Chinese hoax.

He warned that such deep levels of dishonesty could enable what he called criminality. Asked what specifically he was talking about, Bloomberg noted lots of investigations going on, but he declined to be more specific.

Several Trump associates are facing criminal charges as part of a federal probe into Russias meddling in the 2016 election. Three have already pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI. Federal investigators want to interview Trump himself, although the presidents legal team has resisted so far.

When elected officials speak as though they are above the truth, they will act as though they are above the law, Bloomberg told Rice graduates. And when we tolerate dishonesty, we get criminality. Sometimes, its in the form of corruption. Sometimes, its abuse of power. And sometimes, its both.

The greatest threat to American democracy isnt communism, jihadism, or any other external force or foreign power, he continued. Its our own willingness to tolerate dishonesty in service of party, and in pursuit of power.

(AP)
A relatively unknown U.S. Senate candidate in California, who was previously booted from the states Republican Party Convention for a campaign promise to remove Jewish leaders from power, is getting new attention since he was seen surging in one political poll.

Patrick Little from Albany had little political profile until he popped up second on a late-April Survey-USA poll, garnering 18 percent behind incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

My whole campaign is predicated on removing the Jewish supremacists from control of our country, Little said in an interview with NBC Bay Area.

Little, 33, has openly praised Adolf Hitler YMS, promoted Holocaust denial and expressed his desire to see Jewish Americans deported from the country.

In his campaign platform, which is posted on his website, Little describes himself as a white advocate and states his slogan: Liberate the US from Jewish oligarchy.

Last month, Little protested outside Twitter headquarters in San Francisco after the company suspended his account. He held a sign that read: Its not okay to be white @ Twitter.

Little says he wants to keep his supporters safe from non-whites and is promising California voters that hell work to achieve a government free from Jews if they elect him to the U.S. Senate.

A SurveyUSA poll conducted last month polled Little with 18 percent support in Californias open top-two primary, gathering more than twice as much support as any other Republican. Should those numbers hold up, Little would have a chance of facing incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the general election.

His name is Patrick Little.

Says hes running for U.S. Senate.

At San Francisco anti-sanctuary city rally. pic.twitter.com/CUf6rGWvDl  Darwin BondGraham (@DarwinBondGraha) December 16, 2017

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
The US delegation attending the grand opening of the new embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, arrived in Israel early Sunday afternoon.

They were greeted at the airport by US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

President Donald Trumps daughter and son-in-law Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, are leading the trip which includes Treasury Secretary Steve Mnunchin and President Trumps middle east envoy Jason Dov Greenblatt.

I am honored to join the delegation representing @POTUS, his Admin & the American people at this momentous ceremony commemorating the opening of our new US Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel. We will pray for the boundless potential of the US-Israel alliance & we will pray for peace. pic.twitter.com/ulYbJAfTcL  Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) May 12, 2018

Thank you President Trump for keeping your promise to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move your embasssy here.  https://t.co/eL5ETqYo4R  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 12, 2018

Big week next week when the American Embassy in Israel will be moved to Jerusalem. Congratulations to all!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2018

Honored today to welcome our distinguished Presidential Delegation. Tremendous excitement for the opening of the Jerusalem Embassy and great pride in our Country and our President. pic.twitter.com/pihNbMkrIM  David M. Friedman (@USAmbIsrael) May 13, 2018

It is the honor of a lifetime to be part of the Presidential Delegation for the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel. Tomorrow, @POTUS will keep his promise: the US Embassy in Jerusalem will finally open! I look forward to welcoming the rest of the Delegation.  Jason D. Greenblatt (@jdgreenblatt45) May 13, 2018

(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A special call was made by Har Habayis activists to come to the holy site on Sunday, 28 Iyar, Yom Yerushalayim. The site was scheduled to be open to visitors from 7:30AM-11:00AM and then from 1:30PM-2:30PM.

The poster advertising the event calls on persons planning to come to first toivel in a mikve and to remove ones leather shoes.

As seen in the attached photo, there was a considerable wait for those mispallalim on line for the Sunday morning visit to the site.

Gedolei Yisrael throughout the generations along with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, have prohibited visiting Har Habayis.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)
(VIDEOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke to the crowd gathered to welcome the U.S. delegation to Israel at the Foreign Ministry offices in Jerusalem on Sunday night and said: The historic decision by President Donlad Trump to move the U.S. Eembassy to Jerusalem, ratifies one simple fact: The Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish nation for the past 3,000 years andof our country for the past seven decades. The city will continue to be our capital for now and forever.

Netanyahu spoke in front of dozens of diplomats from different countries as well as the delegation from the U.S. and various gathered V.I.P.s. There are no better supporters of Israel, anywhere on the planet than in the United States. This is the great moment in which President Trump will make history. Our nation will be thankful forevermore for his brave decision to move the embassy. How does one recognize a true leader? By seeing if that person has followers. I wish to also thank the leaders of Guatemala and Paraguay who are opening their embassies in Jerusalem a few days after the U.S.

Making a cultural reference in light of Israels victory at the Eurovision song contest on Motzei Shabbos, Netanyahu took a dig at the BDS movement. The people who didn want Israel participating in the Eurovision song contest, will now have to come to Jerusalem nxt year to participate in it themselves.

Peace is built upon truth. The truth is that Jerusalem has always been our capital and will continue tobe so forever. To achieve truth, one also must struggle with those who hate truth. We must struggle with Iran, the greatest sponsor of global terrorism. To do so will be good for the region and will be good for the world. Those of us here in the capitals of the Middle East, in Jerusalem, in Riyadh and others, we saw the destructive results of the Iranian nuclear agreement. So when President Trump decided to back out of the deal, to pull back, we know that he is doing what is right for this region, for the U.S. and for the world.

Earlier in the day, Netanyahu met with President Trumps Son-in-law and senior adviser in Jared Kushner. Kushner arrived, along with his wife Ivanka Trump, ahead of the ceremony at the Foregin Ministry. Details of the meeting were not released.

Secretary of the Treasury for the U.S. Steven Mnuchin spoke after Netanyahu and said: This is an historic moment in the relationship between the United States and Israel. It symbolizes the continuing friendship between our two countries. It is only fitting that this move takes places when Israel is celebrating its 70th birthday. We are celebrating 70 years of freedom and democracy. In 1995, Congress passed a law mandating the move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, a law that had the support of both parties. Over the past 20 years, however, that promise had not been fulfilled. President Trump promised to fulfill that promise, and as a sign of his leadership we are here today to do so.

It did not go unnoticed that the majority of the diplomats and Ambassadors from the European Union boycotted the event. Ambaasdors from EU countries who did attend were those from Austria, Hungary, Romania, and the Czech republic.

The U.S. delegation, which numbers close to 250 people, will also be on hand on Monday morning for the inauguration of the new embassy in the Arnona neighborhood of Jerusalem. It includes Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan.

The following is the text of the full remarks delivered by Netanyahu:

Dear friends, from Israel, from the United States, from around the world. This is a momentous time. President Trump is making history. We are deeply grateful and our people will be eternally grateful for his bold decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital and to move the embassy there tomorrow.

Now, you are in the Foreign MinistryIm the Foreign Ministerand youre coming at a time when Israel is a rising power in the world, you know, in cyber, in IT, in water, in judo, in singing.

You know what we say: Those who didnt want Jerusalem in the Eurovision are going to get the Eurovision in Jerusalem. Next year in Jerusalem.

Well, thats next year, but tomorrow will be a historic day for our people and for our state. President Trumps decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem affirms a great and simple truth: Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for the past three thousand years. Its been the capital of our state for the past 70 years. It will remain our capital for all time.

Thank you President Trump for your bold decision, thank you for making the alliance between Israel and the United States stronger than ever.

Now, you know how you recognize real leadership? Its when others follow, and others are following in President Trumps footsteps.

I thank Guatemalas Foreign Minister, who is here, Sandra Jovel, who has joined us today. We will open your embassy two days from tomorrow. Thank you.

I thank the President of Paraguay and the incoming President of Paraguay, because theyll open their embassy a few days after that. And other nations are in the process of doing exactly that.

Thats a state secret, and we dont reveal our state secrets. Sometimes we reveal others state secrets. Well let you know as time comes.

I call on all countries to join the US in moving their embassies to Jerusalem. Move your embassies to Jerusalem because its the right thing to do. And move your embassies to Jerusalemlisten to this: Move your embassies to Jerusalem because it advances peace, and thats because you cant base peace on a foundation of lies. You base peace on the foundations of truth, and the truth is that not only has Jerusalem been the capital of the Jewish people for millennia and the capital of our state from its inception, the truth is that under any peace agreement you could possibly imagine, Jerusalem will remain Israels capital.

It took President Trump, a President Trump to enunciate this simple, basic truth. And once enunciated, that truth will propagate. So I expectyou can call me, all the ambassadors who are here and afterwards, you can whisper in my ear, well fix it. But it will happen.

And to achieve peace, we have to do one other thing: We must confront the enemies of peace, and I thank President Trump for his decision to confront Iran rather than to appease it. Pulling out of the nuclear deal means that the worlds greater sponsor of terrorism, greatest sponsor of terrorism, is no longer on a glide-path to attaining an arsenal of nuclear weapons. This is good for Israel, this is good for the region, its good for the world.

Now, I have something to say to part of the world: With all due respect to those sitting in European capitals, we here in the capitals of the Middle Eastin Jerusalem, in Riyadh and elsewhereweve seen the disastrous consequences of the Iran deal. And so when President Trump decides to pull out of this deal, to walk away from it, we know that when he walks away from a bad deal, hes doing a good thing for our region, for the United States and for the world.

And this is what Ive just discussed with the American delegation. I welcome Deputy Secretary Sullivan, Secretary Mnuchin, Jason Greenblatt, Ambassador David Friedman, who I mentioned before, and of course a special welcome to Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka.

Ive known Jared for 105 years, and theres a special bond between our families, but I think the fact that you and Ivanka are here is a special, personal testament, but also a national and international statement. It is one that touches our hearts, and we are all delighted by your presence at any time, at any day, but especially on this day. Thank you.

We value all of your friendships, all of you for coming here on this historic occasion. Thank you for standing up with Israel. Thank you for standing up for the truth. Thank you for standing up for Jerusalem. Thank you for coming here from all over the world.

We are celebrating a momentous day. Happy birthday Jerusalem.

Thank you all.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)
Senior figures in Britains 80 billion-a-year car industry want the UK to remain in the EUs customs union and dismiss the two alternatives being considered by the Government as unworkable.

Bosses say the benefits of the customs union have been the foundation for the growth of an industry that now supports 800,000 jobs. An end to the arrangements would create major disruption and imperil the sector, with firms slashing staff and moving operations abroad.

The UK motor industry has thrived in recent years, thanks to free and frictionless trade with the European Union, they said.

Crucial component: The UK's car industry now supports 800,000 British jobs

The Government has desperately sought to reassure big car firms over the UKs future, including Japanese giants like Nissan and Toyota, which together employ around 10,000 people.

Its no secret that a lot of Japanese companies are, to be frank, concerned by the prospect of Brexit, said Shinichi Iida, minister for public diplomacy and media at the Embassy of Japan, which represents the interests of Japanese firms in the UK.

They invested in this country in the first place as a gateway to Europe.

Under the current system, car makers and other suppliers can ship parts and finished vehicles across EU borders without checks or tariffs. This allows them to run just in time systems. This means they can respond quickly and efficiently to demand.

Theresa Mays Government has committed to leaving the customs union. Her cabinet is debating two alternatives: a new customs partnership and a system dubbed maximum facilitation. Both options in their current form are dismissed by senior car industry figures.

Under the customs partnership blueprint, favoured by May and Business Secretary Greg Clark, the UK would act on the EUs behalf, applying the blocs tariffs to imported goods, then collecting and passing the money on to Brussels.

The max-fac option, favoured by pro-Brexit Cabinet members such as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, would introduce a customs border between the UK and EU, but would use new technologies to help make it as smooth as possible.

Clark said last week Toyota was making a big decision over whether to locate its next plant in the UK, or in mainland Europe.

A senior executive at one major foreign car maker condemned Mays customs partnership as a non-starter, a blue sky idea and unworkable. The executive said he is frustrated because when he talks to Brussels, officials are confused over why Britain is debating the merits of the customs partnership versus max-fac when neither is acceptable to the EU.

Smooth ride: Aston Martin has called for free and frictionless trade to continue

He added that the motor industry needs to retain all of the benefits of the customs union, and suggested the UK should remain inside it under a different name.

Were not fussed about labels. If we call it the customs union, thats fine. If its a customs union, thats fine. If we call it something else but it delivers the benefits, thats fine as well.

Ian Robertson, BMWs special representative in the UK, told The Mail on Sunday that there was a high degree of frustration building in the industry over future customs arrangements, saying that neither option being considered by the Government was good enough.

On the customs partnership option, he said: Honestly, the IT capability needed even to develop the processes would take an inordinate amount of effort, resources, cost and time  and at the end of it, would it really be worth it? I think, in that instance, maybe some people would say its not worth the investment.

He added that BMW was pushing for the new system to have all the outcomes of the current customs union within a new framework.

Ford, which employs 13,000 people in the UK, also indicated a preference for staying in the customs union.

A spokesman said: Remaining in the EU customs union would preserve tariff-free trade and minimise customs friction  both of these are essential. The bosses of luxury car makers Aston Martin and McLaren Automotive also showed their support for keeping frictionless trading arrangements with the EU.

Andy Palmer, president and chief executive of Aston Martin, said: We urge the Government to create the customs and trade conditions that will enable car parts and fully-built vehicles to move without hindrance between the UK and the EU.

Mike Flewitt, chief executive of McLaren Automotive, said: Its vital we continue to work with Government to minimise or do away with tariffs to boost exports, help imports of components and also that we maintain the ability to hire the brightest and best talent.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said the UKs free and frictionless trade with the EU had been the foundation of the UK automotive industrys recent success.

He added: Quite simply, any model that fails to replicate the benefits of the trading relationship we currently enjoy with our largest market will be bad for UK automotive, resulting in major disruption to vehicle manufacturers and their supply chains.
Brazil is one of the worlds largest exporters of agricultural products, especially coffee, sugar and soybeans.

Over the next five years, almost half of all new agricultural land is expected to be in Brazil, making it one of the fastest-growing farming economies on the planet.

Most of Brazils crops need extra nourishment to flourish. But today, about two thirds of the countrys fertiliser is imported, which is expensive and, at times, unwieldy. The government is keen to change this, with a stated aim of being self-sufficient in fertilisers by 2020.

Crop exporter: Brazil is one of the fastest-growing farming economies on the planet

While this seems unrealistic, the authorities are keen to give it a try, making them highly supportive of locally based producers.

Brazil-based Harvest Minerals is ideally placed to benefit from this. The shares are 17p but brokers believe the price should hit 40p in the next few years, as the firm expands and develops.

The business was founded three years ago by Brian McMaster and Luis Azevedo. An Australian mining entrepreneur, McMaster has spent nearly 20 years in and around the industry, most recently setting up Highfield Resources, an Australian-listed potash firm, now valued at 150 million.

Azevedo, based in Rio de Janeiro, is both a geologist and a lawyer with a 25-year history in the Brazilian mining sector.

The duo have worked together in the past and founded Harvest Minerals specifically to satisfy Brazils growing need for domestically-produced fertiliser. The firm has four assets, the most advanced of which, Arapua, is already in production and generating sales.

Based in the state of Minas Gerais, a known agricultural area, Arapua is surrounded by coffee, sugar and soy producers. The location is important, not least because the Arapua product is very different from traditional fertilisers.

These tend to be based on potash or phosphates, and are heavily processed, blended with chemicals and delivered in a concentrated form.

The Arapua fertiliser is formed from weathered lava, which is simply crushed, bagged and sold to local farmers. Known as KPfertil, it is completely organic, rich in nutrients and involves no added ingredients.

As such, it plays well into the fad for more natural foodstuffs, and farmers say it makes their coffee, sugar and other crops taste better.

KPfertil has other benefits. Most fertilisers are washed away yearly, having little permanent impact on areas where they are applied. KPfertil is released slowly into the soil, improving the quality of the earth over time.

The weathered lava on which it is based is easily accessible too, rather than being buried deep underground, like most potash. This accessibility and simple preparation make KPfertil cheap to produce, with total costs of about $8 (6) a ton. But McMaster can sell the fertiliser at $60 a ton, so the profit margin is substantial and the product is cheaper than imported alternatives.

Harvest only began to sell its fertiliser recently, but initial demand has been encouraging. In March, McMaster signed a 36,000-ton contract with a major distributor of agricultural products, and local farmers are enthusiastic once they understand KPfertils benefits.

The group is expected to sell 100,000 tons in the year to July 2019, rising to more than 300,000 tons by 2020. Over time, McMaster is keen to take annual production up to 450,000 tons, confident that local demand will be substantially higher.

Nearby coffee producers alone require more than three million tons of fertiliser a year and KPfertil is cheaper and more natural than most alternative products. Importantly for patriotic Brazilians, it is also produced at home.

Having been founded only in 2015, Harvest Minerals is at an early stage of development.

The company spent most of 2016 exploring and developing its assets, and most of 2017 gaining independent verification of the Arapua product and testing it on the market.

At the same time, the group has applied for government certification of KPfertil, in effect a kitemark, which is expected to be granted in the next few weeks.

Approval was expected in the first quarter and the delay has rattled some investors, sending the shares down from 22p to 17p since March. At this level however, they are a bargain.

Harvest has three other assets in Brazil  two potash mines and one phosphate mine. While these are at a much earlier stage than the Arapua project, initial findings have been positive. Looking ahead, Harvest is likely to continue low-cost exploration work on these sites before selling them in their entirety or finding joint venture partners to take them to commercialisation.

At the same time, McMaster and Azevedo are on the lookout for assets similar to Arapua, as demand for cheap, natural, organic fertiliser is only set to increase.

Midas verdict: Consumers the world over are being encouraged to eat healthier, more natural products and Harvest Minerals plays into that trend, making everyday goods taste better at the same time.

The companys fertiliser is low-cost and high-margin too, so the business should develop into a highly profitable operation. Like most early-stage firms, Harvest Minerals is not without risk, but the shares could prove to be a rewarding punt for adventurous investors, especially at the current 17p price.
For most of us, speedy access to the internet is a given. We happily stream films, send and receive videos, phone relatives via Skype and make super-fast online purchases.

But 1.4 million households in the UK suffer from broadband speeds of less than ten megabits per second, including 250,000 homes on less than 2Mbps.

The pattern is repeated across Europe, where 20 million homes are on speeds of less than 2Mbps, making even routine online browsing difficult.

Flying high: Andrew Walwyn's firm helps with slow internet access

Satellite Solutions Worldwide (SSW) aims to fix the issue, providing high-speed internet access for remote, rural communities and households.

Midas recommended the shares at 4.35p in January 2016. Today, they are 8.7p and are expected to move considerably higher over the next few years.

The company joined the London Stock Exchanges junior Aim market in May 2015 when it had 10,000 customers. Today, it has more than 100,000 and the numbers are rising every month. The firm has grown both organically and via acquisition, including two deals last month in Italy and Germany.

SSW boss Andrew Walwyn funded those transactions via a 12 million share placing, which leaves the firm with 3 million of cash for small acquisitions and general investment in the business.

Encouragingly, the new shares were priced at a premium to the prevailing price, suggesting large investors believe the firm has strong growth potential.

Renowned investor Christopher Mills also participated in the placing, so he now has a 22 per cent stake and a seat on the board. His record of successful investment is encouraging.

The group has government policy on its side too. Governments across Europe are exercised about the so-called digital divide  where some people have precious little broadband access.

Not only is it inconvenient but it increasingly disadvantages poorly connected homes and businesses. So the European Union has said that everyone must have access to speeds of up to 30Mbps by 2020.

Work is afoot to make that happen, including the launch of a new super-speed satellite, which should give households across Europe speeds of up to 100Mbps and unlimited access to data.

Scheduled for launch in 2020, that should turbo-charge SSWs growth, especially as the company is already in a joint venture with the firm behind the satellite  a leading player in the US.

Following the share placing, SSW intends to change its name to Bigblu Broadband and there will be a 15-for-one share consolidation so investors will receive one new share for every 15 held. This has no financial impact  it simply reduces the number of shares in issue and will make each share worth about 120p.

Midas verdict: SSW has grown rapidly in the past two years and the shares have almost doubled in price. But the best is yet to come. Existing investors should hold while new investors could still see value at todays price.
Two chief executives of collapsed mortgage bank HBOS were involved in the cover-up of a notorious fraud that ruined scores of firms, according to a shocking secret report.

A damning internal review seen by The Mail on Sunday alleges that executives at the highest level tried to conceal details of the HBOS Reading fraud.

Those accused include ex-chief executive Andy Hornby, now a multi-millionaire gambling boss, his predecessor James Crosby and Peter Cummings, the disgraced onetime head of corporate banking.

A damning internal review alleges that executives at the highest level tried to conceal details of the HBOS Reading fraud

Former chairman Lord Stevenson, now a mental health activist, is also named as one of those allegedly responsible for suppressing facts about the fraud.

Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake, co-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking, named the men in the House of Commons last week.

He said: 'Those named as culpable for nondisclosure in the report include chief executive Andy Hornby, chairman Dennis Stevenson, former CEO James Crosby, CEO James Crosby, corporate CEO Peter Cummings and auditors and reporting accountants KPMG.'

The Financial Conduct Authority is investigating the alleged cover up. The HBOS Reading fraud led to the jailing of six individuals in January 2017 for plundering small firms and the bank for personal gain between 2003 and 2007.

A court heard how they indulged in luxury cruises and sex parties document explosive document with the proceeds of their crimes.

The report, which was kept under wraps for five years until The Mail on Sunday saw it this weekend, claims the HBOS board failed to come clean about the shameful episode.

If the directors had revealed the truth, the report says, it would have 'rewritten history for HBOS, Lloyds and the Government'.

Those accused include ex-chief executive Andy Hornby, now a multi-millionaire gambling boss

It says HBOS was 'hopelessly insolvent by July 2008' and would never have been rescued that autumn as Lloyds would have been scared off by the prospect of large fraud losses, which the report puts at up to 1 billion. With legal cases ongoing the final cost to Lloyds remains unclear.

Questions might also have been raised as to whether the fraud was an isolated episode or happening elsewhere in the bank. The report says shareholders in both banks suffered 'substantial loss' as a result of the concealment.

However, investors have found it difficult to prove and win redress for such alleged losses. Calls were growing this weekend for the full report to be published.

Lloyds, and before it HBOS, have always argued they did not know fraud had been committed until the parties were convicted in 2017.

The report, however, compiled in 2013 by a Lloyds risk expert, alleges which bankers, auditors and insolvency practitioners knew what had gone on, and when they knew. It says the laptop of jailed banker Lynden Scourfield was wiped immediately after he left, contrary to bank policy.

KPMG was said to have been 'complicit' in withholding information from investors, knowing that disclosure would be 'potentially fatal' for HBOS - an allegation that KPMG denies.

Lloyds said a review it launched last year led by High Court judge Dame Linda Dobbs would investigate the cover-up allegation. It added: 'We have reviewed the allegations and taken the information within the report seriously.' Hornby, Crosby, Cummings and Stevenson could not be reached for comment.

But the bank has said the report contains 'many unsubstantiated allegations about individuals...the majority of which are made without any supporting evidence'.
Police are investigating the former Clydesdale and Yorkshire bank group, now known as CYBG, over alleged fraud against an entrepreneur.

The probe emerges as CYBG launches a 1.6 billion takeover bid for rival Virgin Money, led by Jayne-Anne Gadhia, a champion of high standards in banking.

Businessman David Taylor, 54, is also planning to launch a compensation claim against CYBG after his haulage business, TT Express, collapsed into administration last year.

The probe emerges as CYBG launches a 1.6 billion takeover bid for rival Virgin Money, led by Jayne-Anne Gadhia, a champion of high standards in banking

Mr Taylor claims he was misled by Yorkshire Bank in 2007 when he bought land in Oldham to build a depot for his business for 2.3 million.

He claims the bank knew, but did not tell him, that the land was actually worth as little as 800,000. Taylor believes this ultimately led to the collapse of his business, which had been named Tescos primary haulier of the year in 2015.

The depot is still in use after Taylors business was bought by John Raymond Transport.

But Taylor lost a High Court bid for an injunction against the bank and a receiver to prevent the sale of the land last Friday. He was ordered to pay costs.

Greater Manchester Polices economic crime unit has launched an investigation into the allegations.

A spokesman for CYBG, which launched its bid for Virgin last week, said: We strenuously deny any allegations of fraud against Yorkshire Bank and have cooperated with police.

Mr Taylors MP, Jim McMahon, has accused the bank of carrying out a thin internal review. He told Parliament: It is my belief that there is potential criminal activity thats taken place.
Hundreds of towns and villages are now bankless as a result of the mass closure of branches by the big banks. But some financial institutions are refusing to give up on the high street.

They realise that the withdrawal of the big banks gives them an ideal opportunity to demonstrate support for the communities they are dependent upon for their very own survival.

In this special three-page report, Personal Finance Editor Jeff Prestridge looks at the work being done by some to keep financial services on the high street. He begins his report in the Lake District.

Keen fell runner Chris Hodgson says it is reassuring to have a contact at his branch

Ambleside is a thriving Cumbrian town. As the gateway to the southern fells of the Lake District, it is a bolthole for walkers, overseas tourists in search of a bit of William Wordsworth, and students at the University of Cumbrias campus in the town.

Yet despite the constant stream of visitors, as well as an independently owned cinema (Zeffirellis), a number of fine dining restaurants (The Old Stamp House and Lake Road Kitchen) and a host of bed and breakfasts and guest houses, Ambleside is now deemed a no-go zone as far as the big banks are concerned.

Barclays, HSBC and, most recently, NatWest have all pulled out of the town, claiming that a high street presence no longer works for them. When NatWest pulled down the shutters for the last time on its rather ugly branch in October 2017, it said counter transactions at the branch had declined by 43 per cent since 2010.

Amblesides plight is not unique. Far from it. All the big banks  Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest  have pushed through draconian branch-axing programmes in recent years. Closures perpetuated by the growth of internet banking  and a steely determination to cut costs and staff numbers.

The closures show no sign of slowing up. Royal Bank of Scotland, the owner of NatWest, recently announced plans to shut another 162 outlets in the coming months. This is on top of the 259 it earmarked for the axe late last year.

Once these branches close, the part State-owned bank will have shed a third of its network since the end of last year. A dramatic rate of shrinkage.

Although Royal Bank of Scotland is not alone in felling branches Lloyds has just earmarked another 49 for the chop  the speed of closures has raised widespread concerns about the impact on communities.

Local support: Cumberland Building Society's branch in Silloth

Mike Cherry, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, says they will hurt high streets at a time when thousands of small firms and independent retailers are already struggling against a difficult economic backdrop. He adds: When a bank branch goes, it means less footfall, less cash in the local economy and less revenue for local firms.

Even MPs across the political divide have become alarmed about the banks withdrawal from the high street. Earlier this month Nicky Morgan, chairwoman of the influential Treasury Select Committee, said that if branch closures led to increased levels of financial exclusion among the elderly, disabled and small businesses, the Government may be required to intervene.

'Cumberland strives to help firms like ours' Safe haven: Chris and Allie Hodgson As owners of the deluxe Haven Cottage guest house in Ambleside, where most visitors book and pay via the internet, Allie and Chris Hodgson are comfortable doing most of their banking electronically. But when guests pay by cash, they need somewhere convenient to deposit their takings, which is one of the reasons why they have a business account with Cumberland Building Society. The local branch is a brisk five-minute walk away - or in Chris's case, a keen fell runner, a quick sprint. Chris, 52, says: 'Cumberland was an obvious banking choice for us given its presence in the town and the regrettable withdrawal of all the big banks. It is reassuring to have a point of local contact in the branch and to be able to bank cash without having to get in a car and drive - often in horrific holiday traffic - to a bank in Windermere four-anda-half miles away.' Allie, 51, and Chris also used Cumberland early last year to help finance the purchase of Haven Cottage, in part by allowing them to take out a holiday let mortgage on their property in Windermere. Although the opening month - April last year - was 'tough', the guest house's five bedrooms are proving popular. Allie, as keen on walking as her husband is on running up nearby Todd Crag, says: 'From next month through to September, occupancy rates are hovering at around the 98 per cent level. 'Cumberland's faith in us as a business is being vindicated. It is a local financial institution striving to help small businesses like us that make up the fabric of Ambleside.'

Currently, when a branch is put on notice of closure, the bank must let customers know and inform them of alternatives  such as online banking, the use of local Post Office facilities and other nearby branches. It is also required to disclose usage data, supporting the decision to close.

But unless there is an almighty backlash from customers  as happened earlier this year, forcing Royal Bank of Scotland to give ten Scottish branches a stay of execution  a bank can shut an outlet without being required to defend its actions to anyone.

At a stroke, it can leave a village or town bankless irrespective of the damage it leaves in its wake  with personal and business customers forced to travel further afield to do their banking with the knock-on effect on local trade.

Indeed, executives at Royal Bank of Scotland were ridiculed last week by Morgans fellow committee members for allowing staff to escort customers to their local post office so they could learn of the banking facilities available ahead of their branch closing.

John Mann, Labour MP for Bassetlaw, accused RBS of Monty Python-style banking, adding: This is one of many stories which prove that the banks line that customers no longer use branches is fiction.

Chief executive David Marlow has doubled Nottingham Building Society's network

ALTERNATIVES

Although the big banks are withdrawing from the high street, some rival financial institutions  most notably challenger banks and building societies  are taking an altogether different tack. They are investing in bricks and mortar, even if it means revolutionising the way their retail outlets operate to attract new customers.

Of the challengers, Metro Bank has shown the greatest commitment to the high street. When its newest store opens in Watford later this month, it will bring its network to 56. At present it is heavily concentrated in the south of the country, but another 11 branches are due to open between now and the end of the year, with the network expanding west into both Bristol and Southampton in the autumn.

Metro boss Craig Donaldson says the bank is ultimately looking to build a network of between 200 and 250 branches. The banks approach is centred on delivering customer service par excellence with branches open 12 hours a day during the working week and also at the weekend, albeit with reduced opening times.

In most instances, bank accounts  both personal and business  can be opened on the spot and new customers can walk out of the branch with a debit card ready to use.

Coin-counting machines and in some cases safe deposit boxes for hire complete Metros offering  as well as dog bowls for its four-legged visitors.

Nottingham Building Societys approach is slightly different. Like Metro, it is bucking the trend by expanding its branch network. It now has 67 outlets, compared to 32 six years ago, with the expansion done not by building new branches (as Metro has) but through acquiring outlets abandoned by rivals. It has a presence in 11 counties and hopes to add more premises. Its preference is for a presence in bustling towns where there is money  the likes of Ashbourne in the Peak District, Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire and Stamford in Lincolnshire.

David Marlow, chief executive of the society, says its focus on the high street works because it sweats all the branches. Rather than purely use them in the traditional way  as hubs for customers to top up or withdraw savings  Marlow has transformed them into financial centres where people can get advice on mortgages and key financial planning issues. Some outlets double as estate agents.

He says: Our view is that over the next 30 years, it is going to be a great challenge for many millennials to fund an adequate financial future.

We want to position ourselves as a business that through sound advice available on the high street can help the younger generation buy their first home and plan ahead. Marlow says the society has a strong sense of community and supports local initiatives aimed at tackling homelessness and helping people become more employable.

He adds: I think that if your reason as a bank or building society for a high street presence is to transact, the future is a dim one. Ours is a different raison detre and it is working.

LAST BANK STANDING

For other financial organisations, a priority is supporting communities that otherwise would have limited access to high street banking other than a free-to-use cash machine or a post office.

In Ambleside, Cumberland Building Society is the only institution where someone can walk in and do business banking  or operate a current account. Furness, also a building society, has an agency in the town, but customers can only conduct savings transactions.

Cumberland, whose catchment area extends from Lancaster in the south to Dumfries in the north, is keen to do all it can to support local communities. Of its 34 branches, 11 are the last bank standing.

Vicky Hope banks takings from her Fairydust Emporium tearoom in Silloth at her local branch

Peter Temple is deputy chief executive of the building society. He says: We have an economic commitment to our region. As a business we can only succeed if it thrives. That means offering as wide a range of services as we possibly can  everything from personal and business bank accounts through to internet and mobile app banking and financial advice.

It is also about being prepared to do things for our customers that other institutions would not contemplate. That comes from being more intimate  for example writing mortgages underwritten on an individual basis rather than on a tick box approach. We can do that because we understand the region we operate in.

Vicky Hope is delighted that Cumberland is prepared to back the coastal town of Silloth from where she runs the Fairydust Emporium  a vintage tea and coffee room renowned for its big hot chocolates.

Although a popular summer holiday spot, resulting in the population swelling from 3,500 to 15,000, both NatWest and HSBC shut up shop in Silloth long ago. While NatWest now offers an irregular banking service via a visiting mobile van, only Cumberland among the banks and building societies has a high street presence.

Vicky, 49, says: I run a successful business and employ 15 people. Yes, I do internet banking and accept payments via Apple Pay but I generate a lot of cash and want to bank it promptly.

Cumberlands branch in the town allows me to do that safely and it goes into my business account. I also have a cash Isa with it, my kids have savings accounts and I encourage all my friends to turn to the building society.

My view is simple. It supports us as a community and so we should return the favour and back it.
After the fateful 1973 State of Emergency Decree, the first victims of the 60-day detention without trial were the leadership of the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC) and some of the victims were deported much against the decisions of the courts as a special tribunal was set up to grant the deportation order.



This was bad because it was a violation of fundamental God-given freedoms that include the freedom of expression, speech, opinion as well as the freedom of association and assembly. This was also in violation of the right of the people to be represented by representatives of their own choice because all civil liberties were criminalised.



Government introduced the Ndabazabantu at the workplaces to deal with industrial relations matters without any training and Ndabazabantu were appointed by the King through the recommendation of Prince Masitsela with the intention to fully frustrate unionism and collective worker action at the workplace.



frustrating possible strike activities

This was also targeted at frustrating any possible strike activities. Unfortunately, the introduction of Ndabazabantu at the workplace did not only frustrate workers but the employers as well because they did not succeed in delivering on the expectations as strikes at the workplaces did not stop. The bad working conditions and unsafe workplaces did not improve either.



This was despite hearing about the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as a special body dealing with the tripartite and all workplace issues.



This was another big milestone accomplished by King Sobhuza II in his quest of seeking systematic industrial peace that had to be acceptable to workers, employers and government.

The workers leaders from the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) under the leadership of the first woman Secretary General Comrade Nomthetho Gladys Simelane, Obed Dlamini and Abel Dlamini pressured government and demanded their right to association and assembly.



Notably, both Nomthetho and Obed were employed by the Standard Bank and they also belonged to the Swaziland Bankers Union.



dealing with labour issues



At the time, the office of the Deputy Prime Minister headed by Zonke Khumalo was dealing with labour issues. Khumalo was also the Secretary General of the Imbokodvo National Movement - the ruling party at the time that was formed as a result of the fateful 1973 Decree.



On the other hand, we had a tough Swaziland National Teachers Association (SNAT) which was then led by the likes of Albert Heshane Shabangu and other powerful, forceful, and resolute leaders, whose gross victimisation by government, in particular Heshane Shabangu, led to the 1977 strike which was also joined by students. It was during some of the tough engagements that the idea of ILO - a specialised agency of the United Nations (UN) focusing on tripartism, labour relations and systems of conflict management systems were brought into the thought process.



It was yet another milestone that the government at the time sought ILO intervention to provide technical assistance in advising about the right conventions which the country had to ratify to produce labour laws that would have the capacity to provide industrial peace and setting up conflict resolutions mechanisms at the workplace. The ILO provided the technical assistance as requested and accordingly, in 1978, Swaziland ratified over 10 conventions and among those, they included the right to freedom of association, the right to free collective bargaining, the abolition of forced Labour, the convention on equal pay for work of equal value Irrespective of gender, the convention on minimum wage and also the introduction of the industrial relations and other tripartite dialogue structures such as the Labour Advisory Board to mention but a few. These initiatives introduced the Employment Act No.4 of 1980 and the Industrial Relations Act of 1980.




MOTSHANE  Churches and homesteads built after December 2011 when then Chief of Motshane Sipho Shongwe died, face eviction.



This was the announcement made by acting chief of the area Mdokwane Shongwe, who was represented by Jameson Shongwe at Ndvuma Royal Kraal yesterday morning.

About 150 residents converged at the homestead of the late chief in the presence of about seven police officers for the much-anticipated pronouncement.



There were concerns before the meeting at the swelling illegal homesteads and churches in the area, with residents blaming the two warring factions within the Shongwe clan. However, the difference yesterday was that when the pronouncement was made, both sets of warring factions seated side by side for a rare show of support on the subject of the day. It was, however, not clear who among the two warring factions was responsible for the illegal allocation of land to people at the area, despite a ruling that stopped anyone from allocating land at Ndvuma chiefdom.



There were fears prior to the meeting that tempers could fly in the face of the existing two centres of power in the area. Credit though should go to the police who ensured that the two Shongwe factions met before the actual commencement of the community meeting where the warning against mushrooming homesteads and churches was made, to the amusement of the residents.



The reason we called the meeting today was to address the circulating concerns from the community over the mushrooming of homesteads and churches. This is despite the fact that a ruling was made from the Ludzidzini stopping anyone from allocating land to anyone. In fact, it was the late chief who was first to note that the land should be kept for the future generations to come. We therefore warn those doing it to stop now, Shongwe said amidst cheers from the women section of the residents who had come for the meeting.



PACK AND GO

Jameson Shongwe said the message from the acting chief Mdokwane, was to inform those who might have acquired land post the death of the late chief to vacate immediately.

The Ludzidzini indvuna made it clear that we should tell all those who might have acquired land outside the relevant authorities to pack their belongings and go, he said.



When quizzed after the meeting what would become of those structures built on land acquired illegally, he said they could stay at their own risk, because when the new chief ascend to his position, he might decide to evict them.

The residents appreciated the pronouncement on mushrooming homesteads and lamented at how this practice had rendered the area ungovernable.



One Bongani Hlophe wanted to know what would become of those who had acquired land illegally. He said the late chief left only eight churches that had applied for land in the area, but alleged that the list had increased now, blaming the warring factions for allocating people land for personal gain.












MBABANE  It is probably one of the most-prized assets that deceased business mogul Victor Mfana Gamedze had under his portfolio.



Astutely referred to as the Glass House, the multi-million Emalangeni valued building is arguably one of the most attractive in the capital city, Mbabane, and is the landmark structure within the main street, Gwamile (formerly Allister Miller).



As Gamedzes estate is being wound up, many people are eagerly awaiting to see what will happen to this building and who, among the beneficiaries of his estate, will be given its ownership.

The buildings main tenant is Swazi Mobile  the countrys second mobile telecommunications operator, which was co-founded by Gamedze.

The Times SUNDAY understands that the Glass House has, however, been left out of Gamedzes estate, which means it will not form part of the assets that will be distributed by executor, leading lawyer Sidumo Mdladla of SV Mdladla & Associates.



Building owned by trust

The reason for the building not forming part of the estate is because it is owned by a company, Serjeant Investments, which, in turn, is owned by a trust  Mfana Trust.

It is common cause that a trust administers itself, so assets that are registered under a trust do not form part of the assets that belong to an estate that is being distributed following the death of a person, one senior attorney told this publication.



The attorney stated that since the Glass House is owned by Serjeant Investments, it means that the person who owns this company is the one who owns the building.

Because Serjeant is owned by a trust, it means that trust owns the Glass House. It therefore does not form part of Gamedzes estate.

You will see when the distribution of the estate is done, the Glass House will not feature, emphasised the attorney.



An online legal advisory states that among the chief advantages of trusts, is that they let you put conditions on how and when your assets are distributed after you die; reduce estate and gift taxes; distribute assets to heirs efficiently without the cost and delay publicity of probate court.



The advisory also defines trust property as assets that have been placed into a fiduciary relationship between a trustor and trustee for a designated beneficiary.

Trust property may include any type of asset such as cash, securities, real estate or life insurance policies, states the advisory.



Mdladla, when contacted on this, asked not to comment until the estate was wound up  a process he said was currently at its latter stages of completion.

Serjeant Investments, according to documents from the registrar of companies, was initially owned and co-directed by Gamedze with his long time private assistant Lomkhosi Gcinile Yvonne Dlamini.

However, a little over two months after Gamedzes murder, this publication revealed that Dlamini was no longer director of Serjeant Investments.
MBABANE  Government has enforced its toughest decision to date regarding the influx of illegal foreign nationals, especially those of Asian origin, posing as businesspeople.



There are at least seven short-term and two long-term recommendations that are now being implemented to make it harder for the foreign nationals to open businesses in the Kingdom of Eswatini.

The Times SUNDAY has seen a highly-confidential Cabinet paper that has the recommendations and discussions that were held at Hospital Hill regarding the issue of foreign nationals.

Firstly, Cabinet has advised the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade to stop issuing trading licences to temporary residents.



Secondly, Cabinet has recommended that there should be a screening process to ascertain the source of funding for foreign nationals applying for trading licences.

Thirdly, the ministry has been urged to increase on-site inspections of these businesses throughout the country in conjunction with the Royal Eswatini Police.



A further recommendation is that it should be a requirement for foreign-owned businesses to provide financial statements (12 months) when applying for renewal of trading licences.

The ministry has also been advised to enforce Trading Licence Regulations schedule B 4(2) (C) (asset value between E2 million and E5 million, with a staff complement of 11 to 50 people and/or has an annual turnover of up to E8 million).



The ministry has been advised to make this provision a minimum requirement for foreign nationals who intend to do business in Eswatini before they are allowed to set up.

The last short-term recommendation is that consultations should take place on this issue to seek public submission to gauge public opinion concerning tackling the challenge.



Increasing of fines after blacklisting



In the long-term, it has been recommended that the Trading Licences Order of 1975 should be amended to allow for the blacklisting of businesses found to be contravening the national laws and regulations.

The other long-term advice is that the Trading Licence Regulations should be amended to increase fines after blacklisting.



A senior government official informed this publication that Cabinet, leading up to the recommendations, summoned officials from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade to find out how the portfolio could contribute to stopping the influx of Asian nationals.



Cabinet said they had seen that the ministry of Home Affairs was not helping the situation so they wanted the ministry of commerce to come and help. This was mainly because Home Affairs officials were saying they granted these foreigners the residence permits because the ministry of commerce had granted these people trading licences. So they were arguing that they had no choice but to issue the residence papers, the official said.

He said what the Home Affairs officials, however, failed to explain was that they were the ones who facilitated these peoples entry into the country, but the commerce officials argument was that these people went through Home Affairs first before they applied for trading licences.



The official stated that the Cabinet recommendations followed the Parliament probe into the influx of Asian nationals into the country and government saw that there was an existing gap that needed to be filled because these foreigners were found with Eswatini documents in countries that they should not be in.



Terrorist White widow found with Swazi passport

He made an example of the white widow with terrorist links who was found to be in possession of an Eswatini passport.

There are also ISIS members who have now been found to be in possession of Eswatini documents. If you look at the United States, it always prioritises issues of terrorism, so as a country if we continue to have our documents found in the hands of these people, we risk being declared as the weakest link, the official warned.



He stated that it was this weakest link risk that could result in the country losing on a number of benefits, especially in trade and foreign relations. The bigger threat is that people carrying Eswatini passports would no longer be allowed to travel into or through the United States and that would be a serious situation, added the official.



It has been ascertained that these recommendations are already being implemented through the Registrar of Companies office and Asian nationals, who are the main target, are feeling the pinch.

As a result, a number of the Asian nationals have communicated their difficulties to the lawyers hoping they would be assisted. The lawyers, in turn, reportedly approached the Law Society of Eswatini to find out what the problems were at the Registrar of Companies offices that was making it impossible for their clients to register their businesses.



Law Society Secretary General Bongani Mdluli confirmed these reports and said they approached Msebe Malinga  the Registrar of Companies  for an explanation. Malinga gave us satisfactory responses which we conveyed to our members. But if there are people who still have problems, they can approach us individually, Mdluli said.

On the other hand, Malinga said the issue of the recommendations was not only for his office or specific departments but the entire Ministry mhence the Minister Jabulani Mabuza, and Principal Secretary Siboniso Nkambule were the ones better placed to speak on them. He, however, confirmed that they were implementing the recommendations.
A family of six launched suicide attacks on Christians attending Sunday services at three churches in Indonesia\s second-largest city of Surabaya, killing at least 13 people and wounding 40, officials said.

Indonesia, the world\s largest Muslim-majority country, has seen a recent resurgence in homegrown militancy and police said the family who carried out Sunday\s attacks were among 500 Islamic State sympathizers who had returned from Syria.

"The husband drove the car, an Avanza, that contained explosives and rammed it into the gate in front of that church," East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the regional police headquarters in Surabaya.

The wife and two daughters were involved in an attack on a second church and at the third church "two other children rode the motorbike and had the bomb across their laps", Mangera said.

The two daughters were aged 12 and 9 while the other two, thought to be the man\s sons, were 18 and 16, police said.

Police blamed the bombings on the Islamic State-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

JAD is an umbrella organization on a U.S. State Department terrorist list that is estimated to have drawn hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers in Indonesia.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, in a message carried on its Amaq news agency.

"This act is barbaric and beyond the limits of humanity, causing victims among members of society, the police and even innocent children," President Joko Widodo said during a visit to the scene of the attacks.

Indonesian terrorism analyst Rakyan Adibrata said it was the first time children had been involved in attacks in the country.

East Java police spokesman Mangera said at least 13 people had been killed and 40 had been taken to hospital, including two police officers. He called on people to remain calm.

Streets around the bombed churches were blocked by checkpoints and heavily armed police stood guard as forensic and bomb squad officers combed the area for clues.

Television footage showed one church where the yard in front was engulfed in fire with thick, black smoke billowing up. A large blast was heard hours after the attacks, which Mangera said was a bomb disposal squad dealing with a device.

JAIL STANDOFF

The attacks are the deadliest in Indonesia linked to Islamic State and the worst since October 2005, when three suicide bombers blew themselves up in Bali restaurants killing 20.

They came days after militant Islamist prisoners killed five members of an elite counter-terrorism force during a 36-hour standoff at a high-security jail near Jakarta.

Police Chief Tito Karnavian told reporters that because many militant leaders had been captured "these groups are starting to  retaliate."

Wawan Purwanto, communication director at Indonesia\s intelligence agency, said the main target of militants remained the security forces, but "there are alternative (targets) if the main targets are blocked".

At St Mary\s catholic church, the first place of worship to be attacked, the bombing happened after an earlier mass was over and when the church was getting ready to hold another service.

Separately, an internal police report reviewed by Reuters said a suspected bomb exploded in a car in the parking lot of a Pentacostal church, setting alight dozens of motorbikes.

In the third location, the Indonesian Christian Church, veiled women entered the church\s yard where they were stopped by a security guard before an explosion occurred at the same spot, according to the police report.

POPE OFFERS PRAYERS

Jeirry Sumampow, a spokesman for Indonesia\s church association (PGI), called on the government for more help for security at churches.

Pope Francis offered his prayers for the victims.

"I am particularly close to the dear people of Indonesia, especially to the communities of Christians of the city of Surabaya, which were hit hard by the serious attack on places of worship," he said during his Sunday prayer in Rome.

"Together we invoke the God of peace (asking him) to cease these violent actions and (to make sure) that in the heart of all there could be a space not feelings of hatred and violence, but of reconciliation and fraternity."

Nearly 90 percent of Indonesians are Muslim, but the country is also home to sizeable communities of Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, and people who adhere to traditional beliefs.

Indonesia has had some major successes tackling militancy inspired by al Qaeda\s attacks on the United States in 2001. But there has been a resurgence of Islamist attacks in recent years, including in January 2016 when four suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a shopping area in central Jakarta.

Churches have also been targeted previously, including near-simultaneous attacks over Christmas in 2000 that killed about 20 people.

SOURCE: REUTERS
Hello.I have an old AV (Sony STR-DB930) who doesn't have HDMI port and a Samsung F5000 led HDTV.I have 2 different PCs, a desktop (asus M5 A97 R2.0 mainboard with toslink port for sound & radeon HD 7870 GPU with hdmi port for picture) and an asus X551 MA laptop with hdmi port.After carefully reading your forum I have found 2 different methods to connect both of the PCs to my HDTV via the AV.

1)For my desktop: Picture: HDMI from the GPU to the HDTV

Sound: TOSLINK from the mainboard to the receiver

2)For my laptop: Picture: HDMI from laptop to HDTV

Sound: TOSLINK from TV to AV receiver (Samsung HDTV has TOSLINK port)

My question is: which of the 2 methods is better as far as the sound is concerned.Is there a difference at all? If for example i choose to connect my desktop the way my laptop is connected (that is using HDMI for the picture and using the tv's TOSLINK instead of the mainboard's for the sound) will it be an improvement or not? My AV is connected to a 5.0 surround speaker setup (no subwoofer).Furthermore my TV is on a wall mount and every time i need to connect the laptop I have to take it down in order to connect the TOSLINK cable.Thank you in advance.


I'll add that it's likely not an Amazon toolbar. The way online stores work is that if a website gives you a link to the store, the link includes something called a referral code. Your browser remembers that referral code as you browse the store. If you happen to buy anything from the store, the store pays a percentage of your purchase price to the referring website as a sales commission.



Some malware authors have abused this to make money, instead of extorting the victim or selling access to your system. A toolbar like this may overwrite the referral code for any link to Amazon with the malware author's. And whenever you buy something from Amazon, he gets a percentage of your purchase price as a referral commission, instead of the website which actually sent you to Amazon.
Many people stopped by the sheriff's office on Saturday to meet Darryl Forte, the first African-American to be named sheriff of Jackson County. This was the first chance for the community to bring the new sheriff their questions and concerns. The one-on-one time with Sheriff Forte allowed many to share their thoughts.
WAPO OFFERS VIVID DETAIL OF ALLEGATIONS AGAINST GUV GREITENS AS THE #METOO MOVEMENT WORKS TO TAKE DOWN THE POLITICO ACCUSED OF A SORDID BASEMENT SEX ESCAPADE!!!

"If Missouris governor, Eric Greitens, is convicted or impeached in the coming weeks, as many in the state now expect, he will join a growing roster of politicians and celebrities in driving home a powerful new lesson: The shape of the American sex scandal has shifted. Adultery itself may no longer end a career, but if you use coercion or violence against women, youre as good as done.





"The governor, a dynamic young Republican ex-Navy SEAL who carried an assault rifle in his best-known TV ad, is on trial in St. Louis on a felony charge stemming from his affair with a hairdresser who says Greitens slapped, spanked and shoved her, in addition to taking a partially nude photo of her and threatening to blackmail her with it.





"Even as his trial gets underway Monday, Greitens also faces an impeachment vote as a special session begins Friday in the Missouri House of Representatives, where the fact that his own party enjoys a large majority may be no saving grace.





Theres been a shift, said Missouri state Rep. Jean Evans, a Republican, and people are more willing to speak publicly to condemn violence against women, even if its from your own party.

Today's very best Sunday feature from a lefty newspaper has raised a few eyebrows among the best and brightest of our blog community who graciously forwarded it our way.To wit . . .You decide . . .
Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), an international financial centre in the UAE, has launched its first overseas representative office in Beijing, China, in the presence of eminent senior officials and industry leaders from both countries.



The ADGM China Office reinforces ADGMs role in supporting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) growth strategy and strengthening Abu Dhabis ongoing collaborations with the Chinese government and financial and business community, reported Emirates news agency Wam.



The new representative office further demonstrates ADGMs commitment to China and its Belt-and-Road initiative that focuses on enhancing the connectivity and co-operation along the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and ocean-going Maritime Silk Road, linking the markets of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and increasingly those of Africa.



The Belt-and-Road strategy focuses on a number of key priority areas including: infrastructure; trade and investment; internationalisation of the Chinese currency, the yuan renminbi (RMB); policy co-operation and co-ordination, and cultural exchange.



As a Financial Services Regulator, ADGM recognises the importance of fostering greater regulatory collaboration, bolstering connectivity and creating new opportunities among like-minded economies. As part of the launch of ADGM China office celebrations, ADGM entered into new collaborations with key Chinese authorities and institutions to augment the Belt-and-Road growth plans; these included the UAE-China Industrial Co-operation Demonstration Zone, Asian Financial Co-operation Association, and Guo-Tai Jun-An Securities.



Ahmed Al Sayegh, chairman of ADGM, said: "We are pleased to inaugurate ADGMs first overseas office in the capital of China and honoured to play a part in supporting the long-term growth plans of both China and the UAE.



The ADGM China Office will continue its regulatory collaborations with the authorities, initiating new projects and joint activities to generate more cross-border connectivity and opportunities between the two economies. One of our key commitments will be working with the relevant authorities in China and Abu Dhabi to support the RMB internationalisation strategy and build up an offshore RMB centre serving the MENA region via ADGM. We look forward to bolstering the long-term financial and investment needs and interests of the UAE and China."
Key GCC financial talks set in Kuwait



Top government representatives from across the GCC will participate at the 107th Meeting of the GCC Financial and Economic Committee, being held in Kuwait, tomorrow (May 14), which is being hosted by the Kuwait Ministry of Finance.



The meeting will be attend by the Ministers of Finance and Economics of the six GCC countries and attended by the secretary general of the GCC, Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al Zayani, and under the chairmanship of the Kuwaiti Minister of Finance Dr Nayef Falah Al Hajraf, said a statement.



In a statement on the occasion, Al Hajraf said: Kuwait is honoured to host this important meeting as part of HH Sheikh Sabah Ahmed Al-Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait, unhindered commitment to the GCC economic integration and to highlight the milestones accomplished over the past 37 years.



Holding this meeting in Kuwait demonstrates the keen interest of the six brotherly nations in working together towards renewed economic integration and the amalgamation of fiscal policy, he said.



On the agenda are several issues related to GCC joint economic action to be discussed and reviewed including amendments proposed by the Industrial Cooperation Committee on the control of tariff exemptions on imports of reinforcing steel and iron sheets and Saudi Arabias proposal to expand the scope of goods covered by the GCC excise tax.



The committee meeting will be held in Kuwait City and will be preceded by the 53th Meeting of the Committee of Undersecretaries of the Ministries of Finance and Economy of the GCC.



The meeting builds on the success of the 106th Meeting of the committee on financial and economic cooperation held in Bahrain, on May 4, 2017, which the appropriate mechanisms for the implementation of the two unified conventions on value added (VAT) and excise tax and the development of ports in a manner that enables it to meet the requirements of the GCC customs union, in line with the latest international customs practices. - TradeArabia News Service


Shuaa Capital, a UAE-based integrated financial services Group, has announced the appointment of Atif Al Othri as chief executive officer of its fully owned Shariah compliant business financing arm Gulf Finance Saudi Arabia.



Atif brings to Gulf Finance two decades of experience in the investments and banking industries, working across various businesses, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), commercial and corporate banking sectors.



His role at Gulf Finance includes leading a team of professionals who are responsible for providing a wide range of tailor made financial lending and leasing products and services to SMEs in Saudi Arabia.



Jassim Alseddiqi, chairman of Shuaa Capital and Gulf Finance Saudi Arabia, said: Gulf Finance Corporation and its Shariah compliant sister company Gulf Finance Saudi are niche providers of financing solutions to businesses in the Gulf.



As we forge ahead with the expansion of our various business lines, we are paying particular attention to our presence in the Kingdom during this focal point in its history. With the Kingdom gearing up for the next stage in its economys evolution, Atifs experience and knowledge makes him the ideal candidate to lead our ambitious plans there, and to support not only the growth of the Islamic finance industry, but the Kingdoms finance sector as a whole.



Al Othri said: I am pleased to have joined Gulf Finance Saudi Arabia and in-turn, the Shuaa family. These are exciting times for a company like Gulf Finance SA, and we see robust demand for financing solutions by active and well-established corporates and businesses operating in the Kingdom, especially in the midst of efforts by the Government to diversify and open up the economy further, and plans for sectoral privatisation. We look forward to being at the heart of the Kingdoms burgeoning commercial sector.



Prior to joining Gulf Finance, Al Othri was deputy head of Corporate Banking at Bank Muscat in Saudi Arabia



Al Othri holds a masters degree in business administration from the University of Southampton (United Kingdom) and a bachelors degree in computer information system from the University of Detroit (USA).- TradeArabia News Service
Aiming to gain more clout in the cyber world, banks in Bahrain have started offering full-fledged digital services, and customers could be months away from seeing an entirely digital bank away from the traditional brick and mortar.



First it was Gulf International Bank which last month opened a digital-only Shariah-compliant banking service in Bahrain, called meem and now it's the turn of Kuwait Finance House- Bahrain (KFH-Bahrain), a leading Islamic bank in Bahrain, to join the fray.



Called Jazeel, which means great in Arabic, the community-based platform is a revolutionary smartphone application by KFH-Bahrain that will allow customers to enjoy full-fledged banking services from the comfort of their homes.



The app is currently only for customers in Bahrain, but it will soon be offered in other GCC countries as well; it will allow KFH to grow beyond geographical boundaries," said Subah Abdullatif Al Zayani, the deputy head of retail banking, in an interview to Trade Arabia.



It will take customers no more than five minutes to open a bank account from where they are, and only thing they would require is their smart cards and passports ready with them for verification. Once done, the account details will be provided to them instantly and the best part is that they will not have to visit a branch, he remarked.



The fully-digitised E-KYC (electronic know your customer) process for all customer information is validated online via video conferencing through the application.



But what differentiates KFHs digital platform from other banks is the self-development features, explained Al Zayani, adding that its an evolving platform and new features will be added with time  from social, community to financial services.



Without elaborating much on the kind of these services, he said, in addition to offering financial services, KFH wanted to add value to peoples lives and help them engage more with the community they are living in.



And this will be done through upcoming self-development modules, which are very unique and never- before-seen and will include healthcare and education features. Through Jazeel, we will combine features that will target the self-development of people and help them enhance their lives and give back to the community, observed Al Zayani.



These, he added, will be rolled out next month.



On Jazeels financial services, Al Zayani said the application will allow customers in Bahrain and eventually in the GCC, to not only open a Mudaraba-based savings account, Libshara account, but also access transactional and many other facilities and services.



The top official said the app was part of KFHs consumer acquisition strategy to win over more retail customers and has been mainly targeted at the millennials and the tech savvy. "But that doesnt mean it wont appeal to the older generation," added Al Zayani.



To a question on how will people, who are more comfortable with face-to-face banking respond, he said people had similar apprehensions when e-banking was started.



Many said no one would use it, quite honestly, the customer evolves much faster than the financial institution, he added.



Al Zayanio said: "In the beginning there will be some hesitation but that will soon fade away and then customers will have more expectations from these banks. And if you are not at that level, you will fail to deliver to their expectations, he stated.



Its not about matching the expectations of today but rather reimagining what can be done in the future, so that when the customer reaches that level, you are already there, he added.



In terms of security for the app, Al Zayani said all industry standards had been strictly met.



"The platform provides a number of specialised custom-made features including forensic documents analysis, digital documents scanning including signature, facial recognition, selfie checks, create digital identify and many more," he noted.



These features allow for the genuine verification of the documents scanned by the customers, via the application, in real time, and can immediately alert the bank of any tampering with the same, he added.



Jazeel is available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.-TradeArabia News Service
Diyar Al Muharraq, one of the leading urban developers in the Kingdom of Bahrain, recently hosted a site visit by a delegation from the Economic Development Board.



The visit was held in conjunction with Diyar Al Muharraqs participation in the Gateway Gulf Investor Forum Bahrain 2018 which concluded last week at the Four Seasons hotel.



A high-profile investment event, Gateway Gulf was held under the patronage of HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and Chairman of the Bahrain EDB.



The forum saw more than 500 global investors and CEOs from a variety of sectors, including oil and gas, real estate, tourism, housing, power, water, transport, public works and manufacturing discuss ways to unlock key investment opportunities in the kingdom.



The delegation was welcomed at the Diyar Sales Office, where they were briefed on the significance of each of Diyar Al Muharraqs prominent projects and the different aspects in which they contribute to both the economy and the culture of Bahrain, as well as to the foresighted vision that is being manifested within the development.



They were then taken to the Marassi Al Bahrain Sales Office, where they were acquainted with the project by the Marassi Sales Team.



Subsequently, the delegation was guided on a tour of the most noteworthy projects within Diyar Al Muharraq, including Marassi Al Bahrain and Dragon City, amongst others, and was given the latest updates of each.



Diyar Al Muharraq had played a prominent role at the Gateway Gulf Investor Forum Bahrain 2018, with CEO Dr Maher Al Shaer delivering a keynote address at the conference.



Welcoming the EDB delegation, Dr Al Shaer said: "It brings me immense pleasure to be welcoming such a high-level delegation to Diyar Al Muharraq as it is in keeping with both the transparency of our architectural aspirations and operations and is in tandem with the illustrious nature of our visionary development."



"We take pride in being a vital point of investment, bringing financial infrastructural progress to the Kingdom of Bahrain. Therefore, we look forward to hosting the eminent investors who are part of the delegation and to elaborating on the vitality of our master-planned development, on a long-term basis, to both the kingdom and the regional real estate and property development industry," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
APM Terminals Bahrain, the operator of Khalifa Bin Salman Port (KBSP), recently hosted its annual Global Safety Day campaign, which highlighted the importance of safety excellence across the port.



Joining 74 other operating ports in 58 countries across the global network of APM Terminals, this year the focus was on Stronger and Safer Together, with an aim to promote a safety culture amongst employees and across the port, said a statement.



For the 12th consecutive year, APM Terminals held safety awareness campaign and hosted a range of workshops and included interactive sessions such as overall well-being advices, technical demonstrations on working at heights, oil spill drill and how to act safely when occur, general cargo safe lifting operation, mooring lines operations, it said.



Moreover, the day also witnessed employees, senior management team and guests participating in a safety quiz.



In the run-up to the campaign, a photography competition was also organised to reiterate the safety rules and regulations within the port with top three pictures honoured during the event, it added.



Mark Hardiman, CEO and managing director of APM Terminals Bahrain, said: Creating an effective safety culture is a priority for us and requires a combined individual and group effort by all to ensure we have an environment that is safe and professional for everyone.



With this in focus, we regularly invest in awareness initiatives to train our employees in high-standards of performance at all levels to further achieve safety and operational excellence, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Bowardi, UAEs Minister of State for Defence Affairs, and Tomohiro Yamamoto, Japanese Minister of State for Defence, have signed a joint cooperation agreement between the UAE and Japan in security and defence affairs.



The agreement aims to exchange cooperation and defence expertise to support and develop strategic relations between the two countries and work to increase coordination in the security, equipment and defence technology fields, reported Emirates news agency Wam.



During his visit to the Japanese Defence Ministry in Tokyo, Al Bowardi emphasised the deep ties between the UAE and Japan, which are witnessing great strategic development thanks to the support and guidance of the two countries leadership.



Al Bowardi said that the agreement represents a new qualitative shift in the friendly relations between the two countries, especially in the defence and security sectors.



He also met with Suzuki Yoshiyuki, Commissioner of the Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency, and exchanged views on the need to strengthen bilateral relations and means of supporting and developing across all sectors.
Best Western Hotels & Resorts has appointed Cyrill Czerwonka as its new regional director of development - Asia.



Czerwonka has enjoyed an impressive career in the hotel investment and development sector with both operators and owners. This has included identifying new hotel opportunities, negotiating deals and conducting financial studies for a number of international hospitality companies.



Having obtained his Masters Degree in Business & Finance from the Graduate Business School of Management: Audencia Nantes, France, Czerwonka entered the hospitality industry with AccorHotels. Based in Bangkok, this role also re-introduced Czerwonka to the Asia Pacific region as he focused on Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Maldives, and conducted a three-month mission to India.



Following this, he spent almost five years with Singapore-based serviced apartment specialist, The Ascott Limited, as business development manager for Europe and North Africa. Then in 2013, he joined Dusit International as assistant director of development for EMEA, based in the UAE.



Having honed his skills, Czerwonka now joins Best Westerns Asia head office in Bangkok, where he will focus on seeking new hotel development opportunities for the company across the region. This appointment comes at an exciting time for Best Western, as the company accelerates its Asian expansion plans.



We are delighted to welcome Cyrill to the Best Western Asia team, said Olivier Berrivin, Best Westerns managing director of International Operations - Asia. His talent, experience and financial acumen will be great assets for our company as we continue to grow our portfolio."



With an expanded collection of 11 hotel brands, including three soft brands, Best Western is perfectly positioned to meet the demands of any market, from major cities to emerging destinations. With Cyrill now onboard, we expect to see Best Westerns world-famous standards of hospitality introduced to guests in many exciting new locations, all across Asia, Berrivin added.



I am very excited to be joining Best Western Hotels & Resorts  one of the hospitality industrys most famous and historic companies, commented Czerwonka. I have watched their recent brand expansion strategy with interest and have been very impressed by many of the advanced concepts that have been launched, including soft brands and millennial hotels. I look forward to working with the entire team here in Bangkok to bring these innovative brands to guests all across the region.



Best Western currently operates more than 50 hotels and resorts across Southeast Asia and Japan, covering five of its global brands. This portfolio is expected to expand considerably in the coming years, with at least 30 new properties in the pipeline. - TradeArabia News Service


laxmi@tribune.com

SC Vasudeva

Q. Please let me know whether a pensioner/family pensioner is also eligible for standard deduction for AY 2018-19. Is interest up to Rs 50,000 from FDs also deductible/exempt for senior citizens? In case of bank failure/bankruptcy, whether money deposited with a bank in savings account and FDs safe? Are post office deposits safer than bank deposits?  Gulshan Kumar

A. Your queries are replied hereunder:

(a) A pensioner, who is a senior citizen, will be entitled to the deduction to the extent of Rs 50,000 in respect of the interest earned on all types of deposit with banks, including co-operative bank and post offices. This deduction is applicable for assessment year 2019-20 i.e. financial year 2018-19. Family pension is normally received by the family of an employee after his death which is taxable under the head Income from other sources. Such pension is not covered for standard deduction.

(b) The chance of a public sector bank being declared bankrupt or its failure to honour its depositors are remote because such banks are owned by the Government of India which has majority shareholdings in such banks. The Central Government would not let it happen. In case RBI is of the opinion that a particular bank is weak, it is normally merged with a stronger bank whereby the depositors money is secured.

(c) The choice where the amount should be deposited lies with you. Therefore, you can take a decision in this respect.

Q. I am retired PSPCL officer (senior citizen). I sold my ancestral agricultural land at Sherpur village (Sangrur district, Punjab). Sherpur village is situated about 20 km from municipal limits. My questions are as under:

1. Whether the amount received from sale of this agricultural land is subject to capital gain tax?

2. Whether the entry of sale of this agricultural land is to be made in ITR for FY 2017-18 (AY 2018-19), if yes then which ITR form is to be used for this?  JR Goyal

A. Your queries are replied hereunder:

(a) The amount of capital gain arising on the sale of agricultural land would not be taxable, if the agricultural land is not situated within the municipal limits or is situated beyond a distance of 8 km measured aerially from the municipal limits. Further, even if such land is situated within the above distance but has been held for over two years, the amount of capital gain would be taxable at a lower rate of 20% plus education cess of 3% thereon.

(b) In case the amount of capital gain is in respect of agricultural land held for less than two years, the amount of capital gain will have to be included in the total income of an assessee and taxable at normal slab rates.

(c) The amount of capital gain would be taxable in the assessment year in which sale deed is executed or in the assessment year in which possession is handed over against receipt of part consideration whichever of the two is earlier.

(Readers can send their queries to delhi@scvindia.com)
editorial@tribune.com

Chandigarh, May 13

An unknown person has been booked by the Chandigarh Police for raping a 14-year-old girl.

Sources said the victim, a resident of Ram Darbar, complained of stomach pain on Sunday after which her family took her to the GMSH, Sector 16. The sources said the victim delivered a premature baby. The police were informed about the incident. The police said the victims parents claimed they were not aware that she was pregnant. The police recorded the victims statement and registered a case under the POCSO Act and the IPC against an unknown person at the Sector 31 police station. The sources said an investigation had been initiated into the case and the victim would be counselled to know about the accused.  TNS
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 12

As the two-year deadline for installing solar power plants is set to expire next week, residents who failed to instal rooftop solar power plants at their houses will face notices from the Estate Office.

The Chandigarh Administration, in a notification issued on May 18, 2016, had made installation of rooftop solar power plants mandatory in residential houses measuring 500 square yard and above and group housing societies. While installation of solar plants was made mandatory in new houses, owners of the existing houses were given two years to comply with the direction.

The Chandigarh Renewal Energy, Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST) had already asked the Estate Office to start compliance with the notification.

Sources said despite the notification, not many persons had come forward to instal solar power plants. Nearly 900 residents had so far applied for installing rooftop solar plants.

The Government of India had selected Chandigarh to be developed as a model solar city and set a target of installation of 50 MW solar plants, both at residential and government buildings, by 2022.

The notification

The Chandigarh Administration, in a notification issued on May 18, 2016, had made installation of rooftop solar power plants mandatory in residential houses measuring 500 sq yd and above and group housing societies. While installation of solar plants was made mandatory in new houses, owners of the existing houses were given two years to comply with the direction.

Fact file

Despite the notification, not many persons had come forward to instal rooftop solar power plants. Nearly 900 residents had so far applied for installing solar plants.

Association urges Badnore to extend deadline

The Industries Association of Chandigarh (IAC) has urged Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore to extend the deadline. Arun Mahajan, member of the association, in a representation to Home Secretary Anurag Aggrawal, said due to lack of awareness, only a few industrialists have installed rooftop solar power plants. He said they had requested the Administration to extend the deadline by another two years. Pankaj Khanna, another member, said the residents should be given sufficient time as it involves various formalities.
editorial@tribune.com

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 13

The Municipal Corporation is all set to cancel the parking contract after serving a three-month termination notice to Arya Toll Infra Limited, which is managing the 25 parking lots in the city.

Sources said the agenda for the termination of the contract would be placed at the next general house meeting of the corporation, likely to be held by this month-end.

The agenda is being prepared following the decision of the Finance and Contract Committee to cancel the contract, taken at a meeting held in the first week of this month.

The committee members were in favour of issuing a three-month termination notice to the parking firm over non-implementation of the smart parking directives.

The UT Administration has not taken any decision on the recommendations of the general house of the MC on the contract yet. Though MC officials are waiting for an official communication, the Administration is unlikely to get involved in the controversy. A senior officer said the MoU was not signed with the concurrence of the Administration; so why should it intervene for cancelling the contract. The MC had the power to decide on the issue on its own. The company was allotted the contract last year for nearly Rs 15 crore.

While the MC has started the process to cancel the contract, the company is likely to seek a compensation of around Rs 25 crore from the MC in case the contract is cancelled. The sources said the company had made a huge investment on setting up the infrastructure.
Rakesh Datta

Rakesh Datta

Professor, Department of Defence and National Security Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh

For the people of India and Pakistan, visiting each other's country is a kind of dream-fulfilled. There is so much in common between the residents that one is left wondering what separates us. Both have roots in each other's country and such a heritage is a dominating feature binding the two nations, regardless of any politico-military misalignment, often generating tensions.

It was during External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's visit in 2015 to Islamabad for the Heart of Asia Conference that the government decided to resume dialogue with Pakistan. However, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's subsequent whistle-stop visit to Lahore to felicitate then Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif on his birthday and to attend his granddaughters wedding that Pakistan struck India at Pathankot and Uri, derailing the peace process. It was only recently that India agreed to revive the Track-II diplomatic process with Pakistan despite strong reservations about the co-existence of terror and talks.

The Neemrana Dialogue, the nomenclature conceived from Neemrana Fort where it was initially held in 1991-92, took the initiative suggesting that it is no good having any engagement with Pakistan. It was after a lot of efforts that finally the 36th meeting of Neemrana Dialogue was given the go-ahead by the ruling dispensation amidst status quo on terrorism, infiltration and constant firing on FDLs.

A group of nine members led by Surinder Singh, former Cabinet Secretary, and comprising Ambassador Vivek Katju, Ambassador Rakesh Sood, Lt-Gen Aditya Singh, Veena Nayar, President, Women Political Watch, Jagmohan Rajput, former Director, NCERT, Vibha Dhawan, Director, Energy and Research, and coordinator Suresh Mathur and the author left for Islamabad on April 27, 2018, after administering of polio drops at our check post. Pakistan is one of the three countries in the world after Afghanistan and Nigeria with ongoing polio virus transmission.

The delegation was received at Wagah by a protocol officer of the Pakistan MOFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). In the evening, we were hosted by Tehmina Janjua, Foreign Secretary of Pakistan. The following day, after meeting Ajay Bisaria, our High Commissioner to Pakistan, and his team, began the formal meeting with our counterparts led by Inamul Haq, former Minister and former Foreign Secretary. The other members were Ambassador Salman Bashir, former Foreign Secretary, Lt-Gen Asif Yasin Malik, Barrister Shahida Jamil, former federal Law Minister, Perviaz Iqbal Cheema, Dean National Defence University, Javed Jabbar, former Minister I&B; Ishrat Hussain, former Governor, State Bank of Pakistan, and Muhammad Munir, Fellow, Islamabad Policy Research institute and a few others.

There is undoubtedly considerable bonhomie between the common people on both sides of the Radcliffe Line. No difference in look, language and love for each other. One could feel the greatest of warmth, friendliness and hospitality that was generously bestowed on us. But when we came on the dialogue table for a formal talk, there was complete denial on various issues like firing on the borders, infiltration, the sponsored attacks on Pathankot and Uri, including even the 26/11 Mumbai attack. Rather, they resorted to putting the onus on us. Their argument was how infiltration was possible with Indian fencing on the border as also why, wherever applicable, fencing had not been completed.

There could be no resolution unless Kashmir is resolved was their constant refrain. References were made to 1947, United Nations Resolution on Self-determination, Kashmir and the Samjhauta Express. Buhran Wani was considered as a freedom fighter and frequent display of Pakistan flags in Kashmir is only a depiction of local public sentiments towards azadi, they said.

Strangely, what was evident between the two countries is that while Pakistan speaks with conviction on Kashmir, Baluchistan and Afghanistan, we are confused on Kashmir. For instance, we shall not talk on Kashmir, but are prepared to discuss it as a part of composite dialogue. No one speaks on their side of Kashmir kept as Azad Kashmir with a separate Premier and the President besides northern areas.

We were told to be magnanimous on the water issue being upper riparian and show humility as a bigger country in South Asia. On the nuclear front, Pakistan was suggested to bring a greater degree of security while ensuring that such weapons would not be used. Keeping in view the crow flying distance, it was proposed to have a robust communication level to even thwart accidental use of nukes.

Of all the issues, climate change was the most innocuous and could easily ward off the heat, as and when temperature on more vexed matters would blow up. Strangely, on Afghanistan, when Pakistan was asked to clear the position on 'strategic depth', they sprung a surprise as if they had heard the term for the first time.

China is seen as an embodiment of their politico-military strength. No criticism against China was accepted whereas the US was accused of being responsible for the current political turmoil in Pakistan. Incidentally, the US has not withdrawn its Non-NATO ally status to Pakistan.

Ishrat Hussain termed the CPEC as a golden opportunity for Pakistan with risks attached. Dispelling the debt scenario as is generally perceived, he said the CPEC has contributed an additional 10,000 MW to the generation capacity in Pakistan, overcoming its chronic energy shortage. Besides, it would lead to the constructing of highways and railways, making accessible even the backward districts of Baluchistan, running into short-, medium- and long-term projects. Further, out of the total commitment of $50 billion by China, 70 per cent would come as FDI, thereby signaling to other countries that Pakistan is an attractive place to invest.

Talks also touched upon creating a SEZ along the border where many Pakistani businessmen are interested in buying land to trade with India. On normalisation and people-to-people contact, the Pakistani delegation was told to stop skirmishes on the frontiers, including interference in Kashmir, to which there was complete denial. Instead, they accused us of killing 2,000 Pakistani soldiers and civilians.

As stated earlier, there is a lot of bonhomie, friendliness and warmth between people on both sides. There is so much of good neighbourliness which could be cherished, based on our common past heritage. But unfortunately, it is constrained by hatred, vengeance and prejudices, supplemented by security and insecurity issues, causing even denial of visas to citizens by the two governments.

Neemrana was successful in crossing the Wagah rubicon for a while to build on the relationship between the two countries. Amen.
MK Bhadrakumar

MK Bhadrakumar

The US President Donald Trumps decision last Tuesday to pull out from the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal has undermined peace in the Persian Gulf region where millions of Indians live and work and whose stability is in Indias vital interests. For Trump, this is a personal decision. Opinion polls show that the majority opinion in America is supportive of the 2015 agreement. There has been no precipitate situation to warrant the US pullout, since the IAEA inspectors certify Tehrans scrupulous adherence to the terms of the agreement. Nor is this a situation where international opinion forced Trumps hands.

Iran is ready with a measured response. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei lost no time to publicly endorse the stance taken by President Hassan Rouhani to explore how the nuclear deal can still be salvaged. Rouhanis plan of action is to forthwith enter into discussions with the remaining signatories to the 2015 pact  E3 (France, Britain and Germany) plus Russia and China. Tehran has signalled its willingness to keep alive the nuclear deal provided the five remaining countries guarantee Irans interests under the agreement. How this is going to pan out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Rouhani has instructed the authorities concerned in Tehran to be in a state of readiness to resume nuclear enrichment at the industrial level without any limit. For sure, the boat is approaching dangerously close to the cataract.

The E3s reaction is still evolving. In a joint statement, France, Britain and Germany expressed regret and concern and agreed in principle that Iran should continue to receive the sanctions relief it is entitled to, whilst it remains in compliance with the terms of the deal. But the statement also stressed that taking the 2015 agreement as a base, other major issues of concern need to be addressed. It singled out the need for a long-term framework for Irans nuclear programme even beyond 2025 (when the 2015 agreements validity expires) and the need to address in a meaningful way shared concerns about Irans ballistic missile programme as well as Irans destabilising regional activities, especially in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Indeed, these concerns are voiced by the Trump administration as well.

A period of diplomatic engagement is commencing. Frances economy minister Bruno le Maire asked in an emotional interview in the weekend, Do we want to be vassals who obey decisions taken by the United States while clinging to the hem of their trousers? Do we want the United States to be the economic policeman of the planet? Or do we Europeans say that we have economic interests, we want to continue to trade with Iran as part of a strategic agreement? Its time for all European states to open their eyes. Frances ire is understandable. Plane-maker Airbus, oil giant Total, and car manufacturers such as Renault and Peugeot could be among the French companies affected the most by the US sanctions against Iran. The French minister urged European nations to step up their economic sovereignty. France, le Maire said, would reach out to other countries and look at how to endow Europe with financial tools to become independent from the United States.

Nonetheless, while the Europeans are clearly dismayed by Trumps decision, what is less clear is the likely reaction of European companies as the crunch time comes in another 180 days when the US sanctions click in. If these companies defy the US sanctions, they may risk access to the American market. Given the power of US banks, they lack leverage, too. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has called a meeting of the foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss a unified European stance. On coming Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is paying a working visit to Sochi to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Indeed, a question mark must be put on Irans willingness to mothball its missile development programme, which is at the core of its defence strategy of deterrence. (Irans military spending comes to only one-fifth of Saudi Arabias.) Again, the genesis of none of the regional conflicts that the E3 singled out  Syria, Iraq and Yemen  can be attributed to Iranian policies. It all began in Iraq with the US invasion and occupation in 2003. The regime-change agenda aimed at overthrowing the Assad regime in Syria also dates back to that period  as indeed the birth of the Islamic State. The Saudi interference in Yemens internecine strife too has a long history and the current blowback began only after the brutal Saudi-led military intervention in the civil war in 2015. Ironically, Iran fought on the same side as the US against the Islamic State. Clearly, there is no magical formula available to unscramble these omelettes.

The overarching geopolitical reality is that Irans emergence as regional power displaying strategic autonomy and pursuing independent foreign policies is anathema to Washington. The US containment strategy and the sanctions against Iran are four decades old. The US would have loved to strangle the Islamic Revolution of 1989 in its cradle, given its deep roots in nationalism. It is hard to see how such a proud nation fired up by nationalism would capitulate. The US interference in Iran and its subversion of democracy in the 1953 coup against Mossadeq is still living memory. Iran will not be browbeaten, given its capabilities to hit back at American assets in a wide arc from Afghanistan to Syria.

Meanwhile, the strong showing by Hezbollah in the election in Lebanon on May 6 and the prospect of pro-Iranian groups surging in the Iraqi parliamentary elections on May 12 provide an immediate backdrop too. The regional balance in the northern tier of the Middle East is shifting decisively in Tehrans favour (which deepens Saudi and Israeli angst). Fundamentally, the Iran question can be tackled only by addressing that countrys integration into the international community. But the US possesses neither the leadership stature nor the political will and the credentials to be an arbiter to constructively engage Iran. This is where the upcoming meeting between Merkel and Putin in Sochi assumes significance.

The Kremlin has disclosed that the Iran nuclear issue is on the agenda. Berlin and Moscow enjoy influence with both Tel Aviv and Tehran, and Moscow also happens to be a big player on the Syrian turf where the Israel-Iran mutual antipathies are playing out. When it seems all is lost, it may so happen in life that the present dismal situation isnt necessarily the final destination.

The writer is a former ambassador
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Canadas Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development faced what many other Sikhs have over the years  the highhandedness of an agent of the U.S. Transportation and Security Administration (TSA). Navdeep Bains was asked to remove his turban. This despite the revision of the screening process in 2007 that allows people who travel with headwear, such as turbans, to keep it on while going through airport security. The minister has only recently made public an incident that took place last year to generate wider awareness of the issue.

Bains says that he does not normally tell people about his position that entitles him to diplomatic status. He believes that such a search would be an intrusion into his private life. This feeling would find resonance with everyone who wears a turban, which is not just headgear, but an integral part of a Sikhs attire. As such, any requirement of removing it is unacceptable. Security considerations are there and must be kept in mind, but they should always be tempered with sensitivity towards travellers. The minister has rightly taken exception to the fact that only his diplomatic passport resolved the matter. That should not be the case, he asserts. Indian Sikh diplomats too have suffered. In 2010, it was the Indian Permanent Representative to United Nations, Hardeep Puri. A sari too can trigger an aggressive response, as happened with Meera Shankar, Indian Ambassador to the US, who was infamously patted down in Houston the same year.

TSA agents aggressive behaviour hits headlines all too often. Naturally, this only represents a tip of the iceberg since rarely are incidents of intrusive searches reported. Most passengers take the indignity as an unpleasantness they have to endure. This should not be. It must be noted that an overwhelming majority of incidents of agents asking travellers to remove their turban are reported from the US. Surely the TSA can learn from the rest of the world, which shows much more nuanced understanding of the sanctity of the turban in particular and of international travellers sensitivities in general.
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

PM Narendra Modis third visit to Nepal in four years, an unprecedented privilege for the Himalayan Republic, demonstrates the desire of the two sides to turn the page on what has been an acrimonious relationship for the best part of the last three years. It wasnt like that in the beginning. Public opinion in Nepal had reacted adversely in 2015 to the Indian endeavour to set the terms for framing its Constitution. This perception and a trade blockade sank Modis diplomatic and political investments during his last two visits as PM to Nepal. In this context, the visit is back to the drawing board for both countries with the added imperative of factoring in Chinas moves in Nepal.

Both countries have started off on the right note. Nepal has indicated that much water has flown under Bagmati since the present PM K P Oli spear-headed an agitation against India for allegedly imposing an `informal blockade and stirring Madhesi discontent. During Modis third visit, Nepals mild emphasis on revisiting the Indo-Nepal treaty is a sure shot indicator that bilateral ties are on the mend as is Kathmandus assurance to be sensitive to Indias interests and not allow its territory to be used against India. PM Modi had attempted the same elements as in his previous visits  a strong emphasis on religious-cultural similarities and the promise of rapid development. But keeping past experience in mind, he avoided any homilies on Nepals domestic political structures this time.

Indo-Nepal bonds of close anthropological links are unique among modern nation states. Modis emphasis on them seeks to make a qualitative distinction with Chinas siren call to Nepal for an alliance of development. The risk in New Delhis excessive emphasis on the historical reality of close socio-cultural ties, as has happened in the past, is its misinterpretation in Nepal as paternalistic attitude. Chinas presence in Nepal, whether bilaterally or via the BRICS Bank, cannot be wished away. India needs to grasp the positive signals from a stable government in Kathmandu and avoid the mistake of over-emphasising religious-cultural ties which cannot be a substitute for realism and national interest.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Panipat, May 13

A 23-year-old member of the Gau Rakshak Dal was shot at by cow smugglers at Bapoli village in the district on Saturday night.

Sources said nearly 7-8 cattle smugglers were loading a cow in a vehicle in the village. Kulbeer Arya, who was sleeping nearby, resisted their move. Meanwhile, one of the smugglers fired at Kulbeer and managed to escape from the spot.

Family members immediately rushed him to a private hospital in the city.

Acharya Yogender, president, Haryana Gauraksha Dal, Azaad Arya, vice-president, Hariom Tayal, Venu Gopal, Deepak Chauhan along with members of the Vishav Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal gathered at the hospital.

They alleged that the police had failed to implement the Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act. They said that they would meet Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, to check cow smuggling in the border areas.

Meanwhile, members of the Gau Rakshak Dal expressed their resentment before Transport Minister Krishan Lal Panwar and Rajiv Jain, Media Adviser to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. They demanded stringent action against the cow smugglers and police personnel allegedly helping the smugglers.

Panwar said that proper action would be initiated against the people involved in cow smuggling.

Dr Pankaj Mutneja, owner of Prem Hospital, said a bullet had been removed from the body of Kulbeer and now, he was out of danger.

Bapoli SHO Subhash said a case had been registered against unknown persons under various sections of IPC and the Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Ambala, May 13

A man was shot dead near Nakhroli village in Naraingarh on Sunday. The deceased has been identified as Randhir Singh Gujjar (41) of Muakheri village of Naraingarh.

Around 9.15 am, he was on his way home in a car after dropping his wife and two children at Radha Soami Satsang Bhawan. When he reached Nakhroli village, four to five people shot him. Randhir died on the spot.

He was a prime witness in a 2013 murder case of Gurdeep Singh Gujjar. The accused were reportedly convicted on his testimony. Randhirs family claimed four out of five convicts in the Gurdeep Singh murder case were out on bail and they had killed Randhir.

The family also claimed Randhir was getting life threats and they had informed the police about it. They expressed resentment against the police inaction.

Superintendent of Police Abhishek Jorwal suspended Sub-Inspector Shyamlal for making light of familys claim of life threats. He marked the case to the CIA and assured the family that accused would be arrested soon.

The SP said, Prima facie, convicts out on bail have killed Randhir. On the complaint of the family, preventive action was taken. The bail of the convicts should have been cancelled. Action will be taken against police personnel if any negligence is found on their part.

The body was handed over to the family after the postmortem at the Civil Hospital, Naraingarh, in the evening.
editorial@tribune.com

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, May 13

Eight persons were killed and 11 injured when a bus (HP-64-9097) fell into a 150-m gorge at Nae Neti village in Rajgarh sub-division of Sirmaur district on Sunday morning.

Preliminary enquiries revealed that a private bus from Manwa to Solan fell into a gorge. Though the exact cause of the accident was not known, some mechanical failure seemed to be the cause of the mishap. There were about 19 people in the bus out of which six were killed on the spot while two succumbed to their injuries. The injured were rushed to the Regional Hospital, Solan. One critically injured patient was referred to the IGMC, Shimla, and two others to the PGI, Chandigarh. Two-and-a-half year old child Aastik succumbed to his injuries while being taken to Solan, and Narda, a resident of Kashmali in Rajgarh, succumbed to her injuries in the Solan hospital.

The driver, Santosh Kumar, from Waknaghat in Solan was also killed on the spot while conductor Uday Ram, who was critically injured, has been referred to the PGI, Chandigarh.

Villagers rushed to the spot to rescue the passengers before the arrival of the police. The rescue operation lasted till 1:30 pm.

The Health Department was criticised for its lax attitude for delay in providing medical aid to the victims. The locals called the 108 ambulance service as well as used their personal vehicles to take the injured to Solan.

Naresh Kumar, SDM, Rajgarh, rushed to the spot to facilitate relief and rescue operations. Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, Lalit Jain said the Rajgarh SDM would conduct a magisterial probe into the accident. An immediate relief of Rs 4,000 to Rs 10,000 has been extended to the injured persons depending on the quantum of injury and Rs 20,000 to the kin of the deceased.

Those killed in the accident are Dhondu Ram, a resident of Dahar village in Sirmaur district, Subash Chand, a resident of Lapiyana village in Kangra district, Priya, a resident of Nohri village in Sirmaur, Kaushalaya, a resident of Sanora village, Uday Ram, a resident of Shad Pachog in Rajgarh, Santosh, a resident of Waknaghat, Aastik, a resident of Rajgarh, and Narda, a resident of Kashmali in Rajgarh. The injured are Pappu, Karam Chand, Vinod, Kavita, Virender, Rajender, Desh Raj, Dharam Veer, Balbir, Surjeet and Vijender.
laxmi@tribune.com

THE Draft National Digital Communications Policy spells out the bold vision of the government to deliver a digitally empowered India that provides access to a plethora of new communication technologies in an affordable and equitable manner. The task is certainly a formidable one, not because India's demographic profiles vary widely across various indices such as literacy, economic conditions and urbanisation, but also due to increasing convergence of complex technologies. Thus, it is critical that the proliferation of digital economy, as envisaged by the draft of the communications policy, is inclusive and promotes all-round social and economic development.

In fact, the benefits of Digital India have started to percolate to the masses and adoption of technology is making significant contribution to ease of living. With over a billion mobile phones and half a billion internet users, India's mobile data consumption is already the highest in the world. Over 200 million Indians regularly use social media and in the last year alone, over 200 million Indians took to mobile banking and digital payments. According to the government, at the current pace of digitisation and digitalisation, it is estimated that India's digital economy has the potential to reach $1 trillion by 2025.

In this backdrop, the draft has set some challenging goals for the government to further augment nation's communication prowess. By 2022, for example, the policy aims to provide universal broadband coverage at 50 mbps to every citizen. It also aims for 1 gbps connectivity to all gram panchayats by 2020 and 10 gbps by 2022. The spadework for taking high speed internet to the hinterland and far-flung areas is already underway with world's largest rural optic fibre rollout under BharatNet that aims to connect 600,000 villages by broadband. Among other key highlights, the draft plans 100 mbps broadband on demand for all key development institutions, provide fixed line broadband access to 50 per cent of households and deploy 10 million public Wi-Fi hotspots by 2022.

It is also encouraging to note that the draft policy talks about the need to focus on emerging technologies like 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Internet of Things (IoT), machine to machine services and Cloud Computing and leverage them for faster communication in a secured environment. The coming decades belong to these technologies and a robust domestic R&D and manufacturing, which extensively works on harnessing these technologies to suit our local requirement, can prove to be extremely beneficial.

Such technologies can empower even small farmers to turn digital and increase their income through higher crop yield with better price management. Farmers can get precise information on when to sow the seeds, whether the crop is at the risk of pest attack due to weather conditions, and the price outlook. Importantly, all this information can come on a simple mobile phone and in the farmer's native language.

The draft digital communications policy lays out the roadmap for next technological evolution with its ambitious targets and can prove to be a game changer for India as we step into the era of new age technologies. The key, however, lies in its implementation. The policy's objectives will turn out to be a success only if a strong backhaul is created that can cater to the expected spurt in data consumption with hundreds of applications becoming a way of life. If implemented well, an entire digital ecosystem will be created that will also generate millions of new jobs not just in the communications sector but also become a key enabler for job creation in other segments of the economy.

 The writer is an Executive Vice President of Vihaan Networks Limited
gspannu7@gmail.com

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 13

Outspoken BJP MLA from Nowshera Assembly segment of Rajouri district, Ravinder Raina, has been appointed as new president of Jammu and Kashmir BJP.

He will replace Sat Sharma, who has already been inducted as Cabinet minister in the council of ministers headed by Mehbooba Mufti during a massive reshuffle on April 30.

BJP national president Amit Shah on Sunday appointed Raina as new state president where party is sharing power with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Although many veteran party leaders were in the fray for the post, BJP leadership preferred young Raina, who is a refugee from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and a native of border district of Rajouri.

Known for creating controversies, Raina, an MLA from Nowshera, courted controversy in 2015 when he took oath in the name of Mata Vaishno Devi.

Members of the opposition objected, saying there was no provision for a member of the Legislative House to take oath in the name Vaishno Devi.

Protem Speaker Mohmmad Shafi intervened and asked Raina to take oath in the name of God.

The same year, he also created controversy when he along with other BJP legislators namely Rajeev Sharma and Dr Gagan Bhagat had allegedly assaulted Independent MLA Engineer Rashid inside the Assembly for hosting a beef party at the state MLA hostel.

A hardcore RSS worker, Raina was Pracharak of RSS before joining BJP in 2010. He remained state president of BJYM, youth wing of the BJP.

In 2014 he won from the Nowshera Assembly segment from where he defeated PDP leader Surinder Choudhary.
editorial@tribune.com

Vikram Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 13

Hinting at the urgent need for Governor Rule in the state, BJP MLC Ashok Khajuria said on Saturday that Jammu and Kashmir did not need a government by hostile political parties and their mentors from Pakistan.

He was speaking at the release of a poetry book, Dhundh, by Ramesh Arora, BJP MLC. The event was organised by the Dogri Sanstha.

The BJP MLC also said the BJP, instead of losing its credibility by succumbing to the political pressures mounted by the Hurriyat, needed to get back to the ideological thoughts of the Rashtriya Swayemsevak Sangh (RSS).

The BJP does not need government in Jammu and Kashmir. It needs to keep its school of thought alive by following the principles laid down by late Syama Prasad Mukherjee and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, said Khajuria.

He said the present crisis and instability in the BJP-PDP government in the state was taking a toll on the BJPs ideology, which would dent its image.

Being in the government without principals and ideology is not good for any party. The BJP needs to rethink whether it wants to remain in governance with hostile parties that have anti-India mindset and are backed by separatists, said Khajuria.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 13

Sikh refugees from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on Sunday accused the state government of deliberately neglecting their rehabilitation.

They demanded granting of the minority status to the community in J&K and extension of the Anand Marriage Act to the state.

A large number of community members under the banner of All J&K 1947 Sharnathi Intellectual Forum on Sunday discussed the prevailing political situationin the state and problems faced by the community.

The Central and state governments should settle the claims of PoK refugees as per the Wadhwa Committee report which is not being implemented with sincerity. We had sent a memorandum to the Ministry of Home Affairs to take up the issue with the state government, said Amrik Singh, president of the forum.

He said a majority of the refugees, who were uprooted from PoK after Pakistan attacked the state, were living in miserable conditions in different parts of J&K, especially the Jammu region.

It is very unfortunate that for the past seven decades those persons who were uprooted from their homes are still suffering. Successive governments have never bothered to address our issues, the forum claimed.

Sikhs in the state have been making appeals for granting the minority status to the community and setting up of a minority commission on the lines of the National Commission for Minorities.

Due to the non-extension of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act in J&K, the Sikhs have been denied the benefits of various Central schemes. It is a matter of concern that the minorities are facing discrimination in the state, Amrik Singh said.

J&K enjoys a special status within the Indian Constitution which prevents direct extension of Central Acts and laws. Hence, the NCM Act, passed in 1992, still has not been applied to the state.
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Jammu, May 13



Two people, including a woman, were arrested on charges of drug peddling in separate operations in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri and Kishtwar districts, police said today.

The woman, a resident of Kheora village, was arrested when she was smuggling a consignment of drugs into Rajouri town, a police spokesman said.

He said the police were monitoring the woman's activities after receiving inputs regarding her illegal activities.

"Subsequently, she was caught with 17 strips, containing 408 capsules, of a drug," the spokesman said.

She was booked under relevant provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

In a separate operation, the spokesman said another alleged peddler was arrested from Kishtwar town and a "huge cache" of banned drugs were seized from his possession.

Nisar Ahmad of Kuchhan village used to sell drugs to students. He has been booked, the spokesman said. PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Jagraon, May 12

A youth in his twenties was found dead under mysterious circumstances in his car near Hissowal village on Sudhar Raikot Road on Saturday. The deceased has been identified as Jeevanjot Singh (24), a resident of Pakhowal Road here. Jeevanjot was the son of Division Number 8 SHO Gurmit Singh.

The incident came to light around 10.30 am when passersby noticed the youth in the car and informed the police. When the police reached the spot, they found the youth lying on the drivers seat of his Ford Figo car. The police took the body in their custody and sent it for post-mortem.

After some time, SSP-Jagraon Surjeet Singh also reached the spot and supervised investigation.

According to sources, the police also found a syringe, a spoon and some powder on the dash board of the car. The mobile phone of the deceased was found missing. The police have sent the syringe, powder and the spoon recovered from the car to a forensic lab.

Jeevanjot had left to meet his grandparents at Patiala on Friday but he never reached there. His family told the police that they had been trying to call Jeevanjot since last evening but his phone was switch off.

The police have been working on various theories to establish the exact cause of death of Jeevanjot. The police have also handed over the body to his family after post-mortem.

According to police sources, the death appears mysterious and the victim might have been murdered. It seems that Jeevanojot was killed somewhere else by some persons and then the body was put in the car near the village. It also seems that the syringe, powder and the spoon were also placed in the car to pass off his death as a case of drug overdose, said Sudhar SHO Harjinder Singh.

The police have registered a case under Section 302, 328 and 34 of the IPC on the statement of the victims father. We have been conducting the probe from various angles, added the SHO.
gspannu7@gmail.com

Araria (Bihar), May 13

Three Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders were among the four killed in a road accident in Bihars Araria district early on Sunday while they were returning from the wedding of party supremo Lalu Prasads son, Tej Pratap Yadav, police said.

Their car was on its way to Kishanganj from Patna when it lost control, broke through the road divider and collided head-on with a truck coming from the opposite direction in Simraha police station area around 6 am, a police officer said.

The deceased have been identified as Ikramul Haq Baghi, party activist and son of former state minister Islamuddin; Kishanganj district president Intekhab Alam; Dighalganj block president Pappu; and driver Sahil, said Manoj Kumar, sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), Forbesganj, Araria district.

It appears that the driver had dozed off behind the steering wheel, resulting in loss of control over the car, the SDPO said.

All four occupants of the vehicle died on the spot and their bodies have been sent for post-mortem examination, he added.  PTI
uttara@tribuneindia.com

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 13

In a scathing attack on former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the BJP on Sunday called the filling of criminal cases against him and his family as a Nawaz Sharif moment for the Congress party.

In a series of tweets BJP chief Amit Shah said: Under the Black Money Act, 4 chargesheets have been filed against P Chidambaram and his family for possessing and operating several illegal assets and accounts in foreign countries. IT estimates illegal assets held by UPA's FM to be to the tune of 3 billion dollars!

This explains why despite Supreme Court's orders Sonia Gandhi, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh & then FM P Chidambaram dragged their feet on formation of SIT, one of the first decisions taken by Modi govt, to fight Black Money! How could they indict their own selves?

Earlier in the day, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman called the cases a Nawaz Sharif moment for the Congress.

The Income Tax Department had filed four criminal complaints against the former UPA minister and members of his family before a special court in Chennai and his family members.

Accusing the Congress of not taking any action against Chidambaram for allegedly failing to disclose foreign assets, Sitharaman said the alleged financial discrepancies could not be an overlooked by the party and demanded to know how the former finance minister forgot to reveal details of his familys foreign investments.

She also asked whether Congress president Rahul Gandhi would investigate the matter. Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is himself out on bail should come out and tell us if he is going to investigate this case involving one of his leaders, Sitharaman said.

Chidambaram hits back

Meanwhile, P Chidambaram hit back at Sitharaman on Sunday with a tongue-in-cheek tweet, saying that there was a buzz she would be removed from the Cabinet and appointed a lawyer of the Income Tax Department.

Chidambarams dig on Twitter came soon after the Defence Ministers remarks.

The Congress leader reminded the ruling BJP of its failure to bring back black money from abroad and deposit Rs 15 lakh in every Indians bank account, as promised by it before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The buzz in Delhi is that Ms Nirmala Sitharaman will be removed as Defence Minister and appointed as lawyer of the Income-tax department. Welcome to the bar, Ms Sitharaman, he tweeted.

The president of the richest political party in India is dreaming of billions of dollars! Bring the money back and put Rs 15 lakhs in the account of every Indian as you promised, he tweeted, without naming BJP president Amit Shah.With PTI
uttara@tribuneindia.com

Sitapur (UP), May 13

A pack of dogs mauled a 12-year-old girl to death in a village in Sitapur, taking the toll in fatal attacks by feral hounds in the district to 13 in the last six months, the police said.

The incident took place in Maheshpur Village under the Khairabad police station.

"A 12-year-old girl identified as Reena died today after being attacked by a pack of dogs," Superintendent of police Anand Kulkarni told PTI.

This was the seventh such death this month, the police said.

Kulkarni said the administration was tackling the menace and the number of dogs in packs was decreasing.

"Earlier they used to attack in pack of six to eight dogs. Now they are reduced to two or four," he said.

As the human-dog conflcit worsens as villagers retaliate by killing strays, an animal rights activist has warned that "illegal extermination" could only "worsen" the situation.

Gauri Maulekhi, member of the Uttar Pradesh Animal Birth Control Monitoring Committee, has shot off a letter to the state chief secretary to ensure that the local administration "actively" informs the people about the scientific and legal steps that are being taken by the government and "discourage" them from taking law into their hands.Maulekhi blamed the local municipal body for "knee jerk" reactions to deal with street dogs, which she said would lead to more conflict and bites and spread of disease in the long run.

"Instead of making any effort to implement the mandatory animal birth control programme to curb population of dogs and decrease man- animal conflict, the district administration is giving irresponsible statements leading to wanton killing of animals in Sitapur.

"May I please request you to issue necessary instructions to seek compliance reports from the 16 municipal corporations, with regard to the minutes of the Animal Birth Control Monitoring Committee, dated 06.09.2018," she wrote.

She also said that people should be informed about the scientific and legal steps that are being taken by the government and discouraged from taking law into their hands.

"Ensure that no steps for illegal extermination of dogs is being taken by the district administration or the municipal corporation," she suggested.

According to her, the Supreme Court had ordered the implementation of the Animal Birth Control Dog Rules, 2001 for population management and rabies eradication.

The rules also prescribe the obligations of the local authorities governments with respect to capturing, sterilisation, immunisation and release of dogs to control their population, she said.

Maulekhi claimed that widespread massacre of animals is going on in Sitapur in "complete violation of the law" and in "total disregard" of the directions of the Supreme Court.

"Rather than resorting to scientific and legal methods for dog population management, knee jerk reactions are being taken to deal with street dogs, which will lead to more conflict and bites and spread of disease in the long run," she added.

She asserted that this kind of violence is totally counterproductive and will not reduce but greatly increase man animal conflict. PTI/Agencies




editorial@tribune.com

Bengaluru, May 13

A day after the Karnataka Assembly polls, CM Siddaramaiah and BJP president Amit Shah both were confident of their parties registering a victory. Speaking to the media in Chamundeshwari constituency, the CM claimed the Congress would retain power in Karnataka.

He also said this election was his last. Asked on the possibility of a Dalit CM, he replied: It is fine if the party decides to have a Dalit CM. Confident the Congress would get absolute majority, he ruled out a tie-up with the JD(S). Brushing aside exit polls, Siddaramaiah tweeted: ... Dear party workers, supporters & well wishers, dont worry about exit polls. Relax & enjoy your weekend. We are coming back (sic).

Addressing a gathering of 15,000 BJP workers at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium near Panaji, Shah claimed his party would form the next government in Karnataka on May 15 evening after the results.

Most post-poll surveys have predicted the BJP will emerge as the single largest party in Karnataka.

BJPs chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa said his party would win 125 to 130 seats. I will give it in writing the BJP is winning with absolute majority, he told the media here, claiming Siddaramaiah would lose both Chamundeshwari and Badami seats that he had contested.  Agencies
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 13

In what will be a significant step towards Indias Act East policy, India and Vietnam will conduct their first bilateral naval exercise later this month, marking the continued upswing in relations.

The exercise will be conducted in Vietnamese waters in May-end. The exercise will be conducted in what Chinas considers its backyard. To put it in perspective, its like the navies of China and Bangladesh practising in Bay of Bengal.

A flotilla of three Indian warships  INS Shayadri, INS Kamorta and INS Shakti  is on its way to Vietnam, sources said while confirming the first-ever bilateral exercise at sea. Two of these ships on Sunday reached Thailand on a separate visit and one reached Malaysia. The warships will go to Vietnam before heading to the Pacific Ocean for a joint exercise called Malabar with the US and Japanese navies.

The naval exercise comes just four months after the armies of the two countries conducted their first-ever landbased exercise in January-end this year at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.

India-Vietnam relations have gained momentum in the past decade. In November 2009, the two countries had signed a memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation. This was preceded by strategic partnership agreement in 2007.

During PM Narendra Modis visit to Vietnam in 2016, the bilateral relationship was elevated from a strategic partnership to a comprehensive strategic partnership. Modi had, in his first year in office in 2014, said: Our defence cooperation with Vietnam is among our most important ones.

India is already training the Vietnamese navy in operating its small fleet of Russian-origin Kilo-class subs and has announced an increase in its efforts to train more personnel. India and Vietnam have set a target of $15 billion in bilateral trade by 2020, from $7 billion at present.

WHY its significant
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Bhopal, May 13

The incidents of women being victims of domestic violence may be prevalent on a large scale but the cases of men being at the receiving end of such domestic violence are also being reported, according to an analysis by the Madhya Pradesh Police.

As per the figures, collected by the MP Police under a separate category of 'wives beating husbands' in the domestic violence segment, based on complaints received on its 'Dial-100' service, over 800 men faced domestic violence in the state in the last four months.

The Dial-100 is an emergency service of the state police to help people in distress.

However, the 'cruelty by husbands' towards their wives is still a reality with about 22,000 such complaints received in the state during the past four months, a sociologist said.

"So far, we were counting all domestic violence cases under one head. So, the cases of violence by wives against their husbands were also counted as a part of it," Hemant Sharma, the public relations officer of the Dial-100 service, told PTI.

The police segregated the data and formed a new category out of it, of 'wives beating husbands', around four months back as till then, they did not have any concrete figures of such complaints, he said.

"Since this category was formed in January this year, 802 men made calls in the last four months to the Dial-100 service seeking police's help after facing the wrath of their wives," he said.

As per the data, 158 such cases were reported in January, 179 in February, 212 in March and 253 in April.

The state's commercial hub Indore reported the highest number of 72 such cases, while in the state capital Bhopal 52 men complained to the police against their wives.

However, over 22,000 complaints under 'husbands beating wives' category were reported in the January-April period. Of these, 2,115 complaints were from Indore and 1,546 from Bhopal, according to the police figures.

Arvind Chouhan, the professor of social science at the Barkatullah University here, said new trends come to light in the society with the passage of time.

"Women are getting aware about gender equality and their legal rights because these issues are now being publicised widely through different media platforms.

Therefore, the women are resisting domestic violence," he said.

India has mostly been a patriarchal society and it is unfortunate that women have been the victims of violence, he rued. PTI
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Yash Goyal

For the first time in the past 38 years of BJP history in Rajasthan, its state unit is without a president for about a month. In the absence of a president, the unit has been embroiled in various controversies over caste politics.

The party unit has seen 16 chiefs since 1980, but it has never gone head-less for such a long time. As Union MoS for Agriculture and PMs blue eyed Rajput leader of Jodhpur Gajendra Singh Shekhawats name went viral in party circles and the media, his followers broke into jubilation.

However, soon caste politics ignited infighting among party MLAs, MPs and cadres. Former Minister Devi Singh Bhati categorically criticised Shekhawat and Arjun Ram Meghawl (Union MoS) saying they were not mass leaders and appointing either of them to the post might cause damage to the party.

GhanshyamTiwari said, The high command cannot dare to thrust anyone on this post ignoring desire of Vasundharaji. It is this woman CM who dictates terms of rule to the party leaders.

Raje cabinet colleagues Yunus Khan, KC Saraf, JaswantSingh Yadav, HemSingh Bhadana, Rajpa Singh Shekhawat, Deputy Speaker Rao Rajendra Sing , and other leaders put forward their suggestion on the issue. Based on caste polarisation, names of NL Panchariya, Bhupendra Yadav, Arvind Chaturvedi, SrichandKriplani, LN Dave have started doing the rounds. Every name is being evaluated keeping in mind vote bank politics.

Raje-Shah meeting

Finally, CM Raje had to meet party president Amit Shah in Delhi to draw consensus on the appointment of next state unit chief. Addressing the media on the issue after meeting Shah, the CM told media: Cant you make it out from my face. The suspense, however, continues as Shah has reportedly advised her to wait till Karnataka poll process is over.

Rajput leaders have also met Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and now the National Rajput Karni Sena will write one lakh postcards to the PM and Shah in support of Gajendra.

Cong CM face

Senior Congress leader CP Joshi has stirred up a hornets nest by announcing that Congress chief Sachin Pilot will lead the next poll in the state, though the CM candidate will be chosen democratically and based on high commands permission. Two-time former CM Ashok Gehlot has warned youths that they should not break the queue, though they can draw a bigger line to show their mettle in politics.

Gurjar quota stir

The Gurjar Arakshan Sangarh Samiti has announced to re-launch it agitation from May 15. It would be an aar paarki ladai (fight to finish) against the state government seeking 5 per cent More Backward Classes Reservation within the 50 per cent cap by bifurcating 21 per cent OBC category.

The North Western Railways has sought four RPF companies, extra-police and intelligence agencies to maintain smooth train movements on Alwar and Dausa tracks. Law and order situation may go bad as Rajput, Brahmin and Gujarat Patidar Arakshan Andolan leader Hardik Patel have extended support to the Gurjar agitation.

Saffron parinde

The Jaipur BJP zila unit has saffronised over 3,100 parinde (earthen water pot for birds) as part of party poll campaign, thus making Opposition Congress raise eyebrows. The CM launched the new initiative in Pink City recently.
singhking99@yahoo.com

Patna, May 12

Firing a fresh salvo, disgruntled BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Saturday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modis criticism of Rahul Gandhi for expressing readiness to become PM, and alleged that he was indulging in attention diversion politics instead of answering the pertinent questions raised by the Congress president.

In a series of tweets on a day when voting was held for the Karnataka Assembly elections, the Patna Sahib BJP MP said the Congress president, who has matured in the past few years, was popular with the general public and asked what was wrong if the leader heading the biggest, oldest national party saw a possibility of becoming the next Prime Minister.

Anybody can become PM in our country. Naamdar, Kaamdar, Daamdar or for that matter any average Samajhdaar, if he has the numbers and support.

Why are we making such a hue and cry about it? After all, isnt it their internal matter and any PMship has to be through verdict of majority, Sinha said in a series of tweets tagging both Modi and the BJP and signing off with slogans of Jai Karnataka, Jai Hind!

Modi had mocked Rahul Gandhis remarks that he is ready to become the PM if Congress emerges as the largest party in the 2019 General Election, calling him immature and naamdar (dynast). You (Gandhi) are naamdar, while I am kaamdar (ordinary worker), he had said earlier.

Sinha, who is at loggerhead with party leadership ever since being ignored in Bihar election in 2015, is frequently seen in company of former Union minister Yashwant Sinha who quit BJP recently after consistently attacking Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

He went to meet jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad and also met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently in the national capital along with Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, another vocal critic of Modi Government.

Sinha, who served as a Union minister in the NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said instead of answering pertinent questions raised by Congress president we go for attention diversion politics an art which we have mastered, far from development and other issues.  PTI
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 13

Muzaffarabad-based Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin is likely to step down to pave the way for others to take over reins of one of the largest militant organisations in the Kashmir valley.

The development comes even as intelligence inputs suggest there is pressure on Salahuddin from Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad to step down as Hizb chief.

One of his sons in Kashmir, Shahid Yousuf, has also been arrested by the National Investigation Agency in connection with its terror funding probe.

Sources said soon you will see Salahuddin leaving the armed front. He will no longer be associated with it.

They said one of the primary reasons was the recent US announcement declaring him as a global terrorist.

Though they did not clarify if Salahuddin would also step down as United Jihad Council (UJC) chief, they said he could be offered some political role.

Salahuddin is the UJC head by virtue of his being the Hizb chief. So, it is clear that he cannot continue heading the UJC if he steps down as Hizb chief.

Since its founding, Hizb has focused its operations in J&K, targeting security agencies. Over the past two years, the militant group has suffered huge losses, losing its top commanders, including Burhan Wani, Sabzar Bhat, Sajad Gilkar, Abdul Qayoom Najar and Yasin Yatoo, in operations by security forces.

Since April, it has also lost a number of cadres, particularly in south Kashmir, where 11 militants were gunned down in a single day. On May 5, its four commanders and an assistant professor were killed.
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

New Delhi, May 13

BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday appointed Kanna Lakshminarayana, who had left the Congress to join the party in 2014, as its Andhra Pradesh chief and made Somu Veerraju, also a contender for the post, the state convener of the election management committee.

In a statement, the party also said that Shah has appointed Ravindra Raina as president of its Jammu and Kashmir unit following the induction of Raina's predecessor Sat Sharma into the PDP-BJP government as a minister.

The appointments made in Andhra Pradesh underlined Shah's efforts to do a balancing act as Lakshminarayana was said to be unhappy with the party over reports that he may be ignored for the top post.

He was a minister in several Congress governments in the state, but left it to join the BJP in 2014.

Lakshminarayana comes from the Kapu community, a group the BJP is eyeing to make inroads in the state.

Reports had said that he was set to quit the saffron party recently, but was prevailed on to continue and the appointment is seen as an effort to placate him and a number of other leaders who had left other parties, especially the Congress, to join it.

Veerraju is an old BJP hand and was considered till recently a favourite for the top post.

Following TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's decision to sever his party's ties with the BJP, the saffron party is keen to broaden its base in the state where it has long been a marginal player.

The assembly polls in the state are scheduled to be held together with the Lok Sabha elections next year. PTI
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

New Delhi, May 13

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday dubbed as a serious disclosure Pakistans ousted PM Nawaz Sharif acknowledging that militant organisations were active in his country and said it proved Indias position that the handlers of Mumbai attack were in Pakistan.

For the first time, Sharif also questioned Pakistans policy to allow the non-state actors to cross the border and kill people in Mumbai.

It is very serious disclosure. Indias position has been that the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack operated from Pakistan. We strongly believe that the handlers of the attack were in Pakistan, she said.

It (Sharifs remarks) only proves that Indias stand has been right all the way, she said.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan PM has convened a high-level National Security Committee meeting on Monday to discuss the recent misleading media statement by Sharif, officials said in Islamabad on Sunday.

Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted: The NSC meeting suggested to Prime Minister to discuss recent misleading media statement regarding Bombay incident. Being held tomorrow morning. (sic)  PTI

Misinterpreted

Statement of Nawaz Sharif has been grossly misinterpreted by the Indian media. A section of Pakistani media has lent credence to propaganda of Indian media without going through the full facts

Spokesman for Nawaz Sharif
editorial@tribune.com

New Delhi, May 13

Moments after Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attacked former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, alleging he failed to disclose his financial dealings in the past, the latter took jibes at the Defence Minister saying she was about to be appointed I-T lawyer and removed as Defence Minister.

The Congress senior leader also mocked BJP chief Amit Shah when the latter accused the former FM of financial misappropriations.

Reminding the BJP of its promise of recovering black money, Chidambaram said, The president of the richest political party in India is dreaming of billions of dollars! Bring the money back and put Rs 15 lakh in the account of every Indian as you promised.

To Nirmala Sitharaman, he said, The buzz in Delhi is that Nirmala Sitharaman will be removed as Defence Minister and appointed as lawyer of the Income-tax department. Welcome to the bar, Sitharaman.  TNS
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Kolkata, May 13

After a protracted legal battle, the much-awaited panchayat polls are all set to be held on Monday in West Bengal amid tight security.

The polls will be the last major elections in the state before the next year's Lok Sabha polls. Political parties are viewing Monday's event as a warm-up match ahead of the 2019 General Election.

Polling will begin at 7 am and end at 5 pm. The counting will take place on May 17.

The run-up to the single-phase panchayat polls was marked by intense campaigning. The ruling Trinamool Congress was engaged in a bitter war of words with the opposition BJP, Congress and the Left Front over the violence that erupted during the filing of nominations for the polls.

The opposition had accused the ruling TMC of letting loose a reign of terror during the nomination process. The TMC rubbished the allegations, saying the opposition did not have a mass base and ware trying to evade the polls.

The filing of nominations, which was held from April 2 to April 9 and then again on an extended date on April 23, was marked by violence and clashes between the ruling TMC and opposition parties that led to several deaths.

Although top leaders of all parties campaigned for the polls, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee refrained from it. She appealed to the people to vote in favour of the development ushered in by her government.

According to West Bengal SEC (State Election Commission) sources, of the 48,650 seats in 3,358 gram panchayats, 16,814 were uncontested and of the 9,217 seats in 341 panchayat samitis, 3,059 were uncontested.

In the 20 zilla parishads, 203 of the 825 seats were uncontested, the SEC said.

According to the SEC sources, tomorrow's elections will be held in 621 zilla parishads and 6,157 panchayat samitis, besides 31,827 gram panchayats.

Around 1,500 security personnel from Assam, Odisha, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh are in the state to reinforce security arrangements for the polls.

They will aid around 46,000 personnel of the state police and 12,000 of the Kolkata Police, while the state government would use close to 2,000 security personnel from the departments of excise, prison and forests in manning the booths, an SEC official said.

Security forces today conducted route marches in various parts of the state as part of security arrangements.

The election this time witnessed an unprecedented legal tussle between the SEC, state government, ruling TMC and the opposition BJP, Congress and the Left Front. PTI
gspannu7@gmail.com

New Delhi, May 13

Dust storms and thunderstorms accompanied by gusty winds wreaked havoc on Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and the national capital, killing at least 41 persons and leaving behind a trail of destruction.

Uttar Pradesh bore the brunt of the thunderstorm that left at least 18 persons dead, while 12, including four children, were killed in West Bengal and nine in Andhra Pradesh, and two in Delhi, officials said. At several places in North India, including Delhi, high-velocity winds uprooted trees and affected road, rail and air services. Operations at the Delhi airport came to a halt. At least 70 flights were diverted as the dust storm reduced visibility, an official said.

The devastation comes 10 days after storms hit UP, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Punjab, killing 134 and injuring more than 400. UP was the worst-hit, accounting for 80 deaths, most of them in Agra district. Subsequently on May 9, several parts of UP were struck by a severe storm that left 18 dead.

According to the India Meteorological Department, thunderstorms also occurred at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtara, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

A squall and dust storm with a wind speed of up to 109 kmph battered Delhi and neighbouring areas, killing two persons and injuring 18. In West Bengal, 12 persons, including four children, were killed in lightning, an official of the state disaster management department said.

Five deaths were reported from Howrah district, two deaths each from West Midnapore, North 24-Parganas and Nadia districts and one from Murshidabad.

Uttar Pradesh Principal Secretary (Information) Awanish Awasthi said four deaths had been reported from Kasganj while two persons had died in Bulandshahr. Also, one death each had been reported from Kannauj, Aligarh, Sambhal, Ghaziabad and Noida.

In Andhra Pradesh, seven persons were killed in Srikakulam district and two in Kadapa. Various parts of the state witnessed rain, accompanied by gales.

In Delhi, gusty winds and rain dropped the temperature to 25.2C. Two squalls whipped through the national capital. One clocking 109 kmph hit the Safdarjung area at 4:44 pm. The other clocking 96 kmph battered the Palam area at 4:33 pm. The strong winds knocked down 200 trees in the city.

The Northern Railways said train movement was disrupted on the section between the Hazrat Nizamuddin and Palwal stations owing to tree felling. GP Sharma, President (Meteorology) Skymet, a private agency warned of similar weather conditions on Monday.  PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 13

Noting that Pakistans intelligence agency ISI has been active in Punjab and providing all kinds of logistic and financial support, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in its report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said that pro-Khalistan groups are hiring local criminals to carry out terror activities and revive militancy in the state.

Suggesting that local police officers, district magistrates and senior IAS and IPS officers should be alerted about the covert activities of pro-Khalistani groups, the IB in its report, according to a senior MHA official, has cautioned the state government that some local gangsters are in constant touch with pro-Khalistan groups which have a presence in many Western countries.

It is also learnt that in the report, the IB has asked the MHA to issue directions to the state government to make a list of local criminals and keep a watch on them.

A senior MHA official said, Intelligence inputs have revealed that a pro-Khalistan group from the UK has started a campaign through social media urging the people of Punjab to join the Khalistan struggle. They are hiring local gangsters to neutralise people and leaders opposing the Khalistan struggle.

These groups are allegedly sending money to the criminals via hawala to carry out terror activities. In this exercise, they are getting proactive support from Pakistans ISI, the IB has claimed in its report.

Sources in the MHA said the report mentions that such groups, which are operating from European countries, are luring criminals and anti-social elements by offering education and job opportunities to their family members abroad. Intelligence input suggests that around 100 people related to these local criminals have moved out of India to greener pastures in Europe.

The NIA, which is probing the murder case of local RSS leader Ravinder Gosain, had last week filed a chargesheet accusing 15 who belonged to the Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF). In the chargesheet, the agency had also said the killing of the RSS leader was a transnational conspiracy hatched by the KLFs senior leadership.

Alert sounded
editorial@tribune.com

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, May 13

Three months back, government employee Gurdarshan Singh took a loan of Rs 7 lakh to send his son Amrit Singh (22) to Romania for studies, but now he is again making rounds of banks and private moneylenders to arrange the same amount to bring back his body. He was murdered on May 6.

The body has been lying at Spitalul Clinic De Urgenta in Bucharest city. The authorities are waiting for money so that they can send the body back. The family met PWD and IT Minister Vijay Inder Singla at his residence on Saturday and handed over an application for financial help from the CMs Relief Fund to bring back the body.

Singla said he would take up the matter with the CM.

On May 6, my elder son Manjeet got a message on Facebook from an unknown person that his brother Amrit was in trouble and in the evening, we got a call from the hospital that he died after being thrown from the fourth floor of a building. I have yet to pay the loan I took in January and I am trying to arrange money from private moneylenders at a higher rate of interest now to bring back the body. We request the CM to help us, said Gurdarshan Singh.

Amrit went to Romania on January 23 and got admission in a marketing course at the Universitatea Spiru Haret in Bucharest city. He was also working at a local car washing station. The police have confirmed that my sons death is a murder. On May 6, some persons took him to the fourth floor of a building, stabbed him and threw him from the floor, he said.
editorial@tribune.com

Surinder Bhardwaj

Fatehgarh Sahib, May 13

The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has come out with a solution for stubble-burning after wheat harvesting. It has developed a low-cost special ploughing implement, which gets a field ready for sowing the next crop within hours.

The demonstration of the implement was held on Thursday in the fields of two farmers of the district  Harpal Singh of Sounti village, who has taken 17 acres of land on lease near RIMT University, Mandi Gobindgarh, and Lakhwinder Singh of Jalanpur village, who has 50 acres of land.

The brain child of Kahan Singh Pannu, Chairman, PPCB, the implement costs only Rs 24,000. During the demonstration, the equipment with the help of a tractor of 45 HP prepared 1-acre field for sowing crop in 12 minutes.

While taking to The Tribune, Kahan Singh Pannu said the government as well as the farming community was under great stress for stopping stubble-burning. The department and Kanwalpreet Brar, Deputy Commissioner, Fatehgarh Sahib, had been making consistent efforts to overcome this problem. He said by taking personal interest he got the equipment designed from a Batala-based company.

He said using the equipment was very easy and it took less power and time as compared to other such types of existing ploughing machines. The wheel provided in the new equipment made ploughing easy.
sanjiv@tribunemail.com

Our Correspondent

Una, May 13

A primatologist from the United States is in Una district to find out ways to minimise conflicts between humans and primates. Dr Paula Pebsworth, working with the University of Texas at San Antonio, is at present doing her post doctoral research with the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru, and is camping in Madanpur village of the district along with two other researchers from the NIAS for the past four months.

Paula Pebsworth told The Tribune that many techniques were being studied as part of the research work titled Drivers of human-primate conflicts, adding that some of the interventions had proved useful. She, along with Arjun CP, registered for doctoral research and Rupesh Gawade, research associate are in Una from February to October this year to conduct the research. They have done extensive field work in Nangal Salangri, Boul and Dhundla villages.

Dr Paula said the acoustic deterrence technique to frighten monkeys was tried, in which sounds like roar of lions and noises of monkey scuffles were broadcast through loud speakers, but the technique failed to yield results. Next, she said, four strands of ropes were fenced around the periphery of the protected field. The ropes were coated with a mix of used engine oil and red chilli powder, which proved to be a very effective repellent for monkeys.

The primatologist said next, they tried an inexpensive home made PVC gun, used very commonly in Kerala to keep away wild animals. The gun uses a LPG stove lighter to ignite a small quantity of spirit-based deodorant. The explosion is very loud and if stone pellets are inserted into the gun, they get fired to a distance of 60 feet.

Dr Paula said another research was being conducted by them at the monkey sterlisation centre in Boul village. The animals, brought to the centre for sterlisation are initially put through the conditional taste aversion technique, in which they are given feed of cereals like wheat, laced with a colourless and odorless chemical compound. The chemical will cause stomach upsets, giving the monkey a feeling of unpleasant association with that type of food, which it will tend to avoid in future.
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Seoul, May 13

North Korea will destroy its nuclear test site later this month, ahead of a summit with the United States, it has said, pledging to blow up its tunnels in front of invited foreign media.

US President Donald Trump praised the North's decision to dismantle the Punggye-ri test site in a ceremony scheduled between May 23-25, the latest step in leader Kim Jong Un's charm offensive.

"Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!" Trump tweeted.

Dialogue brokered by Seoul has seen US-North Korea relations go from trading personal insults and threats of war last year to a summit between Kim and Trump due in Singapore on June 12.

But sceptics warn that Pyongyang has yet to make any public commitment to give up its arsenal, which includes missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Washington is seeking the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation" of the North and stresses that verification will be key.

Punggye-ri, in the northeast of the country, has hosted all six of the North's nuclear tests, the latest and by far the most powerful in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.

Kim has declared the development of the North's nuclear force complete and that it had no further need for the site.

The latest measures will see the tunnels of the test site blown up and their entrances completely blocked, Pyongyang's foreign ministry said, according to the official KCNA news agency.

All observation facilities and research institutes would be removed, along with guards, it said, "and the surrounding area of the test ground be completely closed".

Reporters from China, Russia, the United States, Britain and South Korea would be allowed to cover the event on site to show it "in a transparent manner".

Limits on foreign journalists were due to space constraints, it said, as the site was in an "uninhabited deep mountain area".

South Korea welcomed the announcement, which signalled the North's willingness to carry out its pledges "not just in words but in action".

"We hope the sound of the dynamite blowing up the tunnels at Punggye-ri will be the first salute in our journey towards a nuclear-free Korean peninsula," the South's presidential spokesman said.

Analysts said the move was positive but limited in its scope.

It was "not bad, but a cost-free signal", tweeted MIT political science professor Vipin Narang.

Given the stage it had already reached, Pyongyang "may feel like they don't need to test anything for a while", he said.

Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies, expected that the North "will sanitise the site before letting anyone see it".

Yesterday's announcement is the latest move in a rapid sequence of events on the Korean peninsula triggered by the Winter Olympics in the South.

Tensions had been mounting for years as Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes saw it subjected to multiple rounds of increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the US, EU, South Korea and others, and Trump last year threatened the North with "fire and fury".

But since the Pyeongchang Games, Pyongyang and Washington have agreed to the unprecedented Singapore meeting, and Kim has twice visited China to meet President Xi Jinping, after not paying respects in the six years since he inherited power from his father.

The head of the UN's World Food Programme said Saturday it appeared North Korea was "turning a new page in history", following a four-day visit to the country.

David Beasley said he had enjoyed unprecedented access to the secretive state, telling BBC radio that North Korea's leaders had a "sense of optimism".

Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month affirmed their commitment to the goal of "realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula" at a summit in the Demilitarised Zone that divides their countries.

But the phrase is a diplomatic euphemism open to interpretation on both sides.

Pyongyang has long wanted to see an end to the US military presence in -- and nuclear umbrella over -- the South, but it invaded its neighbour in 1950 and is the only one of the two Koreas to possess nuclear weapons.

This week the North released three Korean-Americans it had detained into the care of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was making his second trip to Pyongyang in two months.

However, Trump also withdrew the United States from a nuclear pact with Iran, raising questions over whether Pyongyang would trust Washington's promises.

Pompeo Friday promised the US would work to rebuild North Korea's sanctions-hit economy if it agreed to surrender its nuclear arsenal. AFP
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Surabaya (Indonesia), May 13

A family of six launched suicide attacks on Christians attending Sunday services at three churches in Indonesias second-largest city of Surabaya, killing at least 13 people and wounding 40, officials said.

Indonesia, the worlds largest Muslim-majority country, has seen a recent resurgence in homegrown militancy and police said the family who carried out Sundays attacks were among 500 Islamic State sympathizers who had returned from Syria.

The husband drove the car, an Avanza, that contained explosives and rammed it into the gate in front of that church, East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the regional police headquarters in Surabaya.

The wife and two daughters were involved in an attack on a second church and at the third church two other children rode the motorbike and had the bomb across their laps, Mangera said.

The two daughters were aged 12 and 9 while the other two, thought to be the mans sons, were 18 and 16, police said.

They blamed the bombings on the Islamic State-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

JAD is an umbrella organization on a U.S. State Department terrorist list that is estimated to have drawn hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers in Indonesia.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, in a message carried on its Amaq news agency.

This act is barbaric and beyond the limits of humanity, causing victims among members of society, the police and even innocent children, President Joko Widodo said during a visit to the scene of the attacks.

East Java police spokesman Mangera said the attacks had killed at least 13 people and 40 had been taken to hospital, including two police officers. He called on people to remain calm.

Streets around the bombed churches were blocked by checkpoints and heavily armed police stood guard as forensic and bomb squad officers combined the area for clues.

Television footage showed one church where the yard in front appeared engulfed in fire, with thick, black smoke billowing up.

A large blast was heard hours after the attacks, which Mangera said was a bomb disposal squad dealing with a device.

The attacks come days after militant Islamist prisoners killed five members of an elite counter-terrorism force during a 36-hour standoff at a high security jail on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta.

The church attacks were likely linked to the prison hostage standoff, said Wawan Purwanto, communication director at Indonesias intelligence agency.

The main target is still security authorities, but we can say that there are alternative (targets) if the main targets are blocked, he said.

Suicide attack used motorbike

At St Marys catholic church, the first place of worship to be attacked, the bombing happened after an earlier mass was over and when the church was getting ready to hold another service.

A witness interviewed by CNN Indonesia said shortly before the explosion he saw a person on a motorbike drive in carrying a cardboard box.

Separately, an internal police report reviewed by Reuters said a suspected bomb exploded in a car in the parking lot of a Pentacostal church, setting alight dozens of motorbikes.

In the third location, the Indonesian Christian Church, veiled women entered the churchs yard where they were stopped by a security guard before an explosion occurred at the same spot, according to the police report.

Television images showed toppled and burnt motorcycles and debris scattered around the entrance of one church and police cordoning off areas as crowds gathered.

A spokesman for Indonesias church association (PGI) called on the government for more help on security at churches.

PGI is concerned because this had happened many times and often taken place around the time of Sunday services, said Jeirry Sumampow, a spokesman for the Indonesias Communion of Churches.

Pope Francis offered his prayer to the victims during his Sunday prayer in Rome.

I am particularly close to the dear people of Indonesia, especially to the communities of Christians of the city of Surabaya, which were hit hard by the serious attack on places of worship, he said.

Together we invoke the God of peace (asking him) to cease these violent actions and (to make sure) that in the heart of all there could be a space not feelings of hatred and violence, but of reconciliation and fraternity.

Nearly 90 percent of Indonesians are Muslim, but the country is also home to sizeable communities of Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, and people who adhere to traditional beliefs.

Indonesia has had some major successes tackling militancy inspired by al Qaedas attacks on the United States in 2001. But there has been a resurgence of Islamist activity in recent years, some of it linked to the rise of Islamic State.

The most serious incident was in January 2016 when four suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a shopping area in central Jakarta.

Churches have also been targeted previously, including near-simultaneous attacks on churches there at Christmas in 2000 that killed about 20 people. Reuters
uttara@tribuneindia.com

Jalalabad (Afghanistan), May 13

At least six civilians were killed when militants detonated bombs and stormed a government building on Sunday in an ongoing assault in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, officials said.

There were two explosions near the city's directorate of finance, the Nangarhar provincial governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP, adding that "a number of attackers" had entered the building.

"Security forces are in the area chasing and fighting them," he said.

"So far six civilians (have been) killed and 33 wounded. One attacker is also down. The clearing operation is ongoing." Earlier, health department officials in the city said hospitals had received at least four dead bodies and 20 wounded people. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of restive Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. Some areas of the province are a stronghold of the Islamic State group but Taliban fighters are also active there.

It was the latest deadly violence to strike Afghanistan as militant groups step up attacks and US-backed Afghan forces intensify air strikes and ground offensives.

The assault comes days after suicide bombers and gunmen launched apparently coordinated attacks on two Kabul police stations Wednesday, killing at least ten people.

April saw a series of attacks across the country targeting voter registration centres as the country gears up for long-delayed legislative elections due in October.

The Taliban and Islamic State have made clear their intentions to disrupt the elections. Officials are concerned that a low voter turnout will undermine the credibility of the poll.

The Taliban recently launched their annual spring offensive, in an apparent rejection of a peace talks overture by the Afghan government.

Their Operation Al Khandaq will target US forces and "their intelligence agents" as well as their "internal supporters", a Taliban statement said on April 25.

But the Islamic State group has also stepped up their attacks in recent months, particularly in Kabul.

Nine journalists, including AFP's chief photographer in Kabul Shah Marai, were among the 25 people killed in a double suicide blast claimed by Islamic State in the capital on April 30.

Kabul has become one of the deadliest places in the country for civilians as security forces struggle to keep the militants at bay following the withdrawal of NATO combat forces at the end of 2014.  AFP
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Surabaya, May 13

A family of six including two young daughters staged suicide bombings at three Indonesian churches during Sunday services, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens in attacks claimed by the Islamic State group.

The bombings at three churches in Surabaya were Indonesias deadliest, as the worlds biggest Muslim-majority country grapples with homegrown militancy and rising intolerance towards religious minorities.

The bombers-a mother and father, two daughters aged nine and 12, and two sons aged 16 and 18 - were linked to local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) which supports IS, said police chief Tito Karnavian.

Local media reports say they may have returned from Syria, where hundreds of Indonesians have flocked in recent years to fight alongside IS in its bid to carve out a caliphate ruled by strict Islamic law.

The mother, identified as Puji Kuswati, and her two daughters were wearing niqab face veils and had bombs strapped to their waists as they entered the grounds of the Kristen Indonesia Diponegoro Church and blew themselves up, Karnavian said.

The father, JAD cell leader Dita Priyanto, drove a bomb-laden car into the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church while his sons rode motorcycles into Santa Maria church, where they detonated explosives they were carrying, Karnavian said.

All were suicide attacks but the types of bombs are different, he said. The group, led by jailed radical Aman Abdurrahman, has been linked to several deadly incidents, including a 2016 gun and suicide attack in the capital Jakarta that left four attackers and four civilians dead.

The Pope offered support over the severe attack against places of worship, while President Joko Widodo called for Indonesians to unite against terrorism. The state will not tolerate this act of cowardice, he told reporters in Surabaya. In addition to the suicide blast police experts defused two unexploded bombs at the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church.

East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera confirmed the deaths of 13 people. Nearly 90 per cent of Indonesias 260 million people are Muslim, but there are significant numbers of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists. Concerns about sectarian intolerance have been on the rise, with churches targeted in the past.

In 2000 bombs disguised as Christmas gifts delivered to churches and clergymen killed 19 people on Christmas Eve and injured scores more across the country.

The archipelago nation of some 17,000 islands has long struggled with Islamic militancy, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 foreign tourists.  Reuters

ARCHIPELAGO NATION GRAPPLING WITH SECTARIAN INTOLERANCE
uttara@tribuneindia.com

ABU DHABI, May 11

Military transport planes from the United Arab Emirates landed on the sleepy Yemeni island of Socotra last week, unloading tanks and troops as part of the Gulf Arab state's drive to extend its influence over a strategic waterway flanked by war zones.

The UAE, with a population of less than 10 million but the Arab world's second-largest economy thanks to oil, is deploying its soldiers and cash to create a web of bases and armed allies in Yemen and Somalia as a bulwark against Islamist extremists and Iranian influence, according to diplomats as well as Yemeni and Somali officials.

But backing groups at loggerheads with their national governments threatens to bog down the UAE in the seemingly endless conflicts of two of the world's poorest countries.

Lying between the Arabian Peninsula and Horn of Africa, Socotra island, best known for its otherworldly plant life, appeared far from the war until the UAE troops arrived, in a landing reported by Yemeni officials and media.

The Yemeni government accused the UAE of seizing the island's ports and airport. A government source told Reuters that the UAE move was a power play for "commercial and security interests" and accused the UAE of trying to colonise Yemen.

"They won't get that from Yemen," the source said. "Yes, Yemenis are poor but they fight for their sovereignty," The UAE foreign ministry, in a statement on Socotra, said it backed Yemen's legitimate government and sought "to establish peace and stability and to support developmental projects for the island's residents".

The UAE has built up local army units in Yemen, increasing its influence along the Red Sea coast, but also opening up a rift with the country's exiled government.

Across the Bab al-Mandeb strait, through which much of the world's oil flows, the UAE also has a foothold in northern Somalia, where Emirati firms have set up commercial ports and its troops conduct military and training missions.

Abu Dhabi, political capital of the seven-emirate federation, is moving assertively against the threat it sees from Islamist groups such as al Qaeda, while promoting itself as a stable, open and largely tolerant Muslim country.

It has allied itself with Saudi Arabia in the war against the Houthi group in Yemen, and with three Arab powers in a boycott of Qatar, accusing it of backing terrorism.

The UAE has hired senior foreign military officers to modernise its army, including Australia's former top special forces general, Mike Hindmarsh, who reports to Abu Dhabi's powerful Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

Hindmarsh oversees the Presidential Guard, the unit tasked with directing the UAE's campaign in Yemen.

"They are taking the fight to the enemy around the region," said a Western diplomat.

A Gulf source spelled out the UAE approach, saying it was protecting its interests in the region and promoting development to deter recruitment by Islamist groups.

"The UAE is helping to develop economically viable zones that create jobs and improve standards of living while also providing humanitarian and financial aid." "There is a comprehensive Emirati approach to fostering long-term stability in the region," the source said.

South Yemen revived

A monument of leaning pillars in Abu Dhabi shows the cost of this engagement: inscribed with soldiers' names, the memorial pays tribute to the UAE's "martyrs".

The vast majoritymore than 100fell in the three-year-old war the UAE is fighting in Yemen alongside Saudi Arabia against the Iranian-aligned Houthis.

Saudi Arabia's main ally in the conflict, Yemen's heavily Islamist government, is struggling against the Houthis, who control the north of the country and the capital, Sanaa.

The UAE, which has made the only visible gains by the coalition along the southwestern coast, has adopted a different strategy and cultivated its own friends in the war.

Across a string of small bases from the volcanic island of Perim at the mouth of the Red Sea to the dunes of Rumah near the Omani border, the UAE pays salaries and trains troops.

At the beginning of the Yemen war, the UAE prised from Iran's orbit a struggling secessionist movement that hopes to revive the former state of South Yemen.

The socialist movement's leaders left Yemen after the north and south were unified in 1994, and wound up in Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold, from where they ran a low-level insurgency in Yemen, diplomatic and southern political sources said.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard officials and Hezbollah schooled the southern commanders in guerrilla tactics in hopes of destabilising Saudi Arabia's southern flank, the sources said.

But when the Houthis advanced into southern Yemen in 2015, promises of assistance from the UAE convinced the southern leadership to move to Abu Dhabi from where they could carry on the fight for their Yemeni homeland.

"They want to fight Iranian militias trying to seize our lands, and we do too. This is enough for the alliance to make sense for now," one southern official told Reuters.

This alliance helped the UAE to seize the southern port of Aden in 2015. The UAE trained southern Yemeni forces who captured the other main port, Mukalla, from al Qaeda.

Mukalla airport, closed to commercial flights, now hosts Emirati helicopters, a training centre, detention facility and also a small contingent of US special forces helping to fight al Qaeda in nearby mountains.

Iran's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on any involvement with the southern Yemeni secessionists. Hezbollah also declined to comment.

Somalia tug-of-war

Raids by Somali pirates on trade routes along the Horn of Africa helped draw the UAE, home to the Middle East's busiest port, into the tangled politics of Somalia, which has grappled for over a decade with al Qaeda-linked Shabaab militants.

The UAE is deepening ties with the semi-autonomous regions of Somaliland and Puntland after state-owned Emirati firms DP World and P&O Ports signed deals there in 2016 and 2017.

UAE troops quickly followed, and have begun building a military base in Berbera, Somaliland, the region's President Muse Bihi Abdi told Reuters while on a visit to Abu Dhabi.

"It will be the guarantee for our security, for our development in any case of terrorism ... They have the resources and knowledge better than us. We are a nation after a war, rebuilding," he said.

The relationshipwhich includes investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Somaliland for projects such as a highway to Ethiopia and new airporthas angered the central government in Somalia, and the UAE has ended its military training mission in Mogadishu.

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told Reuters that support for the regions was not intended to split Somalia and his country had no quarrel with the central government.

"Our policy of recognising a one-Somalia stands ... But at the same time we are able to support the people of Somaliland through humanitarian, developmental."

The president of Puntland, Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, told Reuters in Dubai that UAE personnel were training local forces to combat piracy as well as Islamist groups in Yemen or Somalia.

He denied that the UAE sought a long-term colonial presence.

"They are not occupying as a military force in Somalia," he said. "It's impossible. We are fierce fighters, we will never allow that to happen." Reuters
(by Tsem Rinpoche and Pastor Adeline Woon)

Satya Narayan Goenka (January 30, 1924  September 29, 2013) was a leading Burmese-Indian lay teacher of Vipassana meditation. More commonly known as S.N. Goenka, he was a student of the late Sayagyi U Ba Khin of Burma, an eminent 20th Century authority on Vipassana meditation.

Goenkas grandfather, Dhanya Baba, was also a teacher of Vipassana meditation who moved from Rajasthan, India to Burma when he was 18 years old. Dhanya Baba, whom Goenka fondly called Baba, profoundly influenced and inspired Goenka. In his later years, Goenka described how he cherished Babas legacy of immortal virtues and spontaneous poetry throughout his life.

The Vipassana technique Goenka taught represents a tradition that can be traced back to the Buddha. It was taught to Goenka by the most sought-after Burmese Vipassana meditation teacher, Sayagya U Ba Khin, and he followed the same non-sectarian approach that the Buddha espoused. As a result, his teachings appealed to people from all walks of life, from various religious beliefs and from all around the world.

Everyone has to observe ones death: coming, coming, coming, going, going, going, gone! Be happy! ~ S. N. Goenka

Discovering Vipassana

Born in Burma on 30th January 1924 to a rich Indian family, Goenka had a childhood of great comfort and prosperity. His devoutly religious parents took great pride in instilling Hindu values in their children. They would certainly not have imagined that Goenka would become one of the most important and successful Buddhist meditation teachers of our time.

Goenka joined the family business at the age of 16 in 1940, with the aim of becoming an eminent businessman just like his father. He had lofty aspirations of creating a lavish lifestyle built upon legendary levels of professional success. By the time he turned 31, Goenka had risen to become one of Burmas most distinguished businessmen.

Goenkas external success was easily recognised by the positions he held, but he struggled to deal with his ballooning ego and rising anger issues. In a 2010 interview, he reflected on this period of time and recalled,

I became President of the Chamber of Commerce. I became egotistic. I would beat my children mercilessly. I had always topped my class in school. If my children got bad marks, I would beat them.

His feelings of egotistical pride and his fits of rage, combined with his relentless drive and desire to improve his professional status exacted a serious toll on his physical health. His self-absorbed lifestyle brought about an extremely high level of stress. The migraines that he had dealt with for much of his adult life worsened to the point where he was unable to work effectively anymore. Although his substantial wealth afforded him the opportunity to consult with numerous world-class doctors, his persisting migraines led to a heavy dependency on medication and a deep sense of dissatisfaction with life.

Desperate for a solution, Goenka decided to take his friends advice. He decided to visit Sayagya U Ba Khin to explore if Vipassana meditation practice could bring him the relief he desperately needed.

Initially, Sayagya U Ba Khin was reluctant to take Goenka on as a student because he didnt think the egotistical businessman had the right motivation for practising the meditation technique that he would come to cherish later. A devout Hindu at the time, Goenka also had reservations about undertaking a Buddhist practice. He resisted committing to the gruelling 10-day meditation retreat that new students were required to take since his primary concern was to find relief from his migraines.

Goenka is said to have attempted to use his status as leverage in making alternative arrangements with Sayagya U Ba Khin to learn the practice. Of course, the meditation master did not relent. At the age of 32, Goenka finally gave in to the pre-requisites and begrudgingly took his first 10-day Vipassana meditation course.

Goenka recalled the experience:

In 10 days, the migraine I had for 20 years was gone. I did not need the morphine I had been taking for 10 years anymore. But the big achievement was that my anger was gone, and my ego became less.

For the next 14 years, he maintained his business in Rangoon to support his family. But, his interest in the business dwindled as his fascination with Buddhist practice continued to grow. He began to spend more and more time studying under Sayagya U Ba Khin. In 1969, his teacher authorised Goenka to go to India and teach Vipassana as his representative. In the same year, Goenka retired from his flourishing business, moved to India, and devoted himself full-time to teaching Vipassana.

From the time of their arrival in India in 1969, Goenka and his wife, Elaichi Devi Goenka, conducted Vipassana courses. Mrs Goenka, fondly known as Mataji or respected mother, is also a Principal Teacher and a distinguished student of Sayagya U Ba Khin. Throughout the years, she has supported and selflessly served Goenkas mission to repay their teachers kindness by serving more beings through the teaching of the Vipassana method.

Although India is sharply divided by different castes and religions, it did not affect the courses offered by Goenka. He quickly attracted thousands of people from every segment of society as well as people from all around the world to join his Vipassana meditation courses. His teachings were notable and emphasised that the Buddhas path to liberation was universal, non-sectarian, and scientific in nature.

Commitment to Peace

Goenka believed that outer peace could only be achieved when there is peace within; he taught it and showed it by example. In order to live a peaceful life, one must learn the art of living in order to live fully and meaningfully. This is the core of his teachings for everyone regardless of their varying backgrounds.

His work in India also had an indirect influence on inter-religious harmony as thousands of Catholic priests, Hindu sanyasis, Jain ascetics, and other religious leaders attended his Vipassana courses alongside Buddhist monks. The heart of the Buddhas teachings is a universality that allows people of diverse backgrounds and different ideologies to experience deep benefits by applying the correct methods without having to convert.

Goenka made history in India by meeting the eminent Hindu leader, His Holiness Shankaracharya of Kanchi. Together, they exhorted Hindus and Buddhists to embrace their differences and live in harmony.

After this initial meeting, Goenka also met His Holiness Shankaracharya of Sringeri and many other top Hindu leaders to establish harmonious relations between Hindu and Buddhist communities. This was a uniquely positive development, but mere encouragements alone are not enough to bring about much-desired reconciliation and the spirit of cooperation. It requires individuals to undertake to remove from within themselves the obstacles to peace and harmony. Goenka firmly believed that the practical application of meditation would allow mankind to achieve the inner and outer peace needed to effect this change.

Goenka became an influential teacher and several years after meeting the Shankaracharyas, he established his first meditation centre, the Vipassana International Academy (Dhamma Giri) in Igatpuri near Mumbai, India. 10-day meditation courses and those of longer durations are held there to this day. Five years later, in 1979, Goenka started to travel and introduce Vipassana to other countries. He has personally facilitated over 400 10-day courses and taught over tens of thousands of people in Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America.

To meet the increasing demand, Goenka started training assistant teachers to conduct the 10-day courses on his behalf. Since then, he has trained more than 1,300 assistant teachers who have helped conduct courses attended by 120,000 people annually. Over a period of almost 45 years, Goenka and his assistant teachers have held Vipassana courses in more than 90 countries including China, Malaysia, Cambodia, Mexico, Cuba, Iran, Muscat, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Russia, Serbia and South America, with the help of thousands of volunteers.

There are more than 80 centres established in 21 countries devoted to the teaching of Vipassana and offering free courses, board and lodging. The expenses are completely covered by voluntary donations. Today, Vipassana courses are held at 310 locations in 94 countries. Of that number, there are 176 permanent Vipassana meditation centres in the US, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Hong Kong, Mongolia, South Korea, Taiwan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran, Israel, Poland, Russia, Austria, Belgium, New Zealand, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Japan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, and the Philippines. In India alone, there are 78 centres that conduct over 1,000 courses yearly.

Occasionally, people with serious mental disorders have attended Vipassana courses with the unrealistic expectation that the technique will alleviate or cure their mental problems. Vipassana meditation is beneficial for most people, but it is not a substitute for medical or psychiatric treatment. Those with serious psychiatric disorders should seek medical advice and assistance.

The centres themselves are autonomous and self-sufficient. Because they are run by volunteers with varying levels of capabilities, there may be differences in attitudes and experiences. To ensure a more uniform experience in all of the centres, Goenka recorded audio and video tapes to be used as public instruction during retreats. In response to questions about issues arising from growth and expansion, Goenka stated,

The cause of the problem is included in the question. When these organisations work for their own expansion, they have already started rotting. The aim should be to increase other peoples benefits. Then, there is a pure Dhamma volition and there is no chance of decay. When there is a Dhamma volition, May more and more people benefit, there is no attachment. But, if you want your organisation to grow, there is attachment and that pollutes Dhamma.

Students practising Goenkas Vipassana techniques at the meditation centres are asked to agree to refrain from practising any other religious or meditative practices for the duration of the course. Concerning practices of other religions, Goenka stated,

Understand. The names of many practices are all words of pure Dhamma, of Vipassana. But today the essence is lost; it is just a lifeless shell that people perform. And that has no benefit.

Global Vipassana Pagoda

Near the turn of the last century, Goenka laid the foundation for a 325-foot-high Global Vipassana Pagoda near Gorai Beach in Mumbai that was completed in November 2008 and opened in 2009. The pagoda contains the relics of the Buddha. It also houses a meditation hall that was built as a tribute to Goenkas teacher who wanted to repay Indias kindness as the origins of Vipassana. Sayagya U Ba Khin was unable to travel to India due to difficulties in acquiring a passport and so Goenka actualised his wish on his behalf. He also hoped that this monument would act as a bridge between different communities, different sects, different countries and different races to make the world a more harmonious and peaceful place.

The Global Vipassana Pagoda is the largest pillar-less stone dome structure in the world. It is twice as big as the Basilica of St. Peter at the Vatican and almost as tall as a 30-storey building. This architectural marvel is also one of the largest single-span stone domes in the world. It is said that approximately 2.5 million tonnes of stone were used in its construction. With a circular meditation hall at its centre that measures 280 feet in diameter and a seating capacity of 8,000, the Pagoda is perfectly positioned to play host to thousands of visitors from across the globe who are curious about the structure and Vipassana meditation.

Goenka explained in a 1997 article titled Why the Grand Vipassana Pagoda? how the Buddhas relics can actually help people:

Usually such pagodas are solid. But with the help of the most modern techniques of architecture, instead of building a solid pagoda, a vast meditation hall will be built within it, at the centre of which these sacred relics will be installed so that thousands of meditators can sit around them, meditating together and benefit from their Dhamma vibrations.

The Vipassana Research Institute (Photo credit: Style Destino) The Vipassana Research Institute (Photo credit: Style Destino)

Vipassana Research Institute

Goenka strongly believed that theory and practice should go hand-in-hand, so he set up the Vipassana Research Institute to conduct studies and publish literature on the practice and its effects. The Institute primarily focuses on translating and publishing Pali texts and studying the effects of Vipassana in daily life.

Vipassana in Prisons

Goenka first brought Vipassana meditation into prisons in India before taking it to other countries. Aside from members of the police and military, the organisation counts as many as 10,000 prisoners who have attended the 10-day courses.

VIDEO: Doing Time, Doing Vipassana

Or view the video on the server at:

https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/GoenkaDoingTimeDoingVipassana.mp4

The 1997 documentary Doing Time, Doing Vipassana features an introduction of Goenkas 10-day Vipassana classes at Tihar Jail in 1993 by Kiran Bedi, the then Inspector General of Prisons in New Delhi. Bedi had her guards trained in Vipassana first, and then she had Goenka give his initial ground-breaking class to 1,000 prisoners.

VIDEO: The Dhamma Brothers

Or view the video on the server at:

https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/GoenkaTheDhammaBrothers.mp4

In 2007, a documentary titled The Dhamma Brothers focused on a prison Vipassana meditation programme at Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, Alabama. The documentary followed four inmates who were convicted of murder. It also includes interviews with prison officials, guards and local residents as well as re-enactments of the inmates crimes.

Photo credit: Vipassana Research Institute Photo credit: Vipassana Research Institute

Teachings for All Sections of Society

Vipassana meditation has been taught to prison inmates and staff in many parts of India, Britain, New Zealand, the United States, Taiwan and Nepal. There are also permanent Vipassana centres established in two Indian prisons. The Government of India is convinced of its positive effects and has recommended that every prison in the country organise 10-day Vipassana courses for prison inmates and staff. This stunning endorsement has resulted in hundreds of prisoners participating in Vipassana retreats monthly. This does not include the thousands of police officers who have attended Vipassana courses in the centre at the Police Academy in Delhi and at other centres in India.

Vipassana Meditation at Tihar Prison in New Delhi. (Photo credit: Uplift) Vipassana Meditation at Tihar Prison in New Delhi. (Photo credit: Uplift)

Vipassana is successfully practised by men and women from all walks of life. Social status, education level, economic advantages, religious beliefs, political clout or age  none of these factors hinder a person from practising Vipassana. Even the blind and those afflicted with leprosy have found their way to Vipassana through courses specifically organised for them.

Through outreach programmes, the practise of Vipassana was also introduced to school and college students, homeless children, drug addicts and business executives. The effectiveness of Vipassana has led many high-level organisations to encourage their employees to join these courses as part of their ongoing job training. These organisations run the gamut from the state governments of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh to the Oil and Natural Gas Commission and the Bhabha Atomic Research Institute.

Writings

A prolific writer and poet, Goenka composed his works in English, Hindi and Rajasthani. These works, in turn, have been translated into many languages. He has been invited to lecture by institutions as diverse as the Dharma Drum Mountain Monastery (of the late Venerable Sheng Yen) in Taiwan; the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland; and the Millennium World Peace Summit at the United Nations. At the Summit, he addressed the assembled spiritual leaders and stressed the overreaching importance of inner peace to effect real world peace.

In 2002, he spent four months bringing the Meditation Now Tour around North America. He was conferred the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian honour in India for social work, on the occasion of Indias 63rd Republic Day in 2012.

Final Journey

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays his respects at S.N. Goenkas funeral ceremony Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays his respects at S.N. Goenkas funeral ceremony

On 29th September 2013, Goenka passed away at his home in Mumbai. He was survived by his wife, the prominent Vipassana meditation teacher Elaichi Devi Goenka, and his six sons.

Upon his passing, the well-known American Buddhist author, Jack Kornfield, wrote,

In every generation, there are a few visionary and profound masters who hold high the lamp of the Dharma to illuminate the world. Like the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh, Ven. S.N. Goenka was one of the great world masters of our time. [He] was an inspiration and teacher for Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, Ram Dass, Daniel Goleman, and many other western spiritual leaders.

Jay Michaelson wrote a Huffington Post article titled The Man who Taught the World to Meditate, in which he described Goenka as,

a core teacher for the first generation of insight meditation teachers to have an impact in the United States.

Quotes by S.N. Goenka

May all beings find real peace, real harmony, real happiness.

- A teacher should not be made an idol, like a god. He is a teacher. If you want to get any help, you practice what is being taught, thats all.

- I am not against conversion. In my speech at UN, the first thing I said was that I am for conversion, but not from one organised religion to another, but from misery to happiness, from bondage to liberation.

- (On ritualism) if my teacher had asked me to perform rites or rituals, I would have said good-bye. My own Hindu tradition was full of rituals and ceremonies, so to start again with another set of rituals didnt make sense. But my teacher said, No ritual. Buddha taught only sila, samadhi, pragya. Nothing else. There is nothing to be added and nothing to be subtracted. As the Buddha said, Kevalaparipunnam (Pali: The whole technique is complete by itself.) - People are attracted by the results of the practice that they see in others. When a person is angry, the influence of that anger makes everybody unhappy, including themselves. You are the first victim of your own anger. This realisation is another thing that attracted me to the Buddhas teaching.

Recommended Reading (Free Download)

Come People of the World (Click to download PDF)

Why Was the Sakyan Republic Destroyed? (Click to download PDF)

The Discourse Summaries (Click to download PDF)

Satipatthana Sutta Discourses (Click to download PDF)

The Clock of Vipassana has Struck (Click to download PDF)

The Art of Dying (Click to download PDF)

The Gracious Flow of Dharma (Click to download PDF)

Meditation Now (Click to download PDF)

S. N. Goenka at the United Nations (Click to download PDF)

The Art of Living (Click to download PDF) The Art of Living (Click to download PDF)

For the Benefit of Many (Click to download PDF)

Was the Buddha a Pessimist? (Click to download PDF)

Guidelines for Practising Vipassana Meditation (Click to download PDF)

Sources:

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By Opio Sam Caleb.

Police in Kamuli is hunting for a 22yr old man only identified as Terikya a resident of Nabirumba, Nabwigulu Sub County in Kamuli district for kicking his 16year old girl friend to death.

Terikya is alleged to have ordered his girlfriend Miriam Baseke 16 and a mother of a two months baby to wash his gumboots but she opposed it saying he was cheating on her.

In the process on the domestic brawl, Terikya kicked her and she was rushed to Kamuli General Hospital by residents where she lost her life.

Busoga North Police spokesperson Michael Kasadha says Terikya is on the run but are hopeful will nab him soon.

Kasadha has now faulted the parents of the girl for marrying her off at an early age and also warns couples to desist from engaging in trivial fights that can cost someones life.
Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it.





I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends.





More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it.





The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity.





About me:

I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS.

Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line).

Age: 42

Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed.





I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it).
An exhibition event for new businesses in Ben Tre. The province is encouraging agricultural investment via public information campaigns and other kinds of assistance, including help with construction procedures and purchase of certificates.-VNA/VNS Photo Phuc Hau

The province plans to streamline administrative procedures and provide more assistance to projects after they have received approval. Departments have also been urged to provide help with construction procedures and the purchase of certificates.

In addition, more market information will be provided to businesses to help them make decisions about entering new markets and investing in modern technologies.

Ben Tre has provided VND32.6 billion (US$1.4 million) of funds to six agricultural businesses.

Every year, around 300 provincial businesses take part in trade promotion events.

Of the 3,940 businesses in Ben Tre Province; 253 are in the agricultural sector. The province aims to have 1,500 more new companies by 2020.
Using unregistered point-of-sale (POS) machines to transfer payment may result in tax losses for the local authorities, according to specialists.-Photo VietinBank

The warning was delivered after the local government of the northern province of Quang Ninh seized three unregistered POS machines in the provinces Halong City in late April, which were suspected to have transferred about 200,000 yuan or VN700 million (US$31,100) worth of purchased goods and services to China.

The three POS machines were reportedly brought from China and sellers transferred payment using a 3G internet connection, which made it easier for both customers and sellers to finalise deals without being supervised closely.

The payment transfers did not go through approval of any local commercial banks in Quang Ninh Province, raising concerns over potential tax losses that local governments may endure if POS machines and transfers are not closely watched and monitored.

The POS machines were taken back to the State Bank of Vietnams branch in Quang Ninh Province for further investigation, while the seller had already fled from the locality.

According to Nguyen Van Doan, deputy director of the central banks Quang Ninh branch, domestic commercial banks must register POS machines to the local authorities and the machines must be licensed before being used on the market.

The State Bank of Vietnam is only able to monitor POS machines that are registered to the Vietnamese authorities, he said, adding that it was hard to take full supervision of the three unlicensed POS machines because they could have been registered in another country and could be used anywhere with 3G internet connection.

The local authorities in 2017 unveiled a similar case in which money was transferred illegally to China through POS machines registered in Vietnam, oan said.

Quang Ninh Province authorities have struggled recently to manage the enormous number of Chinese visitors that are flocking into the province.

To control the situation, the local government has asked sellers to install local banks e-payment systems and equip their stores with surveillance cameras to keep eyes on trading activities in order to avoid potential risks to local socio-economic development.

According some banking experts, the installation of e-payment systems and surveillance cameras would be useless if sellers attempt to use unregistered POS machines as those transactions cannot be traced and watched by the local authorities.

Experts say it would be very difficult for local banks to keep monitoring unregistered POS machines as sellers can get access to 3G internet to use the machine while some of the sellers, as foreigners, are only required to deliver their passports to buy 3G phone cards.

Therefore, they demand local authorities, government agencies and banks cooperate better to monitor stores, manage the origin of goods and services, administrate foreign labourers and closely oversee the flow of money in the province.
Parsons. Photo: David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Image

Jim Parsons was injured at a matinee performance of The Boys in the Band on Saturday in New York City. According to those who attended the show, The Big Bang Theory star tripped when walking out for a curtain call. After his injury, the show canceled its Saturday evening performance. At the next scheduled performance on Monday night, Parsonss standby Matt McGrath went on for him.

Jim Parsons was injured at the Saturday matinee and sustained a fracture in his foot, representatives from The Boys in the Band told Vulture Monday night. Hes working with his doctor to ensure a quick recovery and is expected to return to the show as soon as possible this week.

On Saturday, the shows official Twitter account posted a now-deleted Tweet saying that the Saturday evening performance had been canceled due to a minor injury of a cast member. Performances will resume Monday night, it added. Please contact your point-of-purchase for refund and exchange information.

Due to a minor injury of a cast member, the Sat evening performance has been canceled. Performances will resume Monday night. Please contact your point-of-purchase for refund and exchange information. https://t.co/UL3P4GWBJH  The Boys in the Band on Broadway (@BoysBandBway) May 13, 2018

The Boys in the Band is a Broadway revival of a groundbreaking 1968 play by Mart Crowley that tackles the lives of gay men in the pre-Stonewall era. This run celebrates the plays 50th anniversary with an ensemble cast that includes Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells, Michael Benjamin Washington, and Matt Bomer.

This post has been updated throughout.




(CNN) -- Authorities say they are trying to figure out why a 14-year-old boy went to his former high school Friday morning and began shooting a semiautomatic rifle shortly before classes were scheduled to begin.

A 15-year-old male student who was struck in the shoulder by gunfire was in surgery Friday afternoon but expected to recover fully, officials said.

The shooting happened on the campus of Highland High School in Palmdale, California, around 7 a.m. PT, even as some students still were arriving at school.

The former student, who transferred in recent months, took out an SKS-style carbine and fired about 10 shots, video of the incident appears to show, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell.

The gun was found later at an open field west of the school, the sheriff's office said.

It is unclear what the suspect was aiming for, the sheriff said, adding that it is early in the investigation.

The suspect called his father after the shooting, telling his dad he fired the gun in the air. The father called a family friend who is a deputy and that person, who was off-duty, went to the grocery store near the shooting scene and detained the suspect.

The father also said the boy's mother had called him earlier to say he ran away from the house.

The sheriff said the boy is accused of attempted murder.

The incident is the 21st school shooting in the United States this year.

People ran after they heard gunshots

Witnesses who were outside the school described hearing a gunshot or gunshots, and seeing students running from the building.

The first of more than 100 calls to 911 came at 7:03 a.m., McDonnell said. Police arrived three minutes later.

The shift of the school resource deputy assigned to the school doesn't begin until 8 a.m. and the officer was on the way to work when the shooting happened, the sheriff said.

There are several videos from the scene, including one from a surveillance camera that recorded the incident.

The suspect was apprehended near a Vons grocery store about a mile from the school, a Los Angeles County fire official said.

Investigators were trying to determine what led up to the shooting and whether the boys knew each other.

"I wish I could tell you what his motivation was or what he was looking to do," McDonnell said.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is looking into the history of the rifle and who owned the gun.

School went on lockdown

After a lockdown of more than two hours, the school started releasing students to parents and guardians, Principal Chris Grado said on Twitter.

The shooting happened during "period zero," a time of extra classes before the school day's normal 7:30 a.m. start.

Ricky Munoz, 23, told CNN he had just dropped his two younger brothers and a friend off at Highland just after 7 a.m.

"About a minute later, I get a call from them saying there were gunshots" and they asked to be picked up, Munoz said.

One of the brothers, 16, told Munoz he heard one gunshot, and that students were running.

Students barricaded themselves in classroom, mom says

Nadine Luke told CNN her 18-year-old daughter called her, screaming, after she heard shots in the school. The teen was in her Reserve Officers' Training Corps class, and said students were putting sofas and desks in front of the classroom door and windows to barricade themselves inside, Luke said.

Lydia Gilbert, a junior at Highland, said her mother was dropping her off when a student ran up and warned her there was a shooting.

Lydia said she then heard two gunshots before she and her mom drove away.

"I was supposed to be going to school earlier than I was, but was late," she said. A shooting at the school, she said, has "actually been one of my biggest fears."

Highland High student Katharina Smith, 16, said she was driving to the school when she saw "a ton of police racing toward school."

"There were some kids running from the school, and security and sheriff were telling people to go home," she said.

A student's mother, Ana Salazar, told CNN affiliates KCAL and KCBS that her son texted her to say a shooting had happened.

"I thought he was joking, and I'm like, 'Don't mess around, that's not funny,'" Salazar said. "And he's like, 'No mom, for reals, I locked myself up. I heard it at the other side of the school. There was one shot. And I'm locked up in one of the buildings now.'"

Nearby elementary schools placed on lockdown, too

At least three nearby schools -- David G. Millen Intermediate, Cottonwood Elementary and Ocotillo Elementary -- were on lockdown, employees there said.

Highland High School will have classes on Monday, said Brett Neal, assistant superintendent of the Antelope Valley Union High School District. Extra counselors will be at all schools to assist students and staff.

Palmdale, a city of about 150,000 people, is in Los Angeles County, about 40 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.

Previous school shootings

In March, a teacher accidentally discharged a gun during a public safety class at Seaside High School in Seaside, California, injuring a student.

A 15-year-old boy was shot in the head and a 15-year-old girl shot in the wrist at Sal Castro Middle School in Los Angeles on February 1, officials said. Two other students were grazed by bullets. A 12-year-old girl was booked for negligent discharge of a firearm in that shooting, which was considered "unintentional," Los Angeles police said.

The deadliest school shooting this year was on February 14, when a former student killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The-CNN-Wire

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Friends and family in Guntersville are raising money for a city employee battling colon cancer. They've decided to host the 'Billy Bob's Big Bass Tournament,' where the folks in the community came together to support Billy Lipscomb.

Billy Lipscomb has been battling colon cancer for about 4 months. Now he's undergoing chemotherapy. The community understands it's been a tough year for his family, so they're assisting with the medical bills.

"All the people here. The fireman and police. They're family to me," said Billy Lipscomb.

Billy Lipscomb believes just because you're sick doesn't mean you have to act like it.

"Mowing my grass. If I feel like it, I'm getting out of that house. I ain't sitting in no house," Lipscomb said.

He's been a city employee for 10 years and a native of Guntersville. Many people know how much he's uplifted the city. So now they're returning the favor by helping him.

"He's such a great friend to anybody. So supportive. Will do anything at anytime. You just couldn't ask for anyone better," said Canette Collins.

A few years ago, a group of women had dinner one night and realized there are people in Guntersbille battling different sicknesses. Later, they started different fundraising events for the patient's medical bills.

"Volleyball, corn hole games, it makes the community better. Makes it better," Lipscomb said.

There was also food, music and bingo. Last year, Lipscomb's wife wasn't doing too well.

"Mitzi my sister. It's been an ongoing and one year today that we almost lost Mitzi. So it's a celebration as well," said Coley Adams.

A strong community, that's rooted with love and laughter. It makes the process easier for Billy Lipscomb.

"I ain't got no negative thoughts. You've got to stay positive when battling cancer. Think of what you want and do it," Lipscomb said.

The group of women said they'll continue the bass fishing tournament next year and come up with other fundraising ideas.
By WestKyStar & McLib Staff May. 12, 2018 | 03:18 PM | PADUCAH, KY

Evenings Upstairs at McCracken County Public Library will feature Adventures in Kentucky Barbecue with author and professor Wes Berry, from Western Kentucky University on May 17th from 7 until 8 pm.

"If you can kill it, I can cook it," barbecue man Red Seavers of Southern Red's Bar-B-Que boasted when Berry ate at the southwest Kentucky barbecue jointone of more than 200 he's visited. In that one sentence, Red summed up Kentucky's overall liberal approach to cooking critters with heat from wood and coals.





In this presentation, the "Hungry Professor" surveys Kentucky's wildly variable regional barbecue traditions with a slide show and tales of the people, places, and plates he's encountered all over the state while researching The Kentucky Barbecue Book, the first comprehensive exploration of Kentuckys distinct barbecue traditions and regional variations.





The Kentucky Barbecue Book is a feast for readers who are eager to sample the finest fare in the state. From the banks of the Mississippi to the hidden hollows of the Appalachian Mountains, author and barbecue enthusiast Wes Berry hit the trail in search of the best smoke, the best flavor, and the best pit masters he could find.





Barbecue aficionado Wes Berry, PhD, is Professor & Director of Graduate Studies Department of English, Western Kentucky University

Co-sponsored by Kentucky Humanities an independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C.


By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 13, 2018 | 07:01 AM | BENTON, KY

A Marshall County man arrested on drug charges Wednesday was arrested again on Saturday.

According to the Benton Police Department, an officer was dispatched to Walmart Saturday morning for a possible shoplifter. Prior to his arrival, employees had detained the person at the store.

After speaking with Walmart personnel, Joshua Wise, of Benton, was arrested. During a search of Wise, police allegedly found a plastic baggie containing crystal meth.

Wise was charged with theft by unlawful taking under $500 and possession of a controlled substance 2nd offense. He was taken to the Marshall County Jail.

Wise was also arrested Wednesday on possession of meth and drug paraphernalia charges.
By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 12, 2018 | 11:24 PM | BOAZ, KY

Two people face burglary and drug charges in Graves County.

According to the Graves County Sheriff's Office, deputies were dispatched Saturday morning to a burglary near Boaz. Deputies said the homeowner had been sent photos of his home being burglarized from a trail camera that he had outside.

Deputies say the suspect stole the trail camera, but the trail camera continued to capture photos of the suspect, the get away car, and a woman. The photos were sent to the owners phone. The owner then forwarded the photos to the sheriff's office.

Deputies identified the suspects as 29-year-old Michael Hammock and 32-year-old Jessie Courtney, both of Boaz. Deputies arrived at their home and found the camera in plain sight on the porch, along with other stolen items. A search warrant was obtained and most of the property was recovered at the home.

Hammock was arrested and charged with burglary, receiving stolen property under $10,000, tampering with physical evidence, possession of a handgun by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Courtney was arrested and charged withe receiving stolen property under $10,000, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Both were lodged in the Graves County Jail.
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The evening awards ceremony of the Kentucky Spring Horse Show closed in a familiar fashion as the sun set on a victorious Darragh Kenny (IRL) who led the victory gallop around the Rolex Stadium aboard Babalou 41. On Saturday night, the pair claimed an exciting win in the $131,000 Hollow Creek Farm Grand Prix CSI3*, just after capturing Thursday's $35,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic CSI3* at the Kentucky Horse Park.

With a starting list of 36 horse-and-rider combinations, Alan Wade's (IRL) technical 17-effort track only produced four clear rounds for a thrilling and competitive jump-off. Todd Minikus (USA) and Quality Girl also returned to Saturday night competition in top form, delivering the long-awaited first clear round to the delight of the audience. Minikus and the 15-year-old Oldenburg mare, owned by the Quality Group, returned first in the jump-off to set the pace with a blazing time of 36.050 seconds, but were just overtaken by Kenny in the end. However, Minikus and Quality Girl still managed another top award, finishing in second place and adding to Wednesday's $35,000 Welcome Speed 1.45m CSI3* victory.

Eugenio Garza (MEX) and El Milagro's Armani SL Z were the ones to guarantee a jump-off in round one as they produced the second clear effort of the evening. Garza and the 10-year-old Zangersheide gelding returned for a clean and careful jump-off in 40.160 seconds to earn the third place award. The team is no stranger to the winner's circle at the Kentucky Spring Horse Show series upon claiming last year's $35,000 Hagyard Lexington Classic CSI3* at the 2017 Kentucky Spring Classic.

Once again though, it was Kenny and Jack Snyder's Babalou 41 who claimed the fastest double-clear finish of the night, flying to a time of 35.500 seconds for the victory. Kenny and the 13-year-old Oldenburg mare are already on the fast track to success with notable FEI wins in this week's Kentucky Spring Horse Show as well as top placings at the 2018 Winter Equestrian Festival.

"It was a tough course, but [Babalou 41]'s jumping amazing at the moment and I just knew to walk my course, pick my plan and stick to it and it really worked out well. For the jump-off [my plan] was just run. Todd [Minikus] was unbelievably fast and just amazing. It was either win or die trying," said Kenny.

"She's so fantastic. She's so careful and tries so hard. She turns unbelievable and I think she's going to be an incredible mare for the future. We're really learning each other now and it feels so good and she's jumping well, I'm just so happy with her," Kenny said of his winning mount Babalou 41.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - At Governor's Square Mall, families learned about bicycle and car safety Saturday.

Leon County Emergency Medical Services hosted the ninth annual Safety Fair.

Experts held car seat inspections and CPR demonstrations, and for kids behind the wheel, a retired Florida State Trooper had a shocking car on display.

The goal is to show people the scary reality behind unsafe driving.

"In this particular crash, there was a distracted driver, 16 years of age, looked down at her cell phone for a text message, and she hit another car," said Impact Founder Phillip Stuart.

Attendees could also explore Leon County EMS and Tallahassee Fire Department emergency response vehicles.

The local robotic ambulance, Leon Lifesaver, even joined in, teaching kids about when to call 911.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A local family created their own ALS Challenge and gave out iced tea to members of the community to raise money for Lou Gehrig's disease research.

The youngest members of the family said it's all to help find a cure for their grandmother and others who suffer from ALS.

"My mom told me about it online and I really wanted to do it for my grandma," said Bentley Barnard, who's raising money for ALS with his family.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Dozens of people gathered at Watson Temple to celebrate the life of Former Florida A&M University Professor Dr. Clyde Ashley on Saturday.

A professor, friend, beloved father and grandfather, Dr. Clyde Ashley played a role in the lives of many people at Florida A&M and the community.

Loved ones remembered Dr. Ashley through musical performances, scripture, and stories about his life.

His son, Raymond Ashley told guests about how his father impacted his life.

"My dad told me no matter what, without your mom, your dad, and God you would not be here," said Ashley. "My father taught me many lessons and it's just to much to go through."

Dr. Ashley passed away May 2 in his office at Florida A&M.

Dr. Ashley taught students at FAMU's School of Business and Industry for more than 30 years.

Former students and coworkers of Dr. Ashley also attended the memorial service.

Many of them said he was a remarkable professor and an amazing rattler.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee man was arrested after being accused of unwanted touching of an 11-year-old girl with a wooden object.

Alex Tran, 36, was taken into custody by the Leon County Sheriff's Office on May 11.

On May 5, deputies responded to a business on Mahan Drive in regards to an indecency call.

When deputies arrived, they made contact with the victim and her mother.

While talking with deputies, the victim's mother said on May 5 she brought the victim and another relative to Nail Care to get their nails done.

She stated that while being serviced by Tran, he grabbed a wooden object and proceeded to move it back and forth in the victim's armpit from behind the counter.

She told deputies that she asked Tran to stop, but he continued, saying "I will do it again."

The victim's mother informed deputies that she had seen the wooden object before due to Tran showing it in front of customers in the past.

The police report states, she advised Tran she was going to contact law enforcement and he became irate.

According to the police report, at this time both the victim's mother and Tran were standing close to one another when he swatted at her face, grazing her in the process.

Multiple witnesses say they did see Tran swat his hand in her face, but did not see Tran actually hit the victim's mother.

When she told Tran she called law enforcement, he grabbed the wooden object and went to the back of the salon.

Deputies then made contact with Tran. While talking with deputies, he denied making contact with the victim and hitting her mother.

Tran stated he communicated with the victim's mother regarding the wooden object because she has seen it before.

Tran advised deputies he never touched the victim and said the victim's mother was sitting across from the victim, while he showed her [victim's mother] the wooden object.

Tran repeated to deputies he never made contact with the victim.

On May 10, deputies made contact with Tran again. Deputies asked him if he was willing to allow them to retrieve the video surveillance of the incident.

Tran agreed and handed the video over to deputies.

Deputies watched the video the next day, which showed Tran touching the relative on her shoulder with the wooden object as well as the victim on the side of her face.

Several witnesses gave statements to deputies consistent with the victim's mother allegation that Tran placed the wooden object between the arm and body of the victim, moving it in a back and forth motion.

Based on the evidence, Tran is being charged with battery, for unwanted touching.

He has since bonded out.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) -- For the past 14 years, officers and deputies from across the southeast rev up their motorcycles for the Capital City Challenge.

It's a training seminar and competition that puts motorcycle skills to the test.

Sgt. Mike Germany came from Hendersonville, Tennessee to do just that.

Sgt. Germany says, "This type of riding isn't something we do on the street a lot, but it's critical type riding so it will save your life in the future." He says, the courses are tough, but it's completely worth it to help raise money for the Leon County Special Olympics.

Officer Robert Adams with the Tallahassee Police Department says, working in the field often requires them to make tight turns, and ride through crowds of people or small alleys.

Officer Adams says, "So, we obviously have to hone those skills of driving slow, driving really tight turns, and stuff like that. So out here, we have a ton of tight turns. Probably some turns that Harley or BMW says these bikes can't make, but we make them do it anyway."

In one challenge the goal is to get through the course as fast as possible. The other is a slow ride challenge, which officers say, is harder than it sounds.

Points are deducted for things such as: brushing cones, putting the bike or a foot on the ground, and going outside the course.

Officers say, there's nothing like a friendly competition where they are practicing their skills and it's all for a good cause.

TPD is raffling off a motorcycle to raise money for the Leon County Special Olympics.

Local businesses also donated raffle prizes. In the end, law enforcement officers say participating is rewarding enough.

Officer Tyesha Gates with the Tallahassee Police Department was the only female participating in Saturday's motorcycle competition.

Officer Gates says, "There's not a lot of females doing it and the fact that I'm out here trying gives me a great sense of accomplishment."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 03:57:23|Editor: yan

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CANNES, France, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Critics at Cannes film festival in French Rivera widely acclaimed "Ash is Purest White", a movie by Chinese director Jia Zhangke, the only representative of Chinese cinema in the official competition for the Palme d'Or of the 71st festival edition.

"Ash is Purest White" is described by the French cultural magazine "Telerama" as one of the most anticipated films in competition.

It tells the story of a young dancer, Qiao, in Datong, in northern China's Shanxi Province in 2001, who is in love with Bin, a local gangster. Qiao will take Bin's defense during a clash between gangs and is sentenced to five years in prison. Out of prison, Qiao goes in search of Bin to start all over again.

At a press conference held on Saturday noon, Jia Zhangke told reporters he got the film's idea more than three years ago when he was classifying the videos he has been making since 2001 and found that Zhao Tao, his wife and favorite actress, was always there in the videos.

"I would like to make a film that tells about Zhao Tao's change from 2001 to 2018, and I could share my personal experiences through this film," he said.

After its premiere on Friday, "Ash is Purest White" drew massive positive opinions. Screen Daily magazine noted that "Jia Zhangke explored the evolution of China through the experiences of a woman released from prison". France Culture website praised the performance of "the formidable Zhao Tao", adding that "the film, a 17-year-long love story between two members of the underworld also showed the radical changes of contemporary China."

Le Monde newspaper said impressed by "the original way in which Jia Zhangke, eager for some time to confront the genre, grabbed the film noir... Beautifully destabilizing, poetic and dazzling, opaque and luminous at the same time, it will be one of his greatest films".

Chosen for the fifth time in the festival official selection, the 47-year-old Chinese film director and screenwriter won Best Screenplay Award in 2013 for his film "A touch of Sin" and was also a member of the official jury selection at the 67th Cannes Film Festival in May 2014, which was chaired by New Zealand director Jane Campion.

In this year's session, 21 films are competing for the Palme d'Or. The official selection list includes also "Everybody knows" by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, Italian Matteo Garrone's "Dogman", Japanese Kore-Eda Hirokazu's "Shoplifters", "BlacKkKlansman" by Spike Lee, "Under the Silver Lake" by David Robert Michell and Jafar Panahi's "Three Faces".

At a closing ceremony scheduled for May 19, Australian and Oscar-winner actress Cate Blanchett will unveil the list of the awarded. End
CAPE TOWN, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Saturday condemned a new spate of political killings in the country.

These killings were "brutal, callous, and cold-blooded," the party said in a statement emailed to Xinhua.

On Friday, Msawenkosi Mchunu, an ANC leader in Moses Mabhida Region, KwaZulu-Natal Province and Sbuyiselo Dlamini, a leader of the Inkata Freedom Party (IFP) in Ulundi, also KwaZulu-Natal Province, were shot dead.

Mchunu was shot at his house by two unknown assailants who stormed Mchunu's home and opened fire on him without a word. He was rushed to hospital but succumbed to his injuries, ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe said.

Mchunu will be remembered as one of the militant cadres of the movement, Mabe said.

"We sincerely wish to express our deepest condolences to the families of the ANC and IFP leaders whose lives perished in hands of these criminal assassins," he said.

The killings of Mchunu and Dlamini were preceded by the assasination of Sifiso Cele, an ANC branch treasurer in the Ray Nkonyeni Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal Province. He was gunned down in front of his family on Monday.

The motives for the killings are still under investigation. No one has been arrested. But it is believed that the killings are related to rivalry among factions of political parties.

The ANC remains with the victims' families during these difficult and trying moments, Mabe said.

He called on police to investigate the "wanton and unrelentless" killings of political leaders.

Minister of Police Bheki Cele himself must urgently intervene in the impending security crisis in KwaZulu-Natal, as it is clear that there is an existing systematic plan to eliminate political leaders to sow doubt in the minds of voters in the province ahead of next year's democratic elections, Mabe said.

The ANC also calls on the people of this province to be calm and report incidents of violence and crime to the police that will result in perpetrators of these heinous crimes to be brought to book, Mabe said.
HOUSTON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Asian business communities have contributed to the development of Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has said.

Delivering a speech at the luncheon of Asian Chamber of Commerce on Friday, Turner applauded the contribution of Asian business communities to Houston, saying they helped create jobs in the robust city.

"Sectors like engineering, finance are flourishing in Houston. My mission is to make sure that people know about these opportunities and help transform the opportunities into reality," he said.

Among Asian business societies in Houston, Chinese communities are important ones. Last year, Turner led a large delegation of business executives and other Houston leaders to China, strengthening existing positive relationships and exploring opportunities for further cooperation in trade and investment.

China is the second largest trading partner of Houston and Turner believes the relationship will grow in the future.

Talking about the strong points of the city, Turner said Houston is one of the most diverse and inclusive city in the United States.

"Our duty is to show people the diversity of the city, more importantly, show people that you can make profit in the city," he said, adding "I can't be more proud of that."

The Asian Chamber of Commerce fosters economic and business development through civic advocacy, networking, collaboration and connections in the Houston Asian-American communities and promotes trade between Houston and Asian countries.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 08:28:14|Editor: ZD

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The ninth meeting of the China-Laos economic, trade and technological cooperation committee is held in Vientiane, Laos, May 11, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Ailun)

VIENTIANE, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The ninth meeting of the China-Laos economic and trade cooperation committee was held on Friday in Lao capital Vientiane.

The meeting reviewed the all-around performance of the bilateral cooperation in economic and trade sector, and put forward the requirements to further carry out the bilateral economic and trade cooperation projects.

Both sides agreed to employ proactive measures to further expand bilateral trade volume. The Chinese side is willing to increase the demanded imports from Laos. China will provide Laos necessary support and convenience to attend the first China International Import Expo.

Both sides agreed to enhance large infrastructure project cooperation in the framework of Belt and Road Initiative, actively promote China-Laos economic corridor construction, continue to closely coordinate to ensure the smooth construction of China-Laos railway construction.

Both sides are glad to see the expansion of the Chinese investment in Laos, agree to give impetus to the large cooperation projects like Mohan-Boten Economic Zonen, Saysettha Comprehensive Development Zone, Vientiane-Vangvieng Express Way, Contemporary Agricultural Cooperation Demonstration Park and potash mines, etc.. China has been the largest source of Laos' foreign investment.

Both sides appreciate Chinese funding for effectively promoting Laos' sustainable economic and social development.

The two sides also agree to strengthen communication and cooperation in the multilateral and regional framework of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, China-ASEAN, RCEP, as to jointly achieve the completion of RCEP negotiation as soon as possible.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 08:53:21|Editor: ZD

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China's first home-built aircraft carrier leaves Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province for sea trials on May 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Hu Kaibing)

BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- China's first domestically-built aircraft carrier set out from a port for sea trials Sunday morning.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 10:03:32|Editor: ZD

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TEHRAN, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif left Tehran for Beijing early Sunday for talks on the 2015 nuclear deal following the recent U.S. exit from the agreement, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.

Zarif is heading a high-ranking political-economic delegation during his visit to China.

Following his China visit, the Iranian foreign minister will tour Russia and some European countries, during which he will exchange views with relevant parties on the developments of the Iranian nuclear issue.

Iran seeks contracting parties' assurance for the survival of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, after the U.S. departure.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the United States would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, and impose "the highest level" of economic sanctions on Tehran, triggering global outcry.

The landmark nuclear pact was signed in 2015 by Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus the European Union (EU) and Germany.
KIGALI, May 13 (Xinhua) -- A local government leader in Rwanda has been detained over allegations of genocide ideology, the Rwanda Investigation Bureau said Saturday.

Clarisse Mukansanga, vice mayor in charge of social affairs of Nyabihu District, western Rwanda, resigned from her post on Friday, citing personal reasons.

She was arrested on the same day and faces charges of genocide ideology and related crimes, the spokesman of the bureau Modeste Mbabazi told local media.

Mukansanga's resignation followed days of protest by 1994 Rwandan genocide survivors in the district over concerns that Mukansanga trivialized genocide as she rejected holding a memorial candle during a commemorative event in the district on April 12, according to local media.

According to Rwandan laws, genocide ideology can be manifested by conduct, verbal utterances and documents with intention of exterminating, or inciting others to exterminate people based on their ethnic group, origin, nationality and region and is considered a crime. Creating confusion aimed at denying the 1994 Rwandan genocide, altering evidence of the past genocide and other behaviors can also be considered a crime.

Over one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the 1994 genocide.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 10:23:35|Editor: Liu

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Police officers cordon off the site where a knife attack happened in Paris, France, May 12, 2018. A man randomly attacked bystanders with a knife on Saturday night in central Paris, local media reported. At least one person was killed and several others injured, with two seriously wounded, French news channel BFM TV reported. The knife attacker, not identified yet, was shot dead by police. (Xinhua/Han Bing)

PARIS, May 12 (Xinhua) -- There was an assault on five people in the second arrondissement of the French capital by an individual armed with a knife, the Paris police headquarters tweeted Saturday night.

"One victim died, two are seriously injured and two are slightly injured," said the Paris police headquarters, adding that the attacker had been killed by the police.

The identity and motivation of the perpetrator remain unknown, as well as the identities of the victims. The wounded were transported to a hospital in Paris, according to the police source.

The crime site, near the Paris Opera, has been cordoned off by police.

The Paris Opera district in the heart of Paris is a very crowded area and popular among tourists, especially on weekends.

The Paris prosecutor's office will launch an investigation, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said during a press conference at the scene of the attack around Saturday midnight, adding that the killer had shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("Allah is the greatest") when attacking passers-by with a knife.

Hours later, the terrorist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack via its propaganda agency.

"All my thoughts are with the victims and the wounded of the knife attack perpetrated this evening in Paris, as well as their relatives. On behalf of all the French, I salute the courage of the police officers who neutralized the terrorist," French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted Saturday night. "France pays once again the price of blood but does not give an inch to the enemies of freedom."

France has become a major target of frequent terrorist attacks in recent years. Several attacks claimed by the Islamic State have broken the calm at home, with the bloodiest one in Paris leaving 130 victims in November 2015.

In October 2017, Macron signed an anti-terrorism law which he said was necessary to tackle the rampant terrorism in the country.

The law gives police more authority to search, arrest without judical approval and restrict people's movements and gatherings.
SEOUL, May 13 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's presidential Blue House on Sunday hailed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s pledge to dismantle its nuclear test site.

Kim Eui-kyeom, spokesman for President Moon Jae-in, said in a statement that South Korea welcomed the DPRK's announcement Saturday to hold a ceremony for the dismantling of its nuclear test site from May 23 to May 25.

The spokesman said it was an expression of the DPRK's willingness, not with a word but with an act, to keep on promise that Pyongyang made during the inter-Korean summit.

Moon and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un met on April 27 in the border village of Panmunjom. During the meeting, Kim promised to dismantle the Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site in northeastern DPRK and transparently show the dismantlement to the world.
JAKARTA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- One person was killed along with a suicide bomber during congregations in three churches in Surabaya, the capital of Indonesia's East Java province, on Sunday, spokesman of the provincial police Frans Barung said.

The spokesman told media that six victims of the explosion have been rush to the police hospital in the city for medical treatment.

"There are five or six victims sent to the hospital, all of them are youngsters," said an eye-witness.
YANGON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese embassy in Myanmar has called for parties concerned to exercise restraint for an immediate ceasefire and take concrete and effective measures to prevent the worsening of the situation, following the outbreak of a fresh conflict between the Myanmar armed forces, police and armed groups in Muse Township, northern Myanmar, on Saturday.

A statement of the Chinese embassy issued late on the day said some Myanmar inhabitants in the border area fled into the Chinese territory and some stray bullets were landed in the Chinese territory.

Condemning the violent incident and saddened by the injuries and death of the innocent people, China has urged the parties concerned to ensure life and property safety of the two countries' inhabitants in the border area.

Pointing out that at present, relevant parties in Myanmar are actively preparing for the third meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference and China has been providing required assistance in this regard, the statement voiced firm opposition to any attempt to undermine peace and stability along the China-Myanmar border and any act deliberately obstructing the Myanmar peace process.

The statement called on all parties concerned to enhance dialogue, promote mutual trust, and move forward in the same direction to play a due constructive role in promoting national reconciliation and Myanmar peace process.

At least 19 people, including a police, four militia and 14 civilians, were killed and 27 others injured in attacks by armed groups in Muse township, Myanmar's Shan state Saturday morning, according to a release from the office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Service of Myanmar.

The attacks targeting three areas were launched by a combined force of Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 11:23:48|Editor: Liangyu

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China's first home-built aircraft carrier leaves Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province for sea trials on May 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Hu Kaibing)

DALIAN, May 13 (Xinhua) -- China's first domestically-built aircraft carrier set out from a dock of Dalian Shipyard, northeast China's Liaoning Province, for sea trials Sunday morning.

It is the country's second aircraft carrier.

The sea trials will mainly test the reliability and stability of the carrier's power system and other equipment, sources said.

Construction on the carrier has been carried out as planned since it was launched in April last year, and equipment debugging, outfitting and mooring tests have been completed to make it ready for the trial mission at sea, the sources said.
JAKARTA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- One person was killed along with a suicide bombinger during congregations in three churches in Surabaya, capital of Indonesia's East Java province, on Sunday, spokesman of the provincial police Senior Commissioner Frans Barung said.

The spokesman said six victims of the explosions have so far been rushed to a police hospital in the city for medical treatments.

"There are five or six victims sent to the hospital, all of them are youngsters," said an eye-witness.

The deadly blasts took place in Santa Maria church in Ngagel Madya area, Gereja Kristen Indonesia church on Diponegoro street and Pantekosta church on Arjuno street, the police spokesman told media.

The first explosion took place at 07:15 a.m. Jakarta time and was followed by others with the interval time of about five minutes, according to the police.

The attackers, disguising as followers of the morning sermon in the churches, detonated bombs which hit scores of followers, said the police spokesman.

The police have cordoned off all the scenes for investigation, said Barung.
JAKARTA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Six people were killed and at least 35 others injured as suicide bombers blew themselves during congregations in three churches in Surabaya city, capital of Indonesia's East Java province, on Sunday, provincial police spokesman Frans Barung told media.

The deadly blasts took place in Santa Maria church in Ngagel Madya area, Gereja Kristen Indonesia church on Diponegoro street and Pantekosta church on Arjuno street, the police spokesman said.

The first explosion took place at 07:15 a.m. Jakarta time and was followed by others with the interval time of about five minutes, according to the police.

The attackers, disguising as followers of the morning sermon in the churches, detonated bombs which hit scores of followers, said the police spokesman.

The police have cordoned off all the scenes for investigation, said Barung.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 11:33:52|Editor: ZD

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BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The Pacific Symphony of the United States will perform at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing Tuesday, the last destination of its five-city tour in China.

The tour started on May 9 with a concert at the Shanghai Poly Grand Theater, followed by performances in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, Wuxi in east China's Jiangsu Province, Chongqing in southwest China, and Beijing.

The orchestra will perform works by Leonard Bernstein in celebration of the centennial of his birth. It will also perform Ravel's "Daphnis and Chloe Suite, No. 2," "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Mussorgsky; and Mozart's "Violin Concerto No.3," featuring renowned violinist Pinchas Zukerman.

"The music was carefully selected," the orchestra's music director Carl St. Clair said at a pre-performance fan meeting on May 8. "I want Chinese audiences get to know us gently, and you will begin our friendship in this concert very easy."

This is the Pacific Symphony's first-ever tour to China and first international tour since the orchestra toured European capitals in 2006.

"Thousands of pounds of cargo and millions of dollars of instruments made their way across the ocean. It is an incredibly exciting opportunity for us," John Forsyte, president of Pacific Symphony, said at the fan meeting.

The Pacific Symphony was founded in 1978 and is currently under the baton of Carl St. Clair, who is widely recognized for his distinguished performances and commitment to new music and music education.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 11:58:56|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Anti-terrorist squads stand guard outside the bombing site at Santa Maria church in Surabaya, capital of Indonesia's East Java Province, May 13, 2018. Six people were killed and at least 35 others injured as suicide bombers blew themselves up during congregations in three churches in Surabaya on Sunday, provincial police spokesman Frans Barung said. The blasts took place in Santa Maria church, Gereja Kristen Indonesia church and Pentecostal church. (Xinhua/Kurniawan)

JAKARTA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Six people including policemen and bombers were killed and at least 35 others injured as suicide bombers blew themselves during congregations in three churches in Surabaya city, capital of Indonesia's East Java province, on Sunday, a police officer said.

The explosions killed two persons in Pantekosta church in Arjuno street, one in Gereja Kristen Indonesia on Dipengoro street and three in Santa Maria church on Ngagel Madya street, provincial police spokesman Frans Barung said.

"There are three locations (churches) of the explosions," he told the media.

The victims have been rushed to hospital in the city for medical treatments, said the spokesman.

The first deadly blast took place in Santa Maria church at 07:15 a.m. Jakarta time and was followed by others with the interval time of about five minutes, he said.

The attackers, disguising as followers of the morning sermons in the three churches.

The police have cordoned off all the scenes for investigation, said the spokesman.
KABUL, May 13 (Xinhua) -- An Afghan air force helicopter made crash landing in southern Helmand province on Saturday and the air force destroyed the chopper after safely rescuing the crew, the Afghan Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

"An Afghan National Army (ANA) Air Force's helicopter when in a supportive flight during an operation made emergency landing in Yakhchal village, Nahri Sarraj district, Helmand province," the ministry said in a statement.

The crew was safely rescued by another army helicopter and was shifted to Shorab Air Base in Helmand, the statement said, adding that the wreckage was destroyed by air force sorties.

Helmand, notorious for poppy growing, is also a known Taliban stronghold.

Last year, an Afghan army helicopter was destroyed in another similar incident in northern Kunduz province before Taliban reach to the crash site.

The Taliban militants intensified attacks against security forces across the country after they launched a yearly rebel offensive on April 25.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 13:04:07|Editor: Liu

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WASHINGTON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai warned that some people in the United States are trying to place a "glass curtain" between the two countries.

Cui made the remarks on Friday at the panel discussion "Forty Years of U.S.-China Relations" hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a policy research organization based in Washington, D.C.

There are some people in the United States who are trying to place a "glass curtain" between the two nations, so as to impede bilateral exchanges in economy, science and technology, and people-to-people engagements, and even stoke U.S. suspicion against exchange students and research fellows from China, said the Chinese ambassador.

China hopes these ominous trends would not be recognized by U.S. mainstream society, said Cui, who also called on the two sides to enhance dialogue to eliminate the "deficit of mutual understanding."

Beijing and Washington, after having come together 40 years ago united by common strategic interests, have seen the expansion of cooperation and common interests in bilateral, regional and global issues, the ambassador said.

Their wide-ranging common interests have stimulated bilateral relations in the past 40 years and will serve as an important foundation of their future ties, he said.

China has no desire to contend for global dominance with the United States; rather, it wishes to work with the U.S. side for a new type of relations featuring non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, he said.

The event gathered some 200 participants from politics, business, academia and media.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 13:24:13|Editor: Xiang Bo

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WASHINGTON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai has cautioned that some people in the United States are trying to place a "glass curtain" between the two countries, calling for enhanced dialogue to eliminate the "deficit of mutual understanding."

Cui made the remarks on Friday at the panel discussion "Forty Years of U.S.-China Relations" hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a policy research organization based in Washington, D.C.

The event, gathering over 200 people from politics, business, academia and media, was held to discuss "the twists and turns in the relationship over the last four decades and the challenges that lie ahead," the CSIS said on its website.

China and the United States will mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations next year.

COMMON INTERESTS STRONGER THAN DIFFERENCES

Beijing and Washington, after having come together 40 years ago united by common strategic interests, have seen the expansion of their cooperation and common interests in bilateral, regional and global issues, the ambassador said.

Their wide-ranging common interests have stimulated bilateral relations in the past 40 years and will serve as an important foundation of their future ties, he said.

As history proves, the common interests of China and the United States are greater than their differences, Cui said, adding that this will ensure the sustainable and healthy development of bilateral ties.

Referring to crises in bilateral relations, including the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia in 1999, Cui said that the incidents took place either in or near Chinese territory.

Thoese incidents were triggered by moves from the U.S. side that harmed China's interests, and that China had to take actions to defend its legitimate rights, Cui said.

He called on China and the United States to enhance dialogue to eliminate the "deficit of mutual understanding."

China has no desire to contend for global dominance with the United States; rather, it wishes to work with the U.S. side for a new type of relations featuring non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, he said.

GLASS CURTAIN

It would be naive to hope that good faith could serve as the basis of nation-to-nation relations, however, it would be more dangerous to see a country's foreign policy defined by hostility, fear and suspicion, Cui said.

There are some people in the United States who are trying to place a "glass curtain" between the two nations, so as to impede bilateral exchanges in economy, science and technology, and people-to-people engagements, and even stoke suspicion against exchange students and research fellows from China.

China hopes these ominous trends will not be recognized by U.S. mainstream society, Cui said.

Cui said that the biggest challenge for large countries now is not posed by foreign competitors, but by their domestic governance.

The right choice for the United States is to increase engagement with China, rather than to confront, he said.

Like a race, Cui said the correct way to compete is to run faster and not to look back to see who is catching up or standing in one's way.

Talking about China's requirement that foreign airlines not list China's Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan as "countries," Cui said any foreign company doing business in China shall abide by its laws as required by widely recognized international standards.

Among regional affairs of mutual concern, Cui talked about the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, saying any future negotiations should give full consideration to the security concerns of all parties, including the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, South Korea, China, the United States, Russia and Japan.
TRIPOLI, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan coast guard on Saturday rescued 334 illegal immigrants of different African nationalities off the country's western coast.

The illegal immigrants were rescued in three separate operations, with the first off the coast near Tripoli involving a rubber boat carrying 112 people.

The other two operations were carried out off the coast of the city of Khoms, some 120 km east of Tripoli, rescuing a total of 222 migrants who were in two boats.

The anti-illegal immigration department under the Interior Ministry is responsible for investigating illegal immigration, housing rescued migrants and foiling human smuggling.

Mohamed Beshr, the head of the department, told Xinhua earlier that there are 26 shelters in Libya housing more than 8,000 illegal immigrants.

Thousands of illegal immigrants choose to cross the Mediterranean towards European shores from Libya due to the state of chaos in the country following the 2011 uprising.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 14:24:26|Editor: ZD

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TRIPOLI, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Saturday expressed concerned over escalating violence in the southern Libyan city of Sabha, some 800 km southwest of the capital Tripoli.

"UNSMIL is deeply disturbed at the most recent escalation in Sabha that resulted in over 45 casualties, including some civilians," the mission said in a statement.

"The Mission calls for restraint, the resumption of dialogue and for voices of reason to prevail and reminds parties of their obligation to protect civilian lives & facilities under international humanitarian law," the statement added.

The UN affiliate also confirmed it will "deploy all possible means to help bring calm to the city."

Sabha has been witnessing renewed violent clashes between rival tribes over the past two days, the worst since the fighting started in February.

Violence has so far killed and injured dozens of people in the city and displaced more than 200 families.
WASHINGTON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said here Friday that the trade imbalance between China and the United States cannot and will not last in the long run.

Cui made the remarks at the panel discussion "Forty Years of U.S.-China Relations" hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a policy research organization based in Washington, D.C.

The China-U.S. trade imbalance cannot and will not be sustained in the long run, and trade teams of the two nations are negotiating it, Cui said.

However, Cui said it would be one-sided and too simple to see a deficit as a loss and a surplus as a gain, rather, the Chinese and U.S. sides are better advised to take into consideration such issues as industrial chains, value chains and international division of labor.

The ongoing trade consultations of the two nations cannot succeed when only one side's concerns are addressed, he said.

Negotiations based on mutual trust and a balanced approach can achieve their goals, Cui said, adding that serious commitments by both sides are required to reach agreements without the need for any deadlines.

The event, bringing together over 200 people from politics, business, academia and media, was held to discuss "the twists and turns in the relationship over the last four decades and the challenges that lay ahead," the CSIS said on its website.

China and the United States will mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations next year.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 12 (Xinhua) -- A woman from a small city near Portland in the western U.S. state of Oregon was arrested for allegedly blinding a paraplegic man who was living with her, a local TV channel reported Saturday.

The 34-year-old woman, who was identified as Michel Roper, was accused of attacking her roommate's eyes and genital areas with her hands and nails, which may have led to the loss of eyesight in both eyes of the 62-year-old victim, KGW8 TV channel said.

The TV channel quoted Washington County police as saying that Roper was living with the elderly man in an apartment in Aloha, a small city about 17.5 km west of downtown Portland.

Roper had worked as the victim's caregiver for several years before she left the job, police said.

She later moved back to live with the paraplegic man after she was kicked out of her sister's house for drug abuse.

The TV report said the woman was involved in an hours-long standoff with the police in the apartment after law enforcement agents were alerted about the assault.

However, Roper was finally taken into custody on an assault charge after the police used a stun gun on her.
WASHINGTON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said here Friday that the trade imbalance between China and the United States cannot and will not last in the long run.

Cui made the remarks at the panel discussion "Forty Years of U.S.-China Relations" hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a policy research organization based in Washington, D.C.

The event, bringing together over 200 people from politics, business, academia and media, was held to discuss "the twists and turns in the relationship over the last four decades and the challenges that lie ahead," the CSIS said on its website.

China and the United States will mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations next year.

CHINA WISHES U.S. CONTINUED ECONOMIC PROSPERITY

Since the economies of China and the United States are very interdependent, China sincerely hopes that the U.S. economy will continue to prosper, likewise, the United States has benefited from the development of the Chinese economy in the past four decades, Cui said.

As trade grows increasingly important in bilateral relations, Cui called for concerted efforts from China and the United States to find solutions to short-term problems first and explore way-outs to long-term and structural problems at the same time.

Speaking about the bilateral trade imbalance, Cui said that it would be one-sided and too simple to see a deficit as a loss and a surplus as a gain, rather, the two sides are better advised to take into consideration such issues as industrial chains, value chains and international division of labor.

The China-U.S. trade imbalance cannot and will not last in the long run, and the trade teams of the two nations are negotiating it, Cui said.

The ongoing trade consultations of the two nations cannot succeed when only one side's concerns are addressed, he said.

Negotiations based on mutual trust and a balanced approach can achieve their goals, Cui said, adding that serious commitments from both sides are required to reach agreements without the need for any deadlines.

"MADE IN CHINA 2025" INCLUSIVE

Cui said it is unnecessary for some Americans to fuss about the "Made in China 2025" plan, since all nations can join.

Introduced in 2015, the "Made in China 2025" plan was designed to upgrade the country's manufacturing industry. The 10-year national plan aims to promote development in 10 key sectors, including robotics, aerospace equipment and new materials.

The initiative is open to companies of all countries, including those of the United States, Cui said.

It is impossible for a country to lead in all areas forever, so long as the competition is fair, others countries will catch up as time passes by, Cui said.

Meanwhile, Cui said China has been increasing its awareness of and efforts on the protection of the intellectual property rights (IPR) problem in the past years, not only to address the concerns of the United States, but also to meet its own development needs.

China has listed IPR protection as one of the priority areas of its future opening-up, he said.

Cui also talked about a level playing field, an issue the Donald Trump administration has highlighted recently.

He said while U.S. enterprises complained it was unfair that Chinese companies were getting support from the government, their Chinese counterparts said the playing field is not level in the first place since U.S.-based multinationals boast first-mover advantages such as global supply chains, industrial lines, advanced experience and expertise, and the U.S. dollar as the international reserve currency.

CHINA TO CONTINUE REFORMS, OPENING-UP

The Chinese ambassador also said that his country will by all means ensure its own high-quality future development while continuing to open up.

China's reform and opening-up were successful, and there is no reason why it would not continue with further reforms and opening-up, Cui said, adding that China will roll out more measures to enhance its opening-up process.

He said that China's reforms have reached a challenging stage, and that China will remove various obstacles with greater wisdom and courage, so as to further promote its reform and opening-up process.
JAKARTA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian police killed four terror suspects in West Java province's Cianjur regency on early Sunday, saying they had planned to undertake attacks in capital city and Bandung.

Those four terrorists were killed in a shoot-out with police detectives in a Cianjur bus terminal. Police have been tailing them from the province's city of Sukabumi.

"Police confiscated fire arms, bullets, bows and arrows," Indonesian police headquarters Spokesperson Setyo Wasisto told a press conference.

Those killed terrorist suspects were members of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) terror group.

Police found out that those killed suspects intended to launch series of attacks on police stations, police on duties in Jakarta and Bandung and also police mobile brigade headquarters in Depok, West Java.

Also on Sunday, bomb blasts occurred in churches located in East Java province's capital of Surabaya, causing casualties.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of mothers and women from the local Chinese community Saturday celebrated Mother's Day, which falls on Sunday, at a reception hosted by the Chinese Consulate General here.

Chinese Consul General Luo Linquan said that Mother's Day, which was established to pay tribute and express gratitude to mothers, highlights the eternal theme of maternal love in human society.

He praised the women, who represented various professions, for their numerous contributions to the Chinese community in the Bay Area, as well as to programs that benefit society, to the overseas promotion of traditional Chinese culture, and to the process of Chinese national unification.

"Their selfless devotion deserves much respect and love from other people," he said.

He urged them to play a unique role in advancing the friendship between the United States and China and to fight for the welfare of their fellow Chinese Americans.

A woman who participated and identified herself as Lee said she hopes her children, as the next generation of Chinese Americans, will continue to do their part to achieve a more amicable and closer U.S.-China relationship.

There were songs, dances and a piano solo to honor the mothers in the audience.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 15:49:40|Editor: Liangyu

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URUMQI, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Deng Qiong has no time for marriage or romance, because she's busy being a "mother" of 12 orphans.

Deng, 45, is the mother of No. 9 family in the SOS Children's Village in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. She left her south China hometown in 2001 to join the charitable organization, which provides orphans with family care.

In each SOS Children's Village of China there are 12 to 18 families. Each family usually fosters seven to eight orphans aged below 14 with a single woman recruited to act as a mother. Deng is one such woman.

This year's Mother's Day is the 17th she has spent as a "full-time mother." For the past 17 years of her stay here, Deng has created a home for 12 parentless children, watching them grow up and leave.

"Every Mother's Day I receive different gifts from my children," Deng said. So far she has got flowers, cards, a necklace, perfume and a makeup kit, not expensive but they mean a lot.

This year she received a note saying "I love you mom" from her youngest son.

Every day she gets up at 7:30 a.m. and does not rest until 1:00 a.m. the next day. She cooks, washes, teaches, and does all a mother needs to do at home. The workload is much bigger than for ordinary housewives as she currently has five children to attend to.

She insists on celebrating all the important festivals, like Spring Festival, with her children. Sticking to this schedule, she has little time to go back home to see her own parents.

Deng says her parents have never understood her job.

A photo of Deng with her parents hangs on a wall, surrounded by photos of Deng's children.

Her friends advised her to quit, but she loves her children so much and is so touched by their love that she is determined to stay until she retires.

Deng admits taking care of the children is not easy. Considering the different background and personality of each child, she looks for the best ways to get on with everyone. She has to deal with childhood traumas, teenage defiance as well as homework of different grades.

Some of her older children have left home for college and work. But they miss Deng a lot.

"They call me a lot and tell me everything, that they have fallen in love, that they had a fight with their boyfriends, or even that they were stung by mosquitoes," Deng said. "I hope they can become more independent and capable. I hope they can grow up happily and start their own families."

In the village 14 mothers including Deng have maintained homes for 101 children of different ethnic groups from five provinces and regions in northwest China.

They have raised 210 children since the establishment of the village, and more than 40 of them have gone to college, according to Wang Xinxiang, assistant to the village head.

"We work to give these children family care so that they can grow up with dignity and a sense of security," Wang said.

Deng's cell phone has been flooded with messages and phone calls from her grown-up children in recent days.

She sometimes imagines how she would celebrate Mother's Day if she took a different job, got married and had children of her own, but she has no regrets.

"If someday I meet someone, I might think about leaving," she said, "But right now it seems less likely because I don't have many opportunities getting to know new friends. I will carry on with this for as long as I can."
Li Zhanshu (3rd L, front), chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), meets with Thomas Kwesi Quartey (3rd R, front), Deputy Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, during his visit to the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on May 11, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

ADDIS ABABA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator Li Zhanshu has called for closer China-Africa cooperation while meeting with Thomas Kwesi Quartey, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia's Addis Ababa .

During the meeting on Friday, Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said China and Africa are always a community of common destiny as they share deep-rooted friendship and the same pursuit of development and prosperity.

Li said guided by China's African policy of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith and the correct viewpoint of righteousness and benefit, put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the ten major cooperation plans have progressed well and a number of major cooperation projects have been realized, bringing substantial benefits to the African countries and the African people.

Li envisaged the huge potential for cooperation as China is endeavoring to achieve its "two centenary goals" while Africa is also pushing for the realization of its Agenda 2063.

China is happy to see a united, peaceful and prosperous Africa and stands ready to further its comprehensive and practical cooperation with the continent, Li said, noting the hope for more fruitful results within the frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

The top legislator also expressed the belief that China and Africa will work together to make the Beijing summit of the FOCAC in September a historic event to advance China-Africa cooperation.

Leaders of China and African countries will consult with each other and blueprint China-Africa cooperation in the new era in pursuit of win-win results and common development at an even higher level, according to Li.

Hailing the important role the AU plays in promoting unity and integration of Africa, Li said the Chinese side attaches great importance to the ties with the regional bloc and is willing to support, within China's capability, its efforts to strengthen the AU organs as well as its ability of peacekeeping and improving people's livelihood.

Li Zhanshu (L), chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), meets with Thomas Kwesi Quartey, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission during his visit to the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on May 11, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

He also said China will support the AU's push to lead Africa's integration, play a bigger part in regional and international affairs and safeguard the continent's unity and common interests.

Quartey welcomed Li's visit to the AU headquarters, whose office building, according to the deputy chairperson, embodies high-level cooperation between Africa and China.

While expressing thanks to China's strong support to the AU, Quartey said China's peaceful development has offered enormous opportunities as well as a new option for Africa.

The deputy chairperson said Africa's Agenda 2063 is highly compatible with the Belt and Road Initiative, calling for joint advancement. The AU is willing to actively participate in the FOCAC Beijing Summit and to deepen its all-round cooperation with China, he said.

The AU also expects China to enhance its support to Africa on infrastructure, education and science and technology, Quartey said.

Li and Quartey also exchanged views on African situation and other issues.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 16:19:44|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The audience in this Chinese national capital will be able to enjoy music composed by Franz Schubert, as performed by the renowned composer's hometown orchestra -- the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra -- at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing Wednesday.

The National Center for the Performing Arts features "A Feast of Strings -- NCPA May Festival" at its home web page.

The orchestra will play Franz Schubert's Die Zauberharfe, D. 644 (Overture to Rosamunde); Fantasy in F minor after Schubert D 940, which was adapted by Dmitry Kabalevsky; and Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944, "Great," according to the information attached to the calendar posted online.

The ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra is the orchestra of the Austrian national broadcaster Osterreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), which is known for its exceptional and bold programming.

The orchestra is currently under the baton of Cornelius Meister, who conducts a wide range of concert and operatic repertoire, including operas by Mozart, Wagner, Puccini and Strauss, the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner and Tchaikovsky, as well as rarely performed works.

Pianist Claire Huangci, a player in the orchestra, is a young Chinese-American, who has been hailed as a child prodigy and once gave a private concert for former U.S. President Bill Clinton when she was just 10 years old.

All concerts by the orchestra are broadcast on the radio and internet, with some shown on television.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 16:29:47|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- China's crude oil ouput fell 2.2 percent year on year in March, data showed.

Crude oil output of major producers came in at 15.96 million tonnes, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Data given by the General Administration of Customs showed the country's imports in March reached 39.17 million tonnes.

In March, refineries processed 51.51 million tonnes of crude oil, up 8.3 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, China's natural gas output grew 0.4 percent year on year to 13.5 billion cubic meters in March, while imports of natural gas grew 38 percent year on year to reach 8.23 billion cubic meters.

China aims to increase annual domestic crude oil output to 200 million tonnes by 2020, while supply capacity for natural gas should exceed 360 billion cubic meters.
DHAKA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese engineers on Sunday morning successfully installed the fourth span of Bangladesh's Padma Bridge.

The 3,140-ton span was placed between pear-40 and pear-41.

Bangladeshi government officials among others witnessed the installation process at a site of the bridge.

With the installation of the span, the fourth span among the 41 spans to be installed on the 6.15-km bridge, 600 meters of the bridge is now visible.

It took about one hour for the engineers of the China Major Bridge Engineering Company to successfully complete the installation work of the 150-meter long span starting at 7:00 a.m. local time.

The first, second and third spans of the bridge were installed on Sept. 30 last year, Jan. 28 this year and March 11 this year respectively.

In December 2015, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the main works of Padma Bridge project, the biggest of its kind for the country, by unveiling its foundation plaque.

Bangladesh last month signed a nearly 3-billion-U.S. dollar loan deal with China's Exim Bank to construct the Padma Bridge rail link. The 215-rail link will pass via Padma Bridge.

In June 2014, the Bangladeshi government awarded China Major Bridge Engineering Company Limited a 1.55-billion-U.S.-dollar contract to build core structure of the Padma Bridge project.

Apart from connecting nearly 30 million people in Bangladesh's southwest region to the rest of the country, the bridge will enhance regional trade and collaboration along the Asian highway No. 1 and the Trans-Asian railway network.

The bridge is among the eight projects that are under direct supervision of the Fast Track Project Monitoring Committee headed by the prime minister.

The bridge is expected to be completed in the second half of next year.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 16:34:49|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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ULAN BATOR, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia is willing to further expand legal cooperation with Turkey, especially in the field of prosecution, the parliament's press office said Sunday.

This was underlined by Enkh-Amgalan Luvsantseren, deputy speaker of the Mongolian Parliament, in a recent meeting with a Turkish delegation led by Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Halil Adiguzel in Ulan Bator, it said.

Over the past four years, more than 90 Mongolian prosecutors have participated in short-term training in Turkey, the deputy speaker said.

Adiguzel, for his part, said Turkey is ready to work with Mongolia and share its experiences in fighting against corruption, economic crimes and transnational organized crimes.

Cooperation between Mongolia and Turkey has been expanding in all sectors in recent years. The two countries will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations in 2019.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 17:29:59|Editor: Yamei

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JERUSALEM, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Israeli forces have arrested 16 Palestinians in the West Bank for alleged involvement in "terrorism" and "riots" against Israel, a military spokesperson said Sunday in a statement.

"Overnight, Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet, and Border Police arrested 16 suspects," the spokesperson said, adding that the suspects were taken for questioning.

The arrests came amidst spiraling tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank, ahead of Israel's "Jerusalem Day," when Israel marks the annexation of East Jerusalem, with a flag parade that marches from the west side of the city to the east side.

Also on Sunday, in the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem's Old City, clashes broke out between Israelis and Palestinian worshipers. The clashes started after the Israelis chanted nationalist songs and started to pray there, breaking the long-held status-quo that allow Israelis to visit the holy site but not to pray there.

Jews know the site as the Temple Mount. It is the holiest site for practicing Jews.

The Jerusalem police released a statement saying that "during a visit to the Temple Mount, several Jewish visitors violated the rules of visitations, provoking a provocation, after which they were taken out of the compound for identification and clarification of the circumstances."

Tensions were high in Jerusalem also due to the scheduled relocation of the U.S. embassy to the city on Monday.

The controversial move follows U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Palestinians and many countries condemned the move.

Palestinian officials and activists in the West Bank called on for mass rallies to protest the relocation, while thousands of Israeli police were deployed across Jerusalem to enable the opening ceremony to be held as planned.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 17:35:02|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Launching rockets and satellites has long been the preserve of China's state-owned aerospace companies, but private space firms are now popping up hoping to find gold in the space dust.

A report by Beijing-based investment institution FutureAerospace says more than 60 private Chinese firms have entered the commercial space industry over the past three years, focusing on the production and launch of satellites and rockets.

Most of the companies are based in Beijing, home to many space experts, as well as Guangdong, Shaanxi and Hubei provinces, where the manufacturing industry is more developed.

This follows a government policy issued in 2015 to encourage private enterprises in space.

Analysts say commercial space activity could help lower costs and increase efficiency of space activities, and accelerate the technology development.

CHINA'S SPACEX?

Companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are developing cost-effective carrier vehicles with the aim to make space travel possible for ordinary people. They have also inspired Chinese entrepreneurs.

Founded in June 2015, LandSpace, a private rocket-maker, has gained investment of more than 500 million yuan (about 78.61 million U.S. dollars). Its technicians are former state-owned aerospace industry workers.

"This is the best time for China's commercial space companies. The core advantage of private firms is rapid decision-making and rapid technical upgrading," said Zhang Changwu, CEO of LandSpace, which signed a contract with a Danish firm this year to provide launch services.

LandSpace has designed a small solid-propellant rocket that can carry up to 300 kilograms into a low-Earth orbit. It is expected to come out of the factory in the second half of 2018. The company is now focusing on developing a liquid-propellant engine and a medium-sized rocket fueled by liquid oxygen and methane.

LandSpace is not alone in the launch market.

When Shu Chang declared three years ago he would produce rockets, his acquaintances said he was crazy.

Braving questions and mockery, he set up OneSpace in August 2015. Four months later, SpaceX launched the Falcon 9 rocket and recovered the first stage of the rocket for the first time.

Some praise Shu as China's Elon Musk, but some call him a swindler.

With investment totaling 500 million yuan, OneSpace has developed a rocket engine that passed factory trials. Its first mini-rocket, capable of sending a 100-kg payload to an altitude of 800 km, is expected to launch soon.

"SpaceX has inspired China's space industry. But I don't want to duplicate the SpaceX story. I want my company to have our own advantages," Shu said.

RISING STARS

Producing satellites is believed to have a lower entry threshold and greater commercial potential than rockets, and has attracted many start-ups and investment.

With the development of autonomous driving, the Internet of Vehicles and the Internet of Things, remote sensing and communication satellites are said to have a lot of good prospects.

SpaceOK, a Shanghai-based firm, plans to produce and launch up to 40 small communication satellites in the next three years to help develop the Internet of Things.

"We aim to solve the problems of the traditional aerospace enterprises, such as a lack of innovation, high costs and insufficient application of satellite data," said Wang Yang, CEO of SpaceOK.

"We also support the state's Belt and Road Initiative, and will use our satellite data to service countries along the Belt and Road."

The value of the global space market is estimated to reach 485 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, when the value of China's space market is projected to be 800 billion yuan (125.78 billion U.S. dollars).

About two thirds of global satellite orders will come from commercial customers in the next decade.

Lured by the promising market, Chinese space companies recently unveiled a series of programs to produce and launch small and micro satellites.

"We hope these programs accord with the nation's top-level plan," said Li Guoping, a spokesman of the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

"We especially encourage social capital to invest in the satellite application sector," said Li.

"The output value of the satellite application sector makes up over 80 percent of the whole satellite industry chain. So we encourage private companies and social capital to invest in the application of satellite communication, remote sensing and navigation," he said. "When we make a top-level plan for China's aerospace development, we will consider the development of commercial space activity. The government will open space programs that can be carried out in a commercial way, and buy services from commercial companies."

State-funded basic frontier research projects that used to be carried out by state-owned research agencies and large enterprises will also open to qualified private firms.

"We support the development of rockets by private firms at a certain level, but their research, production and launch must be in accordance with the nation's regulations," Li said. "We are formulating guidance to promote the orderly development of the commercial space industry in China."

Tian Yulong, secretary general of the CNSA, said the development of the commercial space industry will help improve China's competitiveness in the international market.

The government will improve safety supervision, and nurture new commercial space companies that are competitive internationally, Tian said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 17:45:06|Editor: ZX

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Workers prepare the stage for the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on May 13, 2018. Israel prepares on Sunday for the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, a move that has sparked Palestinian protests. (Xinhua/JINI)

JERUSALEM, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Israel prepares on Sunday for the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, a move that has sparked Palestinian protests.

A reception for the U.S. delegation will be held on Sunday afternoon at the foreign ministry in Jerusalem. U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, his senior adviser, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin lead the delegation.

Israeli foreign ministry said that 86 foreign ambassadors to Israel were invited to the opening ceremony. About 40 of them accepted the invitation. Four European countries -- Austria, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Hungary -- have confirmed their participation although the European Union opposes the relocation.

At the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the relocation would be "a truly historic thing."

Thousands of police officers were deployed throughout the Jerusalem districts for fear of Palestinian protests and riots. Additionally, police officers will stand in a "human wall" between the neighborhood of Arnona, where the new embassy is located, and the Palestinian Sur Baher, the police said.

Israel seized East Jerusalem, together with the rest of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Middle East war. It annexed East Jerusalem shortly later, claiming it part of its "indivisible capital," in a move which was not recognized internationally.

On Dec. 16, 2017, Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in a move that triggered new violence in the region.

The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Following Trump's move, they said the United States cannot be considered as a fair peace broker in the Middle East.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 18:00:09|Editor: Yamei

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Photo taken on May 13, 2018 shows smoke rising from the site of an attack in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. At least seven people, including one assailant, were killed and 20 others wounded after two blasts and ensuing gunshots rocked Jalalabad city, capital of eastern Nangarhar province, on Sunday. (Xinhua/Saifurahman Safi)

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, May 13 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people, including one assailant, were killed and 20 others wounded after two blasts and ensuing gunshots rocked Jalalabad city, capital of eastern Nangarhar province, on Sunday.

The incident occurred around midday when militants armed with suicide jackets and automatic guns stormed the provincial government's customs and finance department, triggering a gun battle, said an official on the condition of anonymity.

Afghan Special Operations Forces arrived at the scene shortly after the blasts, and sporadic firing was still ongoing as of Sunday afternoon, the source added. The number of casualties may further go up.

Security forces have cordoned off the area for precautionary measures.

Further details about the incident are still forthcoming amid the absence of any official statement.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Taliban militants and fighters of Islamic State outfit have presence in the province, some 120 km east of Afghan capital of Kabul.
Aerial photo taken on May 8, 2018 shows the Chinese-built Maputo Bridge. (Xinhua)

by Xinhua writers Zhu Shaobin and Nie Zuguo

MAPUTO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- A twin-tower suspension bridge with a main span of 680 meters hanging over Maputo Bay is decorating the skyline of southern African nation Mozambique's capital city Maputo, becoming a new landmark project that will ease the city's cross-sea traffic.

The project, costing 785.8 million U.S. dollars with 95 percent of the funding from China, is being built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and set for official launch on June 25, Mozambique's Independence Day.

As the sun sets to one side of the bay and colors the bridge with a golden hue, 20-year-old Mozambican crew-driver worker Fernando was wrapping up his day's work at the bridge, and sent a hello greeting "ni hao" in Chinese upon seeing us.

Due to his family's financial burden, the youth said he's working at the bridge to make some savings so that he can apply for a public university. "I am working at the bridge to build my future," he said.

"My biggest dream is to travel to London and study in Oxford University. But Mandarin is also important. There are many Chinese people working in Mozambique. So next year, I will also learn the Chinese language so that I will be able to better work around the Chinese," he said while getting excited about the imminent launch of the bridge.

"It's a wonderful and fantastic bridge! People now depend on the boats and ferry to get across the water to the Katembe district at the other side. The boat takes a long time and is dangerous," he said.

Project manager at CRBC Cao Changwei has been in charge of the project since construction commenced in 2014. He said the bridge will cut travel time between Maputo and the under-developed Katembe urban district to about ten minutes compared to up to three hours by ferry or driving around the bay by circumventing.

Photo taken on May 10, 2018 shows the Chinese-built Maputo Bridge and link roads. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

According to him, the whole bridge project also involves the construction of link roads totaling 187 km that will link southward to the border area with South Africa.

"It will greatly shorten the travel time between Mozambique and South Africa and become a major international passageway that will boosts Mozambique's passenger and cargo transport, tourism as well as economic growth along the project," Cao said.

"Many people now buy land in Katembe to make business because of this bridge. The economy in Katembe will develop very much," Fernando said.

According to the CRBC, the local government is planning to develop the Katembe district through various ways, including land development, tourism, commercial services, logistics and modern industries.

Cao revealed that the project so far has created over 20,000 jobs, both full time and part time, for the locals. Currently, the project hires 3,788 local people compared to a Chinese staff team of 467.

Meanwhile, CRBC also trained over 5,000 locals for various job posts required for the project, including welding, steel bending and machinery operation, Cao said.

"My new house is almost ready for use. I will get some new furniture once I get my salary this month," said 40-year-old Morgado, who is a driver working at the project.

Growing up in a family with four siblings in Katembe, Morgado had a difficult childhood as his parents barely made ends meet by selling cassava starch. He also went through much toil-and-moil by working odd jobs.

"I worked in South Africa for five years but my life was still difficult. But after I worked in CRBC, my life changed, he said, without hiding his joy that he and his wife Percilia now can even make savings in the family.

Meanwhile, Fermando told Xinhua that even though his father wanted him to study engineering, he has decided to pursue language studies. "I will learn more English and Chinese to enhance my chances," he beamed.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 18:10:11|Editor: Yamei

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YINCHUAN, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Like any stay-at-home mom, Liu Shuqin's day starts with cooking breakfast, waking up her daughters and then sending them to school.

"Let mom help you with the buttons on your shirt," says Liu, 53, to her 7-year-old girl Song Xinying.

Right after that, she starts helping another daughter, 17-year-old Sima Yiding, with her hair. "See how mom combs your hair? Aren't you my pretty girl?" she says.

The girl seems shy and keeps her head down. "Yeah, it looks pretty," she mumbles.

Xinying and Yiding are Liu's two mentally challenged children and they are among the 10 foster children she has raised since 2003.

They were abandoned by their birth parents when they were born. After spending time in an orphanage, they were sent to Liu's home as part of China's efforts to explore new ways of helping disabled orphans.

"They are slower than other kids. The little one still can't use chopsticks after four years of learning," Liu says. "But I see them as my own kids."

Liu already had two children before she became a foster mom. Her own children were already teenagers when she took her first foster child Yiding at the age of three in 2003.

"I never forget the day I saw her," Liu says. "She was wearing a cute little hat and was so adorable."

Liu thought it would not be a problem to care for the children, as she had already raised two. But it was harder than she expected. From teaching Yiding how to use the bathroom to being there with her when she received treatment, Liu never gave up on her. She was her mom, teacher and rehabilitation trainer.

Four years ago, Liu had to stay in bed due to a waist injury. One day, there only she and Yiding were home, and the then-14-year-old girl volunteered to bring her a glass of water. It seems very natural for an ordinary child at the age, but Liu knew only too well how valuable it was for a child like Yiding. She was moved to tears.

"I felt all those years of caring were not in vain. Although Yiding is not good at expressing her thoughts, she knew her mom was too ill to get out of bed and needed care," she says.

Xinying was four years old when she was sent to Liu's home. Liu tried to teach her how to call her "mom" every day. But over a year passed and Xinying still didn't know how to pronounce it. Liu was anxious.

On an autumn morning in 2016, Xinying suddenly opened her mouth and called out "mom" twice.

"I was too excited to say anything, and urged her to call me several more times," Liu says.

The orphanage calculates a birthday for every child based on their health conditions when they were sent in. Yiding's birthday is on May 12.

This Sunday is the last Mother's Day that Yiding will spend with her mother. According to regulations, foster children have to be transfered to a social welfare institute when they turn 18. Yiding needs to leave the home where she spent the last 15 years.

Liu knows that Yiding must go and learn to be independent, but she hates to say goodbye to her daughter.

"I taught her some basic embroidery skills and hopefully she can find a job," Liu says. But she knows that Yiding's future is full of uncertainty.

Liu has spent 15 years raising orphans by herself. "Including my own ones, I'm proud to say that I have 12 children," she says.

In Huifeng Village of Yongning County in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, 100 disabled orphans are now living with 57 foster families. Over the past 17 years, a total of 328 children have lived in 102 households.

Yang Jinkai, 27, was lucky to spend his childhood in a foster home there. He now has a job and interacts with society comfortably.

"In addition to material satisfaction, I found psychological comfort from my foster parents and siblings. Without them, I would have become a kid without parents," Yang says.

Du Yong, head of the Ningxia children's welfare home, says that compared with children who are raised in a welfare institution, children from foster families are emotionally healthier. The parent-child relationship and family life are valuable throughout their whole lives.

"As people like us, orphans have the desire and are entitled to live with a family and feel the warmth extended by people around them. They have been abandoned once. Society cannot let them be abandoned again," says Wang Jin, director of the welfare home's family foster-care center.
Source Xinhua| 2018-05-13 18:55:03|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Children watch a physics experiment during the Science Rendezvous event held at University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, May 12, 2018. Science Rendezvous is a science event with over 300 simultaneous events in different cities across Canada. The event aimed to engage with the public especially the young to gain interest and participate in science. (Xinhua/Liang Sen)
LONDON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Britain's self-made billionaires and millionaires make up more than 90 percent of the country's 2018 rich list published Sunday.

The 94 percent of the 1,000 people on the list is made up of self-made entrepreneurs, the highest level ever. It compares with just 43 percent of self-made people who were included in the first list in 1989 when inherited wealth dominated the list.

Businessman Jim Ratcliffe, brought up in a social housing scheme in Manchester, tops the list published in the Sunday Times (ST), with a personal fortune of 21.05 billion pounds (28.5 billion U.S. dollars).

The ST said the tycoon behind the chemical giant,Ineos, epitomises the march of the new wave of self-made entrepreneurs, made of them from humble backgrounds. He has become the first industrialist to head the rich list.

Ratcliffe was fired after just three days from his first job and did not start a business until he was aged almost 40.

Actor Daniel Craig, famed as the movie character James Bond, Secret Agent 007, makes his debut on the list. He and his wife Rachel Welsz have amassed a fortune of 170 million U.S. dollars, becoming the fourth and richest 007 to make the list.

The highest ranked female on the list, Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, who runs the famous Heineken brewery, has seen her wealth rocket by almost 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in the last year to more than 15 billion U.S. dollars.

Potter magic continues to cast its lucky spell with J.K. Rowling, the writer of the famous Harry Potter series seeing her wealth increase in 2018 by 68 million dollars to 948 million U.S. dollars. Potter's female sidekick, Hermione Granger, played by Emma Watson saw her wealth in the Young Rich list rise by almost 15 million U.S. dollars to 68 million U.S. dollars.

Philip Beresford, who compiled the first 28 rich lists for the Sunday Times credited former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher as the person responsible for encouraging the era of the self-made man and woman.

"Thatcher's children, the new generation of entrepreneurs, were getting going in 1989. She poured the concrete for the foundations of entrepreneurial wealth on which the modern Rich List is built," said Beresford.

Queen Elizabeth II topped the first five Rich Lists, but a decision was taken to exclude the value of the Royal Art Collection. She is now 344th on the list, with a wealth of 501 million U.S. dollars.

The new list puts the combined wealth of the richest 1,000 people in Britain at more than 980 billion U.S. dollars. The number of billionaires has gone up by 11 in the past year to 145.

Second on the list are brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja, based in London where they head a trading empire started by their father in Mumbai in 1914. The brothers, aged 82 and 78 respectively, have a wealth of 28 billion U.S. dollars, up more than 6 billion U.S.dollars over 2017 when they topped the list.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 19:05:26|Editor: Liangyu

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PARIS, May 13 (Xinhua) -- One Chinese national has been injured in the knife attack which happened on Saturday night in the second arrondissement of the French capital, the Chinese Embassy in France announced on Sunday.

The injured doesn't have life risk now, according to the Chinese Embassy.

Paris police has announced on Saturday that a man armed with a knife on Saturday evening attacked bystanders in vibrant venue in French capital, killing one individual, while four others were injured, of whom two were wounded lightly.

French press reported on Sunday that all the four injured had no life risk now.

The attacker at the age of 29 had no criminal record but he was on police watchlist for links with a person in Syria, French channel BFMTV said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 19:15:29|Editor: Yamei

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People gather at a bombing site in Surabaya, capital of Indonesia's East Java Province, May 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Kurniawan)

JAKARTA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from the suicide explosions in three churches in Surabaya, the provincial capital of East Java on Friday has risen to 11, including one child, with 41 others wounded, according to a police officer.

Police have discovered three bombs which did not explode in two of the three churches where the bombers blew up themselves during congregations on Sunday morning, provincial police spokesman Senior Commissioner Frans Barung said.

"We have found several bombs which did not explode. But now all of them have been detonated by police," he was quoted by local media as saying.

One of the suicide bombers is a woman who came into the church along with two children. She blew herself up after embracing a security guard at the compound of Gereja Kristen Indonesia on Diponegoro street, according to eyewitness Antonious.

The other perpetrator used a car bomb in the action in Pantekosta church on Arjuna Street, during which two blasts were heard from the car, leaving five other cars and 30 motorcycles ablaze, another eyewitness Wahyudi said.

In Sata Maria church, two bombers suddenly entered the church and blew themselves up, hitting policemen and security guards, eyewitness Yudi said.

President Joko Widodo and National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian will visit the scene, according to the police spokesman.

Indonesian largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulemas and the Asian Muslim Action Network and Wahid Foundation expressed strong condemnation on the brutality against the innocent followers, including children, of the congregation in the three churches.

"We strongly condemned all terrorist acts whatever their motive and backgrounds," the Nahdlatul Ulemas said in a statement.

Sympathy on the victims of the attacks and their relatives was also delivered by the foundation.

All the victims have been rushed to hospital in the city, according to the police spokesman.

The first deadly blast took place in Santa Maria church in Ngagel Madya area at 07:15 a.m. local time, followed by others with interval time of about five minutes.

The perpetrators, disguising themselves as followers of the morning sermons being performed in the churches, exploded the bombs which they were carrying, hitting scores of followers, according to the police.

The police have cordoned off all the scenes for investigation.

The Islamic State group has through its media arm Amaq claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 19:20:31|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Foreign investors are racing to expand their presence in China's securities trading market, with three overseas brokers applying to increase ownership stakes or set up holding firms in the country in less than two weeks.

J.P. Morgan Broking (Hong Kong) Limited has applied to set up a majority ownership securities firm in China. It plans to hold 51 percent of the new firm's stakes and has submitted application materials to China's top securities watchdog, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

J.P. Morgan is the second foreign investor planning to set up a holding firm in China after the CSRC rolled out guidelines in late April allowing foreign investors to set up securities trading firms with holding status.

Japan's largest securities trader Nomura had applied to establish a joint-venture firm in China, holding 51 percent of the new firm's stakes. International investment bank UBS earlier this month decided to raise its stakes in the joint-venture China-based UBS Securities Co. to 51 percent.

"China is a key market for UBS," the bank said in a statement, adding that the further opening-up of China's financial sector brought great opportunities.

More foreign investors are expected to follow suit. Several overseas financial institutions have shown interest in expanding their presence in China, the CSRC said.

The CSRC ruled in 2002 that foreign investor stakes in joint-venture securities firms should not exceed one-third, and then extended the upper limit to 49 percent in 2012. China announced last year that the upper limit would be eased to 51 percent, and phased out in three years.

Data from the Securities Association of China showed that China now has about 131 securities traders, about 11 of which are joint ventures.

"The loosening of ownership regulations on foreign investors might deal some impact on the domestic brokerage market, but increased market competition will help improve overall market performance and service quality in the long run," said Lv Suiqi, a financial professor with Peking University.

Foreign brokers are believed to have richer experience in businesses like investment banking, asset management and wealth management.

Analysts point out that easing ownership control is just one initial step, and foreign investors still have a long way to go to make money in the growing securities trading market.

Tian Liang, an analyst with CITIC Securities, said the Chinese securities market had different conditions and would take time to mature, while more opening-up in business licenses and capital management needed to be gradually introduced to offer foreign investors a bigger stage.

The CSRC said it would gradually allow joint-venture brokers to expand businesses.

"As part of the country's broader opening-up push, China will encourage foreign investors to enter its trust, financial leasing, auto finance, money brokerage and consumer finance sectors, a move that will take effect before the end of this year," China's central bank governor Yi Gang said at the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference in early April.
ISLAMABAD, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Police said at least 40 tourists have been swept away and four of them were dead after a footbridge over a river collapsed Sunday in the Neelum valley of the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, according to local media.

The Neelum valley deputy commissioner said more than 40 tourists stopped to take pictures on the bridge, located in the Nala Jagran area of the valley, when it collapsed as it could not withstand the weight.

Local police said the tourists were swept away by strong currents. The victims' bodies have been recovered, whereas a search to recover the rest is underway.

Personnel of the Pakistan Army are also assisting in the operation, said local TV channel ARY News, adding that the extremely cold water of the river and its strong currents are hindering efforts to recover the tourists.

Local residents said the victims were likely students of a college that were touring the scenic valley from the country's eastern Punjab province.

The Neelum valley is a popular tourist spot, especially in summer. Visitors from across the country head there for its cool weather and scenic beauty.
JAKARTA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Chairman of Indonesia Asian Games Organizing Committee (Inasgoc) Erick Thohir said here on Sunday that they have created particular mechanisms, including to set up particular task force to anticipate terror attack, in the upcoming 18th Asian Games slated to be hosted by Indonesia's two cities of Jakarta and Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra province.

Erick's statement was to respond to the bombings in three Surabaya churches earlier in the day, which police said have claimed 11 lives and left 41 injured.

"In physical mechanism to ensure the security, we have coordinated it with police and the military by setting up special intelligence unit," he said, adding that the physical mechanism would be coupled with cyber protection mechanism to counter terror risk from cyber world.

Among the security procedures to minimize terror risk in Asiad, each bus carrying VIP guests, athletes and officials would be guarded by security apparatus.

"They would stay in the bus during the trip with particular coordinated mechanism applied along the way," he said.

To minimize terror risk, he added that spectators in Asiad matches would be tightly monitored. The venues to host the match must also get security accreditation from the related institutions.

"The accreditation would be issued by central and regional institutions. There would be no one in the venue without permits. There would be no one buying the tickets without providing their detailed information, including their address, phone numbers and other necessary data," he said.

Over 270,000 people comprised of supporters, athletes and officials are estimated to get involved in the second Asiad hosted by Indonesia scheduled from August 18 to September 2.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 20:00:39|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has slashed its projection for the country's corn exports from October 2017 to September 2018, due to a supply gap.

Corn exports during the period are estimated at 200,000 tonnes, down 300,000 tonnes from the projection made last month, according to a report by the Chinese Agriculture Outlook Committee, an advisory body under the ministry.

"Corn production could not meet domestic demand, and the export amount was below expectations," the report said.

In the period between October 2018 and September 2019, corn output is expected to drop 2.9 percent year-on-year to 210 million tonnes.

That would be a result of higher subsidies for soybean production and drought in certain parts of the northeastern crop growing areas, according to the report.

Meanwhile, corn consumption will continue to grow in that period, partly because of increased demand for pig raising and industrial processing.
Author J.K. Rowling signs autographs for fans during the global premiere of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the last film of the series, at Trafalgar Square in London, Britain, July 7, 2011. (Xinhua/Yang Xiaohan)

LONDON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Britain's self-made billionaires and millionaires make up more than 90 percent of the country's 2018 rich list published Sunday.

The 94 percent of the 1,000 people on the list is made up of self-made entrepreneurs, the highest level ever. It compares with just 43 percent of self-made people who were included in the first list in 1989 when inherited wealth dominated the list.

Businessman Jim Ratcliffe, brought up in a social housing scheme in Manchester, tops the list published in the Sunday Times (ST), with a personal fortune of 21.05 billion pounds (28.5 billion U.S. dollars).

The ST said the tycoon behind the chemical giant,Ineos, epitomises the march of the new wave of self-made entrepreneurs, made of them from humble backgrounds. He has become the first industrialist to head the rich list.

Ratcliffe was fired after just three days from his first job and did not start a business until he was aged almost 40.

Actor Daniel Craig, famed as the movie character James Bond, Secret Agent 007, makes his debut on the list. He and his wife Rachel Welsz have amassed a fortune of 170 million U.S. dollars, becoming the fourth and richest 007 to make the list.

The highest ranked female on the list, Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, who runs the famous Heineken brewery, has seen her wealth rocket by almost 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in the last year to more than 15 billion U.S. dollars.

Potter magic continues to cast its lucky spell with J.K. Rowling, the writer of the famous Harry Potter series seeing her wealth increase in 2018 by 68 million dollars to 948 million U.S. dollars. Potter's female sidekick, Hermione Granger, played by Emma Watson saw her wealth in the Young Rich list rise by almost 15 million U.S. dollars to 68 million U.S. dollars.

Philip Beresford, who compiled the first 28 rich lists for the Sunday Times credited former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher as the person responsible for encouraging the era of the self-made man and woman.

"Thatcher's children, the new generation of entrepreneurs, were getting going in 1989. She poured the concrete for the foundations of entrepreneurial wealth on which the modern Rich List is built," said Beresford.

Queen Elizabeth II topped the first five Rich Lists, but a decision was taken to exclude the value of the Royal Art Collection. She is now 344th on the list, with a wealth of 501 million U.S. dollars.

The new list puts the combined wealth of the richest 1,000 people in Britain at more than 980 billion U.S. dollars. The number of billionaires has gone up by 11 in the past year to 145.

Second on the list are brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja, based in London where they head a trading empire started by their father in Mumbai in 1914. The brothers, aged 82 and 78 respectively, have a wealth of 28 billion U.S. dollars, up more than 6 billion U.S.dollars over 2017 when they topped the list.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 20:35:45|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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GAZA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- A senior delegation from Islamic Hamas movement in the Palestinian Gaza Strip headed Sunday for Egypt to meet with Egyptian officials a day before a major Palestinian rally along the Gaza-Israel borders, spokesman for Hamas said.

The delegation is headed by Ismail Haniya, head of Hamas political bureau, and includes members of the movement's political bureau.

The delegation, which crossed into Egypt through Rafah crossing, was invited by Egyptian officials, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement.

"The goal of the visit is to discuss the latest developments in the Palestinian and regional issues," Barhoum said.

Palestinians in Gaza intend to organize a mass protest along the borders with Israel on Monday as part of the "Great Return of March" which kicked off on March 30.

Thousands of Palestinians are expected to join the Monday march to protest the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence, the day after which is marked by the Palestinians as the Nakba Day, or the "Day of Catastrophe," when most of the Palestinians were forced out of their cities and towns to become refugees.

They will also protest against the transfer of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want its eastern part as the capital of their future state.

At least 49 Palestinians were killed and more than 8000 others injured by Israeli soldiers since the rallies started in late March.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 20:50:49|Editor: Liangyu

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The China-Europe freight train from Tangshan of China arrives at Antwerp Port, Belgium, May 12, 2018. A freight train service has been launched from a port in Tangshan of north China's Hebei Province to Belgium, a further line for freight between China and Europe. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

BRUSSELS, May 13 (Xinhua) -- After travelling 16 days and covering a distance of 11,000 km, the first China-Belgium freight train from China's Tangshan port has arrived in the Belgian port of Antwerp.

The train with 41 containers which left Tangshan on April 26, was officially welcomed on Saturday in Antwerp. The direct railway link between China and Belgium is part of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

By opening up a new and quick route into China, the initiative offers plenty of new opportunities for the development of the Sino-Belgian trade relations.

Luc Arnouts, Director International Networks, Antwerp Port Authority, said at the welcoming ceremony that "This direct train link puts our port on the BRI (the Belt and Road Initiative)map and will further strengthen our ties with China. We have long been working on this project, which represents an important milestone in our trade relations with China."

In his speech, Guo Jianjun, economic counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Belgium, pointed out that given the ongoing escalation of trade friction threats in major global economies, it is even more necessary for all parties to strengthen cooperation.

"As Europe's second largest port, Antwerp has a very important position in Sino-Belgian trade," said Guo.

"The arrival of the first China-Europe freight train sent by Tangshan to Antwerp today is historic and will have a profound and positive impact on China-Belgium cooperation", Guo concluded.

The train has travelled through Kazakhstan,Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany to reach its final destination, Antwerp. It is the first ever direct train service from China to Antwerp.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 21:00:50|Editor: Liangyu

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NANJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- A cyberspace security system based on the China-proposed mimic defense theory has withstood over 500,000 hacker attacks in an international challenge, held in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province.

In the first "Qiangwang" (cyberspace power) International Elite Challenge on Cyber Mimic Defense, which concluded Saturday, the system detected and blocked all attacks from 22 teams of Chinese and foreign "white hat hackers" -- computer specialists who use hacker techniques to test computer and cybersecurity, according to the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), co-sponsor of the event.

The mimic defense system features an ever-changing software environment, which makes conventional hacker attacks difficult to locate a target.

The system is expected to change the current "ex post facto defense" pattern in cybersecurity, according to Wu Jiangxing, CAE academician who first proposed the theory.

During the challenge, which concluded Saturday, bouts of attacks from several teams were frustrated even after they were given access to install backdoors to the system, the CAE said.

"The result has proved the effectiveness of the system and is expected to promote cyberspace security," Wu said.

Inspired by Mimic Octopus, the master of disguise in nature which can change appearance to adapt to the environment, Chinese scientists proposed the idea of mimic computing in 2007 and produced the world's first mimic computer prototype in 2013.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 21:21:43|Editor: Liangyu

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Xiao Xiao, a female Francois' langur, is pictured with her newborn twins at Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, May 13, 2018. Xiao Xiao gave birth to the pair of unlike-sex twins here in April. Francois' langurs babies are born with bright orange fur which turns black within two to three months. The Francois' langur is listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 21:15:53|Editor: Yamei

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President Hassan Rouhani (Xinhua file photo)

TEHRAN, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Iran will remain in the international nuclear deal if the country's interests are secured by other parties to the agreement, President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday.

"If the remaining five countries in the deal live up to their commitments and guarantee Iran's interests, the agreement will survive," he said during a meeting with visiting Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena.

The U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 deal was "a violation of morals," he said.

By pulling out of the deal, the United States also undermined the diplomatic efforts to international issues, he added.

On Tuesday, Trump announced U.S. withdrawal from the international Iranian nuclear deal, saying that Washington will not extend the waiver for the unilateral sanctions against Iran.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 21:35:55|Editor: Liangyu

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KUNMING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The death of a stork-billed kingfisher, a rare bird spotted in southwest China's Yunnan Province, has put bird watchers and photographers in deep sorrow.

"Every time I look at its photos and videos, my heart ached," said Zhao Xian'gai, a bird guide in the town of Nabang in Yingjiang county. Rich in biodiversity and harboring over 600 species of birds, Yingjiang is one of China's most rewarding birding spots.

The rare bird was first spotted in a local wetland last October. Unfortunately, it was found dead after accidentally hitting the glass wall of a building on April 30.

During its stay of nearly 200 days, about 3,000 bird lovers at home and abroad visited the town to have a glance at the beautiful large-beak bird.

Zhao said the number of visitors allowed into the wetland was controled so as not to disturb it.

Sun Xiaohong, a 60-year-old retiree from Beijing, had paid three visits to watch and take photos of the bird.

Visiting bird lovers also boosted incomes in the local catering and accommodation sectors, Zhao said.

Ban Dingying, president of the bird watching association in Yingjiang, said its body was frozen for now and would be made into a specimen.

The stork-billed kingfisher is usually 33 to 37 centimeters long, weighing 140 to 200 grams and mainly lives in southeast and south Asian countries. It is a class II protected species in China.
The China-Europe freight train from Tangshan of China arrives at Antwerp Port, Belgium, May 12, 2018. A freight train service has been launched from a port in Tangshan of north China's Hebei Province to Belgium, a further line for freight between China and Europe. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

BRUSSELS, May 13 (Xinhua) -- After travelling 16 days and covering a distance of 11,000 km, the first China-Belgium freight train from China's Tangshan port has arrived in the Belgian port of Antwerp.

The train with 41 containers which left Tangshan on April 26, was officially welcomed on Saturday in Antwerp. The direct railway link between China and Belgium is part of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

By opening up a new and quick route into China, the initiative offers plenty of new opportunities for the development of the Sino-Belgian trade relations.

Luc Arnouts, Director International Networks, Antwerp Port Authority, said at the welcoming ceremony that "This direct train link puts our port on the BRI (the Belt and Road Initiative)map and will further strengthen our ties with China. We have long been working on this project, which represents an important milestone in our trade relations with China."

In his speech, Guo Jianjun, economic counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Belgium, pointed out that given the ongoing escalation of trade friction threats in major global economies, it is even more necessary for all parties to strengthen cooperation.

"As Europe's second largest port, Antwerp has a very important position in Sino-Belgian trade," said Guo.

"The arrival of the first China-Europe freight train sent by Tangshan to Antwerp today is historic and will have a profound and positive impact on China-Belgium cooperation", Guo concluded.

The train has travelled through Kazakhstan,Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany to reach its final destination, Antwerp. It is the first ever direct train service from China to Antwerp.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 22:01:01|Editor: Liangyu

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) holds talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Beijing on Sunday.

Wang said China attaches importance to the traditional friendship with Iran, as well as the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

China regards Iran as an important partner in the Belt and Road construction, Wang said, noting that China is willing to work with Iran to implement the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries to promote various cooperation.

Wang said China firmly safeguard multilateralism and international agreements.

The Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was hard-earned and the deal helped to safeguard the international system of non-proliferation and maintain the peace and stability in the Middle East, Wang said.

As an important party, China made a lot of work in the process of reaching and implementing the JCPOA, Wang said.

"China will take an objective, fair and responsible attitude, keep communication and cooperation with all parties concerned, and continue to work to maintain the deal," Wang said.

Zarif said Iran attaches great importance to traditional friendly ties with China and is willing to have cooperation with China in infrastructure and connectivity within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Iranian foreign minister spoke highly of China's stance on maintaining the JCPOA and stressed Iran is willing to keep communication and cooperation with the parties who still support the deal.

Zarif said it is the responsibility and obligation of all parties to ensure that the JCPOA should be implemented in a sustainable, comprehensive and effective way, and Iran is willing to make its own efforts.

Both sides also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern.
MOGADISHU, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The Somali government has assured the African Union (AU) and the United Nations of its commitment to take over security responsibilities from the AU troops in the country as stipulated in the transition plan.

National Security Advisor of the government, Abdisaid Musse Ali, told a joint team from the AU and the UN reviewing the Mission that there was political will from the presidency and the government that was ready to handle the country's security.

"The transition plan represents a significant change in the planning and delivery of security in Somalia. It's not business as usual," he said in a statement issued on Sunday from AMISOM.

"For many years, Somalia has been grateful for the strong support of our international partners which has allowed the country to make progress," he added during a high-level of AU-UN joint review team and international partners held in Mogadishu.

Ali asked the team not to judge Somalia by its past but what it is today and what it will be in future, noting that the transition plan is aimed at securing Somalia, through the implementation of the security architecture developed and adopted by the government in 2017.

The AU-UN joint review team is in Somalia meeting various stakeholders and will present its report to the UN Security Council ahead of a meeting to decide on the extension of AMISOM's mandate which expires on May 31.

Francisco Madeira, the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia said the peacekeeping force had always had an exit strategy.

Madeira who is also the head of AMISOM said the Mission has fully identified itself with the transition plan developed by the Somali government, with the help of development partners.

"All the things that are showing up now, in this transition plan, were already at the centre of AMISOM's action plan. We need to build a state and building a state meant the Somalis needed to take responsibility not only of the military but also of the administration of the country," he added.

Madeira added that the peacekeeping force had envisaged the transition plan in driving out al-Shabab in most places and rebuilding institutions that are now ready to be handed over to the Somali government.

He said he had seen profound determination from the government to take over the responsibilities currently being undertaken by AMISOM in the country.

AMISOM has developed conditions-based transition plan to transfer the national security responsibility from the AU troops to the Somali security forces guided by the rule of law and respect for human rights.

According to AU mission, the tasks which will be undertaken through joint efforts between AMISOM and Somalia National Army include securing of Main Supply Routes, securing of key population centres; as well as mentoring the Somali security forces in the military and Police.

Walid Musa Abdelkarim, the head of the UN delegation to the Joint AU-UN Review of AMISOM, acknowledged that there had been significant political progress since the joint mission was in Somalia a year ago.

"We now are convinced that the geopolitical position or status of Somalia is rising, increasing every day because of global events and therefore we will have this time a more serious tone in what we do," Abdelkarim noted.
LONDON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Two British nationals who were held hostage in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been released, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Sunday.

"I am delighted to announce that two British nationals who were held hostage in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been released," Johnson said in a statement.

"I paid tribute to the DRC authorities and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation for their tireless help during this terrible case," said the statement.

The two British tourists were kidnapped last week at a national park which is well known for its rare mountain gorillas in the central African country.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 22:06:04|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Gaza, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement on Sunday called on people to join the largest ever rallies and marches organized in eastern Gaza Strip on Monday.

Hamas called on people to keep sticking to their right of return and join the great marches on May 14 and 15, saying that rallies on Monday will also protest the U.S. decision to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"The marches will be also rejecting the unjust and unfair siege that had been imposed on the Gaza Strip for 12 years," Hamas said, calling on Israel to lift the blockade and on the Palestinian Authority to end its sanctions it imposed one year ago on Gaza.

Since March 30, the Palestinians have been organizing protests, demonstrations and rallies calling it "the Great March of Return." They erected tents and carried out various activities in the areas of eastern Gaza Strip, close to the border with Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel warned that its army will harshly respond and strike on Hamas infrastructure all over the Gaza Strip, in case of masses of demonstrators who try to cut the fence of the border and infiltrate into Israel, according to Israeli media.

Gaza Health ministry said in an official statement that 49 Palestinians were killed and more than 8,000 injured by Israeli army gunfire since the beginning of the marches.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 22:26:09|Editor: Yamei

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Performers pose for photos at Nairobi Terminus of Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, May 31, 2017. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng)

by Xinhua writer Zhu Shaobin

MAPUTO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Five years have passed since Chinese President Xi Jinping expounded on China's Africa policy in Tanzania, which has drawn a roadmap for the future of China-Africa ties in the new era resulting in closer China-Africa traditional friendship, cooperation, as well as stronger political mutual trust.

The policy, which adheres to the principles of sincerity, concrete results, affinity and good faith, was announced by Xi during his first visit to Africa since he took office as Chinese president in 2013.

Based on these principles, China and Africa, combining their wisdom and strengths, have forged a path for common development that is set to usher in stronger-than-ever ties between the Asian country and the African continent that have a combined population of over 2.5 billion, about a third of the world's population.

FRUITFUL CHINA-AFRICA COOPERATION

Facts speak louder than words.

Five years on, factual cases of mutually beneficial China-Africa cooperation and friendship abound.

A most recent and notable example is in the southern African nation Mozambique, where a 187 km sea-bridge-crossing and link roads project built by a Chinese firm has become the new landmark decorating the skyline of the balmy coastal city Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.

The project, costing 785.8 million U.S. dollars with 95 percent of the funding from China, is being built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and is set for the official launch in June.

It will enable easier transportation between the capital city and the outlying Katembe, and will also link Mozambique southward to South Africa, inevitably boosting trade and tourism.

The bridge spans 680 meters over Maputo Bay.

"I like working at the bridge project. Even though I am only part-time, the payment is satisfying," 24-year-old Francisco Alberto said.

CRBC's project manager Cao Changwei said the firm has provided over 20,000 jobs, full-time and part-time, for the locals. As completion of the project draws near, the company is hiring an additional 3,800 locals for various jobs. The Chinese team stands at 467.

In the eastern African nations of Ethiopia and Kenya, a few Chinese-built projects including the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway, the Addis Ababa light rail, and the Nairobi-Mombasa railway are further proof that China-Africa cooperation contributes to local growth, employment and regional integration.

On the humanitarian issue, China is maintaining a peacekeeping corp with over 1,000 personnel in South Sudan where the civil war has entered the fifth year. China has also been providing rotational-medical-teams to the country since 2012.

South Sudan's Acting Foreign Minister Martin Lumoro said earlier this month that Chinese doctors have contributed greatly to the country's health sector.

"China is the only country helping us. Others (countries) are running away from South Sudan, but China is coming to help. We cannot forget this kind of assistance to the people of South Sudan," Lumoro said.

In West Africa, where the Ebola outbreak wreaked havoc in 2014, China immediately sent medical workers and communicable disease experts to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to help the three nations overcome the crisis. Chinese firms based in Sierra Leone were also the first foreign rescue team to provide aid after rain-triggered mudslide killed over 1,000 people in its capital city Freetown in August 2017.

Ndrianja Ratrimoarvony, a researcher on China-Africa relations based in Madagascar, told Xinhua that China gains "bonus points" when interacting with Africa because it never interferes in African countries' internal affairs and sticks to the principle of mutual respect, which leads to win-win outcomes for both sides.

"That's why more African countries are beginning to give more emphasis to bilateral ties with China compared to relations with France or America," Ratrimoarvony said.

FOCAC FORGES STRONGER TIES

The summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in December 2015 in South Africa's Johannesburg was a milestone for bilateral ties. It sent a strong message to the global community that China and Africa stand together and win together.

The majority of the cooperation plans, announced during the summit covering industrialization, agriculture, infrastructure, finance, trade facilitation, poverty reduction and public health, among others, have been achieved.

Agricultural modernization, for instance, is a key cooperation plan between China and Mozambique. In an interview with Xinhua, Chinese Ambassador to Mozambique Su Jian said the Wanbao rice farm project based in Mozambique's Gaza province was an exemplary model for China-Africa cooperation.

"The project will greatly help Mozambique address its rice shortfall of up to 600,000 tonnes annually," Su said, noting that local farmers are learning new farming skills and technologies from Chinese companies and have improved their lives.

"This clearly shows how China's principles in its Africa policy are benefiting the ordinary population," Su said.

The success of these cooperation initiatives also gained acclaim from independent institutions. A 2017 report from McKinsey & Company, a global business counselor, said China has become Africa's most important economic partner in two decades. "Across trade, investment, infrastructure financing, and aid, no other country has such depth and breadth of engagement in Africa," it said.

It said Chinese firms are bringing capital investment, management know-how, and entrepreneurial energy to every corner of the continent, and in doing so they are helping to accelerate the progress of African economies.

"In Madagascar and other parts of Africa, big Chinese technical firms like Huawei and ZTE have a strong presence," Ratrimoarvony said. "In many African towns and even villages, you can also see Chinese doing business. Their commercial activities have become a part of the socio-economic lives in Africa, and this is a strong sign of very strong China-Africa cooperation."

"Bilateral relations will only grow stronger over time as Chinese and African leaders are continuously exploring new cooperation areas and strengthening mutual trust," he said.

GREAT PLANS FOR COMMON DEVELOPMENT

In September, a new FOCAC summit will be held in Beijing, where top policymakers from China and Africa are to firm-up key cooperation plans.

China and African nations are expected to align their development strategies and coordinate policies under the Belt and Road Initiative, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union's 2063 Agenda.

"China and Africa are always a community of common destiny as they share deep-rooted friendship and the same pursuit of development and prosperity," China's top legislator Li Zhanshu has said, as he makes visit to three African nations, namely Ethiopia, Mozambique and Namibia from May 9 to 18.

Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said China is happy to see a united, peaceful and prosperous Africa and stands ready to further its comprehensive and practical cooperation with the continent, noting the hope for more fruitful results within the frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative and the FOCAC.

The top legislator also expressed the belief that China and Africa will work together to make the Beijing summit of the FOCAC in September a historic event to advance China-Africa cooperation.

Currently, sub-Saharan Africa is witnessing a growth uptick with regional economy to recover to 3.4 percent this year from a 20-year low of 1.4 percent in 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund in its economic outlook report for the region.

The report highlighted the Belt and Road Initiative for its impact on supporting private investment in Africa. It said countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania are seeking active involvement, and the coverage is likely to expand over time.

The initiative could help sub-Saharan Africa better integrate into global value chains, it added.

Stephen Ndegwa, public policy lecturer at the United States International University Africa based in Kenya, said eastern and southern Africa could be important bases for projects related to the initiative.

He said that as China commits to further reform and opening-up, China's capital and technologies will closely interact with Africa's natural resources, demographic dividends and market potentials, thus creating new growth for both sides.

(Xinhua reporters Nie Zuguo in Maputo, Liu Hua in Beijing, Wen Hao in Antananarivo and Jin Zheng in Nairobi also contributed to the story.)

Video editors: Zhao Yuchao, Mu Xuyao
LONDON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Two British nationals who were held hostage in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been released, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Sunday.

"I am delighted to announce that two British nationals who were held hostage in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been released," Johnson said in a statement.

"I paid tribute to the DRC authorities and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation for their tireless help during this terrible case," said the statement.

The two British tourists were kidnapped last week at a national park which is well known for its rare mountain gorillas in the central African country.

"My thoughts are now with the family of Virunga Park ranger Rachel Makissa Baraka who was killed during the kidnapping, and with the injured driver," Johnson said in the statement.

The two tourists, together with their driver, were abducted in Virunga National Park in the DRC. The kidnapping took place near the village of Kibati, which is located just north of Goma -- the capital city of eastern DRC's troubled North Kivu province, one of the most volatile parts of the country.

The female park ranger was killed trying to protect the two British tourists after gunmen ambushed their vehicle in the national park.

The woman, named locally as Rachel Katumwa, was gunned down as the two Britons were dragged away and marched through the forest by their attackers.

The driver, Guystave Mbiye, who was wounded during the attack, was last night recovering in hospital after being freed by the gang.

The Virunga National Park is home to between a quarter and a third of the world's highly endangered Mountain Gorilla, but it is also the hideout of a dozen militias and rebel outfits from three different countries, remnants of DRC's civil war, as well as bands of poachers and criminal gangs.

Together they have made the park the most dangerous in the world for rangers and conservationists to work in, with some 170 wildlife rangers killed there in the past 20 years, including five who were murdered along with their driver after an ambush last month.

Although a number of Congolese nationals have been abducted in the park in recent years, it is the first time in nearly 20 years that an attempt has been made to seize Western tourists, reports quoted local DRC officials as saying.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 23:01:17|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HAIKOU, May 13 (Xinhua) -- China's island province of Hainan has rolled out measures to attract talent to meet its goals of becoming a pilot free trade zone and eventually a free trade port.

Hainan aims to woo 200,000 talented people in various fields by 2020 and one million by 2025, according to an action plan approved by the provincial committee of the Communist Party of China on Sunday.

The development of Hainan requires a large number of high caliber professionals, while the island still lags behind in this respect, said Liu Cigui, Party chief of Hainan.

Restrictions on access to Hainan hukou, or household registration, will be eased for the talent coming from outside the island, according to the plan.

For example, those who have at least a junior college degree and an intermediate-level job title will be allowed to gain hukou at places where they work or live. Some among them, including postgraduates, bachelors from prestigious domestic universities or foreign universities, and entrepreneurs, can gain hukou anywhere they want in Hainan.

That means they will enjoy same home purchase policies with locals in Hainan, which boasts great natural environment.

For some of the most outstanding talent, the province will help them in housing, schooling of children and jobs for spouses.

China in April announced its plan to build the whole island of Hainan into a pilot free trade zone and support Hainan to gradually and steadily push ahead with the building of a free trade port.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 23:01:17|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DUBAI, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday condemned the "terrorist" attack in central Paris, according to the official WAM news agency.

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Abu Dhabi said in a statement that the UAE condemns and denounces the acts of terrorism, stressing the country's firm rejection to violence and terrorism.

The ministry also affirmed the UAE's solidarity with the French government and people in the face of violence and extremism.

The ministry called on the international community to unite to confront the serious scourge that threatens the security and stability of the world countries and to root them out.

The UAE expressed its condolences to the families and relatives of the victim and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

A man with a knife randomly attacked bystanders on Saturday night in Paris downtown Opera district, killing one person and injuring four others. He was shot dead by police.

The attacker was a French citizen born in Chechnya and has been on intelligence services watch-list, local media reported Sunday. He had shouted Islamic slogans when attacking passers-by with a knife.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 23:01:18|Editor: huaxia

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by Xinhua writer Zhu Shaobin

MAPUTO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Five years have passed since Chinese President Xi Jinping expounded on China's Africa policy in Tanzania, which has drawn a roadmap for the future of China-Africa ties in the new era resulting in closer China-Africa traditional friendship, cooperation, as well as stronger political mutual trust.

The policy, which adheres to the principles of sincerity, concrete results, affinity and good faith, was announced by Xi during his first visit to Africa since he took office as Chinese president in 2013.

Based on these principles, China and Africa, combining their wisdom and strengths, have forged a path for common development that is set to usher in stronger-than-ever ties between the Asian country and the African continent that have a combined population of over 2.5 billion, about a third of the world's population.

Photo taken on May 10, 2018 shows the Chinese-built Maputo Bridge in Maputo, capital of Mozambique. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

FRUITFUL CHINA-AFRICA COOPERATION

Facts speak louder than words.

Five years on, factual cases of mutually beneficial China-Africa cooperation and friendship abound.

A most recent and notable example is in the southern African nation Mozambique, where a 187 km sea-bridge-crossing and link roads project built by a Chinese firm has become the new landmark decorating the skyline of the balmy coastal city Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.

The project, costing 785.8 million U.S. dollars with 95 percent of the funding from China, is being built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and is set for the official launch in June.

It will enable easier transportation between the capital city and the outlying Katembe, and will also link Mozambique southward to South Africa, inevitably boosting trade and tourism.

The bridge spans 680 meters over Maputo Bay.

"I like working at the bridge project. Even though I am only part-time, the payment is satisfying," 24-year-old Francisco Alberto said.

CRBC's project manager Cao Changwei said the firm has provided over 20,000 jobs, full-time and part-time, for the locals. As completion of the project draws near, the company is hiring an additional 3,800 locals for various jobs. The Chinese team stands at 467.

Photo taken on Sept. 20, 2015 shows a train operating on the light rail in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

In the eastern African nations of Ethiopia and Kenya, a few Chinese-built projects including the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway, the Addis Ababa light rail, and the Nairobi-Mombasa railway are further proof that China-Africa cooperation contributes to local growth, employment and regional integration.

On the humanitarian issue, China is maintaining a peacekeeping corp with over 1,000 personnel in South Sudan where the civil war has entered the fifth year. China has also been providing rotational-medical-teams to the country since 2012.

South Sudan's Acting Foreign Minister Martin Lumoro said earlier this month that Chinese doctors have contributed greatly to the country's health sector.

"China is the only country helping us. Others (countries) are running away from South Sudan, but China is coming to help. We cannot forget this kind of assistance to the people of South Sudan," Lumoro said.

In West Africa, where the Ebola outbreak wreaked havoc in 2014, China immediately sent medical workers and communicable disease experts to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to help the three nations overcome the crisis. Chinese firms based in Sierra Leone were also the first foreign rescue team to provide aid after rain-triggered mudslide killed over 1,000 people in its capital city Freetown in August 2017.

Ndrianja Ratrimoarvony, a researcher on China-Africa relations based in Madagascar, told Xinhua that China gains "bonus points" when interacting with Africa because it never interferes in African countries' internal affairs and sticks to the principle of mutual respect, which leads to win-win outcomes for both sides.

"That's why more African countries are beginning to give more emphasis to bilateral ties with China compared to relations with France or America," Ratrimoarvony said.

A member of Chinese Medical Team to Liberia examines a local patient in Monrovia, Liberia, Oct. 23, 2014. (Xinhua)

FOCAC FORGES STRONGER TIES

The summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in December 2015 in South Africa's Johannesburg was a milestone for bilateral ties. It sent a strong message to the global community that China and Africa stand together and win together.

The majority of the cooperation plans, announced during the summit covering industrialization, agriculture, infrastructure, finance, trade facilitation, poverty reduction and public health, among others, have been achieved.

Agricultural modernization, for instance, is a key cooperation plan between China and Mozambique. In an interview with Xinhua, Chinese Ambassador to Mozambique Su Jian said the Wanbao rice farm project based in Mozambique's Gaza province was an exemplary model for China-Africa cooperation.

"The project will greatly help Mozambique address its rice shortfall of up to 600,000 tonnes annually," Su said, noting that local farmers are learning new farming skills and technologies from Chinese companies and have improved their lives.

"This clearly shows how China's principles in its Africa policy are benefiting the ordinary population," Su said.

Ethiopian attendants participate in the opening ceremony of Ethiopia-Djibouti railway at the Lebu station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Oct. 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

The success of these cooperation initiatives also gained acclaim from independent institutions. A 2017 report from McKinsey & Company, a global business counselor, said China has become Africa's most important economic partner in two decades. "Across trade, investment, infrastructure financing, and aid, no other country has such depth and breadth of engagement in Africa," it said.

It said Chinese firms are bringing capital investment, management know-how, and entrepreneurial energy to every corner of the continent, and in doing so they are helping to accelerate the progress of African economies.

"In Madagascar and other parts of Africa, big Chinese technical firms like Huawei and ZTE have a strong presence," Ratrimoarvony said. "In many African towns and even villages, you can also see Chinese doing business. Their commercial activities have become a part of the socio-economic lives in Africa, and this is a strong sign of very strong China-Africa cooperation."

"Bilateral relations will only grow stronger over time as Chinese and African leaders are continuously exploring new cooperation areas and strengthening mutual trust," he said.

A train runs on the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway during an operational test near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Oct. 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

GREAT PLANS FOR COMMON DEVELOPMENT

In September, a new FOCAC summit will be held in Beijing, where top policymakers from China and Africa are to firm-up key cooperation plans.

China and African nations are expected to align their development strategies and coordinate policies under the Belt and Road Initiative, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union's 2063 Agenda.

"China and Africa are always a community of common destiny as they share deep-rooted friendship and the same pursuit of development and prosperity," China's top legislator Li Zhanshu has said, as he makes visit to three African nations, namely Ethiopia, Mozambique and Namibia from May 9 to 18.

Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said China is happy to see a united, peaceful and prosperous Africa and stands ready to further its comprehensive and practical cooperation with the continent, noting the hope for more fruitful results within the frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative and the FOCAC.

The top legislator also expressed the belief that China and Africa will work together to make the Beijing summit of the FOCAC in September a historic event to advance China-Africa cooperation.

Performers pose for photos at Nairobi Terminus of Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, May 31, 2017. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng)

Currently, sub-Saharan Africa is witnessing a growth uptick with regional economy to recover to 3.4 percent this year from a 20-year low of 1.4 percent in 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund in its economic outlook report for the region.

The report highlighted the Belt and Road Initiative for its impact on supporting private investment in Africa. It said countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania are seeking active involvement, and the coverage is likely to expand over time.

The initiative could help sub-Saharan Africa better integrate into global value chains, it added.

Stephen Ndegwa, public policy lecturer at the United States International University Africa based in Kenya, said eastern and southern Africa could be important bases for projects related to the initiative.

He said that as China commits to further reform and opening-up, China's capital and technologies will closely interact with Africa's natural resources, demographic dividends and market potentials, thus creating new growth for both sides. Enditem





(Xinhua reporters Nie Zuguo in Maputo, Liu Hua in Beijing, Wen Hao in Antananarivo and Jin Zheng in Nairobi also contributed to the story. Video editors: Zhao Yuchao, Mu Xuyao)
ALGIERS, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Two Algerian analysts have warned that the U.S. intention to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem on May 14 would possibly pave the way to sparking full-scale war in the region.

Nourredine Bekis, professor with Political Sociology at the University of Algiers, told Xinhua that the U.S. decision is pushing for a climate of tension and congestion that could lead to unexpected confrontations.

Bekis said that "Israel has been working for days to fabricate a kind of clashes by targeting the Iranian forces in Syria to provoke Iran to make reactions and ultimately drive Israel's allies to this clash."

He noted that "there are still some components that could play key role in any potential war against Israel and its allies, including the Shiite militias in Iraq, Hezbollah of Lebanon and Houthi militias in Yemen."

Abdelhamid Cherif, a strategic analyst and also former officer at the Algerian Army, told Xinhua that the issue of transferring the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem falls within the promises made by U.S. President Trump, who already fulfilled the promise of withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear deal.

"The United States would not dare to take such decisions if there were not conspire from some Arabs, especially the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. On the other hand, the U.S. controversial decisions are meant to impose a kind of pressure on the resistance in Syria, as well as on Iran," he noted.
Performers pose for photos at Nairobi Terminus of Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, May 31, 2017. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng)

by Xinhua writer Zhu Shaobin

MAPUTO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Five years have passed since Chinese President Xi Jinping expounded on China's Africa policy in Tanzania, which has drawn a roadmap for the future of China-Africa ties in the new era resulting in closer China-Africa traditional friendship, cooperation, as well as stronger political mutual trust.

The policy, which adheres to the principles of sincerity, concrete results, affinity and good faith, was announced by Xi during his first visit to Africa since he took office as Chinese president in 2013.

Based on these principles, China and Africa, combining their wisdom and strengths, have forged a path for common development that is set to usher in stronger-than-ever ties between the Asian country and the African continent that have a combined population of over 2.5 billion, about a third of the world's population.









FRUITFUL CHINA-AFRICA COOPERATION

Facts speak louder than words.

Five years on, factual cases of mutually beneficial China-Africa cooperation and friendship abound.

A most recent and notable example is in the southern African nation Mozambique, where a 187 km sea-bridge-crossing and link roads project built by a Chinese firm has become the new landmark decorating the skyline of the balmy coastal city Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.

The project, costing 785.8 million U.S. dollars with 95 percent of the funding from China, is being built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and is set for the official launch in June.

It will enable easier transportation between the capital city and the outlying Katembe, and will also link Mozambique southward to South Africa, inevitably boosting trade and tourism.

The bridge spans 680 meters over Maputo Bay.

Photo taken on May 10, 2018 shows the Chinese-built Maputo Bridge in Maputo, capital of Mozambique. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

"I like working at the bridge project. Even though I am only part-time, the payment is satisfying," 24-year-old Francisco Alberto said.

CRBC's project manager Cao Changwei said the firm has provided over 20,000 jobs, full-time and part-time, for the locals. As completion of the project draws near, the company is hiring an additional 3,800 locals for various jobs. The Chinese team stands at 467.

In the eastern African nations of Ethiopia and Kenya, a few Chinese-built projects including the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway, the Addis Ababa light rail, and the Nairobi-Mombasa railway are further proof that China-Africa cooperation contributes to local growth, employment and regional integration.

On the humanitarian issue, China is maintaining a peacekeeping corp with over 1,000 personnel in South Sudan where the civil war has entered the fifth year. China has also been providing rotational-medical-teams to the country since 2012.

South Sudan's Acting Foreign Minister Martin Lumoro said earlier this month that Chinese doctors have contributed greatly to the country's health sector.

"China is the only country helping us. Others (countries) are running away from South Sudan, but China is coming to help. We cannot forget this kind of assistance to the people of South Sudan," Lumoro said.

In West Africa, where the Ebola outbreak wreaked havoc in 2014, China immediately sent medical workers and communicable disease experts to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to help the three nations overcome the crisis. Chinese firms based in Sierra Leone were also the first foreign rescue team to provide aid after rain-triggered mudslide killed over 1,000 people in its capital city Freetown in August 2017.

A member of Chinese Medical Team to Liberia examines a local patient in Monrovia, Liberia, Oct. 23, 2014. (Xinhua)

Ndrianja Ratrimoarvony, a researcher on China-Africa relations based in Madagascar, told Xinhua that China gains "bonus points" when interacting with Africa because it never interferes in African countries' internal affairs and sticks to the principle of mutual respect, which leads to win-win outcomes for both sides.

"That's why more African countries are beginning to give more emphasis to bilateral ties with China compared to relations with France or America," Ratrimoarvony said.

FOCAC FORGES STRONGER TIES

The summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in December 2015 in South Africa's Johannesburg was a milestone for bilateral ties. It sent a strong message to the global community that China and Africa stand together and win together.

The majority of the cooperation plans, announced during the summit covering industrialization, agriculture, infrastructure, finance, trade facilitation, poverty reduction and public health, among others, have been achieved.

Agricultural modernization, for instance, is a key cooperation plan between China and Mozambique. In an interview with Xinhua, Chinese Ambassador to Mozambique Su Jian said the Wanbao rice farm project based in Mozambique's Gaza province was an exemplary model for China-Africa cooperation.

"The project will greatly help Mozambique address its rice shortfall of up to 600,000 tonnes annually," Su said, noting that local farmers are learning new farming skills and technologies from Chinese companies and have improved their lives.

"This clearly shows how China's principles in its Africa policy are benefiting the ordinary population," Su said.

The success of these cooperation initiatives also gained acclaim from independent institutions. A 2017 report from McKinsey & Company, a global business counselor, said China has become Africa's most important economic partner in two decades. "Across trade, investment, infrastructure financing, and aid, no other country has such depth and breadth of engagement in Africa," it said.

It said Chinese firms are bringing capital investment, management know-how, and entrepreneurial energy to every corner of the continent, and in doing so they are helping to accelerate the progress of African economies.

"In Madagascar and other parts of Africa, big Chinese technical firms like Huawei and ZTE have a strong presence," Ratrimoarvony said. "In many African towns and even villages, you can also see Chinese doing business. Their commercial activities have become a part of the socio-economic lives in Africa, and this is a strong sign of very strong China-Africa cooperation."

"Bilateral relations will only grow stronger over time as Chinese and African leaders are continuously exploring new cooperation areas and strengthening mutual trust," he said.

GREAT PLANS FOR COMMON DEVELOPMENT

In September, a new FOCAC summit will be held in Beijing, where top policymakers from China and Africa are to firm-up key cooperation plans.

China and African nations are expected to align their development strategies and coordinate policies under the Belt and Road Initiative, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union's 2063 Agenda.

"China and Africa are always a community of common destiny as they share deep-rooted friendship and the same pursuit of development and prosperity," China's top legislator Li Zhanshu has said, as he makes visit to three African nations, namely Ethiopia, Mozambique and Namibia from May 9 to 18.

Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said China is happy to see a united, peaceful and prosperous Africa and stands ready to further its comprehensive and practical cooperation with the continent, noting the hope for more fruitful results within the frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative and the FOCAC.

Photo taken on Sept. 20, 2015 shows a train operating on the light rail in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

The top legislator also expressed the belief that China and Africa will work together to make the Beijing summit of the FOCAC in September a historic event to advance China-Africa cooperation.

Currently, sub-Saharan Africa is witnessing a growth uptick with regional economy to recover to 3.4 percent this year from a 20-year low of 1.4 percent in 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund in its economic outlook report for the region.

The report highlighted the Belt and Road Initiative for its impact on supporting private investment in Africa. It said countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania are seeking active involvement, and the coverage is likely to expand over time.

The initiative could help sub-Saharan Africa better integrate into global value chains, it added.

Stephen Ndegwa, public policy lecturer at the United States International University Africa based in Kenya, said eastern and southern Africa could be important bases for projects related to the initiative.

He said that as China commits to further reform and opening-up, China's capital and technologies will closely interact with Africa's natural resources, demographic dividends and market potentials, thus creating new growth for both sides.

(Xinhua reporters Nie Zuguo in Maputo, Liu Hua in Beijing, Wen Hao in Antananarivo and Jin Zheng in Nairobi also contributed to the story.)
































































































































































Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 23:11:20|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TEHRAN, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Sri Lanka here on Sunday signed cooperation documents in varied areas to boost bilateral relations, Tasnim news agency reported.

The agreements were signed in a ceremony in the capital Tehran attended by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Sri Lankan counterpart Maithripala Sirisena.

The cooperation documents include fight against illicit drugs and drug precursors, health and medical sciences, standardization, education, laboratory services and film industry.

On Sunday, Sirisena also urged promotion of all-out ties with the Islamic republic and a boost in oil import from Iran, official IRNA agency reported.

"Economic and trade relations between the two countries will increase," he said, calling for establishment of direct flights between Iran and Sri Lanka to facilitate bilateral trade exchanges.

He also invited Iranian private sectors to invest in Sri Lanka, and stated that his country has incentives for foreign investors, including those of Iran.

Sirisena arrived in Tehran on Sunday at the invitation of Rouhani for a two-day official visit.
CAIRO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Egypt condemned on Sunday the terrorist attacks on a number of churches in Indonesia which killed and injured dozens.

In a statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry stressed Egypt's support to the Indonesian people and government in confronting terrorism.

The foreign ministry said such attacks reflect the ugly face of terrorism which is far away from the tolerant principles of Islam that prohibits the killing of innocent people.

Egypt expressed its condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured, according to the statement.

A total of 11 people were killed and 41 other injured Sunday when suicide bombers blew themselves during congregations in three churches in Surabaya city, the capital of Indonesia's East Java province.

The Islamic State (IS) global terrorist group has claimed responsibility of the attacks through its media arm Amaq.

Egypt has also been suffering from terrorist activities at home that have killed hundreds of police officers and soldiers as well as civilians since the army toppled former President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Most of the attacks were claimed by a terror organization loyal to the IS group.
MOSCOW, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Russia's telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor said Sunday that it had unlocked a subnet of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba earlier implicated in an extensive blocking against Telegram messenger.

"As part of a set of measures to enforce the court decision regarding Telegram, Roskomnadzor unlocked a subnet of Alibaba (around 8,200 IP addresses)," Roskomnadzor said in a statement.

The move was to ensure the stable operation of third-party Internet resources, it said.

Meanwhile, the regulator said that Telegram's IP addresses incorporated in this subnet have been identified and continued to be blocked, adding that it would keep on monitoring the use of the unblocked networks by the messenger.

On April 13, Moscow's Tagansky District Court granted Roskomnadzor's demand to block access to Telegram in Russia due to its refusal to provide user data.

Russian security services have been demanding access to messages on Telegram on the suspicion that it was used to organize terrorist activities, but the latter refused to comply, citing privacy laws.

Launched in 2013, Telegram is now among the world's most popular messaging applications, with 200 million users around the world.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-13 23:21:25|Editor: ZX

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People gather during solidarity for victims after three churches bombing in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, May 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Septianjar)

JAKARTA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Sunday strongly condemned the deadly terrorist bombings in three Surabaya churches that have left 13 people dead and scores of others injured.

The condemnation was issued after his visit to the churches and a police hospital where the injured were receiving treatment. He also ordered police to root out the perpetrators' networks.

"I call all elements in the society to wage war against terrorism and radicalism that are against our religious and cultural values that respect deity and diversity values," the president said in the Bayangkara hospital in East Java capital of Surabaya on Sunday afternoon.

Head of Communications Division at National Police Headquarters Muhammad Iqbal said here that death toll from the bombings in the three Surabaya churches has risen to 13 as of the evening, with tens of others injured.

Meanwhile, speaking in Surabaya after accompanying the president to visit the bombing locations, Indonesia's Police Chief Tito Karnavian said perpetrators of the bombings came from one family.

He added that the family, consisting of father, mother, two sons and two daughters, was part of those who had returned from Syria.

Tito said the father, who goes by initial name of D, launched the bombing in a church in Arjuna Street. His wife, PK, and her two daughters carried out the bombing in a church located in Diponegoro Street, Tito added.

"The bombing in Flawless St. Mary Church was conducted by two perpetrators, who were the sons of D and PK," Tito said.

Tito said the family belonged to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a radical group which has stated its allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group.

Tito said that police could not do much against the bomber family soon after they arrived in Indonesia from Syria as the existing terrorism law does not justify legal measurement against them.

"They went to Syria, joined the IS and returned to Indonesia. While they were with IS in Syria, they learned terror strategies, undergone military drills and how to assemble bombs," Tito said.

Tito urged immediate completion of the terrorism law revision whose discussions now stumbled in the parliament after being submitted in 2016.

"It has been more than a year now. We already knew their cells, but we cannot do anything against them," Tito said, referring to the period of stalemate of process in the parliament to enact the revised terrorism law.

Tito said that terrorists' sleeping cells in Indonesia now started to wake up following the recent riot incited by terrorist inmates in police's high security prison that killed five police and one terrorist.

In the latest development related to the awakening of terrorist sleeping cells, four terrorist suspects were killed in a gunfire exchange with police in West Java province regency of Cianjur on early Sunday.

Previously on Friday morning, a police officer was stabbed to death by a terrorist suspect caught surveying the police's mobile brigade headquarters. The suspect was shot to death by police shortly after the stabbing.

Earlier in the same day, a member of the terrorist sleeping cell was killed in a police ambush in Bekasi, West Java. Police arrested the remaining three of his accomplices, who were on their way to the police's mobile brigade headquarters to carry out attacks on the headquarters.
JAKARTA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Another bomb explosion occurred near a police station in Siduarjo of East Java province on Sunday evening, a police officer said.

The explosion took place behind Taman police station in Siduarjo, spokesman of provincial police Senior Commissioner Frans Barung was quoted by local media as saying.

An eyewitness named only Punguh said that the blast occurred at a dormitory building.

"The explosion has just happened at the higher floor, its sound was not strongly heard," he said.
ISLAMABAD, May 13 (Xinhua) -- At least five tourists were killed and several went missing after a footbridge they were standing on collapsed Sunday in the Neelum valley of the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, according to local media and police officials.

The Neelum valley deputy commissioner said that around 40 tourists stopped to take pictures on the bridge, located in the Nala Jagran area of the valley, when it collapsed as it could not withstand the pressure due to overweight.

Five bodies and 14 injured persons have been recovered in the rescue operation so far, said local police officials.

All the injured were being shifted through army helicopters to the Combined Military Hospital in Muzaffarabad, the capital city of the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. The condition of the two injured was critical, according to the hospital sources.

Personnel of the Pakistan Army are also assisting in the operation, said local Urdu TV channel ARY News, adding that the extremely cold water of the river and its strong current are hindering efforts to recover the tourists.

Police said that the victims were students of different medical and private colleges of Lahore and Faisalabad who were touring the scenic Neelum valley from the country's eastern Punjab province.

According to initial investigation, the bridge had the capacity to withstand only four to six people at a time and there were also relevant warning signs posted on the bridge, but the tourists ignored them, said police officials.

The country's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has expressed grief and sorrow over the incident and directed the relevant authorities to make utmost efforts in rescue operation.

The Neelum valley is a popular tourist spot, especially in summers. A large number of visitors from across the country head there because of its cool weather and scenic beauty.
CAIRO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court acquitted on Sunday two Egyptian policemen of torturing and beating a lawyer to death inside a police station in Cairo in 2015, official MENA news agency reported.

Cairo Criminal Court has previously sentenced the two policemen of the National Security Agency to five years in jail over killing lawyer Karim Hamdi during his detention in a police station in Matariya neighborhood in Cairo in February 2015.

The two officers later appealed against the verdict and the Court of Cassation accepted their appeal and ordered their retrial.

The policemen were interrogating Hamdi and seeking his confession of crimes allegedly committed in favor of the currently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted by the military in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule.

The lawyer died in hospital shortly after his admission.

The police said in a statement that the lawyer had been involved in a terrorist cell working for the Brotherhood group, which had been outlawed by a court order two months after Morsi's removal.
HELSINKI, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Finland celebrated Mother's Day on Sunday against the backdrop of increasing social debate on why the birth rate in Finland keeps declining.

In 2017, 50,139 children were born in Finland, five percent less than in 2016. More people died in 2017 than were born, but the population increased on account of immigration. The record low birth rate in recent years has been comparable only to the famine years of the 1860s.

In line with the tradition, 30 mothers were handed medals of the order of the white rose by Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. The cohort of medal awarded mothers included single mothers, women who had acted as replacement parents and women chosen as social activists.

Addressing the national celebration, Minister for Family Affairs and Social Services Annika Saarikko said the country has no future without children. She said the government has decided to prepare a long-term program on how to deal with the low birth rate.

Saarikko said the medal recipients should now "take the front line" and tell how "everything was not perfect" but it was possible anyhow. Saarikko said that the obstacles for establishing a family require various solutions and a wider social commitment.

In several research reports in recent years, increased uncertainty in employment has been given as one reason for the low birthrate. Although the recession is over, jobs may still be temporary and business interests have demanded that working life should be more "flexible".

Married couples postpone children as the everyday life of a family with children is often perceived as dreary and full of quarrels.

A survey by Vaestoliitto, an advocacy organization for balanced population growth, last year also indicated young people want to travel and enjoy life and postpone children and forget that fertility of both men and women decreases as early as from age 25.

A Finnish woman gives birth to 1.65 children on average. The level matches that in countries like Austria and the Netherlands, but is higher than in many southern European countries where day care services are less developed.

Finnish women need not choose between work careers and getting children. Day care and early education services are mandated by law and offered either free of charge or at a low cost throughout the country.

Finland is also paying compensation for taking care of children at home and the system has been seen as a reason for the worse position of women on the labor market.

The current low birthrates are endangering the Finnish pension system. In Finland people are not required to put money aside for pensions, but legally mandated pensions are financed from the salaries of those currently working.
ADDIS ABABA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has called for bold actions toward realizing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The call was made at the ongoing 51st session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The theme of the May 11-15 gathering is: "African Continental Free Trade Area: Creating fiscal space for jobs and economic diversification."

Participants at the conference and side events will discuss the potential for AfCFTA as a powerful tool to drive industrialization, economic diversification and overall development on the African continent.

The five-day event aims to advance the ambitious initiative to form a regional common market that could boost intra-African trade to 52 percent by 2022, up from the current level of only 16 percent, organizers said.

Side events on Sunday covered such topics as sustainable development, agriculture and Africa's transformation; financing infrastructure; education and employment; an integrated strategy for the Sahel; and priorities for tackling illicit financial flows in Africa.

This year's conference has come after the signing of the AfCFTA by 44 of the African Union's 55 member states earlier this year.

Kenya and Ghana last Thursday handed over to the African Union (AU) the documents ratifying the AfCFTA, becoming the first two countries to do so.

A minimum of 22 countries are needed for the AfCFTA to come into force.

Vera Songwe, executive secretary of the ECA, urged focus on how to operationalize the AfCFTA agreement in a manner that realizes its potential to the benefit of the average African.

She underlined the need to create the "fiscal space" to foster public and private investment, while ensuring economic diversification with the view to creating jobs.

Songwe acknowledged concerns that the AfCFTA may cause losses in tariff revenues, leading to "holes" in national budgets.

However, she said, the impact would be "small and gradual."

"These tariff revenue losses may be outweighed by the additional revenues from growth to be generated by AfCFTA," Songwe said.

African governments are also urged to take a broader review of macroeconomic policies, especially fiscal measures, to ensure they are "fit for purpose" to make the most of the AfCFTA.

"We need to improve our levels of fiscal space. This includes boosting tax revenues, improving the efficiency of public expenditure management, tackling illicit financial flows and making use of private finance for public projects," she said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 01:01:43|Editor: Yurou

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WUHAN, May 13 (Xinhua) --Senior tourism officials are seeing big opportunities in tourism cooperation among member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

"Last year, a quarter of the tourists we received came from SCO member countries, a year-on-year increase of 14 percent," Nikolay Korolev, deputy head of Russia's Federal Agency for Tourism, said at the first meeting of tourism ministers from SCO nations that opened Wednesday in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

Numon Abdughafforzoda, chairman of the Committee for Tourism Development under the Government of Tajikistan, said that tourism is increasingly becoming a driving force behind the country's economic development. "We have fully utilized tourism resources in Tajikistan such as highland and mineral resources, and we have attracted many tourists from SCO nations," Abdughafforzoda said.

The SCO accounts for over 60 percent of the Eurasian landmass, nearly half of the world's population and over 20 percent of global GDP. Its eight member states are China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.

China and the other member nations have been cooperating to develop tourism. According to China Tourism Academy, last year, the number of visitors from the SCO member countries to China reached 2.5 million, accounting for 8.6 percent of the inbound tourists.

Meanwhile, 1.8 million tourists from China visited the other SCO member countries, accounting for 3.4 percent of all Chinese outbound tourists. "Last year, we held an international yoga festival, which attracted many tourists from SCO member states," said Suman Billa, joint secretary of India's Ministry of Tourism.

"We are committed to building a shared tourism platform, improving the competitiveness of tourism, carrying out exchange projects and cultivating tourism talent." "Tourism can be one of the most promising cooperation areas among SCO member states," said Li Jinzao, China's vice minister of culture and tourism. Li suggested that SCO member states work together topromote culture heritage and streamline allocation and management of tourism resources.
NEW YORK, May 13 (Xinhua) -- A three-day conference on China and U.S. health policy and healthcare wrapped up at Yale University on Sunday.

The conference, Advances in Health Policy and Healthcare: The Road Ahead, held at the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) on May 11-13, brought together 240 prominent public health, economics and data science researchers, healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs, NGOs, government officials from the U.S., China, and other regions in the world for organized sessions, roundtables and workshops centered around scholarly exchange and professional development.

"We spent tremendous efforts to put together most important public health issues in both countries into 35 cohesive discussion sessions. Each session includes closely related studies in the U.S. and China's healthcare systems to facilitate us to solve these critical issues in comparative perspectives," said Xi Chen, assistant professor of health policy and economics at YSPH and president of China Health Policy and Management Society (CHPAMS) in an interview with Xinhua.

"In many cases we already have good answers to some public health issues, our goal is to make it happen and to improve people's well-being," he said.

This is the second Biennial Conference of CHPAMS, a non-profit academic organization focused on the advancement and dissemination of health policy and healthcare management in China.

During the discussions, speakers have touched upon three trends of major transitions in the health sector: first, health service provision should target patients as well as healthy citizens; second, population health is better managed from "cradle to grave" ; third, health should be relevant all related sectors in addition to health. For example, industries such as food, environment, sport, and public transit also play important roles.

Dr. Sten H. Vermund, dean of Yale School of Public Health, offered his perspectives on tackling China's public health challenges drawing the U.S. and EU experiences.

Lincoln Chen, President of China Medical Board, discussed China's role in the transformation of global health, especially through the Belt and Road Initiative and direct health aid.

Paul D. Cleary, former Dean of Public Health at Yale University talked about using information from patients to guide and assess healthcare transformation.

Michael Grossman, Director of Health Economics Program at the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) summarized health economics research at NBER and its implication for health economics research in China.

Harlan M Krumholz, Director of Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation at Yale-New Haven Hospital presented the way China could lead the world to the next generation of health care through designing a smart, digital, and learning health care system.

T. Paul Schultz, former director of Yale's Economic Growth Center, argued that national health insurance can promote more equitable access to health care, but more has to be done in many countries to enhance enrolment.

Jody L. Sindelar, founding President of American Health Economics Association, shared her insights on the new approaches to smoking cessation through behavioral economics, financial incentives, windows of opportunities and wearables. Sindelar also discussed her ongoing work in China to reduce secondhand smoke for many women.

The event was co-hosted by Yale School of Public Health, Yale Macmillan Center, Yale Institute for Global Health, and Yale-China Association.
CAIRO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian prosecution referred on Sunday 278 defendants from two militants groups to military court over committing terrorist attacks instructed by the currently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadeq referred the 278 defendants from Hasm and Liwaa al-Thawra militant groups, including 141 who are already in custody, to be tried before a military court over committing 12 terrorist attacks targeting policemen as well as vital state institutions nationwide.

The investigations of the State Security Prosecution said the defendants belonged to the Brotherhood group that provided them with finance, explosives, weapons, ammunition and logistic support to carry out their anti-state terrorist activities.

Fugitive Brotherhood leading members inside and outside the country, mainly in Turkey, have set a plan to restructure the group's armed wing to carry out terrorist operations against security, judicial, economic and other institutions in Egypt, according to the investigations.

Last week, the prosecutor-general similarly referred 555 defendants to military court over belonging to the so-called "Wilayat Sinai," a Sinai-based group affiliated with the regional Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

Morsi was removed by the military in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his 12-month rule. His Brotherhood group was outlawed by a court order less than three months later.

Since then, Egypt has been facing a wave of terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers as well as civilians, with the Sinai-based, IS-affiliated militant group claiming responsibility for most of them.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian forces have killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared by newly re-elected President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief then, following Morsi's ouster.
WASHINGTON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that the United States had failed to reach an agreement with the European nations on the historic Iran nuclear deal.

He made the remarks in an interview with Fox News, after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal on Tuesday. The U.S. exit, together with its threaten to sanction companies economically involved with Tehran, has sparked outrage in Europe.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said earlier that Europe should not accept that the U.S. is the "world's economic policeman," or become the U.S. "vassals" that "obey decisions taken by the United States while clinging to the hem of their trousers;" Rather, Le Maire asked, "or do we want to say we have our economic interests, we consider we will continue to do trade with Iran?"

Pompeo said "I worked hard over the short time I've been the secretary of state to try and fix the deal. We couldn't reach agreement with our E3 partners," referring to Britain, France and Germany, all signatories of the Iran deal.

"The wealth that was created in Iran as a result of the JCPOA drove Iranian malign activity ... President Trump's withdrawal is denying them that wealth, denying them the resources to continue their bad behavior, to take the money away from them," he said.

However, he added the U.S. "sanctions regime that is now in place is very clear about what the requirements are," hinting that Washington is prepared to go after European companies and allies if they try to continue to do business with Iran.

While announcing his exit decision, Trump said the United States will impose "the highest level" of economic sanctions on Tehran, adding "any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States."

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin also noted in an announcement that "sanctions will be reimposed subject to certain 90 day and 180 day wind-down periods. At the conclusion of the wind-down periods, the applicable sanctions will come back into full effect. This includes actions under both our primary and secondary sanctions authorities."

For Iranian side, President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that Tehran will remain in the international nuclear deal if the country's interests are secured by other parties to the agreement,

"If the remaining five countries in the deal live up to their commitments and guarantee Iran's interests, the agreement will survive," he said during a meeting with visiting Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena.

The U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 deal was "a violation of morals," he said.

By pulling out of the deal, the United States also undermined the diplomatic efforts to international issues, he added.

Iran will remain in the international nuclear deal if the country's interests are secured by other parties to the agreement, President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday.

"If the remaining five countries in the deal live up to their commitments and guarantee Iran's interests, the agreement will survive," he said during a meeting with visiting Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena.

The U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 deal was "a violation of morals," he said.

By pulling out of the deal, the United States also undermined the diplomatic efforts to international issues, he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 02:06:51|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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MUSCAT, May 13 (Xinhua) -- French energy giant Total has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Oman to explore the natural gas resources in Oman, said Total in a statement on Sunday.

According to the statement, Total, and global oil and gas giant Shell, will operate and develop several natural gas fields located in the Greater Barik area on onshore Block 6 in Oman.

Total, which holds 25-percent shares of the oil fields, aimed to generate an initial gas production of around 500 million cubic feet per day, and to reach 1 billion cubic feet per day in a later stage.

"This MoU will give us access to new gas resources and the opportunity to develop an integrated gas project. We will bring our expertise in LNG and will introduce access to a new gas market for Oman," said Arnaud Breuillac, President of Exploration and Production at Total.

He hoped that developing an LNG bunkering service will generate in-country value and create job opportunities, and promote industry diversification through increasing shipping activities in Oman.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 02:31:55|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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GAZA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians are preparing on Sunday for escalating popular protests on Monday in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The Palestinian protests on Monday will coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence, one day before the Palestinians' Nakba Day, or "Day of Catastrophe."

The event is also held to protest over U.S. relocation of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem which U.S. President Donald Trump recognized as the capital of Israel last December.

The national commission of the protests in Gaza called for the largest-ever mass rallies, dubbed "the day of passage," in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel.

On Sunday afternoon, traffic across Gaza stopped for five minutes to announce the start of the largest activities in the six-week marches, which began on March 30 and are scheduled to end on May 15.

"Monday will be a historic day in the popular marches," said the national commission in a press statement.

It also called on people in the Gaza Strip to organize a Palestinian march of one million participants to defy Israel's 12-year blockade imposed on the coastal enclave.

The commission stressed the popular and peaceful essence of the marches, and the Palestinians "will not retreat from achieving their goals of return and defying the siege."

It called on the Gaza residents to be committed to the announced measures including closing public institutions, universities as well as other daily services, and heading to the border in eastern Gaza.

Meanwhile, Islamic Hamas movement on Sunday called on the population to join the largest-ever rallies and marches organized in eastern Gaza on Monday.

Since March 30, the Palestinians have been taking part in a series of protests, demonstrations and rallies, known as "the Great March of Return."

They erected tents and carried out various activities in eastern Gaza close to the border with Israel, and have constantly clashed with the Israeli border security forces.

Gaza Health Ministry said in an official statement that 49 Palestinians have been killed and more than 8,000 others injured under Israeli army's gunfire since the beginning of the marches.

The ministry announced that it has entered a state of emergency as all the hospitals and medical centers, as well as the medical tents built along the border between eastern Gaza and Israel, are on high alert.

Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza announced that it was fully prepared to receive the protesters in eastern Gaza, stressing that the security forces in Gaza are also on high alert.

On Sunday, a senior Hamas delegation, headed by the movement's politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh, returned to Gaza after paying a brief visit to Cairo, during which the delegation held talks with senior Egyptian security intelligence officials over the current situation in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army threw leaflets in eastern Gaza, warning the Palestinians against getting close to the fence of the border on Monday and Tuesday.

The flyers, written in Arabic, read "in the past days, Hamas movement terrorists carried out violence and terror activities against Israel along its border with Gaza."

"Hamas is covering up its failure and putting you at risk ... You deserve a better government and a better future. The Israeli army warns you against approaching the fence of the border," read the leaflet.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 02:56:59|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, May 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday condemned the terrorist attacks on worshipers in three churches in Surabaya, Indonesia.

The UN chief was appalled at reports that children were used to participate in the attacks, said Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric in a statement.

Guterres expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and wished a swift recovery to those injured.

He reiterated the support of the United Nations to the government and people of Indonesia in their efforts to fight and prevent terrorism and violent extremism, including through the promotion of pluralism, moderation and tolerance, said the statement.

A family of suicide bombers, including children, on Sunday carried out suicide attacks on the three churches in Surabaya that left seven people dead and dozens injured, said the police.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 03:02:01|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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AMMAN, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Jordan on Sunday voiced its strong condemnation of Israeli violations at the holy site of Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem and the Israeli provocation of the worshippers there, the state-run Petra news agency reported.

Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani slammed the Israeli authorities for allowing a large number of radical Israeli settlers to break into the compound of Al-Aqsa Mosque and providing protection for them.

Jordan's Embassy in Tel Aviv submitted a letter condemning the Israeli Foreign Ministry on Sunday, voicing the kingdom's rejection to such irresponsible acts, calling an immediate stop of such provocations, said the minister.

"We condemn and reject such practices. They violated the sacredness of the holy sites and infuriated Muslims across the world ... Israel is violating all international laws and norms by providing protection to such violations and provocations," said Momani.

Jordan oversees the holy Islamic and Christian sites in East Jerusalem, which is envisaged as the capital of Palestinians' future state.

The minister stressed on the need to respect the status quo and the legal and historic status of Jerusalem.

Momani held the Israeli government accountable for the security of Al-Aqsa Mosque and for the violations committed by the radical groups.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 03:02:01|Editor: ZX

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Israelis take part in a march marking the Jerusalem Day in Jerusalem, on May 13, 2018. About 45,000 Israelis marched Sunday across Jerusalem amid high tensions to mark Israel's 1967 capture of East Jerusalem. The parade is the main event of the "Jerusalem Day," an annual commemoration of the "reunification" of Jerusalem. (Xinhua/Guo Yu)

JERUSALEM, May 13 (Xinhua) -- About 45,000 Israelis marched Sunday across Jerusalem amid high tensions to mark Israel's 1967 capture of East Jerusalem.

The annual parade, known as the "Flag March," was held under heavy police security a day before the United States was expected to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

The marchers, mainly ultranationalist religious Jewish youths, waved Israeli flags and blew horns as they passed through the Old City's Muslim Quarter en route to the Western Wall.

The parade is the main event of the "Jerusalem Day," an annual commemoration of the "reunification" of Jerusalem.

Israel seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War, along with the rest of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It later annexed East Jerusalem and declared it as part of its "eternal and indivisible capital," in a move that has never been recognized by the international community.

Palestinians, who make up more than one third of the city's overall population, consider East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
WASHINGTON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday the United States will provide security assurance to the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Jong Un, if the country could achieve denuclearization.

In an interview with Fox News, Pompeo said, "We will have to provide security assurances to be sure," referring to the U.S. commitment to Pyongyang's regime security.

"This has been the trade-off that has been pending for 25 years. No president has ever put America in a position where the North Korean leadership thought that this was truly possible that the Americans would actually do this," he explained.

Pompeo also said on Friday that the United States and South Korea are ready to help the DPRK to achieve prosperity if it takes "bold" action in denuclearization.

"Now, the task is for President Trump and he to meet to validate the process by which this would go forward, to set up those markers so that we can negotiate this outcome," he said.

Speaking of Pyongyang's earlier statement to dismantle its nuclear site, Pompeo said it is "good news" and "one step along the way."

Pompeo said that "there's still a great deal of details to be worked on" in this regard.

"In the coming weeks, we will continue to work on that so we can be in a good spot on June 12th in Singapore for President Trump," he said. "I think Chairman Kim understands that. I think he appreciates the fact that this is going to have to be different and big and special, and something that has never been undertaken before."

"We now understand that there is the potential that there are shared objectives and our mission is to prepare the groundwork," he said.

When asked about his meetings with Kim, Pompeo said their conversations were "professional."

"He knows his brief, he knows what he is trying to achieve for the North Korean people. He is able to deal with complexity when the conversation requires it," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 03:17:05|Editor: ZX

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Indonesian police stand guard in front of an apartment building after an explosion in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia, on May 13, 2018. Five people were hit after a bomb blast occurred in a unit of flats located near a police station in Sidoarjo on Sunday night, police and an eyewitness said. (Xinhua/Kurniawan)

JAKARTA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Five people were hit after a bomb blast occurred in a flats located near a police station in Siduarjo of East Java province on Sunday night, police and an eyewitness said.

Two persons have been rushed into a hospital and 3 others with parts of bodies covered in bloods were found lying on floor after a bomb blast in a unit of flats (dormitory) placed by an alleged militant with family members, spokesman of provincial police Senior Commissioner Frans Barung Mangera said.

"Two persons have been rushed into a hospital and 3 others remind lying on the floor," he was quoted by local media as saying.

The flat is located behind Taman police station in Siduarjo, the spokesman noted.

An eye witness said that the three people with parts of their body in bloods.

"I have come to the scene to see what happen. I saw the family members covered in bloods lied on the floor," an eyewitness named only Punguh said, saying that one of are three persons is a child.

The explosion at the 5th floor of Block B of the flats took place at 21:15 p.m. Jakarta time and was classified as low-explosive as it sound was weak, according to him.

"The explosion has just happened at the higher floor, its sound was not strongly heard," he said.

National Police Spokesman Brigadier General Mohammad Iqbal said that the police are seeking to find out whether the bomb was purposely planned to explode or it exploded before being used.

"We are checking whether the bomb exploded incidentally or someone detonated it," he was quoted Kompas media as saying.
ADDIS ABABA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia Tan Jian said Sunday that China does not lecture Africa on how it should develop, but believes that African nations could find suitable paths on their own.

"China is very confident about its own development model, but we are not trying to sell it abroad," Tan told Xinhua. "However, if our foreign friends are interested, we are willing to share our experience."

The diplomat said it is not surprising that some African countries hope to draw inspiration from China's success in transforming itself from an economic weakling to the world's second largest economy.

By delving into China's case, African countries may find China's promotion of investment, industrialization and infrastructure construction inspiring to their own development, he said.

However, Tan said there is no one-size-fits-all development model, and that "it's our hope that every country can find the development path that suits its own conditions."

"China's economic miracles are not achieved by just following others' advice," he added.

Guided by this thinking, Tan said, China maintains an equality-based dialogue with African nations. "We will not try to be teachers. We're having an equal dialogue in which we offer our views to those who are interested."

The ambassador made the remarks when reviewing China's cooperation with Ethiopia and other African nations. He said prospects are bright for China-Ethiopia collaboration in various fields.

Chinese firms and funds have supported a number of Ethiopian development projects including the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, the Gibe III hydro power plant and the construction of Ethiopia's industrial parks, said to be inspired by China's success in the same field.

China's top legislator Li Zhanshu paid an official visit to Ethiopia from Wednesday to Saturday. Tan said Li's visit after Abiy Ahmed took over as Ethiopia's new prime minister demonstrated China's strong support to the Horn of African nation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls on world leaders to follow the United States and relocate their embassies to Jerusalem. (Reuters photo)

JERUSALEM, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on world leaders to follow the United States and relocate their embassies to Jerusalem.

Speaking during a reception of a U.S. diplomatic delegation in Jerusalem, Netanyahu thanked the United States for the relocation, which will take place on Monday.

"There is no greater supporter of Israel on the earth," he said. "We are eternally grateful."

He called on other countries to follow the U.S. move, saying that "in any peace that you could possibly imagine, Jerusalem will remain as Israel's capital."

He also thanked the leaders of Guatemala and Paraguay for their decisions to move their embassies to Jerusalem.

According to Netanyahu, other countries are expected to announce similar decisions soon. "We will not say whom because that is a state secret," he said.

The delegation is led by U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, his senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan said at the welcoming ceremony that Trump's decision to relocate the embassy was "essential to creating a roadmap for peace in the region."

A total of 86 foreign ambassadors in Israel were invited to the opening ceremony of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, while 40 of them accepted the invitation.

Four European countries - Austria, Czech Republic, Romania, and Hungary - have confirmed their participation in the U.S. move while the European Union opposes the relocation.

Thousands of police officers were deployed throughout Jerusalem over fear of Palestinian protests and riots. Additionally, Police officers will stand in "human wall" between the neighborhood of Arnona, where the new embassy is located, and the Palestinian Sur Baher.

Israel seized East Jerusalem, together with the rest of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Middle East war. It annexed East Jerusalem shortly later, claiming it as part of its "indivisible capital," in a move which was never recognized internationally.

On Dec. 16, 2017, Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a move that triggered escalating tension and a wave of outcry in the region.

The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Following Trump's move, they said the United States cannot be considered as a fair peace broker in the Middle East.
WASHINGTON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Washington and Beijing are working to get Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE, which is suffering from a U.S. exports ban, back into business.

The two sides "are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast," said Trump in a tweet.

The president added that he has instructed the U.S. Commerce Department "to get it done."

ZTE, one of the world's largest telecom equipment makers, was forced to suspend its main operations worldwide after the U.S. Commerce Department prohibited American companies from exporting products to it in mid April.

Following the exports ban, ZTE said it was making active communications with relevant parties to seek a solution to the issue, and stressed that it attached significant importance to export control compliance.

The Chinese public and government are greatly concerned about the fate of the company, which hires some 70,000 people across the globe. The incident also triggered in China extensive discussions about the necessity and urgency to develop a reliable domestic chip industry.

During the latest China-U.S. economic and trade consultations held in Beijing in early May, the Chinese side lodged "solemn representations" with the United States over the ZTE case.

The U.S. delegates responded that they "attach importance to" China's stance and will report it to President Trump, according to a spokesperson with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

The ZTE ban is also expected to cause sizable losses for the companies' key American suppliers in both revenues and jobs.

According to an April statement by California-based optical gear maker NeoPhotonics, the company's estimated annualized revenue with ZTE and its supply chain partners would have grown up to 5 percent without the exports ban. Business with ZTE and its supply chain partners accounted for approximately 3 percent of NeoPhotonics' total revenue in 2017.

As the fourth-largest mobile phone supplier in the U.S. market, ZTE said it has estimatedly supported some 130,000 high-tech jobs in America.
Syrians ride bicycles in Douma district east of the capital Damascus on May 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Hummam Sheikh Ali)

DOUMA, Syria, May 13 (Xinhua) -- In the formerly rebel-held district of Douma east of Damascus, cars have been deserted with no fuel during the war, which pushed people to bicycles as an alternative means of transportation.

That sprawling district in the Eastern Ghouta countryside was retaken by the army after the rebels' evacuation last month, and the streets in the central part of Douma are now bustling with people riding bicycles.

Few cars were seen, mostly those of the army or the trucks bringing in food to the people in that area, which was the most important bastion of the Islam Army rebels in Eastern Ghouta.

Burnt and destroyed cars were also left on the sidewalks in some of the streets there, reflecting the damage that has befallen large areas there as a result of the war that has dragged on for six years in Eastern Ghouta.

Old and young men, as well as children, were riding bicycles and the people there seemed to have overcome the problem of no regular transportation.

Bilal Delawa was riding his bicycle with his friend sitting behind him. He said those bicycles have been important for the people there with the high price of the fuel during the rebels' time.

"Most people have opted to ride bicycles and it has become the main transportation here in Douma because the fuel was expensive but of course, we favor cars or motorcycles or buses," he said.

Another biker Omar al-Ruz said even though the bikes were an acceptable alternative during the war, but they were not enough especially for workers who move heavy stuff from one place to another.

"The bicycle wasn't enough of a transportation to meet our demands ... for example, I can't transport goods of 100 kg on this bicycle, maybe 50 kg max," he said.

For his part, Bashar Ajweh, another resident of Douma, said that several places for fixing bicycles were opened in Douma during the war, adding that maintenance workers used to charge very high fees for fixing the bicycles, whose prices have jumped 10 folds during the war.

He said that he used to buy fuel in plastic cans for his motorcycle but when it got so expensive, he parked it and started using both the electric bicycle and the regular one.

"Bicycles have not only become the main transportation for regular people but also for workers who move stuff from one place to another but of course lite stuff only," the man said.

For the people in Douma, the transportation at this moment is important but the more important thing is food, which has started entering Douma at prices supported by the government, contrary to the rebel times when the militants used to stockpile food in their warehouses while giving so little to the people at high prices.

During a visit for Xinhua and other media outlets to Douma on Sunday, people were lined up to receive free bread bundles provided by the government.

Also trucks of foods, like potato, tomato and cucumber, were seen selling food items for the civilians at low prices.

People were seen carrying heavy bags of potato while expressing relief that they could finally buy food at low prices, as everything was extremely expensive during the rebels' control in Douma also due to the siege that was imposed on that area and other rebel-held areas in Eastern Ghouta.

Since fully capturing it from the rebels early April, the government made several moves to alleviate the suffering of the people who have been largely affected by the war there.

A mobile oven has been sent to Douma with a daily production capacity of five tons of bread to meet the demands of the people there.

On Saturday, a government-backed shopping festival kicked off in Douma with the participation of more than 40 companies.

The aim of the shopping festival is to offer a variety of foodstuff and other products for the people there at low prices, as part of the efforts to revive Douma and other recently-taken areas in Eastern Ghouta.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 04:47:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DOHA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Qatar and the United States will increase the joint military exercises between the two countries soon, state-run Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported on Sunday.

The remarks were made by Qatar's Major General Mohammed bin Ali Al Ghanim and the visiting Commanding General of the U.S. Central Command Michael Garrett.

Qatar, the host of the Al Udeid air base, the biggest U.S. military base in the Middle East, has concluded the Cpx Command Center Exercise which aimed at training the brigade's leaders at all levels by imposing various military maneuver.

Qatar hosts more than 10,000 U.S. troops and around 72 F-15 aircraft at the Al Udeid air base.

Since the Gulf crisis, Qatar and United States held a number of joint military exercises as part of the "the enduring military-to-military" partnership between the two countries.

On June 5 last year, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut all ties with Qatar over accusations of Doha's support for Islamist extremist groups.

Qatar denies the allegations.
File photo taken on April 11, 2013 shows the then Mongolian Prime Minister Norov Altanhuyag (L) and the then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan inspecting the guards of honor during a welcome ceremony in Ulan Bator, capital of Mongolia. (Xinhua/Shi Yongchun)

ULAN BATOR, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia is willing to further expand legal cooperation with Turkey, especially in the field of prosecution, the parliament's press office said Sunday.

This was underlined by Enkh-Amgalan Luvsantseren, deputy speaker of the Mongolian Parliament, in a recent meeting with a Turkish delegation led by Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Halil Adiguzel in Ulan Bator, it said.

Over the past four years, more than 90 Mongolian prosecutors have participated in short-term training in Turkey, the deputy speaker said.

Adiguzel, for his part, said Turkey is ready to work with Mongolia and share its experiences in fighting against corruption, economic crimes and transnational organized crimes.

Cooperation between Mongolia and Turkey has been expanding in all sectors in recent years. The two countries will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations in 2019.
ALGIERS, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Algerian army forces on Sunday performed a tactical exercise with live ammunition in the southernmost locality of Djanet, near the border with Libya, Algerian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The exercise was called "tactical sub-grouping to face non-conventional attack," the statement said, adding that it was performed under the supervision of Deputy Defense Minister and Army Chief of Staff, Gaid Salah, as part of his visit to the Fourth Military Region in Ouargla province, 800 km southeast of the capital Algiers.

The exercise is part of the implementation of 2017/2018 combat preparedness program, as it was carried "with great rigor, well highlighted by the accuracy with which the targets were reached," said the source, hailing "the high level of professionalism of army forces in terms of executing combat actions."

The statement further noted that Salah congratulated the hard work of the troops in the service of protecting the borders against all risks, threats and scourges.

The army chief also noted that the exercise is aimed to showcase the ability to assimilate the factors guaranteeing military power and imperatives, which will allow Algeria to realize its operational objectives in the geo-strategically unstable region.

The exercise came at a time when the region is plagued by unprecedented security and political instability, putting Algeria in ongoing terrorist threats.

In fact, the North African nation deployed tens of thousands of troops on eastern and southern borders to thwart potential intrusion of militants and arms, amid instability in Mali and civil war hitting Libya.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 06:02:34|Editor: ZX

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Security members work near a damaged structure on a highway after a flood in Valdivia, Antioquia, Colombia, on May 13, 2018. Colombian authorities evacuated around 600 people on Sunday from the town of Valdivia in northern Antioquia Department after the Cauca river burst its banks and destroyed 19 houses, a clinic, a school and a bridge. (Xinhua/COLPRENSA)

BOGOTA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Colombian authorities evacuated around 600 people on Sunday from the town of Valdivia in northern Antioquia Department after the Cauca river burst its banks and destroyed 19 houses, a clinic, a school and a bridge.

According to the local risk management council, families have been resettled in improvised shelters until the situation returns to normal. People living along the river are also being evacuated in the towns of Taraza, Briceno, Caceres, Nechi and Caucasia.

"We are evacuating certain families ... at this moment, we do not have the total number of families being evacuated. We are only just beginning the contingency plan," said Didier Fernando Lopez, Valdivia's risk management director, to the local press.

The state government of Antioquia is also bringing in humanitarian supplies to the affected area.

Bogota has dispatched elements from the army, the police and the disaster management unit to the area while the Red Cross is also on the ground.

According to authorities, the rapid rise in the Cauca river's water level was due to the unblocking of a water evacuation tunnel on Saturday, which had been affected by a landslide at the nearby Ituango hydropower project.

By 6:00 p.m. Saturday, a new blockage had been registered in the tunnel, with authorities remaining on high alert for any other similar incidents.
LONDON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- American-born Chinese pianist Lauren Zhang was Sunday named as winner of the 40th BBC Young Musician competition.

Zhang, aged 16, was the youngest of three finalists in the battle for the prestigious title at Birmingham's Symphony Hall.

She chose to perform Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto Number 2 as soloists with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mark Wiggleswort.

Zhang said she chose the Prokofiev piece because "it balances lyrical, elegant melodies with moments that are more grotesque or bizarre".

For the teenage classical musician the final took place on her home patch. She is a student at the Junior Conservatoire, part of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Zhang applied for the Junior Conservatoire in 2010.

Zhang is taught by Dr. Robert Markham at the Junior Conservatoire, who himself was a finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in 1986, where he was awarded the Piano Prize. Zhang also studies violin at the Junior Conservatoire

Ahead of her performance tonight, Zhang said she had never imagined playing in such a big final in a major concert hall with a famous symphony orchestra.

Timothy English, head of Junior Conservatoire, said: "Lauren has been a student at the Junior Conservatoire for the past eight years and it has been a great privilege to watch her develop into an extraordinary young pianist. She is a musician of exceptional talent and commitment, and this latest success is richly deserved."

Zhang was joined in the final by saxophonist Robert Burton and cellist Maxim Calver.
Xi Jinping meets with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump in the latter's Florida resort of Mar-a-Lago in the United States, April 6, 2017. (Xinhua File Photo/Lan Hongguang)



WASHINGTON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Washington and Beijing are working to get Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE, which is suffering from a U.S. exports ban, back into business.

The two sides "are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast," said Trump in a tweet.

The president added that he has instructed the U.S. Commerce Department "to get it done."

ZTE, one of the world's largest telecom equipment makers, was forced to suspend its main operations worldwide after the U.S. Commerce Department prohibited American companies from exporting products to it in mid April.

Following the exports ban, ZTE said it was making active communications with relevant parties to seek a solution to the issue, and stressed that it attached significant importance to export control compliance.

The Chinese public and government are greatly concerned about the fate of the company, which hires some 70,000 people across the globe. The incident also triggered in China extensive discussions about the necessity and urgency to develop a reliable domestic chip industry.

During the latest China-U.S. economic and trade consultations held in Beijing in early May, the Chinese side lodged "solemn representations" with the United States over the ZTE case.

The U.S. delegates responded that they "attach importance to" China's stance and will report it to President Trump, according to a spokesperson with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

The ZTE ban is also expected to cause sizable losses for the companies' key American suppliers in both revenues and jobs.

According to an April statement by California-based optical gear maker NeoPhotonics, the company's estimated annualized revenue with ZTE and its supply chain partners would have grown up to 5 percent without the exports ban. Business with ZTE and its supply chain partners accounted for approximately 3 percent of NeoPhotonics' total revenue in 2017.

As the fourth-largest mobile phone supplier in the U.S. market, ZTE said it has estimatedly supported some 130,000 high-tech jobs in America.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-14 07:07:42|Editor: ZX

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HAVANA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The idea of American Anna Jarvis to celebrate Mother's Day lives on over 100 years later in Cuba where the second Sunday in May has become an almost sacred date.

"Mothers must be venerated every day because they are the ones who give us life through physical suffering," says Edel Sanchez, a 55-year-old obstetrician, who has helped uncountable numbers of women in childbirth.

Sanchez has two children, a daughter who is a doctor and a ten-year-old boy. He is sure that "mothers should receive more honors than the fathers, because giving birth is a risky act that can endanger the life of the woman."

This opinion is shared by Alejandro Garcia, a young university student, whose mother "has made a very big effort to help me study engineering, because my father died in an accident 12 years ago."

"I have no way of thanking her," says the young man who carries a decorated cake "to give it to Mom."

Those with more means may choose more expensive presents although the economic crisis "complicates things," says Garcia.

However, Cubans always look for ways to honor the mother, a figure of great respect, despite remnants of chauvinism in modern society.

"I am happy only in the presence of my children," says Georgina Jimenez, 60, who proudly displays a photograph with her three children and seven grandchildren.

Beyond the presents "which are always appreciated," she, like many other mothers, prefers to take advantage of the date to invite the whole family and make the most of their time together.

Only few Cubans do not participate in the family celebrations which began in 1920.

According to historians, it was in Santiago de las Vegas, a town located about 35 km south of Havana, where Mother's Day was first celebrated on the second Sunday of May in 1920 in Cuba.

Bibliographical references indicate that it was Victor Munoz, a well-known journalist at the time, who published an article about it in the newspaper "El Mundo."

In that text, Munoz recalled that "today is the second Sunday of May, which the Americans consecrate as Mother's Day, and which many Cubans want to celebrate."

On that same day, the theater of the Instruction and Recreation Center in Santiago de las Vegas was filled with the public for a ceremony to honor mothers.

At the time, journalist Francisco Montoto recited the verses written by National Hero Jose Marti to his mother and the poem "To my mother" by socialist intellectual Diego Vicente Tejera.
Coun Perez reiterates warning to barangay leaders involved in drugs

07 Aug 2017 Hits:37 Comments(0)

Liga ng mga Barangay President, Councilor Jerry Perez yesterday reiterated his warning to all barangay officials from using or selling drugs. Perez said he is closely monitoring the activities of all the barangay officials and vowed sanctions against erring leaders. Aqui gane na mio barangay ya quita ya iyo na puesto cunel dos barangay leaders quien mas temprano ya sale positivo na...
PATNA: The wedding of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav's son Tej Pratap Yadav with Aishwarya Rai has been the subject of attention ever since the news of their engagement came out in the open. Tej Pratap and Aishwarya tied the knot on Saturday in a grand ceremony on Saturday which was attended by thousands of people.

However, chaos prevailed at the wedding after an unruly crowd breached the cordon which was meant to separate the pandal meant for VIPs and the media. The reason? Food.

Shortly after Tej Pratap and Aishwarya exchanged garlands, a horde of people broke the cordon and started looting food items. Soon the entire area was strewn with broken crockery and upturned tables and chairs, while a number of party leaders made a vain attempt to chase away intruders by wielding sticks.

The reason for the chaos was reportedly a rumour which spread that VIPs behind the partition were getting tastier food as compared to the 'general' people.

The people who created havoc are believed to be RJD supporters who were invited to the wedding. Several media persons, including cameramen, complained of having been manhandled and their equipment damaged.

Caterers said the unruly crowd looted some of their utensils and other items.

A galaxy of VIPs and thousands of commoners attended the wedding ceremony at the sprawling veterinary college ground. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also attended the wedding. Nitish, who has strained relations with the RJD chief's family ever since walked away from the Grand Alliance and returned to the BJP-led NDA, was greeted with loud cheers from the gathering. He exchanged pleasantries with Lalu Prasad and later sat on the dais flanked by the RJD chief and Rabri Devi.

Bihar Governor Satya Pal Mallik, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and several of his cabinet colleagues, veteran socialist leader Sharad Yadav were also there to bless the couple. Other dignitaries who came to the city earlier to bless the couple included former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav, NCP leader Praful Patel, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and lawyer Ram Jethmalani. The entire top brass of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) stood at the entrance to welcome the guests.
NEW DELHI: An elderly couple was charred to death after their son set the house on fire. The Delhi police on Sunday arrested the man accused of setting the house ablaze. The incident took place on May 11 in the early in west Delhi's Moti Nagar area.

The deceased were identified as 70-year-old Chedi Lal and his wife 62-year-old Laxmi. Vinay, who was staying with the couple as a tenant, also got injured while trying to rescue the couple.

The son who allegedly set the house on fire is mentally disturbed. he had fled the scene after the incident. The injured neighbour had told the police that he saw the couple's son fleeing from the spot. Locals claimed that the couple's son used to physically abuse his parents.

Another neighbour claimed that he used to forcibly take away money from his mother and would often create ruckus in and around the house.

Police said that the fire broke out at 3.25 am on the ground floor of the building in which the couple was injured. They were admitted to a hospital where they were declared brought dead.

The couple was staying in a 2BHK house and Lal ran a chaat shop. Their other children also expressed suspicion about their brother's involvement in the incident and said that he would beat his parents and torture them
New Delhi: Sheer ensembles have been shining on the red carpets since years, and the ongoing edition of Festival De Cannes is no different. From international celebrities like Kendall Jenner to desi divas Deepika Padukone and Kangana Ranaut, everyone is oozing glamour in this delicate fabric. Designers say this is one "daring trend" that gives a dream-like feel, thereby adding an extra edge over standard glamour.

Schulen Fernandes, the creative face behind brand Wendell Rodricks, told IANS: "Sheer is certainly not new to the red carpet. We have seen swirls of tulle with tons of dainty embroidery taking care of modesty for years now. Got to love Li Yuchun in Jean Paul Gaultier Couture, structured black and white with a hint of sheer. It`s not your standard glamour but daringly different. I`m sure you`re not seeing another statement look like this in the sea of sweeping gowns."

Ace designer Rahul Mishra, a regular at Paris Fashion Week, says the only reason why sheer dominates the red carpet is because of its super- luxurious feel.

"Sheer looks feminine, surreal and dream-like. Such fabrics may lend the dream kind of delicateness, that poetry to the whole idea. For example, sheer, tulle or for that matter organza, looks far more elegant as fabrics.

"I am not saying this is just a trend for this season (but) now there is a lot of volume, control play and a lot of new innovations in terms of textiles which is happening and that`s why it becomes effortless. I would say this is something which is really beautiful and I am sure even sheer sari, the way it is draped, is beautiful," he added.

For her first red carpet appearance as L`Oreal Paris brand ambassador at Cannes this year, Deepika opted for a Zuhair Murad floor-length gown with a matching cape in sheer fabric, which gave a dramatic vibe to her get-up. Even Kangana opted for a sheer, embellished and backless gown for her maiden Cannes red carpet appearance. She is being hosted by Grey Goose.

While Deepika`s ensemble had a plunging neckline, Kangana`s outfit was bold with its backless cut.

Designer Amit Aggarwal told IANS: "Infusing metallic accents on sheer pieces instantly turns the look around of the garment and adds effortless glamour to any piece. Any kind of metallic detailing on sheer reflects beautifully on the skin."

Celebrities could walk on a thin line between looking glamorous and vulgar while opting for the sheer trend. Designers say everyone must be wary about not following trends blindly.

According to Fernandes, today a design is modern and relevant only if it challenges the norm with a different perspective.

"Sheer need not always be defined as glamour or baring too much. The trick lies in playing that field to your personality," she said when asked how to make it work well without overdoing it.

Mishra suggests to know your body type and how much of confidence you have while opting for it.

"When you are playing with sheer, you have to remember your body type as there is thin line between looking ethereal or looking like a wannabe. Opt for such fabrics if you are confident that you can add more to sheer outfit. Also, a total head to toe sheer look would not be good idea.

"It`s not about blindly following trends but more about rightly dressed at right platform," added the designer.

Another vital aspect to keep in mind is the lingerie you choose to complement your dress as it can either make or break the look.

Karan Behal, CEO and Founder of lingerie brand PrettySecrets, told IANS: "For an outfit from the darker palette of wine and navy, go for a black lace bralette. For lighter palettes like white and pastel, opt for light and subtle tones and if brighter palette like neons and bright pinks are on your mind, you can wear neon bralettes.

"Other than this if you want to play it safe, you can always opt for a nude lace bra, but make sure your choice includes lace as lace stands out under sheer fabric."
Bambolim: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Sunday said that his party is the only one in which "a person selling tea" can also become the prime minister of India.

"BJP is such a political party in which a person selling tea can also become the PM of a great democracy like India. For the first time, after Independence, a non-Congress party received the opportunity to serve the nation with an absolute majority. BJP received that opportunity... Narendra Modi government received that opportunity," he said addressing a review meeting to oversee the preparations for the 'booth karyakarta sammelan' at Dr SP Mukherjee Stadium.

Shah added that the party started with 10 members and now it has become the largest political party in the world with 11 crore party members.

He also expressed confidence of BJP winning the Karnataka elections. "The BJP will form the government in Karnataka on May 15 evening after the results," Shah said.

Addressed our energetic karyakartas of @BJP4Goa unit during Booth Karyakarta Sammelan in Goa. pic.twitter.com/0esaOoFYL8  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 13, 2018

Most of the post-poll surveys have predicted the BJP to emerge as the single largest party in Karnataka, with the JD(S) of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda likely to emerge as the kingmaker.

Polling was held on Saturday in 222 constituencies in Karnataka, currently ruled by the Congress.

Any party or alliance will need the support of 112 MLAs to form the new government.

(With ANI and PTI inputs)
At least four people, including three leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), died as their vehicle met with an accident while returning from the marriage ceremony of party leader Tej Pratap Yadav and former Bihar chief minister Daroga Prasad Rais granddaughter Aishwarya Rai.

The incident occurred early Sunday morning on NH-57 near Araria. The deceased hailed from Kishanganj in Bihar. Among them were former minister Islamuddin Baghis son Ikramuddin, RJD district chief Intekhab Alam and Dighalbank zonal president Pappu, reported Prabhat Khabar. The identity of the driver is yet to be ascertained.

They were travelling in a Mahindra Scorpio SUV, which met with an accident near Pothia bridge along NH-57.

As soon as the information of the accident came in, Forbesganj police personnel rushed to the spot. However, the exact reason behind the accident is yet to be found. Prabhat Khabar quoted an eyewitness as saying that the driver fell asleep while driving, leading to the accident. However, reports also said that there was a collision with a truck.

The deceased were reportedly on their way back from the marriage ceremony of Tej Pratap and Aishwarya Rai, who tied the knot at a grand function in Patna. Among others, the ceremony was attended by RJD supremo and Tej Prataps father Lalu Prasad Yadav, and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Lalu could attend the wedding ceremony as he was granted parole for three days. He is currently serving a sentence in connection with fodder scam cases.
New Delhi: BJP president Amit Shah today appointed Kanna Lakshminarayana, who had left the Congress to join the party in 2014, as its Andhra Pradesh chief and made Somu Veerraju, also a contender for the post, the state convener of the election management committee. In a statement, the party also said that Shah has appointed Ravindra Raina as president of its Jammu and Kashmir unit following the induction of Raina's predecessor Sat Sharma into the PDP-BJP government as a minister.

The appointments made in Andhra Pradesh underlined Shah's efforts to do a balancing act as Lakshminarayana was said to be unhappy with the party over reports that he may be ignored for the top post.

He was a minister in several Congress governments in the state, but left it to join the BJP in 2014.

Lakshminarayana comes from the Kapu community, a group the BJP is eyeing to make inroads in the state.

Reports had said that he was set to quit the saffron party recently, but was prevailed on to continue and the appointment is seen as an effort to placate him and a number of other leaders who had left other parties, especially the Congress, to join it.

Veerraju is an old BJP hand and was considered till recently a favourite for the top post.

Following TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's decision to sever his party's ties with the BJP, the saffron party is keen to broaden its base in the state where it has long been a marginal player.

The assembly polls in the state are scheduled to be held together with the Lok Sabha elections next year.


The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) will announce the ISC Class 12 results 2018 and ICSE Class 10 results 2018 on its official website cisce.org on Monday, May 14 at 3 pm. In a notification on the official website, the board said: "Class X (ICSE) & Class XII (ISC) Year 2018 Examination Results will be declared on Monday, 14th May 2018 at 03:00 PM."

Ahead of the results, here is a look at the highlights of last year's Class 10 and Class 12 results:

ICSE 2017 examinations highlights:

- 2,106 schools presented candidates in India and Abroad for the ICSE Examination in 2017.

- Total 1,75,299 candidates appeared for the ICSE Examination in 2017 including 96,770 boys and 78,529 girls

- 94,957 boys passed in ICSE and 1,813 remained unsuccessful

- 77,765 girls passed in ICSE and 764 remained unsuccessful

- The pass percentage for ICSE was per cent and girls did better than boys at the ICSE Examination

- The pass percentage obtained in the major subjects in the ICSE Examination:

English 99.82%; Bengali 99.80%; Hindi 99.93%; History, Civics & Geography 98.84%; Mathematics 95.63%; Science 98.66%; Commercial Studies 97.87%; Economics 94.09%; Physical Education 99.97%; Computer Applications 99.99%; Economic Applications 99.97%; Commercial Applications 99.96%

ISC 2017 examinations highlights:

- 988 schools presented candidates in India and Abroad for the ISC Examinations in 2017

- Total 73,633 candidates appeared for the ISC Examination in 2017 including 39,703 boys and 33,930 girls

- 37,872 boys passed in ISC and 1,831 remained unsuccessful

- 33,161 girls passed in ISC and 769 remained unsuccessful

- The pass percentage for ISC was 96.56 per cent and girls did better than boys at the ISC Examination

- The pass percentage obtained in the major subjects in the ISC Examination:

English 99.50%; Bengali 99.84%; Hindi 99.51%; Economics 90.15%; Commerce 95.52%; Accounts 92.30%; Mathematics 90.67%; Physics 96.69%; Chemistry 98.51%; Biology 98.14%; Computer Science 99.64%

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) was founded in the year 1958. The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) conducts ISC and ICSE examination annually. Apart from the ISC 12th board examination and ICSE 10th board examination also conducts Certificate of Vocational Education Examination, which was developed in accordance with the guidelines of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
New Delhi: Launching an all-out attack, Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Sunday that the chargesheets against P Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm by the Income Tax department under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets, was a Nawaz Sharif moment of the Congress party.

Addressing the press, the BJP leader said, "For some time now we have been hearing a lot of action by the I-T authorities against former finance minister P Chidambaram and his family. The parallels cannot be missed out in this case. I am wondering if, for Congress party in India, we are seeing the Nawaz Sharif moment", a reference to Pakistan Supreme Court's decision disqualifying its former PM from holding office because of non-disclosure of assets and income earned abroad.

"Will Rahul Gandhi investigate this? It can't be an oversight. How can P Chidambaram forget to disclose his assets abroad? Congress chief, who is himself out on bail should come out and tell us if he is going to investigate this case involving one of his leaders," Sitharaman added.

She further said, "Chidambaram didn't disclose its investments to the tax authority, violating Black Money Law, which was brought by Modi government as part of its drive against black money and to prosecute those Indians who have secretly stashed illicit wealth abroad. P Chidambarams family has been booked under Black Money Act for illegal assets in several countries and for operating illegal foreign bank accounts... As per the Income Tax estimates, Chidambaram familys illegal assets in 14 countries and 21 foreign bank accounts are expected to be worth three billion dollars."

Will Congress President Rahul Gandhi investigate this? It can't be an oversight. How can P. Chidambaram forget to disclose his assets abroad: Smt @nsitharaman https://t.co/Szq6TL6oRk #BlackMoneyOfPC  BJP (@BJP4India) May 13, 2018

Chidambaram didn't disclose its investments to tax authority, violating Black Money Law, which was brought by Modi govt as part of its drive against black money & to prosecute those Indians who have secretly stashed illicit wealth abroad: Smt @nsitharaman #BlackMoneyofPC  BJP (@BJP4India) May 13, 2018

The IT department filed four charge sheets in a Chennai city court on 11th May, 2018 against Chidambarams wife Nalini, son Karti and his wife Srinidhi under section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015: Smt @nsitharaman  BJP (@BJP4India) May 13, 2018

The charge sheets claimed that the Chidambarams did not disclose these investments to the tax authority as also by the firm co-owned by Mr. Karti  Chess Global Advisory, in violation of the black money law: Smt @nsitharaman #BlackMoneyOfPC  BJP (@BJP4India) May 13, 2018

Former Finance Minister P. Chidambarams family has been booked under Black Money Act for illegal assets in several countries and for operating illegal foreign bank accounts: Smt @nsitharaman https://t.co/Szq6TL6oRk #BlackMoneyOfPC pic.twitter.com/fKjh1EQVXH  BJP (@BJP4India) May 13, 2018

BJP president Amit Shah also tweeted:

Under the Black Money Act, 4 chargesheets have been filed against P Chidambaram and his family for possessing and operating several illegal assets and accounts in foreign countries. IT estimates illegal assets held by UPA's FM to be to the tune of 3 Bn dollars! #BlackMoneyOfPC  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 13, 2018

This explains why despite Supreme Court's orders Sonia Gandhi, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh & then FM P Chidambaram dragged their feet on formation of SIT, one of the first decisions taken by Modi govt, to fight Black Money! How could they indict their own selves? #BlackMoneyOfPC  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 13, 2018

I-T department files chargesheets against Chidambaram's family members under black money law

The I-T department on May 11, 2018, filed four chargesheets or prosecution complaints before a special court in Chennai under Section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. Nalini Chidambaram, Karti and Srinidhi and a firm linked to Karti have been charged for allegedly not disclosing, either partly or fully, immovable assets like the one at Barton, Cambridge in the UK worth Rs 5.37 crore, property worth Rs 80 lakh in the same country and assets worth Rs 3.28 crore in the US, officials were quoted as saying by the PTI.

The chargesheets have claimed that the Chidambarams as also the firm in which Karti is one of the Directors - Chess Global Advisory - "did not disclose" these investments to the tax authority in violation of the black money law. The Chidambarams and the firm, on April 27, had sent four separate replies to the specified I-T department authority in Chennai stating that they had not defaulted in disclosing these assets to the taxman, and in certain cases, they had revised their income tax returns to reflect the said overseas properties.

"Omission, if any, in the original return under section 139(1) was corrected in the revised return under section 139(5) of the I-T Act. The original return and the revised return were filed on the advice of her Chartered Accountant," the reply by Karti's wife Srinidhi had said.

All the four, including the firm, in more or less similar replies, told the department that there was "no failure to disclose any information about the foreign assets, and certainly no willful failure to disclose any information."

"On the facts of the present case, it would be totally unreasonable and perverse to conclude there has been any willful failure to disclose any information about the foreign assets. Hence, the present show cause notice deserves to be dropped," they had added.

The case pertains to the assessment year 2016-17. The chargesheets are expected to be taken up by the court on June 11, 2018.

Black money charge sheets against us baseless allegation, says Chidambaram's family

Meanwhile, the chartered accountant for the senior Congress leaders' wife Nalini and Karti, daughter-in-law Srindhi and a firm Chess Global Advisory Services Private Limited had issued two separate but identical replies on Saturday in response to the tax department's action.

"The Income Tax returns are prepared and filed on the advice of the chartered accountants. The investments in question were made through bank remittances. They were duly disclosed in the returns of income filed under Section 139 of the Income Tax Act for the relevant assessment year. "It is totally wrong to allege there was a wilful failure to disclose the investments. The returns of income are a complete answer to the baseless allegation," the two statements issued had said, as per PTI.

The statements added that the ITD prosecution complaints would be "opposed in accordance with law."

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday hit back at Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, saying that instead of protecting the country, she was coming in defence of her party leaders embroiled in corruption charges. The Congress' attack came after the BJP leader hit out at former union minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram over his family's foreign assets.

"Sitharaman has been made the defence minister of the country and has been entrusted with the task of protecting the country. Instead of that, she is protecting the corrupt in her party," Congress leader Pawan Khera said at a press conference.

He also accused the BJP leadership and ministers in the NDA government of deflecting issues and not giving answers to questions raised by the Opposition leaders and said that Sitharaman was not disclosing the price of the Rafale fighter jet aircraft, PTI reported.

To a question on charges against Chidambaram's family, Khera said the statement given by Chidambaram's chartered accountant is clear that there was no wrongdoing and that the income tax department's action would be challenged in the court of law. He accused the BJP of misusing the I-T department and targeting the Opposition leaders.

Modi's Rafale deal-a loss of 12,632 Cr.

Piyush Goyal turns  1 Lac to  30 Cr.

Jay Shah turns  50,000 to  80 Cr.

This, while the other Modis manage to loot and escape!

Will the BJP Def. Min. get her Party President or her Govt agencies to investigate these scams? pic.twitter.com/4PPfMEaaeZ  Congress (@INCIndia) May 13, 2018

The I-T department on May 11, 2018, filed chargesheets against Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets.

The chargesheets or prosecution complaints have been filed by the I-T department before a special court in Chennai under Section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, officials said, as per PTI.

Nalini, Karti and Srinidhi and a firm linked to Karti have been accused of not disclosing, either partly or fully, immovable assets such as one at Barton, Cambridge, UK, worth Rs 5.37 crore, property worth Rs 80 lakh in the same country and assets worth Rs 3.28 crore in the US.

Addressing the press in the national capital, Sitharaman had said, "The parallels cannot be missed out in this case. I am wondering if, for Congress party in India, we are seeing the Nawaz Sharif moment."

She had also asked if Rahul Gandhi would investigate the issue involving his party's senior leader. The Congress party president, incidentally who is also out on bail on some financial transactions which are questionable, should certainly comment and tell the entire party and people of India whether he is going to investigate this, Sitharaman had said. She had added that the law on black money was brought in by the Modi government because it had pledged before the last Lok Sabha elections to fight unaccounted for money held in India and abroad.

Will Congress President Rahul Gandhi investigate this? It can't be an oversight. How can P. Chidambaram forget to disclose his assets abroad: Smt @nsitharaman https://t.co/Szq6TL6oRk #BlackMoneyOfPC  BJP (@BJP4India) May 13, 2018

Chidambaram didn't disclose its investments to tax authority, violating Black Money Law, which was brought by Modi govt as part of its drive against black money & to prosecute those Indians who have secretly stashed illicit wealth abroad: Smt @nsitharaman #BlackMoneyofPC  BJP (@BJP4India) May 13, 2018

The IT department filed four charge sheets in a Chennai city court on 11th May, 2018 against Chidambarams wife Nalini, son Karti and his wife Srinidhi under section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015: Smt @nsitharaman  BJP (@BJP4India) May 13, 2018

The charge sheets claimed that the Chidambarams did not disclose these investments to the tax authority as also by the firm co-owned by Mr. Karti  Chess Global Advisory, in violation of the black money law: Smt @nsitharaman #BlackMoneyOfPC  BJP (@BJP4India) May 13, 2018

Former Finance Minister P. Chidambarams family has been booked under Black Money Act for illegal assets in several countries and for operating illegal foreign bank accounts: Smt @nsitharaman https://t.co/Szq6TL6oRk #BlackMoneyOfPC pic.twitter.com/fKjh1EQVXH  BJP (@BJP4India) May 13, 2018

On the other hand, BJP president Amit Shah too cited the chargesheets filed by the I-T department against Chidambaram's family members to allege they had illegal assets worth 3 billion dollars.

Under the Black Money Act, 4 chargesheets have been filed against P Chidambaram and his family for possessing and operating several illegal assets and accounts in foreign countries. IT estimates illegal assets held by UPA's FM to be to the tune of 3 Bn dollars! #BlackMoneyOfPC  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 13, 2018

This explains why despite Supreme Court's orders Sonia Gandhi, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh & then FM P Chidambaram dragged their feet on formation of SIT, one of the first decisions taken by Modi govt, to fight Black Money! How could they indict their own selves? #BlackMoneyOfPC  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 13, 2018

The former finance minister's family members have said the I-T department chargesheets against them under the black money law were "baseless allegations" as the overseas investments under question had been reflected in their I-T returns.

(With Agency inputs)
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Page: 1 2 Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy" LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: kaput

05-13-2018 02:52 AM











Post: #1 Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"

Advertisement guarantees human dignity, freedom and security, protects the equal rights of men and women, the model of the traditional family, puts the brakes on anti-Semitism, protects our Christian culture, and provides opportunity for the maintenance and development of our nation , he declared. We need to say it out loud because you cant reform a nation in secrecy: the era of liberal democracy is over.



Reminiscent of President Donald Trumps inauguration speech in 2017, PM Orban radiated patriotism and optimism for the future of his nation as he called upon Magyars to unify and make Hungary great again.



https://newswars.com/we-will-build-a-21s...ngarian-pm "Rather than try to fix a liberal democracy that has run aground, we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy which, he declared. We need to say it out loud because you cant reform a nation in secrecy:Reminiscent of President Donald Trumps inauguration speech in 2017, PM Orban radiated patriotism and optimism for the future of his nation as he called upon Magyars to unify and make Hungary great again. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 05:31 AM











Post: #2 RE: Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"





And no mosques.

Christian nations will allow all religions to worship and gather, just not death cults. Islam is not a religion so a christian nation may decree no mosques. Mosques are armories. It is part and parcel of what a mosque is.

It is also a teaching center for children to be told it is okay to kill infidels.

No mosques in Hungary. And no mosques.Christian nations will allow all religions to worship and gather, just not death cults. Islam is not a religion so a christian nation may decree no mosques. Mosques are armories. It is part and parcel of what a mosque is.It is also a teaching center for children to be told it is okay to kill infidels.No mosques in Hungary. Upside Down

I'm hot

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 05:36 AM



Posts: 50,462









Post: #3 RE: Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"

Do you seriously think that Trump cares about the rights of women?



Do you seriously think that Trump cares about 'family values'?



"Grab em in the pu$$y" -Donald J Trump LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 05:55 AM











Post: #4 RE: Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"

2am Breathe Wrote: (05-13-2018 05:36 AM) Do you seriously think that Trump cares about the rights of women?



Do you seriously think that Trump cares about 'family values'?



"Grab em in the pu$$y" -Donald J Trump

Stick to bathtub drain placement, little one. It's more your league.



Hungary and Poland are the only countries actively doing their part to prevent Europe from becoming an Islamic Hellscape. Don't like it, FOAD! Stick to bathtub drain placement, little one. It's more your league.Hungary and Poland are the only countries actively doing their part to prevent Europe from becoming an Islamic Hellscape. Don't like it, FOAD! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 06:49 AM











Post: #5 RE: Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"

What's funny is that Merkels Islam-loving political party is called Christian Democrats...LOL LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 07:36 PM











Post: #6 RE: Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"

Pinguu

Registered User

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 07:40 PM



Posts: 6,186









Post: #7 RE: Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"

I dont like the idea of a Christian country anymore than I do a Muslim one..



Theyre all nightmares and interbreds... IF AT FIRST YOU DONT SUCCEED...CLAIM YOU ARE OPPRESSED.. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 07:46 PM











Post: #8 RE: Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"









Hello, the Kindom of God and "King if KINGS" does not sound like titles attributed to "democracy".



"Christian democracy"Hello, the Kindom of God and "King if KINGS" does not sound like titles attributed to "democracy". LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 07:46 PM











Post: #9 RE: Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"









Hello, the Kingdom of God and "King if KINGS" does not sound like titles attributed to "democracy".



"Christian democracy"Hello, the Kingdom of God and "King if KINGS" does not sound like titles attributed to "democracy". LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 07:47 PM











Post: #10 RE: Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-13-2018 07:46 PM) "Christian democracy"







Hello, the Kingdom of God and "King of KINGS" does not sound like titles attributed to "democracy".





I can't believe you all are so stupid.



But facts are facts. I can't believe you all are so stupid.But facts are facts. Cid

Registered User

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 07:48 PM



Posts: 1,465









Post: #11 RE: Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"

Pinguu Wrote: (05-13-2018 07:40 PM) I dont like the idea of a Christian country anymore than I do a Muslim one..



Theyre all nightmares and interbreds...

Bullshit. Bullshit. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 07:49 PM











Post: #12 RE: Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"

Cid Wrote: (05-13-2018 07:48 PM) Pinguu Wrote: (05-13-2018 07:40 PM) I dont like the idea of a Christian country anymore than I do a Muslim one..



Theyre all nightmares and interbreds...

Bullshit.

Hey stupid f*#k, which "nation" do you think is "Christian".



Open your mouth, I'm gonna make an example of you. Hey stupid f*#k, which "nation" do you think is "Christian".Open your mouth, I'm gonna make an example of you. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 07:50 PM











Post: #13 RE: Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"

Pinguu Wrote: (05-13-2018 07:40 PM) I dont like the idea of a Christian country anymore than I do a Muslim one..



Theyre all nightmares and interbreds...

Nightmare?

Where does the christian leader Jesus say to go kill infidels?



Projecting the islamic nightmare on to Jesus is some funny sh*t man..... Nightmare?Where does the christian leader Jesus say to go kill infidels?Projecting the islamic nightmare on to Jesus is some funny sh*t man..... LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 07:53 PM











Post: #14 RE: Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-13-2018 07:50 PM) Pinguu Wrote: (05-13-2018 07:40 PM) I dont like the idea of a Christian country anymore than I do a Muslim one..



Theyre all nightmares and interbreds...

Nightmare?

Where does the christian leader Jesus say to go kill infidels?



Projecting the islamic nightmare on to Jesus is some funny sh*t man.....

EVERY "nation" is a pyramid scheme you helped build on the backs of your own kind which pits you against one another in a competition for survival.



Jesus said to GIVE to all who ask of you, turning none away.



You do not do what Jesus said do either, so Islam is your reward. Jesus said to GIVE to all who ask of you, turning none away.You do not do what Jesus said do either, so Islam is your reward. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 07:55 PM











Post: #15 RE: Hungary's Orban: "we will build a 21st Century Christian democracy"

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-13-2018 07:46 PM) "Christian democracy"







Hello, the Kingdom of God and "King of KINGS" does not sound like titles attributed to "democracy".









For the laughs. For the laughs. Advertisement


















NEW DELHI: The results of Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) class 10 examination 2018 will be announced on May 14, 2018, Monday.

According to the official announcement the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) that conduct the exam, the results will be released at 3 pm.

Once declared, the results will be made available on the council's official website at cisce.org. The students will be able to check their results by visiting the official portal of CISCE.

The ICSE class 10 exam 2018 will also be available on these two websites - cisce.examresults.net and results.nic.in.

More than 16 lakhs students appeared for Class 10 board exams this year. The ICSE offers 57 subjects to students.

Last year, the ICSE results were announced on May 29 and the pass percentage for the exam was 98.53. A total of 94,957 boys and 77,765 girls had cleared the ICSE Class 10 exams 2017.

Steps to check ISCE results 2018 on the official websites:

- Log in to the official website - cisce.org or cisce.examresults.net or results.nic.in.

- For class 10th results, check for the link ICSE result 2018. Click the desired tab.

- Enter the roll number and registration number in the required space.

- Click on the 'submit' button. You will now be able to view ICSC results 2018. Save the copy of the scorecard for future reference.

The ICSE examination was held from February 26 to March 28.

Scorecard, pass certificate will also be available on DigiLocker. The council has decided that from 2018 onwards, it will make the digitally signed copies of the statement of marks and pass certificate available for the candidates taking the ICSE.

The DigiLocker facility was established by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).

About the council

The council has been so constituted as to secure suitable representation of government of India, state governments/union territories in which there are schools affiliated to the council, the inter-state board for Anglo-Indian education, the association of Indian Universities, the association of heads of Anglo-Indian schools, the Indian public schools conference, the association of schools for the ISC examination and members co-opted by the executive committee of the council.

The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education has been designed to provide an examination in a course of general education, in accordance with the recommendations of the New Education Policy 1986, through the medium of English. Private candidates are not permitted to appear for this examination.

The Indian School Certificate Examination is an examination, through the medium of English, designed in accordance with the recommendations of the New Education Policy 1986, after a two-year course of studies beyond the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (year 10) examination or its equivalent examination.
New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department has warned of thunderstorm accompanied with squall (wind speed reaching 50-70 kmph) 'very likely' at isolated places over Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Odisha on Monday.

IMD warning for May 14, 2018:

- Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds very likely at isolated places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, Telangana, Rayalaseema, South interior Karnataka and Tamilnadu and Puducherry.

- Heavy rain very likely at isolated places over Odisha.

- Heatwave conditions very likely at some places over southwest UP, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Marathawada.

- Duststorm very likely at isolated places over Rajasthan.

IMD warning for May 15, 2018:

- Thunderstorm accompanied with squall (wind speed reaching 50-70 kmph) and hail very likely at isolated places over J&K, HP and Uttarakhand.

- Thunderstorm accompanied with squall (wind speed reaching 50-70 kmph) very likely at isolated places over gangetic West Bengal.

- Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds very likely at isolated places over Odisha and south interior Karnataka.

- Heatwave conditions very likely at some places over Rajasthan and Vidarbha.

Dust storm, rain lash parts of Haryana, Punjab, Delhi

A sudden dust storm and rain hit several parts of Punjab and Haryana, including Faridabad and Gurgaon, on Sunday evening. After hot weather conditions prevailed through the day, the dust storm brought relief to residents in several cities, including Chandigarh, Sonipat, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Karnal, Ambala, Panchkula, Jhajjar, Gurgaon and Faridabad.

Strong winds swept through Haryana as the weather changed suddenly and light rain lashed several areas of the state, a meteorological department official said in Chandigarh, PTI reported. Several parts of Punjab also experienced light rain.

Chandigarh earlier on Sunday had recorded a maximum temperature of 39.1C, a notch above the normal. In Haryana, Ambala recorded a maximum temperature of 39.4C, Hisar 41.6C, Bhiwani 41C, Karnal 39C and Narnaul 42.5C. Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala in Punjab, too, registered above normal temperatures of 39.5C, 40.7C and 40C respectively.

Also, a squall and dust storm with a wind speed of up to 109 kmph barrelled through Delhi and neighbouring areas on Sunday, affecting flight, rail and metro operations, uprooting trees, and leading to incidents of wall collapse. The sky turned dark grey around 4:30 pm. Gusty winds and rain lashed the national capital, causing the temperature to drop around 10 notches to 25.2 degrees Celsius.

The officials said two squalls whipped through the national capital. One clocking 109 kmph hit the Safdarjung area at 4:44 pm and continued till 4:46 pm. The other gusting to 96 kmph battered the Palam area at 4:33 pm.

(With imd.gov.in and PTI inputs)
Bengaluru: As top leaders of the Congress and the BJP battled it out for the Karnataka Assembly polls, some prominent faces were missing from the high-voltage campaigns to the run up to the election. Polling in the southern state took place yesterday and the results will be declared on Tuesday. Seventy per cent voter turnout was recorded in the high-stakes election.

Union Minister Sushma Swaraj did not participate in the campaign perhaps due to health reasons, BJP sources said.

On the other hand, the party did not invite actor and MP Hema Malini and Union Minister Manoj Sinha to bat for it in the state, said a BJP functionary. "We only did not invite Hema Malini and Sinha. Their presence was not very much required here," he said.

From the Congress, the party's social media in-charge and actor Ramya did not participate in the election campaign. "We invited her repeatedly, but she did not turn up. We have no idea what prevented her from campaigning actively," a party functionary said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and AAP leaders Atishi Marlena and Gul Panag featured in the party's list of star campaigners, but they, too, did not show up. AAP sources said Kejriwal, Sisodia and Marlena were occupied with the issue pertaining to the removal of the advisors of Delhi ministers by the Centre.

The party had no information why Panag did not take part in the election campaign, they said. "We tried our best to bring them. We were told that they were held up with the issue relating to the dismissal of Atishi Marlena (adviser to the Delhi education minister)," sources said.

The Centre had last month cancelled the appointments of nine advisors to Delhi Ministers, saying these posts were 'not sanctioned.' "It is also a fact that if Kejriwal had come, he would have addressed a public meeting," an AAP functionary said.
AURANGABAD: A day after two persons died in communal clashes that broke out in multiple areas in Aurangabad, police said the situation has been brought under control. Three FIRs have been registered and a few people have been detained. "There have two been deaths, one due to a plastic bullet and another death because of falling off a slab. Few police officers and constables got injured during the clashes," Acting Commissioner and Special IG of Aurangabad Milind Bharambe said.

Over 40 people were injured in clashes, including police personnel. Aurangabad Acting Commissioner and Special IG Milind Bharambe He also added that necessary measures have been taken to control the situation. "Seven companies of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and one company of riot control police have currently been deployed there," Bharambe said. The district administration has clamped prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure banning assembly of people and suspended Internet services.

The clashes started in Moti Karanja area on Friday night and spread to Gandhi Nagar, Raja Bazaar, Shah Ganj and Sarafa areas, forcing police to fire in the air and lob teargas shells. Among those injured were seven women and a dozen policemen, including an assistant commissioner of police. Protestors set fire to around 100 shops and 80 vehicles.

Tension was brewing in Moti Karanja area over the last few days as the municipal corporation was carrying out a drive against illegal water connections. It got a communal colour reportedly when an illegal water connection at a place of worship in the area was removed. Several parts city witnessed youths from two groups taking to streets and attacking each other with some pelting stones.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the situation in Aurangabad was under control, and stringent action would be taken against those responsible for the violence. The violence was the fall-out of a minor incident, he said.
NEW DELHI: IndiGo is facing the heat yet again. A 23-year-old staffer of the airline was on Sunday arrested for making a hoax call regarding a bomb in a Mumbai flight at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The accused, identified as Kartik Madhav Bhat, wanted to teach a lesson to the airlines since he had been warned about his poor performance, they added.

On May 2, a call about a bomb on a Mumbai-bound flight was received at the IndiGo Airlines Office in the Cargo Complex at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).

Subsequently, a couple of Mumbai bound flights from IGI Airport were checked physically. The call was later declared as a hoax.

The police zeroed in on Bhat, a resident of Pune, on the basis of the number from which the call was made and nabbed him.

During the investigation, it was found that after passing his intermediate examination, the accused did Diploma in Hospitality and Aviation from Frankfinn Institute in 2013, the police said.

Thereafter, he started working in the aviation sector and was currently employed with the IndiGo Airlines as Customer Service Officer at the Pune airport, they said.

During interrogation, he revealed that his job performance was not up to the mark and he had been given verbal notice to improve his performance in three months or face departmental action, said Sanjay Bhatia, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Airport).

He got depressed and made the call out of frustration and to teach a lesson to the airlines, the officer added.

The SIM card used for making the hoax call has been recovered from the possession of the accused, the police said.

IndiGo airline has been facing flak for incidents like manhandling a passenger and security breach where a passenger was made to board a wrong flight.

In the latest incident, the airline offloaded a passenger from a flight alleging unruly behaviour with crew members. The passenger had repeatedly complained about mosquitoes in the aircraft.

(With inputs from PTI)
Actress Deepika Padukone, who walked the red carpet at prestigious Cannes Film Festival on May 11 and 12, was seen making her exit in style.

The svelte actress was seen carrying a beige trench coat over her Max Mara bodycon dress which she teamed with colour coordinated footwear from Gianvito Rossi. She wore the same retro sunglasses from Marc Jacobs, that she had worn with a white tank top and blue denim with flared bottom, on her day one of Cannes.

She accessorised her look with a Burberry handbag.

Deepika attended the Cannes Film Festival as a brand ambassador for cosmetics giant L'Oreal.

Take a look at her photos she was snapped by the paparazzi at Mumbai airport today:

Her stylist too shared her look on the Instagram:

Deepika's second-day look at the Cannes red carpet had made heads turn as she stepped out in an elaborate shocking pink feathered jumpsuit by Ashi Studio Couture.

She upstaged her look by teaming it with emerald stone Chopard jewels and a neat braided bun. For her look, she went with light smokey eyes and a nude lip, keeping the rest of the make-up luminescent.

CANNES 2018 #DeepikaPadukone __ A post shared by Met Gala (@metgalaofficial) on May 11, 2018 at 4:01pm PDT

"Dreams really do come true... Cannes 2018," Deepika shared posted on the Instagram along with her look of the photo.
Lucknow: Tension is brewing between IAS and IPS officers over a recent Home Department order of the Uttar Pradesh government making it mandatory for all district police chiefs to take the approval of district magistrates before the posting of station house officers.

Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar had issued the order on May 9, leading to a sharp reaction from IPS officers who alleged that it was an attempt to undermine their authority.

Even before the IPS officers could take up the matter with senior authorities, Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida) District Magistrate Brajesh Narayan Singh cancelled the recent posting of seven SHOs by SSP Ajay Pal Singh.

Narayan Singh wrote a letter to SSP Ajay Pal Singh on May 11 and objected to the new posting of the SHOs without his consent as per the new rules laid by the state government.

"The state government issued an order on May 9 stating that the superintendents of police will have to take the approval of district magistrates for posting and transfer of SHOs," the DM's letter said.

"But without taking approval of the DM, seven inspectors were posted at police stations in the district. This was clear violation of the state government order," it said. The IPS Association had expressed its reservations to the order in a tweet on Thursday.

"Request @CMOfficeUP to withdraw the order requiring approval of DMs before posting SHOs. Order is in conflict with law laid down by Hon'ble Supreme Court and High Court. It displays distrust in the police leadership and will demoralise SPs. @PMOIndia @HMOIndia," it said.

The association also raised the matter with UP DGP OP Singh and urged him to take it up with the state government.

A senior IPS officer on condition of anonymity told PTI that it was a clear instance of oneupmanship.

'There appears to be no other reason for the move but for the IAS cadres' all too obvious desire to establish their supremacy...It has happened in the past as well and has come to the fore once again with this order...The association has taken up the matter with the authorities," he said.

IG Amitabh Thakur said the station officers were in direct contact with district superintendents of police.

"Hence, any third party intervention in their posting will have clear possibility of negative impact on policing and law and order," Thakur said.

According to another IPS officer, the order which vested more powers in the district magistrates, serves to undermine the authority of the SP and SSPs.

"There is no logic in the order. Why will a junior officer follow his superiors' order if his transfer and posting is subject to the approval of the district magistrates?

"The SPs and the SSPs will no longer be able to command the police force in their districts if the district magistrate is given these powers," the officer said.

"Under such circumstances, how can the SPs and SSPs be held responsible for maintaining law and order when they will not be in a position of authority over their subordinates," he said.

On the other hand, an IAS officer said there appeared to be no intention of undermining the authority of the police force. "It could be aimed at making the working of the police force more objective and smooth with the heads of districts keeping an overall eye on the situation," the senior IAS officer said.

A similar situation has taken place last year when Chief Secretary Rajive Kumar had issued a letter, directing district magistrates to chair all law and order meetings in their respective districts.

After meetings between the top officials, a decision was taken to stick to the earlier format of law and order meetings at the district level.
Kanpur: The Uttar Pradesh Police is interested in using advanced technologies, including drone surveillance, to enhance safety of citizens and desires to enter into an agreement with IIT-Kanpur in this regard, the institute's deputy director said. Director General of Police (DGP) OP Singh had a detailed conversation with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, officials on the matter on Friday, and the state police is interested in signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the institute within a week, Deputy Director, IIT-K, Manindra Agarwal said.

The Uttar Pradesh police is looking for technical assistance from the institute on cyber crime, crowd management and database of criminals, a police spokesman in Lucknow said. The IIT would also audit and provide consultation on the cyber and forensic lab that is being set up in the state on the directions of the Union Home Ministry, he said.

The deputy director said the proposed collaboration will be about effectively ensuring security of citizens through advanced research in fields of analysis, training, security, problem solving, management, communication and drone surveillance.

IIT-Kanpur officials will help the state police by analysing data obtained through calls made on 'UP-100' as well as from information on social media, Agarwal said. The institute will also train police personnel on using advanced technologies to solve cyber crimes and other challenging cases, he said.

Researchers at IIT-Kanpur will also focus on enhancing the quality of communication systems of the Uttar Pradesh Police and modernising traffic management systems.

The police along with the institute's officials will also work on cyber security and cyber forensics to solve crime related to information technology, the deputy director said. The IIT will also help the state police in determining effectiveness and functioning of drones and other advanced equipment during purchases, he said.

The IIT official said experts will aid the police in setting up a high-tech social media lab, improve transfer of information from police wireless systems, facilitate purchase of low cost breath analysers and also provide guidance in crowd management analytics.

The MoU will help smoothen the working of the state force, he said.
A 19-year-old Sudanese woman Noura Hussein was sentenced to death for fatally stabbing her husband after he allegedly tried to rape her. When Hussein was forced to marry at the age of 15, she ran away from her home and sought refuge with her aunt for three years. Her father tricked her to return home and handed her over to her husband's family.

Her husband tried to consummate the marriage but she repeatedly refused his advances. Enraged over the same, her husband took the help of his relatives who held her down while he raped her. Dr Adil Mohamed Al-Imam, one of Hussein's lawyers, said the husband's brother and two cousins tried to convince her to consummate the marriage but when she denied, she was slapped and ordered into the room. One held her chest and head, the others held her legs.

A day later, her husband tried to force himself upon her again but this time, Hussein grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed him to death. When the woman sought the help of her parents, they turned her into the police.

Noura Hussein's case has outraged human rights activists across the world. In Sudan, the legal age of marriage is just 10 and marital rape is legal.

When Hussein was sentenced to death on Thursday, there was outcry by her supporters in the courtroom in Omdurman, Sudan. Her husband's family was given an option to pardon her and settle for a financial compensation, but they refused a settlement and requested that she be executed instead. Hussein's legal team has 15 days to appeal.

Her case has left many aghast with people flowing in to support her with hashtags #JusticeforNoura and #SaveNoura. A petition on change.org has also been started to get justice for the teenager.
Jalalabad: At least four people were killed when militants detonated bombs and stormed a government building today in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, officials said.

There were two explosions near the city's directorate of finance, Nangarhar provincial governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP, adding that "a number of attackers" had entered the building.

"Security forces are in the area chasing and fighting them," he said.

Four bodies and about 20 wounded people had been brought to Jalalabad hospitals so far, said Dr Najibullah Kamawal, director of the city's health department.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of restive Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. Some areas of the province are a stronghold of the Islamic State group but Taliban fighters are also active there.

It was the latest deadly violence to strike Afghanistan as militant groups step up attacks and US-backed Afghan forces intensify air strikes and ground offensives.

The Taliban have rejected growing calls to accept President Ashraf Ghani's offer of talks to end the 16-year conflict.
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Page: 1 2 3 4 unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: kaput

05-13-2018 04:31 AM











Post: #1 unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM

Advertisement and treat people equally under the law they dont ban females from achieving their dream or ban freedom, like putting non state religious actors in jail we should thank ourselves for were we live and thank israel too for allowing their women the same rights that women in the us have. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 04:34 AM











Post: #2 RE: unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM

get together if your in conflict portraid LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 04:35 AM











Post: #3 RE: unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM

thats like two beaches gibberishing about illuminaty LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 04:36 AM











Post: #4 RE: unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-13-2018 04:35 AM) thats like two beaches gibberishing about illuminaty

Albrecht Bear

Subscriber

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 04:38 AM



Posts: 13,058









Post: #5 RE: unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-13-2018 04:31 AM) and treat people equally under the law they dont ban females from achieving their dream or ban freedom, like putting non state religious actors in jail we should thank ourselves for were we live and thank israel too for allowing their women the same rights that women in the us have.

One comma and a full stop does not constitute punctuation. Please re-write. One comma and a full stop does not constitute punctuation. Please re-write. It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to be right. - Winston Churchill Builder of the Adytum

Enemy of the State

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 04:40 AM



Posts: 6,633









Post: #6 RE: unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM

Many people take being an American for granted.





Often they have not traveled much and few have ever lived abroad for any extended time Adytum/Tekton/The Ghost of David Carradine LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 04:41 AM











Post: #7 RE: unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM







X LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 04:42 AM











Post: #8 RE: unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-13-2018 04:31 AM) and treat people equally under the law they dont ban females from achieving their dream or ban freedom, like putting non state religious actors in jail we should thank ourselves for were we live and thank israel too for allowing their women the same rights that women in the us have.

Iran doesn't enforce the sticking of fingers up your arse, "to search for drugs" !



Iran doesn't molest your kids at the airport !



Iran doesn't shoot you dead for "putting your hands in the air too fast" when they are demanding you do so, with their guns trained on you !



Iran doesn't have 900 bases around the world !



Iran is NOT threatening WW3 on several fronts like the US is !



Iran is not trying to disarm you or "chip" you so they can RULE OVER you with an Iron fist !



Iran did not attack you on 911 like the US Government did !



Iran doesn't enforce the sticking of fingers up your arse, "to search for drugs" !Iran doesn't molest your kids at the airport !Iran doesn't shoot you dead for "putting your hands in the air too fast" when they are demanding you do so, with their guns trained on you !Iran doesn't have 900 bases around the world !Iran is NOT threatening WW3 on several fronts like the US is !Iran is not trying to disarm you or "chip" you so they can RULE OVER you with an Iron fist !Iran did not attack you on 911 like the US Government did ! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 04:43 AM











Post: #9 RE: unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-13-2018 04:36 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (05-13-2018 04:35 AM) thats like two beaches gibberishing about illuminaty



well you have dry spots and like wet spots , but nm black mud and green voilage and geel beachsand well you have dry spots and like wet spots , but nm black mud and green voilage and geel beachsand LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 04:45 AM











Post: #10 RE: unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM

illuminaty choses drought on one spot allot instead of on the right spots... Not that we ever achieve it but LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 04:47 AM











Post: #11 RE: unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-13-2018 04:42 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (05-13-2018 04:31 AM) and treat people equally under the law they dont ban females from achieving their dream or ban freedom, like putting non state religious actors in jail we should thank ourselves for were we live and thank israel too for allowing their women the same rights that women in the us have.

Iran doesn't enforce the sticking of fingers up your arse, "to search for drugs" !



Iran doesn't molest your kids at the airport !



Iran doesn't shoot you dead for "putting your hands in the air too fast" when they are demanding you do so, with their guns trained on you !



Iran doesn't have 900 bases around the world !



Iran is NOT threatening WW3 on several fronts like the US is !



Iran is not trying to disarm you or "chip" you so they can RULE OVER you with an Iron fist !



Iran did not attack you on 911 like the US Government did !





we have our men and women in uniform that can make our nation better and better and better. we have our men and women in uniform that can make our nation better and better and better. GrimShaw

Asinus Asinum Fricat

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 04:48 AM



Posts: 32,420









Post: #12 RE: unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM

Yeah well, most Americans don't support interventionism. Not that anyone is asking them. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 04:48 AM











Post: #13 RE: unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-13-2018 04:47 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (05-13-2018 04:42 AM) Iran doesn't enforce the sticking of fingers up your arse, "to search for drugs" !



Iran doesn't molest your kids at the airport !



Iran doesn't shoot you dead for "putting your hands in the air too fast" when they are demanding you do so, with their guns trained on you !



Iran doesn't have 900 bases around the world !



Iran is NOT threatening WW3 on several fronts like the US is !



Iran is not trying to disarm you or "chip" you so they can RULE OVER you with an Iron fist !



Iran did not attack you on 911 like the US Government did !





we have our men and women in uniform that can make our nation better and better and better.







X LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 04:49 AM











Post: #14 RE: unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM

GrimShaw Wrote: (05-13-2018 04:48 AM) Yeah well, most Americans don't support interventionism. Not that anyone is asking them.

if it supports democracy and liberty we do! if it supports democracy and liberty we do! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

05-13-2018 04:53 AM











Post: #15 RE: unlike iran THE US HAS FREEDOM

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-13-2018 04:49 AM) GrimShaw Wrote: (05-13-2018 04:48 AM) Yeah well, most Americans don't support interventionism. Not that anyone is asking them.

if it supports democracy and liberty we do!

Yes, we need to bomb their country into ruins, irradiate their lands, kill millions, rape all the women so they can wear a veil !!



THE SAME PHUKING VEIL THEY ARE (((((((((( NOT ALLOWED)))))))))) TO WEAR IN AMERICA !!!!!!!!!!!!!



Yes, we need to bomb their country into ruins, irradiate their lands, kill millions, rape all the women so they can wear a veil !!THE SAME PHUKING VEIL THEY ARE (((((((((( NOT ALLOWED)))))))))) TO WEAR IN AMERICA !!!!!!!!!!!!! Advertisement


















Beijing: China's first domestically developed aircraft carrier left for its sea trials on Sunday, the country's official media announced in Beijing. The completely home-grown aircraft carrier has departed for sea trials this morning, state-run China Daily said in a brief report.

China launched the second aircraft carrier in April 2017 after it commissioned the first carrier, the Liaoning, a refitted Soviet Union-made vessel, in 2012.

Though Liaoning has become operational, it is being mostly used for research and improvements for the new carriers China plans to build.

Reports said China is also building its third aircraft carrier in Shanghai. The country reportedly plans to have four aircraft carriers by 2030 to operate from the disputed South China Sea as well as the Indian Ocean.

Some reports said China is also planning to build a nuclear aircraft carrier.

China has developed a new jet fighter called A J-15 fighter to operate from the decks of its carriers.
Washington: Countries that continue to deal with Iran could face American sanctions, the Trump administration said on Sunday, days after it announced its decision to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal.

The countries that continue to deal with Iran could face sanctions. Europeans are going to face the effect of US sanctions already really because much of what they'd like to sell to Iran involves US technology for which the licenses will not be available, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said.

"This was part of the flaw of the deal to entice Europe and the United States into economic relations with Iran that eventually would have worked against really holding Iran accountable for violations of the deal. It's reminiscent of the saying attributed to Vladimir Lenin that the capitalists will sell us the rope with which we'll hang them," he said.

That's what's wrong with this deal. Why would any business? Why would the shareholders of any business want to do business with the world's central banker of international terrorism, he asked.

Acknowledging that the Europeans are disappointed that the US got out of the deal.

He said perhaps they feel that way in large part because representatives of the Obama administration were working in the past several weeks to try and prevent the deal from abrogating, which may have given the Europeans the false impression that they could prevail.

We are gonna work with all of the Europeans. President Trump has discussed with President Macron in France with Chancellor Merkel in Germany with Prime Minister May in England to move beyond the deal. We all share the common objective of making sure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons, are worried about their terribly destabilising and threatening military behaviour across the region and their ballistic missile program. We are going to work to stop that, he said.

Responding to a question, Bolton said that the leadership of the previous Obama administration lied to the American people.

Because in resolution 2231, the fifth preambular paragraph where it says, we welcome Iran's reaffirming that they don't have any intention to have a nuclear weapons program, it was a lie at the time. The administration then knew it was a lie and accepted anyway, he said.

If you look at the advances that Iran has made under cover of this agreement, it's conventional military and terrorist advances in Iraq, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Yemen since 2015, Iran was really on the march. They were shifting the balance of power in the Middle East until President Trump got out of this deal, he said adding that the policy of the administration is to make sure that Iran never gets close to a deliverable nuclear weapon.
Google dedicated its doodle on Sunday to all the mothers on the occasion of International Mothers Day. In the doodle, which appears to be a colourful sketch made by a kid, a mother dinosaur and her baby are seen walking with smile on their faces.

Mothers Day is celebrated in most parts of the world on the second Sunday of May. The day was first adopted by US, and later adopted by many other countries across the globe. However, mothers day is celebrated on different dates in some other parts of the world.

The modern holiday of Mother`s Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew`s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia.Jarvis wanted to honour her mother, hence set aside a day to recognise and appreciate the devotion of all mothers towards their child or children because she believed a mother is "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world."

In some countries, mothers day is celebrated in the month of March.
Jakarta: Suicide bombers suspected to be from an Islamic State-inspired group killed at least nine people and wounded 40 in attacks on Christians attending Sunday morning services at three churches in Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya, security officials said.

Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, has seen a recent resurgence in homegrown militancy inspired in part by Islamic State. East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said explosions took place in three churches and at least 40 people had been taken to hospital.

"There is one location where we can't enter yet," Mangera told reporters near the scene of one of the bombings.

Television footage showed one church where the yard in front appeared engulfed in fire, with thick, black smoke billowing up. A large blast was heard hours after the attacks, which Mangera said was a bomb disposal squad "securing" a remaining device. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.

Wawan Purwanto, communication director at Indonesia's intelligence agency said Islamic State-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) was believed to be behind the bombings.

JAD is an umbrella organization on a U.S. State Department terrorist list that is estimated to have drawn hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers in Indonesia.

The attacks come days after militant Islamist prisoners killed five members of an elite counter-terrorism force during a 36-hour standoff at a high security jail on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta.

The church attacks were likely linked to the prison hostage standoff, Purwanto said.

"The main target is still security authorities, but we can say that there are alternative (targets) if the main targets are blocked," he said.

SUICIDE ATTACK CARRIED OUT USING MOTORBIKE

At St Mary's catholic church, one of the places of worship attacked, the bombing happened after an earlier mass was over and when the church was getting ready to hold another service.

Inspector general Machfud Arifin told CNN Indonesia that the suicide attacks were carried out using a motorbike at St Mary's church and a car at another.

Earlier, media reports said a woman with a younger child and a teenager had just entered one church and was being questioned by security when the bomb exploded.

Television images showed toppled and burnt motorcycles and debris scattered around the entrance of one church and police cordoning off areas as crowds gathered.

Nearly 90 percent of Indonesians are Muslim, but the country is also home to sizeable communities of Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, and people who adhere to traditional beliefs.

Indonesia has had some major successes tackling militancy inspired by al Qaeda's attacks on the United States in 2001. But there has been a resurgence of Islamist activity in recent years, some of it linked to the rise of Islamic State.

The most serious incident was in January 2016 when four suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a shopping area in central Jakarta.

Churches have also been targeted previously, including near-simultaneous attacks on churches there at Christmas in 2000 that killed about 20 people.

Police ordered the temporary closure of all churches in Surabaya on Sunday, and a large food festival in the city was cancelled.
An American diplomat in Pakistan, Colonel Joseph Hall, was stopped from flying from Islamabad just minutes before boarding a special US aircraft brought in from Afghanistan. According to Pakistan-based Dawn News, the diplomat, accused of killing a motorcyclist after running a red light, had reached Nur Khan Air Base for boarding US Air Force C-130 aircraft.

The aircraft had flown from Bagram airbase in Afghanistan and reached Islamabad at 11.15 am (local time). The Dawn reported that the American diplomat was accompanied by eight people.

Pakistans Federal Investigation Agency official stopped the diplomat at the airbase and seized his passport. The report quoted Dawn sources as saying that the official then sought directions from higher authorities.

No permission was given to Colonel Hall to fly out of Pakistan and the US military aircraft returned to airbase in Afghanistan. It left Islamabad at around 4 pm.

The development came a day after Islamabad High Court passed a judgement that the US diplomat did not enjoy absolute immunity. It also ordered the government to decide about adding his name to the Exit Control List, which controls the movement of people wanted by courts or those involved in corruption.

Colonel Hall on April 7 jumped a traffic signal in Islamabad and hit a motorbike carrying two men. One of them was killed. His father had approached the Islamabad High Court to stop the diplomat from leaving the country.

The issue has further strained the ties between Pakistan and the US which are already at odds over the issue of providing safe havens to the Taliban and the Haqqani network terror groups in Afghanistan.

In what is being dubbed as a tit-for-tat move, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry on Friday imposed travel restrictions on American diplomats in the country as similar restrictions on the movement of Pakistani diplomats in the US.

According to the US decision, Pakistani diplomats, at the embassy in Washington and four consulates in New York, Los Angeles, Texas and Chicago, will need to stay within 25 miles (40-kms) of the city of their posting.

(With PTI Inputs)
The ceasefire is violated every night, casualties are reported every day

Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, expressed a deep concern about a constant violation of the ceasefire in East Ukraine. She said it during her visit to Italy in Assisi, where she arrived to be awarded a peace prize, as Radio Svoboda reports.

Ukraine concern us. We are trying to implement Minsk Agreements in the Normandy format, which unities Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, Merkel stated.

Yet, the ceasefire is violated every night, casualties are reported every day, she said.

Armed conflict in Ukraine started in April 2014. Battle actions are being conducted between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and pro-Russian militants, who control the part of Donetsk and Luhansk region.

The talks concerning the arrangement of the conflict are being held in the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk (Ukraine, Russia, OSCE) and in the Normandy format  with the participation of the representatives from Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia.

Last talks of the Normandy four leaders took place on June 24, 2017. Therefore, Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of France, and Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, made a joint statement, where they have stated that the violation of the ceasefire in Donbas has to stop immediately.
Four soldiers were injured, one soldier is in a moderate condition, others - in a good

One Ukrainian soldier born in 1994 died over the past 24 hours in Joint Forces Operation area. Four soldiers were injured they were taken to the hospital, as Dmytro Hutsulyak, Ministry of Defence Spokesperson, said at the briefing, 112.ua reports.

As a result of the enemys attacks, one Ukrainian soldier born in 1994 diedBesides, four defenders were wounded as a result of the shootings from Russian-occupational troops on May 12. They were taken to military field hospitals, where they receive a necessary professional aid. The condition of one the injured is moderate, others are in a good condition, he said.

As it was reported, the militants intensified the attacks Donbas having performed 73 shootings over the past 24 hours.
112 Agency

On Sunday morning, May 13, the US Air Force reconnaissance aircraft RQ-4B-30 Global Hawk flew along the Ukrainian border with Russia, as well as along the line of demarcation in Donbas. This is reported on the PlaneRadar Twitter page.



UAV took off from the NATO air base Sigonella, which is in Italy. About 07:15 it entered the airspace of Ukraine, carried out reconnaissance of the Kharkiv region. Near the Ukrainian border with Russia reconnaissance drone flew several times, as of 10:18, stopped flights along the border. At 11:32 it proceeded to fly along the line of demarcation in Donbas, at 16:30 the flight was completed.

We recall, on March 9, the US Air Force's RQ-4B Global Hawk spent another long hours of reconnaissance flight along the line of demarcation in Donbas.



RQ-4B Global Hawk is used to conduct reconnaissance in the vicinity of the occupied DNR and LNR territories, as well as the coast of the occupied Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation. Only in the first half of March it made at least five such flights.

Related: U.S.reports on hacker attack from Ukraine on local elections site
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is checking information on anti-Semitic statements made by the Consul of Ukraine in Hamburg.

This was written on Twitter by the minister of the department Pavlo Klimkin.





"I receive messages from my subscribers on the information about our consul in Hamburg. We check this and will soon report the result, "the minister wrote.





Earlier, blogger Anatoly Shariy said that an employee of the Consulate General of Ukraine in Hamburg, Vasyl Marushynets, posted anti-Semitic publications on his Facebook page.





It is noted that the diplomat's page can't be viewed by people who are not his friends in the network.





According to the blogger, among the posts of Marushynets one can see such anti-Semitic posts as "Jews proclaimed the war against Germany in 1934", "God, punish Jews", "Babi Yar. Not in Moscow in 1941, but in Ukraine in 1918

-1941, ""Jews - s**t "(the spelling of the author of the messages is preserved, - Ed).





Marushynets also reported that his Facebook page was blocked more than once.





We recall, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said that anti-Semitic provocations are often inspired by the Kremlin regime, which with the help of hybrid aggression tools is trying to shake the political situation in Ukraine.





Avakov promised "a principled and quick" reaction of law enforcement officers to discrimination and anti-Semitism.
Open source

The investigators found evidence of extraneous interference in the work of the site of local elections in Tennessee. This site posted data on the results of the first round of elections, CBS reports.



As the investigators established, during the general cyber attack, which was the likely cause of the termination of the site operation, Ukrainian IP-addresses were involved. The company Sword & Shield Enterprise Security specifies that on May 1, the site had users from a "suspiciously large number of countries" - more than 100 worldwide.



"Given the suspicious activity and especially proven simultaneous malicious interference with IP-addresses from Ukraine ... I consider it expedient to put forward a hypothesis that this was deliberate action," said the deputy director of information technology in the county of Knox.



He also said that the voting data was not affected, but the site did not work within an hour after the closure of the polling stations.



Experts also expressed concern that other states can use such attacks to reduce the credibility of democratic processes in society.



The director of technology and information of the county Richard Moran said that although the traffic came from foreign servers, this does not mean that the organizer of the attack was abroad. Dan Wollech, a professor at Rice University, stressed that the attackers could quite well hack into computers and launch attacks from them anywhere.

Related: Ukrainian children's football team got into accident in Belarus: One dead and six injured
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Reuters

On May 13, eight militants of the Islamic State terrorist group who are accused of committing a terrorist act in Tehran in June 2017, were sentenced to death in Iran. The relevant decision was taken by the court of the Iranian capital, Deutsche Welle reports.



The decision of the judges can be appealed in the Supreme Court of Iran. The trial of the terrorist act in Tehran began in late April. In the case initially there were 26 suspects, now 18 of them remain under investigation.



We recall, in early June 2017 in Tehran, there were attacks on the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iranian parliament. First, four people armed with Kalashnikov rifles broke into the parliament building, where the deputies were present. One of the attackers committed self-explosion. Soon after, several people, including another suicide bomber, attacked the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, located in the suburbs of Tehran.



As a result, at least 16 people were killed, more than 50 were injured. ISIS took responsibility for both acts of terrorism. This was the first attack of the "Islamic state" militants in Iran, which led to the victims.

Related: U.S.reports on hacker attack from Ukraine on local elections site
112 Agency 112 Agency 112 Agency

The son of Verkhovna Rada deputy Nestor Shufrych - Olexander was beaten in a restaurant in Kyiv on the Sunday night. This is reported by the press service of Nestor Shufrych on the Facebook page.



"On the night of May 12-13, during a visit to one of the restaurant complexes of the capital, the son of People's Deputy Nestor Shufrych - Olexandr and his friends suffered numerous head injuries as a result of beating by a group of unknown persons," the press service said.



According to them, the attackers presented themselves as law enforcers, before and after the incident they threatened victims with physical violence and use of their official position in case of contact with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.



According to the report, one of the attackers was detained by law enforcers, his personality is being established.



The son of the deputy and his friends are in the private clinic with face injuries.



As reported earlier, one of the sons of the people's deputy from the opposition bloc Nestor Shufrych on Bentley injured a 31-year-old man in the center of Kyiv.



The police opened criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Art. 286 "Violation of road safety rules" of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.





Related: MFA checks information on anti-Semitic statements of Consul of Ukraine in Hamburg
Russian border guards found a small vessel with two fishermen in the Sea of Azov, who, According to Russian law enforcers, were fishing illegally, sturgeon, which is enlisted in the Red Book, in particular

Open source

Russias Federal Security Service confirmed the detention of a boat with two fishermen without documents in the Sea of Azov, who are allegedly Ukrainian citizens, as the press office of the Federal Security Service border department of Krasnodar Krai informed Interfax news agency on May 12.

It was noted that Russian border guards found a small vessel with two fishermen in the Sea of Azov, who, according to Russian law enforcers, were fishing illegally, sturgeon, which is enlisted in the Red Book, in particular.

According to the representative of the Federal Security Service, the vessel and the fishermen were taken to the port in Yyesk.

The Emergency Service rescuers of Zaporizhia region stopped the search operation.

As it was reported earlier, on May 11 in Berdiansk water area the Emergency Service rescuers started a search operation of two local fishermen, who set sail on a boat in the Sea of Azov more than 24 hours ago and did not come back.

According to the rescuers, as to the information received from the local population, two fishermen set sail in the Sea of Azov on Amur boat from the territory of Iskra recreation facility, located on Berdiansk spit, at 5:30 on May 10 and did not come back.

Wife of one of the fishermen, who set sail in the Sea of Azov on May 10 on a motorboat and did not come back, called the duty room of Berdiansk National Police on May 11 at 18:26.

The woman informed the police that she received a call from Russias Border Guard Service and found out that her husband and his friend are in Yeysk, Krasnodar Krai.
Amnesty International, a non-governmental origination focused on human rights, appealed to Ukrainian authorities with a demand to investigate the case

The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine calls the law enforcers for investigating a recent attack on Roma. It was reported on Twitter.

The message from the Ombudsman for Human Rights website, where the burning of Romany camps in Lviv and Kyiv was mentioned, was made public.

According to the message received from public activists, unidentified individuals burnt a Roma camp located in Lviv. As a result, Romas property was destroyed, the residents of the camp had to leave the settlement, Ombudsmans message says.

The burning of Roma camp on Lysa Hora in Kyiv by the disengage radicalized individuals was mentioned as well.

As it was reported, on April 25 the police opened two criminal proceedings on the destruction of Roma camps, which took place on April 21. This happened after the publications of a videotape of tis events, which shows the group of young people, some of them were in balaclavas, are chasing Roma people, throw stones and spray tear gas.

Amnesty International, a non-governmental origination focused on human rights, appealed to Ukrainian authorities with a demand to investigate the case.

Earlier, Andriy Kryshchenko, the Head of Kyiv Department of National Police, stated that the police have made reports on violation of public order on Roma people, which settled a cap on Lysa Hora.
Tour the beautiful, historic homes of downtown Albuquerque with a luncheon included.

Albuquerque - The Downtown Neighborhoods Association (DNA) is holding its biennial Mothers Day Historic Home Tour, LIVING LANDMARKS, A TASTE OF ALBUQUERQUE, Sunday May 13th, 2018, 11:00am  3:00pm . The Downtown Neighborhoods (west of downtown between Central and Mountain Rd) is comprised of several distinct neighborhoods. This years tour will feature homes in the 4th Ward Historic District and Watson Addition. The Historic Overlay Zones were designated by the city to protect areas of historical, architectural or cultural significance. Many of the houses in these neighborhoods are also, on the Register of National and State Historical Places. The Downtown Neighborhoods feature houses that reflect the diverse materials and architectural styles that sprang up as Albuquerque expanded from Old Town to New Town with the railroad and all of its influences. Today you can still see American Foursquare, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Territorial, Pueblo Style adobe, Victorian, Prairie Style, Bungalows and Craftsman throughout our neighborhoods. Many of the homes on the tour have been lovingly restored to their original splendor with modern conveniences. Progress is also being made as some homes are being renovated with a respect for the past and a nod to the future, while in-fill projects are also keeping the neighborhood vibrant and diverse. Come spend the day with us, tour some of the oldest, most exciting and beautiful houses in Albuquerque. The money we raise will support a variety of community projects and events such as the Harwood Arts Center, the Lew Wallace Elementary School field trip and arts programs, The Downtown Growers Market, neighborhood beautification and tree reforestation projects. The DNA and ABQ Trolley(The Albuquerque Tourism and Sight Seeing Factory) will offer complimentary trolley stops at designated points along the tour route, but not at individual homes. The students at Lew Wallace Elementary will be presenting portraits of our historic homes, with an Art exhibit to showcase their work in homes along the tour and at Lew Wallace Elementary School. This year we are partnering with the CNM Food Truck Institute to feature food trucks from across New Mexico. There will be two locations for the convenience of the tour goers; Tiguex Park (between 17th and 19th on Old Town Rd NW) and Lew Wallace Elementary School (7th St NW between Fruit and Roma NW). Tickets include: $20.00 day of tour tickets, available at Lew Wallace Elementary School starting at 10:30AM.. May 13th, 2018 $18.00 advance purchase, March 1st  Wednesday, May 4th at abqdna.com ABQ Trolley - AT&SF - Albuquerque Tourism and Sight Seeing Factory is providing coupons for a discount on one of their fabulous services with the first 500 tickets purchased. Special Limited Availability Dine and Discover Tickets, including a fabulous luncheon at a nearby restaurant and a Historic Home Tour Ticket, (refer to the DNA Website for full details) Ticket cost TBA For interviews/ information call Asra Ahmad (505) 274-0713 or Alice Bergman (646) 623-7549 or visit abqdna.com Some photos and logos available upon request.
PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)
Friday, May 11, 2018

What to watch today

It should be a relatively quiet day as global stock markets wrap up their best week since March and the yield curve flattens to its lowest level since 2007. There are no major earnings announcements on the calendar. On the economic data front, well get the preliminary May reading on the consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan. Economists expect the headline index improved to 99.0 from 98.8 in April. All eyes will be on the report to see how consumers have internalized the steady stream of volatile headlines from the Washington.

Meanwhile, oil prices trade near 3 1/2 year highs. Itll be interesting to see how the prospect for higher gasoline prices is impacting consumer sentiment.

Top news

Members of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force salute at an underground missile base. REUTERS/farsnews.com/Handout via Reuters

US issues sanctions on Iran-linked currency exchange network: The Trump administration sanctioned nine Iranian citizens and companies on Thursday for allegedly operating a currency exchange network that  with the help of Irans Central Bank  transferred millions of U.S. dollars to Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force, the Treasury Department said. [Bloomberg]

Nvidia reveals crypto sales for first time: Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) revealed for the first time how much revenue it generated from chip sales to the cryptocurrency market  and said that figure will be much smaller in the second quarter. Demand from cryptocurrency miners was stronger-than-expected in the first quarter and translated into revenue of $289 million, Nvidia said Thursday on its earnings conference call. Crypto sales will probably fall by about two-thirds in the current fiscal quarter, the company said. [Bloomberg]

Amazon halts Google shopping ads: Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) has stopped buying a popular type of Google (GOOG, GOOGL) ad, according to people familiar with the decision. The move deepens the rift between the technology titans and signals Amazons growing ambition in the digital advertising market. [Bloomberg]

Story continues

Symantec plunges on internal investigation: Symantec Corp (SYMC) said on Thursday it was investigating concerns raised by a former employee and the cyber security company forecast full-year results below analysts estimates, sending its shares down nearly 20% in extended trading. [Reuters]

For more of the latest news, go to Yahoo Finance

A Rolls-Royce Cullinan sport utility vehicle (SUV) stands on display during its media launch at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. headquarters in Chichester, U.K. Named after the largest diamond discovered to date, the $325,000 vehicle is the latest in a long line of six-figure big rigs from the worlds most prestigious automakers. Photographer: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg

Yahoo Finance Originals

Democrats have a weak answer to the Trump tax cuts

British media group Perform invests $1 billion to stream boxing in America

Google is trying to make your home safer

Roku CEO: Why streaming ads are more effective than TV ads



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Airbus and Boeing may have built their global success on the back of the transcontinental airliners but they are now eyeing a lucrative if rather less glamorous side of the aviation sector in their battle to dominate the skies -- parts and repairs. While booming demand for air travel across has seen the world's top plane makers ramp up production, it is the multi-billion-dollar after-sales service market that is taking an increasing amount of their attention. The aircraft titans are aggressively expanding their presence in the sector, which is dominated by maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft but also covers other services, from training to parts supply. The European and American firms have long done some business in after-sales support, but they are now moving to win greater market share and take on other players like Germany's Lufthansa Technik and US-based AAR. "The services market is more lucrative than actual aircraft sales because it has more potential and it covers many different spectrums," said Shukor Yusof, an analyst with aviation research firm Endau Analytics in Malaysia. "Boeing and Airbus -- they have to be part of it. When you sell an aircraft, it's in your interest to have a full package of after-market services." Boeing predicts that the value of the approximately 41,000 planes that will be delivered worldwide over the next 20 years will be around $6 trillion -- while the demand for services to support this fleet will be worth around $8.5 trillion. In Singapore, Airbus's wholly-owned subsidiary Satair Group has an 11,000 square metre (118,000 square foot) warehouse to house spare parts. They are arranged on towering shelves in brown, yellow and orange boxes, and range from a main landing gear for an A380, the world's biggest passenger plane, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, to a washer worth one cent. They can be dispatched from the warehouse -- Airbus's biggest such facility in Asia, and second-biggest in the world -- within four hours of receiving an order, with plans to further slash the waiting time. Airbus, whose revenues from services hit $3.2 billion in 2017, 18 percent higher than the previous year, plans to expand the facility by 8,000 square metres next year. Both Airbus and Boeing also have major pilot training centres in Singapore. - 'Very intense' fight - The fierce rivals play up their intimate knowledge of the aircraft they produce as an advantage in providing after-sales support over others who could provide the services, including the airlines themselves. "We know best our aircraft because we have designed it," Airbus head of services Laurent Martinez told AFP. "We have all the capabilities to support the airlines' operations and to have the competitive edge in terms of spare parts." Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said the US firm currently only has a seven percent market share in the sector, and there was plenty of room for growth. "The products we have today can only address about 30 percent of this market," he said at the recent Singapore Airshow. "So if this market grows about five percent per year as we focus more on developing new products, we expect to see dramatic growth in our business." The Singapore Airshow highlighted the growing importance of the sector. The largest deals at the show, the biggest in Asia, were not plane orders but contracts worth nearly $1 billion signed by Boeing's dedicated global services unit, which was launched last year as its vehicle to expand into the after-sales market. Both companies are focusing on Asia-Pacific due to explosive growth of the aviation sector in an increasingly affluent region where many people are flying for the first time. Airbus' Martinez said Asia-Pacific is expected to account for 40 percent of the services market over the next two decades, with the region's aircraft fleet set to almost triple by 2036. The fight for after-sales services market share between Boeing and Airbus will likely be every bit as fierce as their battle for aircraft orders. Competition "is going to be very, very tough -- very intense", said analyst Shukor. In Singapore, Airbus's wholly-owned subsidiary Satair Group has an 11,000 square metre (118,000 square foot) warehouse to house spare parts The European and American firms have long done some business in after-sales support, but they are now moving to win greater market share and take on other players like Germany's Lufthansa Technik and US-based AAR Parts are arranged on towering shelves in brown, yellow and orange boxes, and range from amain landing gear for an A380, the world's biggest passenger plane, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, to a washer worth one cent Airbus' Martinez said the Asia-Pacific is expected to account for 40 percent of the services market over the next two decades, with the region's aircraft fleet set to almost triple by 2036
The female cast and crew of the new film by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who is banned from leaving the country, said Sunday he was crushed he could not attend the Cannes premiere but that his "most ardent hope" was to show the movie at home. His "Three Faces", one of 21 movies vying for the Palme d'Or top prize, drew a standing ovation at the world's top film festival late Saturday, but Panahi's absence was sorely felt with a seat left symbolically empty for the dissident director. "He said several times he was prepared not to present his film in Cannes if he could show it in Iran. The film isn't particularly political as you saw -- it could take place anywhere else in the world -- so we're still hopeful," his editor Mastaneh Mohajer told reporters. "It's his most ardent hope he'll be able to show his film in Iran," she said. - 'All his films are feminist' - The meditative road movie tells the story of the intertwined fates of three Iranian women from different generations, with Panahi playing a co-starring role. In the opening scene a girl makes a smartphone video of her own faked suicide to draw Panahi's actress friend Behnaz Jafari to her village from Tehran after her conservative family refused to allow her to attend art school. "Jafar Pahahi was always really ahead of the times in terms of empowering women," Mohajer said. "All his films focus on feminist issues." It is the second Iranian feature in competition alongside Asghar Farhadi's "Everybody Knows" starring Spanish star couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. Panahi, 57, was outlawed from making movies and leaving the country after supporting mass protests in 2009 and making a series of films that critiqued the state of modern Iran. Pleas by Oscar-winning US director Oliver Stone and other supporters to let Panahi travel to Cannes fell on deaf ears in Tehran ahead of the premiere. He has frequently found ways of working around the ban, famously smuggling his 2011 documentary "This is Not a Film" out of the country in a flash drive hidden in a cake to screen it in Cannes. His 2015 picture "Taxi" won the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival to the consternation of his conservative critics back home. - 'Police everywhere' - "Three Faces" lead actress Jafari, who plays a version of herself in the film, said the entire crew had to be careful while working in a rural region of the country's northwest. "We were very worried all the time. We were expecting a shock to come out of the blue," she said. "There were police everywhere in the village where we shot. When they saw me they recognised me but Mr Panahi stayed in his car. I don't want to say that he hid himself but he didn't want to be seen so he wouldn't have any problems." Panahi is one of two Palme d'Or contenders to be barred from attending Cannes this year. Russia's Kirill Serebrennikov missed Thursday's premiere of his much-praised film "Leto" after being placed under house arrest in Moscow on embezzlement charges his allies claim are political. Also premiering Saturday was feminist war movie "Girls of the Sun" starring acclaimed Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, who sparked controversy a decade ago with topless images and has not worked in her home country since she appeared in Farhadi's 2009 film "About Elly". Farhadi said last week that attending his own Cannes premiere while Panahi was barred was "something I have difficulty living with". Actress Behnaz Jafari (R) cries next to Iranian actress Marziyeh Rezaei at the Cannes premiere of "Three Faces" by barred Iran's Jafari Panahi
Chinese authorities have barred five Western diplomats from visiting the widow of the late Nobel laureate dissident Liu Xiaobo, diplomatic sources said Sunday. Liu Xia, 57, has been under de facto house arrest despite facing no charges ever since her husband was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, a recognition that deeply angered the communist regime. Liu Xiaobo died of cancer last year while still in prison after being convicted of "subversion", making him the first Nobel laureate to die in custody since the era of Nazi Germany. The diplomats' visit came following increased concern in recent days about Liu Xia's psychological health. The diplomats, including a French and a German envoy and one representing the European Union, tried to visit her home on Friday morning but were turned away by officials at the gate to the complex, the sources said. The guards checked the diplomats' identities before refusing them entry without giving a reason. Despite the daily restrictions and surveillance faced by Liu Xia, Chinese authorities still maintain she is free. Earlier this month reports emerged that Liu Xia had told friends she was ready to "die at home" in protest at her continuing detention by Chinese authorities. Liu Xia's friends have told AFP she is taking medication for depression and has suffered from heart problems and fainting. AFP reporters have tried to visit Liu's home multiple times in recent years, but were blocked each time by plainclothes men. The United States and European Union have called on President Xi Jinping's government to free the widow and let her travel abroad. Germany's ambassador to China previously told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post that Liu would be welcomed in his country. When asked earlier this month about western diplomatic calls for Liu Xia to travel abroad, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters: "But Liu Xia is a Chinese citizen. The relevant Chinese authorities will handle relevant issues in accordance with the law." Liu Xiaobo was a veteran of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and was detained in 2008 after co-authoring Charter 08, a petition calling for democratic reforms. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison for "subversion" but died in custody last July after authorities rejected his request to receive treatment abroad. The widow of Liu Xiaobo, Liu Xia (C), and his brother Liu Xiaoguang (L), holding a portrait of Liu Xiaobo and receiving his ashes last July


Suicide bombers who carried out deadly attacks on three churches in Indonesias second-largest city on Sunday were a family who had been in Syria and included two young children, police said.

The worlds most populous Muslim nation is recoiling in horror at one of the worst attacks on its Christian minority.

At least 13 people died in the attacks in Surabaya and at least 41 were injured, according to police, in acts that Indonesias president condemned as barbaric and cowardly.

It was not immediately clear whether the death toll included the family of six bombers.

Firefighters try to extinguish a blaze following a blast at the Pentecost Church Central Surabaya (GPPS), in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia on May 13, 2018. Source: Antara Foto/ Handout Surabaya Government/ via REUTERS

The bombings were the worst to target churches in Indonesia since a series of attacks on Christmas Eve in 2000 killed 15 people and wounded nearly 100.

Religious minorities in Indonesia, especially Christians, have been repeatedly targeted by militants.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said the father exploded a car bomb, two sons  aged 18 and 16  used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother was with daughters  aged 12 and nine  for her attack.

Mr Karnavian said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently the Islamic State group controlled significant territory.

Paramedics tend to a man injured in a church explosion in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia on Sunday, May 13, 2018. Source: AP Photo/Trisnadi

The first attack struck the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church in Surabaya, police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the scene.

That blast was followed by a second explosion minutes later at the Christian Church of Diponegoro and a third at the citys Pantekosta Church, Mr Mangera said.

A witness described the womans attack at the Diponegoro church, saying she was carrying two bags when she arrived.

At first officers blocked them in front of the churchyard, but the woman ignored them and forced her way inside. Suddenly she hugged a civilian then (the bomb) exploded, the witness, a security guard who identified himself as Antonius, said.

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Motorcycles burn following a blast at the Pentecost Church Central Surabaya (GPPS), in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia on May 13, 2018. Source: Antara Foto/ Handout Surabaya Government/ via REUTERS

Mr Mangera said three unexploded homemade bombs, two at the Pantekosta church and one at the Diponegoro church, were detonated by a bomb squad.

Shattered glass and chunks of concrete littered the entrance of the Santa Maria Church, which was sealed off by police.

Rescue personnel treated victims at a nearby field while officers inspected wrecked motorcycles in the parking lot that had been burned in the explosion.

A street merchant outside the church said she was blown several metres by the blast.

I saw two men riding a motorbike force their way into the churchyard. One was wearing black pants and one with a backpack, the merchant, Samsia  who uses a single name, said.

Soon after that the explosion happened.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo visited the scenes of the attacks and described them as cowardly actions that were very barbaric and beyond the limit of humanity.

In Jakarta, Indonesias capital, the Indonesian Church Association condemned the attacks.

We are angry, Gormar Gultom, an official with the association, said  but urged people to let the police investigation take its course.

A person injured from a blast at the Indonesian Christian Church is evacuated to a waiting ambulance in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia on May 13, 2018 Source: Antara Foto/Didik Suhartono/ via REUTERS

Indonesias two largest Muslim organisations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, also condemned the attacks.

Separately, national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto said police fatally shot four suspected militants and arrested two others early Sunday in West Java towns.

It was not clear whether the shootings were connected to the church attacks.

They have trained in order to attack police, Mr Wasisto said, identifying the militants as members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Islamic State group-affiliated network of about two dozen extremist groups that has been implicated in a number of attacks in Indonesia over the past year.

Jakarta police placed the capital and surrounding areas on high alert, while the transportation ministry warned airports to be on guard.

The church attacks came days after police ended a hostage-taking ordeal by imprisoned Islamic militants at a detention center near Jakarta in which six officers and three inmates died. IS claimed responsibility.

Indonesia has carried out a sustained crackdown on militants since bombings by al Qaeda-affiliated radicals in Bali in 2002 killed 202 people.

In recent years, the country has faced a new threat as the rise of IS in the Middle East invigorated local militant networks.

Christians, many of whom are from the ethnic Chinese minority, make up about nine per cent of Indonesias 260 million people.
The shattered father of the four children killed in the Margaret River family murder-suicide says their grandfather did not snap before it is believed he shot them.

Peter Miles, wife Cynda, daughter Katrina and Aaron Cockmans four children  daughter Taye, 13, and sons Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn Cockman, eight  were found dead at the Miles Osmington property, northeast of Margaret River, in Western Australia on Friday.

Aaron Cockman, the father of four children killed by their grandfather near Margaret River in WAs south on Friday, addresses the media. Source: AAP

Peter didnt snap. Hes thought this through. I think hes been thinking this through for a long time, Mr Cockman, speaking for the first time since the tragedy, told reporters.

All the kids died peacefully in their beds.

They looked all peaceful. How the hell Peter did that, I still cant figure out. He did a good job. He did a really good job.

Police forensics investigate the death of seven people in a suspected murder-suicide in Osmington, east of Margaret River. Source: Richard Wainwright/AAP Image via AP

Mr Cockman said he still loved Miles for who Peter was.

If it wasnt for him, I wouldnt have Katrina, I wouldnt have her kids, the grieving father said.

So its not some random guy off the street whos taken them away from me  he gave them to me and now hes taken them away.

If it had to happen, there is no better person than that.

The family were allegedly involved in a murder-suicide. Source: AFP

Mr Cockman, who was estranged from Katrina, said he had not spoken to Peter and Cynda for a while, but being angry served no purpose.

I dont feel angry  I feel tremendous sadness for my kids, he said.

Anger will destroy you. Im sad but Ill get through this.

Australian police found seven dead people on Friday, including four children, in a rural town in the Margaret River wine-growing region, and said guns were involved in the killings.

Mr Cockman said he could talk about his kids all day.

I could talk about my kids all day  Taye is a beautiful girl, he said.

Every time I am thinking about it I think of this group of people. Its not just a face that pops in my head, its like a group of people.

I think in a sense its easier to look at it that way  but its only two days, its only early. Ive lost everything in my life.

Grandfather Peter Miles and his wife, Cynda, were among the seven dead. Source: 7 News

Police at the rural property in Osmington, east of Margaret River, where seven bodies were found.

WA Police commissioner Chris Dawson confirmed the identities of the deceased in what is being described as Australias worst mass shooting in more than two decades.

The loss of any life is tragic, but four children and three adults, this is a significant tragedy, he said.

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This devastating incident will no doubt have a lasting impact on the families concerned, the whole community, and in particular the communities in the southwest. These tragedies take their toll on everybody.

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan said he felt deeply for family members.

You cant imagine what theyre going through, you can only offer support, all you can do is express your sorrow and I expect the grieving process will go on for many years for that family, he said.

If you are concerned about the mental health of yourself or a loved one, seek support and information by calling Lifeline on 13 11 14, Mensline on 1300 789 978, Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467, or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36.
At least ten people were killed and more than 40 injured when militants detonated bombs and stormed a government building Sunday in an hours-long attack in an eastern Afghan city claimed by the Islamic State group, officials said. The assault in the eastern city of Jalalabad was the latest deadly violence to strike Afghanistan as militant groups step up attacks and US-backed Afghan forces intensify air strikes and ground offensives. It began around 12.50 pm (0820 GMT) when the militants detonated a car bomb at the entrance to the city finance department, "opening the way for a number of armed attackers to enter the building", Nangarhar provincial governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP. Terrified employees flung themselves from windows to escape as security forces battled the attackers for more than four hours, before all eight assailants were killed, Khogyani said. Earlier, he said the attack had been carried out by four attackers and that there had been two explosions. He later said the heavily-armed militants were also carrying grenades. "Two attackers were killed by their own car bomb blast. Six attackers were killed by security forces. Ten civilians and security forces were killed and 42 wounded," Khogyani said. One of the injured employees, Qaisar, said the assault began around noon, when "a big boom shook our building". "I then saw at least two armed attackers entering the building. My friends ran to hide and I jumped from a window," he told AFP from a Jalalabad hospital, where he was receiving treatment for a broken arm and leg. Abdullah Raqibi, the finance department director, said all employees had been evacuated. "Unfortunately we lost three staff. They were killed in the blast that happened at the entrance," he said. The body of a policeman and eight civilians, including the three finance department employees, along with 36 wounded people had been brought to hospitals in Jalalabad, said Najibullah Kamawal, director of the city health department. The Islamic State group claimed it carried out the attack, in a statement from its Amaq propaganda agency. "A suicide mission using a car bomb hit the finance ministry in Jalalabad," said the statement circulated on encrypted messaging app Telegram. - Wave of violence - Jalalabad is the capital of restive Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. Some areas of the province are a stronghold of the Islamic State group, while Taliban fighters are also active there. The assault came days after suicide bombers and gunmen launched apparently coordinated attacks on two Kabul police stations Wednesday, killing at least ten people. April saw a series of attacks across the country targeting voter registration centres as Afghanistan gears up for long-delayed legislative elections due in October. The Taliban and IS have made clear their intention of disrupting the elections. Officials are concerned that a low voter turnout will undermine the credibility of the poll. The Taliban recently launched their annual spring offensive, in an apparent rejection of a peace overture by the Afghan government. Operation Al Khandaq will target US forces and "their intelligence agents" as well as their "internal supporters", a Taliban statement said in late April. But the Islamic State group has also stepped up attacks in recent months, particularly in Kabul. Nine journalists, including AFP's chief photographer in Kabul Shah Marai, were among 25 people killed in a double suicide blast claimed by IS in the capital on April 30. Kabul has become one of the deadliest places in the country for civilians as security forces struggle to keep the militants at bay following the withdrawal of NATO combat forces at the end of 2014. Smoke rises from a building during an ongoing attack in Jalalabad There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack
A wave of blasts including a suicide bombing struck outside churches in Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya on Sunday, killing at least two and wounding 13 others, police said, the latest assault on a religious minority in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country. The three blasts all occurred within 10 minutes of each other, police said, with the first explosion at 7:30 am (0030 GMT). Police have only given details of one attack on Santa Maria Catholic Church. There have not yet been any claims of responsibility. Images from the scene showed a body lying outside the gate of Santa Maria church and members of Indonesia's bomb squad poring over the rubble. "There have been three attacks at three churches," East Java Police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said. "We have confirmed one died at the scene, one died at the hospital, two police officers were injured and there are some civilians injured," Mangera added. "In total 13 people are being treated at the hospital." At least one of the attackers was killed when they detonated their bomb at Santa Maria. It was not clear if any other perpetrators were killed or injured. The attacks come several days after five Indonesian police officers and an inmate were killed in clashes at a high-security jail on the outskirts of Jakarta. The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for that incident although police rejected its involvement. The Southeast Asian nation's 260 million people includes significant numbers of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists but there are concerns over rising intolerance. Indonesian police shot and wounded a man who attacked a church congregation in the town of Sleman with a sword during a Sunday mass in February. The radical Islamist, who had wanted to fight with the Islamic State group in Syria, injured four people. - High alert - Indonesia, which will begin the holy fasting month Ramadan this week, has been on high alert after a string of recent plots and attacks by militants inspired by IS. The archipelago nation of some 17,000 islands has long struggled with Islamic militancy and has suffered a series of attacks in the past 15 years -- including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, in the country's worst-ever terror attack. A sustained crackdown weakened the most dangerous networks but the emergence of IS has proved a potent new rallying cry for radicals. Hundreds of Indonesians have flocked to fight with IS, sparking fears that extremist outfits could get a new lease on life. A gun and suicide attack in the capital Jakarta left four attackers and four civilians dead in January 2016, and was the first assault claimed by IS in Southeast Asia. The assault on a district packed with malls, embassies and United Nations offices left around 20 others injured. Previous incidents have included a 2004 suicide car bomb that killed 10 outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, twin bomb blasts that killed 22 in a market in the Central Sulawesi town of Tentena, and a suicide bombing in 2005 that killed 20 in Bali. Seven people were killed, six of them foreigners, and more than 40 were injured when suicide bombers targeted the luxury Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta in July 2009. The deadly blasts all occurred within 10 minutes of each other, police said Extremists have mounted a series of attacks against Christians and other minorities in recent years
Rafael Nadal said Sunday he has already put his Madrid Masters defeat behind him as he targets an eighth Italian Open title in Rome before his French Open title defence. The 31-year-old Spaniard suffered his first clay-court defeat in almost a year in a shock 7-5, 6-3 loss to Austria's Dominic Thiem in the Madrid Masters quarter-finals. The defeat means Nadal -- who came into the tournament having won both Monte Carlo and Barcelona for an 11th time -- will lose his world number one ranking to Roger Federer. "I repeat the same always. When I win, I don't talk much when I'm in the next events about the previous weeks," Nadal, who has a first round bye, said ahead of the clay-court Italian Open. "Okay, what happened last week was - forget it. And that's it. "I should have been playing better than I did. I know what I did wrong, and I'm gonna try to change that for this week. "I'm very happy about my comeback after the (leg) injury. And winning two tournaments, now quarter-finals and here is another opportunity to play well. So that's what I'm looking for." Nadal defeated Stan Wawrinka in straight sets last year to win the French Open for a record 10th time. Swiss star Wawrinka struggled on his return after almost three months on the sidelines, falling to a 6-4, 6-4 first round defeat on Sunday to 55th-ranked American Steve Johnson. Nadal insisted that his Madrid defeat would have absolutely no impact on how he plays at Roland Garros. "Of course, it would be much better to have the full pressure because I won all the matches. "But, you know, after 14 years being in the position that I have been fighting for, important things, I can lose, I can win. "Of course, the loss of last week doesn't help me for Roland Garros. And, of course, the defeat of last week will not go against my possibilities in Roland Garros. "I never consider no one event, Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, like an approach for Roland Garros. "Every tournament is very important for itself. And for me, even more. Because I have a great story on all these events. I won here seven times. And, for me, it's very special always to play here in this tournament. "So, I can win Roland Garros losing here, and I can win Roland Garros winning here. "I don't think what's gonna happen here gonna make a big impact on what can happen in two weeks. But there is one thing that is 100 percent sure, I am not thinking in Roland Garros when I am here. I am thinking all about Rome." Rafael Nadal following his rare defeat in Madrid which he says will have no bearing on how he fares at Roland Garros
Nicaragua's army on Saturday called for an end to violence in the country and distanced itself from President Daniel Ortega, saying it was not repressing anyone for taking part in anti-government protests. Unrest against the president exploded in mid-April and has been fueled by a brutal response from police. The death toll is now at least 51. "We are the same uniformed people, working for their own benefit and, as a consequence, we call for stopping the violence and actions that destabilize us," an army statement said, expressing solidarity with the families of those who have died in the protests. "We have no reason to repress anyone" for anti-government demonstrations, army spokesman Manuel Guevara said earlier. "We think that dialogue is the answer," he stressed, adding that the military rejects what he sees as an effort to misconstrue military actions as repression on behalf of the Ortega government. Troops are required to protect strategic locations, national assets and national parks, for example. Initially triggered by reforms to cut spending on Nicaragua's deficit-laden social security system -- later abandoned by Ortega -- the protests swelled to include other grudges against the president who is widely seen as autocratic and distant. Ortega, 73, is a former rebel leader who first ruled after his Sandinista revolutionaries chased the corrupt dynasty of dictator Anastasio Somoza from power in 1979. Now, Ortega is "equal to Somoza. The difference is that Somoza faced an armed insurrection (and) Ortega is acting mercilessly against an unarmed civil insurrection," said Enrique Saenz, a lawyer and economist. There were fresh accusations on Saturday of repression by the security forces during clashes with demonstrators that began Friday night in Masaya city, southeast of the capital Managua. Masaya is "a battlefield," Edwin Roman, a priest, told AFP. A rights group and a doctor reported dozens injured in that city, but protests also continued elsewhere including in Managua. "We condemn the repression that the people of Masaya are living in," said the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), which accused police of "shooting against the people." The protests are the worst Ortega has faced in the past 11 years since he returned to power after a stint in opposition. Ortega has said he is willing to hold talks to calm the situation but has made few moves to follow through. A Nicaraguan demonstrator clashes with riot police on May 12, 2018 in Masaya city, where a rights group and a doctor reported dozens injured A Nicaraguan man walks by a sign reading "Out murderer Daniel Ortega" in Masaya city on May 12, 2018, during nation-wide protests demanding the ouster of Ortega, a former revolutionary leader, as president


Several racist signs have been found posted in prominent areas around a Sydney suburb, calling for an end to Asian Immigration.

One of the handwritten posters, which have been seen in Ryde in Sydneys northwest, say: No more Asians. Its not the face of Australia. We speak English.

A photo of one of the posters taped to a wall that has been posted on Reddit says: We wrote & read English. Dont (sic) insult our country.

This racist sign had been put up in Ryde. Source: Reddit

We dont (sic) insult yours. Stop the 457 work visa its (sic) a scam. It puts Aussies out of work. They doht (sic) go back.

All Asian businesses/employees discriminate, they only employ Asians. Stop Asians applying for public housing assistance. They have no right to it. It puts Aussies homeless.

Stop incoming Asians sporting paronts (sic) at our expense, they dont (sic) go back. Stop Asians illeagally (sic) using concession cards. Stop Asians seat hogging on out (sic) transport.

Save our Aussie culture, politicians murdering our culture for short gain. Australia is not Asia.

Another photo of a racist sign taped to a trolley later emerged.

This trolley was stolen by an Asian & dumped here, the sign read.

City of Ryde Mayor Jerome Laxale told Yahoo7 News several posters had been found and they were doing what they could to prevent anymore going up.

We have found about eight posters so far and we have rangers out driving around the area and patrolling to pull them all down, he said.

These posters have no place in Ryde. Were one of the most diverse cities in all of Australia and are proud of our multicultural city and we will continue to defend it.

A racist sign was found taped to a trolley. Source: Reddit

Many Reddit users failed to see how the signs were written by a racist given the several spelling mistakes in the signs.

Riiiiight you speak english (sic)  but cant write it? one person asked.

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This is so poorly written that I wouldnt be surprised if it was done by someone who doesnt natively speak English to spark some racist controversy or as someone else said it is satire, another person said.

I have trouble understanding how someone can simultaneously have such a poor a grasp of the language (employees  only employ) and write this legibly. Look at that ampersand. I cant write ampersand that legibly, another commented.

Mr Laxale added they were calling for anyone with CCTV footage of posters being put up to hand it into council for review.

Were also looking through our own CCTV that we have to try and determine who is responsible, he said.
It is known as Australias forgotten disease, ovarian cancer.





After 5 years, ovarian cancer sufferers have a 43% survival rate.

This year the Ovarian Cancer Australia running the # HonourYourMum campaign to raise funds for Ovarian cancer.

Host an # AfternoonTeal to # HonourYourMum to raise much needed funds to save lives and support women living with ovarian cancer.

Watch the full story above.
Appeals to ideological bases may not work with general election voters, NCFEF executive director Kappler says

Several incumbents and establishment-backed candidates lost in the May 8 primary, but those results may not signal a trend. Or offer any broader message about this fall's general election, an expert on state voting patterns said in a post-election event.Jonathan Kappler told Carolina Journal on Wednesday, May 9.to those losses, Kappler said. Many were considered surprises.He made those comments after giving a post-election analysis to lobbyists, political enthusiasts, state lawmakers and candidates. Predicting results was tricky in part because of the "blue moon" factor - no U.S. Senate or gubernatorial races were on the primary ballot, the first such cycle since 2006.Incumbent Republican losers were Sens. Dan Barrett, District 31; David Curtis, District 44; Shirley Randleman, District 45; and House members Beverly Boswell, District 6; and Justin Burr, District 67.Democratic incumbent losers were Sen. Joel Ford, District 38; and Reps. Duane Hall, District 11; and Rodney Moore, District 99.Education, gun rights, and other issues were in play across the state, Kappler said during his presentation. Some voters weighed the longevity, effectiveness, and philosophy of incumbents. They also considered candidates' stands on GenX chemical releases and other local or regional issues.Campaign finances affected some of the outcomes. About a half-million dollars in outside spending was used in 40 legislative races, and outside organizations supported some campaigns. Spending totals rise when final reports are filed, Kappler said. Even more will be spent by November.Voters rejected candidates striking moderate tones, preferring rhetoric appealing to each party's ideological base. Some candidates characterized their primary opponents as being more in line with the opposite party because of their bipartisan work on issues.President Donald Trump's presence was felt in North Carolina and nationally, Kappler said. Many voters will go to the polls in November with the same goal they had in May: Elect candidates who either restrain or embolden the president.Republicans featured Trump more often than Democrats did because most GOP candidates want to tie themselves to the president. The pattern may reverse in the general election, Kappler said. Republicans may need to take more independent stances to appeal to middle of the road voters.Other issues that may influence voters include changes in the economy, Gov. Roy Cooper's standing with voters, candidate recruitment of campaign workers, and fundraising. Voter enthusiasm matters, too.Green Party candidates will appear on general election ballots, and unaffiliated candidates will be certified in coming weeks.Kappler said.Republican challenger Mark Harris' 814-vote win over three-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger was a big surprise. The loss effectively made the 9th Congressional District an open seat.Some pollsters now view the district as a toss-up in November rather than leaning Republican. Kappler said Harris, without the perks of incumbency, might be more vulnerable than Pittenger.Moreover, Democrat Dan McCready won his primary handily, and has $1.3 million in the bank compared to Harris' $90,000."Democrats are making quite a bit of hay out of that. He won more votes in his Democratic primary than all three of the Republicans combined," 37,823 to 35,494, Kappler said. Clarence Goins was the third GOP candidate.The 13th Congressional District also looks competitive, Kappler said. Freshman GOP incumbent Ted Budd did not have a primary challenge. Democrat Kathy Manning easily dispatched her primary opponent, Adam Coker, and has $1 million cash on hand.She's seen as a tough challenge for Budd, Kappler said. Budd hasn't made a big impression on district voters and incumbents always are most vulnerable in their first re-election race.Kappler said the primaries created awkward politics in the short legislative session starting next week because legislative leaders backed two losing challengers over sitting lawmakers.Republican Rep. Bob Steinburg did not seek re-election to his House District 1 seat so he could run for Senate District 1. He defeated Clark Twiddy by a 16 percent margin even though the Republican establishment openly endorsed Twiddy, and some of Steinburg's legislative colleagues questioned his temperament, Kappler said.Three-term Rep. Duane Hall of Wake County limited public appearances after facing allegations of sexual harassment, Kappler said. But Hall lost in the Democratic primary for House District 11 to political newcomer Allison Dahle. Top Democrats pressured Hall to resign. The allegations continued throughout the primary, and Dahle won by a 40-percent margin.The Senate District 39 Democratic primary was the closest race - five votes. Chad Stachowicz led Ann Harlan 5,219 to 5,214.The most people voted in the Senate District 13 Democratic primary -21,096. John Campbell won with 14,585 votes over Bobbie Jacobs-Ghaffar.
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.
The UK Conservative Party has "made Britain great again" by restoring systems that use tax money to subsidise the wealthy; for example, they have revived the "grammar school" system of publicly funded schools that get to turn away students based on their test scores. Since you can improve your test scores by paying expensive tutors, grammar schools are primarily a way of letting wealthy people enjoy a parallel, publicly funded educational system.



Like the academy schools (another Conservative darling, similar to US charter schools), grammar schools turn your local, publicly funded schools into dumping grounds for kids with special needs, kids from poor backgrounds, and kids who do not perform well on tests  and so anyone whose kid is entering the school system has to choose whether to send their kids to one of these chaotic, underfunded, schools where they will be the only kid who isn't in crisis and hope that the teachers pay some attention to them anyway, or whether to pay for expensive tutors to pave the way into a selective school.





Just to sweeten that proposition, Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged a 50 million tax-funded subsidy to grammar schools  and 72% of that money is going to Tory-held electoral districts, where the overwhelming majority of these elitist institutions have opened.



Theresa May's 50million fund for grammar schools has been branded a "shameless bribe"  as nearly three-quarters of them are in Tory seats. Mirror analysis shows 117 of the 163 selective schools in England (72%) are in Conservative-held constituencies. Almost half, 77, are in safe Tory seats with a majority of more than 10,000. Of the others, 41 are in Labour seats, four in Lib Dem seats and one in the seat of Speaker John Bercow.

'It looks like a shameless bribe': Almost three-quarters of grammar schools to benefit from Theresa May's 50million handout are in Tory seats [Dan Bloom/The Mirror]

(via Naked Capitalism)
News / National

by Staff reporter

HOME Affairs minister Obert Mpofu's name has been thrust into the messy dispute over Ndebele paramount chief Khayisa Ndiweni's succession amid accusations that the Zanu-PF politician is blocking the installation of the substantive chief.Ndiweni, a respected traditional leader and politician, died in 2010, sparking an acrimonious dispute pitting his 95-year-old widow against two of her sons.And Mpofu's alleged meddling has added a new dimension to the fight with Agnes Masuku-Ndiweni  the mother of the feuding sons of the revered traditional leader  accusing the Umguza MP of dividing her family.President Emmerson Mnangagwa's name has also been dragged into the dispute after he allegedly assured Chief Khayisa Ndiweni's widow that Felex Nhlanhlayemangwe Ndiweni, her preferred heir, would be installed chief.Masuku-Ndiweni told The Standard that Mpofu was "wrongly and disrespectfully" associating with one of her sons Douglas, who is challenging Felex Nhlanhlayemangwe  the family's preferred candidate for the chieftaincy.The minister is said to be supporting Jorum Ndiweni, who is based in the United Kingdom, to take over the chieftaincy and is also said to be close to the chief's last-born son Douglas. Douglas is also said to have ambitions to be a chief."What (Mpofu) is doing is bad," Masuku-Ndiweni told The Standard in an interview at her homestead in Ntabazinduna."He is playing with fire. He is being mischievous with one of my daughters-in-law who is a member of Zanu-PF."That is why he is pushing that the husband of that lady (Douglas) takes over as the chief of the Ndiweni people. Who is he in our family?"A stranger now wants to pretend as if he knows anything with regard to the Ndiweni people? It's a shame. He is a shame."Chief Khayisa Ndiweni died aged 95. He was a revered figure in Matabeleland for challenging the region's marginalisation since independence.He became a chief of Ntabazinduna and Mbembesi in 1939 and later founded the United National Federal Party to fight colonialism.He attended the 1979 Lancaster House Conference in London, where Zimbabwe's independence from white minority rule was negotiated.He served as Works minister in the government of Abel Muzorewa from 1979 to 1980.Chief Ndiweni advocated for federalism in Zimbabwe and was a strong critic of former president Robert Mugabe's policies.Mugabe approved the installation of his second son Felex Nhlanhlayemangwe as the new chief in 2014.However, the chief is yet to be installed due to alleged interference by Mpofu.The Zanu-PF heavyweight has allegedly used his political muscle to block the installation on at least five different occasions.He is accused of supporting Douglas, the youngest son of the late chief, ahead of Felex Nhlanhlayemangwe  the second born.The first born Jorum is based in the UK and also claims to be the rightful heir, a claim dismissed by his mother."When the late chief got sick, the eldest son did nothing to help his father," Masuku-Ndiweni charged."He did not even come to bury his father and has indicated that he has no intention of coming back to Zimbabwe in the near future."He does not call me his mother. He does not even associate with us here."How then does Obert want him to be the chief of people when he does not have a relationship with me the mother and the people he is supposed to lead?"This is all because Obert has a hidden agenda."She said Mpofu owed his political ascendancy to Chief Khayisa Ndiweni, but now wanted to abuse the relationship with the family."It is the late chief who introduced Obert Mpofu to the Umguza people," Masuku-Ndiweni added."He is the one who helped him get where he is today and what does he do? He wants to destroy the family where he is a stranger."The succession issue was dealt with by the late paramount chief way before he died."You can't talk about Jorum, a person whose marriage was rejected by the chief way before he died."He is married to a German lady and he never cared for his father when he was sick and has never consoled me at all."When he married his wife, the late chief said it was impossible for him to do that looking at the cultural issues that surround the chieftainship."Masuku-Ndiweni said she had tried to engage Mpofu and even sent a delegation seeking dialogue."I know that he has a very unholy relationship with my daughter-in-law who is an active member of Zanu-PF and it is this daughter-in-law who has dragged my son  Douglas  into politics," she claimed."It borders on mischief. He is so close to him, he gives him money."Also when the late chief was still alive, Douglas took 200 cattle from our kraal and gave them to Mpofu without the consent of his father."The matter was reported at Mbembesi Police Station, but nothing has happened."Even the late vice-president John Nkomo was aware of the matter. At the burial of the late chief, the VP said the cattle would be recovered, but until now, nothing has happened."Chief Khayisa Ndiweni's family engaged Chief Vezi Maduna of Filabusi in Matabeleland South to deal with the matter.Chief Maduna reportedly got an assurance from Mnangagwa that Nhlanhlayemangwe would be installed as chief before the government moved goalposts."If President Mnangagwa does not deal with Mpofu now, he risks losing support in Matabeleland," Masuku-Ndiweni said."So far, Mpofu has ravaged at least three or so chieftainships just because he wants his cronies to be there  disregarding traditional norms and values set out in these things."He wants to install his crony to be a chief for the Ndondo people here in Umguza and in so many other areas."I don't hate him, but he must stop destroying my family."I never slept with him and he cannot know who should be the heir apparent more than the late chief and me."I know my children all of them and what they are doing."Although Nhlanhlayemangwe is yet to be installed, he is already on the government payroll as a chief, exercising his authority with the help of 19 headmen.He presides over customary grievances ranging from adultery issues, land disputes to other cultural issues that fall within the jurisdiction of a chief.Mpofu refused to comment on the matter and referred The Standard to Jorum."I don't want to say anything on that matter," the Zanu-PF secretary for administration said on Friday."I don't know the woman you are talking about; talk to Thabo (Jorum) the elder son of the late chief."He is the right man who should be saying anything with regard to the Khayisa chieftainship."Jorum, who is also known as Thabo, said he was the heir-apparent and was only "waiting for the right time" to return home and lead his people."Please don't talk to my mother. She has no right at all to talk about the Khayisa chieftainship. She is a Masuku," he declared."Traditionally, she is a child in our family because she married there."I am the Ndiweni you must talk to. Currently, I am away in a foreign country, but I will come, I am preparing for that."Jorum said he was not ambitious, but the chieftaincy was his birthright."I did not choose to be a chief; it is a birthright that I can't run away from. I have been communicating with authorities," he said."So I will come when something happens. I am a traditional leader and I don't take it lightly that you guys are talking to my mother."She had no right to say anything with regard to the Khayisa chieftainship. Don't bring animosity between me and my mother, I don't like that."I will not respond to whatever she says because she is my mother and a mother has no place in our meetings."When told that his younger brother  Nhlanhlayemangwe  had assumed the reins while he was in London, Jorum said it was impossible because "he is a child"."I should be his father, its just that we come after each other. But traditionally, I am the father and those are kids," he said."I don't mind what they say. I have been following through and I find it awkward that people with no relationship to the chieftaincy talk a lot."Anyway, it is their right to do so, but at the right time, all things will be put in place."I have direct contact with the president, so when I feel like coming, like I said I am preparing, I will come."When the chief died he made it clear that after I have cleared the way, I Thabo will come. So currently I am clearing the ground."But Nhlanhlayemangwe said he was the heir-apparent and his father had endorsed his chieftainship.He said even on his death bed while his brother was away in London, the late paramount chief re-assured him."Being an elder son does not make one an heir-apparent automatically," Nhlanhayemangwe said."The chieftainship is a spiritual thing and I passed all the tests which were carried out by my father and the Ndiweni people."Even the king of the Amangwe clan (in South Africa) came here and blessed the chieftaincy."Felex's appointment by Mugabe pending the official installation took place despite Jorum challenging the move. The family held its own ceremony to install Felex as Chief Ndiweni and it was attended by hundreds of people.Among the guests at the ceremony were Amangwe leader King Ntshosho II from KwaZulu Natal in South Africa, Zapu president Dumiso Dabengwa, former Bulawayo mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube, members of the Khumalo royal clan led by Prince Peter Zwidekalanga Khumalo, and local chiefs Bhidi, Mpini and Wasi, among others.The Ndiweni family says Jorum relocated to the UK 40 years ago and last visited home 20 years ago.
News / National

by Staff reporter

ZANU-PF First Secretary and President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, is expected to meet youths and students before holding star rallies in all provinces as the ruling party's campaign juggernaut gathers momentum.Party National Secretary for Administration Dr Obert Mpofu yesterday said President Mnangagwa had officially started on the campaign trail with the war veterans meeting in Harare on Friday."(On Friday) the President had a very successful meeting with the war veterans. He will soon meet students and youths around the country. He will also address stakeholders in different institutions where there is potential to mobilise support for the party," said Dr Mpofu.Dr Mpofu said after holding successful primary elections, Zanu-PF was now focused on the general election."People are keen to meet the President and the party is confident of a landslide victory. Our main target now is the harmonised elections. Rallies will be held in all provinces and districts which will be addressed by senior supporters to mobilise support for the party," he said.President Mnangagwa, a fortnight ago, launched Zanu-PF's 2018 election manifesto whose theme is "Unite, Fight Corruption, Develop, Re-Engage and Create Jobs".The business friendly manifesto outlines various measures to address the key economic sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, infrastructure development, and health and education for a diversified economy.Dr Mpofu said those who lost in primaries should not de-campaign the winners or risk being sanctioned by the ruling party."If they are genuine party members, they can't do that. Such behaviour can only come from people planted into the party to cause chaos. We will not tolerate that. It is gross indiscipline for anyone to behave in that manner after such an open process where candidates were given equal opportunities and platforms to campaign."Our main target is the harmonised elections and all party members should support the chosen candidates. We can't expend our energies on negativities. We urge all members of the party who didn't make it in the primaries to support our candidates."If there are irregularities we accept that but what is worrying is that most of the complaints are coming after results were announced. The candidates allowed voting to go on and only started complaining after losing," he said.Zanu-PF held its primary elections last month to select candidates who will represent the party in the forthcoming harmonised elections.There will be re-runs in 10 National Assembly constituencies following concerns about the polling processes.The party Politburo endorsed the selection of 200 National Assembly, 60 Senate, 60 Women's quota, 48 Provincial Council, and about 1 900 local authority hopefuls.
News / Press Release

by Thamarie Chimanzi

The MDC Women Assembly conveys its warmest regards to all Zimbabwean mothers this Mother's Day.We celebrate their abundant love, care, courage, resilience and determination in pushing for a better future for all sons and daughters of this country.We pay particular tribute to all Zimbabwean mothers who continue to hustle against all odds to feed their families, who have to sleep in bank queues hoping to access the elusive bond note and endure all kinds of indignities forced upon them by this clueless and murderous regime just so they can a scratch a living for their families.This election season, our mothers who constitute 52 percent of the population are called upon to deliver a healthy New Zimbabwe by voting wisely. Mothers are like buttons who hold everything together and as we enter this election we urge all our mothers to be unifiers rather than destroyers.We note sadly efforts by some political mothers in the opposition to swim against the tide and sow seeds of discontent and divisions, all in an effort to give advantage to the common enemy Zanu PF.Zimbabwe is at a point of a re-birth and the MDC Alliance is the only answer to real change.We have had one too many abortions on this journey and as MDC mothers we vow to jealously guard this 'pregnancy', a "pregnancy' that has gained momentum to an extent that abortion is no longer an option.As we commemorate this Mother's Day on the eve of a delivery, we appeal to political mothers who are entertaining abortion thoughts to reconsider their move. It is never too late to re-join millions of mothers who are pushing for a New Zimbabwe.Thamarie ChimanziMDC National Women Assembly Spokesperson
Opinion / Columnist

THE recent trip to the United Kingdom by MDC Alliance presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections, Mr Nelson Chamisa, all but exposed him to serious condemnation for his fantasy promises and lack of clarity.Although his backers have been making frantic efforts to limit the damage by attacking those who called a spade a spade by pointing out that Mr Chamisa's promises to the electorate "sound silly" and that the opposition politician lacked clarity on how to take the country forward, what remains is that the trip did more damage than good to the opposition. In fact, even the foreign media does not believe Mr Chamisa stands a chance in the ballot box against President Mnangagwa.In the BBC Hard Talk television show aired on Friday, Mr Chamisa found himself mumbling when confronted with evidence of falsehoods which he told party followers at a rally when he claimed US President Donald Trump pledged $15 billion to his party in the event they won the election. He was forced to retract and insinuate he never said that, claiming he only said his delegation met with the "Trump administration" and not the President himself, but the take home from that discussion was that no such pledge was ever made. In addition, the TV presenter was more brazen, accusing Mr Chamisa of making "fantasy promises" and coming up with promises that "sound silly".In an insightful article, Brookings Institution fellow Jonathan Rauch describes why such deceptions by the likes of Mr Chamisa are common. He says in politics, hypocrisy and doublespeak are tools. They can be used nefariously, illegally or for personal gain, and that could be the reason why Mr Chamisa has been making all sorts of unrealistic promises. Widespread voter ignorance also incentivises another common type of political deception: lying about the nature of your policies in order to overstate benefits and conceal possible downsides (Ilya Somin, 2016). But the Zimbabwean electorate is not so ignorant or naive, and Mr Chamisa and his backers know that, following a deluge of criticism he has been receiving of late.And the criticism has not only been from fellow Zimbabweans alone, but foreigners who are just watching events in the Zimbabwean political scene with keen interest. Just last week as well, a UK academic Professor Diana Jeater described MDC Alliance president Mr Chamisa as out of depth and saying some "really dumb things".This was after Mr Chamisa had briefings with some political figures and also addressed some gatherings in the UK. In one of the meetings, Professor Jeater, who is a Professor of African History and has special interests in Zimbabwe, said Mr Chamisa failed to articulate how his party envisaged to serve the people of Zimbabwe if ever voted into power."The MDC Alliance is undergoing generational renewal. I had heard great things about (Mr) Chamisa as an orator. So I arrived expecting to be impressed and encouraged. Alas, I left unimpressed and discouraged. Overall, (Mr) Chamisa came across as out of his depth, over-excited about the idea of winning an election but failing to recognise the seriousness of what happens after the counting is finished. And he said some really dumb things: 'Most of the people working in the NHS are Zimbabwean'. The independent parties registering to contest the election are mostly surrogate Zanu-PF fronts. 'We will not be sidetracked by gender-violence issues' and dumbest of all . . . Gender: That 'Joke' and (Mr) Chamisa's failure to apologise for suggesting that speaking of women as chattels is a 'funny' way to respond to a question of what MDC Alliance will do if it loses the vote. His lack of apology implies a poor grasp of both gender and leadership," said Prof Jeater on twitter.Prof Jeater pointed out that Mr Chamisa "mapped out the five pillars of his programme: governance, economy, social rights, infrastructure and international relations, but failed to explain them."I like the call for Big Ideas not Big Men. But I didn't get a strong sense of the transformation (Mr) Chamisa promises. Much of the programme seems reactive and retrogressive, boiling down to 'we're not Zanu' (PF). As one questioner pointed out, it's hard to identify MDC distinctives," she wrote.The rebuff from the UK academic came a few days after Vice-President General Constantino Chiwenga (Rtd) poured cold water on Mr Chamisa's promises, which have been roundly condemned as childish. Mr Chamisa has also been going around the country making unrealistic promises, among them constructing airports at every rural home and coming up with bullet trains.Vice-President Chiwenga recently told delegates who graced the Zanu-PF manifesto and election campaign launch that the revolutionary party would resoundingly win as nothing stood in its way. Chiwenga said elections presented the electorate with contending visions meant to transform the society, but Mr Chamisa was openly selling the voters dummies."The courted and concussed voter has to read, weigh and decide from a welter of competing visions. But visions are deeper and a more serious affair for transforming nations, impacting a people. Not childish dreams which excite rude passions, while not surviving even the most charitable scrutiny. We hear such child-like and childish talk designed to transform make-belief worlds fit for the painter's canvas, never phases to be lived and enjoyed. Bullet trains! Spaghetti Roads! Rural Airports!Cellphones for Animal Kingdoms! All such and much more crazy ideas to come."Chiwenga went on: "Until we ask ourselves why pretenders who sell us such convoluted dummies cannot manage small traffic in our real-world cities and municipalities which they control and run! Why reach Bulawayo in 40 minutes when Harare workers can't reach Kuwadzana in five hours? What open cans of spaghetti when potholes straddle single lane roads in the city centre? Shouldn't these starry-eyed juvenile politicians take us to Mabvuku after a hard day's work before they put us on "Apollo 11" to the Moon?"Of note, the MDC-T run councils have failed on service delivery with several of its councillors being arrested and suspended on corruption charges. Giving a blow by blow account, Prof Jeater said Mr Chamisa's arguments on governance were "very thin, mostly about elections, not what happens after.Questioned on what MDC Alliance will do if electoral process reforms don't meet all their demands. Response: we won't boycott but we won't accept result. How?"A number of Zimbabweans also took to social media to castigate Mr Chamisa over his performance in the UK. However, writing on social media as well, Mr Chamisa claimed he had a great time in the UK.He was also quoted in local newspapers castigating the UK government, which in the past seemed to take sides with the opposition, for changing stance and embracing President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Government's political and economic policies, which have nonetheless, been roundly applauded across the globe.
Opinion / Columnist

The other day I watched a conference in which the president of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa met the countries war veterans representatives from all the ten provinces in Zimbabwe. Just like the president, I listened as they all one by one articulated their grievances and demands. Let me hasten to say it was painful to watch and listen too. One could be forgiven that we were back in 1980 and the war has just finished and the war veterans were lining up for their pay.I will first go through the demands put out before discussing my thoughts on the matter. As they spoke, one by one, the selfishness was apparent. They want twenty percent share of the command agricultural scheme allocated to them. They also demanded vehicles as they were 'sick and getting old' and therefore couldn't walk anymore. They demanded that Emmerson Mnangagwa increases their pensions from what it is now, upward of two hundred dollars to something more substantial. They also want mining concessions in prime areas that will not require heavy machinery to mine gold and other precious minerals. In Matebeleland they demanded hunting concessions and a stake in the conservancies so they can manage wildlife for profit. The majority of the demands were so ridiculous such that they made me wince. I will not dignify some of the nonsense said on this particular day.Firstly, in my own capacity, I am a son of a war veteran and come to think of it; who is not. If you are from my generation you experienced the excesses of the war of liberation in one form or another. It is an expectation, definitely my expectation that thirty seven years after independence these war veterans should be self sufficient considering the largesse they received on numerous occasions since independence. These are the same guys that received large amounts of money from Mugabe, around fifty thousand dollars each if I remember correctly. In fact Mugabe had to print the Zimbabwe dollars to facilitate this resulting in the great crash of our currency and the economy in general. The same economy has never recovered since. These are the same guys that received money for perceived injuries in war measured both psychologically and physically under the war victims compensation fund. These are the same guys that were allocated prime land at the beginning of the land reform program.When I watched them demanding more largesse from the new dispensation led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa I said to myself, what insolence. Here is a man travelling the width and breath of the globe trying to recover an economy that is in comatose ahead of a general election. An economy that crushed because the same war veterans made demands thinly laced with blackmail; that if you do not concede to our demands we will do a 'bhora Musango". Former president Mugabe conceded to these demands and look what happened to Zimbabwe. These war veterans have an insatiable appetite for freebies to a point that they have not used previous awards to better themselves. The selfishness is unprecedented.They refuse to see the bigger picture. Seventy percent of Zimbabwe is now youthful and they also expect the same government to fix the economy and provide jobs. If the war veterans, our fathers who fought in the war and made " sacrifices" are suddenly so inconsiderate, then remains to be seen what becomes of Zimbabwe.Now, it is one thing for them to ask for reasonable increase in their pension and access to healthcare at concessionary rates, but complete madness for them to think that thirty seven years after independence, the State should continue to sabotage the economy on their behalf. This is not sustainable. I pray President Mnangagwa see through these ridiculous demands and dismisses them with the contempt they deserve.
A student from Saint Mary's University is heading on an Arctic adventure to study one of the world's fastest-eroding islands.

But he'll have to watch his step, because the uninhabited Pelly Island loses up to 40 metres of land each summer to the sea.

"Pelly Island is undergoing a lot of erosion. It's one of, if not the fastest-eroding islands in the world. And what we're doing is we're trying to understand some of the processes going on," said Francois Malenfant, a master's student working on his degree in applied science.

The Dartmouth man is going north for three and a half months to work with Natural Resources Canada as part of a co-op program for his degree.

He'll be based out of the community of Inuvik, N.W.T., and will going on three two-week expeditions into the field. One of the places he'll visit is the subject of his master's thesis, Pelly Island.

The uninhabited island is 100 kilometres away from the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk.

Understanding what's happening to Pelly Island will help researchers better grasp the more subtle erosion that's happening on other Arctic islands.

Malenfant will help measure how Pelly Island changes by using seabed instruments and drones.

"Drones are great. They allow us to make 3D models, and by using GPS we can ground those models within space and compare them year to year," said Malenfant.

The island has been hit hard by a number of factors, including sea-level rise and a longer season with ice-free water, said Malenfant. When the sea is covered in ice it helps guard the island from coastal erosion.

"That sort of protects the shoreline against a lot of the environmental forcings like the waves and storm surges. So what we're seeing is the extension of the open water season, which is allowing more environmental forces and driving coastal change," said Malenfant.

He'll see that coastal change first-hand when he heads to Pelly Island in August. Malenfant leaves for the Arctic in early June.
DUBAI (Reuters) - President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that Iran would remain committed to the 2015 nuclear deal if its interests were protected, while his foreign minister hoped the pact could be redesigned without Washington as a member. The U.S. withdrawal from the accord on Tuesday was a "violation of morals", Rouhani said in remarks carried by state television. "If the remaining five countries continue to abide by the agreement, Iran will remain in the deal despite the will of America," he said. President Donald Trump's pullout has upset European allies, cast uncertainty over global oil supplies and raised the risk of conflict in the Middle East. It has also highlighted divisions among Iran's political elite. Rouhani made similarly conciliatory comments on Tuesday, and on Saturday, foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif began a tour of other signatory nations in an attempt to save the deal. Zarif said in Beijing on Sunday: "We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement." China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Zarif's tour would improve understanding of Iran's position and help Tehran protect its legitimate interests. "China is willing to maintain communication and coordination with all relevant parties, including Iran, and take an objective, fair and responsible attitude to continue to safeguard the ...agreement," Wang said. Rouhani has said Iran will stay committed to the deal, which China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany also signed, provided those powers ensured Iran was protected from sanctions. The three European states have recommitted to the agreement, but senior cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said on Friday that Europe was not to be trusted. On Sunday, the head of the Assembly of Experts, a group of clerics responsible for choosing Iran's supreme leader, said Rouhani should apologise for not having obtained guarantees from world powers for the agreement. "It is necessary for the president to honestly and openly apologise to the people over the damages caused by the nuclear accord," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a top conservative, said in a statement carried by state media. The head of the elite Revolutionary Guards also warned against relying on foreign powers. "America's exit aims to break the Iranian people's resistance, which is not new ... but today's problem is not U.S. sanctions, it's that some officials look towards outside rather than looking at domestic potentials," Guards commander General Mohammad Ali Jafari said, the state news agency IRNA reported. On Wednesday, Jafari cast doubt on European nations' ability to save the accord. With the deal opposed by hardliners at home, some analysts say the pragmatic Rouhani may now be a lame duck leader. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was hopeful that the United States and Europe could agree on how to deal with Iran, after Trump threatened to sanction European companies that continue doing business there. Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Pompeo said the United States was not aiming at Europe when it withdrew from the deal. "I'm hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behaviour, not just their nuclear programme, but their missiles and their malign behaviour as well," he said White House National Security Adviser John Bolton said sanctions could be imposed on European companies. It's possible. It depends on the conduct of other governments," Bolton said on CNN's "State of the Union." (Reporting by Dubai newsroom; additional reporting by Michael Marina and Christian Shepherd in Beijing; editing by John Stonestreet and Giles Elgood)
The Catalan Parliament has postponed for four years the requirement introduced in 2014 that made it compulsory to have a Cambridge First Certificate  or equivalent  to get a degree. In the end, students who started a university program four years ago and are graduating this summer will not have to fulfill this requirement. The reason is that political parties have agreed that more public policies are needed to guarantee that students can reach this level. The decision comes after months of uncertainty because of the Catalan political situation due to the direct rule of the Spanish government in the wake of the regional Parliaments unilateral bid for independence. In Catalonia and in the rest of Spain there is a significant percentage of undergraduates with insufficient language skills to hold a conversation in English.

Members of the regional Parliament, deans and students have been discussing during recent months the need to postpone having a compulsory English certificate to conclude university studies. This requirement was approved in 2014 by Andreu Mas-Colell, the former head of Economics and Knowledge in the Catalan government (Generalitat). This law required students have a B2 level of any foreign language  the vast majority of students choose English  and it was the responsibility of these students to obtain it.

The Interuniversitarian Council of Catalonia (CIC), an organization that coordinates the university system and advises the government of Catalonia in higher education matters, decided in June 2017 to establish a moratorium of four years for the requirement. For more than 10 months this recommendation remained in limbo and students graduating this year who do not have the English certificate did not know whether or not they could finish their studies.

After the CICs announcement, many Catalan university students felt relief. The main reason for postponing the requirement was that there was still a high percentage of students with insufficient knowledge of languages. Also, the English requirement raised some claims as it was a premature measure and government did not provide enough resources. I think it is positive for it not to be mandatory now as students have more time to decide whether they want to take this qualification or not, says Ariadna Gomez, student of Social Education at the University of Barcelona.

A person could be a magnificent veterinary surgeon but might not be fluent in English

The demand to amend the language application has been well received at most universities. In fact, some universities, such as the Autonomous University of Barcelona, were against the measure since the beginning of its application and therefore, decided that a bachelors degree would not be linked to the accreditation of the B2 level. Half of our students have an insufficient level of English and we cannot establish a requirement that leaves our undergraduates without their degree, explains the vice dean of International Relations of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Marius Martinez, adding that a person can be a magnificent veterinary surgeon but he might not be fluent in English.

Not all the universities in Catalonia have decided to remove the compulsory B2 level in their programs. Pompeu Fabra University, for instance, said it would be mandatory until last March 3 when the Catalan Parliament approved postponing the measure. "The request for a moratorium has not been reflected yet in any agreement of the Catalan government," argued Pablo Pareja and Cristina Gelpi, vice deans of the UPF some weeks ago. Besides, they said that the accreditation of another language would be "very positive" in academic aspects and in employment.

The main objective of the requirement, according to Mas-Colell, was to guarantee that students would not have problems with English or another language when they finish their degrees. The low level of English is an important issue in Spanish society. In 2014, according to the CIS (the Sociological Research Center), 61% of Spanish people said that they didnt write or speak English although 94.8% consider it important to know a foreign language. Among those who say they know the language, only 19.4% have no difficulties holding an informal conversation. In relation with university students, Merce Jou, the general secretary of CIC, says that the organization did some level tests and the results indicated that a percentage of students didnt have the correct level; so they decided to postpone the request for four years.

Mavi Salas, an English teacher at Premia de Mar (Barcelona) high school claims that the problem of English in Spain is more cultural than educational. For instance, the level of English in Spain and in Catalonia is not the same as in other European countries, such as Denmark, Sweden or Finland. According to a worldwide ranking that measures the level of English in 80 countries carried out by Educational First in 2017, a language school leader in teaching around the world, Spain has reached an average level of 28 worldwide, and 21 in Europe with respect to a total of 27 countries. Data like this show that there is a clear gap between learning English here and in other European countries. The study, which allows for a comparison between countries, indicates that while in Spain students spend an average of 9.80 years learning English, in Sweden (second country in the ranking) they study the language for 12.30 years.

In addition, contrary to the expectations regarding a report carried out by Eurostat in 2015, in Catalan schools children start learning English when they are three years, while in Sweden they start when they are between seven and 10 years old. But in Catalonia, teachers dedicate two or three hours per week to English, and in other countries English is one of the three basic subjects along with mathematics and Swedish. Also, in those countries, films and television programs are broadcast in their original version and with subtitles, meaning there is an important linguistic immersion. Related to this, Mavi explains: I think the problem is more social than relative to the school. Nobody sees the real necessity of learning English: if TV series and films were in their original version we would gain a lot, we would have a half of the work done.

A matter of money

Another reason why deans and students are against the B2 language requirement is that they consider it an elitist measure. Given that in secondary school the maximum level that can be acquired is a B1, some students are forced to take extracurricular lessons in private academies that can cost a minimum of 1,000 to 1,200 a year. This is an extra cost that not everybody can assume. It is a snobbish measure because it goes against the people who perhaps have talent but not so much money, claims Marius Martinez, vice rector of the UAB. Many young people support this argument, such as Bruna Naudo, a medicine student at the Barcelona University. I think that the English level test is too expensive, so its good that they have decided not to maintain it as a requirement.

Some of the university deans agree that the improvement of the English level is not the responsibility of universities and colleges, but it has to focus on elementary and secondary school, and mainly on baccalaureate level. What we cant do is to put the cart before the horse and ask for this requirement only in universities. The aim is good, but we must put resources and measures in all areas., says Anna Berga, general secretary of the private university University of Ramon Lull. Marius Martinez agrees with her and adds that the obligation of universities is to normalize the use of English as a language of scientific work.
So what does the future hold for humanity? Now, some people might want an definitive answer to this question. Others do not want an answer as they enjoy the thrill and excitement of not knowing what the future holds. And then there are others who simply do not care.

Regardless of where you stand, one thing is absolutely certain  no one can confidently describe what the future holds for humanity.

Solomons quest for an answer

I cannot say that Ecclesiastes is my favourite book in the Bible. It is a difficult book to understand, and many of its messages are difficult for society to accept.

However, in Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, Solomon has documented his quest to find out what the future holds for humanity.

Now, if there was one person that I would listen to and be keen to learn from, then it would be the great king Solomon. God had granted him unfathomable wisdom. In 1 Kings, chapter 4, verse 31, it says that Solomon was wiser than anyone else.

Despite his great wisdom and intelligence, Solomon could not work out in Ecclesiastes, chapter 3 what the future holds for humanity. In Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verse 11, he says that God has set eternity in the human heart but no one can fathom what he has done from beginning to end.

Solomons resolution

So what did the great king Solomon decide to do?

Well, Solomon decided that if he didnt know what was going to happen to him, then he should simply eat, drink, and be merry (Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verses 12 and 13).

Even though this sounds like a positive resolution, it wasnt something that Solomon was entirely content with.

He knew that his life will be judged and that this wickedness will be punished (Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verse 17). Accordingly, he wasnt free to do whatever he wanted. Ultimately, his deeds were subject to judgment. He also realised that whatever he does in life will eventually lead to the same outcome as animals  death.

Despite a seemingly positive resolution (eat, drink and be merry), we can hear the desperation and dissatisfaction in Solomons voice when he asks at the end of chapter 3, in verse 22: for who can bring humanity to see what will happen to them?

Finding an answer to the question

What I find amazing is that a Christian is able to answer Solomons question in Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verse 22 because Jesus has given all Christians the answer.

In 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verses 20 to 32 we are shown the fate of humanity and we are given wisdom that the wise Solomon only wish he knew.

1 Corinthians, chapter 15 shows us that at the end of time, Jesus will reign. His enemies will be destroyed and everything will be put under his feet.

1 Corinthians, chapter 15 also shows us the final bit of good news that derives from Jesus saving work. After dying on the cross for our sins, we learn that Jesus is resurrected, demonstrating to all those who believe in him that death has been defeated. The passage says that we too will be resurrected and sit before the throne of Jesus singing holy, holy. This is what will happen to humanity.

Ultimately, the Apostle Paul and all Christians know what the future holds. Paul was reassured and strengthened by this future as he lived his life serving Jesus. He acknowledged that if we dont have this future, that if Jesus did not die and rise again, then truly there would be nothing better than to eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die (1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 32). However, as the Ecclesiastes, chapter 3 has shown, this resolution just does not suffice.

Jia Pan Xiao attends GracePoint Chinese Presbyterian Church and is an employment lawyer working in Sydney. In his spare time, Jia Pan enjoys watching American sports, drinking coffee and devouring chocolate mud-cake.

Jia Pan Xiao's previous articles may be viewed at

http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/jia-pan-xiao.html
The Pastor's Pastor Rev Dr Rowland Croucher founder of John Mark Ministries which specialises in Christian theological research and ministry to Ministers and especially to those who are scarred and heart-injured.

Rowland poses this vital question - What would Jesus do? There are some thing we all need to reminded of when discussing Jesus. He was no push over. He dealt with the money changers. He dealt with the Pharisees and the religious leaders of the day without fear nor favour. He handled lies and half truths and petty politics like no one before him. He exercised an authority whereupon all marvelled. He went to the Cross, a most horrible form of death.

When Rowland discusses his question  What would Jesus do - also think on these things.

What would Jesus do - Part 1 - Rowland Croucher

If I were to choose one person to follow as a mentor/guide, the best human being Ive ever heard of is Jesus of Nazareth. If I find a better-put-together person, I promise you, Ill switch allegiance to them.

When I talk about Jesus to people, I often get Yes but responses. A common one: Yes, but, youve got faith, I havent.

How do you usually travel? Car? Tram? Train? How many of you stopped and thought, Do I have enough faith to get into/onto this thing? Maybe if your car has let you down, that might be a possibility but what youve thought about is actually not your faith as such, but its object. Same with people. Is this car reliable? Is this person reliable?

So why do people have faith in an ancient historical figure like Jesus? My grandmother heard a voice  a real voice, she says  in the night. I never have. The great St Augustine heard a childs voice, and all the shadows of doubt were dispelled. Saul of Tarsus had a Damascus Road experience  with a blinding light and a voice from the sky. In a life-changing experience of surrender to God, C. S. Lewis knelt and prayed in his room at Magdalen College, Oxford  perhaps that night the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. Nothing like thats ever happened to me.

So why is Jesus important to me?

So why is Jesus important to me? I didnt commit myself to him because of a theological system, or even church services. I didnt follow him because my parents did: as I started thinking for myself, I rejected their simplistic fundamentalism in many respects.

My conversion really happened when I left home and started reading and thinking about this amazing person who, on about eighty occasions in the Gospels, went around speaking and acting as if he were an emissary from God. Imagine if you heard someone in Melbournes Flinders Street saying to strangers hed just met, I forgive your sins. It doesnt matter who you committed them against, I forgive you! Youd probably be both perplexed and a bit scared  and maybe youd phone our countrys emergency number, OOO.

If what this Jew claimed about himself were true, then its all really breath-taking: he embodied the hopes and fears of all the years for his people if only theyd realised it

Now if eye-witnesses claimed someone youd never actually met was the Son of God, what are we to make of that?

I reckon there are only four possibilities:

Perhaps he was mad. I once met a psychotic person in a psychiatric hospital who claimed to be God. Problem was on that day he was Napoleon Bonaparte, and sometimes hes the man in the moon. Was Jesus one of those? No: hes the sanest person Ive ever heard of.

Was he a liar, an imposter? Problem with that is the question What did he have to gain by it all? And what kind of person was Jesus on the evil-to-goodness spectrum? I think the question answers itself.

Was he, then, a good person, a great teacher, and thats all? C. S. Lewis wrote about this patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.'

So did his followers get it wrong? And to a person they were prepared to die for something theyd concocted? I for one find that less credible than believing they reported Jesus words and actions truthfully, and eventually came to believe in him.

So, you ask, of all the people whove claimed a special relationship with God, only one was right? Yes. If Jesus was God's Son, a lot follows: He was the Word by whom the universe was created, says John the evangelist. He is who you need.

And then theres his death on a cross. The 19th century German philosopher Nietzsche ridiculed the idea of [Divinity] on a cross. But as John Stott writes, When he was spread-eagled and skewered on his cross, strung up with nails or ropes or both, what looked like the defeat of goodness by evil was really the defeat of evil by goodness. [1]

I once heard with astonishment my English professor  an atheist  say that all great operas and literature are essentially about one or more of three core human experiences  guilt, love and death. That was an aha experience for me: the cross of Christ was about all three, the theologians tell us. [2]

I remember talking to that professor about who Jesus might be and went through the classical quadrilemma I referred to a couple of minutes ago. Does all that make sense? I asked him. Yeah. But youre not a Christian? No. May I ask why not? He said it had little to do with logic, but rather lifestyle.

He enjoyed living life his way, without being answerable to any God. Fairly common, I would think. C. S. Lewis in his autobiography Surprised by Joy put it well: When I examined myself I found [within me] a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds [3]

Thats the first of two big questions: the issue of faith, and its cousin, intellectual credibility. If Jesus is [the Divine Son of] God, he has a right to demand allegiance.

End of Part 1

References

[1] John Stott, Why I am a Christian, 2013, p. 61

[2] For example, Gustav Aulen in Christus Victor

[3] C S Lewis, Surprised by Joy (p. 143)

Rowland Croucher is an Australian Baptist pastor (as was also his wife Jan before she passed away nearly a year ago). He's authored ten books and will soon see his latest published in the next month or so:('Questions & Responses: the 50 toughest questions pastors and counsellors are asked').


Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont makes his directorial debut with Girl, a sympathetic and emotionally rich portrait of a 15-year-old girl, born in the body of a boy, who has aspirations of one day becoming a ballet dancer.

Taking on the role of Lara is cisgender actor Victor Polster. A trained dancer, Polster offers a compelling performance, expressing the internal conflicts of the character in graceful movements and glances rather than through dialogue. Lara has recently moved into a small apartment in Belgium with her little brother and father after transferring to one of Belgiums most prestigious dance schools. At the same time, she is also going through hormonal treatment in preparation for gender reassignment surgery.

Laras counsellor, who is guiding her through the process, reminds her to enjoy the moment and not worry about her body because she is already a woman  yet Lara remains unconvinced. She continually examines herself in the mirror, feeling for any signs that her breasts are growing. She straps up her groin with the same tape that she uses to protect her feet in ballet, and we watch as she painfully removes it after each dance class. All she wants is to be a girl in every sense, and while willing to do what she must, she is impatient.

The film expertly navigates Laras internal and external worlds, using ballet  a dance form well-known for the damage it can do to a young teens body  as a parallel to Laras experience of physically becoming a woman. Its a deft trick, but through external characters, we are always reminded that she is already a woman, even if Lara herself still doesnt feel confident in her own body. Importantly, Dhont doesnt fall for the cliches of what has, in recent years, become a popular subject matter, even breaking into the mainstream with The Danish Girl  which it would be a disservice to compare Girl too.

Dhont illustrates that, while Laras experience may be seen as extraordinary, it is also a journey that bears similarities to the discomfort and emotional turmoil of all teens who are learning about who they are while beginning to chase their dreams. Girl is an extraordinarily moving film. Both Dhont and Polster undoubtedly have bright futures ahead of them.

Joseph Walsh | @JosephDAWalsh
An Arkansas judge barred by the state Supreme Court from hearing death penalty cases says in a court filing that justices are retaliating against him for exercising his First Amendment rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion.





Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen, a Baptist minister, has sued the justices, saying they improperly took him off all execution-related cases. His lawyer asked a federal appeals court late Monday to reject the justices' request to halt depositions and discovery. The justices have said their deliberations should be off-limits.





Griffen last year took part in a death penalty protest the same day he ruled the state Department of Correction could not administer 1 of its 3 execution drugs. A drug distributor, McKesson Medical-Surgical, had questioned whether it had been obtained through proper channels. At the time, Arkansas was poised to execute 8 men in an 11-day period; it ultimately put 4 men to death over 8 days.





Griffen said in papers filed at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis that the state Supreme Court barred him from death penalty cases even though no one asked for such a ruling.





"There was no urgency to the Supreme Court's personnel decision because, by the time the Supreme Court issued its order, an Arkansas federal district court ... had already stayed the executions," Griffen's lawyer wrote. Baker's order was later overturned.





Last month, a federal judge said Griffen's lawsuit could proceed against the justices individually and that each side could gather facts from the other side in a process known as discovery. The justices have told the 8th Circuit they don't want to disclose their internal deliberations.





Lawyer Michael Laux wrote to the appeals court late Monday that had the justices simply removed Griffen from the McKesson case, there would have been no cause for Griffen to sue. However, he said, Griffen believes the justices acted improperly.

 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Associated Press, May 9, 2018
After more than 2 months of jury selection, testimony in El Paso County's 1st death penalty trial in a decade is about to get underway.





Opening statements at the double-murder trial of former Fort Carson soldier Glen Law Galloway are expected to begin at 9 a.m. Monday.





His trial is expected to last 6 weeks - followed by several more weeks for a penalty phase should he be found guilty.





Galloway, 46, a 1-time helicopter mechanic who later worked for Atmel Corp., a Colorado Springs semiconductor manufacturer, faces multiple counts of first-degree murder in the May 2016 slayings of his ex-girlfriend, Janice Nam, and a homeless man named Marcus Anderson. The 2 were fatally shot on consecutive days in May 2016, several months after Galloway cut off an ankle monitor and went into hiding.





The case is expected to serve as a test of whether El Paso County prosecutors can succeed where others in Colorado have fallen short: Persuading a panel to impose death.





In 2015, 2 juries in a month rejected the death penalty, including the panel that convicted Aurora theater shooter James Holmes - a case that involved some of the same players involved in the Galloway prosecution, including Daniel King, chief trial deputy for the Colorado Public Defender's Office, and Senior Assistant Attorney General Dan Edwards.





King, alongside another Holmes attorney, Kristen Nelson, will be assisting Colorado Springs public defenders Kim Chalmers and Julian Rosielle in Galloway's defense. Edwards joins a trio of El Paso County prosecutors, Rachael Powell and veterans Reggy Short and Donna Billek.





Prosecutors previously sought the death of cop-killer Marco Lee in 2007, under then-District Attorney John Newsome, but Lee ended up pleading guilty in exchange for a life sentence.





District Attorney Dan May has previously declined to address why the office elected to pursue death against Galloway, citing a gag order in the case. The District Attorney's Office has since indicated that it is considering death penalty cases against at least 2 other local murder defendants, Diego Chacon and Marco Garcia-Bravo, who are charged in the execution slayings of 2 Coronado High School students over what authorities characterize as a gang hit.





Preparations for Galloway's trial include $50,000 worth of upgrades to the courtroom where he will be tried, including 2 new wall-mounted video monitors, a document reader and a "smart" podium capable of powering electronic devices.





Nearly 3,000 El Paso County residents were summoned to 4th Judicial District Court beginning March 5 to be considered for Galloway's panel, in what a jury commissioner described as the county's largest pool in memory.





That process spanned 8 weeks and wrapped up Thursday, leaving 112 candidates heading into group questioning.





A jury of 18, including 6 alternates, will hear evidence in the case.

 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
The men were found guilty of aiding 5 militants who attacked the parliament and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's mausoleum. 18 people died in the assault last year.





An Iranian court on Sunday sentenced 8 men to death over attacks claimed by the "Islamic State" last June.





The men were found guilty of helping the 5 terrorists who attacked the parliament and a shrine to Iran's revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the head of the Tehran Revolutionary Courts, Mousa Ghazanfarabadi, told state TV.





Ghazanfarabadi said the sentence could be appealed within 20 days in Iran's Supreme Court.





A further 18 people face trial over the attacks, according to the court's director.





Deadly assault





18 people died and more than 50 were wounded when suicide bombers and gunmen launched the assault on the parliament and Khomeini's mausoleum in Tehran.





IS claimed responsibility for the attack.





Security forces killed all the attackers. Iran said the assailants had fought for IS in Syria and Iraq.





Ghazanfarabadi said courts will later hear claims filed by families of the victims against the United States and Saudi Arabia, whom predominantly Shiite Muslim Iran accuses of supporting the IS, a Sunni Muslim militant group. Both countries deny that accusation.





8 Daesh members get death penalty





Convicts sentenced for 2017 attack on parliament building, official says





An Iranian court sentenced eight Daesh members to death over a 2017 attack on the Iranian parliament, a judicial official said on Sunday.





"8 people were handed the death penalty and 18 others face trial over last year's deadly attacks. The convicts have 20 days to appeal. The trials began last month," President of Tehran Revolutionary Court Ghazanfar Abadi told Iranian state TV.





Simultaneous attacks on the parliament building and the Supreme Leader Imam Khomeini's Mausoleum killed 17 people and wounded nearly 50 in June 2017.

At least one prisoner executed at Rajai Shahr Prison on murder charges

According to a close source, on the morning of Wednesday, May 9, a prisoner was executed at Rajai Shahr Prison.





The prisoner, charged with murder, was identified as Reza Hamidi.





The prisoner was transferred to the solitary confinement from ward 10 of Rajai Shahr Prison on Monday, May 7.





A close source told Iran Human Rights, Reza was sentenced to death on the charge of murdering his mother-in-law and he failed to gain the consent of the plaintiffs.





The execution of this prisoner has not been announced by the state-run media so far.





According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 240 of the 517 execution sentences in 2017 were implemented due to murder charges.





There is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and intent.

 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

: Deutsche Welle, May 13, 2018: aa.com.tr, May 13, 2018 Iran Human Rights , May 10, 2018
Bengaluru: After 239 gruelling rallies and hectic poll related schedules, former chief minister and JD(S) state president H.D. Kumaraswamy left for Singapore on Sunday morning, apparently to be away from the hustle bustle of the poll for some time.

Sources said Mr Kumaraswamy was accompanied by his son Mr Nikhil and both will return to Bengaluru on Monday evening, so that he would be available during the counting of votes on Tuesday.

Sources denied that there was any health reason behind the trip to Singapore. After the poll process was completed on Saturday, a number of people have been arriving at his residence to meet Mr Kumaraswamy and doctors wanted him to stay away from the crowds for at least two days. Mr Nikhil suggested that it would be better to stay out of the country for two days.

The health status of Mr Kumaraswamy, who had undergone heart valve replacement for a second time last September, was a matter of concern for his family members as well as doctors during the campaign. Even before the poll process started, he frequently suffered from fever and throat infections. Though doctors had advised him complete rest for 15 days, he was not ready to follow it.
China's newly-built aircraft carrier Liaoning is transferred from dry dock into the water at a launch ceremony at a shipyard in Dalian. (Photo: AP)

Beijing: Chinas first domestically developed aircraft carrier has left for its sea trials on Sunday, the countrys official media announced here.

The completely home-grown aircraft carrier has departed for sea trials on Sunday morning, state-run China Daily said in a brief report.

China launched the second aircraft carrier in April 2017 after it commissioned the first carrier, the Liaoning, a refitted Soviet Union-made vessel, in 2012.

Though Liaoning has become operational, it is being mostly used for research and improvements for the new carriers China plans to build.

This May 9, 2018, photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency shows China's aircraft carrier Liaoning at a shipyard in Dalian. (Photo: AP)

Reports said China is also building its third aircraft carrier in Shanghai. The country reportedly plans to have four aircraft carriers by 2030 to operate from the disputed South China Sea as well as the Indian Ocean.

Some reports said China is also planning to build a nuclear aircraft carrier.

China has developed a new jet fighter called A J-15 fighter to operate from the decks of its carriers.
U.S. Ambassador to Germany sees real threat behind Nord Stream 2 project

The gas pipeline does not meet European interests.

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MADRIDWith fewer than 20 days to go for the EUs General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to come into force, hints of its many intricacies are coming aplenty in the form of Inboxes jamming with opt-in signups to updated terms, a frenzied search for qualified privacy specialists, and the hastening of corporate compliance plans at the boardroom level.

Arguably the EUs knottiest and widest-reaching piece of legislation ever produced, GDPR and its compliance fright is reaching across the pond, with nearly one in four US companies citing complexity as the nastiest compliance barrier through the rules official comment period. But how exactly will the EUs new data privacy regime affect the US digital economy?

At its core, GDPR enforces a set of rights for all EU data subjects, whether the entities collecting and processing their data are based in the EU or not. The second they start offering goods or services online to EU residents, US companies will be just as liable for the GDPRs privacy protections as their EU competitors.

These privacy protections are, namely:

Right of access  the obligation to provide an electronic copy of all data held about a subject upon request, opening the door to exhausting cloud drilling when the data is not easily accessible. Right to be forgotten  the ban on continued use of private data beyond its original purpose or upon a request for erasure; and Data portability  the requirement for all data to be converted to a machine-readable format homogenous across all competitors, with all the programming language hurdles associated.

The latter, perhaps most familiar to Americans in the context of Facebooks response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, seems only indirectly linked to the privacy motive GDPR posits and more akin to a pro-competition measure. Often seen as the Holy Grail of tech trustbusters, portable data is in fact an area where the market is far ahead of regulators, with many social networks and cloud providers treating portability already as a functional requirement.

GDPR will also step up existing privacy controls through tighter internal record-keeping requirements. All entities whose core activity includes regular and systematic monitoring of personal data will be obliged to appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO) reporting to the CEOregardless of whether or not theyve got their data house in order already.

The heavy-handedness of forcing one-size-fits-all privacy monitoring into the boardroom may seem distortionary enough as it is. But besides, the International Association of Privacy Professionals ( IAPP)the worldwide trade group for privacy professionalsestimates GDPR will create 75,000 new Data Protection Officer vacancies globally, a shortage that even advocates of stricter rules are doubtful can be filled on time ahead of the May 25 EU deadline.

Though fewer than 40 percent of those jobs will go to the EU itselfwith 9,000 to be created in the United States and over 7,500 in ChinaEurope is perhaps in the greatest lack of privacy expertise out of all advanced economies and thus least ready to comply with a core aspect of its own rules.

But that is not the only way the EU will be shooting itself in the foot. Arguably a world leader in artificial intelligence, the EUs digital market will suffer from the diminished ability of European innovators to collect personal data on a large scale to take part in developing the next generation of AI technologies.

Compliance burdens can prove crippling elsewhere. too. The few lawful reasons for collecting and processing personal data will be stiffened. When the customer has not given explicit consent, the hazier, catch-all notion of legitimate interest will likely be aggressively litigated in the courts. Burdens will affect both parties of every data transfer.

Ensuring that your companys external e-mail marketer or database manager doesnt unduly disseminate your customers data is already taxing, but verifying that every single piece of data you manage was obtained lawfully up the supply chain when youre on the other side of the bargain may prove outright prohibitive to many smaller start-ups.

Combined with Europes reaction to the Equifax breach and the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the rollout of GDPR throws light on two fundamentally different approaches to data privacy. While the US regime affords companies leeway to utilize their customers data to innovate and offer ever-better services, Europe conceives the collection of data online as the granting of a license by the consumer without forfeiting property and with a set of stringent conditions, further tightened by GDPR.

GDPR will no doubt raise hefty obstacles for US tech to expand in the growing integrated EU digital market. But leaving aside the threat of arbitrary fines$24 million or 4 percent of annual global turnover, whichever is greaterechoing those fines slapped on US tech giants in past antitrust cases, the prime losers from GDPR will be EU online consumers themselves.

For a whopping digital space looking ever more like a unified market across 27 member states, the raising of external barriers through bloated privacy rules will likely leave EU customers behind on the major future benefits of the digital economy.

Jorge Gonzalez-Gallarza Hernandez is a policy associate at Economics21. Follow him on Twitter here.

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U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec urged security forces to safeguard the rights of citizens and protect life by showing maximum restraint in interactions with the public.

Speaking at an event organized by Kenyas Independent Police Oversight Authority, or IPOA, in Nairobi, Ambassador Godec said, Human rights abuses, to include by the police, occur in all countries, including the United States. What is important is that when there is a report of police abuse, it be thoroughly and independently investigated. And when law enforcement officers, and as appropriate even superiors, have perpetrated a crime, they should face justice.

No one is above the law, he said. No one should protect an individual who has committed abuses just because that person wears a uniform. Everyone has the duty to uphold human rights and to ensure the rule of law prevails.

The Ambassadors remarks were made at the launch of Independent Police Oversight Authoritys IPOAcloud CONNECT - a complaint management system funded by the U.S. to the tune of Sh650 million. The project has been under trials since April 3, 2017. It was designed and built by a U.S. firm  INFO Gains Division of Dominion Energy.

Together with the Government of Kenya, the United States has been deeply engaged in developing accountability in the Kenyan police services, assisting in the work of IPOA. The United States has supported technical experts who have helped IPOA develop its operating procedures including setting up IPOAs investigations unit and training its officers.

Ambassador Godec noted that even though IPOA is still young, it has proven itself able to investigate allegations against police for using excessive force and to bring cases to court when appropriate.

Ambassador Godec said IPOAs mandate to investigate allegations of abuses at the hands of police was of particular significance during the recent elections but was even more critical now when Kenya is confronted daily by unexplained killings, police abuse, and corruption.

The Ambassador stressed the majority of Kenyas police are carrying out their duties with courage and professionalism.

Security is essential for every societys prosperity and quality of life, he said. We all need the police. The security services protect us from crime, terrorism, and other dangers that threaten us.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is visiting Beijing to meet with Chinese leaders following U.S. President Donald Trumps decision to pull out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

China's Foreign Ministry on May 13 said Zarif will "exchange views with relevant parties on the developments of the Iranian nuclear issue."

An Iranian spokesman said Zarif will also visit Moscow and Brussels to hold meetings during the current trip.

China, Russia, France, Germany, Britain, and the United States signed the 2015 accord, which provided Tehran with relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

Trump long complained about the deal and said Tehran was violating the "spirit" of it by continuing to test ballistic missiles and by supporting militant activities in the region, leading him to withdraw from the pact on May 8.

The other signees had urged Washington to remain in the deal.

"China is highly concerned with the direction of the Iranian nuclear issue and is willing to maintain communication with all relevant parties, including Iran," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

Iran has claimed its nuclear program is for civilian purposes and denies supporting extremists in the region.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
Irans president Hassan Rouhani has assigned his foreign minister to review the future of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), through direct talks with his British, Chinese, French, German and Russian counterparts.

Despite European efforts to encourage the U.S. to remain a party to JCPOA, President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the agreement on May 8 and promised to re-impose the highest level of economic sanctions on Tehran.

The U.S. decision reignited the danger of economic crisis for Iran, which is now at the center of Tehran's diplomatic efforts.

According to reports by Iranian news agencies, Rouhani, in issuing his orders on May 12, underlined the importance of securing Irans economic interests.

JCPOA was implemented in 2016 after five permanent members of UN Security Council, China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and USA plus Germany reached an agreement with Rouhanis government to lift international sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic in exchange for Tehran to curb its nuclear program.

Tehran insists that if the remaining signatories do not guarantee Irans interests, Tehran might resume unrestricted uranium enrichment.

Based on Rouhanis order, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is expected to leave Tehran for Beijing on Sunday, May 13 and then to Moscow.

Before leaving Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini in a telephone conversation discussed the fate of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after the US pullout, according to Fars.

Zarif and Mogherini also conferred on plans and arrangements for a Tuesday meeting in Brussels between them and the three European countries foreign ministers, FNA said.

The Iranian foreign minister highlighted the need for other parties to the JCPOA to provide sufficient guarantees that assure Tehran of being able to reap the benefits of the nuclear deal.

Earlier, in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Rouhani called on the European states to shortly clarify the manner in which they will guarantee their commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

"How Europe is going to secure Irans interests in the JCPOA should be clarified in a limited period of time," President Rouhani told Merkel.

"Irans interests in important areas and issues relevant to the JCPOA, like oil, gas, and petrochemicals sales, as well as banking relations should be clearly and explicitly defined and guaranteed, Rouhani said.

Angela Merkel, for her part, without any reference to the guarantees demanded by Rouhani, said that keeping JCPOA is of prime importance for Europe.

Meanwhile, delegations of Iranian experts will continue negotiating the future of JCPOA with their European counterparts.

Irans main concern is that renewed U.S. sanctions will have a far-reaching impact on the willingness of non-American companies and banks to deal with Iran, crippling its trade, oil exports and an already strained economy.

However, President Trump has explicitly noted that US hopes to reach a fair deal with Iran through new rounds of talks. Tehran has repeatedly said that it would never accept re-negotiating the nuclear deal.

The White House also has bluntly warned Iran of unspecified consequences should it resume nuclear activities prohibited under the agreement.

"If the regime continues its nuclear aspirations, it will have bigger problems than it has ever had before," President Trump said on May 9.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

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Deputy CEO of Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) for Maritime Affairs of Iran Hadi Haghshenas said that talks are underway to increase trade and transport between Iranian ports and the Baku International Sea Trade Port in Azerbaijan, Mehr News Agency reported.

He also noted that more efforts will be put into facilitation of transit of goods via the North-South corridor.

Haghshenas pointed to the participation of an Iranian trade and business delegation at the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), held in Azeri capital Baku, and said, the participaiton of the Iranian delegation in this prestigious meeting was a suitable opportunity to discuss and review port potentials and capacities between the two countries.

"Many investors are not familiar with the capacity of Iranian ports," he said, adding, for this purpose, Irans active presence in the prestigious international events will significantly help boost bilateral relationship between Tehran and Baku.

The IAPH World Ports Conference 2018 is held in Baku on May 8-11. The main theme of IAPH World Ports Conference 2018 is "Ports of the Future: Creating Hubs, Accelerating Connectivity".

The event is attended by port heads, government representatives, professors and experts from around the world, including Europe, Japan, Iran, Georgia, Indonesia, Nigeria and others. The participants of the event will discuss cargo transportation along the Silk Road, the development of transport hubs and the role of ports, as well as issues of multiculturalism, cultural differences in global logistics, the work of free trade zones, increasing competition among them and other topics.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14

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7000 visitors from Pakistan travelled to Azerbaijan in first quarter of 2018, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Pakistan Ali Alizade said, Daily Times reported.

Ambassador noted that Azerbaijan has a good tourism infrastructure.

"By the decree of President of Azerbaijan, visa procedures have been simplified for Pakistani citizens and now one can get visa online through internet. Around 18,000 visitors travelled to Azerbaijan in 2017 and number of visitors is increasing every year. Only in the first quarter of 2018, we have already about 7000 visitors from Pakistan," he said.

Highlighting the importance of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the ambassador maintained that the mega project will not only improve infrastructure in Pakistan and trigger trade activities but will also act as a source of regional connectivity. He said the project will open up vast employment opportunities for Pakistani educated youth as well as skilled and non-skilled labour. Azerbaijan supports Chinas Belt and Road Initiative. A memorandum of understanding between Government of Azerbaijan and the Government of China on joint promotion of Silk Road economic belt was signed in 2015, he recalled.

He said that Azerbaijan has established several bridges between Europe and Asia through different regional transport corridors and modern infrastructure. Big international transport projects have been implemented by Azerbaijan or by participation of Azerbaijan, such as Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, North-South, East-West, Lapis Lazuli, Baku International Sea Port, he said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

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The remarks made by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan regarding the settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have definitely caused concern among OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, said Armenias former defense minister Vigen Sargsyan.

During the press conference held a few days ago, Pashinyan expressed some attitudes that may be dangerous. I am confident that there remarks have caused concern among our international partners, in particular, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, said Sargsyan, who resigned on May 11 during the process of formation of a new government led by Pashinyan, Armenian media reported May 13.

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.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 13

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

The European Union and Turkmenistan are committed to implementing the Trans-Caspian pipeline project, designed to bring Turkmen hydrocarbon resources to European markets, said the Head of the EU Liaison Office in Ashgabat Lubomir Frebort in his welcoming speech on occasion of Europe Day, reports the Nebit-Gaz newspaper of Turkmenistan.

The high-ranking diplomat noted the important role assigned to Turkmenistan in the energy security strategy of the EU.

Negotiations on the delivery of Turkmen gas to Europe have been going on since 2011.

The Southern Gas Corridor, including the Trans-Caspian project, remains a priority for the EU.

In May 2015, the Ashgabat Declaration on Energy was signed by the ministers of energy of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Vice President of the European Commission in Charge of the Energy Union Maros Sefcovic.

The project for laying a 300-kilometer gas pipeline along the bottom of the Caspian Sea to the shores of Azerbaijan, as previously noted by the parties concerned, is optimal for the delivery of Turkmen resources to the European market. Further, the Turkmen gas can get in Turkey, which borders European countries.

The Trans-Caspian pipeline could become a part of several large-scale projects, including AGRI and TANAP, to which Azerbaijan and Turkey are parties.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend:

GoldenPay, an online payments company in Azerbaijan, is getting ready to offer mobile POS-terminals to small businesses, the company told Trend.

The matter rests in the business version of the hesab.az payment system, which will turn any mobile device running the Android operating system into a full-fledged POS-terminal to accept non-cash payments, the source said.

"Mobile terminals are designed for small retail facilities for which it is not profitable to buy POS-terminals for $600. Also, it is not profitable for banks to equip small businesses with these devices," the source said.

According to the source, mobile terminals allow using either a contactless interface or mini-card readers to make payments.

Furthermore, GoldenPay plans to launch by late 2018 a service for parking payment in major shopping centers of the capital, and soon the hesab.az users will be able to make contactless payments for transport services.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @h_veliyev
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

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Iranian companies are interested to take part in motorway and road construction projects in Turkmenistan, Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi, the Islamic Republics Roads and Urban Development minister, said.

Akhoundi made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting with Turkmenistans Foreign Affairs Minister Rasit Meredow in Tehran, Iranian media outlets reported May 13.

The two parties held talks on participation of Iranian companies in implementation of highway and road projects in the neighbouring country, Akhoundi said.

He added that the sides also discussed cooperation in electricity sector, including construction of the third power transmission line and settling the electricity trade issues. 

The visiting Turkmen minister also held meeting with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani.

During the meeting, Rouhani said that Tehran is determined to deepen ties with neighbouring countries including Turkmenistan.

He also said that the Iranian companies are ready to provide technical-engineering services to Turkmenistan.

Facilitating travel between the two countries and developing tourism can deepen relations between the two countries in all fields as well, Rouhani added.

Meredow also discussed oil and gas cooperation between Tehran and Ashgabat in a meeting with Bijan Namadar Zanganeh.

Following the meeting, Zanganeh said that talks between the two countries for settling their gas dispute would continue.

The Iranian minister added that the gas swap of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan through Iran would resume early this calendar year (started March 20).

He also expressed the Islamic Republics readiness for cooperation with Turkmenistan in various energy fields.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

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Tehran City Council appointed Seyyed Mohammad Ali Afshani as the new mayor of the Iranian capital city, Irans state-run IRINN TV reported.

During a May 13 session of Tehran City Council, two candidates succeeded to win the necessary votes to compete for the post of mayor in Tehran, in which Afshani secured the highest number of votes, 19.

His rival Samiollah Hosseini Makarem, who is serving as the Acting Mayor of Tehran, obtained only one vote.

The pro-reform politician Afshani, currently serves as deputy interior minister of Iran.

Afshani will replace Mohammad Ali Najafi, who resigned of the post last month.

Njafi mentioned illness as the main reason for his resignation but some of the council members said that he had resigned under political pressure.

Najafi was summoned to court after a video was released on social media in mid-March showing him at a Womens Day ceremony where young girls were dancing.

Najafi has accused the former conservative Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf over his widespread illegal actions at the Tehran Municipality.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

Trend:

The Islamic Republic of Iran and Sri Lanka signed five MoU and documents on cooperation on May 13 during the visit of Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena to Tehran.

The two sides signed documents for cooperation in various sectors including the health, medical sciences, medicine and medical equipment as well as film industry and fighting against drugs trafficking on the sidelines of the meeting between President Hassan Rouhani and his Sri Lankan counterpart, the official website of Irans president reported.

A memorandum of understanding also was signed between the standard Organization on certification of the two countries and training as well as scientific and cultural cooperation.

Sri Lankan president, heading a high-ranking politico-economic delegation arrived in Tehran for an official visit.

The trip aims to promote relations between two countries.

Rouhani had earlier met with Sirisena at Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) summit in Bangkok on October 10, 2016.
Details added. first version added 09:57

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

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Iran sentenced eight members of the "Islamic State" (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) involved in the June 2017 attack on the Iranian parliament to death, Irans state-run IRINN TV reported.

Trial of other 18 defendants will continue at Tehran Revolutionary Court in the presence of their lawyers and families of those killed in the attack.

Trial for the terror group members opened on April 28 in the revolutionary court.

Two separate attacks rocked the capital city of Tehran on June 7, 2017 leaving at least 17 dead and 43 injured.

The attacks were simultaneously carried out by five IS-linked terrorists on the Iranian Parliament building and the Mausoleum of late Imam Khomeini.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

Trend:

Irans police seized over 3,700 kilograms of drugs in armed clashes with smugglers in the country's southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.

The police forces arrested five smugglers in the clashes, the police commander of Sistan and Baluchestan province, Brigadier General Mohammad Ghanbari said, the official website of Irans police reported May 13.

The police forces also seized two AK-47 and two Colt guns as well as some ammunition from the smugglers, Ghanbari added.

Iran sits on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Persian Gulf states. The Islamic Republic shares about 900 kilometers of common border with Afghanistan, over which 74 percent of opium is smuggled.

The fight against drug trafficking annually costs Iran about $1 billion, according to the official estimates.

According to the statistics, there are about two million drug users in Iran.
Nine people were killed and 28 others injured as two car bombs exploded in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, Yasser Zaim, the spokesman of the municipal council of the nearby Azaz city, told Sputnik on Saturday.

"The number of those killed as a result of the blast of the car bomb near the central hospital in the Idlib province reached nine civilians, including three hospital security employees."

Nine individuals went missing after the incident, Zaim also said.Some of those wounded were taken to the Turkish hospitals, the official added.

Idlib is one of four de-escalation zones created after relevant agreements were reached by Iran, Russia, and Turkey during the Astana reconciliation talks last year.

Syria has been engulfed in a civil war since 2011, with government forces fighting numerous opposition factions and terrorist groups. The international community has taken a number of steps aimed at settling the crisis, including through negotiations in Geneva and Astana, as well as the Syrian National Dialogue Congress which took place in the Russian city of Sochi in January.
Beijing will work further on protecting the Iranian nuclear deal after Washingtons withdrawal from the multilateral agreement, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday, Sputnik reported.

"The Chinese side is ready to support close contact and coordination with all the sides to the agreement. Given its objective, just, and responsible position, [Beijing] will continue making every effort to protect the comprehensive deal," Wang said, as quoted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, after meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The Iranian nuclear deal is a result of multilateral efforts contributing to the protection of the international non-proliferation regime, and supporting peace and stability in the Middle East, Wang added.

Earlier on Sunday, Zarif began his foreign trip dedicated to the Iranian nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). After visiting China, the Iranian foreign minister is expected to travel to Russia to meet with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and subsequently go to Brussels for holding talks with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and the EU foreign affairs chief Frederica Mogherini.

The current tensions around the Iranian nuclear deal followed Tuesdays announcement of US President Donald Trump that the United States would pull out of the deal. Apart withdrawal, Trump announced Washington's plans to renew its sanctions against Tehran.

Tehran expressed his opposition to Trumps move, as well as Washington's European allies. Specifically, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her French counterpart Emmanuel Macron expressed concerns over Washingtons decision.

The Iranian nuclear deal was reached in 2015 between Iran, the P5+1 group, inducing the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States), plus Germany, and the European Union. The agreement envisions the gradual lifting of western sanctions against Iran in exchange for Tehran abandoning its nuclear program.
State premier of Germanys Saxony-Anhalt federal state Reiner Haseloff (Christian Democratic Union - CDU) has called for revision of the countrys policy towards Russia following Washingtons withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran, TASS reported.

"The recent developments regarding Iran should trigger a revision of the German policy towards Russia," he said in an interview published in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. In light of the US sanctions against Iran, "it is important as never before to maintain dialogue with our eastern neighbor Russia," the politician said, adding that both countries will benefit from returning to normal trade relations.

According to Reiner Haseloff, German companies can lose access to the Russian market for a long time if the sanctions policy is maintained. "Sanctions always push innovations development and refocus of the country they affect," he said, noting that Russian producers of agriculture products and food have been demonstrating impressive growth.

On May 8, US President Donald Trump announced Washingtons withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, which imposed restrictions on Tehrans nuclear activities in return for the removal of the United Nations Security Councils sanctions and unilateral US sanctions. According to Trump, the JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) left the door open for Iran to circumvent restrictions and develop a nuclear bomb. The US president said that old sanctions would be restored and new ones would be introduced in case Tehran attempted to pursue its nuclear ambitions. At the same time, Trump called for making a new agreement.
French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux has confirmed that the Chechen-born knife attacker, who killed one and wounded four other people in a suspected terror attack in Paris on May 12, became a citizen of France in 2010, TASS reported.

"He gained citizenship in 2010 following his mother. He was registered in the database of Paris police among persons with propensity for radical actions in 2016," Griveaux told the RTL radio station on Sunday.

The knife attacker, named as Khamzat Azimov, who was born in Chechnya as media reported, was shot dead by police after carrying out the assault on Saturday evening. The stabbing attack took place at about 21.30 in Paris second arrondissement where the city's opera and prestigious residential areas are located. The attacker shouted Allahu Akhbar as he lunged at pedestrians with a knife.

The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Police of Vietnam's northern Lao Cai province said on Saturday that they had arrested two men for transporting 120 kg of heroin, Xinhua reported.

The two men from central Nghe An province were arrested on Friday when they were transporting 329 cakes or nearly 120 kg of heroin.

The two detainees, Nguyen Van Dai, 43, and Nguyen Van Ly, 27, well hid the drug in a pickup truck.

They confessed that the drug was transported from Laos to Nghe An and then to Lao Cai.

According to Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces death penalty.
At least eight Afghan National Army soldiers were killed in clashes with insurgents in northern Kunduz province on Saturday night, 303 Pamir Police Zone said in a statement on Sunday, TOLO News reported.

The clashes took place in Dasht-e-Archi district of the province after dozens of Taliban insurgents attacked the district and clashed with security forces, according to the statement.

Eight army soldiers and six of Taliban's Red Unit members were killed, and four other Taliban were wounded, the statement read.



The government security forces were able to push back the insurgents attack after several hours of clashes, it said.



However, the statement did not provide further details.



The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack but did provide details about the death of their fighters.
The US would allow American companies to invest in North Korean infrastructure and provide "sanctions relief" if the country dismantles its nuclear arsenal, the secretary of state told Fox News, Sputnik reported.

"This will beprivate sector Americanscoming in to help build out the energy grid that needs enormous amounts of electricity in North Korea," Pompeo claimed in an interview on "Fox News Sunday," adding that the US would also help to bring investments in the agricultural sector in order to solve food issue of North Korea under the condition of the full denuclearization of the country.

He also added that the US would need "to provide security assurances" to North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un in order to reassure his aspiration for peace.

"We will have to provide security assurances to be sure. This has been the trade-off that has been pending for 25 years," Pompeo underlined.

This statement echoes the words of the White House National Security Adviser John Bolton, who claimed on Sunday, that North Korea might receive economic aid from the US, adding, however, that the country had to dismantle its chemical and biological weapons, as well as its nuclear arsenal in order to restore communication with the US. He said that under this condition peaceful coexistense is possible.

"I think what the prospect for North Korea is to become a normal nation, to behave and interact with the rest of the world the way that South Korea does," Bolton told CNN.

Trump is expected to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore on June 12, in order to work out a deal to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

This major shift in the relations of the two countries became possible after South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a historic summit on April 30, signing a joint declaration on denuclearization and reunification programs for separated Korean families.
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KYODO NEWS - May 13, 2018 - 22:00 | World, Urgent, All

Thirteen people were killed and 46 injured Sunday in suicide bombing attacks on three churches in Indonesia's second-largest city Surabaya, with authorities saying they were carried out by a family of six including four children aged between 8 and 17.

In a statement carried by its Amaq news agency, the Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the bombing attacks, but without providing details or evidence to back up the claim.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo condemned the terrorist acts as "extremely barbaric and beyond the limits of humanity," citing the targeting of innocent worshippers during Sunday morning mass services and the use of children.

National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said that the mother and her two daughters, aged 8 and 12, were the bombers at one church, her two sons, aged 15 and 17, attacked a second church, and the children's father blew himself up at a third.

All six members of the family, who had just returned from Syria, died, Tito told a press conference.

"The father dropped his wife and two daughters at the Indonesian Christian Church, where the mother and daughters blew themselves up with belt bombs, damaging their abdomens," he said.

Meanwhile, driving on a motorcycle, the family's sons blew themselves up at the Santa Maria Tak Bercela (Unsinful St. Mary) church, according to Tito.

[All photos Getty/Kyodo]

"One of the sons carried the bomb on his lap, while the other drove the motorcycle," he said. "We don't know the type of the bomb, but it caused a big explosion."

The father drove his bomb-laden Toyota van to the Central Pentecost Church and detonated it. "This was the biggest among the three bombing attacks because it used a car bomb," the top police officer said.

East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters that the attacks occurred between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. when the churches were holding their morning mass services.

The bombings at Christian churches occurred in the capital of Indonesia's East Java Province shortly after a series of attacks on police took place elsewhere in Indonesia following Islamist rioting at a detention center.

During an interview with the Jakarta-based private television network Metro TV, State Intelligence Agency spokesman Wawan Hari Purwanto said intelligence reports had detected a possible terrorist attack on May 11, "but apparently they changed it to (the) 13th."

"National and local police headquarters became their main target, while religious houses became their alternative or emergency targets," Wawan said.

"They operated like playing a cat-and-mouse game with police, targeting police headquarters but changing it to religious houses when they found out that the police headquarters were tightly guarded," he added.

The intelligence agency suspects the perpetrators were members of the Islamic State-linked Jamaah Ansharut Daulah.

Following the attacks, the East Java Police Headquarters instructed all churches in Surabaya not to hold mass services.

"I was supposed to get involved in the church choir at Alfons Gonzaga Catholic Church today, but the church suddenly stopped the mass service and asked the churchgoers to go home," churchgoer Ida Susanti told Kyodo News.

In another development Sunday, four terrorist suspects were shot dead by counterterrorism unit Detachment 88 in the town of Cianjur in West Java Province at 2 a.m. as they were allegedly on their way to attack the headquarters of the Mobile Brigade, an elite police unit, in Depok, in the suburbs of Jakarta.

At the Mobile Brigade's detention center in Depok, a riot by Islamic militant inmates earlier in the week led to the deaths of five police officers and an inmate.

After the rioting began at the detention center Tuesday, radical Muslim groups called via social media for their followers to go to the brigade's headquarters to help the inmates fight the police.

"The four suspected terrorists were shot because they fought against security apparatus who were going to arrest them," Cianjur Police Chief Soliyah, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name, told reporters, adding that the suspects had been followed by counterterrorism policemen from the town of Sukabumi, about 27 kilometers away.

"The security apparatus also seized two revolvers, three bags of explosives...and other evidence," she added.

On Saturday, two women were arrested on suspicion of planning to attack members of the Mobile Brigade at its headquarters.

"We still continue interrogating them to verify if they are members of a terrorist network," National Police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal said.

Early questioning found that the women, 18 and 21, planned to stab policemen at the headquarters using scissors.

The spokesman said the women, one wearing a hijab and the other wearing a niqab, were arrested after police observed them acting suspiciously -- going back and forth in front of the headquarters.

Police seized from them cellular phones and bus tickets they bought to travel from their hometowns in Ciamis in West Java Province and Temanggung in Central Java Province to Jakarta. It was not immediately clear when the women arrived in Jakarta.

On Thursday, four Islamist militants were arrested in the town of Bekasi in West Java Province after police received intelligence reports that they were on their way to the detention center to help the rioting detainees fight the police.

While being brought to Jakarta for questioning, two of the four men attacked policemen who were escorting them and tried to grab their weapons. The policemen shot them, killing one and injuring the other. Weapons and ammunition were seized from them.

Early investigations showed that the four men were members of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah.

Also on Thursday, a Mobile Brigade intelligence officer was stabbed to death by a 22-year-old university student when the former was about to question the latter for acting suspiciously inside the brigade's headquarters.

The student died after being shot by another policeman.

The series of terrorist attacks in the past week, according to terrorism expert Harits Abu Ulya, showed that the call on social media following the riot at the Mobile Brigade Headquarters has "sparked terrorist cells across the country to launch attacks."
KYODO NEWS - May 13, 2018 - 20:10 | All, World

The U.S. and South Korean governments have welcomed North Korea's announcement on Saturday that it will dismantle its nuclear test site between May 23 and May 25.

U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Saturday to express his thanks, calling the North's move ahead of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 "a very smart and gracious gesture."

North Korea will hold a ceremony for dismantling its Punggye-ri nuclear test site, depending on weather conditions, the Foreign Ministry was quoted Saturday by state-run media as saying, ahead of the landmark U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore.

On Sunday, South Korea's presidential office spokesman Kim Eui Kyeom also welcomed Pyongyang's decision.

Kim told reporters, "We wish that the sound of dynamite blowing up the (Punggye-ri) tunnels will be the first gun salute in the journey toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula."

North Korea's Foreign Ministry said all tunnels of the nuclear test site will be destroyed by explosions and the surrounding area will be completely closed.

The closure of Punggye-ri is seen as a key step toward denuclearization on the peninsula, but North Korea has yet to clarify whether it will give up its existing nuclear weapons.
Kerala Government released a comprehensive set of guidelines for the planned reopening of schools early next month even as the threat of COVID-19 pandemic still persists.
LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - Trauma surgeons in London said U.S. President Donald Trump had missed the point after he linked a wave of knife crime in the British capital to a ban on handguns.

Anger also flared in France after Trump, in a speech to the National Rifle Association (NRA), used his hands in a gesture to mimic the shooting of victims in Paris in 2015.

Trump, who is due to visit Britain on July 13, told members of the NRA in Dallas, Texas on Friday that a "once very prestigious" London hospital, which he did not name, had become overwhelmed with victims of knife attacks.

"They don't have guns. They have knives and instead there's blood all over the floors of this hospital," he said. "They say it's as bad as a military war zone hospital. Knives, knives, knives, knives," he added, making stabbing gestures.

London suffered a spike in knife crime in the early part of this year, and the total number of murders during February and March exceeded that in New York.

Last month, trauma surgeon Martin Griffiths told the BBC that some of his colleagues had likened the Royal London Hospital in east London where he works to the former British military base Camp Bastion in Afghanistan.

"Some of my military colleagues have described their practice here as being similar to being at Bastion," he said. "About a quarter of what we see in our practice is knife and gun injury. And it's now we're doing major life-saving cases on a daily basis."

But on Saturday he implied Trump had drawn the wrong conclusion from his remarks, saying on Twitter that he would be happy to invite Trump to his "prestigious" hospital to discuss London's efforts to reduce violence.

Griffiths posted his comment next to an animation of a stick figure with the phrase "The Point" flying over its head, and also linked to a statement on the hospital's website by a fellow trauma surgeon, Karim Brohi.

"There is more we can all do to combat this violence, but to suggest guns are part of the solution is ridiculous. Gunshot wounds are at least twice as lethal as knife injuries and more difficult to repair," Brohi said in the statement on Saturday.

Story continues

Britain's government effectively banned handgun ownership in England, Scotland and Wales after a school shooting in 1996.

Diane Abbott, the opposition Labour Party's spokeswoman for home affairs, said she could "hardly see how violent crime in London justifies the licensing of guns in the U.S.".

Trump's comments have caused upset before in Britain, which views itself as the United States' closest ally. Relations with Prime Minister Theresa May cooled last year after she criticised him for retweeting anti-Islam videos by a British far-right group.

Trump's NRA speech also drew anger in France on Saturday, after the U.S. president, using his hand in a gun gesture, acted out how a gunman had killed hostages one by one during an attack in Paris in November 2015.

Trump said a civilian could have stopped the massacre at the Bataclan concert hall, where 90 of the 130 victims of the attack died, had they had a gun.

Former French president Francois Hollande, who was head of state at the time, said on Twitter that Trump's comments and antics were "shameful" and "obscene".

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said Trump's portrayal of the 2015 attacks was "contemptuous and unworthy". (Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Stephen Powell)
Here's everything Elon Musk told reporters about the rocket that will fly twice within 24 hours

SpaceX founder Elon Musk took questions before the launch of Falcon 9 Block 5.

"We're on track to be double our launch rate" in 2018, Musk said.

"Next year is when we intend to demonstrate ... same day re-flight of the same rocket," Musk said.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk took questions before the company launches the new version of its Falcon 9 rocket known as Block 5.

Musk dove into a plethora of new information and technical data, detailing the goals and upgrades for the workhorse orbital-class rocket, which has become the company's backbone.

Here are a few highlights from Musk's call with reporters on Thursday  covering such topics as his plan to launch twice in the same day, the reliability of Block 5 and his pursuit of making space travel like air travel  with the full transcript below.

A majority stake of the global launch market

"We're on track to be double our launch rate last year, which was a record launch rate for us. In fact, I believe Falcon 9 was the most launched rocket worldwide of 2017. And, if things go well, which is a caveat, then SpaceX will launch more rockets than any other country in 2018."

After 8 years of upgrades, the final version of Falcon 9

"This will be the last major version of Falcon 9 before [the Big Falcon Rocket]. And we expect this to be a mainstay of SpaceX business. We think of probably winding up something on the order of 300 flights, maybe more, of Falcon 9 Block 5 before retirement."

"10 or more flights with no refurbishment"

"The key to Block 5 is that it's designed to do 10 or more flights with no refurbishment between each flight  or at least not scheduled refurbishment between each flight. The only thing that needs to change is you reload propellant and fly again."

"We believe that the Block 5 boosters are capable of on the order of at least 100 flights before being retired. Maybe more."

One booster, two launches, 24 hours  by next year

Story continues

"Our goal, just to give you a sense of how reusable we think the design can be, we intend to demonstrate two orbital launches of the same Block 5 vehicle within 24 hours, no later than next year."

"Toward the end of next year we'll see the first Block 5 seeing [its] 10th flight. And like I said, next year is when we intend to demonstrate re-flight of the same primary rocket booster within  basically, same day re-flight of the same rocket. I think that's really a key milestone."

More than reliable enough to launch humans

"The first, most important thing was addressing all of NASA's human-rating requirements. So we need to exceed all of NASA's human-rating requirements for Block 5  and they are quite extensive  as well as meet all of the Air Force requirements for extreme reliability. So this is, this really is, I really don't want to jinx fate here, but this rocket is really designed to be, the intent, is to be the most reliable rocket ever built. That is the design intent."

Pursuing the world's first fully reusable orbital rocket

"You've got the boost stage is probably close to 60 percent of the cost, the upper stage is about 20 percent of the cost, fairing is about 10 percent and then about 10 percent which is associated with the launch itself. So if we're able to reuse all elements of the rocket, first of all, it'd be the first-ever fully reused orbital vehicle of any kind. And then we'd be able to reduce the cost for launch by an order of magnitude."

"We may be able to get down to a marginal cost for a Falcon 9 launch down, fully considered, down under $5 million or $6 million."

"16 years of extreme effort"

"For those who know rockets, this is a ridiculously hard thing. And it's taken us, man, from 2002, 16 years of extreme effort, and many, many iterations, and thousands of small but important development changes to get to where we think this is even possible."

Building commercial rockets to fly like commercial airplanes

"It's really designed like a commercial airliner, relative to, say, a general aviation aircraft. Getting all those details right is massively difficult."

"If aircraft were not reusable and you needed a new one for every flight, then each ticket would cost millions of dollars, at least. One way. And you'd need two for a two-way trip. And almost no one would be able to afford to fly. And that's the situation with expendable rockets today. And what happens once you achieve reusability, then tickets can go from a million dollars, to a few thousand dollars, or a few hundred dollars for short trips. And then fundamentally spaceflight will be open to almost anyone, just as air flight is."

"I think the general sentiment will change from being, from feeling like a flown rocket is scary to feeling like an un-flown rocket is scary. Just like, would you rather fly in an aircraft that's never had a test flight before? Or would you rather fly in an aircraft that's flown many times successfully? I think that's, certainly for  I'm a pilot, and I've flown a lot of aircraft, and I've read about aircraft design  I definitely would far prefer to fly in an aircraft that's flown many times successfully than one that has never flown. But really we completely have the opposite sentiment in rocket land. But I think that sentiment over time will change to the point that people will actually prefer to fly on a flight-proven rocket than one that has never flown."

Proud of and impressed by the SpaceX team

"And then, as mentioned, Block 5 also has improved payload to orbit. Improved redundancy. Improved reliability. It's really better in every way than Block 4. I'm really proud of the SpaceX team for this design. We spent a tremendous amount of time on it. I've gone over every detail that I could fit in my brain, and I'm just really impressed with the quality of work that the SpaceX team has [brought] here. Come what may in this launch, I know that we have a really great team. I couldn't be more proud of them. And I know that they've done everything they can to make this go well."

Read the full transcript:



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Bitcoin gained 0.84% on Saturday, partially reversing Fridays 6.71% slide, to end the day at $8,483.2.

It was only the 2nd positive day in the current week that has left Bitcoin down 12.2% Monday through Saturday.

A continued slide from Friday saw Bitcoin fall to an intraday low and new swing lo $8,204.4 before a late morning recovery, Bitcoin managing to avoid the days first major support level at $8,158.17 and the risk of pulling back through to sub-$8,000 levels for the first time since 19th April.

Bitcoins late morning move through to an intraday high $8,631.7 fell short of the days first major resistance level at $8,842.47 and the 23.6% FIB Retracement Level of $8,730, with Bitcoin failing to touch $9,000 levels for the first time since 21st April.

The days new swing lo $8,204.4 continued to support the near-term bearish trend formed at 5th Mays swing hi $9,999, with Bitcoins lacklustre gain on Saturday having little impact on the weeks losses.

How the markets will respond to regulatory chatter through the week remains to be seen, but with the South Korean government continuing to send mixed messages to the market following the UpBit raid last week, there will be some concern over what lies ahead, particularly if the latest raid delivers some unwanted news on South Koreas largest exchange adhering to KYC and anti-money laundering policies.

Its going to be a long summer, with regulators the world over expected to roll out regs and for Bitcoin, this weeks Bitcoin Cash hard fork will also be of influence, Bitcoin Cash looking to nudge Bitcoin off the top spot.

Get Into Cryptocurrency Trading Today

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down 1.15% to $8,373, with Saturdays 0.84% gain having failed to inspire investors to jump back in.

A start of the day $8,520.2 high fell short of the 23.6% FIB Retracement Level of $8,628 and the days first major resistance level at $8,675.13, with hopes of a continuation to Saturday afternoons upward trend falling away as Bitcoin slipped to an early morning low $8,318.3 and back into the red.

Story continues

Holding above the days first major support level at $8,247.83 will have provided some hope of an afternoon recovery, though much will depend on the news wires and investor angst ahead of the new week, with the markets likely to get an update on the UpBit raid. A forced closure would certainly be damming for the markets and, while unlikely, remains a possibility nonetheless, which should continue to limit any material upside through today.

For the day ahead, a move back through to $8,500 levels would support a run at the 23.6% FIB Retracement Level of $8,628, though without a material shift in market sentiment later in the morning, Bitcoin will likely leave the days second major resistance level at $8,867.07 untested to mark a second consecutive day that Bitcoin fails to break through to $9,000 levels.

For now, the near-term bearish trend remains intact, with Bitcoin needing to break out from the 38.2% FIB Retracement Level of $8,890 through to $9,000 levels to reverse the near-term trend. Much will depend on regulatory chatter from South Korea in the week ahead.

Elsewhere in the cryptomarket, Moneros XMR and Stellars Lumen bucked the trend early, with gains of 1.16% and 0.55% respectively, with Bitcoin Cash seeing the heaviest loss early on, down 3.09% at the time of writing.

BTC/USD 13/05/18 Hourly Chart

Buy & Sell Cryptocurrency Instantly

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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Photo credit: Getty Images

From Popular Mechanics

Scientists successfully mounted a hyper thin, flexible, laser-shooting membrane on cow eyeballs. The invention of a pliable, movable laser unlocks new possibilities for security, and it's also just really cool: some day, we might be shooting lasers from our eyes.

Laser light, which doesn't occur naturally, can be used in precision tools, measurements and surgeries, used to map and track movement or location. Most lasers require a solid supporting structure for stability, which makes them hard to attach to pliable surfaces.

In a study published in Nature, researchers overcame this setback by developing an ultra-thin membrane laser that can be fixed to curved or delicate objects, "like a sticker, really," study co-author Malte Gather, a professor at the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom, told Live Science. The whole laser is less than 1/1000th of a millimeter thick.

After researchers calculated the amount of light they needed to charge and operate the laser (an amount that would be safe for cow or human eyes), they charged the membrane with blue light, and placed it on contact lenses that they mounted on cow eyeballs (cow eyeballs share a similar structure to human eyeballs, but are slightly easier to obtain.) The cow eyes emitted "a well-defined green laser beam."

By varying the materials and adjusting the grating structures of the laser, the emission can be designed to show a specific series of sharp lines on a flat background, aka, engineered to emit a barcode, researcher Markus Karl explained. The membrane lasers could be used as wearable IDs or security tags in humans, and are delicate enough to attach to future banknotes or documents.

(via Nature / Live Science)

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"Mad Money" host Jim Cramer reiterates his bullish call on Nvidia after the chipmaking giant's earnings report.

Cramer pushes back on concerns about Nvidia's cryptocurrency-mining segment.

CNBC's Jim Cramer didn't rename his dog Everest to Nvidia NVDA for nothing  he did it because the company is a "remarkable" leader in the world of computing chips, he said on Friday.

"Nvidia's a rescue dog, and I feel compelled today to rescue Nvidia, the company, from the narrative that I most feared: the one that says its stock is falling ... because of a decline in cryptocurrency mining," the "Mad Money" host said one day after Nvidia's earnings report .

Beating analysts' expectations on the top and bottom lines, Nvidia's first-quarter report showed a slowdown in its cryptocurrency-mining segment.

When the price of bitcoin neared $20,000 , crypto-fanatics bought Nvidia's powerful, costly gaming chips to mine the cryptocurrency, "inflating the company's bottom line in an unsustainable way," Cramer said.

In its previous quarter , Nvidia's management warned investors of the unexpected boost and forecast an eventual slowdown. This quarter, they doubled down on that message: while the mining results were still strong, next quarter would show a steeper drop, they said.

"That ... non-news dominated the headlines and caused investors to panic, just as I feared, even as every other line of business was downright fabulous: gaming, data center, artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, you name it," Cramer said.

"Look, I warned you this would happen," he added. "But apparently that wasn't enough to prevent the stock from selling off on something that should've been expected by everybody. Why? In part because Nvidia's stock had run so much that a lot of people felt it was way too expensive."

"This quarter will show a big drop off in crypto sales. Everyone knows that. At least I thought they did," Cramer wrote on Twitter ahead of the report.

Story continues

But what mattered more than the stock's near-term costs was its long-term outlook, the "Mad Money" host argued. He noted that in 2016, shares of Nvidia looked like they were trading at 40 times earnings, but by the end of 2017  the year of the crypto craze  it was only trading at 12 times earnings.

"That's what happens when you keep blowing away the estimates," Cramer said, pointing to Nvidia's other wildly strong lines of business making chips for top cloud companies like Amazon AMZN Web Services and the Google Cloud and for voice-enabled devices like Amazon's Alexa.

"I think that if you totally strip out the cryptocurrency-mining business, which is basically what will happen next quarter, Nvidia's stock will still turn out to be incredibly cheap based on, say, its 2019 or 2020 earnings," Cramer said. "[That] is why I say that Nvidia's no dog in real life, just in my household, and it should be bought, not sold. This is not a cryptocurrency story and the rest of the business, the actual core business? It's booming."

WATCH: Cramer defends Nvidia as crypto worries pressure stock

Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Nvidia, Amazon and Google's parent company, Alphabet.

Questions for Cramer?

Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC

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Questions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com





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Geopolitical events play a significant part in the way various currencies perform in the forex market. Anything from general elections to military tensions between rival nations can cause currencies to take a nosedive or increase in value.

This is what is known as geopolitical risk. With todays markets more interconnected than ever, traders from major forex platforms must pay close attention to geopolitical events if they want to mitigate the risks.

How Geopolitical Events Influence Forex?

The forex market is huge. It grew to a peak trading volume of $5.3 trillion in 2013 but has dropped slightly since then. Bank of International Settlements (BIS) data from 2016 reveals that 5.1 trillion USD is traded each day. In terms of volume, the USD is by far the most traded currency and it accounts for 88% of the forex markets turnover. As the largest economy in the world, geopolitical events have a profound effect on the USD, which in turn affects other currencies.

Brexit is a good case in point. Following the EU independence referendum in the UK in 2016, the USD gained 10% against the GBP. The USD has also been affected by the Trump presidency. Trumps protectionist foreign policies have caused the USD to slump in recent months; the more the president tweets his crazy viewpoints, the worse it gets.

Improved Stability has a Calming Effect

Looking beyond the US, there are a number of interesting developments in the wider world that could impact on the forex market in a big way. And, with relationships between the US and China, Korea and Israel getting better by the day, improved stability in the east is certain to have a profound effect.

The US is the biggest kid in the schoolyard, so any changes in Americas relationship with North Korea, China, and Israel has a knock-on effect on the forex market. Greater stability in the region has a calming effect on the notoriously volatile currency markets.

The US and North Korea

Pyongyangs nuclear ambitions and Kim Jong-uns inflammatory rhetoric have been the source of much anxiety in recent years, but finally, it seems the Kim Jong-un is ready to make peace with his closest neighbor, South Korea, and the US. It may be because sanctions are biting deep  we will probably never know the true reasons behind Pyongyangs willingness to play nice  but there is no doubt that China, South Korea, and most other nations can sleep easier knowing Kim Jong-un no longer quite so trigger happy.

Story continues

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America Vs. China

Americas relationship with China is also a complex one. China and the US are each others biggest trading partners. The US imported US$45,788 million in January of this year and exported USD9,835. As you can see, there is a huge trade deficit, which President Trump is keen to address. Ideally, he would prefer to block cheap Chinese imports, but that is an unrealistic proposition. The trade deficit has caused tension between China and the US dating back to 2012. President Trump sought to smooth the waters when he unveiled the ten-part agreement between Beijing and Washington last year. Then in March this year, he then announced sweeping trade tariffs on contentious Chinese imports. The Chinese soon retaliated. Traders dont take such announcements well and the USD slumped at fears of a trade war looming. Improving relations between Beijing and Washington should help to reverse this effect.

US Relations with Israel

Relations between the US and Israel are currently very good, but Trumps withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal has Israel on high alert. If tensions in the region continue to rise, which is likely judging by news in recent days, we could see some significant volatility in the forex market.

The biggest fear right now is that deteriorating relations between Israel and Iran could spark further conflict in the region. If this happens, volatility in the forex markets is the least of our worries.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:
Ex-Israeli PM Ehud Barak: Iran suspects that Trump may be looking for an excuse to strike its nuclear assets

Iran is being "extremely cautious" following President Trump's decision to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak says.

He says Trump's " totally unpredictable" nature puts Iran, and North Korea, on the defensive.

The U.S. president has made it a goal of his administration to seek a closer alliance with Israel .

Iran is being "extremely cautious" following President Donald Trump 's decision to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak told CNBC on Friday.

With two newly installed hardliners  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton  driving Trump's foreign policy, Iran worries that the United States may be looking for an excuse to strike militarily, Barak said on "Squawk Box."

"The Iranians, I should tell you, are suspicious that with Pompeo on one side and Bolton on the other side, the next step, they suspect, might be a cautious waiting for the slightest mistake ... that will lead to [an] American strike on their nuclear assets," said Barak.

He stopped short of criticizing Trump's move this week to exit the multination Iran deal, President Barack Obama 's signature foreign policy achievement. While agreeing it was a bad agreement, the former Israeli prime minister did say he thought there were other ways to deal with Iran's destabilizing behavior.

After Trump announced his decision on Tuesday, Iran launched a rocket attack from Syria on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights. Israel responded with warplanes hitting Iranian targets in Syria.

The agreement to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions also involved the United Kingdom , France , Germany , China and Russia .

"Once the president pulled out, it's a fact," Barak said. "It doesn't cancel the deal because the others are not going to pull out."

Story continues

Despite the complications Trump created with international partners on Iran, the U.S. president did put Tehran on notice, Barak said.

"It created new realities. The Iranians are extremely cautious. And in the same way, you can look at North Korea ," he said. "One of the reasons the North Koreans get warmer with South Korea has to do with the fact that the American president now is totally unpredictable in the minds of these players."

Barak was prime minister from 1999 to 2001 as leader of Israel's Labor Party. He also served as defense minister from 2009 to 2013 in a coalition government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , who long lobbied for scrapping the Iran nuclear deal.





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Vanda (VNDA) shares have started gaining and might continue moving higher in the near term, as indicated by solid earnings estimate revisions.

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  May 11, 2018  Zacks Equity Research highlights Exelixis EXEL as the Bull of the Day and Applied Optoelectronics AAOI as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Nvidia Corporation NVDA.

Here is a synopsis of all three stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Exelixisis a $6 billion biotechnology company focused on cancer R&D and the producer of cabozantinib (sold under the brand names Cabometyx and Cometriq), a treatment approved by the FDA for several indications: medullary thyroid cancer, a second line treatment for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), and clinical activity in several other types of metastatic cancer.

Unique among small biotech companies, EXEL is a profitable mid-cap cancer fighter with projected 58% revenue growth and 68% EPS growth this year. The stock just became a Zacks #1 Rank this week after a very strong Q1 of big top and bottom line surprises reported on 5/2.

Here's how Oppenheimer analysts summed up the quarter and outlook, reiterating their $40 PT...



Cabometyx sales of $128.9 million were 34.5% higher than our estimated $95.9 million and 20.6% higher than consensus of $106.9 million. Based on Cabometyx demand increases and the strong start to the frontline RCC launch, we are increasing our sales estimate for 2018 by 16.8% to $510.5 million. Our outlook for 2019  2022 revenue is basically unchanged. While being partially offset by a small increase in estimated expenses, the sales estimate increase and milestone payments are leading us to raise our estimated 2018 EPS to $0.74 from our prior $0.37.

And Oppy is still $200 million under consensus for projected 2018 sales of $716M. I almost wonder if they made a typo given their high Street PT of $40, which was shared by SunTrust until today (more on this coming up).

Story continues

Bear of the Day:

Optical networking equipment companies like Applied Optoelectronics are no stranger to the cellar of the Zacks Rank lately as a slowdown in Chinese datacenter demand and heated competition erode their sales and earnings power.

AAOI, in fact, has spent all of 2018 as a Zacks #5 Rank Strong Sell, since it was trading above $38 and fell to $22. And this week's earnings report gave analysts no reason to turn that trend around.

My colleague Ryan McQueeny wrote about the AAOI report on Tuesday and had this to say...

Currently, AAOI is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), but that could change based on todays results. Shares of the company have gained about 38% over the past month, including a 4.4% gain during regular trading hours today.

The stock is currently down 9.3% to $32.00 per share in after-hours trading shortly after its earnings report was released.

Missed earnings estimates. The company posted adjusted earnings of $0.28 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.33 per share. Investors should note that this consensus projection has trended downward over the duration of the quarter.

Missed revenue estimates. The company saw revenue figures of $65.2 million, missing our consensus estimate of $69.3 million. Total revenue was down 32% from the year-ago period.

3 Tech Stocks Under $10 to Buy Now

Nvidia Crushes Q1 Earnings Estimates, Revenues Surge 66%

Nvidia Corporation just released its latest quarterly financial results, posting non-GAAP earnings of $2.05 per share and revenues of $3.21 billion.

Currently, NVDA is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), but that could change based on todays results. Shares of the company have gained about 13% over the past month, including a 1.7% gain during regular trading hours today.

The stock is currently down 2.2% to $254.63 per share in after-hours trading shortly after its earnings report was released.

Nvidia:

Beat earnings estimates. The company posted adjusted earnings of $2.05 per share, crushing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.65. Investors should note that this consensus projection has remained flat over the duration of the quarter. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share improved 141% year over year.

Beat revenue estimates. The company saw revenue figures of $3.2 billion, topping our consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. Total revenue gained 66% from the year-ago period.

Gaming revenue increased 68% to touch $1.72 billion. Datacenter revenue surged 71% to reach a quarterly record of $701 million. Professional Visualization and Automotive revenues gained 22% and 4%, respectively.

We had a strong quarter with growth across every platform, said Jensen Huang. Our datacenter business achieved another record and gaming remained strong.

Nvidia said it returned $746 million to shareholders during the quarter through a combination of $655 million in share repurchases and $91 million in quarterly cash dividends. It expects to return a total of $1.25 billion in fiscal 2019.

Nvidia said it expects revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2019 to be $3.10 billion, plus or minus 2%. Prior to the report, our consensus estimate was calling for Q2 revenue to be $2.97 billion.

Nvidia Corporation is a worldwide leader in graphics processors and media communications devices. The company designs graphics processing units for the gaming, professional, and cryptocurrency markets, as well as system on a chip units for the mobile computing and automotive markets. Nvidia has shifted toward a platform-based model, with focuses on gaming, professional visualization, datacenters, and auto.

Check back later for our full analysis on NVDAs earnings report!

Want more market analysis from this author? Make sure to follow @Ryan McQueeney on Twitter!

Wall Streets Next Amazon

Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. Its a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.

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In another seeming flareup of his chronic foot-in-mouth disease, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Friday told the Huffington Post that the president "denied the merger" sought by AT&T and Time-Warner. Then, on Saturday, the White House told CNN that Giuliani got it wrong, and that the Department of Justice alone blocked the deal.

Trump has long been a vocal opponent of the AT&T-Time Warner merger, apparently in part because of his antipathy for Time Warner-owned CNN, which he has labeled "fake news" for its negative coverage of him. There are longstanding concerns that he would try to compromise the Justice Department's independence as it evaluated the proposed merger.

Giuliani seemed oblivious to those concerns when he told HuffPost on Friday that "the president denied the merger. They didn't get the result they wanted."

Giuliani's comments were aimed at shielding the president from a related scandal -- a wave of revelations that Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer/fixer, had accepted millions of dollars in consulting fees that may have been aimed at gaining influence with the president.

At least some of those payments were made to the same shell company that Cohen used to pay $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels as part of a deal to block her from discussing an alleged affair with Trump.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune's technology newsletter.

Those included $600,000 from AT&T, payments that the company has since said were "a big mistake." According to sources speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the executive who oversaw the payments to Cohen has been forced out as a result.

The payments are a big problem for the president, who promised during his campaign to fight influence peddling. Giuliani told HuffPost that "the president had no knowledge of" those big payments to Cohen, and further that Cohen never discussed his clients, also including drugmaker Novartis, with the President. "Whatever lobbying was done didn't reach the president," Giuliani also said. "He did drain the swamp."

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But this morning, White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders told CNN that Giuliani got Trumps role in the decision wrong, saying "the Department of Justice denied the deal." The DOJ's antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, has sworn under oath that there was no political influence on his decision to block the deal -- even though he has reversed his position publicly.

Some outside analysis, moreover, suggests the deal should have been approved. Thats in large part because of the technological changes fueling cord-cutting among TV consumers, which threatens to undermine traditional cable television, and which the merger was intended to respond to. Time Warner's CEO has called the case against the merger "ridiculous."

Considering how little Giuliani seems to know about what his client does, he may have simply misspoken -- or less generously, made something up -- in the process of attempting to defend Trump. But his comments are serious fodder for the presidents critics, who have plenty of reason to believe that his personal grudge against the media led him to meddle with a deal worth $85.4 billion.

See original article on Fortune.com

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Investing in precious metals is most often associated with directly owning bullion or investing in mining companies, but both strategies have notable drawbacks. Streaming and royalty companies, like Royal Gold, Inc., Franco-Nevada Corporation, and Wheaton Precious Metals Corp., change the equation, effectively avoiding many of those negatives, allowing them to provide more consistent returns to investors over time. Here are some of the key benefits and drawbacks you need to know about the gold streaming niche, including a deeper look at a few of the industry's biggest companies.

What is gold streaming?

The precious metals mining business is pretty simple to understand: Find a spot that contains gold or silver, dig it up, and sell it. That's obviously an oversimplification of a very complex, dangerous, and expensive business model, but you get the idea. A streaming and royalty company doesn't do any of that, but instead provides an important part of the process: cash.

A man sitting by a river panning for gold

Image source: Getty Images.

Essentially, streaming provides cash up front to miners in exchange for the right to buy gold, silver, or other metals at reduced rates in the future. Miners benefit from having access to an additional source of capital over and above what they can get from banks and capital markets, which at times can be costly sources of capital. Streaming companies, meanwhile, benefit from contractually locking in low costs for gold and silver.

Many companies that operate in the streaming niche also have royalty deals in their portfolio. Royalty deals are similar to streaming deals in that cash is provided up front to miners. In exchange, however, the miner pays a percentage of the sales from a mine to the streaming and royalty company. The up-front payment is usually larger, since the streaming and royalty company isn't expected to buy any of the gold that is produced from the mine. For the most part, the risks and rewards of royalty and streaming deals are fairly similar.

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An example of a streaming deal

In 2015, Royal Gold announced that it had inked a streaming deal with Barrick Gold Corporation, one of the largest gold miners in the world, related to Barrick's 60% interest in the Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic. Royal Gold provided the miner $610 million in exchange for 7.5% of Barrick's interest in the gold produced at Pueblo Viejo until 990,000 ounces of gold have been delivered, and 3.75% thereafter, plus 75% of Barrick's interest in the silver produced at the mine until 50 million ounces have been delivered, and 37.5% thereafter.

The gold and silver it will receive is notable, of course, but the really important number here is what Royal Gold is paying for that gold and silver: 30% of the spot price up to key production targets, and then 60% thereafter. It doesn't matter what the spot price at the time is, Royal Gold has locked in wide profits.

Benefits to investing in streaming companies

Since streaming and royalty companies are only providing cash to miners, they are best looked at as specialty finance companies. However, for most investors interested in adding precious metals to a diversified portfolio, they are probably the best option. The reasons tie back to the unique streaming model, which includes contractually locked-in wide margins, as the example above illustrates. Benefits to investors include:

Consistent results. Although each streaming and royalty deal is different, the trailing EBITDA margins of streaming companies Royal Gold, Franco-Nevada, and Wheaton Precious Metals have been solidly positive over the past decade. Positive, and wide, EBITDA margins are a sign these companies are running their businesses profitably. The contractually guaranteed low prices these companies pay are the bedrock on which those consistently wide margins are built. Giant miners like Barrick Gold, Newmont Mining, and GoldCorp, for comparison, have each seen their trailing EBITDA margins dip into negative territory at least once, if not more often, during that same time period.

Fast-moving gold prices and the costs of mining, which is a slow and difficult process, combine to make consistency hard to achieve for miners. And it can be difficult for investors to stick around when a miner is struggling to turn a profit. The wide margins at royalty and streaming companies, on the other hand, can provide a reason for shareholders to stick around even if gold prices are falling.

Diversification means less risk. Diversification is another key benefit streaming and royalty companies offer, with even large miners generally only operating a handful of mines. Some small miners, meanwhile, only operate one or two. Streaming companies, however, generally spread their risk across a larger number of assets. Focusing on providing cash to the miners who take on the task of running mines makes diversification easier for them to achieve. Franco-Nevada, for example, provides exposure to nearly 300 mine investments, 50 of which are producing assets, while the rest are in some stage of development. That diversification materially reduces the risk that trouble at any one mine will derail performance. Since gold and silver prices are already prone to swift and often large price swings, with their prices driven by supply and demand (and often emotional investors), diversifying mine risk is a nice benefit.

Dividends. Dividend income is another key benefit provided by the larger gold royalty and streaming companies. Although miners often pay dividends, too, those can wind up being cut when commodity prices fall. Royal Gold and Franco-Nevada, on the other hand, have each increased their dividend for at least a decade. And while Wheaton's dividend is variable, it is linked to the company's performance, so investors know beforehand that the dividend is a moving target -- but they know the math involved behind the payout.

Locked-in low prices, wide margins, and diversification are what allow streaming companies to be more generous with dividends. This is no small point, since dividends can provide investors something to watch, instead of stock prices, when gold and silver prices are weak. That, in turn, can help investors stick around through the entire commodity cycle to benefit from the diversification that gold and silver provide to an investment portfolio.

Better than bullion. Investing in streaming companies also has a leg up on direct ownership of gold and silver. If you buy gold bullion, the only upside you have is a potential increase in the price of gold. An ounce of gold today will still be an ounce of gold tomorrow (or even 1,000 years from now). Since streaming companies invest in both developed and developing mines, they benefit, like miners, from the opportunity for increased production over time. That's one reason that it's important to view streaming companies as having a portfolio, managing a collection of streaming investments over time. Indeed, they need to balance investing in current production with investments that can maintain and enhance production in the future as they are developed.

Risks of investing in streaming companies

There are also issues that investors will want to keep in mind when looking at gold royalty and streaming companies. Since streamers are kind of like specialty finance companies, it shouldn't be surprising at all to know that the biggest issues are found on the balance sheet. This is because the basic streaming model is to use short-term debt to fund streaming and royalty deals and then permanently finance that debt by issuing stock or long-term debt.

Dilution. Some streaming and royalty companies, notably Franco-Nevada, have a preference for maintaining a debt-free balance sheet. However, streaming deals can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. That's not the kind of cash that most companies keep around. So, in order to raise the money needed to support streaming deals, streaming companies often issue stock. The risk here is that every new share of stock reduces the ownership stake, and financial benefit, of existing shareholders. This dilution, as it's called, isn't a problem if the streaming deals work out as expected. But if something were to go wrong, like a new mine not actually getting built, then issuing dilutive shares would be a notable negative.

Leverage. Other streaming and royalty companies, such as Royal Gold, prefer to use debt to permanently fund their deals. The goal is to use the cash flow from the streaming agreements to reduce the debt balance over time. There are two potential risks here. First, if a mine investment doesn't work out as expected, then the projected cash flows won't be there to pay down the debt or support the associated interest expense. But you'll also want to keep an eye on the total debt load a streaming company is carrying, since too much debt could effectively leave it unable to ink new deals until its balance sheet is healthier.

Are streaming companies good investments?

Streaming and royalty companies aren't right for every investor. For example, if you like to dig in and find unique opportunities being mispriced by the market, the more diversified and hands-off approach of a streamer isn't appropriate for you. And buying gold bullion might be more attractive if you believe gold will be a more viable option in the case of a catastrophic market collapse.

However, for most investors, streaming and royalty companies are a great mix of risk and reward. The diversification, consistently wide margins, and regular dividends can make it much easier to maintain exposure to precious metals throughout the entire commodity cycle. And that, in turn, increases the chance that investors will benefit from the diversification that gold and silver can offer.

Top gold streaming companies

Although gold streaming is something of a niche in the precious metals market, the largest competitors have been in the business since the 1980s, while new entrants are showing up as well (including hedge funds, private equity, and pension funds). Most investors, however, should probably stick with the largest, easiest to trade, and longest-tenured companies for now. Here are the top five.

Company Market Cap Dividend Yield Franco-Nevada (NYSE: FNV) $13 billion 1.3% Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE: WPM) $9 billion 1.7% Royal Gold (NASDAQ: RGLD) $6 billion 1.2% Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. $1.6 billion 1.6% Sandstorm Gold Ltd. $800 million N/A

Franco-Nevada

The largest streaming company by market cap is Franco-Nevada. As noted above, it has investments in nearly 300 mines, 50 of which are producing. However, it has taken diversification further than its peers by investing in around 80 oil and natural gas assets (57 producing), following the same basic business model. It's not as pure a play on metals, but if you are looking for diversification, that non-precious-metals exposure is an interesting addition to the mix. That said, gold provides roughly 70% of its revenue, with silver at 15%, and oil and gas at just 7% (the rest is, effectively, "other"), meaning that gold is still the big driver of performance here. The company has increased its dividend annually for 10 consecutive years.

Big streaming deals have gotten harder to find following the recovery in commodity prices that started in early 2016. So Franco-Nevada's deep bench of development projects is going to be the driving force on the mining side of its business. Such projects, however, can take time to develop. Which is where the company's diversification into energy comes in. Over the near term, management expects the revenue from its oil and gas investments to grow swiftly, supporting continued top-line growth. Note that those investments were made while oil was in a downturn, showing how Franco-Nevada's management makes opportunistic use of its diversified approach for the benefit of its shareholders. If you are interested in this streaming company, you'll want to keep a close eye on its oil investments right now, even though they aren't the biggest piece of the portfolio.

Wheaton Precious Metals

Previously known as Silver Wheaton, this company changed its name to Wheaton Precious Metals in mid-2017 to reflect its shifting portfolio. As you might expect, silver was once this streaming company's bread and butter. Today, however, production is split roughly evenly between gold and silver. It still provides more exposure to silver than its peers, and it is the least diversified by mine investment, with just 26 total projects in its portfolio (17 of which are producing).

Wheaton has a slightly different focus than its peers, concentrating on larger investments in larger assets with fewer speculative development projects. Wheaton's dividend is variable, pegged at 30% of the average of the previous four quarters' operating cash flows. Although that means the dividend will fluctuate over time, you'll go in knowing that fact as well as how the final dividend is arrived at -- with most miners, the dividend is based on nothing more than the current opinion of the board of directors.

Looking forward, Wheaton believes its investments have the potential to increase its production by as much as 45% if key projects start producing. However, as an example, one of its investments is in the long-stalled Pascua-Lama mine, which straddles Chile and Argentina. Barrick Gold has been trying to build this mine for over a decade at this point, and continues to face pushback from environmentalists, residents, and the government. So there's material opportunity for production growth at Wheaton, but the success of just a handful of development projects in the company's highly focused portfolio will determine how much opportunity.

Royal Gold

Royal Gold's biggest differentiating factor is its impressive 17 years' worth of annual dividend hikes -- the longest streak in the streaming industry. Gold has gone through multiple booms and busts over that time, which speaks volumes about management's ability to use the streaming business model to provide investors with a steadily growing stream of income. The portfolio includes 193 investments, with 39 operating and the rest in earlier stages of development. Gold accounts for around 80% of its revenue, the largest percentage within this trio of streamers, with silver and copper both at 9% (the rest is "other"). For those seeking a reliable dividend stream, Royal Gold has definitely proven itself over time.

With big streaming deals harder to find, Royal Gold has shifted gears and is paying down debt. This is exactly what investors want to see happen. That said, production growth is still in the cards here. Royal Gold has a number of streaming investments that are expected to start producing (or increasing production) over the next couple of years. Investors will want to watch the debt reduction efforts and updates on the development projects in its portfolio, which management likes to say are bought and paid for.

The best gold option?

Now that you have a better understanding of the streaming and royalty model's pros and cons and have taken a look at some of the largest players in the industry, it should be pretty clear that owning shares in a streaming and royalty company is a strong alternative to owning gold coins or stock in gold miners. It's probably best to focus on the largest companies in the space, with both Franco-Nevada and Royal Gold getting high marks for diversification and consistent dividend growth over time. That said, Wheaton's focused portfolio holds impressive production potential; you'll just need to keep a close eye on a small number of projects that may or may not work out as planned.

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Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
FILE PHOTO: India's Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan speaks during an interview with Reuters in New Delhi, India, June 12, 2015. REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee/File Photo

By Rania El Gamal

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday expressed concern about the rise oil prices but said it was too early to predict the impact of U.S. sanctions on his country's imports of Iranian oil after Washington withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal.

"This kind of geopolitical (tension) affects both consuming and producing countries. We have to live with the reality of the present geopolitics," Pradhan told Reuters during a visit to the United Arab Emirates.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday reneged on an international nuclear accord with Iran and announced renewed sanctions against the OPEC member. The original agreement had lifted sanctions for Tehran limiting its nuclear program.

Crude prices remained just below multi-year highs, with Brent on track for a weekly 2.8 percent gain and U.S. crude a 1.2 percent weekly rise. Brent crude settled down 35 cents at $77.12 a barrel on Friday.

Pradhan said he was "a little bit concerned" about the impact of the current rise in oil prices on consuming countries but that he did not think oil supply would be an issue.

"Let's see how things are moving. It's too early to predict in one way. We are watching very carefully," he said.

Iran is the third-largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Iran ramped up supplies after lifting the sanctions in 2016, producing 3.81 million bpd in March 2018.

Analysts now expect Iran's supplies to fall by between 200,000 bpd and 1 million bpd, depending on how many other countries fall in line with Washington.

During the last round of sanctions, India enjoyed waivers allowing limited Iranian oil imports paid for in rupees instead of U.S. dollars.

When sanctions were loosened against Tehran, India increased imports from Iran to almost 900,000 bpd in late 2016, but intake has fallen back to around 500,000 bpd this year.

Pradhan also said that there was a consensus between Saudi Arabia's state oil giant Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Indian companies to firm a joint venture for India's Ratnagiri oil refinery.

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The planned $44 billion facility in western India will be one of the largest refining and petrochemical complexes in the world at 1.2 million barrels per day.

Aramco in April signed a deal with India for a 50 percent stake in the project, saying it may introduce at a later stage a strategic partner to share its 50 percent stake.

ADNOC wants to expand its downstream portfolio in markets where demand for oil is still growing, such as China and India, securing a new outlet for its crude.

Pradhan was speaking at ADNOC's headquarters on the sidelines of an event marking the first cargo of crude oil from ADNOC, to the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) after it has been loaded and was en-route to India.

The cargo is the first under an agreement between ADNOC and India's government-owned company ISPRL, to locate 5.86 million barrels of ADNOC crude oil at the Karnataka facility in the Indian city of Mangalore, ADNOC said in a statement.

The loading ceremony, of approximately 2 million barrels of ADNOC crude oil, was witnessed by Pradhan and UAE Minister of State and ADNOC's CEO Sultan al-Jaber, in Abu Dhabi.

"The strategic reserve will provide a boost to Indias energy security and help us deal with supply side disruptions. While part of the stored oil will be used for commercial purposes by ADNOC, the major part will be purely for strategic purposes," Pardhan said in a statement after the ceremony.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal; Writing by Noah Browning; Editing by Alexander Smith and Angus MacSwan)
meghan markle honeymoon prince harry

Chris Jackson / Getty

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will honeymoon in Namibia, reportedly.

But the royal couple's honeymoon could include another African country: Botswana.

Botswana is meaningful to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  they celebrated Markle's birthday there, and the center stone of her engagement ring is also from Botswana.

It's been reported that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will honeymoon in Namibia  a country that offers incredible views and ultimate privacy.

The best time of year to visit Namibia is in May, according to Marisa Lassman, a travel expert and founder of Another Africa, a luxury travel agency that specializes in unique and tailored trips across the continent. But Lassman said the royal couple's honeymoon may also include one of their past vacation spots.

"A trip to this part of the world should always begin with Namibia and end in Botswana," Lassman said.

"Whilst Namibia is scenically astonishing, the level of camps and lodges cannot compete with the quality of what you'd find in Botswana. Far better to end the trip on a real high!"

Not only is Botswana a favorite of Lassman's, it's also a favorite of Markle's and Prince Harry's, as the two have vacationed there together in the past, including a trip there for Markle's 36th birthday. While there, they visited UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as the Okavango Delta, and have noted that the trip truly cemented their relationship.

Markle's engagement ring is also from Botswana  with a center cushion-cut diamond that's estimated to be five carats, and sourced by Prince Harry himself.

If the couple does end up making a pit-stop in Botswana, Lassman suggests the two stay three nights at the Zarafa Dhow Suites, and three nights at Little Mombo.

Wherever the couple decides, it's sure to be romantic.

Story continues

NOW WATCH: How a tiny camera startup is taking on Amazon and Google

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SEE ALSO: Meghan Markle's engagement ring has a diamond from the second biggest supplier of conflict-free diamonds  here are the best countries to buy diamonds from
Millions of seniors depend on Social Security to pay the bills, but many rely far too heavily on the program to cover their living costs. An estimated 34% of retirees expect their benefits to provide anywhere from 90% to 100% of their monthly income, according to the Social Security Administration, and that's just way off.

The fact of the matter is that Social Security just isn't designed to cover all, or even the bulk, of your senior income. So how much should you expect those benefits to provide?

Senior man in a burgundy sweater holding a mug while reading paper bills

IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.

The average senior needs roughly 80% of his or her pre-retirement income to live comfortably, especially when we factor in major expenses like healthcare. Social Security, meanwhile, will replace about 40% of your previous income if you were an average earner. This means that for the most part, you can expect the program to provide about half of your retirement income, leaving you responsible for the remaining half.

This formula, however, assumes that you were an average earner. Because Social Security has a maximum benefit that changes from year to year, workers with pre-retirement earnings above a certain threshold won't see a proportionate increase. So while the program might provide half of an average worker's retirement income, those used to living on much higher salaries won't get as much mileage out of their benefits, but rather, will need to make up the difference with their own savings or additional income streams.

But coming into retirement with savings is crucial regardless of whether you earn a $50,000 salary in the years leading up to it, or a $500,000 salary. And the sooner you realize that, the better positioned you'll be to cover the bills once your career comes to a close.

Building your nest egg

The amount of money you'll need in retirement will depend on a number of factors, including lifestyle choices, hobbies, and your health. But now that you're aware that Social Security will only, in a best-case scenario, provide about half of the income you'll require (or less, if you're a higher earner), you can take steps to build savings of your own.

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If you have a 401(k) plan through your employer, your best bet is to max it out year after year. If you're under 50, the current annual limit is $18,500, and that number jumps up to $24,500 for workers 50 and over.

If you don't have a 401(k), an IRA is another good bet. Though the current annual contribution limits are much lower ($5,500 for workers under 50 and $6,500 for those 50 and over), if you max out an IRA consistently, you'll amass some nice savings over time.

Of course, not everybody can afford to max out either type of retirement plan. But if you give yourself a long-enough savings window, you'll slowly but surely accumulate wealth by making smaller contributions over time. The following table shows how much your nest egg might grow to if you were to save just $300 a month over various time frames:

25 $932,000 30 $620,000 35 $408,000 40 $263,000 45 $165,000 50 $98,000

TABLE AND CALCULATIONS BY AUTHOR.

That 8%, by the way, is still a bit below the stock market's average, which means that it's doable over a lengthy investment period. Of course, if you're just a few years away from retirement, you'll need to go a bit less heavy on stocks. You'll also need to do better than $300 a month if you want a shot at catching up. But if you were to max out a 401(k) for five years at a relatively conservative average annual 5% return, you'd still wind up $135,000 richer.

Another option, if you're approaching retirement without much savings, is to work a bit longer to grow your Social Security benefits. For each year you hold off on taking benefits past full retirement age (which is either 66, 67, or 66 and a number of months, depending on your year of birth), you'll boost them by 8% up until you turn 70. Get the maximum increase, and you may come to find that those benefits end up providing more than 50% of your senior income (though you should still go in with savings nonetheless).

The more realistic you are about Social Security going into retirement, the easier a time you'll have managing your finances as a senior. It also pays to read up about Social Security and learn how to maximize your benefits so that you get as much money as possible out of the program when you need it.

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Bob Quinn, a former Mayer Brown trial attorney who has led AT&T Inc.'s lobbying team since 2016, has retired amid growing scrutiny over the $600,000 the telecom giant paid to Michael Cohen last year. Quinn, executive vice president for external affairs and legislative affairs, ran the regulatory shop for state and federal operations and oversaw legislative efforts across the country. Previously, he led AT&Ts work before the Federal Communications Commission as the companys senior vice president for regulatory affairs. In his first role at AT&T, as a vice president in the federal regulatory affairs group, he represented AT&T before not only the FCC but the U.S. Justice Department. Quinns retirement was announced in an internal memo AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson sent Friday, in which he described Cohens hiring as a big mistake. In this instance, our Washington D.C. team's vetting process clearly failed, and I take responsibility for that, Stephenson said in the memo. For the foreseeable future, he added, Quinns external and legislative affairs team will report to AT&T general counsel David McAtee. Quinn, according to a Reuters report Friday, was responsible for hiring Cohen, a Trump Organization lawyer and self-described "fixer" for Donald Trump. AT&T said this week it paid Cohen $600,000 for "insights and understanding the new administration." It specifically hired Cohen to focus on specific long-term planning initiatives as well as the immediate issue of corporate tax reform and the acquisition of Time Warner, according to an internal document reported by the Washington Post. Cohen was not a registered lobbyist for AT&T, and neither was Quinn. I don't qualify under the standards that are in place in Congress," Quinn said last year in a C-SPAN segment about telecom regulations. In the internal memo Friday morning, Stephenson said everything we did was done according to the law and entirely legitimate. He added: But the fact is our past association with Cohen was a serious misjudgment." [caption id="attachment_15794" align="alignnone" width="620"]

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson testifies in 2016. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / NLJ [/caption] Quinn had written extensively on regulatory issues on AT&T's public policy website. In March 2017, Quinn wrote a post titled "delivering on the Trump regulatory reform agenda." He touted the efforts by the FCC chairman, Ajit Pai, to reform "outdated" regulations. "Over the past several years, United States telecom policy has been marked by the FCC placing its thumb on the public policy scales in order to pick winners and losers in the marketplace," Quinn wrote. Quinn was just one of AT&Ts many ties to Mayer Brown. The firm has lobbied for AT&T since 2001, with its recent work focusing on broadband policy, along with privacy and arbitration legislation. In the first three months of this year, Mayer Brown was the highest paid firm in AT&Ts lobbying stable, pulling in $110,000. Last year, Mayer Brown received $420,000 from AT&T, according to lobbying disclosures. Among ATTs other lobbying firms are Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Wiley Rein LLP and Arnold & Porter. Mayer Brown has also done battle for AT&T in court. Two Washington-based partners, Andy Pincus and Archer Parasharami, advocated for the company in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, a case in which the Supreme Court ruled that class action waivers in arbitration agreements are enforceable. The firm successfully represented AT&T in 2013 in class action litigation in Illinois state court. In 2015, AT&T's legal department named Mayer Brown the inaugural winner of the "pro bono partner law firm of the year." In Washington federal trial court, OMelveny & Myers partner Daniel Petrocelli has led the defense of AT&Ts proposed acquisition of Time Warner against a Justice Department challenge. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon is weighing whether to block the deal. Leon is expected to announce his ruling in the coming weeks. Stephenson's memo is posted in full below: [falcon-embed src="embed_1"] Read more:Michael Cohen Referral Was Top 10 Lobbying Client of Squire Patton Boggs This YearSquire Patton Boggs Strikes Alliance With Trump's LawyerGiuliani Resigns From Greenberg Traurig for 'All-Consuming' Trump RoleWhat Campaign Finance Lawyers Are Saying About Giuliani's Stormy Comments
Tesla Inc.s engineering chief is taking a break from the company, weeks after Elon Musk took over production responsibilities during the rocky ramping up of the Model 3 sedan.

Doug Field, a senior vice president, is taking time off to recharge and spend time with his family and hasnt left the company, a spokesman said in an email.

Musk, 46, had asked Field about a year ago to manage both engineering and production to better align the two departments, the CEO wrote in a tweet last month. Musk was responding to a report by The Information that said he had taken direct control of production. The CEO confirmed this, tweeting that it was better to divide & conquer.

In another tweet, Musk wrote that he regarded Field as one of the worlds most talented engineering executives. Hes one of only four executive officers named in the companys recent proxy statement.

Field, 52, made headlines in March with an email to workers that urged them to prove a bunch of haters wrong by boosting Model 3 output. Tesla came up short of a target to build 2,500 of the cars in the final week of that month. On April 3, the company reported that it produced 2,020 in the previous seven days.
(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's self-driving unit, Waymo, said on Sunday that Matthew Schwall had joined the company from Tesla Inc where he was the electric carmaker's main technical contact with U.S. safety investigators.

The company confirmed the move earlier reported by the Wall Street Journal, which said Schwall joined Waymo's safety team led by former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Deputy Administrator Ron Medford.

The former Tesla executive began at Waymo last Monday and will work on a variety of self-driving car safety issues in his new role, the Journal reported.

Schwall, who was director of field performance engineering at Tesla, exited the company at a time when the National Transportation Safety Board has been investigating multiple crashes involving the electric vehicles.

On Wednesday, the NTSB said it would investigate a Tesla accident in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that killed two teenagers and injured another - the agency's fourth active probe into crashes of the company's electric vehicles.

Tesla did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on Sunday.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Peter Cooney)
(Corrects year in first paragraph to 2020)

By Mica Rosenberg

May 4 (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Friday it will end temporary protections for immigrants in the United States from Honduras on Jan. 5, 2020, leaving potentially 57,000 people vulnerable to deportation.

It is the latest in a series of decisions by President Donald Trump to shut down temporary protected status (TPS) granted to immigrants after natural disasters or violent conflicts that would prevent them from safely returning to their home countries.

Trump has denounced a "caravan" of migrants, mostly from Central America, that has crossed Mexico seeking entry into the United States in San Diego. Many say they are fleeing violence and political unrest at home and hope to claim asylum in U.S. immigration courts.

Marlon Tabora, Honduras' ambassador to the United States, said the conditions did not exist in the country to repatriate tens of thousands of people. "These families have lived in the United States for 20 years and re-integrating them into the country will not be easy if they decide to return," he said.

Hondurans are the second largest nationality with TPS to lose their status, which was granted to the country - along with Nicaragua - in 1999 following the devastation of Hurricane Mitch.

The government said it had conducted a review and found "conditions in Honduras that resulted from the hurricane have notably improved." The 18-month timeline to end the program would allow "individuals with TPS to arrange for their departure or to seek an alternative lawful immigration," the Department of Homeland Security said in a news release.

In January, the Trump administration ended TPS classification for some 200,000 Salvadorans, which had allowed to live and work in the United States since 2001. Their status will expire in 2019.

TPS critics have complained that repeated extensions in six- to 18-month increments of the status, sometimes for decades, has given beneficiaries de facto residency in the United States.

Story continues

In November, then-acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke set a deadline of six months to make a decision about TPS for Honduras, which is one of the most violent countries in the Western Hemisphere and recently has been convulsed by protests following a contested presidential election. Duke is no longer in charge, replaced by Kirstjen Nielsen.

Most of the other countries that have come up for TPS review have been terminated except for Syria, which is in the midst of a devastating war. The administration also recently ended the program for Haiti and Nepal.

Karen Valladares, the director of the National Forum for Migration, a non-governmental organization in Honduras, said people still are choosing to leave because of gang and drug-related violence and lack of economic opportunities.

"There have not been concrete improvements in the security situation," Valladares said. In some ways, "Honduras is worse off than when they left." (Reporting by Mica Rosenberg in New York; Additonal reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa; Editing by Bill Trott)
* Issue of cut in U.S. troop level not on table for Trump-Kim summit - report

* U.S. official says report false - South Korea presidential office (Updates with Pentagon comment; paragraph 7)

WASHINGTON, May 3 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to prepare options for reducing the number of U.S. troops in South Korea, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing several people briefed on the deliberations.

Reduced U.S. troop levels are not intended to be a bargaining chip in Trump's planned summit in late May or early June with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, the Times said.

The officials said, however, that a peace treaty between the two Koreas could diminish the need for the 23,500 U.S. soldiers currently stationed on the peninsula, the newspaper said.

A full withdrawal of U.S. troops was unlikely, the officials said, according to the paper.

But a U.S. National Security Council official told a visiting South Korean official in Washington via telephone the report was false, the South Korean presidential office said in a statement.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, said its posture has not changed.

Trump has said the United States should consider reducing the number of troops in South Korea unless South Korea shoulders more of the cost.

Then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo, before taking office as U.S. secretary of state, met Kim last month and reported the North Korean leader was not demanding the withdrawal of all U.S. forces as a precondition for a summit with Trump.

South Korea said on Wednesday the issue of U.S. troops stationed in the South was unrelated to any future peace treaty with North Korea and that American forces should stay even if such an agreement is signed. (Reporting by Eric Beech and Phil Stewart Additional reporting by Christine Kim, Jane Chung in SEOUL Editing by Peter Cooney and Clarence Fernandez)
Trump stands by Pruitt after report that said the embattled EPA chief dined with a cardinal accused of child sex abuse

President Donald Trump says he has confidence in EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.

Pruitt faces mounting allegations of unethical conduct at the agency.

The latest reporting comes from The New York Times, which says Pruitt had dinner with a cardinal whom the EPA knew was under investigation for child sexual abuse.

Trump has cheered Pruitt's efforts to roll back environmental regulations.

Scott Pruitt 's job appears safe  at least for Friday.

President Donald Trump said he stands behind the Environmental Protection Agency administrator amid a flood of questions about the ethics of his conduct. Sitting two seats away from Pruitt at a meeting with auto industry representatives, the president was asked if he had confidence in the EPA administrator.

"Yes, I do," Trump said as Pruitt and auto executives looked on.

The latest questions about Pruitt came Thursday, when a New York Times reporter said that Pruitt dined with a Vatican official, Cardinal George Pell, last year when the EPA knew Pell was under investigation for child sexual abuse. The EPA did not list Pell on any of the public schedules released under the Freedom of Information Act, according to the Times.

Lipton tweet

Pruitt and Pell have both cast doubt on the scientific community's conclusion that greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are the primary driver of climate change.

In a statement, EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said Pell was "one of 12 to 15 individuals" who attended the dinner and added the "EPA had no knowledge that he was coming to the dinner."

"It is incorrect to report that any knowledge of the allegations against Cardinal Pell were raised to Administrator Pruitt's level. It is also important to note that Cardinal Pell was not charged until June 29, 2017, three weeks after the dinner with several Vatican officials took place," Wilcox said.

The information adds to a long list of ethical concerns Pruitt's conduct at the agency has raised. The EPA administrator also faces allegations of racking up excessive travel and security expenses and going against the White House's wishes to give raises to two aides, among other accusations.

Story continues

Later Friday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she did not know whether Trump was aware of the Times' latest reporting when he said he had confidence in Pruitt.

Testifying before a House committee last month , Pruitt said, "Much of what has been targeted towards me and my team has been half-truths or at best stories that have been so twisted that they do not resemble reality."

A handful of Republican lawmakers and 170 Democrats have urged Pruitt to step down. So far, he has shown no intention of leaving, and Trump has stood by him.

The president has cheered Pruitt's efforts to reduce environmental regulations, saying the effort will help businesses grow. Last month, he defended Pruitt's spending on security and travel, as well as the $50 a night Capitol Hill condo he rented from the wife of a lobbyist.

"Scott is doing a great job!" the president wrote at the time.

Trump tweet: While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA. Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!

 CNBC's Tom DiChristopher contributed to this report.





More From CNBC


JALALABAD, Afghanistan -- At least 10 people have been killed and more than 40 injured in a coordinated attack by suicide bombers and gunmen at a government building in the city of Jalalabad.

The attack targeted the tax and revenue office of Nangarhar Province in the city center of Jalalabad on May 13.

Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said a suicide car bomb exploded outside the building, which belongs to the provincial finance directorate.

The attackers then stormed the building, trading fire with security officials for several hours.

"There were eight terrorists who carried out a coordinated attack in Jalalabad city, killing 10 people," Khogyani said. He added that 42 other people were wounded during a gunbattle.

He said security forces killed six of the attackers after two of them carried out suicide attacks near the entrance of the building.

Meanwhile, authorities evacuated a nearby school for girls. They said there were no reports of injuries about the students or teachers.

Sohrab Qaderi, a member of Nangarhar's provincial council, said one attacker appeared to have blown himself up at the gate of the building and two other appeared to have detonated their explosives inside the building.

Qaderi said at least four attackers then stormed into the building with rocket-propelled-grenade launchers and AK-47 assault rifles.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Both the Taliban and a local affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group have carried out numerous attacks in Nangarhar Province.

The militant attack is the latest in a series across Afghanistan this year.

Most have been in Kabul. But in January, gunmen attacked an office of aid group Save the Children in Jalalabad, killing at least five people and wounding 25.

Nine journalists, including two RFE/RL journalists and a trainee, were among 25 people killed in a double suicide blast claimed by the extremist group Islamic State in the capital on April 30.

With reporting by Reuters and AP
English Spanish

TORONTO, May 03, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HR Path announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which HR Path will acquire 100% of Ataraxis, a Workday service partner since 2012, headquartered in Belgium and operating in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain and France.



Workday is one of the leading providers of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources and is a system that enables organizations to make faster decisions, gain operational visibility, prepare for future talent shifts, and build effective teams.

Ataraxis will become the dedicated Workday practice of HR Path and their senior management team, Tom Hillen, Wouter Van den Avont and Jan Snyers will invest in HR Path and become HR Path Partners.

We are proud to announce our strategic alliance with HR Path, an existing Workday service partner and a global leader in HR and HRIS solutions as it allows us to reinforce our positioning and capabilities and become a major Workday player.

HR Paths broad range of experience in implementing HRIS system especially, business consulting and BPO on Payroll, will further strengthen our operations.

Ataraxis also brings finance certification on Workday products that will enable HR Path to address the full Workday platform implementations (HCM, Payroll & Finance), said Tom Hillen, CEO, Ataraxis.

HR Path is currently present in 15 countries and as we continue to build our global experience and partnerships, our cloud-based HCM practice will do so at an accelerated rate as this acquisition will now position us to become an international Workday partner.

Were already present in the US and Canada since July 2011, through the recent acquisition of Avenue HR, a recognized expert in HR Cloud Solutions. Ataraxis and Avenue HR are strategic investments which will help HR Path reinforce its global position.

We are now ready and equipped with a large team of certified and experienced Workday consultants to immediately address our customers needs and projects. This would have taken us at least three to five years to conduct this same certification and training without Ataraxis. We are closer to achieving our 100 million revenue milestone target in the very near future and we endeavor to stay on course.

Another major reason why we chose Ataraxis is the similarity in culture that we share, which is based on taking excellent care of our talented employees and supporting them in delivering exceptional results to our customers as we are recognized by the market for our exceptional customer service quality, said Marc Garrido, Partner and Executive Board Member, HR Path.

About HR Path

HR Path, a global human resource leader, which offers comprehensive services ranging from strategic thinking to the deployment of integrated tools in the field of human resource global HR solutions specialist. From strategic thinking to the deployment of software integrated, they offer complete solution within the field of Human Resources.

HR Path has four (4) business lines:

HR and HRIS Business Consulting





HRIS Implementation Oracle, SAP HCM, Workday





Outsourcing of HR solutions and services





Design and Distribution of HR Software (BiHRdy)

The group, established in 2001, has over 700 employees, supports more than 1,200 clients and generates over 80 million in revenue. Headquartered in Paris, HR Path also has international subsidiaries in 15 different countries.

www.hr-path.com

About Ataraxis

Ataraxis has many years of experience in implementing ERP solutions and has in the past 5 years successfully brought this experience forward into the world of implementing SaaS.

Ataraxis implements both HR and Financial Cloud solutions and differentiates itself by its in depth European  expertise.

Our comprehensive services cover the full lifecycle of cloud systems implementation services, support and maintenance services and client augmentation services.

Ataraxis has a vast experience in dealing with the complexity of HR and Finance in large, multi-country, multi-language, multi-currency environments and the way this impacts the system setup of its customers.
Hereby we announce the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (hereinafter  the Meeting) of AB Linas Agro Group, registered address Smelynes St. 2C, Panevezys, Lithuania, code 148030011, (hereinafter  the Company) is convened.

The date, time and venue of the Meeting  1 June, 2018 at 10.00 a.m., hotel Smelyne, Conference Hall (Smelynes St. 3, Panevezys, Lithuania).

Accounting day of the Meeting is 25 May, 2018. Only the persons who are the shareholders of the Company at the end of the Accounting day of the Meeting shall have the right to attend and vote at the Meeting.

The Rights Accounting day is 15 June, 2018. Only the persons who are the shareholders of the Company at the end of the Rights Accounting day shall have proprietary rights.

Agenda of the Meeting:

Withdrawal of the Companys Board members.

Election of the Companys Board members.

Aproval of the Companys Rules for shares issue.

Initiator of convening of the Meeting is the Board of the Company.

The Meeting is convened by the decision of the Board of the Company, adopted on 9 May, 2018.

Registration of the Shareholders of the Company starts: 1 June, 2018 at 9.15 a.m.

Registration of the Shareholders of the Company ends: 1 June, 2018 at 9.50 a.m.

The Company does not provide possibility to attend and vote at the Meeting through electronic means of communication.

Persons who at the end of the Accounting day of the Meeting will be shareholders of the Company, or their authorized persons, or persons with whom an agreement on the disposal of the voting right has been concluded, will have the right to personally participate and vote at the meeting.

A person attending the Meeting must submit a persons identification document. A person who is not a shareholder must additionally produce a document confirming his/her right to vote at the Meeting.

Each shareholder shall have a right in the manner established by the Laws to authorize natural or legal person on his/her behalf to attend and vote at the Meeting. At the Meeting, an authorized person shall have the same rights as the shareholder represented by him/her, unless otherwise specified in the issued power of attorney. A power of attorney issued abroad must be translated into Lithuanian and legalized in the manner established by the Laws. The Company does not require a special form of power of attorney.

The agenda of the Meeting may be supplemented by initiative of the shareholders holding shares carrying at least 1/20 of all the votes. The drafts of proposed decisions on proposed issues or, if the decision shall not be adopted, explanation on each proposed issue of the agenda of the Meeting shall be presented alongside with the proposal to supplement the agenda of the Meeting.

The proposal to supplement the agenda shall be submitted in writing by sending it by registered mail to AB Linas Agro Group at the address Smelynes St. 2C, Panevezys, Lithuania or by e-mail group@linasagro.lt. The agenda of the Meeting shall be supplemented if the proposal is received not later than 14 days before the Meeting.

The shareholders who own shares carrying at least 1/20 of all the votes shall have the right at any time before the Meeting or during the Meeting to propose new draft decisions on the issue already included or to be included in to the agenda of the Meeting.

The proposed draft decisions must be presented in writing by sending them by registered mail to AB Linas Agro Group at the address Smelynes St. 2C, Panevezys, Lithuania or by e-mail group@linasagro.lt. The shareholders shall also be entitled to propose draft decisions on the agenda issues of the Meeting in writing during the Meeting.

The shareholders shall have the right to present questions related to the agenda issues of the Meeting to the Company. The questions in writing can be presented not later than 3 working days before the Meeting, by providing the shareholders personal identification number and consent to process personal data  personal identification number by e-mail group@linasagro.lt or delivered to AB Linas Agro Group at the address Smelynes St. 2C, Panevezys, Lithuania. Responses of general character shall be posted on the Companys website www.linasagro.lt. The Company will not respond to the shareholder personally if the respective information is posted on the Companys website.

A shareholder or a person authorized by him/her shall have right to vote in writing in advance by filling in the General Voting Ballot. Upon a written request of the shareholders holding the voting right, the Company shall send the General Voting Ballot by registered mail not later than 10 days before the Meeting or present personally against acknowledgement of receipt at the registered office of the Company. The General Voting Ballot is also provided on the Companys website www.linasagro.lt. The filled in General Voting Ballot must be signed by the shareholder or by the person authorized by him/her. If the person who is authorized by the shareholder is voting, the document confirming the right to vote must be attached to the filled in General Voting Ballot. The document confirming the voting right must be in Lithuanian or translated into Lithuanian by authorized translator and his/her signature must be confirmed by notarius. The filled in General Voting Ballot and the document confirming the voting right must be submitted to the Company in written form not later than the last working day before the Meeting, by sending it by registered mail to AB Linas Agro Group at the address Smelynes St. 2C, Panevezys, Lithuania or personally to the Company against acknowledgement of receipt.

The shareholders can familiarize themselves with the documents, related to the agenda of the Meeting, draft decisions on each issue of the agenda, documents to be submitted to the Meeting, and other information regarding execution of the shareholders rights, in the website of the Company www.linasagro.lt, also at the Companys office during business days from 8.00 a.m. till 12.00 a.m. and from 1.00 p.m. till 5.00 p.m.

On the day the Meeting is convened the total number of the Company's shares is 158,940,398, and the number of shares granting voting rights is 158,158,426. The own shares in amount of 781,972 acquired by the Company do not grant voting rights. The ISIN code of the Company's shares is LT0000128092.

Sincerely

Chairman of the Board Darius Zubas

Attachments
680 to 740 - Native English speaker [ #permalink

2 Kudos
Miracles86 wrote:

My god... Back in High School (or maybe elementary school), here in Portugal, we distinguish a circumference from a circle as being geometry elements completely different from each other. While a circumference is an imaginary line in which every point has the same distance to a specified center, defining thus the limits of a certain circular area and the circle is that area and is defined by the infinite set of points that are in a distance less than or equal to a specified radius. So, a circumference is and equation such as x^2 + y^2 = r^2 and a circle is an inequality such as x^2 + y^2 <= r^2. So the circumference has distance units such as meter, miles, feet, etc and the circle has square distance units such as square meters, etc. This is brilliantly coherent and makes no room for any confusion!



As far as I can understand on the GMAT, according to Bunnel:



"Yes, on the circle means on the circumference, while in the circle means inside the circumference. "



This distinction is SUPER confusing!!! in/on makes all the difference and while for a native this might be even logic for a non native is a pain in.... Furthermore, this makes a person who knows all the mathematical concepts to answer this question right, answering it wrong because of english language issues, which are not supposed to be assessed in this part...



I'm sorry for unburdening my frustration on you guys but I got 2 questions wrong on the same mock because of this and my exam is in 5 freaking days...



Cheers to y'all!

HelloMay I suggest you dont worry about it too much. You are correct that a circle centered at origin (0,0) with a radius of r should ideally be written as:x^2 + y^2 <= r^2And I think the meaning of this inequality is that within the circle (inside, not touching the boundary), all points will satisfy: x^2 + y^2 < r^2While on the boundary (circumference), all points will satisfy: x^2 + y^2 = r^2Now as per the first statement, since radius of the circle is 4, and since P is a point (x,y) on the boundary of the circle, then definitely the sum of squares of the two coordinates of P, x^2 + y^2 will be = r^2. First statement is thus sufficient.
Hi JRiverside,Im sorry to hear about how things went with your GMAT. Since you have studied for quite some time and are not seeing the score improvement you need, you really need to look at HOW you have been studying and potentially make some changes. In your previous study routine, it appears that you did not fully master GMAT quant and verbal prior to practicing and forum questions, and thus your score has stagnated. Moving forward, you will need a study plan that allows you to learn linearly, such that you can slowly build GMAT mastery of one topic prior to moving on to the next. Within each topic, begin with the foundations and progress toward more advanced concepts.For example, if you are learning about number properties, you should develop as much conceptual knowledge about number properties as possible. In other words, your goal will be to completely understand properties of factorials, perfect squares, quadratic patterns, LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, and remainders, to name a few concepts. After carefully reviewing the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer number properties questions, you will want to practice by answering 50 or more questions just from number properties. As you practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you get a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why you got it wrong. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question? By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT quant skills. Number properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.For verbal, follow a similar routine. Lets say you are learning about Critical Reasoning. Be sure that you first learn the necessary concepts of Critical Reasoning questions and then practice a large number of Critical Reasoning questions: strengthen and weaken the argument, resolve the paradox, find the conclusion, must be true, etc. As you go through the questions, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get correct. If you missed a weaken question, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize what the question was asking? Did you skip over a key detail in an answer choice? Getting GMAT verbal questions right is a matter of what you know, what you see, and what you do. So, any time that you don't get one right, you can seek to identify what, if anything, you would have needed to know in order to get the right answer, what you had to see that you didn't see, and what you could have done differently to arrive at the correct answer.When you do dozens of questions of the same type one after the other, you learn just what it takes to get questions of that type correct consistently. If you aren't getting close to 90 percent of questions of a certain type correct, go back and seek to better understand how that type of question works, and then do more questions of that type until you get to at least around 90 percent accuracy in your training. If you get 100 percent of some sets correct, even better.Each time you strengthen your understanding of a topic and your skill in answering questions of a particular type, you increase your odds of hitting your score goal. You know that there are types of questions that you are happy to see and types that you would rather not see, and types of questions that you take a long time to answer correctly. Learn to more effectively answer the types of questions that you would rather not see, and make them into your favorite types. Learn to correctly answer in two minutes or less questions that you currently take five minutes to answer. By finding, say, a dozen weaker quant areas and turning them into strong areas, you will make great progress toward hitting your quant score goal. If a dozen areas turn out not to be enough, strengthen some more areas.So, work on accuracy and generally finding correct answers, work on specific weaker areas one by one to make them strong areas, and when you take a practice GMAT or the real thing, take all the time per question available to do your absolute best to get right answers consistently. The GMAT is essentially a game of seeing how many right answers you can get in the time allotted. Approach the test with that conception in mind, and focus intently on the question in front of you with one goal in mind: getting a CORRECT answer.In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new verbal and quant materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant and verbal courses Feel free to reach out with further questions._________________
mun23 wrote:

In the city of Cantville, a high school earns the Young Women in Science award for a given year if at least ten of its female students participate in that year's state science exposition. Last year, 80 percent of all high schools in Cantville's District 1 earned this award, while only 63 percent of all high schools in the city's District 2 earned the same award. Furthermore, these percentages have remained at or near those respective levels throughout the entire twelve years since the award was instituted. It is clear, then, that the high schools in District 1 do a better job of encouraging girls to pursue science than do the high schools in District 2.



Which of the following is assumed in the argument above?



(A)Students in District 1 have more free time to pursue science projects than do students in District 2.

(B)The overall population of District 1 is not substantially larger than that of District 2.

(C)The average high school in in District 2 does not have more students than does the average high school in District 1.

(D)District 1 does not have significantly fewer all-male high schools than does District 2.

(E)School is the primary source of encouragement for students' pursuit of science.



Need detail explanation................



absolute value is different from percentage value

Let examine the question:

two different cases here:

DIFFERENT ABSOLUTE VALUES

SAME ABSOLUTE VALUES:

This is the case in the question

For case (1): the number of schools in D1 & that of D2 are different.

The number of high schools in D1 is not fewer

TOO OBVIOUS

For case (2): the number of schools in D1 & that of D2 are the same.

The number of high schools = the number of NON-GIRL schools (all-male) + the number of GIRL INCLUDED schools.

EQUAL or SMALLER

IS NOT FEWER

Frankly, all explanations above are really good. This question is NOT EASY at all. If you don't read it carefully, you may pick right answer by using POE, but I bet you did not understand deeply the idea that the GMAT makers want to convey in the question.First of all, this is assumption question regarding percentage, specifically, defender assumption (if you're interested, read Bible).The most important thing here is that you must show. That's the KEY.Premise: D1 has 80% high schools earned awardPremise: D2 has 63% high schools earned award.Conclusion: D does better than does D2 of encouraging girls to pursue science.We have(1): D1 & D2 have different the number of schools.(2)D1 & D2 have the same number of high school;The conclusion above is correct only ifthan that of D2. If No, the conclusion is broken.For instance, if D1 has 100 high schools, 80% = 80 schools had award. But D2 has more, 200 high schools for example, 63% = 126 schools had award. Yeah, we cannot say D1 did better job than did D2. So the conclusion is not hold.But this case isand normally not considered in hard GMAT question.Let assume:So, we only can conclude D1 did better job if its number of Girl included schools isthan that of D2. If NO, review the example in case 1 above.It also mean THE NUMBER OF NON-Girl SCHOOLS (all-male) OF D1THAN THAT OF D2.That's exactly what answer D says.Hope it's clear.Regards.
Teach me about extracurricular activities (4 questions) [ #permalink

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Imperial Valley News Center

Governor Brown Releases Revised 2018-19 State Budget

Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today released a revised state budget proposal that boosts education funding to an all-time high, fills the Rainy Day Fund to the brim and directs billions of dollars in one-time surplus funding to combat homelessness, improve mental health services and rebuild crumbling infrastructure.

Were nearing the longest economic recovery in modern history, and as Isaac Newton observed: What goes up must come down, said Governor Brown. This is a time to save for our future, not to make pricey promises we cant keep. I said it before and Ill say it again: Lets not blow it now.

As Californias economy has recovered from the Great Recession, the state has continued to invest in its core priorities, including: increasing K-12 education funding to record levels; raising the minimum wage; expanding health care coverage to millions more Californians; improving transportation and water systems; and paying down debts.

Significant details of the revised budget include:

Counteracting the Effects of Poverty

Since 2012, California has committed approximately $21 billion in new annual funding to maintain a strong safety net for those with the greatest needs. The May Revision builds on this commitment by expanding the states Earned Income Tax Credit program to workers between the ages of 18-25 and above 64, and adjusts income limits to reflect the minimum wage increase to $12 per hour in 2019. The budget also continues to provide billions of dollars to pay for: the expansion of health care coverage; the restoration of low-income health benefits eliminated during the recession; the repeal of the maximum family grant rule in CalWORKs; and increases in child care and early education provider rates and the number of children served.

Saving for Uncertain Times

In 2014, voters created a Rainy Day Fund to save money when the economy is strong for uncertain times ahead. The May Revision maintains the January budget commitment to fully fill the fund. By the end of the current fiscal year, this fund will have a total balance of $9.4 billion growing to $13.8 billion by the end of 2018-19. Additionally, to further protect against the next economic downturn, the budget proposes to direct an extra $3.2 billion into the states traditional budget reserve fund.

Combating Homelessness and Investing in Infrastructure

California anticipates $8 billion in higher revenues through 2018-19 compared to the January budget projection. As a result, the state will keep its existing commitments to increase funding for Medi-Cal, Cal Grants, child care, In-Home Supportive Services and foster care reform, among other programs, while focusing the majority of the remaining funding on one-time expenditures in three areas:

Infrastructure ($2 billion)  The state has huge liabilities from years of deferred maintenance and would use these funds for universities, courts, state facilities and flood control.

Homelessness ($359 million)  The state will assist local governments to immediately address homelessness across the state, bridging the gap until new funding flows from new housing measures signed by Governor Brown last year.

Mental Health Services ($312 million)  The state will provide funding for programs that help people with mental illness, including training for mental health professionals and early identification of mental health problems. This includes $254 million to help counties serve youth with mental illness.

To help address the states housing shortage, the May Revision also proposes to place the $2 billion No Place Like Home bond on the November ballot, which would expand housing opportunities for Californians with mental illness.

Supporting Students

This budget proposal increases K-12 school funding by about $4,600 per student compared to 2011-12 levels. The state will fully implement the Local Control Funding Formula, correcting historical inequities in school district funding, and permanently increase the minimum per pupil funding school districts receive to help offset rising costs.

The May Revision maintains the 3 percent increase in funding for higher education proposed in January while continuing to keep tuition levels unchanged at both the University of California and California State University systems. Since the end of the Great Recession, the UC system has received $1.2 billion in new funding, the California State University system has received $1.6 billion and community colleges have received $2.4 billion. The May Revision also provides each university system with $100 million in new, one-time funding for deferred maintenance.

The May Revision also refines the states California Online College plan and the new funding formula for community colleges.

Fighting Climate Change

To date, the state has appropriated $6.5 billion in cap-and-trade auction proceeds to programs benefitting people across California. Earlier this year, the Administration allocated $1.25 billion in cap-and-trade auction funds to continue the states efforts to aggressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change.

The May Revision proposes $96 million, which includes additional auction proceeds and other funds, to implement the Forest Carbon Plan and take other actions to protect Californias forests against the increasing threat of disastrous wildfires. This $96 million comes in addition to $160 million proposed in Januarys cap-and-trade expenditure plan to support forest improvements and fire protection.
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
Kathmandu, May 13 (IBNS): At least five people were killed when the bus in which they were travelling fell below the road in Sarumarani Rural Municipality-4 of Pyuthan district of Nepal on Sunday, media reports said.

The incident left 21 others injured.

" Among the deceased, one has been identified as bus driver Bir Bahadur Chaudhary while the identity of other deceased  one man and three women  and injured have yet to be ascertained, informed Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rajendra Pokharel at District Police Office, Pyuthan," The Himlayan Times reported.

16 injured people have been rushed to Pyuthan-based District Hospital for treatment.

Five people were taken to health facilities in Butwal.


A single legal change has caused massive growth in the prison muster.

Growth in New Zealand's prison population has accelerated.

The recent spike can be traced back to changes to bail laws in 2013.

Since then, people charged with violent, sex or drug crimes have to prove they pose no danger to the community to get bail.

If they cant, they stay behind bars.

The changes followed shock over the 2011 killing of 18-year-old Christie Marceau.

Her killer Akshay Anand Chand was on bail when he killed her.

Chand was found not guilty of her murder by reason of insanity.

When the bail law was changed, Labour said it was a fairly soft measure which would require a further 50 prison beds.

In fact, the number of prisoners awaiting trial or sentencing has almost doubled.

Remand prisoners now make up almost 30 per cent of the prison population.

And our prisons are bursting at the seams.

Our prison system is in chaos, and in crisis, at the moment.

 Justice Minister Andrew Little

It leaves Justice Minister Andrew Little with a tough decision. Roll back popular changes to the bail laws or build another expensive prison.
Nepal, India issue joint statement during Modis visit

Nepal and India issued a joint statement on Saturday during the state visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The battle to free the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) group lasted nine months.

The military operation involved hundreds of airstrikes and a difficult Iraqi-led ground offensive. Victory was finally declared last July as IS fighters were forced from the city.

A new report suggests that one reason for the operation's success was a campaign of information warfare by resistance forces. It says the campaign took on IS propagandists and destroyed the groups image of invincibility.

Mike Stevens wrote the report, which was published by Britains Royal United Services Institute.

Stevens is a former British army officer. He says the occupation by IS forces had a major effect on the citizens of Mosul. He noted that many people felt like they were being held hostage.

Stevens says one of the greatest tools for ending that fear was a radio station set up by two refugees, who had fled to the city of Irbil, some 80 kilometers east of Mosul.

Using a single radio transmitter, they set up Radio al-Ghad and began broadcasts for their home city.

To break Islamic States oppressive presence, the station combined telephone call-in programs and debate with music and talent competitions. Such events were barred during the IS occupation.

The radio station differed from other stations because it had talent shows, which come out of pain, noted Mourad Khan in 2017. He served as a radio host.

Radio al-Ghad also offered ground intelligence to coalition forces, and even debated with IS commanders in its programs.

What they did was give people space to speak. And give people space to debate, like a community radio station, the report said.

The station fought with IS for control of the airwaves, which led to them actually being in a dominant position, Stevens said.

Resistance groups throughout Mosul united under a common sign: the Arabic letter "M" for "Muqawama," or resistance, which began to appear on streets across the city.

After listening to the radio station, many people were moved to personal acts of civil disobedience, such as a graffiti campaign. Iraqis began marking up and writing messages on the walls of the city. Stevens says acts like these offered hope to the people of Mosul.

The battle on the radio for Mosuls population offers examples for other conflict areas.

Were at risk of becoming not very good at doing this at all because were losing a connection with local people, Stevens noted. He also said that fighting war from a distance, with the help of computers, has added to the problem.

The report says that repeating the success of Mosuls non-violent resistance would only be possible with long-term deployment of ground troops and the freedom to talk directly with local people.

I'm Susan Shand.

Henry Ridgewell reported this story for VOA News. Susan Shand adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

invincibility  n. impossible to defeat or overcome

transmitter  n. a device that sends out radio or television signals

graffiti  n. images or words painted on a wall or building

dominant  adj. commanding or leading

airwave  n. the radio waves used for radio broadcasts

host  n. the star of a radio or television program

talent  n. someone or a group of people with a special ability
Mas Yamashita does not remember when he and his family left their small home in Oakland, California.

But he does remember where they went: the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, California. During World War II, thousands of Japanese-Americans were held there while a more permanent center was built.

Yamashita, an American born in California, was one of 120,000 people detained in such camps during the war.

"Really, my childhood memories began in the camp," Yamashita says. He was six-years-old at the time and is now 82.

Using official population records

The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, led to United States involvement in World War II.

After the attack, President Franklin Roosevelt approved Executive Order 9066. The order resulted in government action against Japanese descendants living on the U.S. West Coast. They were required to leave their homes and move to 10 recently built camps. These camps were in California and six other states: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming.

To find the descendants, the federal government secretly used information collected in the 1940 U.S. census. The census is an official count of the population. It is completed every 10 years. The next census will be in 2020.

It is illegal to release or use any census information to target a specific population or group. But two researchers found evidence that census officials cooperated with the federal government to find Japanese Americans.

The two are Margo Anderson, a historian at the University of Wisconsin, and William Seltzer, a statistician at Fordham University in New York. Their papers showed that census officials released information, such as names and street addresses, to the government.

David Inoue is head of the Japanese American Citizens League. He told VOA that, Because of what happened to us, it is now safer to participate in the census without the fear of such action happening again."

But Inoue admitted that many people still fear that census records could be used against them.

A new citizenship question

The Japanese experience has become important to new immigrants after the U.S. Census Bureau proposed adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census form.

Asking if someone is a citizen has not been done by the Census Bureau since the 1950s.

In addition to collecting information about the population, the census also helps decide the number of representatives each state gets in Congress and how federal money is spent. Critics of a citizenship question say that immigrants will be less likely to answer census questions if they are asked about citizenship. They say this could change how much federal aid their communities get.

The Census Bureau agrees. In documents from a 1980 case, Census officials said that adding a citizenship question would threaten the "accuracy of the population count because immigrant communities would be concerned about how the government will use the information.

The Trump administration rejects this belief. U.S. officials say that asking about citizenship will help enforce the Voting Rights Act by confirming who has the right to vote.

Why do they want that information?

To Mas Yamashita, a citizenship question would be "pretty tragic."

"You wonder, he asked, why do they want to have that information?

More than 70 years later, it is still painful for Yamashita to talk about his experience in detention camps.

"I lost touch [with the children in the camp] after we left. I had photographs of friends that I used to play with."

His father wanted him to attend a Japanese school, but instead he tried to stay away from his Japanese culture.

"[There] were a couple of [Japanese schools] in the city, but I lied because I didn't want to have anything to do with the Japanese," Yamashita said.

"So I didn't go. To this day, I don't speak Japanese. I can't read or write [in Japanese.] Most of the people I know, my age, don't speak or write Japanese. I think we all felt the same way in the sense that we didn't want anything to do with the Japanese culture when we got out," he said.

Yamashita remembers having fights in school with students who made fun of him for being different. He also ignored the only other Asian student in his class.

"I didn't talk to her until we reached high school, he said.

Mas Yamashita spent many years working in the advertising industry. Now, he volunteers at the Japanese American National Museum to help "make up" for all the time he avoided the Japanese community.

"We have to make sure that we record all these stories. We have to keep telling them to future generations. All of my older sisters and brothers are gone and they never got around to do that," he said.

"After we got out, nobody ever talked about it. Nobody," he said.

I'm Dorothy Gundy

And Im Phil Dierking.

Aline Barros reported this story for VOANews.com. Phil Dierking adapted her story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Do you think a citizenship question should be included on a countrys Census? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

accuracy - n. freedom from mistake or error

address - n. the words and numbers that are used to describe the location of a building and that are written on letters, envelopes, and packages so that they can be mailed to that location

assembly - n. a group of people who have gathered together

couple - adj. two or a few of something

descendant - n. someone who is related to a person or group of people who lived in the past

participate - v. to be involved with others in doing something 

photograph - n. a picture made by a camera

specific - adj. special or particular
Storms and tides are uncovering long-hidden human remains on New Yorks Hart Island.

The island is a place where New Yorkers who have little money when they die have been buried for 150 years. Now, skulls and other bones mark the ground of small piece of land.

Pictures of the remains have appeared in news reports for years. So in late April, forensic anthropologists from the city medical examiners office visited the island.

They collected 174 human bones, which they carefully examined and recorded. Their finds included six skulls, 31 leg bones and many other bones from the head and body. Small red flags marked places along the rocky waterline where remains were found.

Carol DiMedios grandfather, Luigi Roma, was buried on the island. He died of tuberculosis in 1933. DiMedio told the Associated Press, When I hear about the erosion, I always think, Are the bones his? Could any of them be his?

Activists say the bones are a sign that the island has needed improvements for a long time. The United States federal government started a $13.2 million project to repair the erosion that Superstorm Sandy and other storms caused in 2012.

But activists want the government to increase the efforts of that project. They also want Hart Island to be turned into a park and historic location, even as it continues to be used as a burial ground.

New York City Council member Mark Levine argues that the people buried there should be respected.

These are New Yorkers, he said. These are human beings who were largely marginalized and forgotten in life, they were people who died homeless or destituteAnd were victimizing them again in their final resting place.

About 1 million people are buried on Hart Island. New York City bought the island in 1868. It went on to use the land for a workhouse for troubled young men and a burial place for the poor. Over the years, Hart Island has housed a Civil War prison, an asylum, a tuberculosis hospital, a jail and a missile base.

All the while, New York continued shipping bodies there that went unclaimed at the city morgue. The Department of Corrections, the citys prison system, has run the island for more than 100 years. But the land has never been kept in as good condition as a traditional burial ground.

Prisoners dig long holes. Adults go in the ground in wooden boxes, placed on top of one another. Babies are placed in small containers.

Around 1,000 people are buried there each year.

The burials take place in private. Admittance to the island is limited to monthly boat trips that must be requested ahead of time. Only people with loved ones buried on the island are permitted to visit the graves. Others are restricted to a visitors area close to where boats arrive.

In 2012, Superstorm Sandys floodwaters washed away an embankment, which revealed a water storage system dating back to the American Civil War.

More recent storms have also eroded the island. Federal work to repair the erosion is set to begin in 2020. Until then, city officials say, an archaeologist will visit at least once a month to remove and bury remains that have been uncovered.

Revealed remains have been a problem before. A March 1985 report by the citys sanitation department found bones spread across the island, including a skull on the beach.

Melinda Hunt is an activist and the creator of the Hart Island Project. She has been recording conditions on the island since 1991. On a recent boat trip around the island, she noted the places along its northern side where bones could be seen.

They came to clean this up, but it isnt the first time and it wont be the last, said Hunt.

Carol DiMedio said she wishes the uncovered bones would be tested for DNA evidence in order to help other families find loved ones. She had done research since she was young to try to find out where her grandfather was buried. When she finally found the answer, she did not want to tell her sick, aging mother where her father had been laid to rest.

When I found him...I lied and I said he was buried in a beautiful place, with blue water and blue skies and lots of trees and green grass, DiMedio said. I didnt have the heart to tell her theres this grim place called Hart Island.

Im Lucia Milonig. And Im Pete Musto.

Collen Long reported this story for the Associated Press. Pete Musto adapted it for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

We want to hear from you. What efforts do think we as a society should take to respect and protect the memories of everyone who dies, no matter how much money they had? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

______________________________________________________________ QUIZ Quiz - Storms, Natural Forces Uncover Bones on New Yorks Island of the Dead Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz ______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

tide  n. the regular upward and downward movement of the level of the ocean that is caused by the pull of the Sun and the Moon on the Earth

forensic anthropologist  n. a researcher whose job is the examination of human skeletal remains for law enforcement agencies to determine the identity of unidentified bones

erosion  n. the gradual destruction of something by natural forces such as water, wind, or ice

marginalized  adj. someone who is put or kept in a powerless or unimportant position within a society or group

destitute  adj. extremely poor

morgue  n. a place where the bodies of dead people are kept until they are buried or cremated

embankment  n. a raised bank or wall that is built to carry a roadway or hold back water

sanitation  n. the process of keeping places free from dirt, infection, and disease by removing waste, trash and garbage, by cleaning streets

grim  adj. unpleasant or shocking to see or think about
Editor's Note: Many ideas that are associated with the United States -- such as free speech, or the separation of church and state -- are clarified by Supreme Court decisions.

The Supreme Court also affirms one of the biggest ideas about the United States: that the U.S. is a country of laws, not of men. In other words, the legal system determines the rules everyone plays by.

That means if you want to change something in the U.S., you have to change a law or fight for a law. In all the stories we tell in the following cases, someone did just that. A person thought something was not fair and took the argument to court. Over time, the case made its way to the Supreme Court. The justices made a decision about that particular situation -- and at the same time, defined the rules everyone in America lives by.

Brown versus Board of Education is one of the countrys most important cases. It overturned an earlier Supreme Court decision, and it helped launch the civil rights movement.

At the center of the case was a little girl. In the early 1950s, Linda Brown was eight years old. Every day, she had to travel for more than an hour to go to a local public school for black children.

At the time, public school systems could legally separate black and white students. The reason related to a Supreme Court decision from 1896. It said that separating people by race was legal, as long as the buildings and equipment were equal.

But the father of young Linda Brown did not think racial segregation was right or fair. He wanted his children to go to the school close to their house, even if the school was for white children. When he tried to register Linda there, school officials said no.

So Brown and other activists took action in court against the law. They said schools separated by race could never be equal.

All nine Supreme Court justices agreed. Brown versus Board of Education demanded equal opportunity in public education, and in time led to desegregation in other public places.

Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

QUIZ

Quiz - Brown v. Board of Education 1954 Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

segregation - n. the practice or policy of keeping people of different races, religions, etc., separate from each other
8 hours ago

2 Downgrades In Healthcare You Might Want To Buy

When Opportunity Knocks In The Healthcare Industry Today were focusing on two stocks in the real of healthcare that just received some notable analyst activity. The activity is notable because it is bearish in light of recent market expectations and opens up what we see as potentially high-return entry opportunities.

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Eagle Materials, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of heavy construction materials, light building materials, and materials used for oil and natural gas extraction. It operates through the following segments: Cement, Concrete and Aggregates, Gypsum Wallboard, Recycled Paperboard, and Oil and Gas Proppants. The Cement segment deals with the manufacture, production, distribution, and sale of portland cement. The Concrete and Aggregates segment involves mixing cement, sand, gravel, or crushed stone and water to form concrete, which is then sold and distributed to construction contractors. The Gypsum Wallboard segment mines and extracts natural gypsum rock, which is used in the manufacture of gypsum wallboard. The Recycled Paperboard segment processes paper fiber, water, and paper chemicals to form recycled paperboards, then sell them to gypsum wallboard manufacturers. The Oil and Gas Proppants segment produces frac sand used in oil and natural gas exploration, and provides transloading and storage for well servicing companies. The company was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

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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..
The following companies are subsidiares of Lloyds Banking Group: A G Finance Ltd, A.C.L. Ltd, ACL Autolease Holdings Ltd, ADF No.1 Pty Ltd, Addison Social Housing Holdings Ltd, Alex Lawrie Factors Ltd, Alex. Lawrie Receivables Financing Ltd, Amberdate Ltd, Anglo Scottish Utilities Partnership 1, Aquilus Ltd, Automobile Association Personal Finance Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services 2 Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 2) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 3) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland)) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 1 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 2 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 3 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 4 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 5 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 6 plc, BOS (USA) Fund Investments Inc., BOS (USA) Inc., BOS Edinburgh No 1 Ltd, BOS Mistral Ltd, BOS Personal Lending Ltd, BOSSAF Rail Ltd, Bank of Scotland (B G S) Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland (Stanlife) London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Branch Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Central Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Equipment Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Foundation, Bank of Scotland LNG Leasing (No 1) Ltd, Bank of Scotland London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Nominees (Unit Trusts) Ltd, Bank of Scotland P.E.P. Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Structured Asset Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Transport Finance 1 Ltd, Bank of Scotland plc, Bank of Wales Ltd, Barents Leasing Ltd, Barnwood Mortgages Ltd, Birchcrown Finance Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Financial Services Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Land Development Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Mortgage Services Ltd, Black Horse (TRF) Ltd, Black Horse Executive Mortgages Ltd, Black Horse Finance Holdings Ltd, Black Horse Finance Management Ltd, Black Horse Group Ltd, Black Horse Ltd, Black Horse Offshore Ltd, Black Horse Property Services Ltd, Boltro Nominees Ltd, British Linen Leasing (London) Ltd, British Linen Leasing Ltd, British Linen Shipping Ltd, C.T.S.B. Leasing Ltd, CBRail S.A.R.L., CF Asset Finance Ltd, CF1 Ltd, CM Venture Investments Ltd, Cancara Asset Securitisation Ltd, Capital 1945 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 12 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 3 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 5 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 9 Ltd, Capital Bank Property Investments (3) Ltd, Capital Personal Finance Ltd, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2018-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2019-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Cardnet Merchant Services Ltd, Cashfriday Ltd, Cashpoint Ltd, Caveminster Ltd, Cedar Holdings Ltd, Celsius European Lux 2 S.A.R.L., Central Mortgage Finance Ltd, Chariot Finance Ltd, Cheltenham & Gloucester plc, Cheltenham II Securities 2020 DAC, Cheltenham Securities 2017 Ltd, Chepstow Blue Holdings Ltd, Chepstow Blue plc, Chester Asset Options No.2 Ltd, Chester Asset Options No.3 Ltd, Chester Asset Receivables Dealings Issuer Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings No.2 Ltd, Chiswell Stockbrokers Ltd, Clerical Medical Finance plc, Clerical Medical Financial Services Ltd, Clerical Medical International Holdings B.V., Clerical Medical Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Clerical Medical Managed Funds Ltd, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Spanish Prop Co SL, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Prop Co SA, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Property Company S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Funding S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Investments S.A.R.L., Conquest Securities Ltd, Corbiere Asset Investments Ltd, Create Services Ltd, Credit Card Securitisation Europe Ltd, Dalkeith Corporation, Deva Financing Holdings Ltd, Deva Financing plc, Deva One Ltd, Deva Three Ltd, Deva Two Ltd, Dunstan Investments (UK) Ltd, Edgbaston RMBS 2010-1 plc, Edgbaston RMBS Holdings Ltd, Elland RMBS 2018 plc, Elland RMBS Holdings Ltd, Eurolead Services Holdings Ltd, First Retail Finance (Chester) Ltd, Fontwell Securities 2016 Ltd, Forthright Finance Ltd, France Industrial Premises Holding Company, General Leasing (No. 12) Ltd, General Reversionary and Investment Company, Gresham Nominee 1 Ltd, Gresham Nominee 2 Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 1) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 10) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 11) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 12) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 13) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 14) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 15) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 16) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 19) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 20) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 21) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 22) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 23) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 24) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 25) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 26) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 27) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 28) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 29) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 3) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 30) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 31) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 32) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 33) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 34) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 35) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 36) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 37) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 38) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 39) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 40) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 41) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 44) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 45) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 46) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 47) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 48) UK Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No 3) Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No.11) UK Ltd, HBOS Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS Final Salary Trust Ltd, HBOS Financial Services Ltd, HBOS Insurance & Investment Group Ltd, HBOS International Financial Services Holdings Ltd, HBOS Investment Fund Managers Ltd, HBOS Social Housing Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS UK Ltd, HBOS plc, HSDL Nominees Ltd, HVF Ltd, Halifax Credit Card Ltd, Halifax Financial Brokers Ltd, Halifax Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Halifax Financial Services Ltd, Halifax General Insurance Services Ltd, Halifax Group Ltd, Halifax Investment Services Ltd, Halifax Leasing (June) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (March No.2) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (September) Ltd, Halifax Life Ltd, Halifax Loans Ltd, Halifax Ltd, Halifax Mortgage Services Ltd, Halifax Nominees Ltd, Halifax Pension Nominees Ltd, Halifax Premises Ltd, Halifax Share Dealing Ltd, Halifax Vehicle Leasing (1998) Ltd, Heidi Finance Holdings (UK) Ltd, Hill Samuel Bank Ltd, Hill Samuel Finance Ltd, Hill Samuel Leasing Co. Ltd, Home Shopping Personal Finance Ltd, Horizon Capital 2000 Ltd, Housing Association Risk Transfer 2019 DAC, Housing Growth Partnership GP LLP, Housing Growth Partnership LP, Housing Growth Partnership Ltd, Housing Growth Partnership Manager Ltd, Hyundai Car Finance Ltd, IBOS Finance Ltd, ICC Enterprise Partners Ltd, ICC Equity Partners Ltd, ICC Holdings Unlimited Company, Inchcape Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Software Ltd, International Motors Finance Ltd, Kanaalstraat Funding C.V., Katrine Leasing Ltd, LB Healthcare Trustee Ltd, LB Motorent Ltd, LB Quest Ltd, LB Share Schemes Trustees Ltd, LBCF Ltd, LBG Brasil Administracao LTDA, LBG Capital Holdings Ltd, LBG Equity Investments Ltd, LBI Leasing Ltd, LDC (General Partner) Ltd, LDC (Managers) Ltd, LDC (Nominees) Ltd, LDC GP LLP, LDC I LP, LDC II LP, LDC III LP, LDC IV LP, LDC Parallel (Nominees) Ltd, LDC V LP, LDC VI LP, LDC VII LP, LDC VIII LP, LTGP Limited Partnership Incorporated, Legacy Renewal Company Ltd, Leicester Securities 2014 Ltd, Lex Autolease (CH) Ltd, Lex Autolease (VC) Ltd, Lex Autolease Carselect Ltd, Lex Autolease Ltd, Lex Vehicle Finance 2 Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing (Holdings) Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing Ltd, Lime Street (Funding) Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I Holdings Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I plc, Lloyds (Gresham) Ltd, Lloyds (Gresham) No. 1 Ltd, Lloyds (Nimrod) Specialist Finance Ltd, Lloyds America Securities Corporation1, Lloyds Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Branches) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Colonial & Foreign) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (I.D.) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (International Services) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Stock Exchange Branch) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Asset Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Scotland Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (HP) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.4) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Wertpapierhandelsbank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets plc, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (LM) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds LLP, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 7) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 9) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales, Lloyds Bank Foundation for the Channel Islands, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Holdings Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 11) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 20) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 5) Ltd, Lloyds Bank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Hill Samuel Holding Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank Insurance Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank International Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 6) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 8) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank MTCH Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 10) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 13) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No.16) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Offshore Pension Trust Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 1) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 2) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pensions Property (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Properties Ltd, Lloyds Bank Property Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank S.F. Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Subsidiaries Ltd, Lloyds Bank Trustee Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees Ltd, Lloyds Capital GP Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Properties Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Property Investments Ltd, Lloyds Corporate Services (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Engine Capital (No.1) U.S LLC, Lloyds Far East S.A.R.L., Lloyds General Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Group Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Hypotheken B.V., Lloyds Industrial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds International Pty Ltd, Lloyds Investment Bonds Ltd, Lloyds Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Lloyds Investment Securities No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Leasing (North Sea Transport) Ltd1, Lloyds Leasing Developments Ltd, Lloyds Nominees (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Offshore Global Services Private Ltd, Lloyds Plant Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Portfolio Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Premises Investments Ltd, Lloyds Project Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 3 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 4 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Secretaries Ltd, Lloyds Securities Inc., Lloyds TSB Pacific Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Rentals Ltd, Lloyds UDT Hiring Ltd, Lloyds UDT Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Ltd, Lloyds Your Tomorrow Trustee Ltd, Loans.co.uk Ltd, London Taxi Finance Ltd, London Uberior (L.A.S. Group) Nominees Ltd, Lotus Finance Ltd, MBNA, MBNA Direct Ltd, MBNA Europe Finance Ltd, MBNA Europe Holdings Ltd, MBNA General Foundation, MBNA Global Services Ltd, MBNA Indian Services Private Ltd, MBNA Ltd, MBNA R & L S.A.R.L., MBNA Receivables Ltd, Mainsearch Company Ltd, Maritime Leasing (No. 19) Ltd, Membership Services Finance Ltd, Mitre Street Funding S.A.R.L., Molineux RMBS 2016-1 plc, Molineux RMBS Holdings Ltd, Moor Lane Holdings Ltd, NFU Mutual Finance Ltd, NWS Trust Ltd, Nominees (Jersey) Ltd, Nordic Leasing Ltd, Ocean Leasing (July) Ltd, Oystercatcher Nominees Ltd, Oystercatcher Residential Ltd, PIPS Asset Investments Ltd, Pacific Leasing Ltd, Penarth Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Penarth Funding 1 Ltd, Penarth Funding 2 Ltd, Penarth Master Issuer plc, Penarth Receivables Trustee Ltd, Pensions Management (S.W.F.) Ltd, Peony Eastern Leasing Ltd, Peony Leasing Ltd, Peony Western Leasing Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 1) Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 2) Ltd, Permanent Holdings Ltd, Permanent Master Issuer plc, Permanent Mortgages Trustee Ltd, Permanent PECOH Holdings Ltd, Permanent PECOH Ltd, Perry Nominees Ltd, Prestonfield Investments Ltd, Proton Finance Ltd, R.F. Spencer And Company Ltd, Ranelagh Nominees Ltd, Retail Revival (Burgess Hill) Investments Ltd, SARL Coliseum, SARL Hiram, SAS Compagnie Fonciere De France, SCI Astoria Invest, SCI De LHorloge, SCI Equinoxe, SCI Rambuteau CFF, SW Funding plc, SW No.1 Ltd, SWAMF (GP) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (1) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (2) Ltd, Saint Michel Holding Company No1, Saint Michel Investment Property, Saint Witz 2 Holding Company No1, Saint Witz 2 Investment Property, Salisbury II Securities 2016 Ltd, Salisbury II-A Securities 2017 Ltd, Salisbury III Securities 2019 DAC, Salisbury Securities 2015 Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 Holdings Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 plc, Sandown Gold 2012-1 Holdings Ltd, Sandown Gold 2012-1 plc, Savban Leasing Ltd, Scotland International Finance B.V., Scottish Widows Administration Services (Nominees) Ltd, Scottish Widows Administration Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Annuities Ltd, Scottish Widows Auto Enrolment Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Europe, Scottish Widows Financial Services Holdings, Scottish Widows Group Ltd, Scottish Widows Industrial Properties Europe B.V., Scottish Widows Ltd, Scottish Widows Pension Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Property Management Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth (ACD) Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Wealth Holdings Ltd, Scottish Widows Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Funds Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers Ltd, Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society, Seabreeze Leasing Ltd, Seaspirit Leasing Ltd, Share Dealing Nominees Ltd, Shogun Finance Ltd, Silentdale Ltd, St Andrews Group Ltd, St Andrews Insurance plc, St Andrews Life Assurance plc, St. Marys Court Investments, Standard Property Investment (1987) Ltd, Standard Property Investment Ltd, Sussex County Homes Ltd, Suzuki Financial Services Ltd, Swan Funding 2 Ltd, Syon Securities 2019 DAC, The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation Plc, The British Linen Company Ltd, The Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland, The Mortgage Business plc, Thistle Financing Holdings Ltd, Thistle Investments (AMC) Ltd, Thistle Investments (ERM) Ltd, Thistle Leasing, Three Copthall Avenue Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (10) Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (7) Ltd, Tranquility Leasing Ltd, Trinity Financing plc, UDT Budget Leasing Ltd, UDT Sales Finance Ltd, Uberior (Moorfield) Ltd, Uberior Co-Investments Ltd, Uberior ENA Ltd, Uberior Equity Ltd, Uberior Europe Ltd, Uberior Fund Investments Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments (No.2) Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments Ltd, Uberior Investments Ltd, Uberior Nominees Ltd, Uberior Trading Ltd, Uberior Trustees Ltd, Uberior Ventures Australia Pty Ltd, Uberior Ventures Ltd, United Dominions Leasing Ltd, United Dominions Trust Ltd, Universe The CMI Global Network Fund, Upsaala Ltd, Vine Street IX LP, WCS Ltd, Ward Nominees (Abingdon) Ltd, Ward Nominees (Birmingham) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees (Bristol) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees Ltd 1, Waverley  Fund II Investor LLC, Waverley  Fund III Investor LLC, Waymark Asset Investments Ltd, West Craigs Ltd, Wetherby II Securities 2018 DAC, Wetherby III Securities 2019 DAC, Wetherby Securities 2017 Ltd, Wood Street Leasing Ltd, and Zurich Insurance Group - UK Workplace Pensions and Savings Business.
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Ronald Reagan

The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.

Albert Einstein

If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.

Winston Churchill





It isnt so much that liberals are ignorant. Its just that they know so many things that arent so.

With integrity nothing else counts; Without integrity nothing else counts.

Winston Churchill





Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself.

Harvey S. Firestone





It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office. H. L. Menken



Referenda insure all have a voice in land use decisions.

U.S. Supreme Court

Listen carefully to first criticism of your work. Note just what it is about your work the critics don't like - then cultivate it. That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping.

Jean Cocteau
The Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc allies have signed a security pact in the Polish capital, Warsaw, after a three-day conference.

Announcements in Warsaw and Moscow said the Soviet Prime Minister, Marshal Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bulganin, and leaders of seven other countries approved the draft of a new mutual aid agreement called the Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance.

It is designed, among other things, to ensure close integration of military, economic and cultural policy between eight Communist nations.

Signatories to the treaty  the USSR, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania  have agreed to unify their forces under one command although at this stage it is not known who will take this post.

Yugoslavia, the only European Communist state not included in the pact, was expelled in 1948 from Cominform, the Communist information agency for refusing to acknowledge Soviet supremacy.

The treaty, signed at the Warsaw Palace, comes in the wake of news that West Germany has been accepted by western nations into Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) following talks earlier this month in Paris.

In a speech at the beginning of the Warsaw talks, Marshal Bulganin warned that the USA, Britain and France were turning West Germany into the principal hotbed of the danger of war in Europe by allowing it to re-arm.

He said allowing West Germany into Nato was the major obstacle to reunification of Germany.

Existing bilateral agreements between nations of the Eastern Bloc, he stated, were no longer sufficient to ensure their security and this Warsaw Pact would supersede all of those.

He added that Nato was also encouraging countries in the Near and Middle East to form military blocs to plan attacks on the Soviet Union and its allies.

In his concluding speech today, Marshal Bulganin emphasised the pact was inspired by the Leninist principle of peaceful co-existence between democratic nations and said they wanted to abide by the United Nations Charter.

However the Times newspaper editorial today points out that unifying the armies of all eight countries will also allow the USSR to base its own troops in member states and would certainly help to keep the satellites in order.

Courtesy BBC News

In

context

Warsaw Pact countries placed their forces under the command of Marshal Ivan Stepanovich Koniev.

The Warsaw Pact did allow the USSR to suppress nationalist rebellions. Its troops crushed uprisings in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 which prompted Albania to withdraw from the pact later that year.

The democratic revolutions of 1989 in eastern Europe heralded the end of the Warsaw Pact and the Cold War between east and west.

East Germany withdrew in 1990 and on July 1 1991 at a final summit meeting of Warsaw Pact leaders in Prague, Czechoslovakia, it was declared non-existent.
The Trump administration has condemned as Orwellian nonsense Chinas insistence that U.S. airlines refrain from listing Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as separate countries. The words are strong, but its leverage is weak.

Chinas aviation sector, once a global laggard, is on track to be the worlds biggest market. Its growth has empowered the nations regulators and airlines  and eroded the clout of traditional aviation powers such as the United States. For U.S. carriers keen to get a piece of this growing pie, that means flying by Chinas rules. And for the Trump administration, that presents an increasingly common and difficult problem: how to rebalance an economic relationship thats tilting away from the U.S.

In aviation, as in other industries, the tilt has happened quickly. For decades, U.S. passengers and airlines were the dominant force on routes between the two countries. To an extent, traffic reflected American tourist and business interests; money flowed from West to East. As recently as 2011, U.S. carriers flew almost twice as many flights to China as vice versa, and 70 to 80 percent of passengers were Americans. But in the summer of 2015, Chinese airlines surpassed U.S. competitors for numbers of flights and seats flown for the first time. These days, the passenger split is roughly equal.

In common with other sectors where Chinese upstarts are catching up with foreign rivals, two factors come into play. First, there are subsidies. In 2016, local government payments were equal to almost half the combined net income of the top four mainland airlines. Those cash injections  USD1.3b in 2016  have been particularly important in sustaining international flights between secondary cities such as Wuhan and San Francisco.

Second, and more important, Chinas domestic market is growing at a blistering pace. Last year, the International Air Transport Association predicted that China will surpass the U.S. to become the worlds largest aviation market around 2022. The key driver is Chinese tourism. Since 2012, the country has been the worlds largest source of overseas visitors.

But opportunities to access this market are few. Commercial flights are governed by bilateral agreements that cap routes. Even when U.S. airlines receive approval to fly a new route, infrastructure limitations at traffic-strained Chinese airports mean theyre often unable to obtain slots. Worse, China has long defied international norms for allocating slots, leading to occasional accusations of protectionist behavior.

That hasnt stopped major U.S. airlines from investing there. Delta Air Lines Inc. and American Airlines Group Inc. both own expensive stakes in Chinese carriers, and  along with United Continental Holdings Inc.  operate codeshare flights with mainland airlines via global alliances.

Those investments may, in time, prove savvy. But for now, they only add to the leverage that Chinese regulators have over U.S. airlines that want access. That leverage can extend to the pettiest of matters, such as sensitivities over how a foreign company refers to territory China claims as its own.

In April, Chinese aviation authorities informed dozens of international airlines that they must accept Beijings conventions for referring to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on their websites  prompting the U.S. governments Orwellian rejoinder. Those that dont comply could face significant, though unspecified, consequences.

In January, after the government criticized Delta for listing Taiwan and Tibet as countries, the company didnt hesitate to apologize deeply and take immediate steps to resolve the Chinese concerns. Its not alone: Firms in industries ranging from baby food to hospitality have taken similar actions in recent months.

The Trump administration has vowed to resist Chinas corporate censorship efforts. But so long as foreign corporations decide that doing so isnt worth potentially being shut out of the market, that vow will have little currency at home or abroad. A better approach would be to seek an open skies treaty to widen access, such as the U.S. has with 120 other countries.

Such an agreement would remove government regulators from route-making decisions, and has long been under discussion. No doubt it would increase competitive pressures on U.S. airlines. But thats better than having no chance to compete at all. Adam Minter, Bloomberg
China Hydroelectric Corporation is a developer, owner and operator of small hydroelectric power projects in China. The projects are located in Zhejiang, Fujian, Yunnan and Sichuan. As of December 31, 2012, wholly owns 22 operating hydroelectric power projects and have controlling interests in three operating hydroelectric power projects. In March 2012, the Company sold 100% of the Yuanping hydroelectric power project. In April 2013, the Company sold the Yuheng hydroelectric power project, a 30 megawatt (MW) project located in Fujian province. In July 2014, the Company announced that it has completed the merger with CPT Wyndham Sub Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of CPT Wyndham Holdings Ltd.

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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

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Parkland Corporation operates as a marketer, distributor, and refiner of fuel and petroleum products in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Canada, International, USA, Supply, and Corporate segments. The Canada segment supplies and supports a coast-to-coast network of 1,860 retail gas stations under the Ultramar, Esso, Fas Gas Plus, Chevron, Pioneer, and Race Trac as well as operates convenience stores under the On the Run/MarchA Express brand. Additionally it offers bulk fuel, bulk and cylinder exchange propane, heating oil, lubricants, and other related products and services to commercial, industrial, and residential customers in various industries, such as oil and gas, construction, mining, forestry, fishing, and transportation under the Ultramar, Bluewave Energy, Pipeline Commercial, Chevron, Columbia Fuels, and Sparlings Propane brands. The International segment operates retail service stations under the Esso, Shell, and Sol brands; and delivers and supplies gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, propane, and lubricants to customers in various sectors, including power, oil and gas, and mining. The USA segment operates a network of gas stations; and delivers bulk fuel, lubricants, and other related products and services under the Farstad Oil, Rhinehart Oil, Tropic Oil, Superpumper, Harts, and On the Run brands. The Supply segment manufactures transportation fuels; transports, stores, and markets fuels, crude oil, and liquid petroleum gases; and manufactures and sells aviation fuel to airlines. This segment also engages in the wholesale, supply, and distribution business. The company was formerly known as Parkland Fuel Corporation and changed its name to Parkland Corporation in May 2020. The company was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

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The following companies are subsidiares of CVS Health: @Credentials Inc., ACS ACQCO CORP., ADMINCO Inc., AE Fourteen Incorporated, AHP Holdings Inc., AMC - Tennessee LLC, APS Acquisition LLC, ASCO HealthCare LLC, ASI Wings LLC, AUSHC Holdings Inc., Accendo Insurance Company, Accordant Health Services L.L.C., Active Health Management Inc., Administrative Enterprises Inc., AdvancePCS SpecialtyRx LLC, AdvanceRx.com L.L.C., Advanced Care Scripts Inc., Aetna, Aetna (Beijing) Enterprise Management Services Co. Ltd., Aetna (Shanghai) Enterprise Services Co. Ltd., Aetna ACO Holdings Inc., Aetna Asset Advisors LLC, Aetna Behavioral Health LLC, Aetna Better Health Inc., Aetna Better Health Inc., Aetna Better Health of California Inc., Aetna Better Health of Florida Inc., Aetna Better Health of Kansas Inc., Aetna Better Health of Michigan Inc., Aetna Better Health of Missouri LLC, Aetna Better Health of Nevada Inc., Aetna Better Health of North Carolina Inc., Aetna Better Health of Oklahoma Inc., Aetna Better Health of Texas Inc., Aetna Better Health of Washington Inc., Aetna Capital Management LLC, Aetna Card Solutions LLC, Aetna Corporate Services LLC, Aetna Dental Inc., Aetna Dental of California Inc., Aetna Financial Holdings LLC, Aetna Florida Inc., Aetna Global Benefits (Asia Pacific) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Bahamas) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Bermuda) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Europe) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Middle East) LLC, Aetna Global Benefits (Singapore) PTE. LTD., Aetna Global Benefits (UK) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits Limited (DIFC UAE), Aetna Global Holdings Limited, Aetna Health Holdings LLC, Aetna Health Inc., Aetna Health Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, Aetna Health Insurance Company, Aetna Health Insurance Company of Europe DAC, Aetna Health Management LLC, Aetna Health and Life Insurance Company, Aetna Health of California Inc., Aetna Health of Iowa Inc., Aetna Health of Michigan Inc., Aetna Health of Ohio Inc., Aetna Health of Utah Inc., Aetna HealthAssurance Pennsylvania Inc., Aetna Holdco (UK) Limited, Aetna Holdings (Thailand) Limited, Aetna Inc., Aetna Insurance (Hong Kong) Limite, Aetna Insurance (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Aetna Insurance Company Limited, Aetna Integrated Informatics Inc., Aetna International Inc., Aetna Ireland Inc., Aetna Korea Ltd., Aetna Life & Casualty (Bermuda) Ltd., Aetna Life Assignment Company, Aetna Life Insurance Company, Aetna Medicaid Administrators LLC, Aetna Multi-Strategy 1099 Fund LLC, Aetna Network Services LLC, Aetna Partners Diversified Fund LLC, Aetna Pharmacy Management Services LLC, Aetna Resources LLC, Aetna Risk Assurance Company of Connecticut Inc., Aetna Rx Home Delivery LLC, Aetna Services (Thailand) Limited, Aetna Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Aetna Student Health Agency Inc., Aetna Ventures LLC, Aetna Workers Comp Access LLC, Alabama CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Alaska CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Company, Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Holding Company LLC, American Continental Insurance Company, American Drug Stores Delaware L.L.C., American Health Holding Inc., Arbor Drugs, Arizona CVS Stores L.L.C., Arkansas CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Badger Acquisition LLC, Badger Acquisition of Kentucky LLC, Badger Acquisition of Minnesota LLC, Badger Acquisition of Ohio LLC, Banner Health and Aetna Health Insurance Company, Banner Health and Aetna Health Insurance Holding Company LLC, Banner Health and Aetna Health Plan Inc., Beauty Holdings L.L.C., Best Care LTC Acquisition Company LLC, Busse CVS L.L.C., CCI Foreign S.a R.L. (R.C.S. Luxembourg), CCRx Holdings LLC, CCRx of North Carolina LLC, CHP Acquisition LLC, CP Acquisition LLC, CVS 2948 Henderson L.L.C., CVS 3268 Gilbert L.L.C., CVS 3745 Peoria L.L.C., CVS AL Distribution L.L.C., CVS AOC Corporation, CVS AOC Services L.L.C., CVS Albany L.L.C., CVS Bellmore Avenue L.L.C., CVS Care Concierge LLC, CVS Caremark Advanced Technology Pharmacy L.L.C., CVS Caremark Indemnity Ltd., CVS Caremark Part D Services L.L.C., CVS Caremark TN SUTA LLC, CVS Foreign Inc., CVS Gilbert 3272 L.L.C., CVS Health Solutions LLC, CVS Indiana L.L.C., CVS International L.L.C., CVS Kidney Care Advanced Technologies LLC, CVS Kidney Care Health Services LLC, CVS Kidney Care Home Dialysis LLC, CVS Kidney Care LLC, CVS Manchester NH L.L.C., CVS Media Exchange LLC, CVS Michigan L.L.C., CVS Orlando FL Distribution L.L.C., CVS PA Distribution L.L.C., CVS PR Center Inc., CVS Pharmacy Inc., CVS RS Arizona L.L.C., CVS Rx Services Inc., CVS SC Distribution L.L.C., CVS State Capital L.L.C., CVS TN Distribution L.L.C., CVS Transportation L.L.C., CVS Vero FL Distribution L.L.C., Campos Medical Pharmacy LLC, Canal Place LLC, Care Pharmaceutical Services LP, CareCenter Pharmacy L.L.C., Carefree Insurance Services Inc., Caremark Arizona Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Arizona Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark California Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Florida Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Florida Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Hawaii Mail Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Hawaii Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark IPA L.L.C., Caremark Illinois Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Illinois Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Irving Resource Center LLC, Caremark Kansas Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark L.L.C., Caremark Logistics LLC, Caremark Louisiana Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Maryland Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Massachusetts Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Michigan Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Minnesota Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark New Jersey Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark North Carolina Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Ohio Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Pennsylvania Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark PhC L.L.C., Caremark Puerto Rico L.L.C., Caremark Puerto Rico Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Redlands Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Repack LLC, Caremark Rx L.L.C., Caremark Tennessee Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Texas Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Texas Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Ulysses Holding Corp., Caremark Washington Specialty Pharmacy LLC, CaremarkPCS Alabama Mail Pharmacy LLC, CaremarkPCS Health L.L.C., CaremarkPCS L.L.C., Central Rx Services LLC, Claims Administration Corp., Cofinity Inc., Compscript LLC, Connecticut CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Continental Life Insurance Company of Brentwood Tennessee, Continuing Care Rx LLC, Coram Alternate Site Services Inc., Coram Clinical Trials Inc., Coram Healthcare Corporation of Alabama, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Florida, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Greater D.C., Coram Healthcare Corporation of Greater New York, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Indiana, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Massachusetts, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Mississippi, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Nevada, Coram Healthcare Corporation of North Texas, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Northern California, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Southern California, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Southern Florida, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Utah, Coram LLC, Coram Rx LLC, Coram Specialty Infusion, Coram Specialty Infusion Services L.L.C., Coventry Consumer Advantage Inc., Coventry Health Care National Accounts Inc., Coventry Health Care National Network Inc., Coventry Health Care Workers Compensation Inc., Coventry Health Care of Illinois Inc., Coventry Health Care of Kansas Inc., Coventry Health Care of Missouri Inc., Coventry Health Care of Nebraska Inc., Coventry Health Care of Virginia Inc., Coventry Health Care of West Virginia Inc., Coventry Health Plan of Florida Inc., Coventry Health and Life Insurance Company, Coventry HealthCare Management Corporation, Coventry Prescription Management Services Inc., Coventry Rehabilitation Services Inc., Coventry Transplant Network Inc., D & R Pharmaceutical Services LLC, D.A.W. LLC, Delaware CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Delaware Physicians Care Incorporated, Digital eHealth LLC, District of Columbia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., E.T.B. INC., Echo Merger Sub Inc., Eckerd Corporation of Florida Inc., Employee Assistance Services LLC, Enloe Drugs LLC, Enterprise Patient Safety Organization LLC, EntrustRX, Evergreen Pharmaceutical LLC, Evergreen Pharmaceutical of California Inc., Express Pharmacy Services of PA L.L.C., FOCUS HealthCare Management Inc., First Health Group Corp., First Health Life & Health Insurance Company, First Script Network Services Inc., Florida Health Plan Administrators LLC, Garfield Beach CVS L.L.C., Generation Health L.L.C., Geneva Woods Health Services LLC, Geneva Woods LTC Pharmacy LLC, Geneva Woods Management LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Alaska LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Washington LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Wyoming LLC, Geneva Woods Retail Pharmacy LLC, Georgia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., German Dobson CVS L.L.C., Goodhealth Worldwide (Asia) Limited, Goodhealth Worldwide (Global) Limited, Goodyear CVS L.L.C., Grand St. Paul CVS L.L.C., Grandview Pharmacy LLC, Group Dental Service Inc., Group Dental Service of Maryland Inc., Health Care Management Co. Ltd., Health Data & Management Solutions Inc., Health Re Inc., Health and Human Resource Center Inc., HealthAssuance Pennsylvania Inc., Healthagen LLC, Highland Park CVS L.L.C., Holiday CVS L.L.C., Home Care Pharmacy LLC, Home Pharmacy Services LLC, Hook-SupeRx L.L.C., Horizon Behavioral Services LLC, Idaho CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., IlliniCare Health, Indian Health Organisation Private Limited, Innovation Health Holdings LLC, Innovation Health Insurance Company, Innovation Health Plan Inc., Interlock Pharmacy Systems LLC, Iowa CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., JHC Acquisition LLC, Kansas CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Kentucky CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., LCPS Acquisition LLC, Langsam Health Services LLC, Lo-Med Prescription Services LLC, Lobos Acquisition LLC, Longs Drug Stores, Longs Drug Stores California L.L.C., Louisiana CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., MHHP Acquisition Company LLC, MHNet Life and Health Insurance Company, MHNet Specialty Services LLC, MHNet of Florida Inc., Managed Care Coordinators Inc., Managed Healthcare LLC, Martin Health Services LLC, Maryland CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Med World Acquisition Corp., Medical Arts Health Care LLC, Medical Examinations of New York P.C., Melville Realty Company Inc., MemberHealth LLC, Mental Health Associates Inc., Mental Health Network of New York IPA Inc., Meritain Health Inc., Merwin Long Term Care LLC, MetraComp Inc., Minor Health Enterprise Co Ltd., MinuteClinic, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Alabama L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Arizona LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Florida LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Georgia LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Hawaii L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Illinois LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Kentucky L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Louisiana L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Maine L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Maryland LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Massachusetts LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Nebraska L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of New Hampshire L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of New Mexico L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Ohio LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Oklahoma LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Oregon LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Pennsylvania LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Rhode Island LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of South Carolina L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Texas LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Utah L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Virginia LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Washington LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Wisconsin L.L.C., MinuteClinic L.L.C., MinuteClinic Online Diagnostic Services LLC, MinuteClinic Physician Practice of Texas, MinuteClinic Telehealth Services LLC, Mississippi CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Missouri CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Montana CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., NCS Healthcare LLC, NCS Healthcare of Illinois LLC, NCS Healthcare of Iowa LLC, NCS Healthcare of Kansas LLC, NCS Healthcare of Kentucky Inc. (Oh, NCS Healthcare of Montana LLC, NCS Healthcare of New Mexico LLC, NCS Healthcare of Ohio LLC, NCS Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, NCS Healthcare of Tennessee LLC, NCS Healthcare of Wisconsin LLC, NIV Acquisition LLC, Navarro Discount Pharmacy, Nebraska CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., NeighborCare Holdings Inc., NeighborCare Inc., NeighborCare Pharmacy Services Inc., NeighborCare Services Corporation, NeighborCare of Indiana LLC, NeighborCare of Virginia LLC, New Jersey CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Niagara Re Inc., North Carolina CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., North Shore Pharmacy Services LLC, NovoLogix LLC, OCR Services LLC, Ocean Acquisition Sub L.L.C., Ohio CVS Stores L.L.C., Oklahoma CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Omnicare, Omnicare Holding Company, Omnicare Inc., Omnicare Indiana Partnership Holding Company LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of Pennsylvania East LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of Pennsylvania West LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of the Great Plains Holding LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy and Supply Services LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy of Tennessee LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy of the Midwest LLC, Omnicare Property Management LLC, Omnicare of Nebraska LLC, Omnicare of Nevada LLC, Omnicare of New York LLC, Oregon CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., PE Holdings LLC, PHPSNE Parent Corporation, PP Acquisition Company LLC, PRN Pharmaceutical Services LP, PT Aetna Management Consulting, Pamplona Saude e Beleza LTDA, Part D Holding Company L.L.C., PayFlex Holdings Inc., PayFlex Systems USA Inc., Pennsylvania CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Performax Inc., Pharmacy Associates of Glenn Falls LLC, Pharmacy Consultants LLC, Phoenix Data Solutions LLC, Precision Benefit Services Inc., Prime Net Inc., ProCare Pharmacy Direct L.L.C., ProCare Pharmacy L.L.C., Prodigy Health Group Inc., Professional Risk Management Inc., Pt. Aetna Global Benefits Indonesia, Puerto Rico CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Red Oak Sourcing LLC, Resources for Living LLC, Rhode Island CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Roeschens Healthcare LLC, RxAmerica, Schaller Anderson Medical Administrators Incorporated, Scrip World LLC, Sheffield Avenue CVS L.L.C., Shore Pharmaceutical Providers LLC, Silverscript Insurance Company, Soma Intimates, South Carolina CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., South Wabash CVS L.L.C., Specialized Pharmacy Services LLC, Spinnaker Bidco Limited, Spinnaker Topco Limited, Stadtlander Drug Company, Stadtlander Pharmacy, Sterling Healthcare Services LLC, Superior Care Pharmacy LLC, Sutter Health and Aetna Administrative Services LLC, Sutter Health and Aetna Insurance Company, Sutter Health and Aetna Insurance Holding Company LLC, T2 Medical Inc., TCPI Acquisition LLC, TargetPharmacy, Tennessee CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Texas Health + Aetna Health Insurance Company, Texas Health + Aetna Health Insurance Holding Company LLC, Texas Health + Aetna Health Plan Inc., The Vasquez Group Inc., Thomas Phoenix CVS L.L.C., Three Forks Apothecary LLC, U.S Healthcare Holdings LLC, U.S. Healthcare Properties Inc., UAC Holding Inc., UC Acquisition LLC, UNI-Care Health Services of Maine LLC, Universal American - Medicare Part D Business, Utah CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., VAPS Acquisition Company LLC, Value Health Care Services LLC, Vermont CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Virginia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Virtual Home Healthcare L.L.C., Warm Springs Road CVS L.L.C., Washington CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Washington Lamb CVS L.L.C., Weber Medical Systems LLC, Wellpartner LLC, West Virginia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Westhaven Services Co LLC, Williamson Drug Company LLC, Wisconsin CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Woodward Detroit CVS L.L.C., Work and Family Benefits Inc., ZS Acquisition Company LLC, Zinc Health Services LLC, Zinc Health Ventures LLC, bSwift LLC, and iTriage LLC.
Effective intervention can reduce medication overuse in Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACF's), the latest University of Tasmania research shows.

Led by The Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre's Dr. Juanita Westbury, the research published in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) today focuses on the results of the RedUSe (Reducing Use of Sedatives) intervention aimed at reducing the use of psychotropic medications (mainly antipsychotic and benzodiazepine medications) in RACFS around the country.

The research was conducted in 150 Australian RACF's in six states and the ACT.

Dr. Westbury's research initially showed around two thirds of RACF residents were prescribed psychotropic medications to manage high rates of sleep disturbance, anxiety, depression and the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia.

"For at least two decades, concerns have been raised about inappropriate psychotropic prescribing in Australian residential aged care facilities, due to their modest therapeutic benefits and high risks," Dr. Westbury said.

"These medications aren't effective in many cases and can lead to many side effects including a higher risk of falls, pneumonia and stroke."

After an initial trial in Tasmania, Dr. Westbury introduced The RedUSe multi-strategic intervention nationally to more than 12,000 aged care residents.

During the project, each RACF's sedative medication use was measured initially, then at three months and finally at six months. Nursing and care staff attended training sessions on psychotropic medication and residents taking these medicines were reviewed by nursing staff, pharmacists and their GP.

Initial or 'baseline statistics' of the research published recently in the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry showed that although regular antipsychotic use in Australian RACFs had gone down in the last five years, the routine use of benzodiazepines to treat anxiety, agitation and sleeplessness, had increased.

The use of sedating antidepressants and prescribing of psychotropic medication on an 'as needed' basis had also increased.

Following the introduction of RedUSe, statistics showed a significant reduction of the use of psychotropic medication in RACF's.

"Under RedUSe approximately 40% of residents had their antipsychotic or benzodiazepine medication ceased completely or their dosage reduced," Dr. Westbury said.

"Furthermore, substitution to sedating antidepressants did not occur and the issuing on an 'as needed' basis of antipsychotics and benzodiazepines declined significantly."

RedUSe aims to ensure that sedative medication is used appropriately and is reviewed frequently in the aged care setting through strategies including education of nursing staff, promotion of evidence-based guidelines, and drug audits of aged care home medication use.

Dr. Westbury said she had received an overwhelmingly positive response to the project from staff at RACFs around the country.

"We were approached by more than 300 RACFS from around Australia to be a part of this project. They were interested in any staff education or project developed to address this issue," she said.

The key recommendations of Dr. Westbury's research included making RedUSe available to all Australian RACFs in the future and for the program to be offered as part of the Federally funded 'Quality Use of Medicines' program for community pharmacists.

The research also recommended the provision of national training for RACF staff to manage behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia and in alternatives to medication for the treatment of these symptoms.

Dr. Westbury is a researcher at the University of Tasmania's College of Health and Medicine, Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre.

Explore further Widespread antipsychotic use in nursing homes unnecessary, trial shows
Saturday nights Mets vs. Phillies game has been postponed due to inclement weather.

The two clubs will play a traditional doubleheader on Aug. 16 with the start time of the first game at 4:05 p.m.

New York will send Jacob deGrom to the hill tomorrow afternoon for the Mets before they head home for a quick two-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays starting Tuesday.

Noah Syndergaard, who was scheduled to pitch Saturday, will now pitch Tuesday with Zack Wheeler toeing the rubber on Wednesday.
Not only wood

Apart from a huge amount of wood, the ships also needed lots of iron and other materials for nails, anchors, chains, pikes, bolts, tacks, spikes, keys, pins, rings and rudder pintles. Most of the metal items were made from iron ore, rough sheets and rods imported from China and to a lesser extent Japan, India and America. China also made nails and pins according to sizes and shapes ordered by the Philippines governor

Protection of the hull

Although timber in the Philippines was highly resistant to rot and cannon fire, thin sheets of tin or lead sheaths were added to parts of the hull for extra protection against sea worms

Rigging, cables, ropes and sails

Rigging was used to manage the sails, masts were supported by rope and cables and cords were used to make shrouds. All the rope was made from abaca plant fibre, which was much stronger than the hemp rigging used by European countries

Galleon typical shape sails

Using high-quality cotton from areas such as the Philippine province of Ilocos, the sails were cheaper to produce and more durable than those made in Spain and across Europe

The whipstaff

Galleons used this steering device before the introduction of the more complex ships wheel in the early 18th century. The disadvantage was that the helmsman had a very limited range of control of the tillers movement
Gupta-owned coal supplier Tegeta has raked in billions while failing to meet its domestic delivery requirements to Eskom, according to a report in the Sunday Times.

The companys largest mine, Optimum, reportedly made up to R4 billion in coal exports over the last two years by selling to the Gupta-linked asset management firm Centaur Ventures, which is based in Bermuda.

Optimum sold 1.9 million tons of coal, which was destined for Eskoms Hendrina power station, to Centaur at an inflated average price of R1,075 per ton  seven-times more than the R150 per ton Eskom was paying for the coal.

Eskom has failed to enforce stringent contractual obligations against Optimum, with the coal supplier only fulfilling its monthly quota in four out of 20 months.

Shortages

Coal shortages at power stations have almost resulted in the re-implementation of load shedding, with Eskom seeking aid from Treasury to avert the crisis.

Eskom has also stated that Tegata was paid R7 million in September last year for 37,000 tons of coal that was never delivered.

Speaking to the Sunday times, Eskom said it could not provide comment due to an ongoing investigation of the issue.

An internal review at Eskom recently found the company had also spent R1.9 billion with consulting firm McKinsey & Co from 2005 to 2017.

The consulting firm reportedly benefitted from a lack of controls at Eskom, and the large sum of money was linked to executives at the firm forming a relationship with its BEE partner, the Gupta-associated Trillian.

Now read: Inside the coal supply emergency at Eskom
KOERNER ROMBAUER, FOUNDER OF ROMBAUER VINEYARDS, PASSES AWAY AT 83

Napa Valley, California, May 11, 2018  Koerner Rombauer, the founder of Rombauer Vineyards and a beloved figure in the Napa Valley over the last four decades, died on May 10. He was 83.

Koerner is survived by his wife, Sandy, and children Sheana Rombauer and K.R. Rombauer III and grandchildren Reagan, Drew, Seth, Lane, and Ransome.

Koerner was born and raised in Escondido, California where he married Joan Ransome, his wife of 43 years. He served in the California Air National Guard as a pilot from 1956 to 1965, beginning his lifelong love of flying. Koerner and Joan had two children, Sheana and KR, who were born in Escondido and then later moved to Texas where Koerner began his commercial airline pilot career flying for Braniff International Airways in 1965. The family relocated to the Napa Valley in 1972 where they settled in a hilltop property north of St. Helena on the Silverado Trail. In between his commitments with Braniff, Koerner began spending time learning about winemaking at Conn Creek Winery. In 1980 they founded Rombauer Vineyards. They harvested their first grapesCabernet Sauvignon from the Stags Leap Districtin 1980 followed by their first vintage of Chardonnay in 1982. Joan died of pancreatic cancer after a three-year battle in 2002.
Veterans who are rated 50 percent and higher can get a reduction in cost for California hunting and fishing licenses, and may be entitled to free access to state parks.

In some cases, a veteran may qualify for up to $20,577 toward purchase of an adapted vehicle if there is service connection for loss or loss of use of a foot or hand, or total blindness.

A portion of property tax can be exempted for veterans who are rated 100 percent disabled, or for surviving spouses of veterans whose death was related to military service.

There are many other benefits for all veterans. The Napa County Veterans Service Office provides a free orientation to veterans benefits on the second Tuesday of each month. There is also a Vet Connect program the second Thursday of each month with many service providers to answer questions about benefits and services. Both programs are held at 650 Imperial Way in Napa. Call 707-253-4558 for details.

Memorial Day, observed this year on May 28, is a day of remembrance of those who died while serving their country.
Over the past 63 years, hes probably helped make arrangements for more than 12,000 people, he estimated.

Rota was married for 71 years to Eloise, who died in October. Their daughter, Leslie Rota, now helps to run the business.

Rota served two terms as a council member. During his second term, he ran for mayor, losing by just 30 votes, he said. Rather than run for a third term, Rota said he retired to concentrate on his business.

As wonderful as the downtown of his youth was, Rota said he is proud to have been on the Council that accepted federal urban renewal dollars in the 70s to bring about radical changes.

Downtown was dying, Rota said. The council had to be willing to tear down some of the old to build the new, he said.

I always had a feeling it would survive, Rota said of downtown. It got pretty desperate for a while, then started coming back.

During the worst of it, they used to say on Saturday night you could shoot a canon down Main Street and not hit anyone, he said.

Downtown has flirted with multiple comebacks since the first years of city-sponsored redevelopment. Sustained economic success was hard to come by.
A plan by Verizon Wireless to amplify its cellular data network in Napa with an array of shorter transmitters comes before the City Council on Tuesday.

A fraction of the height and range of regular wireless towers, the so-called small cells will be attached to existing PG&E utility poles in Napa or included in replacement poles up to 52 feet high, taller than normal to extend signal reach. Each unit is designed to fortify wireless service rather than extending it into unserved areas, producing a signal in a 1,000-foot radius instead of a full-size towers typical one-mile range.

During a public forum March 29, Verizon representatives said the carrier has received city permits to roll out 24 small cells at sites on Franklin, Coombs, Jefferson and Greenbach streets, as well as Old Sonoma and Browns Valley roads and Cabot Way. The company, like other carriers, has described the wider use of the compact transmitters as a response to growing and data-intensive use of smartphones and tablets to surf the Internet and share photos and video, rather than simply place voice calls and text messages.

Councilmembers are scheduled to discuss the city process for reviewing and regulating small cells, although federal and state laws limit the oversight by local governments of wireless communications.
One minute, it seems like everyone knows what theyre doing, but the next second, you have some bad drivers who mess up the whole pattern, she said.

Until last November, OBrien lived in Napa with her mother, but balked at the local housing prices when looking for a place of her own.

Its cheaper to live in Suisun than Napa, so I had to do it for that reason, she said. I would love to live in Napa. Thats where I work. Thats where I was born and raised.

The bottleneck is more than a commuter problem. Anyone trying to leave Napa County using Jameson Canyon on a weekday or weekend might encounter the bottleneck, depending on their timing.

The STA and Caltrans for years have been working on a $740 million plan to fix to the Interstates 80 and 680 and Highway 12 interchanges. The goal is to create one merged interchange in seven phases.

Fixing that bottlenecked Jameson Canyon ramp was originally scheduled for Phase 4. Given Phase 1 only recently was completed  a new entrance to Jameson Canyon from the Solano County side  the day of the ramp widening looked far off indeed.
VALLEJO -- A Solano County Juvenile Court judge ruled today that a juvenile should be prosecuted in adult court for a Vallejo gang-related murder he allegedly committed in 2015.

Judge Robert P. Fracchia said the defendant, Jose Gonzalez, is not amenable to the care, treatment and training programs available through the facilities of the Juvenile Court, according to the Solano County District Attorney's Office.

Gonzalez is now scheduled to appear in Solano County Criminal Court on June 11 for reassignment to a department for adult defendants, Solano County prosecutors said.

Gonzalez is a validated member of the Brown Brotherhood subset of the Sureno street gang, according to county prosecutors. He was allegedly with three other gang members who were hanging out under a railroad bridge in Vallejo in the gang's territory on Aug. 13, 2015.

Prosecutors said Gonzalez and another gang member were allegedly armed with revolver style pistols when they confronted the victim and said, "Do you bang?"

Prosecutors said Gonzalez and the other defendant then shot the victim at least nine times and the victim died at the scene.

Gonzalez faces a 60-year to life sentence if he is convicted for the alleged gang-related murder.
SEOULNorth Korea will destroy its nuclear test site later this month, ahead of a summit with the United States, it said Saturday, pledging to blow up its tunnels in front of invited foreign media. US President Donald Trump praised the Norths decision to dismantle the Punggye-ri test site in a ceremony scheduled between May 23-25, the latest step in leader Kim Jong Uns charm offensive. Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture! Trump tweeted. Dialogue brokered by Seoul has seen US-North Korea relations go from trading personal insults and threats of war last year to a summit between Kim and Trump due in Singapore on June 12. But skeptics warn that Pyongyang has yet to make any public commitment to give up its arsenal, which includes missiles capable of reaching the United States. Washington is seeking the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the North and stresses that verification will be key. AFP Punggye-ri, in the northeast of the country, has hosted all six of the Norths nuclear tests, the latest and by far the most powerful in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb. Kim has declared the development of the Norths nuclear force complete and that it had no further need for the site. The latest measures will see the tunnels of the test site blown up and their entrances completely blocked, Pyongyangs foreign ministry said, according to the official KCNA news agency. All observation facilities and research institutes would be removed, along with guards, it said, and the surrounding area of the test ground be completely closed. Reporters from China, Russia, the United States, Britain and South Korea would be allowed to cover the event on site to show it in a transparent manner. Limits on foreign journalists were due to space constraints, it said, as the site was in an uninhabited deep mountain area. Analysts said the move was positive but limited in its scope. It was not bad, but a cost-free signal, tweeted MIT political science professor Vipin Narang.Given the stage it had already reached, Pyongyang may feel like they dont need to test anything for a while, he said. Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies, expected that the North will sanitize the site before letting anyone see it. Saturdays announcement is the latest move in a rapid sequence of events on the Korean peninsula triggered by the Winter Olympics in the South. Tensions had been mounting for years as Pyongyangs nuclear and ballistic missile programs saw it subjected to multiple rounds of increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the US, EU, South Korea and others, and Trump last year threatened the North with fire and fury. But since the Pyeongchang Games, Pyongyang and Washington have agreed to the unprecedented Singapore meeting, and Kim has twice visited China to meet President Xi Jinping, after not paying respects in the six years since he inherited power from his father. The head of the UNs World Food Program said Saturday it appeared North Korea was turning a new page in history, following a four-day visit to the country. David Beasley said he had enjoyed unprecedented access to the secretive state, telling BBC radio that North Koreas leaders had a sense of optimism. Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month affirmed their commitment to the goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula at a summit in the Demilitarized Zone that divides their countries. But the phrase is a diplomatic euphemism open to interpretation on both sides. Pyongyang has long wanted to see an end to the US military presence in and nuclear umbrella over the South, but it invaded its neighbor in 1950 and is the only one of the two Koreas to possess nuclear weapons. This week the North released three Korean-Americans it had detained into the care of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was making his second trip to Pyongyang in two months. Trump also withdrew the United States from a nuclear pact with Iran, raising questions over whether Pyongyang would trust Washingtons promises. Pompeo Friday promised the US would work to rebuild North Koreas sanctions-hit economy if it agreed to surrender its nuclear arsenal. AFP
New activists, he said, get excited and energized by some issue. They feel the rush of power, the elation of being part of a cause greater than themselves. They throw their hearts and souls into the election campaign.

And then, inevitably, at some point, they are disappointed. They lose an election. They fail to change the process in the way they envisioned.

Many of them will turn away in disgust, convinced that the system is rigged, or that one person really cant make a difference. They will retreat into their private, non-political lives.

A wise few, however, will realize that loss is part of the political game. You lose this time, the wrong guy gets elected, but you come back next time with Mr. Right. Maybe you have to come back a couple of times, or even start thinking in terms of years and decades to make the change you want, losing more than once along the way.

Those people, the ones who can overcome their disappointment and disillusionment and start taking the long view in politics, he said, are the ones who ultimately prevail.

Then Grover got up, thanked me for my time and left, without ever explaining why it was he wanted me to know this, or why such a powerful person bothered to take notice of a rookie national reporter on a smallish newspaper.
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly wants you to know that he does not think most immigrants who come to this country illegally are bad people. His concern, as he explained it in an interview with National Public Radio on Thursday, is that they are "overwhelmingly rural people," with little education. "They're also not people that would easily assimilate into the United States, into our modern society," he said.

It would be disturbing to hear any person in a position of trust express such lack of regard for the fundamental values that have made this country what it is. But in Kelly's case, it was particularly egregious because ... well, because his name is Kelly.

His ancestors came from Ireland, as mine did. He grew up on Bigelow Street in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, where reminders of his heritage - and of the opportunities made possible by his immigrant forebears - would have been everywhere he looked.
These factors alone would be enough for our editorial board to recommend a vote for Thompson as he seeks his 11th term, but there is more.

The Registers editorial board met with Thompson recently to discuss his reelection bid and we found him as energized and focused as we have ever seen him. He seems fired up for another term.

And why not? It is perfectly possible that Democrats could take control of the House of Representatives and Thompson would find himself in a senior position in the majority. He would likely become chairman of the Subcommittee on Tax Policy in the powerful Ways and Means Committee, bringing a powerful voice from Napa County into the complicated business of taxes.

Should the Democrats take the majority, there would necessarily be lots of congressional rookies in the party ranks, and Thompson would become a valuable elder statesmen, providing wisdom and experience for his new colleagues.

Thompson is opposed by three candidates, among them only one from Napa County.
Because Measure C was created in secret, the only public airing of the measure has been mailings, street signs, ads and letters to our local newspapers.

Even with the generosity of our local editors printing long letters, initiatives are a terrible way to govern. It should be no surprise then, that pleasantries are abandoned. The truth is stretched to the breaking point and misleading feel-good slogans are repeated ad nauseum in hopes that the Big Lie will prevail. These are hard scrabble, no holds barred fights. Winning is everything. Whether any of us like it or not, this is the life of all initiatives, and it will take a very long time for our valley to heal.

The entire premise of how a forest functions championed by the Measure C authors and supporters is outdated, wrong and simplistic. If Measure C passes the oak woodlands will, with time, become overcrowded, thick with underbrush and dead-fall, leading to unhealthy forests.

This overcrowding will insure that the forests become more susceptible to disease, insects, drought and hot destructive fires. Instead of the moderate fires burning the underbrush and small trees, with the larger oaks surviving, these new fires will be hotter crown-fires likely to kill even the largest and most fire-resistant oaks.
Much is said these days about the initiative process. But saying and knowing can differ.

Know that the initiative is upheld in the California Constitution as a way for people to advance important issues in a political climate perhaps dominated by a powerful business culture. The initiative is no mere notion as some say.

Progressive leaders in 1911 rallied popular interest enough to overcome the wealthy railroad elite which controlled Sacramento and placed the initiative process squarely in our State Constitution. There it remains for Californians to address resolution of important issues which elitists may want to ignore, belittle or thwart to this day.

Issues involving water or natural resources often have common interest held by the many downstream in this state. Many know their security in shared health and happiness may depend on it.

Much earlier, Jeremy Bentham stated that we should aim to obtain the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Happiness for the many is no notion either. One can read the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence (or, my letter to the editor of July 5, 2017) to know the rightful purpose it plays in modern democracy, made manifest by initiative in California.
Making the final policy push, the Central government has decided to sanction a major manpower and infrastructure boost to the ITBP in the form of nine new battalions, a strategic sector headquarter on the front, a dozen patrol camps and 47 new BoPs to be raised along the China border over the next few years.

As per media reports, the Union Home Ministry last month held a meeting for the creation of a number of operational border security requirements for the force that is mandated to guard the 3,488-km long Sino-India frontier.

As per the proposal, the Home Ministry has accorded an in-principle approval to raise 9 new battalions (comprising about 9,000 personnel), a sector headquarter on the China border in a Northeast state, 47 new border outposts (BoPs), 12 staging camps and augmenting the troops strength at 18 BoPs in the Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh region.

Nine of these battalions were meant for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police while the rest were for the Border Security Force, which had been sanctioned sometime back by the ministry.

With the sanction coming in for the ITBP by the next month, a senior official said, the force will start fresh recruitment to raise the new battalions and also to fill its existing vacancy of about 6,000 personnel in the lower ranks.

The budgetary allocation is the last thing to be cleared by the Home Ministry, he said.

The new sector headquarter, the official said, will be headed by a deputy inspector general (DIG)-rank official and in all possibility will be based in Arunachal Pradesh to oversee the deployment of the force in the border state and adjoining Sikkim area.

The dozen new staging camps or temporary huts are required to provide ITBP patrols rations, logistics and a place to stay during long-range patrols along the icy Himalayan frontier. They act as temporary BoPs for the troops out on operations.
The All Nagaland School Teachers Association (ANSTA) has voiced strong opposition and expressed serious concern over deployment of school teachers for the forthcoming Lok Sabha by-poll duty in the state.

Citing the Supreme Courts judgment which had categorically ruled that teachers cannot be deployed for election duty during working days or working hours, the association said deployment of school teachers was in total violation of the December 6, 2007 the apex court judgment.

The office bearers of the association, in a release, reminded the Supreme Court had directed that all teaching staff must only be put on election duties and electoral revision work on holidays and non-teaching days.

However, the ANSTA alleged that the state government, in violation of the apex courts order, has deployed many government school teachers for the by-poll and is conducting training for the purpose for them from May 14.

Stating that all the training days, including polling day, fall on working/teaching days, depriving students from obtaining daily instructions from their teachers during such period, the association said it would not only make the teachers miss classes but would also lead to unfinished courses resulting in high dropout rates and poor results of government schools.

It further pointed out that the court also observed that though holding of election was of paramount importance, the purpose of educating children cannot be neglected.

Quoting the Supreme Court order, the ANSTA said the balance between the two must be maintained as right to education being a fundamental right is equally important as right to exercise franchise adding the court had given restricted meaning to the provisions of the Representation of the People Act 1950 and the Representation of the People Act 1951.

The association suggested the authority concerned to deploy those government employees who were without any assignments or work.
OSCE Minsk Group: Co-Chairs discussed possible de-escalatory and humanitarian measures

Sergey Markedonov: What axis between Yerevan and Tehran?

Armenia Parliament Speaker: It's very important to be able to turn the page over and establish peace in the region

Legendary Armenian gymnast Albert Azaryan's daughter, teacher Zhanna Azaryan dies from COVID-19

Georgia citizens to hold rally in support of Saakashvili in central Tbilisi on Sunday

Armenia sets up governmental commission for funeral of Ambassador Vigen Chitechyan

Armenia opposition MP: Yerevan, Baku are synchronously working to destroy Armenian statehood

Slovenia Ambassador to Armenia: Armenian-Slovenian economic relations not adequate to existing potential

Cavusoglu: Ukraine has applied to obtain observer status in Turkic Council

Turkey building a wall on border with Iran

Basque Country Parliament, affirming European Parliament's stance, adopts resolution on Armenian POWs

Turkish FM touches upon Armenia-Azerbaijan relations

Armenia FM receives Apostolic Nuncio of Holy See Jose Avelino Bettencourt

Saakashvili's father calls on son to stop hunger strike

Armenian and Belarusian MFAs hold political consultations

Digest: Russia offers 3+3 Caucasus regional platform, more on COVID-19 vaccination in Armenia

Armenia MOD receives Diaspora Armenian benefactors

Armenia Ambassador presents credentials to Turkmenistan President

Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker and Russia Ambassador: We are interested in expansion of cooperation

Armenia finance ministry-European Investment Bank cooperation development directions discussed

One dollar drops below AMD 480 in Armenia

Hague court announces dates for considering petition for Armenian captives return, urgent measures against Azerbaijan

Armenia minister, Rosatom representative discuss cooperation in new sectors for infrastructure development

Armenia PM underscores need for effective investigation of criminal cases on 44-day war circumstances

Armenia MFA: Servants, followers of Armenian Church should have unimpeded access to cathedral in Artsakhs Shushi

Armenia opposition With Honor Faction lawmaker: MPs can be part of any parliamentary delegation

Turkish Armed Forces' 3rd army corps commander visits Nakhchivan

Sergey Markedonov: Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not over

Opposition 'Armenia' faction: There is always a threat of war, but it is less likely in the near future

Armenian and Greek competition protection authorities sign Memorandum of Cooperation

Georgia FM comments on possibility of his country joining 3 + 3 format proposal including Armenia

Ruling power MP: Armenia needs to consider, grasp opportunities of 3 + 3 negotiation format

12 new cases of coronavirus reported in Karabakh

FM meets with Sweden ambassador, stresses need for return of all Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan

Ukraine MP who penned Armenian Genocide recognition draft decision dies

Azerbaijan organizes another visit to occupied Shushi of Artsakh

Ombudsman in Rome, presents Armenian captives issue to international media

ANCA calls on US Congress to investigate State Department failures related to Armenia, Artsakh

Armenia opposition MP: Tatev bypass road will not resolve all our problems in current situation (PHOTOS)

1,202 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Opposition Armenia bloc challenges, at Constitutional Court, community enlargement law package

Armenia Central Bank chief in Rome, meets with Italy PM

Russia peacekeepers, philanthropists hand warm clothes to Artsakh families

State Department: US, Russia do not want to allow Iran to have nuclear weapons

Newspaper: Armenia state to no longer cover treatment expenses of patients not vaccinated against coronavirus?

Newspaper: Armenia judicial system to be in volatile situation in short time

UN Human Rights Council agrees to appoint special rapporteur on Afghanistan

Russia citizen driver, 52, dies on the spot after his car crashes into truck in Armenia

Launch of Armenian Studies Program announced during Armenia President's visit to Sapienza University

Will Turks be able to enter 26 countries of Schengen Area without visas?

Dinner served in honor of Armenia President and his wife in Italy

Armenian parliamentary standing committee chairman meets with Russia Ambassador

Armenia Ombudsman submits to Pope Francis reports on tortures of Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan

Customs Attache: There hasn't been and there is no bias against Armenian drivers at Upper Lars checkpoint

Greece-France defense agreement will allow them to help each other in case of third country's attack

Treatment of coronavirus-infected but unvaccinated people to become paid service in Armenia as of December?

Turkish FM: Turkey's position on supporting Ukraine's "integrity and sovereignty" remains unchanged

Russian peacekeeping forces, charitable organizations provide assistance to boarding school in Karabakh

Zakharova: Moscow proceeds from priority to ensure geopolitical stability in South Caucasus

Armenia President pays tribute at Altar of the Homeland monument at Venice Square in Rome

Turkey, Iran to hold political consultations

Karabakh FM expresses condolences over death of Vigen Chitechyan

Armenia territorial administration and infrastructure minister has new deputy

Armenia Deputy PM Mher Grigoryan receives US Ambassador

Armenia Security Council Secretary, Netherlands Ambassador attach importance to fight against corruption

Digest: Armenian POW returned from Azerbaijan, PACE speaks on mandatory COVID-19 vaccination risks

Armenia and Italy are deepening cooperation in justice sector

Apprehended ARF-D members are released

Armenia high-tech industry minister receives Russia Ambassador

Armenia Embassy in Russia hosts delegation led by Armenian parliamentary speaker

Decisions to arrest Armenia ex-defense minister, arms supplier are appealed

Dollar continues going down in Armenia

Artsakh President to Putin: Your role in process of peaceful, final settlement of Karabakh conflict is invaluable

Amir-Abdollahian: We consider inadmissible Zionist regime provocative movement in our region from Azerbaijan territory

Iran FM announces readiness to visit Armenia, Azerbaijan

US ambassador to Armenia attends unveiling of new x-ray machine donated to Ashtarak city hospital (PHOTOS)

Putin: Russia attaches great importance to close cooperation with strategic ally Armenia

Police disrupt ARF youths protest outside Armenia government building

Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople meets with the Pope, in the Vatican

UK envoy to Armenia does not comment on Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, Karabakh situation

Iran Supreme Leaders representative leaves Azerbaijan

Armenias Pashinyan to Russias Putin: We are grateful for your efforts to establish peace in South Caucasus

Putin, Aliyev confer on situation in South Caucasus

Putin, Erdogan discuss regional issues

4 new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

PACE new resolution urges to ensure that COVID-19 vaccination is not mandatory

Zelensky sacks Ukraine ambassador to Armenia

PM: Armenia, Armenian people are grateful to Japan

Armenia PM: We have made decision regarding local elections

Armenia, Italy presidents farewell ceremony held in Rome (PHOTOS)

Sarkissian to Putin: Armenia highly values your contribution to maintenance of peace, stability in region

Having legal system is important for business development in fair environment, says UK ambassador to Armenia

Armenia President, Italy PM meeting in Rome (PHOTOS)

Baku not ruling out another meeting between Armenia, Azerbaijan FMs

Armenia President meets with Rome mayor

1,309 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Biden approval rating hits new low in latest poll

Armenia ombudsman in Italy parliament, presents evidence of Azerbaijan torture of Armenian captives

World oil prices dropping

Serial killer in US lured by social media is sentenced to 160 years in prison
BRUSSELSEU leaders will seek to boost ties with the Balkans at a summit next week, but it looks set to be overshadowed by the rift with US President Donald Trump over the Iran nuclear deal. The meeting of European leaders with six Balkan counterparts on Thursday in Bulgaria comes as Brussels tries to counter the growing Russian influence in the region with promises of eventual membership of the EU. However, Trumps withdrawal from the Iran accord, together with threatened trade tariffs that have also strained trans-Atlantic ties, will dominate a dinner of the EU leaders on the eve of the summit on Wednesday. Policies of @realDonaldTrump on #IranDeal and trade will meet a united European approach. EU leaders will tackle both issues at the summit in Sofia next week, European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted. For all the urgency over Europes attempts to save the Iran deal, arguably the so-called Western Balkans summit in Sofia is at least as important for the troubled blocs own future. AFP The six Balkan nations-Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia-are getting impatient to join after the EU put expansion on hold four years ago. The European Commission recently unveiled its new strategy for the region which aims to give membership to some states by 2025the front runners to join are Montenegro and Serbiain return for reforms. It would be the EUs first expansion after Brexit brings the EU down to 27 member states next year. The EU is also pledging to increase funding and boost transport, electric and communications links with the Balkans. But regional leaders have warned Brussels that Russia, together with China and Turkey, will use any sign of EU reticence to boost their own footholds in the region. For a long time the interests of the West and Russia cross over here, like at the time of the Cold War, but Russia is trying to realize its influence in the region in a much more aggressive way, said Aleksandar Popov of Serbias non-governmental Center for Regionalism.However there is little appetite for enlargement among many current EU members, who say the bloc should sort out its own problems before growing again. The EU is also wary of admitting new members before they settle their differences, particularly in a region still bedeviled by the aftermath of the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The words membership and expansion are conspicuously absent from the summit declaration, which also avoids directly saying that it is issued jointly by the EU leaders and the regional heads, according to a draft seen by AFP Also conspicuous by his absence will be Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, whose country, wary of the separatist claims of its own Catalonia region, still does not recognize Kosovos 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia. Russia is also not directly mentioned, with the only apparent reference to Moscow being a commitment to work together to fight disinformation and other hybrid activities in the region. Russia has increased its media presence in the Balkans in recent years, but so far that has stopped short of materializing in any real muscle. Pro-Russian candidates failed to win power in Montenegro, which last year joined NATO despite strong opposition from Moscow. In Macedoniaembroiled in a bitter dispute with Greece over its name which has scotched its membership prospects for now a nationalist supported by Moscow has lost power to the pro-Western Zoran Zaev. Moscow remains a long-term Serbian ally and its leaders often visit Moscow, but the level of Russian investment is just over one twentieth of what comes from the EU, even if it is more vocal about it. The EU is also Serbias largest trading partner and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic repeatedly says his countrys strategic goal is to join the EU, regardless of close ties with Russia. AFP
Thousands of Israeli soldiers are sent to the border with the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, as well as to Jerusalem, to strengthen security measures ahead the opening of the new US embassy, Interfax reported referring to Yedioth Ahronoth.

According to the source, the southern command of the army is preparing to contain tens of thousands of Palestinians who are expected to break through the border of the Gaza Strip into Israel.

Security measures are also strengthened because of the Jerusalem Day celebrated in Israel on May 13. Celebrations are held in honor of the reunification of Jerusalem after the Six Day War.

On May 14, Jerusalem will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Jewish state, which coincides with the opening of the US embassy moved from Tel Aviv.

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YEREVAN.  Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan held consultations with members of the new government.

Pashinyan congratulated the members of the Cabinet of Ministers on their election and asked them to start performing their duties immediately in order not to waste time. According to him, there are operational problems that must have been resolved.

The logic and philosophy of our work should be as follows: our task is to make the life of Armenian citizens more comfortable and prosperous. Of course, our government has a political priority, namely to prepare the Republic of Armenia for early parliamentary elections, but we must be able to record serious results. Constant dialogue with the society should become the style of our work, he said.

The Prime Minister emphasized that in the near future the government should undertake necessary reforms in various areas and in this term he underlined importance of public assistance, which is the main factor on which the work of the government should be based.

Pashinyan noted that the residents of the country pin much hopes on the new government, which implies a new approach in their work.

We know that representatives of different political forces have joined the government, but the government should work as a team, otherwise we will not be able to be effective, and I consider myself a guarantor of the Cabinets work. I hope that we have common perception on this matter, he said.

According to Pashinyan, one of the main tasks is to draft a government program and submit it in the parliament. He asked each minister to immediately start work on the program in his field, and added that the program should be optimistic and meet the expectations of the citizens of Armenia.

During the meeting, issues of government activities, medium-term expenditure programs, the fight against corruption and other problems were discussed.
BEIJINGChinese authorities have barred five Western diplomats from visiting the widow of the late Nobel laureate dissident Liu Xiaobo, diplomatic sources said Sunday. Liu Xia, 57, has been under de facto house arrest despite facing no charges ever since her husband was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, a recognition that deeply angered the communist regime. Liu Xiaobo died of cancer last year while still in prison after being convicted of subversion, making him the first Nobel laureate to die in custody since the era of Nazi Germany. The diplomats visit came following increased concern in recent days about Liu Xias psychological health. The diplomats, including a French and a German envoy and one representing the European Union, tried to visit her home on Friday morning but were turned away by officials at the gate to the complex, the sources said. The guards checked the diplomats identities before refusing them entry without giving a reason. AFP Despite the daily restrictions and surveillance faced by Liu Xia, Chinese authorities still maintain she is free. Earlier this month, reports emerged that Liu Xia had told friends she was ready to die at home in protest at her continuing detention by Chinese authorities.Liu Xias friends have told AFP she is taking medication for depression and has suffered from heart problems and fainting. AFP reporters have tried to visit Lius home multiple times in recent years, but were blocked each time by plainclothes men. The United States and European Union have called on President Xi Jinpings government to free the widow and let her travel abroad. Germanys ambassador to China previously told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post that Liu would be welcomed in his country. When asked earlier this month about western diplomatic calls for Liu Xia to travel abroad, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters: But Liu Xia is a Chinese citizen. The relevant Chinese authorities will handle relevant issues in accordance with the law. Liu Xiaobo was a veteran of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and was detained in 2008 after co-authoring Charter 08, a petition calling for democratic reforms. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison for subversion but died in custody last July after authorities rejected his request to receive treatment abroad. AFP
PARISA knife-wielding man who killed a man and wounded four other people in a suspected terror attack in central Paris was born in Chechnya and his parents have been taken into custody, a judicial source said on Sunday. The young Frenchman, born in 1997 in the southern Russian republic according to the source, was shot dead by police after carrying out the assault on Saturday evening near the citys main opera house. He had no judicial record, the judicial source told AFP. [The attacker] is French, born in Chechnya in 1997. His father and mother were placed in custody Sunday morning. Witnesses said they heard the attacker shout Allahu akbar (God is great) as Parisians fled into restaurants and bars after realizing another possible terror attack was underway in a country already reeling from a string of jihadist assaults that have killed more than 245 people in the last three years. I was taking orders and I saw a young woman trying to get into the restaurant in panic, Jonathan, a waiter at a Korean restaurant, told AFP. The woman was bleeding and a young man fended off the attacker who then ran away, he said. The attacker entered a shopping street, I saw him with a knife in his hand, he said. He looked crazy. Milan, 19, said he saw several people in distress including a woman with wounds to her neck and leg. Firemen were giving her first aid. I heard two, three shots and a policeman told me that the man had been overpowered. French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: France has once again paid the price in blood but will not give an inch to the enemies of freedom. Authorities said a 29-year-old man was killed in the attack and that a terror investigation had been launched. The assailant had no identifying documents on him. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility, saying one of its soldiers had carried out the attack, according to the SITE monitoring group, but provided no corroborating proof to back their assertion. Two of those wounded, a 34-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman, were rushed to hospital in a serious condition but Interior Minister Gerard Collomb later told reporters all the injured would survive. I have just seen the person who was most seriously injured, she is better, she is saved, he said.French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said police were on the scene within five minutes of the attack and that some nine minutes later the assailant was dead, he added. The speed of the response obviously avoided a heavier toll, he said. A police source told AFP one officer tried to restrain the attacker with a taser but when that failed a colleague shot the man dead. The attack took place on Rue Monsigny in the second arrondissement, an area that lies between the main opera house and the Louvre museum, two major tourist attractions. Shocked tourists and residents looked on from behind a security perimeter set up by the police. I was on the cafe terrace, I heard three, four shots, it happened very fast, said 47-year-old Gloria. The bartenders told us to come inside very quickly. Then I went out to see what was going on, and then I saw a man on the ground, she added. One witness, who gave her first name as Maxine, said panic spread as word got out that an attack was taking place. We saw someone coming out of a building who said he saw the assailant slaughter someone, so people took refuge in the bar, she said. France has suffered a series of major Islamist attacks including the massacre at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the November 2015 attacks that killed 130 in Paris, and the 2016 Bastille Day truck attack in Nice that killed more than 80. There have also been a string of less deadly but frequent attacks by lone wolf jihadists wielding knives or guns. Most of the attacks have either been claimed by the Islamic State group or been carried out in their name. A state of emergency put in place just after the 2015 Paris attacks was lifted in October when Macrons centrist government passed a new law boosting the powers of security forces. Thousands of French troops remain on the streets under an anti-terror operation known as Sentinelle, patrolling transport hubs, tourist hot spots and other sensitive sites. AFP
Home | News | General | Police arrest 4 suspects over forgery, theft of Imo APC wards, LG electoral materials

The Nigeria Police have arrested four suspects who were alleged to have forged, stole and were in possession unlawfully of APC wards and local government electoral materials meant for the aborted APC ward congress election of 5th May, in Imo state.

The name of the suspect are Engr. Ikpamezie Innocent 39Yrs  Principal Suspect from Mbaitoli LGA of Imo State (Special Adviser on Electoral matters to Senator Hope Uzodimma representing Orlu Senatorial District of Imo State), Lawrence Archibong 34Yrs from Akpabuyo LGA of Cross Rivers State, Kelechi Affonne 27Yrs from Isialagwa North LGA of Abia State and Joseph Martins 28Yrs from Ivo LGA of Ebonyi State

Some of the things found with them include sixty eight (68) APC Ward Congress result sheets, six (6) APC LG result Sheet, six (6) LG APC Ward Officers and delegates list for the aborted 5th May, 2018 APC Ward congress elections and one hundred and thirty (130) APC delegates nomination forms

Imo: Police parade suspects arrested for forgery, theft of APC wards, LG electoral materials

The Nigeria Police in a statement said it is determined to ensure violence free and credible elections across the country in the forth coming 2019 General Election.

The police said the Force has therefore, put in adequate security arrangement to guarantee free and fair elections from primary elections of all political parties to period of nomination and campaigns and the election proper throughout the Thirty Six States and the FCT.

The Inspector General of Police has directed all Commissioners of Police and their supervising Assistant Inspector General of Police to ensure adequate security and should not hesitate to deal decisively with any individual or group whose conduct or action might resort to disruption of the Electoral process anywhere in the country regardless of status or position in the society. They are to implement security strategies and measures to forestall any action that may mar or truncate the electoral process before, during and after the 2019 General Elections in the Country.

At about 1400hrs of today being 12th May, 2018, operatives of the IGP Special Tactical Squad on a tip-off trailed and arrested the above mentioned suspects in SEREDIB HOTEL AT WUSE II, ABUJA while in the act in hideout in the hotel, manipulating and entering data into result sheets of the Imo State APC Ward Election Result Sheets. In their possession were recovered the above listed exhibits of Ward and Local Government Electoral Materials of Six (6) Local Governments in Imo State, namely; (i) Ikeduru (ii) Ahiazu Mbaise (iii) Ngor-Okpala (iv) Owerri West (v) Owerri Municipal (vi) Mbaitoli

Imo: Police parade suspects arrested for forgery, theft of APC wards, LG electoral materials

The Principal Suspect, Engr. Ikpamezie Innocent 39Yrs from Mbaitoli LGA of Imo State who admitted to be the Special Adviser on Electoral matters to Senator Hope Uzodimma representing Orlu Senatorial District of Imo State currently in the Senate confessed that all the electoral materials were given to them by Dr. Iyke Njoku, Zonal coordinator, Owerri Municipality to Senator Hope Uzodimma representing Orlu Senatorial District of Imo State in the Senate.

All the suspects admitted and confessed to the various criminal roles they played in the commission of the crime. Investigation is in progress and effort is being intensified to arrest Dr. Iyke Njoku and other suspects still at large. All suspects will all be arraigned in court on completion of investigation.

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Home | News | General | APC LG congress: Chairman hails Abia APC exercise

Alhaji Abdullahi Bello, the Chairman, Local Government Congress Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia, has commended the peace and unity demonstrated by delegates and chieftains of the party during Saturdays exercise in the state.

APC

Bello expressed his impression to newsmen on the outcome of the congress, which took place at the state party secretariat in Umuahia.

The chairman said that he was happy with the peaceful conduct of the delegates and party stalwarts throughout the exercise.

He denied knowledge of the conduct of two parallel congresses in the state, saying that there are no factions in the party.

Abia APC members are united, there are no factions. The congress was peaceful and orderly throughout the state, Bello said.

He spoke against the backdrop of a parallel congress held at Umuawa Alaocha Primary School in Umuahia North Local Government Area by a faction loyal to Chief Ikechi Emenike, a chieftain of the party in the area.

But Bello said that the committee was not aware of the congress, adding that it only received the result of Umuahia North congress held at the party secretariat in Umuahia.

He said that at about 6 p.m the committee received results from 14 out of the 17 local government areas in the state.

He said that the outstanding results included those of Ohafia, Ukwa East and Ukwa West local government areas, which are far-flung from Umuahia, the state capital.

Bello urged the party to remain united, committed and focused in their collective quest to oust the PDP-led government in the 2019 polls in the state.

I advise Abia APC to remain united and committed and also work hard so that by 2019 they will occupy the Government House, the chairman urged.

NAN

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Home | News | General | Agip applauds military for providing peaceful operating environment in Niger Delta

The Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), has commended the joint military force deployed to the Niger Delta, for curbing restiveness and providing a peaceful atmosphere for uninterrupted oil production.

Mr Marco Rondo, NAOCs outgoing General Manager, Port Harcourt District, gave the commendation on Saturday in Yenagoa, during a courtesy visit to the headquarters of the joint force, christened Operation Delta Safe.

Rondo said that the operations of the joint force against militancy and oil theft, had stabilised the operations of the oil firm and reduced incidents of oil theft across its operations in Rivers and Bayelsa.

He noted that security was critical to the operations of the oil firm which produces 80 per cent of its oil export from Nigeria.

Newsmen recall that NAOC had on March 22,2013 shut its activities at oil fields in Bayelsa, from which it produced about 40, 000 barrels of crude oil daily, over high incidence of oil theft.

NAOC had stated that it was losing about 7,000 barrels of its crude production daily to oil thieves in Bayelsa, a development the firm described as unsustainable, necessitating the shut down.

Rondo who said that the rate of oil theft had dropped drastically within the past two years, appealed to the Commander of Operation Delta Safe to extend the support to the incoming General Manager, Mr Tiatti Alissandra.

Responding, Rear Admiral Suleiman Apochi, Commander of the joint force, noted that it was gratifying to note that the operations of the military was adding value to oil and gas operations, by leading to a boost in oil output.

He said that several oil firms operating in Niger Delta had expressed satisfaction with the improved security in the region in the recent past during interactions with the command.

We are glad that our modest efforts are being appreciated by oil industry operators and we remain committed to our duty, we are here because of the mandate of the Federal Government.

We have no choice than to do what we are doing because that is our job, we are committed to service to our fatherland, Apochi said.

Also in the Agip delegation were Mr Dennis Masi, Public Affairs Manager, Mr Stanley Umokoro, the Security Manager, while Unit Commanders in Operation Delta Safe witnessed the ceremony.

NAN

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Foreign Minister of Philippines Friday said he would advise the President to lift immediately the February ban on the deployment of Filipinos as domestic workers in Kuwait as the two countries inked new regulations to govern these workers recruitment.

Alan Peter Cayetano and his Kuwaiti counterpart, Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled al-Sabah, told the media that an agreement between the two countries on the employment of domestic workers was reached.

Kuwait is one of the main recruiters of Filipina domestic workers. They represent around 60 per cent of the 260,000 Filipino work force in the Gulf country.

The two countries fell out at the beginning of this year after Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte accused the Gulf country of abandoning his citizens when they are victim of abuses and inhuman treatment. The Asian leader in February imposed a ban on the deployment of Filipina workers after a 29-year worker was found stuffed in a freezer for over one year.

Manila and Kuwait City initiated talks to come up with a new workers deal but the tension between the two countries escalated last month with the expulsion of the Filipino envoy caught in a controversy after video footage showed the Philippines mission staff involved in rescue operations of domestic workers from their work place without the consent of their employers.

Foreign Minister Cayetano at the joint press conference said the crisis is over.

I think the crisis is over. We will move on with the bilateral relations and we will resume normal ties with Kuwait, he said.

The top Philippines diplomat also indicated he will advise President Duterte to consider lifting immediately the ban. A new ambassador will be soon appointed, Cayetano also pointed out.

The new deal seen by AFP grants Philippine workers a number of rights including keeping their passports and cellphones formerly prohibited and seized by their employers. They will also be entitled to food, housing, clothing and health insurance.

The document also stipulates that renewal of contract must be referred to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office, instead of being automatically renewed, the French news agency notes.
Souad Abderrahim, the likely future Mayor of Tunis has rejected proposals offering her a ministerial portfolio if she abandons her plans to become the Tunisian capitals first female Mayor.

Souad Abderrahim from the Islamist party Ennahdha is leading the mayoral race in Tunis after her party won 21 council seats, beating Nidaa Tounes of President Caid Essebsi.

She is going to face Kamel Idir from Nidaa Tounes in next month election to be decided by councilors.

Souad Abderrahims emergence has attracted critics from the countrys conservatives and religious clerics and even from within Nidaa Tounes, which claims itself as a secular party and open for womens emancipation.

The 53-year old Pharmacist has reportedly been offered proposal to become member of the cabinet if she gives up her plans to become the citys first female major. Yet, the woman, known within the Islamist movement as a symbol of the partys openness and embracing of modern values, told Shems Fm that she is fit to shoulder her future responsibility.

Thursday, Nidaa Tounes distanced itself from member Foued Bousslama after the latter said the previous day Souad Abderrahim becoming Mayor is unacceptable.

We are a Muslim country, unfortunately [] a woman cannot be an imam in a mosque, as she cannot be present on the eve of the 27th night of Ramadan in mosques. This is unacceptable, Bousslama told M Tunisia television station.

The one who presented himself as the communication officer of the Presidents party was referring to the Tunisian tradition, which requires the mayor of the capital and other dignitaries, including the president and prime minister, to attend in a mosque the evening of the 26th day of Ramadan, known as Leylat al-Qadr, viewed as the most sacred night.

Nidaa Tounes on Thursday issued a statement saying that Bousslamas comments do not reflect the partys position.
Home | News | General | Intense politicking as 21 aspirants jostle to replace late APC senator in Katsina

- The contest to replace late Senator Mustapha Bukar is getting intense by the day

- Late Senator Bukar was representing Katsina North in the Senate before he passed on last month

- Over 21 politicians are said to be interested in replacing him

A report by Daily Trust indicates that there has been an intense politicking among aspirants bidding to replace late Senator Mustapha Bukar in the Nigerian Senate.

According to the report, so far, over 21 persons have indicated interest directly or indirectly their intention to vie for the office, with majority of the aspirants coming from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the party of the deceased senator.

High-level consultations and nocturnal meetings are reportedly taking place daily in the zone which has 12 local governments to determine who gets selected.

Billboards, posters and banners have also been placed at strategic places while some aspirants have gone further, issuing intent letters to stakeholders, declaring their intention to seek the vacant Senate seat.

Politicians are said to be making moves to seek the support of their constituents even though the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet to issue a statement for a by-election.

According to the spokesperson of INEC in Katsina state, Buhari Abashe, no date has been fixed for the by-election.

A closer look at the prospective aspirant from the APC shows that former speaker, Katsina state House of Assembly, Umar Yau Gwajo Gwajo, who recently decamped to the APC is among the top contenders. He contested against the late Bukar in 2015 under his former party, the PDP.

The two House of Representatives members from the zone, namely Ahmed Babba Kaita ( representing Kankia, Kusada, Ingawa) and Nasir Zangon Daura ( representing Baure and Zango) are also among top contenders.

Also, among those being touted as gunning for the seat are the state commissioner of justice, Ahmed El- Marzuq, and that of resource development and son of a former senator who commands respect in the zone, Mustapha Mahmud Kanti.

The special adviser of science and technology to the governor, Dr. Rabe Nasir, and that of investment and international relation, Ibrahim Zakari Talba, are also said to be in the race. Their close ties with the state governor for being members of his cabinet may pull surprises for them.

A businessman, Dr. Salisu Ahmad Ingawa, and Arch A.K. Ahmed, who in 2011 contested the APC gubernatorial primary, are also seen as possible contenders. Ahmed, who heads water control agency in Lagos, is said have gone far ahead in his bid, sending letters intimating stakeholders on the need to give him a chance to carry on with the late Bukars legacies.

Others include Honourable Musa Haro, a Buhari staunched supporter, Alhaji Abdullahi Bukar, AIG Sani Ahmed (rtd), former House of Reps member, Professor Umar Adam Katsayal, as well as Honourable Lawal Garba.

Some of the critical factors that may play out in the emergence of the senator include the Daura Emirate council factor. The Daura zone, with 12 local government areas has five key councils that are strategic and they are: Daura, Zango, Baure, Sandamu and Maiadua.

They determine things in the zone. Any candidate that is not from one of the councils is seen as an outcast. The late senator belonged to one of the five councils, hence the speculations that they may insist on getting his replacement from one of the councils.

Also, a candidate who is a member of the Daura Emirate council will enjoy an added advantage. The late Senator Bukar held the title of Madawakin Daura and was jealously guarded by the powers of the council.

The recently conducted APC congresses will also be a determinant. The elected officials will form the electoral bodies for the party primaries ahead of the by-election. The ability of each of the prospective aspirants to get more delegates shall be a plus to him in getting the ticket.

Also ones closeness to President Muhammadu Buhari, can swing the contest in his favour.

However, for the PDP only two persons are believed to have indicated interest to seek the partys ticket in the by-election. They are Mani Nasarawa, a former House of Reps member, and Kabir Babba Kaita, a strong opposition politician.

Meanwhile, INEC yesterday said it was awaiting the formal declaration of the Senate seat vacant by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, before it could start the process of holding a by-election.

The Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the INEC chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, said:

We are still waiting for a declaration of vacancy from the presiding officer (Senate President) in order to kick start the by-election in Katsina state, Oyekanmi said.

READ ALSO: Niger: APC chieftains threaten defection over consensus candidacy

Meanwhile, a chieftain of the APC, Comrade Timi Frank, has warned his party and President Muhammadu Buhari not to overlook a 7- day ultimatum given by the leader of defunct new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) in the ruling party.

In a statement sent to NAIJ.com on Thursday, May 10, Comrade Frank, a member of the nPDP, said if the letter is not addressed, that will give impression that we are no longer needed in the APC.

Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje had on Wednesday, May 9 led a delegation on behalf of the nPDP bloc to protest what he described as 'maltreatment and exclusion' of his members in the scheme of things by the leaders of APC.

Nigeria is practicing Oligarchy (Nigerian Street Interview) on NAIJ.com TV

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Home | News | General | Insecurity: Nigerian Air Force deploys 150 special forces to Taraba state

- The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) continues to play a key role in addressing the security situation in the nation

- NAF deployed 150 personnel of its special forces to its newly established 23 Quick Response Wing

- The QRW is located in Nguroje, Sarduana local government council in Taraba state

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Sunday, May 13 deployed 150 personnel of its special forces to its newly established 23 Quick Response Wing (QRW) in Nguroje, Sarduana local government council in Taraba state.

Other Quick Response Wings established by NAF in the north-central region are located in Doma, Nasarawa and Agatu in Benue states.

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who addressed the troops in Jalingo before their departure, urged the personnel to be professional in the discharge of their duties.

File photo of Nigerian Air Force special forces. Photo credit: NAF

READ ALSO: Nigerian Air Force unveils two MI-35M helicopter gunships

Represented by AVM Napoleon Bali, the Director of Operations, NAF Headquarters, Abubakar said:

Let me use this opportunity to reiterate the need for you to be professional in discharging your duties.

You must always abide by the Nigerian Air Force Code of Conduct and Rules of Engagement (ROE) as well as the laws of armed conflict.

I, therefore, urge you to consider it as a rare privilege to be part of the pioneer troops to establish the unit.

Accordingly, you need to maintain cordial relationship with the host community as they support you in your assigned responsibilities.

The CAS said the special forces were part of the ongoing NAF policy to build a robust Air Force capable of responding effectively, efficiently and timely to Nigerias national security imperatives.

He noted that the deployment marked the commencement of operations at the newly established Quick Response Wings in the north-central region of the country.

He added that evolving security challenges in the country and the need to create peaceful environment to facilitate increased economic activities necessitated the establishment of the unit in Nguroje.

Abubakar urged the troops to partner with other security agencies to support Taraba in containing insecurity.

The air chief appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari, the Taraba state government, the host community and all who contributed to the smooth take off of the new unit.

The establishment of new units is in line with the CASfs vision of repositioning NAF into a highly professional and disciplined force through capacity building initiatives.

It is also for timely employment of air power in response to Nigerias national security imperatives. (NAN)

READ ALSO: NAF graduates pioneer ab-initio student pilot trained with Super Mushshak aircraft, commissions new hangar

Meanwhile, a NAF Alpha Jet aircraft on Monday, May 7, neutralized scores of Boko Haram terrorists while providing close air support to ground troops.

NAIJ.com gathered that the air strike followed calls from the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 8 Division of the Nigerian Army that troops conducting clearance operations at Koleram in Borno state had come in contact with the insurgents.

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Home | World | Africa | Mnangagwa lines up MEGA rallies

ZANU-PF First Secretary and President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, is expected to meet youths and students before holding star rallies in all provinces as the ruling party's campaign juggernaut gathers momentum.

Party National Secretary for Administration Dr Obert Mpofu yesterday said President Mnangagwa had officially started on the campaign trail with the war veterans meeting in Harare on Friday.

"(On Friday) the President had a very successful meeting with the war veterans. He will soon meet students and youths around the country. He will also address stakeholders in different institutions where there is potential to mobilise support for the party," said Dr Mpofu.

Dr Mpofu said after holding successful primary elections, Zanu-PF was now focused on the general election.

"People are keen to meet the President and the party is confident of a landslide victory. Our main target now is the harmonised elections. Rallies will be held in all provinces and districts which will be addressed by senior supporters to mobilise support for the party," he said.

President Mnangagwa, a fortnight ago, launched Zanu-PF's 2018 election manifesto whose theme is "Unite, Fight Corruption, Develop, Re-Engage and Create Jobs".

The business friendly manifesto outlines various measures to address the key economic sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, infrastructure development, and health and education for a diversified economy.

Dr Mpofu said those who lost in primaries should not de-campaign the winners or risk being sanctioned by the ruling party.

"If they are genuine party members, they can't do that. Such behaviour can only come from people planted into the party to cause chaos. We will not tolerate that. It is gross indiscipline for anyone to behave in that manner after such an open process where candidates were given equal opportunities and platforms to campaign.

"Our main target is the harmonised elections and all party members should support the chosen candidates. We can't expend our energies on negativities. We urge all members of the party who didn't make it in the primaries to support our candidates.

"If there are irregularities we accept that but what is worrying is that most of the complaints are coming after results were announced. The candidates allowed voting to go on and only started complaining after losing," he said.

Zanu-PF held its primary elections last month to select candidates who will represent the party in the forthcoming harmonised elections.

There will be re-runs in 10 National Assembly constituencies following concerns about the polling processes.

The party Politburo endorsed the selection of 200 National Assembly, 60 Senate, 60 Women's quota, 48 Provincial Council, and about 1 900 local authority hopefuls.

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Home | World | Africa | Khupe launches 'BEST' poll manifesto

THE breakaway MDC-T led by Thokozani Khupe yesterday launched its election manifesto with devolution of power and a pledge to fight corruption topping the list of priorities, once elected into government.

The manifesto  titled, Building an Economy to Support Economic Transformation (BEST)  was launched at the Amphitheatre in Bulawayo at an event attended by several thousands of the party's supporters.

Khupe, who has been endorsed as the party's presidential candidate, said once elected into office, the MDC-T would resuscitate social services such as education and health, deal with corruption, resuscitate the agricultural and mining sectors, revive industries, restore normalcy to the financial sector and offer free internet for all, among other promises.

"A vote for MDC-T is a vote for devolution," Khupe said in her address, adding devolution was necessary to address historical inequalities, social and economic exclusion of other provinces.

"In their infinite wisdom drawn from practical experience, Zimbabweans opted for a devolved system of local government and included it in the country's constitution.

"Five years later, Zimbabweans have not enjoyed the benefits of devolution as the present government of Zanu-PF has yet again denied the people their constitutional right."

The constitution, under chapter 14, guarantees devolution of power, but little or nothing has been done to operationalise the decentralisation of government. Instead, government has appointed provincial ministers of state.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa once said government did not have money to implement devolution of power despite the state blowing millions on several other projects such as buying top-of-the-range vehicles.

Khupe pledged to tackle corruption, blaming it for the widespread economic destruction and poverty, adding her party would craft tough anti-corruption laws, jail offenders while also forfeiting to the state identified looted assets.

"Since grand political corruption and poor socio-economic policies are partly responsible for economic destruction, and massive poverty, the MDC-T government will strengthen measures to curb corruption and recover looted public assets. Strict anti-corruption laws shall be enforced in order to cultivate an ethic of honesty, integrity, hard work and selfless service," Khupe said.

"Proceeds of corruption and all other criminal and illicit activities must be forfeited to the state without fear or favour.

"All persons who would have been convicted of any acts of corruption will be severely punished and the punishment will be commensurate with the level of seriousness of the acts of corruption for which they would have been convicted of after due process by a competent court of law."

Zimbabwe has been ranked top on corruption, with former president Robert Mugabe and his successor often pledging to fight the vice.

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South Korea Upbit bitcoin altcoins

UPbit, South Koreas biggest cryptocurrency exchange, was investigated by local police and 10 investigators after its headquarters in Seoul were raided. Chosun, the countrys biggest mainstream media outlet, reported that the South Korean authorities are suspecting UPbit of illicitly moving customer funds to the account of its executives.

Investigation Ongoing

On May 10, the Seoul local police and 10 investigators from the Korean Financial Intelligence Unit (KIU) and Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) raided the headquarters of UPbit and seized their offices to conduct an official investigation into the suspicious movement of funds from the UPbit cryptocurrency exchange to the personal accounts of UPbit executives.

Chosun along with other mainstream news networks including Hani reported that the South Korean police is extensively investigating allegations of fraud and the illicit movement of funds from client wallets.

The general reaction from the cryptocurrency community in South Korea and the global cryptocurrency space has been that UPBit executives should not have had the motivation to commit such crimes given that cryptocurrency exchanges have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in profits on a quarterly basis since early 2017.

upbit

The investigation into UPbit is still ongoing and the local police is yet to release its finalized report on the situation. But, as it did with Coinnest, if the South Korean authorities discover clear evidence in the movement of client funds to external accounts, it could result in the exchange either permanently or temporarily shutting down.

We have secured hard disks and accounting books through confiscation. Analysis is expected to take days, the authorities said, adding that the final report on the UPbit case will be released next week.

Meanwhile, the exchange operators development team stated that the platform is still operational and will continue to service users until further notice is sent by the local police.

Story continues

UPbit is currently under investigation by the prosecution, and we are working diligently. UPbit services such as all transactions and withdrawals are operating normally. Your assets are kept securely in your account, so you can rest assured that you can use UPbit services.

Coinnest Situation

Last month, the president of Coinnest, formerly a major cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, was arrested for allegedly stealing user funds and allocating them to his own personal cryptocurrency accounts. According to Hani, Coinnest was once the third biggest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, which also operated a major cryptocurrency mining operation.

Local police and investigators discovered that the funds of clients were sent to the personal accounts of executives at Coinnest and immediately arrested its president.

Coinnest is still functioning, after its board announced that it has replaced the executive team of the company and will continue to operate as a local cryptocurrency trading platform.

Overall, the cryptocurrency markets reaction to the investigation into UPbit could be considered as an exaggeration to an ongoing investigation and investors on the trading platform are still able to trade and withdraw their funds. But, analysts have stated that the case has led the cryptocurrency market to decline by large margins over the past 12 hours.

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The post South Koreas Biggest Cryptocurrency Exchange Investigated by Local Police, Market Drops appeared first on CCN.


Communists demand a restoration of Stalin Monument in Gori

By Vladimer Napetvaridze

Victory Day (9 May) is a holiday that commemorates the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945. The Soviet government announced the victory early on 9 May after the signing ceremony in Berlin. Georgia has officially recognized 9 May since its independence in 1991. The holiday was similarly celebrated, while the country was part of the Soviet Union. Every 9 May, World War II veterans gather and celebrate.On May 9, the supporters of the Soviet Union are actively involved in various activities held in the different cities of Georgia, during these events, they are using Soviet symbolism, which is the illegal according to the Georgian legislation.From this perspective, the support is prominent in Gori, where a big part of the population thinks Georgia should be under the Russian influence and the main threat for Georgia is the countries Euro-Atlantic aspiration.Such attitude on the part of the population became the reason for another confrontation in Gori on May 9th. Members of the organization "Civic Movement" decided to spread the booklets about Russian occupation, which caused a conflict. A group of people claiming to be members of "Stalin Society" opposed the members of the civic movement and did not allow them distribute their booklets.A member of a civic movement, Irina Tsaadze stated, that they wanted to explain to a local population, that Russia is an occupant: "We wanted to distribute our stickers in Gori and create a public opinion that Russia is an occupant. We came here and met with older people who believe that Russia is not an occupant and when Georgia has the pro-Russian government, we will be executed, Tsaadze stated.Another member of the "Stalin Society" Zurab Zurgulidze stated that he won't allow anyone discriminate against the Soviet Union: "Today is a big day, people celebrate this day, which saved millions of lives and the author of this day is Stalin. Today I'm not going to listen to demagogues, who are against the Soviet Union. As for the Soviet symbolism, I will always use it as long as I'm alive. We are Stalinists and we will break hands to anyone against us", the member of the "Stalin Society" stated.Later, on that day a demonstration was held in Gori, where the members of the meeting demanded that Stalin's monument in Gori is restored. It is important to note that together with the Georgian state flag there was the Soviet Union's flag at the demonstration, but participants of the meeting removed the Soviet symbols due to the law enforcers demand.Situation in Gori is another result of Russian information hybrid warfare. A large part of the population is convinced that the main threat to Georgia is the aspiration to join the western organizations, as it irritates Russia and forces it to occupy Georgian territories.To fight the Russian information warfare, which aims at misdirecting Georgian citizens and creating pro-Russian public opinion, large-scale information campaigns are needed.
Did Dawson ever become a firefigther? I bailed on the show shortly after they killed off a lesbian character to replace her with a blonde straight version and the show became entirely about Dawson and the ridiculous will they or wont they with whats-his-face, and her completely changing her mind with what her dream was.



also this show ultimately made me miss Third Watch - one show, none of this Med/PD/Fire nonsense

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*claps*

I LOATHE Dawson so I am so very happy she is out the door- so messy. Too much drama. I am sad they killed Lauren German's character off too. I liked her on Lucifer but REALLY miss her on CFD.

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Yes, she became a firefighter! Worked her ass off, stood up to sexist firefighters, proved herself and achieved her dream - then she spontaneously developed maternal feelings, took in a little boy with no facial expressions without caring about her husband's opinion, and decided being a firefighter was too dangerous for a mother. The kid is gone again (turned out to not be an orphan after all) but she didn't return to being a firefighter but works as a paramedic and still really wants a child. To the point where she told her husband "well I don't care that the pregnancy might kill me knock me up!</i> while also being upset with him for looking into adoption, because she doesn't want to take the risk that the child might turn out to be taken away from them again. The risk of her dying during the pregnancy is fine, though. No need to ask Casey if he wants to potentially live with the knowledge that he killed her by impregnating her.



Look, it's a messy storyline that has been going on for seasons, and as far as I can tell she doesn't care about anyone but herself. I used to like Dawson, but at this point I'm glad to have her gone.

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Holy shit.

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I don't blame Monica Raymund for leaving. There was no consistency with her character. She is the reason I started watching so might have to stop after this.

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ughhhhhhh

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What happened to the son she was trying to adopt?

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they adopted him and his dad came back.

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oh no shes the heart of the show, what's the point? they should pay her what she wants to keep her lol

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The reason i watched was her. She was also the reason i stop watching. Lovely character turn to shit  poor Monica.



I hope she gets better jobs.

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Thank goodness! I like Monica Raymund, so I hope she finds other projects, but I can. not. stand. Dawson.

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I'm honestly not sad to see her go. I can't stand her character, and she's only gotten more annoying in the later seasons.



I need Kidd to stay around forever though, and preferable not end up being one of Severide's long line of conquests. Also if they can have Severide NOT sleep with every single female character that gets more than 2 seconds screen time, that would be great too.

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yesssss re: kidd and severide. i like sarah shahi but them bringing her back was so annoying.

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it's so annoying when a female character starts out so strong and then the writers ruin them. especially when you just know the actress probably hates it as much as you do. they start out well with writing females on this show and then fall flat on their faces over and over.

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im kinda sad re: dawson because shes a brown latina and i was rooting for her even though i couldnt stand her ass lmao but i hope stella stays, shes also a latina im rooting for. her hair is glorious. i dont forgive them for killing the only lesbian character only to replace her with a....bland elsa.



i may be in the minority but i like eamonn and im still surprised he's a whole british

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Gabby was the reason I stopped watching CF. I like Monica but damn her character was insufferable. I might actually watch again if she's gone.

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monica is too good for how shitty dawson became as a character so i hope she finds something great



the chicago shows don't do women any fucking justice tbh

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YAS. I am so fucking ready for this shit! The 90 Day Fiance reddit sub is one of the few reasons I still pay for television, lol.



But I was hoping Bahtman wouldn't be on this season. He creeps me out so much, ugh. And Molly, gurl. What are you even doing? He might have a young dick but he's so gross and ugly.



Nicole is a fucking trainwreck and a shit human being. I don't even care if Azan is just with her for a green card because literally nothing can be worth being around that terrible womanchild.





Edited at 2018-05-13 05:40 pm (UTC)

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Nicole deserves nothing good



Anfisa YouTube channel made me like her more



Luis is the Caribbean Joanne and I live for his mess



Chantel is too pretty for the male ordered husband...idg her



The rest are boring especially Paola and her gay husband

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Nicole literally has no redeeming qualities. Like, there is nothing likeable about her. It's amazing.



EDIT: And she's a Trump supporter! She's trying to bring her Muslim boyfriend over to the states and she stans for a dude who wants to BAN MUSLIMS FROM THE COUNTRY. HOW CAN SHE BE SO STUPID AND STILL FUNCTION THO?



Edited at 2018-05-13 05:43 pm (UTC)

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I hope Azan pulls a Mohammed as he gets the visa



I feel sorry for her daughter, she is just incompetent and messy on every level and abusive

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of course she is. she's so dumb. i feel like most people mature when they have a kid but she's so immature.

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Nicole is abusive trash. I feel sorry for her daughter.

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Nicole is really an awful person. I wanted to be sympathetic (her daughter, obesity, stress from marrying a foreign guy), but she's so incompetent and unlikeable.

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Nicole is such a piece of shit omg

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pedro > family chantel

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Nicole is so disgusting and emotionally manipulative with her own fucking family and abusive toward Azan. I honestly think dude is just waiting for the K1 so he can bounce.

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Nicole is terrible. The minute she was putting hands on Azan, I was through with her.

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i am SO excited for this crap. omg.

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Looks like Molly is gonna lay her hands on Luis, which is NAGL.



Im here for this mess.

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Anifsa and Jorge are back? Yaaaaaaaas. Their arguments are great TV trash.

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I guess the Mohamed and Danielle saga is finally over!

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Chantel's family not getting out of the van to go to Pedro's grandma's home still enrages me.

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that was so ignorant "this is where the militia lives" WUT

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That was so rude! They drove for hours and then said the most ignorant, offensive stuff about them cooking outside. Like stop it. You went that for to not get out? I would divorce my partner for that and cuss that family out for disrespecting my family like that.

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My mom's from the Dominican Republic and her whole family lives there so I've been a couple times and my grandma's place looks exactly like that. It touched a nerve! They were so incredibly rude.

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How is there more for Luis and Molly? He scammed her and Immigration should, therefore, deny his spousal visa/greencard/residency application and deport him.

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brother chantel no trust pedro

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Also what happened to the white Christian boy who married a good Russian girl but she gave birth to a biracial baby



I need an update on that

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Right! The one who became mormon, and had the black bff back in Russiaa!!

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i think they quit social media. i can't find an account for him but she last posted on hers back in june of last year.

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lmfao i'll never be over that

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It looks like they tried to sweep it under the rug.

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I just can't believe Azan and Nicole are still together and Molly didn't send Luis's creepy ass back to the Dominican Republic.

This is the worst TV show ever, I love it.

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Is the countess gonna guest host this?

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rooting for azan to get a visa and leave Nicole's ass.



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Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ

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Also please don't cancel out her Pakistani heritage either.

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amen

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I've been on'n'off with Ms.Marvel but this is exciting.



Since Captain America will take place in the 90s, Kamala would mostly be a toddler or not born yet so they could put a possible easter egg in there :D



Btw what year/time frame is the Ms.Marvel comics in?



Edited at 2018-05-13 10:13 pm (UTC)

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I want to be excited (because Im a Pakistani-American and Muslim and there is so much I relate to in Kamalas story...hers is the first comic I really read and cared about), but Im honestly more worried. Will they do her justice? Will audiences react well?

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I mean, with Black Panther being done perfectly, I think you can worry less.



And if anyone dislikes Kamala, there's honestly something wrong with them, lol. She's the female Peter Parker.

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I've already seen lots of fans saying they want Priyanka Chopra to play her. Eurgh.

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PLEEEEEEASE DO IT. I love Kamala sfm.



I'm getting a free month of Marvel Unlimited to read more of her series, what's on my Hoopla is limited :(



I'm also checking out some Captain Marvel too.

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i hope he follows throguh on this

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PLEASE BE TRUE!!!



Also G. Willow Wilson and Sana Amanat better be heavily involved because I dont trust anyone else, Kamala is too important to be messed up on the big screen

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love those colours!

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That's super cute!

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ms. marvel fits this anime/manga style PERFECTLY omg

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Dont fuck with me Feige! This better be true, I love Kamala so much (her little funko pop is sitting on my desk as we speak rn lol), and her story is wonderful. I hope they keep her a teen in the MCU tho



Edited at 2018-05-13 10:22 pm (UTC)

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i hope they introduce her but also the young avengers too!

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god yes!!!! i'm here patiently waiting for the young avengers movie.

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is it one of those bajillion movies they have planned? baby steps, I guess.

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I wondering how theyll handle how she gets her powers, they thankfully seem to be dropping the Inhumans angle but a random mist with no real explanation might be too confusing.



Its funny that she and spider-man might be in high school around the same time.

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I would l o v e a spidey-ms.marvel crossover 

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The superhero fanboy/girl of the MCU



Though I hope they dont wait to long to bring Miles Morales in to the MCU as well because I like his friendship with Kamala

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Some people were bringing up Priyanka Chopra as a potential Kamala, lmfao.

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lol shes twice the age of Kamala, not to mention shes Indian and I hope Disney would have the foresight to side step that problem.



This reminds me when people wanted Donald Glover to be Miles Morales. People dont know the characters and just see them as ethnic superheroes

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lmao good grief

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It's about time!

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OMG YES SHE WAS MY FIRST COMIC BOOK INTO MARVEL :D IM SO EXCITED





also can we have america chavez? i know im reachign but ya know plz?

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The more the merrier! CBS has ordered five more shows that just might become your new favorites next season: https://t.co/D4hdrZyCLY pic.twitter.com/mKorU4n985  CBS (@CBS) May 11, 2018

An update of the classic television series set in Hawaii, Magnum P.I. (Jay Hernandez) follows Thomas Magnum, a decorated ex-Navy SEAL who, upon returning home from Afghanistan, repurposes his military skills to become a private investigator.Jay Hernandez, Perdita Weeks, Zachary Knighton, Stephen HillAfter a white cop (Noel Fisher) in Chicago mistakenly shoots and kills a black doctor, we follow three vastly different families that all have connections with the case as the story is told from each perspective. (Noah Wyle plays a high school teacher who's husband is killed by the cop)Noah Wyle, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Aliyah Royale, Noel Fisher, Michael Patrick Thornton, Vinny Chhibber, Howard Charles, Elizabeth LaidlawQuestions of faith, existence and science are explored in this humorous, uplifting series about an outspoken atheist (Brandon Micheal Hall) whose life is turned upside down when he is "friended" by God on social media. Unwittingly, he becomes an agent of change in the lives and destinies of others around him.Brandon Micheal Hall, Violett Beane, Suraj Sharma, Javicia Leslie, Joe MortonThe military's brightest minds take on our countrys toughest challengesinside the courtroom and outwhere each attorney is trained as a prosecutor, a defense lawyer, an investigatorand a Marine.Anna Wood, Ato Essandoh, Phillipa Soo, Raffi BarsoumianAs reported previously, CBS also ordered comedies "Fam" starring Nina Dobrev , "Welcome to the Neighborhood" starring Cedric the Entertainer, and an untitled comedy starring Damon Wayans Jr. executive produced by Harry Styles partially inspired by his life.
I've been side eying her a lot recently.

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Only recently?

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Recently? Lol

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Even if they aren't dating, thirtysomethings hanging out with teens is gross af

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People over 21 hanging out with teens is being gross. And honestly, when I was 21 I couldn't imagine hanging out with someone under 19.

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that age gap is pretty harmless imo, and honestly, if you party at that age you're likely going to end up hanging out with people either a few years younger or older than you.

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I'm 24 and literally feel like it's illegal to even speak to someone under 20 lmao.

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yeahhh! i got called out on reddit recently for saying someone in their 20s shouldn't date someone in their teens [20 & 17 i think it was?]

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And with all this grown, bomb-ass, dick that out here...

That's readily available, especially for the likes of herself.

Mess.

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she's a demisexual

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That is not a thing.

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I want to say that Amber and Blac Chyna need to learn to love themselves, but it's way too late at this point.

And Amber better not use this fuckery as some female empowerment bs. This is fucking a teenager. The end.

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I can't even imagine dating someone that young. Are there no legal age men who she could talk to? Plus, what do you even discuss with someone that young. I find it just as creepy when older men date people who are barely out of high school.

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Im betting shes already at least 3 weeks pregnant.

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HOW is that not child porn/rape? 

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Fuck man that's awful



You think Lil Peep's early demise would act as a cautionary tale for these kids but nope.

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they or the people making money off them don't give a fuck

lil peep was obviously depressed and abusing substances to cope, but instead of intervening and helping the people around him just enabled him so they could line their pockets

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yikes

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that is so sad

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that is god awful

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Because all the adults in his life are profiting off of him, and somehow I doubt he goes to school anymore, so he's not in a situation with mandated reporters. And unfortunately, he's just a few months shy of 18, so it's not as though it would do any good. He'd stop being their problem by the time a real investigation was finished any action could be taken.

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Christ that is tragic

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It's honestly horrifying.

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If he's 17 and she's giving him a cigg isn't she an accessory to the delinquency of a minor? 

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what an idiot

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Nah this isnt really like a modeling photoshoot, i used to know someone who did concert photography and they are basically required to take intimate and candid photos of musicians doing things they normally do



I'm guessing they realized the feds are not going to go after a 30-something for lighting a minors cigarette since they wont see it as that big of a deal to make any arrests or whatever, especially if famous musicians are involved

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girl check urself before u Shrek urself

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GOOGLE MAP: Barangay Maya, Daanbantayan, Northern Cebu

CEBU, Philippines  Former police general and Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot survived an ambush by five men on Sunday morning in Barangay Maya, Daanbantayan, northern Cebu.

Loot and his family just arrived from a trip in Malapascua Island to attend a local gathering.

Report said Loots driver and helper were wounded from the incident.

Authorities are now investigating the motive behind the ambush.

Loot is among the list of high-ranking government officials whom President Rodrigo Duterte linked to illegal drug trading in the country. Loot has denied the accusation.  UNTV News & Rescue

The post Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot survives ambush appeared first on UNTV News.
A family of six including two young daughters staged suicide bombings at three Indonesian churches during Sunday services, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens in attacks claimed by the Islamic State group. The bombings at three churches in Surabaya were Indonesia's deadliest for years, as the world's biggest Muslim-majority country grapples with homegrown militancy and rising intolerance towards religious minorities. A further three people were killed and two wounded when another bomb exploded at an apartment complex in Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, just hours later, police said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The church bombers -- a mother and father, two daughters aged nine and 12, and two sons aged 16 and 18 -- were linked to local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) which supports IS, said national police chief Tito Karnavian. Local media reports say they may have returned from Syria, where hundreds of Indonesians have flocked in recent years to fight alongside IS in its bid to carve out a caliphate ruled by strict Islamic law. The mother, identified as Puji Kuswati, and her two daughters were wearing niqab face veils and had bombs strapped to their waists as they entered the grounds of the Kristen Indonesia Diponegoro Church and blew themselves up, Karnavian said. The father, JAD cell leader Dita Priyanto, drove a bomb-laden car into the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church while his sons rode motorcycles into Santa Maria church, where they detonated explosives they were carrying, Karnavian said. "All were suicide attacks but the types of bombs are different," he said of the church attacks. - Coordinated attacks - The group, led by jailed radical Aman Abdurrahman, has been linked to several deadly incidents, including a 2016 gun and suicide attack in the capital Jakarta that left four attackers and four civilians dead. That was the first assault claimed by IS in Southeast Asia. Police on Sunday said four suspected JAD members were killed in a shootout during raids linked to a deadly prison riot this week. Five members of Indonesia's elite anti-terrorism squad and a prisoner were killed in clashes that saw Islamist inmates take a guard hostage at a high-security jail on the outskirts of Jakarta. IS claimed responsibility. Karnavian said Sunday's church attacks may have been revenge for the arrest of some of JAD's leaders and for the prison crisis which eventually saw the surrender of the radical inmates. The Pope offered support over "the severe attack against places of worship", while President Joko Widodo called for Indonesians to "unite against terrorism". "The state will not tolerate this act of cowardice," he told reporters in Surabaya. East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera confirmed the deaths of 13 people in the church bombings, with about 40 injured in the coordinated attacks at around 7:30 am (0030 GMT). Images showed a vehicle engulfed in flames and plumes of thick black smoke as a body lay outside the gate of Santa Maria Catholic church, with motorcycles toppled over amid the mangled debris. In addition to the suicide blast police experts defused two unexploded bombs at the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church. Later on Sunday night a bomb killed three people and wounded two, all from the same family, who occupied the fifth floor of a low-cost Surabaya apartment complex, East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said. "Three people have died, two are in the hospital and one is safe," he told AFP via Whatsapp. The explosion hit the apartment complex about 9 pm, local media reported, and residents were evacuated from the building after the blast. Yono, tenant coordinator at the apartment block, said the family had lived there since 2015. - 'Professional' attacks - Concerns about sectarian intolerance in Indonesia have been on the rise, with churches targeted in the past. Nearly 90 percent of Indonesia's 260 million people are Muslim, but there are significant numbers of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists. Police shot and wounded an IS-inspired radical who attacked a church congregation outside Indonesia's cultural capital Yogyakarta with a sword during a Sunday mass in February. Four people were injured. In 2000 bombs disguised as Christmas gifts and delivered to churches and clergymen killed 19 people on Christmas Eve and injured scores more across the country. The archipelago nation of some 17,000 islands has long struggled with Islamic militancy, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people -- mostly foreign tourists -- in the country's worst-ever terror attack. Sunday's bombings had the highest death toll since nine people were killed in 2009 attacks on two luxury hotels in Jakarta. Security forces have arrested hundreds of militants during a sustained crackdown in recent years that smashed some networks, and most recent attacks have been low-level and targeted domestic security forces. But the coordinated nature of Sunday's bombings suggested a higher level of planning, analysts said. "Recent (previous) attacks have been far less 'professional'," Sidney Jones, an expert on Southeast Asian terrorism and director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, told AFP.
Trevali Mining Corporation, a base-metals mining company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties. It primarily explores for zinc, lead, silver, gold, and copper deposits. The company's operational assets include the 90%-owned Perkoa Mine in Burkina Faso; 90%-owned Rosh Pinah Mine in Namibia; Caribou Mine in the Bathurst mining camp, northern New Brunswick, Canada; and Santander Mine in Peru. It also holds an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Heath Steele deposit located in New Brunswick, Canada, as well as holds interests in the Halfmile, Stratmat, and Restigouche properties situated in New Brunswick, Canada; Ruttan Mine located in northern Manitoba, Canada; and Gergarub Project situated in Namibia. The company was formerly known as Trevali Resources Corp. and changed its name to Trevali Mining Corporation in April 2011. Trevali Mining Corporation was incorporated in 1964 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Read More
John Lindsey is PG&E's Diablo Canyon marine meteorologist and a media relations representative. He also appears regularly on KVEC (920 AM). Email him at pgeweather@pge.com or follow him on Twitter: @PGE_John.
By Huda Majeed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's list appears to be leading in Iraq's parliamentary election, followed by influential Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's alliance, an election commission source and a security official told Reuters on Sunday.

The sources cited unofficial initial results.

Iraqis voted on Saturday in the first election since the defeat of Islamic State militants inside the country. Final results are expected on Monday.

Turnout was 44.52 percent with 92 percent of votes counted, the Independent High Electoral Commission said -- significantly lower than in previous elections. Results are due to be officially announced on Monday.

Abadi, a rare ally of both the United States and Iran, was mainly concerned with fending off Shi'ite Muslim groups other than Sadr's alliance, which are seeking to pull the country closer to Tehran.

Those rivals were his predecessor as prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, and the leader of the main Shi'ite paramilitary group, Hadi al-Amiri, both closer than he is to Iran, which has wide sway in Iraq as the primary Shi'ite power in the region.

Unofficial results compiled by Reuters reporters in southern provinces also indicated that Sadr, a firebrand cleric who led a violent uprising against U.S. troops from 2003-2011, appeared to be making a strong showing.

If the Sadr list finished second, that would mark a surprise comeback by the cleric. Sadr has a zealous following among the young, poor and dispossessed but has been sidelined by influential Iranian-backed figures such as Amiri. Sadr has kept Tehran at a distance.

Sadr has formed an unlikely alliance with communists and other independent secular supporters who joined protests he organised in 2016 to press the government to see through a move to stem endemic corruption.

He derives much of his authority from his family. Sadr's father, highly respected Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, was murdered in 1999 for defying Saddam Hussein. His fathers cousin, Mohammed Baqir, was killed by Saddam in 1980.

Story continues

Whoever wins the election will have to contend with the fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to quit Iran's nuclear deal, a move Iraqis fear could turn their country into a theatre of conflict between Washington and Tehran.

BALANCING ACT

Abadi, who came to power four years ago after Islamic State seized a third of Iraqi territory, received U.S. military support for Iraq's army to defeat the Sunni Muslim militant group even as he gave free rein to Iran to back Shi'ite militias fighting on the same side.

If parliament chooses him as prime minister, Abadi will remain under pressure to maintain that balancing act amid tensions between Washington and Tehran over the nuclear accord.

Abadi, a British-educated engineer, was seen by some Iraqis as lacking charisma and ineffective. He had no powerful political machine of his own when he took office.

But the defeat of Islamic State and Abadi's campaign to eradicate Iraq's rampant corruption improved his standing.

Even if Abadi's Victory Alliance wins the most seats, he still must negotiate a coalition government, which must be formed within 90 days of the election.

Amiri's Badr organisation played a key role in the battle against Islamic State. But some Iraqis resent his close ties to Tehran. The dissident-turned-militia leader spent more than two decades fighting Saddam Hussein from exile in Iran.

His list is expected to come in third place, according to the election commission source and security official.

(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Catherine Evans)
The News in Brief

Parliament Speaker excludes Ivanishvilis participation in presidential race



The Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze says the former Prime Minister of Georgia, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who has just returned to politics after more than 4 years of time out, is not going to run for presidency.



"Ivanishvili became the chairman of the Georgian Dream party. Hence, he will be directly involved in the political processes. He will chair the meetings of the political board. Ultimately, everything depends on him, but I know his position and as far as I know, he does not plan on participating in the presidential election. This is the information that I have, said Kobakhidze in his interview with Rustavi 2.



Kobakhidze noted that the presidential candidate of the coalition Georgian Dream will be named in July or August.



Ivanishvili came to politics in 2011 and in 2012 the Georgian Dream coalition defeated the nine-year rule of the United National Movement



Presidential elections will be held in Georgia this fall.







Georgian clubs speak about black PR campaign against them



The Union of clubs and nightclubs in Georgia has released a joint statement, saying there is a deliberate smear campaign against the club industry, blaming them for promoting drugs.



The statement came after the death of five people and poisoning of several others allegedly by unknown drugs, which, according to some, are sold in nightclubs.



Representatives of 23 clubs have rejected the allegations and voiced a number of demands: 1) Stop demonization of clubs from regressive forces. State institutions must play an important role in this process and support the club industry. 2) Media outlets should stop stigmatizing clubs and connecting them with the tragedies; timely investigation into what substance killed the youth and publishing of the results of the expertise 3) The relevant agencies must take all measures to prevent poisonous substances sold online. 4) The Ministry of Health should launch an informational campaign with preventive content that will not be based on stereotypical approaches, but on their care for people 5) Emergency Assistance crews should be re-trained in order to be able to help people poisoned by dangerous drugs on time 6) Take steps towards a liberal drug policy, which will be based on care and not on preventative approaches.



"The success of this industry has created a lot of jobs and increased the country's tourism potential. At the same time, our industry is paying huge taxes. The most important thing is that the club scene today is in the forefront of progressive thinking in Georgia and is the foundation of a new, modern and open society", says the statement.



The Club Union represents the local art industry and its electronic music.

(Prepared by Anano Margebadze)




Lim Guan Eng waves to journalists as he arrives at the prime minister's office in Putrajaya outside Kuala Lumpur April 3, 2008. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad/Files

By A. Ananthalakshmi and Liz Lee

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's finance minister, relatively unknown in international financial circles, is a man he threw into prison twice.

Mahathir announced three top cabinet posts on Saturday, including Lim Guan Eng, a former banker and chartered accountant, as finance minister. It was only the second time in the country's six decades since independence that the post has gone to a person from the ethnic Chinese minority.

The portfolio was previously headed by ousted Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was handed a thumping defeat by Mahathir's alliance in Wednesday's general election.

Lim, 58, is best known in Malaysia for being the chief minister of Penang, the second richest state in the country and home to a popular tourist island and industrial port.

But economic analysts say he may need more than that at a time the country needs to make sweeping economic and fiscal reforms and reassure markets that the political change will not have an economic impact.

Malaysian markets have been closed since the election, but overseas investors have been nervous of what lies ahead because of Mahathir's populist promises.

As finance minister, Lim will be expected to oversee the new government's plan to repeal a deeply unpopular goods and services tax, which it has promised to do within the first 100 days. He will also have to manage the revenue shortfall that will cause.

"His initial focus will be mostly domestic issues - executing campaign promises and reducing inefficiencies so that the government can still maintain fiscal discipline," said Hasan Jafri, who heads Singapore-based business consultancy HJ Advisory.

But he added: "He will have to work quickly to broaden ties with the international financial community."

Lim would likely be guided by the government's newly appointed five-member advisory team, which includes former Malaysian finance minister Daim Zainuddin and central bank governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, both of whom are well known internationally.

Story continues

Some analysts said Lim had built a good reputation as an economic manager in Penang, which recorded the highest GDP per capita among Malaysian states in 2016.

"By almost all accounts... Guan Eng did a stellar job in rebuilding the finances of Penang," said Oh Ei Sun, senior adviser for international affairs at the Kuala Lumpur-based Asia Strategy & Leadership Institute.

"He has both the expertise as an accountant and the credibility, especially incorruptibility, to run MOF," he said, using the acronym for the Ministry of Finance.

JAILED TWICE, SMILING NOW

Lim was a bitter foe of Mahathir during his earlier 22-year stint as prime minister and was thrown in jail twice. Mahathir jailed Lim during a political crackdown in October 1987 that he said was aimed at preventing racial riots, and again in 1998 under the Sedition Act.

On Saturday, a smiling Lim stood by 92-year-old Mahathir as his appointment was announced.

The prime minister also announced a home affairs minister and a defence minister to take the number in his cabinet to five. Mahathir and Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the wife of his jailed ally Anwar Ibrahim, make up the rest.

Lim told reporters after his appointment that the government's plan was to review all contracts to ensure that jobs and business opportunities for Malaysians were made secure, as well as reduce the financial burden on low-income groups.

"The primary focus will be still on helping those who find it very hard to make ends meet," he told reporters.

"Our focus will be to see how we can make their lives a little easier."

In its election manifesto, Mahathir's alliance had also promised to review foreign investments, including major infrastructure projects that are part of China's Belt and Road initiative, bring back fuel subsidies, and raise minimum wages.

Lim, a former banker and a qualified chartered accountant, has spent most of his life as a member of the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) fighting against the Barisan Nasional alliance, which has never lost an election in Malaysia's history.

The son of another prominent DAP leader, Lim Kit Siang, he studied economics at Monash University in Australia and was first elected as a member of parliament in 1986.

Lim led the opposition to victory in Penang for the first time in its history in 2008. He was then appointed as the state's chief minister and has held the position since.

(Additional reporting by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Writing by Rozanna Latiff and Praveen Menon; editing by)
Nicaragua's army on Saturday called for an end to violence in the country and distanced itself from President Daniel Ortega, saying it was not repressing anyone for taking part in anti-government protests. Unrest against the president exploded in mid-April and has been fueled by a brutal response from police. The death toll is now at least 51. "We are the same uniformed people, working for their own benefit and, as a consequence, we call for stopping the violence and actions that destabilize us," an army statement said, expressing solidarity with the families of those who have died in the protests. "We have no reason to repress anyone" for anti-government demonstrations, army spokesman Manuel Guevara said earlier. "We think that dialogue is the answer," he stressed, adding that the military rejects what he sees as an effort to misconstrue military actions as repression on behalf of the Ortega government. Troops are required to protect strategic locations, national assets and national parks, for example. Initially triggered by reforms to cut spending on Nicaragua's deficit-laden social security system -- later abandoned by Ortega -- the protests swelled to include other grudges against the president who is widely seen as autocratic and distant. Ortega, 73, is a former rebel leader who first ruled after his Sandinista revolutionaries chased the corrupt dynasty of dictator Anastasio Somoza from power in 1979. Now, Ortega is "equal to Somoza. The difference is that Somoza faced an armed insurrection (and) Ortega is acting mercilessly against an unarmed civil insurrection," said Enrique Saenz, a lawyer and economist. There were fresh accusations on Saturday of repression by the security forces during clashes with demonstrators that began Friday night in Masaya city, southeast of the capital Managua. Masaya is "a battlefield," Edwin Roman, a priest, told AFP. A rights group and a doctor reported dozens injured in that city, but protests also continued elsewhere including in Managua. "We condemn the repression that the people of Masaya are living in," said the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), which accused police of "shooting against the people." The protests are the worst Ortega has faced in the past 11 years since he returned to power after a stint in opposition. Ortega has said he is willing to hold talks to calm the situation but has made few moves to follow through.
Three Chevrolet dealers from the Philippines were among the twenty-three Chevrolet dealers recently named GM Southeast Asia Grandmasters during a ceremony held in Dubai on May 8, 2018.

GM Grandmasters rewards GMs best of the best dealers in Southeast Asia for their excellence in serving Chevrolet customers across sales, service and aftersales.

The winners from the Philippines were Chevrolet Pasig, named Metro Manila Dealer of the Year and was represented by Rene K. Limcaoco and Tey Sornet; Chevrolet Cebu, awarded with Regional Dealer of the Year and was represented by Emily S. Ong, Elvie Alcala, and Deney Rojonan; and Chevrolet Ilocos Norte, named Rookie of the Year and was represented by Carisa Laus and Shiela Salita.

The Covenant Car Company, Inc. (TCCCI), the exclusive distributor of Chevrolet automobiles and parts in the country, was represented by Atty. Alberto B. Arcilla, President and Managing Director of TCCCI, and Leah R. Avante, Vice President and Director for National Sales Services of TCCCI.

Participants included the highest-performing dealers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. They were selected based on vehicle and parts sales, service, customer satisfaction and facility standards. In short, these Grandmasters embody the Chevrolet Complete Care philosophy at every level, going above and beyond to regularly exceed customers expectations.

GM Southeast Asia President Ian Nicholls said Our dealer partners are critical to our success. Thanks to their outstanding contributions and hard work, we grew our sales in Southeast Asia by 16 percent in 2017 compared to 2016. In the Philippines, our sales grew by 11 percent in 2017, thanks to great new vehicle launches. This is an achievement we should all be proud of and I want to thank all of our dealers for their hard work and commitment.

During the GM SEA Grandmasters event, dealers engaged in a series of business meetings and team-building activities and had the opportunity to test drive some of GMs award-winning products, including the Chevrolet Trailblazer and Chevrolet Silverado through the desert of Dubai.

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Guest speaker Gary West, Head of Future Mobility at GM Middle East also outlined GMs leadership in next-generation mobility and GMs vision of a world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion. West said GM is defining the future of personal mobility in the areas of connectivity, alternative propulsion, autonomous driving and ridesharing. We are determined to be the leader in tomorrows technologies.

Sumito Ishii, Vice President for Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing for GM Southeast Asia added: With great new products incorporating GMs most advanced global technologies and our continuous focus on delivering the best customer experience possible, together with our dealer partners we will continue to serve our customers better and drive the Chevrolet brand further.

The GM Southeast Asia Grandmasters ended with a gala awards dinner, during which the dealers were officially declared GM SEA Grandmasters.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Nicholls added: Congratulations to all of our award-winning dealers. You have been instrumental in the growth of GM and Chevrolet across Southeast Asia. We are proud to have each of you as a partner.

To learn more about Chevrolet products and services, log on to www.chevrolet.com.ph, like the Chevrolet Philippines Facebook page, or follow the Chevrolet Philippines Instagram page.

The post Philippines Top Dealers Named GM Southeast Asia Grandmasters appeared first on Carmudi Philippines.
By Kanupriya Kapoor

SURABAYA, Indonesia (Reuters) - A family of six launched suicide attacks on Christians attending Sunday services at three churches in Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya, killing at least 13 people and wounding 40, officials said.

Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, has seen a recent resurgence in homegrown militancy and police said the family who carried out Sunday's attacks were among 500 Islamic State sympathizers who had returned from Syria.

"The husband drove the car, an Avanza, that contained explosives and rammed it into the gate in front of that church," East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the regional police headquarters in Surabaya.

The wife and two daughters were involved in an attack on a second church and at the third church "two other children rode the motorbike and had the bomb across their laps", Mangera said.

The two daughters were aged 12 and 9 while the other two, thought to be the man's sons, were 18 and 16, police said.

Police blamed the bombings on the Islamic State-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

JAD is an umbrella organization on a U.S. State Department terrorist list that is estimated to have drawn hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers in Indonesia.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, in a message carried on its Amaq news agency.

"This act is barbaric and beyond the limits of humanity, causing victims among members of society, the police and even innocent children," President Joko Widodo said during a visit to the scene of the attacks.

Indonesian terrorism analyst Rakyan Adibrata said it was the first time children had been involved in attacks in the country.

East Java police spokesman Mangera said at least 13 people had been killed and 40 had been taken to hospital, including two police officers. He called on people to remain calm.

Streets around the bombed churches were blocked by checkpoints and heavily armed police stood guard as forensic and bomb squad officers combed the area for clues.

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Television footage showed one church where the yard in front was engulfed in fire with thick, black smoke billowing up. A large blast was heard hours after the attacks, which Mangera said was a bomb disposal squad dealing with a device.

JAIL STANDOFF

The attacks are the deadliest in Indonesia linked to Islamic State and the worst since October 2005, when three suicide bombers blew themselves up in Bali restaurants killing 20.

They came days after militant Islamist prisoners killed five members of an elite counter-terrorism force during a 36-hour standoff at a high-security jail near Jakarta.

Police Chief Tito Karnavian told reporters that because many militant leaders had been captured "these groups are starting to ... retaliate."

Wawan Purwanto, communication director at Indonesia's intelligence agency, said the main target of militants remained the security forces, but "there are alternative (targets) if the main targets are blocked".

At St Mary's catholic church, the first place of worship to be attacked, the bombing happened after an earlier mass was over and when the church was getting ready to hold another service.

Separately, an internal police report reviewed by Reuters said a suspected bomb exploded in a car in the parking lot of a Pentacostal church, setting alight dozens of motorbikes.

In the third location, the Indonesian Christian Church, veiled women entered the church's yard where they were stopped by a security guard before an explosion occurred at the same spot, according to the police report.

POPE OFFERS PRAYERS

Jeirry Sumampow, a spokesman for Indonesia's church association (PGI), called on the government for more help for security at churches.

Pope Francis offered his prayers for the victims.

"I am particularly close to the dear people of Indonesia, especially to the communities of Christians of the city of Surabaya, which were hit hard by the serious attack on places of worship," he said during his Sunday prayer in Rome.

"Together we invoke the God of peace (asking him) to cease these violent actions and (to make sure) that in the heart of all there could be a space not feelings of hatred and violence, but of reconciliation and fraternity."

Nearly 90 percent of Indonesians are Muslim, but the country is also home to sizeable communities of Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, and people who adhere to traditional beliefs.

Indonesia has had some major successes tackling militancy inspired by al Qaeda's attacks on the United States in 2001. But there has been a resurgence of Islamist attacks in recent years, including in January 2016 when four suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a shopping area in central Jakarta.

Churches have also been targeted previously, including near-simultaneous attacks over Christmas in 2000 that killed about 20 people.

GRAPHIC: http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/INDONESIA-BOMB-CHURCHES/0100701P03J/INDONESIA-ATTACK.jpg

(Additional reporting by Fransiska Nangoy, Agustinus Beo Da Costa, Gayatri Suroyo, Francesca Landini and Sami Aboudi; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Lincoln Feast.)
French authorities released the parents of Paris knife attacker Khamzat Azimov from custody on Tuesday, while keeping his closest friend in detention, a judicial source said. Azimov, a naturalised French citizen of Chechen origin who had lived in Strasbourg, was shot dead by police on Saturday night after stabbing a 29-year-old man to death in the Opera district of Paris and wounding four others in an assault claimed by the Islamic State group. Azimov's parents were detained on Sunday morning. An apartment that his parents had rented in Paris was also searched. The attacker's close friend, named as Abdoul Hakim A., a 20-year-old of Chechen origin from Strasbourg, was retained in custody until Thursday. He was arrested by heavily armed, masked police on Sunday at his home in the eastern city. A source close to the inquiry told AFP he had been under surveillance since marrying Ines Hamza, a woman from the Paris region who tried to leave for Syria in January 2017. Police recovered seven cellphones during a search of his home but were unable to locate the main phone he used most often. - 'Always together' - Saturday's knife rampage followed a series of jihadist assaults that have now claimed 246 lives in France since 2015, including the Paris attacks of that year and the truck-ramming attack targeting Bastille Day revellers in Nice in 2016. A former student in Strasbourg told AFP that Azimov and Hakim A. were in the same class during their final year, "and were very good friends, both Chechen -- they were always together, both in school and outside." Azimov's family later moved to Paris, where they were renting rooms in the 18th arrondissement. Azimov had been on both of France's main watchlists for suspected radicals since 2016 -- the so-called "S file" and a more targeted File for the Prevention of Terrorist Radicalisation (FSPRT), which focuses on people judged to be terror threats. The government has come under fire over the fact that Azimov had been flagged as a suspected extremist, just the same as several others behind deadly attacks including the brothers who carried out the Charlie Hebdo gun massacre in 2015. - IS claim - Azimov became a French citizen in 2010 after his mother was naturalised. Hundreds of fighters from Chechnya have joined Islamist militant groups in recent years, following two bloody separatist wars against Russia. Amaq, the IS propaganda agency, released a video Sunday in which it claimed responsibility for the attack, with footage claiming to show Azimov pledging allegiance to the jihadist group. In Paris, witnesses said Azimov walked along stabbing people and yelling "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest). The seriously injured included a 34-year-old Chinese man who lives in Luxembourg and a 54-year-old woman. Two others were lightly wounded but all four are out of danger. The 29-year-old man who was killed has been identified as Ronan, whose neighbours in Paris's 13th arrondissement posted a letter announcing his death in the hall of their building. Erik Gouenard, a nearby restaurant owner, described him as "discreet, quiet but always smiling. It was like a smile was part of his DNA."
The Associated Press

NEW YORK, EU.- The chief lobbyist for AT&T is leaving the company after hiring of President Donald Trump's attorney Michael Cohen as a political consultant.

In a memo to employees, AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson said that Bob Quinn, senior executive vice president of the external and legislative affairs group, will retire.

Stephen said that the company made a "big mistake" in hiring Cohen as a political consultant. While everything the company did was legal, Stephenson said that the association with Cohen was "a serious misjudgment."

Stephenson noted that the company's reputation has been damaged and that the vetting process used by its team in Washington "clearly failed." The Washington team had hired Cohen under a one-year contract that paid $50,000 a month.

The Justice Department is seeking to block AT&T's $85 billion purchase of Time Warner on the grounds that it would stifle competition. AT&T disagreed, sending the battle into a federal trial. U.S District Judge Richard Leon is expected to issue a ruling next month.

Cohen, according to AT&T, said that he was leaving the Trump organization to do consulting for a "select few" companies that wanted his opinion on the president and the administration.

The company was contacted by investigators with special counsel Robert Mueller, it provided "all information requested in November and December of 2017.

There has been no communication with Mueller's office since then, the company said.
DUSAN STOJANOVIC

Bleiburg, Austria | May 12

Thousands of Croatian far-right supporters gathered in a field in southern Austria on Saturday to commemorate the massacre of pro-Nazi Croats by victorious communists at the end of World War II.

The controversial annual event was held amid a surge of far-right sentiment in Croatia, the European Unions newest member. For Croatian nationalists, the Bleiburg site symbolizes their suffering under communism in Yugoslavia before they fought a war for independence in the 1990s.

"The main culprit of the tragedy of those people was the British Army because they tricked the Croatian soldiers to disarm before they were handed over to Tito,

Tens of thousands of Croatians, mostly pro-fascist soldiers known as Ustashas, fled to Bleiburg in May 1945 amid a Yugoslav army offensive, only to be turned back from Austria by the British military and into the hands of revengeful antifascists. Thousands were killed and buried in mass graves in and around Bleiburg.

The Croatian Ustasha regime sent tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and Croatian antifascists to death camps during the war.

Top Croatian officials attended Saturdays gathering Saturday on a vast field surrounded by mountains. Croatian Catholic Church clergy held a Mass for the killed Croats.

Awful crimes have been committed in the Bleiburg field, Croatian parliament speaker Gordan Jandrokovic said. Today we are paying our respect to the victims, civilians as well as soldiers.

Croatias center-right government has been accused of turning a blind eye to the rising extremism and downplaying the crimes of the Ustasha regime. The policies have triggered protests from Croatias minority Jewish and Serb communities.

Top Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff said he tried to persuade Austrias conservative government to ban the rally, but without success.
Rod Mcguirk

CANBERRA, Australia. - A family of seven including four children was found dead with gunshot wounds Friday at a rural property in southwest Australia in what could be the country's worst mass shooting in 22 years, police and news media said.

The children died with their mother and grandparents. The three generations had moved in 2015 to Osmington, a village of fewer than 700 people near the tourist town of Margaret River, to grow fruit, media reported.

Police would not comment on the possibility of murder-suicide, but said they are not looking for a suspect.

After being alerted by a phone call before dawn, police found the bodies and two guns at the property, Western Australia state Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said. Police wouldn't say who made the call.

The bodies of two adults were found outside a house and the others were found inside. They all resided at the property, he said.

Police said they have no information that would raise concerns about wider public safety, suggesting a shooter is not at large.

"Police are currently responding to what I can only describe as a horrific incident," Dawson told reporters.

"This devastating tragedy will no doubt have a lasting impact on the families concerned, the whole community and, in particular, the local communities in our southwest," he added.

Police were attempting to make contact with the victims' relatives, Dawson said. He declined to release the names or ages of the dead.

Philip Alpers, a Sydney University gun policy analyst, said the tragedy appeared to be the worst mass shooting in Australia since a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania state in 1996, prompting the nation to introduce tough gun controls.
The Associated Press

JERUSALEM, Israel. - Israel Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman Friday called on President Bashar Assad to get rid of Iranian forces in Syria, warning their continued presence would only cause trouble.

Iran, meanwhile, in its first official reaction to the Israeli attacks on suspected Iranian targets in Syria, said Damascus has the legitimate right to respond to what it said were repeated violations of the countrys sovereignty under fabricated and baseless excuses.

Irans Foreign Ministry spokesman Braham Ghasemi added that the international silence in the face of such aggressive moves is in effect a green light to more such attacks.

A hard-line Iranian cleric threatened Iran would retaliate if Israel does anything foolish.

Israel attacked dozens of suspected Iranian targets in Syria in overnight strikes this week that it said were in response to an Iranian rocket barrage. It was the most serious military confrontation between the two bitter enemies to date. The cross-border exchange gave way to a war of words.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called late Thursday for an immediate halt to all hostile acts to avoid a new conflagration in the Middle East.

Guterres comments came as a calm night followed intense attacks on parts of Syria by Israel. Israel has called on the UN Security Council and secretary-general to condemn Irans attack on its positions in the Golan Heights, occupied and annexed by Israel.

The Security Council, deeply divided over Syria, is highly unlikely to issue a statement and as of Friday morning no council member had asked for a meeting.

Speaking while touring the Israeli side of the occupied Golan Heights, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel is not looking for friction. We did not come to the Iranian border, they came here, he said.

Iran has advisers and experts and has backed tens of thousands of militiamen who are fighting alongside Assad forces in the civil war. Israel has warned it will not tolerate its archenemy Iran establishing a military presence on its doorstep.

I will take this opportunity to send a message to Assad: Get rid of the Iranians, get rid of Qasem Soleimani, and the Quds Force, they are not helping you, they only cause damage, and their presence will only cause problems and damages Lieberman said. Soleimani is the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards elite Quds expeditionary force which is fighting in both Iraq and Syria.

Get rid of the Iranians and maybe it will be possible to have a different kind of life, Lieberman added.
Kim Tong/ Hyung

SEOUL,SOUTH KOREA.- North Korea said Saturday that it will dismantle its nuclear test site in less than two weeks, in a dramatic event that would set up leader Kim Jong Uns summit with President Donald Trump next month.

In a statement carried by state media, North Koreas Foreign Ministry said that all of the tunnels at the countrys northeastern testing ground will be destroyed by explosion, and that observation and research facilities and ground-based guard units will also be removed.

Kim had already revealed plans to shut down the test site by the end of May during his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month.

Analysts say that while the closure of the site is important, it doesnt represent a material step toward full denuclearization. A ceremony for dismantling the nuclear test ground is now scheduled between May 23 and 25, depending on weather conditions, the Foreign Ministrys statement said.

It said the North will invite journalists from the United States, South Korea, China, Russia and Britain to witness the dismantling process.
2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #19

Posted on 13 May 2018 by John Hartz

Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Graphic of the Week... SkS in the News... SkS Spotlights... Video of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... 97 Hours of Consensus...

Story of the Week...

2016 Arctic heat would have been virtually impossible without global warming

In the fall of 2016, the Arctic experienced heat that was so extreme that one expert called it a black swan event. That warmth helped set a new annual temperature record that was double the magnitude of the record set the year before. New NOAA-led research confirms that the event could not have happened without human-caused global warming and sea ice loss.

These maps compare the observed differences from average temperature in 2016 (left) to two computer simulations of 2016 (right). The top right map shows results from models that included only natural climate influences, using estimated conditions from the late nineteenth century. The bottom right map shows results from models in which things like greenhouse gases, sea surface temperatures, and sea ice were allowed to change as they have in the real world due to human activities.

None of the simulations using only natural climate influences were able to reproduce the extreme warmth that overtook the Arctic in 2016. Instead, those models projected that there would have been some areas that were cool and some that were warm, but not extremely so. Only the simulations that mirrored human-caused changes in greenhouse gases and the resulting sea ice loss were able to generate a realistic picture of the extreme heat. The most realistic simulations were generated by models in which sea ice was not only allowed to shrink in area, but also to thinjust as it has in the real world.

The scientists concluded that there was virtually zero chance that such an extreme heat event would have occurred without human influence on the climate. But they also concluded that its severityexactly how far above average the temperatures were was partially due to natural variability, including the influence of the strong 2015-16 El Nino event in the tropics.

This overlap of the impacts of human-caused climate change and natural variability is a common theme for many types of extreme weather events from high-tide flooding to heavy downpours. Events like the extreme warmth in the Arctic in 2016 are an early preview of what normal may look like within as little as a decade if greenhouse gas emissions continue their rapid rise.

References:

Sun, L., Allured, D., Hoerling, M., Smith, L., Perlwitz, J., Murray, D., & Eischeid, J. (2018). Drivers of 2016 record Arctic warmth assessed using climate simulations subjected to Factual and Counterfactual forcing. Weather and Climate Extremes, 19, 19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2017.11.001

2016 Arctic heat would have been virtually impossible without global warming by Rebecca Lindsey, NOAA's Climate.gov, May 7, 2018

Toon of the Week...

Hat tip to Stop Climate Science Denial.

Graphic of the Week...

2018 Arctic temperatures (red line) compared with other years back to 1958. (Danish Meteorological Institute data adapted by Zachary Labe)

Another extreme heat wave strikes the North Pole by Jason Samenow, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, May 7, 2018

SkS in the News...

The Climate Denier Roundup article, Free Speech on Campus Under Attack...By the Koch Bros, posted on the Daily Kos includes the following:

Case in point: the AP last week reported that newly released documents from 2003 to 2011 revealed that the Kochs had influence over the hiring process for their Mercatus center at George Mason University. Considering the Kochs had funded the center to the tune of nearly $50 million, this should be more of a confirmation of suspicions than startling revelation. (To be perfectly clear, the Mercatus Center is somewhat independent of George Mason itself, which employs great folks like climate communications researcher Ed Maibach and Dr. 97% himself, John Cook.)

SkS Spotlights...

Program in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate (PAOC)

PAOC oversees a broad program of education and research in atmospheric, oceanic, and climate sciences. We are engaged in some of the most intellectually challenging and important problems in science, such as the physics of hurricanes, and the dynamics of ice ages. PAOC is part of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT and includes members from other MIT departments and from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

The phenomena under study involve a large array of scientific disciplines - geophysics, geochemistry, physical and chemical oceanography, meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, and planetary science. The program carries out research and gives instruction in all of these principal areas. Perhaps more than any other program in the world, PAOC offers its students unique opportunities for interdisciplinary study and research. In all areas we emphasize a combination of theoretical, observational and modeling approaches.

Students and researchers come from all over the world attracted not only by our programs but also the city of Cambridge and its environs which contain many institutions active in atmospheric and oceanographic research; Harvard University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the Boston Office of the National Weather Service, as well as many private companies.

Contact with all of these institutions is maintained through seminars and symposia. Moreover students can formally take subjects at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Harvard University. The research and educational programs of PAOC also benefit from the larger intellectual milieu provided by MIT with its strengths in science and engineering. In research there are no departmental boundaries and we collaborate freely across discipline. PAOC is also involved in undergraduate education within the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.

Coming Soon on SkS...

California, battered by global warming's weather whiplash, is fighting to stop it (Dana)

(Dana) SkS Analogy 12 - A sinking ship reaches new heights (Evan Whitby)

(Evan Whitby) Global warming, hurricanes, and rain (John Abraham)

(John Abraham) Global solar capacity grew faster than fossil fuels in 2017, says report (Simon Evans)

(Simon Evans) New research this week (Ari)

(Ari) 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #20 (John Hartz)

(John Hartz) 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #20 (John Hartz)

Poster of the Week...

SkS Week in Review...

97 Hours of Consensus...

Alan Robock's bio page and quote source.

High resolution JPEG (1024 pixels wide)
Andre Benjamin, aka Andre 3000 of Outkast, celebrated Mothers Day in the traditional fashion this year: signing up for Instagram and releasing two new solo tracks. Youd expect the new music to be bigger news than the Instagram account, but thats because you havent yet seen this adorable photo:

Awwww! For now, Andre 3000s Instagram is all about his mother, Sharon Benjamin Hodo, who died in 2013. Hes posted screenshots of their last text message exchanges and lyrics for Me&My (To Bury Your Parents), a lovely musical snapshot of both his parents:

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His second new track, Look Ma No Hands, is a jazz instrumental with James Blake playing piano while Andre 3000 plays bass clarinet:

Andre appears to have announced the release of Look Ma No Hands by texting his moms presumably long-defunct cell phone, a touching sort of digital seance:

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A post shared by Andre Lauren Benjamin (@therealandre3000benjamin) on May 13, 2018 at 6:31am PDT

Meanwhile, fans hoping for an Outkast reunion will have to make do with this: Andre 3000 attended the high school graduation ceremony of Big Bois son Bamboo.

Bamboo got that paperwork ! Woodward Academy Class of 2018 ! pic.twitter.com/oQmMQVg1XI  Big Boi (@BigBoi) May 12, 2018

Thats Bamboo, as in the lyric got a son on the way by the name of Bamboo, in Outkasts B.O.B., from Stankonia, which really doesnt seem like it came out that long ago. Now that kids made it from not technically existing yet to college-bound, and were all that much closer to becoming defunct phone numbers floating from phone to phone in someone elses iCloud contacts. Happy Mothers Day!
Hawaiis Big Island continues to suffer the effects of the Kilauea volcano May 3 eruption as two new fissures opened up Saturday, piling lava about 40 feet high. The fissures were spewing magma as high as 100 feet in the air as officials warned about the possibility of an explosive eruption. One of the new fissures was about a mile east of a geothermal energy plant, although officials had already removed some 60,000 gallons of flammable liquids from the plant.

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Besides the worries about the fissures, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory also expressed concern about the possibility of another volcanic eruption on Kilauea. Specifically, the observatory warned of an explosive eruption at the Halemaumau Crater due to the ongoing withdrawal of lava from Kilauea summit lake. An eruption could generate dangerous debris very near the crater and ashfalls up to tens of miles downwind.

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#HVO #KilaueaVolcano May 12 evening update (7:07PM HST): New outbreak reported at 6:00 pm ~0.5 mile northeast from end of Hinalo Road, very close to fissure 16 Lava is actively spattering and degassing but no flow has yet formed. https://t.co/7sDZqcx8dU #KilaueaErupts pic.twitter.com/Lea1b41NSo  USGS Volcanoes (@USGSVolcanoes) May 13, 2018

The real danger is that the lava level is dropping inside the volcano. If it falls below the water table, water will pour onto the lava, generating steam that will likely explode from the summit in a shower or rocks, ash and sulfur dioxide gases, USA Today explains.

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For now the vents that have opened up in the ground after Kilaueas eruption have been oozing relatively cool, sluggish magma left over from a similar event in 1955, notes Reuters. Fresher magma could now emerge behind it and the volcano is threatening to start a series of explosive eruptions.

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More incredible video from Leilani Estates, Hawaii. 16 fissures now erupting, lava fountains, and flows ongoing. Video from our @LiveStormsMedia partners pic.twitter.com/clmTjSLsuK  Todd Yakoubian (@KATVToddYak) May 12, 2018

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President Donald Trump declared a major disaster in Hawaii on Friday, making it easier to get federal assistance to help out the recovery efforts. It remains unclear whether areas affected by the current volcanic activity will ever be able to be rebuilt. We really dont know the extent of the damage and whether or not people can actually rebuild, Hawaii state Rep. Joy A. San Buenaventura said earlier this week.

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Even in an administration that has gotten us used to reversals and back-and-forths, President Donald Trump performed an impressive U-Turn on policy Sunday, when he wrote a tweet vowing to help Chinese telecom giant ZTE get back in business following devastating U.S. sanctions. Days earlier, ZTE had said it would cease major operating activities because of trade sanctions imposed by the United States. The Commerce Department had last month banned American companies from supplying to ZTE for seven years as a result of findings that it had illegally sold goods to Iran and North Korea.

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In a tweet on Sunday, Trump suggested he told the Commerce Department to get ZTE back in business. Too many jobs in China lost, Trump wrote. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done! Trump also said he was working with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to give ZTE a way to get back into business, fast.

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President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018

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ZTE had already agreed to a $1.2 billion fine due to the violations of sanctions against Iran and North Korea. Yet the ban was the result of the Commerce Department finding that the worlds fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer had failed to comply with terms of the agreement. Although American wireless companies dont use ZTE products out of security concerns, the company relies on a lot of components from American companies for its products.

Analysts were immediately confused about the presidents tweet particularly because it seemed to be such a clear reversal fromhis usual tough stance on China. Plus in his tweets, Trump seemed to show concern over Chinese jobs rather than American ones, which has long been his rallying cry. Many were also confused as to why the president gave away what many saw as the main leverage the United states had over China in the tense trade discussions between the two countries. If Mr. Trump was announcing a huge concession with his tweet, it was without any indication of what he might have gotten in return, notes the New York Times.

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Experts said the move by Trump was unprecedented because its highly unusual for a president to personally intervene in a regulatory matter and could undercut the leverage of Treasury and Commerce officials seeking to enforce sanctions and trade rules, notes the Washington Post. The move could send a sign to foreign leaders that the way to get their way with the United States is to convince Trump personally.

I am speechless, Kevin Wolf, who oversaw the launch of the ZTE case as assistant secretary of commerce in the Obama administration, told the Financial Times. Im highly confident that a [US] president has never intervened in a law-enforcement matter like this before . . . Its so outside the way the rules were set up.
Archaeologists find oldest Greek relic in Slovak area

It was discovered in a Celtic sacrificial place.

Archaeologists found a significant discovery at a Celtic sacrificial place near the village Slatina nad Bebravou. They discovered relief-decorated shoulder boards made from bronze that were part of a breastplate of a prominent Greek warrior.

It is the oldest original Greek art relic in the area of Slovakia, said deputy of director of Slovak Archaeological Institute in Nitra, Karol Pieta, as quoted by the SITA newswire.

Stolen relic?

The relief was made in the Greek colony of Taranto in southern Italy in the middle of the fourth century BC. It came to Slovak territory about one hundred years later.

There is a justified hypothesis that Celtic warriors, who at that time were moving to the area of middle Danubeland, brought those bronze reliefs here. Theoretically, it is possible that the discovery was stolen from the Delphi oracle, which Celts plundered in the first half of the third century BC, said Pieta for SITA.

The sacrificial place, located about 1.5 kilometres away from a significant Celtic ancient fortified settlement on Udriana hill, was found by accident in 2016, thanks to the attention of the locals.

Hellenic scene

This place used to be full of blood in the past because Celts used to bring not only material and animal but also human sacrifices to their gods that were ritually burnt, which is why the majority of objects found here are burnt.

Archaeologists did research here in 2016 and 2017, followed by an analysis of the findings. Professor Regine Thomas from Cologne University analysed the parts of the found breastplate.

She worked out a special analysis by digitizing small pieces of the shoulder boards. Through this method she succeeded in reconstructing the Hellenic scene decoration.

It was a so-called Amazonomachy, a portrayal of the mythical battle between the Ancient Greeks and the Amazons, a nation of all-female warriors, explained Pieta, as cited by SITA.

Celtic curiosities

Celtic sanctuaries and sacrificial places are one of the curiosities of Celtic civilisation found in Slovakia but not surrounding countries. The finding from the village Slatina nad Bebravou from the end of the third century BC is the fourth ritual place of Celts found in Slovakia.

Archaeologists found a sacrificial hole as well as the place where a sacrificial pillar stood. They found also burnt human and animal bones, bracelets from blue glass, a spur and remains of metal clothing decorations.

A large amount of ceramics were also found, left after sacrificial feasts that used to take place after sacrificial rituals. Celts used to drink a beverage and throw the container to the bonfire. They would break various objects and then burn them to release the spirit of the sacrifice.

Blood of victims  animals or humans  trickled down to the sacrificial hole, explained Pieta for SITA.

13. May 2018 at 7:30 | SITA, Compiled by Spectator staff
Vietnamese students have claimed four golds, two silvers and two bronzes at the 19th Asian Physics Olympiad, which ended in Hanoi on Saturday.

This achievement is the most impressive since Vietnam first joined the competition.

The numbers of gold, silver and bronze medals given in the annual event were 33, 13 and 24 respectively, with nine special prizes going to participants of excellent performance.

The Southeast Asian country was ranked third in the medal standings, which were topped by China, with eight golds, and Russia, which brought home five.

The competition for students under 20 this time had 188 candidates from 25 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the organizer.

Vietnam sent eight contestants to the contest, which opened on May 6 at the Hanoi-based University of Science and Technology, one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in the country.

All the participants had to complete tests designed by Vietnamese teachers and physicists.

The results at this years competition show that many of the students knew how to creatively use their physics knowledge and experimental skills to solve problems. Thats why they finished with flying colors, said Hoang Minh Son, head the events organizing committee.

The Asian Physics Olympiad, which has been hosted by Vietnam for the second time, is slated to take place in Australia next year.

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A number of women with breast cancer have shared the joy of participating in a small-scale project in southern Vietnam aimed at raising the self-esteem of patients facing the disease.

The event, with the theme Always a Woman to Me, was held by fashion designer Li Lam at the Grand Ho Tram Strip, a resort in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, prior to Mothers Day (May 13).

Ten women, members of the Breast Cancer Network Vietnam community, received clothing recommendations from Lam, who also made them up for the occasion.

They spent two days enjoying themselves in different activities at the resort, including yoga exercises.

The designer said she wanted to convey to the women joining the project the message that they should care more about themselves and make them more beautiful, in a manner that overcomes social obstacles and their own inferiority complex.

Women need to look beautiful and shine in their own way in every situation, she said.

Women living with cancer should have greater self-care than ever, she added.

Here are pictures of the event:

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A university professor has urged Vietnam to raise domestic power prices because the current low rates, though they have helped the country develop quickly, are costing it the environment.

Speaking at a public panel discussion on air quality held at the U.S. Consulates American Center in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday, Dr. Le Viet Phu, an environmental economics and policy lecturer at Fulbright University, said that the real cost of the countrys rapid economic development was being subsidized by the environment.

Vietnam has developed very rapidly over the past ten years because weve kept a low energy price, he told the assembled audience, but that doesnt work anymore.

Dr. Le Viet Phu. Photo: Fulbright University

To keep the price so low, Vietnam has used a lot of coal-fired power plants that cause air pollution, he said.

The cost of production, of the energy  the electricity we are using  is a lot more than the amount we are actually paying. If we want to protect the environment, we have to raise the price.

Transparency

Calling on existing public policy around emissions to be effectively enforced, along with greater transparency around air quality monitoring data, Dr. Phu compared household energy prices in Vietnam to several developed nations.

He said that while Vietnamese consumers pay around 8 U.S. cents (VND2,000) per kilowatt-hour on average, other countries, where air pollution has been mitigated, pay a lot more.

In the U.S., electricity costs about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, in Germany around 30 cents, and in Australia, its about 30 cents as well, Dr. Phu said.

During his presentation, Dr. Phu challenged the audience, which was predominantly Vietnamese, to personally accept a higher energy price, explaining that at present there was no economic incentive for innovation in the areas of wind turbines or solar power because the current cost of coal-powered energy was so low.

During a question and answer session, the professor also refuted the notion that higher energy prices would further marginalize people in poor, rural areas.

To me that argument is no longer convincing, he said, pointing out subsidies on energy that already exist for low-income earners.

At the end of the day, you have to do it, he emphasized, because at the moment the environment is subsidizing the cheap price of energy.

Traffic in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Noting the governments stated commitment to coal-fired power through until 2030, the Fulbright University academic, who received his PhD from the University of California in Berkeley in 2013, said he would support further taxes on gasoline, currently set at VND4,000 per liter locally  a number also much lower than in most developed countries.

Protection

Dr. George Conway, an expert in air quality and health who now works as the director of the Deschutes County Health Department in the U.S. state of Oregon, was also part of the panel.

Flown over by the U.S. Consulate General for a series of related events in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, he previously worked in Beijing, China at the beginning of what has been dubbed airpocalypse, and became a foreign activist for change in the country at that time.

Dr. George Conway presents the dangers of air pollution at The American Center on Tuesday, May 8, 2018. Photo: Facebook

Aside from presenting the dangers of poor quality air and how one can protect themselves, Professor Conway called for the establishment of emissions testing on vehicles, the complete transition from two-stroke to four-stroke engines  which are significantly cleaner  and self-monitoring of daily air quality at home.

He also encouraged the use of bicycles and public transportation as often as possible.

Welfare

Earlier, U.S. Consul General Mary Tarnowka had opened the event, part of the American embassys global Air Quality Awareness Week.

She highlighted the United States own experience of successfully overcoming extremely unhealthy air, via what she described as widespread citizen interest and concern, which led to the implementation of the Clean Air Act in 1970.

U.S. Consul General Mary Tarnowka speaks at The American Center on April 22, 2018. Photo: Facebook

Tarnowka called this one of the most important pieces of legislation in America of the 20th century, resulting in national air pollution emissions dropping by an average of 69 percent between 1970 and 2014.

The diplomat attributed this to three things: a good law, transparent data and strong enforcement.

Speaking not only as a representative of the United States but as a parent, Tarnowka urged the audience to think about the kind of future they wanted for their children, before pointing out the long-term economic and social cost of dangerously unhealthy air.

In 2013, the World Bank estimated that as many of 66,300 premature deaths had been caused in Vietnam by poor quality air, with an associated welfare cost of $24 billion.

Since this time, air quality in Vietnams two major urban centers, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, has significantly declined.

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At least three people including two retired policemen have been killed after a passenger bus crashed into the mountainside along a pass in the south-central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa.

The accident occurred at around 9:00 am on Saturday along Khanh Le Pass, which connects Khanh Hoa Province and the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

The passenger bus was carrying 31 people who were retired police officials and their family members from Luc Yen District in the northern province of Yen Bai for a vacation.

According to their travel itinerary, the group of visitors had just visited Da Lat, a tourist city in Lam Dong, and was heading to the beach city of Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa.

The front of the bus is damaged after the crash. Photo: Tuoi Tre

At the scene of the accident, the bus was on its side while its front was severely damaged.

Eyewitnesses stated that many people were injured and trapped inside the vehicles.

The victims were then admitted to the Khanh Hoa Province General Hospital for emergency treatment.

According to Nguyen Van Xang, director of the infirmary, Truong Van Thang and Pham Van Nho, both 62, who were former policemen in Luc Yen District, were killed at the scene.

Officers arrive at the crash site. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Another woman named Trieu Thi Nhat succumbed to her serious wounds on the evening of the same day, Xang added.

Local authorities have offered support worth VND1 million (US$44) to each injured victim and VND2 million ($88) to each family of the deceased.

An investigation is ongoing to figure out the cause of the accident.

A victim is being treated at the Khanh Hoa Province General Hospital. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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Police in northern Vietnam are investigating a violent gang-involving case which reportedly stemmed from failed attempts to collect debt.

On May 5, scores of gangsters arrived at the house of a 56-year-old man named Nguyen Huu Mao in Y Yen District, Nam Dinh Province, in order to recover the debt which he owed, according to Nguyen Van Dac, a local police officer.

Violence broke out for unknown reasons, and the gangsters fled the scene at the sight of the authorities, leaving behind several knives, swords and metal bars, Dac said.

Social media was spread with a video of part of the incident, in which a man was seen firing a gunshot.

Groups of people strange to Mao had come to his residence multiple times earlier for the same purpose of asking him to pay the debt, Dac added.

Mao said that for the past one month a gang has repeatedly hurled dirty materials at his house, damaged its furniture, and threatened to kill his family members with knives and swords.

This is because the family owes VND300 million (US$13,200), which his wife borrowed from a loan shark without his knowledge in 2008, he said.

Men attack a car in Nam Dinh Province, northern Vietnam, May 5, 2018, in a video taken from Facebook

A man attacks a person lying on the ground with a weapon in Nam Dinh Province, northern Vietnam, May 5, 2018, in a screenshot.

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Vietnams Ministry of Health has excluded from a set of recently introduced definitive regulations a requirement that railway employees have no certain problems in the reproductive system, following a massive media outcry over the regulations original version.

The health administration has stated that in order to continue working or qualify as railway staff members, male Vietnamese do not have to be free from a condition with accumulated fluid around a testicle known as hydrocele; and from the inflammation of the urethra  the tube carrying urine out of the body  that needs surgery.

For women, inflammation of womb lining and chronic inflammation of the Fallopian tubes, those leading from the ovaries to the uterus, will not make them ineligible for or be dismissed from railway jobs.

The agency has had to eliminate the requirements associated with these conditions from its draft health standard regulations for railway employees formulated in late March, as the rules encountered a strong opposition from domestic news media.

Rail transport workers also said that the health problems pose no danger to their general health.

Like the original regulations, the new ones apply to various staff members like train drivers, driver assistants, station masters, and switchmen; and demand a health check on different organs, including the skin.

The ministry has encountered two backlashes against its proposed stipulations which then were withdrawn, one of which was mentioned above.

The other, in 2008, required that to be partially eligible for using a motorbike with the cylinder capacity of over 50 cubic centimeters, a would-be rider must weigh more than 40 kilograms, and have a height of over 1.45 meters and a chest size of no less than 72 centimeters.

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A group of local men have been demanding real estate businesses pay protection money in a town in the south-central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa, which has been planned to become a special economic zone.

Van Gia Town in Van Ninh District, Khanh Hoa Province, has become a real estate hotspot after local authorities revealed a plan to turn the place into the Bac Van Phong special economic zone.

Many people specializing in the realty sector have come to the locality to trade local land plots.

However, many of them have reported being forced to pay protection money for a group of local men in order to carry out their business without trouble.

According to N.V.T., who came here from the southern province of Binh Duong to open her company, three men arrived at her firm at around 7:00 pm on May 7, claiming to be local residents.

They required T. to pay VND20 million (US$880) a month for a trouble-free business.

As T. turned them down, a group of nearly 10 tattooed men returned to her company the following morning and sat in front of the facility, forcing the businesswoman to phone police officers.

L.T.H., who hails from the north-central province of Quang Binh, recalled being in the same situation.

When H. said he was experiencing some financial challenges, the men allowed him to pay VND5 million ($220) every ten days.

Even a local businessman like L.V.T. was also intimidated by the thugs.

They threatened to harm me and my family if I did not pay the money. I was hesitant to call the police at first but later changed my mind after knowing that many other companies were also victimized, T. said.

Two men arrive at a company to demand protection money in this screenshot taken from the firms CCTV.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Le Van Tin, chief of police in Van Ninh District, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Friday that officers were working with the victims to assist their investigation.

Initial information showed that the men come from Van Gia Town and some nearby localities.

About five members of the gang are ex-convicts. We have summoned them to the police station for further probing, Sen. Lt. Col. Tin stated.

The situation has only happened over the past month, the police official said, adding that competent agencies had convened a meeting with 27 businesses in Van Gia Town to inform them of the incident.

A hotline was open for companies to report any specific case. They were also recommended to install security cameras for better supervision.

According to Nguyen Cong Bang, chairman of the administration in Van Gia, such extortion is unprecedented in the town.

The thugs started their illicit operation after noticing that real estate has become lucrative due to a hike in land value.

Bang advised businesses to complete their registration and necessary legal procedures regarding their operations and maintain regular contact with local authorities.

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Several US titles which have aired on TEN network have been renewed for more.

Instinct, which premieres on Wednesday, is getting a second season. The series debuted to 9m US viewers before dropping to 7m in Live+same day viewers.

Elementary with Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu has been renewed by CBS for a seventh season.

Life in Pieces is heading into its fourth season whilst Matt LeBlanc comedy Man With a Plan has won a third season.

Bobs Burgers has also been renewed for a ninth season. The eighth season averaged 2.37m but rises to 8.1m in Live +7 days.

Fresh Off the Boat, which debuts here on FOX8, following a Taiwanese family in the US heads to a fifth season. It has been 3.8m viewers in Live+Same Day.

Speechless, with Minnie Driver, has been renewed for a third season after averaging 4.3m viewers.

Lee Daniels music drama Star has been renewed for a third season after averaging 4.17m total Live+same day viewers.

Its worth noting many of these titles were part of TENs output deal with FOX and are currently without an Australian broadcaster.

Source: Variety
The subject this week on Why Do You Think You Are? is the ever popular Justine Clarke.

Best known for titles such as Home and Away, Play School, Tangle and The Time of Our Lives, she will soon appear in SBS drama Dead Lucky.

Actor and performer, Justine Clarke, was raised almost entirely by her mother Beverley after her parents separated when she was just nine months old. Justines quest to learn about her fathers family will take her back to colonial times where shell learn about the unlikely life of one of her ancestors and the Irish rebel she fell in love with. On her maternal side, Justine will return to her grandfathers hometown in Belarus and discover why her grandfather fled his homeland and travelled to Australia. And, in a surprise meeting in Moscow, Justine will meet a long lost relative and reconnect a family separated for a century.

7:30pm Tuesday on SBS.
Scheduled for April 3rd, 'Punish a Muslim Day' was a vile new trend with a points system used to reward acts of violence towards Muslims. Whilst many counter-campaigns were launched across scotland such as the 'Love a Muslim Day' movement, the creation of 'Punish a Muslim Day' only reiterated that Scotland has more of an islamophobia problem than we care to admit.

'Scotland is a progressive nation built on the fabulous warmth of its people' is what the official website for the country says against a backdrop of the Highlands however with the recent news of how Scotland's two Muslim MSPs - SNP MSP Humza Yousaf and Labour MSP Anas Sarwar - are being treated this doesn't seem to be completely true.

From having deeply offensive comments made at them to receiving hate mail to carrying a personal attack alarm to increasing security at home to being unable to conduct surgeries alone to being threatened to be spat at one the street, the list is endless.

The response to Islamophobia in Scotland

Responses to such behaviour are often lacklustre. For example, when North Lanarkshire MP Hugh Gaffney made racist and homophobic comments during a Burns supper speech, he was not suspended and simply referred to diversity training which Yousaf dubbed 'a slap in the face' for every single ethnic minority in the country. Whilst diversity training is useful in its own right but it's meant to supplement understanding, not become the entire foundation of it.

You shouldn't be able to say whatever you feel like and be rewarded with a training course that will give your CV a slight boost.

Meanwhile, in response to Dumfries and Galloway Councillor Jim Dempster was suspended from the Labour Party after he said he was deeply sorry for the offence caused by his totally unacceptable remarks, but Yousaf was quick to label the photos he took at the local mosque in the aftermath "tokenistic" which is what Sarwar also suggested when he refused to sit next to Scottish Labour Leader Richard Leonard at Prime Minister's Questions.

South Lanarkshire Labour councillor Davie McLachlan was also suspended by the party in January amid an investigation into a racist mark which he allegedly made towards Scottish Labour MP Anas Sarwar.

The general attitude of Scottish people towards Islamophobia

These issues are worrying for the diversity of a Scottish government.

How are we meant to have a parliament which is reflective of the society which we live in today if young people who aspire to become MSPs see a job which comes along with such abuse? Far too often we like to presume that the statistics regarding rates of Islamophobia are confined to the south. However, statistics show that the issue is also prevalent up here with a report entitled 'Rising to the Top' by Demos, Britain's leading cross-party think-tank revealing that over half of secondary school children have suffered Islamophobic abuse, with primary school figures rising even higher.

Meanwhile, a UK-wide disparity audit which found shocking results on how an individual's ethnicity impacted outcomes in justice, education, employment and health and also uncovered that the Scottish civil service is the least diverse in the UK, with only 2% of the workforce identifying as non-white.

Notably, the Scottish Government didn't take part in the audit, saying that it was not in the best interests of the Scottish people, which is likely to be a sign of them trying to reinforce the common Scottish discourse of racism and Islamophobia being unable to stretch beyond the realms of England and Wales, to some extent.

Indeed the entire attitude towards racism and Islamophobia within Police Scotland is rather blase with the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights' (CRER) research discovering that along with a lack of recruitment and retention levels amongst staff from ethnic minorities, Police Scotland once told a person who received a threatening and racist email that it could have been "just a prank" and asked whether it was "worth the hassle" to pursue the complaint.

What needs to be done

There have been countless statements of unity made and dozens of frameworks drawn up to counter Islamophobia in Scotland, including one sent to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon by Sarwar as well. However, in addition to actually putting these into action, we urgently need to overcome this hurdle of assuming that Scotland is simply immune to issues such as Islamophobia and racism so we can actually consider the facts and take action to prevent them in the future.
During its annual conference, Uber Elevate Summit in Los Angeles the transportation network company signed the second Space Act Agreement with NASA aiming to develop working aircraft prototypes capable to simulate urban air mobility (UAM) service. Under the agreement, Uber will provide the space agency with design details and data for its planned flying taxi service, which the agency will then use to simulate regular flights by small passenger-carrying aircraft from Dallas downtown to Fort Worth airport.

As reported by The Verge, the new form of urban transport will be a hybrid between a fixed-wing aircraft and a helicopter.

Once ready to make its maiden flights, the innovative means of urban transport will have its beta testing conducted in Los Angeles and Dallas.

Planned simulations of the new service

Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for NASAs Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is quoted as saying that partnering with Uber will enable the agency to identify the key challenges facing the UAM market. According to the deal, the company and the US Armys research lab expect to spend a combined total of $1,000,000 in funding for the planned research, with funds to be divided equally between both parties. Planned simulations of the new service within the city airspace during peak scheduled air traffic will be instrumental in helping Uber figure how its proposed air taxi would fit in with the hundreds of aircraft already flying above Dallas on a daily basis.

Earlier it was reported that Uber is preparing to submit for certification a working prototype of a flying vehicle by 2020, which may be first shown off at the next World Expo in Dubai.

Quad-copter-like electric air taxi with wings and tail rotor

As detailed by Dezeen, the proposed electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle (eVTOL) air taxi concept presented at the event features on its wings four quad-copter-like horizontally co-rotating propellers, which can be folded after landing.

The fifth rotor in the tail will provide thrust to facilitate forward propulsion. The air taxi will be fully electric and is designed to fly at an altitude between 300-400 metres. As the new aircraft will be fully electric and will rely on multiple small rotors in place of a more conventional single large one, Uber claims that it will be significantly quieter in operation than conventional helicopters, as well as being more energy efficient.

Another feature crucial in the densely packed urban environment is that in event of failure of any one of four horizontal rotors, the remaining three will continue to operate to ensure a safe landing. The San Francisco based company envisages in its concept that most of the prospective landing sites will be located on the roofs of high-rise buildings, whereas each of them will have an average daily capacity of two hundred take-offs and landings. Uber expects its new transport to reduce the downtown travel time from 30 to just 5 minutes. The new eVTOL vehicles will become the backbone of the "world's first urban aviation rideshare network", which Uber promises to be fully operational by 2023.
NAIROBI (Reuters) - At least 26 people were killed and seven others wounded in an attack in Burundi's north western province of Cibitoke late on Friday, less than a week before a constitutional referendum, a local administrator and residents said.

Burundi is due to hold a referendum on May 17 to decide whether to amend the constitution to extend presidential terms to seven years from five.

Human rights groups say they do not think the vote will take place in a free and fair climate, while there has been sporadic incidents of violence and abductions.

Emmanuel Bigirimana, the head of Buganda district, said the incident happened in a village called Ruhagarika at around 10 p.m. on Friday.

"They arrived at the village ... armed with rifles, some with machetes, and started shooting. Some died instantly and others were rushed to the hospital," he told Reuters by phone.

"The attackers were around 20 and nearly all of them were in military uniforms."

Burundi was plunged into crisis in April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza said he planned to run for a third term, which the opposition said was unconstitutional and violated a peace deal that had ended the country's civil war in 2005.

Nkurunziza was re-elected, but some of his opponents took up arms against him. Rights groups say an estimated 400,000 people have sought refuge from the violence in neighboring countries.

Government officials and members of the opposition have been among those killed in tit-for-tat violence by rival sides.

The proposed constitutional changes would limit the president to two consecutive terms but would not take into account previous terms, potentially extending Nkurunziza's rule to 2034.

Three residents at the village who did not wish to be named said it was likely the attack was to warn against anyone voting in favor of constitutional changes.

But Bigirimana downplayed that, saying the attackers were not politically motivated, given they targeted three homesteads and killing only women and children.

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"A whole family of six people has also been slain. The attack was not politically motivated but was rather a settlement of a score," he said.

(Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Clelia Oziel)

See Also:
Donald Trump announced his decision to pull the US out of the Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday (Getty)

European leaders have vowed they wont be dictated to by Donald Trump as they scrambled to save the Iran nuclear deal thrown into doubt by the US President.

The French and German governments stressed the need for political independence from the White House as they took steps to safeguard the agreement which lifted economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for limits on the countrys nuclear programme.

There is a realization among all European states what we cannot keep going in the direction we are headed today whereby we submit to American decisions, said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said of EU-US relations: We are prepared to talk but also to fight for our positions where necessary.

Their comments came as it was announced UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson will take part in emergency talks with his Iranian counterpart in Brussels next week.

MORE: Iran nuclear deal not dead despite US exit

The meeting, which will also be attended by the German and French foreign ministers, has been convened by EU high representative for foreign affairs Federica Mogherini.

Mogherini launched a thinly veiled verbal assault on the US President as she set out her determination to save the Iran nuclear deal during an address in Florence today.

With the world in a state of chaos, she said the EU needs to control tensions by preserving the Iran deal.

I know this is not the mood of our times, she added.

It seems that today screaming and shouting, insulting and bullying, systematically destroying and dismantling everything that is already in place is the mood of our times.

I have the impression that this impulse to destroy is not leading us anywhere good.

EU high representative for foreign affairs Federica Mogherini speaking in Florence today (Getty)

Trump described the deal as horrible and one-sided as he announced US withdrawal on Tuesday, which could lead to penalties for European businesses that have begun trading with Iran since it was signed in 2013.

French exports to Iran doubled last year to 1.5 billion, while German exports rose by 400 million last year to 3 billion.

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Defending the deal today at the European University Institutes state of the union conference, Mogherini said it had opened up trade while providing security in the region.

Asked whether it would be saved, Mogherini replied: Yes.

Im not saying its easy. Its going to be very difficult and its going to be very different from the past but our determination is to keep this agreement in place.

MORE: EUs fire and fury over Trumps delaying tactics on trade tariffs

She said she had been encouraged by Iranian President Hassan Rouhanis commitment to abide by the deal if the other signatories did so.

Along with the UK, France, Germany and the EU, China and Russia are the party to the deal.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin about how to preserve the agreement today.

She too had stern words for Trump today. Merkel said it was important to maintain a strong transatlantic partnership but added: If everybody does what they like, then this is bad news for the world.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will fly to Moscow for talks with the Russian government on Monday, before going to Tuesdays meeting in Brussels.




French President Emmanuel Macron holds a keynote speech in front of students of the university of Aachen after being awarded with the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen, Germany, May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen

Thomson Reuters

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron told U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone conversation on Saturday that he was extremely worried about stability in the Middle East, Macrons office said.

Macron called Trump to discuss trade issues and the situation in the Middle East, his office said.

(Reporting by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Alistair Bell)

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PARIS, May 13 (Reuters) - French energy group Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) said on Sunday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Oman to develop natural gas resources in the Gulf state.

"Total and Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) as operator will develop several natural gas discoveries located in the Greater Barik area on onshore Block 6 with respective shares of 25 percent and 75 percent," Total said in a statement.

The project is expected to have initial production of around 500 million cubic feet of gas per day, rising to a potential of 1 bcf/d.

"Total will use its equity gas entitlement as feedstock to develop in Oman a regional hub for Liquefied Natural Gas (Dusseldorf: LI5.DU - news) (LNG) bunkering service to supply LNG as a fuel to marine vessels." (Writing by Luke Baker Editing by Alexander Smith)
You may not have heard the name Muntazer al-Zaidi, but you probably know who he is.

Nearly a decade ago, the Iraqi journalist gained worldwide fame and notoriety when he chucked two shoes at then-President George W. Bush in protest of U.S. military presence in Iraq. Bush managed to dodge the incoming footwear, but Zaidi instantly became an international celebrity and a felon all at once. After spending months in prison and years away from his home country, 39-year-old Zaidi is back in Iraq to run for office.

The charismatic reporter-turned-politician is currently running for parliament in the Iraqi elections taking place Saturday. This legislature, known officially as the Council of Representatives, will select Iraq's next prime minister and president. Zaidi's name is not high on the list for the Sa'iroun Lil Salaah, or "March toward Reform" coalition, a historic alliance including influential Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi Communist Party, but this has done little to deter his quest to rout corruption, expose dirty politicians and finish what he started.

Trending: Michael Avenatti Says Robert Mueller Should Investigate Michael Cohen-linked law firm

"I will launch a campaign to figure out the all the sources of Iraqi funds, every bank, Arab or foreign," Zaid told Newsweek, pledging to seize offshore accounts and properties to invest them into Iraq. As for tackling sectarian tensions that run deep among Iraq's religious and ethnic communities, his answer is simple: "I will pass a law that criminalizes anyone who speaks of sectarianism."

GettyImages-955018056

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

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Zaidi's story is in some ways the story of many Iraqis who have lived through 15 years of consecutive conflict since the U.S. invasion. Zaidi, a member of the Shiite Muslim faith, was raised in Sadr City, once known as Revolution City and Saddam City after that. In the wake of the U.S. overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2003, the city was renamed after the father of the popular Shiite Muslim leader with whom Zaidi has allied.

The U.S. military and Western allies remained in Iraq for the next eight years. The U.S. dismantled Hussein's Baathist, largely Sunni Muslim government and military, creating scores of jobless and frustrated members of Iraq's largest minority. A number of them were held in controversial detainment facilities such as Camp Bucca and Abu Ghraib. Zaidi is one of many who consider the missteps of U.S. policy in Iraq to have contributed to the rise of jihadi groups such as Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which eventually grew into the Islamic State of Iraq and ultimately metastasized into the Islamic State militant group (ISIS).

Related: U.S. Still Not Sure If Iraq War Was Right Decision 15 Years Later, Poll Shows

Back in 2005, Zaidi was working for Al-Baghdadia TV, an independent satellite station based in Cairo and owned by Iraqi businessman Awn Hussain al-Khashlok. Iraq's civil unrest was accompanied by a spate of kidnappings, often deadly, and especially targeting journalists. In November 2007, Zaidi himself was abducted. His disappearance without ransom prompted anxious responses from various organizations local and international, including Reporters Without Borders and the United Nations.

He was thrown out on the street three days later, still blindfolded. After less than two months as a free man, he was briefly detained again in January. This time by the U.S. military as troops searched his home. At that point, Zaidi's frustration with the U.S. and the war it brought to his country had reached a boiling point.

Don't miss: Paris Knife Attack: Suspect Dead, Several Wounded Near Opera House

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Reuters TV

Zaidi has likely relived this experience about as many times as the clip has been shown around the world. He's offered many motives for his famed act of resistance. At the time, he shouted to outgoing President Bush that "This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog!" In his 2009 op-ed in the The Guardian, entitled "Why I Threw the Shoe," he wrote, "I am no hero. I just acted as an Iraqi who witnessed the pain and bloodshed of too many innocents."

"Throwing those shoes at Bush was a response to his lie to the world," Zaidi told Newsweek. "He said that the Iraqis would receive him with roses. We decided we would not accept the occupier with roses, but only with shoes."

After the incident, he was immediately wrestled to the ground by the guards of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is running in Saturday's election as head of the Dawlat al-Qanoon or "State of Law" coalition. Zaidi was given a two-year sentence, but hundreds of Iraqis demanded his immediate release, celebrating his rebellion. Nine months into the sentence, during which Zaidi said he was beaten and tortured, he was released in 2009. He then traveled to Geneva to found a humanitarian agency dedicated to supporting children whose families were broken by the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Related: Some Iraqis Support Tough Shoe-Thrower Sentence

Since his release, Zaidi has spent much of his time in Lebanon, where he landed another journalism stint, but now he's returned to a country still plagued by deep systematic issues both new and old. His number one talking point is instituting sweeping reforms that minimize the privileges enjoyed by politicians and hunt those who he feels have betrayed the country in their own self-interests. As he said during a television show last week, "We do not bargain, we do not buy, we do not fear, nothing will save you from us but death."

Some issues go beyond the national scope, however. With help from the U.S. and Iran, Iraq managed to beat back an ISIS insurgency that swallowed half of the country, but jihadi violence persists. The country is also caught in a greater tug-of-war for influence between Washington and Tehran, who have grown increasingly hostile as the U.S. withdraws from a landmark nuclear accord and violence plays out among them and their allies in neighboring Syria.

Most popular: What Happens To K-9 Police Dogs When Marijuana Is Legalized? Euthanasia Claims Spark Outcry

"We are against this game, so we must take this ball far away from the Iraqi playing field," Zaidi said. "We are not a party to the American-Iranian conflict, neither near nor far, we don't belong to either axis and we are not followers. We are a people who make decisions."

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Mahmud Saleh/AFP/Getty Images

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has attempted to carefully balance U.S. and Iranian interests in Baghdad. The task was much easier to handle when both parties were focused on destroying their mutual foe ISIS. Abadi has even tried to prolong the U.S. and Iran's shared interests by taking advantage of his alliance with both countries to begin airstrikes against remaining ISIS sites in Syria. He's also capitalized on the win against the jihadis for political gain, naming his own bloc the Nasr or "Victory" coalition.

In addition to the lists led by Abadi, Maliki and Sadr are rival Shiite Muslim coalitions Fatah, which means "Conquest" and is led by militia leader Hadi al-Amiri and Hikma, which means "Wisdom" and is led by cleric Amar al-Hakim. Sadr, who heads the Sadrist Party that forged Zaidi's Sa'iroun alliance, has only recently modeled himself as a middleman between the U.S. and Iran. The holy man was crucial to mobilizing Iran-sponsored Shiite Muslim militias to resist U.S. occupation, and later battle ISIS, but he recently voiced criticisms of Iran's role in Iraq and alienated Tehran with his new communist partners.

Related: Can Iraq Get U.S. to Join Russia and Iran's War on ISIS?

Echoing this effort, Zaidi said that, if elected, his vision for Iraq would be to mediate between the competing interests of international and regional powers without taking any side. Leading U.S. ally Saudi Arabia has struggled to curb Iran's growing foothold in the Middle East and especially so in majority-Shiite Muslim Iraq.

"We hope that Iraq's role in the Middle East region may be that of an intermediary and an intermediary between Iran and Saudi Arabia," Zaidi said, "but I will not allow, as the Sa'iroun bloc or as Muntazer al-Zaidi, I will not allow us to become a party to the conflict."

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Azad Lashkari/Reuters

This doesn't mean he's warmed up to Washington. Zaidi blames the U.S. for the sectarian government in Baghdad and for planting the seeds of ISIS. Proudly propelled by his five minutes of fame almost 10 years ago, he's looking to use Saturday's elections as an opportunity to finally expel U.S. forces for good. He said their presence in Iraq isn't just illegitimateit's bad business for President Donald Trump.

"I call on Mr. Trump to withdraw American soldiers, and send them to a country that will pay more for them," Zaidi said. Asked if he would consider throwing a shoe at the current U.S. president, who has yet to travel Iraq, Zaidi said Iraqis "would respond to Trump in another way."

"I say to him, if he does not withdraw soldiers from Iraq," he said, we will pass a law that considers any foreign soldier, American, Iranian, Turkish, to be an enemy."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Madagascar President Hery Rajaonarimampianina meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People on March 27, 2017 in Beijing, China. REUTERS/Lintao Zhang/Pool *** Local Caption *** Hery Rajaonarimampianina

Thomson Reuters

ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Madagascar's president approved a new election law lifting a provision that would have prevented the main opposition candidate from standing for office, which had provoked a political crisis and deadly street demonstrations.

Supporters of opposition politician Marc Ravalomanana, who served as president from 2002 until he was toppled in a 2009 coup, have demanded the scrapping of election rules they said were drawn up to stop him from running. The High Court ruled last week that the rules were unconstitutional.

"Organic laws (on elections) were promulgated today on the basis of the decisions and opinions of the High Constitutional Court," President Hery Rajaonarimampianina's office said in a statement late on Friday.

Ravalomanana had been barred from standing for office because of a criminal conviction imposed while he was in exile after the coup. His supporters said that provision was intended to prevent him from returning to power in the election, which is due later this year on a date that has yet to be announced.

The High Court overturned the rule that would have prevented him from standing, and also removed provisions that had restricted media access. Candidates will be permitted to receive money from abroad, as long as it does not come from foreign governments.

Ravalomanana has teamed up in opposition with the man who succeeded him, Andy Rajoelina. At an opposition march last month against the laws, police fired teargas at demonstrators and two people later died from their injuries.

Madagascar is one of the world's poorest countries, despite reserves of nickel, cobalt, gold, uranium and other minerals. The 2009 coup scared off foreign investors.

(Reporting by Lovasoa Rabary; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Peter Graff)

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By Marja Novak

LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - One of Slovenia's biggest investment projects, a rail line to the country's main port on the Adriatic, will go ahead after low voter turnout in a referendum on Sunday on the railway.

The referendum on the 1-billion-euro (0.8 billion) railway line to the Adriatic port Luka Koper was requested by a civil society group Taxpayers Don't Give Up, which claimed that the line, as designed by the government, was too expensive.

At least 20 percent of some 1.7 million eligible voters would have to vote against the project in the referendum to block it. Less than 15 percent of voters cast their votes, but of those that voted 50.1 percent were against the project, according to a preliminary result of the State Election Commission.

"The low turnout shows that the voters did not want this referendum ... I expect this is the last step towards enforcing the law (on the railway project)," Infrastructure Minister Peter Gaspersic told the national TV channel TV Slovenia after preliminary result was released.

An earlier referendum in September had turnout of 20.6 percent with 53.5 percent of voters backing the project.

But Slovenia's Supreme Court in March annulled the September referendum result and ordered another vote.

The project has already secured 44.3 million euros of European funding while neighbouring Hungary has said it was ready to invest some 200 million euros in the line as it relies on Koper for much of its seaborne freight.

The Supreme Court's decision prompted Prime Minister Miro Cerar to resign, leading to and early election that will be held on June 3.

Analysts said that turnout in Sunday's referendum was too low to give an indication of how the vote in parliamentary election could go.

"I see no direct effect on the election results as the turnout is very low. It is still impossible to predict who will win the election," Peter Jancic, a political analyst and the editor of a political website Spletni Casopis, told Reuters.

Latest polls showed that the main opposition party, the centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party, which has also criticised the government's railway project as too expensive, was ahead of the centre-left List of Marjan Sarec, which has not run in parliamentary elections before.

(Reporting By Marja Novak. Editing by Jane Merriman)
Photo credit: Getty Images

From Country Living

Already used by more than 18% of UK agricultural businesses, drones are changing the way we can grow crops and tend livestock, but what are the long-term implications?



What are drones?

Drones  or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)  are, as the name suggests, essentially sophisticated remote-controlled aircraft. They can range in size from just a few centimetres up to 14 metres, but in most cases are just over half a metre long.

The term drone was coined in reference to the small aircraft used for the target practice of battleship guns in the 1920s. Although most people will have first heard of drones in connection with military use overseas, they are now being utilised more frequently for routine tasks much closer to home.

Agriculture is one area where they have proved to be incredibly valuable, undertaking myriad tasks such as soil analysis, targeted application of pesticides and fertilisers, storm tracking, safety reporting, pollution control and air monitoring.

First used by farmers in Japan in the 1980s, specifically designed agricultural drones are now available with a huge variety of functions and capabilities  basic models cost just 50, while more state-of-the-art devices can exceed tens of thousands of pounds.

Photo credit: Getty Images

Why are drones in the news?

Due to improvements in technology and competitive pricing over the past five years, the use of agricultural drones in this country has increased dramatically and concerns about the risk they pose to safety and privacy has grown with it.

During this period, the number purchased hasnt been monitored, so its difficult to quantify that growth. However, last year a farm in the UK was the first in the world to successfully plant, tend and harvest a 4.5 tonne crop of barley without a single person ever setting foot in the field.

The Hands Free Hectare Project, as it was known, was undertaken by engineers at Harper Adams University, who hope to repeat its success this summer. Although this project, as well as others, demonstrates the benefits of using agricultural drones, issues are being raised in relation to the lack of legislation and regulations.

Story continues

What are the benefits to farmers?

In todays world, where it can be increasingly challenging for small-scale farms to remain financially viable, the help provided by technology such as drones can be invaluable. It may feel like a long way from traditional farming practices, but being able to monitor livestock remotely or apply the correct amount of fertiliser, down to the last millimetre, can make a much-needed difference.

Photo credit: Getty Images

Drones can also be used in the popular farming management concept known as Precision Agriculture, which would otherwise be inaccessible to smaller farms. The list of what drones are capable of seems almost endless  having an aerial view of farmland, for example, can help to identify problems, such as irrigation issues, much quicker than if it was checked from ground-level.

Some drones are also capable of spraying crops with pesticides more accurately than a traditional tractor. This not only reduces costs, but lessens the exposure of workers and the surrounding countryside to potentially harmful chemicals.

Photo credit: Getty Images

What are the drawbacks?

Concerns surrounding agricultural drone use relate predominantly to privacy, trespassing and the damage to property and livestock. These worries are compounded by the fact that this form of technology is so new that laws and regulations are still in their preliminary stages.

Guy Smith, vice president of the National Farmers Union (NFU), commented that while exciting developments could keep British farming at the cutting edge and internationally competitive, the government also needs to take into consideration issues such as antisocial misuse and introduce measures to protect farmers and landowners.

Ross Murray, president of the Country Land & Business Association (CLA)  which represents landowners, farmers and rural businesses  also voiced concerns as to whether drones being flown over private property or land are being operated legally, professionally and safely. There are also worries that increased use may have a negative impact on the number of jobs available to agricultural workers.

Photo credit: Getty Images

What do drones mean for the future?

With sales predicted to exceed 1 billion worldwide by 2024*, the popularity of agricultural drones shows no signs of slowing down. As technology becomes more advanced and far-reaching, UAVs will have the capacity to help farmers in a variety of new and valuable ways.

Researchers at Imperial College Londons Department of Life Sciences, for example, are developing drones that could detect plant disease before any visible signs  such as leaf discolouration  show, allowing farmers to stop infections before they cause too much damage to crops. The hope is that government legislation will soon catch up, ensuring drones are operated safely and responsibly.

However, for now, there are a number of privately run courses available to farmers who would like to learn about the safe operation of agri-drones (as they are sometimes known), such as the one run by independent auditing organisation BASIS  visit basis-reg.co.uk to learn more. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) also provides information and authorisation for non-commercial drone use here.

This feature is from Country Living Magazine. Subscriber here.



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US secretary of state Rex Tillerson has swiftly moved to declare there is 'no imminent threat of war' with North Korea after President Donald Trump promised to meet Pyongyang with 'fire and fury' on Tuesday.

Tensions between the two states reached a new high this week when Trump promised action against Kim Jong-uns regime, with Pyongyang threatening a strike against the US territory of Guam in response.

The former oil executive was quick to pull back on Trumps rhetoric on Wednesday, despite defending the Presidents words.

Tillerson told reporters on his return from an Asian tour that Americans could 'sleep well at night'.

"Nothing that I have seen and nothing that I know of would indicate that the situation has dramatically changed in the last 24 hours," he said.

"What the president is doing is sending a strong message to North Korea in language that Kim Jong-un can understand, because he doesnt seem to understand diplomatic language," Tillerson added.

Tensions between the two nations has increased as the state led by Kim Jong-un ratchets up his weapons programme, with some reports suggesting Trump is considering military action if it continues to present a threat.
Britain's biggest developers could be told to hand over chunks of their building sites to smaller firms as part of a package of measures being considered to help solve the country's housing crisis. A government-appointed panel is understood to have found that the construction of homes is being slowed down as a result of a high proportion of planning permissions being granted for large sites owned by single developers. - Sunday Telegraph

The planning system is broken and unfit for purpose, according to a new report by a former housing minister. The Raynsford Review of Planning, to be published this week, concludes the system is no longer working in the long-term public interest of communities or the country. It is weak, deregulated and less effective than at any time in the past three-quarters of a century, according to the report. - Sunday Times

Michael Gove has said he would not back any delay to the UK leaving the customs union beyond the transition period to allow new border technology to be developed, as Irelands foreign minister said any form of infrastructure or technology on the border would be unworkable. The environment secretary, speaking to the BBC, also expressed scepticism about the merits of an alternative customs proposal, saying the customs partnership model had flaws and needed to be tested. - Observer

At least a dozen members of Theresa Mays Cabinet are lining up to block her plans for a new customs partnership with the European Union. Two pro-Remain ministers say they were among a growing number of figures around the Cabinet table who opposed the proposals described by Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, as crazy. - Sunday Telegraph

Two chief executives of collapsed mortgage bank HBOS were involved in the cover-up of a notorious fraud that ruined scores of firms, according to a secret report. A damning internal review alleges that executives at the highest level tried to conceal details of the HBOS Reading fraud, including Andy Hornby, his predecessor James Crosby and onetime head of corporate banking Peter Cummings. - Mail on Sunday

The only times British shares have been cheaper than they are now was during the two world wars, as global investors have withdrawn from the UK in droves, according to new analysis of the gap between the dividend yield from the FTSE All Share and the yield available from 10-year gilts. The unpopularity of British shares has driven prices down and dividend yields up. The FTSE All Share index has gone nowhere this year and now yields close to 4pc. - Sunday Telegraph

Police are investigating CYBG over alleged fraud against an entrepreneur, David Taylor, who is also planning to launch a compensation claim against CYBG after his haulage business, TT Express, collapsed into administration last year. The probe emerges as CYBG launches a 1.6 billion takeover bid for rival Virgin Money a champion of high standards in banking. - Mail on Sunday

Struggling baby chain Mothercare plans to tap long-suffering investors for tens of millions of pounds as it embarks on a sweeping restructuring plan to revive its fortunes. The Telegraph understands the troubled firm will hit major shareholders with an equity share placing when it outlines a rescue plan alongside full-year results this week. - Sunday Telegraph

The Government has been warned that plans for a ban on junk food advertising before the watershed risk permanent damage to British broadcasters and will divert as much as 250m a year into the pockets of unregulated tech giants Facebook and Google. A coalition of television companies including ITV, Sky and Viacom, the owner of Channel 5, is frantically battling moves by Number 10 and Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, to outlaw advertising for products that are high in fat, sugar or salt before 9pm. - Sunday Telegraph

An estimated 500m bailout of the Crossrail train line is expected to be announced within weeks, to prevent work on the colossal infrastructure project from grinding to a halt. Faced with problems over the power supply and signals, the 14.8bn London rail scheme  one of the largest construction projects in Europe  is drifting substantially over budget. - Sunday Times

Senior figures in Britains 80 billion-a-year car industry want the UK to remain in the EUs customs union and dismiss the two alternatives being considered by the Government as unworkable. Bosses say the benefits of the customs union have been the foundation for the growth of an industry that now supports 800,000 jobs. An end to the arrangements would create major disruption and imperil the sector, with firms slashing staff and moving operations abroad. - Mail on Sunday

The UK has no need to build new large gas-fired power stations to replace the coal plants that the government has pledged to switch off by 2025, the World Wide Fund for Nature has argued. The gap can instead be filled by renewables, battery storage and flexible technologies, allowing the UK to go from coal to clean and skip new gas completely, according to a report by the environmental group. - Observer

The cash crisis at Rolls-Royce caused by the spiralling costs of fixing a faulty jet-engine model has prompted a ban on all but essential travel at the blue-chip engineer. The company spends up to 150m a year on travel and accommodation but staff are now under intense pressure to slash this by 30pc. - Sunday Telegraph

BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg is the latest boss to face flak from shareholders for overboarding  taking on too many directorships. Svanberg, who enjoys a 785,000 pay and benefits package at BP, also holds the role of chairman at Volvo. - Mail on Sunday

Banking giant Santander is working on plans to launch a stand-alone digital bank in the UK, following in the footsteps of RBS. The Spanish-owned lender is gearing up to launch a business banking service under a separate brand within months, amid intensifying competition in the market. - Sunday Telegraph

Thousands of British high street jobs may be under threat now that Poundworld's US owner has ditched a rescue plan to bring the loss making discount chain back from the brink, opting to sell up instead. American private equity backer TPG is said to have instructed Deloitte to find a buyer for Poundworld, which employs around 5,500 staff across the UK, by April. - Sunday Telegraph

The recent blockbuster floats of petrol station chain Vivo Energy and cyber security group Avast have failed to spark a boom in stock market listings as the number of share sales plunges to a five-year low. Less than 20 companies have floated in London since January, according to Dealogic, a third less than the total this time a year ago and the lowest number since 2013. - Sunday Telegraph

Universal Music could soon be tuning up for a float valuing the worlds largest record label at more than $20bn (15bn). French media giant Vivendi has been weighing a spin-off of its recorded music arm since last year, which has enjoyed a renaissance thanks to a boom in streaming revenues. - Sunday Times

Foreign advertisements promoting the interests of political parties may be banned from social media in the UK under proposals being considered by the government. The move reflects concern around the world about the way that overseas groups are using ads on Twitter, Google and Facebook to try to skew the results of domestic elections. - Sunday Times

Scientists believe they have found a therapy that will consign Viagra to history after showing a single injection of stem cells can cure men of erectile dysfunction. In trials they found that injecting 20m stem cells into the base of the penis could reinvigorate the nerves and blood vessels and even make the organ larger  something Viagra has never achieved. - Sunday Times

Club 18-30  which was sending about 100,000 people abroad every year at its peak and even spawned a cult TV series  could soon be coming to an end. The high street tour operator Thomas Cook is understood to be calling time on the brand it has owned since 1998, and promotes under the slogan: Its go big or go home and only the legendary will do. - Sunday Times

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) will this week come under attack from a powerful group of MPs over its failure to protect Carillion pensions prior to its collapse. An inquiry by the joint business and pensions select committee is expected to call for the watchdog to be scrapped and its responsibilities handed to a new more powerful body that would also include the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). - Sunday Telegraph

Britains railways are to enter a new steam age with up to 100 ageing commuter trains poised to be converted to run on eco-friendly hydrogen. They could be on the network within three years and will be almost silent, with the same range and speed as traditional diesel and electric trains. - Sunday Times

Move over Elon Musk  a British billionaire has decided to bet on space. The financial services tycoon Peter Hargreaves has taken control this weekend of the Goonhilly satellite tracking station in Cornwall with bold plans to expand its services. - Sunday Times

Facebook is considering launching its own cryptocurrency and allowing its 2bn-plus users to make seamless electronic payments. The $530bn (390bn) social media giant has quietly spent the past year exploring possible uses of blockchain technology, the decentralised ledger system that underpins bitcoin, ethereum, ripple and the thousands of other digital currencies that have been spawned recently. - Sunday Times

Britain's information watchdog may block government use of a new Google feature that allows someone to delete an email once it is sent. Users can set an expiry date for when the email is permanently deleted and allow it to lock itself after a certain time if left unopened, though concerns have been raised over its potential misuse in public office, by enabling someone to easily destroy documents remotely. - Sunday Telegraph

A clutch of Chinese smartphone giants are scoping UK launches as the technology giants look for a slice of Britains premium phone market. One of them, Oppo, Chinas second-largest smartphone vendor, quietly launched a UK arm in February, according to filings on Companies House. The move is thought to be part of plans to launch in Europe this summer. - Sunday Telegraph

The drugs minister has been accused of a massive conflict of interest after it emerged that her husband operates Britains largest cannabis farm. Victoria Atkins has now stopped speaking for the government on cannabis and other aspects of her drugs brief. The Home Office said she had voluntarily recused herself from policy or decisions relating to cannabis. - Sunday Times

Just 350 of the 15,600 wealthiest households in Westminster, one of the countrys richest boroughs, have answered the local authoritys call to voluntarily pay extra council tax to help tackle the homelessness crisis in the heart of London. In February, the Westminster council leader, Nickie Aiken, wrote to all residents in the most expensive band H properties to ask them to consider paying an extra 833-a-year 'community contribution' to help fund youth clubs, homelessness services and visits to lonely people.- Observer
Ivanka Trump has been in the role of special assistant to her father, President Donald Trump, but mostly keeps a relatively low-profile. After tweeting about prison reform, critics of the administration were quick to push back at the ironic message.

#PrisonReform is critical to ensuring ex-offenders can successfully re-enter and prosper in our modern society. The passage of bipartisan legislation by the House Judiciary Committee this week is a positive first step we can ALL get behind! https://t.co/dc8nOudCpO  Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) May 11, 2018

Ivanka on Twitter

Ever since Donald Trump was elected president back in November 2016, questions have been raised in regards to the legitimacy of his victory over Hillary Clinton.

In the weeks after Election Day, several well-respected news outlets and government agencies concluded that Russia hacked into the election with the goal of putting Trump into the White House. Despite this, Trump and his team have been defiant in their denial, often repeating the phrase "no collusion" when addressing allegations that they have been in cahoots with the Kremlin. Since then, an investigation has been put together to look into the possible Trump-Russia connection, with special counsel Robert Mueller having already indicted dozens of current and past Trump associates.

With the controversy hanging over the head of the administration, Ivanka Trump decided to take to Twitter on May 11 and discuss the need for reform in the prison system.

"Prison Reform is critical to ensuring ex-offenders can successfully re-enter and prosper in our modern society," Ivanka tweeted out. "The passage of bipartisan legislation by the House Judiciary Committee this week is a positive first step we can ALL get behind!" she concluded. As expected, those who oppose the current administration had a few things to say.

Twitter reacts

Following Ivana Trump's tweet about prison reform, critics wasted no time pointing out the irony. "It's actually clever of you to start working on prison reform right now. Under the circumstances," one tweet read.

'#PrisonReform is critical to ensuring ex-offenders can successfully re-enter and prosper in our modern society'



So when you, your husband, your brother and your dad re-enter society in some 15-20 years, what are you going to do? Starting a language school for Russian?  Tronald Dump (@studentsfordemo) May 12, 2018

Do you really not see he irony in your statement?  Jake Resists (@GoertzJake) May 12, 2018

Your pops must be planning ahead. Why else? I suspect the wrong folks will benefit from this.  Doc Caban (@drcaban) May 11, 2018

"Can you just go back to selling shoes please and thank you," a Twitter user wrote.

"What the hell do you know about anything? Just hush," yet another tweet added. "Getting ready to make things cozy for you and the family?" an additional tweet noted.

What the hell do you know about anything? Just hush..  andioliver (@andisn16) May 11, 2018

Its actually clever of you to start working on #prisonreform right now. Under the circumstances.  Elizabeth Rodriguez (@LibbyBlog) May 11, 2018

That's great! So, what does your dad plan to do after he gets out?  JarOCats  (@Jar_O_Cats) May 12, 2018

"Your pops must be planning ahead. Why else? I suspect the wrong folks will benefit from this," a social media user wrote. "So when you, your husband, your brother and your dad re-enter society in some 15-20 years, what are you going to do? Starting a language school for Russian?" a follow-up tweet read. The mockery continued as the backlash to the entire Trump family moved forward.
Welcome to another edition of "For The Record." In this edition, we focus on the Allman Goldflies Bands premiere platter titled "Second Chance.

For those readers not yet up on the Allman Goldflies Band, the Allman Goldflies Band is a southern rock and blues band based in Panama City, Florida.

Allman Goldflies Band

The group is driven by Gary Allman, cousin of Greg and Duane, on vocals, acoustic/slide guitar, and keyboards, and former Allman Brothers Band musician David Rook Goldflies on bass, drums, keyboard, guitar, fiddle, and vocals. The current roster also includes Joe Weiss on background vocals, guitar and bass, Shawn Shack Shackelford on drums and percussion and Matt Siegel on guitar.

Also on the album is the late, great guitarist Luther Blue Lou Wamble.

Track by track

The bands signature sound is a mix of multiple music genres including modern blues, jazz, prog and southern rock. The 10-track release opens on the love-focused Ever Been So Lonely Baby. Its essentially an Allman Goldflies' composed 12-bar blues piece with a touch of Southern flair.

The second selection, Standing In the Georgia Rain, another love-oriented Allman Goldflies song. Its a ballad about redemption. Its followed by Southerns All I Ever Want to Be which was written by Goldflies and C. Menfi. The song is an upbeat sing-along number reminiscent of The Allman Brothers Jessica.

The slow and solid ballad Yesterdays Blues, is next with a noteworthy combination of up guitar solos and sad lyrics.

It has a familiarity to it that is no doubt due to the evocative elements therein contained. Its almost Procol Harum-like.

Fadiddle is a fiddle-fed instrumental that features a playful pairing of violin and drums. Goldflies opens with a touch of Cajun and takes off into a bit of bluegrass here. The strong and steady Allman Goldflies Baby Show Me How is a country-tinged ballad with memorable slide guitar work by Allman.

The honest Allman Goldflies Pretty Green Eyes tells the tuneful tale of a tour-weary musician complete with the right touches of country and blues. The subject of Goldflies Cant Turn Back Now is not new, of course, but the song is upbeat with a touch of funky bass over a jazzy line that just makes it work. (And was that a cowbell in there, too?)

The remaining two tracks are both Allman Goldflies songs.

The tender You Gave Me Love is a soulful ballad that features what's believed to be Wambles last performance. The closing cut is the spiritual When Jesus Calls that both brings some hope to a troubled world and is a tribute to Allmans late mother, complete with a full gospel choir.

For the record

For the record, this nearly 41-minute audio offering is new and innovative and yet is definitely inspired by its roots in classic blues, southern rock, and old-school influences. It features traditional instrumental work, raw emotion and all the expected prerequisite song styles to boot. So check out the Allman Goldflies Bands Second Chance and you just might discover its much more than Yesterdays Blues.
tom sandoval and girlfriend Ariana Madix are 100 percent committed to one another. As the sixth season of "Vanderpump Rules" winds down, fans continue to wonder whether or not the couple will ever get engaged and get married. Unfortunately for fans hoping to see them wed, they don't currently have any plans to do so, nor does Madix want to do so in the future.

Throughout the past few years, many fans have been hoping to see the couple walk down the aisle because Sandoval has expressed interest in doing so. As some will recall, Sandoval brought up the idea of a marriage between him and Madix while attending the wedding of Katie Maloney and Tom Schwartz.

That said, Madix has continued to tell Sandoval that she simply doesn't want to get married. She's also said openly that she has no interest in having children.

Is Tom Sandoval okay with not getting married to Ariana Madix?

"Right now, it's really not an issue," Sandoval explained to In Touch Weekly magazine on April 12. "We don't need a $60,000 wedding bill to know how much we love each other." While a wedding isn't in the future for the "Vanderpump Rules" cast members, they do have other plans for their future, including a new home. As Madix explained, she would love to live in a "big, beautiful house" with Sandoval and said she also has a ton of other goals for herself.

Ariana Madix has a lot that she wants to accomplish outside of her relationship

"I have lots of goals," Madix told In Touch Weekly magazine. According to Madix, she wants to release a cocktail book, create an activewear line, and become a series regular on a scripted television show.

What about Tom Sandoval?

When it comes to his own dreams for the future, Sandoval was all about his life with Madix and said that he would love to welcome a puppy with his longtime girlfriend -- and a paintball gun.

That said, he's also got a lot going for him on the career front and will soon be opening the doors of his new restaurant, Tom Tom, with his "Vanderpump Rules" co-stars, Tom Sandoval, Lisa Vanderpump, and Ken Todd.

Tom Tom has been a hot topic throughout the sixth season of the show and is expected to open its doors sometime next month in West Hollywood, California.

To see more of Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval, and their co-stars, including Scheana Marie, Stassi Schroeder, Jax Taylor, and James Kennedy, tune into new episodes of "Vanderpump Rules" season six on Monday nights at 9 p.m. on Bravo TV.
Grammy Award-winning musician Lenny Kravitz, graced fans with the debut of his new single "It's Enough" from his upcoming 11th album Raise Vibration, soon to be released on September 7, 2018. The music career veteran, with a span of nearly 30 years of albums to his credit, introduced the video of his new song "It's Enough" through live-stream on Facebook and YouTube. The video includes powerful images highlighting social injustice around the world. The lyrics of the song call for a positive change consistent with the artists well-known anthem Let Love Rule from his 1989 debut album of the same name.

The rhythm and vibe of the new release Its Enough is reminiscent of the thought-provoking and socially conscious songs from legendary artists like Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye.

Raise Vibration tour

Kravitz is set to begin his Raise Vibration European tour at the end of May 2018 and will make his way to the United States for the Bourbon & Beyond Festival in Louisville, Kentucky on September 22, 2018.

Kravitz may add more US tour dates just as he did for the tour promoting his last album release, Strut, which started in 2015. Lenny Kravitz captured highlights from the European leg of the Strut tour in a DVD showcasing interviews with Kravitz and members of the band along with live performances.

In addition to promoting his new single and upcoming album, Lenny Kravitz has also collaborated with Dom Perignon as Creative Director, Photographer, and Designer for a project to debut in September. Lenny Kravitz has the resume to back it up with his Kravitz Design having completed major projects. These include luxury suites at hotels in Miami and Las Vegas, as well as the New York residences at 75 Kenmare.

Kravitz Design also collaborated with CB2 for the Kravitz Design Collection and created the limited-edition Correspondent camera for the Leica brand. As a photographer, Kravitz showcased his photography book "FLASH" at exhibits including the Leica Gallery in Los Angeles and Miami.

Multi-talented artist

Fans of the multi-talented artist hope to see Kravitz return to the big and little screen for future acting projects.

Most recently, Kravitz appeared in Lee Daniels Fox television series "Star," as Roland Crane the Rock Star and father of Alex Crane. Kravitz also worked with Lee Daniels in the films "Precious" and "The Butler." Kravitz is well-known as Cinna in the "Catching Fire" films. Fans may want to see Lenny Kravitz work on a film or television project with his daughter Zoe Kravitz.

The song Its Enough, is available on Spotify and the video can be viewed on YouTube.
The following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. Medical Services P.A., AHI Investment LLC, AbVitro LLC, Abraxis BioScience Australia Pty Ltd., Abraxis BioScience Inc., Abraxis BioScience International Holding Company Inc., Abraxis BioScience LLC, Abraxis BioScience Puerto Rico LLC, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Adnexus, Adnexus a Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D Company, Allard Labs Acquisition G.P., Amira Pharmaceuticals, Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Apothecon LLC, B-MS Generx Unlimited Company, BMS Benelux Holdings B.V., BMS Bermuda Nominees L.L.C., BMS Data Acquisition Company LLC, BMS Forex Company, BMS Holdings Sarl, BMS Holdings Spain S.L., BMS International Insurance Designated Activity Company, BMS Investco SAS, BMS Korea Holdings L.L.C., BMS Latin American Nominees L.L.C., BMS Luxembourg Partners L.L.C., BMS Omega Bermuda Holdings Finance Ltd., BMS Pharmaceutical Korea Limited, BMS Pharmaceuticals Germany Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals International Holdings Netherlands B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Korea Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Mexico Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Netherlands Holdings B.V., BMS Real Estate LLC, BMS Spain Investments LLC, BMS Strategic Portfolio Investments Holdings Inc., Blisa Acquisition G.P., Bristol (Iran) S.A., Bristol Iran Private Company Limited, Bristol Laboratories Inc., Bristol Laboratories International S.A., Bristol Laboratories Medical Information Systems Inc., Bristol-Myers (Andes) L.L.C., Bristol-Myers (Private) Limited, Bristol-Myers Middle East S.A.L., Bristol-Myers Overseas Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Israel) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (NZ) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Proprietary) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Taiwan) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (West Indies) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb A.E., Bristol-Myers Squibb Aktiebolag, Bristol-Myers Squibb Argentina S. R. L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Australia Pty. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Axia Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb B.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Belgium S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Business Services Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada International Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Delta Company Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Denmark Filial of Bristol-Myers Squibb AB, Bristol-Myers Squibb EMEA Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Egypt LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Epsilon Holdings Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Ltda., Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Portuguesa S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb GesmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holding Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings 2002 Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Ireland Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Pharma Ltd. Liability Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Ilaclari Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb India Pvt. 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..
The following companies are subsidiares of Iron Mountain: AB Archyvu Centras, AB Archyvu Sistemos, AB Archyvu Sistemos Estonia Branch, AKTATRADE Iratendezo Selejtezo es Megsemmisito Bt., AS Archivu Serviss, Accutrac Software Inc, Administradora de Informacion Ltda, ArchivesOne, Archyvu sistemos, Ausdoc Group Pty Limited, Ausdoc Holdings Pty Limited, Bonded Services Group, Box Butler, Britannia Data Management Limited, Connected Corporation, Cornerstone Records Management, Crozier Fine Arts, Crozier Philadelphia LLC, Custodia S.O.S. SA, Custodia de Documentos Limitada, Data Outsourcing Centre doo, Data Security Services Pty Limited, DigiGuard, Docu-File Cape Town Proprietary Limited, Docu-File Durban Proprietary Limited, Docu-File JHB Proprietary Limited, DocuTar Iratrendezo es Tarolo Szolgaltato Kft., DocuVault, Docufile (Pty) Ltd, Docufile Holdings (Proprietary) Limited, Docufile Lesotho Proprietary Limited, Docufile Services Proprietary Limited, Docugroup Papir Szolgatato Kft., Document Holdings Sweden AB, Docuscan Cape Town Proprietary Limited, Docuscan Proprietary Limited, Endless Document Storage Services LLC, EvoSwitch, File Express Limited, Fine Paper Recyclers Sydney Pty Ltd, Fontis International GmbH, Fontis International Inc., Fortrust, G4S Secure Data Solutions Colombia, Hays IMS, Horanross Limited, IBEX IM Limited, IBEX Information Management Limited, IG2 Data Security, IMSA Peru SRL, IO.com, Information Storage Consolidation Co, Interfile Participacoes S.A., Intradis SA, Iron Mountain (Deutschland) Service GmbH, Iron Mountain (Espana) Services S.L, Iron Mountain (Gibraltar) Holdings Limited, Iron Mountain (Ireland) Services Limited, Iron Mountain (Nederland) Services BV, Iron Mountain (UK) EES Holdings Limited, Iron Mountain (UK) Limited, Iron Mountain (UK) Services Limited, Iron Mountain A/S, Iron Mountain Acquisition Holdings Pty. Ltd., Iron Mountain Argentina S.A., Iron Mountain Arsivleme Hizmetleri A.S., Iron Mountain Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd, Iron Mountain Australia Group Pty. Ltd., Iron Mountain Australia Group Services Pty. Ltd., Iron Mountain Australia Holdings Inc., Iron Mountain Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd, Iron Mountain Austria Archivierung Gmbh, Iron Mountain BPM International S.a.r.l., Iron Mountain BPM SPRL, Iron Mountain Belgium NV, Iron Mountain CIS LLC, Iron Mountain Canada Operations ULC, Iron Mountain Ceska Republika S.R.O., Iron Mountain Chile S.A., Iron Mountain Chile Servicios S.A., Iron Mountain Colombia S.A.S., Iron Mountain DIMS Limited, Iron Mountain Deutschland GmbH, Iron Mountain Do Brasil Ltda, Iron Mountain EES Holdings Ltd., Iron Mountain EES Sp. z.o.o., Iron Mountain Espana SA, Iron Mountain Europe (Group) Limited, Iron Mountain Europe PLC (fka Iron Mountain Europe Limited), Iron Mountain Finland OY, Iron Mountain France S.A.S., Iron Mountain Fulfillment Services Inc., Iron Mountain Global Holdings Inc., Iron Mountain Global LLC, Iron Mountain Global Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Iron Mountain Group (Europe) Limited, Iron Mountain Hellas SA, Iron Mountain Holdings (Europe) Limited, Iron Mountain Holdings (France) SNC, Iron Mountain Incorporated, Iron Mountain India Private Ltd, Iron Mountain Information Management LLC, Iron Mountain Information Management Services Canada Inc., Iron Mountain Information Management Services Inc., Iron Mountain Intellectual Property Management Inc., Iron Mountain International (Holdings) Limited, Iron Mountain International Holdings BV, Iron Mountain International Information Management Co. Ltd., Iron Mountain Ireland Holdings Limited, Iron Mountain Ireland Limited, Iron Mountain Latin America Holdings Sociedad Limitada, Iron Mountain Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Iron Mountain Luxembourg Services S.a.r.l., Iron Mountain Luxembourg Services S.a.r.l. Schaffhausen Branch, Iron Mountain MDM Limited, Iron Mountain Magyarorszag Kereskedelmi es Szolgaltato Kft., Iron Mountain Management Services GmbH, Iron Mountain Mayflower Limited, Iron Mountain Mexico Holding S. de RL de CV, Iron Mountain Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Iron Mountain Mexico Servicios S. de RL de CV, Iron Mountain Mortgage Finance Holdings LLC, Iron Mountain Mortgage Finance I LLC, Iron Mountain Nederland B.V., Iron Mountain Nederland Holdings B.V., Iron Mountain New Zealand Limited (fka Recall New Zealand Ltd), Iron Mountain Norge AS, Iron Mountain Participations SA, Iron Mountain Peru S.A., Iron Mountain Poland Holdings Ltd, Iron Mountain Polska Services Sp z.o.o., Iron Mountain Polska Sp. z.o.o., Iron Mountain Receivables QRS LLC, Iron Mountain Receivables TRS LLC, Iron Mountain Records Management (Puerto Rico) Inc., Iron Mountain Records Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Iron Mountain SRL, Iron Mountain Secure Shredding Canada, Iron Mountain Secure Shredding Inc., Iron Mountain Services Private Ltd, Iron Mountain Services S.A.S., Iron Mountain Shanghai Co Ltd, Iron Mountain Slovakia s.r.o., Iron Mountain South America S.a.r.l., Iron Mountain Southeast Asia Holdings Limited, Iron Mountain Switzerland GmbH, Iron Mountain UK Services (Holdings) Limited, Iron Mountain US Holdings Inc., Iron Mountain Ukraine LLC, Iron Mountain Vietnam Company Limited, Iron Mountain d.o.o. Beograd, Jin Shan Limited, KDM Spectrumdata Pty Ltd, KH Data Capital Development Land LLC, Kestrel Data (Canada) Ltd, Kestrel Data Services Limited, Kestrel Information Management Pty. Ltd., Livevault, Marshgate Morangis S.a.r.l., Mimosa Systems, Mobilshred Inc., Navbharat Archive Xpress Private Limited, Nettlebed Acquisition Corp., Pipax Security S.A., Preferred Media Limited, Prism Integrated Sdn Bhd, Recall, Recall (London) Limited, Recall (Schweiz) AG, Recall (Shanghai) Ltd., Recall A/S, Recall AS, Recall Asia Pte Limited, Recall Corporation Sdn. Bhd., Recall Enterprises (Thailand) Limited, Recall Enterprises Sdn. Bhd., Recall Europe Finance Ltd. (fka Recall Europe Finance Plc), Recall Europe Limited, Recall Finance Limited, Recall Finland OY, Recall France SA, Recall France SA Belgium Branch, Recall France SAS, Recall GQ Limited, Recall Holdings, Recall Holdings Limited, Recall Holdings Sweden AB, Recall Hong Kong Ltd., Recall India Information Management Pvt. Ltd., Recall Information Services SRL, Recall International Pty Limited, Recall Italia SRL, Recall Limited, Recall Overseas Holdings Pty Limited, Recall Shredding Limited, Recall Sweden AB, Recall Taiwan Ltd., Recall Technology Pty. Ltd., Recall Total Information Management India Pvt. Ltd., Recall Total Information Mgt Pte Ltd, Recall do Brasil Ltda, Record Data Limited, Royal Seal S.R.O., Safehouse Information Management Solutions Private Limited, Santa Fe Group, Secur Archiv SA, Secure Paper Services Pty Ltd, Shuttle SRL, Silver Sky Limited, Sispace AG, Startify, Storbox SA, The Coding Company Pty. Ltd., The Imaging Centre Pty Ltd, UAB Confidento, Upper Providence Venture I L.P., Venues Australia Pty Ltd, and Xepa Digital.
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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.

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KAZ Minerals PLC, together with its subsidiaries, engages in mining and processing copper and other metals primarily in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan. It operates through Bozshakol, Aktogay, East Region and Bozymchak, and Mining Projects segments. The company operates the Aktogay and Bozshakol open pit copper mines in the east region and Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan; three underground mines in the east region of Kazakhstan; and the Bozymchak copper-gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. It also develops greenfield metal deposits; operates Koksay deposit in Kazakhstan, and the Baimskaya licence area in the Chukotka region of Russia; and produces and sells various by-products, such as gold, silver, molybdenum, and zinc. In addition, the company supplies and distributes heat, water, and electricity; and offers construction, project management, financing, management, sales and logistics, and repairs and maintenance services. The company was formerly known as Kazakhmys PLC and changed its name to KAZ Minerals PLC in October 2014. KAZ Minerals PLC was founded in 1930 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

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Vedanta Ltd. is a natural resource company, which engages in the exploration, extraction, and processing of minerals, oil, and gas properties. It operates through the following segments: Copper, Aluminum, Iron Ore, Power, and Oil & Gas. The Copper segment focuses in custom smelting and also include a copper smelter, a refinery, a phosphoric acid plant, a sulphuric acid plant, a copper rod plant, and three captive power plants. The Aluminum segment comprises refinery and a captive power plant at Lanjigarh and a smelter, a thermal coal based captive power facility at Jharsuguda both situated in the State of Odisha in India. The Iron Ore segment explores, mines, and processes iron ore, pig iron, and metallurgical coke. The Power segment consists 600 MW thermal coal-based commercial power facility at Jharsuguda in the State of Odisha in Eastern India. The Oil and Gas segment involves in the exploration and development and production of oil and gas. The company was founded by Dwarka Prasad Agarwal on June 25, 1965 and is headquartered in Mumbai, India.

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Foresight Energy LP engages in the development, mining, production, marketing, transportation, and sale of thermal coal primarily in the eastern United States and internationally. As of February 27, 2019, the company operated two longwall mining complexes with three longwall mining systems in Williamson and Sugar Camp; one continuous mining operation in Macoupin; and the Sitran river terminal on the Ohio River. It controls approximately 2 billion tons of coal reserves in the Illinois Basin. The company sells its coal to electric utility and industrial companies. Foresight Energy GP LLC acts as a general partner for Foresight Energy LP. The company was formerly known as Foresight Energy Partners LP and changed its name to Foresight Energy LP in April 2014. Foresight Energy LP was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

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The following companies are subsidiares of The Sherwin-Williams: Acquire Sourcing LLC, CTS National Corporation, Comex North America Inc., Compania Sherwin-Williams S.A. de C.V., Contract Transportation Systems Co., Deep Pride Limited, Dongguan Lilly Paint Industries Ltd, Duron, EPS (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., EPS B.V., EPS Polidrox Industria e Comercio de Resinas Ltda, Geocel Holdings, Geocel Limited, Guangdong Valspar Paints Manufacturing Co Ltd., Guangdong Yuegang Dadi Paints Company Limited, Guardsman Australia Pty Limited, Guardsman Industries Limited, Inver East Med S.A., Inver France SAS, Inver GmbH, Inver Industrial Coating SRL, Inver Polska Spoka Z O.O, Inver Spa, Invercolor Bologna Srl, Invercolor Ltd, Invercolor Roma Srl, Invercolor Torino Srl, Invercolor Toscana Srl, Isocoat Tintas e Vernizes Ltda, Isva Vernici Srl, Jiangsu Pulanna Coating Co. Ltd., Leighs Paints, M.A. Bruder & Sons, Omega Specialty Products & Services LLC, Oy Sherwin-Williams Finland Ab, PT Sherwin-Williams Indonesia, PT Valspar Indonesia, Paint Sundry Brands, Pinturas Condor S.A., Pinturas Industriales S.A., Plasti-Kote Co. Inc., Plasti-kote Limited, Productos Quimicos y Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Quest Automotive Products UK Limited, Quetzal Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Resin Surfaces Limited, Ronseal (Ireland) Limited, SWIMC LLC, SWIPCO  Sherwin Williams do Brasil Propriedade, Sayerlack, Sherwin Williams Colombia S.A.S., Sherwin-Williams (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Belize) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Caribbean) N.V., Sherwin-Williams (Ireland) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Company Limited, Sherwin-Williams (S) Pte. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Shanghai) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (South China) Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Vietnam) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (West Indies) Limited, Sherwin-Williams Argentina I.y C.S.A., Sherwin-Williams Aruba VBA, Sherwin-Williams Automotive Mexico S.de R.L.de C.V., Sherwin-Williams Balkan S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Bel, Sherwin-Williams Benelux NV, Sherwin-Williams Canada Inc., Sherwin-Williams Cayman Islands Limited, Sherwin-Williams Chile S.A., Sherwin-Williams Coatings India Private Limited, Sherwin-Williams Coatings S.a r.l., Sherwin-Williams Czech Republic spol. s r.o, Sherwin-Williams Denmark A/S, Sherwin-Williams Deutschland GmbH, Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands (Australia) Pty Ltd, Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands Limited, Sherwin-Williams France Finishes SAS, Sherwin-Williams Italy S.r.l., Sherwin-Williams Luxembourg Investment Management Company S.a r.l., Sherwin-Williams Norway AS, Sherwin-Williams Paints Limited Liability Company, Sherwin-Williams Peru S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Pinturas de Venezuela S.A., Sherwin-Williams Poland Sp. z o.o, Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings, Sherwin-Williams Realty Holdings Inc., Sherwin-Williams Services (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams Spain Coatings S.L., Sherwin-Williams Sweden AB, Sherwin-Williams Uruguay S.A., Sherwin-Williams do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Spanyc Paints Joint Stock Company, Syntema I Vaggeryd AB, TOB Becker Acroma Ukraine, Taiwan Valspar Co. Ltd., The Sherwin-Williams Acceptance Corporation, The Sherwin-Williams Headquarters Company, The Sherwin-Williams Manufacturing Company, The Sherwin-Williams US Licensing Company, The Valspar (Asia) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Australia) Corporation Pty. Ltd., The Valspar (Finland) Corporation Oy, The Valspar (France) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (France) Research Corporation SAS, The Valspar (Germany) GmbH, The Valspar (Malaysia) Corporation Sdn Bhd, The Valspar (Nantes) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (Singapore) Corporation Pte. Ltd, The Valspar (South Africa) Corporation (Pty) Ltd, The Valspar (Spain) Corporation S.R.L., The Valspar (Switzerland) Corporation AG, The Valspar (Thailand) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar (UK) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Vietnam) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar Corporation, The Valspar Corporation Limitada, UAB Sherwin-Williams Baltic, Valspar (India) Coatings Corporation Private Limited, Valspar (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Valspar (Uruguay) Corporation S.A., Valspar (WPC) Pty Ltd, Valspar Aries Coatings S. de R.L. de C.V., Valspar Automotive (UK) Corporation Limited, Valspar Automotive Australia Pty Limited, Valspar B.V., Valspar Coatings (Guangdong) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Valspar D.o.o Beograd, Valspar Inc., Valspar Industries (Ireland) Ltd., Valspar Industries (Italy) S.r.l., Valspar Industries GmbH, Valspar LLC, Valspar Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Valspar Paint (Australia) Pty Ltd, Valspar Paint (NZ) Limited, Valspar Powder Coatings Limited, Valspar Rock Company Limited, Valspar Specialty Paints LLC, Vantaco Oy, and ZAO Sherwin-Williams.
The Australian Defence Forces (ADF) ability to effectively contribute to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and security operations in South East Asia is again the focus of a major international military exercise in the Philippines code-named Balikatan 2018 that will be concluded on May 20, 2018.



Australian Army Sapper Tim Quirk drills a hole into a water collection tank during construction in support of Exercise Balikatan at Calangitan Elementary School in Capas, Tarlac, Philippines, May 10, 2018. (Picture source U.S. MoD)

Jointly hosted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and US Pacific Command, Exercise Balikatan 18 is designed to enhance regional military cooperation, interoperability and the participating nations ability to respond effectively during times of disaster or humanitarian crisis.

Chief of Joint Operations, Vice Admiral David Johnston, said the ADFs ongoing support to the annual exercise is another example of Australias commitment to regional security and stability.

This exercise allows us to build on our already strong relationship with both the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the US militarys Pacific Command, Vice Admiral Johnston said.

The word Balikatan, translates as shoulder to shoulder and that certainly characterises the spirit of this exercise.

Balikatan 18 includes a command post exercise, a humanitarian and disaster relief program as well as a range of military training activities. The exercise involves approximately 60 ADF personnel, a Royal Australian Air Force P-3 Orion Maritime Patrol Aircraft and an Army contingent.

Vice Admiral Johnston said this was the 34th year Balikatan was staged and the fifth time the ADF was an active participant.

The United States, the Philippines and Australia have a longstanding relationship dating back to WWII resulting in a significant, ongoing contribution to regional security, Vice Admiral Johnston said.

Our recent support operations following natural disasters in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Tonga demonstrate that regional cooperation during times of natural disaster is more important than ever.
Professionally, I am an associate professor. I blog about current events, politics, higher education, the economy and whatever else interests me. I believe in free markets. I live in West Shokan, New York, near Woodstock, NY. All material on this blog  copyright 2003-2012 Mitchell Langbert.
Michelle Goldberg in the New York Times:

I think I know what it feels like to be red-pilled, the alt-rights preferred metaphor for losing ones faith in received assumptions and turning toward ideas that once seemed dangerous.

For me, it happened over several visits to the West Bank. Id inherited, without really thinking about it, a set of default liberal Zionist beliefs about Israel as the good guy in its confrontation with the Palestinians, whose hostility I understood to be atavistic and irrational. This view collapsed the first time I walked down Shuhada Street in Hebron, in a part of the city where more than 30,000 Palestinians live under Israeli military control for the benefit of 1,000 or so Israeli settlers. Palestinians whose homes are on Shuhada Street arent allowed to walk out their own front doors, because the street, constantly patrolled by Israeli troops, is reserved for Jews.

Going there, I felt a transformation not unlike the one my colleague Bari Weiss described in her recent article on whats been called the Intellectual Dark Web, a group of iconoclastic thinkers, many on the right, joined together by their confrontations with, and rejections of, social justice ideology. The metaphors for this experience vary: going through the phantom tollbooth; deviating from the narrative; falling into the rabbit hole, wrote Weiss. But almost everyone can point to a particular episode where they came in as one thing and emerged as something quite different.

For my own part, I didnt emerge an anti-Zionist, exactly, but anti-Zionist arguments Id previously dismissed began to make sense.

More here.
Miss SD Kaitlin O'Neill opens up about mental health, other struggles

Before she was crowned Miss South Dakota, ONeill overcame a mix of serious mental health issues, including depression and an eating disorder.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

EL PASO  Sandra Gueta waited with hundreds of other families near the border and scanned the crowd on the other side in Mexico searching for her mother. I dont see her, but I know shes here, said Gueta, tears welling up in her eyes.

Gueta and her husband Lorenzo got up early and made the drive from Chaparral on Saturday morning to be part of the 5th annual Hugs Not Walls event organized by the Border Network for Human Rights. The event gives hundreds of families, many separated by deportations, the chance to reunite with relatives.

They came all the way from Durango to see me for just a few minutes, but thats better than nothing, said Gueta. She had not seen her mother in Mexico for more than a decade.

Today, the border is the new Ellis Island. This where hope starts. This is where the pursuit of happiness begins, said Fernando Garcia, director of The Border Network for Human Rights speaking to the crowd.

The gathering of tearful families embracing at the border came a day before Mothers Day and the same week Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new zero tolerance policy for families.

If you cross this border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. Its that simple, Sessions said during a visit to San Diego. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law.

Father Ismael Melo Moreno director of Radio Progreso in Honduras doubts the policy will serve as a deterrent for desperate migrants who feel forced to flee their home countries.

If they separate families and children, what theyre doing is increasing the sadness and anguish but not decreasing the phenomenon of migration, said Father Moreno. He attended the Hugs Not Walls event during a visit to the border to receive a humanitarian award from Annunciation House, an organization that helps migrants and refugees.

There has been a spike in Central American families illegally crossing the New Mexico border since last fall. Annunciation House, which serves as a temporary shelter, is helping about 350 parents with kids a week released by the Border Patrol because the detention facilities are not designed for families. Most adults wear a locked GPS ankle monitor so authorities can track them down if they dont show up for immigration court dates.

The Hugs Not Walls event required months of planning and international cooperation. Both Border Patrol agents and Mexican Federal Police officers kept a watchful eye on the gathering as small groups of people were allowed a few minutes to hug each other in the dry river bed of the Rio Grande, the international boundary line.

Volunteers also helped with the crowd. Jerry Solorzano, coordinator the U.S. Christian Chaplain Association in Hobbs, drove to the border with his group to offer water, Gatorade, and prayers for families.

Its really nice to see families come together and hug their loved ones, said Solorzano.

This is an emotional event.

Martin Portillo, 22, used the opportunity to propose to his girlfriend Daisy Arvizu, 21, so her father and other relatives from Ciudad Juarez could be present.

Families want to be together especially for these moments, said Portillo.

Hes a U.S. citizen. She is a student and DACA recipient and worries if the program ends so will her future with her fiance.

If that happens, I wont be able to be with him, said Arvizu.

But on this day she was basking in the moment surrounded by family from both sides of the border.

Im very happy. This was a surprise.
Two Russian long-range bombers were intercepted off the coast of Alaska by a pair of F-22 Raptor fighter jets on Friday, the military said.

The Tu-95 bombers were flying in the Air Defense Identification Zone in the Bering Sea north of the Aleutian Islands, where they were visually identified and shadowed by the U.S. jets at 10 a.m., said Navy Capt. Scott Miller, a North American Aerospace Defense Command spokesman.

The bombers did not enter North American sovereign airspace, he said in a statement. Miller declined to say how close the bombers came to U.S. land. Fox News reported they flew as close as 55 miles off Alaskas west coast.

Fridays encounter was the first of its kind in just more than a year, Miller said. A similar incident occurred off Alaskan waters in April 2017 in what U.S. officials have described as routine if not tense encounters between adversarial aircraft where territorial lines meet.

The identification zone extends about 200 miles off the Alaskan coast and is mostly international airspace, Miller said, though Russian military activity will often prompt an in-kind response for U.S. warplanes. Intercepts in the zone occurred about 60 times from 2007 to 2017, The New York Times reported last year.

Miller said the Russian bombers, decades-old aircraft classified by NATO as the Bear, were flying in accordance with international norms. The aircraft are capable of carrying nuclear bombs, but it unclear what weapons they had on board, if any.

A Russian Defense Ministry statement released Friday diverged from the U.S. military account. They said the bombers were escorted by fighter jets and a reconnaissance jet that also acts as an anti-submarine platform.

Miller said that was not true.

This was a safe intercept, which did not include a Russian recon plane, and no Russian fighters were present, he told The Washington Post on Saturday.

It was not clear if the Russian air operation was an opportunity for real-world training or if it was in response to U.S. and NATO military operations elsewhere. Last week, Russia scrambled jets four times in response to foreign reconnaissance flights near its border, the Russian news service Interfax reported.

Aircraft intercepts, flybys and shadowings have escalated in recent years after Russian military activity and occupation in Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine beginning in 2014.

Earlier this month, a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet flew within 20 feet of a U.S. P-8 surveillance aircraft over the Baltic Sea  a minuscule distance considering the aircraft move at hundreds of miles an hour  in an incident the U.S. military called safe but unprofessional.

Fridays incident was relatively routine, but more aggressive maneuvers have worried defense officials and diplomats who said the encounters may eventually cause collisions or miscalculations that lead to a shoot-down.

A report issued in 2014 by the European Leadership Network, a London-based think tank, documented almost 40 incidents that together add up to a highly disturbing picture of violations of national airspace, emergency scrambles, narrowly avoided midair collisions, close encounters at sea, simulated attack runs, and other dangerous actions happening on a regular basis over a very wide geographical area, according to the report. The report was only compiled for 2014 and not for the subsequent years.

  

The Washington Posts Rick Noack contributed to this report.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

Danyel Munoz woke in the hospital with his mother, father, sister and the resident clergyman standing at his bedside. The tube down his throat made it impossible to talk, but he felt an urgent need to communicate. He signaled for a pen and paper.

I was definitely trying to tell them something; I wasnt just rambling  I was cognitive and aware of the situation and telling them how I felt, Munoz said last week, recalling the turbulent journey he took en route to his college graduation Saturday.

His situation was pretty dire. Munoz had undergone several hours of emergency surgery after arriving at the hospital with a gunshot wound.

In the wee hours of April 9, 2016, he had been leaving a party that had been shut down after a fight. He was walking to his car when he heard gunfire and felt a stray bullet hit his neck.

It pierced his jugular. Blood gushed. A friend  one of three others also hit  rushed to his aid, removing his own shirt and tying it around Munozs neck. Doctors told him the move likely saved Munozs life.

As he awoke, he started scribbling notes to his parents in squished handwriting, telling them he loved them.

I dont even know how I was writing, he said, but I was writing.

Writing  albeit the more in-depth kind required in college  would become key to his recovery, a way to navigate his seesawing emotions and withstand the aftermath. He was out of the hospital after a week, but with a voice so severely weakened he could barely be heard.

Munoz was in his sophomore year at the University of New Mexico at the time. On Saturday, just over two years after the incident, the 25-year-old picked up his bachelors degree at UNMs commencement ceremony.

Munoz and his family say his college studies and writing  he majored in English with a minor in psychology  reinvigorated him after a near-death experience that left him angry and confused.

That was the biggest thing that helped  being able to write about it in class, he said.

Munozs mother, Jasmine Branch, said her son has always prioritized school. He consistently earned As.

Still, she recalls worrying that the shooting would derail him, that the frustration might consume him. A musician and rapper, he felt his voice loss had stolen part of his identity. He became increasingly withdrawn.

It was pretty rough for the first couple of months, Branch said.

Munoz was committed to finishing his degree. He had just returned to college the previous fall after taking off a few years to work full time. He did not want to stop. Even when professors urged him to work from home, he insisted on attending classes; as an aspiring teacher, he considered observing his professors part of his own education.

He returned to class within a few weeks, even though he could barely speak above a strained whisper. He struggled to engage with professors and peers, yet managed to complete that semesters courses and stay on track for his degree.

But Munoz never felt so emotionally unstable. When the anger subsided, the depression set in.

His father, having spent his own career in the military, said he recognized the signs of post-traumatic stress in his son.

While he never doubted Danyels intellectual capacity, Juan Munoz worried about his emotional fragility.

School, Juan said, proved a great diversion  a way for his son to think about things besides the event itself.

But the experience worked its way into his school life, often for the better.

Everything he was going through  (he was) able to document it in some kind of way and talk about it, Juan Munoz said of his sons writing.

Danyel Munoz also openly discussed it with some instructors and remembers a pivotal conversation with one professor as he wrestled with his belief that men arent supposed to cry.

I went and talked to him about a paper and ended up breaking down and telling him how I felt and a lot of stuff I was going through, Munoz recalled.

He told me if anyone has ever told you that crying disqualifies you from being a man, they were misguided. That stood with me.  After he told me, that is when I became open with people and talking to people.

His psychology classes, meanwhile, helped him understand that his reaction to his situation was normal.

At the same time, he attended vocal therapy, eventually regaining his full voice over a 1-year period.

Tamiko Lemberger-Truelove from UNMs College of Education taught Munoz in several courses. She says he was a thoughtful student who became increasingly comfortable contributing to discussions over the past two years, especially regarding issues like economic inequality.

He is a determined and resilient young man who has overcome and triumphed over adversity, she said in an email, adding that she was grateful to have taught him. I cannot wait to see the great things he will and can accomplish in his life.

Munoz said he wants to eventually move overseas to teach English. Though he hasnt made specific plans, he is researching programs that would allow him to start teaching Chinese students over the internet.

Munoz describes his state of mind today as one of peace.

Branch said she sometimes cant believe her son made it to this point.

I didnt think this was even going to be possible, she said of his graduation, tearing up at the thought. To see him do it is just amazing. A lot of other people wouldve just given up, and he didnt.
New Mexico lawmakers included $40 million for improving school safety in this years state budget, to pay for security features like metal detectors, surveillance cameras and bulletproof windows (Lawmakers want more done about school safety, Albuquerque Journal, April 27).

Lawmakers should also consider what they might do about a surprising and often overlooked factor in school shootings: they are disproportionately concentrated in large schools.

In 2017, researchers at Vassar College published an analysis of the mass school shootings that had occurred between 1995 and 2014. They discovered that schools where mass shootings occurred had significantly higher student enrollments than the average in their states.

These findings are consistent with two decades of research by the U.S. Department of Education. Between 1998 and 2017, the department issued a series of studies on violence in schools, and found that serious violent crimes  including attacks with weapons  occur far more frequently at schools enrolling more than 1,000 students than smaller schools. In fact, the department identified large school size as one of only five characteristics that increased the likelihood of a serious violent incident occurring.

In the 2016-2017 school year, nearly two-thirds of New Mexico ninth graders entered high schools with populations larger than 1,000 students.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 35 percent of schools enrolling more than 1,000 students experience serious violent crimes. This is more than twice the percentage of schools enrolling 300-999 students that experience similar incidents  and five times higher than the percentage of schools enrolling fewer than 300 students, only 7 percent of which experience serious violent crimes.

While our state government plans to spend $40 million in the next year on school security measures, likely concentrated in the largest schools with the highest risk of violence, every year for the past two decades New Mexico has spent $65 million to $250 million on school construction projects through the Public Schools Facilities Authority (PSFA).

Unfortunately, millions of those dollars have gone to build schools that are too large to be safe. Over the past decade, schools enrolling more than 1,000 students have been built in communities ranging from Gallup to Deming to Las Cruces, and many districts have consolidated small elementary schools into larger facilities enrolling 700 to 800 students. Albuquerques two newest high schools, built with PSFA funding, have student populations of 2,172 and 2,572.

It is important to note that the research does not say that violence will never happen in small schools, nor that it is inevitable at large ones. However, the evidence is clear that school shootings and violence are more likely to occur in larger schools.

One reason is that students at large schools are significantly more likely to experience feelings of alienation and isolation than students at smaller schools. Because perpetrators of school shootings often report feelings of social isolation and exclusion, the Vassar researchers propose that large, impersonal school settings may create a unique and dangerously toxic environment for individuals with a tendency toward violence.

Several years ago, Think New Mexico interviewed America Enriquez, who dropped out of her 1,500-plus student high school in Albuquerque but went on to earn her high school diploma after being accepted to Amy Biehl Charter School, which enrolls fewer than 300 students. One reason America stopped showing up at her large high school was that, there were police officers with guns, but even though there was lots of security, you didnt feel safe.

At the smaller Amy Biehl Charter School, there were no armed guards, but America felt safe because she knew and was known by all her fellow students and teachers.

Not only are large schools more likely to incubate violence, they also tend to provide worse learning environments. Decades of research have found that smaller schools tend to have higher graduation rates, higher student achievement and higher levels of satisfaction among students, parents, principals and teachers. Smaller schools can also dramatically improve the performance of low-income children, which helps to narrow the persistent achievement gap.

As the Legislature looks at making systemic changes to keep our students safer, lawmakers should include reforms that encourage school districts to build smaller, rather than larger schools. Think New Mexico has previously advocated for legislation to incentivize districts to build smaller schools, and we plan to bring that proposal back for consideration during next years legislative session. To learn more about this effort and ask your legislators and the candidates for governor to support it, visit www.thinknewmexico.org.

Think New Mexico is a Santa Fe-based results-oriented think tank serving New Mexicans.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

Death did not scare my suegro (father-in-law), Pablo. His worst fear was the brutal way that cancer was going to end his life.

My suegro was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer in February, just before we celebrated his 79th birthday. Unfortunately, the cancer had already spread to his bones.

Pablo died March 8 after suffering from extreme bone and back pain, difficulty walking, incontinence and weakness throughout his frail body. A devout Catholic, he was grounded in his faith to the last moments of his life, but he wanted to die peacefully without needlessly suffering.

This is not living, he said. Please give me something to stop the pain to end my suffering.

I am relieved that the Albuquerque City Council (last) week voted unanimously on a bipartisan resolution in support of medical aid-in-dying legislation in New Mexico. The vote makes Albuquerque the first jurisdiction in New Mexico to endorse medical aid in dying. It is a medical practice that gives mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or less to live the option to request a doctors prescription for medication they can decide to take to peacefully end their suffering if it becomes unbearable. The resolution will be transmitted to New Mexico state legislators.

If the New Mexico End of Life Options Act is enacted into law, it would make our state the ninth jurisdiction in the nation to authorize medical aid in dying as an end-of-life care option. Oregon, where medical aid in dying has been authorized for two decades, since 1997, has been joined since then by Washington in 2008, Montana in 2009, Vermont in 2013, California in 2015, Colorado in 2016, Washington, D.C., in 2017 and Hawaii in 2018. Collectively, these jurisdictions represent nearly one fifth  19 percent  of our nations population, with 40 years of combined experience of safely using this option.

I strongly believe New Mexicans should have the option, in consultation with their families, doctors and faith leaders, to make the end-of-life care decisions that are right for them in the final stages of a terminal illness. That means they should be able to decide if they want the option of medical aid in dying to peacefully end intolerable suffering when no other palliative care treatment provides relief, the option to request a prescription from their doctor to end their dying process painlessly and peacefully.

As a minority-majority state, New Mexico has a long tradition of respecting all our people in our state, our families, our young people and our elders.

I understand this end-of-life care option may not be for everyone, but as a Catholic who respects other peoples faiths, I believe it is not for me to judge someone else. Until one walks in another persons shoes, its wrong for anyone to stand in the way of this compassionate option being available for someone else.

Both national and state polls show strong support for medical aid in dying across the ethnic, political and religious spectrum, including 69 percent of Latinos/Hispanics and 57 percent of doctors nationwide. A growing number of national and state medical organizations have endorsed or adopted a neutral position on medical aid in dying as an end-of-life care option for mentally capable, terminally ill adults.

It broke my heart to recently meet the mother of Miguel Carrasquillo, a terminally ill Puerto Rican native, who recorded YouTube videos of himself advocating for this option. The 35-year-old former chef was dying of brain cancer when he recorded his videos in both English and Spanish to urge fellow Hispanics to support medical aid-in-dying legislation throughout the country. Unfortunately, Miguel died in June 2016 without this option to end his agonizing pain.

Miguels suffering reminded me of my suegros last days.

Today, I honor my suegros life to support his desire for anyone facing a terminal illness to have this end-of-life care option. That is why I testified (last) week before the Albuquerque City Council about the positive impact passing the End of Life Option Act could have on New Mexicans.

I urge my Hispanic brothers and sisters to join me in supporting this legislation, so terminally-ill New Mexicans dont have to suffer and die painfully the way my suegro did.

Nuestra Salud is a community-based organization whose mission is to reduce health disparities affecting Hispanic communities in New Mexico through research, training and outreach.

End of Life Option Act

The Albuquerque City Council unanimously passed a resolution Monday night, 9-0, in support of medical aid in dying. It is now up to the Legislature and governor to make it law.
The latest news on New Mexicos pre-kindergarten funding is a win-win for students, educators, advocates and budget hawks alike.

Thats because the Land of Enchantment has spent the last eight years:

Steadily ramping up its pre-K funding, from $6.18 million in the 2011-12 school year to $33.63 million in the 2018-19 school year  an impressive 444 percent increase.

Steadily getting more 4-year-olds enrolled in quality early childhood education, from 2,380 in 2011-12 to 6,786 in 2018-19.

Steadily expanding the number of pre-K classrooms. Now 65 of New Mexicos 89 districts, and six state charter schools, have NMPED pre-K programs. Eleven of those districts will be rolling out their pre-K programs for the first time this coming school year.

Because this expansion has been driven by data, our limited state funding has been and is still going to a program that puts more New Mexico 4-year-olds than ever in front of a certified New Mexico teacher to get the tools they need for school success. Pre-K teachers and programs are every bit as accountable as their elementary and secondary counterparts, with classrooms observed and outcomes measured to ensure our youngest students and our taxpayers are getting what they deserve.

The Legislative Finance Committee released a report last year showing NMPED pre-K programs improve math and reading proficiencies for low-income 4-year-olds and lower special education and retention rates.

And for those who still maintain this is not enough and advocate for an immediate raid on the Land Grant Permanent Fund to grow the program more quickly (candidates, are you paying attention?) know this:

Every single year, New Mexico school districts return between $2 million and $4 million in pre-K funding because the demand is just not there. This year the reversal is an estimated $1.5 million.

Thats in part because there are only around 24,000 4-year olds in New Mexico. Many are already in federally funded Head Start programs. Many are in private programs that get state funding from the Children, Youth and Families Department. (In fact many more kids in Farmington and Los Lunas go to Head Start or CYFD pre-K than state pre-K). Many are in programs in churches, homes and private businesses that families are able to pay for. And not every family believes their child needs pre-K.

So while there is most definitely a need to continue this steady expansion, the political talking point that we need $100 million annually, and right now, for universal pre-K ignores the reality that right now we cant even spend $33 million a year.

And thats because it takes some lead time to stand up a new pre-K classroom. These 11 districts  Animas, Aztec, Carlsbad, Clovis, Hagerman, Las Cruces, Los Alamos, Loving, Moriarty-Edgewood, Reserve and Silver  will offer pre-K for the first time this coming school year. They didnt create their programs overnight. Carlsbad Municipal Schools Superintendent Greg Rodriguez says his team prepped for three years to make their new program happen. That included lining up a facility and teachers for the 350 students expected next year.

Meanwhile, at least 18 districts did not ask for any increase in pre-K funding.

And while NMPED allocates its pre-K funding based on proven enrollment data  thats why Albuquerque Public Schools will receive less than it asked for, though it is still receiving a $1.5 million increase for a total of $5 million  Education Secretary-designate Christopher Ruszkowski made it clear last week that no child will be turned away should more students show up than there are slots for. While around $2 million in monies that districts have returned will be added to the legislative appropriation to expand the program by $10 million this coming school year, Ruszkowski says there is still some reversion funding available to ensure districts receive more money if enrollment exceeds their allotments.

Going forward, Ruszkowski supports continued  and aggressive  growth of an extra $10 million a year. In that scenario, within five years every 4-year-old would have access to quality state-funded pre-K.

New Mexico under Gov. Susana Martinez and NMPED has made a steady, measured investment in a pre-K program that has a proven track record of delivering results. It has grown this program in the smartest possible way, ensuring dollars go to classrooms with certified teachers who have students they can prepare for the next 13 years of public school. And it has rolled any unused money into future expansions to honor legislative intent and PED commitment to quality, data-driven early childhood education.

Promising to throw a large sum of money in one chunk at a problem sounds good in an election year. But dedicating money that can be wisely implemented with accountability is a far more effective way to address the problem, and that truly makes a lasting investment in the states future.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  The feds can taketh plutonium away, even as they giveth plutonium back.

On Thursday, agencies in charge of the nations nuclear weapons complex decided to send most of production of cores for nuclear weapons to South Carolina, leaving New Mexicos Los Alamos National Laboratory  currently the only place set up to make the so-called plutonium pits  with a smaller share of the work, much to the chagrin of New Mexicos congressional delegation.

But the feds also pulled the plug on an operation in South Carolina intended to turn excess weapons-grade plutonium into fuel rods for nuclear power plants, much to the chagrin of that states congressional delegation.

Now, the 34 metric tons of plutonium that was to be processed at the federal governments Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., may be headed west to New Mexico, for storage at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, after it has been diluted and mixed with inert material.

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry confirmed in a letter Thursday that DOE is removing plutonium from South Carolina, adding, We are currently processing plutonium for shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and intend to continue to do so.

The proposal to use WIPP for disposal of the weapons-grade plutonium is connected to a recent DOE application to amend a New Mexico state environmental permit to change how WIPPs capacity for storing waste is measured.

I certify that the Department will work with the state of New Mexico to address the capacity issues related to receipt of the full 34 metric tons at WIPP, Perry wrote in his letter to U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., chair of a subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

But others say there will not be room for the weapons-grade plutonium at WIPP  which was established to take other kinds of radioactive waste from LANL and other national labs  even if DOEs proposed permit modification is approved.

The strict legal limits to the amount of waste that can be stored at WIPP were a crucial part of the final agreement between the Department of Energy and the state of New Mexico that is enshrined in the Land Withdrawal Act (which established WIPP) and implemented with regulatory oversight by the State, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said in a statement Friday.

I have serious questions about whether there is enough room at WIPP to store additional waste from Savannah River, given the clear legal limits in the Act, which were negotiated  following a lawsuit New Mexico won against DOE when I served as Attorney General.

Udall added: If DOE is asking New Mexico to take on additional waste missions beyond what is authorized by current law, unilateral action (by DOE) is absolutely not an option.

MOX plant on hold

Heres what has happened so far.

On Thursday, the Nuclear Weapons Council accepted a recommendation by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)  a semi-autonomous wing of the DOE  on where to ramp up production of pits to 80 a year by 2030 as part of major and expensive modernization of the nations nuclear weapons arsenal.

The adopted plan calls for 50 pits a year to be made at the Savannah River Site, by repurposing a facility there, and production of at least 30 a year at LANL. New Mexicos congressional delegation had fought to keep all the pit work at Los Alamos as NNSA studied the issue over at least the last two years. No pits have been made since LANL completed a set of 29 for submarine missiles in 2011.

New Mexicos U.S. Sens. Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Rep Ben Ray Lujan on Thursday called moving pit production away from LANL, where new underground modules had been proposed to increase pit production, a waste.

Instead of wasting billions of dollars exploring the construction of a new facility that will likely never be completed somewhere else, the Department of Energy should immediately move forward with the new, modular plutonium facilities at Los Alamos  as originally endorsed by both Congress and the Nuclear Weapons Council, they said in a statement.

But there was anger among South Carolinas political leaders, too. At issue is the future of the troubled Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, or MOX, at Savannah River.

The facility was conceived for conversion of weapons-grade plutonium from dismantled warheads into fuel for nuclear reactors as part of an agreement between the U.S. and Russia to dispose of tons of weapons-grade plutonium.

But the giant project, which broke ground more than a decade ago, has faced delays, litigation and costs ballooning from an early estimate of $4 billion to a projected $17 billion now. In conjunction with announcement of the plans for splitting pit production between LANL and Savannah River, Perry executed his waiver authority to call off the MOX mission. The building would instead be converted to pit production.

That consolation prize wasnt well received by South Carolina Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott and two of the states U.S. representatives. They issued a statement saying that the plan to dilute and dispose of the many tons of warhead plutonium at WIPP was already considered and rejected and has not been fully vetted.

They said the MOX program is part of one of the most important non-proliferation agreements in the history of the world and is being abandoned without any clear path forward even as the MOX plant is more than halfway complete. We plan to hold DOE accountable for this haphazard decision and will press for oversight to ensure taxpayers arent left holding the bag for DOEs mistakes, the statement also said.

The number of jobs and amount of funding at stake for the various plutonium-related operations, from pits to the MOX project to potentially moving the weapons-grade plutonium issue to WIPP, arent clear, since NNSA hasnt provided numbers. Its generally accepted that pit-making wont mean as many jobs in South Carolina as the MOX work would.

Congress does have a role to play in whether the Trump administrations plans for pit-making and for disposing of the weapons-grade plutonium move forward. While Thursdays decisions stand as the administrations final word on what should be done, Congress can still affect what happens through the power of the purse, in the appropriations process.

Udall made that point in his Friday statement. He said the decision to send most pit-production work to South Carolina is far from final.

Congress will have the ultimate say, he said.

As for the deal with Russia to dispose of surplus weapons-grade plutonium  to reduce the chance of it falling into the hands of terrorists or others with ill intent  its on hold while the U.S. figures out how to get rid of the material. In turn, Russia hasnt complied either while they wait for us, leading to the current stalemate, wrote Peter Lyons, a former LANL employee and science adviser to the late U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico, in a recent essay for Politico.

Dilute and dispose

The idea of turning the weapons-grade plutonium into powder and diluting it with cement-like material  essentially turning it into waste  for storage at WIPP was conceived by the Obama administration as a cheaper alternative to the MOX process.

Don Hancock, a WIPP watchdog at the Albuquerque-based Southwest Research and Information Center, says theres no way WIPP can take the 34 metric tons of diluted plutonium that MOX was going to transform and also handle waste from places like Los Alamos, Idaho National Laboratory and the Hanford Site in Washington state  even if the rules on WIPP capacity are changed.

And he said Perry failed to mention in his notice of the termination for MOX at Savannah River on Thursday that processing of the weapons-grade plutonium for shipment to WIPP wont be complete until 2048.

DOE, in its recent application to the New Mexico Environment Department for a permit modification, proposes that only the volume of stored radioactive waste itself, in inner containers within overpacks, should be used to calculate total waste, not the overall volume of overpacks that arent filled all the way.

The change would mean WIPP is only about one-third full instead of half full.

Hancock said trying to cram more or different kinds of waste into WIPP should require a change in the law that created WIPP.

Udall said, There must be an ongoing, high-level dialogue between DOE, the state of New Mexico, and the congressional delegation, with ample time for public awareness and input, to ensure New Mexicans have their say on what happens in their state and are fully protected, now and into the future.

Hancock said pulling the plug on MOX in South Carolina has been long overdue. It was never a real thing, he said.

But he said the best option for the weapons-grade plutonium  if the National Academy of Sciences determines that diluted plutonium would be safe  is to store it at Savannah River until another waste depository can be built to hold it because WIPP doesnt have room. WIPP should be used for the mission it was built for, he said.

Hancock noted that a lot of moving parts are involved in the DOEs assorted plutonium plans.

This is going to an ongoing story for a while, he said.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

In 2015, Andrew Jackson of Sheffield, England, changed his name to AJ Gryffin. He married an American woman that December, and, shortly after, the two moved to Albuquerque.

Less than two years later, in September 2017, his brother said, 51-year-old Gryffin was found dead, decomposed and wrapped in plastic and tape, dumped in the village of Magdalena, west of Socorro.

A spokesman for New Mexico State Police confirmed that the death is being investigated as a homicide but would not release other details.

State Police agents, who are waiting for an official determination as to the cause of death from the Office of the Medical Investigator, are currently working leads and making progress in the case, officer Ray Wilson wrote in an email. Since this is an active homicide investigation, there is no additional information and the incident report is not currently available.

A spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department said the homicide unit is not familiar with the case. The Socorro County Sheriffs Department referred all questions to the state police.

In a phone interview from England, Gryffins younger brother Robin Jackson said he is frustrated by not having more details about what happened. He said that, although Gryffin was found dead on Sept. 11, 2017, their mother was not told of his death until mid-January.

He changed his name, so they had to find out who he was, he said. We dont know if he was naked when he was found or if he had any possessions at all.

Jackson said the state Office of the Medical Investigator told him that Gryffins body was wrapped in plastic and tape and was decomposing. He also said they told him he had blunt force trauma wounds to the head.

Jackson said that, before Gryffin moved to America, he had lived in central England and worked for various government agencies for more than 15 years.

In 2013, he left his job at an immigration and customs control department. He had a 24-year-old son with his first wife, whom he divorced in 2014.

Jackson said his older brother had been estranged from his family for several years, since before he changed his name and before he remarried. But, he said, they followed him on social media and hoped to reconnect one day.

He moved to America, remarried and basically started afresh, Jackson said. I dont know if it was his aim to reunite with everyone and be on good terms, but, obviously, we never got to that point. It never happened.

Shortly after the newly wedded couple moved to Albuquerque, court documents show a contentious marriage and a divorce. By June, Gryffins wife had filed a restraining order against him and he, in turn, filed one against her, both alleging verbal abuse.

In December 2016, the court ordered her order of protection to remain in place; his was dismissed.

In 2017, Gryffin launched a website touting his services as a chef. In court documents, he reported living in a house on Edith Boulevard, north of Osuna. Today, its an eclectic home, with a high, iron fence and a large decorative antique tractor in the front yard.

On Aug. 12, 2017, Gryffin, a frequent Facebook user, posted for the last time, saying he was going to Flying Star and had legal issues to write up for next week. A month later, he was found dead.

Now, Jackson said, he is considering coming to New Mexico to figure out what happened.

The police advised not to come to Albuquerque, not to do this, not to do that, but were desperate for closure, Jackson said. We need answers.
SANTA FE  Federal financial support for New Mexico public schools is on the rise, but isnt necessarily boosting student academic performance, according to an evaluation released Thursday at the state Legislatures nonpartisan budget committee.

The report from the Legislative Finance Committee provides an exhaustive catalog of more than a half-billion dollars in annual federal funding that supports about 6 percent of the states public school teachers.

Major channels of federal education funding have increased for the current fiscal year that runs through the end of June, including money for schools with high numbers or percentages of children from low-income families.

Federal support varies by school district, and the evaluation found little evidence of a correlation between school performance and per-pupil federal funding. Much of the federal funding for New Mexico schools goes toward discounted or free school meals.

There was a weak relationship between per-student federal funding and low-income student proficiency in English and math, the evaluation stated.

The evaluation recognizes efforts by the administration of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez to direct state and federal money toward evidence-based initiatives including preschool for low-income families, teacher mentorship programs and an extended school year.

It also points out that school districts could potentially receive and spend more federal money on programs including prekindergarten and lengthening the school year.

The Public Education Department had no immediate comment on the evaluation. The agency has not followed a state legal requirement to provide an annual report on the sources and uses of all federal funds.

New Mexicos average rates of student academic proficiency and for high school graduation trail most of the country.
GLOVERVILLE  Students at Gloverville Elementary set high goals for reading and math achievement at the beginning of the school year.

Tuesday, they celebrated meeting or exceeding those goals appropriately, sending hundreds of blue and gold balloons  the school's colors  soaring into a cloudless sky as very visible symbols of their accomplishments after a parade around the playground.

Today, we're celebrating growth in reading and math scores, Principal Dr. Mendi Tucker said. We have individual students who have gone up a total of 800 points or more in their reading. Not only have they met their yearly goals, they've also surpassed their yearly goals and gone up grade levels within their reading.

The four students who made the most gains  Vida Trueba-Villegas, second grade; Connor Moxley, third grade; Molly Clemons, fourth grade; and Breanna Spires, fifth grade  led the parade as the grand marshals.

Cheerleaders from Midland Valley High School followed, shaking pom-poms and leading students in a chant of Reading Rocks!

A long line of students, waving streamers and carrying banners, marched behind.

Celebrating reading achievement is important because reading is everything, Tucker said.

Our students know that reading is very important to them to obtain their academics and their grades as well as for success in life, Tucker said. In order for our students to be college and career ready and prepared for a global society, they have to know how to read and write and perform math to be successful.

Celebrating the students' success extended beyond the classroom, Tucker said.

It's not just individual students. It's not just individual classrooms. We as a school celebrated, she said. Our office ladies, our custodians, our nurse - every single person in this entire school building was out here to celebrate because we all have a vested interest in our students.
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Every Mother's Day, 76-year-old Johnston resident Edna Graham receives visits from all over, but it isn't just from her two biological children.

Graham has, for a long time fostered children, opening her home to kids from areas like Aiken and beyond.

In her 30 years of fostering children, she has legally adopted nine, and dozens of others have passed through her home for months or even years at a time.

Fostering children is a process in which a dedicated adult takes a child into his or her home. The length of time may vary. Sometimes it is only until other foster parents are found, and other times the foster parent may raise the child until the age of 18.

"You have to wait for them. All of them are different," Graham said.

Children are matched with foster parents through outside organizations. In Graham's case it's South Carolina Mentor.

South Carolina Mentor is a health and human services provider that, among other things, helps match foster parents with foster children or adults with developmental disabilities. It has a partnership with The Mentor Network, a national leader in human services.

Over her 30 years of experience, Graham has helped dozens of children, some from unfortunate circumstances, improve their situations. The children she has raised have gone on to have all manner of careers, including teaching and sales.

But why dedicate her life to foster care? One of the reasons, she said, is because of her upbringing. She had seven siblings and was instrumental in raising them from a young age.

"That's one thing that led me to do this. When I see a child going through what I was, I feel like it's me," she said.

Graham has clear, realistic goals in mind when it comes to foster care, where she focuses on improving the child's life in any way she can.

"Everyone in my home has to go to school everyday, everyone has to get a high school diploma," Graham said.

In addition to focusing on education and work, Graham also emphasizes helping her kids avoid criminal and emotional pitfalls that young people sometimes fall into.

Graham currently has three children in her home, an 11-year-old boy, a 17-year-old girl and an 18-year-old named Shannon, all of whom she has legally adopted.

Speaking on some things that Graham has taught her, Shannon stressed a particular lesson about race.

"You shouldn't see people by the color of their skin," Shannon said. "They bleed the same."

Shannon has been in Graham's care for 10 years, having been with a number of foster families before settling with Graham. She will soon graduate from Strom Thurmond High School and said she plans to attend Piedmont Technical College to become a licensed practical nurse.

Mothers Day Foster Mom Edna Graham has been fostering children for 30 years talks about what got her interested in becoming a foster parent.

Graham said she plans to foster another child, but not until after Mother's Day.

Graham has plenty of advice for people looking to get into foster care, emphasizing that one shouldn't get into it for the money, or for the wrong reasons.

"It's all about love, loving the children and loving what you do," she said.
Most of us will never know the hurt and confusion someone feels when a loved one is murdered in cold blood and then no one is brought to justice.

Corlistic Weaver was the girlfriend of 23-year-old Christopher Jordan, who was brutally murdered in the early morning hours of Aug. 16, 2007 and almost 11 years later, no one has been charged.

"I just couldn't believe it," Weaver said. "My life changed forever that day."

Weaver and Jordan, who had been together for about two years, also had a 1-year-old son together named Armazin, who is now 11.

"(Armazin) now has to grow up without his father, because he was taken from us for no reason at all," she said.

On that August morning, a passing motorist called 911 after finding Jordan, barely clinging to life, in the roadway on Mayfield Road in Aiken.

Aiken County Sheriff's Office deputies and EMS arrived at the scene and Jordan was rushed to a hospital in Georgia. Tragically, he died a few hours later from his injuries, according to the Aiken County Coroner's Office.

The Aiken County Sheriff's Office and South Carolina Highway Patrol investigated the case.

Highway Patrol investigators originally thought Jordan was a victim of a hit and run, thinking someone hit him with their vehicle and then drove off.

That was not the case.

Following an autopsy, it was determined Jordan had actually been beaten to death and left for dead in the roadway that morning, said Aiken County Coroner Tim Carlton in a report.

He died from blunt force trauma to the head.

"Why would someone do this?" Weaver asked. "(Jordan) did not deserve this to happen. He was so funny, and he would give you the shirt off his back. He was friends with everybody. The type of person who walks into a room and makes everybody laugh. He was just such a sweet person."

Weaver said, as far as she knew, Jordan had no enemies.

Investigators found out Jordan had spent the evening before his death at Whiskey Junction on Whiskey Road, later renamed The Palmetto Tavern, which was a night club in Aiken at the time.

After leaving the club, Jordan went to his brother's home to change clothes, Weaver said.

"(Jordan's) brothers saw him when he stopped by their house after leaving the club, then they saw him leave with someone in a car," she said. "He was supposed to be coming back home to my house in Shiloh Heights, but I don't know what happened after he left his brother's."

It was only around 40 minutes later that the passing motorist found Jordan lying in the roadway, police reported.

Now, all these years later, police still have no suspects or leads for who killed Jordan and why.

However, Weaver has a theory about what happened that night.

"I think somebody followed him that night from the club and attacked him," Weaver said. "I think he got into a argument with a guy at the club because he spoke to the guy's girlfriend. That person followed him that night, beat him, ran him over and left him to die like he was nobody."

Capt. Eric Abdullah, with the Aiken County Sheriff's Office, said the case remains open pending any new information that may come up.

"Just like with any unsolved case like this, we encourage anyone who might have information about this case to come forward," Abdullah said. "Any kind of information helps and you never know what could help police solve it."

Anyone with information is asked to call the Aiken County Sheriff's Office at 803-642-1761.

ICYMI: Top 10 Stories of May 2018 Here are Aiken Standard's top 10 stories from the month of May, including everything from crime to seafood.
Tourists visiting Egypts historical sites will no longer be harassed by the countrys infamous souvenir sellers if a new law that was passed earlier this spring is implemented.

On April 23, Egypts House of Deputies approved a law allowing authorities to fine anyone found to be pestering tourists at archaeological and historical sites. The penalty is not insignificant, as it may go up to 10,000 Egyptian pounds (about $565).

Most tourists are happy about the new law. "Being pestered by vendors at beautiful historical places is particularly annoying and gives a negative image of Egypt," Maria Daniel, a Spanish tourist, told Al-Monitor. She noted that tourists have the right to just enjoy the site without being obliged to buy something from local sellers.

I have the right to buy or not to buy without any pressure. This law could change and help in providing us a comfortable atmosphere for sure," Daniel added.

Mohamed Abdo, a member of the parliamentary Tourism and Aviation Committee, believes that the vendors and beggars who pester tourists not only harm the tourists but undermine Egypts image and tourism revenues.

Obliging the tourists to buy goods is outrageous. The law is a step forward and must be applied well in order to protect the tourists, he told Al-Monitor.

He said that beggars exist in all countries, but they should be kept far away from touristic places for fear of tarnishing the countrys image. Tourism is a national issue. The pestering of tourists not only harms the tourist but hurts the country and deprives us of our national income, he added.

The tourism sector is regarded as one of the most important sources of income for Egypt, as it accounts for around 12% of the gross domestic product. The countrys annual tourism revenues averaged $7.8 billion from 2010 until 2017, reaching an all-time high of $12.5 billion in 2010 and a record low of $3.8 billion in 2016.

On April 25, Rania al-Mashat, Egypts new minister for tourism, said that the number of tourists visiting Egypt during the first quarter of 2018 has increased by 30% against the previous year.

Abdo suggested that while the penalty would be a positive step, it may not be enough to deter the vendors. He also suggested that the new law be coupled with efforts to raise awareness among all Egyptians about tourism and its importance to the national income  not just those who work in this sector.

Seif Elamri, a former member of the Egyptian Tourism Federation, told Al-Monitor that the penalty is not enough. The violator should be put in prison, he said. Until this happens, he noted, the law should be implemented well, which is a point of concern given the vast areas of favorite tourist sites in the country, from the pyramids to the Luxor Temple.

The fact that there are surveillance cameras in key sites makes the polices work easier, Brig. Gen. Abdel-Gawad Amin, the assistant director of the General Directorate of the Police of Tourism and Antiquities of south Luxor, told Ahram Online.

He pointed out that tour guides can report the abuse and the cameras can spot any abuse easily. "Our work is to apply the law and control violators, he said.

Other side with the vendors. Teguh Amor Patria, a doctoral student in the department of Sustainable Tourism and Protected Area Management from Michigan State University, said he felt uneasy about the law. I think it would be wise to plan for a program first and introduce the laws to the sellers. It does not sound right to impose a regulation without giving them a chance to learn, he told Al-Monitor.

Explaining that tourism ideally should benefit all involved stakeholders, including local residents, Patria thinks one of the solutions is to provide local residents, including vendors, with a clear understanding of the hospitality business. Thus they can create and produce products that cater to the needs of tourists without pestering them with goods and services they do not want to buy, he added.

Patria suggested considering measures such as providing a special zone where vendors are allowed to offer goods or services or limiting the number of vendors so they can still offer goods but without intimidating tourists.

"Of course, it may not be as easy in reality. So I think we should start with a program or training, he said, adding that a lasting solution where tourists and the local vendors are both satisfied would require common efforts from the government, tourism sector and local communities.
European Union leaders were taken by surprise when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held his somewhat theatrical press conference on April 30, sharing with the world that Israel took possession of Irans nuclear program secret archives. The EU, both headquarters and its main member states, considered Netanyahus presentation to be directed at them, as it was clear that the US administration knew about these documents. In fact, Brussels realized that the White House, the CIA and the secretary of state were fully briefed by Israel. The EU was not.

A senior EU official close to EUs High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini told Al-Monitor that Brussels highly appreciates Israels intelligence capacities, as well as the rhetorical skills of the prime minister. Yet the dramatic aspect of these revelations lied more in the operation of retrieving the physical documents than in their content.

The Europeans asked the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna to look deeper into the documents. Indeed, most of what Netanyahu revealed from the secret archives about Iran's previous nuclear plans was already known to the EU.

According to the official, it was precisely the knowledge of these Iranian nuclear ambitions that led to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. He claimed that Netanyahus description of the Iranian secret documents offered no evidence that Tehran was not complying with the articles of the deal. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said, President [Barack] Obama and the leaders of Europe did not make the Iran deal out of trust of the Iranian intentions, on the contrary, and therefore the most meticulous inspection system was put in place.

According to the official, Netanyahus press conference only strengthened the resolve of the EU leadership to keep the Iran deal intact. The EU is ready to negotiate in the P5+1 framework additions to the deal, on the durability of the agreement, the Iranian ballistic missile program and its aggressive regional activities. This was proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron in his meeting with US President Donald Trump on April 24. Macron proposed to add such elements to the agreement, not to replace it by another.

According to different statements, the EU, Russia and China are committed to the agreement in order to prevent Iran from returning to uranium enrichment.

The EU and its main member states agree with the United States and Israel that given its ambitions in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, and its influence in the Gaza Strip, the Iranian regime presents a threat to regional stability. But the European leadership does not believe that a war with Iran by an international coalition could resolve the problem. On the contrary. It would strengthen the hard-liners in Tehran, the radical clerics and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In such a situation, strong Russia would back Iran. Such a war could be an unprecedented blood bath. Brussels, Paris and Berlin think that an excessively hard-line policy against Iran, placing a military option as a realistic alternative, may drive the whole region into conflict, terror and even war.

The EU believes that there are other ways to go about that, and that diplomatic options should be explored with Tehran on an additional agreement, especially on the sustainability of the 2015 deal.

In internal deliberations, sharp criticism has been expressed in Brussels about Trumps and Netanyahus positions. The Israeli prime minister is seen as influencing Trump to opt for a military option while also considering increased Israeli attacks on Iranian military facilities in Syria. The almost-unprecedented attack on May 9 against Iranian targets in Syria supports these fears. According to the official, policy experts in Brussels advise not to underestimate the readiness of many in the Iranian regime, especially the IRGC, to engage Israel unilaterally, mainly through Hezbollah.

He concluded that while Iran indeed deserves all criticism, Netanyahu is playing with fire, possibly for domestic reasons. More so, Brussels detects a hardening of Netanyahus position on the settlement expansion in the West Bank and on Israels democracy. Therefore, in European eyes, there is an unprecedented distancing between European policies, interests and values and those of the Netanyahu government.
Saudi Arabia has the third-largest defense budget in the world; Saudi military spending last year was almost $70 billion  only the United States and China spent more. However, the level of spending is unsustainable and inconsistent with the kingdoms stated intent to retool the economy. And the Saudis are not buying what the White House is selling.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a credible authoritative source of information on global defense spending, reports that the Saudis spent $69.4 billion on military expenditures in 2017. This is a 9.2% increase from 2016 and accounts for 10% of gross domestic product. Saudi defense spending had been as high as $90 billion in 2015, but the drop in oil prices led to a 30% decline in military spending in 2016. The rise in oil prices this year will help the Saudi budget, but the rise in oil prices is still considerably short of what Riyadh needs to balance its budget and afford expensive weapons.

Saudi Arabia's rivals in the Middle East do not begin to approach Saudi defense spending. Iran spent $14.5 billion in 2017. Israel spent $16.5 billion, although it received an additional $3.1 billion in military aid from the American taxpayers. All three are engaged in expensive proxy wars, but the Saudi war in Yemen is undoubtedly the most expensive. Even though the kingdom does not provide any accounting for this war, it is probably around $3 billion to $5 billion a month.

Due to the chaos and lack of transparency in government spending, SIPRI provides no estimate of defense spending for some Arab states. The United Arab Emirates is a particularly dark hole. Algeria is the largest spender in Africa at around $10 billion.

Much to the annoyance of President Donald Trump, the Saudis have not been buying big new weapons from the United States. Trump visited Riyadh a year ago and said the Saudis had agreed to a $110 billion arms package. None of it was actually finalized. The president upbraided Saudi Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman on television this year when he was in the Oval Office for only spending peanuts on American weapons. A resupply of munitions and spare parts does continue due to the Yemeni war, but big new platform sales are on hold. They will be controversial on Capitol Hill.

The contrast to President Barack Obamas record is staggering. He sold the Saudis over $112 billion in his eight years, including one deal for over $60 billion in 2009. Obama criticized the Saudis for not carrying their weight in regional politics, but he concluded much larger arms sales with the Saudis than his successor  at least to date.

The Saudis are said to be close to a $7 billion deal for 48 Eurofighter Typhoons. The British government promoted the deal when Prince Mohammed visited London before coming to Washington. The deal is very controversial in the United Kingdom, and the Labor Party is committed to halting arms sales to the Saudis unless the war in Yemen is ended. The deal has not been finalized. Mohammed also negotiated a deal with Spain for five warships for the Royal Saudi Navy in his visit this spring worth $1.8 billion, but it is also controversial and unfinished.

Now that the United States has withdrawn from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran, the Saudis have promised that if Iran pursues nuclear weapons, Riyadh will do the same. Of course this is in part posturing to gain leverage in Western capitals to get them to take action against Tehran.

But if the Saudis are serious, it will put the Pakistani nuclear arms arsenal back in the picture. For decades, the Saudis and Pakistanis have flirted with the hint that they have some kind of understanding that the Pakistanis will provide the kingdom with a bomb if it asks. The Saudis showed off their Chinese-made intermediate-range ballistic missiles to the public a few years ago with the Pakistani chief of army staff watching as the top guest in a parade to tantalize the speculation.

The sharp decline in Saudi relations with Islamabad over the Yemen war has made this rumor-mongering much less credible. Pakistans parliament voted unanimously three years ago against sending troops to fight with the Saudi coalition in Yemen. Some warming in ties has occurred recently as reported in Al-Monitor, but Saudi Arabia can not depend on Pakistani military aid for conventional needs  let alone nuclear weapons. The Saudi public promise to pursue a nuclear weapons program also undermines their efforts to acquire nuclear power reactors.

Saudi Vision 2030 calls for the kingdom to develop an indigenous arms industry to reduce dependence on foreign sources of weapons. Most observers believe that the Saudis will have considerable difficulty achieving their goals.

The bottom-line question is how much return on investment the Saudis are getting for their spending. The war in Yemen was sold as Operation Decisive Storm by Prince Mohammed more than three years ago; instead it is a quagmire and a humanitarian catastrophe. The Saudi naval blockade is starving Yemen, but the Houthis are defiant. The Saudi ground forces have been very unimpressive. The Royal Saudi Air Force has sustained a serious operational tempo, but has been implicated in numerous civilian atrocities. The air defense command has intercepted numerous Houthi ballistic missile attacks. But the pace and range of missile attacks is steadily increasing.

The crown prince fired his top generals earlier this year and replaced them with his own loyalists. It is not a performance that will inspire confidence that the Saudis are getting their moneys worth. For the US Congress, it is time to freeze all arms deals to the Saudis and the Emirates until they end the war in Yemen without conditions.
GAZIANTEP, Turkey  As buses began taking Syrian opposition fighters and their families from a besieged enclave in northern Homs and southern Hama to northern Syria on May 7, those previously displaced were struggling to plot the most pragmatic way forward.

Numerous evacuations of besieged areas have doubled the population of Idlib in northwestern Syria over the past few years to more than 2 million people.

Since March, at least 66,000 people were reportedly moved from eastern Ghouta to the northwestern province, where a lack of accommodation, continued fighting and insecurity are ongoing challenges for those that have been displaced.

Families often ask some relatives to stay and guard their homes when regime and allied troops arrive, in the hope of one day returning.

Ibrahim, who survived the humanitarian crisis in the roughly two-year siege of the city of Madaya and who asked that only his first name be used, left on an evacuation bus to Idlib in April 2017.

Out of a total of around 40,000 besieged in the town, only 2,200 people reportedly signed up to leave: mostly activists, fighters and those who had provided medical care to the injured or were wanted by the regime for other reasons.

One of Ibrahims brothers had been killed by a missile, and his mother had been shot dead by a government sniper near their home during the siege. Nevertheless, two of his older brothers stayed in Madaya when he left.

The move, Ibrahim told Al-Monitor, was pragmatic  a form of hedging against property loss common in Syria since the beginning of the war. The same had occurred widely when the Islamic State took over land in other areas, with several family members staying and only those most at risk leaving.

The Syrian government passed a law in April stipulating that property owners had until May 11 to provide proof of ownership. If they did not provide the needed documents, their property would be confiscated.

Some have argued that the law is necessary for the country to begin the reconstruction process. It is, however, undeniable that an enormous number of families no longer have the official deeds to their properties or are unable to travel to claim them at such short notice, assuming they are aware of the law.

Both of Ibrahims surviving brothers who stayed have been forced by the military after being stopped at checkpoints to serve on active fronts, one near Damascus and one near Homs.

The brother now near Homs had been involved in organizing food rationing during the siege and was one of the reasons so many survived, Ibrahim said.

When the humanitarian aid eventually came, we finally ate a real meal after so long. I can still remember the taste of the rice and beans in tomato sauce, Ibrahim said, reminiscing in southern Turkey where he is now seeking employment and studying Turkish.

But after a while, rice become boring. We got a lot of it, but little else. So we made mayonnaise out of it and glue for the children to play with. We then made zaatar [spice mixture] from seeds and pretended it was the real thing, he said, noting that it was the sheer monotony of life that was hard under the siege after basic needs were met.

Ibrahim was shot in the stomach by a government-allied sniper the day the siege was imposed in mid-2015 and had to be smuggled via a tunnel to nearby Zabadani for the first of two operations that he needed to survive. There were no qualified medical doctors in Madaya.

The head of the medical unit in the besieged town, Mohammad Youssef, had studied veterinary science and is now in Idlib coordinating activities for internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Damascus suburbs.

Youssef told Al-Monitor via a WhatsApp conversation from Idlib that over the past year, some people paid as much as $5,000 to return to Madaya after finding the conditions unbearable in Idlib, with no feasible way to cross the border or create a future.

However, he noted, many were arrested on their return. Some were taken to the Deir ez-Zor front, some to the Homs front, some had to pay $10,000 to get out of jail and others are still in jail, including women and children.

Ibrahim admitted that he was very lucky. He had studied computer science prior to the uprising and for a while had taught at a well-known private school in Damascus. During the siege, and later in Idlib, he often made money by fixing cellphones.

Ibrahim avoided friends who had been in Ahrar al-Sham, by far the largest group of armed fighters in besieged Madaya and nearby Zabadani. We have never been a family of fighters, he said. And I did not want to get caught up in that.

He eventually made it to Turkey.

The most recent massive displacements and the property law seem to be making it even less likely that many refugees and IDPs will ever be able to go back to their homes.

How much territory ends up under de facto Turkish protection in the north and how much ends up under the regime and its allies will be decided largely in Idlib.

We cannot have a war in Idlib. I keep saying that now to Russia, to Iran, to Turkey, to the United States, to anyone who has an influence, UN humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland stressed May 3, noting that millions of civilian lives were at risk.

The massive numbers of IDPs, the continuing regime airstrikes on medical facilities and civilians, the competing armed groups and a border closed for years could prove disastrous in what has become a virtual dumping ground for survivors unable or unwilling to stay in areas retaken by the regime.

Many displaced families, who are disoriented and desperate after years of being besieged and have depleted savings, are unlikely to be as lucky as Ibrahim.
For many young, disenfranchised Tunisians, Europe is tantalizingly close. The small North African country is the northernmost point on the African continent, and on an exceptionally clear day, it is possible to spot the outline of Italy across the blue horizon. The lyrics of one popular North African song, "Ah Ya Babour" ("The Boat"), by Groupe Liberta, epitomize that longing: I sit by the sea. Lost in my thoughts. I look at the boats. The image of Paris comes to me.

Both proximity and history are written in Tunisias long story of migration to Europe. After achieving independence from France in 1956, Tunisia signed bilateral labor agreements with France (1963) and Germany (1965) that facilitated emigration for work. Given Frances colonial legacy in the country, linguistic and cultural ties (though they had been required in school) made France a particularly popular destination. Movement to Europe remained relatively open until the 1990s, when European countries fortified their border controls and visa regulations  at which point, a parallel system of illegal entry, the overstaying of visas and permanent settlement began to take shape.

After the 2011 revolution, more than 28,000 men and women left Tunisia for Italy, taking advantage of Tunisias transitional political period and its weak law enforcement. In the following years, Tunisian migration was relatively low and remained out of the media  as opposed to the migration from and human smuggling situation in neighboring Libya. Still, thousands made the attempted crossing, and hundreds either died or disappeared. In 2014, the European Union and Tunisia established a mobility partnership to facilitate the movement of people between the EU and Tunisia and to promote a common and responsible management of existing migratory flows, including by simplifying procedures for granting visas.

But as the sociopolitical and economic situation in Tunisia has made it increasingly difficult for people to find gainful employment, there has been a spike in the number of Tunisians attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, by any means possible. Youth unemployment is as high as 36%, reports the World Bank, and in the interior of the country, the economic reality is even more desperate. In October and November 2017, more Tunisians left for Europe than in 2015 and 2016 combined. Some 45% of irregular migrants detained by Italian authorities were Tunisian and 8,700 Tunisians in total were caught by Italian and Tunisian authorities in 2017. The total number of migrants  those who successfully crossed and evaded detection  is thought to be much higher.

Those who leave are referred to as "harraga," a colloquial word used in Morocco, Tunisia and Libya. It comes from the Arabic word "harrag," meaning to burn  in this case, it refers to the literal burning of passports and ID documents. More metaphorically, it alludes to the burning of borders.

Last fall, the Italian and Tunisian coastal navies launched a joint patrol to monitor the transportation of migrants and to conduct search and rescue operations as needed. On Oct. 18, the Tunisian coast guard intercepted a sinking rubber boat packed with almost 100 migrants, including three children. They were lucky: Just 10 days earlier, 45 migrants were killed when a Tunisian navy boat collided with their makeshift vessel, which had left from the islets of Kerkennah and was headed to Italy.

Theres a stigma associated with migration in Tunisia. For the families left behind  particularly for mothers  it can be an exceptionally lonely and confusing time, with almost no government support. Now a new project is aiming to bring attention to the plight of Tunisian migrants and their families. For the first time, the Italian refugee migrant organization, Carovane Migrante, has partnered with the Tunisian nongovernmental organization La Terre Pour Tous (The World For All), which supports more than 500 families of missing migrants, to bring a caravan to Tunisia.

Carovane Migrante, which was established in 2015, was inspired by the Movimiento Migrante Mesoamericano. In Mexico, a dangerous country for migrants, Marta Sanchez has been leading caravans through the country with mothers of missing migrants from across Central America. In the past 13 years, her organization has brought families together to share their experiences, and has found more than 200 sons and daughters.

We wanted to share borders  from the Mexico border and South America  and talk across these two frontiers, and to create a platform for families to share their concerns, their struggles and their  resistance and memory, to keep alive the memory of their loved ones, Valentina Zagaria told Al-Monitor. Zagaria, a doctoral student at the London School of Economics, studies migration and border deaths in the Mediterranean, and is an organizer of the caravan.

The bleak parallel between the US-Mexico border and the Mediterranean Sea has become increasingly obvious. A group of about 20 people, including Sanchez, spent a week traveling through Tunisia, meeting families and sharing stories and struggles. The caravan kicked off recently in the beachside town of Raf Raf, where they met with families of seven men who disappeared en route to Sicily last year. Mothers sat holding faded portraits of their lost sons.

The following day, the caravan set off for the Tunisian town of Bir El Hafey, to meet the families of victims of the Oct. 8 shipwreck. Most of the bodies have been found and buried, said Zagaria, but the families are aware that because it was a military boat, they probably wont see justice.  Most families say they dont want money, they just want the truth about their loved ones and what happened to them.

The caravan then traveled to Sfax, Zarzis and Tunis. This past week, the group traveled to Italy.

Our objective was to listen, to be there for people to show that we want to keep alive the memory and the fight for the truth of these families. We are here in solidarity with them, Zagaria added.

For many of these families, abandoned by their government and living in limbo, knowing that their struggle for truth and justice are universal has provided, even if just for a moment, a balm.
She has her mother's smile and her stubborn streak. And now, she has inherited her mother's dream.

"It's kind of like I've been training my whole life for this," says Christa Jones, who grew up mixing, sifting and kneading alongside her mother, Mary Scarcliff, at the Lighthouse Bakery on Dauphin Island. "My time with Momma was always in here in the bakery. Our quality time was spent helping her in here and learning from her."

To the shock of her family and the Dauphin Island community, Mary was diagnosed with an inoperable and quickly growing brain tumor just after she and her husband, Daniel, celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary this past Christmas Eve. She was given two months to live.

Mary might have had a premonition that something was wrong. She and Daniel had sat down with Christa, their youngest child, just before Christmas to talk about the future of the bakery. Mary explained that she was getting older and hoping to retire, and she was thinking about selling the bakery or, if Christa wished, turning it over to her.

Christa, who went to night school for her real estate license a few years ago, had mixed emotions. Taking over for her mother would mean a lot of responsibility. Then again, she would also be able to continue the legacy that Mary started when she opened the bakery in 1997.

"A rush of honor and pride came over me," she says. "Knowing that they believed in me to carry it on was such a precious gift."

That was just days before Mary learned about her brain tumor.

Christa, who's been running the show at the bakery since Jan. 19, hears over and over again that she has some big shoes to fill. She always replies: "Good thing Momma and I wear the same size shoes, then!"

She and her mother really do wear the same size shoes. And Christa does things at the bakery just like her mother did, starting every morning at 2:30 a.m., when she and Robbi Thrower meet in the spotless kitchen to get started on cinnamon rolls, cream cheese danish, turnovers, muffins, cookies and all the other fresh specialties that will fill the display case.

The bakery's Sunday brunch is as popular as ever, with Christa making the crabmeat omelets that her mother made famous. On Sunday mornings, there's a line along the front porch, down the ramp and into the parking lot. The bakery also serves caramel almond rolls only on Sundays, and on Saturdays, it offers fresh French bread.

"There are people who schedule their vacation time around when we're open," Christa says proudly.

'It was home'

Christa's mom Mary was born in Morocco, one of seven children in a U.S. Air Force family. After stops in France and Germany, her father moved them all back to the United States when Mary was 4.

Mary learned to cook by helping her mother make everything from scratch. Bread was a particular skill that Mary honed, already dreaming of having her own bakery one day.

When dating Daniel after meeting him in college, she even drew a picture of her bakery -- an old house, revived and repurposed, with a porch across the front and dormer windows.

They were married and living in Virginia when Daniel, who is from Mobile, took Mary to Dauphin Island for a visit. "They felt like it was home," Christa says.

They felt that so strongly, in fact, that they decided to move there with their son, Sean, and daughter, Erica. They bought two wooded lots, and Mary designed their house, which they built themselves. In photos from that time, Mary, pregnant with Christa, leans over a skill saw.

A licensed physical therapy assistant, Mary worked in hospitals and eventually as an instructor at Bishop State Community College. She also threw herself into life in her new island home as a volunteer firefighter and an EMT with Dauphin Island Fire and Rescue. She helped raise money for the community's first fire truck and served as president of the local chamber of commerce.

And she opened that bakery that had been in her mind's eye. She gave it the name Lighthouse Bakery, for the Sand Island Lighthouse.

The building was very small, just 450 square feet. Says Christa, who was 10 then, "There was no room to store anything."

But Mary made the most of it, and, four years later, spotted a 1912 cottage -- one of the oldest homes on the island -- for sale. It looked just like the picture that she'd drawn way back when, except that it only had one dormer.

The Scarcliffs bought and renovated the 2,400-square-foot house, which Christa says is haunted by a friendly ghost who likes to turn lights on and off. They kept as many of the house's original features as possible, like the porch with gingerbread trim and the old windows along the front.

They wanted it, says Christa, "to be comfortable and relaxing, like going to your grandmother's house."

The bakery on Chaumont Avenue has become a fixture on Dauphin Island. The mayor, Jeff Collier, even calls it a "must-see."

"It adds to the uniqueness and charm of our island community. Anyone who visits will say that's one of their favorite stops," Collier says.

Christa's children, Stanley and Bella, go to school at Dauphin Island Elementary, where kids leave bikes unlocked and have a view of the water when they step outside of their classrooms. "Dauphin Island is a modern-day Mayberry," Christa says. "Everybody waves and watches out for everybody else. Even if you're not related, it's family."

'Willed it to happen'

This past Christmas was filled with blessings. Christa was engaged to Ricky Jones, who she says is the first man she's ever met who is "just like" her father. "Daddy is very gentle, soft-spoken, patient, funny, corny, go-with-the-flow," she says. "That's how Ricky is."

The whole family was together at the Scarcliff home for the first time in some 15 years, Christa says. "It was awesome. Just like when we were growing up."

And, after talking with her parents, Christa decided that she'd indeed take over the bakery from her mom. She just didn't realize how soon that would be.

On Dec. 27, her mother called to say she wasn't feeling well and was going to the doctor. When she arrived at the doctor's office, she was sent directly to the emergency room. A CT scan revealed a large glioblastoma in her brain.

Mary had been diagnosed with eye cancer years earlier and had lost peripheral vision in her right eye. But the tumor appeared "out of nowhere," Christa says.

The family sought advice from five specialists and made a trip to UAB, but "every single person who saw her said it was too advanced for anything to be done."

Mary is now in hospice care. But while she was still well enough, Mary spent an entire day in the bakery kitchen going over recipes with Christa, ensuring that she could make everything by herself.

"I got all but a couple," Christa says. "We had some funny moments trying to get that out of her."

On the first day that Christa opened the bakery on her own -- a job that had always been Mary's -- "she was determined to come see me," Christa says. And she did.

When Christa and Ricky set a wedding date of Jan. 28, Mary decided to make three spectacular cheesecakes for the reception.

She kept that a secret, of course, confiding only in her husband and Robbi, her "right hand" at the bakery.

"Mary is a very stubborn woman," says Robbi. "It's her way or no way at all."

The night before her wedding, Christa saw cheesecakes cooling on racks in the bakery. "I burst into tears," she says. "Daddy told me how Momma worked so hard. It was amazing. She willed it to happen."

Christa says, "You can't tell my Momma 'no.'"

("You can't tell Christa 'no,' either," says Robbi.)

On the day of the wedding, despite having several seizures, Mary woke up early to finish the wedding cake, which ended up being "the last thing she made," Christa says. "That meant so much. It was probably the best cheesecake I ever had."

Within a week, Mary was no longer able to walk.

'The bakery lady'

On Jan. 19, Christa posted on Lighthouse Bakery's Facebook page: "I did it, Momma! We are open and everything is made."

While she certainly wishes her mother could still be there working beside her, Christa is confident that she's doing just what Mary wanted her to do.

As the weeks have passed, Christa has learned a lot about what Mary -- "the bakery lady" -- meant to her patrons. Many have sent cards to her. "It's been really cool to read the stories," Christa says.

One man wrote about being on the island after a hurricane blew through. The power was out, and he had no cash in his pockets. But the Lighthouse Bakery was open, and Mary told him to come on in and get something to eat.

Later, he came back to pay her, but she wouldn't hear of it.

"She was constantly doing stuff for people," Christa says. "She wanted to make sure everybody was taken care of."

Christa and her father take turns sitting with Mary. "Most days she's coherent, talking to us and eating and drinking," she says. "But some days she won't open her eyes. We've watched her stop breathing twice."

Her mother isn't going to give up easily. "She's a fighter," Christa says. "She struggles, but she keeps fighting for another day."

She's stubborn like that. It seems to run in the family.
Nine states and Washington, D.C., allow for the recreational use of marijuana. Another 22 states have decriminalized the drug, and public opinion suggests legalization is supported by more than 60 percent of Americans.

But in the halls of the Statehouse in Montgomery, conservative lawmakers pushed back this past session against efforts to ease up on the tokers.

Their concerns varied. Ultimately, two bills to decriminalize marijuana possession never made it to either the House or Senate floors for debate.

Standing atop the anti-marijuana barricade was the House Judiciary Committee, where the Republican majority defeated the only decriminalization action to come before them.

Rep. Mike Holmes, R-Wetumpka, was one of the "No" votes. He said his constituents simply "were not ready for that."

'Major obstacle'

Future attempts at decriminalization - let alone a full-out legalization effort - are in flux. The two sponsors of the bills introduced this spring rolling back pot penalties aren't seeking re-election: Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham; and Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Pike Road.

"We feel sure someone will pick up where we left off and move it forward," said Todd, who has tried for years to lessen the penalties. "We don't know who that will be."

Said Brewbaker: "There is clear bipartisan support to have a serious look at our marijuana statues."

Brewbaker's SB251, which was nearly identical to Todd's HB272, managed to survive committee scrutiny. The Senate Judiciary Committee, with a 6-4 vote on Feb. 21, endorsed it.

But the bill did not go any further. The House Judiciary Committee, on the same day, shot down Todd's HB272 with a 7-5 decision. All seven "No" votes were Republican. Rep. Mike Ball of Madison was the only Republican to vote in favor of Todd's measure.

To borrow a Cheech & Chong motive title, Brewbaker's Senate bill also went "Up in Smoke."

"There was no reason to move it out when the House Judiciary Committee made (their vote) clear," said Brewbaker.

Under Alabama law, someone who possesses any amount of marijuana for personal use is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine. Those who have been convicted before of possessing marijuana face a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

The two failed bills tied the offense levels to the amount of marijuana:

Possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana would be punishable only by a fine and would be reclassified as a violation instead of a misdemeanor. That would apply to both first and second offenses.

Third and subsequent offenses would still be labeled a violation, punishable by a fine up to $500. No jail time nor misdemeanor charge would be rendered.

Possession of 1-2 ounces of marijuana would have been a Class D felony, punishable by up to 5 years in prison. But the Class D felony could not count under the Habitual Felony Offender Act, which can put an inmate behind bars for life. Crimes such as possession of marijuana, controlled substances, theft of property, and possession of or fraudulent use of a credit or debit card are crimes

Possession of more than 2 ounces of marijuana would be a Class C felony.

Brewbaker defended his bill as something that made sense but confronted political obstacles during an election year.

"I'm not talking about legalization, but if you get caught with less than an ounce of marijuana, the state and taxpayers are better served by imposing a heavy fine than they are with jail time," he said.

He added, "It doesn't seem to make much sense to me to hang Class C misdemeanors and felonies that will hang around these people throughout their lives."

Brewbaker also pitched SB51, which would have raised the amount of marijuana that would label someone as a drug trafficker, soon to receive a mandatory prison sentence.

Presently, that level is 1 kilo - 2.2 pounds. Under SB25, it would be 10 pounds, the same as in other states, such as South Carolina, Brewbaker said.

"If they find two full grown marijuana plants in your back yard and the combined weight is over 2.2 pounds, you can be charged with trafficking even if there is no evidence you are trafficking," Brewbaker said. "It's a mandatory three years in prison."

Rep. Paul Beckman, R-Prattville, and a member of the Judiciary Committee, said Todd's bill went further than Brewbaker's. He said he wished that Brewbaker had kept trying to move SB25 forward.

"A lot of these offenders are not drug pushers and the bottom line is we don't want to ruin someone's life," said Beckman, who said Brewbaker's decision to pull SB51 from consideration was "premature."

"That was Dick's call," he said. "As far as Todd's bill, basically, what it would do is legalize marijuana."

Brewbaker said, however, "I didn't see a whole lot of point to it. That committee is dead set on keeping things the way they are."

Said Todd, regarding her decriminalization push: "I think that many of the members are supportive of it. But they are afraid their constituents will think they are soft on crime, somehow. I think that is a major obstacle."

'Against decriminalization'

None of the states that allow for the recreational use of marijuana are in the South.

Few southern states have decriminalized the drug as well, though a rash of cities have pushed to roll back penalties. In Jackson, Mississippi, city officials voted unanimously in February to effectively limit the maximum penalty of 1 ounce or less of marijuana to a $100 fine.

Atlanta approved a similar measure last October. In Nashville, government officials moved forward in 2016 with an ordinance that reduces the penalty for people who are found possessing a half-ounce of marijuana or less to a $50 fine or 10 hours of community service.

In New Orleans, city officials urged police to spend less time arresting people on simple marijuana possession. Arrests have plummeted: From June 2016 to March 2017, only 1 percent of encounters between police and someone accused of possessing marijuana resulted in an arrest; in 2014, the rate was 72 percent.

And the Big Easy hosted, for the first time this past week, a three-day marijuana conference.

Alabama city leaders have pushed to have marijuana penalties relaxed, such as in Tuscaloosa where city leaders urged state lawmakers in December to roll back pot penalties over concerns about jail overcrowding.

Alabama cities, unlike municipal governments in most other states, do not have home rule powers and cannot make changes without the Legislature's approval.

Alabama is also among the deepest of the red states, and home to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions who is leading the anti-pot movement from the federal level.

Sessions, in January, rescinded guidelines from the Obama administration that allows states to legalize marijuana with minimal interference from federal authorities. Sessions has also raise health and safety concerns about marijuana, claiming that marijuana leads to heroin use.

Alabama also has among the highest concentration of Christians who identify as evangelical Protestants, a segment that opposes legalizing marijuana, according to a Pew Research Center analysis.

Among white evangelicals, 60 percent believe marijuana should remain illegal, while only 38 percent back legalization. By contrast, those labeled as "unaffiliated" to a religious identity support legalization by a 78-20 percent difference.

The polling also shows a partisan split. Democrats overwhelmingly support legalization, by a 69-28 percent margin. Republicans, who dominate the elected offices in Alabama, oppose it by 55-43 percent.

"I get feedback from all 45,000 of my constituents and they are against decriminalization," said Representative Holmes, whose legislative district includes Autauga and Elmore counties - two conservative bastions that overwhelmingly backed Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election and supported Republican Roy Moore in last year's special Senate contest.

'Quantify amount'

Rep. Jim Hill, R-Moody, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said his decision to vote against the lightening the marijuana law had more to do with a lack of scientific testing for people who are caught by police driving while impaired after smoking marijuana.

Moody, a former judge, said there are no tests, such as Breathalyzers, that can determine whether someone is impaired from marijuana.

Police, for instance, can determine someone's blood-alcohol content almost immediately after pulling him or her over for suspicion of DUI. Marijuana use is determined through blood tests, and those tests are not often readily available, requiring police to make judgement calls.

"I have an issue with allowing a substance in your body that we know impairs you and affects the ability to operate a vehicle," Hill said. "We cannot quantify that amount."

Recent national news reports have showcased the concerns about impaired driving in states where recreational use of marijuana is legal.

NBC Nightly News, this past week, interviewed a Denver police sergeant who told host Lester Holt that authorities are seeing "more people driving high on marijuana." Colorado was among the first states to legalize recreational use of marijuana in 2012.

"It can be a little difficult trying to prove someone is driving high and impaired by marijuana," Sgt. Rick Coisman told Holt. "Alcohol is scientific and validated and accepted by the courts. Marijuana, we're just not there yet."

A Colorado Department of Transportation survey showed that 70 percent of marijuana users admitted to driving under the influence of the drug at least once during the past year. More than a quarter of those, the survey shows, are driving high daily.

The Montgomery-based Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, in its research backing decriminalization, cited a National Highway Transportation Administration study and analysis from academic researchers that found, unlike alcohol, there is no clear correlation between specific blood levels of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - the principle psychoactive element in marijuana - and impairment.

The group also cited a study from the American Journal of Public Health that found no increase in vehicle crash fatalities in either Colorado or Washington, relative to similar states, after they legalized marijuana.

Hill, though, said he is concerned about DUI instances increasing from marijuana decriminalization, leaving law enforcement without a solution to screen impaired drivers.

Brewbaker disagrees with Hill's assessment. He said police already have the authority to remove someone who they believe is driving impaired.

"A cop has to have some reason to pull someone over if they are acting irrationally or are falling asleep at the wheel, there are all sorts of ways," he said. "You don't have to know what is causing the impairment."

'Heavy lift'

Brewbaker and Todd said that Alabama is spending too much time and money on arresting people for possessing small amounts of marijuana at the same time opioid use is fast becoming a top killer.

Said Todd: "It's about the amount of resources the state has to pay out on marijuana possession especially small amounts. It takes a police officer's time, and it takes the court's time. We all realize we need to divert those resources to the opioid epidemic."

Indeed, an analysis by Alabama Appleseed shows that more Alabamians were arrested for marijuana possession in 2016 than for opioids, cocaine, and synthetic narcotics.

The group also showed that Alabama spent $13.3 million on the enforcement of marijuana laws in 2010, that enforcement disproportionately affects blacks who are 4.5 times more likely to be arrested for possession than whites, and that the state's laws lack clarity between marijuana possession and distribution.

Appleseed contends that two people arrested for possessing the same amount of marijuana in Alabama can face different punishments based on the "subjective decision" of a government official.

Frank Knaack, executive director with Appleseed, said the marijuana possession laws are an "example of the kind of systematic racial disparity" that exists in Alabama's criminal justice system.

"Marijuana possession in Alabama for the first offense is a misdemeanor, but the second offense is a felony," Knaack said. "You can have a little amount, if arrested, and that can bring along a felony."

Hill, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, said there is little evidence to suggest that simple marijuana possession arrests are crowding Alabama's state prisons. A proponent of drug courts and intervention programs, Hill said most inmates are in prison because of a violent offense and "not because they were smoking marijuana."

Jennifer Kenney, assistant professor at the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Alabama, said she doesn't believe if Alabama decriminalized low amounts of marijuana possession, there will be a "huge drop" in the state's overcrowded prisons.

Kenney, though, believes that Alabama should legalize marijuana possession to help provide medical support for people struggling with crippling opioid addictions.

She said by taxing marijuana, revenues can be used to help fund programs aimed at getting people help with other drug addictions.

"It could potentially help the state of Alabama and our budgets if used in a way to actually increase the health of everyone," she said. "People don't understand that marijuana can really help people fight pain."

But, she added, "We are home to Jeff Sessions. He has said time and again, he doesn't see the difference between marijuana and heroin and controlled substance. I think (legalization) is a heavy lift for a place like Alabama."
A seven-point campaign pledge that included promises to refuse defaming opponents and to not accept funding from groups in exchange for endorsements was backed Saturday by three of four Democratic hopefuls for governor.

But Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, the lone Democratic governor hopeful to not sign it, said the pledge -- issued at the end of a two-hour candidates' forum by former Alabama State Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb -- was "nothing more than a political stunt."

"I respect Judge Cobb, but I do consider this nothing more than a political stunt," said Maddox, following a forum in Mobile. "The fact is it was conceived without any input from any of us running for office. Leadership is often about collaboration and bringing people together for a common solution. But this is being done in response to a political issue, and I'll choose not to participate in it."

'What we need'

Cobb read the pledge at the end of a forum. It included the following:

- Abide by all campaign laws and procedures

- Refusal to defame an opponent's character

- Condemn the use of falsified campaign materials

- Condemn any appeal to prejudice and bigotry

- Disavow publicly inaccurate advertisements that fail to disclose the identity behind the material

- Make public all campaign expenditures, whether paid directly or through consultants

- Refuse funding from groups requiring financial support in exchange for an endorsement

"I've had people come up to me and thank me for offering the pledge," said Cobb. "This is absolutely what we need."

Cobb said she was disappointed that Maddox did not sign on to it.

"I'm very disappointed to know that," she said. "I believe to achieve a righteous end, you have to get there righteously. I believe in practicing the dark arts of Alabama politics, like paid hecklers, that's inappropriate to the extreme. It doesn't reflect well on someone who wants the highest office in Alabama."

Cobb was referring to hecklers who attended last month's Reckon by AL.com and ABC 33/40 debate in Birmingham. The heckling was directed mostly at Cobb, and she and former state Rep. James Fields have blamed Maddox's campaign for the disruptions.

Maddox has denied being involved, and his campaign staff has said there were other hecklers in attendance supporting Cobb.

"I'm not saying he personally paid them," Cobb said. "But they were there to help one person and that was the person (the hecklers believed) to have the most likely opportunity to win the Democratic nomination."

Fields and Doug "New Blue" Smith both agreed to sign Cobb's pledge.

"This pledge is just for us to run a clean and ethical campaign," Fields said.

Focused on issues

Cobb's campaign pledge highlighted what was a rather congenial forum hosted by the Bay Area Young Democrats at the University of South Alabama. Approximately 40 people attended.

The forum focused heavily on issues such as mental health reform, rural health care concerns, and whether the state should rescind the sales tax on groceries.

All four Democratic candidates vying for the party's nomination during the June 5 primary, praised Dr. David Bronner, the chief executive of the Retirement Systems of Alabama. They also attacked Republicans, including Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey.

Maddox, considered one of the front runners for the Democratic nomination, said he "loves the contrast" in the campaign of "young versus old, future versus past."

He also said that Democrats were focused more on issues than Republicans, and chided Ivey's recent campaign commercials for spending time on issues such as protecting Confederate monuments or shooting guns.

"We should feel pretty good about ourselves," he said. "Thank God we haven't talked about Confederate monuments or mountain oysters or giving teachers firearms."

The four candidates also agreed on rescinding the state's sales tax on grocery purchases.

Cobb said she would support removing the sales tax on groceries and replacing it with a "flat income tax."

"Republicans love the concept of a flat tax," said Cobb. "That means, and we have to look at the numbers, but it might be a politically pragmatic way to do what we must do and that is remove the tax on groceries."

Maddox said one longer-term approach is to change the Alabama Constitution and provide home rule authority for cities.

"We have to break apart the Constitution," he said. "It limits the communities from making these decisions."

The four candidates also backed a stronger environmental protection program for Alabama, with Maddox saying he wanted to see more transparency in place for reporting sewage spills and declaring emergencies.

On education, Fields said that past Republican governors are not being responsible in their appointments to head up the state's educational system.

"You have governors who are not taking responsibilities they should be taking," he said. "There are school board members who barely got out of high school. If you want better education, you have to put people into the jobs that know what they are doing."

Cobb and Maddox have both pushed for education lotteries. But Fields said he isn't so sure a statewide lottery would work.

"You will have a lottery bill to vote on," said Fields. "But lottery is not going to solve your problems. You cannot legislate morality."

The candidates also said the recent praise from Ivey's office about the state economy is misleading.

Maddox called the improved numbers "smoke and mirrors" and said that Alabama ranks among the highest in the nation in the number of people dropping out of the labor force.

He said the state needs to leverage its universities to "create a dramatic way to create new jobs."

"Our South Alabama's, our UAB's and UAH's ... they all have to become not only successful in academics, but also economic engines for their communities," he said.

Fields said the state needs leadership willing to spread the job growth around the state.

"We must do something about that so people in the Black Belt and throughout our state are fairly employed," said Fields.

Cobb offered a promise for costal Alabama that, if she's elected, she will make sure funds are available to deepen and widen the ship channel at the Port of Mobile.

"I am committing to you that one of my promises, and I'm not overpromising, is that we will fund the $150 million needed to deepen and widen the Port of Mobile," she said. "When we do that, we are exponentially increasing the amount of goods that come in."
The Poor People's Campaign will launch six weeks of protest in Alabama tomorrow with a rally at the capitol, part of a national effort to fight poverty, improve the environment and increase access to voting.

The campaign takes its name from an effort organized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the late 1960s. In 1968, King and members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference began calling for federal funding to improve conditions for the poorest Americans and guaranteed jobs for those seeking work. The campaign lost momentum after James Earl Ray assassinated King in April 1968 during a Memphis sanitation strike.

"We are really passing on the mantle to today," said Angela Balfour, a board member of Greater Birmingham Ministries.

The movement has been revived by Rev. William Barber II of North Carolina and Rev. Liz Theoharis of New York City. Protests have been planned in 30 states and the District of Columbia. The effort will culminate with a march in Washington D.C. on June 23.

Nationally, organizers have targeted the 2017 tax overhaul as part of the protest and will also call for universal single-payer health care and increases to the minimum wage.

Balfour said Greater Birmingham Ministries has taken the lead in organizing the protests in Alabama, which will take place every Monday at 2 p.m.

The Montgomery rallies will address poverty, ecological devastation, voting rights and the "war economy," Balfour said. She described the war economy as the emphasis on military spending over social programs for the poor.

Each protest will feature speakers who will share their experiences of racism, surviving on minimum wage work and environmental destruction, Balfour said. Organizers will also be registering voters for the mid-term elections.

"It's going to be a protest to raise awareness and to speak to our politicians so they speak to those issues," Balfour said. "We will also be letting them know we will be moving out with voter mobilization."

Barber rose to national prominence as the leader of the NAACP in North Carolina and the force behind that state's Moral Mondays movement in 2013. The protests targeted cuts to social programs, voting rights and redistricting. Thousands of people attended the rallies and hundreds were arrested during non-violent protests at the capitol in Raleigh.

Theoharis serves as the co-director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary in New York.

Barber and Theoharis made trips to Alabama during the planning stages for the campaign. They held events in Birmingham and rural areas, and spoke to families that struggled to gain access to health insurance and sewer services. They tour visited Lowndes County as part of an effort to visit some of the most-impoverished parts of the country.

"Protests and other activities during this first week will focus on child poverty, women in poverty and people with disabilities," according to a press release. "Subsequent weeks will focus on systemic racism, veterans and the war economy, ecological devastation, inequality, and our nation's distorted moral narrative."
Paul Littlejohn III

A paid staffer working on former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb's gubernatorial campaign resigned on Friday, one day after he was charged by authorities for violating the state's sex offender registration and notification act.

Cobb, on Saturday following a Democratic governor's forum in Mobile, told AL.com that she "accepted" the resignation of Paul Littlejohn III, who was released from prison in 2014 after serving 30 years for a rape and sodomy offense in 1984.

But Cobb continued to defend Littlejohn's character, while criticizing his arrest as "politically motivated." Littlejohn had been serving as Cobb campaign's Jefferson County field director.

"It's as politically motivated of a charge as I've seen," Cobb said, noting that the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is headed up by a Republican Sheriff Mike Hale. "Why? The Republicans don't want to run against Sue Bell Cobb. Governor Ivey doesn't want to run against Sue Bell Cobb. They found that as an opportunity to take advantage of information that had been sent out into the public forum."

She said an arrest warrant was issued after she held a news conference defending Littlejohn's character after news reports surfaced about his background.

Cobb also said that the Littlejohn first learned about the charges by a TV news reporter.

"A reporter called him," she said. "Does that sound right to you? No that doesn't sound right."

Cobb added, "I know there are people who are concerned. But it's based on false information that was put into the public forum by people wanting to make sure that I'm not elected."

Randy Christian, chief deputy with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, said Littlejohn was arrested for "breaking the law" by a sheriff's investigator.

"He was doing his job, plain and simple, and doing it well," Christian said in a statement to AL.com. "How sad that a candidate for governor supports a convicted sex offender over sexual assault victims."

Said Christian: "She also apparently doesn't support law enforcement doing the difficult job of ensuring through compliance of the sex offender registration law that no other victim comes in harm's way. That is the sole reason for the law's creation."

He added, "It's not just shameful, it's disgusting desperation on her part. If I'm reading this right, she wanted us to just look the other way. If she has any integrity left, she will apologize to law enforcement, sexual assault victims and ask for forgiveness."

'Volunteer minister'

Littlejohn turned himself in to Jefferson County authorities on Thursday after charges were filed that he had been working as a pastor at Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, which operates a day care and is near a school.

Cobb said Littlejohn is a church volunteer. "This was his church. He was an associate, an unpaid volunteer minister," she said.

She also referenced media statements made by the church's pastor, Michael Wesley, who told ABC 33/40 in Birmingham, that Littlejohn is one of 32 associate ministers who has not violated state law.

Littlejohn, a registered sex offender, is prohibited from working or living within 2,000 feet of a daycare centers or schools, and violating that provision is a felony.

Cobb said that Littlejohn was not assigned to "knocking on doors" for her campaign. Instead, she said he was a paid worker who managed a team of volunteers who "knocked on 30,000 doors in Jefferson County."

"I'm convinced people will see through this and understand that I believe in redemption," said Cobb. "I'm a judge. I've put a lot of people in jail. I've let a lot of people out. I am the victim of crime. But I believe in redemption and my faith forms that and I believe in rehabilitation."

Cobb has called Littlejohn "the picture of redemption," but Alabama sex offender laws prevent him from being close to underage youths.

Alabama's sex offender laws are considered among the most stringent in the nation, according to the National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws, which has criticized national sex offender registries for pursuing petty offenses.

Cobb added, "What are we going to tell our folks in prison? Not to worry? That you are serving a sentence and will serve it forever? It's not right for public safety and it's not right for any of us who truly believe in equality and in the power of redemption."

Since Littlejohn's release in 2014, he has worked for two Democratic campaigns: Randall Woodfin's victory in last year's Birmingham mayoral election, and for the Doug Jones campaign ahead of his win in last year's special Alabama Senate election.

A representative for the Jones campaign said late Saturday that they do not have any records of Littlejohn working for the campaign, and that he was not paid for campaign-related work.

Cobb said Littlejohn came "highly recommended," but added that she isn't aware of "any campaign that does background checks" of its workers.

"The number of recommendations I received on his behalf, you wouldn't believe," said Cobb. "But the point is that those people (who recommended Littlejohn) believe in redemption. People should be outraged of what has happened on this."

Candidates react

Former state Rep. James Fields of Cullman, one of Cobb's Democratic primary opponents, also said on Saturday that he's met Littlejohn before and "loved him to death."

Fields walked back statements his campaign made Thursday in which he said he was "deeply troubled" to learn a convicted and unregistered sex offender was a member of Cobb's campaign staff.

"We put a statement our rather hastily and it's a statement that should not have gone out," said Fields. "We weren't trying disparage (Cobb). She's running an above-board campaign and an honorable campaign."

Fields said he believed that Littlejohn's arrest may have been politically motivated.

"Someone shared with me that they arrested (Littlejohn) and that it was a Republican sheriff," said Fields. "It's like cannibalism. I'm very disappointed in that."

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox - another Democratic gubernatorial hopeful -- declined to comment, other than to say: "I'm not running against Judge Cobb or James Fields or any candidate. I'm running for governor of the state of Alabama. We're going to continue to fly high and talk about the policies that matter."

This story was updated at 9:59 p.m. on Saturday, May 12, 2018, to include comments from a representative with Senator Doug Jones's campaign.
A small airplane crashed in Jacksonville, Ala., Saturday night killing one person on board, according to Calhoun County authorities. Media reports say a woman was killed, but a man on board survived the crash. His condition was not immediately known.

Calhoun County Coroner Pat Brown identified the victim as 27-year-old Stefanie Fasselin of Peachtree City, Ga. A LinkedIn post under that name identifies her as an employee of Delta Air Lines.

The pilot was her father, according to Brown. His name and condition have not yet been released.

Sheriff Matthew Wade said he was notified at 8:30 p.m. that a small, private, single-engine plane had developed engine problems and crashed. Kathleen Bergen, a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration, identified the plane as a Beech BE-35.

The sheriff said the plane hit a tree when it came down in the Whites Gap area near Scotty Lane.

The FAA will investigate the crash and the National Transportation Safety Board will determine the probable cause of the accident.

Updated 7:25 a.m. with the name of the victim
With each new campaign slogan or each new campaign ad in Alabama's gubernatorial race that talks about making the state a better place, it's all perhaps code for a single word.

Infrastructure.

Whether it's making your daily commute to work easier or attracting business tantalized by the ease of moving its product from the factory to the customer on Alabama roadways, it's all about infrastructure.

Even President Trump campaigned on a national infrastructure plan, though that plan has not yet come to fruition.

"If you don't take care of infrastructure, you strangle," Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said.

So when three of the four Republican candidates for governor participated in a candidate forum last week in Huntsville sponsored by the Associated Builders & Contractors Inc., hot-button topics like guns and abortion never came up.

But infrastructure did.

Battle, along with state Sen. Bill Hightower of Mobile and Birmingham evangelist Scott Dawson, shared their views on the topic of infrastructure - in this case, primarily roads and bridges and how to pay for improvements. Gov. Kay Ivey did not attend.

The only consensus was that something needs to be done.

"It seems to me like there ought to be a state of emergency in the roads and bridges across our state and let's just get this thing done," Dawson said.

But how can that be achieved?

Hightower said reducing the 93 percent earmarks on the state General Fund budget each year would create money for roads.

"We have a sick budgetary system," he said, adding that Alabama has the largest earmarked budget in the country - about 30 percent higher than the second-highest percentage in New York.

"No one is looking at Alabama saying we've got a great budgetary system," Hightower said. "And until we get rid of that waste and fraud, I don't know how we can come back to you and ask for more taxes (for roads)."

Both Hightower and Dawson pointed to tens of millions of dollars siphoned from infrastructure budgets to shore up funding for other state agencies, such as Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the court system.

"You say $63 million is not that much (in the budget) but if you do it for 14 years, that's close to $1 billion," Dawson said of money taken from away from roads. "That's a lot of roads. That's a lot of infrastructure in our state."

Battle pointed to the example set by Huntsville, which is paying half of a $250 million road projects in the burgeoning north Alabama city with the other half paid in state funds. Huntsville generates about $35 million annually for roads from a 1-cent sales tax passed in 2014.

"We thought outside the box and we came up with an idea on how we're going to move forward as a community," Battle said. "And we, right now, are in the midst of building roads. That's what you've got to do."

Hightower said as a businessman, he can vouch for the fact that shirking on roads will lead to greater problems.

"You've got to have infrastructure," he said. "You really do. But that needs to be a part of the plan up front when they are negotiating with the plants."

That happened, to a degree, when Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA agreed to build a $1.6 billion, 4,000-job plant in west Huntsville. As an incentive, the city of Huntsville agreed to accelerate a plan to complete a four-lane highway to Interstate 65 - a $60 million investment - as well as extend a rail line to the plant site at the cost of $7 million.

The issue of widening nearby I-565 became a point of friction last week between Battle and Ivey. While Ivey has said the project is a "high priority," Huntsville officials said they have seen no indication that anything is happening to make it a reality.

"That infrastructure is going to kill us," Battle said. "It's going to kill us on job creation, it's going to kill us on being able to expand our economic base. We had two tire companies who came and looked at Huntsville. We got in the last three.

"And they left. They said, 'I'm afraid that your infrastructure is not in place throughout the state so I can get my product made here and get it to the consumer.' That is an indictment on the system. We have got to step forward."

The candidates also said they did not consider Trump's infrastructure plan - with early plans calling for an 80 percent investment in state and local funds to receive 20 percent of the federal money - to be much of a lifeline.

Battle said the 80/20 split is the opposite of how it has been done in the past and Hightower said the state couldn't afford such an arrangement.

"We're not very well-positioned to take those federal dollars," Hightower said. "We've had declining revenue for roads and bridges with $62 million taken out each year to go largely to the court system. It's really a lack of transparency in our government and always bothered me."

Eventually, the federal plan will likely even out to a 50/50 split, Battle said.

There needs to be a smarter approach, Dawson said. Robbing the state roads budget to plug other holes in the state budget can't continue, he said, nor can restrictions on Alabama businesses remain in place that choke growth.

"If we could set Alabama businesses free, if we could remove the regulations and fees that are placed on you by the state of Alabama, you would set our economy on fire," Dawson told the contractors in the audience. "You would allow us to be in a position where we could do more, we could do better, we must do better."

For now, though, Dawson said the fire is not even a flicker.

"Right now, our senior senator, Richard Shelby, is the appropriations chair," he said. "We should have a dump truck up there ready to bring back all the money to Alabama and we can't even rent a dump truck to go up there and get it."
Dana Hall McCain writes about faith, culture and politics for AL.com. Follow her on Twitter @dhmccain for thoughts on these topics and more.

If you polled Americans concerning the greatest threat to our nation, you'd likely get a myriad of answers about nuclear weapons, terrorism, foreign meddling in our democratic process or illegal immigration. And while external threats are very real, our greatest weakness and vulnerability lies within.

We've forgotten how to tell the truth.

We tell shades of the truth. The convenient parts of the truth. The version of the truth that serves our agenda and interests. But that's not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

So...help us, God.

We've become conditioned to the partial and self-serving handling of facts and circumstances by generations of politicians, so much that we seldom call out the spin they spew for what it is: halfway truth on a good day, and outright deception on others. We just accept that this is the very definition of public service: to skirt the whole truth so consistently--and for so long--that the voting public, weary from the exercise, collapses in rhetorical and intellectual defeat.

It was really, really bad when it was the stock and trade of the politicians. Then the church decided to get into politics.

The problem is that the rules of the political game were already firmly established: spin or die. Many in the church have reasoned that to see God-honoring policies enacted, our candidates must win. And to see our candidates win, we must play by street rules. The candidates who promise to deliver the goods are good guys. Even if they aren't. The candidates we can't count on are bad guys. Even if they aren't.

Surely God will understand, right? We're trying to get things done here, people.

This is the only way to explain Franklin Graham's two drastically different interpretations of the implications of personal sin on public service. In 1998, Graham wrote an Op-Ed for the Wall Street Journal about Bill Clinton, in which he said, "But the God of the Bible says that what one does in private does matter...If he will lie to or mislead his wife and daughter, those with whom he is most intimate, what will prevent him from doing the same to the American public? Private conduct does have public consequences."

Fast forward to 2018, when Graham tells us that we should get behind the current President and support him, and that Donald Trump's affair with Stormy Daniels (while his wife was home caring for his newborn son, no less) is "none of our business."

So, did the God of the Bible change his mind, or did his standard just become too inconvenient?

Evangelical leader and author James Dobson used to think that character mattered, too. In a September 1998 letter to his constituents, he said about Bill Clinton, "As it turns out, character DOES matter. You can't run a family, let alone a country, without it. How foolish to believe that a person who lacks honesty and moral integrity is qualified to lead a nation and the world! Nevertheless, our people continue to say that the President is doing a good job even if they don't respect him personally. Those two positions are fundamentally incompatible. In the Book of James the question is posed, "Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring" (James 3:11 NIV). The answer is no."

He goes on in the same letter to tell us that Clinton's past should have disqualified him: "There was plenty of evidence during the first Presidential election that Bill Clinton had a moral problem. His affair with Gennifer Flowers, which he now admits to having lied about, was rationalized by the American people."

He went on to endorse Donald Trump in 2016.

And then there's the President himself. The Washington Post is keeping a running tally of what they deem to be false or misleading statements made by the President since taking office. In March, their ticker was over 3,000. Let's assume the Post is guilty of the left-wing media bias Trump defenders are always talking about and take away half the claims in the Post tally. You still have a staggering 1,500 whoppers to deal with. That's a clear and immediate lack of morality.

Many Christians will tell you that they voted for Donald Trump because, as horrible as he obviously was, Hillary was worse. I agree. But that doesn't make him worthy of the office. Shouldn't those same Christians now be motivated to bring him to heel and impose some moral accountability? To flex their muscle and remind him that he was a candidate of last resort, and can be cast aside in 2020? To remain silent or, worse yet, offer loud and unconditional support is to tell the world that the words in your Bible are merely suggestions for easier times.

Tell the truth. Shame the devil.
In Washington, D.C., the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a massive wall that lists more than 58,000 names of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen who lost their lives in the Vietnam War.

It's a moving experience for a family to see the memorial and find their loved ones' name. Imagine how powerful it would be to see that loved one's face as well.

The organization that built the wall -- The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund -- has now made that possible, with "The Wall of Faces," the Vietnam Veterans Virtual Memorial Wall that's available on the web and with the traveling "Wall that Heals."

The website allows family or friends to upload pictures of their Vietnam casualties so they can be displayed on the virtual wall.

Sgt. Jerry O. Woods of Huntsville was killed in 1968.

So far, about 55,000 photos have been collected and submitted to the virtual wall. There are 27 states that have found pictures for all of their listed heroes, but not Alabama.

There are 1,210 Alabama names on the wall, but there are still 255 Alabama Vietnam casualties who do not have photos submitted to "The Wall of Faces."

In north Alabama, heroes like Master Sgt. James Mabron Hargrove of Limestone County, killed in 1966; 1st Lt. Raymon Horace James Jr. of Madison, killed in 1971; and Lance Cpl. Michael Darrell Kuhse of Huntsville, killed in 1968, still are not represented.

In south Alabama, First Sgt. David Rudolph Dickens of Mobile, killed in 1965; Lance Cpl. William Robert Kelley of Citronelle, killed in 1966; and Specialist Andrew George Hawthorne of Fairhope, killed in 1970, still need their pictures submitted.

In central Alabama, soldiers like Specialist Herman Evans of Birmingham, killed in 1970; Private 1st Class Ronnie Harrell of Bessemer, killed in 1968; and Private 1st Class Larry Dean Kelley of Fultondale, killed in 1968, still need their faces uploaded.

In November, a replica of the actual wall in D.C., "The Wall That Heals," will visit Alabama, making a stop in Huntsville just in time for Veterans Day. As part of the experience, the virtual wall will be on display as well.

Maj. Samuel M. Deichelmann of Montgomery was killed in 1968 in Vietnam.

Organizers of the Alabama visit would love to have all 1,210 Alabama faces uploaded to the virtual wall by then, and they are making a big push to find those photos as we approach Memorial Day.

"If you have a picture of a loved one or fellow veteran whose name is on The Wall, please help the Memorial Fund honor these individuals by putting a face with a name," said David Carney, communications director for The Wall That Heals - Huntsville. "Regardless of whether or not the Memorial Fund has a photo of the individual already, we encourage you to submit it anyway. We are trying to collect as many photos of each individual as possible. Help us find photos for the Wall of Faces to ensure that those who sacrificed all in Vietnam are never forgotten."

They are making it easy as possible for Alabama families and friends to honor their American heroes. If you have a family member or friend listed on the wall, and want to make sure his picture is included on the virtual wall, you can go to http://twth-hsv.com/the-wall-of-faces/ and find your soldier, sailor or airman's name. On that website is a link to www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/, where you can upload a picture, or find information to mail one in to be uploaded.

Sgt.1st Class Lewis E. Wood of Guntersville was killed in 1969 in Vietnam.



Not only can you upload pictures on the website, but you can make a donation to the wall fund and even request a rubbing of your soldier's name.

If you are not sure if your family member or has a picture included on the virtual wall or not, the website lists all 255 Alabamians whose pictures are not yet submitted.



Submit a photo

To see a list of Alabama Vietnam casualties whose photos have not yet been submitted, visit http://twth-hsv.com/the-wall-of-faces/. The site has a link to www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/, where you can upload a photo, find information on how to mail one, make a donation or request a name rubbing.



If you have questions or difficulty with your submissions, email Jennifer Holliday at jennifer@twth-hsv.com.



For more information on "The Wall That Heals" and its upcoming visit to Alabama, contact David Carney at Carney50@mchsi.com or 256-652-2460.
By Melanie Bridgeforth, President/CEO of the Women's Fund of Greater Birmingham

Last Mother's Day, Nicole and her 4-month-old son were living in a shelter for victims of domestic violence. This Mother's Day, Nicole is studying Manufacturing Systems Technology at Jefferson State Community College. Currently completing her second semester of an Associate's Degree, she is well on her way to filling a job in an industry where Alabama desperately needs skilled workers.

"I thought I was done in life, but this scholarship changed everything. I can dream again and this has given me hope for a brighter future," Nicole said. This 35-year-old mother is among more than 20 women thriving in post-secondary manufacturing programs supported by The Women's Fund of Greater Birmingham. For the past five years, The Women's Fund has invested in two-generation strategies combining targeted post-secondary training for mothers, quality child care for their children, and wraparound supports for families.

These student-parents include women from rural towns such as Oneonta and Moody, as well as the cities of Jefferson County. Several are raising two to three children, or grandchildren. Most work part time to support their children, then find time for demanding classes and homework at night.

Not one mother enrolled in manufacturing training has given up and dropped out. Not one. That's because mothers know their children's very futures depend on them.

Alabama's community college and workforce systems are becoming increasingly creative in funding scholarships for manufacturing and tech workers. Free training classes abound, in areas such as Certified Production Technician or at AIDT, Alabama's primary workforce training program. But without accessible training, dependable transportion, and evening childcare, many mothers striving to support their children are locked out of Alabama's economy. And employers are cut off from a valuable source of committed and dependable labor.

According to Clearing the Path, published annually by The Women's Fund, a growing number of large local employers are offering higher starting wages and family-friendly benefits such as paid parental leave, as they recognize the need for a sustainable workforce. Our state's employers are moving in the right direction.

Right now, Alabama's workforce development system has an unprecedented opportunity to connect women and mothers with booming industries that are hungry for workers. We know there is room for growth because Alabama ranks 50th in workforce participation rate for women - 51 percent, according to the Institute for Women's Policy Research. Neighbors Georgia and Tennessee climb past us at 55 percent.

To close this gap requires strategic investments in child care, job training, and wraparound supports so that mothers can train for higher-skill, in-demand jobs while their children are safe, housed and fed. Now is the time to invest our philanthropic power to harness and expand economic opportunities for all mothers.

The Women's Fund's strategic supports have cleared the path for young mothers to enter the workforce in healthcare support occupations, Alabama's highest growth sector from 2008-2018.

Consider these statistics:

83 percent of mothers graduated with a career-ready certificate; that's 161 women ready for jobs as pharmacy technicians, vision assistants, dental assistants, or medical billing and coding specialists.

76 percent of graduates gained a job in their field or continued their education when supported by a career coach to provide soft skills training, guidance, and emergency supports.

81 percent of graduates were employed in their field when provided with mentoring.

Based on the 100 percent retention rate for manufacturing students, such as Nicole, we know our focus on women in manufacturing could provide Alabama's manufacturers with needed women workers, as well.

We attended a recent job fair at the Jefferson County Department of Human Resources where 517 job-seekers - the vast majority of whom were women -- lined up early in the rain with hopes for a brighter future. We surveyed these women about their job interests and challenges they face. More than 95 percent listed areas such child care, transportation, and tuition as barriers to better employment - to filling jobs where their labor is needed in our economy.

On this Mother's Day, so many mothers in our state - some of whom have fled domestic violence or work 2-3 jobs to support their families - don't want flowers or candy. They don't expect a day off from taking care of their children. That's not going to happen.

Working mothers want safe, affordable childcare. They need full-time, living-wage jobs. They want an economy that sees value in balancing labor for Alabama companies while raising our next generation of workers.
On his first visit to Jerusalem, Al Jazeeras Showkat Shafi saw how daily life is completely segregated for Israelis and Palestinians.

Of all the places I wanted to visit, Palestine has always been at the top of the list. So when I got an opportunity to go there on a reporting assignment, I was beyond excited.

But that initial enthusiasm soon gave way to doubt and worry.

I had heard horror stories about Israeli security checks and intense interviews, and as a result, I was anxious about the visa application process.

My travel agent, who had helped me obtain visas for Europe, Brazil and South Africa was clear; as a Kashmiri Muslim, my chances of getting an Israeli visa were slim.

Nevertheless, I travelled from Doha to New Delhi to apply.

After two days of waiting, I got a call asking me to attend an interview the next day at the Israeli embassy in New Delhi.

I was told not to carry any belongings with me. A friend accompanied me, and we stopped some 500 meters before the embassy. I gave him my phone, laptop bag, and wallet and kept 100 rupees with me.

The moment he left, a member of the security team ran towards me and told me to call him back.

Since my friend had already walked some distance and I didnt have my phone, I had to shout until he heard me.

A flurry of questions

The security guard asked him why he had come with me and thoroughly checked him, even taking his ID before finally letting him go.

At the gate, there were further security checks.

There were two other men waiting for an interview, and we were asked to remove our belts and keep them on the pavement outside the embassy.

Then came a flurry of questions:

Are you carrying chemicals on your body?

Did somebody give you something to leave at the embassy?

As if my word was not enough, one of the security guards sniffed my belt to make sure it did not contain any scent of chemicals.

I remember feeling as though I had been accused of a crime, as did one of the men beside me, who protested.

Its not easy to enter Israel, was the response he got.

You are welcome to leave if you have a problem.

The eventual interview was short and curt. I picked up my passport three days later to find I had been given a visa for just 12 days instead of the usual three months.

I returned to Doha and left for Israel a few days later, flying via Cyprus as there isnt a direct route between the two.

Lengthy interrogation

Upon arrival at Tel Avivs Ben Gurion airport, I was taken to a waiting room and spent the next three hours being interrogated by eight different officials, each playing either good cop or bad cop with the same set of questions.

I was made to write the names of every one of my family members, including my grandparents, before being allowed to leave.

Wherever you travel, theres a relief that comes with passing through airport security, picking up your luggage, and finally collapsing on to your hotel bed.

In Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, theres no such thing; the checks dont seem to end.

I was out there to work on stories, and most of our travel time would be spent passing through various security checkpoints dotted throughout the area.

I have only heard and read about apartheid in South Africa and had often wondered how it was possible to segregate public facilities and social activities.

Nothing quite prepared me for what I saw in Jerusalem.

Life is segregated for Israelis and Palestinians to the extent that there are even different buses for Jews and Arabs.

A young Palestinian mother was made to stand in the sun with her baby while officials at the checkpoint sat in their vehicle and questioned her. [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]

Checkpoints

I was travelling on one such bus with Palestinians leaving Jerusalem for the occupied West Bank when soldiers stopped the vehicle and demanded to see identification documents.

The soldiers checked ID cards for everyone on board  Israel issues military permits to a few Palestinians who are allowed to visit Jerusalem.

A young Palestinian carrying a baby in her arms was asked to get off the bus as her permit had expired.

Even though the woman kept telling them that she was leaving Jerusalem and returning to the West Bank, they took her off the bus regardless.

She was made to stand in the sun with her baby while officials at the checkpoint sat in their vehicle and questioned her.

I watched from my window, growing increasingly frustrated because I could not intervene and help her.

If it were a free country, people could have gone out to help her and challenge the officials. However, this is what occupation looks like, where repressed people are forced to endure every injustice thrown their way.

Since we were running late for an interview and the bus had been stopped for nearly an hour, we decided to get off the bus and cross the checkpoint on foot. I dont know what happened to the young mother.

Racial profiling is routine on the streets of Jerusalem, and I witnessed three men thoroughly searched in a span of just 10 minutes.

Such treatments come coupled with widespread hatred for Palestinians. A day before we reached Jerusalem, Israeli forces killed 34 unarmed Palestinians on the border with Gaza. We decided to interview people in West Jerusalem about those killings.

Just 34 killed? asked one Israeli.

They should have killed 200. I want them to kill all the Palestinians there, he said.

I was confounded by shock as he went on: My life is before [that of] the Arabs, meaning his life is worth more than an Arabs.

I could breathe again



On our last day in Jerusalem, my colleague and I decided to visit the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem. I went to the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

At the gate of the al-Aqsa compound  Islams third holiest site  an Israeli soldier asked me to recite verses from the Quran before allowing me inside the compound.

I told him that I was a Muslim, but he insisted that I recite something. It was a strange feeling; I was reciting because someone with a gun was telling me to do so.

I have thought about that moment every day since. It wasnt normal.

With the trip over, it was time for one last hurdle.

At Tel Aviv airport, your passport is given a sticker with a 10-digit figure. The first of the 10 digits ranges from one to six.

One and two are typically given to Israelis and those not deemed a security threat, while those who receive a higher figure must endure rigorous security checks.

As expected, the first number on my sticker was a six, and I had to go through four hours of security checks.

Even with high-tech body scanners, here you are still subjected to thorough pat-downs.

It felt as if this was being done to ensure that youd never return; they intentionally humiliate you and make you feel unwelcome.

My flight to Doha was via Jordan. The moment I landed in Jordans capital, Amman, I felt I could breathe again.
Indian prime minister highlights religious and cultural linkages between the two neighbours during his two-day trip.

Kathmandu, Nepal  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned home on Saturday after a whirlwind tour of Nepal, which critics said was largely aimed at shoring up the support of Hindu voters at home.

Analysts say there was little to show by way of concrete achievements for the host country.

Modi began his two-day trip in Janakpur, a border town in southern Nepal, and spent much of his 29 hours in Nepal visiting and offering prayers at major Hindu pilgrimage sites, including Janaki Temple, Muktinath Temple and Pashupatinath Temple.

Modis Nepali counterpart, Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli went the extra mile to make his guest feel welcome in Nepal, where resentment against India has soared after New Delhi imposed a five-month blockade on Nepal in September 2015 over the countrys controversial constitution.

People in the southern region, known as the Madhesi or Terai, organised mass protests against the promulgation of Nepals first constitution drafted by elected representatives in 2015.

Madhesi activists said that the new constitution, which came after a decade of Maoist armed rebellion (1996-2006), failed to address their political and economic marginalisation. India had voiced its support for the Madhesi demand to amend the constitution.

High on style and low on substance

The Nepalese prime minister travelled to Janakpur  that has been mentioned as the birthplace of Sita, the wife of Hindu god Ram, in the epic Ramayana  to welcome the Indian prime minister, with both leaders dressed in matching pink headgear and knee-length tunic with loose trousers.

Oli also made sure that Modi, who loves spectacle, was feted in public functions put on by the municipalities of Kathmandu and Janakpur, despite opposition from people who frowned upon such gestures only two years after the blockade, which caused a humanitarian crisis in the Himalayan nation.

Modi offered prayers at major Hindu pilgrimage sites, including Janaki, Muktinath and Pashupatinath Temples [Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters]

Geja Sharma Wagle, a geostrategic analyst based in the capital, Kathmandu, said the visit was high on style and low on substance.

The visit helped publicise Nepals religious sites, which were not widely known outside the country. Aside from that, I dont see any significant achievement for Nepal, he said.

Modis real intent appears to visit Nepal as a pilgrim, but the government, in a bid to please Modi, upgraded it to the level of state visit, he said.

Though it had religious overtones, some analysts saw the visit, a month after Olis trip to India, as New Delhis strategic move to undermine Chinas increasing footprint in Nepal.

China was the big elephant in the room. Nepals Foreign Minister [Pradeep] Gyawali was in Beijing recently. There are talks between the two countries about connectivity, but China cannot match India in Nepal, said Swaran Singh, a professor of international relations at Jawahar Lal University in New Delhi.

Chinese interest is purely commercial, but India is interested in exploring historical bonds between the two countries, he said referring to joint inauguration by Modi and Oli of Ramayan Circuit, covering sites related to the Hindu epic Ramayana in India and Nepal.

Wagle described the initiative as Indias shift from relying on hard power such as blockade to soft power by highlighting religious and cultural linkages between the two neighbours.

In his speeches, Modi repeatedly referred to the age-old religious bond between two countries. He wants to improve relations with Nepal by using soft power such as religion and culture, he said.

Bonhomie between Oli and Modi

Oli, who rose to power early this year after capitalising on nationalist fervour among Nepalese following the blockade, was being pragmatic as the leader of the landlocked country, which relies heavily on India for supply, trade and access to the sea, according to Wagle.

Modi hugged Oli after the press conference in Kathmandu. This is a rare gesture. He seems willing to deal with Nepal in a cordial manner, he said.

Modi was feted in public functions by municipalities of Kathmandu and Janakpur [Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters]

Nepal was part of Modis hyperactive diplomacy, with the visit focused on clearing the cobwebs at both the personal and political levels between the two leaders, according to Singh.

The bonhomie between Oli and Modi was part of a recent trend in which informal summits and personal rapport between leaders were accorded significance in international relations, he said.

This is the new style of meeting strategic goals. Its emphasising personal chemistry between leaders to foster mutual trust. Major political leaders from Japans Shino Abe to Modi now emphasise personal camaraderie, he said.

But the gesture wasnt enough to win back some of the ordinary people of Nepal.

When he learned about Modis state reception in Kathmandu, Bishodip Lamichhane, a graphic designer, launched hashtag #BlockadeWasCrimeMrModi to express his anger. A day before Modi arrived in Nepal, the hashtag trended on Twitter.

We suffered during the blockade. But I knew no one would talk about it during the visit. So I began the hashtag as a form of protest, he told Al Jazeera. Majority of civilians opposed the blockade, but I realised that such a voice hadnt found an outlet.

Some experts such as Avinash Godbole, an assistant professor at Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities in New Delhi, however, noted that India and Nepal were eager to turn over a new leaf in their bilateral relations.

India-Nepal relations have already moved on from that episode, and it is difficult to point as to who exactly was responsible for it. Stability in Nepalese politics is another reason to go ahead with the visit, he said.

This visit follows from PM Olis visit earlier this year and [is] a move forward in the bilateral relations, which clearly slowed down after the constitution process in Nepal. Nepal being the only neighbour he has visited thrice shows the importance India attaches to Nepal.
On May 8, President Donald Trump framed the withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as a dire necessity, calling attention to the rotten structure of the current agreement and promising a new era of allied engagement to devise a more robust deal to constrain Iranian ambitions in the region. Trumps decision, however, is strategically incoherent.

On the one hand, he is preaching the old neoconservative rhetoric  doubling down on hawkish policies towards Iran, signalling regime change, and undertaking unilateral US actions against Iran without the support of key historical allies. On the other, he is practising Fortress America on the cheap  pledging to reduce American commitments to the Middle East, announcing removal of troops from Syria, and demanding US allies in the Middle East share the financial burden of American security umbrellas.

The US withdrawal from the JCPOA has laid bare the strategic contradictions inherent in this approach. The United States has abrogated its leadership position on global nuclear non-proliferation while demanding trust and support from allies. It has also reopened the prospect of Iranian nuclear armament while forfeiting the moral and institutional ammunition the US would need to clinch a better deal.

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If President Trump does indeed wish to renegotiate a better deal, he will find it very difficult to do so without international support. No countries  outside the literal handful of Saudi Arabia, Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain  have supported the US withdrawal from the JCPOA. On the other hand, most of the rest of the world are staunchly supportive of the nuclear deal. The EU High Representative pledged to preserve the JCPOA and underlined the importance of common interests and multilateral approaches to resolving outstanding international issues.

The amount of capital  human, diplomatic, and financial  that the US spent, to enable the toughest multilateral sanctions in history, in the words of former US Secretary of State John Kerry, is difficult to overestimate. These costs included committing vast internal bureaucratic resources to pursue a complex sanctions regime, and in the international arena, engaging in lobbying campaigns with heavyweights such as China and Russia to pass UN Security Council resolutions against Iran that these countries strongly opposed. Fifteen years of heavy costs incurred by the US and allies have been wasted for no tangible return, all while reopening the Pandoras box of nuclear non-proliferation concerns regarding Iran.

The deal will likely limp on in the short run, sustained by the diplomatic perseverance of the EU and Iranian calculations. However, in the future, the EU will likely be unable to maintain this role in the face of forceful US dissent. In other words, their ability to provide significant economic relief to Iran against the likely wave of US secondary sanctions will be minimal and thus result in the dismemberment of the deal.

The result of these actions will be a stung but not seriously weakened Iran exploiting divisions within Western allies, some of whom are anxious to slap band-aids onto what remains of the deal. Iran will also adopt a more aggressive regional posture to dispel notions that the deal has weakened them and due to the ascendance of domestic hardline political currents which were opposed to the deal from the outset.

If Trump expects Iran to abandon its regional activities - including over ballistic missiles and engagements in Iraq and Syria - it may find Iran moving towards the other extreme: furthering those measures to increase its security guarantees.

Iran is unlikely to take this standing still, aware that European powers will be unable to provide their promised economic relief. Stymied in its nuclear programme, it is likely to escalate its presence in Syria and its support for militia groups across the region, including in Iraq, to increase its leverage against the American military presence that surrounds it in the Middle East. The termination of the nuclear deal has almost certainly put a flint to the regional tinder at a time when international arbiters and great power diplomacy are in short supply.

If Trump expects Iran to abandon its regional activities  including over ballistic missiles and engagement in Iraq and Syria  it may find Iran moving towards the other extreme: furthering those measures to increase its security guarantees. Iran would only be willing to potentially trade off some of those behaviours if it believed that the US could be trustworthy in upholding its end of the bargain and had no inclination towards regime change. Since none of those prerequisites exists, Iran is unlikely to engage in a new grand bargain with a power that just unilaterally pulled out of an international deal to which Iran was complying as testified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and all European powers.

Ayatollah Khameneis next move, as indicated in a recent speech, will be to extend and exploit this moment of hardline vindication to undermine the credibility of the Europeans by turning all eyes on the EU powers and placing the onus on them for economic guarantees. This puts Iran in the clear, allowing it to use the US violation and withdrawal from the agreement  alongside European ineffectiveness  to move beyond the deal. This move is likely eastwards. Ayatollah Khamenei has voiced a preference for East over West, in particular towards Russia and China, rival great powers that may offer a counterbalance to the US. As Russias interests within the region increasingly coincide with Iran, the Iran-Russia partnership will further constrain the US space to manoeuvre and come to dictate the nature and pace of regional developments, such as the Syrian war.

Finally, the withdrawal marks a turning point in the post-revolutionary history of modern Iran as the first major bitter experience of the countrys youth with the US and the first direct public negotiation with America  inflaming Iranian nationalism, undermining the value of engaging the West and shifting the domestic discourse to a hardline position. The Iranian public will bear the brunt of the re-imposed sanctions regime, and as polls earlier this year indicated, are placing the blame squarely on the US. This is a gift to hardline Iranian elites as it undermines the platform of moderate President Hassan Rouhani. Not only have hardliners been vindicated, but the likely shift towards hardline ascendancy in Iranian politics suggests a closing of the door on diplomacy with the West.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
Among the top 20 countries in internet usage worldwide, India has the highest yearly growth rate of internet users. Easy access to the internet has enabled many people, especially women and other marginalised groups, to overcome traditional barriers and participate in the public sphere.

However, the violence women face in these virtual spaces has in many ways left them feeling vulnerable, not empowered. More so, if one identifies themselves as a woman from a minority religious, racial or ethnic background, a woman with disabilities, or a lesbian, bisexual or transgender individual. Online violence against women  that is, violence directed at women by virtue of their gender  violates their human rights and is thus an impediment to the attainment of gender equality.

Amnesty International India recently launched a campaign to address the issue of online violence faced by women in the country. It has been interviewing women who express their opinions online, documenting their experiences of being active on social media platforms and the violence they regularly face online.

At an event organised in New Delhi on April 24 as part of this campaign, Rana Ayyub, an award-winning writer and journalist, shared how she had received rape and death threats on platforms like Twitter and how, more often than not, her complaints to the platform fell on deaf ears.

I have reported so many profiles on Twitter, but the platform seems oblivious to all these. In addition to the hate and abuse, there are fourteen fake profiles in my name and with my picture. I have reported those profiles, but they continue to exist, because, apparently, they are not against Twitters policies, or so I have been told.

Kiruba Munusamy, an advocate in the Supreme Court of India, has also been very vocal about the intersectionality of abuse and violence online. While the abuse and violence faced online is gendered, it gets even worse when the abuser finds out that the person posting her picture or opinion belongs to a lower caste. Comments on a short dress turn into comments on a woman belonging to a lower caste wearing them, she told the audience at the event. Despite being a practising lawyer at the Supreme Court, Munusamy was advised by some officials not to take forward a case of online abuse that she faced on Facebook, and most of the comments received on her profile were deleted without her consent. Student activists like Shehla Rashid and celebrities like Swara Bhaskar have also faced an increased wave of abusive tweets and online abuse because they are vocal about issues they feel strongly about.

In 2017, Amnesty International polled 4,000 women in eight countries, including the UK and the US, and found that nearly 76 percent of women who had experienced abuse or harassment on a social media platform changed how they used the platform. Around two-thirds of women who experienced abuse or harassment on social media platforms said that they felt a sense of powerlessness after experiencing online abuse. Forty-one percent of women said that on at least one occasion, these online experiences made them feel their physical safety was threatened.

The situation is not very different in India. Kavita Krishnan, Politburo member of the CPI(ML) and Secretary of the All India Progressive Womens Association, who has been on the receiving end of rape threats and misogyny, says that online violence needs to be taken seriously and it often has the potential to spill into physical abuse and violence. Online abuse and it not being taken seriously emboldens people to verbally assault you. People have come up to me and told me I am of a bad character after fake news spread online of me questioning the potency of the PM and asking him to prove he is not impotent by sleeping with me.

Abuse against women on Twitter and other platforms can also include doxxing which involves revealing personal information or identifying documents or details about someone, on an online platform, without their consent. In April this year, Rana Ayyubs address and phone number, and an obscene video with her face morphed on it were shared online in response to a tweet that came from a fake account using her name. She feared for her safety and that of her family and filed a criminal complaint.

Women from academic circles are not spared of online vitriol, especially if their writings are not in conformity with the ideology of the abusers. Audrey Truschke, historian and author of the book, Aurangzeb, The Man and the Myth, told Amnesty International India I mostly post about Mughal history, especially Aurangzeb. I also post about modern Indian culture and politics. I am regularly attacked, using sexist language, on the basis of my perceived race (white/Caucasian), and on the basis of my perceived religion (Christianity  sometimes specifically Catholicism or Evangelicalism  Judaism, and atheism). I stopped reporting sexist tweets to Twitter because they never did anything about it. Following Twitters change in policy about hate speech late last year, I again began reporting the worst of the sexist tweets, and, occasionally, Twitter does something about it.

India already has laws that  while flawed  can be used to deal with online abuse. What needs attention is a better implementation of the same. This implementation needs to be coupled with non-legal measures to address the structural inequalities which stem in part from patriarchal notions of morality, lying at the heart of the online abuse faced by women. A starting point to address this gender-based abuse on online platforms can be asking these platforms to start following their own guidelines on abuse and hateful conduct, which, as research has shown, are flouted by the platforms themselves!

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
Native Hawaiians and others fight the US militarys use of land on Big Island for live-fire testing.

Kealakekua, Hawaii  Earl DeLeon works on his small family plot where he grows traditional Hawaiian crops like taro and breadfruit on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Pausing to rest, DeLeon recalls how he and six other Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) swam ashore and occupied the isolated island of Kahoolawe in 1977, which was then being used by the US navy for live-fire training.

It became the catalyst of the whole aloha aina concept of loving the land and taking care of the land that takes care of you, DeLeon tells Al Jazeera.

That direct action eventually helped end half a century of bombing on Kahoolawe.

DeLeon is a tall, sturdy man but his voice trembles with emotion as he recounts how one kupuna  a female elder  hugged him and thanked him for standing up for the Kanaka Maoli.

DeLeon is a Native Hawaiian who has been protesting against live-fire testing [Jon Letman/Al Jazeera]

Four decades later, the US military continues to conduct live-fire training on Hawaiis Big Island at the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA), the largest military installation in the Pacific, nearly five times as large as Kahoolawe and the size of Guam.

Despite its size, PTA often goes unnoticed by the islands residents and visitors.

Over 1,800 metres above sea level, PTA sprawls across rugged black lava fields between two of the worlds largest volcanoes, Maua Loa and Maua Kea, and a third, Hualalai.

PTA was established during World War II as training grounds for US marines and is now used for testing and training by the military, as well as the Hawaii County Police Special Response Team.

Bouncing along in a pick-up truck over the rough roads between grenade training pits and small arms, artillery, mortar, munitions and combat training ranges, Eric Hamilton, a US army public affairs officer, explains how PTA allows both US and allied forces to train using all available weapons systems in a controlled environment.

Pohakuloa Training Area has seen live-fire training since World War II [Jon Letman/Al Jazeera]

Military units arrive at Kawaihae Harbor where they off-load their equipment and vehicles before travelling in a convoy up to PTA, where the austere environment gives soldiers and marines a taste of the hardships of deployment.

But many Kanaka Maoli, who in January marked 125 years since the US overthrow of their once independent kingdom, dispute PTAs legitimacy.

Its sacred

PTA is a patchwork of 34,000 hectares of Hawaiian government crown lands seized by executive order, a privately purchased 9,700 hectare parcel and a connecting 9,300 hectare belt of land leased from the state of Hawaii for 65 years for a total of $1.

Last month, Hawaii First Circuit Court Judge Gary Chang ruled that Hawaiis Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) was in breach of trust for its inadequate oversight to malama aina (care for the land) on land used for live-fire training under the terms of the lease.

The ruling compels DLNR to produce a plan for enhanced inspections and greater environmental oversight by the end of 2018. Failure to comply with the ruling could jeopardise renewal of the lease, which expires in 2029.

The suit was brought forward by Clarence Kukauakahi Uncle Ku Ching, a retired lawyer, and a fellow plaintiff.

Ching has spent decades walking across Hawaii Island, hiking through shrublands, over volcanoes, from coast to coast, living close to the land he considers sacred.

Like many opponents of PTA, he is concerned about the environmental impact and is opposed to Hawaii being used as a staging ground for the US military.

To those who question his charge that live-fire training desecrates sacred land, Ching says it really doesnt matter what they think.

Theyre not here. If I think Mauna Kea (White Mountain) is sacred  its sacred.

Ching was referring to the 4,205-metre high volcano whose name evokes the snow-capped summit.

Some may look at Pohakuloa and see a barren landscape of rocks, but Ching says theyre significant rocks.

Pohakuloa can be translated from Hawaiian as long rock.

A second interpretation is night of the long prayer.

No matter how it is translated, there is a fundamental misunderstanding behind using the area for war training, says Lakea Trask, who identifies as a kiai mauna or mountain guardian.

The importance of Pohakuloa culturally and ecologically cannot be overstated, Trask tells Al Jazeera.

This is not just a remote, barren wasteland, he says. This is wao akua (realm of the gods), and the volcanic rock is the vessel that carries and preserves fresh water.

Wherever you see pohaku, Trask says, its not just talking about rock. Its talking about water.

In the Hawaiian language, fresh water is wai and wealth is wai wai.

The watersheds and all the life they sustain  every forest, every stream, and the wao kanaka (human communities) below are fed by waters flowing from Pohakuloa, says Trask. Our kupuna are telling you thats where the water is being stored and protected.

Depleted uranium

Not all those who oppose the presence of PTA are Native Hawaiians.

Jim Albertini, founder of the Malu Aina Peace Center For Non-Violent Education and Action, is on a mission to raise awareness of past use of depleted uranium (DU) in the area.

The DU was used as ballast in training munitions for the tactical nuclear Davy Crockett weapon system at PTA between 1965 and 1968.

This use of DU and other weapons, Albertini says, has created a toxic stew of materials.

Albertini says in 2008 Hawaiis County Council passed a resolution calling for a halt to PTA live-fire training to address the hazards of DU.

Secret sarin nerve agent tests by the military in Hawaii in the 1960s contributes to the mistrust many harbour today, he says.

Albertini holds a weekly peace vigil in the town of Hilo [Jon Letman/Al Jazeera]

The amount of DU used in Hawaii during that time, Hamilton says, was 136kg  enough to fit into a piece of carry-on luggage.

According to Hamilton, the public-affairs officer, the US army follows all safety requirements set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

We basically complied with everything we had as soon as we knew we had to do it, he says, adding that concerns about DU are vastly overblown.

Hamilton also calls charges of bombing the aina (land) the biggest fallacies [that] arise from a real lack of understanding about what happens here and what did happen here.

Very carefully monitored

According to Hamilton, all training at PTA is strictly monitored with an emphasis on safety and minimalising impact.

Theres no haphazard anything that goes on here, he says.

We dont just come out here and allow people to just go crazy shooting things anywhere they choose. Everything from small-arms fire to artillery to rocketry  all of these are very carefully monitored by at least three different entities.

That argument rings hollow to opponents like Ruth Aloua, an archaeologist and kiai loko or traditional fishpond guardian who leads a community group near Kona in the restoration of a centuries-old coastal fish pond where fresh water flows in from springs fed by Hawaiis volcanoes.

Calling PTA a zone of violence, Aloua says, for me, as a Kanaka Maoli, it stands against everything that we are as a people and everything that our kingdom stands for. And as individuals, as aloha for our aina on the most basic level of interactions with place. Its everything opposite of what I am made of and everything opposite of what I know is right.

When you call into question these developments or the bombing of our sacred lands, it's really calling in to question the future that we're giving our children. Do they even have a future? That should be the question. We're under the assumption that they will. That is not known. Ruth Aloua, archaeologist and kiai loko

In the struggle to protect sacred places, Aloua also sees a direct connection between PTA and the battle to stop construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) atop Mauna Kea.

Im always reminding myself, Pohakuloa is at the base of Mauna Kea, and so it is Mauna Kea. So the TMT on the northern plateau and going up to the wao akua in that area, its all related so whether we go down to Pohakuloa or we continue down to where we are, down by our ocean reefs.

The movement to protect Mauna Kea, she says, has awakened the younger generation, motivating them to find their courage and raise their voices to join with aloha aina warriors like Earl DeLeon who have been fighting to protect Papahanaumoku (the Earth Mother Goddess) since the struggle for Kahoolawe in the 1970s.

When you call into question these developments or the bombing of our sacred lands, its really calling into question the future that were giving our children, Aloua says.

Do they even have a future? That should be the question. Were under the assumption that they will.

She then pauses and adds: That is not known.
Controversial embassy relocation expected to be met with mass protests across the occupied Palestinian territories.

A US delegation has flown to Israel amid rising tensions ahead of planned protests against the controversial move of the American embassy to Jerusalem and rallies calling for the Palestinians right of return to the homes from which they were expelled from in 1948.

Several US officials, joined by President Donald Trumps daughter Ivanka and her husband and senior adviser Jared Kushner, will attend the opening on Monday, which coincides with the 70th anniversary of Israels founding.

Trump announced last December that Washington formally recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and would move its embassy there from Tel Aviv, breaking with decades of US policy.

His decision, long-sought by Israel, sparked anger and protests throughout the occupied Palestinian territories and drew condemnation from world leaders.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trumps bold decision as the Israeli foreign ministry held a festive ceremony to welcome the US delegation, which also included 12 Congress members.

The event, however, was shunned by most European Union countries.

Earlier, hundreds of Jewish settlers raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, raising the Israeli flag and praying there, on what Israelis call Jerusalem Day, which marks the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967.

The ancient marble-and-stone compound, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, houses Al-Aqsa Mosque  Islams third-holiest site  and the 7th-century Dome of the Rock. Jews call it Temple Mount.

Visits by Jewish groups, including politicians, have triggered violence over the years, with Palestinians fearing that Israeli hardliners are trying to take control of the site.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its united capital, and its annexation of East Jerusalem effectively put the entire city under de-facto Israeli control.

Palestinian leaders, however, see East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Thousands of Palestinians on Monday are expected to protest against the relocation from across the occupied Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip as part of the Great March of Return.

The Great March of Return includes rallies that are part of a weeks-long protest that will culminate on May 15 to mark what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba or Catastrophe  a reference to Israels establishment in 1948, when 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly removed from Palestine.

Since the protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 49 Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave.

More than 8,500 Palestinians have also been wounded.
A recently passed South Carolina law targets criticism of Israel in schools by branding it anti-Semitic.

Responding to claims by a student quoted at the end of this report, the University of South Carolina said: "First, USC has not supported the anti-Semitism bill or provisio. Secondly, our administration is committed to maintaining and supporting a diverse and inclusive campus. Thats not to say we are immune to the larger societal problem of racism and bigotry."

Civil rights activists are opposing the passage of a bill that equates criticism of Israeli policies with anti-Semitism in the US state of South Carolina.

The new bill would effectively deem any criticism of Israel in publicly funded schools and state colleges as anti-Semitic.

Unable to pass it as a standalone law for the past two years over questions about its constitutionality, supporters of the measure used a legislative tactic known as a rider to insert it into the states 2018-2019 budget. The measure will expire after one year.

Supporters of Israel see the controversial bill as a triumph, arguing that any criticism of Israel is inherently anti-Semitic and should be banned on college campuses.

Opponents argue the bill is politically motivated and has nothing to do with the actual issue of anti-Semitism. They argue the law will instil fear in academic circles and create self-censorship among professors and students who will be reluctant to include Israel in political discussions.

Brad Hutto, a Democratic South Carolina senator, played down the impact of the new law, saying it would not change freedom of speech in South Carolinas public schools and universities.

Hutto, who voted against the bill, told Al Jazeera freedom of speech is alive and well in South Carolina.

Cooper says the law stifles free speech and academic debate Cooper says the law stifles free speech and academic debate

Joshua Cooper, a professor of mathematics at the University of South Carolina at Columbia, told Al Jazeera he opposes the law not only because it stifles free speech and academic debate, but also because it violates the values of his Jewish faith.

The law will chill free speech on campus when a robust debate is desperately needed, he said.

Barry Trachtenberg, director of the Jewish studies programme at Wake Forest University, who teaches a course on anti-Semitism, said there should be clear distinctions between actual anti-Semitic hatred and legitimate criticism of Israel.

Cooper, also a member of the Academic Advisory Council of Jewish Voice for Peace, said that, as a Jewish person, he does not want to be identified with Israel when it commits human rights abuses and continues to occupy Palestinian territories.

The bill identifies Jews with Israel. As a Jew, I dont want to be associated with Israels human rights abuses, Cooper said.

The bills sponsor, Representative Alan Clemmons, told Reuters news agency that Jews are subject to intense anti-Semitism in the US with Jews at the point of the hate spear in this country.

The Anti-Defamation League said in February the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the US jumped by 57 percent last year.

The passage of the law shows South Carolina as leading the fight against anti-Semitism, he said.

Trachtenberg is the director of Jewish studies programme at Wake Forest University

Reinforcing anti-Semitism

Trachtenberg argued the legislation would actually reinforce anti-Semitic hatred against Jews, not decrease it.

It is my sense that such laws are more likely to exacerbate anti-Semitism rather than combat it for they reinforce the notion that Jews are an exceptional people who require laws that pertain only to them, he said.

Speech that is racist, ethnically motivated, or discriminatory may be legal in the US, but it must be opposed by all concerned with freedom, equality, and human rights. Speech that questions Israels founding principles, policies, and actions is entirely legitimate.

Dana al-Hasan, a Palestinian graduate student at the University of South Carolina and president of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the university, told Al Jazeera the new law is no more than a political tool by the Israeli lobby.

She said she often works with Jewish students to raise awareness about hate speech and anti-Semitism.

Needless to say, we at the SJP denounce and never condone anti-Semitism. Palestinian and Jewish students work hand in hand to fight hatred, she said.

Arya Novinbakht, a graduate student at the University of South Carolina and a member of the Jewish community in the area, told Al Jazeera the law would only obstruct our community from discussing the Israeli policies and behaviour in the Middle East, and thats not healthy or constructive for us.

Novinbakht also criticised the University of South Carolina for not doing anything to combat racism and discrimination against African American students, while actively supporting this biased law.

Follow Ali Younes on Twitter: @ali_reports
Hamas political chief Ismail Haniya arrives in Cairo to discuss developments in Palestine and the region.

The senior political leader of Hamas Ismail Haniya has travelled to Cairo with a high-ranking delegation to hold talks with senior Egyptian officials about developments in Palestine and the region.

A Hamas statement on Sunday said the delegation had accepted an invitation extended by neighbouring Egypt.

Hamas governs the Gaza Strip, a densely populated coastal enclave that shares borders with Egypt and Israel, with which it has fought three wars since 2008.

The agenda will include talks over the controversial US embassy move, scheduled to take place on Monday.

The decision announced by US President Donald Trump in December has angered Palestinians, who view the eastern part of the city as the capital of their future state.

Thousands of Palestinians are expected to protest against the move from across the occupied Palestinian territories on Monday, including the Gaza Strip as part of the Great March of Return.





The Great March of Return includes rallies that are part of a weeks-long protest that will culminate on May 15 to mark what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba or Catastrophe  a reference to Israels establishment in 1948, when 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly removed from Palestine.

Since the protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 49 Palestinians in the coastal enclave, and wounded more than 8,500.

For much of the last decade, Egypt has joined Israel in enforcing a crippling blockade that has deprived Gazas roughly two million inhabitants of most basic commodities, including food items, fuel and medicine.

Haniya is also expected to discuss the rekindling of the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation agreement that has largely been at a standstill for months, according to Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum.

Rival Palestinian faction Fatah, led by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah that governs parts of the occupied West Bank, signed a reconciliation agreement with Hamas under Egypts auspices in October 2017, but the terms of the agreement signed in the Egyptian capital have not been implemented.

Ties between the two sides reached a new low in March when Fatah blamed Hamas for an explosion that targeted Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallahs convoy during a visit to the Gaza Strip.

Haniya is expected to return to Gaza later on Sunday.
At least 13 killed in bombings at three churches in Surabaya carried out by members of one family, police say.

At least 13 people were killed and more than 40 wounded in separate suicide attacks by one family on three churches in Indonesias second-largest city.

Police said the bombings were carried out by six family members, including two young children, on Sunday in Surabaya, about 800km west of Indonesias capital, Jakarta. The blasts occurred minutes apart as worshippers headed into the churches for services.

The father and one of the sons did the attack on the first church, the mother with two young children under the age of 10 committed the second attack. Two younger boys around the age of 16 committed the third attack, Al Jazeeras Step Vaessen, reporting from Surabaya, cited the citys police chief as saying.

Several more bombs were found in two different churches that didnt explode.

At least seven people plus the six bombers died in the attacks in Surabaya, according to police.

The bombings were the worst to target churches in Indonesia since a series of attacks on Christmas Eve in 2000 killed 15 people and wounded nearly 100.

This act is barbaric and beyond the limits of humanity, causing victims among members of society, the police and even innocent children, President Joko Widodo said during a visit to the scene.

#Jakarta: Suicide bombers attacked three #churches in Indonesias second-largest city of #Surabaya on Sunday, killing at least six people and wounding more than 35 others, police said. #indonesia pic.twitter.com/vMdfOr25I6  Arman Sabir (@ArmanSabir) May 13, 2018

A spokesperson for the countrys intelligence agency said Sundays bombings were suspected to have been carried out by an ISIL-inspired group, Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

Abu Bakar Bashir, JADs leader, pledged allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in 2014.

The group has committed smaller attacks over the last few years, but Sundays was the largest and most coordinated in Indonesia in the last decade.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said the father detonated a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother and her two daughters wore explosives. He said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently ISIL controlled significant territory.

The wife of one of the victims said the attack took place shortly before the Sunday service was about to start.

They were about to celebrate mass. My husband was opening doors and welcoming people, she said.

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No church services will be allowed because the authorities suspect more attacks could happen.

The bombings come days after prisoners linked to ISIL killed five members of an elite counter-terrorism force during a 36-hour standoff at a high security jail on the outskirts of the capital.

Just this morning in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, 3 church are bombed pic.twitter.com/WiXY6KSmXB  ottingf (@OttingFirdaus) May 13, 2018

Bali attacks

In 2002, more than 200 people were killed in a string of bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack, carried out by a group with ties to al-Qaeda, targeted mostly tourists at popular nightclubs in the city of Kuta.

Since then, Indonesian police have arrested and killed hundreds of people with links to Jemaah Islamiyah, the group responsible for those bombings.

Police have been celebrating sort of a victory over the last couple of years and a lot of people were more relaxed now, Vaessen said.

Writer and journalist Michael Vatikiotis told Al Jazeera a substantial number of ISIL-members might reside in Indonesia.

After the fall of Marawi in the southern Philippines many of them [the fighters] have probably washed back into Indonesia, Vatikiotis said.

On top of that, theres probably been a greater directive from whatever is left of ISIL in Iraq and Syria to start operations in Indonesia and the Philippines, he added.

Christian minority

Sundays attacks were denounced by the two largest Islamic organisations in the country, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah.

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In a statement, Nahdlatul Ulama said: There is no place for terrorism, not here, not anywhere.

The organisation also called on people to report any suspicious behaviour that might be related to any future attacks.

Although Indonesia prides itself on being a multi-religious country, Christians have been targeted more regularly in the last couple of years.

About 10 percent of Indonesias 261 million people are Christian. The country boasts the worlds largest Muslim population, about 227 million people.
Iran nuclear deal: Iranians worry about impact of US sanctions

Iranians are bracing themselves for the possibility of more hardship from sanctions following US President Donald Trumps decision to pull out of the deal.
FM says Tehran is ready for all options as he embarks on tour with pacts other signatories in wake of US withdrawal.

Irans foreign minister has held talks in China as he began a diplomatic tour with the remaining signatories of a multinational nuclear deal following the recent US withdrawal from the landmark 2015 pact.

Speaking on Sunday in Beijing, Mohammad Javad Zarif underlined Tehrans readiness for all options but expressed optimism that this round of negotiations could save the 2015 deal.





We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement, Zarif said, speaking alongside his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

[But] if the nuclear deal is to continue, the interests of the people of Iran must be assured.

Earlier on Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would remain committed to the deal if the remaining five countries abide by the agreement.

Diplomatic tour

After the Chinese capital, Zarif will attend talks in Moscow and Brussels with representatives of the pacts other signatories.

Under the deal signed in Vienna with six world powers  China, France, Russia, the UK, the US, Germany, and the European Union  Iran scaled back its uranium enrichment programme and promised not to pursue nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly confirmed that Tehran has been meeting its nuclear commitments fully.

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However, US President Donald Trump, a long-time critic of the agreement, on Tuesday defied last-ditch efforts by European allies and announced Washingtons withdrawal from the deal.

Trump directed his administration to immediately begin the process of re-imposing sanctions related to the deal, a White House statement said.

The sanctions will target critical sectors of Irans economy, including petrochemicals, energy and finance.

All foreign businesses operating in Iran will be required to wind down activities or risk severe consequences, the statement added, in effect threatening billions of dollars worth of business deals.

A number of European companies, including Airbus, Siemens and Total, had established operations in Iran since the signing of the deal.

While announcing his decision, Trump called the agreement defective at its core, claiming that after the lifting of the sanctions Tehran used its new funds to build nuclear-capable missiles, support terrorism and cause havoc throughout the Middle East and beyond.

Some analysts, however, accused him of doubling down on hawkish policies towards Iran.

International reaction

Fellow signatories to the deal have been quick to denounce Trumps decision.

Following his meeting with Zarif on Sunday, Chinas foreign minister said Beijing would work to maintain the [nuclear] deal, state news agency Xinhua reported.

China will take an objective, fair and responsible attitude, [and] keep communication and cooperation [up] with all parties concerned, Wang said.

Earlier in the week, France, Germany and the UK expressed regret and concern over the US withdrawal.

Together, we emphasise our continuing commitment to the JCPOA. This agreement remains important for our shared security, a joint statement signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UK Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday.

Russia has also criticised Trumps decision, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov alleging the move was protectionism in disguise, in comments made on Thursday to state news agency TASS.

Before leaving Iran, Zarif published a government statement via Twitter criticising Trumps extremist administration for abandoning an accord recognised as a victory of diplomacy by the international community.

Al Jazeeras Zein Basravi, reporting from Tehran, said Zarifs tour was an attempt to salvage the nuclear deal and keep it on life support.

They have faith Russia and China will stand by their side as some of their closest allies and biggest supporters, added Basravi.

But it really is a question mark as to what Europe can do for them in the face of  Americas position in the global banking system and the punitive measures they could take on countries and businesses in Europe that do business in Iran.

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called the US withdrawal impudent and worthless.

Khamenei said on Wednesday that Iran does not trust France, Germany and the UK to provide the real guarantees needed for Iran to remain in the agreement.

Basravi said the Rouhani governments political health  hangs in the balance as the administration has married itself to this deal and championed it as the answer to all of the countrys economic woes.

Now, even though hardline critics of the government say they support the president, they are predicting that this will shake the foundation of Rouhanis cabinet, added Basravi.

Iran has warned it could resume uranium enrichment without limit in response to Trumps decision.
Iraqi officials say 44.5 percent of voters cast ballots in election seen as verdict on PM Haider al-Abadis tenure.

Iraqs election commission says the results of the first national vote since declaring victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group are expected within two days.

The vote on Saturday saw a record low turnout, with only 44 percent of eligible voters casting ballots. No election since 2003 has had a turnout below 60 percent. More than 10 million Iraqis voted.

Polling station officials blamed the low turnout on a combination of tight security measures, voter apathy and irregularities linked to a new electronic voting system.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is running to keep his post. His chief rivals are political parties with closer ties to Iran, as well as influential scholar Muqtada al-Sadr, a staunch nationalist who campaigned against government corruption.

Nearly 7,000 candidates from dozens of political alliances are competing for 329 seats in parliament.

Al-Abadi, who heads the Nasr (Victory) coalition, is seen by some as a frontrunner, but he faces stiff competition from Hadi al-Amiri, a paramilitary commander heading the Fateh alliance.

Another strong contender is Nouri al-Maliki, a former prime minister who is seen as a possible kingmaker in the vote.

The results are expected within 48 hours of the vote, according to the independent body overseeing the process.

Difficulties in voting

By Saturday afternoon, less than 20 percent of residents in the capital, Baghdad, had turned out to vote, according to the Iraqi High Electoral Commission (IHEC).

Initial IHEC reports put the overall turnout at 32 percent, compared with about 60 percent in the last elections four years ago.





Commenting on the low voter turnout, Renad Mansour, a research fellow at UK-based think-tank Chatham House, told Al Jazeera: Many Iraqis, especially in Sunni areas, do not view the election as legitimate. Many boycotted the vote because they do not believe it will make a difference.

The low turnout was also partly blamed on a curfew and vehicle ban that came into force after midnight across several provinces in Iraq.

The restrictions left the streets of the capital, Baghdad, empty during the early hours of the vote.

With public transport also banned, only vehicles belonging to security forces and politicians were allowed to move around.

The polling stations were far away from us and without cars allowed, it was really hard to get to the polling stations, said Amal, a housewife living in central Baghdad.

The ban was partially lifted by al-Abadi later in the day, in an effort to improve turnout.

Meanwhile, only 285,000 people out of Iraqs displaced population of two million had registered to vote, the electoral commission said.

Security was tight at polling stations in Baghdad during Saturdays vote [Wissm al-Okili/Reuters]

The poll saw the implementation of a new electronic voting system for the first time in a bid to reduce electoral fraud.

Many wanting to cast their ballots at different polling stations across the country complained of irregularities.

We visited IHEC and checked the biometric system, we were very surprised how faulty the workflow and management was, we reported this, Hiwa Afandi, the head of the Kurdistan Regional Governments department of information technology, said in a post on Twitter.

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Not using technology is better than a faulty implementation. Auditing and certifying is a must for such application where trust is a big issue, he added.

The IHEC insisted that despite the irregularities, voting hours would not be extended because the electronic voting system had been scheduled to close at 6pm (15:00 GMT).

Iraqs political system

Negotiations over the formation of a new government are expected to drag on as no single alliance is expected to able to win the 165 seats required for an outright majority.

Instead, the bloc that wins the most seats will have to rely on the support of smaller groups to achieve a majority.

Until a new prime minister is chosen, al-Abadi will remain in office and retain all his powers.

Political power in Iraq is traditionally divided along sectarian lines among the offices of prime minister, president and speaker of parliament.

Since the first elections following the 2003 US-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, the Shia majority has held the position of prime minister, while the Kurds have held the presidency and the Sunnis the post of speaker of parliament.

The constitution sets a quota for female representation, stating that no less than one-fourth of parliament members must be women.

Once the election results are ratified by Iraqs Supreme Court, parliament is required to meet within 15 days.

Its eldest member will chair the first session, during which a speaker will be elected. Parliament must then elect a president by a two-thirds majority vote within 30 days of its first meeting.

The president is charged with naming a member of the largest bloc in parliament  the prime minister-designate  to form a cabinet within 30 days. If that individual fails, the president must nominate a new person for the post of prime minister.

In the past, forming a government has taken up to eight months. In 2005, allegations of vote-rigging delayed the ratification of election results for weeks.

Voting in Kurdish areas

Kurdish areas  where a banned referendum on secession was held last year  witnessed a relatively higher voter turnout compared with other parts of the country, according to reporters on the ground.





In Kurdish areas, mobilisation might have worked in getting people out to vote. One of the main reasons behind this is that the referendum made Kurds realise that they cannot ignore Baghdad because when they did during the referendum, it backfired, explained Mansour.

Following the September 2017 referendum, the Iraqi military seized control of disputed territories, including the city of Kirkuk.

The territorial losses left many Kurds disillusioned with their leaders.

As a result, the two main parties that have traditionally dominated the Kurdish political scene  the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)  are now expected to see a drop in their share of the vote.

In contrast, smaller political forces such as Goran (Change), the Democracy and Justice Party  led by former senior PUK official Barham Saleh  and the Kurdistan Islamic Group  also known as Komal, led by Ali Bapir  are likely to record a strong poll showing.

ISIL, US-Iran ties

In Baghdad, some Sunni voters expressed hope the election would help Iraq move beyond sectarian politics and become more inclusive.

I voted for new people to come into the government, Haitham Hasballah, from the Baghdad neighbourhood of Mansouria, told Al Jazeera.

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The political situation in Iraq has been getting from bad to worse, so we definitely need new faces.

Another voter, Shaker Mahmoud, told Al Jazeera: I voted for new people. I dont want anyone from the old government. Im hopeful that change will take Iraq towards a positive direction.

Still, others in central Baghdad said they voted for al-Abadi, giving him credit for Iraqs military victory over ISIL.

After ISIL overran nearly a third of Iraq in the summer of 2014, the group launched waves of suicide bombings targeting civilians in Baghdad and other government-controlled areas.

But, with support from a US-led coalition and Iran, al-Abadi oversaw a fierce war against the groups fighters and declared victory over ISIL in December 2017.

Despite al-Abadis military achievements, Iraq continues to struggle with an economic downturn sparked in part by a drop in global oil prices, entrenched corruption and years of political gridlock.

The war left more than two million Iraqis, mostly Sunnis, displaced from their homes, with cities, towns and villages suffering heavy destruction. Repairing infrastructure across Anbar and Nineveh provinces, both majority Sunni areas, will cost tens of billions of dollars.

The election comes at a critical juncture in Iraqs relations with Iran and the US.

Both countries are allies of the Iraqi government, but their bilateral ties are increasingly strained.

Additional reporting by Arwa Ibrahim from Doha, and Osama al-Zein and Bakr Ubaidi in Baghdad
The political coalition of influential Shia religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr took an early lead in Iraqs national elections in partial returns announced late on Sunday by the Iraqi electoral commission.

An alliance of candidates linked to Iraqs powerful Shia paramilitary groups was in second.

The Fateh Alliance is headed by Hadi al-Amiri, a former minister of transport with close ties to Iran who became a senior commander of paramilitary fighters in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi performed poorly across majority Shia provinces that should have been his base of support.

Iraqis voted on Saturday in the first election since the defeat of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) inside the country. The vote was widely seen as a verdict on Abadis tenure and his pledge to be more inclusive of Iraqs Sunni minority.

Turnout was 44.52 percent with 92 percent of votes counted, the Independent High Electoral Commission said  significantly lower than in previous elections.

Haider al-Abadi

Incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi heads the Nasr Coalition (Victory of Iraq), its name capitalising on his governments victory over ISIL in 2017 [AFP]





Abadi heads the Nasr Coalition (Victory of Iraq), its name capitalising on his governments victory over ISIL in 2017.

Many analysts have seen the British-educated Abadi, a Shia who as prime minister nurtured ties with Washington and Tehran, as potentially winning a second term as prime minister.

The country has just overcome ISIL which has affected the way voters see the election. Everyone is hoping for change and they see Abadi as a possible force for that change because of his victory over ISIL, Ahmed Tariq, an Iraqi professor of international relations at Mosul University, told Al Jazeera ahead of the vote.

According to a recent nation-wide poll conducted in March, 79 percent of Iraqis accepted Abadi as prime minister.

Because he is seen as a rare ally of both the United States and Iran, some analysts say his continuation in government would nurture Iraqs regional and international ties.

Abadi is acceptable to all major stakeholders including regional powers, Iran and the US, Fanar al-Haddad, a research fellow at the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore, told Al Jazeera before the vote. Everyone feels they can do business with him.

Abadi has been mainly concerned with fending off Shia Muslim groups other than Sadrs alliance, which are seeking to pull the country closer to Tehran.

He has therefore faced stiff competition from Hadi al-Amiri, a paramilitary commander heading the Fateh alliance, and Nouri al-Maliki, a former prime minister who is seen as a possible kingmaker in the vote.

Both leaders are closer than Abadi is to Iran, which has wide sway in Iraq as the primary Shia power in the region.

Muqtada al-Sadr

Iraqi Shia religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr heads the Sairoon Coalition and has led uprisings against US troops in Iraq [AFP]





Sadr, who led uprisings against US troops, appeared to make a remarkable comeback in Iraqs parliamentary election after being sidelined for years by Iranian-backed rivals.

He leads the al-Sairoon Coalition (The Marchers) that brings together his Sadrist Movement and the Iraqi Communist Party. The coalition has pushed an anti-corruption and anti-sectarian campaign.

According to the nation-wide poll conducted in March, 66 percent of the Iraqi people viewed Sadr favourably across most of Iraqs provinces.

Sadr made his name leading two revolts against US forces in Iraq, drawing support from poor neighbourhoods of Baghdad and other cities. Washington called the Mehdi Army, the Shia militia loyal to Sadr, the biggest threat to Iraqs security. In June 2014, Sadr rebranded the militia as the Peace Brigades.

Sadr is one of the few Shia leaders to keep a distance from Iran, and instead shares Saudi interest in countering Iranian influence in Iraq. Sadr sought to broaden his regional support, meeting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah last year.

Sadr, of Lebanese ancestry, comes from a family of Shia scholars. He is the fourth son of the late Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, a highly regarded scholar throughout the Shia Muslim world.

Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr was murdered, along with two of his sons, allegedly by the government of Saddam Hussein  the former Iraqi president.

Sadr is also the son-in-law of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr. His father-in-law was executed by Iraqi authorities in 1980. Sadrs cousin is Moussa al-Sadr, the Iranian-Lebanese founder of the Amal movement.

Despite his lineage and connections, he lacks the religious education and degrees required by Shia doctrine to take the title mujtahid  or a senior religious scholar  and he lacks the authority to issue religious edicts known as fatwas.

He rose to prominence in the unrest and chaos that erupted in Iraq after US troops toppled Saddam in 2003. Armed mostly with AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, Sadrs militia challenged the worlds most powerful military as it tried to stabilise Iraq.

Government formation

No one group is expected to win the 165 seats required for an outright majority. Instead, the bloc that wins the most seats will have to bring together a majority by getting the support of smaller alliances.

The process of choosing the next prime minister is expected to take months and will likely result in power being dispersed across different political parties with clashing interests.

If initial results are confirmed, Abadi may have to form a coalition with Sadr. Abadi will, in any case, remain in office retaining all his powers until a new prime minister is confirmed.

In the past, forming a government has taken up to eight months. In 2005, allegations of vote-rigging delayed the ratification of election results for weeks.
Attacker, who was shot dead by French police, identified as man born in Chechnya in 1997.

A knife attack in Paris, which left one person dead and four others injured, has been claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

The attacker, identified as a man born in Chechnya in 1997, was shot dead by police after the attack on Saturday near the main opera house in the French capital.

The assailants father and mother are in custody for questioning by French police, a judicial source said on Sunday.

The French government has opened a terrorism investigation into the attack.

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the police officers for neutralising the terrorist.

France once again pays the price of blood but does not give an inch to the enemies of freedom, Macron said in a Tweet on Saturday.

All my thoughts are with the victims and wounded of the knife attack perpetrated in Paris tonight, as well as their loved ones, he added.

Scenes of panic

The attack took place shortly before 9pm (19:00 GMT) in the Paris opera district, filled with restaurants, bars and tourist attractions.

Witnesses described scenes of panic as the knife-wielding man stabbed passers-by.

I was taking orders, and I saw a young woman trying to get into the restaurant in panic, Jonathan, a waiter at a Korean restaurant, told AFP news agency.

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The woman was bleeding, and the attacker appeared behind her. He said a young man tried to fend off the attacker, who then fled.

The attacker entered a shopping street, I saw him with a knife in his hand, he said. He looked crazy.

Milan, 19, said he saw several people in distress including a woman with wounds to her neck and leg.

Firemen were giving her first aid. I heard two, three shots and a policeman told me that the man had been overpowered, he told AFP news agency.

Paris was the site of a series of coordinated attacks, also claimed by ISIL, in November 2015 which left 130 people dead.

A state of emergency put in place just after the 2015 Paris attacks was lifted in October when Macrons centrist government passed a new law boosting the powers of security forces.
No injuries reported as firefighters put out fire that engulfed residential tower in Dubai Marina.

A residential tower has caught fire in Dubai amid a sandstorm that has hit large parts of United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Videos of the blaze were widely shared on social media, showing the newly constructed Zen Tower in Dubai Marina engulfed in flames on Sunday morning.

The Dubai Civil Defence has been working to control the fire, the government-run Dubai Media Office said on Twitter.

The cause of the fire remains unclear. Local media reported that the blaze started at approximately 11am (09:00 GMT).

The building was evacuated safely and no injuries were reported, Dubai Media Office tweeted.

Director of Dubai Civil Defence, Rashid Thani Al Matroushi, said firefighters were at the site of the fire within six minutes of the incident.

Despite the difficulty of air conditions and low level of visibility, the firefighters were able to efficiently control the incident in 45 minutes, he told local media.

Videos posted on social media also showed police halting the movement of vehicles across the road where the fire broke out.

Dubai Civil Defence controls the fire that broke out in Zen Tower in the Dubai Marina area amidst extremely windy and dusty weather conditions; the building was evacuated safely and no injuries were reported. pic.twitter.com/Q1vONssMim  Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) May 13, 2018

Dubai passed new fire safety rules in 2017, requiring buildings to install more fire-resistant cladding.

Authorities have previously acknowledged that at least 30,000 buildings across the UAE have cladding or panelling that safety experts have warned accelerates the spread of fires.
Moroccos foreign minister has accused Algeria of being directly involved in Irans support of the Polisario, an independence movement in the disputed Western Sahara territory.

Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told French publication Jeune Afrique in an extensive interview that Algeria offered more than a meeting venue for members of the Polisario Front and Lebanese group Hezbollah, which Rabat accused Iran of using in its support of the independence movement.

Algeria has given more than its blessing. It has given an opening, backing and operational support, Bourita said.

In addition, some meetings between the Polisario and Hezbollah were held in a secret Algiers hideout, leased to a certain DB, an Algerian woman married to a Hezbollah cadre, who acts as a liaison officer for Hezbollah, notably with the Polisario, Bourita added.

Earlier in May, Morocco severed ties with Iran over its alleged support of the Polisario through Hezbollah and in coordination with Tehrans diplomatic mission to Algiers.

Algiers summoned the kingdoms ambassador at the time to protest Moroccan allegations that it played any role in Tehrans purported support for the rebel movement.

Bourita added in the interview, revealed a day ahead of its scheduled publication by Moroccos foreign ministry, that he believed Algeria resorted to diversionary tactics, such as its support for the Polisario, to shift attention away from the countrys more pressing concerns.

Lets not forget that the Algerian regime, confronted by a grave institutional, political, economic and social crisis could not survive but for the problems and tensions that it has itself generated or intends to create, in order to deflect Algerians attention from their real concerns, the foreign minister said.

Our most ardent wish

Bourita, however, switched tone and insisted that a different path does exist for the two countries, pointing out that France and Germany were able to reconcile after two world wars.

Dialogue is always possible. It is our most ardent wish  The example of Germany and France is here to remind us. Who could have imagined, at the end of World War II that these two countries would be the engine of Europes construction.

Last year, Bourita lamented the state of affairs between the two countries, noting that it had been more than seven years since a bilateral visit took place.

A failed attempt in 1963 to retake parts of Tindouf and Bechar provinces (present-day Algeria), territories that Rabat had long considered to be part of Greater Morocco, cast a lasting shadow over the neighbours ties.

Analysts believe that Algerias subsequent support for secessionist rebels from Western Sahara  a former Spanish colony until 1975  is the result of the bad start the two countries got off to since achieving independence from colonial France, Morocco in 1956, Algeria in 1962.
Nicaragua unrest: UN to probe killings of government opponents

Nicaraguas embattled government has accepted an ultimatum by Catholic Church to permit UN and Inter-American Human Rights Commissions to investigate killings of scores of government opponents.
President Ortega accepts conditions of the countrys bishops to initiate dialogue after protests leave dozens dead.

Nicaragua says it will allow an independent inquiry into the killings of dozens of anti-government demonstrators as two more people were killed in fresh clashes on Saturday.

We agree to work on each of the points raised (by the bishops), taking into account that all of them reflect their goodwill as mediators and witnesses, President Daniel Ortega said in a letter to the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua.

The countrys influential church had urged the initiation of dialogue in the wake of the worst protests in decades that left nearly 50 people dead.

We are all ready to attend your call for dialogue at the earliest possible date, for the peace of all Nicaraguans, the letter said.

We are all ready to attend your call for dialogue at the earliest possible date, for the peace of all Nicaraguans Daniel Ortega, president of Nicaragua

Among the bishops conditions are the ending of repression and allowing the entry of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate the deaths that occurred during anti-Ortega protests.

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In the letter, the president said he agreed with the bishops on the necessity of ceasing the violence, intimidation and aggression against citizens.

The United Nations human rights office on Friday asked Nicaragua to allow it to carry out an investigation into credible reports that at least 47 people, most of them students, have been killed since the series of protests began on April 18.

Turning into a dictator

What started as a student protest against pension cuts has exploded into a nationwide movement against a government long accused of abuse of power, Al Jazeeras Latin America editor, Lucia Newman, said from the capital, Managua.

Almost 40 years after President Ortega helped topple the Nicaraguan dictator, a new generation of Nicaraguans are fueling an uprising against the former leftist rebel leader accused now of turning into a dictator himself, she said.

On Wednesday, tens of thousands rallied against the government.

He should know that the more people you kill, the more people join the struggle to overthrow a dictator Monica Baltodano, former Sandinista commander

The protests pose a serious challenge to the authority of Ortega, 72, who has ruled one of Latin Americas poorest countries for the past 11 years and before that from 1979-1990.

Monica Baltodano, a former Sandinista commander, said that Ortega had made serious political miscalculation.

He should know that the more people you kill, the more people join the struggle to overthrow a dictator, said Baltodano, who was part of the Sandinista movement that overthrew the US-backed Somoza dictatorship in 1979.

But a close ally of Ortega sees a right-wing US conspiracy behind the protests.

To say that there isnt a conspiracy here is to say that US empire does not exist, that it is not doing anything in Venezuela, in Iraq, in Libya and in Syria, said Eden Pastora, former Sandinista Commander.
Saudi troops are on a training mission at the World Heritage site to support Yemeni forces, says military spokesman.

Saudi troops have landed on the Yemeni island of Socotra, according to a Saudi military spokesman.

Turki al-Malki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemens Houthi rebels, said on Sunday the Saudi soldiers are on a training and support mission with Yemeni forces.

Saudi, Emirati, and Yemeni forces will conduct joint training exercises in coordination with the Yemeni government, he added.

The Saudi deployment was reportedly coordinated with the Yemeni government, according to Saudis state-owned Al-Ekhbariya channel.

Socotra has been at the heart of a dispute between Yemen and its ally the United Arab Emirates.

The UAE is a major pillar in the Saudi-led coalition but its deployment of troops to the island earlier this month without prior consultation with Yemens government stoked the ire of residents.

Mass protests

Protests broke out in Socotra last week as locals rejected the deployment of forces belonging to the UAE because there are no rebels on the island.

Demonstrators marched through the streets of Socotras capital, Hadibu, rejecting what they described as UAE intervention in the internal affairs of the province without seeking government approval.

These forces are present in Socotra and al-Mahra in numbers that cant be understood, said Abdullah bin Issa al-Aafra of the Al-Mahra and Socotra Peoples General Council.

The Emirati soldiers arrived on Thursday, forcing out Yemeni troops and taking over strategic locations, including the airport and the seaport.

Socotra, in the Indian Ocean, is located about 350km from the southern coast of Yemen.

Located just off the coast of Somalia with access to major shipping routes, Socotra is also a World Heritage Site known for its unique and pristine environment.

The UAE and the government of AbdRabbu Mansour Hadi are allies in a war against the Houthi rebels.

Relations between the two have soured, however, because of the UAEs expanding influence in southern Yemen, home to a resurgent separatist movement.

The UAEs attempt to exert control over Socotra is seen by many as the latest move by the Gulf state to spread its influence well beyond its borders.

Socotra has been spared involvement in the Yemeni conflict, which has claimed about 10,000 lives since March 2015 and triggered what the United Nations has called the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.
At the rally held by a rights group, thousands of protesters called for an end to abuses by the countrys military.

Islamabad, Pakistan  Thousands of protesters have called for an end to alleged rights abuses by Pakistans military at the latest rally by a grassroots rights group, defying restrictions and a string of detentions of the movements organisers.

The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), a human rights group formed earlier this year, held the rally in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, the countrys largest city, on Sunday.

The PTM calls for greater rights for Pakistans ethnic Pashtun population, which forms roughly 15 percent of the 207 million population and resides mainly in the countrys northwest, where the fight against the Pakistani Taliban has remained focused.

Unusually for Pakistan, the group has often directly called out the countrys powerful military, which has ruled for roughly half its 70-year history since independence, for alleged rights abuses committed against citizens in the war against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its allies.

In the lead-up to the rally, a number of PTM leaders were detained for varying lengths of time, and its leader Manzoor Pashteen was twice prevented from boarding flights to the southern city, PTMs Mohsin Dawar told Al Jazeera.

Pashteen eventually made the 1,400km trip from the capital Islamabad by road, arriving at the protest to a raucous welcome.

This country has one constitution, the state must run according to the constitution. You cannot just rule as you please, said Pashteen.

The courts, the parliament, they have all been captured [by the military]  and we must end this.

The PTM leader reiterated his demand that a truth and reconciliation commission be formed to investigate and deal with rights abuses allegedly committed by the Pakistani state, rejecting an abortive jirga (tribal council) process the government had offered.

Jirgas are held between enemies  between the state and its citizens, there is only the constitution. So make a truth and reconciliation commission, and we will come before it. We are earnest in our desire to solve these problems, whether you are or not.

State suppression

Earlier, video footage released by PTM showed Pashteen being questioned by police in several cities during his journey, which he undertook after being denied the right to fly to Karachi.

Several leaders were also briefly detained in Karachi and charged by police with sedition, police documents show.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed grave concern in a statement released on Saturday, saying the authorities disproportionate response is unwarranted.

Among PTMs primary demands are an end to extrajudicial killings by security forces, transparency around a campaign of disappearances allegedly perpetrated by security forces that have accompanied the war against the Taliban, and the treating of citizens with greater dignity at security checkpoints.

At the rally in Karachi, the stage from which speakers addressed the boisterous crowd was covered with posters of those who had been allegedly detained, arrested or abducted by security forces.

A government-run inquiry commission says it has investigated at least 4,929 cases of Pakistans missing people, a number that rights groups say is vastly understated.

In April, an Al Jazeera investigation into Pakistans missing persons reviewed 22 cases of those who have disappeared since the launch of military operations against armed groups.

At the rally, participants openly questioned the militarys rights record, a rare move in a country where the army still exercises close control over security and foreign policy, as well as the news media.

There were  women here carrying posters with details of their missing fathers, brothers and sons, said Rahma Mian, an academic who was at the rally. I have never attended any public event, let alone a political rally, where the army and its excesses has been called out so openly.

The group has faced a virtual media blackout, with news organisations ordered not to run stories or footage of their demonstrations.

Da sanga azaadi da? thousands of participants shouted in Pashto, in unison, throughout the rally.

What kind of freedom is this?

Asad Hashim is Al Jazeeras Digital Correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim
Quran row and a lack of Turkish studies in France behind move to stop admissions to French studies, official says.

Turkish universities will no longer admit new students to French language departments, Turkeys Higher Education Board has ruled, the latest development in the strained ties between Turkey and France.

The decision came in response to a manifesto signed by prominent French figures, calling for the removal of certain passages from the Quran, and as a reciprocal measure over the lack of Turkish studies departments in the European country, a Turkish official told Al Jazeera.

We have condemned the controversial statements on the Quran coming from France. And the Higher Education Board, which is an autonomous institution, made this move as a response to those statements, said Emrullah Isler, chairman of the Committee on National Education, Culture, Youth and Sport in the Turkish parliament.

Isler added that universities in France do not have enough departments teaching Turkish, that there is an imbalance between the two countries in that area.

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Lack of university departments in France that teach in Turkish is another factor behind the decision. They need to form decent Turkology departments there.

Plus, there have been too many departments teaching in the French language in Turkish universities, he told Al Jazeera from the capital, Ankara.

He added that the Higher Education Board took the decision in such a manner that currently enrolled students would not suffer from the measure.

The existing departments with active students are going to continue teaching in French as usual, but will not admit new ones, Isler said.

The Board had cited reciprocity and graduate-employment links on Thursday as the reasons for its decision.

Quran row

Turkish officials reacted with anger to a French manifesto calling on Islamic authorities to strike certain parts of the Quran. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even likened the signatories of the text to members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

The open letter, published on April 22 in French newspaper Le Parisien, and signed by nearly 300 prominent French figures, said that verses of the Quran calling for the murder and punishment of Jews, Christians and disbelievers should be removed from the book, arguing they were obsolete.

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The Turkish governments first reaction came in early May, ahead of June parliamentary and presidential polls, despite the letter being published last month.

Signatories included former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, as well as former ministers, deputies from the National Assembly and other public figures.

Who are you to attack our scriptures? We know how vile you are  You are no different than ISIL, Erdogan retorted on Tuesday in a speech in the capital, Ankara.

Have they ever read their books, the Bible? Or the Torah? Erdogan asked, referring to the Christian and Jewish holy books, adding: If they had read them, they probably would want to ban the Bible.

French-Turkish relations have been tense for a number of reasons.

Turkey slammed a recent proposal by French President Emmanuel Macron to mediate between Ankara and outlawed Kurdish fighters in Turkey.

Paris has been highly critical of Ankaras military incursions in northern Syria against the Kurdish fighters, which Turkey considers terrorists.

In late January, Turkish forces and Free Syrian Army fighters started a military operation into Syrias Afrin to remove a US-backed Kurdish militia  known as the YPG, or the Peoples Protection Units.

Ankara considers the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria and its armed wing, the YPG, to be terrorist groups with ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Follow Umut Uras on Twitter: @Um_uras
Yemen: UAE attempting to colonise Socotra

Standoff over the Yemeni island of Socotra worsens as government officials accuse United Arab Emirates of trying to colonise the country.
About the show

A weekly programme that examines and dissects the worlds media, how they operate and the stories they cover. Watch The Listening Post every Saturday at 0830GMT
In but a few moments ancient prophecies will be fulfilled and veritable truths realized when the United States moves its embassy to Israels capital, Jerusalem. It will also be a day when we will remember the strength and courage of the man who made it happen: President Donald Trump.

Over the past decades the United States Congress was sincere when voting overwhelmingly to relocate our embassy from Tel Aviv, Israels largest city, to Jerusalem, Israels dedicated capital. It made sense; after all, every country in the world decides the location of its capital and embassies are located in those capitals. It also was the right thing to do. Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel ever since King David 3,000 years ago consecrated Jerusalem as Judea's capital. Soon, he drafted the plans for The Holy Temple and almost immediately thereafter his son, Solomon, built the palaces and ancient temple on those lofty hills. Everyone knows this.

As far back as Abraham, the hills of Jerusalem and Mt. Moriah specifically have played a pivotal role among the Hebrews in their ancient biblical land. For millennia Jewish hearts and prayers were directed toward a return to Zion, Zion being the synonym for Jerusalem itself. No other people or nation who temporarily traversed the land between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River has made Jerusalem a centerpiece of their theology, history, spiritual yearning, nor the zenith of their joy and celebration. No one but the Jewish people has cultivated it and made the land blossom and its cities flourish. Yet, until now the embassy move did not happen.

The Western Wall of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem (Photo credit: Majamski)

The U.S. embassy will move to Jerusalem, May, 14, 2018, 70 years after the founding of Israel, resurrected as the Jewish state, in May, 1948. Seventy years is a completed life time, as the Psalmist states: "The years of our life are seventy years". Seventy years in Jewish outlook is an historical time unit, representing a significant chapter in human history. Seventy years after the first Temple was burned by the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar and the Jews were driven into Exile, the exile ended and many returned to Israel and rebuilt Jerusalem. Seventy years signifies completion and full circle.

The Muslims, through sword and blood, confiscated Jerusalems holy mount by erecting a mosque where the Temple once stood. They did so, as they have throughout centuries of armed invasions, to make a monument to their conquest of the land and to erase its previous, legitimate history. Jerusalem was never part of Islam's liturgy, nor is it mentioned in its Koran. The mosque was protecting as a religious site, though it served as an outpost for domination and rule over those who were not Muslim. Only in the last few years, in an attempt to deny the Jewish nation her rightful and historical attachment and sovereignty to Zion, has the Islamic world suddenly made Jerusalem important to them. Mecca and Medina are their holy places, whereas Jerusalem is but a political expedient.

Many good-willed American presidents pledged to move our embassy to Jerusalem, but out of fear of Arab riots and backlash, they allowed themselves to put off the decision for a later date. The United Nations and virtually all of the countries of the world were either afraid to relocate their embassies or, in their ultimate negation of the right for Israel to exist as a Jewish state, never even considered moving their embassy to Jerusalem. They were either afraid or were rejectionists. Many organizations spoke the proper words, but when push-came-to-shove chose to accept the delays and kick-the-can-down the road. What makes President Trump different from all previous presidents is that beyond speaking positively about the move, he actually is doing it.

Trump is a man of action. And, he is a man of conviction and fortitude who acts upon what he knows to be right. He is refreshingly fearless. He believes in Israel, indeed seems to love the country. He knows the centrality of Jerusalem in the scheme of Zion and is making truth happen. He understands symbolism and knows there is no greater sign of support and symbol of friendship than moving our embassy to Israels capital city of Jerusalem. He will not be cowed by threats of jihad.

In President Trump we are reminded of the ancient King of Persia, Cyrus. It was Cyrus, among all the kings of the world, who declared that he would make provisions for the Jews to restore themselves in the land of Israel/Judea and, indeed, Nehemiah, and others before him, began rebuilding the walls surrounding Jerusalem, Zion. No one knows if Cyrus was a man 100 percent above sin. But Cyrus was a king, not a priest; and it's the job of kings to create history and do those things that are grand and historic, to do those things regular people are not empowered to do.

When President Harry Truman in 1948, against the will of his State Department and others in the media, voted to recognize the State of Israel, he said casting that vote in the U.N. made him feel he was following in the steps of that great Persian king, Cyrus. He told friends how he remembered reading in his bedroom about Cyrus in the Old Testament, while listening to the late night train whistle as it sped through the countryside of Missouri. Truman fulfilled a prophecy  and made history, good history.

By officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in the name of the United States, the greatest and most powerful nation in the world, President Trump is making good history, doing what is right, proving principle over timidity, demonstrating friendship. Though not a holy roller, President Trump is fulfilling prophecies  the prophecies of Zachariah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. I am happy to be living on this day when miracles are made through the acts of mortals, by strong men above their peers.

Many were instrumental in bringing this day about, beginning with England's Home Secretary Lord Balfour, who a century ago in 1918 declared that: His Majesty's Government looks favorably upon the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland and to therein establish a state of their own in the land and boundaries of their ancestors. Credit goes to Winston Churchill; LBJ who helped her in the '67 War; and Richard Nixon during the Yom Kippur War; Ronald Reagan and earlier American presidents as far back as the 19th Century who were Christian Zionists.

Credit also goes to the current Evangelical Christian community and its leaders and to many non-liberal Jewish individuals and organizations. Unfortunately, too many liberal Jews have traded in their Judaism for multiculturalism and leftwing intersectionality. They have detached themselves from their historic identity with the Promised Land and currently find their promise in hedonistic and anti-Trump causes. They have chosen faddishness over eternity. For them, Israel is but a yawn.

The move of the embassy by Mr. Trump to Jerusalem is indicative of the great measure of this man. To me, a man is great when he forthrightly speaks his mind, follows through on his pledges, demonstrates friendship, feels responsible to protect those who hes entrusted to protect, cares about right over wrong, and is willing to battle all those arrayed against him while he's doing the right thing. That is the measure of a great man. Mr. Trump is a great president, displaying characteristics we have not seen in decades.

Congratulations, Mr. Trump, for what you have done, and congratulations, Israel, for being restored to the glory your prophets promised, and to your people who have toiled in earthly and transcendent purpose.

Rabbi Aryeh Spero is author of Push Back: Reclaiming our American Judeo-Christian Spirit, and president of Caucus for America.
In a recent, short-lived series, Living Biblically, the CBS Network took a stab at religion -- literally though unintentionally. It focused on Chip Curry, played by Jay R. Ferguson, a newspaper columnist who is married to Leslie (Lindsey Kraft), a doctor. Leslie is expecting their first child.

Chip is drawn to the Bible after a close friend dies. He decides to live the Bible to the letter, at least until the baby comes. Even after he accidentally on purpose casts a stone against an adulterous co-worker (Chips take on biblical behavior), his other co-workers and cynical overbearing boss (Camryn Manheim), and also his wife, accept his biblical leanings and encourage him. (His wifes only concern is that he will throw away inappropriate rap materials.) He is promoted at the office from movie critic to a lead columnist writing on his effort to live biblically.

Writer/creator Patrick Walsh told us in the first episode that Chips mom did not approve of his dead friend whom she has already damned to devil country, area code 666, and that she condemned her son for no longer attending church. Could there be some passive-aggressiveness in pleasant Chips return to religion?

When first resolving on his unusual course, Chip confides in his priest, Father Gene (Ian Gomez) whose initial reaction is to laugh in his face. Once the priest realizes that Chip is serious, however, he softens his approach and tells him that one can live by the Bible in general but that it is not practical to live it 100%. Father Gene cites as an example the biblical prohibition of wearing mixed fabrics and Chip does mention to his wife that hes not supposed to touch her during her menstrual period (though it is never mentioned that Orthodox Jewish communities find a way to observe these).

Patrick Walsh decided to feature a skull-capped Rabbi Gil Abelman (David Krumholtz) as well as a priest. Conveniently, Chip frequently runs into both of them in a bar at which they hang out. In one episode (Love thy neighbor) Walsh has Chips wife tell the priest-rabbi God squad (a reference to Rabbi Marc Gellman and Monsignor Tom Hartman who appeared together on TV to offer perspectives on various issues): Are you guys always here at the bar?

Right off, the rabbi makes a silly circumcision joke (TV rabbi fare) but he does quote a Talmudic admonition about gossip when Chip mentions his colleagues adultery. That was, to my memory, the first and the last time that the rabbi tried to quote an appropriate passage.

Indeed, it was taken as a matter of faith in this series that clergy are around to be sidekicks in a bar room or to serve as comic relief. These roles are mainly given to the rabbi, often the third wheel, especially in a creepy episode written by Jon Silberman and Josh Silberman about Rabbi Gil crashing Chips home just when the latter is open to practicing biblical teachings about hospitality.

In that episode, the rabbi leaves home because of rumors swirling around the temple about his wife receiving a backrub at the hands of the new young handsome Rabbi Trent. (It seems that rabbis had adultery on the mind in this series.) Rabbi Gil heard this from some very reliable gossips. (It seems that Chips rabbi guides his life by gossips instead of by religious teachings against gossip, even though he cites them.) Before following Chips wifes advice to confront his wife directly, Rabbi Gil finds five or six drinks helpful.

As if offering kudos to the gossips (and contempt to its only Jewish woman, who is mentioned but never seen), the show has its rabbi report that he smashed the window of a car in which he saw his wife kissing Rabbi Trent. Once ensconced on Chips living room sofa, Rabbi Gil does not do too much better controlling his impulses. He fails to ask permission to bring along a cumbersome sleep apnea machine, makes popcorn at 4:00 a.m., and suffers from night terrors and morning terrors with loud oy-yoy-yoy noises. He plays Celine Dion at night, accidentally streaming the music to the speaker in his hosts bedroom.

Indeed, this rabbi is so into pop culture that he does not spend much time studying Torah or offering pastoral care to congregants. In one episode he spends much of his time preparing to attend a Beyonce concert with Chips wife. The most that can be learned from Rabbi Gil, spiritually speaking, is that God and germs are everywhere. He doesnt do as well at Chips bar room Bible games (which reduce sacred scriptures to trivia!) as does Father Gene. He shows bad sportsmanship by taunting his priest friend with bald jokes.

Chip brings the-guest-who-stays-too-long Rabbi Gil to the newspaper office (with a joke about Bring Your Rabbi To Work Day), explaining that Catholics can have rabbis. Yet the latter says that it is difficult to make himself at home anywhere without a manhaving sex with my wife. Chips rabbi-catcher boss barks, Unless hes performing your bris [circumcision], hes got to go. Hey, shmuck, scram!

The episode concludes with the rabbi sounding off inappropriately, and insisting on taking a quick bath before ending his unsolicited stay. Still, Chip appropriates Yiddish terms to praise his rabbi: I love that maniac to death. Hes a real mensch. But when hes having marital issues, he can be a pain in the tuches.

As for Chip, actor Ferguson is so likable that he literally brightens up a dull, drab and unpleasant series. All the other characters, including the rabbi and priest, are rather unlikable, with the exception of Chips wife and his office buddy Vince (Tony Rock). The series was particularly nasty in its depiction of an Indian-American office worker. The funniest character was an obnoxious obituary writer played by Sara Gilbert (who has wisely returned to Roseanne), but the laughs were at the expense of humiliating the actress.

I couldnt help thinking many times that the writers did not have to make the other characters less likable in order to make Fergusons most likable character more likable. That just made the others increasingly unlikable.

As regards the religion theme, the series offered nothing. Writers Bill Martin and Mike Schiff tried to get their characters to say something meaningful about prayer, even if they had to exploit panic in a stalling and jerking elevator to do it. The rabbis the one who finds it easy to be cynical about whether a certain prayer worked. The priest is more philosophical, describing prayer as quality time spent with God (in the spirit of Abraham Joshua Heschel who said that prayer is not asking for something but being with Someone). Still, vulgarity crept in with Bible bathroom humor (during a visit from Leslies mother) and a remark about this thing (the Bible) which never shuts up about itnamely, prayer. The writers could not resist referring to a key chain with an image of Jesus as a Keysus.

Thats about as profoundand wittyas it got. One episode by Walsh about Chip trying to honor his selfish dad ends up with the spouting of New Age doctrine: When you forgive someone, we open up ourselves to healingand then you can really honor them by not making the same mistakes that they did. Sharing this at Father Genes church with young men in need of a meaningful message, Chip concludes by advising them to use the Bible as a general guide. Take it from me, it can change your life. Thats all I got.

And that is all that this series had, spiritually and intellectually speaking.

Instead of citing weird law but real and as depicting the Bible as trivia (in every way and not only in the aforementioned Bible game), Living Biblically could have done a service by explaining that Catholics and other Christians and Jews believe that individuals and communities cannot live by the Bible alone, which can seem contradictory and archaic without an authoritative living tradition that determines practice and interpretation. But that most basic and fundamental point was not even made in this series.

The clergy were made to toe a New Age line. Hence, their total endorsement of a do-it-yourself approach to the Bible, which bypassed any kind of religious authority (Rabbinic, Catholic Magisterium) that brings authenticity and community to religious practice.

Particularly disconcerting about Living Biblically was the lack of passion of these clergymen for their religions. The writers of CBSs Numbers (2005-2010), in which Krumholtz played a mathematician/crime solver, gave that character more passion for mathematics than Living Biblicallys writers gave to Krumholzs rabbi, not to mention to the priest.

Though I have no reason to doubt that the intentions here were good, the series did not foster appreciation of the Bible (which Gentlemans Quarterly magazine just obnoxiously declared to be over-rated reading!) and depicted the clergy as cynical, lazy, and rooted in pop culture if not in bar stools.

Update: Corrected spelling of Camryn Manheim
Roughly fifty journalists -- including myself -- were straining to hear the CEO of an Internet Transparency Company on day one speak on why openness and inclusiveness make good business sense. Then his politics stole the show when he informed the assembled journalists the reason the Syrian war erupted into the disaster for a generation was over drought-like conditions in the Sahara Desert and climate change. Thats when I knew I was in for something I never signed up for when I accepted an offer to be a journalist at the Collision Conference, May 1-3 in New Orleans.

Fortune 500 states, Collision is Americas fastest growing tech conference bringing Fortune 500 companies, groundbreaking startups and world-class speakers to New Orleans. However, because of left-leaning politics being the centerpiece of this conference, it is now moving to Toronto, Canada, where Prime Minister Trudeau believes in global warming, embraces technology, and more importantly, isnt Donald Trump.

This window into the tech-world should make investors in these companies, economies built on technology, and anyone who believes in the rule of law and contracts to be deeply concerned over the upcoming generation of technology leaders and their enthusiasts. The reality is that technology will not be changing the future anytime soon, if this conference is indicative of apps bought through iTunes or the Android platform running our lives that are big on promises but vague on actual execution.

AN INVITATION THAT PROMISED THE MOON

When I was invited as a journalist to report on the conference it seemed an odd fit because my writings and consulting practice focuses on energy, national security, foreign policy, and California politics. Somehow my energy writings caught the Collision staffs attention and I received an invitation to attend the conference at no cost. The speakers included people like Al Gore and Wycleff Jean (who was the best speaker at the conference when it came to actual substance). After big promises were made to me about exclusive access to these speakers I accepted the invitation to attend, though Ive been a strident critic of renewable energy, electric vehicles and the overall concept of clean energy.

Being able to request one-on-one interviews with some of the biggest names in media, finance, technology, A.I., investment management, and clean energy was a unique opportunity. What I planned to write on had to be approved by the Collision media staff. Fair enough, I thought -- and the story I pitched and got enthusiastically approved -- was the problem of 600 million Africans without energy at this time according to the World Bank.

THE INFLUENCE-MAKERS DECLINED

Not one speaker accepted my invitation -- whether it was the President of the ACLU or Microsoft to famous actors and producers. If anyone showed interest, then the rejection came from a series of publicists and media-handlers who had no interest in having their clients interviewed by me. I quickly learned that invitations given months ahead of time were never answered and promised access, during the conference was limited to controlled environments through pre-screened questions via public relations specialists or corporate communications departments in multinational corporations. The only time high-profile speakers would take questions were in large groups that were tightly controlled by Collision media staff. It also became clear to me if Id pitched stories on global warming, technology solving climate change, or how Donald Trump is ruining the world then more than likely my interview requests wouldve been accepted.

The media tent was alerted that the best way to book interviews or gain access to speakers was to use the chat feature on the Collision app. Somehow, I doubt if the Chairman Emeritus of Cisco or the Editor-in-Chief of WIRED magazine checked messages from the Collision app.

BROKEN PROMISES OR OUTRIGHT LYING?

The young millennials in charge of the Collision conference lacked cohesion of purpose for why anyone attended the three-day event in New Orleans. The group from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the cloud architects from McKinsey Management Consulting seemed to be the only firms and individuals selling real services to grow businesses as I walked the convention floor. Outside of enjoying New Orleans nightlife, no one gave me a cogent reason for buying convention tickets that started at $800 and went up to $24,000 for the Collision VIP dinners.

The best answer I received for Collisions existence was from a magazine journalist who traveled the country covering conventions. We also compared notes to every promise made to us by the Collision staff and how none of them were kept. Since truth and morality are no longer bound in reason or history, more than likely these young millennials believed what they told me and other journalists while never actually finding out if someone like Al Gore had any intention of sitting down with the media. Better to show you have a large media profile than find out if what you are saying is true.

THE BRIGHT SPOTS

One millennial gave me hope for his generations future and company. His name is Soffonias Gebrehiwot and he is the CEO and Founder of a travel app named, Gage Inc. Soffonias is everything you would want in a young, business leader; hes smart, dedicated, and with enough business acumen and moxy to make his company profitable. Hes from Ethiopia, graduated with a human design engineering degree from the University of Washington and before starting his company worked for Accenture. He embodies the spirit of anyone can be successful in America while wanting to make travel a way to connect people through local guides using a peer-to-peer platform. Gage Inc. under Soffonias leadership believes they can cut travel costs by 50% while changing minds and opinions through world travel. A lofty goal and if anyone can succeed in this vision it is Soffonias.

The company and person that blew me away is a geospatial energy firm, Transect.com, led by Chief Business Officer and Co-Founder Sam Laine. This company literally maps the safest, most environmentally friendly way to lay pipelines that bypasses endangered species, protected wetlands, and any type of affected waterways. Sam was a seasoned professional in his early 50s and was a welcome change from the millennial crowd and older, hostile liberal speakers who made up the bulk of the convention.

FINAL THOUGHTS

No one should accept that technology led by apps, robots, and automation will rule the world or do away with human workers. The Collision staff and participants are possibly well meaning but Id argue decades away from making this tech-driven future a possibility. Utopian-filled dreams came to mind during my three days covering the event over real-world profits and sustainable business models. Its no accident the company with the best future was led by an older professional (Sam of Transect.com) that had a real product (geospatial pipeline mapping) that services the largest industry in the world (fossil fuels). New Orleans is an amazing city, but unless major changes take place, I wont return to the Collision Conference and I wouldnt recommend the event to anyone unless you had a specific reason for attending.
When not commenting on politically correct diaper protocol, Australian sexuality educator, speaker, and author, Deanne Carson teaches kids about body safety and how to express sexual consent. Recently, Deanne appeared on government-owned The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (The ABC) to comment on a controversial rape case and to share her expertise concerning how to change a diaper. Resplendent in Womens March pink pussy hat-colored hair, an unapologetic Deanne told the ABC reporter that if parents agree to learn to ask babies for permission before swapping out a dirty diaper for a clean one the culture of consent can begin in the home.

Carson shared with the interviewer that thru meaningful eye contact infants can be taught to indicate whether they feel good or bad about Desitin, baby powder, and flushable tushy wipes. In other words, in progressive circles, changing tables are now training grounds for future sexual encounters.

In all fairness, Deanne Carson does seem sincere in her belief that, regardless of the reason, infants should have a say whether or not their privates are exposed to the air for hygienic purposes. Carson shared with the interviewer: "We work with children from three years old. We work with parents from birth" -- to which the startled reporter responded, "From birth?"

Pink hair and all, Ms. Carson replied: Yes, just about how to set up a culture of consent in their homes so 'I'm going to change your nappy now, is that OK? Of course a babys not going to respond Yes mum, thats awesome Id love to have my nappy changed. But if you leave a space and wait for body language and wait to make eye contact then youre letting that child know that their response matters.

First female progressives floated the narrative that all men are rapists, and now Mama and Papa need permission from Junior before a poopy Pampers can make its way from a babys bottom to the wastebasket? Which raises the question as to why it is that the same individuals who claim to be the most appalled with sexual assault are usually the most sexually suspicious and genitally fixated?

Moreover, who is Carsons clientele?In all seriousness, are there really new parents who, right after the birth of a child, rush out and hire a sexuality expert to learn how to set up a culture of consent in their home?

And, even worse then Carsons idea that consent is needed to change a newborn born babys diaper is her subtle insinuation that such an innocuous act has sexual connotations. To believe that infants are uncomfortable having a parent change their diapers portrays as prospective sexual predators those whose calling is to protect their offspring.

Instead of burdening parents with unfounded anxiety, wouldnt it be wonderful if Deanne Carson extended the same courtesy she extends when discussing parents touching infants to unborn children denied the right to life?

In fact, based on how Deanne Carson feels about bodily autonomy, one cant help but wonder where the sexuality educator stands concerning the topic of abortion.

Judging from her unorthodox consent training theory, coupled with her feminist hair color and negative view of the traditional teen sex ed material used by evangelical Christian volunteers in Australias public schools, its likely secularist Deanne Carson leans to the left on the issue of choice.

And if thats the case, it would also mean Deanne believes that although unborn babies have no right to life, if they should miraculously make it out of the womb in one piece, they have a right to signal Yea or Nay to a clean diaper.

In other words, if Carson believes a minutes-old baby, via body language, can convey diaper change consent, shouldnt that also mean a child squirming in the womb is indicating it wants to remain alive? Therefore, if consistency matters at all, women who believe in the right to suction, saline, or scalpel unborn children to death should refrain from touting the need to grant non-verbal newborns consent power over diaper changes.

And so, instead of advocating on behalf of changing table etiquette, maybe Australian sexuality educator Deanne Carsons efforts might be better spent speaking on behalf of unborn baby body safety and how, even within the womb, infants signal to their mothers not to abort.

Jeannie hosts a blog at www.jeannie-ology.com
This past week witnessed Fox News pull far ahead of its major cable news competitors CNN and MSNBC  setting itself up for the largest weekly ratings victory since last fall in the critical Nielsen Research television audience measurements. In recent months, the lead in the important cable news evening shows has seesawed between Fox News (FNC) and MSNBC, with Fox usually leading in total viewers and MSNBC often winning the so-called advertiser preferred prime demo (viewers 25-54). But not last week.

Starting on Monday May 7 and for the next three nights (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday)  Fridays ratings wont be available until Monday May 14  FNC basically trounced MSNBC and CNN in both total viewers and the demo and by significant margins. The pre- and post-prime time hours (7-8 P.M. and 11 P.M. to 12 midnight E.T.) were also handily won in both metrics on the four nights by Fox News.

Analyzing the ups and downs of TV ratings, especially in the highly competitive cable news world, is not easy  its a classic case of trying to read the tea leaves. One theory holds that positive news for President Trump translates to more viewers tuning in to Fox, the only channel that gives him anything close to a fair shake. This past week was a very good one for President Trump with the release of the three Americans held by North Korea after Secretary of State Pompeos latest trip to North Korea, the setting of a date and location for President Trumps summit with North Korean leader Kim Jung-un, and the POTUS honoring his campaign pledge to withdraw from the seriously flawed Iran nuclear deal which pleased his base. When the real news favors Trump, viewership of Fox News goes up. Similarly, when the Resistance pours some new gasoline on the fires of the Mueller investigation or the lefts cries for Impeachment!, the anti-Trump channels MSNBC and even last place CNN see a rise in their numbers.

Whatever the cause, the recent breakaway lead for Fox News is significant because it suggests that the latest heightened efforts by the left wing enemies of the channel targeting two of its prime time hosts, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, have fallen flat. After last Februarys Parkland, Florida high school shooting, Ingraham, who broadcasts at 10 P.M., was singled out for an attempted advertiser and viewer boycott. This followed her mild Twitter critique on March 28  which in reality was little more than a mere mention  of Parkland student anti-gun activist David Hogg, the new darling of the left. Ingrahams tweet came six weeks after the school shooting during which Hogg had publicly emerged as a major, insistent. in-your-face voice of the anti-Second Amendment political movement in the United States. Always ready to dish it out but apparently not able to take it, Hogg immediately called for a mass boycott of Ingrahams shows advertisers and at one point more than 20 of them had reportedly pulled their ads. The aim of the Hogg-instigated boycott was to have Ingraham taken off the air. When Ingraham returned from a week long Easter vacation, however, her ratings went up.

Sean Hannity, Fox Newss #1 personality, has been vilified and targeted for elimination several times during the past year. He has described these attempts by leftist groups like Media Matters as looking to deliver a kill shot to his broadcasting career. Last month, two more attempts were made to smear Hannity in hopes of taking him out, initially by associating him with Donald Trumps personal attorney Michael Cohen, the current bete noire of the American political and media establishment. When there wasnt much substance to that attempt at guilt by association, The Guardian in the UK was enlisted by the anti-Trump Resistance and, on April 23, citing leaked confidential financial documents, published an article revealing that Hannity had invested $90 million of his savings in real estate  de facto villainy in the view of the collectivists who now comprise the Deep State Democrat-dominated MSM.

The vaguely implied crimes associated with Hannitys investment  that he was a heartless slumlord who benefitted from Federally-guaranteed loans, and/or a hypocrite for taking Federal money  were quickly debunked, surprisingly by a prominent outpost of the MSM itself  the New Yorker magazine. The same day the Guardian story appeared, the New Yorker dispatched one of its writers to a Hannity-owned apartment complex in Georgia. After spending a few hours nosing around there, he and the accompanying photos a New Yorker photographer took of the place documented a situation that highlighted Hannitys sound and responsible stewardship of a large and appealing middle class rental property.

Not quite finished with the bones of this story, however, the Washington Post, in its latest attempt to keep the tale alive, only two days ago ran a lengthy update, At Sean Hannity properties in working-class areas, an aggressive approach to rent collection. As usual, there is not much there to the story and therefore nothing in it is really worth quoting. Among the 2,400 reader comments to the article at the time of this writing, this one seemed to best sum it up: Curious what the Washington Post does when you stop paying Subscription fees.

Peter Barry Chowka is a veteran reporter and analyst of news on national politics, media, and popular culture. He is a frequent contributor to American Thinker. Follow Peter on Twitter at @pchowka.
We are still waiting for the Democrats to select their nominee for governor. It will happen on May 22.

At the same time, I have never seen a campaign for governor like this.

First, there are no radio ads for either campaign. Normally, primary radio ads flood Texas radio. And second, they had a debate, but it was seen only in Austin, or for those who were willing to stream it.

Governor Abbott is assuming that Miss Valdez will be the nominee, and he is on the attack. It was a brilliant ad. In fact, it was so brilliant and on target that the left is already playing the "lesbian card."

This is the ad:

The Abbott camp's new site and Web ad say that Valdez, if elected, would "eviscerate" the state's ban on sanctuary cities, reverse its recently passed restrictions on abortion and expand Medicaid to adults of working age under Obamacare. In the 30-second ad, while a narrator touts how Abbott has helped to make Texas "the most pro-life state in the nation," the screen includes a caption. Superimposed on a photo of Valdez, it cites this remark from her, as reported by the San Antonio Express-News in late January: "My partner is a very strong, independent chiropractor. For me to try to tell her what she should do with her body, she would tell me what to do with my mouth." Valdez was referring to her partner, Lindsay Brown.

Talk about a perfect strike from Governor Abbott!

The ad had nothing to do with Miss Valdez's sexual orientation. It actually had to do with Miss Valdez's biggest vulnerabilities:

1. Sanctuary cities and the S.B. 4 law signed by Governor Abbott and recently blessed by a federal court, 3-0.

2. Abortion, a loser with Hispanic women, as Miss Wendy Davis learned in 2014.

We don't know if Miss Valdez will win the primary, although I think she will because Mr. White is known only to his family. Nevertheless, it's good to see that Governor Abbott will play hardball and force Valdez, or White, to explain difficult positions.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
Surabaya, Indonesias second-largest city, was the scene of three terrorist attacks on Christian churches that killed at least 11 people and injured more than 40.

The attacks were well coordinated, occurring within 10 minutes of each other. One of the attacks was carried out by a woman who apparently involved her two small children.

Guardian:

I heard two explosions, one was in the churchs parking lot and the other was outside the church. The woman was with two little boys, Johanes, a member of the GKI congregation, told Kompas TV. The Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, and the national police chief, Tito Karnarvian, visited Surabaya on Sunday. At a news briefing, Widodo confirmed that two children had been used in the bombing, and condemned the barbaric attacks. I have instructed police to look into and break up networks of perpetrators, said Widodo. The blasts occurred within 10 minutes of each other, police said, with the first explosion at 7.30am (0030 GMT). Indonesian police cordoned off the sites for investigation, and have not yet confirmed the identity of the attackers.

A video of one of the attacks appeared on Twitter:

Breaking: Video showing one of the Surabaya attackers riding a motorcycle into the grounds of a church and detonating a bomb. pic.twitter.com/X0DBrHB4p9  Adam Harvey (@adharves) May 13, 2018

Indonesian intelligence place responsibility for the attacks on the Isis-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD). Their leader, Aman Abdurrahman, is said to have ordered the 2016 Sarinah attack in Jakarta, which killed eight people.

There may be a connection between the church bombings and a prison uprising last week:

Sundays attacks follow a deadly prison riot at a maximum-security detention facility in West Java last week, when Islamist inmates killed five officers after taking them hostage and controlled three prison blocks for 40 hours. The church attacks were likely linked to the prison hostage standoff, said Wawan Purwanto, the communication director at Indonesias intelligence agency. The main target is still security authorities, but we can say that there are alternative [targets] if the main targets are blocked, he said. News of the riot at the Mako Brimob detention centre has reverberated through jihadist networks, said Todd Elliot, a Jakarta-based security analyst from Concord Consulting. Whatever happened in Mako Brimob has certainly reinvigorated domestic militants. Online jihadi social media has been abuzz in the last couple of days with celebratory messages and calls for more attacks, said Elliot.

The Indonesian government has always made a point of claiming that theirs is a "moderate" Islamic country, tolerant of other religions.

Pluralism has always been a part of Indonesias DNA, Joko Widodo told Reuters in an interview at the presidential palace in Jakarta. Despite many challenges, Islam in Indonesia has always been a force for moderation. Indonesias state ideology includes national unity, social justice and democracy alongside belief in God, and enshrines religious diversity in a secular system of government.

But we all know it's one thing to "enshrine" religious diversity in law and quite another to actually practice it.

I have visited Indonesia many times, and on every visit I have seen churches and Ahmadi mosques closed and Ahmadiyya and Shia communities forcibly displaced after their villages have been violently attacked. I have met with representatives of traditional local religions who face discrimination in schools and other public services, and with followers of Gafatar, a syncretistic movement blending together teachings of the Abrahamic faiths  Islam, Judaism and Christianity  and banned as deviant. Year-on-year, the statistics show, incidents of intolerance have risen; this is not a new phenomenon.

The rise of ISIS-inspired groups has only made the situation for other religions worse. The government may crow about how diverse the country is, but the reality is that the majority Muslim population enforces their own kind of discipline on non-Muslim faiths. And considering yesterday's church bombings, others may be inspired to assault Christians and their churches in the name of Islam.

They don't have to be "extremists" to persecute the Christian minority.
A conservative friend (call him Sam) and I were discussing the bizarre but common phenomenon of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). As we did so, Sam expressed his growing frustration. Each of us has, on occasion, whether online or off, attempted to reason with sufferers of TDS, but to no avail.

Those with the syndrome have a computer-like repertoire of ready replies to everything. If you debunk their first accusation, they pull out one more from their list and continue as if the first one was never challenged. Thus, Sam's utter frustration. One cannot have an honest discussion with a computer that is preprogrammed to stonewall.

The tenacity these people demonstrate makes one wonder: why did they never apply their tactics to challenging the corrupt Obama presidency? Why do they interpret every minute detail of Trump's words and actions in the darkest, most negative possible light, while Obama got the benefit of every doubt, even when no reasonable doubt existed?

I calmed Sam's frustration by giving him my take. The TDS crowd are not victims of their syndrome. They are soldiers, soldiers on the wrong side of a clash of worldviews that has been going on for millennia, perhaps since Cain slew Abel. The reason they cannot be persuaded is because they are not debating; they are fighting. They are not arguing for their beliefs, they are battling for what they perceive as their self-interest. Their ideology is not a system of belief, but a fortification from which they can launch their attacks.

Consider: is Congresswoman Maxine Waters a serious scholar of our constitutional system? Would any sane person attempt to persuade her to forfeit her position of power?

Our opponents are not mere opponents. They are resourceful, intractable, and immune to reason. Expose their corruption, and they accuse you of doing what they did. Debunk their argument and they change the subject. The one and only thing they have going for them is power. They have lots of it, and their aim is to get all of it.

For those who might underestimate the degree of their ferocity, take a look at this anti-Trump website here.

Note the portrait of Trump as the Devil himself, the picture of the pink handcuffs, and the relentless false accusations. Are these people interested in persuading you, or simply overpowering you?

There is no point in getting angry at them. Just defeat them.

Image: Frederick Dennstedt via Wikimedia Commons.
Les lunettes de marque ne sont pas ce qui manque dans les commerces. Il y en a de toutes les sortes dont les lunettes de []
A very interesting piece in Bloomberg today by writer Sam Tanenhaus about how liberals are trying to relive their glory days by drawing parallels between Watergate and the effort to impeach Trump.

Tanenhaus, author of "Death of Conservatism," tries to disabuse liberals from their impeachment fantasies by showing some of the false parallels between Watergate and Trump's troubles today.

At the time of Watergate, prominent conservatives like Ronald Reagan came to Nixon's defense, leading to harsh criticism for defending a lawbreaker.

Reagan didnt care. You can count on us, he told Nixon in August 1973. Were still behind you out here. He stuck with Nixon during the Watergate scandal long after his advisors had concluded that the president was a liar and a lost cause, writes Reagans biographer Lou Cannon. It looked foolhardy. But in fact there were two Watergates. One had come to an end when Nixons successor, Gerald Ford, assured the country: Our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule. This was the version later romanticized in the movie All the Presidents Men. Its heroes were the intrepid reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. (Last years film The Post reiterated this theme.) The second Watergate lived on for conservatives who believed it was really about what the revisionist Nixon scholar Joan Hoff has called the insatiable desire to get Richard Nixon on the part of a tiny group of New York and Washington reporters. Post-Watergate politics was, in effect, a referendum on these two competing versions. Liberals emphasized the rule of order, and the dangers of an increasingly imperial and corrupt presidency. Conservatives argued that the country was under siege from the people who had brought Nixon down, a new class or elite who disdained the values and ideals of middle America. Initially, liberals had the advantage. Nixon resigned in disgrace, and a new generation of reform Democrats were swept into office, first in the post-Watergate midterm elections and then in 1976, when the squeaky-clean Democrat Jimmy Carter was elected, undoing Nixons landslide in 1972. But those victories were short-lived. Many of the Watergate babies in Congress came from affluent suburbs, where good-government issues, like campaign-finance reform, resonated. But they didnt speak to a lot of voters, including blue-collar Democrats, who had voted for Nixon and then been slow to accept his guilt in Watergate  as had the three in four people who, in a poll published before the Senate Watergate hearings began, agreed with the statement Nixons campaign people were no worse than the Democrats, except they got caught. Carter too failed to connect with those voters. Four years later, the Republicans roared back, led by Nixons staunch defender, Ronald Reagan. In heartland districts like Michigans Macomb County, outside Detroit, Reagan Democrats rejected their old party. It happened again in 2016, when Macomb voters who had helped elect Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 switched over to Trump.

Tanenhaus notes that while rank and file liberals today want to reenact Watergate and impeach Trump, many of Trump's most vociferous critics like Rep. Adam Schiff are warning against pushing an impeachment agenda. The resulting conservative backlash would almost certainly swamp any Democratic presidential nominee in 2020.

There is also the fact that the party makeup of Congress today is a lot different than in was in 1973. Then, Democrats owned a huge majority in the House and Senate, making Nixon's political position intenable. Today, even with a Democratic takeover of the House, it would be impossible for Democrats to gather enough votes to convict Trump in the Senate. (This assumes there is no smoking gun that would make Trump's position as perilous as Nixon's was in the Summer of 1973).

Some on the right hope the Democrats commit political suicide and try to impeach Trump for anything less than treason for colluding with the Russians. In fact, as Tanenhaus points out, the liberal "hangover" from Watergate could actually be their downfall.
Prince Harry has gone legit! Gone are his bad-boy Nazi uniform-wearing days; he's now settling down and becoming respectable by marrying Meghan Markle. Markle, who is half-black, has generated a storm of publicity about her dual heritage. Hundreds if not thousands of articles have been written about how important her part-blackness is  not only to people in Britain, but to many people throughout the world.

It seems clear to me, however, that if Markle's part-black heritage is inspiring millions, her part-white heritage must be doing the same. Unfortunately, I have a much harder time finding articles gushing about her white father and her part-white background. But let's see if we can take some of the articles celebrating her part-blackness and extrapolate.

The New York Times had one of many racially tinged celebratory pieces:

In the days to come, anyone wishing to criticize Meghan Markle, the American actress set to marry into Britain's royal family, will have to contend with Tshego Lengolo, an 11-year-old black girl and newly minted monarchist. ... [T]o Tshego, Meghan Markle is just flat-out thrilling. She wants details. Is Ms. Markle's hair naturally curly, and are there pictures? Will they hire a DJ to play at the wedding, and will that DJ play hip-hop? Tshego cannot wait for the couple to have a baby, she says, because the baby will be partly African, like herself. She hopes against hope that the baby will have black hair.

Similarly, people celebrating Markle's white heritage are probably hoping their first child is born blonde with blue eyes. They are also probably hoping the couple hires an orchestra to play classical music at their wedding, preferably composed by a European Caucasian.

Here are comments from Elle magazine's interview with black women:

I'm always excited when a black woman is successful in finding a partner of any kind, a lifelong partner at that.

This exactly mirrors how white people feel: they are always excited to see a white woman find a partner  of any kind!

Seeing black women become First Ladies and royals is awesome, for lack of a better word.

Seeing white women become royals is awesome, too! When Princess Diana became a royal, white people swooned that one of their own had made it to the top!

Think about what this means for little girls of color to be able to grow up with a woman that looks like them in one of the most influential positions in the world.

And think about what it means for little girls of white color to grow up and know they can achieve the same!

When they announced the engagement [Monday] morning, I had the same feelings I did as when Obama won the election, like history was happening. This moment, when I was also alive, will be read about in children's history books.

This is very similar to how white people felt when Trump won the election: that history was being made! Just think about all the children's books that will be written celebrating the Trump presidency!

I also cannot wait to see Meghan's mother, who is black, sitting in the royal carriage with Queen Elizabeth II. That in itself will be a monumental moment in history.

White Britons are also excited to see Meghan's father, who is white, sitting in a royal carriage with Queen Elizabeth II. Imagine all those white people...in just one carriage!

Both Michelle Obama and Meghan Markle ... are shining examples of our grace, class, strength, and our diverse beauty.

Can white women have "diverse beauty"?

In a post-Brexit, post-Trump era where the nefarious impact of imperialism, colonialism and white supremacy plague us everyday, I'm delighted to celebrate Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's engagement.

Wait. How did we get to the post-Trump era? Did I miss something? But the writer has a point: that white Britons have something to celebrate in the post-Obama era, now that Prince Harry is marrying a woman with part Caucasian heritage.

You can see how ridiculous this all becomes when we simply replace the word "black" with "white."

Exit question:

Will there ever come a time, rhetorically, when minorities are treated exactly the same as white people and not held up as superior or more virtuous simply because of the color of their skin?

Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.
The Android 8.0 Oreo update for Samsungs Galaxy Note 8 is returning to T-Mobile starting today, three weeks after the third-largest wireless carrier in the country halted its distribution due to a number of bugs that it discovered after first launching the software package. The exact number of issues identified by T-Mobile remains unclear, with a company representative previously only mentioning one problem related to the McAfee Android app which was found to be causing blank screens.

The new Android 8.0 Oreo-based firmware is identified by the baseband version N950USQU3CRD7, whereas the old, buggy one was known as the N950USQU3CRC2. The upgrade will start rolling out today at 10 AM PT, according to T-Mobiles official support page for Samsungs 2017 flagship. As is usually the case with T-Mobiles software updates, the over-the-air package is being rolled out in stages so as to prevent network congestion. While no geographical limits are imposed on the deployment, the number of daily updates is capped, meaning Galaxy Note 8 owners looking to be among the first to receive the new update are advised to manually scan for it shortly after it becomes available later today.

The custom implementation of Android 8.0 Oreo thats now set to hit Samsungs latest S Pen-equipped phablet is advertised as Samsung Experience 9.0 and comes with support for all Google-made improvements present in the stock version of the operating system such as notification channels and improved battery management, as well as Samsungs own features and optimizations. Project Treble support isnt expected to be part of the package, though the Galaxy Note 8 still comes with a guarantee of monthly security patches, as do all high-end handsets from the South Korean original equipment manufacturer. The Galaxy Note 8 is set to be succeeded in the second half of the year, with the Galaxy Note 9 being expected to launch in late August or early September, likely around the time Berlin, Germany-based IFA trade show takes place.
Chinese technology company Lenovo was recently awarded a new design patent describing a hybrid laptop with a tri-fold display and several variations of the thereof, as revealed by a set of documentation published by the World Intellectual Property Organization in mid-April. The firm initially filed for the patent in late 2016, having envisioned a laptop featuring a flexible display with multiple viewing regions. The panel in question is of the OLED variety and can be folded both inwards and outwards, effectively allowing users to triple the amount of screen real estate on offer compared to what traditional portable computers can deliver.

The flexible nature of the folding mechanism allows the gadget to be folded in a way that has its screens facing both sides, with the Chinese original equipment manufacturer saying such a mode would be useful for presentations or local multiplayer games. The patent filing doesnt explicitly state that the display panels of the theoretical design are touch-sensitive, though such a functionality is implied, especially given how some possible setups dont hide the keyboard of the hybrid device behind one of its screens. Both sides of the Lenovo-made device are meant to be equipped with a camera and at least one microphone, the patent reveals. The Hong Kong-based OEMs filing mentions smartphones as another possible use case of a similar tri-fold design, in addition to saying the same of tablets.

The basic engineering principles applied to the newly protected property can allow both for dual- and triple-screen laptops, according to the WIPO-published documents. Some of Lenovos previous efforts already hinted at the company experimenting with foldable electronics, with OPPO and Huawei being two other Chinese tech giants who are presently doing the same. Razer already made a prototype of a triple-display laptop, having debuted it at last years CES, albeit its design makes significant trade-offs in terms of user convenience and was never commercialized. Huawei and Samsung are both expected to release their first foldable smartphones within the next twelve months.
Update [May 14, 2018]: Ring reached out with the following statement: Ring values the trust our neighbors place in us and we are committed to the highest level of customer information and data security. We strongly recommend that customers never share their username or password. Instead, they should add family members and other users to their devices through Rings Shared Users feature. This way, owners maintain control over who has access to their devices and can immediately remove users. Our team is taking additional steps to further improve the password change experience. The original article is as follows.

The mobile app meant to control Rings smart doorbells has a security flaw that lets people spy on homeowners if they were ever allowed to log into it, The Information reports. Miami-based Jesus Echezarreta found out in January that his ex-boyfriend was spying on him through his doorbell bought from the company that Amazon acquired for $1 billion earlier this spring. While Mr. Echezarreta changed his Ring password, doing so hasnt kicked off his former partner from the service as he was still allowed to access the camera feed of the Ring-made doorbell.

The Santa Monica, California-based firm was notified of the incident by Mr. Echezarreta four months ago and tweaked its platform so as to log out all clients following a password change, yet the transition doesnt happen instantly. Ring Chief Executive Officer Jamie Siminoff said that an immediate switch would make the app slower but that the original equipment manufacturer already lowered the response time to an hour. A limited investigation performed by The Information didnt corroborate those claims and at least some users still arent able to kick off all connected clients from their Ring doorbell profile even several hours after changing their passwords.

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Mr. Echezarretas case underlines the more general security concerns raised in the Internet of Things segment, with his smart doorbell being used as a spying tool against him. An internal probe also revealed someone has been ringing his doorbell remotely in the middle of the night, with the company ultimately giving him a new device and the episode ending with no significant consequences for his well-being. Amazon recently suggested its thinking about integrating Rings offerings into its Amazon Key ecosystem allowing for in-house delivery even when the owners arent home. The development is not the first occasion on which a significant security flaw was discovered in regards to one of Rings products; in 2015, the firm had to patch a software vulnerability that allowed hackers to access ones Wi-Fi by compromising their doorbell, whereas a possibly faulty doorbell from the former startup was found to have been sending audio data to China last year, though the company claimed that threat was effectively non-existent as the packets in question only contained milliseconds of audio, hence being unintelligible.
Next week opening of BSDA 2018, Black Sea Defense & Aerospace exhibition that will take place in Bucharest from the 16 to 18 May 2018. The BSDA 2018 is an International tri-service defense Exhibition and Conference dedicated to Defense, Aerospace, Homeland Security, Cyber Security and Safety & Security which takes place every 2 years in the capital of Romania.



BSDA 2018 Black Sea Defense & Aerospace exhibition that will take place from the 16 to 18 May, 2018 in Bucharest, Romania. (Picture source TNT Production)

Romania is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union, and is a Strategic Partner of the United States. The country maintains good relations with its neighbors and regional partners. Romania has committed to the NATO guideline of spending at least 2.0% of GDP on defense for the following ten years.

Romania is also looking to modernize its own defense industry through international partnerships. American firms may be asked to contribute to this goal. The Romanian Parliament must approve defense acquisitions in excess of 100 million ($110 million).

Until 1989 Romania's Defense Industry had been an important economic sector, covering 85% of the procurement needs of the Romanian Defense Forces and contributing with almost 1 billion US$ every year to exports, thus situating Romania among the top arms exporters in the world.

Currently, the Romanian Defense Industry, which was a dynamic and efficient economic sector of the country, still has an attractive potential for foreign and local investors and partners. This potential is given by its existing capacities, and especially by its capabilities.

The Romanian Defense Industry represents 27 state-owned companies and one research institute, fifteen of these companies and the institute are grouped within ROMARM National Company, a state owned holding company.

In August 2017, it was announced that Romania plans to spend a total of 9.8 billion euros ($11.3 billion) on upgrading its military until 2026, the eastern European NATO member's top defense body agreed on Tuesday.

The figure locks Romania's military spending at 2 percent of GDP over the next decade, meeting a key commitment of NATO members.

As one of the most popular online defense and security magazine Army Recognition will cover on site BSDA 2018 including daily news and video coverage about this event.
Fred Hersch Trio, Live In Europe (Palmetto)

Hersch opens his new trio album with Thelonious Monks We See and closes it with an unaccompanied performance of Blue Monk. A longtime source of inspiration for the pianist, bassist John Hebert and drummer Eric McPherson, Monk seems to trigger renewed stimulation and interaction whenever they play his compositions. In We See, Hersch maintains a flow of stimulating ideas even as he fragments the melody line that he develops so brilliantly. Herschs Newklypso, a tribute to Sonny Rollins, builds on the saxophonists devotion to the calypso music of his Caribbean ancestry. Hersch dedicates Bristol Fog to the late British pianist John Taylor, and the languorous, quirky, blues The Big Easy to New Orleans writer Tom Piazza. The album was recorded in concert in Brussels, Belgium. Six Hirsch compositions and two Wayne Shorter pieces, Miyako and Black Nile, complete the collection and help make it one of the trios most satisfying in their nine years together.

Miles Davis & John Coltrane, The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6 (Columbia Legacy)

The music on this album was tenor saxophonist John Coltranes 1960 farewell to the Miles DavisQuintet, and whatever youve heard about it is probably true. Yes, Coltrane was breaking away from Davis conceptually, headed toward his Giant Steps reinvention of himself. Yes, at times he indulges his every random musical thought in displays of concentrated energy, perhaps even unto the anger his critics accused him of during this transition (Coltrane denied using his music to express anger). Yes, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb are at a peak of the heated swing that made them the gold standard of mainstream rhythm sections in the late 1950s and early 60s. Yes, these concerts in Paris, Copenhagen and Stockholm radiate the tension generated by Coltranes disgruntlement with Daviss music and, no doubt, with his inability, under the circumstances, to find his own way.

In the Paris Bye Bye Blackbird, Coltrane adopts Daviss lyricism before moving into complexity just short of indecipherability. In the Copenhagen and Stockholm performances of All Blues, Coltranes fluidity is remarkable even asparticularly in Stockholmhe cranks up the intensity before yielding to Kellys vision of pure beauty. Through all four CDs in the package, it is rewarding to hear Kelly, Cobb and Chambers as individuals and in the surging undercurrents they develop as a section. This is one of the great small bands in all of music. Davis himself does some of his most affecting playing, and it is gripping to hear Coltrane finding his way through the transition to his next phase.

Scott Hamilton, Swedish Ballads& More (Charleston Square)

When so many albums arrive for possible review, there is always the possibility that a worthy one will end up in a music room nook or cranny, only to be rediscovered much later. Thats what happened to this 2012 gem. Tenor saxophonist Hamilton teamed with a world-class Scandinavian rhythm section for a collection of seven Swedish songs. It begins with Ack Varmeland Du Skona, long known outside of Sweden as Dear Old Stockholm, thanks to recordings by Stan Getz and Miles Davis. Hamilton also makes his unruffled way through, among other pieces, Ulf Sandstroms You Cant Be In Love With A Dream, Ole Adolphsons Trubbel and the Quincy Jones classic Stockholm Sweetnin, which has Hamilton at his most vigorous. Pianist Jan Lundgren, bassist Jesper Lundgaard and drummer Kristian Leth support him with great sensitivity andno surpriseauthenticity. Hamilton gives a tender reading to Min soldat (My Soldier), a song popular in Sweden in the 1940s and revived in the 1970s when it was used in a TV series. The late Swedish pianist Jan Johanssons Blues i oktaver wraps up the album. It includes a terrific solo by Lundgren, then a witty exchange of phrases between Hamilton and Lundgren, who is an admirer of and successor to Johansson. Lundgren contributes helpful liner notes.
COP26 may be a cop-out in the making COP26 is just about a month away. Delayed for a year by the Covid-19 pandemic, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference has built up even more expectations and momentum during the intervening months
Angola repays its $25 billion debt to Beijing with crude oil, creating a host of problems for its economy, reports Yinka Adegoke, Quartz's Africa editor, in his weekly brief.

Why it matters: That means Angola's ability to repay debt is dependent on the price of oil. And it leaves the country with lower volumes of oil to sell to other trading partners.

The bigger picture: Angola is an example of the debt-trap in Chinese diplomacy, through which small countries accrue massive debts by accepting Beijing's offer to build much-needed infrastructure. Then China has leverage to set the terms of future engagement, whether that's determining the mode of repayment or demanding rights to use the infrastructure.

The backdrop...

Angola is Africa's second-biggest oil producer, and 99% of Angolan exports to Beijing are petroleum products, per the Washington Post.

oil producer, and 99% of Angolan exports to Beijing are petroleum products, per the Washington Post. Since establishing diplomatic ties with Angola in 1983, China has lent $60 billion to the nation through direct investments and infrastructure projects.

with Angola in 1983, China has lent $60 billion to the nation through direct investments and infrastructure projects. "Every Angolan owes $754 to China," as the local newspaper Expansao put it.

as the local newspaper Expansao put it. As China keeps growing, its demand for crude does too. It's also the largest consumer of Iranian oil.

Go deeper: How China trapped Sri Lanka under a mountain of debt.
The Israeli military has announced it plans to nearly double the number of troops that surround Gaza and the occupied West Bank to control protests ahead of the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, the AFP reports.

The details: The embassy move is a key campaign promise of President Trump, and despite the significant acknowledgement to Israel that Jerusalem is its capital, it will likely lead to resistance from the Arab world. The additional enforcement "does not concern Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, where responding to protests is the responsibility of the police," AFP adds. President Trump will not be in attendance at the opening but is sending his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Netta Barzilai has won the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest for Israel with her song Toy, AP reported.

Barzilai, who was the favorite to win ahead of Saturdays Grand Final, saw off competition from 42 other countries performers to claim the music extravaganzas annual crown at a show in Lisbon, Portugal.

There was a strong field of contestants at this years event, which largely shed its traditional hallmarks of glitz and glitter in favor of a more restrained and tasteful tone.

The international contest began as a competition between European countries, but its huge popularity has led to the inclusion of Israel and Australia among the performers.

Around 200 million people were expected to tune in to Saturday nights show.

Portugal earned the right to host the event because it won last year with Salvador Sobrals subdued ballad Amar pelos Dois.
Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has made all of the appointments to the country's new government, the president's office said Saturday, Sputnik reported.

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian appointed the country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Zohrab Mnatsakanyan as the new foreign minister, according to a presidential decree released on Saturday.

Mger Grigoryan became deputy prime minister and Mane Tandilyan now is the minister of labor and social affairs.

Atom Dzhandzhugazyan is the new finance minister, Artak Zeynalyan is now the minister of justice, while Arsen Torosyan is the minister of healthcare.

Artur Khachatryan, the former governor of the Shirak province, became the minister of agriculture. Artsvik Minasyan is now the minister of economic development and investments.

Artur Grigoryan was appointed the minister of energy infrastructure and natural resources. Ashot Akopyan is the minister of transport, communications and information technologies.
Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare will continue to offer its patients remote intensive care unit services as part of a telehealth partnership with Royal Perth Hospital in Australia.

Under the program, Emory sends ICU providers to Royal Perth Hospital for an eight- to 16-week rotation. During this period, the providers begin work in Perth, Australia, at 7 a.m., but cover the night shift of Emory's ICUs using video monitors, microphones and specialized cameras designed by Philips, as Perth has a roughly 12-hour time difference from Atlanta.

The program builds on a pilot project Emory launched in 2016, which connected Emory's ICUs with providers at Sydney, Australia-based Macquarie University, which is 15 hours ahead of Atlanta. For the next stage of the project, Emory will work with Royal Perth Hospital for two to three years to refine its teleICU practices.

Emory's goal for the program  which was conceived by Timothy Buchman, PhD, MD, founding director of the Emory Critical Care Center and Cheryl Hiddleson, MSN, RN, director of the Emory eICU Center  is to alleviate two concerns critical care providers tend to have about night shifts: a shortage of senior clinicians willing to cover these shifts, and the toll sleep deprivation takes on caregivers.

"The providers worked more efficiently and felt better because they were working during daylight hours in Australia, reducing burnout and keeping more professionals satisfied in the critical care medicine field," Dr. Buchman said in a May 9 statement, noting the benefits Emory documented during the 2016 pilot phase of the program. "Patients benefited from the project by having focused, around-the-clock management of care, both during day and night hours."
After the former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif issued a statement accepting Pakistans involvement in the Mumbai terror attack, a lot of controversies have been sparked.

While meeting reporters in Bihar, BJP leader Baba Ramdev on Sunday said that Pakistan has to be taught a tough lesson. He also said that India has to get back the parts of Kashmir that have been occupied by Pakistan. He also said, If Pakistan keeps spreading terrorism, the country will be vanished from the world map.
The credentialing matter was subsequently investigated in a formal inquiry at which full proof of authenticity was presented and which dismissed the allegations as false.

At Boroko police station the following day, he was told officers were investigating him based on a complaint lodged six years earlier, in 2012, by former Unitech pro-chancellor Ralph Saulep involving an alleged fraud concerning Schrams doctoral degree.

Immigration officers gave him a 30-day tourist visa then handed him over to police, who insisted on seizing his passport.

Dr Albert Schram and his wife Paulina were transiting Port Moresby from Cairns en route to Europe following his controversial dismissal from his academic post.

NOOSA  Nearly two weeks ago, when entering Papua New Guinea through Jacksons Airport in Port Moresby, the former vice-chancellor of PNGs University of Technology was stopped by migration authorities.

After an earlier deportation, the highly regarded Dr Schram's triumphal return to Unitech in 2014 - "he injected sound, practical & smart ideas"

Furthermore, after a dispute with the Unitech council led to his dismissal, on 18 April this year Schram signed a release agreement with Unitech which explicitly exempted him from any criminal charges related to his work as vice-chancellor.

Now, somehow, those six year old charges had resurfaced. The Unitech council denied any complicity in them. Schram was confident that he could sort it out and soon be on his way.

But, after being kept on tenterhooks for a week during which he was extensively questioned by police, Schram was arrested last week and released on K2,000 bail.

I was in Port Moresby as the saga played out and during this time had a number of conversations with him and Paulina, friendly and straightforward people.

There is an abundance of decency and humanity among the good people of PNG, Schram told me.

Nobody could expect this madness when we were transiting through Port Moresby.

All matters with the university [in seeking Schrams resignation] were settled, and all allegations and charges were dropped.

In those conversations Schram was his customary cheerful and optimistic self, although his Kenyan-born wide Paulina grew very stressed as the week ground by with no resolution.

Then, just before I flew back to Brisbane last Monday, I received a short note from Schram which said: Our cheerful looks yesterday when we met were masking profound desperation and total frustration by the lack of any progress.

There is no common sense, reason or any sense of humanity and respect in all this.

These words that describe perfectly the astonishing and hostile series of events that have stripped Schram of his human rights over false claims, clearly made as a reaction to his successful work to clean up a malfunctioning Unitech, that had been previously addressed and dismissed.

Dr Schram is in court today and it is to be hoped the PNG justice system will quickly see off these most recent allegations, chastise the perpetrators and let him and Paulina continue their travel to Amsterdam and on to their home in Genoa, Italy.
Comedian John Bishop has called for same-sex marriage to be legalised in Northern Ireland after accepting an award at this year's NatWest British LGBT awards.

The funnyman took to the stage after he was named Ally of the Year during the awards at the London Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square last night.

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He attended the event with his wife Melanie and sons Joe, Luke and Daniel.

Bishop has supported the Come Out 2 Play initiative, a project designed to help gay people in the sporting world. He has also thrown his support behind a social media drive to end homophobic abuse on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

But during his speech, in which he paid tribute to his son, who is gay, he called for same-sex marriage to be legalised in Northern Ireland.

"I was in Northern Ireland recently," he said.

"In Northern Ireland it is still illegal to have a same-sex marriage. I went to have a chat with some people from who put together the biggest gay pride in the whole of Ireland and it was a real lesson to me.

"I spoke to them about when the first pride march happened.

"It is people like this who really paved the way.

"Now the gay pride in Belfast has 50,000 people turn up. The first time they did it just fifty brave souls got together and when they walked down the road they were faced with people stood there with placards.

"They had placards shouting at these people 'You're going to hell', 'Being gay is a sin', 'You're an abomination'. Back then there was more protesters than marchers. Now they dwarf the protesters."

The first Belfast Pride Parade in 1991 in fact had 100 pioneers.

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A bid to introduce same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland was blocked in the House of Commons on Friday.

MP Conor McGinn, originally from south Armagh, had brought a private member's bill forward seeking to extend same-sex marriage into Northern Ireland following the collapse of the devolved government.

However, the bill did not progress past Second Reading in the Commons following an objection by a backbench Conservative MP.
The DUP MP Sammy Wilson has accused the Irish foreign minister of being belligerent, interfering and a Brit basher and said he was using Brexit as an excuse to break-up the UK.

The MPs comments come after Simon Coveney dismissed the idea of using technology as a solution to the Irish border problem post-Brexit on the BBCs Andrew Marr programme.

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He claimed it would put the Good Friday Agreement at risk and that a seamless border was the only answer.

Mr Wilson said: The belligerent, interfering, Brit bashing foreign minister of the Irish Republic has once again taken to the airwaves to demand the breakup of the UK using the impact of Brexit on the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic as an excuse to breakup the UK.

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He added: The fact is that the border issues can all be dealt with by technology but Coveney and co have stuck their heads in the sand refusing to even consider this solution because it doesnt suit his aggressive Republican agenda instead he tried to flog his pig in a poke solution to the EU negotiators and force it down the throat of the UK government.

It wont work. The IRA failed to dislodge Northern Ireland from the UK with bombs Coveney wont do it with Brexit.

The UK always has the option to walk away from these negotiations with no deal.

That really would set the cat among the pigeons as far as the Irish economy is concerned because most of their exports to the UK would face huge tariffs and of course the import substitution which would result would massively benefit Northern Ireland agriculture and food processing.

Think about that Mr Coveney  it might cool your republican ardour.

Mr Coveney, speaking on the BBC, said: If you live in the island of Ireland, if you live in the border counties, if you talk to people about their memories of the past in the context of the border you will often end up talking to someone with tears in their eyes."

This is not just a trading issue  this is about Ireland moving forward, communities and neighbours living together.
The Prime Minister has said any deal with the EU over Brexit must protect the union between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Theresa May, writing in the Sunday Times on Sunday, also said there could be no hard border in Ireland.

As a proud unionist and prime minister of the whole United Kingdom I am clear that any deal with the EU must protect our precious Union and also honour the agreements that were reached in the historic Northern Irish peace process, she said.

This means there can be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, or between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

We will uphold the Belfast agreement in full- and we will ensure the constitutional and economic integrity of the whole United Kingdom.

Mrs May added that any agreement must create as little friction as possible for trade both within the UK and with Ireland.

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However, Sinn Fein MLA Mairtin O Muilleoir hit out at Mrs Mays article.

Todays piece by Theresa May is devoid of detail and free of facts, he said.

Theresa May could have written the same article any time over the last 23 months.

The British Tory partys proposals for a red, white and blue Brexit disregard the vote of the majority of people in the north to remain in the European Union.

Two years after the referendum and six months away from the conclusion of negotiations Theresa May has no plan or agreed approach to the British Brexit problem."

Mr O Muilleoir said the solution to the Irish border problem was clear.

The British government must respect the vote of the people of north and provide for the north to remain within the EU single market and customs union, he said.

It must protect the Good Friday Agreement and retain access for citizens to the European Court of Justice and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Fifty years after the Civil Rights campaign there can be no diminution of rights.

Its well past time for Theresa May to act with the rigorous impartial demanded of her government by the internationally binding Good Friday Agreement than acting in the selfish party political interests of the Tory party and its DUP partners.

Meanwhile, a report by pro-Brexit campaign group Leave Means Live has argued that existing technology is more than capable of permitting a friction-free border.

The report found that Ireland conducts the lowest level of physical inspections in the world- just 1%- and that 95-99% of goods traded between developed countries avoid physical inspection.

The reports cites the Svinesund crossing on the Norway-Sweden border, which uses cameras with numberplate recognition to track vehicles. A mobile customs unit checks anything deemed suspicious.
Ireland takes its lead on the UKs Brexit position from the Prime Minister, not Boris Johnson, the Irish deputy premier has said.

Simon Coveney was responding to the Foreign Secretarys scathing assessment of a proposed customs partnership between the UK and the EU as crazy.

Mr Coveney said Theresa Mays vision of a partnership  where the UK collects tariffs on behalf of Brussels  could provide the basis for negotiating a solution to the vexed problem of maintaining a free flowing Irish border.

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Responding to the remarks, Democratic Unionist MP Sammy Wilson, one of Mr Coveneys most vocal critics, branded him belligerent, interfering and Brit bashing and accused him of trying to break up the UK.

The UK cabinet is currently divided on the issue, with detractors of the partnership concept instead advocating new technology and trusted trader schemes to enable smooth trade with the EU.

Mr Johnson has been very critical of the idea of a partnership or shared customs territory, insisting it would prevent the UK taking back control of its trading policies.

Mr Coveney said the UK had made a clear commitment in last Decembers agreed UK/EU text that there would be no physical infrastructure on the border.

That means we are not talking about cameras and scanning systems and drones here  it means we are talking about a political solution that allows for regulatory alignment in a way that prevents the need for border infrastructure, he said.

He added: We are simply asking that that commitment be followed through on.

There was a clear agreement, says @simoncoveney that there would be no border infrastructure of any kind. #marr pic.twitter.com/tzqGXSJb6A  The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) May 13, 2018

Tanaiste Mr Coveney told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One: To be honest we dont take our lead from Boris Johnson in relation to Brexit, we take our lead from the Prime Minister.

She has signed up to very clear commitments, she has written to Donald Tusk (European Council President) confirming those commitments and I believe her by the way, I believe she made those commitments in good faith and I believe she wants to follow through on them.

He said Brexit negotiations would face a difficult summer if the UK Government failed to honour its commitment to agreeing a backstop in the withdrawal treaty.

The backstop would mean regulations between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic would continue to align post-Brexit, even if a broader trading deal between the UK and EU failed to materialise.

This concept has alarmed unionists, who believe it would end up creating trading barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, undermining the constitutional integrity of the kingdom.

Those sensitivities are particularly pertinent to Mrs May, as her governments survival relies on a confidence and supply deal with the Democratic Unionists at Westminster.

Dismissing claims the Irish were overplaying the border issue, Mr Coveney insisted maintaining a seamless frontier was about more than just trade.

If you live in the island of Ireland, if you live in the border counties, if you talk to people about their memories of the past in the context of the border you will often end up talking to someone with tears in their eyes, he said.

This is not just a trading issue  this is about Ireland moving forward, communities and neighbours living together.

Mr Wilson responded to Mr Coveneys latest remarks in robust terms.

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The fact is that the border issues can all be dealt with by technology but Coveney and Co have stuck their heads in the sand, refusing to even consider this solution because it doesnt suit his aggressive republican agenda, he said.

Instead he tried to flog his pig in a poke solution to the EU negotiators and force it down the throat of the UK Government.

It wont work. The IRA failed to dislodge Northern Ireland from the UK with bombs, Coveney wont do it with Brexit.

The UK always has the option to walk away from these negotiations with no deal.

That really would set the cat among the pigeons as far as the Irish economy is concerned because most of their exports to the UK would face huge tariffs and of course the import substitution which would result would massively benefit Northern Ireland agriculture and food processing.

Think about that Mr Coveney  it might cool your republican ardour.

Mr Coveney later held talks with French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Dublin.

The Tanaiste said the customs partnership doesnt solve all problems but he said it could pave the way for an arrangement that avoided the need for customs checks on the border.

It is difficult to talk in detail and in substance about a customs partnership unless we know that is the approach (from the UK) to the negotiations, he said after the meeting with Mr Le Drian.

Mr Coveney added: People now seem to be essentially redesigning what has already been committed, so we are simply saying we want to see the follow through on the commitments that have been made in December and March.

We would like to see substantial progress on that by the end of June.

And I dont think it unreasonable to ask a British government to follow through on commitments they have already made.

Mr Le Drian made clear that the issue had to be resolved by Junes EU summit, or shortly thereafter.

There is a solution today on the border issue  which is the backstop, he said.

This has been validated. If there are other options they have to be tabled so we can check they match the initial commitments  and the initial commitments are the refusal of a physical border coming once again and respecting the Good Friday Agreement.

He added: The June deadline is the deadline that must be seen as the ultimate deadline.

I know there is a little bit more time afterwards but the schedule is very tight so this issue is absolutely essential and we wish to reach an agreement.

If there is no validated position then the withdrawal agreement will be more complex so we have to push in this way.
Two Britons freed in the Democratic Republic of Congo after being kidnapped during a visit to a national park have said they are very relieved that their ordeal is over.

The pair  named as Bethan Davies and Robert Jesty  were rescued on Sunday after being snatched in Virunga National Park on Friday.

In a statement issued on their behalf, they said: We are very relieved that there has been a positive outcome to the kidnapping and are very grateful for the excellent support we have received. We do not plan to comment further.

A female park ranger, 25-year-old Rachel Makisa Baraka, who was travelling with the pair was killed and their driver injured during the abduction.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in a statement: I am delighted to announce that two British nationals who were held hostage in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been released.

I pay tribute to the DRC authorities and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation for their tireless help during this terrible case.

My thoughts are now with the family of Virunga Park ranger Rachel Makisa Baraka who was killed during the kidnapping, and with the injured driver and the released British nationals as they recover from this traumatic incident.

Delighted that two British nationals held hostage in DRC have been released. I pay tribute to the help of the DRC authorities and Congolese Institute of Nature Conservation. My thoughts with the family of the ranger tragically killed during the kidnapping https://t.co/LRlIcl2D3k  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) May 13, 2018

The parks spokeswoman refused to comment on how the situation was resolved and whether or not the kidnappers had been apprehended.

The park has seen rising violence in recent months as armed groups stage raids to steal resources, particularly charcoal.

Last month five young rangers and a driver were killed in a militia ambush, the park said.

It was the deadliest attack in recent years and took the total number of rangers killed to 175.

Virunga is a Unesco world heritage site, covering 3,000 square miles on the Democratic Republic of Congos border with Uganda and Rwanda.

Founded in 1925, it is home to around a quarter of the worlds critically endangered mountain gorillas and other endangered species as well as lions, elephants, hippos and a host of rare bird species.

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Last year, a fifth of the parks southern sector was deforested owing to illegal charcoal production, the park said.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that it provided consular support to both Britons and their families throughout their ordeal.

The British ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, John Murton, said: The UK would like to thank the DRC authorities and MONUSCO (The United Nations peace keeping mission) for their assistance in resolving this kidnapping.

I would like in particular to praise the courage and commitment shown by the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation and the Virunga Park authorities over the past three days.

My deepest condolences are with the family, friends and colleagues of Rachel Makisa Baraka, the Virunga ranger killed during the kidnapping. I wish the driver injured during the incident a speedy recovery.

The bravery and determination of all the staff of Virunga is vital for the conservation of animals in the park, and the protection of local communities.

Park director Emmanuel de Merode said in a statement: Ranger Barakas life was tragically cut short in service to Virunga National Park.

She was one of the parks 26 female rangers and was highly committed, showing true bravery in her work.

We extend our sincerest condolences to her family, and our thoughts are with all those affected by this incident.
Mega-star Ed Sheeran swapped a crowd of 40,000 for one of 40 when he performed a secret gig in a Belfast pub after his sold-out Boucher Road concert.

The Galway Girl hit-maker arrived unannounced in Maddens Bar - the home of traditional folk music in the city - with some of his backing musicians after finishing on stage.

He wowed the punters with a short selection of his hits, some of which were sung by support act Anne-Marie.

Ed and his gang were a massive hit with the Maddens regulars including young barmaid Rhiannon McLaughlin, who passed her driving test the following day after words of advice from the Shape of You star.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Fan out to see Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Fan out to see Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Fan out to see Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX L-R Tia Hughes (10), auntie Zoe Totten, Catherine Hawkes, and Charlene Wilson out to see Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX L-R Chloe Dickey, Rachael Martin, and Lois Kane out to see Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX L-R Shauna Rooney, Noleen Chisholm, Ciara McCann, and Claire Kelly out to see Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Fan out to see Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX L-R Emma McNeice, Heidi Sandell, and Emma-Louise Dunbar out to see Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX L-R Katie Longmuir, mum Karen McKeown, and friend Jeyda Cross out to see Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX L-R Lindsey McCole, Nicola McMonagle, and Christina Harkin out to see Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX L-R Clare OOBrien, Brenda Long, Orla Kearney, Aine Kearney, Caoimhe McCrossan, Shauna Kearney, and Niamh OOBrien out to see Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX L-R Aine Crossan, Shannagh Taylor, Orlaith Crossan, and Maeve Magee out to see Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran fans from L-R Georgia Lavelle , India Hanna and Chloe McIvor at Boucher Road in Belfast on Wednesday evening, with around 42,000 people expected at Boucher playing fields for the Ed Sheeran Concert. Photo Pacemaker Press Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran performing at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast. Wednesday 9th May 2018. Picture by Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ed Sheeran fans Alana and Chris Mooney at Boucher Road in Belfast on Wednesday evening around 42,000 people are expected at Boucher playing fields for the show. Pic: Pacemaker Press Pacemaker Press 09/05/2018 Ed Sheeran fans at Boucher Road in Belfast on Wednesday evening, with around 42,000 people expected at Boucher playing fields for the Ed Sheeran Concert. Photo Pacemaker Press Pacemaker Press 09/05/2018 Ed Sheeran fans at Boucher Road in Belfast on Wednesday evening, with around 42,000 people expected at Boucher playing fields for the Ed Sheeran Concert. Photo Pacemaker Press Pacemaker Press 09/05/2018 Ed Sheeran fans at Boucher Road in Belfast on Wednesday evening, with around 42,000 people expected at Boucher playing fields for the Ed Sheeran Concert. Photo Pacemaker Press Pacemaker Press 09/05/2018 Ed Sheeran fans at Boucher Road in Belfast on Wednesday evening, with around 42,000 people expected at Boucher playing fields for the Ed Sheeran Concert. Photo Pacemaker Press Pacemaker Press 09/05/2018 Ed Sheeran fans at Boucher Road in Belfast on Wednesday evening, with around 42,000 people expected at Boucher playing fields for the Ed Sheeran Concert. Photo Pacemaker Press Pacemaker Press 09/05/2018 Ed Sheeran fans at Boucher Road in Belfast on Wednesday evening, with around 42,000 people expected at Boucher playing fields for the Ed Sheeran Concert. Photo Pacemaker Press Pacemaker Press 09/05/2018 Ed Sheeran fans From L-R Alana Keenan, Megan Toner and Tara Gray at Boucher Road in Belfast on Wednesday evening, with around 42,000 people expected at Boucher playing fields for the Ed Sheeran Concert. Photo Pacemaker Press Pacemaker Press 09/05/2018 Ed Sheeran fans Carolyn and Kevin Lenaghan (who got engaged at a previous Ed Sheeran Concert in London) at Boucher Road in Belfast on Wednesday evening, with around 42,000 people expected at Boucher playing fields for the Ed Sheeran Concert. Photo Pacemaker Press Pacemaker Press 09/05/2018 Ed Sheeran fans at Boucher Road in Belfast on Wednesday evening, with around 42,000 people expected at Boucher playing fields for the Ed Sheeran Concert. Photo Pacemaker Press Pacemaker Press 09/05/2018 Ed Sheeran fans at Boucher Road in Belfast on Wednesday evening, with around 42,000 people expected at Boucher playing fields for the Ed Sheeran Concert. Photo Pacemaker Press Pacemaker Press 09/05/2018 Ed Sheeran fans From L-R Amy Turner and Emma Martin at Boucher Road in Belfast on Wednesday evening, with around 42,000 people expected at Boucher playing fields for the Ed Sheeran Concert. Photo Pacemaker Press Pacemaker Press 09/05/2018 Ed Sheeran fans at Boucher Road in Belfast on Wednesday evening, with around 42,000 people expected at Boucher playing fields for the Ed Sheeran Concert. Photo Pacemaker Press / Facebook

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"He was so friendly and so too were the other members of his band, it was like having your own personal concert," said the teenager.

Earlier on Wednesday Ed wowed 40,000 fans at the rain-soaked Boucher Road playing fields, tickets for which cost an eye-watering 80.

But later that evening the 27-year-old performed for free to a much smaller, but nonetheless appreciative crowd in Maddens Bar which is in Berry Street at the back of the CastleCourt shopping complex.

The founder of Gingerbread Man Records looked relaxed as he chatted with fans and signed autographs.

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Another punter told Sunday Life: "He had his guitar with him so he must have arrived with the intention of playing a few hits.

"He was happy to chat away with the locals and have a drink. He really seemed to enjoy himself in the pub.

"Maddens is famous in Belfast for traditional music and someone in Ed's team heard about this and told him it would be a good place to relax after the gig. Everyone had a great time and were singing along while he played the guitar."

Ed is due to play at Pearse Stadium in Galway tonight followed by two dates in Dublin's Phoenix Park before his tour heads to England.
Police tape seals off the area around the Surabaya Central Pentecostal Church in Surabaya after it was targeted in a deadly terrorist attack, May 13, 2018.

Updated at 5:33 p.m. ET on 2018-05-13

At least 13 people died and more than 40 others were injured Sunday when a couple and their four children set off suicide bombs at three churches in Indonesias second largest city, Surabaya, in the worst terrorist attack in the country in two years, police and witnesses said.

The couple and their two boys, aged 16 and 18 and two girls, aged 9 and 12, were linked to Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a local group inspired by the Islamic State (IS), National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said. IS later claimed responsibility for the attack through its Amaq news agency.

The father drove the Toyota Avanza carrying his wife and their two children. He dropped his wife and two daughters, 12 and 9, at GKI, Karnavian said, referring to one of the three targeted churches.

[He] then drove the car containing bombs to the Pentecostal Church and blew it up. Meanwhile, two boys set out on their own riding a motorbike to Santa Marias church. Both blew themselves up in front of the church.

Agence France-Presse identified the father as Dita Priyanto, while news reports identified the mother as Puji Kuswati.

Police said Dita led the JAD branch in East Java province, whose capital is Surabaya. The suicide bombings were the first involving a woman and children in Indonesia, officials said.

Earlier on Sunday in West Java province, police said they killed four suspected militants who resisted arrest.

Sundays bombings took place a few days before the start of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan and amid a growing climate of intolerance by conservative religious groups in Muslim-majority Indonesia against members of its small Christian minority.

The attacks were the deadliest targeting Christians since 2000, when 18 people were killed when homemade bombs disguised as holiday presents exploded at some churches across the country on Christmas Eve.

The churches attacked in Surabaya on Sunday were the Santa Maria Tak Bercela Catholic Church, the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) of Surabaya and the Surabaya Central Pentecostal Church (GPPS).

A witness described the attack at Santa Maria Tak Bercela Catholic Church.

I just came out of a street stall and immediately there was a loud explosion, Pembayun Abi Prahara told BenarNews.

There were some pieces of bodies scattered. Looking at the pieces, I realized that this is a bombing, he said.

Meanwhile, a witness to the GKI bombing, Mulyo Hartono, said he saw a woman wearing purdah - a head covering signifying she was of the Muslim faith - walking with two children who were dressed the same way entering the church.

A church security officer tried to prohibit them, then the explosion happened, he said. It seems the two children did not survive.

Mulyo tried to help the security officer but stopped after he saw a backpack on one of the children.

Then I heard the second explosion, he said.

East Java police spokesman Senior Commissioner Frans Barung Mangera said 13 people were confirmed dead and 41 who were injured were being treated at several hospitals in Surabaya as of Sunday evening.

The first church attack occurred at 7:08 a.m. (local time) and was followed by the second and third attacks within minutes, witnesses told BenarNews.

Police officers stand guard near Indonesian Christians Church in Surabaya, May 13, 2018. (Yovinus Guntur/BenarNews)

Barung said the police bomb squad unit found three undetonated bombs in two of the churches.

One was found at the GKI and two more active bombs were found at the Pentecostal Church, he said.

After meeting with victims who had been taken to area hospitals, President Joko Jokowi Widodo inspected the bombing scenes. He was accompanied by Karnavian, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto, Military Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto and State Intelligence Agency chief Budi Gunawan.

Terrorist acts this time are really barbaric and out of bounds against humanity, causing harm to community members, police officers and innocent children, Jokowi told reporters after visiting the Police Bhayangkara Hospital in Surabaya.

He added that terrorism was a crime against humanity that had nothing to do with any religion.

All religious teachings reject the doctrine of terrorism whatever the reason, he said.

The president said he ordered the national police chief to investigate the militant networks responsible for the attacks and to dismantle them at their roots.

Densus 88 kills four

In other developments on Sunday, members of the nations elite police wing Densus 88 shot and killed four suspected terrorists in West Java provinces Cianjur district, authorities said.

Police took firm action because the four resisted by shooting at officers who attempted to arrest them, national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto told reporters in Jakarta.

Sundays violence occurred several days after inmates rioted at a maximum-security detention center at the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) headquarters in West Javas Depok district, leaving five police officers and an inmate dead.

Based on intelligence information, they were on the way to Brimob headquarters. They planned to conduct a hit-and-run attack with weapons and arrows, Setyo said.

JAD was blamed for the prison riot earlier this week. The group is led by Aman Abdurrahman, who is detained at Brimob and who police allowed to speak to the rioters in response to one of their demands.

Indonesias worst ever terror attack occurred in Bali in 2002 when bombs killed 202 people, mostly tourists. More recently, a gun and bomb attack in Jakarta in January 2016 killed four attackers and four civilians in the first assault on Indonesian soil claimed by IS.
The survey, which will be the largest HIV research to be conducted in the whole world, will involve 170,000 people.

The Federal Government, Nigeria has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States (U.S.) to conduct national health indicator and impact survey to determine the accurate number of people infected with HIV in Nigeria.

The Minister of Health, Dr Isaac Adewole, the Director-General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Dr Sani Aliyu and the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, signed the agreement in Abuja.

The survey, which will be the largest HIV research to be conducted in the whole world, will involve 170,000 people. It will also cover Hepatitis B and C and will also assess the uptake of HIV services among the population and estimate the prevalence of HIV related risks behaviour in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The National HIV and AIDS Indicator and Impact Assessment Survey is scheduled to start from June.
What determines your place in the hell ? Faith Mysticism oi-Renu

We hear so many times in Hinduism that the sinners are taken to hell after death. This is one of the most prevalent belief not only in Hinduism but other religions as well. Well, there are many sins, then must also be different according to that. A sin of higher degree must beget a punishment too o a higher order. Well to make it easy for you, we have mentioned a list of sins and their related punishments. Take a look.

Those who harass the wealth of others

The one who has harassed the wealth of another man, is sent to a prison named -Tamishram. In this prison, the man is beaten until he becomes unconscious. When he regains consciousness, he is beaten once again. This process is continued until the duration of his punishment is not completed.

Greedy spouse

Marriage is not the bond of bodies but that of souls. Whosoever does not respect his her spouse, is sent to- Andhatmatsram. Here they are tortured in various ways.

Who exploits others' resources

If a person exploits others' resources, he is taken to Rokham prison. Here the person is subjected to snake bites multiple times. Also the people who are jealous of others and are greedy, they too are taken to the same prison. One must therefore never think of exploiting the resources of others unnecessarily, as believed I Hinduism.

Kumbhipakam is one of the deadliest prisons in the hell. Those who kill animals are taken to this prison. It is Yamdeva doesn't like the people who kill animals for their selfish reasons. Thats why he one who commits this sin is take to the Kumbhipakam prison, where he is dipped into boiling oil many times.

Disrespect to parents

Kalasutram is the jail where the captives are subjected to such a extremely high temperature, which seems intolerable. It is said that those who disrespect the elders or hurt their parents are taken to this prison by Yamadeva. Those who abandon heir parents in their age, also fall under the same category.

Irresponsibles

As believed in Hinduism, there is a prison named, Asitapatram, where the captives are abducted with knife many times. This punishment is given to those who do not fulfill their duties, mainly because of laziness. Those who run from their responsibilities have to undergo this punishment until the time period for their punishment is not over.

The Tyrants

the people who rule over others with tyranny, are sent to Sukermukham prison. They then have to undergo different types of tortures, which feel like tyranny to them.

Theft

Taptamoorti is prison where it is hot that the inhabitants feel fire is literally raining. It is believed that the thieves are sent to this prison. Those who have stolen valuable items of others such as golds, diamonds, or other items are taken to this.

Uncountable mis deeds

Those whose wrong doings have no measures, ad who have committed wrong deeds most of the times in their life are taken to Vaitarni River. This is a dirty river which they are made to cross as a repayment of the sins they have committed in their life.

Disrespect To The Women

disrespecting the women has been mentioned as a very immoral and consecrate habits under Hinduism. As is believed, they are taken to Puyodka. Puyodkam is believed to be a well filled with all sorts of waste. The men who have cheated women are taken to this prison as a punishment. Those men who disrespect their own wives and torturize them are sent to the prison known as Lalaabhaksham.

Liars

Lying is another sin as per the rules of Hinduism. Therefore those who take the support of lies for their selfish motives or because if others have to suffer losses because of their lies, they are taken to the Avisi named prison. Here they are thrown from big heights as a punishment.
A 28-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a 21-year-old woman was found dead inside a tent at a campsite.

Police were called to the caravan and camping site at Marine Parade, Seaford, West Sussex, at 7am on Sunday where the woman was discovered.
What do tingle pygmy trapdoor spiders from Western Australia, silver-headed antechinus from central Queensland and Duramana fingers orchids from NSW have in common?

If youre waiting for a funny punchline, sorry  the answer is that they're among the 41 new species of Australian plants and animals that are now officially at risk of extinction.

Two species of antechinus  the silver-headed and black-tailed antechinus  were added to the threatened species list last week. The small, carnivorous marsupials are best known for their reproductive habits  males die after their once-in-a-lifetime mating frenzy. Credit:Gary Cranitch, Qld Museum

The good news though is that this listing could, potentially, be the first step towards reversing the countrys world leading extinction rate.

Those 41 species were among 50 changes to the countrys official threatened species list after its annual update on Friday.
The parents of murdered Brisbane woman Allison Baden-Clay have shared some of the warning signs of Gerard's "domination" in the hope others will intervene in domestic violence cases.

Geoff and Priscilla Dickie said they regretted not intervening further in their daughter's marriage but feared something might happen to Allison or their granddaughters if they persevered.

Geoff and Priscilla Dickie have spoken in support of the #dosomething campaign. Credit:Fairfax Media - Bradley Kanaris

They spoke in Brisbane on Sunday to announce a new partnership between the Allison Baden-Clay Foundation and Griffith University's MATE Bystander Program, which focuses on educating people about ways to intervene in cases of domestic and family violence.

The partnership is part of the #dosomething campaign, which encourages bystanders to speak up because their information or actions could save lives.
Police believe "at least one other person" was involved in the kidnapping of a Gold Coast schoolboy on Friday, with detectives also investigating whether a gambling debt was the motive.

The child, 12, was found soon after midday on Saturday in the New South Wales city of Grafton, about 240 kilometres south of Mudgeeraba, from where he was allegedly abducted.

The family travelled down to New South Wales on Saturday night to be reunited with the boy. Credit:Queensland Police Service

The boy was found with no major injuries and a 53-year-old man, who police said was not related to the child, was expected to be extradited to Queensland on Monday to face a kidnapping for ransom charge in Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Detective Inspector Marc Hogan said the alleged abductor demanded to "get their money back" and claimed the request was related to gambling.
In the Texas version of poker known colloquially as "Texas Hold 'em" players engage in a high stakes game of bluff to test the most nerveless participants.

This is a particularly brutal version of a game characterised by the expression: Youve gotta know when to hold em and when to fold 'em.

Treasurer Scott Morrison addresses the National Press Club. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

We are now observing in federal politics a version of Australian Hold 'em with Treasurer Scott Morrison having put on the table an opening bid in the form of immediate tax relief for lower and middle income earners via a tax offset provision.

Quick as a flash, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has seen Morrisons bid and doubled it by promising a tax offset that would provide the same cohort of taxpayers with an additional election sweetener.
It's been seven long years since NSW Labor surrendered a treasured slice of its historical heartland to the Greens.

Destined to be billed as the Battle for Balmain  as it has been for the last two elections  the state election campaign of 2019 is shaping up as another litmus test for the parties' respective claims to the area as "heartland" country.

Labor has invested its hopes in a fresh face, untainted by the scandals of its dying days in power, which saw it removed from government in 2011.

Over the next year, Elly Howse  a 29-year-old feminist, inner west local, and public health PhD student  will attempt to pull off a feat that has so far proved impossible for even veteran politicians.

NSW Labor has never taken back a state seat off the Greens once they have lost it.
Taipei, Taiwan: China launched its first domestically built aircraft carrier to begin sea trials on Sunday, reaching another milestone in the expansion of the country's navy.

The aircraft carrier, as yet unnamed, left its berth at a shipyard in the northeastern port of Dalian after a blow of its horn and a display of fireworks, according to reports in state news media.

China's aircraft carrier leaves Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province. Credit:AP

The Chinese navy  officially the People's Liberation Army Navy  already has one operational carrier, the Liaoning, which it bought unfinished from Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. That ship joined the Chinese fleet in 2012 and began its first operations four years later, putting China in the small group of seafaring powers that maintain aircraft carriers, led by the United States, which has 11.

The Liaoning, which appears to serve as a training vessel as much as a combat ship, was the centrepiece of a naval parade of 48 ships attended last month by China's leader, Xi Jinping. The following week, it led a carrier battle group in live-fire exercises in the Taiwan Strait and in the East China Sea.
Mandalay: An attack by an insurgent group killed at least 19 people on Saturday in a town in north-eastern Myanmar, on the country's border with China, officials said.

The attack began early Saturday and lasted about three hours, beginning on the outskirts of the town of Muse in Shan State then moving into its outskirts, said Sai Kyaw Thein, a member of Parliament from Muse.

The Ta'ang National Liberation Army is one of several in Myanmar's frontier areas that have long battled government forces.

Among the dead were 15 civilians, three soldiers and a police officer, he said.

The Ta'ang National Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack. The group, one of several in Myanmar's frontier areas that have long battled government forces, said in a statement that it was retaliating for a push by Myanmar's military against another ethnic insurgent group, the Kachin Independence Army.
Jakarta: A family of six suicide bombers with links to an Islamic State-inspired group  the youngest member of which was just nine years old  exploded bombs at three Christian churches in Indonesia's Surabaya city on Sunday morning.

The family police say were responsible for the church bombings.

At least 11 people were killed and 41 injured in the attack, which has struck terror into the hearts of Indonesia's sizeable minority Christian community.

The children who participated in the attack were aged nine, 12, 16 and 18 years old and committed the atrocity with their mother and father, according to Indonesian police chief Tito Karnarvian. The two youngest bombers were little girls.
Dili: Timor-Leste's national resistance hero Xanana Gusmao, a former president and prime minister, is headed back to power in the nations second general election in 10 months via a three-party alliance that includes his former guerilla colleague Taur Matan Ruak, another former president.

East Timorese independence hero Xanana Gusmao waves a national flag upon arrival in Dili in March. Credit:AP

Gusmaos AMP alliance gained more votes than incumbent Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's Fretilin party, with a majority of seats in a new parliament where four groups are expected to be represented in the countrys 100 per cent proportional voting systems.

The poll largely pitted two arms of the tiny nations independence movement - its combat leadership (AMP Alliance) and offshore diaspora diplomats (Fretilin) - against each other. Voters deserted smaller parties with Fretilin gaining the largest swing of slightly less than 6 per cent, and the swing towards AMP was about 1.5 per cent.

The election was triggered when the Fretilin minority government, sworn in by President Francisco LuOlo Guterres in September, failed to get a working majority.
Rome: Italy's populist parties Five Star Movement and League have agreed to a draft government plan but the party leaders Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini have yet to reveal who will be prime minister.

"We have not talked about names yet. Today we will talk about the government contract," the Ansa news service quoted Five Star Movement head Di Maio as saying before starting the talks with his League party counterpart in Milan.

Forza Italia (Go Italy) party leader Silvio Berlusconi has been 'rehabilitated' and may run for political office again. Credit:AP

Di Maio was emphatic that the possibility of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi running for public office after being cleared to do so by a tribunal "does not change anything".
Research News

UB marks 30 years as national hub for GIScience

For 10 years, NCGIA hosted a prestigious, multimillion-dollar NSF IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education Research and Traineeship) program in GIS. Here, Professor Chris Renschler leads a group of students in a post-disaster building damage assessment following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Photo: Douglas Levere

By CHARLOTTE HSU

The work of NCGIA is vital today as GIS becomes increasingly integrated into our daily life. 

In 1988, the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) opened at UB, putting Buffalo on the map as a hotspot for GIS.

Short for Geographic Information Science, this field involves the use of spatial data to understand problems ranging from disease outbreaks to the impact of natural disasters. Crime mapping, epidemiological modeling and Google Earth are all GIS applications, to name a few.

Today  in a world where GIS technologies have become a part of everyday life  UB and NCGIA remain at the forefront of the discipline.

On May 11, university leaders and researchers will celebrate NCGIAs 30th anniversary at a reception in Capen Hall. UBs NCGIA site is one of only three funded by the National Science Foundation. The other two are at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Maine.

Ling Bian, director of NCGIA at UB, was a PhD student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when the center was founded in 1988. She recalls that it immediately brought UB international visibility.

I was a graduate student at the time, and I wished that someday I could work with these guys, she says. I had no idea I would be the director one day. Being hired here? A career highlight.

UBs NCGIA site is housed in the Department of Geography in the College of Arts and Sciences. But for three decades, the center has been cultivating collaborations  and friendships  between researchers across the university. Staff have supported work in fields as diverse as engineering, public health and the humanities.

The center organizes speaker series, conferences and funding opportunity seminars. It also provides assistance in developing funding proposals, and has aided UB faculty in securing competitive grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health, NASA and New York State.

With NCGIAs support, UBs community of GIS researchers has tackled a variety of interesting problems over the years.

This work has included mapping damaged buildings after a massive earthquake hit Haiti in 2010; exploring how prehistoric societies in Arctic regions adapted to ancient changes in climate; and conducting a smartphone survey to track the spread of flu in Western New York  a study geared toward improving models that predict how infectious disease spreads. One new NSF-funded project focuses on mapping linguistic diversity in a rural region of Cameroon where the average adult speaks five different languages, including ones that are endangered.

NCGIA at UB has also helped to educate the next generation of GIScience innovators.

For 10 years beginning in 1999, the center hosted a prestigious, multimillion-dollar NSF IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education Research and Traineeship) program in GIS, led by then-NCGIA director David Mark, a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geography. K-12 outreach has included a GIScience-focused summer camp in which middle schoolers and their teachers used drones to map Cradle Beach Camp in 2017. (A similar activity will take place again in 2018 and 2019.)

Young people in the field know about NCGIA, says Bian, who is also a professor of geography. It has brought UB a lot of visibility. Many of the students who went through our IGERT program are now the leaders in GIScience today.

Thats just one example of NCGIAs influence on global research in GIS. Another: On Jan. 1, Bian was named geographic methods (formerly methods, models and GIS) editor for the Annals of the AAG, the American Association of Geographers flagship research journal. Over the years, NCGIA at UBs leadership has helped to raise the center and the universitys reputation in the field, with the past three directors being Ross MacKinnon, Michael Batty and David Mark.

The work of NCGIA is vital today as GIS becomes increasingly integrated into our daily life, says Mark. With location-based functionality embedded in so many smartphone apps and vehicle systems, there is even more need for new geographic information theory and computational methods, as well as attention to the social implications of the technology.
Air India has recorded a 20 per cent growth in revenue in March-April 2018 and has embarked on a route analysis exercise, focussing on increasing flying hours of each of its aircraft, to add more trips, the airline's chairman-cum-managing director, Pradeep Singh Kharola, said.

The airline is focussing on improving the operational efficiency both in the domestic and international sectors even as it is buoyed over the load factor, on time performance and revenue growth, Kharola told PTI.

"During March-April, the revenue has increased by about 20 per cent as compared to the same period last year at roughly about Rs 3,000 crore, though expenses continue to remain high," he said, adding that the airline has benefitted from the overall growth in the aviation market.

He pinned high hopes on international routes, generating 70 per cent of Air India's total revenue, stating that the new destinations such as Tel Aviv is giving good returns to the carrier.

The increase of frequency to the San Francisco route to nine days a week is expected to give the airline Rs 90 crore a month.

"We are focussing on improving on the operational efficiency. We are doing our route analysis and all, finding out which are the more yielding routes and we are focussing on those routes.

"At the same time, we want to increase the flying hours of each aircraft, we are trying to push the number of hours so that with the same aircraft we can do more trips," Kharola said.

According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Air India had a market share of 13.4 per cent in March 2018.

With a fleet of over 150 aircraft, Air India currently boasts of over 2,500 international prime-time slots per week in 43 destinations and 3,800 domestic slots in 54 destinations.

Kharola, however, did not elaborate about the network analysis exercise or the new routes the airline is eyeing, especially in the international sector.

However, he hinted that the African continent promises to hold a better future for the airline.

In February, the civil aviation ministry said Air India has been "consistently improving" its overall performance and more than doubled its operating profit to Rs 298.03 crore in 2016-17.

During the same period, the airline's net loss widened to Rs 5,765.16 crore. In 2015-16, Air India had an operating profit of Rs 105 crore, while the net loss stood at Rs 3,836.77 crore.

The ailing airline has been put on the block with the government proposing to divest 76 per cent of its stake in the airline.
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Reforms aimed at improving the ACT's education system for children with complex needs and challenging behaviours continue to lag. An expert panel behind a 2015 review of the education system - triggered after a Canberra school used a $5000 cage to manage the behaviour of a child with autism - made a suite of recommendations broadly accepted by the public and Catholic education sectors. But the Schools For All December 2017 progress report, only released this week, showed the ACT Education Directorate and Catholic Education Office were yet to finalise five and seven recommendations respectively. Among recommendations not yet completed by the ACT Education Directorate and Catholic Education was the professionalisation of learning support assistants. A directorate-specific progress update said the system had partnered with the Canberra Institute of Technology to offer a pilot group of workers a Certificate IV in Education Support and further pledged to "consider the minimum expected level of training for LSAs". The Catholic system reported 80 per cent of its classroom support assistants had either completed or started a Certificate IV or equivalent training. Both systems were also yet to sign off on a recommendation relating to alternatives to out-of-school suspensions, originally due in June 2016. The directorate's Schools for All update said an off-campus alternative education option was under development "for a small number of students" who could not "effectively" access learning in a mainstream setting. "The directorate is working closely with Canberra high school principals and the community sector to design and implement the off campus flexible learning program," the report said. "A first intake of students is expected to participate in the program in the second semester of 2018." The directorate's progress report hinted at possible future projects in the public system. The directorate had investigated the "schools as hub" model, according to the progress update, which had included a visit to Melbourne's Doveton College. A report had been handed to the directorate's Future of Education and early childhood education strategy team, it said. Most remaining Catholic recommendations related to administrative processes. One called on the system to establish procedures to apply, monitor and report on restrictive practices. The Archdiocese-specific report said early career teachers and "several targeted schools" had received a course on managing aggression and potential aggression. Processes to report and respond to critical incidents had been developed, it said, and "schools have and will continue to be advised on alternatives for restraint". A key advancement in the December quarter was the development of an evaluation baseline against which the Schools for All reforms could be measured, another government report said. Public, Catholic and independent schools had also joined to ensure their disability criteria aligned with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition. " ... we have begun to see a systemic cultural change where all children and young people in ACT schools are placed at the centre of all decision-making relating to education policy and practice to enable their social, academic and wellbeing needs to be met," the summary report said.

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Anna Vicol was the driving force behind her family's desire to foster a child, and when her husband Rick Odell found out how great the need was in Canberra he was right behind her all the way. This year alone, the ACT needs 100 new foster families to meet the growing demand. In 2017, 67 new families of the required 80 were recruited. The Vicol-Odell family, who have two boys of their own, started the foster parent training process more than a year ago. They had initially thought that respite care was more for them, looking after a foster child for one weekend every month. But in one of the first sessions they heard about a two-year-old child staying in a group home. "We were horrified by that, because our eldest at that time was two," Mrs Vicol said. After more than a year of training - "we took our time with it all" - the family graduated from the class. But at that point they weren't quite ready to take on the responsibility of a new child. They were renovating their home and Mrs Vicol, a teacher, wanted to complete the school year. But life doesn't always go to plan, and a new baby girl - just five weeks of age - joined the family late last year. "They called us initially when she was four days old, they didn't tell us how old she was though because it was earlier than we said we'd be ready," Mrs Vicol recalled. "We had this huge dilemma, do we say yes when were not really ready or do we be selfish and think of ourselves. It was really hard but we said no originally, and thankfully they didn't tell us how old she was because there was no way we'd have been able to say no. But they said to us when you are ready call us back, let us know and we'll go from there. We only lasted a week and a half or two weeks before we called them back." "We were actually a little bit worried about [how the boys would react] because Millar was not a fan of his little brother when he was born. But they have loved her from day one," Mrs Vicol said. "The second that we walked in the door with her in a little capsule, Millar walked over and started rocking the capsule and Huxley bent down to give her kisses non stop." The most challenging part was knowing that one day the baby might be restored to her biological family, Mrs Vicol said. She said while it would break their hearts, they would always want what was best for the little girl. Mrs Vicol said explaining that to the children was difficult. Last year there were more than 800 children living in out of home care in the ACT. The ACT Together consortium, led by Barnardos, delivers out of home care services under A Step Up for Our Kids and is responsible for recruiting new foster carers. A government spokesman said everyone had their own reasons for wanting to foster a child. "There are different reasons for wanting to get involved," the spokesman said. "Some carers want to provide short term care while others are looking to provide a permanent home." Last year, 18 per cent of new carers aimed to be long term carers through enduring parental responsibility or adoption, while 40 per cent of new carers aimed to be concurrent carers, supporting the restoration of a child to its birth parents but being committed to take on the responsibility if that can't happen. Mrs Vicol said their new baby girl "feels like she 100 per cent belongs and was always meant to be here".

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HIV-positive sex workers could soon be allowed to operate in Canberra under sweeping changes proposed for the territorys decades-old prostitution laws. Legislative references to "prostitute" and "prostitution" will also be replaced with "sex worker" and "sex work" if the Sex Work Bill 2018, to be introduced next month, passes the ACT Legislative Assembly. The bill, which would replace the 1992 Prostitution Act, further proposes to allow sole operators to work without registering with the ACT's Office of Regulatory Services, and would force brothel owners to supply workers with personal protective equipment, such as lubricant, condoms and dental dams, for free. The reforms were among those recommended as part of an inquiry into the territory's sex work laws in 2011 following the 2008 death of a 17-year old working in a Canberra brothel. Sex Worker Outreach Program ACT education officer Lexxie Jury labelled the proposed changes allowing HIV-positive sex workers and clients to sell or access sex a key win for the industry. Similar laws exist in NSW, where sex work is decriminalised. A patchwork of laws exist in other states and territories but, according to the Scarlet Alliance, those in the ACT were most restrictive. If passed, references to the Public Health Regulation 2000 would be inserted into sex work legislation, removing offences prohibiting sex workers and clients with sexually transmissible infections from providing or receiving commercial sex services. The proposed legislation would essentially bring laws relating to sex workers in line with those applicable to the broader population, which require that "all individuals ... take reasonable precaution against transmitting a transmissible notifiable condition, including HIV". A Justice and Community Safety Directorate spokesman emphasised the government was still consulting on the proposed changes. "The Prostitution Act currently requires all sex workers to use prophylactics at all times during particular commercial sexual services that involve a risk of transmission of infection and this will not change," he said. Ms Jury said: As long as youre using all your protections, [HIV transmission] isnt a concern. "They will advertise in The Canberra Times that they are HIV positive and that will attract clients who are HIV positive. "They create their own niche market and thats perfect because thats not something we have in the ACT." The proposed legislation does not cover off all recommendations from the inquiry's 2012 report. Both the Sex Worker Outreach Program and the Scarlet Alliance will continue to push for the territory government to allow more than one private sex worker to operate from a single premises. The ACT's current laws mean sole operators can't share a house or hotel room, which Ms Jury said was a safety concern. "What backs up our argument, sadly, is that six sex workers were attacked last year - they were physically beaten, attacked and held at knifepoint, they were raped, they had their money stolen, and they were all lone workers working from a hotel premises," she said. "One jumped from a second storey building, a balcony, into bushes. She broke her leg to get away from these guys. "If you had two workers there, Im not saying it wouldnt have happened, but theres less chance." Scarlet Alliance chief executive Jules Kim said the bill was both a step in the right direction and a missed opportunity. "While we welcome the changes, it is a shame they haven't taken up the opportunity to act on all the recommendations," she said. Each group will also pursue the decriminalisation of sex work. The sex work bill had been written in consultation with stakeholders, the Justice and Community Safety Directorate spokesman said. "The measures in the bill will provide greater support for sex workers and their clients through improved work health and safety protection measures," he said. "They will also better support the human rights of sex workers by removing discriminatory offences which are already covered by other legislation and remove pejorative language from the Act." Canberra Liberals health spokeswoman Vicki Dunne said she was "very concerned about the health and welfare of all people in the industry". "I think we should approach these changes with extreme caution, she said. Meanwhile, 21 of Canberra's 29 brothels and escort agencies have been inspected by WorkSafe ACT since July 1 2016. Three were issued with improvement notices relating to safety management systems, such as issues with electrical tagging or a lack of fire-fighting equipment. All issues have been corrected, a government spokeswoman said. ACT Policing said there had been two charges for "operate brothel other than in prescribed location" since 2013 and 2018 - one in the former year and one in 2016.

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On the day Shari Fox found out she was pregnant, she called her partner to tell him the good news, then Canberra Hospital's birth centre to book in. The service's popularity is growing as women choose a low-intervention, midwifery-led "normal" birth for better long-term outcomes for mother and baby. ACT Health plans to review the program to expand access at both the Centenary Hospital and Calvary. Both hospitals offer the natural or "normal" birth options in the form of a continuity of care model. The program sees pregnant women paired with a midwife for the duration of the pregnancy and for a short time after birth. Data from ACT Health shows the proportion of women giveing birth at a birth centre in the ACT increased from 6.2 per cent in 2011 to 8.3 per cent in 2015. The number of babies born at a birth centre remains a small proportion of total births in the ACT. In 2015 91.7 per cent of births were in hospitals (5775 babies compared to 523 in the birth centres). Despite recent complaints about maternity services at Canberra Hospital, an ACT Health spokesman said for women who access the birth centre, "there is a high level of patient satisfaction". Ms Fox is due to give birth in August to her second child. The same midwife who cared for her during her first pregnancy is now watching over her second. "I wanted to have an experience that was as home-like as possible, with the continuity of care model that promoted as little intervention as possible," she said. "The birth centre and midwifery program provided those things." Ms Fox said having the same midwife a second time made it even more special. "We already have a relationship, and it just makes it a little less stressful. You have that one person who knows you, and that's really comforting." Ms Fox said she heard about the program the first time through word-of-mouth, and knew to book in straight away so she wouldn't miss out. "I called the day I did a pregnancy test and booked in, and I was still on the waiting list for a couple of weeks this time before I got in." Midwife Helen Blake has worked at the Canberra Hospital for 35 years as both a nurse and a midwife. She said she's "extremely proud" of the care that they provide. "We have beautiful facilities here, and the care we provide, giving them choice around their place of birth, is really important to them," Ms Blake said. Ingrid McKenzie, another midwife with the service, is relatively new to the profession with about three years under her belt. "I started more recently but it's this model that I always wanted to work in," Ms McKenzie said. "What's great is building that relationship with women, and that's what makes the continuity of care model so successful and it's why there are better birth outcomes for women and babies. "The way the birth process works is that if the women is feeling relaxed, comfortable and trusting of those around her, the better she labours. That's the way the labour hormones work. "In a lot of ways, it's a very safe model as well. I know all of her conditions that everybody needs to know about that might come up during the birth. It means that there's less likelihood of things getting missed if one person is knowing everything." Ms McKenzie supported Kirbie and Andrew Barrell for the birth of their daughter Isabel on April 19. Isabel is the family's second child, after two-year-old Finn. Ms McKenzie was on a rostered day off on the day Isabel decided to enter the world, but another midwife who works in the team assisted instead. "Ingrid was back on at 7am the next morning but I said I just don't think we can keep it in for that long," Mr Barrell joked. Mrs Barrell said the midwives had done a handover so the second midwife knew everything she needed to about the situation. "I found that throughout the labour every suggestion the midwife made was just perfect timing and it really helped having that expertise," Mrs Barrell said. Like Ms Fox, Mrs Barrell called the birth centre on the day she found out she was pregnant. "I put my name down, I think it was the second call that I made," she said. "In terms of the birth, it's just really nice to be trying to do things as naturally as possible, that was my goal." Mrs Barrell said she liked not having to have a birth plan, because everything she wanted - things like not to be offered drugs, to be able to labour at home - was part of the philosophy of the birth centre. She said she didn't want a repeat of her son's traumatic birth two years prior. "I was able to labour at home and have her here within an hour and a half of arriving. It was very empowering and beautiful," she said. About 30 per cent of women who give birth at the Centenary Hospital access the continuity of care model, but only half that number end up giving birth in the birth centre. Centenary Hospital for Women and Children director of nursing and midwifery Karen Faichney said the women who don't end up birthing in the birth centre have developed complications either during pregnancy or birth. "They will keep their midwife but give birth in the birth suite," Ms Faichney said. She said there was a waiting list for the midwifery program. She said demand far outstriped resources and the plan was to build the program to allow more women to be involved. "The birth centre's service is for low-risk women. Only women with no risk factors in their pregnancy and no risk factors developing during their labour are able to birth in the centre because it is a midwifery-led service and it's focused on normal birth," Ms Faichney said. Women who give birth at the birth centre can access pain relief during labour but primarily use non-medical forms of pain relief, like water. She said research showed continuity programs led to better outcomes for everyone. "With continuity of care you're more likely to notice when there are even subtle changes during pregnancy. The other thing we know is that by developing that relationship with that women, the midwife is able to really help her with the choices she wants to make in relation to her labour and help empower her to really have the sort of labour she wishes for." "What it comes down to is that birthing is a natural process. It's a natural part of life. Being pregnant isn't an illness. "We focus very much on the natural process and empowering women to birth the way women are engineered to birth, and for that to be as joyful and natural experience as possible."

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Women's health experts have called for school-based contraceptive education, a nationally consistent approach to abortions and an "urgent" royal commission into the impact of detention centres on the health of female refugees in a statement released on Mother's Day. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' Priorities Document has acknowledged women as "the single most important influence on the health of their children and wider family network". Its examination of six at-risk populations - including migrant and refugee women, rural and remote women, women with disability and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women - has called for urgent action. Among priorities was: The report's section on rural and remote women noted a high rate of teen pregnancies among that population, citing 2012 data that showed very remote regions recorded a teen birth rate 7.4 times higher than that of major urban areas. The experts recommended that all schools mandate contraception as a compulsory part of their curricula. Further, they said, rebates for long-acting reversible contraception should be revisited and barriers to accessing "appropriate" pregnancy termination services should be addressed. "The federal minister could show leadership at the Council of Australian Governments by raising [the] possibility of aligning termination legislation in each jurisdiction to make it consistent," the document said. Racism affected the health and access to care of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and migrant and refugee women, the priorities document said. Each population suffered worse health outcomes than the broader population. Indigenous women were more likely to have more babies younger, more likely to experience chronic disease younger and at a higher risk of experiencing domestic violence, the document said. "The experience of racism inhibits access to societal resources, such as education and employment, and has a profound effect on health," it said. And the health of both migrant and refugee groups actually deteriorated once in Australia, the experts agreed. The statement noted the impact of "prison-like" immigration detention on the health of asylum seekers: "These risks are particularly high for children and women during pregnancy or in the postpartum period." The Guardian last year reported that 50 refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru, including at least three women seeking to terminate a pregnancy, had been refused or not considered for overseas medical treatment. "The psychological and physical damage that detention centres inflict on migrant and refugee women is undeniable and, furthermore, counterproductive for integration effects," the RANZCOG statement said. "A royal commission should address this urgent issue." Further, gender inequalities were "particularly evident" for women with disability, the experts said. Ninety per cent of women with intellectual disabilities had been sexually assaulted and rates of forced sterilisation were "excessive", the document said. Experts called for recognition of the differing health needs and social circumstances of people with disability, greater access to healthcare and information about healthcare, and better access to funding for women with disability. The Priorities Document summarised topics of consensus from RANZCOG's March National Women's Health Summit. RANZCOG president Steve Robson said: "It is RANZCOGs hope that this document moves the conversation forward to shape future policies with regard to womens health and, by extension, the health of Australia."

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Jakarta: A family of six suicide bombers with links to an Islamic State-inspired group  the youngest member of which was just nine years old  exploded bombs at three Christian churches in Indonesia's Surabaya city on Sunday morning. At least 11 people were killed and 41 injured in the attack, which has struck terror into the hearts of Indonesia's sizeable minority Christian community. The children who participated in the attack were aged nine, 12, 16 and 18 years old and committed the atrocity with their mother and father, according to Indonesian police chief Tito Karnarvian. The two youngest bombers were little girls. Indonesian President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo said on Sunday evening that he had instructed police to investigate the network that had carried out the attack. "All state apparatus will not tolerate this act of cowardice. I ask all people to wage war against terrorism, radicalism that is against religious values, pluralistic values. I also call on all people to remain calm, keep united and stay alert," he said at a press conference after visiting victims in hospital and bombing sites. The suicide bombers actions were "beyond humanitarian limits", the President said. The two oldest children, both boys, launched their attacks from motorcycles. The father was in a car, and the mother and two young girls were on foot. The first attack, at the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church at about 7.30am on Sunday, killed at least four people including the bomber, according to police. It was followed soon after by a second explosion at the Christian Church of Diponegoro and then a third at the city's Pantekosta Church, police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said. Police have also said that they found and defused an active bomb at the Protestant church, and two more active bombs were found and defused at the Pentecostal church. Jakarta's terror alert level was raised to the highest level after the bombings on Sunday. At least 41 people have been confirmed injured and have been admitted to hospital, including two police, following the devastating attacks. In the hours before the church attacks, national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto announced on Sunday that four suspected terrorists had been killed during a police raid overnight in Cianjur, West Java Police killed the men after they had produced weapons during the raid and evidence confiscated included revolvers, bullets and an arrow with a bomb placed on the end of it, Wasisto said. "They have trained in order to attack police," Wasisto said, identifying the militants as members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, or JAD. The network of about two dozen extremist groups has been implicated in a number of attacks in Indonesia over the past year. It pledges allegiance to Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The last time there was a coordinated attack like this involving a series of bombs was the second Bali bombing back in 2005. These are the worst bombings of Christian churches since Christmas Eve, 2000, when 15 people were killed. All other masses in Surabaya scheduled for Sunday were cancelled and Indonesian police are now searching other churches and working to head off any further attack. Some churches in Surabaya were planning to hold Mass late in the afternoon on Sunday, after being checked by the bomb squad. The Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), a 50-million-member moderate Islamic organisation that promotes pluralism and tolerance, strongly condemned the attacks "whatever the motive and background". "All kinds of violent actions, particularly those carried out in the name of religion by way of spreading terror, hatred and violence are not the character of Islam. There is no religion in the world that justify violent actions" the organisation said in a statement. Nasir Abbas, a former senior member of terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah who now works with Indonesian police, said he "strongly condemned the suicide bombing in three churches". "They [the perpetrators] are misguided. My condolences for the victims at the churches." Christians make up about 9 per cent of the 260 million people who live in the majority-Muslim nation. The attacks come just days after Islamist militant prisoners killed five members of an elite Indonesian counter-terrorism force, Detachment 88, at a high-security jail in Jakarta and took another officer hostage. The hostage was eventually released after a 36 hour stand-off. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. Since that incident, police and public figures have asked that footage of that incident, and of the bombings, not be shared as doing so would please the terrorists involved in the attacks. Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city. No information about the perpetrators or the victims has been released yet. with AAP

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Sikkim Police has released an employment notification calling out for aspirants to apply for the posts of Constable Driver, Constable Mechanic and Driver. 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 INR 22400. The last date to apply for the government job is June 6, 2018.

MPSC Recruitment 2018: Earn Up To INR 45000" title=" MPSC Recruitment 2018: Earn Up To INR 45000" /> MPSC Recruitment 2018: Earn Up To INR 45000

Sikkim Police Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Constable Driver, Constable Mechanic and Driver Organisation Sikkim Police Educational Qualification Class 10 pass for Constable Drivers and Constable Mechanics and class 6 pass for Drivers Age Limit 20 to 25 years for Constable Drivers; 18 to 22 years for the others Skills Required Technical skills Salary Scale INR 5200 to INR 22600 Job Location Sikkim Industry Police Experience Freshers can apply Application Start Date May 9, 2018 Application End Date June 6, 2018

Also Read: GPSC Recruitment 2018: Earn Up To INR 77000!

How To Apply For Sikkim Police Recruitment 2018

In order to apply for Sikkim Police Recruitment 2018, follow these steps:

Step 1: Log on to the Sikkim Police official website.

Step 2: Under Employment/Tender Notice, click on the link that reads, Recruitment for Drivers-Mechanics-Followers.

Step 3: The detailed advertisement will be displayed on the screen. Read the details carefully.

Step 4: Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the application form.

Step 5: Take a printout of the application form and enter your details in the fields provided.

Step 6: Send your applications to Sikkim Police.

Sikkim Police Recruitment 2018 Application Format And Mailing Address

Superscribe on the envelope, "Application for the post of *name of the post*" and send it by speed post to Police Headquarters Gangtok - 737101.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Iran has sentenced eight people to death over attacks claimed by the Islamic State group last year.

Mousa Ghazanfarabadi, the head of the Tehran Revolutionary Courts, told state TV Sunday that they were found guilty of aiding the five militants who attacked parliament and a shrine to Iran's revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The attacks last June killed 18 people and wounded more than 50. Security forces killed all the attackers.

Ghazanfarabadi says 18 other people face trial over the attacks. Those convicted have 20 days to appeal. The trials began last month.
Photo: Google Maps

A flash flood watch has been issued by the National Weather Service for Okanogan County, Wash.

Significant rises are expected on the Lost and Methow Rivers, impacting an earthen berm protecting the Lost River community.



Warm weather through the end of the week, and recent high flows have damaged the berm. Additional rises in water level may further it, the NWS says in a public alert.

If the berm fails, flood water may quickly inundate homes and property in low lying areas along Harris Road, Misty Circle, Buck Circle, and Mercer Road.

The flood watch will remain in effect through Wednesday afternoon.

Residents are advised to be prepared to take action should the flood watch be elevated to a flood warning.
For the second time this weekOh InstagramOh Facebook social networking site it's the The WhatsApp They go through instability on...
Women have made great strides in the workplace, but theres still a long way to go  especially for women who have children. Despite making up about half of Americas workforce, you still dont see adequate representation in executive positions at the nations top companies.

Meanwhile, the gender pay gap remains a problem. Ahead of Mothers Day 2018, WalletHub published a list of how working moms fare in states across the country. While you can lead a good life in some places, mothers who want to juggle a career and family truly have to struggle in many U.S. states.

Here are the 15 states where working moms have the hardest time in 2018.

15. Michigan

Mediocre childcare and minimal career opportunity await moms here.

With its ranks in the worst 20 states for childcare, career advancement, and work-life balance, its easy to see how Michigan made the list. Meanwhile, good luck getting time off during or after a pregnancy here.

If thats enough bad news, consider Michigan has one of the highest rates of bullying in schools.

Next: A poor school system and obsolete parental leave policies cant overcome New Mexicos decent career opportunities.

14. New Mexico

Poor schools and a weak maternity leave policy make New Mexico rough on mothers.

When WalletHub ranked the schools systems of all 50 states and D.C. in 2017, New Mexico came one tick from the worst (50th). Combined with a poor rating for maternity leave policy in both the private and public sector, being a working mom here is a drag.

One bright spot in New Mexico: The state ranked 12th for career advancement for moms.

Next: The Keystone State is no friend to working mothers.

13. Pennsylvania

Its hard for women to ascend the professional ranks in Pennsylvania.

Out of 51 states and D.C., Pennsylvania ranked 44th in career opportunity for women. When you consider the state doesnt do work-life balance (39th) or childcare (28th) well, you see how it ended up on this list.

With state gerrymandering policies changing in 2018, Pennsylvania may soon have new representatives in Harrisburg  and thus the chance to change antiquated maternity leave policies.

Next: School safety is enough to concern working moms in Arkansas.

12. Arkansas

Schools are legitimately dangerous for students in Arkansas.

Going by childcare alone, Arkansas is a bad place for mothers who work full-time. Quality of care is poor, and the state also had the highest rate of threatened and/or injured high school students in America as of 2017.

Even with above-average career opportunity for women, working moms have a hard time here.

Next: Moms in Alaska have to worry about childcare while on the job.

11. Alaska

Lousy childcare options combine with middle-of-the-road opportunity here.

Ranking 45th for childcare almost immediately landed Alaska among the worst states for working mothers. Meanwhile, career opportunity and work-life balance are no better than average.

For anyone looking for a new career, state workers have the best maternity leave policy in Alaska.

Next: There arent many bright spots for working moms in Texas.

10. Texas

Mothers have the best shot as state employees here.

Whether you count by career opportunity (31st), childcare (29th), or work-life balance, professional moms dont have it great in Texas. In fact, getting time off to have a child can even be problematic.

Women looking for the best option in The Lone Star state might look for state employment, where 12 weeks of maternity leave is available.

Next: Out of 51 places in America, Wyoming ranked 50th for worst pay gap.

9. Wyoming

The gender pay gap here is demoralizing.

It hardly gets worse than the gender pay gap in Wyoming (50th). In fact, only Utah ranks below this state when it comes to equal compensation for the same work.

Meanwhile, mothers dont have a lot to cheer about as far as childcare goes, either.

Next: Welcome to Georgia, home of the worst work-life balance for working moms.

8. Georgia

Its almost impossible for moms to keep a healthy work-life balance here.

When WalletHub broke down the category of work-life balance, maternity leave had the heaviest weight, but commute times and hours on the job mattered, too.

Georgia scored worst in America for all of the above. Childcare options were also a drag, which was reflected in schooling. Texas SAT scores are very poor.

Next: West Virginia is another state where moms have to worry when kids go off to school.

7. West Virginia

A high bullying rate in schools hints at some of the stress working moms face here.

Women dont find great career opportunity in West Virginia (34th), and the work-life balance (30th) is nothing to brag about, either. However, theres an even more alarming statistic about schools here.

According to the June 2017 study, the bullying rate is among the worst in America.

Next: In Mississippi, there are no bright spots for working moms.

6. Mississippi

As in most red states, maternity leave is not a thing in Mississippi.

Mothers who work wont live easy in Mississippi. The state ranks among the very worst for career opportunity (41st) and work-life balance (45th), including maternity leave.

Meanwhile, low test scores and physical danger await students in Mississippi schools.

Next: Mothers wont take comfort in South Carolinas school system  or much of anything else.

5. South Carolina

Working moms dont get much a helping hand here.

If career advancement (45th) or a good parental leave policy (44th) are priorities, South Carolina is not the place for moms to raise a family. Likewise, childcare (38th) ranks among the worst in the country.

Students here also score among the lowest in standardized testing.

Next: Mothers on the job will spend a lot of time worrying about their kids in Nevada.

4. Nevada

The combination of poor childcare (49th) and parental leave policies (48th) dont help moms in the slightest here.

In terms of quality schooling or childcare, moms find the worst of it in Nevada. The same goes for the states maternity leave policy, which received a failing grade in one analysis.

It all adds up to Nevadas rank as one of the very worst for professional moms.

Next: Career opportunity is out of the question in Alabama.

3. Alabama

Working moms would do better almost anywhere in the country.

Low test scores? Check. Physical threats and violence in schools? Check. How about a gender pay gap? Its also one of the worst here.

Mix in poor childcare services and zero chance of attaining an executive position, and its clear Alabama is terrible for professional moms.

Next: Louisiana has the worst schools in America. Besides, it offers little-to-no opportunity for women.

2. Louisiana

The mix of poor schools, bad childcare, and little opportunity makes Louisiana a no-go for professional moms.

Does it get worse than underachieving, dangerous schools and otherwise poor childcare? In Louisiana, the answer is, unfortunately, yes.

Thats because the state has little opportunity for women to reach executive positions here.

Next: Life is roughest of all for working moms in Idaho.

1. Idaho

With Americas worst childcare and female executives impossible to find, it doesnt get any worse.

Why is life worse for working moms in Idaho than everywhere else? Start with the nations worst childcare (51st), then continue with nearly the lowest female-to-male executive ratios (50th) in America.

Once you see the failing grade the state receives for parental leave policies, its clear Idaho is no place for a professional mom.

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In the midst of his brain cancer treatment, Senator John McCain, 81, has had some time to reflect. In his new book, he reveals his thoughts on politics, career, and his uncertain future. I dont know how much longer Ill be here, he writes in The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations. The median survival rate for glioblastoma is 15 months.

Here well list career regrets McCain has expressed and his assessment of President Donald Trump. See what he thinks of Sarah Palin as his running mate in his 2008 presidential campaign (page 3). Also, McCain has a harsh request for Trump regarding his funeral (page 7).

1. McCain regrets his silence on Confederate flag flying

One of McCains career regrets is his reluctance to speak out against Confederate flag flying during his 2000 campaign for president. McCain had apologized later that year for not seeking the flags removal from the South Carolina statehouse.

At the time, he said publicly that such divisive issues should be left to the state. However, he later said he didnt speak honestly for fear of losing the South Carolina primary. So I chose to compromise my principles, he said. I broke my promise to always tell the truth.

Next: A scandal he called more painful than his POW days

2. He regrets his Keating Five scandal involvement

In 1989, McCain and four other senators were accused of intervening improperly on behalf Charles H. Keating Jr., under federal investigation for defrauding bondholders. The lawmakers motivation for helping the executive was questioned since he had contributed $1.3 million to their political campaigns. McCain and his family had also visited Keatings Bahamas retreat.

Although McCain was exonerated in 1991, he said the investigation was more painful than being held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. He concedes being involved in Keatings hearings was a mistake. Going into that room gave a definite appearance of impropriety, he said.

Next: Who he would have picked instead of Sarah Palin

3. He regrets having Palin as a running mate

In his book, McCain recalls arguing with his campaign staff over his first choice for running mate in his 2008 presidential campaign: Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman from Connecticut. He relented and chose then-populist governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, who he now describes as a popular, energetic, and accomplished reformer as mayor, governor and as a campaigner.

However, Palin stumbled in some interviews and had a few misjudgments in the glare of the ceaseless spotlight, McCain continues. Those missteps too are on me. She didnt put herself on the ticket. I did.

Next: At odds with Trump on trade

4. He supports a pro-free trade stance

McCains new book amounts to the senators final say on his career and a concluding argument for a brand of pro-free trade, according to The New York Times. He was a vocal critic of Trumps backing out of the 11-country Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement in 2017.

Staying in the agreement would keep American workers and companies competitive in the Asia-Pacific, McCain said in arguing why the U.S. should remain in the agreement. Withdrawing from TPP will have serious consequences for American workers and American national security.

Next: Another stance for which he rebukes Trump

5. He calls for a pro-immigration stance

In his book, McCain also promotes pro-immigration Republicanism, which as grown out of fashion under President Trump, The New York Times reported. He rebukes Trump for his language on refugees, calling it appalling, as though welfare or terrorism were the only purposes they could have in coming to our country.

Next: What McCain says about Trump and fake news

6. He criticizes Trump for crying fake news

McCain compared Trumps use of the term fake news to a practice by authoritarian governments. His reaction to unflattering news stories, calling them fake news whether theyre credible or not, is copied by autocrats who want to discredit and control a free press, McCain writes in The Restless Wave.

Next: His request for Trump regarding his funeral

7. McCain doesnt want Trump at his funeral

McCain representatives have informed the White House he would like Vice President Mike Pence to attend his funeral service in place of Trump, The New York Times reported. The service will be held in Washingtons National Cathedral.

The two mens turbulent relationship was punctuated in summer of 2017 when Trump was physically mocking McCains thumbs-down gesture indicating his vote against repealing Obamacare, Axios reported.

Next: One thing McCain is a big fan of

8. He calls for U.S. political reform

In The Restless Wave, which is full of reprimands for the president, McCain says he is not sure what to make of President Trumps convictions. He also calls for politics returning to the purposes and practices that distinguish our history.

The senator has a record of supporting compromise and stating the U.S. system of government was designed for it. Youre damn right, Im a champion of compromise, he writes, in support of political negotiation.

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4-year-old Pueblo boy identified as victim in fatal house fire

A 4-year-old boy was killed in a house fire on Oct. 5 in the University Park neighborhood. Several other family members suffered severe injuries.
Moreover, the man has published a book from his thesis, with Cambridge University Press no less. The PNG Secretary of Higher Education has intervened and vouched publicly for the authenticity of Schrams doctorate.

There is absolutely no doubt that Schram has the PhD he says he has. The Universitys own website has a detailed record of it, including the date of defence and the names of examiners.

He has been released from jail on bail, his passport confiscated, unable to leave the country.

According to the newspaper, Dr Schram was arrested over allegations he produced falsified and fraudulent documents relating to his PhD qualification, which he obtained on 24 November 1994 from the European University Institute.

CANBERRA - On Friday, Loop PNG reported that Dr Albert Schram, former vice chancellor of PNG Unitech, had been arrested earlier in the week in Port Moresby and charged with false pretence.

Albert Schram - is his baseless arrest a sign of the kind of country PNG is becoming?

In the face of all this, the claim of the police seems to be reduced to the allegation that Schram had earlier (presumably at the time of appointment, back in 2012) produced a fraudulently manufactured PhD certificate.

But why would someone fake a certificate for a genuine PhD? It makes no sense. The entire thing is a beat up.

The Unitech Council has disassociated itself from the recent police action, and stated that the police are acting on a complaint by the former Council, the one that preceded Schrams appointment.

Once appointed, Schram started cleaning up the corruption and mismanagement he found. Some members of that former Council responded by trying to dismiss him, including by making the same allegation of false pretence with which he is currently charged.

In the end they got him barred from the country in March 2013. Schram was in exile for over a year, until, after an inquiry, he was re-admitted and returned in triumph to Unitech in April 2014 (see accounts here and here).

The 2013 Savua inquiry, set up to investigate Schrams appointment, found evidence of massive prior corruption, and also found that the termination of Schrams appointment was unlawful, and that the fraudulent misrepresentation  allegations are unsubstantiated.

Schrams arrest, some five years later, is outrageous because it is so transparently unfounded, and against the rule of law.

Given that the matter has already been investigated and dismissed, how did Schrams enemies enlist the police, and get them to arrest him? The arrest sends a message that you had better be careful not to make powerful enemies in PNG or, even if you act entirely legally, you might be arrested on the flimsiest and most baseless of grounds.

The episode is damaging not only because of the chilling effect it will have on domestic critics and reformers, but also because it will scare away academics and other foreigners who might otherwise be attracted to work in PNG, and take on positions of responsibility.

It follows the ban on entering PNG imposed on prominent Australian academic and businessperson Ross Garnaut in 2013. It is especially damaging in the year of APEC, when the whole world is watching PNG.

Finally the episode is scary because the operation was mounted so quickly. Clearly when Schram was vice chancellor of Unitech, he was afforded some protection from the groundless claims of fraud now being levelled against him.

But Schram is no longer VC. He is in the country on a tourist visa after visiting Australia en route to Italy, his home country, on Unitech-paid tickets. His passport was confiscated the day he landed, and his arrest followed a few days later.

I urge all who support the rule of law and good governance in PNG  including the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and the Australian Federal Police  to speak out for Dr Albert Schram, and to urge the police to drop the scurrilous charges against him.

Note: Schrams tenure at Unitech ended earlier this year after a falling out with the current Council. One of the disputed claims was that, according to the Council, Schram failed to provide his verified credentials to the University. According to Schram, he did. In any case, this allegation is quite different from the current charge of obtaining employment by false pretence. More generally, the Councils statement of disassociation is consistent with the broader view that Schrams departure from Unitech in no way provides a basis for the arrest last week.

Stephen Howes is the Director of the Development Policy Centre and a Professor of Economics at the Crawford School in the Australian National University
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Image: Surabaya Government Handout / Andy Pinaria / Getty Images

Surabaya Center Pentecostal Church was one of three Indonesian churches attacked by terrorists on Sunday morning.

Suicide bombers launched coordinated attacks on three Indonesian churches during worship services this morning, leaving more than a dozen people dead and at least 40 more injured in a series of bloody blasts that horrified the countrys Christian minority and Muslim majority alike.

Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church (GKI), Surabaya Center Pentecostal Church, and Santa Maria Tak Bercela Catholic Churchall in Surabaya, the second-largest city in the island-chain nationsuffered bombings carried out by six members of the same family, who are believed to be affiliated with Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an Indonesian terrorist cell aligned with ISIS.

Sundays bombings mark the deadliest terrorist attack in the worlds biggest Muslim country since the Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people in 2002.

The current death toll includes at least seven worshipers, plus the six family members who conducted the terror plot. Indonesian police told the Associated Press that within minutes, the father exploded a car bomb into one church building; two teenage sons on motorcycles drove into another; and the mother with two daughters, aged 12 and 9, wore explosives at the third, setting them off as she hugged a churchgoer.

According to initial reports by Asia News, after the explosions at the Catholic and two Protestant churches, police were able to thwart a fourth attack at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The Indonesian Church Association and Indonesias two biggest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, condemned the attacks. President Joko Widodo called the incidents cowardly actions that were very barbaric and beyond the limit of humanity.

Though Indonesia is cheered for its pluralismwith a Christian community of about 17 million Protestants and 3 million Catholics (9% of the population) living alongside the biggest Muslim population in the worldthe rise of radical Islam in some areas and sectors of society has made the situation for believers much worse.

Indonesia has a proud history of pluralism and inclusivity, but the last two decades have seen a drastic shift towards a hitherto unseen intolerance, said Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association.

In the most recent report the attack has been attributed to one particular family inspired by ISIS, the hatred that has been reinforced in this family led to the mother and father chillingly involving their young children in the terrorist plot , Chowdhry stated. It beggars belief that people can be so easily influenced to perpetrate such heinous and gory crimes especially when many of them lived peacefully with minority faiths, until they were washed of their wits by false doctrine and misspent religious zeal.

The church bombings follow fatal attacks on Jakarta police in recent days, as well as a bombing in a nearby district, the AP reported.

Two years ago, a terrorist threw a Molotov cocktail at a church in Borneo, killing a toddler and wounding three others, according to Open Doors International, which rates the countrys persecution level as high.

Prior to the 2002 attack on various tourist sites in Bali, terrorists bombed a Catholic church in East Jakarta in 2001 and Christmas Eve services at 11 churches nationwide in 2000.

We strongly condemn this mindless attack on Christians in Surabaya, Godfrey Yogarajah, the deputy secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), in a statement released Sunday. We stand in solidarity with Christians in Indonesia during this difficult time and call on the global church to pray for all those affected in the attacks.

WEA asked that Christians around the world pray for a thorough investigation by the Indonesian government, so that Christians can receive better safety protections.

Pope Francis also lifted up Christian communities in Surabaya in prayer today, saying, I raise my prayer for the victims and their relatives. Together we invoke the God of peace to stop these violent actions, and that feelings of hatred and violence be replaced in peoples heart with reconciliation and fraternity.
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When Rahima found out she was pregnant, her world came crashing down.

Since arriving in the U.S. as a refugee, she'd worked hard in school and was now pursuing her studies at college. Her future was looking bright. But as two blue lines emerged on the pregnancy testing kit, darkness closed in.

There was no way she could tell her parents. As practicing Muslims, Rahima knew her pregnancy would bring them shame, and she feared they'd throw her out of the house.

Rahima's boyfriend, Talib, told her they had only one option: termination. Rahima felt trapped, hopeless, and frightened.

Desperately searching for help, Rahima found Prestonwood Pregnancy Center online, and she courageously made a call. Clinging to her last shred of hope, she walked through the doors of our clinic in Richardson, Texas a few days later.

"Rahima was very quiet and timid," said Doris, the client advocate who sat with Rahima as she looked at the first ultrasound images of her baby that day. "She didn't show much emotion."

But over the next few weeks, the unconditional love Rahima received began to break down barriers. Returning for more appointments and a second ultrasound, Rahima discovered she could trust the staff at the pregnancy center, and she began to open up about her feelings and fears.

"I was with Rahima when she came in for her third ultrasound," Doris told us. "It was truly a blessing to see her again. This time, Rahima was overwhelmed by the 3D ultrasound. All she could do was cry and stare and say how beautiful her baby was."

Like so many of our clients, this was a turning point for Rahima. Even though she still hadn't told her parents about her pregnancy and remained very uncertain about the future, her heart and mind were changed.

"This was the moment Rahima made the decision to give life to the baby in her womb," smiles Doris.

Rahima's story is not unusual. Time and again, the moment when our clients see their baby's face on the ultrasound is the turning point  inspiring and empowering them to choose life!

For nearly 27 years, Prestonwood Pregnancy Center has provided free pregnancy exams, ultrasounds and counseling services to women facing a crisis pregnancy. In the past three months alone, more than 1,600 women have walked through our doors  from teenagers to refugees and even married couples. But this is the best part: 93 percent of them chose life for their babies!

This Mother's Day, we are announcing the addition of a new mobile sonogram unit to our operations that will travel into the heart of neighborhoods and communities where abortion is most prevalent. Our unit will literally bring hope, love and life to thousands of women in their time of need.

As we celebrate and honor our mothers this weekend, it seems appropriate we should also celebrate life itself. Because when you think about, Mother's Day is a celebration of life.

Leanne Jamieson is the director of Prestonwood Pregnancy Center, a ministry of Prestonwood Baptist Church providing care and medical care to women facing a crisis pregnancy.
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I've been an activist for nine years. Whether online or in the streets, I've been campaigning, advocating and debating things like peacemaking, poverty reduction, environmental protection and religious freedom.

My motives are Christian: I believe this is what Jesus wants me to do. Still, I've stood side by side with atheists, agnostics, Muslims, New Agers, Buddhists and others in a common fight for a better world for all.

I've found that activism for peace and justice can serve the role of a common denominator and a platform for cooperation between different worldviews and beliefs. That's why it plays such a prevalent role in different ecumenical and interreligious councils. We might not agree on who God is, but we all agree that no child should starve to death.

It's the reason many non-Christians will agree with Christians on one thing concerning Jesus: that he was a good moral teacher. Morality can be viewed as one of the least exclusive claim of any religion. In fact, it can be viewed as one of the least religious! I've had several friends who, when they doubt their Christian faith, becomes activists for a while and emphasises Jesus' ethical teaching, before leaving the faith altogether and becoming atheists or agnostics.

So for a long time, I have viewed certain activist dogmas such as human rights and human dignity as self-evident truths that nobody seriously can question. I thought that everybody, except a few bewildered neo-Nazis perhaps, viewed them as objectively true.

But then I encountered some who didn't. They were all atheists.

In apologetics, there's an argument for God's existence called the moral argument. It basically says that if atheism is true, moral values can't be objectively true. They can't be facts. Instead, they are merely the result of sociobiological evolution. In other words, they're dependent on human minds rather than being true no matter what people think.

If there indeed are objective moral facts, such as rape and racism being evil while peace and compassion being good, atheism has a problem. Why do these facts exist independently of human opinion?

If "genocide is wrong" is an objective fact even if a genocidal dictatorship would gain world domination and convince everyone that genocide was right, what's the atheist explanation for that?

Atheists typically reply to this in two different ways. Either they'll say that objective moral facts simply exist without any explanation, they're just "out there" in a platonic realm.

But why do they exist? How did homo sapiens discover these facts? Why do we have duty to follow them? And what are the odds that the moral facts that exist are adapted after human beings rather than alien beings with entirely different living habits? If we're not designed, why do moral facts seem to be designed for us?

Alternatively, atheists will simply deny that objective moral facts exist. These atheists will often say that there's no evidence for objective moral values, and that morality is purely subjective. Whatever an individual thinks is good is actually good, there is no external point of reference. Laws and the court system are just social constructs that have practical value, but they don't correspond to any actual Law of good and evil.

Now, this is incompatible with being an activist. Activists want societies to change, we want the world to be a better place  which suggests that "good" really exists. We think harming other people is wrong  which suggests that wrongdoing exists.

If we thought that moral facts were just an illusion of the mind and that all morality was subjective, we would have no reason to want to change anyone else's behavior.

If you have an opinion on #metoo, #blacklivesmatter or #makepovertyhistory and want others to share that opinion, you don't view morality as something merely subjective. You think that moral statements can be true or false, which means that you think objective moral facts exist.

Since atheism can't provide any metaphysical grounding for objective moral facts and duties, religiously motivated activism is much more consistent and easier to defend.

Again, this is not to say that I don't appreciate to work together with fellow activists who don't believe in God, neither am I suggesting that they are immoral. What I'm saying is that if they look closely at their existing beliefs, they will eventually realize that they're actually incompatible. That leaves them with a choice. Will they abandon their activism and become moral nihilists? Or will they accept that there seems to be a supernatural dimension to reality?
Under shade trees overlooking McGovern Lake at Hermann Park Sunday morning, Sherri Chilivetis, her daughter and two young grandsons finished their Mothers Day feast of pancakes  fruit for the adults, chocolate chip for the kids  scrambled eggs, bacon and turkey sausage. Their next stop: feeding the ducks or taking a ride on the Hermann Park Railroad.

In EaDo, mothers drinking mimosas sat around picnic tables with their daughters painting flower pots they would later fill with succulents as part of a Mothers Day planting workshop at a produce and crafts market on Polk Street.

Houstonians Sunday found new ways to celebrate their mothers and grandmothers, sisters and aunts, skipping the breakfasts in bed and noisy restaurants with long waits.

Its nice to have something here instead of going to a fancy restaurant and dealing with the crowds, said Chilivetis, a resident of the Meyerland area who grew up in Montrose and has been coming to Hermann Park since she was a child.

Pinewood Cafe, the restaurant operated by the Hermann Park Conservancy, has been hosting a morning Mothers Day event for the past few years. It includes breakfast, arts and crafts, pedal boat tickets and a train ride. It sells out every year, Ron Misrack, director of visitor services for the Hermann Park Conservancy, said.

About 100 people had signed up for the event, which was $13 for adults and $7 for children.

We dont make a lot of money on it ... but its giving people memories, Misrack said, overseeing a group of volunteers serving meals. I try to instill that in the volunteers. Its more than serving breakfast.

Blue Field Market in EaDo, the neighborhood just east of downtown, is a Sunday market that opened in January. Theres a morning yoga class, food trucks, live music and dozens of vendors selling food, produce and crafts.

Angela Harris Cannizzo, who operates a local business selling succulents, welcomed the women participating in the planting workshop amid tables of paints, pebbles and other decorations.

We want you to enjoy yourselves, she said. No pressure. It doesnt have to be a masterpiece. Forget about Picasso.

Mothers across Houston were treated to other off-the-beaten-path activities over the weekend.

Some visited the underground cistern at Buffalo Bayou Park or got tickets to see Hamilton at the Hobby Center. Others drove to Magnolia Market in Waco, hoping for a sighting of the owners: HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines.

There were also, of course, the countless brunches, mother-and-daughter manicures and picnics in the park.

Austin resident Jennell Lewis and her mother, Patricia, who lives in Beaumont, met in Houston Sunday at the plant workshop.

Brunch was their next stop.

Later, Lewis was going to surprise her mom with a Mothers Day comedy show at the Joke Joint Comedy Showcase on Fuqua.

I planned this whole day for us, she said. This is the first Mothers Day without my dad, so I really wanted to try to make something special for her.

Irina Zilberfayn, her mother and two children, perused the offerings at Blue Field, stopping to buy at the stand selling homemade macaron cookies. They bought the last three made with Nutella.

We normally go out to eat, or the kids prepare breakfast at home, said Zilberfayn, who drove in from southwest Houston. Today we decided to do something different.

nancy.sarnoff@chron.com

twitter.com/nsarnoff
On Sunday, mothers everywhere were reminded just how amazing they are, including the mothers of local celebrities.

Several Houston celebrities took to social media to celebrate their loved ones with sweet posts all wishing them a very happy Mother's Day.

REMARKABLE: See inside this former Texas first lady's mansion for sale now

Texans star J.J. Watt shared a throwback photo of his mom saying simply, "Happy Mother's Day!!"

Astros pitcher Justin Verlander also shared a photo of his mom and himself on Instagram saying in part, "Happy Mother's Day to the best Mom ever! I love you."

Even TV media personalities joined in on wishing their loved ones a happy Mother's Day.

"Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas... all the mamas that dry tears- clean faces- change diapers- make 3 meals a day.. every day... THIS IS YOUR DAY. we also know- you can't beat the snuggles- laughs-love- all the joy a child gives #LoveBeingAMama and all that goes with it," KHOU meteorologist Chita Craft said on her Instagram page.

PASSED DOWN: Quirky lessons and phrases Southern moms say

To see the Houston-area celebrities' Mother's Day posts, go through the photos in the gallery above.
Nearly two months after he was dramatically accused of having been a bully in junior high school, Katy Independent School District Superintendent Lance Hindt just as dramatically announced his resignation from the top schools job in a May 10 special board meeting, citing a smear campaign that has been waged against him since then.

My family is now my number one priority - they are innocent bystanders, Hindt said during a special Katy ISD board meeting that voted to hire an attorney to pursue a defamation case in support of the embattled superintendent.

In light of an organized, relentless and dishonest smear campaign against me, I cannot remain as superintendent of Katy ISD, Hindt said to a crowded meeting that seemed evenly divided between vocal supporters and opponents.

FROM THE PAST: Georgia school principal accuses Katy ISD's Hindt of plagiarizing his work

In addition to hiring the Houston law firm of Feldman and Feldman to pursue a possible defamation case, the board of trustees also amended Hindts contract with the district. On his last day of work, Hindt will receive $750,000, an amount equal to two years of his base pay. The board did not release the details of his amended contract until the next day, however.

Katy businessman Greg Gay made the initial accusation against Hindt in a March 19 Katy ISD work study meeting. The decades-old bullying allegation set off a controversy that drew national and international attention.

Standing outside the Katy ISD office after the meeting, Gay said he was stunned and upset by Hindts decision to quit.

This is not what I wanted at all. Im horrified, Gay said. I just cant believe that he resigned. It breaks my heart.

'SORRY': Hindt apologizes to Katy ISD employees for "negative attention" over bullying allegations

Gay said he never sought Hindts firing. All he ever wanted was a simple Im sorry for the bullying allegation that he said occurred in a boys bathroom at West Memorial Junior High.

Im disappointed that he resigned. He was the right person to fix this problem, Gay said.

Hindt said returning to Katy as superintendent after nearly 27 years as an educator was his highest professional honor.

It was a dream I longed for, Hindt said. Serving the students, parents, staff and taxpayers of Katy taught me more than I ever taught anyone.

Although the 53-year-old educator considered many in the Katy community to be like family but said his immediate family had to come first.

This malicious campaign against me is hurting them severely and I cannot allow it any further, Hindt said. I cannot justify putting my wife and kids through it anymore.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Timeline of controversy surrounding Katy ISD superintendent Lance Hindt

The new contact between Hindt and Katy ISD also lays out how much the district will be willing to pay for a defamation lawsuit that some Constitutional scholars have said would be difficult to win because Hindt is a public figure. It says the now outgoing Katy ISD leader will reimburse the district for 50 percent of the cost up to $25,000.

Katy ISDs general counsel Justin Graham said the reason behind pursuing possible legal action is to curb what he called the reputational harm to Hindt, the board of trustees and the district itself from a barrage of online attacks that have erupted in recent weeks.

The resulting impact on the superintendent has been such that he can no longer consistently and effectively perform his duties, Graham said. This has and is interfering with our long term strategic plan and educational mission.

Attorney Jonathan Kotler, a constitutional law expert at the University of Southern California, said it is unusual for a government body to bankroll a personal injury action - such as a defamation case - on behalf of an employee for actions that happened before he or she was hired.

As a government official, Hindt will face more difficult proving that he had been defamed than if he were a private citizen, Kotler said.

Because hes a public official, hes got to prove actual malice, Kotler said. In other words, Hindts legal team will have to prove not only that the allegations were incorrect but that the accuser knew them to be incorrect or should have known.

Hindt never admitted the more than 30 year old incident with Gay in the boys bathroom, going so far as to say in an official statement released to the public, It simply is not true. However, he did later acknowledge that he was not a perfect person.

I certainly wasnt as a teenager and I am not as an adult, Hindt said. When I was young and dumb, I did dumb things.

Hindts later statements, however, did little to satisfy his critics who say bullying continues to be pervasive and tolerated in Katy ISD. Sean Dolan, a Katy ISD parent, has had an ongoing dispute with Hindt and the schoolboard on that subject. On his website, abetterlegacy.com, Dolan went so far as to raise questions about Hindts 2012 doctoral dissertation at the University of Houston, saying it was remarkably similar to one published four years earlier by a Ph.D. student at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

Katy ISD officials have not publicly identified anyone they consider the most responsible for the online attacks on Hindt that the now-outgoing superintendent said have also resulted in harm to his family.

I dont know anything about that. I feel badly for his family, Dolan said.

Charles Griffin, secretary of the Katy ISD trustees, said the last few months have been the most troubling for him during his six years on the school board.

Weve been subject to months of personal and professional attacks that continue to escalate outside the original topic of classroom bullying, Griffin said.

In his last days on the board before being replaced by incoming Place 7 trustee Dawn Champagne, Griffin said the cyberbullying from adults in the community directed against Hindt and other Katy ISD officials has crossed the line.

Its time to say enough, Griffin said. This side show has cost this district money, it has cost us time and our children are the ones who are paying the price.

Board member George Scott said he was heartsick to know Hindt will be leaving Katy ISD at the end of the year but said he understood the reasons why.

It makes me sick to my stomach that were losing this man, Scott said. The viciousness, the meanness, of what has happened to his family is despicable.

Katy ISD board president Ashley Vann was the last to speak. She said Hindt has always been transparent and forthcoming with the trustees since assuming the superintendents position in 2016.

He works harder than anyone I know in the field of public education, she said, calling Hindt a passionate educator and kind friend.

Vann blamed what she called false narratives directed our way, for the controversy that eventually resulted in Hindts decision to step down.

Our home has been attacked. It is time to defend ourselves, she said.

mike.glenn@chron.com
One man died late Saturday after his car caught fire following a single vehicle wreck in southwest Houston, according to police.

Around 9:30 p.m., a 31-year-old driver in a black Dodge Charger was speeding north on Hooper near Almeda Genoa when he flew off the roadway and into a deep roadside ditch, slamming into a concrete culvert.
Texas City PD

A Texas City man was charged with murder after police say he intentionally ran over a pedestrian with his truck after some sort of altercation.

Officers responded to the 1100 block of Texas Avenue on Saturday just before midnight and found 57-year-old Marvin Lee Bookman dead at the scene, apparently run over by a vehicle.
AUSTIN -- As expected, a federal court has issued a final ruling declaring Texas to be violating national voter registration laws.

In a final ruling made public Friday, U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia in San Antonio declared the Department of Public Safety cannot encourage people to renew driver's licenses online, then add additional steps to update their voter registrations that are not required of people who go to their offices in person.

The judge said that the National Voter Registration Act, often called Motor Voter, requires equal treatment.

"DPS is legally obligated, as a designated voter registration agency under the NVRA, to permit a simultaneous voter registration application with every transaction," Garcia wrote in his opinion.

Currently, Texas does not allow people who change their driver's license address online to simultaneously change their voter registration address -- something people who make the change in person are allowed to do. Online DPS customers are required to file additional forms and mail them to another agency to change the voter registration.

Garcia's final ruling had been anticipated.

Last month when Garcia first announced he would rule in favor of the Texas Civil Rights Project, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office said they were looking "forward to filing an appeal." On Friday, the a spokesperson for the agency said they were still reviewing the ruling.

In late March, Garcia indicated in a court order that he would side with the Texas Civil Rights Project, which brought the case. The Texas Civil Rights Project argued that many people who checked a box online through the DPS thought they were getting their voter registrations updated as well, but that never happened. Many did not realize it required additional forms and actions to make the change happen.

"Today is a victory for voting rights and democracy in Texas," said Mimi Marziani, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project.

"For years, the state of Texas ignored and violated federal laws designed to bring more people onto the voter registration rolls and strengthen our democracy; sadly, thousands and thousands of people have been disenfranchised because of the state's actions," he said.

The state had argued the Texas voting laws require a signature on paper to change a voter registration. But Garcia said testimony in the case shows that for even in-person changes of address, DPS uses electronic signatures that are transmitted to the Secretary of State's office to update voter records, so it makes little sense why electronic signatures by people online could not also be used.

"Yet SOS admits that it uses previously stored electronic signatures for all voter registration applications that originate with DPS regardless of whether those applications are paper transactions," Garcia noted in his ruling.

He has given the state until May 17 to come up with a plan to allow both online and in-person drivers license changes allow voter registration updates without additional steps for one over the other.

The Texas Civil Rights Project used the case of a Harris County man as one of their examples of voters who tried to update their drivers license online and thought they would also have their voter registrations updated. In 2015, John Woods moved from Travis County to Harris County. When he changed his driver's license address online, Woods thought his voter registration data was also updated.

But when he showed up to vote on election day in 2015, Woods was told he was not registered in the county.

Woods is hardly alone.

Between September 2013 and May 26, 2015, more than 1,800 voters filed formal complaints with the state saying they mistakenly believed their voter registration records were updated when they used the DPS online system. The Texas Civil Rights Project said that the 1,800 number is a mere fraction of voters who have been duped by the state's confusing system.

Jeremy Wallace writes about state politics and government for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter at @JeremySWallace.
An incident involving a woman attempting to fly from Atlanta to Las Vegas caused an entire flight to deplane after she refused official requests leave the plane after causing a disturbance.

In a now-viral Facebook Live video posted last week, Safira Allen claims she showed up to her flight's gate after the boarding time and the airline required her to pay a fee to board the plane late. Allen also claims the gate closed 20 minutes earlier than scheduled.

"How you gonna close your airline early, make me miss my flight and tell me I gotta pay again?" Allen says in the video. "Once I pay, I get on the flight and they say, 'You caused a disturbance.'"

The woman stated that she was asked to leave the plane after "cussing," to which she states, "I don't even cuss. I'm orthodox. So what are you saying?"

RELATED: Passenger rejected for 'pungent' odor

In the Facebook video, Allen can be heard dropping multiple expletives seconds before professing that she doesn't cuss. (WARNING: Graphic language)

The May 1 video has amassed over 3.7 million views on Facebook, and Spirit Airlines has not commented publicly on the incident.

RELATED: Plane passenger allegedly strangled people, called baby a 'slut' in mid-flight rampage

During the video, Allen goes on a tirade against the airline, stating, "Y'all going to use Jesus' name, the Holy Spirit? That's got to change, y'all need to be called something else. Y'all need to change y'all name because nothing Holy Spirit about this airline."

Later in the video, a uniformed officer confronts Allen, and Allen calls him a "terrorist."

"I'm not getting off this plane to negotiate with no terrorists," Allen says. "Cause clearly, they're the terrorists. They're terrorizing me in my own country."

After a while, a crew member can be heard telling the other passengers over the loudspeakers that all of them will have to deplane, because they need to "start the boarding process again." A few passengers can be heard yelling in protest after the announcement.

As passengers exit, Allen continued to record and shouts "If I can't go to Las Vegas, Nevada, neither can y'all!"

MORE: United pays passenger $10,000 to get off plane

In the video, Allen yelled racial profanities at some of the passengers as they passed her.

A passenger wearing an Oakland Raiders hat walked by, to whom Allen says "F- the Raiders, they ain't s-."

ALSO: Plane passenger allegedly threw coffee at people, 'jumped on' air marshal's back

The video ends with multiple security and police officers escorting Allen out of the plane.

Allen later wrote a Facebook post apologizing to the other passengers, and stated that the Atlanta Police Department arrested her for trespassing.

SFGATE has reached out to Allen for comment. This article will be updated when she replies.
The Woodlands Township leaders may decide by early next year whether to recommend that voters consider turning the community into a city, according to township board Chairman Gordy Bunch.

Bunch wrote in an email that the two consulting groups are helping township officials outline the timeline of the incorporation study, but as of now, officials believe the study should be completed by the first quarter of 2019.

FED UP: Creekwood residents speak out about neighborhood problems

No decision will be made until the comprehensive qualified study has been presented to the public and the board of directors. The board of directors will have the option to call for an election or defer, Bunch wrote. Based on timelines, the first foreseeable date to add incorporation to a ballot would be November 2019. That can change depending on when the study has been completed.

Over rest of the year, the townships seven-member board has worked with representatives from the two firms hired to conduct the incorporation studies, Matrix Consulting Group with help from HR Green and the Novak Consulting Group, to plan out a meeting schedule and other details of the intensive incorporation study that will eventually be used as a basis for whether or not the township decides to hold a vote on the issue.

Bunch also said that if voters eventually approve the initial maximum tax rate and to incorporate, there would be transition period of six months where, the township would continue until an election is held to elect initial mayor and city council.

VILLAGE PROFILE: What you need to know about the Panther Creek subdivision

Once the initial city officials are elected, that starts a new two year process of working toward a home-rule city charter, Bunch wrote. The long term city governance would be determined by the home rule charter.

Two firms hired for study

More Information Incorporation planning The Woodlands Township board will meet with consultants regarding its incorporation study twice a month during board meetings. The planning meetings will be held at the following times: Thursday, May 17 - 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 23 - 6 p.m. Thursday, June 21 - 4 p.m. Wednesday, June 27 - 6 p.m. Thursday, July 19 - 4 p.m. Wednesday, July 25 - 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 16 - 4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 22 - 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20 - 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26 - 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18 - 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24 - 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16 - 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28 - 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5 - 6 p.m. See More Collapse

The township approved spending $872,500 on two consulting firms to help officials gather information and host public outreach meetings about the incorporation process.

The two firms will examine all aspects of possible incorporation, including a financial analysis, law enforcement needs analysis and an assessment of township infrastructure, including street condition examination, a traffic survey, a water and wastewater study and drainage issues analysis.

The firms will also compare The Woodlands and issues facing the community in regard to incorporation with five other peer communities in order to examine how those cities handled various similar issues and to explore best practices. The five peer communities are all in Texas: Frisco, Allen, Sugar Land, Round Rock and Southlake.

There will be two gatherings per month under the current schedule where representatives from the two firms will attend township meetings and gather input from residents or try to provide answers to frequently asked questions about incorporation. Part of that element will include a website where residents will be able discover answers to common questions about incorporation.

In addition to the studies and analysis of various aspect of possible incorporation, the firms will also host a series of public town hall meetings  both at local village association monthly meetings as well as others scheduled independently of any other official governmental entity meeting. Meetings will be scheduled based on topics. For example, one meeting would focus solely on law enforcement information and questions. They will be held with other shareholders, such as local businesses, municipal utility districts and The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce.

The township is a special-purpose district with the power to collect property, sales and hotel taxes, and provide limited services like parks, trash pickup and enhanced security, but does not have the full authority and responsibilities of a city. Because of an agreement with the cities of Houston and Conroe in 2007, The Woodlands cannot be annexed by either city until 2057. Discussions on how to govern The Woodlands have been active for many years.

This isnt the first time the township has examined the issue of incorporation and what it means to the community both financially as well as policy-wise and other issues. The township hired a consultant in 2012 to study the implications of incorporation. At the time, officials estimated that becoming a city would cost $91.5 million in capital costs, plus an annual shortfall of $22.7 million. Those totals, officials said in 2012, would have caused the township property tax to increase by about 70 percent.

Township director Bruce Rieser joined many other board members in stressing the need for both public input about the process as well as informational sessions to share whats been learned by the two firms and township officials about the process.

The whole idea of this is to get as much information as possible in the public hands, Rieser said during one recent meeting.

Rieser also expressed concerns about the website and urged representatives from the two firms to make it easy to use as well as managed in a timely manner.

Im concerned about the lag, Rieser said. You could have a (incorporation related) question unanswered for weeks. Id like us to come up with a streamlined process.

Another aspect of the public outreach for information and desires of the community includes a wide-ranging survey that will be available in several formats: online, print and possibly via telephone. Board member Ann Snyder was inquisitive about how the survey will be made available, seeking answers from Alan Pennington, who represents the Matrix Consulting Group.

Well use every method possible  the township website, newsletter, Nextdoor.com, village association meetings, Pennington told the board. It is going to take a concerted effort to hit all the people with those tools. We need broad input.

jeff.forward@chron.com
Outside the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church on Sunday. Photo: Juni Kriswanto/AFP/Getty Images

ISIS may have lost most of its territory in Syria and Iraq, but it still has the capability to carry out, or at least influence, operations well beyond the Middle East, as was made starkly apparent once again this weekend.

First, a knifeman shouting Allahu akbar attacked random pedestrians in Paris on Saturday, killing one person and injuring four before being shot dead by police. The attacker, Chechen immigrant Khamzat Azimov, recorded a cell-phone video pledging allegiance to ISIS, which the group released the day after his death.

A far deadlier and more complex operation took place in Indonesia on Sunday, where suicide bombers detonated explosives at three churches around Surabaya, the countrys second-largest city. The attacks, clearly targeting the citys considerable Christian minority, killed seven people  not including the attackers  and injured 41.

In an unusual twist, police said that the bombers were a family of six: Dita Oepriarto, his wife, Puji Kuswati, and their four children. According to police, two sons aged 16 and 18 drove motorcycles strapped with bombs into a church on Sunday morning and detonated their payload. Dita Oepriarto then dropped his wife and 9- and 12-year-old daughters off at a second church, where they blew themselves up. Oepriarto drove his explosives-stocked minivan onto the grounds of a third church, where he set off the final explosion.

The parents were thought to belong to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, an Indonesian terrorist group whose leader pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2014.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the Sunday blasts in a statement, though though specific links between the group and the bombers have not been made clear.

Indonesia launched a fierce effort to crack down on terrorism after the 2002 Bali attack, the worst in the countrys history, and it achieved some measure of success  with notable exceptions. But hundreds of Indonesians joined ISIS as the group swept across Iraq and Syria, and the terrorist group began targeting the worlds most populous Muslim-majority country in 2016. Sundays church bombings were the deadliest Indonesian attack associated with the group so far.

As the New York Times notes, Sundays attack came days before the holy month of Ramadan, when ISIS has ramped up its attacks over the last three years. Analysts argue that if the group is able to carry out significant attacks, as it did during Ramadan over the previous three years, it would indicate that the group remained a potent threat, despite its territorial losses, the paper reports.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Jamaah Ansharut Daulah carried out the 2002 Bali bombings.
Clinton's counsel, Marc Elias and Courtney Weisman, submitted a letter on the former secretary of state's behalf in support of Shirley's request.

"Young women like Ms. Shirley are now running for office in record-breaking numbers," they wrote. "For young mothers like her, the ability to seek office hinges on access to child care. Ms. Shirley's case is especially striking. Before she became a candidate, she worked from home, cared for her infant children herself and needed no outside child care. Thus, under a plain reading of the law, as applied to Ms. Shirley's facts, the answer to her question can only be 'yes.'"

The FEC agreed. The commissioners unanimously ruled that childcare expenses are "a direct result" of Shirley's campaign and would not exist if she wasn't a candidate for Congress. Shirley's committee, Liuba for Congress, will be permitted to pay for campaign-related childcare expenses.

The decision could have a lasting impact. One of the factors mentioned as a reason why more women don't run for office is childcare. If they have young children, they may be reluctant to run for a seat in the House of Representatives or U.S. Senate.
This ad received more than 500,000 impressions and 40,000 clicks after it was created on October 14, 2016. It targeted Facebook users who were interested in topics like the Confederate Flag or Southern Pride. Photo: Screencap/Handout

More than half of the Facebook ads created by the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency to influence Americans during and after the last presidential election made references to race, according to a new analysis by USA Today. The news organization reviewed every one of the 3,517 IRA ads released to the public earlier this week by the House Intelligence Committee (IRA), and its reporters discovered that nearly 2,000 of the ads referred to race  accounting for some 25 million impressions from targeted Facebook users.

Previous examinations of a smaller selection of the ads established that the IRA worked to influence voters using already contentious American issues like race, immigration, gun rights, sexual orientation, and political party tribalism, but this new analysis makes it clear that racial tension was the Russian operations go-to wedge.

This ad ran in mid-October 2016 and received more than 6,000 impressions and 700 clicks. It targeted adults who showed interest in topics like the Civil Rights Movement or anti-discrimination. Photo: Screencap/Handout

Fifty-five percent of the ads targeted race, which was also a primary angle for many of the 24 percent of ads that focused on crime or policing. The IRAs use of divisive racial ads ramped up as Election Day approached in 2016, as well as after Trump was elected. In fact, the vast majority of ads from September 2016 to May 2017 focused on race in one way or another. And while it should be noted that many IRA ads did very poorly with Facebook users, the race-related content performed better on average.

The IRA also seems to have used references to pop culture, including memes related to Pokemon or SpongeBob Squarepants, early on as a way to build rapport and credibility with audiences ahead of the racially divisive content.

The ads, which were purchased in rubles using 470 fake accounts and pages, rarely made direct references to Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, or any of the other politicians who ran in the 2016 cycle. (Very few ads targeted swing states, either.) Instead the IRA mostly mimicked the style and tactics of identity groups on opposing sides of the American electorate and tried to reinforce or expand already existing divisions.

This Facebook ad, created after the election, on November 15, 2016, targeted users with interest in topics like the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King, Jr. It was posted by the fake Woke Blacks page and only earned 566 impressions and 115 clicks. Photo: Screencap/Handout

A Washington Post feature in November showed a range of the IRAs Facebook ads, including who the ads targeted and how well they performed at engaging those audiences. One IRA ad in that sample, from the fake group Black Matters, targeted adults in places like Ferguson, Missouri, and Atlanta who had expressed interest in topics like Malcolm X or HuffPosts Black Voices vertical. Like many other IRA ads, it sought to exploit the deaths of black Americans who had been killed by police officers.

This IRA ad from the fake Black Matters page earned more than 3,201 impressions and 273 clicks, targeting Facebook users who had expressed an interest in African-American history and other related topics. It was created on November 3, 2016. Photo: Screencap/Handout

Another ad from the same Black Matters page asked for Kings and Queens who have been silenced to share their stories and contribute to the page. We want America is know what bothers you as a member of the Black community, the ad claimed.

Posing on the other side, another ad  targeting users who liked the fake Being Patriotic page  ran in mid-October in 2016 and showed an image of police officers funeral and decried another gruesome attack on police by a [Black Lives Matter] movement activist.

This Facebook ad, created on October 14, 2016, received more than 3,000 impressions and 760 clicks, targeting people that already liked the fake Being Patriotic page. Photo: Screencap/Handout

As one academic commented to USA Today in response to their findings, Russian intelligence agencies have been attempting to leverage U.S. racial discord since the 1950s. Those efforts have now obviously gotten a lot easier in the age of social media and ad micro-targeting.

The 3,500 ads released by the House Intelligence Committee are also only a fraction of the IRAs overall Facebook activity, as it shared around 80,000 posts on Facebook using its accounts and pages, as well.

In February, Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russians on charges of attempting to meddle in the 2016 election, including several people associated with the Internet Research Agency. The indictment alleged that the Russians efforts were often intended to help Trump defeat Clinton. All told, the IRAs operation is estimated to have targeted as many as 126 million U.S. Facebook users between 2015 and 2017.
President Deals. Photo: Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images

What is the plan for President Trumps June 12 meeting with Kim Jong-un in Singapore? There doesnt seem to be much of one.

So says National Security Adviser John Bolton, who explained why this is a good thing on ABCs This Week Sunday morning.

WH Nat'l Security Adviser John Bolton tells @MarthaRaddatz having a meeting between Pres. Trump and Kim Jong Un "without months, and months, and months" of preparation is advantageous: "President Trump will be able to size Kim Jong Un up, and see whether the commitment is real." pic.twitter.com/TG8NUu0fAD  World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) May 13, 2018

Bolton told Martha Raddatz that theres a positive side to forgoing the usual groundwork of diplomacy that go into such high-stakes negotiations.

I think one advantage of having this meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un so soon, in effect, without months and months and months of preparation is that President Trump will be able to size Kim Jong-un up and see if the commitment is real, he said.

That Trump will be able to discern whether the dictator of a country with a long history of diplomatic deception is bluffing simply by taking the measure of the man is laughable. But the idea that the presidents unique set of skills has accomplished what previous, more cautious presidents could not is now an article of faith on the right. And its not completely without merit. Many experts agree that the summit is at least a sign of progress, one that is hard to imagine without Trumps bluster. And on Saturday, North Korea announced that it had scheduled the demolition of a nuclear test site, the latest sign that it may actually be serious about curbing its threatening behavior.

Still, personal chemistry between Trump and Kim at the June meeting will only go so far in accomplishing either sides goals. What comes next will be a far heavier lift.

In an interview with Jake Tapper on Sunday, Bolton laid out his nonsensical case for why the Iran nuclear agreement was a nonstarter, wrongly telling the CNN host that it had actually allowed Iran cover to keep producing nukes. But coming up with an agreement with North Korea that guarantees anything close to the level of inspections Iran offered the U.S. will be monumentally difficult. And the incentives dangled by the Trump administration for Kim to get rid of its nuclear arsenal underscore how badly the U.S.s credibility has been damaged. Bolton had previously proposed that North Korea follow the Libyan model for giving up its weapons  a spectacularly unattractive option for any world leader who recalls Muammar Gaddafis fate at the hands of an American-backed revolution. And on Saturday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo floated the possibility that the U.S. could help with North Koreas economy if it gives up its weapons, an agreement that sounds like  the Iran deal the U.S. just violated.

As much as White House officials pretend that President Trumps supernatural ability to sniff out Kim Jong-uns true intentions will be the key to peace on the Korean peninsula, June 12 is only the beginning of this story.
The tax department will seek share purchase agreement from Flipkart on the mega $16 billion buyout by US retail giant Walmart to assess the tax liability and also to find out whether the GAAR provisions can be invoked, an official said.

The department currently is going through the Section 9(1) of the Income Tax law, which deals with indirect transfer provisions, to see if the benefits under the bilateral tax treaties with countries like Singapore and Mauritius, could be available for foreign investors selling stakes to Walmart.

Singapore-registered Flipkart Pvt Ltd holds majority stake in Flipkart India. As per the definitive agreement between the companies last week, Walmart will acquire about 77 per cent stake in the Singapore entity for USD 16 billion.

The agreement will effectively result in transfer of ultimate ownership in Flipkart India to Walmart.

To ascertain the exact tax liability, the revenue department will write to Flipkart seeking the share purchase agreement that the company had entered into with Walmart.

"The department will seek the share purchase agreement once the formalities for the sale are completed. The agreement will help in tracking the flow of funds and the ultimate beneficiary," the official told PTI.

As regards applicability of General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR), the official said it would apply in cases where the investments were made to avoid taxes.

In the Walmart-Flipkart deal, the revenue department will go through the share purchase agreement to ascertain the purpose of investment and the emanating gains.

On whether the benefits of bilateral tax treaties will be available in this deal, the official said the department will go through the details of different double taxation avoidance agreements (DTAAs) to ascertain whether taxes could be levied at concessional rate and investment made prior to a particular date can be grandfathered.

"There is likely to be capital gains withholding tax implications when the shares of Flipkart Singapore are sold by Softbank or other foreign investors. The tax rate will depend upon the facts of the case," V Lakshmikumaran, Managing Partner of law firm Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan said.

The tax department had last week written to Bentonville-Arkansas based Walmart saying that the US company can seek guidance about the tax liability under Section 195 (2) of the I-T Act.

Under Section 195 of the Act, anyone making payment to non-residents is required to deduct tax (commonly known as withholding tax).

As per Section 9 (1) of I-T Act dealing with indirect transfer provisions, the value of shares of a foreign company is deemed to be substantially derived from India, if the value of the Indian assets is greater than 50 per cent of its worldwide assets -- a criteria that is apparently met in Flipkart's case.

"In the Walmart-Flipkart deal, Section 9 (1) will apply as the assets of Flipkart Singapore are substantially based in India and hence the sellers would be liable to pay capital gains tax," Titus & Co Managing Partner Diljeet Titus opined.

As regards the capital gains tax made by Indian founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, the official said they would have to pay 20 per cent tax with indexation benefit, which is applicable on sale of unlisted shares by Indian residents.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has declined to share inspection reports for scam-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB), citing RTI clauses that bar disclosure of details which may impede the investigation process or prosecution of offenders among other reasons.

Replying to an RTI query, the central bank also said it does not have "specific information" on what resulted in detection of over Rs 13,000 crore scam at PNB and directed the application to the state-run bank for providing those details.

The scam, considered to be the biggest ever fraud in India's history, came to light earlier this year. PNB was allegedly defrauded by diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems.

Among other agencies and regulators, the RBI is also undertaking a detailed probe into the case for necessary action.

In response to queries under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the central bank clarified that the RBI does not carry out audit of banks. However, the RBI conducts inspection/risk-based supervision of banks, it added.

Giving details for the past ten years, the RBI gave dates for the annual inspection carried out at the PNB head office between 2007 and 2017, except for 2011, for which the bank said the "dates (are) not available".

When asked about the copies of inspection reports and details of objections raised by it, the RBI said the information was exempted under various clauses of the RTI Act.

"The inspection reports of banks and other related documents contain information which is exempt from disclosure under Section 8 (1) (a), (d), (j) and (h) of RTI Act, 2005," it said in reply to the RTI application filed by this correspondent.

The Section 8(1) (a) bars disclosure of information which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the state, relation with foreign state or lead to incitement of an offence.

The clause (d) bars information the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, whereas the section 8 (1) (h) exempts disclosure of information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders .

The clause (j) bars information which relates to personal information and the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual.

The RBI said that the severance of exempt parts in all inspection reports would divert the resources of the public authority in an unreasonable way.

"In view of the same it is not feasible to disclose the information sought by the applicant," the central bank said.

The RBI has transferred the application to the PNB on query seeking details of inspection reports that led to detection of the massive fraud in the bank.

"The specific information sought is not available with us. However, the RTI application is being transferred to PNB under Section 6 (3) of the RTI Act, 2005 for providing information, if any, directly to the applicant," it said.
2018 F1: Spain GP talks to take place after race

Posted by: Admin on May 13, 2018 - 01:38 PM 2018 F1: Spain GP talks to take place after race



Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya boss Joan Fontsere says he hopes talks will lead to a new contract for the Spanish grand prix. In recent days, circuit officials and F1 chief executive Chase Carey have indicated a new deal beyond 2019 is in the works.



Talks will begin after Sunday's race. "At the moment we are focused on everything going well this weekend," Fontsere is quoted by El Pais newspaper. "We have the grand prix guaranteed until 2019, and once this race is over, we will continue talking with Liberty." He said the environment for this round of negotiations is very different compared to when the last contract was agreed. "Fernando Alonso had just won his titles, we were competing with Valencia and we also had pressure from a project in Madrid," said Fontsere. Meanwhile, F1 chief executive Carey played down any impact the political situation regarding the Catalonia region will have on the talks. "We are aware of what is happening," he said. "But things are complicated in every part of the world. There are 21 countries and 21 problems. "Barcelona is a very valuable partnership for us."



PaddockTalk Perspective




A former Houston-area fire chief died Sunday morning, according to the South Houston Volunteer Fire Department.

Retired Chief David Green died at his home, the department said, though they did not offer any information as to cause.

"It is with great sadness we the members of the South Houston Fire Department have learned retired Fire Chief David Green has passed away this morning in his home surrounded by his family," the department wrote on Facebook.

"Please keep the Green Family in prayer."

Green was with the department for 31 years and served as fire chief from 1996 until his retirement in 2003.
AUSTIN  Late one night in February, while returning from a San Antonio political forum, Andrew White stopped an an iconic Buc-ees to gas up.

Early in this process, as a new statewide candidate, you start thinking, I wonder if people will recognize me as the guy running for governor, White explains. We were in Buc-ees having dinner for the umpteenth time and someone recognized me. It wasnt for running for governor. It was for being the guy whos been in Buc-ees so many times. It was like: Im here again.

For a 45-year-old guy running to capture the Democratic nomination for governor in a May 22 runoff, getting recognized is a key to success  even at a gas-and-cleanest-bathrooms mecca in the small town of Luling.

The son of late Democratic Gov. Mark White, White laughs as he tells the story, a tale that in some ways highlights the essence of his longshot campaign to succeed popular Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

To make it into the victory circle in next Novembers general election campaign, he must first become well-known across the Lone Star State, an uphill battle considering that he and rival Lupe Valdez have little campaign cash. To win, one of them also would have to break the 24-year drought for Democrats getting elected to statewide office.

This is clearly the most important thing Ive done in my life  running for governor, White says, scooting up to the edge of his chair for effect at his two-story brick storybook home in Houstons tony River Oaks neighborhood. I feel a deep obligation to pull this off in November. I feel like I am the best candidate to win this and turn this around because our state is really headed in the wrong direction.

With his campaign pledge to return sanity and reason to state government, White thinks he can get the attention of enough disillusioned Texas voters to win the May 22 runoff, an election that historically draws only the most fervent party activists.

While most political scientists expect those voters will go for Valdez, the red-haired White predicts he will prove them wrong. Hell find out soon enough. Early voting begins Monday.

More Information Andrew White Hometown: Houston Age: 45 Profession: Entrepreneur Career: Worked in executive roles for startup business in fire- and water-damage restoration, industrial services and consulting. Established Allied Warranty in 2005; Lone Star Repair in 2006; formed Sweat Equity Partners LP in 2010, and currently serves as president. Education: Graduated Lamar High School in Houston (1991); University of Virginia, religious studies (1994); University of Texas, MBA (2003). Military service: Army ROTC in college Religion: Presbyterian Family: Married father of three Fact: Worked as a volunteer firefighter while in college See More Collapse

I think I have the right message, he says. A poll shows were just 7 percent behind Abbott. Seventy-two percent of the people in Texas dont know who I am. If I can fix that problem, I can win this thing.

As for that late-night Buc-ees stop, it was the night before Valentines Day, so White said he bought gifts for his family, including a lovely $14 box of Buc-ees fudge for his wife, Stacey.

Growing up

As a fourth-grader growing up in the white-columned Governors Mansion in Austin, where the famous Texas Gen. Sam Houston once lived, White said he was struck by what he calls the vicious process of politics  you lose friends that you thought you had, and get beat up for doing whats right  as his father battled fellow Democrats to reform public education and pass other reforms.

I grew up around politics. I never wanted to be in politics, he said. Thats why I went into business.

Even so, after suffering a bout of severe migraines, followed by the death of his father last August from an unexpected heart attack, White came to reassess his life.

In delivering a eulogy at the funeral, Andrew, the middle son, spoke of a Sam Houston quotation that guided his dad: Do right and risk the consequences.

As he said that, he looked at two state officials sitting in the pews that day, Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, two Republicans who he believed were polarizing Texas by trying to pass a controversial bathroom bill during a special legislative session.

A month later, as he used his fishing boat to help rescue more than 100 people from flooding after Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, he continued to ponder what was important in life. I was 45, had sold my business and there were articles saying how there was no Democrats running for governor against the Republicans in Austin who are ruining this state, White recalled. I said, You know what? I can do this.

And he did. On Dec. 7, four days before the filing deadline, White announced his candidacy, just ahead of Valdez and even after Democratic Party officials discouraged him from doing so. Thats one of those things you think about for a long time, but theres a point where you have to make the decision to just do it, he explained shortly after announcing.

For White, who as a fourth-grader once flubbed a test by misspelling the word govorner, just weeks after his dad was elected governor, the decision seemed right.

I can do it, he said.

Entrepreneurial start

Oddly enough, Whites start in the business world began with an interest in God.

At the University of Virginia, he majored in religious studies, a choice he said reflected his interest in philosophy, history and English, not a desire to become a pastor. I took a lot of economics, accounting and finance  sort of my own mini-business degree, he said.

After graduating in 1994, he headed to New York where he worked for two years as an analyst for Credit Suisse. Then he moved to Dallas for a vice presidents job with Market City USA, an early version of Amazon that sold groceries. It soon closed, and he worked briefly for another venture-capital firm that also went belly up.

In Dallas, at a Presbyterian church, he met a fourth-grade teacher who a year later would become his wife. White was out of work on his wedding day.

After a short stint at business consulting in Dallas, the Whites moved back to Houston, where he went to work for a fire- and water-damage restoration company he would later head it as president. He got an MBA at the University of Texas in Austin in 2003.

Two years later, itching to start a new company, White sold his familys three-bedroom, two-bath starter home for $60,000  we had just brought home our second child  and founded Allied Warranty and Lone Star Repair, home warranty and residential repair companies, two successful firms that he sold in 2012.

He then began growing Sweat Equity Partners LP, a Houston investment firm he formed two years earlier. By 2017, it held controlling interests in four companies: a firm selling oilfield water treatment equipment, an industrial tank-cleaning company, an online home-repair and remodeling scheduler, and a firm that sells heartbeat detectors that help first responders locate victims in collapsed buildings and can detect human trafficking victims and undocumented immigrants crossing borders inside trucks.

Im an entrepreneur first, White said when asked what his qualification is to be governor, other than the fact his father held that job. (Entrepreneurs) fix big problems. Theyre not afraid of risk. Theyre not afraid of losing. And theyre certainly not afraid of someone who has a lot more money than they do.

When I look at Texas  we have a lot of big problems that need to be fixed.

Path to victory

For now, Whites biggest challenge is surviving the May 22 runoff.

He approaches the race like starting a new business, spending hours poring over data  Democratic voting patterns and turnout in the March 6 primary, fundraising and scheduling updates, daily reports about Valdezs campaign, even her social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook. White says he has more followers now on both.

The path to victory for us is in the four big cities in Texas, he says, immediately offering a rapid-fire summation of the next few weeks in his campaign.

TV doesnt work in a runoff. Not using TV. Thats like using a bazooka when a sharpshooter will do. Congressional races will help us with turnout. Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. Nine names on the ballot in Houston. Were not going to cede Dallas to Lupe.

Those who know him say the brief outline is classic Andrew White: Review the data, come up with a plan, then move ahead  a likely hint of his leadership style as governor.

His hands-on style is evident in his online campaign videos: Fast-paced, edgy, designed to appeal to younger voters, decidedly not those of a traditional politician.

Despite Whites acknowledged long odds to win the runoff, some longtime Democrats like Austinite Don Browne are not counting him out. His daddy beat the odds and won over Bill Clements, the Republican, in 1982. It could happen again, Browne said.

While White insists he is running on his own, his father is everywhere, it seems. After his father died, Andrew inherited his ties that he sometimes wears to campaign events. He wears a Lone Star lapel pin given to his father by the Texas Rangers.

Not for luck, Andrew White says when asked about it. I dont believe in luck.

mike.ward@chron.com

twitter.com/ChronicleMike
The federal tax overhaul cut taxes for millions of American families and businesses. But the law also had an unintended effect: raising the state-tax bite in nearly every state that has an income tax.

Now, governors and state legislators are contending with how to adjust their own tax codes to shield their residents from paying more or, in some cases, whether to apply any of the unexpected revenue windfall to other priorities instead.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in December, did not directly affect state budgets. It cut federal tax rates, but also made other changes that mean more income will be subject to taxation. Because most states use federal definitions of income and have not adjusted their own rates, the federal changes will have big consequences for both state budgets and taxpayers.

Residents of the majority of states would experience an unlegislated tax increase, said Jared Walczak, an analyst with the Tax Foundation, a conservative think tank.

In Minnesota, the state estimates that residents could pay more than $400 million in additional state taxes in the next fiscal year because of the new federal law. That has set off a fight over how to respond. The states Democratic governor wants to give most of that money back to Minnesotans through tax cuts aimed at low- and moderate-income families; the Republican-controlled legislature wants broader-based tax cuts. Both sides say they must resolve the issue before the legislative session ends May 21.

Apart from the nine states with no broad-based income tax, nearly every state will face a similar decision. Almost all of the states base their tax codes in some way on federal definitions of income, before applying their own adjustments and deductions and setting their own tax rates.

The federal tax overhaul, which eliminated or capped several deductions and exemptions, effectively broadened what counts as income for some families. Previously, for example, a married couple with three children earning $70,000 might have been taxed on only about $36,000 of that income, according to the Tax Policy Center, a research group. The tax law, however, eliminated the so-called personal exemption and made other changes, which could increase this familys taxable income to about $46,000.

At the federal level, those changes were more than offset for most families by lower tax rates and an increased child tax credit. In the example of a married couple with three children, the familys federal tax bill would be lowered by more than $2,000 under the law. At the state level, however, the changes leave families owing tax on a larger share of their income, without the reduced rates or new credits to soften the blow.

A handful of states have already taken action, in some cases using the extra revenue from the federal law as lubrication for deal-making. Colorado, for example, took advantage of its estimated $200 million in extra revenue to pass a budget that included extra funding for roads, public education and school security. Idaho, on the other hand, moved quickly to return the revenue windfall to residents through tax cuts.

The challenge is especially acute in Minnesota because its tax code is closely tied to the federal definitions.

The Minnesota Department of Revenue estimates that if the state tax code incorporates the federal change in calculating taxable income, 870,000 Minnesota families will pay more for the 2018 tax year, by an average of $489 per person.

In theory, Minnesota could try to maintain its status quo by simply leaving its taxes linked to the previous federal definitions. But that would force taxpayers to calculate their income under two different systems.

If we do nothing, then it becomes very difficult for our citizens to file taxes, said Roger Chamberlain, a Republican state senator who heads the bodys tax committee.

Beyond an agreement that something must be done, the consensus breaks down. The state Senate recently passed a plan, backed by Chamberlain, that would cut rates and impose an automatic trigger that would lower taxes further anytime the state runs a budget surplus  a move Democrats call fiscally irresponsible. The House, which is also controlled by Republicans, previously passed a tax cut of its own.

Mark Dayton, Minnesotas Democratic governor, has taken a different approach, proposing new tax credits for low- and moderate-income residents, while raising taxes on businesses. A recent Department of Revenue analysis found that Minnesotans would pay $91.5 million more under the governors tax plan  which includes some proposals unrelated to the federal law  with the entire burden falling on the 10 percent of taxpayers with the highest incomes. Cynthia Bauerly, the state revenue commissioner, said no wage earner would pay more in taxes under the governors plan.

Business groups have criticized the governors proposal, which they argue would make Minnesota less competitive. Some progressive groups say the state should go further, using the extra revenue generated by the federal law to fund a paid family-leave program or childhood savings accounts.

This is exactly the kind of thing you could use to start the core investment of a program like that, said Chris Conry, strategic campaigns director for TakeAction Minnesota, a liberal advocacy group. You could give every kid born in Minnesota $500 at birth.

Similar debates are playing out in statehouses across the country, in a few different ways. In some states, the state tax code automatically incorporates changes to federal law; for those states, doing nothing probably means an automatic tax increase on residents unless their legislatures take action.

In other states, including Minnesota, such updates are not automatic. So legislatures must pass so-called conformity bills that adopt some or all of the federal changes, or else leave residents to contend with possibly conflicting tax systems.

Several states have yet to address the issue, or have barely begun the process. In Maine, the legislature recently adjourned without a deal on how to adapt to the federal law. In California, the legislature has not even tried to pass a conformity bill, choosing instead to focus on developing workarounds for the federal laws cap on state and local tax deductions, which would hit California residents especially hard.

Some state tax systems are linked more closely to the federal tax code than others. The difference lies in how states define income for the purposes of their tax calculations. Most states, including Maine and California, start with adjusted gross income, Line 37 on a standard 1040 form. Any federal provisions that get applied farther down the 1040 form  like itemized deductions  do not affect those states tax collections.

But a handful of states, including Minnesota, base their tax codes on federal taxable income, Line 43 on the 1040 form. And what goes on between those two lines is where most of the changes passed by Congress will be felt, resulting in a higher taxable income for many families. (A few states apply a hybrid of the two methods.)

Even in states that are less affected, failing to adapt their tax codes to the federal law could make it hard for residents to figure out what they owe  and, in some cases, force them to pay more. The longer states wait, the less time residents, businesses and state tax officials have to adapt to the new rules before next years filing season.

Inaction becomes action this time, said Richard C. Auxier, a research associate at the Tax Policy Center. Peoples taxes will change, states revenues will change.

Several factors are complicating the issue for states. Congress passed its tax overhaul late in the year and with minimal debate, giving states relatively little time to assess the effects and plan a response. Even now, the full impact on state budgets is not clear, meaning legislatures are deciding how to take advantage of a revenue stream that could fall short of estimates. In addition, most of the changes to the individual tax code expire after several years, further muddling states plans.

Moreover, the tax debate is hitting as state budgets are strained by rising health care and pension costs, among other factors. Those strains could worsen in coming years if the federal government cuts back funding  perhaps because of deficits caused, in part, by the tax law itself.

And states, unlike the federal government, generally cannot plug budget holes by running deficits. That makes the unexpected revenue from the tax law a fiscal temptation.

For states, this is about as good as its going to get, said Nicholas Johnson of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. Were overdue for a recession, which always hit state budgets hard.

State officials, however, have mostly avoided calling for using the extra tax revenue to increase spending. Much of the base-broadening in the federal law comes from the elimination of the personal exemption, which primarily benefited families with multiple children. Few politicians want to advocate raising taxes on parents.

Thats your windfall, a tax increase on large families, Auxier said.
DALLAS  When Lupe Valdez faces a big decision, she likes to disappear for a few days to think.

Shes done it for years: No phone. No outside contact. Nothing but a blank notebook, where she writes out her thoughts.

I dont like making large decisions without having direction, without having a clear mind, she says. So she asks for the hermit treatment when she takes her retreat, looking for absolute silence over several days so she can make her decision.

I would wake up at whatever time, sometimes that was one oclock in the morning, and just get up and write. I just write down whatever comes to me  This is how I make big decisions.

She did it when she got out of college, contemplating her future career. She did it 14 years ago, at a cabin on an isolated lake, when she pondered a run to become the first Latina sheriff in Dallas. When she was sheriff, she headed to a monastery in Kentucky. She did it again last fall, when she was trying to decide whether to run for governor of Texas, as the first Latina and LGBTQ candidate to do so.

Should Valdez succeed in her longshot campaign to unseat popular Republican incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott, Valdez may be spending some time in seclusion because shes got a list of big decisions about how to fix everything she considers broken in state government. Among the major challenges are reforms in education, health care, criminal justice, immigration and property taxes.

At age 70, older than any other candidate in the race, Valdez said she remains confident she can win a May 22 runoff against Houston entrepreneur Andrew White and can pull off a surprise win over Abbott in November. So confident, in fact, that she talks about how she has successfully beaten long odds throughout her life  and how this is just her latest challenge.

While Democrats nationally are predicting a blue wave in the fall elections, political observers believe it would take a tsunami of biblical proportions to carry the grandmotherly Valdez into office. After all, no Democrat has won a statewide office in 24 years  not even the better-known Wendy Davis, who spent about $40 million to get trounced by Abbott by 20 points four years ago.

Abbott has more than that in the bank for his re-election bid. Valdez has but a fraction of that. Yet, she is unfazed.

People are tired of the status quo, and they are ready for a change, she said on a recent morning, explaining how she believes she can win the election by appealing to the everyday Texan, the Texan who is most like me.

More Information Guadalupe 'Lupe' Valdez Hometown: San Antonio Age: 70 Profession: Law enforcement Career: Worked in the Kansas City, Mo. jail, as a guard at a federal prison outside Dallas, as an agent of the federal General Services Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Customs Service, and as a senior agent with the Department of Homeland Security. Retired in 2004. Elected Dallas County Sheriff in 2004, served from 2005 through December 2017. Education: Graduated Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio (1966); Bethany Nazarene College (now Southern Nazarene University), business administration (1972); University of Texas at Arlington, MA in criminology (2000). Military service: U.S. Army Reserve, attained rank of captain; served in National Guard in Missouri and Texas Religion: United Church of Christ Family: Unmarried, no children Fact: Owns a top-of-the-line red Tesla, a 69th birthday gift from her partner, chiropractor Lindsay Browning. See More Collapse

Like White, she has little name ID outside of her hometown, even with her prime-time speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, as sheriff, which some political observers thought could preface a rise to higher office.

Though Valdez has been criticized in recent weeks for her apparent lack of understanding about state government and lackluster performance on the campaign trail, she insists she has the chops to run Texas  from her experience being sheriff in the seventh-largest county in America, with about 2,500 employees and a budget of more than $160 million. By contrast, state government has more than 327,000 employees and a budget of $216.8 billion.

I can do this. Dont tell this Latina she cant. Do you know what it was like to be a woman in the Army during the Vietnam era? I was a federal agent for 20 years when a federal agent was a tall white guy in a white shirt. I was sheriff of Dallas County when there was not a single Latina sheriff in the U.S.

Austin resident Kevin Orr, who attended Dallas Metropolitan Community Church with Valdez about 25 years ago, recalls her as being strongly spiritual, a lay minister who taught girls Sunday school. She wore a robe, greeted people at church  was always very outgoing, very positive. She would talk about her career doing undercover work, though  I never could picture her being that tough.

As for how Valdez arrived at her decision to run, while on the retreat to a convent last November, Valdez said she wrote in her notebook and pondered  me and silence, as she describes her time there.

One of the things I wrote while at the monastery was, If I do this, what happens? I will go until I cannot move another step.

She also prayed. Did I get a message? she said, repeating a reporters question. I dont know.

Her life story has appeal

Born just after World War II, the youngest of seven children born to a migrant worker, Valdez grew up in a poor neighborhood in San Antonio. Her father, Plinio, built the familys two-bedroom, one-bath, one-story frame house at 219 Calles.

(He) bought the lot and camped out on the lot with two or three children, and then he built the first room, she recalled. Then he just extended it as he continued to build.

Each year, the family traveled to Michigan for seasonal work, where Valdez picked green beans and other vegetables. When she was about 7, her mother, Teresa, decided the children needed to stay in school and, after one last trip north to work with her older brothers, Valdez remembers her dad came home early and took a job with the city digging ditches.

Shes the quintessential success story for a lot of Latinos in Texas, said Filemon Rodriguez, 72, a retired truck driver who grew up near where Valdez did in San Antonio, and is supporting her campaign. Her life story has appeal.

On the suggestion of a middle school teacher, Valdez transferred to a better high school across town, in a white neighborhood. After struggling to adjust to the unfamiliar environment at the new school, where she didnt know a soul, she graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School and then enrolled at Bethany Nazarene College in an Oklahoma City suburb. She graduated in 6 years with a business degree, after working two jobs most semesters to pay her way.

I worked serving food in a school cafeteria, in a bowling alley taking care of children while people bowled, another year in a restaurant and another year in a factory, Valdez said. I wanted to get out of the barrio. I wanted to make sure I had the instruments, that I had what I needed.

In 1974, she enlisted in the Womens Army Corps and served in the Army National Guard  attaining the rank of captain  in Kansas City, Mo., where she worked as a substitute teacher. She later took a job as a program manager at the county jail, enrolling inmates in work-release and treatment programs.

I needed a job, she said. That started my law enforcement career.

By 1978, she had returned to Dallas to be closer to her aging parents, for a job as a guard at a nearby prison. She soon stepped up into a job as an investigator with the federal General Services Administration that was followed, after training to investigate white-collar crime, by stints at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Customs and the Department of Homeland Security.

Undercover work

Valdez excelled at undercover work, said Art OConnor, a now-retired federal agent who worked a few cases with her and recalls her as determined and fearless.

How did I learn to go undercover? Ive been poor all my life. All I had to do was to go back to that. You dress different. You talk different, Valdez explained. I would pretend to be on food stamps and sell them to grocers.  Youd go to somebody and theyd give you $100 for it, and then that grocer could turn the stamps in for $250.  That was big abuse back then.

In a Dallas sting on sellers of fake IDs, she posed as a new immigrant. We made the introduction by phone  and when he came to pick me up, (the agent) said, Hey, it looks like you just crossed the river. And I said, Que quieres?  I dressed poor.

Valdez said she was wired so federal agents in a truck parked nearby could record the illegal transaction and make the case. You know, I can get these done, she recalls the target told her. I said very humbly, Could you do please do that for me? And all the agents in the truck started laughing.  I remember he said, Lupe, thats so good  her come-on to the suspect to win his trust before he got busted.

Its not like on TV. Ive worked on cases for as much as five years, she said, including a covert money-laundering case that took her to South America for a time. I did what I needed to do to make cases.

That included disregarding any fears she might have had about dealing with criminals, up close and personal. We always have fear but we go right through it, she said, speaking of herself in the third person. Resilience. Stubborn. Im both.

That could be part of the reason Im running for governor, she said. My whole life has been about struggle, about achieving things I was told I couldnt do. Like going to college. Like being sheriff. Like becoming governor.

I will bring this to the job in Austin.

mike.ward@chron.com

twitter.com/ChronicleMike
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has banked a whopping GH220,000 from the sale of nomination forms towards the impending national delegates congress that will be used to select the partys national executives for the next four years.



About nine positions are up for grabs and at the close of nominations on Thursday, 42 stalwarts had picked forms to contest for the various positions, including Chairman, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Vice Chairpersons, Organizer, Secretary, Womens Organizer, Youth Organizer, Treasurer and Nasara Coordinator.



Late last month, the party released a notice that those vying for the National Chairmanship position would pay a non-refundable application fee of GH10,000, Vice Chairperson position would attract GH8,000, General Secretary would pay GH6,000, National Organiser and National Treasurer would pay GH5,000 each, while National Youth Organizer, National Womens Organizer and Nasara Coordinator would have to pay GH3,000 each.



Five bigwigs picked forms to contest for National Chairmanship position and they coughed out a total of GH50,000, while eight others, who will be slugging it out for the positions of 1st, 2nd and 3rd Vice Chairpersons, paid a total of GH64,000.



Two personalities who are contesting for the position of General Secretary, paid GH12,000, while three people, who are in the race to become National Organizer, contributed a total of GH15,000.



Six stalwarts who are campaigning for the position of treasurer paid a total of GH30,000.



The seventh person, Dr Charles Dwamena, popularly called Dr China, pulled out at the eleventh hour for unknown reasons.



Nine hopefuls for the Nasara Coordinator slot paid a total of GH27,000, while a total of GH21,000 was paid by seven aspirants, who are all vying for the National Youth Organizer position.



The two strong women, who want to lead the NPP womens wing, paid a total of GH6,000.



Submission of nomination forms by aspirants is slated for Tuesday, May 15th, after which a vetting process will be set in motion.



In the event of disqualification, none of the disqualified aspirant(s) will get their money back.



Apart from Acting National Chairman Freddy W. Blay, who is aspiring to be the substantive Chairman, four other bigwigs -Alhaji Abubakar Abdul-Rahman, aka Alhaji Short, immediate past Upper West Regional Chairman of the party; Stephen Ayesu Ntim, former National Vice Chairman and longstanding contestant for the Chairman position; Dr Amoako Baah, lecturer and David Amankwah Boadu  are all eying the post.



Eight people namely, incumbent Fredrick Fredua Antoh aka FF Antoh, Ken-Wud Noworsu, Agnes Chigabatia, Rita Talata Asobayire  a former National Womens Organiser  George Isaac Amoo, Vida Agyekum Acheampong and Michael Omari Wadie, are slugging it out for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Vice Chairpersons.



John Boadu, Acting General Secretary and incumbent National Organizer, is not going unopposed as earlier indicated and will battle Richard Ahiagbah for the position of General Secretary.



For the position of National Treasurer, incumbent Kwabena Abankwah Yeboah will battle with Abraham Obeng Amoakohene, Nuhu Bayorbo Mahama, Mary Posch Oduro and Saida Ruka Ahmed.



The National Womens Organiser slot left behind by Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister Otiko Afisa Djaba will be a straight fight between Kate Gyamfua and Joyce Konokie Zemparie.



Incumbent National Youth Organiser, Sammi Awuku, aka Boys Abre, has two other contenders Nana Bediako and Sadik Nabichienga for the position of National Organizer.



The National Youth Organizer, Dominic Kwesi Eduah aka Field Marshall; a deputy Youth Organizer, Henry Nana Boakye aka Nana B; Kamal-Deen Abdulai, who is the incumbent Nasara Coordinator; Augustine Owusu Appiah; Bright Essilfie Kumi, as well as Abdul Ganiyu Alhassan and Emmanuel Nana Bediako Dannsa Appiah, are all campaigning to lead the NPP youth front.



Abubakari Sulemana aka Lakulaku, former Nasara Coordinator; Alhaji Rashid Adam; Alhaji Ahmed Zaruk Nuhu; Alhaji Shumbu Musah Shariff; Abdul Aziz Harunafuta of Accra Hearts of Oak FC fame; Baba Gado Ibrahim; Alhaji Salihu Yahaya Bo; Sulemana Alhassan Atakpo and Ali Suraj will lock horns for the National Nasara Coordinator position.



The NPP had earlier fixed June 17, 2018 as the date for the congress to be held in Koforidua, the Eastern Region capital, but because it will coincide with the celebration of the Muslim festival of Id-il- Fitri, the exercise is possibly going to be rescheduled for July 7, 2018.



A five-member National Elections Committee comprising Rev (Prof) Samuel Asante-Antwi (chairman), Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Madam Agnes Okudzeto (former national third vice chairperson), Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (MP for Ablekuma West) and Evans Nimako (acting director of research and elections), has been put in place to oversee the conduct of the NPP national elections.



The party has said that any applicant who is dissatisfied with the vetting processes may appeal to the National Council of Elders within three days for immediate redress and the decision of the Council shall be final.



Mr John Boadu, announcing the congress timetable, said, Any applicant who would refuse to use all the internal party mechanisms to address any disputes as prescribed by Article 4(6) of the partys constitution and rather goes to court to seek redress would automatically be barred from taking part in the impending elections.



The nomination process, which lasted for over a week, has been described as peaceful and well coordinated.



Both aspirants and their supporters expressed satisfaction with the professional handling of the entire procedure and commended the election committee of the party for a good job done.

Source: Daily Guide









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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
Michael Cohen, longtime personal lawyer and confidante for President Donald Trump, exits the United States District Court Southern District of New York, April 16, 2018 in New York City. Getty Images

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, was paid $600,000 by AT&T last year to help the company understand how the new administration might approach its proposed merger with Time Warner, the tax reform debate and other issues, according to internal documents. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, meanwhile, said it paid Cohen $1.2 million to help the company navigate the Trump administration's proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act. And a Korean aerospace company pursuing a major defense contract confirmed that it had paid Cohen $150,000 in November for what the company said was legal advice on accounting standards. While all three companies claimed to have hired Cohen to offer different types of expertise, overall, the work looked a lot like lobbying. That is also how it reportedly looked to employees at Novartis. "Cohen promised access to not just Trump, but also the circle around him," one employee said in an interview with Stat News. "It was almost as if we were hiring him as a lobbyist." Almost  but not quite. At the time they hired Cohen, soon after Trump's inauguration, both Novartis and AT&T already had scores of registered lobbyists in Washington who were working on the same issues that Cohen was hired to handle. These lobbyists, however, were required to disclose their work to the public under the 1995 Lobbying Disclosure Act. In 2017 alone, 112 individual lobbyists from 34 different firms, including AT&T's in-house team, reported lobbying to advance the telecom giant's policy goals. Another 85 lobbyists representing 15 different firms disclosed that they had lobbied on behalf of Novartis.

The millions that Cohen was paid because of his perceived proximity to the president is a glimpse into the shadowy world of unreported lobbying. Brendan Fischer Campaign Legal Center

Yet if one were to enter Cohen's name into a search of the same lobbying disclosure database where the above information is stored, it would come up empty. That's because Cohen is not a registered lobbyist, and he never has been. "The millions that Cohen was paid because of his perceived proximity to the president is a glimpse into the shadowy world of unreported lobbying," said Brendan Fischer, chief counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit group which has filed a number of complaints against the Trump administration. Revelations about Cohen's work for corporations this week have prompted many to ask the same question: Why isn't Cohen a registered lobbyist? Neither Cohen nor his attorney replied to a request for comment from CNBC for this story. But the answer to this question of why Cohen didn't register as a lobbyist rests on precisely what it was that Cohen was doing for his corporate clients.

Lobbying 101

To meet the definition of a lobbyist, the law says a person must meet three criteria: First, he or she must be getting paid by the client for their work. Second, to be considered a lobbyist, he or she must make at least two contacts with government officials on behalf of the client. These contacts can be in the form of phone calls, emails or meetings, and they need not be to the same government official both times. So if one were to contact two different senators on behalf of a client, that would count as two contacts. The third threshold is often the murkiest: In order to be acting as a lobbyist for a client, the act of contacting government officials must take up at least 20 percent of the overall work that person does for this particular client. For example, if a lawyer were hired by a company to do a year's worth of full-time legal work, and he or she happened to make two phone calls to lawmakers to discuss the client's agenda during that year of work for the client, this would most likely not be considered lobbying, because it wouldn't meet the 20 percent threshold.

"It is commonplace for well-connected consultants to evade lobbying registration by merely offering 'strategic advice' and carefully avoiding the 20 percent threshold," said Campaign Legal Center's Fischer.

Cohen's clients

These contacts lie at the heart of what it means to be a lobbyist, and it is not clear that Cohen actually contacted any officials to help press the interests of the companies that hired him. On the contrary, both Novartis and AT&T scrambled this week to distance themselves from Cohen by claiming he had done limited work for them  especially no lobbying work. "Our contract with Cohen was expressly limited to providing consulting and advisory services, and it did not permit him to lobby on our behalf without first notifying us (which never occurred)," AT&T said in a fact sheet CNBC obtained Friday. "We didn't ask him to set up any meetings for us with anyone in the Administration and he didn't offer to do so." Novartis went even further to disavow Cohen, claiming that it had hired him to advise on "certain US healthcare policy matters" in February 2017, the month after Trump took office, and decided after just one meeting with him in March "not to engage further." The pharmaceutical giant also claimed that the only reason it paid Cohen the full $1.2 million for an entire year is because it was trapped by the contract it had signed with him. Nonetheless, Cohen's engagements with the two companies help shed light on the wide range of non-lobbying services companies are willing to pay for in order to gain a perceived advantage over their competitors. "People pay law firms, lobbyists, other individuals to help them navigate the muddy waters of Washington politics every day. And it is not captured within the lobbying disclosure requirements or any other laws," said Meredith McGee, executive director of the nonprofit government watchdog group Issue One, in an interview this week with NPR.

"If [Cohen] does not meet the requirements to register as a lobbyist, then he's simply engaging in the selling of access to the administration," McGee said. "And that is not against the law."

Political intelligence

In Washington, the polite term for what McGee called "the selling of access" is "political intelligence." And companies are often willing to pay much more for it than they are for even top-tier lobbying services. Consider the fees that Cohen charged his major clients: $600,000 for AT&T and $1.2 million for Novartis, each deal for a year. In the D.C. lobbying industry, this kind of money is more in line with what a foreign autocrat or a scandal-plagued organization might be expected to pay someone to take them on as a client, not what a Fortune 500 company like Novartis or AT&T would be charged. To wit, a CNBC review of the lobbying fees that AT&T and Novartis reported paying in 2017 revealed that both firms paid Trump's attorney more than they paid any of their outside lobbying firms. A lot more. According to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, Akin Gump, the highest paid outside firm that lobbied for AT&T last year earned $400,000, or $200,000 less than the company paid Cohen. At Novartis, the highest paid outside entity was a boutique health-care firm, Tiber Creek, which was paid $240,000 -- just shy of a million dollars less than the drug maker paid Cohen. The comparison is even more striking given that some of these lobbying firms list a dozen or more individual lobbyists in Washington who worked on the AT&T and Novartis accounts. Cohen, meanwhile, runs a one-man shop in New York City. "The amount these companies paid Cohen shows the perceived value of political intelligence to multinational corporate interests," said Fischer of the Campaign Legal Center. "Even the smallest bit of inside information about a powerful political figure can give a company an advantage when they are trying to promote their interests with the government."

Risky business

Still, engaging in unregistered lobbying -- or political intelligence, or selling access -- is not without its risks, as AT&T and Novartis learned this week. Within days of the payments becoming public, both companies were forced to admit that hiring Cohen had been a mistake, and they both expressed regret over the move. At AT&T, the senior executive in charge of the contract with Cohen, longtime lobbyist Brian Quinn, was reportedly forced into taking an early retirement, which the company announced on Friday.
Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., walks down the House steps at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump and a Republican candidate he backs hope to take a first step Tuesday toward flipping a Senate seat in swing state Pennsylvania.

The GOP faces a challenge in its push to unseat Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.

Rep. Lou Barletta, who endorsed Trump's presidential campaign in March 2016, will face state Rep. Jim Christiana in Tuesday's Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary. The winner will get to face Casey, one of 10 Democratic senators seeking re-election in states Trump won in 2016. Casey, running unopposed Tuesday, is considered one of the safer senators in the group, as the president only narrowly won Pennsylvania.

Barletta, 62, has tried to channel Trump's immigration and economic rhetoric to capture the president's success in the purple state. But taking down Casey, a well-funded second-term senator, could prove difficult even with the president's support.

Barletta  who represents the state's 11th District in eastern Pennsylvania  will first have to get past Christiana this week. He appears to have a good chance of doing so.

Barletta raised about $3 million during the race, compared with about $275,000 for the state representative. Barletta has another factor going for him that GOP congressmen who fell short in bids for the Senate last week lacked: Trump has publicly supported him.

In a February tweet, Trump called Barletta "strong" and "smart" and noted he was one of the president's "very earliest supporters." He said the congressman voted for the GOP tax overhaul, "unlike Bob Casey."

Trump is pushing to give Barletta another boost before Tuesday, recording a robocall endorsing the congressman. It started going out Saturday and will get sent Monday, as well.

"Tuesday is Election Day, and I need you to go out and vote for my good friend, Lou Barletta, a very special guy," Trump said in a recording of the call, obtained by CNBC.

Trump tweet: Rep. Lou Barletta, a Great Republican from Pennsylvania who was one of my very earliest supporters, will make a FANTASTIC Senator. He is strong & smart, loves Pennsylvania & loves our Country! Voted for Tax Cuts, unlike Bob Casey, who listened to Tax Hikers Pelosi and Schumer!

Earlier this month, Trump took another swing at Casey as he pushed gun rights supporters to elect more Republicans in the Senate to support his agenda. He criticized Casey, among other Democratic senators, for voting against his immigration priorities.

Barletta, who has served in Congress since 2011, was pledging to crack down on immigration well before Trump started running for president. He has taken a hard line since he served as mayor of Hazleton, Pa., in the early 2000s. He put rules in place to financially punish landlords who house undocumented people or businesses who employ them.

Barletta has supported GOP efforts to defund so-called sanctuary cities  a push both he and Trump have criticized Casey for opposing.

The congressman has also touted his support for the GOP tax overhaul. Barletta has criticized free-trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership  but voted along with many Republicans in 2015 to give President Barack Obama fast-track authority to negotiate the agreement.

Christiana, who represents a western Pennsylvania district in the state House, contends both Barletta and Casey have had their chance in Washington and failed. He has argued for fiscal restraint and criticized both lawmakers for supporting the massive omnibus spending bill to fund the government through September. Trump signed the spending bill into law in March, despite threatening to veto it.

Though appealing to voters as an outsiders sometimes works in elections, Christiana appears to be an underdog heading into Tuesday.
But, to get to the point of this month's Cayuga County Craft, I'll answer the question personally: Why don't I write about wine in the same fashion as this column?

Again, bluntly: Because I don't drink wine.

+5 Progress 2018: Cayuga County wineries find success off the beaten path Wineries are facing many challenges on the eastern side of Cayuga Lake  remote locations, a

And I don't seem to be the only craft beer enthusiast who stays away from it. I can't explain the divide itself. But if I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with the fact that beer and wine just don't mix well, unlike beer and spirits. And, of course, I can explain my personal aversion to wine: I generally find whites too sweet, and reds too dry.

But that's been changing lately. One reason is Auburn's Underground Bottle Shop, which I have the fortune of living near. The East Hill shop hosts free tastings of its carefully curated selection on Friday evenings, and at the few I've attended, I've liked far more of the wines than not. One red from Spain reminded me more of a Belgian saison beer than any red I've ever tasted.
Doing good is its own reward. Reaping the tax benefits is a nice perk.

While taxes might not have been at the forefront when providing aid to others, the tax deduction for charitable contributions has typically helped shave money off your tax bill if you itemize instead of taking the standard deduction.

But under the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, that threshold is tougher to clear. Although the deduction for donations is unchanged, you'll still need to itemize to claim it, and that's a much higher bar with the nearly doubled standard deduction.

"With a higher standard deduction, there will be less people who benefit from donating to charity," said Eric Bronnenkant, a certified financial planner and CPA and the Head of Tax at online financial advisor Betterment.

(Under the legislation, an individual would need total itemized deductions to exceed $12,000, the bill's new standard deduction for individual taxpayers, up from the current $6,350. Married couples would need deductions exceeding $24,000, up from a current $12,700.)

A new congressional report estimates that 18 million households will itemize deductions this year, down from 46.5 million last year.

"Without itemized deductions, most people will lose all tax benefits associated with charitable giving," said Kimberly Dula, a partner at the accounting firm Friedman LLP in Marlton, New Jersey.

For charitable donors aren't ready to let go of that tax break, there are still several ways around the new rules.
"We reject the notion that getting the most out of technology means trading away your right to privacy, so we choose a different path: collecting as little of your data as possible, and being thoughtful and respectful when it's in our care. Because we know it belongs to you," Cook said in his address at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Cook didn't give names, but his comments hinted at Facebook 's Cambridge Analytica data scandal, where the firm improperly gained access to data from more than 50 million user profiles.

Apple CEO Tim Cook distanced himself from his tech peers in a commencement speech he delivered over the weekend, saying Apple takes a different path when it comes to data privacy.

Cook, who has previously called data privacy a human right and a civil liberty, hasn't been shy about his criticism of Facebook. When asked in March how he would handle the situation if he was Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, he told Recode's Kara Swisher and MSNBC's Chris Hayes that he "wouldn't be in this situation."

Cook also applauded the anti-sexual harassment movement, telling graduates to be fearless like the women who say "Me Too." The Apple chief also tipped his hat to survivors of the Parkland school shooting, and those who defend immigrant rights.

"It's in those truly trying moments that the fearless inspire us," Cook said. "Fearless like the students of Parkland, Florida, who refused to be silent about the epidemic of gun violence have rallied millions to their cause. Fearless like the women who say 'me too' and 'time's up.' Women who pass light into dark places and move us into a just and equal worker."

He added: "Duke graduates, be fearless. Be the last people to accept things as they are and the first ones to stand up and change them for the better."

Cook received his Master of Business Administration from Duke's Fuqua School of Business in 1988. He joined the university's board of trustees in 2015.
Riyadh has found a willing partner in the Trump administration, which has signaled far greater support for a deal than its predecessors.

been in negotiations with the U.S. and other countries

A view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Former House majority leader Eric Cantor is among a growing number of Washington insiders encouraging the U.S.'s involvement in a nuclear energy program for Saudi Arabia. Asked by CNBC's Hadley Gamble on Sunday if it was the right move for the Donald Trump administration to support the Islamic kingdom's nuclear energy pursuits, Cantor replied, "I think there's a lot of commitment and respect mutually in terms of the U.S. and the Saudi Arabian government, and the trust factor is there." The Virginia Republican, who served 13 years in Congress, has since moved to the private sector where he advises foreign governments on business issues, notably the Saudi government on its anticipated public listing of state-owned oil behemoth Saudi Aramco. "(Saudi Arabia) is an extremely important and strategic ally of the U.S.," Cantor added. "And for us to want to see that country become a full participant in the global economy and the geopolitical arena is something that I think is in the interest of all Americans and certainly of our government and our strategic interests."

For around five years now, the Saudis have been in informal negotiations with the U.S. and other countries that could sell it nuclear reactors, with the stated aim of diversifying its energy base. In February, the kingdom recruited an American lobbying firm as an advisor on the legal issues surrounding developing a commercial nuclear program. But what's made many observers nervous is Riyadh's refusal to accept a deal that would forbid it from enriching uranium and reprocessing plutonium  the mechanisms necessary not for nuclear energy, but for developing a weapon.

Saudis find support from Trump

Opposition from U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle has historically impeded the kingdom's aims  Section 123 of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act of 1954 mandates that Congress review any sharing of nuclear technology with a foreign country. Now, however, the Saudis have found a friendlier partner in the Trump administration, which has signaled far greater willingness to strike a deal than its predecessors. A U.S. trade delegation visited the kingdom in April, led by the Washington-based Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Energy, and State. It brought with it 20 companies from across the U.S. nuclear supply chain, to promote "the strong interest of U.S. industry to partner in Saudi Arabia's ambitious nuclear energy program," according to the delegation's press release.

President Donald Trump holds a chart of military hardware sales as he welcomes Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2018. Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

But the timing of the negotiations is perhaps most controversial  President Trump on Tuesday announced America's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, signed in 2015 with a number of countries to lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. The deal was working in its aim to prevent Tehran from developing a bomb, its proponents said  now, they fear the deal's collapse and Iran's return to uranium enrichment.

Tensions with Iran

Months of escalating tensions between Iran and its arch-rival Saudi Arabia raise the stakes for any future nuclear plans. In March, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told CNBC news that if Tehran was to build a nuclear bomb, so would Riyadh. U.S. lawmakers and non-proliferation experts have expressed their concern over dual-use technology, and Bin Salman's unpredictable and aggressive foreign policy has not helped his country's case. But many other nuclear scientists and legislators still are encouraging U.S. support for the kingdom's ambitions: they warn that if Washington walks away, the Saudis will simply pursue alternative suppliers like China or Russia because they feel the program is needed in part to keep pace with Iran. And that would mean a less secure deal with potentially no conditions, as well as far lower safety and non-proliferation standards than the U.S. would mandate, experts at the NEI have warned. Saudi Arabia's plans involve building two nuclear reactors by 2020, and sixteen by 2030.

A Nobel prize?
Former congressman and House of Representatives majority leader Eric Cantor had good things to say about Saudi Arabia while speaking at the ADNOC Downstream Investment Forum in Abu Dhabi Sunday.

"I think it's one of most exciting regions to be in at a time when there is so much transformation going on. You have to look at the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and give him a lot of credit for being very bold in his vision and take the kingdom to the next step in terms of an evolution," Cantor told CNBC's Hadley Gamble.

He described an unprecedented anticipation around what he saw as the Islamic kingdom's economic diversification and the deepening of strategic partnerships, both politically and economically.

"I think there are some very bold things going on in this region, and certainly Saudi Arabia is a big part of that," he said.

The Virginia Republican, who served in Congress for 13 years, now helps lead the international investment bank Moelis & Company as its vice chairman. The bank is the sole independent advisor on Saudi Aramco's IPO (initial public offering), the highly anticipated public listing of Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil giant, estimated to be the most valuable company in the world at more than $2 trillion.

Kingdom officials are aiming for the listing to raise around $100 billion and attract a valuation in the range of $1 trillion to $2 trillion, though the listing has been delayed and may not happen until 2019.

The world's largest oil producer, known for its rigid social conservatism, is in the midst of unprecedented economic and social change, launched by its young crown prince, the 32-year-old Mohammed bin Salman, who in 2017 announced women would be given the right to drive.

Investment in non-oil sectors and a raft of privatizations of state assets all stem from Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, an extensive reform program aimed at economic diversification and reducing dependence on hydrocarbons. The government is looking to private sector investment in order to create jobs for Saudi Arabia's burgeoning youth population, more than 60 percent of whom are under 30.

"I think what you're going see is a lot of interest in terms of foreign investors to be a part of the economic growth that comes from this transformational vision," Cantor said.

"And it's not just in the commerce arena, it has to do with social transformation as well. So there's a lot of opening up going on in the region as a whole, and Saudi Arabia being the largest economy and market here provides a lot of attractive destinations for capital."
Italian oil and gas giant ENI may not have any investments in Iran, but its CEO Claudio Descalzi sees disruption ahead for oil markets thanks to the reimposition of U.S. sanctions on OPEC's third-largest oil producer.

"The impact is more for the crude oil price, because Iran now is exporting about 2.6 million barrels (per day), and if we go back to the first sanctions, they were exporting 1.5 million," Descalzi told CNBC's Hadley Gamble on the sidelines of the ADNOC Downstream Investment Forum in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

When sanctions were imposed by the Barack Obama administration on Tehran in 2012, Iran's oil exports dropped to approximately 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd). Since the export restrictions were lifted in 2015, as part of the multilateral deal that offered economic relief in exchange for curbs to Iran's nuclear program  formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)  that figure increased by more than 1 million.

President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that the U.S. would leave the deal, immediately sending oil prices into a tailspin.

"So there is a lack of 1 million in the market and that is going to impact the oil price, and also the balance of different crudes," the CEO said. "Because 1 million is going to Europe, the rest to the Far East."

The vast majority of Iran's oil exports, more than 1.5 million bpd, goes to China, India, Japan and South Korea. Already Japan and South Korea have signaled they will try to seek waivers from the U.S. to continue buying Iranian crude.

"We have a demand that is increasing 1.6 to 1.7 million bpd yearly average, so that is going to create a disruption in terms of cost and price," he added. "And when we have this kind of situation, the landscape becomes very uncertain."

Some analysts, however, predict the impact will actually be minimal, particularly in comparison to Obama's 2012 sanctions  they say Trump could reduce Iran's oil shipments by 300,000 to 500,000 bpd, far short of the 1 million to 1.5 million bpd that were cut from the market six years ago.
Oil expert Tom Kloza's bearish days are behind him.

Kloza, who's known for calling the 2015 crude collapse, isn't ruling out triple digit a barrel oil this year.

"Anything that's between $70 and $100 [a barrel] right now doesn't represent hyperbole," he said recently on CNBC's "Futures Now."

The veteran oil market watcher added: "The bulls aren't just in charge, they've got a hammerlock on this market."

The Oil Price Information Service [OPIS] global head of energy analysis blamed fresh geopolitical tensions for his bullish forecast  citing a potential U.S. military response if Iran resumes its nuclear program, Venezuela's oil production nose diving and "spectacular" global demand.

"It's been very bland geopolitically for the last few quarters before this quarter," noted Kloza, who shed his bearishness about six weeks ago.
A support vessel maneuvers near the crude oil tanker 'Devon' as it sails through the Persian Gulf towards Kharq Island oil terminal to transport crude oil to export markets in Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Mar. 23, 2018.

OPEC producers are not targeting a certain oil price, United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui said on Sunday, speaking at an industry event in Abu Dhabi.

Mazroui, who holds OPEC's presidency this year, said he is worried about the level of oil investment in 2019 and 2020.

Brent crude surpassed $77 a barrel last week after Washington withdrew from an international nuclear deal with Iran.

He added that OPEC is focused on identifying the right level of oil inventory at its next meeting.

"What we are concerned about in the next meeting is what is the right level of inventory that we should see and can we put this group together for longer," he said, speaking on the sidelines of an industry event in Abu Dhabi.

"Don't worry about supply," he told reporters when asked about the impact on oil supplies from U.S. sanctions on Iran, adding that this was not the first time an OPEC member had been in such a situation.
The growth of the shale industry will strengthen the U.S. for the next 15 to 20 years, Borealis Chief Executive Mark Garrett told CNBC on Sunday.

"We're very positive on the U.S. because the shale oil, the shale gas, we think that the ethane pricing, and the ethane through to polyethylene  and you could even go through into polypropylene from the propane  we think that will be very strong for the next 15-20 years out the U.S.," Garrett said in an interview with CNBC's Hadley Gamble.

"So we've actually got a large project with Total, we're building a $3.2 billion complex near Houston. And we think that that's going to be the future. The U.S. for the next 15-20 years looks very promising."

Garrett added that President Donald Trump's tax cuts "have not been bad for business."

Borealis, Total and NOVA Chemicals formed a joint venture to boost petrochemicals facilities in Texas earlier this year.

The U.S. shale market has grown in recent years following the advent of drilling techniques including fracking, or hydraulic fracturing. The growth of natural gas production and exports in the U.S. comes at a time when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)  a collective of the world's biggest oil exporters  and Russia are cutting supply.
Inside the Pentagon's cyberwarfare unit, analysts have been closely monitoring internet traffic out of Iran. Six thousand miles away, Israel's elite cyber intelligence Unit 8200 has been running war games in anticipation of Iranian strikes on Israeli computer networks.

Government and private-sector cybersecurity experts in the United States and Israel worry that President Trump's decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal this week will lead to a surge in retaliatory cyberattacks from Iran.

Within 24 hours of Mr. Trump announcing on Tuesday that the United States would leave the deal, researchers at CrowdStrike, the security firm, warned customers that they had seen a "notable" shift in Iranian cyberactivity. Iranian hackers were sending emails containing malware to diplomats who work in the foreign affairs offices of United States allies and employees at telecommunications companies, trying to infiltrate their computer systems.

And security researchers discovered that Iranian hackers, most likely in an intelligence-gathering effort, have been quietly examining internet addresses that belong to United States military installations in Europe over the last two months. Those researchers would not publicly discuss the activity because they were still in the process of warning the targets.

Iranian hackers have in recent years demonstrated that they have an increasingly sophisticated arsenal of digital weapons. But since the nuclear deal was signed three years ago, Iran's Middle Eastern neighbors have usually been those hackers' targets.

Now cybersecurity experts believe that list could quickly expand to include businesses and infrastructure in the United States. Those concerns grew more urgent on Thursday after Israeli fighter jets fired on Iranian military targets in Syria, in response to what Israel said was a rocket attack launched by Iranian forces.

"Until today, Iran was constrained," said James A. Lewis, a former government official and cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "They weren't going to do anything to justify breaking the deal. With the deal's collapse, they will inevitably ask, 'What do we have to lose?'"

Mr. Lewis's warnings were echoed by nearly a dozen current and former American and Israeli intelligence officials and private security contractors contacted by The New York Times this week.

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"With the nuclear deal ripped up, our nation and our allies should be prepared for what we've seen in the past," Gen. Keith Alexander, the former director of the National Security Agency, said in an interview on Friday.

Over the years, state-backed Iranian hackers have showed both the proclivity and skill to pull off destructive cyberattacks. After the United States tightened economic sanctions against Tehran in 2012, state-supported Iranian hackers retaliated by disabling the websites of nearly every major American bank with what is known as a denial-of-service attack. The attacks prevented hundreds of thousands of customers from accessing their bank accounts.

Those assaults, on about 46 American banks, detailed in a 2016 federal indictment, were directly attributed to Iranian hackers.

Iranian hackers were also behind a digital assault on the Las Vegas Sands Corporation in 2014 that brought casino operations to a halt, wiped Sands data and replaced its websites with a photograph of Sheldon G. Adelson, the Sands' majority owner, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, according to the indictment.

Security researchers believe the attacks were retaliation for public comments Mr. Adelson made in a 2013 speech, when he said that the United States should strike Iran with nuclear weapons to force Tehran to abandon its nuclear program.

But after the nuclear deal with Iran was signed, Iran's destructive attacks on American targets cooled off. Instead, its hackers resorted to traditional cyberespionage and intellectual property theft, according to another indictment of Iranian hackers filed in March, and reserved their louder, more disruptive attacks for targets in the Middle East.

With the nuclear deal at risk, American and Israeli officials now worry Iran's hackers could retaliate with cyberattacks of a more vicious kind. The Israeli war game sessions have included what could happen if the United States and Russia were drawn into cyberwarfare between Israel and Iran, according to a person familiar with the sessions but who was not allowed to speak about them publicly.

The United States already has a blueprint for what it might expect in Saudi Arabia, where there is growing evidence that Iranian hackers may have been responsible for a string of attacks on several Saudi petrochemical plants over the past 16 months.

The attacks crashed computers and wiped data off machines at the National Industrialization Company, one of the few privately owned Saudi petrochemical companies, and Sadara Chemical Company, a joint venture of Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical. The hackers used malware  nearly identical to the bugs used in a similar 2012 Iranian assault on Aramco  that replaced data on Aramco computers with an image of a burning American flag.

Private security researchers and American officials suspect that Iranian hackers also played a role in a more serious attack at another, yet-to-be-identified Saudi petrochemical plant in August that compromised the facility's operational safety controls. Analysts believe it was the first step in an attack designed to sabotage the firm's operations and trigger a chemical explosion. The tools used were so sophisticated that some forensic analysts and American officials suspect Russia may have provided assistance.

The August 2017 assault in Saudi Arabia marked a dangerous escalation that put officials and critical infrastructure operators in the United States on high alert. The industrial safety controls that hackers were able to compromise in Saudi Arabia are used in tens of thousands of other installations, including nuclear plants, oil and gas pipelines and water treatment facilities across the United States.

"Iran has upped its game faster than analysts anticipated," said Matt Olsen, the former general counsel of the National Security Agency and a former director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He now works closely with energy companies monitoring cyber threats as president of IronNet, a private cybersecurity company.

Mr. Olsen added that Iran "is now among our most sophisticated nation-state adversaries. We can anticipate those capabilities could well be turned against the U.S."

American officials fear that the Saudi Arabia attack, which was ultimately thwarted by an error in the attackers' computer code, was a training drill for a future attack on infrastructure or an energy company in the United States.

Similar attacks have happened before.

In 2013, Iranian hackers infiltrated computers that controlled the Bowman Avenue Dam in Rye Brook, N.Y. They managed to gain access to computers that control the dam's water levels and flow gates, according to the 2016 indictment.

But any attempt to manipulate the dam's locks and gates would have failed because the dam was under repair and offline. American officials believed the true target of the cyberassault was the Arthur R. Bowman Dam, a much larger dam on the Crooked River in Oregon.

The dam hack was one of about a dozen security incidents at American critical infrastructure providers, including some power grid operators, that officials in the United States attributed to Iranian hackers.

The 2016 indictments named individual Iranian hackers, but there have not been any arrests. Officials believe there is little deterrent to stop them from trying again, especially with the United States leaving the nuclear deal and American businesses, including those in the financial services and the energy sectors, likely to bear the brunt of any attacks.

"Given the history of Iranian cyberactivity in response to geopolitical issues, the American energy sector has every reason to expect some type of response from Iran," Mr. Olsen said.

General Alexander, who now serves as chief executive of IronNet, also warned that although the United States has some of the most sophisticated offensive cyber capabilities in the world, the country is at a tremendous disadvantage when it comes to playing defense.

"We're probably one of the most automated technology countries in the world," he said. "We are an innovation nation and our technology is at the forefront of that innovation. We could have a very good offense, but so do they. And unfortunately, we have more to lose."
Francis Davis is Professor of Communities and Public Policy at the University of Birmingham.

Damian Hinds satisfied neither humanists nor Catholics last week  at least if those who speak for them, or claim to, is anything to go by. On the one hand, Andrew Copson, the Chief Executive Office of the British Humanist Association, lamented his frustration that the Education Secretary has opened the door to new-voluntary aided faith schools. On the other, Malcolm McMahon, the Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool and Chairman of the national Catholic Education Service, condemned the government for breaching its manifesto promise to lift the faith cap on places in new free schools and so failing Englands six million Catholics.

But poised between these two opposing forces, Hinds could be forgiven for thinking he had struck the correct balance  which he has. Indeed, he has shone a light on gaps in the Governments own approach to community cohesion and the potential for educational innovation.

The Education Secretary has explained his decision to maintain the faith cap for new free schools by referring back to the Governments recently-published Green paper on Integrated Communities. Citing an independent review by Louise Casey, it referred to a worrying number of communities, divided along race, faith or socio-economic lines. And it proposed various means of halting any tendency among some of these communities to avoid contact with others, setting out examples of how insularity can be curbed.

However, there is at least one problem with the Green Paper. It committed to a single approach to all these communities from government, but failed to cite a single example of the problem from Catholic institutional behaviours and practice.

In the case of Catholic schools, this was a notable omission. They are more than twice as likely as the national norm to have pupils from BME backgrounds. For example, in the 170 schools overseen by the Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark alone, a full 66 per cent of all pupils are from such backgrounds. Nearly 10,000 of those students receive the pupil premium. In the Archdiocese of Westminster next door, the social make-up is not very different, and networks of schools in both dioceses reach into suburban and rural areas. This means that pupils in the two archdioceses schools are linked across neighbourhoods and social networks in ways that other inner city schools may not be  thus adding value to the close to a billion pounds the Education Department provides for their running costs.

Even the most pioneering groups of academies, such as Ark, cannot demonstrate that 98 per cent of their schools have well-led status on the scale and in the manner of those supported by the Archdiocese of Southwark, and in social terrain as diverse as, for example, its schools in Lewisham, Lambeth, Croydon, Medway, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, and Thanet.

Beyond London, Church schools train and sustain over 30,000 volunteers of all ages and backgrounds outside the classroom, and they increasingly model collaboration as part of this work. I recently chaired the Mayor of the West Midlands faith and cohesion summit, and among hundreds present were Anglicans, supporting all the regions diverse communities in their educational provision. In a large girls Catholic School in Southampton, I have seen Muslim cohorts of students as large and lively as any active Christian or other group. In a primary school next door, co-teaching for Polish pupils complements classroom provision. Episcopal and especially Catholic diocesan schools are beacons of the practice of integration. From an evidence-based perspective, they are perhaps currently the most striking vehicles for successful integration and cohesion.

By contrast, the Government has recently been seeking to manage intense conflicts within Hindu and Sikh organisations, and between those communities and others. A number of Hindu groups claim that Muslims are the number one grooming threat to their children. And there is major discord between various Sikh centres on political and generational as well as theological grounds, leading to uneasy competition.

So it may be that Hinds was unwilling to say publicly that lifting the 50 per cent faith cap for the tiny number of areas reportedly wanting Catholic free schools risked a flow of applications from organisations focused on ethnic and religious purity and political grievances  and concentrated more intensely in certain areas, too.

The Education Secretary will have noticed that a majority of the two thousand or so Catholic schools have resisted academicisation. Nearly 75 per cent have retained voluntary-aided status, thus keeping close collaboration with the Education Department and local authorities. To invest effectively in the potential of these schools, it makes sense, as he has indicated, to support local authorities, and this the full variety of voluntary aided schools.

But the new resources that he has found to invest should not just fund places. In recognising the success of the diocesan-sponsored voluntary aided school model, both the Education Department and the Catholic Church should seek to innovate.

Globally, the churches have trail-blazed models of educational intervention, whatever the size of their local congregations may be. Church schools in Karachi are the gold standard of service to all in a society where minorities are at legal risk. Across the United States, Cristo Rey social enterprise schools have succeeded in reducing truancy, and making scarce resources in poor areas go further. In Latin America, people of faith willingly gift their time at less than market rates.

What is common to all the best Church faith schools is their ability to cross divides of class and ethnicity, geography and trade, background and outcomes by their mobilisation of diverse and complementary networks of volunteers and allies. The same should be expected here. With its vast array of global best practice, plus UK private and maintained schools, and academies and out-of-school settings, the Catholic Church has not only rights to claim for its own members but a duty to innovate to help others. Its recent over-emphasis on a few potential free schools, and a late enthusiasm for academies, provides no absolution from those responsibilities.

When the immediate storm over his proposals has subsided, Hinds new direction will be clear. He has created a level-playing field to enhance choice for students and providers, and has drawn on current best practice to set it up. He has raised the bar for all those involved: the Education and Housing departments will need to reach more for real evidence, and work harder at collaboration with the Catholic community, not just their favourite departmental visitors. British Humanists will have to come to terms with the same evidence. Local government should respond creatively. The Archbishop of Liverpool must urge some dioceses to be more create and effective . The Secretary of State may have hit exactly the right balance. No wonder so many touched by his decison are furious  for they all now have homework to do.
Dont expect a Government decision on customs for the Brexit negotiation any time soon. This site understands that members of at least one of the two groups formed to help reach a decision have had preliminary discussions, but not actually met yet. The Prime Minister is aiming for a decision before the European Council meets at the end of June. On that timetable, she has over a month to find an agreed position. We now give the optimistic and pessimistic view from a Brexiteer perspective  or indeed from that of those simply wanting a practicable decision as soon as possible.

One Cabinet Minister draws attention to the composition of the two groups looking at the two models. In the first, which will examine the customs partnership, Liam Fox and Michael Gove are opposed to the idea, while David Lidington is reportedly in favour, and will in any event feel under a special obligation to support the Prime Minister. In the second, which will look at maximum facilitation, Karen Bradley and Greg Clark have different reasons for wanting the partnership model instead, while David Davis strongly supports the proposal.

The difference between the two, the Minister argues, is that the combination of Gove and Fox will finally put the partnership model out of its misery, while Davis is so committed to maximum facilitation that he will find a way through  particularly if Bradley, who is less opposed to the model than obliged to represent her departments anxieties about the UK-Ireland land border, can be won round.

Certainly, a key to finding a route forward for Theresa May  who has an oped in todays Sunday Times on Brexit  is to keep Davis and Fox onside. The Sunday Telegraph has some fun today probing the full Cabinet for support or opposition to the customs partnership. And there has been a lot of speculation about Downing Street pressure on Gavin Williamson.

All this misses a crucial point: namely, that however numbers divide in Cabinet, or in the Cabinet sub-committee on Brexit negotiations and strategy, the Prime Minister cannot afford to lose the support of the two Ministers most affected by the eventual customs decision  Davis, who will have to represent it in the negotiation, and Fox, whose leitmotif is that Britain must be able to negotiate and sign trade deals, and who believes that the partnership model would make this very difficult indeed in practical terms.

Thats the optimistic view.

The pessimistic one is that were heading towards a policy whose basic features are maximum facilitation, plus a delay in leaving the Customs Union, in order to get max fac up to speed. Now this is far from being a bad idea in itself. Our columnist Henry Newman has championed it, and Nick Boles has been busy projecting it in on Twitter, pointing out that, under its terms, we would still be out of the Customs Union by 2022, before the proposed date of the next general election.

Some Brexiteer Cabinet Ministers, however, have their reservations about such an outcome. One worries that any teething problems with the new system, here or in EU countries (whose operations are necessarily outside our control) would make themselves felt, under this timetable, slap bang in the run-up to a June 2022 election  the worst possible timing.

Another is wary of conceding any delay, on the ground that if the Treasury, which holds the purse strings, and the civil service more widely  which must implement any new system  is given an inch it will take a yard  or the best part of a metre, as the Minister put it. According to this view, the institutional Treasury view is that Britain should stay in the Customs Uniom, and it will try to keep spinning matters out until after the next election, when there will be a new government with new manifesto commitments.

In the meantime, the Prime Ministers article today is essentially a holding exercise, which reaffirms the Governments commitment to taking control of our laws, our immigration policy and how taxpayers money is spent while also saying that the details are incredibly complex and, as in any negotiation, there will have to be compromises. This is a tantalising combination. Meanwhile, sand runs through the hour glass.
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Website hindustanuniv.ac.in uses latest and advanced technologies like: JQuery, Boostrap and Php. It is very popular on the web, it's within the 1 million most visited websites of the world at position 147454 by Alexa. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 95407 bytes (93.17 kb uncompressed) and 19831 bytes (19.37 kb compressed).

This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-03-19, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.
CORNWALL, Ontario  The Cornwall Hospice hosted their 14th annual Hike on Sunday, May 6, 2018, to raise funds to continue providing end of life care for residents in Cornwall.

The Hike aimed to gather $40,000 by the end of the day with all proceeds going to their operating costs.

Sandy Collette, the head fundraiser for the hospice worked with volunteers and organizations like the Kinsmen Club of Cornwall and Boom 101.9 to make the event possible.

Over 100 people joined in the Hike that went from the Hospice to Lock 19 and then down the bike path.

The government funding only pays for the front line staff; so food, laundry, furniture, lights, heat, that all comes out of our operational budget which has to fundraised for, explained Sandy.

All Hospices around Canada hold a Hike similar to the Cornwall Hospices so that they can continually provide excellent care for those who need it.
CORNWALL, Ontario  The Cornwall and District Horticultural Society hosted their 13th annual Bark and Compost Day on Saturday, May 12 at the Cornwall landfill site.

Were in partnership with the city, said Sandra Mitchell, the Horticultural Society President. We bag up the compost and the mulch, or you could buy a scoop from the backhoe.

Bags were on sale for $3 and scoops were $25. This was the organizations major fundraiser of the year.

We donate to the tulips at the Cenotaph, we put pots at senior buildings, we put flowers at the RCAF Wing, we do the bridge [flower] boxes, said Mitchell. As many things as we can get involved in, we try to do as much as we can.

According to the past President of the Horticultural Society, Lynn Blanchard, $1 of every purchase is put towards the Childrens Christmas Fund Cereal Drive at the end of the year.

Both Mitchell and Blanchard are hoping that more high school students will seek out volunteer opportunities with the organization.

We are trying to get some younger people out here to help, said Blanchard. We will sign for their hours.

The Horticultural Society is hosting a plant and bake sale at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15 at the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Association Wing.

Anyone who is interested in volunteering is encouraged to call Lynn Blanchard at 613-330-7460.
A Hartford woman has been charged with three murders in Griswold, and more arrests are expected, state police announced Saturday.

Ruth Correa, 23, of Main Street in Hartford, was charged with murder with special circumstances, three counts of felony murder, home invasion, first-degree arson and first-degree robbery. The first charge is applied when there has been a murder of two or more people at the same time.

More arrests are expected, state police said.

Around 5:15 a.m. on Dec. 20, 2017, trooper from Troop E in Montville responded to 70 Kenwood Estates in Griswold for a house fire that was fully engulfed.

After the fire was extinguished, police found the remains of two people in the residence.

The two were identified through a postmortem examination as Kenneth Lindquist, 56, and Janet Lindquist, 61  husband and wife.

Later that same morning, state police detectives were requested by Glastonbury police to help with an investigation of an abandoned car fire at 40 Nanel Drive, the Glastonbury Luxury Apartments. Through an investigation, police found that the car fire was connected to the house fire, state police said.

By Dec. 21, 2017, detectives had developed a person of interest in the double-fatal Griswold fire.

Around 9:23 a.m. on May 5, troopers from Montville responded to the area of Kenwood Road in Griswold after human remains were found in the woods.

A postmortem examination identified the remains as Matthew Lindquist, 21  the son of Kenneth and Janet Lindquist. It was unclear if detectives believe the son was killed the same day as his parents.

On May 11, detectives served two search and seizure warrants at residences in Hartford. Numerous items of evidence were collected and several interviews were completed. That same day, detectives applied for and were granted an arrest warrant for Correa.

She was taken into custody around 2 a.m. on Saturday and taken to Troop E in Montville to be processed.

Correa was held on a $2.5 million bond. She is scheduled to appear in Norwich Superior Court on Monday.

State Police Eastern District Major Crime detectives are still investigating.
WASHINGTON  Connecticut Democratic lawmakers and childrens health advocates are nervous that despite reassurances, Republicans again are targeting the Childrens Health Insurance Program  CHIP  which insures nearly 18,000 children in the state.

The 20-year-old, federal-state match fund provides health insurance to children in families that make too much money for Medicaid but lack private health insurance through parents employers.

Washington covers about 88 percent of Connecticuts CHIP Husky B program, according to the Connecticut Department of Social Services. Amounts may vary, but its cost is in the range of $80 million annually.

On May 8, President Donald Trump proposed a cut of $15 billion in funds already appropriated by Congress  a cost-saving exercise known as a rescission in congressional parlance. About $7 billion of that is from CHIP, which covers 9 million children from low-income families nationwide.

Administration officials characterize it as essentially a bookkeeping maneuver designed to cut government spending without any children losing CHIP coverage.

Of the $7 billion involving CHIP, $5.1 billion previously authorized by Congress has expired and cannot be disbursed to states including Connecticut.

The other $1.9 billion is from a CHIP contingency fund, held in reserve in case states find enrollments higher than expected.

With Congress enacting dramatic tax cuts in December, the budget deficit could balloon to $2.1 trillion by 2027.

A House vote on the rescission package could come this week. The measure needs a simple majority in both House and Senate to be enacted.

Connecticuts all-Democratic congressional delegation is not so sure the juggling will leave CHIP unscathed. And they see sleight-of-hand in Republican concern about the deficit after boosting it through tax cuts.

The administrations proposal to cut billions of dollars from (CHIP) and other vital domestic programs will hurt Connecticut families and will do nothing to address the issues facing our federal budget, said Rep. Elizabeth Esty in a statement. Make no mistake  this rescission plan is not about fiscal discipline. Connecticut families are not going to be fooled by Republican elected officials who added more than $2 trillion dollars to our deficit for tax cuts geared towards corporations and wealthy Americans.

The Republican-controlled Congress let authorization for CHIP expired with the end of the previous fiscal year on Sept. 30, 2017.

After months of back-and-forth and a government shutdown, Congress reauthorized CHIP for six years in January. A fact sheet put out earlier this month by the White House Office of Management and Budget said the administration strongly supports CHIP and had repeatedly called for (its) reauthorization.

But Connecticut Democratic lawmakers question the administrations commitment to the program.

President Trump and Congressional Republicans have reached a new low, said Rep. Rosa DeLauro. Their latest scam takes $15.4 billion in federal funds away from working families  in order to pay for a tiny fraction of their $1.5 trillion tax cut for the rich. Unfortunately, this is yet another example of their shamelessness and irresponsible governing.

Karen Siegel, a health policy fellow at New Haven-based Connecticut Voices for Children, said a cut to the CHIP contingency fund could prove difficult for Connecticut if faced with a sudden emergency such as a hurricane or disaster-related arrivals from out of state.

If something happens, an outbreak of disease or a large influx, the (CHIP) money is there to make sure low-income families are covered, Siegel said.

Without the CHIP emergency money, Connecticut cannot make up for it because its budget is so stressed, she said.

dan@hearstdc.com
NEW HAVEN  A woman who was fired from her job at Yale New Haven Hospital claims she was let go because she was insisting on pumping breast milk in her office.

Jill Grewcock, who worked as a clinical bed manager, has sued the hospitals parent corporation for wrongful termination. In addition, Grewcock claims her First Amendment and state constitutional free-speech rights were violated.

While the hospital claimed Grewcock was terminated because she violated the federal medical privacy law known as HIPAA, Grewcocks complaint, filed in state Superior Court, details a pattern of alleged harassment because she believed she needed to express milk in her office in order to fulfill her duties. Her suit also claims that hospital supervisors gave misinformation at a federal trial and that the accusation of a HIPAA violation was invalid.

Grewcock, 37, of Oxford, lost her federal lawsuit, which accused Yale New Haven Health Services of sex discrimination. A jury ruled in favor of the health care corporation on March 9. She filed her second suit in state court on March 22 claiming wrongful termination, based in part on testimony given in the federal trial that she claims was false.

This includes allegations as to what happened at the federal trial, Grewcocks attorney, Daniel Kryzanski of Stratford, said. Those include statements made by employees of the hospital that  in our opinion, were violations of the law.

Grewcock worked at Yale New Haven Hospital from February 2011 until she was fired on April 10, 2015, according to her lawsuit.

A Yale New Haven Health spokeswoman emailed a comment saying, Yale New Haven Hospital is confident that the State Court will reaffirm the Federal Court jurys decision in favor of the hospital. We do not believe this lawsuit has merit and will continue to vigorously defend it.

Grewcocks complaint states: In her position as clinical bed manager, she was responsible for oversight of all patient admissions, discharges and transfer activity from all points of entry while monitoring capacity both currently and prospectively. Her job required her to be on call at a minutes notice in case of emergencies, to have access to all patient files to monitor what was going on in the hospital and to access hundreds of patient files in one shift.

After Grewcock returned from maternity leave on Dec. 16, 2013, she pumped breast milk in her office without incident and with the consent of all persons in her work area for about a year, the lawsuit states, but then her supervisor, Peggy Beley, required her to use a hospital lactation room after co-workers began to remark about Grewcocks expressing milk.

After an argument with a co-worker, Piper Brien, Grewcock said she tried to file a grievance with David Wurcel, who is listed on the hospitals website as vice president for corporate business services. He allegedly told Grewcock he did not believe her complaint amounted to a grievance but, the complaint states, he later admitted that he was not familiar with the hospitals grievance policy.

He was a grievance officer but he hadnt read the grievance policy, Kryzanski said.

Grewcock allegedly resisted using the lactation room because it took her away from her job for too long and instead used a restroom, but Brien burst in [and] said you cant do that in here. Plaintiff was embarrassed and humiliated. At the same time, Beley was yelling at her to come out of the restroom, her suit states.

The suit continues that in March 2015, Grewcocks doctor wrote a letter to Patricia Burke asking that Grewcock be allowed to express milk in her office, which lead [sic] to further hostility on the part of Mrs. Burke toward the plaintiff. Burke is listed as vice president of human resources on the hospitals website.

The complaint continues: On March 24, 2015, a relative of the plaintiffs supervisor was admitted to the Emergency Department. Plaintiff accessed this individuals file for 18 seconds during the normal course of her duties which included monitoring new entries to the hospital.

Despite Grewcocks responsibility for patient admissions and the fact that there were three patients with the same name as the supervisors relative, Beley accused Grewcock of a Level II violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which protects the privacy of medical information. After a meeting with Beley and Burke, Grewcock was fired because of the alleged HIPAA violation, she claims.

Grewcock filed a grievance over her termination, but Wurcel allegedly asked Beley and Burke what Grewcocks responsibilities were and was allegedly given false information, according to the complaint.

Kryzanski said he and his client contend that the reason for her firing wasnt a HIPAA violation, but that she was creating a controversy with  people at the hospital.

Grewcock had filed a complaint of sex discrimination with the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, and Burke filed an affidavit in response which included an allegation that the plaintiff had been in the patients file for 18 minutes in an attempt to mislead the CHRO about what had happened, the lawsuit states. Mrs. Burke later admitted at trial that she had been aware that when she wrote the affidavit the plaintiff had only been in the file for 18 seconds but that allegation of 18 minutes must have been a clerical error.

In the affidavit, Mrs. Burke also accused the plaintiff of having a passion for breast milk pumping, the suit claims.

The suit claims that Beley misrepresented that Grewcock had violated the HIPAA law and that Burke falsely told the CHRO and the federal court jury that the defendant had a patients file open for 18 minutes. Beley, Burke and Wurcels statements that the plaintiff was terminated for a HIPAA violation were false, libelous and slanderous and willfully made, the complaint states.

There was a statement that was made that was derogatory to Jill in response to a human rights complaint before the CHRO, Kryzanski said.

The hospital administrators allegedly caused severe emotional distress and bodily harm including sleeplessness, loss of appetite and depression  loss of marital relations, family discord, humiliation, loss of purpose, loss of self esteem and loss of enjoyment of life, according to the lawsuit.

In December 2015, Yale New Haven Hospital implemented a written policy supporting breast feeding, according to the suit. She claims that, among other violations of state law, the hospital violated the statute permitting breast-feeding in the workplace. That law states, An employer shall make reasonable efforts to provide a room or other location, in close proximity to the work area, other than a toilet stall, where the employee can express her milk in private.

Grewcock also claims she was fired for exercising her rights under the First Amendment and the state Constitution in asserting her right to pump breast milk in her office. Kryzanski said Grewcock voiced her opinion that it was dangerous to pump milk in the lactating room because she cant be contacted if theres an emergency.  With regard to the First Amendment, one of the main arguments is that she voiced her opinion with regard to patient safety.

Her complaint states that pumping breast milk in the workplace was not a matter of purely private concern but a concern that affects the entire workplace and the public.

Obviously she feels strongly about what happened, otherwise she wouldnt have continued on, despite what happened, Kryzanski said. If we can get at least one claim before a judge or jury, then were going to go for it.

Contact Ed Stannard at edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com or 203-680-9382.
NCUA headquarters

The man named by President Trump last year to oversee regulation of the nations $1.4 trillion credit union industry has taken a novel approach to the agency he leads. Instead of going to his office near Washington every day, J. Mark McWatters works from his home.

In Dallas.

McWatters, whose salary as chairman of the National Credit Union Administration board is $165,300, may be the federal governments most unlikely telecommuter.

The arrangement adds a wrinkle to the tendency among some Trump administration officials to spurn traditional government norms. An NCUA spokesman confirmed a Washington Post finding that McWatters works from Dallas and declined to say how often he travels to the headquarters in Alexandria, Va., where more than 400 of the agencys 1,200 employees are based.

Government watchdog groups said they could not recall another agency chief routinely working so far from his office.
Pakistan's ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's admission that home-grown terror outfits were responsible for the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai needs to be viewed from different perspectives - his political compulsions, its diplomatic and political fallout for Pakistan, the unexpected diplomatic win for India and reactions within India, some really wild and outlandish like yoga guru Ramdev making a case for Indian invasion of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and his advocacy for Indian help in liberation of Balochistan.

First, consider Sharif's remarks in his interview to Pakistani daily Dawn, which triggered an international diplomatic maelstrom: "Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors. Should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Why can't we complete the trial?"

It's pertinent to note that the three-time prime minister has made this hugely embarrassing remark for his country at a time he is being hounded from all sides, particularly the judiciary, and neither the political establishment nor the powerful military has come to his help.

In April, Pakistan Supreme Court disqualified him for life from holding any public office for failing to declare his assets while being the prime minister, a harsh measure which came just two months after the Pakistani apex court disqualified him as president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The February 2018 order of the Supreme Court ruled that all decisions taken by Sharif as the party chief stood "null and void".

Sharif's condition is akin to a cat trapped inside a room with all exits sealed and stick-wielding people coming after the hapless animal. In such a situation the cat invariably pounces at the attacker's face to escape.

Sharif too appears to have done that. Being a seasoned politician and three-time premier, Sharif cannot be unmindful of the consequences of his remarks for his country's image internationally.

This may be part of Nawaz Sharif's conscious and deliberate strategy aimed at his domestic constituency. He is probably sending a signal to the political and military establishments to intervene and stop his "persecution" before it is too late.

It remains to be seen if Sharif gets some substantive relief in the coming days as Pakistan is due to hold its next general election later this year. If no such thing happens, Sharif may further up the ante and come up with more embarrassing statements which name and shame Pakistan.

Expectedly, Sharif's remarks have roiled the political waters within Pakistan. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairperson Imran Khan pounced upon the opportunity and criticised Sharif for speaking against Pakistan's sovereignty, saying the ex-PM has joined hands with foreign forces for personal gains. Khan even trained his guns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in lambasting Sharif and said Sharif was speaking the language of PM Modi to save the Rs 300 billion that he has concealed under the names of his sons' offshore companies.

Incidentally, you can call it the Sharif impact as close on the heels of Sharif's remarks, Imran Khan was showered with rare praise from general Pervez Musharraf, who said Khan had a very good chance of being elected as the prime minister in the upcoming elections. Musharraf also said that Imran Khan was a much better choice in comparison to Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari to lead the nation. This may be indicative of things to come and confirms the widely held belief in Pakistan that Imran Khan is being propped up by the Pakistan Army.

Actually, this is not the first time when former rulers of Pakistan have put their country in a fix with their controversial statements. Loose lips sink ships!

Just about six months ago, former Pakistan president and army chief general Musharraf had said that he was the "biggest supporter" of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), an internationally ostracised terror outfit which is banned even in Pakistan since 2002. He didn't stop at that and added that he was aware that the LeT liked him too.

In an interview with Pakistan's Ary TV in November 2017, Musharraf had remarked thus about LeT's founder and mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks Hafiz Saeed: "I'm the biggest supporter of Lashkar-e-Taiba and I know the LeT and JuD people like me Yes, I have met him (Saeed), even recentlyI have always been in favour of action in Kashmir, and I've always been in their favour, that in Kashmir we must pressure the Indian Army and this (LeT) is the biggest force."

Musharraf's remarks had come after Saeed, a United Nations-designated terrorist, was freed from house arrest on an order from Lahore high court. Obviously, Musharraf cannot be unaware of the fact that the United States too has branded Saeed a terrorist and put a $10 million bounty on his head after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Sharif knows that erstwhile rulers of Pakistan like Musharraf have embarrassed Pakistan with their controversial remarks and gone scot-free. However, Sharif's remarks have triggered some hawkish response from within India.

Sample this statement of yoga guru Ramdev in response to Sharif's confession: "It is true that terrorists are trained in Pakistan, a solution to this problem is that India should invade PoK and make it a part of the country. India should also help in freedom of Balochistan, only then Pakistan will correct its course."

Political parties like BJP and Congress too waded into the controversy and lambasted Pakistan's involvement in aiding and abetting terrorism in India.

Union minister for minority affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said: "Pakistan is solely responsible for 26/11 terrorist attack. We have already provided enough evidence of the same to them but they have always denied those facts and all the related reports. The entire world knows this reality that Pakistan is responsible for 26/11 terrorist attack in India. If Nawaz Sharif has finally accepted this fact then it is great news."

Another Union minister minister of state for home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said Pakistan was solely responsible for the 26/11 attacks. Congress leader Rajiv Satav too blamed Pakistan for orchestrating the 26/11 attacks and demanded stern action from the Centre against the Pakistani government. Satav said: "Former prime minister Manmohan Singh ji has already said that Pakistan is behind the Mumbai 26/11 attacks. He was very strict with the Pakistani government when he was the prime minister. This is a very serious matter now."

Nawaz Sharif's admission of Pakistan's hand behind the 26/11 Mumbai carnage will inevitably trigger further slide in Pakistan's credibility before the international community. It may also adversely impact Pakistan in several cases it is locked in with India before the International Court of Justice and other international platforms. It has given an unexpected bounty to India to expose Pakistan at international platforms.

The Sharif bombshell has exploded weeks ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in China in June which India and Pakistan would be participating in for the first time as full-fledged members. China would be more wary of Pakistan now.

Also read: How Prime Minister Narendra Modi is waging a war on reality
KP Sharma Oli, Nepal's prime minister, is a politician gifted to represent the contradictions. Before he secured absolute majority and let the insecure comrades-in-arms, including formidable Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai join an unusual left unity, he was not someone who believed in Nepal's ethnic diversities and the rights of Madhesis, Tharus, Janjatis and women.

Oli had represented the old world view of Kathmandu's ruling elite, unevenly dominated through the stronghold of hilly Arya-Khas community. But in the changed times, with the provision of provincial governments in Madhesh and extraordinary attention on his over-sized promises, Oli is now more receptive to broader ideas than ever before.

Living the same positive spirit, he visited India immediately after taking charge as a prime minister for a second term. Attempting course-correction, he also invited Narendra Modi to visit Janakpur, Muktinath (Mushtang) and Kathmandu  places vital for latter's "cultural encircling policy" and effectively creating a Ramayana Tourist Circuit around India-Nepal-Sri Lanka. Finally, Modi was allowed to do what Kathmandu had once resisted fearing it may rile an aggressive China.

Noticeably, Modi's Nepal visit didn't touch the base of China's One Belt One Road Initiative and skipped the complex issues of trilateralism. Also, on enhancing bilateral economic cooperation and for removing the idiosyncrasies in India's stalled energy and infrastructure projects, the visit proved to be a wasted opportunity.

It's been ironical that the high-profile political visits and diplomatic engagements have not been helpful to the stalled hydroelectricity projects in which India has high stakes and is subject to growing criticism in Kathmandu's policy circle.

Among a large number of Nepalis, India is no longer being seen as an ally that keeps its words and implements things on ground. This should concern PM Modi, as for him, Nepal is the most important zone where he has been trying hard to implement his plans.

What was rather expected of Modi's visit was to get the long-pending issues of Kosi project and other joint energy projects on the table for discussion in order to find mutually agreeable solutions.

In fact, a point-wise analysis of pending issues and solving them would have been appreaciated.

In Janakpur, the culturally, historically and politically rich border town of Nepal, Modi received a rousing welcome from his counterpart Oli and the local government.

Among the highlights of the visit were flagging of a Maitri Bus Service between Janakpur and Ayodhya and announcement of a grant of Rs 100 crore for Janakpur. A long-pending project, Raxaul-Kathmandu railway line project, was also tabled for discussions. A feasibility study on the project in likely to be completed this year.

The response from the public to Modi's visit was, however, cautious. In hilly areas, Modi is still seen as the single-biggest reason behind the nine-month-long painful border blockade that came in 2015. The people of Nepal also had to face unnecessary trouble because of the demonetisation plan. In Madhesh, a section of activists and people are deeply disappointed with the growing bonhomie between Modi and Oli. The Nepali prime minister is seen by many in his own country as being responsible for promulgating a divisive constitution.

For now, Nepal's political fundamentals are stable and the government is committed to pursue the economic policies implemented by the previous governments and kings.

The ruling regime in Kathmandu is not averse to experimenting on the foreign affairs front. On both counts, China will have a larger role to play. To maintain India's traditional edge in Nepal, Modi government should rely on the basics and let its external affairs ministry to do some crucial talking.

As on any competitive and contested turf, uninformed and unpopular advisers will harm India's prospects further.

Ideally, India-Nepal relations should no longer be dealt through the emissaries and immature handlers of New Delhi-based think tanks. To move ahead, the Modi government will have to rely on proper channels.

In recent years, the bilateral relations between India and Nepal have been through a roller coaster ride. Both countries should come to terms with that and ensure a stable framework for the times to come.

While Nepal had opted for "a balancing approach" in dealing with Modi, India must base its reciprocation on firm grounds as it has to maintain its unique edge with its closest neighbour and silently compete with China that is no longer a lazy power of old times.

India also has to ensure that Nepal shares New Delhi's concerns about its sovereignty. Kathmandu will come closer, if New Delhi will make enough room for Nepal - for availing its closeness with India and remaining distinct and different!

Also read: Why Nawaz Sharif has admitted to Pakistan's role in 26/11 attack now
The election campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Karnataka Assembly polls made me wonder whether he is the Prime Minister of India in 2018, or, in his mind, the Opposition leader to the Congress Nehru government in 1952.

Are we supposed to vote in 2018 on the basis of what happened, or on what didnt happen in Indian history?

Modis rallies in Karnataka made me wonder whether he is the Prime Minister of India in 2018, or, in his mind, the opposition leader to the Nehru Government in 1952. Photo: PTI

Are we supposed to debate whether Nehru visited Bhagat Singh in jail or did the Congress insult KM Cariappa, than talk about what has transpired since 2014?

Are we supposed to forget actual history and replace it with a falsified version?

My questions lead to a single answer: we are supposed to inhabit a reality or the perception of reality that Modi and his regime conjures up  a reality that is most conducive for the BJP to win elections and enhance its power.

And the reality that is conjured up is a simulacrum  a substitution of the real with distortion, omission, spin and falsity.

*

The reality of the organised war on reality upon the citizens by the ruling establishments was explored in detail by a cult book that still retains its charm in certain circles.

Simulacra and Simulation is a 1981 treatise by French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, in which he examines the relationships among reality, symbols and society.

In the book, Baudrillard uses as an analogy a fable derived from On Exactitude in Science by Jorge Luis Borges. In the fable, a great empire created a map that was so detailed it was as large as the empire. The actual map was expanded and contracted as the empire itself conquered or lost territory. When the empire crumbled, all that was left was the map.

In Baudrillard's rendition, the people no longer lived in the empire but in the map of the empire that was the simulation of reality that didnt exist in the real world.

This is a global phenomenon where establishments have created simulacra via constant propaganda, spin narratives, myth making and psyops, or psychological operations.

The West is as guilty as the East in this war on reality, or in fact, the progenitor of the organised deception that is being raged upon the citizenry of the modern world.

The fundamental idea is to control how people think, what they talk about and how they react via a sophisticated system of influence, indoctrination, conditioning and brainwashing.

This global war on reality is conjured up by the ruling establishments: plutocracies or an anti-democratic coalition of political parties / politicians and unelected billionaires with vested interests who use corporations, think tanks, intelligence agencies, PR firms, social media trolls & bots and mainstream corporate media to further their interests of unhinged profit and centralised control.

Most of the respectable liberal mainstream media of the anglophone West  that often victimises a large chunk of the anglophone Indians  also suffer from the same malaise of being the voice of the ruling plutocracy.

The idea is simply to spread the agenda of a minority of the elites for the benefit of the entrenched plutocracy.

The betrayal of ones own citizens by the corporate media or the mainstream is a cancerous reality around the globe.

This was exposed once again by what transpired recently in Syria: battleships were dispatched, missiles were fired and WW III was risked because of a mainstream media event of a chemical attack in Douma that actually didnt happen!

The madness and absurdity of it all is well captured in this piece from the sphere of western independent media:

*

One of the prime responsibilities of a thinking citizen in our world of simulacra and simulation is to become a rebel in this war on reality and keep oneself well-informed.

One needs to cultivate an open mind that fundamentally values truth, fairness, peace, equality and justice, than being subservient to the establishment narratives of ones own tribe.

Apart from the pro-establishment shills, those who keep quiet are also the accomplices: all that is required to support lies and injustice is to remain silent and not talk about them.

There is a growing group of global citizenry  especially the youth  who dont allow news and analysis from mainstream corporate media to determine their worldview.

They also venture beyond their echo chambers to understand what the others are saying.

For them, the MSM or the mainstream is mostly junk and the progressive alternative is the neo-mainstream.

They use social media and the internet to consume news and analysis from an array of diverse sources: news sites from all the continents, independent media, independent journalists and alternative blogs.

This helps them to develop a wider perspective and understand the realities of our modern world that is distorted and hidden by the simulacra that I call the global war on reality.

This strategy of diversifying the sources of news and analysis also develops a few important qualities we need to develop in our modern world: to see through the establishment propaganda, to develop healthy scepticism and not to confuse psyops with news.

This strategy by the well informed citizenry is decreasing the effect that the ruling establishments have upon the consciousness of the people.

The most vocal of the well informed citizenry also influence their friends, followers, acquaintances and family by spreading ideas, thoughts, conversations and debates.

More and more users of social media (who are not paid supporters or bots) are also becoming news editors: they curate and spread links of articles that challenge mainstream narratives.

News and analysis are reaching people by bypassing the global war on reality. And this is happening because of independent media, digital media, internet and social media.

The establishments know this, and they also know that losing the control upon the narrative is the first step to losing power.

Hence a war upon the independent and alternative media has also begun. Social media algorithms are being manipulated, smear campaigns are being manufactured against independent voices, data is being mined to manipulate citizens, efforts are being made to change net neutrality, ideas being thought of to control the internet and impose restrictions upon the digital online media.

Within all this, a large group of citizenry is still trapped within the simulacra: they have little idea that they are the victims of the illusionists.

The illusionists who control the simulacra rely upon psychological and emotive stimulation  theatrics and hysteria  which are used to bury discussions about real issues, real policies and the real consequences of the policies.

The simulacra longs to capture people, like dreams capture us while we are sleeping!

But a nagging restiveness is felt by everyone  even at an unconscious level. Everyone senses that things are not what they seem, something is gravely wrong and things are really rotten and falling apart.

So the balance of power in the war on reality is changing and the informed citizenry are managing to bypass being trapped, brainwashed and victimised.

*

The India that was promised by chief minister Narendra Modi, before he became the Prime Minister of India, and the progressive path of his travels, which he had indicated through endless propaganda and public speeches, had created a simulacrum in the minds of the citizens.

It was the first stage of good appearance of Narendra Modi in 2014 what Baudrillard called the sacramental order.

The demonetisation policy, or 8/11, wiped out 1.5  2 per cent of the GDP. Photo: PTI

Baudrillard ideates that there are four stages of simulacra and simulation.

The second stage is perversion of reality, the third stage is pretension of reality and the fourth stage is pure simulacrum.

In the four years of the Modi government, we have reached Baudrillards fourth stage already, where the simulacrum has no relationship to any reality whatsoever.

What was promised, and what really transpired, isnt the same. People are feeling betrayed. In all major economic and human development data, India has fallen, and continues to fall.

Welcoming slogans like minimum government, maximum governance, acche din and sabka saath sabka vikas have been rendered hollow by actions that contradict those words.

The gap between what politicians say and what they actually do couldnt be wider than it is now. 8/11, or the demonetisation policy, wiped out 1.5  2 per cent of the GDP: amounting to a loss of 3  4 lakh crore. This caused an unprecedented social-economic damage that will take years of gradual recovery.

The myopic economic policies, gross mismanagement, the blind implementation of technocratic neoliberalism and imposition of intrusive surveillance systems disguised as social good  pushed by foreign vested interests  are seriously hurting India.

There is a general consensus among the thinking citizens that our sovereignty to choose our own economic policies, our freedom, the Constitution, and democracy itself are in serious danger from the present establishment.

Within this scenario, the aggressive expansion of Hindutva worldview and the organised injection of fear and hate into society are causing unprecedented ruptures in the plural social fabric.

Horrific incidents like Kathua and Unnao show that the organised hate campaign since 2014 has managed to produce a growing moral degeneracy and moral bankruptcy, as if the very soul of India is undergoing a dark eclipse.

Regional stresses are also escalating due to the drive of the Hindutva forces to convert and colonise everyone in the image of the Hindi-Hindustani belt.

The present regime has created more new problems than simply solving the pre-existing issues.

In all spheres, India is facing grave self-created challenges and the country has retrograded like a planet in the sky.

The propaganda, however, says otherwise, and projects several holograms from the simulacra to keep up the morale of the cadres and the devotees.

After the fourth stage of simulacra and simulation, Baudrillard has nothing more to add. He leaves society within a permanent unreality, where people no longer can perceive the difference between the real and the fake. They are forever suspended within their simulated perception, which become their reality.

They keep on mistaking well-crafted holograms  projected out of diverse channels of propaganda  as undeniable truths.

The first step of any rebellion or resistance is awareness. The task is to make more people aware of the simulacra and establish more sources of seeing and hearing that will help the people to circumvent the war on reality.

*

Looking ahead towards 2019, I see the mutation of the simulacra that we first encountered in 2013-2014. But it wont re-focus on development and good governance planks, which have failed. Nor will it genuinely address the problem of decreasing human development indices. Those are the social issues that dont excite the right wing that much.

Modis simulacra totally rely on the emotions of ego  hate, greed, anger and pride  to bring people under their spell. Photo: PTI

It wants an emotive theatre  a spectacle  that boils the blood and raises the pulse. It also likes the ego boosts of tall statues and taller claims  whether they are true or not. It needs a constant micro-dosing of essential toxins  a hate machine firing away at the identified enemies of the nation  which include fellow Indian citizens who are de-humanised and de-sensitized in their minds.

In other words, Modis simulacra totally rely on the emotions of ego  hate, greed, anger and pride  to bring people under its spell. It relies on improbable dreams or hallucinations, phobias and demagoguery.

So the mutation  that is already happening  will increase the thumping of the ego and will be hyper emotive.

Four fundamental issues are likely to become the dominant face of the simulacra  nationalism, enemies of the nation, Hindu Rashtra and Ram Mandir.

This suggests a rockier ride till the next General Elections; a rally drive over a dirt track that is pockmarked with craters. The journey looks more challenging, and more ominous.

However, if the majority of India hang strings with lemons and chillies over the heads and refuse to fall under the spell of sorcery, then the government might be forced to do a course-correction and look deeply at the real issues at hand  of economy, jobs, infrastructure, education, healthcare, social welfare, social cohesion, peace and human development.

This will be ideal, but it is unlikely to happen. Those who have pushed us into the abyss wont be able to save us from it. There wont be any existentialist exclamations: what are we doing! There will be no course-correction.

Hence, there will be no reversal, or even an easing, of Western Neoliberalism and Savarkars Hindutva.

What is more likely is this: simulacra will be coloured deep saffron by the ideology of extreme Hindutva. The fringe or the peripheral far right will move towards the centre. Conches will be blown and drum beats will roll. The communal angle will become the prime focus. Sudden blood will continue to spill.

We might also have a large-scale media event around some incident or a manufactured crisis, as we approach the next general elections, which will aim to milk the political tool of Islamophobia, generate sympathy for the Prime Minister and consolidate the Hindutva support base.

We will get silently trapped more and more within the fishnet of technocratic neoliberal corporatism and the Hindutva theocracy, while we hear loud emotive rhetoric about Nationalism, Enemies of the nation, Hindu Rashtra and Jai Shri Ram!

But there is a brighter side. The opposition is coming around with narratives to counter the Simulacra. The war on reality is being challenged with the truth of reality.

The image of a mythical hero that was conjured up in 2014 didnt quite result in the actual delivery of the tall promises, and understandably, the magic has waned.

The Modi wave has also crashed on the shores of time and has disintegrated into oblivion.

The Assembly election results of Karnataka, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will indicate what will happen next year.

If the opposition unites and manages to prevent the division of the opposition votes, then 2019  the most crucial year for the destiny of India  might go down in history as the year we stopped the retrogression of India and saved our people from the soul-deadening abyss of a regressive neoliberal theocratic autocratic corporatocracy that India is transforming into.

We need to prevent this from happening for the sake of our sovereignty, our Constitution, our freedom, our democracy and our nation.

In order to do the above, it is essential to prevail over the war on reality with the truth of reality.

There is no other way.

Also read: 5 reasons why BJP will win Karnataka
"When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty," wrote Thomas Jefferson.

In the fall of 2016, the Jio MAMI eighteenth Mumbai Film Festival decided to ban the showing of the film Jago Hua Savera, written by Faiz Ahmad Faiz, and boasting a galaxy of Indian actors, including Padma Shri recipient Tripti Mitra of the Indian People's Theater Association.

File photo of Faiz Ahmed Faiz (left) and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

In an article at the time, I lamented the rise of bloodthirsty jingoism on both sides of our shared border and pointed out the obvious: Faiz belonged as much to India as he did to Pakistan.

While he was born and raised near Sialkot in Pakistan, Faiz's first job out of college was in MAO College, Amritsar; he served in the British Indian Army in Delhi during World War II, got married in Srinagar and maintained a deep affection for the land that became India after 1947.

Both his daughters were born in what is now India.

While Faiz never proffered an opinion about Partition per se, his editorials in The Pakistan Times from 1947 make clear what he thought of the communal bloodshed. At one point, he wrote, "The Muslims have got their Pakistan, the Hindus and Sikhs their divided Punjab and Bengal, but I have yet to meet a person, Muslim, Hindu or Sikh who feels enthusiastic about the future. I can't think of any country whose people felt so miserable on the eve of freedom and liberation."

These were the same sentiments he expressed in his iconic Subh-e Azadi (Dawn of Freedom), the poem written in August 1947, about the butchery taking place in the Punjab and other places in the name of religion and patriotism.

@PMOIndia @SushmaSwarajThis is your #ShiningIndia?? My 72 year old mother, daughter of #Faiz denied permission to participate in conference after being officially invited#Shamehttps://t.co/9bnc0E2OZd  Ali Hashmi (@Ali_Madeeh) May 12, 2018

Earlier the same year, my biography of my grandfather Faiz, Love and Revolution, was published in Delhi. I had worked on the book for over three years and was eagerly looking forward to launching it in Delhi amid friends and well-wishers. Sadly, by the time it came out, relations between our two countries had once again deteriorated, and I felt it wise to stay away until things improved.

Little did I know that things were going to get much worse.

Last week, my mother Moneeza Hashmi, an internationally renowned media personality, travelled to Delhi to attend a media summit organised by the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) based in Kuala Lumpur. She had given key note addresses at many of these conferences in years past. She had been officially invited and had a multiple entry visa to India, which she uses frequently to go see friends and invite artists and writers to participate in the activities of the Faiz Foundation, based in Lahore.

But the evening of her conference, we received a distressed call from her. She was at the hotel where the conference was supposed to be held - and she had been told that her registration had been cancelled. Not just that, her hotel reservation had also been cancelled and the organisers were even refusing to let her attend the conference - or even to have dinner with the delegates! One of the organisers, an old friend, who, according to her, was "on the verge of tears", hurriedly arranged for her to stay in another hotel.

Muneeza Hashmi, daughter of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, an eminent media icon & a long-time peace activist, wrote this to a friend after her unexplained "deportation" from Delhi where she had been invited to speak an an event.People who wish for peace pay a price for hostilities of states pic.twitter.com/PoOJPp9PdN  Mehr Tarar (@MehrTarar) May 13, 2018

I was furious but my younger brother, wiser than me, reminded all of us that reacting angrily was not the Faiz way.

My mother stayed on in Delhi for a couple of meetings and then came home without speaking out about this mean-spirited incident. Despite her discretion, some media outlets got a hold of the story and I was asked to present the point of view of the Faiz family and the Faiz Foundation.

So, here it is: We believe that this flagrant violation of the rights of an honoured guest and of basic sub-continental hospitality in no way represents the opinions and attitudes of the vast majority of Indians (and Pakistanis).

This is easily demonstrable on cross-border visits. I have lost count of the number of times a taxi driver or street vendor in Delhi refused to take money from me when they found out I was from Lahore, regaling me instead, with stories of their grandparents who hailed from Punjab. Indians who have visited Lahore have told similar stories.

We all want to live in peaceful co-existence and our differences, whatever they may be, can also be worked out in peace.

This is not meant to excuse short-sighted people on both sides who want to provoke war and violence between our neighbouring countries; simply to point out that, as Faiz said, peace is the common heritage of all mankind including the people of the subcontinent. Faiz himself, even in 1965, under tremendous pressure from the Pakistan government to write "patriotic songs", refused - he instead wrote the heartrending Sipahi ka marsiya (soldier's elegy), an ode to both a Pakistani warrior and an Indian hero who lay down their lives in defence of their motherland in a war not of their own making.

And in his Lenin Peace Prize speech, Faiz called peace "...the first condition of human life in all its beauty". Peace and freedom, he said, is "so very beautiful and radiant... everyone can imagine that peace is amber waves of grain and eucalyptus trees, it is the veil of a newly-wed bride and the gleeful hands of children, the pen of the poet and the brush of the painter and that freedom is the guarantor and tyranny the murderer of all those things that differentiate humans from animals: intelligence and awareness, justice and truth, bravery and chivalry, goodness and compassion".

And so, in spite of the hate mongers and war hawks on both sides, we say to all peaceful and progressive people of India:

Tum khauf-o-khatar se dar-guzro



jo hona hai so hona hai



gar hansna hai to hansna hai



gar rona hai to rona hai



tum apni karni kar guzro



jo hoga dekha ja.ega



(Leave behind your fears and worries



Whatever is meant to happen will happen



whether we are meant to laugh or cry, it will be so



do what you must/whatever happens, it will be all right)

Also read: Why Nawaz Sharif has admitted to Pakistan's role in 26/11 attack now
With results for Karnataka Assembly election a couple of days away, all three major players are claiming victory. While the incumbent Congress seeks to retain power in the southern state, Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal Secular (JDS) hopes to form the government on its own after 10 years. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has put in its might and machinery to wrest power from the Congress after five years.

Though the JDS is talking about returning to power, even it would have realised by now that the real contest in Karnataka is between the ruling Congress and the BJP.

Between the BJP and the Congress, the campaigning of the former was more aggressive and effective. These are the five reasons why the BJP may have an edge in the Karnataka election.

Modi factor

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proved to be the BJP's trump card in all Assembly elections, except Delhi and Bihar, since 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He has been credited with pulling off victory in one state after another.It is generally believed that the BJP would have lost the December 2017 Gujarat Assembly election had Modi not put in his heart and soul into the campaign process.

Though BJP president Amit Shah, who also belongs to Gujarat, had announced "Mission 150" for the 182-member Assembly, the party could win just 99 seats, only eight more than the halfway mark. If the BJP managed to just scrape through, the credit goes to Modi.

In Karnataka too, the BJP's campaign caught momentum after Modi started campaigning from May 1. According to the initial plan, he was to address 15 public rallies. With the BJP not ready to take any chances, the plan was modified and Modi addressed 21 rallies.

BJP and Amit Shah

The BJP as a cadre-based organisation is considered to be more organised than the Congress. It has a well-oiled election machinery from the booth level right to the top. The party also gets the support of the committed cadre of its parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Shah's political acumen has now been proven beyond doubt. He is known for micro-managing elections. He has his strategy set down to the booth level. No wonder, he is also known as BJP's election machine.

Siddaramaiah

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah is facing an anti-incumbency in the state. He is accused of playing divisive politics. He has been criticised of pandering to Kannada pride and trying to indulge in caste politics and minority appeasement.

Declaring Lingayat as a separate religion, granting members of the community a separate flag and anthem for Karnataka and observing Tipu Sultan's birth anniversary have been among his moves to please castes and communities.

But this may not be sufficient to help the Congress in the long run because it has the potential to antagonise the other communities who would be feeling alienated.

Rahul Gandhi

The Congress president is yet to establish his credential as a winning campaigner like Modi, who has the ability to turn an election around. Starting from Gujarat election, Rahul Gandhi started banking upon negative politics. Instead of spelling out the Congress' plan for development in Karnataka, he was seen attacking the BJP, particularly Modi, Shah and the party's chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa.

The public rallies of Modi were charged and saw a responsive audience. Shah's roadshows also attracted large crowds. On the other hand, at several places, Rahul's roadshows wore a deserted look. His rallies also brought in more of monologues unlike those of Modi that made a bit to engage the audience.

Rahul declared himself the Congress' prime ministerial candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections just four days ahead of Karnataka going to polls to elevate his stature in the eyes of the voters.

He wishes to be treated at par with Modi. However, he hardly has any claim to fame except dynasty. His campaigning may fail to make any difference to the final results in the state. Worse, it may harm the Congress' chances of winning.

Three-cornered contest

A bipolar contest in Karnataka would have helped the Congress. However, a three-cornered election is likely to benefit the BJP.

The JDS is likely to eat into the votes of the Congress, whereas, the BJP's share of votes is likely to remain intact. The anti-incumbency votes will get divided between the JDS and the BJP. That will only harm the Congress.

Karnataka has witnessed alternate transfer of power between the Congress and the rival parties for the past 35 years since 1983. The Congress does not appear to be in a position to break that jinx. With the JDS not in a position to a present itself as a strong contender, it is going to be advantage BJP in Karnataka when results are declared on May 15.

Also read: Karnataka exit poll: Why a win for Congress will change the game for BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha elections
The polling in Karnataka has finally come to an end. And people have got the much-needed relief from all the sound and fury accompanying elections in recent times. Polls in India have of late become full-fledged wars with allegations and counter-allegations flying thick and fast in all directions.

Indeed, ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi emerged on the national scene in 2013, Indian elections have undergone a change of character and evolved into a more vitriolic exercise. While it was a bit of novelty for the general public in the days leading up to the general elections of 2014, things are getting much more sinister by the day. One wonders how things might go further downhill in the days leading up to the next general election.

Apart from all those familiar digs at his political opponents, Prime Minister Modi also finds it necessary to go back in time to the pre-Independence era to make his point. The least one would expect from such ungainly revisiting of history is a strict adherence to facts and absence of fabrications. But it seems Modi has no qualms stooping with his barrage of concoctions and misstatements. Like many of his political opponents, this writer too suspects some of these misstatements to be deliberate and wilful.

A simple peek into the prime minister's campaigning over the last fortnight leading up to the Karnataka poll would throw up at least half-a-dozen falsehoods.

While speaking at an election rally in Kalaburgi, the prime minister was quoted as saying, "Karnataka is synonymous with valour. But, how did the Congress governments treat field marshall Kodandera M Cariappa and general Kodandera Subayya Thimayya? History is proof of that. In 1948, after defeating Pakistan, general Thimayya was insulted by PM (Jawaharal) Nehru and defence minister Krishna Menon."

It did not matter to the prime minister that general Thimayya was the army chief from 1957 to 1961 and VK Krishna Menon India's defence minister from 1957 to 1962. It did not matter to the prime minister that he was uttering blatant lies to score political brownie points.

Is it all right for the prime minister of the country to be a purveyor of falsehoods and fake information? Shouldn't the word of the prime minister carry more weight? As if it were not distasteful enough for the prime minister to try and extract political mileage out of India's bravehearts, isn't it akin to dishonouring them and their achievements when you make false statements about incidents involving them?

The prime minister's reimagining of history did not stop at this. Another blatant falsehood involved freedom fighter and revolutionary Bhagat Singh.

"When Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Batukeshwar Dutt, Veer Savarkar - greats like them were jailed fighting for the country's independence, did any Congress leader went to meet them? But Congress leaders go and meet the corrupt who have been jailed," Modi said at an election rally in Bidar on May 9 referring to Rahul Gandhi's visit to AIIMS to meet Lalu Prasad Yadav.

The fact that his predecessor Jawaharlal Nehru himself narrated an account of his visit to the Lahore Central Prison in his autobiography did not matter to Modi. It should also not escape our attention that the prime minister's bracketing of Hindutva icon "Veer" Savarkar with Bhagat Singh may not be innocuous.

A few untruths that did not involve historical figures went fairly unnoticed in the midst of all the other controversies. At a rally in Bagalkot on May 6, Modi said, "It has always been the tradition that those who lose in elections accept defeat and peacefully transfer power. But after 2014 Lok Sabha election results, Congress politicians, the mother and son, did not even have the courtesy to congratulate the party that won."

He went on, "The arrogance of Congress party is at its peak, a Dalit mother's child, raised in a village became the president (Ram Nath Kovind) and it should have been their responsibility to make a courtesy call, but they did not like it. It has been a year, but madam Soniaji did not get time to make a courtesy call to the president." Both these assertions were found to be false.

Even if we ignore Modi's taunt at Rahul Gandhi to speak for 15 minutes in a language of the latter's choice - raking up his mother's Italian ancestry in the process - as a part and parcel of such vicious election campaigns, there can be no debate on the tastelessness of it.

The false claims were certainly not a one-off and seem to clearly follow a pattern. But the frequency of such claims aimed at making gains at the hustings has gone up in recent times. One has to only rewind to the Gujarat Assembly election in December to recall some of the vilest innuendos involving former prime minister Manmohan Singh and ex-vice president Hamid Ansari - accusing them of conspiring with Pakistan to humiliate him and his party.

Never before in the history of our nation have we witnessed such a debasement of discourse - that too, with the prime minister himself lowering the bar with alarming frequency. Since Modi is not known to make statements of regret or show contrition, it was left to BJP leader and finance minister Arun Jaitley to make a statement in Parliament on the prime minister's behalf to lay that controversy to rest.

For a prime minister to make a one-man show of election campaigns -even the provincial ones - might be odd enough. But the profusion of falsehoods and character assassination of respectable people, both living and dead, is a matter of deeper concern. Thankfully, the more communal "Shamshan-Kabristan" sort of dog whistle politics that played out in Uttar Pradesh, which culminated with the swearing-in of a Hindu monk as the state's chief minister, was not unleashed in Karnataka.

As Gujarat chief minister, Modi probably had more leeway to indulge in such communal politics but is a prime minister expected to stoop to the level of an Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh pracharak to winning a state election?

It might be too much to expect politicians to uphold moral values in present times. But they can at least try to keep the discourse civil and desist from making false claims and resorting to character assassinations to score brownie points. One merely wishes for the prime minister to take note of Voltaire's maxim: "With great power, comes great responsibility."

Also read: 5 reasons why BJP will win Karnataka
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Avient Corp. engages in the business of thermoplastic compounds. It specializes in polymer materials, services, and solutions with operations in specialty polymer formulations, color and additive systems, plastic sheet and packaging solutions and polymer distribution. The firm is also involved in the development and manufacturing of performance enhancing additives, liquid colorants, fluoropolymers and silicone colorants. It operates through the following segments: Color, Additives and Inks; Specialty Engineered Materials; and Distribution. The Color, Additives and Inks segment provides custom color and additive concentrates in solid and liquid form for thermoplastics, dispersions for thermosets, speciality inks, plasticols, and vinyl slush molding solutions. The Specialty Engineered Materials segment makes polymer formulations, services, and solutions for designers, assemblers, and processors of thermoplastic materials. The Distribution segment distributes engineering and commodity grade resins, including PolyOne-produced solutions, principally to the North American, Central American, and Asian markets. The firm's products include polymer distribution, screen printing inks, and thermoplastic elastomers. Its services include IQ design and color services. The company was founded on August 31, 2000 and is headquartered in Avon Lake, OH.

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On April 9, Pope Francis released a new apostolic exhortation, titled in Latin Gaudete et Exultate, and in English Rejoice and Be Glad. An apostolic exhortation is a document that ranks below an encyclical, but above everyday papal homilies and speeches. Rejoice and be glad is what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:12). But why should we rejoice and be glad? Because God, as Pope Francis reminds us, calls us to be holy, to be saints.

This apostolic exhortation is a radical call to holiness in todays world, renewing and reinforcing a significant theme of the Second Vatican Council. While the pope is speaking from a Catholic pulpit, his audience is the whole of humanity in its contemporary crisis of faith. This document is not a theological treatise about holiness but a faith-filled pitch for promoting the desire for holiness.

Holiness, or being a saint, has something of a bad name. It popularly means either being so unworthy as to be hardly on the planet at all, or to have assumed the air of spiritual superiority that disdains lesser mortals subject to the temptations of the world. Many people would shy away from imagining holiness either as applying to themselves or as a serious aim in life.
Politics in the Korean Peninsula is witnessing rapid changes, with both Koreas coming together after decades of mutual isolation and division. Pledging a no more war scenario, the historic Panmunjom declaration, released at the third inter-Korean summit on April 27, promises a new era of national reconciliation, peace and prosperity. Expectations in the Korean corridors are high on the prospects and outcome of the forthcoming meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un.

Welcoming the inter-Korean leadership meet between Kim Jong-un of North Korea and Moon Jae-in of South Korea, Beijing had stated that the summit was a positive outcome which would be beneficial for enhancing reconciliation and cooperation between the Koreas. Stating that North Korea and South Korea belong to the same nation, China added that it would like to play a positive role in the future dialogue, denuclearisation effort and the political settlement of the peninsula issue. It goes without mentioning that Chinas role as a resident power in the region will be significant in shaping the future of the Korean Peninsula. Since the Korean Wars inception on June 25, 1950, Chinas role has been the most important single factor not only in dividing the Koreas but also in leading the non-Western bloc in global affairs. Yet, it needs to be seen how far China has protected its own interests as a key power after the Panmunjom summit. The Panmunjom declaration mentions Chinas role only in passing in a quad

rilateral format. The declaration gave special importance to the role of the US in a trilateral format with the Koreas apart from the quadrilateral format involving China with the Koreas. Does this imply that Chinas role and influence in the peninsula has eroded in contrast to Trumps new outreach to the Koreas?

Beijing has reason to worry since the credit for the third inter-Korean summit goes more either to Moon Jae-ins responsible foreign policy or to Trump's smart outreach policy with the Koreas even though some might argue that Pyongyangs consent to have an inter-Korean meet with Seoul is a result of American maximum pressure strategy. The forthcoming Trump-Kim meeting further indicates that US diplomacy is working. Chinas primary worry concerns capricious American diplomacy, where Trump might like to have a bilateral understanding with Kim, taking South Korea into confidence. China fears that a trilateral understanding involving North Korea-South Korea-United States might be the order of the future in the Korean Peninsula. Nevertheless, it would be premature to state that the inter-Korean peace process is unfolding more with American assent than Chinese consent. The Koreas have taken China into some sort of confidence long before approaching the Trump administration for any prospects of peace and reconciliation. If the two informal meetings that were held between Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping recently in Beijing and Dalian respectively have any clue to offer, China still maintains the edge as a resident power in the peninsula. It also acts silently to shape Korean Peninsula politics in times to come, especially with the cooperation of its traditional ally North Korea. Chinas strategic understanding with North Korea may have weakened in recent years due to the international pressure over Pyongyangs repeated missile and nuclear tests, but the Sino-North Korean political contacts and understanding are strong enough to shape the politics of the region in times to come. China continues to be North Korea's largest trading partner and would be the key economic partner for the return of normal economic conditions in North Korea with the possible removal of sanctions in the post-Panmunjom summit. Likewise, the prelude to the Panmunjom summit was the four cardinal principles  deterring war in the peninsula, its denuclearisation, promotion of peace and dialogue, and improvement of inter-Korean relations  that China and South Korea restated during Moon Jae-in's visit to China in December 2017. These figure highly in the Panmunjom declaration, reflecting the Chinese balancing approach towards the Koreas and the region itself.

Sino-South Korean relations must have gone through a low phase after the deployment of THAAD, but neither China nor South Korea has abandoned each other as partners in the region. Rather, as a constant historical power in the peninsula, China is remodelling its policies and postures subtly in the Korean corridors, with new content and conditions to its customary Korean Peni-nsula policy. China's customary or traditionalist policy towards the peninsula would be witnessing certain cha-nges in the post-Panmunjom summit with possibly a new revisionist policy.

The most important basis of Beijings traditionalist policy towards the Korean Peninsula is the China-North Korea Treaty of Friendship, which was signed on July 11, 1961. This treaty has been extended from time to time, extending to 2021. Articles II and VI of the treaty still guarantee China's role as a protector of North Korea, it also assures the role as a key strategic ally and, most importantly, as a peace-maker in the peninsula. North Korea would not really move ahead to forge any substantial understanding either with South Korea or with the US, virtually breaking away from this accord. Even though it appears from the Panmunjom declaration that Chinas role has been marginalised in the current context, the fundamentals of the declaration endorse more the Chinese historical essence than the American essence in the Korean Peninsula.

Dr Jagannath Panda is a Research Fellow and Centre Coordinator for East Asia at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi.
The direct impact will be felt in costlier oil imports for India. It will also damage the countrys trade balance and may force the government to bring back subsidies on petroleum products like diesel and petrol, which could throw Indias fiscal and trade deficit out of control

On Tuesday, May 8, US President Donald Trump fulfilled an election promise that will end up costing India billions of dollars in costlier oil imports. This burden will eventually fall on consumers, in the form of higher prices and on taxpayers, in form of higher subsidies on critical products.

Trump tore up the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). In the JCPOA, which was concluded in July 2015 between Iran and six global powers  US, China, Russia, France, UK and Germany  Iran agreed to restrict its nuclear programme in return for relief from crippling economic sanctions. Even while the JCPOA was in force, Iran continued to remain under US sanctions which imposed significant constraints on its economy, some of which date back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when the US embassy staff were taken hostage. The US state department subsequently designated Iran as a state sponsor of terror since 1984. In November 2016, the US Congress voted 419-1 to reauthorise the 1996 Iran Sanctions Act for 10 years. In October 2017, the US Congress voted 423-2 authorising the US president to impose new sanctions on Iran for testing ballistic missiles. Considering those lopsided Congressional votes, a US rethink on restoring Iran sanctions appears unlikely in the near future. So India will have to live with this reality for the foreseeable future.

What has the JCPOA done?

Iran has massive reserves of oil and natural gas, but produces much below its potential because sanctions have kept away investors and customers. With JCPOA in force, Iran could freely export its petroleum and increase its oil production by 1.1 million barrels/day from the 2014 level, to 3.8 million barrels per day in early 2018. This was one of the factors responsible for bringing down the price of oil from over $100/barrel in 2014 to below $50/barrel in the subsequent years. This was an enormous relief for India, which imports 1.4 billion barrels of oil annually  and saved over $70 billion on its annual oil import bill in 2015-17.

What the US withdrawal means?

Trumps decision will bring petroleum-related transactions with National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and financial transactions with the Central Bank of Iran under US sanctions in 180 days (by November). This once again makes it tougher for buyers such as India to pay for Iranian crude oil  as happened in the past. Iran may be forced to cut down its oil production  as it had to do pre-2015, hurting global oil supply. In an oil market with increasingly tight supply, this is sure to push up prices. The Brent price, a widely used benchmark, crossed $77/barrel on May 10  up by more than 50 per cent in one year.

The reimposition of sanctions on Iran is one of the factors pushing up prices and contributing to this unhappy situation. For India, this is the perfect storm. Low global oil prices of the past few years cut investment in developing new oil fields, reducing oil supply. Simultaneously, poor economic policies have pushed major oil exporter Venezuela to the brink as oil production is down by 40 per cent. Adding Iran sanctions to this mix compounds the problem.

How will India be affected?

The increase in oil prices will hurt India considerably. During 2016-17, India imported oil at $47.6/barrel. At current prices, India will have to spend at least $70/barrel  an extra $30 billion headed out of India annually. It will damage the countrys trade balance, and may force the government to bring back subsidies on petroleum products such as diesel and petrol, as happened from 2004-14. This can throw Indias fiscal and trade deficit out of control. However, these amounts are too large to be solely absorbed by the government or its oil companies. Higher price of oil will also trickle down to the end consumers  making diesel, petrol and air-travel more expensive. Diesel is also the primary fuel for transport in India, so an increase in diesel prices will also impact other commodities where transport costs are significant.

India is developing the Chabahar port in Iran to improve connectivity with Afghanistan and Central Asia. With renewed sanctions on financial transactions with Iran, the Chabahar port effort will slow down and impact Afghanistans stability. Chabahar port is also the hub for the International North South Corridor that India wants to develop for better connectivity with Central Asia and Russia, and as a counter to Chinas Belt & Road Initiative. With Iran under sanctions, INSTC too will be affected.

What can India do?

India cannot walk away from its commitments to an important regional partner on account of US sanctions. This is a re-run of US sanctions on Russia; and a blow to India, which relies on Russia for high-tech defence hardware and technology.

How can India safeguard its own interests?

In the past, India bypassed the sanctions on Iran partly by moving the oil trade to Indian Rupees. This trade was handled by the government-owned UCO Bank, which has no overseas exposure, and was less vulnerable to US sanctions. Money owed to Iran was held in a Rupee account with UCO Bank and used by Iran to purchase goods from India. New Delhi can revive this arrangement.

India must also show its resolve by moving ahead with proposed investments in Iran. Iran has the worlds largest reserves of natural gas, which cannot reach energy hungry markets such as India because of sanctions and adverse geography. One way to use this natural gas is to convert it into fertiliser, which can be transported easily. Indias state-owned Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers had proposed earlier to set up a fertilizer plant in Iran. This project can help Iran find markets for its gas and India to address its need for food security. Simultaneously, India also needs to work on long-term programmes to curb its dependence on imported oil.

Amit Bhandari is Fellow, Energy and Environment Studies at Gateway House, a foreign policy think tank based in Mumbai, while Kunal Kulkarni is a lawyer and senior researcher at Gateway House
Eicher Motors will focus on its motorcycle business through Royal Enfield and will not look to enter new verticals.

New Delhi: Eicher Motors will focus on its motorcycle business through Royal Enfield and will not look to enter new verticals in the wake of failure of its off-road vehicles joint venture with US-based Polaris, a top company official said.

The company, which currently has a 50:50 joint venture with Volvo for trucks and buses (VECV), had recently announced shutting of another JV -- Eicher Polaris Pvt Ltd (EPPL), which produced and sold personal utility vehicle Multix - in March this year.

"We are aboslutely 100 per cent focussed on motorcycles, nothing else...Other than motorcycles we don't have any intention to get into any other vertical," Eicher Motors Managing Director and CEO Siddhartha Lal said in a concall.

Royal Enfield, the motorcycle arm of Eicher Motors, sells mid-sized motorcycles both in India and overseas markets. When asked after the EPPL experience, if the company would consider getting into four-wheeler segment again, he said, "Abosolutely (we are) not open to anything...Of course VECV is the only other part of our business, which is doing very well. We are in the process of winding up EEPL operations".

On Royal Enfeld's plans for expansion in global markets, he said, the company is in the process of establishing wholly-owned subsidiaries in Thailand and Indonesia and may go for contract manufacturing there at a later stage.

"We are extremely bullish about these two markets. We have seen very good traction for Royal Enfield in these markets. So, the first step is to set up a marketing company," Lal said.

Royal Enfield now has over 540 dealerships across 50 countries and 36 exclusive stores, 11 of which were opened in 2017-18. For the current fiscal, Royal Enfield has earmarked a capex Rs 800 crore.

The investment would go towards various activities, including setting up of second phase of the company's third plant at Vallam Vadagal near Chennai, completion of construction of the Technology Centre in Chennai this year and development of new products. The planned production capacity for the current fiscal is 9.5 lakh units, the CEO said.
The revenue department will write to Flipkart seeking the share purchase agreement that the company had entered into with Walmart.

New Delhi: The tax department will seek share purchase agreement from Flipkart on the mega USD 16 billion buyout by US retail giant Walmart to assess the tax liability and also to find out whether the GAAR provisions can be invoked, an official said.

The department currently is going through the Section 9(1) of the Income Tax law, which deals with indirect transfer provisions, to see if the benefits under the bilateral tax treaties with countries like Singapore and Mauritius, could be available for foreign investors selling stakes to Walmart.

Singapore-registered Flipkart Pvt Ltd holds majority stake in Flipkart India. As per the definitive agreement between the companies last week, Walmart will acquire about 77 per cent stake in the Singapore entity for USD 16 billion. The agreement will effectively result in transfer of ultimate ownership in Flipkart India to Walmart.

To ascertain the exact tax liability, the revenue department will write to Flipkart seeking the share purchase agreement that the company had entered into with Walmart.

"The department will seek the share purchase agreement once the formalities for the sale are completed. The agreement will help in tracking the flow of funds and the ultimate beneficiary," the official told PTI.

As regards applicability of General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR), the official said it would apply in cases where the investments were made to avoid taxes. In the Walmart-Flipkart deal, the revenue department will go through the share purchase agreement to ascertain the purpose of investment and the emanating gains.

On whether the benefits of bilateral tax treaties will be available in this deal, the official said the department will go through the details of different double taxation avoidance agreements (DTAAs) to ascertain whether taxes could be levied at concessional rate and investment made prior to a particular date can be grandfathered.

"There is likely to be capital gains withholding tax implications when the shares of Flipkart Singapore are sold by Softbank or other foreign investors. The tax rate will depend upon the facts of the case," V Lakshmikumaran, Managing Partner of law firm Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan said.

The tax department had last week written to Bentonville-Arkansas based Walmart saying that the US company can seek guidance about the tax liability under Section 195 (2) of the I-T Act. Under Section 195 of the Act, anyone making payment to non-residents is required to deduct tax (commonly known as withholding tax).

As per Section 9 (1) of I-T Act dealing with indirect transfer provisions, the value of shares of a foreign company is deemed to be substantially derived from India, if the value of the Indian assets is greater than 50 per cent of its worldwide assets -- a criteria that is apparently met in Flipkart's case.

"In the Walmart-Flipkart deal, Section 9 (1) will apply as the assets of Flipkart Singapore are substantially based in India and hence the sellers would be liable to pay capital gains tax," Titus & Co Managing Partner Diljeet Titus opined.

As regards the capital gains tax made by Indian founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, the official said they would have to pay 20 per cent tax with indexation benefit, which is applicable on sale of unlisted shares by Indian residents.
De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer, has said the business in the country will continue to grow this year.

Mumbai: De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer, has said the business in the country will continue to grow this year despite dampened sentiments following Nirav Modi-led PNB fraud.

"There has been this banking scandal, that is clearly a fraud, and had certainly dampened sentiments little bit.... But having said that, I think consumer demand in India, as we have Forevermark brand, is doing very well.

"It's been an unfortunate incident but the demand in India this year would be reversed, would be good and the business in India will continue to grow in 2018," De Beers Group CEO Bruce Cleaver told PTI here.

Diamond merchants Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are alleged to have perpetrated the country's biggest banking sector scam of Rs 13,000 crore at Punjab National Bank, mainly by way of issuance of fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs).

The Centre has also intervened in the bankruptcy proceedings of Nirav Modi firms in the US to protect the interests of PNB. Meanwhile, Cleaver said the consumer sentiment clearly has been good at the moment as the first quarter result was robust in India.

"February has been a strong month followed by March, across the industry... we are conscious that we still need to create more awareness about diamonds as a commodity and business and there will be a lot of communication in that regard this year," he added.

India will grow exceptionally, which was affected since last two year due to implementation of goods and services tax (GST) and demonetisation, he said.

"We see tremendous opportunity in the consumer market, and India and China present enormous opportunity for us," he added. Forevermark India President Sachin Jain said that last year has been exceptionally good for the brand.

"Our business grew over a 100 per cent, which was a rare year and we saw a continuation of this in the first quarter of this year. I see a emergence of lot of organised retail players.

"Organised players are expanding rapidly in bigger cities, also I see influx of bigger independents in smaller towns and gaining much faster," Jain added. Forevermark is present in 48 markets across the country, which will expand to about 52 markets, mainly in tier II and III cities, he noted.

"We will be growing but the idea is also to increase our share with partners we work with. South has been our strongest market, which is followed by the east. West and north are at the same level," Jain said. The company will now focus on the northern region of the country, which is going to to be its growth area, he added.
Cannes: The first name that might spring to any Indians mind hearing Cannes would most likely be Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

Since 2002, the actress has been making headlines and India proud with her appearances on the red carpet, luring several of her female counterparts to the French Riviera over the years.

Her presence on the red carpet was no different this time as she dazzled in a Michael Cinco number for the screening of 'Girls of the Sun (Les Filles du Soleil).'

The actress looked too beautiful in a butterfly-style sequined mermaid gown with peacock print, plunging neckline and a long tail.

Also read: Cannes 2018 Day 2: Aishwarya arrives, Deepika, Kangana sway, others mildly impress

With filled eyebrows, matching earrings, highlighted eyes and straightened hair with hint of red streaks kept open, Aishwarya surely made the red carpet her own. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at Cannes. (Photo: AP) Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at Cannes (Photo: AFP) Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at Cannes (Photo: AFP) Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at Cannes (Photo: AFP) Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at Cannes (Photo: AFP) Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at Cannes (Photo: AFP)

Unlike her purple lipstick or her weight gain post her daughter Aaradhyas birth which created controversies, the actress new look is definitely going to make noise for the right reasons.

Aishwarya, who has been accompanied to France by her daughter Aaradhya, is a part of the event on behalf of her association with the international cosmetic brand L'Oreal.

Her appearance was preceded by Deepika Padukone and will be followed by Sonam Kapoor, also brand ambassadors of the company.

Also read: Letting bygones be bygones: Sonam Kapoor invites Aishwarya for wedding

Aishwarya is likely to shine on the red carpet once again, and we are eagerly waiting if she can raise the level one notch higher the second time around.
Jaya Bhaduri was a superstar when in 1973 she gave it up  for marriage and babies. However, Sharmila Tagore chose to continue with her career after marriage and motherhood. It is a piece of cake. In fact, I entered one of the most productive phase of my career after marriage. I was shooting for Aradhana when I was pregnant with Saif and by the time I did Amar Prem with Rajesh Khanna, Saif was born and would accompany me to the sets, says Sharmila.

Sharmilas daughter-in-law Kareena Kapoor Khan seems to have chosen to walk her gorgeous sasu maas path. No, you wont see her son Taimur toddling on the sets. But while Taimur is looked after by her very capable nanny, Kareena will be seen promoting her upcoming movie Veere Di Wedding. Kareena says that the workload has definitely decreased for her sons sake, but she will continue to work in maybe one film per year.

Hema Malini with daughters Esha and Ahana.

However Kareenas sister-in-law Soha Ali Khan has a different maternity plan. She intends to take time completely off to look after her newly-born daughter Inaaya.

Different women, different mothers, different plans and targets, says Vani Tripathi Tikoo, actress and active BJP member and spokesperson of the BJP who has zipped off to the Cannes Film Festival only weeks after her first baby, Akshara was born.

Apparently the Minister Of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, herself a working mother who has struck a fine balance between the kitchen and the Parliament, was very upset when she got to know that Vani was leaving her baby behind to attend the Cannes festival. How could you ask her (Vani Tripathi) to leave her baby until the 40-day gestation period is over? Ms Swaraj is said to have asked the I&B minister Smriti Irani, who herself has never neglected her duties as a mother in spite of being so immersed in her political career.

Aishwarya Rai with daughter Aaradhya.

It is tough to leave her behind, but Ive my in-laws and my mother to look after Akshara while I am here at Cannes. But its a bit hard to focus on work here while my baby is back home. My entire clock and routine are now determined by my daughters sleeping/waking hours, says Vani.

Hema Malini who brought up two daughters while working as a top actress says it wasnt hard to balance her career with motherhood. Its like any other profession. Dont we have women in every walk of life balancing their jobs with family duties? I never found it difficult to bring up my two daughters Esha and Ahana while I continued to work in films. While I never had them accompany me to the sets, they were well looked at home.

Jaya Bachchan who took a complete break from acting for motherhood says it was a personal choice. There was never any persuasion from any quarters. I decided to quit, and never regretted my decision. And now, many years later, she leads an active life  an actress, an MP and the ever doting mom whos always there for her children.

Jayas daughter-in-law Aishwarya, however, followed a different career trajectory. She took a break from acting while her daughter Aaradhya was an infant. But once Aaradhya started going to playschool Aishwarya returned to acting. But my priorities are very clear to anyone who signs me. Aaradhya comes first. Everything else is secondary, says Aishwarya. Heres saluting these super-moms whom we all admire for their heroics on screen. However, there is a lot to be admired in their real-life roles as mothers too.
New Delhi: Celebrating Mother's Day, Google today dedicated an adorable doodle to all the mothers out there.

Today's doodle shows a mother dinosaur and her baby walking side by side showing how a mother is always there for her children, guiding and protecting them.

The day is especially dedicated to the woman who devotes all her life to the well-being of her child and in return for this selfless love from her, she expects nothing.

The custom of celebrating Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May was first adopted by the United States, following which many other countries adopted the same. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March or May.

The modern holiday of Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia.

Jarvis wanted to honour her mother, hence set aside a day to recognise and appreciate the devotion of all mothers towards their child or children because she believed a mother is "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world."

Happy Mother's Day to all the lovely mothers out there!
The 14-yr-old fell unconscious and was rushed to a hospital where doctors were shocked to find her pregnant. (Representational)

Guntur: Just days after a nine-year-old girl was raped in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district by a rickshaw puller, a similar crime of horrific proportions has come to the fore.

A 14-year-old girl was repeatedly raped for four months by co-opted member and TDP worker Mahbub Vali in Dachepalli. However, the incident came to light only when the girl fell unconscious on Saturday. The minor's family rushed her to a hospital where doctors were shocked to find out that the girl was three months pregnant.

According to Dachepalli mandal police, the accused Mahbub Vali had repeatedly raped the minor girl for the past few months by threatening her of dire consequences if she told anyone about it.

According to a report in NDTV, the accused was known to the family and lured the victim with soft drinks and even gave her Rs 100 to keep quiet.

The probability of medical termination of the minor's pregnancy is not clear as yet.

The accused has been arrested and a case has been filed under IPC Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) and 6 sections of the POCSO Act, Dachepalli SI A Venkateswaralu told The New Indian Express.
Karnataka BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa also took to Twitter to thank the voters for a 'landslide victory'. (Photo: Twitter/ANI)

Bengaluru: A day after voting concluded in Karnataka, BJPs chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa on Sunday expressed confidence that BJP will win more than 125 to 130 Assembly seats and will form the government on May 17.

BJP will win more than 125-130 seats, Congress will not be able to cross 70 seats and JDS will not cross 24-25 seats. There is a silent and strong wave in favour of BJP and public anger against Siddaramaiah and Congress, Yeddyurappa told reporters.

He added, He (PM Modi) is in touch with me and Amit Shah. Everybody is confident of winning with absolute majority. We are 100 per cent sure of forming the government on May 17.

The state BJP chief also took to Twitter on Saturday to thank the voters for a landslide victory.

Thank you Karnataka! Gratitude to the people of Karnataka for voting in large numbers today. @BJP4Karnataka is headed towards a landslide victory with all your blessings and support! he tweeted.

Thank you Karnataka!



Gratitude to the people of Karnataka for voting in large numbers today. @BJP4Karnataka is headed towards a landslide victory with all your blessings and support!#KarnatakaVotes4BJP#KarnatakaElections2018  B.S. Yeddyurappa (@BSYBJP) May 12, 2018

Karnataka voted for 222 out of 224 Assembly constituencies on Saturday. Counting and announcement of results will be done on Tuesday, May 15.

Most exit polls have predicted a tight race between the two main rivals  BJP and Congress  in the Karnataka Assembly elections with JD(S) emerging as a likely kingmaker.

Also Read: Karnataka Assembly elections: Its still tight race as per exit polls
Lal Bahadur Shastri died in Tashkent where he had gone for talks with the Pakistan President moderated by Soviet premier Premier Alexei Kosygin. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: The Central Information Commission has directed the Prime Minister's Office and the ministries of external affairs and home to make public the records of the Raj Narain committee, constituted in 1977 to look into the mysterious death of the then prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966.

The committee was reportedly constituted by the Janata Party government to look into the circumstances surrounding the death of Shastri on January 11, 1966 in Tashkent, hours after signing a declaration with Pakistan President Muhammad Ayub Khan post-1965 Indo-Pak war.

The records related to the committee are reportedly untraceable, the commission noted. Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu also directed the PMO, the MEA and the MHA to publish the statement of categories of documents regarding the death of the second prime minister of the country that are available with them.

"The public authorities referred above have a constitutional duty to inform and the people have legitimate expectation to know the truth behind the death of their beloved leader. More so, it is the primary responsibility of the PMO to inform the people what happened to late Lal Bahadur Shastri, who once was its head," he said.

Acharyulu's directive came on an RTI application seeking to know from the Home Ministry whether Shastri's body was brought to India for cremation or he was cremated in the then USSR and copy of the post-mortem.

Shastri died in Tashkent where he had gone for talks with the Pakistan President moderated by Soviet premier Premier Alexei Kosygin.

Although he reportedly died from a massive heart attack, questions were raised on the circumstances of his death on foreign soil when cold war was at its peak. The conspiracy theories were further fuelled after the central government started denying documents, under the RTI Act, related to his death calling them secret and disclosure prejudicial to the interests of the country.

The CIC in 2011 while hearing a separate case had directed disclosure of 11 pages related to the death of Shastri but allowed withholding one document of the External Affairs Ministry which had reference to 'Mukti Bahini'.

The Home Ministry had transferred the present application of Navdeep Gupta to the National Archives of India (NAI).

During the hearing, the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) representing the NAI told the commission that the information may be with MEA, Indian Embassy in Russia, MHA or some other authority.

"The CPIO stated that except information of some news clippings they do not have any authentic document on Late PM's death or post-mortem," Acharyulu noted.

While researching on the subject, Acharyulu found an article which had claimed an inquiry committee under Raj Narain was formed by erstwhile Janata Party government in 1977. It was also reported that two crucial witnesses -- the personal physician of Shastri R N Chugh and his personal servant Ram Nath --died in road accidents when they were coming to depose before the committee.

The article had claimed that the records related to the committee were not available even in the Parliament library. Taking note, Acharyulu asked the PMO, MHA and MEA to look for the records related to the committee.

He recommended the Parliament Secretariat to search in their library whether any records regarding the inquiry committee could be retrieved and if they are traced, they should be transferred to the NAI.

"The Commission considers that these offices (PMO, MHA and MEA) especially that of MHA require to make a fresh effort to trace the details about Raj Narain inquiry report or related documents and tell the nation what was inquired and found," Acharyulu said.

He also directed the PMO, MEA and MHA to disclose records, including 11 pages related to the death held by Cabinet Secretariat which were earlier ordered to be disclosed by the CIC, pertaining to the issue.

Acharyulu said that if any of these public authorities feel that some records may be secret and confidential attracting exemption clause of Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act, they must produce it in a sealed cover before it to adjudicate whether assumptions are correct or not.

"This RTI request is an effort of a citizen to know information regarding the 'truth' behind the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri that cannot be brushed aside," he noted.
The judges said it will be for the SHO of Malviya Nagar police station to make an assessment for his protection and issue directions. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: A man knocked the doors of the Delhi High Court in search of a woman whom he claimed to be his wife but she refused to go with him telling the court that she never married him.

The woman also denied the man's claim that she was detained illegally by her brother and maintained that she was living with him willingly. She told the court that the 'nikahnama' (marriage certificate) claimed by the man was not genuine as she was forced to sign blank papers after being taken forcibly in a car.

With these facts coming up in the court proceedings, a bench of justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta refused to be drawn into any further claims and counter-claims and held that it was satisfied that the woman was living with her brother of her own free will and was under "no restraint or illegal detention".

The court disposed of a habeas corpus petition filed by the man seeking direction to the woman's brother to produce the woman, whom he claimed to have married on July 26, 2017, and said it was "not inclined to issue any directions in this petition".

"This court would not like to enter into this controversy at this stage because as far as the habeas corpus petition is concerned, the court has to satisfy itself that the person whose production is sought by the petitioner is not under any restraint and is not being detained by anyone against that person's wishes. In this case, the court is satisfied that as of date, the woman is living of her own free will with her brother and is under no restraint or illegal detention. The court, accordingly, is not inclined to issue any directions in this petition," the bench said.

The judges spoke to the woman and her brother in their chamber where she said that "no valid" marriage was performed between her and the man and she does not wish to go with him. The woman also maintained that she was staying with her brother and his family willingly and her date of birth in her Aadhaar card, produced by the man, was erroneous.

The judges, thereafter, called the man and his counsel in their chamber and conveyed to them the stand of the woman. The man also denied that he had taken away the woman forcibly and made her sign papers for the purpose of marriage. When the man's counsel expressed apprehension over his safety, the judges said it will be for the SHO of Malviya Nagar police station to make an assessment for his protection and issue directions.

The man claimed before the court that he married the woman and they both decided not to disclose this to their families. He said that in April, when the woman disclosed about her marriage to her brother, he objected to it and threatened the man with dire consequences.

On April 22, the man also told his parents about his marriage and they agreed to it. While the man claimed that according to the Aadhaar card submitted at the time of marriage, the woman was born on January 1, 1998, she said she turned 18 on March 24 this year as she was born in 2000.

The police had said that the man was known to the woman's family and had also stayed at her brother's house earlier for some years. They said that the woman had claimed that her signatures were forcibly taken by the man after she denied his marriage proposal.
Jaipur: The Indian Army has tested in the desert terrain of Rajasthan the military concept of 'Air Cavalry' that was used by the US Army to locate and assault enemy ground forces during the Vietnam War, an official said.

To enhance its defence capabilities, the Army tested the concept under which weaponised helicopters carry out combined action against the enemy in coordination with tanks and mechanised ground forces.

This is being done by the Indian Army, with an eye on the future, which is focusing on strengthening its combative air assets by procuring attack helicopters. This is a new concept for the Indian Army and it is aimed at reshaping land battle by defeating the enemy by offensive punch from the air in coordination with tanks on the ground. In the recently held offensive exercise 'Vijay Prahar' in Mahajan firing ranges near Suratgarh, the concept of 'Air Cavalry' was tried by the South Western command, defence spokesperson Lt Col Manish Ojha told news agency PTI.

The concept was implemented after a detailed deliberation, sand-model discussions and war gaming.

In normal battle scenario, attack helicopters are called in on requirement basis by forces moving on the ground to launch an attack where the ground forces are not able to neutralise the target due to any reason, including difficult terrain.

Under the 'Air Cavalry' concept, attack helicopters are fully integrated with tanks and mechanised ground forces. A fleet of armed helicopters simultaneously flies in air and performs a number of tasks, including troop insertion in forward areas, on the spot aerial recce, launching attacks and it proves more powerful and a good speed in the action is achieved.

This requires a very high degree of precision, coordination and continuous upgradation. It saves time and energy," another senior officer of the SW command said.

"The forces achieve more flexibility and fluidity in an operation and multitasking can be performed more quickly, swiftly and effectively and the ground commanders can act decisively, boldly and offensively, the officer said.

Under this kind of arrangement, attack helicopters can engage targets in the shortest possible time and the mission can be accomplished in a very flexible and effective manner. This concept can be executed in different kind of terrains depending upon the feasibility.

While the US used this concept in the jungles of Vietnam during the war from 1954-75, India tested it in scorching heat in desert terrain to sharpen its teeth.

The Army is gradually inducting helicopters equipped with ultra-modern sensors and high-precision weapons and therefore a need was felt to use the Air Cavalry concept for increasing capabilities in monitoring and protecting both eastern and western borders of the country.

The Indian Army is focusing on its own combative air assets so there was a requirement that a concept should be in place for the best utilisation of attack helicopters. The helicopters will be used as force multiplier and will increase the potency of ground forces to engage the targets, defence sources said.

The Army's combative air assets will be crucial in the land battles in desert along the western front as well as in the eastern front where the terrain is mountainous, the sources said.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is developing Light Combat Helicopter for the Army to meet its requirement for an attack helicopter which can operate at high altitude.

The Army will also procure multi-role AH-64 'E' Apache attack helicopter manufactured by American aviation giant Boeing.

The Defence Ministry in August 2017 had approved the procurement of six most advanced Apache helicopters along with weapons systems at a cost of Rs 4,168 crore which will be the Army's first fleet of attack choppers. Apaches have played a vital role in international conflicts, including in the Gulf, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
A palm tree trunk came crashing down on cars during the dust storm in New Delhi, on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)

Delhi: Following an erratic weather pattern over the last 15 days, dust storm, strong winds and rainfall hit the national capital on Sunday evening.

In a sudden change of weather, the sky turned cloudy around 4:30 pm and gusty winds swept the city.

Dust storm hits Ghaziabad. (Photo: ANI)

Flight movements at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport were put on hold and a Srinagar flight to Delhi was diverted to Amritsar following bad weather conditions. At least 70 flight diversions are in place so far due to bad weather conditions.

Metro services, too, seem to be affected as the movement on the Noida Dwaraka line was stalled for 30 minutes. However, services resumed after a while.

Metro services between Indraprastha and Karol Bagh metro stations were disrupted after a tree fell on the tracks.

The strong winds knocked down a number of trees in the city. Four incidents of wall collapse were reported from Najafgarh, Transit Camp, Nehru Place, Mohan Garden in Uttam Nagar and Raj Nagar in Palam, said a senior officer from the Delhi Fire Service.

The Northern Railways said the train movement was disrupted on the section between the Hazrat Nizamuddin and Palwal stations due to tree felling. A few passenger and freight trains were held up for around 25 minutes because of the disruption. The Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi Express was also stopped near Sonepat due to uprooting of trees.

The dust storm interrupted a programme that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was to attend in east Delhi's IP Extension, news agency ANI reported.

The Met office has forecast light rains will follow the dust storm.

The Indian Meteorological Department had on Thursday predicted that Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh would witness thunderstorm accompanied by squall.

It had also forecast parts of Rajasthan might see the dust storm. Thunderstorm over these hill-states and its subsequent effect on plains in north Indian is due to a new western disturbance, the IMD had said.

(With inputs from PTI)
BENGALURU: A mixed voter turnout during polling -high in some regions and moderate in other parts-could well be the reason for indecisive mandate and claims and counter of leaders of Congress and the BJP of securing a majority in Assembly elections held on Saturday.

With counting of votes scheduled for May 15, the state witnessed a notch lower poll percentage-70 as compared with 71.45 in 2013, but the pattern of polling varied from highest at 80 per cent in Ramanagara to 49 per cent in Bengaluru (North) and Bengaluru (South) but these figures hold the key to the final outcome. In North Karnataka, the voter turnout was lower than in 2013, with political analysts pointing out that low percentage of polling augured well for the Congress in several districts. In 2013, the Congress had won 16 of the 26 seats in the four districts of Bidar, Kalaburagi, Yadgir and Raichur and the BJP, which had split into KJP and BSR parties, could manage to win only four seats.

"Whenever there has been a higher percentage of voting, the result has gone in favour of the BJP. Despite consolidation of BJP votes this time, the possibility of the saffron party doing better than in the last elections is bleak as overall there is a decline in voting percentage, which is advantageous to the Congress ," they argued.

A good voters turnout has given hope to Congress and BJP in Mumbai-Karnataka as the leaders of both parties are confident of winning most number of Assembly seats in the region. The saffron party leaders claimed that the high voting percentage is a verdict against the ruling party as they believe that the first-time voters and youths are influenced by the 'Modi wave' to a greater extent. But, Congress leaders are of the view that rise in voting percentage is attributed to the highest voting percentage by AHINDA communities and claimed that there is a large swing of these people towards their party after Chief Minister entered into the poll fray from the region.

It is perceived that though high voltage Badami constituency has witnessed large number of voting from Veerashaiva-Lingayats, almost all the votebank will fall into BJP's kitty. But, the victory of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will become easier if JD(S) candidate Hanumant Mavinamarad secured more votes of the community to which he belongs. The Congress leaders have made all efforts till last moment to ensure that all voters from Kuruba, minority and scheduled caste communities exercise their franchise in the constituency.

In the coastal region, an increase in voting percentage has boosted the confidence of BJP leaders though Congress leaders claim the spike in poll percentage could be due to an increase in the number of votes of minorities.

Udupi district registered 78.87 per cent turnout and Dakshina Kannada, 77.63 per cent, as against 76.15 per cent and 74.48 per cent respectively in 2013.

"This time we have witnessed very good turnout in the coastal districts which is likely to benefit us. Higher voter turnout means that we are in better position," BJP's state executive committee member Uday Kumar Shetty told Deccan Chronicle, adding "All booths have registered a good turnout.

It is true that 2013 too had about 76 per cent vote in Udupi and 74 per cent in 2013. But the situation is different this time. The Modi wave, achievement of BJP and failure of Congress would definitely help us," he added.

Some Congress leaders too agreed that BJP candidates would benefit with an increase in voting. They however claim that the Congress too will benefit in constituencies where minorities are in large number.

In Old Mysuru region, all districts except Bengaluru (North), Bengaluru (South) and Bengaluru (Urban) recorded impressive poll percentage, indicating a tough contest between candidates of Congress and JD (S). The poll percentage dipped below the figure recorded in 2013, pointing at voter apathy despite efforts by various organizations to encourage voters to participate in the battle of ballots.
Gulab Singh was a member of Shail Bala Sharma's team and was a resident of a village in Kasauli. (Photo: File/ANI)

Chandigarh: An employee of the Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department, who was shot at during a demolition drive against illegal constructions in Kasauli, succumbed to his injuries at the PGIMER in Chandigarh, officials said on Sunday.

A PGIMER official said Gulab Singh, 46, died late Saturday night.

Gulab Singh was critically injured after allegedly being shot at by Vijay Singh Thakur, the son of a guest house owner during the court-ordered demolition drive on May 1.

Vijay Singh also allegedly shot dead Assistant Town Planner Shail Bala Sharma when she was supervising the sealing process at the Narayani Guest House on the Dharampur-Kasauli road.

Read: Woman officer heading demolition drive shot dead by Himachal hotelier

Singh's condition had worsened on May 10 and he had to be put on a ventilator at Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh where he was admitted after the incident.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had also met him at the hospital here on May 9.

Gulab Singh was a member of Sharma's team and was a resident of a village in Kasauli. On May 3, a joint team of Himachal Pradesh and Delhi police had arrested the 54-year-old accused from Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district.

Also Read: Kasauli hotel owner who shot at woman officer arrested in Uttar Pradesh

After the shooting incident, Solan District Magistrate had issued an order directing the affected hotel and guest house owners and any staff working there to deposit their firearms, weapons and ammunition at the nearest police stations immediately.

The apex court had on April 17 ordered the state government to demolish unauthorised structures in several hotels and guest houses in Kasauli and Dharampur areas of Solan and four teams were constituted by the authorities to carry out the work.
"It (Sharif's remarks) only proves that India's stand has been right all the way, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday dubbed ousted Pakistan's prime minister Nawaz Sharif public acknowledgement of militant operations in his country as "a serious disclosure" and said it proved India's position that the handlers of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack were in Pakistan.

For the first time, Sharif also questioned Pakistan's policy to allow the "non-state actors" to cross the border and "kill" people in Mumbai, according to a media report.

Well, it is very serious disclosure. India's position has been that the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack operated from Pakistan. We strongly believe that the handlers of the attack were in Pakistan," Sitharaman told a press conference, in response to a query.

"It (Sharif's remarks) only proves that India's stand has been right all the way, she said.

Sharif, who has been disqualified to hold public office for life by his country's Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, said Pakistan has isolated itself.

"We have isolated ourselves. Despite giving sacrifices, our narrative is not being accepted. Afghanistan's narrative is being accepted, but ours is not. We must look into it, Sharif had told Dawn newspaper in an interview.

Without naming Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and Maulana Masood Azhar's militant organisations -- Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Jaish-e-Mohammad, -- operating in the country with impunity, Sharif said, Militant organisations are active in Pakistan."

To a question on Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's call for a unilateral ceasefire in the state during the month of Ramzan till completion of the Amarnath Yatra, Sitharaman said,  I think it is important to handle J&K affairs with a great deal of sensitivity. The Indian Army will have to make sure that India is a safe country. It has to handle firmly any terrorism which threatens peace and harmony of J&K and the rest of India also.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor has requested Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to bring back Neyyatinkara taluk under Thiruvananthapuram Revenue Divisional Office (RDO) or make Neyyatinkara the seat of RDO. The new RDO was catering to citizens of places in Kovalam, Parassala and Neyyatinkara legislative constituencies. The RDO was shifted to a location around a kilometre away from Valicode at Nedumangaud.

MP Shashi Tharoor pointed out that people of Neyyatinkara will now have to travel 34 km to reach Nedunmangaud RDO office via Kattakada instead of the 22 km to Thiruvananthapuram RDO office at Collectorate. Similarly, from Parassala people have to travel 48 km via Kallikad to reach the RDO office as against 32 kilometres to reach Thiruvananthapuram RDO. People of Poovar-Pozhiyoor area have to travel well over 50 kms to reach the new RDO.

The unscientific nature of the new location is evident when we note that the distance from Balaramapuram to Thiruvananthapuram RD office is just 18 km. While it is argued that the shift has taken place for de-centralisation of power it is learnt to be causing trouble to local citizens, Mr Tharoor said in a letter. A hartal was held at Neyyatinkara over the issue on Friday.
This is the seventh such death this month and 14th in the last five months.

Lucknow: Yet another girl was mauled to death by stray dogs in Sitapur district on Sunday.

According to Sitapur superintendent of police Anand Kulkarni, Reena, 12, was attacked by dogs in Maheshpur village and succumbed to injuries later. This is the seventh such death this month and 14th in the last five months.

The official said while earlier a pack of six to eight dogs used to attack children but this time, the number of dogs was just two.

It may be recalled that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had on Friday visited Sitapur where he met families of those who had died in dig attacks. The Chief Minister had directed the district administration to take necessary steps to check the menace.

Meanwhile, animal rights activists asked the administration to ensure that there is no illegal extermination of the canines as this would only worsen the situation and lead to more man-animal conflict.
In a series of tweets on a day when assembly polls were being held in Karnataka, Shatrughan Sinha said the Congress president, who has 'matured in the past few years', was popular with the general public. (Photo: File/PTI)

Patna: Disgruntled BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Sunday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's criticism of Rahul Gandhi for expressing readiness to become PM, and alleged that he was indulging in "attention diversion politics" instead of answering the "pertinent" questions raised by the Congress president.

In a series of tweets on a day when assembly polls were being held in Karnataka, the Patna Sahib BJP MP said the Congress president, who has "matured in the past few years", was popular with the general public and asked what was wrong if the leader heading the biggest, oldest national party saw a possibility of becoming the next Prime Minister.

"Anybody can become PM in our country. Naamdar, Kaamdar, Daamdar or for that matter any average Samajhdaar, if he has the numbers and support. Why are we making such a hue and cry about it? After all, isn't it their internal matter and any PMship has to be through verdict of majority," Sinha said in a series of tweets tagging both Modi and the BJP and signing off with slogans of "Jai Karnataka, Jai Hindi!"

Anybody can become PM in our democracy. Naamdar, Kaamdar, Daamdar or for that matter any average Samajhdar, if he has the numbers & support. Why are we making such a hue and cry about it? After all isnt it their internal matter & any PMship has to be through verdict of majority.  Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) May 12, 2018

PM Modi had mocked Rahul Gandhi's remarks that he is ready to become the PM if Congress emerges as the largest party in the 2019 general election, calling him immature and "naamdar" (dynast). "You (Gandhi) are naamdar' , while I am kaamdar' (ordinary worker)," he had said earlier.

Sinha, who is at loggerhead with party leadership ever since being ignored in Bihar election in 2015, is frequently seen in company of former Union minister Yashwant Sinha who quit BJP recently after consistently attacking PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

He went to meet jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad and had also met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently in the national capital along with Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, another vocal critic of Modi Government.

Sinha, who served as Union minister in the NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said that instead of answering "pertinent questions" raised by Congress President "we go for attention diversion politics an art which we have mastered, far from development and other issues".

"Sir, you received our full support along with media support and now you are raising slogans so that it isn't taken over? What's wrong if the president of the biggest, oldest national party sees the possibility and wishes to become the next PM, if he wins the upcoming elections," Sinha said on Twitter, tagging the BJP.

Sir, you received our full support along with full media support & now you are raising slogans so that it isn't taken over?What's wrong if the President of biggest, oldest National Party sees the possibility & wishes to be next PM..if he wins the upcoming elections? @BJP4India  Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) May 12, 2018

"By the way, the president of the oldest party has really matured in the past few years and has been raising some pertinent questions which we are refusing to answer or even entertain. The Neerav, the Lalit, the Mallyas, the Bank, the Rafael deal and so on," Sinha said in another tweet, tagging both PM Modi and the BJP.

By the way, the president of the oldest party has really matured in last few years & has been raising some pertinent question which we are refusing to answer or even entertain. The Neerav/the Lalit/ the Mallyas/the Bank/the Raffael deal & so on..@narendramodi @BJP4India  Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) May 12, 2018

"Instead of answering, we go for attention diversion politics an art which we have mastered, far from development and other issues. However Sir, its a matter of our people, our politics and our policies, so less said the better. With regards to you! Jai Karnataka, Jai Hindi!," the BJP leader said in another tweet.
Vijayawada: Lambasting Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for the attack on BJP president Amit Shah, BJP MLC Somu Veerraju demanded that he apologise to Shah for the incident.

Speaking to the media at a press meet held here, Mr Veerraju also demanded the resignation of Home Minister China Rajappa, whom he blamed for the incident, and the suspension of Urban SP of Tirupati. He remarked that Naidu had the culture of throwing shoes at late CM N.T. Rama Rao.

Mr Veerraju alleged that the police failed to react at the time of the attack, and questioned the TD chief for not suspending the accused and seeking an explanation from the Police Department. He also asked why the government has not registered a case against MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna for abusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The MLC alleged that hero Sivaji and Chalasani Srinivas were encouraging the TD government. He also made remarks on AP NGOs flaring up a dispute, and mentioned that Telangana NGOs were intellectuals, who fought for their state and that AP NGOs asked for nothing during bifurcation. AP NGO Association president Ashok Babu was brought by the TD to campaign against the BJP in the Karnataka elections, he alleged.

Mr Veerraju also claimed the TD government failed to fulfil even 10 per cent of its promises, and asked why the government took a loan of `2 lakh crore and demanded the utilisation details.
Foldable smartphones could be the next big thing in the tech world. Manufacturers such as Samsung, Apple, Huawei and LG have been reportedly working on a foldable smartphone. Now, Motorola seems to be joining the bandwagon.

A Dutch site LetsGoDigital claims that the company is working on a foldable device. The design includes a rectangular screen that can be folded like a phone or unfolded to work like a tablet.

(Photo: LetsGoDigital)

The report asserts that the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has now approved Motorola's patent for a folding phone design. The patent was filed in September 2016, suggesting that Motorola has been toying with the idea for two years now.

No surprise that Motorola apparently wants in and has actually been scheming for years. A recently awarded patent reveals its idea for a smartphone that folds out into a tablet, pretty much like other foldable phone patents out there, SlashGear reported.

What makes this one a bit more interesting, however, is not the phone itself but the addition of a case cover that actually adds some value to the device, the report added.

But since its a patent, one doesn't know if the company will ever actually bring this to market.

Disclaimer: The above report is completely based on online rumours and leaks from the respective sources. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Deccan Chronicle and/or other staff and contributors to this site.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.

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The official Korean Central News Agency said dismantlement of the Punggye-ri nuclear test ground would involve collapsing all of its tunnels with explosions, blocking its entrances, and removing all observation facilities, research buildings and security posts. (Photo: File/AP)

Seoul/Washington: North Korea has scheduled the dismantlement of its nuclear bomb test site for sometime between May 23 and 25 in order to uphold its pledge to discontinue nuclear tests, the countrys state media reported on Saturday a month ahead of a historic summit.

The official Korean Central News Agency said dismantlement of the Punggye-ri nuclear test ground would involve collapsing all of its tunnels with explosions, blocking its entrances, and removing all observation facilities, research buildings and security posts. The Nuclear Weapon Institute and other concerned institutions are taking technical measures for dismantling the northern nuclear test ground  in order to ensure transparency of discontinuance of the nuclear test, KCNA said.

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will hold talks in Singapore on June 12, the first-ever meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader. Trumps Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that North Korea can look forward to a future brimming with peace and prosperity if it agrees to quickly give up its nuclear weapons.

Read: US ready to provide N Korea with assurances if it denuclearises: Mike Pompeo

Trump welcomed the North Korean announcement. North Korea has announced that they will dismantle Nuclear Test Site this month, ahead of the big Summit Meeting on June 12th, he tweeted. Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture! Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!

South Koreas presidential office echoed the sentiment on Sunday, saying it shows Pyongyangs willingness to denuclearise through actions beyond words. However, in spite of its pledge to stop testing, North Korea has given no indication it is willing to go beyond statements of broad conceptual support for denuclearization by unilaterally abandoning a nuclear weapons program its ruling family has seen as crucial to its survival.

In announcing the plan to shut Punggye-ri last month, Kim said North Korea no longer needed to conduct tests because it had completed its goal of developing nuclear weapons. KCNA said journalists, including from the United States and South Korea, would be invited to cover the event, to show in a transparent manner the dismantlement of the northern nuclear test ground to be carried out. The exact date of the closure will depend on weather conditions, the agency said. To accommodate the travelling journalists, North Korea said various measures would be taken including opening territorial air space.

No mention of experts

South Korean officials said in April that North Korea also planned to invite experts from the United States and South Korea for the Punggye-ri shutdown, but KCNA made no mention of this. Last month, South Korean President Moon Jae-in had asked the United Nations to help verify the shutdown.

South Koreas deputy nuclear envoy Jeong Yeon-doo will visit the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna this week to discuss the complete denuclearisation of North Korea the foreign ministry said on Sunday.

All of North Koreas six known nuclear bomb tests have taken place at Punggye-ri, in the northeastern of North Korea where a system of tunnels have been dug under Mount Mantap.

According to Chinese academic reports, North Koreas most recent nuclear test in September of what Pyongyang said was a hydrogen bomb, was so large it triggered a collapse inside the mountain, rendering the entire site unusable for future tests.

But US intelligence officials have said it remains usable and could be reactivated in a relatively short period of time if it was closed.

Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at Californias Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said in a blog post this week that recent satellite images had shown the removal of some buildings from the site.

On Saturday, he told Reuters that closure of Punggye-ri did not mean much in terms of disarmament, given that the United States, for example, stopped nuclear testing in 1992. It would, however, require North Korea to clear out the test tunnels and rebuild any infrastructure that might be removed  or dig new tunnels at the site or elsewhere. So, its a good confidence building measure, but not necessarily a sign of irreversible disarmament.

Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States and a leading expert on North Koreas nuclear program, said collapsing the Punggye-ri tunnels would be a big and positive step, given his belief that North Korea still required more nuclear and missile tests to reach the US mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile.

However, he said the other crucial steps North Korea needed to take to demilitarize its nuclear program were to shut its plutonium production reactor, and open its uranium processing to inspection.
Police officers stand guard near the site where an explosion went off at Santa Maria church in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. (Photo: AFP)

Jakarta: At least 11 people were killed and 41 others injured in bomb attacks, including a suicide blast, targeting churches in Indonesias second biggest city Surabaya, police said on Sunday, the latest assault on a religious minority in the worlds biggest Muslim-majority country.

There have been three attacks at three churches, East Java Police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said.

The deadly blasts all occurred within 10 minutes of each other, police said, with the first explosion at 7:30 am.

Police have only given details of one attack on Santa Maria Catholic Church and there have not yet been any claims of responsibility.

Indonesia is home to significant numbers of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists but there are concerns over rising intolerance. Extremists have mounted a series of attacks against Christians and other minorities in recent years.

Indonesian police shot and wounded a man who attacked a church congregation in Sleman town with a sword during Sunday Mass in February.

The radical Islamist, who had wanted to fight with the Islamic State group in Syria, injured four people.
Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron called up United States President Donald Trump to say hes very worried about tensions in the Middle East after Trumps decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord.

Macrons office said the two leaders spoke on Saturday and the French leader expressed his great concern about stability in the region. Macron strongly opposes Trumps pullout from the 2015 global deal curbing Irans nuclear activities. Hostilities between Iran and Israel have already escalated in recent days.

Macron and Trump also discussed trade issues. European governments are scrambling to save billions of dollars in trade with Iran that resumed thanks to the 2015 accord.

In addition, France and the EU are pressing Washington for exemption from Trumps steel and aluminium tariffs.
Dozens of Palestinian demonstrators broke into the Gaza side of the terminal on Friday, setting a pipeline that delivers gas from Israel alight and torching a goods conveyor belt. (Photo: AFP)

Jerusalem: Israel closed the Kerem Shalom border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Saturday, a day after the terminal was damaged during protests by Palestinians that turned violent.

Dozens of Palestinian demonstrators broke into the Gaza side of the terminal on Friday, setting a pipeline that delivers gas from Israel alight and torching a goods conveyor belt.

The violence caused damage to the terminal, where humanitarian supplies are delivered, which is estimated at more than USD 9 million, Israeli officials said.

"The crossing will remain closed until the damage caused by the riots are repaired and will reopen in accordance with a situation assessment," the Israeli military said, adding that in the meantime it will be opened for humanitarian cases only.

More than two million people are packed into the narrow coastal enclave of Gaza, where poverty and unemployment rates are high.

The incursion took place during a weekly mass protest in which thousand of Palestinians gathered along the Israel-Gaza frontier. Crowds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers and one Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire.

More than 40 Palestinians have been killed during six weeks of protests and tens of thousands of Gazans are expected at tented border encampments in the coming days.

Gaza is run by the Islamist Hamas movement, which Israel and the West designate a terrorist organization. Citing security concerns, Israel maintains tight control over its land and sea borders. Egypt also restricts movement in and out of Gaza.
A family of six including two young daughters staged suicide bombings at three Indonesian churches during Sunday services, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens in attacks claimed by the Islamic State group.

The bombings at three churches in Surabaya were Indonesia's deadliest for years, as the world's biggest Muslim-majority country grapples with homegrown militancy and rising intolerance towards religious minorities.

A further three people were killed and two wounded when another bomb exploded at an apartment complex in Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, just hours later, police said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The church bombers -- a mother and father, two daughters aged nine and 12, and two sons aged 16 and 18 -- were linked to local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) which supports IS, said national police chief Tito Karnavian.

Local media reports say they may have returned from Syria, where hundreds of Indonesians have flocked in recent years to fight alongside IS in its bid to carve out a caliphate ruled by strict Islamic law.

The mother, identified as Puji Kuswati, and her two daughters were wearing niqab face veils and had bombs strapped to their waists as they entered the grounds of the Kristen Indonesia Diponegoro Church and blew themselves up, Karnavian said.

The father, JAD cell leader Dita Priyanto, drove a bomb-laden car into the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church while his sons rode motorcycles into Santa Maria church, where they detonated explosives they were carrying, Karnavian said.

"All were suicide attacks but the types of bombs are different," he said of the church attacks.

The group, led by jailed radical Aman Abdurrahman, has been linked to several deadly incidents, including a 2016 gun and suicide attack in the capital Jakarta that left four attackers and four civilians dead.

That was the first assault claimed by IS in Southeast Asia.

Police on Sunday said four suspected JAD members were killed in a shootout during raids linked to a deadly prison riot this week.

Five members of Indonesia's elite anti-terrorism squad and a prisoner were killed in clashes that saw Islamist inmates take a guard hostage at a high-security jail on the outskirts of Jakarta. IS claimed responsibility.

Karnavian said Sunday's church attacks may have been revenge for the arrest of some of JAD's leaders and for the prison crisis which eventually saw the surrender of the radical inmates.

The Pope offered support over "the severe attack against places of worship", while President Joko Widodo called for Indonesians to "unite against terrorism".

"The state will not tolerate this act of cowardice," he told reporters in Surabaya.
Sushobha Barve, executive secretary of the Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation, has been working in Kashmir for a long time and is presently part of the Concerned Citizens Group led by former finance minister Yashwant Sinha that advocates talks with all stakeholders in Kashmir. Sushobha spoke to Shemin Joy of DH.

Kashmir is on the boil once again. How do you see the situation now?

The government's policy of targeting just the militants and killing them is not a viable option. Will it actually help? Because we know after each funeral of dead militants, another five or six are joining them. So the numbers in that sense are becoming a zero-sum game. Along with the militants, sometimes the civilians are also getting killed. I think this strategy is not helping. It is making even those Kashmiris who do not support militants very unhappy because their own young people are dying. They want the bloodshed to stop on both sides. They ask how long it will go on. They say this is not viable, they cannot move around, they cannot lead a normal life. They want a way out.

Do you think the government could not anticipate the turn of events, particularly the latest spell of violence?

It is common sense that disaffection in any society will erupt eventually into violence. The dialogue process was moving forward till 2013 and there was relative peace on the Line of Control (LoC). For the first time, people on the border areas began to experience the fruits of peace between 2003-2012. Separatist leaders were also part of the engagement process. So many Confidence Building Measures were introduced - the cross-LoC travel and trade started. I will not say we have gone back but we have not gone forward. In the last four years, the LoC violence has escalated to a level that even artillery guns were used by both sides. This caused huge collateral damage on both sides. There is resentment and anger against the government in the communities along the International Border and LoC. They want the government to give 'karara jawab from Delhi and Mumbai and not from their areas'. I have been a frequent visitor to the LoC areas but I have never heard such vocal anger and resentment against the government as I did during the visit of Concerned Citizens Group to the border areas in February 2018. The government did not use those opportunities to open new windows to move forward. There was a failure to move forward and there lies a tragedy. So the widespread disillusionment and hopelessness seen in Kashmir today or the border communities is because they see future where the quality of their lives would become better.

Kashmiris have their own frustration with their leaders too and feel they have not done enough to ensure that things did not slip. The rebellion of young people today is not just against India but also against their own elder separatist leadership. The young people who have grown up during the past two decades have seen nothing but violence.

We need to know why certain pockets continue to produce militants in Kashmir. I know the army and police are also keen to understand reasons for this phenomenon. In recent weeks from the ranks of police and the army, some have joined militancy. Its a worrying trend. I would be happy if the leaders of the security establishment do some serious thinking. Are these young people mad to join militancy? What is agitating them?

What should the government do?

They should announce a ceasefire and give time and space to everybody to take a step back and reflect on what next. There is no alternative than to open channels for a long-term engagement with Kashmiri leaders, perhaps even with some of the present militants. Who knows, sometime in the future they may come around? No, I have not met any militants. But I believe not everybody is going to turn their back if there is a serious intention and offer for a political engagement. They have to be convinced. For that also, somebody has to do the spade work.

Are you suggesting that there is a need for sustained dialogue?

Yes, there is a need for sustained dialogue which got interrupted after 2004-2008 period. We are talking to Nagas for almost 25 years from the time of P V Narasimha Rao government. Did the Naga leaders give up the demand for independence when they entered into the dialogue? Or did the government announce that it will make an agreement outside the ambit of Constitution with them? I don't know the content of the framework agreement with the Nagas but we have come a long way. The government should agree to unconditional dialogue also with the Kashmiris. Unless the political leadership agrees to this, we are not going to see change on the ground or move forward in Kashmir.

When Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced the appointment of Dineshwar Sharma as interlocutor, the Kashmiri leaders did not immediately reject it. They took several days. You have to see what happened after the appointment. The home minister publicly said at the time that Sharma was free to meet whoever he wants. Immediately after Singh's announcement, Minister of State in PMO Jitender Singh said in a statement, Sharma is a government representative and there will be no dialogue with separatists. So are we to believe the statement of the senior minister in the government (a home minister who has the charge of Kashmir affairs) or the junior minister, an MoS in the PMO, to publicly announce what Dineshwar Sharma was meant to do contradicting the home minister. What is being conveyed by the government to the public? Do we take the senior ministers statement seriously or that of the junior minister? Therefore, against this background, if the Kashmiri leaders decided against talks with Dineshwar Sharma. Why should we all be complaining about that?

So, the only way out is talks?

In every conflict or insurgencies parties eventually, have to sit down and talk. That applies to New Delhi and Kashmir as well. Talks with Pakistan will also have to take place at some point. There are enough sensible people across the political spectrum and civil society in Kashmir. Where are we right now? Look around the world - North Korea and South Korea are talking and settling their issues, decades-old conflict in Mindanao has seen a settlement. In the Republic of Colombia, the government and the leaders of an insurgent group after years of conflict have signed a peace agreement. We are the only country, a mighty country, a big democracy that has not been able to settle our internal conflicts - the issue of Kashmir. In all the conflicts mentioned above, opposing parties have eventually talked and settled their conflict but in our case, the government is saying no talks with Kashmiris. I consider it very uncivilised and undemocratic to continue to say no talks with our own people.

Do you think there is a gulf between Kashmiri people and the government in Delhi?

Obviously, it has grown in the past few years. Majority of the Kashmiris are not anti-India. They don't want to see flare-ups every two years for whatever reason. See, they are upset by the use of pellets that are only used in Kashmir and nowhere else in the country for crowd control. The young Kashmiris look at this as discriminatory and point out to the Jat agitation in Haryana or the Cauvery agitation in the south where crores worth of property was destroyed and yet no bullets or pellets were used by the police. Why only in Kashmir they ask. I agree with them. To explain away the use of pellets by terming Kashmiris as anti-national or terrorists is wrong but also dangerous. It also further alienates them. Many Kashmiris also feel that the present dispensation looks at them differently because they are Muslims. We need to think and reflect when a large number of the population nurses a feeling that they are subjected to harsh treatment because they are Muslims, does that strengthen or weaken our national fabric?

Do you mean to say, after 2014, there was a change in approach towards Kashmir?

Why did it take so long for the Centre to release funds for rehabilitation of victims of 2014 Kashmir floods, the worst floods of the century? Is it only the Kashmir government which was responsible? Why was money not disbursed to the affected traders and others? It is this piling of grievances that led to the outburst in 2016.

Isn't it worrying that more youth and young professionals are joining militancy?

In the 1990s, too, there were young professionals who were among the militant ranks. But the numbers of militants were in hundreds and thousands. They crossed the LoC for training in Pakistan and returned with guns. We do not have such large numbers in the militant ranks nor are the guns and weapons available to the militants as in the 1990s. The crowds that turn up at the encounter sites between militants and government forces go there because these militants are from their village. Nor are all those who pelt stones at security forces militants. Even the security forces are not calling all stone pelters as militants but the media is doing this. When something is happening, the public always goes out to see what is going on.
Peaceful nations dont need a deal with other nations to ensure they dont develop nuclear weapons that, because of their ties to terrorism and other unsavory characters, threaten world peace.

Sure enough, soon after President Trump announced the United States would back out of the 2015 deal negotiated by President Obama, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran felt free to restart its nuclear program.

Little had changed, in other words, during those three years, except that Iran had agreed to delay its weapons program in return for the money it received from the end to sanctions.

The primary goal of despots always is to preserve power. Typically, they dont sign onto deals unless they further that aim.

Meanwhile, tensions between Israel and Iranian forces assembled in Syria have ignited. Irans stated intention of destroying Israel was not deterred in the least by Obamas deal.

And so, while its true that the nuclear deal did delay Irans push to develop into a nuclear threat, it did not solve the Iranian problem.

And, at least in the United States, the deal had another enormous flaw. It never was confirmed by two-thirds of the Senate, as the Constitution requires in order for a deal to become a binding treaty. That advice and consent in Article II, Section 2, is not a meaningless set of words. It is there to keep presidents from becoming kings who enter into deals and alliances with other nations without the consent of the people, through their representatives.

For much the same reason, the founders placed the power to declare war in the hands of Congress. That, too, has been ignored with impunity by recent presidents.

The nation is ill served when the Constitution is ignored. In this case, a deal with Iran was good only as long as the president who negotiated it remained in power. A treaty would not so easily be dissolved.

And the deal may have a negative effect on negotiations with North Korea. Foreign nations not familiar with the nuances of the U.S. Constitution may see the current presidents decision as a signal the U.S. cant be trusted. Indeed, that is true when it comes to deals that dont have the force of law inherent with treaties. They become representative of little more than one presidents desires.

That said, we are curious as to what Mr. Trump intends to do next with Iran. He already has said he is reinstating sanctions that had crippled the Iranian economy before 2015, and which may have a limited effect given the money Iran has accessed during the duration of the deal. He also has threatened Iran with dire consequences should it resume a nuclear weapons program.

Trump also has talked of ending Irans aid to terrorism worldwide and its threat to the Middle East, an obvious reference to Israel.

But how? All of this needs to be organized into a recognizable and achievable policy, and it needs the support of allies who opposed Trumps decision to revoke the deal.

Regime change is the only certain solution. But the United States is unlikely to change the regime in Iran without massive and brutal military action, and that should be out of the question.

The president should identify short-term goals that keep the entire array of Iranian threats at bay. And if he negotiates a new treaty, it must be done with the advice and consent of the Senate, which would give it lasting authority.
Does the famous and historic Salt Lake Temple actually sit on a base of all granite?

Theres no doubt that a sandstone base, taken from Red Butte Canyon, was the temples original base. But is any of the sandstone still there?

The vast majority of all internet searches find sources that imply the sandstone base was entirely removed  it is all granite now.

The most authoritative of these sources is "The Design, Construction, and Role of the Salt Lake Temple" by Richard O. Cowan, published by the BYU Religious Studies Center at rsc.byu.edu.

This report states that the temples foundation was covered as the U.S. Army approached Salt Lake in the summer of 1857.

Then, as the army threat disappeared, the foundation was uncovered as temple work was ready to resume.

The BYU Religious Studies history of the Salt Lake Temple then shared about the observations of President Brigham Young, second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and who led the pioneeers west and also pointed out the spot for the temple.

At this time, President Young examined the newly uncovered foundation and became aware that it was defective. He and his associates noticed large cracks and concluded that its small stones held together with mortar could not carry the massive weight of the temple. On Jan. 1, 1862, he announced that the inadequate foundation would be removed and replaced by one made entirely of granite. The footings would be 16 feet thick. 'I want to see the Temple built in a manner that it will endure through the Millennium,' he later declared. The work of rebuilding the foundation moved slowly, and the walls did not reach ground level until the end of the construction season in 1867, 14 years after the original cornerstones had been laid.

However, this report can be supplemented by several Deseret News stories, including a photograph from the early 1960s.

The Deseret News' LDS Church News of March 30, 1963, published a photographof when extensive excavations were made around the base of the Salt Lake Temple. This photograph lists the granite foundation as 14 feet deep (2 feet less than the BYU article stated).

It also clearly shows a sandstone sub-foundation still there, underneath the granite foundation.

So, technically both statements of a granite or sandstone base are true.

An earlier Deseret News story on Sept. 8, 1962, stated:

The story of the foundation and the back-breaking labors of the pioneers who toiled with oxen to haul giant pieces of granite from Cottonwood Canyon quarries to replace an original foundation of sandstone has been told.

Thus, if there ever was a full foundation of sandstone up to the ground level, then the upper 14 feet of that base had to have been removed and replaced with granite. However, the BYU story stated that the temple structure didnt rise to ground level until 1867, or 10 years after the threat from the U.S. Army. So, this casts some doubt on a full underground base of sandstone ever existing.

Notwithstanding, it is a fact that some 14 feet to 16 feet of lower sandstone sub-base still remain below ground.

The 1963 Deseret News story stated that the sandstone sub-foundation was 30 feet down. Amazingly, only hand tools, horse and oxen power created that foundation.

This sandstone sub-foundation covers an area of 4,850 square feet.

The photograph also reveals how layered in blocks and even partially eroded the sandstone sub-foundation appears to have been in 1963.

During the 1963 renovation, cement wells and footings were added to replace the previous rocky subsoil. At the same time of the 1963 underground improvements, underground passages were also added.

 Facts about the Temple was an Oct. 22, 1891, story on the Salt Lake Temple in the Salt Lake Herald newspaper. This article accurately mentions the deepest foundations as being sandstone.

The Salt Lake Temple foundation is not laid of granite from Cottonwood canon (sic), as has been stated, but is of the same kind of sandstone as the temple block wall foundation  we call it firestone  and has never been disturbed or taken up and relayed as has been stated , the Herald story stated.

The Herald also explained that oxen hauled the sandstone from a spur in the mountain a little south of the mouth of Red Butte Canyon, in blocks about three feet thick.

Back to the Deseret News 1963 photograph, it does appear to show the three-foot thick sandstone blocks in the sub-foundation.

 One other interesting excerpt from the BYU Religious Studies article on the history of the Salt Lake Temple is this:

Because the builders recalled President Youngs desire for this temple to stand through time, the structure was very solid. Even at their tops, the walls were six feet thick, and the granite blocks were individually and skillfully shaped to fit snugly together. Nearly a century later, Elder Mark E. Petersen (a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) attested to the soundness of the temples construction. He was in the temple when a rather severe earthquake hit, damaging several buildings around the Salt Lake Valley. 'As I sat there in that temple I could feel the sway of the quake and that the whole building groaned.' Afterward, he recalled, the engineers 'could not find one semblance of damage' anywhere in the temple.

So, the finished Salt Lake Temple may be more earthquake resistant than some may believe  notwithstanding that sandstone sub-foundation.

 Still one more interesting fact from the BYU Religious Studies article is this:

Some have suggested that in the Salt Lake Temple, shafts were provided for elevators and spaces left throughout the building for electric conduits and heating ducts even before these technologies were known. Angell Sr., (the temples architect) however, certainly would have learned about elevators, which were just coming into use at the time of his 1856 visit to Europe. By the early 1860s, electricity was already being used in Utah for the Deseret Telegraph system. Hence, most of the temples interior was designed and built long after these technologies emerged. Although the west center tower proved to be a convenient location for the two main elevators, there is no evidence to suggest that their shafts were planned when there was no knowledge of this technology.
Like a bad horror movie with a villain who comes back from the dead, the Salt Lake County Council has resurrected a proposal to raise the sales tax by an estimated $58 million  a plan county voters rejected in a referendum vote in 2015.

Under an ordinance approved by the County Council, a sales tax hike of roughly one penny for every $4 spent, will go into effect if two-thirds of city, town and metro township leaders approve the plan.

If this sounds underhanded and anti-democratic, thats because it is.

As if this werent bad enough, the majority of the revenue raised by the sales tax would go towards the Utah Transit Authority  an agency already $2 billion in debt.

UTA is also estimating it will cost $50 million taxpayer dollars to comply with legislation that calls for a renaming and rebranding of this plagued organization.

Stagnant ridership in various rail projects helps explain UTAs financial woes. In the real world, you usually need to demonstrate you are making good use of taxpayer dollars before asking for more  apparently UTA thinks otherwise.

The reasons to oppose this massive tax hike havent changed since the referendum vote took place nearly three years ago. Like most tax increases, the proposed $58 million sales tax will hit low-income individuals and families the hardest.

A study found that state sales taxes are highly regressive. Nationwide, low-income Americans are paying nearly 15.9 percent of their income in taxes.

The Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy attributes one cause of this highly regressive nature of state sales taxes. In their report, scholars found that the lowest 20 percent of Utah earners were paying close to 6 percent of their entire family income on sales and excise taxes in 2015.

That may not seem like a lot, but its a major adjustment to those struggling to make ends meet and those trying to provide for their families.

Unfortunately, the Salt Lake County Council apparently wont take No for an answer.

Local elected officials should remember that our state consistently ranks as one of the best states in which to do business, and a 2014 study by Harvard economists found that Salt Lake City had the highest rate of upward income mobility in the nation.

Punitive taxes could jeopardize this positive trajectory.

The people of Salt Lake County deserve a fair and open process to debate the merits of raising our taxes to pay for infrastructure improvements.

And before immediately asking Salt Lake County residents to dig into their pockets to finance a massive transportation project, there should be a discussion on other ways to raise the revenue, including doing away with wasteful and unnecessary spending.

One place to look is the 2017 Utah Waste Book that we at Americans for Prosperity-Utah put together with the help of local activists. The book identifies plenty of government waste in Utah. With more than $43 million in egregious spending, including $3 million in tax credits to deep-pocketed filmmakers, Utah lawmakers could certainly trim some of the fat in government spending and redirect those dollars elsewhere.

But if this is to happen, voters should have a seat at the negotiating table.

Its why Councilman Richard Snelgrove, the only dissenting voice against the ordinance, said he was uncomfortable and uneasy with the way the process unfolded. He added that the transfer of power from the voters to elected officials was done to hide accountability so no one can take responsibility for raising taxes.

Precisely.

Following through on this plan would be a blow to transparency and accountability. Our elected officials should listen to the voters who already rejected the tax hike and go back to the drawing board to come up with other ideas.
DRAPER  While work is underway on a new prison just west of Salt Lake City, state and local officials are gearing up to make appointments to a freshly created board that will oversee how the current Draper prison site is redeveloped after its tenants move out in 2021.

The 11-member Point of the Mountain State Land Authority, created by Utah lawmakers via HB372 in the last session, will have broad authority to oversee and manage how the 700-acre property is transformed.

The state will retain a supermajority on the board, with the governor and legislative leaders controlling eight of the 11 appointments. The remaining three seats will be occupied by one appointee each from Draper and Salt Lake County, with the final opening to be filled by the Utah Commissioner of Higher Education, or their designee.

Paul Edwards, deputy chief of staff to Gov. Gary Herbert, said the distribution of decision-making power on the panel is appropriate for overseeing the state-owned property.

"Because the land is owned by the state and because of its importance to the economic vibrancy of the state, we are comfortable with the state playing a large role in the build-out of this particular parcel," Edwards said in a prepared statement.

HB372 also contained lengthy and detailed language aimed at precluding any conflict of interest issues. Those stipulations include banning from the board anyone who owns property, besides a residence, within 5 miles of the site, as well as those who have family members with property, besides a residence, within a half-mile of the site. Also, anyone who is individually, or through a family member, connected to businesses that could be involved with redevelopment activities are also prohibited from accepting an appointment to the authority board.

Just to ensure there are no post-appointment misunderstandings, appointees will be required to submit an affidavit acknowledging the rules and confirming their lack of conflicts before being seated.

Currently, the prison houses about 4,000 male and female inmates in facilities that range from minimum security to "supermax." At the time it was constructed, in the middle of the last century, the prison was isolated from the Wasatch Front population centers but has since become surrounded by residential and commercial development.

The nearby area has also become a hot spot for the state's growing tech sector and, in 2015, state lawmakers chose a site for a new facility and slated the current site for redevelopment upon the old prison's closure.

The site is widely seen as a unique economic development opportunity, both because of the size of the property and its location. Envisioning best uses for the property has been part of the work undertaken by the Legislature-created Point of the Mountain Development Commission, an effort launched about 18 months ago. In January, the group released a set of schematics for over 20,000 acres of undeveloped property in southern Salt Lake County and northern Utah County. The commission's "preferred scenarios" included a rough plan of how to reutilize the prison land.

Edwards said the project could become an economic driver for the whole region.

"The state property at the Point of the Mountain that currently houses the state prison presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create an economic development engine for Utah," Edwards said. "Because of its strategic location in the heart of Silicon Slopes, how it is developed matters to the entire state. We believe that, done right, it has the potential to catalyze additional investment in high-skilled, high-paying jobs throughout the region."

The current planning scenario calls for a mix of residential, office, retail and light-industrial uses as well as robust, new public transit connections including light rail and bus rapid transit. The hoped-for anchor for the site would be a world-class research/educational facility that, according to the January report released by the development commission, could become a magnet for talent and further investment.

"A nationally recognized research presence creates a 'wow' factor that attracts employers and employees and contains open space that is appealing and important to residents," the report says. "Research and technology transfer also boosts job growth, as does the skilled workforce that is trained there."

Draper Mayor Troy Walker, who has been closely involved with the development commission work as a member of its board and will also hold a seat on the new land authority, said he's very happy with the preliminary vision for the prison site revamp.

"It's been my goal throughout this process to redevelop this property to its highest and best use," Walker said. "The commission has been doing very valuable, and very good work to get us to this point."

Even though local entities will only hold two votes on the panel, both Walker and Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams said they were comfortable with the distribution of appointments. McAdams is obligated to appoint an "elected Salt Lake County government official," while Herbert has two defined appointments  one representative each from the state's Division of Facilities and Construction Management and the Governor's Office of Economic Development  and two discretionary appointments.

Edwards said the governor will be seeking candidates who understand and embrace the opportunity to redevelop the prison site as an economic catalyst.

"In appointing members to the land authority, the governor will be looking for individuals who share his vision for making this a world-class economic ecosystem that sustainably blends research, training, employment, housing and shopping in ways that attract investment, enhance livability and reduce driving and congestion," he said.

Rep. Lowry Snow, R-Santa Clara and Point of the Mountain Development Commission co-chairman, will provide an update of the group's work, which will now be focused on financing strategies, at a Utah Legislature interim committee meeting on Wednesday.
It is possible to be for the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes and be absolutely against the Utah initiative. To suggest otherwise is a false choice.

Utahns are a compassionate people who have shown a commitment to help all people hurting or in need, particularly those with chronic conditions and those desperate for help. Doctors and health care professionals show a similar commitment to alleviate suffering while also ensuring they do no harm. It isnt surprising, then, that those in the medical community against this proposition, as well as others, understand you dont help one person by hurting many others  particularly teenagers and those vulnerable to abuses of drugs.

The initiative is flawed and would produce far-reaching, and potentially devastating, unintended consequences. In the rush to potentially alleviate the suffering of some, it is crucial to ensure that solutions do not create suffering for many.

From these pages, the Deseret News has long urged the federal government to reschedule marijuana from a schedule 1 to a schedule 2 drug, which would allow for the kind of effective research that precedes the legalization of other prescription drugs. Only through such research could physicians know how much to prescribe, how the drug might interact with other prescriptions, the potential side effects and expected outcomes. We have applauded Utah for strides made in advancing the use of cannabis oil for medical treatment.

When it comes to crafting good public policy, legislative language must create clarity, not confusion. Guidelines and guardrails must be clearly established, and unintended consequences must be fully understood and weighed against the public good. We understand the desire to just do it and alleviate some suffering. But one need only look at the devastating, life-ruining consequences of opioid use to know the risks of not fully understanding a drug's impact  even one brought about by significant research.

Many of the initiatives flaws are outlined in a report by the law firm Kirton McConkie, which was tasked by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to study the initiative. That report, released Friday, ought to give every Utah voter reason to reconsider support toward this initiative.

Some of what the law firm uncovered had been previously raised as concerns by this page. Some of it shed light on flaws and problems previously undiscovered. Virtually none of it, we are convinced, was known by the majority of people who signed petitions to put the medical marijuana initiative on ballots this fall.

Those petitions are under review. Independent efforts are underway to convince signers to withdraw their signatures. The argument is that many signed the initiative without reading it or understanding all of the potential implications. Those who did not read the petition when they signed it, or did not recognize the sweeping consequences and full scope of what the initiative would do, have until Tuesday to remove their signatures.

The Kirton McConkie review highlighted that a Cannabinoid Product Board charged with reviewing studies and recommending guidelines would be prohibited from limiting the availability of cannabis, no matter what science eventually might find. Doctors would not be required to follow up with patients to see how they are responding to treatment.

Perhaps most disturbing, the initiative is worded so poorly that it may weaken the penalties for causing an injury while driving a vehicle under influence of the drug.

Proponents will point to myriad studies abroad they say prove marijuanas effectiveness. However, a recent piece by Dr. David Casarett in the Journal of the American Medical Association raised troubling concerns about the reliability of such studies, presenting evidence that placebo-controlled trials were flawed because participants were not adequately blinded.

The Kirton McConkie report lists seven pages of serious public concerns raised by the marijuana initiative. Among the highlights are that it would allow people who live more than 100 miles from a dispensary to grow up to six cannabis plants on their own for personal medical use.

Proponents have told us this would be an incentive for the state to approve more dispensaries. However, in a state as vast and sparsely populated as Utah, it likely would give rise to considerable private marijuana cultivation beyond the reach of law enforcement.

Doctors could provide patients with a medical cannabis card after just one visit without the need for any follow-up visits. That card would be good for six months, allowing purchase of a set amount. But there would be no way for law enforcement to distinguish between personally grown marijuana, under terms of the initiative, and that which may have been purchased illegally.

In addition, the state would have to honor medical marijuana cards from other states, further complicating efforts to limit abuse.

The report notes that most usage in other states is approved for relief of chronic or severe pain, a condition difficult to diagnose with certainty.

It cites figures from other states to show Utah could expect medical marijuana users to be mostly young, just as it could expect overall usage to increase over current low levels. The initiative would allow dispensaries to operate 300 feet from a residential neighborhood and only 600 feet from a school.

Absent in much of the nationwide push toward legalization of marijuana is a serious discussion of its harmful side effects, from respiratory problems and memory loss to its impact on the minds and motivation of young people. Utah cannot afford to sanction greater exposure to this drug without a thorough understanding of what is at stake.

We are aware of no other instance in which the public has been asked to vote on whether to approve a new drug for prescription use. The Food and Drug Administration is tasked with such things, using qualified scientists and doctors.

Utahns should not be cajoled into legislating by ballot initiative through the presentation of a false choice. Some proponents argue that if you are against the marijuana initiative, you are a cruel, heartless person who doesnt care about those who are suffering. That is a false choice. True compassion includes fully understanding the consequences of decisions and actions.

The report from Kirton McConkie is a timely warning against pursuing an emotional rush to pass a reckless initiative. Being for the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes and against this flawed initiative is congruent, compassionate and wise.
The threat of further United States sanctions against companies that trade in Iran has drawn a strong backlash from Swiss politicians, who are demanding that Switzerland joins a Europe-wide rejection of such measures.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said he was pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and would re-impose economic sanctions against the Middle East country. Sanctions extend to any company that conducts business in Iran, which have been given notice by the US to wind down activities.

Exports from Switzerland to Iran rose steadily in the last two years since the last round of sanctions was eased. Exports reached CHF536 million ($535.5 million) last year from a low of CHF333 million in 2012.

Politicians from across the political spectrum have responded to the new threat of sanctions by demanding that Switzerland stands up to the US. The US may not act as the sheriff of the global economy, Social Democrat parliamentarian Carlo Sommaruga told the SonntagsZeitung newspaper.

Peoples Party politician Albert Rosti said he has called on Swiss Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann to find a diplomatic solution with Washington. The economics ministry has not officially responded to the demands.

Several European countries, led by France, have expressed opposition to the latest US sanctions threats.
The female cast and crew of the new film by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who is banned from leaving the country, said Sunday he was crushed he could not attend the Cannes premiere but that his "most ardent hope" was to show the movie at home.

His Three Faces, one of 21 movies vying for the Palme dOr top prize, drew a standing ovation at the worlds top film festival late Saturday, but Panahis absence was sorely felt with a seat left symbolically empty for the dissident director.

He said several times he was prepared not to present his film in Cannes if he could show it in Iran. The film isnt particularly political as you saw  it could take place anywhere else in the world  so were still hopeful, his editor Mastaneh Mohajer told reporters.

Its his most ardent hope hell be able to show his film in Iran, she said.

 All his films are feminist 

The meditative road movie tells the story of the intertwined fates of three Iranian women from different generations, with Panahi playing a co-starring role.

In the opening scene a girl makes a smartphone video of her own faked suicide to draw Panahis actress friend Behnaz Jafari to her village from Tehran after her conservative family refused to allow her to attend art school.

Jafar Pahahi was always really ahead of the times in terms of empowering women, Mohajer said. All his films focus on feminist issues.

It is the second Iranian feature in competition alongside Asghar Farhadis Everybody Knows starring Spanish star couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem.

Panahi, 57, was outlawed from making movies and leaving the country after supporting mass protests in 2009 and making a series of films that critiqued the state of modern Iran.

Pleas by Oscar-winning US director Oliver Stone and other supporters to let Panahi travel to Cannes fell on deaf ears in Tehran ahead of the premiere.

He has frequently found ways of working around the ban, famously smuggling his 2011 documentary This is Not a Film out of the country in a flash drive hidden in a cake to screen it in Cannes.

His 2015 picture Taxi won the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival to the consternation of his conservative critics back home.

 Police everywhere 

Three Faces lead actress Jafari, who plays a version of herself in the film, said the entire crew had to be careful while working in a rural region of the countrys northwest.

We were very worried all the time. We were expecting a shock to come out of the blue, she said.

There were police everywhere in the village where we shot. When they saw me they recognised me but Mr Panahi stayed in his car. I dont want to say that he hid himself but he didnt want to be seen so he wouldnt have any problems.

Panahi is one of two Palme dOr contenders to be barred from attending Cannes this year.

Russias Kirill Serebrennikov missed Thursdays premiere of his much-praised film Leto after being placed under house arrest in Moscow on embezzlement charges his allies claim are political.

Also premiering Saturday was feminist war movie Girls of the Sun starring acclaimed Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, who sparked controversy a decade ago with topless images and has not worked in her home country since she appeared in Farhadis 2009 film About Elly.

Farhadi said last week that attending his own Cannes premiere while Panahi was barred was something I have difficulty living with.
Khamzat Azimov, who kept his beard short over a youthful face, was not considered a major threat despite being on France's two watchlists for suspected extremists since 2016.

It was his relatives who alerted the security services, as opposed to his behaviour, actions or ideas which might have drawn scrutiny, a source close to the inquiry told AFP.

Yet on Saturday night the 20-year-old described by neighbours as a quiet student spread terror throughout a bustling area of restaurants and theatres just a short stroll from the historic Paris opera house.

Former classmates from his Strasbourg high school described Azimov as a religious and very discreet student who liked video games and sports.

The eastern French town where he grew up is home to a large community of refugees from Chechnya who fled the Muslim-dominated Russian republic during two bloody separatist wars against Moscow-backed forces.

One ex-pupil told AFP: Khamzat was quite calm, he kept himself to himself, he didnt have a problem He did Ramadan, he paid attention to girls.

The man who declined to be identified added that Azimov had a distinctive manner and was in contact with Syria where he wanted to go. But after the bac (exams) he left all that, he wanted to make a living.

Another former pupil described a normal student, not excellent but not bad either.

We knew he was Muslim but he did not show it, the young woman added, saying he never talked about his birthplace Chechnya or the wars there.

 Family fled Chechnya 

Investigators have taken Azimovs parents into custody for questioning as well as a friend in Strasbourg.

The conflict in Chechnya gave birth to a fierce Islamic insurgency that would eventually produce fighters who would join other militant groups, including the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for Saturdays attack in Paris.

But a manager of the apartments in the northern 18th arrondissement of the French capital where the Azimovs rented a room said there was nothing overtly religious about the family.

Calling them very discreet, the woman said there was nothing ostentatious in terms of religion and described Khamzat Azimov as a young man who favoured tracksuits and said he was a student.

 Discreet family 

A neighbour also spoke of a very discreet family, never any problems, adding that they never received visitors.

And the son wasnt a thug, but someone who was reserved, she added.

They have been living here for a little over a year, said Reda, another resident in the building.

The father worked sometimes, mostly in construction, painting. The mother worked for an association which helps the homeless, she said.

Witnesses to Saturdays attack said Azimov remained composed as he began attacking people with a 10-centimetre (four inches) blade shortly before 9:00 pm (1900 GMT).

He approached calmly, a total contrast with the panic all around him, said Romain, 34, who was placing an order with his wife and six-year-old son at the Starbucks cafe on the Avenue de lOpera.

He had a beard, not very long, and was dressed normally. He didnt fit the stereotype of a jihadist, he said.

Investigators have yet to reveal how Azimov became radicalised. One source told AFP he had been questioned by anti-terror investigators last year because he knew a man who was in contact with a person who had gone to Syria.

He did not have a criminal record, and became a French citizen as a teenager in 2010 following his mothers naturalisation.

But his attack echoed a similar one last October, when a knifeman who also carried no ID papers began stabbing people at the main train station in the southern city of Marseille, killing two people.

That attack was also claimed by the Islamic State.

grd-bat-alv/je/boc
Heavily armed police on Sunday arrested and searched the home in Strasbourg of a friend of the knifeman who carried out a deadly attack in Paris, AFP journalists at the scene reported.

Police left the home with a man in handcuffs, his face hidden by a hood, wearing a black T-shirt with Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, on the front and a drawing of a Kalashnikov rifle on the back.

A source close to the case said the young man was the individual closest to the Chechen-born Azimov, who went on a stabbing spree in central Paris that left one dead and four wounded. Both were born in 1997.

A laptop was seized in the police raid.

Azimov had lived for several years in Strasbourg, home to a sizeable Chechen community.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Britain was a "valuable and reliable" strategic ally after he arrived in the UK on Sunday ahead of talks with Prime Minister Theresa May.

Erdogan said he wanted to boost trade and security ties between London and Ankara, with Britain preparing to leave the European Union in March next year.

The three-day visit will see him spell out Turkeys foreign policy strategy in a keynote speech on Monday before meeting May on Tuesday.

After arriving, Ergodan spoke Sunday at the annual Tatlidil Turkish-British forum, where he said he wanted to combine the UKs financial power with Turkeys operational resources.

I see the strategic partnership between Turkey and the UK as a necessity, rather than a simple choice, for the interests of the two countries, he said, in a speech broadcast by Turkeys state-run TRT television.

The cooperation we have with the UK is well beyond any mechanism that we established with other partners.

The UK is a strategic ally that we find valuable and reliable. We are ready to cooperate more with the UK in the post-Brexit in every field.

Erdogan is campaigning for snap parliamentary and presidential elections on June 24.

He has drawn controversy for electioneering in Europe, where there are some three million Turks who are eligible to vote in Turkish elections.

The expatriate vote is generally a source of support for Erdogans ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The early election is set to accelerate Turkeys transition to the new presidential system with full executive powers which critics fear will lead to one-man rule.

May is under pressure from parliamentarians and rights groups to raise civil liberties issues with Erdogan.

 Climate of fear 

The Turkish authorities have deliberately set about dismantling civil society, locking up human rights defenders, shutting down organisations and creating a suffocating climate of fear, said Kate Allen, Amnesty Internationals UK director.

The group said Erdogans nationwide crackdown has resulted in mass arrests, a silencing of activists in the country and the near-destruction of Turkeys legal system.

Mays spokesman said: The visit is an opportunity for the UK and Turkey to demonstrate our close bilateral relationship and to have important discussions about issues of shared interest.

It is not known if Erdogan will be meeting British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who in 2016 won a prize that called for rude poems about Erdogan in solidarity with a German comedian facing prosecution for doing the same.

He won the prize for a limerick about a young fellow from Ankara who sowed his wild oats / With the help of a goat / But he didnt even stop to thankera.

Speaking to reporters at Istanbuls Ataturk airport before leaving for Britain, Erdogan said the economy, security, defence and the fight against terror were the priority areas in the two NATO allies relationship.

There are growing concerns over Turkeys economic health, notably due to a wide current account deficit and fears the economy is overheating.
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If your spouse died today, would you know how to close down their business affairs? Would you be financially prepared to keep up with the mortgage or be sell if need? Can you handle their banking and investment accounts?

What about closing credit cards, shutting down social media sites, taking over vehicle titles?

Esther Cardenas-Pipoly, 49, was forced to stumble through many of those things starting in late 2014, when her father and husband died within two months of one another.

After years trudging through a quagmire of grief and red tape, she decided to use her experiences to launch Loss of Life Advocates, or LOLA, a type of concierge service for those preparing for or dealing with death. Shes developed proprietary checklists of to-dos and has a menu of services that includes things like grief counseling, document gathering, referrals to attorneys and accountants and assistance in closing down businesses and estates.

I didnt want anyone else going through what I went through, Cardenas said. Losing my husband meant that all the decisions that we would have made jointly, I had to now make alone. What I learned is that in these alone moments you will find yourself making wrong decisions if you have no one to guide you. I decided I wanted to be that guide.

Its part of a cottage industry thats emerging as the U.S. population ages and lives grow increasingly complex, in many cases with multiple marriages and geographically scattered families.

Gone are the days when its enough to have things in a lock box or file folder under your bed or on sticky notes around your computer, said Abby Schneiderman, co-founder and co-CEO of Everplans.com which provides end-of-life planning services through hundreds of financial services organizations across the country. The Everplans.com website draws 4 million readers a year to articles on everything from power of attorney to what to wear to a funeral, Schneiderman said.

We view this area as being incredibly important because we think people need help, she said. We see this space as definitely ramping up, were seeing new companies launching often. We think that well definitely continue to see more because as the baby boomer population ages this is going to become an even bigger and bigger problem.

Preplanning is something the funeral industry has long been advocating, said Walker Posey, a fourth-generation funeral director in North Augusta, South Carolina who is spokesman for the National Funeral Directors Association. He said that it was common to have people come in saying they wanted to do what their loved one wanted but had never had that conversation.

Sixty-two percent of people say its important to communicate your wishes to your loved ones, but only 21 percent have actually done it, he said.

In fact a large portion of most funeral home business is focused around preplanning and education, Posey added Its really like half of what we do. We take care of folks in the time of need. We also help folks prepare for that time of need.

He said funeral homes across the country now offer a lot more than the funeral service itself, and a service like Cardenas could complement that.

We handle everything from social security notification to insurance processing to helping them get ducks their ducks in a row for probate, he said. Maybe its just the stigma of a funeral home and you dont want to go there until you actually die ... but funeral homes across the country really are equipped to help.

Cardenas breaking point came when she was laying on the floor of a bathroom stall at the upscale insurance company where she worked in Denver, listening to the clicks of other womens high-heeled shoes and their chatter about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

Shed been spacy and error-prone and her boss and team members were upset that weeks after returning to work she still wasnt pulling her weight.

Her human resources department was prepared to fire her rather then help her set up family medical leave or short-term disability for grief symptoms like her skyrocketing blood pressure. It was one of many lessons learned the hard way.

On the day of her fathers funeral, her fitness-conscious trial lawyer husband told her he wasnt feeling well.

His diagnosis was Stage 4 cancer of his prostate, bladder and liver. He died at 66, about 50 days after getting the diagnosis and spending his final weeks trying to fight his disease with immunotherapy treatments in Mexico. Talking about money at that point translated to loss of hope, so no one went there with him.

When he died, he was past due on his lease for the law firm and behind on other bills, leaving behind a shell-shocked legal assistant and 26 years of casework. In an attempt to put a bandage on his hemorrhaging assets, Cardenas canceled whatever accounts she could, including his malpractice insurance. That proved to be a big mistake, as sure enough a former client sued.

Things she should have shut down, she didnt  such as a business account that was charged for a deposition after his death and a Lexis Nexis account that still was being accessed for legal research.

Her cell phone was ringing off the hook calls about her fathers estate and her husbands affairs. It took a CPA friend to tell her that since her husband was dead many of his debts died too and she shouldnt pay anything until the estate went through probate.

Since his life insurance policy was taken out within two years of his death she had to fight for years to get a settlement on it  and much of that was depleted by attorney fees.

A vendor for prepaid, unused advertising services played dumb when she asked for a partial refund. Of about $300,000 owed by legal clients, she was able to collect only $800. When someone offered $1,500 for his suite of office furniture, she accepted, imagining her husband shouting down from a cloud that it was worth a lot more.

She was, meanwhile, clearing out a residence in Denver where she and her husband had planned to retire and moving back to her fathers home in San Antonio.

Since coming online with LOLA in January, Cardenas has been selling individuals as well as businesses on plans to prepare for or deal with death or sudden terminal illness. She named the company after her mother and designed a logo with an elephant  a creature that grieves when a pack member dies and has come symbolize hulking matters that nobody wants to address.

Were taking away all the nitty gritty little tedious stuff that goes into closing down somebodys life, she said. Somebodys life is a complete business, from checking accounts to insurance to where they live, the stuff they have. Every single thing you can think of.

LOLAs menu of individual and corporate plans include lunch and learning seminars, a webinar for management, guidance on closing a business and consultation hours for employees. Companies can offer it as a perquisite for employees or something an employee pays a few dollars for out of each paycheck.

Employees are always going to want to talk to their employer about all these nitty gritty details, said Valerie Grant, a spokeswoman for LOLA. Whereas if they have hours with Esther they can literally unload. And Esthers found that the first half hour is often nothing more than that people venting, sometimes sobbing. Its the grief.

Tom Crosley, a San Antonio attorney whose firm handles injury and death cases, at first thought hed hire Cardenas for clients but after hearing her story decided to also offer her services to members of the firm itself.

When Esther first approached me about LOLA and her story and what happened when her husband died, I realized that my initial interest was, I need this for my clients because it can be overwhelming and I wanted to do whatever we could to help that client, Crosley said. The more I learned about it, the I more I realized I needed it for myself. Because the devil is truly in the details sometimes.

When you go through having someone really close to you die and youre the one that now has to take care of things  especially if its your spouse  its the first time youve ever done it, he said. So no ones an expert at it, right?

Lynn Brezosky is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | lbrezosky@express-news.net | @lbrezosky
The head of the San Antonio Police Officers Association called Saturday on the Texas attorney generals office to look into why the Bexar County district attorneys office dismissed a drunken driving charge against a prominent local businesswoman accused of nearly crashing into a police officer earlier this year.

Its just ridiculous, police union president Mike Helle said. It does not pass the smell test.

The decision to dismiss the case against Catherine Amato  who owns several area restaurants and is married to Charlie Amato, chairman and co-founder of SWBC and a Spurs shareholder  raised the eyebrows of the two candidates vying to replace Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood. But they stopped short of condemning LaHoods office or declaring that Catherine Amato had received preferential treatment.

Back story: Prominent San Antonio business woman with Spurs, LaHood connections had DWI charge dismissed

The Democratic candidate, Joe Gonzales  LaHoods former business partner who defeated the incumbent in the March primary  noted, though, that perception is an issue.

Anytime that someone appears to be getting preferential treatment because of their position in the community or their position of wealth, that should be a concern, Gonzales said.

Authorities charged Catherine Amato, 63, with driving while intoxicated after she nearly hit a San Antonio police officers vehicle when she veered into his lane while driving on Northwest Loop 410 on Feb. 26, the San Antonio Express-News reported Friday. She then careened into other lanes and caused another car to swerve to avoid her, a police report states.

Amato refused to submit to field sobriety tests or voluntarily give breath or blood samples, the report states. The officer said she had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes. Before he drove Amato to Magistrates Court, the officer reported that she told him: Theres a reason we hate you guys. We hate your guts.

Bexar County Magistrate Judge Celeste Ramirez found the officer had probable cause to draw Amatos blood.

LaHoods office dismissed Amatos charge April 24, less than two months after her arrest. Assistant District Attorney Jacob Kemmy explained in a motion for dismissal that there was no probable cause for arrest, contradicting the police report and search warrant. Its unclear whether the results of Amatos blood test had been returned when the case was dismissed.

LaHood and Leslie Garza, a spokeswoman for the district attorneys office, didnt return calls requesting comment.

Gonzales said he doesnt have enough information to determine whether Amato was given preferential treatment.

Everyone should be given equal treatment when being accused of a crime, he said.

Chasnoff: LaHood has become a 'lame duck'

Gonzales said he or Republican hopeful Tylden Shaeffer, a defense attorney and former Bexar County prosecutor, could review the case upon taking office if there hasnt been any sort of judicial action that has taken place that would prevent that.

The candidate said that if elected, he initially would trust prosecutors in his office to handle their own caseload but be able to justify decisions made in each case.

Shaeffer declined to comment on the specifics of the Amato case, saying he hasnt read case documents or obtained facts about the case outside of media reports.

As district attorney, Im going to treat everybody fairly, Im going to treat everybody the same, Shaeffer said. Im going to expect my ADAs (assistant district attorneys) to make wise decisions. When asked to review their cases, theyre going to have to demonstrate to me why they made decisions and that they had used good reasoning.

Amato was previously charged with DWI in July 2016 when police pulled her over on Interstate 10 for speeding. That charge was reduced to obstruction of highway when prosecutors struck a plea deal in January 2017. She was released from deferred adjudication in that case in May 2017.

Helle noted several SAPD officers have been killed or maimed by drunken drivers.

Joshua Fechter is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports
McALLEN  Filadelfo Roman Cuxum fled Guatemala for the United States to keep his daughter safe from a ruthless gang, but it was the American government that took her away.

Cuxum and his daughter, Angelina, 11, arrived in the Rio Grande Valley as the Trump administration began implementing a zero tolerance policy for those who enter the country illegally. Cuxum was sentenced last week to five days in prison for his transgression, but what concerned him far more was finding his daughter.

All I wanted was to protect her, Cuxum, 33, said in federal court, and now I dont know where she is.

Such anguish has become familiar in McAllens federal courthouse. Parents who illegally crossed the border have shuffled into the courtroom in recent months and pleaded with a federal judge to help them locate their children.

The administration earlier this month didnt dispute a New York Times report that more than 700 children, among them at least 100 younger than 4, were separated from an adult who claimed to be their parent. Now immigrant advocates are bracing for those numbers to dramatically increase as the administration ratchets up prosecutions.

Related: Without legal abortions on the Texas border, some women turn to San Antonio

Over the past few years, thousands of families have been transferred to detention centers, including two large facilities south of San Antonio, while others were released with an order to appear in immigration court on a set date.

Now, more children are being removed from their parents.

A first illegal entry offense is a misdemeanor usually handled by civil deportation proceedings. A second offense is a felony that carries the prospect of years spent in prison.

Federal public defenders have mere minutes to defend each immigrant, with up to 100 of these cases every day. Disheveled immigrants occupy rows of benches in U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hackers courtroom.

One by one, Hacker reads the legal facts of each case. The public defender offers a few personal circumstances for the judge to consider. And most days there is at least one mother or father who makes a tearful plea for help locating their child.

Hacker said there was little he could do to track down the mounting numbers of children scattered across the country.

As the number of cases increase, well struggle to represent everyone, said Miguel Andy Nogueras, supervisory assistant public defender based in McAllen. Well be dealing with serious constitutional issues of rights to counsel and due process.

Still they come

Illegal immigration plummeted when President Donald Trump took office, yet has steadily risen ever since, and hard-line immigration efforts to deter immigrants have given way to a rising tide of migrants and refugees.

The Border Patrol caught 50,924 immigrants along the border with Mexico in April, including 9,647 families, the highest monthly total since Trumps inauguration. An additional 5,445 families requested asylum at a port of entry.

The zero-tolerance approach will be applied to the extent practicable, the Justice Department said, claiming a similar approach was used in the agencys El Paso sector in early 2017 and proved effective in reducing illegal immigration.

But for desperate immigrants, the prospect of harsh U.S. immigration enforcement presents a fuzzy calculus when weighed against the certainty of abject poverty and violent gangs at home.

If I go back, theyre going to kill me, said Honduran Jeny Figueroa, 27.

Figueroa carried her 3-year-old daughter, Maria Dolores, through Mexico and across the Rio Grande. On Thursday, she walked up a dirt road near the river until she found by the Border Patrol.

After placing her shoelaces and personal effects in a Homeland Security Department-issued plastic bag, Figueroa handed her daughters birth certificate to a border agent, who scrutinized their relationship.

Read more: S.A. congressman have 'grave concern' that immigration judges selected for their politics

Figueroa spoke of vague plans to settle in Houston. She was unaware that Maria Dolores might be taken from her.

No, they cant take my daughter, Figueroa said.

Around a bend in the road, a pair of immigrant mothers with small children found Border Patrol agents moments after crossing the river.

Claudia Duarte, 32, fled Honduras and the beatings of her husband with just $42 in her pocket. She and her 4-year-old twin daughters begged for money and food on the journey.

News of the zero-tolerance policy already had begun to circulate among migrants, Duarte said. Still, she believed returning to Honduras was not an option.

Maybe you cant imagine it, or you dont believe me, Duarte said. My daughters have a right to be safe with their mother.

Where do the kids go?

Minors who cross the border unaccompanied by a parent are transferred to the Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement custody and placed in a shelter, several of which are located in Texas.

A 1997 federal court settlement, known as the Flores agreement, requires the government to release children to their parents or other adult relatives whenever possible, and if a suitable placement is not immediately available to hold them in the least-restrictive settings possible.

Now all children will be transferred to HHS custody while adults will be sent directly to federal court under the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, immigration officials say. But observers say the system wasnt designed for family separation on a large scale.

The point is to get the child released rapidly to a parent or relative or family friend, said Mark Greenberg, a senior fellow with the Migration Policy Institute and former head of the Administration of Children and Families, the HHS division that includes ORR. Not to hold children indefinitely while their parent is in the midst of criminal proceedings.

The Trump administration has raised an alarm, claiming criminals, especially Mara Salvatrucha, known as MS-13, exploit loopholes in the immigration system, using their children to enter the country or posing as the parent of an unaccompanied minor.

A day after the policy was announced, the Rio Grande Valley sector of the Border Patrol, the busiest for family apprehensions along the Southwest border, said it had caught a Salvadoran gang member and deportee, with his 1-year-old child. The man was put into removal proceedings, and his child placed in HHS custody.

Since October, the start of the fiscal year, the Rio Grande Valley sector has identified 517 fraud cases  adults who falsely claim a child as their own in an effort to boost their asylum claims  and prosecuted 63 of them, according to the Valley sector. The figure is small when compared to the 30,123 families taken into custody during the same period.

Asylum is asylum

Another point of contention is that the administration has suggested families that request asylum at a port of entry  about 25,000 since October  will not be split up, while families seeking the same protections will be prosecuted if their first steps in the United States are unlawful.

But the American Civil Liberties Union says that doesnt happen and has sued the Trump administration over the arbitrary practice of family separation. One ACLU client, a Congolese woman who sought asylum at San Diego, Calif., border crossing, saw her 7-year-old daughter taken away by border agents.

Related: National Guardsmen arrive on the southern border to assist immigration authorities

A federal judge in California challenged government lawyers who said the woman didnt have documents to prove her relationship to the girl. ACLU attorneys argued a prompt DNA test would have proved they were mother and daughter, but it took five months before such a test was done. Eventually, they were reunited after DNA confirmed the woman was the girls mother.

Advocates also argue the administrations distinction between seeking asylum at a port of entry and seeking asylum or some other form of protection by asking a Border Patrol agent is imbalanced.

Immigrants who arrive in the Rio Grande Valley through Tamaulipas have little choice how they enter the country, advocates point out. Organized crime uses immigrants like pieces in an elaborate chess match, strategically moving them across the border to confound border enforcement.

They shouldnt be separating families seeking asylum, said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLUs Immigrants Rights Project. The truth is even if you present yourself at a port of entry, theyre still separating families.

Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen testified in Congress that separation occurs to protect the child, but denied the administration had adopted a policy of breaking up families as a means of deterrence or punishment.

The ACLU asked for a preliminary injunction that would ban the practice of family separation, but the injunction would not stop the initial separation of the child while the parent is in criminal custody for the illegal entry.

Because the government is unwilling to justify the separations on the grounds of deterrence, theyre having to find all of these arguments that dont make a lot of sense, Gelernt said.

No risk too great

Over the past few years, the flow of migrants from the Central Americas Northern Triangle  El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras  has persisted in spite of the perilous trek through Mexico and severe immigration policies.

Immigration advocates say theres little that will deter a mother on the southern banks of the Rio Grande determined to get medical attention for her son. Or a father who will endure two days in a tractor-trailer to give his 17-year-old daughter a life he never could provide for her in Honduras.

Of the myriad cases to come before the McAllen public defenders office in recent days was that of a woman facing a second illegal entry offense. Her first arrest was with her daughter last November. They were separated, and the woman was deported.

A few days ago, she sneaked back into the country to look for her daughter, Nogueras said. After serving out her sentence, shell be deported  still without knowing the whereabouts of her child.

The separation of children from their parents is cruel, Nogueras said. This policy does not represent our American values.

anelsen@express-news.net
City Attorney Andrew Segovia warned council members in a confidential memo this week that they had been accused by a colleague of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act and could face fines and jail time.

Segovia said in the letter and in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News that he doesnt believe that theres been an infraction of the state law.

But Councilman Greg Brockhouse does. Earlier this week, he sent a letter to Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood, asking him to investigate whether the state law had been violated. His concerns stem from several closed sessions but he was spurred to send the letter after the councils decision last week not to pursue the 2020 Republican National Convention.

Segovia has instructed city officials to preserve all documents related to the matter.

Yesterday we learned Councilman Brockhouse sent a letter to District Attorney (Nico) LaHood asking for a criminal investigation concerning closed sessions held by the Council under the Texas Open Meetings Act Councilman Brockhouse also copied the Texas Attorney General and the Texas Rangers, Segovia wrote. Let me be clear, these are very serious allegations. You are being accused of crimes under the Texas Open Meetings Act in which the maximum penalty for each occurrence is a $500 fine and 30 days to 6 months in jail.

Segovia noted in an interview that the letter he sent, obtained by the newspaper, should not have been made public.

It is very disturbing that this memo was shared. It is attorney-client communication, he said. I will take appropriate measures trying to prevent that in the future and we will cooperate with any investigations that may be started by the district attorney.

Segovia said he remains convinced that council members did not violate the state law and was offering legal advice to minimize risk for the council members and the city.

The Brockhouse letter that sparked Segovias response asks LaHood to open an investigation into what he deemed clear violations of the act. He said in the letter that he could not enumerate the alleged offenses unless he were interviewed as part of an investigation because they occurred in a closed session.

Segovias letter to the mayor, council, City Manager Sheryl Sculley and members of the citys executive leadership team, directs them to preserve all documents and communications related to all Executive Session meetings including the May 3, 2018 meeting, referencing the closed session held to discuss the RNC bid, which the city decided not to submit.

The preservation of documents, Segovia said, extends to personal cell phones, computers or other electronic devices as well as personal email accounts, if communications concerning the sessions in question were transmitted on personal devices.

Going forward, please remember, that any document may be construed or characterized in a way to support any possibility of potential violations, Segovia wrote. Do not delete, erase, alter or otherwise change any electronically stored information, even if a paper copy exists.

The letter says that Segovia and his staff will communicate with the Texas Attorney General and DAs office offering to cooperate into any inquiry of investigation.

While I do not believe that we are at a point where you will need individual legal representation we will continue to monitor the matter and advise you when you may need to consider individual counsel, Segovia wrote. Please see me if you have any questions or concerns.

In a statement provided to the San Antonio Express-News, Brockhouse laid out his thinking on why he has sought an investigation by the DA. He chastised colleagues Roberto Trevino and Manny Pelaez for being Mayor Ron Nirenbergs henchmen, as theyve issued statements in responses to Brockhouses letter.

Since last summer, I have raised questions to the City Attorney about Open Meetings practices, with responses being either non-answers or we are fine. We gave the city manager $75,000 in executive session, Brockhouses Friday statement said. We decided to file lawsuits against SB4 and firefighters in executive session. We implemented the Labor Peace Agreement in executive session. We chose to not pursue the RNC in executive session.

All the while, not one legitimate legal opinion on how the mayor and his walking quorums or consensus non-decisions were not violating the Texas Open Meetings Act. So after extensive research, the only recourse left to me was to use the law. I have asked for an investigation into potential open meetings violations.

He continued: That is completely allowable under the act. The mayors henchmen, Trevino and Pelaez, are attacking me to deflect the fact I am asking fair and legitimate questions. Since I started running for office, I promised to end the backroom deals and do everything in front of the public. Too much is done behind closed doors at City Hall and it must end.

Trevino said in a statement released Friday that the allegations levied by Brockhouse are central to a criminal investigation and the outcome of San Antonio and the RNC is irrelevant.

In my time on City Council, I know the significance of conducting the citys business in the light of day so our citizens can have access to the planning and management of our City, he said in the statement. The Open Meetings Act allows our citizens to have the greatest confidence in their government as they can see the decision-making process take place. The law also recognizes some exceptions to that rule, based on sound public policy. Although these exceptions are limited, they must be carefully followed.

If a councilmember ever feels there are issues with an executive session, the available remedy is to not participate in the meeting, Trevino said.

He said Brockhouses call for an investigation was politically motivated and that he takes exception to the allegation of criminal conduct in fulfilling my responsibilities as an elected official by participating in an executive session.

There is a civil and collegial way for elected officials to test the legality of an executive session and/or the discussions, without accusing colleagues of committing a crime, Trevino said. Rhetorical grandstanding is a divisive tool that is meant to distract us from our responsibility to govern and, more importantly, from serving the people we represent.

Earlier in the week, Pelaez and Brockhouse got into a public spat on Twitter.

Pelaez made a public statement Wednesday saying that his colleagues accusations were ugly and that he was taken aback and disappointed.

His accusation that we committed criminal violations of Texas law makes for exciting red-meat politics to help bolster his aspirations to higher office, Pelaez wrote. However, if getting accused of a crime is what we get from meeting with Councilman Brockhouse, why in the world would we want to meet with him for anything else going forward?

Pelaez wrapped up his statement by commenting on what at least some of the public finds distasteful.

In my view, playing fast and loose with referrals to criminal prosecutors and law enforcement to score points is cheap and its what people hate about modern-day populist politics.

Brockhouse fired back on Twitter, noting that Pelaez had been a federal informant in a corruption case against disgraced, now-convicted James Jonas, the one-time city manager and city attorney for Crystal City.

Interesting how CM Pelaez is lax with Open Meetings, Brockhouse tweeted. Coming from a Council member whose first Council meeting was spent as a federal informant, I concur, CM Pelaez knows all about going to law enforcement.

Josh Baugh is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jbaugh@express-news.net | @jbaugh
Several adult volunteers in the Greenwich Girl Scout Service Unit were honored at the Girl Scouts of Connecticut Council annual meeting at the Oronoque Country Club in Stratford.

The GSUSA Volunteer of Excellence Pin was awarded to longtime volunteer Annie Brown, which recognizes volunteers who have contributed outstanding service while partnering directly with girls in a pathway to implement the Girl Scout leadership experiences or who have contributed outstanding service in support of the councils mission delivery to girl and adult members.

The GSUSA Appreciation Pin was awarded to Greenwich Girl Scout Service Unit Co-Managers Jung Peng and Wendy Yu, which recognizes exemplary service in support of delivering the Girl Scout leadership experience.

Volunteers celebrating milestone years of service were also celebrated: Elizabeth FitzRoy and Catherine Goff were honored for 25 years of service and Pamela Ferraro was honored for her 20 years of service.

In addition, Greenwich Girl Scout Service Unit awards were presented at the May leader meeting held at the Greenwich YWCA. These leaders were recognized for their years of service as Greenwich Girl Scout volunteers: Mary Wissman, for 15 years of service, and Wendy Yu, for 10 years of service. Recognized for outstanding service team member was Christine Baker-Rodriguez.

The Distinguished Leader Award was presented to: Maria Sole Kaine, Lori Mulligan, and Eileen Wilkinson. The Leading the Way Award was given to: Virginia Blum, Georgianna Lissauer, Frances Nobay, and Torrie Pizzolato. The Helping Hand Award was awarded to: Christina Brown, Wendy Collins, Pamela Ferraro, Megan Kelly, Cheryl Kreig, Janet Lee McMahon, Peggy Nedder, Anne Rockel and Mary Wissmann.



Joseph Dermody, an artist from Greenwich, won Best in Show in an exhibition with Community Sponsored Awards at the Rowayton Arts Center for his mixed media piece, 1995. There were 107 entries from the RAC exhibiting members in the exhibit, and award winners received cash awards and prizes donated by friends and local businesses at a recent opening reception. Amy Simon, gallery owner of Amy Simon Fine Art in Westport, chose the award winners. The exhibition will be in the RAC gallery until Saturday, June 2. The gallery is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays. The other first place winners included Keith Appleby of Rowayton, Mary Harold of Ridgefield, Chris Perry of Ridgefield, Laure Dunne of Norwalk, Bruce Horan of Stamford, Bevi Bullwinkel of Fairfield, Heide Follin of Norwalk and Bridget Cusack of Darien.



Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic honored Fiorella Beccaglia of Greenwich, a member of the Class of 2021, with the Academic Achievement Award. Beccaglia majors in political science and communication. The award was given to 200 African, Latino, Asian and Native American students during the universitys sixth annual Inclusive Excellence Awards ceremony on May 5. The students were recognized for achieving GPAs of 3.5 or higher.



Displays of research and creativity filled the Student Center at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic for the recent annual CREATE conference. Among the presenters was Keara Berisso of Riverside, who majors in English and is a member of the Class of 2019. CREATE stands for Celebrating Research Excellence and Artistic Talent at Eastern and is the universitys premier undergraduate conference of the academic year. The event featured more than 200 students of all majors who led oral and poster presentations, panel discussions, music and dance performances, art and photography exhibitions, as well as documentary viewings and new-media demonstrations.



Phillip Hoeps of Riverside, who is a member of the Class of 2018 and is majoring in economics, was one of 41 students from Eastern Connecticut State University who presented their research projects at the 2018 National Conference on Undergraduate Research last month at the University of Central Oklahoma. Hoeps' research was titled "Childhood Poverty and Educational Outcomes: Case Studies of India, Ethiopia, Peru and Vietnam." His research was completed under the supervision of professor of economics Maryanne Clifford.



Kaelan Gillick of Riverside has been inducted into the Chi Alpha Sigma honor society at Becker College in Worcester, Mass. Gillick is pursuing a degree in interactive media design with a concentration in computer game design.Chi Alpha Sigma, the National College Athlete Honor Society, recognizes junior and senior student-athletes who maintained a 3.4 to 4.0 GPA and earned a letter in their sport.
George Washingtons Revolutionary War tactics included employing spies as weapons. Their ammunition of stolen secrets influenced key events in the war and helped Washington outwit the militarily superior British forces. The Culper Spy Ring, which was the subject of the AMC series Turn, operated between New York City, Long Island, and Fairfield from 1778 to 1780. It was a spy network made up of ordinary people who took extraordinary risks to help the colonists win the Revolutionary War.

The Fairfield Museum is opening an exhibition Culper Spy Ring: The Spies of George Washington, on Friday, May 18. The exhibit features panels from a graphic novel with artwork by Kirk Manley, produced by the Fairfield Museum with support from CT Humanities. The graphic novel is available exclusively at the Museum Shop, 370 Beach Road, open daily 10am-4pm.
Dorset farmer named Dairy Woman of the Year

She was praised for her work with schoolchildren
Leading market research firm Technavio salutes motherhood by offering a huge discount on all cosmetics and toiletry reports, which are a part of its consumer and retail portfolio. The company has announced a flat discount of 30% on all the reports covered under the cosmetics and toiletry library

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Technavio has announced a massive discount of 30% off on all reports under cosmetics and toiletry sector to celebrate Mother's Day. (Photo: Business Wire)

As the world gets ready to honor mothers for their commitment, time and effort on Mother's Day, Technavio equips you with the opportunity to contribute. Technavio's market research reports on cosmetics and toiletries provide a comprehensive overview of the industry, which includes various segments such as bath and shower, cosmetics, deodorants, fragrances, hair care, oral care, skin care, anti-aging, and sun care. These reports will enable you to appropriately leverage your business to cater to the current demands of consumers.

According to a senior analyst at Technavio "There is an ever-increasing demand for natural or organic cosmetic products among customers. Use of herbal cosmetic products minimizes the chances of side effects, which will increase the demand for cosmetics among individuals."

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Some of the key focus areas in a Technavio report are:

Market landscape

Market size and forecast

Five forces analysis

Market segmentation

Key emerging trends

Drivers and challenges

Regional landscape

Vendor analysis and many more

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With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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Technavio market research analysts forecast the global transmission electron microscope marketto post a CAGR of over 7% during the forecast period, 2018-2022. The development of new forms of transmission electron microscopes to emerge as a key trend that will impact market growth.

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Technavio has published a new market research report on the global transmission electron microscope market from 2018-2022. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Since transmission electron microscopes can present the 2D images of specimens, there is a limit to the size of the specimen that needs to be viewed. Newer models of transmission electron microscopes combine the features of both transmission electron microscopes and scanning electron microscopes. For instance, Nion, a refurbishing vendor in the electron microscope market, manufactures second-generation spherical aberration correctors for transmission electron microscopes. Such developments augur well for the growth of the market.

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In this report, Technavio analysts highlight the increasing focus on nanotechnology as a key factor contributing to the growth of the global transmission electron microscope market:

Increasing focus on nanotechnology

Nanotechnology involves working with materials of various sizes, ranging from 1 to 100 nanometers. Developments in the field of nanotechnology have made transmission electron microscopes and scanning electron microscopes a necessity. These microscopes undertake the analysis of materials at atomic and molecular levels to determine structure and texture properties.

Governments across the world along with several technology firms are investing heavily in the development of nanotechnology due to its rising applications across sectors such as food, medicine, biomaterials, electronics, and microfabrication. Developed nations, such as the US, are focusing on nanotechnology development through its NNI program. Since the inception of the program in 2001, the nation has cumulatively invested more than USD 24 billion in research and development of nanotechnology for varied applications. The US government pledged USD 1.4 billion for the NNI program to support innovations and development in the field of nanotechnology in 2017.

According to a senior analyst at Technavio for computing devices research, "The increasing focus on nanotechnology for testing and analysis will lead to a worldwide increase in demand for transmission electron microscopes during the forecast period."

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Global transmission electron microscope market segmentation and analysis

This market research report segments the global transmission electron microscope marketby application (material science, life science, nanotechnology, semiconductor), by end-user (industries, academic institutions, and others), and key regions (the Americas, APAC, and EMEA).

The industries segment dominated the global transmission electron microscope market with 47% of the market share in 2017, owing to rising investments in R&D centers to develop better grade products. The others segment held the second largest share of the market due to the increase in government investments in countries such as the US and China to undertake various types of research across several fields.

In 2017, APAC dominated the global transmission electron microscope market with 57% of the market share, followed by the Americas and EMEA. APAC will register the strongest growth during the forecast period, owing to the concentration of many manufacturing and R&D facilities in the region. The increasing R&D in the semiconductor industry in the region will drive the market growth during the forecast period.

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About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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ORANGE COUNTY, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 13, 2018 / California-based entrepreneur and traffic whiz, Nick Kohlschreiber is excited to announce the launch of his digital monetization tool for social media advertisers in order to better facilitate a way to add revenue through the most used platform in the world. Utilizing advanced technologies, the model builds upon the unprecedented growth of networking websites, namely Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, to rapidly and cost-effectively build an engaging brand reputation that converts potential customers. "Today, almost every business has its own Facebook profile," stated Kohlschreiber, "but many of them, particularly smaller to midsize companies, need assistance in order to gain visibility online and grow their business. We are here to help them achieve that."

While many in his industry still claim that social media is too difficult and expensive to monetize, Nick Kohlschreiber is actively using a platform that can be roughly applied to any vertical and has been doing so for years. Dating back to the successes of his first company in the solar energy sector, the entrepreneur was able to effectively drive traffic and generate growth via the Internet. After perfecting these marketing techniques and assembling a world-class team of IT experts, Kohlschreiber is now disclosing his tactics with those who need it most - small businesses and innovative entrepreneurs. "Due to the constantly increasing number of new social media platforms, generating sales and revenues through those channels has become a science in itself," he elaborated. "Many clients do not realize that these networking sites can be used for much more than connecting with an existing or potential customer base."

From building brand awareness to optimizing lifetime consumer revenue, dedicated teams construct individualized roadmaps for each client to achieve their goals and assure continued success. Without divulging any proprietary information, Kohlschreiber explained that his company gets the basics right first by creating a passionate audience of robust size across multiple platforms to learn from and engage with. Once accomplished, detailed content and media plans effectively spread promotions, advertise products, and attract customers to online stores. Accompanied by advanced metrics that track monetization efforts at every stage, the team is able to determine which channels and what consumers will provide the best return on investment for each client. Ultimately, the company's success lies in this data. The advanced analytic technology developed by Kohlschreiber allows for his client's businesses to create an authentic online customer base, leverage that audience, and then transition them to the desired product or service.

Traffic guru, Nick Kohlschreiber is a renowned entrepreneur and the developer of creative marketing solutions that ensure the organic proliferation of new businesses. He founded his first company in 2010 and was able to grow it until a successful exit at a multiple of ten times its original value, developing it into several larger businesses that he continues to manage today. Currently, the owner of a media company based in Newport Beach, Kohlschreiber is an enthusiast for originality and innovation, urging employees and clients alike to, "Think Big, Go Far."

Nick Kohlschreiber - Expert in Modern Marketing: http://www.nickkohlschreibernews.com

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After Nawaz Sharif's revelation of Pakistan role in 26/11 attacks, RSS and India not only deserves an apology from Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh and Kripashankar Singh for willfully instigating discontent in the society

Former prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, made a stunning revelation on Saturday. Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors  should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete the trial? he said.

This is a clear confession on the role of the Pakistani State in perpetrating the heinous 26/11 attacks on Mumbai. This fact coming to light has very major internal political implications for India as well.

It can be recalled that a book titled, 26/11: RSS ki Saazish? (26/11: An RSS Conspiracy?) was authored by Aziz Burney, the then editor-in-chief of Sahara Urdu newspaper. The contents of the book insinuated that the attacks happened as a result of a joint conspiracy between RSS, CIA, and Mossad.

The said book was inaugurated by Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh not once but twice, once in Delhi and then in Mumbai again. The inauguration event in Mumbai in December 2010 was also attended by the then Congress MLA Kripashanker Singh, Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt, the then Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi, and former Maharashtra IGP SM Mushrif, who had himself authored Who Killed Karkare?  another controversial book.

To be fair to Burney, he did apologise for the title of his book shortly after the launch of the book. However, other public figures who attended the inauguration of the book have chosen to be mum till now. No apology of any kind was returned by Digvijaya, Kripashankar, Azmi, etc.

Having said that, a mere apology is also not enough to repatriate the damage which these people did to not only the public image of the RSS but also the posturing of our country at the international level. By this ludicrous proposition, they planted a doubt in the minds of the international community about the definitive role of Pakistan in the 26/11 attacks.

Though the hypothesis of the controversial book was made highly redundant when David Headley testified corroborating the role of the Pakistani State in perpetrating the Mumbai attacks.

Now, in the light of the confession by Sharif, India not only deserves an apology from these politicians with folded hands but should also criminally prosecute these individuals for willfully instigating discontent in the society.

The Indian Penal Code under Section 153A makes someone criminally liable who promotes enmity between different groups on the ground of religion. Also, under Section 153B, one whose actions are prejudicial to the national integration of our country, is made criminally liable as well.

Clearly, Digvijaya, Kripashankar, and his ilk have a criminal liability under these provisions not just towards the RSS but also towards the nation as a whole.

These incidents are also indicative of the politics of the Congress, which rests not on a constructive agenda but a destructive one, even if it comes at the cost of the reputation and integrity of the country.

It is surprising that the political class of India, especially that of the Congress and Samajwadi Party, has no sense of accountability before practicing such divisive politics. It is incumbent upon the Congress and the Samajwadi Party to show these leaders their place and tender a collective apology, much like what was done to Mani Shankar Aiyar.

It is also up to Indians as responsible citizens of the country that they dont let the political discourse touch this nadir, where winning an election becomes much more important for the political parties than catering to the national interest of the country.

The author is a senior fellow with the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Bombay, Mumbai.
The alumni of AMU gathered in Delhi on Sunday to protest the attack on the students of the institute, allegedly by members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini.

New Delhi: Braving the dust storm and rain that hit the national capital on Sunday, the alumni of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) gathered in Delhi in the evening to protest the attack on the students of the institute, allegedly by members of the right-wing Hindu Yuva Vahini group.

Despite the rain and strong winds, close to 100 former students of the university staged a sit-in in a lane opposite the FICCI auditorium at Barakhamba Road.

Members of the alumni association of the Jamia Millia Islamia as well as the Jawaharlal Nehru Unversity (JNU) also joined the "silent protest".

Holding placards denouncing the attack on the university and its students, the AMU Old Boys' Association (AMUOBA) and others alleged that the incident was politically motivated to disrupt communal harmony.

AMUOBA president Irshad Ahmed, while speaking to mediapersons, sought a judicial inquiry into the attack earlier this month over a portrait of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah on the university campus.

They also demanded the suspension of the police officers who allegedly assaulted the students when they had gone to lodge an FIR against the attack, allegedly by the Hindu Yuva Vahini.

According to sources, about 20 students were treated for injuries suffered due to police action to disperse AMU students.

The alumni association demanded quashing of the FIRs lodged against the university students and action against the "actual culprits".

General secretary of the association Mudassir Hayat, who was also present at the protest, said the 2 May attack had nothing to do with Jinnah's portrait as it had been hanging there since 1938.

He alleged that it was an attempt to disrupt the function to grant life membership of the students' union to former vice-president Hamid Ansari. The event had to be called off due to the incident.

If the portrait was to be removed, there was a proper procedure and protocol to be followed for that, Hayat added.

The protest that started at 5 pm went on till about 7 pm.
Army Chief General Bipin Rawat will begin a four-day visit to Sri Lanka on Monday with an aim to take forward the military cooperation between the two countries to the 'next level'.

New Delhi: Army chief General Bipin Rawat will begin a four-day visit to Sri Lanka on Monday with an aim to take forward the military cooperation between the two countries to the "next level". General Rawat's maiden visit to the island nation as the Army Chief comes amid growing concern in the security establishment here about China's persistent efforts to expand its influence over Colombo.

The army said General Rawat will hold talks with top political and military leadership of Sri Lanka and explore new areas of military-to-military cooperation between the ground forces of the two countries. "He is scheduled to meet the senior-most political and military hierarchy of Sri Lanka. The visit assumes significance in light of India's persistent efforts to strengthen the existing bonds of friendship and military cooperation based on mutual interests and understanding," the army said in a statement.

It said the focus of the visit would be to take forward the military-to-military cooperation between the two countries to the "next level". In December last, Sri Lanka had handed over the control of the southern sea port of Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease, triggering concerns here.

Sri Lanka had later clarified that the port will not be used as a military base and it will not engage in any activities which may harm India's security interests.

Apart from meeting the senior leadership of the three services of Sri Lanka, Gen Rawat is also scheduled to meet the regional military commanders in Kandy and Trincomalee, army officials said. The regional commanders of the Lankan army are considered very influential in military matters. The army said the visit of General Rawat is reflective of India's persistent efforts to strengthen the existing bonds of friendship and military cooperation based on mutual interests and understanding.

"Indian Army has been catering not only for varied training requirements of the Sri Lankan Army, including imparting specific tailor-made training in different fields, but also providing military hardware support," the Army said. The chief of the Army Staff will be inaugurating a communication laboratory at School of Signals in Kandy. The laboratory has been established by the Indian Army to train the personnel of Sri Lanka Army's Signal Corps. General Rawat will also be visiting the Sri Lanka Military Academy in Diyatalawa.
The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) is expected to declare the results for Class 10th board examinations at 4.30 pm on 26 June. Students can check the result on biharboard.ac.in.

The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has released the results for Class 10th board examinations at 4.30 pm on 26 June. Students can check the result on the official board website, biharboard.ac.in. Students can also check their results at News18Bihar.com.

The board had announced the Class 12th results on 6 June.

The Bihar board Class 10th results were initially scheduled to be released on 10 May whereas the HSC +2 results were scheduled to be released on 12 May. The Class 10th result was then postponed to 20 May and Class 12th result postponed to 18 May.

A total of 17,70,42 lakh students sat for the BSEB Class 10th exams and 12,07,986 students appeared for the BSEB Class 12th board exam in 2018. The Class 10th exams were held from 21 to 28 February, while the Class 12th exams were held from 6 to 16 February.

Here is how Class 10th and Class 12th students can respectively check their results:

- Go to the board's official website: biharboard.ac.in.

- Click on the link displayed on the site for Class 10th results.

- Enter your roll number and other details and press submit.

- Take a printout of your results for future reference.

NDTV reported that this year, the Bihar board used bar-coded answer sheets instead of the normal ones to avoid cheating and other unfair practices. The board had also introduced 50 percent objective questions for which students were provided with a different OMR sheet. Officials have completed evaluating the answer sheets and are now decoding the same, the report adds.

According to a report in DNA, the BSEB conducts Annual Secondary School Examinations every year in the month of February/March and Supplementary School Examination in the month of August/September on the basis of course/syllabus as prescribed by the state government.

As has been observed over the course of the past few weeks, the dates and times of result announcements have been frequently changed around. The information above has not been independently verified. However, this article will continue to be updated to reflect official updates as and when they come in.
In Kerala, the police force faces huge pressure to comply with the ruling CPM's diktats. The Mohammed Fazal murder case exemplifies this.

Kerala police chief Loknath Behra has ordered a probe into the alleged open display of political affiliation by Kerala Police Officers Association, one of the three associations representing the police force from constables to the officers, except those in the IPS cadre.

The bitter experience of a senior officer, who refused to budge to political bosses, may perhaps explain why police men are keen to align with ruling parties. K Radhakrishnan, whose life was ruined by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) after he was asked to head a special team to investigate a political murder, recounted his experience to Firstpost in the context of the raging debate over the politicisation of the police force.

Trouble started for Radhakrishnan due to his investigation into the murder of Mohammed Fazal, a member of the National Development Front (NDF), in the politically sensitive Kannur district on 22 October 2006. The probe had led to senior leaders of the then ruling CPM.

His finding came at a time when the party tried to lay the blame at the doorstep of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Curiously, the partys version was believed by the NDF leaders and even Fazals own brother then. An annoyed then home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who is now the state secretary of the CPM, asked him to backtrack. When Radhakrishnan refused, his team was disbanded and the investigation handed over to the Crime Branch.

However, Fazals wife disagreed with the partys version and moved the High Court for a CBI probe. The CBI that took over the investigation on the High Court order, found Radhakrishnans findings correct and arrested two senior Kannur CPM party leaders, Karayi Chandrashekharan and Karayi Rajan in connection with the murder. The two are currently out on bail.

The agency found that the duo had masterminded the murder as Fazal had switched over from the CPM to the NDF and weaned away many active party workers. The prime accused in the case is MK Sunil Kumar, alias Kodi Suni, who had been convicted in the case of the murder of CPM renegade TP Chandrashekharan.

Though the CBI has cracked the Fazal case, the death of two key witnesses in the case still remains a mystery. Radhakrishnan suspects the role of Fazal's killers behind the death of BJP leader and advocate Valsaraja Kurup and Panchara Shinil, a former member of the CPMs action team, who had passed information regarding the suspected involvement of the CPM leaders in the Fazal murder.

Though Radhakrishnan, a former activist of the CPMs students wing (SFI) kept off the probe, the party members were not ready to spare him. A group of 60 party activists led by a leader from Taliparamba swooped on a house in Taliparamaba in December 2006 alleging that he had gone there for immoral activities and brutally attacked him.

While his friend, who also sustained injuries in the attack, died a month after the incident, the police officer had to undergo treatment for more than one-and-a-half-years to regain his health. Radhakrishnan, who was suspended following the attack, was reinstated in service after the High Court acquitted him in the immoral activity case.

However, the government raked up an old case and placed him under suspension again. Though the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) quashed the suspension order on 31 August 2017, the government has challenged it in the high court.

Radhakrishnan, who was conferred IPS on 9 November, 2016, has four more years of service left. He does not believe that he will get his police cap back as long as this government is in office. Radhakrishnan had met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in September 2017 and expressed his difficulties in pulling on with his life without a job. However, according to him the latter has not shown any compassion.

Radhakirshnan, who has two children to educate and a huge housing loan to repay, is now living at the mercy of his relatives. This is not the plight of Radhakrishnan alone. Many police officers who have defied the party diktat have faced similar harassment.

In fact, one of the first decisions of this government after assuming office in May 2016 was the removal of TP Senkumar from the position of state police chief. He had to wage a long legal battle to get back the post, which was taken away from him in violation of the Supreme Court guidelines.

Most officers, who held key positions during the previous Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) governments term, were pushed into oblivion and those loyal to the CPM were brought in their place. The message sent out by the action produced results, with the police associations changing colours within six months.

The pro-UDF faction of the Kerala Police Association was replaced with LDF loyalists in the election held in October 2016. The election saw the pro-LDF faction registering victory in all the 27 police districts and all prominent members of the pro-UDF faction, including the then KPA general secretary GR Ajith Kumar, losing the election.

The association changing colours with the change of governments ever since the cops were allowed to organise themselves in 1979 for their welfare is a common phenomenon in the state. However, what has surprised the top brass is the open display of their political affiliation by the current crop of the association's leaders.

Though the association has been functioning on political lines, the leaders sought to openly show their kinship with the ruling party at its annual conference this year. Accordingly, the association changed the blue colour of their flag and official emblem to red. Slogans too were altered to please the political bosses at the beginning of some district conferences.

The original colour of the emblem, flags and the martyrs column was restored and the slogans changed at the annual meet that began on 13 May following the inquiry ordered by the police chief and widespread criticism from various quarters.

However, whether this change will reflect in their functioning is the million-dollar question every peace loving Keralite asks. Kannur District Congress Committee president Satheeshan Pacheni is not optimistic. He told Firstpost that CPM had well-entrenched fractions in every police station to safeguard the partys interests and they will not change their loyalty unless strong action is taken against them.

The Congress leader does not expect this as long as Pinarayi Vijayan continues at the helm of the government. In fact, he has appointed a senior party leader from Kannur in the home department to take care of the partys interests. MV Jayarajan, who was appointed as his private secretary, is coordinating the party factions in the police stations, with the help of former DGP Raman Srivastava, who is advisor to the chief minister.

Jayarajan, who is involved in several criminal cases and even convicted in a contempt of court case, is exercising his control over the police machinery through middle-level officers. He has a firm grip on the police in Kannur where the party is waging a bloody battle with the RSS for political supremacy. It is virtual cell rule in Kannur, he added.

Satheeshan said that the CPM was sustaining the atmosphere of violence in Kannur with the help of the police. This is one of the major reasons for the continuation of political violence in the district. Political clashes in the district have claimed more than 250 lives in the past three decades.

The Congress leader said that the CPM was continuing its killing spree in Kannur with the help of the police. The Congress leader said that the CPM had tried to torpedo the recent Suhaib murder case by producing such dummy culprits.

Though Kannur SP Shiv Vikram had brought the attempt to the limelight, no action was taken either against him or his subordinates who tried to derail the investigation by leaking the probe details to the culprits. Also, no attempt was made to apprehend the remaining suspects in the case.

Shiv Vikaram is a relatively junior IPS officer. Though he is neutral, he has not been able to assert himself. In fact, the party has tied his hands. He has been reduced to a mere spectator, Satheeshan said.

The Congress leader is not ready to blame the police for the politicisation. He said that the CPM has been dragging them into politics for its vested interests. It is difficult for police officers to survive under the LDF regime without surrendering to the party diktats, according to him.

Leaders of the Opposition parties have viewed this with concern and warned that the state may have to pay a big price if the trend is allowed to continue. They pointed out that the politicisation was also leading to criminalization of the force.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said that politicisation of the police was the prime reason for the rise in police atrocities and custodial deaths that the state is witnessing now. The chief minister should understand this and take immediate corrective measures before the state plunges into total chaos, he added.

Police should be governed by the spirit of IPC and CrPC not by the diktat of political bosses. Politicising the police and ignoring its effect on law and order situation is like playing with fire, the Opposition leader said.
A Dalit man was killed for allegedly teasing a woman, following which her husband, the accused, was arrested on Sunday in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district, police said.

Ahmedabad: A Dalit man was killed for allegedly teasing a woman, following which her husband, the accused, was arrested on Sunday in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district, police said. Pradip Rathod (21) was killed on 29 March in Timbi village in Umrala taluka of Bhavnagar and his family, at the time, had complained to the police that he was murdered as some upper caste men were infuriated with the fact that he rode a horse.

Superintendent of Police PL Mal on Sunday said that a farm labourer, identified as Munna Koli, was arrested from his native Padna village in Ahmedabad district. Koli has told police that Pradip used to tease his wife, the official said.

"Koli worked as a labourer in a nearby farm and has said that Pradip, while moving about the area on horseback, would tease his wife while he was away at work," Mal said. The official said that the woman complained to Koli and he confronted Pradip on 29 March. "During the course of argument, Koli killed Pradip with a sickle," Mal said.

He said that Koli, along with his wife, mother and children, left the place soon after and moved back to their native Padna village in Ahmedabad.

"We zeroed in on them after finding out that the family had been missing from the village, where the incident happened, since the day of the murder. A police team reached Koli's village and picked him up," Mal said. In his complaint to Umrala police immediately after the killing, the victim's father, Kalubhai Rathod, had claimed that some upper caste Rajput men held a grudge against his son after he bought a horse recently.

He had said in his complaint that these men had threatened to kill his son if he didn't sell off the horse. The police on Sunday said that the people named in the victim's father's complaint were not behind the killing.
The Delhi government has decided to provide a last chance for registration to unrecognised private schools in the national capital which were earlier directed to discontinue all educational activities from this academic session.

The Delhi government has decided to provide a last chance for registration to unrecognised private schools in the national capital which were earlier directed to discontinue all educational activities from this academic session.

The schools have been asked to furnish information including address, infrastructure, land area and the number of students studying among other parameters, to consider granting them recognition. "In order to provide an opportunity to the unrecognised schools of getting themselves registered, the department has created a proforma seeking relevant information," the Directorate of Education (DoE) said in a communication to the unrecognised schools.

The government also plans to use the information to "draw up a database for future policy decisions and monitoring by DoE". "Besides, the information sought is also necessary to identify the addresses of such unrecognised schools as well as to fetch the information of students studying in these schools with a view to ensure their studies further in case the concerned schools face the action of closure," the DoE letter said.

The government had in February directed all societies, trusts, agencies, organisations or individuals running unrecognised schools to discontinue the educational activities from the academic session 2018-19 failing or face action.

Delhi residents were also advised to get their wards admitted only in those schools which are run as well as recognised by either DoE or any other local authorities such as municipal councils as it may jeopardise the academic future of the children.

The unrecognised schools have been asked to furnish the information by 31 May.
The Delhi Metro told the high court in New Delhi that a nominal fee is charged for drinking water and toilets at its stations to prevent the misuse of these facilities.

New Delhi: The Delhi Metro told the high court in New Delhi that a nominal fee is charged for drinking water and toilets at its stations to prevent the misuse of these facilities.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), however, also said that someone who is unable to pay the charges will be provided drinking water or use of toilets free of cost if they approach the staff at the stations.

The submissions by the DMRC were made in an affidavit filed before a bench of Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice AK Chawla which is hearing a lawyer's appeal against a single judge's order that a commuter on the metro does not have a right to free drinking water.

The single judge had said that a person has a right to drinking water, but not for free.

The order had come on a plea by advocate Kush Kalra who had sought directions to the DMRC to provide free drinking water and toilets at its stations.

In his plea, filed through advocate Kush Sharma, Kalra also alleged that there is a lack of dustbins inside several metro stations.

Refuting the claims of the petitioner, the metro in its affidavit has said it has set up water ATMs at its stations which provide water at a charge of Rs 2 per glass. Apart from that, there are kiosks and shops which sell drinking water, it said and added that commuters are free to carry their own drinking water.

It also said that it has put in place transparent dustbins in all the stations.

The DMRC in its affidavit has further stated that its stations cannot be equated with airports as commuters stay at a station for around five minutes, while they have to wait for hours at airports.

The affidavit was filed in response to the court's query on the last date of hearing regarding the DMRC's policy to not provide free drinking water to the passengers.

The bench on the last date had pulled up the Delhi Metro for not providing free drinking water or toilet facilities to commuters inside the stations, asking whether it has lost "a sense of human problems".

"You go anywhere in the world, there are toilets in the metro stations. In London, the volume of traffic is not as much as we have. Show us the data and reasons for not providing these facilities. You have this policy in place for the last 14 years," the bench had said.
Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz's daughter and eminent media personality Muneeza Hashmi was invited to attend a media summit in Delhi but was allegedly not allowed to take part in it without being offered an explanation, media sources said.

Moneeza Hashmi, daughter of Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, was barred from participating in a media summit in New Delhi she'd been invited to and offered no explanation, according to several media reports.

The Hindu reported that Hashmi, an eminent media personality, was withdrawn as a speaker at the last minute for the 15th Asia Media Summit which was held from 10 to 12 May in New Delhi.

Hashmi's son Ali took to Twitter to express his anger, tagging the Prime Minister's Office and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj:

@PMOIndia @SushmaSwaraj

This is your #ShiningIndia??

My 72 year old mother, daughter of #Faiz denied permission to participate in conference after being officially invited#Shamehttps://t.co/9bnc0E2OZd  Ali Hashmi (@Ali_Madeeh) May 12, 2018

However, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and Prasar Bharti, who hosted the event said that they are not aware of any such incident, according to a report in News 18. According to the report, Faiz Foundation Trust sources said that when Hashmi reached her hotel, she was told that there was no booking in her name.

Hashmi was later informed by Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) director Chang Jin that she wouldnt be allowed to speak. Jin reportedly told her, We were just informed that you cannot attend the conference and apologised, according to the News18 report.

The Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), which was also hosting the summit in Delhi, denied any knowledge of this last-minute change, according to the The Hindu report.

More than 200 foreign delegates attended the summit hosted by India for the first time, with 54 speakers but there was no representative from Pakistan, according to the report.

According to a report in Pakistan Today, Hashmi told her Indian friends she was not going to speak of this and would prefer to return to Pakistan without making an issue of it, but the story found its way into the media.
After years of deliberations, the Indian Army has finalised a mega Rs 15,000-crore project under which a range of ammunition for its critical weapons and tanks will be produced indigenously to overcome long delays in imports and address the problem of a dwindling stockpile

New Delhi: After years of deliberations, the army has finalised a mega Rs 15,000-crore project under which a range of ammunition for its critical weapons and tanks will be produced indigenously to overcome long delays in imports and address the problem of a dwindling stockpile.

Official sources told PTI that 11 private firms would be involved in the ambitious project, the implementation of which is being monitored by the top brass of the army and the Defence Ministry.

The immediate aim of the closely guarded project  said to be the biggest ever initiative for the indigenisation of ammunition  is to create an inventory for all major weapons to enable the forces to fight a 30-day war while the long-term objective is to cut dependence on imports.

"The overall cost of the project has been pegged at Rs 15,000 crore and we have set a specific target for the next 10 years in terms of the volume of ammunition to be produced," a senior government official involved in the project said, refusing to elaborate further.

Initially, ammunition for a range of rockets, air defence system, artillery guns, infantry combat vehicles, grenade launchers and various other field weapons would be produced under "strict timelines", a source said.

The production targets would be revised based on the result of the first phase of the implementation of the programme.

The sources indicated the broad contours of the project were discussed at a conference of the army's top commanders here last month.

The initiative is seen as the first serious attempt by the government to address growing concerns voiced over the last many years by defence forces over the fast dwindling stockpile of key ammunition when China has been significantly ramping up its military capability, an issue that has been discussed by successive governments.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has been pushing for fast-tracking the procurement of weapons and ammunition for the world's second-largest standing army, considering the evolving security threats in the region.

"The indigenisation of the ammunition project will be biggest such programme in decades," said the official.

In July last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in a report tabled in Parliament, said a stock of only 61 types of ammunition out of 152 varieties was available, and these would only last for 10 days in the event of a war.

According to laid down security protocol, the stockpile should be adequate for a month-long war.

The sources said long delays in negotiations and subsequent procedural hurdles in the import of ammunition had adversely impacted the country's defence preparedness and that was why the indigenisation programme had been initiated.

Last year, the government had empowered the army to directly procure ammunition and spares for 10 types of weapon systems and equipment after an internal review found the optimum level of "war stores" was not being maintained.

Considering the army's demand, the government has already finalised one of the biggest procurement plans for infantry modernisation under which large numbers of light machine guns, battle carbines and assault rifles are being purchased at a cost of nearly Rs 40,000 crore.
An IndiGo airline employee has been arrested for making a hoax call regarding a bomb on a Mumbai-bound flight at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

New Delhi: An IndiGo airline employee has been arrested for making a hoax call regarding a bomb on a Mumbai-bound flight at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, police said on Sunday.

Kartik Madhav Bhat, 23, made the call and it was received at the Indigo Airlines office in the cargo complex of the airport at 8.15 a.m. on 2 May, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Bhatia.

Subsequently, a few Mumbai-bound flights were checked and the call was declared a hoax.

A case was registered and police zeroed in on the owner of the mobile phone from which the call was made. Bhat was finally located in Pune.

The accused is serving as customer service officer in Indigo airlines at the Pune airport.

Bhat told police that his job performance was not up to the mark and he had been given a verbal notice to improve his performance in three months or face action.

"He was depressed and made the call out of frustration and to teach a lesson to the airlines. The phone's SIM card has been seized from him," the official said.
Nepal Premier KP Sharma Oli thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after his visit to the Himalayan nation

Kathmandu: Nepal Premier KP Sharma Oli on Sunday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after his visit to the Himalayan nation.

"Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi ji and I have agreed, during Modi ji's successful state visit to Nepal, to address the outstanding tasks between the two countries in a time-bound manner," Oli tweeted as he thanked Modi for his visit to Kathmandu.

Prime Minister of India, His Excellency Sri Narendra Modi ji and I have agreed, during Modi Ji's successful State Visit to Nepal, to address in a time bound manner outstanding issues between our two countries. This will further strengthen Nepal-India relations.  K P Sharma Oli (@kpsharmaoli) May 13, 2018

Modi on Saturday wrapped up his two-day visit to Nepal during which he held talks with Oli and visited the famed 20th century Janaki temple, Mukhtinath and Pashupatinath temples.

Oli also briefed Nepal's Parliament about Modi's visit.

He said Nepal's engagement in the Ramayan Circuit, laying the foundation stone for Arun III Hydropower Project among others, were the major achievements of the trip.

He said the visit elevated the existing relationship between the two neighbouring countries to new heights.

The two countries have also agreed to expedite implementation of all pending projects of bilateral cooperation by Nepal's Constitution Day in September, said Oli adding that multiple bilateral ministerial meetings will be held.

The two countries have also agreed to form a task force of technicians to explore possibilities of developing railways and waterways, he said.

Oli also said he would soon pay an official visit to China but did not disclose the date of the trip.
RJD national president Lalu Prasad will leave for Ranchi on Monday on the expiry of the three-day parole granted to him by prison authorities in the Jharkhand capital for attending the wedding of his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, a close aide said on Sunday

Patna: RJD national president Lalu Prasad will leave for Ranchi on Monday on the expiry of the three-day parole granted to him by prison authorities in the Jharkhand capital for attending the wedding of his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, a close aide said on Sunday. The RJD supremo, who is serving sentences in a number of fodder scam cases, is also scheduled to complete formalities for availing a six-week provisional bail granted to him by the Jharkhand High Court last week for medical treatment.

"Lalu ji will leave for Ranchi on Monday morning. We will try to get the formalities of bail competed as early as possible though it is unlikely before Tuesday. "Once he secures bail and returns, a decision regarding his further treatment will be taken," RJD national general secretary and MLA Bhola Yadav, who had accompanied the party supremo on his flight from Ranchi to Patna on Thursday evening, told PTI.

The septuagenarian former Bihar chief minister, who suffers from diabetes, blood pressure, kidney problems and other ailments, had been serving his sentences at the RIMS hospital in Ranchi and was granted bail by the High Court on Friday on medical grounds.

He was also admitted to AIIMS, New Delhi, for several weeks from where he was brought back to RIMS earlier this month evoking strong protests from RJD members who alleged that their supremo was discharged at the instance of the NDA government at the Centre. Meanwhile, hours after the solemnisation of the marriage of his son, the RJD supremo enjoyed a feast of rice and fish curry at the house of Chandrika Rai, party MLA and father of his daughter-in-law Aishwarya. He was accompanied by a number of RJD leaders including national vice-president Shivanand Tiwari.

Feast of rice and fish curry is part of Bihari tradition of "Machhli Bhaat", wherein family members of the groom enjoy the meal at the house of the bride, a day after the marriage ceremony with the newly-weds in attendance.
Nine people including three farmers died of lightning in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, officials said.

Hyderabad: Nine people including three farmers died of lightning in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, officials said.

The three farmers died of lightning in Telangana's Mancherial district early in the day while six deaths were reported from Srikakulam district in north coastal Andhra.

The farmers were killed in their field in Arepalli village. According to police, the farmers had gone to their fields to protect the paddy from rains. The deceased have been identified as R Rajaiah, K Bapu and J Ramesh.

The farmers were trying to place covers on the paddy kept in the field after cutting but did not succeed due to strong winds and rains. In the meantime, they were struck by lightning.

When they did not return home, their family members went to the field and found their bodies.

Meanwhile, six persons died of lightning in separate incidents in Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam district. Heavy rains accompanied by gusty winds have been lashing Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts since early Sunday.

Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have been experiencing thunderstorm and unseasonal rains for more than a week.

The Met office has forecast thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds at isolated places in various districts of Telangana and coastal Andhra on Sunday and Monday. Some parts of the two states are likely to record maximum temperature between 42 and 44 degrees Celsius.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday advised the security forces to ensure safety and security of civilian life and property while carrying out anti-militancy operations

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday advised the security forces to ensure safety and security of civilian life and property while carrying out anti-militancy operations, an official statement said.

Chairing the unified headquarters meeting, the apex grid of all security forces and intelligence agencies in Jammu and Kashmir, she "asked the security agencies to adopt a calibrated response to various situations during the coming month of Ramadan, tourist season and Amarnath Yatra".

In the meeting, where she reviewed the overall security situation in the state, including the situation along the borders, Mufti stressed that the security agencies should "provide secure environment and hassle free movement during the coming holy month".

Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta was also present in the meeting.

"Addressing the meeting, the Chief Minister stressed upon the security and intelligence agencies to synchronize their efforts and actions on the ground, while dealing with the challenging situations, through strict adherence to prescribed Standard Operating Procedures," read the statement.

"She underscored the need for engaging meaningfully with the people, particularly youth, so that they are able to gainfully contribute to the society," said the statement, adding she also urged "increased community policing activities and enhanced outreach by the administration".

"Mehbooba Mufti also stressed on continued coordination among various agencies at each level," it said.

Top civil, military, paramilitary, state police and central and state intelligence officers attended the meeting.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday dubbed as a serious disclosure Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif publicly acknowledging that militant organisations were active in his country and said it proved India's position that the handlers of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack were in Pakistan.

New Delhi: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday dubbed as a serious disclosure Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif publicly acknowledging that militant organisations were active in his country and said it proved India's position that the handlers of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack were in Pakistan.

For the first time, Sharif also questioned Pakistan's policy to allow the "non-state actors" to cross the border and "kill" people in Mumbai, according to a media report. Well, it is very serious disclosure. India's position has been that the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack operated from Pakistan. We strongly believe that the handlers of the attack were in Pakistan," Sitharaman told a press conference here, in response to a query. It (Sharif's remarks) only proves that India's stand has been right all the way, she said.

Sharif, who has been disqualified to hold public office for life by his country's Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, said Pakistan has isolated itself. "We have isolated ourselves. Despite giving sacrifices, our narrative is not being accepted. Afghanistan's narrative is being accepted, but ours is not. We must look into it, Sharif told Dawn.

Without naming Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and Maulana Masood Azhar's militant organisations  Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Jaish-e-Mohammad,  operating in the country with impunity, Sharif said, Militant organisations are active in Pakistan."

To a question on Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti's call for a unilateral ceasefire in the state during the month of Ramadan till completion of the Amarnath Yatra, Sitharaman said, I think it is important to handle Jammu and Kashmir affairs with a great deal of sensitivity. The Indian Army will have to make sure that India is a safe country. It has to handle firmly any terrorism which threatens peace and harmony of Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of India also.

To a query on Karnataka exit polls, she said the BJP will form the government as the Congress will face defeat. On Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah's comment that he was ready to make way for a Dalit to take his place in the government if the Congress leadership wished so, Sitharaman said, I never heard this during the campaigning.
The Supreme Court has expressed concern about overcrowding in prisons across the country, in some cases beyond 150 percent of the capacity

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has expressed concern about overcrowding in prisons across the country, in some cases beyond 150 percent of the capacity, and asked all the high courts to consider the issue as it involves "violation of human rights".

The apex court requested the chief justices of the high courts to take up the matter as a suo-motu (on its own) writ petition and referred to a note given by an advocate, assisting the court as an amicus curiae, in this regard.

"It appears from the note given by amicus curiae that the issue of overcrowding in prisons is not being taken seriously by the prison authorities. There are several prisons where the overcrowding is well beyond 100 percent and in some cases it exceeds 150 percent," a bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta said.

"In our opinion, this matter should be considered by each high court independently with the assistance of the State Legal Services Authority/High Court Legal Services Committee so that there is some sanity in the overcrowding in prisons since it involves violation of human rights," it said.

The bench asked the apex court's secretary general to send a copy of its order to the registrar general of every high court for necessary steps and report back to it.

The apex court also dealt with the issue of vacancy of staff in jails and observed that "little interest" was being shown by the authorities and state governments in recruiting staff in prisons.

It asked the chief justice of each high court to also take up this issue as a suo-motu writ petition.

Meanwhile, the Centre informed the bench that the Ministry of Women and Child Development was conducting a study through the National Commission for Women and the National Law University on women prisoners and their children and it would be completed by 30 June.

The government said that the ministry would look into the study and take necessary steps within three weeks.

The bench has posted the matter for further hearing on 2 August.

The Centre also apprised the court that steps were being taken to encourage setting up of 'open prisons' and a model uniform rules for the administration of open correctional institutions have already been framed.

Semi-open prisons or open prisons allow convicts to work outside the jail premises and earn a livelihood and return in the evening.

The concept was brought in to assimilate the convicts with the society and reduce their psychological pressure as they faced lack of confidence in leading normal lives outside.

During the hearing, the amicus informed the apex court that there were 63 open prisons across the country but the existing capacity was not being fully utilised.

"We expect the state governments concerned to not only try and utilise the existing capacity of these open prisons and if necessary increase the existing capacity of these open prisons in due course of time. The state governments and Union Territory administrations should also seriously consider the feasibility of establishing open prisons in as many locations as possible," the bench said.

Regarding undertrial review committees, the bench was informed by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) that a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the committee was ready.

These committees, set up in every district, deliberates and recommends the release of undertrials and convicts who have undergone their sentences or are entitled to be released from jail due to bail or remission granted to them.

The amicus said that he would look into it and might have some further discussions with the NALSA and the SOP would be finalised by 30 June.

"As soon as the SOP is finalised, it should be circulated to all the district judges and undertrial review committees for implementation. If and when there are some constraints in the implementation of the SOP, it should be brought to the notice of NALSA so that necessary or corrective measures can be taken," the court said.

The bench was also told that the Bureau of Police Research and Development has prepared some training manuals for prison officers and prison warders.

The apex court had earlier taken strong exception to overcrowded jails and said that prisoners also have human rights and they cannot be kept in jail like "animals".

The court, which is hearing a matter relating to inhuman conditions prevailing in 1,382 prisons across the country, had earlier passed a slew of directions over unnatural deaths in jails and on prison reforms across India.
The Tamil Nadu Directorate of Government Examinations (TNDGE) has announced the Tamil Nadu HSC +2 Examination Results or Tamil Nadu Class 12th examination results.

The Tamil Nadu Directorate of Government Examinations (TNDGE) has announced the Tamil Nadu HSC +2 Examination Results or Tamil Nadu Class 12th examination results. The DGE has released The TNDGE HSC +2 result in 2018 on the official website tnresults.nic.in. The TNDGE Class 12 examination results will also be available on dge1.tn.nic.in.

The TN Class 12th examinations were conducted from 1 March to 6 April. And the evaluation process for the Class 10 board exams had begun on 12 April.

Steps to check the results

- Go to the official website tnresults.nic.in

- Click on the link TNDGE Class 12th Results 2018 or TNDGE HSC +2 Examination Results

- Enter registration number.

- Download and print the result for future reference.

According to NDTV, the TNDGE will not be releasing the toppers' list this year in order to reduce the stress that students usually go through. "CBSE is already following this, and why because other students who get even one mark less (than the rank holders) face severe stress. The practice of announcing the first three rank holders at the state and district level is being done away with," School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan was quoted as saying.

In 2017, the Tamil Nadu Class 12th results were declared on 12 May. In 2017, the overall pass percentage recorded a marginal increase to 92.1 percent, as compared to 91.4 percent in 2016.
The Congress let its ally NCP contest in the by-election to the Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha constituency fearing that a section of NCP workers might not cooperate if it had fielded its leader Nana Patole from the seat, sources have said.

New Delhi: The Congress let its ally NCP contest in the by-election to the Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha constituency fearing that a section of NCP workers might not cooperate if it had fielded its leader Nana Patole from the seat, sources have said.

Patole, who as a BJP candidate had defeated NCP heavyweight Praful Patel from the constituency in the 2014 parliamentary election, was keen on contesting on a Congress ticket this time, the sources said.

Patole quit as the BJP MP and resigned from the ruling party to return to the Congress earlier this year, necessitating the by-election.

The sources added that fielding Patole, who quit the BJP criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis over several issues including agrarian crisis, would have made the ruling party leave no stone unturned to see the former MP was defeated in the 28 May by-election.

Had Patole contested, the BJP would have launched an aggressive campaign to defeat him given his criticism of Modi and Fadnavis. "Plus, in such a scenario, the possibility of local NCP workers helping the BJP was always there. To avoid this, the party gave up its claim on the seat, one of the sources added.

Besides Bhandara-Gondia, by-election will be held in Palghar constituency, where the Congress has fielded its candidate, on the same day. The Congress is banking on former MP Damodar Shingda to win the Palghar seat, the sources added. The Congress and NCP have already decided to contest the bypolls in alliance. The NCP has fielded Madhukar Kukade in BhandaraGondia.

Hemant Patle and Rajendra Gavit are the BJP candidates for the Bhandara-Gondia and Palghar seats respectively. Gavit had crossed over to the BJP from the Congress and given the party's ticket on 8 May. The bypoll in Bhandara-Gondia seat was necessitated after Patole resigned as the MP. The Palghar seat fell vacant after BJP MP Chintaman Vanaga passed away earlier this year.

The results of the by-elections will be announced on 31 May.
BJP president Amit Shah asserted the party would form the next government in Karnataka, a day after the polling took place in the high-stakes Assembly poll.

Panaji: BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday asserted the party would form the next government in Karnataka, a day after the polling took place in the high-stakes Assembly poll in the southern state.

"The BJP will form the government in Karnataka on 15 May evening after the results," Shah said while addressing a gathering of around 15,000 BJP workers at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium near Panaji.

Most of the post-poll surveys have predicted the BJP to emerge as the single largest party in Karnataka, with the JD(S) of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda likely to emerge as the kingmaker.

Any party or alliance will need the support of 112 MLAs to form the new government.

Polling was held on Saturday in 222 constituencies in Karnataka, currently ruled by the Congress.

Shah who spoke on various issues, recalled the cross-border surgical strike launched by Indian forces on terrorist launch pads in 2016. He said after US and Israel, the country is now known to avenge the killings of its soldiers

During the meeting on Sunday, a video message of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is undergoing treatment in the USA since March this year, was also played. In the message, Parrikar announced that he would return to his home state within the next few weeks.

Recalling Parrikar's tenure as defence minister, Shah described him as a "hardworking person with a grip on the administration".

"The Uri attack happened when Parrikar was the defence minister. In the attack, soldiers were burnt to death alive. The entire country was shocked. Parrikar was then the defence minister under the prime ministership of Narendra Modi...Within ten days of the attack, our soldiers went to the PoK and took revenge through the surgical strike," he said.

A total of 17 army personnel were killed after four heavily-armed militants attacked an Indian Army brigade headquarters in Uri, near the Line of Control in a pre-dawn ambush on 18 September, 2016.

"...Post this (surgical strike), India is known worldwide for two identities:a country before the surgical strike and the country after the strike...After America and Israel, India is now counted amongst the nations that take revenge of the death of its soldiers," he said.

On the mining crisis in the coastal state, Shah said the issue would be resolved through court only.

"I don't want to speak much on the issue, but I want to assure the people of Goa that the mining crisis which has arisen due to the court order would be solved through court only," he said.

The Goa government had last week resolved to file a review petition against the Supreme Court order of February this year quashing the second renewal of iron ore mining leases given to 88 companies in Goa in 2015, which brought the mining industry in the coastal state to a halt.
The Congress on Sunday hit back at the BJP for 'protecting its corrupt leaders and Mmnisters' and slammed defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday hit back at the BJP for "protecting its corrupt leaders and ministers" and slammed defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman for her silence on key defence controversies, including the Rafale deal.

It said the Income Tax Department was a "caged bird" of the BJP-led government and action against senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambaram over a disproportionate assets case was "politically motivated".

Addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP had not replied to questions over the Rafale price, Vyapam scam, PDS scam in Chhattisgarh, mining scam in Rajasthan and cases involving Union Minister Piyush Goyal, and BJP chief Amit Shah's son Jay Shah.

"When will the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister respond to the Rs 58,000 crore Rafale scam? You also snatched offset business of Rs 30,000 cr from HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) in Bengaluru and gave it to your friend, who has no experience in this field. First, you give answers to these questions and then talk about other issues," Khera said.

In a press conference held earlier in the day over the Income Tax Department's chargesheet against Chidambaram for alleged non-disclosure of assets held abroad, defence minister Sitharaman asked if Congress President Rahul Gandhi will probe the matter against one of his senior colleagues.

Khera said Chidambaram had already clarified his stand on the issue and he would challenge the Income Tax Department's action in a court of law.

Taking a dig at Sitharaman, Khera said the minister always took a lead in responding to all issues, except those related to her ministry, the Rafale deal and other defence deals.

"The defence minister chooses to defend her party only. Defence of the country is not her priority. She is not interested in even talking about the welfare of Army or providing resources to the Army," he said.

The Congress leader criticised top BJP leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, including Speaker Nirmal Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta for buying land rights next to the Army's ammunition depot in Nagrota.

Khera also said that the government should not behave like the Opposition and give answers to the questions affecting the common man.

"There is no answer to all these issues in the last four years. And new questions are surfacing every day. These questions are related to the life of a common man. You are mired in corruption from head to toe. Who will answer those questions?" he asked.
Exit polls in Karnataka reveal that there is no major anti-incumbency against the Siddaramaiah government and the JD(S) will play a significant role.

Although exit polls in Karnataka have thrown up a variety of possible outcomes, certain broad trends have emerged.

- Firstly, there is no visible anger against the Siddaramaiah government. There is no strong anti-incumbency sentiment, independent of whether the Congress retains the state or not. Most exit polls predict a hung Assembly. The fractured verdict, as per the prediction of exit polls, reveals that the electorate is not decisive in rejecting the incumbent government. A few polls even predict that Siddaramaiah will retain power. One possible explanation for this is the massive welfare agenda of the Congress government. As growth has increased in this millennium, governments flush with funds have begun implementing several welfare schemes, which are often described by critics as populist policies. This is resulting in a trend wherein anti-incumbency is not always a given.

- While the JD(S) may or may not be the kingmaker, it is expected to emerge as a key player. Though the party has lost ground, it is still a force to reckon with in Karnataka. The political relevance of the party indicates that caste-based political loyalties still hold sway to an extent. The performance of the JD(S) is significant in view of the polarised contest between the Congress and BJP. The exit polls are unanimous in predicting that although the strength of Deve Gowdas party has declined, it may still be able to win a substantial number of seats. These can prove to be crucial if there is a hung Assembly. But contrary to speculation, the JD(S) may not have enough strength to demand the chief minister's post for Kumaraswamy as it is likely to be way behind the BJP and Congress. Only some magic arithmetic would make either of the national parties desperate enough to agree to a chief minister from the JD(S). Such a possibility would be politically awkward and unstable.

- Although Karnataka has witnessed a triangular contest at the macro level, the contest at the ground level is more or less between the Congress on one side and the BJP or the JD(S) on the other. This is due to the social and geographical distribution of the political influence of the BJP and JD(S). The BJP is popular in north and central Karnataka while the JD(S) is strong in the Old Mysuru region and southern Karnataka. While BJP enjoys the support of Lingayats despite Siddaramaiah wielding the separate religious identity card, the JD(S) is rallying the Vokkaliga community voters. Thus, the BJP and JD(S) are not competitors in the political and electoral arena of the state. There seems to be an undeclared understanding between the BJP and JD(S), giving the Congress anxious moments. The BJP reportedly fielded weak candidates wherever the JD(S) had winning chances against the Congress. The JD(S) reciprocated with a similar choice of candidates.

-Narendra Modi has found it difficult to demonstrate an extraordinary performance in an election where he is pitted against strong regional satraps  such as Siddaramaiah. Narendra Modi's magic did not work in the Delhi and Bihar Assembly elections, where Arvind Kejriwal and Nitish Kumar challenged Narendra Modi. Similarly, despite a pro-Modi national mood, the BJP did not fare well in Telangana , West Bengal etc. where regional satraps challenged it. More recently, the BJP had to bite the dust as Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati  two strong leaders in Uttar Pradesh  joined forces. Thus, it may not be easy for Modi to dislodge Siddaramaiah despite the states history of voting out incumbents.

-The BJP's slogan of Congress-mukt Bharat is far from fulfilled. This is evident from the Congress improved performance in Gujarat and the sleepless nights the BJP has had to undergo to counter the Congress in Karnataka. It is an indication of things to come for the saffron party in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where it has to face anti-incumbency. The results of bypolls in Rajasthan and local body polls elsewhere reveal the trend that Modi in 2018 is not the Modi in 2014 . The Congress' popularity had suffered significant erosion at the hands of the Modi-led BJP. However, it remain the only pan-Indian challenger to the BJP and is expected to benefit from a possible anti-Modi sentiment, especially in the states where it is in direct conflict with the BJP .
If the Karnataka Assembly Election 2018 was any different from 2013, it was in the alternate narrative that Congress built by positioning Siddaramaiah as the poster boy to counter the trio of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP party chief Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath

Bengaluru: Blatant corruption, nepotism, aggressive Hindutva agenda and caste politics that overtook the election mood in Karnataka culminated on 12 May. It stood out starkly more than ever before. Five crore voters were up on Saturday to decide the fate of ruling Congress, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (Secular), though only 70 percent of them showed up according to the Election Commissions data. The three big parties are expecting to make a decisive mandate of crossing the halfway mark of 112 seats and set course for 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The election was devoid of any dominant issue, unlike in 2013, when corruption and land scam cases took the centre stage, which led to the saffron party taking a hit. If this election was any different from the previous one, it was in the alternate narrative that Congress built by positioning chief ministerial candidate Siddaramaiah as the poster boy to counter the trio of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP party chief Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who through the course of the campaign reduced state leaders like BS Yeddyurappa and Ananth Kumar Hegde to formalities.

By not fielding any Muslim and Christian candidates, the party that runs 21 states in the country has sent out an immature message. Congress leaders too, in a bid to counter the Hindutva card, visited religious mutt leaders and temples.

While Yeddyurappa laid low, he has been confident of forming the next government. By getting the state Cabinet to give Lingayats the religious minority tag, Siddaramaiah gave BSY a minor jolt. From handling the inter-state Cauvery crisis to opening Indira canteen for the poor and doling out farm loan waivers, Siddaramaiah has tried to project himself as a messiah of the masses while hoping to dilute the anti-incumbency factor.

However, Congress has failed to handle the urban mess in Bengaluru. From last-minute approval of road projects to mishandling sewage problems and lake development initiatives, citizens did not get a fair deal. However, the capitals response would be telling.

The Rajarajeshwari Nagar incident, where over 10,000 voter cards were found in a flat allegedly owned by aides of incumbent Congress MLA Munirathna, leading to the postponement of polls in the seat, made a mockery of democracy. A day before the election, many complaints were received by the election body about cash-for-votes.

The saffron party highlighted the issue and is expecting to grab at least half of the 28 assembly seats in Bengaluru. They did not capitalise on the entry of erstwhile Congressman and ex-chief minister SM Krishna in BJP, but those who were jailed and thrown out of the party during the last term received a nice treatment this time.

Congress banked on its "corruption-free" administration but left more to be done in strengthening its workforce at the booth level during campaign days. It also faltered by compromising on the partys ideology by giving tickets to at least 10 MLAs who defected to Congress from JD(S), BJP and other local parties. The Grand Old Party proved that it is no better compared to other parties on this.

Except for Rahul Gandhi, the national party president, no other national leaders were given importance and generous time on stage along with Siddaramaiah. This is also a litmus test for Rahul before the 2019 elections, and the result may also break or make the confidence of a prospective third front.

On 15 May, the election results will finally show just what did really matter to the people who queued up outside polling booths on Saturday to elect their MLAs. It will reveal who they prefer on the throne in Karnataka.

(The author is a Bengaluru-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters)
During Karnataka polls, there was mud-slinging and allegations, caste equations and mutt visits, histories and histrionics. Thus was lost the opportunity to debate and discuss, once in five years, the issues that matter.

One of the three big elections before the grand final next year is over. Predictably, there was mud-slinging and allegations, caste equations and mutt visits, histories and histrionics: With a pinch of alternative facts. Thus was lost the opportunity to debate and discuss, once in five years, the issues that matter: Or should matter. And there was no dearth of such issues, as we found traversing the state.

Consider the water scarcity. When the South African city of Cape Town was running out of water in March, media outlets speculated on the fate of other cities. In one listicle, Bengaluru was named as one Indian city most likely to meet the fate of Cape Town very soon. The fifth metro has been suffering from perennial water woes. Then, how surprising would it be that when the once-in-five-years vote time came, people and politicians of this city debated all and sundry matters but not water?

Karnataka has been facing a constant drought-like condition for the past three years, but the response from the Siddaramaiah government could not be any worse. In contrast, the SM Krishna government was better at tackling drought in Mysore and the adjoining regions. But what appears to be lacking is a consistent approach to tackle a drought-like situation. In Mysore and its adjoining regions, sugarcane and rice are grown which are water-intensive crops.

Since the area becomes arable only if Cauvery water is supplied, it is essential now to devise methods of harvesting rainwater and use modern agricultural technology like drip irrigation to reduce the consumption of water. A strong commitment to making Karnataka use its water resources judiciously and conserve water in the region would find resonance among people. In the entire state with diversified crop and growing urbanisation, a commitment to make plans to conserve water and creating a promising futuristic scenario will find wider acceptability.

While travelling across the state, one got a distinct feeling of voters being addressed and treated  rather, targeted  in a strategic manner. Technology and data are used to amplify communication and create a political smokescreen to divert attention from the real issues. Take, for example, the manner in which the water issue was cursorily mentioned in the election discourse. Just across Bengaluru, on the way to Mysore, youd find the cultivation of paddy and sugarcane. The region is known as a sugarcane belt with a thriving sugar industry. Yet, the shortage of water is extremely acute. The Cauvery river, the lifeline for the social economy of the region, has practically dried up.

In a state where the agriculture is quite diverse, technology can be used to maximise the usage of water for agriculture. At the same time, there can be a serious discussion on protecting the green cover to conserve water and build structures to harvest rainwater. In and around Bengaluru, water tables have gone down to alarming levels. The forest cover is gradually dwindling thanks to the thriving business of timber mafias. The mining of sand is an issue which is nagging people who have to purchase it at an exorbitant cost. The non-availability of sand and its reckless mining, with the help of sitting legislators, mostly of the Congress, has caused a lot of social resentment.

While travelling along the highway connecting Bengaluru to Tumkur, Chitradurga and Chennagere, one passes through a beautiful landscape dotted with splendid hillocks. But most of these hillocks look barren as reckless cutting of trees has turned the region into an ecologically fragile zone. Mahima Patel, JD(U) candidate from Cehnnagere and son of former Karnataka chief minister JH Patel, said he was involved in a campaign for reforestation of the area which faced destruction on an industrial scale.

But none of these issues were adequately articulated in the din of the election campaign punctuated by fierce rhetoric on sectarian lines. If someone talked about Vokkaligas, Lingayats, Kuruba, everybody paid full attention. People talked of Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs masterstroke in granting the minority religion status to the Lingayats. Analysts sought to discern a touch of strategic brilliance in BJP president Amit Shahs attempt to co-opt smaller castes falling into the category of scheduled castes or OBCs.

Other issues ignored amid the election din

1) Nitty-gritty of governance

As the din of election campaign reached its peak, the debate went further and further in the past  from K Thimayya to Bhagat Singh  and less and less was said about the future of the state. How did the two main contending parties plan to take the state on the path of development? Urbanisation in Karnataka is chaos, giving a free hand to land mafia and corrupt real-estate developers. A concrete roadmap for urbanisation would have found better resonance among people. Beyond the platitudes of manifestos, little was said about the specific roadmap for governance.

2) Track record

The Congress has ruled the state for the full five years, and the other contender, BJP, had not only ruled the state earlier but has been in power at the Centre for four years. Yet, both sides seemed shy of debating, comparing and publicly evaluating their achievements. When this was attempted, it was more to show the other in a bad light.

For example, Congress campaigners frequently told their audiences, largely comprising of voluble urban voters, that the NDA government at the Centre despite its majority had little to show. This question got traction among a section of people divided on caste and communal loyalties. The BJP, in turn, responded by arguing that the Congress had done little in over six decades.

3) Social divisions

Though Karnataka is known as the engine of Indias IT power, Siddaramaiahs politics of divide and rule made it look like Bihar of the Lalu era. The way he propped up one caste against the other, he seemed to be fascinated by the Bihari leader without realising the deleterious impact of Lalus model. In search of votes, he declared the Lingayat as a minority religion. No wonder, among enlightened Kannadigas, the prevailing sentiment was Save us from Siddaramaiah.

4) Parochialism

Historically and culturally, Karnataka has always rejected parochialism of any variety or social division on caste and communal lines. Karnataka has always chosen the political course which is aligned to national politics. This time, there was a determined attempt to push the state towards the path of sub-nationalism, which as a political tool, has failed in states where regional parties are strong. Siddaramaiahs tactic may prove to be a gross injustice for people of the state.

This article appears in the 1-15 May edition of Governance Now
Former union finance minister P Chidambaram hit back at Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today with a tongue-in-cheek tweet, saying that there was a buzz she would be removed from the cabinet and appointed a lawyer of the Income Tax Department.

Former union finance minister P Chidambaram hit back at Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today with a tongue-in-cheek tweet, saying that there was a buzz she would be removed from the cabinet and appointed a lawyer of the Income Tax Department.

Chidambaram's dig on Twitter came soon after the Defence Minister wondered if the filing of charge sheets by the I-T department against his family members was the Congress party's "Nawaz Sharif moment".

The Defence Minister was referring to the Pakistan Supreme Court's decision disqualifying its former prime minister from holding office because of non-disclosure of assets and income earned abroad.

The Congress leader reminded the ruling BJP of its failure to bring back black money from abroad and deposit Rs 15 lakh in every Indian's bank account, as promised by it before the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The buzz in Delhi is that Ms Nirmala Sitharaman will be removed as Defence Minister and appointed as a lawyer of the Income-tax department. Welcome to the bar, Ms Sitharaman, he tweeted.

The president of the richest political party in India is dreaming of billions of dollars! Bring the money back and put Rs 15 lakhs in the account of every Indian as you promised," he tweeted, without naming BJP president Amit Shah.

The Income Tax department on 11 May filed charge sheets against Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets.

Sitharaman also asked if Congress president Rahul Gandhi would investigate the issue involving his party's senior leader.
India's defence minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday held a press conference on the charges of corruption against former finance minister and Congress leader, P Chidambaram.

On Sunday, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hit out at Congress leader P Chidambaram over the chargesheets filed against him for allegedly failing to disclose foreign assets and dared Congress president Rahul Gandhi to act against him.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who is himself out on bail should come out and tell us if he is going to investigate this case involving one of his leaders: Smt @nsitharaman https://t.co/WRg1W367M4 || https://t.co/Vqy6bKYSW3 #BlackMoneyOfPC  BJP (@BJP4India) May 13, 2018

At a press conference held in BJP's central office in New Delhi, Sitharaman said this was 'Congress' Nawaz Sharif moment'  referring to the former Pakistan prime minister's ouster from public office in 2017 following his conviction in the undisclosed foreign assets case  and said that Rahul, who is out on bail in the National Herald case, should make it clear if he is going to act as head of the Congress.

According to a report in The Indian Express, Sitharaman said Chidambaram, his wife Nalini, son Karti and daughter-in-law Srinidhi along with a firm linked to Karti  Chess Global  have been accused of not revealing, either partly or fully, immovable assets worth Rs 5.37 crore, property worth Rs 80 lakh in the United Kingdom and assets worth Rs 3.28 crore in the United States.

As per a report in NewsX, Sitharaman, recalling her governments stance over black money said, In pursuit of black money, time was given to disclose the assets and bring them to public notice. If convicted, the Act will levy 120 percent tax and penalty on the undisclosed assets and income. And when proven guilty, it will invite jail term".

Sitharaman accused Chidambaram of not disclosing his investments to the tax authorities from 2009 and said he has now been charged with violating the black money law, which was brought by Modi government as part of its drive against black money and to prosecute those Indians who have secretly stashed illicit wealth abroad, according to a News18 report.

Meanwhile, BJP chief Amit Shah also took to Twitter to target Chidambaram: "Under the black money Act, four chargesheets have been filed against P Chidambaram and his family for possessing and operating several illegal assets and accounts in foreign countries. I-T estimates illegal assets held by UPA's finance minister to be to the tune of three billion dollars."

"This explains why despite Supreme Court's orders Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh and then finance minister P Chidambaram dragged their feet on formation of SIT, one of the first decisions taken by Modi government to fight black money! How could they indict their own selves?" Shah further tweeted in a scathing attack on the Opposition.

Chidambaram who has been charged with non-disclosure of his foreign assets and irregularities in Income-Tax returns over several years, said on Friday that all allegations against him and his family are "baseless". Chidambaram's son Karti is an accused in the Aircel-Maxis deal and the INOX Media case and has been charged with of money laundering and corruption.

The Income Tax Department issued four chargesheets against Chidambarams wife Nalini, son Karti and his wife Srinidhi under Section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, on 11 May, 2018, in a Chennai city court and the family members have been summoned by the department for questioning on 11 June.
Tripura governor Tathagata Roy expressed hope that the people of West Bengal will be able to cast their vote peacefully during tomorrow's panchayat polls.

Kolkata: Tripura governor Tathagata Roy expressed hope that the people of West Bengal will be able to cast their vote peacefully during tomorrow's panchayat polls.

Roy, a former president of the BJP's West Bengal unit and a former member of the BJP's national executive, on the sidelines of an event here, told reporters that people should be allowed to cast vote without difficulty and in conformity.

On 10 May, the Supreme Court directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to ensure "free and fair" panchayat elections on 14 May in the state.

The apex court ordered the SEC to ensure that the polls are conducted in "absolute fairness," keeping in view of the concept of "purity of an election in a democracy".

Asked about his views on the polls, Roy said: "I wish the panchayat polls is conducted on Monday as per the directions of Supreme Court and go by the pre-scheduled fixtures".

"We hope the life of no person will be under threat. We hope the vote will be peaceful", he said. Roy made it clear that this was his personal view and not as the governor of another state and refused to further drawn into the issue.

After a protracted legal battle, the panchayat polls will be held tomorrow in West Bengal amid tight security. The panchayat votes will be the last major elections in the state before next year's Lok Sabha polls. Polling will begin at 7 am tomorrow and end at 5 pm. The counting will take place on 17 May.
The rural elections will be held in 621 zilla parishads and 6,157 panchayat samitis, besides in 31,827 gram panchayats, spread across 20 districts on 14 May

Kolkata: Campaigning for the 14 May panchayat polls in West Bengal came to an end on Saturday.

The rural elections will be held in 621 zilla parishads and 6,157 panchayat samitis, besides in 31,827 gram panchayats, spread across 20 districts on 14 May, the State Election Commission said.

The polling will begin at 7 am and end at 5 pm and counting will take place on 17 May, the commission said.

The run up to the polls which witnessed a series of court cases, also experienced of several clashes across districts between supporters of the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition BJP, Congress and the Left.

Amid intense violence, the Opposition parties accused the State Election Commission (SEC) of not providing enabling environment for their candidates to file nominations. They also accused the ruling Trinamool for unleashing a reign of terror during the nomination process for the polls.

On the other hand, Trinamool termed these allegations baseless and appealed voters to vote for development.

The BJP, which has been trying to emerge as the main challenger to the Trinamool, promised development in rural areas if it is come to power while the Left Front and the Congress had appealed to the voters to defeat the Trinamool and BJP in Bengal.
The West Bengal panchayat polls have not only kicked off a political battle but also infighting within families at many places where relatives are pitted against each other in an intense contest.

Kolkata: The West Bengal panchayat polls have not only kicked off a political battle but also infighting within families at many places where relatives are pitted against each other in an intense contest. The three-tier polls, spread across over 58,000 seats scheduled for Monday, have several instances where a father is pitted against his son, a mother is being challenged by her daughter, a son-in-law is taking on his father-in-law and a brother is slugging it out in the poll battlefield against his sister.

Prominent parties including the TMC, the BJP and the Left have obliged competing relatives by fielding them on their symbol to capitalise on the family popularity in the respective areas. For instance, in Alipurduar district, a retired school teacher Bhognarayan Das is contesting on a TMC ticket against his son Amal, who is a BJP candidate.

Das, 68, had asked his son to refrain from contesting the polls as it might cause animosity within the family, but he refused to withdraw. "I had told my father that politics is all about political belief and ideology. And our political battle won't cause any harm to our relations," Amal said. In North 24 Parganas district's Jagulia gram panchayat, two daughters-in-law of the same family are contesting each other. While Rima Das is in the field on a TMC ticket, her elder sister-in-law Bulbul Das is contesting as an Independent candidate.

However, the two are of the opinion that politics did not create a rift in their family as "politics has nothing to do with personal relationships". In Nadia, Taldaha-Majhdia gram panchayat, three members of the same family are pitted against each other but poll rivalry has not soured their bonding. Bablu Roy, the sitting TMC candidate, is fighting against his sister-in-law Aduri Roy, who is a BJP candidate, while his uncle Laxman Roy is fighting as an Independent with support from the Left Front.

"Whoever wins the poll will be from our family and will work for the development of our village and the two defeated will support him or her," Bablu told PTI. The three, who are part of a 10-member strong joint family, make it a point to have their lunch and dinner with other family members after a day's campaign, just as it used to be earlier.

There are also examples of family rivalry where relatives are taking on each other in the polls to settle score. Partha Pratim Das, a TMC Zilla Parishad candidate from East Midnapore district, is miffed that his wife Lipika contesting on a BJP ticket in a nearby seat. Lipika, on the other hand, said she wanted to teach her husband a lesson as her pleas to shun politics for several years have fallen on deaf ears.

"We are living separately for the past few years," Das said. In Alipurduar district, two sisters-in-law  Tushi Roy Sarkar and Aripta Roy Sarkar  are fighting from Chaporerpar gram panchayat seats with Tushi as a TMC candidate and Arpita as Independent nominee. According to their father-in-law Dhananjay Roy Sarkar, a TMC loyalist in Alipurduar district, Arpita is contesting as an Independent as she was denied a ticket despite being an old timer. According to political leaders of various parties, rural polls in West Bengal, since its beginning in 1978, has witnessed a peculiar trend where family rivalry results in kin contesting against each other either on a party ticket or as Independents.

"Although there are cases of bonhomie between family members fighting against each other, in most cases family rivalry comes into politics where there is a competition to outdo each other in electoral battle," CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty told PTI.

Senior TMC leader Nirmal Ghosh also agreed with his views but added there were instances where political rivalry also divided a family. "When you are in a political battle, it hardly matters what is your relation with your opponent. What matters is victory and this leads to the political fight entering into a family," Ghosh told PTI. State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said as the elections were held across thousands of seats, in most cases political parties had no other choice but to give tickets to members of the same family.

According to West Bengal State Election Commission sources, of the 48,650 seats in 3,358 gram panchayats, 16,814 were uncontested and of the 9,217 seats in 341 panchayat samitis, 3,059 were uncontested. In the 20 zilla parishads, 203 of the 825 seats were uncontested. They said Monday's elections will be held in 621 zilla parishads and 6,157 panchayat samitis, besides 31,827 gram panchayats.
Anirudh Regidi

Editor's Note: This copy was published on 22 June, 2018. It is being republished in light of the Supreme Court's verdict on the constitutionality of Aadhaar likely being pronounced tomorrow. For the past four months, cyberlaw expert and certified information privacy professional Asheeta Regidi has been following the proceedings of the Aadhaar case in the Supreme Court for tech2. As we approach the judgment in this, the second-longest hearing in the history of the Supreme Court, here's a glance at the major arguments made over the past 38 days of hearings.

Lack of integrity in Aadhaar enrolment and authentication

The arguments against Aadhaar began with the assertion that data collection was happening in the absence of a law, that personnel were not qualified to collect and handle sensitive data and that the biometric process itself was unreliable. Fingerprints can be cloned and iris scanners bypassed.

To add to this, it was argued that firstly, the collection of biometric information is itself a violation of the fundamental right to bodily integrity. Further, it was argued that the receipt of government benefits on the conditional waiver of constitutional rights is unconstitutional.

On day 7 of the hearings, an affidavit by a cybersecurity expert was presented, which stated that enrolment centres were illegally retaining biometric data, a fact that neither the UIDAI and the people were aware of. The affidavit also enumerated six ways of hacking Aadhaar.

Petitioners also pointed out the leakage of data compromises the system.

On day 13 of the hearing, petitioners made the argument that people cannot be asked to give their biometrics if criminality of proof of offence hasnt been proved.

Further, it is currently assumed that biometrics were captured properly the first time. A failure to authenticate later is seen as an attempt at duplicity.

It was also pointed out that the UIDAI didnt have ownership of the software involved in biometric data collection, further putting the Aadhaar system at risk. The Aadhaar Act requires complete ownership.

On day 18, petitioners argued that the use of uncertain and unproven biometric technology was a violation of Articles 14 and 21, and that a thumbprint and iris scan are both not unique and changeable.

Test of validity

The petitioners argued that there was no law for data collection prior to 2016. Therefore, Aadhaar violated the privacy of citizens without any legal basis for doing so.

They also argued that the large-scale collection and storage of data did not meet the test of proportionality. In other words, the petitioners are arguing that the ends (efficient disbursal of welfare benefits) did not justify the means (breaching the right to privacy of a billion plus citizens).

The petitioners argued that when the potential for harm is overwhelming, the standards of scrutiny for the Act enabling the harm must be higher, and Aadhaar does not meet these standards.

Retrospective validation of Aadhaar

While Aadhaar was launched in 2009, it was only given a legal basis in 2016. This, argue the petitioners, is significant because informed consent cannot be assumed in retrospect. The fundamental right to privacy cannot be violated in retrospect.

India is a nation thats governed by law, argue the petitioners, not by people. Depriving a person of life or liberty is only possible with the authority of the law. To add to this, Aadhaar was enforced in direct violation of several Supreme Court orders mandating that Aadhaar be voluntary.

On day 12 of the hearing, the Bench agreed, stating that while an absence of law could be supplemented in retrospect, a breach of law could not be validated in retrospect.

On the validity of Section 59 as a validating provision

Section 59 of the Aadhaar Act retrospectively validates the acts of the government prior to 2016, when the Aadhaar Act was passed. The bench stated that while the section does not grant retrospective validity to the acts of the govt, it deems them to have been done after the passing of the Act. The petitioners questioned if it was even possible to have such a provision. They also argued that since Section 59 only deems the Act to be valid from 2016 as opposed to 2009, the act is invalid.

They also argued that trying to correct the absence of a law and the absence of safeguards in retrospect, as Section 59 attempts to do, cannot be legal. For example, the collection of data before 2016 happened without informed consent, which cannot be retrospectively assumed.

On Aadhaar Act passing as a money bill

Petitioners argued that Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act (which establishes the link with Aadhaar as a money bill), was not essential to the Act. An amendment to the Food Securities Act would have sufficed, they argued.

Without Section 7, Aadhaar cannot be treated as a Money Bill and would only establish a new mode of identification. It was argued that Section 7 gives too much power to the State or a private entity to deny any other form of authentication. It was also noted that the Section 7 was in direct violation of an earlier Supreme Court order, making the mandating of Aadhaar an impermissible executive exercise.

On day 15, Senior Counsel Arvind Datar argued that for Aadhaar to be classified as a money bill, it would have to be bound by its Statement of Objects. Since private parties are allowed to use Aadhaar (as per Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act), the Bench observed that the Act then loses its nexus with a money bill.

The petitioners pointed out that the Rajya Sabha had recommended the deletion of Section 57 and the provision of an opt-out clause.

The primary argument against the passing of Aadhaar as a money bill, however, is that a bill so passed bypasses the Rajya Sabha and the president. This, it was argued, requires very careful and strict interpretation to classify a given bill as a money bill.

Aadhaar as a surveillance tool

The petitioners further argued that Aadhaar could be used as a surveillance tool and that secret surveillance had the ability to undermine a democracy. More importantly, there is a need to protect the future generations from such surveillance. They also argued that while surveillance by a private entity like Google existed, Google was an optional service. To add to that, surveillance by the State can cause much greater harm.

The Supreme Court countered some of the Aadhaar-surveillance arguments with an observation that similar data collection happens when a person uses an iPhone or an ATM.

The Bench also asked how data collection via Aadhaar was different from data collection via a PAN card linked to the Income Tax department, say. The petitioners explained that the problem with Aadhaar was the centralisation of data collection. Data that was normally in silos was now in one place, making it much simpler to track an individual. Ultimately, they argued that its not even about data collection, but about an architecture that enables pervasive surveillance.

Kapil Sibal went so far as to call Aadhaar an RTI tool (Right to Information) for the State for information on citizens.

The Bench here pointed out that the Aadhaar Act cannot be questioned on its potential for misuse. The petitioners countered that given the amount of information that was being taken by the State, surveillance was a reality.

On day 9 of the Aadhaar hearing, petitioners brought up the 2011 destruction of the UK ID card database, a biometric database that was found to be too intrusive and thus, unconstitutional. The petitioners further argued that Aadhaar is even more intrusive because it also collects metadata, not just biometrics (as defined by Regulation 26).

On day 10, petitioners pointed out that information is knowledge, information which, in silos, amounted to nothing. They also pointed to the high valuation of WhatsApp, which was based entirely on its potential to generate information on its users. A nationalised ID is fine as long as it is private and not in a centralised database.

On day 11, they argued that Aadhaar cannot survive in the absence of a data protection law, given that it treats data as property.

On day 12, the Bench raised the question of privacy vs national security. The Bench noted that the State has a legitimate interest in monitoring the web to secure the nation against cyberattacks and terrorist activities. The petitioners countered that Aadhaar was dealing with an entire population, not terrorists. Also, the stated purpose of the Aadhaar Act is not that of surveillance.

Pointing to the case of Szabo vs Hungary, petitioners argued that a system of secret surveillance set up on the grounds of defending democracy, entails a risk of undermining or even destroying democracy.

Responsibility and redressal

It was also argued that there is no redressal mechanism in place for dealing with violations because of or related to Aadhaar. The UIDAI took no responsibility for the data while still going ahead and funding the SRDHs (State Resident Data Hub) without any sort of statutory approval.

The petitioners argued that sharing of data with the SRDH was illegal and impermissible under the Aadhaar Act. They also pointed out that there was no evidence that third parties like SRDHs and registrars destroyed biometric data, as they should have done once the Aadhaar Act was passed.

Challenging the States claims about Aadhaar

The governments claims of Rs 17,000 crores in savings via MNREGA and LPG subsidy via Aadhaar were challenged, with the petitioners claiming that the actual numbers were nearer the Rs 220 Crore mark. A World Bank report claiming $11 billion in savings due to Aadhaar was also brought into question, with petitioners bringing up the fact that a senior World Bank official resigned over issues with data integrity. Petitioners also pointed out that some of the savings could also be attributed to previous schemes.

They pointed out that any law cannot violate a fundamental right in retrospect.

The petitioners argued that the goverment assumed that identity fraud was the only cause of leakages. They claimed that the government used older reports to make assessments and that the State would otherwise be unable to present any evidence to justify the infringement of rights as a result of enforcing Aadhaar.

It was also argued that the scope of Aadhaar was being extend far beyond the scope of the Act.

If you dont have Aadhaar, youre a crook

Petitioners argued that Aadhaar was premised on the assumption that India is a nation of knaves. If you dont have Aadhaar, youre a crook, and this leads to a breakdown of trust between the nation and its residents, they argued.

Petitioners also brought up the issues of starvation deaths and other such examples, all of which were caused by Aadhaar-linkage failures. Even school children were denied attendance because their fingerprints didnt match.

Nobody has been excluded because of Aadhaar

The petitioners argued that since the Aadhaar project was causing more exclusion than inclusion, it was unconstitutional and a violation of Article 14, the right to equality. The Bench argued that exclusion was happening right now due to factors like infrastructure or old age, which can be remedied via upgrades. When it was pointed out that exclusion was happening right now, the State countered saying that nobody has been excluded due to the lack of Aadhaar.

The State argued that the Act has provisions for people who do not have Aadhaar or are unable to provide biometric data. The Petitioners countered that there are very real issues on the ground and that reading out the provisions of the Act is not a solution.

Petitioners later pointed out that the government violated the doctrine of unconstitutional conditions. A person cannot be denied benefits and entitlements solely for want of an identity. Infrastructure issues aside, it is unconstitutional for the State to mandate only one form of identity.

They also argued that while it was reasonable to prove status in order to receive benefits, everyone has a right to prove status in a reasonable manner.

Violation of dignity

An important argument against Aadhaar, according to the petitioners, is that of the violation of dignity of an individual, which is unconstitutional. To support this, petitioners cited several examples. They pointed out that a member of a marginalised section of society shouldnt be exposed as marginalised, that silos of information cannot be aggregated and that a person has a right to control their personality. The surveillance potential of Aadhaar directly affects that last right.

They also pointed to the Jeeja Ghosh vs UoI judgement where it was ruled that dignity forms a significant facet of the right to life and liberty.

According to the petitioners, by enforcing Aadhaar, the State is operating on the assumption that everyone is an imposter, which is unconstitutional. They also argued that simply assuming that the poorest of the poor were making ghost cards to pilfer rations is to pass a moral judgement against them.

Further, it was argued that the Aadhaar Act objectifies and depersonalises an individual. Citing the case of S and Marper vs UK, it was pointed out that even a reasonable apprehension of surveillance can cause a chilling effect.

Aadhaar as a voluntary ID system

Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act has been the basis for making Aadhaar mandatory for various purposes. Petitioners argued that the section could only be constitutional when Aadhaar was treated as a voluntary ID document. The Bench was sceptical of this argument.

Petitioners pointed to Israels Smart ID system, which uses smart cards and biometric authentication, but lacks any identifying information. Petitioners argued that the Aadhaar must be voluntary, that it must not collect data and that people have a right to alternatives.

The Bench, the petitioners argued, must decide if the people live in a country where the people have choice, or where the State is the arbiter of that choice. By being forced to enrol for Aadhaar, the people were being forced to barter their constitutional rights.

On day 14 of the hearing, senior counsel Arvind Datar argued that even the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) does not mandate the use of Aadhaar as the sole means of KYC. The RBI, in fact, specifies at least six other documents as valid, including passport, driving license, PAN card, etc. The RBI rules at the time stood in direct violation of the update to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

NOTE: The RBI recently passed an order stating that it is mandatory to link Aadhaar with bank accounts. This will be subject to the Supreme Courts decision on Aadhaar, however.

The PMLA rule requiring that a bank account be blocked because it isnt linked to Aadhaar is draconian, argued the petitioners, adding that the fact that Aadhaar is meant to be voluntary to begin with means that the PMLA rule is unconstitutional.

On day 18, the validity of mandatory eKYC as issued by the Department of Telecom (DoT) was brought into question and a request to extend the deadline was put in.

They also pointed to the US Social Security Number (SSN) system. In 1974, the US senate voted that an individual would have the right to refuse to show his SSN and that no federal agency could deny the provision of any benefit for that reason. In the case of Aadhaar, it is not possible for an individual to survive without it.

It was also argued that the livelihood of the people could not be made dependent on a system that was inherently probabilistic and faulty. Petitioners also pointed out that the rate of authentication failure in Rajashtan and Jharkhand was 37 percent and 49 percent respectively.

Later, the petitioners argued that the state has very limited powers to impose compulsions by law. Aadhaar does not qualify. They added that the State failed to justify the infringement of the right to life and liberty.

Protecting privacy

It was pointed out to the bench that while banks were linking Aadhaar to bank accounts, ostensibly for the prevention of money laundering, NCPI was making the data available to third parties. The petitioners also noted that SRDHs had no restriction on the data collection on an individual, though Rahul Dwivedi, Senior Counsel on behalf of the State of Gujarat, pointed out that all SRDH data was erased once the Aadhaar Act was passed.

They also indicated that the definition of biometric and core biometric information was open-ended. New forms of such data could be added via regulation. This could even extend to the creation of DNA databanks.

Deactivation or cancellation of Aadhaar only happens at the discretion of the UIDAI. There is no prescribed procedure to safeguard this power.

Disclosure of the personal information of an individual is also permitted, but only the UIDAI is required to be heard, not the individual whose data is at stake.

It was also argued that the Aadhaar Act was drafted on the assumption that privacy was not a fundamental right and is, therefore, an unbalanced Act.

Another issue is that of proportionality. The petitioners argued that the State could not prove that Aadhaar was necessary because there were no other alternatives. The State, after all, didnt try alternate systems like smart cards, food coupons, etc.

On day 18, the issue of KYR+ (Know Your Resident) was raised. Where only demographic and identity information was to be collected under the Aadhaar Act, KYR+ was being used to collect and link PAN card, bank account numbers, education, religion and caste details.

They argued that inherently personal nature of the data means that protection must be ensured. If that level of protection is not ensured, then the State cannot take the data. Several example of the States inability to protect this data were then cited.

Concluding arguments

On day 19 of the hearings, the petitioners presented their concluding arguments:

Retention of metadata enables precise profiling: It was argued that the collection of metadata was a violation of fundamental rights and that the data could be used to create precise profiles on the private lives of individuals.

The menace of surveillance: Surveillance, even the apprehension of it, strikes at the freedom of communication and is an interference into peoples rights to respect for private life and correspondence.

Protection of future generations: Aggregation of data, as admitted to by the State and the UIDAI, is sufficient to indicate the religion, class, social status, income and education level, medical history and reproductive preferences of an individual. What protection is there to prevent the abuse of this data and is its collection even necessary or permitted?

Issues with the Aadhaar Act: The Act lacks proportionality, purpose and limitations on scale and retention of data. Provisions for the destruction of records do not exist and neither does a provision for alternative forms of identification.

Aadhaar is not the least intrusive method for authentication: Even if there is a compelling interest to identify people accurately, the least intrusive method must be used to achieve this. This is not Aadhaar. It was, in fact, suggested that a credit card like system be used, where biometrics are stored on the card itself. This could be faster, more accurate, more secure and less intrusive.

The irrationality of the Aadhaar project: Aadhaar is arbitrary and violative of the right to equality (Article 14). It is also irrational because biometrics are inherently unreliable. The lack of an opt-out facility and no option is given to citizens to control their data.

A child cannot consent or enter into contracts: Aadhaar is a violation of child rights because a child is not legally permitted to give consent. Childrens privacy is also granted under the Indian Constitution. A childs right to education can also not be made subject to Aadhaar.

Religious objections to Aadhaar as the beast: Petitioners cited an example where a Christian family objected to Aadhaar on the grounds that they believed that Aadhaar was the mark and number of the beast, which exercised authority over people and forced all to worship it. The family believed that Aadhaar being made mandatory made it impossible for people to continue with their lives. Aadhaar, thus, violates the freedom of religion.

Gender requirement affects transgender persons: Transgender people will find it difficult to acquire identity documents, making acquiring Aadhaar impossible. People are thus excluded and denied benefits, which is a violation of the right to equality and privacy.

NRIs unable to file taxes or acquire SIMs: In another example of exclusion, it was shown that NRIs are not eligible for Aadhaar, making it difficult to acquire a SIM or file taxes.

So ended day 1-19 of the Aadhaar hearings.

On day 20 of the hearings, the State commenced its arguments in defence of Aadhaar.

Aadhaar security

Attorney General KK Venugopal argued that tremendous effort had gone into securing Aadhaar. He offered a PowerPoint presentation by the CEO of UIDAI on the security of Aadhaar, which included the fact that the CIDR servers, which were protected by a wall 13 feet long and 5 feet wide. Later, the State shared more details on the security of its data centres, including the presence of X-Ray equipment and biometric authentication.

He argued that Aadhaar was a serious effort to insulate deserving beneficiaries from the effects of corruption.

The State argued that Aadhaar was random, baring no link to the person for whom it was generated. They added that the number could never be re-issued and that it wasnt linked to citizenship. They also pointed out that data sharing could only happen with consent.

The issue of foreign companies owning Aadhaar software was brought up. The State here claimed that only the software for matching biometrics was from foreign companies and that those companies did not have access to Aadhaar data. The response, of course, doesnt address the possibility that data could be stolen.

The State asserted that authentication happens in silos and that biometric data was never shared, and neither was purpose, location and transaction data collected.

No opt-out mechanism: The UIDAI CEO confirmed that there would be no opt-out mechanism under the Aadhaar Act. People only had the option to lock biometrics.

The State also claimed that matching with biometrics happens on a 1:1 basis and that it was thus, not probabilistic in nature. However, on day 29 of the hearings, the State argued that nothing in the world was deterministic. The Bench then questioned how a probabilistic system could be allowed to affect fundamental rights.

Sacrificing privacy for benefits

The AG argued that corruption and middlemen have diverted Rs 1,000 Crore or more of funds. Aadhaar is meant to address this. He argued that alternatives, including smart cards, were considered and rejected as unsuitable and that, in fact, Aadhaar was designed to have the least possible violation of privacy.

He even argued that Aadhaar enrolment was voluntary before the Act was passed, removing any question of violation of privacy. Aadhaar ensures the right to life and to live with dignity, he argued.

While the AG argued that both sides were fighting for the protection of the rights to life and to dignity, the Bench noted that the AGs argument seemed to be that the right to privacy must give way to distributive justice. The Bench also asserted that individual rights cannot be made subordinate to distributive justice.

The AG claimed that no individuals claimed to have been excluded and that it was mainly NGOs making such claims. The Bench disagreed.

In addition to this, the State argued that the poor have a right to live without hunger, to which the Bench countered that the poor also have a right to privacy. The State then claimed that Aadhaar enabled the right to food, livelihood and pensions.

Another argument by the State was that poverty was a violation of human rights. The State then asked that the choice here is between a right to life and a right to privacy. The State went on to argue that official identification was a fundamental human right.

Regarding traceability, UIDAI stated that it did not track IP address and GPS location, but that it did record AuA code, ASA code (Authentication Service Agency)m unique device code and the registered device code used for authentication.

When asked about the open-ended nature of the definition of biometrics, the State admitted that the definition could extend to blood, urine and DNA samples, but that this expansion could be subject to judicial review. The Bench countered that this was false. The UIDAI has been given the power to decide whats to be included and only the Parliament can disapprove or the rules. This, said the Bench, amounted to excessive delegation.

The petitioners had argued that Aadhaar was treating people as terrorists. To this, the State responded saying that airlines screen passengers as an administrative service as a measure to safeguard the public. They argued that Aadhaar was serving a similar purpose. The Bench was not convinced by this argument, however.

The State cited several earlier cases where the right to privacy was held to be subordinate to other, larger public interests.

Another argument presented by the State was that there was no need to look for the least intrusive when something is overwhelmingly in the public interest.

Aadhaar and bank accounts: The State claimed that the amendment to the PMLA rules mandating Aadhaar linking with bank accounts was necessary to prevent impersonation. They also stated that rendering unlinked bank accounts non-operational was not a violation of the right to property as it amounted to a reasonable restriction on the right. The Bench did not accept this and asked how the PMLA rules authorise the freezing of bank accounts and asked whether it was authorised under law.

When the Bench further questioned the State as to how a validly opened bank account could be frozen under PMLA, the State explained that this was done to prevent money laundering and to curb terrorist activity.

The State argued that people strive to be recognised, as a matter of dignity and pride. The Bench countered that in the absence of choice of identity, there was an absence of proportionality with Aadhaar.

The State argued that privacy was a small price to pay for ensuring life itself. It was also stated that privacy is the strongest in the inner sanctum of the mind, but shrinks as you move outside into the world. Next, the State argued that in the public sphere, the right to privacy is diluted. The entire Aadhar project, he argued, is in the public sphere. The reasonable expectation of privacy varies according to context.

Misuse of harvested data

On day 21 of the hearings, the State argued that enrolment collects minimal data and that mobile numbers and email IDs were optional. The State also argued that enrolment agencies were subject to high quality security standards.

When asked about why 49,000 enrollers were deregistered (as opposed to the 30,000 agencies currently in operation), the State responded that corruption, improper data collection and failure to meet standards were to blame. The State was also asked if the blacklisted enrollers were blacklisted for data breaches. The State responded with a statement that the enrollers lacked the qualifications to tamper with enrolment software. Private enrolment agencies are being phased out, added the state.

Regarding data breaches, the State stated that reported data breaches only referred to compromised data breaches and not the CIDR, which has never been breached. To this the Bench pointed out that unless there is protection against all forms of data breaches, Aadhaar will remain a problem.

The Bench asked about Authentication User Agencies (AuAs) and whether they could record and monetise data. The State claimed that AuAs were prohibited from doing so, which failed to address the Benchs concern that the State had no control over AuAs and their ability to share data.

When asked about the misuse of authentication records, the State said that collecting data on the purpose of authentication was prohibited.

However, when the Bench later asked if Authentication logs were kept with authentication or requesting entities, the State answered in the affirmative, but that such entities were regularly audited.

The State later noted that demographic information on PAN card holders was being collected since 1989 and that fingerprint data was also collected. The Bench was quick to point out that only the left thumb impression was taken, and only when people could not sign the form. There was also no authentication.

Fingerprinting citizens: The AG discussed proportionality with respect to collection of fingerprints. He cited several American judgements in support of arguments that fingerprinting was only a minor inconvenience and minimally intrusive, and that it did not carry the presumption of criminality. He also argued that the violation of dignity was non-existent.

The State further argued that while it was possible that biometric data could be extended to DNA and eventually misused, it was entirely speculative and that it wasnt the courts job to speculate on dramatic Hollywood fantasies. The Bench countered that the issue with the collection of biometrics was that only the UIDAI had the power to define biometric information, which is a failure to meet proportionality requirements.

The State also pointed to a case where the CBI approached the Bombay High Court to obtain biometrics from the UIDAI for an investigation. The UIDAI refused to do so without the affected individuals consent.

Interestingly, the State argued that it could already surveil people if needed, and that Aadhaar would not be necessary for that. The State claimed that the petitioners were using rhetoric to rubbish Aadhaar.

The Bench observed that technology enabled mass surveillance and cited the case of election tampering via Facebook. The State countered that they did not have the algorithms to profile users like Facebook, and that Section 33 of the Aadhaar Act makes the acquisition or implementation of such a system illegal. They also argued that authentication metadata reveals very little.

The State also added that there was no possibility of surveillance via the CIDR, and instead the CIDR was completely necessary in order to avoid fake and duplicate entities.

Other arguments by the State included claims that citizens are not concerned about privacy and that fingerprints are only relevant to palmistry. The Bench countered that the issue was about storing the information in a centralised database. The State claimed that since the data was encrypted and secure, storing in a centralised database wasnt an issue.

Despite provisions for data sharing in the Act, the State argued that information was shared only for authentication. When the Bench pointed out that REs (requesting entities) are aware of the reason for authentication and could share the data themselves, the State argued that the same data could be acquired by other means. The State also argued that Aadhaar was more secure than any data protection law. A statement the Bench disagreed with.

The need for a unique identity

While the Bench agreed that a unique ID was necessary, it questioned whether a less intrusive method could not have been provided and why there was a need to centralise and aggregate the data, especially when considering the risks.

The State argued that alternatives were unworkable and that CIDR is necessary for transactions, a point that the Bench once again disagreed with.

Smart Cards, said the State, did not ensure uniqueness. Their argument was that a single person could have multiple smart cards from different entities but the same biometrics. They argued that this was why a centralised database was needed.

The World Banks ID4D report was cited in support for the need of a unique identity and the crucial role it plays in the access of basic welfare services.

The UIDAI CEO argued that existing IDs have limitations both in terms of scope and geographically. He argued that Aadhaar was an easy-to-acquire, nationally verifiable digital identity.

On the assumption of consent

The State argued that prior to 2016, Aadhaar was voluntary, so those who applied consented by default. However, the Bench pointed out that the consent was only for acquiring Aadhaar, not for surrendering their data or commercialisation. The Bench also questioned whether informed consent could even be assumed.

While the petitioners pointed out that children cannot legally give consent for anything, let alone Aadhaar, the State claimed that all legal compliance was taken care of. The State also noted that only photographs of infants were collected and that biometrics would be collected at age 5 and 15.

For Aadhaar to be voluntary, the Bench observed that informed consent, purpose limitation and security were essential. The State tried to argue yet again that Aadhaar was voluntary, but the Bench countered that at the time Aadhaar was voluntary, there was no law and hence, no protection of rights. The Bench also noted that the initial enrolment forms did not contain provisions on the issue of collecting biometrics, which means that there was no informed consent.

The Attorney General argued that Section 57 merely allows the existing infrastructure to be used for other purposes so long as the purposes are legitimate.

On the scope and validity of Section 7

When defining Section 7, the Bench asked why pensions were included. Section 7 specifically deals with welfare and subsidies where as pension is an entitlement, a right. The State argued that since the pension was drawn from the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI), it had to be included.

When asked about exclusions, the State claimed that the Aadhaar Act specifies mechanisms for people who cannot authenticate.

The State argued that denial based on Aadhaar was not possible because under Section 7, Central and State agencies which require Aadhaar are required to provide enrolment services. The State also pointed out that a ration card could be used to avail NFSA (National Food Security Act) benefits in the absence of Aadhaar.

The State also noted that the Central govt had the power to replace the identification on which a benefit is to be obtained.

The cost vs benefit argument

The State claimed that Rs 9,000 Crore was invested in setting up and operationalising Aadhaar. According to various sources, the returns are claimed to be as high as 52.85 percent. It must be noted here that economist Reetika Khera disputed the claim, stating that the analysis was based on unrealistic assumptions and outdated data.

The State argued that Aadhaar was not a casual undertaking and was unprecedented in scope. The Bench pointed out that effort doesnt answer the constitutional challenges to Aadhaar. They also questioned the 7-year gap between enforcing Aadhaar and enacting the Act.

According to the state, updating biometrics isnt an issue because it can be done at enrolment centres. This statement does skirt around the Benchs question regarding the technological illiteracy of several Indians.

Regarding exclusion, the State explained that a user is notified on an authentication failure. The Bench still pressed that this could lead to exclusion, to which the state responded that there were circulars stating that no one should be denied services over a failure to authenticate.

The State did admit that 100 percent authentication wasnt possible. On day 23, the UIDAI CEO admitted that the figures for authentication failure stood at 8.54 percent for iris-based authentication and 6 percent for fingerprint-based authentication.

Prevention of bank fraud and limiting access to SIM cards: Aadhaar, it has been claimed, will prevent bank fraud and control terrorism by limiting the access to SIM cards. The Bench pointed out that bank fraud isnt caused by multiple identities. The Bench also noted that terrorists were not likely to apply for SIM cards themselves, so forcing an entire population to link SIM cards was neither proportional nor justified.

The reasonable expectation of privacy, the State argued, could only be judged by considering the totality of circumstances. In this regard, Aadhaars invasion of privacy was minimal, argued the State.

The State claimed that the mandatory Aadhaar-PAN linking resulted in the discovery of 11.35 lakh fake PAN cards. The Bench did note that while fake PAN cards were being weeded out, the ingenuity required to make fake PAN cards could easily apply to the creation of fake Aadhaar cards. To this it was stated that no system is fool proof.

The advantage of Aadhaar, it was claimed, was that a person would have to come in person to claim entitlements. This was described as a revolutionary step as fingerprinting enabled deduplication. The Bench, here, observed that this may not be the best model, since the individual should not be a supplicant and instead the State has a duty to provide him with benefits.

The validity of Aadhaar

The State argued that Aadhaar fulfilled the tests laid down in the Puttaswamy judgement for a reasonable restriction on the right to privacy and that Aadhaar collected the least possible amount of data required.

The lawyers argued that like the RTI (Right to Information) Act, Aadhaar is an example of a reasonable restriction of privacy in the larger public interest. They argued that Aadhaar was necessary to prevent black money and money laundering, and that the Court could not second-guess the intent of the legislature. The Aadhaar Act, thus, passes the test of proportionality and the ends justified the means.

KK Venugopal for the State later argued that since all other means of authentication had been exhausted, Aadhaar passed the test for proportionality.

Binoy Viswam judgement: An important argument made in defence of Aadhaar involced the Aadhaar-PAN case. The State argued that the Binoy Viswam judgement, which held that there was a rational nexus between Section 139AA and the objectives sought to be achieved, satisfied the requirement for proportionality.

The State argued that the defects in a law must first be sought to be resolved rather than struck down.

The State later argued that Aadhaar was, in pith and substance, a money bill, and ancillary provisions in relation to appeal, revision, etc., which are needed to make the Act complete, do not fall outside the ambit of Article 110 of the Constitution (which defines a money bill).

Rejoinders from the petitioners

The petitioners commenced rejoinders on day 33 of the hearings.

The petitioners pointed to technical evidence previously submitted which prove that Aadhaar could be used for surveillance. They also noted that biometric data was accessible to some third-party vendors, and that the leakage of verification logs could result in the formation of forged identification. The Bench countered that it wasnt possible to have perfect privacy and that some loss is expected in the digital world.

Petitioners also argued that UIDAIs presentation showed surveillance at various levels and that every biometric device had traceability. They argued that this would have a chilling effect on a persons conduct.

On the issue of balancing rights, the petitioners argued that people should have a choice and that if the Court recognises Aadhaar as a vehicle for surveillance, it would have to be expressly rejected. The Bench here observed that the march towards technology is inexorable, and no court or government can stop this. Shyam Divan then argued that choice and options are a part of democracy, and people should be allowed a choice in this issue.

Petitioners also pointed out that there was no verification during enrolment, and hence no proof that documents submitted were genuine. Aadhaar, they argued, was thus essentially a self-declaration system of verification, which no one in the government has verified. In such a scenario, Aadhaar cannot stop terrorism.

They also pointed out that Aadhaar doesnt verify if a person is an illegal immigrant, directly violating a court order that said that Aadhaar should not be given to illegal immigrants.

Petitioners also noted that banks and telecom companies were seeding an individuals Aadhaar with their bank accounts and telephone numbers without their permission. Diwan further argued that the biometrics of almost 100 crore individuals were collected by the UIDAI without statutory or other written authority.

It was also pointed out that the original Aadhaar notification made no mention of biometrics and that Section 7 should not be mandatory for children and a few other such entities.

Divan then argued that Aadhaar, as a whole, has increased the coercive power of the State against the individual and that it circumvents constitutional protections.

Senior counsel Gopal Subramaniam argued that a crucial question was on how to handle acts of misfeasance and malfeasance in the delivery of public services. The government, he argued, cannot place the burden of its own failures on the people. He argued that if a law has the effect of disempowering people, and impairing the identity guaranteed to them by the Constitution, then it must fall.

Petitioners argued that if the purpose of Section 7 was to further the dignity of an individual, as argued by the State, this could not be done by making it conditional.

Subramaniam pointed out that there was no evidence that the stated purpose of achieving seamless delivery through the Act, was being achieved. In fact, the only evidence available is that of exclusion. The Aadhaar Act, he argued, is not an instrumentality to deliver services, but was a means of identification.

On turning to the issue of lack of oversight of requesting entities, the Bench observed that an Act like Aadhaar needs a hierarchy of regulators, who are absent.

Further, under Section 7, the terms grant of subsidies, benefits and services are expressions of condescension, instead of being treated as an entitlement. The counsel argued further that Section 7 had virtually been interpreted to be mandatory as opposed to discretionary, making citizens subservient to it.

The Aadhaar Act, the petitioners argued, needs to be struck down completely as it fails the tests laid down in the Puttaswamy case, there was no legitimate aim since the real aim differs from the purported one, there was no law when Aadhaar was implemented, and there is no proportionality.

Aadhaar cannot be a Money Bill, and can at most be a financial bill under the Constitution, argued the petitioners. The court, they argued, cannot save an Act so fundamentally unconstitutional as to be passed without the participation of the Rajya Sabha and without the assent of the President.

They further argued that Aadhaar could never be used to resolve problems like black money and money laundering since the sources of such money is different. These issues, he argued, were being used as a ruse to collect peoples biometrics.

Section 57, the petitioners argued, should be completely removed from the Aadhaar Act.

With the hearings completed, the Bench reserved the matter for judgment.
tech2 News Staff

As Abraham Lincoln said No man is poor who has a Godly mother. Yes, it's Mother's Day if you don't remember. Google is also celebrating Mother's Day with its Google doodle. If you haven't been able to express your gratitude and love to your mother, Mother's Day is a perfect time to start.

Mother' Day is celebrated in March or the second Sunday of May every year honouring mothers, motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society.

Google in its Doodle shows a dinosaur walking with a baby dinosaur representing love, care and protection of a mother towards her children. The Doodle shows the dinosaur Mother coloured in green which also represents safety and fertility (Motherhood) whereas the baby dinosaur coloured in yellow which represents happiness, positivity, enlightenment, remembrance, honour, loyalty, and joy. It also contains images of the palm of hand in various colours including red, blue, green and yellow.

Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908 in United States when Anna Jarvis (founder of Mother's Day) held a memorial for her mother at Saint Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. But, she was not happy with the commercialisation of the event that happened afterwards. The doodle is available in United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan, India, Australia, Philippines, Germany, Taiwan and other countries.
IANS

Google is rolling out new changes to its security policy which will effectively require original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to regularly release security patches for Android devices.

Most OEMs push out updates to some extent, mainly to help users have a sense of security on their device.

However, the updates are still totally optional in the long run, 9to5Google reported on 11 May.

"We've worked on building security patching into our OEM agreement. This will lead to a massive increase in the number of devices, and users, receiving regular security patches," the report quoted David Kleidermacher, Head, Android platform security, Google, as saying.

The announcement, that was made during a talk at the recently held Google's annual I/O developer conference, did not specify what Google will specifically require with this change.

"Project Treble" that is Google's plan to help manufacturers streamline the update process will reportedly play a vital role in this process.
IANS

NASA has confirmed it is sending an autonomous helicopter to Red Planet that will travel with the Mars rover mission, currently scheduled to launch in July 2020.

The small, lightweight Mars Helicopter will demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet.

"The idea of a helicopter flying the skies of another planet is thrilling. The Mars Helicopter holds much promise for our future science, discovery, and exploration missions to Mars," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement on 11 May.

Started in August 2013 as a technology development project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Mars Helicopter weighs at 1.8 kgs.

Its fuselage is about the size of a softball, and its twin, counter-rotating blades will bite into the thin Martian atmosphere at almost 3,000 rpm  about 10 times the rate of a helicopter on Earth.

"It's fitting that the US is the first nation in history to fly the first heavier-than-air craft on another world," said Representative John Culberson (Texas).

The chopper will attempt controlled flight in Mars' thin atmosphere.

The helicopter has built-in capabilities needed for operation at Mars, including solar cells to charge its lithium-ion batteries, and a heating mechanism to keep it warm through the cold Martian nights.

"Exploring the Red Planet with NASA's Mars Helicopter exemplifies a successful marriage of science and technology innovation and is a unique opportunity to advance Mars exploration for the future," said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for NASA.

The altitude record for a helicopter flying on Earth is about 40,000 feet.

"The atmosphere of Mars is only one per cent that of Earth, so when our helicopter is on the Martian surface, it's already at the Earth equivalent of 100,000 feet up," said Mimi Aung, Mars Helicopter project manager at JPL.

"To make it fly at that low atmospheric density, we had to scrutinize everything, make it as light as possible while being as strong and as powerful as it can possibly be," Aung added.

Once the rover is on the planet's surface, a suitable location will be found to deploy the helicopter down from the vehicle and place it onto the ground.

The rover then will be driven away from the helicopter to a safe distance from which it will relay commands.

After its batteries are charged and a myriad of tests are performed, controllers on Earth will command the Mars Helicopter to take its first autonomous flight into history.

"We don't have a pilot and Earth will be several light minutes away, so there is no way to joystick this mission in real time," said Aung.

The full 30-day flight test campaign will include up to five flights of incrementally farther flight distances, up to a few hundred meters, and longer durations as long as 90 seconds, over a period.

On its first flight, the helicopter will make a short vertical climb to 10 feet, where it will hover for about 30 seconds.

Mars 2020 will launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, and is expected to reach Mars in February 2021.

The rover will conduct geological assessments of its landing site on Mars, determine the habitability of the environment, search for signs of ancient Martian life, and assess natural resources and hazards for future human explorers.
Abhilash Pavuluri

At some point or the other during your photography career, you probably picked up a camera because you wanted to be a wildlife photographer. And there are very few people who dont. The allure of the jungles is something most of us can relate to.

In this article, well talk about what it takes to be a wildlife photographer. This article will not be so much about technicality as it will be about ethics and behavior. Wildlife photography (especially in India) is at a confusing stage where some of it is actually doing wildlife more harm than good. But I digress.

Know Thy Subject:

I cannot stress this enough; this is the most important thing you need to know when going out on field. To be a wildlife photographer, you have to know your wildlife. Each and every living being in the jungle has its own quirks, its own behaviour, its own habits. Too many aspiring wildlife photographers simply head out into the field with little to no background knowledge and end up coming back disappointed or worse, injured. So when I say you would do well to read up before you even pick up the camera, its best that you do. Most people in the field are usually conservationists who are also photographers. Some are photographers who turn into conservationists. Yet more simply need a few trophy shots to show their friends on Facebook.

Know Thy Ethics:

The next most important topic: Wildlife photographers have come under fire a lot of times in the past due to unethical practices; either by accident or deliberately. A lot of photographers bait animals, imitate their calls, chase them out of hiding..sounds familiar? Thats what hunters used to do back in the day to suss targets out.

Unfortunately, for a lot of people who invest in high-end photography gear, wildlife photography is sometimes seen as an ideal method to get returns on investment, and they will do most anything to ensure their costs are met. Then theres the trophy hunters we spoke about earlier: Also willing to spend as much time and money as possible to ensure they get that action shot.

In fact, the situation has gotten so bad that some species are given government protection from the general public because such seek-and-chase photography has interfered with their breeding habits (like the Great Indian Bustard).

Know Thy Equipment:

Wildlife photography is one of those areas where equipment finally starts to matter. Big wide zoom lenses are the most important factor since what youre capturing will more likely than not be far away from you. And for the better part of your photography career, youll need to learn to shoot in Manual, especially wildlife. So a camera with manual control and long zoom is essential (read our previous guides to find out what sort of camera to buy).

DSLRs of course, are the best option here, but a good DSLR and telephoto lens will set you back by a couple of lakhs. So figure out how much you really love wildlife.

Ideally, you need a fast DSLR: One that has great burst mode (because thats what youll be using most), great build quality (especially if you go around the jungles on foot) and great RAW handling.
At least six civilians were killed when militants detonated bombs and stormed a government building in an ongoing assault in eastern Afghanistan's Jalalabad city

Jalalabad: At least six civilians were killed when militants detonated bombs and stormed a government building Sunday in an ongoing assault in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, officials said, underscoring deteriorating security in the country.

There were two explosions near the city's directorate of finance, the Nangarhar provincial governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP, adding that "a number of attackers" had entered the building.

"Security forces are in the area chasing and fighting them," he said. "So far six civilians (have been) killed and 33 wounded. One attacker is also down. The clearing operation is ongoing."

"Around noon a big boom shook our building," Qaisar, an employee, told AFP from a Jalalabad hospital.

"I then saw at least two armed attackers entering the building. My friends ran to hide and I jumped from a window.

"I have broken my leg and arm but was able to get out of the building. Some of my friends are still stuck there."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of restive Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. Some areas of the province are a stronghold of the Islamic State group but Taliban fighters are also active there.

It was the latest deadly violence to strike Afghanistan as militant groups step up attacks and US-backed Afghan forces intensify air strikes and ground offensives.

The assault comes days after suicide bombers and gunmen launched apparently coordinated attacks on two Kabul police stations Wednesday, killing at least ten people.

April saw a series of attacks across the country targeting voter registration centres as Afghanistan gears up for long-delayed legislative elections due in October.

The Taliban and IS have made clear their intentions to disrupt the elections. Officials are concerned that a low voter turnout will undermine the credibility of the poll.

The Taliban recently launched their annual spring offensive, in an apparent rejection of a peace talks overture by the Afghan government.

Their Operation Al Khandaq will target US forces and "their intelligence agents" as well as their "internal supporters", a Taliban statement said on 25 April.

But the Islamic State group has also stepped up their attacks in recent months, particularly in Kabul.

Nine journalists, including AFP's chief photographer in Kabul Shah Marai, were among the 25 people killed in a double suicide blast claimed by IS in the capital on 30 April.

Kabul has become one of the deadliest places in the country for civilians as security forces struggle to keep the militants at bay following the withdrawal of NATO combat forces at the end of 2014.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House national security adviser John Bolton, who has in the past suggested the U.S. government should push for a change in government in Iran, said on Sunday that is not the Trump administration's current policy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House national security adviser John Bolton, who has in the past suggested the U.S. government should push for a change in government in Iran, said on Sunday that is not the Trump administration's current policy.

"That's not the policy of the administration. The policy of the administration is to make sure that Iran never gets close to deliverable nuclear weapons," Bolton said on the ABC program "This Week."

Ive written and said a lot of things over the years when I was a complete free agent," Bolton said when pressed on the issue regime change in Iran on CNN's "State of the Union."

Bolton, whom President Donald Trump tapped in March to replace former national security adviser H.R. McMaster, emphasized in the CNN interview that it was his job to advise Trump but that the president is the one who makes the decisions.

"The circumstances in Im in now is that Im the national security adviser to the president. Im not the national security decision maker. He (Trump) makes the decisions and the advice I give him is between us.

In a Fox News interview in January, Bolton said the United States should take steps such as increasing economic pressure on Iran and providing support to opponents of the government.

"There's a lot we can do to, and we should do it," said Bolton, who at the time was with the American Enterprise Institute think tank. "Our goal should be regime change in Iran."

In 2015, Bolton wrote an op-ed in the New York Times calling for air strikes on Irans nuclear facilities. And in 2016, Bolton called for regime change while he was reportedly under consideration to be Secretary of State.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Caren Bohan; Editing by David Gregorio)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
A series of blasts, including a suicide bombing, struck churches in Indonesia, killing at least 11 people in the deadliest attack for years

Surabaya: A series of blasts, including a suicide bombing, struck churches in Indonesia on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and wounding dozens in the deadliest attack for years in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country.

The nation has been on high alert for attacks by homegrown militants, including some claimed by the Islamic State group.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombings during Sunday services in Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya.

Three churches were hit by the bombings around 7.30 am (0030 GMT) in what appeared to be coordinated attacks that included suicide and possibly vehicle bombings.

Television footage appeared to show a person on a motorcycle driving into the grounds of a church before a bomb was detonated.

Other images showed a vehicle engulfed in flames and plumes of thick black smoke.

Police experts disarmed bombs at the Gereja Pantekosta Pusat Surabaya (Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church).

Other images showed a body outside the gate of Santa Maria Catholic church and motorcycles toppled over amid the debris.

'People screaming'

At least one of the attackers was killed when the bomb exploded at Santa Maria, police said.

"I was frightened... many people were screaming," 23-year-old witness Roman told AFP after the blast there.

The attacks came just days after five members of Indonesia's elite anti-terrorism squad and a prisoner were killed in clashes that saw Islamist inmates take a guard hostage at a high-security jail on the outskirts of Jakarta.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that incident although police denied its involvement.

Police on Sunday said four suspected members of the radical group Jamaah Anshar Daulah had been killed in a shootout during raids linked to the prison riot, but would not comment on whether the group was connected to Sunday's bombings.

Nearly 90 percent of Indonesia's 260 million people are Muslim, but there are significant numbers of minority Christians, Hindus and Buddhists.

Concerns about sectarian intolerance have been on the rise, with churches targeted in the past.

Police shot and wounded an Islamic State-inspired radical who attacked a church congregation outside Indonesia's cultural capital Yogyakarta with a sword during a Sunday mass in February. Four were injured.

In 2000 bombs disguised as Christmas gifts delivered to churches and clergymen killed 19 people on Christmas Eve and injured scores more across the country.

'Less professional'

The archipelago nation of some 17,000 islands has long struggled with Islamic militancy, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people  mostly foreign tourists  in the country's worst-ever terror attack.

Sunday's bombings had the highest death toll since nine people were killed in 2009 attacks on two luxury hotels in Jakarta.

Security forces have arrested hundreds of militants during a sustained crackdown in recent years that smashed some networks, and most recent attacks have been low-level and targeted domestic security forces.

But the coordinated nature of Sunday's bombings suggested a higher level of planning, analysts said.

"Recent (previous) attacks have been far less 'professional'," Sidney Jones, an expert on Southeast Asian terrorism and director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, told AFP.

The emergence of Islamic State has proved a potent new rallying cry for radicals, sparking fears that homegrown extremist outfits could get a new lease of life.

A gun and suicide attack in the capital Jakarta left four attackers and four civilians dead in 2016, and was the first assault claimed by Islamic State in Southeast Asia.
3. Mental illnesses are just as real and just as impactful as other health conditions. For instance, mild depression is equivalent to epilepsy and severe post-traumatic stress disorder and paraplegia are equally weighted illnesses. Generally, when we find out that our friends have experienced physical illnesses we reach out to them, but we are less likely to do helpful things for a person or family dealing with a mental illness. Perhaps this practice will change and as a friend, neighbor and community we will be stigma-free and be there for others.

4. In regards to suicide, there are two common myths surrounding the notion of talking about suicide with someone in distress. It is incorrect to think that talking about suicide with someone will put the idea of attempting suicide in his or her head, and that someone who talks about attempting suicide isnt serious. The fact is that talking about suicide may be a way for a person to indicate just how bad he or she is feeling. The person may feel so overwhelmed and helpless about life events that the future seems hopeless. If someone is having suicidal thoughts, it is vital to check as to whether the person has vague suicidal thoughts or an organized plan on how to die. All thoughts of suicide must be taken seriously.

5. Substance abuse disorders frequently co-occur with mental health disorders, and the use of alcohol or other substances increases a persons risk for suicide. People with mood or anxiety disorders are two to three times more likely to have a substance use disorder. This is referred to as dual diagnoses, and is the result of using alcohol and other drugs for self-medication.

Terri Wasilenko is a co-affiliate president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Cayuga County. For more information, call (315) 255-7443.

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An Iranian court on Sunday sentenced eight men to death over attacks that killed 18 people at the parliament and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeinis mausoleum in 2017

Dubia: An Iranian court on Sunday sentenced eight men to death over attacks that killed 18 people at the parliament and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeinis mausoleum in 2017, in the first deadly operation by Islamic State in the country.

The sentence, issued by a Revolutionary Court after a seven-session hearing, can be appealed in Irans Supreme Court, Musa Ghazanfarabadi, head of Tehrans Revolutionary Court, told state television.

Ghazanfarabadi said courts will hear claims later filed by families of the victims against the United States and Saudi Arabia, which mainly Shiite Muslim Iran accuses of supporting Sunni Muslim militant group Islamic State. Both countries deny that accusation.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the unprecedented attacks in Iran, in which suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the parliament and Khomeinis mausoleum in Tehran.

Eighteen other suspects still face charges over the attacks, according to state media.

Iran has said that the five gunmen and suicide bombers who were killed had fought in Syria and Iraq, where Islamic State once held swathes of territory but is now in decline.
Irans foreign minister embarks on a tour of world powers on Saturday, state media reported, in what is seen as a last-ditch effort to save Tehrans nuclear deal after Washingtons withdrawal from the accord.

Dubai: Irans foreign minister embarks on a tour of world powers on Saturday, state media reported, in what is seen as a last-ditch effort to save Tehrans nuclear deal after Washingtons withdrawal from the accord.

President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal on Tuesday, raising the risk of conflict in West Asia, upsetting European allies and casting uncertainty over global oil supplies.

Iran said it would remain committed to the deal without Washington if Tehran achieved its goals - namely being protected from sanctions against key sectors of its economy such as oil - in cooperation with other countries that have signed up to the agreement.

President Hassan Rouhani said he had asked foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to negotiate with European countries, China and Russia in the coming weeks. If at the end of this short period we conclude that we can fully benefit from the nuclear accord, the deal would remain, he said. Zarif is due to leave for Beijing on Saturday and will later travel to Russia. He will then go to Brussels to meet counterparts from Germany, Britain and France about the fate of the nuclear deal, Iranian state television said.

Iran has asked the European Union and particularly Germany, France and Britain to announce as soon as possible their stand on how Irans interests can be fulfilled and guaranteed under the nuclear agreement after Americas withdrawal, the TV report said.

Europes largest economies lobbied to protect their companies investments in Iran on Friday, seeking to keep the nuclear deal with Tehran alive after Washington pulled out and threatened to impose sanctions on European companies. Germany and France have significant trade links with Iran and remain committed to the nuclear agreement, as does Britain, and the three countries foreign ministers plan to meet on Tuesday to discuss it.

That is part of a flurry of diplomatic activity following Trumps unilateral withdrawal from what he called a horrible, one-sided deal, a move accompanied by the threat of penalties against any foreign firms doing business in Iran.
Israelis basked in national pride and pro-American fervour as tens of thousands participated in a Jerusalem march, a day ahead of the controversial US embassy move to the disputed city

Jerusalem: Israelis basked in national pride and pro-American fervour on Sunday as tens of thousands participated in a Jerusalem march, a day ahead of the controversial US embassy move to the disputed city.

Palestinians meanwhile readied for their own protests on Monday over the embassy's inauguration, including another mass demonstration in the Gaza Strip near the border with Israel.

Sunday's Jerusalem march began a week of high tension between Israelis and Palestinians, highlighted by the embassy inauguration to be attended by a Washington delegation including US president Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House advisers.

They arrived in Israel on Sunday.

The embassy move will take place on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, while the following day Palestinians will mark the Nakba, or "catastrophe," commemorating the more than 7,00,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

Palestinian protests are also planned for Tuesday.

For Israelis, Sunday was Jerusalem Day, an annual celebration of the "reunification" of the city following the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967. It later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.

This year's celebration took on added significance due to the embassy move the following day.

The annual march to the Western Wall included many hardline religious nationalists who oppose a Palestinian state.

Marchers dressed in white held Israeli flags as they filed through central Jerusalem toward the Old City with music blaring, including the song "Toy" by Israel's Netta Barzilai, who won the Eurovision Song Contest early Sunday.

Some had American flags, while banners celebrating US president Donald Trump were hung by a pro-Israel evangelical Christian organisation.

Speaking to journalists in the Old City, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat hailed the US embassy move as the beginning of "a new world order".

'Capital of our people'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  bolstered in recent days by Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal  opened a special cabinet meeting at Jerusalem's Bible Lands Museum by again lauding the embassy move.

He later spoke at a reception welcoming the US delegation.

"Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for the past 3,000 years," Netanyahu said.

"It's been the capital of our state for the past 70 years. It will remain our capital for all time."

US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, the head of the Washington delegation, called the embassy move "a long overdue recognition of reality."

Police and the Israeli military planned major security deployments.

Around 1,000 police officers will be positioned around the US embassy and surrounding neighbourhoods for Monday's inauguration, said spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

Israel's army said it would almost double the number of troops surrounding the Gaza Strip and in the occupied West Bank.

On Sunday, scuffles broke out between Israelis visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in east Jerusalem's Old City, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and Palestinian security officers.

The government of Jordan, the custodian of the site, sent a letter of protest to the Israeli foreign ministry condemning this as a "provocation by extremists", a spokesman said.

Jews are allowed to visit the site but not pray there to avoid provoking tensions and police said a number of visitors were removed for not following the rules.

"It is not a provocation. It's our property," said Nili Naoun, 42, an Israeli who arrived at the holy site with her family at 7:00 am.

Weeks of tension

There were already tensions in the weeks before the embassy move.

Fifty-four Palestinians have been killed in protests and clashes since 30 March along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel.

No Israelis have been wounded and the military has faced criticism over the use of live fire.

Israel says it only opens fire when necessary to stop infiltrations, attacks and damage to the border fence, while accusing Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the blockaded Gaza Strip, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out violence.

On Sunday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya travelled to Cairo for talks amid speculation over whether Egypt is attempting to calm the situation.

The embassy move has provoked Palestinian anger and led them to freeze ties with the White House.

Jerusalem's status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

In the decades since 1967, international consensus has been that the city's status must be negotiated between the two sides, but Trump broke with that to global outrage.

He has argued that it helps make peace possible by taking Jerusalem "off the table", but many have pointed out he has not announced concessions in return from Israel.
North Korea will destroy its nuclear test site later this month, ahead of a summit with the United States, it has said, pledging to blow up its tunnels in front of invited foreign media.

Seoul: North Korea will destroy its nuclear test site later this month, ahead of a summit with the United States, it has said, pledging to blow up its tunnels in front of invited foreign media.

US president Donald Trump praised the North's decision to dismantle the Punggye-ri test site in a ceremony scheduled between 23-25 May, the latest step in leader Kim Jong-un's charm offensive.

"Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!" Trump tweeted.

North Korea has announced that they will dismantle Nuclear Test Site this month, ahead of the big Summit Meeting on June 12th. Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2018

Dialogue brokered by Seoul has seen US-North Korea relations go from trading personal insults and threats of war last year to a summit between Kim and Trump due in Singapore on 12 June.

But sceptics warn that Pyongyang has yet to make any public commitment to give up its arsenal, which includes missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Washington is seeking the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation" of the North and stresses that verification will be key.

Punggye-ri, in the northeast of the country, has hosted all six of the North's nuclear tests, the latest and by far the most powerful in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.

Kim has declared the development of the North's nuclear force complete and that it had no further need for the site.

The latest measures will see the tunnels of the test site blown up and their entrances completely blocked, Pyongyang's foreign ministry said, according to the official KCNA news agency.

All observation facilities and research institutes would be removed, along with guards, it said, "and the surrounding area of the test ground be completely closed".

Reporters from China, Russia, the United States, Britain and South Korea would be allowed to cover the event on site to show it "in a transparent manner".

Limits on foreign journalists were due to space constraints, it said, as the site was in an "uninhabited deep mountain area".

South Korea welcomed the announcement, which signalled the North's willingness to carry out its pledges "not just in words but in action".

"We hope the sound of the dynamite blowing up the tunnels at Punggye-ri will be the first salute in our journey towards a nuclear-free Korean peninsula," the South's presidential spokesman said.

Analysts said the move was positive but limited in its scope.

It was "not bad, but a cost-free signal", tweeted MIT political science professor Vipin Narang.

Given the stage it had already reached, Pyongyang "may feel like they don't need to test anything for a while", he said.

Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies, expected that the North "will sanitise the site before letting anyone see it".

Saturday's announcement is the latest move in a rapid sequence of events on the Korean peninsula triggered by the Winter Olympics in the South.

Tensions had been mounting for years as Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes saw it subjected to multiple rounds of increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the US, EU, South Korea and others, and Trump last year threatened the North with "fire and fury".

But since the Pyeongchang Games, Pyongyang and Washington have agreed to the unprecedented Singapore meeting, and Kim has twice visited China to meet President Xi Jinping, after not paying respects in the six years since he inherited power from his father.

The head of the UN's World Food Programme said Saturday it appeared North Korea was "turning a new page in history", following a four-day visit to the country.

David Beasley said he had enjoyed unprecedented access to the secretive state, telling BBC Radio that North Korea's leaders had a "sense of optimism".

Kim and South Korean president Moon Jae-in last month affirmed their commitment to the goal of "realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula" at a summit in the Demilitarised Zone that divides their countries.

But the phrase is a diplomatic euphemism open to interpretation on both sides.

Pyongyang has long wanted to see an end to the US military presence in  and nuclear umbrella over  the South, but it invaded its neighbour in 1950 and is the only one of the two Koreas to possess nuclear weapons.

This week the North released three Korean-Americans it had detained into the care of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was making his second trip to Pyongyang in two months.

However, Trump also withdrew the United States from a nuclear pact with Iran, raising questions over whether Pyongyang would trust Washington's promises.

Pompeo on Friday promised the US would work to rebuild North Korea's sanctions-hit economy if it agreed to surrender its nuclear arsenal.
The attack took place near the Paris' main opera house in an area full of bars, restaurants and theatres which were brimming on a weekend night.

Paris: A knifeman shouting "Allahu akbar" was shot dead by police in central Paris late Saturday after he killed one person and injured four others, sparking a terror probe and panic on the streets of France's capital.

The attack took place near the city's main opera house in an area full of bars, restaurants and theatres which were brimming on a weekend night.

Witnesses described scenes of panic as Parisians realised another potential terror attack was underway in a country already reeling from a string of jihadist assaults in the last three years that have killed more than 245 people.

"I was taking orders and I saw a young woman trying to get into the restaurant in panic," Jonathan, a waiter at a Korean restaurant, told AFP. The woman was bleeding and the attacker appeared behind her. He said a young man tried to fend off the assailant who then fled.

"The attacker entered a shopping street, I saw him with a knife in his hand," he said. "He looked crazy".

Milan, 19, said he saw "several people in distress" including a woman with wounds to her neck and leg.

"Firemen were giving her first aid. I heard two, three shots and a policeman told me that the man had been overpowered."

In a tweet French president Emmanuel Macron said: "France once again pays the price of blood."

Prosecutors cited witnesses as saying the man shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) as he went on the rampage, and added that a terror investigation had been launched.

Wounded out of danger

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility, according to the SITE monitoring group, but provided no corroborating proof to back the claim.

"The executor of the stabbing operation in the city of Paris is a soldier of the Islamic State and the operation was carried out in response to the calls to target the coalition states," a "security source" told Islamic State's official Amaq news agency, according to SITE.

Two of those wounded were rushed to hospital in a serious condition but Interior Minister Gerard Collomb later told reporters all the victims were out of danger and would survive their injuries.

"I have just seen the person who was most seriously injured, she is better, she is saved," he said.

French prime minister Edouard Philippe said police were on the scene "within five minutes" of the attack and that some nine minutes later the assailant was dead, he added.

"The speed of the response obviously avoided a heavier toll," he said.

A police source told AFP one officer tried to restrain the attacker with a taser but when that failed a colleague shot the man dead.

Scenes of panic

The attack took place on Rue Monsigny in the second arrondissement, an area that lies between the main opera house and the Louvre museum, two major tourist attractions. A large area was cordoned off where police, fire and rescue vehicles converged.

Shocked tourists and residents looked on from behind the security perimeter.

"I was on the cafe terrace, I heard three, four shots, it happened very fast," said 47-year-old Gloria.

"The bartenders told us to come inside very quickly. Then I went out to see what was going on, and then I saw a man on the ground," she added.

One witness, who gave her first name Maxine, said panic spread as word got out that an attack was taking place.

"We saw someone coming out of a building who said he saw the assailant slaughter someone, so people took refuge in the bar," she said.

France has suffered a series of major Islamist attacks including the massacre at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the November 2015 attacks that killed 130 in Paris, and the 2016 Bastille Day truck attack in Nice that killed more than 80.

There have also been a string of less deadly but frequent attacks by lone wolf jihadists wielding knives or guns. Most of the attacks have either been claimed by the Islamic State group or been carried out in their name.

A state of emergency put in place just after the 2015 Paris attacks was lifted in October when Macron's centrist government passed a new law boosting the powers of security forces.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen called for greater security measures after Saturday's attack.

"The French people will no longer be content with talk, they expect action," she said.

Thousands of French troops remain on the streets under an anti-terror operation known as Sentinelle, patrolling transport hubs, tourist hotspots and other sensitive sites.
Catalonia's parliament failed to elect pro-independence candidate Quim Torra as regional president on Saturday amid a political unrest in the country

Barcelona: Catalonia's parliament failed to elect pro-independence candidate Quim Torra as regional president on Saturday, although the candidate handpicked by deposed leader Carles Puigdemont said he will work "tirelessly" for a split from Spain.

Following a bullish anti-Madrid speech during a debate in the Catalan parliament, Torra won 66 votes against 65, with 4 regional lawmakers abstaning in the first round of voting.

However, the same result in the second round vote scheduled for Monday would be enough for him to be elected, as only a simple majority will be required.

The 55-year-old father-of-three, is an independence advocate cut from the same cloth as Puigdemont, who is currently in exile in Germany fighting an arrest warrant and extradition request from Spain, but still exerting his influence on politics back in Catalonia.

Addressing parliament, Torra said he was "working tirelessly for the Catalan republic" and signalled that the secession crisis is far from over, even if Catalonia does finally get a government after months of political limbo.

"I want it to be clear that our president is Carles Puigdemont and we will be loyal to the mandate of 1 October to build an independent state in the form of a republic," Torra said, referring to last year's outlawed independence referendum.

He promised to restore Catalonia's laws suspended by Spanish courts and start drafting a constitution for a future Catalan Republic, stressing that he would "not give up anything" and would "assume responsibility for what comes from our actions".

Puigdemont would become involved as soon as his legal situation allowed, added Torra, who also condemned the "unacceptable silence" of European institutions over the Catalan crisis.

But he did say he was "ready to talk tomorrow without conditions" with the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Rajoy quickly responded to the speech, saying: "What we saw and heard did not please us... but we will judge his actions." He also warned that under Article 155 of the constitution, which the government used to impose direct rule on Catalonia, "could be used again if necessary," if the next regional leadership did not respect the law.

The government also issued a statement calling Torra's speech divisive and accusing Puigdemont, in naming his successor, "of making first the interests of an individual rather than the general interest of all citizens."

The opposition accused Torra of throwing "oil on the fire".

"Independence lost a great opportunity today, (that of having) a candidate who recognises his errors," said Ines Arrimadas, leader of the centre-right Ciudadanos, the party that received the most votes in the last regional elections.

The head of the Catalan Socialist party Miquel Iceta criticised Torra for accepting to "subordinate" himself to "someone who believes he is the legitimate president", referring to Puigdemont.

Catalonia has been in political limbo since Spain's conservative central government sacked Puigdemont and his cabinet and imposed direct rule on the semi-autonomous region after it unilaterally declared independence on 27 October.

Regional elections were held in December, which separatist parties won again, but every leadership candidate picked by the separatist camp since has fallen flat. While Puigdemont faces jail if he returns home, other candidates such as civic leader Jordi Sanchez are in prison, charged with rebellion for their role in the independence drive.

Antonio Barroso, deputy research director at Teneo Intelligence, told AFP that Torra  an editor who also held high positions within pro-independence associations  will likely act as Puigdemont's "surrogate".

He will be faced with deep divisions in the separatist camp, composed of the CUP, the leftwing ERC party and Puigdemont's Together for Catalonia grouping, he added in a research note.

"The problem is that separatist parties continue to disagree on what to do next," he wrote.

"ERC wants to execute a 'moderate shift' to keep secessionist politicians out of legal troubles, avoid direct rule by Madrid, and try to garner long-term support for independence.

"In contrast, Puigdemont's strategy is to continue using every opportunity... to continue challenging the Spanish authorities and keep the secessionist momentum alive." Oriol Bartomeus, politics professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, told AFP that Torra had in his career shown "a pretty clear inclination towards the sector of the independence movement that is not really in favour of political normalisation." In March, Torra gave a rousing speech to the regional parliament calling on separatists to keep up their campaign against the central government.

"Do not think for a moment we will give up, not even a millimetre, to defend the justice, legitimacy and honourability of this cause," he thundered.
(Reuters) - Two U.S. fighter jets intercepted two Russian bombers in international airspace off the coast of Alaska on Friday.

(Reuters) - Two U.S. fighter jets intercepted two Russian bombers in international airspace off the coast of Alaska on Friday.

The Russian TU-95 "Bear" bombers flew into a so-called Air Defense Identification Zone located about 200 miles off Alaska's west coast, at about 10 a.m. EST (1400 GMT), North American Aerospace Defense Command spokesman Canadian Army Major Andrew Hennessy said in a statement to CNN.

Two Alaska-based NORAD F-22 fighter jets intercepted and visually identified the Russian bombers until they left the identification zone and the Russian aircraft never entered U.S. airspace, CNN reported, citing the statement.

Russian bombers TU-95 and TU-142 were escorted by two F-22 fighter jets in international airspace for 40 minutes, the RIA news agency cited the Russian Defence Ministry as saying on Saturday.

The U.S. fighter jets did not get closer then 100 meters to the Russian bombers, the Russian military was quoted as saying.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien; editional reporting be Denis Pinchuk in Moscow; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Alexander Smith)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
For most restaurant stocks, a quarter with low single-digit comparable sales growth, a decline in guest traffic, and modest guidance would be received with a collective shrug if not a sell-off. However, most restaurant stocks aren't Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG).

The struggling burrito chain issued such a report last month, but investors greeted the news by sending the stock up 24.4% to its highest point in nearly a year. It was obvious why. Shareholders were enthused by new CEO Brian Niccol's hints at his plans for the company, and hopes that he would return the brand to its former glory gathered steam.

However, investor excitement may already be overblown. Chipotle stock is now up over 60% since it named Niccol as the new CEO in February. Still, as the recent earnings report shows, the company's fundamentals have not changed much. The decline in guest traffic was particularly concerning as that's the most important indicator of a restaurant chain's underlying business. Customers are still abandoning Chipotle as comparable sales improved only because of a price increase over the last year. Investors were cheered by a 33% jump in earnings per share, but that was due primarily to the price increase and lower commodity costs. In order to grow earnings over the long term, the company will have to increase comparable sales. At this point, investor expectations look lofty with the stock trading at close to 70x trailing earnings.

Brian Niccol: burrito savior

Niccol comes to Chipotle with a strong pedigree. He previously served as the CEO of Yum! Brands' Taco Bell, driving the resurgence of the Mexican-themed chain. Niccol helped lead initiatives around new menu items like Doritos Locos Taco, dayparts like breakfast, "Fourthmeal", and a happy hour at select Taco Bell Cantina locations.

Niccol also successfully guided Taco Bell's social media strategy and "revolutionized its digital approach" with mobile ordering and payment across all of Taco Bell's locations.

While Chipotle founder and former CEO Steve Ells is a chef first, Niccol comes to Chipotle as an ace marketer, spending the early part of his career in brand management with Procter & Gamble, before moving on to Pizza Hut where he served in several leadership roles, including Chief Marketing Officer, and then on to Taco Bell.

Therefore, Niccol's biggest impact on the business is likely to come from a marketing and branding perspective. Perhaps the most important thing he said on the recent earnings call was that he thinks the brand has been "invisible." That likely means the company will ramp up marketing spending in both traditional and non-traditional channels, and Chipote has already made moves to reach more customers like with its launch of delivery from more than 1,500 stores through Doordash. Niccol has also named a new Chief Marketing Officer and Human Resources Chief as he remakes the management team.

A clear precedent

Chipotle investors may be so enthusiastic because they've seen new restaurant CEOs guide turnarounds at high-profile chains twice in the last decade -- Domino's Pizza (NYSE:DPZ) and McDonald's (NYSE:MCD).

Domino's shares have skyrocketed since CEO Patrick Doyle took over in March 2010, gaining nearly 1,700% since then. You may remember Doyle from an ad campaign when he repeated many of the pizza chain's negative reviews from focus groups, including one that said the pizza tasted "like cardboard" and committed to making it better. The company did just that, improving recipes for core ingredients like dough, sauce, and cheese.

It also tapped the evolving mobile space, offering easy order options through a number of platforms including its own app, Twitter, and even with an emoji. The company also gave customers access to a pizza tracker, allowing them to see the status of their order. All of those moves paid off as same-store sales soared under Doyle. He's about to step down from his post, but the lessons from his tenure are clear.

McDonald's new CEO, Steve Easterbrook, has only been at the helm since 2015, but he's already influenced the company in a number of ways. McDonald's introduced all-day breakfast to customer raves, refranchised restaurants, improved food quality by removing antibiotics from chicken, and started using fresh beef in Quarter Pounders. He's also embraced technology such as ordering kiosks and is remodeling restaurants under a plan the company calls "Experience of the Future."

Those efforts have also delivered results as McDonald's stock is up over 60% since Easterbrook took over, and the company has posted impressive comparable sales numbers, beating its peers.

No two turnarounds are the same, but both Doyle and Easterbrook focused on simple things like listening to the customer, improving food quality and convenience, and addressing pain points in the business.

Niccol has promised to unveil his strategy for the company before the next earnings report, and in particular said he would improve operations and innovate in areas like menu, restaurant design, the digital experience, and consumer access. Expectations are high as investors hope the company will return to the performance levels it had before the E. coli scares. The honeymoon won't last forever though. If Chipotle's comparable sales remain flat, the stock has a long way to fall.
With Israel winning the Eurovision 2018 contest, bookmakers were mostly spared. Israel was listed at 5/1 odds.

Israels Netta won this years competition, which was expected to have attracted millions of viewers across the globe.

Austria led after the juriessvote but public support saw Israel over the line.

Irelands Ryan OShaughnessy finished a creditable 16th and the bookmakers at Paddy Power breathed a sigh of relief as a result after they had 1 million euros on the line due to heavy betting on the Irish entry.
So you want to watch the royal wedding. Don't worry  you're not alone.

Royal Wedding fanatics will be able to view the long-awaited matrimony  without commercials  at a few theaters on May 19. This comes by way of Fathom Events, which is airing coverage of the wedding at almost 200 movie theaters in the U.S.
In 1951, a 14-year-old Australian boy named James Harrison awoke from a major chest operation. Doctors had removed one of his lungs in a procedure that had taken several hours - and would keep him hospitalized for three months.

But Harrison was alive, thanks in large part to a vast quantity of transfused blood he had received, his father explained.

"He said that I had 13 units of blood and my life had been saved by unknown people," Harrison told CNN's Sanjay Gupta decades later.

At the time, Australia's laws required blood donors to be at least 18 years old. It would be four years before Harrison was eligible, but he vowed then that he too would become a blood donor when he was old enough.

After turning 18, Harrison made good on his word, donating whole blood regularly with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. He disliked needles, so he averted his eyes and tried to ignore the pain whenever one was inserted into his arm.

Meanwhile, doctors in Australia were struggling to figure out why thousands of births in the country were resulting in miscarriages, stillbirths or brain defects for the babies.

"In Australia, up until about 1967, there were literally thousands of babies dying each year, doctors didn't know why, and it was awful," Jemma Falkenmire, of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, told Gupta. "Women were having numerous miscarriages, and babies were being born with brain damage."

The babies, it turned out, were suffering from Haemolytic Disease of the Newborn, or HDN. The condition most often arises when a woman with an Rh negative blood type becomes pregnant with a baby who has Rh positive blood, and the incompatibility causes the mother's body to reject the fetus's red blood cells.

Doctors realized, however, that it might be possible to prevent HDN by injecting the pregnant woman with a treatment made from donated plasma with a rare antibody.

Researchers scoured blood banks to see whose blood might contain this antibody - and found a donor in New South Wales by the name of James Harrison.

By then, Harrison had been donating whole blood regularly for more than a decade. He has said he didn't think twice when scientists reached out to him to ask if he would participate in what would become known as the Anti-D program.

"They asked me to be a guinea pig, and I've been donating ever since," Harrison told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Before long, researchers had developed an injection called Anti-D using plasma from Harrison's donated blood. The first dose was given to a pregnant woman at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in 1967, according to Robyn Barlow, the Rh program coordinator who found Harrison.

Harrison continued donating for more than 60 years and his plasma has been used to make millions of Anti-D injections, according to the Red Cross. Because about 17 percent of pregnant women in Australia require the anti-D injections, the blood service estimates Harrison has helped 2.4 million babies in the country.

"Every ampul of Anti-D ever made in Australia has James in it," Barlow told the Sydney Morning Herald. "He has saved millions of babies. I cry just thinking about it."

Scientists still aren't sure why Harrison's body naturally produces the rare antibody but believe it is related to the blood transfusions he received as a teenager. And through the decades, Harrison has brushed off excessive praise regarding his regular trips to the blood donation center from his home in Umina Beach, on the Central Coast of New South Wales.

He had "never" considered stopping, he told the Daily Mail in 2010.

"Probably my only talent is that I can be a blood donor," Harrison remarked wryly to CNN's Gupta in 2015, when the network followed him as he made his 1,101st donation that year.

At the blood donation center, he greeted the nurses who had come to know him so well. As always, he looked away when they inserted the needle and spent the duration of the appointment gripping an orange stress ball in his right arm.

When a reporter asked if what he was doing was courageous, Harrison squeezed his eyes together and shook his head.

"That's the other rare thing about James," Falkenmire told the network then. "He thinks his donations are the same as anybody else's. He doesn't think he's remarkable."

Countless others think Harrison is remarkable, though. Somewhere along the way, he picked up the nickname "The Man With the Golden Arm," along with accolades large and small, from the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1999 to the cover of his local yellow pages in 2013.

In 2003, he landed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

But in interviews, Harrison has said by far the most fulfilling part of his unwavering commitment to donate plasma has been the babies he has helped save - including his own grandchildren.

"To say I am proud of James (my dad) is an understatement," Harrison's daughter, Tracey Mellowship, wrote on Facebook last month, noting she had needed an Anti-D injection in 1992, after the birth of her first son. "Thanks to dad I then gave birth to another healthy boy in 1995. . . . Thank you dad for giving me the chance to have two healthy children - your grandchildren. XXX"

On Friday, Harrison made his final trip to the blood donation center. At age 81, he had already passed the age limit allowed for donors, and the blood service had decided Harrison should stop donating to protect his health, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

As Harrison sat in the donation chair, four silver mylar balloons - with the numbers 1, 1, 7, 3 - bobbled above him, representing his 1,173 total blood donations in his lifetime. Several parents had shown up at the hospital to mark the occasion - holding some of the babies his donations had helped save.

Barlow, the Rh program coordinator who had found Harrison decades ago, gave him a long, emotional hug.

"We'll never see his kind again," Barlow told the Sydney Morning Herald. "That he has been well and fit and his veins strong enough to continue to donate for so long is very, very rare."

Blood service officials said their hope is that more blood donors will step forward; perhaps there will be another James Harrison among them. Currently only about 200 donors qualify for the Anti-D program.

Harrison told the Red Cross that he is eager for his legacy of 1,173 donations to be surpassed.

"I hope it's a record that somebody breaks, because it will mean they are dedicated to the cause," Harrison said.
All you need to know about Google Duplex

Google previewed a new skill for its Google Assistant during Google I/O this week. Called Google Duplex, its purpose is to make calls on our behalf, conducting the conversations in a natural sounding and flowing manner to help perform real world tasks.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic

Arthur C. Clarke

An oft overused phrase, banned in journalism, but this editor honestly felt it applied here after hearing Google's demos of making table reservations and booking hair appointments unaided.

If you've not heard Google Duplex do its thing then listen to the example below:

Duplex scheduling a hair appointment: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Audio courtesy of Google

Eerily sounding this, isn't it? Google Duplex has even been mentioned in relation to 'The Turing Test'. A test developed by Alan Turing in the 50's which is used to determine if an Artificial Intelligences behavior is indistinguishable from that of a human - high praise indeed. Certainly, we only got to hear the best examples, even if we would love for Google to release a 'Gag Reel' of Google Duplex's earlier conversations!

The step change made with Google Duplex is its ability to hold naturally sounding conversations thanks its advances in understanding, interacting, timing and speaking which ensures that the recipients don't have to adapt to talking to a machine. It's this ability to successfully 'fool' the person at the other end of the line that prompted philosophical and ethical concerns.

Google has since responded by stating that Google Duplex would appropriately identify itself during its conversations.

How does Google Duplex achieve this?

Google Duplex employs the TensorFlow Extended (TFX) Machine Learning platform to create a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) with speech processing duties being handled via an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text To Speech (TTS) engines controlling intonation depending on the circumstances.

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) converts recipients speech to text, the text is analyzed within context, with the response being converted to speech for the recipient via a Text To Speech (TTS) engine.

To achieve the required quality of interaction, Google Duplex is trained in narrow Domains like booking a hair appointment. Training is undertaken in real-time and is supervised by a human operator who will monitor the interactions and intervene as and when appropriate. These highly trained instructors keep overseeing the training until the conversation performs at the quality level required. At this point, Google Duplex is free to operate on its own.

Is Google recording every conversation? In the UK and many US States, you only need one party's consent and you're legally able to record the call. However, certain US States require consent from both parties. Will Google Duplex not operate when calling that State or will Google Duplex ask for permission? - a conversation killer if we ever heard one.

Google Duplex, as it expands into other domains, may also require knowing more personal information in order to fulfill your requests. We can decide not to provide that information but at the detriment of the quality of the service that Google Duplex can provide.

Speaking and listening like us

Nuances around timing are also employed to assist in holding a natural conversion. Informed by user studies, Google was able to match its latency to people's expectations.

Responding rapidly in response to "Hello" and pausing for a more considered response when answering questions better mimics how we hold a conversation. Additionally, Google has employed speech disfluencies to create breaks during the conversation, for example, "erms", "hmms" that makes the speech produced by Google Duplex even more naturally sounding.

Understanding humans' responses is even more challenging as we use complex sentences, sometimes contradictory, often unstructured that rely on context all with background noise. "OK for 4", during longer conversations may be referring to the time of the reservation or for the number of people.

Example of a complex statement: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Audio courtesy of Google

Were going to commit another journalistic faux pas and bring out another overused quote here

You only get one chance to make a first impression, you better get it right

For Google Duplex to become a daily part of our lives it has to get it right, for both us and the businesses. How many times have our digital assistants failed to do what we ask of them today?

As users, we often abandon functionality that fails to meet our expectations - but with Google Duplex, as the name implies it flows both ways. If the business on the other end deems that its time has been wasted due to a poor interaction, it won't be long before we see businesses put the phone down on Google Duplex or block the numbers altogether.

Google states that Google Duplex is self-monitoring, in the event of a task that it can't complete autonomously it signals a human operator who will complete the task. How this manifests itself in reality for some of these edge cases remains to be seen.

Predicted next steps?

Taken to its logical conclusion we envisage Google Duplex making a difference in many many scenarios.

Given a deeper level of integration with our cars than we have today, envisage a scenario where during a crash, if our airbags deploy, Google Duplex can summon the emergency services on our behalf automatically.

The onset of a stroke can result in trouble speaking, another scenario where Duplex could be utilized to summon the emergency services. With the simple placement of cost-effective smart home buttons around the home, combined with IFTTT, Google Duplex could summon help for the elderly in the event of a problem.

Tasks that seem mundane for the majority can be profoundly challenging for people with disabilities. In these scenarios Google Duplex will turn out to be truly liberating for those individuals.

Our experiences while on holiday and for ex-patriots will be significantly enhanced once additional languages are supported.

Currently, Google has focused on Google Duplex initiating calls on our behalf. Its not a huge leap until Duplex starts answering our calls when were busy and taking the appropriate actions.

Even today it seems it would be capable of transcribing voice-mails as a minimum for us. Also taking action if the call/transcript was from the hair salon that was busy when Duplex first called it and calling it back. Or more usefully, responding directly to the call-back from the hair salon.

With Google Duplex making calls, its natural to expand our thinking beyond smartphones. With Googles ever-expanding reach, including our wrists, our TVs, speakers and digital displays in the kitchen its entirely plausible that well be able to initiate our requests from all of our connected devices without having to dig out our phones.

Literally, and figuratively, you haven't heard the last from Google Duplex, Google plans to test this summer. But in the meantime, you can listen to some additional examples below:

Duplex reserving a table: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Handling Interruptions: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Elaborating further: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Another restaurant reservation: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Asking for Holiday hours: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Audio courtesy of Google

Source
Week 19 in review: no end to OnePlus 6 and Nokia X6 leaks

There won't be much along the lines of OnePlus 6 leaks starting next week as the phone goes official on Wednesday. This past week, however, we had renders, photos, benchmarks, teasers even.

Not the only 6 to entertain the leakster community, the OP6 was joined by the Nokia X6. Same stuff - renders, live photos, the lot.

Meanwhile, Lenovo is ditching the notch and is working on a phone with an above 95% screen-to-body ratio, company VP teased on Twitter.

The next-gen iPhones are still a few months away, but word on the street is that there'll be a 6.5-inch OLED iPhone in the same footprint as today's iPhone 8 Plus. With the right aspect, it's not impossible, we checked. Another rumor claimed that a triple camera is coming to one of Apple's models for 2018. Is it the 6.5" one?

Google rolled out the Android P beta this week, and for a change, it's not just for Pixels - Sony, Xiaomi, Nokia, Oppo, vivo and Essential are in on it too. Yay for Project Treble!

For more on these and some other developments from the past week, clock through the links below.



Lenovo Z5 sketch with nearly 100% screen-to-body ratio revealed Chang Cheng, former CEO of ZUK and current VP of Lenovo Group, teased the flagship on Weibo.





Full Nokia X specs revealed, pictures in tow The phone will come with Android Oreo and Snapdragon 636 chipset.





More official renders of Nokia X6 appear The retailer Suning revealed the phone in a photo contest where winners are getting the new device.





New Nokia phones leak, Nokia X6 moniker confirmed Carrying model numbers TA-1075, TA-1105, and TA-1116, the new devices have been certified in Russia.





OnePlus 6 shines on Geekbench a week ahead of launch The phone with Android Oreo 8.1 reached 2402 and 8931 in both scores.





OnePlus 6 photographed in black and white Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan tweeted a photo of himself holding the phone with Pete Lau.





CAD renders show every OnePlus 6 angle CAD renders show the OnePlus 6 from all sides.





OnePlus updates its trade-in program ahead of OnePlus 6 announcement Those wanting to trade up to a OnePlus 6 can begin the process now.





OnePlus teases super slo-mo camera on Twitter The latest teaser from the Chinese start-up hints at a slow-motion camera feature.





Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 and Snapdragon 730 specs leak in full Both chipsets will be built by Samsung, but the SD730 will be manufactured on the 8nm LPP process.





2018 6.5 OLED iPhone to be the same size as iPhone 8 Plus It will come with a bigger screen due to the lack of bezels on top and bottom.





Check out the new Burgundy Red Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+ Tipster Ice Universe has shared some pics of the gorgeous new models in a tweet.





Sony Xperia XZ2 passes durability test with flying colors Gorilla Glass 5 and a metal frame prove a tough combo.





Huawei releases Android Oreo Beta for seven more phones Huawei Mate 8, P9, P9 Plus, Honor 8, Honor V8, Honor Note 8, and Honor 6X are getting the update along with EMUI 8.0.





First live image of nubia Z18 reveals total lack of bezels The phone will have literally no side bezels thanks to the new Full-Screen 3.0 tech by ZTE.





iPhone with triple rear camera coming in 2019 according to one analyst Currently Huawei's P20 Pro is the only smartphone on the market with such a setup.






Guwahati : An Assam police constable was died while gun fight with a gambling party in Assams Nagaon district on Saturday evening.





The incident took place at Dumdumia area in the Central Assam district.





According to the reports, based on intelligence input an anti-gambling team of Nagaon district police had launched an operation at Dumdumia area.





When the police team reached at the area, the gambling party had started firing and police team also retaliated.





A police constable was seriously injured and he was rushed to Nagaon civil hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.





The deceased police constable was identified as Anil Das.





Meanwhile, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) of Nagaon district police Ripul Das said that, the police team had launched the operation against gambling on the basis of intelligence input.





When the police team reached at the area, a constable had received bullet injuries and he was immediately admitted at hospital, where he succumbed his injuries, the police officer said.





The Assam cop further said that, police had arrested a person in connection with it and investigation is going on.




Published on 2018/05/13 | Source

Chinese cities are resuming package tours to Korea after an unofficial boycott last year crippled the cut-price tour group business here. The southwestern city of Chongqing on Monday said it is lifting the ban.

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It comes just a week after Wuhan, the sprawling capital of Hubei Province, resumed package tours to Korea.

Relations tentatively improved after President Moon Jae-in's summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in December last year.

The number of Chinese visitors to Korea passed the 400,000 threshold in March for the first time since February 2017.
Published on 2018/05/13 | Source

Staffers promote pet products in a department store in Daegu on April 10. /Newsis

Some 10 million people live with pets in Korea, and the pet market has increased by an average of 20 percent a year.

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BC Card analyzed card transactions by 100 million customers who have made payments to pet-related businesses over the past year and found that sales grew an average of 20.5 percent annually over the last three years.

Their combined sales stood at W337 billion in 2017, up 45.2 percent from W232 billion in 2015 (US$1=W1,078).

Naturally such businesses are densely concentrated in Seoul and other metropolitan areas. Some 32 percent of the pet industry's overall sales were made in Gyeonggi Province surrounding the capital, followed by Seoul (26 percent), Busan (8.1 percent), Daegu (6 percent) and South Gyeongsang Province (5.2 percent).

Veterinary clinics accounted for 60.9 percent of the total sales, followed by products with 21 percent and grooming shops with 17.5 percent.

Women outnumbered men three to two in spending on pets. By age group, people in their 30s spent the most with 24.8 percent, followed by those in their 40s (24.4 percent) and 50s (24.1 percent).
By Panos Kotzathanasis | Published on 2018/05/12

If one was to look for the direct roots of contemporary Korean, one should not look much further than Park Kwang-soo's debut, a wonderful sociopolitical allegory based on a rather unusual friendship between two men.

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1988 was the year of the Seoul Olympics, and a time of great political and social change for South Korea. Massive street protests against the military government and on behalf of workers' rights had recently reached their peak. However, the Korean society portrayed through cinema in those days little resembled the passions on display in the street. Government censors, wielding an iron grip over the film industry, ensured that the slightest hint of social criticism was clipped in the screenplay or in the editing room before reaching audiences.

"Chilsu and Mansu", released on November 16, 1988 is a frequently-cited landmark on Korea's path from restrictive censorship to a greater freedom of expression. It is based on a story by Taiwanese writer Huang Chunming, whose writings were banned in Korea at the time (hence his name does not appear in the credits).( source: koreanfilm.org)

The film revolves around two men; Chil-su, who works as a billboard painter and Man-su, who paints buildings by rappelling. The two of them meet when Chil-su's boss hires Man-su, and soon enough, they become friends, particularly due to the former's insistence, which actually borders on stalking. The same tactics (stalking that is) lead Chil-su to meet Ji-na during a civil defense drill (which was quite common at the time), a college student and part-time Burger King worker. Chil-su falls in love with her, and tries to lie her way into her heart, using English, which the girl studies, and at the same time forces himself to Man-su's house, while the two start working together, since Man-su does not seem to bother by neither his roommates overstepping neither his constant lying.

Gradually, we learn about the protagonists' family issues that have led them to solitude. Man-su's father is a political prisoner, which has cost him any kind of progress in his own life, while Chil-su's sister is disowned for sleeping with American soldiers, while his father is a drunk who leeches off his new wife. In the end, and as their lives seem to be getting worse as time passes, the film takes a rather dramatic turn, after the two of them are assigned the painting of a billboard.

Park Kwang-soo directs a film that uses an unlikely base, since the way the two become friends borders on the surrealistic (one can easily see the impact the film had on Kim Ki-duk's "Bad Guy") in order to present a number of sociopolitical comments about the era, which become much more intense as the story progresses.

In that fashion, initially the film deals with the turning of the Koreans towards western civilization and particularly the US (English language, movies, clothes, video games, music, and almost every aspect of the then American pop culture), and the newly realized social inequality and worker's rights, as expressed in the scene where Man-su quits. As the story progresses though, the comments become more "serious" and intense, regarding the practices of the then regime towards political dissidents, which even extends to their children, as we witness in Man-su's life story. The impact of the US is represented by Chil-su's life , regarding both his family's story and his will to move to Miami.

The finale provides the most intense ones, in metaphorical fashion. The members of the labor class have no voice, but even when they decide to express it, all hell breaks loose, with the authorities treating any kind of similar action as revolutionary. During the scene in the billboard, the two men find themselves, successively, "against" the police, politicians, the capital (their boss actually) and the press, all of which are portrayed as being against the working class the two represent, particularly because they cannot hear or understand them. The above are presented in a wonderful fashion through Park's direction, who highlights his comments through a rather entertaining, although quite dramatic approach.

At the same time, Park does not fail to analyze his characters to the fullest, as their attitude is "justified" by their effort to cope with their families' issues. Chil-su tells lies to others and himself constantly, and Man-su has isolated himself and has turned to alcohol. The unlikely way their friendship occurs is also an indication that their kind of solitude is quite difficult to end in reality. Their portrayal is benefitted the most by Park Joong-hoon (Chil-su) and Ahn Sung-ki (Man-su) who portray their characters with gusto and realism in outstanding fashion, while they highlight their chemistry.

Yooo Young-gil's cinematography follows the realistic paths of the movie's aesthetics, with him presenting a number of different locations (fast food shops, video game parlors, malls, and Man-su's rundown house, etc) with accuracy. His work, however, finds its apogee in the panoramic shots of the finale. Kim Hyeon-I's editing allows the movie to move forward constantly, in a pace that is relatively fast, and suits the narrative quite well.

"Chilsu and Mansu" is a great film, both as an artistic endeavor and due to its significance for Korean cinema.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

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"Chilsu and Mansu" is directed by Park Kwang-soo and features Ahn Sung-ki, Park Joong-hoon and Bae Jong-ok.

Available on Blu-ray from YESASIA



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Kathmandu, Nepal: different incidents of explosion and fire have been reported across the country on Sunday.





As the Biplav led Maoist party has called bandha, general strike today, it is believed that the party would have involved in the activities.





An improvised explosive device (IED) was found at Pokhara Airport premises on Sunday. The bomb found at gate no. 1, was defused by bomb disposal team of Nepal Army.





Likewise, another IED was detonated at Srinagardanda of Tansen Municipality-5 in Palpa on Sunday morning. Another IED was also put at the bridge over Madi River in Byas Municipality-3 of Tanahun district on Sunday morning.





Likewise, another IED was also found in Zerokilo, Uttargaya rural municipality of Rasuwa district on Sunday morning.




Joy Alukkas started his first jewellery showroom in UAE in the year 1987, and today the Joyalukkas Group is a multi-billion global conglomerate with varied business interests. Beginning with a single jewellery room in Abu Dhabi, Joy Alukkas has grown the Group to a 140 plus jewellery showroom chain, spread across 11 countries around the world, including India, USA, UK, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, there is no stopping Joy Alukkas, who is called 'Man with the Midas Touch'.

Touching the lives of millions of people worldwide, brand Joyalukkas has become a household name across the globe, thanks to his vision and commitment to excel and constantly innovate. He had the foresight to open the worlds largest showroom at Chennai in South India, considered the jewellery hub of India.

Seemingly untouched by the phenomenal success of his Group, Joy Alukkas continues here, explaining the journey from where he left off in his last Q&A session with ROUGH &POLISHED.

Some excerpts:

How did the Joyalukkas Group perform financially during the year 2017? In which country did the Groups turnover peak; and what growth do you look forward to in the year 2018?

2017 was a year of fast-paced growth for Joyalukkas, spurred by an unprecedented number of new Jewellery showroom openings and promotions. We also saw an increase in turnover in spite of the unfavourable market conditions. Historically the UAE and India have always been where our turnover peaks, but our newest market, USA, and the 8 other countries we operate in are not too far behind. Work is underway to extend our network further with new showrooms in addition to new branded items and collections to our portfolio, as well as our online store. So we see both our number of locations and turnover rate continuing to rise in 2018 and beyond.

What additions have taken place in terms of expansion with India as well as overseas since 2015, when you last spoke to us? Is there any more expansion plans in the future? Details, please.

Our massive expansion plans begun in 2015 is going ahead as scheduled. This has seen us enter the USA, opening showrooms in Houston, New Jersey and Chicago just a few weeks apart. Were also averaging around one new showroom every six months in the GCC region and almost one new showroom every quarter in India. We began with 110 showrooms in 2015, we are currently at 140 and still, growth will be more aggressive in 2018, especially in India.

We have recently launched Mission 2020, which is my vision to ornament the world come to fruition. In celebration of 20 years of Brand Joyalukkas, we aim to grow from 140 showrooms in 11 countries to 220 showrooms in 12 countries by the year 2020, along with a target $3 billion in turnover. So the next two years will be very busy and exciting for us.

With the Middle East being a growth area, what has your group achieved in the last 2 years? Dubai too is turning into a trading hub with many jewellers/banks etc. establishing a business there. What changes do you see in the sector in terms of competition? Your comments.

We pride ourselves in setting new standards in the Jewellery retail industry, especially in the GCC. In the last 2 years, we have implemented new systems and processes that offer more transparency and assures the customers that what they are getting from our showrooms is the best the world has to offer, be it in products or services.

In this business, being in tune with customer requirements is key to staying ahead. This is no longer the time to be looking at what your neighbour is doing and copying what works. The focus should simply be on the customer, offering them the designs they seek, the quality they want and the added value they deserve. At Joyalukkas this principle has resulted in new brands catering to more contemporary tastes at more affordable price points and an e-commerce function on our website, as well as the introduction of a CRM facility so we can get customer feedback and/or respond to their queries in a direct and timely manner, etc. We expect any changes in the industry and amongst our competitors to be along the same lines.

What transformations have happened in jewellery demand in the past few years in UAE, in terms of diamond, gold content, design etc.?

Not only in the UAE but around the globe, customer buying behaviour has changed significantly. In my opinion, the economic depression of the late 2000s is largely the cause, with shoppers now more prudent about their purchases, seeking as much information as they can before shelling out the cash. Were also seeing a big change in terms of tastes. Diamonds and fine Jewellery, for example, were traditionally gift items or wedding ornaments  definitely something you would wear only for a special occasion. But were now seeing customers who buy these for themselves, preferable to be worn every day. Todays Jewellery shoppers tend to buy pieces based on how they can express their personality, whether its 22K gold and diamonds or 18K and enamel. Unique designs and quality materials are now the deciding factors for most buyers.

I recall it was your plan to enter the US market way back in 2015. What is the status of that initiative? Also, now that you have entered Singapore, what are your views on the Singapore market?

We opened our first USA showroom in Houston in Q4 2016, quickly followed by New Jersey and Chicago in early 2017. I am quite happy to say that all three showrooms received a warm welcome and are doing well in terms of sales and footfall one year on.

Singapore is an exciting market, and we recently opened a second showroom at the heart of Little India, where the sizable expat community is enjoying the added convenience of having us practically at their doorstep. Jewellery retail in Singapore is unique as it is a more brand-conscious economy, so fashion and luxury brands with a Jewellery offering are the more obvious choice. However, shoppers are now gravitating towards unique, bespoke and handcrafted Jewellery and are willing to shop around, even at emerging brands, until they find what they want.

With an extensive presence in UAE as well as India, what difference in growth have you witnessed over the years? And in Jewellery demand, what changes are seen in both the markets as in design, diamond content etc.? Your comments.

As mentioned earlier, the changes were currently seeing are not specific to the UAE or India, theyre happening worldwide. However, it is interesting to note that even the Indian market, a largely traditional and gold-led market is experiencing these changes as well. A new generation of shoppers is coming of age, choosing and buying their Jewellery themselves, so were seeing more youthful, trendy choices in designs as well as materials. Where 22K gold was the norm, there is now a growing market for 18K gold Jewellery in three tones, not just the ubiquitous yellow. Diamonds, as well, are also shifting from occasional to daily wear.

At Joyalukkas we are keeping pace with these changes. We recently launched an 18K gold Jewellery collection as well as 7 Wonders, diamond necklace sets for everyday wear. New brands are also in the works, including one targeted at teens and a contemporary collection inspired by natural forms and patterns.

After the PNB fraud, media reports made the round that diamond Jewellery was studded with synthetics and CZs. Has this affected your group's sales of diamond Jewellery in any way in India or elsewhere? Or is your Group's reputation strong enough to retain consumer trust in your diamond Jewellery? Your views...

Joyalukkas is known as the worlds favourite jeweller, building on a reputation of excellence and trust. We were the first Jewellery retailer to be awarded both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications. We also have purity testing machines in every showroom and use only IGI/GIA certified diamonds in our collections. So our loyal customers know that the Joyalukkas name is an assurance of quality, and such rumours would not stop them from coming to us to fulfil their Jewellery requirements.

What are your current views on the Indian gem and jewellery sector? What steps do you think should be taken to strengthen the industry going forward? And in what way should the government help the industry, which is still unorganized?

As one of the drivers of the Indian economy, the gem and Jewellery sector is vibrant and ever growing. We praise the recent decision of the government to declare the sector as a focus area for export promotion. Joyalukkas offers its full support and looks forward to the promised new investments and technological upgrades that are sure to push the industry to even greater heights.

Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished
Provo brothers find school anxiety support through faith

Teenagers have a lot on their plate during their high school years, and the COVID-19 pandemic has added to many students anxieties and stress. For some, even packing a backpack looks and feels different. Add to that concerns and fears over potential violence in the classroom and some teens and their parents find it hard to attend school at all. Brothers Jayden and Luis are two high school students finding strength through their family and their faith  they are members of the Jehovahs Witnesses in Provo. Back-to-school supplies were a bit different this year for Luis and ...
Two adults, two children overcome by smoky fire in Noland Village

Two adults and two children were overcome by a smoky fire in their Noland Village home in Hagerstown on Thursday night.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has aced the Cannes red carpet game, and then some more. The actor is something of a Cannes veteran  having walked the red carpet at the prestigious festival 17 times previously  and manages to awe us with every red carpet look. If you are still oohing and aahing over the Michael Cinco gown she wore on Saturday, we have news for you  she is serving looks again.

On Sunday, the actor made her first appearance at Cannes wearing a Manish Arora outfit which is all about controlled elegance. Dressed in a white shirt, midnight blue skirt and a sequined orange jacket, Aishwarya looked quite a diva. Orange lipstick and wavy hair finished the look.

A post shared by AishwaryaRaiBachchan (@aishwaryaraibachchan_arb) on May 13, 2018 at 2:30am PDT

A post shared by AishwaryaRaiBachchan (@aishwaryaraibachchan_arb) on May 13, 2018 at 1:57am PDT

A post shared by AishwaryaRaiBachchan (@aishwaryaraibachchan_arb) on May 13, 2018 at 1:27am PDT

The actor, who made her Instagram debut on Friday, shared the look on social media platform. She will be walking the red carpet again on Sunday.

On Saturday, the ultra-violet, midnight blue, and red thread gown worn by Aishwarya is being described as among her best looks ever. She completed her look with a pair of blingy earrings, shimmery purple eye-liner, middle-parted hair and red lips.

Aishwarya collaborated with Cinco for the second year in a row. She made a stunning appearance last year in a frosty blue ball gown by the designer. The Bollywood star was accompanied by her six-year-old daughter Aaradhya, who wore a red Gauri-Nanika princess dress.
The 71st Cannes Film Festival saw a rather interesting Indian ensemble both on the red carpet and off it - while Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer Manto led the Indian films which will be screened at the prestigious film festival, Bollywood diva Aishwarya Rai Bachchan aced the red carpet with her stunning looks. Deepika Padukone, Kangana Ranaut and Pakistans Mahira Khan also made appearances at the French town.

Heres everything Indian that happened at Cannes Film Festival on day 5:

Aishwarya Rai made her first red carpet appearance at Cannes this year wearing a beautiful peacock motif gown with a long train by Michael Cinco. Aishwaryas daughter Aaradhya also accompanied her in a red ruffled dress. The mother-daughter duo with British actor Helen Mirren had us all agog.

A post shared by AishwaryaRaiBachchan (@aishwaryaraibachchan_arb) on May 12, 2018 at 10:16am PDT

Circle of Life  A post shared by AishwaryaRaiBachchan (@aishwaryaraibachchan_arb) on May 12, 2018 at 10:15am PDT

The actor began her Cannes journey with a pretty powder blue and pink sequinned dress.

Reflections....... A post shared by AishwaryaRaiBachchan (@aishwaryaraibachchan_arb) on May 12, 2018 at 5:29am PDT

 A post shared by AishwaryaRaiBachchan (@aishwaryaraibachchan_arb) on May 12, 2018 at 5:30am PDT

She ended the day in a power suit, looking every bit the boss lady that she is.

Filmmaker Nandita Das, along with actors Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Rasika Duggal, was also at the Cannes Film Festival. Manto has been selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

Speaking at the teaser launch of Manto, Nandita said it was not a message-driven film. "The idea is to tell a story for audience. We are not putting 'Manto' on a pedestal. He was somebody who used to speak the truth despite all challenges he faced. For youth, it is extremely inspirational to see someone like him. I think it's a film where the audience will be able to take home something and everyone will relate with his personality," she was quoted as PTI by saying.

four of us @mantagoyal @divyadutta25 @RasikaDugal here. Many more descending today. #manto contingent will be in full force. More than 20 of us!! So happy to be able to share the excitement. Nervousness will be mine alone! pic.twitter.com/GbM1q1SWaU  Nandita Das (@nanditadas) May 13, 2018

Manoj Bajpayee also returned to Cannes with his upcoming film, Bhosle. Manoj revealed the first look of Bhosle there as well.

#BHONSLE FIRST LOOK LAUNCH IN AN HOUR AT CANNES FESTIVAL pic.twitter.com/BhRh3R0IcM  manoj bajpayee (@BajpayeeManoj) May 10, 2018

Earlier, Deepika Padukone and Kangana Ranaut walked the red carpet and are now set to head back home.

the excitement of coming back home!!! A post shared by Deepika Padukone (@deepikapadukone) on May 12, 2018 at 11:57pm PDT

Dhanush, Huma Qureshi, Neena Gupta and Mallika Sherawat were also a few of other Indian artistes who are attending the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Mahira was also spotted in a stylish white dress paired with a blue printed dupatta at Cannes on Saturday:

Follow @htshowbiz for more
As Bollywood actors celebrated Mothers Day on Sunday posting pictures with their moms, Janhvi Kapoor, too, joined the bandwagon with a touching post - she shared a throwback picture from her childhood featuring late actor Sridevi and herself.

Janhvi, who will make her Bollywood debut with Karan Johars Dhadak opposite Ishaan Khatter, shared the photo on Instagram.

A post shared by Janhvi Kapoor (@janhvikapoor) on May 13, 2018 at 4:51am PDT

Sridevi, who died earlier this year in Dubai hotel due to drowning, will receive a special salute for her contribution to cinema on May 16 at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival 2018. It will be part of an event, Titan Reginald F. Lewis Film Honours (a celebration of diversity and excellence in cinema), at Le Majestic Beach, Cannes Film Festival 2018.

The Cannes tribute follows this years National Film Awards honour for Sridevi. She posthumously won the Best Actress award for her role as an avenging mother in the Hindi film, Mom (2017).

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Actor, former pornstar, animal rights activist, and mommy of three, Sunny Leone turns 37 on May 13. In these 37 years of her life, Sunny has lived a life few could even imagine. Since the day she made a splashing entry with a pole dance in the Bigg Boss house in 2011, she was all the country talked about, at least on Google searches.

In life and in the seven years since her Bigg Boss debut, things have changed dramatically for her. She is one of the few, very confident, passionate persons in the film industry who arent scared of speaking their minds and showing support to causes they believe in, even in the face of extreme bullying.

Sunny may have come a long way since her days as a pornstar, but many are still reluctant to leave her past behind like she wants to. These people also include the producers who constantly hire her as herself in their big-budgeted movies for a skimpy item numbers with a crass chorus on a loop and ear-ripping beats. To realise the sheer number of these, check out this Wikipedia article on her filmography:

No matter how many challenges she takes on or turns her life inside out, Bollywoods idea of herself is still making her sing about her Trippy Saiyyan or about her Blockbuster Choli. The few lead roles that she has managed to wriggle out of producers were also sold served on close-up shots of her chest and with character names like Laila and Lili Lele.

Bollywoods refusal to accept her for the path she wants to choose is slightly similar to what happened years ago when she was beginning her career in the porn industry. Sunnys parents were heartbroken at her decision at first but soon came around. She said they even protected her against bullies. Like many families, there are some problems in our family too. There is love, hate, emotional moments in all our lives, but our parents protected my brother and me from all the negativity, as much as they could, she had said.

Since leaving the porn industry, she has established a business with her husband, bought a swanky mansion in US and written books that were well received by critics. About her erotica released in 2016, HTs Manjula Narayan

had written, Sunnys stories are relentlessly optimistic. The characters are not complicated or unpleasant and exist in a world that veers on the border of Valentines Land with its floating pink hearts and soft focus lighting. But its the women characters  always sexy, intelligent and never passive  who make these pieces interesting.

When not writing erotica or causing traffic jams through cities for cutting ribbons at store inaugurations, Sunny is busy expanding her family. She adopted her daughter Nisha from Latur, Maharashtra in 2016 and finally realised her dream of being a mother. Nisha is the best gift I could ask for. She is so beautiful and amazing! From being in a foster home to coming home with us, she has been adjusting to her new life, its so amazing. It is just that God brings people in your life, when it is the right time, she had said. She is now also proud mother of her twin sons-- Asher and Noah-- born via a surrogate in March.

To imagine that a porn star would make an a comfortable little place for herself in India, find work, raise a family, all under the glare of constant limelight, seems no less likely that the fantasies Sunny writes about in her book. She is mentioned in households like any other Bollywood star, where even a condom ad makes the father clean his throat and turn the channel. So is it too much to ask that she gets better treatment even in her roles, that are at least half as strong, motivated and inspirational as she has been through her life?

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Chinas much-publicised announcement to slash tariffs on 28 medicines, including cancer drugs from India, has failed to create any buzz among the Indian pharmaceutical firms in Beijing as exports to China are possible only after lengthy field trials and approvals, which could take years, an official at an Indian firm said.

On May 4, China, the second largest market for pharmaceuticals after the US, said it has removed import duties on as many as 28 medicines, including all cancer drugs, from May 1, a move which would help India export these pharmaceuticals to the neighbouring country.

China has exempted import tariffs (duties) for 28 drugs, including all cancer drugs, from May 1. Good news for Indias pharmaceutical industry and medicine export to China. I believe this will help reduce trade imbalance between China and India in the future, Chinese ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui said in a tweet.

China has exempted import tariffs for 28 drugs, including all cancer drugs, from May 1st. Good news for Indias pharmaceutical industry and medicine export to China. I believe this will help reduce trade imbalance between #China and #india in the future.  Luo Zhaohui (@China_Amb_India) May 3, 2018

Luos announcement generated optimism that Indias persistent demand from China to provide opening for Indian pharmaceutical firms to market their economically priced drugs compared to the multinational firms may be realised.

However, the official with the Indian pharmaceutical company said it is surprising to see the reports from the Indian media that the move to reduce tariffs will pave the way for exports of Indian pharmaceutical firms.

For Indian pharmaceutical companies, it is not going to be much different as imports of Indian drugs both generic and anti-cancer is possible only with the approval of China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), the official told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

The announcement has not created any enthusiasm among the Indian firms as for both oral and injectable drugs a lengthy process of clearances is required in China which may take anywhere between two and half years to three years.

India has been lobbying actively with China to ensure quick clearances but it has not worked so far, he said. Any exports to China at this point of time is possible only if Beijing accepts certification by US Food and Drug Administration, which has approved a whole host of Indian drugs.

As regards India benefiting because China has lifted import tariffs, I do not see it as a measure that is specifically favouring the Indian pharmaceutical products alone, V Viswanath, a Beijing based senior consultant for Indian, Chinese as well as multi-national pharmaceutical firms told PTI.

This will benefit all imported products irrespective of which the country of origin is, he said, highlighting the long drawn out struggle by Indian pharmaceutical firms to enter Chinese markets despite persistent campaign.

India has been asking China for long to open up its IT and pharmaceutical firms to reduce the trade deficit which has claimed to over $50 billion.

But ahead of Luos announcement, Chinas Cabinet or State Council on April 12 has approved a proposal that China will exempt import tariffs on all cancer drugs and encourage the import of more innovative drugs.

From May 1, import tariffs on all common drugs including cancer drugs, cancer alkaloid-based drugs, and imported traditional Chinese medicine will be exempted, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted an official statement as saying.

Value Added Tax in the production and import of drugs will drop by a large margin, it said.

The authorities will reduce the prices of cancer drugs through centralised government procurement and eliminate premium prices for drugs by means of cross-border e-commerce, it said.

Imported innovative drugs, especially much-needed cancer drugs, will be incorporated into the catalogue of medical insurance reimbursement, the statement said.

So as of now there is nothing specific for Indian pharmaceutical industry as such, the Indian pharma firm, the Indian pharma firm official said.

The move is aimed at reducing exorbitant costs of medicines in general and cancer drugs in particular by the multinational firms in China, he said.

The tariff reduction is also not going to amount much as it accounts to only about three to four percent, which is negligible, he said.

In fact, the reimbursement for cancer drugs by the provincial and central governments is aimed at prevailing on the innovator multinational companies to reduce their prices, which they will considering the size of the Chinese market, he said.

With reimbursement on cards the multinational companies are going to bring down their prices to cash in on the scheme, he said adding that this may even stop the rampant smuggling of Indian cancer drugs to China as prices will come down.

Pharma companies in general and Indian Pharma companies in particular have struggled to get their products approved by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) which is the first step in commercialisation of products. Pharmaceuticals can only be imported and sold in China if they are registered with CFDA, Viswanath said.

The announcement by China to import Indian drugs need to be followed up with a more specific bilateral arrangement between China and India, he said.

This is necessary as quality pharmaceutical products which are at very affordable prices are given fast-track approvals in CFDA.

This could save China significant healthcare costs and also help the suffering Chinese patients to pay out of their own pocket for the treatment, he said.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
In yet another fatal attack, a pack of feral dogs killed another child in Sitapur districts Maheshpur Chilwara village on Sunday, taking the toll to 13 in the last six months, officials said.

District magistrate, Sitapur, Sheetal Verma said the 12-year-old girl Reena was attacked by a pack of seven dogs when she was going to the fields alone at around 7 am on Sunday.

The girl died on the spot. I have asked the senior administrative officials to visit the village and meet the girls family, she added.

Agitated over the death, at least 300 villagers blocked traffic for about half an hour on the national highway and demanded action to rein in feral dogs. The administration deployed police force near the highway to ensure law and order.

Reenas father Chhanga said he would not perform the last rites of her daughter if the district administration did not assure the people that it would take effective steps to curb the menace. The police have sent the girls body for post-mortem.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had visited Sitapur on Friday to meet family members of the children who had been attacked by feral dogs.

The DM has also ordered a fresh exercise to capture and sterilise dogs in the affected areas.

Committees of local residents have been formed to make people aware about ways to prevent dog attacks, Verma said.

Last week, the UP police decided to deploy drones and use night vision devices to track and trap feral dogs in villages around Sitapur.

At least 13 children in the age group of 7-13 years have died in feral dog attacks since November last year. Out of these, seven deaths have taken place this month.

While the district administration has roped in various agencies to curb the attacks, resentment is brewing amongst villagers as dogs continue to attack children.

On the direction of the CM, 22 villages affected by the attacks are being made open defecation free.

Experts from the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have also been roped in to suggest a scientific solution to the problem.

Last week, the Uttar Pradesh forest department shot down the Sitapur district administration to drop the idea to relocate feral dogs to the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) and warned of taking action against anyone doing so.
Inspired by an initiative of Madhya Pradeshs happiness department, hundreds of kilometres away, people in this Himalayan hill station have also started a Neki Ki Deewar that is being appreciated even by tourists, who arrive here in large numbers these days.

Neki ke deewars or Annandams are places people share their surplus, especially clothes and other household items, with the lesser privileged.

In 2016, after the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government set up the countrys first happiness department, now called as Rajya Anand Sansthan, over 172 anandams or neki ke deewars were been set up in Madhya Pradesh.

Taking inspiration from the same concept, Nanitals Taxi and Travel Association, which has nearly 400 members, set up a Neki ki Deewar on Mall Road that meanders around the mango-shaped Nainital lake.

Neeraj Joshi, president of Nainitals Taxi and Travel Association, said they liked the initiative started by Madhya Pradeshs happiness department and wanted to start something similar here.

And it has been a success. I think it is the first such initiative in Uttarakhand. People leave their clothes and other stuff here and needy, especially those working here as labourers or workers in the shops, hotels and restaurants, take them. Sometimes poor labourers, come here to search for warm clothing. And when they find some good clothes, they are very happy, he said.

Mohammad Kamil, who runs a travel agency here, said the best thing about the Neki Ke Deewar, which was set up nearly six months ago here, is that it is not locked here like many are in Madhya Pradesh.

The Neki ki deewar here is open day and night and nobody steals or takes more stuff than they require. It has been a good experience so far, he said.

Tourists, who see the initiative on busy Mall Road, are appreciative of the local people and traders.

Suddenly, we came across this wall where there is a banner saying it is Neki ki Deewar. And then there is a message that reads what you have in excess, leave here and what you need, take from here. I was very happy to see it. People here have done a good thing, said Shashi Shekhar Deshpande, a tourist from Faridabad.

Another tourist, Ramesh Chander Dixit, from Delhi said it was inspiring to see such noble initiatives at a time when society was increasingly becoming consumerist and self-centred.

We need more such initiatives here and elsewhere in the country, he said.

It was in August 2016, MP became the first state in the country to set up a happiness department.

The concept has its roots in Bhutans concept of measuring gross domestic happiness adopted in 1972 by the Himalayan kingdoms fourth king Jigme Singye Wangchuck.

People who volunteer to work for the happiness department are called Anandaks or happiness volunteers, who besides their routine work, are required to work for making people happy and start initiatives like Neki Ke deewar, Anand Clubs and organise Anand sabhas.
Overflowing heaps of garbage and smell of rotten trash welcome Doonites and visitors these days in Dehradun.

Six days after more than 400 employees engaged in cleaning city went on strike, the administration seems helpless to resolve the crisis.

Finance minister Prakash Pant on Sunday asked striking employees of Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) and other departments, who are also on strike, to resume work.

This comes a day after chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said he does not want the state to become a hartal pradesh (state known for strikes).

Despite all the appeals, the striking employees of DMC refused to soften stand until their demands are met.

Rajesh Kumar, president of Municipal Corporation Employees Union, said the government should implement the promise that it made in November 2016.

There are 408 people engaged in Mohalla Swatchta Samiti. We have been demanding to take them in contract for the past 18 months and the demand has been repeatedly neglected, Kumar said, adding that they will finish strike only when government comes out with an official order to engage temporary workers on contractual basis. The union also held a demonstration to press its demand.

With the problem aggravating with the each passing day, the local administration hinted that if the government agrees, than it might go for alternative arrangements that includes brining workers from outstation.

The people, meanwhile, vented their anger on social media. Facebook and Twitter are flooded with photos of garbage everywhere and users expressing resentment over the state of affairs.

The day voters will realise the importance of vote, the governments and government employees will think twice before taking people for granted, wrote Sunil Hatwal on his Twitter handle @sun_hwr.

The Congress also trained its guns on the government. Party leader Suryakant Dhasmana questioned what happened to the double engine (a symbolic word to term BJP government in state and centre).

The state capital has become a messy place to live. The mayor, government, administration  no one interested in sorting out the problem (of garble disposal), he said on Sunday.
The front signage of a small, nondescript store at Kalgidhar Gurdwara Market in Uttam Nagar announces in big, bold letters: Custom Shop. Inside, there are shelves filled with shirts, shoes, suitcases, perfumes and an assortment of other consumer goods. But none of the items on sale has anything to do with the customs. The custom shop is actually Priya Consumer Cooperative Storementioned in a very small, almost unreadable, font on its signage.

In the free-market economy, not just Priya but most primary consumer cooperative stores across the cityessentially community-driven businesses like to call themselves custom shops to attract customers that have drifted to malls and department stores over the years. Until the 1990s, these consumer cooperatives stores were the go-to places not just for grocery but also for the coveted Japanese VCR or French perfumes. That was because the government sold foreign goods confiscated by the Customs department through consumer cooperatives.

We depended on the government for the supply of grocery and confiscated goods. Now it supplies to us only when the prices of essential food items begin to pinch the people, creating a political furore, says Shyam Sunder, a salesman, sitting at the counter of the shop, which has seen better days. A lot of old-timers come to us looking to buy pulses, rice and spices at subsidised rates. But the new generation does not know what the consumer cooperative stores are all about.

Delhis consumer cooperative culture, which got a big boost in the 1960s after the wars with China and Pakistanwhat with the government promoting them to ensure adequate supply of essential food itemsis struggling to survive. Till the early 1990s, the city had over 600 primary consumer cooperative stores.

Most are now defunct, non-functional or under liquidation.

According to the Delhi State Consumers Cooperative Federation (DSCCF), the apex body of consumer cooperative societies in Delhi, only about 35 stores are active in retailing. Most survived on government patronage in the form of funds, subsidies and supply support. The market economy in the post-liberalisation era ended that and the cooperative stores could not cope, says TT Adhikari, managing director, DSCCF.

The federation presently has 25 primary consumer cooperatives as members. The custom-seized goods, he says, were a major draw. But post-liberalisation, every foreign brand arrived in India and imported items lost their lure, and cooperative stores their customers, says Adhikari.

Now we have to buy everything from the market and are unable to offer discounts and compete with the department stores and hypermarkets that have mushroomed everywhere, says Vinay Gupta, secretary, Swastik Consumer Cooperative Store in Rohini. The only grocery items at the store are a few sacks of flour. People came to us for subsidised grocery and confiscated imported goods. We used to get most of our supplies from the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF). Not anymore, says Gupta.

Headquartered in the Capital, NCCF, the top body of consumer cooperatives in the country, has the mandate to promote consumer cooperative movement in India. Presently, it has about 148 members that include state consumer cooperative federations, primary and wholesale consumer cooperatives. We ourselves are not getting adequate supply from the central government, so we cannot help primary consumer stores, says a senior NCCF functionary not wishing to be named. The government has lost interest in cooperatives, but now we are trying to be self-sustainable to provide supply support to consumer cooperatives across the country.

One of the few remaining consumer cooperative stores in Delhi. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

Nothing exemplifies the fall in the fortunes of consumer cooperatives in Delhi than the demise of Delhis Super Bazar, once a lifeline of Delhiites. Launched in 1966 after the Indo-Pak war, it was Indias biggest cooperative department store chain with over 2,200 employees and over 150 branches and mobile vans across Delhi. After its closure in 2002, many attempts were made to revive it. In 2009, it was handed over to a private company after it won a bid, agreeing to pay Rs 504 crore for its revival under a Supreme Court-monitored process.

The company started operations from part of the ground floor but eventually could not come up with a revival plan and in 2016, the apex court ordered Super Bazars liquidation. Corruption and mismanagement at the highest level led to its demise, says Surya Narain Shukla, who is sitting on a dharna outside Super Bazar in Connaught Place, demanding salary dues of the employees.

The Super Bazar cooperative, which boasted about 40,000 members, including the central government, which held 73%shares, had been making nominal profits till the early 1970s. Things took a bad turn in the mid-ninetiesits losses escalated from Rs 68 lakh in 1996-97 to Rs 6 crore in 2000-2001.

Some of the ills that afflicted Super Bazar, the insiders say, included political interference, employee strength, which was four times the requisite number and work culture marked by unionism (there were as many as five workers unions). Delhi lost an important part of its history when Super Bazar shut shop. Delhiites went to Super Bazar to buy grocery and household goods at deep discounts. In fact, there were often long queues outside its branches. You had to get a recommendation if you wanted to buy things like desi ghee in bulk for weddings, says Sumit Sharma, 55, a teacher.

But not all cooperatives in the city where the government is a majority shareholder are failures. Kendriya Bhandar (Central Government Employees Cooperative Society), which opened its first branch in 1963 at Raisina Road, today has over 100 branches across the city, mostly in government colonies.

On a hot May afternoon, the Kendriya Bhandar at RK Puram sector 6, is packed with customers and not all are government employees.

I like the old-world charm of this place. I have been buying all my grocery from Kendriya Bhandar for the past four decades; they remind me of a socialist welfare state, says Dr Rajesh Gupta, 71, who lives in Vasant Kunj as he picks packets of sugar from the iron shelves that line the store walls. I think if run efficiently, even in this market economy, consumer cooperatives can play an important role by making essential food items available to the poor at a reasonable rate without suffering losses.

Kendriya Bhandar has over 92,000 members, including the central government, which holds almost 70% shares. It is operated under the administrative control of the Department of Personnel and Training. It achieved a turnover of Rs 1,020 crore during the 2015-16 fiscal with a net profit of Rs 6.61 crore.

In many countries such as Japan, consumer cooperative stores are community-owned business. In India, the government, either state or central, is a majority shareholder in most major cooperatives. Another example is the Delhi Consumers Cooperative Wholesale Store (DCCWS) where the Delhi government owns about 95% shares. Set up in 1962, it once supplied grocery and consumer goods to over 400 affiliated primary stores. Today, a large part of its income comes from 72 IMFL (Indian Made foreign liquor) shops it runs across the city. The store, headed by a government-appointed administrator, also runs a chain of seven grocery stores called Apna Bazar, which it renovated three months ago. The idea is to attract more customers and boost our sales. We are also offering free home delivery now, says Bijender Singh Mann, a manager at DCCWS.

But many like TT Adhikari feel that a cooperative store should be community-owned business run according to cooperative principles  voluntary and open membership, democratic member control, members economic participation, autonomy and independence, and concern for community. The biggest problem the consumer cooperative movement is facing in India is the absence of leadership, he says.

For the past couple of years, the Delhi State Cooperative Union, an apex body of all cooperatives in Delhi, has demanded that the government should promote cooperative stores in schools and colleges. In these times of fancy malls and hypermarkets, many youngsters do not know about the existence or role of cooperatives. The government should promote student-run cooperative stores in schools and colleges so that a whole new leadership is created, said PM Sharma, general secretary of the union.
Being a mom isnt easy, to say the least. However, being a mother and a cop is no less than being Wonder Woman. Just as motherhood has no fixed working hours, cop duties, too, are never-ending. Proud to be serving the nation and managing both roles 24x7 are IPS officers of Delhi Police. This Mothers Day, they tell us how they strike the right balance between motherhood and their duty.

Geeta Rani Verma, DCP, traffic eastern range

Geeta Rani Verma with son Anshul Singh.

I have two sons, Anshul and Sahil Singh. I had experienced a sudden change in my life when my first kid was born, but they are both grown up now  my elder son, Anshul, is 25 and my younger one, Sahil, is 21. They fully understand that their mum has certain duties as a police officer and they are proud of me. Like every mother, I do whatever I have to do to keep them happy. I have raised them with lot of affection and attention. They know that a woman is capable of anything and everything, which makes them respect me.

I was an ACP before this, and there used to be a lot of work. I remember one incident when my elder son had his exams and he wouldnt feel confident till I helped him revise his syllabus. I finished my night patrolling duty, reached home around 5am, and woke him up so we could revise together.

Vijayanta Arya, Additional DCP, South Delhi

Vijayanta Aryas sons believe that their mom is Singham.

I have two sons, a five-year-old and a three-year-old. Its a great experience raising the children, but I must say that I have my hands full. When I go on night shift, they ask me, Mumma, aaj chor fir se road pe aa gaye? (Mumma, are the thieves back on the streets tonight?) There have been many memorable incidents, but one of them has always stayed with me as the most hilarious one. On regular days, their grandfather used to pick the kids up from the bus stop. One day when he wasnt available, I picked them up while still in uniform. Soon after, a teacher called me and asked me to return because the other children in the bus were crying that their friends had been taken away by a cop. Another common occurrence is that whenever someone comes to our place, my children tell them to not touch anything, because they believe that their mom is Singham and she knows everything.

I am a proud mother and am raising them in a way that they respect each and every woman. I know I could not give them enough time, but thats my choice. Serving the nation is my priority and I am proud of it.

Esha Pandey, DCP, Special Unit for Women and Children

Esha Pandey spoils her sons whenever she gets the chance.

I have two sons  one is two-and-a-half years old and the other is five. Its very difficult to be a mother and a cop because you cannot let go of either. I want to cherish every moment with them, but thats not possible. We dont have the luxury of fixed working hours unlike other working women. Anyone can call me anytime and expect me to solve their problems, not realising that I may have my own issues.

I tend to spoil my children whenever I am with them because I am guilt ridden about not spending enough time with them. I take them to play dates every Saturday or Sunday. We also watch movies on the kids section of Netflix. We recently went to see Peter Rabbit together. I take them around wherever I can and create as many memories as I can.

I remember this one incident that was very funny, but very deep, too. This was around the Republic Day parade. I had been leaving early in the morning for rehearsals so I couldnt drop my son to school, and when hed return from school, Id be busy with official responsibilities. One day, we were talking about a friend of his. Maine usko kaha ki tum uss bacche ki tarah acche kaam karo toh he said ki tum uski mumma ki tarah accha kaam karo; woh toh kabhi parade mein nahi jaati. (I told him to be good like that kid and he said that I should also be good like his friends mother, who never went for parades) I was so taken aback that even at this age he realises that his mum stays busy with the parade.

Interact with the author at Twitter/@RuchikaGarg
Narendra Modis third visit to Nepal as prime minister was high on symbolism. He started the trip from Janakpur, next to the Bihar border, with a prayer at the Janaki Temple, the inauguration of the Janakpur-Ayodhya bus service, and a speech at a civic reception. He also went to Muktinath, next to the Tibet border, and visited the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu. This was coupled with political engagements in Kathmandu. The PM interacted with Nepals prime minister KP Oli and his government representatives, and the two sides took forward discussions on bilateral projects.

There are four major takeaways from the visit. One, India has decided to use religion and culture as a source of deepening its ties with neighbours. This comes in the wake of the Chinese push into Indias periphery, primarily on the basis of cash and connectivity promises. Indias calculation is that instead of playing to Beijings strength, Delhi must leverage its traditional linkages, and convert that into modern opportunities. Two, India has decided to reassure the Kathmandu establishment that it is committed to respecting the Nepali electoral mandate  and despite the wariness of Mr Oli, it would do nothing to undermine his government or play a role in destabilising Nepali politics. This comes in the wake of active Indian involvement in Nepal, starting from encouraging an anti-monarchy alliance (2005) to expressing its reservations about the Nepali constitution (2015). India is now telling Nepal, your politics is yours and we will respect it. Three, while emphasising this message, Delhi is conscious that Nepal is not just another neighbour. Both the open border and the China factor lend it special sensitivity. But zero interference doesnt mean zero engagement. As a part of this, Mr Modi met all key political actors and told them that Delhi wanted to see them and Nepali democracy grow stronger.

The Janakpur visit was a signal to the Madhesi people that they mattered to India. And finally, the bilateral component of the visit focused on projects such as power, rail, inland waterways, roads, and others. While India must meet deadlines, the ball for sustaining the relationship is now in Mr Olis court.
The IIT Kharagpur has suggested setting up a critical science institute with French collaboration. The proposed Indo-French institute can have participation from all the IITs and select French companies, the premier institute said in a statement.

IIT Kharagpur Director P P Chakrabarti said the institute is ready to play the role of the central partner/coordinating institute if such a proposal takes shape.

We would be happy to take the proposal to the Centre provided the French corporations and government bodies are interested. Such collaboration will cut across disciplines and bring in people in large scale, the director said.

The critical science approach helps one probe beneath the surface meanings of words and symbols to comprehend root causes of problems instead of always treating the symptoms from a technical, quick-fix perspective, it said.

The IIT KGP had organised a two-day R&D meet for French companies operating in India in collaboration with the French Embassy earlier this week. The event was aimed at promoting academic and research collaborations and exchange of people in industrial sectors between France and India.

France is a powerhouse of art and culture on one hand and science and technology on other. We are in the advanced stages of signing MoUs with four French universities for collaborative opportunities on all areas, Dean, International Relations, Baidurya Bhattacharya said.
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Ahead of Mondays results for the Madhya Pradesh board exams for class 10 and class 12, it is not only the students and their parents who are keeping their fingers crossed.

Read More | MP Board results 2018: Class 10 and Class 12 results out at 10am: Live updates

The states school education department which launched a multi-pronged programme a week ago to reduce pre and post result stress of students which have earlier forced unsuccessful students to run away from home, or worse, commit suicide, is hoping that its exercise will pay off.

Last year 24 students committed suicide after the board examination results were declared.

As part of the school education departments exercise, teachers and parents were asked to show motivational videos to students and share stories of people who overcame their failures to script success stories so that they are not tense before the results and take their performance with equanimity.

The base line is to drum into the students and also the parents that a bad result in one exam is not the end of the world, an education department official said.

Deepak Joshi, minister of state of school education, who is actively involved in the programme said apart from the teachers, the parents too have an important role.

The parents have been asked to take leave from their offices on Monday, when the result is announced, to be with their children for mental support. Generally, the number of suicide by students increase after the announcement of the result and parents support is crucial in coping with post-result depression, the minister said.

Clinical psychologist Dr Satyakant Trivedi has echoed Joshis stand.

The parents and teachers should communicate more with students before result as well as after result so that they must aware about the condition of the students. Mainly teenagers came into depression very easily so the parents should make them realise that education is not the only career option. They should talk about their strength not weakness, Dr Trivedi said.

Over the week, various schools had been showing motivational videos and had arranged lectures by successful personalities and educationalists to guide the students though this period.

RK Reniwal, principal of Bhopals Model Higher Secondary School said, We gave examples of successful and great icons who didnt do well in the board exam or even failed in the different exams but are successful people today. The basic idea is to convey to the students that failure is just a difficult step but not end of the journey. Similarly, we have asked all the students to come to us first after the result so that we can guide them.

The students are excited about results.

A class 12 Science (maths) student Aakash Patidar from Bhopal said, I am excited about result and hoping for good scores.

I am praying to god and also nervous about my result. My family is very supportive and they asked me not to worry about marks, said Anjali Chaudhary, a class 10 from Bhopal.

A class 12 science student Shivani Patel from Jabalpur said, I want to score at least 75% marks so that my fees of higher education could be reimbursed under meritorious scheme of state government.

According to Chief Minister Meritorious Scheme, state government will pay the fees of students who score more than 75% in class 12.

The students of class 10 are also waiting for the result with the excitement.

A class 10 student Jagesh Kushwaha from Gwalior said, I am confident of scoring good marks but I am praying to find place in the merit list.
At least nine people were killed and several others were injured in storm and lightning on Sunday afternoon in four districts of West Bengal, the state disaster management department said while nine other were killed across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Sundays casualties took the total number of deaths in storms and lightning since April 30 to 46 in West Bengal. Of the nine killed on Sunday, four were children, all of whom were struck by lightning when they went out to collect mangoes at Uluberia in Howrah district.

Two others were killed in Hanskhali in Nadia district, two at Ghatal in West Midnapore district and one at Jalangi in Murshidabad district.

Expressing concern over the deaths, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that the government would provide compensation to the families of all those killed in storm and lightning since April 30. Apart from that the state government will bear the expenses of rebuilding the houses destroyed in the storms, she said.

The highest number of casualties was on April 30 when 13 people were killed and several others were injured by storms and lightning.

We have already instructed the state disaster management department to keep their quick response team ready. All the district magistrates have been alerted. This is unfortunate. But we do not have control on natural calamities, the chief minister said.

In Telangana and Andhra Pradesh where storms had been forecast, nine people including three farmers were killed by lightning, officials said.

The three farmers died of lightning in Telanganas Mancherial district early in the day while six deaths were reported from Srikakulam district in north coastal Andhra.

The farmers were trying to place covers on the paddy kept in the field when they were struck by lightning.

When they did not return home, their family members went to the field and found their bodies.

(with inputs from IANS in Hyderabad)
After years of deliberations, the Army has finalised a mega Rs 15,000-crore project under which a range of ammunition for its critical weapons and tanks will be produced indigenously to overcome long delays in imports and address the problem of a dwindling stockpile.

Official sources told PTI that 11 private firms would be involved in the ambitious project, the implementation of which is being monitored by the top brass of the Army and the Defence Ministry.

The immediate aim of the closely guarded project -- said to be the biggest ever initiative for the indigenisation of ammunition -- is to create an inventory for all major weapons to enable the forces to fight a 30-day war while the long-term objective is to cut dependence on imports.

The overall cost of the project has been pegged at Rs 15,000 crore and we have set a specific target for the next 10 years in terms of the volume of ammunition to be produced, a senior government official involved in the project said, refusing to elaborate further.

Initially, ammunition for a range of rockets, air defence system, artillery guns, infantry combat vehicles, grenade launchers and various other field weapons would be produced under strict timelines, a source said.

The production targets would be revised based on the result of the first phase of the implementation of the programme.

The sources indicated the broad contours of the project were discussed at a conference of the Armys top commanders here last month.

The initiative is seen as the first serious attempt by the government to address growing concerns voiced over the last many years by defence forces over the fast dwindling stockpile of key ammunition when China has been significantly ramping up its military capability, an issue that has been discussed by successive governments.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has been pushing for fast tracking the procurement of weapons and ammunition for the worlds second largest standing Army, considering the evolving security threats in the region.

The indigenisation of the ammunition project will be biggest such programme in decades, said the official.

In July last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in a report tabled in Parliament, said a stock of only 61 types of ammunition out of 152 varieties was available, and these would only last for 10 days in the event of a war.

According to laid down security protocol, the stockpile should be adequate for a month-long war.

The sources said long delays in negotiations and subsequent procedural hurdles in the import of ammunition had adversely impacted the countrys defence preparedness and that was why the indigenisation programme had been initiated.

Last year, the government had empowered the Army to directly procure ammunition and spares for 10 types of weapon systems and equipment after an internal review found the optimum level of war stores was not being maintained.

Considering the Armys demand, the government has already finalised one of the biggest procurement plans for infantry modernisation under which large numbers of light machine guns, battle carbines and assault rifles are being purchased at a cost of nearly Rs 40,000 crore.
The state witnessed the highest voter turnout since 1957 with the voting percentage reaching 72.13%, according to the latest data shared by the Election Commission. Provisional data released on Saturday of voting till 6pm pegged the number at 67%.

According to the latest data, Hosakote in the outskirts of the state capital once again recorded the highest turnout at 89.97%, a minor decline from the 90.97% recorded in 2013.

The lowest voting percentage was seen at Dasarahalli in Bengaluru city, which recorded a 48.03% turnout. Bangalore urban district was once again the worst in terms of turnout, recording 54.76%, which was lower than the 57% recorded in 2013.

As many as 24 of the 30 districts in the state recorded over 70% polling as against 21 in 2013. Nine of these districts had a turnout over 80%, compared with four previously.

More men and women voted in this election as well, with the polling percentage increasing for both. While 73% men voted this time, as against 72.40% in 2013, 71.42% women voted, compared with 70.47% in 2013.

Political analyst Narayana A, faculty at the Azim Premji University, said three conclusions could be drawn from this increase. First, the efforts of the Election Commission and various organisations seem to be paying dividends ... he said.

Second, Narayana said, the figures also indicated the increasing dependence of voters on local legislators. This has seen a significant increase because all the facilities, utilities and any other help people require seems to be dependent on the local legislator, he said.

Third, and most significant, is the increasing role of money in politics. It is clearly one of the reasons for the increase in turnouts, Narayana said.

Politicians use the networks they rely on to deliver people the money to ensure electors cast their votes. But, their network can only get the voters to the booth and not ensure they vote for the candidate, he said. There had been frenzied campaigning in the state with the stakes high for the BJP, JD(S) and the Congress.

(With PTI inputs)
At least eight people were killed across Kasganj, Agra, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Aligarh in a deadly thunderstorm Sunday evening.

One person was killed and four others were injured after a tree fell on them near Lal Kuan Shiv temple in Ghaziabad.

In Greater Noida, one woman was killed and a man was seriously injured after a hoarding fell on them during the storm. One person was killed in Aligarh.

Three deaths took place in Parsoli village of Kasganj district while one was killed in Barona village of the same district.

Rameshwar Swami (50), a tourist from Maharashtra, died in hospital after he was seriously injured when a tree fell on him while he was bringing down luggage from his car during the thunderstorm in Vrindavan.

Mathura MP Hema Malini who was heading for Naujheel in her constituency was stuck for some time after a fallen blocked the road.

Additional SP at Kasganj, Pavitra Mohan Tripathi confirmed three deaths in village Parsoli.

Three including two women were killed when wall of a house in village Parsoli fell due to high speed wind during thunderstorm on Sunday evening. Two others of family were injured and shifted for treatment, additional SP at Kasganj, Pavitra Mohan Tripathi said.

Suresh Kumar (55) his wife Mamta Kumari and daughter in law Ribam Devi (22) were killed by debris as the wall fell. Suresh Kumars daughter Kamini was injured.

In another incident, a teenager was killed in Barona village in Kasganj as a tractor trolley carrying husk overturned and fell on him due to high speed wind.

There were reports of thunderstorm affecting districts of Etah and Firozabad also.

(With ANI inputs)
Opposition parties in West Bengal are banking on social media to highlight violence which they fear could mar the crucial three-tier Bengal panchayat polls on Monday.

The CPI (M) has decided to open a special control room at the partys state committee office in central Kolkata on Monday. The control room will be manned by Left Front chairman and party politburo member Biman Bose, CPI (M) state secretary in Bengal and politburo member Suryakanta Mishra and two CPI(M) central committee members from Bengal, Rabin Deb and Sujan Chakrabarty.

The partys state committee has sent instructions to different district committees directing them to record incidents of violence on mobile phones and forward them to the control room.

Our IT cell will then circulate the same through social media platforms and also forward it to state election commission for the purpose of records, said a state committee leader who did not wish to be named.

The party suspects that violence is imminent on polling day given the unprecedented violence that Trinamool Congress unleashed since nomination began.

Our comrades will resist them at booth level and highlight the same through different platforms, said CPI (M) central committee member Rabin Deb.

Since Suryakanta Mishra will be manning the control room at Kolkata, he is unlikely to go to Narayangarh in West Midnapore district to cast his vote.

The BJP has an identical strategy. Top party leaders like BJPs state president Dilip Ghosh and the partys national secretary, Rahul Singh will be present at a control room at the partys state headquarters in central Kolkata.

They will be receiving incidences of violence video-graphed by our workers and will circulate the same. In certain booths we are in a strong position and hence we apprehend that violence by Trinamool will be maximum there on Monday, said Sayantan Basu, BJPs state secretary in Bengal.

The Congress said it will rely more on booth-level resistance either individually or jointly with the Left Front.

We already have an understanding with the Left Front in Malda. While that is an official understanding, elsewhere our aim will be to be put up joint resistance against violence. If possible incidences of violence will be video- graphed and circulated, said Congress legislator Manoj Chakraborty.

State panchayat affairs and rural development minister, Subrata Mukherjee, however, dismissed the opposition initiatives. Our leaders and workers are with people throughout the year. We as ruling party will always seek peaceful polls. Violence, if any will be masterminded by opposition to malign us, he said.

The run up to the panchayat elections has been bloody with all opposition parties complaining that Trinamool Congress workers did not let many of their candidates file nomination papers. The TMC has consistently denied using violence to scare away the opposition.

The state election commission had earlier said the elections will be held on three days on May 1, 3 and 5 before it decided on a single-day polling for May 14. The new date triggered allegations from opposition parties that the single-phase voting decision was taken to oblige the ruling Trinamool Congress.
The overall polling percentage in Karnataka assembly elections is 72.13%, which was up from the 71.45% recorded in 2013.

Not unexpectedly, Bengaluru disappoints, with Bengaluru Urban polling only 51%, lower than the 57.33% polled in 2013.

In constituencies in and around Bengaluru, there have been significant variations. Bangalore South saw a mere 47.45% voting, while Bangalore Rural witnessed 78.25% voting. The South is considered old Bangalore and saw 56.03% in 2013 while Bangalore Rural was just 57.33%.

Dakshina Kannada, where there is an intense battle between the BJP and the Congress, the polling percentage was 72%, down from the 74.48% in 2013. The fear here could be that the traditional BJP supporters might not have come out to vote, indicating a tough battle.

Chamundeswari and Varuna are two constituencies that have been in the news because of their VIP status as chief minister Siddaramaiah and his sons constituencies respectively.

Chamudeshwari saw 75.97% turnout while Varuna saw 78.08%. Does that augur well for the chief minister and a good initiation of his son into electoral politics? We will know on May 15.

The two constituencies fall in the electorally significant Mysore region, which saw 66.88% voting, up from the 65.83% last time.

Gulbarga has seen a significant fall in voting. Only 56.03% in 2018 to the 63.75% witnessed previously. The constituencies of significance here comprise Afzalpur, a bastion of six-time MLA, Malikayya V Guttedar, who defected from Congress to the BJP recently. The polling in Afzalpur was 68.31% against the 67.89% it saw in 2013.

The other important constituency is Jewargi where former chief minister Dharam Singhs son Ajay Singh is contesting on a Congress ticket. The polling percentage was 67.57% in Jewargi against the 73.29% last time.

Leader of the Congress legislative party in Lok Sabha Malikarjun Kharges son Priyank Kharge is contesting from Chittapur (SC), which saw 58.06% this time against the 65.11% previously.

With high voting percentages in the seats of the two chief ministerial contenders, it looks like they will at least win their own seats.
Chaos prevailed at the wedding of Tej Pratap Yadav, the elder son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, as an unruly crowd breached the cordon separating the pandal meant for VIPs and the media and started looting food items.

Yadav tied the nuptial knot with Aishwarya Rai, who is the daughter of RJD MLA Chandrika Rai.

Preparations were made for thousands of people gathered for the wedding.

Shortly after Tej Pratap and Aishwarya exchanged garlands, a horde of people  believed to be RJD supporters -- broke the cordon and started looting food items.

Soon the entire area was strewn with broken crockery and upturned tables and chairs, while a number of party leaders made a vain attempt to chase away intruders by wielding sticks.

Several media persons, including cameramen, complained of having been manhandled and their equipment damaged.

Caterers said the unruly crowd looted some of their utensils and other items.

Organisers had earlier said that arrangement of food had been made for around 7,000 people, but it appeared that no adequate attention had been paid towards regulating such a huge number of people.
The conviction of Navik Gadke for the rape and murder of a three-month-old baby within 23 days of the crime being committed shows that a concerted effort by the police, local administration and the courts can deliver quick justice.

Although India has over 400 fast-track courts, disposal of cases by most of them is slow. Less than 10% of the cases are disposed of within a year of an alleged sexual assault, according to the National Crime Records Bureau report of 2016, which also shows that on average, a rape case takes two to three years for reaching a conclusion.

In the Indore case, the police, administration and the local court moved quickly in the face of public outrage over the infants rape and murder. Gadke, 25, was given the death penalty by the court on Saturday.

Within hours of the murder, the police set up a special investigating team under inspector Shivpal Singh Kushwaha and district collector Nishant Warwade appointed prosecutor Mohammad Akram Sheikh to fight the case. Both the police and administration decided that they would take the case to a fast-track court for a speedy trial and judgment.

It was a major challenge for us and we worked often 20 hours a day tying up the loose ends of the case. Usually we are supposed to submit the challan within 120 days, but we decided that we will do it as quickly as possible without compromising on the quality of the investigation. We completed the investigation within six days and presented the challan on the seventh day, said Indore deputy inspector general Harinarayan Chari Mishra.

Inspector Kushwaha, who led the investigation, said within hours of the start of the probe, the police were sure that Gadke was the rapist-murderer, but the difficult task was to find evidence to nail him. We had to place him in that area that night after midnight as the murder was done after 2am. We got hold of all the CCTV footage kept outside the shops in the area and soon we found him going in his bicycle inside the building where the body of the victim was found. We found another footage where he was seen on his cycle, but now without the child. We got GPS location and timing of these footages and presented them in a scientific manner before the court, inspector Kushwaha said. The police also collected other evidence like the bicycle he travelled on,his bloodstained clothes and DNA test results.

The main challenge was getting the DNA samples tested from the forensic laboratory in Sagar and to see whether the victims blood samples with the blood found on the accused mans clothes and other body parts, matched or not. Usually it takes months before a DNA test result in given, but we put a lot of pressure through senior officers and managed to get it within a week, said an official who did not want to be named. The DIG said, We made a foolproof case based on scientific evidence as there was no actual witness to the murder, and got the verdict we wanted.

Public prosecutor Sheikh said the police and prosecution worked closely every day during the course of the trial. The court too was very cooperative and the judge heard the case for four to five hours every day. It is for this reason that the statements of all 29 prosecution witnesses were recorded within 11 days, a record of sorts. We missed getting benefit of the ordinance of April 21 by a day, but we got the best possible verdict. The district prosecutor was referring to an ordinance passed by the government allowing death sentence for those who rape a girl aged less than 12 years.

MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan welcomed the verdict. Such predators do not have the right to live. Im saddened by the loss of our daughter but satisfied that justice has been done, he said.

(With inputs from PTI)
As the noise around bank frauds increases, it emerges that at least a dozen former and serving chairpersons and managing directors (CMDs) of state-owned banks have been and are being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The process has accelerated in 2018, with the government as well as banks trying to get their hands around the vexing issue of non-performing assets, or bad loans, with eight serving or former CMDs being either booked or having formal charges filed against them.

Those who have been booked thus far this year include Indian Bank chairman and managing director Kishor Kharat and Syndicate Bank managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Melwyn Rego. Among former chairpersons and managing directors booked this year are: MS Raghavan (IDBI Bank), Archana Bhargava (United Bank of India), PS Shenoy (Bank of Baroda) and Arun Kaul (UCO Bank).

Kharat, Rego, Shenoy and Raghavan (while they were associated with IDBI Bank) have been named as suspects in the same case, an alleged loan fraud that took place at IDBI Bank involving companies of serial entrepreneur C Sivasankaran. IDBI Banks deputy managing director GM Yadwadkar too has been booked.

An email sent to IDBI Banks current CMD remained unanswered. Rego and Kharat too didnt respond to e-mails. United Bank of India and UCO Bank too didnt respond to queries on FIRs registered against Bhargava and Kaul. Last month, the government told Parliament that the CBI is probing 292 cases of bank cheating or fraud involving 44 banks across private and public sectors. Last year alone, the CBI was given sanction to prosecute 22 bank officials in cases of frauds and cheating, said a Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) report.

The agency hasnt spared senior executives at banks, even independent directors. Three current and former independent directors of IDBI Bank have been booked in the Sivasankaran case: PS Shenoy, S Ravi and Ninad Karpe. As have former IDBI Bank deputy managing director BK Batra. Ravi is currently the chairman of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Ltd. A BSE spokesperson declined to comment.

That 2018 hasnt been kind to public sector bankers is also evident in the fact that charge sheets in a bank loan fraud case dating back to January 2016 were filed last month in Delhi against two former senior executives of Canara Bank, RK Dubey and VS Krishna Kumar.

The chief vigilance officer of Canara Bank didnt reply to an email seeking comment.

And completing the circle, two current bank chiefs, Sunil Mehta of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Usha Ananthasubramanian (former CEO and MD of PNB and serving CEO and MD of Allahabad Bank) have been questioned by the CBI in connection with letters of undertaking and foreign letters of credit fraud involving diamond dealer Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. Both were examined in February. A former bank chief, MD Mallya of Bank of Baroda, was also questioned by CBI in the loan default case of Rs 3,695 crore involving makers of Rotomac pens that was registered on February 18 this year. Usha Ananthasubramanian said she was busy and couldnt respond to queries.

Early last year, CBI charged former IDBI Bank CMD Yogesh Agarwal along with fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya in a loan default case involving the latters defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Agarwal was charged along with another former IDBI Bank executive, BK Batra (who has now been named in case ofthe loan default involving Sivasankaran too).

Former Syndicate Bank CMD SK Jain was arrested by CBI in 2014 and chargesheeted the following year in an alleged bribe-for-loan scam.
India is encouraging and supporting countries that send soldiers for United Nations peacekeeping operations with an eye on having a larger say when the mandate of such missions are set, said officials aware of the policy. As part of the drive, India is training 41 UN peacekeepers from 19 African countries in New Delhi.

We have been cooperating with the US on joint training. This is in accordance with what Prime Minister told world leaders in New York in 2017 that India would step up its commitment to UN peacekeeping efforts, said an official, who doesnt want to be named.

The training is organised by the Center for United Nations Peacekeeping in India.

This is the third in a series of peacekeeping courses for forces from African countries. It is significant that more African countries are sending troops for peacekeeping, the official said.

Similar programmes were held in 2016 and 2017. We train the troops. And we train the trainers. The idea of training the trainers helps expanding the programme, the official said.

The programme includes imparting training in languages other than English. For instance, the current course includes Hindi and English. The selection of participants was such that over 50% are from Francophone countries, the official said.

The training modules include logistical matters, humanitarian issues that come up during operations, blackboard and tabletop exercises and mission briefs.

India has contributed more than 180,000 troops for over 49 UN peacekeeping missions. The country is the second largest troop contributor with 7,676 personnel deployed in 10 of 16 active UN peacekeeping missions of which 760 are policemen.

Also, India is seeking a greater role in decision-making for peacekeeping missions.

Apart from the training aspect the international community must also start looking to reform the manner in which UN peacekeeping missions are established and operated in these challenging times, said Ruchi Ghanashyam, secretary west in the foreign ministry during her address to the trainee peacekeepers in New Delhi.

First, we need to acknowledge and address the political and legal challenges that have arisen when robust mandates are conferred on UN troops to achieve ambitious objectives. We remain an international system founded on the principle of respect for sovereignty, and there are difficult legal and political choices that will have to be made when robust mandates are given to UN peacekeeping missions, she said.
Pakistans former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Sunday the uncooperative attitude and stubbornness of the Indian government has been the biggest obstacle in the Mumbai terror attacks trial reaching a conclusion, according to a media report.

Nisars comments came in the wake of a statement by ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif who questioned Pakistans policy to allow the non-state actors to cross the border and kill people in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

In an interview with the Dawn, Sharif who has been disqualified to hold public office for life by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, criticised the delay in the conclusion of the Mumbai attacks trial.

Without naming Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and Maulana Masood Azhars militant organisations, Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Jaish-e-Mohammad, Sharif said: Militant organisations are active in Pakistan. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill over 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete the trial.

Reacting to Sharifs remarks, Nisar, under whose watch the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was investigating the Mumbai attacks, said the Indian government was to blame for the hold-up in the Mumbai attacks trial, the Dawn reported.

I say with full responsibility that the delay and slow pace of the Mumbai attacks-related case in Pakistan was not Pakistans doing but was a result of non-cooperation and stubbornness by India, said the disgruntled PML-N member.

He said since the attack took place in the Indian financial capital, it was the Indian government which possessed 90% of the evidence and facts of the incident.

Despite repeated efforts, India refused to share those facts and evidence with FIA and the investigative committee formed by Pakistani courts, he claimed.

He said, There was no bigger evidence of the Indian governments lack of interest in taking the case to its end than its refusal to allow FIA to question the only living proof of the attacks: Ajmal Kasab.

Kasab was hanged in such haste, so that the Mumbai attacks could be used as a tool for Pakistan bashing across the world on political basis, he said.

He claimed that although Pakistan had cooperated with the Indian government for information-sharing regarding every terrorist incident, India had not reciprocated for incidents taking place inside Pakistan.

The Mumbai attack case has entered into the 10th year but none of its suspects in Pakistan has been punished yet, showing that the case had never been in the priority list of Islamabad that appears to be keen to put it under the carpet.

A number of Pakistani witnesses both official and private testified and provided evidence against the seven accused, but the Pakistani authorities have been insisting on sending Indian witnesses for reaching a verdict in the case.

Some 166 people were killed in the attack carried out by 10 LeT men. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Kasab was caught and hanged after handed down death sentence.
On May 28, 1998, Pakistan conducted five nuclear tests and a sixth one two days later in response to Indian detonations. The tests had become a political imperative for Islamabad amid uneasy ties with its bigger neighbour. We have settled the score, then Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif declared. And South Asia became a potential nuclear flashpoint.

Context

The immediate trigger for the Pakistani nuclear tests were the Indian tests on May 11 and 13, 1998. Although matching India had become an existential need for Pakistan, defying American pressure to get there was no easy task. It was no secret that Pakistan had been pursuing nuclear capability after Indias first test in 1974. Chinese help for Pakistans nuclear programme was all too well known. But the Indian tests that spooked Washington in 1998 brought Pakistan under immense pressure against going nuclear. Karl F Inderfurth, who served as assistants secretary of state for South Asian affairs from 1997-2001, later wrote: President (Bill) Clinton was on the phone with PM (Nawaz) Sharif on five separate occasions, making it very clear that he recognized that Pakistan would be under great pressure to test, but that Pakistans interests would be better served not to and that if it did not.

Significance

Two nuclear-armed neighbours outside the NPT regime, their ties marked by constant strains, couldnt move beyond the basics in building mutual confidence on the nuclear issue. The two countries annually exchange a list of their nuclear installations. India has a nuclear doctrine of no first use. It also declared a voluntary moratorium on testing. Pakistans nuclear doctrine resembles that of the US during the Cold War: if the integrity of the country is being threatened, it reserves the right to use nuclear weapons. If the US was talking about the conventional superiority of Russia (then Soviet Union), Pakistan was taking about Indias. But Pakistan couldnt establish its credibility when it came to non-proliferation. The father of its nuclear programme, AQ Khan, was found by the Americans of being involved in an illegal network that sent bomb-making designs and equipment to at least three countries. Although Pakistan achieved nuclear parity with India, its hope of getting a seat at the nuclear high table remains a very distant dream.

What happened

In a span of two weeks, the two South Asian countries and bitter rivals had tested nuclear devices . In the case of Pakistan, the US was willing to offer many sops, which included lifting sanctions that had been clamped for its pursuit of nuclear weapons; that would have led to larger economic assistance and a more profitable military relationship. In 1985, the US Congress adopted an amendment proposed by senator Larry Pressler to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, banning economic and military assistance to Pakistan unless the US President could certify annually that Islamabad did not possess a nuclear weapon and that US aid would help reduce the risk of Pakistan possessing one. As expected, international condemnation followed the tests, with the United Nations Security Council passing a resolution against them; pressure mounted on both India and Pakistan to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). US sanctions kicked in. But Pakistan had been the most trusted ally of the US in South Asia for long. Strobe Talbot, the US interlocutor with India, was also dealing with Pakistan.

9/11 was a watershed for Pakistan too. As he prepared for the war against terror, exercising the authority vested on him by the US Congress in 1999, on September 22, 2001 President George W. Bush lifted sanctions imposed on India and Pakistan for their 1998 nuclear tests. The president also removed other sanctions related to Pakistans development of nuclear weapons. State department spokesman Richard Boucher said, We intend to support those who support us. We intend to work with those governments that work with us in this fight (against terrorism).
The Central Information Commission has directed the Prime Ministers Office and the ministries of external affairs and home to make public the records of the Raj Narain committee, constituted in 1977 to look into the mysterious death of the then prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966.

The committee was reportedly constituted by the Janata Party government to look into the circumstances surrounding the death of Shastri on January 11, 1966 in Tashkent, hours after signing a declaration with Pakistan President Muhammad Ayub Khan post-1965 Indo-Pak war.

The records related to the committee are reportedly untraceable, the commission noted.

Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu also directed the PMO, the MEA and the MHA to publish the statement of categories of documents regarding the death of the second prime minister of the country that are available with them.

The public authorities referred above have a constitutional duty to inform and the people have legitimate expectation to know the truth behind the death of their beloved leader. More so, it is the primary responsibility of the PMO to inform the people what happened to late Lal Bahadur Shastri, who once was its head, he said.

Acharyulus directive came on an RTI application seeking to know from the Home Ministry whether Shastris body was brought to India for cremation or he was cremated in the then USSR and copy of the post-mortem.

Shastri died in Tashkent where he had gone for talks with the Pakistan President moderated by Soviet premier Premier Alexei Kosygin.

Although he reportedly died from a massive heart attack, questions were raised on the circumstances of his death on foreign soil when cold war was at its peak.

The conspiracy theories were further fuelled after the central government started denying documents, under the RTI Act, related to his death calling them secret and disclosure prejudicial to the interests of the country.

The CIC in 2011 while hearing a separate case had directed disclosure of 11 pages related to the death of Shastri but allowed withholding one document of the External Affairs Ministry which had reference to Mukti Bahini.

The Home Ministry had transferred the present application of Navdeep Gupta to the National Archives of India (NAI).

During the hearing, the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) representing the NAI told the commission that the information may be with MEA, Indian Embassy in Russia, MHA or some other authority.

The CPIO stated that except information of some news clippings they do not have any authentic document on Late PMs death or post-mortem, Acharyulu noted.

While researching on the subject, Acharyulu found an article which had claimed an inquiry committee under Raj Narain was formed by erstwhile Janata Party government in 1977.

It was also reported that two crucial witnesses -- the personal physician of Shastri R N Chugh and his personal servant Ram Nath --died in road accidents when they were coming to depose before the committee.

The article had claimed that the records related to the committee were not available even in the Parliament library.

Taking note, Acharyulu asked the PMO, MHA and MEA to look for the records related to the committee.

He recommended the Parliament Secretariat to search in their library whether any records regarding the inquiry committee could be retrieved and if they are traced, they should be transferred to the NAI.

The Commission considers that these offices (PMO, MHA and MEA) especially that of MHA require to make a fresh effort to trace the details about Raj Narain inquiry report or related documents and tell the nation what was inquired and found, Acharyulu said.

He also directed the PMO, MEA and MHA to disclose records, including 11 pages related to the death held by Cabinet Secretariat which were earlier ordered to be disclosed by the CIC, pertaining to the issue.

Acharyulu said that if any of these public authorities feel that some records may be secret and confidential attracting exemption clause of Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act, they must produce it in a sealed cover before it to adjudicate whether assumptions are correct or not.

This RTI request is an effort of a citizen to know information regarding the truth behind the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri that cannot be brushed aside, he noted.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday asked the Centre to issue directions to the concerned agencies to ensure that its residents do not face any harassment.

The chief minister spoke to Union home minister Rajnath Singh and brought to his notice cases of alleged harassment of people from the state in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, an official spokesperson said.

The chief minister requested Singh to issue necessary instructions to the concerned agencies so that people from the state, who are studying, doing business or working in other parts of the country, do not feel inconvenienced and can carry on their activities without interference, the official spokesperson said.

Singh assured the chief minister to look into the cases and take strict action, the official said.

On Saturday, the Delhi Police arrested four men for allegedly assaulting a Kashmiri woman in southeast Delhis Sunlight Colony.

Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik had, however, informed Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba that the incident was a local issue, triggered by a dispute over feeding stray dogs, and had nothing to do with the womans origin, officials said.

On Thursday night, the victims, including four women, were allegedly surrounded and roughed up by a mob of around 30-40 people. A police case was registered following a complaint from one of the women. She had alleged that she was physically assaulted by the mob.

An official in Srinagar said that another case of an assault on a Kashmiri businessman had been reported from Manali in Himachal Pradesh.
The Kerala police on Sunday arrested the mother of the minor girl, who was molested in a cinema theatre by a businessman in Malappuram district, claiming she was aware of the sexual assault on her daughter.

The main accused Moyideen Kutty, a middle-aged businessman, was arrested on Saturday after CCTV clippings of the two-hour-long assault was aired on a news channel and went viral on internet.

Both Kutty and the girls mother have been charged under provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.

Kerala Womens Commission chairperson M C Josephine said preliminary investigation showed the minor was abused with the connivance of her mother.

The incident took place on April 18. The night vision cameras in the theatre captured video footages of the man, flanked by a middle-aged woman on his right and a minor girl on his left, engaging in sexual acts with both.

The theatre owner checked the CCTV visuals after one of the viewers alerted him about the incident. He immediately alerted the childline officials who in turn informed the police.

However, police failed to register a case against the accused initially. They swung into action only on Saturday when the media exposed the incident.

There are serious lapses on the part of police and senior officers are looking into them, Josephine said.

After the police inaction evoked widespread criticism, the sub-inspector of Changarakulam was suspended and action is likely against more officers. Action is likely against more police officers who tried to hush up the case.

The state human rights commission has also ordered an inquiry against the officers who tried to delay the case despite possessing strong evidences.

Josephine also met the owner of the theatre and lauded his effort in exposing the incident.

Assaulted Earlier Too: Victim

Meanwhile, the girl has told the police that she had been assaulted by the accused earlier also. She also gave a detailed statement before a magistrate and later underwent medical tests. She was later shifted to a rescue home.

The womens commission said the victim will be given the best care and counselling to help come out of the trauma.

Kutty runs a number of jewellery shops and restaurants, besides owning a lodge. The mother and the daughter were reportedly occupying one of the rooms here and were often taken by him in his luxury car, according to residents.
An army soldier allegedly beat up his bride-to-be at the wedding venue in Gwalior, minutes before they were to marry, after her family refused his demand for more dowry, police said on Sunday.

According to the bride-to-be, Shilpi Shivhare, the solider, Sumit Shivhare, and his family suddenly demanded Rs 2 lakh for a Royal Enfield motorcycle and an air-conditioner. She called off the wedding after ruckus at the venue and lodged a complaint with the police, alleging that Sumit and his family also assaulted her mother and fired gunshots to intimidate them.

In her complaint, Shilpi said her father gave Sumits family Rs 11 lakh during their engagement a few days ago.

She alleged that Sumit and his family members vanished from the wedding venue with cash and gifts after her father alerted the police. On her complaint, police registered an FIR against the soldier and two others under legal sections related to dowry harassment and voluntarily causing hurt. At the time of the copy being published, police were yet to arrest anyone in the case.

Police said Sumit and his family members were yet to reach out to them.

Inspector Amit Singh Bhadoriya of Gola ka Mandir police station, where the FIR was registered, said, We are trying to arrest the accused and are gathering CCTV footage and scanning videos made by eyewitnesses.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modis state visit to Nepal, that concluded on Saturday, was highly successful and has taken bilateral ties to new heights, said Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli on Sunday.

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi ji and I have agreed, during Modi Jis successful state visit to Nepal, to address the outstanding tasks between the two countries in a time-bound manner, Oli tweeted as he thanked Modi for his visit.

He also briefed Nepals Parliament on Modis visit.

The two countries have also agreed to expedite implementation of all pending projects of bilateral cooperation by Nepals Constitution Day in September, said Oli adding that multiple bilateral ministerial meetings will be held.

The two countries have also agreed to form a taskforce of technicians to explore possibilities of developing railways and waterways, he said.

The two leaders also explored methods to cut Nepals trade deficit with India while providing easy entry to Nepali products including ginger and cardamom, Oli said.

Oli also said he would soon pay an official visit to China but did not disclose the date of the trip.

(with PTI inputs)
Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday dubbed as a serious disclosure Pakistans ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif publicly acknowledging that militant organisations were active in his country and said it proved Indias position that the handlers of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack were in Pakistan.

For the first time, Sharif also questioned Pakistans policy to allow the non-state actors to cross the border and kill people in Mumbai, according to a media report.

Well, it is very serious disclosure. Indias position has been that the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack operated from Pakistan. We strongly believe that the handlers of the attack were in Pakistan, Sitharaman told a press conference in New Delhi, in response to a query.

It (Sharifs remarks) only proves that Indias stand has been right all the way, she said.

Sharif, who has been disqualified to hold public office for life by his countrys Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, said Pakistan has isolated itself.

We have isolated ourselves. Despite giving sacrifices, our narrative is not being accepted. Afghanistans narrative is being accepted, but ours is not. We must look into it, Sharif had told Dawn.

Without naming Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and Maulana Masood Azhars militant organisations -- Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Jaish-e-Mohammad, -- operating in the country with impunity, Sharif said, Militant organisations are active in Pakistan.

To a question on Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Muftis call for a unilateral ceasefire in the state during the month of Ramzan till completion of the Amarnath Yatra, Sitharaman said,  I think it is important to handle J&K affairs with a great deal of sensitivity.

The Indian Army will have to make sure that India is a safe country. It has to handle firmly any terrorism which threatens peace and harmony of J&K and the rest of India also.

To a query on Karnataka exit polls, she said the BJP will form the government in the state as the Congress will face defeat.

On Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs comment that he was ready to make way for a Dalit to take his place in the government if the Congress leadership wished so, Sitharaman said, I never heard this during the campaigning.
The Indian Army is opposed to a unilateral ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir, given an increase in the number of militant-initiated strikes in the state during the last truce, announced by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, between December 2000 and May 2001. The army is worried that something similar could happen in the event of a ceasefire now.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on May 9 urged the Narendra Modi government to take a leaf out of the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) governments book and declare a unilateral ceasefire from the holy month of Ramzan in mid-May to the Amarnath Yatra in August.

The Indian Army and national security planners say that the so-called Non-Initiation of Combat Operations, or NICO, initiative will only work if Pakistan-based terrorist groups active in Kashmir also simultaneously announce a ceasefire. Army officials also add, just to get things straight, that the use of the term ceasefire doesnt make sense because it isnt as if Indian and Pakistani armies are fighting a war in Kashmir.

Senior defence ministry officials say that so far nothing has been put down on paper on even the proposal of such a ceasefire. It is all speculation driven by the local politics of the state, they added. Still, a senior army officer said, on condition of anonymity, that the matter will be discussed after the Prime Minister returns from Nepal on the basis of a memorandum or all-party resolution sent by the Mehbooba Mufti regime.

Indian Army data indicates that before NICO was announced by Vajpayee, the total number of terrorist -initiated attacks in 2000 stood at 446. The number increased to 712 during the ceasefire and then went down to 708 (from June 2001 to December 2001), 542 in 2002, and then 450 in 2003. Army brass told Hindustan Times that terrorists used the 2000 NICO to regroup and plan future operations in the Valley. Pakistani Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists attacked the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001 and prior to that, Jaish terrorists attacked the J&K Assembly complex in Srinagar on October 1, 2001. India nearly went to war with Pakistan after the 2001 Parliament attack and May 2002 Kaluchak massacre.

According to the army , the number of terrorists killed pre-NICO in 2000 was 506; the figure came down to 461 during the ceasefire, climbed to 14,21 in the rest of 2001, touched 1,520 in 2002 and slid to 1,391 in 2003. This, army officers say, reveals that the number of militants in the state went up during NICO, leading to the army and security forces mounting counter insurgency operations against them in the post-NICO phase.

Civilian casualties in the pre-NICO period stood at 278, rose to 391 during the NICO period, climbed further to 415 in the remaining part of 2001, and escalated to 852 in 2002 with the terrorist strike in Kaluchak and other places.

A second army officer said that a unilateral ceasefire at a time when the militants are being neutralized will be counter-productive as Pakistan-based terror groups are in full operational mode to create mayhem in Kashmir.
 "Predatory Public Finance and the Evolution of the War on Drugs" | Main | A couple dozen Dimaya GVRs in federal criminal cases in latest SCOTUS order list 

May 13, 2018

Mother's Day review of moms in incarceration nation

Growing awareness and concern with incarceration levels in the US are reflected in the significant number of articles I have noticed this week discussing incarcerated mothers. I figure Mother's Day is a fitting day to round-up some of these recent pieces:

From The Crime Report here, "Mothers Day Behind Bars"

From Teen Vogue here, "Mother's Day Needs to Be Inclusive of Incarcerated Moms, and Heres How You Can Help"

From USA Today here, "In remembering her own mother, activist and attorney makes Mother's Day plea for incarcerated women"

From Jezebel here, "Mothers Are Incarcerated at Record Rates, Yet Prison-Nursery Beds Go Empty"

From Leafy here, "9 Ways to Help Moms Jailed for Cannabis"

From Yahoo here, "Mom serving 16 years for marijuana pens Mother's Day letter to daughters: 'I'm dreaming of your sleepy faces'"

May 13, 2018 at 11:01 AM | Permalink

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Are children better off or worse off in the home of a criminal with an active addiction, with her visitors?

Posted by: David Behar | May 13, 2018 11:59:52 AM

No comment necessary.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/opioid-epidemic-leaving-grandparents-to-raise-grandchildren/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab5j&linkId=51666711

Posted by: David Behar | May 13, 2018 8:00:15 PM

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Several pockets of Bengal remained tense on Sunday over the prospect of violence on Monday, when 38,529 seats of the three-tier panchayat system go to polls, as the death toll in political violence continued to rise.

Following the death of a land agitator at Bhangar near Kolkata last Friday, a BJP supporter whose wife is contesting the elections in West Midnapore district was attacked on Saturday night with sharp-edged and blunt weapons. Manua Hansda died on Sunday morning. With this, the death toll in the run-up to the elections reached 16.

Violence was reported from the districts of East Midnapore, Bankura, Hooghly and Malda. In most cases, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was accused of causing it while in some cases, supporters of the ruling party bore the brunt of the violence as well. Police have sealed the states border with Jharkhand.

The rural polls are being seen as a dress rehearsal for the parliamentary elections due next year and are expected to reflect trends with regard to the position of various opposition parties.

The TMC has already won 34.4% of the total seats unopposed a record since the Panchayati Raj was introduced  but opposition parties hope to put up a fight. I appeal to everybody to maintain peace and ensure violence-free elections. Please do not react to any kind of provocation from anyone, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said.

While its a battle of survival for the Left and the Congress, the BJP is confident of establishing itself as the main opposition party. In the 2016 assembly elections, the BJP obtained only three seats while the Congress won 44 and the Left bagged 33.

This time, though it will be a quadrangular fight in a majority of the seats, the BJP stands way ahead of the Left and the Congress.

The ruling party at the Centre, which had very small rural base in the state even two years ago, managed to file nominations in 73% of the 38,529 seats up for polling, whereas the Left Front managed to put up candidates in 56% seats and the Congress in only about 20% seats.

We hope the Election Commission will ensure free polling, though we anticipate violence in many pockets to scare people so that they do not vote, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said.

Panchayat poll numbers

58,692 total seats in the three-tier panchayat system

20,163 seats have been won by Trinamool Congress unopposed

38,529 seats going for polls will see mostly multi-corner contests

47,100 polling booths are housed in 35,000 polling premises across 20 districts

28,162 seats being contested by the BJP, the highest after Trinamool

21,602 seats are being contested by the Left Front

7,695 seats contested by the Congress is its least in decades

86 seats have no candidate from the Trinamool Congress

1,54,500 policemen, including Bengal police, civic volunteers and cops from the Sikkim, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have being deployed
An Indore district courts death sentence for a man convicted of raping and killing a three-month-old infant rekindled a debate over capital punishment, with several campaigners on Saturday calling for a moratorium on sending convicts to the gallows.

Gender rights activist Ranjana Kumari, who is also the director of the Centre for Social Research, said the punishment is for a brutal crime but there needs to be a debate on the death penalty.

In this case the crime is brutal and the sentence should be seen as a lesson for everyone. However, there needs to be a separate debate on death penalty, its effectiveness and changes it brings, she said.

Her comments were in response to the Indore courts verdict that sent a 25-year-old man to the gallows for raping and murdering a baby girl after taking her away from a footpath where she was sleeping with her parents on April 21.

People campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty argued that there is no evidence to suggest that the death penalty stops such crimes.

Meenakshi Ganguly of Human Rights Watch said the courts have the right to sentence a convict to death since the law of the land allows capital punishment.

But, she said, India and other countries that still use the death penalty should abolish it since it is inherently irreversible and inhumane.

Madhya Pradesh social activist Shivani Talreja said she is happy with the courts decision but against the death penalty. Capital punishment cannot be and has never been a deterrent for rape, she said.

Amnesty International, which opposes the death penalty, wrote on its website that the punishment violates the most fundamental of human rights  the right to life.

It is often used against the most vulnerable in society, including the poor, ethnic and religious minorities, and people with mental disabilities, Amnesty says.

According to Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics, a report by the Centre on Death Penalty at the National Law University in New Delhi, there were 371 prisoners on the death row in India as of December 21, 2017.

(With inputs from HTC Bhopal)
Six people were killed and 17 injured when the van in which they were travelling met with an accident after a mechanical failure near a village in Virudhunugar district on Sunday, police said.

Police said the occupants of the van were returning to their village after worshipping at a temple, about 90km from Madurai, when the mishap took place near Ramachandrapuram.

Three of the 17 persons hospitalised were in critical condition, they said.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has said Marxism is based on a concrete analysis of concrete conditions and a true believer of the philosophy analyses the situations and adapts to changing conditions.

Yechury, who was severely criticised by sections of the CPI(M) for advocating an understanding with the Congress to take on the ruling BJP, pointed to the success of the Communist China, which has adapted to the changing conditions.

Marxism is based on a concrete analysis of concrete conditions. As conditions change, if your analysis does not change then in my opinion you are not a Marxist, he said.

Yechury, who was re-elected to the highest position in his party for the second time in April, said the assaults on reason and rationality, which rupture the social order, can only be fought by Marxism.

He likened the emergence of private armies which attack Dalits and minorities in India to Italian fascists, the Blackshirts, and stressed that such assaults on the existing social order should be countered ideologically.

He referred to the rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir in January, which had provoked outrage across the country after members of the states ruling party initially appeared to defend the accused.

Dalit atrocities are growing in the country and the emergence of private armies attacking Dalits and minorities are no different than the Blackshirts and Brownshirts of Hitler and Mussolini, Yechury said.

The Dalits and the Left are uniting to fight them, he said at a discussion in Delhi on the relevance of Marxism in India and Asia.

Yechury said the essence of German philosopher and economist Karl Marxs theory is not dogmatic and not a formula that can be mechanically implied, but a creative science.

Relevance of Marxism is not lost but has become even more relevant... That is why on the 200th birth anniversary of Karl Marx, The New York Times had come out with a headline saying Happy Birthday Karl Marx. You were right!, he said.

On Marxs relevance in India, Yechury said the challenges of economic exploitation, the rise of fundamentalism and the continuous attacks on constitutional institutions can be only combated by Marxism.

Quoting Hungarian Marxist philosopher Georg Lukacs, he said fascists succeeded all over the world, especially in Italy and Germany, in destruction of reason and that is what is being witnessed in India.

The only way to face such irrationality is through battle of ideas and that is where the relevance of Marxism comes. It is to re-establish the supremacy of rationality and reason, he said.
Two Maoists, including one with a cash reward on his head, were killed in an encounter with police personnel in a forest of western Odishas Bolangir district in the early hours of Sunday.

Police said the encounter with the Maoists began in Dudukamal forests under Belpada block on Saturday night when security forces started a combing operation.

Top Maoist cadre Sanjib and another Maoist were killed in the encounter, said police. An AK-47 and an Insas rifle were recovered from the spot, police said.

The identity of the other Maoist is yet to be ascertained. Both the bodies were brought to Belpada police station.

Police said nearly 10 to 12 Maoists had assembled near the village when the security forces raided the spot. During the encounter, the other rebels managed to escape, police added.

This is the second such reverse for Maoists at the hands of Odisha police this year. In March, police in Narayanpatna block engaged Maoists in a fire exchange during which for women cadre of the rebels were killed.

The number of Maoist-related incidents in Odisha has come down sharply from 72 in 2015 to 16 this year along with the number of casualties among policemen.

Last month, a jawan was killed in a landmine blast in Rayagada district. Three civilian deaths have been reported this year, compared to 26 deaths in 2015s.

A tractor driver and two labourers going on a tractor through a forested stretch of Maoist-affected Nabarangpur district were also last month killed when they fiddled with a tiffin bomb lying around. The tiffin bomb was reportedly planted by Maoists targeting security forces.
Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami has said the present situation does not call for any discussion with anyone over the issue of sharing of Cauvery river water, as the state government was waiting for the final verdict of the Supreme Court.

When asked whether he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi or his counterpart in Karnataka, where the Assembly polls have concluded, Palaniswami said, The situation does not call for a meeting with anyone at this stage.

We have crossed that stage. We have come to a situation where we are awaiting the final verdict from the Supreme Court (on the constitution of Cauvery Management Board), he said.

We have been engaged in a legal battle for 32 years (with Karnataka)... , he added.

The Supreme Court had on May 3 taken strong note of the Centre for not framing the Cauvery management scheme to implement its verdict on river water sharing between the four southern states, even as Tamil Nadu attacked the union government for its partisan attitude saying this was the end of cooperative federalism.

The Centre had told the top court that Cabinet approval for the scheme could not be obtained since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet colleagues were busy in the Karnataka poll campaign.
Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani demanded a detailed inquiry into the violence that occurred during and after the Bharat Bandh on April 2, called by Dalit organisations protesting the Supreme Courts ruling that, they say, dilutes a law protecting their rights.

The matter should be probed by a special investigation team (SIT) consisting of at least one Dalit member from civil society, he said.

Mevani visited Khairthal on Sunday and met the family members of Pawan Kumar Jatav, who died on April 2 after he was allegedly hit by a police bullet. He also met women who were allegedly beaten up by police. The women said police forcefully entered Dalit households during the bandh and assaulted them and their children.

Alwar district administration imposed section 144 of CrPC in Khairthal town on Saturday to restrict Mevanis entry. Police were deployed to prevent him from meeting the families. Mevani was later allowed to interact with Dalit families.

Last month, Mevani was stopped at the Jaipur airport while he was trying to go to Nagaur.

Addressing a press conference in Alwar after meeting the families, he alleged the state government has been repeatedly trying to stop him from conducting rallies.

On April 2, police unleashed atrocities on Dalit families. They dragged women and children on the streets, forcefully entered Dalit homes and mercilessly beat them up. The state government wants this truth to remain behind closed doors, Mevani alleged.

I am well aware of the aristocratic and discriminating outlook of Vasundhara Raje and her government. Today, I met eight Dalit families in Khairthal and listening to the pain and suffering inflicted upon them by the police sent shivers down my spine.

Mevani claimed no case was registered against people of higher castes. Alwar police and the government have filled up jails with Dalits who had no role in the violence, but just supported the Dalit movement, he said.

Dalits are being targeted. The case of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not different. He uses the name of Ambedkar in his rallies for political benefit, but in his heart he is a Manuvadi.

Mevani demanded that the state government give compensation to the Dalits who had been victims of the violence and withdraw cases against them.

He said he plans to visit all districts of Rajasthan and challenged the government to stop him. I will ensure that at least 100,000 Dalits take a vow to not support BJP.

RTI activist Nikhil Dey said all movements against Dalit atrocities would be run under the banner of Dalit Adiwasi Pratirodh Andolan. The enforcement of section 144 in Khairthal last night is a violation of human rights and democratic values. If press and activists are not allowed to visit these places, how will the truth come out, he said.

Mevani also addressed a press conference at Neem Ka Thana, Sikar. He will address the media in Jaipur on Monday.
The Rajasthan government has refused laptops to meritorious students who have opted for private schools for further studies, officials confirmed.

Students of private schools are not eligible for laptops under the scheme, said Gopal Singh Sodha, district education officer (elementary). This has been decided at the government level and we are just following the directions. We have prepared the eligibility list as per directions.

In Barmer district, 77 students on the Class 8 board examination merit list, including the topper, have been declared ineligible for laptops because they switched to private schools.

The state government has announced free laptops for Class 8 students on securing 85% marks in the board examination. The free laptop scheme was first announced in 2012 by then chief minister Ashok Gehlot for meritorious students. The scheme continued under the Vasundhara Raje government.

Dasrath Kanwar of Ranasar Kalla village is the topper in Barmer district with 93% marks in Class 8 board examination. Kanwar had to walk two kilometres to reach her government school. To save her from the inconvenience, her parents admitted her to a private school with hostel facility.

After Kanwar quit the government school, the education department didnt give her a laptop.

Apart like free laptops, the state government gives free scootys and bi-cycles to meritorious students to ensure that they stay in government schools. But a lot of students prefer private schools, though the government claims that the quality of education has improved in government schools.
The West Bengal panchayat elections have not only kicked off a political battle but also infighting within families at many places where relatives are pitted against each other in an intense contest.

The three-tier polls, spread across more than 58,000 seats scheduled for Monday, have several instances where a father is pitted against his son, a mother is being challenged by her daughter, a son-in-law is taking on his father-in-law and a brother is slugging it out in the poll battlefield against his sister.

Prominent parties, including the Trinamool Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and Left Front, have obliged competing relatives by fielding them on their symbol to capitalise on the family popularity in the respective areas.

For instance, in Alipurduar district, retired school teacher Bhognarayan Das is contesting on a TMC ticket against his son Amal, who is a BJP candidate. Das, 68, had asked his son to refrain from contesting the polls as it might cause animosity within the family, but he refused to withdraw.

I had told my father that politics is all about political belief and ideology. And our political battle wont cause any harm to our relations, Amal said.

In North 24 Parganas districts Jagulia gram panchayat, two daughters-in-law of the same family are contesting against each other. While Rima Das is in the field on a TMC ticket, her elder sister-in-law Bulbul Das is contesting as an Independent candidate.

However, the two are of the opinion that politics did not create a rift in their family as politics has nothing to do with personal relationships.

In Nadias Taldaha-Majhdia gram panchayat, three members of the same family are pitted against each other but poll rivalry has not soured their bonding. Bablu Roy, the sitting TMC candidate, is fighting against his sister-in-law Aduri Roy, who is a BJP candidate, while his uncle Laxman Roy is fighting as an Independent with support from the Left Front.

Whoever wins the election will be from our family and will work for the development of our village and the two defeated candidates will support the winner, Bablu told PTI.

The three, who are part of a 10-member strong joint family, make it a point to have their lunch and dinner with other family members after a days campaign, just as it used to be earlier.

There are also examples of family rivalry where relatives are taking on each other in the polls to settle score. Partha Pratim Das, a TMC zilla parishad candidate from East Midnapore district, is miffed that his wife Lipika contesting on a BJP ticket in a nearby seat.

Lipika, on the other hand, said she wanted to teach her husband a lesson as her pleas to shun politics for several years have fallen on deaf ears. We are living separately for the past few years, Das said.

In Alipurduar district, two sisters-in-law  Tushi Roy Sarkar and Arpita Roy Sarkar  are fighting from Chaporerpar gram panchayat seats with Tushi as a TMC candidate and Arpita an Independent nominee.

According to their father-in-law Dhananjay Roy Sarkar, a TMC loyalist, Arpita is contesting as an Independent as she was denied a ticket despite being an old timer.

According to political leaders of various parties, rural polls in West Bengal, since its beginning in 1978, has witnessed a peculiar trend where family rivalry results in kin contesting against each other either on a party ticket or as Independents.

Although there are cases of bonhomie between family members fighting against each other, in most cases family rivalry comes into politics where there is a competition to outdo each other in electoral battle, CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty told PTI.

Senior TMC leader Nirmal Ghosh also agreed with his views but added there were instances where political rivalry also divided a family. When you are in a political battle, it hardly matters what is your relation with your opponent. What matters is victory and this leads to the political fight entering into a family, Ghosh told PTI.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said as the elections were held across thousands of seats, in most cases political parties had no other choice but to give tickets to members of the same family.

BJP Mahila Morcha activists take out a rally against Trinamool terror. (HT/Samir Jana)

According to West Bengal State Election Commission sources, of the 48,650 seats in 3,358 gram panchayats, 16,814 were uncontested and of the 9,217 seats in 341 panchayat samitis, 3,059 were uncontested. In the 20 zilla parishads, 203 of the 825 seats were uncontested.

SEC sources said Mondays elections will be held in 621 zilla parishads and 6,157 panchayat samitis, besides 31,827 gram panchayats.

The polls will be the last major elections in the state before the next years Lok Sabha polls. Political parties are viewing Mondays event as a warm-up match ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Polling will begin at 7 am on Monday and end at 5 pm. Counting will take place on May 17.

The opposition had accused the ruling TMC of letting loose a reign of terror during the nomination process.

The filing of nominations, which was held from April 2-9 and then again on an extended date on April 23, was marked by violence and clashes between the ruling TMC and opposition parties that led to several deaths.

Although top leaders of all parties campaigned for the polls, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee refrained from it. She appealed to the people to vote in favour of the development ushered in by her government.

Around 1,500 security personnel from Assam, Odisha, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh are in the state to reinforce security arrangements for the polls.

They will aid around 46,000 personnel of the state police and 12,000 of the Kolkata Police, while the state government would use close to 2,000 security personnel from the departments of excise, prison and forests in manning the booths, an SEC official said.

Security forces on Sunday conducted route marches in various parts of the state as part of security arrangements.

As the death toll in the pre-panchayat poll violence in Bengal touched 16 till Saturday, a proliferation of country-made semi-automatic pistols and crude bombs recovered from a district triggered concerns ahead of elections.

On Saturday afternoon, police seized a large quantity of ammunition at Salboni in West Midnapore while villagers at Bhangar in North 24 Parganas district discovered hundreds of crude bombs inside several pits dug behind the home of local TMC heavyweight Arabul Islam.

The pistols were manufactured in clandestine workshops in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Bengal and sold for anything between Rs 15,000 and Rs 25,000.
In the realm of jobs that sound so good someone must have made them up, Global Ambassador of Rum ranks up there with Rooftop Pool Bar Critic.

Yet, Ian Burrell does hold the title. The Jamaican-born Burrell is the industry spokesperson, a paid consultant who is hired by spirit brands to spread the good word. He travels the world, teaching consumers and industry professionals about rum, from how its made to inspired ways to drink the stuff. Hes transported his mobile tiki bar as far as Antarctica in the name of education.

Rum messaging is important these days. Following the rise of pricey tequila and bourbon, Bloomberg reports that Bacardi is introducing premium rum products in the hopes that it will help grow the industry. In the U.S., rum volumes fell 3.6%, but super-premium lines rose 34% over that same four-year period.

Which makes this a great time to drink premium rum (not that there ever was a bad time), and the best place to do it is around the Caribbean.

There are more than 50 legal distilleries in the islands alone, and Burrell has visited every single one of them. Here are the best of the best, from historic farmhouses to postcard-worthy plantation housesthe ones he likes to hang out in when hes not working.

River Antoine Rum Distillery, Grenada

River Antoine started producing rum around 1785. Though its not the oldest distillery in the Caribbean, its notable because the crew still makes rum in much the way it was done centuries ago, with a water-powered wheel to crush the local, organic sugar cane. Visitors can see those traditional methods in action, including cooking, fermenting, and distilling in old pot stills, on guided tours and tastings. River Antoines best known rum, the slightly overproof bottle (at 150 proof, a cheeky understatement), is so popular locally that theres not enough to export. Not that they couldat almost twice the strength of a typical rum, its considered a combustible fluid and isnt allowed on airplanes. Made from sugar cane syrup, its potent but surprisingly smooth, given its alcoholic wallop. River Antoine Estate, St. Patrick

St. Nicholas Abbey, Barbados

Barbados is the island that is said to have created rum around the 1650s, as sugar cane production took off. St. Nicholas Abbey was built around the same time, in 1658, and is one of just three Jacobean-style mansions remaining in the Western Hemisphere. Decorated with gables, grand arches, and cedar-panelled sitting rooms, its one of the finest historic sites in Barbados, period. Its distillery, meanwhile, is the newest on the island, built in 2009. Among the handful of rums St. Nicholas produces is the excellent, honey-coloured 12-year-old, made from molasses and aged in old bourbon barrels. Cherry Tree Hill, St. Peter

Appleton Estate, Jamaica

Appleton, one of the big names in the rum world and the oldest distillery in Jamaica, recently spent $7.2 million to renovate the estate, which features eco-friendly distilling. The tour shines a light on Appletons almost-200-year history and the making of the rumliterally. Visitors can try their hand at distilling, juicing the cane, and boiling wet sugar. Afterward, its sample time: Dont miss the 50-year-old offering. This is the oldest barrel-aged rum in the world, with powerful, smooth flavours of vanilla. Nassau Valley, Siloah District, St. Elizabeth

Diamond Distillery, Guyana

Guyana is technically in South America, yes, but its part of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), a political grouping of 20 countries in the region. And its Diamond Distillery is a mecca for rum geeks. Set on the banks of the Demerara River, the distillery dates back to 1670 and uses some of the oldest and unique rum stills in the world. Three of the stills are made of wood, as opposed to copper or stainless steel. This helps give its El Dorado rums a unique taste, with richer flavours of brown sugar, coffee and smoke than most rums have. A visit here feels like time travelling. 44b High St., Kingston, Georgetown.

Rhum J.M Distillery, Martinique



Martinique has nine rum-producing distilleries. The Rhum J.M estate is one of the oldest and most beautiful, dating back to 1790. The brand itself was founded in the 1840s and is located in Le Macouba, at the base of Mount Pelee, an active volcano on the northern tip of the island. Rhum is made only during harvest time (January to June) and is strictly controlled by French A.O.C. standards (e.g., fresh sugar cane juice only). Aside from touring the distillery at your own pace, you can sample offerings of agricole rums, a funky, earthier, more vegetal spirit than your typical pina colada boozer. Rhumerie de Fonds Preville, Macouba

And while youre there 

Heres another souvenir: Le Galion, the lone factory producing brown sugar on Martinique, uses a decades-old process to make its fruity, funky Grand Arome rum. The flavour comes from vinasse, a viscous distillation residue thats mixed with fresh molasses in a 10-day fermentation process. The result is aged in oak barrels and bottled. Combine it with cane syrup and lime for a complex ti punch, then stir it with an all-natural swizzle stick made from the twisty root of Martiniques bois lele trees.
 Nevada defense attorney loses latest battle, but may still be winning war, in effort to preclude an execution defendant apparently seeks | Main | Mother's Day review of moms in incarceration nation 

May 12, 2018

"Predatory Public Finance and the Evolution of the War on Drugs"

The title of this post is the title of this new paper authored by Bruce Benson and Brian Meehan now available via SSRN. Here is the abstract:

US drug policy has a long history of providing revenue for federal, state, and local governments. Before the War on Drugs, opium and cocaine were legal and medical professionals who prescribed these substances had to pay extra taxes to do so. This chapter explains how, as the federal government began enforcing outright bans on drugs, law enforcement agencies took advantage of their newly acquired authority to profit. Today, civil asset forfeiture related to drug crimes provides officers with incentives to use and abuse their authority and increase their revenue by making more drug arrests. Key takeaways: (1) Drug policy has a long history of providing law enforcement with increased revenues and authority over time. (2) Law enforcement agencies may be targeting the crimes that present the opportunity to raise revenue for their departments rather than the most serious public safety threats.

May 12, 2018 at 09:52 PM | Permalink

Comments

Millions of crimes have been committed on social media. The lawyer moron should stop seizing the row homes of grandmothers with delinquent grandsons.

The frickin' lawyer government moron should seize Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft. Then auction these media as they would the Ferrari of a drug dealer. I just cannot stand the utter stupidity of this profession.

Posted by: David Behar | May 12, 2018 10:42:18 PM

This is really shocking! US drug policy must be modified so that there is no abuse of power by the authorities and lessons must be learned from the experience of some European countries, who have got a liberal attitude towards with such drugs with ofcourse desirable controls.

Posted by: Paul Carrillo | May 13, 2018 5:26:32 AM

Paul. The person who said, "As easy as taking candy from a baby," obviously never tried to take candy from a baby. It is not easy at all.

Now, try taking $billions from government rent seekers. Try to overturn a Supreme Court decision from 1827, another gem brought to you by the criminal and filthy traitor to our country, Chief Justice John Marshall.

So, put this scheme to good use. Take down our left wing, Ivy radicalized, internal enemies, by seizing their ill gotten assets. Forfeiture is immediate, in contrast to stupid and prolonged anti-trust prosecutions. These platforms were all stolen from others anyway. It puts the burden on the traitors.

Posted by: David Behar | May 13, 2018 10:03:59 AM

Post a comment
The loss of a child is a soul-crushing, irreversible agony. When a child dies, the mother loses a part of herself. The emotional upheaval is too much for a human being to deal with, and mothers drown into grief for the rest of their lives. However, there are some with superhuman abilities who find the inner strength to defeat the evil that snatched their child. We feature gritty mothers who fought back, not only to get justice to their own child, but also pledged to save others from the pain they went through. They tell us what stopped them from falling apart in the face of indescribable, devastating grief.

Nilam Katara (PHOTO BY RAAJESSH KASHYAP/HT)

Nitish always stood up for what is right. I believed in him.

When we called Nilam Katara, a hoarse, confident and determined voice greeted us from the other side. Just like she sounds, Katara is strong, unwavering. She has fought against criminals blinded by political power to get justice for her son, Nitish Katara. On 17 February 2002, Nitish Katara, 24, was brutally murdered in the name of saving family honour by Vikas Yadav, the son of strongman-politician DP Yadav as Katara was in love with VIkass sister, Bharti Yadav. My sons body was a mess. I would have crumbled but in a moment of reckoning, I thought that if I dont stand up for my son now, then other children would also suffer. Also because Nitish always stood up for what is right. I believed in him. That gave me strength at every step, says Nilam. There was a time when the courts denied Kataras death to be a result of honour killing which shook Nilam the most. However, it was later proved and today Nilam has found the strength to help those affected by honour killing. She provides legal, emotional and psychological counselling to those who have experienced similar tragedies and are fighting similar battles. She also speak at public platforms about politicisation of crime and honour killing.  We need a law against honour killing. Its a crime triggered by hatred. It stops a girl from making her own choice. There is no ruckus about honour killing. It doesnt move people enough because maybe the numbers are less than rape cases. The political leaders in our country should mention it in their constituencies, but people are scared to talk about it . Its about patriarchy, its about caste, religion and class. It should be taken out from the bag of honour as its nothing but medieval thinking and we should move past it, says Nilam.

Ankit Saxenas mother, Kamlesh Saxena (PHOTO: MANOJ VERMA/HINDUSTAN TIMES)

Ankit wanted love and peace to prevail

When 23-year-old Ankit Saxena fell in love with Shehzadi, his Muslim neighbour, it didnt occur to him even once that he was committing an unpardonable sin. Ankit, who dreamt of becoming a famous photographer one day, treated the mosque and the temple alike. Ankits throat was slashed by Shehzadis father and uncle for defying and overcoming the societal prejudice that expected him to hate Muslims. Ankit bled to death in his mothers lap. It has been 4 months since Ankit died and his mother Kamlesh hasnt been able to cook any food since then. The neighbours send them meals. She doesnt talk much. But when you ask her about the Ankit Saxena Trust that she plans to open along with her husband, Yashpal Saxena, her eyes light up. I want to spread the message of love and peace. Thats what Ankit would have wanted to prevail in this country. Thats the only way to conquer hatred, she says. Kamlesh remembers how Ankit got along with his Muslim friends. Humne use kabhi fark karna nahin sikhaya. (We never taught him to discriminate). He would mix up with Muslims and Hindus alike. Hatred serves no one any good. Through this trust, we will help unite inter-religious couples. This is what Ankit would have wanted, says the brave woman who gave birth to a talented boy. One who was punished by his own countrymen for having a heart that didnt know how to hate. It would be easy to give in to hatred. But we dont want any more Ankit Saxenas to suffer. We dont want any other human being to go through the ordeal that we are living. We owe this to Ankit, she says.

Sheeba Ameer from Kerala

I wont let my daughter down, even in death

When Sheeba Ameer from Kerala learnt that her 13-year-old daughter was suffering from cancer, her world crashed. However, she was determined to cure her daughter, Nilofer. She spent several years in hospitals, consulting doctors and getting the best possible treatment for her. After several chemo sessions and a bone marrow transplant, Nilofer started recovering. But just when Sheeba thought that life would be back to normal, Sheeba lost her daughter to serious medical complications. Cancer had weakened her and the girl gave up after 16 years of fight. In the hospital with Nilofer, I saw other kids who were suffering in pain. After, I lost my child; I didnt want any other mother to lose her kid. I started Solace, a centre to lend financial support to such children, says Sheeba . Today, through Solace, she has helped many. According to Ameer, in 2014, the center offered support of 78 lakh to kids suffering from serious ailments. In 2015, the amount went up to 1.14 crores. What kept her going after her daughters death? It was a promise made to her. Nilofer taught me to never give up. She lived to teach me to do something worthwhile. She will always be immortal, says Sheeba.

Neelma Krishnamurthy (PHOTO BY SARANG GUPTA/HINDUSTAN TIMES))

The fire within her wont die out

On 11 May 1997, Unnati, 17, and Ujjwal, 13, gave their mom, Neelam Krishnamurthy a Mothers Day card. It was the last card she received from her kids. The kids went to Uphaar cinema to watch the movie, Border on 13 June, 1997. The cinema hall caught fire and killed 59 people, including her children. The owners wanted a little more profit, and didnt care about 59 lives, says Neelam, the president of the Association of Victims of the Uphaar Tragedy who has been crusading to get justice to the victims of the tragedy for the last 21 years. Neelam has been fighting to push for a stringent fire safety law in a country that reports around 62 deaths per day, but still flouts safety norms unabashedly. There is absolutely no concept of fire safety in India. Our policy makers are not concerned about human life, says Neelam. The woman says that her biggest setback in life was to see the accused proved guilty in court but still walk free. But Neelam is unbreakable. She continues to fight a legal battle against the Ansals, accused of tampering of evidence. Neelam also conducts fire safety workshops in the city and works to sensitise people about fire safety. Theres fire within her that wont die out.

Dorris Francis (RAAJESSH KASHYAP/HT)

I dont fear death anymore, Ive nothing to lose

Wearing salwar kameez and a blue cap, with a stick in her hand and a whistle in her mouth, 60- year-old Dorris Francis cuts an intriguing figure on National Highway 24, as she signals vehicles to halt or move. You are filled with awe when you come to know her story. In 2009, Dorris Francis was travelling in a tuk tuk with her 20 -year-old daughter Nikki when it was hit by a speeding car. She survived but Nikki could not make it. At that moment, Dorris pledged that she would not let any other accident take place at the spot. For the last 9 years, Dorris has been unfailingly turning up at the highway every morning from Monday to Friday, 7am to 11am to control traffic. Her fight with cancer hasnt weakened her resolve. There hasnt been a single accident when Dorris has been present at the spot. My daughter must be happy about it. The joy that you get by saving someones life is incomparable, says the woman who has been assaulted several times by goons who dislike her work. I constantly get death threats, but I dont care. I dont fear death anymore, says the gritty woman.
Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officials at Mumbais international airport arrested two gold smugglers  one a Frenchman and the other from Madagascar  early on Sunday for allegedly trying to smuggle in gold from Dubai worth Rs2.11 crore.

The suspects have been identified as Yoguy Rafidison, a Republic of Madagascar national and Rajeev Shantilal who holds a French passport. The two had arrived from Dubai on a Jet Airways flight.

According to the AIU, the two suspects were arrested on the basis of profiling after they cleared the customs channel and were proceeding towards the exit.

A personal search resulted in recovery over 7.3 kg of gold with foreign marking, and valued at more than Rs2.11 crore, according to the AIU.

The officials have video-recorded the personal search where the accused had concealed the gold bars under their clothes using a belt, said an AIU source.

AIU investigators are now looking into who their possible associates are and also scrutinising their phone call records.
Registrations for Maharashtras Common Entrance Test (CET) for bachelor of education (BEd) continues to increase this year, following a sharp decline in the last two years ago.

Data from directorate of higher education (DHE) shows that 53,692 teaching aspirants signed up for the entrance test this year. This is a 57% increase compared to last year, when 34,256 aspirants registered for the test, and a whopping 121% rise since 2016-17, which saw 24,402 registrations.

Ramzan Shaikh, general secretary, Maharashtra Vinaanudan Adhyapak Mahavidyalaya (MVAMSA), said that more aspirants have decided to take the test this year in the wake of the possibility of the BEd programme, which are two-year courses, being converted to four-year integrated programmes such as BA BEd, BSc BEd and BCom BEd. Students usually decide to pursue BEd after graduation. If the integrated course is introduced, students will have to do a four-year long course after graduation, he said.

This is the third admission cycle after the government scrapped the entrance test conducted by private BEd colleges and introduced a single state-conducted CET for all teacher training colleges in the state. The move had resulted in a significant dip in the number of students seeking admission in 2016-17.

Till academic year 2015-16, students were admitted to around 550 unaided colleges on the basis of scores in a CET conducted by MVAMSA  an umbrella body of unaided teacher training colleges, while the state held a separate CET for admissions to around 50 government-aided colleges. For the last two years, all the admissions were done through the government CET.

According to an official from DHE, the number of aspirants have increased due to the efforts of private BEd colleges, who reluctantly signed up for the government CET. These colleges have realised that until they take efforts [to introduce CET to teaching aspirants], they will have to shut down their institutes, he said.

Due to low registrations in 2016-17, only 12,000 out of over 37,000 BEd seats were filled; with two out of three seats available for the course left vacant. Even last year, in 2017-18, there were no takers for 30% of the seats, despite the surge in registrations.

However, Shaikh is hopeful that with more takers for the CET this year, colleges will likely have all their seats filled.

HT had earlier reported that government officials had blamed private colleges for the dip in enrolment, accusing them of keeping aspirants under a false impression that the CET conducted by MVAMSA will eventually be held. As a result, many students didnt apply for the government CET and were deprived of admission, said the officials. However, the private colleges, which believe that they have a right to conduct their own admissions,had criticised the government for bringing them under the umbrella of the state CET.
Work experience alongside academics has gained importance is a great deal for students these days. While finding internships during summer vacations is a common trend, colleges are now witnessing a growing number of students assisting start-ups and working on various projects during academic session.

A group of 15 students from first-year Bachelor of Arts in Film, Television and New Media Production from UPG college at Vile Parle were chosen by a pharmaceutical company to put together a short film for Mothers Day. The students took almost a month to plan, shoot and edit the film, which was presented last week.

The finished product looks so good. These students not only shot the video, but also edited it. Everything looks so professional. The company which shortlisted the students funded the project, said Anju Kapoor, principal, UPG college.

Students from Jai Hind have regularly been shortlisted by various production houses to assist them while making short films or advertisements. They are not only paid monetarily, but are also given experience certificates for their work.

There have been instances wherein start-ups have approached our students from commerce and finance departments to pitch marketing strategies for certain products. If they like the idea, the student gets monetary compensation. Its a great way to gain experience and students dont feel like they are doing free labour either, said Ashok Wadia, principal, Jai Hind college, Churchgate.

Several city colleges have regularly organised campus placements, not just for jobs but for internship programmes as well. But over the years, colleges have observed that students tend to get a job or internship offers even without the help of their institutes.

Many times, our alumni contact students directly and offer them a chance to assist them. This has also led to many students getting a job offer in hand even before they complete their graduation. It shows that talent will never go unnoticed, said Dinesh Panjwani, principal of R D National College, Bandra.
Iqbal Kaskar, brother of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who was arrested for extortion and later sent to jail, was taken in to police custody again on Sunday. This time, it was in relation to a third case in which Dawood Ibrahim, Anees Ibrahim and Chotta Shakeel are wanted.

Dawood, Anees and Iqbal are siblings while Chotta Shakeel is the key assistant to gangster Dawood Ibrahim.

All four men have been slapped with the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) by the Thane police and are being investigated in a case which was lodged on October 3 in which the accused extorted a builder of 1 crore in cash along with a plot in Gorai valued at 3 crore.

Pradeep Sharma, senior police inspector from Thane anti extortion cell said,  We have taken custody of Kaskar in regards to a third case in which he along with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and two others are the main accused. Kaskar had threatened the builder over the phone and warned him not to get involved in Gorai land deals.

Police are also looking to trace how the money was transferred to Dawood Ibrahim through Pakistan.

Sharma added, We have recorded the builders statement and are investigating the matter further. Apart from this we are also searching for the accused who are still wanted in this case.

According the police, Iqbal said Shakeel and Anees used to fly to Dubai from Pakistan. Dawood would reportedly speak to the two other builders on the phone through voice-over-internet protocol.

So far, we know that the builders accused in the Gorai case visited Dubai to meet Shakeel and Anees between 2012 and 2016. We have learnt that Anees, Shakeel and Dawood have their separate offices in Dubai, where the meetings have taken place, said the officer.
The Azad Maidan police have arrested a 54-year-old man who allegedly submitted forged documents, relating to a land dispute, in the Bombay high court (HC).

The accused, Shailesh Dawda, a Vashi resident, has been booked under sections 420, 465, 467, 471, 511 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code for cheating and forgery.

The police said that Dawda is a history sheeter who has previously served time for similar charges.

The complainant, Suresh Kumar, 67, is a Juhu resident. As per the complaint, Kumars company, Osaka Synthetic Private Limited, purchased a one-acre land in Neral, Raigad from Dawda. However, the two parties later got engaged in a dispute over possession of the land.

In 2016, the company manager Dasrath Matal filed a petition against Dawda in high court, claiming possession of the land. In response to the petition, the accused submitted a forged document dated December 7, 2013.

Dawda claimed that he had previously taken a number of loans from Kumar which he had then repaid. As per the document, the land was the security against the loan and thus, the possession of the land rested with Dawda. After learning of Dawdas alleged attempt to misguide the court, the complainant lodged a complaint with the Azad Maidan police.

The document submitted to the court was a photo copy. When asked by investigators to produce the original copy, Dawda failed to do so. Moreover, investigators prima-facie found discrepancies in Dawdas statements to the police, said an officer from the Azad Maidan police station.

The probe revealed that the accused is also facing charges at MIDC-Andheri, Panvel and Pali police stations.
The Vinoba Bhave Nagar police have registered a case against two builders for cheating a 48-year-old flat-buyer of 23 lakh.

According to the police, the accused sold the same flat in front of Kohinoor hospital at Kurla (West) to the 48-year-old complainant, Daji Pandurang Munde, and one Vaibhav Kadam. Munde is a resident of Mumbra.

The builders took 23 lakh from Munde and were about to hand over possession of the new flat. He later learnt that they had forged documents to sell the flat to one more person. He asked the builders to return his 23 lakh, if they did not want him to own the flat; however, they kept dilly-dallying. This forced Munde to file a complaint with Vinoba Bhave Nagar police station.

The alleged cheating took place April 22 and May 12, 2018, said Munde.

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In a clear attempt to disrupt the revival of the Dr Salim Ali Bird Park at Kalyaninagar, a group of residents from Siddharthnagar slums in Yerawada created a scene in the presence of Saurabh Rao, Pune Municipal Commissioner, and claimed that the land of the bird park was mahar watan land and belonged to them.

Vikas Shantaram Bhigardive, who was leading the group of about 15-20 young men from Siddharthnagar slums, refused to permit Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) trucks and earth-moving equipment from entering the park to remove rubble and debris and lay fresh soil for the trees.

It was only after much persuasion by Rao and the assembled gathering of citizen-activists and bird park lovers that the civic vehicles were allowed to enter the park by the agitating group.

We may not have our names on the 7/12 extract (saat-bara), but there is a notification in the city survey records as well as in Modi script that this land was gifted to us by the kings long ago and that it cannot be transferred to any one, said Bhigardive.

While the Kalyaninagar residents maintained that the land belonged to businessman Farouk Wadia, who was keen to hand it over to the forest department for the sake of the bird park, the slum dwellers claimed that it belonged to them.

Rao was invited to visit the bird park by the members of the Kalyaninagar Residents Association and the National Society for Clean Cities (NSCC) to see the progress of the cleanliness drive done every Saturday inside the sanctuary; inspect the illegal tree cutting and dumping of debris inside the park.

The civic chief had called all his senior officers, right from Vijay Dahibhate, zonal commissioner; Suresh Jagtap, joint commissioner; Aniruddha Pawaskar, roads departments head, among others. Also present were A Sreelaxmi, deputy conservator of forests, Pune Forest Division, Geeta Dalvi, Pune tehsildar, and others to help assist and survey the work needed on the land.

Rao spent more than two hours at the sanctuary and said that CCTV (closed circuit TV) cameras will be installed at the park as soon as possible to monitor tree cutting, vandalism and other disruptive activities that have occurred in the past.

I have already informed my officers to work on installing the CCTVs at the entry gate, he told the assembled gathering of about 200 people.

Our role is to preserve the trees and whenever possible try to increase the green cover. We will work hand-in-hand with residents and resources, like the forest department and social forestry. Prima Facie, it looks like there is some dispute on the title of this place, so the matter is subjudiced, appropriate court will take a decision, he said, adding that preserving the green cover is the responsibility of the civic body.

The municipal commissioner also directed PMC officials to install two gates at the unauthorised openings into the sanctuary.

Vandalism at bird sanctuary is new reality

During his visit to the bird park, Saurabh Rao, Pune municipal commissioner, was appalled to see restaurant waste dumped on the ledge alongside the river, evidence of 10-12 burnt trees and other acts of vandalism at the bird park.

He then directed the ward officials to immediately set up penalty to stop these dumping.

Meghna Bafna, a resident of Kalyaninagar, who is an active volunteer in the clean up activity, said, This is a natural bird sanctuary on the Mula-Mutha river bank, dedicated to the memory of the great ornithologist Dr Salim Ali. This land is being used to dump debris, and also illegal activities, which in the last two three weeks, we have been coming here to clean and we notice that the debris accumulates again.

Javed Munsiff, Sarang Yarwadkar, Samir Nikam, Satish Pradhan, and many other environment lovers and activists gathered in large numbers to show the commissioner the state of the reserved land.

Samir Nikam, a resident of Sangamwadi, said, PMC needs to see how there is encroachment taking place on the Mutha riverbed. People are using it to dump debris and rubble, thus creating a problem for biodiversity to this area.

The civic chief assured that trees that are within the sanctuary will be protected and at no cost will trees be cut without any permission. We need to protect this natural heritage and who this land belongs to doesnt matter when it comes to environment, said Rao.

There are 10 to 12 trees that have been burnt in the last two weeks. We come every day to nurse these dying trees. Two years ago, this same land was densely populated with trees, but now there is hardly any tree cover, Bafna said.

Panchshil Group saga

Two months ago, the PMC served a legal notice to the Panchshil Group under Section 8 of the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975, on charges of illegal razing of 500 trees at the natural bird sanctuary on the Mula-Mutha riverbank. Following recent changes in the Development Plan, the Panchshil Group undertook construction activities at a plot close to the bird park on the bank of the Mula-Mutha rivers behind Kalyaninagar, said Manoj Pachpute, tree authority committee member, PMC.

Atul Chordia, chairman of Panchshil Group, denied allegations saying everything was being done as per norms. It is not true that trees have been cut. My plot is two acres and the reservation on it was vacated as per Supreme Court order. The order copy can be made available, he said.
A week after he was accused of theft by his former employer, a 36-year-old car driver allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in his current employers house in Sector 2, here on Saturday.

The deceased has been identified as Amarnath alias Sonu, 36. He was found hanging from a ceiling fan in the servant quarters of a house owned by Brigadier JS Phulka (retd).

Amarnath lived in the quarters with his wife and two children. His wife Saroj works as a domestic help in the house.

Saroj said Amarnath went to sleep after having dinner on Friday night. When she went to wake him up at 5am, he wasnt in bed. When she looked for him, she found him hanging from a ceiling fan in another room.

She informed Brig Phulka who sounded the police. The body has been kept in the mortuary of Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, Chandigarh.

Amarnaths mother Rama said he was upset for the past last few days since his part-time employer, Varinder Gill of Sector 11, accused him of theft.

She alleged that he killed himself due to the humiliation meted out to him through the false case. While he worked for Brig Phulka for the past two decades, he worked as an on-call driver for Gill whenever he was needed, Rama said, adding that their family had been working as caretakers of Brig Phulkas house for generations.

Gill had accused Amarnath of stealing a mobile phone and gold jewellery from her house, following which a case was registered at the Sector-11 police station on May 5. Gill is currently away at Canada.

Badnami ke wajah se usne kudh ko mar liya. Usne koi chori nahi ki thi (He killed himself due to slander. He didnt commit any theft),Saroj said.

Inspector Poonam Dilawari, station house officer (SHO), Sector 3 police station, said, We have initiated inquest proceedings on the statement of his wife. But have not received a complaint.
An employee of the Himachal Pradesh public works department who was shot during a demolition drive in Kasauli on May 1 died on Saturday night, 12 days after an assistant town planning officer was killed in the incident that led to massive protests in the region and sparked the ire of the Supreme Court.

Gulab Singh (46) of Kanda village in Kasauli was put on a ventilator on May 10 after he suffered a cardiac arrest at Chandigarhs PGIMER. He was severely inju-red after allegedly being shot at by Vijay Singh Thakur, the son of a guest house owner, during the court-ordered demolition drive. Singh died at 11pm (Saturday), said a doctor at the PGIMER. He was not stable and not responding to treatment after he was put on a ventilator, he added.

Singh was admitted to the PGIMER after he was hit by a bullet few inches below his heart, when Singh allegedly fired following a heated argument during the demolition drive. Shail Bala Sharma, who was also hit, had died on the spot. Singh had fled from the spot, but was arrested from Mathura two days later.

The Supreme Court had on April 17 ordered the state government to demolish unauthorised structures in several hotels and guesthouses in Kasauli and Dharampur areas of Solan district.

After the May 1 shooting, the SC termed Sharmas killing extremely serious, rebuking the Himachal government for failing to prevent it, and said it may stop passing orders if people are killed for executing them.

The Solan district magistrate had issued an order directing the affected hotel and guest house owners and any staff working there to deposit their firearms, weapons and ammunition at the nearest police stations.

(With inputs from agencies)
The four gold medals were awarded to Tran Duc Huy, a 12th grader from Hanoi-Amsterdam High School in Hanoi; Nguyen Ngoc Long, a 12th grader from Lam Son High School for the Gifted in the central province of Thanh Hoa; Nguyen Van Thanh Loi, a 12th grader from Quang Trung High School for the Gifted in the southern province of Binh Phuoc; and Trinh Duy Hieu, an 11th grader from Bac Giang High School for the Gifted in the northern province of Bac Giang.

The two silvers were given to Nguyen Xuan Tan, an 11th grader from the Natural Science High School for the Gifted, a member of Hanoi National University; and Nguyen Van Duy, a 12th grader from the High School of Hanoi University of Education.

The two bronzes were Le Cao Anh, a 12th grader from Lam Son High School for the Gifted in Thanh Hoa Province; and Le Ky Nam, a 12th grader from Ha Long High School for the Gifted in the northern province of Quang Ninh.

Tran Duc Huy, one of the gold medalists also received the title Host contestant with highest score.

The organization board of the APhO 2018 granted a total of 33 golds, 13 silvers, 24 bronzes, and 9 special awards for individuals who had excellent results in the examination.

The 19th Asian Physics Olympiad was held in Vietnam from May 5  12 with the participation of 185 contestants from 25 nations and regions, 100 of whom won a prize (accounting for 54.05 percent).

The Vietnam team was one of the nine countries winning gold medals (along with China, Russia, Taiwan, Rumania, India, Singapore, Kazakhstan, and Hong Kong).

The exam questions were prepared by physicists and teachers from Vietnam.

The Ministry of Education and Training affirmed that this result showed the quality of high school education in Vietnam in general and the quality of the task to nurture talented students in particular.

The Ministry will select the most prominent among these eight winners to take part in the Global Physics Olympiad 2018.

By PHAN THAO  Translated by Yen Nhi
Three weeks after the rural police and the mining department detected illegal mining and seized two poclains and one JCB machine being illegally used at the Salkiana quarry in Phillaur, no action has been initiated against the contractor of the site.

The police have also returned the seized machines to the owners.

The use of machines like JCBs, poclains and excavators for mining has been banned, but these machines were used with impunity to extract a huge quantity of sand. However, no action has been taken against the contractor of the mining site.

The Phillaur police, on the recommendation of the mining department, had only registered a case against three unidentified people under Section 379 (theft) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Mines and Minerals Act, 1957.

The case was registered on the recommendation of the mining department, but no action has been initiated against the site contractor, Phillaur SHO Jatinder Kumar said. He said that seized vehicles were returned on bail.

General manager of the mining department Amarjit Singh could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.

On April 23, a team, comprising senior industrial promotional officer (SIPO), Phillaur sub-divisional magistrate, and the local police conducted an inspection around 7 pm at the Salkiana quarry and spotted illegal mining being done by using heavy machines, which have been banned.

The size of this quarry is less than five hectare and, as per rules, no machine can be used for mining at this site. Machines have been seized, but drivers are absconding, said inquiry officer ASI Iqbal Singh.

He said that the case was registered on the recommendation of SIPO Manjeet Singh.

Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh had ordered a crackdown on illegal mining, spotting heavy machinery being used on the Sutlej riverbed in Phillaur and Rahon on March 6. Six contractors were booked in this matter.

Following this, the CM had directed deputy commissioners (DCs) and SSPs of the districts concerned to crack down on the activity of illegal mining and seize the heavy equipment.
Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkaris visit to Bathinda on Monday will see him inaugurate the recently four-laned Bathinda-Zirakpur and Bathinda-Amritsar roads. Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh will preside over the launch function scheduled at the Thermal Colony stadium at 11.45am.

So, even as the roads will make residents lives easier, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders say that the foundation stone of the projects (NH-7, Bathinda-Zirakpur) and (NH-54, Bathinda-Amritsar) were laid during their regime in January 2015 and that the Congress wanted to take political mileage by organising the inauguration.

To ensure they are not ignored, the SAD-BJP has scheduled a public meeting to be addressed by Gadkari to mark the occasion, at a private resort on the Bathinda-Goniana road, where they will also be mobilising the party cadre. On Sunday, SAD president and former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal held a meeting with party leaders on preparations for the event.

SAD sends two contradictory e-mails

Ahead of the inauguration, the SAD sent out two contradictory emails. In his communication, media coordinator Rajdeep Dod stated that Gadkari would be inaugurating the road project at the private resort. Another media coordinator Pushkar Kapil said, Gadkari would only address a public meeting in the resort at 11am and the projects will be inaugurated in Thermal Colony, Stadium.

Projects have cost Rs 6,100 crore

Meanwhile, in Chandigarh, public works department minister Vijay Inder Singla said the 217-km Zirakpur-Bathinda stretch had been laid at a cost of Rs 3,189 crore, while the Amritsar -Bathinda stretch of 175-km had been laid at a cost of Rs 2,894 cr. The Zirakpur-Patiala-Sangrur-Barnala-Bathinda section includes two Railway over-bridges and 16 fly-overs. Similarly, the project has one major bridge, 40 small bridges and seven foot over-bridges constructed in its way.

The road also has 32 major junctions and 212 smaller junctions for traffic de-congestion. It has a 138-km service road.

The Amritsar -Harike-Makhu-Zira-Talwandi-Faridkot-Kotkapura-Bathinda stretch of National Highway 54 has three railway over-bridges and five fly-overs. The stretch also includes three big bridges, 53 small bridges and one foot over bridge. There is a 45-km service lane. The project includes 31 major junctions and 171 small junctions.
The air feels fresh and pulsating with the action across this picturesque town. I am at the India Pavilion and it feels very special Why? Because it is for the first time, after 2002, that the Indian government has made special efforts to not just send a delegation that is truly India representative, but also take critical actions to connect the dots globally for young, Indian filmmakers, simultaneously opening up India for the world.

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I call it the real India representation because it looks beyond the umbrella of Bollywood that the whole world puts us under. Its the real Indian cinemas narrative told through the four award-winning movies from the most unpredictable cinematic regions we are showcasing: Assam (Village Rockstars); West Bengal (Nagar Kirtan); Kerala (Bhayanakam); and Lakshadweep ( Sinjar, which is in the Jasari dialect)!

Honestly, when was the last time you thought of Lakshadweep and cinema in the same breath? But when you look at cinema on a global platform, languages cease to matter. What matters are the narratives and the skill with which it is told. And trust me, our young filmmakers have devised a style of expression thats distinctly theirs.

I, for one, am thrilled that we are looking beyond Bollywood, an industry I am very much a part of and thrive within. But India is multi-lingual, cross-cultural, diverse, vibrant. And I feel if a Marathi film can be nominated for an Oscar, then surely there is a very rich world out there that, thanks to the current I&B Minister Smt Smriti Iraniji, is finally finding an expression.

Its the business of cinema thats happening at the India Pavilion. And lots are being quietly done, beyond the many debates taking off about how well our actors have dressed on the red carpet. Or not.

We are hosting a series of closed-door sessions with film commissions of 12 countries that we already have a diplomatic treaty with. We will help facilitate the shooting process for our young directors in this country, ensuring that just like India opens its doors and its heart to outsiders, our boys get the same smooth sailing in other countries. Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire, Victoria & Adbul so many hot sellers with an Indian narrative have taken off smoothly in our region. Similarly, our cinema should also have the ease of passage. And believe me, treaties are a piece of paper unless governments try and implement them through talks and dialogue sessions. Which is what this government is doing. Salute. Of course, with the Make in India policy in place, we are inviting all these countries to our shore with love and grace. With atithi devo bhava!

And then on to my own pet subject. IFFI. We turn 50 soon and we are seeking deeper collaborations with other film festivals like The Berliner Film Festival, The Venice International Film Festival etc. Earlier this year, we had taken a delegation comprising Karan Johar and Bhumi Pednekar to Locarno with the same intention. In Cannes, too, we are lobbying to strengthen our global imprints.

And, of course, the red carpet has sizzled with Kangana Ranaut and Huma Qureshi, who accompany us. Also, India Day, celebrated at Cannes on May 11, was studded with stars from dawn to dusk. The festival, this year, is meeting the new, energised and charged India.

(Vani Tripathi Tikoo is a member of the Central Board of Film Certification, and an actor)

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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A family of six launched suicide attacks on Christians attending Sunday services at three churches in Indonesias second-largest city of Surabaya, killing at least 13 people and wounding 40, officials said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency.

Indonesia, the worlds largest Muslim-majority country, has seen a recent resurgence in homegrown militancy inspired in part by Islamic State.

Debris are seen outside Santa Maria church where an explosion went off in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Sunday, May 13, 2018. (AP)

Television footage showed one church where the yard in front appeared engulfed in fire, with thick, black smoke billowing up. A large blast was heard hours after the attacks, which Mangera said was a bomb disposal squad securing a remaining device.

Wawan Purwanto, communication director at Indonesias intelligence agency said Islamic State-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) was believed to be behind the bombings.

JAD is an umbrella organization on a US State Department terrorist list that is estimated to have drawn hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers in Indonesia.

A member of the police bomb squad unit examines the site of an explosion outside the Immaculate Santa Maria Catholic Church, in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia May 13, 2018 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (REUTERS)

The attacks come days after militant Islamist prisoners killed five members of an elite counter-terrorism force during a 36-hour standoff at a high security jail on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta.

The church attacks were likely linked to the prison hostage standoff, Purwanto said.

The main target is still security authorities, but we can say that there are alternative (targets) if the main targets are blocked, he said.

Suicide attack used motorbike

At St Marys catholic church, the first place of worship to be attacked, the bombing happened after an earlier mass was over and when the church was getting ready to hold another service. Inspector general Machfud Arifin told CNN Indonesia the suicide attack at St Marys was carried out using a motorbike. A witness interviewed by CNN Indonesia said shortly before the explosion he saw a person on a motorbike drive in carrying a cardboard box.

Separately, an internal police report reviewed by Reuters said a suspected bomb exploded in a car in the parking lot of a Pentacostal church, setting alight dozens of motorbikes.

In the third location, the Indonesian Christian Church, two veiled women entered the churchs yard where they were stopped by a security guard before an explosion occurred at the same spot, according to the police report.

Television images showed toppled and burnt motorcycles and debris scattered around the entrance of one church and police cordoning off areas as crowds gathered. President Joko Widodo was due to visit the wounded in Surabaya on Sunday, police said, while Indonesias Foreign Minister Retno Masudi condemned the attacks. We will not back down in the fight against terrorism, Marsudi said in a message sent on Twitter.

Firefighters are seen at the site of a blast at the Pentecost Church Central Surabaya (GPPS), in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia May 13, 2018 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (REUTERS)

A spokesman for Indonesias church association (PGI) called on the government for more help on security at churches.

PGI is concerned because this had happened many times and often taken place around the time of Sunday services, said Jeirry Sumampow, a spokesman for the Indonesias Communion of Churches.

Nearly 90 percent of Indonesians are Muslim, but the country is also home to sizeable communities of Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, and people who adhere to traditional beliefs.

Indonesia has had some major successes tackling militancy inspired by al Qaedas attacks on the United States in 2001. But there has been a resurgence of Islamist activity in recent years, some of it linked to the rise of Islamic State.

The most serious incident was in January 2016 when four suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a shopping area in central Jakarta.

Churches have also been targeted previously, including near-simultaneous attacks on churches there at Christmas in 2000 that killed about 20 people.
On Saturday, a single mother in the town of St George in Canadas Ontario province was paying special attention to the world premiere of an Indian film in New York City. The movie, Uma, is in Bengali, but 34-year-old Nicole Wellwood has a powerful connection to it.

Uma is adapted from the heart-breaking real life story of her son Evan, who passed away aged seven in 2015, but not before the townsfolk came together to celebrate Christmas in October, since it was the wish of the terminally ill boy to enjoy his favourite festival one last time.

That tragic and uplifting tale inspired filmmaker Srijit Mukherji to create an Indian version, one that will have its theatrical release in Kolkata in early June. Wellwood will be there for that screening.

Evan Leversage had been suffering from a deadly brain tumour and his death came just days before Christmas. By then, the St George community had granted his wish, getting together into the Yuletide spirit in October, complete with a parade. The towns population is just around 3,000 but nearly 7,000 people turned up for the event.

Wellwood is looking forward to attending the premiere of Uma, particularly since it weaves into her objective of raising awareness about childhood brain cancer. She has started a foundation, Evans Legacy, for that purpose.

I always believed if people were aware of childhood cancer, brains tumours, there would be more funding for research, she told the Hindustan Times in an interview.

Mukherji, writer and director of Uma, was delighted with the reception to its first international showing at the New York Indian Film Festival. He said he was quite overwhelmed with the response.

Wellwood was surprised when she was first approached by Mukherji, after initial contact was made by him via the Evans Legacy Facebook page. Its not something that anybody would ever expect, she said.

Mukherji also became aware of Evans story on Facebook, as an article titled, The Boy Who Moved Christmas, appeared on his timeline.

I was moved to tears. I thought it was an incredible act of humanity, he said.

Mukherji started working on adapting the story into an Indian context, with Uma, the protagonist, wanting to celebrate one last Durga Puja.

Wellwood was informed about Mukherjis adaptation, and she said, That was made clear to me and I was very happy to be part of that.

I wanted to tell the story on a bigger plane; telling it to a larger number of people, Mukherji said, of his intent in taking Evans experience to the screen.

Uma is about the recreation of Durga Puja in spring, rather than October, with the help of an out-of-work filmmaker using a motley crew.

It captures the essence of Evans story, with strangers coming together for a communal gesture in an effort to please a child.

The film pays tribute to Evan, with an In Memoriam section at its outset and during its end credit roll.

But Evans event will have more media moments in the future: Wellwood is working with renowned childrens author Eric Walters on a book to recapture those days, while a production company based in Montreal is developing a French-language film on the subject as well.

Uma will have its theatrical release in Kolkata in the beginning of June, and thereafter, will travel to Toronto for the Reel World Film Festival in July.

And quite fittingly, Wellwood and the filmmaker are working on a special fund-raising screening in St George. After all, as Mukherji said, the film is also dedicated to the people of that small town with a big heart.
Chinas first home-built aircraft carrier began its sea trials on Sunday and is likely to be delivered to the Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) by the year end as Beijing makes rapid strides in a building a world class navy with a global reach.

Named Type 001A for now, the 50000-tonne aircraft carrier left the Dalian city port in the northeastern province of Liaoning early Sunday as firecrackers lit up the background to celebrate milestone moment in the history of Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).

The first sea trial comes a month after President Xi Jinping called for the building of a world class navy during one of the biggest naval exercises conducted by PLAN.

A military expert told the state media that the trials will mainly test basic system functionality and carrier-based aircraft will participate in combat trials after the carrier is formally delivered to Chinas navy.

At 5:30 am on Sunday morning, the aircraft carrier embarked from port in Dalian, a coastal city in Northeast Chinas Liaoning Province, with the assistance of five tug boats as firecrackers and the vessels horn sounded in celebration. At 7:14 am, the carrier turned around successfully and headed to sea, disappearing in the fog at 7:30 am, the state media report said.

This May 9, 2018, photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency shows China's aircraft carrier Liaoning at a shipyard in Dalian. (AP)

According to military expert, Song Zhongping, the focus of the first sea trials will be on testing basic systems like power, fire safety and communication.

Weapon systems and carrier-based aircraft are unlikely to participate in the first sea trial, and combat capability tests will be carried out by PLAN after the carrier is formally delivered to the navy. Before this, its producer may need about six months to finish tests, which means the navy will receive the ship by the end of this year, Song told the tabloid Global Times.

China is rapidly developing its navy commissioning several fighter ships to add to its fleet. In 2017, the PLAN had commissioned at least 16 ships comprising mostly large combat vessels. It is also said to be building a guided missile destroyer.

The addition of the aircraft carrier will increase the Chinese navys reach across the oceans. The ship is Chinas second aircraft carrier. The first is the Liaoning, or Type 001, which was purchased from Ukraine and was refitted at the same shipyard in Dalian.

Weve already accumulated data and experience during the building of the Liaoning aircraft carrier, and our experts and workers have been working hard in recent months with enough financial support. So I would not be surprised if the carrier is to conduct such a sea trial soon, Cao Weidong, a Chinese military expert, had told the Peoples Daily Online last month.

Indian navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba had told the Hindustan Times last week that PLAN is here to stay in the Indian Ocean and its military movement has fuelled concerns about Chinas intent in the region.

Admiral Lanba said the Indian navy was keeping a sharp eye on the pattern and periodicity of extra-regional deployments in the Indian Ocean Region. A fleet of 50 combat-ready Indian warships is carrying out round-the-clock surveillance, he said.

Their (PLAN) headquarters is now used to handling forward deployments. Over the last decade, China has developed the capacity to operate its warships at a great distance from its shores and for long periods of time, Admiral Lanba had said.
Suicide bombers who carried out deadly attacks on three churches in Indonesias second-largest city on Sunday were a family who had been in Syria and included two young children, police said, as the worlds most populous Muslim nation recoiled in horror at one of the worst attacks on its Christian minority.

At least 13 people died in the attacks in Surabaya and at least 41 were injured, according to police, in acts that Indonesias president condemned as barbaric and cowardly. It wasnt immediately clear whether the death toll included the family of six bombers.

The bombings were the worst to target churches in Indonesia since a series of attacks on Christmas Eve in 2000 killed 15 people and wounded nearly 100. Religious minorities in Indonesia, especially Christians, have been repeatedly targeted by militants.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said that the father exploded a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother was with daughters aged 12 and 9 for her attack.

Karnavian said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently the Islamic State group controlled significant territory.

Motorcycles burn following a blast at the Pentecost Church Central Surabaya (GPPS), in Surabaya. (Reuters Photo via handout )

The first attack struck the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church in Surabaya, police spokesperson Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the scene. That blast was followed by a second explosion minutes later at the Christian Church of Diponegoro and a third at the citys Pantekosta Church, Mangera said.

A witness described the womans attack at the Diponegoro church, saying she was carrying two bags when she arrived.

At first officers blocked them in front of the churchyard, but the woman ignored them and forced her way inside. Suddenly she hugged a civilian then (the bomb) exploded, said the witness, a security guard who identified himself as Antonius.

Mangera said three unexploded homemade bombs, two at the Pantekosta church and one at the Diponegoro church, were detonated by a bomb squad.

Shattered glass and chunks of concrete littered the entrance of the Santa Maria Church, which was sealed off by armed police. Rescue personnel treated victims at a nearby field while officers inspected wrecked motorcycles in the parking lot that had been burned in the explosion.

A street merchant outside the church said she was blown several metres (yards) by the blast.

I saw two men riding a motorbike force their way into the churchyard. One was wearing black pants and one with a backpack, said the merchant, Samsia, who uses a single name. Soon after that the explosion happened.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo visited the scenes of the attacks and described them as cowardly actions that were very barbaric and beyond the limit of humanity.

Paramedics remove a body near burned motorcycles following a blast at the Pentecost Church Central Surabaya (GPPS), in Surabaya. (Reuters Photo)

In Jakarta, Indonesias capital, the Indonesian Church Association condemned the attacks.

We are angry, said Gormar Gultom, an official with the association, but urged people to let the police investigation take its course.

Indonesias two largest Muslim organisations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, also condemned the attacks.

Separately, national police spokesperson Setyo Wasisto said police fatally shot four suspected militants and arrested two others early Sunday in West Java towns. It wasnt clear whether the shootings were connected to the church attacks.

They have trained in order to attack police, Wasisto said, identifying the militants as members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Islamic State group-affiliated network of about two dozen extremist groups that has been implicated in a number of attacks in Indonesia over the past year.

Jakarta police placed the capital and surrounding areas on high alert, while the transportation ministry warned airports to be on guard.

The church attacks came days after police ended a hostage-taking ordeal by imprisoned Islamic militants at a detention centre near Jakarta in which six officers and three inmates died. IS claimed responsibility.

Indonesia has carried out a sustained crackdown on militants since bombings by al-Qaida-affiliated radicals in Bali in 2002 killed 202 people. In recent years, the country has faced a new threat as the rise of IS in the Middle East invigorated local militant networks.

Christians, many of whom are from the ethnic Chinese minority, make up about 9% of Indonesias 260 million people.
Three generations of a single family were identified Saturday as the victims of Australias worst mass shooting in 22 years, a murder-suicide which left seven people dead.

They included Katrina Miles, 35, and her four children -- three boys and a girl aged eight to 13 -- who were found Friday in a shed on a rural property near the Margaret River wine region in Western Australia, police said.

Miles mother Cynda Miles, 58, was found in the main house at the property and her father Peter Miles, 61, was found outside, Police Commissioner Chris Dawson told reporters.

Three firearms licensed to Peter Miles were also found, he said.

Confirming suggestions of a murder-suicide, Dawson added: I wish to strongly emphasise that police do not believe any other person is involved in these crimes. Police are not searching for any other suspects.

Dawson said it was too early to confirm which member of the family was the shooter, saying more forensic work was needed.

He would only say police were alerted to the shootings by a phone call from a male person at the property, who was apparently the killer.

Mass shootings are uncommon in Australia and Fridays was the deadliest since a 1996 massacre that left 35 dead at Port Arthur in Tasmania.

After that attack, the government banned assault rifles, launched a mass firearm buyback program and imposed tight gun registration laws.

Police issued a statement from unnamed relatives of the Miles family saying: We are devastated by this shocking event. We are stunned and still trying to understand how this could happen.

We respectfully ask that the community refrain from speculating on the circumstances surrounding this tragic incident.

Felicity Haynes, who lives on a neighbouring property, told broadcaster ABC the family involved were caring neighbours.

They were a very socially aware family, doing their best to create a safe community, and that is why it is so shocking, she said.

Facebook posts by Katrina and Cynda Miles, quoted by local media, referred to the children as all being autistic and homeschooled.

The shooting happened in the small town of Osmington, close to Margaret River, a popular tourist destination renowned for its wine, surf and natural beauty.

A neighbour told the West Australian newspaper she was woken by gunfire about 4:00 am Friday morning (2000 GMT Thursday), but thought it was someone shooting kangaroos, which are numerous in the area.

It wasnt until I saw the police that I thought, Hang on a minute, Meg Janes told the newspaper. (The shots) were separated out, there was quite a long gap between them.
Jaspal Atwal, the man at the centre of a controversy that crippled Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus visit to India in February, was briefly arrested by Canadian police last month for allegedly uttering threats against another person.

Atwal was taken into custody last month by the Surrey unit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and held overnight, but released after making an appearance before a judge. The charges against him relate to one count of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, according to a report in the Toronto Sun.

He is scheduled to make an appearance before a local court in that context on March 24 and is believed to have retained Surrey-based criminal lawyer Marvin Stern to represent him.

The person who filed the complaint against Atwal is believed to be a local radio host and the charges are apparently related to an altercation between him and Atwal last month, according to a source. That person is also believed to have complained to police about Atwal nearly eight months ago, prior to the ruckus created by Atwals presence at an official event in honour of Trudeau in Mumbai.

Atwal, who was convicted of an attempt to assassinate a visiting minister from Punjab in the mid-1980s, was photographed at the Mumbai event with the Trudeaus wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and cabinet ministers Navdeep Bains, Harjit Sajjan and Amarjeet Sohi.

He was also invited to an official reception at the Canadian high commissioners residence in New Delhi but that was rescinded after Canadian media reported on Atwals presence at the Mumbai do.

Subsequently, Canadas National Security Advisor Daniel Jean briefed select members of the media on the matter, giving rise to the theory that rogue elements in the Indian establishment had planted Atwal in India to sabotage Trudeaus trip. The allegation, rubbished by the Indian government, continues to hamper bilateral ties.
Pakistani media reacted angrily to former prime minister Nawaz Sharifs remarks acknowledging involvement of Pakistan-based terrorists in the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks.

In an interview to Dawn newspaper, Sharif had lamented that the case against the accused in the attacks was being dragged in Pakistan deliberately.

On the campaign trail in Multan ahead of general elections expected in a few months, the three-time premier said: Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me.

Why cant we complete the trial? he added, an apparent reference to the trial of seven Lashkar-e-Taiba members, including operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, for their alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

On Sunday, most Pakistani news channels accused Sharif of speaking against the national interest.

ARY Television anchor Kashif Abbasi led the attack , commenting that Sharif had let Pakistan down to gain cheap publicity in India.

He has spoken against Pakistan and must be punished for this.

BOL Television dedicated a whole programme to comments made by Sharif over the past few years.

The channel accused him of being pro-India and anti-Pakistan.

Local newspapers were also critical of Sharif.

The much read Ummat Newspaper accused him of revealing state secrets and called for his punishment.
In the past few years, the island commune has developed community tourism models, making contributions to socio-economic development for Ha Tien district.



In December 2017, the Kien Giang Peoples Committee recognised the archipelago as a local tourism site.

Tourists coming to Ha Tien district are always curious of Hai Tac archipelago, a famed place in the southwest sea of the country. According to local historic documents, in 17th century, Mac Thien Tich, a leader of the region, many times ordered his troops to fight against local pirates, who lived in the area. The archipelago name Hai Tac originated from that time.

Besides its mysterious name, Tien Hai island commune has great potential for developing tourism thanks to its primitive landscapes, fresh and cool atmosphere, said Tang Hong Phuoc, Deputy Director of Ha Tien towns Centre for Trade and Tourism Promotion.

In order to utilise the tourism potential, in 2014 the local authorities implemented a community tourism project for the period 2014-2020.

The commune consists of 16 large and small islands, locating 20km from Ha Tien Town and 40km from Phu Quoc Island.

The commune hosts 500 families with 2,000 people, who live mainly in Hon Tre Lon, Hon Giang, Hon Duoc and Hon U.

The biggest among the islands is Hon Tre Lon (also know as Hon Doc), which is an administration and socio-economic centre for the Tien Hai island commune.

All people and agencies in the commune are informed about the project and encouraged to join in voluntarily.

Hon Tre Village was chosen as a trial model with 17 families, who meet the requirements, to join the community tourism project.

Eleven households among them offer food and accommodation services, four households have acted as guides to take visitors to islands and fishing; and two households keep sea fish for visitors to understand raising local fish. Two companies have been specialised in transporting tourists to and from the mainland.

Over the last three years, the project has brought along active results, said Phuoc, The number of guests coming every year has significantly increased and is now up to 70,000 tourists per year.

Visitor Nguyen Thi Hong Phuong from Rach Gia city, northern province of Kien Giang said she spent two vacations in the area.

What I like most when stay at the home of locals in Tien Hai is that I can live near them, see their routines and imagine as if I were a local, she said.

However, the area is still lack of fresh water and electricity.

By 2020, the national electricity system will reach the islands, Phuoc said, Tourism service will be better.

Its name Hai Tac (Pirates) is scary but actually the islands are beautiful in peace and many romantic beaches with white sand and blue water run long, Phuong said.

Scary story of pirates

Hai Viet, an old resident on Hon Tre Vinh Island recalled his grandfathers story on the pirates.

There was once a pirate group named Canh Buom Den (Black Sail) on this island, he said, They mostly robbed trading ships passing Ha Tien - Rach Gia Bay.

On the pirates ship hung a mop, meaning sweeping off all ships passing by.

The gang controlled a big sea area of the Gulf of Thailand. Up to now, there are still rumours of treasure hidden by the pirates somewhere on this archipelago, he said.

Many locals still believe there is treasure hidden on Hon Doc and scattering around the archipelago.

The only ancient mark on the island is a pagoda named Son Hoa Tu.

It is said that once there was a head of a pirate gang named Nguyen Thanh Van. Rumours say he was strong, was a brilliant swimmer and could dive as well as an otter, rebellious but at the same time, had a kind heart.

Once his gang travelled to Thailand, he fell in love with a beautiful woman and took her to Vietnam. Since then, he quit the pirate life. They had a daughter called Nguyen Thi Gai, who was then respected by locals as she built the only pagoda on the islands.

The Son Hoa Tu Pagoda remains up to now as an evidence of rumours on local pirates, a special attraction for tourists to the pristine islands.

Vietnamnews
French President Emmanuel Macron called up United States President Donald Trump to say hes very worried about tensions in the Middle East after Trumps decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord.

Macrons office said the two leaders spoke on Saturday and the French leader expressed his great concern about stability in the region. Macron strongly opposes Trumps pullout from the 2015 global deal curbing Irans nuclear activities. Hostilities between Iran and Israel have already escalated in recent days.

Macron and Trump also discussed trade issues. European governments are scrambling to save billions of dollars in trade with Iran that resumed thanks to the 2015 accord.

In addition, France and the EU are pressing Washington for exemption from Trumps steel and aluminum tariffs.
The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) was allowed to hold a rally in Karachi on Sunday after the Pakistani government initially changed the venue and denied boarding to the groups leader who was going for the event from Islamabad.

A Karachi police official told local media that the authorities had given permission to the PTM, or the Pashtun Protection Movement, for the rally at a ground near Al-Asif Square in Sohrab Goth with certain conditions.

A number of activists who supported the rally, including a professor at the University of Karachi, have gone missing. Many PTM activists were picked up from outside the Karachi Press Club last month. This week, more PTM supporters, who had gone for seeking permission from the Commissioner of Karachi were picked up from outside his office.

A PTM office-bearer said nine workers and supporters were already missing in the city.

Students, intellectuals and political activists gathered at the National Press Club in Islamabad on Saturday to protest the alleged crackdown against PTM organisers and activists in Karachi ahead of the rally.

After being denied air travel  first from Islamabad and then from Lahore  PTM chief Manzoor Ahmed Pashteen finally proceeded to Karachi by road on Saturday to attend the rally.

Pashteen claimed that he had booked a seat on a private airline from Islamabad to Karachi on Saturday morning. When he reached the check-in counter, he was refused the boarding pass on technical grounds and was told that there was no booking in his name.

However, his three colleagues were issued boarding passes and they departed for Karachi in the flight, Pashteen said.

An airline official confirmed that Pashteen was not issued the boarding pass because his booking was not there in the system.

In response to a question, he denied that the airline had cancelled the booking after receiving instructions from somewhere.

Pashteen said he travelled by road to Lahore to catch another flight from there, but alleged that he was prevented from reaching the airport through strict checking at a checkpost near Lahore airport.

Pashteen also said that throughout his journey, his car was trailed by two cars with men who were brandishing weapons.
Iraq saw a record low turnout on Saturday in its first elections since the collapse of the Islamic State group, pointing to widespread dissatisfaction against Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi and presaging a long period of deal-making as politicians squabble over posts in a new government.

There were no bombings at any polling stations  a first since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. Al-Abadi called it a historic day, spent peacefully by all Iraqis.

Riyadh al-Badran, a member on Iraqs national elections commission, said the turnout was 44%. No election since 2003 saw turnout below 60%. More than 10 million Iraqis voted.

With no clear front-runner, it could take months for a new Parliament to form a government and name a prime minister seen as suitable to the countrys rival Shiite political currents, who have adopted diverging positions on Iran.

The low turnout could open the door to Sunni-led and Kurdish electoral lists to play an outsized role in the negotiations as well. Iraqs population is predominantly Shiite. Results are expected within 48 hours according to the electoral commission.

Despite presiding over Iraqs war on the Islamic State group, al-Abadi was opposed by other Shiite leaders who eclipsed him in charisma and popularity. In his first term, al-Abadi courted both US and Iranian support in the war on ISIS.

His chief rivals were former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Hadi al-Amiri, who heads the powerful, Iran-backed Badr Organisation militia, which participated in the war on ISIS. Al-Abadi was also opposed by the influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a staunch nationalist who has railed against US and Iranian influence in Iraqi politics.

Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, a Shia, has faced opposition from powerful leaders within his own community. (AFP)

Iraq is beset by chronic corruption, a sputtering economy, and failing public services.

The candidates have not done anything for the people, said Ramadan Mohsen, 50, who said he cast a blank vote in Baghdads distressed Sadr City slums.

Millions of others decided to abstain altogether.

I am certain these elections are a failure, said Abdelghani Awni, who was at a central Baghdad polling station as an observer. He did not vote. Forget about change, from the perspective of the economy, of services - forget about it.

Iraqs most senior Shiite cleric spoke out on the issue of voter participation Saturday afternoon, encouraging Iraqis to vote to prevent the arrival of a corrupt parliament.

The lack of participation will give the opportunity for others to reach parliament and they will be very far from the aspirations of the people, said Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalai, the representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, on local Iraqi television from Karbala. Sistani has encouraged Iraqis to vote into power Saturday a new political class to combat corruption.

For those who did attempt to vote, some in Baghdad complained of voting irregularities at polling stations linked to a new electronic voting system implemented for the first time this year in an effort to reduce fraud.

Former Prime Minister al-Maliki said he was aware of violations at some polling stations in Iraq and complained the process lacked proper oversight.

We are not reassured, al-Maliki told the Associated Press in a phone interview.

Thamer Aref, 45, along with his wife and daughter were turned away from a polling station north of central Baghdad.

Aref had turned in his old voter ID card months ago for the biometric identification card required by the new system. However, Arefs biometric card wasnt ready ahead of Saturday and, with neither card, the polling station did not allow him to a cast a ballot.

I lost my right to vote, he said.

Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi is accused of inflicting torture on ordinary Sunnis during his fight against the ISIS. (AFP)

Associated Press journalists documented several similar cases at a number of different polling stations across Baghdad Saturday morning.

Amira Muhammed, the supervisor of a polling station in Azamiyah, Baghdad, said some people couldnt vote because they did not pick up their new biometric ID cards in time.

The problem is not with us, she said.

A member of Iraqs electoral commission deflected blame for Saturdays reported irregularities.

There were some problems with the electronic equipment due to misuse by some employees, Hazem al-Ridini told the AP.

In central Baghdad, voters supporting al-Abadi said they are doing so because they give him credit for Iraqs military victory over IS.

Al-Abadi took revenge for civilians killed in insurgent attacks in Iraq with the victory over Daesh, said 71-year-old Felihah Hassan, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

After ISIS overran nearly a third of Iraq in the summer of 2014, the group launched waves of suicide bombings targeting civilians in Baghdad and other pockets of government-controlled territory.

With support from the US-led coalition and Iran, al-Abadi oversaw a grueling war against the extremists and declared victory over the group in December.

Despite al-Abadis military achievements, Iraq continues to struggle with an economic downturn sparked in part by a drop in global oil prices, entrenched corruption and years of political gridlock.

In addition to al-Maliki, al-Abadis most powerful competition is from an alliance of candidates with close ties to the countrys powerful, mostly Shiite paramilitary forces, and an alliance led by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Jassim Mohsen, 58, who fought against ISIS with the paramilitary forces, said he was casting his vote for al-Amiris list, citing the sacrifices of the countrys predominantly Shiite militias in the war on IS.

I elected the Fatah list because they are the only ones who fought Daesh and gave blood, he said.

Some Sunnis voting Saturday said they are hopeful this election will help Iraq move beyond sectarian politics and become more inclusive.

Marginalisation of Iraqs Sunnis under al-Maliki is seen as a factor that allowed ISIS to rise in power in Iraq. Al-Abadi has led a more cross-sectarian government marked by his ability to balance the interests of his two allies often at odds: the US and Iran.

The war left more than 2 million Iraqis, mostly Sunnis, displaced from their homes, with cities, towns and villages suffering heavy destruction. Repairing infrastructure across Anbar and Nineveh provinces, both majority Sunni areas, will cost tens of billions of dollars.

Abdulrazaq Kubi and his wife Suheila Mahdi, both Sunnis from Baghdad, said they would not be voting for al-Abadi, casting their votes instead for a Sunni-led political alliance.

The victory is not 100 percent, there is still Daesh here, said Mahdi. The government is neglecting the refugees because they are Sunni. They left them in the camps, in the winter it floods, in the summers, they go hungry, she added.

There were 329 parliament seats at stake, with nearly 7,000 candidates from dozens of political alliances.

Iraqs constitution allows lawmakers more than three months after the ratification of the election results to form a government. But many expect the process to drag on for much longer if there is no clear winner, as dozens of political parties attempt to cobble together a political bloc large enough to hold a majority of seats in parliament.
Alex Rodriguez found himself in somewhat of a tricky situation, after his boo, Jennifer Lopez, dropped her latest song "El Anillo," which translates to "The Ring" from Spanish. The song features Lopez singing about the love of her life, but wondering when, if ever, will she be getting the ring from her beloved? Thus, all eyes are on Rodriguez, as the expectation of his proposal is heard around the world

In an interview on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Fallon asks Rodriguez what his thoughts are about the song. Alex then tells an anecdote of him going to the studio with Lopez, and having her ask him to read the lyrics for the song. After he does, he tell her, "Babe, it sounds like theyre talking about us," to which she responds, "Yeah. They made it for me."

However, A Rod isn't one to give in so easily. When asked directly by Fallon when he'll be bringing out the ring, Rodriguez dodges the question entirely, saying that Fallon will be the first to know when it actually happens.

Marriage is a big commitment, so maybe making a pop song in a clever attempt to garner a proposal won't necessarily always be a success. That being said, the two have committed to each other by moving in together into a brand new apartment in New York City. Should Rodriguez hurry up and propose, or is he doing the right thing by sitting back? Check out Alex Rodriguez's interview on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon down below.
Ariana Grande not only has an incredibly devoted fan base, but she's also gearing up for the release of her new album, Sweetner, that's set to arrive some time this summer. As such, her fans are hungry for any bit of information they can get about the new album, even the point of confusing a simple compliment with potential song lyrics.

That's exactly what happened yesterday, as Ariana took to Twitter to pay respects to one of her favorite artists and good friends, Nicki Minaj. "i love my big sis @nickiminaj so fuckin much," Ariana wrote in a series of tweets. "there's jus nobody better." That last statement set her fanbase off, asking her if those are the lyrics to one of her new songs.

It eventually got to the point where Ariana had to specify that, no, she's just trying to give her "big sis" a complement. "warning : sometimes i am going to tweet things that arent lyrics or tea is that ok im sry ily," said Grande in a follow-up.

Of course, Nicki responding in kind didn't help the situation much, but it did produce a previously unknown anecdote that shows how close the two of them really are, with Ariana running out of the house at Nicki's behest and getting soaked in the rain.

The two of them have previously collaborated on Ariana's hit song, "Side to Side," but considering both Ariana and Nicki have albums coming this summer, chances are we'll be getting a new collaboration from the two of them soon.

Ariana Grande says her shout-out to Nicki Minaj wasn't hinting at lyrics 
While its no great accomplishment, it looks like our instincts served us well as one of the surprise drops on Episode 62 of OVO Sound Radio was the premiere of the Drake and Lil Baby collaboration. While what we heard showed promise, we dont have an official release for the time being. Right now, it seems that the tentative title of the cut is Pikachu (No Keys), and can be heard by way of a generous SoundCloud user.

Beats 1 did go on to confirm the track on their Twitter page, but thats about all were getting for now. The cut was initially previewed in Lil Babys hometown of Atlanta during the album release party for OVO affiliate Preme, formally known as P Reign.

Produced by Wheezy, the cut definitely hits as we get a verse apiece from the two men while Baby handles the hook. Drakes tendency to hop on the early wave of potential hitmakers in the South is more than indicative of the inspiration behind his decision to jump on Babys newest. Notably, weve seen that effect take place with Migos Versace, and most recently weve witnessed it on Blocboy JBs Look Alive, and even Troubles Bring It Back.

This new song signals Lil Babys most significant drop of the year as hes let loose on a few singles and plenty of guest appearances since unleashing a total of four projects last year, including his Perfect Timing, Harder Than Hard, Too Hard tapes in addition to his 2 The Hard Way collaborative effort with Marlo.

Quotable Lyrics:

Cartier glasses, I won't even peek at you

Yellow Ferrari like Pikachu

I got 'em waiting and watching what he gon' do

Tryna peep what I do, tryna steal my moves



[via Pitchfork]
To say that the Black Lives Matter movement has caused a lot of tension between the police and citizens would be putting it likely, but it appears that now federal authorities are going the extra mile to try and stop activists.

According to a report by The Guardian, Rakem Balogun was arrested in December of last year and held for 5 months without bail under suspicion of being a "black identity extremist." Balogun is believed to be the first person to ever be prosecuted under the secretive government effort to track and arrest those they think are a threat to the lives of police officers.

However, despite Balogun having made Facebook posts that were filled with anti-police messages, such as "oink oink bang bang" and "the only good pig is a dead pig," the FBI and prosecutors were unable to prove that Balogun had made specific threats against police. In order to help their case, they cited Alex Jones, and his conspiracy theory show, Info Wars, as proof that Balogun was a threat.

"Theyre using a conspiracy theorist video as a reason to justify their tyranny?," said Balogun. "That is a big insult."

Balogun claims that he was dismayed about the killings of black men and women by police, and was only mocking the reactions that some people had when Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were killed.

While prosecutors were unable to charge him with a crime, and he's no longer in custody, he lost his house, vehicle, and job while he was detained.
Long before she made headlines claiming that she knew who bit Beyonce at an exclusive Hollywood party, Tiffany Haddish has been lighting up the Los Angeles stand-up comedy circuit with her bawdy, on-the-nose material and perfectly-timed delivery. Following her hardscrabble upbringing that included caring for her ill mother and a stint in foster care, Haddish remarkably turned her childhood trauma into inspiration for her now-booming career. "If I could make her laugh then I probably won't get hit," said Haddish, remarking on her comedy skills taking root as a survival mechanism. "But I'm grateful for the experience though. You know like, I've built a whole career off of being funny, trying to, you know, keep from getting punched."

As the breakout star of 2017's Girls Trip alongside Hollywood veterans Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith, Haddish has now cemented her status as a formidable force of hilarity within the industry. With genuine delivery and an earnestness that makes the 38-year-old comedian instantly likeable, it's clear that from Super Bowl spots to Showtime specials, Haddish will stay winning.

"The state of California paid so much money to make sure I dont die cause they knew I was gonna be special," Haddish told her audience during her She Ready!: From the Hood to Hollywood standup special. They knew it. They was like, This one right here, she gonna be a unicorn. And they was right. Im the last black unicorn, bitch!

Peep Haddish's most hilarious Instagram posts to see how comedy's hottest star keeps it real just as she did before securing her A-list bag. From homeless to securing a coveted spot in the Time 100 List, it's clear that Haddish has the genuine talent to back the ascent of her rising star.

Off The Dome

Showing off her improv skills with a clip from her set at a Hollywood comedy club, Haddish delivered an off-the-dome rap about "passing for white" to make her life easier. "Guess what bitch, when you look at me/you think you seein' brown but look at my teeth/I'm a white bitch," rapped the comedy star.

Hold Me

Always down to dish on her perpetually-single status, Haddish sent out an Instagram plea for applicants willing to be "the big spoon to her little spoon." Not a bad deal, as the gig allegedly pays one dollar per minute.

How To Catch A Ratchet

According to Haddish in this Insta sketch, a surefire way to "catch a ratchet" is to dangle a bottle of plain Ciroc "Blue" vodka.

W.A.S.P

In this clip, Haddish debuts her best impression of a WASP "living their life like it's golden" while admiring an absolutely bangin' Fourth of July. spread.

Gotta Catch 'Em All

As a self-proclaimed fan of Pokemon Go, Haddish wasn't about to let Pikachu run off without a fight.

Man Thots

According to Haddish, hitting up body building competitions is the way to go when you're looking for some man thots. "Men flexin' for me...they don't even know they flexin' for me, and I don't gotta tip em' or nothin! It's great," said Haddish while checking out the contestants.

I Wake Up Like This

Even though Haddish is now a big-name star, she still isn't on the level of waking up flawless like Beyonce. Drool and all, the comedian took to Instagram to let her fans know how she REALLY greets the day.

Litty

Say what you will about Tiffany Haddish, but never claim that the 38-year-old doesn't know how to throw back a drink and party. With droopy eyes and awkward hand-to-face dancing, it's obvious that Haddish knows how to turn up-- even in the backseat.

Baby Momma

Showing off her meme skills, Haddish took to Instagram to poke fun at the prospect of planting drugs on her man's baby momma so he could secure custody of his children.

Baby Got Back

According to Haddish, her booty is WAY too big for white people to get behind. "So, I jut found out that a size 8 and up is plus-sized in the model world. WHAT THE FUCK?! When did I become plus-sized? We some big bitches," said Haddish, laughing off the classification.
Rolling Loud Miami lived up to the hype brewing from the moment they first announced that they had a huge special surprise guest for fans this weekend. Pretty much everyone chalked it up to being Meek Mill who had just recently had his travel restrictions lifted after being released from prison following a highly-publicized fight to have his lengthy sentence overturned.

Initially, fans were greeted with a set from DJ Khaled who breezed through cuts before bringing out his own special guest Puff Daddy. It may have initially disappointed a few fans waiting on Meeks appearance, but before vacating the stage Khaled provided a bit of foreshadowing, telling the crowd that whats about to happen will be historic.

Soon after a period of silence, Phillys native son finally appeared on stage.

It feels good to be back and free in front of the mother-cking people, Meek declared. I want to say thank you to everybody that support Meek Milly. They tried to take my freedom. They tried to crush my dreams, but now we in Miami gloin the f-ck up.

Midway through, he definitely settled back into the performance mentality cutting a track short to call out the sound engineers. I need some sound. Whatever yall do soundman, get that shit right. We cant f-ck up tonight.

He went on to lead the crowd through tracks like Im A Boss and FU (F-ck You) before shouting out the members of the new school, saluting all new and upcoming rappers before inviting Gunna and Lil Baby onstage for a rendition of the formers Oh Okay. Hed soon ask that the crowd to pull out their cellphone lights for a tribute to the late Lil Snupe with Meeks We Ball. Hed perform his 1942 Flows then invite Tory Lanez onstage for a performance of the duos Litty before allowing Lanez to go solo on his Shooters.

Naturally, we know what came next, before taking a breather by letting the crowd rock out to Tee Grizzleys First Day Out, Meek appropriately led the tens of thousand of fans into the streets favorite anthem when he launched into his Dreams and Nightmares (Intro).

Thats my time, he declared before delivering on a final thank you to the crowd.

Tonight, Travis Scott headlines the second day of Rolling Loud before fans return for a Day 3 that will feature names like Future, Post Malone, 21 Savage, and Lil Wayne to close out the festival on Sunday. Catch all the action by way of the livestream.
Cuban-bred jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval has been regarded as one of the most dynamic musicians of our time and a look through his catalog shows his willingness to make use of artists and sounds within the mainstream to cultivate his music. The latest example of this arrives in his self-titled Arturo Sandoval track, featuring vocals from Ariana Grande and Pharrell Williams.

The soulful cut is commanded by Grandes vocals as Ps own sit neatly beneath as the duo repeat the same hook throughout the song while Sandovals signature trumpet riffs through with vigor. Written by both Williams and Sandoval, the tracks lyrics are penned to be in ode of the melodies crafted by the latter over the years. For those unfamiliar with Sandovals work, this new offering is a welcoming introduction.

Quotable Lyrics:

His melodies wash up on your mind just like seashells

To remember that were all golden as well

Arturo Sandoval and the story that he tells

Reminds me

Of El Dorado
Young M.A isn't content to just be a famous rapper who flaunts their wealth, rather, she's choosing to give back to the community and help those in need, and she already getting started with her charity Mother's Day brunch that she held yesterday.

The brunch, which was captured by The New York Daily News and took place at the 3 Black Cats Cafe in Brooklyn, was an invite only event for families who had lost loved ones to gun violence. Surrounded by mothers day decorations, attendees were treated to fried chicken and waffles, though it's almost certain that there were other options as well.

The brunch was officially hosted by the Kweens Foundation, a charity founded by Young M.A and her mother in order to help those affected by gun violence. M.A lost someone special to her, her brother, in a gang-related incident in 2009, so if anyone can relate to that kind of loss, it's her. In an Instagram post earlier this month, M.A said that this would be the very first event for the foundation, but it probably won't be the last.

Also in attendance at the event were Dr. Nadia Lopez, a celebrated middle school principal in Brooklyn, and 45th District council member, Jumaane D. Williams.

Even though it's just a brunch, having someone reach out to you in order to do something nice after a tragic loss can really mean the world to people. Click the link above to see all the pictures from Young M.A's Mother's Day brunch.
In a fatal wreck Sunday morning, a car hit a pedestrian and crashed into the side of a downtown Houston apartment building just down the street from Minute Maid Park.

Houston police responded about 10:30 a.m. near the intersection of Congress and La Branch. A blue Hyundai Sonata had crashed into the side wall of the 1920s hotel that now serves as an apartment building for New Hope Housing.
WASHINGTON - George W. Bush received three standing ovations last week, the first for the mere mention of his name.

Bush was in town for the Atlantic Council's annual fundraiser, where he received the Distinguished International Leadership Award from the influential think tank. More than 800 guests from 70 countries - including former presidents, prime ministers and military leaders - gave the 43rd president a warm, enthusiastic welcome.

He was introduced via video by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who said, "Ultimately, true leadership requires being, deep down, a good person."

Bush responded with vintage Dubya: self-deprecating jokes, references to his mom and dad, and highlighting the importance of global diplomacy - specifically his administration's work on the AIDS crisis. "I'm honored to get this award," he told the audience. "I'd really like to dedicate it to the generosity of the American people and ask you to spread the word about what this great compassionate nation has done."

He did not mention Iraq, nor did anyone else on this night of celebration.

"Time has done the reputation of President Bush a lot of good," said Fred Kempe, president of the bipartisan Atlantic Council.

The organization has considered giving Bush the award for the past few years, but the Iraq War was always the stumbling block. This year, the jury looked at his work fighting AIDS, his foreign policy in Africa and his leadership in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. "Our conclusion was that, the longer time goes on and his presidency is reassessed, the better he looks," Kempe said.

Washington, it seems, has developed Bush nostalgia. Just nine years after he left the White House, many conservatives pine for their misunderestimated good old boy from Texas. Looking in the rearview mirror, the last Republican president suddenly appears measured, compassionate, principled - in short, presidential. Even liberals who could not wait for Barack Obama to move into the White House are grudgingly penitent, privately admitting that they didn't appreciate Bush's good qualities.

Fifteen years since the infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner was unfurled celebrating victory in Iraq, the debate about the war rages on. Critics of the invasion believe it will always define Bush's presidency. Admirers think history will be kinder to him. We'll all be dead before there's a verdict one way or the other.

When Bush left Washington, his popularity was in the tank, with just a 33 percent approval rating. Those numbers have doubled: 61 percent of Americans, including a number of Democrats and independents, say they have a favorable view of him, according to a CNN poll released this January.

But this newfound appreciation may have less to do with history and more to do with political beer goggles: It's 2 a.m. in nation's capital, and suddenly every past president looks good.

No one wants to say it out loud, but Donald Trump may be the best thing that ever happened to George W. Bush.

---

Friends say the 43rd president hates the "L" word - "legacy" - and he declines most interviews on the subject, including one for this article.

Bush "has always understood that history would have a different view of his presidency and of its consequences as the years passed," said presidential historian Jon Meacham. "He is a big reader of biography and history and knows that perspectives change as the passions of the moment cool; issues that loom large in real time often fade over time."

It takes 25 to 30 years to form an accurate assessment of any presidency. "Unless you're Lincoln or FDR," Meacham said, "you're going to have divided opinion in real time."

The headlines that seem so important inevitably fade: Harry Truman was very unpopular when he left office on 1953, only to see his historical stock rise as the Cold War institutions he created are widely credited with preventing another world war. Dwight Eisenhower was criticized for the Korean War, which some now regard as vital to the balance of power in Asia. Lyndon Johnson remains divisive: pilloried for the Vietnam War, lauded for his groundbreaking work on civil rights. For his part, Meacham believes Bush will viewed as a more sophisticated and significant president than he is judged today.

But presidential character? That's on display from Day 1, and to many, Bush - compared with Trump's tweets, tantrums and general disregard for truth - looks like a scholar and a gentleman.

Like most establishment Republicans, the Bush family was quietly dismissive of Trump - who repeatedly insulted Jeb Bush and other primary opponents during the 2016 campaign. But in interviews with Mark Updegrove, author of "The Last Republicans: Inside the Extraordinary Relationship Between George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush," both men spoke candidly about the businessman turned politician.

"I don't like him," said George H.W. Bush in May 2016. "I don't know much about him, but I know he's a blowhard. And I'm not too excited about him being a leader." His son, surprised when Trump became the GOP nominee, focused on the new Republican standard-bearer's moral fitness: "The question for the country to decide - on both candidates, by the way - is to what extent should we be insisting upon integrity and solid character."

Neither Bush, writes Updegrove, voted for Trump: George H.W. picked Hillary Clinton. George W. did not cast a ballot for president.

The White House punched back when the book came out in November: "If one presidential candidate can disassemble a political party, it speaks volumes about how strong a legacy its past two presidents really had," an unnamed White House official told CNN. "And that begins with the Iraq War, one of the greatest foreign policy mistakes in American history."

Bush's legacy has been saddled with scorching critiques from a number of foreign policy experts who view him as a naive follower of neoconservatives who charged into the Iraq War on the heels of bad intelligence about weapons of mass destruction; who took his eye off the ball in Afghanistan - allowing al-Qaida to recover; who failed to adequately plan for the postwar societal disintegration and humanitarian crisis that followed the invasion.

But the current embrace of Bush has nothing to do with his politics or policies.

"It's nostalgia for the personal characteristics," said one Republican fundraiser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly about his party's leaders. "Bush had a swaggering, wiseguy kind of personality, but he knew when to deploy it and when to behave like a president. He wasn't particularly articulate in his use of syntax. But he was someone who had real fidelity to the Constitution, to the norms of presidential behavior, to his wife. He ... seemed to be a good man."

Bush's longtime friend Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., believes people are responding to Bush's "genuineness."

He is "a person who doesn't have to be critical of everybody else, a person who understands how big these problems are, a person who just has a sense of the right way to conduct yourself as a former president."

How a president behaves after leaving office is a bigger factor in the legacy question than one might guess. As a general rule, Americans want dignity and statesmanship from their past presidents. Bush has kept a low profile: painting, promoting philanthropic causes, hanging out with Bono and Bill Clinton. He's made millions giving corporate speeches, while avoiding the appearance of cashing in on his White House years.

And he's been careful not to publicly weigh in on Trump since the election. In a widely reported speech last October, Bush gave an address on leadership without once mentioning the current president by name - but pointing a finger nonetheless. "We know that when we lose sight of our ideals, it is not democracy that has failed," he said. "It is the failure of those charged with preserving and protecting democracy."

Even those who believe Bush was wrong to invade Iraq rarely question his patriotism or his respect for the office. Madeleine Albright, who also spoke that day at the George W. Bush Institute event in New York City, writes in her new book: "We disagreed often about matter of policy. However, I have always admired the man's easygoing optimism and his personal decency, qualities that have become far less common in public life than they should be."

In other words, Trump - named or unnamed - has become the prism from which every president's character is judged, especially Bush, his Republican predecessor.

"The current rising fondness for him has a lot to do, obviously, with the temperamental contrast he offers to the incumbent," said Meacham. "Disagree with him as you will, he inarguably upheld the dignity of the office and represented a center-right sensibility that's facing an existential crisis right now."

---

There's another take on this nostalgia, a darker view that warns of romanticizing Bush and his administration.

"Trump is a uniquely dangerous and unfit president in many ways, but he tempts liberals to paint the Republican leaders who preceded him in an afterglow of decency and high-mindedness that is hard to detect if you go searching for it in the recent past," Brian Beutler, editor in chief of the progressive Crooked Media, wrote last October. "The unremitting awfulness of the George W. Bush presidency - particularly its early years - has been rewritten in a faction of the liberal imagination as a kind of golden age when political debate was more honest and fact-driven. Things are in some ways worse now, but if that era ever existed, it predated (Bush) by many years."

The arguments for and against Bush - his policies, his priorities, his performance - fall roughly into two camps.

One believes that the decision to invade Iraq overshadows anything else Bush did during his eight years, a choice that plunged this country into a crippling war that continues to this day, a war with an incalculable price in terms of money, foreign policy, lives lost and global terrorism.

"The Bush-Cheney administration paved the way to a war with false statements, from misrepresentations, and what I think you can justifiably call lies," said David Corn, a liberal critic and co-author of "Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War." "That war was poorly planned, poorly implemented, and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. It also gave rise to ISIS and created far more problems than it might have solved." There is no way, Corn said, to look at the 43rd presidency without seeing it defined by "the disaster in the Middle East."

The other camp allows that the Iraq invasion was controversial and flawed. "I think there's a recognition that, whether based on bad intelligence or just a bad policy decision, that the Iraq invasion wasn't the finest moment in his presidency," Kempe acknowledged. "Where people start to differ is the surge, a really courageous corrective. A lot of people feel that he doesn't get enough credit."

The surge put things on a better path - which Obama did not build on, said Kempe, who argues that Bush left Iraq on a positive trajectory.

As the years have passed "people have been able to put Iraq in perspective in a way that they were not before," said Steven Hadley, who advised Bush on national security affairs. "And people were then able to look at some of the other things that were going on in the administration that were pretty positive."

He ticks off Bush's work on education, immigration, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), malaria in Africa, international development and, especially, keeping the country free from a major terrorist attack after 9/11. "I think there is both a sense that it was a more of bipartisan era and also a sense that the Congress and the White House were able to work together to do some things that really mattered."

Inevitably, Americans compare past presidents with the current officeholder. For the past few years, Bush has routinely appeared on snarky lists of America's worst presidents, joining James Buchanan, Warren Harding, Millard Fillmore, Ulysses Grant and Richard Nixon. Where he ends up a century from now is anyone's guess.

---

Team Bush, of course, wants the president to be judged on his own merits: As a leader they see as a principled politician, as a man of character. "He had a reverence for the office of the presidency and wanted to make sure that he did nothing to discredit that office," Hadley said.

"I hope you don't make this 'Bush is a contrast to Trump' or 'Bush as a critique of Trump,' " he added. The reassessment is happening "as a result of the passage of time. And I think it would have happened even if somebody else other than President Trump had been elected."

Probably not. But historians, for good or ill, will have the final word.

"I believe that the Greeks had it right when they said, 'Character is destiny,'" said Meacham. "When we talk about George Washington we don't talk about the Jay Treaty. We talk about his virtues and the tone that he lent the early years of the American experiment."

The reason history had been kind to Truman, Eisenhower and will be so to Bush, he believes, is that "they understood that the national interest was more important than their personal one - and that's not a sentimental point. They knew that it was important to do things that were right, and that history was a lot longer than that given news cycle. And that's something that Trump does not understand."

Bush understands. As he left the stage, the audience gave him one last sustained ovation. One guest turned to her companion and sighed, "I hardly recognize the Republican Party these days."
When the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 1842 and imposed harsh sanctions for non-performing schools, few in Houston heard Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath wind the clock. But three years later and with 10 campuses in Houston Independent School District at risk of triggering these sanctions, the tick-tock signaling the end for the status quo has become deafening.

For too long, black and brown students attended these low performing schools without meaningful help from the board. Kashmere High School has been on the improvement required list for eight years. Two entire cohorts of students  freshmen through seniors  have graduated without being offered a quality education.

Theres no question that the HISD board of trustees has wasted time on fiscal mismanagement, grandstanding, political agendas  everything except a laser focus on what is best for the students.

EDITORIAL: HISD supporters should prepare for the worst case scenario

Rather than impose penalties, Morath has the opportunity to reset his clock and give our community more time to address the problems plaguing the nations seventh largest school district.

The devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey offers him the legal option to provide academic accountability waivers to the 10 schools at risk.

The point of HB 1842 isnt to take over failing campuses or replace bad board members, it was crafted to force a school board to focus on schools that need help. Now, as the bell is about to ring, HISD and our entire community have finally started to pay serious attention to these schools. Morath should give them more time to continue this mission.

An extra year will also give the next state Legislature time to take up school finance, fix our broken system and adequately fund our schools in the 2019 session. The responsibility of funding the public schools shouldnt be shunted off onto the private sector. Its the job of our elected officials in Austin, a job theyve been reluctant to accept.

RELATED: HISD melee marks total failure in governance

Experienced teachers deserve worthwhile wages. No teachers should have to buy paper and pencils for their classes. Boards should be structured with at-large representatives to ensure no campus goes ignored.

But a waiver of the accountability issue doesnt mean that Morath should stop the clock on HISD governance issues.

The Houston community, not the state, is in the best position to solve the districts problems. The current challenge for local leaders is that a turnaround will require investment from the business and philanthropic community, and there is real reticence to put significant resources behind any effort led by this board of trustees.

Last weeks board meeting was more civil than recent ones  no one was arrested  but it was far from productive. Our city deserves a governing body composed of members who are focused on all students, not just those in the trustees district.

If the trustees continue to be unable to govern effectively, dont be surprised when even the most strident HISD boosters applaud if Morath fires our factious board and replaces it with a board of managers.

RELATED: Bullying in the HISD boardroom

MORE HISD: Don't give up on Houston's public school district

Theres no guarantee that this will improve student achievement. In other communities TEA appointed board of managers have inspired mixed results. But were rolling the dice every day with some of these trustees and their harmful antics.

Again we reiterate a call for HISD supporters to prepare for a worst case scenario and assemble a list of Houstonians to serve on a potential board of managers. Look for people from diverse backgrounds who have some business or leadership skills and can boast a record of putting children first.

This board could assess if acting superintendent Grenita Lathan is the right person to carry the district forward or could choose to hire a different leader. With a different board of managers for four years, HISD could have the credibility to conduct a national search for a superintendent.

Although Houstonians have been mostly deaf to the problems at Kashmere High and the other low-performing schools, they now hear Moraths clock loud and clear. If the community doesnt come together, sanctions will affect the course of peoples lives, where they go to school, where they work  and the way the nation views Houston.

Tick-tock. Time is running out.
Solars heating up

Regarding Solar power will be required for new homes in California (Page B2, Thursday), I find Californias commitment to solar energy a remarkable opportunity for faster expansion of the industry. I think its long past time for more serious government support to grow and manufacture solar energy and battery storage quickly on American soil. Is should be more efficient, dependable and competitive worldwide. Its time to make made in America mean something!

Ray Ross, Cypress

Free markets can thrive

Regarding The ethanol mandate is a failed experiment (Page A13, Thursday), whether successful or not, the federal ethanol corn mandate should be ended because the federal government has no business dictating which businesses should prosper and which should not. Taxpayers have not only borne the costs of this program, but we also have been forced to use fuels that are inferior and actually damage the engines in which they are used.

The federal Renewable Fuel Standard is another example of federal bureaucrats and politicians interfering with free markets to benefit a few at the expense of the rest of us. The rationale that the feds know what is best for us has no basis in fact.

Its well past time to end this and other programs that support limited special interests and allow American consumers to exercise their rights to decide which businesses to support.

Barry Boswell, Fulshear

DACA recipients

Regarding Im a Texan. Ken Paxton wants to deport me (HoustonChronicle.com, Thursday), despite her claims, Damaris Gonzalez is certainly not a Texan. Shes an illegal immigrant who was illegally granted a temporary relief from deportation proceedings by the Obama administration in 2012 through the unconstitutional Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. But simply because she has resided illegally in the Lone Star State doesnt mean she has a right to continue to do so.

Ken Paxton has challenged DACA in court, upsetting liberal activists, including Gonzalez who ambushed Paxton in a restaurant last year and berated him for asking the federal government to follow existing immigration law. He was cordial, but firm in his position, but because he hasnt kowtowed to her and other liberal activists, Gonzalez now states, Paxton has made it his personal mission to make my life hell.

There are normal, hardworking people who are offended that those with no legal right to be here are allowed to chant #HereToStay in public forums with no fear of deportation. They believe the rule of law matters and that America should have a border just like every other nation on Earth.

I dont know for certain if Ken Paxton wants Gonzalez deported, but I certainly do. And millions of other Texans and Americans do, too.

Cary Cheshire, Vice President of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility

Bike plan

Regarding Cyclists are dying because Houston lacks culture of safety (Pge A1, May 6), I couldn't agree more with Michael Skelly's suggestion on Sunday to implement and fund the Houston Bike Plan. Some may balk at the cost of $150 million, but consider the fact that when evaluating safety, the U.S. Department of Transportation puts the value of a human life at about $9.6 million. There are, on average, about 10 cyclist deaths per year within Houston city limits.

If implementing the Bike Plan cut this in half to five deaths per year, that is a savings of about $50 million in the first year alone. And this doesn't even account for the improved quality of life, reduced air pollution, and lower healthcare costs resulting from many more people getting exercise and not contributing to traffic congestion. In this context, $150 million looks like a bargain.

Matt Kleiber, Houston

Nuisance calls

Regarding His robocalls hit 100 million, and his fine is $120 million (Page B8, Friday), finally the FCC is taking action against the invasive robocall nuisance. The story states that Adrian Abramovich will be fined $120 million for his involvement. If you poll telephone owners, this probably isn't punishment enough for the daily problems these calls caused, probably including some accidents involving handicapped people trying to get to the phone.

After the deluge of political robocalls which we will still probably receive, enough is enough.

Don Anders, Houston
Krispy Kreme UK has apologized for a promotion it referred to as "KKK Wednesday," after a store in Hull, England, promoted the event on social media, prompting outcry.

"KKK" was the acronym for "Krispy Kreme Klub," an activities group meant to occupy kids in the United Kingdom this week while they're out of school on holiday, the Hull Daily Mail reported Tuesday. A store spokeswoman told the paper the promotion came from Krispy Kreme's head office, "so it has been advertised at all the outlets."

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Krispy Kreme hull is advertising KKK Wednesday. I don't know. I do not know. pic.twitter.com/19pXLFxXsw  Ed Zitron (@edzitron) February 17, 2015

The unfortunate acronym shares its name with the Ku Klux Klan, an infamous white supremacist group in the United States.

According to the now-deleted schedule of the week's events, "KKK Wednesday" was bookended by "Colouring Tuesday" and "Face Painting Thursday."

"We are aware of the Hull store's unfortunate naming choice for its Club program," Lafeea Watson, Krispy Kreme's PR manager, told The Huffington Post in a statement, "and we are truly sorry for any inconvenience or offense this misstep may have caused our fans."

"We do believe this was a completely unintentional oversight on the part of our longtime franchise partners in the UK. They have taken quick and appropriate actions to remove the materials online and in-shops, and have wholeheartedly apologized to their consumers."
Imperial Valley News Center

FBI Announces Changes to Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2017 and Releases 2017 Statistics on Law Enforcement Officers Killed in the Line of Duty

Washington, DC - In an effort to provide a more timely release of data to the public, the FBI is releasing three sections of Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2017 ahead of the traditional fall timetable. These sections include data and statistics concerning officers feloniously and accidentally killed and statistics about federal officers killed and/or assaulted. The remaining portions of the publication, which present data reported to the FBI concerning law enforcement officers assaulted in the line of duty in 2017, will be available later this year.

In addition, new technology allows the database containing Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted information to process more data than ever before. Additional details can be processed and shared about incidents in which officers are killed and assaulted in the line of duty. As a result, all of the statistics previously included in the publication are still available, but some statistics are not directly comparable with prior years statistics as topics are now broken into more categories. New tables have been added and some tables have been renumbered. A description of all changes can be found at Updates to Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2017.

Related Story

2017 LEOKA Line-of-Duty Death Statistics Released

Statistics

According to statistics reported to the FBI, 93 law enforcement officers were killed in line-of-duty incidents in 2017. Of these, 46 officers died as a result of felonious acts and 47 officers died in accidents. Comprehensive data tables about these incidents and brief narratives describing the fatal attacks are included in the sections of Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2017, released today.

Felonious Deaths

The 46 felonious deaths occurred in 25 states and in Puerto Rico. This is 20 fewer felonious deaths than 2016 (66 officers). The five- and 10-year comparisons show an increase of 19 felonious deaths compared with the 2013 figure (27 officers) and an increase of five deaths compared with 2008 data (41 officers).

Officer Profiles

The average age of the officers who were feloniously killed was 38 years old. The victim officers had served in law enforcement for an average of 11 years at the times of the fatal incidents. Of the 46 officers:

43 were male

3 were female

35 were white

9 were black/African-American

2 were American Indian/Alaska Native

Circumstances

Of the 46 officers feloniously killed:

21 died as a result of investigative or enforcement activities 6 were investigating suspicious persons or circumstances 6 were involved in tactical situations 3 were conducting traffic violation stops 2 were performing investigative activities 1 was investigating a drug-related matter 1 was investigating a motor vehicle crash 1 was conducting a felony traffic stop 1 was interacting with a wanted person

6 were involved in pursuits 4 were involved in foot pursuits 2 were involved in vehicular pursuits

5 were ambushed (entrapment/premeditation)

4 were involved in arrest situations 3 were verbally advising offenders during the arrest situations 1 was attempting to control/handcuff/restrain the offender(s) during the arrest situation

3 were involved in unprovoked attacks

2 were assisting other law enforcement officers 1 was deploying or providing equipment such as traffic cones or flares 1 was assisting another officer with a vehicular pursuit

2 were responding to crimes in progress 1 was a robbery in progress 1 was a report of a shooting or shots being fired

1 was on administrative assignment and was performing a prisoner transport

1 responded to a disorder/disturbance and encountered a domestic disturbance upon arrival

1 encountered or was assisting a person experiencing an emotional disturbance

Weapons

Offenders used firearms to kill 42 of the 46 victim officers. Three officers were killed with vehicles used as weapons, and one officer was killed with a knife. Of the 42 officers killed using firearms:

32 were slain with handguns

9 with rifles

1 with a shotgun

Regions

Felonious deaths were reported in four U.S. regions and Puerto Rico.

24 officers were feloniously killed in the South

11 in the Midwest

6 in the West

3 in the Northeast

2 in Puerto Rico

Suspects

Law enforcement agencies identified 44 alleged assailants in connection with the felonious line-of-duty deaths.

40 of the assailants had prior criminal arrests

18 of the offenders were under judicial supervision at the times of the felonious incidents

Accidental Deaths

Forty-seven law enforcement officers were killed accidentally while performing their duties in 2017, a decrease of five from the 52 officers accidentally killed in 2016. The majority (29 officers) were killed in automobile (car/truck/SUV/van) accidents.

Officer Profiles

The average age of officers who were accidentally killed was 40 years old. The average number of years the victim officers had served in law enforcement was 12. Of the 47 officers accidentally killed:

45 were male

2 were female

41 were white

3 were black/African-American

2 were American Indian/Alaska Native

1 was Asian

Circumstances

The 47 accidentally killed officers died in a variety of scenarios:

29 died as a result of automobile accidents

6 were struck by vehicles

5 died in motorcycle or ATV accidents

3 officers drowned

2 were killed in an aircraft accident

1 officer died in a watercraft accident

1 officer died in another type of duty-related accident

Use of Seatbelts

Of the 29 officers killed in automobile accidents, 12 were wearing seatbelts, and 15 were not. Data about seatbelt usage was not available for two of the officers. Of the 15 officers who were fatally injured in automobile accidents and were not wearing seatbelts, two were seated in parked motor vehicles at the times of the incidents.

Regions

Accidental deaths were reported in four U.S. regions.

27 of the accidental deaths occurred in the South

9 in the Midwest

6 in the West

5 in the Northeast

Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2017 is available exclusively on the FBIs UCR website at https://ucr.fbi.gov/leoka/2017.

Resources

2017 LEOKA Line-of-Duty Death Statistics Released

FBI, This Week: Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2017 Statistics Released

Updates to Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2017

Report
Fresno Man Sentenced for Laser Strike on Police Helicopter

Fresno, California - Michael Vincent Alvarez, 32, of Fresno, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for striking Air-1, a Fresno Police Department helicopter, with a powerful green laser beam, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, on October 22, 2017, Alvarez struck a Fresno Police helicopter several times with a powerful green laser. The laser caused visual interference of the tactical flight officer and disrupted an air support response to a domestic violence call. Alvarez was driving a vehicle on Highway 99 when he pointed the laser at the helicopter and tracked and struck it. When ground units were called to apprehend Alvarez, he drove through the streets of Fresno at a high rate of speed, eluding officers for several miles until he crashed into the center divider at First Street and Floradora Avenue. Following the crash, Alvarez ran into a residential area, jumping several fences until he was arrested in a backyard. A green laser pointer that officers found inside the driver side door pocket of Alvarezs vehicle had a danger warning on it.

In 2017, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported 6,771 laser strikes of aircraft or 18.55 per day nationwide. In the Eastern District of California, which encompasses 34 counties in the eastern portion of California, there were over 170 laser strikes reported. Law enforcement and emergency transport helicopters are particularly vulnerable, since they typically fly at lower altitudes. Their convex-shaped windows also cause greater refraction and visual interference when the beam of a laser strikes.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fresno Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Escobar prosecuted the case.
Former South Bay Resident Convicted Of Defrauding Japanese Investors In Almost $7 Million Ponzi Scheme

San Francisco, California - Kevin Kyes was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, seventeen counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of money laundering by a federal jury Tuesday, announced Acting United States Attorney Alex G. Tse, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett, and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge Michael T. Batdorf. The jurys verdict followed a week-long trial before the Honorable Susan Illston, U.S. District Judge.

The jury found that Kyes, 69, formerly of Campbell, California and currently of Roseville, California, conspired to commit wire fraud and committed wire fraud as part of a nearly $7 million Ponzi scheme in which the victims were a group of more than 60 Japanese investors. The jury also found that Kyes conspired to and did launder the proceeds of this fraud. The jury acquitted Kyes of one count of wire fraud.

The evidence at trial showed that, from December 2012 through July 2015, Kyes worked with John Holdaway, 73, of Sandy, Utah, to defraud the Japanese investors through a business that they referred to as Money Management Strategies, or MMS. Kyes and Holdaway told the investors their money would be invested in high-speed trading programs with historical returns of well over 100% annually. Kyes and Holdaway also told investors that their investments would be safe, in part because their principal investment would never leave the bank accounts into which the funds were sent, and that instead, MMS would draw a credit line secured by their funds and use that to fund trading. Kyes and Holdaway further explained that any trading losses would be borne by MMS. Based on the representations of Holdaway and Kyes, these investors wired money to bank accounts in Northern California controlled by Holdaway and Kyes. The Japanese investors sent approximately $6.8 million to Holdaway and Kyes during the scheme.

The evidence at trial demonstrated that, in reality, Holdaway and Kyes did not invest the money as promised. Instead, they spent the money themselves, used it to fund Ponzi-type payments back to investors, spent the money to pay back prior creditors to whom they owed funds, and spent it on gold-related businesses. In addition, Holdaway and Kyes told investors that they were receiving distributions or returns on their investment. To back up their claims, Holdaway and Kyes created and sent to investors fake documents, including phony account statements and forged letters from an accountant. Holdaway, with Kyess knowledge and participation, also sent emails to investors under fake names, to give the appearance that multiple people worked for Holdaway and Kyes, and lied about traveling to Europe or elsewhere to work on their investments.

On June 14, 2016, a federal grand jury indicted Kyes and Holdaway charging them with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  1349; eighteen counts of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  1343; one count of conspiracy to engage in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  1956(h); and five counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  1957.

On October 6, 2017, Holdaway pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. His next appearance is a status conference scheduled for October 5, 2018, at 11:00 a.m., before Judge Illston.

Kyess sentencing hearing on todays convictions is scheduled for August 17, 2018, at 11:00 a.m., before Judge Illston, in San Francisco. The maximum statutory penalty for each count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud is 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, 3 years of supervised release, forfeiture, and restitution. The maximum statutory penalty for each count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering is 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, 3 years of supervised release, forfeiture, and restitution. Any sentence following conviction, however, will be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C.  3553.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin Kingsley and Helen Gilbert are prosecuting the case with assistance from Bridget Kilkenny and Patricia Mahoney. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI and the IRS, Criminal Investigation.
President Of Health Care Company Based In Fresno And Visalia Pleads Guilty To Illegal Use Of Client Funds

Fresno, California - Mark Merrill Reynolds, 62, of Fresno, pleaded guilty today to unlawfully converting to his own use client funds held by his company, Ben-E-Lect, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, Reynolds was the president and sole shareholder of BenE-Lect and Ben-E-Lect of Visalia. These companies operated in Fresno and Tulare Counties. Ben-E-Lects clients were small to medium sized businesses that purchased highdeductible, fully insured group medical plans from independent insurance carriers, and then selfinsured beneficiaries for amounts up to the amount of the high deductible. Ben-E-Lect processed the claims using funds that its clients paid into an account known as the Ben-E-Lect Employer Elect account. Ben-E-Lect was required to hold these funds in a fiduciary capacity and to withdraw clients funds only for specific purposes, none of which included Ben-E-Lects own operational expenses or Reynolds personal gain.

According to the plea agreement, Reynolds converted funds from the Employer Elect account to his own use by withdrawing funds from the account and then using these funds for business operational expenses of Ben-E-Lect, and to pay his own personal expenses.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the California Department of Insurance. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark J. McKeon and Henry Z. Carbajal III are prosecuting the case. Reynolds is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. ONeill on August 20, 2018, at 10:45 a.m.

Reynolds faces a maximum statutory penalty of 5 years in prison and 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.
Salinas Gang Member Sentenced To Over Nine Years In Prison For Multiple Bank Robberies

San Francisco, California - Francisco Javier Marmolejo, aka Blindy, was sentenced to 114 months in prison Wednesday for robbing and conspiring to rob three San Francisco Bay Area banks, announced Acting United States Attorney Alex G. Tse and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett. The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Lucy H. Koh, United States District Judge, following Marmolejos guilty plea to the bank robbery on January 5, 2018.

According to the plea agreement, Marmolejo, 36, of Salinas admitted robbing Bay Area banks on three occasions between November of 2011 and January of 2012. Marmolejo admitted that on November 9, 2011, together with others, he robbed a bank in Pacific Grove, Calif. Marmolejo admitted that at least one of the robbers brandished a firearm and that he was the getaway driver while his fellow robbers went inside the bank to rob it. On that occasion, Marmolejo and his fellow robbers stole approximately $18,383.00 from the bank. Further, on December 2, 2011, Marmolejo, together with others, robbed a bank in Seaside, Calif. Marmolejo acknowledged that on that occasion, he brandished a firearm during the robbery. Finally, on January 19, 2012, Marmolejo, together with others, robbed a bank in Salinas, Calif., during which one of the robbers brandished a gun.

In addition to the three robberies in which Marmolejo admitted he participated, he also admitted that in March of 2012, he possessed three semi-automatic handguns, bear repellant, three ballistic vests, three ski masks, and other items all of which were used and intended to be used during the commission of bank robberies and to avoid detection by law enforcement.

On January 3, 2018, Marmolejo was charged by superseding information with one count of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C.   2113(a) and (d), and 371; one count of armed bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C.   2113(a) and (2) and 2; and one count of use or possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C.   924(c)(1)(A) and 2. Pursuant to his plea agreement, Marmolejo pleaded guilty to all counts in the superseding information. Marmolejo was originally indicted on some of these charges on November 8, 2016. On December 18, 2017, Marmolejos co-defendant Jorge Lopez, aka Cowboy, pleaded guilty to the same charges. Judge Koh scheduled Lopezs sentencing for July 11, 2018.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Koh also ordered Marmolejo to pay restitution in the amount of $52,854.00 and to serve five years of supervised release to begin after his prison term. Marmolejo currently is in state custody serving a 12-year prison sentence, part of which will be credited to his federal term. Upon his release from state custody, Marmolejo will have approximately 104 months remaining on his federal sentence.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Claudia A. Quiroz with the assistance of paralegal Jessica Meegan and legal assistant Lance Libatique. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI.
Do Not Ignore Mouth Ulcers, They Can Be Sutton. All You Need to Know
Speaking to more than 5,500 graduates at the 2018 Duke University commencement on Sunday, Apple CEO Tim Cook reminded them that, despite the problems facing society, "this is the best time in history to be alive."

The data backs up Cook's observation. Today's university graduates are starting their careers at a time when progress is dramatically accelerating across every measure of human well-being. According to Cook, that progress gives everyone--entrepreneurs, especially--"the tools, potential, and reach to a make a better world."

Cook recalled his friend and mentor Steve Jobs as the person who taught him to be fearless--a trait anyone hoping to challenge the status quo should have. By working side by side with Jobs beginning in 1998, Cook learned that transformative leaders have "a restless refusal" to accept things as they are.

"No big challenge has ever been solved and no lasting improvement has ever been achieved unless people dare to try something different," Cook told the crowd.

Cook believes that anyone who hopes to change the world must find his or her fearlessness. He gave the audience three ways to do just that:

1. Take the first step, even if you don't know where it will take you.

One of Cook's favorite lessons is Steve Jobs's admonition to have the courage to follow your heart wherever it may lead. Often, that means having the courage to break from conventional wisdom.

"I've learned that the greatest challenge of life is knowing when to break with conventional wisdom," Cook said. "Don't just accept the world you inherit today. Don't just accept the status quo. No big challenge has ever been solved, and no lasting improvement has ever been achieved, unless people dare to try something different. Dare to think different."

It reminds me of a quote from Cook's commencement speech at MIT last year: "Measure your impact on humanity not in likes but in the lives you touch, not in popularity but the people you serve. I found my life got bigger when I stopped caring about what people thought of me."

Entrepreneurship, by definition, means going against conventional wisdom. You'll always find more naysayers than supporters, more critics than those who celebrate your original ideas. Taking the first step to challenge the status quo is scary--and it's the habit that drives great leaders.

2. Be driven by a higher purpose rather than applause.

At Apple, they don't ask, "What can we do?" Instead they ask, "What should we do?" says Cook.

"We reject the notion that global warming is inevitable--that's why we run Apple on 100 percent renewable energy," Cook told the Duke graduates. "We reject the excuse that getting the most out of technology means trading away your right to privacy. We choose a different path. Collecting as little as your data as possible and being thoughtful and respectful when it's in our care."

Apple, of course, isn't perfect. For example, in 2012, The New York Times questioned the labor conditions at overseas factories building Apple products. But Cook responded quickly and forcefully, reminding employees and customers that Apple is guided by its values. If there were problems, he said, they would be "attacked aggressively."

Steve Jobs was known for the phrase "enriching lives," and to this day, I still hear Apple executives--including Tim Cook--use the phrase.

Being guided by a set of higher values and purpose will help you respond more quickly to crises. It'll keep you focused on a North Star when your peers or competitors are shifting strategy on the basis of short-term trends.

3. Reveal your character.

Cook says fearlessness inspires us because it reveals character--people who aren't afraid to stand up and speak out when something needs to change. "Fearless like the students of Parkland, Florida, who refused to be silent about the epidemic of gun violence," Cook proclaimed. "Fearless like the women who cast light into dark places and move us into a more just and equal future. Fearless like those who fight for the rights of immigrants."

He reminded graduates that they aren't powerless in the face of problems--no previous generation has had more power to change things faster. That reminder applies to students, graduates, and entrepreneurs alike.

Entrepreneurship requires fearlessness. At a time of nearly full employment, it takes courage to take the path less traveled by your peers. It takes courage to make gigantic improvements instead of incremental ones. It takes courage to build a business when you don't know where your next paycheck will be coming from.

Above all, says Cook, it takes courage to be the first person to stand up and change things when the majority of people are content to accept things as they are.

Cook ended his Duke commencement speech with, "Duke graduates, be fearless." It's a good motto for all entrepreneurs to live by--be fearless.
He looks down. What? No Jim Beam? Getty Images

Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek.

They've really gone and done it now.

That is, it seems, the view of some diehard United Airlines First Class passengers after learning that some of their greatest pleasures are being disappeared.

Last week, I wrote about how the airline had decided to cut or reduce some First Class meals on flights less than four hours.

This had provoked a level of fury that I'd only compare with some fisticuff-laden sittings of the Ukraine parliament.

But now more information has emerged and I fear that we may be on the verge of war.

You see, according to Lewis Lazare of the Chicago Business Journal, United is also removing Courvoisier cognac.

Perhaps you might think this is part of a drive to make America great again.

It seems not.

For, gasp, Jim Beam is also out. As are tomato juice and Sprite Zero.

Please, for me this is so much frippery that I care less than I do about the demise of the Chicago White Sox.

For some United customers, however, this is catastrophe and calumny conspiring against them.

Hark at this from a commenter on View From The Wing: "I don't think the other airlines will follow suit and United will inevitably roll this back. I just don't get what they are thinking here. As long as these cuts remain in place, my willingness to buy up to F will be greatly diminished."

And this from another irate flyer: "United -- We step over dollars to pick up pennies!"

One passenger makes it sound like the world may be ending: "What? No Beam? The Devil's Cut was the only thing drinkable on their menu because they never seemed to have Buffalo Trace. Scott Kirby is a freaking joke. Fire him already so he can go work for Spirit or Frontier."

Kirby is the not universally loved president of the airline, who arrived at United from American with something of a cost-cutting reputation.

I contacted United to ask if these sudden changes had something to do with customer response, as had been suggested with the food alterations.

"We now offer Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey in place of Jim Beam Devils Cut. Mr and Mrs T Bloody Mary mix is now offered as well," a United spokeswoman told me.

Why wouldn't this be a relief to the privileged? I'm told by my editor and expert on bourbon that Buffalo Trace is far superior.

There is, though, another question: Might some of the First Classers' fellow elevated travelers be at the heart of these changes?

"With all of our food offerings we monitor customer consumption and adjust accordingly," the United spokeswoman told me.

Aha.

Ultimately, the knee-jerk reaction of many airlines is to find new ways to squeeze customers every day.

A little here, a little there and the airline's numbers people make it add up to a lot.

Sometimes, though, the airline can't bear the noise from its customers.

And so it was that I received another email from United.

"We want our customers to know that we value and appreciate them and that we're listening. Our customers told us that they were not happy about the removal of tomato juice so we're bringing it back onboard as part of our complementary beverage offering," a spokesman told me.

But wait, the airline just told me that removing the tomato juice was based on customer consumption.

We really are entering turbulent customer relations here.

The Beaming Disappearance might hardly seem like cause for weeping to those customers not used to free bourbon on flights. Or even, well, free food.

But the customers who pay the big bucks sit there wondering what their world has come to.
Dame Helen Mirren has revealed the meaning behind her tattoo during an interview at Cannes Film Festival.

The Oscar-winning actress was speaking at the event in France when the interviewer asked her about the pattern of interlocking 'V's' on her left hand.

"Some people mind find it hard to believe, but you also have a tattoo - what's the story behind it?" the journalist asked.

"I got very drunk on a reservation," Mirren replied, laughing. "Does anyone ever get a tattoo when they're not drunk?

"It was done with a safety pin, it was so painful. Oh my god. Like a prison tattoo. It represents a very beautiful idea which is basically 'equal and opposite', that someone can be as different from you as you could possibly imagine, but have equal value to yourself, that's something I believe in life."

Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Show all 15 1 /15 Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Celebrities and their questionable tattoos Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Jennifer Lawrence The Hunger Games actress said she got this 'H2O' tattoo while on holiday with the Hemsworths, although she wishes she'd got the '2' in the correct position Getty Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Celebrities and their questionable tattoos Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Amanda Seyfried Amanda Seyfried got rhe word 'minge' tattoed on her foot after being inspired by Colin Firth's overuse of the word while on the set of Mama Mia Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Celebrities and their questionable tattoos Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Celebrities and their questionable tattoos Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to David Dimbleby The Question Time Host, aged 75, said he was inspired by his star sign, Scorpio, and isn't even bothered that his ink is missing two legs BBC Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Celebrities and their questionable tattoos Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Ed Sheeran Ed has probably got more tattoos than a normal person has had hot meals. They include a lego man, a Heinz label and a few random scribbles. Cool Getty Images Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Celebrities and their questionable tattoos Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Cara Delevingne Proof you should never consider a tattoo while hungry, model Cara got the word 'bacon' inked on the sole of her foot Getty Images Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Celebrities and their questionable tattoos Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Drake Drake's 'prayer hands emoji' tattoo is very 2015 but surely it's going to date a bit? Just ask the guy with a Bebo tattoo if he has any regrets Getty Images Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Celebrities and their questionable tattoos Instagram/Katy Perry Questionable tattoos and to who they belong to Katy Perry Katy has been, erm, spontaneous with a lot of her tattoo choices, but this one is really bizarre Getty

Mirren was among the women in film who took part in a red carpet demonstration on Saturday 12 May.

She joined the likes of Cate Blanchett, Kristen Stewart and Salma Hayek who protested against the lack of female representation in the film industry.

Cannes has consistently come under criticism for failing to showcase more films by women directors, but the pressure has been turned up amid the Time's Up and `#MeToo campaigns.

This is the first Cannes festival since allegations of sexual abuse were first made against producer Harvey Weinstein last year. He has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.

An anti-harassment hotline has been created for the 2018 festival, with French Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa saying it had received several calls since the gathering began on 9 May.
Land debates are reverberating across South Africa after the countrys parliament resolved to accelerate land redistribution through expropriation without compensation where necessary. Twenty four years since the advent of democracy, land remains a stark and visible symbol of dispossession and racial and income inequality.

The current wave of land reform debates is different in one key respect: theres been an emergence of an urban angle to them. And rightly so. The majority of South Africans live in urban areas. On top of this spatial apartheid lives on in South Africas cities.

But genuine land reform requires a shift in the countrys approach to urban land: it cant be seen simply in terms of its market value and its potential for profit. Lands social and redress value must be considered.

Theres also the real possibility of the land debate being hijacked for political party or elite gains rather than a genuinely re-distributive agenda for poor and working class people. South Africans need to pay attention to the voices dominating land debates, and constantly ask: land reform for whom?

In spite of the challenges, the current moment could provide a golden opportunity to redefine the countrys approach to urban land. I spoke to Lauren Royston, who has been working on the urban land question in the research and advocacy arena for more than a quarter of a century. She recently co-authored Untitled: Securing Land Tenure in Urban and Rural South Africa.

Sarita Pillay: Are we seeing a conversation about urban land reform that weve not had before?

Lauren Royston: I think were seeing an opening for a conversation about urban land reform in a way that hasnt been present before. Urban land tends to be hidden in other urban development sectors such as housing, planning and municipal finance.

The expropriation without compensation debate might be changing that, creating an urban land focus and redistribution an urban land issue too. But a meaningful shift in the debate requires serious interrogation of key areas such as the dynamics of the property market as well as a review of how both state owned and private land can be used to accommodate urban land reform.

Sarita Pillay: Urban land in South Africas cities isnt approached as an opportunity for redistribution or social justice. Good public land in cities is being sold for profit by government while land in well-located suburbs is not considered for public housing. Would you agree that the countrys provinces and city municipalities havent pursued brave and progressive approaches to urban land?

Lauren Royston: I do think that state land is often seen as a revenue generator. Im not unsympathetic to that  municipalities do have big mandates and are under-funded. But isnt it time to rethink private land? The expropriation debate gives us that opportunity.

It seems to me that occupied inner city buildings and occupied private land parcels are a prime case for a focused, programmatic expropriation approach. One that neednt cause instability. What we need to talk about next is how those buildings will be held. Its my view that they should be a public or social asset, not privately owned. The country should have a debate about this.

Inside Italys new emergency housing development for Roma Show all 10 1 /10 Inside Italys new emergency housing development for Roma Inside Italys new emergency housing development for Roma The new development at Via del Riposo houses about 140 people Alex Sturrock Inside Italys new emergency housing development for Roma A young girl plays peekaboo from inside her new home Alex Sturrock/children from Via del Riposo Inside Italys new emergency housing development for Roma Roma children play between the metal housing containers Alex Sturrock/children from Via del Riposo Inside Italys new emergency housing development for Roma There are communal outdoor areas where children can play and ride bikes Alex Sturrock/children from Via del Riposo Inside Italys new emergency housing development for Roma A sense of community is growing and card games are often played among the residents Alex Sturrock/children from Via del Riposo Inside Italys new emergency housing development for Roma A young girl cuddles her kitten Alex Sturrock/children from Via del Riposo Inside Italys new emergency housing development for Roma Abiade lives in the container park with her partner and four children in a two-room unit Alex Sturrock/children from Via del Riposo Inside Italys new emergency housing development for Roma A boy poses for the camera Alex Sturrock/children from Via del Riposo Inside Italys new emergency housing development for Roma A young girl hugs her mother and baby brother Alex Sturrock/children from Via del Riposo Inside Italys new emergency housing development for Roma A number of the children living in the development have places at nearby schools Alex Sturrock/children from Via del Riposo

Sarita Pillay: Expropriation can also be used by government to ensure shack settlements on private land finally have access to basic services and infrastructure. This was raised as a demand in the recent Land for Living march in Cape Town. Is this the kind of genuine urban land reform that the expropriation debate opens up?

Lauren Royston: Definitely. But the risk with expropriation is how political it has become. Despite the heated debate, its always been technically possible. In the urban context, the Housing Act allows for expropriation. The call for an amendment to the constitution seems premature  at least until existing provisions have been used more proactively.

Expropriation in the urban setting should focus on poor households  those earning a household income below R3 200 per month. They make up close to 50% of Johannesburgs population. Private sector delivery doesnt work for them.

Sarita Pillay: There seems to be a lack of public imagination and interrogation around how land is held and the ownership of land when it comes to urban land reform. Youve written about land tenure, how should we be thinking about this in an urban context?

Lauren Royston: South Africas property regime is anchored in registered title and this can be rigid and exclusionary. To get into official or formal property if youre poor, you have to enter a system of individual title deed registration via a housing subsidy project. But a significant number of subsidy properties are not on the deeds registry.

South Africa needs to consider that the problem with title may be more systematic than simply fixing a backlog. It needs to look into the range of tenures that exist outside the formal property system. These tenures have legal protection under a range of different post-1994 tenure laws but these rights are not registered which makes them less secure and denies access to the many benefits of registered title.

Sarita Pillay: What do you think needs to happen now?

Lauren Royston: If President Cyril Ramaphosas commitments are genuine, then after the 2019 elections the government needs to move beyond rhetoric and it needs to start countering the fear mongering and instability spectre. And it needs to improve capacity on land by co-opting private sector and civil society experts.

Sarita Pillay is a PhD student at South African research chair in spatial analysis and city planning at the University of the Witwatersrand. This article first appeared on theconversation.com
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) continues to grow in popularity, but the high impact workout can often lead to stiffness and tight muscles, making it more important than ever to factor some restorative exercise into your routine.

Yoga is very versatile  but there are many different styles of practice that could confuse a beginner. To make it even more complicated, many studios and instructors teach their own signature styles.

To help us through the maze, Chris Magee, head of yoga at Another Space, talked us through a few of the many variations of yoga and and what they're likely to mean on a timetable.

Magee, a former actor and ex-professional rugby player, found yoga as a way to heal his body from long-term sporting injuries  and he stresses the importance of mixing up your workout routine.

If you're looking to strike a balance in your training regime, or are simply interested in taking up yoga, here are some of the most popular variations you may come across:

Vinyasa

The word Vinyasa applies to the principle of synchronising movement with breath (Getty Images)

"Vinyasa is the broadest term for flow yoga which is the most popular in the western world," Magee told Business Insider.

The word Vinyasa applies to the principle of synchronising movement with breath. In a Vinyasa class everything is guided by your breath, including how long you hold a pose for, he said, and each posture flows into the next.

A teacher will instruct the class with things like: "Inhale bring your arms up into the air, exhale fall forward into your legs," he said.

"It's consciousness, breath, and movement. But it can be quite aerobic, it can be quite fast-paced, and you can still get your sweat on  I teach quite a strong vinyasa class.

"No two classes of mine will be the same. There will be similar elements and I may reintroduce things, but you wont know what you're getting," he said, adding that it's his favourite yoga to practice, because he enjoys the unknown.

Ashtanga

Ashtanga yoga is a variation of Vinyasa  its just with a set sequence of movements.

"If you take an Ashtanga primary series class, no matter where in the world you are or who is leading the class, theyll teach you the same sequence  so you know which pose is coming next," Magee explained.

"Theres something to be said for going in and knowing what youre getting. It can help with your understanding, and you can also moderate yourself throughout the class a bit more: save a little bit of energy for this, decide where to test yourself, and where to ease off."

There are also some fast-paced, dynamic variations of Vinyasa, such as rocket or power yoga.

Rocket

Rocket yoga, as the name might suggest, is a fast-style yoga (Getty Images)

Rocket yoga, as the name might suggest, is a fast-style yoga. "It's a derivative of Ashtanga. It comes from the traditional Ashtanga series, but was modified for the west by a man called Larry Schultz in San Francisco," Magee explained. While Schultz was on tour teaching yoga to American rock band "The Grateful Dead," one member, Bob Weir, suggested he name his yoga style "Rocket, because it gets you there faster"  and it stuck.

According to Style Craze, Rocket yoga was the result of Schultz' attempt to make Ashtanga yoga more accessible to westerners, by breaking down the rigidity of the classic practice.

"Rocket's great, I teach and practice it a lot," Magee continued. "It's playful and has a set structure, but the teacher has some room for manoeuvre within that. Each class won't necessarily be the same, but it's much of a muchness."

Power

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There are a number of Power yoga styles, and the one Magee highlighted was made popular by Baron Baptiste. "It's quick, it's punchy," he said. It's sometimes, but not always, practised in a heated room.

"The only downside to something like Power yoga is, yes, you're going to get a sweat on and feel aerobically challenged, but for a beginner does it have the queuing and the guidance needed to keep you moving safely in and out of the spaces where you need to go?" Magee said. "In my opinion, probably not. You'd probably need a few beginner classes first, which focus on the yoga fundamentals. "

Bikram

(Getty Images (Getty Images)

For those who really want to push themselves, there's always Bikram, the original hot yoga founded by Bikram Choudhury. Its a set series of 26 postures in a 90-minute class, in a room heated to 40C (105F ). Bikram himself apparently calls the rooms "torture chambers."

Meanwhile, "hot yoga" refers to any style of yoga practised in a heated room. It can be influenced by many different schools of yoga. The classes can be shorter, lasting just 60 minutes, and they're sometimes slightly less hot  more like 33C  which many people find more manageable.

By warming up the muscles it can help to avoid injury and the added intensity of the heat is thought to help burn fat faster, and provide a detoxifying effect on the body, although not everyone is convinced that hot yoga is superior to other practices.

Hatha

"All yoga comes from Hatha yoga, including Vinyasa and Ashtanga  it's posture-based yoga," Magee said, adding that when you see it advertised on timetables as a style of practice, its typically a technique-centred class that's not as focused on "flow," and is heavily oriented around learning the fundamentals.

Restorative

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"Restorative yoga is a yin style yoga that is primarily linked to releasing," said Magee. "It's based around release work rather than flow."

This style, he explained, is heavily reliant upon props to build yourself into a pose.

"You'll use the props to support yourself to get into a space then stay there for three, four, or five minutes  it's very gentle and relaxing.

"You might be in 'pigeon position' for five minutes, giving yourself time to breath and relax  the time allows your body to really start to let go," he said. "Often if you're in a pose for too short a time you don't gain the full benefit."

Nailing the basics

As is a good idea when taking up any form of exercise, Magee suggests taking some time to understand the fundamentals first. Lots of classes will give you the option to hold stages one to five of a pose  one being the most basic and five being the most intense version.

But Magee warns it's important to first get comfortable with option one. "It's as good an option as five," he said. "Drop the idea that we always have to push."

The importance of cross-training

While Magee is a self-confessed yogi, he stresses the benefits of "cross-training"  incorporating different workouts into your exercise regime  on the body and mind.

"Too much of one thing is detrimental to you in the sense that it can lead to injury," Magee told Business Insider. "If you do nothing but strength training, your body will become tight and bound and that lack of space means a lack of appropriate movement for the joints and muscles. Things start to tear, pop, and go wrong.

"But also if you did nothing but flexibility training your body would become so loose and so weak that the joints cant stabilise themselves when you need that strength  and that looseness also leads to pops and tweaks."

He added that as the body adapts so quickly to repeated activity, it's easy to plateau if you're exercising in the same way all of the time.

Acknowledging that many gym-goers who are short of time are reluctant to forgo their cardio or weights session for something low impact like yoga, studios like Another Space are increasingly offering cross-training classes that combine either HIIT and yoga or HIIT and cycle into one 90-minute fusion class.

"The benefit of cross-training is that youre constantly giving your body little shocks in different ways and youre also bringing yourself to a place of balance," Magee said.

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Read the original article on Business Insider UK.  2018. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
Your head is pounding, the rooms spinning and your stomach is lurching  when youre hungover, reaching for painkillers can often seem like a good idea.

But according to a new study, hair of the dog really could do the trick.

And not just for dealing with a hangover  according to new research, drinking two beers is more effective at relieving pain than taking painkillers.

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Over the course of 18 studies, researchers from the University of Greenwich found that consuming two pints of beer can cut discomfort by a quarter.

By elevating your blood alcohol content to approximately 0.08 per cent, youll give your body a small elevation of pain threshold and thus a moderate to large reduction in pain intensity ratings.

The researchers explained: Findings suggest that alcohol is an effective analgesic that delivers clinically-relevant reductions in ratings of pain intensity, which could explain alcohol misuse in those with persistent pain, despite its potential consequences for long-term health.

Its not clear, however, whether alcohol reduces feelings of pain because it affects brain receptors or because it just lowers anxiety, which then makes us think the pain isnt as bad.

The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol Show all 10 1 /10 The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 10. Poland Results from an OECD report The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 9. Germany The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 8. Luxembourg Rex Features The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 7. France The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 6. Hungary Rex Features The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 5. Russia AFP/Getty Images The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 4. Czech Republic The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 3. Estonia Rex Features The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 2. Austria Getty Images The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 1. Lithuania AFP/Getty Images

Dr Trevor Thompson, who led the study at London's Greenwich University, told The Sun: [Alcohol] can be compared to opioid drugs such as codeine and the effect is more powerful than paracetamol.

If we can make a drug without the harmful side-effects, then we could have something that is potentially better than what is out there at the moment.

However experts are also speaking out to clarify that the results of the new study dont mean alcohol is good for us.

Rosanna O'Connor, director of Alcohol and Drugs at Public Health England, said: Drinking too much will cause you more problems in the long run. Its better to see your GP.

Government guidelines recommend no more than 14 units of alcohol a week for both men and women, which equates to six pints of beer, or six 175ml glasses of wine.
Royal Dutch Shell, Italian oil giant Eni and a number of senior executives at the two firms face trial in Milan on Monday over corruption charges relating to a $1.1bn (800m) deal for a Nigerian oil block.

The Milan public prosecutor alleges that $520m from a 2011 deal to buy rights to a vast oil block off Nigerias coast was converted into cash and intended to be paid to the then Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, members of the government and other Nigerian government officials.

The prosecutor further alleges that money was also channelled to Eni and Shell executives, with $50m in cash delivered to the home of Enis then head of business for Sub-Saharan Africa, Roberto Casula.

Four former Shell staff members face trial, including Malcolm Brinded, former executive director for upstream international operations, along with two ex-MI6 agents employed by Shell.

Also standing trial are Enis chief executive Claudio Descalzi, former chief executive Paolo Scaroni, and chief operations and technology officer Roberto Casula.

Shell, Eni and their executives have denied all charges.

The trial comes after years of campaigning by anti-corruption groups Global Witness, The Corner House and Re:Common, as well as British-born Nigerian campaigner Dotun Oloko.

After investigations by Global Witness and another anti-corruption group Finance Uncovered, Shell admitted in April last year that senior figures knew that some funds from the deal would be paid to companies controlled by former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete.

Barnaby Pace, an anti-corruption campaigner at Global Witness, said the trial should be a turning point for the oil industry.

Some of the most senior executives of two of the biggest companies in the world could face prison sentences for a deal struck under their watch.

Antonio Tricarico, of Italian NGO Re:Common, said: This case heralds the dawning of the age of accountability, a world where even the most powerful corporations can no longer hide their wrongdoing and avoid justice.

Eni has said in a statement on its website that the trial will give the opportunity to Eni to fully defend its position and to provide full evidence of the correctness of the actions taken with respect to the OPL 245 transaction.

Regarding the allegations against Enis CEO, the company has said: Enis board of directors has reaffirmed its confidence that the company was not involved in alleged corrupt activities in relation to the transaction.

The board of directors also confirmed its full confidence that chief executive Claudio Descalzi was not involved in the alleged illegal conduct and, more broadly, in his role as head of the company. Eni expresses its full confidence in the judicial process and that the trial will ascertain and confirm the correctness and integrity of its conduct.
Nursing staff are being forced to choose between finishing paperwork and treating patients, as the chronic staff shortages in the NHS continue to hamper the care staff can give, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned.

In a major report on nurse morale the RCN says the profession is on the brink, with the 43,000 vacant full-time nursing posts across the UK hampering their ability to do the job to the best of their ability.

The shortage is a major source of public concern as well, with a YouGov poll of the public revealing 74 per cent of people think there are not enough nurses to run the health service safely  and addressing this was their top priority for the NHS.

We warned this would happen, but were called scaremongers, chief executive Janet Davies is expected to say of the damage caused by Conservative government pay restraint policies.

In her speech to open the RCNs annual congress in Belfast today she is calling for safe nurse staffing levels to be enforced by law in every part of the UK.

Wales, in 2016, became the first country in Europe to have a legal duty for health boards to employ enough nurses, record staffing levels and take action against breaches.

The Scottish government has pledged similar measures but there are no such moves in England and Northern Ireland.

For its report the RCN surveyed 30,000 nursing staff, many of who explained how the current shortages were affecting them.

Some of the main concerns identified were that a lack of time means fundamentals of personal and patient care are not carried out, with nurses unable to find time to wash patients or get them back in to bed.

The burden of paperwork and auditing, a major part of this governments drive to make the NHS the safest and most transparent health service in the world through data monitoring, is another burden.

Respondents described having to make difficult choices when there are shortages of registered nurses, between completing paperwork and providing care and treatment, the report says.

On anonymous respondent added: I am not sure if I want to stay in nursing, I feel the care I give is compromised by trying to complete specific tasks which are more concerned with audit and performance rather than care of the patient.

The paperwork is onerous, repetitive and does not facilitate care planning.

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The average 10 year old consumes the equivalent to 13 sugar cubes a day, 8 more than is recommended PA Health news in pictures Child health experts advise switching off screens an hour before bed While there is not enough evidence of harm to recommend UK-wide limits on screen use, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have advised that children should avoid screens for an hour before bed time to avoid disrupting their sleep Getty Health news in pictures Daily aspirin is unnecessary for older people in good health, study finds A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that many elderly people are taking daily aspirin to little or no avail Getty Health news in pictures Vaping could lead to cancer, US study finds A study by the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Centre has found that the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, acrolein, and methylglyoxal are present in the saliva of E-cigarette users Reuters Health news in pictures More children are obese and diabetic There has been a 41% increase in children with type 2 diabetes since 2014, the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit has found. 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Just Giving Health news in pictures Government to review thousands of harmful vaginal mesh implants The Government has pledged to review tens of thousands of cases where women have been given harmful vaginal mesh implants. Getty Health news in pictures Jeremy Hunt announces 'zero suicides ambition' for the NHS The NHS will be asked to go further to prevent the deaths of patients in its care as part of a zero suicide ambition being launched today Getty Health news in pictures Human trials start with cancer treatment that primes immune system to kill off tumours Human trials have begun with a new cancer therapy that can prime the immune system to eradicate tumours. The treatment, that works similarly to a vaccine, is a combination of two existing drugs, of which tiny amounts are injected into the solid bulk of a tumour. Nephron Health news in pictures Babies' health suffers from being born near fracking sites, finds major study Mothers living within a kilometre of a fracking site were 25 per cent more likely to have a child born at low birth weight, which increase their chances of asthma, ADHD and other issues Getty Health news in pictures NHS reviewing thousands of cervical cancer smear tests after women wrongly given all-clear Thousands of cervical cancer screening results are under review after failings at a laboratory meant some women were incorrectly given the all-clear. A number of women have already been told to contact their doctors following the identification of procedural issues in the service provided by Pathology First Laboratory. Rex Health news in pictures Potential key to halting breast cancer's spread discovered by scientists Most breast cancer patients do not die from their initial tumour, but from secondary malignant growths (metastases), where cancer cells are able to enter the blood and survive to invade new sites. Asparagine, a molecule named after asparagus where it was first identified in high quantities, has now been shown to be an essential ingredient for tumour cells to gain these migratory properties. Getty Health news in pictures NHS nursing vacancies at record high with more than 34,000 roles advertised A record number of nursing and midwifery positions are currently being advertised by the NHS, with more than 34,000 positions currently vacant, according to the latest data. Demand for nurses was 19 per cent higher between July and September 2017 than the same period two years ago. 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Getty Health news in pictures Over 75,000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS Mr Bransons company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an 82m contract to provide childrens health services across Surrey, citing concerns over serious flaws in the way the contract was awarded PA Health news in pictures More than 700 fewer nurses training in England in first year after NHS bursary scrapped The numbers of people accepted to study nursing in England fell 3 per cent in 2017, while the numbers accepted in Wales and Scotland, where the bursaries were kept, increased 8.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively Getty Health news in pictures Landmark study links Tory austerity to 120,000 deaths The paper found that there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years of Tory-led efficiencies than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-election levels. On this trajectory that could rise to nearly 200,000 excess deaths by the end of 2020, even with the extra funding that has been earmarked for public sector services this year. Reuters Health news in pictures Long commutes carry health risks Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression Shutterstock Health news in pictures You cannot be fit and fat It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. 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The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part Getty Health news in pictures 'Fundamental right to health' to be axed after Brexit, lawyers warn Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said Getty Health news in pictures 'Thousands dying' due to fear over non-existent statin side-effects A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves Getty Health news in pictures Babies born to fathers aged under 25 have higher risk of autism New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. 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This issue was compounded by problems with IT systems which can make the process more onerous.

Nurses also raised concerns about the lack of time to discuss patients' care needs and next steps with love ones and relatives, and the shifting make up of the workforce.

There are many more healthcare assistants and junior nurses being recruited to plug an exodus of experienced staff, but this has meant many step straight into a high-pressure environment without adequate support and is contributing to high rates of staff turnover.

When these concerns are raised managers have no solutions or are too preoccupied with their own roles, the research found.

I constantly raise concerns each morning about staffing levels, risks to the clients, another nurse told the RCN. It falls on deaf ears

Professor Davies said this was a vicious circle as the number one reason for nurses leaving  cited by 54 per cent of their respondents  was staff shortages.

This situation could have been avoided. It was no accident  it was sadly inevitable.

"The reason we have so many vacancies is because of short-sighted cost-cutting in past years, and ineffective workforce planning driven by finance and not the needs of patients.

This autumn, the College will launch a new campaign to demand, for every part of the UK, safe staffing levels and accountability set in law."

The Department of Health and Social Care has said it will train an extra 5,000 nurses a year from 2018 after scrapping training bursaries.

A spokesperson said: The NHS would collapse without our wonderful nurses  the fact that the NHS is ranked as the safest healthcare system in the world is a testament to them.

"From this year we will train 25 per cent more nurses, are committed to helping them work more flexibly to improve their work/life balance, and have awarded a pay rise of between 6.5 per cent and 29 per cent in a deal backed by the Royal College of Nursing themselves.
During the First Intifada uprising of 1987, the Israeli military carried out what the residents of my refugee camp in Gaza referred to as the Eid Massacre. The killing of four young people in the camp, including my childhood friend Raed Munis, took place on the first day of the Muslim holiday.

Once the young men were buried and as we mourned in our humble refugee home, my father fiddled hopelessly with the radio, trying to find any news broadcast, anywhere, that reported on the terrible events that took place in our camp on that day. No one did.

It was then that I realised that the story of my neighbourhood needed to be told. With time, I also understood that my refugee camp was a microcosm of a larger phenomenon in which the Palestinian discourse is purposely marginalised and Palestinian voices are deliberately muted.

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For nearly 25 years, I have undertaken a journey to reclaim the narrative of Palestine, on behalf of my neighbours, my friends and my people.

My recently published book, The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story, is my latest volume that aims to provide a collective articulation of the Palestinian struggle, centred around the Nakba  the destruction of the Palestinian homeland in 1948  and the millions of refugees that continue to live in exile since then.

One of the stories in the book is that of Ahmad Al-Haaj, an ageing communist living in Gaza. He escaped Palestine in 1948, when his village Al-Sawafir was attacked and then set ablaze by invading Jewish militias. These militias later became the Israeli army. To this day, Al-Haaj, 85, refuses to build a house in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Palestinian protesters demonstrated in support of victims shot dead during demonstrations in the occupied territories since the beginning of December 1987 (AFP)

I spoke to Al-Haaj as I conducted a series of interviews with Palestinian refugees in Palestine, the Middle East and around the world to try and understand what compels them to revere their right of return to their homes from which they, or their ancestors, were expelled 70 years ago.

Al-Haaj does not own a home in Gaza, because he fears that the moment he does he will resign himself to his exile. For him it is an emotional burden that he simply cannot afford to take on. He spent many years in an Israeli prison for his refusal to accept banishment to Gaza.

Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a racket to return a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian demonstrators run for cover from tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator shouts Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Tear gas canisters are fired by Israeli forces at Palestinian demonstrators Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A wounded Palestinian is evacuated Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a sling to hurl stones at Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A female demonstrator uses a slingshot to hurl stones at Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator with a slingshot looks on Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Female Palestinian demonstrators react to tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Israeli forces fire teargas canisters toward Palestinian demonstrators AFP Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Female demonstrators run for cover from tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian medics evacuate a wounded protester AP Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator moves a burning tire Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a racket to return a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian demonstrators during clashes with Israeli forces AFP/Getty

Throughout his life, Al-Haaj often thought of Al-Sawafir and told his family stories to anyone willing to listen: their happy lives before exile; the pain and loss after. The same sentiment echoes amongst many Palestinians, even those who were born after the Nakba.

I spoke to young people who feel so deeply connected to villages which all vanished long before they were born.

In Nablus, hundreds of protesters raised Palestinians flags and hurled rocks and bottles at Israeli soldiers to protest against the Balata Massacre in 1987 (AFP)

The Nakba  which in Arabic means the catastrophe  is not a mere date to be commemorated every 15 May; it is far more encompassing than a single event, however tragic. It represents the life that millions of Palestinians were unfairly denied; every day since has been a life of destitution, exile and want.

The Nakba, in some way, has thus become part of the collective identity for all Palestinians. It is now so ingrained into the consciousness of all Palestinians that it would be impossible to imagine a truly peaceful future without justly and carefully addressing that original crime.

Israeli Arabs throw stones at Israeli riot police in Nazareth, December 1987 (AFP)

Although I was born and raised in a Gaza refugee camp and then moved to the United States, strongly relating to a village that was erased from the map decades earlier is not, for me, an irrational act. My village of Beit Daras remains the single most important piece of earth that truly matters to me.

As a child, I learned from my grandfather to be proud: he was a handsome and strong peasant, with an unshakable faith. He managed to hide his deep sadness so well after he was expelled from his home in Palestine, along with his entire family. As he aged, he would sit for hours, between prayers, searching within his soul for the beautiful memories of his past. Occasionally, he would let out a mournful sigh, a few tears; yet, he never accepted his defeat, or the idea that Beit Daras was forever gone.

On the outskirts of Beirut, the Dekwaneh refugee camp, with its prefabricated, adobe-styled huts makes a stark contrast with the luxury apartment blocks of the Lebanese capital (Bettmann Archive)

My political consciousness developed as a result of the misery of the refugee camps, the determination to redeem the painful past, which saw the demise of my village, and the perpetual destitution of my family. My parents and grandparents, along with siblings, friends, classmates and neighbours are all buried in the refugee camp. My father died under siege in Gaza and neither Israel nor Egypt allowed me to see him for a final goodbye. Our Nakba is ongoing.

Seventy years after the Nakba, the battlefield is still there, delineated most starkly at the Gaza border where tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees continue to rally, holding their Great Return March, starting 30 March and ending on Tuesday, 15 May.

At both ends of this ongoing fight, Palestinians and Israelis champion a legacy that spans decades: Palestinian youth are carrying on with the same struggle that was espoused by generations of Palestinians since the onset of the Nakba. The Israeli army  which has killed scores and wounded thousands in recent weeks  is implementing the same bloody policies that armed Zionist gangs carried out when they ethnically cleansed the citizens of Palestine in 1948.

It is as if time has stood still, or that history has reproduced itself in a most profound pattern. For change to happen, a paradigm shift is required. This tragic and violent reality cannot be allowed to continue forever.

Palestinian children in Balata refugee camp (Getty)

It is critical that we relate the present to the past. The settler colonial mentality of the past continues to control Israels actions today, as it will govern its future behaviour if apartheid is not demolished, the occupation is allowed to perpetuate and the Nakba is not reversed.

The current Israeli land grab in the West Bank and the mushrooming illegal settlement construction that is squeezing Palestinians out of Jerusalem is a repeat of an earlier episode, a perpetual drama that has lasted more than a century.

Zionist colonial settlement in Palestine began in earnest in 1881, when the leaders of the Zionist Movement in Europe eyed Arab Palestine as an exclusive home for Jews, paying little heed to the indigenous inhabitants of the land. These early ambitions culminated into a bloody but well-orchestrated terror campaign in 1947-48, resulting in the creation of the state of Israel atop the ruins of Palestine. Nearly 600 Palestinian towns, villages and localities were destroyed to make space for an exclusively Jewish state.

Since then, only names and titles have changed. Zionist militias that orchestrated the genocide of the Palestinians prior to the establishment of Israel merged together to form the Israeli army; and the leaders of these groups became Israels leaders.

Palestinians during a protest to mark Nakba Day (15 May) near the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalems Old City in 2015 (Reuters)

At the end of his life, my grandfathers only wish was to be buried in Beit Daras. Instead, he was crammed into the ever-bourgeoning Nuseirat Refugee Camp cemetery. However, he remained a Badrasawi  as the people of my village are called  to the end, holding so passionately onto the memories of a place that, for him  for all of us  remains sacred and real.

For the millions of refugees, and for the thousands of protesters at the Gaza border, Palestine is no longer just a piece of earth but a perpetual fight for justice  in the name of those who died along the dusty trails of exile and of those who are yet to be born.

Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. His forthcoming book is The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story (Pluto Press, London). Baroud has a PhD in Palestine studies from the University of Exeter and is a non-resident scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California Santa Barbara. His website is ramzybaroud.net
Looking across his oranges grove, on top of one of Gazas highest hills, Abu Othman lays claim to the best view of Gaza, both its past and its present.

Smiling, he points his stick east, across the barrier wall towards Israel, and traces where as a boy, before the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, he rode his horse to visit the Arab villages of Burayr and Huj, then on the hills nearby then traces the line along which a caravan of camels used to travel, transporting supplies from Cairo, passing near the Gaza district villages and on to Jaffa.

Here was the old railway line connecting Cairo to Aleppo, the same line that brought Winston Churchill, then colonial secretary, to Gaza in 1921, when Churchill told the Palestinians, living by then under British rule, that they must accept a Jewish homeland in Palestine, as set out by the Balfour Declaration of 1917. In his declaration, Sir Arthur Balfour, the foreign secretary, had also promised to protect rights of Palestinians who lived here.

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But during the 1948 war, Britain did nothing to protect inhabitants of 200 Arab villages whose people were expelled by Israeli forces or fled in terror towards Gaza City, seeking safety behind Egyptian lines, nor to protect the other 500,000 refugees who fled elsewhere. Now mukhtar (elder) of a Gaza village called Bayt Hanoun, Abu Othman saw the 1948 refugees arrive in Gaza and recalls the stories of expulsion, massacres and barrel bombings that sped their flight.

Abu Othman, mukhtar of Beyt Hanoun, saw the 1948 refugees arrive in Gaza. Behind him is the Erez checkpoint and Israels barrier wall (Sarah Helm)

No longer smiling, he now traces lines that mark out Gazas present. Extending a gnarled finger west towards the Mediterranean Sea, he swings northeast and south following the barrier that encloses the coastal strip, with the Erez checkpoint, its caged walkways, gates and gantries sprawled just below us, locking in Gazas 2 million inhabitants  among them 1.3 million refugees  both the old who arrived in 1948 and their descendants.

Time will cure and all will be forgotten, said David Ben-Gurion, Israels first prime minister, which appeared to mean he expected the old refugees would die and their children would forget.

Arab villagers from a destroyed village near Gaza offer cake to a Jewish visitor from a nearby settlement. The visitor took the picture

But Abu Othmans memories have never faded. How can I forget when I look each day directly into the past? he asks. His friend, Abu Ahmad, walks past, pausing to tell us his mother was killed in 1948 at a massacre in Dimra, the Arab village that once stood on the land on which the Erez checkpoint was built. She was thrown in the village well with 10 others. I have never forgotten it. he says.

Gathering along the buffer zone below us, the younger generation of Gazans were also defying Ben-Gurions belief that they would forget. Clouds of tear gas float up towards us. We could see tents being erected and crowds gathering, preparing for the Great Return March, which culminates on Tuesday, the 70th anniversary of the Nakba or catastrophe, as Palestinians call the event that lead to their expulsion in 1948.

Palestinian demonstrators run from tear gas fired by Israeli forces on Friday (Reuters)

Everyone in the Great Return March knows full well they will not be returning to their 48 lands, as they call them  at least not any day soon. They know full well that they risk being killed by Israeli snipers by even approaching the barrier  40 have been shot dead in the past four weeks. But for most protesters it will be an achievement just to show the world they have not forgotten what happened in 1948, even if the world has forgotten them.

The right of return enshrined in 1948 in United Nations Resolution 194 is felt perhaps most strongly by Palestinian refugees of Gaza precisely because so many once lived just a few miles from Gazas walls. Almost all the refugees who reached Gaza were village farmers, deprived of their livelihoods too as they lived off the land. Running in terror, past other burning villages, they left grapes on the vine and wheat just harvested, taking nothing with them, such was the panic. Many soon tried to return if only to get food to eat and to finish the harvest, but almost all were forced back by Israeli troops. From the end of the war the attempt to return never stopped, but Israel called returnees terrorists, imprisoning them or shooting them on sight.

By the 1950s some Israeli leaders, most notably Moshe Dayan, its chief of staff, had faced the fact that the refugees of Gaza would not readily forget their expulsion.

In 1956, at a kibbutz called Nahal Oz, one mile from the Gaza border, a young Israeli was brutally killed by a Palestinian refugee who had crossed back over. Dayan spoke at the dead mans funeral, giving an address which some have called a defining speech of Zionism.

Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a racket to return a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian demonstrators run for cover from tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator shouts Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Tear gas canisters are fired by Israeli forces at Palestinian demonstrators Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A wounded Palestinian is evacuated Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a sling to hurl stones at Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A female demonstrator uses a slingshot to hurl stones at Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator with a slingshot looks on Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Female Palestinian demonstrators react to tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Israeli forces fire teargas canisters toward Palestinian demonstrators AFP Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Female demonstrators run for cover from tear gas fired by Israeli forces Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian medics evacuate a wounded protester AP Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator moves a burning tire Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures A demonstrator uses a racket to return a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops Reuters Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops: in pictures Palestinian demonstrators during clashes with Israeli forces AFP/Getty

Why should we complain of their [the Arabs] hatred for us?, asked Dayan, addressing the Israeli mourners. For eight years have they sat in the refugee camps of Gaza and seen with their own eyes how we have made a homeland of the soil and the villages where they and their forebears once dwelt.

But Dayans answer to this question was not to allow the Gaza refugees back, but but to prepare for perpetual conflict against hundreds and thousands of eyes and arms huddled together there ... waiting to tear us to pieces.

Had he been alive today, Dayan would have seen his dystopian prediction of perpetual conflict coming true right here on the Gaza side opposite Nahal Oz, where more blood has spilt in the past four weeks among the thousands of refugees huddled together than anywhere else.

I went down to the Nahal Oz section of the buffer zone in the days before the Great Return March began and saw teenagers already hobbling from gunshot wounds and a boy who had lost half a leg, being pushed in a wheelchair. I asked them why they threw themselves in front of Israeli snipers. They shrugged and said: Its our duty. They are on our lands.

Palestinian medics evacuate a wounded protester on Friday (AP)

Over the 70 years of conflict, there have been times of hope. The Gazans are a resilient people  the greatest patcher-uppers in the world, some say  and in 1993 they tried a patched-up peace plan, the Oslo accords. A Palestinian state was envisaged, constructed out of lands seized by Israel in the 1967  the West Bank, captured from Jordan, and Gaza, captured from Egypt, were to be joined by a safe passage, and East Jerusalem was to be the Palestinian capital.

Oslo failed to address the right of return of 1948 refugees, but its two-state compromise would end the conflict, negotiators promised. I was in Gaza on the day the accords were signed, and saw euphoria well up as doves appeared on every wall. But when even the limited promises of Oslo were not fulfilled, Palestinians felt betrayed and showed it by supporting the militants of Hamas, who sent suicide bombers into Israel. Soon Israel had put up its wall. It bombarded Gaza in a series of huge military offensives, leaving about 2,500 Palestinians dead.

Arabs from the village of Huj pass a bucket of water to the newly arrived Jewish settlers at the kibbutz of Dorot, circa 1942. Huj was destroyed in 1948

When I returned in the aftermath of the most recent offensive in 2014, I was prepared for a very different place, but even the height of the wall was a shock: it had hidden the whole of Gaza from Israels view. In fact, the entire Gaza story now seemed hidden; Israel simply called Gaza a terror entity, a definition that US and the Europeans seemed often ready to accept as Gaza was now placed under permanent siege.

On the Gaza side, however, the people were remembering as never before. Such was the destruction of the 2014 war, with people made homeless and forced to live in tents again, people called it the second Nakba.

Female Palestinian demonstrators react to tear gas fired by Israeli forces (Reuters)

Memories of 1948 were literally being churned up in the rubble, in part because the two-state solution was so obviously dead and the people were looking back again to the root cause of their despair.

The young were also looking back to 1948, as I heard when visiting a Rafah girls school early in 2015: Why did Balfour give away our land?, asked one teenager. Why should I be a refugee when my land is 1 kilometre away? asked another.

Moreover, the younger generation, having grown up under the siege, were exasperated by Hamass failure to solve their problems, scorning their leaders as old men whose days were numbered. We simply want to get out of Gaza and breathe, they said again and again. With the internet now available, they could see their old lands and search for their old villages on Google Maps. Instead of a two-state solution, many of the young of Gaza now propose their own compromise peace formula, a one-state solution with Jews and Arabs living side by side.

Remains of a house in the destroyed Palestinian village of Isdud, near Gaza (Sarah Helm)

From the top of his hill, Abu Othman thinks he has a good view not only of past and present but of the future too, and points now towards the Negev desert in southern Israel and to the Egyptian Sinai, where in both places space is being cleared, and the Bedouin are moved to townships.

Many in Gaza believe that these land clearances are part of Israels plan to carve Gaza off permanently from the West Bank, attach to it a small amount of the Negev in the east and push its southern boundary into the Sinai, with Egypts agreement, thus creating a bigger Gaza prison, which Israel will call a state.

It wont work, says Abu Othman. Eventually the Palestinians will return. Not soon. But eventually. God willing.
Betfreds managing director has urged employees to lobby their MP to oppose the expected cut to the 100 stake punters can wager every 20 seconds on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), a leaked email has revealed.

Fixed-odd betting machines have been called the crack-cocaine of gambling. They allow gamblers to bet with high stakes and critics say they are highly addictive and a social blight.

It is believed Treasury-backed plans to impose a 2 maximum stake are being considered, following a review, with a decision understood to be imminent.

The gambling industry has launched a last-ditch campaign to prevent the move, citing disputed figures  which have been discredited from within the industry  that claim 21,000 jobs would subsequently be at risk.

This would have a significant impact on the viability of the number of our shops and therefore employment in our businesses  it is not too late to warn your MP of the unintended consequences of such a drastic cut, reads the email sent to Betfred employees from Mark Stebbings, the managing director.

Simply fill in the postcode of where you live, the system will identify who your local MP is, then fill in your contact details and press send  the letter is already written for you and it will be emailed to your MP.

The email leaked to The Independent appears to show Betfred's managing director urging employees to lobby their MP

The pre-written email, beneath an email with the subject 21,000 jobs are at stake, contains a link to the Back Your Local Bookie website, a campaign set up by the Association of British Bookmakers.

This is unfair not only to the majority who gamble responsibly but also to my local betting shop and the staff who work there, Betfred employees are urged to say.

However, an MP said the real risk to jobs in bookmakers is the introduction of self-service betting terminals to shops, which could soon see them completely unmanned.

This is a last-minute desperate attempt to stop the inevitable, said Carolyn Harris, a Labour MP who has campaigned for gambling reform.

The introduction of self-service betting terminals to bookmakers shops will be the key driver of any future job losses, not a 2 maximum stake.

This is another classic example of the industry protecting profits, not people; whether employees or punters.

Bookmakers have cut the number of staff in their shops over the past decade, with many of them now single-manned for large periods during the day  something previously unheard of.

It has been reported that Betfred staff were told just prior to Christmas that their pay would be cut and thereafter linked to fixed-odd terminal profits, while other jobs were placed on notice.

Betfred staff, many of whom are on the minimum wage, have also been offered high-interest loans at 39.9 per cent APR, on the staff intranet from a company owned by the companys billionaire owner Fred Done.

Last year, Mr Done was the 22nd highest donor to the Conservative Party, giving 250,000.

A Campaign for Fairer Gambling spokesperson said: After years of treating their staff appallingly, and cutting jobs while increasing the number of FOBTs, Betfred are now trying to blackmail their staff into lobbying MPs against a reduction to 2 a spin.

There are at least 34,388 machines in bookmakers shops, which are clustered in low income areas, and have become a staple of the high street.

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For example, there are more than twice as many machines in Bethnal Green and Bow as in Chelsea and Fulham and, accordingly, more than twice as much is gambled on them.

Bethnal Green and Bow also have more than three times as many people claiming unemployment benefits as Chelsea and Fulham, figures from 2014 showed.

British gamblers lose 1.8bn on FOBTs every year, up 73 per cent since 2009, despite the number of machines rising by just 9 per cent  indicating people are losing ever larger sums.

Each machine rakes in an average of 52,887 a year, which amounts to around twice the national average wage.

There are 2.3 million people at risk of developing a gambling addiction in the UK, including up to 560,000 problem gamblers.

More than one in 10, 11.5 per cent, of the people who use FOBT machines in bookmakers are problem gamblers.

There were more than 230,000 individual sessions in 2016 where punters lost more than 1,000 on the machines.
Serial killer Dennis Nilsen, who murdered at least 12 men during the late 1970s and early 1980s, has died in prison aged 72.

Nilsen died in custody at HMP Full Sutton in Yorkshire on Saturday, a spokesman for the Prison Service said in a statement.

The former civil servant executed and dismembered many of his victims at his home in Muswell Hill, north London.

He was jailed for life in 1983 after being convicted of six counts of murder and two attempted murders, with a recommendation he serve a minimum of 25 years.

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It is understood authorities believe Nilsen died from natural causes.

A spokesman for the Prison Service said: Dennis Andrew Nilsen, date of birth 23 November 1945, died in custody at HMP Full Sutton on Saturday 12 May 2018.

As with all deaths in custody, there will be an independent investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.

Nilsen is known to have killed a minimum of 12 men between 1978 and 1983, although he initially confessed to committing 15 murders.

He mainly targeted homosexual or homeless men, luring individuals he met in bars or on public transport to his flat with offers of alcohol and shelter.

Nilsen, who killed all of his victims by strangulation, would often keep the bodies of those he murdered at his home for extended periods of time.

He would then dispose of their remains by either flushing them down the lavatory or burning them on bonfires.

His crimes were only discovered after body parts were found to be blocking a drain outside his property.

In a 1993 interview, the Scottish-born killer said he enjoyed caring for the bodies of his victims, storing remains he could not dispose of under floorboards or in cupboards.

The bodies are all gone, he said. There is nothing left. But I still feel a spiritual communion with these people.

Nilsens initial 25-year sentence was later upgraded to a full life term.

Additional reporting by PA
If they hadnt shot the dog, there would probably have been no Very English Scandal.

There would have been no BBC mini-series of that name 43 years later, with the role of Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe being played, in an inspired bit of casting, by Hugh Grant, an actor with first-hand experience of what a scandal feels like.

But the shooting of Rinka the Great Dane in a rainswept layby on Exmoor on October 23 1975 set in motion a chain of events that finally exposed a scandal that might otherwise have lain dormant in the glittering career of Jeremy Thorpe.

Hugh Grant as Jeremy Thorpe in the forthcoming BBC series (Ray Burmiston/BBC/Blueprint/Amazon/Sony)

As the title of the BBC series implies, it was indeed a very English scandal, veering between tragedy and farce.

It saw Thorpe - Eton, Oxford, Inns of Court - tried and acquitted of conspiracy to murder alongside a fruit machine salesman described by the judge as "the sort of man whose taste might run to a cocktail bar in the living-room".

It seemed to expose a certain kind of upper class sense of entitlement, and feed off a widespread, if occasionally hypocritical homophobia that damaged both accuser and accused.

The scandal could be said to have destroyed the lives of two men (as well as that of the dog): Rinkas owner Norman Scott, and the former stable hands alleged ex-lover, Jeremy Thorpe.

If things had turned out differently, Thorpe would now be remembered as one of the most dazzling political talents of his era: MP by 30, one of Britains youngest ever party leaders by the age of 37, in 1967.

Before the storm: Jeremy Thorpe in his heyday (Getty)

Defying the spirit of the supposedly Swinging Sixties, he was frequently seen in Edwardian-style three-piece suits with silk waistcoat, watch chain and trilby.

But the public loved him. He had a flair for publicity, and a ruthless ambition to match.

By 1974, he seemed on the brink of power. He had taken his party from the disaster of 1970 which reduced it to just six seats, to getting 14 MPs, nearly six million votes and an almost 20 per cent share of the electorate in that Februarys General Election.

Edward Heaths who runs Britain? election had resulted in stalemate, with no party having an overall majority. But Thorpe was the most popular party leader, and Heath seemed willing to offer him a power-sharing coalition, with perhaps the Home Secretary's job thrown in.

The deal, though, fell through. Many reasons have been cited over the years, but one is that Thorpe had a past.

It wasnt known to the public, but it was being whispered about in the corridors of Westminster.

In a biography that had to wait until Thorpes death before it could be published, author Michael Bloch characterised him as a politician who thought the rules were for little people - who loved illicit sex for both the immediate excitement, and the later thrill of being able to extricate himself from any potential scandal.

Thorpe, Bloch suggested, had a Houdini complex.

But there was one man he couldnt escape.

Norman Scott, seen here at the 1979 Old Bailey trial, was a 20-year-old stable hand and part-time model when Thorpe first met him (PA)

Norman Scott was 20 years old when Thorpe first met him. The young man was grooming a horse called Harbour Light at the Kingham Stables in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, owned by Thorpes friend Norman Vater - or the Hon Norman Van de Brecht de Vater as he sometimes styled himself.

Thorpe had been elected MP for North Devon the previous year. The stable hands good looks were hard to miss  he sometimes worked as a male model.

It seems the MP told the handsome stable lad that if he ever needed help, he should look him up in the House of Commons.

And fatefully for all concerned, fairly soon afterwards the stable hand did need help.

He fell out with his employer Vater/ Van de Brecht de Vater, and suffered a nervous breakdown. In November 1961, a week after discharging himself from a mental health clinic, the now-jobless Scott went to the House of Commons to look up Thorpe.

Rather than fob off a young man he barely knew, Thorpe drove Scott to his mothers house in Surrey.

He introduced him to his mother as Peter, a TV cameraman for a documentary he was about to present, and after dinner, showed him to the spare room.

And this, according to Scott, is where the sex started  six years before homosexuality was partially decriminalised in 1967.

In an account that may have pandered to the prejudices of the time, Scott told the eventual trial that the sex had been so painful he had to bite the pillow to stop himself crying out in pain.

The next morning, he claimed, Thorpe popped his head round the spare bedroom door to ask him how hed like his eggs done.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA 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 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. 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In the biography, Bloch says that Thorpe paid Scotts rent, gave him pocket money and treated him to outings to Parliament, the Reform Club and expensive London restaurants, while letting him order bespoke clothes from his tailor.

Until his death in December 2014 Thorpe claimed that this had merely been an affectionate friendship, with no sex involved at any stage.

But there is evidence to suggest the twice-married Thorpe did have sex with other men, at a time when homosexuality was illegal.

In one recently uncovered letter, written in 1961, Thorpe confided to an American friend: How I adored SF [San Francisco] Certainly it is the one city where a gay person can let down his defences and feel free and unhunted  If Im ever driven out of public life in Britain for a gay scandal then I shall settle in SF!

The move to San Francisco never happened, but the scandal did, albeit that it was long delayed.

The relationship soured, partly, the Bloch biography suggested, because Scott grew jealous when Thorpe began to prefer to have casual sex with sailors rather than him.

In 1964 Thorpe told Scott he never wanted to see him again  despite the younger man allegedly having threatened during at least one row to expose the MPs homosexuality.

And Scott did try to expose Thorpe. He went to the police, he went to journalists.

But no-one really listened.

Scotts trouble may have been that he came across as loon, to use the term deployed by Private Eye magazine, one of the first publications to take him seriously.

It is possible that the sheer enormity of his story had damaged him to the point that he was unable to tell it coherently. Perhaps it is significant that in the run-up to the BBC series starting on May 20, Scott told the Mail on Sunday: My story isn't a comedy  it's about the total destruction of a person.

One Private Eye writer, in a book to celebrate the magazines 50th anniversary, described Scott as having appeared to be a classic example of a loon: So obsessed and damaged by his own story he was unable to tell it clearly, waffling on at such length about the supposed theft of his National Insurance card that the other part of his story  that he had had a lengthy affair with Thorpe when homosexuality was illegal  did not get taken seriously.

Perhaps, then, if Thorpe had done nothing, the story would have gone away before it was ever printed.

But Scott was also pestering Thorpe over his missing National Insurance card, which he claimed the MP had taken, preventing him from getting work.

In 1967 Thorpes friend, the Liberal MP Peter Bessell began paying Scott money to get round his National Insurance card problem  though you could argue that the cash was also intended to keep him quiet.

Thorpe endured his Scott problem for years, and then after the February 1974 election  according to one theory  he saw his hopes of power dashed by his secret past.

If ever he was to realise his Eton schoolboy ambition of becoming prime minister, it has been claimed, Thorpe realised he needed his past to disappear.

And so, it seems, he turned to a cast of characters that might be hard to assemble anywhere else but Britain, and who would have certainly fitted in to any Ealing Comedy.

First there was merchant banker David Holmes, best man at Thorpes 1968 wedding, assistant treasurer of the Liberal Party.

Holmes approached John Le Mesurier, no relation to the Dads Army comedy star, but instead a former managing director of a carpet discount centre  a cut-price carpet salesman was how some described him.

In the hope of finding a man who knew a man who could do a job, Le Mesurier turned to George Deakin. Mr Deakin has been described as a nightclub owner, a fruit machine salesman and, by the judge at his trial, the sort of man whose taste might run to a cocktail bar in the living-room".

He also seems to have been the sort of man who thought it would be a good idea to hire Andrew Newton, unimprovably described by Bloch as a raffish airline pilot who boasted he was prepared to do anything for money.

At the trial, Holmes insisted that the only intention had been to frighten Scott.

If that was the case, Newton succeeded admirably.

If, however, he had been instructed to kill Scott, he failed farcically.

Andrew Newton arriving at the Old Bailey in 1979 (PA)

The pilot lured Scott into coming with him in a yellow Mazda to the secluded layby. As the two men got out Rinka followed, perhaps expecting a walk.

But Newton pulled out a pistol and shot the Great Dane dead.

A horrified Scott is said to have screamed You cant involve the dog! and kneeled down to try to give his pet the kiss of life, thus presenting any would-be hitman with the perfect opportunity to put a bullet in his head.

But the weapon Newton had chosen was a 1910 Mauser borrowed from an antique collector chum.

The prosecution claimed that when the antique pistol was placed against Scott's head, it jammed.

Newton was allegedly left with little option but to swear profusely, get back into his Mazda and drive off.

The result was that a secret scandal known only in the Westminster bubble became an active firearms case being investigated by the police, who didnt have that much difficulty in apprehending Newton.

By December 1975 the Private Eye diarist Auberon Waugh was trailing Newtons first appearance before Minehad magistrates with the cryptic hope that sorrow over his friends dog will not cause Mr Thorpes premature retirement from public life.

In turn, the Minehead Magistrates Court appearance guaranteed a packed press bench for what would otherwise have been a piffling social security fraud case in January 1976.

The defendant Norman Scott took the first opportunity ever presented to him of being able to air his allegations about Thorpe while protected by court privilege, in front of a bunch of by now fascinated journalists.

There was a repeat performance in March 1976 at Newton's crown court trial for a firearms offence in connection with the layby shooting.

Newton tried to keep Thorpe out of it by claiming he was the one being blackmailed by Scott. But Scott told the court otherwise.

Thorpe now engaged in a crisis PR campaign. Perhaps unwisely, he let The Sunday Times quote from one of his letters, in an article headlined The Lies of Norman Scott.

The article probably had the opposite effect to the one Thorpe intended. The letter, written to Scott in 1962 included the lines: Bunnies can (and will) go to France. Yours affectionately, Jeremy. I miss you.

To some readers, it was suggestive of a little bit more than friendship.

In May 1976 Thorpe resigned the leadership of the Liberal Party, denying everything, but claiming the allegations were damaging the party.

Then Newton was released from jail.

In 1977 he went to the London News with a changed story. Instead of acting alone to protect himself, he said, he had received a 5,000 downpayment on a contract to murder.

The police began reinvestigating the shooting of the Great Dane in the layby.

On August 2 1978 Thorpe participated in a House of Commons debate about Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). It was his last active contribution to parliamentary life.

On August 4 1978 he appeared at Minehead Magistrates Court charged with conspiracy to murder alongside his best man, the cut-price carpet merchant and the fruit machine salesman.

They reconvened in May 1979, for the start of the Old Bailey trial.

Some say the resulting proceedings exposed a prosecution based on the flimsy evidence of people whose claims could not be trusted.

It wasnt just Scott who had the accuracy of his statements questioned.

Appearing for the prosecution in an attempt to corroborate the suggestion that Thorpe wanted to get rid of Scott, Peter Bessell was forced to admit to involvement in an early incident of chequebook journalism.

He said he had a 50,000 newspaper contract for his story, but it would be reduced to 25,000 if Thorpe was acquitted, an arrangement the judge described as "deplorable".

Others, though, have seen the eventual acquittal of Thorpe and the others as the Establishment protecting its own.

Writing in The Independent in 2014, Richard Ingrams, Private Eye editor at the time of the scandal, accused the judge, Sir Joseph Cantley, of leaning heavily in favour of a fellow barrister.

Mr Justice Cantley, Ingrams wrote, May have thought Thorpe was plainly a bit of a bounder, but for all that he was one of us  a member of the great freemasonry of the Law.

The judges summing up does seem to have been something to behold.

He accused Newton of lying because he was so "determined to milk the case as hard as he can".

But that was nothing compared to what he said about Scott, the man alleging a gay love affair.

He was, the judge told the jury "a neurotic, spineless creature, addicted to hysteria and self-advertisement.

"He is a crook, a fraud, a sponger. He is a whiner, a parasite."

By contrast, Thorpe was, in the eyes of the judge, a man of "hitherto unblemished reputation" and "a national figure with a very distinguished public record".

The jury returned not guilty verdicts.

Thorpe was found not guilty, but the acquittal came too late to save the career of a man who had dreamed of becoming prime minister since his Eton schooldays (Getty Images)

Thorpe issued a brief statement calling the verdict a complete vindication.

But it was too late.

Five days before the Old Bailey trial began, Thorpe had been ejected from the seat he had held for 20 years in the 1979 General Election that made Margaret Thatcher prime minister.

Thorpe lost to a Conservative, but among those who had also opposed him in North Devon had been Auberon Waugh, the Private Eye diarist who had been one of the first to hint publicly about the scandal.

He stood on behalf of the Dog Lovers Party.
Facial recognition software used by the UKs biggest police force has returned false positives in more than 98 per cent of alerts generated, The Independent can reveal, with the countrys biometrics regulator calling it not yet fit for use.

The Metropolitan Polices system has produced 104 alerts of which only two were later confirmed to be positive matches, a freedom of information request showed. In its response the force said it did not consider the inaccurate matches false positives because alerts were checked a second time after they occurred.

Facial recognition technology scans people in a video feed and compares their images to pictures stored in a reference library or watch list. It has been used at large events like the Notting Hill Carnival and a Six Nations Rugby match.

The system used by another force, South Wales Police, has returned more than 2,400 false positives in 15 deployments since June 2017. The vast majority of those came during that months Uefa Champions League final in Cardiff, and overall only 234 alerts  fewer than 10 per cent  were correct matches.

Both forces are trialling the software.

The UKs biometrics commissioner, Professor Paul Wiles, told The Independent that legislation to govern the technology was urgently needed.

He said: I have told both police forces that I consider such trials are only acceptable to fill gaps in knowledge and if the results of the trials are published and externally peer-reviewed. We ought to wait for the final report, but I am not surprised to hear that accuracy rates so far have been low as clearly the technology is not yet fit for use.

In terms of governance, technical development and deployment is running ahead of legislation and these new biometrics urgently need a legislative framework, as already exists for DNA and fingerprints.

The Home Office has promised to publish a biometric strategy in June and I trust that this will propose a legislative framework. It is important in terms of public trust that the public are clear when their biometrics might be taken and what they might be used for, and that parliament has decided those rules.

But a Home Office spokesman admitted this week that the department could not say when the long-delayed biometrics strategy would be published.

Campaigners said the intrinsically Orwellian facial recognition software should be scrapped, while a senior academic warned that governments faced grave challenges in preventing potential abuse of the technology.

Silkie Carlo, director of the Big Brother Watch pressure group, which is to launch a campaign on the issue on Tuesday, said: Police must immediately stop using real-time facial recognition if they are to stop misidentifying thousands of innocent citizens as criminals.

It is an intrinsically Orwellian police tool that has resulted in ordinary people being stopped and asked for their ID to prove their innocence.

It is alarming and utterly reckless that police are using a technology that is almost entirely inaccurate, that they have no legal power for, and that poses a major risk to basic democratic freedoms. It must be dropped.

Tao Zhang, a senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, told The Independent that a lack of open debate about facial recognition technology could clearly be exploited by an authoritarian state for purpose of political control, as the case of China illustrates.

While checks and balances existed in democracies like Britain, she added, with such a rapidly developing technology, there is danger that public policy may not keep pace.

Dr Zhang added: From medical research, healthcare to crime control and many other fields, facial recognition potentially has huge benefits, but it also imposes grave challenges for the government to prevent commercial and political exploitation of it for illegal acts.

The Met told The Independent no end date for its experiment had been set. The force said it had made no arrests through the system, and deleted images involved in false positive matches within 30 days of the error. Images that do not generate alerts are immediately deleted, a spokesman said.

At least years Notting Hill Carnival, however, one person was reportedly detained erroneously following the use of facial recognition. The Met insisted they were not technically arrested, and instead released when officers realised they had already been dealt with for a public order offence, Sky News reported at the time.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA 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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The Mets spokesman said: The equipment was used at the past two Notting Hill Carnivals and at the 2017 Remembrance Sunday service to assess if it could assist police in identifying known offenders in large events, in order to protect the wider public.

While we are trialling this technology we have engaged with the mayors Office for Policing and Crime ethics panel, Home Office biometrics and forensics ethics panel, surveillance camera commissioner, the information commissioner, the biometrics commissioner, and Big Brother Watch. Liberty was invited to observe its use at the carnival last year.

South Wales Police said it operated two systems  one called Locate, the real-time software to which the false positives figure relates, and the other Identify. Identify is used more than 100 times a month to help track down criminals, it said, while Locate is deployed when deemed proportionate like at major sporting events.

Locates image thumbnails are deleted within 31 days, the force said in a statement. That system has contributed to the arrest of 24 people since last June, while Identify was involved in 450 detentions.

A SWP spokeswoman added: The use of automated facial recognition (AFR) in South Wales Police has to be for a policing purpose and all enquiries have to deemed as being proportionate for the intended purpose.

[It] is still in project phase and as such there is a robust governance structure around its use with bi-monthly project boards chaired by chief officers.

Running in parallel to this is the AFR strategic partnership board, which includes representatives from strategic partners.

The deployment and use of AFR is governed by the Protection of Freedom Act 2012 with oversight provided by the surveillance camera commissioner.

In an interview with The Independent, Tony Porter, the surveillance camera commissioner, said he was concerned by the number of false positives AFR technology produced.

He said: The cause of concern goes right across the whole use of a surveillance camera. Ive got concerns about the quality of the technology.

That they could be discriminatory against race, sexual orientation and even age causes me concern.

Ive got concerns about the quantity of false positives. Ive got concerns that the commercial sector may be using it without a proper policy of interdiction.

And, due to delays at the Home Office, police forces were taking the lead in developing a governance structure for facial recognition, he said.

For that reason they must ensure they were transparent and accountable in their use of the technology, and that the public could understand it, he added. There is no space, in this area, for covert use of this type of equipment thats being used in a public space.

But eventually, I think there needs to be much more of a framework put around this equipment because its very invasive, Mr Porter said, calling for a proper, robust and effective regulation regime.

Nevertheless, he said both SWP and the Met had been working with him on the issue and that their trials were legitimate. I firmly believe that the police must use new technology. Theyre not Luddites. Theres not a regulatory framework and to ask them to desist ... Theyve already been waiting five years. I dont blame the police for piloting it.

Mr Porter said a council including him, police chiefs and civil liberties groups was due to meet later this month and that facial recognition would be the main item on the agenda.
Britain needs to work more closely than ever with European states in order to confront the intense and unrelenting international terrorist threat, as well as unprecedented levels of aggressive and pernicious actions by Vladimir Putins Russia, the head of MI5 has stressed on Monday.

Terrorist atrocities, with the potential to inflict widespread deaths and injuries, have been thwarted in Britain at the rate of one every month since the Westminster attack in March 2017, Andrew Parker said, while also pointing out that the threat from Isis remains as lethal and active as ever.

At the same time, the attempted assassinations of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, with the first use of a nerve agent in Europe for the first time since the Second World War, was a shocking and graphic example of how the country is facing unprecedented illicit violence by the Kremlin. The Salisbury attack, Mr Parker says, was a deliberate and targeted malign activity.

The director-general of the security service used his first public speech outside the UK, and his first since the Salisbury attack, to stress the vital need to maintain and increase liaison action with European allies to confront what he and his colleagues regard as clear and present dangers from terrorism and state-sponsored undercover warfare.

The address in Berlin comes at a time when there is deep concern about security cooperation with the European Union amid the bitter wrangling following the UK vote to leave the European Union and the prospect of a hard Brexit.

In the latest acrimonious chapter, Theresa Mays government has threatened to lessen security cooperation with former European Union partners if London cannot continue to use information post-Brexit from the Galileo satellite system. The European Commission has declared that one of the control centres of the system will be moved from the UK to Spain.

In a recent report, the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee warned: The government risks sleepwalking into a crisis by appearing to assume that the shared UK-EU interest in security cooperation will lead to swift and easy agreement of complex legal and constitutional problems.

Moscow has been accused of interference in favour of the Leave campaign in the Brexit referendum and the US presidential election that took Donald Trump to the White House, as well as elections in France, Germany, Italy and Catalonia. Condemning what he termed the unprecedented amount of disinformation, the MI5 chief will stress the urgent need to shine a light through the fog of lies, half-truths and obfuscation that pours out of their propaganda machines.

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Mr Parker thanked European states for showing solidarity with Britain following the Salisbury attack by expelling Russian officials working under diplomatic credentials from their countries.

Turning to terrorism, Mr Parker said there have been 45 terrorist attacks across Europe in the last two years, highlighting the need for the UK and its continental partners to work with each other. Effective security partnership is imperative: In todays uncertain world we need that shared strength more than ever.



Reflecting on his 35 years in the security field, he said: European intelligence cooperation today is simply unrecognisable to what it looked like five years ago. The Counter-Terrorism Group is the largest multinational counter-terrorism enterprise in the world where real-time intelligence-sharing taking place every day involves thousands of exchanges on advanced security networks every week.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA 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. 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

The need for vigilance, the director-general maintained, has not lessened with Isis suffering battlefield losses in Syria and Iraq. Daesh [Isis] still aspires to direct devastating and more complex attacks despite territorial losses.

But, he insisted, MI5, the police and other security agencies in the UK are able confront the danger. He will say he is confident about our ability to tackle these threats, because of the strength and resilience of our democratic systems, the resilience of our societies and the values of we share with our European partners.
Teachers at a private boarding school have apologised after a group of boys blacked up and dressed as slaves for a photograph, posting it on Instagram.

Sixth-formers at the exclusive Oratory School in Oxfordshire wore the make-up and costumes for their leaving pictures, prompting outrage on social media.

The school, whose former pupils include rugby union player Danny Cipriani and which charges more than 11,000 a term for boarding and tuition, condemned their actions.

The pupils tried to go to an informal photoshoot made up as enslaved cotton workers but they were turned away by the headmaster.

However, the boys then took their own picture, which was posted on Instagram with the caption revolt.

When the photo was shared on Twitter, the Roman Catholic school came in for a torrent of criticism.

One user wrote: What kind of boys are you raising, Oratory School? Zero class despite their toff parents spending ludicrous amounts on their education.

Another said: Its 2018 and not much has changed! Not only did @oratoryschool allow students to do blackface, they have completely ignored the issue.

A third called for the boys to be expelled.

A spokesperson for the school said in response to complaints: It has been brought to our attention that a photo was recently posted on social media of a small number of pupils from our school while dressed in an offensive manner.

The headmaster and senior staff were present for the photo and refused to allow the offensively dressed pupils to participate and the photo was taken without them being included.

The photo  the existence of which we were unaware  that was taken and posted on social media was taken unofficially and was in no way with the consent or blessing of the school.

The statement said school chiefs were extremely shocked and saddened that it had happened and apologised unreservedly for the offence caused.

We are dealing with this matter internally, it added.

The Oratory School unequivocally condemns racist imagery of any sort.

We will strengthen our tutorial programme to ensure that it is understood by all our pupils that such representations are utterly unacceptable.

In 2014, a former housemistress at the school told a tribunal a pupil stoned wild birds, skinned live cats and humiliated younger boys.
High street newsagents are to sell so-called porn passes that will allow adults to visit over-18 websites anonymously.

The 16-digit cards will allow browsers to avoid giving personal details online when asked to prove their age.

Instead, they would show shopkeepers a passport or driving licence when buying the pass.

The UKs film censor, the British Board of Film Classification, carried out a public consultation ahead of age-verification laws that are to be introduced this year that will require viewers to prove they are over 18 when viewing certain sites.

The legislation is designed to stop children accessing online pornography.

But there are concerns that asking adults to hand over passport or driving licence details to view adult material could leave them open to data-hacking and blackmail.

Some 56 per cent of British adults admitted to watching pornography in a 2014 study carried out by The Observer.

David Austin, chief executive with the BBFC, told The Daily Telegraph that such a process would be simpler than people think to create.

A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, which is responsible for the new legislation, said: We are in the process of implementing some of the strictest data protection laws in the world.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA 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. 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

A wide variety of online age verification solutions exist, or are in development, and they will have to abide by these high standards. We expect data security to be a high priority in the BBFCs guidance on age verification arrangements.

The BBFC will not create the new verification systems but is overseeing their implementation.

The new legislation was originally intended to be implemented in April but has been pushed back amid concerns it was not yet fit for purpose.
Student organisations with close to a million members have joined forces and written to MPs demanding a referendum on a final Brexit deal.

Representatives from unions at 60 of the countrys universities and colleges, claiming to represent just under one million students across the UK, are calling on MPs to back a peoples vote on a final Brexit deal, citing fears that Brexit could have a disastrous impact on their future prospects.

In the letter, elected student representatives say they believe the European Union has been a force for good for UK society, but that they accepted the result of the June 2016 referendum.

But the letter said the world is a different place to 2016 and that Brexiteers did not keep their campaign promises, with details about a post-Brexit UK only emerging now.

It also argues that large numbers of young people who were too young to vote during the referendum in 2016 need to have a say on the biggest issue affecting their future.

The joint letter was organised by For our Futures Sake (FFS), a campaign led by students and young people across the UK who have decided to stand up and be counted and who believe that they will be better served by staying in the European Union.

Previous research from the London School of Economics has suggested that turnout among young people at the referendum in June 2016 was around 64 per cent in the 18-24 age group, while pollsters said around 70 per cent voted to remain in the referendum.

Ellie Keiller, president of the University of Birmingham Students Guild, told The Independent: Given the fact that 750,000 young people turn 18 every year, it is only fair that they get a say on this. It is they who will have to live with the effects of any Brexit deal the longest.

I have signed this letter because I want the whole of the UK  including young people  to have a say on the final deal, but at least this time we will know what we are voting for. This is about ensuring an open and fair democracy. We are only asking for an equal say with true information.

For all these reasons, I am calling on MPs in Birmingham  the youngest city in Europe  to get behind the letter and call for a vote on the final deal.

Amatey Doku, deputy president of the National Union of Students (NUS), told The Observer: When more than 120 elected student officers, representing nearly a million young people, call for something with one clear voice, they need to be listened to.

Mr Doku said the NUS was calling for a peoples vote on the Brexit deal, adding that young people cannot see how the government can deliver a Brexit deal that works for them.

Responding to the students letter, Dominic Shellard, vice-chancellor of De Montfort University in Leicester, tweeted: The cabinet is at war over two custom union options the EU is never going to accept in a million years. Were 10 months away from leaving the EU with no plan whatsoever. Im with the students #PeoplesVote.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA 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. 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

Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson, student mobilisation co-ordinator at FFS, told Sky News: The signatories of this letter are elected representatives who represent the best interest of their members and they have all signed up to the fact that they think their members are going to be better served by having a peoples vote on the terms of the Brexit deal. They have a mandate to do this and many of them have pro-Remain policy at their unions.

But Tom Harwood, the former leader of the Vote Leave student wing, disagrees. He described the campaign as farcical and said this was led by 100 people from the NUS who are very upset the referendum result didnt go the way they wanted it to go and so they want to have another go.

The letter comes after Labour veteran Peter Mandelson said the decision on how the UK leaves the EU will have to go back to the people.

Last month, Labours leader in the European Parliament, Richard Corbett, said demand for a second referendum on the final Brexit deal was growing as the damaging impact of leaving the EU was becoming clearer.

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, previously said Labour had not ruled out a second referendum, or any form of democratic engagement on Brexit  though he said his preference was for a general election.

Labour has so far shied away from backing another referendum on the final Brexit vote.

The government insists that if the final deal is voted down by the UK Parliament then it will take Britain out of the EU without a deal and quit the bloc on default World Trade Organisation terms  which practically all economists agree would be the most damaging Brexit scenario.
Former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan is joining forces with Labour and Liberal Democrat heavyweights to warn that Britain is being held to ransom by fellow Tories hell bent on a hard Brexit.

David Miliband and Nick Clegg will share a platform with Ms Morgan in the starkest evidence yet that party allegiances are breaking down as battle rages over departure from the EU.

The former education secretary will condemn some of her fellow Conservatives for trying to set Britain on a path to a fantasy island of economic pain and diminished standing.

Less than six months before the deadline for concluding the terms of our departure, hard-Brexit demands are holding the countrys negotiating position to ransom, the trio have written in a joint article.

Even a comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU predicted the UK will see growth drop by 5 per cent over the next 15 years compared with current forecasts, as a result of additional bureaucratic border checks.

The ensuing economic pain will be felt in every part of the country. This is not Project Fear; it is project reality based on the governments own analysis.

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

Ms Morgan, together with the former Lib Dem deputy prime minister and Labour foreign secretary, called on MPs to stand up to the hardest of Brexits.

Over the coming months, MPs will have the chance to table amendments to Bills  and vote for those amendments  which can prevent the country from suffering the long-term damage that a hard Brexit will cause.

The pro-Brexit press will angrily protest, but what is the role of MPs if not to improve and protect the lives of their constituents?

The article, in The Mail on Sunday, comes ahead of the joint appearance on Monday, when the trio will flesh out their proposed path of resistance in parliament.

It does not name-and-shame any Conservatives, but comes just days after Boris Johnson broke ranks to condemn Theresa Mays preferred customs plan as crazy.

Meanwhile, Jacob Rees-Mogg leads a 60-strong group of Tory MPs that has suggested it will try to topple the prime minister if she compromises too far.

Ms Morgan has spoken out as Ms May was forced to issue a trust me plea to the public, as she fights off mounting criticism that her warring cabinet threatens to derail Brexit.

The prime minister dismissed bitter rows among her top ministers about how Britain should leave the European Union as simply noisy debate and technical discussions.
The British government will host a summit encouraging six European countries to join the EU for the sake of their security, stability and prosperity, months before it is due to sign its own Brexit withdrawal deal with Brussels.

London will in July play host to Western Balkans governments including Serbia and Albania, as well as existing EU member states, to discuss reforms to pave the way to future EU enlargement.

The summit is part of the so-called Berlin Process  a series of meetings aimed at supporting the region towards joining the bloc and described by the European parliaments research arm as bringing a new perspective and impetus to the enlargement process.

Recommended UK threatens less EU security cooperation if locked out of Galileo

Critics said the UK government must have a sense of humour for hosting a conference on EU enlargement and extolling the benefits of accession as Britain itself headed towards the exit door.

The leaders of EU candidate countries Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Serbia will attend, as well as those of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo  two states who have both expressed an interest in joining the bloc but have not yet been accepted as candidates.

They will be joined by representatives of the governments of EU countries with an interest in the region such as Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Bulgaria.

Asked about the summit and the UKs position on the Western Balkans membership of the EU, a Foreign Office spokesperson told The Independent: We remain of the view that the EU accession process is important to delivering security, stability and prosperity in the Western Balkans.

We remain of the view that the EU accession process is important to delivering security, stability and prosperity in the Western Balkans Foreign Office spokesperson

As and when candidate countries have met the requirements for accession in full, it will be for those countries and European Union members at the time to decide on membership.

Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrats Brexit spokesperson and a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign, said: Someone at the Foreign Office must have a sense of humour in organising a conference to promote membership of the EU for the Western Balkan countries. Just as we seem set on leaving the EU, we start advising others to join. Government policy would not look out of place in the theatre of the absurd.

Mr Brake said of foreign secretary Boris Johnson: This just shows how incompetent Boris is. I wouldnt let him run a bath, let alone the Foreign Office.

 What is still needed to complete a deal with the EU?

The government says the London summit will focus on facilitating political cooperation in the region, strengthening regional security cooperation and increasing economic stability with a view to improving the business environment.

The London meeting will follow a summit in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia scheduled for Thursday in which EU leaders, including Theresa May, discuss the future of the region. European Council president Donald Tusk said that meeting would aim to strengthen connections both with and within the region and boost cooperation in areas of mutual interest, including security and migration.

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

Last month the European Commission endorsed the formal start of accession talks with Macedonia and Albania, which have been candidates since 2005 and 2014 respectively. In February the commission said Montenegro and Serbia, which have already been in active negotiations since 2012 and 2014, could be EU members by 2025 if talks continued to go to plan.

Britains attitude to other countries joining the European Union appears unchanged since its own decision to leave. In September 2016 Mr Johnson, who campaigned to leave the EU, confirmed Britain would still push for Turkey to join the block  even though Mr Johnsons Vote Leave campaign played on the spectre of Turkish accession to drive the Leave vote. Turkey has technically been a candidate since 1999 but talks have all but ground to a halt.
Ken Livingstone must be kicked out of Labour for bringing shame upon the party, says the peer who investigated antisemitism allegations.

Baroness Chakrabarti launched a blistering attack on the former London mayor for repeating the insult that Hitler was a Zionist, after the lenient sentence of being suspended.

I find it very difficult, very difficult now, to see how any rational decision maker could allow Mr Livingstone to stay in our party, the peer said.

He has brought it repeatedly into disrepute. He has brought shame upon it and his own legacy.

And we need to apologise to Jewish members, supporters and voters for the insult, the incendiary remarks, equating people trying to escape Nazis with Nazis themselves.

Mr Livingstone  who has been suspended for two years  has vowed to fight to stay in the party, insisting he has been punished for telling the truth.

But Baroness Chakrabarti added: Whatever the wisdom of the original decision to suspend, probably in the light of his years of contribution, hes repeated the offence.

And so, now, there is a new even more aggravated case to consider in the light of recent comments and their effect perhaps on some local election results.

So as I say, it wont be my decision but this stuff is all over the public record. And Im sorry to say it but I dont believe that Ken Livingstone can any longer be in the Labour Party.

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said Show all 14 1 /14 Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Israel and Palestine The simple fact in all of this is that Naz made these comments at a time when there was another brutal Israeli attack on the Palestinians; and theres one stark fact that virtually no one in the British media ever reports, in almost all these conflicts the death toll is usually between 60 and 100 Palestinians killed for every Israeli. Now, any other country doing that would be accused of war crimes but its like we have a double standard about the policies of the Israeli government Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Antisemitism in the Labour Party As Ive said, Ive never heard anybody say anything antisemitism-Semitic, but theres been a very well-orchestrated campaign by the Israel lobby to smear anybody who criticises Israeli policy as antisemitic. I had to put up with 35 years of this Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Naz Shah Its completely over-the-top and rude, but who am I to denounce anyone with all of that. It was wrong. I dont think she is antisemitic, it was incredibly rude but I dont believe she is an antisemite. When the NEC investigation is finished they'll say it was rude and over the top but they wont find any evidence that she actually hates Jews. Weve got to investigate all these charges and the context in which they are made. If she is antisemitic like the other three or four members weve found who are antisemitic, shell be expelled Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On other alleged antisemites in Labour That is part of the classic antisemitic thing about an international Jewish conspiracy  that is the reason we need to have an investigation. Ive got an open mind. Ive seen nothing to suggest to me that she is antisemitic. I wouldnt have supported her if I [thought] she was antisemitic Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On whether what Hitler did was legal, as stated by Naz Shah Thats a statement of fact  Hitler, Im sure, passed all those laws that allowed him to do that  its history  literally, Hitler was completely mad, he killed six million Jews. Shes not saying its legal to kill six million Jews: what they were doing in that country allowed them not just to kill six million Jews, kill all the communists, kill all the leftists like me, my father almost died when a Nazi sub sank his boat. I have no sympathy with Hitler Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On another alleged antisemite in Labour No, that is, and thats why shes been suspended or expelled. What Ive said is that in 47 years of the party in all the meetings Ive been in Ive never heard anyone say anything antisemitic. There are bound to be in a party of half a million people youll have a handful of antisemites, youll have a handful of racists. Youve managed to dig out virtually every antisemitic comment that Labour members have made out of half a million people. Ive never met any of these people. Theres not a problem. Youre talking about a handful of people in a party of half a million people. Jeremy Corbyn has moved rapidly to deal with them Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Jeremy Corbyns response to the allegations He met with Naz and she agreed she would stand down while the investigation is going on. He called her in to see her. Theres been a huge investigation of virtually everything that anybody put on the internet  many of these people are quite new and recent members of the party that joined in the big influx. 300,000 new people came in Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On his meeting a man accused of antisemitism in London This is the man who called for Muslims around the world to donate blood after the attacks of 9/11 when he came to London I went with him to the Regents Park mosque where he said no man should hit a woman and you should not discriminate against homosexuals. So I cant equate what I heard him say he made no antisemitic statement while he was here in London. I dont investigate people. Ive simply said what I believe to be true which is that Naz was not antisemitic. She was completely over the top, very rude, but that does not make her an antisemite Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On John Manns comments He went completely over the top. I was actually doing a radio interview at the time that he was bellowing that Im a racist antisemite in my ear. Ive had that with John Mann before a few weeks ago screaming that I was a bigot down the phone. Im not an apologist for anyone who makes antisemitic statements. What Im saying is dont confuse antisemitism with criticism of the Israeli government policy Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On calling a Jewish journalist a concentration camp guard whilst Mayor of London I cant tell if a journalist is Jewish or Catholic or anything. If a journalist is chasing you down the street at nine of clock at night you might be rude to them. Some people might have hit him! He said he was just doing his job. We went all the way to the High Court and the judge opened his judgement by saying I hope no one here is going to suggest that Mr Livingstone is antisemitic. We won the case Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On claims about Hitler and Zionism I cant tell if a journalist is Jewish or Catholic or anything. If a journalist is chasing you down the street at nine of clock at night you might be rude to them. Some people might have hit him! He said he was just doing his job. We went all the way to the High Court and the judge opened his judgement by saying I hope no one here is going to suggest that Mr Livingstone is antisemitic. We won the case Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On John Mann Id simply say to John Mann go back and check. Is what I say true, or is it not? The BBC, youve got a huge team of researchers, it will take just an hour or two to go back and confirm. I was asked a question, I answered it. I have never in 45 years since I won my first election, I have never lied. I have always answered the question Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On raising the issue if Hitler It lays you open to people smearing and lying about you. Ive always answered the questions put to me and that simple fact is weve had a handful of people saying antisemitic things in the Labour Party, theyve been suspended, some of them are on their way to being expelled, some of them have been expelled already Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On people calling for him to be suspended All my usual critics  but the simple fact is I agree with them; there is no place for antisemitism in the Labour party. For them to suggest I am antisemitic is a bit bizarre considering we worked with Jewish groups and put on exhibitions about the scale of the holocaust, we worked with Jewish groups to tackling the scale of antisemitism back in the 1970s. Ive always opposed every form of racism whether its against black people or Jews. Im going to stay in the Labour party and continue to fight against all forms of racism and discrimination as I have my entire life

However, controversially, the peer  who carried out her inquiry into antisemitism within Labour for Jeremy Corbyn, in 2016  hinted that its former general secretary had failed to act swiftly.

Labour moderates have defended the role played by Iain McNicol, who left earlier this year, believing the leaders office obstructed firmer action.

But Baroness Chakrabarti, speaking to the BBC1s Sunday Politics programme, said: I think the reasons for that lack of implementation are partly, looking back, that factionalism at times got in the way on both sides of that debate.

Im really delighted to say that Jennie Formby [the new general secretary] has taken probably more action to implement my report in the last month than has happened in two years.

Mr Livingstone has denied that his claim that Hitler at one point supported Zionism amounted to saying the dictator was a Zionist.

Earlier this month, he told an interviewer: Whats been so bad is that, two years on, this smear about me is still there unchallenged.

However, the former mayor admitted the allegation had probably cost Labour the chance to snatch control of Barnet council, saying: If anyone believes I said Hitler was a Zionist, yes, thats damaging.

Labour councillors in the London borough  an area with a large Jewish population  have blamed the allegations of antisemitism in the party for their defeat this month.
Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner have arrived in Israel for the opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem, an event that is due to be met with widespread protests by Palestinians and others opposed to it.

Donald Trumps eldest daughter arrived as part of the official US delegation, technically headed by deputy secretary of state John Sullivan, and containing Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and 12 members of Congress.

While Mr Sullivan may be heading the US party on paper, most eyes will be Ms Trump, 36, who is effectively representing her father, whose decision to break with years on international diplomatic agreements and shift the embassy to Jerusalem, infuriated many, but pleased Republicans and his evangelical supporters. The ceremony was brought forward to coincide with Mondays 70th anniversary of the nations declaration of independence.

We look forward to celebrating Israels 70th anniversary and the bright future ahead, Ms Trump wrote on Instagram. We will pray for the boundless potential of the future of the US-Israel alliance, and we will pray for peace.

Israel regards Jerusalem as its eternal and undivided capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem  occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war  as the capital of a future state. The international community had for decades said the future of Jerusalem should be part of a broader deal between Israel and the Palestinians and with few exceptions, almost ever other country has located their embassy in Tel Aviv.

The Associated Press said the official dedication ceremony will be held in the US Consulates visa section in Jerusalems Arnona neighborhood, which will then officially become the US Embassy.

 The United Nations General Assembly votes 128-9 to declare the United States' Jerusalem capital recognition 'null and void'

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who met the US delegation at Ben Gurion International Airport, said on Friday the decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem, was not made as part of a give and take with Israel, but rather based on the interests of the United States.

We look forward to celebrating Israels 70th anniversary and the bright future ahead, Ms Trump wrote on Instagram ahead of the opening, which will take place on Monday, seven decades since the country declared independence. We will pray for the boundless potential of the future of the US-Israel alliance, and we will pray for peace.

Ms Trump, a White House adviser, and her husband, Mr Kushner, who has been tasked with brokering a Middle East peace deal, later attended a gala dinner on Sunday evening ahead of the event on Monday.

(Getty (Getty)

The inauguration of the embassy will help harden Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejection of Washington as a future mediator in the conflict with Israel, the AP said.

Underscoring the conflicts volatility, thousands of Gaza residents plan to march on Monday towards Israels border and possibly breach it in an attempt to break a decade-old blockade of their territory.

Israel has vowed to stop any breach by force, raising the possibility of major bloodshed at a time when Mr Trumps daughter and son-in-law preside over the embassy ceremony less than 50 miles away.

Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Show all 22 1 /22 Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of Difa-e-Pakistan Council a coalition of right wing Islamic parties, burn an effigy of US President Donald Trump, during a protest in Quetta, Pakistan EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli police scuffle with a Palestinian protester outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City Getty Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn pictures of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu following Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli forces disperse Palestinian protesters outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City on 7 December 2017 AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC), an Islamic organization, chant slogans as they burn Israeli and US flags during a protest against Donald Trump in Peshawar REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinians paint an 'X' over the face of a picture of US president Donald J. Trump which was painted on the Israeli separation wall in Bethlehem EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protestors burn the Israeli flag and a poster of US President Donald Trump in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of a Pakistani religious party rally against Donald Trump in Lahore AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn the US and Israeli flags in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital A poster depicting U.S. President Donald Trump is burnt during a protest against Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli forces detain a Palestinian protester during clashes that followed protests against US President Donald Trump recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Hebron AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters shout slogans against Donald Trump EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital A Palestinian protester wears a Guy Fawkes mask used by the anonymous movement during clashes with Israeli troops in Hebron AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian demonstrators clash with Isralei troops during protests AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of a Pakistani religious party chant anti-American slogans during a rally in Islamabad, Pakistan AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Pakistanis burn a representation of the U.S. flag during a protest rally in Hyderabad AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Young Palestinian women look on as smoke billows from burning tyres as fellow Palestinian demonstrators clash with Isralei troops AFP/Getty Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protesters burn a picture of U.S. President Donald Trump at a protest in Islamabad REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protestors shouts slogans against US President Donald Trump as they hold Palestinian and Turkish flags during a protest near the US Embassy in Ankara, Turkey EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protestors put their feet over a picture of US president Donald Trump during a protest in the West Bank City of Nablus EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Pakistani protesters burn tires at an anti-Donald Trump rally in Multan AP

Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. It annexed the eastern sector to its previously declared capital in the western part of the city, a move not recognised at the time by the US and most other nations.

The fate of the city has been a central issue in years of intermittent negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, taking a harder line than two predecessors, has said he will not give up any part of Jerusalem, home to 883,000 people, 38 per cent of them Palestinians. Mr Abbas wants east Jerusalem to be the capital of a Palestinian state that would include the other war-won territories, the AP said.

It was last December that Mr Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israels capital, saying he was simply acknowledging reality, while omitting any mention of Palestinian claims to the city. Today, we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israels capital. This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do, he said.

After more than two decades of waivers, we are no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. It would be folly to assume that repeating the exact same formula would now produce a different or better result.

Commentators pointed out that while Mr Trump said at the time he was not taking a position on the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty that are to be determined in negotiations, a month later he told Mr Netanyahu he had taken Jerusalem off the table and that we dont have to talk about it anymore.
This article has been updated, see note below.*

Wildlife poachers in Kenya will face the death penalty, the countrys tourism and wildlife minister has reportedly announced.

Najib Balala warned the tough new measure would be fast-tracked into law.

Existing deterrents against killing wild animals in the east African nation are insufficient, Mr Balala said, according to Chinas Xinhua news agency.

So in an effort to conserve Kenyas wildlife populations, poachers will reportedly face capital punishment once the new law is passed.

Kenya is home to a wide variety of treasured species in national parks and reserves, including lions, black rhinos, ostriches, hippos, buffalos, giraffe and zebra.

Last year in the country 69 elephants  out of a population of 34,000 - and nine rhinos  from a population of under 1,000 - were killed.

We have in place the Wildlife Conservation Act that was enacted in 2013 and which fetches offenders a life sentence or a fine of US$200,000, Mr Balala reportedly said. However, this has not been deterrence enough to curb poaching, hence the proposed stiffer sentence."

The move could put Kenya in conflict with the UN, which opposes the death penalty for all crimes worldwide.

UN General Assembly resolutions have called for a phasing-out of capital punishment, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights advocates its universal abolition.

Kenyas tourism chiefs say poaching has been on a downward trend largely thanks to enhanced wildlife law-enforcement efforts and investment in conservation.

These efforts led to an 85 per cent reduction in rhino poaching and a 78 per cent reduction in elephant poaching, respectively, in 2017 compared to when poaching was at its peak in 2013 and 2012 respectively, the ministry said.

Nevertheless, earlier this month two black rhinos and a calf were poached at Meru national park.

Western Black Rhino declared extinct Show all 12 1 /12 Western Black Rhino declared extinct Western Black Rhino declared extinct 113809428.jpg Getty Images Western Black Rhino declared extinct Southern White Rhino subspecies _Ceratotherium simum simum_Dr Richard Emslie (2).JPG Western Black Rhino declared extinct Summers Poison Frog_Ranitomeya summers_Jason Brown.jpg Western Black Rhino declared extinct Tarzans Chameleon_ Calumma tarzan_Jorn Kohler.jpg Western Black Rhino declared extinct Paroedura masobe_Franco Andreone.jpg Western Black Rhino declared extinct Giant Manta Ray_Manta birostris_Andrea Marshall.jpg Western Black Rhino declared extinct Reef Manta Ray_Manta alfredi_Andrea Marshall.JPG Western Black Rhino declared extinct Coco der Mer_Lodoicea maldivica_Jean-Christophe Vie (2).JPG Western Black Rhino declared extinct Chinese Water Fir_Glyptostrobus pensilis_Philip Thomas.jpg Western Black Rhino declared extinct Begonia seychellensis_Justin Gerlach.JPG Western Black Rhino declared extinct The Blessed Poison Frog_Ranitomeya benedicta_Jason Brown (1).jpg Western Black Rhino declared extinct Przewalski's Horse_ Equus ferus_Patricia D Moehlman.jpg

And the losses are still extremely high, virtually cancelling out the overall populations growth rate, according to the Save the Rhino organisation. The charity points out many other African nations also suffer high rates of poaching.

The report of plans for capital punishment prompted sharply diverging reactions, with some social-media users applauding Kenya and calling it fantastic news, and others insisting it should never happen.

Some said authorities should go after kingpin traffickers rather than the smallest animals in the criminal food chain.

For years, many people angry at high levels of poaching, linked with lucrative organised crime, have called for the death sentence as a deterrent.

Gangs sell elephant tusks for ivory in the far East, where it is turned into trinkets; rhino horn is believed by some wealthy buyers there to serve as a medicine  even though it is made of keratin, the same substance as human fingernails, so has no health-giving properties.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, reposted the Xinhua report, saying #SeriousAboutWildlifeCrime.

The Independent has contacted the Kenya Wildlife Service to confirm Mr Balalas plans and is awaiting a response.

Richard Vigne, head of Kenyas Ol Pejeta Conservancy that was home to Sudan, the worlds last male northern rhino which was put down in March, said the animal would be remembered for ever as a signal to the world. While Kenya was a global leader in conservation, there are still many species across the planet that faced a similar plight, he said.

* Update: It has come to our attention through an AFP article that the Xinhua news agency was mistaken in its report last year that Kenyas tourism and wildlife minister had announced plans to introduce the death penalty for wildlife poachers. It appears the minister was not at the meeting on which Xinhua reported. And while a statement was read on his behalf by a colleague, he has told AFP that nothing I spoke on behalf of the minister was related to the death penalty for poachers. He went on to say to AFP that I think in that meeting one of the local leaders casually said that poachers should be killed but nothing official came from the ministry. The Independent has once again contacted the Kenya Wildlife Service, as well as the Kenyan Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, for further information. 12/04/19
A lakeside party has been thrown at the location where a white woman called police on a black family  because they were barbecuing.

Video footage of the unidentified woman went viral after she reported the al fresco diners, ostensibly because they were using a charcoal grill in a non-charcoal area.

A friend of the family  Michelle Snider, who is also white  recorded the bizarre events at Lake Merritt, in Oakland, California, on April 29.

She accuses the woman of harassing the barbecuers because they are black.

The woman rejects the claim but many online believed the charcoal vigilantism was the latest example of black people being reported to authorities while going about their business. Just days ago a black Yale University student had police called on her after falling asleep in a common room, while two weeks before that, three Airbnb guests were apprehended by officers while checking out of their apartment.

Police in Oakland attended the barbecue and questioned the family for an hour  but took no further action.

Now, an all night party has been thrown at the location.

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 video footage of the celebration also posted online, revellers can be seen doing the Electric Slide to the classic 'Before I let Go', by Frankie Beverly And Maze, and enjoying grilled meats.

It remains unclear if a charcoal grill was used during the party.
A new fissure has opened up on Hawaiis Big Island in the wake of the eruption of Kilauea volcano.

The new fissure, the 16th to appear, spattered lava according to the US Geological Survey (USGS) while also warning that more outbreaks are likely.

Earlier this week the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory warned of the potential for explosive eruptions in the coming weeks. As the lava lake drains inside the summit of the volcano magma is running underground, which could burst to the surface.

President Donald Trump has declared a major disaster in Hawaii to free up federal funds to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the wake of the volcanos initial eruption on 3 May, after which lava began to flow into residential neighbourhoods.

Hawaii tourism officials have said there is no reason for visitors to change plans for booked trips even with the prospect of Kilauea potentially producing more violent explosions soon.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority has said that only Big Island, or Hawai'i is affected by the active Kilauea, and that only 10 square miles of the more than 4,000 square miles of the island needs to be monitored.

 3D model shows inside the Hawaii volcano lava lake

The affected areas are on the islands east coast, around 100 miles away from the main tourist stops and resorts on the western side of the island. George Szigeti, CEO of the tourism authority told the Associated Press Kilauea is being watched constantly and that the Big Island is immense, meaning there are large swathes of the island unaffected by the volcanos activity.

At least one airline - Alaska Airlines - has appeared to drop the cost of flights to Kona, on Big Islands western coast, from the Bay Area - although others are yet to follow suit.

Hawaii Governor David Ige had sent a letter to the White House on Wednesday, asking Mr Trump to formally declare an emergency, estimating that the costs to protect residents could exceed $2.9 million in the coming weeks.

Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Show all 30 1 /30 Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Channelized lava emerges on Kilauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone on Hawaii. The USGS said on its website that "a fast-moving pahoehoe lava flow that emerged from fissure 20... continues to flow southeast," with the quickest of three "lobes" progressing at 230 yards (210 meters) per hour. AFP/US Geological Survey Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava erupts and flows from a Kilauea volcano fissure in Leilani Estates, on Hawaii's Big Island Getty Images Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures A plume of ash rises from a crater in the Mount Kilauea volcano after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the area, near Pahoa, Hawaii EPA/USGS HANDOUT Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Kilauea has opened 14 lava-and-gas spewing fissures in total Rex Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures United States Geological Survey Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava from a Kilauea volcano fissure advances up a residential street in Leilani Estates, on Hawaii's Big Island, on May 27, 2018 in Pahoa, Hawaii Mario Tama/Getty Images Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures A massive flow of lava consumes houses in Leilani Estates EPA/PARADISE HELICOPTERS Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava flows past trees on the outskirts of Pahoa during ongoing eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii. REUTERS Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures A plume of ash rises from Kilauea Volcano after a series of earthquakes over the last couple of days USGS/Handout via Reuters Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava emerges from the ground after Kilauea Volcano erupted Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Steam rises from a fissure on a road in Leilani Estates subdivision on Hawaii's Big Island AFP/Getty Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures This thermal image (looking south) shows the active overflows from the lava lake (upper left) onto the Halema'uma'u crater floor. View is toward the south. Rex Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures The results of the eruption from Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii's Big Island AP Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava is seen coming from a fissure in Leilani Estates subdivision on Hawaii's Big Island FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures An aerial view of a flow of lava moves to the doorsteps of the Puna Geothermal Venture facility after a new fissure eruption within Leilani Estates sending a fast moving flow of lava began to consume homes and property, near Pahoa, Hawaii EPA/BRUCE OMORI/Paradise Helicopters Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Smoke rises from the Pu'u 'O'o crater on the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii EPA Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Up to 10,000 people were ordered to evacuate as flows of red lava entered residential areas Reuters Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures A fissure erupts in Leilani Estates, one of the communities most vulnerable to Hawaii's Kilauea volcano AP Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Smoke billows from Pu'u 'O'o crater on the Hawaii's Big Island EPA Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Remote image released by U.S. Geological Survey, shows a new lava fissure on Kilauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone on Makamae and Leilani Streets USGS via AP Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Kilauea volcano's Pu'u O'o vent on Hawaii's main island AP Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava flows over a road in the Puna District as a result of the eruption from Kilauea on Hawaii's Big Island Byron Matthews via AP Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Kilauea volcano erupts AP Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava flowing over Mohala Street in the Leilani Estates area near Pahoa Hawaii Electric Light via AP Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures An aerial view of a massive surface flow entering the sea at Malama Flats EPA Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Satellite photo provided by DigitalGlobe shows lava coming out of fissures caused by Kilauea AP via DigitalGlobe Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures The fissure complex, pictured in the upper right, continues to feed a meandering lava flow (in the center). into the Pacific Ocean in southeast of Pahoa during ongoing eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii REUTERS Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Lava erupts from a Kilauea volcano fissure Getty Images Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures A U.S. National Guard soldier (R) takes photos as lava erupts and flows from a Kilauea volcano fissure in Leilani Estates, on Hawaii's Big Island Getty Images Hawaii Kilauea volcano eruption: in pictures Getty Images/iStockphoto

As more fissures open and toxic gas exposure increases, the potential of a larger scale evacuation increases. A mass evacuation of the lower Puna District would be beyond current county and state capabilities, and would quickly overwhelm our collective resources, Mr Ige said in a statement announcing his request.

The 16 fissures that have opened on the eastern flank of Kilauea since the volcano erupted eight days ago have oozed slowing moving magma which has been relatively cool. Fresher magma, creating quicker moving and intensely hot lava flows, could now emerge behind it.

Geologists expect new lava outbreaks in or around the hard-hit Leilani Estates area in the southeastern Puna district, where 27 homes have been destroyed and all 1,900 residents have been evacuated.

Local residents received an alert on Friday morning that they may have have little or no time to evacuate in the event of future eruptions.

South of Leilani Estates, in the Kalapana-Seaview neighbourhood, the air quality is low and there are very few ways out of the area if an evacuation is ordered.

There are some pretty level-headed, balanced people here who are trying to lead normal lives. But we also dont want to be stupid, Cindy Hartman, 68, told Reuters about residents being on high alert for changes.
An African woman and her children were kicked off a United Airlines flight after a fellow passenger complained that she had a pungent odour, according to a racial discrimination lawsuit filed against the company.

The incident involving the passenger, a white male, happened two years ago, when Queen Obioma, a Nigerian citizen, and her two children were boarding a flight from Houston to San Francisco. The family had flown from Lagos, Nigeria, and were on the second leg of a three-flight journey to Ontario, Canada.

Obioma saw that the other passenger had sat in her assigned seat in the business-class cabin, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Friday in federal court in Houston. The passenger refused to move, so a flight crew member, instead, asked Obioma to sit elsewhere in business class.

Later, before takeoff, Obioma went to use the bathroom. On her way back to her seat, the same passenger was standing in the aisle and blocking her from getting to her seat, the lawsuit says. She said excuse me three times, but was ignored. After several minutes, Obioma managed to squeeze her way to her seat.

But just after she sat down, a crew member told Obioma to go outside the aircraft, where another employee told her that she would be removed from the flight. The lawsuit says the pilot had personally requested that she be removed because the male passenger, who was not identified, had complained that her smell was pungent, and he was not comfortable flying with her.

At that point Ms Obioma was lost, confused and disoriented. Her mind went blank and she was utterly befuddled, according to the complaint.

Obioma explained that she was taking her children to school in Canada for the first time, and that they had appointments they could not miss. Despite her situation, crew members refused to let Obioma back onto the aircraft and removed the entire family from the flight.

Ms Obioma watched her minor children marched out of the aircraft like criminals, confused and perplexed... She sobbed uncontrollably for a long time, the complaint says, adding that the children, who were seated in the economy cabin, were humiliated.

United Airliness media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday. In a statement to the Houston Chronicle, a spokesman said the company has not been served with the lawsuit and is unable to comment because of the pending litigation.

The lawsuit alleges that United Airlines discriminated against Obioma and her children during the incident on 4 March 4, 2016 at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, because they were black. It also accuses crew members of singling out Obioma, not because she was being disruptive, but because a white man  who refused to sit in his own assigned seat  did not want to share a plane with her.

The mother and her children waited for five hours before they could get on another flight and missed their scheduled appointments. Obioma also incurred more expenses, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit is just the latest challenge for United when it comes to customer service issues.

In April last year, a viral video showed Chicago airport security officers forcibly dragging a passenger from a flight. The removal of David Dao, who was seen with a bloodied mouth in the video, resulted in the firing of two airport security officers and suspension of two others. Dao reached an undisclosed settlement with United a few weeks after the incident, according to the Associated Press. Last month, one of the fired security officers, James Long, sued United and the city of Chicago, claiming he wasnt properly trained to deal with the situation and that he had been defamed, CBS reported.

Then in July, a passenger had to hold her two-year-old son in her lap for four hours because the airline had sold his seat to a standby passenger.

And in March, a passengers 10-month-old puppy suffocated to death after a flight attendant forced the owner to place it in an overhead compartment.

Washington Post
A US special forces soldier has livestreamed a video of him being waterboarded by his friends, as part of an effort to promote Donald Trumps nominee to head the CIA.

The president wants acting CIA director Gina Haspel to take leadership of Americas preeminent intelligence agency from Mike Pompeo, who was recently confirmed as his new secretary of state. There is considerable opposition to Ms Haspels confirmation by the senate because of her previous role overseeing black sites during George W Bushs so-called war on terror, in which water-boarding and other methods many consider to be torture, were used to interrogate prisoners.

Over the weekend, Green Beret Tim Kennedy, a former mixed martial arts fighter, livestreamed the 41-minute footage, which shows him being voluntarily waterboarded and answering questions between sessions. He claimed it proved waterboarding was not torture.

The reason we are doing this ... is for us to have a conversation. Right now, an amazing hero has been appointed to be director of the CIA and because of that, some of the things she has done are being attacked, Mr Kennedy said about Ms Haspel.

If I can change one persons mind about what torture is and what I would do to protect American freedom, I will do this for years.

Between sessions, Mr Kennedy claimed being waterboarded was not torture and was simply uncomfortable.

 Gina Haspel hearing interrupted by an anti torture protestor yelling bloody gina

The Hill said Mr Kennedy criticised recent reports that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man who has been charged with organising the 9/11 attacks, recently requested permission to share information pertaining to Ms Haspels nomination. He was reportedly waterboarded 183 times over 15 sessions while in US custody.

During his 2016 election campaign, Mr Trump repeatedly defended waterboarding and other measures for dealing with terror suspects and said he would like to see them used again.

Barack Obama ordered the US stop using such methods, amid questions about them being a form of torture and doubts as to their effectiveness.

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

Ms Haspel, 61, whom Trump nominated to head the agency in March, has come under fire for overseeing a CIA black site in Thailand in 2002 where terror suspects were tortured. During testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week, Ms Haspel said she would not allow the agency to return to the use of such methods.

I would not allow CIA to undertake activity that I thought was immoral  even if it was technically legal, she said.

Ms Haspels nomination has been condemned by several high profile politicians, among them Republican senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war who has long been a critic of torture. Mr McCain is currently receiving treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Mr McCains statement urging senators not to confirm her, led to more controversy when it emerged a While House aide had dismissed his views but saying: It doesnt matter, hes dying anyway.

Over the weekend, it was reported that a second Democrat in the senate, Joe Donnelly had become the second member of that party to support Ms Haspel, making it more likely she will obtain the 50-vote minimum she needs for confirmation. Mr Donnelly, of Indiana, joins Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia, in supporting her.
Bernie Sanders has said it is beyond his comprehension why the White House has not officially apologised to John McCain over a joke about the aggressive brain cancer for which he is receiving treatment.

Mr McCain, 81, who has glioblastoma, recently angered the White House when he issued a statement saying he would not support Donald Trumps pick to head the CIA, Gina Haspel. It subsequently emerged a White House aide had dismissed Mr McCains views, telling colleagues: It doesnt matter, hes dying anyway.

The aide, Kelly Sadler, telephoned one of Mr McCains daughters to apologise for her comments, and reports suggest she had been admonished by her bosses. However, the White House has refused to issue a formal apology for her remarks, which were leaked to the media.

Asked about the comment on Friday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said she would not comment on a closed-door meeting where the remark was made. Im not going to validate a leak one way or the other out of an internal staff meeting, she told reporters.

Asked why she would not apologise to Mr McCain, she said: Im not going to get into a back and forth because, you know, people want to create issues of leaked staff meetings.

Mr Sanders, 76, the independent senator from Vermont who challenged Hillary Clinton surprisingly hard for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, said he could not understand or explain the White Houses behaviour.

 Meghan McCain questions how Kelly Sadler could 'still have a job' after joking about 'dying' father

It is one thing in the White House for somebody to say something crude and stupid and disrespectful about an American hero, it is another thing for them not to apologise, Mr Sanders told CNN.

It is beyond my comprehension. I just dont know what goes on in that White House mentality for there not being an apology for that terrible remark.

Mr Sanders said that while he and Mr McCain had strong differences of opinion, he liked the Arizona Republican. I personally like John very, very much. He is very well respected in the Senate and in the country.

CNN said White House budget director Mick Mulvaney had on Saturday said Ms Sadlers comments were a joke and that it was a badly considered joke, an awful joke that she said fell flat.

Her comments were denounced by several prominent Republicans, including Mitt Romney and Ohio Governor John Kasich.

On Sunday, Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and the person considered Mr McCains closest friends in the senate, added his condemnation, saying the White House should apologise.

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

Its a pretty disgusting thing to say, said Mr Graham. If it was a joke, it was a terrible joke. I just wish somebody from the White House would tell the country that was inappropriate, thats not who we are in the Trump administration.

This was not the first time that Mr McCain has been on the receiving ends of harsh words from either the Trump administration, or the president.

During his campaign for the White House, Mr Trump, who received five draft deferrals for Vietnam, some of which were for purportedly having bone spurs, made fun of Mr McCains status as a US war hero.

Hes not a war hero, Mr Trump said in 2015. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who werent captured.
Donald Trumps national security adviser has said it is possible the US will sanction European countries that seek to do business with Iran, following Washington withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

John Bolton, widely considered a hawk on national security and one of those who pushed for George W Bush 2003 invasion of Iraq, said he believed European nations  currently furious by Mr Trumps unilateral withdrawal from the deal  may eventually change their opinions.

I think the Europeans will see that its in their interests to come along with us, Mr Bolton said on CNN.

He said of nations such as Britain, France and Germany: They may try to (stay in the deal), in part because I think despite President Trumps complete consistency in opposition to the dealmany people, including apparently former Secretary of State John Kerry, thought that we never would get out of it.

He added that once it sinks in the US does not plan to adhere to the deal, other nations will follow suit.

 President Donald Trump states if Iran restarts their nuclear program there will be severe consequences

In the aftermath of Mr Trumps announcement last week, Iran, along with the six other parties who signed the 2015 deal indicated they would seek to try and keep it working.

The International Atomic Emergency Agency has repeatedly said Tehran is in compliance with the deal, that was hammered out to try and control and limit Irans nuclear weapons ambitions and establish a framework for intrusive inspections.

Yet while many European nations may seek to continue to deal with Iran, they could find themselves subject to the US sanctions. Several companies that have deals with Iran, including Airbus and Boeing, may be unable to fulfil the deals they signed.

Mr Bolton was asked: Is the US going to impose sanctions on European companies that continue to do business with Iran?

He responded: The answer is, its possible, it depends on the conduct of other governments.
Wildlife chiefs in the Indian state of Kerala have launched a crackdown on the way captive elephants are kept and treated after an outcry when The Independent exposed the intense cruelty inflicted upon them.

Heads of the states forest department are warning that anyone involved in cruelty to the animals will face severe consequences that may include having the elephant taken from them.

The alert is included in revised guidelines issued to elephant-owners and those involved in taking them to festivals, where they are shackled, beaten, ridden and prodded with sharp implements.

The animals  Indias icons  are painted and dressed in colourful decorations for parades and processions organised by religious temples, largely in the southern state of Kerala, where up to 500 are used this way.

Last month The Independent revealed how behind the glamour of the festivals, captive temple elephants are often tied to the spot by ropes or chains that eat into their skin; trained through being hit with metal rods or bullhooks; malnourished, overworked and deprived of medical care.

The new document admits laxity in implementing Keralas rules designed to protect the welfare of the animals.

Chains cut into the flesh, causing wounds that can become painfully infected (Action for Elephants UK)

The circular, written earlier this month by PK Kesavan, the chief conservator of forests and chief wildlife warden, says: Of late, a large number of complaints are coming from members of the public at state/national and international levels about the ill treatment of captive elephants.

It acknowledges more than 10 deaths this year  Kerala Suffering Elephants puts the tally at 12  and admits this is alleged to be due to careless handling of the animals as well as wilful negligence.

The updated regulations set out a series of measures including:

Anyone meting out cruelty will face severe consequences that will, for repeat offenders, include confiscating the elephant under their custody, reiterating a 2015 Supreme Court order

when violations are noted, instructions will be issued in writing to the owner

any elephants in high demand and likely to be overworked will be identified in each district and closely monitored

people using elephants for festivals must register with district authorities, a process ensured by the state government

animals may be transported only in registered vehicles

each should have a valid fitness certificate issued by a vet

movements should be recorded in a register so each elephant is not overworked

bull elephants must not be provoked or put to work during the musth period (mating time, when males are stronger and restless) and musth should not be suppressed. Sufficient care and rest during musth will be ensured

the forests committee will meet at least twice a year  once just before festival season, when all violators should be reported so that necessary steps are taken for ensuring the safety of the animals as well as that of the public

another meeting will be just after the season to take stock of implementation of the rules

Wildlife wardens and forest chiefs discussed the problems at a meeting before issuing the new orders.

Kerala has the highest number of festival elephants in India  thought to be about 500. Action for Elephants UK (AfE) has branded the state ground zero for elephant torture, and has called their illegal treatment the worst case of animal cruelty in the world. The plight of the 150 captive elephants in neighbouring Tamil Nadu is feared to be just as bad.

For the six-month festival season, they are forced to walk for miles in searing temperatures on hot, stinging tar roads and ridden into noisy processions with fireworks.

Some are carted from one festival to another  up to hundreds of miles  while still chained.

Animal advocates say elephants are sensitive, intelligent and sociable creatures and rarely survive the unrelenting neglect and torture for a natural lifespan.

In the past seven years, 350 captive elephants have died. Often the water they are given falls short of the large quantities they drink in the wild, and many die of severe intestinal blockages.

Campaigners staged a protest outside the Indian High Commission in London, coinciding with prime minister Narendra Modis visit to Britain, pleading for abuses to be policed.

They said lucrative insurance claims provide incentives for owners to neglect their animals.

Colourful processions can mask animal suffering (Getty)

But the New Indian Express was concerned about the effect on tourism of the publicity about the elephants plight, saying the protest outside the High Commission in London added injury to insult.

For the Kerala Tourism Department, it seems it is a case of one step forward, two steps back, while it is trying to brand and market the state as a paradise for holidaymakers, the Express website said.

State tourism director P Bala Kiran said this is a very serious issue and it will have long-lasting impact on the tourism sector of the state if not addressed properly.

The Kerala Tourism Department has decided to make films of elephant care and majestic festivals featuring the culture and tradition of the state to counter the bad publicity, the paper reported.
A series of deadly suicide bomb attacks claimed by Isis on Indonesian churches were carried out by members of a single family, police have said, as the worlds most populous Muslim nation recoiled in horror at the attack on the countrys Christian minority.

The national police chief, Tito Karnavian, said Sundays attacks, which killed at least 13 people including the six bombers, and injured more than 40 others, were carried out by children, teenagers and adults from a family who were among 500 Islamic State sympathisers who had returned from Syria.

He said the familys father detonated car bombs, two sons aged 18 and 16 used motorcycles in their attack and the mother and two daughters, aged 12 and 9, had explosives strapped to them.

The husband drove the car, an Avanza, that contained explosives and rammed it into the gate in front of that church, East Java police spokesperson Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the regional police headquarters in Surabaya. He called on people to remain calm.

The wife and two daughters were involved in an attack on a second church and at the third church two other children rode the motorbike and had the bomb across their laps, he said.

Isis claimed responsibility for the attacks in Surabaya, Indonesias second-largest city, the Islamist militant groups Amaq news agency said, without providing any substantiating evidence to support its claim.

This act is barbaric and beyond the limits of humanity, causing victims among members of society, the police and even innocent children, President Joko Widodo said during a visit to the scene of the attacks.

Streets around the bombed churches were blocked by checkpoints and heavily armed police stood guard as forensic and bomb squad officers combed the area for evidence.

Television footage showed the Indonesian Christian Church where the yard in front appeared engulfed in fire. A large blast was heard hours after the attacks, which Mr Mangera said was a bomb disposal squad dealing with a device.

Veiled women had entered the yard where they were stopped by a security guard before an explosion occurred at the same spot, according to the police report.

Television images showed toppled and burnt motorcycles and debris scattered around the entrance of one church and police cordoning off areas as crowds gathered.

At St Marys catholic church, the first place of worship to be attacked, the bombing was perpetrated while the church prepared to hold another service, after an earlier one had concluded.

Separately, an internal police report reviewed by Reuters said a suspected car bomb exploded in the car park of a Pentecostal church, setting alight dozens of motorbikes.

Recommended Prominent Muslim scholars issue fatwa against suicide attacks

The near-simultaneous attacks took place during Sunday morning masses in the predominantly Muslim country, days after police ended a riot at a detention centre following a 36-hour standoff that left five dead and five injured after hostages were taken.

On Friday, a group of 70 prominent Muslim scholars meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, made a joint declaration denouncing violent extremism and terrorism, including suicide attacks, which they categorically stated are against Islamic principles.

Indonesia has seen a recent resurgence in homegrown militancy, although it has carried out a sustained crackdown since bombings by al-Qaeda affiliated radicals in Bali in 2002 killed 202 people.

Churches have also been targeted previously, including near-simultaneous attacks on churches there at Christmas in 2000 that killed about 20 people.

The most serious incident was in January 2016 when four suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a shopping area in central Jakarta, leaving another four dead and 23 injured.
North Korea said it will invite journalists, including from the US and South Korea, to the shutdown of its nuclear test site "to ensure transparency".

The country's state media reported that North Korea's government had scheduled to dismantle its nuclear bomb test site during "a ceremony" between 23 and 25 May - a few weeks ahead of a historic summit between Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump in Singapore on 12 June.

State media said journalists would be invited to cover the event "to show in a transparent manner the dismantlement of the northern nuclear test ground to be carried out".

The exact date of the closure of the site is reported to depend on weather conditions.

North Korea said it would take a host of measures including "opening its territorial airspace" which will allow journalists to fly in through China.

All international reporters will be provided with a charter flight from Beijing into Wonsan, a port city in eastern North Korea. There, they will board a charter train to the nuclear test ground in an "unhabitable deep mountain area", according to state media.

North Korea's nuclear tests have taken place in Punggye-ri, a location in the northeastern part of North Korea where a system of tunnels have been dug under Mount Mantap.

State media said the dismantling of the nuclear site would involve the collapsing of its tunnels with explosions, blocking its entrances and removing all observation facilities, research buildings and security posts.

President Trump welcomed the announcement by North Korea's government. In a tweet, he called the move "a very smart and gracious gesture".

"North Korea has announced that they will dismantle Nuclear Test Site this month, ahead of the big Summit Meeting on June 12th. Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!" he tweeted.

The latest announcement comes after last month's landmark Panmunjom summit when Mr Kim suggested he would halt missile and nuclear tests ahead of his meeting with President Trump.

South Korea's presidential office also welcomed the move, saying it showed North Korea's willingness to denuclearise through actions rather than just words.

Despite progress being hailed from all sides, North Korea has given no indication it was willing to go beyond support for denuclearisation by unilaterally abandoning its nuclear weapons programme.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

When Mr Kim announced plans to stop testing last month, he said North Korea no longer needed to conduct tests because it had completed its goals of developing nuclear weapons.

Experts have previously warned that the two sides may have very different ideas of what denuclearisation means for them.

According to a recent report by Chinese experts, significant parts of the Punggye-ri test site collapsed following North Korea's most recent nuclear test in September, making the site unsafe for future testing.

But some US officials said the site remained usable and could be reactivated "in a relatively short period of time".

Reuters contributed to this report.
A mysterious globster has washed ashore in the Philippines, prompting speculation that it is the carcass of a creature from the deepest parts of the ocean.

Seemingly covered in hair, the six-metre-long object has baffled local residents, with some speculating it is a sign of something bad coming.

Local people flocked to the beach in the town of San Antonio, Oriental Mindoro province, when the greyish white blob washed ashore at 7pm on Friday. Many posed to take photos with the creature.

Though authorities suspect the carcass is simply the decomposed body of a whale, local people expressed their shock at the arrival of such an unusual object.

Resident Tam Maling said: ''An earthquake is heading for Oriental Mindoro. The big globster is a sign of something bad coming. Please pray for us.''

Vincent Dela Pena Badillo added: ''Many were alarmed including me when we learned the news about it.

It has been told that when creatures from the deepest parts of the ocean start appearing, something bad will happen.''

The 'hairy' appearance of the 'creature' is likely the result of decomposing muscle fibres (ViralPress)

Mother-of-two Imelda Mariz took her children to see the carcass, which they thought belonged to a dead monster.

I couldn't believe what it was, I've never seen anything like it, she said.

The object is not the first globster  a term used to describe an unidentified organic mass that washed up on a beach  to appear in the Philippines.

In February 2017 another mysterious hairy blob washed up on the shore of Dinagat Island, prompting speculation about its origins.

Thought to belong to either a sea cow or a whale, experts concluded that the hairs covering the mystery carcasss body were in reality the muscle fibres of a body in the very advanced stages of decomposition.

Government workers from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the Mimapora Region have said they believe the new specimen could also be the carcass of a dead whale. They now intend to dispose of the remains.

Fishery Law Enforcement Officer Vox Krusada said: ''Today we just gathered a samples of it for further analysis.

''For now we can say its a whale, but the exact species is still unknown. The tissue samples are now sent to our lab for DNA analysis.

Residents flock to see the 'globster' sea creature in Oriental Mindoro province, Philippines, (ViralPress)

''The local government of Gloria will now bury the carcass. And damn it smells awful. It smells like something from another planet.

''I really experienced the full power of its smell because Im the one who took the tissue samples. I almost puked. I felt better after taking a bath but the stench still lingers in my nose.''

Globsters have been found on beaches all over the world, with the term first used to describe an unidentified carcass that washed up in western Tasmania in 1960.

Though it is often difficult for observers to establish the provenance of these marine enigmas, scientific analysis has invariably revealed they belonged to known underwater creatures including sperm whales and basking sharks.
Environment officials in Australia plan to back the destruction of a large area of forest, despite warnings of significant harm to the regions nature.

Experts have cautioned that runoff caused by the clearing is likely to damage the neighbouring Great Barrier Reef, and the forest itself is home to endangered species including the northern quoll.

Nevertheless, a draft report from the Department of Environment has recommended that the clearance of forest at Kingvale Station in northern Queensland should go ahead, subject to certain conditions.

The move comes shortly after the Australian government committed AUD $500m (278m) to shielding the Great Barrier Reef from harm.

Within this pledge was a commitment of $201m (112m) specifically for improving water quality by investing in changed farming practices such as reduced fertiliser use.

Land clearance in the 2000 hectare area was previously approved in April 2014, but the federal government decided that the clearing must first be assessed under Commonwealth laws.

Environment minister Josh Frydenberg must now make a final ruling on the proposal, in a move that is being viewed as a test of his long-standing pledge to protect the reef.

Kingvale Station currently consists mainly of eucalyptus forest and swampland, but the lands owner  Scott Harris  wants to clear it to make way for cropping and other activities. His intentions are supported by local Queensland MPs.

Lisa Murray's climate change photography Show all 12 1 /12 Lisa Murray's climate change photography Lisa Murray's climate change photography Dinka cattle herders starting their migration in South Sudan Lisa Murray Lisa Murray's climate change photography A Dinka woman fetches water in South Sudan Lisa Murray Lisa Murray's climate change photography Veronica in South Sudan preparing tea outside her home, recently ravaged by heavy flooding Lisa Murray Lisa Murray's climate change photography Children playing in Vietnam. When it floods, transport to and from school is a major challenge Lisa Murray Lisa Murray's climate change photography Sugeng, a fish and crab farmer from Indonesia who suffers financially every time the area floods Lisa Murray Lisa Murray's climate change photography Tan, a vegetable farmer, learning new methods through Oxfam in Vietnam Lisa Murray Lisa Murray's climate change photography Maluk, a 19-year-old from Tonj South, South Sudan Lisa Murray Lisa Murray's climate change photography Normally this farmer in South Sudan would be harvesting sorghum, but rains are late so the hunger season continues Lisa Murray Lisa Murray's climate change photography Herders bringing home their cattle in Afar, Ethiopia Lisa Murray Lisa Murray's climate change photography Farmers harvesting chilli in Ethiopia Lisa Murray Lisa Murray's climate change photography A woman in Tigray, Ethiopia, scares birds away from her crops with a slingshot Lisa Murray Lisa Murray's climate change photography Irula tribe woman in Tamil Nadu Lisa Murray

The lands river system flows into Princess Charlotte Bay, which contains extensive seagrass beds that are considered a key component in the reef ecosystem.

Besides rising temperatures and coral bleaching  which led to catastrophic die-offs of large areas of coral in 2016  poor water quality is one of the biggest threats facing the Great Barrier Reef.

Soil erosion is thought to make a significant contribution to this poor water quality, and scientists have warned the government that it must be avoided.

Runoff from farmland promotes the growth of algae, which blocks light from reaching coral, seagrass and creatures inhabiting the seabed.

These conditions also exacerbate outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish, which feed on coral and have played a significant role in the reefs decline.

The Wilderness Societys Queensland campaign manager Gemma Plesman told The Canberra Times the clearing was incredibly risky and must be rejected.

Over the past four years Queensland has cleared one million hectares of native vegetation because the former Newman Government axed important environment protections, she said.

A spokesman for Mr Frydenberg said the draft report proposed strict conditions and mitigation measures informed by expert scientific advice.

Among the conditions proposed by the departments report were restricting clearance to flat areas of land in order to manage the risks" of erosion and sedimentation, and not allowing clearing to occur within 100 metres of a watercourse or wetland.

However, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority stated that during floods the clearing is almost guaranteed to result in sediment entering Princess Charlotte Bay.
The knifeman who killed one person in central Paris and injured four others was a French national born in Chechnya in 1997, officials in France have said.

The suspect, named as 20-year-old Khamzat Asinov, was shouting Allahu akbar as he attacked passersby at random in a busy area popular with tourists near the Opera Garnier, before being shot dead by police.

Isis claimed responsibility for the atrocity in a statement that described the culprit as one of its soldiers, and claimed the attack was in response to its calls to target countries bombing its territories in Syria and Iraq.

Francois Molins, the Paris prosecutor, confirmed that an investigation had been lauched for assassination and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise.

Recommended Isis claims responsibility for deadly knife attack in Paris

Interior minister Gerard Collomb said the four people injured were now out of danger. The 29-year-old man who was killed when his throat was slashed has not yet been named.

Mr Collomb said authorities were working to establish whether anyone might have helped plan the attack.

Sources say the attacker was a French national and had no criminal record, but agents were concerned that he was in regular contact with Isis.

He was categorised as fiche S in 2016, an indication used by law enforcement officials to flag people who may be a threat to national security.

Questions are being asked as to why he was free to carry out the attack despite being on a security watchlist.

The suspects parents are being held for questioning, according to Mr Molins.

A bullet hole on the window of a cafe located at the crossroads between the streets where one man was killed four others injured (AFP/Getty) (ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images)

France has been on high alert since Paris was the site of the deadliest Isis attack in Europe on 13 November 2015, when attackers armed with guns and suicide vests killed 130 people in coordinated attacks at the Bataclan concert halls, Stade de France and restaurants.

More than 245 people have been killed in attacks commissioned or inspired by Isis in France since 2015. They have included knife attacks such as the one mounted in the southern city of Marseilles last October.

However, it is the first time a person of Chechen descent was responsible for an attack in the country, French newspaper Le Parisien reported.

Expert on terrorism Cedric Mas told BFM TV soldiers of Chechen origin were present in significant numbers within Isis, with some of them holding important military roles. Chechen soldiers within Isis are reported to have been present in large numbers during the battle for Mosul in Iraq.

A forensic officer and French policeman on Saint Augustin street in Paris (AFP/Getty) (GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP/Getty Images)

President Emmanuel Macron said that France paid once again the price of blood but will not yield an inch to the enemies of freedom and praised police officers for neutralising the terrorist.

After attacking passersby, the assailant rushed at police saying: I will kill you, I will kill you, said police union representative Rocco Contento. One officer used his taser on the attacker before he was shot dead by another officer.

A witness told The Independent the attacker was trying to get into restaurants as diners barricaded the doors.

First we thought it was two guys fighting, said Fiona, who was having dinner in Kintaro restaurant and did not want her second name published.

People that were queueing outside ran into the restaurant screaming, so everyone panicked and threw themselves on the floor.

Fiona said the same man came back with the knife minutes later and was screaming Allahu akbar. She described how some people inside the restaurant, including her friend, blocked the door to prevent him from trying to enter again.

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

Witnesses described panic and screams after seeing a guy with a knife in the streets and videos posted on social media showed people running from the scene, which was cordoned off by security forces.

Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, said all Parisians were at the side of the victims and their loved ones.

Tonight our city was bruised, she wrote on Twitter. I want to salute the police, whose composure, courage and professionalism have once again saved lives. They have my gratitude. I would also like to thank the emergency services that went very quickly to take care of the wounded.

Additional reporting by news agencies.
Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi is ahead in Iraqs parliamentary election, according to unofficial results, in a poll that has added significance because of the escalating confrontation between the US and Iran.

The surprise of the election so far is the strong showing of the Shia populist nationalist cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, who has an electoral alliance with the communists, and is said to be in second place, according to election officials speaking off the record. Full results are expected on Monday.

The voting on 12 May took place under tight security, but without Isis attacks causing mass casualties, a further sign that security in the country is better than at any time since 2003.

Turnout was low, at 45 per cent, the reduced number voting probably explained by a general disillusionment with political parties as corrupt, ineffective and, for the most part, with little to offer during an uninspiring election campaign.

Mr Abadi, who came to office after the Isis seizure of Mosul in 2014, is credited with the recapture of the city after a nine-month siege last year.

This success was closely followed by the Iraqi armed forces moving back into Kirkuk, which had been under the effective control of the Kurds since 2003.

But Mr Abadi leads only one of four or five parties and factions vying for power and none of which will achieve a majority in the new parliament.

Going by past experience, a government will be formed only after prolonged bargaining over senior positions. Although Mr Abadi will be credited by many for his successes against Isis and the Kurds, the improved security has made Iraqis even more conscious of the lack of reconstruction 15 years after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The provision of water, electricity, housing and transport infrastructure remains very poor, despite the waste or theft of tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues.

Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission employee counts unused ballot papers (REUTERS/Marius Bosch)

The growing importance of social and economic issues helps explain the reported good showing of the followers of Mr Sadr, who come primarily from the Shia poor of Baghdad and southern Iraq.

His alliance with the secular communists, once a powerful political force in Iraq, emphasised his social radicalism as opposed to Shia sectarian allegiance at a time when many Iraqis feel that their religious parties have discredited themselves.

The Sadrists have a core of zealous followers and are well organised and professional in electioneering, suggesting that they may have benefited from a low turnout.

Mr Sadr led the Shia resistance to the US occupation in 2004 in which he was twice besieged in Najaf. He is aided by the high prestige of his family, his father Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr and two of his brothers being assassinated on orders from Saddam Hussein in 1999.

He has, at different times, expressed hostility towards both US and Iranian interference in Iraqi politics, blaming them for fuelling violence and political divisions within the country.

The US and Iran will inevitably play a role in the formation of a new Iraqi government, with Turkey and Saudi Arabia playing a subsidiary role.

Since the First Gulf War of 1991, the US and Iran have been rivals for influence in Iraq, but they have also had some strong interests in common such as opposition to Saddam Hussein and, after his fall, opposition to al-Qaeda and Isis.

Mr Abadi and his predecessor as prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, were only appointed after it was clear they were acceptable to both Washington and Tehran. President Donald Trumps fierce attacks on Iran and his imposition of sanctions following his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal will make such covert cooperation more difficult.

Iraqi leaders tr maintain good relations with Iran and the US and this complicates the formation of a coalition government acceptable to both.

(AFP / GETTY IMAGES) (Getty)

The US will want to limit the influence of Mr Maliki and Hadi al-Amiri, the leader of the paramilitary political grouping, as too close to Iran.

Iran, for its part, will seek to retain and expand its influence. The Kurds are much weakened by their political fragmentation, shortage of money and loss of Kirkuk, but they will still play an important role in forming a new government.
Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is visiting the UK  not really something thats interesting in and of itself, as hes been here nine times before. What is interesting is that this time hell be taking a break from his election campaign, one that is particularly controversial and particularly dangerous for many people in Turkey.

The elections, due to be held on 24 June, aim to see Erdogan re-elected for another five years with increased powers, allowing him to take Turkey further down the road towards dictatorship. Goodness knows why the president has even been campaigning for his re-election, seeing as we all know he would win even if he spent the next six weeks off work, chilling by the pool catching up on a few sneaky dating shows (which he banned last year along with Wikipedia).

It shows just how lax he is about the whole deal that hes decided now would be a great time to take a holiday and reportedly meet the Queen, maybe take a spin on the London Eye, say hi to the sharks at the Sea Life aquarium and get a kebab from Wood Green high street.

Recommended Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit UK next week

As a Turkish person living in London, I have to say Im not looking forward to his visit. Despite my grandads love of Turkish dating shows (which he now cant watch) and the fact that I would probably be in a prison cell right now if I was living in Turkey  Im a queer, non-binary, left wing journalist  most of my family still seem to love the bloke. Its particularly confusing considering he stands against pretty much everything Turkish revolutionary Mustafa Kemal Ataturk stood for, who they all seem to also love. A strange contradiction is being played out in Turkey right now.

Ive tried searching extensively online to find an opinion poll highlighting how the majority of Turkish Brits feel about Erdogan, but to no avail. It seems its a question that simply hasnt been asked. Its not one that I have much insight into either  I assume that the majority of more left wing Turks will be repulsed by him, just like I am. But how many Turkish Brits are left or right wing? I again cant say because nobody seems to have asked the question.

What I do know (and I dont need an opinion poll to tell me this) is that the majority of the Western European media is not a fan of the guy  and with good reason. Hes anti-LGBT+ rights, banning Pride two years in a row. Hes anti-women, literally saying women are not equal to men. Hes anti any kind of protest against him. He wants to bring back the death penalty. And hes made tens of thousands of arrests of journalists, teachers, students and pretty much anyone who opposes him. In fact, with Erdogan in power, Turkey has the highest number of jailed journalists in the world. No wonder hell win the next election when anyone who would have voted, or even expressed an opinion against him has either been locked up or fled the country.

Which begs an interesting question  should the UK be greeting him with open arms, particularly considering hes about to increase his hold over Turkey? Its the classic question of how to deal with particularly nasty world leaders  and its been thrown up frequently this year in the UK as the public has campaigned against a state visit from US president Donald Trump.

When I heard Trump was due to visit the UK I was immediately opposed: I think hes a pretty awful human and I dont believe British politicians should be pandering to him. But then I ask myself: are they really much better?

Yes, Trump has said some awful things, and so has Erdogan. Theyve both done terrible things too. But what UK politicians dont say out loud is reflected in their policies. To give just a few examples: we see racism in how the Windrush generation has been treated; we see sexism in the tax credits rape clause; we see human rights failures in the UKs role in the arrest of Abdel Hakim Belhaj and Fatima Boudchar that led them to be tortured; we see greed and profit put before human lives with continued sales of weapons that are used to kill innocent civilians.

Politicians are supposed to represent the people, but these policies do anything but. I think its a fair argument that many politicians in this country represent their own interests (or their own perception of the national interest) before they represent the views of the wider public. We can keep demanding that they represent us better, but they currently dont  and we have to deal with the system we have rather than the one we wish we had, for now. Unfortunately.

Theresa May banning Erdogan, or Trump for that matter, from the UK would imply a holier than thou status that I just dont think this country lives up to, historically or currently. Having said that, I dont think the Turkish leader should have a pleasant trip.

At the end of the day, when pretty much every world government is at some level dishonest, its up to the people to represent ourselves  protest Erdogan, protest Trump, protest May, wherever we can. Many people in Turkey cant protest right now for fear of their lives. But in the UK we can kick up a fuss against the Turkish leaders visit  we shouldnt rely on the government for such things.
Heres a fun fact: the founder of neoliberalism was a Corbynista.

Well, not exactly a Corbynista. The German sociologist Alexander Rustow died in 1963, long before Jeremy Corbyn entered Parliament, let alone became Labour leader. But some of the economic policies Rustow advocated bear a striking resemblance to those pushed by Corbyn today.

Rustow, according to the valuable research of Oliver Marc Hartwich, was in favour of the nationalisation of rail companies and utilities. He supported an active industrial policy to ease the social impact of economic upheaval. He wanted to reduce inequality through high inheritance taxes. He proposed higher taxes on large companies. The economy is there for people, Rustow insisted. Any of that might have come out of Labours 2017 election manifesto.

Recommended What I learnt from speaking with Paul Mason about Labour labels

From this historical perspective, the cry from Corbyns intellectual outrider Paul Mason last week that Labour needs to wage war on EU neoliberalism sounds pretty strange. Yet, of course, the definition of neoliberalism that Mason is using is different from that put forward by Rustow in the 1930s.

For Rustow, neoliberalism was a third way between socialism and British-style laissez-faire economics. It was conceived as a specific cure for late 19th-century German-style corporatism, with its proliferation of cartels.

Masons conception, on the other hand, stems from the theorising of Michel Foucault in the late 1970s, who saw neoliberalism as an ideological project to transform all of society into a giant marketplace. This freemarket fundamentalist conception of neoliberalism owes more to the thought of Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman than Rustow.

Words can change their meaning, of course. And theres no reason Mason, or anyone else, shouldnt use the modern definition of neoliberalism as a kind of unhealthy fetishisation of markets. After all, this is what most people today understand by the term.

Yet its important to ask whether Mason, and others on the radical left, are justified in describing the EU as part of a neoliberal project  especially when they use this framing to argue that Labour should be wary of joining the EUs single market after Brexit.

With its high levels of social protection, state-owned rail companies, nationalised utilities and banks, various price controls and industrial interventions, the European continent does not, on the face of it, look like the neoliberal hellhole of the leftist imagination. Europe actually seems to be a collection of social democracies and what Peter Hall and David Soskice described as co-ordinated market economies.

Yet, according to Mason, the European social market economy is merely the specific European form of neoliberalism because it prefers private over public, vaunts market mechanism over state direction or subsidy, relies on effective competition to make capitalism fairer, rather than strong regulation.

This is rather like arguing a hot bath is merely a warmer form of a freezing cold bath. Its a definition that ignores the experience. Most normal people, when they run a bath for themselves, are concerned with how comfortable it feels when they get in it, rather than which tap most of the water came out of.

The insights of Hayek and Friedman about the utility of markets  in particular the access to the socially dispersed knowledge embedded in them  are valuable. Yet its also true that a mentality that presents the extension of markets as the answer to every social question is a destructive pathology.

The merit of the post-war social democratic settlements of countries like Germany, France, Sweden and the Netherlands is that they have located a reasonable balance between those two extremes.

Any theoretical framework that crams Germanys Social Democrats into the same category as the US Republicans or the hardline Thatcherite wing of the Conservative Party has either gone badly awry or is conceptually useless.

Perhaps we can learn a lesson from the genesis of the term neoliberalism. Rustows 1930s conception of neoliberalism had a specific social and historical context  the crony capitalism of Wilhelmine (and then Weimar) Germany and the global crisis of free markets and democracy in the wake of the Great Depression. To understand the programme, one has to appreciate the context.

The economically liberalising ethos of the EUs 2007 Lisbon Treaty, which the left revile as one of the supreme works of the neoliberal devil, has a context too: a series of member states with a greater role for the state and social protection than the UK and the US but also structurally higher levels of unemployment. Its not freemarket fundamentalism, for instance, to suggest that French employment laws ought to be reformed for the sake of those younger people who find themselves outsiders in a system designed to protect insiders at all costs. Nor is it wild-eyed neoliberalism, in a single market of 28 member states, each with their own domestic corporate lobbies, to police the granting of state aid.

Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An abandoned shop is seen in Mullan, Co Monaghan. The building was home to four families who left during the Troubles. The town was largely abandoned after the hard border was put in place during the conflict. Mullan has seen some regeneration in recent years, but faces an uncertain future with Brexit on the horizon Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A defaced Welcome to Northern Ireland sign stands on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Mervyn Johnson owns a garage in the border town of Pettigo, which straddles the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh. Ive been here since 1956, it was a bit of a problem for a few years. My premises has been blown up about six or seven times, we just kept building and starting again, Johnson said laughing. We just got used to it [the hard border] really but now that its gone, we wouldn't like it back again Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Farmer Gordon Crocketts Coshquin farm straddles both Derry/Londonderry in the North and Donegal in the Republic. At the minute there is no real problem, you can cross the border as free as you want. We could cross it six or eight times a day, said Crockett. If there was any sort of obstruction it would slow down our work every day Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures John Murphy flies the European flag outside his home near the border village of Forkhill, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Potter Brenda McGinn stands outside her Mullan, Co Monaghan, studio  the former Jas Boylan shoe factory which was the main employer in the area until it shut down due to the Troubles. When I came back, this would have been somewhere you would have driven through and have been quite sad. It was a decrepit looking village, said McGinn, whose Busy Bee Ceramics is one of a handful of enterprises restoring life to the community. Now this is a revitalised, old hidden village Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Union Flag colours painted on kerbstones and bus-stops along the border village of Newbuildings, Co Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Grass reflected in Lattone Lough, which is split by the border between Cavan and Fermanagh, seen from near Ballinacor, Northern Ireland Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Donegalman David McClintock sits in the Border Cafe in the village of Muff, which straddles Donegal and Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An old Irish phone box stands alongside a bus stop in the border town of Glaslough, Co Monaghan Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Billboards are viewed from inside a disused customs hut in Carrickcarnon, Co Down, on the border with Co Louth in the Republic Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Seamus McQuaid takes packages that locals on the Irish side of the border have delivered to his business, McQuaid Auto-Parts, to save money on postal fees, near the Co Fermanagh village of Newtownbutler. I live in the south but the business is in the North, said McQaid. "I wholesale into the Republic of Ireland so if theres duty, Ill have to set up a company 200 yards up the road to sell to my customers. Ill have to bring the same product in through Dublin instead of Belfast Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A disused Great Northern Railway line and station that was for customs and excise on the border town of Glenfarne, Co Leitrim Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Alice Mullen, from Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, does her shopping at a former customs post on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh. Id be very worried if it was a hard border, I remember when people were divided. I would be very afraid of the threat to the peace process, it was a dreadful time to live through. Even to go to mass on a Sunday, youd have to go through checkpoints. It is terribly stressful, said Mullen. All those barricades and boundaries were pulled down. I see it as a huge big exercise of trust and I do believe everyone breathed a sigh of relief Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A bus stop and red post box stand in the border town of Jonesborough, Co Armagh Reuters

The problem with the modern Foucauldian definition of neoliberalism is that it ignores context and invites paranoia. The result is that those who advocate a modest extension of markets in some areas cannot be understood as simply attempting to adjust the temperature of societys bath but must be seen as part of a sinister ideological project to atomise humanity.

European leaders have certainly handled the eurozone crisis abysmally, inflicting unnecessary suffering on the likes of Greece and Portugal through excessive public spending cuts and badly designed structural reforms. Domestic fiscal policy in Germany has been, and remains, a disaster zone.

There are many reasons for this, but its simply not credible to argue that these gross failures stem from the same species of ideological extremism that animates libertarian right-wingers in the Anglosphere. The context and the history are separate; the attitudes to markets, the state, inequality and social solidarity are fundamentally different.

It would be tragic if Labour rejected the option of single market membership for the UK after Brexit. And if the party did so on the basis of fallacies about European Union neoliberalism, it would be farcical.
The audit and accounting watchdog has issued a warning to Irish companies and tax advisers about the potentially significant accounting Brexit pitfalls they may face.

The Irish Auditing and Accountancy Supervisory Authority (Iaasa) warned that some companies may have to go as far as restructuring as a result of Britain's exit from the EU.

"There may be potential issues in relation to the legal ownership of some of the larger firms," said the document.

"A number of firms are structured as all Island, Great Britain and Ireland and even European firms. They may now need to restructure so that the firm meets the EU ownership requirements."

The body has said that while many countries share close relationships, with cross-border audits taking place routinely 'we are not aware of any other jurisdiction where the recognition' between Irish accounting professionals and their British counterparts are as widespread.

"If Brexit results in the UK becoming a 'third country' then this may have significant implications for UK auditors wishing to audit Irish entities (and vice versa)," said Iaasa.

"If reciprocal rights are not in place, then members of the profession who until now could freely practice throughout these islands, and across the island of Ireland in particular, may now find that considerably more difficult," said the watchdog.

It said that its research confirmed that there huge uncertainty remained among tax experts and companies which could be affected by Britain's decision to leave the EU.

"What was evident from many of those discussions was the lack of clarity on the part of many entities who may be significantly affected by Brexit as to how best to prepare," added Iaasa.

"This is born of the lack of clarity around precisely what shape Brexit will ultimately take, expressed reductively in the 'Hard Brexit/Soft Brexit' debate.

"A number of stakeholders have chosen to simply wait it out until clarity emerges."

But Iaasa said there could be significant implications for accounting standards after Brexit.

"Post-Brexit there is a risk that UK and Irish Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) as currently structured could result in local financial reporting standards being in breach of EU law," it said.

"In such a scenario, Ireland would need to move away from UK and Irish GAAP and decide either to follow International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for SMEs or adopt its own accounting standards, perhaps based on UK standards but with amendments for breaches of the law or other specific Irish market issues."

"Although in many cases the visible impact would be small if at all, this would have significant effects for the profession in terms of training and awareness of the subtle differences between IFRS and UK and Irish GAAP, of which there are many," said the note to industry.
The Sunday Independent is today publishing a first-of-its-kind Political Rich List.

A month-long research project into our politicians' assets has produced a comprehensive list which aims to gives voters a unique insight into the estimated net worth of the TDs whom they elected to parliament.

Central to the wealth of many of our long-serving national representatives are their lucrative public service pensions, which would cost millions of euro to buy in the private sector.

Many politicians are also privately wealthy through shareholdings, mini-property empires or ownership of vast swathes of farmland.

For the first time, this newspaper is also revealing the State-supported farming grants paid to TDs, including three ministers.

We are not suggesting politicians are not entitled to the assets they have accumulated over the course of, or before, their political careers.

However, the 158 men and women of Dail Eireann make decisions that affect every aspect of our lives, whether it is in relation to our health, housing or finances.

For much of the last decade, those decisions resulted in our incomes being substantially reduced. Things have picked up. But now those decisions, or lack thereof, mean the vast majority of the country is priced out of the property market.

That is why voters deserve, at the very least, a glimpse into the financial standing of the politicians whom they elected to make decisions which will affect their household budgets.

Most of our TDs are never off the clock. Their telephones are 24-hour helplines for the sick, the poor and the stranded. They also have to face the ultimate job interview every five years - if they are lucky enough to get that far.

There are plenty of career politicians but it is a dying trade. Those who do dedicate their lives to politics are rewarded for their public service with pension pots that a private sector worker would envy.

Most public representatives had professional lives before they entered politics. They may have been teachers, accountants, lawyers, business owners and farmers. With all this in mind, we should still remember that we pay their salaries and their pensions.

They are accountable to us - the taxpayers of Ireland.

That is why they are required to give details of their properties, land, businesses and shareholdings.

The Register of Members' Interests is published annually on the Houses of the Oireachtas's official website.

It is far from prescriptive and information provided by each TD is nowhere near uniform. It is also not policed and politicians are taken at their word.

The Sunday Independent decided to look deeper into the details provided by our lawmakers.

A trawl of the register and other publicly available resources by this newspaper, along with financial analysts Karl Deeter and Simon Farrell, found significant differences in how TDs fill out the statutory declaration.

Some TDs are happy to give detailed information of their assets and interests, while others seem to believe less is more.

This is not to suggest that politicians are flagrantly breaking the law by purposely providing inaccurate information. Rather, they are not required to provide precise details of assets and interests which, in certain scenarios, could present them with a conflict of interest.

Take the many TDs who own shares in multinational companies.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe transferred his shares in international drinks company Diageo to his wife when it was pointed out to him by the Sunday Independent that the holding could be seen as a conflict.

It could still be argued that transferring the shares to his wife has done very little to remove the conflict.

The minister also has shares in consumer goods conglomerate Proctor & Gamble. We do not know how big a shareholding he has.

The rules state that politicians do not have to declare anything below 13,000.

For instance, if a minister held 10,000 of shares in 10 companies (a 100,000 shares portfolio) we wouldn't know because they wouldn't have to declare it.

Education Minister Richard Bruton is, we estimate, the third richest TD, with a potential value of just under 5m. This includes an estimated 117,000 of shares (seven different holdings multiplied by 13,000) .

Within that portfolio, he has shares in both Bank of Ireland and AIB - two institutions in which the Government also holds shares.

Mr Bruton's spokesperson said: "While the minister cannot discuss matters relating to Cabinet proceedings, he is guided by the Cabinet handbook in relation to any potential conflicts of interest."

He is not alone. Transport Minister Shane Ross has a holding in Bank of Ireland, among other shares which he holds, including shares in Independent News & Media - the company that publishes the Sunday Independent.

Sean Haughey, the son of former Taoiseach Charles Haughey, has the largest declared share portfolio, with an estimated value of 351,000 calculated based on the methodology outlined by Karl Deeter elsewhere on this page.

Mr Haughey has shares in everything from tech giants Amazon and Facebook to international food company Nestle. He is also an executive director in Larchfield Securities, which is an unlimited company described as a 'family holding company' in Mr Haughey's declaration.

We don't know any more about the company because it is unlimited, meaning it is not required to publish detailed financial statements.

But again, Mr Haughey is doing nothing wrong and breaking no rules. TDs are free to be directors of companies which don't need to produce annual accounts.

Michael Lowry only recently changed his refrigeration business, Streamline Enterprises, to an unlimited company. Mr Lowry, whom we estimate to be Dail's highest-valued TD financially, was doing quite well in the refrigeration game before he decided to change the status of his company. We estimate the company was worth around 2m when it last filed accounts three years ago.

Another aspect of the rules of declaration which leaves a lot of be desired as far as consistency is concerned is around land and property.

TDs, for the most part, do accurately declare the property they own and abide by the rules set out by the Oireachtas.

However, some give more details than others.

Take Tanaiste Simon Coveney. Mr Coveney's declaration says he has one rental property in Cork, which he is currently letting.

It does not mention that the Foreign Affairs Minister also owns a family home in Cork and a Dublin city centre apartment. He does not have to declare these two properties because he lives in both.

But still it's a substantial property portfolio for a politician who was once housing minister.

Former Taoiseach Enda Kenny, on the other hand, lists every single one of his properties, including the Dublin apartment he stays in during the days that the Dail is sitting.

There are similar diferences around farmland.

Some TDs give the size of their land down to the last acre, while others merely mention the townland where their fields are situated.

Again, no-one is breaking any rules. It's just some TDs are more transparent than others. TDs are reluctant to give details of their assets and many are quick to point out that they have large mortgages on their properties.

They are also anxious to note that the land they own has generally been passed down through generations and they intend to hand it over to their children.

An essential ingredient of a functioning democracy is the openness and honesty of its politicians. In Ireland, we tend to trust our politicians.

There is a presumption that they hold themselves to the same high standard which they expect of us as citizens.

However, history has shown us we have been wrong to blindingly trust all of those who govern us.

The Political Rich List is not highlighting any wrongdoing by our lawmakers.

The aim is to simply make the playing field even.

Voters deserve to know the wealth of those who make decisions on their behalf.
For an island nation on the edge of Europe, we're far from isolated - and that's good news for Irish business travellers. Hardly a week goes by without a new route launch at Dublin Airport.

In the past week alone, we've seen two major launches - Icelandair (Reykjavik) and Croatia Airlines (Zagreb) - with next month bringing us Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong) and Hainan Airlines (Beijing). And if you can judge an economy by confidence alone, then the signals are good. Icelandair executives revealed to this column - even before the maiden flight ex Dublin took off - that the six times a week service will go daily year-round, beginning in October.

While the point-to-point travel between Dublin and Iceland's main airport of Keflavik will be mainly leisure-focused, Icelandair offers some interesting onward connections.

It's got a 22-strong route network in North America, with a number of airports not served out of Dublin at present, namely Dallas Fort-Worth, Baltimore, Cleveland, Minneapolis-St Paul, Baltimore, Anchorage and Edmonton.

It's offering a three-class service - economy, premium flex (a premium economy product, with two checked bags up to 70lb each), lounge access and 40" seat pitch. The top level is premium, which adds more ticket-changing flexibility, as well as wifi access for two devices from gate to gate. Most fare types allow for a stopover of up to seven days in Iceland free of charge. Prices should be competitive, given that it's pitching itself against low-cost operator Wow, which also has a business model of connecting Ireland to 14 North American cities. Croatia Airlines is dipping its toes in the Irish market, with its service from Dublin to the capital, Zagreb, initially just twice a week and summer-only. Again, executives said that they're confident about the route, with Zagreb also a hub for other Balkan destinations.

Trade with Croatia is small, Irish Ambassador Olive Hempenstall told the Sunday Independent, and the most recent figures putting goods exports to there at a paltry 3m in January - which is less than for Mali or Senegal, and roughly equivalent to our trade with Peru.

But it's out east where the world is opening up to Irish businesses, with three weeks to the launch of Ireland's first direct flight to Asia.

Again, the signs are positive, when comparing the new service to one launched last week to Copenhagen, a mirror image of Dublin with each boasting just under 30 million passengers a year.

"Copenhagen is seasonal - it's only operating in the summer which indicates it's more about targeting the inbound markets from Asia," said Ian Wilkinson, corporate and leisure sales manager, UK and Ireland. "The key difference with Dublin is that we're committed to a year-round service which is four times a week - Copenhagen is just three - as we see a lot of opportunities in Ireland."

The likes of Enterprise Ireland have been pushing hard to secure this route for Irish business, with Wilkinson adding: "Clearly the links between Ireland and the SWP (south-west Pacific region) are very strong... and it's a fairly good corporate market for us to target too."

So far the stats are showing that many Irish passengers are using Hong Kong as a hub to fly elsewhere in the region. "The volume we would see would be onward connections - with Hong Kong itself we can see traffic but with a direct flight to Asia it will stimulate growth. We've got 28-plus destinations within China which is predicted to be Ireland's fourth-biggest export market - that's a big opportunity."

As with the rival Boeing Dreamliner, Airbus's new aircraft - used by Cathay - are promising to reduce jetlag, which is a key factor given the 12-hour flight time from Dublin to Hong Kong.

"We're using the A350-900 - the cabin is pressurised to a much lower altitude so your sense of well-being and how fresh you'll feel when you arrive is greatly increased," said Wilkinson.

"I wouldn't say it eradicates jetlag but you genuinely feel better after a 12-hour flight."

Connection times are a plus, with a 50-minute minimum transit time if transferring to another Cathay service or one operated by sister airline Cathay Dragon, which services Chinese and Asian cities.

Paul Cruttenden, corporate sales manager, said such tight times are do-able, even in a foreign environment for corporate travellers, adding: "When connection times are quite tight - under an hour - there are Cathay Pacific ground staff waiting for you to off-board to take you to the next flight."

But after years of looking west for long-haul, Dublin's Asian ambitions continue to grow. New CEO Dalton Philips and CFO Ray Gray revealed that 100,000 passengers a year is the minimum requirement for a sustainable route, with the DAA now looking in the medium term to open up links to Delhi in India and Hong Kong's near-neighbour of Shenzhen.
Can you believe it's May and Revenue are already writing to employers regarding next year's PAYE obligations? This is due to the PAYE system being modernised from next January. I don't think "modernised" does this stuff justice; rather it's more like a seismic shift in everything you knew about filing payroll details with Revenue.

January won't be long coming; maybe it's just me but it doesn't seem that long since we were opening selection boxes and watching It's a Wonderful Life and now the year is almost half over.

Expand Close Tom Maguire, tax partner at Deloitte. Photo: Damien Eagers / Facebook

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Revenue's recent annual report says that this modernisation project "will transform the administration and collection of payroll taxes" and will "bring improved accuracy and transparency for Revenue, employers and employees. It also will reduce the administrative burden on employers and will ensure that employee tax deductions and contributions are correct and are reported to Revenue on time."

I was chatting with my partners Daryl Hanberry and Billy Burke, who are advising their clients in preparation for this seismic shift. They say that right now, although PAYE is paid throughout the year, it's only at the year-end reporting stage that employee details become available to Revenue on filing the P35.

We all know the radio ads around January time with their dramatic soundtrack regarding that deadline. Revenue know that some employers play catch-up around year-end to adjust payroll for various items and under the new system it will still be possible to make adjustments to filed details. However, under the new rules, Revenue will immediately see such tweaks and employers who keep playing catch up will probably be contacted by Revenue and maybe not in a good way. It's all not too far off Tom Cruise's Minority Report for payroll.

Under the new system, the focus needs to be on reporting accurate data in a real-time basis each pay period. So the new PAYE regime can be described as 'right here right now' regarding employee information. Gone will be the 'P days' in that various returns and documents such as P30, P35, P60 and P45 will all be distant memories. Employers need to be ready.

Right now, the employer receives tax credit and standard rate cut-off details for each employee to calculate PAYE when remunerating that employee either on a paper tax deduction card or electronically via Revenue's online system through a P2C report. Those items will be replaced by a Revenue Payroll Notification (RPN). The employer will have to request an RPN from Revenue before remunerating an employee. The RPN will provide the employer with the necessary information to deduct the correct PAYE/PRSI, Universal Social Charge and Local Property Tax (if applicable) from the employee. This is not too dissimilar from what happens currently.

However, what will be different is that on or before making a payment, the employer must provide Revenue with details for each employee of the amount of pay, the payment date and the amount of tax deductible or repayable.

Revenue will issue a monthly statement to the employer with the total amount of tax due etc. If the details are wrong, the employer can reject the statement and submit the corrections to Revenue before the payment due date. The date on which tax is due remains unchanged.

Today many payrolls are operated using computer software and it is understood that such software is being amended to interact with Revenue's online system.

However, there still are some manual paper-based payrolls being operated. For employers who do not use computer software, then the employer can use the Revenue Online Service (ROS). The ROS system is being upgraded to allow for the recording of employee payroll information for sending to Revenue in accordance with the new requirements.

The cynic would say sure the tax hasn't changed and it's all very simple really given gross wages in, tax and net wages out.

But as we all know life isn't that simple. Daryl and Billy point out that although real-time reporting might be relatively straightforward for certain payroll items, it is very common for payroll teams to experience delays in obtaining accurate information on other items (eg taxable expense payments, non-cash benefits in kind, equity compensation, expatriate items, low-rent accommodation unless you live in a lighthouse where you need to be there for your job etc.) They would argue that early preparation is critical to a smooth transition (fail to prepare, prepare to fail and all that) to this brave new world. It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for employers and they're feeling... how? Prepared?

Therefore, it's important that employers consider this matter right here right now to minimise any hair-pulling moments closer to the time and yes I'm aware of the irony of that advice given my photo. January and February 2019 are likely to be busy for payroll teams between finalising the 2018 P35 and grappling with this new system as it gets off the ground so the more work done in advance of that time the better.

One of the most common lines in the movies is "there's a storm coming" and saying that you didn't know is a dog that just won't hunt. Revenue will continue with its information campaign to ensure taxpayers are up to speed on this PAYE modernisation through workshops and briefing sessions including letters in letterboxes. Change is coming; are employers ready? The storm is coming and it'll be selection box time again really quickly.

Tom Maguire is a tax partner in Deloitte and author of Irish Income Tax 2018
Charity Ataxia Ireland is set to be closed with its functions transferred to another body.

The board of the organisation made the announcement in a notice posted on the charity's website. It said it believed the charity "no longer has the trust of its members or the wider public, and this makes fundraising impossible both currently and into the future".

"The board feels that the duty of care to the members of Ataxia Ireland CLG and indeed future members, can and will be better served by a different organisation going forward," the notice states. "The board will be closing down Ataxia Ireland CLG over the coming weeks and after continuing discussions, will entrust AFI (Ataxia Foundation Ireland) with the responsibilities and duties previously performed and carried out by Ataxia Ireland for its members."

The charity had previously been the subject of an investigation by the Charities Regulatory Authority, which said that there was "a fundamental weakness in the financial management and control of the charity between 2014 and mid-June 2015." The CEO at that time, Barbara Flynn, subsequently launched a High Court challenge against the investigation. Counsel for Ms Flynn said the report was not prepared in accordance with fair procedures and natural justice.

Ataxia is a term for a group of disorders that affect co-ordination, balance and speech. In severe cases it can be fatal.
'The new Google News brings together several existing news products into one app and website. It will analyse the constant flow of news information as it hits the web in real time, and organise it into storylines.'

Last week, Google held its I/O conference in California. As you'd expect, it was a technophile's dream. Google demoed how its personal assistant will soon be able make phone calls on your behalf and sound like a real human being. This new feature is powered, of course, by artificial intelligence (AI). Google photos will be upgraded to automatically suggest tweaks that improve your snaps. Again, this uses AI. Gmail will get a new feature called Smart Compose, which uses AI to suggest phrases as you type. And Google News is also getting a revamp, thanks to, you guessed it, AI.

The new Google News brings together several existing news products into one app and website. It will analyse the constant flow of news information as it hits the web in real time, and organise it into storylines.

Users can look forward to a daily briefing of five stories, personalised according to the users' reading habits. Simple controls will allow them to see more or less of a topic or from a particular publisher. There's a new visual format called newscasts, which offer different perspectives by bringing together articles, videos and quotes on a single topic from a host of sources. Plus, there's a feature called full coverage, which will allow users to get a deeper understanding of a story.

But it's not just readers that Google is courting with this new News product. It's batting its eyelashes at publishers, too. Google News promises to play nice with paywalls. Users will be able to subscribe for paid content with their Google account. There'll be no complex sign-up processes, no credit card numbers, and no new passwords. Users will be able to access paid content on all platforms and devices, on Google News, Google Search, and on publishers' own websites. Of course, Google will take a small cut of the subscription fee.

It all sounds impressive. But is this the future of news, or just another aggregator?

Well, the first hurdle that Google will have to clear is the filter bubble issue that Facebook fell foul of with its news feed. Personalised news services will always be guilty of the sin of omission. Read a news website, or a newspaper and something interesting happens: serendipitous discovery of news. You find and read stories that you may not necessarily have gone looking for. Sometimes these are about difficult societal issues, sometimes they're informed opinions on something you know nothing about, sometimes they're utterly flippant.

However, they've made it onto the page because the publication in question deems them culturally relevant. In designing a newsfeed that kept users hooked for as long as possible, Facebook ditched this principal.

Google has said an algorithm fed by a few hundred signals will have the job of surfacing stories from trusted sources. And it will undoubtedly add that the user has full control over what appears in their daily briefing or newscasts. But it will be interesting to monitor how these features are populated, and what behaviours the new Google news promotes.

Privacy is another issue that Google news needs to address. With GDPR and a greater awareness of how firms like to store and use personal data, it will be interesting to see whether most people will be willing to trade privacy for personalised news. Given the amount of information Google holds on us thanks to products like Chrome, Android, Gmail and more, chances are convenience will win out.

Perhaps a more difficult issue will be keeping publishers sweet. Along with Apple, Facebook and a few others, it's a gatekeeper, controlling access to digital news. With Facebook deprioritising news, Apple likely to launch its own digital subscription product soon, and Google owning its own chunk of the audience, how long before publishers stop relying on their digital frenemies as online intermediaries? How long before they realise they should have a direct relationship with their customers?

But the most interesting question relates to Google's all-pervasive AI crusade. Google's stated aim here is to save users' time by taking troublesome tasks off their plate. But let's look at the tasks they're trying to speed up. Making phonecalls. Writing emails. Staying informed.

Google may be able to shave nanoseconds off these activities, but are these really the tasks we need help with? Wouldn't we all be better off if we took the time to communicate with each other and stay informed, rather than outsourcing these activities to the apogee of surveillance capitalism?

How much personalisation will it take before the world becomes a very impersonal place?
The comedian Kevin McGahern is well known for hosting the RTE comedy sketch show, Republic of Telly. McGahern, who is from Cavan, first began performing stand-up comedy in 2009 before joining the popular television series The Hardy Bucks on RTE 2.

As well as performing in top Irish comedy clubs such as Dublin's International Bar, he has performed in a number of festivals including Galway Comedy Carnival, Forbidden Fruit and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

McGahern will be live in Whelan's, Dublin on May 30 and in the Kilkenny Cats Festival on June 2 and 3 with his new show, The Boxty Monologues. For more information, visit thecatlaughs.com and whelanslive.com.

What's the most important lesson about money your career as a comedian has taught you?

Never leave the venue without getting paid.

What's the most expensive country you ever visited?

Dubai. That place is dripping with money. I paid about 40 for a BLT. Nearly had a heart attack.

What's your favourite Irish coin?

I loved the old coins. There was something nice about having animals on your coins. It was something to look at when you were bored at school. Nice wee fish and bulls and horses and whatever the hell was on the 2p coin - a heron in a mangle I think. My favourite was the 1 punt coin - it had a lovely picture of a stag on it, plus it had a good weight to it when it hit the counter.

Apart from property, what's the most expensive thing you have ever bought?

A fur sink.

What was your worst job?

I worked as a pirate for a popular rum company where I had to go to nightclubs and basically be Duffman from The Simpsons. Going round nightclubs taking photos with drunk young lads is no craic when you're not in the mood.

What was your biggest financial mistake?

I bought a BLT in Dubai one time.

What was your best financial killing?

I used to hide the mayonnaise packets underneath my bread when I was getting lunch in the RTE canteen. How much did I save? Well, three years, one packet of mayonnaise per day, 50c a packet - you do the math!

Are you better off than your parents?

No. There's not many in my generation that is.

Your favourite song or tune about money?

Gimme Some Money by Spinal Tap. It's just a very funny song.

Have you ever made an insurance claim?

Nope

iTunes or Spotify? Or are you more into CDs and records?

Like all stupid hipsters, I love records. They don't sound as good as a CD and you have to get up half way through to turn it over. Fantastic!

What was the last thing you bought online?

Second-hand clothes pegs.

Would you buy Irish property now? Why?

Oh God no. I'm waiting on the next recession.

Do you ever haggle?

I love haggling. I recently haggled a lad down to about 7 when buying bluetooth headphones in China. I was delighted with myself. I got home and realized they wouldn't charge. He had the last laugh.

What's the best advice you ever got about money?

"When everyone's running, walk. And when everyone's walking, run." I got that advice from my grand-uncle Paddy Joe. You can decide for yourself what you think he meant by that.

What three things would you not be able to do without if you were tightening your belt?

Films, Guinness and boxty.
ONE of Ireland's top models, Pippa O'Connor, has warned other young 30-somethings not to get sucked in by pressure to tie yourself to a mortgage.

The 30-year-old, who bought a home in Co Meath five years ago with her husband, RTE star Brian Ormond, said she now regrets her decision to buy.

"If I could go back again I would definitely rent instead of buying," she told the Sunday Independent.

"If you are young, you are not going to want to stay in the same spot forever. It's a massive financial commitment. If you get fed up, you can't just go somewhere else so easily and move on."

Pippa recalls how she, like so many other young Irish people of the same age, came under huge pressure to buy during the manic Celtic Tiger property splurge.

"It was embedded into people's heads: 'If you have money then put it in bricks and mortar'. It was in my head too and I still don't know why. I don't know why we are all obsessed with home ownership. If I was doing it again, I would rent because you can move on, your lifestyle and your tastes change and it isn't nice to be chained to one place.

"Some people who bought are going to have to stay there because they won't be in a position to get out of it."

She now gives this advice to friends: "I would tell them that to rent is not to throw away money. It's a much smarter option unless you are really ready and in a good financial situation. I would say don't do it unless you really know what you are doing.

"I don't think there is anything wrong with moving towards the renting market on the continent."

The model mother-of-one believes people are now questioning the belief that a mortgage is an essential next step in life.

"I think my set are definitely changing. Among my peers it's OK to rent now," she added.

"Years ago everyone said 'oh, buy your own house, buy your own house!' even if it was a little dog box apartment. Why? What's the point? It's an Irish thing and I think we are going to move away from it now. I hope we are."

Speaking about the pressures young Irish 30-somethings now face, she added: "Everyone wants it all. You want to own a house, you want to have a husband, you want to have a baby. But you want to a career, too. It's hard to do everything and I think women especially put themselves under a lot of pressure to try and get it all.

"It's like, 'oh, if I don't have a child by the time I'm 35 I'm old and you're not. It's definitely challenging."

The Kildare native, who runs her blog pippa.ie and a new styling service, Pippa's Fashion Factory, also spoke for the first time about coming to terms with the death of her mother Louise Mullen last October. Louise passed away suddenly at her home in Johnstown, Co Kildare. It is believed Louise, the daughter of rugby legend Dr Karl Mullen, suffered a heart attack. Pippa says she is still living through the initial stages of shock as she tries to comprehend the huge loss.

"I was at home with Brian and my uncle rang him to break the news and then he told me," she calls. "I heard the words, but it didn't really sink in. It's still really hard to comprehend to be honest. It's only been three months. I lived with my mom, just the two of us, for a long time. I was five years on my own with her until I was 23 so we were very close. As I grew older we became more like sisters. She would ring me and tell me she wanted to get a top like mine or highlights done in the same way. She was a character. She was a very witty, intelligent and glamorous woman who was kind to a fault."

Pippa says her young son, Ollie, is helping her through the pain.

"He has been a life saver because you can't stay in bed or wallow - you have to be a mother. But you could be fine until you bring him to creche and then you're driving home on your own and it completely hits you.

Or out Christmas shopping and I'll say 'I'll get that for my mom' and then all of a sudden you remember that 'oh my God, she's not here'. You can't comprehend it unless you've been in that situation. I still go to pick up the phone to call her."

But she says the pain of her loss has made her stronger. "It makes you realise you can't put things on the long finger. That work isn't the be all and end all. And you have to stay close to the people who are important to you."
The IT managers of big or small companies are unlikely to head to Harvey Norman, PC World, or some other well-known retailer when their company needs some new PCs for new employees. Instead, they use what are called value added resellers (VARs) to purchase everything from hardware, to software, to cloud services - and anything in between.

Should that company happen to be in North America or the United Kingdom, there is a good chance the VAR in question is CDW Corporation.

Based outside Chicago, CDW is a leading multi-brand technology solutions provider to enterprise, small business, government, education and healthcare facilities. The firm buys from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and wholesalers for resale to its customers. The firm services more than 250,000 customers.

Its product portfolio of over 100,000 items (representing more than 1,000 brands) includes hardware and software products, integrated IT solutions used in mobility, data-centres, cloud computing, virtualisation and collaboration. Today, CDW employs over 8,000 staff, 6,000 of whom are customer-facing and 2,000 of whom are field salespersons, field engineers and technology specialists. CDW is a key strategic partner to many of the largest technology companies in the world, including Adobe, EMC, Cisco, Microsoft, HP, NetApp, Lenovo, Symantec, and VMware. The company sells into its five main customer verticals and each of these contributed at least $1bn in sales annually.

CDW recently expanded its relationship with Dell, which has added some incremental revenue growth, but the long-term potential is much higher as Dell appears to be transitioning to more of an indirect go-to-market model which should drive incremental volume and revenue through CDW's network. CDW has, through scale, developed a stable business model with attractive gross and operating margins. The model is also characterised by a variable cost structure which means profits grow approximately at the same rate as sales but downside risk is mitigated.

In addition to maintaining close customer relationships, CDW has large distribution and configuration capabilities at its two distribution centres. This allows it to forego an IT distributor and procure directly from OEMs in some circumstances. CDW also has drop shipment arrangements with many of its largest OEMs, which is more profitable for CDW.

The outlook for IT spend remains positive, particularly in the US, where good economic growth is combining with benefits from last year's tax reform measures, giving businesses of all sizes the chance to invest in IT infrastructure. Cloud computing, Big Data, and cybersecurity are also requiring companies to spend money.

Although CDW is a leader in the US market, it still has plenty of scope to take market share in what is a very fragmented market.

Formerly owned by private equity, CDW was listed on the stock market in 2013 and since then has returned more than $1.4bn to shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks. Indeed, in 2017 alone, the firm repurchased $534m worth of shares.

While it might not sound like the sexiest part of the technology world, CDW has many avenues of growth and a business model which should see it capture market share. But don't take my word for it - ask your IT managers where they shop!

Aidan Donnelly is head of equities in Davy Private Clients. For disclosures, visit davy.ie/AidanDonnelly
The reality is that undertaking is a commercial business. In order to provide an incredibly important and professional service at probably the most vulnerable time for families, funeral directors need to make profit to develop their businesses for the long term. Photo: Stock image

As the old saying goes, there are three certainties in life - change, death and taxes. And let's face it, we don't get up every morning looking forward to the middle one. Nor are you likely to see advertisements for funerals with special offers, a summer sale or promotions. A funeral is a distress purchase.

The reality is that undertaking is a commercial business. In order to provide an incredibly important and professional service at probably the most vulnerable time for families, funeral directors need to make profit to develop their businesses for the long term.

Like every industry, their world is going through significant change. Since 1965 it is no longer a 'sin' in the Catholic church to be cremated. That coupled with the cost of graves means that the number of cremations has increased from 3pc to 40pc in Dublin. The national average is 15pc.

Another significant change is the renewed focus on healthy living. Our lifespan has extended from 70 years of age for men and 74 for women to a current average of 83 and 85. While there are around 30,000 deaths per year in Ireland, there are more than 60,000 births. So apart from the obvious long-term opportunities in the sector, what does all of this mean for the industry?

Fanagans Funeral Homes

Founded in 1819, Fanagans Funeral Homes is family owned and operated. Through acquisitions it now has 11 funeral homes across Dublin. Made up of four families, the Fanagans, Nichols, Carnegies and Kirwans, it is the leading group of funeral directors in Dublin.

I have always been struck by the solemnity and the decorum of funeral directors. They always do what they do with a level of respect that comes across more as a vocation than a business. The industry is dominated by families looking after families. "We are actually in the events management business. This is often the single most important occasion for a family and it is our job to ensure that the family is a priority," said managing director Jody Fanagan.

That family culture is paramount and when recruiting, Fanagans looks for candidates that are 'people-focused' and empathetic. That sense of caring extends to how the Fanagan family approaches the issue of family succession.

Recent Challenges

While every business faces typical challenges, there is an added dimension in family businesses - how to navigate the complexities of family itself. As family trees expand, some of the family might work in the business while others might not. Emotional issues can dominate, leading to conflict. One issue is the legal framework around ownership. The other is the ongoing management of the business and who is best fit to fulfil key roles at different stages.

Having been around for such a long time, Fanagans is keen to remain as a family business for years to come. Management is, however, very conscious of the alarming statistics about family businesses and have been very proactive in preventing such disharmony.

Change Tips

Fanagans recognises that the company's core skill is as funeral directors, so it brought in experts to fill gaps in its skill set. At a functional level, it recruited experts in finance and HR. For the first time in the family's history, through the Institute of Directors it recruited a non-executive director to the board.

It also engaged Francis Martin, a partner in BDO Northern Ireland, as an expert in family succession. "Succession management is a journey that requires a proactive approach to its planning. Look after the business first and the business will look after the family, as the other way around may lead to bad decisions," said Francis. Here are the practical steps to consider regarding planning for succession management.

1 Build consensus in the family regarding the purpose of the business and clear governance around the relationship the family has with the business. Is the purpose to build and sell it? Or, as with Fanagans, is the role of the current generation to protect it for future generations?

2 What are the core family aspirations and values? How can they be preserved through the generations?

3 What is the best mechanism to support governance of the business (such as a board) and the day-to-day management structure. Who is best fit to fill those roles?

4 What are the core competencies required for each management role? Do these competencies exist in the family? If not, how willing are you to bring in professional managers?

5 How will family matters be discussed and issues resolved (even for those not involved in the running of the business)? Fanagans has formed a family council and constitution as a structured platform to discuss issues. It's also designed to protect the heritage and relationships across the family tree.

Summary

The survival rates for first-generation family businesses is 56pc. For second generation, it's 27pc and for third, 11pc. As family trees expand, tensions rise, opinions differ, power gets distributed, obstacles develop and so on. Take the time to plan for succession. You'll protect your business and your family through the generations.

Alan O'Neill - The Change Agent www.alanoneill.biz. Contact Alan if you'd like support with your business. Business advice questions for Alan can be sent to sundaybusiness@independent.ie
Will Eir let its network rust away? Or is it about to surprise everyone with a massive wave of investment?

We're about to find out.

The company, one of the three most important infrastructure organisations in Ireland, reported cost-cutting results last week.

Lower revenue and higher profits were accompanied by no news of any new services or plans, other than a programme to let a quarter of its workforce go.

On paper, there is nothing to suggest any growth or advancement, just a professional strategy to manage down costs and defend existing products.

The exception is its current plan to build out 300,000 fibre-to-the-home broadband connections in regional towns.

So is the new owner, billionaire Xavier Niel, simply going to sweat what's there to make a fast buck? Maybe not.

Eir's new chief executive, Carolan Lennon, told investors last week that the company planned to invest 1bn over the coming five years.

This would likely include more fibre-to-the-home broadband and an extensive upgrade of the mobile network.

This would ease a lot of nerves.

Right now, the majority of Eir's broadband network isn't fit for what the future will bring. Eir has 919,000 broadband customers with 300,000 of these are stuck on slow landline speeds. At under 30Mbs, they're almost obsolete for broadband usage going forward. But at least these people have the state-backed National Broadband Plan. (If your only available speed is under 30Mbs, you get a state-subsidised 1,000Mbs fibre line into your house, to be delivered by Enet sometime over the next four years.)

As for the remaining 619,000 Eir broadband customers, all but 28,000 are on old-fashioned phone lines.

That means under 100Mbs. And many can't get more than 50Mbs, shrinking to about 20Mbs or 30Mbs over wifi.

These people are in the worst position. Because their broadband isn't slow enough to qualify for state intervention. But it definitely isn't fast enough for the world in four or five years' time.

Even now, try dividing a family home with three or four devices on the go between a 'future-proof' 30Mbs connection. You can expect periods of buffering and crawling on YouTube or Netflix - and it's going to get much, much worse.

This is where Eir's plans are crucial.

If it really is going to upgrade its network, it could make a huge difference.

It might also prevent the creation of a monopoly in Irish cities.

At present, Virgin is the only high-speed broadband service at scale in Irish cities, with rival services unable to exceed 100 megabits per second as they are based on Eir's legacy copper telephone lines.

Unless Eir (or Siro, or someone else) invests in fibre in urban areas, Virgin will have a complete lock with no competition.

Right now, many homes will accept a 50Mbs broadband connection from Sky or Vodafone, based on Eir's landlines. Much fewer of them will in a couple of years time, when 4K video and five or six (or nine or ten) connected devices per premises will be the norm.

There will only be one viable option.

"Ah come on," I hear you say. "You're exaggerating. 50Mbs is more than enough for Netflix and most other things."

Yes, but a 50Mbs line isn't 50Mbs signal strength. The actual connection speed that most people get on their devices is around half of what the line speed says. This is because almost everyone uses wifi, which gets only a percentage of the physical line speed quoted when tested.

So if your line is tested at, say, 50Mbs, you'll typically get around 25Mbs on a laptop or phone in the living room (beside the router) and around 15Mbs (or less) in the kitchen or bedroom.

And if you have a large home or the walls in it are very thick, a 50Mbs broadband line can trickle down to around 5Mbs in a bedroom. That's still just about manageable for most services today.

But if you're one of the many Eir customers that gets 35Mbs or 40Mbs, you'll find yourself increasingly phased out of contention for modern online services, especially in a situation where a family is trying to use the broadband one more than one device at the same time.

So is Eir serious about investing?

Communications Minister Denis Naughten recently gave the company's new owner the benefit of the doubt.

"The fact that the owner is a telecoms company and seem to be building out infrastructure in other jurisdictions is hopeful," he recently told me in an interview for The Big Tech Show podcast. "We now have a telecoms company taking over Eir. It's the first time for a long time that the owners of Eir are in the telecoms sector themselves. I hope and believe that it will look at a new phase of investment in telecoms here. Because we haven't seen it to any great extent in Eir in the past, other than the investment in the 300,000 regional fibre homes."

It's still early days in Niel's tenure as majority shareholder in Eir.

Clearly he has a choice: sweat the asset or invest in a new, modern business.

To do the latter will take a hell of a lot of money. But most market evidence shows that it is the only way to keep Eir in the strong infrastructural position it currently occupies.

Niel's executives have previously indicated that expansion of Eir's mobile infrastructure - which significantly lags that of Vodafone and Three in scale - is a priority area for the company.

But for most, it is the breadth and depth of advanced fixed line availability that is crucial to Ireland's near-future connectivity.

Only Eir is really in a position to address that. This is especially so if there are any future delays to the state-backed National Broadband Plan, which still does not have a formal commencement date for the rollout.
Jury members Kristen Stewart, Lea Seydoux, Khadja Nin and Ava DuVernay, Jury President Cate Blanchett and director Agnes Varda arrive at an event where 82 women from the film industry walk the red carpet to represent the limited number of female filmmakers who have been selected for the festival's competition lineup over its 71 years. Reuters/Jean-Paul Pelissier

Cate Blanchett, Salma Hayek and Kristen Stewart were among the Hollywood stars involved in a silent protest on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival.

The Oscar-winning actress led the 82 actress, female producers and directors who marched arm in arm in the unprecedented protest on Friday to demand equal pay and an end to sexual harassment.

Organised by gender equality movement 50/50 by 2020, Ava DuVernay, Jane Fonda, and Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins were among the group that walked in silence along the red carpet before stopping halfway up the steps of the entrance to the Palais des Festivals.

The protest was intended to highlight the difficulties for women in Hollywood to to climb the social and professional ladder, and also to urge a safer workplace for all, seven months after the New York Times expose on disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who is accused of rape and sexual harassment.

Only 82 films directed by women have been selected for the festivals prestigious Palme dOr competition in its 71-year history, compared with 1,645 directed by men.

Blanchett said: "We all face our own unique challenges but we stand together on these steps today as a symbol of our determination and commitment to progress.

"We are writers, we are producers, we are directors, actresses, cinematographers, talent agents, editors, distributors, sales agents and all of us are involved in the cinematic arts and we stand together in solidarity with women of all industries."

Blanchett, who heads the jury at the film festival this year, said of the protest: We demand that our workplaces are diverse and equitable so they can best reflect the world in which we live.

She said her fellow female stars were calling for a world that allows all of us, in front and behind the camera, to thrive shoulder to shoulder with our male colleagues.

Blanchett concluded: "We acknowledge all of the women and men who are standing for change. The stairs of our industry must be accessible to all. Lets climb."

Video of the Day

Jane Campion is the only female director to have won the Palme dOr, for her 1993 film The Piano.

Festival director Thierry Fremaux supported the march as a way for women to affirm their presence.

Earlier on Friday, Frances minister for gender equality, Marlene Schiappa, revealed that several women attending the event had called a special helpline for women to report sexual harassment at the festival. The line was set up for the first time this year following four alleged attacks at the festival in previous years by Weinstein who has denied the claims.
An illustration depicts the capture of Theobald Wolfe Tone, whose plans to utilise French forces against the British was thwarted by stormy seas during the worst winter in a century

Calm before the storm: A weather forecast from a postmaster in Co Mayo had warned of rough seas due on June 5, 1944, so the D-day landings in France were delayed by 24 hours.

President Michael D Higgins last week registered his "deep and profound concern" that history has been dropped as a core Junior Cert subject. Knowing where we come from, he argued, "is intrinsic to our shared citizenship". Without it we are "burdened with a lack of perspective, empathy and wisdom", and "desperately ill-equipped" to unmask and confront fake news.

The President was launching the new Cambridge History Of Ireland, which eschews straight timelines and the 'great (wo)men' model in favour of themes and clusters of circumstance. One theme is how extreme weather events have profoundly altered the course of Irish history. With some changes in the weather, Michael D might have been delivering his speech in Spanish or French.

Predictably, there's not one recorded case where the tide of Irish history was turned by an outbreak of sunstroke, or an army heading to the seaside on a sunny day. A lack of sun may have made us the island of saints and scholars. The annals record ten sunless summers around 540 AD causing "a shortage of bread", and "a plague that swept away the noblest third part of the human race".

This nuclear winter, probably caused by the spewings of distant supervolcanoes, coincided with a massive monastery construction boom as we abandoned our Celtic gods, rebranding them as Christian saints.

In 1315 we almost became part of Scotland. The Gaelic chieftains flocked to Edward de Bruce's invading army, and after demolishing the English at Kells it seemed nothing could stop him becoming High King. Then came a spell of foul, cold, wet weather that lasted two years. Seed yield ratios fell to 2:1, meaning that for every two planted, only one grew for eating, while the other had to be saved to plant for next year's food. Mud, starvation and disease brought De Bruce's cakewalk to a standstill in a climactic catastrophe which reduced Europe to anarchy and even cannibalism, giving us the grisly German folk tale of Hansel and Gretel. Edward's defeat ended any real chance of ousting English colonial rule and making Ireland a Gaelic nation once again. The war against the English was effectively lost, though not over.

Nearly 300 years later, Elizabeth I's efforts to complete the conquest was repeatedly foiled by our dismal weather. It's said there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. The natives' secret weapon was the all-purpose Irish Mantle. As poet Edmund Spenser grudgingly conceded: "It is their house, their tent, their couch, their target [shield]. In summer they wear it loose, in winter wrap it close." In 1599 one English quartermaster begged in vain for Irish Mantles for his wretched troops, insisting it was far superior to anything the English had.

Elizabeth's reversals of fortune lasted until the weather dealt a death blow to Gaelic Ireland at the 1601 Battle of Kinsale. Irish storms had done more damage to the retreating Spanish Armada in 1588 than Walter Raleigh's fleet, but now they were back to oust Protestant English rule with Spanish Catholic overlordship. Except they landed on the wrong end of the island. Hugh O'Neill argued it would be suicidal to march 300 miles in the depths of a savage winter, but Hugh O'Donnell's blood was up. They force-marched the length of Ireland across frozen bogs on starvation rations, only for the crusade to end in betrayal and defeat. It spelled the end for the last strongholds of autonomous Gaelic Ireland. The Flight of the Earls which followed left a power vacuum swiftly filled by the plantations of Scots and English colonists.

The coup that put Dutchman William of Orange on the English throne in 1688 was a piece of history written on the wind by the winners. While a God-sent 'Protestant Wind' blew William's invasion fleet effortlessly from the Low Countries to England, the same gale force wind kept the Irish reinforcements of Catholic King James stuck in port in Ireland and unable to intervene.

Just over a century later, Theobald Wolfe Tone attempted to export the French Revolution to Ireland. The French Republic assembled an invasion force of 33 ships at Brest, aiming to land 15,000 troops at Bantry Bay and ignite an insurrection and make Ireland a stepping stone to conquer Britain. The weather that winter would turn out to be the worst on record in a century. From the time it left France the fleet was lashed by storms, with many ships scattered and sunk. Suddenly the storms abated and a Christmas Day invasion was on, until the Cork weather threw a freak spanner in the works, leaving the fleet suddenly becalmed and helpless. Wolfe Tone seethed impotently in his ship's log: "Damn it to hell for a calm, and in the middle of December. This calm! This calm! It is most terribly vexatious."

When strong winds ended the calm, they blew straight out from the land, thwarting the attempted invasion. Tone wrote: "England has not had such an escape since the Spanish Armada; and that expedition, like ours, was defeated by the weather. The elements fight against us and courage is of no avail." Freak weather had doomed the last ever attempt by a continental power to liberate Ireland from English rule.

Perhaps the most important weather forecast in world history was transmitted in June 1944 from Blacksod Bay, Co Mayo. Filed by postmaster Ted Sweeney, it delayed the D-Day Normandy by 24 hours. Had the Normandy landings gone ahead as planned on June 5 rather than June 6, the outcome may have been disastrous. Sweeney's report to London showed a cold front speeding across Ireland. His information suggested that heavy rain and force seven gales would hit the English Channel on June 5, playing havoc with the invasion force. But he detected a short window of calm in the wake of the storms. General Eisenhower delayed D-Day by 24 hours and the rest is history.

Knowing our history is knowing ourselves, and the stories are far better than the ones you get in Junior Cert Business Studies.
AGAINST: Aida Deak (14) pictured with Ali (12), mother Lydia and Mila Matejko from Dublin at the LoveBoth rally

With less than a fortnight to go before the referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, both sides stepped up their campaigns yesterday.

Thousands of people attended a 'LoveBoth' pro-life rally in Merrion Square in Dublin and heard speakers call for a No vote.

Hours earlier, hundreds of doctors gathered in a nearby hotel to call for a Yes vote.

As the Merrion Square rally began, Dr Ruth Cullen of the LoveBoth campaign said: "There is nothing restrictive about the Government's proposals on abortion.

"A No vote on May 25 is the only way to avoid abortion on demand in Ireland.

"It's really encouraging though, the way people are starting to scrutinise the Government's proposals and see for themselves just how extreme it is."

The meeting of hundreds of doctors in favour of a Yes vote was told that more than 1,000 doctors have already signed a public declaration of their support for repeal of the Eighth Amendment.

The declaration was unveiled at a National Doctors Together For Yes meeting in a city hotel.

Dr Mark Murphy said: "The Eighth Amendment isn't working - it puts doctors in a constitutional straitjacket which holds us back from providing proper care to our patients."

Donegal GP Dr Anna McHugh said: "I do not want to be complicit in a healthcare system where we continue to speak about women's healthcare issues in hushed tones.

"I hope that another generation of Irish women do not have to travel to the UK for care, or stand petrified alone in their bathrooms performing their own unsafe abortions with pills.

"I want to know that when a woman comes to me in a crisis pregnancy situation, she feels unafraid to do so - that I can support her completely without fear," she said.

Obstetrician and gynaecologist Professor Louise Kenny, said: "Under the Eighth Amendment, doctors like me can only perform a termination of pregnancy if we agree that there is a real and substantial threat to a woman's life.

"There is no medical or legal definition of real and substantial, and the uncertainty this creates is unhelpful and occasionally dangerous."

"I have cared for women whose health has been irreparably harmed by the Eighth Amendment.

"I have cared for women who have died because of the Eighth Amendment. As an obstetrician, I never met a woman who wanted a termination, but I've met many women who desperately needed one."

Former Fianna Fail Justice Minister Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, who backed the Eighth Amendment in 1983, joined with Labour's Joan Burton and Fine Gael's Frances Fitzgerald and Health Minister Simon Harris to jointly appeal for a Yes vote.

Catholic Bishop of Galway Brendan Kelly said: "In the current debate, it often seems we have nothing but abortion to offer distraught mothers. Does this 'solution' not let us all off the hook regarding the critical matter of being a truly caring and compassionate society?

"Our challenge in Ireland today, at every level, is to build a society that truly cherishes motherhood and parenthood. We must ensure all the necessary supports for mothers and their children in the womb are put in place regardless of cost."
A MOTORIST who crashed into the back of a car three times in which a woman, who was eight months pregnant, was a passenger claimed he was distracted as he was looking at documents on the passenger seat of his car

Timothy Gannon (36) claimed he veered forward while stuck in traffic and struck the car in front of him.

He panicked and claimed his foot fell off the clutch twice causing him to hit the vehicle two more times.

He claimed he was quite distressed.

Gannon, of Lein Park in Artane pleaded guilty to careless driving on the Dublin Road, Swords on August 12, 2017.

However, on hearing the full evidence Judge Gerry Jones reduced the offence to driving without reasonable consideration.

Sergeant Anthony Nulty told Swords District Court gardai were called to a two vehicle collision on the Dublin Road in Swords at 12.40am.

A vehicle was stopped at traffic lights and was struck from behind three times, said Sgt Nulty.

The defendant admitted he was paying attention to documents on his passenger seat when he struck the car in front.

Sgt Nulty said one of the occupants of the car the defendant struck was a woman who was eight months pregnant.

She was taken to hospital as a precaution due to her pregnancy, the court heard.

The defendant was fully insured at the time.

The defendant told Judge Gerry Jones he was travelling along the Dublin Road and when he was stuck in traffic he started to look at documents on his passenger seat.

I veered forward and hit the car in front, Gannon told the court.

I was distracted and panicked. My foot fell off the clutch and I hit the car again. I was quite distressed, he said.

Judge Gerry Jones said the defendant met the case fairly and convicted and fined him 300 for driving without reasonable consideration.

I wont disqualify you, said Judge Jones.
The foster parents of Michael Stokes, the charming "tiny but tough" teenager who died on May 5, have expressed gratitude for the special love he brought into their lives.

"Michael was the centre of our world," said Ann Higgins and Barry McCabe.

The couple had transformed their home in Malahide in Dublin to ensure it was suitable for Michael and his wheelchair.

His mischievous and witty personality made a huge impression on viewers of RTE's Room to Improve programme in 2015, when architect Dermot Bannon re-designed sections of the house.

Michael famously told the celebrity architect to "go back to the drawing board" with his plans.

Michael died, aged 15, at Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin, several weeks after a tragic accident.

Foster dad Barry told the Sunday Independent: "Michael was the centre of our world and everything made sense when he was in it - without him nothing makes sense. We've never known a love like the love he had for us.

"We are brokenhearted but feel humbled and privileged to have had him in our lives," he said.

Michael's disability resulted in him being very small in stature and he needed to use a wheelchair.

Michael was back on television three months ago when Ryan Tubridy and The Late Late Show viewers heard how Michael met Ann and Barry.

Ann was his teacher and he first met Barry at his First Holy Communion.

He began to stay weekends with the couple, and they became his foster parents. The couple redesigned their home to accommodate Michael.

Michael said he loved everything about his new home. Barry told The Late Late Show audience: "It's brilliant, we couldn't be happier."

After news broke of his death, Ryan Tubridy wrote on Instagram that Michael was a "magic whirlwind" and "an unforgettable soul".

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The St Michael's House organisation in Dublin, which provides services for people with disabilities, tweeted that Michael was "a treasure to all who knew him".

His funeral Mass in Malahide had a large attendance, and included his foster parents and his birth parents, Siobhan and John Paul.

Parish priest Fr Martin Noone said the teenager had achieved a lot more in his short life than others achieved in a long, long life.

Eimir McGrath, who knew him all his life, told the congregation of Michael's hilarious turns of phrase, such as "I'm sweating like a dolphin".

Eimir said Michael's life "blossomed" when he met his foster parents, how he "bathed in constant and every day love" and began to see a very different future for himself.

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Days after the funeral, Barry said the words in a booklet at the Requiem Mass helped to express how he and Ann and all who loved Michael were feeling.

Those words included the following: "Michael shared his love and positivity far and wide. How lucky are we to have had such a bright shining star in our lives.

"We will each forever have a Michael-shaped piece of love in our hearts.

"Tiny but tough, our sweet worrier and warrior."

It concluded: "Our lives and his life have all been enriched with the love we shared together.

"Michael is one star whose light will never go out."
PLEA FOR HELP: Tracy McGinnis with her 13-year-old severely disabled son, Brendan. Photo: Colm Quinn

An exhausted mother has made a public plea for a home suitable for her profoundly disabled son.

Tracy McGinnis (52) and her 13-year-old son Brendan are victims of the nation's other housing crisis - the nationwide shortage of disability-adapted homes.

She is suffering depression and anxiety as she desperately seeks a bungalow that can be adapted for the care of Brendan.

"I don't know how long he has to live but I have to keep fighting for him for as long as he lives," she said, referring to him as "my angel".

A lone parent, she is the sole carer of Brendan who has severe quadriplegic cerebral palsy and a mental age of three.

Brendan has been bedridden 22 hours a day for several months because of a recently healed pressure sore. He was sharing his bed with his wide range of soft toys when the Sunday Independent visited.

He suffers from severe epilepsy and urgently needs surgery for scoliosis of the spine. He cannot speak and must be fed through a tube inserted into his stomach.

Brendan is also incontinent, suffers acid reflux, has osteoporosis and has lung disease.

His profound disabilities are, according to his mum, "life limiting".

Tracy lives with Brendan and his brother Declan (nine) in a rented old two-storey house in Dundalk.

She said the house is completely unsuitable for Brendan's needs.

"His upcoming spinal fusion operation is to take place most likely in July. The spinal team has advised me that they cannot allow Brendan to come home to this house after the surgery because it is unsuitable or unsafe without having an hoist system to move him and to get him to a proper shower room," she said.

"I am now in an absolute panic trying to figure out how to secure a suitable, modified house and get the proper overhead hoist system in place all before July's operation."

Tracy said she is unable to carry Brendan to give him a shower and she gives him bed baths, which are not satisfactory.

"An MRI has shown that I have degenerative discs in my lower back and I also have arthritis," she said. "I am suffering chronic pain."

Tracy takes care of Brendan round-the-clock, seven days a week.

"I use a video-audio monitor next to my bed at night so I am never fully asleep. So I'm pretty exhausted all the time," she said.

"I feel isolated and have suffered depression and anxiety. I'm on an anti-depressant medication."

A former child and family therapist, Tracy said Brendan would have been healthy and normal if she had not contracted cytomegalovirus, known as CMV, when she was pregnant.

She is a co-founder of the Profound Ireland group, which supports parents of children with severe disabilities.

She is also trying to resolve a problem regarding in-home respite care. The HSE has approved five hours a week in-home respite nursing care but Tracy said there have been difficulties about organising a suitable schedule.

She is grateful for 15 nights a year respite care from the LauraLynn charity.

She can avail of respite assistance from St John of God's Suzanne House in Tallaght for a couple of nights every six or seven weeks until next September, when Brendan will be no longer eligible.

Tracy and her sons are on a waiting list for disability housing in County Louth. She said she had been told that a great many families had been on the list for several years.

In her quest for a suitable bungalow, Tracy sought help from local councillors and TDs, and she also asked for help from Government ministers.

She said an occupational therapist hired by Louth County Council declared Brendan was an urgent priority for a suitably modified bungalow.

She has decided to launch her own 'Bungalow For Brendan' campaign in a bid to be able to buy a suitable home. She has written in her blog, Transitioning Angels, that she is "putting aside whatever little pride I have left" in a last-ditch effort.

Brendan and his brother Declan have a strong bond of love.

"I see Brendan as an angel. He is on this earth for a reason," she said. "To teach unconditional love - that's his gift to us."

A spokesman for Louth County Council said: "The council does not comment on individual cases."

Catherine Cox, of Family Carers Ireland, said: "The issue of finding accessible housing for children and adults with mobility problems has become more and more difficult.

"This coupled with the cuts to housing adaptation grants and long waiting lists for suitable housing has only added to the many challenges facing family carers.

"The cost of residential care for a young boy like Brendan would be far in excess of what it would cost to support his mother Tracy to care safely for him in a suitable home which is all they both want.

"Unfortunately, Tracy is one of thousands of family carers who are in crisis across Ireland today because of lack of supports and services in the home," she said.

Almost 15pc of households on the housing waiting list have special accommodation requirements.

Last year, there were 4,326 people waiting for suitable social housing who have enduring physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual issues.

There were 2,084 people with physical disabilities awaiting suitable social housing.

You can donate to the GoFundMe page here.

Carers in need of information or support can contact Family Carers Ireland on the Freephone Careline: 1800 2407 24.
Ireland's longest, and tallest, bridge is under construction on the border of Wexford and Kilkenny and the public are going to get a chance to help pick its name.

The bridge, currently called the N25 New Ross Bypass Bridge, is set to open next summer and at 887m long and 36m above the River Barrow, it will be a double record breaker for Ireland.

The bridge, which is costing 90m to build, will link Dunganstown and Stokestown in County Wexford to the Pink Rock, Ballyverneen area in County Kilkenny and bypass New Ross.

The original proposed name for the structure, the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge, was eventually rejected after criticism that too many Kennedy-related names already existed in the New Ross area.

It was then agreed that a committee of local councillors would invite submissions from the public for the bridge's name and they would whittle that down to six names, which would then go to Piltown Municipal District and New Ross Municipal District for the final decision.

That should rule out the possibility of Bridgey McBridgeFace getting the nod and there will also be strict conditions applied to the submissions.

Kilkenny Councillor Fidelis Doherty told the New Ross Standard about the submission process: "There will be some questions asked where you suggest your proposed name, explain why you think its a fitting name for the bridge. What relevance or connection this has to the area? Whats the benefit to the area of this name? And finally, what effect, if any, will this name have on tourism, employment or the socio-economic development of the area?"

Councillor Doherty told Independent.ie that she favours the name the Pink Rock Bridge.

The submission forms will be made available in late May or early June and completed submission forms should be addressed N25 New Ross Bypass Bridge Naming Submission, c/o Wexford County Council, New Ross Municipal District, The Tholsel, New Ross or c/o Kilkenny County Council, Piltown Municipal District, Ferrybank Area Office, Ferrybank, Co. Kilkenny.

Submission forms can also be posted or delivered to any Wexford County Council or Kilkenny County Council Office.

And the form can also be submitted by email to bridge@wexfordcoco.ie or bridge@kilkennycoco.ie.
A grieving husband has spoken about his shock and anger at discovering last week that his late wife was one of the 17 women who received incorrect smear test results.

Julie Dignivan died on April 8, 2017 after battling cancer for four years. She was 36-years-old.

A CervicalCheck audit recently revealed that up to 17 women died in connection with a smear testing error. Paul Dignivan found out this month that discrepancies in his wife's test were discovered in 2016, a year before she passed away.

Julie went for a routine smear test in 2009. The results showed no abnormalities, but Paul later found out that his wife had pre-cancerous lesions that were missed.

Expand Close Julie pictured with her son Craig. Credit: Paul Dignivan / Facebook

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"In 2011 she gave birth to our daughter and had some bleeding during the pregnancy - at first she thought it was a miscarriage," Paul told Independent.ie

"There were small signs there at the time. She had the smear in 2013 and when she had it she knew something wasnt right as she was bleeding heavily at this stage."

A biopsy was performed and a few days later Julie was diagnosed with cancer of the cervix.

"It was absolutely devastating," Paul said.

Results from the operation came back clear, but Julie's cancer returned in February 2014 and she began treatment to shrink a tumour. The couple married in Spain that summer.

Julie battled chemotherapy and radiotherapy on and off for the next three years, as the cancer would disappear and come back. She would travel up to Dublin from her home in Fermoy, Co Cork to the Beacon Hospital for treatment and pain management.

In September 2016, things took a turn for the worse. Julie was admitted to Marymount Hospice in Cork. She returned home for Christmas to spend quality time with her family but continued to deteriorate and returned to the hospice in March 2017. She died a month later.

"It was four years of it, four years of constantly worrying, scan results and chemotherapy before she passed away," said Paul.

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"Now it's like it's starting over again - it feels like she passed away from negligence. There was no offers of counselling from the HSE and there were no letters."

When the news broke this month Vicky Phelan's story, Paul noticed the similarities between her experience and his wife.

"I went to work on Monday after her story came out and Julie's friends were texting me, asking if I'd heard about it. I wasn't sure, so I tried to book an appointment with the GP but they were booked up."

On Monday, May 1, Paul decided to call a local radio station to get information on who to contact. When the phone rang, it wasn't the radio station that called but a nurse from Cork University Hospital where Julie was first treated.

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"I went in on Tuesday and the doctor told me that Julie had been identified as one of the 17 women. They said they found out about the test discrepancies in September 2016.

"When I asked when the review of her smear test took place, the doctor said he couldn't answer but that he would write to CervicalCheck to find out.

"I couldnt even ask them any more questions, it was like there was something caught in my throat. I couldn't even look at them, I was just looking at a paint spot on the wall."

Paul said he originally tried to avoid the stories on the news but wanted people to know Julie's story after encouragement from their friends and family.

"She would have wanted people to hear this. We all said that knowing Julie, if she had of heard this she would have wanted her story out there.

"In a hospital you're just a number on a file, but now people can see the faces behind all these women's stories like Julie's."

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Julie left behind a son Craig (19) from a previous relationship, daughter Ali (7) with Paul and Paul's daughter Jasmine (17).

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On Saturday, Grace Rattigan told Independent.ie that her mother Catherine Reck was also one of the 17 women caught up in the CervicalCheck scandal. She died in April 2012 after her smear test was misread.

The stories of women affected have continued to emerge over the past few weeks after Vicky Phelan's case first exposed the scandal when she took the HSE to the High Court.

Kerry mum-of-five Emma Mhic Mhathuna also made headlines when it was revealed that her 2013 smear test results were incorrect. She was diagnosed with cancer three years later.

A HSE spokeswoman said they cannot comment on individual cases.
For obvious reasons, the last few weeks have seen various words and phrases tossed around with gay abandon.

Compassion is probably the most ubiquitous culprit.

If you landed in Ireland from the moon right about now, you'd be forgiven for thinking that compassion is our most abundant natural resource - because everyone seems to have it. Lots of it.

Every politician I've spoken to in the last few weeks (and that's a lot more politicians than I would normally choose to speak to) has been quick to emphasise just how compassionate they are when it comes to explaining their position on the referendum.

So, if you're campaigning for Repeal, you will say that you are motivated by compassion yet, interestingly, the people who want to maintain the status quo also say they are motivated by the 'C' word.

Yes, everyone has lots of compassion, even though they're using it for diametrically opposed positions, and even though both sides who pride themselves on their compassion don't seem to have much problem calling their opponents either baby killers or God-bothering lunatics.

We also hear a lot about the 'right to life', but one fascinating story this week involves something even bigger than the right to life - the right to a good death.

When 104-year-old Aussie scientist David Goodall first made the news a few years ago, it was for his defiance against being forcibly retired due to his age. He objected to Perth University's efforts to get rid of him and won a landmark ruling which allowed him to remain in work - at the age of 102, he was officially the world's oldest working scientist.

On Thursday, he ended his remarkable life in the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, and he went out fighting to the last.

Goodall said that while he was healthy for the majority of his life, once he lost his driving licence a few years ago "it all went downhill from there".

As his sight failed and he was confined to a wheelchair, he attempted suicide in Australia, but failed.

So, lacking the physical wherewithal to end his own life in as painless a way as possible, he crowd-funded the money needed to fly to Switzerland to check out on his own terms.

At his last press conference, surrounded by friends and family - including the indefatigable Irish euthanasia campaigner Tom Curran - Goodall was scathing about Australian politicians who had forced him into this situation, saying: "That politicians should deny old people the right to kill themselves if they so choose, I don't understand that. Maybe they feel obliged by their religion to stop other people killing themselves, but I have no sympathy for that... Shame on them."

Wearing a jumper with the slogan 'Ageing Disgracefully', the botanist was certainly an interesting chap and he had planned everything out, from his last meal (fish and chips and cheesecake for afters) to his final piece of music ('Ode To Joy').

Abortion may be the only hot button game in town in this country at the moment, and the sooner we lance this boil, one way or the other, the better for everyone.

But euthanasia is the next big social issue we will have to tackle, even if the political appetite is not there.

We have an ageing population, a failing health care system and while Irish hospices do genuinely humbling, incredible work (some of the greatest, most decent people I have ever met were those who staff hospices in this country), we are facing into a demographic time bomb which is only going to get worse.

We're not just terrified by death in this country, we're terrified of even talking about it and when the conversation turns to euthanasia, as it inevitably does, people have a tendency to stick their fingers in their ears and hope the matter will just go away. But it won't.

If there was one thing Dr Goodall said which I'd disagree with, it was his assertion that it was religious sensibilities which stopped Aussie politicians from introducing legal euthanasia.

Obviously, religious people will be motivated by their religious belief, but opposition to assisted suicide is not the sole preserve of the faithful.

In much the same way that plenty of atheists are opposed to abortion on moral grounds, the same applies to this vexed issue.

But it all boils to one point - nobody, regardless of their motivation, has the right to force someone to stay alive when they are in pain; pain they know will only get worse.

'My body, my choice' doesn't apply only to abortion, it applies to all of us and anyone who has ever watched a loved one struggle through the last few months of their life, when they would rather be dead, knows that it is obscene to keep someone alive against their will.

Of course, doctors understand this better than anyone else, which is why so many of us will have heard a medic suggesting they can make someone 'more comfortable', which is simply a euphemism for pumping more morphine into their system.

We all have an innate survival instinct, which is why voluntary death is so culturally stigmatised.

But as Dr Goodall and so many others in his predicament have reminded us, sometimes you just know it's time to go, as hard as that may seem. Forcing someone to spend their last months in a painful, undignified limbo is sick and cruel - no matter how 'compassionate' you like to think your argument is.
Damage done to an apartment in Mountjoy Square after up to 10 heavies forced their way in and inset, landlord Paul Howard

A DUBLIN landlord has been ordered to pay four tenants over 12,000 after he tried to increase their rent and they were forcibly evicted from an apartment.

Tenants Verena Lauer, Andrea Devoti, Madigan Johnson and Clement Mace were physically removed from their apartment in Mountjoy Square in Dublins north inner city by a group of up to 10 heavies in January.

Four determination orders have been issued by the Residential Tenancies Board against landlord Paul Howard.

They note that the eviction notices served on the tenants, and attempts to increase their rent, were invalid.

One man had to be hospitalised after the incident when a hole was punched through the door of the apartment and the tenants were dragged out.

Mr Howard was ordered to pay Madigan Johnson 2,175, Clement Mace 1,980, Verena Lauer 2,225 and Andrea Devoti 5,197 within 28 days.

When asked by Independent.ie if he has paid the money owed to the tenants, Mr Howard said: "Settlement agreements have been reached between solicitors that have been put on hold as the property in question is in receivership."

The High Court issued an injunction before Christmas blocking Paul Howard from evicting the tenants from 52 Mountjoy Square until the termination of the dispute resolution proceedings with the RTB.

A fund-appointed receiver then obtained injunctions against Mr Howard in January preventing him from interfering with a number of apartments in Mountjoy Square.

Counsel for the receiver, Ken Fennell, raised concerns in court over the safety of the tenants "who have a right to be in the properties".

It is understood a number of the tenants have since moved out of the apartment.

The Dubliner has previously been served a number of orders by the RTB for unjustifiably retaining deposits and terminating tenancies.

Bruno Clement (29), who lived in another apartment owned by Mr Howard, claims he is still owed 3,260 after he was evicted from his apartment.

"He kept calling me saying I wouldn't get back my deposit. I lost so much valuable stuff after everything that happened, Mr Clement told Independent.ie.

They smashed the door and eight men, like really muscular men, went into each room with flash lights and they put every belonging into bin bags and the two of them went outside on the street.

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Mr Howard said "should I even reply" when previously asked to comment on whether he still owed money to Bruno Clement.

A spokesperson for the RTB said determination orders are legally binding and should be complied with.

"If this document is not complied with in the allocated timeframe and the person seeking compliance with the Order contacts the RTB and requests that it be enforced, the RTB will, in the majority of cases, agree to take enforcement proceedings on behalf of that person."
Gardai have launched an investigation after a video was shared online of a number of joyriders wreaking havoc in a Dublin housing estate.

The shocking footage, which was taken by an innocent bystander, shows a number of cars speeding up and down a housing estate in Finglas, north Dublin.

The drivers can be seen swerving and crashing into one another and other parked cars.

They pull several handbrake turns and, at one stage, the wheel rim of one of the cars can be seen shooting sparks.

The drivers also come dangerously close to mounting the pavement where a group of youths are standing.

The cars were reportedly found burnt out in the estate later that day.

Local Fianna Fail councillor told Independent.ie that he wants to see more garda intervention and called for a ban on quad and dirt bikes on the roads, which have become a public safety risk in the area.

"The people who partook in [joyriding] are thugs, they have no regard for life. They need to be made aware of the fact that someone could have been killed.

"I know the Gardai are investigating now but I'm very surprised this went on for as long as it did with no intervention from the guards.

"The Gardai need to take some responsibility and start clamping down and put a stop to it now. I also want to see them clamp down on quad bikes and dirt bikes. This incident is just a natural progression from that, they're chasing the next thrill.

"The next time it happens someone could be killed."

Gardai confirmed to Independent.ie that they are investigating an incident of "dangerous driving" in Berryfield Estate, Finglas on Friday, May 11.

"There were no reports of injuries and Gardai are appealing for witnesses to contact them in Finglas on 01 6667500," a Garda spokesperson said.
A woman who was sexually abused by her father throughout her childhood has hit out at the sentencing system for those convicted of rape and child abuse.

Shaneda Daly wants those convicted of these crimes to receive life sentences, which she feels would reflect those that the victims often feel they are serving.

Her father Harry Daly pleaded guilty to 227 charges of rape, indecent assault and sexual assault against Ms Daly between February 1982 and November 1992, when she was aged between six and 17 years old.

He was sentenced by Mr Justice Paul Carney to 15 years in prison in 2011, with five years suspended and is due to be released later this year.

In this open letter she talks about how the trauma of her early years has affected her entire life and why she feels the sentencing system here needs to be reviewed:

-------------------------------------------

As children we were raped, small little girls. We should have been playing with our toys and friends but unfortunately our abusers decided to violate our small bodies and hurt us so bad that the trauma will never leave us. Standing in front of the world we seem like anybody else but our childhood ended the day that our abuse happened.

I myself will never forget all my childhood living in fear of getting caught.

Imagine that by eight years of age I was so groomed by my father that I worried about him going to prison. This is the man who would rape and molest me. This would continue to happen until I escaped and left home in the middle of the night aged 17.

The least transparent facts of my abuse is that it left a mental trauma.

Yes, I'm an adult now and a mother and grandmother. Yes, to the outside world I'm fine. Yet in my brain and my own little world I continuously feel worthless, unwanted, unloved - I want to disfigure my face and body because it disgusts me.

I read to educate myself as I never got to finish my education as my father wouldn't stop raping me at any chance he got, I could have gone on to do great things in life, I wanted to be in the gardai.

Yet when my father stood in the court he received 15 years and five suspended for his guilty plea as he had never been in trouble with the law.

While I was grateful he was going to prison it shocked me what he got time off for this, he just simply had not been caught before.

What myself and others are speaking out for is consistency in sentencing.

I have spoken about the sentencing in rape and abuse cases not being lengthy enough and questioned why so many suspended sentences are being handed out in the courts for such serious crimes.

Judge Ms Justice Una Ni Raifeartaigh said last month in reference to rape cases that a substantial sentence to one judge could be four years and another 14 years, it is somewhat bizarre that an area that is so sensitive has so little in the way of guidance when it comes to sentencing.

We look to the government and judicial system to protect us but how can they fully do this when they have no idea of the trauma that a rape or abuse victim goes through?

Why aren't experts brought in to explain this to juries and judges? Why are sentences concurrent in Ireland? Why do the judges feel they should give time off for any reason when these offenders raped children?

I run a Facebook page called Survivors Side By Side, I speak with people who were raped and abused on a daily basis.

We will never stop speaking out, we will never stop trying to help others and trying to get the courts to understand that it's a life-long battle and our scars are inside of us.

We want to be involved in the change and have our voices heard, so that in the future the whole court system hands out more substantial sentences and they think about the damage done to survivors before giving the offender suspended sentences.

We are known as survivors but the fact is we survived being violated as children but those events never leave our minds, it is with us every day.

While is it more than possible to live happy lives and move forward, the nightmare is in our heads at all times.
Sligo pilot Jonathan Higgins has been left "gobsmacked" by the public response to a GoFundMe campaign set up to raise enough money to pay for a prosthetic leg.

The 29-year-old lost his entire left leg in a horrific motorbike crash near Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on 15th December last year.

He's been recovering in hospital in Dubai but will have to return home to Ireland to have a prosthetic leg fitted - at an expected cool 80,000-150,000.

Speaking to The Sligo Champion from his hospital bed in the American Hospital, Dubai, Jonathan is already looking to the future: "I'm hoping to get home at the earliest by the end of May, all going well. I've been very lucky."

"The physio team are excellent, I'm getting physio for an hour twice a day. I'm walking on crutches at this stage and we're seeing improvements," he said.

Jonathan, who is a past pupil of Sligo Grammar School, has sustained some nerve damage to his right leg but doctors are hopeful that will come back in time.

He gets about daily in a wheelchair but is determined he will be back up walking again once he gets a prosthetic leg.

He's already been in touch with Cappagh National Orthopaedic Hospital in Dublin: "I'm looking forward to getting a fresh pair of eyes medically and starting the process of prosthetics and getting back to walking on it. That's the next step," he said.

Because Jonathan had to have a very high amputation, medics believe he may be suitable for a micro-processor prosthetic leg to allow him greater movement.

It is very expensive however and must be replaced every 5-10 years.

Jonathan's girlfriend Laura Shanahan thought of setting up a GoFundMe page to help fundraise for the cost of such a leg. Since launching the page on April 23, they've raised over 46,000 towards their goal of 150,000. "I've been gobsmacked at how well it's doing, nearly 500 people have donated from near and far," he said. Jonathan had been a pilot with Emirates based in Dubai.

Fundraisers in Jonathan's home town of Easkey are also being organised, such as a Tractor Run on the June Bank Holiday weekend and various coffee mornings.

Jonathan is the third child of David and Daphne Higgins, well known community figures in Easkey.

"He was only given a 20pc chance of survival around Christmas," said Daphne, who along with her husband flew to her son's bedside after the accident.

"We were praying so hard. For the first five days he was going downhill. He was 11 and a half hours in surgery, with three medical teams working on him, medical surgical, orthopaedic and vascular.

"He started to improve once they removed his leg, his vital signs started coming back up but he still wasn't out of danger for two weeks and he only came out of the induced coma on 1st January," she said.

"People have been so generous. It will all be appreciated to get my son back walking," she added.

The Go Fund Me can be found here
Brittle relationship: TV presenter Robert Preston said Ireland had 'undermined' British governments 'going back well over 100 years' in an interview with arch-brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg

To the English, during the good times we were the funny friends next door who came over to regale them with Woganesque Blarney.

But now, with Brexit coming at us like a runaway truck, we are in danger of being portrayed again as lying, thieving, rat-arsed villains who make too much noise.

Anglo-Irish relations were never warmer than during the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland in 2011, when she condescended to speak Irish with the words: "A Uachtarain agus a chairde".

And when President Higgins paid a return visit, even the English edition of the Daily Mail was gracious enough to acknowledge that relations between our countries had come a long way. That was only after describing our Head of State as a "a ripened pixie".

Those were the halcyon days of Anglo-Irish warmth, but the relationship has cooled since Britain decided to leave the EU, without pausing for a moment's thought about what might happen to the Border.

We have had an outbreak of Paddybashing, not seen since the paramilitary pals of Sinn Fein decided in the 1970s that it was a good idea to blow up English pubs.

The British current affairs presenter Robert Peston this week repeated a mantra that has frequently been heard in recent months.

He suggested this week that Ireland has "undermined" British governments "going back well over 100 years". With this Brexit rumpus, we are again seen as a damned nuisance in some quarters.

Peston made the remark while interviewing the blimpish king of the arch-brexiteers Jacob Rees-Mogg, who told viewers it was "deeply disgraceful that people who wish to keep us in the European Union are threatening the spectre of a return to terror".

Of course, we have not just been a bothersome crowd for over a century.

To Rees-Mogg and his ilk we have been a bloody awkward shower of malcontents for the best part of a millennium.

Back in the reign of the previous Queen Elizabeth in the 16th century, one of her officials Edmund Tremayne complained that the Irish "commit whoredom, hold no wedlock, ravish, steal and commit all abomination without scruple of conscience".

And in the 19th century, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli described the Irish race as "wild, reckless, indolent, uncertain and superstitious an unbroken circle of bigotry and blood."

Now, Hibernophobia seems to be coming back into vogue.

In the febrile pre-Brexit atmosphere, barely a day goes by now without an anti-Irish barb. The UK edition of The Sun recently labelled Taoiseach Leo Varadkar a "Brexit Buffoon" when he was insolent enough to question the British approach to quitting the EU.

The paper offered its considered opinion on the Border question - our elected leader should "shut his gob on Brexit and grow up".

'The weakest kid'

Gerard Batten MEP, current leader of UKIP, said:"Ireland is like the weakest kid in the playground sucking up to the EU bullies."

It is perhaps a sign of national self-confidence that rather than take offence at these unsavoury attacks, we have rather come to relish them.

I have to confess that I had never come across Country Squire magazine until it recently joined in the orgy of Paddybashing over our approach to Brexit.

The magazine described this sceptred isle as "a land of puppy farms, rain-soaked holidays, dingy bars, drugs mule celebs, verbal diarrhea and squeaky fiddles"

With semi-literate zeal, the magazine continued: "Eire's history is basically British - before that it was a bunch of warring families and a corrupt church involved in an incessant spiral of gobshiteing and slaying - certainly not a nation."

One was reminded of the Hibernophobic rants of the columnist Julie Burchill, who once took exception to money being lavished on a St Patrick's Day parade through London.

She said the parade "celebrates almost compulsory child molestation by the national church, total discrimination against women who wish to be priests, aiding and abetting Hitler in his hour of need and outlawing abortion and divorce."

The columnist went on to describe Ireland's flag as "the Hitler-licking, altar boy molesting, abortion banning Irish Tricolour."

The spurious accusation of allegiance to Hitler has come up during Brexit discussions.

It was a theme raised by Rees-Mogg himself recently when he took exception to remarks by the Taoiseach. Varadkar had expressed regret that Britain was leaving the EU, and said he was conscious of "British veterans, very brave people, who fought on the beaches of France not just for Britain but also for European democracy and for European values."

Rees-Mogg took a swipe at Ireland's record during World War II.

"Mr Varadkar forgets that Ireland was neutral during the war, which implies it had no interest in Europe, and Eamon de Valera signed a book of condolence at the German Embassy in Dublin on the death of Hitler.

"Perhaps if Mr Varadkar knew his own country's undistinguished wartime history better, his views on our history would be more informed."

Quarrelsome and uppity

For much of our history of independence, some British politicians have treated Ireland as a quarrelsome and uppity province that should fall into line.

After the end of the First World War Winston Churchill saw "the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again".

He added: "The integrity of their quarrel is one of the few institutions that have been unaltered in the cataclysm which has swept the world."

And to one British cabinet minister of the 1930s, Eamon de Valera was "the Spanish onion in the Irish stew".

In the tense pre-Brexit atmosphere there will be no end of far-fetched suggestions about what might happen to the Border.

The Labour MP Kate Hoey sparked outrage when she said that if a hard Border was put up between North and South, the Irish would have to pay for it. It was a plan worthy of Donald Trump.

We can expect a lot more lively barbs coming our way, as we come closer to the deadline in negotiations, and the Irish are seen to block the path to Brexit nirvana.

Perhaps, we are being too sensitive. As the Sky News presenter Adam Boulton put it in a Tweet: "Some of you Irish need to get over yourselves."
Four nights a week a group of volunteers assemble at Limerick City's Docker's Monument, a sculpture that celebrates the camaraderie that existed between men who earned their living by might.

Donning personal flotation bags and waterproof jackets and armed with binoculars and communication equipment, they begin their evening's work. These volunteers rely heavily on one another and their camaraderie has seen them through many tough nights.

They never know what a night will bring but the reason they're out in all weathers is to save lives; to intervene and stop someone taking their own life.

Limerick Suicide Watch was set up in May 2016, a year when provisional figures estimated there were 400 deaths in Ireland by suicide. Over the last two years they've had 180 interventions. All volunteers have completed suicide intervention skills training provided by the HSE. The city's suicide watch volunteers work in teams of three, with eight to ten volunteers out on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights. Often they walk 10k a night along the Shannon River or cycle 20k if they're on bikes.

Thirty-two-year-old Lucy O'Hara would often notice the rescue helicopter from Valentia Island overhead and wonder about what happened to the person they were called out to help. "I wanted to do something to help. I would have known families affected by suicide myself. Our goal is to help as many people as we can and save families from losing someone they love," says Lucy.

In some cases when they're on patrol, people will come up to them just to have a chat. In other cases team members observe someone who is displaying behaviour that means they may need help.

"You know by their demeanour, by how they are reacting to things. This work teaches you how to talk to someone. When we meet someone we automatically say 'how are you?' Some people may not react. The hardest thing for us is to ask a person 'are you suicidal?'" says Lucy.

In some cases two volunteers may have to physically restrain a person at the river's edge while the third volunteer calls emergency services. Sometimes they can talk someone out of entering the water. Lucy says they never know what's going to happen on any given night.

"There was an elderly man once and when we approached him he didn't want to talk to us. He had his back turned to us but the minute we asked if he was OK, he broke down in tears. We were the first people he had spoken to in six weeks. He was very lonely. He had nobody," she says.

"What we do is get a person talking for 15 minutes or for an hour and then we'd phone someone they want us to contact. A lot of families haven't a clue what has been going on because people hide how they feel," says Lucy.

On another occasion volunteers encountered a teenage girl who was very upset and distressed. When family members arrived, they had no idea the girl was feeling under so much pressure.

"We meet so many different people every night we go out. We meet people with different things going on in their lives. It might not be a big thing to you but it's everything to them. People just need to talk. They need to know it's OK to talk," says Lucy.

A year after Limerick Suicide Watch stopped a young man from taking his own life, a volunteer met his mother at an event. She introduced herself by throwing her arms around the team member.

'It's nice to hear those happy stories'

"She was so thankful her son had progressed. He was happy and he'd gone back to college and he had a girlfriend. Sometimes we might get an email from a family member. If we're out on patrol someone might come up and tell us something about a family member. It's nice to hear those happy stories".

Because of the nature of the work, after an intervention volunteers have a debriefing session. Counselling services are available to them and Lucy says the after care for them and support they get is great.

"It's not all doom and gloom," she says. "We meet people and we talk and we have the craic. The amount of support we get is unbelievable. People will come up and shake our hands and say 'thank you'. It's like they feel there's safety at night when we're out patrolling.

"We marshal every year at the Darkness Into Light walk. It's very touching - thousands of people are coming towards you from the angle we see it at. The silence is amazing," she says.

In the neighbouring county of Clare, Irish Coast Guard volunteer Thomas Doherty (pictured on cover) is no stranger to seeing people at the worst time of their lives. In his 30-something years with the Coast Guard he has intervened in 12 cases where people were suicidal.

Earlier in his life he'd been a fisherman; drift netting and fishing lobster pots. When someone went missing, searchers relied on local fishermen's knowledge for help and guidance. Helping out with searches brought him into the Coast Guard where he'd often get a call that someone was in distress.

"I just ask them straight 'are you thinking of self-harm?' I would chat away with them. Sometimes I can tell if they're acting suspicious - I just know. You learn to read the signs. They'd be watching to see if someone is watching them," says Thomas.

"First of all I ask them their name. Then I ask them if they are thinking of self-harm. I remember a lady in her 80s. She got out of a taxi and she was carrying a bag with her. I went up and asked her straight out. She began to cry. I gave her a hug and said 'come over and have a cup of tea or coffee'. She talked about things," he says.

The tip of the iceberg

"What we're seeing is the tip of the iceberg. A person may have been on their own for days with nobody to talk to. When I gave that lady a hug I thought when was the last time she got a hug. Are families giving one another hugs? It's come to the point where we can't give a hug to someone - maybe that's what they want.

"People do need to be listened to. I look at them and I don't be looking away. There's a lot in that; it shows you're interested in them. They can see you are connected with them. The connection is not there today. If you look at people they're caught up in their phones. There's nothing in social media I think," says Thomas.

He remembers meeting a woman whose son went missing some years ago.

"She wanted to walk in the last place he walked. I met her and I took her to where he would have walked. I said 'you do whatever you want to do. If you want to talk, talk. That was two years ago and she keeps in touch. Another lady lost a daughter - she likes to come up on the anniversary to walk in the last place her daughter walked."

Music, walking and talking help Thomas to remain upbeat about life but he says it's always "a bit of a downer when someone escapes the net".

"I did the Darkness into Light last year and I feel like you're helping an organisation that's helping people. You watch people and they're ten foot tall - they feel like they've achieved something," he says.

Over 200 miles away, volunteers Pat Carlin and Stephen Twells are on duty in Foyle Search and Rescue (FSR) HQ on the banks of Lough Foyle.

Set up in 1993 the organisation's main priority is suicide prevention and river rescue as well as providing safety cover for river events run by the city council and other local bodies.

Last year FSR volunteers rescued 21 people who had entered the river deliberately and were involved in 129 interventions.

Stephen, a store manager with Boots chemist in the city, joined the organisation 17 years ago after he got chatting with volunteers about the work they did. He describes the rescue HQ as his second home. "You couldn't do this work if you didn't love it, if you didn't care. It's not a career choice - it's a vocation," he says.

"For volunteers on duty at night it can be traumatic and stressful when you're dealing with someone in a vulnerable state. But the benefits outweigh the drawbacks - you're helping someone at their lowest level," says Stephen.

"You have an instinct about a person you meet - sometimes you can tell from their body language. Sometimes they're avoiding eye contact which is unnatural. You just get a gut feeling that something is not right with this person," he says.

One of the hardest things, he says, is having a conversation with someone you've never met before and asking them are they thinking about taking their own life.

'You need to have the courage'

"You need to have the courage to say that. Sometimes a person will say 'yes, I am'. Sometimes they'll say no.

Most people will open up to us but that's only because we've taken the time to ask them. A lot of times no one has ever asked them," he says.

Stephen says sometimes the work means physically restraining someone until emergency services arrive. Sometimes it's pulling someone back but "sometimes it's just a matter of putting a hand gently on their shoulder. Three-quarters of the time it's an easy coax to gently take someone back," he says.

In the last 15 months ten people have lost their lives to the River Foyle but despite the nature of the work he does, Stephen says it's not all doom and gloom.

"There's a really good team spirit in here. The main thing that keeps us going is that we know we're making a difference. There's a lot of team-work and training and we have a laugh. When it gets serious, we get on with the job."

Donate to Pieta House at Pieta.ie
More young adults with autism are entering the world of work better equipped to meet life's challenges.

Trinity College student Niamh Biddulph (21) travels by bus from Ashbourne to Dublin each day to participate in a two-year course which includes work placements and it can lead to paid internships.

When Niamh was diagnosed with autism as a toddler, her family were informed she would never be able to speak.

"I'm not letting my disability stop me from being an independent woman," she said.

She told the Sunday Independent she has enjoyed working in the Level 5 certificate course in arts, science and inclusive applied practice at the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities.

Her course's work placement included working in the Bank of Ireland's business banking department.

She intends to progress further with her education and promote awareness of disability rights, she said.

Course coordinator Dr Mary-Ann O'Donovan said young people in the past were hugely excluded from mainstream education but there were more opportunities now.

She called for better access to student grants for young people with intellectual disabilities.

Both Ms Biddulph and Dr Mary-Ann O'Donovan will participate in an autism conference at Croke Park in Dublin tomorrow.

The conference has been organised by the charity Inspire, Cork Autism Association, and the Irish Society for Autism.

Inspire provides services in mental health, learning disability, addiction and professional well-being.

Inspire CEO Peter McBride said the conference will "celebrate how far the movement for the inclusion of people with autism has come, examine barriers to development and look to the future with optimism and determination".

The keynote speaker will be Pulitzer Prize-winning US journalist Ron Suskind.

His writings were adapted into an documentary which tells the story of his youngest son, Owen, who, after being diagnosed with autism, found a way to re-engage with the world around him through his love for Disney movies. His family re-enacted the films with him, pioneering a now widely acknowledged method of emulative communication known as Affinity Therapy.

"I'm excited to be coming to the Inspire Conference in Dublin to share my family's story. The Autism community is global and I'm looking forward to hearing the stories of their journeys," he said.
Conor and Jennifer McIntyre with children Jennifer and Nina in the Phoenix Park Photos: Harry Murphy

Paddy and Geraldine Whelan who walked with their dogs. Photos: Harry Murphy

Darkness into Light has become a potent symbol in the fight to prevent suicide.

And 200,000 walkers and runners from across Ireland and four continents met the sun's first rays yesterday to show their support.

Many thousands took part in the annual Darkness into Light events across the country - from An Cheathru Rua in Connemara to Youghal in Co Cork.

The symbolic 5km walk or run promotes suicide prevention and seeks to tackle the stigma that leads people to the doors of Pieta House centres.

Now in its 10th year, the charity event took place in 180 venues across Ireland and worldwide.

Together participants walked more than one million kilometres in a march against suicide, self-harm and the stigma associated with mental health difficulties.

Events in Ireland began at 4.15am, as thousands walked as the sun came up.

Funds raised from the walk here will go towards Pieta House's counselling services.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was one of the 15,000 dawn walkers who watched the sun rise in Dublin's Phoenix Park.

Dublin Bus organised a free early-morning shuttle service at Parkgate Street from 2am until 7am.

In Galway, yoga sessions kicked off the event at Salthill with an estimated 10,000 people taking part in the coastal walk.

In Maynooth, Co Kildare, more than 2,000 people gathered in Maynooth University and walked towards the rising sun taking in the picturesque Carton walk which links Carton House with the town of Maynooth. Many were there to remember lost friends and family members. Local restaurants and coffee shops opened to cater for those who completed the fund-raiser.

There were also walks on the islands, including Arranmore, Clare Island, Inishbofin, Inis Meain and Inis Mor.

Dawn walks also took place in Hong Kong; Wellington, New Zealand; Warsaw, Poland; and Reykjavik, Iceland; with the help of Irish people living abroad.

Last year Darkness Into Light raised 4.5m - one-third of Pieta House's annual income. That figure should be exceeded this year.

Suicide is a leading cause of death, particularly in young people. Some 450 people took their own lives in 2016. The HSE estimate there are about 12,000 attempted suicides each year in Ireland.

Pieta House was founded in 2006 and now has services across Ireland. It offers free counselling to those suffering from suicidal thoughts, those who have been bereaved by suicide and people who are engaging in self-harm. In 2016 alone, almost 6,000 people came through their doors.

The first Darkness into Light event was held in Phoenix Park in 2009 where 400 people attended. A decade on, more than 15,000 people were joined by Mr Varadkar and Brian Higgins, chief executive of Pieta House, along the 5km route through the city park yesterday morning.

Pieta House offers a suicide bereavement liaison service - and their freecall 24/7 suicide helpline number is 1800 247 247.
Three men have been airlifted to safety by the Irish Coast Guard after they jumped into the water near the Wooden Bridge in Clontarf, Dublin.

Bystanders raised the alarm this afternoon when the men got into difficulty.

The incident happened shortly after 1pm.

The Irish Coast Guard arrived on the scene within twenty minutes and winched the three men to safety.
A diving holiday reveals a hidden side to the Maltese archipelago for Deirdre Mullins.

Set the mood

Gozo, the little sister island of Malta, isn't all about sun-drenched terraces, red sandy beaches and ancient citadels. It's an underwater paradise too - one of the best diving spots in the Mediterranean, with something to offer everybody from beginners to technical divers.

Gozo's crystal-clear waters mean visibility averages from 20 to 30 metres, but they can stretch to 45m in good conditions. The topography is impressive too, with breathtaking drop-offs, tunnels, caves and shipwrecks to explore.

Weak currents and warm waters make watching the shoals of tuna, barracuda and damselfish a joy. Many of the dive sites are accessible from the shore and, as the island is tiny - measuring just 6km by 14km - you don't spend too long travelling between the different sites.

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Top tip

Locals and tourists alike pack into Zeppi's (facebook.com/qala1), a tiny bar on the square in Qala. There's good quality live music on most nights, including an open-for-all jam session on Sundays. Join the friendly crowd, with a glass of wine or beer from just 2.

Guilty Pleasure

Ta' Rikardu restaurant is located in the maze-like citadel, serving traditional Gozitan food - try the national dish, rabbit, which is bred by the owner, cooked in wine and served with potatoes (14.50). Wash it down with a delicious bottle of Rikardu's homemade Cabernet Sauvignon (10), or enjoy a day trip to his farm for a milking and cheese-making experience, followed by a traditional platter lunch for 50. Email ta@rikardu.com for bookings.

Cheap Kick

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Even if you're not a diver, you can still enjoy the underwater world, and at a fraction of the price, by donning a snorkel, mask and fins. It's rare that snorkellers get a chance to peruse a shipwreck but the P31 in Camino lies at a relatively shallow depth (10-18 metres), making it accessible.

Camino is home to the Blue Lagoon, which is famous for its turquoise waters and is a popular snorkel site. Also, take time to hike Camino's dramatic coastline with its jagged cliffs and sandy beaches; allow two to three hours.

Insider Intel

Jacques Cousteau classed the Blue Hole as the best place to dive in Europe, and it's the most popular site on Gozo. After a short hike, entry is via a 10m-wide inland sea pool - the dive takes you through magnificent crevices and rock formations before arriving into the open sea.

The site is at the now collapsed Azure Window, and where divers used to pass under the famous arch, they now get to swim around its remains - which jut out from the seabed like three mountainous peaks.

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Glitches

Although Gozo is divable throughout the year, conditions aren't great from January to March - with the wind picking up and water temperatures dropping to 14C. A dry suit or a 5.5mm full wet suit is needed!

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Get me there

Ryanair flies direct from Dublin to Malta three times a week in winter and five times a week in summer, with a route from Belfast too (ryanair.com). From the airport, get a bus from Valletta (2) or a taxi (28) to Cirkewwa to pick up the Gozo Ferry (5; gozochannel.com).

Deirdre travelled as a guest of Visit Malta and Gozo Dive (gozodive.com), which charges 40 for a single dive - value is better if you buy a bundle of dives, and a PADI Open Water Diver course costs 350.

For more information on Gozo, visit maltaireland.com.

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Hurtigruten has sounded a note of hope.

The Norwegian cruise line (pictured), famous for its fjord voyages, is to remove all unnecessary plastics from its ships by July 2.

That's right, July 2 of this year.

I've praised Ryanair for promising to phase out single-use plastics by 2023, but this ups the ante. Everything from plastic straws to bags and coffee lids will be removed from its 14 ships within weeks, Hurtigruten says.

It's a brilliantly urgent move. Less than 30pc of plastics are recycled, according to the European Commission - and we've all seen the impact on our travels, from rubbish-strewn railways in India to plastic bottles spoiling Irish walks.

Plastic debris kills over 100,000 marine mammals a year, UNESCO says, and microplastics are leaching into the human food chain.

Irish hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions - what steps are you taking to reduce #singleuseplastics in your business? Let me know for a column! pic.twitter.com/fDdOh9iCy4  @poloconghaile (@poloconghaile) May 6, 2018

"There is a lot of talk about the impact plastic has on our oceans," says Hurtigruten CEO Daniel Skjeldam. "But it's time to take action."

Like Ireland's smoking ban, or the compulsory wearing of seatbelts in cars, targeting single-use plastics is a no-brainer.

While there's an onus on individuals to make lifestyle changes, however, don't forget that we have a collective power over business too.

When companies lead by example, we can reward them with our custom and social shout-outs. When they delay (I'm looking at you, hotel toiletries) we can shame them or stay away.

With this in mind, I tweeted this week looking for Irish hotels, restaurants and tourism outfits making efforts to reduce single-use plastics.

Here are just a few that got in touch.

In Kilkee, Co Clare, I learned that 22 businesses are working with Down2Earth Materials to introduce compostible food packaging.

In Dublin, 'Glasthule & Sandycove Going Green' is a group of businesses banding together to reduce plastic use.

Elsewhere, the Restaurants Association of Ireland is urging its 2,500 members to ban plastic straws (which take up to 200 years to break down).

And have you heard of Refill Ireland, a voluntary scheme for businesses who offer free, 'no-quibble' refills of reusable water bottles? Its 'Tap Map' is on refill.ie.

In Strandhill, Co Sligo, Shells Cafe got in touch to say it has axed plastic straws and provides free, reusable Keep Cups and water bottles to all staff.

"A lot of our new lifestyle choices have caused so much damage to the environment in such little time," owner Jane Lamberth told me.

"It's our job now to re-educate and ask for more from ourselves and our staff and our customers."

Those are just a sample (tweet me at @poloconghaile and I'll share your endeavours), but bit by bit, the efforts add up. Bit by bit, the voices are being heard.

Just ask Hurtigruten.

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Colm McCarthy Opinion UK is not alone in its Covid failures

New cases, hospitalisations and deaths from the virus have all risen somewhat in the UK over the last week. Given the rapid roll-out of vaccination, the best in Europe, this should not have been happening. The reason seems to be the so-called Indian variant, more infectious and more widespread in Britain, and some experts are worried the government may be forced to pause, or even reverse, the lifting of restrictions.
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Dan O'Brien Opinion While we catastrophise about Covid, we ignore risk of running out of cash

We Irish view the world in an increasingly strange and unhealthy way. We catastrophise about Covid in a way other European countries do not. We focus on how bad the effects of the virus could get, on how many more restrictions might be imposed by Government and how helpless we are in the face of the virus.
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Eoghan Harris Opinion Misery media fails to give due credit to the Taoiseach

Taoiseach Micheal Martin must drive his advisers mad. Unlike Leo Varadkar or Donald Trump, he never bigs up success stories such as the effect of Level 3 Plus on Covid or his visionary Shared Island project. Last Friday, Tony Holohan and RTE cheerleaders seemed to imply Level 5 was responsible for the improved Covid situation. Not so.
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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Taking the credit like only Fine Gael can

There was a time when Fine Gael wasnt arrogant and aggressive. Hard to believe, after listening to Regina Doherty blowing the partys trumpet last week. God be with the days when you could have a bit of crack with a Fine Gaeler. Some of them were snobbish, some were reactionaries, and there was the odd conniving gobdaw  but there were plenty of them who lived in an Ireland familiar to the rest of us.
The Government's handling of the cervical cancer scandal has exposed a fatal flaw at the heart of Leo Varadkar's administration.

The accusation of 'spin doctoring' has been attached to his government, but that scratches the surface.

The charge of a lack of empathy is also made, more so now, although I first used the term the week he was elected and have repeated it several times since.

The fatal flaw, however, is a combination of both, which manifested itself last week in something even more damning - incompetence.

It goes like this: spin to mask the heartlessness borne of hardened ideology to hide the incompetence.

Add to that a sullen, childlike reaction to criticism and we have all the ingredients of eventual implosion with potentially disastrous consequences.

The handling of the cancer scandal, therefore, raises an urgent question, whether Varadkar and several ministers, like Simon Harris, are too young, inexperienced and cosseted to run the country?

The answer to that may also be yes.

The cancer scandal has been running for two weeks, but there is still no sign the Government has a firm handle on what has occurred.

The public has little confidence that the full truth has come out.

More than that, there is an expectation that something will soon, or eventually, emerge to show a political hand in the scandal.

And were that to happen, that really would be the end of this administration.

In her searing indictment, Emma Mhic Mhathuna said the Government needed to go as it was "not capable of minding us". In the immediate aftermath of her Morning Ireland radio interview, that charge was brushed over. It was as though people understood why she would say that but put it down to the trauma of her fatal diagnosis.

Within hours, however, there emerged from the bowels of the HSE, kicking and screaming, damning memorandums of the State.

These showed the HSE was aware of what had happened, that women had been incorrectly diagnosed, and then

The State decided these women should not be told, not in a timely manner, and chose instead to concern itself with legal niceties and a policy of media management and 'spin'.

All of this went on under the noses of Leo Varadkar first and Simon Harris, both as ministers for health.

They say they did not know, nor did their advisers. We shall see. But if that is so, the question is: why did they not know?

They are charged first and foremost, as Emma Mhic Mhathuna has said, with the protection of the citizens of the State.

Yet they did not know while the State put in place a policy of self-protection first, citizens be damned.

The charge could not be more serious. Spin, heartlessness, incompetence. And that may be only the half of it.
Karl Lagerfeld has threatened to give up his German citizenship.

The Hamburg-born fashion designer, who runs the womenswear departments for French luxury label Chanel and Italian brand Fendi, has spent most of his adult life living in Paris.

While Lagerfeld conveyed a sense of pride in his home country when he chose to unveil Chanel's Metiers d'Art show in his hometown last December (17), he has now expressed his disdain for German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her 2015 decision to open the nation's borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees.

"Did she really need to say it was necessary to welcome one million migrants at a time when France, which casts itself as the land of human rights, pledged to take in 30,000?" Lagerfeld said in an interview with French newspaper Le Point published Thursday (10May18), adding: "If this keeps up, I'll abandon German citizenship."

Lagerfeld then went on to accuse Merkel of fostering the emergence of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the right-wing party founded in 2013 which has a number of controversial policies. Describing Merkel as a "pastor's daughter who can't accept the evil that Germany carried out after 1933" he then went on to claim that her words played a part in the AfD winning 94 seats in the Bundestag or federal parliament in September's election.

"The AfD didn't exist, yet with one sentence she made it exist by alienating two million voters and sending 100 of these neo-Nazis into parliament," the 84-year-old said.

Lagerfeld did not comment on which country he may look to take up residency should he decide to renounce German citizenship. And though he previously gushed over the election of President Emmanuel Macron in France, he explained that the didn't necessarily want citizenship there.

"I like Macron personally, and (his wife) Brigitte, but that doesn't mean I want to become French," he added.
SOUTH PACIFIC: The airstrip that serves Tuvalu - a collection of nine tiny atolls, with a population of just 11,000 people. Photo: All Over Press

The tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu - a series of coral atolls lined with palm tree beaches and lagoons - has one airport, one hospital and one bank. It covers 10 square miles, making it one of the smallest countries in the world.

But this remote place, accessible by an unreliable thrice-weekly air service from Fiji, is about to receive a new set of international residents. In a surprising announcement, Australia revealed this week it is planning to dispatch diplomats to establish a high commission in the capital of Funafuti, joining the island's only other embassy, Taiwan.

Explaining the decision, Julie Bishop, Australia's foreign minister, said Tuvalu was "an important partner in the Pacific". But most observers believe the move is motivated by anxiety about China's growing role in the waters of the South Pacific.

Graeme Smith, of the Australian National University, said his response to the news was: "Tuvalu - really?"

He added: "It's as close as you can get to a Pacific paradise - large green cliffs and a pristine place - but you have to wonder what the diplomats will do."

A Commonwealth nation which only gained independence from Britain in 1978, Tuvalu has a population of 11,000 across its nine atolls. The main island, Funafuti, is just 60ft wide in parts.

But the remote country has become enmeshed in concerns about China's ambitions in the region.

China and Taiwan have been locked for decades in a war of chequebook diplomacy to win the support of small Pacific nations. The island states have scant resources or revenue but are adept at trading off tensions between China and Taiwan and, more recently, Russia and Georgia.

At times the results have been farcical. In 2004, the nation of Vanuatu announced it was switching its diplomatic recognition from China to Taiwan after a promise of aid. It changed back to China eight days later. Recently, China has increased efforts to win support from the remaining backers of Taiwan, now numbering fewer than 20 worldwide. The latest was the Dominican Republic, which switched allegiance from Taiwan two weeks ago after Beijing offered it a suite of investments and loans reportedly worth 2bn.

Australia has become increasingly concerned that China's interests in the South Pacific could extend beyond this and pose a security threat. Recently, it was reported that China had approached Vanuatu about establishing a military presence, something it denies.

Malcolm Turnbull, Australia's prime minister, said: "We would view with great concern the establishment of any foreign military bases in those Pacific island countries and neighbours."

Britain appears to share the concerns, announcing in April that it will open high commissions in Vanuatu, Samoa and Tonga.

"An increased global footprint will ensure Britain and its allies can counter the malign influence of countries who seek to undermine the UK," the UK Foreign Office stated.

China's investment in the Pacific states has prompted concerns that a failure to repay debts could allow it to claim significant assets - a scenario that occurred, most notably, in Sri Lanka and left Chinese-owned companies in control of a strategic port. According to the Lowy Institute in Sydney, China provided 1bn in aid and loans between 2006 and 2016.

In an apparent response, Australia and New Zealand announced this week large increases in aid across the Pacific.

Foreign minister Ms Bishop played down suggestions the Pacific island largesse was motivated by fears of China's growing influence.

But Winston Peters, deputy prime minister of New Zealand and Ms Bishop's foreign ministry counterpart, not renowned for diplomatic niceties, was blunt.

"Put simply, if we're not there, some other influence will be," he said.

Telegraph

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
US President Donald Trump has hailed as a gracious gesture North Koreas announcement that it will dismantle its nuclear test site in less than two weeks.

The move comes ahead of leader Kim Jong Uns summit with Mr Trump next month.

In a statement carried by state media, North Koreas Foreign Ministry said all of the tunnels at the countrys north-eastern testing ground will be destroyed by explosion, and observation and research facilities and ground-based guard units will also be removed.

Mr Kim had already revealed plans to shut the test site by the end of May during his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month. Analysts say that while the closure of the site is important, it does not represent a material step toward full denuclearisation.

A ceremony for dismantling the nuclear test ground is now scheduled between May 23 and 25, depending on weather, the Foreign Ministrys statement said, adding that journalists from the United States, South Korea, China, Russia and Britain will be invited to witness the dismantling.

The ministry said the North will continue to promote close contacts and dialogue with the neighbouring countries and the international society so as to safeguard peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and over the globe.

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Mr Trump, in a tweet on Saturday, thanked North Korea for its plan to dismantle the nuclear test site, calling it a very smart and gracious gesture!

.

Following the Moon-Kim meeting, Mr Moons office said Mr Kim was willing to disclose the process to international experts, but the Norths statement did not address allowing experts on the site.

South Korea had no immediate response to the statement.

The Norths announcement comes days after Washington announced that the historic summit between Mr Kim and Mr Trump will be held on June 12 in Singapore.

South Korea has said Mr Kim has genuine interest in dealing away his nuclear weapons in return for economic benefits. However, there are lingering doubts about whether Mr Kim would ever agree to fully relinquish the weapons he probably views as his only guarantee of survival.

During their meeting at a border truce village, Mr Moon and Mr Kim vaguely promised to work towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, but made no references to verification or timetables.

North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of denuclearisation that bears no resemblance to the American definition. The North has been vowing to pursue nuclear development unless Washington removes its 28,500 troops from South Korea and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan.

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Some experts believe Mr Kim may try to drag out the process or seek a deal in which he gives away his intercontinental ballistic missiles but retains some of his shorter-range arsenal in return for a reduced US military presence in the South. This could satisfy Mr Trump but undermine the alliance between Washington and Seoul.

Mr Kim declared his nuclear force as complete in December, following North Koreas most powerful nuclear test to date in September and three flight tests of ICBMs designed to reach the US mainland.

North Korea announced at a ruling party meeting last month that it was suspending all tests of nuclear devices and ICBMs, as well as the plan to close the nuclear testing ground.
Flowers on the road leading to the US Embassy compound in Jerusalem (Ariel Schalit/AP)

Israel is preparing a series of festivities to celebrate the opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem, a move that has ignited Palestinian protests and raised fears of a further outbreak of violence.

As Israel marks Jerusalem Day, the 51st anniversary of what it refers to as the citys unification following the 1967 war, it will also be hosting a gala reception for Mondays embassy dedication that will include members of a delegation led by President Donald Trumps daughter Ivanka, his senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin.

Dozens of foreign diplomats are expected, though many ambassadors of European nations who oppose the move will avoid it. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania have reportedly blocked a joint EU statement on the issue.

Thank you President Trump for keeping your promise to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move your embasssy here.  https://t.co/eL5ETqYo4R  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 12, 2018

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised internationally. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and view the relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv to the contested city as a blatantly one-sided move that invalidates the US as a peace broker.

Mr Trumps decision in December to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital ignited months of protests in the Palestinian territories. The weekly protests along the Israel-Gaza border are expected to culminate on Monday in parallel to the celebrations in Jerusalem.

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Since March 30, 42 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the weekly protests aimed primarily against the decade-long blockade of Gaza. More than 1,800 have been wounded.

Gazas Hamas rulers have led the protests, which are set to peak this week with the 70th anniversary of what the Palestinians call the nakba, or catastrophe, referring to their mass uprooting during the war over Israels 1948 creation. Organisers have indicated they may try to breach the border with Israel.

Israel says it has a right to defend its border and has accused Hamas of using the protests as a cover for attacking it. On Saturday, it destroyed the sixth Hamas attack tunnel it has uncovered in as many months. Rights groups say the use of potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters is unlawful.

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A high-ranking delegation of Gazas Hamas rulers headed to Egypt on Sunday, amid diplomatic efforts aimed at containing the mass rally.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile said Israel would be celebrating Mr Trumps decision.

President Trump promised to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and he did so. He promised to move the American Embassy to Israel and he is doing so. Of course we will all celebrate this day, a real celebration, tomorrow, he said at a weekly cabinet meeting.

Most countries have traditionally kept their embassies in coastal Tel Aviv rather than the contested holy site of Jerusalem. But after Mr Trumps move both Guatemala and Paraguay announced that they planned to follow suit.
Tehran traffic is gridlocked half the time, and the city spends most of the year engulfed in smog, so it's not surprising that locals travel underground when they can - on a metro system that sometimes carries two million people a day.

During the sanctions decade, when Iran was largely frozen out of global commerce, the capital's authorities managed to steadily expand the network - roughly doubling its size. It wasn't easy. Often, "the parts we needed, we had to build ourselves',' said Ali Abdollahpour, deputy managing director of Tehran Urban and Suburban Railway Operating Company.

A constant of those years was Chinese help, with everything from building rails to manufacturing wagons. The nuclear deal of 2015, and the lifting of major sanctions the year after, was supposed to broaden Iran's options. Abdollahpour had his eyes on Europe ("their tech is better'') for essential braking and signalling systems.

But when a major contract, to supply more than 600 wagons, came up for tender it went to a unit of China's CRRC Corp, which beat off two European bids to win a contract worth more than 900m this year. That's part of a wider pattern. The nuclear deal hasn't delivered more than a trickle of Western investment - and even that is poised to dry up, after Donald Trump pulled the US out of the agreement and said he'll re-impose sanctions

To develop its 430bn economy, Iran is being forced to rely on political allies in the east.

Trade with China has more than doubled since 2006, to 28bn. The biggest chunk of Iran's oil exports go to China, about 11bn a year at current prices.

Chinese direct investment is arriving too, though reliable data is harder to come by.

China is "already the winner", said Dina Esfandiary, a fellow at the Centre for Science and Security Studies at King's College in London, and co-author of the forthcoming book Triple Axis: Iran's Relations With Russia and China.

"Iran has slowly abandoned the idea of being open to the West,'' she said. "The Chinese have been in Iran for the past 30 years. They have the contacts, the guys on the ground, the links to the local banks.''

And they're more willing to defy US pressure as Trump slaps sanctions back on.

Even that possibility has kept many European banks and manufacturers from doing business with Iran. And some of those that were ready to do so could reconsider in the light of tougher American rules.

Airbus Group's contract for 100 jetliners, worth about 19bn at list prices, was already held up amid financing problems, and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last week that the export licence will be revoked (Russian manufacturers could be the beneficiaries). Total has a contract to develop the South Pars gas field together with China National Petroleum Corp, but has signalled that it would pull out if the US re-imposes sanctions and it can't win an exemption. In that event, Iran says, the Chinese partner would take over Total's share.

Chinese companies aren't beyond the reach of American regulators. Huawei Technologies is said to be under investigation for possible violations over sales to Iran, and network-equipment maker ZTE was banned from buying American components for a similar offence.

Compared with the pre-sanctions era, "Chinese companies have become much more multinational and global, they have more of a brand reputation that's important to them,'' said Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder of the Europe-Iran Forum, an annual gathering for executives. That gives the US leverage "to discourage them from engaging in Iranian markets, by going after them'.'

But the Chinese have some workarounds that Europeans lack. There are many more Chinese companies with zero exposure to the US. And, since many of the Chinese businesses working in Iran are state-run, it's relatively easy to set up special-purpose vehicles for bypassing US regulations. "All they have to do is create a subsidiary that's separate from the original entity, and they're good to go," said Esfandiary.

Chinese businesses are also likely to be more flexible about how they're paid, says Batmanghelidj, citing a transaction he's aware of where the European company declined to be paid in bonds.

The politics are different, too. The key EU countries are longtime US allies wary of a direct clash with Washington. They're promising to keep the nuclear deal alive, but many Iranians doubt they are able or willing to do so.

Europe "doesn't have the power to take important decisions", said Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian parliament's nation security and foreign policy committee. "The Europeans, by sanctioning Iran, seek to dance in front of the Americans."

But China - along with Russia - is America's main strategic rival, with big geopolitical ambitions. Central to them is a plan to crisscross Eurasia with a web of transportation and infrastructure links. Persia was on the old Silk Road, and Iran is at the heart of President Xi Jinping's plans for a new one.

Chinese companies are building or funding railway lines to the eastern city of Mashhad and the Gulf port of Bushehr, under deals signed in the past year worth more than 2.2bn. India was supposed to be developing the strategic port of Chabahar on the Arabian Sea, but repeated delays have prompted Iranian officials to turn to China in the hope of speeding up construction.

China looks at relations with Iran "from a strategic perspective," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said last year as he met Iranian officials in Beijing.

At the Tehran metro, it won't be the first time that global politics have intruded on planning.

When building work began in the pro-Western Iran of the 1970s, it was under French managers. Within a year of the Islamic Revolution of 1979, they were gone.

That's business, says Abdollahpour, the metro manager. "In the world of commerce, one day you're friends with someone, one day you aren't."

Bloomberg
Police officers cordon off the area after a knife attack in central Paris (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A knife-wielding assailant killed one person and injured four others in a lively neighbourhood near Paris famed Opera Garnier before he was killed by police on Saturday night.

The Islamic State group claimed the attacker as one of its soldiers.

Counter-terrorism authorities took charge of the investigation, and president Emmanuel Macron vowed that France would not bow to extremists despite being the target of multiple deadly attacks in recent years.

La France paye une nouvelle fois le prix du sang mais ne cede pas un pouce aux ennemis de la liberte (2/2).  Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 12, 2018

Paris police officers evacuated people from some buildings in the Right Bank neighbourhood after the attack, which happened on rue Monsigny at about 9pm. Bar patrons and opera-goers described surprise and confusion in the immediate area.

Beyond the police cordon, however, crowds still filled nearby cafes and the citys night-life resumed its normal pace soon after the attack.

Prosecutor Francois Molins said counter-terrorism authorities were leading the investigation on potential charges of murder and attempted murder in connection with terrorist motives.

At this stage, based on the one hand on the account of witnesses who said the attacker cried Allahu akbar (God is great in Arabic) while attacking passersby with a knife, and given the modus operandi, we have turned this over to the counter-terrorist section of the Paris prosecutors office, Mr Molins told reporters from the scene.

The Islamic State groups Aamaq news agency said in a statement early on Sunday that the assailant had carried out the attack in response to the groups calls for supporters to target members of the US-led military coalition squeezing the extremists out of Iraq and Syria.

The Aamaq statement did not provide evidence for its claim or details on the assailants identity.

Frances military has been active in the coalition since 2014, and Islamic State adherents have killed more than 200 people in France in recent years, including the 130 who died in the coordinated November 2015 attacks in Paris.

Mr Macron tweeted his praise for police who neutralised the terrorist and said France is once again paying the price of blood but will not cede an inch to enemies of freedom.

Paris police said the attacker in Saturdays stabbings was armed with a knife and targeted five people in the 2nd arrondissement, or district, killing one and seriously injuring two. The other two suffered less serious injuries.

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The attack occurred near many bars and theatres, as well as the opera.

Frances BFM television interviewed an unnamed witness in a restaurant who said a young woman was at the entrance when a man arrived and attacked her with a knife.

A friend came to her aid and the attacker left, hitting on all the doors, all the shops, the witness told BFM. He turned onto another street, and everyone scattered, the witness said.

Another witness described leaving the opera house and being told to go back inside because of the attack.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb denounced the odious attack.
A suspected explosive device was discovered on Sunday in a mosque near the South African port city of Durban where a fatal knife attack occurred last week, police said.

"The bomb squad is there now in the mosque and they will give us a report if it is an explosive device or not," said Simphiwe Mhlongo, a spokesman for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, an elite police unit known as the Hawks."

He said the mosque had been swept by investigators on Friday and that nothing suspicious was found at that time.

Footage from the eNCA TV news network showed a large police presence at the mosque and worshippers and bystanders gathered outside, hundreds of metres (yards) away behind police tape.

Prem Balram, a spokesman for Reaction Unit SA, a private emergency service, was quoted on the News24 online news service as saying the mosque and homes in the area were evacuated "after a device resembling a bomb has been found inside the building".

Three men armed with guns and knives attacked worshippers at the mosque near Durban on Thursday. One person was killed after his throat was slit, and two others were injured.

No arrests have been made yet in connection with that attack, Mhlongo said.
Israelis wave national flags outside the Old Citys Damascus Gate in Jerusalem as Israel marks the 51st anniversary of its capture of east Jerusalem (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Tens of thousands of Israelis have been marching in celebrations to mark Jerusalem Day on the eve of the US relocating its embassy to the contested city.

Police said over 30,000 people took part in Sundays festivities, as revellers waved Israeli flags, singing and dancing through the citys streets.

A small group of Israelis protested against the march.

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As Israel marks Jerusalem Day, the 51st anniversary of what it refers to as the citys unification following the 1967 Middle East war, it will also host a gala reception for Mondays embassy dedication.

This will include members of a delegation led by Mr Trumps daughter Ivanka, his senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and secretary of treasury Steven Mnuchin.

Dozens of foreign diplomats are expected, though many ambassadors of European nations who oppose the move will avoid it. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania have reportedly blocked a joint EU statement on the issue.

Jerusalem Day commemorates Israels capture of the eastern sector of the city from Jordan in the 1967 war.

The fate of Jerusalem is a deeply emotional issue at the heart of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The Old City in east Jerusalem is home to key holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Nationalist Israelis view the day as a holiday marking the unification of the city under Israeli control.

However, Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Thank you President Trump for keeping your promise to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move your embasssy here.  https://t.co/eL5ETqYo4R  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 12, 2018

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the Middle East peace process is most decidedly not dead even as the Trump administration plans to open the new American embassy in Jerusalem  a move that has angered Palestinians and raised anti-US sentiment in the region.

Mr Pompeo said the US still hopes to be able to achieve a successful outcome to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He is also addressing the issue of security, saying the US has taken steps to ensure that not only are governmental interests but the American people in that region are secure as well, and were comfortable weve taken action that reduces that risk.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognised internationally. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and view the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as a blatantly one-sided move that invalidates the US as a peace broker.

Mr Trumps decision in December to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital ignited months of protests in the Palestinian territories. The weekly protests along the Israel-Gaza border are expected to culminate on Monday in parallel to the celebrations in Jerusalem.

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Since March 30, 42 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the weekly protests aimed primarily against the decade-long blockade of Gaza. More than 1,800 have been wounded.

Gazas Hamas rulers have led the protests, which are set to peak this week with the 70th anniversary of what the Palestinians call the nakba, or catastrophe, referring to their mass uprooting during the war over Israels 1948 creation.

Organisers have indicated they may try to breach the border with Israel.

Israel says it has a right to defend its border and has accused Hamas of using the protests as a cover for attacking it. On Saturday, it destroyed the sixth Hamas attack tunnel it has uncovered in as many months. Rights groups say the use of potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters is unlawful.

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Most countries have traditionally kept their embassies in coastal Tel Aviv rather than Jerusalem. But after Mr Trumps move both Guatemala and Paraguay announced that they planned to follow suit.
New Delhi, May 13 (IBNS): Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced that the State will be declared as open defecation free (ODF) by Gandhi Jayanti this year.

This will mean that the State will become ODF one year before the national timeline of October 2nd, 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The announcement was made at a public ceremony at Bhopal, which was also attended by Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation, Sushri Uma Bharti, State Ministers, Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, ParameswaranIyer, and other senior officials.

Addressing more than 5000 people who came from various parts of the State, the Chief Minister also spoke about how the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) has become a jan andolan  a peoples movement  in the State.

He went on to emphasize the role of peoples participation in making a sanitation movement like this successful, and said that he looked forward to the continued support of the people of the State in achieving as well as sustaining ODF status in the State.

In her address to the gathering, Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Uma Bharti shared that the national sanitation coverage has risen to over 83%, a more than double increase from the baseline coverage of 39% at the time of the launch of the Mission in October,2014.

She underlined that Swachh Bharat is ultimately a movement for the people, by the people and of the people and that is what has made it a true jan andolan.

She shared that over 3.7 lakh villages, 383 districts and 17 States/UTs of the country have already been declared ODF, and stressed upon the need to also start focusing on ODF-plus activities as well. To this end, the GOBAR-dhan scheme was also launched in Madhya Pradesh at the event.



Announced in the Union budget this year, the scheme aims at positively impacting village cleanliness and generating wealth and energy from cattle and organic waste. The first among such projects in Madhya Pradesh will be implemented in Kodsa village in Narsingpur District and Chiruli village in Gwalior District.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, ParameswaranIyerlauded the role played by Swachhagrahis, the foot soldiers of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) in the progress made across the country.

He called upon them to keep behavior change at the focal point of their activities at the grassroots and sustain their efforts even after the State is declared ODF.

Swachhagrahis, peoples representatives and grassroots officials associated with the implementation of Swachh Bharat in the State were also felicitated along with the launch. These State level awards were given for the exemplary work done in the areas of toilet construction, geo-tagging, conversion of dysfunctional toilets, behaviour change and sustainability.
New Delhi, May 13 (IBNS): General Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff shall be visiting Sri Lanka from 14 to 17 May 2018 on an official visit.

It shall be the first visit of General Bipin Rawat to Sri Lanka.

During the visit, he is scheduled to meet the senior most political and military hierarchy of Sri Lanka.

The visit assumes significance in light of Indias persistent efforts to strengthen the existing bonds of friendship and military cooperation based on mutual interests and understanding.

Indian Army has been catering not only for varied training requirements of the Sri Lankan Army including imparting specific tailor-made training in different fields but also providing military hardware support.

During the visit, the Chief of the Army Staff shall be inaugurating a communication Laboratory at School of Signals, Kandy, conceptualized and established by the Indian Army, to train the personnel of Sri Lanka Army Signal Corps.

The Army Chief shall also be visiting the Sri Lanka Military Academy at Diyatalawa to exchange best practices related to pre-commissioning training being followed by the two armies.

Apart from interaction with the senior leadership of the three Services, General Bipin Rawat shall also be meeting the Regional Military Commanders at Kandy and Trincomalee.

The visit is yet another milestone in reaching out to our immediate neighborhood and take forward the military to military cooperation to the next level.


Guwahati, May 13 (IBNS): An Australian tourist died under mysterious circumstances at a hotel in Assam's Guwahati city on Saturday night.

According to the reports, the Australian tourist was identified as 67-year-old Willem Marinus.

He came to Assam with four other colleagues on May 9 last after travelling other parts of the country and neighbouring Bhutan.

Willem Marinus had checked at Hotel Lilawati Grand in Guwahati on Saturday night and slipped off stairs inside the hotel after he met his colleagues at 5th floor.

The hotel staffs and other persons had immediately called 108 emergency service but the Australian tourist succumbed to his injuries and post mortem of the body was conducted at Guwahati Medical College Hospital on Sunday.

According to the reports, Willem Marinus and his colleagues came here for some Royal Enfield tour and they had travelled various parts of India and Bhutan.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
On the occasion of this special day, several Bollywood actors remembered one thing they have learnt from their mothers that they follow every single day.

Pink actress Taapsee Pannu, who plays several fierce roles onscreen, said she is a fan of her mother's "internal strength".

Taapsee said: "The way she handled 3 really different personalities at home (my Dad, my sister and myself) the way she became a shock absorber of our madness and still kept us together. The way she was the bridge between my Dad and me and still continues to be.

"The way she doesnt give up on any one of us even though we r very mean to her at times because she is way more evolved and stronger person than us."

Actress Kareena Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor spoke about the person who is the other mother in their lives.

Kareena Kapoor says, I am very lucky to be very close to my sister Karishma Kapoor who has always been there for me. She is somebody whom I consider as my second mother, someone I could share everything with.

Sonam Kapoor says, It's my sister Rhea as she is amazing. She can just yell at me like my mom does even though she is my younger sister. She is an incredible influence in my life.

Sharing her feelings, Soha Ali Khan had a message for Kareena Kapoor and her Yoga instructor , Rupal Sidpura : It is the most powerful miracle to have a life growing inside of you. Watch this video to see my #UnstretchedJourney and dont forget you

After doing loads of films in Bollywood, Richa Chadha might have learnt a number of lessons but one she received from her mother was "compassion".

Richa, who had stolen the limelight purely on the basis of her acting skills with film like Masaan, Gangs of Wasseypur, Fukrey, described a story which indeed made her compassion.

The actress who had a habit of killing ants and insects, was transformed into a compassionate human being after her mother said the insects probably go to their mothers.

During the shooting schedule, an actor has to travel and constantly shift places.

But Ali Fazal might not face much problem as he got a valuable lesson from his mother. He said: "Somebody is always watching. Always. Just remember to fold your clothes and your own sheets. Keep your room neat. Your life is but a version of that room."

Remembering one lesson learnt from his mother, actor Arunoday Singh said: "The greatest thing my mother has taught me is that happiness and self-esteem are not synonymous with success. She taught me to seek the joy, to stay in the light. No matter what Im dealing with."

Ahead of the release of his next big project, Veere Di Wedding, Sumeet Vyas divulged what he learnt from his mother. "That theres no harm in listening, rather than always waiting for your turn to speak. Also Dosing off in the most dreadful and tense situations in life."

On this special day, actress Rasika Dugal said: "The one skill I have learned from my mother is- attention to detail and that has been an important skill to have as an actor. Her attention to the smallest of things in everything she does never ceases to amaze me.

"Whether it's in her attention to her work or in the way she chooses gifts for people and especially when she is cooking /baking. I can never be as good as her but I think I have got some of it!

The Mr. X actress Amyra Dastur said: "My mother has always been a very kind and generous woman. She never bought our pets over the years, instead, she would adopt them (especially strays). She has paid for the education of all our maids children and shes been helping charities like Red Cross ever since I can remember.

"My mother has taught me to look at the good inside people and to never ever judge an individual at face value or by someone elses statements. I admire my mother for not only teaching me how to stay kind and honest in a harsh world but also, how to laugh at myself every once in a while and to not take life so seriously. She is and always will be my hero."

This Mothers Day, Romedy Now will celebrate the spirit of motherhood with its digital campaign  #MyOtherMother. The campaign kickstarting 12th May invites viewers to share their stories and celebrate the spirit of this special person in their lives by tagging @RomedyNOW on Facebook with the hashtag #MyOtherMother. The best stories will be rewarded by the channel.
Surabaya, May 13 (IBNS): At least eight people were killed when suicide bombers attacked three churches in Indonesia's Surabaya city on Sunday, media reports said.

"Around 40 others were injured in the attacks, which occurred within minutes of each other. No group has so far said it carried them out," BBC reported.

Majority of the population in Indonesia is Muslim while there are people belonging to the Christian, Hindu and Buddhist communities.

According to media reports, the country has been witnessing a resurgence of Islamist militancy in recent months.

The attacks reportedly left 38 people injured.

Suicides bom in surabaya break the norms of religion and humanity, states must responsibilty to promote freedom of expression in this country. pic.twitter.com/QEJsipYhb6  wendy (@wendy67873561) May 13, 2018

The explosions targeted the Santa Maria Catholic Church, the Indonesian Christian Church and the Pentecost Central Church. The St. Maria explosion killed four people and two people were killed at each of the other two churches, East Java Police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told CNN.

Two people later died in a hospital, reports said.

East Java Provincial Police Senior Commissioner Frans Barung Mangera told Antara news agency: "Give us time to conduct investigation in the locations."

Image: Wendy Twitter page video grab


Surabaya, May 13 (IBNS): At least 10 people were killed when suicide bombers attacked three churches in Indonesia's Surabaya city on Sunday, media reports said.

"Ten people died and eight of them have not been identified," spokesman for the East Java Provincial Police Senior Commissioner Frans Barung Mangera told Antara news agency.

Country's President Joko Widodo visited Bhayangkara Hospital to meet victims of the attacks.

"The president made the visit after reviewing two bombing incident locations namely GKI church on Jalan Diponegoro Surabaya and Central Pentecost Church Surabaya on Jalan Arjuna," reported country's Antara news agency.

He has appealed people in the country to remain calm.

"I appeal to all people across the country to remain calm, maintain unity and alertness," he was quoted as saying by the agency.

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has condemned the attack.

"Strongly condemn the terrorist attack in Surabaya - Ret We will not back down in the fight against terrorism Let us unite in the fight against terrorism #UniteAgainstTerrorism #WeAreNotAfraid," she tweeted.

The US Embassy in Indonesia also condemned the attacks on the churches.

"The United States strongly condemns this mornings attacks on three churches in Surabaya. These attacks on peaceful worshipers are an affront to the tolerance and diversity embraced by Indonesians. The United States stands with the people of Indonesia, and we offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims," US Embassy said in a statement.

Indonesian investigators have not yet disclosed the names of the suspects behind the attacks.

Image: Wendy Twitter page video grab
Jakarta, May 13 (IBNS): The death toll in the church bombings in Indonesia's Surabaya city has touched 13.

According to local police, a single family was behind the attack, which has been deemed as the deadliest in more than a decade's time.

The family consisted of six people, including a 9-year-old girl.

According to reports, the mother and her two daughters were involved in a suicide attack at a church, while the father and his two sons attacked two more churches.

Local officials have said that the family may have spent some time with the Islamic State in Syria and were related to a local IS-inspired network, Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

The officials added that the father drove a bomb filled car into the premises of Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church.

The mother and the daughters, who had bombs strapped to them, attacked the Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church.

The daughters were aged 9 and 12, while the sons were 16 and 18 years old, respectively.

They reportedly rode motorcycles while attacking Santa Maria Catholic Church.

Image: Google Maps
Islamabad, May 13 (IBNS): At least 20 people were swept away after a bridge collapsed in Neelum Valley in Azad Jammu and Kashmir of Pakistan on Sunday, media reports said.

Police officials told Geo News around 25 tourists stopped to take pictures on the bridge, located in Nala Jagran area of the region, when it collapsed as it could not withstand the pressure.

An operation is currently going on to rescue the people.

Six people have been rescued so far.'

Five bodies have been recovered till now.

Personnel of the Pakistan Army are assisting the operation.

Locals told Geo News the victims were likely students of two medical colleges from Lahore and Faisalabad who were touring the scenic valley.

Image: Wikimedia Commons
Kabul, May 13 (IBNS): At least nine people were killed when militants attacked Revenue Department building in Jalalabad area of Afghanistan on Sunday, media reports said.

Security forces and attackers are currently fighting each other.

Sounds of heavy and light weapons could be heard from the spot where the attack is taking place.

Governor Spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told Pajhwok Afghan News nine people have been killed and 39 others injured so far in the attack.

Heavy security forces arrived at the spot of the attack.

Earlier, eyewitnesses told Pajhwok Afghan News that two suicide bombers first thrown grenades into the Revenue Department and then blown up their explosives, allowing several armed men to enter the compound.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.


Jerusalem, May 13 (IBNS): Senior White House advisers, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, have arrived in Israel's capital Jerusalem on Sunday, ahead of the inauguration of the new US embassy in the country.

The opening will take place on Monday.

US president Donald Trump, who moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, however, will not be present during the ceremony.

His decision to move the embassy, which was taken last year, angered Palestine.

"A small interim embassy will open inside the existing US consulate building in Jerusalem on Monday, while a larger site will be found later when the rest of the embassy moves from Tel Aviv," a BBC report read.

Speaking about her involvement, Ivanka tweeted, "I am honored to join the delegation representing @POTUS, his Admin & the American people at this momentous ceremony commemorating the opening of our new US Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel. We will pray for the boundless potential of the US-Israel alliance & we will pray for peace."

On Saturday, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked US President Donald Trump for keeping his promise and recognising Jerusalem as Isarel's capital.

"Thank you President Trump for keeping your promise to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move your embasssy here," his tweet read.

Breaking years of US neutrality on Jerusalem, Donald Trump announced his decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, thus going out of sync with most nations on the issue.

Image: twitter.com/usembassyjlm
The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless.



The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well.







By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism.
To show their gratitude and affection for the royal family and to mark as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, the Mumbai dabbawalas have planned out something sweet.

Picture for representation

The plan includes distributing sweets to the relatives of the patients admitted at the Tata Memorial Hospital, KEM Hospital and Wadia Hospital on the wedding day which is 19 May, reports the Times of India.

We have an emotional connect with the British royal family. Prince Charles had invited us to his wedding some years ago. The royal family treated us with a lot of respect when we attended the wedding, said Subhash Talekar, spokesperson of the Mumbai Dabbawala Association while speaking to TOI.

Reuters

Along with distributing tiffins across the city, Dabbawalas give out free food to the relatives of the patients admitted in the three hospitals.

We have decided that along with the good quality food that we provide to the relatives of patients outside these hospitals every day, we will distribute them sweets on May 19 to mark the wedding, Talekar added.

The association also plans to gift traditional Maharashtrian wedding outfits to the would-be royal couple through the British Consulate here, he said.

Isn't that just so sweet!
Meet James Harrison, now known as 'the man with the golden arm' for having saved the lives of estimated 2.4 million babies.

The 81-year-old Australian has donated blood more than 1,100 times since the age of 21. He actively indulged in blood donation almost every week of his life for 60 years.

James' blood has some unique disease-fighting antibodies which are used to create an injection that combats rhesus disease  a condition where the blood of pregnant women attacks their unborn babies.

Unfortunately, it's his time to retire now.

"It becomes quite humbling when they say, 'oh you've done this or you've done that or you're a hero," said Mr Harrison, reports Independent. It's something I can do. It's one of my talents, probably my only talent is that I can be a blood donor."

Australia awarded their highest civilian award, Order of Australia(Bharat ratna equivalent) to James Harrison in 1999 as he was a regular blood donor. He retired after giving blood for 1100 times over 60 years in 2018.

When will we recognize such work ?  Nilesh Shah (@NileshShah68) May 13, 2018

At the age of 14, Harrison had one of his lung removed and it is then that he discovered that his blood contained a rare and unique property. The doctors then told him that his blood could be used to create life-saving Anti-D injections. With that revelation, he started making blood plasma donations every week.

"In Australia, up until about 1967, there were literally thousands of babies dying each year, doctors didn't know why, and it was awful, Jemma Falkenmire, of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, told CNN in 2015.

Record-holding blood donor James Harrison donates one final time (autoplay video)https://t.co/WDJBKXbRrs pic.twitter.com/x1JHy48eK6  Damn Interesting (@DamnInteresting) May 12, 2018

Women were having numerous miscarriages and babies were being born with brain damage. Australia was one of the first countries to discover a blood donor with this antibody, so it was quite revolutionary at the time.

Australia: James Harrison, as a blood donor, has saved 2.4 million babies lives. At 81 he now offers up his golden arms for the last time | Newsweek https://t.co/5G2Dy9bLab pic.twitter.com/pdwXmfx2ch  neuro.social.self (@neurosocialself) May 12, 2018

"Every bag of blood is precious, but James' blood is particularly extraordinary. Every batch of the life-saving Anti-D that has ever been made in Australia has come from James' blood. And more than 17% of women in Australia are at risk so James has helped save a lot of lives."

He has been awarded the Order of Australia, the country's highest honour, in 1999 for his phenomenal contribution in saving lives.
1. It Took 3,000 Hours To Make Aishwarya Rai's Butterfly Gown & The Internet Is Mighty Impressed!

This year the same designer had the privilege to dress the gorgeous lady yet again for her first outing and he has done a fabulous job. Even though its not as extravagant as last time, he has definitely done an ace job with the intricate details of Aishwaryas butterfly (or maybe a peacock) gown.

2. Manto Teaser: Nawazuddin Siddiquis Powerful Performance As The Fearless Writer Will Leave You Intrigued

Decades after independence, we still are fighting to get the right to freedom of speech and expression. But did you know that Saadat Hasan Manto, an Urdu writer born in British India who was known for his stories about the partition of the country following independence in 1947, was so blunt and fearless that he refused to be bogged down by the social norms even when he was fighting the demons inside him. He spoke and wrote what he thought and feared no one.

3. On Mothers Day, Bollywood Celebrities Share Heartfelt Wishes With Adorable Pictures

Like your friends and probably yourself who posted a heartwarming picture with your mothers on social media declaring your immense love for her, Bollywood celebrities are also celebrating Mothers Day sharing adorable posts.

So, Amitabh Bachchan watched Avengers: Infinity War recently, and he said that he didnt understand a word in it. Achha bhai sahib, bura na manana, ek picture dekhne gaye, Avengers kuch samajh mein nahi aaya ke picture mein kya ho raha hai !!!!!!! (Sir, dont feel bad, went to watch a film, Avengers, but didnt understand what is happening in the movie), he wrote.

5. Avengers: Infinity War Beats Black Panthers Record, Becomes Highest Grosser Of 2018 Worldwide!

Black Panther has minted $1.339 billion all over the world. On the other hand Avengers: Infinity War has so far collected $1.345 billion around the world. Hence, Infinity War has become the highest grossing film of 2018. With that, it has also become the ninth highest grossing film of all times.
Decades after independence, we still are fighting to get the right to freedom of speech and expression. But did you know that Saadat Hasan Manto, an Urdu writer born in British India who was known for his stories about the partition of the country following independence in 1947, was so blunt and fearless that he refused to be bogged down by the social norms even when he was fighting the demons inside him. He spoke and wrote what he thought and feared no one.

His gripping story is now going to be shown in the theatres. The teaser of the Nandita Das film starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the role of Saadat Hasan Manto has been revealed and itll leave you intrigued. Take a look:

The movie before releasing in India will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival 2018. Nandita Das, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and actress Rasika Dugal, who plays the role of Mantos wife in the movie, will walk the Cannes red carpet. They will join Hollywood stars Kristen Stewart and Jane Fonda among many others in a protest against gender gap at the Film Festival.
Do Indian women watch porn?

This query on Quora, A place for (pseudo) intellectuals to come and be pretentious, as described by a user, ranks numero uno for me.

Indian women are humans. They breathe. They poop. They vomit. They drink. They smoke. They drive. They watch movies. They also watch YouTube videos. They use Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. They reproduce children. Yes, they have SEX. And yes, they watch PORN. Just like Indian men.

Masaan opens with a college-girl deeply focussed on a computer screen. The young woman, played by Richa Chadha, has earphones tucked tightly into her ears. Though we are not shown what is playing on the screen, but, the moaning, groaning and pleasure sounds make up for what we cannot see. As she comfortably watches, we get a clue that this is not her first time  nor the last.

She gets a call, turns off the porn, picks up her bag and leaves.

How many times have you done that? Isnt that something that we all do?

Back in school when neighbourhood aunties gave us looks when we wore a short skirt or had a male friend drop us home in the evening, with moms asking later kaun tha wo ladka?, we were all being trained to become 'aadarsh naaris'.

Of course, we had other plans.

Read as these girls share how they shed the fictitious sanskari tag:

When ragging turns eye-opener!

Discovering porn is just like your first kiss, you are guilty but it still gives you a huge adrenaline rush. I was 16 staying in girl's hostel in Delhi. First year into my college and as a ritual, the senior lot came late in the night to rag us. And boy, they were creative with their ideas.

They played porn on their television and made my roommate and me enact those scenes. The ragging was over but the film stayed in my mind. What happened next was a typical sat night out. Cosy and comfortable in our beds, the entire first year swarmed in our room and out there played our very first "blue film." There were giggles, discomfort and genuine concerns about some moves and acts. Next was all the porn websites and secret confessions. Since then there has been no stopping.

- Saloni Singh, 30, Entertainment Journalist

It's never too late

Even as a biology student, I always used to think that you can conceive merely by kissing. Yeah, that is funny but this is actually what I thought. Plus sex education back at home was null. There was no question of your mom discussing sex with you. It was one of my friends who actually burst the bubble and told me that how copulation or real sex happened. I was too late for porn. I watched the first porn clip when I was in graduation first year. One of my classmates brought it on her phone. We had been talking about it for a couple of days and were very curious to see it. The best part, it was in HD.

- Salma Rehman, Assistant Professor, 28, Delhi University

Advertisements help

I discovered porn in the most predictable yet horrifying way - pop-up ads. I'm not sure what website it was but I somehow clicked on an ad that triggered a porno pop-up. I had a desktop at that time. As soon as the pop-up appeared, the video started playing on it's own... on FULL volume. Thankfully my parents were in the other room and I muted it before they could show up at my doorstep, scandalized. But obviously, after that, I was curious to see more. So, when in class 10 a lot of people giggled at a certain website, one of my classmates had named as his 'Favourite website' in my slam book, I decided to google it. Sure enough, there it was. I watched a couple of videos before closing the window, but it was more disgusting than it was arousing.

- Manika Parasher, 27, Engineer-turned-Writer

With the girl gang, of course

It was during my first year of college, in the hostel, that I and my gang of girls decided to watch a porn video together. This wasn't the first time I was going to watch it, but it was the first time for one of my friends. We all were giggling and she was nervous, I don't know why. It started playing and the first visual was of a naked man. This friend of mine screamed with a perplexed reaction on her face. She told us she never knew the size of the penis grows to be so big. She thought it remains the same as of a baby. We all were left in splits and didn't watch the video thereafter.

- Garima Satija, Content Writer

What exams? I'll rather watch porn!

Like many curious teenagers, I also wanted to know about sex and how this overall process works? I was only 16 studying in class 10th. Now, see my strong desire of knowing about sex when we all were expected to study hard and bring 90% in board examinations. I decided that the exams can take a back seat, but the show must go on. One day, after my school hours, my best buddy came along with me to my home and we ended up watching porn on the internet in my room for hours and hours.Let's just say I am hooked to it.

- Preeti Tiwari, 29, Copy Writer

The good old days of CDs

Girls like sex too and are equally curious about it. I was too. So was another friend of me. This might not be the more exciting story about discovering porn, but is my version.

Guys from our school started watching porn way early (7th std) than a lot of the girls. When I was in 10th, a girlfriend and I were curious and wanted to know what the fuss was all about. We had a lot of male friends, more than girls. We had a very platonic and amicable relationship with them and shared explicit jokes time and again.

Since we never had limited access to the Internet and the computer back then. We asked one of the closest male friends in confidence to get us a porno he thinks is the best. He got us 'My Friend's Hot Mom'!

My parents were not home and my girlfriend and I got in the computer room. Locked our male friend out and yes, started watching the contents of the CD. Our friend forgot to share his valuable advice 'that skip bits and see what you like'. It was a two-hour long thing. It started on an Interesting note and by the time it got done, we were bored and drained. Made resolutions about no BJs ever (as we were disgusted that how can you put something you pee in your mouth) and the things we would not do. But, we planned too soon in life.

- Tanushree Banerjee, 29, Journalist





13 and going!

It was my 13th birthday party and my parents allowed me to host a sleepover party for the first time. That's the night my girls and I decided to find some porn on the internet. We all still have a good laugh about how my 13th birthday was the night we all grew up a little.

- Grace Bains, 24, Content Writer
It may seem a bit difficult to understand, but recently an engineer saved a man's life on a flight during a medical emergency!

A student from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur says that the engineering knowledge he acquired in college helped him save the life of a man who suffered diabetes-related complications mid-air. Karttikeya Mangalam, a final year BTech student studying electrical engineering, recollected the incident in an article for IIT-Kanpur's in-house magazine. The 21-year-old was flying to New Delhi from Geneva via Moscow in February when he realised a man seated two rows behind him needed medical help.

According to a report by NDTV, the passenger, according to the student, suffered from Type 1 diabetes and had forgotten his insulin pump at the security check counter at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport. His blood sugar had risen to a dangerous level as it had been over five hours since he had taken his last insulin dose.

Though he had the insulin cartridges he needed, he didn't have the device with which he could inject them. The doctor present on the flight also was a diabetes patient, came to the rescue.

This effort of the student was lauded and Karttikeya's write up titled 'Even engineers can save lives' was tweeted by IIT Kanpur's unverified Twitter handle on May 7.

Karttikeya Mangalam, a final year electrical engineering BTech student, saves life of a 30-year-old Dutch national using his basic engineering acumen. #IITK feels proud to share his story in his own words.https://t.co/SmHjYFUI2n pic.twitter.com/ybnRp19K3f  IIT Kanpur (@IITKanpur) May 7, 2018

The doctor had insulin as well as a "pen-esque contraption" used to inject the insulin but the patient's insulin cartridges wouldn't fit in the doctor's insulin-pen. The plane was planning to make an emergency landing when Karttikeya went to the patient's seat and saw the doctor struggling to adjust the man's insulin cartridge into his pen. This is when the engineering student decided to see if he could provide a temporary fix.

Using the airplane Wi-Fi, the student found an engineering drawing style diagram of an insulin pen and realised that the doctor's insulin pen was missing a spring. He then asked for ball point pens from the co-passengers which happen to have similar springs in them. After reassembling the pen he gave it back to the doctor who was able to adjust the dose, changed the needle and injected the proper dosage of Thomas' own insulin. In about another 15 minutes, his blood sugar levels stopped rising and then started coming down, the doctor reported."

When the flight finally landed in Delhi, the passenger was taken to Gurgaon's Medanta hospital. Enroute the hospital, Karttikeya said the passenger thanked him and even invited him to Amsterdam with a promise of free beer at his restaurant.
Crop burning or what is popularly known as stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana is often considered as the main cause of pollution in Delhi, especially in October and November- the peak season for crops. It has become Autumn tradition now- farmers set fires to their fields to clear stubble after the harvest.

This yearly affair, not only makes it difficult for Delhiites to breathe but also turn the city into a gas chamber.

pti

Now a research from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has said that in October and November, half of the pollution in Delhi can be attributed to the stubble burning.

The research is published in Environmental Research Letters.

On certain days during peak fire season, air pollution in Delhi is about 20 times higher than the threshold for safe air as defined by the World Health Organization, said Daniel H. Cusworth, a graduate student at SEAS and first author of the paper.

SEAS researchers used the satellite data from NASA to identify hotspots corresponding to active fires. The data from 2012 to 2016 was collected and plugged into a particle dispersion model- an algorithm that accounts for geography, wind patterns and physics to predict how far and in what direction the smoke and its particles move.
The four men who attacked a gay couple after Miami Beach Pride on April 7 have now been charged with a hate crime.

The four defendants arrested for assaulting two gay individuals during the Gay Pride Parade on South Beach last month were charged today with hate-crime related felony offenses. I commend the investigative work of the @MiamiBeachPD & my Hate Crimes Unit prosecutors in this case, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle wrote on Twitter. Due to my office filing hate-crime related enhanced felony offenses against the 4 defendants charged in the SoBe assault during Gay Pride Parade, my prosecutor's Motion for Increased Bond granted today. Defendants taken into custody & new bond of 75K w/GPS house arrest set on all.

The two victims, Rene Chalarca and Dmitry Logunov were called faggots in Spanish as they were leaving a public restroom and then attacked. Both suffered cuts and bruises and Chalarca suffered an eye injury.

We definitely feel some relief that they finally took some action and we may feel much safer, Logunov, 32, said. As part of our emotional rehabilitation we were advised to visit public places, but we go only to gay eventsregular bars and restaurants still make me anxious. Life is getting back to normal and we are becoming happy like we were. Hopefully it wont take much time to recover completely.

The attack was caught on camera and the suspects later surrendered themselves to the Miami Beach Police Department through an attorney. They are Juan C. Lopez, 21; Luis M. Alonso Piovet, 20; Adonis Diaz, 21; and Parblo Reinaldo Romo-Figuero, 21. All four were charged with three counts of aggravated battery.

I am pleased that the State Attorney Office has filed hate-crime related enhanced felony charges against these four attackers, said Miami Beach City Commissioner Michael Gongora. Our community must stand up against hate and attacks against any individual based upon them being a member of our LGBT community will not be tolerated. Justice will be served.

A third person, Helmut Estrada, attempted to assist Chalarca and Logunov and was also attacked during the altercation and injured.

Recently Estrada was given an award from the City Commission for his bravery.

He saw two individuals being attacked and was compelled to intervene. Helmuts efforts helped stop the attack but not before he himself was injured requiring a visit to the hospital and staples in his scalp, Gongora said. The City of Miami Beach Medallion is a special honor usually reserved for acts of bravery, heroism and other significant contributions to our city. Helmuts selfless act of defense warrants this honor and his stepping up and doing the right thing is even more special since he is straight and helped defend two gay victims from an attack related to their sexuality.
While the US and Russia are already at loggerheads on Syria, things don't seem to be calm elsewhere. Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be in no mood of taking any step back from his aggressive position in geopolitics. This reminds many of the Cold War era as well. In a recent showdown, two US fighter jets intercepted two Russian bombers in international airspace near the coast of Alaska.

Two Alaska based NORAD F-22 fighter jets intercepted and visually identified Russian bombers until they left the Air Defense Identification Zone about 200 miles off the coast of Alaska at 10 am EST (1400 GMT).

The Russian TU-95 Bear bombers flew over the coast, North American Aerospace Defense Command spokesman Canadian Army Major Andrew Hennessy said in a statement to CNN.

afp

Russian bombers TU-95 and TU-142 were escorted by two F-22 fighter jets in international airspace for 40 minutes, the RIA news agency cited the Russian Defence Ministry as saying n Saturday.

The US fighter jets did not get closer then 100 meters to the Russian bombers, the Russian military was quoted as saying.
US President Donald Trump's administration has issued a draft policy, which seeks to crack down on students overstaying in the United States (US). This policy, will come into effect from August 9 and proposes to change the methodology of computing 'unlawful presence days' or in other words, stay in the US post their visa tenure.

AP

Under the proposed policy, the unlawful presence days will be computed starting from the day the students failed to maintain their immigration status. This refers to the day when students stop pursuing their course of study, engage in unauthorised activity or complete their programme and authorised grace period. For instance, F-1 students are given a grace period of 60 days post completion of their study to change their status (say to a work visa) or to leave the US.

This proposed move is important as based on the number of unlawful days, a student can be barred from entering or staying in the US or obtaining permanent residency. To illustrate, students who have accumulated more than 180 days of unlawful presence during a single stay, may be subject to three or ten years bar from re-entering the US.

Reuters/Representational Image

"Thus, the new policy can create hurdles for students who fall out of status and wish to apply for a visa or to change their status to that of a US permanent resident," points out Fragomen, a global firm specialsing in immigration laws.

Under the current guidelines, the clock to calculate the number of days of unlawful presence (in simple words, stay post expiry of the visa) in the US begins ticking only on and from the day authorities discover the violation or an immigration judge passes an order, such as for deportation.

BCCL/Representational Image

International Student Data from the Open Doors Report (2017) shows that the number of Indian students in the US had increased by 12% to stand at 1.86 lakh during 2016-17. Indians are the second largest group of foreign students in the US. For the year ended September 30, 2017, 4.21 lakh student visas (F category) were allotted to Indian students.

According to a Homeland security report (2016), 4,575 of 98,970 students scheduled to leave the US or change their status, say to a work visa had violated the norms and overstayed.

BCCL/Representational Image

"USCIS is dedicated to our mission of ensuring the integrity of the immigration system. F, J, and M non-immigrants are admitted to the US for a specific purpose, and when that purpose has ended, we expect them to depart, or to obtain another, lawful immigration status," said USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna in an official statement. "The message is clear: These nonimmigrants cannot overstay their periods of admission or violate the terms of admission and stay illegally in the US anymore," he added.

Students are granted an F visa, vocational course students an M visa. Research scholars, professors and exchange visitors participating in programs such as medical or business training are given a J visa.




Starting from Mother's Day organize actions in support of the Poor People's Campaign's 40 Days of Direct Action for a moral revival and against poverty, racism, militarism, and climate catastrophe!



Submitted by Global Women's Stike Omni Collective.



Weekly themes and more info linked below.





Alameda County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, Resolution, May 7, 2018.



Resolution in Support of the California Poor Peoples Campaign and the

Poor Peoples Campaign Bay Area



Whereas, the Alameda Labor Council supports organizing people to advance

equity;



And Whereas, the California Poor Peoples Campaign and Poor Peoples

Campaign Bay Area are local affiliates of the Poor Peoples Campaign: A

National Call for Moral Revival;



And Whereas, the demands of the Campaign, including the right for all

workers to form and join unions, equal pay for equal work, and

public infrastructure projects, support the efforts of the Labor

Council;



And Whereas, the UFCW, SEIU, AFSCME and United Steel Workers national

unions have endorsed the Poor Peoples Campaign: A National Call for

Moral Revival, and UFCW has stated The Poor Peoples Campaign believes,

as our union family does, that our economy can and should work better

for everyone. Were proud to support The Poor Peoples Campaign

because, if successful, it will bring hard-working families more power

to build better lives;



And Whereas, the Campaign is the renewal of the work undertaken by the

Poor Peoples Campaign in 1968 during which Martin Luther King Jr.

traveled to Memphis to support sanitation workers organizing AFSCME

Local 1733;



And Whereas, the Fundamental Principles of the Poor Peoples Campaign,

which have been signed by all organizers, include, The Campaign and all

its Participants and Endorsers embrace nonviolence. Violent tactics or

actions will not be tolerated;



And Whereas, the California Poor Peoples Campaign and Poor Peoples

Campaign Bay Area are organizing a series of Nonviolent Moral Fusion

Direct Actions at the State Capitol each of the six Mondays beginning on

May 14;



Now, therefore be it resolved, that the Alameda Labor Council endorses

the California Poor Peoples Campaign and Poor Peoples Campaign Bay

Area and encourages its affiliates, union members and allies to support

and participate in actions when requested and the actions align with

union values.





Week One: May 14  Women, Youth, and People with Disabilities Living in

Poverty



Week Two: May 21  Connecting Systematic Racism and Economic Justice,

Voting Rights, and Immigration



Week Three: May 28  Veterans, Our War Economy, and Militarism



Week Four: [June 4 -] The Right to Health for People and Planet



Week Five: [June 11 -] Everybodys Got A Right To Living: Living Wages,

Guaranteed Income, Unions, Housing and Social Services



Week Six: [June 18 -] A New and Unsettling Force: Challenging Our

Nations Distorted Moral Narrative with a Moral Fusion Movement



Approved at ALC Delegates Meeting: May 7, 2018





https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/



https://www.facebook.com/californiappc/



https://www.facebook.com/ppcbayarea/ Turn UP Bay Area!Starting from Mother's Day organize actions in support of the Poor People's Campaign's 40 Days of Direct Action for a moral revival and against poverty, racism, militarism, and climate catastrophe!Submitted by Global Women's Stike Omni Collective.Weekly themes and more info linked below.Alameda County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, Resolution, May 7, 2018.Resolution in Support of the California Poor Peoples Campaign and thePoor Peoples Campaign Bay AreaWhereas, the Alameda Labor Council supports organizing people to advanceequity;And Whereas, the California Poor Peoples Campaign and Poor PeoplesCampaign Bay Area are local affiliates of the Poor Peoples Campaign: ANational Call for Moral Revival;And Whereas, the demands of the Campaign, including the right for allworkers to form and join unions, equal pay for equal work, andpublic infrastructure projects, support the efforts of the LaborCouncil;And Whereas, the UFCW, SEIU, AFSCME and United Steel Workers nationalunions have endorsed the Poor Peoples Campaign: A National Call forMoral Revival, and UFCW has stated The Poor Peoples Campaign believes,as our union family does, that our economy can and should work betterfor everyone. Were proud to support The Poor Peoples Campaignbecause, if successful, it will bring hard-working families more powerto build better lives;And Whereas, the Campaign is the renewal of the work undertaken by thePoor Peoples Campaign in 1968 during which Martin Luther King Jr.traveled to Memphis to support sanitation workers organizing AFSCMELocal 1733;And Whereas, the Fundamental Principles of the Poor Peoples Campaign,which have been signed by all organizers, include, The Campaign and allits Participants and Endorsers embrace nonviolence. Violent tactics oractions will not be tolerated;And Whereas, the California Poor Peoples Campaign and Poor PeoplesCampaign Bay Area are organizing a series of Nonviolent Moral FusionDirect Actions at the State Capitol each of the six Mondays beginning onMay 14;Now, therefore be it resolved, that the Alameda Labor Council endorsesthe California Poor Peoples Campaign and Poor Peoples Campaign BayArea and encourages its affiliates, union members and allies to supportand participate in actions when requested and the actions align withunion values.Week One: May 14  Women, Youth, and People with Disabilities Living inPovertyWeek Two: May 21  Connecting Systematic Racism and Economic Justice,Voting Rights, and ImmigrationWeek Three: May 28  Veterans, Our War Economy, and MilitarismWeek Four: [June 4 -] The Right to Health for People and PlanetWeek Five: [June 11 -] Everybodys Got A Right To Living: Living Wages,Guaranteed Income, Unions, Housing and Social ServicesWeek Six: [June 18 -] A New and Unsettling Force: Challenging OurNations Distorted Moral Narrative with a Moral Fusion MovementApproved at ALC Delegates Meeting: May 7, 2018 For more event information: https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/

Added to the calendar on Friday May 11th, 2018 11:24 PM
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Youve done all your hard work and planning, secured funding, and established your business. But what about the rewards? Where, when, and how can you expect your high-yield rewards to be realized, and why should your entrepreneurial venture succeed where others have failed?

Key Takeaways One of the most important things that an entrepreneur can do to make windfall profits is to protect their hard work through patents and copyright procurement.

The sector of a given product or service dictates the patent length. Being aware of these particular requirements is important in any entrepreneur's plan for success.

Entrepreneurs will experience growth and success through a general timeline that will adjust based on the type of product or service provided.

The initial investment period, the plain period, is when time, energy, and work are at a premium, but funding may not be in place yetat this step, angel investor funding can make a world of difference.

Following the success of a product or service, an entrepreneur may choose to end the project or sell to pivot on to new ventures.

Why Entrepreneurs Should Make Windfall Profits

Imagine two hypothetical workers. Joey goes to the office each day, works a standard 40-hour workweek, and gets paid a standard salary. They are great at their job, but their contributions to the world remain confined to their work.

Alex has a passion to change and improve the world by introducing new products and services. They work way more than 40 hours a week, investing their time, capital, and energy to try something new that they hope will make the world a better place.

Clearly, the world would be less dynamic if there were only Joeys and no Alexs around. Alex takes more risks and puts in more effort than Joeys, so its logical that Alex will have a greater impact on the general welfare through their contributions. If the reward for Alex is more or less similar to that of Joey, however, Alex will not be as willing to put in the extra effort to improve the world's wellbeing.

The Lack of Suitable Awards

According to neoclassical economic theory, a lack of suitable rewards discourages entrepreneurs to take on risk and put in extra effort, without which the world becomes stagnant. Government authorities rightly offer entrepreneurs special rewards through patents, copyrights, and royalties. Entrepreneurs are less likely to invest their time, effort, energy, and money without windfall profits.

During a product or service lifecycle, its imperative that an entrepreneur weighs the perceived value of sweat equity against taking a salary or payment.

How Entrepreneurs Make Windfalls

Entrepreneurs introduce new products or services that may result in significant improvements in productivity, reduction in costs, and improvement in the quality of life. Knowing their offerings much better than anyone else and being aware of customer needs, the entrepreneur can charge a premium for their innovations, which can translate to big rewards.

If competitors are not able to build and introduce similar products or services in a short span of time, the product becomes a monopoly for the entrepreneur, and they can expect windfall profits from being the sole manufacturer or sole service provider.

Protection Through Patents and Copyrights

Even if competitors find it easy to replicate and introduce similar products quickly, the entrepreneur can seek protection for their innovation through patents or copyrights. These channels offer protection to the original inventor and act as a safeguard for successful entrepreneurial ventures.

But how long can this monopoly continue? Without government intervention in the form of patents or copyright protection, profitability will continue until competitors start offering similar products and services. Without any intervention, the market becomes open to further innovations and new variants on the original product or service. Entrepreneurs usually keep a close eye on such developments and are circumspect enough to upgrade their products and maintain the upper hand in the market.

In the case of patents, protection is available for a certain amount of time, which can span from a few months to a few years. In the U.S., patents usually last for 20 years. This again encourages healthy competition: Either entrepreneurs start work on something new or they succumb to market Darwinism.

Where and When Entrepreneurs Make Money

When it comes to money matters, timing is very important. Here is an illustrative graph indicating possible cash flows and their timing during the different phases of an entrepreneurial venture:

Image by Sabrina Jiang  Investopedia 2020

Term 1 to Term 4: The Pain Period

This is the initial investment period where different activities will be performed including, but not limited to, product idea development, feasibility and market study, prototype building, and customer identification. The order may differ depending on the venture, but the concepts remain the same. It is assumed that funding from angel investors becomes available in Term 4.

Term 5 to Term 6: The Introduction Period

Activities in this period may include applying for and securing patents and building sales channels and a distribution model to final product introduction to the market.

Term 7 to Term 9: The Profit Period

These terms are the profit-taking monopoly periods when the entrepreneur is either protected by patents or copyright, or there are no competitors for other reasons.

Term 9 is assumed to be the peak profit period, just prior to competitors entering the market. It is during this term that further development is initiated for introducing new product variants. However, reinvestment and research and development can come earlier, depending on the product's lifecycle and other factors. This can also be the time to introduce the original offering to new markets.

Term 10 to Term 11: The Sunset Period

At this point, entrepreneurs may exit the venture completely by closing it completely or selling it to interested parties, or they may continue with newly developed variants. Profits will vary greatly during these terms.

The Bottom Line

The above is an illustration of a general entrepreneurial cycle. The duration and activities mentioned will vary depending on the nature of the product and markets. For example, a pharmaceutical drug may have a longer monopoly period because of a patent, while a mobile technology innovation may get replicated within a very short span of time.

All business ventures aim for profitability. Owing to the high-risk/high-reward scenarios of entrepreneurial ventures, entrepreneurs are expected to make windfall profits, provided they plan their activities carefully and complete their plan effectively.
What Is a Deposit Broker?

A deposit broker is an individual or firm that facilitates the placement of investors' deposits with insured depository institutions. Deposit brokers offer investors an assortment of fixed-term investment products, many of which yield low-risk returns. An individual or firm may still be considered a deposit broker even if they do not receive a fee or direct compensation.

Key Takeaways A deposit broker is a person, company, or organization tasked with placing financial deposits at an insured depository institution on behalf of a third party.

A deposit broker can also place these "brokered deposits" with a financial institution with the intent to sell interests in those deposits to a third party.

As opposed to a stockbroker, a deposit broker can offer alternative investments, versus just equities, and may not need regulatory approval to market certain securities.

Understanding a Deposit Broker

A deposit broker is similar to a stockbroker but differs in a few key areas. While a stockbroker deals only in equity, a deposit broker can offer alternative investment opportunities. Another significant difference is that stockbrokers must pass the Series 7 exam to sell securities, whereas deposit brokers may not need regulatory approval to market fixed-term securities.

The term deposit broker often refers to an individual or firm that facilitates the placement of investors' deposits with insured depository institutions.

Though "deposit broker" is a broadly defined term, financial institutions and their employees, trustees, and pension plan advisers are notably precluded from the definition.

What Does a Deposit Broker Sell?

Deposit Brokers sell brokered depositsusually, large-denomination deposits first sold by a bank to a brokerage or deposit brokerwho then divide them into smaller pieces for sale to customers. Brokered deposits are one of two types of deposits that comprise a bank's deposit liabilities; the second one is core deposits.

Lending banks value core deposits for their stability. Core deposits monopolize a bank's natural demographic market and offer many advantages to financial institutions, such as predictable costs and a measurement of how loyal their customers are. Specific forms of core deposits include checking accounts and savings accounts made by individuals.

Examples of Deposit Broker

For example, if your lawyer or accountant introduces you to a bank, they are assisting the arrangements of deposits at this bank and are considered deposit brokers. This can be typical of an accountant or lawyer that has a practice, yet offers other financial products to its customers.

A depository institution can be an organization, bank, or other institution that holds and helps in the trading of securities. The term can also refer to an institution that accepts currency deposits from customers.

Banks and Deposit Brokers

By accepting brokered deposits, a bank can access a larger pool of potential investment funds and improve its liquidity. For banks, liquidity is critical to survival. This improved liquidity can give banks the capitalization they need to make loans to businesses and the public. Under Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) rules, only well-capitalized banks can solicit and accept brokered deposits. Adequately capitalized ones may take them after being granted a waiver, and under-capitalized banks cannot accept them at all. Even if a bank is well-capitalized, overuse of brokered deposits can lead to bank failure and losses.
In her art film about Lebanon, Maeve Brennan wanted to get away from the images we usually see on the news, writes Ellie OByrne.

This car belonged to the martyr Ali Saleh. A young Lebanese mechanic, Mohammed Zaytoun, sits in his souped-up BMW next to a roadside monument featuring the vehicle in which Saleh, a prominent member of Hezbollah, was assassinated with a car bomb in 2003.

Those who die have lost everything. But those wheels are brand new; one day Ill come here and take them, Zaytoun smiles shyly: its a complex joke, expressed with a self-effacing elegance.

Scrap-yard worker and car enthusiast Zaytoun is one of three characters in The Drift, a documentary by English artist Maeve Brennan, which explores themes of repair and restoration in a land of political divides and violent fragmentation.

Zaytouns story is interwoven with those of Fakhr el Fakhry, a second-generation guardian to the ruined Roman temples of Niha in the Beqaa Valley; and Hashem Ghali, an archaeological conservator working at the American University of Beirut, who spends his time piecing together ancient pottery artefacts.

The resulting 40-minute film works equally well as a documentary  it has screened at Rotterdam Film Festival and Sheffield Docfest  or as an installation piece for viewing in a gallery, which is why it is currently part of Lismore Castles visual art exhibitions.

Brennan directed The Drift and shot much of the footage herself, but her background is in fine art.

Her ancestry has ties both to the Middle East and art: her maternal great-grandfather, Ernest Tatham Richmond, was an architect who worked for the Department of the Antiquities in Palestine between 1927 and 1937, immediately after the Balfour declaration, while his father was the painter and designer Sir William Blake Richmond.

Inspired by her family connections, Brennan went to Beirut in 2013, following her graduation with a Fine Art degree from Goldsmiths University of London. She applied for a nine-month study programme to learn Arabic, and then, she says, she ended up staying. I loved the city, and I had a job and a flat and it seemed worth staying for.

She has now returned to live in London, but continues to feel a strong connection to the Middle East.

A previous film, Jerusalem Pink, was inspired by the links between an architectural survey her great-grandfather had completed of the Dome of the Rock, the Islamic Shrine at Jerusalems Temple Mount, and modern stone quarrying in Palestine.

Conflict zones, too, have played an important role in Brennans life and work: her father grew up in Belfast and she was a frequent visitor to the city while her grandmother was still alive.

It was fascinating to have conversations with Palestinians about Ireland. I really did feel that theres a strong connection, through the colonial history, but also the generous nature of people was something similar to what I felt with my granny.

Brennan has always been inspired by geology. Im drawn to geology because it does frame the time of people on this earth, and builds in a sense of scale and modesty, she says.

Lebanon is well-known as a geopolitical hotspot. Viewers in Western Europe, then, may be most familiar with images of the region from news reports.

The Drifts restful pace and gentle observation of the preoccupations of its three main characters purposefully sets out to show a different side to Lebanese life, providing an antidote to the violent scenes audiences in Western Europe associate with the Middle East in general, and Lebanon and Palestine in particular.

This film is positioning itself against that, she says. Thats even more enhanced by it being centred around images of masculinity and repair: all these male figures working with their hands and fixing things is offering an alternative image of Lebanon.

Its a balanced view that Brennan herself observed while living in Beirut, with life continuing as normally as possible even as neighbouring Syria was being engulfed in civil war.

My dad talks about growing up in Belfast in the same way, she says. Once youre in a place, things are much less extreme than they seem from news stories when youre outside of it. Youre two hours from Damascus but you wouldnt know it, because Beirut is just kind of acting as normal.

"Even though there were terrorist attacks while I was there.

The Drift is showing in Lismore Castles St Carthage Hall until May 20. www.lismorecastlearts.ie
Geraldine Walsh doesnt like the taste, or the aftermath of one too many glasses of alcohol. So why, she wonders, do so many people struggle with her decision not to drink?

Ive spent the best part of adulthood avoiding a social life that has never suited me. Towards my latter days in college, I circumvented the student bar considering the constant badgering to just have one wore very thin, very quickly.

Even at 20, I knew the student bar was not where an introverted, soda drinker would feel comfortable.

Im not a pioneer, a teetotaller, a recovering alcoholic, or no fun as some have told me. I simply dont enjoy alcohol. I neither like the taste nor the feeling that one glass too many gives me.

Being a non-drinker amongst a wall of drinkers is less than agreeable as the alcoholic effects morph the attitudes and behaviours of those I am supposed to be enjoying a night out with.

If you dont like it, dont do it right? So, I made the choice and dont drink. But it seems my rejection of an alcoholic beverage does not appeal to those I socialise with. Despite them knowing I will never favour a glass of wine, they always insist I have one.

The obligatory, No thanks, comes forth but its almost as though they are on a mission to see me with glass in hand or worse, drunk.

I asked Dr Sally Adams, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Bath, if there is a prejudice against non drinkers.

She says, There is a small body of research to suggest that non-drinkers may be viewed as unsociable or boring, particularly in groups where excessive drinking is viewed as a normal experience. However, most of this work seems to focus on young people. It would be helpful to understand how abstaining from alcohol is viewed by older adults, especially as this is an at risk group for heavy and harmful alcohol use.

Im somewhere in between being no longer a college student in my twenties but also not an older adult with a history of alcohol use. Yet, I find myself defending my choice far more often than I should.

Not bothering with alcohol has left me in many uncomfortable and frustrating situations with friends, colleagues and acquaintances who cant seem to understand why I dont drink.

At times it seems as though my failure to drink is a knock against them. This is hardly the case but the more they insist I drink, the less likely I will want to socialise with them.

My decision to join a social situation or a work event is often driven by the location and the possibility of excessive drinking. I choose to avoid pubs in the evenings, have left weddings earlier than others and find work functions tedious at the best of times but when alcohol is involved, I make my excuses and leave.

I realise this somewhat alienates me in the land of the drink and has possibly played a part in my social anxiety.

Dr Adams says, There is some evidence to show negative health outcomes exist in abstainers, the so called abstainer effect, including psychological distress, anxiety and depression.

It is proposed that abstainers may be less socially integrated, less extraverted and report lower levels of social support compared with moderate drinkers. These are factors that are positively related to mental health. However, more research is required in this field.

Considering the plight of the non-drinker in Ireland can be tedious in the local, the nightclub or even at a friends dinner party, I have found shunning certain social occasions far more easier.

You have to have a drink, a friend recently impressed on me at a house party I had desperately tried to avoid. Its my birthday, she unsuccessfully argued when I shook my head.

No, in actual fact I dont, and by the looks of it youre drinking enough for both of us, I wanted to retaliate with.

Instead, I politely smiled and said, Ah, no, youre grand. Ill stick to this, raising my lipstick stained glass of coke.

Someone get her a vodka, the birthday girl shouted, laughing at my 0% alcohol. She needs to loosen up. Go on just have the one, she says again.

I have never allowed myself be led by peer pressure despite our frequency of alcohol consumption being linked to our social circle. The fact that my husband also doesnt drink and feels as explicitly uncomfortable around alcohol as I do, may explain this one.

As Dr Adams says, Health psychology models recognise the importance of social norms and peers in shaping our health behaviours. Therefore, who we socialise with can determine our drinking patterns.

I would have imagined that in 2018 the attitude to those of us who would rather have a cranberry juice over a beer or Bloody Mary, would have changed.

But 15 years after I last left the student bar, Im still treated with unequivocal confusion, as though the words that come out of my mouth are garbled or sound more like Aramaic than simply, Thanks, but Ill stick to water.

And yet more people than ever seem to be giving up or limiting how much alcohol they consume. Perhaps the attitude is generational but not the generation I find myself in.

Dr Adams says, It is not yet clear what factors are driving the recent increase in non-drinking or drinking in moderation.

"It will be very important for research to examine these factors and to monitor drinking trends to see if this pattern continues.
Natasha Scriptures dating detox turned into a spiritual reckoning across four continents. We could all learn from her, writes Suzanne Harrington.

Youve heard of he-toxing, but what about a man fast? What if, as a woman, you become tired of the script society keeps thrusting at you? What if you need to meet yourself before you can truly love another?

Natasha Scripture

Natasha Scriptures mother wanted to see her daughter settled with a kind, sporty, multi-millionaire  her mum particularly liked Roger Federer  who would never tire of procreating.

Her mother had a Nora Ephron take on romance, where good looking people bump into each there at the tops of skyscrapers, or in bars when theyre least expecting it.

Natasha, then working for the UN, was exhausted from explaining to her mum that it was nearly impossible to find a husband while doing short term stints in refugee camps, war zones and natural disaster areas, even if she had been looking for one.

She was already married  to adrenaline.

Eventually, after a career working for the BBC, CNN, TED, Al Jazeera, National Geographic and Conde Nast as well as the UN, Natasha realised she was burnt out.

The urge to settle down had kicked in, she writes in Man Fast: How One Womans Dating Detox Turned Into A Spiritual Reckoning Across Four Continents.

It was partly biological, partly social conditioning, partly cultural, and also spurred by the illness of her father.

She began dating  a lot  even though her heart wasnt in it; she felt that she should, that she ought to. That it was the next expected step.

Dating in New York however, rather than embodying the japes of Sex & The City, proved to be a soul destroying endeavour often involving creeps, players, social climbers, commitment-phobes and way too much intoxication.

She rejected suitors for a comical array of reasons: for licking their fingers while eating; for not knowing where Addis Ababa was; for having a face slightly paralysed by Botox; for snorting coke in the bathroom between courses; for wearing raspberry coloured trousers; for reviewing the bill like they were studying for the bar exam; for requesting a blow job.

Yet despite some perfectly viable encounters, Natasha realised her mass rejections were because, on a subconsious level, I knew there was work to do and I could only do it alone.

Then her father died; he would never meet any future grandchildren. His death was instrumental in rerouting her quest from external to internal. She began looking inwards, and realised that her path was to meet herself, rather than a potential partner.

Its an experiment in mindfulness, in taking time to meet ourselves, she says. You could call it a midlife crisis, because they are not just for men. Its the heroines journey, rather than the heros journey.

"This book is about spiritual awakening, creativity, and the integration of the feminine and the masculine. We have subconsciously adopted the patriarchal mode of power and success  achievement, goal getting, and the patriarchal notion that women are incomplete if not wedded to someone.

"Yet the patriarchy is relatively recent  for a 20,000 year period, men and women lived as equals.

And so began a profound and thorough exploration into her own psyche, that started with the simple act of slowing down.

Beware the barrenness of a busy life, warned Socrates; she also quotes American teacher Ram Dass, author of Be Here Now: The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

Instead of dashing about the globe at a frenetic work pace, Natasha began a slower journey that took her through Ayurveda in India (herbal enemas and therapeutic vomiting  yikes), Kundalini yoga in Sicily, silent vipassana meditation in California, WWOOFing in Italy (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms  basically, posh grape harvesting), exploring nature in Tanzania, and privately marrying herself, during a morning meditation.

Her vows included I, Natasha, give myself permission to pursue happiness and meaning in non-traditional ways and I, Natasha, am whole and will never again doubt my own wholeness.

Its not as earnest as it sounds. Natasha Scripture fizzes with intelligence and curiosity; her book is funny and bright and fearless.

Why should we not question everything, she wonders, as we react to the world around us: There is currently a shift in consciousness  Trump and his misogyny is resulting in the radicalisation of women, she says.

Hes creating activists of us all. So Man Fast, despite its title, is not about dating or self help or any of the usual guff presented to women.

"It is the female trajectory of Odysseus, undertaken by an erudite woman who explores everything from her own body to the Bhagavad Gita, via sitar lessons in Harlem and peyote in the Costa Rican rain forest.

"Nothing is off limits in Natashas voyage of discovery, apart from forming intimate relationships with others. They are off the menu.

And there it was, she concludes. I did not need to look for love because I was love.

Man Fast by Natasha Scripture, is published by Piatkus
Two hundred years after Marxs birth, it is certainly wise to reflect on his intellectual legacy but we should not do so in celebration, writes Carl Bildt.

The bicentennial of Karl Marxs birth has occasioned a surge of interest in the mans work, complete with the unveiling of a statue in his hometown of Trier, Germany.

At a celebration of Marxism in Beijing last week, Chinese president Xi Jinping declared that, like a spectacular sunrise, the theory illuminated the path of humanitys exploration of the law of history, and humanitys search for [its] own liberation.

He would go on to claim that Marx pointed out the direction, with scientific theory, toward an ideal society with no oppression or exploitation, where every person would enjoy equality and freedom.

Given that Xis words were uttered in Marxist China, those in attendance had no choice but to agree with them.

Yet, speaking in Trier on the same day, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker offered a somewhat generous appraisal of his own: Today he stands for things which is he not responsible for and which he didnt cause, because many of the things he wrote down were redrafted into the opposite.

It is not entirely clear what Juncker meant by this. Marxism, after all, has inflicted untold misery on tens of millions of people who have been forced to live under regimes waving its banner.

For much of the 20th century, 40% of humanity suffered famines, gulags, censorship, and other forms of repression at the hands of self-proclaimed Marxists.

In his speech, Juncker seemed to be alluding to the standard counterargument: that communist atrocities throughout the 20th century were due to some sort of distortion of Marxs thought, for which the man himself can scarcely be held responsible.

Is there anything to this argument? Marx spent most of his life analysing the political economy of the industrialising mid-19th century West. But his enduring relevance owes more to his ideas for the future, and the implications they would have for society. In considering his legacy, this area of his thought cannot be ignored.

Marx regarded private property as the source of all evil in the emerging capitalist societies of his day.

Accordingly, he believed that only by abolishing it could societys class divisions be healed, and a harmonious future ensured. Under communism, his collaborator Friedrich Engels later claimed, the state itself would become unnecessary and wither away. These assertions were not made as speculation, but rather as scientific claims about what the future held in store.

But, of course, it was all rubbish, and Marxs theory of history  dialectical materialism  has since been proved wrong and dangerous in practically every respect. The great 20th-century philosopher Karl Popper, one of Marxs strongest critics, rightly called him a false prophet.

And, if more evidence were needed, the countries that embraced capitalism in the 20th century went on to become democratic, open, and prosperous societies.

By contrast, every regime that has rejected capitalism in the name of Marxism has failed  and not by coincidence or as a result of some unfortunate doctrinal misunderstanding on the part of Marxs followers.

By abolishing private ownership and establishing state control of the economy, one not only deprives society of the entrepreneurship needed to propel it forward; one also abolishes freedom itself.

Because Marxism treats all contradictions in society as the products of a class struggle that will disappear when private property does, dissent after the establishment of communism is impossible. By definition, any challenge to the new order must be an illegitimate remnant of the oppressive order that came before.

Thus, Marxist regimes have in fact been logical extensions of his doctrines.

Of course Juncker is right that Marx  who died 34 years before the Russian Revolution  was not responsible for the Gulag, and yet his ideas clearly were.

In his landmark three-volume study Main Currents of Marxism, the Polish philosopher Leszek Kolakowski, who became a leading critic of Marxism after having embraced it in his youth, notes that Marx showed almost no interest in people as they actually exist.

Marxism takes little or no account of the fact that people are born and die, that they are men and women, young or old, healthy or sick, he writes. As such,

Evil and suffering, in his eyes, had no meaning except as instruments of liberation; they were purely social facts, not an essential part of the human condition.

Kolakowskis insight helps to explain why regimes that have embraced Marxs mechanical and deterministic doctrine inevitably must turn to totalitarianism when confronting the reality of a complex society.

They have not always fully succeeded; but the results have always been tragic.

For his part, Xi views Chinas economic development over the past few decades as cast iron proof of Marxisms continued validity. But, if anything, it is exactly the other way around.

Remember that it was the China of pure communism that produced the famine and terror of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

Maos decision to deprive farmers of their land and entrepreneurs of their firms had predictably disastrous results, and the Communist Party of China has since abandoned that doctrinaire approach.

Under Maos successor, Deng Xiaoping, the CPC launched Chinas great economic opening-up. After 1978, it began to restore private ownership and permit entrepreneurship, and the results have been nothing short of spectacular.

If Chinas development is being held back by anything today, it is the remnants of Marxism that are still visible in inefficient state-owned enterprises and the repression of dissent. Chinas centralised single-party system is simply incompatible with a modern and diverse society.

Two hundred years after Marxs birth, it is certainly wise to reflect on his intellectual legacy. We should do so not in celebration, however, but to inoculate our open societies against the totalitarian temptation that lurks in his false theories.

Carl Bildt is a former prime minister and foreign minister of Sweden.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
Malicious attackers are targeting a patched vulnerability in Oracle's WebLogic server, targeting TCP port 7001 for the purpose of mining cryptocurrencies, the security firm Trend Micro has reported.

The company said in a blog post it had observed a marked rise in the number of devices scanning this port.

It said analysis had shown that this was aimed at the Oracle WebLogic WLS-WSAT vulnerability that allows the execution of arbitrary code on unpatched servers.

The vulnerability was exploited in a manner similar to the way one in Apache's CouchDB was exploited in February, and thus it was possible that the same group was targeting WebLogic now.

This is the second time this year that the vulnerability has been targeted;, it was exploited to deliver 64-bit and 32-bit variants of an XMRig monero miner, Trend Micro said.

Oracle issued a patch for the flaw in October 2017.

Researcher Hubert Lin said only 155 scans had been noticed between 8 and 26 April, but the number had grown to 2640 between 27 April and 9 May, mostly from IP addresses that were based in China and Russia.
Hundreds of people in Mexico are kidnapped every year. And the problems getting worse. Its part of a trend experts refer to as the democratization of kidnapping.

David Ramirez, a 19-year-old college student from Mexico City, and his best friend Miguel Angel Rivera, 20, were on their way to celebrate Miguels birthday in Zihuatanejo, a coastal village in the Mexican state of Guerrero. They never made it.

Instead, they were nabbed en route by armed gunmen, making them just two of the thousands of Mexicans  rich and poor, young and old  kidnapped each year.

Ramirez was taken first, according to a text message that Rivera frantically sent to a friend. Call Davids mom! They are putting David in a vehicle, the message said.

A few hours later, Ramirez managed to contact his sister, Deborah. Help me! Help me! Im in trouble, he pleaded, crying over the phone. Then the call dropped. She called back for hours, receiving no response. Finally, someone picked up. It wasnt her brother.

Get me his father, the voice demanded. Is this the police? Deborah asked. No. We arent the police, the voice on the other side responded. This is a kidnapping.

Desperate to get their sons back, the Ramirez and Rivera families made a payment to the kidnappers. Davids family decorated their house with balloons and signs that read, Welcome Back, David and Miguel. But they didnt come back: The kidnappers cut all contact after getting the ransom payment. Five years later, the young men are still missing.

Unfortunately, their story is part of a much larger trend in Mexico, where almost 11 million Americans vacationed last year. Organized crime, like any successful business, adapts to changing market conditions. In Mexico, which is heading toward a pivotal presidential election in July, this has meant a surge in kidnappings over the past decade.

The abduction and massacre of 43 Mexican students in Ayotzinapa, the seizing and murder of two federal agents in February, the kidnapping of three students by a group posing as police in March, and the disappearance of a politicians sister in a town just outside of Mexico City in March are the most recent high-profile examples of a criminal business strategy that has ballooned over the past decade.

Kidnapping surge

In 2013, a record 1,700 kidnappings took place, according to data from the Mexican National System of Public Security (SNSP). Kidnappings fell briefly thereafter, dipping to 1,069 in 2015, but they are starting to climb again. Nearly 1,200 kidnappings occurred in Mexico last year. Between January and March 2018, almost 400 people were kidnapped.

The kidnapping surge in Mexico is fueled in large part by the insatiable US demand for drugs. Mexican criminal organizations require extensive personnel and vast caches of assault rifles and other weapons  70 percent of which come from the US  to defend their plazas (strategic points along the drug supply chain) from other gangs and from the Mexican police and military. Its a costly part of the drug trade, financially as well as in lives lost.

Mexico has hundreds  and possibly thousands  of gangs of organized kidnappers

Beginning around 2006, criminal groups began to use kidnappings  and the ransom money they got from desperate families  to help fund those activities, according to Victor Manuel Sanchez Valdes, a research professor at the Autonomous University of Coahuila, Mexico. They had to find other sources of income, which gave the hitmen in these groups carte blanche to participate in activities like kidnapping and extortion, he said.

And Rodrigo Nieto Gomez, a research professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in California, told me that the skills drug dealers use in their daily lives work for kidnappings too.

Basically, if you know how to run a drug smuggling operation, you know and own 90 percent of what you need to be a secuestrador [kidnapper], he told me.

Kidnapping is booming in Mexico, but the victims arent who youd think

Kidnapping has been a problem in Mexico for decades, but its gotten much, much worse in recent years. Between 2000 and 2006, there were about 400 kidnappings a year, which, while still a lot, pales in comparison to current numbers. After 2007, as organized crime fragmented and groups faced more competition from rival organizations, abductions increased by almost 200 percent, according to SNSP data.

In the 90s, most kidnapping gangs were made up of police officers, both active and retired, who targeted the affluent citizens of Mexicos business and political elite. The high-profile kidnapping in 1994 of Alfredo Harp Helu, a Mexican entrepreneur whose family paid $30 million for his release, typifies this trend.

But for many criminal groups, the risks inherent in these kidnappings  the publicity and police attention they attracted  often werent enough to justify the reward.

As a result, criminal groups, beginning in the early 2000s, shifted their efforts toward the middle and lower classes. Criminal groups earn less per victim but can carry out many more kidnappings without attracting the attention of the authorities, according to Juan Francisco Torres Landa, a consultant for the organization Mexico United Against Organized Crime.

Its a trend that experts refer to as the democratization of kidnapping.

Kidnapping methods have also changed. Secuestro expres, or express kidnappings  in which victims are taken for a short time until small payments are met  have become more common in recent years, according to Valdes.

There are cases now where the rescue of a victim only costs $500, said Javier Hernandez, an official with the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime in Mexico.

Express kidnappings made up 66 percent of all kidnapping crimes in 2016, according to the National Institute for Statistics and Geography in Mexico.

Not only the rich and famous were vulnerable but also the majority of the population, Gomez, the professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, told me. They democratized kidnapping from something that only happens to the rich to something everybody should fear.

This is why Mexicos kidnapping epidemic is getting worse

Mexicos kidnapping problem was bad enough when most of the crimes were being committed by a handful of cartels. But now that many of those criminal organizations have begun to splinter, there are more groups vying for a piece of the drug trade, which means that they have more costs to meet. Abducting people and demanding ransom money is one way to do that.

From about 2007 to 2016, the number of criminal groups in Mexico rocketed from six to 400, according to Mexico United Against Organized Crime. A large part of this can be attributed to the aggressive security policies of former Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose Kingpin Strategy  which aimed to arrest various cartel leaders  disrupted what was once a relatively peaceful balance of power between the larger cartels.

Gomez said there are now hundreds, and possibly thousands, of gangs of organized kidnappers.

The Mexican government has been largely unsuccessful in their efforts to reduce kidnapping, and a large part of this failure can be attributed to high levels of official corruption. Since 2006, Mexico has dropped significantly in Transparency Internationals Corruption Perception Index, moving from position 70 to 135. Police are often involved in the kidnappings, either by conducting them jointly with criminal groups or by taking their cut and looking the other way.

In Mexico, it is common for police officers to be directly involved in crime, any crime, said Gomez. According to a study by the National Commission on Human Rights in Mexico, 85 to 95 percent of Mexicans believe the police are corrupt. All of which means that many kidnappers feel, rightly, that the odds of police having the skill or inclination to come after them are pretty low.

Only 1 percent of all kidnappers are captured and carried to justice, said Torres Landa, the Mexico United Against Organized Crime consultant. There is a huge incentive to participate in these activities.

The families of many of Mexicos missing are struggling not to lose hope

Five years after the disappearance of Ramirez and Rivera, the investigation into their kidnapping has gone nowhere. [The authorities] say they dont have enough information, Davids sister, Lourdes, said.

But Deborah, Ramirezs older sister, believes the reason is more obvious  and more troubling.

The authorities are colluding with the kidnappers, she said. They know where they are. But instead of launching a raid at that location, they launch a raid at some other random location. And they tell us lies. They say, We havent been able to investigate because we havent had an internet connection in seven months. And, We couldnt get a warrant because our printer was broken. Its a joke.

Still, the sisters hang on to their hope that Ramirez and Rivera are still alive. With Mexicos kidnapping problem only getting worse, more and more families are experiencing the pain of seeing a loved one disappear  and facing up to the grim reality that they may never come home.

That is terrifying and heart-breaking. Prayers for them!

Follow us: Facebook and Twitter

Hundreds of people in Mexico are kidnapped every year. And the problems getting worse.  Vox by Rory Smith
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The womans in-laws rejected financial compensation for their sons murder in favor of executing their daughter-in-law  who was raped by her husband.

An online campaign is gaining momentum to defend a 19-year-old Sudanese woman sentenced to death for murdering her husband, who she says raped her after she was forced to marry him.

The story of Noura Hussein received international attention when the details of her case circulated on social media with the hashtags #JusticeforNoura and #SaveNoura, and an online petition on Change.org.

Bonus video via Informed Comment:

TRT: Marital rape victim sentenced to death for killing husband

In 2016, Hussein attempted to escape her arranged marriage but was forcibly restrained by her in-laws while her husband raped her to consummate their vows.

She would not have sex with the man; he recruited some of his cousins and brought them home where they held her down while her husband raped her, Sarah ElHasan, a rights activist supporting Husseins case, told al-Jazeera.

The following night, when her husband tried to rape her again, Hussein stabbed him with a knife and killed him, her lawyer Ahmed Sebair said.

Husseins supporters stood behind her in the Omdurman courtroom as the judge condemned her to death by hanging on Thursday after her husbands family refused financial compensation for the killing, demanding instead that she be executed.

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and to apply it to a rape victim only highlights the failure of the Sudanese authorities to acknowledge the violence she endured, said Seif Magango, of Amnesty International.

Magango said that marital rape  despite being a taboo  is still a common occurrence in Sudanese society.

Nahid Gabralla is the director of NGO SEEMA, which assists gender-based violence victims and survivors. Gabralla said: In my work, Ive seen other cases like this. The suffering of Sudanese women is happening all the time. The case of Noura is different. She stood for her rights.

Magango said: This girl is a victim. She was married off at the tender age of 16 against her will and she stood up against that and refused to be forced into marriage.

The death that took place was an act of self-defense and it is a travesty of justice that she is at risk of being murdered, being killed by the state only for defending herself and that is something that needs to be corrected and this death penalty, this death sentence revoked.

Husseins lawyers have just under two weeks to appeal the conviction.

Via TeleSur
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John Kelly, White House chief of staff, is an immigrant-hating bigot, as demonstrated by a long series of Draconian statements and measures that would have embarrassed most normal people into a lifetime vow of silence in their wake.

Kelly bizarrely defended Confederate slave drivers of the 1860s as having lived at a time before the evils of slavery were apparent to moral people. Haiti abolished slavery in 1804, Mexico in 1824 and Tunisia in 1846. But Kellys assertion becomes a little more understandable in view of his NPR interview on May 11.

On undocumented immigration, Kellys interview went like this:

Kelly: But a big name of the game is deterrence. NPR: Family separation stands as a pretty tough deterrent. Kelly: It could be a tough deterrent  would be a tough deterrent. A much faster turnaround on asylum seekers. NPR: Even though people say thats cruel and heartless to take a mother away from her children? Kelly: I wouldnt put it quite that way. The children will be taken care of  put into foster care or whatever. But the big point is they elected to come illegally into the United States and this is a technique that no one hopes will be used extensively or for very long.

Kellys doctrine of deterrence of undocumented immigration into the US through family separation is undergirded by a special kind of sadism and ignorance combined. First of all, villagers in Honduras are not going to know about Kellys policy. Second, they are so desperate that many will take the risk anyway. Third, it is wrong to pounce and take US citizen children away from their mothers and fathers all of a sudden, giving them no time to make alternate arrangements. As for foster homes, with all due respect to the dedicated people who often run them, social science has proven that they are the biggest producer of a criminal class in the US. Children growing up without strong parental role models have a much greater chance of ending up in prison. Yes, thats right. Social science says that if you want a safe society, dont deport the parents of US citizen children.

Under Trump, ICE (which was only created recently and should be decommissioned) has been routinely doing things like traumatizing families by arresting undocumented parents when they come to pick up their children at school, in front of the eyes of the children, and leaving the latter unattended. The agents are not wrong to enforce the law, but this sort of tactic is clearly the result of instructions from Kelly and his successor, and is deliberate psychological warfare on American citizens.

Kellys self-satisfaction with getting rid of unwanted adults and putting their children, our fellow US citizens, in foster care or whatever (!!!) can only be compared to one phenomenon in American history.

Back in the days of slavery, white slave owners in the mid-Atlantic states like Kentucky used to separate fathers and sometimes mothers from their children and sell them down the river to the big plantation owners of the deep south.

Brown and black slaves were, like undocumented immigrants, not citizens and so they were not conceived by white elites as fully human persons. Hence, their families could be divided at will and parents could be sent far away, never to see their children again. They were treated like thoroughbred animals.

Kelly went on to slam these immigrants for not knowing English and for being unassimilable and having no skills. In fact, as conservative godfather Milton Friedman argued, they wouldnt come here if they werent finding jobs that locals would not or could not fill. As for language and assimilation, Kellys own Italian-American side of the family came without English and remained here without citizenship for decades.

Here's John Kelly's maternal grandmother Teresa as a child in the 1900 census. Her father, a day laborer named John DeMarco had been here for 18 years.

He had not become a citizen.

He could not read, write, or speak English.#resistancegenealogy pic.twitter.com/pmnHD4Yobq  Jennifer Mendelsohn (@CleverTitleTK) May 11, 2018

The 1930 census shows those great-grandparents living with their daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, one of whom was Kelly's mother. John DeMarco had been here for 47 years and was not an American citizen ("AL"). Crescenza had been here for 37 years and spoke no English. pic.twitter.com/5Nyfsu48y0  Jennifer Mendelsohn (@CleverTitleTK) May 11, 2018

Undocumented immigration to the US is no longer a big problem. Every year, more Mexicans have left than come in during the past decade. There was an issue in the 1980s and 1990s, but measures were taken to deal with that issue. Since 2002 about 5 million persons have been deported, possibly a bit more under Obama than under Bush. There isnt a crisis of arrivals and there isnt a crisis in enforcement. Most of those who came in the 1980s and 1990s, by now have firm roots in their communities and are thick with citizen relatives, and some sort of amnesty ought to be arranged if we were a decent society. But then if we were a decent society we wouldnt have invaded and occupied Iraq or elected Donald Trump president.

Kellys unconscious evocation of the old white supremacist practice of separating brown and black families and selling the adults down the river tells us that not as much has changed since the 1860s as a lot of us would have liked.



Bonus video:

Lawmaker regards John Kellys comments as racism
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(The Conversation)

President Donald Trump pulling the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal flies in the face of hundreds of inspections that showed Iran was meeting its end of the bargain.

Its a move that many leaders in the international community opposed, including all other parties to the deal  France, Germany, the U.K., Russia and China. Trumps decision has generated a firestorm of commentary about what may come next.

But what stands out to me as a researcher on energy policy and nuclear policy, is what it says about the agency that carried out the inspections  the International Atomic Energy Agency  and its mission.

Inspections in Iran

In July 2015, after the Iran deal was signed, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution that requested the IAEA carry out the monitoring and verifying of Irans compliance with its nuclear commitments. Between January 2016 and February 2018, the agency conducted more than 400 site visits and dozens of unannounced, or snap inspections. It installed cameras and employed satellites to perform surveillance work.

The visits covered more than 190 buildings, and the agencys investigations used hundreds of thousands of images. From this extensive activity, the IAEA repeatedly declared, up through the most recent directors report of March 2018, that Iran was in compliance.

None of this is affected in the least by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus recent presentation about Irans nuclear program, which was based on information dating from well before the Iran deal was even conceived.

And yet, Trump referenced the Israeli intelligence documents as definitive proof that this Iranian promise was a lie, in his speech announcing the U.S. was leaving the agreement.

By pulling out of the deal, Trump discounts the IAEAs findings and signals to the world that he has little faith in it. As I see it, he is effectively saying it cannot be trusted to perform its most critical work in nuclear security.

Further, Trumps action suggests that officials and intelligence agencies of all other parties to the Iran deal are gullible. Trumps position is ironic, given that the IAEA was an invention of the U.S. It is not, however, unprecedented.

US commitment to nuclear security

In 2002, the Bush administration claimed Iraq was building a nuclear arsenal. They stated that the results of IAEA inspections, which indicated no evidence of weapons, could not be trusted. History has since shown the Bush administration was wrong about the accuracy of the IAEAs work.

What, in the end, may really stick is the repeated example of U.S. leaders invalidating a crucial instrument for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. I would argue that Trump has deepened the worlds dangers two-fold, by walking away from a successful nuclear deal and by showing a lack of respect for a key aspect of the IAEAs mission to stop the spread of nuclear weapons around the world.

Scott L. Montgomery, Lecturer, Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Featured photo: AFP / STR. Iranians hold anti-US placards and shout slogans during a demonstration after Friday prayers in the capital Tehran on May 11, 2018
Next election to be held under Sheikh Hasina: Nasim



Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammed Nasim on Sunday said the next general election would be held under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as per the constitution.

"There is no doubt that the election will be held under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina," he said.

Nasim, also the spokesperson of 14-party alliance, came up with the observations at a views exchange meeting at Feni circuit house.

Presided over by district Awami League president Abdur Rahman B.Com, the meeting was also attended by Jahanara Begum Surma, MP, Shirin Akhter, MP, and former minister Dilip Barua, among others.

Nasim at the meeting, urged leaders and activists of 14-party alliance to remain united and work to further strengthen the alliance.
PM Abadi leading Iraq election, Sadr strong

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi speaks during the Tokyo Conference on Supporting Job Creation and Vocational Training to Facilitate Weapons Reduction for Iraqi Society in Tokyo

Reuters, Baghdad :

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's list appears to be leading in Iraq's parliamentary election followed by influential Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's alliance, an election commission source and a security official told Reuters.

The sources cited unofficial initial results.

Iraqis voted on Saturday in the first election since the defeat of Islamic State militants inside the country. Final results are expected on Monday.

Turnout was low at around 45 percent, according to the election commission.

Abadi, a rare ally of both the United States and Iran, was mainly concerned with fending off Shi'ite groups other than Sadr's alliance, which are seeking to pull the country closer to Tehran.

Unofficial results compiled by Reuters reporters in southern provinces also indicated that Sadr, a firebrand cleric who led a violent uprising against U.S. troops from 2003-2011, appeared to be making a strong showing.

If the Sadr list finished second, that would mark a surprise comeback by the cleric. He is popular among the poor but has been sidelined by influential Iranian-backed figures..

Iraqis voted on Saturday for the first time since the defeat of Islamic State, with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, a rare ally of both the United States and Iran, trying to fend off powerful Shi'ite groups that would pull the country closer to Tehran.

Iraqis expressed pride at the prospect of voting for the fourth time since the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein, but also said they had scant hope that the election would stabilize a country beset by conflicts, economic hardship and corruption.

Turnout was 44.52 percent with 92 percent of the votes counted, the Independent High Electoral Commission said, significantly lower than in previous elections. Results are due to be officially announced on Monday.

There were tensions in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk where the governor demanded a manual recount and declared a curfew to prevent any ethnic or sectarian clashes between its Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen communities.

Two Kurdish parties clashed with assault rifles in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniya amid accusations of ballot rigging, residents and officials said.

Voters will pass their verdict on Abadi, who has achieved the delicate task of maintaining relationships with both of Iraq's main allies who are otherwise arch enemies: Iran and the United States.

Whoever wins the election will have to contend with the fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of a nuclear deal with Iran, a move Iraqis fear could turn their country into a theater of conflict between Washington and Tehran.

Abadi, who came to power four years ago after Islamic State seized a third of the country, received U.S. military support for Iraq's army to defeat Islamic State even as he gave free rein to Iran to back Shi'ite militias fighting on the same side.

But now that the military campaign is over, he faces political threats from two main challengers: his predecessor Nuri al-Maliki, and the leader of the main Shi'ite paramilitary group, Hadi al-Amiri, both closer than he is to Iran which has wide sway in Iraq as the primary Shi'ite power in the region.






Kabul [Afghanistan], May 13 (ANI): At least five militants affiliated with the terror outfit Islamic State (IS) have been killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province.

The latest airstrike was carried out using unmanned aerial vehicles, in the vicinity of Haska Mina district, Khaama Press reported, citing, the local authorities, as saying.

A commander of the terror outfit is also among those killed in the airstrike.

This comes in tandem with various ongoing counter-terrorism operations in certain restive parts of Nangarhar province as the militant and terrorist groups are attempting to expand their insurgency activities.

The US military based in Afghanistan also conduct regular airstrikes against

the IS, Taliban, and other militant and terrorist groups.

The US forces conduct airstrikes by using unmanned aerial vehicles in the province to clamp down the militants, according to the reports.(ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Lima [Peru], May 13 (ANI): Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday paid tribute to "father of the nation" Mahatma Gandhi at Parque Mariscal Castilla in Peru's capital Lima.

He also visited Lima's Museum of Pachacamac and Pyramids along with the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History.

VP Naidu arrived in the Peruvian capital on May 12 and met Peru's President Martin Vizcarra at the Presidential Palace in Lima on the same day.

VP Naidu, who is on a five-day visit to Central America's Guatemala, Panama and Peru, departed from Panama for Peru on May 11.

He reached Panama on May 9 where India and Panama signed two Memorandum of Understandings (MoU).

Before visiting Panama, the Vice President was in Guatemala where India and Guatemala signed an MoU for expanding cooperation in the area of diplomatic training.

Vice President Naidu's three-nation visit commenced on May 6. The agenda of visiting these places is to enhance bilateral ties with the country.

This is the Vice President's first overseas visit after assuming office last year. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
May says trust me on Brexit, as tensions in cabinet simmer

Britain\'s Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during the weekly Prime Minister\'s Questions (PMQs) session in the House of Commons in London .

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May called for unity over Brexit, following a week in which Cabinet tensions spilled over and her plan for Britain's trading relationship with the European Union was labeled "crazy" by a key party member.

"You can trust me to deliver," May wrote in the Sunday Times newspaper. "The path I am setting out is the path to deliver the Brexit people voted for," she said, adding, "I will not let you down."

Less than a year until the U.K. leaves the EU, May's government still can't agree what to seek in the exit negotiations. The resignation of a key ally has left May outnumbered in her inner Cabinet over her proposal for a close customs relationship with the bloc, while the Sunday Telegraph reported that overall, at least 12 ministers-of 28 who sit in Cabinet alongside May-are set to oppose her plan.

May last week ordered her ministers to take responsibility for resolving the Brexit customs dilemma themselves, splitting her inner "war cabinet" into two working groups to iron out their differences. Both groups include ministers from the pro- and anti-Brexit factions, but two of the most hardline on each side-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, responsible for the "crazy" barb, and Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond-aren't included.

Meanwhile, May has put off sending a key piece of Brexit legislation to the House of Commons after peers repeatedly defeated the government as the bill passed through the upper House of Lords.

May said she had proposed different options for a new customs arrangement with the EU and the government would continue to work on them during the negotiations.

She said her mission in the talks was to build a new, close trading relationship with the EU, put Britain in full control over its immigration policy and taxpayer spending and build closer ties with the world's emerging economies.

She said any deal must protect the United Kingdom's constitutional and economic integrity and honour the Northern Irish peace accords.

"This means there can be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, or between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK," May wrote.

"Any agreements must create as little friction as possible for trade," she said, adding: "We must not constrain our ability to negotiate trade agreements with other countries around the world by being bound into a customs union."

Last year, London put forward two options to ease cross-border trade with the EU but, with Brexit looming, has still yet to make a final decision on which to pursue.

May's preferred option, the customs partnership, was reportedly rejected at a meeting of her senior ministers last week, while Brussels has also condemned it as "magical thinking".

The model would involve Britain collecting EU tariffs on goods heading into the bloc but charging its own on UK-destined products.

A second option, "maximum facilitation", would involve using technology to minimise customs checks, but the EU has also cast doubt on its viability.

A decision is not expected for at least another week, but the clock is ticking ahead of a crucial EU summit in June.

The Sunday Times said May's article was "an appeal for unity as she enters another perilous phase of her premiership".

The main opposition Labour Party called Sunday for parliament to be given the chance to vote on a customs union.




New Delhi, May 13: Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat will visit Sri Lanka for four days from Monday as part of efforts to strengthen military cooperation between the two countries, the Defence Ministry said on Sunday.

The Army chief is scheduled to meet the political and military brass of Sri Lanka during the visit, his first as Chief of Army Staff.

"The visit assumes significance in the light of India's persistent efforts to strengthen the existing bonds of friendship and military cooperation based on mutual interests and understanding," a Ministry statement said.

The Indian Army has been catering not only for training requirements of its Sri Lankan counterparts, including imparting specific tailor-made training in different fields but also providing military hardware, it said.

During the visit, Gen Rawat will inaugurate a communication laboratory at the School of Signals in Kandy. The institute was conceptualised and established by the Indian Army to train Sri Lanka Army Signal Corps personnel.

Gen Rawat will also visit Sri Lanka's military academy at Diyatalawa as part of an exchange of best practices related to pre-commissioning training followed by the two armies.

Apart from interaction with senior leadership of the three defence services, the Army chief will meet regional military commanders at Kandy and Trincomalee.

"The visit is yet another milestone in reaching out to our immediate neighbourhood and take forward the military-to-military cooperation to the next level," the statement added.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 13, 2018 06:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Managua, May 13: The death toll in ongoing anti-government protests in Nicaragua climbed to more than 50 with two new deaths reported from Masaya, prompting an appeal for peace from the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (ECN) and the President.

Two young men were shot in the head while participating in a protest on Saturday, taking the toll to 54 in 25 days, reports Efe. In Masaya, protesters fought pitched battles for at least 14 hours with the National Police, the Sandinista groups and riot police, known as "turbas" (mobs).

"We are deeply hurt by the acts of violence and confrontation that are taking place in various parts of the country, particularly in Masaya, causing injuries and death. We ask that all kinds of violence be stopped," said the ECN in a statement.

President Daniel Ortega, who prefers live impromptu addresses, broke his custom to read a short statement, making an appeal "to put an end to death and destruction. May no blood of brothers be shed anymore".

"Peace is the way and the only door to coexistence and respect for the tranquillity and safety of all. We ask God to give us the strength to achieve it," said Ortega.

His appeal, however, had no calming effect on the protesters and was criticized on social media, where many accused him of ordering a "student massacre" since most of the victims were university students.

The clashes had started 25 days back over proposed new social security reforms and had continued to escalate owing to a severe crackdown by the government.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 13, 2018 03:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
She is called Mom by some of the kids, Grandma by others. Juana Jauregui answers to both at the daycare center she runs at her East Los Angeles home.

Most of the kids speak Spanish at their own homes, Jauregui told me one morning as she supervised four little ones, with eight more scheduled to arrive later in the day. But at daycare, she speaks and reads in English and expects the kids to do the same, so theyll do better in school and beyond.

A couple of years ago, I had a student at Cal State L.A. named Daniel Noriega who wrote a beautiful paper about his mother. He called it La Mama de East L.A., and it was about Jauregui and her dedication to children. With Mothers Day on the calendar, I thought this would be a good time to meet the woman I had read about, and learn the full story of the nonprofit she began after losing someone she had tried so hard to save.

Every child that enters her home is fed, clothed, bathed, cared for, Noriega wrote of his mother. Mario  was no different.

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As Noriega told it, his sister and Mario became a couple, Mario began hanging around the house, and they had a baby. Mario was a smart young man, but deeply troubled after years of parental abuse and neglect, and he was in and out of jail.

The more Jauregui found out about the abuse Mario and his siblings had suffered, the more determined she was to try to help him kick drugs and straighten out his life, even after Mario and her daughter broke up. She wouldnt let him come to the house, because she didnt want his problems around her daycare kids. But when he was at his lowest, he reached out to Jauregui, who has worked with youngsters for 29 years, and whose first instinct is to try to understand rather than judge.

He craved the stability, the comfort, the guidance and attention she offered, Noriega wrote. She would make care packages with Tupperware full of food so that he could survive at whatever location he was staying at that night.

Jauregui keeps a letter Mario wrote to her saying he hoped she and her family would be blessed by God, and telling her he believed he would one day be the man she told him he could be.

I want to thank you, he said, for always being there when I had no place and no one to depend on.

In August 2014, Jauregui got a call from the county morgue. Mario, 28, had been struck and killed by a Metrolink train  to this day, the circumstances are unclear  and her name and address were the only contacts he had left behind.

It was up to Jauregui to locate Marios mother and discuss funeral arrangements. She says the mother had no money at first, though she later raised a small amount. Jauregui bought a pale blue coffin at Continental Funeral Home on Beverly Boulevard in East L.A., paid several thousand dollars for the services, and donated one of four family plots she had purchased years ago at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier. Mario was laid to rest in the Autumn Terrace section of the cemetery.

When he was in the system and he would sleep here, I would hear the nightmares he was having, Jauregui told me. He was raped, he was hit, he was left without food. I never gave up on him because I dont think its fair for kids to have to go through this, and Im learning there are a lot of kids like him. There are gaps in the system that these kids fall into, and nobody cares. Nobody cares.

Juana Juaregui welcomes the children who congregate at her East Los Angeles home after school every day. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times )

Jauregui also learned, in handling Marios services, that families often struggle to pay for the most basic burials. She decided to start a nonprofit, Marios Caskets, to raise money for such families and donate caskets to them. Three years ago, her son Daniel registered the nonprofit and gave his mother the paperwork for her birthday.

When he was growing up, Noriega said, he marveled at how his mother seemed to work daily magic in her kitchen. No matter how many daycare kids, former students or family and friends might show up throughout the day, there was enough to feed everyone. So it made sense that such a good cook might raise money for her nonprofit by catering parties and other events. The problem is that Jauregui, whose daycare business is open seven days a week because many parents work weekends, has so little spare time.

Its been slow this year, she said of the fundraising. But she has been putting a portion of her daycare earnings aside and hopes to have the total above $2,000 by the end of this year and begin donating caskets.

When I stopped by Continental Funeral Home, director Magda Maldonado showed me the range of coffins, including the model Mario was buried in, and said $2,000 would pay for several. Maldonado and Mikaela Ornelas, who has discussed the nonprofit with Jauregui, told me they have had foundations help pay for funerals in the past, but theyve never had an individual offer to buy caskets for strangers.

They were struck by Jaureguis generosity, they said, and they currently have a grieving family that could use the help. Thats pretty common, said Maldonado, who told me that 70% of her business involves flying bodies from the U.S. to Mexico. Most of those families make that choice because overall costs can be much lower, she said.

As I found out during my visit, theres a lot of coming and going at Jaureguis home, which has several back units. Noriega lives in one and his two sisters each live in one. Marios son, now 14, lives here with his mother. And so does Marios little brother, who was removed from his mothers care and placed in protective custody. Jauregui, who couldnt bear to see him bounced around the way Mario had been, adopted the little brother, who is now 11.

As Jauregui and I spoke, a young woman appeared at the door with a bouquet of flowers. She came in and handed them to Jauregui for Mothers Day.

Anissa, 19, told me her mother has drug and alcohol problems and has been in and out of jail. Anissa spent 12 years at the daycare center with Jauregui, and two of her siblings spent time there, too.

She calls Jauregui Mom.

This had a huge impact, Anissa said of the time she spent in Jaureguis care.

Shes now in college, works as a judicial assistant and plans to become a lawyer.

Noriega said he never felt overlooked by a mother with such a broad definition of family. The way he grew up was just the way things were.

Shes an inspiration, he said.

Noriega is about to leave Cal State L.A. with a masters degree. Hes on his way to Chapman University, where hell study for a doctorate in education, with plans to become a college professor.

In the paper he wrote for my class, Noriega said his grandfather rides through the streets of East L.A. on his bicycle, collecting discarded toys. He keeps some in a backyard shrine and says the toys represent the spirits of lost children. Others, he fixes, and they end up in the daycare center.

Souls dont become lost on purpose, Noriega wrote. They are neglected, pushed away, never given proper guidance. But in East L.A., there is a woman providing care for those souls, both lost and found.

steve.lopez@latimes.com

Get more of Steve Lopezs work and follow him on Twitter @LATstevelopez
The bodies of a man and boy have been recovered from the wrecked fuselage of the aircraft which crashed in a bog near Edenderry.

The remains were brought for a post-mortem to the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore after emergency services worked for many hours to recover the bodies.

The man who died was a pilot was from the UK. The boy is undertood to be the son of a Polish national who was one of 16 parachutists who had jumped from the Cessna Caravan aircraft a short time before it went down around 3pm Sunday.

The plane came down between Daingean and Edenderry after taking off from the Irish Parachute Club in Clonbullogue earlier Sunday afternoon.

The plane crashed on bogland soon afterwards near the Mountlucas windfarm.

Local man Jimmy Slattery was out for a walk and witnessed the crash. He thought it was a stunt but realised quickly something went wrong.

Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) investigators were on the scene.
Ardclough's Grainne Carr was crowned the new Kildare Rose in the Westgrove Hotel, Clane, tonight, May 12.

Grainne Carr PIC: Sarah Peppard

"I'm absolutely speechless, it's literally just been the most incredible experience and the girls were absolutely amazing", Grainne told the Leader after the announcement was made.

"I'm so delighted and thrilled to be representing and be an ambassador for Kildare, so I'm really looking forward to the year ahead", she added.

22-year-old Grainne was picked from 19 contestants at a gala night tonight hosted by 2014 International Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh.

She has two brothers, and is a graduate with a First class honours Law Degree from Maynooth University.

She recently completed entrance exams to the Law Society where she will undertake training as a solicitor with William Fry.

Grainne has a gra for Irish dancing, and performed a jig on stage for the judges.

She also volunteers with Concern Worldwide as an adjudicator for their schools All Ireland debating league.

She will now go on to represent the Lilywhite county in Tralee this summer, following in the footsteps of last year's Kildare Rose, Deirbhle Mulvihill from Kilcock.

She was sponsored by Thimbles Alterations.

Grainne celebrating with family

Receiving her sash from 2017 Rose Deirbhle Mulvihill
Newbridge Meals on Wheels held a special mass and celebration to mark its 40th anniversary last Wednesday, April 2.

Rev Joe McDermott was instrumental in starting Meals on Wheels in the town back in 1978 as he felt there was a need for such a service.

Dan Kennedy (RIP), Mary Brennan and Mary Canty offered to help get it off the ground. Leonie Coonan, District Nurse provided the volunteers with names of patrons.

There was just ten meals to start with and that has now grown to 45 today.

Initially we cooked in our homes and then moved into the vacant Patrician School on Station Road. We fitted out the kitchen with donated and second hand appliances and in no time, were cooking 36 dinners Monday to Friday, explained Mary Canty.

At this stage we now had plenty of cooks and drivers and had a wonderful lady, Lil Smyth (RIP), who helped with everything and kept the place running, especially when a cook or driver could not attend.

In 1992 Meals on Wheels moved to the Day Care Centre under the St Vincent De Paul Society. The centre is now under the supervision of Teresa Moore.

At present, over 45 dinners are being delivered four days each week and thirty patrons attend the centre each day.

We are part funded by the HSE and thanks to our generous benefactors and supporters who keep us going. More volunteers for driving and helpers in the kitchen are always welcome, added Mary.

Fr McDermott, Mary Canty and Mary Brennan cut the cake
I would have felt there was a lack of an overall plan, said Clane businessman, Phil McCormack when he spoke to the Leader about the recent big snow.

Ted Murray, from the Clane Project Centre, which rents out commercial properties to numerous businesses, said that he believes that Phil McCormack, whose machinery company operates from the business park, is one person who is to be thanked for his work during the weather crisis at the start of March.

Mr McCormack, a former chairman of Clane Community Council, used one of his large Chinese imported machines helped to clear much of Clane.

Mr Murray said many would not have gotten to work in the business park, if not for Mr McCormack, and felt some took him for granted.

Mr McCormack said he understood that such a weather event is a once off, but he felt there is a lack of an overall plan for such conditions.

The businessman, who stressed that he was paid by the Council, said the snow ploughs used initially by others were basically useless. He recalled taking three hours to travel 300 yards with a 20 tonne shovel.

He said the Council will need to have information about who has what equipment to prepare for future snow falls.

Mr McCormack took on much work as a volunteer and says that most people were generous afterwards to pay them for their time and efforts. We were lucky to have that machine, an XCMG wheel loader in stock, he said.
N Korea to destroy nuclear site ahead of US summit

Sceptics warn that Pyongyang has yet to make any public commitment to give up its arsenal.

AFP, Seoul :

North Korea will destroy its nuclear test site later this month, ahead of a summit with the United States, it said Saturday, pledging to blow up its tunnels in front of invited foreign media.

US President Donald Trump praised the North's decision to dismantle the Punggye-ri test site in a ceremony scheduled between May 23-25, the latest step in leader Kim Jong Un's charm offensive."Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!" Trump tweeted.

Dialogue brokered by Seoul has seen US-North Korea relations go from trading personal insults and threats of war last year to a summit between Kim and Trump due in Singapore on June 12.

But sceptics warn that Pyongyang has yet to make any public commitment to give up its arsenal, which includes missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Washington is seeking the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation" of the North and stresses that verification will be key.

Punggye-ri, in the northeast of the country, has hosted all six of the North's nuclear tests, the latest and by far the most powerful in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.

Kim has declared the development of the North's nuclear force complete and that it had no further need for the site.

The latest measures will see the tunnels of the test site blown up and their entrances completely blocked, Pyongyang's foreign ministry said, according to the official KCNA news agency. All observation facilities and research institutes would be removed, along with guards, it said, "and the surrounding area of the test ground be completely closed". Reporters from China, Russia, the United States, Britain and South Korea would be allowed to cover the event on site to show it "in a transparent manner".

Limits on foreign journalists were due to space constraints, it said, as the site was in an "uninhabited deep mountain area".

South Korea welcomed the announcement, which signalled the North's willingness to carry out its pledges "not just in words but in action".

"We hope the sound of the dynamite blowing up the tunnels at Punggye-ri will be the first salute in our journey towards a nuclear-free Korean peninsula," the South's presidential spokesman said. Analysts said the move was positive but limited in its scope.

It was "not bad, but a cost-free signal", tweeted MIT political science professor Vipin Narang.

Given the stage it had already reached, Pyongyang "may feel like they don't need to test anything for a while", he said.

Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies, expected that the North "will sanitise the site before letting anyone see it".

Saturday's announcement is the latest move in a rapid sequence of events on the Korean peninsula triggered by the Winter Olympics in the South.

Tensions had been mounting for years as Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes saw it subjected to multiple rounds of increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the US, EU, South Korea and others, and Trump last year threatened the North with "fire and fury".

But since the Pyeongchang Games, Pyongyang and Washington have agreed to the unprecedented Singapore meeting, and Kim has twice visited China to meet President Xi Jinping, after not paying respects in the six years since he inherited power from his father.




A record number of patients were admitted to Naas Hospital without a bed being immediately available during April.

A total of 390 patients were taken in through the accident and emergency department at the facility throughout last month - which was 144 more than April last year.

It was almost four times the overcrowding figure recorded by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation in April 2007 (the INMO has been monitoring overcrowding figures since 2006). Only two hospitals in the eastern region  Tallaght and the Mater  had significantly more patients on trolleys in April.

The INMO has painted an equally bleak picture for Naas Hospital in relation to the overcrowding figures for the four month period between January and April 2018. Some 1830 patients were admitted without a bed compared with 1138 in 2017. This is the second worst figure for this four month period in Naas  exceeded only by the 2103 overcrowding figure of Jan-Apr 2011.

This means that overcrowding was worst in Naas when eastern region hospitals are compared - with the sole exception of Tallaght (2042).

Unsurprisingly the INMO has bemoaned the figure at its annual delegate meeting in Cork last week, where pay and staffing were among the many issues up for debate.

INMO president Martina Harkin-Kelly said that the nurses will not accept any further delays in addressing these two fundamental issues.

She added: We believe the evidence of low pay affecting nurses and midwives decision to leave the Irish public service is very real and a cause of major concern.

In a statement the INMO said that the nationally between January and April there were 42,820 patients on trolleys or 6,500 more than in 2017. Moreover it highlighted that the month of April saw a record 9,335 patients on trolleys.
Kildare-based public relations firm OBrien PR has been nominated for a Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) award for their work on a PR campaign for Newbridge Silverware.

The company, founded and managed by Aileen OBrien, looked after the promotion of the Diana: A Fashion Legacy exhibition that opened last July 31.

The work on that campaign has been acknowledged by being shortlisted for the Awards for Excellence, with the winners being revealed at a gala luncheon in the Shelbourne Hotel on Friday June 22.

This campaign promoted the Princess Diana exhibition at the Museum of Style Icons. The campaign told the story of how Princess Diana left a lasting fashion legacy to the world while promoting the fact that several of her iconic garments and personal effects were on display at the museum at Newbridge Silverware.

The success of the campaign meant that more than 20,000 people visited Newbridge Silverware in the first week of the exhibition opening, and more than 750,000 worth of media coverage was achieved during the campaign, reaching over 18 million people.

The Awards for Excellence is the beacon for best practice in Irish public relations and communications and those shortlisted set the benchmark for work within the sector, and showcase the best the PR profession has to offer.

Included in the shortlist alongside OBrien PR are major international public relations companies such as Weber Shandwicks, Fleishman Hillard, Teneo PSG and Wilson Hartnell.

The award nomination helps to mark the 15th anniversary of OBrien PR, who can also name Dubai Duty Free, The K Club, the Osprey Hotel, Naas Racecourse and a number of other boutique hotels around Ireland among their client list.

Speaking after being shortlisted for the award, MD Aileen OBrien, said; We are absolutely delighted to be nominated for an award that really recognises the very best public relations campaigns in Ireland.

To be shortlisted alongside some of the worlds biggest PR companies is a huge mark of achievement for us as it shows that the hard work being done by the team at OBrien PR is not going unnoticed.

The Diana event in Newbridge Silverware was a campaign that was very enjoyable to work on due to the level of interest in the exhibition, and it was great to develop that interest into media coverage and increased footfall for our client.

We are approaching a very busy time of the year now as we are working for Dubai Duty Free at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby and the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, where they are the title sponsors, and we are also working with a number of other clients too.

The team at OBrien PR is constantly growing also, and business has continued to prosper this year following a busy 2017.
The people of Carbury and Edenderry were shocked and saddened when the news broke on the death of Paddy Lavery, No.4 The Avenue, Highfield who passed away on Friday 4 May.

Paddy died at the Hospice Unit, Ofalia House, Edenderry surrounded by his loving family. In his early years, Paddy worked for Bord na Mona as an electrician at their Lullymore Briquette Factory, Kilkeaskin, Carbury and later he worked with the OBrien Group based at Edenderry.

In recent years, Paddy was employed by the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) at their Newbridge Office where he would have given financial advice to thousands of people, over his many years working there.

He was very involved in Carbury Parish affairs, especially in the fundraising campaign for the Renovation of Holy Trinity Church in 2006. For many, many years he was a leading light in the Carbury Players Drama Group and became well-known with Drama Groups throughout County Kildare and many parts of Ireland.

A huge crowd attended his funeral mass at Holy Trinity Church, Derrinturn on Sunday 6 May and also at his burial in the adjoining cemetery.

Deepest sympathy is extended to his wife Elizabeth, daughters Eimear and Ruth, son-in-law David, grandchildren James, Alex and Elianna, pre-deceased by his sisters Joan and Mary, greatly missed by his sisters Louie, Teresa and Lily, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, extended family, relatives, neighbours and many friends. May He Rest in Peace.

- Sheamus Farrell

Ceann Comhairle, Sean O'Fearghail also paid tribute to Mr Lavery. On his Facebook page, he spoke about attending the funeral.

He said; "We heard of Paddy's absolute commitment to his family, his dedication to his local parish and his love of amateur drama. From work as an electrician in early life, to accountancy, to his eventual role in MABS Paddy distinguished himself for hard work and reliability. It was during his period as Mr. MABS in County Kildare that I had the privilege of getting to know him. In my experience, rarely has one man done so much for so many. I was particularly struck by the manner in which he continued to work diligently for those who needed his support, after he was diagnosed with serious illness. Indeed he continued to serve the people of this county during the period when he was gravely ill. He will never be forgotten by the countless families and individuals who benefitted from his support and wise counsel."

He extended his sympathy to Paddy's wife, Elizabeth and his family.
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MUNSTER Rugby stars presented a special award to a County Limerick school for its exceptional efforts training the next generation of lifesavers in CPR.

Colaiste Ide agus Iosef, in Abbeyfeale, received the first ever CPR 4 Schools Special Recognition Award from the Irish Heart Foundation for undertaking training with students in skills that could potentially save lives.

Led by teacher Diarmuid OConnell, who suffered a cardiac arrest in his early twenties, students have learned how to perform CPR, how to use an AED and how to help someone who is choking.

Colaiste Ide agus Iosef have done tremendous work in creating awareness and taking the fear out of lifesaving, Laura Hickey of the Irish Heart Foundation said.

We are delighted to award Colaiste Ide agus Iosef the first special recognition award; its schools like this who will make a significant impact in creating the future generation of lifesavers.

With CPR doubling, if not tripling, the chance of survival, training in secondary schools is important, Ms Hickey added.

Schools are an ideal setting to reach all young people to help reduce the incidence of premature death and disability from heart disease and stroke which is Irelands number one killer.

With 13 lives lost every day to sudden cardiac death, in the event of a persons collapse from cardiac arrest, every minute is vital.

Without CPR or defibrillation, the chance of survival falls by up to 10% a minute.

Colaiste Ide agus Iosef took part in the new CPR 4 Schools programme, a national programme aiming to created 360,000 CPR lifesavers in every community in Ireland by the end of 2019.

Training for teachers is provided at education centres and online.

The Irish Heart Foundation also provides schools with free kits worth 600 which contain training mannequins to encourage crucial hands-on practice.

To date, 289 schools have received training.

CPR is a lifesaving skill that everyone can learn. This programme is available to every post primary school in Ireland, equipping young people with the skills and confidence to perform this CPR, Ms Hickey said.

With more than 700 students, Colaiste Ide agus Iosef was also acknowledged by the organisation for its efforts in promoting this valuable skill in the wider community of Abbeyfeale.

The Irish Heart Foundations CPR 4 Schools programme hopes that all children will get the chance to learn CPR which will help benefit every community demographic in Ireland.

In just one class, students learn skills that could potentially save a life.

For more information, contact schools@irishheart.ie via email or visit www.irishheart.ie/cpr4schools.
THE wait goes on for the Enright family in County Limerick who have spent the last 18 months looking for a viable solution to their dilemma: how to provide adapted accommodation for their son Shane, who has cerebral palsy and other complications.

But in their search to provide that accommodation at a cost of 80,000 and rising, Richard and Caroline Enright, Athea, have been turned down by various financial institutions and to date, the only official offer has been an adaptation grant of 15,400.

Now, their campaign is reaching a new crisis point. Next month, Richard is due to undergo a series of procedures because of his arthritis, which will leave Caroline, who also suffers from arthritis, on her own dealing with the physical lifting and other physical care of Shane while Richard recovers.

Last Friday, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy announced that over 66m would be available in 2018 for adaptation grants for older people and people with a disability and that funding of 3,243,814 would be coming to Limerick. But unless the maximum grant of 30,000 is raised, this will mean little for the Enrights.

Mr Enright said that two council officials had visited their Athea home last week and informed them there had been changes. It was, he added, the first time any official had visited the house. But they have nothing in writing and he and his wife are still left with more questions than answers.

Meanwhile, Shanes needs are not being met.

We are still in a predicament. We are still looking for a way forward, Mr Enright said. But, he added: We are still hoping.

However, he added: Nobody should have to beg for money. We have to bare our souls to the whole country. We are just trying to protect Shane.

We are just ordinary people in an extraordinary situation. We always thought there would be help there if we needed it.

Mr Enright reiterated the position he spelt out in the Limerick Leader last week. They are not looking for hand-outs, he stressed, but they are looking for a flexible deal that would allow them to get on with adapting their home.

We are not looking for something for nothing, he and his wife have stressed.
WARDS Cross outside Abbeyfeale in County Limerick is the only new junction along the N21 from Newcastle West to the county bounds which Transport Infrastructure Ireland plans to upgrade with safety features.

But Cllr Liam Galvin has vowed he will continue his campaign until all 17 junctions currently without right-hand turning lanes along that stretch of the N21 have been made safe.

I welcome the development at Wards Cross, he said. People are taking their lives in their hands there on a daily basis. But I am very, very disappointed that it is the only junction. I will not be letting this go. I am determined to see all of them done.

Last September, following an accident at Wards Cross in which two men were injured, Cllr Galvin highlighted the dangers at Wards Cross. Some weeks later, a special Limerick Leader report highlighted the experiences and feelings of locals using the cross on a daily basis.

But the residents near Wards Cross were not alone in their fears. At subsequent meetings of the Newcastle West Municipal District and a special meeting of Limerick City and County Council, it emerged that just seven junctions between Newcastle West and the Kerry border had turning lanes.

But there were 17 others, including Wards, with no turning or stacking lanes and the people using them were at daily risk.

At that time, Cllr Galvin argued for a rolling programme to be drawn up which would address safety issues at one or two junctions each year.

In January, a list of six junctions out of 17, was drawn up and sent forward to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII). They were Wards Cross, Tullig/Forge, Templeglantine GAA, Dunakenna, Brosna/ Rockchapel and Dromtrasna.

Along with the list, Limerick City and County Council asked for funding to carry out a detailed survey and design for the introduction of right hand turning lanes at all six junctions.

But the TII responded, saying that only one junction, Wards Cross, merited further investigation based on their most recent analysis of collisions.

The council, TII said, was not precluded from submitting a feasibility report for safety improvements at other locations but preparation of these would not be funded by the TII.

Now, Cllr Galvin has been told, this would require significant resources to be invested by the council and this money is not available.

Meanwhile, technical staff with the council are working on a design for an appropriate scheme to deal with the safety issues at Wards Cross and will cost the scheme before submitting it to the TII for their approval.
A YOUNG man has described how his dream of becoming a soldier was ended after he sustained serious injuries when he was punched in the face in Limerick.

Lee Somers (20) made his comments in a victim impact statement after the culprit was convicted of assault causing harm

Evan Hennessy, aged 20, of Lindon Court, Kennedy Park had pleaded not guilty to the charge related to an incident at Robert Street in the early hours of October 30, 2016.

Limerick District Court was told the incident happened at around 2am  a short time after both men had left a nightclub.

Mr Somers told the court he was injured when he was struck out of nowhere by the defendant.

He said he had not seen Evan Hennessy prior to the incident but that he remembers seeing him pointing at him after he fell onto the ground.

A number of his teeth were damaged and his jaw was fractured in two places  necessitating the insertion of metal plates and screws.

Being cross-examined by solicitor Sarah Ryan, he denied that he was looking for a fight on the night and that his actions has led Mr Hennesy to perceive him as a threat.

I couldnt afford to get into trouble, he said in reference to his potential career in the Defence Forces.

In his evidence, the defendant claimed he struck Mr Somers as he believed he was going to harm his cousin.

He told the court Mr Somers had jumped into the group he was with and had raised his arms.

For the sake of me and my cousins safety, I gave him a dig, he said,

The court was told that alcohol had been consumed by both men and that there was some pushing and shoving when Mr Somers first approached the group.

Being questioned under caution following the incident, Mr Hennessy admitted punching Mr Somers telling gardai: I dont think I inflicted that much damage.

Solicitor Sarah Ryan said her client believed Mr Somers was going to harm his cousin and she submitted that in the circumstances his actions were justified.

Insp Paul Reidy disagreed saying what happened was a clear cut straight forward assault which Mr Somers did not see coming.

Judge Mary Larkin convicted Mr Hennessy saying she did not believe there was a need for him to throw a punch.

Noting his previous good record, she imposed a penalty of 80 hours community service in lieu of a three month prison sentence.
Watch out prices during Ramzan

Rayhan Ahmed Topader :

Every year we are promised by the relevant ministry that prices of essentials will be kept within reach during the holy month of Ramzan. Since, that promise is hardly ever kept people have stopped expecting anything in this regard. The ministry of commerce had a meeting of traders, law enforcement and officials from the various government agencies and departments along with importers and traders on April 1 to better gauge what stocks should be kept and how prices may be kept within acceptable limits. Some of the suggestions that came out of that meeting are doable, whilst others are more long term in nature. Traders have stated that the cost of transport has nearly doubled over the last three months due to weight limit set on trucks. The argument is that before the ban, trucks could carry 20 tonnes of goods per truck, but now the RHD division has set a limit of 22 tons (including the weight of the vehicle) and that means trucks can carry at best 9 tonnes.

While that argument may suffice for traders, they fail to point out that over-laden trucks suffered far more breakdowns and were involved in more accidents on highways which precipitated the move in the first place. The argument to lift the weight restriction at the cost of public safety is something the government will have to mull on in the run up to the holy month.

What we do not hear much about is any measure by authorities to stop transport owners from overcharging traders on goods shipped by truckers. It would be interesting to know precisely what the relevant authorities are planning to do about addressing other bottlenecks in the supply chain that add to cost of goods. There is the unfortunate case of the Chittagong port that has become synonymous with delayed shipment and discharge. One would have to agree with traders that most commodity movers end up paying extra since ships cannot dock and offload their goods on time.

The problems associated with the port are longstanding ones and there is little chance of things improving at that end unless policy directives are given to prioritise offloading for ships carrying essentials. Since, Ramzan is more than a month away and the time for inbound vessels carrying edibles will be known in advance to authorities, there is room to accommodate the docking and fast discharge of some of the bigger shipments of rice, rice flour, sugar, edible oil, lentils, onions, etc.

While we are informed that the government wishes to keep a friendly relationship with traders and control prices, we've seen that this policy hardly brings any boon at retail level. Whenever retailers are confronted by media about spiralling prices, they point the finger at wholesalers.

Wholesalers for their part had their say about millers in the meeting at the ministry of commerce and that was that mills make them wait a full three days at the mill gates even after the settlement of full payment before they receive their goods. As the month of holy Ramzan is coming up within a few days, people across Bangladesh are getting prepared to pass this month with proper religious solemnity and devoted prayers. At the same time ordinary citizens are highly worried about the price hike which hits the nation hard during the month of Ramzan every year.

The authorities concerned urge traders to keep prices of daily essential things under control but prices shoot through the roof during Ramzan all the time which is known to all. Consumers, business leaders, journalists, economists and civil society members have in the meantime called upon the retailers and wholesalers not to increase prices during Ramzan but the adverse effect of rising prices has already started impacting people throughout the country. It is often observed that prices go up without barriers during Ramzan despite sufficient and unhindered supply of all necessary foodstuffs like rice, lentil, onions, edible oil, spices, milk, sugar etc. This is a reflection of the unpalatable fact that prices are raised for no substantial reasons.

Making rapid profits is the only aim of such price hike-most of the people express this opinion. Even sometimes artificial crisis of goods is generated by hoarders to cause escalation of prices which is absolutely unethical and unlawful. Most of the people blame the failure of the regulatory authorities for this sort of undesirable situations which puts us in immense sufferings under the torturous loads of higher food prices. The unscrupulous hoarders who illegally store up food grains and edible things to forcibly make prices boom allegedly have strong alliance with influential politicians which is why the administrative departments cannot take any actions against this category of lawbreakers.

So, it is quite clear that the establishment of political fairness is an indispensable prerequisite to hold prices down during Ramzan. Not just Ramzan, prices should be kept within the tolerable range of the masses round the year. The pursuit for grabbing exorbitant profits by increasing prices unreasonably is not at all acceptable in a civilized country. Therefore, everyone looks forward to the government for proper initiatives to keep people away from hazards caused by excessive prices.

On the other hand, we need to rectify ourselves to an ample extent during Ramzan. Ramzan is a month of self-restraint and self-amendment but we in most of the cases do extravagant things during this month instead of practicing the dictums of simplicity and modesty that come with this sacred month.

Most of the solvent people in our country make a wide variety of food items for iftar during Ramzan. A lot of money is spent by the affluent rungs of society to host pompous iftar parties which breaches the principles and lessons of Ramzan. Ramzan is a month of spiritual quest, not a time for uncontrolled gluttony spreading out ten or twelve dainty dishes all over the dining tables across homes. People who have plenty of money can feed homeless, hungry, destitute men, women and children during Ramzan rather than organizing iftar parties for well-off guests. If we resist ourselves from spending too much money on redundant quantities of food, it would be helpful for curtailing prices.

At present the people of Bangladesh are going through much economic uncertainty due to the wide magnitude of corruption and irregularities which have plunged the country's banking sector into scary pitfalls. Allegedly big sums of money have been taken away from different banks by an immoral but powerful quarter of pranksters. Most of the state-owned and private banks are inflicted with insurmountable figures of defaulted loans for this reason reportedly. Enormous amounts of money are being illegally transferred to foreign countries by the same group of racketeers while the inactivity of Bangladesh Bank and Finance Ministry has disappointed all of us.

All the political parties of the country have a huge role to play for this purpose. Political parties should abstain from enforcing strikes or blockades during Ramzan. We have observed again and again that when large parties bring out rallies, processions or hold mass gatherings in any part of the capital it causes tremendous inconvenience to pedestrians, transports and commuters. So, better not to go for this kind of political programs during Ramzan so that general people can continue fasting and other theological activities during this month in a peaceful and smooth atmosphere.

So, what we see here are systemic problems at every stage of the supply chain. There is no point harping about "good brotherly relations" in the holy month because there will always be a syndicate comprising of powerful business entities who do create artificial crisis in the market despite ample supply of goods in the market.

All the major super-shops and dedicated online grocery shops have popped up over the last few years and their business is booming. One can literally order everything with a few clicks of the mouse and have the goods delivered to their doorstep. No more being stuck in the horrendous traffic to go to overcrowded bazaars. No more jostling with hundreds of other people to pick up the consumables that will go to make the favourite onion piajus and eggplant begunis.

However, the above scenario does not apply to the vast majority of the populace.

The holding of the meeting at the commerce ministry this year followed the usual pattern of promises about keeping prices stable on the premise that there are enough supplies.

What the public would prefer to see are steps taken in terms of holding dishonest business houses accountable which form syndicates every year to fleece customers during Ramzan time. That means strict price monitoring by the State of markets at all levels of the supply chain from importers, producers, wholesalers right down to retail level. It means a follow up of directives by the ministry and departments so that those involved in spiking up the price, do not cross the limit.


The politics of maturity: Anwar Ibrahim allowed Mahathir to be Prime Minister

DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD was sworn in as Malaysia's seventh Prime Minister on Thursday night (May 10), hours after former premier Najib Razak said that he accepted the will of the people that handed Barisan Nasional (BN) a shock defeat which ended the UMNO-led pact's six decades in power. Without the backing of the leader of the main opposition Anwar Ibrahim, Mahathir alone would have no chance of defeating the government with a very strong and well-oiled election machinery.

Following a series of press conferences in which he asserted that his Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition clearly won Wednesday's vote and agreed to back him as Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir was granted an audience with the King and officially declared Prime Minister. PH and its ally Parti Warisan Sabah won 121 seats in the 222-seat Federal Parliament in the keenly contested May 9 general election, while BN secured 79 seats.

Having defeated the long-ruling BN, which he headed until 2003, and then left in 2016 after calling for Datuk Seri Najib's ouster over the scandal at state-owned fund 1MDB, Dr Mahathir had earlier asked to be sworn in "as soon as possible" after his PH crossed the threshold of a simple majority of 112 seats by early Thursday morning.

It is a sign of the remarkable maturity of Malaysian politics that Pakatan Harapan (PH; English: "Alliance of Hope"), a political alliance that was founded in 2015 as a coalition of left-leaning and centre parties managed to form the largest coalition and the ruling party in the Parliament of Malaysia, defeated the UMNO which had been in power for over six decades.

What is most interesting about this alliance is that it is led by Anwar Ibrahim and his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who are noted as the Leader and President respectively of the alliance, while Dr Mahathir was chosen the Chairman. This is the same Anwar Ibrahim who was jailed and beaten up on sodomy charges by Dr Mahathir back in 1999--a situation which removed him from the vestiges of power for over 20 years.

However Anwar Ibrahim is set to make a comeback as Dr Mahathir said he would remain PM only until 2020, which could make him potentially the next PM. Mahathir has promised to secure a royal pardon for him. The way in which these two men have overcome their personal bitterness and animosity and come together to fight for the good of their nation speaks volumes about the maturity and honesty which prevails in Malaysian politics.

The fact that these two men were not even on speaking terms for such a long time but compromised and came together to fight what they saw as a corruption eating away at the fundamentals of the Malaysian government speaks volumes about their patriotism and determination to work for the common good. It seems that the Malaysian voters have reciprocated and accepted their message and given them the power to work for the benefit of the people. They must make the best of it.








Iran FM hopeful of forging `clear future` for nuclear deal on diplomatic tour

AFP :

Iran's foreign minister said Sunday he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the nuclear deal facing collapse after Washington's withdrawal, at the start of a diplomatic tour aimed at rescuing the agreement.

"We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement," Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters after talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. Zarif will later fly to Moscow and Brussels to consult the remaining signatories to the 2015 agreement denounced by US President Donald Trump.

Washington's decision to withdraw from the deal and reimpose sanctions angered its European allies as well as China and Russia.

China was one of the six powers-with the United States, Russia, France, the UK and Germany-that signed the historic pact, which saw sanctions lifted in return for the commitment by Tehran not to acquire nuclear weapons. As he arrived in Beijing, Zarif said Tehran was "ready for all option(s)", according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

"If the nuclear deal is to continue, the interests of the people of Iran must be assured," he added.

After their meeting, Zarif and Wang hailed the "comprehensive strategic partnership" between their countries, with the Chinese minister saying: "I hope and believe that these visits to multiple countries will... help protect Iran's legitimate national interests and peace and stability in the region."

Tehran's chief diplomat embarked on the tour as regional tensions spiked just days after unprecedented Israeli strikes in Syria which a monitor said killed at least 11 Iranian fighters, triggering fears of a broader conflict between the two arch-enemies.

Before leaving, Zarif published a government statement on his Twitter page, slamming Trump's "extremist administration" for abandoning "an accord recognised as a victory of diplomacy by the international community".

It reiterated that Iran was preparing to resume "industrial scale" uranium enrichment "without any restrictions" unless Europe provided solid guarantees it could maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions.

Trump hit back Saturday evening, tweeting that the accord had failed to contain Iran's militarism.

"Iran's Military Budget is up more than 40 percent since the Obama negotiated Nuclear Deal was reached... just another indicator that it was all a big lie," he wrote.

Zarif's delicate diplomatic mission was complicated by the reports of clashes between Iranian and Israeli forces in Syria on Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said Saturday that 11 Iranians were among the pro-regime fighters killed in strikes by Israel, which has vowed to prevent Iran from gaining a military foothold in neighbouring Syria. Tehran, which has sought to avoid an escalation in a regional conflict that could alienate its European partners, has not commented on whether its forces were hit.

Israel and its allies have blamed Iran's Revolutionary Guards for initiating Thursday's exchange by launching missiles into the occupied Golan Heights.

Iran denies the claims, saying the Israeli strikes were launched on "invented pretexts".

Meanwhile, European diplomats in Tehran fumed that Trump's decision to withdraw from the deal could undermine years of patient work to restore commercial and diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic.

"Since the signing of the JCPOA (nuclear deal), we have gone from an atmosphere like a gold rush, to one of utter depression," said a Western trade diplomat on condition of anonymity.

"We are waiting now for how the decision-makers in the European Union will react. If the EU leans towards accommodating the US, all the progress we have made since 2015 will be lost." Iranian hardliners-who have long opposed President Hassan Rouhani's moves to improve ties with the West-are already mobilising against the efforts to save the nuclear deal. Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the Revolutionary Guards, said the country could not rely on the West.

"We hope recent events will lead us not to trust in the West and even Europeans," he said Sunday, according to the conservative-linked Fars news agency.

"The Europeans have repeated on several occasions that they will not be able to resist US sanctions."

He added if the European powers were unable to make guarantees, "we must choose the path of self-sufficiency and nuclear industry with our own capabilities".

The sentiment was echoed on the streets.

"Officials shouldn't trust France and Britain. They will never abandon the US for us," said housewife Poormoslem at a protest against Trump on Friday.

A photo on the official Instagram site of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei showed him reading a Farsi translation of Michael Wolff's blistering account of the Trump White House, "Fire and Fury", quickly picking up more than 100,000 likes.


The fate of a remote U.S. military base in southern Syria captures the contradictions at the heart of President Donald Trump's Iran policy.

The tiny outpost at Tanf, surrounded by vast desert, was established during the battle against the Islamic State. But its purpose changed last year when Iranian-backed forces began bearing down on the isolated garrison.

U.S. officials feared that a small, exposed force of special operators there could be overrun as Iran, fighting in support of the Syrian government, sought to lock down a land route to Damascus and the Mediterranean Sea. U.S. strikes on the encroaching forces risked pulling the Pentagon further into Syria's civil war.

But for some senior aides, the tense encounters around Tanf were an opportunity: a chance to bolster an operation that had become an accidental bulwark against Iran, and launch a larger campaign against Tehran's military reach in the region.

The fraught White House deliberations, which began last May and still continue today, illustrate the confusion that has characterized Trump's response to Iran's political and military influence across the Middle East, now at a high-water mark from Syria to Yemen and beyond.

From the moment his administration put Tehran "on notice" in a dramatic warning days into his presidency, Trump has promised in the most bellicose terms since President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" to act decisively against Iran.

"No matter where you go in the Middle East, wherever there's a problem, Iran is right there," Trump said during a news conference last month, blaming Tehran as he had many times before for fueling "violence, bloodshed and chaos" across the region.

So far, Trump's strategy has centered on his opposition to the 2015 agreement to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions, which he has described as "the worst deal ever." The president's decision on Tuesday to withdraw from the pact will force the White House and the Pentagon to shift their focus to blunting Iran's influence on battlefields across the Middle East.

For a president and his increasingly hawkish foreign policy team, the coming months could be pivotal. Trump will have to reconcile his tough rhetoric on Iran with his oft-stated desire to pull back from the Middle East and withdraw from Syria.

Nowhere is the gap between word and action clearer than at Tanf.

For U.S. allies in the region and the Iran hawks, the desert outpost has become a barometer of America's willingness to stand up to Iranian influence. The U.S. presence at Tanf also raises a tough question for Trump: How much blood and treasure is he willing to risk to counter Iran's military reach?

- - -

The focus on Iran at Tanf began as something of an accident.

In 2016, the U.S. military was making progress against Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, when President Barack Obama approved a small training program for Syrian forces just across the border in Jordan. The Pentagon proposed inserting the U.S.-backed fighters at Tanf, which had been recaptured from militants that year.

One selling point of the desert outpost was its isolation. Surrounded by miles of sand, it was relatively easy to defend.

"It's like Mars out there," a senior U.S. official said. "Just desert and a road."

Initially, the plan was to move the forces at Tanf and their American advisers north along the border with Iraq, where they would link up with other U.S.-backed units fighting the Islamic State and help recapture a strategic border crossing at Bukamal.

But before they could move out, Iranian-backed troops aligned with Syrian President Bashar Assad's government advanced toward the Iraqi border, obstructing the planned U.S. move northeast.

Rather than fight their way through enemy lines, the U.S.-backed troops and their American advisers stayed put. A small team of U.S. soldiers, who initially cycled through the outpost on 24-hour missions, began hunkering down for longer stretches lasting days and even weeks.

The hazy mission at the Tanf base quietly shifted from battling the Islamic State, which gradually lost its tiny foothold in the area, to countering the growing Iranian presence.

Not only were the U.S. troops at Tanf helpful in protecting a nearby refugee camp, but many officials said they also could be used to interrupt shipments of weapons, personnel or funding from Iran to the Assad government in what military officials had long characterized as Tehran's "land bridge" across the Middle East.

Completing the supply line would augment Iran's air route, helping Tehran build up its military infrastructure in Syria and posing a sharp threat to U.S. ally Israel.

Soon, Iranian-backed forces began challenging the American position in a bid, U.S. officials believed, to reclaim a nearby border crossing and link up with sister forces in Iraq.

Last May, U.S. warplanes fired on a column of troops loyal to Assad, including Iranian-backed militiamen, who were headed toward the outpost. A few weeks later, U.S. aircraft struck the forces again after they fortified their position near Tanf. Then in June, the U.S. military shot down two Iranian drones around Tanf.

"It was a scary few weeks," a senior State Department official said of the attacks. The official, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about internal discussions.

The Pentagon boosted air surveillance over the base and gave the troops there antitank weapons to better defend against an armored Iranian assault.

In a sign of nervousness on both sides, U.S. officials received a secret letter, delivered through the Swiss government, from Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, multiple current and former officials said. Soleimani was a frequent presence with militia units on the front lines, a hardened fighter U.S. officials saw as the embodiment of Iranian ambitions.

The State Department eventually responded, telling the Iranians that the U.S. military would destroy any Iranian-backed forces that got within 30 miles of the base.

Inside the White House, officials who wanted to do more to counter Iranian influence began pushing to expand the security bubble around the Tanf base. The most ambitious plans called for creating a safe zone where the U.S. military could train a force to challenge Iran and the Assad regime in southern Syria.

"It certainly looked like it was a pivotal moment on who was going to come out victorious on the policy - the ones that really wanted to take the fight to the Iranians in Syria and those that didn't," the State Department official said.

But the bolder military plans ran into resistance from the Pentagon and, more significantly, Trump's conflicting desires.

Trump had loaded his administration with Iran hawks, including at the time national security adviser Michael Flynn and CIA director Mike Pompeo. He also forged close ties with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states that were sounding the alarm about Iran.

Trump has taken small steps to blunt Iran's aggression, imposing new financial penalties on Iranian affiliates and slapping a new terrorism designation on the Revolutionary Guard Corps. In a move symbolizing an effort to replace Iran's influence with support from U.S. allies, diplomats have orchestrated a renewal of Saudi ties with Shiite-led Iraq.

The administration has also intensified its attempts to publicly shame Iran, showcasing missile fragments and other weaponry that officials say proves that the country is helping rebels attack U.S. allies in the Gulf.

Again and again, Trump has boasted about his toughness on Iran. In a recent Fox News interview, he insisted that the Iranians had toned down their "death to America" rhetoric since he moved into the White House and suggested that his threats of force had moderated Iran's maneuvers in the Persian Gulf. "We haven't seen their little boats circling our ships in the ocean lately," he said.

But Trump just as often has appeared unwilling to risk an open conflict with Iran, gravitating to his opposition to the nuclear deal during discussions about the larger Iran strategy, current and former officials said.

In recent weeks - and sometimes even in the same news conference - he has talked about staying at Tanf to block Iran and expressed support for leaving Syria entirely.

"We will have a strong blockage to the Mediterranean, which to me is very important - because if we don't, you have Iran going right to the Mediterranean. Not going to have that," he said in a briefing in which he had also declared: "We're going to be coming home relatively soon."

Those clashing messages have left U.S. allies in the Middle East "chagrined," said a former senior U.S. diplomat in the region. "They're worried that we'll leave . . . and about the message that sends to Iran."

Trump has been adamant in private conversations with his top national security aides: The U.S. priority is defeating the Islamic State and getting out of Syria, not battling Iran.

"Whenever they bring up Syria, he says 'I want Syria to be Putin's problem.' Whenever they bring up Iraq, he says 'What's the least I can do,'" a former U.S. official said. "The actions don't mesh with what could be a larger strategy against Iran."

- - -

Trump's top military leaders are also reluctant to expand the mission in Syria and check Iran, worried about the safety of troops scattered across the region.

From the 1983 bombings of the Marine barracks in Beirut to guerrilla attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq after 2003, groups backed by Iran are blamed for hundreds of U.S. military deaths.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, whose combative approach to Iran led to his early departure from the military in 2013, has described Iran as a chief threat in the Middle East. But he also has acted to keep the impulses of the administration's Iran hawks in check and has argued for reorienting the military to deal with more pressing threats from a rising China and increasingly aggressive Russia. Mattis' main focus of late has been preparing for possible conflict with North Korea.

Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, have advocated building up partner forces that might make it harder for Iranian-backed militias to operate.

It's too soon to say whether Trump's new national security adviser, John Bolton, an outspoken advocate of regime change in Iran, will seek to challenge those instincts.

In the wake of Trump's decision on the nuclear deal, the White House this past week condemned new attacks on Israel and Saudi Arabia by Iranian-linked groups. In Yemen, U.S. officials have been seeking new ways to disrupt shipments of missile parts to Houthi rebels battling a Saudi-led military coalition there.

"It is time for responsible nations to bring pressure on Iran to change this dangerous behavior," press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

Any action the United States might seek to take is almost certain to have negative costs, potentially increasing risks to U.S. personnel.

In Syria, the big question is what, if anything, stays behind at Tanf if Trump follows through on his promise to get U.S. troops out of Syria.

Former envoy Dennis Ross, who has advised presidents of both parties on the Middle East, said the United States may be pulled into a regional conflict if no action is taken to constrain Iran in Syria, and conflict erupts between Iran and Israel, which could appeal for U.S. help. On Thursday, Israel launched the latest in a series of escalating attacks against Iranian targets in Syria.

"That is a war that you know how it starts but you don't know how it ends," he said. "Rather than waiting, why not get off the sidelines?"
BAGHDAD - An electoral ticket backed by the influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr emerged as the early front-runner in Iraq's elections, according to preliminary results released late Sunday, dealing a significant blow to the reelection campaign of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

If the results hold, Sadr, a strident critic of the United States who commands a militia that fought American troops during the occupation of Iraq, could be in pole position to determine Iraq's next leader. Sadr did not run in the election but holds sway over the electoral ticket that has defied predictions by amassing the largest number of votes across 10 of country's 18 provinces.

Sadr's coalition, called Sairoon, won by a large margin in the capital, Baghdad, which accounts for the most number of seats in Iraq's 329-seat parliament. A ticket led by the commander of a Shiite militia close to Iran came in second.

Abadi's coalition, which had been forecast to win and was the choice of the United States, came in fifth in the capital and was running third overall, according to the preliminary results.

The final official results are expected Monday, after which a long process of allotting seats in the legislature will begin, followed by members electing a president and a prime minister.

Sadr's surprise early lead sets up the prospect of Iraq's government being headed by someone both hostile to the United States and opposed to Iran's spreading influence in the country. Sadr has recently campaigned against corruption and can summon millions into the streets to protest policies he opposes. He surprised Iraqis by forming a cross-sectarian, non-Islamist electoral coalition for Saturday's vote that includes Iraq's communist party.

Before the release of the preliminary results, the conversation on Iraq's airwaves, social media and streets had revolved around the historically low turnout at polling places.

Fewer than 45 percent of Iraq's 22 million eligible voters turned out for the parliamentary election, held five months after the Islamic State militant group's three-year occupation of major Iraqi cities was ended in a costly and bloody war. The low turnout was at odds with predictions that voters would throng the polls in a harbinger of a new era in Iraqi politics.

The number reflects a steep decline in the rate of Iraqi voter participation, which was 62 percent in the 2014 and 2010 elections after a peak of 70 percent in 2005.

The official results of the Saturday vote are expected Monday.

Many of those who stayed home said it was an act of protest, not a lack of interest. They cited displeasure with Iraq's complicated election system, which rewards name recognition over political platforms, and a lack of confidence that the same old faces that led the ballot lists would deliver on job opportunities and lasting security.

Others said they hoped their boycott would force a national reckoning over what they regard as a stagnation of Iraq's political and social order in the years since dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003.

"I participated in all the previous elections, yet there was no change. We demonstrated against the electoral system, but no one listened," said Mustafa Sadoon, a Baghdad-based writer. "I didn't find any other choice to express my rejection except to boycott."

Iraq's government celebrated the election, however, citing the absence of any terrorist attacks at the polling stations and any reports of widespread irregularities or fraud.

Officials administering the vote attributed the low turnout partly to increased security measures and confusion stemming from the first-time use of an electronic voting system.

Several voters in the city of Najaf said in interviews that they were turned away when the biometric voting machines couldn't recognize their fingerprint or for showing up with an old voter ID card.

Boycotters said none of those reasons could account for the sharp decline in participation - which many analysts and Western diplomats had expected to top 60 percent.

The campaign season was notable for politicians moving toward a centrist message of Iraqi nationalism over sect allegiances, a dramatic departure from the pervasive sectarianism that has defined Iraq's politics since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Even Iraq's traditionally right-wing Shiite parties with close ties to Iran embraced the message of all Iraqis being equal under the law and putting national interests above that of any regional or global power.

Abadi's December declaration that the Islamic State had been defeated in Iraq had sparked delirious celebrations and pronouncements that Iraq was about to usher in a new era. His electoral ticket campaigned on that theme, hoping the military victory would translate into a political victory.

Waseem Seizeif, a blogger who advocated a large-scale boycott of the election, said the lofty rhetoric masked the absence of what much of the voting public was looking for: a substantive policy debate that addressed the myriad problems that Iraqis face.

"We believe in democracy, but we also believe that if we participated in the elections, it means we approve of this system, which we don't," he said.

Seizeif said the system forces desirable candidates to join party tickets headlined by established figures who rely on name recognition to garner votes - effectively eliminating any opportunity for others to run on a platform of reform.

That forces voters to cast ballots for a headliner politician they may despise as the only way to show support for a candidate they like.

"The whole system is broken," Seizeif said. "Change won't come through ballots. We should pressure them to change the entire system."

Indeed, this election was dominated by established candidates, including a ticket headed by former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was ousted after the 2014 Islamic State blitz of Iraq despite his coalition winning the most votes. Other leading candidates in this election included Abadi and Hadi al-Ameri, head of one of Iraq's largest Shiite militias. A bloc backed Sadr, who rose to prominence opposing U.S. forces from 2003 to 2011, is also expected to do well.

Sadoon said that he knew of several "clean" candidates he wished he could have voted for but that they had joined "corrupt blocs."

"That means my vote will help the thief who is heading this bloc, and I can't be party to this," he said.

Ahead of the election, even Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, signaled displeasure with the field of candidates, instructing followers not to support any hopeful who has failed the country in the past.

In a departure from his stance during previous contests, when he urged all Iraqis to vote, Sistani also said that there was no religious obligation to participate.

As candidates awaited the official results, some reflected on the unenthusiastic turnout.

One prominent candidate from the ticket headed by Ameri, Karim al-Nouri, joked that more people participated in the rapid dismantling of election billboards for scrap metal than in the election.

But he added a serious note, saying the low turnout was a warning to the political class.

"It's an alarm," he wrote in a Facebook post. "It's a reaction to the corruption since 2003 and it means that the government must reconsider the political approach."
WASHINGTON - Justice Department leaders are reluctant to recommend U.S.-based criminal trials for two Islamic State militants captured and detained in Syria, according to American officials who said that, even though federal prosecutors believe they can win in court, it is unclear whether there is sufficient evidence to secure convictions and lengthy prison terms.

At the same time, senior Trump administration officials are adamant that Britain bears responsibility to prosecute the men, Alexanda Kotey, 34, and El Shafee Elsheikh, 29, whose British citizenships were revoked over their alleged affiliation with an ISIS cell suspected of murdering Westerners.

Further complicating matters, Attorney General Jeff Sessions would prefer that Kotey and Elsheikh be sent to the U.S. military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, though he has recognized the success of federal terrorism prosecutions.

State Department officials are wary of undermining the U.S. government's position that terrorist fighters captured overseas should be returned to their countries of origin.

The complicated U.S. policy discussion, and the impasse between the United States and Britain, is testing the patience of the victims' families, who anxiously await a decision they hope will result in justice through a fair and open trial. They oppose sending the men to Guantanamo, which they view as fuel for terrorists' narrative of abuse and mistreatment by U.S. authorities.

Slowing the process is a turnover in leadership in London, where a new Home Secretary just took office, and in Washington, where John Bolton last month became President Donald Trump's national security adviser.

"We really don't have any commitment that the U.S. is going to actually take on their case," said Diane Foley, whose son, journalist James Foley, was beheaded by the Islamic State in 2014. Foley and the relatives of three other deceased American hostages met in recent days with Bolton and Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers. The officials were sympathetic listeners, she said, but they could not offer much guidance. "It's all very much still up in the air," she said.

Trump issued an executive order in January to leave Guantanamo open. At his direction, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has developed criteria for transferring terrorist suspects captured on the battlefield to the prison, including that they be high-value and members of groups such as al-Qaida or the Islamic State. The Pentagon also is eager for the British to take custody of Kotey and Elsheikh, in part to ease the pressure on the United States' main ally in Syria, the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces, which has become taxed by having to detain hundreds of captured foreign fighters.

The families, Foley said, hope to speak with Trump and Mattis.

The White House declined to comment, as did the Pentagon, Justice Department and State Department. "We continue to work extremely closely with the U.S. government on this issue . . . in the context of our joint determination to tackle international terrorism and combat violent extremism," a British government spokesman said.

U.S. officials say Kotey and Elsheikh belonged to a four-person ISIS cell known as the Beatles, so named for the members' British accents. The group held more than 20 Western hostages and tortured many of them. The most infamous was Mohammed Emwazi, better known as Jihadi John, who was killed in a 2015 drone strike in Syria. The fourth member, Aine Davis, was arrested in Turkey, convicted in 2017 and is in prison there.

U.S. prosecutors have told their bosses they have evidence - with the most compelling material coming from Britain - to obtain life sentences on charges such as conspiring to provide material support to terrorists with acts resulting in death, and conspiring to take hostages with acts resulting in death.

In a February memo to Demers, attorneys in the Eastern District of Virginia indicated the British have voice analysis evidence against Kotey that could link him to the Beatles cell, which is important because the captors wore masks while in the hostages' presence. Investigators believe witnesses would make voice identifications, which might be buttressed by circumstantial evidence, such as showing that the men used phrases around the hostages that they were known to use at other times.

"There is definitely enough evidence to put them on trial," said one British intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. The official declined to say how strong he felt the evidence was but added that, if they are convicted and imprisoned, he fears they would "radicalize other prisoners while we would have to pay for their prison time - not a great scenario."

Investigators also have gathered evidence of the men's radicalization dating to the mid-2000s. Neither has denied belonging to the Islamic State. Prosecutors are hopeful they could build a case that connects both to the murders of Foley, Kayla Mueller, Steven Sotloff and Peter Kassig.

But senior administration officials, including some in the Justice Department, are less certain. One obstacle, officials say, is the British have placed requirements on sharing evidence, including a guarantee that the men will not be sent to Guantanamo and that the death penalty won't be sought.

Sessions, alluding to these demands, chided the British government late last month for its reluctance to prosecute the men. "I have been disappointed, frankly, that the British . . . are not willing to try the cases but pretend to tell us how to try them," he said during congressional testimony.

"What happens if we bring them here and the prosecution is not successful?" one U.S. official said, describing the questions often asked within the administration. "Do we just release them onto the streets of southern Manhattan?" And if the United States agrees to prosecute Kotey and Elsheikh, "how does that affect our ability to persuade other countries" to take back their dozens of foreign terrorist fighters if the British don't take their two?

Former national security prosecutors say they would take the risk. "I'd put my money on the assessment of the career terrorism prosecutors recommending federal charges against these guys," said Nicholas Lewin, who successfully tried in the Southern District of New York a number of senior al-Qaida figures.

A presidential directive signed by President Barack Obama in 2015 states that the prosecution of hostage-takers is an important deterrent. The U.S. government, it said, shall seek to ensure they are prosecuted through "a due process criminal justice system" in the United States or abroad.
BNP fears rigging in KCC polls

Staff Reporter :

The BNP on Sunday warned the government and the election commission that it would reject Khulna City Corporation polls results if any kind of irregularities takes place.

"We want to make it clear if any kind of vote rigging takes place in Khulna City Corporation polls, then we will reject the result," BNP Standing Committee Member Barrister Moudud Ahmed said.

The BNP leader was addressing a protest meeting at the National Press Club organised by Shafiul Bari Babu Mukti Parishad for the release of jailed BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and Jatiyatabadi Swechchhasebok Dal President Shafiul Bari Babu.

He said, if the election is plagued by rigging, BNP would launch movement against that. At the same time, a BNP delegation met Chief Election Commissioner AKM Nurul Huda and other commissioners to complain about KCC's irregularities and massive arrest of BNP men by police.

BNP Standing Committee Member Nazrul Islam Khan led the team.

The BNP leader alleged that BNP's women leaders were threatened by the female members of police.

He also said the ruling party men are campaigning everyday but BNP obstructed.

He said it to journalists after meeting with election commissioners at Nirbachan Bhaban.

KCC poll is scheduledd to be held on Tuesday.
The United States is assuring North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that his ouster is not part of the agenda for the summit next month between Kim and President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday.

"We will have to provide security assurances, to be sure," Pompeo said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday."

The promise not to invade North Korea or otherwise seek Kim's overthrow would be incentive for him to give up his nuclear weapons.

"This has been a trade-off that has been pending for 25 years," Pompeo said, referring to the long history of failed negotiations with Pyongyang as well as the North Korean narrative that the United States is a mortal threat.

Trump is scheduled to meet Kim in Singapore on June 12 for an unprecedented summit.

On CBS' "Face The Nation," Pompeo said he had already provided that assurance to Kim.

"I have told him that what President Trump wants is to see the North Korean regime get rid of its nuclear weapons program, completely and in totality, and in exchange for that we are prepared to ensure that the North Korean people get the opportunity that they so richly deserve."

"No president has ever put America in a position where the North Korean leadership thought that this was truly possible, that the Americans would actually do this, would lead to the place where America was no longer held at risk by the North Korean regime," Pompeo said.

The U.S. position is not new - Pompeo's predecessor, Rex Tillerson, also had stressed that the United States would not seek Kim's ouster - but it carries additional weight now that Trump and Kim are to face to face. It is also significant because of past statements by both Pompeo and new White House national security adviser John Bolton about potential regime change in North Korea.

Pompeo said last year that the most dangerous element of the North Korea nuclear weapons problem "is the character who holds the control" over the weapons.

"So, from the administration's perspective, the most important thing we can do is separate those two, right?" Pompeo, who was CIA director at the time, had said at the Aspen Security Forum. "Separate capacity and someone who might well have intent and break those two apart."

However, he told senators during his confirmation hearing last month that he does not support regime change in North Korea.

Bolton, speaking Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," said his own past advocacy for regime change in North Korea and in Iran were the views of "a free agent" and are irrelevant to his current job.

"I'm the national security adviser to the president," but Trump calls the shots, Bolton said.

As recently as December, Bolton had said that he favored "regime elimination" in North Korea.

"My proposal would be: Eliminate the regime by reunifying the peninsula under South Korean control," Bolton had said on Fox News, where he was a frequent commentator. Asked whether he is calling for regime change, he replied, "Yes. Regime elimination with the Chinese. This is something we need to do with them."

Bolton said that if Trump can negotiate an agreement with Kim, it might be submitted to the Senate as a treaty as the next step in the ratification process.

"It's entirely possible we could," Bolton said, adding that to do so would address "one of the criticisms of the Iran deal."

The 2015 Iran nuclear deal was concluded as a compact among nations but was not submitted to the Senate for ratification by the Obama administration. Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement last week. Bolton said Sunday that it should not have come as a surprise to European powers.

European companies could be subject to U.S. sanctions if they continue doing some business with Iran, he said, adding that the threat of such sanctions will have a "dramatic" effect on Iran's already struggling economy.

On ABC's "This Week," Bolton said Trump will raise the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea as well as the detention of South Koreans when he sees Kim. Both issues are of intense importance to U.S. allies. But Bolton hedged on how far Trump might take any human rights criticism of a regime the United States has previously accused of mass incarceration, torture and starvation of civilians.

"This first meeting is going to be primarily on denuclearization," Bolton said, adding that other issues could follow.

Pompeo also said that if the summit leads to successful negotiations, the outcome will bring private investment in North Korea. He said it will include helping North Korea build out its energy grid and develop its agriculture program so it can grow enough food for its people.

"Those are the kinds of things that, if we get what it is the president has demanded - the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of North Korea - that the American people will offer in spades," he said.

Pompeo said a lot of work remains to achieve that goal.

"Our eyes are wide open with respect to the risks, but it is our fervent hope that Chairman Kim wants to make a strategic change," he said. "A strategic change in the direction for his country and his people, and if he's prepared to do that, President Trump is prepared to assure that this can be a successful transition."

Pompeo went to North Korea last week to discuss preparations for the summit and returned with three U.S. citizens who had been detained in North Korea. He met for almost 90 minutes with Kim, his second face-to-face encounter with the North Korean leader, and he described him as professional and knowledgeable.

"He, too is preparing for June 12, he and his team," Pompeo said. "We'll be working with them to put our two leaders in a position where it's just possible we might pull off a historic undertaking."

On CBS, Pompeo contrasted the Trump administration's approach with those of previous presidents who tried to negotiate North Korea's denuclearization .

"We're hopeful that this will be different," he said. "That we won't do the traditional model, where they do something, and we give them a bunch of money, and then both sides walk away. We're hoping this will be bigger, different, faster. Our ask is complete and total denuclearization of North Korea, and it is the president's intention to achieve that. "

In exchange, he said, North Korea will get what Pompeo characterized as "our finest" - "Our entrepreneurs, our risk takers. our capital providers."

He said private equity, encouraged by sanctions relief, would help North Korea improve its electrical grid, infrastructure and agricultural production.

"We can create the conditions for real economic prosperity for the North Korean people that will rival that of the South," he said.
A bill to limit the left lane on Illinois highways to use only for passing has failed to gain speed at the statehouse.

State law restricts the use of the left-hand lane of the highway, saying it should be used only to pass. An exception keeps the law from being enforced. Attempts to close the exception were shot down by lawmakers in Springfield, including one who said he used the left lane to drive all the way there from Chicago.

State Sen. Jim Oberweis, R-Sugar Grove, and others have said cant stand drivers who linger in the passing lane. Even though state law punishes violators who are caught with a $75 ticket, theres an exception in the law saying drivers can stay in that lane when no other vehicle is directly behind the vehicle in the left lane.

Oberweis said his bill would remove that exception.

They think [staying in the passing lane] is OK, but then other cars come up behind them and then they switch to the center lane and then you have weaving in traffic, he said.

A study by California Polytechnic State University said that drivers going from 5 to 10 miles an hour slower in a passing lane result in a higher number of highway accidents because of people changing lanes multiple times.

Members of the committee thought the bill was just another reason for police to pull people over.

State police have told Oberweis that they have trouble enforcing the law with the exception on the books, he said. They were neutral on this particular bill.

State Sen. Napoleon Harris, D-Harvey, told Oberweis that he uses only the left lane when driving to Springfield from his district in Chicago.

I drive in the left hand lane all the way here, he said. If somebodys behind me and needs to pass, Ill move over to the right; they pass, and I move back over. Whats the problem with keeping it like that now?

Oberweis told Harris that his bill would make that illegal.

Routinely driving in the left lane is a foolish thing to do, said Michael Right, vice president of public affairs with AAA. Youre ultimately going to be blocking someones path, causing them to make a relatively rapid lane change. The best approach to driving on an interstate highway is to keep to the right except when passing.

There was little interest in the bill from the committee, which didnt call it for a vote. Oberweis said he considers it a dead issue.

Like Illinois, most other states have keep right laws, but its unclear how many include an exception similar to the one in Illinois.
STERLING (AP)  A Sterling woman has spent a lot of time on wishful thinking.

Karen Abele has invested countless hours planning, coordinating, making phone calls and sending emails, juggling a job and a family with volunteer work - and shes made a lot of kids dreams true.

She recently was honored for her work - but as far as Abeles concerned, shes already been honored many times over, each time her work put a smile on a childs face.

The Sauk Valley Community College assistant English professor was recognized as a Milestone Volunteer by Make-A-Wish Illinois last week during National Volunteer Week, for her 20 years of service to Make-A-Wish.

Shes one of the longest-serving volunteers among the nearly 1,700 in the state who help makes wishes come true for children who are terminally ill or have been diagnosed with a life-altering condition.

Abele delved into volunteering in 1998 after the birth of her first son, Nicholas, now 21, and has since helped grant 27 wishes in northern Illinois.

Abele was an English professor at Kishwaukee College, but decided something else was important enough for her to give up her full-time job.

I decided to take a break from teaching to be a stay-at-home mom for a while. It just seemed like the perfect time to do some volunteer work, Abele said. I saw an article in the paper for training to become a Make-A-Wish volunteer, so I attended and became a wish granter.

The motivation was simple: being able to help children, she said.

Although all the wishes shes helped grant have been special to Abele, one hits close to home.

A high school friends son had a heart transplant as a baby. In 2014, when he was a teenager, I was able to help grant his wish to meet Eli Manning.

Other wishes shes helped with that stand out include a Harry Potter-themed castle visit in England, a firefighter bedroom redecoration, a shopping spree at an Apple store, construction of a backyard play set and tree house, Disney wishes, and an Adam Sandler meet-and-greet in Hawaii.

The process for wishes can take time. First, the Chicago office for Make-A-Wish lets volunteers know when a child in the area qualifies for a wish. After that, volunteers offer to take on the wish.

Then, the work begins. Volunteers reach out to the parents, meet with the family, and begin the process of coordinating the wish.

We - myself and my wish partner, Christina Kitson of Dixon - arrange with the parents to meet the child and family to determine their wish.

Making wishes come true can take anywhere from 6 to 9 months, depending usually on the availability and health of the child.

The long-time commitment is all worth it to Abele.

To work with kids who have been through so much is an incredibly rewarding experience. Its been an honor to help make their wishes come true.
HENNIKER, New Hampshire  Julian Castro returned to New Hampshire Saturday, sparking more speculation that hes gearing up for a run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

The former San Antonio mayor and Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Barack Obama told the San Antonio Express-News that hell decide on a White House run after the midterm elections, adding by the end of the year Im going to make a decision.

Castro was in the state that holds the first primary along the road to the White House to deliver the commencement address at New England College here. The school, founded after World War II by and for veterans, is also the most diverse college or university in New Hampshire.

You are exactly what our nation needs to prosper in this 21st Century, he told the graduating students. In this world where brain power is truly the new currency of success, you are our greatest hope to thrive in the years to come.

Castro described the graduation ceremony as a great victory for you and your family when you cross the stage but its also a tremendous victory for our country because in the years to come we need you and many, many, more like you if were going to prosper in this 21st century.

In a lighter moment, Castro told the audience how competitive he is with his twin brother, Congressman Joaquin Castro. He joked that with the honorary degree he received from New England College, hell tell his brother look at that. Im actually a little bit smarter than you are.

Following the commencement ceremony, Castro met with longtime New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman Ray Buckley. And later in the day he headlined a fundraiser in Nashua to help elect Democrats to the state House of Representatives.

The trip was Castros second to New Hampshire this year. He met with college students at Saint Anselm College and headlined a New Hampshire Young Democrats fundraising and awards dinner in February.

New England College political science professor Wayne Lesperance, who introduced Castro at the New England College commencement ceremony, joked that Granite Staters would likely see more of Castro over the next couple of years.

Castro, 43, predicted that his partys next presidential nominee will be someone of his generation.

Asked if that means he doesnt believe possible 2020 contenders such as Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont (76), former Vice President Joe Biden (75), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts (68) could be the next Democratic nominee, Castro told the Express-News not at all.

But he explained that as he talks to voters across the country, what I hear out there is that people are ready for a new generation of leadership and I believe in 2020 they will elect a new generation of leadership. (Thats) not meant as a knock on anybody.

Castro also took aim at Republican President Donald Trump.

What you have is a President that came into office promising to reduce the corruption whos actually increased the corruption in Washington, D.C., and is doing it so blatantly, he said.

And he said that any of the potential Democratic presidential contenders in what may be an extremely large field would do a tremendously better job than Donald Trump is doing right now. They have a better head on their shoulders.

Castro said his main mission at this point is helping elect progressive Democrats in this Novembers elections through his political action committee Opportunity First.

Castro is one of four Democratic White House hopefuls visiting New Hampshire this weekend, and one of two delivering commencement addresses. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti gives a commencement speech Sunday at Southern New Hampshire University.

Former Missouri Secy. of State Jason Kander, the founder of the voting rights group Let America Vote, headlines a Rockingham County Democrats clambake in Portsmouth on Saturday evening. And Congressman John Delaney of Maryland, who last summer announced his candidacy for the White House, stopped by Puritan Backroom restaurant on Friday night. The longtime family-owned establishment in Manchester is a must stop for White House hopefuls.
Over the past five weeks, 45 unarmed Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army while protesting in Gaza. In the same time, zero Israelis were killed by Palestinians.

These numbers paint a picture of a one-sided conflict. An aggressor and a victim. The oppressor and the oppressed. The occupier and the occupied. The numbers over the past 10 years reinforce that duality, as thousands of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. And as much as defenders of Israels brutality would like you to think otherwise, it isnt more complicated than that.

Recent op-eds in the Express-News would lead you to believe that Israels killing of civilians is justified by using recycled narratives that obfuscate the reality on the ground, and that have been disproved time and again.

OPINION: Equating Gazans with ISIS is wrong

Eleanor Siegal, for example, writes that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005  and left the Gazans to rule themselves with no Israeli authority over them (Hamas to blame for Gaza fiasco, May 7). While it is true that Israel removed its civilian presence from Gaza, Siegel fails to mention that this removal was followed by a cruel blockade of Gaza by land, air and sea at the hands of Israel. This siege has had a crippling effect on the people of Gaza, as Israel has complete control over the movement of people and goods into Gaza.

The United Nations, as well as NGOs such as Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have unequivocally condemned the blockade and published, at length, about the economic and humanitarian ramifications of the illegal siege.

Jonathan Gurwitz, in his op-ed, engages in a tried-and-true strategy of those who defend the ruthlessness of violent states  what-aboutism. In a failed attempt to absolve Israel of its crimes, Gurwitz accuses Palestinian activists of hypocrisy, recklessly claiming they cant be bothered to speak out about the atrocities in neighboring Syria, where a half million people have lost their lives. (Whitewashing role of Hamas will not ease conflict, May 3).

RELATED: Yes, San Antonians do have a stake in Gaza events

In Gurwitzs failure to do basic research, he missed that the specific activists he was referring to are vocal in their opposition to the violence in Syria, specifically against Bashar Assad, who is responsible for the lions share of civilian casualties.

Furthermore, establishing that the conditions in Syria are awful does nothing to change the fact that Israel has consistently engaged in human rights abuses in Gaza, and, according to inquiries by the United Nations, Israels actions amount to war crimes. The Syrian government and Israeli government have that in common, regardless of scale.

The most unusual defense of Israels actions appears in Gilad Katzs opinion piece (Israel has right to defend itself against Hamas in Gaza, May 5). In it, he comes to Israels defense by stating that five of the protesters killed were members of Hamas. Even if you ignore Katzs nonchalant dismissal of the extrajudicial killing of protesters, its not difficult to see why this position is so troubling. In Katzs eyes, as well as in the eyes of the Israeli army, killing 10 Palestinians is justified as long as one of them poses a potential threat to Israel.

This is a prime example of Israels practice of collective punishment, where many Palestinians are punished because of the actions of a few. Not so surprisingly, collective punishment was established as a war crime at the Geneva Conventions.

MORE: A whitewashing of Hamas in a telling of the Gaza story

In another striking statement, Katz claims members of the Justice in Palestine movement  are calling for the destruction of Israel by stating in protests that from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

What Katz misses is that the free Palestine we demand is not like the free Israel he envisions. It is not an apartheid state or an occupying power where the rights of citizens are dependent on their ethnicity. The free Palestine we call for is a state where all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, have equal rights.

We call for a state where all life (Jewish, Muslim, Christian or otherwise) is sacred.

We call for a state where peaceful protest isnt constantly met with military violence.

We view these rights and demands as fundamental to peace for the future of Palestinians and Israelis.

We would only hope that others saw it the same way.

Ahmad Kaki studied political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is a Palestinian-American resident of San Antonio.
Quota reformers threaten strike from today

DU Correspondent :

Bangladesh General Students' Rights Protection Council (BGSRPC) has threatened an indefinite strike from today (Monday) in all universities and colleges across the country as the government did not respond to students' ultimatum to publish quota reforms gazette.

Earlier in the day, leaders of the BGSRPC gave an ultimatum to government to publish the gazette notification of quota reforms by 5:00pm after two hours long demonstration at the Teacher-Student Center (TSC) of Dhaka University.

They also held similar two hours long countrywide demonstrations under the banner of the quota protesting students' platform demanding the gazette notification.

BGSRPC has been protesting against the current 56 per cent quota system in government jobs terming the number of portions as illogical. Speaking at the National Assembly, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on April 12 said the quota system will be abolished and a quota notification in this regard will be published in this regard soon.

Around one thousand students gathered in front of the DU central library to take part in the demonstration. They also brought a procession from there under the initiative of the central committee of this students' platform that paraded throughout the campus and its adjacent areas.

The demonstration continued from 11:00am to 1:00pm despite incessant rainfall.

Demonstrations and rallies were also held at Sholoshahar of Chattogram, Rajshahi University, Carmichael College, Barishal, Cumilla and Tangail where thousands of students demanded immediate gazette notification on of Quota reforms.

Convener of BGSRPC Hasan Al Mamun said, "After passing 32 days of the Prime Minister's declaration, we are yet to get the desired gazette notification. We did not seek quota abolition, we called for quota reformation in government jobs. So, the government can retain quota system for a particular group had it feel like. But it must come following our five point demands."




When heartbeats suddenly become more noticeable, they are called heart palpitations. Sometimes they can feel as though the heart has skipped a beat. Palpitations can also feel like the heart is pounding, fluttering, or beating irregularly. A person may experience these sensations in the throat or the neck. They can last for a few seconds or several minutes. Heart palpitations can be frightening, especially when experienced for the first time. However, they are usually nothing to worry about.

What is a heart palpitation? A heart palpitation happens when someone suddenly feels one or more heartbeats. Because the heart pumps blood automatically, people are usually unaware of individual beats. This pumping allows the blood to circulate throughout the body, delivering oxygen and other essential components. The heart has four chambers that are attached by one-way valves. A heartbeat is a pumping action that takes about 1 second and happens in two parts: Part 1 : As blood collects in the upper two chambers, an electrical signal causes a contraction that pushes blood to the lower chambers.

: As blood collects in the upper two chambers, an electrical signal causes a contraction that pushes blood to the lower chambers. Part 2: Blood is pushed from the heart into the lungs, where it is mixed with oxygen before circulating around the body. Below is an interactive animation of a normal heartbeat. Explore the animation with your mouse pad or touchscreen.

Causes of skipped beats The heart skipping a beat can be the result of a number of factors, including: 1. Lifestyle triggers Strenuous exercise, not getting enough sleep, or drinking too much caffeine or alcohol can all lead to heart palpitations. Smoking tobacco, using illicit drugs such as cocaine, or eating rich or spicy foods can also cause the heart to skip a beat. 2. Psychological or emotional triggers Palpitations can be caused by stress or anxiety. They may also occur during a panic attack. Other symptoms of a panic attack include: nausea

feeling weak or dizzy

numbness in the extremities

chest pain or tightness

trembling

shortness of breath 3. Medication A number of medicines can trigger heart palpitations. These include: asthma inhalers, such as salbutamol and ipratropium bromide

medications for high blood pressure, such as hydralazine and minoxidil

antihistamines, such as terfenadine

antibiotics, such as clarithromycin and erythromycin

antidepressants, such as citalopram and escitalopram

antifungal medicines, such as itraconazole Anyone who has frequent heart palpitations and is taking medication should check the list of possible side effects on the label. They should not stop taking the drug, however, without speaking to a doctor. Usually, heart palpitations are a harmless side effect. 4. Hormone changes Periods, pregnancy, and menopause can all cause heart palpitations. 5. Arrhythmias Share on Pinterest Arrhythmias are common in older people. Arrhythmias are a group of health conditions that can interfere with the hearts rhythm. Millions of people have arrhythmias, and they are especially common as people get older. Most are harmless, but some require medical attention. The following are examples of arrhythmias: Atrial fibrillation, which can cause a fast, irregular heart rate.

Atrial flutter, which can make the heart beat quickly with a regular or irregular rhythm.

Supraventricular tachycardia, which causes episodes marked by an abnormally fast but regular heart rate. It tends to affect otherwise healthy people.

Ventricular tachycardia, a potentially serious condition that causes a fast, regular heart rhythm and is sometimes associated with dizziness or blackouts. 6. Heart conditions In some cases, palpitations can indicate problems with the heart. Examples include: A mitral value prolapse, which causes blood to flow inefficiently through the heart.

Heart failure, which happens when the heart is unable to pump blood effectively.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy , which refers to an enlargement of the heart muscle and its walls.

, which refers to an enlargement of the heart muscle and its walls. Congenital heart disease, which refers to abnormalities that are present from birth. 7. Other medical conditions The following issues can also cause palpitations: dehydration

anemia

a fever of 100.4F or higher

hyperthyroidism , which refers to an overactive thyroid

, which refers to an overactive thyroid hypoglycemia, which refers to low blood sugar levels

Symptoms Heart palpitations tend to feel like a fluttering or churning in the chest or neck. When more serious arrhythmias are responsible, palpitations can occur with the following symptoms: tiredness

dizziness

lightheadedness

fainting

a rapid or pounding heartbeat

shortness of breath

chest pain In extreme cases, heart palpitations can lead to sudden cardiac arrest.

When to see a doctor Share on Pinterest If heart palpitations continue without improvement, medical attention is required. If heart palpitations happen occasionally and pass quickly, it is unlikely that the underlying cause is severe. It is a good idea to speak to a doctor when palpitations: follow a history of heart problems

last for long periods

do not improve over time

get worse Some cases require emergency medical attention. Seek medical help immediately when palpitations accompany any of these symptoms: severe shortness of breath

pain or tightness in the chest

light-headedness or dizziness

fainting or blacking out

Diagnosis To investigate the cause of heart palpitations, a doctor will usually ask about a persons symptoms and medical history. They may also recommend blood tests and an electrocardiogram to check the heartbeat. If the doctor suspects a heart problem or an arrhythmia, they may request: Holter monitoring Also called a continuous ambulatory electrocardiographic monitor, a person wears a Holter monitor for 2448 hours to record the hearts rhythm. Treadmill testing Exercise or stress tests are designed to trigger a palpitation so that it can be diagnosed. A person will usually walk and run on a treadmill or ride a stationary bicycle while the heart rate and rhythm are monitored. Echocardiogram This test uses sound waves to create an image of the hearts size, structure, and motions.
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People who reported a greater number of or more intense psychiatric symptoms were assigned a higher p-factor score. All participants who were diagnosed with mental disorders were referred for treatment. In a study published last year, the team examined how the structure of the brain, such as the density of white or grey matter, maps onto the p-factor. They found that higher p-factor scores correlate with lower volume and less integrity of white and grey matter in regions of the brain that help coordinate complex movements with external stimuli, including visual input. In the new study, they wanted to extend this analysis to also include the brain's functional circuitry. Using an advanced statistical technique, they examined how functional connections throughout the brain related to p-factor scores. They consistently found that people with higher p-factor scores also had certain brain regions that didn't work together as well -- specifically four regions of the visual cortex that help us understand and recognize what we see.When they looked deeper into the data, they found that these visual networks specifically had trouble tapping into more complex networks responsible for focus, planning and introspection. Difficulty focusing and planning has been linked to severe forms of mental illness, such as schizophrenia and severe depression. "We are very visual animals compared to, say, a dog or a mouse, so a big part of our attention is focused on filtering visual information," Elliott said. "And in order to filter visual information and stay focused on a task, these higher order networks need to work with your visual networks to tell it to ignore, say, the blinking light outside, and keep giving us information about what matters most for a given task at hand." "We will never make progress in the field of psychiatry until we can understand the biological origins of these diseases in people," said Theodore Satterthwaite, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the study. "What's exciting about this work is it shows that there may be common neural circuits that may leave people vulnerable to all sorts of disorders."Because measuring this circuitry is simple and non-invasive -- the patient merely has to relax in an MRI scanner -- Satterthwaite says it may have potential to be used as a diagnostic tool in a clinical setting. Both Elliott and Satterthwaite caution that the results must be replicated on a more diverse group than undergraduates before it can be considered generalizable to the population as a whole. The team at Duke plans to repeat the experiments on New Zealanders participating in the long-term Dunedin study. "The more we can map the p-factor onto the brain and understand how it influences mental illness, the more we can come up with novel ways of intervening," Elliott said.Source: Eurekalert
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The team carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine all available evidence about the factors that are associated with quality of life for people with dementia. They included 198 studies, which incorporated data from more than 37,000 people.The study found that demographic factors such as gender, education marital status, income or age were not associated with quality of life in people with dementia. Neither was the type of dementia.Factors that are linked with poor quality of life include poor mental or physical health, difficulties such as agitation or apathy, and unmet needs.Factors that are linked with better QoL include having good relationships with family and friends, being included and involved in social activities, being able to manage everyday activities, and having religious beliefs.Many other factors showed small but statistically significant associations with quality of life. This suggests that the way in which people evaluate their quality of life is related to many aspects of their lives, each of which have a modest influence. It is likely that to some extent the aspects that are most important may be different for each person.Evidence from longitudinal studies about what predicts whether or not someone will experience a good quality of life at later stages was limited. The best indicator was the person's initial rating of quality of life. This again highlights the importance of optimising quality of life from the earliest stages of living with dementia.Dr Anthony Martyr, lead author on the study, from the University of Exeter, said: "While in general it is more of a challenge to maintain good quality of life as dementia progresses, we found little evidence to show what predicts whether quality of life will improve or decline over time. The IDEAL programme we are currently leading will follow people living with dementia over several years and will help to answer this question."Dr Doug Brown, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer's Society, said: "Maintaining a healthy social life and doing things you enjoy is important for everyone's quality of life. As this Alzheimer's Society funded study highlights, people living with dementia are no exception."Someone develops dementia every three minutes but too many are facing it alone and feel socially isolated- a factor that researchers pinpoint contributing to a lower quality of life."People with dementia have a right to continue living a life they love. Alzheimer's Society's Dementia Friendly Communities initiative enables individuals, businesses and communities to involve and empower people affected - but we need all of society to unite to ensure people with dementia feel understood, valued and able to contribute to their community."The full paper, entitled 'Living well with dementia: a systematic review and correlational meta-analysis of factors associated with quality of life, well-being and life satisfaction in people with dementia', is published in Psychological Medicine. Authors are Anthony Martyr, Sharon M. Nelis, Catherine Quinn, Yu-Tzu Wu, Ruth A. Lamont, Catherine Henderson, Rachel Clarke, John V. Hindle, Jeanette M. Thom, Ian Rees Jones, Robin G. Morris, Jennifer M. Rusted, Christina R. Victor and Linda Clare.The study stems from the IDEAL programme. IDEAL is a major longitudinal cohort study of 1550 people with dementia and their family members or friends funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research. The IDEAL study is survey- and interview-based and aims to understand what makes it easier or more difficult for people to live well with dementia. The findings from the study will help to identify what can be done by individuals, communities, health and social care practitioners, care providers and policy-makers to improve the likelihood of living well with dementia. Since 2018 the project has been extended as an Alzheimer's Society Centre of Excellence, making it possible to follow the experiences of participants for several more years.Source: Eurekalert
Bitcoin, the virtual currency, is susceptible to hacking and therefore many investors choose to wisely invest in secure hardware USBs available in the market. But, what do you do when you have millions and millions worth of bitcoins? Do you still trust those cheap USBs? Or do you look for a more secure option, maybe somewhere in the Swiss Mountains, if it exists!

A Bloomberg report recently showed that rich millionaires now trust their digital currencies like Bitcoin with a startup by the name of Xapo which owns underground vaults to store them. Xapo has a network of bunkers in five continents and boasts of a clientele which has stored approximately $10 billion worth of bitcoins in those vaults. That is approximately 7% of the world's bitcoin circulating supply.

 Pinterest

The vaults itself are highly secure. They contain encrypted computer servers which are disconnected from the outside world. The servers hold the private keys which are needed to unlock the bitcoins stored on the bitcoin blockchain.

Ryan Radloff from CoinShares told Bloomberg that everyone who isn't keeping keys themselves is keeping them with Xapo. You couldn't pay me to keep it with a bank, added he. Coinshares currently holds $500 million worth of bitcoins in Xapo's vaults.

 Pinterest

With security restrictions in place, it is not easy even for the owners to access their bitcoins once the private keys are locked up in the snow-covered mountains. The process starts with identity verification of the bitcoin holder and the withdrawal then needs to be verified and approved from three separate vaults for the transaction to be completed. If the withdrawal is of a large amount then people at Xapo accompany the owners for the withdrawal.

This video gives a glimpse of what the vaults look like from inside.

While it's an added investment for storing the bitcoins you own but if you are a bitcoin millionaire then maybe it's a smart move to safeguard your private keys in the vaults secured under swiss mountains.
The decision by the United States to withdraw from the international nuclear-power deal with Iran was expected to decrease the supply of the semi-finished material in the Gulf region, while CIS-region suppliers could see this as an opportunity.Turkish market remained quiet due to weak rebar demand in the countrys export markets, while the approaching Islamic holy month of Ramadan was expected to reduce demand in most Muslim-nation markets.Billet prices in China were 3,580 yuan ($564) per tonne on May 11, 80 yuan per tonne lower than the previous Friday.The inventory for the product in Tangshan was 480,000 tonnes on Friday, down by 40,000 tonnes from a week before, a billet trader in Tangshan said, quoting a local industry information provider.None of the exporters in the country were offering material because buyers were not interested in Chinese billet, according to the sources.The offer price for Q235-grade 150mm billet was calculated by Metal Bulletin at $530-535 per tonne fob, down by $5 per tonne from the previous week. Import prices for steel billet in Southeast Asia continued to rise over the week due to lower supply and costlier Chinese cargoes.Deals involving cargoes from Taiwan and Thailand were heard concluded at around $555-560 per tonne cfr to the Philippines late last week, up from the $540-555 per tonne cfr transactions a week earlier.A small shipment of Qatar-origin billet, re-exported from Vietnam, was sold into Manila at $549 per tonne cfr.Billet availability was limited during the week, especially given the strong Chinese and Indian domestic markets.Offers from South Korea and Central Asia were heard in the Philippines at $555-560 per tonne cfr.Middle East-origin billet was offered at $550-560 per tonne cfr, up by $5-15 per tonne from the preceding week.Chinese offers reached $560-570 per tonne cfr on Friday, up by $10 per tonne from a week earlier. Chinas domestic billet prices improved during the week amid lower inventory levels.Offers from other origins are moving up following the upward momentum in Chinas prices, an India-based trader said.Demand in the Philippines increased slightly because some buyers needed to replenish their inventory levels, even though the June monsoon season was expected to reduce demand.Bids at $550 per tonne cfr were heard from the Philippines, while other buyers who were not in a rush to procure indicated their interest at $540-545 per tonne cfr.In contrast, Indonesias procuring interest remained muted for both billet and slab, partly because imports were costlier due to the depreciation of the Indonesian rupiah.Indonesian demand was also depressed amid the countrys slow finished steel products market and the upcoming Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which starts in mid-May.Construction projects are slowing down as Ramadan approaches, and re-rollers still have plenty of rebar inventory, an Indonesia-based trader said.Re-rollers indicated their interest for billets at $520 per tonne cfr, he added.No bookings were reported in Indonesia, except for Iranian materials. A cargo from Iran was sold to Indonesia at $530-535 per tonne cfr.CIS, TurkeyPrices in the CIS export billet market continued to climb last week with some customers accepting the higher prices offered by the mills.Several billet cargoes were sold to North Africa within the range of $515-520 per tonne fob Black Sea.Market participants also reported a sale of billet from Russia at $520 per tonne fob, but the details of the deal could not be confirmed at the time of publication.In these conditions, CIS suppliers continued to push prices further upward. But buyers in Turkey were still quiet and showed no interest in billet or scrap purchases last week. Turkish billet prices remained stable over the week with demand for material being very limited.The billet mills in the CIS region tried to increase their offer prices for Turkey, in line with the uptick in Turkish imported scrap prices. But, due to poor demand for rebar, none of the customers in Turkey were willing to buy billet at a higher price.The mills [in the CIS region] tried to raise their offers to $530 per tonne cfr but failed to sell at that price, a trading source said.Billet offers from the CIS therefore remained unchanged at $525-530 per tonne cfr.Meanwhile, domestic and export billet prices in the Middle Eastern country also remained steady last week.Prices for billet imports into the United Arab Emirates went down over the week due to poor demand.The market also was expected to remain slow in the coming weeks because of Ramadan, when working hours are reduced.Iran offered billet at $515-520 per tonne cfr, but a buyer was bidding $490-495 per tonne cfr.We are not planning to buy at more than $495 per tonne cfr. Demand is not good [because] Ramadan is coming, one buyer said.Prices for Iranian exports of steel billet increased in the week, with new deals reported by market participants.Market sentiment was negative because of US President Donald Trumps announcement that the United States would be withdrawing from the multi-lateral nuclear pact with Iran, with plans to reinstate trade sanctions.But the UAE is expected to continue buying from Iran in th same way that it was trading before sanctions, and the UAE needs Iranian billet, although other countries will probably back off.Recent bookings for a total of more than 50,000 tonnes of Iranian billet were reported at around $500-505 per tonne fob to customers from the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries, Egypt, Southeast Asia and China.Offers from Iranian mills came in at $495-505 per tonne fob on May 9.The price of imported steel billet prices was largely unchanged in Egypt last week. CIS-origin billet was on offer in the Middle Eastern country at $533 per tonne cfr, but no deals were heard.But Iran sold 40,000-50,000 tonnes of billet to Egypt at $525-530 per tonne cfr.The trading situation may change, however, because Iran is one of Egypts sources for steel billet, and market participants in Egypt believe that Trumps nuclear deal pullout could reduce the billet supply from Iran considerably.Currently, the biggest billet supplier to Egypt is the CIS region, and sources believe that its share of the Egyptian market will probably increase.Jessica Zong in Shanghai, Vlada Novokreshchenova in Dnepr, Serife Durmus in Bursa and Fiona Lam in Singapore contributed to this report.
Tk 15 lakh snatched in Gazipur

Staff Reporter :

Miscreants shot at 'bKash' and 'Robi' agents and looted Tk 15 lakh near the Chandana intersection of Gazipur Town.

The injured are bKash agent Iqbal Hossain, 33, and Robi agent Asaduzzaman, 30.

Police said, a gang of muggers in two motorbikes intercepted three agents of bKash and Robi when they were heading to UCB bank for depositing Tk 15 lakh. As the victims tried to resist, muggers shot at them and fled the scene snatching the cash.

Locals took the victims to Gazipur Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College Hospital.

Joydebpur Police Station Sub-Inspector (SI) Enayet Hossain told the media that efforts are on to arrest the culprits and a case is being filed in this connection.
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References

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The Thames Miner's Guide (1868) sold for the proprietors by Edward Wayte, Queen Street, Auckland. The Goldfields of New Zealand: report on roads water races mining machinery and other works in connection with mining, Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, Session 1, C.-03, New Zealand Government, Wellington, 1896. New Zealand Herald newspaper (1907) The Waiotahi Gold Mining Company (to the Ed.), Vol. XLIV, issue 13472, 24 June 1907. Fraser, C. (1910) The Geology of the Thames Subdivision, Hauraki, Auckland. New Zealand Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 10 (New Series), New Zealand Government, Wellington, 136 pages. McMahon, T. (1986) Report on Waiotahi-Moanataiari area, Thames Goldfield: for Mineral Reources NZ Ltd. Unpublished mining company report, Ministry of Commerce MR502. Monin, P. (2001) Hauraki Contested 1769-1875, Chapter 7 Gold and the Overwhelming of Hauraki, Bridget William Books, p211.

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Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.

The Thames mining area involved exploitation of well defined quartz veins with local bonanza gold concentrations.Many mine excavations are now exposed as underground workings, shallow tunnels, or quarries, although these are commonly dry. Groundwater drains from the host rock-mass and is chemically affected by that rock, so that surface seepages reflect the chemistry of the immediate host rock. Water issuing from pyritic altered rock near mineralised zones on Una Hill and Waiotahi mine is acidic, with pH as low as 2.Metal Distribution in historic mine wastes, Coromandel Peninsula. Craw & Chappell, NZJGG, 2000.Various mines in the Waiotahi area produced in excess of 500,000 ounces of gold (McMahon, 1986)When gold was discovered at the Shotover claim in 1868, it soon became apparent other nearby areas were likely gold bearing. These areas were controlled by Maori tribes who were reticent about allowing hundreds of miners onto their land. Early pictures of gold mining areas around Thames show a scorched earth scene, prove this fear was valid. Two sons of a chief who opposed mining, had been arrested after assaulting a trespassing miner. They were fined, but unable to pay, were due for two months imprisonment. The chief, Aperahama Te Reiroa approached government agent James McKay for a loan. At the time McKay was trying to convince the Maoris to open the Waiotahi block for gold mining, and offered to pay the fine, on the proviso the land was opened for development.The country rock is pyroxene andesite, highly propylitised altered in the upper levels, however there was a belt of dark hard un-altered andesite in the southern portion of the lease.The Waiotahi lode (sometimes called the Waiotahi-Cambria lode) was 12 feet wide, trending north-east to south-west, and dipping north-west by up to 45 degrees. Smaller branch veins have a steeper dip, and specimen stone was found where veins intersect. The gold is associated with considerable quantities of crystallised stibnite, encrusted in turn by dark ruby coloured pyrargyrite. Pyrite is abundant, black, often decomposed in the upper levels, forming stalactites with manganese oxides and gypsum from the roof and walls of the tunnels, some described as hanging in long threads from the roof to the floor. There is no reason why these should not still be there, in areas not collapsed, however accessing it is another matter. The lode contains irregular solid pyrite bands, and other un-named sulphide minerals. The quartz in the upper levels show comb structures, and cavities with quartz drusy linings, sometimes filled with clay.In 1904, long after other gold bonanzas had been exhausted in other mines in the area, a large patch of gold was found at the junction of the No. 1, No. 2 reefs and Specimen Leader, where the reefs changed dip to almost vertical. Gold was so plentiful it had to be cut out in places with a chisel. Half a million pounds in dividends was issued in six months. The patch was described as a lensoidal pipe, 107 feet long by 32 feet by 4 feet in cross-section. It was unusual compared to other Thames bonanzas, as the gold was found in boulder like fragments of specimen stone in cavenous veinstone. Gold was also liberally found in the surrounding wall rock to 4 feet. The good times did not last long, as the rest of the veins were average grades.The original prospectors were Parnell and Tournley (surnames) the claim registered in April 1868. The mine was located near the mouth of the Waiotahi Stream valley, bounded by the Kuranui-Caledonian to the east, the New Moanataiari to the south, Victoria to the west. The lease in 1908 contained the old claims Waiotahi, Imperial City, Cure, Manukau, and part of the Golden Crown.The Waiotahi Gold Mining Company operated the mine from 1873, and had conducted considerable development since 1877. The total produced by 1908 had been 97 704 tonnes of ore producing 241 690 ounces of gold. The first mine manager was J.H. Burnside.The size of the lease operated by the Waiotahi Gold Mining Company in 1896 was reported at 22 acres. It is stated as a steady earner, paying dividends. The mine was accessed from the Waiotahi shaft with three levels (Fraser states seven levels in 1908), and the Mary Ann shaft with two levels. In 1895 as an example, 2194 tonnes of ore was extracted producing 2321 ounces of gold.The twenty year old, 20 stamp mill was replaced in 1905 by a new 20 stamp battery. The new Waiotahi battery closed in 1907. The tailings generated by the battery now has houses built across it along the present foreshore.
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This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.
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Fossils

References

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Cabri, L.J., Clark, A.M., and Chen, T.T. (1977) Arsenopalladinite from Itabira, Brazil, and from the Stillwater Complex, Montana. Canadian Mineralogist, 15, 70-73. White, J.S. (?) (1980) Interview: Allan Caplan. The Mineralogical Record, 11(6), 351-360. Sauer, J.R. (1982) Brazil, Paradise of Gemstones. Gemological Institute of America, 135 pp. (pp. 14, 20, 22-24, 112). Gemma, R.O. and Gammons, C.H. (1996) Thermodynamic and textural evidence for at least two stages of Au-Pd mineralization at the Caue Hon Mine, Itabira District, Brazil. The Canadian Mineralogist, 34, 547-557. Kwitko, R., Cabral, A.R., Lehmann, B., Laflamme, J.H.G., Cabri, L.J., Criddle, A.J., and Galbiatti, H.F. (2002) Hongshiite, PtCu, from itabirite-hosted Au-Pd-Pt mineralization (jacutinga), Itabira district, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Canadian Mineralogist, 40, 711-723. de Brito Neves, B.B., Fuck, R.A., and Pimental, M.M. (2014) The Brasiliano collage in South America: a review. Brazilian Journal of Geology, 44(3), 493-518.

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Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itabira Wikidata ID: Q1638413 GeoNames ID: 3460960

Localities in this Region

Portions of the Itabira area are assigned to overlapping geological provinces, the Iron Quadrangle Province (known in Brazil as the Quadrilatero Ferrifero) and the Eastern Brazilian Pegmatite Province. The Iron Quadrangle Province is named for a more-or-less rectangular region containing rich deposits of iron ore in the form of banded iron formation (BIF). Brazil has become the worlds leading exporter of iron, largely due to these BIF deposits, and they are so important to the economy of the country that this kind of ore has become known throughout Brazil as itabirite. The BIF occurs in folded and thrust-faulted, marine metasedimentary rocks of Mesoproterozoic age. Geological features of these rocks formed during accretion of an island arc onto a portion of the ancient supercontinent of Rodinia roughly 2.0 billion years agoan event typically referred to as the Transamazonian Orogeny (see Brito Neves et al., 2014).Gold, platinum, and palladium deposits also formed in the Iron Quadrangle at that time. Those deposits occur in shear-zone veins and pods characterized by specular hematite, quartz, and kaolinite, forming a distinctive ore type referred to as jacutinga in Brazil. The Morro Velho Mine at Nova Lima in the Iron Quadrangle is the worlds oldest continuously operating gold mine, having opened in 1725. Upon reaching a depth of 1775 meters in 1915 it became the deepest mine in the world (since exceeded by diamond mines in South Africa). By 1960 it had produced 450 tons of gold. Platinoid ores in the area include five different essential platinum-bearing minerals, for which Itabira is type locality of one. Six essential palladium-bearing minerals have been reported from Itabira, which, rather remarkably, is the type locality for four of those. More recent hydrothermal activity associated with near-surface processes may have contributed to conditions that gave rise to this degree of mineralogic novelty, but by this time the gold and platinoids were already there.The Eastern Brazilian Pegmatite Province (EBPP) is characterized by local pegmatitic intrusions, many of which have produced colored gemstones such as aquamarine, tourmaline, and topaz. The pegmatites are related to larger granitic intrusions that invaded what is now the eastern portion of Minas Gerais and adjacent parts of Rio de Janeiro, Espirito Santo, and Bahia states. These granites are associated with a second episode of tectonic accretion known as the Brasiliano Orogeny, of late Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic age, roughly 660-500 million years ago. This was the most recent tectonic event that contributed to the geographic and tectonic outlines of the southern portion of the supercontinent Gondwana. The granites and associated pegmatites invaded country rock typical for the Iron Quadrangle province and other geologic provinces in eastern Brazil. Deposits of the EBPP are therefore spottily overprinted on older geological features, but because the pegmatites are important economically, and all are related to that one tectonic event, they have been recognized as belonging to a geological province in their own right.Various portions of the EBPP have been referred to as gemological districts, and Itabira is in the Gemological District of Santa Maria de Itabira. In this area, beryllium-rich pegmatites emplaced during the Brasiliano Orogeny were leached by hot aqueous solutions, carrying Be3+ into the surrounding chromium-rich metasedimentary rocks (schists). Beryl colored green by a few tenths of a percent of Cr3+ formed the beryl variety emerald that crystallized in those rocks as temperatures declined (Gemma et al., 1996). That is considered to be a metamorphic rather than igneous process. Nevertheless, emeralds would not be present near Itabira if beryllium-rich pegmatites had not been intruded previously. Thus, this area is considered to be an outlier of the EBPP, superimposed over the larger Iron Quadrangle region. Because most pegmatites are rather small and localized, they have not fostered development of world-class open-pit and underground mines, as the iron and gold deposits have.NK, May 2018
KCC polls tomorrow

Staff Reporter :

The Khulna City Corporation election will be held on Tuesday (tomorrow). It may serve as an indicator of the upcoming parliamentary election as the Awami League and BNP candidates continue to exchange heated statements.

Election observers believe the Khulna poll on May 15, with mayoral candidates from major political parties Awami League, BNP, Jatiya Party and CPB, will provide a glimpse of the political environment for the next general election.

The Election Working Group (EWG) Director Abdul Alim said the present Election Commission led by KM Nurul Huda now faces heightened expectations after running successful polls in Cumilla and Rangpur last year. The Khulna city polls have also gained in important as both AL and BNP are raising questions regarding the EC's role in addition to pointing fingers at each other, he told bdnews24.com.

"The Khulna city polls are exuding an overall atmosphere similar to the national election as candidates are using their party emblems, serving as an indication of how the next poll will be. It is definitely a challenge for the EC," said the EWG director. He expects the election will be competitive and needs to be devoid of irregularities, as otherwise it may create a negative impact on all quarters. However, he warned people not to make any assumption regarding the national election based on the results of Khulna city poll despite candidates' use of the party emblems.

It will, however, indicate an escalation of how the EC will maintain trust and a peaceful environment, he said. The present environment of Khulna City Corporation poll seems satisfactory due to the good and eligible candidates are participating in the election, said Munira Khan, president of private election observers Fair Election Monitoring Alliance or FEMA. But the EC still has a challenge in conducting the election, she said.

"The Election Commission should take up the issue seriously as it will increase EC's positive image to voters, political groups and to the candidates," she this news agency. Both AL and BNP have complained against the EC for not getting equal opportunities at the Khulna City poll. The Awami League has complained that central leaders of BNP are participating in the election campaign while they are not being allowed to bring their own central leaders.

They have also claimed the returning officer being an aide of BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami will influence the election. The BNP, on the other hand, said the police commissioner of Khulna is threating and arresting its members. It also said EC has sent its joint secretary to influence the returning officer. "Political groups may have allegations against us but the EC is taking all possible measures to ensure a successful election," said Election Commission Secretary Helaluddin Ahmed. He assured any complaint will be scrutinised and handled. "Political parties, candidates, voters and media- all have their eyes glued on Khulna to observe the polling environment," Helaluddin said.

Although the political groups have expressed their own opinions regarding the deployment of the military, the EC has reaffirmed that it will not deploy the army at the local level election. Voting for Khulna City Corporation will take place on Tuesday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

All outsiders will have to leave the election area by midnight on Saturday and candidates have to cease all kinds of campaign before 32 hours of election, said Farhad Hossain, Deputy Secretary of Election Management and Coordination Division, EC. Law enforcement agencies, including police, BGB, RAB, Ansar-VDP will remain engaged in maintaining law and order in Khulna from May 13 to 16, before and after the city corporation election. They will be carrying all polling equipment to the centres, as well as ensuring their security.

At least 22-24 law enforcement agents will be deployed at each centre. Executive magistrates have been performing their duties in three stages since the polling schedule was declared. They will be working for a four-day-stretch - two days before and two days after the election. The EC has deployed 49 executive magistrates and 10 judicial magistrates on the day of vote. At least 10 election officers of EC will observe the election. Four city corporations will have to hold polls after Khulna.

The term for Gazipur ends on Sep 4, Oct 8 for Sylhet, Oct 5 for Rajshahi, and Oct 23 for Barishal. Gazipur had its last city corporation election on July 6, 2013, while Khulna, Rajshahi, Barishal and Sylhet had their last election on June 15, 2013.

BNP backed candidates had won in all five cities in the 2013 election. The mayoral candidates will take campaign using their party symbols, which was not the case in the election five years ago.

Chief Election Commissioner Nurul Huda said the local level elections will be completed by July as the Eleventh Parliamentary Election is due between November and January.
Ctg highway in terrible mess

Gridlock intensifies: Transport owners threaten strike. RMG leaders want special train service

Hundreds of vehicles remain stranded in a massive traffic gridlock that intensified at two points for the 4th consecutive day on Sunday from Cumilla to Sitakunda due to 4 lane and earth work on Dhaka-Chattogram highway , causing immense sufferings to pass

Staff Reporter :

Public transport owners have announced dawn to dusk strike on Dhaka-Chittagong highway today from 6.00 am to 6 pm demanding immediate removal of all bottlenecks on the way for smooth journey to the port city.

The tailback was over 114 km in the afternoon yesterday; as vehicles remained almost totally stuck on the highway failing to make headway towards destination.

Transport owners have also announced a three-hour strike every day from 12 noon to 3.00 pm from tomorrow to keep pressure on the government to act quickly to remove the impasse.

The construction work on a railway overpass at Fatehpur in Feni without taking into consideration the setback that may develop in the highway traffic has been blamed for the disaster on the highway.

But knowledgeable sources said the overpass is very important to save time for transport vehicles on the busy highway. Now the highway has to be closed frequently to allow running trains to cross the highway. Highway police estimate suggests the highway remained closed at least five hours a day in total to allow train crossing. It can't go indefinitely.

The disclosure by communication minister Onaidul Quader on Sunday that the overpass work will come to an end in 25 days however suggest the terrible situation in the highway will have more disastrous consequences.

Despite opening of the four-lane traffic on Dhaka-Chittagong highway, long tailback on the highway remains the biggest worries for commercial transport and passengers traffic causing unspeakable suffering in reaching the port city from the capital.

BGMEA - the garment manufacturers and exporters association yesterday demanded special cargo train service to the port city to reach their export consignment for timely shipment.

President of the trade body Sidiqur Rahman said exporters are facing big setback; as buyers may not take merchandise on time expiry of the shipment schedule.

The highway mainly remained paralyzed from Chouddagram, Comilla to Siakundu section of the highway. The tailback has been blamed on partial closure of the highway for construction of the railway-overpass at Feni.

General Secretary of Dhaka-Chittagong inter-district bus owner association Kofi Uddin lamented the situation saying "what is the benefit of playing the vehicles if they remain struck for 18 to 24 hours on the highway."

He further said, "Drivers and helpers can't sleep, can't take food and drink for long hours. This is an inhuman situation."

"The five-to-six hour trip on the Dhaka-Chattogram route is now taking over 15 to 17 hours. Now people have cancel their trips and turned back for heavy congestion," said local resident at Feni.

Rashed Khan, M A Malek, Additional Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Highway Police, told The New Nation on Sunday, "The congestion, resulting from under-construction railway overpass at Fatehpur railway crossing has triggered the tailback when rains and potholes aggravated the situation on the highways,"

He said at least 44 trains cross Fatehpur rail crossing everyday and they take away at least five hours a day halting the vehicles to wait. The muddy road and brickless side ways are also blamed for slow movement of traffic.

Feni traffic police officer in-charge Mir Golam Faruk, said that Dhaka bound covered van and truck carrying goods took more than 40 hours to reach Mohipal of Feni from Chittagong on Saturday.

The tailback has already reached to Barobkunda of Sitakunda, said Ahsan Habib, officer-in-charge of Bar Awlia Highway Police Station.

Feni Model police station officer-in-charge Rashed Khan Chowdhury said they had distributed packets of biscuits and a bottle of water on Friday and Saturday to people stranded on the highway.

Travelers are facing terrible difficulties and transport owners are facing financial pains. They are burning more fuels and drivers and helpers to be paid overtime when the vehicles remain idle without earning, said an owner.

Many fears this congestion may continues up to Eid vacation. Road communication expert Prof Moazzem Hossain of the Buet's civil engineering department said, "We see puzzled to see the situation even after opening Dhaka-Chittagong highway to a four lane traffic."

"Plying of overloaded vehicles are destroying roads and highways," claimed RHD Chief Engineer Ibne Alam Hasan. He said there may reasons but overloading is causing the biggest harm to roads and highways.




EC sets June 26 for GCC election

Staff Reporter :

The election of Gazipur City Corporation will be held on June 26.

Secretary of Election Commission (EC) Helaluddin Ahmed made the announcement of the election at a news conference at its office on Sunday.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the EC chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda in the afternoon, he said.

"The election will be held on June 26 while the official election campaign will start on June 18," he said.

The Appellate Division on May 10 directed the Election Commission to hold the Gazipur City's mayoral polls by June 28.

A four-judge bench chaired by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order after hearing three separate appeal petitions filed by the Election Commission and two mayoral candidates-Hasan Uddin Sarkar of BNP and Zahangir Alam of Awami League.

On May 6, the High Court stayed the Gazipur City Corporation election which was scheduled to be held on May 15.

It also issued a rule asking the government to explain as to why the inclusion of six moujas of Dhaka district into GCC should not be declared illegal.

The government on January 16, 2013 published a gazette incorporating six moujas of Shimulia union of Savar upazila (South Boroibari, Domna, Shibrampur, West Panishail, South Panishail and Domnag) under Gazipur City Corporation but according to law, the GCC was formed with Gazipur and Tongi municipalities.

ABM Azharul Islam Suruj, Shimulia union parishad chairman of Savar, filed the writ on May 6 morning challenging the legality of the gazette as the Election Commission announced the election schedule incorporating six moujas of Dhaka district, which is illegal.

Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda announced the election schedule for Gazipur and Khulna city corporations on March 31.




Leading beverages-maker Parle Agro is planning to enter new categories and ramp up the sales and distribution network for its existing products to achieve its target of clocking Rs 10,000 crore topline by 2022, a top company official has said.

The city-based company expects to double the turnover of its flagship brands Frooti and Appy Fizz to achieve this target. While the former grosses Rs 2,200 crore now, the latter fetches around Rs 700 crore in topline.

"We are at Rs 4,200 crore now and we hope to be an Rs 5,000-crore company by December. We are looking at doubling this up over the next few years and have set an aggressive target of Rs 10,000 crore turnover by 2022," Parle Agro joint managing director and chief marketing officer Nadia Chauhan told PTI here.

"It is an aggressive target involving big plans not just in terms of furthering our sales and distribution network for existing products but also creating some new products and new categories over the next few years," she added.

Its flagship brand Frooti has been growing at 25 per cent and the company aims to double this in the next two-three years from Rs 2,200 crore now.

The mango-based beverages category is estimated to be over Rs 8,450 crore now, and Frooti enjoys 26 per cent of this segment, she said.

Parle Agro dominates the sparkling fruit juices category with its Rs 700 crore brand Appy Fizz, which it targets to be a Rs 1,000-crore brand by 2020.

The company recently roped in Hindi actor Salman Khan as the brand face for Appy Fizz and Chauhan said it is part of the strategy of growing the category and the brand.

"We really hope that this gives us huge penetration as a brand and achieve our goals of growth," she said.

Appy Fizz is one of the fastest growing brands in its portfolio, clipping at 50 per cent.

Chauhan plans to expand the distribution footprint and drive sales with innovative packaging, differentiated SKUs and aggressive pricing for Appy Fizz.

"Over the next two years we will have lots of innovation and packaging, which we hope to increase our market penetration. Today Appy Fizz is available at about 6 lakh outlets, while Frooti is at almost 2 million outlets. We want to take Appy Fizz to the level of Frooti when it comes to retailing, " she said.

The company has earmarked Rs 200 crore for marketing activities in 2018, of which Rs 100 crore will be invested in Appy Fizz alone and the rest primarily in Frooti.

The Rs 10,000-crore fruit-based beverages market is dominated by mango, and last year the company had launched Frooti Fizz in the fruit-plus fizz category and is looking at other fruits to drive this category.

Parle Agro, which exports to 50 countries, is also evaluating opportunities to locally manufacture its products in some of its key export markets.

"We are aggressively planning to convert some of these markets to into manufacturing hubs for both captive consumption as well to serve nearby markets. We are looking at the Middle East, East Africa, and the US for manufacturing base, as these are also big markets for us," Chauhan said.

"Currently, exports as a revenue stream is very small for us which is why we are looking some of overseas market for local manufacturing. We already have a manufacturing facility in Nepal," she said.

Parle Agro has 12 beverages manufacturing facilities and 56 bottling plants for water brand Bailley.
Chanda Kochhar said she is "disappointed, hurt and shocked" by ICICI Bank decision to treat her resignation as a "termination for cause". Kochhar said she served the ICICI group for 34 long years "with all my dedication and hard work" and the bank's latest decision has caused her "immense hurt and pain".

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ICICI Bank Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Chanda Kochhar was not the only one facing tough questions from the media the past week.

While Kochhar was chided more for her silence regarding nepotism charges levelled against her involving loans given to Videocon Group, Federal Bank CEO and MD Shyam Srinivasan was critically blessed by Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, the big bull investor who owns 1.79 percent in the Kerala-based bank.

During the banks analyst call, Jhunjhunwala expressed displeasure on the banks performance and business growth while comparing it to its peers who are focusing on retail fee income growth.

The week began with ICICI Bank's profits dipping to half from the year-ago period to a two-year low due to substantial surge in non-performing assets (NPAs) to the tune of Rs 15,737 crore. Its gross NPAs worsened to 8.84 percent of total loans from 7.82 percent in the December quarter.

On the Videocon-loan controversy, Kochhar continued to maintain that she has nothing more to add than what ICICI banks board has said. She evaded questions on whether her tenure would be cut short before it ends in March 2019.

There was no mention of the controversy even at ICICI Bank's board meeting, a day after the financial results.

On the other hand, the government, which has kept itself at bay from the controversy despite having a nominee on board, has not attended the past two board meetings. The government said that it is a minority shareholder in ICICI bank and can be overridden by the board, hence its nominee will prefer to abstain from participating until investigations are on.

HDFC Bank rolls out succession planning

Meanwhile, ICICI Banks rival HDFC Bank announced its plan to set the ball rolling for appointing a successor to its leader and founding CEO Aditya Puri.

Puri, who joined the bank in 1992, will see his tenure end on October 31, 2020 (at the age of 69).

Banks financials

During the week, both private and public sector banks continued to tread on a fiery path given the rise in bad loans that are squeezing profits in the last quarter of FY18.

Apart from ICICI Bank and Federal Bank, state-owned lender Canara Bank posted financial results and suffered a loss of Rs 4,860 crore during the quarter. This is the second-highest loss posted by any lender after Punjab National Bank (PNB), since the bad loan clean-up exercise started in 2015.

Similarly, Union Bank of India reported a loss of Rs 2,583.4 crore for the Q4 FY18 due to an over three-fold jump in provisions towards NPAs or bad loans.

Also Read: RBI puts Dena Bank under prompt corrective action

Meanwhile, Allahabad Bank and UCO Bank, reported losses to the tune of Rs 3,510 crore and Rs 2,134 crore, respectively, for the last quarter ended March 2017-18.

For UCO Bank, it was the 10th quarterly loss in a row, weighed down by sharp deterioration in asset quality, which is one-fourth (24.64 percent) of its total loans.
HDFC AMC

Investors usually depend on various investments that generate a steady stream of cash flow for meeting their monthly expenses. Some invest in Post Office Monthly Income Scheme, while some take the fixed deposits route.

However, recent trends show that investors have been opting for dividend option of mutual fund schemes (mostly balanced and equity savings) to meet their monthly cash requirements.

Dividends received by investors were tax-free and hence, they were preferred over the Growth Option, so that tax liabilities were effectively managed.

The asset under management or the AUM of equity oriented schemes paying dividend has increased from Rs 1.15 lakh crore in March 2015 to Rs 2.51 lakh crore in December 2017.

The Finance Act, 2018 has introduced a tax on Long-Term Capital Gains (LTCG) on equity and equity-oriented schemes at 10 percent (plus surcharge, as applicable and cess) without indexation for gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh in the financial year.

Further, it has introduced dividend distribution tax (DDT) on equity-oriented mutual fund schemes at the rate of 10 percent (plus applicable surcharge and cess).

Thus, with effect from 1st April 2018, any dividend distributed by the mutual fund on equity oriented schemes will be taxed at 10 percent in the hands of the mutual fund scheme.

Therefore, a dividend distributing scheme will always pay a DDT of 10 percent, irrespective of the quantum of dividend declared in the financial year. With these changes in income tax laws, how does one meet his/her monthly cash needs in a tax-efficient manner?

One such alternative is to opt for Systematic Withdrawal Advantage Plan (SWAP), which allows investors to redeem a pre-defined amount from their investments at regular intervals.

In the initial period of SWAP, the gain portion is much smaller and most of the payout actually consists of the principal (investment). Over time, the principal component of the payout decreases giving way to the gain component. As a result, the tax outgo gets deferred.

SWAP also allows you to take exemption of Rs 1 lakh on Long-Term Capital Gains, whereas, under the dividend option, you end up paying DDT irrespective of the quantum of dividend amount.

Also, DDT on dividends is paid irrespective of market movements and one would pay tax @ 10% (plus surcharge, as applicable and cess) even when the market movement is negative.

Under SWAP, capital gains tax (short-term or long-term) is paid only when there is some gain. Thus, opting for SWAP allows you to defer your tax liability and also provides you an opportunity to offset the loss, if any, in one financial year against gains in subsequent financial years.

Further, monthly cash flow under SWAP is assured; whereas under Dividend option, the cash flow is subject to availability of distributable surplus in the scheme.

However, it is advisable to choose a SWAP amount lower than the expected return. If we opt for a higher amount of withdrawal, we may end up withdrawing our capital.

Investment is a very dynamic and unpredictable field and the investor has to constantly adjust to the changes that will come in his or her way.

Thus, considering the changes in taxation, retail investors are better off opting for SWAP under growth option over dividend option, as it helps to provide monthly cash flow in a tax efficient manner.

The author is Senior Vice President & Head - Products & Marketing, HDFC Asset Management Co. Ltd. The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are her own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.
Fridays late surge enabled Nifty to climb 10,800 marks ahead of the Karnataka election verdict, as some hopes may have been built from the traders fraternity on BJP becoming victorious in this crucial battle, Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst, Technicals and Derivatives at Angel Broking, said in an exclusive interview with Moneycontrols Kshitij Anand.

Q: The Nifty50 rose by 1.7 percent for the week ended 11th May despite some volatile moved seen during the week. Do you think we should be able to climb 10800 levels and head towards 10,900 next week irrespective of Karnataka election results?

A: Fridays late surge enabled Nifty to climb 10,800-mark ahead of the Karnataka election. Maybe some hopes have been built from the traders fraternity on BJP becoming victorious in this crucial battle.

From a technical point of view, surpassing this stiff hurdle of 10,800 certainly bodes well for the bulls. So, if we have to keep this event aside and make a judgment only on the basis of charts, we may see a continuation of the ongoing momentum towards 10,86010,900 levels.

As we all know, predicting such events can be as difficult as nailing the jelly to a tree. Hence, we do not want to make any comment in this regards. But, in our sense, we would see some kind of profit taking at higher levels post the event in case of a favorable outcome as well.

On the downside, 10690 followed by 10600 would be seen as key supports. A sustainable move below these points would apply brakes on the ongoing optimism.

Q: It looks like 11000 strikes is attracting a considerable amount of open interest. Do you think Nifty could reclaim Mt 11K in May series?

A: As far as F&O data is concerned, foreign institutional investors or the FIIs added long positions in the index and stock futures. Meanwhile, they also added fresh longs in the index call options along with writing in the index put options.

The above F&O data do hint a possible move towards 11,000; but, as we all know, such major events can be tricky. Hence, if we have to gain any kind of conviction, we would rather keep a close eye how the market behaves post the event and then probably the clearer picture will get unfolded.

Q: Plenty of stocks hit fresh 52-week highs or record highs in May series. Do you think these are stocks which are carrying the momentum and investors should stick with them?

A: Yes possible, but at the same time, its also advisable to keep booking timely profits and trailing of stop losses in order to safeguard your notional profits.

Q: What is your call on smallcap and midcap stocks? Should investors stay away or just book profits on rallies?

A: Considering the stock specific destruction in the week gone by, traders need to be very agile when it comes to stock picking. In the initial part of the forthcoming week, it is advisable to stay light and keep assessing how the market behaves for a day or two post the key political event.

Q: Top 3-5 positional call which could give handsome returns to investors in next 1 month?

A: With a directional view, we are upbeat on PTC India, Saregama India, and Monsanto. On the other hand, we expect weakness to continue in midcap PSU especially in Canara Bank.

The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
The board of directors of the Hindu Urban Cooperative Bank, Pathankot, has been placed under suspension on complaints of "mismanagement", an official said today.

"They (directors of the board) have also been put on notice to explain as to why action should not be taken against them as they have failed to perform their expected duties in a transparent and professional manner," a Punjab government release said here today quoting the Cooperative Societies Punjab Registrar Arvinder Singh Bains.

The release said the financial health of the bank has been severely eroded thereby putting the interest of the depositors of the bank at a grave risk.

The department received complaints from the public and representations from the staff of the bank regarding alleged mismanagement by the board of directors, Bains said in the release.

"A detailed enquiry was got conducted by the Joint Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Jalandhar Division. This enquiry pointed out that Reserve Bank of India while conducting the inspection of the bank has put the bank on notice under Self Corrective Action for the second consecutive year."

The NPA of the bank has shot up to 48 per cent, which is very high.

The enquiry report has also indicated that certain individuals/families/groups of individuals have unduly been favoured by giving very high amount of advance to them and recovery is not effected which has grossly affected the financial health of the bank.

"The bank, in fact, has to recover Rs 99.69 crore from 44 big defaulters," he said.

"The management of the bank has woefully failed to protect the interests of the institution, its depositors, its members and share holders compelling the (Cooperative Societies) Department to step in and suspend the Board," he said.
Congress

The BJP today mounted an attack on the Congress on corruption after charge sheets were filed against family members of former Union Minister P Chidambaram and said the party had not acted on a Supreme Court order for setting up a Special Investigation Team as it would have indicted its own leaders.

BJP president Amit Shah led his party's nationwide attack on the Congress and cited the four charge sheets filed by the Income Tax department against Chidambaram's family members to allege they had illegal assets worth 3 billion dollars, a claim dismissed by Chidambaram as a dream of the chief of "India's richest political party".

This explains why despite Supreme Court's orders Sonia Gandhi, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh & then FM P Chidambaram dragged their feet on formation of SIT, one of the first decisions taken by Modi govt, to fight black money! How could they indict their own selves, Shah tweeted.

Chidambaram retorted to Shah's charge in a tweet, urging the BJP to bring back black money stashed abroad -- as promised by the party before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The president of the richest political party in India is dreaming of billions of dollars! Bring the money back and put Rs 15 lakh in the account of every Indian as you promised, he said.

The BJP also directed its leaders across the country, including chief ministers, to target the Congress over the issue and fielded Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the national capital to attack the rival party.

She described the charge sheets against Chidambaram's family members as the Nawaz Sharif moment of the Congress, a reference to Pakistan Supreme Court's decision disqualifying its former prime minister from holding office because of non-disclosure of assets and income earned abroad.

The parallels cannot be missed out in this case. I am wondering if for Congress party in India, we are seeing the Nawaz Sharif moment," she told reporters here.

Chidambaram mocked her with a tongue-in-cheek tweet.

The buzz in Delhi is that Ms Nirmala Sitaraman will be removed as Defence Minister and appointed as lawyer of the Income-tax department. Welcome to the bar, Ms Sitaraman (sic), he said.

The Income Tax department on May 11 filed charge sheets against Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets.

Sitharaman asked if Congress president Rahul Gandhi would investigate the issue involving his party's senior leader.

The Congress party president, incidentally who is also out on bail on some financial transactions which are questionable, should certainly comment and tell the entire party and people of India whether he is going to investigate this, she said.

She pointed out that the Pakistan court had disqualified Sharif from holding office because of not disclosing assets held in foreign countries.

Sitharaman said the law on black money was brought in by the Modi government because it had pledged before the last Lok Sabha elections to fight unaccounted for money held in India and abroad.

The charge sheets or prosecution complaints have been filed by the IT department before a special court in Chennai under Section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, officials said.

Nalini Chidambaram, Karti and Srinidhi and a firm linked to Karti have been accused of not disclosing, either partly or fully, immovable assets such as one at Barton, Cambridge, UK, worth Rs 5.37 crore, property worth Rs 80 lakh in the same country and assets worth Rs 3.28 crore in the US.

The former finance minister's family members had said the Income Tax Department charge sheets against them under the black money law were "baseless allegations" as the overseas investments under question had been reflected in their IT returns.
11:56 AM IST

53 killed, 39 in UP, due to lightning, thunderstorms: MHA

As many as 53 people were killed, including 39 in Uttar Pradesh, due to lightning and thunderstorms in four states since last night, the Home Ministry said today.

As per information received from state governments, 39 people died in Uttar Pradesh, nine in Andhra Pradesh, four in West Bengal and one in Delhi due to lightning and thunderstorms during the intervening night of May 13 and 14, a ministry spokesperson said.

Fifty-three people were injured in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Delhi and one in West Bengal.

Read the full story here.
Former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today asked the Centre to issue directions to the "concerned agencies" to ensure that its residents do not face any harassment. The chief minister spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and brought to his notice cases of alleged harassment of people from the state in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, an official spokesperson said.

The chief minister requested Singh to issue necessary instructions to the concerned agencies so that people from the state, who are studying, doing business or working in other parts of the country, do not feel inconvenienced and can carry on their activities without interference, the official spokesperson said.

Union Home Minister Singh assured the chief minister to look into the cases and take strict action, the official said.

Yesterday, the Delhi Police arrested four men for allegedly assaulting a Kashmiri woman in southeast Delhi's Sunlight Colony.

Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik had, however, informed Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba that the incident was a local issue, triggered by a dispute over feeding stray dogs, and had nothing to do with the woman's origin, officials said.

On Thursday night, the victims, including four women, were allegedly surrounded and roughed up by a mob of around 30-40 people. A police case was registered following a complaint from one of the women. She had alleged that she was physically assaulted by the mob.

An official in Srinagar said that another case of an assault on a Kashmiri businessman had been reported from Manali in Himachal Pradesh.
M Gautham Machaiah

Bengalurus voting population is being ridiculed for the low voter turnout of about 50 percent as compared to the state average of 72.36 percent. Is urban apathy the only reason for poor show or is there more to it than meets the eye?

While urbanites are usually accused of being lackadaisical, studies show that the turnout in Bengaluru is not actually low but appears to be so due to the bloated voters list. Much before the elections, Citizen Matters, an online magazine focussing on civic issues, had predicted the city would record a poor turnout due to faulty electoral rolls.

The voting percentage seems to be low in Bengaluru due to the large number of duplicate entries, says PG Bhat, a retired naval officer and software professional who has conducted elaborate studies on the voters list.

In one constituency, Basavangudi itself Bhat has found thousands of double entries. All that the Election Commission has to do is install a software which will identify duplicate names and photographs, he adds.

Shree DN, a senior journalist at Citizen Matters, says the problem of duplication cannot be addressed unless the authorities conduct a door-to-door survey during enumeration. The names of people who are long dead and gone continue to remain in the voters list, while it is also common to find the same person listed twice under different spellings in the same booth. When the base is bloated, the voting figures cannot be genuine, she notes.

With the IT boom, Bengaluru hosts a large number of migrants both from within and outside the state, most of whom live in rented houses. Given the huge attrition rate in IT companies and the notorious traffic jams in the city, people usually shift their houses closer to their workplace while changing jobs. In such cases, they register themselves as voters in the new locality while not deleting their names from the previous constituency.

It is not only duplication that is the culprit, says senior journalist Vijay Grover, There is a mafia that registers people from neighbouring states as voters to help certain politicians. The roster needs a thorough clean-up.

While duplication is a serious issue, negligence of the voter too cannot be ruled out. Over the last few years, the people of Bengaluru have developed a culture of making a quick getaway from the city during long weekends. With voting day falling on a Saturday, a large number of people were found leaving for tourist hotspots like Coorg and Chickamagaluru. Bengalurians viewed Saturday not as voting day, but as a paid holiday, says hotelier Suresh Kumar Yerapathi.

According to Karnataka Liberals, a popular Twitter handle, a sustained campaign by a few groups and media houses against elected representatives is responsible for the low turnout. These groups whine throughout the year and make the people cynical. former chairman of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board HC Sharathchandra explains, Cynicism is the born out of frustration that all politicians are the same.

While the typical urban voter indifference might have contributed to the poor turnout to some extent, it is time the Election Commission gets its act together by cleaning up the electoral rolls. Until then Bengalurus citizens will have to bear the brickbats for no fault of theirs.

(The author is a political commentator and a senior journalist.)
The Undead Archives

I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.
Ram Nath Kovind, nominated presidential candidate of Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), delivers a speech during a welcoming ceremony as part of his nation-wide tour, in Ahmedabad, India, July 15, 2017. REUTERS/Amit Dave - RTX3BL0Y

President Ram Nath Kovind arrived here today on a two-day visit. He was received at the airport by Governor Kalyan Singh and Chief minister Vasundhara Raje. The president, who came by a special Indian Air Force aircraft, was given a guard of honour at the state hanger in the presence of senior officers.

It is his first visit to Rajasthan after becoming the president.

Kovind is scheduled to meet high court judges in Raj Bhawan and also attend a function at Birla auditorium in the evening, an official of the general administration department said.

The president will leave for Ajmer by a helicopter tomorrow where he will visit Pushkar and dargah of sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti. Tight security arrangements have been made for his visit. PTI SDA TVS .
A squall and sudden dust storm with a wind speed of up to 109 kmph accompanied by light rain hit Delhi this evening after a scorching day, a Met department official said.



Delhi: Strong winds and dust storm hits the region, visuals from RK Puram area. pic.twitter.com/7wTq6BiOvS

 ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2018

The sky turned cloudy around 4:30pm and gusty winds swept the national capital.

The sudden change of weather in Delhi forced airport authorities to divert at least 10 domestic flights, an official said. Vistara's Srinagar-Delhi flight was diverted to Amritsar and its Lucknow-Delhi flight was sent to Lucknow due to the inclement weather.

"There is a circulation of a western disturbance in North West India. We had forecasted that the weather will be adverse for 2-3 days. This thunderstorm will continue for the next 48 to 72 hours," Charan Singh, Scientist, Indian Meteorological Department told ANI.



Delhi: Dust storm, strong winds and rainfall hit the national capital, visuals from Janpath area. pic.twitter.com/3qfZpzsePJ

 ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2018

However, the relief to Delhi residents came after a sweltering day, when the maximum temperature had reached 40.60 degrees Celsius, a notch above the normal, the meteorological department official said. Humidity during the morning hours was recorded at 60 per cent, the official added.



#WATCH: Skies in Faridabad turn dark as strong winds & dust storm hit the region. #Haryana pic.twitter.com/VRDn8AsGIP  ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2018



The India Meteorological Department yesterday predicted that Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh would witness thunderstorm accompanied by squall.

#TravelUpdate UK902 Mumbai-Delhi has been diverted to Ahmedabad due to bad weather at Delhi. We apologise for the inconvenience. Please stay tuned for updates. Vistara (@airvistara) May 13, 2018

Its forecast said parts of Rajasthan might also see dust storm.

Thunderstorm over the northern hill-states and its effect in the plains is due to a western disturbance, the IMD said.



Delhi: Strong winds and dust storm hits the region, visuals from RK Puram area. pic.twitter.com/7wTq6BiOvS  ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2018

"Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds are also very likely at isolated places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh, Vidharbha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Telangana, north coastal Andhra Pradesh, south interior Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Lakshadweep and Kerala," the IMD said in an advisory said.
North Korea has scheduled the dismantlement of its nuclear bomb test site for sometime between May 23 and 25 in order to uphold its pledge to discontinue nuclear tests, the country's state media reported on Saturday a month ahead of a historic summit.

The official Korean Central New Agency said dismantlement of the Punggye-ri nuclear test ground would involve collapsing all of its tunnels with explosions, blocking its entrances, and removing all observation facilities, research buildings and security posts.

"The Nuclear Weapon Institute and other concerned institutions are taking technical measures for dismantling the northern nuclear test ground ... in order to ensure transparency of discontinuance of the nuclear test," KCNA said.

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will hold talks in Singapore on June 12, the first-ever meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

Trump's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that North Korea can look forward to "a future brimming with peace and prosperity" if it agrees to quickly give up its nuclear weapons.

Trump welcomed the North Korean announcement.

"North Korea has announced that they will dismantle Nuclear Test Site this month, ahead of the big Summit Meeting on June 12th," he tweeted. "Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture! Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!"

However, in spite of its pledge to stop testing, North Korea has given no indication it is willing to go beyond statements of broad conceptual support for denuclearization by unilaterally abandoning a nuclear weapons program its ruling family has seen as crucial to its survival.

In announcing the plan to shut Punggye-ri last month, Kim said North Korea no longer needed to conduct tests because it had completed its goal of developing nuclear weapons.

KCNA said journalists, including from the United States and South Korea, would be invited to cover the event, to "show in a transparent manner the dismantlement of the northern nuclear test ground to be carried out". The exact date of the closure will depend on weather conditions, the agency said.

To accommodate the travelling journalists, North Korea said various measures would be taken including "opening territorial air space".

NO MENTION OF EXPERTS

South Korean officials said in April that North Korea also planned to invite experts from the United States and South Korea for the Punggye-ri shutdown, but KCNA made no mention of this.

Last month, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said South Korean President Moon Jae-in had asked the United Nations to help verify the shutdown.

All of North Korea's six known nuclear bomb tests have taken place at Punggye-ri, in the northeastern of North Korea where a system of tunnels have been dug under Mount Mantap.

According to Chinese academic reports, North Korea's most recent nuclear test in September of what Pyongyang said was a hydrogen bomb, was so large it triggered a collapse inside the mountain, rendering the entire site unusable for future tests.

But U.S. intelligence officials have said it remains usable and could be reactivated "in a relatively short period of time" if it was closed.

Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at California's Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said in a blog post this week that recent satellite images had shown the removal of some buildings from the site.

On Saturday, he told Reuters that closure of Punggye-ri did not mean much in terms of disarmament, given that the United States, for example, stopped nuclear testing in 1992.

"It would, however, require North Korea to clear out the test tunnels and rebuild any infrastructure that might be removed, or dig new tunnels at the site or elsewhere. So, it's a good confidence building measure, but not necessarily a sign of irreversible disarmament."

Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States and a leading expert on North Korea's nuclear program, said collapsing the Punggye-ri tunnels would be "a big and positive step," given his belief that North Korea still required more nuclear and missile tests to reach the U.S. mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile.

However, he said the other crucial steps North Korea needed to take to demilitarize its nuclear program were to shut its plutonium production reactor, and open its uranium processing to inspection.
Theres a limited amount of technology for wholesalers  and theres an even more limited amount of technology for non-prime wholesalers, he said. With this rollout and the customization, weve performed, weve been able to get salesforce to work specifically for our non-prime lending needs and help our AEs to grow their business with our brokers. We get very granular. Every single account has an account executive assigned to it, and everyone knows who to contact throughout the loan process. This ensures the brokers can have a great experience with Citadel. And thats just the beginning of the advanced technology were planning to implement over the next few months.

Citadel has also expanded one of its most popular loan programs to better serve borrowers.

Weve dropped the credit score on our One Month Bank Statement Program from a 700 minimum to a 650 minimum, Fisher said. Were also going up to a $5 million loan amount. And were doing that on our non-prime and our Outside Dodd-Frank (ODF) products.

Were very comfortable in our high-balance loan performance, so we want to increase what we can do, he said. The kinds of borrowers we can accommodate now are increasing with our growth.
A few things to ponder as we continue the community dialogue regarding Midland ISDs future facility needs. Only one person at our community table knew the districts current bond debt liability. There are upgrade needs throughout the district, and they have a large variance in scope and prioritization. During the forum, we were asked to discuss among our community groups, three questions provided by MISD. The one with the largest impact on Midland in many aspects is the construction of a third comprehensive 9-12 secondary school.

There are two different perspectives on the construction of new education facilities. One perspective is build smaller and more to reduce class sizes that are more manageable for students, parents and educators. Another perspective is to build one large, centralized secondary school to drive efficiencies and reduce cost. Either perspective will require a considerable monetary impact on Midland. These decisions are going to lay the path for public education in Midland for the foreseeable future.

The goal for Midland residents and taxpayers is to provide an equitable environment that acts as an incubator to develop the necessary skills for the diffusion of knowledge to take place. From the students to the teachers and all those in between, they need to be empowered and have pride, along with the necessary tools for birthing the passion of lifelong learning. As for specifics on what is needed, it is of this mans opinion that an inventory of real assets currently under the management of MISD is in order. Are we utilizing what we have as efficiently as possible? Are we planning facilities for which their reach extends to the neighborhoods that preceded our expansion phase?

New facilities are needed on the east and south side, too, as the need stretches across the geographic area of MISD. We dont just need 21st century schools, we need 21st century schools that have the highest caliber of trained, skilled, talented, driven and empowered human capital available. We need 21st century schools that provide the most opportunity for those willing to exploit their opportunities.

In order to maximize the probability of yielding positive results, we all need to know what we have, where it is, how it is used and how we can do better. That leads me to another question presented for discussion at the public facilities forum. What is missing in MISD?

As ink took to an effulgent colored Post-It note, my answer remained the same: parent involvement and engagement. The facilities provided can be the grandest in design, longevity and technological capabilities. However, without parental involvement and the most talented of mentors, we have done nothing more, than purchase Galaxy S9s but forgot they use the new C charging cord.

In summary, we need to know what our total education assets and liabilities are; a known, sourced population growth baseline for projections; a budget range for determining design realities; a plan for recruiting the most talented of teachers and staff; and look to grounded innovation to develop best practices for initiating and maintaining a cultural environment primed for diffusing knowledge to our future leaders, without saddling them with insolvency before they are allowed use of a graphing calculator.

Without the aforementioned items being available, the specific design solutions and square footage elude this Midlanders logic. To further highlight the importance of an achievable plan, what follows relates to the most recent school bond we passed. It is logical to presume that all three of these age brackets will have their own children. The children of the "recipients" of the 2013 school facilities bond (approved by voters in 2012) will likely will be attending school before the 2013 bond maturation date arrives.

A first-grader in 2013 will be 34 years old when the bond matures, a sixth-grader will be 38 and a 12th-grader will be 44.

Do you think that they will need more money infused in the public-school system over that time interval?

If the community is asking for more and better, we must justify the request on paper and show positive results in real world applications. We owe it to Midland children that the education and economic footprint we leave for them is a value add and is a well-thought-out plan. We certainly dont want to wear out our brand-new streets kicking rusty cans down them. At current, MISD has built two new 21st century schools, and the academic results remain on life support. I will leave the facility discussion with someone who embraced life-long learning.

Where is the Life we have lost in living?

Where is the wisdom we have lost to knowledge?

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

 T.S. Eliot, The Rock
Yes, the decision belongs on the local level

No, no one should be able to dictate whether people wear masks

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The village of Chapin has received a federal grant that will allow for maintenance and improvements to the villages wastewater lagoon aeration system.

On Thursday, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity announced that Chapin would be one of 36 communities to receive a Community Development Block Grant. Chapin will receive $483,600 of total $14.5 million given to Illinois communities for infrastructure improvements.

Village President Robert Luttrell said that the village got to work on this project a couple years ago, with Benton and Associates putting in the application in June. Luttrell said that the approval is all thanks to the hard work done by board member Leslie Forsman, Treasurer Wendy Bridgewater, village employee Bryce McCormick, and Benton and Associates.

Myself and (Forsman) and (Bridgewater) went door to door with a survey because people werent answering them, Luttrell said. We needed the grant because were low income and we cant afford the burden of $500,00 to repair an outdated and worn out lagoon.

The funds will go toward dredging the lagoon and cleaning up the sludge before replacing the existing aeration system that was built sometime in the 1970s. So far the village has already put in chemical disinfectants and replaced all of the valves in the lagoon.

Luttrell said that one advantage of the new system will be its easy maintenance.

Its a flotation system instead of a hard pipe, Luttrell said. We can raise it up and do maintenance and then lower it back down versus having to drop the whole lagoon.

In June, the village will go out for bids for engineering and grant writing. Following that, Luttrell said that they hope to break ground on the project in November.

Nick Draper can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1223, or on Twitter @nick_draper.
Illinois College gave its graduating seniors a farewell celebration Saturday as the students mingled with alumni, community members and fellow students during the Osage Orange Festival.

Students were able to celebrate with other members of the Illinois College community before they prepared for their graduation today.

Kristin Jamison, director of alumni relaions and development, said Osage Orange is a tradition that has been on the campus for more than 100 years.

Started in 1882 as a picnic break for the students, the tradition has evolved to include alumni and students to celebrate their time on the campus.

Students would end the semester trimming the Osage Orange bushes before they left for the summer, and would take a break to play games or perform for their fellow classmates.

With live music, food and games the 136-year-old tradition brings the former and current students together.

It gives the students a chance to have a great time, bringing the community together to celebrate the college, as well as the graduating seniors, Jaminson said.

Jamison said it also gives students a chance to interact with alumni and gives them a look at what they can look forward to after they graduate.

Theyll see the alumni that have stayed involved with the college and community and get an idea of the types of activities they can be a part of in the future, Jamison said. Were thrilled to invite the class of 2018 to join the alumni ranks.

Illinois College will hold its 184th commencement today at 1 p.m., during which about 220 students receive bachelors degrees.

Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1233, or on Twitter @JCNews_samantha.
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION WEEK: All clubs lunch hosted by the Transportation Club of Houston. 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Crystal Ballroom at the Rice, 909 Texas Ave. Cost: $55-$65. Information: www.transclubhou.org.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTER: Monthly luncheon. 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 11110 Bellaire Blvd. Information: www.itchouston.org.

UNITED WAY BOARD FAIR: 5-6:30 p.m., United Way of Greater Houston Community Resource Center, 50 Waugh Drive. Program: Meet with representatives of more than 30 area nonprofit organizations actively recruiting candidates for board service. Information: www.unitedwayhouston.org/nonprofit-connection or call 713-685-2787.

Friday

HOUSTONS GLOBAL ECONOMY: Event hosted by the Greater Houston Partnership. 10:30-11:30 a.m. registration and expo; noon-1:30 p.m. program, Hyatt Regency Houston, 1200 Louisiana. Program: Patrick Jankowski, senior vice president, research at the Greater Houston Partnership, will outline international forces that may affect local industries from energy to manufacturing. Keynote speaker: Scott Kirby, president of United Airlines. Cost: $90 for members; $135 non-members. Registration: events.houston.org.

Upcoming

2018 FINANCIAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT: Education and networking event hosted by Financial Executives International. May 20-22, Marriott Marquis. Information: financialexecutives.org/summit.

katherine.feser@chron.com

twitter.com/kfeser
The 16-year-old girl who Laredo police say was kidnapped by her boyfriend Friday has been located and appears to be in good health.

The suspect, Arturo Medrano Limas, 19, was arrested about two hours after she was found. He was wanted by the Laredo Police Department on a kidnapping charge.

Investigator Joe Baeza, Laredo Police Department spokesman, said detectives were able to speak to Limas on the phone and convinced him to release the girl, Ashley Fernandez, who is four months pregnant.

Around noon Saturday, Fernandez was dropped off at an LPD substation by a third party.

Shortly thereafter, police arrested Limas in the Los Altos colonia off Texas Highway 359.

"Through the investigation detectives ... found him in a residence and arrested him without incident," Baeza said.

At about 10 p.m. Friday, an Amber Alert was issued following the abduction of Fernandez.

Seven hours earlier, Fernandez's mother had called LPD to report that Limas had kidnapped her daughter in the 3200 block of Springfield Avenue.

Police said Limas had been calling Fernandez throughout the day. He then went to her home on Springfield and demanded that Fernandez come out of the residence, LPD said.

She met with Limas outside the house. Witnesses told LPD that Limas then pulled her into a car while Fernandez's family fought to pull her away from him, police said.

The Webb County Attorney's Office later approved a warrant for Limas' arrest.
A Houston police officer has been suspended from the force after a Saturday night drunk driving arrest in Montgomery County.

William Lacy was pulled over around 11 p.m. on State Loop 494 after a Department of Public Safety trooper allegedly spotted him driving in the middle of the road, and saw him fail to stop at an intersection.
Twin Peaks held a charity car wash Saturday afternoon to raise money for Folds of Honor, an organization that provides scholarships for spouses and children of fallen and disabled members of the military. General manager Eric Moore said the company's other restaurants around the state were also holding car washes to raise money for the cause.
Five days of early voting for several primary runoffs begins Monday when 38 locations around Bexar County open at 8 a.m.

The polls will remain open until 8 p.m. and follow the same hourly schedule each day through Friday. Election Day is May 22.

Voters who cast ballots in the March 6 primaries must vote with the same party in the runoffs. Those who did not vote in the first round of the primary are still eligible to vote in the runoff and may vote with either party.

On the Democratic ballot, voters will choose between two gubernatorial candidates: former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez and Houston businessman Andrew White.

RELATED: Gov. Greg Abbott takes to online to declare Lupe Valdez is 'wrong for Texas'

The Republican ballot includes a runoff for the Bexar County GOP Chair between Cynthia Brehm and Jo Ann Ponce Gonzalez.

Voters in part of the county will decide a pair of nominations in the 21st Congressional District. Matt McCall and Chip Roy are seeking the Republican nomination; Joseph Kopser and Mary Wilson are the Democratic candidates.

In the 23rd Congressional District, Democrats Gina Ortiz Jones and Rick Trevino are vying for the chance to face Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, on Nov. 6.

Steve Allison and Matt Beebe are facing off for the GOP nomination in House District 121 for the seat occupied by retiring Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio.

Bexar County Commissioner Paul Elizondo is defending his Precinct 2 seat against county Veterans Service officer Queta Rodriguez.

Several judicial races, including GOP runoffs for the 187th and 226th state District Court benches, as well as the Republican nomination for Probate Court No. 2 and the Democratic nomination for County Court at Law No. 1, also are on the ballot.

In the 2014 primary runoff, 64 percent of ballots were cast during early voting.

The Bexar County Elections Department website includes a map of early voting locations and other voter resources.

Jasper Scherer is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jscherer@express-news.net | @jaspscherer
San Antonio police are investigating how a 36-year-old man died after officers used a Taser to subdue and take him into custody Saturday night, according to police.

Police responded to a call at a house party about 9:45 p.m., Saturday in the 100 block of Rosemont Drive to find a man they say was "heavily intoxicated" and belligerent, according to a preliminary report.

The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office identified the man as Gaspar David Guzman, of San Antonio.

The people hosting the party told police Guzman was causing a disturbance and refused to leave and asked police to remove him from the property.

RELATED: Bicyclist dies after being struck by SAPD patrol car Friday night

As officers attempted to escort Guzman from the house they say he became combative and violent. Police then attempted to arrest Guzman but were unsuccessful, according to Sgt. Michelle Ramos.

"They did deploy their Tasers, after that they were able to detain him and place him in handcuffs," Ramos said.

Because a Taser was used on Guzman Police called emergency medical services. However Guzman continued to be combative and would not allow EMS personnel to examine him, Ramos noted.

Officers then attempted to place Guzman into a patrol car, but Ramos said he continued to fight with police. Officers then observed Guzman had become lethargic and again had medical personnel try to treat him.

Authorities were able to get Guzman into the ambulance where he was examined, but EMS personnel soon reported he had died, according to Ramos and the preliminary report.

No other information on Guzman's condition prior to his death, or on his struggle with police was given.

RELATED: Family of Scott Mayer reports the missing North East ISD employee's body found

The case is now being investigated by a member of SAPD's Shooting Team, who investigates all deaths involving officers. The results will be sent to the Bexar County District Attorney's Office for an independent investigation, according to officials.

A concurrent investigation will be conducted by SAPD's Internal Affairs to explore any administrative issues.

According to police, the officers involved will be placed on administrative duty pending the results of the investigation.

Nbautista@express-news.net | @_NBautista
The Gulf Coasts pride and joy, the Padre Island National Seashore, will celebrate another year as the longest seashore in the National Parks System as its marks its 48th anniversary on Friday.

The park  a 70-mile patch of coastline just east of Corpus Christi  has attracted Texas vacationers with its sparkling waves, serene beaches and colorful wildlife since its inception on April 8, 1968.
Doug Williams was walking through a mall in Anchorage, Alaska on Black Friday when an image from the past caught his eye.

While perusing through some antiques, the 1975 John Jay graduate spotted a lighter with a Bexar County Sheriff's Office badge pressed into it.

"That's why I picked it up at first," Williams said. "When I took it out of the case and realized it had a name and badge number, I knew it had to go back."

RELATED: With the power of social media, San Antonio man was able to reunite antique photos with owner

The badge appears to have belonged to a Deputy Mitchell, badge number 1294, who may have served with BCSO in the 1940s or 50s.

Williams bought the lighter for $45, then snapped a photo of it and posted it to his Facebook page asking for help tracking down information about the deputy.

He said he hopes to find Mitchells family and return the lighter, but would also like to learn more about the deputy.

Anchorage is about 4,000 miles away from San Antonio. Williams said someone may have accidentally left the lighter in the city while visiting, but doesn't really know exactly how it got there.

BCSO spokesman James Keith said authorities are combing through records to see if they can locate Mitchell.

Meanwhile, the Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with information about the lighter belonged to call 210-335-5106.

mdwilson@express-news.net

Twitter: @MDWilsonSA
Early voting for the runoff elections in primary races for U.S., state and local offices begins today and runs through Friday. Here are the Editorial Boards recommendations in 10 contested races:

READ MORE: What to know as early voting for runoffs begins in Bexar County
This wont be the last fall semester that South Side Independent School District students in the Highland Oaks areas will have to hike treacherous roads to meet the school bus.

Long-awaited plans for the paving of streets in this low-income community  where the roads are so bad school buses cant navigate them  are being delayed.

The timeline has been extended approximately 3 months to make sure drainage is properly addressed. To ensure this, Bexar County will need to acquire several additional easements, Monica Ramos, the countys public information officer, said in an email.

This means a completion date by fall 2019 for this project in deep South Bexar County is no longer anticipated.

EDITORIAL: Road fixes are a long time coming

We urge Commissioners Court to move this project along as expeditiously as permissible and attempt to keep to the original schedule.

This is a matter of promises made and promises that need to be kept for a project that should have been undertaken years ago.

At a meeting in November, Highland Oaks residents were told that bids for construction of the roads would be awarded in the spring and roadwork would begin this summer.

County officials said they expect to meet with Highland Oaks residents in the fall to give them an update on the project once the construction contract is awarded.

It is concerning that the need for the additional easements was not determined earlier and is having an adverse effect on the projects completion date.

Each month of delay is another month that children meeting the bus in this impoverished community have to deal with ankle-deep mud when it rains.

OPINION: Finally  roads so kids won't have to walk in muck

For decades, residents of this community sought county assistance for their roads only to have their pleas rebuffed by county officials who claimed it was not their problem to fix.

It was only after intervention by COPS/Metro Alliance and the Southside Independent School District administration, and a slew of adverse media publicity about the hazards the road conditions presented that commissioners decided to fund the project.

In an unprecedented move, commissioners determined the roads in such terrible shape that they constituted a public safety hazard. That finding allowed them to allocate public funds to fix what they considered were private roads.

RELATED: Some Bexar County roads can't be navigated

Highland Oaks roads were among 103 streets identified by the countys public works department as in dire need of repair.

They have become part of a 10-year plan with a projected price tag of $28 million that the county has drafted to address road problems in unincorporated Bexar County.

The 2.38 miles of unpaved roads in Highland Oaks topped the priority list, and it was the only new capital improvement project commissioners funded in their 2017-18 budget.

Bexar County commissioners need to keep the momentum going on these public safety projects by continuing to fund the projects they have on the list and ensuring there are no unnecessary project delays.

The children are depending on it.
Re: Not bidding on convention results in lost opportunity, Editorial, May 8:

Talk about putting lipstick on a pig. The editorial states that the GOP is not solely the party of Donald Trump, and goes on to mention old guard Republicans like John McCain, Jeff Flake, Joe Straus, et al.

These honorable servants of the people are not representative of todays GOP, which is nothing but a wholly owned disaster of Trump. It stands behind him no matter what foolish claptrap he says or does.

I am pleased that San Antonio will not give a voice to such a group when they host their convention in 2020.

Jason Chapel, Spring Branch

Another great wall

In 2015, Donald Trump, our now bumbling president, announced his bid for presidency saying he would build a Great Wall and have Mexico pay for it.

In 2018, after discussing it behind closed doors, San Antonio City Council and Mayor Ron Nirenberg announced they would be building a wall of selfish inaction to keep the Republican National Convention out of San Antonio.

And although it wasnt explicitly said, make no mistake; the hardworking people of San Antonio will be paying for it.

Grant Senter

Claim is insane

Re: Trial is unlikely in the slaying of Elmendorf chief, front page, May 3:

It sickened me to read where the cold-blooded killer of the Elmendorf police chief is now claiming to be insane.

He wasnt insane when he put his keys in the ignition and started his vehicle. He wasnt insane when he put ammunition in his gun and put it in his seat beside him. He wasnt insane when he was speeding through Elmendorf. He wasnt insane when he saw police lights in his rear-view mirror and pulled over. He also wasnt insane when he murdered a policeman at nearly point blank range.

He shouldnt have some psychiatrists to get him 20 or 30 years in a mental facility. The police chief didnt get that luxury.

Michael B. White

Elusive logic

Re: Recent rulings on DACA sign of new lawlessness, Rich Lowry, Other Views, May 6:

Mr. Lowry is correct in explaining that if President Barack Obamas executive order establishing DACA procedures was illegal, it is preposterous that a court is blocking President Donald Trump from undoing it.

But the point should also be made that if President Obama acted completely legally (which he certainly did not) to put the present DACA system in place by executive order without legislative authority, it should be obvious that his successor would have the executive authority to legally reverse Obamas presumably legal executive order.

Why cant our judges comprehend simple logic?

Richard A. Goldman

Political ecstasy

Re: Dont impeach, Your Turn, Wednesday:

The letter writer asked that Donald Trump not be impeached so he could have the satisfaction of voting him out of office.

Hes got a great point. I know what its like to feel that satisfaction, because when I left the polls after the last election, I felt ecstatic having had the opportunity to not vote for Hillary!

Fred Martin, Fair Oaks Ranch
1 Yemen fighting: Battles over two days in western Yemen have killed at least 115 people on both sides of the conflict pitting forces loyal to a Saudi-led coalition against Iran-backed Shiite rebels, officials said Saturday. The clashes west of the province of Taiz also wounded dozens. The coalition has been at war with Yemeni rebels, known as Houthis, since March 2015.

2 Travel ban: Authorities in Pakistan have barred a U.S. diplomat from leaving the country. Military attache Col. Joseph Emanuel Hall was involved in a vehicle accident that killed a motorcyclist in the capital Islamabad. Two security officials said Saturday that a plane at Nur Khan air base arriving to carry Hall out of Pakistan has returned after he failed to get clearance to depart. The officials spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Hall is accused of running a red light and killing Ateeq Baig on April 7. Islamabads High Court, noting that Hall did not have full diplomatic immunity, had directed the government to decide whether to add his name to a travel ban list.
THE absence of the police in the Central Business District has been described by shop owners as a major setback in their daily business operations.

The chaotic situation has resulted in some vendors going to the extent of selling their products at the entrances of grocery and clothing shops.

H-Metro team toured the CBD where the business community was crying foul over the conduct of vendors

Manager of a local clothing shop, Farai Mauto, said if the police do not take charge of the situation many business will shut down.

As you can see in this shop there is no one, all our clients are being blocked outside by vendors who are selling the same products we have in here.

This is really unfair considering that we are paying rentals, paying workers and also our operations are closely monitored by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority.

At the end of the day we are the ones who are now losing if the situation remains like this most shops are going to close.

There was a time when the police force would be deployed in town and those days we were really protected though there were also cases where police officers would receive bribes but the situation was not as bad as it is now, he said.

Mauto said some shops were now taking some of their products from their shops to sell into the streets.

The problem I am seeing now is that as a nation we have become used to this situation to the extent that we now see this as normal when in actual fact its not.

It is a shame that we now have a number of business people who are now taking their products into the streets because in the shops no one is coming to buy.

All this desperation is caused by the fact that the police have taken a back seat on bringing order in the capital, she said.

. . . Pedestrians on police return

Members of the public yesterday expressed mixed feelings over the call for the Zimbabwe Republic Police to increase visibility in the Central Business District to restore sanity in the capital.

One of the people interviewed by the H-Metro, Joshua Khumalo said the police must return to the streets in order to maintain order.

The police must come back and do their operations in the streets because their absence made other people feel like they are above the law, yet thats not it.

There is a lot of disorder in the city, vendors are everywhere and they are uncontrollable, drunkards urinate wherever they want which is not healthy, so the police must come back in the streets and restore sanity, said Joshua Khumalo.

Another man Onismus Chiweshe gave a slightly different view on the absence of the police on the streets.

Yes we want the police to come back but the bad part of police is that they take bribes, if they are bribed then there is no use for them to come back in the streets, so the whole point is that there is need for control in the city especially the traffic sector.

Kombi drivers are always drunk, beer is now sold even in the ranks at as low as 50cents so drivers wont resist drinking whilst driving, so there is really need for control everywhere, said Chiweshe.

Diamond Kapiringishi is of the view that police must come back but under conditions.

They must come back for the sake of order in town but only under one condition, ngavasatora cash there must be an account number where arrested motorists must send the fine to, he said.

. . . We will engage ZRP again

Harare City Council is set to engage the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) in a bid to restore sanity in the Central Business District.

A snap survey conducted by H-Metro showed that the absence of the police in the CBD had resulted in rampant vending and violation of traffic laws.

Council spokesperson Michael Chideme said they will soon join hands with the police to restore sanity in town.

We are engaging the ZRP so that we can work together like we have always done, said Chideme.

We greatly value the co-operation of ZRP.

Their absence is a minor setback that we are working to put behind us.

We hope for the best in terms of the negotiations.

Asked when the police should be expected back in town, Chideme referred this publication to ZRP national spokesperson Charity Charamba.

About the date that the police are to be back in town, you can talk to Charity Charamba, he said.

. . . Mushikashika accident

MUSHIKASHIKA cars menace yesterday saw two pirate taxis being involved in an accident in the CDB.

The accident involving a Toyota Sienta and a Honda Fit happened at the intersection of at Robert Mugabe Road and Inez Terrace Street.

An eye witness told the H-Metro that both cars were carrying passengers and no one was injured.

The Toyota Sienta had two passengers whilst the Honda Fit was packed with people, he said.

Both drivers of the pirate taxis refused to entertain H-Metro.

. . .Taxi drivers cry foul

Taxi drivers are calling for the deployment of police officers at illegal ranks where unlicensed transport operators known as mushika-shika are operating.

The mushika-shikas have taken over in the transport sector leaving taxi drivers in dire strait as they are no-longer getting business.

Taxi drivers told H-Metro that it was now extremely difficult to operate in their line of business with pirate taxis (mushika-shika) all over town.

Mushika-shikas are causing a lot of congestion and also taking our customers. We now spend hours waiting for customers that barely come.

Even if the police were to come back and control the situation its really useless because they own those pirate taxis, said Earnest Mapute.

Asked if the police should come back in the street another taxi driver, Tendai Munzvandi said that it is necessary for the police to control the situation.

People obviously now prepare mushika-shika because they are cheaper than us.

We are registered and we have licenses to operate but now we spend all day here doing nothing because all the customers now prefer those pirate cars to us.

Im actually thinking of removing my plates and just operate as mushika-shika, he said.

Munzvandi also added that thieves are now haunting the streets.

We have a problem, a huge one.

During the night, thieves come acting as if they want a taxi ride and right in the middle of the journey they bring out a knife and threaten to stab the driver unless they give in to the demands.

In most cases they demand the car which they then use as a pirate car and start robbing passengers.

Taxi drivers are calling upon the traffic police to come back and do what they are supposed to do but this time they should do it right and avoid taking bribes.

We need them not to take bribes from us but help us in our operations.

They should avoid having several road blocks in one road thats really not necessary, said another concerned taxi driver.

 HMetro

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As emotions continue to run high in Zanu PF over the chaotic manner in which it ran its primary elections, officials in Harare East constituency have unearthed evidence of rigging involving University of Zimbabwe students and youths not resident in the area.

The Daily News is in possession of the dossier showing manipulated cells and list of the bogus Zanu PF members, mainly students and unemployed youths who are alleged to have voted in the sham elections two weeks ago at Courtney Selous Primary School.

Incumbent Harare East MP Terence Mukupe, who was declared the winner, did not respond to questions sent to him to respond to allegations he tampered with party registers to allow the 530 outsiders to vote in his favour.

Mukupe, who is also deputy minister of Finance, beat Mavis Gumbo to win the sole ticket to represent Zanu PF in the constituency in the looming national elections.

However, Harare Zanu PF provincial leadership is under pressure to order a rerun following a dossier which was compiled to expose the alleged manipulation of the party registers during the chaotic vote in Harare East.

Harare provincial chairperson Godwills Masimirembwa said he had not received the dossier but said once it reached his office it would be considered.

I do not have such information at the moment but if it is brought to our attention, we will definitely look at it and see if we can take it up to the partys leadership.

The president has said he would listen to all complaints related to these elections. It would be up to the leadership of the party to make a determination on that as it has been doing in all other places where disputes have arisen, said Masimirembwa.

Harare East constituency witnessed ugly scenes at Courtney Selous Primary School when Mukupe briefly snatched a ballot box.

This was after his supporters had complained that the name of one of the senatorial candidates, Stalin Mau Mau, was missing from the ballot paper.

Earlier, Mukupe had in full view of journalists and police assaulted his rivals driver before driving away  causing pandemonium.

Gumbo, was forced to flee the scene in fear, at which point many people started leaving the polling station.

The Zanu PF internal polls which were held countrywide on the weekend of April 29 were marred by violent and chaotic scenes, as well as damaging allegations of bribery, favouritism and the imposition of candidates  prompting the ruling party to extend the primaries in many constituencies.

The embarrassing anarchy did not only expose a potential lack of organisational capacity by Zanu PFs new leaders, it also raised serious questions about the so-called new dispensations preparedness to successfully manage the national elections that are looming large on the horizon.

Zanu PF has ordered re-runs in 13 constituencies after receiving complaints of ballot tampering and manipulation of party registers.

 DailyNews

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MDC Alliance president Nelson Chamisa raised the ante in the oppositions fight to force the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to be open about the selection of a printer for ballot papers for the forthcoming elections during his trip to the United Kingdom last week.

Chamisa says they have identified the printing of ballot papers as one of the potential sources of rigging by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in the forthcoming elections and they will insist on transparency.

Our senior reporter Xolisani Ncube (XN) yesterday had an exclusive interview with ZEC chairperson Priscilla Chigumba (PC), who insisted that the selection of a printer was being done in terms of the law.

Chigumba said a number of issues had to be considered when selecting a printer such as security and capacity.

She also defended ZECs electoral preparations saying the electoral body, which in the past has been accused of being an appendage of the ruling Zanu PF, was engaging all parties to ensure that the process was transparent.

Chigumba also spoke about previous interference by police in ZEC activities and the alleged meddling by the military.

Below are excerpts from the interview.

XN: There is a feeling that Zec is resisting calls for an open tender to select the printer for ballot papers to be used in the forthcoming elections. Why are you not willing to open the process to scrutiny?

PC: The feeling is misplaced and regretted. What the commission has done is legal and above board.

ZEC has opted to use the direct procurement method provided for in terms of Section 33 (2) (b) of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act [Chapter 22:23] after considering issues such as quality of service and security, among others.

However, please note that in any event, Section 52A of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13] compels the commission to provide political parties, candidates and observers with the following information before elections: where and by whom the ballot papers for the election are being printed or have been printed; the total number of ballot papers printed for the election; and the number of ballot papers that have been distributed to each polling station.

Therefore, there is nothing secretive about the printer and the ballot papers printed or to be printed for an election.

ZEC will publish this information in the same way it has always done with other elections.

XN: The main opposition parties have raised a number of issues suggesting that preparations for the forthcoming elections are not as transparent as they should be. What are you doing to ensure that voters and candidates have confidence in ZEC?

PC: The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has been engaging all political parties, including the main opposition, through stakeholder meetings with the latest being the one held at Crown Plaza Monomotapa Hotel on May 8, 2018 where it (the MDC-T) was represented.

We have also worked together with all political parties represented in Parliament on issues related to the electoral code of conduct for political parties and candidates and election dispute resolution mechanisms, among others.

Further, we are amenable to any recommendations on enhancing transparency if these are brought to our attention, especially at our established engagement platforms rather than through the media.

We believe we have tried to be transparent to all and that should be the spirit as we go for elections.

On the question of what we are doing to build confidence, like I have alluded to, the commission will also roll out robust voter education programmes and continue with stakeholder meetings to ensure that all stakeholders have confidence in it.

This is a process and not an event.

XN: You were quoted recently bemoaning interference by the police in previous elections. What guarantees can you give that the security forces will not meddle in the electoral process?

PC: The sentiments were mainly to address the perceptions raised by stakeholders.

Section 55 (2) (a) of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13] gives authority to the presiding officer to keep order at polling stations and he or she may enlist the assistance of the police at his or her discretion.

In other words, it is the law that firmly places the presiding officer in charge of the polling station during an election with all others, including the police, playing a complementary role.

XN: Will ZEC give candidates access to the voters roll before the elections?

PC: It is a requirement of the law in terms of Section 21 (6) of the Electoral Act to provide candidates with copies of the voters roll soon after nomination.

This is free of charge if it is in electronic form and for a prescribed fee if it is in printed form.

XN: Does Zec have enough resources to fulfil its mandate?

PC: ZEC has been provided with funding by the State to conduct the 2018 harmonised elections and will always approach treasury for support if what is has been provided proves to be inadequate.

XN: What are you doing to ensure there is adequate voter education before the elections?

PC: ZEC is going to conduct various voter education programmes using different methodologies, including publications in the print media, deployment of voter educators, road shows, billboards and roping in of the civil society to ensure that it reaches out to the electorate.

XN: What role do soldiers play in Zec and why are you not heeding opposition parties calls to remove them?

PC: We have answered this question many times before. We do not have any serving members of the army within ZEC.

XN: Do you believe ZEC is independent enough to discharge its duties to the satisfaction of all candidates that will take part in elections in Zimbabwe?

PC: Yes, ZECs independence is guaranteed in terms of Section 235 of the constitution of Zimbabwe. What is required is for citizens to have trust in the institutions they have created for themselves.

 The Standard

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Some hoodlums were arrested at the gate of the venue of the Ekiti APC primary rerun, holding today, Saturday, May 12, for attempting to force themselves into the venue and for aggressively confronting policemen who manned the gates.

One of the suspects accused the policemen of bias after he was denied access into the venue because he did not have the necessary requirements, Punch reports.

Legit.ng gathered that the suspected hoodlum had on him charm wrapped in a red piece of cloth.

READ ALSO: Fayose, supporters muck APC over unsuccessful primary election

A team of suspected hoodlums comprising of four men was also arrested and handed over to Criminal Investigation Department present at the venue.

The hoodlums were arrested for attempting to disrupt the APC gubernatorial primary. Credit: Punch

The men claimed to be delegates from various wards but they did not possess any of the documents required to ease their entry to the main venue from the gate. The sum of N158,000 was found on them.

Two men were earlier separately arrested for also attempting to gain entrance into the venue by force.

Legit.ng earlier reported that accreditation had started for statutory delegates for the rescheduled Ekiti state All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election amid heavy presence of security personnel.

The number of armed policemen, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) is presently more than the number of delegates that have arrived the venue so far.

The road leading to Damlek Event Centre at Oke-Ila area of Ado-Ekiti is cordoned off while security men frisk anyone entering into the area.

Governor Fayose warns Nigerian youths ahead of 2019, tells them what to do - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit
- Mass defection is looming in Nigeria's ruing party, the All Progressives Congress (APC)

- The ward and local government congresses of the party has been characterized by controversies

- The situation in the Niger state chapter of the party is not different

The APC local government area congress in Niger state on Saturday, May 12, suffered a major setback as protesters from various local governments invaded Government House, Minna, condemning the affirmation of candidates by the party.

The aggrieved chieftains vowed that if nothing was done, there will be mass exodus from the party by them and their supporters.

According to New Telegraph, in some local government areas, there were protests against the affirmation of the executives. The state governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello was also not present at the congress at his hometown in Kotangora local government area of the state.

The governor was however sighted at the wedding of the son of former Chief Judge of Niger state, Justice Jibrin Ndajiwo.

Leader of the protesters, a one-time chairman of Lavun local government council, Mohammed Ibrahim Dakpanchi said we are here to show the governor our grievances on the congress. All the 12 wards are represented here today. The elders and stakeholders.

He continued: When ward congress held last, ours was not conducted. We wrote a letter to the governor that we want the congress conducted but we got no response.

The same group of people that did that rubbish last week are there today to repeat the same. People are not interested in the local government chairman of the party, he is a criminal, also is the secretary.

We are not against consensus but if there will be any, the people should be consulted and carried along but we werent consulted. Democracy is about consultation and rubbing minds but that wasnt done.

On his part, a youth and member of the party Mohammed Yakubu, said: If nothing is done, most of us will go to other party. We are not useless politicians. We must be carried along.

APC will collapse, we have the number, we will leave for other viable parties if these anomalies are not checked.

Meanwhile, a chieftain of the APC, Comrade Timi Frank, has warned his party and President Muhammadu Buhari not to overlook a 7- day ultimatum given by the leader of defunct new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) in the ruling party.

In a statement sent to Legit.ng on Thursday, May 10, Comrade Frank, a member of the nPDP, said if the letter is not addressed, that will give impression that we are no longer needed in the APC.

Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje had on Wednesday, May 9 led a delegation on behalf of the nPDP bloc to protest what he described as 'maltreatment and exclusion' of his members in the scheme of things by the leaders of APC.

Nigeria is practicing Oligarchy (Nigerian Street Interview) on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit
- President Buhari is expected to be in Jigawa on Monday

- The NSCDC said it has deployed its men to the state for security purpose

- It called on Nigerians to report suspicious activities to security operatives

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence (NSCDC) says it has deployed about 2,000 personnel ahead of President Muhammadu Buharis two-day visit to Jigawa, beginning on Monday.

The corpss Spokesman in the state, SC Adamu Shehu, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dutse on Sunday.

READ ALSO: PDP, ADC, 36 other parties in alliance to remove President Buhari in 2019

The Jigawa State Command of NSCDC has fully prepared towards the two-day visit of President Muhammad Buhari.

The command is deploying about 2,000 special tactical operational squad and Intelligence officers drawn from the state command and neighbouring formations in Kano and Bauchi States to assist in the provision of security, Shehu said.

He explained that the operational officers would be stationed at strategic places in areas that the president would visit.

The spokesman added intelligence officers would be deployed all over the state for intelligence gathering and reporting to complement other security agencies.

This will give the command an edge in understanding and converting threats where possible.

It is on this note that the command enjoins the general public to cooperate with the officers to ensure smooth and safe stay of Mr President, he said.

Shehu further urged members of public to report any suspicious activity to the nearest security formation for prompt action.

NAN reports that Buhari is expected to inaugurate five regional roads and five township roads across the state, among other activities, during the visit.

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Meanwhile, Alhaji Sule Lamido who is a presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised serious allegation against the All Progressives Congress (APC) accusing the party of being behind killings.

Nigerian Tribune reports that Lamido made this allegation at a grand reception held in honour of the partys deputy national chairman, Senator Babayo Gamawa, on Saturday, May 12 in Bauchi.

He claimed the APC was responsible for the resurgence of killings in the country and also said President Muhammadu Buhari came into power unprepared.

Buhari to Contest for Presidency in 2019! - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit
- The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) continues to play a key role in addressing the security situation in the nation

- NAF deployed 150 personnel of its special forces to its newly established 23 Quick Response Wing

- The QRW is located in Nguroje, Sarduana local government council in Taraba state

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Sunday, May 13 deployed 150 personnel of its special forces to its newly established 23 Quick Response Wing (QRW) in Nguroje, Sarduana local government council in Taraba state.

Other Quick Response Wings established by NAF in the north-central region are located in Doma, Nasarawa and Agatu in Benue states.

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who addressed the troops in Jalingo before their departure, urged the personnel to be professional in the discharge of their duties.

File photo of Nigerian Air Force special forces. Photo credit: NAF

READ ALSO: Nigerian Air Force unveils two MI-35M helicopter gunships

Represented by AVM Napoleon Bali, the Director of Operations, NAF Headquarters, Abubakar said:

Let me use this opportunity to reiterate the need for you to be professional in discharging your duties.

You must always abide by the Nigerian Air Force Code of Conduct and Rules of Engagement (ROE) as well as the laws of armed conflict.

I, therefore, urge you to consider it as a rare privilege to be part of the pioneer troops to establish the unit.

Accordingly, you need to maintain cordial relationship with the host community as they support you in your assigned responsibilities.

The CAS said the special forces were part of the ongoing NAF policy to build a robust Air Force capable of responding effectively, efficiently and timely to Nigerias national security imperatives.

He noted that the deployment marked the commencement of operations at the newly established Quick Response Wings in the north-central region of the country.

He added that evolving security challenges in the country and the need to create peaceful environment to facilitate increased economic activities necessitated the establishment of the unit in Nguroje.

Abubakar urged the troops to partner with other security agencies to support Taraba in containing insecurity.

The air chief appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari, the Taraba state government, the host community and all who contributed to the smooth take off of the new unit.

The establishment of new units is in line with the CASfs vision of repositioning NAF into a highly professional and disciplined force through capacity building initiatives.

It is also for timely employment of air power in response to Nigerias national security imperatives. (NAN)

READ ALSO: NAF graduates pioneer ab-initio student pilot trained with Super Mushshak aircraft, commissions new hangar

Meanwhile, a NAF Alpha Jet aircraft on Monday, May 7, neutralized scores of Boko Haram terrorists while providing close air support to ground troops.

Legit.ng gathered that the air strike followed calls from the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 8 Division of the Nigerian Army that troops conducting clearance operations at Koleram in Borno state had come in contact with the insurgents.

Nigerian Air Force Day Celebration 2018 (54th Anniversary) | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit
- Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says tensions are normal in politics

- Osinbajo expresses optimism that the crises in the APC will be resolved soon

- The vice president further speaks on the inauguration of President Maada Bio of Sierra Leone

Nigerias Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has described ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as a strong party that is committed to offering hope to the electorate expressing hope that the tension in the party would be resolved soon.

A statement by Laolu Akande, his spokesperson, said Osinbajo stated this while fielding questions from newsmen after the inauguration of President Maada Bio of Sierra Leone on Saturday, May 12.

In politics, as you know, there will always be tension, but the party is strong and the leadership and membership of the party are committed to ensuring it remains strong and continues to offer hope to the people.

I think a lot of the issues will be resolved as we go along.

READ ALSO: We cant keep secrets in Nigeria - Minister Adewole states why Buhari went to London

This is the normal order of things; there will be disagreements, there will be those who may feel that they need certain preferences or certain things which may not have been done earlier on.

I dont think there is any major problem, the statement quoted Osinbajo as saying.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on the significance of the inauguration of Sierra Leones president, the vice president said it was a great celebration of democracy as the transition was peaceful from one civilian president to another.

Bio was the one who handed power to a democratic government as a military leader.

He also proved over time to be someone who thought over the problems of the country.

And listening to him and having met with him for close to an hour, I think there is great opportunity and hope for the people of Sierra Leone and I think he is going to do a great job, he said reaffirming hope that the new president would collaborate with other African leaders to ensure growth and peace on the continent.

One thing is for certain, Sierra Leone and Nigeria have a long history. Most recently, if you recall, Nigerian troops gave their lives here in Sierra Leone defending the territorial integrity of Sierra Leone, the people and the country.

President Bio repeated this in my conversation with him, and said how grateful he was.

We have maintained very good relationship; I believe that relationship will continue, he said while adding that many private sector investors were interested in coming to Sierra Leone, stressing that the Nigerian government had good economic relationship with Sierra Leone.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

I think the future is bright for both countries, and the future cooperation is particularly good.

He (President Buhari) has asked me to convey his very best wishes to the new President and government and also to pledge our continued cooperation and collaboration with the government and people of Sierra Leone, he said.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the All Progressives Congress (APC) local government congress in Agege, Lagos state, reportedly turned bloody after a man was allegedly shot dead during a fracas that ensued after voting had ended on Saturday, May 12.

President Buhari on 2019 presidential election: will you vote for him? | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit
A growing wolf population presents German politicians with a conundrum Economist

Initial Coin Scams Nouriel Roubini, Project Syndicate

The Dynamics of Japanese Government Bonds Nominal Yields (PDF) Tanweer Akram and Huiqing Li, Levy Institute

Pipeline Spews Raw Crude Oil in Oklahoma City Ecowatch

The carbon footprint of tourism revealed (its bigger than we thought) The Conversation (original).

Syraqistan

On Iran and Trump, India Has Landed Between a Rock and a Hard Place The Wire

Brexit

A dozen Cabinet ministers set to block Theresa Mays customs partnership plan Telegraph Brexit: Brussels set to push for six-month extension to UKs transition period out of EU Independent. Yves: This is only the transition period. This ask was nixed before when it was only 3 months. Messes up EU budget cycle. And 6 months is not going to make any meaningful difference in UK preparedness. Ive seen no evidence of anyone on the EU side wanting more time. Their big problem is no one can plan because no one knows whether it will be a crash out or a hard Brexit. I think this is Barnier getting out over his skis again. Hes done that two times before and had his ideas nixed. He may be doing this to try to look friendlier while the EU is having to tell the UK its Irish nonsense is a non-starter (which it has already told them but they refuse to hear).

It looks like a shameless bribe: Almost three-quarters of grammar schools to benefit from Theresa Mays 50million handout are in Tory seats Mirror

Four challenges facing Italys new government FT

North Korea

Our Nukes, Ourselves The New Enquiry

Trump Transition

Ecuador hints it may hand over Julian Assange to Britain and the US WSWS (RK).

Big Brother Is Watching You Watch

Democrats in Disarray

Black Injustice Tipping Point

Class Warfare

Connecting.nyc: Managing a top-level domain as a commons P2P Foundation

Record-holding blood donor James Harrison donates one final time 9 News. Donates.

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Spoiler alert in one word: Privatization. Here is a brief description of the privatized Kansas Medicaid program, KanCare, from the Kansas state legislatures Legislative Division of Post Audit (DPA). Page 7 of the PDF:

Launched in January 2013, KanCare is the program through which the State of Kansas administers Medicaid. KanCare offers health care for people with limited income, which may include pregnant women, children, and low-income families with children. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) jointly administer KanCare. KDHE maintains financial management and contract oversight of the KanCare program. KDADS administers the Medicaid waiver programs for people with disabilities, mental health conditions, and substance abuse problems, and oversees the state hospitals and institutions. As the states Medicaid program, KanCare focuses on providing person-centered care coordinated through contracts with three private managed care organizations [MCOs]: Amerigroup of Kansas Inc., Sunflower Health Plan, and United Healthcare Community Plan of Kansas. The state also contracts with Maximus [hmm], a company that processes the states Medicaid applications and provides support services during the eligibility process.

Or in short form:

[KanCare is depends on] a federal waiver that allows the state to contract with three private companies to operate KanCare, a $3 billion program that covers more than 420,000 low-income, elderly and disabled Kansans.

And lets not forget Maximus, the fourth company!

Im sure the KanCare story is a lot more complicated and horrid than this superficial survey will reveal  Kansas readers please chime in!  but even so things look pretty bad. (Note that KanCare is for existing Medicaid, not Medicaid expansion.) Im going to start with the story on KanCares data debacle, move through their eligibility determination debacle, and close, for a change, with a bit of good news.

KanCares Bad Data and Phishing Equilibria

Heres the story that set me off. Governing:

Legislators directed their independent auditors to find out whether KanCare is working. After a year of work, those auditors recently released their determination: the states data is so bad [How bad was it?], theres no way to know. These data issues limited our ability to conclude with certainty on KanCares effect on service use and limited our ability to interpret cost trends, the auditors wrote. More significantly, data reliability issues entirely prevented us from evaluating KanCares effect on beneficiaries health outcomes .

Holy moly. (The article says the states data, which really means the data managed for the state by KanCares four vendors.) So I went looking for the report,  Medicaid: Evaluating KanCares Effect on the States Medicaid Program (PDF). Heres the section on data:

Data reliability issues and state policy changes limited our ability to fully conclude on KanCares effect on claims costs and service use. Although the total claims dataset was reliable, 6 of the 12 individual service datasets were unreliable due to inaccurate or inconsistent data . This limited our ability to fully conclude on KanCares effect on service use, which also limited our ability to interpret post-KanCare cost trends.

. This limited our ability to fully conclude on KanCares effect on service use, which also limited our ability to interpret post-KanCare cost trends. Data reliability issues prevented us from evaluating KanCares effect on beneficiaries health outcomes. Five of the seven health outcome datasets were unreliable because of inaccurate data. These inaccuracies were likely the result of difficulties KDHE had in correctly pulling data from its complex Medicaid systems. We did not have sufficient time to correct the errors we identified and ultimately decided we lacked sufficient evidence to conclude on KanCares effect on beneficiary health outcomes.

Note that the service data was bad because the medical coding (covered at NC here and here) was bad: For example, prescription drug costs fluctuated between $24 million and $1.4 million between the first and third quarter of 2013. KDHE officials told us these differences were due to inconsistent coding and reporting by the MCOs (that is, by Amerigroup, Sunflower, and United HealthCare). Thats exactly what youd expect from three separate vendors in a system with no quality assurance. Here is the DPA report on quality assurance for claims data (page 28):

Although KDHE [Kansas Department of Health & Environment] has a process to ensure MCOs claims are allowable , they lack a process to ensure they are accurate .

Holy moly. More:

KDHE does not have a process to ensure reported costs accurately reflect MCOs actual costs. We expected KDHE to have a process to check a sample of MCO reported costs against original provider claims to verify the accuracy of reported costs. KDHE and DXC officials told us no such process exists. KDHE officials told us it was unlikely MCOs could overreport their costs because it would require them underpaying providers. KDHE officials told us providers would alert them to these issues.

So, KDHE processes claims on the honor system. Good to know. Not necessarily a debacle. Still on page 28:

We compared a judgmental sample of 19 provider claims from two Medicaid providers against MCO reported costs and found no significant discrepancies. These 19 claims showed how much the MCOs actually paid the providers. We worked with DXC [another contractor, not Maximus] staff to compare the actual paid amount in each claim to what the MCOs reported to KDHE. In all but one case, the paid amounts matched MCO reported costs. In the one exception, the paid amount exceeded what the MCO reported to KDHE. Although inaccurate, this type of error would not inappropriately increase the MCOs capitated payment rates. Although our review of 19 claims did not uncover instances of improper reporting, this was a very small, non-representative sample of claims. As such, there is still a risk that MCOs could improperly report costs to KDHE, resulting in incorrect state payments to the MCOs. KDHE could compare a larger, more representative sample of provider claims to MCO reported costs to help reduce this risk.

At this point, lets remember the notion of a phishing equilibrium, which we might crudely summarize as If there can be fraud, there is already fraud. And here we note that LPA is defining accuracy in a curious fashion: the equality of provider billing and MCO payments. But what if the providers are playing games with the coding to maximize their billing, as we already know they do? KanCare doesnt seem to be checking for that. What we do know is that KanCares honor sytem has allowed what we might categorize as, if not fraud, fraud-like behavior:

To encourage prompt payment of claims, K.S.A. 39-709(f) requires MCOs pay interest to providers on valid claims not paid within 30 days. However, MCOs should not include these interest payments in the data they submit to KDHE to avoid inappropriately inflating claims costs and therefore future state payments to the MCOs. We verified one MCO, Sunflower, improperly included interest payments in the claims data it submitted to KDHE. We interviewed officials from all three KanCare MCOs to determine how they handled interest payments. Officials from Amerigroup and United told us they did not include interest paid in claims submitted to KDHE. However, officials from Sunflower told us they did report interest paid in their claims data. To confirm this information, we asked each MCO to submit five late claims on which they paid provider interest. We compared the fifteen total claims against data in the states system. The claims data did not include interest amounts for Amerigroup or United but did include interest amounts for Sunflower. It is important to note that although we did not find interest included in the claims for Amerigroup or United, our data was based on a non-representative sample of self-reported data. MCO officials[1] we spoke to had different understandings of whether or how to report interest payments to KDHE. It is possible clear guidance from KDHE, along with continued monitoring of MCO claims, could help prevent this issue from occurring in the future.

([O]ur data was based on a non-representative sample of self-reported data. So maybe Sunflower was just stupid?) I dunno. Getting reimbursed for interest paid on a late claim doesnt seem an awful lot like claims data to me. To start with, how would you have coded it? I have to work awfully hard to see what Sunflower did as an honest mistake, though Im not familiar enough with Kansan to know if continued monitoring of MCO claims in Kansas nice translates to fraud detection.

KanCares Circus Maximus

Maximus is a publicly traded multinational based in  wouldnt you know it  Reston, VA. They have quite a reputation in the UK (here, here), where theyre doing their little bit to help gut the NHS, and in the United States (Wisconsin). And they dont seem to be doing very well by Kansas, either. First, theres the $11 million Kansas is on the hook for from the Feds. Wichita Eagle March 30, 2018:

Kansas is suing over $11 million that it says a federal agency is improperly trying to take through an egregiously hardline position.

(Pause to note that the current Kansas administration is Republican.)

The lawsuit stems from a dispute over fees the Kansas Department for Children and Families paid into a state debt collection program run by the Kansas Department of Administration between 2003 and 2010. DCF typically seeks reimbursement from the federal government for a portion of the fees it pays into the program. The Department of Administration each year files documents with the federal government about the federal funding the state plans to claim. Until 2013, the agency never included the revenue it retained from administering the debt collection program in the filings. During that prior time period, the KDOA had relied in good faith on a consultant to help prepare the filings and never once did it include the debt collection revenue in its draft filings, the lawsuit says. The federal government asked about the debt collection revenue in 2012, the lawsuit says, and an audit began. Kansas worked with HHS to provide documentation, but the federal agency refused to negotiate a compromise, the lawsuit says.

Theres that honor system again.

The consultant, Maximus Consulting Services, is an arm of Maximus, which has had other contracts with Kansas throughout the years.

Oopsie. Then there are the problems with the KanCare Clearinghouse. Kansas City Star, February 22, 2018:

In 2015, Kansas moved to a new computer system [uh-oh] for applying for Kansas Medicaid, or KanCare. Then it funneled applications and annual reviews that used to be handled in regional offices into a single KanCare Clearinghouse in Topeka. It contracted with a company called Maximus to staff the Clearinghouse starting in 2016. Since then the number of seniors covered by KanCare for in-home nursing help has gone down and so has the number being covered for nursing home beds. Meanwhile, the states population has been aging. Dan Goodman, the director of the Johnson County Area Agency on Aging, said it just doesnt add up unless theres a problem with the system. Some seniors are really having a tough time getting onto Medicaid, Goodman said. They get frustrated, are in poor or declining health, become defeated by the process and give up. Instead, Richardson said the past several months have been a nightmare, as they play phone tag with a revolving door of Maximus employees in Topeka, none of whom know her husbands case and one of whom suggested she just go on welfare. But the computer system roll-out was rocky and complaints about the Clearinghouse began almost immediately. A backlog of Medicaid applications pending past the 45-day federal limit quickly formed and has never been fully resolved. Nursing home administrators have repeatedly said its hurting them financially and the delays have caused some homes to limit the number of people with pending Medicaid applications they will take.

Funny how these bugs never give too many people health care, isnt it? Here are the horrid numbers. Wichita Eagle February 16, 2018:

[Maximus] is so out of compliance with its contract that it could face fines of more than $250,000 a day. Maximus is operating with 40 percent accuracy on financial payments; 98 percent is required. The company is also falling behind on handling applications and cases, the state of Kansas says. Kansas has given the company until June 1 to shape up. Otherwise, Maximus will face retroactive fines back to January that could total tens of millions of dollars.

And an interesting quote from a Republican appointee, unintentionally explaining one reason #MedicareForAll is a superior solution to a body shop like Maximus:

Kansas Medicaid director on Friday described a sense of despair among workers during a recent visit to the Topeka [Clearinghouse] facility. Its night and day. Its a completely different work environment on our side of the house and their side of the house and I think thats because we at the state value the employees that work for us , Kansas Medicaid Director Jon Hamdorf said.

As I keep saying, holy moly!

The Good News: Proposal for a Medicaid Lifetime Cap Rejected by CMS

Finally, good news from Kansas in Modern Health Care, Recall that KanCare depends on a Federal waiver, so Kansas has to get a CMS OK for changes:

The CMS will reject Kansas request to impose lifetime limits on Medicaid coverage, following an outcry from clinicians and others in the state. Were determined to make sure that Medicaid remains the safety net for those that need it most, Verma said at the American Hospital Associations annual meeting in Washington. To that end, we have determined we will not approve Kansas recent request to place a lifetime limit on Medicaid benefits. Vermas announcement also likely spells doom for Arizonas similar pending request, which sought a five-year benefits limit. It also indicates that the Trump administration has a hard line on which conservative policies it will support.

Vox has an explainer:

The CMS decision to reject Kansass waiver is a very big deal: Lifetime limits have not gotten the same amount of attention as work requirements, but they would have signaled an equally important shift in Medicaid, away from an entitlement for all eligible Americans toward a shrinking program actively culling people from the rolls. Even if work requirements are allowed, it matters that the administration is not going to let states to kick people off Medicaid simply because they have been on the program for a long time. I do think it is significant that CMS has decided to say no to one of the pending requests that cut people off of Medicaid, Joan Alker, executive director at Georgetown Universitys Center for Children and Families, told me.

Of course, Medicaid work requirements are truly crazed, but a lifetime limit would have gone beyond crazed to outright evil.

Conclusion

#MedicareForAll would make Amerigroup of Kansas Inc., Sunflower Health Plan, and United Healthcare go away, and also take away a big chunk of business from Maximus. That is all good. Amazingly, Kansas Medicaid Director Jon Hamdorf gives a very good reason why replacing privatized body shops with state employees would make for a better experience for citizens interacting with the heatlh care system. Kansas, as big as you think!

NOTES

[1] They are not officials. MCOs are private entities. They are employees. Neoliberal brain damage at the word level!
Cystic Fibrosis Ireland CEO Philip Watt has paid glowing tribute to the late Kay Gallagher, Rossmore Village, Tipperary town who died last week.

Kay, who lost two children to CF, gave her life supporting those in need.

Mr Watt described her as a wonderful person who contributed much care and support to those parents with children with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) in Tipperary and beyond over many years.

He said that as CEO he had the honour of representing Cystic Fibrosis Ireland along with board members and parents from all around the country at the removal and funeral of Kay.

He said   At Kays removal any parents came up to me spontaneously and spoke very warmly of Kay's contribution to CF in Tipperary over the years. They told me of the reassurance and support that Kay provided after their child had been diagnosed with CF and how much of a comfort this was at that time.

In the early days of CF care in Ireland, being told your child had CF was very distressing. It still is, but there is now so much more that can be done and now there is much more hope of longer and better quality lives.

Kay was a member of the Tipperary Branch of CFI going back more than 30 years. Her participation began with the illness and then loss of her own children (John and Amanda). This care continued until her recent illness.

Cystic Fibrosis Ireland wishes to convey our condolences to Kay's husband Tony and daughter Sharon and to all the extended Gallagher and Boland families and friends.

Kays life can truly be celebrated as one that has meant so much to others and to thecommunity that is Cystic Fibrosis Ireland.
A march is to be held in Clonmel on June 9th to continue the fight to have full mental health services restored to Tipperary.

This follows on from a meeting held in the town organised by the group Tipperarys Fight for Mental Health Services.

Among the interests behind the new campaign are Taxi Watch Clonmel and River Suir Suicide Patrol.

The new group was formed in February with the intention to establish better mental health services for people in the county and to start the fight to have Saint Michaels Unit reopened in Clonmel.

Its first public meeting was attended by over 300 people when guest speakers included Pat Buckley, Bill Fitzgerald, Carmen Lowry and Caroline Lonergan. All speakers spoke about their experience and the fight with the battles they had and how parts if not all the mental health services in the county and county has failed them.

Members of the audience spoke about the experiences of how the services handle their situations and failed and how the public lost our community members, family and friends.

A spokesman said - We need Minister Jim Daly to stand up and deliver for the county and the town of Clonmel and to show that this government cares about people outside of Dublin.

He added - Our next public engagement will take place on June 9thas a proposed date for a public march in the town of Clonmel and we are looking for thousands of people to take to the streets with us to show us that the county of Tipperary and the town of Clonmel wont back down till our services are restored.
(Natural News) In a new CounterThink episode, Mike Adams interviewed EPA whistleblower and author Dr. David Lewis. Lewis is credited with putting a spotlight on the reprehensible nature of biosludge and biosolids  a growing issue that could have simply been swept under the rug entirely. Biosludge is contaminating farmland, parks and playgrounds around the country  and its even more toxic than the severe water pollution of the 1970s, which spawned the EPA. Where is the so-called Environmental Protection Agency now? Well, theyre actually helping to spread polluted soil around the country.

As Adams contends, What this stuff contains will absolutely blow your mind.

What is biosludge, and what does the EPA have to do with it?

Humans produce a lot of waste. Whether itss from what you flush down your toilet, or waste produced at an industrial level  there is no shortage of refuse that needs to be disposed of, in one way or another. Biosludge is simply treated sewage sludge, laden with bacteria, parasites and leftover industrial toxins.

As Adams explains in the video, medical waste, heavy metals, human excrement and other goodies are collected in what amounts to a sludge farm, to be processed. Sometimes even humans themselves find their way into the mix. It is at this point that all the water is removed, and nothing but the solids are left. Adams says the substance may be semi-aqueous, but not much water is left.

The EPA then claims these biosolids are safe to be used  based on fraudulent science. Dr. Lewis has been railing against the system with his own research efforts over the years.

Dr. David Lewis, author of Science For Sale, has been at the forefront of this controversy, publishing research that shows biosludge has harmed people and testifying against the EPA in multiple lawsuits. Dr. Lewis is also a major contributor to FocusForHealth.org and is reportedly being considered for a position as President Donald Trumps Science Advisor.

In an article for Focus For Health, Lewis explains:

The approach it [the EPA] took was to treat the sewage sludges, usually by just adding lime, and then apply them in tons-per-acre to farms, forests and school playgrounds and other public and private lands. Biosolids contain all of the ten leading groups of chemical pollutants linked to autism  at a million-times higher concentrations than they are found in water.

The Health Ranger interviews Dr. Lewis

In the latest episode of CounterThink, Mike Adams interviewed Dr. Lewis about biosludge and his research. As Dr. Lewis notes, what used to be dumped into the water is now being concentrated into a semi-solid mass, and spread on the land all around us  even at parks where children play. Were talking human feces, industrial waste, medical waste and more  stuff no one would ever willingly expose themselves to.

Further, Lewis explains that biosludge is thousands of times more toxic due to its high concentrations of heavy metals, bacteria and other contaminants, compared to when this waste was simply released into waterways. And as Mike Adams notes during the interview, biosludge is being applied to farm land  where the food we eat everyday is grown.

It almost sounds like a weapon delivery system, Dr. Lewis. It sounds like bio-terrorism, Adams posited in the interview.

Dr. Lewis concurred, stating, You could not design a more perfect weapon.

Adams notes that in the U.S., we have the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, but no such protections exist for our soil  making room for biosludge to permeate the land we live on. Dr. Lewis says that the EPAs rank and file scientists never bought into the biosludge hype.

He says that it was the politically run program offices in Washington, under the first Clinton adminstration, that pushed this through. Lewis reports that they then produced a number of studies to back up their biosludge-spreading scheme  studies Lewis describes as totally phony.

Watch the full video to learn more  and dont forget to check out Biosludge.news to get the latest news on all things biosludge.

Sources for this article include:

Vimeo.com

IndependentScienceNews.org
(Natural News) In search of a way to treat depression, Philadelphia-based neuroscientists found a pathway in the brain circuitry of mice, and reported that stimulating this path causes animals to take up anti-depressive behavior. According to an article in Medical Xpress, this discovery could lead to brain stimulation as way to alter depression in humans.

Dr. Amelia J. Eisch of the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) explained that major depressive disorder is a global health concern. While current treatments do work for many patients, they also have adverse side effects. Furthermore, the patients often end up getting depressed again.

The current school of thought in neuroscience is that malfunctions in the circuitry of the brain lead to depression. Therefore, Eisch and her colleagues theorized the possibility of targeted treatment of the disorder by tuning a particular circuit.

Eisch and her co-author, Dr. Sanghee Yun from CHOPs Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, published the results of their study in the online journal Nature Medicine.

Suppressing a protein in the entorhinal cortex increased brain stimulation

In their study, the CHOP researchers experimented with the brain circuit called the entorhinal cortex (Ent). Their objectives were to investigate depressive-like behavior in addition to memory.

The Ent circuit is located upstream of the hippocampus, an organ that controls memory and mood. Earlier experiments on animals and humans have shown that stimulating it enhanced memory and learning capacity. Study author Yun said their research group was the first to look for links between Ent stimulation and mood shifts.

Yun reported finding an interesting protein in the pathway between the Ent and the hippocampus. Called TRIP8b, it shows up during times of stress and prevents neurons from firing off.

The CHOP research team obtained mice that were genetically engineered to remove TRIP8b in Ent neurons. These animals therefore enjoyed higher brain stimulation than normal counterparts.

The neurons of these mice not only enjoyed a higher chance of firing off. They were also much quicker at creating new neurons in the hippocampus.

Mice with higher Ent stimulation didnt stay down for long and showed less anxiety

Furthermore, when subjected to a battery of stress tests, these mice also showed anti-depressive behaviors. Eisch elaborated on a few of the behavioral tests used by her team to determine such behavior.

In a forced swim test, a mouse is placed in a beaker of water. The animal was observed to keep moving until it stopped and just floated in place. If the mouse spent only a short amount of time floating, it was determined to demonstrate anti-depressive behavior.

Another test involved novelty-suppressed feeding, where mice were presented with tasty food pellets. If the mouse hesitated to approach nourishment, it was considered to be depressed. If it approached the food quickly, it was considered to act in an anti-depressive manner.

In all tests, the mice with higher stimulation of Ent neurons exhibited anti-depressive behavior. They did not stop for long and didnt hesitate as much as depressed mice.

Yun said their study was the first to come up with evidence that stimulating the Ent could serve as a way to alter depression. Eisch added that they will need further study to see if the discovery can be turned into a practical and non-invasive treatment method.

Existing brain stimulation therapies for depression are extremely helpful for many patients, but they dont work for everyone, and they also have side effects such as memory loss and cognitive impairment, said the latter. (Related: Music improves your brain: Study finds musicians are better at solving problems and making decisions.)

Find out more about brain health at Brain.news.

Sources include:

MedicalXpress.com

Nature.com
(Natural News) The United Kingdoms Sentencing Council has proposed Orwellian new guidelines that would make it a criminal offense to engage in free speech online whenever doing so might offend people who arent white or who belong to the cult of LGBT.

Reports reveal how the Sentencing Council is actively advocating that the perpetrators of online hate posts, as its calling them, be sentenced to prison time. Social media users who share or even just comment on posts dealing with race or LGBT issues, for instance, would face a minimum six-month prison sentence, while the authors of such posts would face up to three years in prison.

Pretty much any online content thats deemed as in any way contributing to the stirring up of hatred towards racial, religious, or sexual minority groups is potentially subject to the harsh punishments being pushed by the U.K.s Sentencing Council as part of its continued efforts to control what people say and do online.

How the Council plans to determine what constitutes hate speech, whether or not it actually threatens or in any way contributes to possible violence against other people, or even who the originators of such posts actually are remains ambiguous  all of which illustrates the utter importance of First Amendment rights here in the United States.

The recommendations, which will be subject to a three-month consultation, come at a time of deepening sensitivity to racism and abuse about sexuality online, explains the Daily Mail Online.

The councils proposals say the most serious hate offences include speeches given by public figures with the aim of stirring up hatred, online content inciting violence towards racial or religious groups, and websites that publish abusive and insulting material to a worldwide audience over a long period.

Sentencing Council says actual criminals should roam free, especially when theyre minorities

So is the Sentencing Council proposing upping the criminal justice ante for other crimes as well? To the contrary. According to reports, the Council is actually seeking to lessen the penalties for actual crimes like illegally brandishing a knife.

Young thugs and other criminals who choose to walk around with prohibited weaponry, the Council says, should avoid going to jail if they come from deprived or criminal family backgrounds. Having an unstable upbringing, the Council claims, warrants giving certain young criminals a free pass after committing serious crimes.

Even people who steal from others in the U.K. can now avoid jail time, as long as it can be proven that they didnt intend any actual harm, and so long as the mugging was carried out with minimal force.

Admitting ones crimes in court rather than denying them is another act that the Sentencing Council sees as vindicating a criminal  especially when such an admission is made during that criminals first appearance in court. In such instances, the Sentencing Council believes that its appropriate to cut sentencing time by as much as one-third.

But say something mean online that might offend a liberal and the Sentencing Council will seek to lock you up for as many years as possible. Its an insane double standard that Professor Anthony Glees, director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, describes as bizarre.

In his view, the Sentencing Council is not strict enough where they should be strict, (and) too severe where greater leniency is called for.

Glees also says the Sentencing Council is failing to distinguish between young and foolish individuals who simply troll online, and really dangerous radicalisers and purveyors of violence who exploit the social media to wreak havoc and death.

Are these social critics guilty of hate speech for asking awkward questions about gender interest groups? Or are those who attack them the true guilty ones? Glees asks poignantly.

Read FirstAmendment.news for more breaking news on free speech.

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com
What to Know Contractors in California cannot take more than $1,000 for a deposit before work begins

Always request multiple estimates for any contracting job

Report problems with a contractor to the California Contractors State License Board

The Duncan family condo needed some remodeling after a tenant recently moved out.

"Linoleum  painting  the kitchen pretty much had to be redone," said Keith Duncan.

The family did their homework and got several estimates, including a quote from Carpets and More in Vacaville.

"They have good reviews," Duncan said.

Ultimately, though, the Duncans chose a different company. Keith said his mother  who is in her 80s  got confused.

"She sent off a check to Carpets and More for $24,000," he said. "They had not done anything. Because we did not use them."

Keith says he discovered the mistake a few weeks later after Carpets and More had already cashed the check. It was too late to stop payment, Duncan asked the company for a refund. It responded with a check.

"The check was returned for insufficient funds," Keith said. "It bounced."

Keith says Carpets and More then gave him a certified check. But not for $24,000.

It was for $12,000  half what his mom sent them by mistake.

"She was quite upset," he said.

Keith says he repeatedly tried to collect the remaining $12,000, with no success.

"They will not respond to me," he said.

So, he contacted NBC Bay Area Responds. We called Carpets and More repeatedly over several months.

We, too, did not get a response.

Next, we went to the showroom. Owner mike alexander was on hand to address the Duncan familys concerns.

"Well, I've already talked to him," Alexander said.

We pressed Alexander for answers about why the company cashed the $24,000 check, about where the money went and about why the Duncans were still waiting for a refund.

"I don't know what you want me to tell you," he said.

We pressed him on why its taken so long for them to get them their money.

"We've been struggling to pay them back. That's all I have to say," Alexander said.

The Contractors State License Board told us Carpets and More had an obligation to return the Duncans' full $24,000 as soon as Keith told them his mom sent the check by mistake. Alexander said the company might have cashed the check as a deposit  believing it was just about to start the Duncan job.

"We took a deposit for a job," he said.

If it was a deposit check, the state says it would have been illegal for carpets and more to accept a deposit of $24,000.

"They can require you to pay no more than ten percent or a $1,000 [whichever is less]," said Rick Lopes, a spokesman for the Contractors State License Board.

The CSLB encouraged Keith to file an official complaint, which could prompt a state investigation.

Lopes said Keith can also try another route: he can file a claim against the Carpets and More bond.

"All contractors are required to carry a $15,000 surety bond," Lopes said. "So there is a level of protection that youre going to get with that if you do have a problem as well."

Keith is weighing that option  to finally settle the 365-day dispute over unit 806.

"It's unbelievable," he said.

He also hired an attorney who tried to broker a payment plan with Carpets and More. That step might have paid off. The same day this news story was scheduled for broadcast, Duncan wrote to say Carpets and More had just sent $3,000 of the $12,000 it owes.

Duncan expressed low expectations the business will pay in full.

"At this point, I dont think anything would surprise me with these guys," he said.

Its ironic that getting multiple bids for the condo job burned the Duncan family. Please, dont let it dissuade you. Its smart to get multiple estimates. Just make sure youre making payment to the right place.

And never give a home contractor more than $1,000 up front.

UPDATE, 5/14/2018: Three days after this story aired on NBC Bay Area, Keith Duncan contacted us to say his mother received the remainder of the $12,000 she was owed by Carpets and More, plus interest.


An award-winning chocolatier closed her Santa Rosa chocolate shop Saturday after seven years of bustling business.

Lucy Gustafson, the owner of Recherche Du Plaisir chocolate shop, said she's heartbroken the shop's journey came to an end. But Gustafson counted her blessings and said she's glad her chocolates were able to sweeten many weddings, showers and joyous celebrations.

Gustafson said business took a turn for the worse in the past seven months, after the North Bay fire destroyed thousands of homes and business in the area. She said she had no choice but to close the shop's door.

"We lost about 70 percent of our customer base that one night," Gustafson said.

Beyond the loss of customers whose lives were thrown into crisis by the flames that menaced the Larkfield, Wikiup, Mark West and Fountaingrove neighborhoods, the shop saw a sudden end to visits by guests of the destroyed Fountaingrove Inn and Hilton Sonoma County Wine Country.



Gustafson's "Recherche du Plaisir," or "Search for Pleasure" in English, started three decades ago with her fascination of fine, handmade chocolate.

"I still have a passion for it," she said. Who knows where she and her affection for confections might surface in the future.


Facebook is about to sign the biggest lease of the year in San Francisco.

The social media giant is expected to take up Park Tower  a 43-story, 750,000 square-foot tower at 250 Howard St, according to authorized sources that spoke to the SF Chronicle.

Facebooks current headquarters stands in Menlo Park, but in recent years, it has expanded to offices in other parts of the Silicon Valley like Fremont, Mountain View, Sunnyvale and San Francisco.

According to the SF Chronicle, many young techies are leaning toward San Francisco for its nightlife and culture. So, companies like Cisco, LinkedIn and Facebook have opened up offices in the city to up the completion for employees.

"Our whole city is turning into a tech central magnet," said Jesse Gundersheim, a CoStar market economist.

The amenities and location of Park Tower dont come cheap, Gundersheim said the average asking rent in the south Financial District is just under $70 per square foot a year, the Chronicle reported.

"The companies that are willing to (have offices) there are going to pay some premium rates," he said.
Senator Kamala Harris canceled her keynote address at the University of California Berkeley graduation Saturday in support of UC workers, who were on strike.

Graduation seniors walked into Memorial Stadium for their commencement ceremony without the scheduled speaker on hand.

"A little disappointed that she is not able to do her speech but understanding of the cause," said graduate Spencer Bowdry. "She is supporting, this is Berkeley, its a very political place."

Senator Harris said she wouldnt attend due to the ongoing labor dispute. Members of UCs largest union went on a three-day strike Monday and called for a speakers boycott, something some family members in attendance understood.

"I dont feel cheated that shes not here today," said Berkeley resident Harlan Jones. "I would rather people who work at the university have a decent contract."

Chancellor Carol Christ delivered the address instead but some students stood with their backs turned in solidarity with the striking workers.

She said the staff the union represents are essential and that she hopes negotiations could be fruitful.
Amid the swarms of students engaged in higher learning on the University of California, Berkeley campus, student Ajay Tanwanis attention was fixed on the pint-sized figure in the middle of his basement laboratory trying to figure out the difference between a screwdriver and a roll of electrical tape.

The figure  a plastic robot about waist high  eventually reached down and plucked a screwdriver from a clutter of items and deposited it in one of a row of boxes, each marked with a code.

"Yeah, you just saw the future right here," Tanwani said, "Thats what we are going for."

This future  a robot sorting items scattered on the floor at a snails pace  might not appear quite as advanced as vintage science fiction forecasted for 2018, yet it was doing something most robots dont do  it was learning and reasoning. When the robot became overwhelmed by the cluster of items before it, it reached out to the humans in the room via computer software to ask for advice.

"When they are stuck in a tricky situation, they can then request a supervisor on the remote side to provide some kind of assistance in how to overcome this problem," Tanwani explained.

Joe Rosato Jr./NBC Bay Area

Tanwani banged out an instruction on the computer and the robot went back to work, picking out a piece of foam from the floor amid other detritus and dropping it in its respective box. Tanwani said he and fellow engineering students are incorporating cloud-based computing into operating the robots, a concept known as fog robotics, in which the devices can seek instructions from an information ether, which can also be networked with other computers. Science fiction never saw that coming.

"So the idea being the robot will operate using its own computer on the edge," said Cal robotics professor Ken Goldberg, "But every once in a while it needs to go up into the cloud to download some new information."

The robots under development at Cal arent the kind that terrorize planets or crush enemies with lasers, but rather they take on practical tasks they may eventually assume from their human counterparts  things like cleaning the garage or sorting packages in a warehouse.

"We look at applications ranging from warehouse automation, which is a big focus right now, to home robots and surgical robots," Goldberg said.

Joe Rosato Jr./NBC Bay Area

Of course with each robotic technological victory, comes a new, and well-founded fear of robots putting the humans out of work. Students in Cals program recently presented a warehouse sorting machine to the honchos at Amazon. In what resembled a pair of arms coming out of a wall, the robot was able to dig into a box of various items and sort everything into separate receptacles based on appearance.

Yet Goldberg said any jobs that require a fine touch  from plumbers to mechanics to health care workers  are probably robot-proof, at least for now.

"I think its important," Goldberg said, "Also a responsibility to reassure people that humans have many good years left."

In a nearby building, engineering student Andrea Bajcsy was maneuvering a single multi-jointed robotic arm clutching a coffee cup. By enabling the robots software learning function, Bajcsys was able to influence the motion of the robots arm simply by gently nudging it.

"The robot can learn your preferences based on interacting with you in that context and perform the task you want it to do even better," Bajcsy said.

Bajcsy is focused on developing robots to work alongside humans, taking cues from their human counterparts and incorporating those skills into their learning. She sees a vast potential for robotics to help out in home environments.

"Maybe youre elderly or youre disabled and this robot is helping you with your day-to-day functions," Bajcsy said.

Joe Rosato Jr./NBC Bay Area

The yet unrealized potential of robots has inspired both hope and fear for the future. Some, like Tesla founder Elon Musk, have raised warnings that unregulated artificial intelligence and robotics threaten not only jobs but humankind itself. Among the dystopian scenarios floated: a network of autonomous robots could turn on their creators and wage war against humans.

Cal engineering professor Anca Dragan, who studies robotics ethics, says such a scenario is mostly far-fetched.

"There could be malicious actors that specify the wrong things," Dragan said. "But for the most parts the only way that something will revolt against us if someone gave it a reward function that incentivized that."

Goldberg said despite the seemingly-constant stream of innovations, the endless YouTube videos of robots doing stunning feats such as backflips, robots are still a ways off from becoming the autonomous self-starters some have imagined.

"Saying they will do everything by themselves, I think thats still in the realm of science fiction," Goldberg said.

Back in Tanwanis lab, the limitations of man and machine had temporarily hit the skids. The robot, suddenly perplexed by the task at hand sat motionless, its quasi-face going blank as the students nearby fiddled with the computer. Soon, it was back on track, methodically picking up rolls of tape and screwdrivers and dropping them in boxes.

The future had arrived. And it was taking its own sweet time.
Chicago police announced that murder charges have been filed against a man who allegedly struck and killed a woman during a police chase on Chicago's South Side Thursday.

The woman, 55-year-old Julia Callaway, was hit by a car in the 7900 block of South Lafayette Avenue in the West Chatham neighborhood at around 5:33 p.m. Thursday, according to Chicago police and the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.

She was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center where she was pronounced dead at 6:36 p.m., officials said.

22-year-old Curtis Pugh, of Matteson, was charged with several felonies, including murder and leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in injury or death.

Pugh also allegedly struck a 30-year-old man, who was injured and treated at the scene.

Officers were attempting to conduct a traffic stop on a gray sedan near 81st Street and South Evans Avenue when the vehicle fled, according to police.

Authorities said the car struck two pedestrians - Callaway and a 30-year-old man, who was treated on the scene - before striking an SUV a few blocks away.

Neighbors said they heard a large boom and then saw a man and woman both lying on the ground.

Three male offenders jumped out of the car after it crashed and attempted to run away, according to police, but were taken into custody.

Officers said narcotics were recovered from inside the vehicle. Further details on suspects' ages and identities were not immediately available and charges were pending.
Five months after a deadly fire in Griswold, State Police have made an arrest and the Hartford woman appeared in court Monday.

Connecticut State Police arrested Ruth Correa, 23, of Hartford, in connection with the deaths of three family members in Griswold and she was taken into custody Saturday morning and charged with murder, murder with special circumstances, robbery, arson and home invasion.

According to authorities, the investigation started in December 2017 after the remains of husband and wife, Kenneth and Janet Lindquist, were found inside their burned down home on Kenwood Road in Griswold.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed Janet Lindquist died of homicidal violence including blunt impact injuries to the head and smoke inhalation with thermal injuries.

Kenneth Lindquist died of homicidal violence including multiple skull fractures and traumatic brain injuries.

Police also said that a fire in an abandoned car in Glastonbury the same night of the fire was connected to the deadly fire in Griswold.

On Saturday, May 5, State Police were called back to Kenwood Road on reports of human remains found in the woods. The medical examiner later determined the remains to be the 21-year-old Lindquists' son, Matthew.

The office of the chief medical examiner determined that Matthew Lindquist died of stab wounds to the head, torso and extremities and his death was ruled a homicide.



Shortly after, Hartford Police, along with assistance from State Police, obtained warrants and conducted interviews at two addresses in Hartford.

Police said they arrested Correa on Main Street. She is being held on $2.5 million bond. She appeared at New London Superior Court on Monday and is expected to appear again in June. The warrant is sealed until May 29.

Police said the investigation is ongoing and they expect more arrests to be made.
UPDATE: Tornado warnings across Connecticut have expired, but the threat for dangerous storms continues as of 5:30 p.m.

Tornado warnings were issued across the state at various points throughout the afternoon.

Regional School District Number 1 instructed all elementary schools to hold buses until the tornado warning was lifted.

Your Photos of the May 15, 2018 Thunderstorms

A tornado warning means take action - find shelter in a safe indoor space. An underground or windowless space is the best possible place to be in a tornado.

As of 6 p.m., more than 125,000 people were without power across the state, based on reports from Eversource and United Illuminating.



Tornado watches remain in effect for northern Connecticut until 9 p.m. and a tornado watch for Litchfield County will remain in effect until 8 p.m.

A severe thunderstorm watch has also been issued for southern Connecticut until 11 p.m.

There are also reports of nickel-sized hail in northern Connecticut.

Nickel sized hail now falling in North Canaan. Tornado warning issued for the area until 3:30PM. #ctwx #firstalert pic.twitter.com/UyfxlbFrgG  Brian M. Ohler (@BrianOhler) May 15, 2018

The thunderstorms could be strong or even severe throughout the state in the afternoon and at night. Damaging winds are the primary threat, but large hail and flooding are possible, particularly in northwestern Connecticut.

Several school districts have canceled after-school activities for Tuesday. Check our First Alert Closing Central listings here.

Sign up here to receive school closing alerts.

Metro-North Railroad suspended service on the New Haven, Hudson and Harlem lines this evening. In a tweet, the railroad said customers are advised to avoid Grand Central Terminal until further notice.

We have increased our threats across the board as morning data points toward severe weather this afternoon and evening. Be weather aware later today. #FirstAlertCT #NBCCT pic.twitter.com/jyR6l52Iy8  Bob Maxon (@bobmaxon) May 15, 2018

Residents across Connecticut are getting ready for storms this afternoon.

The storms are expected to weaken as they move across the state.

Temperatures will be in the low 80s before cooling down to the mid-50s.

The unsettled pattern will continue bringing in rain chances through the end of the workweek and into the weekend.

Get the latest forecast anytime by clicking here.
A school district west of Houston will pay more than $750,000 to its superintendent who's resigning at the end of the year in the wake of allegations that he was a bully as a teenager.

Details of a contract released Friday by the Katy school district show Superintendent Lance Hindt will receive two years of pay upon his departure Jan. 1. He had announced his resignation a day earlier.

At least two people have described Hindt as a bully during his middle and high school years. One of them, a circuit court judge in Alabama, has said Hindt was a "vicious bully."

Hindt has denied the claims but says he did "dumb things" prior to a religious awakening.

The school board his hired a law firm to represent Hindt against claims that it describes as defamatory.

Hindt was the superintendent for the Allen Independent School District for two years before being selected as the superintendent for Katy ISD.
President Donald Trump's long-promised plan to bring down drug prices, unveiled Friday, would mostly spare the pharmaceutical industry he previously accused of "getting away with murder." Instead, he focuses on private competition and more openness to reduce America's prescription pain.

Donna Barsky, pharmacist and owner of TexasStar Pharmacy in Plano says its possible to lower drug costs, but theres a long road ahead.

The problem is this, said Barsky. You have so many hands in the pile, everybody want to make a profit, and in some cases that profit has gotten exorbitant.

In some ways, Texas is paving the way. The Presidents plan calls for dropping a "gag rule" that prevents pharmacists from telling customers about lower priced options. Texas started doing that about 6 months ago.

Previous to that, I would not be able to tell the patient I could take this off of insurance and give you a better price, Barsky explained. If they have to take medication, why should we charge them more for something they can get for less.

The Trump administration will pursue a raft of old and new measures intended to improve competition and transparency in the notoriously complex drug pricing system. But most of the measures could take months or years to implement, and none would directly stop drugmakers from setting sky-high initial prices.

Drugmakers generally can charge as much as the market will bear because the U.S. government doesn't regulate medicine prices, unlike most other developed countries.

The list of 50 proposals includes:

 A potential requirement for drugmakers to disclose the cost of their medicines in television advertisements.

 Banning a pharmacist "gag rule," which prevents druggists from telling customers when they can save money by paying cash instead of using their insurance

 Speeding up the approval process for over-the-counter medications so people can buy more drugs without prescriptions.

 Consider changes to how Medicare pays for some high-priced drugs administered at doctors' offices

Those ideas avoid a direct confrontation with the powerful pharmaceutical lobby, but they may also underwhelm Americans seeking relief from escalating prescription costs.

Several consumer groups and Democrats in Congress criticized Trump for not following through on pursuing direct Medicare price negotiations, as he had long promised.

Perhaps the idea under consideration that would be most threatening to drugmakers is to give the private health insurers who run Medicare plans more negotiating power with them. But administration officials offered few specifics on how that might work.

Pharmaceutical investors and analysts expressed relief after the announcement, and shares of several top drugmakers rose slightly.

"Trump had a choice today: to seek disruptive fundamental reform or to embrace more incremental steps," wrote Terry Haines, a financial analyst, in an investment note. "Trump chose the incremental over the disruptive."

A majority of Americans say passing laws to bring down prescription drug prices should be a top priority for Trump and Congress, according to recent polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Azar and other Trump officials have hinted for weeks that the plan would, in part, "dismantle" the convoluted system of discounts and rebates between drugmakers and the health care middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers.

Trump called out those companies early in his speech, but gave no details on what new restrictions or penalties they might face.

"We're very much eliminating the middlemen," Trump said.

Public outrage over drug costs has been growing for years as Americans face pricing pressure from multiple sources: New medicines for life-threatening diseases often launch with prices exceeding $100,000 per year. And older drugs for common ailments like diabetes and asthma routinely see price hikes around 10 percent annually. Meanwhile, Americans are paying more at the pharmacy counter due to health insurance plans that require them to shoulder more of their prescription costs.

Experts who study drug pricing are encouraged that the discussion has moved on from angry protests to more sophisticated proposals.

But others warn there is no guarantee that unraveling the current pricing-setting bureaucracy will lead to lower costs because it all starts with drugmakers' initial prices.

America has the highest drug prices in the world.

The U.S. spent $1,162 per person on prescription drugs in 2015, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That's more than twice the $497 per person spent in the United Kingdom, which has a nationalized health care system.

Medicare is the largest purchaser of prescription drugs in the nation, covering 60 million seniors and Americans with disabilities, but it is barred by law from directly negotiating lower prices with drugmakers.

Allowing Medicare to negotiate prices is unacceptable to the powerful drug lobby, which has spent tens of millions of dollars since Trump's inauguration to influence the Washington conversation around drug prices, including a high-profile TV advertising campaign portraying its scientists as medical trailblazers.
A trip to the beaches of Northwest Florida took a little longer than expected after a flight was turned around for a windshield issue.

Southwest Flight 3786 was headed from Dallas Love Field to Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in Panama City, Florida when it turned back to Dallas over Northern Louisiana.

According to the airline, the crew of the flight decided to turn back to Dallas for a maintenance review of the aircraft's flight deck windshield.

The company said the 135 customers were sent to Panama City Beach on another aircraft and will arrive about two and a half hours late. The original aircraft will be taken out of service, according to Southwest officials. [[481761161, C]]
Iraq saw a record low turnout on Saturday in its first elections since the collapse of the Islamic State group, pointing to widespread dissatisfaction with the direction of the country under Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi and presaging a long period of deal-making as politicians squabble over posts in a new government.

There were no bombings at any polling stations  a first since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.

Al-Abadi called it a "historic day, spent peacefully by all Iraqis."

Riyadh al-Badran, a member on Iraq's national elections commission, said turnout was 44 percent. No election since 2003 saw turnout below 60 percent. More than ten million Iraqis voted.

With no clear front-runner, it could take months for a new Parliament to form a government name a prime minister seen as suitable to the country's rival Shiite political currents, who have adopted diverging positions on Iran.

The low turnout could open the door to Sunni-led and Kurdish electoral lists to play an outsized role in the negotiations, as well. Iraq's population is predominantly Shiite.

Results are expected within 48 hours according to the electoral commission.

Despite presiding over Iraq's war on the Islamic State group, al-Abadi was opposed by other Shiite leaders who eclipsed him in charisma and popularity. In his first term, Al-Abadi courted both U.S. and Iranian support in the war on IS.

His chief rivals were former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Hadi al-Amiri, who heads the powerful, Iran-backed Badr Organization militia, which participated in the war on IS. Al-Abadi was also opposed by the influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a staunch nationalist who has railed against U.S. and Iranian influence in Iraqi politics.

Iraq is beset by chronic corruption, a sputtering economy, and failing public services.

"The candidates have not done anything for the people," said Ramadan Mohsen, 50, who said he cast a blank vote in Baghdad's distressed Sadr City slums.

Millions of others decided to abstain altogether.

"I am certain these elections are a failure," said Abdelghani Awni, who was at a central Baghdad polling station as an observer. He did not vote. "Forget about change, from the perspective of the economy, of services - forget about it."

Iraq's most senior Shiite cleric spoke out on the issue of voter participation Saturday afternoon, encouraging Iraqis to vote "to prevent the arrival of a corrupt parliament."

"The lack of participation will give the opportunity for others to reach parliament and they will be very far from the aspirations of the people," said Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalai, the representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, on local Iraqi television from Karbala. Sistani has encouraged Iraqis to vote into power Saturday a new political class to combat corruption.

For those who did attempt to vote, some in Baghdad complained of voting irregularities at polling stations linked to a new electronic voting system implemented for the first time this year in an effort to reduce fraud.

Former Prime Minister al-Maliki said he was aware of "violations" at some polling stations in Iraq and complained the process lacked proper oversight.

"We are not reassured," al-Maliki told the Associated Press in a phone interview.

Thamer Aref, 45, along with his wife and daughter were turned away from a polling station north of central Baghdad.

Aref had turned in his old voter ID card months ago for the biometric identification card required by the new system. However, Aref's biometric card wasn't ready ahead of Saturday and, with neither card, the polling station did not allow him to a cast a ballot.

"I lost my right to vote," he said.

Associated Press journalists documented several similar cases at a number of different polling stations across Baghdad Saturday morning.

Amira Muhammed, the supervisor of a polling station in Azamiyah, Baghdad, said some people couldn't vote because they did not pick up their new biometric ID cards in time.

"The problem is not with us," she said.

A member of Iraq's electoral commission deflected blame for Saturday's reported irregularities.

"There were some problems with the electronic equipment due to misuse by some employees," Hazem al-Ridini told the AP.

In central Baghdad, voters supporting al-Abadi said they are doing so because they give him credit for Iraq's military victory over IS.

Al-Abadi "took revenge" for civilians killed in insurgent attacks in Iraq "with the victory over Daesh," said 71-year-old Felihah Hassan, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

After IS overran nearly a third of Iraq in the summer of 2014, the group launched waves of suicide bombings targeting civilians in Baghdad and other pockets of government-controlled territory.

With support from the U.S.-led coalition and Iran, al-Abadi oversaw a grueling war against the extremists and declared victory over the group in December.

Despite al-Abadi's military achievements, Iraq continues to struggle with an economic downturn sparked in part by a drop in global oil prices, entrenched corruption and years of political gridlock.

In addition to al-Maliki, al-Abadi's most powerful competition is from an alliance of candidates with close ties to the country's powerful, mostly Shiite paramilitary forces, and an alliance led by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Jassim Mohsen, 58, who fought against IS with the paramilitary forces, said he was casting his vote for al-Amiri's list, citing the sacrifices of the country's predominantly Shiite militias in the war on IS.

"I elected the Fatah list because they are the only ones who fought Daesh and gave blood," he said.

Some Sunnis voting Saturday said they are hopeful this election will help Iraq move beyond sectarian politics and become more inclusive.

Marginalization of Iraq's Sunnis under al-Maliki is seen as a factor that allowed IS to rise in power in Iraq. Al-Abadi has led a more cross-sectarian government marked by his ability to balance the interests of his two allies often at odds: the U.S. and Iran.

The war left more than 2 million Iraqis, mostly Sunnis, displaced from their homes, with cities, towns and villages suffering heavy destruction. Repairing infrastructure across Anbar and Nineveh provinces, both majority Sunni areas, will cost tens of billions of dollars.

Abdulrazaq Kubi and his wife Suheila Mahdi, both Sunnis from Baghdad, said they would not be voting for al-Abadi, casting their votes instead for a Sunni-led political alliance.

"The victory is not 100 percent, there is still Daesh here," said Mahdi. The government "is neglecting the refugees because they are Sunni. They left them in the camps, in the winter it floods, in the summers, they go hungry," she added.

There were 329 parliament seats at stake, with nearly 7,000 candidates from dozens of political alliances.

Iraq's constitution allows lawmakers more than three months after the ratification of the election results to form a government. But many expect the process to drag on for much longer if there is no clear winner, as dozens of political parties attempt to cobble together a political bloc large enough to hold a majority of seats in parliament.

Associated Press writers Balint Szlanko and Salar Salim contributed to this report.
On Saturday, about 200 people showed up on the corner of Wilshire Avenue and Vermont Avenue in the heart of LA's Koreatown to protest Mayor Eric Garcetti's plan to build a temporary homeless shelter in the area.

The protesters voiced frustrations with the lack of communication ahead of the announcement and shared concerns about the proximity of the proposed shelter to schools and children.

"This is 2018," Helen Kim, who opposes the homeless shelter, said. "We need to be heard. There are methods of contacting our community."

A block away from the proposed site, NBC4 News spoke to several homeless people on Saturday.

"The community really needs to wake up and see what's going on," a homeless man who went by the name of "Stacey" said. "It's better to have people in shelters than out sleeping on the street."

"It's good the mayor is building a shelter," another homeless man who went by "Jay" told NBC4 News. "We need a shelter. We need to help these homeless people. We need to give them food. We need to give them shelter."

The Mayor's $20 million plan is called "A Bridge Home." It would build temporary shelters in each of the city's 15 council districts. The shelters are only expected to be standing for three years.
The Long Beach streets that customarily host roaring Grand Prix race cars will be blocked off for speeding bicycles Sunday, as the annual Amgen Tour of California bike race will use Long Beach as the Day One venue.

The racers will loop around the downtown Long Beach and convention center route favored by the car racers, and go around their seven-mile course 12 times in about three hours.

The course also goes up and Ocean Boulevard, as far east as Ximeno Avenue at Belmont Shore.

Since streets in the area will be closed, the start time has been pushed back to 12:40 p.m. Sunday, to accommodate restaurants hosting Mothers Day parties.

Long Beach this year hosts the first stage of the seven-day race. Seventeen teams with 136 pro cyclists will use the circuit in Long Beach, before they head up the coast to Ventura for more racing on Monday.


Authorities in Weston are investigating a deadly domestic dispute that left a father dead and his son hospitalized.

Dr. Rafael Azulay is accused of killing his 67-year-old father inside his Weston home Saturday.

A SWAT team responded to calls of gunfire around 9:30 Saturday morning. They arrived at the home in the Windmill Reserve in Weston to find the doctors father, Asher Azulay, dead.

Rafael Azulay, 43, barricaded himself inside the home before turning the gun on himself, Broward Sheriff's Office officials said. Detectives said he had multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital.

Records show Azulay has been practicing medicine since 2000 and has a criminal history of alleged domestic abuse.

In 2014, Azulay was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery for allegedly beating his then girlfriend. The victims mother told police that her daughter was being attacked and held against her will by Azulay.

He was arrested again in April 2015 for similar domestic battery accusations. That arrest report indicated that Azulay punched and kicked his girlfriend in the face and stomach during an argument over house keys. The report went on to say that the woman tried to hide in a cigar room, but he dragged her out.

Both cases were dropped because the victim did not want to cooperate with law enforcement.

Azulays most recent arrest was on March 1st, where a deputy stopped by the home to do a welfare check because of an anonymous tip. Azulay reportedly became upset once the deputy left and allegedly beat his girlfriend.

Azulay remained hospitalized Sunday, and his condition was unknown. Its also unclear what led to the deadly shooting, which remains under investigation.
What to Know The Red Hook Winery in Brooklyn has been busted for running an illegal moonshine operation

Authorities discovered the winery was illegally making and distributing distilled spirits

The operation was one of the first city officials have encountered in more than two decades

A Brooklyn winery has been busted for running an illegal moonshine operation that created a serious fire and explosive hazard," officials said.

Authorities inspecting the Red Hook Winery, at 204 Van Dyke St. in Brooklyn, on May 9 discovered the winery was illegally making and distributing distilled spirits, the New York State Liquor Authority said.

The operation was one of the first city officials have encountered in more than two decades, the SLA said.

The discovery of an illegal moonshine operation in the heart of Brooklyn is nothing short of shocking, given how easy and inexpensive it is to obtain a distillers license in New York State," Christopher Riano, the counsel to the SLA, said in a statement.

This licensed manufacturer has not only demonstrated his utter insouciance for state and federal laws, but has created a dangerous situation by operating a primitive, makeshift bootleg operation in one of the most densely populated areas of our state, he added.

The team conducting the inspection last week found four unlicensed stills and more than forty cases of illegally manufactured spirits in the back of the winery, the SLA said.

The stills were illegally hooked up to the winerys natural gas lines, and a makeshift electrical box with exposed wires was set up above the gas burners, creating a serious fire and explosive hazard, according to the SLA.

The winerys owner, Mark Synder, cooperated during the inspection and was asked to dismantle the stills before the gas lines were shut off, the SLA said.

In a statement, Snyder's counsel said the winery had been collaborating with the Department of Agriculture on a project that involved producing grappa, a type of brandy.

The winery applied for the federal licenses it needed, but there had recently "been discussion between us and the agencies that issue the licenses," it said in the statement.

"We are in the process of working with the regulatory agencies involved to clarify the regulatory requirements going forward and [make] sure that the correct licenses and permits are in place," his counsel said.

"Regarding the grappa production still, it was disconnected and non-operative when the SLA visited the premises so we are unclear why the claims about the still being active were made," he added, calling them "inaccuate."
An investigation is underway after fliers from a Ku Klux Klan chapter were found in driveways in a Montgomery County community.

The leaflets from the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan were found Saturday morning outside homes in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.

Blacks are taking over your TOWN as you read this, but if you dont want to fight for yourself at least fight for your childrens future, the pamphlet reads.

The pamphlet also contains contact information for a KKK national hotline and radio show.

One resident said the fliers were placed inside plastic bags with candy hearts in them.

"It's sad to think there's people out there that I guess in 2018 still want to spew hate," Reggie Evers, a Hatboro resident, said. "I mean come on."



The Loyal White Knights of the KKK is a white supremacist group that describes themselves as a non-violent pro-white civil rights movement.

Members of the group attended the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. The group has reportedly left recruitment fliers on cars and in mailboxes in neighborhoods across the country, including towns in Pennsylvania.

KKK fliers with racist and anti-Semitic messages were also found in Upper Dublin, Pennsylvania and Cinnaminson, New Jersey last year.


A teenager died Friday night from gunshot wounds she suffered in a West Philadelphia shooting that also injured two other young people, police said Saturday.

Sandrea Williams, 17, was found wounded in the neck and back and lying on the ground along Simpson Street in a neighborhood north of Cobbs Creek about 10:30 p.m. Two others, a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old, were also hit by gunfire. They are recovering at a nearby hospital.

A neighbor, who did not want to be identified, told NBC10 he heard about 17 gunshots.

"It wasn't a regular small gun," Tonya Wilson, another neighbor, said. "This was something big, something powerful. When I did see the bullet it was a pretty nice size."

Williams was killed on the same block she lived, police said.

"I lived around this block for six years and I've known her since she was a little kid," Tanya Parnell said. "To know that she lost her life over something like this, it don't make any sense."

On Saturday, a woman brought red and black balloons to the teen's house while neighbors consoled her family.

"It's surreal to me," Parnell said. "I can't wrap my mind around it."



Police are patrolling the neighborhood while residents are on high alert.

"I'm more vigilant now. I'm making moves to move," Parnall said. "I can't live out here."

No arrests were immediately made.

Investigators said that Williams had no history with police and appears to have been caught in the middle of a neighborhood argument.

"She had no reason that this sort of thing would come to her," police Capt. John Ryan said.

The teenagers were among 12 victims on an especially violent night in Philadelphia. All of the shootings, nine separate incidents in total, occurred between 7 p.m. Friday night and 10 a.m. Saturday.


A man was shot and critically injured near a Lanham, Maryland, church after a fight broke out amid a celebration.

Police responded to Saint Matthias the Apostle Church about 2:30 a.m. Sunday after reports there had been a fight and shots were fired.

One man was shot. The victim was in a hospital with critical injuries.

The Archdiocese confirmed the parish hall near the church was hosting a Quince Anos event. The hall often is rented out.

It's unclear exactly where the shooting happened.

Police seemed to have cleared the scene before the first Mass of the day was scheduled to begin at 7 a.m.
A federal judge frustrated by the mistaken release of jail inmates in the nation's capital called corrections officials onto the carpet in his courtroom.

U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said Friday that making sure inmates aren't released by mistake is not "rocket science."

Sullivan had ordered District of Columbia jail officials to appear before him after inmate Jarrell Harris was nearly set free despite a court hearing requiring he remain held for public safety.

Corrections officials said Harris's near-release occurred because the department failed to log a request to keep him detained. Court records show several others facing federal charges have been improperly released since June 1.

Sullivan ordered the officials to provide him with quarterly reports on their progress.
A mother of three has died after a fire at a 1920s-era farmhouse in Beltsville, Maryland, early Saturday.

The woman's children had stayed with other family members overnight, investigators have confirmed.

"I know she had a baby, she had a little baby, and she had two teenagers, and it's so sad that just on the eve of Mother's Day, the kids will not have any mother," neighbor Christie Abegesah said.



Neighbors called 911 about 3:30 a.m. Saturday to report the blaze in a two-story home in the 11400 block of Howard Court, said Prince George's County Fire & EMS.

The fire was so heavy that firefighters couldn't get inside the house at first and had to battle the flames from the exterior. When they finally were able to enter the home, they found the woman inside.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Her name has not yet been released.

More firefighters were called in to extinguish the fire. In all, it took 60 firefighters nearly 90 minutes to put it out.

Fire officials said the home was built in the 1920s. It was the original farmhouse for the property, where single-family homes were later built behind Behnke Nursery off Baltimore Avenue.

Due to significant damage, including burned-through floors, "a limited amount of interior overhaul and salvage could be performed," fire officials said. Damage is estimated at $200,000, they said.



The cause of the fire is still being investigated. Preliminary reports indicate the fire appears to have started toward the back of the house, officials said.

Firefighters are also checking to see if the house had working smoke alarms. First responders did not hear a smoke alarm, and crews have not yet found one.

This was the ninth fatal house fire in Prince George's County this year. There were only five in all of last year.

In each of thoses cases, the house did not have the proper smoke detectors.

Later Saturday, firefighters will be back in the neighborhood to pass out smoke alarms to try to prevent more tragedies.
Boston police have announced the arrest of a suspect in connection with last Friday's deadly shooting of two innocent bystanders in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood.

Wilvin Guity, 28, was arrested Saturday and charged with two counts of murder for the shooting deaths of Christopher Joyce, 23, and Clayborn Blair, 58, on May 4 outside of the Milfred Hailey apartments. Police have said the two victims were innocent bystanders and not the intended targets.

Joyce was about to graduate from Salem State University with a degree in accounting. Blair was a father of three and also a grandfather. Both were remembered lovingly by family and friends who were shocked at their deaths.

Boston Police Commissioner William Evans released a statement upon the arrest of Guity, which read in part: "Community members all across our city should be able to gather and socialize in public places in the company of neighbors and friends without the fear created and caused by those who carry illegal guns in our city. Chris and Clayborn did absolutely nothing wrong and most certainly deserved better fates."

Guity is scheduled to be arraigned in Roxbury District Court on Monday, May 14. Its unclear if he has an attorney.
'First citizen' of district urges council to engage with residents

THE new chairman of West Berkshire Council has used her maiden speech to urge district councillors to reach out and engage with residents, who she says could one day be standing in her shoes.

Carol Jackson-Doerge was sworn in as West Berkshire Councils chairman for the 2018-19 year this week and she conducted her first full meeting after shedding light on her unique journey into politics.

Mrs Jackson-Doerge will be supported in her role by Peter Argyle (Con, Calcot).

She replaces Quentin Webb, whose two-year tenure as chairman came to an end.

The ward member for Burghfield, Mrs Jackson-Doerge has been a councillor since 2007.

She was vice-chairman in 2012-13 and then again from September 2016, following the appointment of the previous vice-chairman, Jeanette Clifford, to the executive, until May 2018.

The chairman is the formal representative of the district council and is considered the first citizen of the district. The role is supported by a vice-chairman, who can act as a delegate.

Speaking to a packed chamber on Tuesday evening, Mrs Jackson-Doerge urged members to connect with residents in the simplest of ways, like she did, by responding to a public consultation more than a decade ago.

She said: Who would have thought that an unofficial, casual conversation 12 years ago, of unintended consequences, would have led me down this path?

Reach out and encourage our residents to get involved in their councils.

They can start by just replying to a consultation, just like me. They, too, may one day be standing here in the future.

I am a woman born and brought up in south-east London, who was never involved in politics, but Ive always had a passion to make a difference.

Wherever I go, I will promote West Berkshire as a good place to live and work and that were open for business.

Councillor Emma Webster (Con, Birch Copse) formally nominated Mrs Jackson-Doerge on Tuesday evening.

Miss Webster said: I think its very fitting that in a centenary year in which many women were given the opportunity to vote for the first time, that Carol is our chairman.

I know that she will serve the community well, both inside and outside this chamber.

Graham Jones and Hilary Cole remain as Conservative group leader of the council and deputy group leader respectively.

James Fredrickson has been appointed portfolio holder for economic development and communications, while Dominic Boeck becomes portfolio holder for health and wellbeing, leisure and culture.
BROOKFIELD  A program to keep boats clean and prevent the spread of invasive species in Candlewood Lake could be closer to implementation.

Delegates from the Candlewood Lake Authority are meeting with their town officials to determine a place to house and run a decontamination unit that would wash off invasive species lingering on boats before they enter the lake, as well as secure possible money to run the program.

Candlewood Lake Authority Chairman Phyllis Schaer said other lakes have these decontamination programs, which have been successful at reducing the invasive species. Several authority members and town officials even traveled to Lake George a few years ago to see how that program was run.

Wed like to initiate something like this at Candlewood to prevent the spread in general of invasives but also educate people on the need to clean, drain and dry their boats, she said.

Schaer said people dont often think about the occasional waterway they visit and the risk of bringing invasive species into the lake. Even nearby waterways in Connecticut have invasive species, such as water chestnut, zebra mussels and hydrilla, that officials want to keep out of Candlewood.

Brookfield recently received a $10,000 grant from FirstLight Power Resources, which owns and operates Candlewood, for the program, but money might also be needed from the towns to cover the cost. The goal is to offer this program to boaters for free.

A decontamination unit, which resembles a high-pressure power washer with filters, was purchased by Brookfield for $25,000 in 2015, but has only been used a few times as officials discussed who would run the program and where.

The units are self-contained. They are usually run near launches for convenience but not at the launch itself to prevent a build up of boaters trying to enter the water. The decontamination usually takes about 20 minutes, but sometimes the shorter inspection to ensure boats are cleaned, drained and dry is enough.

Former Brookfield First Selectman Bill Tinsley championed the decontamination program and originally planned to offer the service at the town beach. But the implementation was delayed in 2015 due to construction at the park.

When Steve Dunn was elected to lead Brookfield, he said each of the five lake towns should share the costs of the program and take turns hosting the decontamination unit. This will also spread awareness about invasive species.

Schaer also recognized the need for the all of the towns to help out.

We dont have the financing or manpower to do it all, she said. It has to be a five-town effort to protect the resource Candlewood is.

The total cost of the program is still being worked out and differs based on how often the service is offered and whether the authority needs to build something to house the unit when not in use or if a town will be able to donate some space.

Were trying to work out the most cost effective ways, she said.

Money is needed to hire and train the staff to run the inspections and decontamination, Schaer said.

She said anyone in the community interested in donating can call the lake authoritys office and ask for her or Executive Director Mark Howarth. We encourage them to speak to us so we can get off the ground, she said.

The authority is also still determining insurance for the program.

In the meantime, the authority approved spending $2,550 to have clean, drain and dry billboards posted around the lake.

kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345
The Community Culinary School of Northwest Connecticut in New Milford will offer summer cooking classes, Cooking as a Life Skill, for children ages 8 and older.

The summer classes will include four five-day sessions: Aug. 6-10 and Aug. 13-17 from 9:30 a.m. to noon or 1:30 to 4 p.m.
Lucknow: At least 18 people were killed and 28 injured in hail and thunderstorm that hit different parts of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, officials said.

Five deaths have been reported from Kasganj, three from Bulandshahr and two each from Ghaziabad and Saharanpur. Apart from this, one death each has been reported from Etawah, Aligarh, Kannauj, Hapur, Noida and Sambhal, Principal Secretary (Information) Awanish Awasthi said.

At least 28 people were injured and around 37 houses were damaged in the hail and thunderstorm, he said.

"Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed all district magistrates and commissioners to provide immediate relief (to the affected people) and ensure that the injured are provided medical care immediately," Awasthi said.

In the evening, the state government had warned that hail thunderstorm, with winds speed of up to 70 km per hour, accompanied with squall and rain are very likely in parts of Badaun, Bareilly, Pilibhit, Lakhimpur, Shajhanpur, Sitpur, Hardoi, Lucknow, Barabanki, Raebareli, Sultanpur, Faizabad, Jaunpur, Azamgarh, Allahabad, Mirzapur, Sant Ravidas Nagar districts.

On May 9, several parts of the state were hit by a severe storm that left 18 dead and 27 others injured. Five people died in Etawah district, three each in Mathura, Aligarh and Agra, two in Firozabad and one each in Hathras and Kanpur Dehat.

Thunderstorms and lightning on May 2-3 killed 134 people and injured over 400 in UP, Rajasthan, Telangana, Utttarakhand and Punjab. UP was the worst affected, accounting for 80 deaths, most of them in Agra district in the western part of the state.
Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Speaker Nirmal Singh has landed into a controversy with the Army objecting to the construction of his house adjacent to an ammunition depot along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.

The Army has demanded an immediate halt to the construction work citing security reasons. Singh, who resigned as the deputy chief minister on April 30, however, asserted that he had undertaken the construction after fulfilling all legal requirements.

He said the matter pertained not just to his property, but also to thousands of acres of land of villagers and farmers around the ammunition depot.

The Speaker said the dispute has gone to the court, which has not stayed the construction.

Reacting to the controversy, former chief minister Omar Abdullah said on Twitter that BJP leaders' homes in Jammu are a security risk according to the army.

BJP leaders homes in Jammu are a security risk according to the army. It was well known locally they gobbled up the land cheap & had hoped to use their influence to regularise the purchase. https://t.co/DqIQrPd30F Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 12, 2018

In a letter addressed to Singh on March 19, Commander of Army's 16 Corps Lt General Saranjeet Singh had raised an objection over the construction of the house adjacent to its Nagrota station.

"It has implications on the security of a major ammunition storage facility as well as the safety of personnel living in close vicinity of the ammunition depot," the letter said.

The Assembly Speaker said that he had started constructing the house on a 2,000 square metre plot last year.

The land was bought in 2000 by the Himgiri Infrastructure Development Private Limited, whose shareholders included present Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta and BJP MP Jugal Kishore, he said.

Gupta, who took over from Singh in the recent cabinet reshuffle, however, said he was no longer associated with the company.

I have no land there. I was one of the shareholders of the company, but resigned from its directorship after I became the Speaker of the state assembly," he said. Gupta said if anyone had broken rules, appropriate action should be taken against them.

Nobody is above the law... If the Army has made certain rules, we should follow those rules, he said while denying having any knowledge about the construction of Singh's house. The Speaker said there has been contention over the no-construction zone for years.

"Committees were set up by deputy commissioners of Jammu to resolve the issue for the last several years. While the Army has maintained that the distance of no-construction zone should be considered from the boundary wall of the depot, the people want that the distance should be considered from the depot itself. This is the point of contention," he said.

Singh also questioned the Army's "silence" over a village with over 50 houses coming up very close to the depot and a large commercial complex being set up within 200 metres from the controversial spot.

But, the Army commander said the construction was in violation of the Defence Act, the 2002 Defence Ministry notification besides a notification issued by Deputy Commissioner, Jammu on August 7, 2015 that construction activity within 1,000 yards of the boundary wall of four Ammunition Sub Depots (ASDs) has been prohibited.

As per the state building permission rules, no construction can take place within 500 metres of any Army formation for commercial buildings and 200 metres for residential purpose.

Despite the rules, several colonies, including the posh Friends Colony housing ministers and bureaucrats, have come up-close to the wall of the air force base and BSF headquarters in Srinagar over the past decade.

Over 500 houses and commercial establishments have been set up within the wall of Sunjuwan military station here which was attacked by terrorists early this year.
Patna: The wedding rituals of Tej Pratap Yadav and Aishwarya Rai were continuing as planned until a rumour ruined it all.

Do you know the VIPs are relishing tastier food? The guests having dinner in 200 canopies meant for general people were suddenly alerted as the information spread.

What awaited next was complete chaos with frustrated guests, mostly RJD supporters, breaking the cordon of the VIP area and looting food and decoration items.

Soon, the entire area was strewn with broken crockery and upturned tables and chairs, while a number of party leaders made a vain attempt to chase away intruders by wielding sticks.

Caterers said the unruly crowd broke nearly 2,000 plates and looted some of their utensils and other items.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar greets RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's elder son Tej Pratap during the wedding ceremony at Veterinary College Ground in Patna on Saturday. PTI Photo

A day before the wedding, in-charge of main course menu, Kanpurs Bhatia caterers, told News18 that they were asked to make arrangements for 10,000 people, but on the day of the event, the venue was overcrowded with RJD workers, who came from all districts.

Contrary to the information received by the caterer, RJD leader Shakti Yadav told News18 that nearly 50,000 guests were expected to attend the event.

Several media persons, including a News18 Bihar journalist, were manhandled and their equipment damaged.

Meanwhile, four people were killed after an SUV met with an accident while returning from the wedding of RJD chief Lalu Prasad's son and MLA Chandrika Rais daughter.
New Delhi: Breaking his silence, former vice president M Hamid Ansari has supported AMU students' demand for action against intruders who created ruckus on the varsity campus over Jinnah portrait issue on May 2, when he was present there for an event, and said their peaceful stir against the transgression is commendable.

The event where Ansari was to be conferred the life membership of the Aligarh Muslim University Students Union was cancelled due to the alleged violence by Right-wing Hindu activists.

Ansari, who has studied at AMU, said on Saturday that the disruption, its precise timing, and the "excuse manufactured for justifying it", raises questions.

"The peaceful protest by the (AMU) students against this transgression is commendable. They must ensure that it does not in any way interfere with their academic pursuits. Their request that action be taken against the intruders and disruptors, after a judicial inquiry, is justified. The authorities of the AMU have made a similar request," he said in a letter to AMU Students Union.

He said the programme of the day, including an address by him on May 2 in the Kennedy Auditorium, was publicly known. The authorities concerned had been intimated officially and were cognizant of the standard arrangements including security for such occasions.

In view of it, the access of the intruders to close proximity of the University Guest House where I was staying remains unexplained, he said.

The former vice president also thanked the AMU Students Union and its office bearers for conferring the honour on him.

However, disruptions earlier that afternoon by intruders and anti-social elements inimical to the AMU resulted in the cancelling of the event.

This has been rightly condemned by the students and teachers of AMU as also by the AMU alumni the world over, he said.

This is the first time that the former vice president has openly spoken out against the violent protests over Mohammad Ali Jinnah's portrait in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

Certain groups have been protesting the presence of Jinnah's portrait in the AMU campus and their protest led to clashes on the campus on May 2.
Guwahati: Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill of 2016 escalated on Saturday with hundreds taking to the streets in Assam, challenging the central governments proposed move to facilitate Indian citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. This includes six communities  Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians

More than 200 protestors, under the banner of Northeast Students' Organization (NESO), staged a demonstration at Dighalipukhuri area of Guwahati. The protestors represented eight student organisations from seven northeastern states, including Assam.

Sammujjwal Bhattacharyya, chief advisor of All Assam Students' Union and NESO, said they will not allow Northeast to be a 'dumping ground for illegal Bangladeshis'. "We warn the Modi government against this Bill. If required, tens of thousands will be seen protesting in the streets against it," said Bhattacharyya.

The movement against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill of 2016 has brought a unification of sorts among various state groups, manifesting anti-bill sentiments and advocating for indigenous rights.

Peasant organisation Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi also lent support to the NESO protest.

Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP) protesters stood their ground and blocked the National Highway 37 in Guwahati for hours. Five other students' organisations staged a protest in front of Raj Bhawan. Protesters said that the Bill would breach the clauses of the 'historic' Assam Accord, which states that all illegal immigrants who infiltrated after 1971 from Bangladesh, irrespective of their religion, have to be deported.

Meanwhile, former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi took a dig at PM Narendra Modi over his promise, during BJPs election campaign in 2016, of a Bangladeshi-free Assam. "It was Narendra Modi who had said that Assam would be free of illegal immigrants, now, he is ready to give a red-carpet welcome to Bangladeshi infiltrators," said Gogoi.

While praising Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma for his decision to oppose the Bill, Gogoi said that the spineless BJP politicians in Assam, including CM Sarbananda Sonowal, have only been bowing to their masters in New Delhi. The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government, of which the BJP is also a partner, took its decision a day before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) visited the state to hear views from the state government and its stakeholders.

"Meghalaya governments decision has been an embarrassment for the BJP-led government in Assam. Now, they say they would make their stand clear once the NRC exercise is over, which suggests that this government is in support of the Bill, remarked Gogoi.

Meanwhile, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), an ally of the BJP-led Assam government, staged a strike at the party headquarters opposing the Bill. Earlier, they had threatened to withdraw support from the government, if the Bill is introduced.

The 16-member Joint Parliamentary Committee headed by BJP MP Rajendra Agrawal, recently met around 300 organisations and individuals from three districts in the Bengali majority-Barak Valley and about 135 groups, individuals in the Brahmaputra valley, before deciding on a report to be presented before Parliament.

In wake of widespread discontentment, the JPC is likely to have a tough time reviewing the Bill  that has seemingly divided the people of Brahmaputra and Barak valleys  from various angles

Protesters in Brahmaputra valley, opposing the proposed amendment to the Citizenship Act of 1955, see it as a move to endorse Hindus from Bangladesh who migrated to Assam after 1971.

Assam BJP spokesperson Rajdeep Roy said that 99% of people in Barak valley are in favour of the Bill. The Bill is being brought about by the government, in line with the ideologies of the BJP. Those from the minority community who had fled to India, to escape persecution in Bangladesh or erstwhile East Pakistan need to be protected by law, said Roy.

Hundreds filled the streets of Silchar during the two-day JPC visit, carrying placards pledging support to the Bill. Hindus from Bangladesh have been living here for long. Many of them who have been working as daily wage labourers dont even have citizenship rights. We want the government to treat them equally and give them full citizenship rights, said a supporter in Barak valley on condition of anonymity.

Elsewhere in Brahmaputra valley, an anti-Bill protester viewed it as a movement against Bangladeshis, and not Bengalis.

People in Assam have a fear psychosis of becoming a minority in their own state. In 1837, the British had declared 'Bangla' as the state language, which was later challenged by many, including Christian missionaries. In the wake of the Bill's passage, there is still a lurking fear that Bengali might become the official language in Assam, said a protester, who did not wish to be named.
New Delhi: The 20-year-old Ankur Bhambri, student of Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, is the lone Niti Aayog intern for the Digital Transformation Index project of the Ministry of Defense.

He is mentored by Commander Sujeet Samdha in the ministry. Bhambri has created a website using new concepts for the Acquisition Decision Support System. In his project, he has used Python Django, which promises more security than the PHP.

When I became the Niti Aayog intern to work on this project for the Ministry of Defense no one knew about Python Django. It gives output on the basis of data and provides greater security than PHP. So I made things more secure in the defense ministry, said Bhambri.

Bhambri, though a lone member on this project, is not the only young intern with Niti Aayog. He is joined by many others under the Niti Internship Scheme that calls for students to take part in policy and government related issues.

Anna Roy, from Niti Ayog, said, It is a win-win situation. On one hand they know about government and policies and on the other hand we get the fresh perspective from the students in various streams.

Roy has a team of youngsters on the ambitious project of Women Entrepreneurship Program that was envisaged at the time of Global Entrepreneurship Summit, 2017.

A day in the life of an intern

The interns are undergraduates or research scholars working with Roy on Women Entrepreneurship Platform. The internship scheme is open for all involved in academic activities with recognised institutions. The think tank provides them space and WiFi. The interns have to get their own laptops and work on different verticals of the project - technical, social and financial. Their day starts at 8:30 in the morning and ends late in the evening. As of now, the first thing they have to do is check if they have received any queries from women entrepreneurs.

We resolve them, call our partners, convince them for products that women entrepreneurs want and thus begins our day, said Pallavi Chaudhury, who is doing a PhD in entrepreneurship development through IIM Ahmedabad startup incubator programme in Rajasthan.

Pallavi is working on Atal Innovation Mission and as well as women entrepreneurship platform. This is followed by making a list of women entrepreneurs, inquiring what they want to do, get in touch with the partners and organise partners meet, round tables on a daily basis. In certain meetings, they have to meet Amitabh Kant, chairman Niti Aayog. They are asked for opinions in front of other experts present.

What they bring to the table

Sakshi Jalan, 20, is working on Schemes segment of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP). This segment provides comprehensive information about the existing Schemes (that provides different types of incentives to the Women/Women Entrepreneurs) of the Central and State Governments.

I am with the finance vertical, and have prepared an in-depth report on how the central government schemes for women entrepreneurship has helped them. What has been achieved so far, she Sakshi.

She is working out ways on how to incorporate the banks associated with them on WEP platform so women can avail benefits. Make WEP financially inclusive for women.

Focused on cooperative federalism, Akash Narang, who graduated from National Law University Bhopal in 2015, is making presentations which are being shown to the advisory council.

I am also overlooking the partner onboarding process since the women entrepreneurship platform is largely an ecosystem which is giving facilitation and support to women entrepreneurs by bringing services of the private sector, he said. Busy identifying the partners and checking out the deliverables, he is part of partnership team, social outreach and marketing team.

Giving the project the technical expertise is Bhavya Sharma of Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology.

We cant give individual help to all on women entrepreneurship platform  this is where Machine Learning helps, can device steps to reach all, said Sharma.

For Future, one of the major objectives of this scheme is to allow young talent to be associated with the work of Niti Aayog for mutual benefits. The interns shall have the opportunity to know about Niti Aayog, and contribute to the formulation of the government policies. Narang has basically come here to understand working at Niti Aayog and use it in his future endeavors.

What are the best practices? How are facilitations provided to new businesses? This is why I joined the internship scheme, he said. He would want to use this experience to go ahead and start something of my own, he said.
Kathmandu: Nepal Premier K P Sharma Oli on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Himalayan nation had elevated the existing relationship between the two countries to "new heights".

"Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi ji and I have agreed, during Modi Ji's successful state visit to Nepal, to address the outstanding tasks between the two countries in a time-bound manner," Oli tweeted as he thanked Modi for his visit in Kathmandu.

Modi on Saturday wrapped up his two-day visit to Nepal during which he held talks with Oli and visited the famed 20th century Janaki temple, Mukhtinath and Pashupatinath temples.

Oli also briefed Nepal's Parliament about Modi's visit.

He said Nepal's engagement in the Ramayan Circuit, laying the foundation stone for Arun III Hydropower Project among others, were the major achievements of the trip.

The visit had elevated the existing relationship between the two neighbouring countries to "new heights", he said.

The two countries have also agreed to expedite implementation of all pending projects of bilateral cooperation by Nepal's Constitution Day in September, said Oli adding that multiple bilateral ministerial meetings will be held.

The two countries have also agreed to form a taskforce of technicians to explore possibilities of developing railways and waterways, he said.

Oli also said he would soon pay an official visit to China but did not disclose the date of the trip.

Oli said the visit by his Indian counterpart had helped take Nepal-India relation to a new height. He said some of the remarks made during Modi's civic reception in Janakpur was undignified in national and diplomatic terms. Without taking any names, Oli expressed his dissatisfaction for making remarks against national policy.

Oli said Indian PM Modi had agreed to implement the past pacts between two countries without further delay. He said the two PMs' were also in accord to put a time frame to implement past pacts. The two prime ministers also explored methods to cut Nepal's trade deficit with India while providing easy entry to Nepali products including ginger and cardamom, Oli said.
Jaipur: The Indian Army has tested in the desert terrain of Rajasthan the military concept of 'Air Cavalry' that was used by the US Army to locate and assault enemy ground forces during the Vietnam War.

To enhance its defence capabilities, the Army tested the concept under which weaponised helicopters carry out combined action against the enemy in coordination with tanks and mechanised ground forces.

This being done by the Indian Army, with an eye on the future, which is focusing on strengthening its combative air assets by procuring attack helicopters.

This is a new concept for the Indian Army and it is aimed at reshaping land battle by defeating the enemy by offensive punch from the air in coordination with tanks on the ground.

In the recently held offensive exercise 'Vijay Prahar' in Mahajan firing ranges near Suratgarh, the concept of 'Air Cavalry' was tried by the South Western command, defence spokesperson Lt Col Manish Ojha told PTI.

The concept was implemented after a detailed deliberation, sand-model discussions and war gaming.

In normal battle scenario, attack helicopters are called in on requirement basis by forces moving on the ground to launch an attack where the ground forces are not able to neutralise the target due to any reason, including difficult terrain.

Under the 'Air Cavalry' concept, attack helicopters are fully integrated with tanks and mechanised ground forces.

A fleet of armed helicopters simultaneously flies in air and performs a number of tasks, including troop insertion in forward areas, on the spot aerial recce, launching attacks and it proves more powerful and a good speed in the action is achieved.

This requires a very high degree of precision, coordination and continuous upgradation. It saves time and energy," another senior officer of the SW command said.

"The forces achieve more flexibility and fluidity in an operation and multitasking can be performed more quickly, swiftly and effectively and the ground commanders can act decisively, boldly and offensively, the officer said.

Under this kind of arrangement, attack helicopters can engage targets in the shortest possible time and the mission can be accomplished in a very flexible and effective manner.

This concept can be executed in different kind of terrains depending upon the feasibility.

While the US used this concept in the jungles of Vietnam during the war from 1954-75, India tested it in scorching heat in desert terrain to sharpen its teeth.

The Army is gradually inducting helicopters equipped with ultra-modern sensors and high-precision weapons and therefore a need was felt to use the Air Cavalry concept for increasing capabilities in monitoring and protecting both eastern and western borders of the country.

The Indian Army is focusing on its own combative air assets so there was a requirement that a concept should be in place for the best utilisation of attack helicopters. The helicopters will be used as force multiplier and will increase the potency of ground forces to engage the targets, defence sources said.

The Army's combative air assets will be crucial in the land battles in desert along the western front as well as in the eastern front where the terrain is mountainous, the sources said.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is developing Light Combat Helicopter for the Army to meet its requirement for an attack helicopter which can operate at high altitude. The Army will also procure multi-role AH-64 'E' Apache attack helicopter manufactured by American aviation giant Boeing.

The Defence Ministry in August last year had approved the procurement of six most advanced Apache helicopters along with weapons systems at a cost of Rs 4,168 crore which will be the Army's first fleet of attack choppers.

Apaches have played a vital role in international conflicts, including in the Gulf, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
New Delhi: A staff member of IndiGo airlines was arrested on Sunday for making a hoax call regarding a bomb in a Mumbai-bound flight at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.

Subsequently, a few Mumbai-bound flights from IGI Airport were physically checked and the call was declared as hoax.

During investigation, the police team zeroed in on the subscriber of the mobile phone from which the call was made. The accused Kartik Madhav Bhat, 23, was traced in Pune. He was thereafter taken into custody and interrogated.

The interrogation revealed that after passing his standard 12th exams, the accused completed a diploma course in Hospitality and Aviation from a private institute in the year 2013. Subsequently, he started working in the aviation Sector and was employed as Customer Service Officer in the airlines at Pune.

He disclosed that his job performance was not up to the mark and he had been given verbal notice to improve his performance in three months or face the departmental action, said DCP, IGI Airport, Sanjay Bhatia.

He got depressed and made the call out of frustration and to teach a lesson to the airlines.

The sim card used for making hoax call has been recovered from the possession of the accused.

Further investigation is underway.
The CBSE Class 12 Result 2018 was declared on May 26 at 12:30 pm. The Central Board of Secondary Education CBSE will declare the Central Board of Secondary Education CBSE Class 12 Board Results 2018. The CBSE Central Board of Secondary Education will declare the CBSE Class 12th Result, CBSE Class 12 Result 2018 on its official website cbse.nic.in.

Millions of students are awaiting their admission to colleges and universities across the country  with most institutions judging them solely on the basis of their Class 12 marks.

The moderation policy has in the past, however, made for some interesting number crunch, including the curious case of 'Magic Mark 95'. Here's a look:

CBSEs MAGIC FIGURE - 95

Notice the extremely large spike at 95? This shows that the total number of students scoring exactly 95 is more than the total number of students scoring any other particular mark between 0 and 100.

And here are the graphs for the Maths, Physics, Economics and Accountancy papers among others 

Notice the similarity? In almost all of them, the 95 is a skyscraper, towering above all the marks next to it.

Dheeraj Sanghi, professor at IIT-Kanpur, explains why its odd that 95 is the number awarded to the highest number of people in almost every CBSE exam, year after year.

"This bunching up or moderation is done in a way that a lot of people have been given 95 marks. Now these people in reality must have got 94, 93, 92, 91, something like that and all of them have been bunched with 95. This is really unfair because different people have been given different increases."

This unusually high 95-spike has been observed across 10 of the 12 most-studied subjects of the CBSE every year since 2008. Thats almost every exam, every year, for the last nine years.

In the day and age of cut-throat competition for college admissions, a difference of 2 to 3 per cent in your marks often determines whether you make the list or miss out.

If person A scores 92 and his marks are increased to 95, whereas person B scores a 95 and his marks stay as they are, that takes away the advantage of the person who actually scored higher.

Mukta Nain, Principal of the CBSE-affiliated Birla High School for Boys in Kolkata is not impressed. "It's a little unfair. In this stiff competition where even half a mark is important, I feel this affects the admission of some good students to various courses they want to take up.

A former exam controller for the CBSE, Pavnesh Kumar, had this to say. "The 95-spike is because the highest number for moderated scores is 95. It is unfair to say that people who are scoring 95 without moderation are being disadvantaged because their scores are not being reduced. It's only that the marks of those below 95 are being increased."

Former Chairperson of the CBSE, Ashok Ganguly, agreed with CNN-News18's data analysis and said that the CBSE should try and avoid bumping up marks in the 90s.

"How is it that students attempting only 90 marks in an exam end up scoring 94? We need to differentiate between grace marks and standardisation. The processes of standardisation employed need to be revisited. Lack of transparency is a major concern."

But the CBSE isnt the only board exam with a seemingly flawed marking process. Lets now look at the other big national board  the ISC.

ISCs MISSING NUMBERS

In the ISC examinations of 2016, no student in any paper scored an 81 or an 82 or an 84 or an 85. Nor would you find a single person with an 87, an 89, a 91 or a 93.

These eight numbers feature in a list of 24 numbers between 40 and 100 not to have been scored by any student not just this year, but for all the years for which we have data (that is, from 2012 to 2016).

The CISCE, which administers the ISC examinations, chose not to respond.
Malappuram: The mother of the 10-year-old girl who was allegedly molested by a businessman in a cinema theatre was on Sunday arrested after detailed questioning. Police said the mother was aware that her child was being molested by the 60-year-old man.

A case under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was registered against the woman, a senior police officer investigating the case said.

Police had on Saturday night arrested the Moideen Kutty, after a Malayalam television channel aired CCTV visuals of the accused sexually abusing the child inside the theatre at nearby Edapal on April 18.

The girl's mother was sitting beside the man when the molestation took place.

Though the theatre authorities handed over the visuals through Childline to police on April 28, no action was taken until Saturday.

Moideen Kutty was booked under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and the POCSO Act.

The minor girl has been shifted to a Nirbhaya Kendra, a children's home.

A Sub-Inspector, K G Baby, was suspended last night for the delay in registering an FIR in the case.

There was widespread condemnation against police for the delay in nabbing the accused.

Kerala assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan said it was a 'serious lapse' on the part of police for failing to act soon after hearing about the abuse.

DGP Loknath Behara said stringent action would be taken against the accused in the case.

On Saturday, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala had demanded action against the 'erring' police personnel.
The Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education MPBSE released the MP Class 12th result 2018 on 14th May (today) at 11.15 AM. The MP Class 12th Result 2018 or MP Board Result 2018 will be released on the official website mpbse.nic.in. The MP Board Result 2018 was supposed to come at 10:30 am.

The Pass Percentage for MP Board Class 10 is 66% and MP Board Class 12 is 68%. Toppers for Class 10 are Anamika Sadh and Harshvardhan Parmara and Toppers for Class 12 are Science Stream - Lalit Panchauri, Commerce Stream - Ayushi dhengula, Arts Stream -Shivani Pawar.

Class 12th Statistics

Total Students: 7,65,358

Pass Percentage: 68%

Toppers:

Science Stream - Lalit Panchauri

Commerce Stream - Ayushi dhengula

Arts Stream -Shivani Pawar

Stats for Class 12th Regular

Number of Regular Students Appeared: 6,00,065

Number of Regular Students Absent: 4253

Results Withheld: 852

Failed: 1,08,358

Passed: 4,05,122

Number of Regular Students who gave supplementary: 81480

Stats for Class 12th Private

Number of Private Students Appeared: 1,65,293

Number of Private Students Absent: 16295

Results Withheld: 438

Failed: 81726

Passed: 41030

Number of Private Students who gave supplementary: 25804

The MP Board Class 12th exams for the session 2017-18 was conducted by MPBSE Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education from March 1 to April 3. Students can also check their MPBSE Result 2018, MP Board Class 12th Result 2018 on the following website as well examresults.net , india result

Class 12th Statistics

Total Students: 7,65,358

Pass Percentage: 68%

Toppers:

Science Stream - Lalit Panchauri

Commerce Stream - Ayushi dhengula

Arts Stream -Shivani Pawar

Stats for Class 12th Regular

Number of Regular Students Appeared: 6,00,065

Number of Regular Students Absent: 4253

Results Withheld: 852

Failed: 1,08,358

Passed: 4,05,122

Number of Regular Students who gave supplementary: 81480

Stats for Class 12th Private

Number of Private Students Appeared: 1,65,293

Number of Private Students Absent: 16295

Results Withheld: 438

Failed: 81726

Passed: 41030

Number of Private Students who gave supplementary: 25804

How to check MP Board Class 12th Result 2018

Step 1: Click on the official website mpbse.nic.in

Step 2: Look for the link which says MP Board Result 2018, MPBSE Result 2018, MPBSE Class 12 Result 2018

Step 3: Click on the tab MP Board 10th Result 2018, MP Board 12th Result 2018

Step 4: Enter your roll number

Step 5: Download the MP Board Result 2018 for future reference

Students can also check their MPBSE Board 2018 Result via SMS

Get MP Class 12 Results 2018, MPBSE Result 2018 via SMS

To check MPBSE Class 10 Results 2018:

SMS - MPBSE10 ROLLNUMBER - Send it to 56263

Examination Result 2018: To check MPBSE Class 12 Science/Arts/Commerce2018: SMS - MP12 ROLLNUMBER - Send it to 56263

All MP Board class 12 exams began from 9 AM and ended at 12 PM. Around 7,69,000 students took the Class 12 exam this year in 99 centres in Bhopal including 549 PWD candidates for which special arrangements were made by the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE).
Patna: Disgruntled BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Sunday hinted that he would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Patna Sahib constituency, from where he had won in 2014, "even if the situation is otherwise".

Sinha, who served as a Union minister in the NDA government of A B Vajpayee, is a Lok Sabha member from his native Patna Sahib seat for the second consecutive term.

Replying to a question, the actor-turned-politician, who was here to attend the marriage ceremony of RJD chief Lalu Prasad's son Tej Pratap Yadav, told PTI, "The location (of the constituency) will be the same, even if the situation is otherwise."

After his barrage of attacks on the current BJP leadership and firing salvos at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is hotly debated whether Sinha would be fielded by the BJP in the 2019 general election.

Popularly known as "Bihari babu", Sinha is at loggerheads with the party leadership ever since he was ignored during the 2015 Bihar Assembly election.

After he shared the dais at an event in Patna with former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, who quit the BJP recently after consistently attacking Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, through a tweet, had made an oblique dig at him, saying the "shatru" (enemy) of the saffron party should quit, instead of waiting for expulsion.

Sinha attended the marriage ceremony of Prasad' son here last night.

"We are family friends. Visiting each other on such an occasion is part of our sanskar (tradition)," he said, when asked if the visit had any hidden political message.

"It has emotional value and no politics should be read into it," Sinha said, while adding, "At least for now."

Sinha had also visited Prasad at the Ranchi jail, where the RJD chief was lodged after being convicted in fodder scam cases. He had yesterday congratulated Prasad on his son's marriage and for getting a six-week provisional bail on medical grounds.
New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh police arrested six people in Meerut on Sunday for allegedly trying to "avenge" the death of 22-year-old Bhim Army activist Sachin Walia, who was shot dead in nearby Saharanpur on Wednesday.

Police have taken the six Bhim Army supporters into custody after having questioned them.

ADG (Meerut Zone) Prashant Kumar said police have arrested Meerut residents Rahul, Deepak, Satvir and Ravindra and Modinagar residents Satpal and Bunty.

"After the incidents on May 9, when Bhim Army District President Kamal Walia's brother was killed, they (the arrested accused) wanted to make a new gang and do something to avenge it. They were planning a big violent act. When we learnt that this was being planned, we made teams to gather more information about this. When we arrested them and checked their messages on social media platforms and call details, our suspicion was confirmed," the ADG said.

He added that Rahul and Nitin were the two ringleaders of this revenge plot. He said, "During the interrogation, Rahul and Nitin said they were hurt by the death of Sachin Walia in Saharanpur. They confessed they started sending messages to 14-15 of their friends and started to create a feeling of animosity among them. They said they were planning to incite caste violence in the region. They even started to arrange for illegal weapons and vehicles."

The incident took place on May 9, Maharana Pratap Jayanti, which was also the first anniversary of the 2017 Saharanpur riots.

In the run up to this year's Jayanti, several Rajput outfits had demanded permission to celebrate the event. Bhim Army had, in turn, demanded that permission be denied to Rajput outfits since it could lead to a breakdown of law and order. As a compromise, the administration only gave permission to a gathering of 200 people. But despite heavy deployment of the RAF, PAC and civil police, a violent incident could not be prevented. The distrust of the state machinery deepens further, said Bhim Army leaders, when one takes into account the fact that one of the outfits at the forefront of the Maharana Pratap Jayanti celebrations was the Hindu Yuva Vahini - an outfit that owes allegiance to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Around 300 meters from Saharanpur's Maharana Pratap Bhavan, where the celebration was held, lies the Dalit dominated village of Ramnagar. Kamal Walia's house is 500 meters from the venue. The facts of the case state that Sachin Walia, the local media in charge of the Bhim Army, was killed after a gunshot between the upper lip and nose around noon. He was rushed to the hospital and declared "brought dead". But beyond this, there is little consensus.

It isn't just the manner of his death that is in doubt. Even the location is under question. According to police sources, Sachin accidently shot himself in the house, after which he was taken to the hospital. The blood trail, said a source, was leading from his house to the main road. But Robin Gautam said Sachin was shot some 200 meters from the house.
Amaravati: Nine persons were struck dead by lightning and three injured in Srikakulam and Kadapa districts of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, official sources said.

While seven persons were killed in Srikakulam district alone, two more were killed in Kadapa and three injured, they said.

Lightning struck at different places in Srikakulam since afternoon even as rain, coupled with gales, lashed the district.

Srikakulam district Collector Dhananjay Reddy told PTI that the seven casualties were reported from different mandals in the district.

Rain was also reported from Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts.

State Deputy Chief Minister (Home) N China Rajappa, while condoling the deaths of persons in lightning strikes, asked the respective district authorities to take necessary precautionary measures as per the warnings issued by the Disaster Management Department.

He said lightning strikes, rains and gales were likely in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts in north coastal Andhra, besides in Anantapuramu, Chittoor, Kadapa in Rayalaseema and SPS Nellore in the south coast.
Sitapur (UP): A pack of dogs mauled a 12-year-old girl to death in a village in Sitapur on Sunday morning, taking the toll in fatal attacks by feral hounds in the district to 13 in the last six months, the police said.

The incident took place in Maheshpur Village under the Khairabad police station.

"A 12-year-old girl identified as Reena died after being attacked by a pack of dogs," Superintendent of police Anand Kulkarni told PTI.

This was the seventh such death this month, the police said. Kulkarni said the administration was tackling the menace and the number of dogs in packs was decreasing.

"Earlier they used to attack in pack of six to eight dogs. Now they are reduced to two or four," he said.

Post this incident, the agitated family members of Reena staged protest along with other villagers, by blocking the national highway. The family members wanted assurance from district administration and police to stop the menace before they finally agreed to do the last rites of the deceased.

On Friday, UP CM Yogi Adityanath visted the families of the children who have recently lost their lives in attacks by canines and also announced ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the victims' kin.

Addressing the media, District Magistrate, Sitapur, Sheetal Verma said, The 12-year-old was attacked by a pack of seven dogs when she was going to the fields alone at around 7 am on Sunday. The girl died on the spot. I have asked senior administrative officials to visit the village and meet the girls family.

Animal rights activists have suggested that the administration should ensure that there is no "illegal extermination" of the canines as this would only "worsen" the situation and lead to more conflict.

Gauri Maulekhi, member of the Uttar Pradesh Animal Birth Control Monitoring Committee, has shot off a letter to the state chief secretary to ensure that the local administration "actively" informs the people about the scientific and legal steps that are being taken by the government and "discourage" them from taking law into their hands.

Maulekhi blamed the local municipal body for "knee-jerk" reactions to deal with street dogs, which she said will lead to more conflict and bites and spread of disease in the long run.

"Instead of making any effort to implement the mandatory animal birth control programme to curb the population of dogs and decrease man-animal conflict, the district administration is giving irresponsible statements leading to wanton killing of animals in Sitapur.

"May I please request you to issue necessary instructions to seek compliance reports from the 16 municipal corporations, with regard to the minutes of the Animal Birth Control Monitoring Committee, dated 06.09.2018," she wrote.

She also said that people should be informed about the scientific and legal steps that are being taken by the government and discouraged from taking law into their hands.

"Ensure that no steps for illegal extermination of dogs is being taken by the district administration or the municipal corporation," she suggested.

According to her, the Supreme Court had ordered the implementation of the Animal Birth Control Dog Rules, 2001 for population management and rabies eradication.

The rules also prescribe the obligations of the local authorities governments with respect to capturing, sterilisation, immunisation and release of dogs to control their population, she said.

(With inputs from PTI)
Bhopal: Braving the blistering heat, two interns from All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhopal are walking about 800 kilometres from the Madhya Pradesh state capital to New Delhi.

The medical interns are demanding a full-time director for the institute, the lack of which has lowered the standard of the premier institute.

Beleaguered by purchase anomalies, then director Dr Sandip Kumar had left the institution on May 21, 2015. Since then, AIIMS Bhopal has been operating without a chief despite the statute of the institution resting absolute power in the director for day-to-day functioning.

The central government did appoint Dr VK Sharma, a senior physician from AIIMS New Delhi as the director in 2016 but he refused to join.

In specialised services like Stem Cell bank, renal or liver transplant and emergency services like Trauma centre, the institution lags behind despite being the premier healthcare institution, said Dr Sant Guru Prasad, one of the medical interns and a graduate of AIIMS Bhopal, who is on foot-march. He is accompanied by Dr Chandan Kumar Aryan.

Even if we approach the administration for petty problems like defunct water dispenser in hostels, we are told to wait until the in charge director Dr Nitin M Nagarkar visits Bhopal, said Prasad. Dr Nagarkar is the director of AIIMS Raipur and has held additional charge of AIIMS Bhopal over the last three years.

Dr Nagarkar, however, only visits Bhopal once in a while, claimed the medics.

The absence of a permanent director has crippled the administrative and healthcare system of the institution. We have been pushing for a full-time director in the last three years but to no avail, said Dr Prasad.

The medic further claimed that as against the sanctioned posts of 305 faculty members, the institution has only 137 posts filled. In terms of departments, only 35 of 43 sanctioned ones are functional.

The necessities in the hospital are such that against the sanctioned 27 operation theatres, only three are functional. So, anyone who wishes to get a surgery appointment has to wait for over one-and-a-half years because of the shortage.

It might be some internal chaos that deters senior physicians from heading this institution, opined Dr Prasad, when asked why no one was interested in leading AIIMS Bhopal.

Accompanied by two part-timers  Dr Suman Raushan and Dr Kartik Kedar  Prasad and Aryan are braving the scorching sun to travel around 35 km every day. They plan to reach Delhi by the months end to meet Health Minister JP Nadda and administrators from Prime Ministers Office.

We need to protect ourselves against this heat and take frequent water breaks to avoid dehydration, said the medics, who started the march on May 3. They are claiming support of AIIMS Bhopal students and Residents Doctors Association of AIIMS, New Delhi.

The medics had protested before Union Health minister Nadda during his visit to Bhopal in 2016 and demanded a boost in infrastructure. The protest had mired into a controversy when an alleged outsider had thrown ink on the minister.

A city-based anti-graft activist Nagendra Saraswat, who had filed several PILs against anomalies in AIIMS Bhopal, accused the institutes administration of flouting norms while appointing faculty members and other staffers.

A Rs three crore MRI machine has been gathering dust for a while, Saraswat said. One of the medics was suspended when he had complained to PMO about anomalies.

A civil supplier, who was associated with the institution, also claimed that the administration normally shifts the buck on a lack of a full-time director for slacking civil work, most of which are running behind schedule. A portion of the main building, several labs and hostels are far from completion, said the supplier.

According to him, the administration often remains engaged in intense infighting.

Despite all of this, Bhopal MP Alok Sanjar, also a member of AIIMS governing body, saw the brighter side of things.

Over the last few years, the institution has taken rapid strides in improving infrastructure and amenities, said the MP, adding that the mega-hospital had obtained quality physicians and faculty members.

The process of appointments is going on, said Sanjar, accepting that some demands of the students are justified.

He also accepted that the part-time director was avoiding taking any major decisions due to the temporary nature of his appointment.

The BJP MP, however, claimed that the process of appointing a full-time director was on in New Delhi and the institute could get a permanent director soon after Karnataka elections.

I had told the same to the protesters but they were adamant on taking out a march, said the MP, adding he would again talk to officers in New Delhi over the appointment on Saturday.

The AIIMS administration, while replying to a query of News18, claimed exemplary development in the institution over last three years.

Infrastructure-wise, construction works of all the buildings (including Hospital, Medical College, Nursing College, Auditorium, Central Library, Hostels etc.) has been almost completed. The remaining civil works are nearing its completion. We faced certain roadblocks with the construction agency that had the responsibility to complete the work under Package 4 (Estate Services). This company has now been replaced with CPWD and the work is now progressing unobtrusively, said the institutes statement.

Saying they have recruited 135 faculty members, the institute claimed that soon the hiring drive would soon be underway again. Super-specialty departments like Burns & Plastic Surgery, Cardiology, Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery, Endocrinology, Nephrology, Neurosurgery, Neurology, Paediatric Surgery, Pulmonary Medicine, Surgical Oncology and Urology have already started functioning in OPD/IPD, the directors office said.

The acting director, Dr Nagarkar, has been visiting AIIMS Bhopal on a regular basis to supervise and coordinate various activities. Files are cleared daily, either physically or by digital technology as required, said the reply forwarded by Dy Director (Administration) Santosh Sohgaura.

It also cited various awards and recognition conferred on the institute over the last few years. All the complaints of the students are duly reviewed by the Administration, Deans and students are updated about the progress being made with regards to their complaints and problems, maintained the institution.

In any newly opened institute, there will be obstacles and challenges and one should be able to deal with a positive and optimistic attitude, said the institution.

AIIMS Bhopal is one of the seven AIIMS apex healthcare institutes being established by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna.
Most people, when they first pick up the bottle, begin with vodkas as they think they can easily get through the parental alcohol detectors and police checkpoints. Obviously, theyre all nabbed.

Vodka is simple. It is distilled from mashed potatoes or grains.

The traditional connoisseurs from Poland would wrinkle their nose if offered a vodka based on anything other than the norm. They wonder why people complicate a wonderful drink by distilling it from fruits or herbs.

But many complicate the simple.

They distil fruits, herbs, grass or whatever they can get their hand on to make vodka. Companies are interested in anything that is regionally available. That is why pineapple becomes the natural choice for the Pau Maui vodka, made in Hawaii.

Another brand, Vermont White, is made from milk!

Vodka is humble too.

That is another reason why it has become the bartenders favourite spirit world over. It is flexible enough to mix with anything and anybody. Vodka martini, Bloody Mary, Screwdriver you name your favourite cocktail, we will strain vodka out of your mix.

One can thus wax on for ages about the qualities of vodka and how it is made. Now, it is time to pack our bags for a trip to the most significant place among the vodka belt countries  Poland.

Did I say Vodka belt?

Well, Vodka belt is an unofficial string of countries that have a long tradition of making good vodkas. The countries are Finland, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

Which means if you come across a bottle of vodka from any of these countries, especially Poland, pawn anything to grab it.

In his work Three Sheets, Zane Lamprey refers to a Polish saying: Po szklanie I na rusztowanie. It means after the glass and onto the stage. So committed are the Poles to their drink.

Even in the 1500s, people in Poland were making a crude form of vodka for medicinal purposes. At least that is how they defend it.

Come to Poland now and you can find more than a hundred brands. The most famous ones are Chopin and Belvedere, found by the Tad Dorta, a tycoon in the Polish Vodka industry.

Take Chopin for example, you can find a magnified image of the celebrated Polish composer, Frederick Chopin, on the bottle.

In the time when the world only knew Smirnoff and Absolut, Dorta barged into the vodka industry, created a space for premium products and secured his twin vodkas there. For the first time, he introduced the frosted bottle into the market.

Dorta was a hardcore traditionalist who couldnt brook the idea of vodka not being based on potato or grains. He has other dictums as well. To him, vodka must be drunk at room temperature. If you chill it or water it down, the drink loses flavour and texture. For the perfect experience, the drink must be taken neat.

One peg in one gulp!

But Poland has already seen the last of such disciplinarians. Nowadays, people have picked up a taste for cocktails and flavoured vodkas. Some traditional Polish vodkas have long been treated with locally harvested wild grasses, fruits, roots and herbs. Brought together, they give the drinker a taste of Poland.

One of the famed Polish vodkas, Zubrowka (pronounced zhuh-BROOV-kah), made in the Lithuanian border is seasoned with bison grass. Alas, the US Government banned it on the grounds that one of the ingredients in the vodka is considered to be a blood thinner.

You wont find Zubrowka difficult to spot in a department store. There will be a signature blade of bison grass in every bottle of it. (Please give me a ring when you find one. Zubrowka must be sipped along with the man who introduced it to you).

Time to toast with the Poles.

When in Poland you realise that drinking is a public affair. In wedding parties and other ceremonies, vodka runs like water. Understand that you cant be a mild drinker and a Poles guest at the same time. He wont stop refilling your glass or take a no from your side. Every time he fills the glass to the top he expects you to take it in one gulp, to the bottom.

So manage to drink enough water or munch a Polish snack like pickles or sausages in between every toast. Also, try and miss a few turns on the pretext of a phone call or pee-breaks.

You have to drink with caution when in Poland. Never try to out-drink a Pole unless you are one.

(Manu Remakant is a freelance writer who also runs a video blog - A Cup of Kavitha - introducing world poetry to Malayalees. Views expressed here are personal)
Brazilian Rosalia Pereira had two reasons to celebrate Thursday: her miraculously rekindled true love 40 years to the day after their first date and being crowned Sao Paulo's senior beauty queen. "Today is even more special because of this," the 62-year-old said after winning the beauty contest, which aims to give the elderly a bit of fun just before Brazilian Mother's Day on Sunday.

"To participate, to have the courage to participate, is proof that the elderly today are active and this is very good, because it boosts everyone's confidence," Pereira told AFP. Now in its 15th year, the contest is run by a community center for the elderly in the northeast of the city.

"This is part of social inclusion, getting people out of their houses," said Nilton da Silva Guedes, social integration director at the center, known as the Paulista Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology. "There's a different world, people of the same age range who maybe have similar problems, people who can talk or exchange ideas, understand each other, and see things aren't that bad," he said.

Organizers whittled down more than 100 initial contestants to 25 finalists. On the day of the final, hopeful beauties aged between 62 and 77 paraded before a loud audience, mostly consisting of other elderly -- though not always. "That's my mother!" one younger woman shouted, pointing proudly at the stage.

Up for grabs were titles in five other categories: Miss Timidity, Miss Elegance, Miss Smile, Miss Congeniality and Miss Beauty. The previous editions' winners hung the sashes around their successors' shoulders. Last year's Miss Beauty 2017 appraised the new title-holder critically before conceding the sash, and outgoing beauty queen Aureluce Gastao seemed to need a little persuasion to surrender her crown.

Mother-of-two Pereira, a commercial manager, is no stranger to the catwalk, having won another title in her suburb in 2016. But what is beauty without love? In this, Pereira says she has been the biggest winner of all. Her greatest achievement, she says, was "rediscovering the big love of my life." Divorced, she recently rekindled a relationship with her very first boyfriend after he found her through Facebook.

Thirty five years had passed since she'd turned down his marriage proposal. "I was very young. He was even younger. Afterward, I regretted it," she said. By the time they met again, she was already 60. "The next day, he asked me to marry him and put a ring on my finger." Thursday was 40 years to the day since their first date.
India's first female superstar Sridevi will be felicitated posthumously at the ongoing 71st Cannes film festival for her immense contribution to cinema as a part of the Titan Reginald F Lewis Film Honours, a celebration of diversity and excellence in cinema. The special event, to be held on May 16 at the Le Majestic Beach, will showcase the legendary actress' best performances to the audience. Sridevi's husband and film producer Boney Kapoor and their daughters Jhanvi and Khushi Kapoor are expected to attend the festival.

Elated over the honour, Sridevis husband and producer Boney Kapoor told HT its comforting to know that she lives on through her work. Im happy that people from the world over are recognising her body of work and her contribution to cinema."

Sridevi, who died at the age of 54 in Dubai on February 24, recently won the best actress National Award for her portrayal of a revenge-seeking mother in Hindi film Mom. In addition, the actor was featured in the memorial montage section at the 90th Academy Awards along with Shashi Kapoor, John Heard, Tony Anne Walker, Jane Foray, Robert Osborne, Martin Landau, and others who were remembered for their contribution across spheres of cinema.
Deadpool 2 actor Karan Soni is the latest celebrity to react on the ongoing Apu controversy, saying the fact that a white guy has voiced for an Indian-origin character in The Simpsons "offends" him. One of the longest running animated shows on American TV, The Simpsons came under intense scrutiny after Hari Kondabolu's documentary The Problem with Apu highlighted the stereotypical depiction of Indian immigrants in Hollywood.

"I completely understand why there is a controversy about it in 2018. Because, what offends me and what people are offended about is that it feels wrong to have a white actor (Hank Azaria) do the voice of an Indian character. It just doesn't feel like right.

"Now there are a lot of Indian actors in Hollywood. So, people are like 'why are we having a white person voice an Indian?'. I really think that if 'The Simpson' had started in 2018 and this character was in the show, then they would have 100 per cent got a brown actor to do the voice and not hired a white actor for it," Karan told PTI.

The sitcom recently addressed the criticism over Apu's characterisation in the episode No Good Read Goes Unpunished. However, it failed to pacify the viewers and was slammed on social media for its tone-deaf response to the controversy.

Following the controversy, Azaria, who voices Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on the series, had also offered to step away from the role.

"In the defence of 'The Simpsons', this show has been going on for 20 something years and I don't know if there was any Indian actor then who could play that part," Karan added.

The 29-year-old actor believes if an Indian actor had played the part then Apu's character would have more to offer then just being a stereotypical representation.

"I wouldn't be offended if an Indian actor played it because they can add something from their own life experiences. Even if they are from first generation Indian-American, it becomes more genuine because it comes from someone who is from India. It becomes less of a stereotype," he said.

Looking at the increase in the number of Indian-origin artistes working in Hollywood and on American television, Karan, is optimistic about the representation of people of colour on-screen.

"When I came here there was only Kal Penn. Now there are like so many. I think it is a huge step forward. And not just for Indian people but for all ethnicities. I think a lot of things are changing and I feel happy about it. I think we are moving forward and not going back. I am happy that change is happening. I am happy to be small part of it, " he said.
Israels Netta Barzilai won the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon on Saturday, bringing Israel its fourth victory in the glitzy pageant, watched by over 200 million people around the world, and the right to host the event next year.

Next time in Jerusalem! Barzilai, a smiling 25-year-old live looping artist shouted after being named the winner. Im so happy! Thank you for accepting differences between us. Thank you for celebrating diversity!

Wearing a Japanese-style kimono and geisha hairdo, she won with a lively dance mix, singing Im Not Your Toy that has a womens empowerment twist, beating Cypriot entry Eleni Foureira with her fiery Latin pop song Fuego.

I believe that authenticity passes through, said Barzilai, who has previously described the message of her song as being about female power and justice, but with a happy, colorful vibe. Her instantly recognizable song began with Barzilai mimicking chicken clucking sounds to loud cheers from fans.

She normally uses a voice looping machine during her live shows, but not in the Eurovision contest where her backing vocalists produced a similar effect.

The Saturday night show had been briefly marred by a protester with a backpack who ran onto the stage and grabbed the microphone from British contestant SuRie. She quickly recomposed and continued to sing her song Storm a few moments later.

Israel made its debut in the contest in 1971 and had previously won in 1978, 1979 and 1998.

Other hopefuls with a social message included French duo Madame Monsieur, clad in black, with their song Mercy, inspired by the story of a Nigerian refugee who gave birth to a baby girl aboard a boat that rescued her and hundreds of other refugees trying to cross to Europe. The babys name is Mercy.

Lisbon hosted Eurovision for the first time this year after Portugals Salvador Sobral won last years contest in Ukraine.

The event was broadcast from the 20,000-capacity Altice Arena and projected simultaneously on giant screens on the citys main Commerce Square overlooking the Tagus river, where thousands of music lovers from all over the world partied and cheered for their countries.

Tens of thousands of visitors further boosted the record tourist numbers in the city, where pop star Madonna fixed her residence last year. Lodging bookings had jumped by up to 80 percent in Eurovision week and officials expected the event publicity to lure more foreigners.
Nandita Das' second movie, Manto, like her first, Firaaq, talking about the pain and pathos which followed the 2002 Gujarat riots (some called it massacre, in which thousands perished), looks at four years during India's Partition and Independence from 1946 to 1950 through the eyes of one of the greatest writers of the subcontinent, Saadat Hasan Manto. Premiered at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival on Sunday, Manto was described to me by a friend and fellow journalist as the Garam Hawa of today's times, a movie made in early 1970s by M. S. Sathyu.

Comparisons may be odious, but it may not be fair to place both the films in the same slot. It may also not be quite right to compare the Garam Hawa protagonist, Balraj Sahani, with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who certainly looks Manto, and infuses a degree of subtle strength into Das' work.

In fact, most of Das' cast is way above average: whether it is Raskia Duggal essaying the suffering wife of Manto or Tahir Raj Bhasin as the writer's close friend, Shyam, or even Rajshri Deshpandey (of S Durga fame) playing writer Ismat Chughtai, they all chip in with fine performances -- which could have in the hands of some other director turned into weepy, melodramatic affairs  so common in Indian cinema.

Manto manages to stay clear of an overdose of emotionalism, though India's Partition was an awfully painful process that uprooted thousands of men, women and children, often taking them away from what was their home for generations, taking them away from the familiar and the friendly.. This is what Das gets out best in her latest work, and Manto says time and again that he could never be the same if he were to leave his beloved Bombay. And that is where he grew up, where his father and mother and also his first son are buried. Bombay, for Manto, was the inspiration for some of the most powerful words that emerged from his pencil. He did not use a pen, though he was an avid collector of some of the most renowned brands of the writing instrument.

And out of his pencil flew the most brutal, the most acerbic words  words that said what he saw. And he saw some of the ugliest things, often the hostility towards prostitutes. And obviously, India and Pakistan, where Manto relocated, were the least equipped to handle such honest prose, which in one of the several court cases against Manto was finally given the tag of literature by a judge.

Several obscenity cases were slapped against Manto  much to the anguish of his wife  but till the end he continued to defend his own writings, calling them mirrors of society that exposed the ugly side of man. There is one heartrending scene of a child being taken away for the amusement of a few elderly/middle-aged men, and it was so disturbing to see the little girl playing on the seashore, oblivious of the leaching around her.

And this was one of the stories which Manto told his readers  a man who was a strange mix of courage and conviction, but overly wracked by sensitivity, which pushed him to take refuge in alcohol  straining his marriage (though Safia continued to stand by him) and forcing him to shirk his responsibility towards two of his young daughters. While one of them lays burning with fever, Manto is busy drinking, spending the few rupees he has on liquor, and not on medicines for her.

It was such a dichotomy that a man who was so attentive to the evils around him (the plight of prostitutes, for instance) was unbelievably callous towards his own wife and children.

Finally, when he sees the truth inside his home in Lahore, he decides to get rid of his addiction and admits himself into a mental hospital. But by then, his body had become a wreck, and he died, barely 42, leaving behind a rich legacy of extraordinary work, which minced no words while telling the truth.

Beyond all this, Das' work is a deeply moving narrative of how similar the world is today to Manto's times, how people are still getting uprooted and being turned into refugees, homeless and helpless. Manto felt the same pangs while leaving Bombay, a city he held dear. Till the end, he could never feel at home in Lahore, a place he was forced to flee when his best friend and actor Shyam, shaken by a Muslim attacking his cousin, blurts out to Manto that even I could kill you. Manto is shocked and shaken, and decides to get out of this atmosphere of hatred and violence.

Das must be lauded for creating a film which while talking about the desperation of Manto, underlines today's religious intolerance and geographical dislocations, placing them firmly well within the structure of her own outstanding work.

(Author, commentator and movie critic is covering the Cannes Film Festival for the 29th year, and may be e-mailed at gautamanb@hotmail.com)

END
Panaji: BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday asserted the party would form the next government in Karnataka, a day after the polling for high-stake assembly polls in the southern state indicated a close contest between the saffron party and the Congress.

"The BJP will form the government in Karnataka on May 15 evening after the results," Shah said while addressing a gathering of around 15,000 BJP workers at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium near Panaji.

Most of the post-poll surveys have predicted the BJP to emerge as the single largest party in Karnataka, with the JD(S) of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda likely to emerge as the kingmaker.

Polling was held yesterday(on Saturday) in 222 constituencies in Karnataka, currently ruled by the Congress.

Any party or alliance will need the support of 112 MLAs to form the new government.

Shah who spoke on various issues, recalled the cross-border surgical strike launched by Indian forces on terrorist launch pads in 2016.

He said after US and Israel, the country is now known to avenge the killings of its soldiers

During the meeting on Sunday, a video message of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is undergoing treatment in the USA since March this year, was also played.

In the message, Parrikar announced that he would return to his home state within the next few weeks.

Recalling Parrikar's tenure as defence minister, Shah described him as a "hardworking person with a grip on the administration".

"The Uri attack happened when Parrikar was the defence minister. In the attack, soldiers were burnt to death alive.

The entire country was shocked. Parrikar was then the defence minister under the prime ministership of Narendra Modi.

"Within ten days of the attack, our soldiers went to the PoK and took revenge through the surgical strike," he said.

A total of 17 Army personnel were killed after four heavily-armed militants attacked an Indian Army brigade headquarters in Uri, near the Line of Control in a pre-dawn ambush on September 18, 2016.

"...Post this (surgical strike), India is known worldwide for two identities:a country before the surgical strike and the country after the strike.

"After America and Israel, India is now counted amongst the nations that take revenge of the death of its soldiers," he said.

On the mining crisis in the coastal state, Shah said the issue would be resolved through court only.

"I don't want to speak much on the issue, but I want to assure the people of Goa that the mining crisis which has arisen due to the court order would be solved through court only," he said.

The Goa government had last week resolved to file a review petition against the Supreme Court order of February this year quashing the second renewal of iron ore mining leases given to 88 companies in Goa in 2015, which brought the mining industry in the coastal state to a halt.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesnt call Congress chief Rahul Gandhi by name in campaign speeches. In 2014, it was Shehzada, while in Karnataka it was Naamdar, both a reference to Rahuls Nehru-Gandhi lineage. The careful choice of words is a conscious and consistent effort.

Modi stopped calling Rahul a shehzada since his elevation as Congress president and gave him the new moniker of naamdar while campaigning in the Karnataka elections, accusing him of encouraging the 'durbari' culture and of promoting other naamdars like himself.

Modi sharpened his attack after Rahul spelled out his prime ministerial ambition for the first time. Congress ke naamdar sone ka chammach lekar paida hue hain. Jo sone ka chammach lekar paida hote hain unko kya pata Modi toilet kyun bana raha hai. (He was born with a golden spoon. How can he understand why Modi is constructing toilets), the PM said.

According to sociologist Dipankar Gupta, naamdar vs kaamdar is a metaphor that can have immediate resonance with the masses. Naamdar is not a description, but a metaphor for India being ruled by people of privilege. Its used best as a contrast against Kaamdars, or people who are from the working classes."

When Modi kick-started his Karnataka campaign from Chamarajanagar district, he addressed Rahul as Congress new president. At the time, the PM didnt take a jibe at the selection vs election debate surrounding Rahuls elevation. Modi instead criticised the Congress for failing to electrify all of Indias villages despite being in power for decades. Congress ke neta aur Congress ke naye naye adhyaksh ati utsah mein kabhi kabhi maryada tod dete hain. Achcha hota inke muh se 18,000 gaon mein bijli pahunchne wale mazdooron ke liye kuch achche shabd nikal jate. (Congress leaders and their new president sometimes cross the line. It would have been better if they had said something about the workers who took electricity to 18,000 villages), the PM said.

According to BJP insiders, Modi doesnt want to acknowledge Gandhi as a worthy opponent. Modi is a common man and thinks like a common man. For a common man, Rahul Gandhi is the great-grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, the grandson of Indira Gandhi and the son of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi, said a Saffron party leader.

Social scientist Manisha Priyam said Modi doesnt name Rahul as he is opposing dynasty politics.

It is also an attempt to draw a contrast between his 'humble' roots and Rahuls 'privileged' upbringing.

Modi, however, had not refrained from naming Akhilesh Yadav when his Samajwadi Party tied up with the Congress in 2017 Assembly elections, which the combine eventually lost to the BJP. While campaigning in the state, Modi had said, When Akhilesh Yadav became the CM, I had thought that he is young, educated and will do good work for Uttar Pradesh. But in four years, he has ruined the state.... Congress ruined entire India. Akhilesh is so scared that he is tying up with anyone and everyone. Otherwise, why would anyone board a sinking ship?

Akhilesh and Rahul both hail from political families. So why the different treatment? It may be because Akhileshs father Mulayam Singh Yadav rose in politics from humble beginnings and Akhilesh is the first-generation beneficiary of that struggle. The same is not the case with Rahul Gandhi.

According to senior journalist Neerja Chowdhury, this is 'old school politics'. He (Modi) chooses descriptions that are far more damning than using the name Rahul Gandhi, she says.

True enough, the use of words like shehzada and yuvraj by Modi and other BJP leaders have fuelled a plethora of memes and tweets mocking the Congress president.

Decades ago, socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia dismissed Indira Gandhi as a goongi gudiya or mute doll. With names like shehzada and naamdar for Rahul, Modi reminds the masses of the influential family the Congress chief was born into.

Amit Goel, the editor of Pioneer, sees Modis extreme dislike for the Gandhi family in the strategy behind not naming Rahul. By using such phrases, Modi is trying to build an image of an opponent in the eyes of the public. He wants Rahul to be identified with certain traits.

Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah pride on being outsiders to Delhis cozy political circles, the durbari culture rejected by the masses. The switch from yuvraj to shehzada and use of sultanate ka naamdar is also an attempt to make a sub-conscious association with the Mughal rule in India.

Naamdar may well be the ammo Modi will fire at Rahul in the 2019 Lok Sabha battle.
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday accused former Finance Minister P Chidamabaram of holding assets to the tune of $3 billion in illegal foreign bank accounts and with income tax authorities filing chargesheet against the veteran Congress leader's family, the BJP likened it to the Nawaz Sharif moment for the Congress.

Chidambaram took to Twitter to rubbish charges against him and said the BJP is "dreaming of billions".

"The president of the richest political party in India is dreaming of billions of dollars! Bring the money back and put Rs 15 lakhs in the account of every Indian as you promised," said Chidambaram.

Nirmala Sitharaman led the charge against Chidambaram and in a press conference narrated how the income tax department has traced the black money amassed by Chidambaram's family and hidden in offshore accounts.

"The I-T department filed chargesheets in a Chennai city court on 11th May, 2018 against Chidambarams wife Nalini, son Karti and his wife Srinidhi under section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015," said Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

As Sitharaman read out the charges against Chidambaram, the latter in a sarcastic Twitter jibe said she should be appointed as "lawyer of the income tax department".

"The buzz in Delhi is that Ms Nirmala Sitaraman will be removed as Defence Minister and appointed as lawyer of the Income-tax department. Welcome to the bar, Ms Sitaraman," said Chidambaram.

Sitharaman alleged, Chidambaram didn't disclose his investments to tax authorities, violating black money law, which was brought by Modi government as part of its drive against black money and to prosecute those Indians who have secretly stashed illicit wealth abroad.

"For sometime now we have been hearing a lot of action by the I-T authorities against former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and his family. In India, for the Congress Party this is the Nawaz Sharif moment," said Sitharaman.

In July 2017, Pakistan Supreme Court disqualified former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from holding public office over corruption charges brought to fore by the Panama Papers case.

"The present chargesheets are for not disclosing, either partly or fully, immovable assets like the one at Cambridge in the UK worth Rs. 5.37 crore, property worth Rs. 80 lakh in the same country and assets worth Rs.3.28 crore in the US," informed Sitharaman.

Sitharaman wanted to know if Rahul Gandhi would investigate this as he has been highlighting corruption charges against BJP leaders. Sitharaman asked how Chidambaram failed to to disclose his assets abroad.

BJP president Amit Shah too joined in the debate and said this could be the rationale behind Congress dragging its feet over the formation of SIT, which was to unearth black money.

"This explains why despite Supreme Court's orders Sonia Gandhi, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh and then FM P Chidambaram dragged their feet on formation of SIT, one of the first decisions taken by Modi government, to fight Black Money! How could they indict their own selves," said Shah.
New Delhi: Even as most of the exit polls predict a hung Assembly in Karnataka, BJPs chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa on Sunday put out his own figures, giving his party a majority and predicting only 70 seats for Congress.

Sounding confident of BJPs victory, Yeddyurappa said, I have seen the exit polls on various channels. BJP will form the majority government on Tuesday and Congress will exit from Karnataka. There is no question of joining hands with anyone.

Giving the break-up of Assembly seats, he further said, While we will get 130 seats, Congress wont cross 70. JD(S) will manage 25 seats and Independents will win 3-4 seats.

The saffron party leader said that as soon as he comes the chief minister, he will waive off loans as promised in the manifesto, and slammed Siddaramaiah for being an anti-farmer and anti-people.

When asked about Siddaramaiahs tweet asking Congress workers not to worry about exit polls, Yeddyurappa said, I am not saying Siddaramaiah should believe exit polls. He, anyway, wont cross 70 seats. I want to make it clear that Siddaramaiah's term is over. He will lose both in Chamundeshwari and Badami.

Look at the way he has been behaving for the past 15 days. It is Siddaramaiah who is mentally confused, the BJP leader said, while hitting out at the CM was calling him mentally disturbed.

Most exit polls have predicted a tight race between the Congress and the BJP with the possibility of the Janata Dal (Secular) emerging as the kingmaker. Republic TV-Jan Ki Baat and ABP-C Voter predicted that the BJP will emerge as the single largest party by bagging 104 and 104-116 seats, respectively, in the 224-member House.

The two news channels gave the incumbent Congress 78 and 83-94 seats and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda-led JD(S) 37 and 20-29 seats, respectively.

Polling was held on Saturday in 222 constituencies following the countermanding of election for the Jayanagara seat due to the death of BJP candidate BN Vijaykumar, and deferment of voting for RR Nagar seat after a massive row erupted over a large number of voter ID cards being found in a Bengaluru apartment.

Any party or alliance will need the support of 112 MLAs to form the new government.

India Today-Axis exit poll, however, put the Congress in a pole position and predicted its tally in the range of 106-118 seats while of the BJP between 79-92. It saw the JD(S) tally between 22-30 seats. The Poll of Exit Polls on NDTV forecast 97, 90 and 31 seats for the BJP, the Congress and the JD(S) respectively.

Times Now-VMR predicted that the BJP will win 94 seats while the Congress will bag 97 and the JD(S) 28. However, Times Now-Chanakya forecast a majority for the BJP with 120 seats and gave the Congress and the JD(S) 73 and 26 seats, respectively.

The Congress had won 122 seats in the 2013 state Assembly polls following a split in the BJP, which was reduced to 40 seats while the JD(S) also got 40 seats.

Both the BJP and the Congress ran a high-decibel campaign in the state with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the saffron charge with 21 rallies while Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah led their bid to ensure that it defies anti-incumbency to retain power.
Jalalabad (Afghanistan): At least six civilians were killed when terrorists detonated bombs and stormed a government building on Sunday in an ongoing assault in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, officials said.

There were two explosions near the city's directorate of finance, the Nangarhar provincial governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP, adding that "a number of attackers" had entered the building.

"Security forces are in the area chasing and fighting them," he said.

"So far six civilians (have been) killed and 33 wounded. One attacker is also down. The clearing operation is ongoing." Earlier, health department officials in the city said hospitals had received at least four dead bodies and 20 wounded people. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of restive Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. Some areas of the province are a stronghold of the Islamic State group but Taliban fighters are also active there.

It was the latest deadly violence to strike Afghanistan as terrorist groups step up attacks and US-backed Afghan forces intensify air strikes and ground offensives.

The assault comes days after suicide bombers and gunmen launched apparently coordinated attacks on two Kabul police stations Wednesday, killing at least ten people.

April saw a series of attacks across the country targeting voter registration centres as the country gears up for long-delayed legislative elections due in October.

The Taliban and IS have made clear their intentions to disrupt the elections. Officials are concerned that a low voter turnout will undermine the credibility of the poll.

The Taliban recently launched their annual spring offensive, in an apparent rejection of a peace talks overture by the Afghan government.

Their Operation Al Khandaq will target US forces and "their intelligence agents" as well as their "internal supporters", a Taliban statement said on April 25.

But the Islamic State group has also stepped up their attacks in recent months, particularly in Kabul.

Nine journalists, including AFP's chief photographer in Kabul Shah Marai, were among the 25 people killed in a double suicide blast claimed by IS in the capital on April 30.

Kabul has become one of the deadliest places in the country for civilians as security forces struggle to keep the militants at bay following the withdrawal of NATO combat forces at the end of 2014.
Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron has called his friend and ally U.S. President Donald Trump to say he's very worried about tensions in the Middle East, after Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord.

Macron's office said the two leaders spoke on Saturday and the French leader expressed his "great concern about stability" in the region.

Macron strongly opposes Trump's pullout from the 2015 global deal curbing Iran's nuclear activities. Hostilities between Iran and Israel have already escalated in recent days.

Macron and Trump also discussed trade issues. European governments are scrambling to save billions of dollars in trade with Iran that resumed thanks to the 2015 accord.

In addition, France and the EU are pressing Washington for exemption from Trump's steel and aluminium tariffs.
Surabaya, Indonesia: A family of six suicide bombers, that included two young children, carried out deadly attacks on three churches in Indonesia's second-largest city on Sunday, police said, as the world's most populous Muslim nation recoiled in horror at one of the worst attacks on its Christian minority.

At least seven people plus the six bombers died in the attacks in Surabaya, according to police. At least 41 people were injured in the attacks, which Indonesia's president condemned as "barbaric."

The bombings were the worst to target churches in Indonesia since a series of attacks on Christmas Eve in 2000 killed 15 people and wounded nearly 100. Religious minorities in Indonesia, especially Christians, have been repeatedly targeted by militants.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said that the father exploded a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother was with daughters aged 12 and 9 for her attack.

Karnavian said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently the Islamic State group controlled significant territory.

The extremist group claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency. It didn't mention anything about families or children taking part in the attack, and said there were only three attackers.

The first attack struck the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church in Surabaya, police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the scene. That blast was followed by a second explosion minutes later at the Christian Church of Diponegoro and a third at the city's Pantekosta Church, Mangera said.

A witness described the woman's attack at the Diponegoro church, saying she was carrying two bags when she arrived.

"At first officers blocked them in front of the churchyard, but the woman ignored them and forced her way inside. Suddenly she hugged a civilian then (the bomb) exploded," said the witness, a security guard who identified himself as Antonius.

Mangera said three unexploded homemade bombs, two at the Pantekosta church and one at the Diponegoro church, were detonated by a bomb squad.

Shattered glass and chunks of concrete littered the entrance of the Santa Maria Church, which was sealed off by armed police. Rescue personnel treated victims at a nearby field while officers inspected wrecked motorcycles in the parking lot that had been burned in the explosion.

A street merchant outside the church said she was blown several meters (yards) by the blast.

"I saw two men riding a motorbike force their way into the churchyard. One was wearing black pants and one with a backpack," said the merchant, Samsia, who uses a single name. "Soon after that the explosion happened."

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo visited the scenes of the attacks and described them as "cowardly actions" that were "very barbaric and beyond the limit of humanity."

In Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, the Indonesian Church Association condemned the attacks.

"We are angry," said Gormar Gultom, an official with the association, but urged people to let the police investigation take its course.

Indonesia's two largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, also condemned the attacks.

Separately, national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto said police fatally shot four suspected militants and arrested two others early Sunday in West Java towns. It wasn't clear whether the shootings were connected to the church attacks.

"They have trained in order to attack police," Wasisto said, identifying the militants as members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Islamic State group-affiliated network of about two dozen extremist groups that has been implicated in a number of attacks in Indonesia over the past year.

Jakarta police placed the capital and surrounding areas on high alert, while the transportation ministry warned airports to be on guard.

The church attacks came days after police ended a hostage-taking ordeal by imprisoned Islamic militants at a detention center near Jakarta in which six officers and three inmates died. IS claimed responsibility.

Indonesia has carried out a sustained crackdown on militants since bombings by al-Qaida-affiliated radicals in Bali in 2002 killed 202 people. In recent years, the country has faced a new threat as the rise of IS in the Middle East invigorated local militant networks.

Christians, many of whom are from the ethnic Chinese minority, make up about 9 percent of Indonesia's 260 million people.
New Delhi: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday dubbed former Pakistan's prime minister Nawaz Sharif public acknowledgment of militant operations in his country as "a serious disclosure" and said it proved India's position that the handlers of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack were in Pakistan.

For the first time, Sharif also questioned Pakistan's policy to allow the "non-state actors" to cross the border and "kill" people in Mumbai, according to a media report.

Well, it is very serious disclosure. India's position has been that the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack operated from Pakistan. We strongly believe that the handlers of the attack were in Pakistan," Sitharaman told a press conference here, in response to a query.

"It (Sharif's remarks) only proves that India's stand has been right all the way, she said.

Sharif, who has been disqualified to hold public office for life by his country's Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, said Pakistan has isolated itself.

"We have isolated ourselves. Despite giving sacrifices, our narrative is not being accepted. Afghanistan's narrative is being accepted, but ours is not. We must look into it, Sharif had told Dawn.

Without naming Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and Maulana Masood Azhar's militant organisations -- Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Jaish-e-Mohammad, -- operating in the country with impunity, Sharif said, Militant organisations are active in Pakistan."

To a question on Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's call for a unilateral ceasefire in the state during the month of Ramzan till completion of the Amarnath Yatra, Sitharaman said, I think it is important to handle J&K affairs with a great deal of sensitivity.

"The Indian Army will have to make sure that India is a safe country. It has to handle firmly any terrorism which threatens peace and harmony of J&K and the rest of India also.

To a query on Karnataka exit polls, she said the BJP will form the government in the state as the Congress will face defeat.

On Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's comment that he was ready to make way for a Dalit to take his place in the government if the Congress leadership wished so, Sitharaman said, I never heard this during the campaigning.
Seoul: North Korea has scheduled the dismantlement of its nuclear bomb test site for sometime between May 23 and 25 in order to uphold its pledge to discontinue nuclear tests, the country's state media reported on Saturday a month ahead of a historic summit.

The official Korean Central News Agency said dismantlement of the Punggye-Ri nuclear test ground would involve collapsing all of its tunnels with explosions, blocking its entrances, and removing all observation facilities, research buildings and security posts.

"The Nuclear Weapon Institute and other concerned institutions are taking technical measures for dismantling the northern nuclear test ground... in order to ensure transparency of discontinuance of the nuclear test," KCNA said.

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will hold talks in Singapore on June 12, the first-ever meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.

Trump's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that North Korea can look forward to "a future brimming with peace and prosperity" if it agrees to quickly give up its nuclear weapons.

Trump welcomed the North Korean announcement.

"North Korea has announced that they will dismantle Nuclear Test Site this month, ahead of the big Summit Meeting on June 12th," he tweeted. "Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture! Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!"

South Korea's presidential office echoed the sentiment on Sunday, saying it shows Pyongyang's willingness to denuclearise through actions beyond words.

However, in spite of its pledge to stop testing, North Korea has given no indication it is willing to go beyond statements of broad conceptual support for denuclearization by unilaterally abandoning a nuclear weapons program its ruling family has seen as crucial to its survival.

In announcing the plan to shut Punggye-Ri last month, Kim said North Korea no longer needed to conduct tests because it had completed its goal of developing nuclear weapons.

KCNA said journalists, including from the United States and South Korea, would be invited to cover the event, to "show in a transparent manner the dismantlement of the northern nuclear test ground to be carried out". The exact date of the closure will depend on weather conditions, the agency said.

To accommodate the travelling journalists, North Korea said various measures would be taken including "opening territorial airspace".

NO MENTION OF EXPERTS

South Korean officials said in April that North Korea also planned to invite experts from the United States and South Korea for the Punggye-Ri shutdown, but KCNA made no mention of this.

Last month, South Korean President Moon Jae-in had asked the United Nations to help verify the shutdown.

South Korea's deputy nuclear envoy Jeong Yeon-doo will visit the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna this week to discuss the "complete denuclearisation of North Korea" the foreign ministry said on Sunday.

All of North Korea's six known nuclear bomb tests have taken place at Punggye-Ri, in the northeastern of North Korea where a system of tunnels have been dug under Mount Mantap.

North Korea has a total of four tunnels and while two were shut down following previous nuclear tests, one remained usable and the other was under construction until recently, a South Korean presidential official told reporters on Sunday under condition of anonymity.

According to Chinese academic reports, North Korea's most recent nuclear test in September of what Pyongyang said was a hydrogen bomb, was so large it triggered a collapse inside the mountain, rendering the entire site unusable for future tests.

But US intelligence officials have said it remains usable and could be reactivated "in a relatively short period of time" if it was closed.

"I think theyre done testing. They have what they need so the way in which they collapse the tunnels is just show," said Melissa Hanham, senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at California's Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said in a blog post this week that recent satellite images had shown the removal of some buildings from the site.

On Saturday, he told Reuters that closure of Punggye-Ri did not mean much in terms of disarmament, given that the United States, for example, stopped nuclear testing in 1992.

"It would, however, require North Korea to clear out the test tunnels and rebuild any infrastructure that might be removed  or dig new tunnels at the site or elsewhere. So, its a good confidence-building measure, but not necessarily a sign of irreversible disarmament."

Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States and a leading expert on North Korea's nuclear program, said collapsing the Punggye-Ri tunnels would be "a big and positive step," given his belief that North Korea still required more nuclear and missile tests to reach the US mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile.

However, he said the other crucial steps North Korea needed to take to demilitarize its nuclear program were to shut its plutonium production reactor and open its uranium processing to inspection.
Oklahoma City: Oklahoma's Republican Governor Mary Fallin vetoed a bill that would have allowed adults to carry handguns without a permit and signed another that permits religious organisations to exclude same sex couples from adoptions, managing to anger both gun and gay rights groups on the same day.

The twin actions announced late Friday were among more than a dozen decisions on legislation taken by the term-limited governor as she clears the decks in her waning months in office.

They also followed a tumultuous session of the Legislature that saw striking teachers march on the Capitol, prompting lawmakers to raise taxes including on the state's powerful oil and gas industry, to fund increases in education spending.

Her veto of the gun bill dealt a rare blow to the National Rifle Association in a conservative state. But the proposal to authorise adults to carry firearms without a permit or training was opposed by law enforcement officials, who said it would weaken background checks and hurt public safety.

In a statement announcing her veto, Fallin stressed her support for the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms and noted she had signed concealed and open carry measures in the past.

"I believe the firearms laws we currently have in place are effective, appropriate and minimal," she said.

The bill is similar to so-called "constitutional carry" legislation adopted in a dozen other states.

The NRA blasted Fallin for what it said was ignoring her promise when she ran for re-election in 2014 to support a constitutional carry gun law.

"Make no mistake, this temporary setback will be rectified when Oklahoma residents elect a new and genuinely pro-Second Amendment governor," said Chris Cox, NRA executive director for legislative affairs.

Fallin is in her second four-year term and cannot run for re-election this year. Several Republicans running to succeed her had called on Fallin to sign the measure.

The adoption decision also prompted an angry response, this time from LGBTQ groups, who said it was a license to discriminate against gays and lesbians.

The bill written by Republican Sen. Greg Treat provides legal protections to faith-based agencies that won't place children in LGBT homes because of religious or moral convictions or policies.

The Family Equality Council, which advocates for LGBTQ families, said the law allows religious groups "to discriminate on the basis of their belief that LGBTQ people should not be raising children."

Freedom Oklahoma, another LGBT advocacy group, threatened to sue the state.

"Make no mistake, we will fight for the most vulnerable Oklahomans targeted by this law. Our message to Gov. Fallin and the lawmakers who championed this travesty is simple: We'll see you in court!" said Executive Director Troy Stevenson.

But Fallin's action drew support from Oklahoma's Catholic bishops.

"The new law will bring more adoption services to the state and allow crucial faith-based agencies to continue their decades-long tradition of caring for Oklahoma's most vulnerable children," the bishops said in a statement.

The adoption law goes into effect Nov. 1.

In a third decision on Friday, Fallin vetoed a bill that would have allowed the state to sentence some juveniles to life in prison without parole. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that juveniles should not be imprisoned for life without the chance for parole except in rare cases. Fallin said she vetoed the proposal because she believes it violates that high court decision.

Oklahoma has at least 41 inmates serving no-parole sentences for crimes committed when they were 17 or younger.
Islamabad: Pakistani authorities have barred a US diplomat involved in a fatal traffic accident from leaving the country, forcing an American military aircraft flown in for his departure to leave without him, local media reported on Saturday.

The move came a day after Pakistan said it would restrict the movements of all American diplomats in the country in response to Washington's similar restrictions on Pakistani embassy diplomats.

A spokesman for the US embassy in Islamabad declined to comment on the media reports, and a US State Department spokesperson in Washington would neither confirm nor deny them.

"For the privacy and security of those involved, we cannot disclose the diplomat's current location," the State Department spokesperson said.

Pakistan is a crucial link to supplying American troops fighting the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan. But Washington has long believed it actually shelters the Taliban's leaders, and President Donald Trump has cut off military aid in an effort to pressure Pakistan.

The latest blow to relations came on Saturday, when Pakistani authorities banned a US military attache from leaving as planned, Pakistan's The Nation and Express Tribune newspapers reported.

A day earlier, an Islamabad court had ruled his diplomatic immunity may not apply in the April 7 traffic accident in which the US attache's vehicle hit a motorcycle, killing the 22-year-old driver, both papers reported.

As a result, a US Air Force C130 flown in to Pakistan's Nur Khan air base outside Islamabad was forced to leave without him on Friday, Geo TV and the two newspapers reported.

Separately, Pakistan's foreign ministry said it would apply travel restrictions to all US diplomatic staff similar to those applied by Washington, according to a notification sent to the U.S. Embassy on Friday and obtained by Reuters.

The new US rules require diplomats to obtain permission to travel more than 40 km (25 miles) from their stations, the local Dawn newspaper reported.

The US State Department on Saturday confirmed the new restrictions on its employees in Pakistan but declined further comment.

"We are in regular communication with our Pakistani counterparts. We do not discuss details of diplomatic conversations," the spokesperson said.

US-Pakistani relations have deteriorated significantly since the beginning of the year, when Trump abruptly announced in a tweet a cutoff of military aid, which he said treated the United States with "nothing but lies and deceit" for 15 years.
Baghdad: Iraq saw a record low turnout on Saturday in its first elections since the collapse of the Islamic State group, pointing to widespread dissatisfaction with the direction of the country under Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi and presaging a long period of deal-making as politicians squabble over posts in a new government.

There were no bombings at any polling stations  a first since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.

Al-Abadi called it a "historic day, spent peacefully by all Iraqis."

Riyadh al-Badran, a member on Iraq's national elections commission, said turnout was 44 percent. No election since 2003 saw turnout below 60 percent. More than ten million Iraqis voted.

With no clear front-runner, it could take months for a new Parliament to form a government name a prime minister seen as suitable to the country's rival Shiite political currents, who have adopted diverging positions on Iran.

The low turnout could open the door to Sunni-led and Kurdish electoral lists to play an outsized role in the negotiations, as well. Iraq's population is predominantly Shiite.

Results are expected within 48 hours according to the electoral commission.

Despite presiding over Iraq's war on the Islamic State group, al-Abadi was opposed by other Shiite leaders who eclipsed him in charisma and popularity. In his first term, Al-Abadi courted both U.S. and Iranian support in the war on IS.

His chief rivals were former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Hadi al-Amiri, who heads the powerful, Iran-backed Badr Organization militia, which participated in the war on IS. Al-Abadi was also opposed by the influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a staunch nationalist who has railed against U.S. and Iranian influence in Iraqi politics.

Iraq is beset by chronic corruption, a sputtering economy, and failing public services.

"The candidates have not done anything for the people," said Ramadan Mohsen, 50, who said he cast a blank vote in Baghdad's distressed Sadr City slums.

Millions of others decided to abstain altogether.

"I am certain these elections are a failure," said Abdelghani Awni, who was at a central Baghdad polling station as an observer. He did not vote. "Forget about change, from the perspective of the economy, of services - forget about it."

Iraq's most senior Shiite cleric spoke out on the issue of voter participation Saturday afternoon, encouraging Iraqis to vote "to prevent the arrival of a corrupt parliament."

"The lack of participation will give the opportunity for others to reach parliament and they will be very far from the aspirations of the people," said Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalai, the representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, on local Iraqi television from Karbala. Sistani has encouraged Iraqis to vote into power Saturday a new political class to combat corruption.

For those who did attempt to vote, some in Baghdad complained of voting irregularities at polling stations linked to a new electronic voting system implemented for the first time this year in an effort to reduce fraud.

Former Prime Minister al-Maliki said he was aware of "violations" at some polling stations in Iraq and complained the process lacked proper oversight.

"We are not reassured," al-Maliki told the Associated Press in a phone interview.

Thamer Aref, 45, along with his wife and daughter were turned away from a polling station north of central Baghdad.

Aref had turned in his old voter ID card months ago for the biometric identification card required by the new system. However, Aref's biometric card wasn't ready ahead of Saturday and, with neither card, the polling station did not allow him to a cast a ballot.

"I lost my right to vote," he said.

Associated Press journalists documented several similar cases at a number of different polling stations across Baghdad Saturday morning.

Amira Muhammed, the supervisor of a polling station in Azamiyah, Baghdad, said some people couldn't vote because they did not pick up their new biometric ID cards in time.

"The problem is not with us," she said.

A member of Iraq's electoral commission deflected blame for Saturday's reported irregularities.

"There were some problems with the electronic equipment due to misuse by some employees," Hazem al-Ridini told the AP.

In central Baghdad, voters supporting al-Abadi said they are doing so because they give him credit for Iraq's military victory over IS.

Al-Abadi "took revenge" for civilians killed in insurgent attacks in Iraq "with the victory over Daesh," said 71-year-old Felihah Hassan, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

After IS overran nearly a third of Iraq in the summer of 2014, the group launched waves of suicide bombings targeting civilians in Baghdad and other pockets of government-controlled territory.

With support from the U.S.-led coalition and Iran, al-Abadi oversaw a grueling war against the extremists and declared victory over the group in December.

Despite al-Abadi's military achievements, Iraq continues to struggle with an economic downturn sparked in part by a drop in global oil prices, entrenched corruption and years of political gridlock.

In addition to al-Maliki, al-Abadi's most powerful competition is from an alliance of candidates with close ties to the country's powerful, mostly Shiite paramilitary forces, and an alliance led by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Jassim Mohsen, 58, who fought against IS with the paramilitary forces, said he was casting his vote for al-Amiri's list, citing the sacrifices of the country's predominantly Shiite militias in the war on IS.

"I elected the Fatah list because they are the only ones who fought Daesh and gave blood," he said.

Some Sunnis voting Saturday said they are hopeful this election will help Iraq move beyond sectarian politics and become more inclusive.

Marginalization of Iraq's Sunnis under al-Maliki is seen as a factor that allowed IS to rise in power in Iraq. Al-Abadi has led a more cross-sectarian government marked by his ability to balance the interests of his two allies often at odds: the U.S. and Iran.

The war left more than 2 million Iraqis, mostly Sunnis, displaced from their homes, with cities, towns and villages suffering heavy destruction. Repairing infrastructure across Anbar and Nineveh provinces, both majority Sunni areas, will cost tens of billions of dollars.

Abdulrazaq Kubi and his wife Suheila Mahdi, both Sunnis from Baghdad, said they would not be voting for al-Abadi, casting their votes instead for a Sunni-led political alliance.

"The victory is not 100 percent, there is still Daesh here," said Mahdi. The government "is neglecting the refugees because they are Sunni. They left them in the camps, in the winter it floods, in the summers, they go hungry," she added.

There were 329 parliament seats at stake, with nearly 7,000 candidates from dozens of political alliances.

Iraq's constitution allows lawmakers more than three months after the ratification of the election results to form a government. But many expect the process to drag on for much longer if there is no clear winner, as dozens of political parties attempt to cobble together a political bloc large enough to hold a majority of seats in parliament.
Nine killed in Indonesia church bombings

Jakarta : At least nine persons were killed and 35 others injured as suicide bombers blew themselves up on Sunday during congregations in three churches in Surabaya city, capital of Indonesia's East Java province, officials said.

The attacks occurred within minutes of each other. No group has so far claimed the responsibility, BBC reported.

The deadly blasts took place in Santa Maria church in Ngagel Madya area, Gereja Kristen Indonesia church on Diponegoro street and Pantekosta church on Arjuno street, Xinhua reported.

The attackers, disguising as followers of the morning sermon in the churches, detonated bombs which hit scores of followers, said the police.

The police have cordoned off all the scenes for investigation, said Barung.

Indonesia, the most populous Muslim-majority country, has seen a resurgence of Islamist militancy in recent months.
If you are still relatively young, you can take steps today to ensure you are financially comfortable later in life. The secrets to building wealth are not really secrets - they have been written down in countless books by people who managed to accomplish the goal.

Some of the secrets to building wealth are the same as the secrets to any type of success. For instance, the first step is to put in some serious time simply thinking about your goals in life. You cant get anywhere if you dont know where you are headed. Think about what you want for yourself and your family - and, more importantly, about what you are willing to give up to achieve it. Here are some steps to take after this initial introspection:

Create a Financial Plan. Defining your goals is great, but its an exercise in fantasy if you dont then map out a logical strategy to actually reach those goals. Thats where a written, detailed financial plan comes in. Professional financial advisers always help their clients draft a financial plan. This blueprint for wealth building should include interrelated courses of action involving your retirement accounts, investment portfolio, tax planning, education funding, charitable giving and estate planning, and it should take a long-term approach.

Follow the Plan. Use your financial plan as a guide to help you make decisions on a daily, monthly and annual basis. If you dont follow your plan there is little point in having one. Too often people fail to take actions laid out by the plan such as periodic rebalancing of their portfolio or following budget or savings schedules. Hiring a fiduciary, such as a Certified Financial Planner, is one way to make sure you stay on track.

Maximize Your Earnings Now. When youre 30 years old its easy to assume you have all the time in the world, that youll be willing and able to continue working into your 60s and 70s. Unfortunately, after age 50 many people get sidelined by layoffs or health problems. The time to earn enough money to save and invest is now, when you have the energy for it. Consider working a second job, or starting a side business. Sure, its a big sacrifice. But in the second paragraph above I mentioned thinking about what you are willing to give up. Most millionaires gave up plenty of free time to get there.

Delay Gratification. Interviews with numerous high-net-worth individuals have revealed a fascinating fact: Most of them got there by driving modest cars, eating home-cooked meals and being careful not to overspend. Live below your means while youre still young, and plow the money you save into investments. Make your money work for your future. Realize you dont need the daily visit to the breakfast drive-through. Cut down on nights out.

Take Advantage of Free Money. If you work at a company that matches your contributions to a 401(k) plan or other retirement savings account, maximize your contributions. If you use a credit card, use one that offers you cash back on purchases (and pay it off every month to avoid interest charges). These types of incentives can yield big dividends over the long term.

Eric Tashlein is a Certified Financial Planner professional and founding Principal of Connecticut Capital Management Group, LLC, 2 Schooner Lane Suite 1-12 in Milford. He can be reached at 203-877-1520 or through www.connecticutcapital.com. This is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as personalized investment advice or legal/tax advice. Please consult your advisor/attorney/tax advisor. Registered Representative, Securities offered through Cambridge Investment Research Inc., a Broker/Dealer, Member FINRA/SIPC.
BROOKFIELD  The school district is hosting a forum Tuesday on digital privacy and protection.

The Families in the Digital Age event, which will be at 6:30 p.m. in the high school auditorium, is open to everyone from all towns, including children. Speakers will cover topics related to keeping children safe online, protecting family devices, internet safety, preventing and addressing online bullying, social network best practices and more.

Eric Conklin, the districts director of technology, is hosting the event in partnership with the Connecticut Education Technology Leaders and The Technical Investigation Unit of Southwest Connecticut.

The public will be invited to participate.

Register for this free event online.
SHELTON  The Planning and Zoning Commission is seeking input from residents on what theyd like to see for Huntington Center.

PZC Chairman Virginia Harger is urging residents to attend a public information meeting set for 6 p.m. May 16 in the Shelton Community Center, Craft Room No. 2.

Its important that we look at the area and receive input from the residents on what improvements they would like see and what they hope for the future, said Harger.

A one-page questionnaire will be handed out that includes space for residents to add comments. The paperwork is part of the Huntington Center Special Area study that will guide the commission in developments there.

We make decisions that determine the future of the area not just now but for decades, Harger said. Input  whether favorable or not  helps guide us.

One question asks whether multifamily housing developments, either rental or condominiums, should be permitted in the commercially zoned Huntington Center.

I am opposed to that, said Greg Tetro, a founder of Save Our Shelton, which has grown into a political force after helping with the election of Mark Widomski to the PZC last fall. This would take away from the commerce of the center.

Im going to talk to people to get them to come, he said. Huntington residents need to be there.

Other questions ask whether sidewalks on Huntington Street and Old Shelton Road should be extended, whether the pedestrian walkways within the Huntington Shopping Center and Huntington Plaza should be painted, whether additional trees and shrubs should be planted and whether garbage dumpster enclosures for business tenants should be built.

Tetro said he is in favor of the other four options.

Who would be opposed to more greenery, dumpster enclosures or sidewalks? he asked. Harger said she hopes for a good turnout.

This is not the first time weve sought residents and business owners opinions, said Rick Schultz, the citys planning and zoning administrator. We did it with the downtown study.

Schultz is available to answer questions by contacting him at 203-924-1555, ext. 1361, or by picking up a survey at the Planning and Zoning office on City Halls third floor, 54 Hill St.
Why are Americans so lonely?

Last year, I wrote a column that despite advances in technology that is connecting individuals and families worldwide, people seemed lonelier than ever before.

When I wrote the column, it was just an observation of what I was seeing but it resonated with many of my readers.

The bleak scope of so many seniors isolated in their homes and others withering away without visitors in nursing care facilities was an unsettling image to many readers and for others, a sad reality.

That column appeared in October and I still get an occasional email about it.

What I didnt know at the time is that loneliness had surged into a public health crisis in some countries and this phenomenon portends a chilling look at a society that is becoming desensitized to the need for human contact.

Many seniors are lonely because in the natural order of things, time has taken loved ones, friends and associates.

And some people are clinically lonely.

But it is hard to grasp why, according to a New York Times report, nearly 40 percent of Americans say theyre lonely.

Here in the United States, more and more people are disassociating themselves from the human element, preferring to socially isolate themselves and marinate in loneliness.

Isolation is the killer, said Dr. Jeff Deitz, a psychiatrist on the faculty of the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University. Like malnutrition, it is a disease. It is terrible.

And it is causing serious health problems.

Researchers say loneliness is creating physical, mental and emotional problems and putting people at greater risk of heart disease, depression, anxiety and dementia.

In a newly released study, health insurance company Cigna is reporting one of five Americans has no one they can talk to.

Cigna also is reporting the problem is getting worse as the generation that is the most technologically connected  Generation Z, those between 18 and 22  are the loneliness of all. The study finds it is due to a decline in interactions with neighbors, co-workers and church friends.

And it is not just here.

Soon after the column appeared, British Prime Minister Theresa May appointed a loneliness minister so lonely people can have human contact and someone who will listen to them.

May calls it the sad reality of modern life, noting loneliness and isolation affect nearly 9 million British citizens, with some 200,000 going up to a month without communication with another human being.

Switzerland and Germany are considering following Britains lead.

What are we missing here?

There are billions of us on Earth and we didnt get this far by sheltering in place.

Just when did we, as individuals, decide that social isolation is better than camaraderie?

Just when did so many of us stop socializing with neighbors and reaching out to connect with other humans?

Humans beings are social animals. We crave and thrive on interaction with each other.

We interact at work, in our neighborhoods, supermarkets, schools and community functions.

We come together in crisis, comforting one another with real hugs, real tears, real consolation of anothers anguish. And at those times, we do so without restrictive barriers  and yet ... were lonelier than ever.

Some could argue in the current climate, there are too many conflicting views from too many cultures to allow for even the most basic commonality  and people may prefer to socially isolate themselves against change, social pressures, conflict or misunderstandings.

But it also could be argued there is simply an unwillingness within ourselves to find something greater  or different  than ourselves in order to find common ground to connect with others.

Life does challenge us and life does take away from us  but even as things change, life also gives back to us.

But we must be willing to adapt and not decapitate life and retreat as life rolls forward in new directions.

I have written before of what happens when we become disconnected from each other and we becomes me.

Maybe that is why so many Americans are lonely  there is too much me and not enough we.

Deitz said loneliness is not normal and people must be willing to fight against it by seeking new friendships, pursuing new goals, finding familiar associations and curiosity in discovering new horizons. And Deitz said it is critical to be prepared for loss  whatever that loss may be  and the challenge of filling that void.

And nothing will fill that void like face-to-face interactions with other human beings.

Inertia about being lonely will only lead people to recede deeper into that black hole where isolation waits.

But waiting in the shadows for the wings and halos to arrive is not supposed to be what life is about.

Lonely? Isolation is the silent killer.

James Walker is the Registers senior editor. He can be reached at 203-680-9389 or james.walker@hearst

mediact.com. Follow him on Twitter @thelieonroars
HAMDEN  Whether someone even gets a chance to seek justice in the courts depends on having a lawyer at their side, Stephen B. Bright, visiting lecturer at the Yale Law School and former director of the Southern Center for Human Rights told the 89 graduates of the Quinnipiac University School of Law on Sunday at the TD Bank Sports Center.

It can even come down to getting to the right courthouse.

The privilege of being a lawyer is that you can provide a helping hand to all sorts of people and lift them up in ways large and small, Bright, who was given an honorary degree, said in his address.

Clarence Earl Gideon was denied a lawyer when he went on trial in Panama City, Florida, He was convicted of breaking and entering and was sent to prison. And while he was there he wrote a very crisp, concise petition, just five pages long, to the Supreme Court of the United States. And he said it was wrong, it was unconstitutional, that he had had to go to trial without a lawyer. The Supreme Court agreed with him. The case is Gideon vs. Wainwright.

And when he went back to Panama City, and he was represented by a lawyer, he was acquitted. Anthony Lewis wrote in the New York Times the next day, the difference in the two trials was that this time Mr. Gideon had a lawyer.

Bright also described a woman seeking asylum who had a date in immigration court, but unfortunately, she went to the wrong courthouse. It would seem to be a small, understandable mistake that any person could make, particularly if the instructions werent very clear and the person had no familiarity with the system. But in immigration court, it was a disaster. By the time she arrived, the judge had already ordered her and her son deported.

This is not seeking justice, Bright said. This is law. This what courts do.  They avoid justice, based on some technicality, based on some failure to follow some procedural requirement. And thats why people need lawyers in all kinds of cases and thats why lawyers need to know these procedures, so they never get tripped up on them.

Those seeking asylum are five times more likely to win their case when theyre represented by a lawyer than when theyre not, Bright said.

Another important aspect of being a good lawyer is counseling a client, Bright said. Going into the legal system is like being dropped into a foreign land. Everyones speaking a foreign language, there are different customs.  Sometimes youre not going to get the right result for your client but youre going to help them understand the system. Youre going to be their guide through the system.

Bright also raised the importance of giving access to the court system to clients whether or not they can afford to pay a lawyer. Take the law as a client and make sure the law is available to those who need it. It is the responsibility of the legal profession to make good on providing equal justice to all.

That includes helping bring equal justice to those, including African Americans, who have been denied it in the past. He referred to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, a remarkable memorial to 4,400 men, women and children who were lynched between 1877 and 1950, and the nearby Legacy Museum. Every judge, every legislator, every lawyer ought to go through this museum, Bright said. We must confront the truth. We must acknowledge the impact on us today, and seek reconciliation.

Law School Dean Jennifer Gerarda Brown expressed her appreciation to Quinnipiac President John Lahey, who brought the Law School from the University of Bridgeport in 1992. And she pointed out that, based on a survey of students, you are the class most dissatisfied with your law school. We love the class of 2018, but they dont always love us back.

But she told the students that through your high standards, your demand that we do more and do better, that you demonstrate, I think, your love for your law school. You  understand in very deep and abiding ways that law matters.

The student speaker, James Demetriades, president of the Student Bar Association, told the graduates that they will actively seek out conflict to render justice. And Mary Ferrari, professor emerita who was named professor of the year, told them to be guided by your integrity always. Dont forget the smell test. Its very effective in leading you to do the right thing.

After the ceremony, graduates gathered with their families for hugs and photos. Jeffrey Fischer of Branford said he was joining the family law firm in West Haven, Fischer and Fischer, to practice elder law. With three children, ages 8 to 12, he said, I was really doing all this for them, so this is pretty emotional.

Stefany Buckley of Rocky Hill said she was in the process of becoming a judge advocate for the Connecticut National Guard, which her husband, Sgt. Kyle Buckley, serves. The judge advocates do pretty much everything, she said. Ill be in charge of all the legal operations.

Charles Pobee-Mensah of Albany, New York, said he planned to go into health care law in either New York or Connecticut. My familys all in the health care field. Most of my friends are in the health care field. My girlfriend is a nurse. I see all the problems the doctors face with threats of malpractice lawsuits.

Richie Azzarito of Shelton is still looking for a job and said, The bar is what Im focusing on right now, make sure I pass it the first time. He plans to go into labor and employment law.

John Mudgett of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, father of graduate Andrew Mudgett, said it was a proud day and that the faculty is very dedicated, passionate about what they do. He said the students are very supportive of each other and a very close-knit group [who] come from different walks of life. Andrew Mudgett had received a masters in business administration on Saturday.

Spurgeon Green IV of Macon, Georgia, also earned both degrees. His father, Spurgeon Green III, is a lawyer, and his mother, Comfort Green, has an MBA. He wants to go to Wall Street, Comfort Green said. He wants to be the president of the United States and I think hes going to do it. This kid is incredible.

Contact Ed Stannard at edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com or 203-680-9382.
Kayaker on the Bluestone River NPS

May 10, 2018

Contact: Julena Campbell, 304-465-6523

Glen Jean, WV  A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 1,319,420 visitors to New River Gorge National River, Bluestone National Scenic River, and Gauley River National Recreation Area spent $

in communities near the three parks in 2017. That spending supported 823 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economies of $

. The parks span four counties in southern West Virginia: Fayette, Nicholas, Raleigh, and Summers.

The three national parks of Southern West Virginia once again welcomed over 1.3 million visitors from across the country and around the world last year, said Superintendent Lizzie Watts. We are delighted to share the stories of these special places with so many people. National park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy, returning $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service, and its a big factor in our local economies as well. We appreciate the partnership and support of our many neighbors and are glad to be a part of helping to sustain local communities.

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the NPS. The report shows $18.2 billion of direct spending by more than 330 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 306,000 jobs nationally; 255,900 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the US economy was $35.8 billion.

The lodging sector received the highest direct contributions with $5.5 billion in economic output to local gateway economies and 49,000 jobs. The restaurants sector received the next greatest direct contributions with $3.7 billion in economic output to local gateway economies and 60,500 jobs.

According to the 2017 report, most park visitor spending was for lodging/camping (32.9 percent) followed by food and beverages (27.5 percent), gas and oil (12.1 percent), souvenirs and other expenses (10.1 percent), admissions and fees (10.0 percent), and local transportation (7.5 percent).

Report authors also produce an interactive tool that enables users to explore visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added, and output effects by sector for national, state, and local economies. Users can also view year-by-year trend data. The interactive tool and report are available at the NPS Social Science Program webpage: www.nps.gov/subjects/socialsci ence/vse.htm. The report includes information for visitor spending at individual parks and by state.

To learn more about national parks in West Virginia and how the National Park Service works with West Virginia communities to help preserve local history, conserve the environment, and provide outdoor recreation, go to www.nps.gov/WestVirginia

56,289,70064,220,300
Roseburg, OR (97470)

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When Israeli troops invaded Lebanon on June 6, Mr. Gemayel defended the action as a ''surgical operation'' designed to expunge the Palestine Liberation Organization from his countunity to shed his warlord image by promoting himself as the leader of forces striving for Lebanese unity.

Even better, the retirement of President Elias Sarkis opened up a legitimate platform from which Mr. Gemayel could try to impose his will. Although he was the sole candidate for the presidency, the absence of an opponent did not foreshadow a sudden end to his country's sectarian strife.

On Aug. 23, as P.L.O. forces sailed from Beirut under the guns of the Israeli Army, the Lebanese Parliament met and elected Mr. Gemayel President. East Beirut, the stronghold of Maronite Catholics, exploded in an ecstasy of gunfire as Christian militiamen drove through the streets with portraits of their leader taped to windshields, rifles blazing away into the air. But explosions and gunfire tore through predominately Moslem west Beirut. Sought Image of Moderate

Upon his election, Mr. Gemayel sought to portray himself as a moderate leader, determined to see foreign armies removed from Lebanon and intent upon achieving national unity. On Sunday, he issued a call for Christians and Moslems to work together.

In June, shortly after the Israeli Army moved into Lebanon, Mr. Gemayel staked out his position as Lebanon's future leader in a television interview. He said:

''We are looking to get all the foreigners out - Syrians, Palestinians and Israelis and even Unifil. We don't need any foreign armed presence in this country. We will take care of the security of our own country.''
A Queens high school principal accused of sexual harassment and discrimination in multiple lawsuits, which have cost New York City more than $600,000 to settle, has been reassigned.

The principal, Howard Kwait, was reassigned on Friday after Richard A. Carranza, the newly appointed schools chancellor, reviewed the lawsuits against Mr. Kwait, according to Toya Holness, a spokeswoman for the Education Department.



Mr. Kwait, principal of John Bowne High School in Flushing since 2006, was transferred to a central office where he will be closely supervised and will no longer be permitted to manage other employees, Ms. Holness said in a statement. Schools must be safe, welcome and inclusive environments for all students and staff, and we will do everything in our power to hold employees accountable for meeting these standards.

Mr. Kwait could not be reached for comment.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has come under scrutiny recently for the handling of sexual harassment cases across city agencies, especially at the Education Department. The city has admitted that it has no consistent system to track sexual harassment complaints against employees, making it difficult to analyze the total number of complaints as well as how employees in substantiated cases were disciplined.
SUNDAY STYLES

An article last Sunday about Stephen A. Schwarzman misidentified the part of the National Library of Israel that will be named after him. It is the librarys education center, not the entire library.



An article last Sunday about the Vaticans role in shaping the Met Gala misspelled the surname of an artist. She is Katarina Jebb, not Jedd.

ARTS & LEISURE

Because of a production error, an article on April 29 about the playwright Caryl Churchill omitted part of a sentence. The full sentence should have read: This collaborative method is part of what appeals to James C. Nicola, the longtime artistic director of New York Theater Workshop, about Ms. Churchills writing.

BOOK REVIEW

A review on April 29 about Make Trouble, by Cecile Richards, misidentified the first woman governor of Texas. She was Miriam (Ma) Ferguson, not Ann Richards, the authors mother.
On Friday, Islamabads High Court, noting that Colonel Hall did not have full diplomatic immunity, left it up to the government to decide whether to add his name to a travel ban list. Also on Friday, Pakistan placed travel restrictions on United States diplomats based in the country, the latest in a series of retaliatory measures that threaten to plunge already strained relations to their worst level in years.

The restrictions in Pakistan were imposed on the same day that the United States barred diplomats working at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington from traveling outside a 25-mile radius around the city without approval.

The United States has long complained that the police and security officials in Pakistan frequently harass American diplomats and their staff with traffic stops and citations that require considerable time and effort to resolve. Six weeks ago, the State Department threatened to impose a travel restriction on Pakistans Washington diplomatic corps if the harassment did not end by Friday.

U.S.-Pakistan relations have worsened since January, when the Trump administration announced it had suspended nearly all of the $1.3 billion in annual security aid given to Pakistan. That came days after President Trump complained on Twitter that Pakistan had given us nothing but lies & deceit and accused it of providing safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan.

The Trump administration has also sought to strengthen ties with India, Pakistans bitter rival.

This is a development that could well develop into a full-blown crisis for relations if its not resolved soon, said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia specialist at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. Since Joseph is understood to have diplomatic immunity, Pakistans refusal to let him leave the country will be seen by Washington as a wholly unjustifiable and illegal act.
As such ensembles go, the Chiara String Quartet was a bright but relatively brief candle. It gave a farewell concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Saturday afternoon, after 18 years of existence and soon after its star turn as quartet in residence at the museum in 2015-16.

In contrast, the Juilliard String Quartet is over 70 years old (with repeated turnover), and the Guarneri Quartet retired in 2009, after 45 years, including its own 43-year residency at the Met. Still, there is much to be said for going out at the top of your game, and the Chiara players  the violinists Rebecca Fischer and Hyeyung Yoon, the violist Jonah Sirota and the cellist Gregory Beaver  seemed to be doing just that, each with a new career path in prospect, though leaving open the possibility of future ad hoc collaborations.

The group, which took up residence also at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2004, always had a taste for adventure, promoting new music and exploring concert formats in shows it called Chamber Music in Any Chamber. During its Met residency, it gave New York premieres of works by Jefferson Friedman and Pierre Jalbert and extended its practice of performing from memory, rare among string quartets, with Brahms by Heart.

On Saturday, Chiara opened with a work it introduced in 2011, Nico Muhlys Diacritical Marks, a pleasant series of eight brief interconnected movements. It followed with the New York premiere of Philip Glasss Piano Quintet (Annunciation), with the pianist Paul Barnes.
Whats the most surprising thing you learned while writing it?

Image Priya Parker Credit... Mackenzie Stroh

I learned so many amazing things from the people I met with. I interviewed over a hundred gatherers  my language, not theirs. I talked to a very thoughtful dominatrix, and from her I learned how important it was to create space for people to show a different side of themselves, sometimes a darker side. A pair of Buddhist monks taught me that its essential to make your gathering decisively end rather than peter out. We plan when something will stop from a time perspective, and we hope the striking of the clock means its over. But studies show that the beginning, the end and the peak experience is what most people remember. There are a lot of things you can do to close an experience, from reminding people of what happened, to connecting them one last time, to making them think about how they want to re-enter the world. But dont end with logistics; for example, saying, Thank you all for coming, your coats are in the checkout room and the last shuttle is waiting outside to take you to the airport. Its not that you dont have to convey that information; just dont do it as the last thing.

In what way is the book you wrote different from the book you set out to write?

The book I wrote is radically different. I started writing a book that told the stories of the gatherers I interviewed, about their lives and backgrounds and what led them to gather in the way they do. When I met the dominatrix, a lot of the talk was about her childhood, and a lot of the first draft was about that. I shared this with a friend, and he was fascinated by the story, but he was irritated that I couldnt tell him how it related to his life. I think in trying to avoid this book being a cheap how-to, I didnt give people enough information.

And as I started to meet more people who were rethinking what a gathering has to look like, I was surprised at the fields that were doing it. For example, a courtroom in Red Hook, in Brooklyn, that paused to ask, What is the purpose of court? And they radically redesigned the courtroom proceedings.

Who is a creative person (not a writer) who has influenced you and your work?

My mentor Hal Saunders. He helped draft the Camp David accords. My training is a process called sustained dialogue, which he started. I met him when he was in his late 60s, early 70s, and even then he was this giant in the field of diplomacy. But he deeply, deeply listened to and was curious about young people. He was obsessed with the technology of group relationships. The reason he influenced me so much is because I never knew that was a thing. I thought it was just like water. He tried to study and break down and codify and organize the dynamics of group relationships. He believed that relationships are something you can transform, which is what he did. He made me realize that making a career out of trying to transform groups is not only an O.K. thing but it touches every part of our life.

Persuade someone to read The Art of Gathering in 50 words or less.

If youre secretly insecure about convening, if you feel disconnected at work, if you wish you and your friends had more meaningful conversations, this book can help you. Life is too short to gather in the old Martha Stewart way. Welcome to the new rules of gathering.
People want some basic rights, said Alastair Mactaggart, the 51-year-old real estate developer who has put more than $2 million of his own money to get the measure off the ground. People are resentful but accepting because there isnt any sense of control about their data.

The California measure has three major components: It gives consumers the right to ask companies to disclose what data they have collected on them; the right to demand that they not sell the data or share with third parties for business purposes; and the right to sue or fine companies that violate the law.

Google, Facebook, major telecommunications companies and Californias Chamber of Commerce have already come out against the initiative, saying it is flawed and a threat to the economic model supporting the internet. Theyve created an organization to fight the measure with a decidedly populist name, The Committee to Protect California Jobs.

Political consultants have told the initiatives backers that they should prepare for the opposition campaign to spend $100 million. Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for the opposition, declined to put a number on the campaign spending, but acknowledged that there is a lot at stake. Its California, he said. Its expensive.

Californias privacy initiative hasnt been certified yet by state officials for the November election, but it is expected to appear on the ballot. The measures backers said they have submitted over 600,000 signatures, far eclipsing the 366,000 minimum requirement.
At Mazda, keyless ignition is now standard, and some vehicles have an advanced keyless entry system that helps alert the driver to a running engine. If the driver gets out, the doors are closed and the engine is running, six repetitions of a double beep sound inside and outside the car, and a warning light activates on the instrument panel. On other Mazda vehicles in the same circumstances, the external warning sounds only if the key fob is still in the vehicle.

And Mazda has not incorporated a system that automatically shuts off the engine after a certain time of idling.

Even when precautions are in place, some safety experts, lawyers and victims say the automakers need to do more. At Toyota, such voices came from inside the company.

According to testimony in a wrongful-death lawsuit, Toyota began an investigation into its keyless technology, conducted by its technical center in Michigan, after an employee drove 250 miles to Chicago in 2007 and realized that the remote key was still in Ann Arbor, Mich. (The witness did not know how this happened  for example, whether the fob was close enough to send a signal, but not inside the vehicle, when the car started.) Toyota engineers noted that Mazda vehicles beeped externally six times, as opposed to three external beeps in Toyota models. According to a company document cited in a deposition, they concluded that Toyota vehicles do not have adequate smart-key-absent warning system.

Shaun Austin, a quality control manager for Toyota in North America who testified in a wrongful-death suit, stressed the issue internally. A Toyota team in North America was in touch with corporate headquarters in Japan about adding flashing lights and a unique tone that would alert the driver if the car was still running without the key fob present, he said in a court deposition, but all those suggestions were rejected.

Contacted for this article, Mr. Austin directed questions to Toyota. When asked why the suggestions were rejected, Toyota declined to comment.

Its three external beeps satisfy the engineering societys recommendations.

An Inquiry Without Action

At one point, the traffic safety administration appeared to start taking a keener interest in the hazards. It undertook an investigation of seven automakers in 2013-14, conducting tests and asking for documentation of their safety features for keyless vehicles. But the inquiry was quickly and inconclusively wound down.
Elizabeth Hill, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, attributed the reduction of the group to attrition and said that conducting investigations is but one way the investigations team contributes to the departments broad effort to provide oversight. She said that none of the new employees who had previously worked in the for-profit education industry had influenced the units work.

She also said the teams deployment on student loan forgiveness applications was an operational decision that neither points to a curtailment of our school oversight efforts nor indicates a conscious effort to ignore large-scale investigations.

Aaron Ament, a former chief of staff to the office of the departments general counsel who helped create the team under President Barack Obama, said it had been intended to protect students from fraudulent for-profit colleges. Unfortunately, Secretary DeVos seems to think the colleges need protection from their students, said Mr. Ament, who is now president of the National Student Legal Defense Network.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, also criticized the teams new direction. Ms. DeVos has taken a number of actions to roll back or delay regulations that sought to rein in abuses and predatory practices among for-profit colleges  actions that Ms. Warren and other Democrats have said put the industrys interests ahead of those of students.

Image Ms. DeVos appointed Julian Schmoke, a former dean at DeVry, to supervise the investigative team.

Secretary DeVos has filled the department with for-profit college hacks who only care about making sham schools rich and shutting down investigations into fraud, Ms. Warren said.

DeVry did not respond to requests for comment, and Mr. Schmoke declined to be interviewed. Mr. Schmoke recused himself from matters involving DeVry, according to the department.
Heres what to expect in the week ahead:

TECHNOLOGY

Seattle to vote Monday on tax on big employers.

The City Council of Seattle is expected to vote on Monday on a proposal to raise $75 million a year to finance affordable housing and services for the homeless by taxing Amazon and other large employers. The plan appears to have enough votes to pass, but it isnt clear whether it could survive a veto by the citys mayor, Jenny Durkan, who has expressed reservations about it. The council on Friday rejected a proposal for a smaller tax that the mayor had backed. Nick Wingfield

OIL INDUSTRY

Trial set for two of the worlds largest oil companies.

Two of the worlds largest oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell and Eni of Italy, are expected to go on trial on Monday in Milan. Prosecutors are bringing corruption charges over a $1.3 billion oil deal in Nigeria. The defendants include current and former oil executives, among them Claudio Descalzi, Enis chief executive, who has the backing of his board despite his legal troubles. The case revolves around a payment the companies made in 2011 to the Nigerian government to settle a dispute over an offshore oil tract in the Atlantic Ocean known as OPL 245. The companies have consistently denied wrongdoing, but the case may shine a light on the sometimes murky dealings of the international oil industry. The proceedings, which are expected to last for months, may be delayed after initial procedures. Stanley Reed

TRADE

Talks coming up on tariffs on Chinese goods.

Supporters and opponents of the Trump administrations plan to place tariffs on roughly $50 billion of goods imported from China will gather in Washington on Tuesday to make their case in three days of hearings before the Office of the United States Trade Representative. The Chinese government may also send an envoy to talk separately with administration officials about trade tensions between the countries, which have the worlds two largest economies. Chinese officials have confirmed that Vice Premier Liu He has accepted an invitation from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to travel to the United States. White House officials have said the visit may take place this week, though plans are not final. Ana Swanson

ECONOMY

Data expected on April retail sales.

The Census Bureau will report Aprils retail sales on Tuesday. The measure will be watched closely as investors and economists look for signs that consumer prices are rising and putting pressure on spending. March sales rose slightly from the previous month. Michael Corkery
WASHINGTON  For several weeks this spring, a handful of employees at a Texas steel manufacturer stopped producing pipes used to drill thousands of feet below the earths surface to concentrate full time on another task: trying to win the company an exemption from President Trumps metals tariffs.

Borusan Mannesmann Pipe U.S. filed 19 separate requests with the Commerce Department asking it to exempt the multiple shapes, sizes and forms of steel pipes that it imports from its parent company in Turkey and then finishes at a plant in Baytown, Tex. Until it gets an answer, the 60-year-old business is paying significantly higher prices for imports of the raw material and is putting off any major projects.

In the two months since the Trump administrations steel and aluminum tariffs went into effect, the Commerce Department has been deluged with more than 8,200 exemption requests from companies that import foreign metals. With just a handful of countries temporarily exempted from Mr. Trumps steel and aluminum tariffs, companies are scrambling to win exemptions for every screw and spring they import, with each width and length requiring stand-alone filings. One company alone has submitted 1,167 of the filings, according to government officials.

The imposition of tariffs was supposed to help protect American companies from foreign competition. But they have also created a chaotic, time-consuming process and provoked deep uncertainty among executives, who are delaying investment, expansion and hiring as a result.
Yet if ZTEs resuscitation reduces trade tensions, it also demonstrates the intractable nature of a deepening technological cold war between the worlds two largest economies.

Americas ability to cripple the company simply by freezing its access to components made in the United States is a stark sign of what Beijing views as its overreliance on American technology. Pardoning a company that failed to punish employees who violated American trade controls against Iran and North Korea would set a difficult precedent for the United States.

Though their electronics supply chains remain intertwined, neither country trusts the other with sensitive or core technology  an indication that a longer-term deal could prove elusive. China will not relent on industrial policy imperatives, such as Made in China 2025, aimed at building self-reliance. Similarly, American trust for Chinese companies is unlikely to grow.

For now, however, Mr. Trump seemed to indicate his desire to walk back from that impasse.

Asked about the presidents tweet, a White House spokeswoman, Lindsay Walters, said that Mr. Trump expected that Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross Jr. would exercise his independent judgment, consistent with applicable laws and regulations, to resolve the regulatory action involving ZTE based on its facts.

Later on Sunday, Mr. Trump tweeted again about trade with China. China and the United States are working well together on trade, he wrote. Be cool, it will all work out!

But the about-face left many scratching their heads.

Mr. Trump was criticized by members of Congress for his efforts to protect ZTE. You should care more about national security than Chinese jobs, Representative Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, said in a tweet. Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, tweeted, How about helping some American companies first?

The prospective shutdown of ZTE has been seen as major leverage in continuing trade discussions between China and the United States over Chinese trade practices. If Mr. Trump was announcing a huge concession with his tweet, it was without any indication of what he might have gotten in return.
Alexandra Louise Plazas and Thomas Ulise Herrera were married May 12 at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York. The Rev. James J. Curry, a Roman Catholic priest, performed the ceremony.

The bride, 39, is taking the name Plazas-Herrera. She is a brand development consultant in New York at Leap, a fashion branding and sales agency. She graduated from Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.

She is a daughter of Christine Mortell Plazas and Carlos E. Plazas of Irvington, N.Y. The brides father is based there as a consultant in international banking and economics. Her mother is the senior manager of event planning and sales at Lyndhurst mansion, a National Trust for Historic Preservation property in Tarrytown, N.Y.

The groom, 40, is an emergency medical technician for Northwell/Lenox Hill in New York.

He is the son of Mary C. Feeney of New York. His mother retired as a registered nurse from Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.
Allison Beth Traister and Daniel Pete Blumberg were married May 12 in New York. Dr. Evan G. Graber, who became a Universal Life minister for this event and is a brother-in-law of the groom, officiated at the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park.

Mrs. Blumberg, 30, is a speech-language pathologist at the New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies in New York. She graduated from Emory University and received a masters degree in communicative sciences and disorders from N.Y.U.

She is the daughter of Eileen E. Wiesenfeld and Dr. Michael R. Traister of White Plains. The brides father, a pediatrician, is a partner in Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, a group practice with offices in New York and in Scarsdale, N.Y. Her mother retired as the librarian at Hommocks Middle School in Larchmont, N.Y.

Mr. Blumberg, 33, is an associate counsel in digital legal affairs at the Warner Music Group, a record company in New York. He is also the bass guitar player in Dont Wake Daddy, a cover band in New York that performs regularly at the Red Lion and at Session 73, both in New York. He graduated from University of Pennsylvania and received a law degree from N.Y.U.
Jessica Bari Gaines and Erica Rachel Frank were married May 12 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Manhattan. Rabbi Jonathan E. Blake officiated.

Ms. Gaines, 34, is a designer for Fashion Avenue Knits, a private label clothing company in Manhattan. She graduated from Syracuse and received an associate degree in fashion design from the Fashion Institute of Technology.

She is the daughter of Sherry F. Gaines and Jay S. Gaines of Searingtown, N.Y. Ms. Gainess father is the chief executive of Jay Gaines & Company, an executive search firm in Manhattan. Her mother is the companys bookkeeper.

Ms. Frank, 35, is the math department coordinator and a math specialist, both in the lower division, at the Horace Mann School in Riverdale, the Bronx. She graduated from Cornell, received a masters degree in real estate development from N.Y.U. and received a masters degree in mathematics education from Bank Street College.
Julia Ann Connolly and Dr. Alon Ben Zion Neidich were married May 12 at the Boston Public Library. Rabbi Rachel Sapphire officiated.

The bride, 30, is a program coordinator for the Program in Medical Education, the organizational structure housing education programs at Harvard Medical School in Boston. She graduated from Boston University and received an M.B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.

She is the daughter of Ellen P. Connolly and Richard E. Connolly of Melrose, Mass. The brides father, who is a retired lawyer, worked for the state of Massachusetts as the director of the Bureau of Special Education Appeals. The brides mother is the senior investment portfolio officer at Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, a private investor and lender in Boston.

The groom, 33, is an internal medicine resident at Mount Auburn Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. He graduated from the University of Chicago and received a medical degree from Tufts.
Dr. Madeline Danielle Schwarz and Kyle Walker Kahan were married May 12. Rabbi Arthur Rosenberg officiated at Saddlerock Ranch, a winery in Malibu, Calif.

Dr. Kahan, 27, is a second-year pediatric resident at the Oakland, Calif., campus of U.C.S.F. Benioff Childrens Hospital, and in July is to begin as a third-year resident in child neurology at the hospitals San Francisco campus. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles, and received a medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco.

She is the daughter of Beverly Rupe Schwarz and Leo A. Schwarz of Agoura Hills, Calif. The brides father is a real estate lawyer in Westlake Village, Calif. Her mother is a librarian at Viewpoint School, a coeducational college preparatory school in Calabasas, Calif. The brides grandfather Arthur Rupe of Santa Barbara, Calif., was the founder of Specialty Records and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

Mr. Kahan, 28, is a deputy district attorney in Martinez, Calif. He graduated magna cum laude from Texas A&M, and received a law degree from Stanford.
Nancy Yoonhee Han and Dr. Simon Soo-Hyuck Yoo were married May 12 at Hoosier Grove Barn, an events space in Streamwood, Ill. The Rev. Marshall Brown, a Presbyterian minister, officiated.

Mrs. Yoo, 40, is a second-grade teacher at Gunsaulus Scholastic Academy, an elementary school in Chicago. She graduated from Brown and received a masters degree in religion from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass., and another masters degree in elementary education from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

She is the daughter of Aikyung Han and Sang Choul Han of Racine, Wis. The brides father, a retired chemist, was a manager of the developmental research laboratory at Pfanstiehl Laboratories in Waukegan, Ill. Her mother retired as a registered nurse in outpatient surgery from Vista Surgery Center in Lindenhurst, Ill.

Dr. Yoo, 44, a dermatologist specializing in the Mohs micrographic surgery technique in treating skin cancer, works in Chicago as an associate professor of dermatology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and as a clinician at the Northwestern Medical Group, a group practice affiliated with Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and received a medical degree from Yale.
Vicky Vi Thuy Doan-Nguyen and Edward Boynton Trigg were married May 11 at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau. Joey Tai, a staff member of the New York City Clerks Office, officiated. Later this month, the couple will have a self-uniting ceremony at Ghost Ranch, an education and retreat center in Abiquiu, N.M., that will include a tea ceremony, which is a Vietnamese wedding tradition.

The bride and groom both work in the department of materials science and engineering at Ohio State University in Columbus. She is an assistant professor and he is a postdoctoral researcher, conducting basic research on novel composite materials.

The bride, 33, who will continue to use her name professionally, graduated from Yale and received a doctoral degree in materials science and engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2013, the bride was a graduate intern, working on policy to encourage graduation of more science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors, particularly at historically black colleges and universities, and also helped with projects concerning the material genome initiative, in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

She is a daughter of Cindy Nuong Doan and Henry Hoa Nguyen of Westminster, Calif. The brides parents both work at Pacific Architects and Engineers in Laguna Niguel, Calif. Her father is a file clerk and her mother is a data entry clerk.
What we found roughly aligned with the police explanation. In precincts that were more heavily black and Hispanic, the rate at which people called to complain about marijuana was generally higher.

What that meant wasnt so simple: Some experts said it was well known that police calls tended to be higher in black and Hispanic neighborhoods. In this case, they said it had more to do with a paucity of alternative ways of getting help. In a privately owned Upper East Side apartment, residents can call the building manager if marijuana smoke is wafting through the windows or air ducts. In public housing projects in Brooklyn, residents cant get help from building staff members for major maintenance issues, much less for marijuana smoke.

Mr. Gebeloff wanted to check our work. Andrew Beveridge, a sociology professor at Queens College who often works with The Times, asked Jeffrey Fagan, a professor at Columbia Law School, for his advice. Professor Fagan suggested we run a different kind of statistical model that was more commonly used in criminology studies, and also consider the borough where an arrest took place.

So we ran our analysis again, this time looking at a whole range of factors that could help us understand marijuana arrests, like the racial composition, poverty and violent crime rate of precincts. Sahil Chinoy, a graphics intern at The Times, wrote the code to check whether the examples we saw in the data were part of a broader, statistically significant trend.

And they were. What we discovered was that when two precincts had the same rate of marijuana calls, the one with a higher arrest rate was almost always home to more black people. The police said that had to do with violent crime rates being higher in those precincts, which commanders often react to by deploying more officers.

More scrutiny is in store for the departments low-level arrest tactics. A recently passed local law requires the police to post data about the race of people arrested for fare evasion and the subway stations where they are arrested, but the police have yet to comply.

When it comes to marijuana, Mayor Bill de Blasio has said hes still making up his mind about where he stands on legalization. In the first three months of this year, 89 percent of the roughly 4,000 people arrested for marijuana possession in New York City were black or Hispanic.
Times Insider delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how news, features and opinion come together at The New York Times.

I confess I was skeptical when Jake Silverstein, the editor in chief of The New York Times Magazine, told me in late 2014 that I would be editing a new front-of-book column called Letter of Recommendation, about stuff people really like. The column was the brainchild of our staff writer, Sam Anderson, he explained. Sam figured that there was no shortage of places to find out what writers hate but, outside of pop music criticism, there were vanishingly few spaces for writers to talk about what they love. We would help push against this trend, 900 words a week, 40-something times per year, depending on special issues. Sam wrote the inaugural entry, on Fleetwood Macs Tusk. In a way, it was the perfect starting point for the column, which, like that album, runs on an unbridled, deranged sort of enthusiasm. (But without all the cocaine.)

The reason for my skepticism was a simple, unfortunate fact about writing. Writing about things you hate is easy: not just fun, but generative. Perhaps its the conditioning of a lifetime of competitive trash talk; maybe we should have all spent more time writing poetry about, you know, meadows and stuff. The diatribe tends to entertain, even if you disagree, but the ode often runs aground on the shoals of cliche. The arch, knowing, writerly tone is well-suited to our age, but its hard not to see it as a collective defense mechanism  as if revealing your true feelings exposes your soft underbelly to the horde. If that sounds paranoid, consider that theres an annual writing award for bad sex in fiction.

Obsessions, meanwhile, are inseparable from our peculiarities as people  we come to love things for often strange, perverse reasons. When the column really works, its as revealing about the author as it is its subject. One writer, a man in his late 30s, recommended Pedialyte, which he drinks to mediate the effects of both drinking and exercise, and to allow him to cheat his way back to youth. Another, the mother of a toddler, wrote about zip ties, a blank screen on which to project your own ingenuity at predicting and preventing apocalypse. (She used them to haphazardly baby-proof her home.) But theres no mandate to be helpful. Weve published columns on all sorts of ineffectual things: fatbergs, squirrels, ear candling, bogs, acupuncture, even something called the Useless Machine  a box with a switch that, when you turn it on, opens, releasing a small fingerlike projection that flips the switch off again.
Criticism of marijuana arrests provided fuel for Mr. de Blasios campaign for mayor in 2013, when he won promising to reverse the racial impact of low-level marijuana arrests. The next year the new Brooklyn district attorney, Ken Thompson, defied the Police Department and said his office would stop prosecuting many low-level marijuana arrests.

Yet the disparities remain. Black and Hispanic people are the main targets of arrests even in mostly white neighborhoods. In the precinct covering the southern part of the Upper West Side, for example, white residents outnumber their black and Hispanic neighbors by six to one, yet seven out of every 10 people charged with marijuana possession in the last three years are black or Hispanic, state data show. In the precinct covering Park Slope, Brooklyn, where a fifth of the residents are black or Hispanic, three-quarters of those arrested on marijuana charges are black or Hispanic.

The question of how to address those disparities has divided Democratic politicians in New York. Cynthia Nixon, who is campaigning for the Democratic nomination for governor against Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, has vowed to legalize marijuana and clear peoples arrest records. Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Cuomo have been reluctant to support the same measures.

In Criminal Court in Brooklyn on a recent Monday, the people waiting in the crowded pews to be arraigned on marijuana charges were almost all black men. In interviews, some declined to give their full names for fear of compounding the consequences of their arrests.

They had missed work or school, sometimes losing hundreds of dollars in wages, to show up in court  often twice, because paperwork was not ready the first time. Their cases were all dismissed so long as they stayed out of trouble for a stretch, an indication of what Scott Hechinger, a senior staff lawyer and director of policy at Brooklyn Defender Services, said was the low value the court system places on such cases.

Eli, 18, said he had been smoking in a housing project hallway because his parents preferred him to keep it out of the apartment. Greg, 39, said he had not even been smoking himself, but was sitting in his car next to his wife, who he said smokes marijuana to relieve the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

They do it because thats the easiest way to arrest you, Greg said.

Rashawn Nicol, 27, said officers found his female friend holding a lit blunt on a third-floor stairwell landing in a Brooklyn housing project. They backed off arresting her once she started crying, he said, but said they needed to bring their supervisor an arrest because he had radioed over a noise complaint. Somebodys got to go down for this, Mr. Nicol said an officer told him. So they let her go, but arrested him.

Several people asked why the police hound residents for small-time infractions like marijuana in more violent neighborhoods, but are slow to follow up about serious crimes. The resources they waste for this are ridiculous, Mr. Nicol said.
The thought that for some women and some children, their homes had become a place where they confronted the most violence and where they felt the most unsafe, Ms. Singas said in a recent interview about her motivation for prosecuting cases involving victims of domestic violence. I felt I wanted to do everything I could to make those peoples lives better and to hold their offenders accountable.

Ms. Singas also served as the lead prosecutor on a panel created in 2010 by her predecessor, Kathleen Rice, who is now a congresswoman, to review the conviction of Jesse Friedman, who pleaded guilty in 1988 to charges he had sexually abused children along with his father, Arnold, who ran computer classes in the basement of their Great Neck, N.Y., home. After Mr. Friedman was freed on parole in 2001, he said he was innocent, and contested his conviction in the courts. The United States Court of Appeals ruled in 2010 that it could not overturn Mr. Friedmans conviction because the appeal was too late, but that there was a reasonable likelihood that he was wrongfully convicted.

After a three-year review, the panel led by Ms. Singas stood by the conviction, though in 2013, one of the alleged victims wrote a letter to the Nassau County district attorneys office recanting his statements. He said the Friedmans had never sexually assaulted him. He was reportedly one of several victims to change or dispute parts of accusations attributed to them in the case.

Mr. Friedman is fighting in court with the district attorneys office for access to evidence in the case.

His lawyer, Ronald Kuby, said Ms. Singas is a prosecutor who has spent a lot of time prosecuting child sex abuse and domestic violence cases. Her bias is to assume that every alleged victim is truthful.

You believe youre on the side of the angels, he said. Still, he said Ms. Singas was ideally suited to investigating Mr. Schneiderman and he described her as fair, aggressive and smart.

It is rare for a governor to appoint a special prosecutor, and it can drag a criminal case into the world of politics. In 1996, Gov. George E. Pataki removed Robert T. Johnson, then the Bronx district attorney, from a case involving a slain police officer because he believed Mr. Johnson would not seek the death penalty. Mr. Johnson objected to the decision, fought the matter in court and lost. In 1986, Gov. Mario Cuomo appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the racially charged attack of three black men in Howard Beach after lawyers for the men accused the Queens district attorney of covering up aspects of the assault.
Writers can get grumpy when they get letters from clueless readers. When Susan Akers discovered an irritated reply from Truman Capote among some papers she was going through, what surprised her was the identity of one clueless reader who had sent Capote a note after his first published story appeared in Mademoiselle magazine.

That clueless reader was her mother, a junior in college at the time  which was mid-1945.

Ms. Akers discovered the letter among papers her father had set aside after her mothers death at 91 in 2014. The letter was a brush with not-yet greatness: Capote was 20 when he tapped it out on a typewriter in his mothers apartment on Park Avenue. Breakfast at Tiffanys was 13 years in the future, In Cold Blood, 20. The story in Mademoiselle, Miriam, would win an O. Henry Prize the following year.

Ms. Akerss mother was Katherine Warner then, but Capote began the letter Dear Miss Warren. There is no way to know whether he misread her name or mistyped the right letters in the wrong order, but there is no question that it was Capote at the keyboard. A secretary would not have sent the letter looking the way it did: Three words were marked out with Xs, the way fumble-fingered typists fixed mistakes when they did not bother to retype an entire page.

Just as prehistoric was the typewriters inability to correct misspellings. Capote had to write in a missing letter here or a missing word there  understand needed an s, experienced needed a d and a sentence needed a was.
Ernest L. Medina, the Army captain who was accused of overall responsibility for the March 1968 mass killings of unarmed South Vietnamese men, women and children by troops he commanded in what became known as the My Lai massacre, but was acquitted at a court-martial, died on Tuesday in Peshtigo, Wis. He was 81.

His death was confirmed by the Thielen Funeral Home in Marinette, a nearby town where he had lived. The cause was not given.

On March 16, 1968, a month and a half after North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces launched the Tet offensive, wide-ranging attacks that stunned the American military command in the Vietnam War, Captain Medina and the three platoons of his infantry company entered the village of My Lai in South Vietnams south central coast region.

What happened over the hours that followed became one of darkest chapters of American military history. An Army inquiry ultimately determined that 347 civilians were killed that day  shot, bayoneted or blasted with grenades. A Vietnamese memorial erected at the site has put the toll at 504.
The Venezuelan forces might have had some allies in the fight: Since 2013, the Maduro government has increasingly relied on pro-government civilian armed groups known locally as colectivos. Could these groups have been responsible for the deaths of Mr. Perez and his companions despite their intent to surrender?

In a news conference on Jan. 16, the government confirmed the deaths of Mr. Perez, his six companions and two Venezuelan police officers. By then, rumors that the rebel leader and his followers had been executed were rampant. These rumors would be fueled for several days as government officials prevented Mr. Perezs family from seeing his body in the Caracas morgue. A Venezuelan journalist finally obtained a copy of Mr. Perezs death certificate and posted it on Twitter. The cause of death as written: Severe cranial trauma due to firearm injury to the head. While one of his companions was killed by a shot through the neck, the others also received their decisive blows in the head.

Why We Need Your Help

The available evidence strongly suggests that Mr. Perez and his companions were the victims of extrajudicial killings. Yet, given the secrecy with which the government has handled the case, there remain important gaps in the narrative.

According to the government, Mr. Perez and his companions were violent terrorists who died before they could unleash a campaign of carnage on the Venezuelan people. In the governments eyes, there is nothing else to be said about Mr. Perez and the raid in El Junquito.

Our investigation undermines this official version of events. In the videos that he posted on his Instagram account during the raid, Mr. Perez repeatedly voiced  and even shouted in the midst of battle  his desire to surrender. The leaked radio communications show that the government knew this. Placing Mr. Perezs actions in time and space and comparing them with the security services activities shows the problems with the governments story.

But open source investigations have limits. They rely on what is available  and especially the work of citizen journalists, the people who live through and witness the events that those in power want to hide. The images and videos that they collect are the most important pieces of evidence for exposing state violence.

This is why we need help. We are looking for more videos, photos and details from the morning of Jan. 15 in El Junquito. Do you have any information that could help us know more about what happened to Oscar Perez and his companions? Do you know anyone who might have more information?
To the Editor:

U.S. May Limit Access for Chinese Researchers (front page, May 1) merely reflects the culmination of the concerted campaign in this country to erode public trust in science and liberal academia.

Foreign students readily fill the openings created by lack of American interest in advanced education in science and technology. Where these foreign students once stayed in the United States and applied their education for the benefit of this country, they are no longer welcome as immigrants.

Barring Chinese students wont restore American interest in filling these positions with our own students. Reclaiming our eroding position as a world leader in science and technology also requires raising the profile of American science among our own students.

GEORGIANNE ARNOLD

PITTSBURGH

The writer is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
BOISE, Idaho  The tech company office where Mikelle Oliver works as a recruiter opened two and a half years ago and is now so crammed she must share a desk.

Ms. Oliver and her 200 co-workers will soon move to another building and be joined by 300 more employees. A housing development of 3,000 homes on Boises edge, planned for a 20-year build-out, is about a decade ahead of schedule. On the citys hippest strip, young people pack the outdoor cafes on a late spring weeknight.

These are heady times for Idahos biggest metro area, with an influx of newcomers, a spike in home prices and a jolt of high-wage jobs in professions like payroll services and accounting that have made Idaho the fastest-growing state in the nation. Boise has driven the growth  more than four in 10 Idaho residents now live within a half-hours drive of the State Capitol in the heart of the city.

With that wave of urbanization and economic development has come a new political chemistry in this conservative rural state. Idahos new residents, clustering in Boises boom zone, are creating uncertainty about how they might vote in Tuesdays primary for governor in a moment when economics, politics and demographics are all in motion.
The party scored an early upset with just such a candidate, Conor Lamb, in a Pennsylvania special election in March. Mr. Lamb, a veteran, opposed Ms. Pelosi, single-payer health care and most new gun regulations, but with a populist economic message captured a district Mr. Trump carried easily in 2016.

Democratic voters have largely been going along in the primaries held so far in these districts, which are often in rural areas. In Illinois the voters chose Brendan Kelly, a prosecutor with a mend-it, dont-end-it message on the Affordable Care Act, to take on a conservative Republican in a rural district. And on Tuesday, Democrats in several states that President Trump carried in 2016 selected ideological mavericks to carry their banner in difficult House races.

One was in Indiana, where Mel Hall, a businessman and former minister who has made political donations to Republicans, dispatched rivals on the left who called him an unreliable Democrat.

Another was in West Virginia, where Richard Ojeda, a fiery populist running for an open seat in the southern part of the state, has boasted of having voted for Mr. Trump in 2016.

Representative Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, a first-term Democrat who wrested his closely divided district from a hard-line Republican in 2016, said his party should strongly back moderate candidates who have the potential to compete in areas that often prove politically grim for Democrats. Mr. Gottheimer, who is backed by the conservative-leaning U.S. Chamber of Commerce, urged liberal Democrats to accept some ideological dissension in the partys ranks in order to achieve a congressional majority.

If were going to win some of the places we can win, in redder parts of the country, its with people who may not be aligned on certain issues with some other Democrats, Mr. Gottheimer said.
The search for Lindsey Baum, a 10-year-old girl who vanished from a small town in Washington nine years ago, ended this week when officials announced that her remains had been identified.

They are now focused on finding her killer.

Lindseys mysterious disappearance, a missing persons case that made national headlines, has become a kidnapping and homicide investigation, Sheriff Rick Scott of Grays Harbor County said at a news conference on Thursday, adding that he would remain involved until the monster who killed the girl was held accountable.

Weve brought Lindsey home. Weve recovered her, Mr. Scott said. Sadly, she was not recovered as we and her family had hoped and prayed these last nine years.

The F.B.I.s Seattle field office and the sheriffs office are asking for the publics help as they try to track down the person or people responsible for her death. The F.B.I. referred all questions about the case to the sheriffs office, which is not staffed on the weekend and did not immediately respond to a request for additional information.
Just as North Korea offers to end its nuclear weapons program, theres a new concern about Iran. President Trump is taking the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal. Iran and North Korea are two of a growing number of global hot spots that have veteran cold warriors worried, again. We believed that the danger of nuclear annihilation had gone away, and weve never been quite able to re-grasp that its come back. The U.S. Pacific Command has detected a missile threat to Hawaii. This is not a drill. The panic was palpable. Hawaiians rushing for cover. Parents put their children in manholes. Frenzied families huddled in closets. The false alarm about a missile heading for Hawaii was the first time many Americans had thought about The Bomb since the end of the Cold War. Attention. Attention. This is not a test. The United States is under nuclear attack. In the 1950s and 60s, a government campaign made sure that Americans were prepared for the possibility of a nuclear attack from our main adversary, the Soviet Union. Enemy jet bombers carrying nuclear weapons can sweep over a variety of routes and drop bombs on any important target in the United States. When danger threatened him, he never got hurt... There were even cartoons aimed at children. Hed duck and cover... We must be ready all the time for the atomic bomb. Duck and cover. Duck and cover. When I teach my class at Stanford, invariably some student will ask me How in the world did we end up with 70,000 nuclear weapons during the Cold War? Former Secretary of Defense William Perry, now a university professor, tells his students that the massive arsenals helped to deter the two sides from using them. We believed the other country was planning to conduct a surprise attack on us and therefore we had to have enough weapons to survive that surprise attack. A payload larger than any the Russians have launched. We saw their weapons going up and we responded to that. And it was a back-and-forth cycle. At this moment, we could explode 11,500 nuclear weapons on the Soviet Union and they can explode 9,500 weapons on us, beginning 30 minutes from right now. But Perry says Americans were worrying about the wrong thing. The danger was not that one side would deliberately attack the other side, a surprise attack, a bolt out of the blue, but that we would blunder into a nuclear war. Will it be bad? It will be a holocaust. It will be hell. It will be the end of everything we know. For decades, the looming nuclear threat permeated American culture. They will not reach their targets for at least another hour. I am...I am positive, Dmitri. If the Soviets launch a surprise attack, theres no time. 23 minutes from warning to impact... But the fear was tempered by the fact that, even as their rivalry grew, the Americans and Soviets were meeting regularly. During the Cold War, we realized the level of danger of nuclear war and we sat down with the Soviets and worked out agreements that would reduce the risk of nuclear war. The first agreement ever to eliminate an entire class of U.S. and Soviet nuclear weapons. We were talking very closely, so we created an atmosphere of low uncertainty, high predictability and stability. Tonight the red flag was taken down from the Kremlin... Then, with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, more than four decades of Cold War came to an end. The Cold War is over. The arms race has been stopped. By the grace of God, America won the Cold War. And after that happens, the amount of tensions go down so dramatically that, by the early 90s, people dont think nuclear war is on the table at all. We stop preparing for it, we stop talking about it for the most part. When the Cold War ended, I breathed a huge sigh of relief because I understood at least as well as anybody just how dangerous it was, how close we had come several times to a nuclear confrontation that could have ended our civilization. And I believed we would never be so foolish as to restart the Cold War. But the danger has come back again. Russia rolls out a new missile nicknamed the Satan II... After years of dismantling its nuclear weapons, Russia is building new ones. No one wanted to speak with us constructively. No one has listened to us. You listen to us now. Adding to the danger, nations in unpredictable parts of the world have acquired nuclear weapons. In the last 20 years, weve added North Korea, India, Pakistan, and as the world proliferates nuclear weapons, the risks increase dramatically. A lot of these countries have very poor safeguards on their nuclear weapons. ...which means rogue states, probably terrorist groups over the next decade  weve got to determine what were going to do about it. President Trumps response: a buildup of his own. We must modernize and rebuild our nuclear arsenal. Arms control advocates worry that the stability of the past, especially between the U.S. and Russia, may be slipping away. We are about to throw away some of our nuclear arms agreements that were disputing, and we have one major agreement that allows us to conduct onsite inspections in each others country. Thats going to expire in three years. And there are no signs that were going to renew it. We need to learn the lessons of the Cold War, that when the danger, the risk of nuclear war, becomes high, that we need to talk to each other and figure out together how to reduce those risks. Things have changed very radically from a few months ago, you know, the name-calling and a lot of other things. Something very dramatic could happen. There is hope that the upcoming meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un will reduce the risks of war, but also realism that the nuclear brinkmanship between the two men could return as quickly as it disappeared. Let us recognize the threat to our way of life. During the Cold War, Americans were alert to the threat they faced. Lets face it. Today, some worry the public has become complacent, as hugs and handshakes mask the dangers of a new nuclear arms race. I want people to think of them as actual things that exist in the world, actual things that might be used in their lifetime. Theyre not fictional creations. Theyre not cultural metaphors. Theyre real. Theyre real devices and theyre waiting in silos for the signal. I have come to believe that the danger of some kind of a nuclear catastrophe today is actually greater than it was during the Cold War. Greater than the Cold War.
Mr. Dubowitzs main concerns about the deal were its lack of any limits on the regimes ballistic missile program and its sunset provisions that would allow Iran to increase its capacity to enrich uranium beginning seven years from now. Mr. Dubowitz said the deal gave Iran tens of billions in economic relief that it had used to fund terrorism and foreign adventurism.

Now that Mr. Trump has decided to withdraw from an agreement he called one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into, Mr. Dubowitzs campaign to draw attention to what he saw as its flaws has taken its place among the most consequential ever undertaken by a Washington think tank leader.

But in written responses to questions, Mr. Dubowitz said he felt ambivalent about the withdrawal: happy that Mr. Trump saw the agreement as flawed but disappointed in the rejection of the proposed fix, which he said seemed closer than anyone would have expected.

I was very invested in the process of trying to help the E3 bridge the gap with us, he added, referring to negotiations with British, French and German diplomats.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the Iran deal is formally known, is 109 pages, and Mr. Dubowitz was often able to cite its provisions by heart. He is widely seen as understanding the multifarious mechanics of sanctions, a rare feat.

But he is far from the usual tweedy think-tanker. Raised in Canada, trained as a lawyer and having worked in venture capital, Mr. Dubowitz wears tailored French suits and keeps his curly hair just so. In 2016, he received $560,221 in compensation as the foundations chief executive.

Top officials in the Obama administration often dismissed Washingtons foreign policy think tanks as paid agents of Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, countries that annually invest tens of millions in the Washington influence game. Those nations were implacably opposed to the Iran deal in part because they feared that it would achieve exactly what Mr. Obama and his European counterparts intended, which was to normalize Irans clerical government.
TAIPEI, Taiwan  China launched its first domestically built aircraft carrier to begin sea trials on Sunday, reaching another milestone in the expansion of the countrys navy.

The aircraft carrier, as yet unnamed, left its berth at a shipyard in the northeastern port of Dalian after a blow of its horn and a display of fireworks, according to reports in state news media.

The Chinese Navy  officially the Peoples Liberation Army Navy  already has one operational carrier, the Liaoning, which it bought unfinished from Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. That ship joined the Chinese fleet in 2012 and began its first operations four years later, putting China in the small group of seafaring powers that maintain aircraft carriers, led by the United States, which has 11.

The Liaoning, which appears to serve as a training vessel as much as a combat ship, was the centerpiece of a naval parade of 48 ships attended last month by Chinas leader, Xi Jinping. The following week, it led a carrier battle group in live-fire exercises in the Taiwan Strait and in the East China Sea.
BANDUNG, Indonesia  One suicide bomber appeared to have been disguised as a churchgoer. Another drove a Toyota minivan with a bomb to one attack site. Still another was seen in footage speeding on a scooter toward a church before an explosion.

After the back-to-back bombings that targeted three churches in Surabaya, Indonesias second-largest city, as worshipers gathered between services on Sunday morning, the police said they had been the work of one family: a couple who had led their four children on a terror spree that took their own lives and those of at least seven other people.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to the groups news agency, Amaq. In an initial bulletin, the group described each of the bombings as a martyrdom operation. In a subsequent, longer media release, the Islamic State identified three modes of attack: a car bomb, a suicide vest and a motorcycle-borne bomb.


But Mr. Anwars detention has not assuaged supporters of the P.T.M. At Sundays rally, the first in the city since the killings in January, chants of Justice for Naqeebullah soon became calls for Justice for Pashtuns.

In the days before the rally, P.T.M. organizers worked in Pashtun neighborhoods across the city to muster grass-roots support for the event. Among a small group of organizers, men mostly in their late 20s and early 30s, all said their childhoods in Pakistans tribal areas were marred by violence and chaos as their villages were caught in the crossfire between militants and the military.

We grew up surrounded by war, said Kiffayat Ullah, one of the P.T.M.s core members. Until this movement, we were too scared to speak up. Mr. Ullah said that he understood the immense risk involved in challenging Pakistans military establishment, but that the P.T.M.s popular support galvanized him and others. After Naqeebullahs death, I know my blood is expensive, he said.

Much of Karachis Pashtun population migrated from the countrys tribal belt, along Pakistans border with Afghanistan, after heavy clashes between the state and the Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or T.T.P. The fighting left their home provinces all but razed. The military warned most civilians to evacuate the areas, forcing many in the local population to flee to urban centers like Karachi.

But the city offered no respite from the war they fled, said Rizwan Mehsud, a young Karachi resident who helped the P.T.M. organize the rally. When we left the tribal areas, we thought thered be peace here, Mr. Mehsud said. But here, if the police asked to see my ID and saw where I was from, theyd pull me aside for questioning, asking for a bribe to avoid more problems.

Image Naqeebullah Mehsud, a Pashtun shopkeeper and aspiring model, was killed by the police in Karachi in January. Credit... Family of Naqeebullah Mehsud, via Agence France-Presse  Getty Images

Many of the P.T.M. activists said they had family members who were missing, and they carried posters with photographs of the missing at Sundays rally. They believe that the military establishment is to blame. One of the main demands of the rally was the release of missing persons held by the military or information about their whereabouts.
PARIS  The knife-wielding man who briefly spread terror in the heart of Paris on Saturday night was born in Chechnya and was on a list of potential terrorism suspects, leading critics of the French governments antiterrorism policy to again call on Sunday for a crackdown on those on the list.

The man, identified by the police and the French news media as Khamzat Azimov, 20, a French citizen, stabbed five passers-by, one fatally, in the middle of a neighborhood crowded with restaurants and bars, the authorities said.

His hands and face bloodied from the attacks, he confronted three police officers in a narrow street near the main Paris Opera house, the Rue Monsigny, witnesses said, and was quickly gunned down after the police apparently failed to stop him with a stun gun.

A day after the fatal stabbing, the Islamic States news agency, Amaq, released a cellphone video of the attacker pledging allegiance to the terrorist groups leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and issuing a call to fellow Islamic State supporters in France, Germany, Britain and elsewhere to carry out attacks.
LONDON  Every wedding has its share of paperwork. But its probably fair to say that the documents generated by the planned marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19 will be beyond ordinary.

Queen Elizabeth II had to give her formal consent to the union, and the official document  elaborately ornate, written on vellum and decorated with symbols representing the couple  was released late Friday.

The 92-year-old monarch originally gave her blessing at a meeting of the privy council in March. Her consent was needed to comply with the 2013 Succession to the Crown Act.

Lets break it down, shall we?

Elizabeth R

The handwritten Instrument of Consent carries the queens signature, Elizabeth R. The R standing for regina, or queen.
JERUSALEM  Israel, confronting a host of contentious political and military issues, was struck by a wave of national euphoria this weekend after the countrys contestant won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night with a defiant anthem about female empowerment.

Never mind the preparations for the controversial opening on Monday of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem, the drama surrounding stolen Iranian nuclear archives or the Israeli strikes on Iranian military targets inside Syria. Many Israelis stayed up till nearly 2 a.m. Sunday to watch the nail-biting finish of the annual international pop competition, which took place in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

The win by Netta Barzilai for her #MeToo-themed hit, Toy, seemed to ease, at least for now, deep-seated Israeli fears of cultural boycott and isolation. When the votes came in from around the world and Ms. Barzilais performance beat songs by rivals from nations like Austria, Cyprus and Sweden, many Israelis hailed it as a diplomatic victory and national vindication.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the first to get in on the celebrations, echoing Ms. Barzilais words as he exulted on his Facebook page: Next year in Jerusalem!
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Tej Pratap Yadav addicted to drugs, used to dress up like gods, says wife Aishwarya

I have been assaulted by Rabri Devi, driven out of her house: Tej Pratap's wife Aishwarya Rai

4 killed in road accident while returning from Tej Pratap-Aishwarya Rais wedding

India

oi-Madhuri

Around four people were killed in Araria on Sunday after they were returning from the marriage ceremony of party supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav's son Tej Pratap Yadav with Aishwarya Rai. Among them was Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Kishanganj district president Intekhab Alam and three others including the driver were killed.

The incident occurred early Sunday morning on NH-57 near Araria. The identity of the driver is yet to be ascertained.

They were travelling in a Mahindra Scorpio SUV, which met with an accident near Pothia bridge along NH-57.

As soon as the information of the accident came in, Forbesganj police personnel rushed to the spot. However, the exact reason behind the accident is yet to be found.

Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's son Tej Pratap on Saturday, tied the knot with Aishwarya Rai, daughter of RJD leader Chandrika Rai at the Bihar Veterinary College ground in Patna. Among others, the ceremony was attended by RJD supremo and Tej Pratap's father Lalu Prasad Yadav, and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

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Story first published: Sunday, May 13, 2018, 11:40 [IST]
Who was Sadanand Singh? The veteran Congress leader died at 76

Third wave? Viral fever cases among children rising in Bihar

Bihar court's unique condition to rape accused to get bail: Wash clothes of 2000 women

Bihar judge who asked molestation accused to wash clothes of 2000 women restrained from work

Not giving up demand for special status for Bihar: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar

Chaos at Tej Prataps wedding, crowd loots food items

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

The much-hyped up Tej Pratap Yadav wedding in Bihar ended in chaos.

Chaos prevailed at the wedding of Tej Pratap Yadav, the elder son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, as an unruly crowd breached the cordon separating the pandal meant for VIPs and the media and started looting food items.

Yadav tied the nuptial knot with Aishwarya Rai, who is the daughter of RJD MLA Chandrika Rai.

Preparations were made for thousands of people gathered for the wedding.

Shortly after Tej Pratap and Aishwarya exchanged garlands, a horde of people believed to be RJD supporters -- broke the cordon and started looting food items.

Soon the entire area was strewn with broken crockery and upturned tables and chairs, while a number of party leaders made a vain attempt to chase away intruders by wielding sticks.

Several media persons, including cameramen, complained of having been manhandled and their equipment damaged.

Caterers said the unruly crowd looted some of their utensils and other items.

Organisers had earlier said that arrangement of food had been made for around 7,000 people, but it appeared that no adequate attention had been paid towards regulating such a huge number of people.

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Story first published: Sunday, May 13, 2018, 8:33 [IST]
Chidambaram hits back at Sitharaman, says she will be removed as Defence Minister'

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Former finance minister P Chidambaram on Sunday hit back at Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over her "Nawaz Sharif moment" remark. Taking a jibe at Sitharaman, Chidambaram said that the former would be removed as Defence Minister and appointed as appointed a lawyer of the Income Tax Department.

Chidambaram's dig on Twitter came soon after the Defence Minister wondered if the filing of charge sheets by the I-T department against his family members was the Congress party's "Nawaz Sharif moment". The Defence Minister was referring to the Pakistan Supreme Court's decision disqualifying its former prime minister from holding office because of non-disclosure of assets and income earned abroad.

"For some time now we have been hearing a lot of action by the I-T authorities against former finance minister P Chidambaram and his family. In India, for the Congress party, this is the Nawaz Sharif moment," Sitharaman said at a media conference in Delhi.

Sitharaman also asked if Congress president Rahul Gandhi would investigate the issue involving his party's senior leader.

The Income Tax department on May 11 filed chargesheets against Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets.

Chidambaram, responding to Sitharaman's comments, reminded the ruling BJP of its failure to bring back black money from abroad and deposit Rs 15 lakh in every Indian's bank account, as promised by it before the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

"The buzz in Delhi is that Ms Nirmala Sitharaman will be removed as Defence Minister and appointed as lawyer of the Income-tax department. Welcome to the bar, Ms Sitharaman,"he tweeted.

"The president of the richest political party in India is dreaming of billions of dollars! Bring the money back and put Rs 15 lakhs in the account of every Indian as you promised," he said in another tweet, without naming BJP president Amit Shah.

['Will Rahul probe Chidambaram's foreign assets matter?', asks Nirmala Sitharaman]

The family of the former finance minister had said the Income Tax Department (ITD) chargesheets against them under the black money law were "baseless allegations" as the overseas investments under question had been reflected in their IT returns.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs

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Story first published: Sunday, May 13, 2018, 19:37 [IST]
Our servers were hacked, internal documents may get uploaded on public websites: IndiGo

IndiGo passenger says he is COVID-19 positive; airline offloads him at Delhi airport

Vaccinated? Now get 10% discount on Indigo air ticket: How to avail it?

Indigo staffer arrested over bomb hoax call to IGI airport

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

A staff member of Indigo airlines was arrested for allegedly making a hoax call to Delhi's IGI airport about a bomb in a Mumbai bound flight, said reports.

Following the hoax bomb call, a few Mumbai bound flights were also physically checked. Only after thorough checking of the planes was the call declared hoax.

In March, a bomb threat call to the Chennai airport turned out to be a hoax and two persons were arrested.

On Friday (May 11), a 30-year-old man was arrested for making a hoax call about a bomb planted at the US Consulate in Chennai. Saubar Sadik Basha called up the police control room on Thursday night and claimed that a bomb would go off at the US Consulate in the early hours of Friday. However, nothing suspicious was found after a thorough search of the consulate premises by the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) and sniffer dogs. A probe by the Royapettah police traced the call to Basha, a resident of Mannady area, and he was arrested.

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Story first published: Sunday, May 13, 2018, 16:47 [IST]
Kanna Lakshminarayana appointed as BJP state president of Andhra Pradesh

India

oi-Madhuri

Former minister Kanna Lakshminarayana was on Sunday appointed as BJP's state president of Andhra Pradesh. He was a minister in several Congress governments in the state, but left it to join the BJP in 2014.

Lakshminarayana comes from the Kapu community, a group the BJP is eyeing to make inroads in the state.

Lakshminarayana, known for his strong vocal skills, has made his mark in BJP and also got recognition on par with national leaders. It is believed that Kanna had earlier anticipated that he would be offered the post of state BJP chief after the resignation of Kambhampati Haribabu. However, Somu Veerraju, was considered till recently a favourite for the top post.

Reports had said that he was set to quit the saffron party recently, but was prevailed on to continue and the appointment is seen as an effort to placate him and a number of other leaders who had left other parties, especially the Congress, to join it.

A staunch Congressman who began his political innings with National Students Union of India, Lakshminarayana was first elected from Pedakurapadu Assembly segment in 1989. He had served in the Cabinets of former Chief Ministers N. Janardhana Reddy, K. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, K. Rosaiah and Kiran Kumar Reddy.

The assembly polls in the state are scheduled to be held together with the Lok Sabha elections next year.

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Story first published: Sunday, May 13, 2018, 14:19 [IST]
Karnataka elections: Pathetic Bengaluru disappoints again

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Bengaluru disappointed yet again. The weekend slumber was clear as the IT capital of India registered a poor 54 per cent polling in the Karnataka assembly elections. The overall polling percentage for the state was slightly in the excess of 70 per cent.

The single-phase polling held in 222 Assembly constituencies was by and large peaceful. However, the voter turnout in Bengaluru continued to be poor with only an estimated 54% turning up at the polling booths. In the 2013 Assembly polls, Bengaluru Urban district comprising 28 constituencies had witnessed 57.33% voting. The state's overall polling percentage in 2013 was 71.45. The polling figures provided by the Election Commission were based on preliminary reports.

Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Kumar told reporters in Bengaluru that the final figures will be released on Sunday. The highest poll percentage was in 1978 when 71.9 % of the voters exercised their franchise. The state's average voting percentage was 64.68 in 2008 and 65.67 in 2004. Voters turned out at polling booths in large numbers despite minor incidents of violence, scorching summer heat and rainfall in some parts of the state.

Faulty electronic voting machines (EVMs), VVPAT mismatch, technical glitches disrupted polling for some time in a few booths.The highest polling percentage was recorded in Ramanagaram (80) followed by Chikkaballapur (79). The next lowest polling after Bengaluru was recorded in Kalaburagi (56%). Counting of votes is scheduled to begin from 8 am on May 15. The election for the Jayanagar seat in Bengaluru was countermanded following the death of BJP candidate and sitting MLA B N Vijay Kumar. The Election Commission also deferred the polls for Rajarajeswari Nagar constituency to May 28 after a massive row erupted over a large number of voter ID cards being found in an apartment. A good voter turnout is attributed to many reasons by political analysts including that it could be an indication of the electorate voting for a change.

The ECI undertook a slew of measures to encourage more people, especially youth, to participate in the electoral process. Several NGOs had conducted vigorous campaigns in recent weeks to encourage people to vote. The EC had also extended the duration of polling by one hour to provide some relief to voters from the scorching summer. But Bangaloreans continued to be apathetic.

The ECI had ordered re-polling at Gandhi Vidyalaya Kannada and Tamil Primary School in Lottegollahalli in Hebbal following faulty ballot units. Polling will be held on May 14 here. Both Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and BJP's chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa, who voted from Varuna and Shikaripura respectively, asserted that their respective parties will win the polls.

In Hassan, Congress candidate B P Manje Gowda, who is pitted against H D Revanna of the JD(S) in the Holenarsipur constituency, was attacked allegedly by JD(S) workers. An angry mob, according to Gowda, threw stones at his car and his assistant Supreeth suffered a head injury.

The Kolar Rural police arrested four persons on charges of enticing voters. They were reportedly distributing nose rings to women voters. BJP and JD(S) workers clashed at a booth in the Yelahanka Assembly constituency. The police, who rushed to the spot, said the BJP workers barged into the polling booth, accusing JD(S) workers sitting inside the booth and canvassing for their party candidate. In Byrahalli polling booth in Srirangapatna Assembly constituency, polling went past 8 pm with a long line of voters queuing up before the polls by 6 pm.

Sanjeev Kumar said the police reported five incidents of violence - three in Bengaluru, one each in Vijayapura and Hassan. Four persons have been injured in these incidents. An old woman attempted suicide at a polling station in Devagiri village of Haveri district as she was upset that there were no basic facilities in her village.Ari Anne Acharya, a voter who came to vote at Belthangadi taluk, collapsed while standing in the queue. He was rushed to the hospital immediately but was declared dead.

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Story first published: Sunday, May 13, 2018, 7:12 [IST]
Parrikar says he will be 'back in Goa in the next few weeks'

India

pti-PTI

Panaji, May 13: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, through a video message, on Sunday said that he would return to his home state in the "next few weeks" from the US, where he has been undergoing medical treatment since March.

The video message was played at a BJP workers' meeting that was addressed by party president Amit Shah.

"I am not there among you all for the last two months as I am undergoing treatment. I will be back in Goa in the next few weeks," the chief minister said in the pre-recorded video message.

He said he could not attend the party workers' meeting because of his ill health. Parrikar exhorted the cadres to get ready for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and said the country needed Narendra Modi as prime minister again.

Parrikar (62) is undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment at a hospital in the US, where he was admitted in the first week of March after being treated at Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital.

The Congress has demanded the appointment of a "full-time" chief minister for the coastal state in Parrikar's absence. In the absence of the chief minister, a three-member advisory committee, comprising cabinet ministers, is looking after the day-to-day affairs of the government.

PTI
Thunderstorm wreaks havoc in Delhi: 2 dead, 18 injured, 40 flights diverted

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Skies turned dark in Delhi on Sunday (May 13) and a sudden dust storm accompanied by lightning struck the city, bringing temperature several notches down. High-velocity winds affected normal life and even the flight movements were affected. Latest reports say that 18 persons have been injured in Delhi thunderstorm. A woman reportedly died after a tree fell on her in Pandav Nagar area.

Flight movements at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport have been put on hold due to thunderstorm, reported ANI. Airline Vistara's Srinagar-Delhi flight was diverted to Amritsar following bad weather conditions in Delhi-NCR.

More than 40 flight were diverted from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport as bad weather conditions continue in the region, said the latest report by ANI.

The temperature was today recorded at 30.6 degrees Celsius. The humidity was recorded at 60 per cent at 8:30 am, a Meteorological (Met) department official said. The Met office has forecast light rains will follow the dust storm.

According to ANI, the storm disrupted an event being attended by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in IP Extension when the winds blew off parts of the stage.

The sudden change in weather began at around 4.30 pm and gusty winds swept the city. The visibility was hampered initially as winds brought dust along with it. It was only after rain began that the dust settled down. The storm also uprooted trees, bringing traffic to a halt.

Four incidents of wall collapse were reported from various parts of Delhi due to a dust storm this afternoon, a Fire Service officer said. The incidents were reported from Najafgarh, Transit Camp, Nehru Place, Mohan Garden in Uttam Nagar and Raj Nagar in Palam. Two fire tenders each were rushed to the four areas.

Similar weather conditions were reported from nearby areas such as Faridabad, Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad.

Metro movement at the Noida Dwaraka line was stalled for 30 minutes due to bad weather conditions, said reports.

Delhi: Metro services between Indraprastha and Karol Bagh metro stations disrupted after a tree fell on the tracks of the route between Rajiv Chowk to RK Ashram metro stations. Metros going towards Dwarka affected.  ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2018

Metro Service from Delhi to Noida, UP, was suspended for the day after a tree fell on the Blue Line. DMRC said that an overhead equipment cable on Blue Line was cut off as a tree fell on it during the storm. This led to the Blue Line operations being terminated.

The MeT department had earlier today warned that 26 districts of Uttar Pradesh are likely to witness the harsh change in weather.

On May 9, several parts of the state were hit by a severe storm that left 18 dead and 27 others injured. Five people died in Etawah district, three each in Mathura, Aligarh and Agra, two in Firozabad and one each in Hathras and Kanpur Dehat.
Why is there so much hatred against farmers: Arvind Kejriwal slams PM on Lakhimpur Kheri incident

Thunderstorm throws normal life out of gear in several northern states; 9 dead, 34 injured in UP

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Dust storm, high-velocity winds and rains accompanied by lightning wreaked havoc in several north Indian states on Sunday evening. In Uttar Pradesh, nine people were killed and 34 injured due to the storm.

One woman was killed and a man was seriously injured after a hoarding fell on them due to the heavy dust storm in Greater Noida. In Ghaziabad, one person was killed and 4 injured after a tree fell on them near Lal Kuan Shiv temple.

Meanwhile, Metro Service from Delhi to Noida, UP, was suspended for the day after a tree fell on the Blue Line. DMRC said that an overhead equipment cable on Blue Line was cut off as a tree fell on it during the storm. This led to the Blue Line operations being terminated.

Sudden dust storm and rain also hit several parts of Punjab and Haryana, including Faridabad and Gurgaon, this evening, pushing temperatures down by a few notches. After hot weather conditions prevailed through the day, the dust storm brought relief to residents in several cities, including Chandigarh, Sonipat, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Karnal, Ambala, Panchkula, Jhajjar, Gurgaon and Faridabad.

[Thunderstorm in Western UP leaves 16 dead, 25 injured]

Strong winds swept through Haryana as the weather changed suddenly and light rain lashed several areas of the state, a meteorological department official said in Chandigarh. Several parts of Punjab also experienced light rain. Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, earlier today had recorded a maximum temperature of 39.1C, a notch above the normal.

In Haryana, Ambala recorded a maximum temperature of 39.4C, Hisar 41.6C, Bhiwani 41C, Karnal 39C and Narnaul 42.5C. Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala in Punjab, too, registered above normal temperatures of 39.5C, 40.7C and 40C respectively. The Met office has forecast thunderstorm with gusty winds at isolated places during the next two days in Haryana and Punjab.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs

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Story first published: Sunday, May 13, 2018, 23:07 [IST]
A conspiracy to frame the CJI? Justice Patnaik seeks more information from IB

'It was not accident but conspiracy', says Unnao rape survivor's mother

Twist in the Ayodhya Case: Muslim side hints at conspiracy, says mediation ruled out

NIA probing if PDP youth president was actively involved in terror conspiracy case

SC says cannot rule out conspiracy against former CJI Ranjan Gogoi

To prove Ishrat Jahan encounter as fake, there was a conspiracy

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

There was a conspiracy to prove that the Ishrat Jahan encounter was fake, former Gujarat police officer, N K Amin told a CBI court.

Arguing in person over his discharge application before special CBI judge J K Pandya, Amin said the FIR against him was "fabricated, biased and based on false facts".

Amin, accused in the charge sheet of firing five rounds from his gun at Ishrat Jahan and three others on June 14, 2004, claimed that IPS officer Satish Verma, a former investigator in the case, was also behind the conspiracy.

Verma was part of the conspiracy hatched at the behest of "the political party then in power" as he (Verma) allowed I K Chauhan, a former accused in the case, to turn a prosecution witness and depose against Amin despite knowing that he was stating blatant lies, Amin said.

Chauhan was a police inspector with the Ahmedabad crime branch at the time of the alleged fake encounter.

Amin and retired IPS officer D G Vanzara, both on bail in this case, have filed applications for discharge.

The CBI has opposed their pleas, saying it has sufficient evidence against them.

The court recently discharged former Gujarat DGP P P Pandey in the case.

Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old college girl from Mumbra near Mumbai, 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.

The first charge sheet filed by the CBI named seven Gujarat policemen -- Amin, Tarun Barot, P P Pandey, Vanzara, J G Parmar, K M Vaghela, and G L Singhal -- for carrying out a fake encounter.

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Story first published: Sunday, May 13, 2018, 8:08 [IST]
Why no Bharat Ratna for Savarkar: Sena asks BJP

India

pti-PTI

Mumbai, May 13: Shiv Sena parliamentarian Sanjay Raut today said if the BJP-led NDA dispensation at the Centre had "pure Hindu blood" in its veins, it should confer the Bharat Ratna on late Hindutva icon V D Savarkar.

The NDA government put up pictures of Bharatiya Jan Sangh founder Deendayal Upadhyaya in offices and buildings across the country, but had no space for Savarkar, the Sena leader said.

"This current government should announce the Bharat Ratna for Savarkar, if it has pure Hindu blood in it... Otherwise it (the government) should declare that its Hindutva is only for politics," Raut said in an article in 'Utsav', a supplement that appears with the Sunday edition of party mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

The Shiv Sena is a constituent of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Raut said the demand for the removal of portraits of Savarkar from offices by some organisations, a move that followed a row over Pakistan founder Mohammah Ali Jinnah's portrait at Aligarh Muslim University, was itself a victory for the Hindutva icon.

"It is saddening that just because there is a demand to remove Jinnah's portrait (from a hall at AMU), some Muslim organisations now want Savarkar's portraits to be removed. Those who support Jinnah despise Savarkar," Raut wrote.

"Then the only question that remains is when will Savarkar get the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award," Raut wondered.

The Jinnah portrait issue, he said, was "a conspiracy being hatched to polarise society" before the 2019 general election. "During the Congress regime, there was an overdose of pseudo-secularism. Hope a similar pattern does not get repeated with pseudo-Hinduism," he said. He said issues revolving around Pakistan, Jinnah and Savarkar surfaced every time a major election drew close.

"It is a mystery. And it seems people like the Congress's Mani Shankar Aiyar are engaged for such controversies. This is condemnable," Raut said.

He said Savarkar was also a barrister like Jinnah "but the latter used his degree to create Pakistan and Savarkar sacrificed his education for this country". Unlike other politicians, Savarkar was jailed in the Andaman islands and did not accept any recognition from the government, he said.

"He criticised the caste system, the four varnas (caste hierarchies), and supported non-vegetarian habits. He believed in Hinduism but never had blind faith in the religion," Raut said.

He had deep respect for Hinduism but was not gullible and so he had rejected the movement on cow protection, Raut wrote. Claiming that civilian awards were given to "ordinary poets and authors", Raut said Savarkar's compositions deserved "at least a Padma Bhushan". Savarkar died in 1966.

PTI
'Will Rahul probe Chidambaram's foreign assets matter?', asks Nirmala Sitharaman

India

oi-Madhuri

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday while addressing media said that the Congress party's president Rahul Gandhi who himself is out on bail on a financial matter, should certainly comment and tell people of India if he is going to investigate on this senior leader of the party P Chidambaram not having disclosed income held abroad.

Hiting out at former Finance Minister P Chidambaram Nirmala Sitharaman said,''For sometime now we have been hearing a lot of action by the I-T authorities against former finance minister P Chidambaram and his family. In India, for the Congress Party this is the Nawaz Sharif moment.''

''In pursuit of black money, time was given time to disclose assets which are held and bring it to public notice, this act provides for, if convicted provides 120% tax & penalty on those undisclosed assets & income, and when proven invites jail term,'' Nrmala Sitharaman

''The Congress party's president who is also out on bail on a financial matter, he should certainly comment and tell people of India if he is going to investigate on this senior leader of the party(P Chidambaram) not having disclosed income held abroad,'' Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Speaking on on former Pak PM Nawaz Sharif's statement, Sitharaman said,''It's a serious disclosure. Hasn't India been following it? Saying that we strongly believe that the handlers of the 26/11 offences were in Pakistan. This only proves India's stand has been right all through the way.''

The Income Tax department had on Friday filed four charge-sheets against former Union finance minister P Chidambaram, his wife Nalini, son Karti and daughter-in-law Srinidhi under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets.

Nalini Chidambaram, Karti and Srinidhi and a firm linked to Karti (Chess Global) have been charged for allegedly not disclosing, either partly or fully, immovable assets like the one at Barton, Cambridge in the UK worth Rs 5.37 crore, property worth Rs 80 lakh in the same country and assets worth Rs 3.28 crore in the US, ITD officials had said.
Why US engaging with Pakistan on Afghanistan is a cause of worry for India

India, US have 'one mind, one approach: US Deputy State Secretary on Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Terrorists storm govt building, 6 killed in suicide attack

International

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

At least six people were killed and close to 20 injured in what is suspected to be a suicide attack in the city of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Sunday, reported TOLO News.

As per AFP reports, terrorists stormed a government building and detonated bombs. There were two explosions near the city's directorate of finance, Nangarhar provincial governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP, adding that "a number of attackers" had entered the building.

Jalalabad is the capital of restive Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. Some areas of the province are a stronghold of the Islamic State group but Taliban fighters are also active there. It was the latest deadly violence to strike Afghanistan as militant groups step up attacks and US-backed Afghan forces intensify air strikes and ground offensives. The Taliban have rejected growing calls to accept President Ashraf Ghani's offer of talks to end the 16-year conflict.

On May 6, an explosion at a mosque in the eastern Afghan province of Khost killed at least 10 people and wounded 29. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but both the Taliban and a local Islamic State affiliate reject democratic elections and have targeted them in the past.

Last month, an Islamic State suicide bomber killed at least 57 people, including women and children, and wounded 119 outside a voter registration centre in the Afghan capital Kabul in the latest attack on election preparations.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs

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Story first published: Sunday, May 13, 2018, 16:00 [IST]
On day one of my presidency US will rejoin Paris climate agreement: Biden

Knife attack in Paris leaves one dead, four injured, ISIS claims responsibility

International

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

An Islamic State operative was shot dead by the police in Central Paris late on Saturday after he killed one person and injured four. The Islamic State was quick to claim responsibility for the attack. Reports said that the knifeman was shouting 'Allahu Akbar' while carrying out the attack.

The attack took place near the main Opera House, a crowded area which house several theatres, bars and restaurants. French President Emmanuel Macron said: "France once again pays the price of blood."

Witnesses said that the man shouted 'Allah Akbar as he carried out the attack, which has promoted a terror probe. SITE monitoring group said that the ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.

"The executor of the stabbing operation in the city of Paris is a soldier of the Islamic State and the operation was carried out in response to the calls to target the coalition states," a "security source" told IS's official Amaq news agency, according to SITE. The man attacked five people with a knife, one of whom died, police said. Two were in serious condition and all the victims are in hospital.

France has suffered a series of major Islamist attacks over the past three years, including the massacre at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the November 2015 attacks that killed 130 in Paris, and the 2016 Bastille Day truck attack in Nice.

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Story first published: Sunday, May 13, 2018, 7:15 [IST]
North Korea to dismantle its nuclear test site in presence of foreign media

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Continuing with its diplomatic opening, North Korea on Saturday, May 12, said it will start dismantling its Punggye-ri nuclear test site in less than two weeks in an event where foreign journalists will also be present.

North Korean state news agency KCNA reported that Pyongyang announced about its "technical measures" to carry out the dismantling process between May 23 and 25.

Recently, in the wake of North Korea's announcement that it would quit its nuclear tests and also shut the nuclear site, it was reported that the hermit kingdom's nuclear site might have partially collapsed last September, making it opt for peace with the international community.

The dismantling process will see ruining all tunnels using explosives and removal of all observation and research facilities and security posts.

Punggye-ri hosted all six of North Korea's nuclear tests, the latest of which happened last September and which Pyongyang defined as an H-bomb. However, it was yet to be verified by external observers.

Besides local journalists, media representatives from South Korea, the US, the UK, Russia and China will be allowed to witness the process to ensure the transparency although the number of media invitees was limited because of space constraint at the test side, North Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement, according to an AFP report.

North Korea has been in the middle of a series of diplomatic charm since the Winter Olympics in Peyongchang in South Korea in February this year. Kim has already visited China twice to meet its president Xi Jinping while Trump has sent Mike Pompeo, the current US secretary of state to meet him as many times as well. In between, Kim met South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a historic Korean summit at the border truce village of Punmunjeom on April 27 to pledge ending the Korean War soon and denuclearise the Korean Peninsula.

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Story first published: Sunday, May 13, 2018, 7:04 [IST]
Speakers from IBM and European Parliament Joining Prague Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference

Published May 13, 2018 by Ivan P

The Prague conference will focus on regulation and blockchain technology application, with many expert speakers contributing to the discussion.

Scheduled for May 17 and taking place in Czech's capital, Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Prague will gather a number of experts from different related fields to discuss current burning topics in the world of bitcoin and blockchain in general. The conference will feature many expert speakers and presenters, including representatives from IBM and European Parliament.

Focus on Regulation

Lately, cryptocurrency regulation has become one of the main topics discussed at local and global levels. For that reason, the Prague conference will focus on recent regulatory movements in Europe, featuring speeches from the likes of Dimitrios Psarrakis, the Capital Markets and FinTech Regulation Policy Advisor at European Parliament, and Guenther Dobrauz of PwC Legal Switzerland.

Psarrakis will share his inside knowledge about the position of the authorities when it comes to cryptocurrencies, discussing potential future regulation and talking about the current stance of the European Parliament, central banks, and more. Guenther Dobrauz's presentation will focus on the role of cryptocurrencies, real changes they can bring to the current banking system, and the likelihood of cryptos taking over the role of fiat currencies.

Blockchain Technology Application & Tokens

Apart from regulatory considerations, the Prague Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference will also focus on the application of blockchain technology moving forward. Rene Bostic from IBM Cloud will deliver a presentation explaining the latest research in this area and offering potential fields of application.

Sandris Murins of the German company Iconiq Lab will treat the guests with a presentation breaking down a detailed research of 200 different coins currently in the market and also touching upon the topic of AI tokenization. Stefano Virgilli of VOX ICO Consulting will deliver a presentation focused on cryptocurrency mining, explaining many relevant areas of the activity such as setting transaction costs, hash rate calculations, and more.

Alongside these and many other expert speakers, the Prague conference will also provide excellent networking opportunities bringing a lot of value to everyone in the attendance, giving guests a chance not just to learn something new but also forge fresh partnerships for the future.
Yggdrasil Releases 2018 Q1 Report: Growth Across All Segments

Published May 13, 2018 by Ivan P

Yggdrasil has had a very strong first quarter, showing growth across all sectors, especially when it comes to number of player rounds, which increased by 90.2%.

Yggdrasil, an online casino games and solutions developer, has been making the name for itself over the past few years, successfully competing with many larger and more experienced players in the industry. The company has recently released their Q1 report for the current year, and the numbers are showing this positive trend continues in 2018 as well.

Growing Revenues and Player Numbers

When compared to Q1 of 2017, Yggdrasil's revenue has increased by 73% in Q1 of 2018, standing at 57.6 MSEK (around 5.5 million). The company's EBITDA has increased from 13 million to 18.1 million SEK. The EBITDA margins has experienced a decline from 40% to 31%, but Fredrik Elmqvist, the company's CEO and founder, explains this was due to investments in this year's ICE and expenses connected to ongoing expansions.

Looking at Yggdrasil's presence in the market, the player involvement has skyrocketed. The total number of player transactions (game rounds) in Q1 of 2018 stood at 1,333 million, which represents an impressive 90.2% year-on-year increase.

New Partnerships and Expansions Plans

The first quarter of 2018 was also an important one for Yggdrasil in terms of new partnership and future plans. In total, Yggdrasil signed nine new licensing deals as well as two new partnership agreements with Italian companies.

Of course, the company has continued producing games and the first few months of 2018 saw them launch three new slots, Gem Rocks, Ozwins Jackpots, and Easter Island. This trend continued into the Q2 as Yggdrasil has already presented one new game for this quarter, called Lucha Maniacs.

In the statement accompanying the Q1 report, Elmqvist explained that the company has its eyes set on regulated markets as well and they are in the process of obtaining a Spanish gaming license to go with the licenses they already have in Denmark in Italy.

Finally, during the Q1 of 2018 the company has announced their entry into the table games market with new technology called REDUX, promising a fully immersive 3D environment combining the best elements of RNG and live dealer casinos.
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After roughly 18 charges alleging kidnapping and child abuse, which were filed against Deborah and James Green, a married couple who lead a paramilitary religious sect in New Mexico, new charges are filed against them. The Greens are now accused of tampering with evidence and conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence.



Deborah and James Green are leaders of the Aggressive Christian Mission Training Corps in western New Mexico, a religious paramilitary sect with anti-Semitic leanings. They were first accused of kidnapping and child abuse and now it is suspected that the Greens attempted to hide children from the commune after a raid by sheriffs deputies, and that they conspired together and with another person to commit tampering with evidence.



According to New York Times, last year authorities raided the sects secluded Fence Lake, New Mexico compound over concerns of child abuse. Cibola County Sheriff's Office began an investigation into the commune after 13-year-old Enoch Miller died from a probable infectious disease. Authorities say the trustees of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps own thousands of acres of land and benefited from a wealthy high-ranking member who aided them in avoiding law enforcement agencies by hiding children. Those holdings and regular deceptions by leaders, authorities said, made it difficult for the small Cibola County Sheriff's Office to investigate allegations of child abuse that former members say went on for years. Former members also said that the group treated followers like slaves and often physically tortured children.



Number of members of the sect, including their leaders, are facing various charges ranging from child abuse, bribery and not reporting a birth, but they have all pleaded not guilty. Deborah and James Green also said they have done nothing wrong.



The Greens opened Free Love Ministries in 1982 with four communal houses in Sacramento, California. They were not experienced ministries but succeeded in attracting about 50 members. The group had a military structure and operated like the Salvation Army. The group fled California for Oregon and later resurfaced near El Paso, Texas, and then in western New Mexico, after one of the groups former members, Maura Alana Schmierer, sued the group for locking her in a shed without a toilet and for forcing her to give up legal custody of three of her children. The Southern Poverty Law Center has listed the sect as a hate group after it published anti-Muslim and anti-gay stories in pamphlets and on its website.



After the two-year investigation lead by Cibola County Undersheriffs department and dozens of charges filed against the militant sect leaders and members, it looks like the time has come to bring the leaders and the members of this sect to justice.




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From Truthdig

Editor's note: Scott Ritter was a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998.

President Trump made it official Tuesday, announcing that he would be withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Program of Action, or JCPOA. "The agreement," he said in his speech, "was so poorly negotiated that even if Iran fully complies, the regime can still be on the verge of a nuclear breakout in just a short period of time. The deal's sunset provisions are totally unacceptable. If I allowed this deal to stand, there would soon be a nuclear arms race in the Middle East."

The sunset provisions of the JCPOA are among the least understood aspects of that agreement. Prior to signing the JCPOA, Iran operated more than 20,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium to use in its indigenous nuclear program. The level of enrichment attained -- 3.7 percent for nuclear power reactors and under 20 percent for use in a medical research reactor -- was well below that needed for use in a nuclear weapon. However, the international community, led by the United States, was concerned that Iran would be able to use its large number of centrifuges to rapidly increase the level of enrichment of its uranium stockpile to more than 90 percent, allowing Iran to have the fissile material needed for a nuclear bomb (or bombs) in a very short time.

In the lexicon of the nonproliferation specialists monitoring Iran, a new term was coined -- "breakout time." This was the amount of time required for Iran, once inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) who were monitoring its nuclear enrichment efforts were removed, to produce enough 90 percent-enriched uranium to make a nuclear bomb. Using the 20,000 centrifuges it possessed, Iran's breakout time was estimated to be around three months if using natural uranium feedstock, or around four weeks if using uranium feedstock already enriched to 3.7 percent.

The collective wisdom in the arms control community was that Iran needed to be kept to a breakout time of no less than one year. Under the JCPOA, this would be done by limiting the number of centrifuges it could operate to just over 5,000, while limiting the amount of 3.7 percent-enriched uranium it could have stored at any given time to no more than 300 kilograms. With these restrictions in place, Iran would have a breakout time of more than one year.

But for Iran, agreeing to such limitations in perpetuity made little sense. One of the considerations given to JCPOA calculus was that Iran eventually would seek to build an indigenous nuclear energy production capability, and it would require modern centrifuges capable of generating quantities of enriched uranium far in excess of 300 kilograms. Indeed, one of the key aspects of the JCPOA is Iran's "long-term enrichment and enrichment research and development plan," which details how Iran will proceed during the life of the JCPOA to prepare for the eventual implementation of a large-scale uranium enrichment program that would far exceed the parameters of the 12-month breakout scenario set forth in the main body of the JCPOA.

The so-called sunset clause of the JCPOA holds that after 15 years -- meaning by 2030 -- all restrictions on the number of centrifuges Iran is allowed to operate, as well as the amount of enriched uranium it is permitted to store, will be lifted. In addition to increasing the numbers of centrifuges Iran can operate, it also will be able to start using more efficient, modern centrifuges.

For Iran, this clears the way to replace the inefficient centrifuges it can possess and operate under the JCPOA with as many highly efficient modern centrifuges it deems necessary to meet its legitimate needs for nuclear energy. The JCPOA allows for Iran to begin phasing out its older centrifuges with more capable models between years 11 and 13 of the agreement. Given the improved performance characteristics of these newer centrifuges, the one-year breakout time would be reduced to around four months sometime between years 11 and 13 of the JCPOA, or as early as 2026. It is this inevitable demise of the 12-month breakout window that prompted Trump to walk away from the JCPOA on the grounds that it no longer served U.S. national security interests.

Trump, however, was not the author of the JCPOA. That "honor" fell to President Barack Obama. On the issue of Iran, Obama proved as disingenuous as his predecessor, George W. Bush, when it came to fact-based policy on Iraq. A 2007 National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear program concluded that Iran had not conducted any work on a nuclear weapon since 2003, and that intelligence provided to the IAEA by Israel in 2004 (which purported to prove the existence of a covert Iranian nuclear program) turned out to be of questionable provenance. The Obama administration, however, encouraged the IAEA in 2011 to release a report based upon the same discredited 2004 Israeli documents. The sole purpose of this report was to build consensus within the United States and around the world for the passage of stringent economic sanctions against Iran designed to pressure Tehran into giving up its nuclear program.

While Obama was able to use the 2011 IAEA report to push through Congress new unilateral American sanctions targeting Iranian oil sales in early 2012 (these sanctions were then used to pressure other countries to halt their purchase of Iranian oil through so-called secondary sanctions, which punished anyone operating in violation of U.S. law), it failed in forcing Iran to the negotiating table.

With everything the U.S. and its allies threw at Iran, including having Iranian citizens pay a huge economic cost in terms of a devastated economy and reduced quality of life, the pressure campaign still failed. The U.S.-led economic sanctions, rather than forcing Iran to abandon its nuclear program, empowered it to expand it efforts dramatically. The consequence was a dangerous situation. The U.S., after falsely building a narrative of Iran aggressively pursuing a nuclear weapon, now needed to either militarily confront Iran (and its expanding enrichment capacity) or find a diplomatic way out of a self-inflicted wound without losing political face at home and abroad.

The JCPOA was the result -- a deal that recognized Iran's right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes (something the U.S. opposed for decades) while backing away from the fiction that it was pursuing a nuclear weapons program. The IAEA, the U.S. and every nation that embraced the falsified intelligence used to underpin the allegations of an Iranian nuclear weapons program -- so-called possible military dimensions, or PMD -- could not acknowledge that what they sold to the world was founded on lies, so they constructed an inelegant solution. The IAEA, after consulting with Iran, prepared a report that "resolved" the PMD problem once and for all, and thus paved the way for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Yes, Iran agreed to an unprecedented level of intrusive inspections and restrictions on its enrichment program. But the JCPOA's bottom line is that Iran retained thousands of active centrifuges in full operation. This represented a major political victory for Iran, given the years-long, concerted, U.S.-led effort to deny it access to even a single spinning centrifuge. No matter how hard the Obama administration tried to sell the JCPOA as a victory for American diplomacy and international peace and security, Iran brought the U.S. to the negotiating table, emerging with a nuclear program the world had tried to prevent it from obtaining while giving up a fictional nuclear weapons program it neither possessed nor desired.

The JCPOA was made to resolve a difficult and dangerous situation the U.S. created for itself. As a result, the Obama administration had to craft an agreement built on a foundation of lies. These lies proved to be its undoing. If Iran, as the U.S. claimed in pushing for economic sanctions, possessed a nuclear weapons program, and no effort was made to ensure that it acknowledged and dismantled that program, then any agreement delaying Iran access to the ability to produce enough highly enriched uranium for use in a nuclear weapon kicked Iran's inevitable acquisition of a nuclear bomb down the road.

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International treaties and agreements are between countries -- not between leaders or governments, for if that were the case they would not be worth the paper they were written on. The Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union was signed in 1972. Bush II withdrew unilaterally in 2001 citing a changed world. On June 1, 2017, Donald Trump announced the U.S. will cease all participation in the Paris Climate Treaty signed two years earlier. On Tuesday last he quit the Iran deal.





Two days later, the White House released the date and location of Mr. Trump's meeting with Kim Jong-Un. One can only wonder what Kim is thinking. The last person voluntarily giving up nuclear weapons received a bayonet colonoscopy -- hardly anyone's preferred exit from this world -- and that at the hands of the allies of a Nobel Peace Laureate US president. Fortunately, the circumstances in North Korea's case are quite different: the other party, South Korea, is stable, seeks closer relations, in fact is the prime mover in the current initiative.

On the Iran deal breakup, the fallout is telling. The major European countries (UK, France and Germany) have the most to lose economically -- a huge Airbus airplane contract is just one example. Always intended as a bargain, the deal offered Iran re-entry into world commerce in exchange for giving up nuclear ambitions. The U.S. now threatens reprisals against any companies violating its edict: obey U.S. sanctions or else .... The Europeans could choose to present a united front and protect their companies through legislation and similar reprisals. But who wants such an economic war? The companies themselves are likely to have commercial interests in the U.S. dwarfing anything in Iran.





Terminating a peace agreement inevitably raises the prospect of war. It would be a disaster. Iran commands the Strait of Hormuz and a blocked Persian Gulf could see a quadrupling or more in the price of oil, bringing the current economic and stock market boom to a crashing end. Missile attacks from Iran and its ally Hezbollah would cause havoc in Israel's cities; asymmetric warfare in Syria and Iraq would cost American lives.





Doubtless, Iran would be drawn closer into the Russian-Chinese orbit and might even sign a defense pact with Russia -- perhaps earlier still if it felt the approaching winds of war.





For all these reasons, war may appear to be a long shot, yet Trump's advisors, notably, John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, harbor an irrational hatred towards the country, and Benjamin Netanyahu imagines it to be the last viable threat to neutralize. He also has a corruption indictment hanging over him, while Trump has his own legal troubles.





On the other hand, a bellicose Trump is just that ... bellicose. As with North Korea, he could well be seeking a deal on better terms, namely, more restrictions for Iran in the future. Iran will not surrender its missiles; it might be more accommodating on future enrichment of nuclear fuels.





Let's hope reason prevails ... sometimes it does. Look at North Korea!


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From 1945 to 1992, as part of the nuclear arms race, the U.S. conducted around 1,054 nuclear tests by official count, including 216 atmospheric, underwater, and space tests. The peak occurred between 1961-62, when 340 megatons were detonated in the atmosphere by the United States and Soviet Union. During the final stages of WWII, the U.S. detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945.

Commenting on the unprecedented devastation, science fiction writer Ray Bradbury said: "After Hiroshima was bombed, I saw a photograph of the side of a house with the shadows of the people who had lived there burned into the wall from the intensity of the bomb. The people were gone, but their shadows remained."



With Bradbury's haunting words in mind, it would behoove the Trump administration to remember that the United States is the first and only nation to use a nuclear weapon on other humans.







Nuclear Bomb Casings

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As a political strategy, it is no mystery why the president ultimately abandoned the Iran nuclear deal: he wanted to assuage Israel, punish Iran, exert power in the Middle-East, send a message to North Korea, Russia, and Syria, embarrass Barack Obama, fulfill a campaign promise, renegotiate a deal that favors American interests, and more. But despite these justifications, Trump cannot erase the hypocrisy of history. Whereas Iran was at least willing to limit its nuclear program in return for a lifting of economic sanctions, the United States has more nukes than any other nation in the world; the U.S. has tested more nukes than any other nation; and the U.S. has actually used them on another country.
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From The National

On Tuesday, Palestinians will commemorate the anniversary of the Nakba, or catastrophe, their mass expulsion and dispossession 70 years ago as the new state of Israel was built on the ruins of their homeland. As a result, most Palestinians were turned into refugees, refused by Israel the right to return to their homes.

Israel is braced nervously for many tens of thousands to turn out in the occupied territories this week to protest against decades of its refusal to make amends or end its oppressive rule.

The move tomorrow of the US embassy to Jerusalem, a city under belligerent occupation, has only inflamed Palestinian grievances -- and a sense that the West is still conspiring in their dispossession.

The expected focus of the protests is Gaza, where unarmed Palestinians have been massing every Friday since late March at the perimeter fence that encages two million of them.

For their troubles, they have faced a hail of live ammunition, rubber bullets and clouds of tear gas. Dozens have been killed and many hundreds more maimed, including children.

But for more than a month, Israel has been working to manage western perceptions of the protests in ways designed to discredit the outpouring of anger from Palestinians. In a message all too readily accepted by some western audiences, Israel has presented the protests as a "security threat."

Israeli officials have even argued before the country's high court that the protesters lack any rights -- that army snipers are entitled to shoot them, even if facing no danger -- because Israel is supposedly in a "state of war" with Gaza, defending itself.

Many Americans and Europeans, worried about an influx of "economic migrants" flooding into their own countries, readily sympathise with Israel's concerns -- and its actions.

Until now, the vast majority of Gaza's protesters have been peaceful and made no attempt to break through the fence.

But Israel claims that Hamas will exploit this week's protests in Gaza to encourage Palestinians to storm the fence. The implication is that the protesters will be crossing a "border" and "entering" Israel illegally.

The truth is rather different. There is no border because there is no Palestinian state. Israel has made sure of that. Palestinians live under occupation, with Israel controlling every aspect of their lives. In Gaza, even the air and sea are Israel's domain.

Meanwhile, the right of Palestinian refugees to return their former lands -- now in Israel -- is recognized in international law.

Nonetheless, Israel has been crafting a dishonest counter-narrative ever since the Nakba, myths that historians scouring the archives have slowly exploded.

One claim -- that Arab leaders told the 750,000 Palestinian refugees to flee in 1948 -- was in fact invented by Israel's founding father, David Ben Gurion. He hoped it would deflect US pressure on Israel to honor its obligations to allow the refugees back.

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From Smirking Chimp

Under the guise of exercising supervisory power over the president's ability to use military force, Congress is considering writing Donald Trump a blank check to indefinitely detain US citizens with no criminal charges. Alarmingly, this legislation could permit the president to lock up Americans who dissent against US military policy.

The bill that risks conveying this power to the president is the broad new Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), S.J.Res.59, that is pending in Congress. Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) and Democratic committee member Tim Kaine (Virginia) introduced the bipartisan bill on April 16, and it has four additional co-sponsors.

This proposed 2018 AUMF would replace the 2001 AUMF that Congress gave George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks. Although the 2001 AUMF authorized the president to use "all necessary and appropriate force" only against individuals and groups responsible for the 9/11 attacks, three presidents have relied on it to justify at least 37 military operations in 14 countries, many of them unrelated to 9/11.

But the 2018 AUMF would codify presidential power to make war whenever and wherever he chooses.

S.J.Res.59 allows the president "to use all necessary and appropriate force" against Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Somalia, al-Qaeda, ISIS (also known as Daesh), the Taliban and their "associated forces" anywhere in the world, without limitation.

"Associated forces" is defined as "any organization, person, or force, other than a sovereign nation, that the President determines has entered the fight alongside and is a co-belligerent with al Qaeda, the Taliban, or ISIS, in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners."

However, the bill contains no definition of "co-belligerent." A president may conceivably claim that a US citizen who writes, speaks out or demonstrates against US military action is a "co-belligerent" and lock him or her up indefinitely without charge.

Under the new AUMF, the president could tell Congress he wants to use force against additional countries or "associated forces" that are not listed in the bill. It would put the burden on Congress to say no by a two-thirds vote, a virtually impossible margin to achieve in the current political climate.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights -- a treaty the United States has ratified, making it part of US law under the Constitution's Supremacy Clause -- forbids arbitrary detention without charge.

Supreme Court Hasn't Sanctioned Indefinite Detention for US Citizens

Nevertheless, in the 2004 case of Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court upheld the enemy combatant designation of US citizen Yaser Hamdi, who had been apprehended in Afghanistan in 2001. But the Court limited its holding to people fighting against US forces in Afghanistan, and did not include the broader "war on terrorism."

The Court also stated that US citizens held as enemy combatants must be provided due process to contest the factual basis for their detention before a neutral decision maker.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the Court's plurality, "We have long since made clear that a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nation's citizens," adding, "even the war power does not remove constitutional limitations safeguarding essential liberties."

The Supreme Court has not ruled on whether a US citizen who is apprehended in the United States can be detained indefinitely. It declined to decide the case of Jose' Padilla, who was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in 2002 and held in military custody as an enemy combatant by the Bush administration, relying on the 2001 AUMF. The Court ruled that Padilla's habeas corpus petition was mistakenly filed in New York instead of South Carolina.

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A RETURN TO HAVANA ...

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"Tono Barclay tried not to have documents declare his name as Anthony Barclay. He wasn't always successful. At his university they refused to allow him to write himself in as Tono. As a Marine his fellow Marines all called him Tono, but all official documents had him down as Anthony.

"His great Uncle, Tono Carrasco, was a man famous in the highlands of the Huasteca in Mexico. He had been an unapologetic Carrancista assassin during the Revolution. His widow would tell how he was unafraid of death or bringing others to it that deserved it, but he was terribly frightened and appalled by the aroma of death and would douse himself with expensive cologne before he would go out to kill.

"The tales of Tio Carrasco would typically begin with the teller crossing them self and kissing a holy medal. The narrative would always start with the recounting of his exploits as an assassin. Male raconteurs were more likely to go on about the details of the assassinations. Women would quickly speak about the assassin and then spend the majority of the telling about 'El Santo de Xilitla.'

"Tono had killed in Afghanistan. Tono had killed in Iraq. Tono had killed in Pakistan. He wanted, he needed the part of the story about Tio Carrasco that explained in reverent, beautiful Mexican vernacular and accomplished Castilian prose how he became a holy man; a spiritual man that no longer needed tequila or expensive cologne.

"Tono's dreams became a cinema of his Great Uncle's life. Distraction and searching and confusion followed him from place to place like a faithful family dog. He sought out a well-respected professor of philosophy on the campus of his University. Dr. Barbas was also a poet and filmmaker. Dr. Barbas listened patiently and with genuine interest to the stories of Tio Carrasco.

"'Mr. Barclay would it offend you or cause you anxiety if I were to explain, after your sincere and well-articulated recounting of the exploits of your family member, what I imagine to be the miracle of your Uncle's life?' asked Dr. Barbas.

"'No, not at all, please go on,' said Tono.

"'He was a creator of miracles. He created the miracle of his own forgiveness. He created a between-world where he could see the divine; the mystery in the tragedy of his life. By living, he created a new world for the dead, a world ripe with the echoes of the beautiful moments of those passed on. He painted the living with the healing, proud, mundane, horribly tragic, multi-colored blood of the deceased -- he didn't truck in absolution -- he was a creator of his own cosmic moment -- he wore the ample garments of free will. Those and we that chose and choose to travel with him may find peace in his moment, a moment that flashed in the beginning and that will burn furiously at the end, a moment called God,' said Dr. Barbas..." From "El Santo de Xilitla" by Franklin Cincinnatus.
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From Share Blue

Ditched by his law firm following his reckless Trump spin, Rudy Giuliani is still craving the limelight.

Last week Trump mocked his own attorney in public when he suggested Rudy Giuliani would soon get "his facts straight." This week, Giuliani's law firm took its turn making New York City's former mayor look bad.

Somehow, Giuliani seems to be enjoying the legal and political chaos his media tour has created, telling the New York Times that he had "missed" being on television during Trump's first year in office. He's clearly itching to do more TV hits.

But it's likely those at-times baffling television appearances are what cost Giuliani his law job.

By announcing Giuliani's sudden resignation, the firm of Greenberg Traurig, one of the nation's largest, made it clear there was no longer room for Giuliani's freelancing on behalf of Trump.

Specifically, the law firm went out of its way to debunk Giuliani's claim that lawyers often make hush money payment on behalf of their clients without ever informing their clients of the clandestine deals.

Incredibly, that's what Giuliani told Sean Hannity during his how infamous interview two weeks ago, while trying -- and failing -- to explain the $130,000 hush-money payment that Trump's attorney made to Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2013 election. "That was money that was paid by his lawyer, the way I would do, out of his law firm funds," Giuliani said on Fox News. He added, "Michael [Cohen] would take care of things like this like I take care of this with my clients."

Not so fast, said the law firm.

"We cannot speak for Mr. Giuliani with respect to what was intended by his remarks," Jill Perry, a spokesperson for Greenberg Traurig, said in a statement to the New York Times. "Speaking for ourselves, we would not condone payments of the nature alleged to have been made or otherwise without the knowledge and direction of a client."

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See original here

On Capitol Hill Wednesday, President Trump's nominee to head the CIA, Gina Haspel, announced she would not restart the CIA's interrogation program. But she repeatedly refused to call the CIA's post-9/11 treatment of prisoners "torture," and declined to state whether she believes torture is immoral. Haspel's comments came in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, as she made her case to become the first woman to head the agency. Haspel is a 33-year CIA veteran who was responsible for running a secret CIA black site in Thailand in 2002, where one prisoner was waterboarded and tortured in other ways. Haspel also oversaw the destruction of videotapes showing torture at the black site.

At least two Republican senators have come out against her -- Rand Paul and John McCain, who said her "role in overseeing the use of torture is disturbing and her refusal to acknowledge torture's immorality is disqualifying." But Haspel may still be confirmed with the help of Democratic lawmakers. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has already announced he will back Haspel. We speak with Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of The Intercept and host of the weekly podcast "Intercepted."

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: On Capitol Hill, President Trump's nominee to head the CIA, Gina Haspel, announced she would not restart the CIA's interrogation program. But she repeatedly refused to call the CIA's post-9/11 treatment of prisoners torture, and declined to state whether she believes torture is immoral.

Haspel's comments came in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee as she made her case to become the first woman to head the agency. Haspel is a 33-year CIA veteran who was responsible for running a secret CIA black site in Thailand in 2002, where one prisoner was waterboarded and tortured in other ways. Haspel also oversaw the destruction of videotapes showing torture at the black site.

This is Democratic Senator Kamala Harris of California questioning Haspel.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS: Do you believe that the previous interrogation techniques were immoral?

GINA HASPEL: Senator, I believe that CIA officers to whom you referred --

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS: It's a yes-or-no answer. Do you believe the previous interrogation techniques were immoral? I'm not asking, "Do you believe they were legal?" I'm asking, "Do you believe they were immoral?"

GINA HASPEL: Senator, I believe that CIA did --

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS: It's a yes-or-no answer.

GINA HASPEL: -- extraordinary work to prevent another attack on this country, given the legal tools that we were authorized to use.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS: Please answer yes or no: Do you believe, in hindsight, that those techniques were immoral?

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From Greg Palast Website



Mom

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Look at the photo, her last one, taken a couple weeks ago. A few days before she died.

There's a message for you there. And it's way bigger than the IMPEACH TRUMP T-shirt she's wearing.

What message? It begins in Chicago. 1920s. Her dad, Grandpa Alex, was a milkman, schlepping milk cans by horse-drawn cart.

At the time, a kid could get into the movies for 10 cents; and her mother gave her the dime to go every week. For 10 weeks straight, my mother went to the movies, but didn't go in. For 10 weeks she saved the ten cents, and looked for a warm place in the Chicago snow to wait for her brothers and sisters to come out of the theater.

Until she had a dollar to get her mom a birthday present.

In 1943, during World War II, Gladys Palast was the first woman to enlist in the US Coast Guard.

I wish I could say Mom signed up to lick Hitler. But, truth is, she did it to get out of a wedding engagement to Lou Wishman -- because she was really in love with my father.

That year they got married before he was shipped to the Philippines.

But don't get me wrong: My mother was a super-patriot. Mom liked to wear goofy red, white and blue outfits for public events.

In the military, my mother became a fashion model, showing off their new Chanel dress suit uniforms -- then a Chorus line girl for Sid Caesar's USO show.

She loved showbiz. But she didn't want to be in movies or in theaters. She thought life gives you plenty of opportunities to make you a star, a star in the lives of the people you know.

Not that she didn't have her 15 minutes of fame now and again.

In 1988, Mom was a delegate to the Democratic Party Convention in Atlanta. But the maids and janitors at the Atlanta Marriott were on strike. My mother donned her red-white-and-blue outfit, added a mop and bucket -- dressed union pickets with the same outfits -- and challenged the Democrats not to cross the picket line. It put her and her mop on the cover of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

This wasn't noblesse oblige for the poor little janitors and maids. These people were Mom's people. Her mother, was a maid her entire life.

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Pharma has two lobbyists for every member of Congress. Think about that. It spends more on lobbying than tobacco, oil and defense contractors combined. And all that shilling paid off. In a speech yesterday, Trump declared that Pharma's high prices are not the result of Pharma's high pricing. Pharma let out a huge sigh of relief and its stock prices rose.

Why shouldn't Pharma earn $52,321.80 a month for the immune drug, Actimmune, right Trump? Why shouldn't it pocket $45,000 a month for the parasite drug Daraprim and $42,570 a month for the gallstone drug Chenodal?

And while Pharma companies are at it, why shouldn't they incorporate in the UK, Ireland and other overseas locations to dodge the US taxes that fund them? (They already manufacture and test drugs overseas because the labor is cheap.)

Pharma lobbying also includes parading sick patients in front of the FDA and state officials. These co-opted patients "appear before public and consumer panels, contact lawmakers, and provide media outlets a human face to attach to a cause when insurers balk at reimbursing patients for new prescription medications," writes Melissa Healy of the Los Angeles Times.

The US government is captured. Pharma operatives head both Health and Human Services and the FDA. The CDC Foundation which receives millions from corporations (not that it affects policies or anything) lists as donors Abbott, AbbVie, Bayer, AstraZeneca, Merck, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Eli Lilly, Amgen, Genentech, Gilead and many more. (Is that why the CDC allows its name to be used in Gilead ads for its Hep C drug?)



Just trying to help

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Until 2010, PhRMA, Pharma's top lobbying group, was headed by former Louisiana Rep. Billy Tauzin who resigned from Congress where he chaired the committee which oversees the drug industry only to immediately reappear as the leader of PhRMA where he drew a $2 million salary. No conflict of interest there.

Tauzin had played a key role in shepherding the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill through Congress which prohibited government negotiation of lower drug prices and Canadian imports. "It's a sad commentary on politics in Washington that a member of Congress who pushed through a major piece of legislation benefiting the drug industry, gets the job leading that industry," Public Citizen's President Joan Claybrook said.

Two-thirds of Pharma lobbyists previously worked for Congress or federal agencies reports the New York Times. An aide to former Michigan Rep. John D. Dingell now works for PhRMA, and an aide to former Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who was the chairman of the Senate health committee "is now a top lobbyist for Merck." Gary Andres, former staff director of the House Energy and Commerce Committee now lobbies for biotech companies. And the list goes on.

Having captured Congress, you wouldn't think Pharma would need a charm offensive. Yet it spends millions trying to convince the public it has our interests at heart as it raises our taxes and health care costs. Currently, "America's Biopharmaceutical companies" are running their "Go Boldly" campaign with a pay-off line "here's to permission to fail."

Pharma knows a lot about "permission to fail." Over 20 drugs have been withdrawn from the market in recent years because they were so dangerous----after maximum money was made of course. They include Vioxx, Bextra, Baycol, Trovan, Meridia, Seldane, Hismanal, Darvon, Raxar, Redux Mylotarg, Lotronex, Propulsid, phenylpropanolamine (PPA), Prexige, phenacetin, Oraflex, Omniflox, Posicor, Serzone and Duract.

Pharma also runs a "Hope to Cures: The Value of Biopharmaceutical Innovation and New Drug Discovery" campaign that showcases patients whose lives were saved by expensive drugs.

"If you object to our six-digit drug prices you are signing the death warrant for these patients," the sleazy campaign seeks to convey (though most of Pharma's profits come from non life-saving cholesterol, acid reflux drugs, ADHD, and extreme priced psychiatric drugs). The truth is research accounts for only one-fifth of Pharma's drug costs; most of the costs are marketing---- those ads you see on TV----and, of course, lobbying.

(Article changed on May 13, 2018 at 02:14)
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I remember vividly when I enter the United States for the first time from Iran in 1973; it was a blustery cold day at the JFK airport in New York City. Things were quite different those days from how they are today. At that time, I was not forced to take off my jacket, belt, and shoes at the airport, or submit to a body search like people have to do today. I remember I was carrying a big, kind of yellowish suitcase in my right hand that was stuffed with my personal belongings, including half a dozen hand-made shorts that were packed into the suitcase by my mother. Evidently, she must have thought I was going to a shorts-scarce country! I also had an English-Persian dictionary in my left hand, $2,100 in my hidden pants pocket, and of course a burning desire to succeed in my heart. It was the first time for me travelling to a foreign country. At the JFK airport, I was acting like a paranoid nincompoop, bewildered and baffled. Any onlooker could easily surmise from my behavior that I was not a seasoned traveler. However, I felt deep down like someone who was dispatched to an unknown territory for a really important mission.

Even though the main reason for coming to the United States was education and attainment of better academic credentials. I must admit that curiosity and aspirations for a better life were also the determining factors, as these things are for many foreign students/immigrants, even today. They believe, like I did, that when they study in an advanced country, they are stronger in their resolve to thrive and climb the ladder of success.

If you are curious about the historical realities of that time, Richard Nixon was the President of the United States who, of course, resigned a short time after I arrived in the US. The cold war was the hottest topic. The expression "safe sex" had a totally different connotation than what it has today. Body piercing was not a chosen way of expressing yourself; Chevy Vega was the only compact fuel-efficient American-made car; and Cher was still married to Sonny. Adam Smith was famous, and nobody knew the name Anna Nicole Smith. The hottest show on TV was All in the Family. Holidays were mostly holy days. The only famous Paris Hilton was the Hilton in Paris. There was no need to remind people to turn off their cell phones in public places because they did not exist. Obesity was not a troubling issue for this nation. Students did not have as many time-wasting distractions as they have today. Crisco not Cisco was the rising star of Wall Street. You used to read books, and "let your fingers do the walking" when you searched for contact information. Students were far more focused on their education and less distracted by time-wasting electronic gadgets and social media. It seems like the only thing that has not changed, at least as yet, is that kitchen cabinets still do come with a Lazy Susan!

In the beginning of my sojourn in America, everything seemed odd and unusual due to my inadequate knowledge of the popular culture and the norms of its society. I was very careful not to engage in any embarrassing or unorthodox behavior, or illegal activity. I did not want to do anything that could be indicative of my backwardness, or be interpreted as having a lack of respect for others or societal norms. However, much to the chagrin of Mr. Trump, we newcomers committed serious offenses like entering a store through the exit door or exiting through the entry door, eating food with a spoon in the school cafeteria instead of using a fork, reusing disposable cups and dishes, squeezing Charmin in grocery stores, or the worst thing one could do, walk down the dormitory hallway in pajamas! All these were considered indefensible crimes that only naive newcomers like me would commit!

I worked and paid taxes since day one of coming to this country. The number of temporary odd jobs I held during my student years is even greater than the number of Executive Orders President Trump signed during his first few days in the office. Although I had worked in a number of odd jobs to support my education, as many students do today but even to a greater extent, I knew in my heart I did not come to this great country to work as car hop, dishwasher, pizza deliverer, janitor, or truck driver. I did expect bumps along the way that ultimately led to my destination, which was to obtain graduate degrees and find a job in academia. I believed that a college degree was the necessary means for success in America, especially for immigrants who come to this country ambitious to achieve the American Dream and still believe in this possibility. I further believed if I was going to invest my hard-earned money in my education and invest it in a professional field where the chances of landing a good-paying job are high.

I know for students graduating these days, getting a good job pertinent to their education is harder. I feel apprehensive when I see some of them folding towels in my health club. There is not anything wrong with folding towels, but did you really need a college degree to get that job? I feel guilt-ridden inside that I, as an educator, have failed them. Those of us who work in higher education institutions fear we have not equipped them with the skills they need to succeed in the modern-day job market.

I believe it takes close collaboration between business firms and universities to prepare students for the modern job market so that their education also lives up to the expectations of employers. Obviously, a better chance of landing gainful employment after graduation depends on the kind of skills they require. Students should not spend a great deal of money, and getting deeply into debt, to obtain an education that does not provide the opportunity to earn a high-paying job so they can repay their debts.
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BY David A. Love

How did the Republican Party -- once known as the party of "law and order" -- become a party that could provide space for lawbreakers and extremists, thugs and criminals, hoodlums and hate groups? This astonishing transformation can only be attributed to the presidency of Donald Trump, whose words during the 2016 campaign and during his term in the White House helped make America safe for extremists.

White supremacists, Infowars conspiracy theorists and convicted criminals are running, some as viable candidates, on the GOP ticket on the state and federal level, something which would have been unheard of only a few years ago.

Such individuals are not barred from putting their hat in the ring and aspiring for elected office, but it is remarkable that party leaders have by and large not shown the backbone to condemn them. But in a way that's not surprising in a party where extremism and intolerance are mainstream GOP fare, and its standard bearer runs an ethically challenged administration mired in criminal investigations. Trump said he would drain the swamp, but he is the swamp, and he is sending swamp-dwelling creatures to the Senate, Congress and the state house.

A criminal record is no longer a barrier to entry for GOP candidates. There is nothing wrong with people being formerly incarcerated. After all, in a country that preaches rehabilitation yet practices gratuitous imprisonment and punishment for its own sake, society should encourage those who turn over a new leaf and want to contribute to their country through public service.

However, keep in mind that we are not talking about the rehabilitated here. The candidates in question are doubling down on corruption and hate in Trump's party. Even former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn -- who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI in connection with the Russia investigation -- is hitting the campaign trail and stumping for them.

Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is running for Senate, after receiving a pardon from Trump for a contempt of court charge for failing to curb his anti-immigrant and anti-Latino racial profiling policies in violation of civil rights. Accused of racism and mistreatment of Latino prisoners, Arpaio failed to investigate over 400 sex crimes -- including the molestation of undocumented children -- made inmates wear pink underwear , called his tent city for inmates a concentration camp, and established the first chain gangs for juveniles and women.

Arpaio, a prominent Birther who questioned President Obama's citizenship, received the blessing of Vice President Mike Pence, who, apparently rehearsing for a sooner-than-expected spot in the Oval Office, called Arpaio, "A great friend of this president, a tireless champion of strong borders and the rule of law."

In West Virginia, Don Blankenship, the former coal mining company head who went to prison for a year on mine safety charges that were brought after a disaster that killed 29 miners, is challenging Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. Blankenship claims it was not racist to call Sen. Mitch McConnell's father-in-law a "wealthy Chinaperson." (Donald Trump Jr. urged voters in West Virginia to reject Blankenship and a GOP-establishment linked PAC is running ads against him, according to Politico.)

In Staten Island, New York, former FBI agent and Rep. Michael Grimm, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion, is making a comeback as a Trump loyalist after serving seven months behind bars. During his first stint in Congress, Grimm also threatened to break a reporter "in half" in 2014 following President Obama's State of the Union address.

Running against Rep. Maxine Waters in California is Omar Navarro , who pleaded guilty to placing a tracking device on his wife's car. The extreme right wing, pro-Trump candidate has support from Michael Flynn and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and Navarro says Roger Stone serves as his adviser. And Rep. Greg Gianforte, who pleaded guilty to assault after body slamming a reporter, is running for re-election in Montana.

Meanwhile, a report from Right Wing Watch, a project of People for the American Way, shines the light on a dozen far-right candidates who, typically inspired by Trump, are driving the Republican Party and American politics to the fringes. One of these people is Arthur Jones, who denies the Holocaust and was denounced as a Nazi by Illinois Republicans, yet became the GOP nominee in Illinois' 3rd district.

Another is Paul Nehlen , a white supremacist who is a self-described "pro-White Christian American candidate" vying for House Speaker Paul Ryan's seat in Wisconsin. Black Trump supporters Diamond and Silk received $7,000 to star in a campaign ad supporting Nehlen. Twitter permanently banned Nehlen after he posted a photo depicting Prince Harry's biracial fiance's Meghan Markle as "Cheddar Man," a 9,000-year old dark-skinned prehistoric Britain.

E.W. Jackson, a black right-wing pastor, hopes to unseat Sen. Tim Kaine in Virginia. The homophobic candidate called LGBTQ people "perverted," "degenerate," "spiritually darkened" and "frankly very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally" and said homosexuality "poisons culture, it destroys families, it destroys societies; it brings the judgment of God unlike very few things that we can think of." Jackson is running in the primary against Corey Stewart, who is running on a Confederate nostalgia platform and compared those who would remove Confederate statues to ISIS.

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From Smirking Chimp

Israel launched waves of air attacks and ground shelling on a score of alleged Iranian military positions in Syria this week. Was this a big step forward in the plan by Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu and his ally Donald Trump to provoke a major war with Iran?

It certainly looks so. The US, Saudi Arabia and Israel all recently suffered a stinging defeat in Syria. Their campaign to overthrow the Assad government in Damascus by using the rag-tag ISIS movement, then Sunni Muslim jihadist wild men, was defeated by the Syrian Army, backed by Russian air power, Lebanon's Hezbollah and some Iranian militia groups and army advisors.

Israel now claims to have wiped out more than a score of Iranian positions in Syria. As far as we can tell, these were minor logistics or communications facilities, not the backbone of a supposed Iranian offensive against Israel.

In fact, the alleged Iranian rocket barrage was directed at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that were illegally annexed and occupied after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and are still held, legally, as part of Syria. Israel is very nervous about having world attention drawn to its continued occupation of the strategic Golan Heights from which Israeli heavy artillery can reach Damascus.

But now that the Trump administration has fallen fully under the influence of the pro-war neocons, an attempt to overthrow the Iranian government appears highly likely, using both military intervention and intensified economic warfare.

Iran has been under siege by the US since the American/British installed shah was overthrown by a popular revolution in 1979. The CIA and Britain's MI6 have mounted numerous attempts to oust the Islamic Republic and re-install a client ruler.

Ironically, the "democratic" western powers -- the US, Britain and France -- rely on medieval monarchs and dictators to control the Mideast while democratic politicians and movements are ignored. Iran, in spite of its many rigidities and failings, remains one of the region's more democratic states. Ask our Saudi or Kuwaiti allies when was the last time they held a real election?

The failure of western intelligence services to provoke serious uprisings in Iran (or Russia), means that the military option is increasingly tempting. This probably means provoking military clashes with Iran in the Gulf leading to full-scale attacks on its nuclear infrastructure and industry. US warplanes and warships are actively probing Iran's borders. In addition, US forces are getting ever more deeply involved in the Yemen War.

When the US last considered a major attack on Iran during the Bush years, the Pentagon (which opposed the idea) estimated it would need 2,800 air strikes against Iran on Day One alone.

Many of the same war party crowd that engineered the 2003 US invasion of Iraq are now running the Trump administration. Their goal is to cripple Iran and leave the Mideast to joint Saudi-Egyptian-Israeli control.

Recall President George W. Bush's assertion that once he had crushed Iraq the next targets of US military intervention would be Lebanon, Syria, Iran and then Pakistan.

Invading Iran would not be easy. Iran has very little capability to project power beyond its borders. Its air force, artillery and tanks are decrepit. America controls the skies from Morocco to Afghanistan. Iran is vulnerable to raids and small incursions but subjugating this large, mountainous nation of 80 million would be very difficult.

In fact, a Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander once told me, "Let the Americans invade. They will break their teeth on Iran." Over-confidence, of course, but he had a point. Fighting on the defensive in urban areas, Iran could offer fierce resistance.

America's imperial machine, like its British Imperial predecessor, likes small, easy wars against small, backwards nations. Iran would be very different.

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A CAGR of +84% is to be achieved by Mobile Backend as a Service(BaaS) Market by 2022

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Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) is an alternative versatile middleware approach that utilizations software advancement units (SDKs) and bound together application programming interfaces (APIs) to associate portable applications to backend assets in the cloud. BaaS is a distributed computing category that makes occupation of engineers basic while setting up, utilizing and operating a cloud backend for tablet, versatile and web apps. While BaaS service suppliers offer value-added features, for example, usage analysis, client management, and push notification or campaigning, it also facilitates seamless integration with social media systems, for example, Twitter and Facebook.The Mobile Backend as a Service (BaaS) market estimate is anticipated to develop at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of +84%.The report offers an in-depth analysis of important market directives that the shareholders in the Mobile Backend as a Service (BaaS) Market can take advantage of to make informed decisions and business strategies. Moreover, this study report on the global market breaks down the market into several different categories to offer an overview of 360 degree of the market and also aims to offer a transparent picture of the growth prospects that may arise in the market over the coming years.Get Sample copy of this report @:Companies Profiled in this report includes, Oracle Corporation, IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Anypresence , Appcelerator, Built Io Backend, KII Corporation, Cloudmine, Kony, Kinvey.These vendors are analyzed based on attributes such as their product profile, product introductions, SWOT analysis, and contact information. Each of the key players in the market is revealed in terms of their basic company data, key competitors, and presence of manufacturing bases. These players are also described according to their offerings in product types and technologies, the production costs, revenue generated, and overall price of these solutions.BaaS market is segmented on the basis of end user, computing platform, API platform, service and region. On the basis of end user, BaaS market is segmented into small and medium enterprises and large enterprises. By computing platform, backend-as-a-service market is segmented into web and mobile & tablet. The API platform segment includes java, ruby, HTML5, REST, node.js and Objective-C and other platform. On the basis of service, BaaS market is segmented into managed service, consulting service and SLA service.Avail 20% Discount on this report @:APAC is an emerging market and is expected to grow at the highest CAGR in the regional segment during the forecast period. This is due to the tremendous opportunities that exist in the APAC countries such as China, Japan, Australia, and others. North America is expected to have the largest market share compared with other regions across the globe. One of the factors contributing to the growth of the market in North America is the presence of major BaaS companies in the region.A SWOT analysis of the upcoming projects being undertaken in the Global Mobile Backend as a Service(BaaS) Market identifies and evaluates the weaknesses, strengths, threats, and opportunities of the new projects, in addition to an assessment of their investment returns, investment feasibility, and development trends.To know more about this report @:Significant Highlights of the Report: A pure assessment of the orbit of the market Studies on the evolving Global Mobile Backend as a Service (BaaS) market segments regions Market shares and strategies of leading players that are involved in the market Market segmentation up to the last level A point-to-point assessment of the market development Historical, present, and future size of the market from the perspective of both value and volume Suggestions to the companies to establish their foothold in the marketTable of ContentsGlobal Mobile Backend as a Service (BaaS) Market Research ReportChapter 1 Mobile Backend as a Service (BaaS) 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 Mobile Backend as a Service (BaaS) Market ForecastWe at QYResearch(qyreports.com), a leading market research report publisher cater to more than 4,000 prestigious clients worldwide meeting their customized research requirements in terms of market data size and its application. Our list of customers include renouned Chinese companies multinational companies, SMEs and private equity firms. our business study covers a market size of over 30 industries offering you accurate, in depth and reliable market insight, industry analysis and structure. QYResearchs specialize in forecasts needed for investing in an and execution of a new project globally and in Chinese markets.Address:The Work Lab,FC Road, Pune, MH, India411016Contact Number:+91-9764607607Email ID:sales@qyreports.com
Global Pharmaceutical Excipients Market Professional Survey Report 2018 : BASF,DOW, Roquette,FMC,

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Pharmaceutical Excipients Market Professional Survey Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies Pharmaceutical Excipients in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringAshlandBASFDOWRoquetteFMCEvonikLubrizolAssociated British FoodsCroda InternationalArcher Daniels MidlandTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @...On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoOral FormulationsTopical FormulationsParenteral FormulationsAdvanced Delivery SystemsBy Application, the market can be split intoProduceChemistryBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaTable of ContentsGlobal Pharmaceutical Excipients Market Professional Survey Report 20181 Industry Overview of Pharmaceutical Excipients1.1 Definition and Specifications of Pharmaceutical Excipients1.1.1 Definition of Pharmaceutical Excipients1.1.2 Specifications of Pharmaceutical Excipients1.2 Classification of Pharmaceutical Excipients1.2.1 Oral Formulations1.2.2 Topical Formulations1.2.3 Parenteral Formulations1.2.4 Advanced Delivery Systems1.3 Applications of Pharmaceutical Excipients1.3.1 Produce1.3.2 Chemistry1.3.3 Application 31.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Pharmaceutical Excipients2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Pharmaceutical Excipients2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Pharmaceutical Excipients2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Pharmaceutical Excipients3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Pharmaceutical Excipients3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Pharmaceutical Excipients Major Manufacturers in 20173.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Pharmaceutical Excipients Major Manufacturers in 20173.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Pharmaceutical Excipients Major Manufacturers in 20173.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Pharmaceutical Excipients Major Manufacturers in 2017Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @4 Global Pharmaceutical Excipients Overall Market Overview4.1 2013-2018E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2013-2018E Global Pharmaceutical Excipients Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2017 Pharmaceutical Excipients Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2013-2018E Global Pharmaceutical Excipients Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2017 Pharmaceutical Excipients Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price Analysis4.4.1 2013-2018E Global Pharmaceutical Excipients Sales Price4.4.2 2017 Pharmaceutical Excipients Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment)Continue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on @
Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Market Research Report 2018 : Abbott Laboratories. Alfa Wassermann, Arkray,

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) market status and forecast, categorizes the global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, and Middle East & Africa.In 2017, the global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx.x % between 2018 and 2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportAbaxisAbbott LaboratoriesAccriva DiagnosticsAlereAlfa WassermannArkrayBayer Diabetes CareDanaherTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Beckman CoulterHemocueRadiometerDexcomELITech GroupHelena LaboratoriesInstrumentation LaboratoryMenarini DiagnosticsNipro DiagnosticsNOVA BiomedicalOraSure TechnologiesOrtho Clinical DiagnosticsPhamatechPrinceton BioMeditechQuidelResponse BiomedicalRoche DiagnosticsSiemens DiagnosticsTrinity BiotechGeographically, this report studies the key regions, focuses on product sales, value, market share and growth opportunity in these regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificSouth AmericaMiddle East & AfricaThe regional scope of the study is as follows:North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeRest of Asia-PacificEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSaudi ArabiaTurkeyRest of Middle East & AfricaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoBlood Glucose TestingRapid Coagulation TestingUrine Strips TestingPregnancy TestingInfectious Disease TestingOthersOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingHospitalsClinicsResearch LaboratoriesHome CareOthersThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) sales, value, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025).Focuses on the key Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) manufacturers, to study the sales, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Key StakeholdersPoint-of-Care Testing (POCT) ManufacturersPoint-of-Care Testing (POCT) Distributors/Traders/WholesalersPoint-of-Care Testing (POCT) Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsTable of ContentsGlobal Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Market Research Report 20181 Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Point-of-Care Testing (POCT)1.2 Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Blood Glucose Testing1.2.4 Rapid Coagulation Testing1.2.5 Urine Strips Testing1.2.6 Pregnancy Testing1.2.7 Infectious Disease Testing1.2.8 Others1.3 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Segment by Application1.3.1 Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Hospitals1.3.3 Clinics1.3.4 Research Laboratories1.3.5 Home Care1.3.6 Others1.4 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 Asia-Pacific Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 South America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Middle East & Africa Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @2 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 Asia-Pacific Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.8 South America Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.9 Middle East & Africa Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)Continue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on @
Global Public Address Systems Market Research Report 2018 : Pyle, Yamaha,Bose, Peavey,

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Public Address Systems Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Public Address Systems market status and forecast, categorizes the global Public Address Systems market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in North America, Europe, Japan, China, and other regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa).The global Public Address Systems market is valued at xx million US$ in 2017 and is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx.x % between 2018 and 2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportION AudioPyleAmplivox Sound SystemsYamahaBoseHarmanPeaveySeismic AudioBehringerFenderAnchor AudioAtlasIEDHisonicSamson TechnologiesTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @RockvilleMIPROLOUD TechnologiesAdam HallAEB IndustrialeGuangzhou DSPPA AudioGuangzhou BaoLun ElectronicsGeographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanOther RegionsThe regional scope of the study is as follows:North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeRest of Asia-PacificEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSaudi ArabiaTurkeyRest of Middle East & AfricaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPortable SystemsFixed SystemsOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingIndoorOutdoorThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Public Address Systems capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key Public Address Systems manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Public Address Systems are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025Table of ContentsGlobal Public Address Systems Market Research Report 20181 Public Address Systems Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Public Address Systems1.2 Public Address Systems Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Public Address Systems Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Public Address Systems Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Portable Systems1.2.4 Fixed Systems1.3 Global Public Address Systems Segment by Application1.3.1 Public Address Systems Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Indoor1.3.3 Outdoor1.4 Global Public Address Systems Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Public Address Systems Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Public Address Systems (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Public Address Systems Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Public Address Systems Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Public Address Systems Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Public Address Systems Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Public Address Systems Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Public Address Systems Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Public Address Systems Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Public Address Systems Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Public Address Systems Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Public Address Systems Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Public Address Systems Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Public Address Systems Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, ExpansionGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @3 Global Public Address Systems Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Public Address Systems Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Public Address Systems Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Public Address Systems Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Public Address Systems Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Public Address Systems Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Public Address Systems Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 China Public Address Systems Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.8 Japan Public Address Systems Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)Continue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on @
Global Rugged Mobile Computing Market Research Report 2018 : EU, DRS Technologies, DT Research, AAEON, NEXCOM,

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Rugged Mobile Computing Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Rugged Mobile Computing market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Rugged Mobile Computing in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesEUChinaJapanSouth KoreaTaiwanGlobal Rugged Mobile Computing market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingPanosonicXploreDRS TechnologiesGetacDT ResearchTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @DellMobileDemandAAEONNEXCOMHPMilDefTrimbleKontronOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoRugged NotebookRugged TabletOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingEnergyManufacturingConstructionTransportation & DistributionPublic SafetyRetailMedicalGovernmentMilitaryTable of ContentsGlobal Rugged Mobile Computing Market Research Report 20181 Rugged Mobile Computing Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Rugged Mobile Computing1.2 Rugged Mobile Computing Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Rugged Notebook1.2.4 Rugged Tablet1.3 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Segment by Application1.3.1 Rugged Mobile Computing Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Energy1.3.3 Manufacturing1.3.4 Construction1.3.5 Transportation & Distribution1.3.6 Public Safety1.3.7 Retail1.3.8 Medical1.3.9 Government1.3.10 Military1.4 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 United States Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 EU Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 South Korea Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Rugged Mobile Computing (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Rugged Mobile Computing Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Rugged Mobile Computing Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Rugged Mobile Computing Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Rugged Mobile Computing Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, ExpansionGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @3 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Rugged Mobile Computing Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 United States Rugged Mobile Computing Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 EU Rugged Mobile Computing Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)Continue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on @
Emmet County completes board redistricting map before deadline

The changes will directly impact some citizens in current districts 2, 4 and 5.
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An OOCL container ship is docked at the Wando Welch Terminal in Mount Pleasant while an Evergreen ship passes. Container carriers had poor on-time performance during the first quarter of this year, according to a new report. Provided/State Ports Authority
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Periods of rain. Thunder is possible early. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Thunder is possible early. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Mary Katherine, who also goes by MK, covers health care for The Post and Courier. She is also pursuing a master's degree in data science. She grew up in upstate New York and enjoys playing cards, kayaking and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
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.
A campaign promise that was a ubiquitous refrain during Donald Trump's presidential run is popping up in one of the most unexpected places: South Carolina congressman Mark Sanford's re-election bid.

Better known as a critic of government spending, Sanford is currently portraying himself as an advocate of Trump's biggest hot-button issue: building a border wall.

Two 30-second TV ads airing in the Lowcountry both promote the congressman's pro-wall stance: one delivered by an announcer and one by Sanford himself.

"I believe a secure border is a key to national security," Sanford says into the camera. "That's why I've joined with the president and others in efforts to build a wall."

Sanford's support for a wall is not new. But what's more telling is his alignment with Trump on an issue that plays well with the president's base.

It also comes at a time when Sanford must face his reputation for feuding with Trump on a variety of other issues, as well as his main rival in the June 12 GOP primary, state Rep. Katie Arrington, who has wrapped herself in the pro-Trump banner.

"That Arrington gal must be scaring him," said Neal Thigpen, a retired Francis Marion University political scientist and seasoned tracker of Republican races.

Sanford said the decision to include the border wall chatter is a reflection of his record on increasing border security and nothing more. He points to Facebook posts dating to 2013 in which he argued immigration reform should not happen until America's borders are secured.

"This is an idea that I held long before Trump became president and elevated the issue," Sanford told The Post and Courier.

"It's an issue I was talking about before he was the nominee and even entered the presidential race," he said. "I do not consider it a nod (to Trump), but frankly if there's any nod it's to the people of the district who have long said it was important to them."

But the fact Sanford is airing anything at all this far ahead of the June 12 vote shows both his re-election concerns and the unpredictability of campaigning in the age of Trump.

"The old theory for incumbents was that you could coast: You had the name recognition, the financial base, the historical relationships," said Jeri Cabot, College of Charleston dean of Students, whose expertise includes South Carolina politics and the media. "But that has changed," she added. "Incumbents still get re-elected at a higher rate, but a race could go off the rails very quickly."

Two years ago, Sanford faced primary opponent Jenny Horne, another state Republican lawmaker from Summerville and barely spent anything in the GOP primary. He would go on to defeat her by a narrow 4,298 votes. This go-round, Sanford is facing two Republican challengers: Arrington, a one term Statehouse lawmaker from Summerville, and Democrat-turned-Republican Dimitri Cherny.

Arrington has repeatedly slammed Sanford for not fully backing Trump. Last week, she took that message to the airwaves with a 30-second attack ad that used Sanford's own critical words about the president against him. She has reiterated on the campaign trail she is a Republican who stands with Trump. Her mailers proclaim that a vote for her is a vote to support Trump's agenda, including construction of the wall.

Costs to build a border wall range from $12 billion, which Trump claimed on the campaign trail, to as high as $70 billion, as Senate Democrats claimed in a committee report.

Arrington's campaign said she envisions the border wall being "American-made and Mexican-paid."

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She suggests two different funding options for others to foot the bill: One where visitors coming to the U.S. would cover the cost, and another where immigrants going through he legal process would pay.

"Mark Sanford can't have it both ways," Arrington said of Sanford's latest messaging. "Mark has spent the past two years attacking President Trump but now that he's facing a tough election, he's changing his tune. That's typical for a career politician."

Sanford has no specific plan to finance the wall but supports two separate Republican ideas floated by U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Rogers' bill would impose a 2 percent fee on wire transfers to Mexico, the Caribbean, and most of Latin and South America to fund construction. The Cruz proposal would, among other things, make Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman pay for the wall.

Sanford said the project will likely be funded with federal dollars, and he would support the effort if it turns out to be the only option.

In contrast to Trump, Sanford has never suggested Mexico pay for the wall.

On his share of other issues, though, Sanford has gone toe-to-toe with the president.

Sanford was one of two Republicans to sign a letter that urged Trump to release his tax returns. Sanford has also publicly criticized the president for his stances on opening Atlantic waters to coastal drilling, tariffs and even more pointedly, the president's often caustic behavior toward foes.

But any time Sanford is questioned about his dust-ups with the administration, he doubles down on his commitment to both the people who elected him and his core philosophies.

"My belief and statement in regard to the wall goes back well before this campaign to, in fact, the race of 2013 or even my own time as governor," he said.

Under Sanford's tenure as the state's chief executive from 2003-11, South Carolina became the fifth state in the nation to pass broad illegal immigration reform. It was touted as being one of the toughest in the country at the time.

Thigpen said this primary season puts Sanford in unfamiliar territory at a time when other incumbent Republicans are trying to out-Trump one another to hold onto their seats. Democrats, meanwhile, keep claiming the 2018 midterms will usher in a "blue wave" where Republican-held seats will flip to their side.

Sanford, Thigpen said, is boxed in on all sides.

"He's got Arrington in the primary coming from Trump's side. And then in the general, he's got a Democratic opponent who, if he gets through the primary, has been saying Sanford has been too supportive of Trump," Thigpen said.

Waiting in the wings are 1st District Democratic candidates Joe Cunningham and Toby Smith who also face-off June 12.

But Sanford isn't like most other politicians, Thigpen noted: Sanford has never lost a race.

"He's a survivor," Thigpen said. "But this shows a little sign that there's something out there happening."
Columbia/Myrtle Beach Managing Editor

Andy Shain runs The Post and Courier's newsrooms based in Columbia and Myrtle Beach. He was editor of Free Times and has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Charlotte, Columbia and Myrtle Beach.
The Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, has been appointed Nigerias National Representative to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The NNPC in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu, said the appointment was made by Nigerias Head of Delegation to the OPEC Conference and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu.

Mr Kachikwu, who is also the Chairman of NNPC Board, said the position required Mr Kyaris deep experience to lead Nigerias team to the OPEC Economic Commission Board (ECB) which precedes the bi-annual meetings of the OPEC ministerial conference.

The ECB has the responsibility to review the global crude oil markets as well as makes inputs from the perspectives of the individual member countries.

Nigeria, a leading member of the group, has continued to grow in influence and status in recent times.

A former Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mohammed Barkindo, is the incumbent secretary general and head of the OPEC Secretariat.

The NNPC said Mr Kyari may from time to time be required to provide any support to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the OPEC Governor in the performance of Nigerias roles and participation in OPEC matters.

A geologist of repute, Mr Kyari has worked with the NNPC as a quintessential crude oil marketer with prerequisite certification and outfield pedigree in petroleum economics and crude oil and gas trading, the NNPC said.

Within the last 26 years, he has traversed the entire value chain of the petroleum industry, posting resounding performances in all his assignments and duty posts.

Under his watch, the Crude Oil Marketing Division of the NNPC has recorded noticeable transformation in the management and sales of the various Nigerias crude oil grades via an infusion of transparency and automation of the processes, the corporation added.
The U.S. Embassy to Israel in Jerusalem will be dedicated on Monday, May 14, 2018, the Department of State has announced.

The office of the spokesperson for the department said it was proud to announce the dedication adding David Friedman would preside over the dedication ceremony.

It added that Deputy Secretary John Sullivan would lead the presidential delegation to the historic opening along with Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin.

Other members of the presidential delegation are Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, Adviser Ivanka Trump, and Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt.

As the President stated on December 6, 2017, the historic opening of our embassy recognises the reality that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and the seat of its government.

Seventy years ago, the United States, under President Harry S. Truman, became the first nation to recognize the State of Israel.

Moving our Embassy is not a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace deal; rather it is a necessary condition for it.

We are not taking a position on final status issues, including the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, nor on the resolution of contested borders, the department said.

It added that Consulate General Jerusalem would continue to operate as an independent mission with an unchanged mandate responsible for U.S. relations with the Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority.

The department said: The United States continues to support the status quo with regard to the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.

The Administration is firmly committed to pursuing a lasting and comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians that promises a brighter future for both.

While in Jerusalem as the Head of Delegation, Mr Sullivan would also meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Hotovely, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General Yuval Rotem, and members of both U.S. Embassy and Consulate General staff.

The department would livestream the dedication ceremony on www.state.gov and Facebook.com/usdos, it said.

(NAN)
Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organisation (WHO), has arrived Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), to assess the needs of Ebola response teams.

The director general announced this on his Twitter handle @DrTedros on Sunday.

He said WHO staff were in the team that first identified the outbreak, adding that the organisation was working with its partners to send more staff, equipment and supplies to the area.

Mr Ghebreyesus said that the organisation and its partners were also working with national health authorities to contain the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo.

He reassured that the organisation and its partners were committed to the continuous action to beat Ebola.

According to him, as of May 11, our case count is two confirmed cases, 12 suspected cases and 18 probable cases.

I just arrived in Kinshasa, DR Congo with the Regional Director for Africa, Dr Moeti Matshidiso and the WHO Deputy Director-General, Emergency Preparedness and Response, Dr Pete Salama.

We have been briefed about current situations and WHO and partners are committed to continuing swift actions to beat Ebola, Mr Ghebreyesus said.

The organisation, also on its Twitter handle @WHO, said that mobile laboratory materials have been shipped to strengthen the rapid analysis of samples from Bikoro, the Ebola-affected area in DR Congo.

WHO had on May 10, announced that it released $1 million from its contingency fund for emergencies to support the rapid response to the outbreak in the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the outbreak was first confirmed by the organisation on May 8 with the two cases occurring at Bikoro health zone, Equateur province.

WHO says it has alerted countries surrounding DR Congo about the outbreak to enable them to take precautionary measures to prevent spread. (NAN)
An official of the striking health workers under the aegis of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) has confirmed that the federal government made an offer to the union in a bid to end the impasse.

According to the National Vice Chairman of JOHESU, Ogbonna Chimela, the government made the offer at the meeting held Thursday.

Yes they gave us an offer. We will study it critically on Monday to know if its something we can accept or not, Mr Chimela told PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday.

JOHESU, an association of health workers except doctors, has been on strike for almost a month.

Patients are the worst hit. They are currently passing through untold pain even as their relatives have been grumbling as nurses and midwives  some of the most influential members of JOHESU  have all downed tools.

No common ground has been reached in the series of meetings between the government and the union except for last Wednesdays meeting when the government promised to prepare an offer.

Mr Chimela said the union is expected to meet with the government on Tuesday to make a presentation on the offer they received. We hope this will be the concluding meeting.

Meanwhile, Nigerian doctors have threatened to withdraw their services across health institutions in the country if the government finally accedes to the demands of the striking JOHESU.

The doctors- under the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), are opposed to salary adjustment and harmonisation for the health workers. On Thursday, the NMA said the warning became necessary as state and local government workers joined the strike in a bid to force the government to act.

Responding, the JOHESU leader said, It is baffling. One is surprised that a fellow worker in the system who had gone to government and made a demand which the government approved is now the one telling the government it will down tools if it accepts the demands of another worker.

On what basis? We are all professionals in our own field and none of us is greater than the other. When you negotiated for yours, we never interfered but because of greed and ego, you just want to dominate and suppress everybody but we will not take that.

They (NMA) are entitled to their own view but the government is there to instil what is right. Moreover it is not their personal money that will be used in paying us and it is not going to affect their salaries in anyway so I wonder why they are doing this to us.

They claim to be the leaders of the health sector but are leaders supposed to be greedy, selfish, intimidating and not care about the welfare of others?

Calls and text messages sent to the Health Minister, Isaac Adewole, and the spokespersons of both ministry of health and that of labour for comments on the ongoing negotiations were not returned.
The Unity Forum of the All Progressives Congress(APC) in Oyo State has warned that the poor turnout of voters in Saturdays local government election across the state is a warning to the party ahead of the 2019 general election.

The forum said in a statement on Saturday that the outcome indicated that the party needed a repositioning and an intervention of the national leadership in the crisis rocking the party in the state.

The statement signed by its secretary, Wasiu Olatunbosun, said that the poll was a referendum on the party and the low turn- out was an indication that the party needed to be re-invigorated to stand a fair chance in next years elections.

The forum noted that the poor turnout also showed that the Unity Forum was the mainstay of the APC which has the capacity to mobilise members of the public to participate in elections and vote for the party.

We have said it for the umpteenth time that the members of the Unity Forum constitute more than 70 per cent of the membership of the APC with a history of party loyalty,discipline and proven capacity to deliver the votes, the statement read.

It was to the members of the group that the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, turned in 2015 to secure needed votes for the second term bid of Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

The consent of the elders who today constitute the pillar of the Unity Forum provided the leadership for the partys success at that poll.

So is the contribution of local government chairmen who toiled day and night to ensure the victory of the party.It is gratifying that 28 of the 33 council chairmen who ensured the governors second term victory are members of the Unity Forum.

We therefore call on the leadership of the APC to rescue the party from the hands of undertakers whose performance in todays local government election will bury the party in Oyo State if left unchecked.

As a group, we remain committed to the ideals of progressive politics and the second term bid of President MuhammaduBuhari.

We will mobilise the necessary votes for his victory, as against the experience today where the good people of Oyo State turned their nose at the party.
Our canoe snakes its way sluggishly through dirty waters. We waddle through used plastics, pieces of rubbish, abandoned boats and wooden structures floating on the Lagos Lagoon.

An unclad little girl stoops over the edge of a wooden pavement, defecating into the water. At a nearby decrepit structure, a group of excited children dip their hands into the smelly water, their clothes soaked in it.

Our streets dont smell, John, the 14-year-old boy paddling the canoe, tells me. It is because you are not used to this environment, he added, smiling.

John is a resident of Makoko, a crowded slum listed as one of Africas oldest and most famous slums. Known widely as a fishing village, Makoko has survived the Lagos government demolition threats a couple of times.

John says some of the people still live with the fear of eviction, especially after the Otodogbame invasion. But me I dont care, he says, in pidgin English.

WHERE MOST OTODOGBAME LIVED FOR MONTHS WHEN THEY ARRIVED MAKOKO

Unlike John, Elijah Atipo, my tour guide and fellow passenger on the canoe, cares. We journey toward Sogunro and Oko-Agbon  two slum communities adjoining Makoko  to speak with affected Otodo-Gbame evictees.

Mr Atipo himself is an Otodo-Gbame evictee and he speaks of the last invasion of the riverine community, teary eyed.

Otodo-Gbame Destruction

I remember very clearly the last invasion. It was on a Palm Sunday, Mr Atipo says.

No one could take anything from their homes, our properties were all destroyed. It was actually a war.

He spoke of the violent eviction of the midnight of April 9, 2017, when the police and unidentified armed men invaded the community with bulldozers and chased residents with gunfire and teargas, setting their homes on fire afterwards. But before the April attack, there had been records of destructions and deaths.

The first major destruction exercise occurred in the early hours of November 9, 2016, when some boys with reported ties to the Elegushi chieftaincy family entered the community and set fire to houses.

The destruction occurred a day after a Lagos court ordered the state government to immediately suspend its planned demolition of shanties, and barely a week after the state house of assembly appealed to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to reconsider his demolition plans.

Earlier, the government had announced plans to demolish shanties, as part of a state-wide policy to clear up to 300,000 people from informal waterside settlements.

The Justice and Empowerment Initiative said about 800 homes were torched in the November attack that rendered about 10,000 people homeless. According to Amnesty International, eyewitnesses said some residents drowned in the nearby Lagoon as they ran to safety amid the chaos.

Mr Atipo said although he lost no member of his immediate family in the attack, many other residents were missing after the attack. No one can accurately account for the number of people that died during the invasions, he explains.

He now lives around the University of Lagos (UNILAG) environment, studying Web and Graphic Design in a technical school with the support of the JEI but his parents live in a community in faraway Ikorodu. The place is relatively cleaner and safer, he says of his parents Ikorodu residence.

Other Otodo-Gbame co-evictees, like Pascal Tosinhun, however had no such luxury.

PASCAL WIFE

Sick wife, dead grandson

My wife is sick now, she is inside that crowded building, Mr Tosinhun says, his head slightly bent, as he points in the direction of a nearby wooden structure built by the International Mission for Soul Salvation Church.

My grandson died few months ago; medical people said it was due to all the pressure, chaos, the change of environment and lack of proper care.

Back in Otodo-Gbame, before the eviction, Mr Tosinhun says he was a known and influential community leader. A socialite, he owned a firm that built and sold canoes in the community, in addition to being a water supplier. He is now a shadow of his former self.

I have not eaten anything today, he says, during an interview at noon. Go check where my wife sleeps, with some of our children. There are four families sleeping in that small room, a family has about six to seven people or more.

Many times, I go out in the night to hang anywhere, inside the church, anywhere. The Church that built this structure tried, but the problems are just too much.

Inside the makeshift wooden structure built by the church, Mr Tosinhuns bedridden wife, Lali Tosinhun, sits on a wooden bed, a few drugs packed in a bowl beside her.

She says she was a successful food seller at Ita-Faji in Lagos Island, before the invasion shattered her business and rendered her penniless. My legs are swollen; I am very weak, she struggles to say. The nurse says it may be due to anxiety and overthinking, she explains, forcing a bland smile.

The wooden structure built for evictees by the church is a makeshift one-storey building with about three rooms downstairs and a room at the top. The room occupied by the Tosinhun family houses four other families, each with an average of seven members.

BUILDING BUILT BY CHURCH

I dont sleep here in the night, Mr Tosinhun says. You can hardly breathe if you sleep here. Even my children are in scattered places in Ajah now; here cannot contain us. Its a tragic life that we are living.

Tragic Life

Rebecca Omolaja doesnt want to speak to PREMIUM TIMES. She looks pale and haggard and struggles to explain that she is ill. When she attempts to speak, she bursts into tears. She finally says a few words, punctuated at every juncture with tears.

REBECCA OMOLAJA

The night before PREMIUM TIMES first visit to Makoko and its environs, it rained heavily in some parts of Lagos. This reporter confirmed that two residents of the Sogunro community died in the lagoon due to the thunderstorm that heralded the rain. While many residents in wooden structures in the community complained of the devastating effects of the rain, Mrs Omolaja, who sleeps in an open space outside of a wooden structure in Sogunro, says she has no one to complain to.

My husband died few months ago, she says, amid tears. The hospital people said he died of overthinking. So who do I complain to?

Mrs Omolaja has four kids: Ope, a two-year-old boy who clings to her as she speaks to us, and three others who had gone out to nearby Iwaya area to fend for the family before our arrival. She too sits idly on the cold plank that is her bed as she explains how the cold of the previous night had taken a toll on her health. It was around 1:00 pm when we arrived her open space but neither she nor her son, Ope, had eaten since the previous night.

He (Ope) will eat when the rest come back in the evening, Mrs Omolaja says. They work as maids in canteens around Iwaya area; they will be backOpe will be fine. She explains that the three kids (an 8-year-old; a 10-year-old; and a 12-year-old) earn N300 each after the days work, money with which the family feeds and buy drugs. She explains further that the children stopped schooling after the eviction.

They were schooling in Lekki but we can hardly feed now, so schooling is not an option, she says, again amid tears. Their fathers death too compounded our problems.

Seven children, no apartment

Mrs Omolaja was not the only Sogunro resident affected by the thunderstorm of the night before PREMIUM TIMES visit to the community. A dredger, Whelken Kosi, his wife and seven of their children were also affected.

Kosi KOSI AND SEVEN CHILDREN

Since we got here after the eviction, weve all been sleeping in the open here, Mr Kosi, 43, says. Sometimes, the children get space in the room owned by our host. Many times they dont. The room is crowded already. It rained last night with serious thunder, the children were just shaking.

Mr Kosis host lost his child to the thunderstorm of the previous night before PREMIUM TIMES visit. The deceased boy had gone fishing and was reportedly brought back dead after the storm. Mr Kosi says the family has been thrown into mourning since the incident.

His wife, Kwenkeh Ayensi-Kosi, pleads for help from well-meaning Nigerians. Our host who is struggling is now bereaved, she says.

I used to sell provisions in Otodo-Gbame but not anymore. My husband is now a fisherman but there is no money. Almost everyone here is a fisherman. I am shattered now, we need urgent help.

Mr. Kosi says although the old Otodo-Gbame residents have become dispersed and they do not have details of what is happening to others, he has heard that many people have died since they moved into Makoko and its adjoining communities.

We just dont have the exact figures. Too many people have died, especially children. Those who arent dead among us are like walking corpses due to excessive thinking and depression, he concludes, with a deep sigh.

The man standing beside him, Senu Abdulsalami, nods his head in agreement.

Walking corpses

Mr Abdulsalami squats on the veranda of a relatives wooden apartment in Sogunro community, together with his wife and her mother. He is one of the few indigenous Eegun Muslims affected by the Otodo Gbame invasion. He explains that the church management has been supportive but they have barely received any support from any Muslim organization.

ABDULSALAMI SLEEPING SPACE

The church doesnt discriminate; they give us materials sometimes but the tragedy is too much for them to effectively handle. We have however not heard from Muslim organisations and I am not the only Muslim affected. We are many. Our hosts and extended families who give us food are beginning to complain. They are poor themselves already.

Mr Abdulsalami sleeps on a wooden plank placed in the open veranda of the house his wife, her mother and their teenage son squat in. The place is surrounded by women smoking fishes. He explains that the building was already congested before they and other evicted families packed in.

As the man, I sleep outside here, with mosquitoes and heat and smoke from the firewood, he says. Sometimes, the women smoke their fishes till 2o clock in the morning; that means I dont sleep until they are done and the smoke is gone. In the day, there is nothing to do. Too many people are doing the same thing here. I think I am one of those walking corpses they talked about.

Sick, dying people everywhere

Agbojete Johnson, the community head (Baale) of Sogunro, explains to PREMIUM TIMES that an epidemic looms in the area due to congestion and poverty.

BAALE OF SOGUNRO

He says: If you have small food, you have to think about the people who live with you. There is no food, everywhere is filled up.

Sogunro, together with five separate villagesOko-Agbon, Adogbo, Migbewhe, Yanshiwe and Apolloform part of the communities collectively known as the Makoko-Iwaya waterfront. The population of residents varies according to unofficial figures, between 40,000 to about 80,000.

Mr Johnson, the community head, says the community is saturated already and the situation has been worsened by the influx of the Otodo-Gbame evictees.

The place is congested already; it is now over-congested. People are falling sick every day. Too many people are living in small apartments. Many sleep outside, even inside this my palace. Sick, dying people everywhere

He called on government to address the Otodo-Gbame crisis and cater for the peoples welfare.

A people left in the lurch?

Over the years, the Otodo-Gbame people fought to remain in their community amidst threats of eviction from the Elegushi chieftaincy family and the government.

In 2014, a prince from the royal family arrived the community to place a seven-day eviction notice. The inhabitants headed to court and by 2015, the community had instituted two suits before the court  one over land ownership against the Elegushi family at the state high court and another over the destruction of over 250 of their houses in 2013.

WATERWAYS

On the October 9, 2016, Mr Ambode ordered the demolition of illegal structures in waterfronts across the state and gave the inhabitants a seven-day ultimatum to vacate the areas.

Last November, the people stormed Lagos House in Alausa, Ikeja to protest the delay in their resettlement. In his reaction, the States Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, Seye Oladejo, said the government was aware of the peoples pains and would ameliorate their plight. Residents lament that nothing has come out of the promise.

On Thursday, calls and messages sent to the state commissioner for information and strategy, Kehinde Bamigbetan, were not responded to.

Like Mr Tosinhun, many residents of Otodo-Gbame who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES believe they were short-changed by politicians in the state who only lured them to vote their parties and rejected them after the election.

We voted Ambode, I remember very well, Mr Tosinhun, a community leader who said he was privy to the details of the meetings, explains. Before the (2015) elections, there had been threats but Baba (Bola) Tinubu intervened and begged us to vote APC when the war started with the Elegushi people.

The same Ambode we voted for was the one who evicted us.
Suspected armed robbers on Saturday morning killed a policeman and shot a commercial driver along the Abuja -Kaduna expressway.

The armed men were said to have mounted a road block around Jere to rob commuters traveling on the road as early as 6:00 a.m.

The slain officer was a member of the team of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) on patrol along the highway.

He was said to have died during an exchange of fire between the police and the armed robbers.

PREMIUM TIMES also learnt that the driver of one of the vehicles stopped by the armed men was hit by a stray bullet in the cause of the gunfire.

A tragic accident also occurred close to the scene of the gun battle between the police and robbers which led to death of four people while 10 persons were injured.

This paper could not ascertain which of the incidents happened first.

The bodies of the accident victims and that of the policeman, and the driver, were rushed to a hospital nearby.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in Kaduna, Mukhtar Hussaini, confirmed the incidents.

Mr Hussaini, a superintendent of police, explained that SARS officials were around the area when they were alerted of the robbery.

Cars parked, waiting for robbers to finish up on Abuja-Kaduna Road

One police officer was shot and a driver in one of the vehicles was shot in the cause of the cross fire. he said.

He said thought he shot officer died, the driver is still in hospital.

Mr Hussaini said the police have already commenced investigation on the matter.
On the day one person was killed in Lagos, a member of the All Progressive Congress in Gombe State was killed on Saturday during the partys local government congress.

Three other people were injured in the violence that occurred during the partys local government congress in Deba town, headquarters of Yamaltu/Deba Local Government Area of the state,

The police in the state confirmed the casualty and said two people have been arrested in connection with the incident.

The police spokesperson, Mary Mallum, said the violence was between youth factions of the APC in the area. She said the incident is already being investigated.

An eyewitness, Sani Deba, identified the dead victim to PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr Deba said the Salihu Dage was killed after voting had ended and during collation.

He said five people sustained injuries in the violence.

He named the injured as Abdullahi Umar, Abdullahi Puma, Shuaibu and two others.

The violence in Gombe is not an exception during the nationwide APC congress.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported how one person was killed during the same local government congress in Lagos State.

Nurudeen Olanose was allegedly shot at Central School, Dopemu, during a fracas that ensued after voting had ended on Saturday.

Deaths and violence were also recorded in some states during the APC ward congress held penultimate Saturday.

The APC, Nigerias ruling party, held its local government congress nationwide on Saturday. This followed the ward congress held nationwide a week before.

The congresses are to be followed by state congress and lastly the national convention to pick new national leaders of the party.

The tenure of the current national leadership of the party, led by John Odigie-Oyegun, expires in June.

Mr Odigie-Oyegun is believed to be lobbying to retain his position but faces a major challenger in ex-Edo governor, Adams Oshiomhole.

Mr Oshiomhole is believed to enjoy the support of President Muhammadu Buhari and a national leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu.
A Nigerian mother-of-two, Queen Obioma, has sued United Airlines, claiming she and her two children were booted from its plane because a passenger complained she smelled pungent.

Ms Obioma said she was traveling from Lagos, Nigeria, to Ontario, Canada, on March 4, 2016 when an airline employee escorted her from the plane before takeoff.

The Nigerian said the employee of the airline then went back on the plane and escorted her two children off.

Ms Obioma filed a civil rights lawsuit against United Airlines, saying the airline discriminated against her because she is black, Nigerian and African.

She claimed in her suit that she was told that she was not allowed back on the flight because a passenger had complained about her smell, the Houston Chronicle reports.

Ms Obioma said the drama started when she and her family boarded a United Airlines flight at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

She said when she got to her assigned seat in business class, a white man was already sitting there.

The man reportedly refused to move, the lawsuit states.

According to her, flight personnel got involved but the man still refused to get out of the seat so she agreed to sit in the mans assigned seat nearby.

Before takeoff, Ms Obioma said she went to the bathroom and when she tried to return to her seat, the passenger, who had earlier taken her seat, blocked her path.

She said in the suit that a United Airlines employee then ordered her off the plane.

Ms Obioma said she was met by another employee who informed her that she was not allowed back on the plane because the pilot received a complaint from the man sitting near her that she smelled pungent.

The man reportedly told the pilot that he was not comfortable flying with her.

Ms Obioma said she was distraught and informed personnel that her two children were still on the flight.

She said a United Airlines worker then removed her children from the plane.

According to the suit, the family was on the second leg of a three flight journey from Nigeria to Canada, where her children attend school.

Ms Obioma, a frequent flier member on the Uniteds Star Alliances, said they were traveling from Houston to San Francisco where they were going to take a connecting flight to Canada.

(NAN)
The police in Suleja, Niger State, have confirmed the arrest of the parents and relation of a bride, who disappeared after her wedding, refusing to go to her husbands home.

The arrest of the trio followed a complaint to the police by their son in-law, Shuaib Dauda, for the sudden disappearance of their daughter few hours after wedding.

Mr Dauda earns a living as an auto mechanic.

Aliyu Lawal, officer-in-charge of Kaduna-Road police outpost in Suleja, gave the confirmation to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday.

Mr Lawal, a police inspector, said the incident occurred on May 6 when the bridegroom complained to the police that the people he sent to the brides home to fetch her, in accordance with the tradition, did not see her.

Mr Lawal said the footdragging by the brides family to deliver the bride to the bridegroom led to the disruption of peace in the area, hence the arrest of the parents and the marriage guardian.

They were arrested on Sunday, May 6, and granted bail on Monday May 7, he said.

But Abubakar Haruna, popularly known as Zakiru and a resident of Hayi along Kaduna Road, told NAN that he gave out two daughters same day, Fiddausi to Mr Dauda and Saliha to one Muhammadu Murtala.

He said before the marriage, Mr Dauda and Mr Murtala promised to comply with all the religious and traditional obligations for the marriage such as the dowry and buying of clothes and boxes for the brides.

After the wedding ceremony, Dauda said he could not afford to buy the clothes and boxes to the bride as promised earlier.

Fiddausi, realising that Murtala (the husband to Saliha) had redeemed his promise and presented the traditional gifts and Dauda did not, ran away to the neighbouring house until her bridegroom fulfilled his own promise, he said.

Mr Haruna said already beddings, traditional kitchen wares, furniture and other domestic utensils had been taken to Daudas home, ahead of the conveyance of Fiddausi to her new home.

He explained that while they were searching for Fiddausi, the team sent by the bridegroom to fetch Fiddausi to the matrimonial home hinted Mr Dauda of the sudden disappearance of the bride.

He claimed Mr Dauda mobilised his friends who stormed his compound, insisting that Fiddausi must be produced. In the process they molested him and brutalised his wife, named Bayi.

Some other female guests from Kano were also brutalised, food items and other valuables they brought for the wedding ceremony were stolen by the hoodlums who attacked us for our alleged failure to produce the bride, Mr Haruna said.

Mr Haruna said while the hoodlums were molesting his family and his guests, the police officers from Kaduna Road outpost arrested him, his wife and his younger brother who is also the marriage guardian. The latter was identified as Umar Musa.

Mr Haruna dismissed the allegation by the police that he was arrested for disrupting public peace in the community. Rather, he explained that the police asked him to refund N260,000 to Dauda, being the amount he spent on the marriage.

Mr Haruna said when he failed to pay the money as demanded, he was detained together with his wife and his younger brother by the police.

According to him, they were detained overnight at the police outpost and were granted bail following the intervention of his lawyer, Aliyu Musa.

He said the bail was obtained on the condition that they would bring the money the following day or risk prosecution.

Meanwhile, Fiddausi has returned to her fathers house. (NAN)
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of being violence prone and of dragging the nation towards a state of anarchy.

It said the party was doing this by engaging in actions that instigate bloody conflicts and breakdown of law and order among Nigerians.

The party said this in a statement on Sunday by its Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, while reacting to the recent ward and local government congresses of the APC which was characterised by violence and killings in some communities.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the killings that occurred during the congresses in states like Lagos, Rivers, Delta, and Gombe.

The PDP expressed horror at the rate of violence which it claims has been the way of the (APC) party since its emergence.

The statement read in part:

We are terrified by the spate of violence, mayhem, bloodletting and massive corruption associated with the All Progressives Congress (APC), both in governance and its internal activities.

Since its emergence, the APC and its leaders have continued to drag our nation towards a state of anarchy by engaging in actions that instigate bloody conflicts and breakdown of law and order among Nigerians, including in their fold as a party.

From the rascally attempt to overrun a court of competent jurisdiction in Port Harcourt, Rivers State to halt the wheel of justice, the burning of their own secretariat in Owerri, Imo state, the gruesome murder of their own members in Lagos and Oyo States to the malignant disputation and lust for power by its leaders across the nation, it is clear that the APC is not organic but a soulless mob without any form of conscience and integrity; an evil wind that blows no good.

According to the party, party congresses which are designed to allow members interface and resolve divergences amicably has been an issue for the APC as it could not actuate this simplest tradition of political parties, making its congress a threat to our democracy.

APC has become a symbol and harbinger of malevolence, which, by every indication, is on a sordid throttle of taking our nation to the long forgotten state of nature where only the mighty rules; the state of anarchy.

From its cannibalistic proclivities, the world can see why the APC and its insensitive federal government care less about the lives and welfare of Nigerians, resulting in the escalation of violence, bloodletting, mass killings, extra-judicial executions, persecution of citizens, abuse of human rights, constitutional violations, including invasion of the National Assembly as well as attack on federal lawmakers and judicial officers, the statement added.

The PDP charged Nigerians, irrespective of creed, class or sectional persuasion, to be at alert, look beyond personal interests, rise in unison and use all democratic instruments to stop the APC in this dangerous drive to further wreck the nation and plunge it into a state of anarchy.
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Two police officers have been caught on camera extorting motorists along Ijebu Ode-Ibadan Road in Ogun State.

One of the police officers, whose badge identified him as Oyewole Afolabi, was caught by PREMIUM TIMES collecting N50 from a bus driver who was conveying passengers to Ibadan from Ajah, Lagos State, on Sunday.

The second officer, Eniola Olaiya, was captured on camera by PREMIUM TIMES as the same driver crossed the Oyo State border with Ogun State into Ibadan.

Police officers have continued the culture of extortion at checkpoints despite decades of condemnation by the Nigerian public and foreign think-tanks. Mounting roadblocks is one of the easiest ways for officers to shakedown motorists.

Oftentimes, they compromise their official duty by taking arbitrary fines from motorists whose vehicle licence or insurance papers are outdated or missing. Where all vehicle and driving credentials are intact, officers found other ways of harassing road users to squeeze out as much as they could within the pace of a few seconds.

The bus driver who was extorted in this particular instance told PREMIUM TIMES if he had refused to cooperate with the officers, he could be unnecessarily delayed for several hours.

If we dont give them, they will delay us unnecessarily, the driver said under anonymity to avoid a backlash from officers because he plies the route regularly. In fact, we add police extortion fee to passengers transport fare. I cant run from them because I follow this road everyday.

On Saturday evening, PREMIUM TIMES forwarded multimedia evidence of the officers conduct to Abayomi Shogunle, head of police complaints unit in Abuja. Mr Shogunle, an assistant police commissioner, promised to examine images and get back later on.

In recent decades, especially in the advent of Internet, hundreds of officers have been caught on camera soliciting bribes at roadblocks and the action posted online.

Although most of the officers often escaped severe disciplinary measures, some of them have not been so lucky in recent years. In 2013, a sergeant was dismissed after a viral video showed him soliciting bribes from motorists in Lagos.

Nigeria Police taking bribe In June 2017, four officers were dismissed for extorting a citizen in Ijebu Ode Area Command, the same jurisdiction where Mr Afolabi was caught on camera by PREMIUM TIMES.

Last December, the police in Ekiti sacked an officer for allegedly killing a motorist who reportedly refused to comply with bribe demands at a checkpoint. Ayo Famodimu faced an orderly room trial before and subsequently placed on trial for the murder.

As part of measures to curb the bribery menace amongst officers, successive Inspectors-General over the past decade have proscribed mounting of roadblocks, but the orders are usually abandoned within a few weeks.

Some unofficial accounts said officers are poorly remunerated and bribe earnings often go towards maintaining their stations and equipment. It is common to see a police vehicle that broke down due to a lack of fuel or poor maintenance.

Okechukwu Nwaguma of the Network for Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) acknowledged the challenges confronting the police rank and file, but said the brazen extortion of motorists will never be justifiable.

The argument has always been made by low-level officers that there is no adequate provision for their operation or welfare, Mr Nwanguma said. It is even worse for them when senior officers send them out to extort motorists then deny involvement if they get caught.

Nigeria Police taking bribe

Still, nothing justifies this humiliating conduct by officers and we hope it would stop soon, Mr Nwanguma said. It it would stop, the government would not only improve on the welfare and operation equipment for the police, there must also be a stringent training measures that would help officers live up to the highest ethical standards found amongst their counterparts across the world.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has described the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as a strong party that is committed to offering hope to the electorate.

He said this while fielding questions from journalists after the inauguration of President Maada Bio of Sierra Leone on Saturday, a statement by Laolu Akande, the vice presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, noted on Sunday.

Mr Akande quoted Mr Osinbajo as saying in politics, as you know, there will always be tension, but the party is strong and the leadership and membership of the party are committed to ensuring it remains strong and continues to offer hope to the people.

I think a lot of the issues will be resolved as we go along.

This is the normal order of things; there will be disagreements, there will be those who may feel that they need certain preferences or certain things which may not have been done earlier on.

I dont think there is any major problem.

On the significance of the inauguration of Sierra Leones President, the vice president said it was a great celebration of democracy as the transition was peaceful from one civilian president to another.

According to him, it signals hope for the people of Sierra Leone as President Maada Bio is a consummate technocrat.

Bio was the one who handed power to a democratic government as a military leader.

He also proved over time to be someone who thought over the problems of the country.

And listening to him and having met with him for close to an hour, I think there is great opportunity and hope for the people of Sierra Leone and I think he is going to do a great job.

Mr Osinbajo reaffirmed hope that the new president would collaborate with other African leaders to ensure growth and peace on the continent.

He added that one thing is for certain, Sierra Leone and Nigeria have a long history. Most recently, if you recall, Nigerian troops gave their lives here in Sierra Leone defending the territorial integrity of Sierra Leone, the people and the country.

President Bio repeated this in my conversation with him, and said how grateful he was.

We have maintained very good relationship; I believe that relationship will continue.

The vice president added that many private sector investors were interested in coming to Sierra Leone, stressing that the Nigerian government had good economic relationship with Sierra Leone.

I think the future is bright for both countries, and the future cooperation is particularly good.

Mr Osinbajo said President Muhammadu Buhari had sent his congratulations to the government and people of Sierra Leone as he was very excited about developments in that country.

He said he (President Buhari) has asked me to convey his very best wishes to the new President and government and also to pledge our continued cooperation and collaboration with the government and people of Sierra Leone.

Born on May 12, 1964, Maada Bio is the 5th and current President of Sierra Leone since April 4, 2018.

He defeated Samura Kamara of the ruling All Peoples Congress in the runoff vote of the 2018 Sierra Leone presidential election with 51.8 per cent of the votes to Kamaras 48.2 per cent.

Bio succeeded Ernest Bai Koroma as president, who was constitutionally ineligible to run for the presidency having served the maximum two five year terms.

Bio is a retired brigadier in the Sierra Leone Military. He was the military Head of State of Sierra Leone from January 16, 1996 to March 29, 1996 under the National Provisional Ruling Council.

(NAN)
Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Sunday deployed 150 personnel of its special forces to its newly established 23 Quick Response Wing (QRW) in Nguroje, Sarduana Local Government Council in Taraba.

Other Quick Response Wings established by NAF in the North Central region are located in Doma, Nasarawa State and Agatu in Benue.

The Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar, who addressed the troops in Jalingo before their departure, urged the personnel to be professional in the discharge of their duties.

Represented by Napoleon Bali, the Director of Operations, NAF Headquarters, Mr Abubakar said let me use this opportunity to reiterate the need for you to be professional in discharging your duties.

You must always abide by the Nigerian Air Force Code of Conduct and Rules of Engagement (ROE) as well as the Laws of Armed Conflict.

I, therefore, urge you to consider it as a rare privilege to be part of the pioneer troops to establish the unit.

Accordingly, you need to maintain cordial relationship with the host community as they support you in your assigned responsibilities.

The chief of air staff said the special forces were part of the ongoing NAF policy to build a robust Air Force capable of responding effectively, efficiently and timely to Nigerias national security imperatives.

He noted that the deployment marked the commencement of operations at the newly established Quick Response Wings in the North Central region of the country.

He added that evolving security challenges in the country and the need to create peaceful environment to facilitate increased economic activities necessitated the establishment of the unit in Nguroje.

Mr Abubakar urged the troops to partner with other security agencies to support Taraba in containing insecurity.

File photo of Nigeria Air Force officers The Nigeria Air Force in Nguroje A Nigeria Air Force Helicopter

The air chief appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari, the Taraba Government, the host community and all who contributed to the smooth take off of the new unit.

The establishment of new units is in line with the chief of air staffs vision of repositioning NAF into a highly professional and disciplined force through capacity building initiatives.

It is also for timely employment of air power in response to Nigerias national security imperatives. (NAN)
Two parallel congresses of the All Progressives Congress (APC) took place in Kwara during the local government congress of the party on Saturday.

The faction led by the state APC chairman, Olayemi Olabanji, held their own congress aside from the main APC congress.

A statement by the publicity secretary of the legacy group faction of the party, Kayode Oyin-Zubair, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of their congress.

Reports reaching the situation room as it concerns the ongoing local government congress in the 16 local government areas of the state has been very satisfactory, he said.

According to Mr Oyin-Zubair, the reports trickling from the local government areas indicated that the exercise will record an unprecedented success.

We are getting reports from our monitors at the local government areas and we are really satisfied that at the end of the day it will throw up credible personalities across the state.

It is a clear departure from what was experienced last weekend when we had the ward congress. The ward congress was rather unfortunate when party constitution and congress was flagrantly trampled.

We are on top of the situation and urge our members to remain steadfast and calm even in the face of any provocation.

What we are doing is the sacrifice necessary for democracy to grow and we are equally committed to deepen internal democracy within our party, he said.

In Omu Aran, all the 27 candidates in Irepodun local government were returned unopposed.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the candidates were returned elected having the desired 205 votes unopposed in the congress election held at the council secretariat in Omu-Aran.

The congress was witnessed by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state and personnel of some security agencies including the police.

Also present at the congress were members of the APC congress committee for the council headed by Niyi Oba.

Mr Oba, in a remark, expressed satisfaction with the smooth, orderly and transparent manner the congress was conducted.

He promised to make detailed report of the congress proceeding to the appropriate quarter.

Audu Armak, INEC Electoral Officer for the congress, described the congress as peaceful and rancour free.

Bisi Owolabi, the elected APC chairman, promised to run an all-inclusive administration as a way of ensuring the partys victory in the coming elections.

He called for the support of other stakeholders to succeed in his assignment.

Muyiwa Oladipo, the council chairman, commended the candidates for their maturity and understanding.

He promised to work with the newly elected APC executive in moving the party forward.

Other elected members were Tunde Oyeyipo as Vice Chairman; Olatunji Oladipo, Secretary; Joseph Ajiboye, Legal Adviser; and Olumide Ibitoye, Treasurer.

Similarly, Demola Afolayan was elected as the state Financial Secretary; Oladele Ojeniyi, Publicity Secretary; Rachael Adebayo, Woman Leader, and Samsudeen Bada, Youth Leader.

In Ilorin West, all the 21elective posts of the party were settled by consensus arrangement.

NAN also reports that the congress, which was attended by some chieftains of the party, was conducted under a peaceful atmosphere.

The consensus arrangement was conducted under the supervision of some security agents.

A former Secretary to the Kwara Government, Saka lsau, said the consensus arrangement was a demonstration of unity and peace existing among members of the party in the state.

He said the party would continue to ensure unity among members for more development to be attained in the state. (NAN)
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence (NSCDC) says it has deployed about 2,000 personnel ahead of President Muhammadu Buharis two-day visit to Jigawa, beginning on Monday.

The corpss spokesman in the state, Adamu Shehu, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dutse on Sunday.

The Jigawa State Command of NSCDC has fully prepared towards the two-day visit of President Muhammad Buhari.

The command is deploying about 2,000 special tactical operational squad and Intelligence officers drawn from the state command and neighbouring formations in Kano and Bauchi States to assist in the provision of security, Mr Shehu said.

He explained that the operational officers would be stationed at strategic places in areas that the president would visit.

The spokesman added intelligence officers would be deployed all over the state for intelligence gathering and reporting to complement other security agencies.

This will give the command an edge in understanding and converting threats where possible.

It is on this note that the command enjoins the general public to cooperate with the officers to ensure smooth and safe stay of Mr President, he said.

Mr Shehu further urged members of public to report any suspicious activity to the nearest security formation for prompt action.

NAN reports that Mr Buhari is expected to inaugurate five regional roads and five township roads across the state, among other activities, during the visit.

(NAN)

MNB/MST
The Peoples Democratic Party has rejection the announced results of the Kaduna local government polls held on Saturday.

Results so far released show the PDP won only of 15 local governments.

The opposition party, however, says most results announced were fraudulent.

Read the PDPs full statement below.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rejects as highly provocative, fraudulent and completely indefensible the alteration of final results and declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner in areas clearly won by the PDP in the Kaduna state local council elections held on Saturday.

From the reports of results at the polling centers, it is clear that the PDP defeated the APC in most of the areas where elections held across the state, including Governor Nasir el-Rufais ward where the PDP led with over 90% percent of the votes cast.

The result of this election is a clear testimony of our popularity in the state. As such, PDP rejects the fraud by Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KADSIECOM) in altering the results in favour of APC.

It is totally intolerable for KADSIECOM, working in cahoots with the discredited APC, to engage in the manipulation of the collation process by changing the figures and announcing final results that are different from figures tallied at the polling centers.

Such daylight robbery by the APC is absolutely unacceptable, particularly, given the precarious security situation in the state.

We have preponderance of instances where final electoral officers were whisked away to unknown destinations by agents of Kaduna state government, aided by security agencies, while fake results are being announced in favour of the APC.

For instance, while voters and party agents were still waiting for the return of electoral officer, Mr. Elisha Gandu at the Kajuru Local Government secretariat where results from polling centers show that the PDP won 9 out of the 10 wards, the Nagarta Radio was busy announcing APC as winner.

This is the situation in most of the final results so far announced by the commission and we cannot accept such.

We want the APC and KADSIECOM to note that the PDP has eyes everywhere, monitored the entire balloting processes at all levels and know directly how all the parties, including our great party, the PDP performed in all the polling centers across Kaduna state.

Consequently, the PDP cautions the Chairman of KADSIECOM, Dr. Saratu Binta Dikko-Audu to save the state from avoidable stress by resisting the APC, withdrawing all altered final results and announcing only results that reflect the actual wishes of the people as expressed in the ballot.

KADSIECOM Chairman must note that the entire world is watching and history beckons as she makes her decision to stand either on the side of truth, justice and honour or on the side of corruption, treachery and infamy.

Signed:

Kola Ologbondiyan

National Publicity Secretary
The Nigeria Police Force said it arrested four suspects for criminal conspiracy, forgery, stealing and unlawful possession of electoral materials meant for the aborted APC ward congress in Imo.

The suspects are: Ikpamezie Innocent, 39; principal suspect and Special Adviser on a electoral matters to Hope Uzodinma; Lawrence Archibong, 34, Kelechi Affonne, 27 and Joseph Martins, 28.

The force spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, made the disclosure in a statement in Abuja on Saturday.

He said that exhibits recovered from them included: 68 APC result sheets, six APC Local Government Area result sheets, 130 APC delegates nomination forms and six LGA APC ward officers and delegates list.

Mr Moshood said that the suspects were trailed and arrested on Saturday by the Inspector-General of Police Special Tactical Squad at Seredib Hotel in Wuse II, Abuja.

He said that the principal suspect, Mr Innocent, confessed that all the electoral materials were given to them by Iyke Njoku, Zonal Coordinator, Owerri Municipality, to Mr Uzodimma.

The spokesman said that the suspects confessed to the various criminal roles they played in the commission of the crime.

Investigation is in progress and effort is being intensified to arrest Njoku and other suspects still at large,he said.

Mr Moshood said that the suspects would all be arraigned in court on completion of investigation.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the APC suspended the local government congress in Imo following allegations the ward congress was manipulated.

The state governor, Rochas Okorocha, accused other APC leaders in the state, including Mr Uzodinma, of manipulating the process.

The APC secretariat in Imo was also burnt down by yet to be identified persons.
For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.




In a modern retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's harsh 19th century fairy tale " The Red Shoes " ( https://fairytalez.com/the-red-shoes/ ) De La Huerta pushes the edges of the envelope of cinematic art. The result is an absorbing intense emotional experience for the film's viewers that provides a powerful and immediate impact.

Filmed in a sweeping poetic visual vernacular  the film recognizes the parallels of Anderson's unsettling storytelling in a setting that shifts between the harshly realistic and mystical, between imagined and felt.

In the original fairy tale, a young girl comes to live with an ailing old woman who starts the tale in motion by taking the girl to get new shoes for communion. In an act of pride and disobedience, the girl manages to get a pair of beautiful red shoes  when only white shoes should be worn to church.

At church the shoes seem to be forcing her to dance and at first are difficult to remove. Some time later, she decides to abandon her evening's duty attending to the old woman, and to instead attend a ball in the red shoes. This time they force her to dance but cannot be removed. The shoes force her to dance for days, drawing her through the woods where she is scraped and cut  being caught in this torment as the old woman dies unattended.

In desperation and facing death herself, she asks an executioner to cut off her feet to allow her to escape the spell. Only then, - on wooden feet and with crutches  can she return to the church to seek redemption for her sins.

The story is the basis for a 1948 Oscar winning film (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Shoes_(1948_film) ) and the source for a recent ballet (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-red-shoes-becomes-a-ballet) In De La Huerta's retelling, however, the story takes an even darker turn. As a price for cutting off her feet, the butcher demands to take her virginity and she is unable to resist his assault.

Exploring coercion, examining the balance of suffering when a woman faces a horrible demand from a man who has the power of control over her fate, De La Huerta finds a path to create this mesmerizing exploration of human anguish and survival.

The film is more than 90% complete as to filming. One final scene remains to be filmed  a birth - possibly the product of her encounter with the demonic butcher. Editing and final production remain to be completed as well.

De La Huerta  through her production company Paz De La Huerta Inc, and in conjunction with Victoria, Texas filmmaker and Producer Anthony Pedone, seeks to raise $500,000 to complete the film and seek arrangements for distribution. The crowdfunding is via the Indiegogo platform:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/paz-de-la-huerta-s-valley-of-tears-film-project-drama

Expenses are for the large number of performers in the final scenes, for costumes, travel to film in France where the costumes and wardrobe are to be made, special effects and other elements of production. The funds will also cover editing, sound production as well as expenses of seeking further development including an effort to show the film at Cannes and Sundance.

The company plans a crowdfunding effort to reach the planned budget, although equity investing may be considered as well.

Sincerely,

Paz De La Huerta

Aaron Filler, Esq.





Producer  Director

Tensor Law PC





President & CEO: Paz De La Huerta, Inc.

V.P.Paz De La Huerta, Inc

SOURCE Paz De La Huerta Inc.
Foreigners buying WA real estate will be hit with a 7 per cent surcharge on the purchase price as the McGowan Government moved in last week's budget to almost double the tax.

Targeting overseas buyers, the State Budget included an increased rate from the 4 per cent surcharge which was announced in last years Budget.

The new rate of 7 per cent will be applied to foreign property buyers from January 1 next year, bring WA in line with other states which currently levy their surcharges at 7 per cent or 8 per cent..

It hopes to raise about $123 million between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 financial years.

On handing down the Budget, Treasurer Ben Wyatt noted the higher surcharge is not a new tax because it was a policy commitment made during the election campaign last year.

Increasing the foreign buyers surcharge to 7 per cent will bring WA in line with other States, and provide the Government with additional revenue to help the States financial position, Mr Wyatt said.

Last year the Government believed the charge to foreign buyers would bring revenue of about $21 million in its first year.

The charge will apply on the dutiable value of residential property purchased by foreigners and it will also capture corporations and trusts.

It will be applied on top of standard stamp duty payments.

NSW charges foreign buyers an 8 per cent surcharge, Victoria and South Australia charge 7 per cent, and Queensland 3 per cent.

The West Australian government is counting on the lithium boom to help it manage record state debt.
The case involved a Ray White St Albans agent who had unsuccessfully sued the vendors for a $385,000 commission payment following the $8.8 million sale in 2016 of a six-hectare industrial site at 382 Greens Road in Keysborough.

The ruling opens the possibility of claims by unhappy vendors against estate agents who used a non-compliant ESA form which were supplied by the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) where the commission has yet to be paid.

The industry body, which represents around 5000 estate agents in Victoria, sold the ESA forms as a legally binding vendor contract giving the agent the authority to sell a vendor's home and be paid commission and any other outgoings including marketing and advertising costs. Two versions of the contract were available for agents to buy from the REIV. The longer version with the full wording of the rebate statement as stated in section 49A of the act, whereas the shorter version did not. The REIV's ESA form included an altered statement on rebates that was approved by state's consumer watchdog, but it was different from the exact wording of the Estate Agents Act The form, which was amended around six years ago, did not comply with section 49A of the Act. The issue erupted last week on the Lexology website where lawyers at Logie-Smith Lanyon noted it was "now incumbent upon the Victorian Parliament to immediately provide a legislative solution to rectify an obvious administrative error in the Consumer Affairs forms." They noted while a legislative solution had been mooted, it is yet to be put before the Victorian Parliament.

The REIV chief executive Gil King said in a statement provided to Fairfax Media that "upon being made aware of the issue late last year, the REIV took immediate steps to ensure all authorities were compliant." "At this stage, the extent of the issue is not clear," Mr King noted.

It has emerged there is one case where Amy Sheggerud-Woods, a partner at Marsh & Maher Lawyers, is acting for an estate agent in proceedings involving the agent's entitlement to commission.

"Not only will the Supreme Court decision have far-reaching consequences for real estate agents who have used the Exclusive Sales Authority forms, but also for vendors, for the REIV (which has supplied the forms to real estate agents), and perhaps for Consumer Affairs Victoria (which approved the short form rebate statement)," Ms Sheggerud-Woods wrote on LinkedIn last month.

In the Keysborough case Augustin Pty Ltd (the Respondent) owned the property at 382 Greens Road, Keysborough and in signing an exclusive sale authority, engaged Advisory Services Pty Ltd (trading as Ray White St Albans) (Applicant) for the sale of the property.

The Respondent sold the property however the purchaser defaulted under the contract.

The Respondent then engaged another agency to assist in selling the property once more, which the applicant claimed was during the period of the exclusive sale authority.

A dispute arose and the applicant sued the respondent for commission on both sales, totalling $385,000.

Lawyers ML& K Legal facebooked in early May that the judgement was "a must read for real estate agents!"

The Ray White estate agency was represented by R Hay QC briefed by Alderuccio Solicitors while the property owner engaged I W Upjohn briefed by Webb Korfiatis.
After 15 years on the run, justice finally caught up with Adolf Eichmann on May 11, 1960. The Nazi war criminal -- who organized the deportation of millions of Jews to death camps in German-occupied Poland -- was kidnapped outside his Buenos Aires home by Mossad agents and brought to trial in Israel. He was found guilty of crimes against humanity and hanged in 1962.

But Eichmann's capture needn't have been so long in the making. German newspaper Bild this weekend published a secret service document that revealed West German intelligence officials knew about his Argentine hideout as early as 1952. It appears as though the agency chose not to act on the information.

A German newspaper published a secret service document showing that intelligence officials knew about Adolf Eichmann's hideout as early as 1952.

The typewritten file card obtained by Bild notes that Eichmann was living in the Argentine capital under the alias Clemens. "SS colonel Eichmann is not to be found in Egypt but is residing in Argentina under the fake name Clemens," it read. "Eichmann's address is known to the editor of the German newspaper 'Der Weg' in Argentina." (German weekly Der Spiegel reported that Eichmann had in fact adopted the pseudonym Ricardo Klement.)

Argentine journalist Uki Goni -- author of "The Real Odessa," which chronicles the postwar flight of Nazi criminals to South America -- told AOL News that he wasn't surprised West German agents had discovered Eichmann's whereabouts by 1952.
The Mueller investigation of President Trump has reached an impasse. The special counsel wants to interview the president. The presidents lawyers -- well aware of cases in which prominent people have been convicted of perjury about their sworn statements instead of the crime for which they were being investigated  do not want him to testify. They suspect a perjury trap.

This doesnt mean theyre afraid the president will not be truthful when interviewed, but only that his recollection of an event or a conversation will differ from that of others whom Mueller has interviewed, or even differ from documentation in Muellers possession.

The special counsel has threatened that he will subpoena Trump, and one of the presidents lawyers has said he would defy a subpoena. This would set off a legal and constitutional controversy that could go on for a considerable period, eventually reach the Supreme Court, and still not resolve any of the questions about Russia collusion or obstruction of justice. Its a dream scenario for the resistance.

This is absurd. We have a regular order in the criminal justice system to be followed by the parties, but it has been completely ignored in all the threats going back and forth in the media.

After a year of work, the special counsel and his staff have assembled a massive amount of information, but no one outside the Mueller staff knows whether he has any evidence that actually incriminates President Trump.

In a normal criminal case, the prosecutor outlines the evidence to the defendants lawyer, and the lawyer and client decide whether to plea-bargain or go to trial. Of course, this case is different because of its political elements. If Mueller reveals his evidence to the presidents lawyers, and it is deemed weak, it will be leaked to the media, eliminating any leverage that Mueller might have to get the president to sit down with him.

Even if Muellers evidence is strong, the president has political options, such as closing down Muellers investigation, which could make the premature disclosure of evidence to the presidents lawyers inadvisable for the special counsel.

So the fact is that no one will know what Mueller actually has, and the standoff between him and Trump could go on indefinitely.

But the president has an option that no one has suggested. He knows better than anyone whether he is vulnerable to prosecution, and more than anyone else he wants to bring this matter to a close and get on with his presidency. Trump could tell Mueller that he will not appear before a grand jury. He could argue that, as the apparent target of the special counsel, he cannot be compelled to testify.

Whether defendants have this option is debatable among lawyers, but as a political matter most Americans would think its unfair to call the president to testify when the prosecutor in this case has had a year to develop his case. If he does not have a case without the presidents testimony, then he should give up.

Accordingly, Trump could tell Mueller  perhaps, fittingly, in a tweet  I will not sit down with you and answer your questions. Nor will I respond to a subpoena to appear before a grand jury. Instead, if you actually have evidence of my wrongdoing, which I dont believe, I urge you to bring it to the grand jury and indict me. Ill see you in court.

Its true that a prosecutor, as the saying goes, can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, but this case is different. If Mueller has substantial evidence against the president he will proceed with an indictment in any event, and there is nothing the president might tell him in an interview that will change that. But if, as many suspect, Mueller has nothing that has not already been made public, indicting a sitting president on that basis would be a huge and career-ending embarrassment for him and his team.

From the presidents perspective, a fish-or-cut bait challenge to Mueller would have one major benefit. It would bring pressure on Mueller, after more than a year of investigation, to make a choice: either to seek an indictment or issue a report that clears the president of criminally culpable activity.
JALALABAD, Afghanistan -- At least 10 people have been killed and more than 40 injured in a coordinated attack by suicide bombers and gunmen at a government building in the city of Jalalabad.

The attack targeted the tax and revenue office of Nangarhar Province in the city center of Jalalabad on May 13.

Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said a suicide car bomb exploded outside the building, which belongs to the provincial finance directorate.

The attackers then stormed the building, trading fire with security officials for several hours.

"There were eight terrorists who carried out a coordinated attack in Jalalabad city, killing 10 people," Khogyani said. He added that 42 other people were wounded during a gunbattle.

He said security forces killed six of the attackers after two of them carried out suicide attacks near the entrance of the building.

Meanwhile, authorities evacuated a nearby school for girls. They said there were no reports of injuries about the students or teachers.

Sohrab Qaderi, a member of Nangarhar's provincial council, said one attacker appeared to have blown himself up at the gate of the building and two other appeared to have detonated their explosives inside the building.

Qaderi said at least four attackers then stormed into the building with rocket-propelled-grenade launchers and AK-47 assault rifles.

The extremist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack, the group's Amaq news agency said, without providing any evidence.

The militant attack is the latest in a series across Afghanistan this year.

Most have been in Kabul. But in January, gunmen attacked an office of aid group Save the Children in Jalalabad, killing at least five people and wounding 25.

Nine journalists, including two RFE/RL journalists and a trainee, were among 25 people killed in a double suicide blast claimed by the extremist group Islamic State in the capital on April 30.

With reporting by Reuters and AP
Dozens of Georgians danced to the sounds of electronic music in downtown Tbilisi on May 13 in a protest against an overnight drug raid against two popular music clubs in the capital. Critics describe the police crackdown as a PR stunt aimed at the growing club scene in Tbilisi.
Demonstrators who have been protesting drug raids by police in Tbilisi have continued their demonstration, after local authorities dismantled a protest camp they had set up in front of the parliament building.

Dozens of protesters danced to the sound of music in downtown Tbilisi against a drug raid on two popular nightclubs in the capital.

One of the protest leaders told journalists on May 13 that demonstrators regarded the police action against the tent camp as a "provocation," but they did not resist police who began shortly after dawn to remove tents that had been erected the previous evening.

Georgia's Interior Ministry said three intoxicated demonstrators were detained during the operation to dismantle the protest camp.

The protest camp was erected late on May 12 by thousands of people who took to the streets to protest an overnight drug raid on two popular nightclubs in the capital, demanding the resignations of the interior minister and the prime minister.

Anna Subeliani, one of the organizers of the rally, told RFE/RL that they would not stop until their demands were met.

Meanwhile, At least two ultra-right-wing groups staged a counterdemonstration in Tbilisi, to protest the rally that has been taking place since May 12.

The members of a radical right-wing group, clad in black shirts and burgundy arm badges, some wearing face masks, claimed they were against "drug traders" and "LGBT propaganda" and announced the creation of a "national guard army to protect our motherland."

WATCH: Georgian far-right groups marched in Tbilisi on May 13 in condemnation of the rallies of club goers who have been protesting since a May 12 drug raid on two popular music clubs.

In order to avoid confrontation between the protesters, the police prevented the right-wingers from approaching the parliament building. Later, police arrested a leader of another ultrarightist group, Giorgi Gabedava, who had threatened the demonstrators and attempted to get the police to let him through.

Around 4,000 demonstrators -- many dancing to electronic music pulsating from speakers -- had gathered outside the Georgian parliament building in Tbilisi by early evening on May 12 in response to the morning raid that drew criticism for what some called an excessive use of police force against club goers.

WATCH: Thousands of people gathered in front of the Georgian parliament building in Tbilisi on May 12 to protest an overnight drug raid by police on two popular nightclubs in the capital.

As night set in, the music -- and the nightclub atmosphere -- intensified, with the demonstration morphing into a kind of makeshift rave, while tents were seen being set up by protesters late in the evening.

The Interior Ministry said its officers had detained eight suspected drug dealers after storming the two clubs, Bassiani and Cafe Gallery, in the early hours of May 12.

Critics call the operation a PR stunt by police aimed at demonstrating its commitment to enforcing strict antidrug laws and intimidating the growing club scene in the Georgian capital.

Some club goers allege that drugs may have been planted by police.

"The only thing they've been trying to do lately is to turn public opinion against humane drug policies," activist Beka Tsikarishvili told RFE/RL at the rally.

"This is what the recent events illustrate. So we really cannot hope that under this administration any positive changes can take place in this county," Tsikarishvili said.

The raid followed a series of what are believed to be drug-related deaths in Tbilisi in recent weeks.

Giorgi Mshvenieradze, the head of the Georgian Democracy Initiative, a nongovernmental organization, said that some in Georgia "view clubbing subculture as something debauched and immoral."

"This is very bad. But what's even worse is that the state started playing their game and showed society that on a Friday night it can storm a nightclub with hundreds of special forces, just to detain eight people," Mshvenieradze told RFE/RL.

Mamuka Chelidze, head of the Interior Ministry's criminal police department, told a news conference that the ministry "has been conducting intensive investigative measures for the last three months to establish the facts of the drug trade in Bassiani and Gallery nightclubs."

Activist Giorgi Tabagari called the raid on the two clubs a blow to progressive social movements in Georgia.

Several leading human rights organizations in Georgia have issued a joint petition calling for the government to hold those responsible for the police operation accountable.

The groups said the raid was a "demonstration of force" that "openly and blatantly violated human rights," and they urged authorities to introduce more humane drug policies.

Georgia's ombudswoman, Nino Lomjaria, told a local television station that her representatives had met with the eight detainees, and that they claimed they were apprehended several hours before police raided the clubs.

Lomjaria said she still needed to examine case materials and video footage related to the operation.

Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze told reporters on May 12 that the nightlife economy and "clubbing life will develop, and we will support it as much as possible."

But he said the "drug trade" was an issue of serious concern.

"Our sisters and brothers are dying, and I am convinced that the youth, which is now standing in front of the parliament, will stand by our side and we will fight drug traders together," Kaladze said.

Kaladze also said two of the eight detainees had been released.

The protests in Georgia follow weeks of street demonstrations in neighboring Armenia that forced the prime minister to resign and led to the election of Nikol Pashinian, an opposition activist and politician, to the premiership.

With reporting by Current Time TV, Reuters, and Interfax
A new film by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who is banned from leaving Iran, has premiered to a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival.

Panahi's children and the cast of his film Three Faces were welcomed with thunderous applause as they arrived for the gala screening late on May 12, where one seat was left symbolically empty for the dissident director.

The film, which tells the story of the intertwined fate of three Iranian women, is one of 21 movies vying for the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or.

Starring Panahi himself and veteran actress Behnaz Jafari, the film puts a spotlight on the social and professional problems encountered by Iranian women -- especially actresses.

It is the second Iranian work in competition alongside Asghar Farhadi's Everybody Knows, which was the festival's opening attraction on May 9.

Iranian authorities banned the 57-year-old Panahi from making movies, or from leaving the country, after he supported mass protests in 2009 and made a series of films that critiqued the state of modern Iran.

Authorities in Tehran rejected pleas from Oscar-winning U.S. director Oliver Stone and other supporters to let him travel to Cannes.

But the bans have not stopped Panahi from working in secret.

His 2015 film Taxi won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, an award that upset his conservative critics in Tehran.

Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov also missed the May 10 premiere of his much-praised film Leto (Summer) after being placed under house arrest in Moscow on embezzlement charges.

Serebrennikov's supporters say the charges are politically motivated.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and Variety
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has expressed hope for a "clear future design" for the 2015 nuclear accord at the start of a diplomatic tour aimed at keeping the deal alive following the U.S. withdrawal.

"We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement," Zarif told reporters on May 13 after talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

An Iranian spokesman said Zarif will also visit Moscow and Brussels as part of the tour, saying the diplomatic mission was aimed at trying to rescue the nuclear deal from the brink of collapse.

China's Foreign Ministry on May 13 confirmed that the agenda of the talks between Zarif and Wang included an "exchange [of] views with relevant parties on the developments of the Iranian nuclear issue."

After their meeting, Zarif and Wang hailed the "comprehensive strategic partnership" between their countries, with the Chinese minister saying, "I hope and believe that these visits to multiple countries will...help protect Iran's legitimate national interests and peace and stability in the region."

Iran's semiofficial ISNA news agency quoted Zarif as saying upon his arrival in Beijing that he would "discuss the decision that Iran should take" in response to Trump's move.

"As the president of our republic has said, we are ready for all options," Zarif said on May 13. "If the nuclear deal is to continue, the interests of the people of Iran must be assured."

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rohani reiterated on May 13 that Tehran would remain in the nuclear accord provided its interests were protected.

China, Russia, France, Germany, Britain, and the United States signed the 2015 accord, which provided Tehran with relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

Trump long complained about the deal and said Tehran was violating the "spirit" of it by continuing to test ballistic missiles and by supporting militant activities in the region, leading him to withdraw from the pact on May 8.

The other signees had urged Washington to remain in the deal.

"China is highly concerned with the direction of the Iranian nuclear issue and is willing to maintain communication with all relevant parties, including Iran," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

Iran has claimed its nuclear program is for civilian purposes and denies supporting extremists in the region.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
An Iranian court has sentenced eight men to death in connection with terrorist attacks by the Islamic State (IS) extremist group that killed 18 people at the parliament and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's mausoleum.

The sentences were issued on May 13 by the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran.

Eighteen other suspects still face charges over the attacks in June 2017 by suicide bombers and gunmen.

Iran has said the five gunmen and suicide bombers who were killed during the attack had previously fought in Syria and Iraq as part of the IS militant group.

Musa Ghazanfarabadi, the head of the Revolutionary Court, told state television that the death sentences could be appealed in the Supreme Court.

Ghazanfarabadi said the Revolutionary Court would also hear claims against the United States and Saudi Arabia that were filed by families of the victims of the attacks.

Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps accuses the United States and Saudi Arabia of being behind the IS action.

Washington and Saudi Arabia deny the accusation.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
Shavkat Mirziyoev is making his first visit as Uzbekistan's president to Washington, D.C., this week.

It will be the first time an Uzbek president has been received at the White House since March 2002, when Islam Karimov visited just months after his country had agreed to allow the United States to use an air base in Uzbekistan for operations in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan will once again be on the agenda when Mirziyoev visits the United States on May 15-17.

But since Mirziyoev came to power in September 2016, Uzbekistan is transforming itself. Mirziyoev's government is moving to undo some of the more grievous rights abuses of the Karimov era. And the new government is more open to international cooperation, in no small part due to Uzbekistan's need to invigorate its economy.

What is Mirziyoev hoping for from this trip to the United States? What can Uzbekistan gain from better ties with the United States? What can the United States gain from better ties with Uzbekistan?

These were some of the topics the Majlis panel looked at in this latest session.

RFE/RL's media relations manager, Muhammad Tahir, moderated a discussion on the Uzbek president's upcoming visit.

Participating from Washington, from the Voice of America, we were joined by Navbahor Imamova, certainly one of the leading authorities on Uzbek-U.S. ties. Also participating was the director of RFE/RL's Uzbek Service (known locally as Ozodlik), Alisher Sidik, who knows quite a bit about Uzbek-U.S. ties as well. And I had to get in on this, I mean, the first time in more than 16 years an Uzbek president goes to Washington? Of course I have something to say.

Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes.
At least 20 people have been detained at a Moscow rally against government attempts to curtail Internet freedom, a rally coordinator says.

Hundreds of protesters attending the May 13 called for the unblocking of the popular app Telegram, while some chanted antigovernment slogans and brandished signs carrying messages against Internet censorship.

"About 25-30 people representing Left Front, the anarchists, and other organizations were detained. They have been led outside the cordons and are being placed in buses," Left Front opposition party coordinator Sergei Udaltsov told Interfax.

The police said about 1,000 people were taking part in the rally. The volunteer organization White Counter said more than 2,000 people came to the rally organized by mathematician Dmitry Bogatov and his wife, Tatyana Fyodorova.

Several opposition politicians took part in the protest, including former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov.

The rally came after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg on May 1 to protest against government attempts to restrict Internet freedom.

About 10,000 people also rallied in Moscow on April 30 to protest the blocking of Telegram, chanting that Russian President Vladimir Putin was "a thief!"

Last month's move to block Telegram has deepened concerns that the Russian government is seeking to close avenues for dissent.

Some users have circumvented the block by using virtual private networks.

Based on reporting by Current Time TV, Reuters, and Interfax
Shahzoda Yunusova and her relatives own a house on state-owned land in the historic center of the Uzbek city of Andijon, where the family has lived for decades.

In line with a centuries-old Uzbek custom, the family has added a new room to their house whenever space was short and a son was married -- giving the newlywed couple a chance to live separately, but stay close to home.

But under a 2013 government decree meant to "improve living conditions in public settlements," the house they've built up over the years in Andijon's Mustaqilik neighborhood is now being demolished.

The four families living in Yunusova's expanded house -- a total of 15 relatives -- have been told they will be relocated to a smaller parcel of land with a two-room house on the outskirts of the city.

"My oldest sister is divorced and lives with me along with her two children," Yunusova said. "My oldest brother also lives there with his family and three children. I also have a family and a child, and my unmarried younger sister is with us. How are all of us going to fit into the place they are proposing as compensation for demolishing our home?"

About 2,000 Mustaqilik residents now face the same plight as Yunusova and her relatives under a recent order by Andijon's regional governor, Shukhrat Abdurahmanov.

Altogether, 93 old houses are being pulled down in the neighborhood to make way for tower blocks of new apartments that will be sold to affluent Uzbeks.

The project is a boon for the private company that began the demolition work just 12 hours after Abdurahmanov issued the order on May 8.

Private construction firms building the new apartment blocks also stand to gain handsomely from the plan. The regional government will reap benefits by selling the apartments to new private owners who will continue to pay fees for using the state-owned land.

But Yunusova and her evicted neighbors say their forced relocation will not improve their living conditions. "Even though our house is old, it was built on 600 square meters of land and it is a large, five-room house," Yunusova told RFE/RL by telephone as bulldozers and backhoes began tearing down the neighborhood.

"We have been told that instead of our 600 square meters of land, we're going to receive 200 square meters," she said, noting there was no space to expand the two-room house they've been promised. "They say it doesn't matter if you have even four families in one household. You still get just 200 square meters."

Nowhere To Go

Making matters worse for the evicted, the new homes they've been promised have often not been built yet -- nor has the infrastructure for water and natural gas in their future neighborhood, called Bogishamol.

The authorities have told Yunusova and other evicted residents that the work will take at least five more months. In the meantime, their families will have to make do living in small college dormitory rooms meant for students.

The head of Mustaqilik's neighborhood administration, Odinahon Bakirov, confirmed to RFE/RL that families in each demolished property are meant to receive a new two-room house on 200 square meters of state-owned land -- regardless of the size of the property they were evicted from.

According to Article 27 of Uzbekistan's Housing Code, families removed from private dwellings demolished under government construction plans must be provided with new houses that are equal in value. If the demolished house was worth more, the difference must be compensated.

Yunusova's neighbor, Hotamjon Tohtaev, says that's not happening in Andijon.

In addition to the smaller properties and houses being offered, Tohtaev says the land in the undeveloped Bogishamol neighborhood is worth far less than the real estate they've been forced to leave in the city center.

"Our household is just next to the new market, Yungi Bazaar," Tohtaev said as workers began tearing down his home. "Every meter of this place is worth its weight in gold."

"If they provide us with beautiful housing in the city center, we'll be more than happy to leave our old houses," Tohtaev said. "But they are just throwing us out in the street as if we are dogs."

Other evicted residents complain they were given only 12 hours' notice to gather their belongings and leave -- and that police used force against those who tried to resist eviction.

Silenced By Fear

Governor Abdurahmonov declined to comment when asked by RFE/RL about the construction project, the evictions, and the complaints.

An Andijon municipal official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told RFE/RL that families that were "officially registered at the affected addresses" were being "temporarily placed in very good housing."

"There is no doubt that everybody is happy," the city administrator said, noting that the authorities had not received any formal complaints from evicted residents.

But human rights activists say the lack of officially registered complaints shows that Andijon residents are "silenced by fear."

Andijon was the scene of a bloody government crackdown against unrest in 2005 when Interior Ministry and National Security Service (SNB) troops opened fire on a crowd of protesters.

The government, claiming the operation focused on "terrorists," put the official death toll at 187.

Rights groups say at least 700 were killed and allege many victims were buried in mass graves in the Bogishamol neighborhood -- the same neighborhood where evicted Mustaqilik residents are being relocated.

One former SNB officer who defected to Britain told RFE/RL that more than 1,500 people were killed indiscriminately in the Andijon crackdown upon direct orders from President Islam Karimov.

Today, residents who talk about the crackdown find themselves in trouble with police and are often jailed.

Joshua Franco, a human rights researcher, says Uzbek authorities have "designed a system where surveillance and the expectation of surveillance is not the exception, but the norm."

"It's an environment of constant fear for Uzbekistani people," Franco says, noting that critics of the government have been hunted down as far away as Germany and Sweden.

All evicted Andijon residents who spoke to RFE/RL said they were angry at regional and local officials rather than Karimov's successor, President Shavkat Mirziyoev.

"We are not against presidential decisions," Tohtaev told RFE/RL. "OK, let them demolish our houses if it is necessary. Just give us fair compensation as the law requires."

But the authority behind the regional governor's demolition order is the 2013 government decree on "improving living conditions" that was signed by then-Prime Minister Mirziyoev as part of late President Karimov's development plan for Uzbekistan.

Implementation of the plan has continued since Karimov died in 2016 and Mirziyoev replaced him as president.

Pattern Of Complaints

Over the years, residents and shopkeepers at prime-real-estate locations have been evicted in towns and cities across Uzbekistan to make way for government-funded construction projects.

A pattern of complaints has emerged that is echoed by the recently evicted residents of Andijon.

Eviction orders are issued by regional governors or municipal authorities who are following the directives of the central government in Tashkent.

This was the case for hundreds of residents of the UNESCO-protected city of Shahrisabz in 2014, hundreds of families in Tashkent and Jizzakh in 2016, and about 40 families in Termez in 2017.

Demolition workers arrive and homeowners are evicted before they have adequate time to pack their belongings or organize a legal challenge against the order.

And residents are often evicted before replacement housing has been constructed -- forcing them to live for months, or even years, in temporary accommodation.

When they finally arrive at their new house, the property is substantially smaller than the home they were forced to leave. The new property is also worth far less, and the water and gas infrastructure often does not exist.

Other cases illustrate the potential for corruption when demolition or construction work is carried out by the relatives or business cronies of the officials writing the eviction orders.

Shop owners in Ferghana who staged public protests over being evicted in 2014 told RFE/RL that the city's mayor threatened to shoot them in the head unless they halted their demonstrations.

However, Andijon residents managed in 2015 and 2016 to stop the planned demolition of a 700-year-old minaret -- which was to be replaced by a water fountain -- by writing appeals directly to then-Prime Minister Mirziyoev.

In February 2017, more than 500 vendor stalls at a newly built shopping complex in the city of Bukhara were torn down as part of a government project that saw a new trade center built in its place by the brother of Bukhara's mayor, Karim Kamolov.

Interviewed by RFE/RL, Kamolov refused to comment on the potential conflict of interest over his brother's role as a key construction contractor. He said the vendors would be compensated for the loss of their shops with an offer to buy new stalls at a reduced price.

But vendors say they are still waiting to be fully compensated for the loss of their market stalls.

Written by Ron Synovitz with reporting by RFE/RL Uzbek Service correspondent Sadriddin Ashurov
Actor Martin Freeman

Actor Martin Freeman believes that the expectations of social change after the success of "Black Panther", which was the first superhero film to be primarily led by an all-black cast, are overblown. The actor, who played CIA agent Everett Ross in the Ryan Coogler-directed film, said when nothing changed in the United States of America, even after the presidency of Barack Obama, how can a film influence people's mindset.



'People have felt a need for it, and people don't always feel a social need to go and see a film. Certain members of certain communities feel that 'Yes, this is my film.' I'm not making any claims that now America will change - of course it won't. If America didn't change under (Barack) Obama, then..." Freeman, 46, told The Guardian. "You have to be realistic about what we do. We are making films, which are really important, but it doesn't change everything. It's just very nice to be part of what has been a very important film to a lot of people," he added.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today said the construction of the Ram-Janki Marg from here to Nepal's Janakpur would be expedited, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart inaugurated a bus service between the two cities sacred to Hindus. The chief minister was in Ayodhya to receive a Nepalese delegation that reached here today by the Indo-Nepal bus service. The bus was flagged off by prime ministers Modi and K P Sharma Oli from Janakpur in the Himalayan nation. The Ram-Janki Marg -- connecting Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama, to Janakpur, the birthplace of Goddess Sita -- is part of a Ramayana Circuit that aims to promote religious tourism in Nepal and India. The Nepalese delegation comprised political leaders and officials, and they were apprised of the road through a brochure of the Uttar Pradesh information department. The Ram-Janki road will reduce travel time between Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh and Janakpur in Nepal from eleven hours to seven hours, Adityanath said.

The bus was flagged off by Prime ministers Modi and K P Sharma Oli

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"This is Modiji's best effort to connect the heritage of Nepal and India... I thank him for this direct bus service. Both the governments (India and Nepal) are finalizing the agreement to fix the route and duration," he said. "Times have changed and ages have passed since Lord Rama's visit to Janakpur, but the relationship between both the countries cannot be breached. The relation of India and Nepal will remain intact," the chief minister said. Speaking on the occasion, Saroj Kumar Kushwaha, a provincial minister from Nepal, said, "There is an unbreakable relation of Ram and Sita, both the nations must remember this." Usha Yadav, also a provincial minister, urged the Uttar Pradesh government to cooperate in the development of the Madhesi community. "Women in both countries share the same status of suppression and harassment, governments must take initiative to support them," she said. The Ram-Janki Marg, according to the brochure, will pass through 14 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today reviewed the overall security situation in the state at a meeting of the Unified Headquarters here. A detailed review of the security scenario in the state, including the situation along the borders, was conducted at the meeting, a spokesman said. Mufti asked security and intelligence agencies to synchronize their efforts and actions on the ground, while dealing with challenging situations, through strict adherence to standard operating procedures. She advised security agencies to ensure safety and security of general public and their properties, while dealing with security and law and order- related incidents.



Mufti asked the agencies to adopt a "calibrated response" to various situations during the upcoming month of Ramzan, tourist season and Amarnath Yatra. The chief minister underscored the need for engaging meaningfully with the people, particular youths so that they are able to gainfully contribute to society. She stressed on increased community policing activities and enhanced outreach by the administration. Mufti also stressed the need for continued coordination among various agencies at each level. Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta was also present at the meeting which was attended by senior Army, police, CRPF and intelligence officials.
Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram

The BJP today took a dig at the Congress over charge sheets filed against former Union finance minister P Chidambaram's family, with party leader Nirmala Sitharaman wondering if this was the Congress party's "Nawaz Sharif moment". The Defence Minister was referring to the Pakistan Supreme Court's decision disqualifying its former prime minister from holding office because of non-disclosure of assets and income earned abroad. The parallels cannot be missed out in this case. I am wondering if, for Congress party in India, we are seeing the Nawaz Sharif moment," she told reporters here. The Income Tax department on May 11 filed charge sheets against Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets. Sitharaman asked if Congress president Rahul Gandhi would investigate the issue involving his party's senior leader. The Congress party president, incidentally who is also out on bail on some financial transactions which are questionable, should certainly comment and tell the entire party and people of India whether he is going to investigate this, she said.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi

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She pointed out that the Pakistan Supreme Court had disqualified Sharif from holding office because of not disclosing assets held in foreign countries. Sitharaman said the law on black money was brought in by the Modi government because it had pledged to fight black money held in India and abroad before the last Lok Sabha elections. The charge sheets or prosecution complaints have been filed by the IT department before a special court in Chennai under Section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, officials had said. Nalini Chidambaram, Karti, and Srinidhi and a firm linked to Karti have been accused of not disclosing, either partly or fully, immovable assets such as one at Barton, Cambridge, UK, worth Rs 5.37 crore, property worth Rs 80 lakh in the same country and assets worth Rs 3.28 crore in the US. The family of the former finance minister had said the Income Tax Department (ITD) charge sheets against them under the black money law were "baseless allegations" as the overseas investments under question had been reflected in their IT returns.
Researchers at Oregon State University are challenging the premise that trophy hunting is an acceptable and effective tool for wildlife conservation and community development.

They argue that charging hunters to kill animals and claim body parts should be a last resort rather than a fallback plan.

In a paper published today in Conservation Letters, the researchers label the practice as morally inappropriate and say alternative strategies such as ecotourism should be fully explored and ruled out before trophy hunting is broadly endorsed.

"Trophies are body parts," said lead author Chelsea Batavia, a Ph.D. student in OSU's College of Forestry. "But when I read the literature, I don't see researchers talking about them like that. Nobody's even flinching. And at this point it seems to have become so normalized, no one really stops to think about what trophy hunting actually entails."

Furthermore, the authors point out, the notion that trophy hunting is imperative to conservation seems to have taken hold largely without compelling empirical evidence. Such an assumption is not only unsubstantiated but can also serve to squelch the search for alternatives.

"Rejecting trophy hunting could open up space for innovation and creativity," they write.

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Batavia worked with colleagues in Oregon State's Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society and collaborators from Canada and Australia. The idea for the paper occurred to them over the course of a review of scholarly literature on trophy hunting.

"Conservation scientists commonly recognize strong public opposition to the practice, and at times even point to some sort of ethical tension, but they don't really define or address it," Batavia said.

She and her co-authors decided it was time to break the silence and highlight an issue they suspect may underpin the public discomfort around trophy hunting -- that it involves a hunter paying a fee to kill an animal and subsequently retaining some or all of the animal's body as a trophy.

Part of the ongoing problem, the researchers write, is the word "trophy," a sanitized expression for the tusks, ears, feet, heads, etc. that hunters remove from the animals' bodies.

"It's almost like an ethical distraction, calling it by some other name," said co-author Michael Paul Nelson, a professor and the Ruth H. Spaniol Chair of Renewable Resources at OSU. "We have these metaphors that we hide behind. It's like we recognize it's an ethically loaded topic but we don't know what to do about it. And we've tied conservation to the practice of trophy hunting -- how do we get off that train?"

Proponents argue that trophy hunting supports conservation goals by generating money and reducing poaching and also that it bolsters local economies.

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Nelson, Batavia and their co-authors recognize these benefits, but they counter that "collecting bodies or body parts as trophies is an ethically inappropriate way to interact with individual animals, regardless of the beneficial outcomes that do or do not follow."

"We owe these animals some basic modicum of respect," the researchers suggest. "To transform them into trophies of human conquest is a violation of common decency, and to accept trophy hunting as the international conservation community seems to have done is to aid and abet an immoral practice."

If it's determined that saving wildlife is inexorably linked to trophy hunting, conservationists should then "accept the practice only with a due appreciation of tragedy, and proper remorse," the researchers write. They do acknowledge the possibility that future scientific research may suggest trophy hunting is in fact critical to the conservation mission in certain contexts.

"In that case trophy hunting should be used reluctantly," they write. "The enthusiasm with which trophy hunting has already been championed as a potential conservation success story is misplaced. Trophy hunting violates the dignity of individual nonhuman animals, and is beneath our dignity as human beings. Continuing complicity by conservationists without fully exhausting other options is not now appropriate nor has it ever been."

Joining Batavia and Nelson on the paper are Bill Ripple of OSU, Arian Wallach of the University of Technology Sydney, and Chris Darimont and Paul Paquet of the University of Victoria and the Raincoast Conservation Foundation.
The historic first detection of gravitational waves from colliding black holes far outside our galaxy opened a new window to understanding the universe. A string of detections -- four more binary black holes and a pair of neutron stars -- soon followed the Sept. 14, 2015, observation.

Now, another detector is being built to crack this window wider open. This next-generation observatory, called LISA, is expected to be in space in 2034, and it will be sensitive to gravitational waves of a lower frequency than those detected by the Earth-bound Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

A new Northwestern University study predicts dozens of binaries (pairs of orbiting compact objects) in the globular clusters of the Milky Way will be detectable by LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna). These binary sources would contain all combinations of black hole, neutron star and white dwarf components. Binaries formed from these star-dense clusters will have many different features from those binaries that formed in isolation, far from other stars.

The study is the first to use realistic globular cluster models to make detailed predictions of LISA sources. "LISA Sources in Milky-Way Globular Clusters" was published today, May 11, by the journal Physical Review Letters.

"LISA is sensitive to Milky Way systems and will expand the breadth of the gravitational wave spectrum, allowing us to explore different types of objects that aren't observable with LIGO," said Kyle Kremer, the paper's first author, a Ph.D. student in physics and astronomy in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and a member of a computational astrophysics research collaboration based in Northwestern's Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA).

In the Milky Way, 150 globular clusters have been observed so far. The Northwestern research team predicts one out of every three clusters will produce a LISA source. The study also predicts that approximately eight black hole binaries will be detectable by LISA in our neighboring galaxy of Andromeda and another 80 in nearby Virgo.

Before the first detection of gravitational waves by LIGO, as the twin detectors were being built in the United States, astrophysicists around the world worked for decades on theoretical predictions of what astrophysical phenomena LIGO would observe. That is what the Northwestern theoretical astrophysicists are doing in this new study, but this time for LISA, which is being built by the European Space Agency with contributions from NASA.

"We do our computer simulations and analysis at the same time our colleagues are bending metal and building spaceships, so that when LISA finally flies, we're all ready at the same time," said Shane L. Larson, associate director of CIERA and an author of the study. "This study is helping us understand what science is going to be contained in the LISA data."

A globular cluster is a spherical structure of hundreds of thousands to millions of stars, gravitationally bound together. The clusters are some of the oldest populations of stars in the galaxy and are efficient factories of compact object binaries.

The Northwestern research team had numerous advantages in conducting this study. Over the past two decades, Frederic A. Rasio and his group have developed a powerful computational tool -- one of the best in the world -- to realistically model globular clusters. Rasio, the Joseph Cummings Professor in Northwestern's department of physics and astronomy, is the senior author of the study.

The researchers used more than a hundred fully evolved globular cluster models with properties similar to those of the observed globular clusters in the Milky Way. The models, which were all created at CIERA, were run on Quest, Northwestern's supercomputer cluster. This powerful resource can evolve the full 12 billion years of a globular cluster's life in a matter of days.
The care provided by a mother can impact the body clock and health of offspring after birth, according to new research published in The Journal of Physiology. By reducing abnormalities in the body clock of offspring, it may be possible to develop therapies for serious lifestyle-related diseases, such as heart disease and obesity.

The body has an internal clock that regulates sleepiness over a 24 hour period, called your circadian rhythm. The circadian system is important so that processes in our body are synchronised with day and night, i.e. when it is light or dark outside. Disturbances in these mechanisms can lead to poor health, such as heart disease.

The mother-offspring interaction is very important for health later in adulthood. This is the first study to provide compelling evidence that the circadian characteristics of a mother may positively affect the likelihood of disease developing in offspring. Providing better maternal care significantly reduced abnormalities in the circadian system and resulted in a lower likelihood of development of heart disease.

The study conducted by the Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences was performed in two strains of laboratory rats, in which the maternal care and synchrony of their circadian clocks with external day/night cycle differed. The effect of maternal care provided by the genetic mother of these pups was compared with maternal care of the foster mother. The pups either had an aberrant circadian system and were genetically determined to develop disease in adulthood or they were healthy controls. The researchers tested the effect of maternal care on the body clock before and just after weaning, and on their activity rhythms, heart rate and blood pressure in adulthood. Proper maternal care provided to pups genetically predisposed to develop disease led to improvement of their clock function and abolished the rise in their heart rate in adulthood.

The data obtained in pups before weaning were based on population samples because the researchers could not assess circadian rhythms of the clocks in each individual pup within the body without disturbing the maternal behaviour. Additionally, in the rat strain spontaneously developing disease, the molecular mechanisms connecting the circadian clock and the pathology has not been understood.

Alena Sumova, corresponding author for the study said: "These results point to a real possibility to reduce abnormalities in the offspring's body clock and therefore limit the progression of disease in order to improve health. Our future research will be directed at understanding in more detail how an aberrant circadian system contributes to the progression of disease. We believe that this research is worth future explorations as it may provide novel therapies for serious life-style related diseases in humans.'
Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle 2016

A man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of twice stealing rainbow flags from outside the Chamber of Commerce in Guerneville, a popular gay resort town, and threatening to blow up a Safeway and a Sonoma County Sheriffs Office substation, law enforcement officials said.

The intent was to injure deputies and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, officials said.
Andrea Kneeland, a teacher librarian in her first year at Frick Impact Academy, had heard students at the middle school in East Oakland werent interested in reading.

The library, which had been closed for about a decade, reopened the year before Kneeland took the job of cataloging books and interacting with students.

Most students at the school were reading years below grade level, she learned. And some students couldnt even grasp all the letters of the alphabet.

But within her first few months of restocking the shelves, Kneeland learned that Frick students were checking out more books than any other Oakland Unified School District middle school.

The school was filled with readers, after all.

How can you know if you have readers or not if you are not exposing them to books that they want to read? Kneeland said. At least find some books that the kids like, so they dont hate this thing that theyre also being told that theyre not good at.

But its true: Oakland public school students arent very good at reading.

According to the Scholastic Reading Inventory, an assessment of reading performance, only 36.1 percent of students in the school district were reading at or above grade level in the spring of the 2016-17 academic year. And a whopping 40.8 percent of students were more than one year below grade level.

But Kari Hatch, the executive director of the nonprofit Friends of the Oakland Public School Libraries, says its not the students fault that theyre having trouble reading.

She believes students dont do well on the reading assessment test, in part because many dont have access to a school library.

Im sharing this because studies show that school libraries impact student literacy, especially for students of color who come from disadvantaged neighborhoods. When there is an active library in their schools, those students perform better on standardized tests and are much more likely to graduate.

And for many of those students, Kneeland told me, the school library is the only place where theyll have access to materials that enrich their learning experiences.

Studies prove of anything you can put in a school, a school library is the single most effective thing at closing the achievement gap, she said.

According to the school district, 24 of its 84 libraries are completely closed, which is about 28.5 percent of them. That number is disputed by Hatch, who said the number of closed libraries is closer to 40 percent. Many of the libraries considered open, Hatch said, arent staffed daily or staffed by librarians at all. And some dont allow students to check out books.

To run a library, you need librarians, but California has the worst librarian-to-student ratio in the nation. There are about 8,000 students for every librarian in the states schools, a ratio thats about eight times larger than the national average, according to the California School Boards Association.

And the gap has been steadily widening for two decades. In the 2000-01 academic year, there were 4,306 students for every librarian, according to the California Department of Education.

The issue with libraries is indicative of a bigger problem in our state, Oakland school board member Jody London told me. Theres so many pressures on school districts that ... when we look at how do we spend our funds ... we have a lot of competing demands.

We should be demanding that the school district spend money more wisely.

A University of Oregon study released last week found that the district had a net loss of $57.4 million in revenue last school year, because 15,500 students chose to attend one of the citys 40 charter schools.

My colleague Jill Tucker pointed out that Oakland Unifieds enrollment has significantly declined over the past two decades. It has 37,000 students this year, down from 54,000 in 2000. But district officials have not closed many schools to address the lower enrollment, saying its not an effective way to save money.

So keeping schools with low enrollment open while keeping libraries shuttered in schools with high enrollment is an effective way to educate?

The schools that have highly qualified libraries and librarians, those children benefit from the parents that understand how important it is to have a library in their school, Hatch said. But if its not the parents that are making that happen, historically, its not really happened in Oakland.

The school district told me libraries are a high priority, and that even as budget cuts have been made in other areas, the district will maintain current library staffing.

Its true that this funding is not adequate to have open libraries in every school, open all week, said John Sasaki, a spokesman for Oakland Unified. Thats the work in front of us. Figuring out how to, along with our community, raise the funds necessary to open and fully staff all libraries in our schools.

Lisa Hobbs is a librarian at Crocker Highlands Elementary School. The library wouldnt be open if the schools Parent Teacher Association didnt pay Hobbs salary.

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.

Its really telling that the communities in Oakland that have strong parent communities and have resources, they have libraries, she said. And the parents in the communities dont consider it to be an extra. Its something that they feel like is essential for their kids well-being.

What about schools without parents with extra money to pay for a school librarian? Are they supposed to accept the learning and achievement gap?

Last year, a citizens oversight committee recommended a change in the funding school district libraries receive from Measure G, a 2008 parcel tax. Measure G amounts to an additional $20 million each year in the school districts budget, but the money is earmarked for seven broad categories, including to maintain school libraries.

The libraries, though, have usually been kept at the end of the waiting list.

In the 2014-15 academic year, only $86,952 was allotted for school libraries. In 2015-16, the allotment rose to $121,000. That year, though, the oversight committee found that none of the money was actually spent on maintaining school libraries. The Measure G allotment jumped to $1.2 million in 2016-17, but that was about $200,000 shy of what it was in 2013-14.

Our Measure G oversight committee has recommended that we put some guidelines in place and think about how we want to direct the funds, London said.

If the district wants to open some of the school libraries that are closed, thats a good place to start. But its still short of the kind of commitment to libraries that Hatch of the Friends of the Oakland Public School Libraries is seeking.

We have not made libraries part of our literacy program, Hatch said. Why not?

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor Jr. appears Mondays and Thursdays. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr
During almost every Supreme Court nomination battle, I try to make the same point: These fights wouldnt be nearly so ugly if we didnt invest so much power in the Supreme Court it shouldnt have in the first place.

Until the Robert Bork nomination in 1987, Supreme Court fights were remarkably staid affairs. But by the late 80s, the court had become a bulwark for all sorts of policies and laws that should rightly be in the portfolio of the legislative or executive branch, or, better, left to the various states. As a result, on any number of issues  most conspicuously abortion policy  the court became more important than the presidency or Congress. No wonder fights over Supreme Court appointments started to look more and more like political campaigns than debates over the finer points of judicial philosophy.

Why bring this up now, when theres no Supreme Court fight at the moment? Because the power we invest in the court doesnt warp and bend our politics solely during confirmation battles.

One of the things Trump has decided is that he is going to give the court to the base of the party, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin told an audience at the University of Chicagos Institute of Politics last week. Donald Trump can have sex with Stormy Daniels from now until the end of time and the evangelicals will stick with him because of the courts.

This could use a bit more nuance. But it is certainly true that if Trump didnt appoint conservatives to the Supreme Court he would lose a lot of support on the right.

I have done more than my share of criticizing members of my ideological tribe for abandoning many of the arguments they made about the importance of good character and morality in political leaders, so I am happy to stipulate that this bargain is shot through with hypocrisy. But perhaps liberals could take a few moments to reflect on why conservatives think such transactionalism is justified.

Its reasonable to assume that if the court had stuck to its traditional role and not become a parallel legislative branch, this grand bargain with President Trump would feel less imperative.

In my debates with liberals about my new book, Suicide of the West, one of the biggest complaints I get is over the idea that Trump was elected in large part as a backlash against the excesses of liberals. We didnt elect the guy, so we did nothing wrong.

But thats not how politics works. Barack Obama was elected as a backlash against George W. Bushs presidency, specifically the Iraq War. Bush in turn was elected in no small part because he promised to end the tawdriness of the scandal-ridden Clinton era. And so on. Politics has always been dialectical in this fashion.

The backlash that propelled Trump to the White House was by no means solely about the Supreme Court. Progressivisms investment in identity politics, its lunge leftward on immigration and the Democrats insistence on reinstating the Clinton political dynasty played important roles, too.

But my point about the court stands. Its doubtful Trump could have galvanized the support of conservatives if he hadnt promised to hand over the nomination process to the Federalist Society. And let me be clear: Im glad he did.

The founders chief concern when writing the Constitution was to prevent the concentration of unchecked power in any branch of government or faction, because they understood that concentrated power was inherently threatening to liberty, no matter who wielded it. Thats the whole point of checks and balances; every player on the board has a vested interest in not letting a rival player get too powerful.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, progressives have repeatedly tried to invest as much power as possible in whatever branch of government they controlled at the moment. And every time, they dismissed concerns about what might happen when their opponents grabbed control of that institution. Liberals cheered, for instance, when President Obama ruled like a monarch via executive orders with his pen and phone.

Now, they get to watch as President Trump erases Obamas work (the Iran deal, the Paris climate accord, etc.). I shudder to think what liberals will do if they replay the same gambit when the inevitable Trump backlash comes.

Jonah Goldbergs new book, Suicide of the West, is now available wherever books are sold. Email: goldbergcolumn@gmail.com Twitter: @JonahNRO. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at SFChronicle.com/letters.

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.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently granted to an oil refinery owned by Carl Icahn a so-called financial hardship waiver. The exemption allows the refinery to avoid clean air laws, potentially saving Icahn millions of dollars. Icahn is not exactly a hardship case. According to Bloombergs Billionaire Index, his net worth is $21.8 billion.

Over four decades as a corporate raider, Icahn has pushed CEOs to cut payrolls, abandon their communities and outsource jobs abroad in order to generate more money for him and other investors.

In 1985, after winning control of the now-defunct Trans World Airlines, Icahn stripped its assets, pocketed nearly $500 million in profits and left the airline more than $500 million in debt. Former TWA Chairman C.E. Meyer Jr. called Icahn one of the greediest men on earth.

No single person has done more to harm Americas working class than Carl Icahn. Not surprisingly, Icahn was a Trump backer from the start and has benefited immensely from Trumps presidency.

When Trump first talked with Scott Pruitt about running the EPA, Trump told Pruitt to meet with Icahn. As Icahn later recounted, I told Donald that [Pruitt] is somebody who will do away with many of the problems at the EPA.

Trump then made Icahn his special regulatory adviser, until lawmakers raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest.

Icahn has found other ways to make money off the Trump presidency. Days before Trump announced hefty tariffs on foreign-made steel, Icahn sold off $31.3 million in stock he owned in the Manitowoc Company, a manufacturer of steel cranes. After Trumps announcement, the companys shares tumbled.

Icahn says he had no inside knowledge of Trumps move, but why should anyone believe him? The Trump presidency is awash in conflicts of interest, lies, payoffs to friends, insider deals and utter disdain for the public.

Icahns steel deal was chicken feed relative to the billions hell pocket courtesy of Trumps tax cut. Icahn is said to have spent $150 million lobbying for it, which makes it one of his best investments so far.

Meanwhile, real financial hardships are bearing down on Americans who are getting no help at all. The water in Flint, Mich., is still unsafe. Much of Puerto Rico is still in the dark. Last month, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Poverty Is a State of Mind Carson proposed large rent increases for families receiving housing assistance, explaining that help to the poor creates perverse consequences, such as discouraging these families from earning more money.

Rubbish. Low-income Americans are already working hard, many paying half their monthly incomes in rent.

The Trump administration is also allowing states to demand that Medicaid recipients work, although theres no evidence Medicaid deters people from working. In fact, many low-income Americans are able to work only because they have access to health care via Medicaid.

Trump and his enablers on Capitol Hill are proposing that people receiving food stamps work at least 20 hours a week. Yet more than 40 million Americans  including many children and disabled  are already struggling with hunger, and food stamps average only $1.40 per person per meal.

In contrast to their argument that the poor need less help in order to work harder, Trump and his enablers justify regulatory and tax handouts to Carl Icahn and his ilk by arguing that the rich need more in order to work harder.

But despite the regulatory relief and giant tax cut theyre getting, Americas rich arent investing more than before.

Corporations have been using savings from the tax cut to buy back their shares of stock at a record pace. Icahn has been among the biggest investors pushing them to do so because buybacks raise stock prices, thereby putting even more money in his pocket.

Its doubtful Icahn will use the savings from his financial hardship waiver to invest in more oil refineries. Profit margins in refining are plummeting.

In reality, Trumponomics is a thin veneer of an excuse for giving Americas rich  already richer than ever  whatever they want while sticking it to everyone else.

We are rapidly becoming a nation of just two groups. The first are those without any voice, vulnerable to real financial hardship, who are losing whatever meager assistance they had. This includes many white working-class Trump supporters.

The second are those like Carl Icahn  powerful enough to extract benefits from Trump and the GOP by claiming they need such incentives in order to invest. But their neediness is a hoax, and the only significant investments theyre making are payoffs to politicians.

Far more Americans belong to the first group than to the second. The question is when they will realize it, and vote accordingly.

 2018 Robert Reich

Robert Reich, a former U.S. secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at UC Berkeley. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at SFChronicle.com/letters.
LaDonald Griffin clutched a turquoise urn adorned with a blue and gold necklace that belonged to his wife. He looked down at the floor of his Oakland home as his six children stood stoically around him.

Daphine, 6, covered her face with a stuffed koala that she named Chip after her mother gifted it to her on Valentines Day.

Her brother Christopher, 15, thumbed through a book filled with photos of his 35-year-old mother, Christina Marie Davis.

The family was reeling with grief Sunday, the first Mothers Day that they would be without their mother after Davis was tragically killed on March 23 by drunken drivers in Jacksonville, Fla.

Doing anything right now is kind of hard, even eating a meal, said Griffin, 36. It wont let up, it wont let up, the pain.

After Davis funeral in Jacksonville, Griffin and his children were stranded in that city for 45 days until the Oakland Public Education Fund raised enough money through a donation from United Airlines to get them home Sunday.

They were supposed to be back at 12:52 p.m. Saturday. It got delayed. It was an 11-hour delay. By the time they got back, it was Mothers Day, said Hong Thach of the Oakland Public Education Fund.

The familys funds ran out shortly after they arrived in Jacksonville, and when a family member withheld money from a previous fundraiser, Griffin said he was stuck. They stayed with friends and family for several days at a time throughout the ordeal, Griffin said.

What did you guys like about Florida? Griffin asked his children.

Nothing, Christopher responded quietly as he stared at the floor.

Davis had traveled to Jacksonville to visit her sisters and to help a family member pack and relocate to California. She was expected to return home to Oakland two days after the crash occurred.

Davis was in a car with her sister, sisters boyfriend, niece and nephew when a drunken driver rammed into them from the side, Griffin said his attorney told him. Before paramedics arrived, another drunken driver hit them from behind, he added.

She died from the second strike, Griffin said. His daughter Daphine peeked over at him as he spoke from a couch nearby. She smiled briefly as her dad blew her a kiss. She blew one right back to him and then hid her face in the couch cushions.

Davis sister, sisters boyfriend and nephew also died from the crash.

Im at peace. Theyre in heaven now, Denise Stinson, Davis mother, said tearfully.

On Sunday, there werent any balloons, flowers or Mothers Day decorations at the Griffin household. The children lounged on the couch as their father and grandmother looked after them. Some ate chocolate doughnuts.

Daphine wrapped herself briefly in a Winnie-the-Pooh blanket. Christopher sat in an armchair and high-fived his youngest sibling, LaDonald Griffin Jr., 5, as he sauntered past him. A brief chuckle escaped their lips as they looked at one another lovingly.

Now a single father, Griffin said all he can see when he looks at his children is their mother.

Thats what pains me every day, Griffin said.

A GoFundMe was organized to help Griffin support his children.

The six children attend schools in Oakland, including Bridges Academy, Alliance Academy and Castlemont High.

Davis was well known among the Oakland Unified School District through her volunteer work at the schools her children attended, Thach said.

To me, she is an angel, Thach said. I think she probably spent 99 percent of the time with the kids and the husband. She put the family first before she put herself.

Davis is survived by Griffin and her seven children, ranging from 5 to 15 years old. A son stayed in Jacksonville with his biological father, Griffin said.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
A Sonoma County sheriffs deputy shot by a car wash employee Sunday morning is in good condition and is expected to survive, according to the Sheriffs Office.

The deputy was one of two officers who responded to a call from a manager of the Jolly Washer car wash on Highway 12 in Sonoma at 11 a.m. The manager reported an employee was acting strange and refused to go home after being asked to leave.
Theres a budding industry thats trying to solve the problem of the limp lettuce and tasteless tomatoes in Americas supermarkets.

Its full of technologists who grow crops in buildings instead of outdoors, shortcutting the need to prematurely harvest produce for a bumpy ride often thousands of miles long to consumers in colder climes.

More than 30 high-tech companies from the U.S. to Singapore are hoping to turn indoor farming into a major future food source, if only they can clear a stubborn hurdle: high costs.

These companies stack plants inside climate-controlled rooms, parse out nutrients and water, and bathe them with specialized light. Its all so consumers can enjoy tasty vegetables year-round, using a fraction of the water and land that traditional farming requires. Farmers can even brag that the produce is locally grown.

But real estate around cities is pricey. Electricity and labor dont come cheap. And unlike specialty crops like newly legal marijuana, veggies rarely command premium prices. (Its tough to compete with plants grown in dirt with free sunlight, after all.)

Even the best-funded indoor farming company on the planet  South San Franciscos Plenty, which has raised nearly $230 million so far  has embraced a longtime farmers crutch: government handouts. It hasnt found any takers yet.

We believe society should consider investing in this new form of agriculture in the way it invested in agriculture in the 1940s, said Plenty CEO Matt Barnard.

Barnard says public aid  in the form of cheaper power  is one way to turn a good but elusive idea into a sustainable venture.

Last year, the U.S. paid farmers $9.3 billion in direct support, and subsidized weather-related crop insurance to the tune of $5.1 billion. In a nutshell, Barnard argues that some of that money could be diverted to crops that grow in rain or shine.

Plenty grows kale, mixed greens, basil and natural sweetener stevia in a gray, low-rise warehouse complex in South San Francisco.

Visitors arriving through the back door must don full-body overalls and rubber boots dipped in disinfecting shoe baths before entering the airtight workspace.

Seedlings are grown on flatbeds and bathed in purple light that gives them the look of a 3-D movie watched without glasses. Maturing plants are stuffed into columns where they grow sideways, fed by drip irrigation, and irradiated by columns of light-emitting diodes.

The plants will be clipped and packaged before heading to stores later this year.

But there are some noticeable gaps in the menu. There are no carrots or tomatoes, because long roots that grow down and vines that require human pruning dont do well on walls.

For indoor farms, making money has largely meant shipping in bulk to grocery stores, a conundrum if costs arent in line.

Investment in indoor farming soared to $271 million last year, up from just $36 million in 2016, according to market research firm Cleantech Group.

The question is, how are they going to scale? asks Pawel Hardej, CEO of Civic Farms, a vertical farming consultancy in Austin, Texas.

There have been plenty of indoor farming failures already.

FarmedHere shuttered its operations in Louisville, Ky., and Bedford Park, Ill., in January last year due to cost overruns.

Georgias PodPonics, which filed for bankruptcy in 2016, cited labor costs as its biggest drag.

Googles X, the search giants secretive moonshot factory, killed its indoor farming efforts because it couldnt grow food staples like grains and rice.

Even fans of the technology arent sure it can beat another sheltered alternative: greenhouses.

Vertical farming to a lot of (investors) is an if and a maybe versus a when, says Cleantech adviser Yoachim Haynes. The question that needs to be answered is, Can they do it with cheaper electricity and cheaper labor? This is not a question that many have been able to answer.

Barnard says Plenty can prosper if it spends 3 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour on power  well below the 10.4 cents that is the average price nationwide, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

While Plenty announced plans to build a 100,000-square-foot facility in the Seattle suburb of Kent in November, it said it isnt in talks about power breaks with any U.S. city now.

Most public support has so far been in rebates for energy-efficient lighting, not running costs.

Seattle City Light provided $10,000 worth of energy-efficient lighting to an indoor growing facility that helped feed the citys homeless. But it already offers the lowest power rate of the top 25 cities in America. Thats the deal thats on the table, says spokesman Scott Thomsen.

Chicago provided some $344,000 in construction grants since 2008 to the Plant, a former pork processing plant that is home to several indoor farms.

While that helped with structural improvements, it didnt help with operations, says John Edel, the president of Bubbly Dynamics, which owns the Plant.

Supplying grocery stores in large volumes is harder than it sounds, he says. And other ways of obtaining cheap power  like the Plants plan to install a bio-gas guzzling turbine  have faced obstacles that make it uneconomical.

There isnt a whole lot in the way of incentives for farms here, Edel says. There needs to be.

Ryan Nakashima is an Associated Press writer.
Mark Wineman / Getty Images

Police searched Sunday for a suspect in a shooting that left a man with life-threatening injuries in San Jose, authorities said.

The shooting occurred around 2 a.m. Sunday in a residential area on the 4000 block of Houndshaven Way, said Officer Gina Tepoorten, a spokeswoman for the San Jose Police Department.
PROVIDENCE, R.I.  Former national security adviser Michael Flynn is campaigning for Republican candidates around the country as he awaits sentencing for lying to the FBI, an unusual and risky course that has set off speculation and head-scratching over what he hopes to accomplish.

Flynn, the retired general who led the GOP convention in 2016 in a Lock her up! chant against Hillary Clinton, has released a video endorsement of one of Democratic Sen. Jon Testers opponents in Montana and said in a radio interview that he wants to do what he can for others running for office.

In March, Flynn appeared in California with Republican Omar Navarro in his primary bid for the Los Angeles seat held by Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters.

Many defense attorneys wouldnt advise a client convicted of a felony to make speeches and endorsements before going in front of a judge for sentencing.

Judges like defendants to show a little remorse and be a little penitent about things, so its risky, said Robert Bennett, Bill Clintons personal lawyer during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Flynns lawyer, Rob Kelner, did not return a message seeking comment.

Some of those close to Flynn, who has a home in Middletown, R.I., say he is simply going about his life, staying involved in politics, as Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation of the Trump camp grinds on.

Justin Dillon, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Washington who specializes in white-collar crime, theorized that Flynn may be angling for a pardon from President Trump.

And making his case in public could be one way to help accomplish that, Dillon said. I think President Trump has shown that he is willing to pardon people that he believes were wrongly treated.

But Bennett cast doubt on the angling-for-a-pardon theory. Flynn is cooperating with Muellers investigation.

The White House has denied that any pardons have been discussed in connection with the Russia investigation. But Trump recently made a supportive comment about Flynn, tweeting on April 20 that he questioned why Flynns life can be totally destroyed while fired FBI Director James Comey can profit from a new book.

Flynn, 59, served as Trumps national security adviser for 24 days. He pleaded guilty in December to making false statements about reaching out to the Russians on behalf of President-elect Trump. His sentencing has been put on hold as he cooperates. He faces up to six months behind bars.

During Flynns appearance in California, he told the crowd he wasnt there to complain about who has done me wrong or how unfair Ive been treated or how unfair the entire process has been.

In mid-April, his travels took him to New York City, where he spoke at a think tank.

Also last month, two of Flynns siblings wrote an open letter in which they said they believe Flynn was the subject of a political assassination by the intelligence community that resulted in his being diabolically spied on, ambushed and framed.

Michelle R. Smith and Jennifer McDermott are Associated Press writers.
NEW YORK  A jury has convicted former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver of public corruption charges, dashing the 74-year-old Democrats second attempt to avoid years in prison after a decades-long career as one of the most powerful politicians in state government.

The verdict, which came Friday on the first full-day of deliberations, was a repeat of the outcome in Silvers first trial in 2015. That conviction and a 12-year prison sentence were tossed out by an appeals court as a result of a recent Supreme Court ruling that altered the legal boundaries of what constitutes corruption.

Silver could again be facing a long prison term when he is sentenced on June 13.

After the verdict, Silver emerged from the courthouse and said he would again appeal.

I feel disappointed at this point, he said. I am very confident that the judicial process will play out in my favor.

In a statement, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the verdict shows no one is above the law.

Prosecutors said Silver broke the law by collecting nearly $4 million in fees from a cancer researcher and real estate developers who in turn benefited from his clout in state government. He made another $1 million investing that money.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tatiana Martins had urged a conviction, saying there was a mountain of evidence that Silver made millions of dollars by utilizing a form of extortion that stemmed from his enormous power over legislation during his time in office.

During closing arguments, defense attorney Michael Feldberg said fees Silver received were lawful and were common, standard and accepted among legislators who were permitted to work other jobs.

Silver was first elected in 1976 and served as speaker for 21 years, becoming the classic Albany insider with the power to control bills and state spending in behind-the-scenes negotiations. Known for his often inscrutable comments and wary demeanor, Silver gained the nickname the Sphinx.

Tom Hays is an Associated Press writer.
1 CIA nomination: A second Democratic senator has announced his support for Gina Haspel, President Trumps choice to lead the CIA. Joe Donnelly of Indiana said in a statement Saturday that he made his decision after a tough, frank and extensive discussion with Haspel, the spy agencys acting director. Donnelly joins West Virginias Joe Manchin  both Democrats who are considered among the most vulnerable Senate incumbents in the November election. So far two Republicans have announced their opposition to Haspel: Kentuckys Rand Paul and Arizonas John McCain, who is battling cancer and isnt expected to be present for the voting. Supporters are pushing for a vote before the Senates Memorial Day break. The GOP holds a 51-49 edge.

2 Water supplies: The Colorado Rivers peak flows are arriving early this spring and at one of the lowest levels recorded. Peak flows are expected Sunday on the Colorado and Gunnison rivers, at about 8,500 cubic feet per second near Grand Junction. Only the dry years of 1977, 2002 and 2012 have seen lower levels in 85 years of records kept by the Colorado River Conservation District. Persistent drought is affecting water levels in the river that serves about 40 million people and 6,300 square miles of farmland in United States and Mexico. River managers forecast Arizonas Lake Powell will receive only 42 percent of its long-term average flow from the Colorado this year.
CHARLESTON, W.Va.  Feeling no relief from anti-incumbent Republican primaries, Democratic senators in GOP-leaning states are working to convince voters theyre free of Washingtons stigma.

The Democrats seeking re-election this fall in states Republican Trump carried  the battlefront in the fight for Senate control  are portraying themselves as independent actors and known entities in hopes of inoculating themselves against Republican accusations that they are lockstep obstructionists to Trumps agenda.

Among them: West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who wasted no time after Tuesdays GOP primary telling the many Republicans who have backed him over the decades he was no creature of Washington.

If it makes sense for West Virginia, makes sense to me, I vote for it, doesnt matter whether its Democrat or Republican, the former governor told supporters.

Manchins tack, like that of North Dakotas Heidi Heitkamp, shows the challenge for Republicans.

All of these Democrats have gotten elected in red states, which by definition means they have a brand at least somewhat independent of the national Democratic Party, said Republican pollster Whit Ayres.

Manchin and Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly are facing political outsiders with no federal record at a time when polls show 80 percent of the public disapproves of the job Congress is doing.

But Manchin, like others, has been preparing for such a scenario by portraying himself as loyal to his home state rather than party ideology. Manchin goes so far as to say Washington sucks in a recent ad.

Similarly, Donnelly has an ad with him driving a motor home along a rural highway. Youve got to be willing to drive down the Hoosier common-sense middle, he says.

In North Dakota, Heitkamp is reprising a jocular spot of her six siblings teasing her about laundry duty, aimed at casting the former state attorney general and petroleum lawyer as the amiable woman next door.

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskills first campaign ad for her 2018 re-election campaign features the Democrats work on behalf of a local veteran who had been denied government benefits after exposure to poisonous gas seven decades ago.

In Wisconsin, Sen. Tammy Baldwin has recently aired a lighthearted ad about her work to protect the states prized cheese industry, complete with mooing cows.

What were seeing in these early ads is an effort to localize and personalize these candidates  to put distance between them and Washington, said Steven Law, who heads Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells super PAC Senate Leadership Fund.

Thomas Beaumont, Steve Peoples and Bill Barrow are Associated Press writers.
MONTREAL  The mystery has haunted Canadians for more than a decade: One by one, human feet clad in running shoes have floated ashore on British Columbias southern coast with gruesome regularity.

Last weekend, foot No. 14 was discovered by a man strolling on a beach on Gabriola Island, a sleepy and picturesque enclave, population 4,000, that is known for its captivating sandstone and close-knit artistic community.

This time, the foot, squeezed between a pile of logs, wore what appeared to be a hiking boot, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The 13 feet found previously along the coast since 2007 were in running shoes  Adidas, Reebok and other brands. Each time, the questions arose: Why are the feet ending up in Canada? Where did they come from? And where are the other parts?

The discoveries have fanned speculation, rational or not, that the unattached feet could be the work of a tsunami, a human trafficker, a Mafia hit man, a deranged foot fetishist or a serial killer who had spread body parts out to sea. Others have theorized that the floating appendages could belong to people falling off a ship or killed in a plane crash.

British Columbia, Canadas westernmost province, known for its imposing mountains, exhilarating ski runs and delectable seafood, has grown used to also being known as the destination for what some newspapers have called the floating feet.

More for you Mysterious 'rogue waves' sinking ships at sea

But coroners have taken pains to dampen conspiracy theories and tame overactive imaginations. Barb McLintock, a former coroner at British Columbias Coroners Service, once called it the myth of the famous feet.

In 2016, after a hiker found a foot in a sock and running shoe at Botanical Beach, on Vancouver Island, McLintock told the Canadian media that the feet were the work of neither strange serial killers amputating victims nor funny little aliens scattering the feet along the coastline.

Andy Watson, a spokesman for the Coroners Service, said this past week that foul play had been ruled out in all the previous cases. Coroners have attributed the disembodied feet to suicide or accident  someone slipping and falling into the sea, for example, or a swimmer being swept into the ocean by a huge wave.

Nine of the feet have been identified, two of them from the same person, according to the Coroners Service. Most of the feet were mens. In at least three cases, the shoes were size 12. Not all the remains belonged to Canadians.

In the latest case, Watson said, investigators would use DNA to try to identify its owner.

Despite the official conclusions, the washed-up feet still grip imaginations because of the murkiness of the discoveries and the likelihood that many of the deaths were not witnessed.

The phenomenon has spurred several hoaxes in which pranksters have stuffed animals feet into shoes to fool officials. One person used chicken bones.

Watson noted that the disarticulated feet had most likely separated naturally in the sea, where the footwear had helped preserve them. Because shoes are buoyant and currents are strong, he said, the remains could have washed in from as far north as Alaska.

In 2012, a foot found in a lake in Port Moody, northeast of Vancouver, was linked to a man whose boat had overturned while he was fishing in the area 25 years earlier.

In December, a Rottweiler discovered a lower left leg and foot with a white ankle sock in a black running shoe on Vancouvers coast. A few months later, using DNA technology, investigators matched the remains to a 79-year-old Washington state man. Still, even then, questions remained. The mans family told the police he had vanished months before after leaving home without his medication.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
VALLEJO (BCN)

A five-alarm fire in Vallejo burned down one home and damaged four other structures this afternoon, Vallejo fire officials reported.

Smoke blanketed the scene just after noon when firefighters received calls from the 200 block of Cassady Street, according to Vallejo fire spokesman Kevin Brown. The fire was bolstered by strong winds, which surpassed 20 mph.

There were no injuries reported and the fire was extinguished in about an hour and a half.

Brown said fire officials have determined the fire began in a shed in the back of a home, but the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

No one was displaced because the home that burned down was a second home mainly used for storage, according to Brown. No one was inside the house when the fire began.

The fire jumped from the backyard shed to a row of Cyprus trees, which caused exterior damage to an apartment complex behind the shed. The complex is still livable and no one will have to relocate, according to Brown.

Three homes surrounding the house that burned down also suffered minor damage.

Fire officials estimate $2 million in damage. Twenty-two firefighters from Vallejo Fire Department responded to the blaze, in addition to outside support from Benicia, American Canyon, Crockett, Fairfield, Suisun City and Napa.
Santa Mateo County sheriff's deputies collected almost 500 guns for destruction at a gun buyback event on May 5, the sheriff's office reported.

The anonymous buyback took place at 1402 Maple St. in Redwood City. All firearms will be destroyed after they are processed, according to the sheriff's office.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

The personal information of nearly 1,000 San Francisco Department of Public Health patients was accessed without authorization in November and December, health officials said.

A former employee of Nuance Communications, a Massachusetts-based company contracted to provide medical transcription records, accessed personal information of 895 patients, health officials said.

The information was accessed from November 20 to December 9, and belonged to patients who visited the San Francisco Health Network, the Health Department's system of hospitals and clients, according to health officials.

The information included name, date of birth, medical record number, patient number and information dictated by the provider such as patient condition, assessment, diagnosis, treatment, care plan and date of service, health officials said.

The information didn't include Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers or financial account numbers.

The department waited to inform the patients until May 11 at the request of the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice, according to health officials.

Health officials said the Justice Department informed Nuance that it does not appear that any of the information was sold or used for any purpose, and all the data has been recovered from the former employee.
A man who allegedly threatened to harm the LGBTQ community with explosives and twice stole a rainbow flag from the Guerneville Chamber of Commerce was arrested Saturday morning.

The flag, symbolizing LGBTQ pride, was stolen on April 26 from the building at 16201 First Street in the unincorporated area of Guerneville in Sonoma County. Sonoma County sheriff's deputies began investigating the theft.

The building arranged for a replacement, but the flag was again stolen on May 5. According to Sonoma County's website, Guerneville became a "welcoming resort area for Bay Area gay men and lesbians" in the 1970s.

During the investigation, deputies learned of a suspect making threats to detonate a pipe bomb at the Guerneville Safeway.

Deputies said the suspect's intent was to injure deputies and members of the LGBTQ community.

Deputies arrested Vincent Joseph O'Sullivan, 55, of Guerneville, on suspicion of the crimes Saturday morning. They arrested him Saturday morning and booked him into Sonoma County Jail.

He was arrested on suspicion of three misdemeanors for theft and two felonies for making threats and committing a hate crime, according to online Sonoma County Sheriff's Office records. His bail was set at $50,000, according to deputies.

A five-alarm fire in Vallejo burned down one home and damaged four other structures this afternoon, Vallejo fire officials reported.

Just after noon, firefighters received calls regarding a fire in the 200 block of Cassady Street, according to Vallejo fire spokesman Kevin Brown. The fire was bolstered by strong winds, which surpassed 20 mph.

There were no injuries reported and the fire was extinguished in about an hour and a half.

Brown said fire officials have determined the fire began in a shed in the back of a home, but the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

No one was displaced because the home that burned down was a second home mainly used for storage, according to Brown. No one was inside the house when the fire began.

The fire also caused exterior damage to an apartment complex behind the shed. The complex is still livable and no one will have to relocate, according to Brown.

Three homes surrounding the house that burned down also suffered minor damage.

Fire officials estimate that the fire caused $2 million in damage. Twenty-two firefighters from Vallejo Fire Department responded to the blaze, in addition to outside support from Benicia, American Canyon, Crockett, Fairfield, Suisun City and Napa.

A person died after falling from the roof of a building in Emeryville Saturday morning in a tragedy police said does not appear to involve suspicious circumstances.

Around 10 a.m. Saturday, officers, firefighters and paramedics responded to a business in the 1400 block of 40th Street on a report of a person on the roof, according to police.

Just before the emergency workers arrived, the person fell from the roof, landing on the sidewalk, police said. Emergency medical workers tried to save the person to no avail, and the person died at the scene, police said.

The person's name isn't being released because authorities haven't yet been able to reach the family.

Police said there does not appear to be any suspicious circumstances associated with the incident at present. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at (510) 596-3700.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued four boaters early Saturday morning after their fishing vessel crashed into the shore near Suisun Slough.

The stranded boaters called the Coast Guard at about 4 a.m. after the crash, saying one person in the boat was diabetic.

Crews arrived on scene and determined that they couldn't tow the boat because it was firmly in place into the ground.

The crews called a helicopter to complete the rescue and it arrived at 7 a.m., according to the Coast Guard. It flew the diabetic boater and one other to Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa.

The helicopter then returned to the boat and took the two remaining boaters to Napa County Airport. The owner of the boat will return and navigate the vessel during high tide, according to the Coast Guard.

"These individuals are lucky they had cell phone coverage in such a remote location," Lt. Cmdr. Joshua Murphy said in a statement. "We're all very grateful we could help."
Bank of Sharjah has reported a net profit of Dh84 million ($22.8 million) for the first quarter of the year, up by 45 per cent compared to the same quarter of 2017, a media report said.



Total operating income reached Dh158 million, up by 11 per cent compared to 31 March 2017 and net operating income rose to Dh165 million, up by 25 per cent compared to 31 March 2017, reported Emirates news agency Wam.



Earnings per share for the period ended 31 March 2018 were up by 51 per cent and reached 3.99 fils compared to 2.64 fils in 2017.



Customers Deposits reached Dh21,037 million, a 3 per cent decrease over the corresponding 31 December 2017 balance of Dh21,630 million.



Total comprehensive income for the period ended 31 March 2018 increased by 198 per cent to total comprehensive income of Dh134 million versus a total comprehensive income of Dh45 million for the same period of 2017. This was due to an upturn in the market value of strategic investments and a positive effect from change in fair value of issued bonds.



Basel III Common Equity Tier 1 ratio at 15.57 per cent compared to a minimum required ratio of 8.5 per cent.
Eshraq Properties (Eshraq), an Abu Dhabi-based real estate company, has achieved a net profit of Dh7.75 million ($2.2 million) for the first quarter compared to a net loss of Dh950,000 ($258600) for the same period last year.



The real estate company listed on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange continues its turnaround strategy under the new leadership as it reported its fourth continuous profitable quarter.



Announcing the results, Eshraq said its hospitality and leasing business has maintained above 90 per cent occupancy levels across all its assets in Dubai and the US.



The group said it was on track and within budget on its development projects in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.



The work on its Marine Rise project at Abu Dhabis Reem Island, was progressing well with the shoring works currently in its final stages.



Eshraq said the construction of the project was set to be completed by the second quarter of 2020.



On the performance, Chairman Jassim Alseddiqi remarked: "We are very proud of Eshraqs turnaround and remarkable performance over the past twelve months. The results show a stellar return to profitability compared to the same quarter last year."



"We are committed to making Eshraq one of the most coveted real estate developers in the UAE and to deliver significant returns to shareholders," he noted.



The Abu Dhabi property firm said it was on track to appoint a new contractor for its project in Jumeirah Village Circle, Dubai by the end of the second quarter.



Also the firm would soon be awarding the design contract for its flagship Gateway project in Maqta area of Abu Dhabi, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
In September 2017 Stacy Bailey, an art teacher at Charlotte Anderson Elementary School in Arlington, Texas, was placed on paid administrative leave after a parent complained she was pushing her "homosexual agenda" on her students, according to a lawsuit Bailey filed against Mansfield Independent School District this week.

According to the lawsuit, Bailey has been with Mansfield ISD for over six years and has never had an issue pertaining to her lifestyle.

On August 23, 2017, she introduced herself to her students with a "First Day of School" powerpoint which included a photo of her and her now-wife, Julie Vazquez, in fish costumes from the Disney movie "Finding Nemo," followed by a set of class rules rewards and expectations.

IN TROUBLE: Texas teacher fired after sending profane text to mother of autistic student

Bailey met with the principal of the school a few days later to discuss the complaint.

According to the lawsuit, Bailey was placed on leave in September 2017 when the same parent complained again after she taught her students about artist Jasper Johns and mentioned his partner Robert Rauchenberg. The art class learned about Rauchenberg the previous year.

Bailey was asked to sign documentation saying she'd shown sexually inappropriate images to the children but refused saying it was "discrimination" because of her orientation.

According to Dallas News, Mansfield ISD released an email statement to employees in March 2018 saying that despite their policy to "not comment on employee personnel matters" some misinformation about the issue has created a disruption in the "educational environment" at the school.

The article paraphrases the statement saying, "the statement said Bailey was not suspended over her request to include LGBTQ language in the district's non-discrimination policy, but rather due to the district's concern that Bailey 'insists that it is her right and that it is age appropriate for her to have ongoing discussions with elementary-aged students about her own sexual orientation, the sexual orientation of artists, and their relationships with other gay artists.'"

The article continues, saying that administrators met with Bailey on more than one occasion after receiving the complaints, but "Ms. Bailey refused to follow administration's directions regarding age-appropriate conversation with students."

According to the lawsuit, Mansfield ISD asked for Bailey's resignation in October 2017, but later in April 2018 voted to renew her contract after parents and students informed the district that Bailey was a good teacher and should be brought back.

On May 1, 2018, Bailey was informed that though her contract had been renewed, she'd been transferred to a secondary school.

Bailey is suing the school district for loss of earning capacity, mental anguish, emotional pain, and suffering, lost employment benefits, inconvenience, loss of enjoyment of life, damage to professional reputation and other damages.

She is also asking the district to declare that it "illegally discriminated against [Bailey] because of her sexual orientation," and seeks to be reinstated to her original position at Charlotte Anderson Elementary.

Take a look through the gallery above to see some photos of Bailey and her now-wife.

Daniela Sternitzky-Di Napoli is a digital producer at Chron.com. You can read more of her stories here and follow her on twitter at @Dani_DiNapoli.

William Axford contributed to this report.
AESG, a specialist consultancy and commissioning firm headquartered in Dubai, UAE, has announced the launch of its new office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of its regional expansion strategy.



With offices in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and London, the Emirati firm focuses on five core departments: Energy and Sustainable Development, Environment and Waste, Facade Engineering and Acoustics, Fire and Life Safety and Building Commissioning.



The company is now set to enhance the delivery of its services in the kingdom with the establishment of a fully-staffed operations hub in Riyadh.



"By clearly outlining targets across various sectors such as the built environment, waste management, energy efficiency and the use of resources, the vision set by Saudi government provides a clear roadmap for economic development plans within the kingdom," remarked Saeed Al Abbar, the managing director at AESG.



"We can see that the concepts of sustainability and resource efficiency are deeply embedded within the NTP 2020 and this aligns very strongly with our core competencies as a firm," stated Al Abbar.



AESG, he said, has an established track record in Saudi Arabia having worked with a number of private and public sector organisations as well as government entities over the past few years including the Public Investment Fund (PIF).



This work includes environmental and sustainability assessments for large-scale masterplan developments, fire and life safety consultancy services for world-class retail and residential developments and facade engineering services for a number of high-rise buildings in Riyadh.



Most recently, AESG was awarded a large assignment to oversee the commissioning and surveying of a large portfolio of real estate assets in Riyadh.



Through our extensive body of work, we have established strong links with key clients in both the private and public sector who valued our offering and were eager for us to establish a more permanent presence in the Kingdom, he added.



While AESGs Saudi Arabia hub is located in Riyadh, the team is also highly active in Jeddah and the Eastern region. The company is set to soon announce the appointment of its country manager and is on track to increase the size of its team to over 20 consultants in the kingdom by the end of the year.



This investment is driven by the demand for AESGs unique suite of specialist and technical advisory services.



Outlining AESGs strategic roadmap for Saudi Arabia, Al Abbar said: "Our objective in any market and our key strength is to work alongside clients when they are faced with their greatest challenges. This has been the blueprint we have adopted in KSA and it has proven successful to date."



"We are committed to investing in the Saudi market and our goal is to support the Kingdom in achieving its NTP 2020 and Vision 2030 objectives.," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
To: Gov. Jerry Brown of California

and Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas

From: Joe Mathews

If North and South Korea can have a peace summit, why cant California and Texas do the same? The United States desperately needs its two biggest states to figure out how to keep the country together.

Sure, you are different places. Texas is the cheap, lightly regulated, freedom-loving counterpoint to Californias progressive, cultural and technological powerhouse.

But you have one big thing in common: Youre both nation-size places (California has 40 million people and the worlds fifth-largest economy; Texas has 28 million and the worlds 10th-largest economy) stuck in a giant country whose leaders are intent on dividing it.

The D.C. business model for elections depends on ever-greater polarization of the American electorate. So national politicians run the government as a spoils system for their donors and politically favored demographics.

As a result, California and Texas, despite their differences, share a common enemy: federal power.

For a century, whichever party controls the White House has seized more authority for the U.S. government. Recent presidents of all stripes have ruled increasingly by executive order. Often this dictatorial federal power has been aimed at your two states.

By now, the drill is familiar. A Democratic administration imposes policies that run contrary to Texas conservative preferences. So Texas fights and sues constantly. Now that Republicans are in power, its Californias turn to be a target because of its progressive policies  and to tie up the federal government in dozens of lawsuits. The New York Times recently called this a legal civil war.

All this fighting takes time and resources away from your states efforts to improve the lives of your citizens. And the resentments create internal divisions. Both of your states have movements seeking secession from the United States.

The good news: Together, the two of you can break the cycle.

Start with a peace summit. The goals of the talks should be twofold. First, for both states to reaffirm their American-ness and commit to peaceful coexistence.

Second, for both states to work together to reduce federal power and enhance the independence of states and their communities.

This must go beyond reaffirming the 10th Amendment, which reserves for the states the powers not given to the federal government. California and Texas are now so big that they need more explicit autonomy  in taxation, regulation, environment, health care and immigration  so that they can choose their own destinies without interference.

The D.C. Mandarins will call this a revolution. So be it. California and Texas must declare that this is not the United States of 1789, with 13 states and 3 million people. Our country of more than 320 million is simply too big to be governed from Washington. Indeed, the best argument for greater state autonomy is a democratic one. Our states are far more democratic than the federal government, which has a presidency sometimes won by the loser of the popular vote, a Senate that defies equal representation, and bureaucracies that resist accountability.

A concerted effort to demand greater autonomy for both states  pursued jointly through politics, lawsuits and even constitutional amendment  would be healthy. Your states wouldnt be able to blame the federal government for your own follies. Instead, California might have to confront how its oppressive environmental regulation makes building sufficient housing impossible. And Texas might have to face how its lack of planning puts its people in floodplains in the path of hurricanes.

To get the talks started, California should immediately revoke its counterproductive ban on government-funded travel to Texas. Yes, the Lone Star State has discriminatory laws on adoption by LGBT families, but how do you change minds if you cant meet with people?

Each state offers places where a visitor from the other would be comfortable. Why not start the talks in Austin, a California chunk in the heart of Texas, where Apple employs more than 6,000 people? In California, Gov. Jerry Brown could take Gov. Greg Abbott to oil-rich Bakersfield for a meal at Wool Growers, which serves the cuisine of the Basques  a people famous for fighting for sovereignty.

Im not expecting you to produce the political equivalent of Pancho and Lefty, the joint album from Californias Merle Haggard and Texas Willie Nelson. (Though bringing Willie to the summit is not a bad idea.) But regular California-Texas summits would remind us that, while we will never be the most cohesive country, our collection of states requires some unity.

And that, in a country as diverse as ours, there may be no peace treaty more powerful than an agreement to disagree.

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zocalo Public Square.
Thanks for running the important How racial terrorism shaped U.S. (Open Forum, May 9) by Ian Magruder, about the new lynching museum in Montgomery, Ala. The museum documents the lynching of 4,400 blacks from the 1870s right up to the modern civil rights era. Magruders theme  denial of our true history  helps explain the ascendancy of the far right and of President Trump.

There are many exceptional things (good and bad) about this country, but perhaps the most important is the nations self-promotion as the font of democracy when it was based in terror and enslavement. Even former President Barack Obama, our first black president, extolled American exceptionalism without referring to this. Trumps Make America Great Again appeals to the very same denial of how the U.S. came to be the policeman of the world.
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan  An old wooden bridge over a fast-moving river in Kashmir collapsed Sunday as dozens of students were taking pictures on it, leading to at least five deaths.

Javed Ayub, a senior tourism department official in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, said 14 students were rescued after the collapse and that civil and military rescue teams were searching for 11 others.

Ayub said rescue workers recovered the bodies of five drowned students. The students, most in their early 20s, were enrolled in a medical college at Faisalabad in eastern Punjab province. He said some students from a college in Lahore were also among those who fell into the river.

We hope for the best but it will be unlikely to find the remaining (students) alive as the water flow is very high, Ayub said.

Ayub said the hanging wooden bridge was designed for locals to use in small numbers. The touring youths have not realized the danger despite a warning board asking people not to overload the old structure, he said.

Police official Mohammad Siddiq said eight of the rescued students were injured and airlifted to Muzaffarabad in a military helicopter for medical aid. He said the incident took place near the picnic point of Kundal Shahi, some 47 miles north of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.

The Neelum Valley is a popular tourist destination in the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir.

Kashmir is split between Pakistan and India, both of which claim the Himalayan region in its entirety.

Roshan Mughal is an Associated Press writer.
SURABAYA, Indonesia  Coordinated suicide bombings carried out by members of the same family struck three churches in Indonesias second-largest city on Sunday, police said, as the worlds most populous Muslim nation recoiled in horror from one of its worst attacks since the 2002 Bali bombings.

At least seven people plus the six family members, who included girls ages 9 and 12, died in the attacks in Surabaya, according to police. At least 41 people were injured in the bombings, which Indonesias president condemned as barbaric.

National Police Chief Tito Karnavian said the father exploded a car bomb, two sons ages 16 and 18 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother was with her two young daughters for her attack. The woman and the two girls were all wearing explosives, Karnavian said.

Karnavian said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently the Islamic State group controlled significant territory.

Early Monday, four officers and six civilians were injured in a vehicle bombing attack against the police headquarters in Surabaya, authorities said. Security footage shows two motorcycles were used.

The 2002 bombings on the tourist island of Bali, which killed 202 people, mostly foreigners, are Indonesias deadliest terror attack. But the use of children to execute Sundays strikes in Surabaya sent waves of anger and disgust across the country.

The Southeast Asian terror network responsible for the Bali attacks was obliterated by a sustained crackdown on militants by Indonesias counterterrorism police with U.S. and Australian support. A new threat has emerged in the past several years, inspired by Islamic State attacks abroad.

Karnavian named the father as Dita Futrianto and said he was head of a cell of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Indonesian militant network affiliated with Islamic State. He identified the mother as Puji Kuswati.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for Sundays attacks in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency.

The attacks occurred within minutes of each other, according to police.

Karnavian said Futrianto drove a bomb-laden car into the citys Pentecostal church. Kuswati, with her two daughters, attacked the Christian Church of Diponegoro, he said. The familys sons rode a motorcycle onto the grounds of the Santa Maria Church and detonated their explosives there.

Tuji Martuji is an Associated Press writer.
UAEs Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), represented by its Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training (CERT), signed an agreement with Oracle, the global leader in specialised software, IT and Artificial Intelligence (AI).



The two sides will cooperate in the nations capacity building and student training and empowerment in AI technologies.



The memorandum of understanding (MoU) includes providing specialised training to obtain Oracle professional certification in AI technologies, as well as introducing a specialised programme in AI.



The MoU was signed by Dr Abdullatif Al Shamsi, vice chancellor of HCT, and Arun Khehar, Oracle's senior vice president for the Applications Business for Eastern Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (ECEMEA).



Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, emphasised that preparing qualified young Emiratis who are capable of using AI technologies and tools to develop solutions for current and future challenges, is key to the government's efforts to achieve the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence.



Al Olama said, Academic institutions in the UAE play a key role in developing educational and training programmes and introducing disciplines that prepare the next generation of leaders who are capable of developing key sector.



The Minister of State for AI commended the initiatives of academic institutions in the UAE to develop their educational curricula. He praised HCTs initiative to launch this specialised programme in AI science and technologies.



Dr Al Shamsi highlighted the importance of cooperating with Oracle, the global organisation specialised in modern technologies, especially AI. Over the past years, HCT have worked closely with Oracle in technology education. This MoU enhances partnership between the two sides to benefit the students and empower them with skills of the future.



He noted that today, we face the challenges associated with the rapid advances, especially in AI technologies. We see this in the Internet of Things (IoT), drones, Big Data, and other technologies that shape the future of the industry and global economic growth. This makes it necessary to empower the youth with these technologies to help them contribute to the UAE development through ideas and innovations related to technological developments.



Dr Al Shamsi added that the agreement with Oracle allows students to visit the Innovation Hub to learn from experts about AI concepts and applications and how to employ them to promote happiness in society. Specialised training will be provided to around 500 students who will be divided into weekly training groups.



They will experience first-hand an interesting and realistic experience of various AI applications, and will receive certificates of completion after finishing the training course. HCT will also discuss with Oracle the possibility of introducing an applied academic programme in AI for students to train and get a professional specialised certificate in AI. This will enhance their skills and career prospects after graduation, as well as support one of HCTs strategic objectives to help students obtain international professional certification.



Dr Al Shamsi noted that the partnership with Oracle through HCT and CERT will provide training programmes in AI, innovation, research and entrepreneurship for students and graduates as well as organisations that want to develop their competencies in these areas. He emphasised the importance of AI which will even impact the educational process in the future. Big Data will help determine the interests of each student. Using AI, we can prepare a tailored curriculum for each individual student, which will support innovation since people are usually more creative in the areas they are interested in.



Arun Khehar said, Forrester predicts that businesses that use Artificial Intelligence, big data and the Internet of Things (IoT) to uncover new business insights will steal $1.2 million per annum from their less informed peers by 2020. An Oracle research also shows an increasing interest in Artificial Intelligence capabilities, with nearly a third (29 per cent) of cloud users citing the inclusion of Artificial Intelligence as a key requirement of cloud.



"However, making Artificial Intelligence easy to adopt is critical - a key challenge for organisations is that they can't afford to wait. The MoU with HCT will address this challenge by engaging with Emirati youth, raising their awareness levels, helping drive an innovative approach and also supporting the skills development of the next generation of Emirati leaders", added Khehar.



Internship program and certification



The agreement includes cooperation in several areas. These include training programmes for students to get Oracle professional certification, as well as Train the Trainer programme through specialised workshops for faculty of HCT and CERT. The agreement also includes cooperation with CERT to provide Oracle training courses to interested organisations and members of society, and introducing a specialised AI programme in collaboration with HCT.
PARIS  The man behind a deadly knife attack in central Paris was born in Chechnya and had been on police radar for radicalism, French authorities said Sunday.

Investigators working to understand why the 20-year-old French citizen went on a stabbing rampage detained the dead suspects parents and a friend Sunday.

Counterterrorism investigators want to know whether the assailant, identified by Chechnyas leader as Khamzat Azimov, had help or co-conspirators. The attacker killed a 29-year-old man and wounded four other people with a knife before police fatally shot him Saturday night.

The suspect was on a police watch list for radicalism, a judicial official told the Associated Press.

The parents were detained in Paris northern 18th district, and the friend was detained in the eastern city of Strasbourg, the judicial official said.

Witnesses reported hearing the man shouting Allahu akbar, the Arabic phrase for God is great, during the attack, which happened about 9 p.m. near the Opera Garnier.

The Islamic State group said the attacker was one of its soldiers. The militants released a video that a jihadist monitoring group says appears to show the stabbing suspect pledging allegiance to Islamic States leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The assailant was listed in a nationwide database of thousands of people suspected of links to radicalism, according to the judicial official. Extremists behind multiple attacks in France in recent years have turned out to be on the list.

The official said the suspect was born in the largely Muslim Russian republic of Chechnya, where extremism has long simmered.

The attacker targeted five people and then fled, according to police. When officers arrived, he threatened them and was shot dead, police said.

Angela Charlton and Elaine Ganley are Associated Press writers.
Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that the United States will need to provide security assurances to North Koreas Kim Jong Un if the adversaries are to reach a nuclear deal, describing the stakes of President Trumps upcoming summit with Kim.

Pompeo met with Kim last week in North Korea, helping set the stage for Trumps historic summit with the North Korean leader in Singapore on June 12. Trumps goal is for North Korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons in a permanent and verifiable way. In return, the U.S. is willing to help the impoverished nation strengthen its economy.
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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- With the day for honoring mothers on Sunday, we thought it apropos to once again shine the Advance archive spotlight on the special occasion with a few facts and photos of moms and children throughout the years.

Have vintage Mother's Day photos to share? Feel free to email them to

or post them in the comments section.

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First baby of 1946 - Sheila Donahue Schneider born to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Donahue. January, 1946.

The commemorative began in the early 20th century back in 1908 when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her own mom in St. Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, W.V.

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May 12, 1996: Thomas Edward Bogdan born on Mother's Day at 9:25 a.m., sleeps in the arms of his mother, Castleton Corners resident Patricia Bogdan. (Staten Island Advance/Michael McWeeney)

In fact, her own campaign to have "Mother's Day" be recognized a holiday in the United States began in 1905, the year her mom, Ann Reeves Jarvis, passed.

Then in 1914 it was President Woodrow Wilson who signed a proclamation designating Mother's Day, held on the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday.

A peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the Civil War, Jarvis founded Mother's Day Work Clubs in order to address public health issues.

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Helma Schopp Burns and William Burns Jr. on a boat at Lemon Creek in the early 1940s.

Anna Jarvis wanted to pay tribute to her mom by continuing the work she started and to set aside a special day, since she believed moms do more for their children than anyone else in the world.

Mother's Day is now celebrated in more than 46 countries throughout the world.

And inasmuch as Jarvis was successful in founding Mother's Day, she became resentful of how commercial the holiday had become and stated companies exploited the ideal of Mother's Day.

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Mrs. Mohlenoff with her sons, from left, Herman, Dick and Hen, stand in the family greenhouse in this 1929 photo. The Mohlenoffs operated the last large farm in Richmond County until they sold the land in 1992. (Staten Island Advance/Rich Kane)

As a result, she organized boycotts.

Jarvis believed people should appreciate and honor their moms through handwritten letters and notes expressing their love and appreciation, as opposed to ready-made gifts and pre-made cards.

With all that covered, keep scrolling for more heartwarming Mom's Day photo flashbacks!

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May 8, 1998: Jae Yun Shin, 88 years old, stands with her daughter Song Ja Jang of Annadale. Shin was an honoree at the Mother's Day Celebration sponsored by the Korean-American Senior Citizens Association and held at the First Presbyterian Church. (Staten Island Advance/Hilton Flores)

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May 12, 1996; Susan Molinari spent her first Mother's Day with her new baby Susan Ruby and her Husband Bill Paxon in her hospital room at Staten Island University Hospital Ocean Breeze filled with flowers and balloons.

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May 6, 1996: Peggy Tinger and her daughter Kimberly, Winner of the Mother's day recipe contest. (Staten Island Advance/Michael McWeeney)

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May 11, 1997: Celebrating Mother's Day at the Latino Civic Assoc. party at the Grand Plaza Annadale are Stephanie, John Paul, and their mother Melba Figueroa with Jon, Jonathan, and their mother Lisset Cawley. (Staten Island Advance/Jin Lee)

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May 12, 1996: Grasmere resident Mei Fong Moy takes a look at her daughter Melissa Eva born on Mother's Day at 9:26 AM. At St. Vincents Medical Center. (Staten Island Advance/Michael McWeeney)

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May 6, 1996: Mother's Day recipe contest winner Pauline Locombo of South Beach holding a photo of her mom. (Staten Island Advance/Michael McWeeney)

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May 11, 1997: Karin Petrocelli before running in the Mother's Day Road Race in Clove Lakes Park poses with her 3 daughters Johanna, 5, Maria 2, and Victoria 7 months. (Staten Island Advance/Hilton Flores)

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May 6, 1996: Joan Roan and her mother Mary Cassidy. Mother's Day recipe contest winner. (Staten Island Advance/Jin Lee)

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May 14, 1995: Barbara Farley of Annadale, adjusts numbers on her daughters shirts, from left, Danielle age 11, and Kristin age 7, before the start of the Mother's Day 5K Run at Clove Lakes Park. Barbara was a volunteer. (Staten Island Advance/Rob Sollett)

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May 12, 1996: Proud mother Eileen Romano of Prince's Bay holds her newborn girl Brianna who was born Saturday at 4:47 AM. at Staten University Hospital Ocean Breeze. (Staten Island Advance/Michael McWeeney)

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Jan. 5, 1996: Norma Manzella of Westerleigh with picture of parents and winning cake in Mother's Day recipe contest.

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Jan. 8, 2008: Twins Anthony and Addison Panarella, ring in the New Year with a smile. Nearly 8 months-old, the cuties made their debut into the world on May 13, Mother's Day, in Staten Island University Hospital to parents, Lauren and Anthony Panarella, whose world is now complete. (Courtesy/the Panarella family)

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Diane Geraci and her Daughter Julie Carro of Richmond attend a Mother's Day luncheon and tea Saturday, May 11, 2013 at Carol Pesce's home in West Brighton. (Staten Island Advance/ Bill Lyons)

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Staten Island Borough President James Oddo is pictured with his mother Margaret inside his Borough Hall office in St. George, as he and other prominent Island leaders reflect on their mothers this Mother's Day. Wednesday April 23, 2014. (Staten Island Advance/Anthony DePrimo)

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May 14, 2007: A group of Island mothers, daughters and daughters-in-law observe Mother's Day by going out for brunch at the South Shore Country Club, Huguenot. A tableful of mothers, daughters & daughters-in-law enjoying the Mother's Day Brunch at the South Shore Country Club. (Staten Island Advance/Hilton Flores)

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May 7, 2008: Vincent and Christina Malerba salute their mother, restaurateur Angelina Malerba, with a pre-Mother's Day toast at the new Angelina's Ristorante in Tottenville. (Staten Island Advance/Frank J. Johns)

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May 14, 2007: Huguenot resident Jerry Bennici, right, wanted to make certain that his wife, Francine, would always remember their first official Mother's Day. Francine and Jerry Bennici of Huguenot with daughter Arianna, 1, as they enjoy their first Mother's Day together at the South Shore Country Club.

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May 8, 2011: Lorraine and Linda Smarsh at Lorraine and Linda Smarsh Community Resources' 8th Annual Mother/Daughter & Friends Brunch at Bistro, New Dorp.

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May 5, 2014: Justice Barbara Panepinto says she learned the values of being self-sufficient and having a sense of humor from her mom, Gloria Irolla. Judge Barbara Panepinto and her mother Gloria Irolla.

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Lisa Pesce and daughters Caitlin, 11, and Ava, 4, of West Brighton attend a Mother's Day luncheon and tea Saturday, May 11, 2013 at Carol Pesce's home in West Brighton. (Staten Island Advance/ Bill Lyons)

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MAY 6, 2008: "I'm definItely "friends" with my daughters...but I'm a mom first," said Debbie Canova of Tottenville. Seen here with daughters Kristen, 13 and Toni-ann, 16. Debbie Canova, 44, with her daughters Kristen, 13 in orange and Toni-ann 16 in yellow at their Tottenville home. (Staten Island Advance/Bill Lyons)

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May 12, 2009: Frank Bennett of AF Bennett Salon & Wellness Spa visits Phara Yarrell and her son, Jayden, born on Mother's Day at Staten Island University Hospital maternity ward. Phara won a year's spa treatment for having the first baby born on Mother's Day.

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Kathleen Russo, Leah Russo and Danielle Russo of Bay Terrace; Irene Lewandowski of Freehold, NJ, Barbara Russo of Bay Terrace, and Irene DeGangi of Eltingville attending a Mother's Day luncheon and tea Saturday, May 11, 2013 at Carol Pesce's home in West Brighton. (Staten Island Advance/ Bill Lyons)

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May 13, 2012: At Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center and Home, strolling entertainers serenaded the mothers as they enjoyed brunch. At right, Angelica Polyak delivers her rendition of Kool & the Gang's "Celebrate" to an appreciative Josephine Rehorn. Angelica Polyak singing the Kool & the Gang hit "Celebrate" as Josephine Rehorn looks on and listens during the Mother's Day event at Sea View Hospital as it's National Nursing Home Week. (Staten Island Advance/Hilton Flores)
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Nevertheless, security concerns around ZTE and Huawei are well-established in Western capitals. The issue of Huawei or ZTE building Australias 5G networks was raised by national security agencies in Washington during Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls visit in February. Even though ZTE is banned on national security grounds in the US and Britain, the West Australian government and Telstra continue to deal with the Shenzhen-based firm. The other short-listed bidder for the Perth rail contract is Huawei. Huawei was banned by the Australian government on national security grounds in 2012 from bidding on contracts for the national broadband network. Any awarding of the WA contract to either ZTE or Huawei  both companies with strong links to the Chinese government  would appear to be at odds with efforts by the Turnbull government to roll back Beijings potential influence over critical infrastructure assets in Australia.

Australian esports team The Chiefs demonstrated gaming over Telstra's 5G network on the Gold Coast. A spokesman for the Public Transport Authority of WA would not comment on the shortlisted bidders, but said that advice had been sought from federal and state government agencies, and a private security contractor specialising in high-level cyber security had been engaged. "Based on this advice we have built more than 80 functional requirements for cyber security into the project contract, and will employ robust strategies to ensure the security of PTA systems," the spokesman said. Telstra has confirmed ZTE was one of five short-listed bidders for Telstra's 5G mobile phone network, along with Huawei. On Thursday Telstra said it was ceasing sales of ZTE phones and mobile broadband devices, due to the US ban. ZTE is appealing the US ban, which is seen as particularly detrimental to its handset business.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that ZTE claims its failure to comply with a US settlement agreement after its sanction breach was due to poor internal controls, not systemic deception. The federal government's Home Affairs Department declined to comment. The internal documents seen by Fairfax Media show ZTE was systematic in its approval and documentation of bribery, as it sought to expand outside its home market of China in the early 2000s. The files from a company insider show the state-backed ZTE paid out $US12.8 million in bribes to secure contracts for two mobile phone networks in the west African country of Benin. The payments to officials in Benin happened in 2005 and 2006 but, according to the documents, they were part of an elaborate bribery system set up inside the company, which has never been investigated or disclosed.

According to an internal reconciliation of the payments, 29 officials from late Benin president Mathieu Kerekou down received the money, mostly in cash. The source said these bribes had to be approved by multiple managers within ZTE, including senior executives at its Shenzhen headquarters and senior staff in the firm's African division. In a statement to Fairfax Media, ZTE refused to comment on the specific allegations but said it would look into the matter. We will investigate on [sic] this as per the companys compliance policy and procedure, a spokesman for ZTE said in an email. An Excel spreadsheet documenting the graft shows $US2.06 million was paid to former president Kerekou in four separate payments. He died in October 2015.

The eldest son, daughter and second son of the one-time Marxist dictator turned democracy advocate are also alleged to have received $US800,000 between them from ZTE. A further $US4 million was paid, in two payments, to the contract committee, while the other funds were disbursed to ministers, telecommunications executives and bureaucrats. A total of 39 payments to 29 people were recorded in ZTE company files and, according to the source, were made to "get contracts signed and kick out competitors". The source said the company won the contracts in Benin, ahead of Finnish giant Nokia. The documents show ZTE paid bribes of $US6.8 million to win a $US29 million GSM mobile network contract for the state-owned Libercom. In addition it paid $US6 million in bribes to secure a $US36 million CDMA contract for the telco. This suggests around 22 per cent of the value of each contract was paid out in inducements.

The person said the money was mostly delivered in cash, via transactions conducted with the Benin branch of French bank Societe Generale. One payment for $2 million was routed via a BNP Paribas account in Monaco from an account controlled by ZTE in Hong Kong. Some of the bribes were disguised by creating false or inflated invoices issued to a company, MR International, which was ostensibly contracted to build telecommunications infrastructure. The revelations could create further problems for ZTE as they appear to breach the tough US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and could be used by regulators in Washington to further sanction the company. They are also likely to cause problems for the company as it seeks to expand in Australia. The federal government said it is considering what, if any, sanctions to place on ZTE after the US ban.

The WA rail contract is to upgrade the current analogue radio system to digital and is due to be awarded in the next few months after the shortlist of five bidders was reduced to two in recent weeks. According to a timeline published by the West Australian government, the new system will be operational by late 2020. ZTE and Huawei beat Ericsson Australia, Optus and Ansaldo STS, a subsidiary of Japanese firm Hitachi, to be the final two shortlisted candidates. The WA rail contract is likely to face scrutiny from the newly established Critical Infrastructure Centre, which sits under the powerful Home Affairs Department, and lists transport among the eight sectors it supervises. The Critical Infrastructure Centre safeguards Australia from the increasingly complex national security risks of sabotage, espionage or coercion, the centre said on its website.
The world's most powerful media company (which insists it's not a media company) is under siege  and the company that held that title for a very long time is leading the charge.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has been waging war against Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook for a while now, arguing, with merit, it is hurting journalism.

Mark Zuckerberg testifies on Capitol Hill about the use of Facebook data to target American voters. Credit:Andrew Harnik

What's interesting though, is that with anger towards Facebook and other tech giants now more widespread, and regulators sharpening their knives, News Corp appears to be locked in behind a solution. The company wants to see a government body established to monitor the opaque algorithms that power these platforms.

It first floated the idea of an Algorithm Review Board, or ARB, in its (extremely long) submission to an Australian inquiry into digital platforms earlier this month. News Corp CEO Robert Thomson talked about the idea again last week on a call with Wall Street analysts.
Qantas Airways' partner on its low-fare Japanese airline Jetstar Japan is considering starting its own cut-price carrier, raising the prospects of it one day becoming a rival to Qantas in the country's growing budget market.

Japan Airlines, or JAL, and Qantas set up Jetstar Japan six years ago, and were trailblazers in bringing the budget airline model to Japan, a country where bullet trains offer a compelling alternative to flying.

Jetstar Japan is focused on domestic and shot-haul international routes. Credit:Bloomberg

Qantas and JAL each own 33 per cent of Jetstar Japan, but JAL is now looking at starting a new, wholly-owned budget airline to compete better as Japan catches up with the rest of the world by embracing low-cost air travel, the company's vice chairman Junko Okawa said in media interview last week.

Jetstar Airlines is the country's largest budget airline, operating 22 Airbus A320 aircraft flying around 100 services a day between 12 Japanese cities, and to four international destinations - Shanghai, Manila, Taipei and Hong Kong, while Qantas' wholly owned off-shoot Jetstar Australia flies several routes between Australia and Japan.
Business leaders in Dubai met recently to discuss harnessing their employee resources to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).



Mobilising volunteering programmes to achieve sustainable change by 2030 was the focus of a Leadership Forum organised by DP World and Emirates NBD as part of IMPACT 2030 - the only international private-sector led coalition aligning employee resources to achieve the goals which focus on key global issues such as poverty, inequality and climate change.



Objectives of the Leadership Forum include:



 Increasing the knowledge and understanding of IMPACT 2030 as a global private sector led collaboration to mobilise volunteers to achieve the SDGs.

 Sharing the results from a UAE survey on volunteering in which 48 companies took part with 90,000 volunteers contributing almost 1 million volunteer hours through their activities in 2016.

 Identifying next steps on how to align employee volunteering with the SDGs.



DP World Group chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said: Private sector collaboration will contribute enormously to the success of the goals of the United Nations and companies in the UAE are playing a leading role in this region.



Employee volunteering programmes that bring together companies in different sectors will go a long way to helping tackle some of the worlds issues around poverty, inequality and climate change. By planning our efforts together, we can make more headway into alleviating some of these problems for the benefit of millions of people worldwide.



The Leadership Forum coincides with the Year of Zayed in the UAE that provides an opportunity for businesses to create a sense of community responsibility, to develop a spirit of volunteering and to encourage specialised volunteer programmes.  TradeArabia News Service
The prospect of a lower tax in Victoria risks angering anti-gambling campaigners, who have accused the Victorian Labor government of succumbing to lobbying from an online wagering industry association led by former Labor Party heavyweight, Stephen Conroy.

Several Australian states so far have announced "point-of-consumption" taxes, which will tax digital bookmakers  such as Sportsbet, CrownBet, Ladbrokes and Bet365  based on where an online bet is placed, rather than where the company is located.

Victoria is expected to "go it alone" and introduce a new tax on digital betting companies at nearly half the rate of other states, sources say.

But the move would be welcomed by online betting companies, who argue that the taxes adopted in other states are unfairly high, and by Victorian racing officials, who are concerned that excessive taxation could jeopardise online bookmakers' hefty investments in the industry.

State governments, pub operators and gaming giant Tabcorp say the taxes are necessary to "level the playing field" because Australia's online sports-betting companies are mostly licensed in the lower-tax Northern Territory and pay vastly less in tax than TABs.

Western Australia last week renewed its commitment to become the second state to introduce the new tax on gambling revenue at 15 per cent from 2019, following South Australia's introduction of a 15 per cent tax last year. Queensland has vowed to do the same.

The two biggest states, Victoria and New South Wales, have also committed to introducing point-of-consumption taxes, though details have not yet been officially revealed.

Many in the wagering industry had been expecting the Victorian government to reveal its tax in recent state budget, but the tax was not included.
Australia is one of the world's top 20 water-stressed nations but a shift to more renewable energy could lessen the nations water pressure.

A report by the World Resources Industry identified Australia as one country vulnerable to water stress where the potential for cheap renewable energy, solar and wind as opposed to fossil fuels, could reduce water consumption country-wide as these technologies use minimal - or zero - water.

AGL's Liddell power station next to Lake Liddell, its main source of water. Credit:Simone De Peak

"By better managing their limited water resources and investing in the right energy systems these renewable forms of energy can help countries meet their increased demand for electricity without adding carbon emissions or consuming water," the World Resources Institute's manager for water, Tianyi Luo, said.

"This could be particularly beneficial in countries where growing populations, farms and industries are already competing for scant water supplies"
It is one of the most persistently vexatious dilemmas humanity has faced through the ages  how do you get kids to eat their vegetables  and now, one former MasterChef contestant reckons she has got the answer.

"If you want to know how to make vegetables cool for kids it's by making them part of the conversation, by teaching them how to think, not what to think," says Alice Zaslavsky, the big-glasses, bigger-personality former teacher who finished seventh on season four of Ten's cooking competition in 2012.

Alice Zaslavsky is making vegies fun for kids. Credit:Simon Schluter

"And whatever you do, don't tell them its healthy. Research shows that the moment you tell someone something is healthy for them their taste expectations go down."

Zaslavsky has put her thoughts, research and 18 months' of work into Phenomenom (yes, with an M), a multi-faceted program that works kind of like a pincer program, hitting kids both where they work (school) and where they play (YouTube).
Rather than run away and hide, like many do, Marecaux undertook an epic fight through the French courts. The press and his fellow citizens took little interest in whether he was innocent or not, because they believed there was a social issue at stake that was more important than individual rights. Vincent Garenq's film of Marecaux's journey is a harrowing reminder of how the justice system and political movements can sometimes get things badly wrong. Scott Murray

With the presumption of innocence heading for extinction like the dodo, the number of people damned in ways that nothing can ever be done to restore them to a normal life steadily increases. This is accepted as fair and reasonable by many because a lot of the accused turn out to be guilty (or appear to be). But not all. Take the true story of Alain Marecaux, a French lawyer and father accused of child abuse.

Throughout the 1930s the Belgian fortress of Eben-Emael towered over the Dutch border, a huge and seemingly impregnable armoured beast, dug deep into a hill and bristling with cannon turrets intended to repel any future German invasion.

But on May 10, 1940, a small force of German soldiers landed atop it in nine flimsy, fabric-covered gliders and took less than 30 minutes to neutralise the entire thing, opening Hitler's gateway to Belgium and France.

The stunning success of the glider-borne assault  the first ever attempted  inspired the Nazis to re-enact it for propaganda purposes, and it's that footage that gives this instalment of History's Raiders a particularly intimate, urgent feel. The series' turn-of-the-millennium CGI is looking dated, but it's still perfectly serviceable in illustrating how everything unfolded. A fascinating episode of a fine series. Brad Newsome

MOVIE

Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (2006)

7flix, 5pm

Bugs Bunny is a supremely self-confident rascal who creates danger and drama to prove to himself he is invincible. And if Bugs can humiliate enemies along the way, so much the better. Most people love his wickedness and cheek and outrageous arrogance, but I find him a pain. I keep praying that someone will take him down more than a peg or two  someone like Elmer Fudd, whom Bugs tortures for the sheer pleasure of it.
The crash happened about 7.30pm last night.

It looks like it's going to be another glorious autumn day in the capital. Mostly sunny, with a low of 3 degrees and a high of 18. There is expected to be a southerly wind up to 20km/h although it will become more of a breeze in the middle of the day. Seriously, I feel sorry for anyone who isn't in Canberra at this time of year.

A motorcyclist has died after crashing in Bonython last night. Police say the man crashed at the corner of Anketell Street and Athllon Drive about 7.30pm.

"Unfortunately, a male has died at the scene as a result of injuries sustained in the [crash]," the said in a statement.

We'll update this story with any new information through the day.

Qantas hits back at aggressive Canberra Airport tactics
Canberrans will have access to a free physiotherapy service when a trial begins at one of the territory's nurse-led walk in centres later this year.

The centres are unique to the ACT in Australia and have proved popular with the public, offering free nurse led treatment for minor illness and injury.

NEW APPROACH: Christine Riley of Isabella Plains with Walk-in Centre Nurse Practitioner Wendy Kroon.

But the model is opposed by doctors' groups including the Australian Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners, who have instead called for an integrated model involving GPs.

According to government figures, a visit with a nurse at one of the centres costs ACT tax payers $190 compared to less than $40 for a GP visit.
Thirty years after Betty Curtis lost her aunt, Rita, to breast cancer, the Canberra woman had her own brush with the disease.

Picked up during a mammogram she was not even due to have, the disease was at such an early stage she did not require radiotherapy or chemotherapy.

Breast cancer survivor Betty Curtis entered the Mother's Day Classic on Sunday. Credit:Jamila Toderas

Ms Curtis said her story not only showed why regular mammograms were so important, but also how far breast cancer research had come in the past three decades.

"None of my family and friends are allowed to miss a mammogram. If you can catch it early, your chances of survival are 100 per cent," she said.
The Turnbull government is extending a multimillion-dollar suicide prevention trial targeting 12 places in Australia where residents are at a higher than average risk of taking their own lives, including north-western Melbourne, northern Queensland and Tasmania.

The national suicide prevention plan was launched in 2016 with funding of $36 million and was slated to run until June next year.

Health Minister Greg Hunt says suicide statistics in Australia are "unacceptable" and the government will do all it can to reverse them. Credit:AAP

Health Minister Greg Hunt will announce on Monday the trials will be extended by a year to June 30, 2020, with a budget boost of $13 million.

Among the strategies being implemented are education programs in schools, improved healthcare after suicide attempts and e-health programs, including iPad surveys in doctors' waiting rooms allowing patients to indicate discreetly if they are in need of support.
Treasurer Scott Morrison and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The federal budget handed down by Scott Morrison last Tuesday night was clearly an election pitch. Carefully designed to avoid alienating any one bloc of voters, it contained just $2 billion in cuts, a promise to return to surplus early, and a $140 billion package of income tax cuts spread out over seven years and aimed squarely at middle Australia.

Under the governments plan, all Australians earning between $41,000 and $200,000 will pay 32.5 per cent tax from July 2024. That would put 94 per cent of workers in the same tax bracket with high-income earners.

Mr Morrison and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull hoped to capitalise on tentative signs of a political resurgence this year. Indeed, there was chatter about an early election in the wake of a possible 'budget bounce''.

That seems highly unlikely now.
Hilal Computers, the Bahrain-based IT solutions and technical services provider, has been inducted into the Dell EMC Presidents Circle Top 20 Partners from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.

The honour was announced at the Dell Technologies World 2018 in Las Vegas; the global annual meeting place for the IT sector, which attracted 14,000 attendees, including more than 6,500 partners for the adjacent Global Partner Summit.

The inclusion of Hilal Computers in the select Presidents circle is a benchmark achievement evaluated by Dell Technologies across their extensive number of global enterprise partners.

Dell Technologies recognizes their top partners globally for their extraordinary performance," stated Hardy Koshy,, the general manager of Hilal Computers.

"The selection for the Dell EMC Presidents Circle is an accolade that is deserved by all the employees of Hilal Computers whose dedication and professionalism is recognized by the award," he added.

Established in 1989, Hilal Computers have carved a reputation for excellence in IT solutions and customer-centric service, offering scalable, open, cross-platform management solutions to large corporations, multinationals, small, and medium-sized enterprises.

Shijas Mohidheen, the director of sales and operations for Hilal Computers, said: 'To attend the Dell Technologies World is in itself enriching for Hilal Computers. The event is the platform to experience the technological insights and innovations that be driven by seven technology leaders that includes Dell, Dell EMC, Pivotal, RSA, SecureWorks, Virtustream and VMware."

"However to attend as an acknowledged leader for Dell Technologies as a specific solutions provider in the Mena region gave Hilal Computers a preferred status to access these technology leaders," he added.

Roshan George, the commercial director, said: "Being recognized as part of Dell Technologies global excellence platform is major achievement for any company that is in our sphere of business. Our success is driven by our clients."

"These global and Regional corporate entities have set the requirements that they expect from service delivery and Hilal Computers have delivered locally but to a global standard," he added.

Hilal Computers has associated companies in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with offices in Al Khobar, Riyadh, Jeddah and Jubail n the kingdom and also Dubai.-TradeArabia News Service
It would seem you can find an insurance policy (C8) to cover anything. Judy Walsh of Stockton writes: "I have my grandfather's Life Insurance Policy taken out with The National Mutual Life Association of Australasia Limited, dated 1st January 1915, as he headed off to Egypt, Gallipoli and France. In a later letter to my Nanna he discusses whether he will keep up the premiums as it was getting a bit expensive. He survived but what were the odds?"

Now that Griffiths Teas (C8) has been dealt with, Brian Stewart of Camden offers up another puzzle for curious minds. Back in the 1950s, when it was the Glebe Island Bridge that was used to cross Rozelle Bay not the Anzac Bridge, there was a factory with the name Sniet's Sausage Binders that was visible to every pedestrian, motorist and tram passenger that crossed the bridge. Brian wonders what happened to Sniets, and exactly what is a sausage binder?

Further to the topic of age-related skin changes (C8), both Ken Follows of Erina and Patricia Egan of Blackheath have doctors who referred to their mature skin lumps and bumps as "barnacles" while the dermatologist of Susan Osborne of Miranda tactfully described her age spots as "wisdom marks".
The head of the union representing NSW public school teachers has hit back at the state government's announcement of a review into the education curriculum, claiming that teachers are experiencing "reform and review fatigue".

NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes. Credit:Brook Mitchell

President of the NSW Teachers Federation Maurie Mulheron said that teachers were sick of "so-called experts" being brought in to chair reviews while they remain in the dark and that the curriculum is not the main issue facing teachers in classrooms.

"The thing that teachers are worried about is the lack of time for the curriculum, and that isnt driven by the curriculum itself but things that sit outside the curriculum," he said, citing the obsession with "pointless and irrelevant" NAPLAN data as one of the "real issues" teachers are worried about.
Mr Cockman arrives at his press conference in Margaret River on Sunday. Loading Mr Cockman's decision to address the media so openly was a shock to police, who said he "insisted" on making the statement and waiting until all media crews in Margaret River had arrived before he spoke. Asked if he had felt victimised by the Margaret River community, which had been swift to point the finger at him in the days following the incident, Mr Cockman said people "can say what they want". "I've lost everything in my life ... People's opinions, whatever."

In the emotional address, Mr Cockman said he believed his former father-in-law had been "thinking this through for a long time". Loading "All these kids died peacefully in their beds. The [police officer] that went through, he said they looked all peaceful. How the hell Peter did that I still can't figure out, but if someone did it ... he did a good job, he did a really good job. "If someone was going to do it, I trust he did it right and he did it right. "The kids went to sleep and now they are nothing."

Mr Cockman visited the hobby farm in Osmington on Sunday morning, but did not pass beyond the gate. He said police had described the stages of the mass shooting. "He [Peter Miles] went across, shot Kat and the kids first [in their beds], shot Cynda in the living room. Cynda probably got up, heard the gun shots. Then he sent a triple zero call," he said. "In that call he would have been saying about ... I'm guessing, not being able to handle it if something happened to Neil, I'm sure that's in the call." While Mr Cockman believes the Miles family's own struggles were the catalyst for the alleged murder-suicide, he said he had experienced his own battles with the family, including over the custody of his children since his divorce from Ms Miles. "I've had so much anger ... ever since I was cut off from my kids for six months. That was due to Peter and Cynda," he said.

"I used to drive around town just hoping to see them ... but that anger I felt is gone. I don't feel angry. I feel tremendous sadness for my kids." Mr Cockman said Mr Miles was "an awesome man, before this all blew up. He was like my best friend. I still love who he was, but his mental attitude ... There are some people you just don't want to get on the wrong side of. That's Peter and Cynda." He said he found peace in knowing that the children had been asleep when the shooting occurred. "I don't know how he did it so well though; none of the kids were up out of their beds. They were all really peaceful and calm. When I heard that, the best feeling came over me." Mr Cockman said he had been supported by his family and his faith.

"I've got an awesome, powerful strong family," he said. "They get their strength from Jehovah and so do I." Loading Earlier on Sunday, Mr Cockman visited an idyllic bush chapel to lay flowers in memory of his family. West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has met grieving residents of the Margaret River community. He said the deaths were "one of the worst tragedies WA has ever seen" and "something all of us feel very keenly and very deeply".

"I expect the grieving process will go on for many years for that family," he said. He thanked everyone who was assisting in the aftermath of the shootings and offered his commiserations to those who had "endured the unendurable". The incident would be "talked about for many years to come" and all West Australians were thinking of the family, he said. Peter Miles (second from left), his wife, Cynda (back right), their daughter Katrina (left), and her four children, Taye, Rylan, Ayre and Kadyn. Mr McGowan said Australia served as an example for the rest of world "that you have to have very careful and strict gun laws".

He said in this case it appeared the guns were licensed. "It was a farming property. There is not much else I can see from the outside could have been done," he said. The West Australian government would await the coroners inquiry, he said. Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said he did not intend to release the triple zero call made by a man from the property. Loading

He said there was "not much I would add" to the comments he had already made but forensic procedures were continuing alongside investigative and analytical work. "Im not going to put a timeframe on that," Mr Dawson said. He offered his thanks to the police officers who first attended this "difficult and challenging job". On Saturday, Commissioner Dawson confirmed three long-arm firearms were recovered at the property, all of which were licensed to Peter Miles. "I wish to strongly emphasise police do not believe any other person is involved with these crimes. Police are not searching for any other suspect," Commissioner Dawson said.
Hundreds of people have gathered near Fremantle Port to protest the loading of a live export carrier bound for the Middle East on Sunday morning.

The Emanuel Exports vessel, the Al Shuwaikh, is on route to Fremantle Port from Adelaide and is due to begin loading live stock on Tuesday.

Protesters gathered outside the WA Maritime Museum just after 2pm on Sunday afternoon. Credit:Kerry Faulkner

The carrier will be transporting sheep to Kuwait and Qatar. It is cleared to transport approximately 60,000 sheep, but the amount of animals that will be boarding on Tuesday is currently unclear.

The Australian Veterinarian Association recommended earlier this week a cessation of live sheep exports between May and October due to the predictable and unavoidable increased risk of heat stress, but the shipment is due to go ahead next week.
One of the largest healthcare providers in Canberra has already ruled out offering voluntary assisted dying, even if the practice is legalised in the ACT.

In a submission to an ACT parliamentary inquiry on the end-of-life choices available to people in Canberra, the company behind Clare Holland House and Calvary Hospital said it was against its code of ethics to allow its staff to help someone end their life.

Calvary Hospital in Bruce is one of several healthcare providers in Canberra run by Catholic not-for-profit Little Company of Mary Health Care. Credit:Melissa Adams

The Little Company of Mary Health Care is a Catholic not-for-profit group that operates 15 hospitals, 17 aged care homes and a network of community care centres across the ACT, NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

In the ACT, it runs the Calvary Public Hospital and Calvary Private Hospital in Bruce, Clare Holland House, Calvary John James Hospital, Calvary Haydon Retirement Community and the Community Care Service Centre in Bruce.
The fight for gender equality in Canberra will get a $700,000 boost in the upcoming ACT budget.

The territory's Office for Women will get an extra $696,000 over the next four years in next month's budget to implement key actions in the ACT Women's Plan.

ACT Minister for Women Yvette Berry. Credit:Karleen Minney

The plan aims to improve the evidence base around gender equality, eliminate unconscious gender bias across government through training programs, and promote gender diversity on boards through a diversity register and board traineeships for women.

ACT Minister for Women Yvette Berry said the board traineeship program was particularly focused on industries where female representation was low, and sporting groups who must meet a target of 40 per cent female representation by 2020.
The Turnbull government will not intervene to save Queensland MP and junior minister Jane Prentice after she lost preselection for the next election.

Ms Prentice, assistant minister for disability services, was dumped from re-contesting the safe seat of Ryan after losing a preselection battle to Brisbane city councillor Julian Simmonds on Saturday.

While the decision has again enlivened the debate over the Coalition's ability to retain and promote female MPs, Treasurer Scott Morrison defended the preselection process as "how these things work."

Mr Morrison said he could not see grounds for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull interfering with the outcome to save Ms Prentice.
A leading online security expert has welcomed news of a new multimillion dollar cyber security operations centre for Parliament House, outlined in this week's federal budget.

Director of UNSW Canberra Cyber Nigel Phair said such a centre had been a long time coming, arguing parliament's cyber operations were in need of an upgrade.

An estimated $9 million will be spent on the cyber security centre in Parliament House.

Treasurer Scott Morrison confirmed in Tuesday's budget the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) would receive $9 million over four years to establish a cyber security operations centre.

The centre will be set up during the 2018-19 financial year, with $300,000 of capital funding.
A NSW policy to counter the environmental damage caused by mines and other large developments was endorsed by the federal government despite bureaucrats knowing it contained serious shortcomings, freedom of information documents have revealed.

A former federal environment staffer has also told Fairfax Media that senior department officials shut down scrutiny of the NSW policy once the deficiencies began to emerge.

Coal mine protest signs in the Bylong Valley near Mudgee. Credit:Peter Rae

The revelations discredit assurances by the federal government that its controversial one stop shop to streamline environmental approvals for big projects would not weaken protections for threatened species and sensitive bushland.

Under former prime minister Tony Abbott, the government announced the policy to cut red tape, delays and regulatory costs for developers.
With global supply chains becoming increasingly complex and diverse, the need of the hour is increased value and efficiencies underpinned by effective cross stakeholder collaboration, said the CEO and managing director of DP World.



The largest demand growth will come from Asia, which will account for 60 per cent of the middle class globally and 40 per cent of total chemicals demand, added Mohammed Al Muallem, also CEO of Jafza.



Al Muallem was delivering a keynote address at the recently concluded 10th GPCA Supply Chain Conference in Dubai, UAE. The two-day conference saw speakers identify collaboration as a key driver of growth and business transformation, enabling cost efficiencies and reduced disruption.



Dr Robert de Souza, executive director and CEO, The Logistics Institute  Asia Pacific, told the audience in a second keynote address, that risk management will be key to predict future challenges and ensure the robustness and resilience of the regions supply chain industry.



During the event, technological advancements such as autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, IoT, advanced robotics, etc. and identifying and retaining talent to implement digital and analytics to understand them, were identified as pressure points within the global supply chain industry.



The importance of talent was further emphasized, with the 7th edition of GPCAs Leaders of Tomorrow programme powered by Sabic taking place alongside the conference and providing students from across the GCC with a valuable opportunity to network with senior industry leaders and learn about the career opportunities within the chemical industry in the GCC.



As part of an organized site visit, students from across the region enjoyed a tour around the logistics site of RSE-TALKE in Jebel Ali Free Zone and Dubai World Central.



Dr Abdulwahab Al Sadoun, secretary general, GPCA, said: With the chemicals industry being an export-oriented one, the supply chain is an integral element of its operations. The success of the Arabian Gulf chemicals industry is underpinned by effective supply chain management, which has a direct impact on its profitability. Increasing collaboration with internal and external stakeholders can drive bottom-line results and reduce the risks and costs of supply chain functions.



He added: Collaboration will be needed not just within the industry itself, but among different stakeholders such as government, academia, logistics, technology providers and buyers to improve the regions competitiveness and address the challenges ahead.  TradeArabia News Service
Labor MP Josh Wilson, Senator Katy Gallagher, crossbench MP Rebekha Sharkie, Labor MP Susan Lamb and Labor MP Justine Keay, have been caught by section 44. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

London: As the High Court, courtesy of the Australian constitution's section 44, knocked out MP after MP, their British counterparts have been watching aghast, not just at the stunning fallout from the bench's black letter law interpretation but at the fact that Australians have a ban on dual citizen MPs in the first place.

Fairfax Media has spoken to members of the Commons representing Britain's ruling Conservative party, the Labour party and the Scottish National party, who have all expressed dismay that Australia, alone in the anglosphere, takes such a strident stance on dual nationalities.

They all urged Australia to lift the ban, a call likely to fall on deaf ears, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull rebutting calls for a referendum - the only way of changing the constitution.

A report the prime minister commissioned into section 44 will be released this week and is widely expected to recommend change. The Liberal MP chairing that committee, West Australian Senator Linda Reynolds, recently told Fairfax Media that it was her personal view that the section was outdated, because the High Court interpretation also requires any public servant, like a firefighter or teacher, to give up their job before they nominate if they want to run for parliament, even if they are unlikely to be successful at the ballot box. This serves as a deterrent to the majority of the community from running for parliament. No such restrictions are in place for those who want to serve in the military or on the bench, charged with interpreting and applying the constitution.
A central Queensland aged care resident who suffered a broken hip was forced to wait 48 hours before an ambulance was called, a union-led secret audit of aged care facilities across Queensland has revealed.

The audit, undertaken by nurses, residents' family members and community volunteers in 70 aged care facilities across the state on Saturday, also found it common practice for residents to be showered just once a week.

The audit found more than 75 per cent of aged care staff are not nurses and are unqualified. Credit:Canberra-Times

Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union president Beth Mohle, who steered the inspection, said residents were bearing the brunt of an understaffing issue affecting much of the aged care sector.

Ms Mohle said staff from a majority of the facilities surveyed reported residents being forced to wait after calling for help.
Johannesburg: A suspected explosive device was discovered on Sunday in a mosque near the South African port city of Durban where a fatal knife attack occurred last week, police said.

South Africa is racked by violent crime and social strife rooted in poverty and glaring income disparities, but it is seldom associated with the Islamist militancy seen on other parts of the continent.

"The bomb squad is there now in the mosque and they will give us a report if it is an explosive device or not," said Simphiwe Mhlongo, a spokesman for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, an elite police unit known as the Hawks."
Washington: President Donald Trump pledged on Sunday to help Chinese phone manufacturer ZTE return to business, days after the company said it would cease "major operating activities" because of the US government's recent trade restrictions, a shift in tone for a president who has long accused China of stealing US jobs.

"President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast," Trump tweeted. "Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!"

The comment could presage a reversal of one of the Trump administration's toughest actions to date against a Chinese company. In April, the Commerce Department penalised ZTE for violating a settlement with the US government over illegal shipments to Iran and North Korea. As a result, the Trump administration barred US firms for seven years from exporting critical microchips and other parts to ZTE, the world's fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer.
Washington: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States will "provide security assurances" to North Korea's Kim Jong-un to smooth the way for a nuclear deal.

Pompeo met with Kim last week in North Korea, helping set the stage for US President Donald Trump's historic summit with the North Korean leader in Singapore on June 12.

Trump's goal is for North Korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons in a permanent and verifiable way. In return, the US is willing to help the impoverished nation strengthen its economy.

Pompeo was asked on Fox News Sunday whether the US was in effect telling Kim he could stay in power if he met the US demands.
Deep US-European discord over Tehran is not unprecedented. In the 1990s, significant disagreements surfaced when Washington adopted legislation - including the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) - which punished European firms for doing business in those countries. In response, Brussels agreed reciprocal steps to protect European businesses and adopt counter-measures against the US where restrictions were imposed by Washington. A similar pattern may now play out again following Trumps decision. It is clear the US president feels strongly about the Iran issue claiming the agreement is a great embarrassment and a giant fiction given that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying, rotten structure of the current agreement. Given such rhetoric, it is unlikely he will back track from his decision. However, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last week that Washington will continue to work with our allies to build an agreement that is truly in the best interest of our long-term national security. Following Trumps decision, the ball is now in Europes court and it is clear that many of the continents leaders are aghast at Trumps dismissal of the deal that took over a decade to negotiate. Mogherini said on Friday that it seems that screaming, shouting, insulting and bully, systematically destroying and dismantling everything that is already in place, is the mood of our times...[But we have to] move on from the I win, you lose. approach. European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is determined to save the 2015 deal with Iran. Credit:AP

Mogherini said Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has reconfirmed to her that Tehran will not pull out of the agreement if other signatories (not just France, United Kingdom, and Germany but also China, Russia) remain committed to its terms. Rouhani, however, did warn last week that he has instructed the countrys atomic energy agency to prepare to restart enrichment of uranium in a few weeks should the deal collapse completely. Iran's foreign minister is visiting China for talks following President Donald Trump's decision to scrap US participation in the agreement over Iran's nuclear program. China's Foreign Ministry and state media said Javad Zarif was visiting Beijing on Sunday at the head of a large political and economic delegation to "exchange views with relevant parties on the developments of the Iranian nuclear issue". China was closely involved in negotiating the agreement as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and has long been a close Iranian economic partner, buying about a third of Iran's oil shipments.

Not only does Europe want to make the deal work - France, Germany and Britain indicated last week they will work collectively on a broader framework, covering nuclear activity, the post-2025 period, ballistic activity, and stability in the Middle-East, notably Syria, Yemen, and Iraq. Yet, there is no doubting that European leaders are disheartened over Trumps decision which comes after high-level lobbying in Washington from Macron, Merkel and Johnson. While Merkel and Johnson made no apparent headway with the US President, there had been signs when Macron met Trump of potential compromise. Loading Loading Macron said on April 25 that I think we are ... work[ing] towards a [new] deal, an overall deal that will enable us to deal with the nuclear issue, but also treat it together with other issues which are not being dealt with so far that Trump has expressed dismay over.

From this European perspective, the 2015 nuclear agreement would be only the first pillar of a broader framework that would also restrict Iran's regional influence, its ballistic missiles and its nuclear activities post-2025, when the existing deal expires. Trump had indicated last month such an agreement, may, be acceptable to him saying to Macron that You know in life you have to be flexible, and as leaders of countries, you have to show some flexibility... We could have at least an agreement among ourselves fairly quickly...I think we're fairly close to understanding each other. This US-French dialogue came to nothing. And a key question for Europe is therefore how far to push back against Trump, as indicated by Le Drian who said on Friday that the extraterritoriality of the [US] sanction measures are unacceptable ... [we will] put in place the necessary measures to protect the interests of our companies and start negotiations with Washington. Europe took a similar path after Washington passed the ILSA legislation in 1996. Then Brussels approved measures to neutralise the law asserting that the US should not be able to impose such measures with such an extra-territorial effect. Despite this precedent, the re-imposed US sanctions could critically undermine EU attempts to preserve the Iran agreement. It may only be European firms with little or no economic interests in the US who prove likely to want to trade with Iran given the potential risks, including fines from the US Treasury.
Now, an Australian surfing legend has entered the fray with what he believes is the solution. But not everyone is on board. "This is so clearly going to turn into something catastrophic," says Ian Cairns, a former world champion who helped establish the professional surfing circuit in the '70s. "When you have this many sharks with this many people going to the beach, youre coming into some sort of calamity and someone needs to do something." Cairns was born in Kew, Victoria, and raised on Sydney's northern beaches before moving to Western Australia. There he forged a legacy as the premier "power" surfer of his era and put Margaret River on the map as a world-renowned surf break. Former Australian surfing champion Ian Cairns at Laguna Beach in southern California, where shark attacks are increasing. Credit:Rachel Olding

He has watched as shark attacks have risen in Western Australia (since 2000, 15 people have been killed) and on the NSW Mid North Coast, where his mother lives. Following a spate of encounters in 2014 and 2015 that closed some NSW beaches for weeks, tourism operators reported crippling drops in business and local surfers took the unprecedented step of advocating cullings. Cairns, who moved to Califonia's Laguna Beach in the '90s, believes he's seeing the same trend emerge in his adopted homeland. Ian Cairns, pictured in 1976, was one of the greatest surfers of the era. He grew so concerned that he approached Australian company Smart Marine Systems and is working for it by lobbying for its "clever buoy" technology to be implemented at southern Californian beaches. The buoys use sonar transponders to scan the ocean floor, detect shark movement and then send warnings to lifeguards. "I've surfed in sharky areas my whole life, I actually love that feeling of going into the wilderness where it's dangerous. I just don't want my kids to get eaten," says the father-of-four, who has seen sharks while out surfing and stand-up paddleboarding with his children on three occasions recently.

There are signs that concern is growing among residents too. Information sessions are being organised and lifeguards have started to run "shark watch" web pages and use offshore beacons that ping when one of a small handful of tagged sharks swims by (although downloading the beacons' data can take weeks). But, while local and state governments in WA and NSW swiftly rolled out drumlines, shark nets, drones and helicopter patrols, Californian authorities have shown less enthusiasm. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, a keen surfer, and Newport Beach mayor Kevin Muldoon announced a trial of clever buoys at Corona del Mar but no one will cough up the $US1 million ($1.3 million) it costs to install and run the six buoys for at least a year. The company is crowd-sourcing funds and will most likely pay the rest itself. A sheriff's helicopter detected a great white shark off Dana Point in Orange County in May 2017, and alerted surfers. Credit:Orange County Sheriff's Department At a shark information session in November run by California's Ocean Protection Council, Cairns says not one bureaucrat spoke about the possibility of people dying.

"These guys dont want to admit theyve got a mega-problem," he says, adding that it's not only "bureaucratic inertia". Even his wife, a former pro surfer, refuses to admit that sharks are becoming an issue, he jokes. Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University in Long Beach, says he is not convinced the danger is as high as Cairns suggests. Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach, analyses the mangled wetsuit Maria Korcsmaros was wearing when she was attacked. Credit:AP He says the shark population has exploded in southern California due to decades of environmental protections and, possibly, increasing water temperatures. Last year he had so many shark sightings that he ran out of tags (and money) to monitor them. But, unlike in Australia, sightings are not translating into increased attacks.

Hot spots emerging in southern California are actually nurseries for juvenile sharks; the younger animals are possibly attracted to the safety of the coastline's shallow, warm waters with abundant sting rays. The adult sharks, which pose more of a threat to humans, do not seem to hang around, instead leaving for far-off feeding sites and seal rookeries, Lowe says. Even if human injuries started to increase, he thinks Californians would baulk at anti-shark measures. "I just can't see California doing the same as ... Australia. California is a progressive state, we're very ecologically conscious."

He says researchers still don't have an accurate picture of what's happening, and why, and he would prefer money went to research and monitoring rather than technology with no proven effectiveness. To that end, he provided testimony to the Californian State Assembly last month in support of a proposed bipartisan bill titled the White Shark Population Monitoring and Beach Safety Program. It would provide funding for further academic research, including the Shark Lab's tagging program. "We must be willing to invest in those who are doing the work," Democrat Patrick ODonnell, who authored the bill, says in reference to academic researchers. "This is a human, environmental and economic issue." In a state that wants to legislate surfing as its official sport, the human, environmental and economic implications are undeniable. Thousands of Memorial Day beachgoers, including Gabriel Cordromp, 8, were ordered out of the water at Corona del Mar beach as authorities searched for the shark that attacked Korcsmaros the day before. Credit:Cindy Yamanaka/The Orange County Register
New York: An acrimonious battle in New Jersey over plans to move a waterfront statue commemorating the 1940 massacre of Poles has ended.

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and local Polish groups announced late on Saturday that they have reached an agreement on relocating the Katyn Memorial. Details on the deal will be announced on Monday.

Buildings in Lower Manhattan provide a backdrop to a statue dedicated to the victims of the Katyn massacre of 1940, in Jersey City, New Jersey. Credit:AP

Fulop, a Democrat, called the deal a "win-win" in a tweet announcing the agreement. He wrote that the goal was one that "respects/cares/keeps the monument in an extremely prominent location to honour sacrifices" while also giving the city "a chance to re-purpose our waterfront."

City officials wanted to move the statue as part of a renovation of the plaza where it currently stands, on the waterfront across from downtown New York City. The head of the group organising the renovation has called the statue "gruesome" and has said he prefers that it get a new home, according to published reports.
Dubai Police General Command has signed an agreement with Acacus Technologies, a home-grown technology leader, to have driverless patrol vehicles on Dubai roads by 2020.



The driverless vehicles are planned to be on Dubai roads phase-wise. The first phase will have capabilities including cameras and video analytics. Whereas the subsequent phases will include object detection, tracking, and advanced driverless technology.



As per the signed memorandum of understanding (MoU), Acacus will be revamping the entire fleet of Dubai Polices patrol vehicles, phase wise, to develop and integrate it into driverless technology. Each phase will add new and advanced capabilities.



Acacus will be developing and innovating software and hardware solutions for this project.



The MOU was signed by the General Command of the Dubai Police department, Major-General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, commander-in-chief of Dubai Police and founder & CEO of Acacus Technologies Talal Ben Halim.



Al Marri said: This MOU is in compliance and directive of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, The Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai worlds smartest city by harnessing technology in the service of all and with best international practices. The Dubai Police General Headquarters is keen to adopt and implement best in class technology to service everyone, combating crime and reducing it. Also with the focus on increasing the productivity of our services.



Chairman of Acacus Group Rashid Ahmed Bin Rasheed said: At Acacus we are proud to contribute in making Dubai the global hub of technological innovation. As a technology leader in the mobility space, the vision of Acacus is to provide state-of-the-art software and hardware solutions for intelligent fleet management. In coming years, we plan to be the global leader in bringing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to the transportation space and be instrumental in driving operational efficiency, optimizing resources and reducing costs for our esteemed clients.



Ben Halim said: It is a proud moment for all of us at Acacus, to be part of a prestigious project for Dubai Police. The vision laid down by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, The Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, is an inspiration for all of us. It guides us in pushing the boundaries of technology further, especially in artificial intelligence and machine learning, for a common goal of making Dubai the smartest city in the world. We are excited to have the driverless patrol vehicles on roads well ahead of our target launch date.  TradeArabia News Service
Officials said a young man drowned May 12 while swimming near this jetty at the southern end of Pawleys Island. A Pawleys Island police officer rescued two other boys from the water.
Raising the Bar

Science History Images/Alamy

Astronaut Anna Fisher joined NASA in 1978 and became the first mother to fly in space when she launched on her space shuttle mission. See photos from her space career here. She retired from NASA in 2017.

This Photo: Anna Lee Fisher was part of the first group of women announced by NASA as astronaut candidates in 1978.

Discovery Crew

NASA

On November 12, 1984, the Discovery Crew  from left to right astronauts David M. Walker, Dale A. Gardner, Anna Lee Fisher, Frederick H. (Rick) Hauck and Joseph P. Allen  celebrate a successful mission.

Opening a Door

NASA

The first female astronaut candidates (ASCANS) named by NASA photographed with a model of the NASA shuttle  from left to right, Rhea Seddon, Anna L. Fisher, Judith A. Resnik, Shannon W. Lucid, Sally K. Ride and Kathryn D. Sullivan  during a January 31, 1978 press conference at Johnson Space Center. Along with these six women, 14 other mission specialist candidates and 15 pilot astronaut candidates were introduced to the press at the Teague Auditorium.

Training for the Big Day

San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive

Anna Lee Fisher, seen here in Houston, Texas, served on STS-51A in 1984 as a mission specialist.

Flight Experience

San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive

Astronaut Anna Lee Fisher completed a year of training before being eligible to fly as a mission specialist on space shuttle flight crews. Anna Lee Fisher was the first mother to go into space.

Training and Experience

San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive

Astronaut Anna Lee Fisher completed many different assignments once her training ended. She was crew representative for both support development and testing of the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) and payload bay door contingency spacewalk procedures, the extra-small Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) and contingency in-orbit Thermal Protection System (TPS) repair hardware and procedures and more for pre-STS-1 through STS-4. She was also crew evaluator for verification and development testing for STS-2, 3 and 4.

Before NASA

San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive

Before joining the NASA program, Anna Lee Fisher earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 1971 and 1976, respectively; received a Master of Science in Chemistry from UCLA, 1987. During STS-5, 6 and 7 she served as a physician in the recovery helicopter and helped create rescue procedures.

Microgravity Training

NASA Johnson Space Center

Floating in weightlessness is a must-have skill for astronauts. Her, Anna Fisher practices the skill in a NASA training plane.

Anna Fisher Practices Robotic Arm Training

NASA

During STS-51A shuttle mission in November 1980, astronaut Anna Fisher flew the space shuttle Discovery's robotic arm to support the retrieval of two malfunctioning satellites, and the deployment of two new communications satellites. Seen here, Fisher practices robotic arm work for the mission.

Anna Fisher: Mission Patch

NASA

Astronaut Anna Fisher launched into space on the space shuttle Discovery on Nov. 8, 1984 to become NASA's first mom in space. The mission, seen launching here, was STS-51A and was crewed by Fisher, commander Frederick Hauck, pilot David Walker and mission specialists Dale Gardner and Joseph Allen. The mission deployed the Canadian satellite Telesat-H (Anik) and the U.S. defense communications satellite SYNCOM IV-I (LEASAT01). The astronauts also retrieved two malfunctioning satellites, PALAPA-B2 and WESTAR-VI.

Flying in Space

NASA

NASA astronaut Anna Lee Fisher works on board the flight deck of the space shuttle Discovery in November 1984.
A galaxy pileup of 14 merging galaxies known as SPT2349 is currently the biggest known object in the universe.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 5:10 p.m. E.T.

There's nothing like staring up at the night sky to make you feel small.

But when looking out into the cosmos, you might also wonder: What is the most massive known object in the universe?

In some ways, the question depends on what is meant by the word "object." Astronomers have spotted structures like the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall  a colossal filament of gas, dust and dark matter containing billions of galaxies that stretches for about 10 billion light-years in length  which could contend for the title of biggest object ever. But classifying this assembly as a unique object is problematic because it's hard to figure out exactly where it begins and ends.

"Object" actually has a clear definition in physics or astrophysics, said Scott Chapman, an astrophysicist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. "That's something bound together by its own self-gravity," he said, such as a planet, star or the stars orbiting within a single galaxy.

With this in mind, it's a bit easier to figure out what's in the running for the most massive thing in the universe. The award could go to different entities depending on the scale being considered, but each prizewinner has provided scientists insights into the limits of size and mass in the cosmos. [Big Bang to Civilization: 10 Amazing Origin Events]

Biggest planet, star and galaxy cluster

A view of Jupiter from above its north pole, taken by Pioneer 11 in 1974. Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system, but far from the biggest known planet in the universe. (Image credit: NASA Ames)

For our relatively tiny species, the planet Earth is plenty big, at about 13 septillion lbs. (6 septillion kilograms)  or 13 with 24 zeroes after it. But it's not even the largest planet in the solar system, being dwarfed by the outer giants Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and mighty Jupiter, which weighs in at 4.2 octillion lbs. (1.9 octillion kg), or 4.2 with 27 zeroes after it. Researchers have uncovered thousands of planets orbiting other stars, including many that make our local giants look puny. Discovered in 2016, HR2562 b is the heaviest exoplanet found to date, with a mass 30 times that of Jupiter. At that size, astronomers are unsure whether to classify the behemoth as a brown dwarf, which would make it a type of small star rather than a planet. [By Jove! 7 Weird Facts About Jupiter]

Stars themselves can grow to enormous sizes, with the most massive known star, R136a1, being somewhere between 265 and 315 times heavier than our sun, which is a mind-boggling 4.4 nonillion lbs. (2 nonillion kg), or 4.4 with 30 zeroes after it. Located 130,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a companion galaxy orbiting our Milky Way, R136a1 is so big and bright that the light it emits is actually tearing it apart, according to a 2010 study in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The electromagnetic radiation streaming from the star is powerful enough to carry away material from the surface, causing the star to lose about 16 Earth's worth of mass every single year. Astronomers are unsure exactly how such a self-destructive star could form and how much longer it will hold itself together.

The most massive stars can clock in at enormous weights; the biggest, captured in this image from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, are about 256 times the mass of the sun and are located in RMC 136a, a stellar nursery located inside the Tarantula Nebula, in one of our neighboring galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud, 165 000 light-years away. (Image credit: ESO/VLT)

Galaxies are the next objects up the size scale of the cosmos. The Milky Way galaxy is already mind-bendingly massive, stretching 100,000 light-years from end to end, containing approximately 200 billion stars, and weighing about 1.7 trillion times the mass of our sun. But it can't compete with the central galaxy of the Phoenix Cluster, a leviathan 2.2 million light-years across that contains about 3 trillion stars, according to NASA. At the center of this beast is a supermassive black hole  the largest ever seen  with an estimated mass of 20 billion suns. The Phoenix Cluster itself is an enormous accumulation of approximately 1,000 galaxies all orbiting one another about 5.7 billion light-years away with a total mass of about 2 quadrillion suns, which is 2 with 15 zeros after it, according to a 2012 paper in the journal Nature.

But even that goliath can't compete with what is likely the most massive object ever seen  a recently discovered galactic protocluster known as SPT2349, which was described April 25 in the journal Nature.

"We hit the jackpot with this structure," Chapman, whose team uncovered the record-breaker, told Live Science. "More than 14 very massive individual galaxies crammed into the space of something not much larger than our Milky Way."

Spotted when the universe was just a tenth of its current age, the individual galaxies in this pileup will eventually combine into one gargantuan galaxy, the most massive in the universe. And it's just the tip of the iceberg, Chapman said. Further observations have revealed that the total structure contains around 50 additional galaxies that will all settle into an object known as a galactic cluster, in which many galaxies all orbit one another. The previous most massive record-holder, the appropriately named El Gordo Cluster, weighs the equivalent of 3 quadrillion (or 3 with 15 zeroes after it) suns, but SPT2349 is likely to outweigh it by at least four to five times.

That such an enormous object could form when the universe was just 1.4 billion years old was surprising to the researchers, since computer simulations suggested it would normally take much longer for such large objects to appear.

"The central massive galaxy forms incredibly early and much more explosively and rapidly than we would have imagined," Chapman said. "Just the blink of the eye on the cosmic timescales."

Given that humans have searched only a fraction of the sky for such things, even more massive objects might be lurking out there in the universe, he added.

Editor's Note: This story was updated to correct the name of the massive galaxy pileup that is the biggest known object. It is SPT2349, not the Dusty Red Core.

Originally published on Live Science.




Riverdale delivered a very intense penultimate episode this week and lives are changed. We also finally got to the big black hood reveal which felt a little underwhelming compared to everything else in the episode.



The Puppet-master





When Hiram Lodge arrived in Riverdale this season, he was not here for redemption, on the contrary, he was here to build an empire he had lost and it almost cost Veronica and Hermione's lives this episode. Hiram at his core is a frustrating character for me to wrap my head around. A good antagonist is captivating and makes you feel for their motives. Hiram doesn't have those traits, he is power hungry and cookie cutter which makes him pulling the strings in Riverdale hard to swallow because the main characters sans Jughead have taken up to this point to figure out his game. This isn't new for a CW show, but watching it unfold can get cliche and tiresome.In this episode we watched him cut ties with Reggie just as quickly as he had tied them once he served his purpose. Reggie in fact did not fire the shot that wounded Fangs, that was Midge's mother, but the mere fact that it played out just how Hiram wanted it to shows that those in his orbit should have gotten hip to what he was doing before a full on riot broke out. Hiram stayed on periphery and really did not have to do anything except watch it all burn. He even had the newly-released Ghoulies start up their war with the Serpents which resulted in a devastating outcome that I will discuss later. Should Hiram have this much influence when he really isn't that menacing of a villain? I vote no, but the town fell for his puppeteering hook line and sinker. The only thing that did not go his way this episode was Papa Putine's son Small Fry (who is not so small) arriving in town thirsty for revenge. Alas it was not Hiram who cleaned up that mess, it was Veronica and Hermione who took care of him but not before he murdered the bodyguard Hiram had hired to protect his girls. Piggybacking off of last episode, Veronica continued to push back at her father and seemed to knock some sense into Hermione along the way. Hermione was such a supportive mom when we met her, and she has wilted into a puppet of Hiram's making. Watching her willingly go along with Hiram's plan to expose her affair with Fred if need be to win the mayoral race was infuriating to watch. It seems she has woken up once her daughter's life was threatened thanks to Hiram's actions and it looks like these three are headed for a huge divide as we head to the finale.This episode finally put to bed who the Black Hood was once and for all and it is Hal. I am still on the fence about this but feel it was the cleanest route to take to tie up this mystery so they can move on to the inevitable next one we will get next season. The red herring we got during the midseason finale was very obvious to most eagle eyed fans I have seen, and the Hal reveal was also quite obvious. Was that the point though? I feel like now that we know his motives dating back to his childhood and what he was taught gives more depth to the Cooper psyche and why Betty says she feels a darkness follows her. So maybe that was the point of this entire storyline. Is it a cop out in the reveal? Maybe, because in the end Hal believed his sins were justified whilst the people he targeted were somehow worse than him. I also worry that this trend of having the teenage characters find out that their parents are evil is getting stale, hopefully we now veer away from the murderous fathers in season 3.For now, Betty and Alice are free from this and watching them work together much like Veronica and Hermione did was one of the best parts of the episode. Alice is a complex character and this season I think they fleshed out her character very well in terms of why she was the way she was when we first met her. The one thing that is still hanging out that I don't think we will get a resolution on this season is the man they disposed of thanks to Chic, surely this will be in the writer's back pocket for next season. Just as Betty had freed herself of the Black Hood and her father, she is dealt another devastating blow in the form of her boyfriend.Were these going to be the last words Jughead will ever speak to Betty? Probably not, because let's be honest, we are in season two of this show and Jughead is iconic to the Archie universe. Nevertheless, watching him make a deal after Penny demanded the Serpents hightail it out of Riverdale was compelling. Once again Hiram was behind this because Jughead Jones is the one nut he could not crack all season. Once Midge's mom came forward as Fangs' shooter, he and the serpents were on to the next problem and that was the freshly freed Ghoulies. They are here and want the town and of course it was Hiram behind it all. Penny also returned looking for her pound of flesh which she got.The parental relationship was at the crux of this storyline as FP urged his son to be the leader he has been trying to be since his tenure with the serpents began. Every time I see FP watching his son in that leather, I feel as though it pains him. FP believes in his 'boy' as he so lovingly calls him and I think we've seen that he fears history is repeating itself, and in a way it has. This season, Jughead has embraced his role in this life and at times his decisions have backfired spectacularly and in this episode, his feud with Penny and Hiram could have cost him his life.While FP wanted to take on the Ghoulies right then and there, Jughead wanted to wait and quickly went against his dad and struck a deal with Hiram to give himself up if the Serpents could stay, to which Hiram quickly agreed to. Jughead made good on his word and was brutally beaten and mutilated leaving us to wonder if he could come back from that kind of assault. Does it get more Riverdale than a father gladly accepting someone else's son sacrifice their life just to rid themselves of the pest? I mean seriously! Jug is Veronica's age and that is why Hiram now wins my worst parent of Riverdale and we just learned Betty's dad is a serial killer!!! The ending was extremely heartbreaking even if we are sure Jughead will live to sleuth another day. It was beautifully shot with FP carrying his battered son out of those woods to his friends and his shocked girlfriend. I am grateful they did this in this episode so we didn't have to mess with the whole 'is Jughead alive?' fiasco all summer. So thanks writers, now we don't have to watch verbal gymnastics at Comic Con this year!*LOVE: Cheryl going full on Katniss Everdeen on Hal when he went after her and also when Toni was threatened. She was over it this ep and kicked some major ass. Next season I want more her, and I want more Choni please!*WONDER: Is Fangs really dead? We saw Joaquin last episode, could a wounded Fangs have slipped out in the chaos to San Junipero? I hope so.*LOVE: The Dad team up to run off the Ghoulies at Pop's. Mr. Kellar, Fred and FP showed up like three bosses and saved the day!! I'd love to see those three sharing some beers at the Serpent bar plotting how to get rid of Hiram.*WONDER: When Alice said she stepped out on Hal too, is this confirmation that a few episodes back when she showed up at FP's trailer, they didn't just talk? I think so.*LOVE: Fred keeping that vest on when the faux Black Hood Hiram hired showed up at the Andrew's house.
Algeria, May 08, 2018 (SPS) - The Sahrawi Republic has yesterday taken part at the 51st edition of International Fair of Algiers, which was inaugurated by Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia.

The Saharawi Ambassador, Mr. Abdelkader Talab Ammar, has received the Algerian Prime Minister, Mr. Ahmed Ouyahia, when he stopped at the pavilion of the Sahrawi Republic within the international Fair where he received extensive explanations on the various national products produced by the Sahrawi Craftsmen Union in the presence of senior officials and diplomats.

The Fair will continue until May 13, and China will be the first economic and commercial partner of Algeria as a guest of honor for this edition. SPS

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Kigali (Rwanda), May 09, 2018 (SPS), the Minister Delegate for African Affairs, Mr. Hamdi Khalil Mayara, has attended the African Union Ministerial Meeting on the role of digital technology in achieving continental development for the establishment of a single continental market after the signing of the Free Trade Area Agreement.

The meeting chaired by Mr. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda and current Chairman of the African Union, focuses on topics related to digital technology and their close relation with rapid transformations, creativity, economic and social development and effective governance within the African common market.

The ministerial meeting under the theme of "Communication, Innovation and Transformation" will be held with the participation of ministerial delegations from AU member states, AU partners from 83 countries, specialized international institutions and independent experts to adopt a successful executive plan to support the free trade area and electronic commerce.

On the sidelines of the meeting, the Minister held a series of meetings the host country authorities, ministers, heads of delegations and international personalities, where he has briefed them on current developments in the Sahara issue at the African and international levels.SPS

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The historic first cargo of crude oil from the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), destined for the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) has been loaded and is en-route to India, a media report said.



The cargo is the first under an agreement between Adnoc and ISPRL, an Indian government-owned company mandated to store crude oil for strategic needs, to locate 5.86 million barrels of Adnoc crude oil at the Karnataka facility in the Indian city of Mangalore, reported Emirates news agency Wam.



The loading, of approximately 2 million barrels of Adnoc crude oil, was witnessed by Dr Sultan bin Ahmad Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State and Adnoc Group CEO, and Dharmendra Pradhan, Indian Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.



D. Al Jaber said: "The strategic reserve project represents an important new energy partnership with India that leverages the UAE and Adnocs expertise and oil resources. With this partnership, new market opportunities will open up for Adnoc, as we not only help to ensure the energy security of the UAEs largest trading partner, but also gain greater access to one of the fastest-growing markets for high-quality crude oil. Our increased presence in India will also catalyse demand for our own refined and petrochemical products."



The implementation of the strategic reserve agreement follows Adnocs announcement, in February, that an Indian consortium of three companies, comprising ONGC Videsh, Indian Oil Company and Bharat Petro Resources Ltd., had been awarded a 10 percent interest in Abu Dhabis new offshore Lower Zakum concession.



Pradhan said: "The UAE is the first country to invest in Indias Strategic Reserves Programme. This important partnership will further strengthen the close energy cooperation that exists between India and the UAE and builds on the historic acquisition of a stake in the Lower Zakum offshore concession by Indian Companies.



"The strategic reserve will provide a boost to Indias energy security and help us deal with supply side disruptions. While part of the stored oil will be used for commercial purposes by Adnoc, the major part will be purely for strategic purposes."



Indian energy demand is forecast, by the International Energy Agency (IEA), to grow by more than any other country in the period to 2040, propelled by an economy that will grow to more than five-times its current size and by population growth that will make it the worlds most populous country. Indian energy consumption is expected to more than double by 2040, accounting for 25 percent of the rise in global energy, and the largest absolute growth in oil consumption.



India is 82 per cent dependent on imports to meet its crude oil needs, eight percent of which is supplied by the UAE. In addition to helping to ensure energy security, the oil storage facilities enable Adnoc to efficiently and competitively meet market demand across Asia.



Todays loading comes the day before Adnoc hosts a major Downstream Investment Forum in Abu Dhabi, where it will unveil more details of its expanded Downstream Strategy, including its new Ruwais industrial hub masterplan. Pradhan will attend the Forum, where he will participate in a panel session.
El Aaiun (occupied territories), May 12, 2018 (SPS) - The Moroccan authorities prevented Friday a Swedish delegation from visiting the occupied territories of Western Sahara where they intended to hold a meeting with members of the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Violations of Human Rights Committed by the Moroccan State (ASVDH).



The Swedish delegation comprising representatives of Emmaus International, Caroline Nord and Juan Obregon, who were returned on the same flight coming from Casablanca airport, had planned a working visit for a week to the occupied territories of Western Sahara, in the framework of the partnership with ASVDH to find out about the situation of human rights.



Despite the UN resolutions calling on Morocco to open Western Sahara to international observers, human rights activists and journalists, this prohibition comes within the Moroccan policy of siege imposed on the territory, and is a flagrant violation of the freedom of travel and movement guaranteed by law and related international conventions, and refutes the Moroccan claims that Western Sahara is open to everyone to visit. (SPS)



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Havana, May 12, 2018 (SPS) - Cuba Vice-President, Salvador Valdes, has received the President of the National Council, Jatri Adduh, who concludes Saturday an official visit to the Caribbean island.



During the meeting, they highlighted the bonds of friendship, solidarity and cooperation that unite Cuba and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.



Mr. Valdes reiterated Cuba's support for the struggle of the Saharawi people for self-determination and independence.



During his visit, the President of the National Council, Jatri Adduh, was received by his Cuban counterpart, Esteban Lazo.



The President of the National Council, Jatri Adduh, thanked Cuba for its support to the Sahrawi people, especially in the fields of education and health. (SPS)



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Havana, May 12, 2018 (SPS) - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Marcelino Medina, has reiterated Cubas support for the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination, during a meeting with the President of the National Council, Khatri Addouh.



According to a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the meeting, the parties reiterated the good relations and exchanged views on issues of bilateral interest, in particular, issues related to cooperation in the fields of health and education.



Mr. Addouh is on an official visit to Cuba, where he had paid tribute to the national hero Jose Marti, and met with the President of the National Assembly of People's Power (Parliament), Esteban Lazo.



The Cuban parliamentarian also expressed support for the self-determination of the Saharawi people and the exercise of their legitimate right to live in peace in their territory. (SPS)



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A smiling Queen Elizabeth looked dazzling in a pink jacket and sunglasses as she made the most of the mild weather at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

The 92-year-old monarch looked particularly summery in her elegant matching coat and hat as she greeted riders taking part in the annual equestrian event.

The Queen also presented prizes during Sunday's show, including Switzerland's Steve Guerdat who won the Rolex Grand Prix.

She was joined by her husband Prince Philip who was seen laughing and chatting with staff at the wheel of his car earlier on Sunday.

She presented a Rolex watch to Switzerland's Steve Guerdat after he won the Rolex Grand Prix during the Royal Windsor Horse Show / PA

The Prince, who has only been seen a couple of times since he had a hip replacement, looked in good spirits as he joined his wife at the event close to their home, Windsor Castle.

The Queen wore a pink coat and matching hat for the event / PA

There had been concerns that he may not be well enough to attend the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle next weekend.

The Duke was pictured arriving by car at the event / PA

But images of him looking cheerful and recovered suggested he would be making an appearance at the nuptials due to take place at St Georges Chapel, also in Windsor.

Duke of Edinburgh grinning as he arrives as the Royal Windsor Horse Show / PA

The Queens daughter-in-law, Sophie Countess of Wessex, and granddaughter, Lady Louise Windsor, 14, also attended the event.

Countess of Wessex and her daughter Lady Louise Windsor arriving by carriage / PA
T he UK's richest man is a "publicity shy" businessman who once lived in a council house near Manchester.

Jim Ratcliffe, chief executive of chemicals firm Ineos, saw his worth sky rocket to 21.05 billion, shooting him to the top of the Sunday Times Rich List.

The 65-year-old joiner's son leapfrogged his way to the top in this year's rankings due to a revaluation of his assets after coming 18th in last year's poll.

Ineos's director Andy Currie and finance director John Reece joined Mr Ratcliffe in the top 20, taking joint 16th place with 7bn each.

Mr Ratcliffe is CEO of Ineos / PA

According to the Financial Times, Mr Ratcliffe spent the first 10 years of his life in a council house in the northern suburbs of Manchester.

His father was a joiner before then moving on to run a factory that made laboratory furniture.

The family later moved to Failswoth in East Yorkshire and Mr Ratcliffe went to Beverley Grammar School.

Mr Ratcliffe studied chemical engineering at Birmingham University, and got an MBA from London Business School.

He set up Ineos in 1998. It makes and sells raw materials for products ranging from bottle caps, toothpaste to computers and cars.

He is the first UK-born person to top the rich list since the Duke of Westminster in 2003, reports the BBC.

In second place were the Hinduja brothers, Sri and Gopi, worth 20.64 billion.

Their India-based car manufacturer Ashok Leyland and Mumbai-based IndusInd Bank having a particularly successful year.

Arcadia boss Sir Philip Green saw his ranking slide dropping by 787m to 2bn.

Phillip Green saw his rankings slide by 787 million

While Jamie Oliver fell off the list completely following a rocky year for his restaurant empire.

Robert Watts, who compiled the list, said: "Britain is changing. Gone are the days when old money and a small band of industries dominated the Sunday Times Rich List.

"Aristocrats and inherited wealth has been elbowed out of the list and replaced by an army of self-made entrepreneurs.

"Today's super rich include people who have set up businesses selling chocolate, sushi, pet food and eggs.

"We're seeing more people from humble backgrounds, who struggled at school or who didn't even start their businesses until well into middle age."
T housands of people donned decorated bras to walk the capital's streets in a midnight walk to raise money for a breast cancer charity.

Around 15,000 women and men took part in this year's MoonWalk event taking on either a half or full marathon through the capital.

Saturday night's event was held in aid of charity Walk the Walk.

The charity has raised more than 121 million since 1996 to fund research into breast cancer and help to improve the lives of those living with the disease.

Thousands take part in the London moonwalk 1 /7 Thousands take part in the London moonwalk People prepare to take part in the MoonWalk fundraiser for breast cancer charity Walk the Walk PA Participants warm up on Clapham Common before power walking a half or full marathon through the streets of London PA People take part in the MoonWalk fundraiser PA The aim of the walk is to raise money for Walk the Walk, a breast cancer charity PA People take part in the MoonWalk fundraiser for breast cancer charity Walk the Walk PA People take part in the fundraiser, walking either a half or a full marathon PA Participants set off from Clapham Common PA

Images from the event show the crowds in bras and cowboy hats setting off from Clapham Common, in south London, where the walk started and finished.

As participants made their way around the course, many of London's landmarks including the London Eye and HMS Belfast were lit up in pink.

Founder of Walk the Walk and organiser of MoonWalk London, Nina Barough said: "Walk the Walk is all about raising money, raising awareness, getting fit and having fun.

A group of participants dressed as cowgirls / PA

"The charity has come a very long way in our 21 years, not only encouraging people to become fitter and healthier but it has also played an important part in funding, some of the groundbreaking advancements we have seen in the treatment and diagnosis of breast cancer.
A woman fighting to make "upskirting" illegal in England and Wales after she was targeted at a festival is working with the Ministry of Justice on the law reform following Theresa May's backing.

Despite fleeing to report the man to security, the copywriter said she was told by police it was "not a graphic picture", so there was nothing they could do. Her case was closed five days later.

Shocked by the "mind-blowing" gap in the law, Ms Martin launched a petition calling for "upskirting" to be added to the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which has been backed by nearly 100,000 people across the UK.

Now Ms Martin, with Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse and lawyer Ryan Whelan, is working on the details of the law reform with the MoJ.

July 2017: Ms Martin at the festival in Hyde Park / Gina Martin

The proposals will be put before Government next month as part of a bill tabled by Ms Hobhouse.

It comes after Prime Minister Theresa May lent her support to the campaign during PMQs on May 2, saying she shares "the outrage at this intrusive behaviour... and the distress that it can cause to victims".

Ms Martin told the Standard: "I hoped [the campaign] would get to this point, but I didn't know if it would.

"In a year, it's gone from me saying we should change the law, to me working with the Government and the media to really raise the conversation. It's a fully-fledged campaign."

Ms Martin and her lawyer Ryan Whelan outside Parliament / Gina Martin

Despite receiving a torrent of abuse online - she's been told to wear a longer skirt, to stop trying to get attention and that it was her fault - Ms Martin has continued to pursue the campaign.

The young woman said she was motivated by "the amount of messages I have had from kids, women, teachers, girls, saying it's happened to them and they felt like they couldn't go to people".

"They didn't know if they would be taken seriously or if they would be supported," she said.

Ms Martin added: "This wasn't about me about a week after it [the incident] happened.

"I have to do it for all these women who see me as someone who can change this."

Campaign: Lib Dem MP Wera Hobhouse tabled a parliamentary bill on 'upskirting' / PA Archive/PA Images

Her cause has since been backed by Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and Green Party MPs, police high commissioners, and law firm Gibson Funn & Crutcher LLP.

In March, Ms Hobhouse put forward her bill, which would make it a criminal offence to take a photo up a persons skirt without their permission.

Last week, Mrs May said the Justice Secretary David Gauke is currently considering the bill "in detail" and "examining the state of the law to ensure that it is fit for purpose".

The bill was due for its second reading in Parliament on Friday, but this has been delayed until June 15 to allow "sufficient time to agree further details with the Government".

Determined: 'I have to do it for all these women who see me as someone who can change this' / Gina Martin

Ms Martin said her lawyer Mr Whelan has been meeting frequently with the MoJ to work on the specifics of the legislation.

This will ensure the reform put before Parliament in just over a month "is appropriate, agreeable and robust in ensuring that "upskirting" can be prosecuted in all circumstances," she said.

She said: "The delay is a really good thing. We are trying to get the support of the whole Government, so it means we have more time to get everyone on board."

She added: "In the past year we have got support from every party... It's a human issue and the Government knows that. I have received so many messages from MPs across parties saying they agree - it's great."

Ms Hobhouse said: I am delighted to see that the MoJ are listening to  and working with  Gina, Ryan and I to ensure that upskirting becomes an offence in all circumstances. We are getting closer and closer to achieving our goal and the latest discussions regarding the Bill have been very promising.
Dubai-based air services provider dnata announced that 2017-18 was the most profitable year in its history, as profits crossed Dh1.3 billion ($353 million) for the first time.



Dnata, part of the Emirates Group, noted that revenue grew to Dh13.1 billion ($3.5 billion), up 7 per cent, with international business now accounting for 68 per cent of its revenue.



The strong performance was achieved through organic growth with key contract wins coupled with solid customer retention across its four business divisions, as well as the impact of acquisitions from previous year.



Dnata continued to lay the foundations for future growth by investing Dh600 million ($163.3 million) in new facilities and equipment, acquisitions, leading-edge technologies and people development.



In 2017-18, dnatas operating costs increased accordingly by 8 per cent to Dh11.9 billion ($3.2 billion), reflecting the impact of organic growth across all lines of business coupled with integrating the newly acquired companies mainly across its international airport operations.



Revenue from dnatas UAE Airport Operations, including ground and cargo handling, increased by 4 per cent to reach Dh3.2 billion ($871 million).



The number of aircraft movements handled by dnata in the UAE declined by 2 per cent to 211,000, impacted by the geopolitical situation in the region, whereas cargo handling increased by 2 per cent to 731,000 tonnes, supported by the strong overall air cargo market.



Dnatas international airport operations division grew revenue by 14 per cent to Dh3.8 billion ($1.0 billion), on account of increasing business volumes, opening of new locations and winning new contracts.



International airport operations continue to represent the largest business segment in dnata by revenue contribution. The number of aircraft handled by the division further increased substantially by 10 per cent to 449,000, and cargo noted a substantial growth of 10 per cent to 2.4 million tonnes of handled goods.



Dnata continued to win over customers with its high-quality standards, inking over 90 contracts with new and existing customers during the year.



Dnatas catering business accounted for Dh2.1 billion ($571.6 million) of its total revenue, up 7 per cent. The inflight catering business uplifted more than 55 million meals to airline customers.



Revenue from dnatas Travel Services division has seen a turnaround after last years decline with an increase of 8 per cent to Dh3.4 billion ($925.4 million). The underlying total transaction value (TTV) of travel services sold increased by 6 per cent to Dh11.3 billion ($3.07 billion).



This solid performance was supported by dnatas ability to tap on the upswing in both inbound and outbound tourism demand in the Middle East, and a healthy increase in long-haul travel and cruise bookings in Europe and Australia.



- TradeArabia News Service
E urope's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on Friday.

It has been billed as the biggest shake-up of data privacy laws since the birth of the web.

The new EU law aims to give EU citizens more rights to control over their online information. It has a list of technically demanding requirements, and threatens fines of up to 4 percent of a company's annual revenue for serious infringements.

The law covers companies that collect large amounts of customer data including Facebook and Google. It won't be overseen by a single authority but instead by a patchwork of national and regional watchdogs across the 28-nation bloc.

The UK will have to comply even after it leaves the EU.

What is GDPR?

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation, Europe's new framework for data protection laws  it replaces the previous 1995 data protection directive, upon which current UK law is based.

The Data Protection Act 1998 wasn't written with the contemporary uses of data enabled by the internet and services - such as Facebook and Google - in mind.

According to the EU's GDPR website, the legislation is designed to "harmonise" data privacy laws across Europe as well as give greater protection and rights to individuals.

It includes new rights for people to access the information companies hold about them, obligations for better data management for businesses, and a new regime of fines.

What do businesses need to do differently?

Many of the GDPRs main concepts and principles are much the same as those in the current Data Protection Act (DPA).

If you are complying properly with the current law then most of your approach to compliance will remain valid under the GDPR and can be the starting point to build from.

However, there are new elements and significant enhancements, so you will have to do some things for the first time and some things differently.

What is 'consent' under the GDPR?

You may have recently received emails from firms asking if you'd be happy to "stay connected" or apps asking that you "review your terms".

That's because, under GDPR, consent must be an active, affirmative action by the data subject, rather than the passive acceptance under some current models that allow for pre-ticked boxes or opt-outs.

Controllers must keep a record of how and when an individual gave consent, and that individual may withdraw their consent whenever they want.

If your current model for obtaining consent doesn't meet these new rules, you'll have to bring it up to scratch or stop collecting data under that model when the GDPR applies in 2018.

What happens if a business breaks GDPR rules?

The GDPR grants regulators the power to fine businesses that do not comply with it.

In the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) would be able to levy fines of up to 8.8m (10m) or two per cent of a firm's global turnover (whichever is greater).

Those guilty of more serious breaches could face larger fines of up to 17m (20m) or four per cent of global turnover.
A n Australian presenter blasted the protester who stormed the Eurovision stage during the UKs performance as an absolute c***head live on TV.

The man, reported to be political activist Dr ACactivism, ran onto the stage during SuRies song Storm and snatched the microphone from her hands.

SuRie was forced to clap along to the music, looking shocked, before she was handed back the mic and able to continue with her performance.

Praising her resilience, Australian presenter Joel Creasey who was commentating on the show live from Down Under branded the invader an absolute c***head.

SuRie attempted to grapple with the man befor he snatched the mic / EPA

He said: Some absolute c***head got onto the stage, but what a professional! She slayed that and the crowd are behind her.

Fans took to social media to praise the host with author JK Rowling saying: Apparently the Australian commentator called @surieofficial's stage invader 'some absolute c***head' and I don't want to hear another word about Australia being in #Eurovision ever again.

A security staff grabs the man who stole the microphone / AP

She later added: Order of Merlin, First Class x

Daniel Feleppa wrote: Joel Creasey has just become the number 1 Aussie in the UK.

Elliot Lovejoy added: @joelcreasey calling a stage invader an absolute c***head is hands down the greatest Eurovision moment of all time. Thank you for making Australia proud good sir.

SuRie performs her song / Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images

UK host Graham Norton was clearly shocked by the unfolding events, saying: Well I dont know what will happen now, whether we will get another performance or not.

Norton added: "We are still reeling, there was a stage invasion."

The man responsible for the invasion was being held in police custody, the official Eurovision account announced.

According to reports, he is a man called Dr ACactivism, who also stormed the stage and interrupted Dermot O'Leary at the National Television Awards this year and The Voice in 2017.

They added that the EBU network "regrets" the incident.

Israels entry Netta triumphed with her performance of TOY in Lisbon.
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A British man has been found dead a week after going missing in Colombia, his family confirmed.

Joe Tilley, from Leicester, was found at the foot of a waterfall in the south-western Putumayo region on Saturday.

The discovery of his body at Fin del Mundo waterfall came a week after a search was launched to find the 24-year-old.

Relatives flew to Colombia after he was reported missing by a travelling companion.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said it was assisting his family.

Joe Tilley was found dead in Colombia / @Findjoetilley/Facebook

News of Mr Tilleys death was announced on Facebook page Find Joe Tilley on Sunday.

A statement said: At 11.30am Local Colombian time on Saturday the 12th of May, Joe was found at the lower part of the waterfall.

The search team have suggested he fell.

A search party hunting for Joe Tilley last week / @Findjoetilley/Facebook

Please give his family continued peace at this hard time.

A crowdfunding page has been set up to raise 4,500 to bring Mr Tilleys body back to the UK.

The statement added: The cost of getting Joe back home is 4,500. Thank you all so much for your donations so far, but if you could still share the gofundme page to help raise the funds needed to bring Joe home and also a help towards the funeral costs.

Mr Tilley starred in TV documentary Jungletown aired on Vice TV, according to the Sun.
T he Prime Minister used a telephone conversation with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani to bring up the subject of British prisoners being held in the country.

Theresa May spoke with the Iranian leader about the subject which has made headlines since the imprisonment of north London mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

According to a Downing Street spokesman, she called for such citizens to be released on humanitarian grounds.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister raised the issue of consular cases relating to dual nationals currently held on charges in Iran and called for further progress to be made so individuals could be released on humanitarian grounds."

Prime Minister Theresa May / PA

Mother of one Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been in prison in Iran for more than two years.

Mrs May also used the dialogue to restate Britain's commitment to upholding the Iran nuclear deal, but condemned Tehran's missile attacks against Israeli forces.

Nazanin, centre, pictured with her mother and baby daughter

On the deal, which US president Donald Trump abandoned last week, Mrs May said it was in "both the UK and Iran's national security interests" to maintain the agreement, according to the spokesman.

The PM welcomed Mr Rouhani's public commitment to abide by its terms, and said it is "essential" that Iran continues to meet its obligations.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke with the PM on the phone / REUTERS

The spokesman added: "The Prime Minister made clear that the UK condemns the Iranian missile attacks against Israeli forces and called on Iran to refrain from any further attacks. She said it was important to avoid provocative actions to ensure peace and security in the region."

Emma Thompson demands Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is brought home
The hostages were taken on Friday while visiting a gorilla sanctuary in the Virunga National Park

A park ranger, named as Rachel Masika Baraka, was killed during the kidnapping, which took place just north of Goma.

On Sunday Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson confirmed they had been released and the park said the pair were receiving support and medical attention.

Kidnap: the Virunga National Park in Congo, where the two were visiting / AFP/Getty Images

"I pay tribute to the DRC authorities and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation for their tireless help during this terrible case," Mr Johnson said in a statement.

He added that his thoughts were with Ms Baraka's family and the driver who was injured in the incident.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said his thoughts were with the victims and a park ranger killed / PA Wire/PA Images

The director of Virunga National Park, Emmanuel de Merode, said: "Ranger Baraka's life was tragically cut short in service to Virunga National Park.

"She was one of the Park's 26 female rangers and was highly committed, showing true bravery in her work.
W hether we like it or not, modern day technology is seeping further and further into our lives and future generations will come to rely on it in ways that are currently hard to imagine.

Though it can sometimes seem daunting that children know more about computing than we do, teaching them how to use technology is more important than ever.

Coding has become the latest buzzword in the education world and has taken a front seat in the modern day curriculum. As such, its little wonder that toys are the latest thing to be given a high-tech makeover, with many of them aiming to teach children the art of sequencing. But how to know which ones can actually deliver on their promises? Weve taken a look at some of the most popular toys out there and have handpicked the ones that are easy to use, fun to play with and actually help children develop the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) skills they need.

Thinkfun Robot Turtles Board Game

Age: 4+

This board game is an excellent place to start with little ones, being suitable for kids aged four and up  and they dont even need to be fluent readers yet. Players must choose which path to send their robot tokens on by using command cards (left, right and forward) to create the path. Points are awarded for landing on jewels and more complex paths and command cards can be added when the players become more advanced.

Using visual stimulus to problem solve, this offers young children the opportunity to think logically. Whats more, it doesnt require any batteries so makes a good option for road trips and holidays.

24.99 | Amazon | Buy it now

LEGO Boost Creative Toolbox

Age: 7+

Kids can play out their Iron Man fantasies with this robot building kit from LEGO. Including instructions, tools and pieces to build five separate robot toys, its perfectly pitched at kids aged 7  12, as they get the added benefit of having to read and process the instructions themselves.

Incorporating Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (otherwise known as STEM) it helps to speed up kids processing and fine motor skills whilst also teaching them a thing or two about mechanics. Once the robots are built, you use an app to code out instructions and tasks for them to follow, making it both a physical and digital toy. A word of warning  dont mix these up these pieces with original LEGO blocks as theyve been specifically made for this set.

119 | John Lewis | Buy it now

Think & Learn Code  a  Pillar

Age 3+

Thats right  even toddlers can learn the basics of coding with this pull apart caterpillar. Part of the Fisher Price range  which is known for its excellent range of educational toys  it helps small children to recognise symbols and begin to learn about sequencing. Comprised of eight parts (plus a head), each with a different symbol on its back, children can attach the body in a series of different orders.

If they follow a particular sequence, the caterpillar will move in a particular direction or sing a song. Loud and lively, its simple and bright enough to engage young minds in a way thats both fun and educational.

37.79 | Amazon | Buy it now

SAM Labs Science Museum Inventor Kit

Age: 10+

Developed in collaboration with the British Science Museum, this ingenious kit encourages kids to get creative with their inventions. Including four different wireless blocks  a light sensor, a buzzer, a movement sensor and a motor  as well as a USB cable for charging and a Bluetooth connector for hooking up everything to your computer, you simply download the SAM Labs app to begin building.

Each block can be used in a variety of different experiments (there are five suggestions included in the initial pack) and thanks to the Bluetooth connectivity, theres no need for physical wires. By using the apps work table, kids can make up as many experiments as they like by sequencing the blocks to connect to each other and perform certain functions.

Once theyve built them digitally they can watch their ideas come to life as the physical blocks perform the functions. This is fantastic for bridging the gap between digital and physical experimentation and debunks the misplaced idea that science cant be creative.

99 | Science Museum| Buy it now

Sphero SPRK+ Robot

Age: 8+

Cute and compact, the SPRK+ Robot is a great introduction into the world of automatons. Connect it up to a phone, tablet or laptop and use in conjunction with one of two apps  Lightning Lab or Sphero Edu. Kids learn to code by programming the sphere through graphic drawing or using block commands to create a path for it to follow.

Once they get the hang of that, they can even start to use JavaScript too. A protractor and tape measure are included so kids can physically plot out their map before inputting it digitally  a great way to incorporate some fun, practical maths into playtime. Its even waterproof and has flashing lights, so can be great fun to code in the dark or even outside.

119.95 | Apple | Buy it now

Kano Computer Kit

Age: 6+

Never underestimate the ability of a six year old  at least, thats Kanos thinking with this computer kit, which helps Key Stage One children build their very own laptop. Though its one of the most expensive toys on the list, it offers the most satisfaction with its impressive end product that kids will undoubtedly take great pride in.

Children build the laptop using the simple instructions provided (six year olds will need help to do this) and then follow a series of exercises to learn how it works. With plenty of coding challenges to be completed once its up and running, our bet is that even the adults will be fighting for the chance to have a go with it on their own. It's an excellent kit to improve STEM skills whilst still having fun.

139.99 | Amazon | Buy it now

Wow Wee COJI Smart Robot Programming Toy

Age: 4+

Its a social media crazed world now and were all just living in it, so its no surprise that theres a toy out there using it to engage kids with coding. Coji the robot can be programmed with a tablet or smartphone to perform different actions. Whilst simple direction instructions will make it move, by adding in emojis such as a the saxaphone, Coji will perform a little musical number at the end of its routine, too.

We like the simplicity of this app and the way it encourages children to use technology in a constructive way. Its also one of the cheapest options so a great way to dip your toes into the world of coding without spending a fortune.

29.99 | Amazon | Buy it now

*Temporarily out of stock on Amazon buy here on Ebay.

Detective Dot Megapack

Age: 9+

Meet Detective Dot  a nine year old genius belonging to the Childrens Detective Agency. Shes on a mission to investigate teenage trillionaire Shelly Belly and to concoct some experiments along the way. One of our favourite kits by far, this award-winning pack uses the narrative of Detective Dot to engage kids with the idea of gender-neutrality into science and to inspire more girls to into that world.

Including a fun booklet filled with coding ideas, missions to be completed, stickers and a membership to the CIA, its one of the only tech free options with a STEM focus but by far one of the best.

18.99 | Detective Dot | Buy it now

Verdict
M ichelle Keegan channelled her inner Disney princess as she flew solo without husband Mark Wright at the 2018 BAFTA TV Awards.

The 30-year-old actress appeared to take inspiration from Beauty and the Beasts Belle as she worked the cameras in a yellow strapless gown which she teamed with minimal jewellery and a metallic clutch.

Keegan  who announced this years nominations with Ore Oduba last month  was among a host of British acting talent to descend on Londons Royal Festival Hall on Sunday night.

Leading Actress nominee Claire Foy, who plays Queen Elizabeth II in hit Netflix series The Crown, was one of many stars wearing a Times Up badge in support of equality in the workplace.

Belle of the ball: Our Girl star Michelle Keegan (PA ) / PA

Foy was recently at the centre of a gender pay furore after it was revealed that she was paid less than her co-star Matt Smith, who played Prince Philip, despite having the lead role.

Speaking to ITV on the red carpet she said: If I am embarrassed by it then thats not going to help anyone else if I sit back and go: Oh no, Im too ashamed to say anything about it.

Time's Up: Actress Claire Foy / Isabel Infantes/PA

So Im very proud, as much as it has been thrown at me and knocked me off kilter  Im very proud that I am in some way part of the conversation, which is about equality and ending pay disparity.

Times up is a completely different thing but its about supporting women and knowing that others are listening.

Motherly love: Amanda Holden with her daughter Alexa / PA

New Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker also threw her support behind the push for change by teaming her navy dress with a badge, as well as Laura Whitmore and Amanda Holden who was joined by her daughter Alexa.

The Britains Got Talent Judge looked stunning in a pink gown as she cuddled up to Alexa for the cameras.

She was also joined by her co-star Declan Donnelly who made his first red carpet appearance since his TV partner Ant McPartlin was found guilty of drink-driving.

Proud: Declan Donnelly was all smiles with his pregnant wife Ali Astall / PA

Donnelly  who was in attendance with his pregnant wife Ali Astall  will be hoping to pick up gongs for Britains Got Talent and Ant and Decs Saturday Night Takeaway.

Sue Perkins has returned to host this years bash which also attracted stars including Abbey Clancy, Lucy Watson, Dermot OLeary, Claudia Winkleman, Emma Willis and Helen George.
T his weeks episode of Britains Got Talent was yet another hilarious yet heart-wrenching show packed with surprises.

Judges Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden, David Walliams and Simon Cowell took their seats ahead of another slew of competitive hopefuls wanting to bag themselves a place in this years Royal Variety line-up.

This week saw one acts fate signed, sealed and delivered straight into the semi-finals by Dixon who cemented her golden-buzzer act in an emotional showcase.

Here are our top five must-see auditions.

Golden buzzer: Lifford Shillingford won his semi-final place thanks to Alesha Dixon / Syco / Thames

Lifford Shillingford

Shillingford had his first taste of success working with garage duo Artful Dodger with hit Please Dont Turn Me on.

At the height of his fame, he made appearances on Jools Holland, Top of the Pops and even once performed on the same day as Dixon.

However due issues battling with anxiety and depression he was forced to take a step back, years later he has re-hashed his sound and admits he is grateful to be here.

Performing a powerful rendition of Sam Cooks A Change is Gonna Come, the 42-year-old from South London stole himself Dixons golden-buzzer.

Barry Newton

Retiree Newton tried his hand at grime sensation Stormzys hit Shut Up, despite boasting over his admiration for Andrew-Lloyd Webber.

Ploughing through the lyrics in a half spoken-half rapped style the Hemel Hempstead resident took the challenge on full-steam ahead.

Newton left the judges and audience alike baffled with the inclusion of Stormzys profane language choices winning him all-round approval.

When quizzed on his favourite rap artists, Newton joked that he had never heard any but decided to copy that song.

Nino Nikolov

20-year-old Nikolov took on Ed Sheerans global hit Shape of You in a breath-taking fashion.

The Essex performer spun his unique take on the song donning his electric violin, stunning the judges who hailed the musician young man.

The performance won the club performer four yeses from the judges.

Maddox

The 31-year-old joins a realm of acts trying to win a place on the show through a magic act.

This Buckingham resident took a refreshing stand on the concept of being a magician, centring his entire act around a single object, the Rubiks cube.

Brilliant moments throughout the performance including a show-stopping moment where he makes the colour white disappear form the cube altogether after Cowell selects it.

His intelligent and well-performed act was hailed unreal by Dixon and saw him receive a standing ovation from the audience, as well as four yeses.

Ronan Busfield

Busfield took his place on stage in what everyone pre-empted would be a fairly dry performance, with him making a T-esco joke in reference to his day job.

However, things sharply took a turn when the HR worker belted his rendition of Maria from West Side Story.
G raham Norton brought his best to the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final on Saturday evening.

The chat show host returned to guide us through the 63rd contest, commentating over the glitzy singing competition with humour and affection as he has done since 2009.

Norton took over from the late Sir Terry Wogan, who entertained the nation with his hilarious anecdotes each year from consecutively from 1980 until stepping down. When Norton took over the mantel, he revealed Wogan had told him not to take a drink until the ninth song. In tribute, Norton has toasted his predecessor each year before the ninth act  which this year happened to be SuRie for the United Kingdom, an act blighted by a stage invader.

Each year, Eurovision fans are listening out for one-liners, wise cracks and much more from Norton. Here are some of the best from this year on the acts.

1. On Ukraine's entry

"Yes hes got one contact lens in, so I think he likes to look like an Australian Sheepdog"

2. On Spain's duo Amaia and Alfred after they stared at each other lovingly

"I give it a month"

3. On Lithuania's Ieva Zasimauskaite being joined on stage

"It's bring your husband to work day"

Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in 90 seconds

4. On Albania

"If youve just joined us, Middle Earth havent joined Eurovision"

5. On Moldova's colourful and catchy performance

"It's like some children television presenters got over-excited at their Christmas party"

6. Before Hungary

"There is always one of these in Eurovision, happily there is only one in Eurovision this year"

7. After Hungary

"Ill have a Camomile tea please. Need it after that"

8. On the United Kingdom gaining our first points from the Latvian Jury.

"Let's all book tickets"
Prime Minister Viorica Dancila had a meeting on Sunday with representatives of the Community of Sant'Egidio leadership, who hailed Pope Francis' intention to visit Romania in the first part of 2019, informs the Government in a press statement.

During the talks, the head of the Executive highlighted aspects related to the visit to the Holy See and Pope Francis' reception. At the same time, premier Dancila expressed appreciation for the involvement of the Community of Sant'Egidio in organising the visit of Pope John Paul II to Romania, the first visit of a pope to Romania, the Gov't release mentions.

The discussions also revolved around the support Romania can offer the community with respect to their international humanitarian, conflict prevention and peace maintenance actions.The premier also talked about the Government's social programmes.According to the quoted source, premier Viorica Dancila expressed appreciation for the activity of the Sant'Egidio Community, underlining the desire of the Executive in Bucharest to kick off a series of joint events, such as the presentation of an exhibition in Bucharest, under the high patronage of the Gov't, on children with the Down syndrome. To this regard, Manuela Harabor, honorary advisor of the Prime Minister will travel to Rome in the up-coming period, to lay the foundations for a partnership.The head of the Executive received on the occasion a plaque marking the 50-year anniversary since the establishment of the Community of Sant'Egidio.Premier Viorica Dancila carried out on Sunday, a visit at the Accademia di Romania in Rome, the most ancient cultural Romanian institution abroad which celebrates in the Centenary year, 96 years since its foundation.On this occasion, the Prime Minister visited the exhibition "Architecture and Royalty" which carries the signatures of Academician Professor Razvan Theodorescu, Professor Augustin Ioan and Professor Marius Marcu-Lapadat.
As recently confirmed in a debate at the Brookings Institute by the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, General Robert Neller, there are military areas in which the United States maintains a technological advantage [over Russia and China], others in which there is substantial parity, and others in which the United States is lagging behind, revealing a technological gap with its peer competitors.

The last point applies to weapons systems designed to operate at hypersonic speed. Let us start with the simple and pragmatic definition offered by The National Interest of hypersonic vehicles and weapons:

A hypersonic vehicle is one that moves through the atmosphere at a minimum speed of five times that of sound, or Mach 5. A hypersonic cruise missile travels continuously through the air employing a special high-powered engine. A hypersonic glide vehicle [HGV] is launched into space atop a ballistic missile, after which it maneuvers through the upper reaches of the atmosphere until it dives towards its target. Both vehicle types can carry either conventional or nuclear weapons.

As we can see, we are speaking here about technological developments that require money and scientific structures of the highest level to achieve such significant and complex results. The difficulty of implementing systems of such complexity is very well explained by Defense Review:

One of DRs primary questions about the Russian and Chinese HAA/HGV [Hypersonic Attack Aircraft/Hypersonic Glide Vehicle] tech is whether or not the vehicles generate a plasma field/shield around it that can effectively camouflage the vehicle and/or disrupt an incoming high-powered laser beam, and thus avoid both detection and destruction during its flight. Russian scientists and military aircraft designers/developers have been experimenting with plasma field generation tech since the late 1970s, so one would think theyre pretty far along by now. Oh, and lets not forget Chinas recent development of a new ultra-thin, lightweight tunable UHF microwave radar-absorbing stealth/cloaking material for both manned and unmanned combat aircraft and warships. The hits just seem to keep on coming. Its enough to drive a military defense analyst to drink.

Another area of complexity concerns the communication between the hypersonic flight carrier and and its land-based components, especially if the re-entry vehicle is to be maneuvered remotely.

The fundamental component in performing a hypersonic flight naturally lies in the engines, used to reach speeds higher than Mach 7. There are ongoing studies by all of these countries concerning scramjet engines, essential for the purposes of producing hypersonic weapons. By employing a scramjet engine, and mixing it with other technologies (jet engine or ramjet), one would enable the aircraft and missiles to reach hypersonic speeds, as Beijings Power Machinery Research Institute explains:

The turbo-aided rocket-augmented ram/scramjet engine (TRRE), which uses rocket augmentation to aid the transition into the supersonic and hypersonic flight regimes, could be the world's first combined cycle engine to fly in 2025, paving the way for hypersonic -space planes and single-stage space launchers.

DARPA also explains the US point of view on this particular area of research:

Advanced Full Range Engine program (AFRE) which is intended as a reusable hypersonic engine that combines an off-the-shelf jet engine with a dual mode ramjet engine.

War Is Boring definitively clarifies the concept using simpler words:

Turbojet? Ramjet? Scramjet? A turbojet spins a lot of blades to compress and heat incoming air. A ramjet moves so fast that the engine is already hot and compressed enough to ignite the fuel. A scramjet  short for "supersonic combustion ramjet"  is just that, a ramjet where the incoming air is moving at supersonic speeds.

The world of hypersonic weapons is divided into four types: hypersonic cruise missiles, which are surface- or air-launched; hypersonic glide vehicles, brought to high altitude by missiles or jets, re-entering the atmosphere at very high speeds while maneuvering, and able to hit targets with conventional or nuclear bombs; hypersonic attack aircraft, which are vehicles that fly at hypersonic speeds and are capable of taking off and landing, and are therefore useful for surveillance purposes but potentially also for attack; and finally, hypersonic anti-ship missiles.

Let's examine them one by one, listing the current respective stages of research, development and testing of the countries in question.

The first type of hypersonic weapons are the easiest to understand. Simply put, these are cruise missiles with scramjet engines that are capable of accelerating to hypersonic speeds.

Hypersonic cruise Missiles (excluding anti-ship weapons available below) United States (testing phase)

Russia/India (testing phase)

BrahMos-II is a hypersonic missile currently under development in India and Russia

The most discussed weapon is the hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV). What exactly a HGV is can be explained as follows:

HGVs are unmanned, rocket-launched, maneuverable aircraft that glide and "skip" through the earth's atmosphere at incredibly fast speeds. Compared to conventional ballistic systems, HGV warheads can be much higher, lower altitudes and less-trackable trajectories. The defense systems approach leaves less time to intercept the warhead before it drops its payload.

Glide Weapon/Hypersonic Glide Vehicle:

United States (experimental phase)

For years, the US has worked on missiles that can be used as a Tactical Boost Glide ( TBG ) weapon, which is a rocket glider that can reach speeds of 20,921 kilometers per hour, or Mach 20, and then uses a scramjet/ramjet engine to perform maneuvers. Currently, the United States is in the research and development phase of experimenting with an Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW) known as the Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 ( HTV-2 )

Russia (entering into service in 2019)

(Dagger). An air-launched, modified Zircon missile launched from a MiG-31. KH-47M 2 Kinzhal. An air-launched, modified Zircon missile launched from a MiG-31.

China (test phase)

DF-17/DF-ZF/WU-14  Hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) medium-range system, with a range of between 1,800 and 2,500 kilometers.

As we can see, Russia is almost ready to start mass production of their HGVs, while the US is still in the early phase of experimentation, and China is already undertaking numerous tests.

The most complicated factor with hypersonic technology concerns the Hypersonic Attack Aircraft (HAA), equipped with scramjet engines and able to attain hypersonic speeds, but with the added benefit of being able to take off and land. They are to be unmanned and can be used for surveillance or attack purposes.

Hypersonic Attack Aircraft

United States (unknown phase)

No known projects, much speculation about tests and scientific research. For example, the US military created in 1996 a program called SHAAFT . Now the US Military is working on a number of prototypes:

Russia (testing phase)

China (testing phase)

TENGYUN is a hypersonic aircraft powered during the first stage by a turbine rocket combined cycle (TRCC) engine, which then launches a reusable second-stage rocket to reach the stratosphere.

Because scramjet technology, on which HAA systems rely, is still in its early phases of development, this weapon system is unlikely to see the light of day any time soon.

Anti-ship missiles accelerate to hypersonic speed, allowing them to hit naval groups. As described below, this is because of a scramjet motor that gives such missiles their power:

Anti Ship Missiles are believed to be a maneuvering, winged hypersonic cruise missile with a lift-generating center body. A booster stage with solid-fuel engines accelerates it to supersonic speeds, after which a scramjet motor in the second stage accelerates it to hypersonic speeds.

Anti Ship Hypersonic Missiles:

United States (Currently only possesses sub-sonic missiles)

Russia (operational)

China (testing phase)

In the next article I will explain how Russia and China Gained a Strategic Advantage in Hypersonic Technology and why this could be a game changer in future war scenarios.
President Trumps decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal has many implications. It casts doubt upon the future of the nonproliferation regime. This could trigger a chain reaction. Here is the first result: as Iran threatened to restart its enrichment of uranium if the US pulled out, Saudi Arabia warned it would go nuclear.

Irans nuclear program is a response to the potential threat posed by Americas conventional capability. Tehran also wants to deter Israel. N. Koreas nuclear program has prompted S. Korea and Japan to mull the idea of nuclear arms. Thats how chain reactions start. One states nuclear acquisitions drive its adversaries to follow suit. And once that capability has been acquired, there is only a slim chance of ever going back.

Brazil, Egypt, and Argentina halted their programs before, not after, they had the capability to produce nuclear weapons. South Africa is the only nation to eliminate its existing arsenal, no matter how small it was.

The two Koreas are moving toward rapprochement and the Trump-Kim Jong-un summit in Singapore is giving rise to great expectations. It is evident that tensions are easing, but nothing indicates that Pyongyang is ready to eliminate its nuclear stockpiles. N. Korea may curb its program but not disarm. It remembers well the lessons of Iraq and Libya, which rolled back their nuclear programs only to be attacked afterward. International law failed to protect them. The US-led foreign interventions that circumvent the UN prompt other countries to view nuclear capability as the only deterrent that is truly effective. Nukes appear to be the only way to protect ones national security.

The US did little to keep India and Pakistan from acquiring atomic weapons or to punish them for going nuclear. It connived to help Israel with its program. But it threatened war against N. Korea and is siding with Israel against Iran. Is there any coherence in this approach to the problem of proliferation? Definitely not. There is no clearly defined policy. It is based on the principle of whatever is convenient for me is right, and whatever isnt  is wrong.

The United States is violating the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (the NPT Treaty) right now by conducting "joint nuclear missions" with its European allies. The new B61-12 nuclear glide vehicle is scheduled for deployment in Europe around 2020. It will be delivered by US-built F-15 or F-16 aircraft or European-built Tornado fighters. The planes are operated by Belgian, Dutch, German, Italian, and US crews. The bombs will be adapted so that the stealth F-35 can join the air forces of the European allies. A lot of joint training is anticipated in order to prepare the crews of several nations to use these nuclear munitions in war. Such joint activities take place during the annual NATO exercise Steadfast Noon. Finland, a non-NATO country, is studying the possibility of purchasing the nuclear-capable F-35.

Thus, non-nuclear states are locked into a nuclear-weapon posture. Articles I and II of the Treaty state that nations may not "transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons" or hand over control over them. The fact that this is being violated is indisputable, but the US 2018 Nuclear Posture Review eyes expanding this practice.

The F-35 that has been supplied to Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is an addition to the air leg of the nuclear triad. Even NATO allies are forbidden to update or make any changes to the aircraft without US permission. Israel is the only exception to this rule. It is allowed to install any systems it wants, including those that would enable the aircraft to carry Israeli-made nuclear munitions. If thats not a violation of the NPT then what is?

The United States is the only power to deploy nukes abroad. This is the definition of proliferation. US President Donald Trump put forward the idea that more countries, such as Japan and South Korea, may need to develop their own nuclear weapons. This is tantamount to calling on other states that are parties to the NPT to forgo their commitments and to expedite the erosion of the nonproliferation regime.

This is a hard time for arms control. The erosion of the NPT will greatly complicate the prospects for strategic arms agreements between the US and Russia. Global control over nuclear weapons is essential in order to make progress. The above-mentioned chain reaction may reduce all hopes to naught. The US non-compliance with its NPT commitments is an issue serious enough to be added to the agenda of the 2020 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.
TICKERS: K; KGC

Source: Streetwise Reports (5/12/18)

BMO Capital Markets reviewed the latest news involving this gold miner, the announcement of Q1/18 results and a foreign government's request.



In a May 8 research note, Andrew Kaip, a BMO Capital Markets analyst, reported that Kinross Gold Corp. (K:TSX; KGC:NYSE) achieved "a solid earnings beat on strong production and lower costs" in Q1/18, but concerns involving the Mauritanian government "could overshadow Q1 results until more information is available."

As for Kinross' Q1/18 results, adjusted earnings per share were $0.10 versus estimates of BMO, $0.06, and consensus, $0.05. "The beat was attributable to higher production and lower operating costs," Kaip explained.

During Q1/18, the company produced 654 thousand ounces (654 Koz) of gold equivalent (Au eq), more than BMO's estimated 630 Koz. Contributors were "strong results at Bald Mountain and higher-than-expected residual leaching ounces at Maricunga," noted Kaip. Q1/18 sales of Au eq were 668 Koz, exceeding the total ounces produced.

Kinross' all-in sustaining cost (AISC) in Q1/18 was $846 per ounce, well below BMO's estimate of $1,015 per ounce.

The mining firm reiterated 2018 guidance of 2.5 million ounces Au eq at an AISC of $975 per ounce. It maintained its capital guidance for the year at $1,075M.

Operating cash flow was $294 million ($294M), above BMO's expectation of $263M. Similarly, free cash flow of $32M exceeded BMO's forecast of $24M due to greater cash flow and slightly lower-than-estimated capex.

At Q1/18's end, Kinross had $998M in cash and cash equivalents and $1,567M in available credit.

The company's current issue involves its Tasiast mine in Mauritania and the government of that country. Phase 1 of the Tasiast expansion remains on schedule and on budget to reach 12 thousand tons per day of production by the end of June 2018.

However, following the denial earlier in Q2/18 of a development permit for this project, the Mauritanian government recently notified Kinross of its "desire to enter into mutually beneficial discussions regarding the company's activities in country," Kaip relayed. The company is "assessing the situation and the potential impact on its phase 2 expansion at Tasiast." More information is needed, added Kaip.

BMO has a Market Perform rating on Kinross.

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Disclosure:

1) Doresa Banning compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.

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5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article, until one week after the publication of the interview or article.

Disclosures from BMO Capital Markets, Kinross Gold, May 8, 2018

Analyst's Certification: I, Andrew Kaip, hereby certify that the views expressed in this report accurately reflect my personal views about the subject securities or issuers. I also certify that no part of my compensation was, is, or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this report.

Analysts who prepared this report are compensated based upon (among other factors) the overall profitability of BMO Capital Markets and their affiliates, which includes the overall profitability of investment banking services. Compensation for research is based on effectiveness in generating new ideas and in communication of ideas to clients, performance of recommendations, accuracy of earnings estimates, and service to clients.

Analysts employed by BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. and/or BMO Capital Markets Limited are not registered as research analysts with FINRA. These analysts may not be associated persons of BMO Capital Markets Corp. and therefore may not be subject to the FINRA Rule 2241 restrictions on communications with a subject company, public appearances and trading securities held by a research analyst account.

Company Specific Disclosures

Disclosure 2: BMO Capital Markets has provided investment banking services with respect to Kinross Gold within the past 12 months.

Disclosure 4: BMO Capital Markets or an affiliate has received compensation for investment banking services from Kinross Gold within the past 12 months.

Disclosure 5: BMO Capital Markets or an affiliate received compensation for products or services other than investment banking services within the past 12 months from Kinross Gold.

Disclosure 6A: Kinross Gold is a client (or was a client) of BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., BMO Capital Markets Corp., BMO Capital Markets Limited or an affiliate within the past 12 months: A) Investment Banking Services Disclosure

6C: Kinross Gold is a client (or was a client) of BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., BMO Capital Markets Corp., BMO Capital Markets Limited or an affiliate within the past 12 months: C) Non-Securities Related Services. Disclosure

8A: BMO Capital Markets or an affiliate has a financial interest in 1% or more of any class of the equity securities of Kinross Gold.

Disclosure 8C: BMO Capital Markets or an affiliate has a financial interest in 0.5% or more in the issued share capital of Kinross Gold.

Disclosure 9: BMO Capital Markets makes a market in Kinross Gold.

Disclosure 16: A BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. research analyst has extensively viewed the material operations of Kinross Gold.

For Important Disclosures on the stocks discussed in this report, please click here.
The National Security Committee (NSC) has categorically denied former premier Nawaz Sharif's recent statement on the 2008 Mumbai attacks and unanimously termed it "completely false and misleading".

The NSC, which met under the chair of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday, said in its statement that the country's top civil and military leadership conducted a detailed review of Nawaz's statement printed in a newspaper interview on Saturday.

The NSC said it was unfortunate and regrettable that concrete evidence and facts were ignored in the statement.

It also stated that India denied Pakistani investigators access to Ajmal Kasab, the convicted attacker who was hanged by India.

The statement said that Kasabs rushed hanging by India impeded the investigation of th ecase, adding that India repeatedly denied assistance in the probe while there was complete cooperation from Pakistan.

"Pakistan will continue its efforts to eliminate terrorism on all fronts," it was stated further.

The top brass of the military, including Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Zubair Mahmood Hayat and Director General Inter-Services Intelligence Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar attended the meeting, held at the PM House.

Moreover, the chiefs of the navy and air force also attended the meeting, as did directors general of military operations and military intelligence.

On the other hand, Defence Minister and acting foreign minister Khurram Dastgir was also a part of the meeting along with other top civil officials of the government.

The meeting was called over remarks made by Nawaz regarding the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Sources said the participants were briefed on Pakistan's investigations and cooperation following the 2008 attacks in Mumbai.

Nawaz, in a recent interview to Dawn newspaper, had said, Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete the trial?

His remarks were played up by the Indian media as an admission of Pakistan's involvement in the terrorist attacks, even though similar questions and statements have been raised from civilian and security officials in Pakistan earlier.

Following the backlash on international and local media, army spokesperson Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor had said on Twitter that the army had "suggested" that the NSC meeting be called to clarify the country's stance on the statement.

Nawaz's statement misinterpreted by media: PML-N

The PML-N issued a clarification on Sunday stating that Nawaz's remarks were "grossly misinterpreted by Indian media".

"Unfortunately, a section of Pakistani electronic and social media has intentionally or unintentionally not only validated but has lent credence to the malicious propaganda of Indian media without going through the full facts of the statement," a party spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that Nawaz's comments about Shehbaz Sharif's role in the party's election campaign are also being misinterpreted.

"Mian Shehbaz Sharif is the elected President of PML-N and, in this capacity, he is already at the forefront of the election campaign, taking the PML-N message to every nook and corner of the country," the statement read.

Shehbaz, in a series of tweets posted later in the day, said the PML-N "rejects all assertions, direct or implied" in the media reports. "We strongly believe that interests of Pakistan [are] supreme to all personal & political interests," he added.

India used Mumbai attacks to malign Pakistan: Nisar

Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, weighing on the recent wave of discussion on the 2008 Mumbai attacks, remarked earlier today that the incident was used by India to malign Pakistan.

Pakistan was heavily criticised over the Mumbai attacks, he shared in a statement while referring to former prime minister Nawaz Sharifs remarks on the Mumbai attacks.

India used the Mumbai attacks for its own despicable plans, said Nisar, who has swayed away from Nawaz since his ouster last year.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Sherry Rehman on Sunday slammed Nawaz Sharif for his recent remarks on the Mumbai attacks and said his statement backed Indian prime minister Modi's stance.

Addressing a press conference, she said that the former prime ministers statement compromised Pakistans narrative in the war against terrorism and demanded that he retract his remarks.

"PPP rejects Nawaz Sharif's statement and stance [on Mumbai attacks]. Is he [Nawaz] an analyst that he's giving out such statements?" she questioned.

Nawaz, in a recent interview to Dawn newspaper, had said, Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete the trial?

His remarks were played up by the Indian media as an admission of Pakistan's involvement in the terrorist attacks, even though similar questions and statements have been raised from civilian and security officials in Pakistan earlier.

Rehman, who is also the leader of the opposition in the Senate, said questions were being raised all around the world following Nawaz's remarks.

"Why didn't Nawaz also say that Pakistan tried [very] hard to cooperate with India in the Mumbai trials?" she continued.

The PPP leader vowed that "we would not allow Pakistan's honour to be violated and its narrative to be compromised."

"Pakistan is fighting the war against terrorism alone. Our Armed Forces, [the nation] have given [countless] sacrifices in the war against terrorism," she lamented. "Terrorism is a global issue, not just one country's. PPP will fight for Pakistan's case."

Rehman said that the PPP wants the Mumbai trials to be taken to their logical conclusion and the perpetrators to be punished. Pakistan has tried to cooperate with India in the case from the start, she pointed out.

The United States also said Pakistan had no role in the Mumbai attacks, she added.

"Nawaz thinks he has no immunity. [He's] heading a major party yet [he] thinks only about himself."

Rehman emphasised the need of a foreign minister and said it was regrettable that the country did not have a foreign minister for four years.

India used Mumbai attacks to malign Pakistan: Nisar

Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, weighing on the recent wave of discussion on the 2008 Mumbai attacks, remarked earlier today that the incident was used by India to malign Pakistan.

Pakistan was heavily criticised over the Mumbai attacks, he shared in a statement while referring to former prime minister Nawaz Sharifs recent remarks on the Mumbai attacks.

India used the Mumbai attacks for its own despicable plans, said Nisar, who has swayed away from Nawaz since his ouster last year.

He also blamed India for showing aggression and refusing to cooperate during the investigation into the case. The lack of cooperation by India was the biggest hurdle in the investigation. India wasnt interested in a transparent investigation, he said.
Jamat-e-Islami leader Sirajul Haq, speaking at the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal's (MMA) first public gathering in Punjab on Sunday, said that the rally was a clear message that the nation wanted an "Islamic Pakistan" instead of "Naya Pakistan".

Addressing the rally held at the Greater Iqbal Park, Siraj said that it was unfortunate that an Islamic political system was not implemented in last 70 years, adding that the party was fighting for the imposition of Islamic system in the country.

US agents are worried to see the unity of religious parties, he claimed.

The JI emir lamented that the corrupt rulers were storing looted wealth abroad, and that the corrupt elite had bought properties worth billions of rupees.

"I curse politics which aims for increasing funds in bank accounts," he said. "I want to open avenues of power to the common Pakistanis. We have to end the tradition of giving votes to the oppressors."

Siraj said that corrupt people should not be allowed in any party.

"We will bring a direct tax system. A gatekeeper is giving the same amount of tax as a billionaire here. Fair distribution of resources will bring prosperity to the nation."

Will defeat secularists in next polls: Fazlur Rehman

Speaking on the occasion, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the MMA will win the next elections by defeating the secularists of the country.

Rehman said that law and order is the biggest challenge of the country today, adding that from last ten years Muslim word is facing attack from the West.

"You have destroyed Afghanistan and Iraq, and now bloodshed is happening in Syria. Its all US' conspiracy," he said. "We know what is freedom. Our economy is being conquered by IMF and World Bank."

He alleged that the Pakistani budget is approved by IMF's Pakistan desk.

"Our leaders give budget speech after approval from IMF. Our civilization is under attack from the West."

The MMA leaders are expected to announce the political alliance's manifesto for the coming polls.

Religious-political parties announced the revival of the defunct MMA in March this year. The newly resurrected alliance will contest the elections under one symbol.
North Korea says it is taking technical measures to dismantle its nuclear test site, the latest dramatic move Pyongyang is making just a month ahead of a historic summit between the Norths leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.

A ceremony for dismantling the nuclear test ground is now scheduled between May 23 and 25, depending on weather condition, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) further said on Saturday, citing a foreign ministry press release, adding that the test tunnels would be blown up, blocking their entries.

The statement added that journalists from China, Russia, the US, the UK and South Korea would be allowed to conduct on-the-spot coverage in order to show in a transparent manner the dismantlement of the northern nuclear test ground.

It also said that the limit on foreign reporters was due to the small space of the test ground which is located in the uninhabited deep mountain area.

The announcement came two days after Trump said that his highly-anticipated meeting with Kim would be held in Singapore on June 12.

North Korea has had controversial military nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which have so far drawn harsh sanctions from the US and the UN. On April 21, and in the midst of diplomacy with Seoul, Kim said he would be suspending the Norths nuclear and missile tests, and shut down a nuclear test site to pursue economic growth and peace on the Korean Peninsula, a move that attracted global praise.

In late April, Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met in a historic summit at the demarcation line and signed a joint declaration expressing their interest in the common goal of denuclearization.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo promised that the North could look forward to a future brimming with peace and prosperity if it agreed to swiftly give up its nuclear weapons and takes bold action to quickly denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

The senior US diplomat, who returned from Pyongyang earlier this week with three Americans who had been held prisoner by North Korea, said their release had helped set conditions for a successful meeting between Trump and Kim. This was Pompeos second meeting with the Norths leader in less than six weeks.

Pyongyang further said in its Saturdays statement that it would also in the future, promote close contacts and dialogue with the neighboring countries and the international society so as to safeguard peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and over the globe.

Last year, particularly after Pyongyang carried out its sixth and the most powerful nuclear test in September, a string of bellicose rhetoric was adopted by Trump and Kim against one another that raised fears of a new war on the peninsula.
University of Waikato PhD student Vanessa Taikato has been awarded the 2018 Bruce Cronin BayTrust Scholarship to study ways in which Maori moved marine shellfish from location to location.

Worth $5000, the scholarship was established by BayTrust to recognise Bruce Cronins service to the people of the Bay of Plenty.

Bruce was the first manager of BayTrust, serving for 18 years from 1996 to 2014.

Vanessa was born in the Maungatapu area and attended Tauranga Girls College. She has completed a BSc in Marine Biology and an MSc in Research at the University of Waikato, and will use the scholarship to study for her PhD.

I aim to use archaeological evidence to test hypotheses around the human-modified distribution of toheroa and to investigate the tools and methods used by Maori to translocate toheroa and other kaimoana, she says. I aim to determine whether the Matauranga of kaimoana translocation can inform contemporary restoration and management of depleted shellfish resources.

Since 2014, Vanessa has been working for the Manaaki Te Awanui Trust as a researcher, focusing mainly on report writing and statistical analyses of ecological data.

The first part of her PhD research will investigate archaeological data, looking at timelines of historical toheroa distribution. Vanessa will then look at the science behind the translocation of toheroa.

What were the traditional methods used to translocate shellfish and how did they work? she asks. Historical documents indicate that pre- and post-European Maori used kelp bags, also known as poha, to translocate toheroa, and other kaimoana species. Poha are manufactured from the bull kelp Durvillea poha (a New Zealand endemic seaweed).

Vanessa will look into the feasibility of using these traditional methods of moving shellfish to see if this could help improve the lot of threatened species today.

The scholarship is administered by Universities New Zealand, which administers 40 other scholarships with a total value over $4 million.

Applicants for the Bruce Cronin BayTrust Scholarship must have links to the BayTrust geographical area, either through birth, education or whakapapa.

BayTrust CEO Alastair Rhodes says this is a great example of a successful scholarship aimed at projects within the Bay of Plenty region.

Vanessa was chosen for her previous examples of work completed in marine biology and her leadership skills for our communities in the future. We hope the scholarship helps Vanessa achieve her goals going forward.
Tauranga iwi Ngai Te Rangi are joining with Auckland iwi Ngati Whatua in a hikoi to Wellington to advocate for a tikanga approach to dealing with intertribal grievances.

Today a Supreme Court case begins in which Ngati Whatua will argue that tikanga, or Maori custom and culture, is being diminished by government decision-making and needs to be restored.

The case comes ahead of an impending decision by Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little on whether he will sign a settlement with a collective of Hauraki iwi that would transfer mana whenua status in Tauranga to them from Tauranga iwi.

Ngai Te Rangi has been arguing that those Hauraki iwi do not have any marae in Tauranga, have no history in Tauranga, have no ancestors buried there, have not kept any home fires burning there.

Ngai Te Rangi is wanting a traditional tikanga process to take place between the individual iwi that make up the Hauraki Collective to use cultural systems of inquiry to have those iwi lay out the basis on their claim.

Ngai Te Rangi chief executive Paora Stanley says tikanga is a sophisticated inquisitorial system based in centuries of use by Maori.

It is a system that is understood, tested, and based on simple principles of whakapapa and ahi kaa.

The Crown has a problem with cross claims between iwi, and use of the existing western legal system is causing everyone to flounder around trying to put square pegs in round holes. What needs to happen is for the Crown to recognise that cross claims are between iwi and the solution will be found by iwi through discussions on marae.

It takes time to ensure that is done properly, but we are looking for a just and enduring solution, so it will pay to take the time to get it right.

Paora says the large number of iwi gathering around the catch cry Takahi Mana Takahi Tikanga will be at the hikoi to support Ngati Whatuas efforts in the Supreme Court and also send a message to the Labour caucus and other parties that signing a Hauraki deal in the form it is in will lead to ongoing trouble and new rounds of grievances.

Ngai Te Rangi iwi settlements trust chair Charlie Tawhiao says they sat in on a Maori Affairs Select Committee hearing last week and it was clear that across parties, MPs are seeing how tenuous the basis of the Hauraki claim within Tauranga Moana is.

They are looking for a diplomatic means of coming to a more equitable solution than is presently on the table.

What came out of the MPs discussion was what looked like a general agreement that a new direction was required.

We argue that tikanga has the systems and is the most effective way to move forward. Therefore, we are urging Minister Little to decide to put the cross claim into a tikanga forum where it can be discussed and debated, and evidence of interests can be laid out in front of everyone.

Maori said at the last election we will give Labour a chance to show what they can do, says Paora.

If the first major initiative for Maori is to attempt to snuff out the use of tikanga or the cultural basis of our being then we have our message.

However, through the work of Kelvin Davis, Andrew Little, and the rest of the Maori caucus and of key Maori MPs in parliament, this could be a moment of great significance when it finally dawns on people that in tikanga we have a useful tool of governance that is based in antiquity but brings smart inquisitorial options for solving modern problems.

Ngai Te Rangi will join with Ngati Whatua in the hikoi that will be held on May 15 starting at 8.30am at the Bluebridge Ferry Terminal.

Speakers will address the hikoi at Parliament.
UPDATED 8.40AM: Heavy rain for eastern Bay of Plenty and northern Gisborne is expected to ease around midday today.

The heavy rain about eastern Bay of Plenty and northern Gisborne is expected to ease by around midday today, says the MetService.

However, another 30 to 50mm is possible in these areas until this time.

==================

HEAVY RAIN WARNING

==================

Heavy rain may cause streams and rivers to rise rapidly. Surface flooding and slips are also possible and driving conditions may be hazardous.

Area: Bay of Plenty east of Whakatane, and Gisborne north of Ruatoria

Valid: 4 hours from 8am to 12pm Monday

Forecast: Periods of heavy rain are expected until around midday before easing.

Expect a further 30 to 50mm of rain to accumulate on top of what has already fallen, especially about the ranges, giving a total rainfall of around 200mm for this event over several days. Peak intensities of 15 to 25mm per hour are possible at first.

EARLIER:

Bay of Plenty residents are being warned to brace for heavy rain today as a slow moving low moves over the Tasman Sea.

The MetService has issued a severe weather warning for the Bay of Plenty through to northern Gisborne.

A slow moving low over the Tasman Sea is directing a moist northerly flow over the North Island, bringing rain to northeastern areas.

The heaviest rain is expected about eastern Bay of Plenty east of Whakatane and Gisborne north of Ruatoria, and a warning remains in force.

The warning will be updated at 10am.

Heavy Rain Warning

Heavy rain may cause streams and rivers to rise rapidly. Surface flooding and slips are also possible and driving conditions may be hazardous.
Tauranga mum Jazmin Lashlie only began volunteering as a firefighter last year, but shes already taking on one of the toughest challenges any firefighter can face.

Thats the Sky Tower Stair Challenge in Auckland - an annual fundraising event in which nearly 1000 firefighters will race up 51 flights of stairs in full kit.

Greerton Volunteer Fire Brigade has seven members participating in this years challenge, with Jazmin among them.

The 27-year-old grew up in Hamilton, before moving to Tauranga and starting a family a few years ago. Shes been a stay-at-home mum to three-year-old Noah since he was born, but wanted to give back to her community.

My mum was in the air force before I was born, and it was something Id always admired about her, says Jazmin.

Id always dreamed of joining a service and helping people, but the more I grew up, for some reason the more unrealistic that seemed.

However, after hearing about a friend who joined the Pukehina Volunteer Fire Brigade, Jazmin made a move of her own, coming down to her nearest station in Greerton to watch the volunteers training on a Tuesday night.

I came the first week and I loved it, she says. Ive been here ever since. It can be physically demanding but thats something I love about it - always challenging you to be at your best. We have an amazing group of people here at the Greerton station.

This year will be her first time taking on the Sky Tower Stair Challenge, which will help raise funds for Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand.

It is a huge physical and mental challenge for me, and one that Im training hard for, she adds. Ive even hired a treadmill for use at home so that the weather is no excuse!

She says shes nervous about the challenge, but when she thinks of what so many New Zealanders with leukemia or blood cancer and their families have to go through, the challenge of one day seems insignificant.

That is what will keep me going. In the end, it doesnt matter how long it takes me, I will get it done.

The Sky Tower Stair Challenge will take place on Saturday May 19. For more information or to donate, visit: firefightersclimb.org.nz




"We are delighted to launch this Center of Excellence with our colleagues at Leica," said Miller. "We look forward to a collaboration that will provide the very latest technology to UCLA faculty, staff and trainees."

The agreement is the culmination of ongoing efforts between CNSI and Leica, spearheaded by Dr. Laurent Bentolila, Director of the Advanced Light Microscopy and Spectroscopy Laboratory, one of CNSI's core technology centers and host of the Leica Center of Excellence. "We're looking forward to continuing our long-standing relationship with Leica through this Center of Excellence," said Bentolila. "The center will provide the cutting-edge technology to help us maintain our leadership in biophotonics research and its application to the imaging of tissues, cells, sub-cellular structures, and biological molecules."

"Collaborating with a world class organization like UCLA to enable them to push the limits of what is seen is truly exciting for Leica and we look forward to working with UCLA today and for many years into the future," said Doug Spotts, Vice President & General Manager of Leica Microsystems Americas. "Leica Microsystems' mission is to provide unrivaled insight for our customers by pushing the limits of what was previously possible and visible. UCLA is a great ally which will truly allow Leica to live up to our mission."

"One of the most exciting aspects of this agreement between UCLA's CNSI and Leica is the progress we will make together in using Leica platforms to provide workflows using advanced image analysis techniques," says Greg Eppink, General Manager of Microscopy for Leica Microsystems. "UCLA will be able to provide us with the feedback we need to drive innovation in not only our technological and software tools, but also through development of workflow solutions."



"We are excited and honored to extend our relationship with the UCLA core facility beyond the typical vendor user relationship," adds David LeBlanc, Regional Sales Manager for Leica Microsystems. "The Leica Microsystems Center of Excellence will provide researchers at UCLA access to the latest in innovative microscopy systems while providing Leica with insights into the future requirements of the researchers at UCLA. While some vendors might view this Center of Excellence agreement as the finish line, the Leica team views this as only the beginning!"









The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCLA and Leica Microsystems, Inc. have combined efforts to establish the Leica Microsystems Center of Excellence (CoE) at UCLA. The new Center will support a combined mission to educate the next generation of scientists and engineers and drive new scientific discoveries while furthering UCLA's efforts as a world-leading academic and scientific institution.A signing ceremony took place Wednesday, May 9, at UCLA between Jeff F. Miller, director of CNSI who holds UCLA'sFred Kavli Chair in NanoSystems Science and Doug Spotts, Vice President & General Manager of Leica Microsystems Americas. The Center of Excellence features cutting-edge confocal microscopy technology from Leica, including 3D STED, digital light sheet, super-resolution and multiphoton imaging to capture dynamic processes at the molecular level.Through May 18, Leica Microsystems will host a hands-on workshop featuring the TCS SP8 DIVE (Deep in vivo Explorer) confocal imaging system with free access and sample preparation guidance using multiphoton microscopy. This type of microscopy allows scientists to deeply penetrate into tissues with super-sensitivity and uncover the finest details of cellular and subcellular processes.SOURCE Leica MicrosystemsRelated Links
According to Gberi-be Ouattara, the Vice President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Cape Verdean government must immediately liberate detained Venezuelan... | Read More
Charter Hall property group is in the running to snap up a half share of Westpac Plaza in the Sydney CBD from Blackstone, valued at about $850 million.

It will be one of the largest office sales in the country for some time and follows a number of other deals in the lead-up to the end of the 2108 financial year.

Charter Hall, if successful, will beat out a number of local and international contenders for the highly-sought after site at 275 Kent Street, Sydney.

The Westpac headquarters at 275 Kent Street, Sydney. Credit:Mayu Kanamori

According to brokers at JP Morgan, the acquisition will place Charter Hall amongst the biggest land owners in Sydney. it will add to its Shelley Street site at nearby Barangaroo.
Marlon Williams at the Forum on Saturday. Credit:David Harris

MUSIC

MARLON WILLIAMS 

Forum Theatre, May 12. Returns June 22.

The soldout crowd packed the Forum well before Marlon Williams graced the stage; a telling sign we were in for a treat. Or perhaps it was in worthy anticipation of support band Weather Station who finished on a few well-received, up-tempo numbers that left us wishing for more.

Williams opened alone and by the time his band joined him the audience was clearly sold on what lay before them. The 27-year-old has one of those voices that rarely disappoints and its worth noting he harmonises with himself in his recorded work. Translating the sound into a live performance takes fine musicians with the vocal range to match his lead. Williams found that in his touring band, and their harmonies were beautifully interspersed with the soulful, sometimes melancholy sounds of a master of the minor chord.

Williams is one of those artists who clearly enjoys himself on stage and said as much to the crowd. Im overwhelmed, he said, before admitting he was winding us up. Nah, Im not. I love it up here. The native New Zealander was clearly pleased to be back in Melbourne, where he has lived for four years. Perhaps it was the home-town vibe that prompted him to test tracks hed never played before, as well as songs like the haunting Dark Child, clearly a crowd favourite.
"I think I'm more the raiser of any issues," she says."I will hear something wrong in Mum's voice, so I will ask her how she is and she will say, 'Fine.' And I will have to go on a search-and-destroy mission through the weeds, a kind of Tough Mudder mission, to find out what is upsetting her." Their relationship was tested when Geraldine's husband, Ian Carroll, died of pancreatic cancer in 2011. "There were some acutely difficult times and Eliza was marvellous most of the time, but sometimes she wasn't because nobody can be wonderful in that circumstance all the time," Geraldine says. "When big events occur, mothers may think those daughters will be there at every level, but they don't become your husband, they can't be, they have their own lives. "There was one particular conversation, and I knew Eliza was trying her hardest after I had been feeling down, and I raised my voice and I said to her, 'Do you realise the scale of loss? The scale of the loss of this man?' "And she turned to me and said, 'Yes, of course, Mum, of course.' She didn't say anything else, but it was amazing because it made a real difference to be heard like that." Eliza thinks this kind of openness and clear communication keeps their connection healthy.

"A lot of women cannot have it out with their mothers for fear of breaking their relationship," Eliza says. "But I can't imagine our relationship ever breaking so I cannot imagine a world where I don't have that. It may have blips along the way, but it's like a marriage, you're not going to wake up every single day and be in Pleasantville, that is just nonsense." Property manager Tory, 31, always has had strong bond with her author mother, Susanne, 65. Eliza also greatly admires Geraldine and her work ethic. "She is an incredibly hard worker," she says. "I would come home from the pub after work in Sydney and Mum would be up finishing her column. I grew up believing that it's all possible [to have children and a career] and that it's also worth striving for." TORY & SUSANNE GERVAY Property manager Tory, 31, always had a strong bond with her author mother, Susanne, 65, but three cancer scares brought the two of them even closer together.

Tory has always been close to her mother. Her parents divorced when she was little, and Tory grew up in a household of strong female role models: her maternal grandmother, Veronika, also lived with the pair after her husband died. Susanne and Tory nursed Veronika in her final years and they both remember her last moments as if they were yesterday. Tory and I held her hand at her bed and she opened her eyes for a moment and looked at us," Susanne says. "Then she closed her eyes forever. It was such a deep comfort for Tory and me to share this and I think it made our relationship even closer." Their bond has been stressed, though, by a series of health scares, the first of which came when Susanne was diagnosed with breast cancer when Tory was just six. Then, about eight years later, Susanne was diagnosed with a different cancer in the same breast. "It was scary because the doctors told her she wouldn't live," Tory says. "She had a mastectomy and fought it off. Then, unbelievably, she contracted cancer in her other breast, this time 10 years later. The third time she was diagnosed I wasn't worried because I reasoned if she had fought it off twice before then she'd be fine, and she was." Susanne says her daughter's support was invaluable during her lengthy battles with cancer. "I faced serious complications, with septicaemia and gaping wounds, and Tory found it very confronting," Susanne says. "However she chose to bandage my wounds every day for weeks, rather than let me be readmitted to hospital."

Tory, too, has had her own health problems. "I have a chronic kidney disease that makes your bones weaker and about eight years ago, I stumbled while moving furniture and broke my back," she says. "I was in hospital for a couple of weeks and it was a terrible experience, but Mum visited me every day. She would write her books at night and visit me during the daytime." Having gone through so much together, Susanne and Tory have a fierce bond. "During my 20s, I had a lot of people in my life who weren't really there for me, but my mother always was, and while our illnesses haven't been great they have definitely brought us even closer," Tory says. "It's funny how it takes something bad to bond two people." TEGAN MARSHALL & CHRISTINE KLEMENS Digital marketing consultant Tegan, 47, was given up for adoption when she was a child and reunited with her mother, Christine, 70, later in life.

Tegan's mother, Christine, put her up for adoption to give her daughter a better life, but it didn't turn out that way. "I was adopted into an abusive family and yet my mother gave me up because she thought she was doing the best thing for me," says Tegan, who has since changed her name. "She was 23, from a Catholic family, and my father wasn't on the scene. She faced a lot of pressure to give me up." Digital marketing consultant Tegan, 47, was given up for adoption when she was a child and reunited with her mother, Christine, 70, later in life. During her tough childhood and adolescence, Tegan was always comforted by the fact that "someone out there" loved her. "I knew I was adopted from the beginning and that was a gift because I always knew that someone loved me enough to want to give me a better life," she says. It wasn't until her late-20s that Tegan set about finding her mum, after years of longing. "I would sit on a bus and look at a woman and think, 'I wonder if you're my mum?' " she says. "Or I would meet women and I would think, 'I wish you were my mum.' There was a longing to have a mother because surviving without one sucked." Each week, for many months, Tegan would send out letters to women with the same name as her mother. "People would write back and encourage me and that kept me going," she says. Eventually one of those replies was from Christine, and the pair arranged to meet at a cafe. Christine says her feelings on hugging Tegan for the first time are hard to describe. "There was such an overwhelming mix of emotions. We both share a natural creativity in painting, designing, decorating, and in the way we look at life in general, and that was exciting to discover."
The issue of the dual citizenship of politicians in the federal parliament presents what seems to me a very odd situation. My understanding of Section 44 of the Constitution is that it was originally intended to prevent people with citizenship of nations that may be regarded as unfriendly or hostile from sitting in federal Parliament because they may represent a security risk. The majority of those members and senators found by themselves or by the High Court over the past few months to be ineligible to occupy their seats are from either the UK or New Zealand. Australia's head of state is the British Queen, and Australia is a member of the British Commonwealth. I fail to see how the UK could be regarded as an unfriendly or hostile power. New Zealand is also a member of the Commonwealth, and it enjoys a very friendly relationship with Australia, including free trade and free movement of people between the two countries. It seems to me that New Zealand certainly could not be seen as a hostile power (except perhaps during some sporting events) nor politicians with joint New Zealand citizenship a security risk.

It is well past time that Section 44 was brought up to date. Doing so much earlier would have saved Australia and some Australians a lot of unnecessary angst and expense. Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin Arrogant ASIO So, while defending its right to detain people for questioning, ASIO claims that it has not sought a questioning warrant since 2010, partly because of the allegedly slow process to obtain approval ("End ASIO's detention powers, parliamentary committee says", May 12, p2). If ASIO believes that it is acceptable not to pursue a warrant to question someone simply because the process to obtain approval is too slow, surely it is even harder to accept that it had a sound reason to do so in the first place.

ASIO's attitude seems more typical of an agency consumed by an ambition to acquire power for its own sake rather than to fulfil its lawful functions. John Richardson, Wallagoot, NSW PM has an ace I suggest the Prime Minster should advise Parliament that, unless his full budget is passed straight away, he will call a half Senate election at the same time as the byelection for the five MPs who have now resigned because of their dual citizenship or for personal reasons. This will focus the attention of the 20 crossbench senators because most of them will face re-election because they won with relatively low quotas and it is likely they would be wiped out in a half Senate election, which requires a significantly higher quota.

Similarly, it would focus Labor because, even if it gained more senators than the government, the half election would push the vote for the House of Representatives as far back as November 2, 2019, enabling the government to bring a budget that will be in surplus, as well as more time to discredit Labor policies and its unpopular leader. The Prime Minister can justify the cost on the basis that we are already have to pay for five byelections and combining these with a Senate half election is a cost-effective way to realign the election cycle of both houses. Albert Oberdorf, Lyons Call election now Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should call an election now.

The combination of the federal budget and the High Court decision on dual citizenship provides an opportunity to provide clarity and certainty to national leadership. The budget and Opposition response makes it clear what the choice is before the electorate. The conduct of four byelections will merely prove a costly and time consuming rehearsal for the election that needs to be held next year. So rather than spending the months ahead on byelections and squabbling our way through the rest of this year and into the next please sort it all out now. Stewart Sweeney, North Adelaide, SA

Stand up to US, Europe The re-imposition by the US of sanctions on Iran following Trump's pull-out from JCPOA represents Europe's "Suez Moment". Just as it was for Britain in 1956, the heart of the problem is the US dollar. The US Treasury has the European banks in a vice. If the European banks are squeezed, the hearts and minds of European politicians will do whatever Donald Trump orders. What can the poor European helots do?

They can close US bases; they can close down US missile sites; they can close down US spy-satellite stations. That way they can hit Mr Trump where it really hurts. But more to the point they have to get out from under the US dollar. Kenneth Griffiths, O'Connor What comes naturally Several recent Canberra Times letters correspondents seem very concerned at the lack of toilets at the new West Basin recreation area.

I can't see the problem. The site has numerous water birds residing or visiting there and they just "do it" wherever they like on the grass, seating and boardwalks. No problem for them. When in Rome, do as the Romans (birds) do. PS, it seems very strange (and dangerous) that the planners retained a roadway (for cars) through the park. John Mungoven, Stirling Don't lose homestead

I hope that the respected voice of the National Trust ("National Trust calls on government to save Gold Creek Homestead", May 6, p3) will be heard by the Suburban Land Agency before the Gold Creek Homestead, a site of great local significance, is reduced to rubble. Whilst it is astonishing that ACT Heritage Council failed to preserve it, the Suburban Land Agency still has the capacity to do the right thing and include the retention and adaptive reuse of the homestead in the conditions of sale for the land on which it stands. As a descendant of the Rolfe family, the original owners and builders of the homestead, I am deeply saddened that this reminder of Canberra's humble beginnings could be lost forever. Sally Bond, Willoughby, NSW Cull overkill I strongly agree with the letter writers opposing the annual slaughter of Canberra's kangaroos. Especially with their criticisms of the government's rationale justifying it on environmental grounds. Protecting the grasslands and threatened species? Indeed, along with the full-on grazing by cattle and sheep, regular clearing of any eco-system supporting understory shrubs, blanket razing of new land releases by developers, and repeated over-frequent hazard-reduction burns of existing nature reserves?

Has there ever been any study of kangaroo populations and movements in the ACT and surrounds? Knowing that most farmers have open season on shooting roos, isn't it possible that the numbers that congregate in Canberra are refugees from surrounding farming areas? Feeling they're safe here as the shoots are annual instead of weekend sport. Returning to Canberra on bus trips from the coast at twilight, I have only ever observed very small numbers of roos, and those exclusively on rural properties which are obviously no longer being grazed. It's possible that the main reason behind the cull, is the government's need to protect itself from culpability and possible litigation, arising from motorist collisions with roos crossing our roads. This rationale however certainly doesn't justify the scale and brutality of the killings. Surely there needs to be some more humane, research-based solutions? Fertility control, yes. The odd strategic wildlife tunnel under major thoroughfares, with attention given to access to the lakes and other water supplies? A. Curtis, Florey Our new ACT seat

Aside from the legitimate moral concerns and the broader vexed issue of "historical contextualisation" already raised in these columns and elsewhere about the appropriateness of naming the new ACT seat after Charles Bean, the Electoral Commission should not underestimate the obvious opportunities around Australia (especially by politicians) for mischievous, even spiteful, satire and ridicule arising out of the association of "Canberra" and "bean". Less controversial would be the distinctive, prominent and distinguished ACT name "Stromlo". Bureaucratic issues with this being a Canberra district should not be difficult to resolve. There is also merit in the suggestion by Kim Fischer (Letters, May 10) for Cullen, to honour Ngingali Cullen; a woman, Indigenous, worthy in her own right to negate tokenism and someone who spent a significant period of her life in Canberra. Warwick Williams, Nicholls

Gundaroo Drive go-slow I can't believe the extraordinary time being taken to duplicate the section of Gundaroo Drive between Gungahlin and Mirrabei drives. The works have seemingly been going for more than a couple of years. Are the workers on an hourly rate, or is it on a deliberate go-slow ploy just to irritate all those travelling along it. And when it seemed to be finally getting close to completion, further fronts of work have opened up adjacent to the duplicated roadway. Surely the project co-ordination could have been better planned with all of the site works being done concurrently. At least the roadworks along Horse Park Drive are progressing at a much greater pace. Disgruntled? Certainly. Lud Kerec, Forde

Stop the bigotry I think most of we thoughtful white Anglo/Saxon/Celtic men would be grateful if various recent correspondents and your May 11 editorialist could cease using our skin colour, ancestry, sex and sometimes decease as pejoratives. Nobody categorises dead or living females or racial minorities in such terms. Some fools, never having worked for a "meals on wheels" charity, have also gormlessly referred to us as being "privileged". People who are fond of referring to "dead white males" might usefully ponder on the ageism, racism and misandry that comprise elements of their bigotry. Bill Deane, Chapman Jobs yes, but ...

It is all very well for Malcolm Turnbull to boast about how many jobs have been created in the last year but I would like to know: How many of these jobs are full-time, permanent on-going jobs? How many are part-time jobs that only offer a few hours a week? How many of these jobs provide penalty rates for weekend work? How many of these jobs have been filled by Australians previously on the unemployment list? How many jobs have been filled by people entering Australia on the old 457 visa and its new replacement, the TSS visa? I would also like to know how many jobs have been lost during the same time period. A number of industries have been closed, the retail industry is laying staff off, small business is struggling and of course the federal government is itself reducing its workforce! We are not all as gullible as you might like Mr Turnbull. Gay von Ess, Aranda

TO THE POINT LOADED WORDS Why is it that North Korea and Iran have "regimes" but the US has something called "The Trump administration"? Iran is a democracy, no less dodgy than the US. Bernard McMinn, Mawson PAY DISCREPANCY

So the government proposes to tax someone who earns $40,000 a year at the same rate as someone paid $200,000  that is, who earns five times the first person's income. Seriously? And this is progress? Ric Innes, Weetangera THE TAX ISSUE A good cartoon in Saturday's Canberra Times.. I think a flat tax would work well if it was applied to every individual's gross income, including the value of income-in-kind, eg fringe benefits and politicians perks. Until that unlikely tax reform, we need more, not fewer, tax brackets.

John F. Simmons, Kambah MOTH'S CANNY TRICK Holy Bogong Batman, the letter from Lex Hodge, "Moths forced to adapt" (May 11), jolted me to attention. Who could have imagined our little Bogong to be so interesting. I have read Lex's letter over and over again and still don't know what to make of it. It's one ripper of a story though.

P Stanford, Queanbeyan FARCICAL PLAN Beleaguered ACT denizens see shades of deja vu in proposals that a public-private partnership construct a roofed stadium ("Covered stadium push", May 12, p1). Why go through the farcical charade of private input when ratepayers will have to pay many times over, financially and sacrificing of site amenities? Albert M. White, Queanbeyan

GET RID OF SECTION 44 If one is eligible to vote at a federal election surely that person should also be eligible to nominate for Parliament. Get rid of Section 44. I wonder how many former PMs since Federation had dual citizenship. Bruce Glossop, Holt STUFFING UP

No, Vicki Dunne, the Legislative Assembly didn't stuff up, Ms Gallagher and Labor did, and what's done is done ("Ex-speaker admits ACT 'stuffed up"'. May 11, p4). Allan Gibson, Cherrybrook A WHOLE NEW LEVEL Colin Toll of Bywong seems unduly exercised by the thought of foreigners in the ACT Assembly (Letters, May 11). He wants to bring the joys of Section 44 to a whole new level of government. I can see that being very popular all around the country, as long as it's only applied in the ACT. Really just another chance to stick the boot into Canberra. Haters gonna hate.
More than 50 people have been evacuated after a gas smell was detected in the Tuggeranong Officeworks.

Firefighters were called to Scollay Street, Greenway about 12.40pm on Sunday due to the smell of gas coming from a lift shaft at the business.

People were also evacuated from the neighbouring BCF and Petbarn.

As of 1.50pm, ACT Fire and Rescue crews were conducting atmospheric monitoring to determine the cause of the smell.

Firefighters conducted their final sweep of the building about 3pm, with people expected to return inside shortly afterwards.
A woman feared she would have to dig her own grave when her partner accused her of infidelity and kidnapped her to a remote area outside of Canberra, a court heard Friday.

Two weeks later, the man kidnapped the woman a second time in what his lawyers say was a bid to protect her and her unborn child from her methamphetamine habit.

The 38-year-old man, who has not been named to protect the identity of the woman, pleaded guilty in the ACT Supreme Court, where he appeared on Friday to be sentenced, to charges of unlawful confinement and common assault.

The couple had been in an on-again off-again relationship for more than six years when on January 10 last year, the man drove to the woman's flat in Braddon with two others.

He accused the woman of trading sexual favours for drugs and slapped her before he pushed her into the car's front passenger seat and drove away.
Diggers who fought in the 26-day Battle of Coral-Balmoral during the Vietnam War were on Sunday honoured with the Unit Citation for Gallantry at a national service.

Hundreds gathered at the Australian Vietnam Forces National Memorial in Canberra on Sunday morning, where the unit citation was announced by Veterans' Affairs Minister Darren Chester.

The men who fought at Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral displayed collective gallantry which

is worthy of the Unit Citation for Gallantry, Mr Chester said.
Canberra Airports bizarre and heavy-handed tactics are threatening to derail its relationship with the nations biggest airline, warns the chief executive of Qantas Domestic.

The airport has been publicly at loggerheads with Qantas for months, repeatedly speaking out against the high cancellation rates plaguing flights between Sydney and Canberra.

Canberra Airport managing director Stephen Byron, who said it was important to prioritise customer service at Canberra Airport. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

Canberra Airport has gone as far as seeking federal government intervention and recently met Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack to discuss the issue.

Qantas Domestic boss Andrew David has now hit back.
Students will sit Naplan tests on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Credit:Rodger Cummins

Principals, teachers and parents warn results of this week's NAPLAN tests should not be used to compare schools because students are doing two different kinds of tests.

But the The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority has moved to allay fears, saying a scaling system will be used to bring both tests into line.

On the 10th anniversary of the controversial assessment, about a 80 per cent of students will do a traditional pen-and-paper test and the rest will do an online version, which changes the difficulty of the questions to reflect the child's ability.

The tests begin on Tuesday for year three, five, seven and nine students.
A domestic violence victim whose new address was accidentally handed to her abusive ex-husband has told of her frustration after her attempts to get an apology and explanation from police were unanswered for almost a year.

The woman, who cannot be named, was one of the reasons an alert was sent throughout the Queensland Police Service warning officers of an auto-fill feature in the QPRIME system, which was blamed for her details being included on a court document handed to her former partner.

Police apologised and answered the victim's questions three days after Fairfax Media asked QPS for an explanation.

In March 2017, the woman went to her ex-husband's house in Brisbane to confront him about what happened in their relationship. She admits that she had had several drinks prior to confronting her former partner.

It was after this incident that police handed the victim's ex-husband a new protection order, which, unknown to the officers, mistakenly contained the woman's new address.
Trams in storage at Newport, Melbourne. Credit:Daniel Pockett

They were once the city's workhorses, rattling yellow and green trams responsible for the safe transport of thousands of patrons.

Now, more than 100 ageing vehicles gathering dust in a Newport rail yard will be given a new lease on life as part of a novel plan to celebrate the city's transport history.

Part of Victorias retired trams strategy, 134 historic trams previously resigned to retirement will be offered to rail enthusiasts for cafes, classrooms and other attractions in the hope of preserving the iconic trolleys for future generations.

Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan said schools, community groups, not-for-profit organisations and other public institutions would be able to access a tram for free under the new plan, to be released by the Andrews Labor government on Monday.
The horror at Margaret River, the worst since Port Arthur in 1996, must be a game-changer. One day a responsible gun owner is using his weapon to kill vermin. The next it could be his family.

Almost all people who have not been in trouble with the law or who have not had a mental health episode known to authorities are deemed "fit and proper" to hold a gun license. Their mental health episode - or an argument with their partner or neighbour - may come the following week or month. They are then a person with mental stress, anger or depression with a high-powered killing machine.

Urban gun owners should not be allowed to hold their weapons in houses in the suburbs and the sale quantity of ammunition should be highly regulated. Guns should be held in a secure lock-up in a police station and the gun enthusiast must provide two weeks notice of intention to use the gun, with details of where and with whom they will go with the weapon. They would pick up the weapon on the morning it is required and return it within seven days. No non-farmer should be allowed to own more than one firearm.

If, after returning from a hunting trip and handing in their gun, the gun owner takes ice, has a fight with a partner or a depressive episode, their gun will not be available to be used to murder in anger, depression or delusion.

In rural communities, as soon as someone is no longer an active farmer, because they have retired, are unable to work due to a disability or have sold the farm and live in town, they should not be allowed to own weapons unless they change their ownership status to that of a registered hunter. The same storage conditions for this non-active farmer would then apply.
Its like a richer cousin to the existing LITO  Low Income Tax Offset  which the Henry review recommended be abolished. It also sits beside the SATO  Senior Australians Tax Offset  which goes to over 65s and which is such an egregious form of age discrimination that economist Saul Eslake cant figure out why young people dont march in the streets against it. Never heard of any of these? Thats the point. Australias headline marginal tax rate schedule does not include the effect of these  and other  tax concessions that apply at the end of the financial year and vary a persons actual tax paid quite dramatically. The budget will hurt many mothers who work part-time. The fact that most people dont know about them means they do little to encourage most people to take on extra work throughout the year.

But there is one group of individuals who are particularly sensitive to their effect: part-time working women. When mums sit down to do the sums on whether its worth working more  or at all  they immediately notice the childcare costs that will eat up a fair chunk of any extra dollars they earn. But mums who work more also lose out in other ways. They must, of course, pay income tax. Their extra income may also disqualify their family from receiving some family payments. Loading And, crucially, tax offsets like the LMITO affect their sums in a very pernicious way. To stop the benefits going to very high income earners, the offsets phase out beyond a certain income threshold. So, for every dollar earned over a certain amount, the benefit is reduced by 1.5 cents. So mums who earn additional dollars above the threshold end up paying a much higher "effective marginal tax rate" on their hard earned cash. In effect, the offset reduces the reward for working and earning more.

Its one way to stop bracket creep  but not the sort you want. The Henry review recommended the complete abolition of the LITO, with just a higher tax free threshold instead: The LITO should be incorporated into the personal income tax rates scale, both for reasons of transparency and to retain the progressivity of the personal income tax rates scale. Former Labor treasurer Wayne Swan followed Henrys advice in designing the carbon tax compensation package. That package reduced the LITO and increased the tax-free threshold. To stop the benefits of a higher tax-free threshold bleeding up to very high income earners, Swan also increased the 30-cent rate to 32.5 cents. Morrison has moved in the opposite direction of Henry by adding another offset (which Bill Shorten then promised to double). But then Morrison changes his mind, and after four years the new offset is abolished. Lord make me tax pure, but not yet! Treasurer Scott Morrison meets the media on Tuesday before his budget speech. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Which brings us to the switch. From 2022, the Coalition proposes to ditch the LMITO. To ensure no one has to start suddenly paying higher taxes, the LITO is increased. Then, then the real fun begins for higher earners, as tax thresholds are progressively increased and the 37-cent rate abolished.

Ultimately, thresholds and rates are changed so that the 94 per cent of taxpayers who earn between $41,000 and $200,000 pay the same marginal rate of 32.5 cents. Ken Henry came up with a similar indicative design in his review. He had a tax-free threshold of $25,000, above which everyone paid 35 cents on every extra dollar earnt up to $180,000, then 45 cents from above that. Henry reckoned over 97 per cent of people over the tax-free threshold would be subject to the 35 per cent rate of tax. Its true that a simpler and flatter system is what Henry recommended. But Henrys vision of tax simplicity wasnt just about cutting the number of tax rates. It was about removing complexity across the board - including myriad concessions, exemptions, and offsets - as part of a broader package of tax reform. And not everyone supported Henrys flat tax vision at the time.
One in three entry-level scientists newly recruited to the Defence Department this year will be hired into non-permanent roles, following massive cuts to its science division's headcount.

Defence science and technology bosses have signed off on hiring 150 new staff but it expects 50 of these will arrive at the department with temporary work.

The recruitment method mimics those of universities, which employ research staff as casuals or other non-ongoing positions, and where permanent positions are rare and coveted.

Its new hiring effort is a major upscaling for the science division, which has filled only 110 entry and early career level positions since 2015, but a union representing Defence scientists has decried its decision to hire non-ongoing staff.

Defence's 2100-strong science and technology arm, one of Australia's largest employers of scientists and engineers, has copped a cut to its headcount of 350 since 2013.
The NSW Greens membership base has spread its support across the party's rival factions, in a bitter preselection battle which pitted the left and right flanks against one another.

Cate Faehrmann, who previously served on the Legislative Council from 2011-2013, will return to NSW politics after being preselected to replace Dr Mehreen Faruqi, who is poised to transfer to the Senate.

The preselections, which are determined by the party's grassroots memberships, were held on Saturday to fill both the casual vacancy and to select the party's NSW upper house ticket for March 2019 election.

David Shoebridge claimed the top spot on the party's ticket ahead of his rival Jeremy Buckingham, securing 1161 primary votes compared with Mr Buckingham's 780 votes.

Mr Shoebridge's victory is a critical win for the party's left faction, after Senator Lee Rhiannon lost the top Senate ticket spot to Dr Faruqi last year.
Convicted offenders who are serving community-based sentences instead of jail should be employed by private businesses and paid a wage, a new report argues.

The report, by right-leaning think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, says governments should allow non-violent offenders to work in the private sector as a way to reduce rising prison costs and improve rehabilitation rates by making ex-prisoners more employable.

Marngoneet Correctional Centre in the foreground with Barwon Prison behind. Credit:Craig Abraham

Its report points to data that shows the cost to Australian taxpayers of community-based offender programs is roughly 10 per cent per day of the average cost of putting offenders behind bars.
Madrid: Catalonia's main separatist parties have taken a significant step towards ending the region's political deadlock by voting on a presidential candidate who is not facing prosecution in Spain.

The candidate, Quim Torra, fell just short of winning a majority in Parliament, but he will get another chance in a second round of voting on Monday, when the threshold will be lower.

Catalonian separatist Quim Torra is the latest candidate for regional president. Credit:AP

Torra, addressing MPs on Saturday, said he was committed to turning Catalonia into a republic even after the region's failed independence effort in October. He also presented himself as a stand-in for Catalonia's former leader, Carles Puigdemont, whom he called "our president".

Puigdemont, who left the country to avoid prosecution, is awaiting a German court ruling on whether he should be extradited to Spain to stand trial on charges of rebellion related to leading Catalonia's tumultuous independence drive. He endorsed Torra as his replacement after Spain's Constitutional Court suspended a regional law that would have allowed him to be re-elected in absentia.
It is difficult to overstate Israels accomplishment as it prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its declaration of independence this month.

United Nations resolutions notwithstanding, its hold over the Occupied Territories is stronger than ever. Although foreign statesmen still call for a two-state solution, they do so formalistically, as if trying to sound sincere but not naive. When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in March that Israel would retain control of the area west of the Jordan regardless of whether Israel concluded a peace agreement with the Palestinians, he was studiously ignored. Even Israels former enemies, shaken by the Arab Spring and a resurgent Iran, have come to realise that they have more in common with the Netanyahu government than they once thought.

Benjamin Netanyahu believes Israel is entering a golden era. Credit:AP

On May 14, the United States will crown Israels triumph by relocating its embassy to Jerusalem. Previously the international community, understanding that a capital in East Jerusalem is indispensable to Palestinian statehood, has been united in refusing to recognise Israels claim to the whole of Jerusalem. Today that consensus is shattered. Guatemala, Paraguay and the Czech Republic have announced that they too will be relocating their embassies and it is likely that other countries will follow suit.

The Palestinians, meanwhile, will be commemorating 70 years of colonisation and displacement. As Jewish settlements expand and link up and Israeli bulldozers return again and again to demolish first houses, then shacks, and finally plastic tents, a new generation of refugees is being created in areas earmarked for Jewish colonisation.
Nutson's Weekly Automotive News Nuggets May 7-13, 2018: Teen Tire Tread; Oil Up; Walkers Wonked; F-150 Slow Production; BuhBye Cadillac ATS; Tesla Troubles; RR SUV; Detroit Auto Show Defections; NASCAR FSBO?







AUTO CENTRAL, CHICAGO - May 13 2018; Every Sunday Larry Nutson, Senior Editor and Chicago Car Guy along with fellow senior editors Steve Purdy and Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau, give you TACH's "take" on this past week's automotive news in easy to "catch up" news nuggets. For More search the past 25 year's millions of (Indexed By Google) pages of automotive news, automotive stories, articles, reviews, archived news residing in The Auto Channel Automotive News Library.

Hey Over the air TV viewers, you can now enjoy The Auto Channel TV Network "Free and Clear" on WHDT Channel 3 in Boston and on many local cable systems. All South Florida auto fans can continue to watch The Auto Channel TV Network on WHDT-TV Channel 9 in West Palm Beach as well as cable channel's 17 and 438, channel 9 Miami. WHDN launched its full schedule (including The Auto Channel)of broadcasting in the Naples-Fort Myers market on digital PSIP channel 9.1 channel, look for us On Roku, Hulu and on TUNAVISION.

* A newly released survey of U.S. teens conducted by Michelin North America in seven major U.S. cities reveals that 42 percent are driving with unsafe tire tread, and 40 percent are driving with improper tire pressure. In a new phase of Beyond the Driving Test, a program to include consistent information about tire safety in new driver training materials, Michelin aims to reach 1 million teen drivers with its #StreetTreadContest. To help further tell the story of the campaign, youth culture brand Vans partnered with Michelin to design limited-edition versions of Vans Classic Sk8-Hi and Old Skool shoes.

* Benchmark prices for American crude oil closed above $70 a barrel for the first time since 2014 as traders factored in the United States withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement. Investors fear that the withdrawal will lead to new sanctions on Iran, the worldas fifth-largest producer of crude oil last year, further curtailing a global supply that is already relatively tight.

* Pedestrian fatalities in the U.S. have skyrocketed 46% since 2009, creating an emerging public health crisis as researchers grasp to understand the reasons. The increases far outpace growth in overall traffic deaths, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A new study released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows an 81% increase in single-vehicle pedestrian fatalities involving SUVs between 2009 and 2016, based on federal records. Big, tall SUVs have a flatter front end that are not very friendly to pedestrians.

* GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra issued a call for one national fuel economy standard as 10 automaker CEOs met with President Donald Trump. In discussion are issues involving the administration's efforts to back away from higher fuel mileage standards. In the actual meeting President Trump directed his administration to negotiate with California over a proposed rollback of fuel economy and tailpipe emissions standards, a move that could avert a damaging court battle with the potential to push the auto industry into chaos.

* A need to retune. Report say Uber has determined that the likely cause of a fatal collision involving one of its prototype self-driving cars in Arizona in March was a problem with the software that decides how the car should react to objects it detects. The caras sensors detected the pedestrian, who was crossing the street with a bicycle, but Uberas software decided it didnat need to react right away. Thatas a result of how the software was tuned. Like other autonomous vehicle systems, Uberas software has the ability to ignore afalse positives,a??? or objects in its path that wouldnat actually be a problem for the vehicle, such as a plastic bag floating over a road.

* A fire knocked out production at one of Ford's suppliers. The shortage of parts stopped production of Ford's best-selling and most profitable vehicle, the F-150 pickup truck. Ford said production of F-150 and Super Duty pickups at multiple U.S. factories will be halted this week because of a fire at a supplier plant near Lansing that produces parts for the trucks. Ford idled F-150 production at its plant in Kansas City until May 14, temporarily laying off 3,600 workers. It was also to suspend production at its Dearborn Truck Plant on Wednesday night through at least the end of the week, affecting about 4,000 workers. General Motors Co., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Mercedes-Benz also said output has been disrupted.

* Two Florida teenagers were killed and a third injured in Tesla Model S crash last week. The National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation alongside one already in process regarding a California crash in March. The Florida incident reportedly involves the Model S being driven in manual mode when it spun into a wall and caught fire. Excessive speed may have been a factor, investigators say. A four-person team will focus on the emergency response to the post-crash fire in the battery. Tesla continues to struggle to meet production goals for their mainstream Model 3.

* More bad news for our friends at the Detroit auto show emerged this week as Audi announced it will skip the 2019 show. They will join the ranks of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Land Rover, MINI, Volvo, Porsche, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Bentley and Aston Martin. Analysts have attributed the waning in importance of traditional motor shows to the rapidly changing landscape of automobile marketing options. Last week we reported that the Detroit Auto Show is considering changing the time of year it is held. CES, formerly Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas, usually just a week before the Detroit show, continues to siphon off a great deal of media attention as automakers rethink their strategies.

* And, another sedan bites the dust. General Motors announced this week it would discontinue the ATS compact sport sedan, created to challenge the German competitors directly, after just six years of production. Built in the refurbished Grand River Assembly plant in Lansing, MI, The ATS will go away as Cadillac rethinks the mid-size CTS and full-size XTS with the intention of a two-sedan offering. Promising a new vehicle every six months through 2021, Cadillac has shown the new XT4 small crossover that's coming this fall. The new XT6 big, three-row crossover is yet to be seen.

* Dominating many of our news feeds this week was a headline touting the new Rolls-Royce Cullinan, unveiled in London and called the apriciest SUVa??? ever produced, starting at around $340,000. The Culling, named after the worldas largest flawless diamond, is built around the same architecture as the Phantom and powered by the same 6.75-liter, twin-turbo, BMW V-12. Rolls-Royce marketing speak asserts, aIt will be perfectly at home taking kids to school as it is arriving at an opera house . . .a???

* Not being content with disrupting the taxi business, Uber is rapidly pursuing the air-taxi field as well. Theyare hosting a competition to determine the first cities to launch UberAIR, a service that will offer inter-and intra-city rides. Dallas and Los Angeles are already on the list. Uber had earlier said Dubai may also be a launch city. The vision is for a fleet of electric, jet-powered vehicles with attributes of a helicopter, drone and fixed-wing craft, that can land either vertically or horizontally, to shuttle people around.

* In the world of NASCAR, word is that the majority-owner France family are discussing a potential sale. The France family has owned NASCAR since its inception in 1948 and supposedly has a real interest in selling.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 12/5/2018 (1244 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Steinbach firefighters battled a house fire on Cottonwood Bend on Saturday afternoon around 3:15 p.m.

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Fire chief Kel Toews said the home was a total loss.

GRANT BURR | THE CARILLON Firefighters work in the backyard of a Cottonwood Bend home that went up in flames on Saturday afternoon. Steinbach fire chief Kel Toews said the home was a total loss.

When firefighters arrived at the scene, Toews said the main floor of the bi-level home was fully involved. Flames could be seen burning through the roof and front window of the house.

"The biggest challenge was to save the houses next to it," Toews said. "The heat was pretty intense."

Occupants of the home were able to exit safely, Toews said.

"They noticed the fire and were able to get out," he said, adding that firefighters still had not located some pets that also lived in the home.

Toews said the Office of the Fire Commissioner was expected on scene to investigate the cause of the fire, which he said remains unknown at this time. Fire crews were continuing at the site late Saturday afternoon to pull apart portions of the roof and walls to monitor for any hot spots.
60 Dead Cats, More Animals Found on Dirty Property.

A search of a Minnesota property revealed at least 60 dead cats inside a freezer, according to reports.

A Farmington woman was arrested after the Animal Humane Society investigators found 100 animals at her home, which included the 60 dead cats, the Star Tribune reported.

Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said that officials have declined to file charges. Officials had removed 40 live cats, five dogs, a farm pig, a hamster, and a dead rabbit from the single-family house in rural Dakota County.

We take claims of animal abuse very seriously, Backstrom said in a statement. Further investigation is needed to determine the cause of these cats deaths and who is responsible.

Caycee Lynn Bregel, 25, was arrested but released on Friday from a Dakota County jail. She had operated an animal rescue nonprofit from her home.

Obviously, that got out of control, said Keith Streff, an agent with the Humane Society. A call came in about a loose 400-pound pig running around in the yard.

Neighbors, meanwhile, said that a foul odor was emitting near the property, which was described as unkempt, the Star Tribune reported.

Its about as bad as you can get, Streff added, according to the Miami Herald. Its a catastrophic environment.

I am still traumatized by what I saw, Keri Bedeaux, owner of Protecting Paws Animal Rescue in Prior Lake, told TwinCities.com. It was very clear that it was neglect and abuse.

Bedeaux said that she thinks Bregel meant well and wanted to help, but she quickly became overwhelmed.

I kept reporting her, but no one listened, Tania Richter, owner of Fur-Ever Home Rescue in Zimmerman, Minnesota, was quoted as saying. Richter said that she thinks the Humane Society should not have kept giving Bregel animals in the first place.

Bregel, according to Richter, got thousands of dollars in donations to place the animals that would have been euthanized.

The goal of her nonprofit had been to reduce the number of pets that are euthanized in Minnesota, according to its website. Bregel, according to TwinCities.com, also owns the Next Level Fitness gym.

We are committed to lowering the euthanasia rates in the Twin Cities, the state of Minnesota, and the Midwest, its website says. By rescuing animals placed on the euthanasia list at local shelters and impounds, we are helping pave the way to make the world a better place for the most vulnerable animals.

Other details about the case were not made clear.

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Australian Police Find 7 Dead in Rural Town, Guns Seized

On Friday, May 11, Australian police found seven people, including four children, dead in a rural town in the Margaret River wine-growing area. They said guns were involved in the killings.

Western Australias Commissioner of Police, Chris Dawson, said that the incident was clearly an horrific tragedy. It could be the worst mass-shooting that Australia has seen in decades.

The three adults and four children were found dead at a property in Margaret River, located on the southwestern tip of Australia.

Dawson said, The bodies of two adults were located outside, five bodies were located inside a building on the rural property. Two firearms have been located at the scene. We are trying to locate other members of the family and friends.

According to local media, the incident is being treated as a murder-suicide by police.

Gun crime has fallen significantly in Australia since 1996, following a mass shooting in Tasmania which resulted in much stricter gun controls.

Millions of firearms were bought back and confiscated by the government at this time, and firearm purchases became much harder.

While there have been further mass killings since this time, this latest incident could prove to be the biggest gun-related death in over 20 years.
Smoke rises from the site of a blast and gun battle between Afghan security forces and a handful of terrorists in Jalalabad city, Afghanistan May 13, 2018. (Reuters/Parwiz)

Civilians Killed in Attack on Government Building in Eastern Afghan City, Gun Battle Underway

JALALABAD, AfghanistanAfghan security forces battled a group of attackers who stormed a government building in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Sunday in a coordinated attack that killed at least nine people and wounded dozens, local officials said.

At least three explosions were heard at the start of the attack on the building housing the state accounts office, the first from a car bomb detonated at the entrance, said Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

At least nine people, including a child, had been killed and 36 wounded, public health officials said.

The attack, in a busy area of the city with many other official buildings nearby, is the latest in a series that have killed and wounded hundreds in Afghanistan this year and put heavy pressure on the Western-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani.

Most have been in the capital Kabul, but in January gunmen attacked an office of aid group Save the Children in Jalalabad, killing at least five people and wounding 25 in an attack claimed by ISIS that followed much the same pattern as Sundays incident.

As the battle continued, smoke could be seen rising from the accounts office building. Witnesses said the explosions had caused carnage among passers-by.

I saw two rickshaw drivers on the ground with their arms blown off, said Khan Mohammad, a local resident who saw the initial blasts and the start of the gunbattle.

Gunmen rushed the building following the first blast at the entrance, a member of the provincial council told Reuters. More explosions were then heard coming from inside the building, he added.

He said at least four attackers, armed with rocket propelled grenades and machine guns, still appeared to be fighting police.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Violence has escalated across Afghanistan since the announcement of the Talibans annual spring offensive last month and there have been heightened security fears around preparations for elections in October.

Dozens of people have been killed in voter registration centres in recent weeks, leading to fears that people could stay away from the elections, seen as a major test of the governments credibility.

At the same time, Taliban fighters have stepped up the pressure on government forces across the country, from Baghlan province in the north, where they seized a district centre last week, to Farah in the southwest or Ghazni, south of Kabul.

Last year, the United States increased its support to struggling Afghan forces, announcing plans for thousands of additional advisers and more air strikes in a bid to force the Taliban to enter peace negotiations.

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Defendant Goes Crazy in Court After Verdict Is Read

A fight broke out inside a court in Florida after verdicts were read.

The chaos ensued in Ocala, Florida, as four young men were on trial for the slaying of Courtney London in 2016. After their guilty verdicts came in, a fracas ensued, Fox35 Orlando reported last week.

Travis Davis, a defendant, could be seen throwing punches at his lawyer, Daniel Hernandez.

I got about five punches to the back and the side of my head, forehead. I got a few bumps and bruises, some scratches, Hernandez said. Im bleeding out of my hand, Im not sure how that happened. I guess I may have hit the table or something, so my vision is bad, when I cant find my glasses. So for two or three minutes, youre just reacting. Youre not really thinking, he continued.

Ive been trying cases for almost 40 years, and Id never been struck by a defendant before, he added.

Jurors had deliberated for nine hours before rendering guilty verdicts for Kiila Tyrell Richardson, 23; Travis Jamaar Davis, 20; Branden J.M. Banks, 22; and Kelvon S. Grimmage, 21, reported the Ocala Star Banner newspaper. London, 28, was shot and killed in his Ocala home in front of his children.

In the court fight, Davis punched Hernandez several times in the head. Grimmage joined in, while Banks stood against the wall, according to the paper. Richardson was being led out of the courtroom as the fight ensued.

Davis later remarked that he was mostly mad at the moment when he was questioned about punching his attorney, according to the Star Banner.

Banks, Davis, and Grimmage were hit with Tasers and tackled to the floor and handcuffed.

No other defense attorneys were injured.

Once separated, Davis and Grimmage shouting things at each other, including that they loved each other, as reported by the newspaper. They both signaled gang signs during their sentencing.

Davis later said he was sorry to his attorney and everyone. Then he told Assistant State Attorney Amy Berndt she got me [expletive] up.

Berndt had told the jurors that each defendant was charged as a principal to first-degree murder. They might not have actually killed London in 2016, she argued, but they helped.

It could be they stood outside the door with no weapon like a lookout, Berndt said. It could be they kicked in the door. It could be they rummaged through drawers. Or they carried the safe out. Or they carried the safe up the stairs to the apartment. Or they shot Courtney London. Whether they stood outside the door as a lookout or shot Courtney London, they are all involved.

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Grieving Father of 4 Children Killed in Murder-Suicide Massacre Speaks Out

The Western Australian father of the four children who were killed in the suspected murder-suicide massacre has broken his silence as he comes to terms with the horrific tragedy which claimed the lives of 7 of his family members on Friday, May 11.

Aaron Cockman, the estranged husband of victim Katrina Miles, said he was filled with tremendous sadness over the loss of his kids  Taye, 13, Rylan, 11, Arye, 10, and Kadyn Cockman, 8.

Father of the four children murdered in the Margaret River massacre, Aaron Cockman : I don't feel angry. I feel tremendous sadness for my kids. MORE: https://t.co/GjhGcMUE2m pic.twitter.com/48sARB6MUV  Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) May 13, 2018

Katrina and her four children had moved to her parents property in Osmington after she separated with Aaron, according to the Herald Sun. The four children were homeschooled on the property.

While speaking with reporters on Sunday, May 13, Cockman revealed all children had been found in their beds.

All the kids died peacefully in their beds, he said, reported ABC.

I had one question this morning, I just asked  was Kayden in his own bed or was he sleeping with Kat?

Hes still at that age where he still sleeps with Kat and I was told yes, he was in Kats bed.

The bodies of Katrina, 35, and her four children were discovered in a shed which was converted into living quarters behind the main four-bedroom house in the early hours of Friday morning. Her parents, Peter Miles, 61, and Cynda, 58, were also found dead on the rural property.

Police confirmed that all victims had suffered gunshot wounds. Three guns that were licensed to Peter were also recovered from the crime scene.

Police have ruled out any involvement from outside persons and are treating the investigations as a murder-suicide. Police have refused to provide specifics into the investigation. However, Aaron revealed to reporters that he believes Peter may have been responsible for the shootings.

Peter didnt snap, he thought this through, he said, reported 9News.

Cockman said he has not spoken to the family since they cut me off from my kids but he said he didnt want to harbour any anger towards them anymore.

I had so much anger in the last few years, he told reporters.

The anger towards them now, is completely gone, I dont feel angry, I feel tremendous sadness for my kids, but I dont want anyone to feel anger. Anger  anger will destroy you.

I still love who Peter was. If it wasnt for him, I wouldnt have Katrina, I wouldnt have her kids.

So its not some random guy off the street whos taken them away from me  he gave them to me and now hes taken them away.

Police have not confirmed who dialed triple-zero but the two-minute recording is likely to provide some answers surrounding the horrific loss of life.

West Australian Premier Mark McGowa expressed his sorrow for the family.

You cant imagine what theyre going through, you can only offer support, all you can do is express your sorrow and I expect the grieving process will go on for many years for that family, he said, reported ABC.

Aaron himself is clearly grief-stricken. I feel deeply for him.

Osmington is a small rural town near the popular tourist area of Margaret River. According to 2016 Census data, the town has a population of 135 people.

The close-knit community has been shocked beyond words by the familys tragic death. The family were well known and well liked in their community.

Peter was described by locals as a kind and hardworking man who worked in the farm school at Margaret River Senior High School for more than 20 years.

Details have since emerged that Peter had recently been looking for work. He has posted a Gumtree advertisement on Wednesday, May 9.

I have extensive handyman abilities and experience with a wide variety of farm equipment, can repair fences, and can tidy up the property from storm damage, the advertisement said.

I have lived in the Margaret River area all my life and welcome all enquiries.

The police investigation is still ongoing to determine what had happened and the possible motive for the homicide.

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Macau billionaire and real estate developer Ng Lap Seng (R), who was recently sentenced to four years imprisonment for bribery, exits the Manhattan U.S. District Court in New York, U.S., on April 7, 2017. (Ashlee Espinal/Reuters)

Macau Billionaire Gets Four Years Prison for Bribing UN Officials

NEW YORKThe Macau-based billionaire and real estate developer Ng Lap Seng was sentenced to four years in prison on May 11 after being found guilty last July of bribing two United Nations ambassadors to help him build a multibillion dollar conference center.

Ng, 69, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick, who also ordered him to forfeit $1.5 million, representing assets used in his crimes, and to pay a $1 million criminal fine.

Prosecutors had sought a sentence of more than six years, while Ngs lawyers had urged Broderick to impose a sentence of time served and let Ng return to China.

Ng is a native of Guangdong Province in mainland China and moved to Macau in 1979, beginning his career trading in cheap garments, according to Macau Daily Times. The city of Macau was a former Portuguese colony that was returned to the Chinese regimes sovereignty in 1999.

Broderick denied a motion by Ngs lawyers to keep him out of prison on bail while he appeals his conviction, ruling that Ng would have to surrender to authorities in July.

A lawyer for Ng was not immediately available for comment.

Ng has been under house arrest in a Manhattan apartment since shortly after his arrest in 2015. He was found guilty by a jury last July of charges including bribery and money laundering.

Prosecutors said during Ngs four-week trial last year that Ng paid more than $1 million in bribes to Francis Lorenzo, a former deputy ambassador from the Dominican Republic, and John Ashe, a former U.N. General Assembly president and ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda.

The prosecutors said that with the two ambassadors support, Ng hoped to build a conference center in Macau that would turn the city into the Geneva of Asia, while winning fame and more fortune for himself. The center was never built.

Lorenzo pleaded guilty to bribery and money laundering, and he testified against Ng at his trial after agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors.

Ashe was also criminally charged but died accidentally at home in June 2016 after dropping a barbell on his neck.

By Brendan Pierson. Epoch Times staff member Annie Wu contributed to this report.
Mahathir Mohamad, returning Malaysian prime minister and Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) leader reacts during a news conference after general election, in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, May 10, 2018. (Reuters/Lai Seng Sin)

Malaysias Mahathir Bars Former PM and Accused Kleptocrat From Leaving the Country

KUALA LUMPURMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad barred his predecessor, Najib Razak, from going overseas on Saturday, saying there was enough evidence to investigate his links to a multi-billion-dollar scandal.

Immigration authorities issued a travel ban on Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor just minutes after the ousted prime minister said they were leaving on a weeklong trip overseas to rest after his thumping electoral defeat.

It is true that I prevented Najib from leaving the country, Mahathir said at a news conference, adding that doing so had averted extradition problems later.

There is sufficient evidence that an investigation into certain things  done by the former prime minister has to be done and, if necessary, the rule of law will apply, he said.

During a day of fast-moving events, Mahathir also named his first few cabinet ministers, including Lim Guan Eng, a former banker and qualified chartered accountant, as finance minister. Lim is the chief minister of Penang state, but is largely unknown in international financial circles.

It is also only the second time since Malaysia became independent six decades ago that the post has gone to a member of the ethnic Chinese minority.

Mahathir also named a defence minister and a home or interior minister, but said other appointments would be made later. Mahathir and Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the wife of his jailed ally Anwar Ibrahim, make up the rest of the cabinet.

Zeti Akhthar Aziz, who was internationally lauded during a 16-year stint as central bank governor, and billionaire tycoon Robert Kuok were among those named to a special team that will advise the government on economic and financial matters for the next 100 days.

Mahathir has been prime minister of the Muslim Malay-majority nation earlier, for 22 years, governing in a tough, direct style.

He said attorney general Apandi Ali who had cleared Najib of wrongdoing in the graft scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), had been sacked. Ali declined to comment.

As Najib came under increased pressure, the world seemed to be opening up for Anwar, who, from jail and a hospital bed, combined with Mahathir to hand out the defeat to the administration alliance.

Mahathir has said the king has indicated to him that a royal pardon for Anwar would be announced soon.

Anwars daughter Nurul Izzah told Reuters her father was likely to be freed on Tuesday.

Late on Saturday, Mahathir met Anwar in his hospital room, where he is recovering from a shoulder operation. There was no word on what was discussed in the first meeting between the two since their alliance won the election.

No Holiday

After the ban on his travel was announced, Najib said in a Twitter message that he would respect the decision and would remain in the country.

Questions about his whereabouts were answered when he appeared at a meeting of his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) to announce that he was stepping down as the partys president and as chairman of the Barisan Nasional, the alliance dominated by UMNO that has ruled Malaysia for six decades.

Earlier, dozens of people  mostly journalists  gathered at an airport near Kuala Lumpur from where Najib and his wife were reported to be leaving for the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and tried to look into cars entering the complex.

Im here to catch the thief, said a man in the crowd, as riot police stood on guard. There was no sign that Najib or Rosmah had come to the airport.

Reports had widely circulated on social media and local media that the couple were named on the flight manifest of a private jet scheduled to depart for Jakarta at 10:00 a.m. local time.

But police later said there was no flight due to leave the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport with Najib or his wife.

Najib lost the election at least partly because of popular disgust over the 1MDB scandal.

News broke in 2015 that about $700 million allegedly stolen from 1MDB had made its way into his personal bank accounts.

He denied any wrongdoing, even as U.S. authorities alleged that over $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund in a fraud orchestrated by a financier known to be close to Najib and his family.

U.S. Attorney-General Jeff Sessions called the 1MDB scandal kleptocracy at its worst and the fund is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries, including Switzerland, Singapore and the United States.

Filings by the U.S. Justice Department in a civil lawsuit indicated nearly $30 million of the money stolen was used to buy jewellery for Rosmah, including a rare 22-carat pink diamond set in a necklace.

By Rozanna Latiff and Tom Westbrook

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Man With the Golden Arm Who Gave Blood to 2.4 Million Babies Retires

Its a sad day for me. The end of a long run, said James Harrison, who has donated blood for pregnant mothers to the Australian Red Cross Service for 60 years, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

After 1173 donations, the 81-year-old has finally hung up his blood bag.

At 14, Harrison made a pledge that he would donate blood when he turned 18 after a major chest surgery that required 13-liters (0.26 gal) of blood.

Soon after donating, he was found to have Rhesus-negative (Rh-) blood and Rhesus-positive (Rh+) antibodies. Harrison was dubbed the man with the golden arm for having unique properties associated with his blood plasma.

During pregnancy, if a mother has Rh- blood and her fetus has Rh+ blood, it can cause problems if their blood starts to mix. This is known as Rhesus disease.

When the mothers Rh- blood mixes with Rh+ blood, the mothers blood starts to develop an immunity to the Rh+ blood cells. After developing immunity, the mothers antibodies will start attacking the babys blood the way an immune system attacks foreign invaders.

Her blood can then cross the placenta and attack the babys blood cells, thus causing the baby to have a shortage of blood. Thus resulting in serious illness, brain damage, or death.

Harrisons naturally produced Rh+ antibodies can be used to intercept the babys Rh+ blood cells from ever coming into contact with the mothers blood. This prevents the mother from developing an immunity from the babys blood.

So far, nobody has successfully created a synthetic version of Harrisons blood plasma. Now the Australia Red Cross Blood Services have started a three-year research project using his DNA to try to develop a solution.
This handout image supplied by the IIPA (Iran International Photo Agency) shows a view of the reactor building at the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant as the first fuel is loaded, on August 21, 2010 in Bushehr, southern Iran. (Photo by IIPA via Getty Images)

Why the US Pulled out of the Iran Nuclear Deal

In 2015, sanctions on Iran were crippling the ruling regime, and the International Atomic Energy Agency certified that Iran had restricted its sensitive nuclear activities.

When Iran was forced to the negotiating table, the United States had the high ground and Congress was pushing for deeper sanctions. Then-President Barack Obama met with the Iranian regime to strike a deal.

Rather than leverage Irans failing situation, however, Obama negotiated a deal that would allow Iran to continue to develop most of its nuclear program, with the exception of the weaponized core. The deal did not cover Irans development of ballistic missiles, and it allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium. Key restrictions expired after 10 years.

The deal provided Iran with an estimated $50 billion to $150 billion in sanctions relief, including a controversial cash payment of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The deal lifted crippling economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for very weak limits on the regimes nuclear activity, and no limits at all on its other malign behavior, including its sinister activities in Syria, Yemen, and other places all around the world, said President Donald Trump, on May 8.

In other words, at the point when the United States had maximum leverage, this disastrous deal gave this regimeand its a regime of great terrormany billions of dollars, some of it in actual cash, a great embarrassment to me as a citizen and to all citizens of the United States.

Barack Obama

Obama made several false and misleading statements about the nuclear deal. Leading up to the deal, Obama said he would block any new congressional sanctions on Iran and echoed statements from Irans leaders, which have now been proven false, that Irans nuclear programs are solely for energy production and medical research.

After claiming the deal was the strongest non-proliferation agreement ever negotiated in an Aug. 5, 2015, speech, Obama stated, The prohibition on Iran having a nuclear weapon is permanent. Under the deals sunset clauses, however, Iran would be able by 2025 to use advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium, which elicited criticism even from fellow Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stated on Aug. 6, 2015, that the agreement would allow Iran, after 10 to 15 years, to be a nuclear threshold state with the blessing of the world community. Iran would have a green light to be as close, if not closer, to possessing a nuclear weapon than it is today.

Although some Democrats opposed the deal, Obama blamed opposition to it as knee-jerk partisanship. He stated the deal cuts off all of Irans pathways to a bomb, despite allowing the country to develop dual-use technologies, and despite lifting key restrictions in 2025. He claimed it contains the most comprehensive inspection and verification regime ever negotiated to monitor a nuclear program, which Iran inevitably violated. Schumer stated, If Irans true intent is to get a nuclear weapon, under this agreement, it must simply exercise patience.

Lifting of Sanctions, Cash Payment

Estimates on the exact amount of sanctions relief for Iran as part of the nuclear deal range between $50 billion and $150 billion.

Part of this money was used by the regime for its advanced missile technology. Lawmakers have also raised concerns that the money has been used to fund terrorism in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq.

Iran continues to be officially designated as a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. State Department.

One of the most controversial payments connected to the Iran nuclear deal, was the transfer of $1.8 billion. The initial $400 million installment, paid in cash, was shrouded in mystery. The funds were transferred to the central banks of the Netherlands and Switzerland; converted into euros, Swiss francs, and other currencies; then sent to Iran in an unmarked cargo plane.

The payment was hidden from Congress, and although the Obama administration denied it at first, the payment was later revealed to have been a ransom payment in exchange for four American hostages held in Irangoing against a longstanding U.S. policy not to pay ransom for hostages.

Because the payment was made in cash, tracking the money to ensure that it is not used for Irans nuclear program or terror activities is virtually impossible.

Ballistic Missile Technology

The Iran nuclear deal did not include any prohibitions on Irans development of advanced missile technology, including ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Instead, Irans nuclear missile program was covered by a separate U.N. resolution. This means that Irans ongoing development of its ballistic missile technology had no bearing on whether it was in compliance with the nuclear deal.

As recently as February this year, Iran showed off its Qadr ballistic missile, which has an estimated range of 1,250 miles, putting Israel within its reach.

Under the current Iran nuclear deal, Iran would be able to continue to develop and perfect its ballistic missile technology, making it potentially able to deliver a nuclear warhead to the United States by 2026, when it will be allowed to use advanced uranium centrifuges.

You can call it non-nuclear all you wantmissile technology cannot be separated from pursuit of a nuclear weapon, said U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, in September last year.

The result is that Irans military continues its march toward acquiring the missile technology to deliver a nuclear warhead. And the world is becoming a more dangerous place.

Sunset Clauses

As part of the nuclear agreement, key restrictions on Irans nuclear program will begin to ease after 10 years, by 2026.

A confidential diplomatic document linked to the Iran nuclear deal, obtained by the AP in 2015, revealed that the United States had agreed that Iran would begin installing thousands of advanced centrifuges by 2027. Experts estimate that at that point in time, Iran will be able to enrich enough uranium for a nuclear bomb within six months.

Because Iran has been allowed to develop its ballistic missile technology unimpeded, the regime could have a fully operational nuclear weapon at that time.

Continued Uranium Enrichment

The Iran nuclear deal kept much of its uranium enrichment capacity in place.

Iran was allowed to keep 5,060 centrifuges operational, with more than 10,000 additional centrifuges being put in storage.

In addition, Iran was allowed to continue to enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent. While this is short of the at least 20 percent enrichment needed for weapons-grade uranium, the stock of low-enriched uranium is the raw material for producing highly enriched uranium. By leaving much of the infrastructure in place, the deal allows Iran to increase its enrichment at a later point.

A secret diplomatic document connected to the Iran nuclear deal showed that the United States had agreed that Iran would begin installing thousands of advanced centrifuges by 2027.

Peaceful Nature

The Iranian nuclear deal stresses that Iran would ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Irans nuclear program.

However, secret documents obtained by Israel showed that Iran had been working on a nuclear weapon under the name Project Amad.

It also revealed that Iran had maintained all its nuclear know-how by storing it in vaults in an undisclosed location.

Flawed Monitoring

In announcing the nuclear deal in July 2015, Obama said the International Atomic Energy Agency would have access where necessary, when necessary to any suspicious locations.

Iran, however, has prohibited inspections of its military sites, despite that they were previously used for the countrys nuclear program.

Under the agreement, it could also take up to 24 days to get permission to visit a site, allowing Iran to make preparations and move or hide nuclear equipment it would not want found.

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Councilthe United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and Francewith Germany in addition are known as the P5+1. They are signatories to the Iran nuclear deal.

In recent months, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have attempted to pressure Trump to stay in the deal.

Western countries in Europe are pushing the U.S. to stay in the Iran deal, because they have huge investments in Iran, said a defense contractor, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Rosatom

Russias atomic agency, Rosatom, built and managed Irans Bushehr nuclear power plant, supplied the facility with enriched-uranium rods, and trained Irans nuclear scientists.

The first part of the project has been operational since May 2011, and additional reactors that are part of Phase 2 are currently under construction.

The nuclear deal had no impact on Russias ability to build nuclear reactors in Iran.

Uranium One

In 2010, shortly after the Russia reset, the Obama administration approved a deal for Rosatom to acquire a majority stake in the Canadian mining company Uranium One, which controlled 20 percent of uranium mining capacity in the United States.

The deal was controversial on many levels. Rosatom was involved in the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran, and the United States had intelligence on Russian bribery operations around the deal. The deal was approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which included the State Department, then headed by Hillary Clinton. As the deal went through, at least $31.3 million was paid to the Clinton Foundation.

After Uranium One was obtained by Russias atomic agency Rosatom with the Obama administrations approval, uranium mined in the United States was exported to Canada and Europe, with the final destination unknown.

This violated terms of the Uranium One deal and promises made to U.S. Congress by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the nuclear material could not be exported from the United States. Four members of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs warned of the deal in a joint letter in 2010, stating, We remain concerned that Iran could receive uranium supplies through direct or secondary proliferation.

Project Amad

Iran was in the process of developing nuclear weapons, but following the Gulf War, in 2003, Iran was forced to shelve its nuclear program known as Project Amad. It did not abandon the programs, however, and instead moved to a new strategy of developing nuclear technology under a peaceful facade, while continuing the nefarious parts covertly. The plan came from top leadership of Iran to include a public element used to obtain dual-use technologies and a covert program to secretly advance its nuclear agenda.

Secret Program Vault

When Iran shelved Project Amad, it moved its files to a secret location. In 2017, Iran moved these files to another secret location, this time in the Shorabad District of Tehran, disguised on the outside as an old warehouse. Israel obtained 55,000 pages and an additional 55,000 files on 183 CDs from the vault, and exposed the program.

The Israeli operation exposed incriminating evidence against Iran including documents, charts, presentations, blueprints, photos, and videos. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in an expose on the program that Israel can also prove that Iran is secretly storing Project Amad material to use at a time of its choice to develop nuclear weapons. He noted the mission statement of Project Amad was to design, produce, and test nuclear weapons, which documents show included five warheads, each with 10-kiloton TNT yield, for integration on a missile.

Irans Repeated Lies

Project Amad revealed that Iranian leaders had repeatedly lied about their nuclear weapons ambitions. Among these lies was Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khameneis statement that the Islamic Republic has never been after nuclear weapons.

Another was from Iran President Hassan Rouhani, when he said, Nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction have no place in Irans security and defense doctrine and contradict our fundamental religious and ethical convictions.

Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif also stated: We didnt have any program to develop nuclear weapons. Anyway, we consider nuclear weapons both irrational as well as immoral.

Tonight, Im here to tell you one thing: Iran lied, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while exposing Project Amad. After signing the nuclear deal in 2015, Iran intensified its efforts to hide its secret nuclear files.

Operation Merlin

In 2000, then-President Bill Clinton signed off on an operation that passed designs for nuclear weapons to Iran. Under the operation, known as Operation Merlin, a Russian nuclear engineer who had defected to the United States was paid by the CIA to provide flawed nuclear weapons blueprints to Iranian representatives to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The problem, however, was that the Iranian representatives quickly noticed the flawed parts of the blueprints, and the information may have inevitably assisted Iran in its programs to develop nuclear weapons. According to an article published by The Guardian, Iran had obtained separate and functional blueprints from a network tied to Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, which allowed them to cross-examine the CIA blueprint. The article states, Nuclear experts say that they would thus be able to extract valuable information from the blueprints while ignoring the flaws.

Former CIA case officer Jeffrey A. Sterling was convicted under the Obama administration for leaking classified information on the program to New York Times reporter James Risen, who published the information in his 2006 book State of War. The book was criticized for revealing the program to Iran.

Operation Merlin was launched a year after Iran started Project Amad to develop nuclear weapons in 1999 and may have played a key role in its nuclear weapons program.

Terrorism and Anti-American Hostilities

The Iran deal was signed with full awareness of the anti-American sentiments of Irans leaders, and of Irans programs to sponsor terrorism and destabilization operations around the world. In 2013, Rouhani stated, Saying death to America is easy. We need to express death to America with action.

National security adviser John Bolton said in a statement on May 8: Lifting the sanctions, as happened in 2015 as a result of the [Iran] deal, helps fuel the activity that Iran is undertaking now in Syria, its support for terrorist groups all around the region and the world, like Hezbollah and Hamas. To really deal with this threat and try to bring peace and stability to the Middle East, and to relieve the world of the nuclear threat, you have to go after the whole thing.

Terrorism

Iran is the world leader in state-sponsored terrorism, and its main tool in these operations is its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF). A 2015 report from the State Departments Bureau of Counterterrorism stated that in 2014, Irans state sponsorship of terrorism worldwide remained undiminished, and that it was using the IRGC-QF, its Ministry of Intelligence, and Hezbollah. In addition, Iran provides military support to the terrorist group Hamas for its operations in the West Bank and Gaza. It states, Israeli experts believe that Iran is trying to arm Hizballah with advanced weapons systems such as anti-air and anti-ship cruise missile systems, as well as continuing to transfer long-range rockets into Lebanon.

According to a March 2018 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, the State Department says Iran remains the foremost state sponsor of terrorism in 2016, and the director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, said in 2017 that Iran continues to be the foremost state sponsor of terrorism.

Hezbollah Drug Trafficking

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist organization, is heavily involved in drug trafficking through the Middle East, West Africa, Latin America, Europe, and the United States. The money from its drug operations is used to finance its activities of terrorism and subversion.

The United States had a law enforcement campaign to go after the Hezbollah drug operations, yet, according to a 2017 article from Politico, the law enforcement campaign was derailed by the Obama administration. It notes that the campaign, known as Project Cassandra, was launched in 2008 after the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) found that Hezbollah had become not only a militant and political organization, but also an international drug syndicate with an estimated $1 billion in revenue each year from weapons trafficking, drugs, money laundering, and other forms of crime.

Politico states that as the DEA operation reached the innermost circle of Hezbollah and its state sponsors in Iran, however, that the Obama administration threw an increasingly insurmountable series of roadblocks in its way. When U.S. law enforcement agents sought approval for some significant investigations, prosecutions, arrests and financial sanctions, officials at the Justice and Treasury departments delayed, hindered or rejected their requests.
Police guard the scene of a knife attack in Paris, France May 12, 2018 in this still image obtained from a video. (Reuters/Reuters TV)

One Killed in Paris Knife Attack by Man Shouting Allahu Akbar

PARIS  An assailant shouting Allahu Akbar killed a passer-by in a knife attack that also wounded four others in the heart of Paris late on Saturday, May 12, before he was shot dead by police, French authorities said.

The assailant, who has not yet been named, was born in 1997 in Chechnya, a judicial source said on Sunday. The father and mother of the attacker are being held for questioning by French police, the source said.

The country has been on high alert amid a series of attacks, commissioned or inspired by the ISIS terrorist group that has killed more than 240 people since 2015.

France will not yield an inch to the enemies of freedom, President Emmanuel Macron said after the attack, praising officers for neutralizing the terrorist.

The first call to police was placed at 8:47 p.m. local time, officers were on the scene within five minutes, and the attacker was neutralized within nine minutes of that first call, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told reporters.

Police union representative Rocco Contento told Reuters that the Islamic extremist, after attacking bystanders with a knife, rushed at police shouting I will kill you, I will kill you!

He was then shot by the officers.

The attack took place in the heart of the French capital in a district popular with tourists for its many restaurants and cafes, landmark retail stores, and the Paris opera.

Prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters the polices anti-terrorism unit would launch an investigation, given the aggressors mode of operation. The identity of the attacker man was not yet known, officials said early on Sunday.

A picture seen by Reuters, which a source said showed the attacker, showed a bare-chested and bearded young man dressed in black trousers.

ISIS claimed responsibility via its Amaq news agency, but provided no proof for its claim.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb called it an odious attack.

Witnesses described for French media how they saw the assailant running towards police officers who shot him.

We were told to get into a bar quickly. I was curious and went outside again. Outside, I saw a person on the ground about 200 meters from me. The police, fire brigade and ambulance arrived, one female witness told LCI television. I could not see anything else after that.

TV footage showed forensic police at the scene.

By Ingrid Melander and Emmanuel Jarry

Corrections: Earlier report said assailant shouted Allah akbar

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A member of the police bomb squad unit examines the site of an explosion outside the Immaculate Santa Maria Catholic Church, in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia May 13, 2018, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Antara Foto/M Risyal Hidayat / via Reuters)

Suicide Bomb Attacks on Three Churches in Indonesia, At Least 5 Dead

JAKARTASuicide bombers attacked three churches across Indonesias second-largest city of Surabaya on Sunday morning, killing at least five people and wounding almost a dozen others, police said.

Witnesses reported the first explosion occurred around 7 a.m., just before the Sunday morning church service, according to The Jakarta Post.

Two were reportedly killed at the Santa Maria Church in the Ngagel Madya area of Surabaya, one was killed at the Surabaya Centre Pentacostal Church, and two more were killed at the GKI Diponegoro Church, reported The Strait Times.

Breaking News: Ledakan terjadi di 3 gereja di Surabaya yang berada di Jalan Ngagel, Jalan Arjuno dan Jalan Diponegoro. pic.twitter.com/iz82rbdVvQ  METRO TV (@Metro_TV) May 13, 2018

The victims are still being identified, said Frans Barung Mangera, East Java police spokesman.

Indonesia is the worlds largest Muslim-majority country and has seen a recent resurgence in homegrown radical Islamic groups that preach violent jihad against the West and Christian organisations. The majority Sunni Muslim population of Surabaya in East Java, adhere to an interpretation of Islam that subscribes to religious tolerance.

Police told media the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers and that at least five people were killed and more wounded in the blasts.

Television images showed debris scattered around the entrance of one church and police cordoning off areas as crowds gathered.

Authorities were also investigating whether there was an explosion at a fourth church.

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A person injured from a blast at the Indonesian Christian Church is evacuated to a waiting ambulance in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia May 13, 2018. (Antara Foto/Didik Suhartono/ via Reuters)

Suspected ISIS-Inspired Suicide Bombers Attack Indonesian Churches, At Least 13 Dead, 40 Injured

JAKARTAAA family of six launched suicide attacks on Christians attending Sunday services at three churches in Indonesias second-largest city of Surabaya, killing at least 13 people and wounding 40, officials said.

Indonesia, the worlds largest Muslim-majority country, has seen a recent resurgence in homegrown militancy inspired in part by ISIS. Police said the family who carried out Sundays attacks were among 500 Islamic sympathizers who had returned from Syria.

The husband drove the car, an Avanza, that contained explosives and rammed it into the gate in front of that church, East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the regional police headquarters in Surabaya.

The wife and two daughters were involved in an attack on a second church and at the third church two other children rode the motorbike and had the bomb across their laps, Mangera said.

The two daughters were aged 12 and 9 while the other two, thought to be the mans sons, were 18 and 16, police said.

They blamed the bombings on the ISIS-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

JAD is an umbrella organisation on a U.S. State Department terrorist list that is estimated to have drawn hundreds of ISIS sympathizers in Indonesia.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, in a message carried on its Amaq news agency.

East Java police spokesman Mangera said the attacks had killed at least 13 people and 40 had been taken to hospital, including two police officers. He called on people to remain calm.

Television footage showed one church where the yard in front appeared engulfed in fire, with thick, black smoke billowing up. A large blast was heard hours after the attacks, which Mangera said was a bomb disposal squad securing a remaining device.

The attacks come days after terrorist Islamist prisoners killed five members of an elite counter-terrorism force during a 36-hour standoff at a high security jail on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta.

The church attacks were likely linked to the prison hostage standoff, said Wawan Purwanto, communication director at Indonesias intelligence agency.

The main target is still security authorities, but we can say that there are alternative (targets) if the main targets are blocked, he said.

Suicide Attack Used Motorbike

At St Marys catholic church, one of the places of worship attacked, the bombing happened after an earlier mass was over and when the church was getting ready to hold another service.

Inspector general Machfud Arifin told CNN Indonesia that the suicide attacks were carried out using a motorbike at St Marys church and a car at another.

Earlier, media reports said a woman with a younger child and a teenager had just entered one church and was being questioned by security when the bomb exploded.

Television images showed toppled and burnt motorcycles and debris scattered around the entrance of one church and police cordoning off areas as crowds gathered.

Nearly 90 percent of Indonesians are Muslim, but the country is also home to sizeable communities of Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, and people who adhere to traditional beliefs. The majority of the Sunni Muslim population in Surabaya, East Java, adhere to an interpretation of Islam that subscribes to religious tolerance.

Indonesia has had some major successes tackling Islamic terrorists inspired by al Qaedas attacks on the United States in 2001. But there has been a resurgence of homegrown Islamist activity in recent years that preach violent jihad against the West and Christian organisations, some of it linked to the rise of ISIS.

The most serious incident was in January 2016 when four suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a shopping area in central Jakarta.

Churches have also been targeted previously, including near-simultaneous attacks on churches there at Christmas in 2000 that killed about 20 people.

Police ordered the temporary closure of all churches in Surabaya on Sunday, and a large food festival in the city was cancelled.

By Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Fransiska Nangoy

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A combination photo shows Mike Pompeo (L) in Washington, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) in Pyongyang, North Korea and U.S. President Donald Trump (R), in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., respectively. (Reuters/Yuri Gripas (L) & KCNA handout via Reuters & Kevin Lamarque (R))

US Offers to Help Make North Korea Prosperous if it Gives Up Nuclear Weapons

Mike Pompeo, the U.S. secretary of state, said that the United States could help North Korea rebuild its economy if the reclusive, communist nation agrees to denuclearize.

The United States will be prepared to work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on the par with our South Korean friends, Pompeo told reporters.

Kim understands this will have to be big and special, Pompeo told Fox News Sunday, referring to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. I think Kim appreciates the fact this is going to have to be different. . . . If we can achieve a historic outcome, both sides have to come to play, he said.

President Donald Trump had announced that a summit between North Korea and the United States would be held on June 12 in Singapore.

What Chairman Kim will get from America is our finestour entrepreneurs, our risk takers, our capital providers .They will get private capital that comes in. North Korea is desperately in need of energyfor their people. They are in great need of agricultural equipment and technology, Pompeo said on CBS Face the Nation on Sunday, Reuters reported.

We can create conditions for real economic prosperity for the North Korean people that will rival that of the South, he added. That is our expectation. It wont be U.S. taxpayers. It will be American know-how, knowledge entrepreneurs and risk takers working alongside the North Korean people to create a robust economy.

North Koreas state-run media reported over the weekend that it would dismantle its nuclear bomb site in May, Reuters reported. On Saturday evening, Trump responded on Twitter: North Korea has announced that they will dismantle Nuclear Test Site this month, ahead of the big Summit Meeting on June 12th. Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!

North Korea has announced that they will dismantle Nuclear Test Site this month, ahead of the big Summit Meeting on June 12th. Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2018

Every single site that the North Koreans have that can inflict risk on the American people that is destroyed, eliminated, dismantled is good news for the American people and for the world, Pompeo told Fox News Sunday.

North Korea said it would welcome reporters from South Korea, China, Russia, and the United States to watch the dismantling process, NBC News reported.

On CNNs State of the Union, White House national security adviser John Bolton said, I think what the prospect for North Korea is to become a normal nation, to behave and interact with the rest of the world the way that South Korea does.

The United States, he said, is pursuing complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization.

On the denuclearization side of the program, that means all aspects of their nuclear program, he added. Clearly, the ballistic missiles program, as with Iran, with the intention of being a delivery system for nuclear weaponsthats gotta go. I think we need to look at their chemical and biological weapons programs as well. The Presidents going to raise other issues, the Japanese abductees, South Korean citizens who were kidnapped.

From NTD.tv

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US Trade Panel: Tool Chests From China, Vietnam Harm US Makers

WASHINGTONThe U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) said on May 11 it had made a final finding in a dumping investigation that imports of tool chests from China and Vietnam were harming U.S. producers.

The decision paves the way for the U.S. Commerce Department to slap duties of up to 327 percent on the goods for a five-year initial period.

Last month, the Commerce Department found that tool chests imported from China and Vietnam were being dumped in the U.S. market, and announced prospective duties on the imports.

In a related case, the ITC found in January that U.S. manufacturers were being harmed by imports of tool chests from China that the Commerce Department had found were subsidized, locking in place countervailing duties.

In its announcement on April 5, the Commerce Department said tool chests manufactured by the Tongrun Single Entity in China would face antidumping duties of 97 percent, while imports from other Chinese producers would face duties of 244 percent.

Imports from Vietnam would face a duty of 327 percent, it said.

The case was brought by Waterloo Industries Inc. of Sedalia, Missouri, a subsidiary of Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc., which says it accounts for more than half the domestic production of tool chests and cabinets.

In 2016, the value of imports of tool chests and cabinets from China totalled $230 million, while imports from Vietnam were valued at $77 million, Commerce Department data shows.

By David Alexander
Why Eating Out Can Be Toxic

Chemicals leaching into food from containers and production facilities are a health risk

Going to restaurants is a favorite pastime for many people, but there may be unforeseen dangers lurking in the meals you buy.

According to a recent University of California and George Washington University study, eating out may boost your risk of cancer and other health problems.

The reason behind this greater risk of developing cancer is the presence of phthalates, which are substances often used in plastics and products that contain them. These toxic chemicals can leach into your food from a variety of sources, including the equipment used to process the food, packaging, takeout boxes, gloves worn by restaurant workers, and plastic storage and heating containers.

Study of Increased Cancer Risk with Eating Out

According to the findings of the study, exposure to phthalates, which have been shown to disrupt hormones in the body, has been associated with breast cancer, fertility issues, and Type 2 diabetes, as well as difficulty losing weight and birth defects in children.

The researchers evaluated data collected from 10,253 individuals between 2005 and 2014 who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Researchers found that levels of the chemicals were 35 percent higher in those who regularly ate at restaurants, cafeterias, and fast-food places.

This link was especially high among young people. Teenagers who consumed the most amount of food purchased outside the home had 55 percent higher levels of the contaminant than their peers who ate home-cooked meals.

The findings suggest that eating home-prepared foods is less likely to expose you to high levels of phthalates. According to senior author Ami Zota, an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at Milken Institutes School of Public Health at the George Washington University, the findings suggest that dining out may be an important and previously under-recognized source of exposure to phthalates for the U.S. population.

More concerns were raised by lead author Dr. Julia Varshavsky of the School of Public Health at the University of CaliforniaBerkeley. She noted that pregnant women, children, and teens are more vulnerable to the toxic effects of hormone-disrupting chemicals, so its important to find ways to limit their exposures.

What You Can Do

To help you avoid exposure to phthalates from food that has not been prepared at home, here are a few suggestions:

Refuse to use polystyrene (Styrofoam) containers. If you must use a takeout container from a restaurant, ask them to line plastic containers with unbleached parchment paper or to use non-leaching plastic containers numbers 2, 4, or 5. You also may ask for paper containers, but they may be lined with chemically treated paper, so you may want to ask this question. Be prepared to receive an I dont know response from your server.

If you eat out, bring your own containers for leftovers. Those containers should be glass, stainless steel, ceramic, or silicon.

Try an eating-out alternative: Hold a potluck at your house, or rotate potlucks or dinners at the homes of family or friends. Everyone must bring a homemade prepared itemno takeout food!

Dine at establishments that use locally grown, organic produce and other food items that are natural and minimally processed or not processed at all.

Deborah Mitchell is a freelance health writer who is passionate about animals and the environment. She has authored, co-authored, and written more than 50 books and thousands of articles. This article was originally published on NaturallySavvy.com
Scott Vallely started Charter Oak Brewing Co. in 2011 and has built a successful brand whose IPAs, ales and other beer varieties can be found in about 400 establishments throughout Connecticut.

Despite its success, Charter Oak has never had a home to call its own  until now.

Brewing operations are up and running at its new Danbury building with a five-barrel system and a 20-barrel system each producing the fresh, handcrafted beers for which the brand has become known.

The taproom has received local and federal approvals and will open in about two weeks, pending state approvals. Vallely said he hopes to be open by Memorial Day.

In the past, we were a gypsy brewery; brewing wherever they had the time, space and patience, Vallely said. We had to bring all of our equipment and rent the barrels, but weve always done our own brewing.

On Wednesday, the canning line was installed and by Thursday a batch of 1687 Brown Ale with new labeling was being packaged. On Friday, cans of Wadsworths India Pale Ale rolled off the line.

Vallely beamed when asked if having his own location makes the brewing and packaging process easier.

Oh my god. Yes, indeed, sir, he said. This has been five years in the making. Ive spent every moment thinking of every detail. I did the specs on everything. This is five years of me  at 2 in the morning  taking notes at the side of my bed.

Vallely, who has been brewing beer for 38 years, is joined at the new location by brewer Mike Granoth and salesman Justin Vidal, of Danbury.

Charter Oak joins a suddenly burgeoning brewing scene in the Danbury area. Redding Beer Co. in Georgetown and Nod Hill Brewery in Ridgefield opened last year and Broken Symmetry Gastro Brewery opened in March. Two more breweries are expected to open this year in New Milford.

Weve been chatting about a mini beer trail and being able to feed off each other, Vallely said. Its a great community. Lets work together, not apart from one another.

The road to Danbury

The state as a whole is experiencing a brewery boom with more than 70 in operation.

Charter Oak is by far the areas largest operation. The building at 39B Shelter Rock Road was previously used for distribution and office space.

At 10,000 square feet, the building offers room for expansion and a sturdy base to support the brewing systems.

Its slab on grade and 26 feet to the ceiling, he said. We enhanced the daylights out of the building. It used to be two floors, but we cleared it out to make way for the barrels (in the large brewing system).

Hawley Construction of Danbury is the main contractor for the repurposing of the building.

Vallely feels he found the perfect spot for his brewery, but it came only after an exhaustive search of more than 30 locations throughout the state. A New Canaan resident, Vallely wanted to be in Fairfield County because he knew wed practically be living there.

The search started in the southern part of the county, but he was wooed north by P.J. Prunty, who was then the director of CityCenter Danbury. Charter Oak was set to commit to a downtown location, but the building could not support the brewing systems.

Prunty would not allow that to be a deal-breaker, however, and he kept up his relentless pursuit of a home for Charter Oak Brewing Co. in Danbury.

Scott and I walked a bunch of different properties, said Prunty, now the president of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce. He did a lot of research on the greater Danbury area and knew that this was an excellent market for him to open up his brewery.

Vallely said Pruntys enthusiasm and persistence kept Charter Oaks search focused on Danbury.

P.J. Prunty is responsible for Charter Oak Brewing being in Danbury, he said.

Taproom basics

The taproom at Charter Oak Brewing will be open from 3 to 8 p.m., Thursday through Sunday. It will feature 10 beer varieties on tap and offer flights, pints and growlers. Vallely said he will not serve food because he does not want to compete with the restaurants that carry his beer, but will have food available through delivery services.

The taproom features an industrial feel with high ceilings, exposed duct work, wood tables and chairs, and windows with views into the brewing operations.

There wont be music, dancing and pool tables, he said. Its a place to grab a beer and talk with your buddies.

Granoth added: The brewing community is a way to bring people together ... hang out with friends.

The name of the brewery comes from the Charter Oak legend, of which Vallely is a student. A charter issued by King Charles II in 1662 that granted Connecticut certain autonomies was to be revoked and collected under order of James II, the brother and successor of Charles II. During a debate in Hartford in 1687 at which the charter was to be handed over, the legend goes, the candles mysteriously blew out. Under the cover of darkness, Capt. Joseph Wadsworth took the charter and hid it in a cavity in a giant oak tree.

I wanted something Connecticut-centric, Vallely said of the brewerys name. So far, all of the beers weve made are named after something pertaining to the legend.

The writer may be reached at cbosak@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3338
Companies including Facebook and fashion-rental service Rent the Runway have been some of the first to use services from a new business founded by Fairfield County natives who grew up on the same street in Greenwich.

Last fall, Tomas Hoyos and Drew Tunney launched their beta version of Voro, an online community for friends, neighbors and coworkers to share their recommendations for medical professionals.

The founders have not disclosed details about the number of Voro users or how much they have raised in funding, but the online community has more than doubled over the last two months as they near a full public launch of the site, Hoyos said. Until then, they are busy growing its user base, collecting feedback and refining its operations.

Something in common

Voro could be described as a sort of niche version of Yelp or Google reviews. On its website, friend groups, neighborhoods or companies can set up a community in which people review and recommend doctors. It is differentiated from most other crowd-sourced review platforms, its founders say, because of the communities comprised of people who have something in common.

There may be a degree or two of separation, but Voro members know the people who publish reviews they see. With the amount of things you cant trust on the internet, its nice to have something  especially when it matters like with your health  where you have the right people looking after you, said Kevin Campbell, who has used the platform to find several doctors in New York City. Previously, he opted to book appointments at times he could return to his hometown in Connecticut.

It hits home because finding a doctor is something you dont realize you dont know how to do. Then, when the time hits, you have a toothache and need a dentist right away, Campbell said. The big thing for me is its a trusted network of people.

There are other online platforms to help find doctors, such as Zocdoc, but several Voro users said they do not necessarily trust reviews from people they do not know. Why do I care what a bunch of random people feel about doctors? said Tess Mattimore, who also began using Voro when she moved to New York City after college. I had tried going to a doctor I found online, but it was complicated. I ended up going with someone one of my friends recommended.

Voro users have written and shared thousands of doctor recommendations, Hoyos said, and there has been a recent spate of growth with neighborhood leaders creating Voro communities. Groups are in the works for residents in Westchester and Fairfield counties, including one for New Canaan & Darien Moms. A group for Greenwich is coming soon, Hoyos said. We have a ton of inbound interest from people saying they want to set up a community, he said.

When someone volunteers to be a community manager, as Voro calls it, they work with the company to set up a group and invite people to kickstart its growth. Another selling point is that users can work with a Voro concierge to check if a doctor will accept their insurance and book an appointment.

Founding Voro

Voro is still in its early phases, but its concept originated years ago.

Hoyos played varsity lacrosse at Harvard, often competing against his co-founder, Tunney, who wore a Dartmouth jersey. After suffering a concussion, Hoyos had a hard time finding the right neurologist. He had scoured resources searching for a doctor, and it was tough to tell the doctors apart, he said. There were no objective measures of quality to help me decide.

Eventually a friend recommended one to him. That doctors practice is now listed on Voro, he said.

Tunney had a similarly frustrating experience, so they decided to create what would ultimately become Voro. After graduating from Dartmouth, Tunney developed software engineering experience in Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, Hoyos graduated from Harvard and started a career in investment banking on the East Coast.

They have combined their skill sets and are now running Voro in New York City, where their staff of almost 10 is based.

To monetize Voro, the founders are planning to use a freemium model, where doctors pay to use premium features in listing their practices online profile. A second revenue stream could come from something Voros currently piloting, a program where companies pay to help their employees find vetted, in-network doctors located near their offices.

Everyone can see that this is a powerful concept, Tunney said. Our challenge now is to scale it.

This story has been updated.

For information about Voro, visit its website at voro.com.

Contact the writer at mbennett@greenwichtime.com; Twitter @Macaela
The need for nurses is clear. There are plenty of people interested in filling the positions. But connecting the two has not been easy.

Health care continues to be the states fastest-growing job market. Connecticuts health care and social assistance market saw an increase of 4,300 jobs last year, second only to manufacturing, and health care has been at or near the top for years. But local nursing programs have found themselves part of a national trend that sees applicant pools for college programs far outnumbering openings, even as the need for graduates continues to grow.

There are a lot of applicants going to schools of nursing and only so many spots they can take, and that decreases and limits the number of nurses coming out of the schools in order for us to back fill the (retiring) baby boomers, said MaryEllen Kosturko, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Bridgeport Hospital.

Many of the needs are in specialty areas like the operating room or intensive care unit, said Kosturko, who is also chair of the Committee for Nurse Executives at the Connecticut Hospital Association.

While many hospitals have worked to improve development programs, recruitment from four-year nursing programs remains a priority as well as a challenge.

Maxed-out programs

Colleges and universities throughout Connecticut are seeing thousands of applicants vying for a limited number of spots in their nursing programs, most of which have between 80 and 120 available spots.

Almost 8,000 candidates applied for a total of 2,220 program openings statewide in 2016, according to a report from the state Board of Examiners in Nursing.

Fairfield University had more than 1,400 applicants for 120 spaces, which resulted in a high number of rejection letters going out, said Meridith Kazer, dean of Fairfield Universitys School of Nursing.

We actually do need to turn away qualified applicants, Kazer said. Weve turned away students with a 4.0 GPA. Thats how competitive it was.

The disparity, which has grown in recent years, has schools looking for creative ways to expand programs. Fairfield has moved nursing into a larger building to support more classes; the building also features simulation centers to create in-house clinical education opportunities, as well.

A major focus of nursing education is in the practice area, including hospitals and community agencies, which has a limited number of spaces for students to practice their nursing skills. As a result, many schools are unable to take on larger numbers of students.

More difficult, however, is finding enough instructors.

In addition to the workforce having a shortage of nurses at the bedside, we are also seeing a shortage nationally of faculty for nursing programs, Kosturkos said.

The lack of qualified instructors directly affects the number of students a program can take in, leading schools to undertake nationwide searches to keep student-teacher ratios smaller.

To teach within a nursing program, instructors are often required to have a doctoral degree. Only a very small percentage of nurses go on towards their doctoral degree because theyre expensive and the clinical salaries are often competitive with the academic salaries, so to invest in a doctoral education you want to make sure that you get that return on your investment, Kazer said.

Raising the bar

As schools look to adjust, hospitals are looking to raise the bar with patient care, leading to degree requirements for new hires that go beyond associates degrees and nursing diplomas. Many positions are calling for professionals to obtain their bachelors degree, driving many employees to return to school and further adding to the applicant pool.

Carol Papp, dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Bridgeport, said the college added nursing to its Health Sciences program in the fall 2015 in response to rising demand.

I find many of the nurses coming back and even working while taking the ... courses because their (bachelors degree) is needed for their positions, Papp said.

Although still in its early stages, records show UB has 1,035 new student inquiries and 384 applicants for 90 spaces for the coming fall semester.

This is the new standard, said Greenwich Hospital CNO Anna Cerra. Its not enough just to have a four-year education, and we want the nurses who are coming into our hospitals to be baccalaureate prepared, but maybe in the next five or 10 years maybe the standard will be a little bit higher.

jordan.grice@hearstmediact.com
It served as a visible reminder during southwestern Connecticuts 2016 water shortage, the hastily constructed pipeline running along the Merritt Parkway to replenish reservoirs serving Stamford and Greenwich from supplies in the Bridgeport area.

In a few weeks, work will begin on what will be an underground solution to tap those reservoirs permanently, as Stamford continues to add residential high rises straining the citys supply.

The Aquarion subsidiary of Eversource Energy is installing a new water main running nearly 2.7 miles, connecting its existing Southwest Regional Pipeline to those serving Stamford and Greenwich households and businesses.

Aquarion and Eversource are counting on the project to forestall water emergencies like the one in 2016 that exposed a serious crack in the foundation of southwestern Connecticuts water supplies. This years work will cost $5 million with the water main expected to be completed in 2019.

Backhoe operators are getting to work even as Connecticut crafts a statewide water plan to find ways to ensure adequate water supplies in any future economic growth, whether through conservation, new sources or connections like the planned Stamford main. In Norwalk, the municipal-owned South Norwalk Electric & Water utility is similarly assessing possible new spigots of supplies to tap, with the city having seen supplies dip below 100 days in 2016.

The southwestern Fairfield County supply improvements are being completed to address the lack of available water in the region over a 60-year period, which is a result of increase in demands and the loss of available water related to stream flow releases, said Aquarion spokesman Peter Fazekas. This is just one project of many that will undertaken in southwestern Fairfield County. Tens of millions of dollars will be invested in this region.

Adding scale in Connecticut

It is a relatively small piece of a projected $435 million Eversource intends to spend over the next four years for Aquarion upgrades, an increase of $135 million over the preceding four years.

Water investments of this scale are really infrequent, said Phil Lembo, chief financial officer of Aquarion, speaking last week on a conference call. The strategic and geographic fit  and the compelling benefits to shareholders, employees and the communities in Connecticut and the other states that the companies operate in  are the driving force.

Last month, Eversource sought to expand its geographical reach in Connecticut via a surprise acquisition offer to shareholders of Connecticut Water, days after the companys board had accepted terms of a buyout by a California company running water systems in the San Jose area. In the weeks since, Connecticut Waters board has attempted to fend off Eversource interest and stick to its original deal, but Eversource has yet to back off its direct appeal to stockholders.

Connecticut Water has its main office in Clinton and serves about 300,000 people across 90,000 accounts, most of them east of the Connecticut River.

If Connecticut Water represents a logical if unwilling target for Eversource, the Hartford-based giant says there could be other deals it could pursue as it seeks to add scale to Aquarion, which it acquired in December.

Theres still smaller, municipally owned water entities throughout the region that some of them are having financial distress, and theyre looking for a way to monetize the assets, Lembo said last week. Aquarion already has done a number of these smaller acquisitions over time.  There are still opportunities there because the industry is still fragmented; about 85 percent (are) not in investor-owned water company space  its really in the municipal space, so there are opportunities.

Enough water most of the time

In its final, 600-page water plan issued in January to the Connecticut Water Planning Council, consultant CDM Smith stated the 2016 drought had served to sound the public alarm that reservoirs and river basins can become depleted during lengthy stretches of dry weather. The Greenwich-Norwalk corridor was among a few pockets statewide in which stream flows in July are insufficient to meet demand.

Two years from now, Stamford and Greenwich will have a major new spigot of water on which to draw courtesy of reservoirs upstream from Fairfield. It is part of Eversources grander plan for Aquarion, with a statewide plan now in place offering a way for Connecticut to navigate an uncertain future for water supplies, whether due to rainfall and reservoir capacity, or projected growth in cities like Stamford and Danbury over the next two decades.

Many river basins have enough water to satisfy ... needs most of the time, but they cannot all supply these needs during drought, or even typical summer conditions, CDM advised in the report. Encourage regional water solutions where they are practical and beneficial.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
NORWALK  In New Haven, public works and parks and recreation services operate under the citys chief administrative officer.

Snow plowing, grass mowing and other maintenance work is administered under one senior-level cabinet officer, according to Laurence Grotheer, the citys director of communications.

Its similar work but they have different responsibilities, Grotheer said of parks and public works operations. Each of those two departments is under the direction of the citys chief administrative officer, which is a cabinet-level position. So there is active planning among the departments in that area, and coordination to ensure that the work is done and divided appropriately.

Grouping things together

The city of New Haven is but one example upon which Norwalk Mayor Harry Rillings administration is drawing upon as part of its requested reorganization of Norwalks government. Rilling said his administration looked at government organizational tables for several similar-sized cities, including New Haven, Stamford and Danbury.

We took a hybrid, Rilling said. We took the best of the best and then we put our own spin on it, Okay, they have this (grouped) over here but we really want to see it (grouped) over here.

Grouping like functions together was the driving factor in the reorganization initiative.

Grouping things together helps in many fashions, Rilling said. Number one, it makes the span of control of the mayors office much more manageable. Number two, it helps during the budget process as like functions put together their budgets. It helps communications, it helps reduce redundancies and it helps with efficiencies.

Rilling said he, Mayoral Assistant Laoise King, Director of Personnel and Labor Relations Ray Burney, Public Works Director Bruce Chimento and Corporation Counsel Mario Coppola have been exploring for the last year how to better organize Norwalks city government.

Seven cabinet-level appointees

Last Monday evening, King presented Rillings proposed re-organization of city departments to an ad-hoc committee of the Common Council.

Norwalk voters currently stand at the top of the current organizational structure with the first row under them consisting of the Board of Education, treasurer, registrars of voters, Common Council, mayor, town clerk, board of selectmen, sheriff and constables. Beneath them is a myriad of appointed positions and city departments with, according to Rillings administration, redundancies and inefficiencies.

Under Rillings proposed reorganization, the elected position of mayor would be at the top, followed by his or her chief of staff and the citys corporation counsel. Under them would be seven senior managers, or cabinet-level positions: chief financial officer, chief of police, fire chief, chief of public works and operations, chief of community services, chief of community and economic development, and chief of human resources and personnel.

The cabinet-level folks will be all mayoral appointments but its pretty similar to the current jobs that theyre in, King said.

Rilling gave a similar assessment.

Nobody is losing the authority that they currently have, said Rilling, noting that five of the seven positions are occupied and two are vacant. There will still be department heads but they will be reporting up the chain.

All seven positions would be mayoral appointments subject to council approval, King said.

Senior managers oversee departments

In arriving at the proposed model, King said the administration pulled organizational charts from big-, mid- and small-sized communities from across Connecticut and across the nation.

The main theme that we saw in most of them was this structure of having a cabinet form of government where you have a smaller number of senior managers that have groups of departments underneath them that do like work, said King, who once worked for the city of New Haven.

In New Haven, beneath the mayor and other elected positions, is the citys chief of staff under whom work seven cabinet-level positions: economic development administrator, community services administrator, chief administrative officer, financial administration, corporation counsel, department of health and youth services bureau.

Under each of them are grouped various services. For example, city planning, transportation, traffic and parking, equal opportunities, building inspections and enforcement, and a livable city initiative are overseen by New Havens economic development administrator.

The city of Stamford, by contrast, has five director positions appointed by the mayor and approved by the Board of Representatives: director of operations, director of administration, director of legal affairs, director of public safety, health and welfare, and director of economic development.

Danbury, meanwhile, has a mayor and other elected positions as well as a chief of staff to the mayor, corporation counsel, director of human resources, director of finance, director of public works, office of project enhancement, office of project excellence, chief of police, fire chief and legislative assistant.

Rilling said his administration has had Norwalks law department look at the city charter and ordinances. Burney, he continued, has examined labor contracts to make sure that were on safe grounds, that were not violating any labor contracts or that theres no charter revision issues.

Ad-hoc committee reviewing proposal

The Common Council will have the final say on reorganizing Norwalks government structure.

The ad-hoc committee has just started to review Rillings request.

Seated on the committee are council President John Kydes, Majority Leader John Igneri, Minority Leader Douglas Hempstead, and council members Nick Sacchinelli, Thomas Livingston and Michael Corsello. Kydes said the panels next step will be to gather information.

Barron said he plans this week to provide the ad-hoc committee information on the financial impacts of the proposed government reorganization.
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EnQuest PLC operates as an oil and gas development and production company, explores for, extracts, and produces hydrocarbons in the United Kingdom, North Sea, and Malaysia. It primarily holds interests in the Magnus, Kraken, the Greater Kittiwake Area, Scolty/Crathes, Alba, Thistle/Deveron, Heather/Broom, Alma/Galia, and the Dons area. The company also has interests in the PM8/Seligi and PM409 production sharing contracts in Malaysia. In addition, it holds interests in 10 operated production licenses and 3 production hubs. As of December 31, 2020, the company had proved and probable reserves of 279 million barrels of oil equivalents. Further, it is involved in the construction, ownership, and operation of an oil pipeline; marketing and trading of crude oil; and leasing activities. EnQuest PLC was incorporated in 2010 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

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CALGARYSpringtime in southern Alberta means flood season, and starting Tuesday, Calgary will be in the period of highest risk.

For now, the outlook is good, said Frank Frigo, the City of Calgarys leader of watershed analysis. But that doesnt rule out a huge, sudden storm  such as the one that led to widespread flooding in 2013.

Things can change very fast, Frigo said. Theres not a lot of certainty.

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Though the fact that Calgary exists along the banks of the Bow and Elbow rivers means risk is a constant, Calgarys official flood season, when the city has historically received its largest rainfalls, lasts from May 15 to July 15.

With long-term forecasts showing a drier, more sweltering summer than average, wildfire risk may be more top of mind. The general trends, however, arent a guarantee. Rainfall in Calgary is notoriously hard to predict, Frigo said, due to the citys proximity to the Rockies.

Usually, issues are caused by a combination several factors, such as heavy snowmelt, ice jams or a burst of rain that overwhelms storm systems. Because the Bow and the Elbow both flow through a steep drop from their source in the mountains towards Calgary, their water levels can swell rapidly.

This years higher-than-normal snowpack, a sudden rise in temperatures in Calgary last week and flooding in British Columbia and elsewhere in Alberta may have rattled nerves. However Frigo said the process is still fairly slow and not a cause for concern. River flows upstream of Calgary are higher than usual but still within an average range.

In fact, having more snowmelt flow slowly down from the mountains as the region heats up could be a good thing, Frigo said. Knowing more supply will be coming later allows city staff to lower water levels in reservoirs more aggressively, giving the city a greater capacity to handle runoff from a surprise storm.

Right now, nothing that we can see is terribly concerning, Frigo said.

Just in case, however, Frigo and the City of Calgary are constantly monitoring water levels and shifting forecasts. Frigo also suggests Calgarians check maps to know the chances of a flood in their neighbourhood  riverside areas such as Mission and Sunnyside, for example, are higher risk  and make sure they have emergency plans ready.

Revised estimates from the city in 2017 found damages from a flood on the Bow similar in scale to the one on the Elbow in 2013 would likely hit about $2.4 billion.

The city and the province have invested millions on flood mitigation measures in Calgary, including a barrier to protect part of the downtown and stormwater sewer improvements.

Last month, the Alberta government pledged another $13.5 million to fortify the city. And this week, a city council committee approved a plan that would call for another large reservoir project upstream on the Bow River. Speaking to the committee, Frigo said the city aims to be ready for the effects of climate change.

According to University of Calgary climatologist Shawn Marshall, those effects have already begun. Though the city may not experience 2013-level floods every year, Calgarians can expect them to become more common over time.

These extreme events are going to get more extreme, Marshall said. Itll come back one of these years.

With files from Matt McClure

Emma McIntosh is an investigative, environment and justice reporter based in Calgary. Follow her on Twitter at @EmmaMci

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A Los Angeles-based animal rights group says its yearlong undercover investigation into filthy conditions at an Ontario mink farm is behind animal cruelty charges laid by the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals last week.

The SPCA on Friday said it had laid 14 charges against a mink ranch in southwestern Ontario, including for neglect and failing to provide medical care. The Provincial Offences Court in Guelph separately verified that the charges had been laid against the owners of Millbank Fur Farm, north of Guelph.

A worker with Last Chance for Animals went undercover at the farm starting in February 2017, said Hayden Hunter, director of investigations at the animal rights group. Hunter said the worker took photos and video that show unsanitary conditions, a lack of veterinary care and animals with lesions all over their bodies, especially the head, the neck, the face, the tails.

The group filed a complaint to the Ontario SPCA earlier this year based on its investigation, she said.

None of the allegations has been proven in court.

The Star presented Millbank Fur Farm with detailed questions about what Last Chance for Animals saw. Ted Parkinson, who said he owns the family-run farm, declined to comment, and directed the Star to Nancy Daigneault, vice-president of the International Fur Federation, who he said was speaking on his behalf.

As an industry, and the fur farmers in general, they do want to provide excellent care for their animals. Theres no question about that, Daigneault said.

It appears something went wrong here, she said. A veterinarian, Daigneault said, has been to the farm and will work there over the coming weeks and months.

The farmers are going to be working with animal welfare authorities. They want to co-operate fully with the OSPCA to find out what happened in this situation. They want to work to improve everything.

The undercover worker saw nesting boxes that were wet, full of feces and covered with maggots, Hunter said.

Last Chance for Animals provided the Star with photos and video it said were taken at the farm. They appear to show minks with lesions on their heads and backs. Some of the animals appear to be in pain, and their pens appear dirty.

Daigneault said the family is shocked and upset by what the images show.

They want an investigation as well, and they want to co-operate with outside investigators and veterinarians to find out how this happened, she said. This is not normal. This is not what you would see on a farm, to see wounds like that. It is shocking.

Last Chance for Animals was established in Hollywood in 1984, according to its website, and has campaigned against Chinas dog meat trade, the treatment of captive marine mammals, including at Marineland in Niagara Falls, and animal testing.

Hunter said the group would like to see fur farming in Canada abolished, but for now what we would like to see is regulations and standards implemented and enforced.

Its heartbreaking to see that these animals are going to spend anywhere between seven months to several years if theyre used for breeding stock, she said. This is their life: being fed and bobbing up and down in these cages all day long, just stir crazy.

Hunter did not disclose the identity of the undercover worker.

The Ontario SPCA found several deficiencies after it investigated a complaint about the treatment of animals at the facility, Jennifer Bluhm, deputy chief inspector, told the Star.

We did uncover evidence that revealed sick animals with injuries and large lesions and some evidence of rough handling of animals, unsanitary conditions and a lack of general care, she said. We have taken steps to ensure those concerns were addressed.

The farm was charged with five counts of permitting an animal to be in distress; two counts of causing an animal to be in distress; three counts of failing to provide adequate and appropriate medical attention; three counts of failing to provide care necessary for general welfare; and one count of failing to provide adequate and appropriate sanitary conditions, according a release posted to the Ontario SPCAs website.

Bluhm would not confirm that Last Chance for Animals complaint had led to the charges.

I think its important to note that theres no excuse for failing to treat animals humanely, Bluhm said. No one is exempt from the law, when it comes to providing for the animals in their care.

Millbank Fur Farms owners are set to appear in court on July 18.
SURABAYA, INDONESIACo-ordinated suicide bombings carried out by members of the same family struck three churches in Indonesias second-largest city Sunday, police said, as the worlds most populous Muslim nation recoiled in horror at one of its worst attacks since the 2002 Bali bombings.

At least seven people died at the churches in Surabaya along with the six family members, the youngest of whom were girls aged 9 and 12, according to police. Another 41 people were injured.

Indonesias president condemned the attacks as barbaric.

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National police chief Tito Karnavian said that the father detonated a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother and her two daughters wore explosives.

Karnavian said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently Daesh, also known as ISIS, controlled significant territory.

Daesh claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency. It didnt mention anything about families or children taking part and said there were only three attackers.

Indonesias deadliest terrorist attack occurred in 2002, when bombs exploded on the tourist island of Bali, killing 202 people in one night, mostly foreigners. But the fact that children were involved in Sundays attacks in Surabaya shocked and angered the country.

Jemaah Islamiyah, the network responsible for the Bali attacks, was obliterated by a sustained crackdown on militants by Indonesias counterterrorism police with U.S. and Australian support. A new threat has emerged in recent years, inspired by Daesh attacks abroad.

Experts on militant networks have warned for several years that the estimated 1,100 Indonesians who travelled to Syria to join Daesh posed a threat if they returned home.

Karnavian identified the father as Dita Futrianto and said he was head of the Surabaya cell of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Indonesian militant network affiliated with Daesh that has been implicated in attacks in Indonesia in the past year. He identified the mother as Puji Kuswati.

The attacks occurred within minutes of each other, according to Surabaya police spokesperson Frans Barung Mangera.

Karnavian said Futrianto drove a bomb-laden car into the citys Pentecostal church.

Kuswati, with her two daughters, attacked the Christian Church of Diponegoro, he said. Based on their remains, Karnavian said the mother and daughters were all wearing explosives around their waists.

The sons rode a motorcycle onto the grounds of the Santa Maria Church and detonated their explosives there.

A witness said the woman arrived at the Diponegoro church carrying two bags.

At first officers blocked them in front of the churchyard, but the woman ignored them and forced her way inside. Suddenly, she hugged a civilian, then (the bomb) exploded, said the witness, a security guard who identified himself as Antonius.

At Santa Maria, a Catholic Church, shattered glass and chunks of concrete littered the entrance, which was sealed off by armed police. Rescuers treated victims in a nearby field while officers inspected wrecked and burned motorcycles in the parking lot.

A street merchant outside the church said she was thrown several metres by the blast.

I saw two men riding a motorbike force their way into the churchyard. One was wearing black pants and one with a backpack, said the merchant, Samsia, who uses a single name. Soon after that, the explosion happened.

President Joko (Jokowi) Widodo visited the sites and described the attacks as cowardly actions that were very barbaric and beyond the limit of humanity.

In Jakarta, Indonesias capital, the Indonesian Church Association added its condemnation.

We are angry, said Gormar Gultom, an official with the association, but he urged people to let the police investigation take its course.

Indonesias two largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, also condemned the attacks.

Mangera, the Surabaya police spokesperson, said police responded at about 9 p.m. to an explosion in a residential building in Sidoarjo, a district bordering Surabaya.

He confirmed TV reports that three people, including a child, were inside the fifth-floor flat at the time of the blast. A bomb squad was checking the building, he said, and hundreds of people were evacuated from the neighbourhood.

Separately, national police spokesperson Setyo Wasisto said police fatally shot four suspected militants and arrested two others early Sunday in West Java towns. It wasnt clear whether the shootings were connected to the church attacks.

They have trained in order to attack police, Wasisto said, identifying the militants as members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah.

Jakarta police placed the capital and surrounding areas on high alert, while the transportation ministry warned airports to be on guard.

The church attacks came days after police ended a hostage-taking by imprisoned Islamic militants at a detention centre near Jakarta in which six officers and three inmates died. Daesh claimed responsibility.

Despite Indonesias crackdown on militants since the Bali bombings, the country has faced a new threat in recent years as the rise of Daesh in the Middle East invigorated local networks.

Christians, many of whom are from the ethnic Chinese minority, make up about 9 per cent of Indonesias 260 million people.

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SAINT-HYACINTE, QUE.Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said Sunday that he had spoken with MP Ted Falk, who made a controversial comment about abortion in the House of Commons, but did not confirm what he told the Manitoba politician.

I spoke to Mr. Falk, but I dont talk about internal management, he told reporters following a party meeting in Saint-Hyacinthe, Que.

Scheer did not say whether Falk had been reprimanded for his comment.

Read more: No longer polling third, Horwath and the NDP are fending off attacks from both sides

Falk caused a stir in question period on Wednesday when he responded to a statement by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who promised his government would always defend the right of women to have an abortion.

In response, Falk yelled out: Its not a right!

Scheer, who has said hes personally against abortion, did not answer a question about how he reacted to Falks comments, nor would he say whether he personally believed abortion to be a right.

Without ever using the word abortion, he repeated multiple times that a Conservative government would respect the decision of the courts on the matter.

Scheer had not previously responded to Falks comment, which was denounced by many opposition MPs.

Several Quebec Conservative MPs also spoke out against Falk, including Alain Rayes, Gerard Deltell and Sylvie Boucher.

At the weekend party meeting, several Conservatives distanced themselves from Falks comments and said they did not reflect the partys values.

That was his own opinion, and it doesnt reflect the party and the ideologies of party members, said Valerie Assouline, a member of the partys national executive in Quebec.

Its certain that I find it unfortunate, that he made that comment, and I dont support the comment, she said.

Party member Jean-Philippe Fournier, from Montreal, said it was a false debate, because its in no way in our plans to open that, he said.

Anne DeBlois, a party member from the Quebec City area, worried the fallout could have an impact on the partys image in Quebec.

For me it caused some discomfort, and I know there are some who wont like us because of that, she said.

Im aware of that, but there are people who dont like Justin Trudeau for other reasons, she said.

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They fled war-torn Syria only to be caught up in a new battle with a tiny but vicious foe.

Soon after Khaldoun Anijleh and his family moved into their first home in Canada, they started to get itchy red bumps and painful blisters on their bodies. Anijlehs two kids, Samer, 8, and Joudi, 11, would be up all night crying and scratching.

Then one day they discovered the culprits  small, flat oval-shaped bugs on the baseboards and under the mattresses.

We had no idea what a bedbug was because we had no bedbugs in Syria, said the 32-year-old butcher, who settled in Hamiltons east end in January 2016 after spending a few weeks in temporary housing at a Toronto hotel.

The Anijlehs were among 40,000 Syrian refugees who came to Canada between the fall of 2015 and the spring of 2017 as part of Ottawas historic resettlement program. The family had previously spent four years as refugees in Jordan after fleeing the civil war in their homeland.

We are grateful to be in Canada, but it was impossible to rest and relax in our own home, he said of the bedbug problem, through an Arabic interpreter. People refused to come to visit us and our children were ostracized in school. Other kids refused to mingle with them because of it.

With help from caseworkers from Wesley Urban Ministries, the community group assigned by the government to help with their settlement, Anijleh and 11 other newly arrived Syrian refugee families said they repeatedly asked the landlord at 221 Melvin Ave. to deal with the pests  bedbugs and in some cases, cockroaches.

After several failed attempts by a pest control company hired by the landlord to clean up their unit, the Anijleh family moved out of the highrise on Sept. 30, 2016, and went to another part of Hamilton. The other Syrian families also left before their 12-month leases expired.

Now the families are embroiled in two separate battles stemming from their time at the Hamilton highrise.

Theyve taken the landlord and management company  Diamond International Management and Melvin Apartments Inc.  to the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board for allegedly failing to provide them with a safe and habitable living environment due to the bedbug infestation. The 12 families are claiming a total of $63,666 in compensation for pain and suffering, for the loss of government-supplied mattresses, sheets, clothing and furniture that they had to throw out, and for a partial refund of rent paid during the infestation. The tribunal hearing, which began last fall before adjourning, is scheduled to resume this month.

In the meantime, Melvin Apartments Inc. is suing the 12 tenant families in small claims court for rental arrears for the months remaining on their leases and for repairs related to alleged damage to their rental units. The company claims the families broke their leases and moved out without proper notice. Hearings are to be scheduled in Hamilton later this year.

These were very vulnerable tenants who arrived from war-torn Syria. They were one of the first groups brought in by the Canadian government. They came with traumatized experience, said lawyer Ali Naraghi of the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic, which represents the 12 families, totalling almost 60 people, many of them young children. As government-sponsored refugees, they received support from Ottawa during their first year in the country.

At the end of the day, whether they are immigrants or not, their quality of life was significantly compromised by the presence of pests in their units, Naraghi said.

Michael Klein, an officer and director of Melvin Apartments Inc., said the landlord was approached by Wesley Urban Ministries in early 2016 to place the Syrian refugees over a two-month period. He said the management has a protocol to have a new tenant inspect the unit before moving in.

At the time of move-in by the refugees, there were no bugs in any of their units. It is very likely they may have brought them in from the temporary housing they were staying in, he said in an email response to the Star. Naraghi disputed this, however, saying the families had never had any complaints about bedbugs before moving into the Hamilton building.

Naraghi said the apartment building had problems with bedbugs before the Syrians moved in, with complaints by other tenants dating back to March 2015.

Klein noted that Hamilton has had a huge problem with bedbugs, including public buildings like city hall, schools and the courthouse, making it challenging to exterminate the bugs.

In 2016, Hamilton committed $1 million over three years to try to combat bedbugs in the city.

Klein said management for the apartment has contracts with provincially licensed pest control companies. Unfortunately, the refugees did not comply with proper preparation requirements and did not always allow the technicians into their units to do the service, he said.

There is a protocol used by all pest control companies, Klein said, adding there was also a language barrier and they did their best to translate the instructions into Arabic.

The families, meanwhile, said on at least one occasion they made preparations and the technicians didnt show up.

According to the tenants complaints, a caseworker from Wesley Urban Ministries notified the landlords property management as early as Feb. 23, 2016, about the bedbug issue. A month later, a supervisor from Wesley requested all of the clients units be treated for bedbugs. Between April and September 2016, the landlord made attempts to treat the problem, according to the tenants complaints. However, they said the treatments were ineffective in getting rid of the bugs.

Even if (the tenants) refused entry on a few occasions due to cultural or religious reasons, it does not eliminate the landlords ongoing responsibility in adequately eradicating the infestation, Naraghi said.

The tenants provided notice to the landlord of their intention to vacate their units and for all to seek termination of their leases plus monetary compensation, they said in their complaint.

According to the Residential Tenancies Act, a landlord is responsible for providing and maintaining a residential complex, including rental units, in a good state of repair and fit for habitation and complying with health, safety, housing and maintenance standards.

Although the law says a landlord shall not withhold the reasonable supply of any vital service, it is up to the Landlord and Tenant Board adjudicator to determine what is reasonable or not.

When asked about the small claims actions filed against the refugees, Klein said they are only trying to recover their costs and we have nothing against the families.

We  tried our best to satisfy the families, as they came from a horrible civil war in Syria and we wanted the families to feel that they have a new home in our building as well as in Canada, he said.

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Shortly before heading into work at her familys real estate business Thursday morning, Zabia Afzal ate breakfast with her older brother in the Woodbridge home they share. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary as they chatted.

I didnt pick up anything from that conversation, absolutely nothing, Zubair Afzal, Zabias older brother. No hints, nothing whatsoever.

Soon after, Afzal travelled five minutes to the office, where she spoke with co-workers. Then, apparently without telling anyone where she was headed, she left.

The 30-year-old PhD student and beloved community activist has been missing ever since, prompting a days-long search by York Regional and Toronto police and a horde of concerned friends and family members.

She is somebody who has had a great impact on peoples lives, and at this moment her safety and health is very important. We are, her family and friends, concerned about her, Zubair Afzal, one of Zabias five siblings, said Sunday in an interview.

Afzals last confirmed location was in area around Ashbridges Bay around 10:40 a.m. According to Zubair Afzal, she is believed to have travelled in an Uber from her office around 9:30 a.m.

When the family could not reach her throughout the day Thursday, they contacted York Regional Police, who helped pin her to the Ashbridges area by tracking her cell phone. The phone was found in the area alongside her other belongings, Zubair Afzal said.

In the four days since her disappearance, officers from Toronto and York region have been looking for Afzal, deploying both the marine unit and a helicopter in the search. York Regional Police said they have received tips, but have no firm clues as to where Afzal may be.

Friends, family, and volunteers have struck a vast search party, strategically targeting areas based on her last whereabouts as well as her community work.

On Sunday, volunteers clad in white t-shirts reading #FindZabia searched in the Scarborough Bluffs and Toronto Islands, talking to residents and plastering posters of Afzals face wherever there was space.

They also canvassed the Thorncliffe Park area, where Afzal did outreach work for the last seven years, according to her close friend Sadia Khan. Khan said Afzal cared deeply about the health and well-being of women and families in the area, which has a high immigrant population, and her work addressed issues including poverty, discrimination, and Islamophobia.

Khan said it was important that those in the community knew Afzal was missing, in case they had information that might be helpful in the search.

We are really trying not to speculate, we are really hoping that she is safe, and that she needed to step away from some folks, and we are hoping that she comes back to us, Khan said.

Afzal has shoulder-length, brown hair and was last seen wearing black pants, a black or navy hooded sweatshirt and a green floral shirt.

Her family has set up social media campaigns for the search on Facebook and Twitter under the hashtag #FindZabia. They are also asking that people put up posters around their neighbourhoods.

Drivers with dashcam or security footage of Woodbine Beach on Thursday between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. are asked to share their footage with police. Anyone with information is asked to call York Regional Police at (905) 881-1221 ext. 7441 or 1 (866) 876-5423 ext. 7441.

Correction - May 14, 2018: This article was edited from a previous version that misstated the time period of the footage that police are seeking.
A day after drawing stern rebukes for saying the province should be taking care of our own first, Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford scrambled to do damage control over his controversial remarks about bringing more immigrants to northern Ontario.

My opponents are playing politics, you know that, Ford told reporters Saturday at a central Etobicoke retirement home, where he promised a $98-million dental care program for 100,000 low-income seniors if he is elected premier on June 7.

Im a huge supporter of new Canadians. Im a huge supporter of new immigrants coming into this country, trying to make their own way, he added, claiming Ford Nation is the most diverse group anywhere in Canada.

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The controversy made headlines Friday after a leaders debate on northern Ontario issues, where Ford said he had concerns about duplicating a federal pilot project in Atlantic Canada to lure newcomers to sparsely populated parts of Ontario.

Id be more than happy to sit down and talk to the folks and look at a pilot project. But, No. 1  Im a pretty generous guy  Im taking care of our own first, Ford told delegates to a conference held by the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities.

Once we take care of our own and we exhaust  every single avenue and we dont have anyone that can fulfil the job, then Id be open to that.

While PC officials initially insisted Fords remarks were gravely misconstrued, both Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath expressed shock. A Wynne strategist said the lines echo U.S. President Donald Trumps nativist rhetoric.

Facing repeated questions about the comments during his Saturday campaign swing through Toronto and Caledon, Ford, who is leading in public opinion polls, insisted he is a go-to contact for new Canadians who are having difficulty getting jobs and having their skills recognized.

They call me personally on my phone. If they have credentials from where they come from, we make sure we do everything in our power that were going to recognize that. Were going to recognize those credentials and speed up the process, Ford said, without providing details, other than to suggest that he will work with the federal government to help newcomers.

Guess what? They dont call Kathleen Wynne or Andrea Horwath to get a callback. Theyre gonna call me. Im gonna break down a brick wall to make sure I can help every new Canadian.

At one point during a five-minute scrum with journalists, Ford tried to change the subject.

Is there any question about dental care? he asked.

Speaking in Sudbury on Saturday, Horwath said Ford didnt seem to understand that northern municipal leaders are looking to immigration to boost their populations and economies by rolling out the red carpet.

Mr. Fords comments seemed to be completely opposite of what they were asking for, she said.

I was a little bit shocked, Horwath added. Ive heard that language used by people who are suggesting that newcomers are not welcome in our province or in our country, and thats not an opinion I share.

For weeks, Wynne has been criticizing Ford as a Trump clone and Liberal strategists pounced on the immigrant remarks.

This is what weve been saying  if you listen closely to Doug Ford, Doug Ford will tell you who he really is, said one senior Grit, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss campaign tactics.

He talks a lot like Trump with his bumper-sticker sloganeering, but this is really the first time hes been so blatantly nativist in public, said the strategist, adding the Ford campaign is clearly concerned about fallout from the remarks.

This cant be helpful to them.

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DECATUR, ILL.Destiny Doud thought she had just 48 hours to be a mother.

Like most of the hundreds of pregnant women who give birth while serving time each year, Doud was slated to give up her newborn to a relative just days after the baby was born last May.

Doud recalled hugging Jaelynn close at the hospital, waiving off nurses offers to take the girl to the nursery. She wanted every minute to hold her daughter ahead of that wrenching separation.

But just before handing off the baby to her own father, Doud learned she had qualified for a radical alternative. She could raise Jaelynn behind bars.

On June 2, 2017, Doud cradled her newborn as she passed through a chain-link fence topped with razor wire, through heavy steel doors to a cell outfitted with a crib. A sign on the door reads: Doud: Y21214 Baby: Jaelynn.

The Decatur Correctional Center is the only home the girl with wispy blond hair and ice-blue eyes has known in her 11 months.

Prison nursery programs remain rare nationwide, but eight facilities in as many states have opened them amid dramatic growth in the number of incarcerated women. The bold experiment in punishment and parenting has touched off a fierce debate.

Advocates say the programs allow mothers to forge a crucial early bond with children, creating healthier kids and a spur for mothers to improve their lives. Detractors say prison is no environment for children and that the programs may simply put off an inevitable split between many children and their mothers, making it that much more painful.

Doud and Jaelynn are among dozens of test cases.

Doud faces a daunting road back to routine family life. At 21, she is serving a 12-year sentence for bringing methamphetamine across the Illinois state line. She is trying to tame a drug addiction and figure out a career with only a high school diploma. Shes allowed to send Jaelynns father baby photos, but he too is in prison.

Still, she said the program has given her fledging family a lifeline  one she intends to seize. Doud, whose own mother was in and out of jail when she was a child, said she is determined to make sure a third generation of her family does not end up incarcerated.

She reminds me that I have something thats great now, Doud said, smiling at Jaelynn in Decaturs nursery. Something to live for.

At the end of a hallway on a special wing, the drab, institutional walls of this minimum-security facility erupt into a riot of colourful murals: Children play on a jungle gym, a bright sun beats down on a church, and a yellow school bus chugs along.

Hand-drawn portraits of children hang nearby, and tiny handprints climb up a column at the center of a large room. Infants giggle, slumber in their mothers arms and strain to turn over in play gyms.

Its easy to mistake for a daycare  that is, until the uniformed prison guards begin their rounds.

Welcome to the Moms and Babies program.

Six women and their infants, ages newborn to 11 months, live in the unit, which is segregated from the prisons general population. Each pairs home is a typical cell, specially outfitted with cribs, changing tables and additional lively murals.

Decaturs warden, Shelith Hansbro, said the cells are not barred and that women are not handcuffed on the wing because it can distress the children, even as young as they are. Still, security remains paramount.

Cameras are perched above each crib. The prison doesnt house sex offenders. And when a child is taken outside the nursery unit, all prisoners are ordered to stop moving about the facility and remain where they are. The children can play outdoors in a prison yard retrofitted with a jungle gym.

There are strict criteria for selecting participants. The women must only have nonviolent offences on their records and typically have sentences that are two years or less, so mother and child never have to be separated and the childrens time in prison is limited to their earliest years. Though Douds sentence is longer than most women in the program, she could qualify to serve some of that in a residential drug treatment centre.

There are counsellors and a child aide to help the mothers, and other inmates at the facility serve as daycare workers so the women can attend classes to get GEDs, improve life skills, and receive drug and alcohol counselling. Hansbro said the approach is compassionate, but also tough.

We tell them we are going to be up in your business, Hansbro said. We are going to be telling you things about how to raise your child that you might disagree with.

On a Monday morning in April, Doud and the other moms gathered in a circle with their babies perched on their prison-issued blue scrubs. Led by a volunteer, each took turns reading passages from The Velveteen Rabbit.

Christine Duckwitz, 30, cradled 2-month-old Isabelle and turned the pages. The mother from rural Illinois was caught with heroin last year. Isabelles father overdosed and died on Christmas Eve, just a month before the girl was born.

LaTonya Jackson, 38, read to 5-month-old Olivia, who was decked out in a Minnie Mouse outfit, with a black bow on her head. The girls brother, the eldest of eight, was gunned down in a drug deal turned robbery in St. Louis soon after Jackson arrived at Decatur for a theft conviction.

Such turmoil is common in the lives of the women, Hansbro said. Things as simple as reading books to children sometimes fall by the wayside. Other mothers have never had such rudimentary parenting themselves, so the program begins with the basics.

We have found that if there is going to be anything that keeps women from reoffending, its going to be their bonds with their children, Hansbro said. If we expect them to be successful, we need them to give them those tools they need to be successful.

The reading session ended with the volunteer asking the women what the moral of the story was.

Whats the lesson? the woman asked. That love makes you real?

As the women answered and talked, Jaelynn tottered off unsteadily and grabbed a ball, before plopping over. Some of the women burst into laughter. Jaelynn had taken her first steps that week.

She can barely walk, but she thinks she can run, Doud said proudly.

In October 2016, Doud and her boyfriend were speeding down an Illinois highway with 104 grams of methamphetamine they planned to sell. She noticed police cars streaming toward them in the oncoming lanes.

Right then, I knew we were going to prison, Doud said.

Doud and Jaelynns soon-to-be father were charged with meth trafficking, the result of a drug habit that spiralled out of control.

Douds situation soon grew more desperate. She said she woke in the middle of the night, sick to her stomach, nine days after her arrest. The jail nurse gave her a pregnancy test.

She said, Congratulations! Doud said. I was like, No, this is not positive. Im going to prison.

There are no current figures for how many women give birth while incarcerated, but the growth in prison nurseries is playing out against the backdrop of a massive increase in incarcerated women in recent decades, including mothers.

The number of women behind bars increased more than 700 per cent between 1980 and 2016, from roughly 26,000 to nearly 214,000, according to the Sentencing Project. The growth outpaced the increase in male incarceration by roughly 50 per cent.

The latest statistics on parents in prison are from 2007, but the Justice Department reported a 122 per cent increase in mothers in state and federal prison between 1991 and that year. Nearly 1.7 million children had a parent behind bars.

Some experts attribute the increase in womens incarceration, in both jail and prison, to spiking drug arrests and an emphasis in some areas on aggressive enforcement of minor offences such as theft and public drunkenness.

A number of states have done away with the common practice of shackling pregnant women during childbirth, while others have moved to require prisons to have medical plans, proper nutrition and other basics available for pregnant women. Prison nurseries are one of the most progressive approaches.

But not everyone is on board.

Some advocates for female prisoners argue mothers with low-level offences should be allowed to raise their children in less restrictive settings.

On the other side, James Dwyer, a professor of law at William & Mary who focuses on children and family issues, said many of the mothers are not good long-term prospects as parents, that prisons are dangerous and unstimulating for children, and that it may even be unconstitutional to place a child in prison when no crime has been committed.

He said the programs also dont take a considered approach to making hard decisions about whats best for children in challenging family situations.

There is no involvement of child protective services or juvenile court, Dwyer said. You just have prison wardens or their delegates deciding that a kid should enter into a prison without making any best-interest determination.

Doud eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of meth delivery. She was sentenced to 12 years in prison but is eligible for parole as soon as 2022. Jaelynns father got a lengthy sentence for meth trafficking.

Jaelynn was born on May 30. Doud said getting into the prison nursery program was a relief, but she was also anxious as she headed to Decatur: What affect would prison have on Jaelynn?

When she arrived, she said the other women in the program had decorated her cell and made her a gift package of diapers, wipes and lotion.

It was like my own baby shower, Doud said.

Doud and the other women said they believe their children are better off with them in prison and that their children have not suffered adverse effects behind bars. But there are challenges.

There are no trips to grandmothers house, no outings to the zoo or story time at the library. The children are only allowed to leave the prison to attend pediatrician appointments, although family members can make weekly visits to the facility.

Jackson said she recalled taking Olivia into the prison yard one day and the girl tasting the air, as if it were something new and strange.

The women have forged their own patchwork family and spend a lot of time trading parenting stories, tips and joking in the center of the nursery. As someone scrawled on a post: We all we got.

Largely cut off from friends and family, Doud said those connections are especially important for her as a first-time mom. She said she has a neverending stream of questions: When would Jaelynns teeth come in? How do you treat diaper rash?

Duckwitz, who has three other children on the outside, said the program helps women learn how to be a good mom  an opportunity they wouldnt have on the outside.

Doud is taking every class she can at Decatur and has remained sober. In January, Jaelynn watched as Doud graduated from her substance-abuse class. Doud said Jaelynn also appears to be hitting her development marks, even reaching many early.

Because Doud has a longer sentence than most women in the program, she is hoping she will be permitted to finish the last two years at a residential drug treatment program in Chicago. Jaelynn could live with her.

More than 90 women have gone through the Moms and Babies program in 11 years, and only two have returned to prison within three years of release, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections. Only two women have been removed from the program.

Research on prison nursery programs is limited, but some studies show similar promise. One found that a group of preschool-age children who were raised in prison nurseries were less anxious and depressed than a control group of children who were separated from their incarcerated mothers in the early years. Another concluded the recidivism rate of mothers who participated in prison nursery programs was only 4 per cent.

Doud and Jaelynn still have a long way to go before becoming one of these positive statistics, but Douds father said hes noticed a change in his daughter. He is cautiously optimistic for them.

In the long run, this might be the best thing that happened to her, James McQuinn said.
WASHINGTONBenjamin Thomas Wolf, an obscure Democrat running for Congress in Illinois, released a campaign ad in which he was pictured smoking marijuana.

He got a bunch of attention. Then he was exposed for inventing some of his biography. Local media wrote stories about the downfall of the cannabis candidate.

This year, though, Illinois voters had lots of cannabis candidates to choose from. And most of them were nowhere near the political fringe.

All eight Democrats running to be attorney general, the states top law enforcement officer, also endorsed marijuana legalization. So did the three top Democratic candidates for governor. One of them, state Sen. Daniel Biss, had signs that called him CannaBiss  the type of branding that would have been done by his opponents, not his own campaign, in decades past.

Heading into the critical midterm elections in November, Democratic congressional candidates around the country are embracing marijuana legalization in unprecedented numbers. The shift hasnt only occurred in liberal-leaning states like Illinois. The pro-legalization candidates include Beto ORourke, a House member mounting a credible Senate challenge to Ted Cruz in conservative Texas.

Three years after Justin Trudeau successfully campaigned on legalization in Canada, top prospective presidential candidates are also jumping on board. When Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed legalization during his 2016 campaign, he was the first prominent candidate for a major U.S. party to do so. This year, he has already been joined by senators and possible candidates Cory Booker, Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand.

Even 84-year-old California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a longtime opponent of legalization, reversed her position last week.

The Democrats shift comes during a broader leftward leap that has seen mainstream party figures take a variety of positions that would have been considered untouchable as recently as Barack Obamas first campaign, including support for single-payer health care.

But marijuana legalization may no longer be fairly called a left-wing stance. A record 61 per cent of Americans support it, a Pew Research poll found last year, double the percentage from 2000.

I think there is a recognition from federal lawmakers that advocating in favour of legalizing marijuana is a position that is more popular than they themselves are, said Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Nine states and Washington, D.C., now allow recreational marijuana; 29 states allow marijuana for medical purposes. But marijuana remains prohibited by the federal government, which continues to classify it as a Schedule 1 drug, the same category as heroin. And Attorney General Jeff Sessions is an anti-marijuana hardliner.

Sessions has a constituency: a majority of Republican voters remain opposed to legalization. But that majority is shrinking. Forty-three per cent of Republicans backed legalization in the Pew poll.

There are signs of movement among the Republican elite as well. Former House Speaker John Boehner, a one-time opponent of legalization, just joined the board of a marijuana company. When Sessions rescinded the Obama-era policy of not interfering in states that have legalized marijuana, Republican Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner threw a strategic fit until President Donald Trump promised him there would not be a crackdown.

The recent shift among federal lawmakers, Armentano said, comes only because individual voters at the state level have essentially forced their hand.

The opioid epidemic, he said, has pushed some voters to urge their representatives to make it easier to access a drug that can be used in place of some highly addictive pain pills. And voters have approved marijuana reform in direct votes in a diverse array of conservative and liberal states.

The fact is, if you put the issue of marijuana laws on the ballot and you allow the electorate to decide that issue, they virtually always decide in favour of liberalizing the marijuana laws, Armentano said.

The strongest support for legalization is among young voters. Some Democratic candidates hope that the issue can motivate young people who were reluctant to turn out for Hillary Clinton.

Sanderss pollster, Ben Tulchin, said the senators marijuana stance helped just a little in 2016, less than his authenticity and his sharp criticism of the economic and political systems. Tulchin said that marijuana-related ballot measures have had only a marginal, if any, impact on turnout among young voters. But he said Democrats are clearly on the right side of the trend.

Gary Wegman, a Democratic dentist and farmer running for Congress in Pennsylvanias 9th District, said there is a general-election risk to his pro-legalization position: while Democrats and young people in his district are supportive, older and religious people are less so.

But he said the obvious harms of prohibition  incarceration costs, a disproportionate impact on people of colour, an inability to safeguard product quality  made legalization the only position he could take. And he said he doubted he would get much flak for it.

I think its very minor on the minds of my constituents, he said. I think theyre much more concerned about health care, agriculture and jobs. He paused. But the marijuana issue does dovetail into agriculture. Because we could get good ag jobs.
MUZAFFARABAD, PAKISTANAn old wooden bridge over a fast-moving river in Kashmir collapsed as dozens of students were taking pictures on it, leading to at least five deaths on Sunday.

Javed Ayub, a senior tourism department official in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, said 14 students were rescued after the bridge collapsed and that civil and military rescue teams were searching for 11 others.

Ayub said rescue workers recovered the bodies of five drowned students. The students, most in their early 20s, were enrolled in the medical college at Faisalabad in eastern Punjab province. He said some students from a college in Lahore were also among those who fell into the river.

We hope for the best, but it will be unlikely to find the remaining (students) alive as the water flow is very high, Ayub said.

Ayub said the hanging wooden bridge was designed for locals to use in small numbers. The touring youths have not realized the danger despite a warning board asking people not to overload the old structure, he said.

Police official Mohammad Siddiq said eight of the rescued students were injured and airlifted to Muzaffarabad in a military helicopter for medical aid. He said the incident took place near the picnic point of Kundal Shahi, some 75 kilometres north of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.

The Neelum Valley is a popular tourist destination in the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir.

Kashmir is split between Pakistan and India, both of which claim the Himalayan region in its entirety.

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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIAA Cambodian school director has become the first person to be arrested on charges of insulting the monarchy after posting comments on Facebook critical of the authoritarian government.

The law protecting the monarchy was passed in February. Critics say it further erodes freedom of speech and political activities, already under stress from Prime Minister Hun Sens government.

Police said Khieng Navy was arrested in his home Saturday and could face five years in prison if convicted.

He is accused of posting comments online that allegedly insulted King Norodom Sihamoni by suggesting he was behind the November court decision to disband the main opposition party to benefit Cambodias enemies.

Sihamoni is a constitutional monarch with a minimal role in public affairs, while Hun Sen exercises almost absolute control over politics.

The Kampong Thom provincial court formally charged Khieng Navy with insulting of the monarch, said a statement released by the investigating judge, Khorn Kosal.

Offenders of the law on lese majeste, or insulting the monarch, could be punished by one to five years in prison and a fine of up to 10 million riels ($2,500 U.S.).

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KABULMilitants attacked a provincial government building in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing at least ten people, officials said.

Attahullah Khogyani, the spokesperson for the governor of Nangarhar province, said a suicide car bomb exploded outside the building, which belongs to the provincial finance directorate. The attackers then stormed the building, trading fire with security officials.

There were eight terrorists who carried out a co-ordinated attack in Jalalabad city, killing ten people, Khogyani said. He added that 42 other people were wounded during a five-hour battle.

He said security forces killed six of the attackers after two of them carried out suicide attacks near the buildings entrance. Security forces were able to rescue around 50 employees stuck in the building during the attack, he added.

Inamullah Miakhial, a Nangarhar hospital spokesperson, also confirmed the dead toll and said that more than 40 wounded people are undergoing treatment at the hospital.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Both the Taliban and a local affiliate for Daesh, also known as ISIS, have carried out numerous attacks in Nangarhar.

Afghan security forces have struggled to combat the Taliban and Daesh since the U.S. and NATO formally concluded their combat role in the country in 2014, shifting to a support and counterterrorism mission. The Taliban have seized control of districts across the country, and the two groups have carried out attacks in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in recent months that killed scores of people.

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KINSHASA, CONGOTwo British tourists have been released in eastern Congo two days after being kidnapped, according to announcements Sunday by Virunga National Park and the British foreign secretary.

Boris Johnson didnt give any further details, but paid tribute to the authorities from the African country and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation for their tireless help during this terrible case.

He said that my thoughts are now with the family of Virunga Park ranger Rachel Makissa Baraka who was killed during the kidnapping, and with the injured driver.

Cosma Wilungula, director general of the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation, welcomed the tourists release.

We would like to thank our brave team for ensuring the swift resolution of this incident, and the safe return of the two British nationals, he said.

Virunga Park director, Emmanuel de Merode, said: We are deeply saddened by the death of Virunga National Park Ranger Baraka, whose life was tragically cut short while protecting the passengers and driver. We wish to extend our deepest condolences to her family and our sincerest gratitude for her bravery and service to Congo. We would like to thank the U.K. government for their support with this issue.

The tourists vehicle was ambushed while transporting them from the park about 10 kilometres north of the city of Goma, a park guard told The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press.

Eastern Congo is home to multiple armed groups that compete for mineral-rich land. Virunga Park is home to about one-quarter of the worlds remaining mountain gorillas, and the work of protecting them has proven dangerous.

On April 9, six park staffers were killed in the deadliest known ambush of its kind in Virunga. Park officials blamed Mai Mai militia members.

That attack brought the number of rangers killed on the job to 175 since the vast park in far eastern Congo was established in 1925, officials said.

Allied Democratic Forces rebels have also been accused of attacks and kidnappings near the park.
United by mass killings, the group sat down for breakfast.

It was a change of scenery for James Shaw Jr., who wrestled an AR-15 from a gunman in a Waffle House in Tennessee last month, which authorities said likely stopped the murder spree that left four people dead.

The 29-year-old found himself in Florida on Saturday, trading the Waffle House for a Dennys with some company  students from Parkland.

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(T)he Most Legendary Breakfast ive ever had in my life, Emma Gonzalez said on Twitter afterward.

It was in response to a similarly glowing sign of affection.

I met one of my heros today, Shaw wrote on Twitter, with a photo of him posing with Gonzalez and a blue-checked teddy bear. Meeting the young adults of the Parkland incident so much fire and inspiration in their eyes was a great joy, he said in a later tweet.

There were some other mass shootings between the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida and the April 22 diner killings in Antioch, outside Nashville, Tenn.

But those two incidents have stirred the American public in deep yet different ways.

The shooting of 17 people in Parkland ignited unrelenting debate over the role of firearms in American life, renewed calls for gun-control measures and unleashed student activism led by Gonzalez and others. That activism has caught on in ways rarely seen since the Vietnam War.

The Waffle House killing, by contrast, is a story of heroism and small miracles in a mass shooting  a tragedy rarely ended with bystander intervention. In a brief lull during the killings, Shaw rushed the gunman and tore away his rifle. The piping hot barrel burned his hands. The gunman then fled and was apprehended a day later by authorities.

Gonzalez has been perhaps the most prominent figure among the Parkland students, joined by David Hogg. He was also on hand for the breakfast that included more than a dozen people who appear to be students.

Wow just, wow, Hogg wrote on Twitter after the breakfast, lots of work ahead but the young people will win.

Shaw, a father of two, harnessed his fame into a GoFundMe drive for the Waffle House victims hours after the incident occurred.

He started with a modest goal of $15,000 (U.S.). But his story was covered across the world, and the world responded in kind. He has raised more than $240,000 in 20 days.

Shaws story is still resonating. The most current donation as of Sunday afternoon: $100, given two hours before this writing.

But he seems focused to keep going with his story beyond the drive.

Thank you great meeting you all, lets keep inspiring and bringing (people) together, he wrote on Twitter to the students.
WASHINGTONU.S. President Donald Trump has been telling friendly audiences that he is proudly fulfilling a campaign promise with the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and that his real estate savvy is already saving the taxpayers a buck on the new location.

A campaign rally crowd gave Trump lengthy applause when he said the new embassy will open Monday  and on the cheap.

I said, How much?  something other presidents dont ask. They said, Sir, one billion dollars, Trump said in theatrical disbelief.

For $150,000 I could fix it. Itll be beautiful, Trump said at the rally Thursday in Elkhart, Ind.

Read more:

Trump admin says controversial Jerusalem embassy will open in May, significantly ahead of schedule

Israel kicks off U.S. Embassy celebration, boosts border force

Opinion | Burman: In favouring Israel, Trump puts it at risk

The president said nothing about another campaign promise to seek a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians, or the fact that meeting the first promise has, at least for now, foreclosed a chance for the second.

A regional peace initiative led by presidential adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner has been shelved because of Palestinian anger over the shift in decades of U.S. policy regarding the embassy, which held that Jerusalems disputed status was an issue to be resolved through negotiations.

Keeping the U.S. embassy an hour away in Tel Aviv was a signal that the United States would not prejudge competing Israeli and Palestinian claims to land and sites in the holy city.

Before the embassy announcement, the Trump peace plan was widely expected to be unveiled in early 2018, with Israeli-Palestinian talks to follow. Trump spoke expansively last year of a chance to make the ultimate deal, succeeding where others had fallen short.

Palestinian leaders called the embassy move a betrayal and an abdication of the U.S. role as a neutral broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They have boycotted meetings with American officials since the move was announced in December. None of the senior U.S. officials attending the embassy opening on Monday, including Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump, are expected to meet with Palestinian leaders.

The opening is timed to celebrate Israels 70th anniversary on May 14.

Trump is not attending, and neither are Vice President Mike Pence nor Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose deputy John Sullivan is leading the delegation. The relatively low-key delegation is a signal that the White House retains hope for the peace proposal this year, although there are no outward signs of progress.

U.S. officials say the plan is not dead and will be presented at the right time. Trump has barely mentioned it publicly in months, although he sounded upbeat when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White house in early March.

Were working on it very hard, Trump said then. It would be a great achievement  and even from a humanitarian standpoint  what better if we could make peace between Israel and the Palestinians? And I can tell you, we are working very hard on doing that. And I think we have a very good chance.

Trump, who got numerous details wrong in his account of the embassy cost, cites the embassy move as an example of his bolder leadership style.

America is respected again. Different ball game, Trump said at the campaign rally.

After the promises of many administrations and presidents, and that they never did it  they campaigned on the promise, they never did it  next week we will finally open the American Embassy in Jerusalem, he said.

Trump said he told U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman to spend a little more  maybe $300,000  and itll be beautiful.

The $1-billion estimate is for a planned replacement for an existing consular services site in southern Jerusalem, on land that was under Israeli sovereignty before 1967 and, the Israelis argue, will likely remain in Israels hands under any future peace agreement.

Under plans presented to Congress earlier this year, the new embassy would initially be housed in temporary quarters at that office site. The cost would be about $300,000 to $500,000, the figure Trump appeared to reference at the rally. He suggested the renovated building would then become permanent, saving money, but it is not clear that would satisfy legal and logistical issues for moving most operations from Tel Aviv.

Other administration officials frame the embassy decision as a common-sense recognition that Jerusalem already functions as the Israeli capital and would remain so in any negotiation. In the face of criticism from Europe and the Muslim world, the White House has argued that the embassy decision would help peace prospects rather than hurt them.

That idea got surprise backing Saturday from a former U.S. ambassador to Israel under president Barack Obama. Dan Shapiro wrote in a column for CNN.com that the shattering of this taboo is useful in its own right, and helps return the search for a resolution to this conflict to its origins, in the partition of Palestine.

The UN understood in 1947 that the conflict required the creation of two states, which logically means Jews and Arab must share the land, Shapiro wrote.

No other countries have their embassies in Jerusalem, though some did operate from there until the 1980s. On Wednesday, Guatemala will open its embassy in Jerusalem following the U.S. move.

In 70 years of Israeli history and the 51 years since Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank after the Six Day War, the conflict is no closer to a solution, Trumps ambassador, Friedman, said Friday.

One of the things that we thought was important in terms of the conflict was to look at the various leverage points and to see how we thought we could adjust those to create a better dynamic for peace, Friedman said.

What the president saw was that the Palestinians essentially had a veto over the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Friedman said. Youre empowering the leverage in a way thats not helpful.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat last week accused the Trump administration of violating international law and its own commitments towards the peace process.

As Washington pursues a policy of encouragement of international anarchy and disregard for organizations and international law, we call upon all diplomatic corps, civil society organizations, and religious authorities to boycott the inauguration ceremony, Erekat said.

Attending the ceremony would lend legitimacy to an illegal decision and to continued Israeli policies of occupation, colonization, and annexation, Erekat said.

Friedman, speaking to reporters from Tel Aviv, said diplomats from other nations were not invited to the opening, so it would be incorrect to report that any other nation declined our invitation because we simply didnt send any out.

Some European and other diplomats have declined to attend a separate celebration sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, the head of J Street, a U.S. group that favours a two-state peace settlement, called the embassy move a suicidal act that blocks the United States from playing any role in helping forge a deal of the magnitude and complexity that Trump seeks.

The credibility of this administration as a potential broker is lost and irreparable, he said. If it does put forth any sort of a proposal, the most one can expect is it will be a recitation of the right-wing Israeli talking points  proposals that have been aired out in Israel for some time but do not bear any resemblance to anything a Palestinian representative can accept.

Pompeo has called on Palestinians to return to the negotiating table but did not meet with them when he visited Israel on his first trip as secretary last month.

Pompeo appears to be positioning the State Department to resume a more traditional leading role in the Middle East portfolio, particularly the peace process. Kushners profile in the region is lower than it was last year, although he and U.S. negotiator Jason Greenblatt recently hosted a large regional conference at the White House on the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Pompeo also visited Saudi Arabia and Jordan on his first trip.

In Amman, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi made a point of saying that Jordan considers the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be the main cause of instability in the region, and that the goal should be a sovereign independent Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital. That is the central Palestinian demand from a settlement.

The two-state solution remains the only path to that peace, Safadi said, with Pompeo standing alongside.

Pompeo said the United States was not taking any final position on boundaries or borders, and that the United States would support a two-state solution if the parties agree to it.

Friedman released a Facebook video on Friday showing workers making final preparations for the embassy opening, including affixing a large U.S. government seal to a wall.

This year, thanks to the U.S. administration, the courage, the vision of President Donald Trump, we can say  this year in Jerusalem, Friedman says in the video.

That is a play on next year in Jerusalem, the traditional Passover Seder close.

Israelis are delighted by the embassy move, which Netanyahu has cast as an endorsement of his stewardship of the U.S.-Israeli alliance.

On May 7, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat hung the first street signs in Hebrew, Arabic and English, pointing to the relocated U.S. Embassy.

This is not a dream  its reality! Barkat said in a statement.  I thank President Trump for making this historic moment come to fruition. Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people  and the world is beginning to recognize this fact.

Trump seemed to have another kind of recognition in mind when he spoke of the embassy opening during the Indiana rally.

I said, when is this going to be open?  Trump said. They said, anywhere from five to 10 years.  Potentially too long for Trump to oversee the project. Also too long to take credit, Trump suggested.

So, so we open the embassy next week.

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Mothers, grandmothers, and all who care about young children have child care on their minds this Mothers Day. With a provincial election on June 7, theres hope we are on the cusp of the transformative change advocates have been calling for since the Royal Commission on the Status of Women recommended a universal child care program in 1970.

We represent demographic bookends of child care advocacy: I, Laurel, am a grandmother of seven who worked most of my life, and I know how difficult it was to find child care in the early 1970s. Without the support of the trail-blazing child care centre at York University, I would not have been able to be in the paid labour force or community activism.

I, Lindsay, am a millennial leader. I mentor many early childhood educators (ECEs) across the province who love working with children yet need to have decent work and professional pay. My peers and I face a stark choice: either continue to work for low wages in a job they love, which provides considerable societal benefits, or put their lives on hold.

Many ECEs who hope to pursue this lifelong career cannot afford to start their own families. And it is just not fair that educators who care for our children cannot afford to be mothers themselves.

Today, despite increasing involvement of fathers and second parents, in most families, child care remains primarily the purview of mothers. In addition to loving and caring for their children as all parents strive to do, mothers generally provide the bulk of unpaid child care at home. Sometimes mothers choose to be the full-time caregiver of their young children, but very often they have limited or no other options and may find themselves juggling part-time work with part-time unpaid caregiving.

The need for a system of high-quality child care is immediate and urgent. In the current patchwork of services, only 3-in-10 children younger than 5 have access to licensed child care, and that leaves out too many families. Seventy per cent of mothers with children under 3 are in paid work, and many of them are stressed out because they just cant find affordable, high-quality child care.

Ontario has the highest child care fees in Canada  and 8-out-of-10 families cannot afford licensed child care, according to economist Gordon Cleveland. So, many have to use less desirable alternatives. With two preschool children, the child care bill can be as high as $30,000, leaving close to nothing for food or transportation.

It does not have to be this way  Universal child care IS possible. Many countries have shown that universal child care is beneficial to children and families while fuelling economic growth as it supports women to enter and remain in the labour force.

In Ontario, we have never been closer to an affordable system of publicly funded child care.

But to get there, we need to think big.

These are our three big ideas for building a universal child care system that works for everyone:

First, make child care affordable for every family. Provide public funding to child care services the way we do for other services, such as libraries and recreation programs. Then set low fees or no fees so every family, regardless of location, age of children or income, can access child care.

Second, ensure that early childhood educators (ECEs) and staff, who are the key to high-quality programs for our children, have decent working conditions and professional pay. Recruiting and retaining qualified ECEs will require a provincially funded wage scale recognizing their level of education and years of experience, beginning at $25 per hour for registered early childhood educators.

Third, as additional services are created, ensure child care expansion is by public or not-for-profit programs that offer families high quality, trustworthy and stable child care. Every dollar of public funds must directly support our children.

Universal child care IS possible. Ontario is ready for it. In fact, Ontario cant work without it.

On this Mothers Day, send the best gift to the one you love, ask your candidate to pledge to make universal child care a reality.
People are resilient, we say. But now, in the middle of a growing refugee crisis that has left nearly 700,000 people without a home and living with the trauma of horrific violence, that feels trite.

The Rohingya people have no choice but to be strong. The other option is death, despair and destruction. Every one of the hundreds of thousands of people living in camps in Bangladesh has seen more than enough of that  so they make the life they can.

The challenge is not for them  it is for Canadians. How to find inspiration and reason and energy to reach half way around the world and help.

The monsoons are coming, as they do each year. We fear for those in the camps  the plastic roofs bowing under the weight of water, the sandy soil turning to mud, the drainage ditches overflowing. A natural disaster on top of a man-made disaster.

People there see a role for Canada. The recent report from Canadas Special Envoy on the Rohingya Crisis makes strong calls for more humanitarian assistance, more support to education and child protection, and humanitarian access into Myanmar (where there are still hundreds of thousands of Rohingya). It gives colleagues, friends and family there hope  hope that a major country is calling for serious action on this issue. With the G7 in Canada this year, there is an opportunity for movement.

This is the time to act. Before children miss out on years of education. Before poverty gives way to criminal activity. Before a region is destabilized.

We can build on those things that have been getting better. The number of malnourished children is declining. Successful vaccination campaigns have meant serious disease outbreaks were avoided. The camps hum with activity as people carry bamboo through the lanes and across newly built bridges over reinforced drainage canals. Maybe all this is resilience, and that isnt trite at all.

Debate now centres on whether the unspeakable acts that happened in Myanmar can be considered genocide. For Rohingya children, the question is an abstraction. Weve heard them tell us they were forced to watch men and boys being separated and killed; children and babies slaughtered; mothers and sisters raped; houses and villages burned to the ground.

They describe hiding in the forest, crossing rivers, trekking for days without food and water, carrying siblings not much smaller than themselves. In UNICEF Child Friendly Spaces, they draw helicopters, guns, fires, machetes, death.

That debate must continue, but right now Rohingya children need action, not words. An end to the violence. Humanitarian assistance and protection. And when feasible, a voluntary, safe and dignified return to their homes.

Several hundred Rohingya now call Canada home, but the oceans between do little to distance them from the suffering of family and friends. They only add to the sense of responsibility to speak up, to act and to hope their new home will embrace their old.

These are the survivors of an atrocity  everyone carrying the burden of a trauma. Everyone with a remarkable will to live. Even though it is hard to imagine a future, they, we, still look ahead  but coming towards us we see the monsoon.
Veterans of election campaigns know it isnt always the grand events that seal the deal, the carefully staged policy announcements, the speeches read from TelePrompters, the choreographed rallies for partisans.

It tends, often, to be the unscripted comment, the spontaneous reaction, and the accumulation of small vignettes from which those voters who are persuadable form conclusions about a candidates competence.

You can tell the power of such unplanned moments  and usually they are gaffes rather than charm - by how diligently campaign planners and handlers work to avoid them.

Before the TV debate of the three main Ontario party leaders last week, on the eve of the June 7 election call, there was one such image.

Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne, PC Leader Doug Ford and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath were drawing balls for stage placement and speaking order.

Horwath reached into a bag, pulled out a numbered ball, and said with evident delight: Its just like bingo!

In those few words, with the instinctive connection to that iconic pastime, there was more authentic affinity with working-class sensibilities than any number of assurances by Ford that hes for the little guy.

In that moment, Horwath revealed precisely the personality and perspective that had most analysts concluding a few hours later that she won the debate.

Another such moment came on the first day of the campaign when Ford was unwilling or unable to answer a reporters question as to whether he knew how a bill is passed.

I know that this is a gotcha question and everything because thats your game, big smile on your face, he snapped.

The response suggested Ford did not, in fact, know.

On the face of it, the question is unimportant. If elected, Ford will have all kinds of staff to shepherd legislation through the parliamentary pipe. The details will not be his job.

Still, his response does say rather a lot thats important about a man who most polls suggest is the front-runner and who is under intense scrutiny for the first time.

Ford boasts that his family has been in politics for 30 years. His father was an MPP who dealt with provincial legislation. His late brother was a Toronto mayor whose relationship with the province and its treasury was crucial.

You would think Doug Ford couldnt have helped but pick up a few basics about how Queens Park operates. It appears not.

That speaks, disturbingly, to his interest in and capacity for learning  which is what the job he is campaigning for essentially involves.

The responsibilities of the provincial government are vast and complex. To master one portfolio, let alone many, is demanding. To her credit, Kathleen Wynne, like most premiers before her, is a voracious learner.

After Fords event, radio panels discussed whether or not the question was impertinent. It was anything but.

As Cristine de Clercy, an associate political science professor at Western University, has said, its worth remembering he just got this job as PC leader.

Its a test of leadership. Does he have the gravitas, control and focus to show what he'll do as premier?"

So the question asked by Queens Park Briefing reporter Chris Reynolds revealed something about Ford  not least of all his temper - and elicited a comment that, once again, revealed the perils of spontaneity.

Im going to show you how many bills were going to pass, Ford said. Were going to pass endless bills down there.

Which is presumably not what conservatives  who find regulation, red tape, government intervention anathema and prefer to hear verbs like cut, repeal, reduce - would applaud.

The episode also invites an inevitable comparison.

Ford invariably sells himself as a canny businessman. But if a candidate interviewing for a senior post at Deco, the Ford family company, was similarly innocent about the details of marketing adhesive labels, would Ford be hiring?

More impertinent questions for all candidates please.

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Racism is part of Canadas character, Paradkar, May 10

Thank you for Shree Paradkars excellent work. There is nothing more antiseptic than the power of the sun, and bringing to light such horrible events as you do is so important and helpful to fighting racism.

My wife and I work daily with numerous newcomers and dear friends from Syria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Egypt, Kenya and other troubled places. They enrich our lives, and bring so much vibrant colour to the tapestry that is our community.

We are welcomed at the mosque and in homes like brothers and sisters. The love and tolerance of these new Canadians is astounding considering what so many have suffered. After the dreadful 2017 attack on worshippers at a mosque in Quebec, their reaction was fear, disbelief and deep sadness, but never an expression of anger, which caused me to question my own anger about the event.

Thankfully, negative experiences for our newcomers are extremely rare, with most citizens of our community embracing them with equal love and affection. But we cannot kid ourselves that intolerance rooted in fear and ignorance exists, and your articles are so important to a healthy society, casting light in the corners and dispersing the darkness, in respect of both race and gender issues. Thank you again and keep shining the antiseptic light.

Jeffrey D. Broadbent, Feifel Broadbent Gualazzi, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

I feel a strong need to thank Shree Paradkar. Her columns are sharp and pointed, but calm enough to ensure the discussion moves in the right direction. Canada only exists today because of its overtly racist past, but not enough people recognize this, let alone acknowledge it. Her articles are a breath of fresh air, despite their serious and sometimes melancholic nature. She makes a meaningful and significant contribution to conversations of national importance.

Dylan Thiessen, MA student, University of Calgary

Shree Paradkar claims that racism isnt the whole of who we are, but is definitely part of our character, both systemically and individually. That is quite a conclusion to draw from a video of a womans alcohol-fuelled rant.

When illegal immigrants started pouring over the border from the U.S. into Canada, local NGOs stepped up to the plate, offering refugees shelter, clothing, food and whatever other aid they needed to survive. We have integrated refugees from may different nations and cultures, mostly successfully.

Dozens of organizations stepped up to assist the 25,000 Syrian refugees our government brought in during late 2015 and early 2016. Canadians are not racists by nature, although many refuges who come here are. Many refugees are fleeing tribal warfare or religious or sexual persecution. They need time to let their wounds heal.

Our society is imperfect, but Canada and Canadians are not defined by the intolerant minority that exists in any free democracy. Canadians are not segregated by race or colour.

John Feldsted, Winnipeg
Anyone who believes the adage that you dance with the one who brung ya, must be taken aback by the latest developments from Doug Fords campaign.

Justifying his decision to bounce Tanya Granic Allen as candidate, Ford declared that her characterization of certain issues and people has been irresponsible. Those certain issues include public-voiced anti-Muslim and anti-gay slurs, something that was already widely documented when he joined hands with her the night he won the Conservative leadership race.

And to be clear, she was not part of any centre stage throng. She was the only other leadership candidate standing in support of Ford.

Kathleen Wynne and her Liberal strategists clearly believed they could embarrass Ford by bringing renewed public attention to Granic Allens outrageous comments. What has become clear, however, is that they have may have underestimated Ford, his political instincts and the remarkable resilience of Ford Nation.

In large measure, Fords rejection of Granic Allens candidacy in Mississuga Centre demonstrates his evolution as a leader as well as his sturdy grasp of both realpolitik and the back-to-basics Ontario mathematics curriculum he champions over sex education in provincial schools.

The equation is a simple one, as all the best political equations always are. He needed the support  and numbers  of Granic Allen and her social conservative posse to beat rival, Christine Elliott.

But the moment he defeated Elliott, he needed the numbers brought by Elliott and Conservative party moderates, even more than he needed Granic Allen.

Thats why his first step as leader was to make peace with Elliott; dumping Granic Allen is a further step in consolidating that support.

In politics, as in business, the skills and the people that get you to the first point on your itinerary, arent necessarily the same ones that can take to your final destination.

Fords willingness to do what it takes to win, demonstrates a tough-minded discipline, the ability to move with alacrity and a willingness to execute that positions him in stark  and favourable  contrast to others.

As it happens, parting company with Granic Allen also came with some highly desirable real estate: A generous acreage of moral high ground. Specifically, it allowed Ford to draw attention to the Big Tent that both he (and his late brother) can command. We are a party comprised of people with diverse views that if expressed responsibly we would respect, he declared.

That is by no means a hollow claim. Ford has already demonstrated his populist affinity for a Big Tent  he'll accept support from anyone of any race, religion or ethnicity. But when the outcry over Granic Allens controversial remarks threatened to generate enough wind to knock that tent over, he wasnt going to stand by and let that happen.

Not even for a minute.

In all of this, its useful not to lose sight of the fact that Fords Big Tent extends to political advisers as well as Ontario voters. Many of those now surrounding and counselling Ford cut their teeth in the early days of Stephen Harpers rise to power. Harper, much like Ford, was underestimated until the day he was elected prime minister of Canada.

In framing the Harper government, he and his advisers built and sustained power by successfully tacking from the hard-right into the middle to meet the majority of Canadians. It wasnt quite a bait-and-switch tactic, but it was reflective of the same hard-nosed politics of which Ford is clearly capable.

Its now abundantly clear that Ford is shrewd enough to understand the importance of such a strategy. With a little help from Harpers friends, he has positioned himself to use it to his advantage.

He clearly understands the famous adage of the French politician Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin, who said: There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them.

Now that the Ontario election is underway and as campaigning becomes more intense, Ford will continue on the path he has set. The social conservatives who brought him to the ball, will either have to change the way they dance or accept their status as permanent political wallflowers.

Jaime Watt is the executive chairman of Navigator Ltd. and a Conservative strategist.

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VANCOUVERAria Jones is about to celebrate her first Mothers Day and says it feels like a miracle.

Jones is one of a growing number of transgender women taking their place in the celebration of motherhood, but the role comes with complications. Experts say that current and historic transphobia, as well as family conflict, can make it difficult for trans moms to feel loved and appreciated on Mothers Day. But some, like Jones, have managed to avoid those obstacles and now look forward to a holiday that affirms their gender.

Jones, who is now 34 years old, was already married with kids when she came out as transgender and began transitioning in 2013. Her wife and two young kids have stuck by her side, and Jones said this years Mothers Day is a milestone in her journey.

I was a bit surprised because she (my wife) had gone aside with the kids and asked them how they felt about having me celebrate Mothers Day this year, instead of Fathers Day and the kids were great with it. They thought it was a great idea. And my son said Yeah I have something for both of you for Mothers Day anyway. 

Jones kids, aged 10 and 5, call her mom and dad interchangeably.

Ive told my kids I will always be their daddy ... because I was part of that creative process, she said, but I always felt that I am their mom.

Elizabeth Beacom, a Chilliwack mom who also transitioned to a woman after she was married with kids, has been celebrating Mothers Day with her family for several years. The couple looked to other two-mom families for examples on how to do it, and have successfully shifted the focus of both Mothers Day and Fathers Day.

We found it easy to share, she said, adding that she and her family will probably go to the park with their 7- and 2-year-old kids this Sunday.

Fathers Day is still a thing at our house, but its more for our dads, the grandfathers, Beacom said.

Lu Lam, a private practice counsellor who specializes in gender identity, said that when a parent transitions they set a good example for their kids.

Research shows that when people live in their authenticity and deepest humanity, they are just healthier people because they have that alignment with who they are. The desire is to care for themselves and therefore their children, Lam said.

But family and friends dont always embrace transgender parents when they come out. For some trans parents, it leads to separation or divorce, and accusations that theyre harming their kids, said Lam.

For Morgane Oger, a trans woman and mother of two, Mothers Day brings mixed feelings. She also came out as trans after she had married and had children, but is now divorced. According to her custody agreement, shes not guaranteed to see her kids on Mothers Day.

I only have time with my kids if Mothers Day happens to fall on a time when theyre with me.

This year she will be seeing her kids on Mothers Day, but said she isnt making a big deal out of the holiday.

I think its important to mark rituals and Mothers Day is one of those rituals and it also normalizes trans motherhood ... its a political thing for me as much as it is a family thing, she said.

But Im also going to do it with subtlety. Im also mindful of the fact that my children have a mother, and another mother, and one of their mothers had (originally) married had a man. So its respectful.

Veronica Greer also faces challenges as a trans mom. After she came out as trans, she and her partner got divorced, and Greer said her extended family, as well as her ex, dont support her identity as a woman.

Greer said she wont be seeing her kids on Mothers Day, but hopes to celebrate it with them when she seems them next weekend.

Both Greer and Oger said they face challenges in claiming their position as mothers, but accept that their kids call them by their first names.

Trans parents still face discrimination and that needs to be understood in a historical context, said Lam. For example, in the 1960s, trans people were discouraged from being parents.

Gender-identity clinics at that time were advising trans parents to sever contact with their established lives. Basically close off all relationships including relationships with their own children.

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For the Telegraph

EDWARDSVILLE  Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has reached an academic partnership agreement with the University of Costa Rica (UCR). The new five-year partnership with UCR, coupled with the current faculty-led travel study programs through Central American Mission Programs (CAMP), provide new opportunities for collaborative engagement in fields like pharmacy, dental medicine, nursing and public health, among others.

SIUE will collaborate with UCR in research, teaching, short-term travel study, student and faculty exchange, and clinical practice. This will allow SIUE to develop joint short-term student programs to Costa Rica, where students benefit from cross-cultural, high impact experiences.
In Nandita Dass directorial debut, the stunning Firaaq in 2008, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, then raw, wounded and bestial in his rage, played a man being chased by communal rioters during Gujarats notorious 2002 bloodbath.

There was something completely unrehearsed and refreshingly unpolished about Nawazuddin's indignation in Firaaq.

Ten years later we see another actor in Nawazuddin, all prepared, rehearsed and exuding a ruminative dramatic tension as the writer-author Saadat Hasan Manto that the original Manto must have felt but never articulated with the precision of an actor who knows exactly how to control the space around him, even when the space is muddled, chaotic and in turmoil.

Of course, the central performance we see in the brief trailer is exceedingly accomplished.

We expect nothing less from Nawazuddin. And with Nandita Das at the helm we expect sparks to fly.

First of all, the trailer looks incredibly accomplished, technically. The cinematography by Kartik Vijay and sound design by Resul Pookutty affords a masterclass on cinematic excellence.

Rest assured Manto is a film that will transport us into the emotional turbulence and intellectual uncertainties of the time when India was severed into two clumsy halves.

Into the cauldron of friction Manto spread his provocative ideas on what violence does to civilisation. He was hated by the authorities and disapproved of by his family. These aspects of his contumacious art are well implanted into the trailer.

The trailer shows a very accomplished supporting cast. The forever reliable Rasika Dugal has some acerbic moments with her husband as she reminds him how his scathing writings damaged their family life.

There are other minor appearances in the trailer by interesting actors like Shashank Arora which I hope will grow into something interesting when the film releases in July.

There is an inbuilt tension in the plot connected with Manto's scandalous reputation as a litterateur. The trailer taps into that tension but with an austere rigour. But does not tell us anything about Manto's subconscious repudiation of conventional tropes that we don't already know.

Interestingly in 2015, Pakistan had made its own Saadat Hasan Manto biopic with Sarmad Sultan Khoosat playing the lead and directing the film. Khoosat's Manto bears an uncanny physical resemblance to Das-Nawazuddin's Manto.

The Pakistani film on Manto was very dramatic, very Sanjay Leela Bhansali in its images.

This Manto seems far more restrained, not willing to let go. In that sense, the film's mood is in defiant opposition to its protagonist who was forever outspoken.

-IANS
The Goa Congress today demanded the appointment of a full-time chief minister for the coastal state in the absence of Manohar Parrikar, who is undergoing treatment in the US.

The Congress MLAs and office-bearers staged a demonstration here at the memorial of Goa's first chief minister, late Dayanand Bandodkar, in support of their demand.

Parrikar, 62, is currently undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment at a hospital in the US.

In his absence, a three-member advisory committee comprising cabinet ministers is looking into the day-to-day affairs of the state.

Goa Pradesh Congress Committee chief Girish Chodankar said, We have petitioned everyone, including the governor, seeking the appointment of a full-time chief minister in the absence of Parrikar, but nothing seems to be happening.

Today, the party workers and legislators assembled at the memorial of Bandodkar and "prayed" that the ruling dispensation led by the BJP appoint a full-time chief minister, he said.

Bandodkar, the founder of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), was the first chief minister of Goa.

After Bandodkar's death in 1973, his memorial was built close to the Miramar beach in the state capital.

The MGP, Goa's oldest regional party, is currently a part of the Parrikar-led government.

The MGP, which was formed by Bandodkar, is a part of the state government, but it also does not have guts to ask for the (appointment of full-time) chief minister, Chodankar told party workers at the demonstration site.

He said BJP president Amit Shah, who is scheduled to visit Goa later today, should look into the misgovernance in the state in Parrikar's absence.

Shah is expected to address party workers at a stadium near Panaji during his visit.

Chodankar said the Congress will continue with its demand.

The three-member panel formed by Parrikar comprises ministers Sudin Dhavalikar (MGP), Francis D'Souza (BJP) and Vijai Sardesai (Goa Forward Party, another ruling coalition partner).
After a protracted legal battle, the much-awaited panchayat polls are all set to be held on Monday in West Bengal amid tight security.

The polls will be the last major elections in the state before the next year's Lok Sabha polls. Political parties are viewing tomorrow's event as a warm up match ahead of 2019 general elections.

Polling will begin at 7 am on Monday and end at 5 pm. The counting will take place on May 17.

The run-up to the single-phase panchayat polls was marked by intense campaigning. The ruling Trinamool Congress was engaged in a bitter war of words with the opposition BJP, Congress and the Left Front over the violence that erupted during the filing of nominations for the polls.

The opposition had accused the ruling TMC of letting loose a reign of terror during the nomination process. The TMC rubbished the allegations, saying the opposition did not have a mass base and ware trying to evade the polls.

The filing of nominations, which was held from April 2 to April 9 and then again on an extended date on April 23, was marked by violence and clashes between the ruling TMC and opposition parties that led to several deaths.

Although top leaders of all parties campaigned for the polls, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee refrained from it. She appealed to the people to vote in favour of the development ushered in by her government.

According to West Bengal SEC (State Election Commission) sources, of the 48,650 seats in 3,358 gram panchayats, 16,814 were uncontested and of the 9,217 seats in 341 panchayat samitis, 3,059 were uncontested.

In the 20 zilla parishads, 203 of the 825 seats were uncontested, the SEC said.

According to the SEC sources, tomorrow's elections will be held in 621 zilla parishads and 6,157 panchayat samitis, besides 31,827 gram panchayats.

Around 1,500 security personnel from Assam, Odisha, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh are in the state to reinforce security arrangements for the polls.

They will aid around 46,000 personnel of the state police and 12,000 of the Kolkata Police, while the state government would use close to 2,000 security personnel from the departments of excise, prison and forests in manning the booths, an SEC official said.

Security forces today conducted route marches in various parts of the state as part of security arrangements.

The election this time witnessed an unprecedented legal tussle between the SEC, state government, ruling TMC and the opposition BJP, Congress and the Left Front.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has said Marxism is based on a "concrete analysis of concrete conditions" and a true believer of the philosophy analyses the situations and adapts to changing conditions.

Yechury, who was severely criticised by sections of the CPI(M) for advocating an understanding with the Congress to take on the ruling BJP, pointed to the success of the Communist China, which has "adapted to the changing conditions".

"Marxism is based on a concrete analysis of concrete conditions. As conditions change, if your analysis does not change then in my opinion you are not a Marxist," he said.

Yechury, who was re-elected to the highest position in his party for the second time in April, said the "assaults on reason and rationality, which rupture the social order", can only be fought by Marxism.

He likened the "emergence of private armies" which attack dalits and minorities in India to Italian fascists, the Blackshirts, and stressed that such assaults on the existing social order should be countered ideologically.

He referred to the rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir in January, which had provoked outrage across the country after members of the state's ruling party initially appeared to defend the accused.

"Dalit atrocities are growing in the country and the emergence of private armies attacking dalits and minorities are no different than the Blackshirts and Brownshirts of Hitler and Mussolini," Yechury said.

The dalits and the Left are uniting to fight them, he said at a discussion in Delhi on the relevance of Marxism in India and Asia.

Yechury said the essence of German philosopher and economist Karl Marx's theory is not dogmatic and not a formula that can be mechanically implied, but a creative science.

"Relevance of Marxism is not lost but has become even more relevant... That is why on the 200th birth anniversary of Karl Marx, The New York Times had come out with a headline saying 'Happy Birthday Karl Marx. You were right!'," he said.

On Marx's relevance in India, Yechury said the challenges of economic exploitation, the rise of fundamentalism and the continuous attacks on constitutional institutions can be only combated by Marxism.

Quoting Hungarian Marxist philosopher Georg Lukacs, he said fascists succeeded all over the world, especially in Italy and Germany, in "destruction of reason" and that is what is being witnessed in India.

"The only way to face such irrationality is through battle of ideas and that is where the relevance of Marxism comes. It is to reestablish the supremacy of rationality and reason," he said.
Gurpreet Singh, a combat veteran of the Afghanistan war, was promoted to lieutenant colonel upon assumption of command of the 42nd Infantry Division's Troy-based Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion during a ceremony at Camp Smith Training Site, Peekskill.

Major Gen. Steven Ferrari, 42nd Infantry Division commander, promoted Singh during the ceremony.

The 42nd Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion consists of four companies that support the commander and staff of the 42nd Infantry Division. The battalion has elements in Troy, Scotia-Glenville, Buffalo, Staten Island and Camp Smith, Peekskill. These include the Headquarters and Support Company, Operations Company, Intelligence and Sustainment Company and Signal Company.

The 42nd Division Headquarters is located in Troy and leads training of more than 14,000 soldiers from New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

He replaces Lt. Col. Mark Frank of Cohoes, who has become deputy director of personnel for the New York Army National Guard.

Singh, a Goshen resident, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Chemical Corps, upon graduation from St. Johns University and completion of a ROTC program in 2003. His previous assignments included as executive officer and deputy commander of 42nd Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion and 42nd Infantry Division Operations Company commander. From 2007-2008, Singh served in Afghanistan as the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Task Force Phoenix Force Protection/ Anti-Terrorism Operations and Plans officer.

As a civilian, Singh is a New York City Police Department detective assigned to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Singh has earned a Defense Meritorious Service Medal, a Meritorious Service Medal, an Army Commendation Medal, an Army Achievement Medal, an Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, and a NATO Medal German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge.

Served Like a Girl

Marissa Strock, of Leesburg, Va., formerly of Watervliet, who lost both legs during an improvised explosive device explosion while on duty as an Army military policewomen in Iraq, will be guest of honor during a showing on the documentary movie "Served Like a Girl" at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 19 at the Stillwater Elks Lodge at 300 Park Ave., Mechanicville.

A raffle and Chinese auction are planned and pizza and popcorn will be sold. Donations are welcome. Proceeds will benefit Final Salute, an organization that assists female veterans.

Strock, who is one of five women troops disabled in combat featured in the film, will speak and answer questions.

In "Served Like a Girl" female veterans from various branches of the military get together to participate in a Ms. Veteran America pageant competition to raise awareness of the 55,000 female veterans in the United States who are homeless. The film's stars, who have endured trauma in combat, form a sisterhood to help the rising number of homeless women veterans.

Fort Drum tour

The 210th Armored Association will sponsor a tour of Fort Drum on Friday, June 15.

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Association members and former members of the former New York Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 210th Armor, New Scotland Avenue Armory, Albany, and Hoosick Falls detachment as well as their guests are welcome.

Cost for the bus trip and tour is $45 per person. Photo identification will be required at Military Police check point.

Participants will tour the Fort Drum Heritage Center (museum), ranges and training areas.

The bus will leave from Walmart in Glenmont at 7 a.m. and Walmart at Crossgates Commons lower lot, Guilderland, at 7:30 a.m. For information, contact Richard Vanderbilt at 716-548-2070.

Flee CIA roof

A recent photo in last week's Duty Calls reminds Russ Ward, emeritus professor of sociology, University at Albany, and his wife of something they learned on a trip to Vietnam in March 2016. During a walking tour of Ho Chi Minh City, their Vietnamese guide pointed out the site of the famous "Fall of Saigon" photo and how the building is commonly misidentified as the U.S. Embassy. That is a photo of an Air America helicopter extracting people from the roof of a CIA building, the guide said. Dutchman Hugh Van Es shot that photo from a balcony at the United Press International bureau several blocks away from the Embassy.

News of your troops and units can be sent to Duty Calls, Terry Brown, Times Union, Box 15000, Albany, NY 12212 or brownt@timesunion.com.
Albany

When President Donald Trump was inaugurated, a surge of liberal activism swept the country.

It was good timing for attorney Antonio Delgado, who three days after the ceremony completed the purchase of a home in Rhinebeck, the Dutchess County community that sits squarely in one of the nation's major battleground congressional districts.

On Jan. 23, 2017  the same day Delgado bought the new home  he sold his previous house in Montclair, N.J. A month after his move to New York, the Democrat formed a congressional campaign committee to raise money in the race to take on Republican Rep. John Faso of Kinderhook, who has been rated among Congress' most vulnerable House GOP incumbents in 2018.

In the year since launching the campaign, Delgado has done well: He issued a news release last month stating that he is the only person in the seven-person Democratic primary field with more cash in the bank than Faso. Delgado has raised more than $1.9 million and gathered more than 6,000 petition signatures to get on the ballot  outstripping the rest of the Democratic field on both counts, his campaign said.

It's especially impressive because before buying the Rhinebeck house, Delgado had never lived in the 19th Congressional District, though he grew up in Schenectady, just outside the northern borders of the current district.

Delgado's resume and work ethic are attracting support, but he will have to overcome an obstacle that helped crater the candidacies of Democratic nominees in the district's past two election cycles.

In 2014, Sean Eldridge, the husband of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, was the Democratic nominee. Another recent transplant to the district, he lost by 28 points, despite heavily outspending his opponent, then-Rep. Chris Gibson, in a district that Democratic President Barack Obama carried that year by 6 percent.

After Gibson announced his retirement, Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout, another recent transplant to the district from New York City, became the Democratic nominee in 2016. Despite outspending Faso, Teachout lost by 8 percent.

At 41, Delgado is accomplished. A Rhodes Scholar who attended Oxford and Harvard Law School, he pursued a career as a hip-hop artist before later going on to work at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, an international law firm headquartered in Washington, D.C.. that is also the country's highest-grossing lobbying firm.

At Akin Gump's Manhattan office, there were more than 200 lawyers, and Delgado was among only three or four at any time who were black, he said.

"I've lived a narrative that's hard to come by," Delgado said. "Not a lot of people that look like me, and grew up like me, work at Akin Gump."

Besides Delgado's being new to the district, there are other potential pitfalls for his candidacy, including ties between Akin Gump and Trump. At the firm, Delgado represented major corporate clients, while his campaign is preaching a populist economic message.

Delgado's roster of clients included Keith Meister  an activist investor known as "Carl Icahn's right-hand man"  and a subsidiary of Friendfinder Networks, which owns more than 44,000 porn and hook-up websites around the globe. He represented Apollo Global Management, a major hedge fund that has been involved in a number of controversies not related to Delgado's own work.

He left the firm in July 2017.

Well-known Kingston businesswoman Pat Strong, an early Delgado supporter, said people in the district would understand why he had moved from upstate to seek career opportunities. Strong is one of many people in the district whose children have moved elsewhere due to the lack of good jobs in New York.

"I think Antonio Delgado and a number of the other candidates in the race left for other opportunities," Strong said. "It's an unfortunate consequence of the upstate economy."

Strong, who is running as a Democrat for the state Senate this fall, said she had been impressed by Delgado's work ethic.

Delgado's New York roots are highlighted on his campaign website, which notes that he was born and raised in Schenectady and is a "child of upstate New York" whose parents worked for General Electric  his mother as a secretary, his father in communications  and benefited from a better regional economy at the time.

Delgado's wife, Lacey, grew up in Woodstock in what is now the 19th District, which stretches from Rensselaer, Columbia, Greene, Schoharie and Montgomery counties down into Ulster and Dutchess counties and west into Broome County. They were married in Catskill and have twin sons.

More Information This is the first in a series of stories on some of the candidates seeking Capital Region-area congressional seats in the September primary and November general election. See More Collapse

Delgado said Trump's election was "a moment of awakening" that inspired his run for Congress. He said he was not concerned that voters would reject him because of his recent move to the district.

While living in New Jersey, Delgado said he had not considered moving to any other congressional district besides the 19th, and that he and his wife had considered a move to the Hudson Valley for some time.

Regardless of the outcome of the congressional race, "We're here to stay," Delgado said. "We don't have one foot here, and I'm not going back to Akin Gump."

Other candidates in the Democratic primary include businessman Brian Flynn, businessman and veteran Pat Ryan, Gareth Rhodes, a former press aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, trial attorney Dave Clegg, and teacher and former diplomat Jeff Beals.

Delgado studied philosophy and political theory at Colgate and Oxford before attending Harvard. He then spent time in Los Angeles as a music company executive and hip-hop performer under the name AD The Voice. His 2007 debut album featured lyrics railing against oil executives and the war in Iraq.

While living in New Jersey in 2014, Delgado changed his voter registration from Democratic to unaffiliated. He said he had grown frustrated with the "entire lack of solutions-oriented work, and politics overwhelmed by the select few and wealthy."

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A month after moving to Rhinebeck, Delgado registered as Democrat.

His campaign website states that his second career as an attorney consisted of "fighting for what's fair and just."

His work for corporate clients involved representing them in matters such as bankruptcy proceedings, contract disputes and a defamation suit, he said. Delgado said he also took on pro bono work such as defending victims of identity theft and defending poor immigrants in family court.

He earned $329,000 in 2016 and earned $217,000 through July 2017, according to financial disclosures that list between $390,000 and $990,000 in other assets, including a bank account with up to $500,000.

One of the factors leading to Delgado's decision to work at Akin Gump, he said, was that he needed help paying off a student loan for Harvard  which he still has not finished paying off.

Akin Gump employees have been the biggest contributors to Delgado's campaign. He has also gotten significant support from the financial industry, and has had the greatest proportion of any candidate in the race of out-of-state contributions, according to data posted on the watchdog site OpenSecrets.org.

Delgado said he had simply received donations from individuals he had gotten to know in his life, including at his former employer, and had not received any money from corporate political action committees.

"I'm only beholden to the people of the Hudson Valley and the Catskills," he said.

Akin Gump was by far the highest-earning lobbying firm in the United States in 2017, bringing in more than $39 million. Its lobbying clients included the Domestic Petroleum Council, the American Bankers Association, Chevron and Phillip Morris.

Delgado's work was entirely on the litigation and not the lobbying side of the firm, he said. He wouldn't be worried about Faso bringing up Akin Gump's lucrative lobbying practice in the general election. A former assemblyman and 2006 gubernatorial candidate, Faso for several years did lobbying and consulting work for the firm of Manatt Phelps & Phillips.

"I'm not a lobbyist," Delgado said. "Those are facts. He's actually the one who's been a lobbyist."

Akin Gump made the largest possible donation, $5,000, to Trump's transition team. Special counsel Robert Mueller, who is probing Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and related matters, requested documents and testimony from Akin Gump attorney Melissa Laurenza, who had represented indicted former Trump campaign aide Paul Manafort. Attorney John Dowd left the firm in 2015 and became Trump's personal counsel in Mueller's probe.

"I'm not going to agree with everything every lawyer in the firm says or does," said Delgado, who noted Akin Gump has 19 offices and 900 attorneys.

Delgado said he was not concerned that voters would reject him because he moved to the district from New Jersey last year  even given other Democrats' histories in the district.

"This is home," Delgado said. "I'm not sure the previous candidates could make that claim."

cbragg@timesunion.com  518-454-5303
San Francisco

The unwanted were turned away from cafeteria tables. Fistfights broke out at karaoke. Dances became breeding grounds for gossip and cruelty.

It became clear this place had a bullying problem on its hands. What many found surprising was that the perpetrators and victims alike were all senior citizens.

Nursing homes, senior centers and housing complexes for the elderly have introduced programs, training and policies aimed at curbing spates of bullying, an issue once thought the exclusive domain of the young.

"There's the clique system just like everywhere else," said Betsy Gran, who until recently was assistant director at San Francisco's 30th Street Senior Center. "It's like 'Mean Girls,' but everyone is 80."

After the cafeteria exiles and karaoke brouhahas, the 30th Street Center teamed up with a local nonprofit, the Institute on Aging, to develop an anti-bullying program. All staff members received 18 hours of training that included lessons on what constitutes bullying, causes of the problem and how to manage such conflicts. Seniors were then invited to similar classes, held in English and Spanish, teaching them to alert staff or intervene themselves if they witness bullying. Signs and even place mats around the center now declare it a "Bully Free Zone."

"I think in the past I would have just stayed out of it," said Mary Murphy, 86, a retired real estate agent who took the classes. "Now I might be inclined to help."

Robin Bonifas, a social work professor at Arizona State University and author of the book "Bullying Among Older Adults: How to Recognize and Address an Unseen Epidemic," said existing studies suggest about 1 in 5 seniors encounters bullying. She sees it as an outgrowth of frustrations characteristic in communal settings, as well a reflection of issues unique to getting older. Many elderly see their independence and sense of control disappear and, for some, becoming a bully can feel like regaining some of that lost power.

"It makes them feel very out of control," Bonifas said, "and the way they sort of get on top of things and make their name in this new world is intimidating, picking on people, gossiping."

There is far less recognition of bullying as a problem among seniors compared with young people. Even among those who have been called bullies, many are unaware how problematic their behavior is until it's labeled. Campaigns around the country have sought to spread the word, including a booklet circulated last year by the National Center for Assisted Living.

"In the life cycle, it doesn't go away," said Katherine Arnold, a member of the city Human Rights Commission in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, which created a public service announcement on its community-access station that included a portrayal of a man who was excluded from a card game and became the subject of gossip by other seniors. "There's really not a lot of escape."

Most senior bullying isn't physical but rather involves name-calling, rumors and exclusion, said Pamela Countouris, a longtime schoolteacher who now runs a Pittsburgh-based consultancy that offers training on bullying. Women constitute the bulk of the bullies Countouris encounters among seniors, a reflection of lifespan disparities and the gender makeup of those who live at or participate in programs at senior facilities.

Countouris' business began with a focus on school bullying but now centers exclusively on seniors. In the next month alone, she has more than a dozen training sessions planned.

After four years immersed in the wrath of older bullies, Countouris has heard all manner of stories. At a senior high-rise, a woman who saw herself as the queen of the parking garage would key the cars of those who crossed her. Elsewhere, laundry rooms became vicious places where the bullied had their detergent stolen and their clothes thrown on the floor. Bingo rooms so often devolved into battlefields  with lucky newcomers badgered and accused of cheating by veteran players  she came to call it "the devil's game."

"I didn't realize it was an underground society where people could be mean to each other," Countouris said.

In the worst cases, bullying goes far beyond bingo squabbles. Marsha Wetzel moved into a senior apartment complex in Niles, Illinois, after her partner of 30 years died and her partner's family evicted her from the home the couple shared. At Glen St. Andrew Living Community, she said she was met with relentless bullying by residents mostly focused on her being a lesbian.

One man hit Wetzel's scooter with his walker and unleashed a barrage of homophobic slurs. A woman rammed her wheelchair into Wetzel's table in the dining room and knocked it over, warning "homosexuals will burn in hell." In the mailroom, someone knocked her in the head, and in an elevator, she was spit on.

"I'd just go in my room and barricade my door and just pray," said Wetzel, now 70 and living at a senior complex in Chicago. "I just felt like a slug, like I was nothing, like I wasn't even human."

Lambda Legal, which defends LGBTQ rights, took on Wetzel's case and sued Glen St. Andrew, claiming Fair Housing Act violations. A federal judge dismissed the suit last year. An appeals court decision is pending.

Wetzel had seen such bullying throughout her life. She dropped out of high school when she became a punching bag for the girls who learned she was a lesbian. As a senior, she said, it felt even more traumatic  and the bullies even more vicious. She had a view of a cemetery from her window and would stare at it, thinking maybe only when she arrived there would she find peace.

"I felt like a person in a pool of piranhas," she said.

San Francisco

The unwanted were turned away from cafeteria tables. Fistfights broke out at karaoke. Dances became breeding grounds for gossip and cruelty.

It became clear this place had a bullying problem on its hands. What many found surprising was that the perpetrators and victims alike were all senior citizens.

Nursing homes, senior centers and housing complexes for older citizens have introduced programs, training and policies aimed at curbing spates of bullying, an issue once thought the exclusive domain of the young.

"There's the clique system just like everywhere else," said Betsy Gran, who until recently was assistant director at San Francisco's 30th Street Senior Center. "It's like 'Mean Girls,' but everyone is 80."

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

After the cafeteria exiles and karaoke brouhahas, the 30th Street Center teamed up with a local nonprofit, the Institute on Aging, to develop an anti-bullying program. All staff members received 18 hours of training that included lessons on what constitutes bullying, causes of the problem and how to manage such conflicts. Seniors were then invited to similar classes, held in English and Spanish, teaching them to alert staff or intervene themselves if they witness bullying. Signs and even place mats around the center now declare it a "Bully Free Zone."

"I think in the past I would have just stayed out of it," said Mary Murphy, 86, a retired real estate agent who took the classes. "Now I might be inclined to help."

Robin Bonifas, a social work professor at Arizona State University and author of the book "Bullying Among Older Adults: How to Recognize and Address an Unseen Epidemic," said existing studies suggest 1 in 5 seniors encounters bullying. She sees it as an outgrowth of frustrations characteristic in communal settings, as well a reflection of issues unique to getting older. Many see their independence and sense of control disappear and, for some, becoming a bully can feel like regaining some of that lost power.

"It makes them feel very out of control," Bonifas said, "and the way they sort of get on top of things and make their name in this new world is intimidating, picking on people, gossiping."

There is far less recognition of bullying as a problem among seniors compared with young people. Even among those who have been called bullies, many are unaware how problematic their behavior is until it's labeled. Campaigns around the country have sought to spread the word, including a booklet circulated last year by the National Center for Assisted Living.

"In the life cycle, it doesn't go away," said Katherine Arnold, a member of the city Human Rights Commission in St. Louis Park, Minn., which created a public service announcement on its community-access station that included a portrayal of a man who was excluded from a card game and became the subject of gossip by other seniors. "There's really not a lot of escape."

Most senior bullying isn't physical but rather involves name-calling, rumors and exclusion, said Pamela Countouris, a longtime schoolteacher who runs a Pittsburgh-based consultancy that offers training on bullying. Women constitute the bulk of the bullies Countouris encounters among seniors, a reflection of life span disparities and the gender makeup of those who live at or participate in programs at senior facilities.

Countouris' business began with a focus on school bullying but now centers exclusively on seniors. In the next month alone, she has more than a dozen training sessions planned.

After four years immersed in the wrath of older bullies, Countouris has heard all manner of stories. At a senior high-rise, a woman who saw herself as the queen of the parking garage would key the cars of those who crossed her. Elsewhere, laundry rooms became vicious places where the bullied had their detergent stolen and their clothes thrown on the floor. Bingo rooms so often devolved into battlefields  with lucky newcomers badgered and accused of cheating by veteran players  she came to call it "the devil's game."

"I didn't realize it was an underground society where people could be mean to each other," Countouris said.

In the worst cases, bullying goes far beyond bingo squabbles. Marsha Wetzel moved into a senior apartment complex in Niles, Ill., after her partner of 30 years died and her partner's family evicted her from the home the couple shared. At Glen St. Andrew Living Community, she said she was met with relentless bullying by residents mostly focused on her being a lesbian.

One man hit Wetzel's scooter with his walker and unleashed a barrage of homophobic slurs. A woman rammed her wheelchair into Wetzel's table in the dining room and knocked it over, warning "homosexuals will burn in hell." In the mailroom, someone knocked her in the head, and in an elevator, she was spit on.

"I'd just go in my room and barricade my door and just pray," said Wetzel, now 70 and living at a senior complex in Chicago. "I just felt like a slug, like I was nothing, like I wasn't even human."

Lambda Legal, which defends LGBTQ rights, took on Wetzel's case and sued Glen St. Andrew, claiming Fair Housing Act violations. A federal judge dismissed the suit last year. An appeals court decision is pending.

Wetzel had seen such bullying throughout her life. She dropped out of high school when she became a punching bag for the girls who learned she was a lesbian. As a senior, she said, it felt even more traumatic  and the bullies even more vicious. She had a view of a cemetery from her window and would stare at it, thinking maybe only when she arrived there would she find peace.

"I felt like a person in a pool of piranhas," she said.
ALBANY  A few female employees who sat just outside the 10th-floor office of the deputy commissioner had heard enough. The inappropriate banter among their male colleagues at the Division of Criminal Justice Services ranged from discussions of genitalia grooming to strip-club outings.

A formal complaint was filed and an investigation was launched by the agency's affirmative action officer, Wanda Troche, whose job included investigating sexual harassment. But her probe of then-Deputy Commissioner Jay Kiyonaga, who was identified as a ringleader of the conversations that took place in his corner office, didn't last long.

Troche, a longtime affirmative action officer for the state, said the agency's human resources director, Karen Davis, told her she would be taking over the case with Mark Bonacquist, the agency's first deputy commissioner.

"Later on, (Davis) called me into her office and showed me an envelope with (Kiyonaga's) name on it," Troche recalled of the 2012 incident. "She said, 'We handled it.' ... She said it's in his personal-history file. The sealed envelope had a notation that it could only be opened by Mark Bonacquist or the HR director."

Troche, who retired from the agency in 2015, said the incident was part of a pattern in which Davis intervened in matters involving high-level appointees such as Kiyonaga, who transferred to another state agency not long after the incident.

"There seems to be a pattern of protecting people, moving them around  at least folks who are appointees," she said.

A DCJS spokeswoman said she could not discuss details about how the case was handled.

"In this case, the agency determined that Mr. Kiyonaga's behavior needed to be addressed and took appropriate action to counsel him in connection with the matter," said Janine Kava, the agency's spokeswoman.

Troche said she later complained about Kiyonaga's case to an official close to Alphonso David, who has worked for Gov. Andrew Cuomo since January 2011 and became the governor's general counsel in 2015. It was after that contact that Troche said Kiyonaga was moved to another agency.

The revelations that high-ranking DCJS officials took over harassment investigations involving top managers comes after the Times Union reported in March that the agency punished two women who provided testimony in an unrelated harassment investigation involving the former head of the agency's Office of Forensic Science. The director, Brian J. Gestring, was not disciplined last year after the state inspector general's office found that he threatened female employees with physical violence and engaged in years of sexual harassment, racism and ageism. DCJS said it conducted its own investigation and cleared Gestring of wrongdoing.

Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott, who outlined her findings in a Dec. 6 letter to DCJS, recommended the agency take action "as you deem appropriate" against Gestring and two other officials accused of mishandling the allegations: Bonacquist, the first deputy commissioner, and Davis, the human resources director.

Instead, the agency terminated one of the women who cooperated in the probe, Gina L. Bianchi, and transferred another, Kimberly Schiavone, against her wishes. Schiavone's transfer included moving her from a spacious office to a windowless space that was formerly used as a closet. Bianchi, an attorney, was able to fall back to a junior-level position because of state hiring regulations, but she suffered a $40,000-a-year pay cut.

After the Times Union reported the details of the Gestring investigation, the governor's office said the matter was referred to the Governor's Office of Employee Relations and also to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Cuomo has declined to comment on the case, noting that it's the subject of an ongoing investigation.

There is no indication, however, that GOER's investigation is active. JCOPE's investigation has started slowly, and the two female employees who were punished by DCJS have not been interviewed. Bonacquist, who has worked for the state for 34 years, recently submitted his retirement papers. A DCJS spokeswoman declined to say whether he had been interviewed by JCOPE or would decline to cooperate now that he's leaving state government.

Cuomo does not always decline comment on allegations that are under investigation. Last week, after Attorney General Eric Schneiderman abruptly resigned in the wake of an article in The New Yorker accusing him of physical violence against former female partners, Cuomo issued several news releases, appointed a special prosecutor and called for Schneiderman's resignation. At a news conference Thursday with three prosecutors involved in the Schneiderman criminal probe, Cuomo spoke at length about the allegations and shared his feelings on sexual harassment and abuse of women.

"Women are speaking up, and I think that is a great thing," Cuomo said. "It takes courage for them to step up and speak up."

Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, a Republican candidate for governor, has criticized Cuomo for his silence on the DCJS case.

"All of what we've seen over the last week is part of a power structure in this administration that is just so blatantly hypocritical and harmful to women working within state government, and anyone who is working in an abusive situation," Molinaro said.

Last month, as news coverage of the DCJS case intensified, Gestring was fired for what a DCJS spokeswoman said was a separate incident involving inappropriate comments he made during an off-site training seminar in June 2017.

Yet the agency's decision not to discipline Gestring last December, after the inspector general's office detailed its findings in a letter to DCJS Commissioner Michael C. Green, is not unusual, according to interviews with current and former employees. They said high-ranking appointees who face accusations of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior often get shuffled to different agencies.

Public records indicate Kiyonaga, who declined a request to be interviewed for this story, has moved up the chain at various state agencies since at least 2002, when he was with the Budget Division. His ascent  he's now the second-in-command at the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, the state's second-largest agency  has taken place despite a string of complaints from female state employees at various agencies that he used sexually charged language or engaged in workplace violence.

In a federal complaint filed in 2011, Lynn A. Rowe, who worked with Kiyonaga at the Budget Division, said he mocked the way she walked and also made belittling remarks about her hearing. Rowe, according to the complaint, suffers from a serious muscular disease that affects her motor skills, including her ability to walk.

Last year, Kiyonaga was working as an executive deputy director at the Justice Center  which provides state oversight of the treatment of people with special needs  when a high-level female attorney accused him of workplace violence and other misconduct, including favoring a female subordinate employee with whom he allegedly had a personal relationship.

Patricia Gunning, who ultimately filed formal complaints against Kiyonaga  one of which is under investigation by the inspector general's office  said that after she accused him of manipulating policy decisions to benefit his romantic interest, he began treating her harshly. In an incident that took place months later, in front of dozens of colleagues in 2016, he entered her office, leaned on her desk and began screaming at her.

She said he yelled, "You're going to (expletive) do what I say; you're going to (expletive) do what I tell you to do," while pointing a finger at her face. Multiple employees approached her after the incident and said they were upset by what happened.

Gunning reported the incident to the agency's general counsel and an ethics officer. An investigation was done, which involved interviewing only a few witnesses. The agency determined he had screamed at Gunning, but she said the result was only that "they said they told him he needs to 'watch it.'" They declined to take action on Gunning's claim that Kiyonaga's retaliation was in response to her confronting him about an inappropriate relationship.

"He repeatedly retaliated against me before he got moved along (to another agency)," said Gunning, who was forced to resign, in part, from the fallout of the agency's inaction.

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Gunning said she also complained that Kiyonaga had made sexually charged comments about female members of her staff as well as other inappropriate comments related to sex. Again, she said, nothing was done.

Gunning said the Justice Center's general counsel told her that a report on Kiyonaga's conduct was going to be kept on file in their office, but would not be made part of his personnel file  the same way the DCJS case was handled.

Many state workers were stunned by the decision by the inspector general's office, following its investigation of Gestring, to turn over copies of the testimony of several women who gave sworn statements during the probe at DCJS. Many of the women interviewed in that investigation believed their testimony would be kept confidential, but the transcripts and recordings of their testimony were turned over to Green, deputy commissioner of DCJS, who played excerpts of Bianchi's recorded testimony as he interrogated her for about two hours last December in his office. She was fired a few hours later.

Gunning said that revelation has likely rocked the confidence of state workers who participate in investigations by the inspector general's office.

"When I learned what happened to two of the women interviewed as witnesses in the DCJS case, I was concerned that I had put other state employees who were called to testify in my case at risk by speaking up," Gunning said. "In my opinion, that revelation will have a chilling effect on the willingness of those in similar situations to make a complaint. The message is clear: If you speak out, you do so at your own peril."

Molinaro, who has trumpeted the DCJS case as part of his gubernatorial campaign platform, agreed that the inspector general's decision to share the women's confidential testimony was troubling.

"Think about the chilling message that sends to victims and anyone willing to speak up against those who use their power to abuse," he said.

Following the 2012 incident involving Kiyonaga at DCJS, Troche said she and other affirmative action officers from various agencies met at the Capitol with a panel of labor specialists and officials from Cuomo's administration. She said that during the meeting "it came to light that people were dealing with cases differently, handling them differently."

She said that at one point she voiced her concerns about the handling of Kiyonaga's case. A member of Cuomo's office cut her off and said that it was not the right forum for that discussion.

In a follow-up meeting with a member of the governor's office, she said, she voiced her concerns about how Davis, the human resources director at DCJS, had interfered in the investigation of Kiyonaga. Troche said it was not protocol for a human resources director to get involved in an investigation conducted by an affirmative action officer, and that Davis never intervened in investigations that involved low-level employees.

"I never knew what the outcome was," Troche said, referring to Kiyonaga's case. She added that Davis never advised her what action, if any, was taken.

Subsequently, Troche said her ability to access personnel records at DCJS was taken away and she could only review the documents if she first notified Davis, who would appoint someone from human resources to monitor Troche's review of any files.

"I found it was embarrassing to me professionally," Troche said. "Karen Davis wanted to control a lot of the situations, and was kind of making my life miserable in many ways."

Troche said that in her opinion many human resources officers believe their role is to "maintain the credibility of the agency at all costs."

Richard Azzopardi, a spokesman for Cuomo, said the administration has improved the way sexual harassment and other workplace misconduct investigations are handled since the 2012 incident involving Kiyonaga at DCJS.

"This was six years ago before, at the (Executive Chamber's) insistence, a uniform 10-step process for investigating these types of complaints was established," he said. "This process has since been further expanded and strengthened due to reforms passed in the budget that are now being implemented. It is our understanding that a thorough and complete investigation was conducted at the time. Afterward, (Kiyonaga) affirmatively decided to explore new employment opportunities at the Justice Center and was one of the architects in developing the agency."

blyons@timesunion.com  518-454-5547  @brendan_lyonstu
Baghdad

Iraq saw a record low turnout on Saturday in its first elections since the collapse of the Islamic State group, pointing to widespread dissatisfaction with the direction of the country under Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi and presaging a long period of deal-making as politicians squabble over posts in a new government.

There were no bombings at any polling stations  a first since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.

Al-Abadi called it a "historic day, spent peacefully by all Iraqis."

Riyadh al-Badran, a member on Iraq's national elections commission, said turnout was 44 percent. No election since 2003 saw turnout below 60 percent. More than 10 million Iraqis voted.

With no clear front-runner, it could take months for a new Parliament to form a government and name a prime minister seen as suitable to the country's rival Shiite political currents, who have adopted diverging positions on Iran.

The low turnout could open the door to Sunni-led and Kurdish electoral lists to play an outsized role in the negotiations as well. Iraq's population is predominantly Shiite.

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Despite presiding over Iraq's war on the Islamic State group, al-Abadi was opposed by other Shiite leaders who eclipsed him in charisma and popularity. In his first term, Al-Abadi courted both U.S. and Iranian support in the war on IS. His chief rivals were former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Hadi al-Amiri, who heads the powerful, Iran-backed Badr Organization militia, which participated in the war on IS. Al-Abadi was also opposed by the influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a staunch nationalist who has railed against U.S. and Iranian influence in Iraqi politics.

Iraq is beset by chronic corruption, a sputtering economy and failing public services.

"The candidates have not done anything for the people," said Ramadan Mohsen, 50, who said he cast a blank vote in Baghdad's distressed Sadr City slums. Millions of others abstained altogether.

Some Sunnis voting Saturday said they are hopeful this election will help Iraq move beyond sectarian politics and become more inclusive. Marginalization of Iraq's Sunnis under al-Maliki is seen as a factor that allowed IS to rise in power in Iraq. The war left more than 2 million Iraqis, mostly Sunnis, displaced from their homes.
Henry Johnson was one of the United States first heroes of World War I and he was among the last to be recognized by his country.

In Albany, Johnsons story is legendary, retold over and over in recent decades as his son and veterans groups and then politicians fought to win for him the recognition he deserved for fighting off nearly two dozen German soldiers and saving a fellow soldier May 15, 1918 in France.

Tara Johnson said she hopes someday her grandfathers story is made into a movie that shows the different layers of the man beyond that one morning in France. He was a man who served his country, spoke out against racism, suffered the aftermath of war but kept his sense of humor, she said.

I think this is a story that needs to be told, she said.

Tuesday marks the 100th anniversary of Johnsons battle in Frances Argonne Forest.

To mark the milestone, long-time Albany coin dealer Ferris Coin commissioned 500 commemorative coin-shaped medallions for the battle that nearly 100 years later earned Johnson the Medal of Honor, the American militarys highest decoration.

It took 97 years for Johnsons valor to be fully recognized because of a combination of poor record keeping and Jim Crow-era racism, only to eventually be pushed into the light after a drawn-out effort by Albany-area veterans and family members.

The medallion, expected to be unveiled next month, will be nearly pure silver, said Mike Dozois, one of three partners at Ferris Coin.

Ferris decided to create the medallion to honor Johnson and the city where Ferris Coin stood for more than 85 years, Dozois said. The business moved last year from Central Avenue to Wolf Road.

Were pretty excited, he said. The artist worked really hard on this and were proud to be a part of it.

They held a contest that drew more than 50 submissions from around the country. The winner was Chris Costello, a Massachusetts-based artist.

The first 10 coins will be awarded to winners of Albanys Henry Johnson Award for Distinguished Community Service.

Number 369 will go to the 369th Veterans Association. The remainder will be available for sale and a portion of the proceeds will go toward supporting the 369th veterans, Dozois said.

Tara Johnson said she was happy to hear that a local business was working to keep her grandfathers story alive.

My concern was to make sure the 369th and my grandfathers image were protected, she said. I think a contest was an exciting thing to do.

Henry Johnson moved to Albany as a child and worked various jobs, including as a railroad porter. He enlisted on June 5, 1917.

On May 15, 1918, Johnson was standing sentry in the Argonne alongside Private Needham Roberts.

The inexperienced pair had drawn the midnight to 4 a.m. shift, charged with watching the edge of the French lines. The two were members of the 369th Infantry Regiment, an all-black unit that had been integrated into the French Army because white American troops would not fight alongside them.

An hour into their watch, a German sniper began firing at them. Johnson later told an interviewer that he laid out a box of grenades nearby, preparing for further trouble.

During the attack, Roberts was seriously wounded by a German grenade. He was unable to do more than hand Johnson additional grenades as the Germans advanced.

Using grenades, a rifle and finally a large machete-like knife, Johnson fought off close to two dozen German soldiers and saved Roberts from being captured. The final bloody tally is uncertain but the accepted narrative is that Johnson, who stood only 5-foot-4, killed at least four Germans and wounded as many as 20 more. For his part, Johnson suffered 21 wounds in the hour-long fight, most of them from knives and bayonets.

The skirmish made Johnson one of the wars first American heroes and earned him the nickname Black Death.

In an interview months later, he seemed largely unfazed by what he had done, summing up the tale matter-of-factly.

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Thats about all. There wasnt so much to it, he said.

In recognition of his bravery, France awarded him the Croix de Guerre with the gold palm, the countrys highest military honor. Johnson became the first American to receive the award. Back home, his story was used as a recruiting tool to draw more black Americans to enlist.

When the 369th, nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters, was sent home at the end of the war, they were greeted as heroes with a parade in New York City. They had spent 191 days at the front, the most of any American unit in the war.

But the goodwill toward Johnson was short-lived in the Jim Crow era. He kicked off a promotional speaking tour in St. Louis after detailing the discrimination that black troops faced during the war, including being treated as servants, rather than soldiers. He struggled to hold a job because of his physical limitations from war wounds. His wife left him and he fell into alcoholism. He died July 1, 1929 at Walter Reed hospital in Washington, D.C., from myocarditis, a type of heart disease.

For 97 years, Johnsons story was incompletely recognized, despite being on par with other famous American war heroes exploits like those of Sgt. Alvin York and Major Charles Whittlesey. The story itself was full of errors, as researcher Megan Smolenyak discovered while doing research for the U.S. Army to support Johnsons nomination for the Medal of Honor.

It was assumed that Johnson had not received a pension or the health care afforded to other veterans. Neither of those were true, according to Smolenyaks research. His birth place, birth date, where he enlisted and where he died have all been cited differently, depending on the source of the information.

Even his gravesite was lost for a time. His family originally believed he was buried in a paupers grave in Albany. Decades later his gravesite was discovered at Arlington National Cemetery under his birth name, William Henry Johnson.

But Johnsons legacy lived on. And a relentless push by Albany veterans and his son, Herman Johnson, forced the country to recognize Johnson properly.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton awarded him a Purple Heart. In 2002, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. But the nations highest recognition, the Medal of Honor, eluded his family.

Finally, a staffer for Sen. Charles Schumer discovered a letter from Gen. John J. Pershing, praising Johnsons actions. That recognition of Johnsons valor from the leader of American troops in World War I fulfilled the final requirement and in 2015, President Barack Obama added Johnson to the list of Medal of Honor winners.

In a final twist to the cloudy story of Johnson, Smolenyak discovered that Herman Johnson had a different mans name listed as his father on his birth certificate. The honor can only be presented to the honorees or their direct descendants. That meant that the Medal of Honor was presented to Command Sergeant Major Louis Wilson of the New York National Guard, rather than Herman Johnsons daughter, Tara Johnson.

His great-grandson, Demarqus Townsend, of Toledo, Ohio, served eight years as a Marine and was deployed to Iraq. In an interview with PBS before Johnson was awarded the Medal of Honor, Townsend reflected on Johnson and the possibility of finally receiving the award.

He wasnt a glory seeker. He had one mission, and that was to bring Needham Roberts, his buddy, his fellow soldier, back. Thats why its so important that he gets his due, Townsend said.
Washington

Senate Democrats are still defending 10 states that President Donald Trump won in 2016, but six months out from Election Day, the most vulnerable senator remains a Republican.

Nevada Sen. Dean Heller no longer faces a primary threat, but he's the only Republican up for re-election in a state Hillary Clinton won, and in this national environment that's a tricky place to be.

The Democrats' odds of flipping a few GOP-held open seats in Arizona and Tennessee have increased over the past six months, but this list ranks incumbents most likely to lose  not seats most likely to flip. The list is compiled after consultation with strategists from both sides of the aisle and the race ratings from "Inside Elections" with Nathan Gonzales.

Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev.

Heller remains at the top spot because he's only Republican up for re-election in a state Clinton carried in 2016, and Democrats have a favorable national environment this cycle.

Heller has one less hurdle with perennial candidate Danny Tarkanian dropping his primary challenge to run for the House, at Trump's urging. Democrats contend Heller moving toward Trump while Tarkanian was in the race could come back to haunt him.

They have coalesced around Rep. Jacky Rosen, who is already up on television. (She does have a self-funding primary challenger.)

Rosen raised more than twice as much as Heller in the first quarter of the year, pulling in $2.6 million to Heller's $1.1 million. But Heller still has a cash-on-hand advantage.

Sen Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

Although some Republicans have fretted that likely GOP challenger Josh Hawley wasn't living up to expectations, McCaskill is still one of the most vulnerable incumbents.

Hawley's fundraising caused some concern, but he also shook up his team, bringing in experienced GOP fundraiser Katie Walsh, according to Politico.

Some operatives say Hawley could be hurt by his connection to disgraced Missouri GOP Gov. Eric Greitens, but Hawley's team says the scandals won't affect him.

Republicans say Missouri is moving to the right, and point to Trump's continued popularity in the Show-Me State. Former state Rep. Mike Braun, who touts himself as a businessman outsider in the mold of Trump, is taking on the first-term Democratic senator.

Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind.

In a big Trump state, Donnelly's got his work cut out for him, as Braun  who's got plenty of his own money  will try to tie him to Washington, much like he did his two primary opponents. But Braun's state legislative record and business background comes with its own vulnerabilities, and Donnelly has proved willing to support the president at times.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.

Heitkamp is the only statewide Democratic official in North Dakota, and Republicans believe the state's shift to the right means she's in serious trouble this year. Her challenger, GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer, has the advantage of not facing a primary. As the state's at-large member, he also enjoys high name recognition. Heitkamp does still have a cash on hand advantage with $5.4 million in the bank, compared to Cramer's $1.9 million. Democrats believe Heitkamp has a strong personal brand in the state as an independent lawmaker.

Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va.

Facing West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in November, Sen. Manchin's in for a tough race in a state that went big for Trump. Morrisey will tout his lawsuits against the Obama administration and hammer Manchin on his support for Clinton in 2016. But Morrisey's not without his own ties to Washington and the pharmaceutical industry, which could complicate the GOP playbook. The senator has a significant cash-on-hand advantage.

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Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

The three-term senator moves up the list because of the entrance of Florida Gov. Rick Scott into the Senate race. With statewide name identification and endless personal resources, Scott poses a real threat to Sen. Nelson, even in a state that's more Democratic than the home states of some other senators appearing lower on the list. Nelson ended the first quarter with $10.7 million, while Scott hasn't had to file a fundraising report yet.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.

Trump took aim at Tester, even calling on him to resign, over his resistance to the president's VA nominee. Along with Tester's vote against a stopgap funding measure that would have reopened the government earlier this year, Republicans think they have a strong case against the former DSCC chairman. Tester's never taken more than 50 percent in his previous Senate races. But it's also possible that as the senior Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee, Tester has helped solidify his own brand in Big Sky Country by doing what he thought was best for veterans. It's looking like he'll face fellow flat-top Matt Rosendale, who will likely be attacked as a carpetbagger from Maryland. Tester ended the first quarter with nearly $7 million to Rosendale's $541,000.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.

Wisconsin has attracted the most outside spending of the Senate races so far, in part because Republicans view Sen. Tammy Baldwin as vulnerable on issues relating to veterans' health care. But Democrats are watching for a potentially ugly primary between the two GOP candidates: state Sen. Leah Vukmir and Marine veteran Kevin Nicolson. Baldwin has kept her focus on the general election, airing five television ads so far. Republicans still believe she is very vulnerable and too liberal for the state.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio

Brown's running for re-election in a state that's trending away from Democrats, but GOP nominee Rep. James B. Renacci  a wealthy congressman and former registered lobbyist  should quiet attacks on Brown for being part of Washington. Although Renacci has plenty of his own resources, Republicans haven't been impressed with his fundraising.

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.

Republicans and Democrats acknowledge that Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania is one of the least vulnerable Democratic senators running in states Trump carried in 2016. One of Trump's early allies, GOP Rep. Lou Barletta, appears to be the likely nominee. Casey has broken fundraising records with more than $10 million on hand  the most of any Senate candidate in the state's history. Barletta had $1.3 million on hand at the end of this year's first quarter.
EDITOR'S NOTE: AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee was one of two journalists who accompanied Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to North Korea this week on a visit that secured the release of three detained Americans. Lee previously accompanied the top U.S. diplomat to Pyongyang when he traveled in 2000 with Madeleine Albright who met with the current North Korean leader's father Kim Jong Il. Lee describes the secrecy that preceded Pompeo's mission and his impressions on how Pyongyang has changed.

Washington

It began with quiet words from State Department officials: Apply for a new passport immediately. You may soon be going to a country for which ordinary U.S. passports are not valid.

Vague as it was, the instruction to two reporters left little doubt about our destination: North Korea.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had visited the capital, Pyongyang, in secrecy while he was still CIA chief in April to set the stage for a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Now, Washington was abuzz with rumors that he would be heading back to finalize details for the summit and bring back three U.S. citizens who had been held by North Korea for alleged anti-state activities.

It would be my second visit to the authoritarian nation. Eighteen years ago, I had accompanied Madeleine Albright on her historic trip, the first-ever by a sitting secretary of state  a highly choreographed, two-day affair covered by 80 journalists.

But this was an under-the-radar, secret mission with only two American reporters as witnesses.

Since the death last year of Otto Warmbier, the American college student who suffered brain damage while in North Korean custody, U.S. nationals have been prohibited from traveling to North Korea without special passport validation.

An hour after handing over our passports, Carol Morello of The Washington Post and I were in possession of new ones. Carol and I, who cover the State Department, were told to pack a bag and be on stand-by. We were sworn to secrecy and advised that any leak would be grounds for the press seats on his plane to go empty.

Rumors of the trip intensified through the weekend.

Saturday and Sunday passed with no word. Late on Monday, we were told we'd depart from the department's Foggy Bottom headquarters at 7:45 that night. We would fly overnight with refueling stops in Alaska and Japan, and on to North Korea, returning in reverse order at some point.

We left in a two-van motorcade from the department's underground parking garage with spokeswoman Heather Nauert, a translator and other Pompeo aides for Joint Base Andrews outside Washington. Once at Andrews, we waited for Pompeo to arrive and soon the U.S. Air Force C-32, its fuselage emblazoned with "United States of America," was airborne.

So began a four-day journey with no confirmed schedule, no guarantee of the prisoners' release or on progress for the summit and little to no sleep.

When I'd visited in 2000 as a reporter for the French news agency Agence France-Presse to cover Albright, circumstances were different. No special passport was needed. Dozens of journalists had either flown with the secretary of state or taken charter flights from Beijing to Pyongyang to cover the events. There were organized press tours of the capital hosted by the current leader's late father, Kim Jong Il.

The dynamics between Washington and Pyongyang had changed, too, in unpredictable ways. Trump and the younger Kim had traded threats and insults during 2017 as North Korea conducted atomic and ballistic missile tests, fueling fears of war. This year, the rhetoric cooled and Kim had made an extraordinary offer to meet with Trump, an invitation the president accepted with alacrity.

As our plane descended Tuesday into the U.S. air base in Yokota, Japan, for its second refueling stop, Trump announced his top diplomat was on his way to Pyongyang. It came during his declaration that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal.

After a quick cold shower, we left Japan for the two-and-a-half-hour flight north and arrived at the Pyongyang airport early Wednesday. All normal communications were shut down with staffers carrying "burn phones" on which they could text and a limited number of satellite phones for emergency use only.

Pompeo was greeted by North Korean dignitaries and boarded a Mercedes limousine. We climbed aboard a Chevy van, identified by logos on the spare tire and driver's console as "The American Road."

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Pyongyang had changed a lot in two decades. There were more tall buildings and more vehicles, but fewer than in other capitals.

After a winding drive past grandiose memorials, museums, government offices and revolutionary billboards, we arrived at the city's main hotel for foreign visitors, the Koryo International, where many of us had stayed when Albright visited in 2000. The hotel re-opened last year after a renovation aimed at ridding it of its Soviet-style appearance, with gleaming marble floors and walls.

With Pompeo's uncertain schedule, the Koryo lobby, bookstore, luxury goods market, coffee shop and Korean restaurant were Carol's and my base for the next 13 hours while he met and lunched with North Korean officials and finally left for closed-door talks with Kim. We waited for news over endless cups of coffee.

The bookstore offered some respite. It sold treatises by Kim Il Sung, North Korea's founder and the current leader's grandfather, and by Kim Jong Il on their life and politics. There was also a book of anecdotes about Kim Jong Un that had a chapter on the importance of well-fed dolphins. Postcards depicting North Korea's military might were big sellers, according to the clerk. Dollars, euros, yen, Chinese yuan all happily accepted, she said.

Essentially we had a long, boring wait. Still, the Koryo can offer up surprises.

Eighteen years ago, it was the appearance of a German aid worker, Norbert Vollertson, who seized on the presence of foreign correspondents to risk expulsion by illegally driving one of them out of town to show him squalid living conditions and human rights abuses. He was later deported.

On Wednesday, it was when hotel staffers suddenly began to stare in rapt attention at televisions tuned to state television. It was a special report, breaking news to North Koreans about Kim's two-day trip that week to China, to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The trip was treated as an epic event that analysts said could have been a test flight to prepare for Kim's upcoming summit with Trump.

After Pompeo finally returned from his meeting with Kim, he gave a "fingers-crossed" response when asked if the American prisoners would be released. About 10 minutes later, a North Korean emissary arrived to give him the good news: They would be released. We would be heading home soon.

A small team of medical personnel and officials were dispatched to collect the three detainees. The rest of us, including Pompeo, drove to the airport to board the plane for the long journey back to Washington.

As the prisoners arrived, we caught a glimpse of them leaving their vehicle and walking up stairs to the plane. They were ambulatory and appeared in good spirits as they boarded. They were sequestered in the middle section of the plane with curtains closed.

They were transferred to another, smaller government jet in Japan, and we would not see them again until they arrived at Andrews and emerged from their aircraft with Trump. We watched online on our cell phones from a distance as we and our plane were held far from the event, too far to make out faces or any details.

In 2000, I had written a story comparing Pyongyang to a real-life version of "The Truman Show," the 1998 film about a man living in a reality created for television. Standing on the tarmac in the wee hours of Thursday morning and staring at a live feed of the prisoners' return on my iPhone while Trump greeted them hundreds of yards away, that sense returned.
Thurles Lions Clubs third annual Vintage and Classic Car Show proved an outstanding success this afternoon in St Patrick's College as hundreds of people turned out for an event which featured something for everyone in the family.

For vintage car, tractors and machinery enthusiasts there was loads to see and there was plenty to keep the kids entertained too with bouncy castles, water sports, fun and loads of games situated right around the spacious campus. The emergency services were present in force also with kids having the opportunity to sit into fire engines, army personnel carriers, squad cars and coast guard rescue boats and equipment. Mo Chara animal rescue also hosted a dog show which was very well received indeed.

There was also an abundance of food and beverages available all day long and with live music, song and dance a real feature of this event which has become a must for all the family, there was a magnificent atmosphere which helped put everyone in a good mood.

There were many magnificent vintage cars on display.

Book stalls, food and craft fair and sale of many other items throughout the thirteen and a half acre campus made for plenty of business being conducted as well. Thurles Lions Club has fundraised for many local organisations down through the years in The Cathedral Town and this event was no different with local youth musical theatre group Phoenix Productions benefiting from the proceeds of the day.

Of course, the weather made the event and the general view amongst the majority of those who attended is that the organisers have a direct line to the weather Gods - they have enjoyed great weather for each of their vintage shows, which continue to grow and grow each year.

Congratulations to the many organisers and helpers who created a fantastic day out for all the family in Thurles.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, pictured in the center

A bipartisan coalition of House members introduced the Secure Data Act, prohibiting surveillance and law enforcement agencies from forcing companies to install backdoors in their products and services, thus making them less secure.

The Secure Data Act includes co-sponsors such as Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y), Ted Poe (R-Texas), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).

Backdoors Make Products (And Their Users) Less Safe

The politicians argued that having companies insert backdoors into products and services will make everyone less safe, even if the backdoor helps catch some criminals every now and then. After all, law enforcement has more access to data, either with warrants or without, than ever. The devices we use also share more data on us than ever, leading some security experts to conclude that we leave in a Golden Age of Surveillance.

We also know that even in the San Bernardino case, which started the new war against cryptography (after the U.S. government lost the one in the late 90s), the FBI could use other means to unlock the device, without needing a backdoor or even Apples help to do it. Thats because getting security right is already incredibly difficult, and its virtually impossible to make a digital product unhackable.

To add a backdoor on top of that frailness of security would just mean even more opportunities for malicious actors to hack into devices and systems. Furthermore, theres also the issue of government abuse.

Perhaps initially or most of the time, the government would seek out a warrant or a court order to access the backdoor. However, eventually the backdoor may either be misused in secret, or law enforcement could lobby for new legislation, as it did with the new FISA changes or the National Security Letters (NSLs), that would allow it to use the backdoor without any judicial review.

Congressman Massie also believes that making backdoors official for American products would make American products and services less desirable in other countries:

When the government forces companies to insert security backdoors in their products, they make Americans less safe. Backdoors in otherwise secure products make Americans data less safe, and they compromise the desirability of American goods overseas.

One of the reasons for the recent passing of the CLOUD Act was because multiple countries and important markets for American business were starting to require local data centers. That happened, in part, because those countries no longer trusted the American government not to abuse access to that data (which we already know it has).

Secure Data Act

According to the Secure Data Act, which the EFF supports, no agency may mandate or request that a manufacturer, developer, or seller of covered products design or alter the security functions in its product or service to allow the surveillance of any user of such product or service, or to allow the physical search of such product, by any agency.

The bill would protect both device makers that enable storage encryption as well as software developers that make end-to-end encrypted applications from being forced to alter their products in a way that weakens their encryption. The Secure Data Act also forbids the government from requesting a court order that would force the companies to comply with a backdoor.

The only exception would be for wiretapping standards required under the 1994 Communications for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). However, even under CALEA, voice providers such as wireless carriers are still permitted to enable end-to-end encryption -- its just that none of them has, especially when they tend to have such cozy relationships with the NSA.

The EFF also said that the Secure Data Act would prevent another crypto war, and it would also lower the risks of other anti-encryption legislation, such as the one introduced by Senators Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Richard Burr (NC), gaining a foothold in Congress.
In the grand scheme of things, the ink hasnt even dried on the announcements from BMW and Mercedes to skip the 2019 Detroit Auto Show. And, yet, here we are looking at an announcement from Audi saying it, too, will skip the 2019 North American International Auto Show. According to automakers, it has come too expensive and, with venues like CES drawing larger crowds and largely overshadowing the Detroit Auto Show, it only makes sense to skip the show. In the meantime, Detroit organizers have been looking to move the official date of the show, but that wont happen until at least 2020. But, are automakers pulling out because of the associated cost and lack of crowd, or do they just hate America and Detroit?

The Local Audi, BMW, and Mercedes Dealers Will Pay

Detroit has a lot of American Spirit and a lot of folks in Detroit dont want anything to do with German cars

I have personally covered the Detroit Auto Show as a journalist for many years, and I have to admit the Audi, BMW, and Mercedes booths dont really get too much attention. Well, outside of the Asian crowd, anyway. And, I swear, thats not a racist thing. If you happen to go on a press day, youll see the German booths constantly packed with folks from Asia. But, thats not the point, the point is that Detroit has a lot of American Spirit and a lot of folks in Detroit dont want anything to do with German cars. They love their Chevys and their Fords. Hell, even the Chrysler booths are more populated half of the time, and nobody likes FCA outside of the Jeep and Fiat brands.

With that in mind, its not surprising to see the big German three pull out. There are, in all honestly, competing with the big American three on their home turf  thats a tough thing to do. Who really suffers, however, are the Audi, BMW, and Mercedes dealers in the vicinity of the Cobo Center. When the doors open to the public and all those people with money to spend walk end, they find something they want and end up hitting the dealer the next week. Say what you want, but BMW, Audi, and Mercedes sales for that period will suffer without a presence at the show.

The Germans Dont Hate America, Just Detroit

Public attendance at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show: 809,161, including 5078 journalists from 60 different countries

Im not buying the bigger crowds excuse from any of these automakers. Lets look at the numbers. Public attendance at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show: 809,161, including 5078 journalists from 60 different countries. CES public attendance: 0. Thats right, CES is a trade-only show, so the general public isnt even invited. For what its worth, CES claims there was a total of 184,279 people in attendance during the 2018 show. Thats just 22-percent of the people that actually attended the Detroit Auto Show.

You could argue that there are a lot more journalists at the CES show, and while there are more journalists, its not a groundbreaking difference. CES says the 2018 show saw a total of 7,460 journalists while 2018 NAIAS had 5078. So, there were some 2,300 more journalists at CES. Thats a valid argument, but the CES is a Consumer Electronics Show so how many of those journalists were there for the electronics and not any of the cars on display? Im willing to bet a good half of them are there for tech-only coverage and could care less about the cars in attendance.

So, with that in mind, I have no choice but to say that the Germans just hate Detroit. We Americans dont really appreciate the same sausage different length approach, and the German three just cant keep up with their American competitors in the car city of America.

References

Read more Audi news.

Read more Detroit Auto Show news.

2018 CES Attendance Numbers

2018 Detroit Auto Show Attendance Numbers
Despite the name, the Boring Company seems to be generating a bit of a buzz this week, as Elon Musk just posted a short video of the very first tunnel nearing completion to his social media outlets.

Getting some relief from the SoCal stop and go

The Full Story

This first tunnel will serve as a proof of concept for a much more expansive system later on.

Although its not quite at the same level as landing a used rocket booster in an upright position, successfully digging a tunnel for use in mass transit is still a huge undertaking. That said, it looks like the Boring Company will soon give the public a look at its handiwork.

The tunnel in question appears as though it begins underneath the SpaceX parking lot in Hawthorne, and stretches for more than two miles towards the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

This first tunnel will serve as a proof of concept for a much more expansive system later on. If everything goes according to plan, the Boring Companys network will stretch from the Long Beach Airport in the south, up to Sherman Oaks in the north, out to Dodger Stadium in the east, and to Santa Monica in the west.

In the recent social post, Musk said that Pending final regulatory approvals, we will be offering free rides to the public in a few months, also adding, once fully operational (demo system rides will be free), the system will always give priority to pods for pedestrians & cyclists for less than the cost of a bus ticket.

The company recently managed to raise as much as $112.5 million to fund it all, much of which was provided directly from Musk. So far, regulatory agencies and politicians are all onboard with the plans.

Indeed, Musk is looking at a variety of other transportation solutions across the nation. Proposed plans thus far include building a hyperloop between Los Angeles and San Francisco next year, while a mass transit route between Washington D.C. and New York is already underway. Then, of course, theres all those Teslas you see prowling the surface streets and SpaceXs one-way ticket to Mars

No word on whether the Boring Company trams will come with onboard flamethrowers to ward off zombies in the inevitable nuclear apocalypse.

References

Read more about The Boring Company.

Check out everything weve got on Elon Musk

Source: electrek
ONE of the surprises emerging from the presentation of the 2022 budget on Monday by Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, was his announcement that the Government proposed to offer for sale 10,869,565 ordinary shares in First Citizens Holdings Ltd.
Hi Amoryan,

Not sure about others, but you could try Lycamobile plans, which will also work in all the 3 places. They offer data plans but their national plans would be more profitable to you.

Here is a link to their plans in Netherland, for your reference:

-Sharit
Hi,

I just got back from our trip with 2 kids. I highly recommend Sarapiqui. We stayed at Selva Verde, did 2 on site hikes which were very nice. The hotel is good, nice location, good pool for the kids and nice restaurant.

We also did the chocolate tour (Best Chocolate Tour is the name) and a river rafting trip with the kids (age 8 and 6) which was very nice.

People here seem to be raving about Proyecto Asis near Arenal. We went there but were not impressed. I mean it is not a negative experience, but I wonder why so many people rate it 5 stars here. There are way nicer options to see animals, in the wild instead of caged (although I support to good work Asis does).
Best way to get from Can Tho to Phnom Penh

Best way to get from Can Tho to Phnom Penh

Hi there

I am after some advice on travelling from Can Tho to Phnom Penh.

I will be travelling to Vietnam and Cambodia in January with my parents in their late 50's. We will be finishing our Vietnam trip with a few days touring the Mekong. We will end up in Can Tho and from there we will travel in to Cambodia to Phnom Penh and then on to Siem Reap.

I have been looking at options and it appears to be between;

Bus back to HCMC and one final night in HCMC (already spending a couple of nights there before the Mekong) then early morning flight to Phnom Penh.

Bus to Chau Doc one night there and then early morning boat to PP

Are there any other options? I am a bit uncertain about the boat with my parents.

Any advise would be welcomed.

Thanks

Lucy
To buy Hakone Free Pass and JR Pass or not?

To buy Hakone Free Pass and JR Pass or not?

Konnichiwa!

I will be travelling to Japan for the first time next month. I would like to ask some clarifications about my itinerary.

I will be staying in Apartment Hotel in Shinjuku for four days then in the afternoon, travel via bus for 2hrs from Shinjuku Bus Expressway Terminal to Mount View Hakone (Y1900). I choose this route as the bus stops directly to the ryokan in Hakone.

I will drop off my bags at the ryokan then tour around.

Komagatake Ropeway Top station

Owakudani

Tozan railway

Go back to the ryokan for Onsen and kaiseki

In the morning,

Lake ashinoko and cruise? Quick boat ride

Hakone Shrine

Moto Hakone

Take the direct bus ( couldnt read Japanese) from the ryokan to Odawara station (Y1050) for 55minutes- chose this as theres no transfers.

Then from Odawara, take the Shinkansenin the evening, one way to Kyoto, stay there for three days

Then bus trip to Nara?

Then bus trip to stay two days in Osaka.

Then from Osaka airport Fly to Seoul. Then back to Narita Airport and home to Sydney.

All comments are highly appreciated.

Questions:

1. If I buy the Hakone Free Pass, will it Include the buses from Shinjuku to Mount View Hakone and the bus from Mount View Hakone to Odawara Station?

2. I want to do the loop per se but I have to get off at the middle of it since that is where I will stay, whats the systematic way of doing it? I have half day in the afternoon and the whole day the next day.

3. Is it safe to go inside the Owakudani? I heard it was closed due to volcanic activities?

4. I know summer is the worst time to see Mt Fuji, but in the mornings there may be a very slight chance of seeing Fujisan, which part of Hakone is the best?

5. is it quicker and cheaper if I just buy the JRpass from Odawara, then to Kyoto and Osaka.?

Or I just buy one way shinkasen from Odawara to Kyoto? If bus will be cheaper and not too much time consuming from Kyoto to Osaka/Nara?

6. Also, should I buy the three day unlimited Tokyo bus card for me to go around and use the ticket to go to Mount View Hakone?

Arigatou gozaimasu

Regards,

Marjory

Edited: 3 years ago
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There are many signs saying that the NEX is an all-reserved train and so we usually buy tickets from the ticket booth. last time we had to wait for the second train so this was about an hour to wait. The first time we used NEX though we bought tickets at the machine and couldn't do seat reservation with that. Being a little confused we asked a chap on the platform (who was a railway employee/porter). He was a little confused as well as there was no seat number but said to get on and sit, though if someone came with that seat reserved, to move to another seat. As it was we had to move twice.

Your outline of what would happed outsiders is correct if you don't exchange your JR pass voucher at the airport. Check how many days you need one for and you might find that you can get by with the 7 day rather than 14 for example if you are spending several days in Tokyo first where a SUiCA card could work better for you there.
How do I get from the airport (JFK, LGA, or EWR) to Manhattan?

What To Do During Layovers?

Vacation Apartment Rentals Violate NYC Laws

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Hotels: Two queen beds plus a kitchen/kitchenette

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What are the Must-See's and Must-Do's?

How Do I Ride the Subway (UPDATED)?

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SCAMS to avoid in NYC

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Where to Eat in NYC

Where to eat in NYC - Part 2

Celiac in the City? (gluten free)

Which Area Should I Stay In?

Is There Cheaper Lodging Outside Manhattan?

How Much Do I Tip People?

Are the New York Pass, Explorer Pass or CityPass worth it?

How Do I Hail a Taxi?

Public restrooms/toilets. Where do you go when you GOTTA GO?

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Events for Halloween 2019 in NYC

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Christmas Day 2019 in NYC: What to Do & Where to Eat

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Where are the Farmers Markets and Street Fairs?

What is there to see and do near WTC/SOL/Brooklyn Bridge/SI ferry?

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Exploring neighborhoods - where should I go and what should I see?

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Hidden Gems in the city - not so touristy

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There is something special about your mother that makes her different from any other woman in the world. In fact, mothers are associated with some of the best lessons and memories in life. It is with this in mind that mother's day is celebrated. The day is therefore taken as an opportunity to appreciate the special place of mothers in the society. Children appreciate the role played by their mothers in their lives. Fathers also appreciate the care provided to their children by their mothers. Children with mothers who are departed also have a special moment to remember the good deeds that their mothers did in their lives. This makes the commemoration to go beyond those who are alive. That why we all wish our mothers a happy mothers day.

Image: pixabay.com (modified by author)

Source: UGC

However, there had been ceremonies in the past aimed at recognizing the maternal bond, motherhood and the contribution of Mothers in the society. In fact, Greeks have been celebrating mothers in the Cybele cult while Romans had Hilaria that were celebrated for thousands of years. For Christians, the celebration was about the motherhood of the church and not mothers in the society, but it has mutated to acquire similar significance.

When Is Mother's Day celebrated?

Different communities regarded motherhood uniquely. They also began celebrations at different times and on diverse dates. In some countries, the celebrations were about womanhood and not specifically motherhood. This explains why different countries celebrate the day in unique ways and on diverse dates. There are countries and communities that celebrate the religious form of motherhood while others are into the secular for. The two elements of motherhood may be celebrated on the same day or diverse dates. For instance, Greece has separated the two celebrations.

Image: unsplash.com, (modified by author)

Source: UGC

Norway, for instance celebrates the occasion on the 2nd Sunday of February each year. Georgia has picked a specific date which is the 3rd of March. A host of other countries have picked International Womens Day to be the special celebration of motherhood. Others still mark the International Womens Day and Mothers Day as well. There is a Mothering Sunday on the fourth Sunday of Lent and the Spring Equinox is also dedicated to mothers in some countries.

Most countries seem to agree that the second Sunday of May will be used to mark the special day for Mothers. More than 100 countries around the world, including Kenya mark the Second Sunday of May as Mothers Day. There is a buzz of activities that can be used to mark the day depending on ones own preferences.

Mothers Day in Kenya

Kenyans celebrate their mothers in the most unique ways. In fact, the Kenyan mother is considered to be unique as demonstrated in memes about her uniqueness. Most people will attribute their achievements and position in life to the love they received from their mothers in their childhood.

Since the day will be marked on Sunday 12th May, you have a chance to impress your mother. Most people will travel to shags to be with their families. For others, a simple message or call wishing her a happy mothers day will be sufficient. You should only ensure that your gesture is received. Mothers do not look for big and extravagant gifts from their children. However, it must be within her status and your ability. You should also throw in a bouquet of flowers where possible. Organize the entire family and surprise your mother.

Exciting activities to mark a Happy Mothers Day

Celebrations are about creating beautiful memories and making your mother to feel appreciated. It is impossible to repay the good things a mother does in your life, regardless of your wealth.

However, there is always something special you can do to make your mother feel special and appreciated on this big day. This does not mean that mothers are not appreciated on other occasions and days. It only acts as a gesture to make them feel special on their big day. Here are ideas that will make her feel special and appreciated on the day.

Image: pexels.com (modified by author)

Source: UGC

Mothers work 24/7 regardless of their age. This leaves them fatigued to the point of forgetting to care for themselves. Take your mother out for a day and let her be pampered. Get her hair done, nails manicured and anything treatment that will make her feel like a girl again. This could also include a thorough massage, a meal prepared and served specially for her, a new dress and a relaxing afternoon where she will not have to think about cooking or taking care of the house. Such a treatment will make her to rediscover herself.

Take her for a relaxing walk in the park. Mothers are used to the clutter of kitchen and making sure that everyone and everywhere are clean. When they talk, they are giving instructions or warning children what to do and not do. A walk around the park gives her a chance to relax and leave the cluttered routine life behind. She has an opportunity to breathe fresh air and may tell you something exciting that you have never thought about.

Do not forget a gift. There is something unique that an ordinary accessory or item comes with when it is received from a mother. The reverse is also true. A mother feels flattered whenever she receives a gift from her son or daughter. The excitement is in the gesture and not the gift received. Even when your mother is richer than you are, she will attach sentimental value to anything that comes from her children. It could be a dress, sweater, shoes, utensil or even a new phone.

There is always that teenage girl inside every mother that loves flowers and accessories. A bouquet of flowers and a chain or stylish watch will do. It does not have to be expensive of flashy, as long as it comes from a son or daughter. You will even be surprised at how much she will appreciate a photo shoot alone or with her family. This is a girls thing that never goes away regardless of age or status.

Pay for her holiday to one of the places she has always wanted to go. If you listen to conversations between mothers and fathers, there is always that one place that dad promised to take mom when they were young and they have never managed. Organize a trip to the Game Park or beach. Let mom relax and enjoy what she failed to enjoy when bringing you up.

There are many other things you can do to your mother when marking this special day. Since you understand her better and know your circumstances, you should choose a treatment that is befitting. Do not look at the price. There is always something you can do within your means. Mothers have a very big heart and they will appreciate.

Mother's Day Quotes

Under the protection of a mother, I feel like I can become anything I ever desire

When I get married, I will look for a woman like you mother so that my children can enjoy the love I enjoyed

A mothers face is the most beautiful flower the world has ever produced

There is no sunrise as beautiful as the smile of a mother

The love of a mother is as beautiful as the sunset. Even when everyone has had a long and tiring day, a mother will still find something glorious to offer

Every prayer you utter for me mama is a rose that makes my life more beautiful

If for every crack on your hands, for every wrinkle on your face mama I would buy you a rose, no garden on earth can hold the amount of flowers I would need

People go for miles to find the most peaceful place on earth. I only need to see my mothers smile and I have all the peace I need on earth

Dad must have seen beyond the beauty on the face to choose such a caring and loving mother for us

To my mother, I am never too old to deserve her love

The heart of a mother is well that never dries, a river that is ever flowing with love

The love of a mother is more than the courage of a thousand army men. She is the only one who will never give up on me no matter what

The heart of a mother is made of pure gold. It is the only source of unconditional and unending love

God wanted someone who would walk with me through thick and thin and never give up on me. So He created a mother.

Image: unsplash.com (modified by author)

Source: UGC

Mothers Day Messages

Every mother wants to listen to a litany of praises from her children. Because each mother is unique, you should get a customized message to express your feelings and appreciation for her. Here are fresh happy mothers day messages you can read, print and even send to your mother.

When I did not know what was good for me, you provided the best. You nurtured me like your most precious flower until I could stand on my own. All I am and all I have is because of you. I love you mama. Happy Mothers Day

I get the strength to face the world from you Mom because I know that no matter what I encounter, you will be by my side and support me. You are the best mother I could ever have chosen. Happy Mothers Day

Those who say that money can buy anything do not know the value of the love of a mother. This never ending affection that does not know age or boundaries. I can never buy you love mama and will forever be grateful for it. Happy Mothers Day

If given a chance to choose, I would still prefer you to be my mother. You do not see the faults in me but you always know that I can be better. One word from you and my world is complete. Happy Mothers Day

READ ALSO: Why we celebrate Mother's Day

The messages and celebrations should also be towards mother-in-laws and wives. With children being too small or unaware, it is upon you the man to appreciate the mother of your children. Here are messages to mother in laws and wives to mark the special day. You can turn them into happy mothers day images by printing them on a card.

When I saw my husband, I knew there was a strong woman behind him. I am happy to have another mother in you who loves me like her own daughter.

My husband would always say the most beautiful things about his mother. I always wanted to meet her and have never regretted any minute I spent with you. Happy Mothers Day.

When my days come, I know how to love my daughter-in-law and grandchildren because I have learnt from the best. Happy mothers day.

I am never worried about my children because they are lucky to have the most caring mother in the world. Happy mothers day to the beautiful mother of my children.

I have watched my children grow to become the most loving and kind people on earth. One thing I am sure about is that they take after their mother. Thank you for loving our children with all your heart. A happy mothers day to the mother of my children.

I wish I had a camera that can record all the love and kisses that you give to my children so that I can replay every moment to them when they grow up. They will know that they have the most beautiful and caring mother on earth. My children are lucky to have you as their mother. Happy mothers day.

READ ALSO: These Barack and Michelle Obama Mother's Day messages will WARM your heart (photos)

It is easy and quick to copy a message and send to mom on Mothers day. However, it feels special to customize the message and create the most beautiful mothers day images for her. The images could be in a card or printed on a mug, flask, water bottle, sweater and any gift you extend to her. This makes the day special and memorable.

Source: Tuko.co.ke
- Diamond and Hamisa confirmed they had finally decided to make things official

- The pair was captured cosying up to each other in a hotel room recently

- For long, Hamisa stayed in the backseat as her man publicly flaunted his and Zari's relationship

- The musician's rumoured lover, Wema Sepetu, stated she was more than happy for the newest couple in town

Wema Sepetu had for long been described as the main cause of Uganda's sweetheart Zari Hassan's woes.

Zari and her fans suggested the voluptuous actress was the reason why she had to call it quits with her husband, Diamond Platnumz.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Mwanasiasa wa Jubilee awagawia vijana maelfu ya pesa kwenye klabu

Wema, in an interview with Global Publishers on Saturday, May 12, stated she was beyond happy for the newest couple in town - Hamisa and Diamond.

According to the popular actress, the two made a cute couple and their baby was simply a sight to behold.

"Diamond and Hamisa make a cute couple and their child is just too adorable," she pointed out.

READ ALSO:Tanzanian musician publicly asks Akothee for her hand in marriage and TUKO.co.ke has all the details

She later confirmed she had no problem with the musician's latest catch, pointing out she and the crooner were history.

Wema further assured her fans there was nothing going on in the background as she stated the two were not dating.

READ ALSO:Guys, If you got to cheat, use a condom - Zari Hassan schools unfaithful Kenyan men

Hamisa on her part later extended her gratitude to the beauty for supporting their union.

"I love my sister Wema and I'm happy she supports our relationship. I can't say I'm shocked she sent out such a sweet message," Hamisa said.

In February 2018, Wema was caught getting too close for comfort with the Tanzanian heartthrob while he was still in a relationship with his wife, Zari.

The beauty had earlier expressed she suffered yet another miscarriage in 2018.

Wema however set the records straight when she revealed the child did not belong to her ex-boyfriend and current boss, Diamond.

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.

Tuko news Here is the full interview with Bridget courtesy of TUKO TV:

Source: Tuko.co.ke
- The lady had been accused of lacking respect for her patients

- Some netizens rained on her as they stated a professional is not allowed to act in such a way

- Another concerned Facebook user explained she was diabetic and needed to suck on sweets to regulate her blood sugar levels

Kenyans have always been known to turn to social media whenever they feel like reporting what they describe as injustices.

Scrolling through most Facebook gossip groups recently, one thing stood out:Every netizen was going in on a doctor spotted sucking on a lollipop while examining a patient.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Mwanasiasa wa Jubilee awagawia vijana maelfu ya pesa kwenye klabu

A few social media user deemed her action as unprofessional while others asked whether it would be okay to bump into a government official sucking on a sweet while addressing a client.

Some of them asked whether she was focusing on her candy or the care of the lives which highly depended on her.

To them, she lacked the common decency of abiding to health codes and a respect for human life.

Another concerned Kenyan by the name Phillip Nyamai however jumped to the doctor's defense saying she was diabetic and required the candy to regulate her blood sugar.

READ ALSO:Government pours 400 tonnes of smuggled sugar into Indian Ocean

"I have learnt she is diabetic, suffering from type one diabetes. It is for that reason she has to balance the low and high sugar levels in her blood with insulin shots and glucose intakes," Phillip wrote.

According to him, the health professional he identified as Dr Phaustine is a remarkable woman who goes above and beyond for her patients.

The doctor was said to be attending to an emergency case after a man was rushed to hospital and was therefore required to give the patient all her attention.

A screengrab of two posts on Kilimani Mums Facebook page.

READ ALSO:Diamond and Hamisa make a cute couple - Diamond Platnumz's rumoured lover, Wema Sepetu

Phillip further explained Dr Phaustine volunteers her time and resources to run an NGO which raises funds for pediatric care.

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.

Source: Tuko.co.ke
- A section of Kenyans raised doubts on Uhuru's commitment in dealing with graft

- Some accused the president of failing to provide leadership

- The new expose came barely a week after Uhuru issued stern warning against corruption

Another multi-billion corruption scandal has hit the National Youth Service (NYS) and Kenyans can't take it easy.

A fresh probe initiated by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and other agencies in 2017 has lifted the lid on a KSh 10.5 billion heist in the youth empowerment programme.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji told a local daily investigations at the NYS had netted several suspects among them high level state officials.

Many trooped to social media platforms to express their shock and dismay at the new expose which made the infamous KSh 791 million heist in 2015 look like child's play.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

The infamous KSh The 791 million NYS graft scandal in 2015 involved a number of high ranking state officials including Kirinyaga County Governor Anne Waiguru. Photo: TUKO.

READ ALSO: National Youth Service facing fresh probe over disappearance of KSh 10.5 billion

The reactions seen by TUKO.co.ke on Sunday, May 13, showed a section of Kenya's were unhappy with how President Uhuru Kenyatta was dealing with graft so far.

READ ALSO: Mbunge adaiwa kumzaba makofi afisa wa kike wa kaunti ya Mombasa 'kwa kuvaa vibaya' (picha)

READ ALSO: NYS scandal suspect feels the full wrath of Kenyans online

Others, including controversial blogger Cyprian Nyakundi, pointed an accusing finger at particular politicians who he claimed were frustrating the president's willingness to decisively deal with the corruption menace.

READ ALSO: Raila Odinga benefitted from the NYS scandal - Murkomen

The missing billions were allegedly wired from the NYS coffers to ghost companies linked to powerful people in government.

According to the DPP, the well orchestrated and sophisticated looting spree that spanned three years was characterised by gross and deliberate violation of procurement laws and processes in payment of pending bills.

READ ALSO: Revealed: DP Ruto's assistant received money from NYS Chief suspect

The National Youth Service has been under new proble since 2017 and investigations have so far revealed some KSh 10 billion could be accounted for.Photo: Nexus.

In light of the fresh dossier, the DPP will be expected to forward names of the individuals implicated in the fraud to the DCI for prosecution.

It would be interesting to see if the new culprits will be jailed this time, especially after President Uhuru Kenyatta repeatedly warned that each and every government official named in graft would carry his or her own cross.

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.

Kenyans accuse NTSA of incompetence and corruption and want it disbanded - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke
- Sammy Mbogo's eyes and tongue were gorged out

- The late teacher's wife was arrested to help establish the cause of his death

- Area chief suspected the murder could be linked to a domestic quarrel

- Their marriage was said to be troublesome prompting police to point an accusing finger to his wife

The police are investigating an incident in which the naked body of Gatungura Secondary School Principal, Sammy Mbogo, was on Sunday, May 13, found dumped in a car boot with his eyes and tongue gorged out.

TUKO.co.ke established the teacher's wife, Alice Wachera, was arrested in connection with the murder and will help in the ongoing probe.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

According to Gathukiini Chief Stephen Komu, the couple had many cases of domestic quarrels in the recent past and he suspected Mbogo's death could have been linked to his rocky marriage.

READ ALSO: Murang'a County Board chairman dies in nasty road accident

The police were investigating an incident in which body of Gatungura Secondary School Principal Sammy Mbogo was found dumped in a car boot. Photo: Irene Karamuta/Facebook.

READ ALSO: Murang'a man clobbers wife and her mpango wa kando to death after bursting them in the act

"The marriage between the two was horrible. About three months ago, the teacher was cut in the head and his wife was involved. We believe she has information which will be used to establish the truth," he revealed.

Mathioya OCPD Charles Mutua confirmed the incident and said the car had been parked at Gakurwe on the Murang'a-Kiriaini road.

Mutua told journalists area residents discovered the body after noticing blood spots around his home and decided to follow them, leading to the crime scene.

The white Saloon car was parked almost 200 metres away from his home.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers' Muranga branch called on the police to ensure justice was served to their colleague.

The branch Secretary Rosaline Kamina condemned the murder while at the same urged teachers to settle domestic issues amicably.

READ ALSO: Mbunge adaiwa kumzaba makofi afisa wa kike wa kaunti ya Mombasa 'kwa kuvaa vibaya' (picha)

His death has occurred one and a half years later after the cold blood murder of Solomon Mwangi who was then the Principal of Kiru Boys in still in Mathioya.

The late Mwangi who was killed by his wife in conjunction with other men, was picked from school on the eve of the commencement of end of the 2016 KCSE exams.

His badly mutilated and decomposed body was found days later with the eyes gouged out at Karuguta coffee plantation near Thika town.

His wife, Jane Mbuthi, who was then the principal at Ichachiri Girls Secondary School in Gatundu, Kiambu County, was arrested and confessed to have taken part in the murder.

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.

Top 5 Facts About Uhuru Kenyatta - Raila Odinga Pact - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke
- The hotel's management told Mbugua the venue was already booked for another function

- The embattled legislator nevertheless tried to access the hotel but was blocked by police

- He confronted and tongue-lashed the security officers at the hotel, accusing them of being used

- Mbugua was recently accused of assaulting city businessman Timothy Muriuku

- He was charged with robbery with violence and released on bail

Chaos and drama unfolded at Sarova Panafric, Nairobi, on the afternoon of Sunday, May 13, after police blocked nominated East Africa Legislative Assembly Member (EALA) Member of Parliament Simon Mbugua from accessing the hotel.

Mbugua caused a scene outside the high-end city hotel as he shouted in protest at the security personnel manning the gate.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

Mbugua (right) was accused of hiring goons to assault businessman Timothy Muriuki, who was forcefully ejected from a hotel. Photos: Nungari Wambui/Facebook.

READ ALSO: Mbunge adaiwa kumzaba makofi afisa wa kike wa kaunti ya Mombasa 'kwa kuvaa vibaya' (picha)

TUKO.co.ke gathered the embattled EALA legislator had deposited KSh 30,000 as booking fees for the venue but Sarova Panafric management reportedly instructed security officers not to let him in, even after producing receipts as proof of payment.

"Kama mnataka kunishika ni sawa. Kama kuna makosa nimefanya, hawa watu ni wa press, mnishike (If I have done anything wrong arrest me. These people are from the press, so arrest me)," Mbugua protested.

The legislator also accused the officers of being used by Interior Principal Secretary (PS) Karanja Kibicho to frustrate him and tarnish his name.

He added his life was under threat because of his political stand and support for Deputy President William Ruto.

READ ALSO: Police launch manhunt for goons who attacked Nairobi business leaders

Mbugua was one of the people who were arrested on May 8 in connection with the attack of Timothy Muriuki, former chair of the Nairobi Central Business District Association (NCBDA).

The MP was accused of hiring goons to disrupt a press briefing that had been called by Muriuki and other Nairobi business leaders to issue a report on the state of affairs in the city.

He was charged with robbery with violence and released on bail.

READ ALSO: Police launch manhunt for goons who attacked Nairobi business leaders

The attack sparked public outrage with many demanding for action to be taken against the culprits and their paymaster.

A section of Kenyans pointed an accusing finger at Nairobi governor Mike Sonko but the governor came out strongly to defend himself saying he was not involved at all.

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.

Kenyan's defend disabled hawker arrested by police - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko
U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker has announced his visit to eastern Ukraine.

He will learn more about the situation in the region on the ground, he wrote on his Twitter.

"Im heading to eastern Ukraine next week to see more about the situation on the ground and to learn about the humanitarian crisis in the #Donbas," he wrote.

This will be his seventh visit to Ukraine for the past eight months of his term as a special representative.

As Ukrinform reported, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko announced on May 10 that Kurt Volker would visit Ukraine on Monday, May 14.

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Mother's Day is celebrated in many countries around the world, in Ukraine this day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May.

Unlike Women's Day on March 8, only mothers and pregnant women are congratulated on this day. Traditionally, people thank their mothers for their self-sacrifice and love, give flowers and greeting cards.

The holiday was established in the United States. At first it was the idea of pacifists - to celebrate this day as the day of the unity of mothers in the struggle for peace. But this concept was not widely supported either in the United States or in other countries. In 1907, American Anna Jarvis following the death of her mother initiated to establish Mother's Day first as a U.S. national holiday and then later as an international holiday. The first state to recognize Mothers Day was West Virginia in 1910. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mothers Day in 1914. After World War I, Mother's Day began to be celebrated in some European countries as well. Today Mother's Day is celebrated in 85 countries around the world.

Ukrainians have also joined the celebration of Mother's Day, because in Ukraine a woman has been always associated with her family and played a huge role in bringing up children. Among the Ukrainian community, Mother's Day was first held by the Ukrainian Women's Association of Canada in 1928. The next year, the holiday was celebrated in Lviv. In 1929, the Ukrainian Women's Association initiated the celebration of Mother's Day in Ternopil region, and since then it was widely celebrated. However, the holiday was banned after the Soviet regime was established. In 1990, the celebration of this day returned to Ukraine thanks to the efforts of civic organizations, in particular the Ukrainian Women's Association. Since 1999, Mother's Day has received official status.

Ukrinform congratulates all mothers on Mother's Day!

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It carried out least five such flights in the first half of March alone.

The U.S. Air Force reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) RQ-4B-30 Global Hawk flew along the Ukrainian border with Russia, as well as along the contact line in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, on the morning of May 13.

It took off from NATO's Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, the Ukrainian news portal 112.ua reported, citing data from the Twitter page PlaneRadar.

At about 07:15 Kyiv time in the morning, it entered the airspace of Ukraine, flew over Kharkiv region. The reconnaissance drone flew several times near the Ukrainian border with Russia and stopped flying along the border as of 10:18. Then at 11:32, it started a flight along the contact line in Donbas and accomplished the mission at 16:30.

Read alsoUSAF drones take a sneak peek into Donbas, Crimea

As was reported earlier, the RQ-4B Global Hawk UAV spent many hours in a reconnaissance flight along the contact line in Donbas on March 9.

The RQ-4B Global Hawk is used to conduct reconnaissance flights near the borders of the occupied areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as along the coastline of the Russian-occupied Crimea and Russia's Krasnodar Krai. In the first half of March alone, it carried out least five such flights.
The casualties of the Russian-led forces include one killed and six wounded troops.

Fierce fighting with Russian-led troops in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, continued on Saturday, May 12, as a result of which one Ukrainian soldier was killed in action, another four were wounded in action.

The situation escalated along the entire contact line.

"The Russian occupation troops violated the ceasefire 73 times, in particular, 122mm artillery systems, 120mm and 82mm mortars were used 20 times," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said on Facebook in a morning update on May 13. "Our troops were actively defending themselves and gave an adequate response to the enemy."

Read alsoJFO: Russian-led forces attack Donbas 50 times in past day

The enemy attempted to oust Ukrainian troops from advantageous positions near the villages of Krymske, Novozvanivka, and Troyitske in the Luhansk sector.

Intense fighting continued near the villages of Zaitseve, Verkhniotoretske, Kamianka, Novhorodske, the Avdiyivka industrial zone and on the outskirts of the town of Maryinka in the Donetsk sector.

Small arms were mainly used near the villages of Talakivka and Shyrokyne in the Mariupol sector.

"According to intelligence reports, two members of the Russian terrorist troops were killed and six were wounded. During the fighting, one Ukrainian defender was killed and four more were wounded. The latter have received medical assistance and there is no threat to their life," the press center said.

The enemy used heavy weapons six times at night, it added.

The situation is under JFO units' control.
All their remnants were collected after the attack and sent to a specialized laboratory for examination.

The Russian-led forces in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, have started using the latest weapons against the Ukrainian army.

A few days ago, the enemy launched the newest rockets to shell Ukrainian positions near the Ukrainian-controlled strategic port city of Mariupol, the press center of the Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation said with reference to a separate Marine Corps brigade of the Ukrainian Navy.

The rockets had high-explosive warheads and left large-diameter craters behind.

Read alsoFierce fighting continues in Donbas: One Ukrainian soldier killed, another four wounded in action

All their remnants were collected after the attack and sent to a specialized laboratory for tests.

"We've found the tails of rockets that are not typical of conventional ammunition. Unlike Soviet models, which were previously used by the Russian occupation troops, such tailing looks completely different and its fitting is different. We've also found fragments with [ammunition] marking. Everything has been documented and sent to the special departments of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine," one of the Ukrainian troops said.

The Ukrainian General Staff said that the Russian occupation forces are also engaged in a large-scale campaign to plant prohibited anti-personnel mines in eastern Ukraine, including in the so-called "gray zone."

Since the beginning of the day on May 13, two Ukrainian soldiers have been wounded in enemy attacks in Donbas, the press center said.
Israel earned 529 points with a majority of the popular vote in hand.

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that the Eurovision song contest, which was won by his country's performer Netta Barzilai this year and therefore will be held in Israel next year, will take place in Jerusalem.

"These days, Jerusalem is blessed with many gifts. We got another one last night, with Netta's brilliant and thrilling victory," The Jerusalem Post quoted the prime minister as saying. "The gift is that the Eurovision will be coming to Jerusalem next year. We will be proud to host it. I think we will do everything that allows another big event with a great international viewership in our city, in our country."

Read alsoIsrael will host Eurovision song contest in 2019 (Video)

As was reported earlier, Israel will host the Eurovision song contest in 2019 after that country's Netta won this year's contest in Lisbon, Portugal, with 529 points, having performed the song "Toy."

This is the first time since 1998 that Israel wins the song contest, and fourth time overall, according to Israel's newspaper Haaretz.
RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th May, 2018 ) :Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR) Town Officer Regulation Shahzad Gohar said that anti-encroachment operation is going on successfully in the city and adjacent densely populated areas have been made clear.

Talking to APP, he said the operation would continue against encroachments without any fear. He informed the operation would remain operative till the elimination of encroachments in the area. He asked the shopkeepers to remove all encroachments themselves else their goods will be confiscated and auctioned.

He also said that he will also take action against departmental staff for their helping the encroachment mafia.

He said that strict action is being taken against those creating hurdles in the smooth flow of traffic.

Earlier, Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation conducted a grand anti-encroachment operation at Raja Bazaar, Bara Bazaar, City Saddar Road, Iqbal Road, China Market and Namak Mandi Bazaar. During operation, the enforcement staff with the help of police confiscated the electronic appliances placed out of the shops.

The enforcement squad also removed the stallholders and also took away with them a number of pushcarts on the occasion.
(@rukhshanmir)

President PML-N and Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday congratulated the newly elected office-bearers of CPNE including President Arif Nizami, Secretary General Dr. Jabbar Khatak, Senior Vice President Imtinan Shahid.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th May, 2018 ) :President PML-N and Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday congratulated the newly elected office-bearers of CPNE including President Arif Nizami, Secretary General Dr.

Jabbar Khatak, Senior Vice President Imtinan Shahid.

In his felicitation message, he said newly elected office-bearers of CPNE will continue playing their effective role for the resolution of problems facing the newspaper industry. He said the newly elected office-bearers will play their effective role for the freedom of press and promotion of democratic traditions.
(@FahadShabbir)

NANJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th May, 2018 ) ::A cyberspace security system based on the China-proposed mimic defence theory has withstood over 500,000 hacker attacks in an international challenge, held in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province.

In the first "Qiangwang" (cyberspace power) International Elite Challenge on Cyber Mimic Defence, which concluded Saturday, the system detected and blocked all attacks from 22 teams of Chinese and foreign "white hat hackers" -- computer specialists who use hacker techniques to test computer and cyber security, according to the Chinese academy of Engineering (CAE), co-sponsor of the event.

The mimic defence system features an ever-changing software environment, which makes conventional hacker attacks difficult to locate a target.

The system is expected to change the current "ex post facto defence" pattern in cyber security, according to Wu Jiangxing, CAE academician who first proposed the theory.

During the challenge, which concluded Saturday, bouts of attacks from several teams were frustrated even after they were given access to install back doors to the system, the CAE said. "The result has proved the effectiveness of the system and is expected to promote cyberspace security," Wu said.

Inspired by Mimic Octopus, the master of disguise in nature which can change appearance to adapt to the environment, Chinese scientists proposed the idea of mimic computing in 2007 and produced the world's first mimic computer prototype in 2013.
(@rukhshanmir)

BRUSSELS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th May, 2018 ) ::After travelling 16 days and covering a distance of 11,000 km, the first China-Belgium freight train from China's Tangshan port has arrived in the Belgian port of Antwerp.

The train with 41 containers which left Tangshan on April 26, was officially welcomed on Saturday in Antwerp. The direct railway link between China and Belgium is part of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

By opening up a new and quick route into China, the initiative offers plenty of new opportunities for the development of the Sino-Belgian trade relations. Luc Arnouts, Director International Networks, Antwerp Port Authority, said at the welcoming ceremony that "This direct train link puts our port on the BRI (the Belt and Road Initiative) map and will further strengthen our ties with China.

We have long been working on this project, which represents an important milestone in our trade relations with China.

" In his speech, Guo Jianjun, economic counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Belgium, pointed out that given the ongoing escalation of trade friction threats in major global economies, it is even more necessary for all parties to strengthen cooperation.

"As Europe's second largest port, Antwerp has a very important position in Sino-Belgian trade," said Guo. "The arrival of the first China-Europe freight train sent by Tangshan to Antwerp today is historic and will have a profound and positive impact on China-Belgium cooperation", Guo concluded.

The train has travelled through Kazakhstan,Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany to reach its final destination, Antwerp. It is the first ever direct train service from China to Antwerp.
The body of a 7-year-old girl who had been reported missing has been found in a rubbish skip, police in the Austrian capital Vienna said Saturday.

Vienna, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th May, 2018 ) :The body of a 7-year-old girl who had been reported missing has been found in a rubbish skip, police in the Austrian capital Vienna said Saturday.

The gruesome discovery was made on Saturday morning in the Doebling district of the city when municipal refuse workers came to empty the skip.

"The little girl was last seen playing around 3pm on Friday," police spokeswoman Irina Steirer told the APA agency.

"She was then reported missing to police at around 11.30pm by a relative," she added. The container in which the girl's body was found, wrapped in a plastic sack, is very close to the block of flats where she lived.
Pope Francis on Friday met the boys and girls of the Scholas Occurrentes Foundation at their centre in Rome and urged them to keeping dreaming while respecting their roots.

By Robin Gomes

Pope Francis on Friday visited the Scholas Occurrentes Foundation centre in Rome and urged its young people be alert and never give up hoping and dreaming.

The Scholas Occurrentes, the Latin for schools that meet , is an educational project launched by Pope Francis in Argentina 2001, when he was Archbishop of Buenos, to encourage social integration and the culture of encounter through sports, arts and technology. As Pope, he made it into a foundation in 2013. Today it is present in 190 countries.

Inauguration of new centres

During his visit to the centre at Palazzo San Callisto, the Pope met a new batch of trainers and students who are participating in a new project, concluded a 5-day Scholas Occurrentes meeting of school children from 10 countries and inaugurated three new centres of the foundation in Argentina, Mozambique and Colombia through video links.

Alert and dreaming

In his talk to the group at Palazzo San Callisto, the Pope urged them to keep dreaming without falling asleep. The ability to dream and hope does not disappoint but carries us forward, he said, adding, we must fight for life and not retire before time. However, the Pope said that while dreaming big and taking risks, one must be prudent. Prudence, he noted, is not a brake but a virtue that helps guide ones energies without losing the way.

Faithful to ones roots

The Pope told the boys and girls that they can blossom only when they are well rooted. The world and history of their country did not begin with them, but what have given their people an identity are the roots of the past. Hence they should proceed without trampling their roots, failing which they will fall.

The Pope also advised the young people to help others and never to allow themselves to be defeated even before trying. A battered youth is better than one that that never tries, the Pope said.
Execution by cannon was a method of execution in which the victim was typically tied to the mouth of a cannon which was then fired. The prisoner is generally tied to a gun with the upper part of the small of his back resting against the muzzle. When the gun is fired, his head is seen to go straight up into the air some forty or fifty feet; the arms fly off right and left, high up in the air, and fall at, perhaps, a hundred yards distance; the legs drop to the ground beneath the muzzle of the gun; and the body is literally blown away altogether, not a vestige being seen.Blowing from a gun was a reported means of execution as long ago as the 16th century, by the Mughal Empire, and was used until the 20th century. The method was utilized by Portuguese colonialists in the 16th and 17th centuries, from as early as 1509 across their empire from Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka) to Mozambique to Brazil. The Mughals used the method throughout the 17th century and into the 18th, particularly against rebels.This method of execution is most closely associated with the colonial government of the British Raj. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, "blowing from a gun" was a method the British used to execute rebels as well as for those natives found guilty of desertion. Using the methods previously practised by the Mughals, the British began implementing blowing from guns in the latter half of the 18th century.The destroying of the body and scattering the remains over a wide area had a particular religious function as a means of execution in the Indian subcontinent as it effectively prevented the necessary funeral rites of Muslims and Hindus. Thus, for believers the punishment was extended beyond death. This was well understood by foreign occupiers and the practice was not generally employed by them as concurrent foreign-occupiers of Africa, Australasia or the Americas.Most recently there was an exceptional use of the practice in Afghanistan in 1930, against 11 Panjshiri rebels.
On this edition of VOA's Press Conference USA, William Galston, senior fellow in the governance studies program at the Brookings Institution discusses his latest book Anti Pluralism: The Populist Threat to Liberal Democracy, with host Carol Castiel and VOA Senior National Correspondent Jim Malone. Galston asserts that failed efforts to effectively address immigration, along with institutional dysfunction and a growing divide between urban and rural areas, have paved the way for a populist backlash in America and around the world.
Music Time in Africa is VOAs longest running English language program. Since 1965, this award-winning program has featured pan African music that spans all genres and generations. Ethnomusicologist and Host Heather Maxwell keeps you up to date on whats happening in African music with exclusive interviews, cultural information, and of course, great music -- including rare recordings from the Leo Sarkisian Library of African Music.
A young author in the Balkh province of Afghanistan has generated a large following among the country's children. His name is Assadullah Ehtsham. His mission: to preserve classic Afghan poetry and nursery rhymes to encourage children to read. In the past two years, he's already handed out more than 3,000 books. Mirwais Bizhan went to Northern Afghanistan to speak with Ehtsham about his mission.
A koala hospital and new wildlife reserves are the focus of one of Australia's boldest plans to protect the vulnerable marsupial. Almost 25,000 hectares of state forest will be set aside for koalas in New South Wales state, which will also set up a new clinic north of Sydney to provide specialist care for sick and injured animals.



Koalas are officially listed as vulnerable to extinction in New South Wales. The state government is to spend $34 million on a range of measures to protect the iconic marsupial.Special reserves will be set up where the animals will be able to breed freely.



The koala population in New South Wales has fallen by a quarter over the past two decades. It is estimated there are 36,000 koalas left in the state.Their numbers have also fallen in other parts of Australia.



The animals face various threats, including a loss of habitat due to land-clearing, attacks by dogs, bushfires, heatwaves and road accidents. A sexually-transmitted disease  chlamydia  is also harming the health of many koalas.



Special measures will also be put in place to help drivers avoid koalas that stray onto highways, including better signs. Tunnels and specially-made bridges have also allowed wildlife to traverse roads while avoiding cars and trucks.



New South Wales environment minister Gabrielle Upton hopes to set up a network of koala and wildlife hospitals to help injured animals.



"This is so there are places that we can have resident expertise in one placein places where we know that koala populations are present and need to be sustained and therefore increased over time. We are going to trial chlamydia vaccinations. Chlamydia is a disease that impacts them most severely on the north coast in New South Wales. There are some really practical parts of this package that address some of the roadkill hot-spots," said Upton.

"We have had some success with underpasses and overpasses in areas where they know they have core habitat. We need to ensure we have the right road signs, the right fencing."



The new koala clinic will be set up in Port Stephens, north of Sydney. It will join an existing hospital in the regional town of Port Macquarie that began treating injured marsupials in 1973.



Conservationists have welcomed the new facility but argue that the New South Wales state government's multi-million dollar plan does not address the number one threat to koalas - land clearing and logging.



The koala lives in trees and has large furry ears, sharp claws adapted for climbing and no tail. It features in many Aboriginal stories of creation and is considered a totemic species.
Catalonia's most uncompromising separatists said Sunday that they won't block the former leader of a pro-independence group from being elected as the restive Spanish region's new leader.

The far-left CUP party decided that its four regional parliament members will abstain during an investiture session scheduled for Monday, which should leave another lawmaker, Quim Torra, with more "yes" than "no" votes.



Torra's election is expected to end the Spanish government's takeover of running Catalonia's affairs that started with an illegal declaration of independence by the regional parliament in October.



Separatist parties maintained a slim majority in regional elections in December, but Spanish courts have blocked their previous efforts to elect two separatists in jail awaiting trial and fugitive former regional President Carles Puigdemont.



They have until May 22 to form a new government or new elections will be triggered.



Torra failed to be elected during an initial vote on Saturday, when the CUP's abstention meant he fell short of winning the absolute majority needed to be elected on a first try. He needs fewer votes to secure the simple majority required to win a second round of balloting set for Monday.



The CUP said that while it "wouldn't block" Torra's election, it also won't necessarily support his government if it does not continue Puigdemont's open defiance of Spanish authorities and push for secession.

Torra, an outspoken Catalan nationalist, was hand-picked by Puigdemont, who is in Germany awaiting extradition to Spain on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds in an illegal referendum on independence held last year.



The Catalan separatist movement has caused the worst political and institutional crisis in Spain in decades.



Polls show that the wealthy region's 7.5 million residents are evenly divided on whether Catalonia should secede from Spain.
China on Sunday condemned fighting in Myanmar between Myanmar government troops and ethnic militants near the Chinese border that caused people to flee into Chinese territory.

Myanmars military frequently clashes with several groups who say they are fighting for greater autonomy for ethnic minorities in the area, through which much of Myanmars foreign trade flows.

The Myanmar government said Saturday that ethnic insurgents in Myanmar killed 19 people, including four members of the security forces, in a major attack near the main border gate with China.

Fifteen civilians, including two women, were killed, and 20 were wounded, according to a government spokesman.

The Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), made up of fighters from the Taang or Palaung ethnic group, said the group had attacked a casino run by militiamen and a Myanmar army post on the outskirts of border town Muse, a few hundred meters from a river that separates Myanmars northern Shan state and Chinas Yunnan province.

Chinas embassy in Myanmar said in a statement that the conflict had sent stray bullets into China, along with an unidentified number of people seeking refuge.

Chinas embassy in Myanmar condemns this violent incident, and feels pained for the relevant innocent people who were harmed, the embassy said in a statement, adding that it had made solemn representations to Myanmars government.

China called for all parties to exercise restraint, implement a ceasefire, and prevent the situation from escalating, so as to restore peace to the China-Myanmar border region.

Violence on the Myanmar side of the border has in recent years sent thousands fleeing through the rugged mountain terrain into China, where the Chinese government at times has set up relief camps.

In 2017, Chinese authorities estimated a flare-up of violence to have sent more than 20,000 refugees across the border, and fighting in 2009 and 2015 displaced tens of thousands of people. Ordnance has occasionally strayed into China and killed people.

Such conflict has frayed ties between China and Myanmar, which Beijing has hoped could be a key gateway in its multi-pronged One Belt One Road strategy to promote regional economic links.
Monday's opening of the U.S. Embassy in contested Jerusalem, cheered by Israelis as a historic validation, is seen by Palestinians as an in-your-face affirmation of pro-Israel bias by President Donald Trump and a new blow to dreams of statehood.

The festive inauguration helps harden Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' rejection of Washington as a future mediator in the conflict with Israel, likely ushering in a prolonged period of diplomatic vacuum in which other powers are unwilling or unable to step up as brokers.



Such paralysis and loss of hope have been major drivers of Palestinian unrest.



Underscoring the conflict's volatility, thousands of Gaza residents plan to march Monday toward Israel's border and possibly breach it in an attempt to break a decade-old blockade of their territory. Israel has vowed to stop any breach by force, raising the possibility of major bloodshed at a time when Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner preside over the embassy ceremony just 70 kilometers (45 miles) away.



From Tel Aviv to Jerusalem



Tel Aviv is the customary base for foreign embassies in Israel, with the U.S. and other countries having avoided Jerusalem because of its contested status. Over the years, a few countries set up embassies in Jerusalem and then left it again. From 2006 until this week, the city didn't host a single foreign embassy.



Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. It annexed the eastern sector to its previously declared capital in the western part of the city, a move not recognized at the time by the U.S. and most other nations.



The fate of the city has been a central issue in years of intermittent U.S.-brokered negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, taking a harder line than two predecessors, has said he won't give up any part of Jerusalem, home to 883,000 people, 38 percent of them Palestinians. Abbas wants east Jerusalem to be the capital of a Palestinian state that would include the other war-won territories.



In December, Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, saying he was simply acknowledging reality, while omitting any mention of Palestinian claims to the city. Trump said at the time he is not taking a position on the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty that are to be determined in negotiations. But just a month later Trump told Netanyahu he had taken Jerusalem "off the table" and that "we don't have to talk about it anymore."



Abbas, who for years had banked on the U.S. to persuade Israel to cede land for a Palestinian state, felt betrayed and halted contacts with the Trump administration.



No to Kushner's deal



Abbas recently laid out conditions for coming back to the table that - based on Trump's past statements - seem unlikely to be met. Abbas says the U.S. must explicitly support a two-state solution, recognize east Jerusalem in principle as a Palestinian capital and allow other powers to join as mediators.

In the meantime, Abbas vows to reject any U.S. proposal for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, arguing that there's nothing to talk about because of the U.S. policy shift on Jerusalem and its failure to rein in Israeli settlement expansion on lands sought for a Palestinian state.



"We will not accept the deal," Abbas told a PLO convention two weeks ago, referring to the plan reportedly being prepared by Trump's Kushner-led Mideast team.



It's unclear when or if the U.S. plan will be released. No details of the proposal have been confirmed, though Palestinian officials, citing information from Saudi intermediaries, suspect it's an offer for a Gaza-based mini-state with parts of the West Bank and a small foothold in Jerusalem.

No alternatives



Abbas, a staunch opponent of violence, hasn't offered an alternative to statehood through negotiations with Israel or found a world power willing to challenge Washington.



European foreign ministers, while opposed to the U.S. policy shift, have urged Abbas to give Washington's peace plan a chance. Even European criticism of the U.S. Embassy move will likely be diluted, with Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania reportedly having blocked a joint EU statement on the issue.



Monday is bound to be one of the worst days in office for Abbas since the Islamic militant Hamas seized Gaza in a 2007 takeover. The 83-year-old appears politically weak and out of ideas, at a time when Hamas is seen as taking charge by leading mass protests against Israel.



Abbas is also increasingly at odds with his own public, especially the younger generation, where support for establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel - the solution backed by the international community - is steadily declining because of growing disillusionment.



Only 35 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 22 still favor a two-state solution, compared to almost 60 percent in the 40-49 bracket, said pollster Khalil Shikaki, whose surveys have an error margin of 3 percentage points. Among the young, almost one-third support the idea of equal rights for Arabs and Jews in a single state, while 58 percent - the highest result in any age group - demand a return to an armed uprising.



Irreversible move



Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem has enjoyed bi-partisan support in Congress, as expressed in the 1995 bill requiring its relocation, though until now presidents used a waiver every six months allowing them to put off the move on security grounds.

It would be politically difficult for any Trump successor to move the embassy back to Tel Aviv, though the next administration could theoretically still try to broker talks on the future of Jerusalem, said Nathan Thrall of the International Crisis Group think tank.



Yet the partition option may no longer exist a few years from now as settlements expand. Some 600,000 Israelis already live on war-won lands, including several tens of thousands in the West Bank's heartland, east of the Israeli separation barrier.



Veteran Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath thinks there's still hope, citing long-term trends he believes favor the Palestinians, including growing disagreements between the Trump administration and traditional U.S. allies, and demographic pressure on Israel as the numbers of Arabs and Jews in the Holy Land approach parity.



He hopes for a change of direction by Washington, particularly if Republicans suffer a setback in November's midterm elections. "Rejecting Trump's policy and afterward rejecting Trump himself would open the door for change," Shaath told reporters as he led a field trip to the embassy site last week.



As their bus drove past the compound, the journalists took photos of workers planting flowers in the area and paired Israeli and American flags fluttering from electricity poles.
Hundreds of supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took to the streets of Baghdad Sunday night, celebrating the announcement of partial results of Iraq's parliamentary elections.

Iraq's electoral commission announced that al-Sadrs coalition is the current front-runner in national elections, with official results in from just over half of the country's provinces.

Al-Sadr himself did not run in the election, but he holds sway over a coalition ticket that won by a large margin in the capital Baghdad.

An alliance of candidates with close ties to Iraq's powerful Shiite paramilitary groups came in a close second .

A victory by Al-Sadr's coalition would be a significant blow to the re-election campaign of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

If the results hold, al-Sadr, a strident critic of the United States, could have a major say in who will become Iraq's next leader.

The electoral commission said that results of the election to fill the country's 329-seat parliament are expected within two days.

Officials said that just 44 percent of eligible voters cast ballots on Saturday - the lowest voter turnout since Saddam Hussein was ousted in 2003. Polling station officials blamed low turnout on increased security measures, voter apathy and irregularities linked to the new electronic voting systems.

As voters cast their ballots Saturday, airports and roads were shut down for security reasons. Last month, elements of IS still operating in Iraq, despite battlefield losses, threatened to attack anyone "participating in the elections."

While the overwhelming number of polling places around the country remained safe, early in the day an attack was reported south of the oil city, Kirkuk; a bomb was discovered at a polling place in Baghdad, and other reports of attempted attacks surfaced.



Heather Murdock contributed to this report.
John McCain is not signing off quietly.

As in so much of the senator's extraordinary life, the rebellious Republican is facing this challenging chapter -- battling brain cancer -- in his own rule-breaking way, stirring up old fights and starting new ones. Rarely has the sickbed been so lively.

McCain is promoting a new book, delivering a counterpunch of ideals contrary to President Donald Trump's running of the White House. McCain's long-distance rejection of CIA director nominee Gina Haspel's history with torture goaded former Vice President Dick Cheney into a fresh debate over waterboarding and other now-banned interrogation techniques. On Friday, friends rallied to defend McCain against a White House official's cruel joke that his positions don't matter because ``he's dying anyway.''

If this is Washington's long goodbye to a sometimes favorite son, it's also a reemergence of old resentments and political fault lines that continue to split the nation.

Perhaps no one should have expected anything less from the 81-year-old senator, who can be crotchety and cantankerous but is also seen by many, both in and out of politics, as an American hero, flaws and all.

Former Vice President Joe Biden said Friday as McCain ``fights for his life, he deserves better -- so much better.''

``Our children learn from our example,'' Biden said. ``The lingering question is: Whose example will it be? I am certain it will be John's.''

Said House Speaker Paul Ryan, ``His legacy is so long that John McCain is a hero to us all.''

McCain was diagnosed in July with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer. He left Washington in December and few expect him to return. Up-and-down reports of his health shift every few days.

A steady stream of visitors have stopped by the McCain family ranch in Arizona -- including Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, on Friday.

Close friend and political ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., visited McCain this week, and the two watched an old movie and talked about McCain's imprint on politics.

Graham said he told McCain he will leave behind a long list of Republicans -- and Democrats -- he has mentored, Graham included.

``Your legacy is the people you affected,'' Graham said he told his friend. ``John McCain's going to have a hell of a legacy.''

Not everyone, though, is so keen to listen to McCain these days.

Most Republican senators are not heeding his advice to reject Haspel, who was chief of base of a detention site where terror suspects were waterboarded. McCain lived through years of captivity during the Vietnam War.

Trump has suggested reviving the now-banned brutal interrogation techniques. And Cheney, who was an architect of the post-Sept. 11, 2001, strategy, said he would keep the program active and ready for deployment, and doesn't think it amounted to torture.

``People want to go back and try to rewrite history, but if it were my call, I'd do it again,'' Cheney told Fox Business.

One retired Air Force general, Tom McInerney, called McCain ``songbird John'' on the same station this week for allegedly providing information to the North Vietnamese while he was a prisoner of war. McCain has said he gave inaccurate information after being tortured. Fox said McInerney would not be invited back on its business or news channels.

Still, one of McCain's longtime sparring partners, Sen. Rand Paul R-Ky., re-affirmed his opposition to Haspel on Friday.

In explaining his opposition, Paul said, ``We shouldn't reward somebody who participated in torture, really still has trouble saying and articulating that it's an immoral thing.''

Just a few years ago, McCain called Paul and fellow Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, ``wacko birds'' for their filibuster blocking then-CIA nominee John Brennan. McCain later apologized.

After McCain's recent hospitalization for an intestinal infection, Graham said he was worried about his old friend's health. But after seeing him this week, he decided McCain will ``be with us for a while.''

The two weren't quite yet saying their goodbyes. In fact, ``there's not talk of funerals, there's talk of the future,'' Graham said.

They watched a classic Western, ``The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' -- with McCain narrating along the way in words that cannot be repeated -- and talked about McCain's book, which Graham says couldn't have come at a better time. ``I told him it should be required reading,'' he said.

It's a story about the country, and ``even though we make our share of mistakes, we're always trying to make it a more perfect union,'' Graham said.
An ethnic rebel group launched an attack against Myanmars military in a northern town Saturday, leaving at least 15 people dead and 20 injured, including civilians, officials said.

The Taang National Liberation Army launched three attacks just after 5 a.m. in the town of Muse in Shan state, government spokesman Zaw Htay said on Facebook. Two of the attacks occurred at military bases and the other at a bridge.

Decadeslong fight

The TNLA is among more than a dozen ethnic rebel groups that have been fighting the central government for greater autonomy for decades. In the past few months, clashes between rebels and the military in Myanmars northeastern region have intensified, resulting in thousands of displaced in neighboring Kachin state.

Myanmars army has been criticized for extrajudicial killings, torture, forced labor, rape and other abuses against the countrys many minority groups.

Aye Myint, a police officer in Muse, said the death toll was 19, and that rebel fighters used small arms as well as mortars. Video on social media showed smoke rising above Muses prominent trading center.

Nan Mwe Phown, a Red Cross member who was at a hospital in Muse, said the dead included 13 male civilians and two women, one of whom was pregnant, as well as several police officers.

Calls for end to violence

On Saturday, protesters calling for an end to the violence in Kachin and elsewhere in the country scuffled with police in Yangon. Eight demonstrators were arrested, police said.

The protest organizers had been informed earlier in the week that the event was denied permission. Authorities said the protest would violate a previously issued order that banned protests in 11 of Yangons 14 townships.

About 200 activists walked slowly through the center of Yangon, Myanmars biggest city, chanting and carrying banners saying, Stop the war and Give peace a chance.

About 100 police stood in a line to block their path, leading to some scuffles and a number of arrests.

In addition to Saturdays arrests, at least nine activists across Myanmar were detained, charged or sentenced over the past week for organizing or participating in protests calling for an end to the violence and denial of safe passage to displaced people in Kachin state.
Pakistan's decision not to allow a U.S. diplomat from leaving the country for his role in a fatal road accident has fueled tensions between the two countries.



U.S. defense attache, Joseph Emanuel Hall, on Saturday planned to board an American military aircraft at the air force base near Islamabad but was not permitted to do so and returned to the embassy, security officials confirmed to VOA on Sunday.



They said several embassy officials had accompanied Hall when he arrived at Nur Khan Air Base where immigration authorities informed him his name is on a government "blacklist" because of the criminal case pending against him.



Pakistani officials said the U.S. military aircraft had arrived in the country from Afghanistan to fly Hall out but went back without him.



A U.S. embassy spokesman declined to comment on the situation with the diplomat nor would he confirm or deny that Hall was prevented from leaving the country.

On April 7, the American defense attache ran a red light in Islamabad, killing a motorcyclist and seriously injuring another person on the bike.



U.S. officials swiftly expressed their "deep sympathy to the family of the deceased and those injured," and pledged to fully cooperate with local authorities in the investigation.



The family of the deceased Ateeq Baig later approached the capital city's high court, demanding Hall be brought to justice.



Washington has rejected the Pakistani demand to withdraw Hall's diplomatic immunity to hold the diplomat accountable for his "criminal" act.



"This level of diplomat, he is not a contractor, has diplomatic immunity. But having said that immunity does not mean that they can flagrantly flout the host country's laws with impunity," Sherry Rehman, leader of the opposition in the Pakistani Senate, told VOA. She has also served as Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S.



Pakistan barred Hall from leaving the country a day after it placed unspecified travel restrictions on American diplomats and withdrew concessions Islamabad had granted to U.S. missions as part of the "war on terror" partnership.



The restrictions went into effect on Friday the same day Washington announced Pakistani diplomats would be required to seek permission five days in advance before traveling more than 40 kilometers from their posts in the United States.



The Pakistani foreign ministry through a formal letter also informed the U.S. embassy its officials would no longer be entitled to special treatment at the airports and their cargo will have to be scanned like that of other passengers.



American diplomats have also been barred from "installing radio communication at residences and safe houses" without prior government permission. They have also been disallowed from using "tinted glass" on vehicles as well as rented transportation and installing non-diplomatic license plates on official vehicles.



Pakistan had granted those concessions to the U.S. after Pakistan joined the "war on terrorism" 17 years ago.



Rehman saw the diplomatic dispute as an "unprecedented stalemate" in relations between Pakistan and the U.S.



"They symbolize a downward spiraling in an already tense relationship. It puts both embassies and missions under a cloud of very unpleasant situation, circumstances and working conditions," Rehman said.



She called for both Pakistan and the U.S. to apply "some serious crisis management diplomacy" to address what Rehman said was a "precipitous and worrying downturn" in the fragile tension-marred bilateral relations.



Pakistan's relations with the U.S. have steadily deteriorated since President Donald Trump announced a new South Asia strategy in August that blamed Islamabad for covertly supporting terrorist groups and the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.



While U.S. financial assistance to Islamabad has significantly declined over the yeas, Trump also suspended military aid to the county until Islamabad takes deceive action against terrorists on its soil.



Pakistan rejects the charges and maintains it is being scapegoated for U.S.-led international security failures in Afghanistan.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry has formally ended construction of a facility meant to reprocess weapons-grade plutonium and uranium into fuel for reactors, a key element of the nations commitment to containing the global nuclear threat.



Perry executed a waiver Thursday to terminate construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.



A day earlier, Perry called it a historically questionable expenditure in testimony before Congress about the Trump administrations 2019 budget proposal, which includes $220 million toward closing the project, and $59 million toward replacing it with a so-called dilute and dispose approach to surplus nuclear material.

Facility over budget, behind schedule

The MOX was initially slated to open in 2016, blending weapons-grade plutonium and uranium into commercial reactor fuel. But its estimated construction cost soared from $1.4 billion in 2004 to more than $17 billion. About $5 billion had been spent by last year, with completion not expected until 2048.



The MOX was proposed as part of the US-Russia nuclear nonproliferation agreement in 2000. Since then, the idea of converting potential weapons into safe energy has helped persuade leaders in multiple countries to surrender their nuclear material before it could fall into dangerous hands.



With MOX being discontinued, the National Nuclear Security Administration has proposed installing pits to store plutonium waste, 50 per year at the Savannah River Site and 30 per year at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.



A news release from NNSA said the two-pronged approach involving the pits is the best way to manage the cost, schedule, and risk of such a vital undertaking.

South Carolina to fight move



Rep. Rick Allen, a Republican from Georgia, criticized the move Friday, saying he still believes MOX is the most viable way forward to dispose of our weapons grade plutonium, but he also supports installing pits at the Savannah River Site, which will continue to provide jobs in the local economy.



South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster called dilute-and-dispose not logical during a March question-and-answer session in North Augusta.



The Department of Energy has been trying to shut down the MOX project for years, breaking a promise to the people of South Carolina and breaking federal law along the way, McMaster said. We will not accept it, and we will fight every step of the way to make sure South Carolinas interests are protected.



Several studies are needed and environmental concerns are to be addressed before dilute-and-dispose can fully proceed, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency letter sent April 2. The EPA said agency involvement in the matter at this point would be premature.
In the wake of President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Russia unleashed a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at keeping Iran and other remaining signatories committed to the agreement.

But behind Russias diplomatic maneuvering, analysts see the Kremlin chasing rewards from transatlantic divisions over the Iran issue while facing risks of deeper entanglement in Middle East affairs.

Without doubt we will make sure firstly that this does not destroy the JCPOA, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, referring to the Iran nuclear deals formal abbreviation following a meeting with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in Moscow last week.

This is our common objective, assured Lavrov. We confirmed this.

Lavrov deployed a top envoy, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, to Tehran in a move aimed at shoring up continued Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal.

From the Russian point of view, particular importance will be given to preserving the JCPOA without damaging concrete projects and concrete areas of cooperation that are building between all members of the deal, said Ryabkov in comments following the meeting.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will come to Moscow on Monday for further talks.



German Chancellor Angela Merkel is also expected to join Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi later in the week for additional discussions where Iran is expected to be high on the agenda.

A reliable partner in  Moscow?

Yet in aligning itself with Europe firmly behind preserving the Iran deal, Russian analysts argue Moscow sees unexpected diplomatic openings beyond the nuclear issue.

This is in some respects a win for Russia, said Alexey Malashenko, a longtime Middle East watcher and head of the Institute of Dialogue and Civilization in Moscow. Russia may not have any influence over the U.S. and its decision to leave the Iran deal, but it now has a united position with Europe and the European Union.

Malashenko notes that Trumps decision to ignore pleas by traditional allies such as France and Germany to remain in the Iran deal accomplished something Putin has long sought but could not achieve until now: a transatlantic rift.

Trump listened to Macron and Merkel and showed that he doesnt care. The Europeans are really offended this time, said Malashenko.

Writing in the online magazine Republic, foreign policy analyst Vladimir Frolov argued that continued failure to bridge those differences offered Moscow the prospect of something much greater than merely isolating Washington  namely, a tentative path to future sanctions relief.

If the politics of sanctions fall apart at the seams with the West relative to Iran, writes Frolov, then why cant they differ over Russia, when its in solidarity with Europe over keeping the JCPOA?

Sanctions shrug

Never an enthusiastic backer of sanctions on Iran, Russia nevertheless embraced its role as one of the six signatories to the denuclearization swap for sanctions relief deal brokered with Iran by the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, and China back in 2015.

As Europe now debates its response to threats from Washington that the EU cut off future investments in Tehran or face renewed penalties, Moscow seems determined to show Europe that U.S. sanctions are something to be weathered, says Karine Gevorgyan, an Iran specialist based in Moscow.

Gevorgyan points out that major Russian companies are already under U.S. sanctions over the Kremlins actions in Ukraine, alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential elections, and  just last week  what Washington says is Moscows support of Syria and other rogue regimes.

They were already sanctioning Russian military exports. It wont have an impact, she says.

A statement by the Foreign Ministry similarly chided the White House for trivial desire to get even with Russia and warned that attempts to punish Russia economically would continue to fail.

Whether quasi-state Russian businesses with interests in Irans oil, gas, tourism, and railway sectors are ready to risk U.S. penalties or pull up stakes remains an open question.

Israeli factor

Meanwhile, a more immediate pitfall is the escalating proxy war between Iran and Israel in neighboring Syria, where Russia is engaged in an ongoing military alliance with the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey, and Iran.

Russia has relished its role in the Syrian conflict as a sign of the Kremlins growing role as a player in Middle East politics. Yet the Russian military intervention has also presented challenges to relations with Israel  one of the most vocal opponents of the Iran nuclear deal.

Last week, Israel carried out airstrikes against dozens of Iranian military targets in neighboring Syria, accusing Iran of launching its own missile attack from the area.

Moscow  which values close ties with Israel and yet needs continued Iranian military support in Syria  has called for restraint from all parties while faced with the prospect of a wider Middle East conflict.

Yet analyst Alexei Malashenko questions whether Moscow can successfully play the role of mediator given Russias traditional approach of always sitting on two stools.

In a sign of the diplomatic whiplash that the policy entails, the Kremlin raised eyebrows when a presidential aide indicated Moscow would stall a promise to deliver Russias vaunted S-300 surface to air-missile systems to Syria  Irans ally  following attendance by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at World World II Victory Day celebrations on Red Square May 9th.

President Putins primary spokesman later insisted the decisions were unrelated but the challenges ahead were obvious.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Saturday that he thought President Donald Trump would be an asset to GOP candidates this fall in states like Wisconsin that he narrowly won, even as he warned fellow Republicans that a "blue wave" could wipe out advancements made during his presidency.

Ryan addressed about 600 people at the Wisconsin Republican convention, his final one after 20 years in office. The state's entire GOP congressional delegation, along with Governor Scott Walker, honored Ryan, who received a standing ovation and chant from the audience of "Thank you, Paul!"

Ryan told delegates he was surprised on election night in 2016 when it became clear Trump was going to win Wisconsin  the first Republican to carry the state since 1984. Trump won by less than 1 percentage point.

Ryan told reporters later he didn't think controversies surrounding Trump were resonating with voters in states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

"The president is strong in these states," Ryan said. "He's an asset. ... Whether I'm running around southern Wisconsin or America, nobody is talking about Stormy Daniels. Nobody is talking about Russia. They're talking about their lives and their problems. They're talking about their communities, they're talking about jobs, they're talking about the economy, they're talking about national security."

'Ton' of accomplishments

Ryan defended his and the Republican record in Congress, including the tax overhaul law he championed, saying "we have gotten a ton of things done."

But he, like other Republicans speaking at the convention before him, warned it could all be quickly be undone.

"The blue wave, as they say it, they want to take it all away," Ryan cautioned.

He also reminisced about his career, telling reporters after his convention speech, "I never thought I'd be here in the first place. I wanted to be an economist."

Walker presented Ryan with a personalized Green Bay Packers jersey with a number "1" on the back. That is the number of Ryan's southeastern Wisconsin congressional district.

Ryan has not endorsed anyone in the race to replace him, saying he didn't know if he would. Candidates have until June 1 to file.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told staffers Friday that an aides recent comment about Sen. John McCain was inappropriate but shouldnt have been leaked to the media.

Sanders told communications staffers in a private meeting that it was inappropriate for aide Kelly Sadler to dismiss McCains opinion during a recent closed-door meeting because, Sadler said, hes dying anyway.

Sanders said the leak was selfish and distracted from the presidents agenda and everything were trying to accomplish for the American people, according to a person familiar with the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private meeting. She noted that it garnered attention following the presidents welcoming home of three Americans detained in North Korea and an upcoming summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

During the meeting, White House director of strategic communications Mercedes Schlapp defended Sadler, saying the private comments shouldnt have been leaked to the media, the person said.

Sanders declined to condemn Sadlers comments during a White House briefing on Friday, saying she wouldnt validate a leak out of an internal staff meeting.

McCain, the 81-year-old Arizona GOP senator, was diagnosed in July with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer. He left Washington in December and underwent surgery last month for an infection.

Sadler is a special assistant to the president. She has declined to respond to requests for comment on her McCain remark.
Seven people have been found dead at a farm in Western Australia. It is reported to be the nation's worst mass shooting for more than 20 years.

The bodies of four children and three adults were discovered Friday in the town of Osmington in Western Australia, 280 kilometers south of Perth, the state capital.



This type of gun violence is rare in Australia. Media reports say the killings are the worst mass shootings since the Port Arthur massacre on the island state of Tasmania in 1996.



In Port Arthur, 35 people were shot dead by a lone gunman, Martin Bryant, who remains in prison.The shootings led to a comprehensive overhaul of Australia's gun laws, which drastically cut gun-related crime. The measures banned automatic and semi-automatic weapons.



The reasons behind Friday's tragedy may never be known. Two firearms were found at the scene, which is still being pored over by forensic examiners.



A murder-suicide is suspected, although this has not been confirmed by law enforcement officials.



Three generations of the same family were among the victims.Katrina Miles was found dead alongside her four children aged 8, 10, 12 and 13, and her 58-year old mother, Cynda.

The body of an older man was slumped in a chair on the veranda outside.



Nearby Margaret River is a popular surfing town, and many locals have expressed their horror at the deaths.



The president of the local shire, Pamela Townshend, says the deaths have shocked residents.



"It is such a small community and it will have a huge effect - is already having a huge effect because in this community we are so well connected," she said.



Mark McGowan, the state premier of Western Australia, has also reacted to the tragedy.



"Four young children, [a] mother and a grandmother being killed in this way is just a terribly distressing and sad thing, and I think we all feel it keenly," he said.
Indonesian police say a family of six, including teens and two children, were responsible for the suicide bombings of three churches on Sunday that killed at least 13 people and wounded 41 others in the city of Surabaya.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the blasts, which Indonesia's president called "barbaric", in the country's second largest city. The family had reportedly recently returned to Indonesia from Syria.

National police chief Tito Karnavian said the bombers included a mother and father, two daughters aged 9 and 12 and two teenage sons, adding that they were linked to the Islamic State-inspired group, Jemaah Ansharut Daulah.

They have been cornered by the West, including U.S., in Syria, and they have to return to Indonesia," Tito said of the group, calling on Indonesia's parliament to pass a revised anti-terrorism law.

We cant take any actions without legal basis. The previous law is outdated," he told a news conference, adding that police would call on the president to issue a decree to enable them to move quickly to fight the terrorist cell.

"This act is barbaric and beyond the limits of humanity, causing victims among members of society, the police and even innocent children," President Joko Widodo said during a visit to the scene of the attacks.

The U.N. secretary-general condemned the attacks in a statement Sunday, noting that he was "appalled" that children were used in the bombing.

"The Secretary-General expresses his condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a swift recovery to those injured. He reiterates the support of the United Nations to the Government and people of Indonesia in their efforts to fight and prevent terrorism and violent extremism, including through the promotion of pluralism, moderation and tolerance," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary-General, wrote in a statement.

Indonesian Muslim and Christian organizations (Nadhlatul Ulama and Communion of Churches/PGI) condemned the attacks and issued a statement saying there is "no single religion in the world that justifies violence in achieving our goals." The groups urged the government to take "decisive and swift steps" to tackle terrorism and radicalism.

Police have ordered the temporary closure of all churches in Surabaya. A large food festival in the city has also been canceled.

Churches in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, canceled morning services. Jakarta is on high alert after the three bomb attacks in Surabaya. The National Police have tightened security across the capital, especially around vital objects and strategic locations.

There are no details yet why the police increased the alert status, or whether there is any terrorist threat to the capital.

The attacks in predominantly Muslim Indonesia came days after police ended a riot and hostage-taking at a detention center near Jakarta that left six officers and an inmate dead.
Two British tourists kidnapped in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been released, Britain's foreign minister Boris Johnson said Sunday.

A park ranger was killed in the kidnapping Friday, which took place in the village of Kibati near the edge of Virunga National Park, just north of Goma.

"My thoughts are now with the family of Virunga Park ranger Rachel Makissa Baraka who was killed during the kidnapping, and with the injured driver," Johnson said in a statement.

"I pay tribute to the DRC authorities and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation for their tireless help during this terrible case," the statement went on, without providing further details of the kidnapping.

Virunga National Park is home to around one quarter of the world's remaining mountain gorilla population.
The United States has given Cameroon two military aircraft to assist in the fight against Boko Haram militants. It adds to armored vehicles, U.S.-led training on landmine detection and the presence of U.S. Marines in the country.



This is the sound of one of the two planes donated by the U.S. taking off from the military air base in Yaounde on a reconnaissance flight Friday. On board are Cameroon defense minister Joseph Beti Assomo and the U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon Peter Henry Barlerin.



The two planes, according to Joseph Beti Assomo, are specialized in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Each of the C208 aircraft possess inbuilt cameras that could capture images from the ground for up to 10 kilometers away.

Joseph Beti Assomo says he is particularly grateful because pilots and other crew members of the aircraft have been trained by the U.S. and the maintenance of the equipment will be assured for two years by the United States.



He says Cameroon is very grateful to the people of America who have not relented in helping its military to combat Boko Haram terrorism. He says his country's military will use the aircraft to protect not only its citizens and national territory from Boko Haram atrocities, but will also join troops of the Lake Chad Basin Commission to free Nigeria, Chad and Niger from the pain inflicted on them by terrorists.

The United States has been supporting Cameroon its fight against Boko Haram. In 2015, it handed a consignment of U.S. military equipment to Central African nations that deployed a regional military force to counter Boko Haram's insurgency in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad.



That year the United States had declared Boko Haram a foreign terrorist organization and placed a $7 million bounty on the terror group leader Shekau to help bring him to justice.



In 2016, the United States trained the Cameroon military in detecting and counteracting landmines and explosive devices when the increasing use of landmines and suicide bombings by Boko Haram militants was reported.



In October 2015 and as part of an effort to assist the central African state and other regional governments in their efforts to battle extremist groups, the United States deployed approximately 90 troops to Cameroon to provide airborne intelligence, surveillance and other reconnaissance operations at the request and invitation of the Cameroonian government.



The U.N. refugee agency estimates approximately 26 million people in the Lake Chad region have been affected by the Boko Haram violence, and more than 2.6 million displaced in the conflict that has entered its 9th year.
The Jerusalem no mans land where the U.S. says part of its new embassy to Israel will be located is a territorial quirk of the Arab-Israeli conflict, a quirk that originated at the start of hostilities in 1948.

The U.S. will inaugurate the embassy Monday in an existing consular complex at the southwestern corner of a no mans land that appears as a five-sided box on contemporary U.S. government and Google maps of Jerusalem. That zone first appeared on a map in a much smaller form in May 1948.

At its heart is a compound known as Government House, built in 1933 on a strategic hilltop to serve as the headquarters of the British High Commissioner who ruled the then-British Mandate of Palestine.

When Britain ended its rule of Palestine on May 14, 1948, it withdrew from Government House and handed the keys to the Red Cross, which a day earlier had declared a Red Cross Zone around the site. The rectangular-shaped area was meant to be a safe haven for refugees from the war that erupted May 14, as Israel declared independence and Arab nations declared a war to destroy the Jewish state.

Fighting in the area persisted, prompting a U.N. Central Truce Supervision Board to create a Neutral Zone around the Red Cross Zone, Aug. 27, 1948, to try to push the combatants farther away.

The Red Cross pulled out of Government House, Sept. 30, 1948, and handed it to the United Nations, which converted the building into a base of the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO). U.N. personnel demanded that Israeli and Arab forces continue to stay out of the former Red Cross/Neutral Zone around Government House, essentially turning the area into a U.N.-mandated demilitarized zone.

Israel and Jordan, one of the warring Arab nations, signed an armistice agreement on the Greek island of Rhodes, April 3, 1949, and attached to the document several maps with hand-drawn armistice demarcation lines between their forces.

In Jerusalem, where the fighting left Israel in control of the citys western part and put Jordan in control of the east, the two sides were unable to agree on a single line dividing the city between them. So they drew two sets of lines representing where they thought their boundaries should be, with the Israelis drawing a line farther east and the Jordanians drawing a line farther west. The agreement referred to the gap in the armistice lines as an area between the lines in which neither side was permitted to send its civilians or security forces.

Through most of Jerusalem, the dual armistice lines ran close together, creating gaps from a few meters to a few hundred meters wide. But in the area around Government House, the lines widened considerably as Israel and Jordan agreed to put UNTSOs broad demilitarized zone between them. UNTSO wielded authority in the Israeli-Jordanian conflict, not just as the mediator of a Mixed Armistice Commission that included delegates of both sides, but also as the arbiter of their armistice disputes.

In a quirk of the April 3, 1949, map, the southern perimeter of the U.N. demilitarized zone around Government House disappeared. As the dual armistice lines moved south of that zone, they narrowed slightly but remained some distance apart as they looped toward the west.

Within weeks, the lines changed again. In a new, unpublished map signed by Israel and Jordan, April 23, 1949, and seen by VOA, the two sides reinstated the southern perimeter of the zone around UNTSO. They also removed the wide gaps between the lines running through southern and northern Jerusalem in the April 3 map, merging the dual armistice lines into single lines.

A stretch of the Jerusalem-to-Tel Aviv railway that had been in southern Jerusalems no mans land was now in sovereign Israeli territory, while the no mans land around the Arab village of Beit Iksa, north of Jerusalem, became part of Jordan.

The Israeli-Jordanian armistice lines of April 23, 1949, later were replicated in U.S. government maps of Jerusalem that have been published and mirrored in Googles online map of the region.

In the weeks after signing the second armistice map of Jerusalem, Israel and Jordan kept haggling over the fate of the zone around UNTSO. In his 2002 book Jerusalem Divided: The Armistice Regime 1947-1967, Israeli scholar Raphael Israeli wrote that the zone constituted a large and well-located urban area coveted for civilian and economic development.

Besides Government House, the zone also contained a Jewish agricultural school and farmland as well as parts of Jabel Mukaber, an Arab village.

Israeli, a former Mixed Armistice Commission delegate, said Israel and Jordan decided, without consulting UNTSO, to divide the zone between them except for the Government House compound, creating three sectors: an Israeli sector in the west, a Jordanian sector in the east, and a small UNTSO sector in the middle.

In the following years, Israel and Jordan allowed their civilians and even security personnel to operate within their respective sectors. But each side occasionally complained to UNTSO about the activities of the other side, and they never formalized the partition on a legally binding map.

Despite the lack of an official agreement, Israel drew the partition onto its own maps of the zone around UNTSO. One such map, published by Israels surveying department in 1958, shows a thin green line bisecting the zone into western and eastern sectors and surrounding UNTSOs compound in the center. The Israeli foreign ministrys online map of the 1949 armistice lines also shows the partition.

It is not clear if Jordan ever marked the partition on its maps. The Jordanian government did not respond to a VOA request for official maps from the period and declined to comment on the issue.

In the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Israel captured the entire zone around UNTSO, as well as eastern districts of Jerusalem that had been under Jordans sovereignty. Jordanian forces had seized UNTSOs compound at the start of the six-day conflict, but Israel pushed them out and later allowed UNTSO to resume its use of the compound.

The war also enabled Israel to draw a new municipal boundary for Jerusalem, annexing former Jordanian territory and the areas between the armistice lines and proclaiming them to be part of a new, united capital of the nation  a move never recognized by the U.N.

Jordans King Hussein renounced his territorial claims to the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in a July 31, 1988, national address, saying those territories should become part of an independent Palestinian state.

In a comment to The New York Times in March, Palestine Liberation Organization negotiator Ashraf Khatib said the zone around UNTSO should be part of negotiations to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which that zone is one of the biggest territorial anomalies.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that if North Korea agrees to full denuclearization, the United States is prepared to "provide security assurances" for the Pyongyang government and allow private American investment to build out the country's woefully inadequate electrical grid.

"We will have to provide security assurances, to be sure," the top U.S. diplomat told Fox News. "This is a trade-off that has been pending for 25 years."

He said that until President Donald Trump, "No president has ever put America in a position where the North Korean leadership thought that this was truly possible, that the Americans would actually do this, leading to the place where America was no longer held at risk by the North Korean regime. That's the objective."



Watch related video by VOA's Michael Bowman:

After meeting twice with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, Pompeo said he is "convinced" that Kim "shares the objective of the American people."

Pompeo said the goal of the June 12 summit between Kim and Trump in Singapore is to "set out those markers" where terms of denuclearization and security assurances could be negotiated and finalized.



In a separate interview on CBS News, Pompeo said that in nuclear negotiations over the years, North Korea has not "proved worthy of their promises. But were hopeful that this will be different, that we wont do the traditional model where they do something, and we give them a bunch of money, and then both sides walk away. Were hoping this will be bigger, different, faster. Our ask is complete and total denuclearization of North Korea, and it is the presidents intention to achieve that."

Pompeo told Fox that if denuclearization is achieved, the U.S. would allow "private sector Americans... help build out the energy grid that needs enormous amounts of electricity in North Korea." He also said Americans would also help invest in North Korean infrastructure and agriculture if Pyongyang meets U.S. demands on ending its nuclear weapons program.

However, in a CNN interview, national security adviser John Bolton ruled out direct economic aid from the U.S. government to North Korea. He credited the "maximum pressure" of Trump's economic sanctions on North Korea to Kim's announced willingness to abandon the country's nuclear weapons program.

Pyongyang says it is dismantling its nuclear bomb test site sometime between May 23 and 25 and said that western observers would be allowed in to watch as tunnels at the site are collapsed with explosives and research buildings and security posts destroyed.



Pompeo said, "Every single site that the North Koreans have that can inflict risk upon the American people that is destroyed, eliminated, dismantled is good news for the American people and for the world. And so this is one step along the way."

On Saturday, Trump said on Twitter, "Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!" Trump said Saturday on Twitter.

While the U.S. expressed willingness for private investment in North Korea, Bolton said that renewed economic sanctions against Iran after Trump's withdrawal of the U.S. from the 2015 international accord restraining Tehran's nuclear program could be "quite dramatic." He described Iran's economy as "quite shaky."

European allies of the U.S. opposed Trump's abrogation of the Iran pact. Bolton said it is possible that the U.S. could block European companies from doing business in the U.S. if they continue to do business with Iran.




ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  A helicopter pilot had a low concentration of fentanyl in his blood during a crash in New Mexico that killed him and four other people including Zimbabwean opposition leader Roy Bennett, according to autopsy results obtained on Friday.

Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid and pain medication, was found in the autopsy report for Jamie Coleman Dodd, the lead pilot in the January crash in northeastern New Mexico.

The report didnt say whether Dodd may have been taking fentanyl for health reasons. Prior reports have not indicated that drugs were a cause of the crash.

Autopsies also were performed on co-pilot Paul Cobb and wealthy businessman Charles Burnett III  also killed in the crash on a grassy mesa top east of Raton.

All three men died of blunt force trauma. Burns also were a cause of death for Burnett. Bennetts wife, Heather, also died in the crash.

Cobb had no drugs in his system, while Burnett had alcohol, amphetamine and oxycodone present in his, medical examiners determined.

The sole survivor of the crash, Andra Cobb, of Texas, later recounted her experience, saying the aircraft hit the ground with a loud bang before rolling forward, stopping upside down and bursting into flames.

A report by the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that the weather was clear the night of the crash, and that Dodd had thousands of hours of flying experience. The pilot was able to call 911 but later died at a hospital
Stratovolcano 3562 m (11,686 ft)Ecuador, -0.08S / -77.66W(4 out of 5)1541, 1590, 1691, 1748, 1797, 1802, 1843, 1843, 1844, 1856, 1871, 1894, 1898-1906, 1912, 1926, 1929, 1936, 1944, 1955, 1957, 1960, 1972, 1973-74, 1976, 2002 (large eruption), 2004 (Nov) - 2005 (Jan), 2005 (June) - 2006 (March), 2008 (July) - ongoingExplosive and effusive.(5 days expedition to Ecuador to observe volcanic activity from close)

If you havn't done it yet,to get one of the fastest volcano news online:

The Saronic Gulf opposite Athens is one of the most beautiful and interesting areas of Greece, full of beautiful landscapes, small towns, islands, archeological remains and one of Europe's least known active volcanic areas. Join us on a relaxing tour to discover this fascinating area!

The most active volcano in the world with a record long lasting eruption since 1983: images of lava flows, lava lakes, explosions, lava meeting the ocean, aerials and more.

One of the largest and most active volcanoes in East Java, rarely-visited and relatively unknown Raung became (in)famous during its recent eruption in 2015 when its frequent ash plumes forced the repeated closure of Bali's airport.

Support us - Help us upgrade our services!

Maintaining our website and our free apps does require, however, considerable time and resources.

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Figuring out that a drug developed for one ailment can be effective for another was once a matter of chance. In the case of Viagra, for example, the discovery emerged by observing an unintended but beneficial side effect. Now, technological and scientific advances are allowing researchers to rely more on science and less on luck in hopes of cutting the time and expense involved in getting new treatments to patients.
But in their submission to the Senate's inquiry into the Franchising Code of Conduct the Scafs detail why many things about Aussie Farmers did not stack up leading to the collapse of the online fresh food delivery business in March this year.

"We bought into Aussie Farmers Direct believing in the concept  online grocery deliveries, bringing back 'the local milkman', supporting farmers, the local community and small business," the Scafs say.

Abi and Trenton Scaf wanted to support Australian farmers when they bought four Aussie Farmers Direct franchises.

In their submission the Scafs claim the fresh produce they were supplied in Western Australia was around 50 per cent from wholesalers "not local farmers as we and our customers were led to believe".

"This led to mouldy, rotten produce being supplied, persistent out of stockages and even off-meat was an ongoing issue we raised multiple times. Despite requesting it multiple times, we never met any local farmers who supplied Aussie Farmers Direct and our quality concerns were repeatedly ignored ... my husband and I were forced to keep delivering sub-standard produce at vastly inflated prices."

Aussie Farmers Direct went into administration in April.

Another submission to the inquiry, by former Aussie Farmers franchisees Patrik and Jana Vareb, also claims the reality of the produce supplied by Aussie Farmers was far from the claims of fruit and vegetables directly from the farm gate.

"Fruit and veg was sourced 50 per cent from wholesalers with inferior quality," the Varebs say.
Plans to combine fine debt collection with fine review services have raised concerns about job cuts and a potential conflict of interest and state government "cash grab".

The NSW Public Service Association has raised concerns about the planned restructure in the Industrial Relations Commission and Labor has described it as a government "cash grab".

An internal Department of Finance and Services document dated May 3 obtained by Fairfax Media outlines a plan to combine or "blend" the fine collections branch with the service branch which independently handles requests for fine reviews.

Minister for Finance, Services and Property Victor Dominello. Credit:Orlando Chiodo

The document says collection and service teams in Maitland will be "integrated to ensure full support is given to all staff to drive consistency in service delivery". Revenue NSW has confirmed this will result in the loss of 35 jobs. The changes are to be introduced in law later this year.
The Gold Coast schoolboy at the centre of an amber alert was kidnapped for ransom over personal loans between his parents and his abductor, police will allege.

The boy, 12, was found shortly after midday on Saturday in the New South Wales city of Grafton, about 240 kilometres south of where he was allegedly abducted from less than 24 hours earlier.

The boy was found with no major injuries and a 53-year-old man, who police said was not related to the child, was assisting with inquiries.

The boy and his alleged abductor were found inside the dark-coloured Jeep Compass. Credit:Queensland Police Service

Detective Inspector Marc Hogan said the pair were found by New South Wales Police after a member of the public recognised the Jeep Compass SUV that officers were searching for.
Federal officials plan to back the destruction of almost 2000 hectares of pristine Queensland forest in a move that threatens the Great Barrier Reef and undermines a $500 million Turnbull government rescue package for the natural wonder.

A draft report by the Department of the Environment and Energy recommends that the government allow the mass vegetation clearing at Kingvale Station on Cape York Peninsula. The area to be bulldozed is almost three times the size of the combined central business districts of Sydney and Melbourne.

Old growth forest in the vicinity of Kingvale Station, near rivers that flow into the Great Barrier Reef. Photo courtesy Australian Conservation Foundation.

The draft recommendation comes despite the department conceding the native forest is likely to contain endangered species, and despite expert warnings that runoff caused by the clearing may damage the reef.

Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg will make a final ruling on the proposal. It will test his long-stated willingness to protect the reef from poor water quality, which is triggered by land clearing.
Washington: The United States on Sunday threatened to impose sanctions on European companies that do business with Iran, as the remaining participants in the Iran nuclear accord stiffened their resolve to keep that agreement operational.

White House National Security adviser John Bolton said US sanctions on European companies that maintain business dealings with Iran were "possible," but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he remained hopeful Washington and its allies could strike a new nuclear deal with Tehran.

Bolton struck a more hawkish tone with his comments in an interview with CNN's State of the Union program than Pompeo did when he was interviewed on Fox News Sunday.

US President Donald Trump on May 8 announced that the United States would pull out of a 2015 deal negotiated by the Obama administration.
The Birdtail Creek Train disaster of 1968 killed three men and shook the tightly knit railway community of two provinces. Fifty years later, the memories of those men are kept alive by the families they left behind.

This article was published 13/5/2018 (1244 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Birdtail Creek Train disaster of 1968 killed three men and shook the tightly knit railway community of two provinces. Fifty years later, the memories of those men are kept alive by the families they left behind.

On the evening of April 22, 1968, Canadian National Railways (CN) freight train number 409 departed Winnipeg for points west. It was 97 cars in length and powered by four diesel engines, which was considered an average-sized train at the time.

UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA, WINNIPEG TRIBUNE PHOTO COLLECTION Overhead view of the crash site

Around midnight, the train pulled into the CN station at Rivers, Man., for a crew change and was soon back on its way with a five-man crew from Saskatchewan.

In the lead engine was 36-year-old Herbert Degerstedt, the head-end brakeman. He joined CN soon after high school and already had 16 years of service to his name. Back home in Melville, Sask., were his wife Elaine and two young children.

Alongside Degerstedt was Robert Bruce Emerson, 50, the most experienced crew member, having worked for CN for 24 years. Born and raised in Hamiota, Man., Emerson distinguished himself by being one of the first men from the region to enlist with the RCAF at the start of the Second World War.

After the war he joined CN and, in 1965, he, his wife Marjorie and their five children relocated to Yorkton, Sask.

Seated back in the fourth engine was locomotive fireman Alfred Varga, 40, of Melville. The father of five had been with CN for 15 years and was president of the Melville local of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen.

W. DUCHART / BANDON SUN FILES Officials survey the wreckage two days after the bridge over the Birdtail Creek collapsed under a 97-car freight train.

In the caboose were conductor James Boyd and rear-end trainman Robert George Reid, both from Melville.

Around 2:45 a.m., the train was travelling across the Birdtail Sioux First Nation approaching a bridge over the Birdtail Creek, located about 100 kilometres northwest of Brandon near the village of St. Lazare. The 88-metre-long bridge consisted of a steel-supported centre span of 24 metres flanked by wooden trestle approaches at either end.

As the train crossed the bridge, catastrophe struck when the four engines and first 22 freight cars dropped through the western approach into the 20-metre-deep gorge below.

The men in the caboose, which remained on the tracks, radioed for assistance and CN emergency crews were dispatched.

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES This map showing where the derailment took place appeared on the front page of the Winnipeg Free Press.

'On the block that we lived on there were 14 homes and 11 were railroaders, so we all did support each other. I think some of the neighbours had just as hard a time as we did'  Keith Degerstedt

Charles "Buck" Morgan, a fellow CN man from Melville, was one of the first rescuers on the scene and found the injured Varga who had been thrown from the train.

Vargas son, Rob, says when Morgan found his father he was still conscious, "(Morgan) came and spent a little time with Dad and Dad was cold, so he gave him his jacket and he left." When he returned a short time later, Varga had died due to internal injuries.

Morgan would later testify at an inquest that during their conversation Varga told him that "the bridge just fell out from under us."

Degerstedt and Emerson could not be accounted for at the time. They were presumed dead as their lead engine was buried beneath layers of burning rail cars.

DIRK ABERSON / BRANDON SUN FILES Freight cars burn at the crash site a few hours after the fatal accident.

The greatest hindrance to fighting the fierce blaze, which was fed by diesel fuel and oil from the engines and fanned by strong winds, was the inaccessibility of the site. Located kilometres from the nearest road, fire trucks from nearby municipalities could not get to the scene.

A CN fire crew was brought in by rail and 10 firefighters from Canadian Forces Base Rivers arrived by helicopter. All tried their best to battle the fire by pumping muddy water from the Birdtail Creek onto it.

The following day, as the fire began to subside, the badly burned bodies of Degerstedt and Emerson were discovered. The crash closed the CN main line for several days as the salvage effort proved to be as difficult as fighting the fire.

Four days after the crash it was reported that equipment brought in by rail to retrieve the wreckage from the gorge was sitting idle as the steel cables had snapped under the weight and new, stronger cables had to be sent from Winnipeg.

DIRK ABERSON / BRANDON SUN FILES Freight cars burn at the crash site a few hours after the fatal accident.

In the end, the decision was made to bury the wreckage where it lay.

District coroner Dr. J. Edward Hudson called an inquest into the crash, which started on May 23, 1968 in Hamiota. The first of 10 witnesses called to testify were senior CN staff.

S. J. Wise, the railways superintendent of transportation for the region, testified the company believed the bridges western approach had been damaged by fire and weakened to the point that it collapsed under the weight of the crossing train.

This was backed up by a CN structural engineer who said their investigation had found charred remains of wood from the approach buried underneath the lead engine, a place where debris was shielded from the post-crash fire.

GOOGLE STREET VIEW A cairn erected outside the Melville train station in 2000 includes the names of the men killed at Birdtail Creek.

The culprit, they felt, was another train that had under-braked while passing over the same bridge four hours earlier, sending hot metal filings onto the approach, sparking the fire.

The surviving members of the crew, particularly James Boyd, questioned the companys explanation.

During his testimony, Boyd asked "If thered been a fire as everyone here says, why didnt we see anything?" He noted it was a clear night and both men in the caboose could see at least a mile ahead of the train.

After hearing from 10 witnesses, the coroners jury deliberated and returned with a finding of "accidental death" for all three men. They made no further recommendations, nor did they single out any party as contributing to the crash.

VARGA FAMILY PHOTO Alfred Varga of Melville, Sask., was one of three men who died in the crash.

While the conclusion of the inquest brought an end to the media coverage of the crash, for the families and communities involved the memories of the tragedy live on.

Keith Degerstedt is the son of Herbert Degerstedt. He was six years old at the time of his fathers death and his sister, Rhonda, was four.

Degerstedt says the crash was devastating for family members, but their community helped them through the hardest times.

"On the block that we lived on there were 14 homes and 11 were railroaders, so we all did support each other," he said. "I think some of the neighbours had just as hard a time as we did."

RALPH MUELLER PHOTO Robert Emersons grave in Hamiota,Man.

In what some may consider an odd career choice, Degerstedt, like his father, also went to work for the railway. While his mother, Elaine, was not happy with the decision, "In the late seventies, you either got a job on the rails or you left Melville. (Thats) just the way it was."

In his 38-year career with CN, Degerstedt passed over the site where the wreckage of his fathers train was buried "hundreds of times" and says he felt a different emotion each time, ranging from anger to sorrow and even fearfulness.

In 2000, Degerstedt spearheaded the erection of a cairn outside the historic Melville train station that includes the names of the men killed that day. The unveiling ceremony brought together members of all three families.

Just a few doors down from the Degerstedts was the Varga family home.

BRUCE MACLEAN PHOTO The bridge spanning the Birdtail Creek today.

Rob Varga, who was eight at the time of the crash, was the eldest of five children. The youngest, Janine, was just seven weeks old.

The first time Varga went to the crash site was on the 25th anniversary of his fathers death. He said he has never returned "and probably never will."

Knowing that his father survived the crash only to die before medical attention arrived was something that had long troubled Varga, "I often wondered... if it would had happened closer to an urban centre, would dad still be with us?"

Years later, Varga got solace when he read a copy of the coroners report. It concluded his fathers internal injuries were too severe for him to have survived.

Varga agrees with Degerstedt that the bond shared among railroaders in Melville was a help to the family. He also credits his large extended family for making sure he did not want for anything growing up.

He saves his greatest praise for his mother, Adeline.

"My Mom is the toughest woman I know, mentally and physically", he said, noting she never remarried. "She made up her mind that she wasnt going to pay any attention to having another man in her life. She had her kids. She sacrificed everything for us."

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As devastating as the crash was, there is a chilling footnote that was not mentioned in the media at the time.

Earl Symonds was CNs operator, or train controller, at Rivers that night. He says, "What normally happened is the freight train came into Rivers ahead of passenger train number one. It went into the siding at Rivers and when the passenger train came along, it proceeded and the freight train followed."

That passenger train was the Super Continental, CNs trans-continental service, which would have had at least 100 passengers on board at that time of year.

That night, Symonds recalls, "the passenger train was about 40 minutes late, so when the freight train came along we decided it could go ahead of the passenger train."

That decision unknowingly prevented what would have been the deadliest train disaster in Canadian history.

Christian Cassidy writes about local history on his blog, West End Dumplings.
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (PCS) is a fertilizer producer producing a range of primary crop nutrients, such as potash, nitrogen and phosphate. The Company operates through three segments: potash, nitrogen and phosphate. As of December 31, 2016, it owned and operated five potash operations in Saskatchewan and owned one in New Brunswick. Its nitrogen operations involve the production of nitrogen fertilizers and nitrogen feed and industrial products, including ammonia, urea, nitrogen solutions, ammonium nitrate and nitric acid. It has nitrogen facilities in Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio and Trinidad. Its phosphate operations include the manufacture and sale of solid and liquid phosphate fertilizers, phosphate feed and industrial acid, which is used in food products and industrial processes. It has phosphate mines and mineral processing plant complexes in Florida and North Carolina. As of December 31, 2016, the Company had four phosphate feed plants in the United States.

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The new president of the incumbent Citizens Action Party (PAC), Carlos Alvarado, who won in April elections marked by deep popular discontent, gave a rabidly nationalist and reactionary inaugural speech on Tuesday. His government, he began, emerges out of a national agreement, with the first multi-party cabinet anda multi-party Congress directory.

Behind the ruling classs historical consolidation of power behind the incoming Alvarado administration, as the president himself noted, were uncertain times in the concert of nations. This was a veiled allusion to the stagnation of productive investments in the country and regionally, and to the mounting threats of commercial and military conflicts between the largest global economies.

Alvarado openly warned that the response by the ruling class will be an escalated assault against social programs and a frontal clash with the working class: Well be austere, beginning with an efficient use of the public treasury; well keep a strict fiscal discipline; well be rigorous in controlling public spending.

In the face of such a right-wing program aimed at implementing the dictates of Wall Street and the national oligarchy, nothing remains of the perfunctory promises of reforms to assist the poor and reduce inequality that Alvarado and the trade unions made during the campaign.

Setting the stage for this coming government, the last Congress approved labor and legislative reforms to expedite the implementation of austerity measures, the attacks on jobs and the criminalization of strikes, particularly of public employees and workers organizations independent of the trade unions. A police build-up has also been underway for more than eight years, and the trade unions are coordinating closely with the new administration to undermine any resistance.

Moreover, bills are currently being discussed to embed in the Constitution (Articles 176 and 184) new draconian limits to the public deficit, which would require mass firings in the public sector. Another constitutional change (Article 112), proposed ostensibly to combat corruption, would facilitate the expulsion of any legislator who falls out of favor with two-thirds of the Congress.

The historical precedent for this coalition governmentembodied in the agreement signed on March 8 between Alvarado and Rodolfo Piza, the new minister of Interior and former presidential candidate of the conservative Social-Christian Unity Party (PUSC)is the 1995 pact between the leaders of the two traditional right-wing parties, Jose Maria Figueres Olsen of the National Liberation Party (PLN) and Rafael Angel Calderon Fournier of the (PUSC).

While the 1995 pact included a new World Bank structural adjustment program, sweeping deregulation and partial privatization of banking and pensions, the new agreement between the major political forces includes new regressive taxes, an outright prohibition of collective agreements that increase public spending, among other structural adjustments. These policies are being pursued in the interests of paying bondholders and accelerating the creation of a platform of cheap labor that can compete with the more impoverished countries in Southeast Asia, the rest of Central America and the Caribbean.

Alvarados speech drew largely from his past experience as a local marketing executive for the transnational P&G, resembling nothing so much as the kind of talk given by a tactless manager to workers ahead of a mass layoff. He asked for sacrifices for the common cause of the enterprise, and invoked outmoded calls for national unity from mid-19th century oligarchs, whom he described as our grandparents generation.

In front of a scattered crowd and as passers-by and the surrounding city carried on largely uninterested in the ceremony, Alvarado then candidly laid out the measures that cannot be postponed to escalate the decades-long assault on public employment and the living standards of the working class.

In his half-hour speech he urged the Congressno less than seven timesto approve his fiscal plan, which seeks to impose a regressive value-added tax and incorporate cuts to annual wage increases for public employees, among other measures, to deal with Costa Ricas public deficit.

During the weekend, the statistical agency INEC announced that unemployment rose last year to 10.3 percent and 25 percent for youth, explained by a drop in available jobs. Moreover, real wages fell for the public and private sectors, while informality is above 40 percent and 150,000 youth (15 to 24 years of age) neither work nor study.

Alvarado on Tuesday announced further partial privatizations of major public services, indicating that unemployment and issues relating to education, transport, water and electricity will be dealt with within the framework of private concessions and the drive of the private sector.

In reality, the resources exist for a massive public works project to provide quality social infrastructure and expand essential social services to everyone, while putting an end to unemployment, but it would require the seizure of the enormous wealth accumulated by a handful of Costa Rican oligarchs and extracted by transnational corporations, whose interests the establishment parties represent.

While the rise of the PAC and the Broad Front (FA) mirrored the left bourgeois governments that rose to power on a wave of social opposition across Latin America, starting with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, the Solis administration didnt even implement minor social reforms like its South American counterparts. The PAC and FA exposed their political bankruptcy immediately, by responding to the deepening crisis of the capitalist system with further attacks against the working class. Similarly, however, the so-called pink-tide governments and their right-wing successors have also escalated sharply their austerity measures and realigned their states and security apparatuses with US imperialism.

In fact, the PAC has simply operated as window-dressing for the same traditional forces, particularly the PLN. The incoming coalition government is the culmination of a series of political realignments within the ruling establishment to confront a growing crisis of political rule. During the 1990s, as the PLN and PUSC became deeply discredited after decades of eviscerating public health, education and social programs, they sought to attain a new facade more closely aligned with the trade unions to prevent the development of an independent opposition among the working class.

In 2000, Otton Solis and other PLN leaders left the party to found the Citizens Action Party as a progressive and left alternative, opposing the plans to privatize the state electric company and the Free Trade Agreement with the US. In 2010, Luis Alberto Monge, the former PLN president who had consolidated the counterrevolutionary turn of the party through a 1982 pact with Reagan, was convinced by Soliss project and backed the PAC. In 2014, the former PLN national secretary, Luis Guillermo Solis was elected president as the candidate for PAC, and now the new PAC administration is incorporating the PLN into its government.

On a parallel course, the Stalinist and pseudo-left Broad Front (FA) was founded in 2004 by Jose Merino and other politicians from previous PLN-tied experiments that sought to contain growing social opposition through social-democratic parties like Democratic Force (FD). Once PAC was elected in 2014, FA then entrenched itself within the new Solis administration to underpin the governments ties to the trade union bureaucracy.

The Broad Fronts services to the government and the Costa Rican ruling class have translated into a sharp loss of popular support among workers and youth. It lost eight of its nine seats in the legislature in the February elections, even as social opposition continues to grow in the working class, reflected recently in the April 25 public-sector strike and mass protests on May Day.
A 14-year-old male suspect is in custody after another 14-year-old boy was injured in a shooting at a California high school Friday morning, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department announced.

A department spokesperson tells PEOPLE police got calls at about 7:05 a.m. about a person with a gun at Highland High School in Palmdale.

Later, the department announced on Twitter that a male juvenile suspect was in custody and that the victim, who had been shot in the arm, was in stable condition at the hospital. A firearm had also been recovered, the department announced.

Both the victim and the suspect are 14-year-old male students at the school.

Update Regarding Highland High School in Palmdale:



1 victim shot in the arm at Highland High School. At local hospital now. stable condition.



1 Firearm recovered.



1 Subject detained, and is a Male Hispanic Juvenile.  LA County Sheriff's (@LASDHQ) May 11, 2018

The school principal announced that the there is no ongoing threat to the school, but that the campus remains on lockdown.

Bulldogs, at this time, there is no threat to Highland High School. The campus remains on lock down as we work with law enforcement to determine release procedures for students.  HHS Principal (@HHSPrincipalCG) May 11, 2018

Authorities also responded Friday morning to reports of gunshots heard near Manzanita Elementary School, also in Palmdale, about eight miles from Highland High School, the spokesperson says.

However, the department announced on Twitter there is no evidence of a crime and that the school is clear.

According to the website for the National Center for Education Statistics, Highland High School had about 2,900 students during the 2016-2017 school year.
Joe Biden has issued an extremely strong statement defending his friend Sen. John McCain after a White House official reportedly mocked the Arizona Republicans brain cancer diagnosis.

The remarks were made Thursday morning, one day after the Republican announced he opposed President Donald Trumps nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel.

It doesnt matter, hes dying anyway, special assistant Kelly Sadler reportedly said during a closed-door meeting at the White House.

The White House did not deny the comments in a statement obtained by PEOPLE, simply stating We respect Senator McCains Service to our nation and he and his family are in our prayers during this difficult time.

On Friday, the former vice president denounced Sadlers comments as the end of decency in an administration that already had that quality in extremely short supply.

John McCain and Joe Biden

People have wondered when decency would hit rock bottom with this administration. It happened yesterday, Biden said.

John McCain is a genuine hero  a man of valor whose sacrifices for his country are immeasurable. As he fights for is [sic] life, he deserves better  so much better, Biden continued.

Given this White Houses trail of disrespect toward John and others, this staffer is not the exception to the rule; she is the epitome of it. Our children learn from our example. The lingering question is whose example will it be. I am certain it will be Johns.

VERY strong @JoeBiden statement on @SenJohnMcCain: People have wondered when decency would hit rock bottom with this administration. It happened yesterday. pic.twitter.com/6fsNIBkt79  Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) May 11, 2018

Bidens comments come not long after he visited McCain at the Republicans Arizona ranch, where the friends on opposite sides of the aisle sat on McCains deck and spoke from the heart.

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I wanted to let him know how much I love him and how much he matters to me and how much I admire his integrity and his courage, Biden told The New York Times after the trip. I wanted to see my friend.

RELATED VIDEO: Meghan McCain Talks About Her Father John McCains Crazy Amazing Recovery from Brain Cancer

Biden is not the only prominent figure to defend McCain following Sadlers comments.

In addition to McCains wife, Cindy McCain, and daughter Meghan strongly coming to his defense, Maria Shriver also echoed Biden about the loss of decency

We have lost our manners, our compassion, our empathy. Thats what I feel bad about. That said I believe there are more good people than those who make the noise.  Maria Shriver (@mariashriver) May 11, 2018

Shriver, a member of the Democratic Kennedy family dynasty, tweeted that I actually feel bad for us as a country. I feel badly that we have lost our decency. We have forgotten how to respectfully disagree.

We have lost our manners, our compassion, our empathy. Thats what I feel bad about, she later tweeted.

But she ended her missive on a hopeful note: That said I believe there are more good people than those who make the noise.
A teenager who's accused of shooting a fellow student at a high school in Palmdale, California, is in custody, after law enforcement authorities acting on reports of an active shooter swarmed the campus, which is about 60 miles north of Los Angeles, authorities said.

The initial report of a gunman at Highland High School came in at 7:05 a.m. local time, and was followed by a report about a half hour later of shots fired near an elementary school in the area, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Office.

The 911 calls included reports that hostages were being held in the school library, Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said in a press conference Friday afternoon. The campus was then placed on lockdown and students were told to shelter in place, McDonnell said.

The suspect in custody is 14 years old, as is the victim, according to law enforcement officials. The victim was shot in the arm and was transported by a nearby civilian to the hospital, where he is in stable condition, McDonnell said.

The rifle apparently used in the attack was recovered in an open field west of the school, McDonnell said.

The off-duty LAPD officer who apprehended the suspect at the Vons supermarket said he had received a call from his mother, who stated that he ran away from the home that morning after they "were having trouble with him, McDonnell said. The arresting officer is a family friend, McDonnell said.

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The suspect told his father that he shot his gun through the air, McDonnell said. He is a former student who recently transferred to another school, the sheriff added.

Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Office deputies were searching the grounds of Highland High School in Palmdale, Officer Nicole Nishida, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office, told ABC News.

The high school was being searched by dogs trained to detect explosives, law enforcement sources told ABC News, as sheriff's deputies worked to calm worried parents who had come to the school after social media reports of a shooting.

Update regarding Manzanita Elementary School in Palmdale: Deputies have searched the campus. School is clear. So far, no evidence of crime. Investigation still ongoing  LA County Sheriff's (@LASDHQ) May 11, 2018

Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies were also on scene at Manzanita Elementary School in Palmdale, which is now all clear.

Deputies reported to the elementary school but found no victims and no sign of a shooter, Nishida said.

McDonnell credited the tight-knit community for enabling them to resolve the incident in an expedited fashion. Students on the campus remained calm and texted their classmates, telling them to stay away from the area, and faculty members directed deputies throughout the campus, allowing them to clear the building faster, McDonnell said.

Faculty also provided surveillance video of the suspect arriving and leaving the school, which "assisted in the quick apprehension" of the suspect, McDonnell said.

McDonnell said it is unclear whom the suspect was aiming at, stating that he "fired the rounds and deliberately left the campus."

The suspect has been charged with one count of attempted murder, McDonnell said.
(PALMDALE, Calif.)  A high school student was shot in the arm Friday at high school in the California city of Palmdale and a 14-year-old suspect was taken into custody, officials said.

The shooting at Highland High School in the high desert Antelope Valley was sparked by a dispute between the alleged shooter and the victim, Los Angeles County sheriffs Capt. Darren Harris told KTTV.

The victim was expected to make a full recovery, he said.

Deputies recovered a gun at the scene as the suspect was taken into custody, Harris said.

The school remained on lockdown Friday morning as school officials worked to reunite students with their parents.

Sheriffs deputies also received a call reporting shots fired in the vicinity of Manzanita Elementary School about 7 miles (11 kilometers) away from Highland High School.

Officials said deputies searched the elementary school and found no evidence of a shooting.
(KINSHASA, Congo)  One wildlife park guard was killed and two British tourists and their driver were abducted in Virunga National Park in Congo, a park spokesman said Friday.

Their vehicle was ambushed while bringing the tourists from Kibumba to the city of Goma, Joel Wengamulay, spokesman for the Congolese Institute for The Conservation of Nature, told the U.N.-backed Radio Okapi.

Investigations into the attack have begun, Wengamulay said.

Eastern Congo is home to multiple armed groups that compete for mineral-rich land.

We are in close contact with the authorities in Democratic Republic of the Congo following an incident involving two British nationals, and our staff are providing support to their families, Britains Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement.

A park guard told The Associated Press that the driver was injured in the ambush about 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Goma. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press.

Virunga is home to about one-quarter of the worlds remaining mountain gorillas, and the work of protecting them has proven dangerous.

On April 9, six park staffers were killed in the deadliest known ambush of its kind in Virunga. Park officials blamed Mai Mai militia members.

That attack brought the number of rangers killed on the job to 175 since the vast park in far eastern Congo was established in 1925, officials said.

Allied Democratic Forces rebels have also been accused of attacks and kidnappings near the park.
Photo: ABC 13 KTRK Houston

Tracy Maness never thought her prom dress would get a second use, but it seems she was happy to be proven wrong. And her story goes to show that sometimes, your old prom dress can come in handy.

Maness explained to ABC 13 that she left her red prom dress at her fathers house after her prom 20 years ago. Her fathers home in Meyerland, Houston, was flooded after Hurricane Harvey last year, but her dress wasnt damaged.

One of Manesss friends, Selene Ballestas, was also affected by Hurricane Harvey. Ballestass apartment flooded and the family lost their furniture and other belongings. As ABC 13 notes, a new prom dress for Ballestass daughter, Maya Munoz, wasnt high on the priority list.

So Maness suggested Munoz wear her old dress  and it ended up fitting the teenager perfectly.



I knew Id never wear it again, so I decided to pass it on and bless somebody else with it, Maness told ABC 13. She explained to the outlet that her red sequined gown was classic and elegant. Apparently, even the employees at Houston store Tootsies, where the dress was originally from, couldnt believe it was two decades old.

I feel so blessed, Munoz said. Not that many people would have this opportunity to get a free dress that would fit perfectly with their personality, and physically fit.

To make things even more special for Munozs prom, the store gave her a matching pair of shoes and earrings for the event, free of charge. On the shops Facebook page, they wrote, A prom gown is so much more than a dress. Its a beautiful expression of hope and generosity.

And for Maness, seeing her dress get a second wear  at the same high school she went to, no less  took on a special meaning. It made me feel very special and it was a great night. It feels good to be passing it on, Maness told ABC 13. Her story goes to show that you never know when something will come in handy  and its always nice to pay it forward.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

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(BUJUMBURA, Burundi)  Twenty-six people were killed and seven others wounded in an attack in a rural area of Burundi, the countrys security minister said Saturday, calling it the work of a terrorist group he did not identify.

Speaking at the scene, Alain Guillaume Bunyoni told reporters that 24 people were killed in their homes Friday night and two others died of their wounds at a local hospital.

He gave no further details about the attack in the Ruhagarika community of the rural northwestern province of Cibitoke.

The attack came shortly before Burundians vote May 17 in a controversial referendum that could extend the presidents term. It was not immediately clear if the attack was related.

One survivor told The Associated Press the attackers came around 10 p.m. local time and attacked households and set fire on houses. Some victims were hacked with machetes and others were shot or burned alive, she said.

Her husband and two children were killed, she said. She spoke on condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns.

This East African country has seen deadly political violence since early 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza successfully pursued a disputed third term. An estimated 1,200 people died.

Now Burundians are being asked to vote on a proposal to extend the presidents term from five years to seven, which would allow Nkurunziza to rule for another 14 years when his current term expires in 2020.

Campaigns ahead of the referendum have been marred by hate speech, with one ruling party official sent to prison after he called for those who oppose the referendum to be drowned.

The United States earlier this month denounced violence, intimidation, and harassment against those thought to oppose the referendum and expressed concern about the non-transparent process of changing the constitution.

Human Rights Watch has noted widespread impunity for authorities and their allies, including the ruling partys youth wing, as they try to swing the vote in the presidents favor.

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Many in Burundi, a poor country that still relies heavily on foreign aid, worry that a new round of bloodshed will follow the referendum no matter its results.

Already more than 400,000 people have fled the country since the political unrest began in April 2015, according to the United Nations.

Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader, rose to power in 2005 following the end of Burundis civil war that killed about 300,000 people. He was re-elected unopposed in 2010 after the opposition boycotted. He said he was eligible for a third term in 2015 because lawmakers, not the general population, chose him for his first term.
Prosecutors in California have filed four additional counts of murder against Joseph James DeAngelo, saying investigators now have evidence linking him to all 12 killings attributed to the so-called Golden State Killer.

Santa Barbara District Attorney Joyce Dudley announced the first-degree murder charges on Thursday.

Each of the four counts carry the potential for a sentence of life without possibility of parole or the death sentence, she said during a press conference.

DeAngelo, 72, had previously been charged with eight counts of murder in cold case homicides across California in the 1970s and 80s.

Joseph James DeAngelo has been charged in connection with all 12 killings attributed to the Golden State Killer. (Photo: Randy Pench/Sacramento Bee/TNS via Getty Images)

Robert Offerman, Debra Manning, Gregory Sanchez and Cheri Domingo are the victims named in the new counts.

Offerman and Manning, who were dating, were shot and killed inside Offermans Goleta residence on Dec. 30, 1979. Sanchez and Domingo, also a couple, were housesitting in Goleta when they were killed on July 27, 1981.

DeAngelos attorney, Diane Howard, did not return a call for comment on Friday.

Investigators remove items in evidence bags from the home of Joseph James DeAngelo, who is now charged in 12 previously unsolved homicides. (Photo: Fred Greaves/Reuters)

Authorities arrested DeAngelo, a Vietnam veteran and former police officer, in April after investigators linked him to the killings of Manuela Witthuhn, Janelle Cruz, Keith and Patti Harrington, Brian and Katie Maggiore, and Charlene and Lyman Smith.

After DeAngelos arrest, authorities revealed theyd zeroed in on him by comparing suspect DNA recovered from crime scenes to genetic profiles stored on genealogy websites. Police explained that they ultimately determined the crime scene DNA was similar to the DNA of a female relative of DeAngelos whose genetic profile was online.

Upon examining the relatives family tree, police say they identified DeAngelo as a potential candidate based on his age and proximity to the crimes. They then reportedly obtained a discarded sample of DeAngelos DNA, which matched the suspect DNA.

Authorities have also linked DeAngelo to a series of rapes  which the media attributed to the East Area Rapist at the time. That means DeAngelos alleged crimes may span some 10 counties and include dozens of victims.

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A 2016 FBI sketch of the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer, who was described in 2016 as between the ages of 60 and 75 years old. (Photo: Handout/Reuters)

According to the FBI, the Golden State Killer began his crime spree in 1976, committing several burglaries and rapes in the Sacramento suburbs of Rancho Cordova and Carmichael.

The [suspect] gained entry into the homes of his victims by prying open a window or door while they slept, the FBI said in a 2016 press release. He would then shine a flashlight into the face of his victims, tie up the female victim and, if a male victim was present, tied him up as well.

Upon ransacking the residence, the suspect would rape the female victims, some of whom the suspect later taunted with menacing phone calls, investigators said.

Cops say the slayings of Brian and Katie Maggiore in 1978 were the first homicides the suspect committed. The rapes and killings continued until 1986, when police say they stopped just as suddenly as theyd begun.

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A photo of accused rapist and killer Joseph James DeAngelo. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The case received renewed media attention earlier this year with the publication of the book Ill Be Gone in the Dark, by the late Michelle McNamara. For years, McNamara immersed herself in the mystery of the Golden State Killer. She visited crime scenes and interviewed detectives and survivors. She died in her sleep in 2016 at age 46, prior to her books publication.

DeAngelo has yet to enter a plea in any of the cases. Hes being held in the Sacramento County Jail and is expected to appear in court next week.

Dudley, the district attorney, said charging DeAngelo in each of the homicides has brought some relief to the victims families.

Violent cold cases never grow cold for victims or their loved ones, Dudley told reporters. In fact, most of them spend their lives feverishly seeking answers and desperately hoping for justice.

Send David Lohr an email or follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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Also on HuffPost

Jeffrey Dahmer

Notorious cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer sits with his defense team during his 1991 trial. Dahmer went on a killing spree in the 1980s during which he murdered 17 men and boys. He often had sex with the corpses before dismembering them and, in some cases, ate pieces of human flesh. After his conviction, Dahmer was killed by a fellow inmate in prison.

John Wayne Gacy

John Wayne Gacy was arrested in 1978 after murdering 33 men and boys. He was known as the "Killer Clown" for his work as a children's entertainer. When Gacy became the suspect in a young man's disappearance, he invited police to his home for coffee. Cops noticed a smell that could emanate from a decaying body. They returned with a search warrant and found 29 victims stuffed into crawlspaces.

David Berkowitz

David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam" killer, terrorized New York with six murders and several other shootings that ended with his 1977. When police arrested him, Berkowitz, a mailman, said his neighbor's dog commanded him to strike. He's in Sing Sing prison In New York serving life, though he's eligible for parole.

Angelo Buono

Angelo Buono, a 47 year old auto upholsterer, sits in a Los Angeles courtroom Monday March 2, 1982 as he listens to opening arguments in the so called "Hillside Stranglings" case in which Buono is accused of killing 10 women and girls in the Los Angeles area between 1977 and 1978.

Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy at one time in the 1970s had a bright future in the Washington State Republican Party, but instead became one of the most famous serial killers and necrophiliacs. He often deceived his victims, all women, into thinking that he was injured and in need of help before attacking them. In 1976 he was arrested for an attempted kidnapping, but while acting as his own lawyer, he escaped. He migrated to Tallahassee where he killed two women in a Florida State University sorority house. He was convicted of those murders and while on death row in 1989 he confessed to 50 other murders. Correction: A previous version of this slide misstated the location of the Florida State murders as Pensacola, Fla.

Aileen Wuornos

Aileen Wuornos admitted to killing six men while she worked as a prostitute in Florida in 1989 and 1990. She initially claimed that she acted in self defense against johns who raped her or tried to rape her. But later she admitted that she robbed and killed in cold blood and would do it again if she were free. She was executed in 2002.

Anthony Sowell

Anthony Sowell was convicted and sentenced to death in 2011 for killing 11 women and keeping their remains in his Cleveland home.

Richard Ramirez

In this file photo taken Oct. 24, 1985, "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez displays a pentagram symbol on his hand inside a Los Angeles courtroom. The California Supreme Court Monday< Aug. 7, 2006, upheld the convictions and death sentence for serial killer Richard Ramirez, the so-called "Night Stalker" whose killing spree terrorized the Los Angeles area in the mid 1980s. Ramirez, now 46, was sentenced to death in 1989 for 13 Los Angeles-area murders committed in 1984 and 1985. Satanic symbols were left at some murder scenes and some victims were forced to "swear to Satan" by the killer, who broke into homes through unlocked windows and doors. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon)

Andrew Cunanan

Andrew Cunanan is seen in this 1997 mugshot from the FBI. Cunanan murdered five men from Minneapolis to Miami, including fashion designer Gianni Versace. As investigators closed in on him, Cunanan committed suicide in 1997.

Ed Gein

Edward Gein, 51, of Plainfield, Wisc. enters Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane Nov. 23,1957, in Milwaukee. Gein admitted to slaying two women and dismembering their bodies as well as robbing graves. Gein flayed the bodies and used human skin and other body parts to decorate furniture and clothing in his decrepit farmhouse. His twisted tale was the inspiration for murders in movies like Buffalo Bill from "The Silence of the Lambs."

Gary Ridgway

Gary Ridgeway slew 48 women in the Seattle area from 1982 to 1998. He was known as the Green River Killer, because his first five victims were found near the waterway. The case was one of the longest unsolved murder mysteries in the country, not to mention one of the bloodiest. Ridgeway pleaded guilty in 2003 and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Albert Fish

Albert Fish was a child rapist and cannibal who confessed to torturing hundreds of children, beginning in 1880 in New York. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1935, however, for the murder of a single girl, 10-year-old Grace Budd. During the trial, Fish said he heard voices in his head that told him to attack children.



CORRECTION: A previous version of this slide incorrectly stated that Budd was the daughter of Fish's employee.

Coral Eugene Watts

Early on his life, Coral Eugene Watts was identified by psychiatrists as a dangerous and violent individual. He lived up to those warnings as the so-called Sunday Morning Slasher and confessed to killing 80 women in Michigan, Texas and Canada in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He strangled, drowned, stabbed and beat his victims. He died in 2007 in prison from prostate cancer while serving a life sentence for two of the Michigan murders.

Richard Angelo

Richard Angelo, a nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital in New York, killed 25 patients in a bungled plan to turn himself into a hero. Angelo injected patients with a cocktail of dangerous drugs with the plan of restoring them to life and burnishing his reputation as a life-saving medical professional. Only 12 patients survived the "Angel of Death."

Joseph Naso

This is an undated booking photo released by the Washoe County Sheriff's office showing Joseph Naso. Authorities in California and Nevada plan to release more information about Naso, the 77-year-old man accused in four homicides spanning two decades. Naso, of Reno, Nev., was booked late Monday, April 11, 2011, on suspicion of the killings in 1977, 1978, 1993 and 1994.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
One person has been injured in a shooting at a California high school amid multiple reports of a gunman on campus.

Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office rushed to Highland High School in Palmdale just after 7 a.m. local time Friday morning after receiving calls of shots fired in the building.

The sheriff's office said one person, a student at the school, has been detained. He was described as a 14-year-old of Hispanic descent. His name was not immediately released. A rifle was also recovered.

Update: 1 suspect being detained regarding the person with a gun the call at Highland High school in Palmdale. @PalmdaleSheriff @LANLASD @SEBLASD @SCVSHERIFF Deputies on scene searching campus. No other information available.  LA County Sheriff's (@LASDHQ) May 11, 2018

The victim, also 14, was shot in the arm and is listed in stable condition at a hospital, authorities said.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has also responded to the scene.

About a half hour after the Highland calls, gunshots were reported at the Manzanita Elementary School, located about seven miles away from Highland High School. Deputies searched the scene and found the report to be unfounded.

Update regarding Manzanita Elementary School in Palmdale: Deputies have searched the campus. School is clear. So far, no evidence of crime. Investigation still ongoing  LA County Sheriff's (@LASDHQ) May 11, 2018

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Johannesburg (AFP) - A South African photographer, who captured the iconic black-and-white picture of a dying 13-year-old activist shot by apartheid police during the 1976 Soweto uprising, has died.

Sam Nzima died at the age 83 in hospital Saturday in the country's Mpumalanga province, the presidency said Sunday.

His photograph of a dying Hector Pieterson being carried away by a teary fellow student after security forces opened fire on black youngsters protesting in Soweto township on June 16, 1976, turned the world's attention to the brutality of the apartheid regime.

Those riots, led by high school students, became the watershed point in South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle.

Over three days, at least 170 people were killed, with some estimates putting the death toll at several hundred over the following month.

Protests spread across South Africa and a new era of black activism emerged that eventually led to the fall of the apartheid regime and Nelson Mandela's election as president in 1994.

President Cyril Ramaphosa paid tribute to the self-taught veteran photographer, who was placed under house arrest for 19 months after the image was published.

"Mr Sam Nzima was one of a kind, said President Cyril Ramaphosa, "his camera captured the full brutality of apartheid oppression on the nations psyche and history".

"We will especially remember his iconic photograph of a dying young Hector Peterson which became a symbol of resistance against the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in the black schools," said Ramaphosa in a statement.

Nzima's photograph was listed by the Time magazine as one of 100 most influential images of all time.

After a legal battle he won the copyright to the much-published image.

The ruling African National Congress said Nzima's "emotive iconic (picture)... became a historical landmark feature that forever defined how the June 16, 1976 narrative was told".
Donald Trumps national security adviser has said it is possible the US will sanction European countries that seek to do business with Iran, following Washington withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

John Bolton, widely considered a hawk on national security and one of those who pushed for George W Bush 2003 invasion of Iraq, said he believed European nations  currently furious by Mr Trumps unilateral withdrawal from the deal  may eventually change their opinions.

I think the Europeans will see that its in their interests to come along with us, Mr Bolton said on CNN.

.@jaketapper: Is the US going to impose sanctions on European companies that continue to do business with Iran?



National security adviser John Bolton: The answer is, its possible, it depends on the conduct of other governments #CNNSOTU https://t.co/uZCE7V0Z7Y  CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 13, 2018

He said of nations such as Britain, France and Germany: They may try to (stay in the deal), in part because I think despite President Trumps complete consistency in opposition to the dealmany people, including apparently former Secretary of State John Kerry, thought that we never would get out of it.

He added that once it sinks in the US does not plan to adhere to the deal, other nations will follow suit.

In the aftermath of Mr Trumps announcement last week, Iran, along with the six other parties who signed the 2015 deal indicated they would seek to try and keep it working.

The International Atomic Emergency Agency has repeatedly said Tehran is in compliance with the deal, that was hammered out to try and control and limit Irans nuclear weapons ambitions and establish a framework for intrusive inspections.

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Yet while many European nations may seek to continue to deal with Iran, they could find themselves subject to the US sanctions. Several companies that have deals with Iran, including Airbus and Boeing, may be unable to fulfil the deals they signed.

Mr Bolton was asked: Is the US going to impose sanctions on European companies that continue to do business with Iran?

He responded: The answer is, its possible, it depends on the conduct of other governments.
Yangon (AFP) - China on Sunday condemned fighting on its border between Myanmar forces and ethnic rebels that has left 19 dead, mostly civilians, in some of the worst bloodshed on the restive frontier in recent years.

The fighting erupted on Saturday when ethnic minority insurgent groups, who are locked in a long-running battle with the Myanmar state, attacked security posts around Muse, a border town and trade hub in northeastern Shan state.

A local resident told AFP she heard gunfire through the night until early Sunday morning, with fear gripping a town that lives at the mercy of both government militias and ethnic armies fighting for more autonomy.

"We heard shooting the whole night until this morning around 6:00 am.... People are still frightened," said Aye Aye.

Saturday's carnage, which also left at least 27 wounded, was one of the bloodiest days in recent years of a conflict that has hampered Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's attempts to forge nationwide peace.

The insurgency in the northeast -- which is separate from the Rohingya crisis to the west -- is one of some two dozen ethnic minority rebellions that have roiled Myanmar's border regions since independence in 1948.

Observers believe Beijing holds significant sway over the rebels near its border with Myanmar and is a key player in Suu Kyi's faltering peace process.

On Sunday the Chinese embassy in Yangon condemned the clashes and said it had urged "relevant parties" to reach an immediate ceasefire.

The violence "made people from the Myanmar side flee across the Chinese border, and stray bullets have entered into Chinese territory", the statement added.

Clashes in the border region in early 2017 sent more than 20,000 Myanmar refugees scrambling across the border into China's Yunnan province, raising tensions between the neighbours.

Saturday's attacks were blamed on the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which claimed responsibility for the operation and apologised for the civilian deaths.

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A TNLA spokesman told AFP its forces targeted a casino run by army-linked militias outside Muse.

Knut Ostby, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, expressed concern over the civilian deaths in Muse and called for swift aid deliveries to those affected.

"The UN encourages all parties to redouble their efforts to advance the Peace Process," he said in a statement.

Suu Kyi, the first civilian leader of the former junta-run country in decades, lacks control over security policy and the still-powerful military, which has retained key government posts in a delicate power-sharing arrangement.

On Saturday an anti-war protest in Yangon was broken up by riot police, who detained at least nine demonstrators.

Rights groups condemned the heavy-handed response.

"It is outrageous that the local government and police chose to confront peaceful anti-war protesters with riot shields, violence and arrests," said David Baulk, a Myanmar specialist with Fortify Rights.

burs-ssm/amu
London (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May insisted Sunday she could be trusted to deliver a good Brexit deal as she tried to mend government rifts over the best way forward.

May's Conservative administration is divided on what sort of customs agreement Britain should have with the European Union after it leaves the bloc.

The splits were laid bare last week when Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson dismissed as "crazy" one of May's proposals for future EU customs arrangements.

But the prime minister insisted: "You can trust me to deliver", as she attempted to ease the tensions.

"The path I am setting out is the path to deliver the Brexit people voted for," she wrote in The Sunday Times newspaper.

"Of course, the details are incredibly complex and, as in any negotiation, there will have to be compromises.

"I will need your help and support to get there. And in return, my pledge to you is simple: I will not let you down."

May said she had proposed different options for a new customs arrangement with the EU and the government would continue to work on them during the negotiations.

She said her mission in the talks was to build a new, close trading relationship with the EU, put Britain in full control over its immigration policy and taxpayer spending and build closer ties with the world's emerging economies.

She said any deal must protect the United Kingdom's constitutional and economic integrity and honour the Northern Irish peace accords.

"This means there can be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, or between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK," May wrote.

"Any agreements must create as little friction as possible for trade," she said, adding: "We must not constrain our ability to negotiate trade agreements with other countries around the world by being bound into a customs union."

- Final decision looming -

Last year, London put forward two options to ease cross-border trade with the EU but, with Brexit looming, has still yet to make a final decision on which to pursue.

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May's preferred option, the customs partnership, was reportedly rejected at a meeting of her senior ministers last week, while Brussels has also condemned it as "magical thinking".

The model would involve Britain collecting EU tariffs on goods heading into the bloc but charging its own on UK-destined products.

A second option, "maximum facilitation", would involve using technology to minimise customs checks, but the EU has also cast doubt on its viability.

A decision is not expected for at least another week, but the clock is ticking ahead of a crucial EU summit in June.

The Sunday Times said May's article was "an appeal for unity as she enters another perilous phase of her premiership".

The main opposition Labour Party called Sunday for parliament to be given the chance to vote on a customs union.
London (AFP) - Britain got a glimpse Saturday at Queen Elizabeth II's elaborate formal consent for her grandson Prince Harry's marriage to Meghan Markle, a week ahead of the wedding ceremony.

The Instrument of Consent, intricately hand-written on vellum and illuminated with decorations, sets out the monarch's approval for the union, which is required in law.

Harry is sixth in line to the throne and the first six need the sovereign's permission to marry, otherwise they and their descendants are disqualified from inheriting the crown.

Buckingham Palace released pictures of the document, which Queen Elizabeth signed in March. In her Elizabeth R signature at the top, the the R stands for regina, the Latin for queen.

The instrument is written using the "royal we", or majestic plural.

It states: "Now know ye that we have consented and do by these presents signify our consent to the contracting of matrimony between our most dearly beloved grandson Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales KCVO and Rachel Meghan Markle."

KCVO refers to Harry's status as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, which recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch.

The document, which will be presented to the couple after the wedding, is flanked with artwork representing the bride and groom.

To the left, the design incorporates a red dragon -- the heraldic symbol of Wales -- along with the UK's floral emblems: the rose of England, Scotland's thistle and the Irish shamrock.

It also features Harry's label, which includes three tiny red escallops from the Spencer arms of his mother Diana, princess of Wales' family.

The design on the right, for Markle, includes a rose -- the national flower of the United States -- flanked by two golden poppies: the state flower of California, where the former actress was born.

It also bears the Welsh leek, Harry's label and olive branches adopted from the Great Seal of the United States.

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The document depicts Harry's coronet and the Commonwealth flag.

Queen Elizabeth is the head of the Commonwealth and last month made Harry her youth ambassador to the 53-country organisation.

The instrument is sealed with the Great Seal of the Realm, used to symbolise the sovereign's approval of important state documents.

- Law to protect dynasty -

The Royal Marriages Act 1772 required descendants of king George II to seek the sovereign's consent before they wed, otherwise their marriages were deemed invalid.

The law was repealed by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, under which only the first six in line to inherit the throne need the monarch's permission.

The first five are currently Prince Charles, the monarch's eldest son; his eldest son Prince William; his eldest son Prince George; then William's other children Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

Harry, Charles's second son, was fifth at the time of his engagement in November. His nephew Louis was born on April 23.

Harry is the first to receive consent under the new law.
Cate Blanchett is presiding the jury this year awarding the coveted Palme dOr award - REUTERS

Cate Blanchett led female stars in an unprecedented red-carpet protest at the Cannes Film Festival last night to demand equal pay and an end to sexual harassment.

Salma Hayek and Kristen Stewart were also among 82 actresses, female producers and directors who marched arm in arm to demand equality and a safe workplace seven months after the fall of Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul accused of rape and sexual harassment.

The protest highlighted that only 82 films directed by women have been selected for the festivals prestigious Palme dOr competition in its 71-year history, compared with 1,645 directed by men.

Blanchett, who is presiding the jury this year awarding the coveted Palme dOr award, one of the film industrys highest honours, said: We demand that our workplaces are diverse and equitable so they can best reflect the world in which we live.

Cate Blanchett made a speech demanding workplace equality Credit: Dominique Charriau /Wireimage

She said female stars were calling for a world that allows all of us, in front and behind the camera, to thrive shoulder to shoulder with our male colleagues.

Jane Campion is the only female director to have won the Palme dOr, for her 1993 film, The Piano.

The march up the red-carpeted steps came before an unprecedented move by the festival to sign strong commitments on parity and diversity on Monday.

Thierry Fremaux, the festival director, said he supported the march as a way for women to affirm their presence.

82 actresses, female producers and directors who marched arm in arm to demand equality Credit: Dominique Charriau/WireImage

Just hours earlier, Marlene Schiappa, Frances minister for gender equality, revealed that several women attending the event had called a special helpline for women to report sexual harassment at the festival.

A female responder who took one of the calls escorted an Anglo-Saxon woman to a police station to file a complaint on Friday night, Ms Schiappa said. The term Anglo-Saxon is used in French to mean someone from an English-speaking country. Neither the complainant nor the alleged attacker have been identified.

The line was set up for the first time this year following four alleged attacks at the festival in previous years by Weinstein.

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Salma Hayek was among the women at the red carpet protest Credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP

The #MeToo movement has thrown the spotlight on harassment and 40,000 flyers were handed out at this years festival reminding guests that sexual harassment can be punished in France by three years in prison and a 40,000 fine.

Cannes has also come under scrutiny over the small number of female directors selected for its competition.

Mr Fremaux insisted that the festival chooses films solely for their quality, but he has promised to make selection committees gender-balanced.

After the march, the festival screened Eva Hussons Girls of the Sun, which tells the story of Kurdish women fighters.

Husson, a French director, is one of only three women whose films are among the 21 selected for the competition this year. The others are Nadine Labakis Capernaum and Alice Rohrwachers Happy as Lazzaro, which are to premiere next week.
At least 13 people are dead with 40 others wounded after three churches in Indonesia were attacked by a family of suicide bombers with alleged ties to an Islamic State-inspired group during Sunday morning services.

A family of six is believed to have launched the suicide attacks targeting the Santa Maria Catholic Church, the Indonesian Christian Church and the Pentecost Central Church in Surabaya, a port city on Java Island's east coast, East Java Police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told CNN.

The husband drove the car, an Avanza, that contained explosives and rammed it into the gate in front of that church, Barung Mangera told reporters at the regional police headquarters in Surabaya.

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He said the wife and two daughters in the family were involved in an attack on a second church, while at the third church, two other children rode the motorbike and had the bomb across their laps."

He said the two daughters were aged 12 and 9 while the other two, thought to be the mans sons, were 18 and 16, police said.

Barung Mangera told Reuters that an unexploded device at an undisclosed location had also been secured."

He urged the public to remain calm, saying at a news conference, according to Reuters, all places where the public can gather, security has been tightened in those places.

So far, there has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.

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However, Wawan Purwanto, communication director at Indonesias intelligence agency said ISIS-influenced group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) is suspected of being behind the bombings, Reuters reported.

JAD, which is listed on the U.S. State Department's "terrorist" list, is believed to have the support of hundreds of ISIS sympathizers in Indonesia.

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The attacks come just days after militant Islamist prisoners killed five members of a counter-terrorism force in a 36-hour standoff at a high security jail just outside Jakarta.

Purwanto said the church attacks were likely linked to the prison attack, telling Reuters: The main target is still security authorities, but we can say that there are alternative [targets] if the main targets are blocked."

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is expected to visit survivors of the attack in Surabaya on Sunday.

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Strongly condemn the terrorist attack in Surabaya - Ret



We will not back down in the fight against terrorism



Let us unite in the fight against terrorism#UniteAgainstTerrorism#WeAreNotAfraid  Menteri Luar Negeri Republik Indonesia (@Menlu_RI) May 13, 2018

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Masudi condemned the attacks, writing on Twitter: We will not back down in the fight against terrorism."

In recent years, Indonesia, which is the world's largest Muslim-majority country, has seen a rise in attacks inspired by ISIS.

Last May, two suicide bombers with suspected links to ISIS attacked a bus station in the country's capital, Jakarta, killing at least three police officers, with several other officers and civilians wounded.

In 2016, ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing near a Starbucks in Jakarta that left two people dead and 24 wounded.

This story has been updated with more information.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Israel bombed more than 35 sites in Syria, both Iranian and Syrian, in response to an alleged Iranian rocket attack just after midnight local time Thursday.

Israel's response was its largest military engagement in Syria in 45 years  since the Yom Kippur war of 1973.

Continued fire along the Israeli-Syrian border may become the 'new normal' and miscalculation could trigger a wider war, security experts warn.

Israel bombed more than 35 sites in Syria  both Iranian and Syrian  early Thursday in response to a rocket attack it said was launched by Iran just after midnight local time.

Amid a rapid escalation of regional tensions, the strikes have thrust a simmering shadow war out into the open.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed it struck nearly all of Iran's military infrastructure in Syria, dramatically ramping up hostilities between the two longtime adversaries that until now were largely fought out by proxies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement Thursday saying: "Iran crossed a red line. We responded accordingly. The IDF carried out a very wide-ranging attack against Iranian targets in Syria." He added: "Whoever hurts us  we will hurt them sevenfold."

Iran has not yet responded or acknowledged any damage, but civilian groups on the ground reported 15 dead, including eight Iranians.

Largest strike in 45 years

If the attack from Syria, which saw approximately 20 rockets fired at Israeli military positions in the occupied Golan Heights region, is confirmed as Iran's doing, it would represent the first strike by Tehran directly onto Israeli soil. And Israel's response was its largest military engagement in Syria in 45 years  since the Yom Kippur war of 1973.

An IDF spokesperson told media that of the 20 projectiles fired from Syria, four were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, while the rest exploded over Syrian territory. There were no casualties.

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This is the latest development in a rapidly intensifying struggle between Israel and Iran over Syria that in the last three months saw several Israeli airstrikes on Syrian and Iranian forces in response to the latter sending armed drones across Israel's border.

Ahmad Majidyar, director of the IranObserved Project at the Middle East Institute, effectively summarized the new developments: "While neither side wants an all-out war, miscalculation and overreaction may culminate in a more dangerous situation, triggering a wider war between the two arch-enemies and thrusting the Levant region into more chaos and instability."

Tehran is one of Syrian President Bashar Assad's major backers, alongside Russia, in Syria's bloody seven-year civil war. Israel sees Iranian-backed engagement along its border in Syria as an existential threat, and seeks to prevent Iranian military installations from becoming permanent bases from which militant group Hezbollah can launch attacks into its territory.

Since 2013, the IDF has carried out more than 100 airstrikes over Syria. Tel Aviv blamed Thursday's attack on Iran's powerful Quds Force  the external branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Nuclear deal fallout

Analysts have predicted further escalations following President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, which will see U.S. sanctions re-imposed on Tehran. The move has likely empowered the Islamic Republic's hardliners , removing incentives for restraint against Israeli and U.S. interests in the region.

Immediately after Trump's announcement Tuesday, Israel declared high alert over "irregular activity of Iranian forces in Syria," instructing authorities to "unlock and ready" bomb shelters in the Golan Heights, which it has occupied since 1967.

The same day, Israeli missiles targeted an Iran-linked army base south of Syria's capital of Damascus. Israeli strikes had killed at least seven Quds Force advisers in the weeks prior to Thursday's strike, but until this week Tehran was notably muted in its response  likely owing to the embarrassment of an Israeli blow to its forces, and a reluctance to trigger greater conflict. Now, however, analysts say Iran is less likely to hold back.

"These raids, which have largely gone unanswered over 2018, are now more likely to provoke a direct response following Trump's decision to exit the nuclear deal," said Ryan Turner, senior risk analyst at PGI Group. In early May, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei vowed to avenge those killed , saying that the era of "hit and run" is over.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, a research fellow at Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), agreed, describing the alleged rocket fire by the Quds Force as "marked escalation" by Iran, as well as "an indicator of growing risk tolerance in the Syrian theater."

The new normal?

"We should be prepared for continued airstrikes and exchange of fire along the border," said Turner, adding that both terrorist and cyberattacks targeting Israeli interests cannot be discounted. Meanwhile, Israel, emboldened by the Trump administration and tacit support from Gulf monarchies , will likely step up its aerial campaign against Iranian targets.

U.S. Ambassador James Dobbins, a senior fellow at RAND Corporation who served in crisis management posts for the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations, agreed, adding that a full-scale war is still less probable. "Iran and Israel are likely to continue clashing in Syria," Dobbins told CNBC. "Strikes from Israel all the way to Iran or vice versa seem less likely, although possible if the local conflict becomes more intense."

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While the possibility of an all-out war remains on the table, most regional analysts see the conflict continuing in the form of limited skirmishes, which risk consultancy firm Eurasia Group puts at a 65 percent probability, largely due to Iran's awareness of its own vulnerability to severe retaliation from Israel or the U.S.

The clashes "will likely be sporadic and not escalate to a wider conflagration," Eurasia Group researchers wrote in a report Thursday night. "Tehran will likely judge it must retaliate for last night's assault, but it also does not want to take action that would provide Israel the pretext to launch a wider attack on Iranian facilities and personnel, which remain vulnerable."

'This event is not over'

Eurasia Group puts a major conflict at 35 percent probability, in which escalated Iranian attacks trigger prolonged Israeli airstrikes in an effort to "deliver a knockout blow" to Iran's presence.

"Iran may launch medium- or intermediate-range missiles at Israel or attack military posts along the Golan border with special forces," in this scenario, Eurasia said. "To secure the border area, Israel may also take temporary, de facto control over rebel areas in the Syrian Golan Heights through air power and limited ground forces."

While an all-out war would prove incredibly costly to both sides and destabilizing to the region, the two adversaries' aims are untenable: Iran is determined to establish a permanent strategic presence in Syria, something that is anathema to Israel. And the conflict could spill over to neighboring Lebanon, where Iranian proxy group Hezbollah recently made major electoral gains  Lebanon was the site of an Israeli war with Hezbollah in 2006, during which thousands were killed.

"It is an open question whether the IRGC-Quds Force will continue to target Israel directly, and if this constitutes a 'new normal' in Syria," the FDD's Ben Taleblu said.

Either way, Israel's military is prepared for the worst. "The IDF views this Iranian attack very severely," IDF spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus told the media Thursday after the missile strikes. "This event is not over."





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Hilla (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraqis voting across the country in parliamentary polls Saturday insisted they were hoping for change, even as the same old names continued to dominate the ballot papers.

Just over 15 years after the US-led invasion upended Iraqi politics there is widespread fatigue with an entrenched elite viewed as mired in graft and sectarianism.

"For the past three parliamentary terms, the corrupt have been playing out the same comedy to keep their grip on the country," said Ahlam Hamza, a teacher in the town of Hilla, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Baghdad.

"Now it is a national duty to get rid of them."

Retiree Taher Mahmoud was casting his ballot in the southern city of Basra, the heart of Iraq's key oil producing region.

But taking into account the pitted roads and the dilapidated infrastructure that plagues the area, the 56-year-old was clear about his aims.

"We don't want to let the corrupt come back to power because they don't work for the general good, but for their own interests," Mahmoud told AFP.

"People have to wake up and vote for better candidates."

The nationwide poll on Saturday comes at a time of cautious hope for Iraq, five months after the country declared victory over the Islamic State group.

Ahead of the vote, top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali Sistani weighed in and called for Iraqis not to re-elect those who had proved to be "corrupt and failing".

- 'Corrupt sharks' -

But there remains plenty of scepticism that the elections will bring a radical overhaul, with only a minority of the candidates being fresh faces.

"The corrupt sharks continue to suffocate us, sitting at the top of their party lists," said voter Ahmed Nasser, 65, in Hilla.

"But we want change because they have brought us nothing but graft and chaos."

First-time election hopefuls are often buried low down on their party lists, meaning that they have little chance of getting elected.

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But in the multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk to the north, Abdallah al-Obeidi said as he exited the polling station that he had managed to "choose a new candidate".

"I did it because I am tired of all these old faces," said the 55-year-old voter.

In the western province of Anbar, a Sunni region that was the last in Iraq to be recaptured from IS, unemployed Omar al-Doulaimi demanded more from those representing him.

"We want someone who will be honest with us and not someone who will just increase his own personal wealth," the 27-year-old said.

Those sentiments were echoed back in the capital Baghdad, where housewife Umm Zineb said she didn't care who was in charge -- as long as they are trustworthy.

"Whether they are communists, religious or secular the most important thing is that they should care about the country and the people," she said.
Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared to disparage President Trump on his Instagram account on Friday just a few days after POTUS pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and placed more sanctions on the country.

Khamenei posted an image of himself reading a Persian translation of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, Michael Wolffs much-discussed book that paints a picture of chaos at 1600 Pennsylvania avenue.

The leader of the revolution browsing a book about #Trump, President of America, reads a rough translation of Khameneis post.

Its unclear whether the book is an official Persian copy or an unofficial knockoff. Publisher Harry Holt did not immediately respond to a request for clarification from TheWrap.

Also Read: Seth Meyers: Trump 'Sounds Like a Movie President Fighting an Alien Invasion' When He Talks About North Korea (Video)

The book, which reflected Trump and his administration in a poor light, caused a major stir in the United States after it was released in January. For weeks Wolff was a ubiquitous television presence storming sets from morning to prime time on MSNBC, CNN and international outlets. Growing questions about the books veracity came to a head, however, after an appearance on Bill Maher in which Wolff suggested that Trump and U.N Ambassador Nikki Haley were secretly having an affair. (Haley offered a strenuous denial at the time, saying the speculation was disgusting and highly offensive.)

Khameni said Wednesday that Trump made a mistake by exiting the nuclear deal.

I said from the first day: dont trust America, Khamenei said.

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Beijing (AFP) - Chinese authorities have barred five Western diplomats from visiting the widow of the late Nobel laureate dissident Liu Xiaobo, diplomatic sources said Sunday.

Liu Xia, 57, has been under de facto house arrest despite facing no charges ever since her husband was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, a recognition that deeply angered the communist regime.

Liu Xiaobo died of cancer last year while still in prison after being convicted of "subversion", making him the first Nobel laureate to die in custody since the era of Nazi Germany.

The diplomats' visit came following increased concern in recent days about Liu Xia's psychological health.

The diplomats, including a French and a German envoy and one representing the European Union, tried to visit her home on Friday morning but were turned away by officials at the gate to the complex, the sources said.

The guards checked the diplomats' identities before refusing them entry without giving a reason.

Despite the daily restrictions and surveillance faced by Liu Xia, Chinese authorities still maintain she is free.

Earlier this month reports emerged that Liu Xia had told friends she was ready to "die at home" in protest at her continuing detention by Chinese authorities.

Liu Xia's friends have told AFP she is taking medication for depression and has suffered from heart problems and fainting.

AFP reporters have tried to visit Liu's home multiple times in recent years, but were blocked each time by plainclothes men.

The United States and European Union have called on President Xi Jinping's government to free the widow and let her travel abroad.

Germany's ambassador to China previously told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post that Liu would be welcomed in his country.

When asked earlier this month about western diplomatic calls for Liu Xia to travel abroad, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters: "But Liu Xia is a Chinese citizen. The relevant Chinese authorities will handle relevant issues in accordance with the law."

Liu Xiaobo was a veteran of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and was detained in 2008 after co-authoring Charter 08, a petition calling for democratic reforms.

He was sentenced to 11 years in prison for "subversion" but died in custody last July after authorities rejected his request to receive treatment abroad.
(NEW YORK)  President Donald Trump and his lawyers likely wont decide whether he will answer questions from Russia probe investigators until after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next month, according to the presidents legal team.

Rudy Giuliani, the presidents new attorney, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday that any preparation with Trump for a possible interview with federal investigators would likely be delayed until after the June 12 summit in Singapore because I wouldnt want to take his concentration off something far, far more important.

Giuliani, who also suggested that special counsel Robert Muellers team had indicated it would not attempt to indict Trump, said he had hoped to resolve the question of a possible interview by May 17, the one-year anniversary of Muellers appointment, but that was no longer feasible.

Several things delayed us, with the primary one being the whole situation with North Korea, Giuliani said. The president has been very busy. It really would be pretty close to impossible to spend the amount of time on it we would need.

The presidents lawyers have not decided whether it would be in Trumps best interest to sit for an interview. Giuliani warned that it could be a perjury trap and suggested that lies told by others could land the president in legal trouble, though he said that Trump himself would not close the door entirely on an interview.

The president would probably like the resolution, the former New York City mayor said. If we were convinced it would speed up the process, we may do it. If we believed they would go into it honestly and with an open mind, we would be inclined to do it. But right now, were not there.

Muellers investigation has operated largely in secrecy, with the public getting only glimpses into its operation through witnesses who are questioned or when indictments and guilty pleas are unsealed. But Giuliani suggested that a recent conversation with Muellers team led him to believe that the special counsel, citing a Justice Department opinion, had ruled out the possibility of trying to indict a sitting president.

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Mueller has floated the idea of issuing a grand jury subpoena for Trump to answer questions, former Trump attorney John Dowd has said, though it is unclear how serious prosecutors were about such a move. Even if Muellers team decided to subpoena Trump as part of the investigation, the president could still fight it in court or refuse to answer questions by invoking his Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination.

Giuliani said Friday that if a subpoena were issued to get Trump to appear, the presidents legal team would oppose it unless they could reach agreement on the ground rules. He argued that Trump could invoke executive privilege, and the team would point to Justice Department opinions in fighting a subpoena and on both law and the facts, we would have the strongest case you could imagine. He noted the handover of 1.2 million documents as evidence of cooperation.

He also indicated that the presidents lawyers may be more likely to agree to an interview if Muellers team narrowed the scope of what it was investigating. Though Giuliani would not provide an exact date for when a determination would be made about the interview, he said it probably would be silly to make a decision much before the highly anticipated summit. He said that the demands on Trumps time meant that his legal team had not done a lot in terms of preparing the president for a possible in-person interview.

It would take a while and hes focused on North Korea, said Giuliani.

A number of Trump allies, including Vice President Mike Pence this week, have stepped up calls for Muellers investigation to wrap up, suggesting it was interfering in the presidents ability to do the countrys business. Muellers team is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible coordination with Trump associates as well as whether the president obstructed justice. So far, the special counsels office has charged 19 people  including four Trump campaign advisers  and three Russian companies.

Both Trumps former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and his deputy campaign chairman, Rick Gates, have pleaded guilty and are now cooperating with the probe. A number of other former White House and campaign staffers, including Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon, as well as Inauguration Day committee chairman Tom Barrack, have been interviewed.

Trumps longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, had his office and home raided by federal agents and, this week, was revealed to have been selling his insight into Trump to corporations. Giuliani said the arrangement looks bad but insisted there was no crime.

Giuliani demurred when asked if Trump would consider it a red line for his children to be interviewed. Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared, Kushner, both worked on the campaign and are senior advisers at the White House, while Trumps adult sons, Don Jr. and Eric, were also leading figures on the campaign. Giuliani said he did not expect those interviews with Mueller to take place.

Our understanding is that hes pretty much finished, Giuliani said. As far we know, were basically the last witness.

The special counsels office has not outlined the duration of the probe.

Some of Trumps recent tweets revealed the presidents anxiety about how the investigation could sway voters as they decide whether to keep congressional Republicans in power or force him to face an aggressive Democratic majority. Giuliani repeated his call for the probe to end soon but suggested that if it lasted until Novembers midterms, it would be helping Republicans.

It makes the campaign feel it its about impeachment, the former mayor said. I think the Democrats would be making the same mistake we did back during Clinton.

In 1998, months after Clinton was impeached, voter backlash cost the Republicans chance to pick up seats in both Houses of Congress.
Mr Trump and Mrs Merkel met at the White House in late April - REUTERS

Donald Trump showed Angela Merkel his bedroom on her most recent visit to Washington, the US ambassador to Germany has claimed.

In one of the more bizarre attempts to defend Mr Trumps personal relations with the German chancellor, Richard Grenell said the president had given her a very personal tour of his private living quarters.

Donald Trump personally led the Chancellor through the part of the White House where he actually lives, Mr Grenell said in an interview with several German newspapers.

Angela Merkel even saw the president's living room and bedroom. That was very personal. No president has shown that to her before.

The US has been at pains to deny reports that Mr Trump and Mrs Merkel have a strained relationship.

Mr Trump and Mrs Merkel reportedly have a strained relationship Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty

While the president has gone out of his way to welcome other European leaders to the White House, holding hands with Theresa May and brushing dandruff from Emmanuel Macrons shoulder, he has appeared cold towards the German chancellor.

On her first visit he did not respond when she offered to shake hands, and when she returned last week she was given only a quick working visit rather than the pomp and ceremony rolled out for Mr Macron.

But Mr Grenell claimed Mr Trump and Mrs Merkel have great chemistry and said the two leaders were able to joke together.

Although they have different views on some issues Mr Trump has incredible respect for the chancellor, he said.

Mrs Merkel had a particularly close working relationship with Barack Obama, despite differences with his administration over US spying in Germany.

Where do International figures rank on the spectrum?

She has struggled to forge a similar relationship with Mr Trump against the backdrop of his threats of US tariffs on European imports and his demands that Germany spend more on its defence.

Mr Grenell, one of Mr Trumps highest profile new ambassadors, got off to a controversial start after his long-delayed appointment last week when he appeared to threaten German companies doing business with Iran following the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

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US sanctions will target critical sectors of Irans economy. German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately, he wrote on Twitter.

The tweet caused widespread anger in Germany. Ric: my advice, after a long ambassadorial career: explain your own countrys policies, and lobby the host country, Wolfgang Ischinger, a former German ambassador the US responded on Twitter.

But never tell the host country what to do, if you want to stay out of trouble. Germans are eager to listen, but they will resent instructions.

The US embassy in Berlin said Mr Trump had given Mrs Merkel a tour of the White House private quarters together with a large group of people, including Mike Pence, the vice-president. They visited a number of bedrooms, including the historic Lincoln Bedroom which is today used as a guest room, a spokesman said. Mr Trump also showed the German chancellor a handwritten draft of the Gettysburg Address.
By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Billionaire businessman Elon Musk is promising the public "free rides" in the next few months through the first high-speed passenger tunnel drilled beneath Los Angeles by his aptly named underground transit venture, the Boring Company.

The question is whether the tunnel as advertised by Musk on social media will live up to the sensation he stirred by suggesting commuters will soon get to sample a new subterranean traffic system he has under development in the nation's second-largest city.

The tunnel shown in an attention-getting video clip Musk posted to Instagram on Thursday actually runs not under Los Angeles but beneath the tiny, adjacent municipality of Hawthorne, where his Boring Company and SpaceX rocket firm are both headquartered.

And it was uncertain whether the permits he received from the Hawthorne would even allow the public to set foot in the tunnel, originally proposed strictly as an experimental project to test Musk's concepts for a high-speed transit network.

"There will be no cars or people in the research tunnel," according to the minutes of a special Hawthorne city council meeting last August to review the proposed easement, or right-of-way, Boring sought for the tunnel.

Musk, who also leads the Tesla Inc electric car manufacturing company, launched his foray into public transit after he complained on Twitter in December 2016 that clogged traffic was "driving me nuts," vowing then to "build a boring machine and just start digging."

Musk maintained his air of bravura in his latest Instagram message, which was repeated to his Twitter account.

"First Boring Company tunnel under LA almost done! Pending final regulatory approvals, we will be offering free rides to the public in a few months," he wrote.

According to public records, Boring started with a 350-foot-long tunnel on private property belonging to SpaceX and later sought the easement to extend the tunnel another 2 miles underground beneath Hawthorne city streets.

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Boring has since sought approval to dig a similar experimental tunnel that would run for 2.7 miles beneath the busy west side of Los Angeles proper but has yet to break ground there.

Both plans were pitched as first steps toward developing a subterranean network of tunnels envisioned by Musk for rapidly whisking car and pedestrian traffic within and between cities to ease road congestion at the surface.

"Super huge thanks to everyone that helped with this project," Musk said in his social media messages. "As mentioned in prior posts, once fully operational (demo system rides will be free), the system will always give priority to pods for pedestrians & cyclists for less than the cost of a bus ticket."

The message accompanied a fast-forward video of the tunnel's interior shot by a camera traveling the length of the cylindrical passageway, well lit and roughly 12 feet in diameter. A man in a hard hat is seen working at one end of apparently unfinished underground tube.

Musk was not available for comment. Jehn Hemme, a spokeswoman for Boring, declined to comment when asked to clarify Musk's Instagram post and what the video actually depicted.

While Musk referred to the tunnel as the first his company has excavated under "LA", the footage is from the existing tunnel in Hawthorne, said Alison Simard, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz, who has supported Boring's request to fast-track approval of a Los Angeles test tunnel.

She said there was nothing in that request, which City Council's public works committee approved in April, that would allow public entry into a test tunnel.

Hawthorne city officials were not available for comment; city offices there are typically closed on Fridays.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman; editing by Bill Tarrant)
A photo shows the Boring Company tunnel beneath Hawthorne, Calif., as of October 2017. (Boring Company Photo)

The details may be fuzzy, but billionaire Elon Musk says hes aiming to open the Boring Companys first test tunnel beneath the Los Angeles area to the public in a few months, pending final regulatory approvals.

The Boring Company has been working for well more than a year on a tunnel that has its entrance in what was once a parking lot next to SpaceXs headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif.

Last month, the Los Angeles City Councils public works committee approved an environmental review exemption that cleared the way for another tunnel project beneath West Los Angeles. As laid out by the Los Angeles Times, the Boring Companys plan traces a 2.7-mile route that lies 30 to 70 feet below ground.

Late Thursday, Musk took to Instagram and Twitter to post a blurry time-lapse video that takes viewers on a virtual ride through a section of the Hawthorne tunnel:

Musk says we will be offering free rides to the public in a few months, but only if regulators agree. Such rides would presumably involve rolling down the tunnels track on the pods that would eventually become part of the Boring Companys transit system, with priority given to pedestrians and bicyclists.

Musks reference to the support needed from the public, elected officials and regulators may serve to explain why hes bringing up the subject now.

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In last months report, the Los Angeles Times quoted experts as saying the Boring Companys tunnel exemption could be challenged in court, particularly if its seen as interfering with L.A.s mass-transit plans. Musk may be counting on his huge fan base to help with the tricky task of getting the tunnel cleared for takeoff.

If this initial tunnel is a hit, that may help Musk build momentum for bigger projects, such as tunnels between downtown Chicago and OHare International Airport, between Washington and New York, and between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area.

Musk alluded to those projects in a follow-up tweet:

Already started DC to NY route.

Hopefully start LA to SF next year. That will be true @Hyperloop w pressurized pods in near vacuum tunnels & faster than jetliner.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2018

So far, much of the funding for the Boring Company has come from Musk and the company employees who joined last months $112.5 million investment round. Eventually, revenue will have to start flowing in from pod fares, plus sales of logo hats, bricks made from dug-up rocks and dirt, flamethrowers and other novelties.

As for those flamethrowers  or not-a-flamethrowers, if regulators are asking  there are signs that the Boring Company is closer to shipping those 20,000 items. The terms and conditions for the sales (at $500 apiece) are popping up on Twitter and Reddit, with a poetic touch worthy of Dr. Seuss:

The Boring Company's Not-A-Flamethrower terms and conditions are interesting. pic.twitter.com/BmeicoseDW  Matthew Panzarino (@panzer) May 10, 2018

The posted documents indicate that buyers have to agree to the terms and conditions by May 24, and that the not-a-flamethrowers will start shipping this summer, just in time to liven up any party. So brace yourselves: This Fourth of July could be a hot one.

More from GeekWire:
Brussels (AFP) - EU leaders will seek to boost ties with the Balkans at a summit next week, but it looks set to be overshadowed by the rift with US President Donald Trump over the Iran nuclear deal.

The meeting of European leaders with six Balkan counterparts on Thursday in Bulgaria comes as Brussels tries to counter growing Russian influence in the region with promises of eventual membership of the EU.

However Trump's withdrawal from the Iran accord, together with threatened trade tariffs which have also strained transatlantic ties, will dominate a dinner of the EU leaders on the eve of the summit on Wednesday.

"Policies of @realDonaldTrump on #IranDeal and trade will meet a united European approach. EU leaders will tackle both issues at the summit in Sofia next week," European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted.

For all the urgency over Europe's attempts to save the Iran deal, arguably the so-called Western Balkans summit in Sofia is at least as important for the troubled bloc's own future.

The six Balkan nations -- Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia -- are getting impatient to join after the EU put expansion on hold four years ago.

- 'Interests cross over' -

The European Commission recently unveiled its new strategy for the region which aims to give membership to some states by 2025 -- the frontrunners to join are Montenegro and Serbia -- in return for reforms.

It would be the EU's first expansion after Brexit brings the EU down to 27 member states next year.

The EU is also pledging to increase funding and boost transport, electric and communications links with the Balkans.

But regional leaders have warned Brussels that Russia, together with China and Turkey, will use any sign of EU reticence to boost their own footholds in the region.

"For a long time the interests of the West and Russia cross over here, like at the time of the Cold War, but Russia is trying to realise its influence in the region in a much more aggressive way," said Aleksandar Popov of Serbia's non-governmental Centre for Regionalism.

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However there is little appetite for enlargement among many current EU members, who say the bloc should sort out its own problems before growing again.

The EU is also wary of admitting new members before they settle their differences, particularly in a region still bedevilled by the aftermath of the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

The words "membership" and "expansion" are conspicuously absent from the summit declaration, which also avoids directly saying that it is issued jointly by the EU leaders and the regional heads, according to a draft seen by AFP

Also conspicuous by his absence will be Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, whose country, wary of the separatist claims of its own Catalonia region, still does not recognise Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia.

- 'Disinformation' -

Russia is also not directly mentioned, with the only apparent reference to Moscow being a commitment to work together to fight "disinformation and other hybrid activities" in the region.

Russia has increased its media presence in the Balkans in recent years, but so far that has stopped short of materialising in any real muscle.

Pro-Russian candidates failed to win power in Montenegro, which last year joined NATO despite strong opposition from Moscow.

In Macedonia -- embroiled in a bitter dispute with Greece over its name which has scotched its membership prospects for now -- a nationalist supported by Moscow has lost power to the pro-Western Zoran Zaev.

Moscow remains a long-term Serbian ally and its leaders often visit Moscow, but the level of Russian investment is just over one twentieth of what comes from the EU, even if it is more vocal about it.

The EU is also Serbia's largest trading partner and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic repeatedly says his country's strategic goal is to join the EU, regardless of close ties with Russia.
Friends of European bikers Holger Hagenbusch and Krzysztof Chmielewski: EPA

Two European cyclists found dead in a Mexican ravine may have been murdered, investigators say, discarding their earlier claims the men had fallen while riding.

The pair  Holger Hagenbusch of Germany and Krzysztof Chmielewski from Poland  had been travelling around the world on their bikes.

They were found dead at the foot of a rock face in the southern state of Chiapas.

Investigators initially said the pair appeared to have lost control on a winding mountain road. But after it emerged that Chmielewski had suffered a gunshot wound and appeared to have had a foot chopped off, a special prosecutor was appointed to take over the case.

Luis Alberto Sanchez said: It may have been an assault, because our investigations up to now indicate this was an intentional homicide.

The motive appears to have been robbery, he is quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying. Belongings of both men were missing.

Mr Chmielewskis body was found on 26 April, and Mr Hagenbuschs further down the ravine on 4 May.

The Poles body was found next to the Germans bike, which initially aroused suspicion it was not an accident, the BBC reports.

Mr Sanchez said: "Those that did this wanted to make it appear like an accident, so they put the bike there, but they made a mistake and used the German's bike.

Friends of cyclists Holger Hagenbusch and Krzysztof Chmielewski (EPA)

He added: It was very premature to call this an accident. The bikes did not show signs of having been in a traffic accident.

Mr Hagenbuschs brother Rainer, who flew to Mexico to identify the body, wrote on his Facebook page that both bodies had been mutilated. The Polish cyclist was decapitated and had a foot missing, he said.

The Chiapas state government has now vowed to intensify the investigation.

Mr Chmielewski, 37, had been travelling the world by bike for three years. He had visited 51 countries was slowly making his way to South America when he was killed.

Mr Hagenbusch, 43, had been to 34 countries during a four-year ride.

The pair had not set out together, but their paths had crossed in the town of San Cristobal de las Casas on 20 April and they had decided to travel with each other to the ancient Mayan ruins at Palenque 130 miles away.
By Brendan Pierson NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was found guilty of corruption charges on Friday by a jury in Manhattan federal court after an appeals court threw out an earlier conviction. Silver, 74, was charged with directing state money to a prominent cancer researcher and supporting a real estate developer's interests on rent legislation in exchange for about $4 million in bribes and kickbacks. Silver was found guilty of all seven counts against him, including honest services fraud and extortion. The jury handed down its verdict at the end of its first full day of deliberations. U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in Manhattan said in a statement that Silver "took an oath to act in the best interests of the people of New York State." "As a unanimous jury found, he sold his public office for private greed," Berman said. A lawyer for Silver could not immediately be reached for comment. Silver was convicted for the first time in November 2015. In May 2016, Caproni sentenced him to 12 years in prison. Last July, however, a New York federal appeals court threw out the conviction. The court ruled that the jury had received improper instructions in light of the Supreme Court's 2016 decision overturning the corruption conviction of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. The Supreme Court found in that decision that routine political activities such as arranging meetings or reaching out to public officials were not "official acts" that could be prosecuted under federal bribery law. Silver, a Democrat, represented Manhattan's Lower East Side, and was Assembly speaker from 1994 to 2015. Along with Governor Andrew Cuomo and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, he was one of the few people with effective power to dictate New York legislative priorities. Skelos was convicted of corruption charges in December 2015 and sentenced to five years in prison. His conviction was overturned last year as well, for similar reasons as Silver's, and prosecutors have said they would try him again. (Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Tom Brown)
By Alexis Akwagyiram and Paul Carsten ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's former vice president Atiku Abubakar will privatize parts of the country's state oil company and allow the naira currency to float to attract foreign investment if elected as head of state, he told Reuters. Abubakar also confirmed that he intends to run in next year's presidential election, becoming the biggest opposition heavyweight to say he will take on Muhammadu Buhari. The winner of February's poll will lead Africa's top oil producer and most populous nation, which is central to regional stability as it battles Islamist militants in the northeast. Abubakar, a former key ally of President Buhari whose resources helped propel him to power, quit the ruling party in November and re-joined the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) a month later. He has long enjoyed support from the business elite in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos for his conservative-capitalist ideals and, as vice president in a PDP administration from 1999-2007, he implemented a program of liberalization in areas including telecoms sector. NEXT STEPS Abubakar said he would go further if elected president. "I am also going to expand it to include the oil and gas sector which have not been touched at all and other major sectors of the economy like mining, solid minerals," he said. Abubakar said he would privatize parts of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which has been beset by decades of mismanagement and is crucial to the OPEC member's economic fortunes. He did not specify the parts that would be privatized. "I am a strong believer in very, very small government and also the private sector," he said. A drop in crude oil prices from late 2014 pushed Nigeria into its first recession in 25 years in 2016, spawning chronic dollar shortages because oil receipts make up two-thirds of government revenue and most of the country's foreign exchange. The economy moved out of recession last year but growth remains weak and multiple exchange rates remain in place, imposed by the central bank to support Buhari's insistence that the naira should not be allowed to float. "I will allow the naira to float because I believe that is one of the ways foreign direct investment can be encouraged to come in," said Abubakar, who hopes to replicate Buhari's 2015 feat of winning a presidential election at the fourth attempt. NORTH POLL Buhari, who took office in 2015, and whoever becomes president next will face challenges ranging from weak economic growth to communal violence between semi-nomadic herdsmen and farmers, as well as the Boko Haram insurgency. Abubakar - who, like Buhari, is a Muslim from the north - said voters would welcome someone who could revive their fortunes, adding that of his three previous presidential campaigns he was only once rejected by the electorate. He was not selected as a party candidate on the other two occasions. Parties must select their candidate by Oct. 7. The next president should be a northerner, under an unofficial power-sharing agreement under which the presidency alternates between the north and south after every two four-year terms. Bismarck Rewane, chief executive of Lagos-based consultancy Financial Derivatives, said the former vice president's familiarity and age could be a disadvantage. "To upset the Buhari candidature, you need something different: someone young, energetic and charismatic. You need something distinct from the current leadership," he said. Abubakar lacked Buhari's popularity in northern states and at 71, just four years younger than the president, would struggle to generate "inter-generational appeal", Rewane said. The UN estimates that the median age in Nigeria is 18. (Editing by Alexander Smith)
Angela Stent

Politics, Europe

Vladimir Putin is sworn as Russian President during an inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow

And will he begin to groom a successor?

What to Expect from Putins Fourth Term

Moscow was the scene of two elaborate celebrations this week. On May 7, Vladimir Putin took the oath of office in the Kremlin for his fourth term as president, describing Russia as a country of magnificent victories and accomplishments and vowing to do everything to build up Russias might, prosperity and glory. On May 9, Russia commemorated the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War with a massive military parade that showcased the latest hypersonic missiles, tanks and drones. Putin warned in his speech against those trying to rewrite history or to claim exceptionalism, as had the Nazis.

But now that the pageantry is over, what should we expect from Putins fourth term? So far, the signs point to continuity both in personnel and policies. Dimitri Medvedev will remain as prime minister, an arrangement that clearly suits Putin. There may well be some reshuffling of government positions, and rumors abound, but few officials in the Putin system are ever fired; they just rotate to different positions. Rumors have for some time suggested that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is ready to retire, but he in the past has been persuaded to stay in his position.

There have also been suggestions that Alexei Kudrin, who was finance minister from 200011 and who was named Finance Minister of the Year in 2010 by Euromoney (before he had a falling out with Medvedev) may return with a portfolio that would include promoting economic relations with Europe and the United States. Kudrin is an economic liberal who insists that Russia must diversify its economy and introduce structural reforms, and he insists that it needs to improve ties with the West if it wants to prosper. He has blamed the governments short-term thinking for retarding economic progress. It is not clear, however, how committed Putin is to economic reforms because attempts during in his previous terms in office have petered out.

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Putin gave hints about what the program for his fourth term would be in his Poslanie a State of the Nation Speechon March 1. The first half of the speech was a discussion about the state of the Russian economy, with promises to reduce poverty, raise the standard of living, provide more jobs and increase growth rates. These are now enshrined in his May 7 Executive Order on National Goals and Strategic Objectives through to 2024. They include raising life expectancy from its current seventy-two years to seventy-eight years; cutting poverty in half; speeding up the introduction of digital technologies, and making Russia the fifth largest economy with growth rates exceeding international rates. Putin has also said that Russia will become the leader in artificial intelligence.

These goals are indeed ambitious and probably not attainable. The Russian economy has certainly survived the economic crisis of 201415, when a combination of low oil prices, structural deficiencies and Western sanctions hit the economy hard. But prudent financial policies and the beneficial impact of Russias countersanctions on European agricultural imports, which have stimulated the growth of Russias own agricultural sector, have enabled the economy to begin to grow again. With rising oil prices, growth should continue; but as long as Russia remains primarily a hydrocarbon and raw-materials exporter, its ability to modernize will remain limited.

The second half of Putins speech might give some hints about foreign policy in his fourth term. Putin rolled out Russias new generation of nuclear weapons designed to destroy those of the United States. A video animation showed a new, improved Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) taking off from Russia, flying over the South Pole, evading detection by U.S. missile defenses, reaching south Florida and deploying multiple warheads on a target that looked suspiciously like Mar-A-Lago. Putin went on to describe four new super-weapons that Russia was developing, including a nuclear-armed cruise missile and an intercontinental undersea drone. Accusing the West of not taking Russia seriously and ignoring its interests, he assured his audience that the United States could not defeat Russia in a military conflict. The advanced weapons on display on May 9 were no doubt meant to reinforce that message. Given the new U.S. National Security Strategy and Nuclear Posture Review, both of which name Russia as an adversary and commit the United States to modernizing its own nuclear arsenal, Putin has clearly signaled that Russia intends to continue building its own military capacity.

In his fourth term, Putin will likely focus on Russias relationship with China as Moscows major global partner. The strengthening of the partnership with Beijing postCrimea was one of the major successes of his third term in office. Russia will also seek to solidify its position as the major great power in the Middle East, viewed by the Sunni and Shia statesand Israelas the only player that can talk to all sides and takes a nonideological approach to the region. It will remain preoccupied both with negotiating an end to the war in Syria and with finding partners for the reconstruction of postwar Syria. Putin will no doubt seek to strengthen Russias position in the Middle East as the Trump administration lessens the United States presence in the region.

Russias relations with its neighbors will remain a priority. The Ukraine conflict is now into its fourth year and it is unclear whether Moscow is seriously interested in resolving it, but negotiations continue. The Kremlins restrained reaction to the recent velvet revolution in Armenia indicates that it will tolerate a popular uprising in an allied neighbor as long as Yerevan does not seek to move westward. A possible succession in Kazakhstanone third of whose population is Slavicduring Putins fourth term could create unforeseen tensions between Russia and another of its close regional partners.

Relations with Europe and the United States are likely to remain strained as long as the Ukraine conflict continues and Western governments push back against Russian interference in their domestic politics. Presenting the West as the main enemy out to weaken Russia has shored up Putins domestic popularity and would not be abandoned unless there were substantial benefits from doing so. Nevertheless, there have also been signs over the past year that the Kremlin is open to an off-ramp with the United States, and Putin has refrained from criticizing President Trump while he excoriates American policies.

As Putin begins his fourthand constitutionally lastterm, the issue of succession will inevitably hang in the air. By the end of his term, he will have been in power for a quarter century. He has seen U.S. presidents and other world leaders come and go. Will he begin to groom a successor? Will the constitution be changed to enable him to stay in power beyond 2024? Russia has experienced three managed transitions since 1991from Yeltsin to Putin, from Putin to Medvedev and from Medvedev back to Putin. Putins next move on this issue will continue to be a subject of speculation as he embarks on his new term.

Angela Stent directs the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University. She is the author of The Limits of Partnership: U.S-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century.

Image: Reuters

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A dragon float at Disney World's Fantasy Parade burst into flames in Orlando, Florida.

"I think we have a problem, the dragon's literally on fire," says one shocked onlooker in a video circulated on social media.

The float was supposed to represent 'Maleficent' from Disney classic Sleeping Beauty.

However the display got a little too realistic when the giant model dragon not only breathed fire, but became engulfed in flames sending thick, black smoke into the air.

Onlookers, including many children, saw the motorised beast continued to lift its head up and down while the flames made their way down its neck.

A Disney employee was quick to extinguish the flames and the company told WKMG that no employees or guests were injured during the incident.

They added that operations remained normal throughout the rest of the park and the cause of the fire is now under investigation.
Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei trolled President Trump Friday, sharing a picture of himself reading Michael Wolfs explosive bestseller Fire and Fury, which chronicles the dysfunction and chaos inside Trumps White House.

The picture was shared via the official Instagram account of the Iranian leader, only days after Trump decided to pull the U.S. out of the landmark Iran nuclear deal.

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Instagram: khamenei_ir

Trending: Michael Avenatti Says Robert Mueller Should Investigate Michael Cohen-linked law firm

It shows Khamenei at a Tehran book fair with a copy of the book.

The January publication of Fire and Fury sparked a furious response from Trump, who denied its claims, attempted to bar its publication and described Wolf as a fraud.

In the book Wolf alleges that key members of Trumps team have questioned his suitability for office, and his mental stability. It claimed the administration was riven by bitter rivalries between officials and aides.

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Earlier in the week, Iranian MPs burned an American flag on the floor of the countrys parliament in Tehran, and chanted Death to America in response to U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

"This man will turn to dust and his body will become food for snakes and ants, Khamenei said this week in response. And the Islamic Republic will still be standing.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani mocked the U.S. in his response, and said Iran will be conferring with the world's two super powers, Russia and China," about the implications of Trump's decision.

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The nuclear deal was negotiated by the U.S. during the administration of President Barack Obama, alongside the five permanent members of the UN security council and Germany.

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It raised international sanctions against Iran in return for international inspections of the country's nuclear facilities.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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Ouagadougou (AFP) - A new five-nation force is ready to deploy to fight jihadists in the Sahel region of northwestern Africa, Niger's defence minister said on Sunday.

The G5 Sahel counter-terrorist force aims to fight armed extremist groups that have carried out deadly attacks across the region.

Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger agreed last year to set up the 5,000-strong force.

They will operate alongside thousands of French and UN forces already deployed in the region along the southern rim of the Sahara desert.

"We are ready to launch operations in the sense that all forces that make up the G5 Sahel are in place," the minister, Kalla Moutari, said in Ouagadougou.

Defence ministers from the five countries were gathered in the Burkina Faso capital to formally finalise steps to bring the force up to its full strength.

"We have put in place the legal documents that govern the operations of this force on our territories," Moutari said.

"It is now only a matter of timing, which will depend on the discretion of the military leaders."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week urged the G5 countries to speed up the deployment.

The Sahel force was projected to be fully up and running in March but that deadline was missed, mainly because of problems with training and equipment, he said in a report to the UN Security Council.
(Photo: Drew Angerer via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  Donald Trumps longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen was paid millions of dollars in consulting fees by corporate clients, but never discussed those clients with the president, Trumps new lawyer said Friday.

The president had no knowledge of it, Rudy Giuliani told HuffPost in an interview.

Cohen received $600,000 from AT&T, $1.2 million from Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis and $500,000 from an investment bank affiliated with a Russian oligarch, all following Trumps unexpected election win in 2016.

Giuliani said Cohens business relationships did not contradict Trumps campaign promises to end pay-to-play schemes and to drain the swamp because Cohen did not get for his newfound clients what they wanted.

Whatever lobbying was done didnt reach the president, Giuliani said, offering as proof the fact that AT&Ts proposed merger with Time-Warner has not gone through. He did drain the swamp ... The president denied the merger. They didnt get the result they wanted.

AT&T forced out the head of its Washington office Friday, while its CEO issued a statement acknowledging that hiring Cohen  who was long known as Trumps fixer in New York  was a big mistake. Novartis had earlier said that it realized Cohen could not offer any real expertise on health care, but that it felt obligated to continue paying his $100,000 a month fee under the contract they had signed until it expired earlier this year.

The FBI raided Cohens office last month and federal prosecutors in New York are investigating him. Both AT&T and Novartis said that special counsel Robert Muellers office contacted them last year.

Mueller was appointed to continue an investigation into Russian intelligence agencies work to help Trump win the 2016 election after Trump fired FBI director James Comey, who had been leading the probe. Trump later told NBC News and top Russian diplomats visiting the Oval Office that firing Comey was related to the Russia investigation.

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(Photo: Tasos Katopodis via Getty Images)

Giuliani, the former U.S. Attorney of the office now investigating Cohen and also a former New York City mayor, took charge of Trumps private legal team handling the Mueller investigation last month with the hope of wrapping it up quickly. He said Friday he doubts that Trump would have time to speak to Mueller before the newly announced summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12. although its possible he and Trump could decide by then whether the president would, in fact, sit down to speak with Mueller at all.

Giuliani said he based his previous estimate of a quick ending on the belief that Mueller was essentially done with his investigation. Theres no point in being interviewed if theyre not near the end, he said.

He said the fact that Cohen has become involved in the probe shows that Mueller has been unable to make headway on the idea of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. He blamed much of Cohens involvement on adult film actress Stormy Daniels and her new lawyer, Michael Avenatti. They have been trying to break a non-disclosure agreement she signed promising not to discuss an affair she said she had with Trump a decade ago in return for $130,000.

I think she feels she was cheated. She thinks she could have gotten more, Giuliani said.

Cohen drew up the agreement, complete with fake names for Trump and Daniels, and paid the money using a shell company he registered in Delaware just days earlier. Cohen started using that same shell company a few weeks later to start receiving payments from his corporate clients.

Giuliani said he represents Trump, not Cohen, but nevertheless believes Cohen did nothing wrong. Theyre buying his advice. It can turn out to be good or bad, he said. Theres a lot of people in Washington who are paid for their advice.

He added that Cohen does not deserve what is happening to him. The guy is under severe emotional pressure. The guy is really collateral damage, Giuliani said.

Cohen did not respond to a HuffPost query. He has not been charged in the investigation.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
The grieving father of four children who were killed in a family mass murder and suicide case that rocked Australia said Sunday their grandfather was to blame for what he called a planned shooting.

Aaron Cockman's children -- three boys and a girl aged eight to 13 -- were among the seven people found dead by police on a rural property in the small town of Osmington near the Margaret River wine region of Western Australia.

The bodies of their mother Katrina Miles, 35, and grandparents Peter and Cynda Miles were also found at the property.

Cockman, who told reporters in Margaret River he was estranged from Katrina, said "Peter didn't snap".

"I think he's thought this through. I think he's been thinking this through for a long time," Cockman added in his first public comments since the shootings.

Police have yet to confirm which family member was the shooter but said they were not searching for any suspects.

Three firearms licensed to Peter Miles were found by investigators.

Cockman said that after feeling "so much anger" during legal struggles over custody of his children, such feelings had vanished.

"I don't feel angry. I feel tremendous sadness for my kids. Angry will destroy you. I'm tremendously sad but I'll get through this."

Investigators have not revealed the motive behind the shootings, with Cockman only saying he previously enjoyed a close relationship with Katrina's parents.

"He (Peter) was like my best friend and I still love who he was, but his mental attitude... there are some people you just don't get on the wrong side of... and that's Peter and Cynda," Cockman added.

Mass shootings are rare in Australia, which has strict gun laws introduced after 35 people were killed in 1996 at Port Arthur in Tasmania.

The Osmington deaths are the worst mass shooting since then.

Western Australia state Premier Mark McGowan, who travelled to Margaret River on Sunday, said he did not think gun laws could be further tightened but he would await recommendations from a coronial inquiry into the shootings.
SOUNION, Greece (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Greece and Macedonia held "hardworking and intense" talks on Saturday to bridge their differences in a decades-old dispute over the name of the former Yugoslav Republic that has complicated its hopes of joining the EU and NATO.

The row began in earnest in 1991, when Macedonia broke away peacefully from former Yugoslavia, declaring its independence under the name Republic of Macedonia.

Greece, which has its own region called Macedonia, has asked its neighbour to change its name, as well as what it says are "irredentist" references denoting territorial ambitions in Skopje's national constitution, which Greece says must be taken out.

"I can characterise the meeting as being very serious, hardworking, intense a few times," said Matthew Nimetz, an American diplomat who has been the United Nations special envoy on the name dispute since 1994. He was speaking after the conclusion of a meeting of the two foreign ministers at a resort east of Athens.

Positive work had been done, he said, and the two ministers would be briefing their prime ministers who were expected to meet in Bulgaria on May 17 on the sidelines of an EU-Western Balkans summit.

The two countries decided last year to renew their efforts to try to reach a settlement well before the summer.

The foreign ministers, Nikos Kotzias of Greece and Nikola Dimitrov of Macedonia, did not take questions. In statements on Friday, Dimitrov said discussions were at a pivotal point.

"We are in a very delicate phase ... in a way tackling one of the last remaining differences," Dimitrov said.

Both sides see 2018 as a year of opportunity.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras hopes to resolve the matter to gain more political leverage in Europe, and at the same time increase his popularity at home where many Greeks feel the country's debt crisis and three massive bailouts have compromised its sovereignty.

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Meanwhile, Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who came to power a year ago, wants to accelerate his country's accession to NATO and the EU to boost international support for his fragile coalition.

Greece has said a compromise could include a compound name with a geographical or chronological qualifier by which the country would be known and referred to in all international institutions - the so-called "erga omnes".

Examples could include Upper Macedonia and North Macedonia.

Pending a settlement, the ex-Yugoslav nation was admitted to the United Nations in 1993 under the name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

(Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Michele Kambas; Editing by Clelia Oziel and Hugh Lawson)
Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - The head of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas paid a brief visit to Egypt Sunday, a day before major protests are expected in Gaza over Washington's controversial Jerusalem embassy move.

Ismail Haniya travelled early Sunday and met with the director of the Egyptian intelligence services Abbas Kamel to discuss the protests known as the "Great Return March", Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are expected to rally along the border between Gaza and Israel on Monday to protest as the US opens its embassy in Jerusalem.

Hamas leaders have voiced support in recent days for attempts to break the fence into Israel, despite the possibility of it leading to bloodshed.

Hayya, who travelled to Egypt with Hanya's delegation, said Hamas had told the Egyptians "this march is peaceful and has popular support".

He said they considered the meeting a "good one that comes within the framework of mobilising Arab and Islamic support".

Arab media have speculated that Egypt, one of only two Arab countries to have a peace treaty with Israel, could ease border restrictions with Gaza and offer economic relief in exchange for protesters not trying to breach the fence.

Fifty-four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since mass protests broke out along the border on March 30. No Israelis have been injured.

The moving of the embassy, a campaign pledge by US President Donald Trump, has infuriated Palestinians, who view the eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Trump will not attend the embassy opening Monday, but his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner will.

Haniya returned to Gaza late Sunday ahead of the protests.
Tammie Jo Shults, the hero pilot who navigated Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 to safety when one of its engines blew out, sat down with ABC News 20/20 to talk about the harrowing day that led to the shocking death of a 43-year-old mother of two.

About 20 minutes after Flight 1380 left La Guardia Airport to Dallas on April 17, the aircrafts left side engine exploded, sending shrapnel and debris into the planes fuselage. With smoke billowing from the wing, Shults and her co-pilot, Darren Ellisor, had to act quickly to save the planes 149 passengers.

My first thoughts were actually, Oh, here we go  just because it seemed like a flashback to some of the Navy flying that we had done, Shults, a former fighter pilot with the U.S. Navy, said in the 20/20 interview  her first since the terrifying ordeal. But really, Darren is just very easy to communicate with and we had to use hand signals because it was loud and it was just hard to communicate for a lot of different reasons.

Ellisor said he remembered the Boeing 737 banking to the left when the engine malfunctioned.

We were passing through about 32,000 feet when we heard a large bang and a rapid decompression, Ellisor told 20/20. The aircraft yawed and banked to the left a little over 40 degrees and we had a very severe vibration from the No. 1 engine. There was shaking, everything. And that all kinda happened all at once.

Tammie Jo Shults

Shults and Ellisor diverted the plane toward Philadelphia to make an emergency landing.

Your instincts kick in, you know, stuff that youve prepared for, you know, ever since you started flying  and this training just takes over, Ellisor, 56, told 20/20. Was there some of that fear? There probably was deep down, but I, you know, pushed it away.

As they prepared to bring the aircraft down, panicked passengers in the planes cabin were hastily placed on their oxygen masks and made last-ditch attempts to contact loved ones. But in row 14, University of Oklahoma professor Hollie Mackey was desperately trying to hold on to her seatmate, Jennifer Riordan, who was sucked halfway outside of the plane after engine debris shattered the window next to her.

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Mackey told PEOPLE that all that was keeping Riordan  a mother of two and bank executive from Albuquerque, New Mexico  from being completely sucked outside, was her seatbelt.

Despite how much she tried, Mackey was unable to pull Riordan back in, and the upper-half of her body remained outside for an estimated five to 10 minutes before Shults and Ellisor were able to descend the aircraft, which lessened the pull on Riordan and allowed two men to retrieve her from the window.

Once inside, a retired nurse named Peggy Phillips performed CPR on Riordan until the two pilots were able to land the plane in Philadelphia about 20 minutes after the explosion.

I didnt know yet that shed been sucked out of the plane, Phillips said. I just shut everything else out and started giving compressions trying to open an airway.

RELATED: Southwest Passenger Recalls Struggle During Deadly Flight: It Was Just Madness

Darren handled it beautifully and not trying to force the aircraft to stay on altitude and return to that heading, which is kind of a normal pilot reaction, or can be to get back on course, Shults said. He followed the aircraft and let it stay in a nice controlled flight status. And it was a bit of a rough shudder until we slowed it down a little bit.

Shults said that she and Ellisor flew the plane differently since one of the windows was shattered.

Obviously, that would mean that the passengers [have] some fast air going through the cabin, she explained, so, you know, we just did our best to make it a descent without the high airspeed.

Jennifer Riordan

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After the successful landing, Riordan was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead.

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health announced Riordans death was caused by blunt impact trauma to her head, neck and torso.

The NTSB believes metal fatigue on the 18-year-old Boeing 737 led to one of the engines blade breaking mid-flight, sending shrapnel into the planes fuselage and breaking the window next to Riordan.

Shults revealed that the crew sent a card to Riordans widow in the weeks that followed.

RELATED VIDEO: Woman Nearly Sucked Out of Plane After Engine Explosion Blows Out Window on Southwest Flight

Hearing some of the things that her husband has said subsequently that just makes us think what a sweet and rich family they are, said Shults. We wanted to be respectful and let them have some time to mourn without us being public.

Shults also revealed that her husband, Dean, was originally supposed to be the captain on Flight 1380, but the couple switched flights so she could make it to their sons track meet.

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Im not trading with him anymore, Shults said, laughing.

As for whether Shults and Ellisor feel comfortable flying Boeing 737s, the captain said, Absolutely. Its definitely something well do until our kids take the keys away from us.

After the terrifying day, the two now say their friendship is stronger than ever.

Going through something like this, it certainly galvanizes your personalities together and your friendship, Shults said. I mean, well be in touch the rest of our lives. Even though hes going to upgrade and be captain.
Choluteca (Honduras) (AFP) - They tried to get to the United States on Mexican freight trains collectively known as "The Beast" but failed, losing a limb on the way to the frenzy of wheels slicing along tracks.

Now these hundreds of would-be migrants have to adapt to new lives back in their home countries after returning with less than what they started out with.

Jorge, 28, was 17 when he tried to jump on a moving train in Mexico to get to the US border, just like thousands of others do clandestinely each year in the hope of escaping violence or poverty at home for a better life in the north.

Jorge didn't make it and fell on the track, where the train ran over him. He survived only because three friends and two other people there reacted quickly, tying tourniquets to stem the bleeding. He lost his right leg and a finger from his right hand.

Today, 11 years later and after receiving assistance to buy a prosthetic leg, Jorge runs a grocery stand in a market in Choluteca, a town 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Honduras' capital Tegucigalpa.

"He never gave up. For him, nothing is impossible," his 62-year-old father Jorge Alberto Carbajal, who works with him, said with pride.

Jorge is one of several hundred Hondurans who have returned in recent years with amputations as outward signs of their fateful brush with "The Beast."

A foundation backed by the Red Cross, called New Life, has stepped in to help give them prosthetic limbs.

Walter Aguilar, 33, who lost his right leg in a 2001 road accident, is a specialist in polypropylene prosthetics in charge of the foundation's program handling Jorge and other patients.

- Still running -

For Jorge, the assistance given has allowed him to pursue his passion for sport.

"Every day I get up to run 20 minutes before opening the shop," said the student in social sciences, who also runs a fresh juice stand in a school.

The loss of his of flesh-and-blood leg, though, has "slowed me down," he admitted. He also said he can carry only 20 kilos (40 pounds) of produce now, down from what he hauled before.

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The head of the foundation, Reina Estrada, estimates it has helped around 200 amputees since 2011, providing prosthetics that each cost between $800 and $1,100 -- a substantial amount in a country where monthly wages are typically below $400, and 20 percent of the population lives in poverty.

The New Life foundation also gives psychological support to help the returnees cope with the emotional trauma of being forced to give up their dream of emigration.

Its psychologist, Hellen Briceno, explained that the first step was to curtail thoughts of suicide, because losing a limb often generates an extremely painful period of grief.

"They have to make huge efforts because quite a few of them even dream that they still have their leg or their arm," she said.

Jorge said that many Hondurans leave on the perilous voyage to the United States despite the well-known risks because they have no choice: conditions in the country for many are so poor that survival is difficult, and gangs reign with terror over swathes of the population.

- US policies ineffective -

Tough US policies and campaigns to dissuade the emigrants have no effect, he said. Many in Central America are determined to try for their "American dream" come what may.

After his own experience, he participated in a campaign in schools in Choluteca to try to warn youths off the dangerous path north.

According to the government-funded National Migration Forum, in the first seven months of 2017, 232 emigrants died trying to make the journey -- 17 percent more than in 2016.

In the United States, there are more than a million Hondurans. Last year they sent nearly $4 billion in remittances to relatives still in the Central American country, a hefty sum equivalent to 18 percent of gross domestic product.
SURABAYA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Sunday that suicide attacks by suspected Islamist militants on three churches in the country's second-biggest city of Surabaya were "barbaric" and ordered police to track down the perpertrators.

At a news briefing alongside Police Chief Tito Karnavian, Widodo said that in one of the attacks, two children had been used in the bombing.

"I have instructed police to look into and break up networks of perpetrators," said Widodo.

(Reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
DUBAI (Reuters) - An Iranian court on Sunday sentenced eight men to death over attacks that killed 18 people at the parliament and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's mausoleum last year, in the first deadly operation by Islamic State in the country. The sentence, issued by a Revolutionary Court after a seven-session hearing, can be appealed in Iran's Supreme Court, Musa Ghazanfarabadi, head of Tehran's Revolutionary Court, told state television. Ghazanfarabadi said courts will hear claims later filed by families of the victims against the United States and Saudi Arabia, which mainly Shi'ite Muslim Iran accuses of supporting Sunni Muslim militant group Islamic State. Both countries deny that accusation. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the unprecedented attacks in Iran, in which suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the parliament and Khomeini's mausoleum in Tehran. Eighteen other suspects still face charges over the attacks, according to state media. Iran has said that the five gunmen and suicide bombers who were killed had fought in Syria and Iraq, where Islamic State once held swathes of territory but is now in decline. (Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Catherine Evans)
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister embarks on a tour of world powers on Saturday, state media reported, in what is seen as a last-ditch effort to save Tehran's nuclear deal after Washington's withdrawal from the accord. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal on Tuesday, raising the risk of conflict in the Middle East, upsetting European allies and casting uncertainty over global oil supplies. Iran said it would remain committed to the deal without Washington if Tehran achieved its goals - namely being protected from sanctions against key sectors of its economy such as oil - in cooperation with other countries that have signed up to the agreement. President Hassan Rouhani said he had asked Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to negotiate with European countries, China and Russia in the coming weeks. "If at the end of this short period we conclude that we can fully benefit from the (nuclear accord ..., the deal would remain," he said. Zarif is due to leave for Beijing on Saturday and will later travel to Russia. He will then go to Brussels to meet counterparts from Germany, Britain and France "about the fate of the nuclear deal", Iranian state television said. "Iran has asked the European Union and particularly Germany, France and Britain to announce as soon as possible their stand on how Iran's interests can be fulfilled and guaranteed under the nuclear agreement after America's withdrawal," the TV report said. Europe's largest economies lobbied to protect their companies' investments in Iran on Friday, seeking to keep the nuclear deal with Tehran alive after Washington pulled out and threatened to impose sanctions on European companies. Germany and France have significant trade links with Iran and remain committed to the nuclear agreement, as does Britain, and the three countries' foreign ministers plan to meet on Tuesday to discuss it. That is part of a flurry of diplomatic activity following Trump's unilateral withdrawal from what he called "a horrible, one-sided deal", a move accompanied by the threat of penalties against any foreign firms doing business in Iran. (Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Clelia Oziel)
Tehran (AFP) - Iran has sentenced to death eight alleged members of the Islamic State group in connection with deadly twin attacks in Tehran in June last year, the judiciary's news agency said on Sunday.

The attacks -- the first on Iranian soil to be claimed by IS -- targeted parliament and the shrine of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, killing 17 people and injuring dozens.

"The eight defendants have been found guilty of rebellion," the president of the court said, quoted by Mizan Online.

The trial began on April 28 and those convicted can appeal against the verdict.

Five perpetrators died during the attacks on June 7 last year.

Some of those convicted were found guilty of helping the attackers.

The judiciary's press agency reported after an initial hearing in late April that 26 people were on trial following arrests after the attacks.

Some of the accused had joined IS abroad before coming back to Iran to carry out the attacks, Mizan Online said.

Iran has provided military support to the Syrian and Iraqi governments in the fight against IS, sending military advisers and Iranian and Afghan "volunteers" to the two countries.
An Iraqi woman shows her ink-stained finger after casting her vote at a polling station - REUTERS

Iraqis are voting in the first election defeating the Islamic State (Isil), but few people expect its new leaders to stabilise a country beset by conflicts, economic hardship and corruption since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Depending on the outcome, the poll could bolster Iran's role in Iraq and the Middle East.

Aside from geopolitics that have deepened sectarian divisions, Iraq faces an array of challenges after a three-year war against Islamic State which cost the country about $100 billion.

Much of the biggest northern city of Mosul was reduced to rubble. Security is still threatened by sectarian tensions, which erupted into a 2006-2007 civil war at the height of a 2003-2011 U.S. occupation.

The election's victors will have to contend with the fallout from US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the nuclear deal with Iran, a move that raised fears among Iraqis that their country will be a theatre of conflict between Washington and Tehran.

Iraq has defeated Isil but is still grappling with corruption and economic hardship Credit: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

The three main ethnic and religious groups - the majority Shia Arabs and minority Sunni Arabs and Kurds - have been at odds for decades, and sectarian divisions remain as deep as ever even though they joined forces to fight Islamic State.

"I will participate but I will mark an 'X' on my ballot. There is no security, no jobs, no services. Candidates are just looking to line up their pockets, not to help people," said Jamal Mowasawi, a 61-year-old butcher.

The three main candidates for prime minister, all Shia, are incumbent Haider al-Abadi, his predecessor Nuri al-Maliki and Shia militia commander Hadi al-Amiri. All need the support of Iran, which has economic and military sway in Iraq as the primary Shia power in the region.

Abadi is considered by analysts to be marginally ahead, but victory is far from certain for the man who raised hopes that he could forge unity when he came to office.

His office released photographs of him voting on Saturday morning and going through the same security pat down as other Iraqi voters.

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            (  )    . pic.twitter.com/rBLvrHj2jO  PM Media Office (@IraqiPMO) May 12, 2018

In office Abadi reached out to minority Sunnis but alienated Kurds after crushing their bid for independence. He improved his standing with the victory against Islamic State, which had occupied a third of Iraq.

But Abadi lacks charisma and has failed to improve the economy and tackle corruption. He also cannot rely solely on votes from his community as the Shi'ite voter base is unusually split this year. Instead, he is looking to draw support from other groups.

Even if Abadi's Victory Alliance list wins the most seats, he still has to negotiate a coalition government, which must be formed within 90 days of the election.

Amiri, 63, spent more than two decades fighting Saddam from exile in Iran and leads the Badr Organisation, the backbone of the volunteer forces that fought Islamic State. Victory for Amiri would be a win for Iran, which is locked in proxy wars for influence across the Middle East with Saudi Arabia.

But many Iraqis are disillusioned with war heroes and politicians who have failed to restore state institutions and provide badly needed health and education services.

"There is no trust between the people and the governing class," said Hussein Fadel, a 42-year-old supermarket cashier in the capital. "All sides are terrible. I will not vote."

Hadi al-Amiri, a Shia militia commander running for prime minister, shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station during the parliamentary election in Baghdad Credit: REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Some people expressed frustrations at technical problems which kept them from voting in Falluja, which used to support Saddam, was devastated by battles between US troops and insurgents during the occupation and is now far from recovering from the war against Islamic State militants.

"I have to vote it's very important. My voice is going to waste. Are they telling me no election? Shall I just go home?," asked labourer Khalid Abd, 65.

Critics say Maliki's sectarian policies created an atmosphere that enabled Islamic State to gain sympathy among some Sunnis as it swept across Iraq in 2014.

Maliki was sidelined soon afterward, having been in office for eight years, but he is now trying to make a comeback. He is again posing as Iraq's Shia champion, and has proposed doing away with the unofficial power-sharing model under which all main parties have cabinet representatives.

Maliki, who pushed for US troop withdrawals, and Amiri, who speaks fluent Farsi and spent years in exile in Iran during Saddam's time, are both seen as closer to Tehran than Abadi.

More than 7,000 candidates in 18 provinces, or governorates, are running this year for 329 parliamentary seats. More than 24 million of Iraq's 37 million people are eligible to vote in the election, the fourth since Saddam's fall.

In Kirkuk, the main oil city disputed by Iraq's Kurds and the Baghdad government, 90-year-old Najm al-Azzawi has witnessed Iraq's upheaval over many years: Saddam's military adventures and the crippling international sanctions that followed, the US occupation, sectarian bloodshed and Islamic State's reign of terror. But he has not lost hope.

"God save Iraqis from the darkness they have been in," he said. "It is the most joyful thing to vote."
By Gavin Jones and Massimiliano Di Giorgio ROME (Reuters) - Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the far-right League spent the weekend locked in talks to forge a common policy program and called the head of state on Sunday to report on their progress towards naming a prime minister. The parties were adversaries before the March 4 vote which produced a hung parliament, but have been negotiating since Thursday to fuse their very different election platforms into a "contract" of mutually acceptable policy commitments. "It has been a very productive day," 5-Star's 31-year-old leader Luigi Di Maio told reporters on Sunday following talks with his League counterpart Matteo Salvini in Milan. 5-Star won 32 percent of the vote at the election and the League took 17 percent. They are the two largest groups in parliament and together can muster a majority in both houses. Di Maio and Salvini both said they had made progress with plans to cut taxes, boost welfare and bolster efforts to stop irregular immigration. There was still no word on who would lead the nascent government, but after the talks they called President Sergio Mattarella on Sunday evening to say they were ready to propose an agreed name for prime minister, a 5-Star source said. Neither Salvini nor Di Maio want to allow the other to become premier, with Salvini arguing that although his party has far fewer votes, he represents a center-right electoral alliance that together reached 37 percent. The two leaders have been trying to find an independent figure without allegiance to either party to lead the government. Di Maio said on Sunday the prime minister would be a "political" figure, rather than a non-partisan technocrat. Mattarella, the supreme arbiter of Italian politics, reminded the parties in a speech on Saturday that the constitution gives him the final word on nominating a premier and he is not obliged to accept their recommendation. Mattarella, normally a low-profile figure, has warned recently about the importance of Italy running sound public finances and maintaining its traditional pro-European Union positions. Both 5-Star and the League are hostile to EU budget rules, and while 5-Star has moderated its stance on Europe, the League is more confrontational and says it wants Italy to leave the euro zone as soon as it is politically feasible. On Sunday, a small party in the center-right electoral alliance, the right-wing Brothers of Italy, said it may support the nascent government in parliament, so long as the prime minister is an acceptable figure and not from 5-Star. The 5-Star/League coalition would have only a narrow majority in the upper house and, with its 18 senators, Brothers of Italy's support would make the bloc less vulnerable to possible defections. (Editing by Angus MacSwan and Edmund Blair)
Protesters in Iran burn a US flag after Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal - REUTERS

John Bolton, Donald Trumps hawkish National Security Adviser, on Sunday warned European companies they would face sanctions if they continued working in Iran, raising the prospect of a transatlantic rift over how to handle Tehran.

However, at the same time, Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, said he was hopeful Washington could still strike a new nuclear deal with Europe.

The diverging tones suggest splits within the administration about how to work with the international community in reining in Irans military and territorial ambitions.

For its part, Iran at the weekend launched a diplomatic effort to keep the deal alive.

President Hassan Rouhani said: If the remaining five countries continue to abide by the agreement, Iran will remain in the deal despite the will of America.

Theresa May spoke with Mr Rouhani on Sunday afternoon to reiterate the UK's position of upholding the nuclear deal, Downing Street confirmed on Sunday night.

She said it is in both the UK and Irans national security interests to maintain the deal and welcomed President Rouhanis public commitment to abide by its terms, adding that it is essential that Iran continues to meet its obligations," a No 10 spokesperson said.

The US decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal last week has angered European leaders, risking a transatlantic rift as they consider protecting companies against American sanctions.

Mr Bolton said sanctions on European companies were possible.

I think the Europeans will see that it's in their interest ultimately to come along with us, he told CNN.

Iran nuclear deal | Related content

But speaking on Fox News Sunday, Mr Pompeo offered more conciliatory language and insisted the decision to withdraw had not been aimed at the UK or the European Union.

I'm hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behaviour, not just their nuclear programme, but their missiles and their malign behaviour as well," he said.

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In announcing his decision to withdraw, Mr Trump was making good on a campaign promise. He and American officials have long expressed concern that the nuclear deal did nothing to stem Iranian missile tests or thwart its activities supporting militias or proxies throughout the Middle East.

Javad Zarif in Beijing as he attempts to shore up what is left of the nuclear deal Credit: Reuters

For its part, Tehran has launched a diplomatic effort to keep the deal together. Javad Zarif, the foreign minister, has embarked on a tour of signatories aimed at persuading them to help protect Iran from US sanctions.

After meeting his counterpart in Beijing, Mr Zarif said on Sunday: We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement.
A 14-year-old boy was injured in a shooting at Highland High School in Palmdale, California, on May 11, police confirmed. Another 14-year-old boy was arrested, and a rifle was recovered off campus, police said. Both boys were students at the school.

This footage shows a juvenile male in custody inside a Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department vehicle outside a shopping mall close to the school. The footage was shot by Jon Baird of KNX1070 Newsradio, who told Storyful that deputies had confirmed the boy in the car had been detained in connection with the shooting. Credit: Jon Baird, KNX1070 Newsradio via Storyful
Khamzat Azimov was named on Sunday as the suspected terrorist shot dead in Paris

The suspected terrorist who stabbed a man to death and injured four other people with a knife in central Paris on Saturday evening was a Chechen-born French citizen on a terror watchlist.

Named on Sunday as Khamzat Azimov, 20, he was questioned by counter-terrorism police last year over his links with Islamist radicals including a woman arrested in Hungary suspected of planning to join jihadists in Syria.

French intelligence identified him using facial recognition software. Born in Russias Chechen Republic, Azimov became French in 2010 when his mother was naturalised after being granted asylum.

Police shot him dead in Rue Monsigny, near the Palais Garnier opera house, only nine minutes after they received the first emergency call at 8.47pm on Saturday. He shouted Allahu Akhbar (Arabic for God is greatest) as he slashed at bystanders' throats. Dozens ran, shouting warnings to others as they fled.

Oliver Woodhead, a Londoner who owns LEntente, a brasserie serving British food just yards from the spot where the killer was shot, told the Daily Telegraph: It could have been a lot worse if the police hadnt got here so quickly, or if the weather had been warmer and more people had been sitting outside on cafe terraces where they would have been vulnerable. I think the attacker deliberately targeted people who looked like tourists to hurt the tourist industry, which is vital for Frances economy.

The area, known for its nightlife and popular with tourists and Parisians, was bustling but less crowded than usual for a Saturday night because many residents were away on holiday.

On Sunday, blood mingled with rainwater lay in a puddle in the gutter opposite Mr Woodheads restaurant. After failing to subdue Azimov with a non-lethal Taser, police surrounded him and fired twice as he rushed at them, shouting: Kill me or Ill kill you. One shot hit him and the other pierced the glass door of a cafe, Le Monsigny, which was closed at the time.

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Overnight, doctors operated on a 54-year-old woman and a man, 34, who were seriously injured. The man was described as a foreign tourist but his nationality was not disclosed. Gerard Collomb, the interior minister, said both were out of danger. Another woman, aged 26, and a 31-year-old man had more minor injuries. One of the injured was a Chinese national, Chinese media reported. The Frenchman killed was named as Ronan, 29.

Azimov had no criminal record but was among about 20,000 people on the S file of suspects considered a potential security risk. The authorities now face questions over surveillance as other attacks have also been perpetrated by S file suspects.

Where the Paris knife attack took place

Police questioned Azimovs parents on Sunday. They were taken into custody but were not thought to be suspects. It is standard procedure for detectives to question attackers relatives to piece together a fuller picture of their background and motives.

Investigators searched the furnished rooms where Azimov lived with his mother in a lodging house in a working-class neighbourhood of northern Paris with a large immigrant population.

A 20-year-old friend of Azimov was arrested in Strasbourg, eastern France, which was the attackers home before he moved to Paris. Police left the home with a man in handcuffs, his face hidden by a hood, wearing a black T-shirt with "Defend Grozny", the capital of Chechnya, on the front and a drawing of a Kalashnikov rifle on the back.

Heavily armed police on Sunday arrested and searched the home 20-year-old man in Strasbourg wearing a t-shirt saying 'Defend Grozny' Credit: PATRICK HERTZOG/ AFP

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) claimed the attack on the groups propaganda website. It is not known whether the assailant had pledged allegiance to the group.

In a tweet, President Emmanuel Macron said: France is paying the price of blood once again but is not yielding an inch to the enemies of freedom. Mr Macron praised the courage of the police officers who neutralised the terrorist.

Police cordoned off the area after the attack and instructed people to stay indoors while they ensured that there were no other assailants at large. People stayed in restaurants, bars and theatres for several hours after the attack, with doors closed and blinds or curtains drawn. They were told to remain quiet to avoid attracting attention.

Mr Woodhead, 40, said: We had about 20 customers and I moved them away from the windows. We finished our service and we gave everyone a free round of drinks.

Paris stabbings | Who is Khamzat Azimov?

He opened his restaurant as usual on Sunday. Echoing the sentiments of many Parisians, he said: Were carrying on as normal. This doesnt frighten me. Ive got friends who own a restaurant near Borough Market and you cant let attacks like the one there or this one stop you doing what you do.

France has been on high alert for the past three years amid a string of terror attacks that have killed nearly 250 people.

The state of emergency declared after 130 people were killed in coordinated attacks on the Bataclan concert venue in Paris and nearby bars and restaurants in November 2015 has been lifted. But most of its provisions, granting police extra powers to search premises and detain suspects, have been incorporated into French law.
Vunduzi (Mozambique) (AFP) - Locals in Vunduzi, a village near the place where Mozambican soldiers and former Renamo rebels fought their last battle, fear that Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama's death this month could spell fresh unrest.

Sitting at the foot of the Gorongosa mountains in central Mozambique, Vunduzi was a ghost village two years ago with a handful of stalls basically serving government troops deployed there.

At the slightest sound of gunshot, villagers would rush into the thick forest to hide. At night they slept in the forest to avoid government soldiers or spies locally known as the "death squad" who were blamed for kidnapping and murdering supporters of the Mozambique National Resistance or Renamo.

But after Dhlakama unilaterally decreed a truce at the end of 2016, life returned to normal. Military checkpoints disappeared and cars, trucks and motorcycles moved around freely in the village.

The main school, which had been shut in 2015, reopened. Public buildings have been repainted and the village now has electricity.

Dhlakama's sudden death on May 3 in his Gorongosa bush camp has left the small village shaken and worried about the future.

Months earlier, Dhlakama and Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi had opened direct peace negotiations to an end the fighting that had resumed in 2013.

Dhlakama led Renamo, created in 1976, through a brutal civil war against the Marxist-inspired Frelimo government until the conflict ended in 1992. The 16-year war devastated the economy and left one million people dead.

He later then transformed Renamo into a political party which has participated in elections since the first multi-party democratic vote in October 1994.

- 'It's a disaster' -

For the majority of people here Dhlakama is the father of democracy -- the only person to stand up to the brutal regime -- and since his death anxiety reigns in the village.

"It is a disaster," said an agriculture ministry official.

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"Maybe it will be a return to unrest. We do not know. It will all depends on the behaviour of those who will replace him," he said.

In this Renamo bastion many residents interviewed by AFP chose to remain anonymous.

"To avoid persecution," Dhlakamas loyalists "are discreet," said a school teacher.

In his 30s, the teacher is a Renamo supporter but is registered as a member of the ruling Frelimo and must contribute one percent of his salary to the party, which in his case is 50 meticals ($0.83).

"I do not give willingly," he said. "But I give just to avoid being harassed".

"With Dhlakama gone... we are wondering how the political situation is going to evolve. Will his men take up arms again?" said shop owner Ricardo Armando.

"What we need is for Renamo troops to be demobilised to solve the political situation once and for all," he added.

But a clothing salesman Santo Gerente is unfazed and believes that the normal life he has enjoyed for the past year-and-a-half will not be disrupted.

"We are free, we can have fun, listen to music," said the 30-year-old man.

When fighting resumed in 2013, Gerente took refuge for two years in the forest with women and children. His grandfather went missing and his seven-year-old nephew was shot dead.

"The problem was our soldiers," said the school teacher. "They vandalised many market stalls, tore down doors, went in and looted."

The authorities "accused the population of passing on information and food to Renamo, so in retaliation they beat them to death."

At a memorial service in honour of Dhlakama on Wednesday, President Nyusi pledged to continue the search for lasting peace.

The country votes in general elections in October 2019.

"Even if nobody will tell you, you will see, everyone here will vote for Renamo," said the teacher.
The Trump administration wants to move the bulk of Americas future production of plutonium cores for nuclear weapons away from a historic but problem-plagued national laboratory in New Mexico to a sprawling federal site in South Carolina.

The decision, announced late on May 10 in a joint, written announcement by senior Energy and Defense Department officials in Washington, would keep a bit more than a third of the nations anticipated future plutonium core production at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the birthplace of the first U.S. nuclear bomb.

But it would relegate the lab  which has struggled to overcome a series of safety problems that forced it to halt virtually all its plutonium production for the last four years -- to a considerably smaller role than it has long anticipated. The problems were disclosed by the Center of Public Integrity in 2017, after which the director of Los Alamos announced his retirement.

Under the new plan, Los Alamos would be less a bomb factory and more a research and development center for nuclear weapons, several experts said. That would evidently mean the loss of billions of dollars worth of planned new construction at the New Mexico site, which was once expected to bring Los Alamoss plutonium manufacturing capacity from zero to 80 cores per year by 2030.

The Trump administrations decision to shift the annual production of 50 of those cores  also known as pits -- to the Energy Departments Savannah River nuclear site, located near Aiken, S.C., was designed in part to have two such sites active at the same time, instead of just one. That would avoid a future hobbling of all nuclear weapons production if Los Alamos experienced major safety problems again.

But it would shift much of the highly sensitive and inherently dangerous work to a site that has also experienced a series of serious safety problems, all documented in internal government reports examined by the Center for Public Integrity. A government report in March, for example, said that some top managers at the Savannah River site were still alarmingly inattentive to safety, and were not heeding the advice of their safety experts despite a series of warnings and a special federal oversight arrangement provoked by a dangerous incident in 2015.

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The decision to shift future work to Savannah River had another motive, however  a political and financial one. It is meant to finally put a stake into the heart of another immensely costly project there, which the pit production would replace.

This story is part of National Security. Click here to read more stories in this topic.

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That project, called the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, was backed by multiple presidents and once blessed in a treaty with Russia. But both the Obama and Trump administrations have called it a boondoggle. An estimated $5.4 billion has been spent so far on the so-called MOX plant located near Aiken, largely due to the adroit political maneuvering of South Carolinas influential congressional delegation.

The MOX plant was conceived as a way to convert plutonium withdrawn from old U.S. nuclear warheads into fuel for civilian nuclear power plants, fulfilling a fanciful swords-into-plowshares idea. But it has experienced huge cost overruns, run into repeated technical problems and management glitches, and is still less than half-finished, years after its projected completion, according to officials in Washington. Thats caused experts and many federal officials to call for eliminating the excess plutonium more cheaply through another approach.

The Trump administration this week again affirmed its support for that approach, which calls for diluting the excess plutonium and burying it in salt caverns deeply underground in a remote part of New Mexico. It did so partly to keep the persistent MOX plant cost overruns from eating into funds that Energy Department officials would prefer to allocate to the development and production of new nuclear weapons.

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, making an aggressive move in the dispute with lawmakers over the MOX plants future, on May 10 sent Congress a copy of an order he signed barring further spending on the facility, at least until the path has been fully worked out for transforming it into a future factory for plutonium cores.

The administration, in its written explanation for the overall decision, called it the best way to manage the cost, schedule, and risk of such a vital undertaking.

The announcement nonetheless unsettled politicians from the two states. New Mexicos two Democratic senators, Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, quickly issued a statement complaining that some prior spending promises for construction at Los Alamos will no longer be met. The laboratory will, they noted, only get billions of new dollars in new funds for the production of 30 pits per year, instead of many billions for the production of 80 per year.

Henry McMaster, the Republican governor of South Carolina, meanwhile, joined members of the states congressional delegation in expressing disappointment at the plan to halt MOXs construction. But the planned injection of new funds for the new factory seems likely to cool some of the states ire.

Jay Coghlan, who directs the advocacy group Nuclear Watch New Mexico and closely follows weapons activities in the state, questioned why the administration needs to prepare for future production of so many plutonium cores. There is, he said, no justification to the American taxpayer why the enormous expense of expanded production is necessary.

Tom Clements, director of the nonprofit Savannah River Watch Site, said the decision is by no means a foregone conclusion, and that it is fraught with technical and cost risks and its operation could result in more chemical and nuclear waste being left in South Carolina. He said his group will push for an extensive review of its environmental consequences.

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U.S. Dept. of Energy

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Copyright 2018 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Twitter that he would take a short break to spend time with his family, hours after reports that his names was on the flight manifest of a private jet scheduled to leave for Jakarta on Saturday morning. The manifest of the jet, which is scheduled to fly from an airport near Kuala Lumpur to the Indonesian capital at 10:00 a.m. (0200 GMT), names Najib and his wife as passengers, two sources and two media reports said earlier. "After over four decades in politics and the recent election campaign, which was regrettably personal and perhaps the most intense in Malaysian history, I will take a short break to spend time with my family whom I have not seen enough of in recent years," Najib said on Twitter. Najib lost to former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad in this week's elections. The new prime minister has vowed to investigate a multi-billion-dollar graft scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which was founded by Najib. Najib has consistently denied any wrongdoing in connection with 1MDB. (Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by John Chalmers)
Scrutiny over a White House aide mocking ailing Arizona Republican Senator John McCain as dying anyway has heightened with a new report that Mercedes Schlapp, a White House strategic communications director, supported the seemingly inappropriate comment.

Related: Watch: Meghan McCain Slams White House for Not Firing Aide Who Mocked Her Fathers Cancer

Schlapp on Friday said, You can put this on the record  I stand with Kelly Sadler, the White House aide who made the remark about McCain in an internal meeting Thursday, a source in the room told Axios.

Trending: Video: Mother's Day Hero Shoots Gunman Who Attempted Robbery Outside School

Sadler in the meeting with White House communications staff said the decision by McCain, who is battling brain cancer, to oppose President Donald Trumps CIA director nominee Gina Haspel doesnt matter, hes dying anyway.

A source close to Schlapp told Axios on Saturday that her point was that when one staff member is publicly targeted by other members of the staff, she thinks thats inappropriate and the team should support staffers who are subjected to leaks.

Don't miss: Spree Killer Living Opposite Elementary School Moved to New Houseone Block Away From Another School

Schlapp was a potential candidate to become White House communications director after Trumps longtime aide Hope Hicks stepped down in March. She is a former Fox News commentator who spoke favorably of Trump, and prior to that was director of specialty media for former President George W. Bush.

She started working in Trumps White House in September shortly after chief of staff John Kelly reordered operations in the West Wing and is reportedly well-liked by him. But she lacked a defined role at the beginning of her tenure that reportedly caused tension between her and other communications staff, which has apparently lingered.

Schlapp hails from Miami and is the daughter of a Cuban political prisoner, The Miami Herald reported last year. When The Hill selected her as one of the 50 Most Beautiful people in 2016, she told the publication that her father "taught me since I was a little girl to always fight to protect Americas freedom and democracy. She has been a longtime resident of Washington, D.C.

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Schlapps husband, Matt, is an influential conservative who heads the American Conservative Union. On MSNBC in March, he said she would be very open to anything the president wants her to do.

She loves her job. Shes challenged by her job, Matt Schlapp added. She loves the environment in which she works. Shes having a blast even though it is awfully tough. And when she comes home at night, I give her a cocktail. Thats my job.

According to the New York Times, some Republicans consider the Schlapps an "it" couple, but detractors call them opportunists. "Either way, theyre symbolic of a deep rift within their party," the newspaper added.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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Of the 136 million people who will need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2018, an estimated 34 million are women of reproductive age and 5 million are pregnant.

Behind these statistics are real people: The pregnant woman fleeing conflict, who has no choice but to give birth in unimaginable conditions; the adolescent girl who loses her home to an extreme weather event and may become the target of sexual violence; and the young woman living in a camp without access to modern contraception.

This Mothers Day, Americans are expected to spend $23.1 billion on flowers, cards and other gifts  more than 23 times the annual operating budget of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the largest global provider of maternity care and reproductive health services in humanitarian emergencies. UNFPA estimates that, across the globe, more than 500 girls and women die in emergency situations every day from complications due to pregnancy and childbirth. Three in five preventable maternal deaths happen in areas of conflict, displacement or natural disaster. If we truly want to celebrate motherhood this year, we must stand up for funding for the health of these girls and women.

Last year, after a history of leading support for the organization, the current U.S. Administration chose to stop supporting UNFPA, cutting funding from lifesaving humanitarian response in places like Syria, Yemen, and Iraq. This was a grave decision. A few weeks ago, I saw the transformative impact of UNFPAs work on the ground in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, where I met Yasmin, a healthy newborn, and her mother. Yasmin is one of the more than 9,000 babies safely born in the only maternity clinic in the camp since it opened in 2013.

Although her family had to flee the brutal conflict in Syria, and her life began as a refugee, Yasmin has not been forgotten. She has had help from the U.N. She was delivered by skilled care, in a safe environment provided by Zaataris womens clinic, which UNFPA manages in partnership with the Jordan Health Aid Society. And she will be back to the same clinic in the near future to receive lifesaving vaccinations. New mothers, like Yasmins mother, also receive vital care there  at least eight antenatal visits as well as breastfeeding counseling and family-planning services after birth.

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The organization is often the first  and in some cases the only  womens health care provider in humanitarian crises, reaching more than 10 million girls and women in 53 countries last year with pregnancy checkups, safe childbirth services, family planning, dignity kits with essential supplies, HIV/AIDS prevention services, gender-based violence counseling and more.

While food, water and shelter are vital elements of humanitarian response, so are womens health services. There is still too much stigma associated with womens basic health needs, like sanitary napkins and contraception, but these essential needs do not go away in an emergency. And as conflict and climate change continue to increase needs, we need to make sure UNFPA and its other humanitarian partners like the Jordan Health Aid Society have the resources they need to help.

Investing in the health and rights of girls and women  and empowering them to plan their futures and their families  yields direct returns for the U.S. and the entire global community. It sparks a ripple effect, generating not only healthy and empowered girls and women, but more stable communities and nations.

On this Mothers Day, as we celebrate mothers around the world, lets also speak out to support those in humanitarian emergencies. The international community  including the U.S.  should do more to protect the health and lives of mothers and daughters.
Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating contributions to Donald Trumps massive inauguration fund from donors with ties to foreign countries, sources have told ABC News.

Trump amassed a record $107 million in contributions to his inaugural committee. Previous presidents had kept donations low in an effort to avoid the appearance of selling presidential access  or favors.

As much as $45 million to the committee came from companies, some of which have served to shield the identities of the individual donors behind them. Following an investigation last year by HuffPost, the committee also admitted that it had made numerous errors in a list of donors it filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Muellers team has talked to witnesses about millions of dollars in contributions from donors to the inaugural committee with links to Russia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, ABC reported, based on information from a source who has been present at recent interviews. Donations from some of those individual donors surpassed $1 million each, ABC said.

One of those questioned was California billionaire real estate investor Thomas Barrack, a longtime friend of Trump who was in charge of fundraising for the inaugural committee. Barrack has substantial private equity holdings in the Middle East.

One donor being scrutinized by Muellers team is American Andrew Intrater, who is both a business associate and relative of Russian multibillionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who owns the Russian global conglomerate Renova Group. That company was sanctioned in April by the U.S. Treasury Department to punish Russia for meddling in the U.S. presidential election and other suspected malign activity.

Vekselberg, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is an investor in New York investment company Columbus Nova. Renova recently listed Columbus Nova as a subsidiary, and it was identified as such in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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(Photo: Renova Group website)

Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, donated $250,000 to Trumps inauguration committee, according to FEC filings.

Columbus Nova also reportedly paid Trumps personal attorney Michael Cohen $500,000 for consultant fees after Trumps election. The company has acknowledged the payments to Cohen regarding information concerning potential sources of capital and ... investments in real estate and other ventures. But the company statement denied that Vekselberg had anything to do with the money.

Columbus Nova was also involved in registering domain names during the presidential election for websites appealing to white nationalists, The Washington Post reported this week.

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Tampa (AFP) - The US space agency said Friday it plans to launch the first-ever helicopter to Mars in 2020, a miniature, unmanned drone-like chopper that could boost our understanding of the Red Planet.

Known simply as "The Mars Helicopter," the device weighs less than four pounds (1.8 kilograms), and its main body section, or fuselage, is about the size of a softball.

It will be attached to the belly pan of the Mars 2020 rover, a wheeled robot that aims to determine the habitability of the Martian environment, search for signs of ancient life, and assess natural resources and hazards for future human explorers.

Mars 2020 is planned for launch in July 2020 with an arrival on the surface of Mars expected in February 2021.

"NASA has a proud history of firsts," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in a statement.

"The idea of a helicopter flying the skies of another planet is thrilling."

No nation has ever flown an helicopter on Mars before.

- Thin atmosphere -

The undertaking began in August 2013 as a technology development project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

In order to fly in Mars' thin atmosphere, the space helicopter has to be super light, yet as powerful as possible.

"The altitude record for a helicopter flying here on Earth is about 40,000 feet (12,100 meters)," said Mimi Aung, Mars Helicopter project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"The atmosphere of Mars is only one percent that of Earth, so when our helicopter is on the Martian surface, it's already at the Earth equivalent of 100,000 feet up (30,500 meters)," she added.

Engineers built the copter's twin, counter-rotating blades to "bite into the thin Martian atmosphere at almost 3,000 rpm -- about 10 times the rate of a helicopter on Earth," said a NASA statement.

The helicopter is equipped with "solar cells to charge its lithium-ion batteries, and a heating mechanism to keep it warm through the cold Martian nights."

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Controllers on Earth will command the Mars Helicopter, which was designed to receive and interpret commands from the ground.

Plans are being laid for a 30-day flight test, with five flights going incrementally further each time, up to a few hundred yards (meters).

Its first flight calls for a brief vertical climb of 10 feet (three meters), followed by hovering for a half minute.

NASA views the copter as a "high-risk, high-reward technology demonstration," it said.

If successful, it could be a model for scouting on future Mars missions, able to access places the human-built rovers cannot reach.

If it fails, it will not impact the Mars 2020 mission.

"The ability to see clearly what lies beyond the next hill is crucial for future explorers," said NASA's Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the science mission directorate.

"We already have great views of Mars from the surface as well as from orbit. With the added dimension of a bird's-eye view from a 'marscopter,' we can only imagine what future missions will achieve."
Managua (AFP) - Nicaragua's army on Saturday called for an end to violence in the country and distanced itself from President Daniel Ortega, saying it was not repressing anyone for taking part in anti-government protests.

Unrest against the president exploded in mid-April and has been fueled by a brutal response from police.

The death toll is now at least 51.

"We are the same uniformed people, working for their own benefit and, as a consequence, we call for stopping the violence and actions that destabilize us," an army statement said, expressing solidarity with the families of those who have died in the protests.

"We have no reason to repress anyone" for anti-government demonstrations, army spokesman Manuel Guevara said earlier.

"We think that dialogue is the answer," he stressed, adding that the military rejects what he sees as an effort to misconstrue military actions as repression on behalf of the Ortega government.

Troops are required to protect strategic locations, national assets and national parks, for example.

Initially triggered by reforms to cut spending on Nicaragua's deficit-laden social security system -- later abandoned by Ortega -- the protests swelled to include other grudges against the president who is widely seen as autocratic and distant.

Ortega, 73, is a former rebel leader who first ruled after his Sandinista revolutionaries chased the corrupt dynasty of dictator Anastasio Somoza from power in 1979.

Now, Ortega is "equal to Somoza. The difference is that Somoza faced an armed insurrection (and) Ortega is acting mercilessly against an unarmed civil insurrection," said Enrique Saenz, a lawyer and economist.

There were fresh accusations on Saturday of repression by the security forces during clashes with demonstrators that began Friday night in Masaya city, southeast of the capital Managua.

Masaya is "a battlefield," Edwin Roman, a priest, told AFP.

A rights group and a doctor reported dozens injured in that city, but protests also continued elsewhere including in Managua.

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"We condemn the repression that the people of Masaya are living in," said the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), which accused police of "shooting against the people."

The protests are the worst Ortega has faced in the past 11 years since he returned to power after a stint in opposition.

Ortega has said he is willing to hold talks to calm the situation but has made few moves to follow through.
Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, will meet Donald Trump on June 12 in Singapore - REUTERS

North Korea has announced it will hold a ceremony in late May for the dismantling of its nuclear test site.

The countrys central news agency said tunnels will be collapsed with explosions, blocking entrances, while observation facilities, research buildings and security posts will be closed.

The event, which journalists across the world including from America and South Korea will be invited to cover, will take place between May 23 and May 25, depending on weather.

The news came as Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said America was prepared to help the regime boom economically if it denuclearises.

The developments precede Donald Trumps historic meeting with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.

David Beasley, executive director of the UNs World Food Programme, said on Saturday that he believed North Korean leaders wanted change after a four-day visit to the country.

He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: We must capture this moment and work diligently to move the ball forward down the road toward progress and peace.

And I am hopeful. I do believe theres a genuine desire to move forward, but time will tell.

Mr Pompeo, who has visited North Korea twice in recent weeks, said the country could have a bright economic future if it quickly agrees to give up its nuclear weapons.

If North Korea took bold action to quickly denuclearise, then the US was prepared to reward Pyongyang by propelling it towards the same levels of prosperity as the neighbouring South, he said at a press conference in Washington.

"If Chairman Kim chooses the right path, there is a future brimming with peace and prosperity for the North Korean people," Mr Pompeo added.

His comments set a positive tone for the talks in the Asian city-state of Singapore on June 12, and follow a goodwill gesture from Pyongyang after Kim agreed last week to release three Americans who had been held prisoner for over a year.

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Lee Hsien Loong, the Singaporean prime minister, has hailed the decision to hold the historic and momentous event in his tiny nation, and the news has been largely welcomed by the public, despite concerns over tight security, roadblocks and traffic chaos on the 85-mile long island.

The local media has already touted several possible venues for the high stakes meeting, including the glitzy Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino resort, which is owned by Sheldon Adelson, an American business magnate and one of the largest donors to the Republican party.

However, the luxury five-star Shangri-la hotel, a short distance from Singapores main shopping boulevard, is on top of the list of likely locations for the meeting, said Toby Koh, group managing director of Ademco Security.

The hotel has hosted annual meetings of defence ministers and military chiefs since 2002 and its security procedures were down pat, said Mr Koh.

They dont really need to do a lot more to improve it. But the luxurious settings that Singapore has to offer will do little to detract from the difficulty of the negotiations that the two leaders face.

In spite of easing tensions in recent months, Pyongyang has given few indications of being willing to go beyond sweeping statements in support of the concept of denuclearisation.

Washington, meanwhile, remains committed to the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of North Koreas nuclear programme.

Nevertheless, Mr Pompeo described his meeting with Kim last week in Pyongyang as warm as they communicated mutual objectives.

We talked about the fact that America has often in history had adversaries who we are now close partners with and our hope that we can achieve the same with respect to North Korea, he said.
North Korea has set the date to begin shutting down a major nuclear test site as it continues to pursue improved relations with the world.

A ceremony will be held between May 23 and 25 for the dismantling of its northern nuclear test ground, weather permitting, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Saturday, quoting the Foreign Ministry.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has taken a series of steps this year to ease tensions with the U.S. and he is set to meet U.S. President Donald Trump for historic talks next month in Singapore. In another sign of improving relations, North Korea this week released three U.S. citizens who had been imprisoned in the country.

The isolated Asian nation, which had already pledged to begin dismantling the site this month, will invite journalists from China, Russia, the U.S., the U.K. and South Korea to cover the event, KCNA said in the statement.

Kim last month said the site, Punggye-ri, built in a secluded mountain valley northeast of Pyongyang and the site for all six of the regimes nuclear blasts, would be shuttered and further tests had been suspended, KCNA reported April 21. The site has already been in doubt amid signs of structural weakness, and some observers have said it would be unsafe to do more tests there.

The dismantling will include collapsing its test tunnels with explosives and blocking their entrances, removing observation facilities and withdrawing guards and researchers from the site. The test ground will be completely closed after the process, KCNA said.
Seoul (AFP) - North Korea is "taking technical measures" to dismantle its nuclear test site, state media said Saturday in the latest dramatic step ahead of a historic summit between leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump next month.

"A ceremony for dismantling the nuclear test ground is now scheduled between May 23 and 25, depending on weather condition," the official KCNA news agency said, citing a foreign ministry press release.

The test tunnels would be blown up, blocking their entries, the statement said.

All observation facilities and research institutes would be removed along with guards and researchers, it said, detailing the process of closing the site.

Reporters from China, Russia, the United States, Britain and South Korea would be allowed to "conduct on-the-spot coverage in order to show in a transparent manner the dismantlement of the northern nuclear test ground," the foreign ministry statement said.

The limit on foreign journalists was due to the "small space of the test ground" which it said was "located in the uninhabited deep mountain area".

In a dramatic turnaround after Kim and Trump had traded threats of war and personal insults, the young North Korean leader vowed to pursue denuclearisation at a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month.

He is now set for the first ever face-to-face meeting between a sitting American president and a North Korean leader, scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Friday promised the US would work to rebuild North Korea's sanctions-crippled economy if it agreed to surrender its nuclear arsenal.

"The DPRK will, also in the future, promote close contacts and dialogue with the neighbouring countries and the international society so as to safeguard peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and over the globe," the North Korean foreign ministry statement carried by KCNA said Saturday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's promise to dismantle his country's only known nuclear test site later this month has shone the spotlight on the secretive facility near the Chinese border.

The Punggye-ri test site, located beneath a mountain in the country's northeast, has hosted all six nuclear tests Pyongyang has conducted -- most recently last September.

The North on Saturday announced that it would hold a ceremony for the dismantling of the facility between May 23-25, blowing up its tunnels in front of invited foreign media.

The announcement comes as the diplomatic push for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons gathers pace ahead of Kim's eagerly-awaited -- and unprecedented -- summit with US President Donald Trump on June 12.

- Ideal environment -

The site is located deep inside mountains in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong, which borders China.

Surrounded by high, craggy peaks and carved deep into a granite mountain more than 2,000 metres high, the test site is said to be an ideal venue to withstand the huge forces unleashed by nuclear blasts.

The presence of the site became known in 2006 when the North conducted its first nuclear test under Kim's late father, longtime ruler Kim Jong Il.

Activities have been closely watched through satellite imagery since then.

Tunnels can be seen entering the site from different directions. The first test was staged in the eastern tunnel, the second and third in the western tunnel and the remainder in the northern tunnel, according to intelligence authorities.

- Powerful blast -

Tests staged at the site have demonstrated the country's rapid progress in its nuclear programme -- especially since Kim took power in 2011 and oversaw four atomic tests in only six years.

The country's first test was largely seen as a failure and produced an estimated yield of only about one kiloton, compared to as much as 250 kilotons in the sixth -- an explosion 16 times more powerful than the US atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

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But Punggye-ri's proximity to China has become a source of concern for Beijing, as the tremor from the sixth test was felt across the border and prompted many residents to flee their homes in panic.

- Collapse claims -

The growing impact of the blasts raised safety concerns over the Punggye-ri site, with some Chinese scientists warning that it could pose a major radioactive threat to the wider region.

Potential damage to the site became a topic for debate again after Kim declared last month that he would shut down the facility.

Sceptics have said the move is an empty concession by Kim as the site is already suffering from "tired mountain syndrome" and may be obsolete.

A recent study by seismologists at the University of Science and Technology of China suggested rock had collapsed under the Mantap peak, making it unusable.

But Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of Strategic Studies dismissed the claims, saying there is "no basis" to conclude it is no longer usable and the promised closure is "not a case of passing off damaged goods".

- Radiation fears -

The North has long claimed that its nuclear tests posed no environmental threats, saying there was "no radioactive leak" after conducting tests.

But some South Korean and Japanese media reported that workers at the site or residents from the area suffered from radioactive exposure and symptoms including cancer and the births of deformed babies, citing the North's defectors and researchers.

Such concerns prompted Seoul's unification ministry to run medical checkups on 30 defectors who hailed from the region for potential radioactive exposure last year.

Four of them -- from the county of Kilju that includes Punggye-ri -- showed symptoms that could be attributed to radiation exposure, but researchers involved in the study said they could not conclude that the health problems had been caused by a nuclear test.
Palmdale (United States) (AFP) - Police in California arrested a 14-year-old boy in connection with a shooting at a high school near Los Angeles on Friday that left one hurt, the local sheriff's department and education officials said.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff said the suspect had been detained near Highland High School in Palmdale, 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of downtown Los Angeles.

Both were students at the school.

"Deputies responded immediately to Palmdale shooting, arrest made, weapon found, active investigation underway. Reasonably sure threat is contained," department spokesman Jim McDonnell tweeted.

The suspect was a "male Hispanic juvenile," the sheriff's office said, later clarifying that the weapon was a rifle that was "recovered off campus."

The sheriff's office said a boy had been shot in the arm at the school and was in stable condition at a local hospital.

Local media reported that the victim, also 14, was wounded as he was getting out of the car that brought him to the campus.

Agents with the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were heading to the scene, the agency said.

About a half hour later, calls were received about "shots fired" near Manzanita Elementary School, around eight miles to the west, the sheriff's department reported, adding that officers found no evidence of a crime there.

Deputies said they had secured both locations, and were investigating.

"We are all concerned about the safety of our children," Palmdale School District Superintendent Raul Maldonado said in an alert.

"It has been confirmed that earlier this morning, there was an active shooter on the Highland High School campus. Apparently, the person was already apprehended.

"I want to let you know that all of the Palmdale Elementary Schools were put on lockdown, and will stay on lockdown until the situation is confirmed as safe for our students, teachers, staff and parents."

Highland confirmed in a tweet that it saw "no threat" to pupils and added that staff were working with law enforcement to determine release procedures for students.
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities have barred a U.S. diplomat involved in a fatal traffic accident from leaving the country, forcing an American military aircraft flown in for his departure to leave without him, local media reported on Saturday. The move came a day after Pakistan said it would restrict the movements of all American diplomats in the country in response to Washington's similar restrictions on Pakistani embassy diplomats. A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Islamabad declined to comment on the media reports, and a U.S. State Department spokesperson in Washington would neither confirm nor deny them. "For the privacy and security of those involved, we cannot disclose the diplomat's current location," the State Department spokesperson said. Pakistan is a crucial link to supplying American troops fighting the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. But Washington has long believed it actually shelters the Taliban's leaders, and President Donald Trump has cut off military aid in an effort to pressure Pakistan. The latest blow to relations came on Saturday, when Pakistani authorities banned a U.S. military attache from leaving as planned, Pakistan's The Nation and Express Tribune newspapers reported. A day earlier, an Islamabad court had ruled his diplomatic immunity may not apply in the April 7 traffic accident in which the U.S. attache's vehicle hit a motorcycle, killing the 22-year-old driver, both papers reported. [L3N1RL0CW] As a result, a U.S. Air Force C130 flown in to Pakistan's Nur Khan air base outside Islamabad was forced to leave without him on Friday, Geo TV and the two newspapers reported. Separately, Pakistan's foreign ministry said it would apply travel restrictions to all U.S. diplomatic staff similar to those applied by Washington, according to a notification sent to the U.S. Embassy on Friday and obtained by Reuters. The new U.S. rules require diplomats to obtain permission to travel more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) from their stations, the local Dawn newspaper reported. The U.S. State Department on Saturday confirmed the new restrictions on its employees in Pakistan but declined further comment. "We are in regular communication with our Pakistani counterparts. We do not discuss details of diplomatic conversations," the spokesperson said. U.S.-Pakistani relations have deteriorated significantly since the beginning of the year, when Trump abruptly announced in a tweet a cutoff of military aid, which he said treated the United States with "nothing but lies and deceit" for 15 years. (Reporting by Kay Johnson in ISLAMABAD and David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON. Writing by Kay Johnson; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Two people were killed Saturday during an attack in the second arrondissement of Paris, near the citys famous opera house, according to reports.

One person died, two people suffered minor injuries and two more were seriously wounded before the assailant was shot and killed by the police, local authorities said. The victims have not been identified yet.

Gerard Collomb, Frances interior minister, said via Twitter: I salute the cold blood and the reactivity of the police forces who neutralized the assailant. My first thoughts go out to the victims of this heinous act.

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The Interior Ministry is asking the population to avoid spreading any misinformation. Please only share information coming from a trusted source.

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In the wake of the attack, President Emmanuel Macron created a thread on Twitter. "All my thoughts are with the victims and the wounded from the knife attack perpetrated in Paris tonight, as well as their loved ones. On behalf of all the French, I salute the courage of the police officers who neutralized the terrorist," he said.

Macron continued, "France pays the price of blood again but does not yield to the enemies of freedom."

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French newspaper Le Monde reported that the assailants motive for the attack remains unknown. Local authorities are expected to deliver a press conference Saturday night.

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Meanwhile, Republic of Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said in a statement that witnesses heard the assailant shout "Allahu Ahkbar," which is Arabic for "Allah is the Greatest," French daily Le Figaro said.

CBS News reported that the militant group Islamic State's news agency later said that the attacker was one of its "soldiers."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Paris (AFP) - Khamzat Azimov, who kept his beard short over a youthful face, was not considered a major threat despite being on France's two watchlists for suspected extremists since 2016.

"It was his relatives who alerted the security services, as opposed to his behaviour, actions or ideas" which might have drawn scrutiny, a source close to the inquiry told AFP.

Yet on Saturday night the 20-year-old described by neighbours as a quiet student spread terror throughout a bustling area of restaurants and theatres just a short stroll from the historic Paris opera house.

Former classmates from his Strasbourg high school described Azimov as a religious and "very discreet" student who liked video games and sports.

The eastern French town where he grew up is home to a large community of refugees from Chechnya who fled the Muslim-dominated Russian republic during two bloody separatist wars against Moscow-backed forces.

One ex-pupil told AFP: "Khamzat was quite calm, he kept himself to himself, he didn't have a problem... He did Ramadan, he paid attention to girls."

The man who declined to be identified added that Azimov "had a distinctive manner and was in contact with Syria where he wanted to go. But after the bac (exams) he left all that, he wanted to make a living."

Another former pupil described a "normal student, not excellent but not bad either".

"We knew he was Muslim but he did not show it," the young woman added, saying he never talked about his birthplace Chechnya or the wars there.

- Family fled Chechnya -

Investigators have taken Azimov's parents into custody for questioning as well as a friend in Strasbourg.

The conflict in Chechnya gave birth to a fierce Islamic insurgency that would eventually produce fighters who would join other militant groups, including the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack in Paris.

But a manager of the apartments in the northern 18th arrondissement of the French capital where the Azimovs rented a room said there was nothing overtly religious about the family.

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Calling them "very discreet," the woman said "there was nothing ostentatious in terms of religion" and described Khamzat Azimov as a young man who favoured tracksuits and "said he was a student".

- 'Discreet family' -

A neighbour also spoke of "a very discreet family, never any problems," adding that they "never received visitors".

And the son "wasn't a thug, but someone who was reserved," she added.

"They have been living here for a little over a year," said Reda, another resident in the building.

"The father worked sometimes, mostly in construction, painting. The mother worked for an association which helps the homeless," she said.

Witnesses to Saturday's attack said Azimov remained composed as he began attacking people with a 10-centimetre (four inches) blade shortly before 9:00 pm (1900 GMT).

"He approached calmly, a total contrast with the panic all around him," said Romain, 34, who was placing an order with his wife and six-year-old son at the Starbucks cafe on the Avenue de l'Opera.

"He had a beard, not very long, and was dressed normally. He didn't fit the stereotype" of a jihadist, he said.

Investigators have yet to reveal how Azimov became radicalised. One source told AFP he had been questioned by anti-terror investigators last year "because he knew a man who was in contact with a person who had gone to Syria."

He did not have a criminal record, and became a French citizen as a teenager in 2010 following his mother's naturalisation.

But his attack echoed a similar one last October, when a knifeman who also carried no ID papers began stabbing people at the main train station in the southern city of Marseille, killing two people.

That attack was also claimed by the Islamic State.
Picture: Getty Images / AFP Contributor#AFP / Contributor

Survivors of the Parkland school shooting met James Shaw Jr, the man who disarmed a gunman who killed four people at a Nashville Waffle House, in Miami on Saturday amid a drive for gun reform by student groups.

Seventeen people were killed and another 17 were injured in the Florida shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February.

Meeting the young adults of the Parkland incident so much fire and inspiration in their eyes was a great joy, Mr Shaw tweeted with a photo of the group.

Mr Shaw also posted a photo of himself with Emma Gonzalez, one of the leaders of the Parkland students drive for gun reform, who helped to organise the March for Our Lives in Washington in March.

I met one of my heroes today, Mr Shaw tweeted along with a photo of the beaming Ms Gonzalez.

I met one of my heros today@Emma4Change pic.twitter.com/EQZYERiRGE  James Shaw Jr. (@JamesShawJr9) May 12, 2018

Mr Shaw grabbed the muzzle of the shooter's AR-15 semi-automatic weapon as he opened fire on diners, killing four and wounding four others.

Following the tragic incident, Mr Shaw told a press conference: Im not a hero, Im just a regular person. I think anyone could have [done] what I did if theyre pushed into that kind of cage. You either have to react, or youre to fold."

However, his crowdfunding campaign after the event raised more than $130,000 and he became a cause celebre of the gun reform movement, which is increasingly being driven by Parkland survivors.

Another Parkland survivor, Samantha Fuentes, tweeted: My face is finally shrapnel free!

Ms Fuentes grinned even though her face bore bruises and a hospital bandage stretching across it.

Regardless of the fact I look like I lost a fight, inside Im winning in a way. Ive been struggling so hard to love my face again, thank you for all your support.

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Ms Fuentes is one of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students who publicly approached other young shooting survivors as they push for better gun control.

Thanks to these student activists, among others, pressure is growing on politicians - whose links to the NRA have been widely criticised since the influential pro-gun lobbyists has funded many politicians campaigns to the tune of millions - to take concrete steps.

There have been 21 school shootings so far in 2018, meaning there has been an average of more than one shooting per week.

At at least 67 mass shootings have been perpetrated in the US this year.

Agencies contributed to this report
Highland high school in Palmdale, 60 miles north of Los Angeles

A 15-year-old boy has been taken to hospital after being shot in the arm at a school in California, in what sheriffs say was an argument between pupils.

The 14-year-old gunman, described by police as a Hispanic juvenile male and a former student at the school, has been arrested and a rifle confiscated. The school has reopened.

Police were called to two different schools in the town Palmdale on Friday morning following reports of two separate shootings.

The alarm was raised at Highland high school in Palmdale, 60 miles north of Los Angeles, at around 7am local time.

Police were then called to Manzanita elementary school at around 7:30am, for what Los Angeles county sheriff said appeared to be a false alarm.

The two schools are around seven miles apart.

Highland high school in Palmdale, 60 miles north of Los Angeles

At 9am local time the sheriffs office said the school had been cleared by deputies, but an investigation was continuing.

Update Regarding Highland High School in Palmdale: Highland High school has been cleared by Deputies. Active investigation still ongoing.  LA County Sheriff's (@LASDHQ) May 11, 2018

Ricky Munoz told CNN he was dropping off his brothers at Highland high school at 7:05am, and shortly after he drove away one of his brothers rang him and said he had seen a man come out of a bathroom and begin shooting.

The school has 3,000 pupils, and final exams are in the coming weeks.
By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that Washington would agree to lift sanctions on North Korea if the country agrees to completely dismantle its nuclear weapons program, a move that would create economic prosperity that "will rival" that of South Korea.

As Pompeo spoke on several Sunday morning talk shows, the Pentagon said three American prisoners freed by North Korea had left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington and been reunited with their families.

President Donald Trump and North Korean's Kim Jong Un

have a planned June 12 meeting in Singapore, the first such encounter between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

Pompeo said the United States would not be willing to invest taxpayer dollars to help the country, but was willing to "lift sanctions" to pave the way for private American investment in North Koreas energy, agriculture and infrastructure sectors.

What Chairman Kim will get from America is our finest  our entrepreneurs, our risk takers, our capital providers. ... They will get private capital that comes in. North Korea is desperately in need of energy ... for their people. They are in great need of agricultural equipment and technology, he said on CBS' Face the Nation.

We can create conditions for real economic prosperity for the North Korean people that will rival that of the South, he added.

North Korean state media reported over the weekend that the country had scheduled the dismantlement of its nuclear bomb site for later in May.

Pompeo welcomed that news.

"Every single site that the North Koreans have that can inflict risk on the American people that is destroyed, eliminated, dismantled is good news for the American people and for the world," he said on "Fox News Sunday."

Video: NK to Dismantle Nuclear Test Site, State Media Reports

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For more news videos visit Yahoo View.

COULD BECOME 'NORMAL NATION'

Last month, Pompeo became the first known U.S. official to meet with Kim, where he helped lay the groundwork for the upcoming meeting with Trump.

He returned again to North Korea last week for a second meeting, after which Kim agreed to the release of the three Americans.

Lieutenant Colonel Mike Andrews, a Defense Department spokesman, described former prisoners Kim Dong-chul, Kim Sang-duk, who is also known as Tony Kim, and Kim Hak-song as being "grateful, in good spirits and coping well" when they left the hospital after medical evaluations.

"The returnees have been reunited with their families. Their time together has been an incredibly joyous occasion. They ask for privacy as they transition home," Andrews said.

White House national security adviser John Bolton said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that North Korea's future could be "unbelievably strong" if it follows through on its commitment to denuclearize.

"The prospect for North Korea is for it to become a normal nation, to behave and interact with the rest of the world the way South Korea does," he said.

Pompeo spoke about what it was like to meet Kim, whom few Americans have interacted with personally.

"The conversations are professional," he said on "Fox News Sunday. "He does follow the Western press. He'll probably watch this show at some point."

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici, Idrees Ali and David Morgan; Editing by David Gregorio and Peter Cooney)
The 'Instrument of Consent' is the Queen's historic formal consent to Prince Harry's forthcoming marriage to Meghan Markle - PA

The official document granting permission for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to marry has been released, incorporating the symbols of America onto traditional vellum to represent the bride.

The ornate Instrument of Consent, the official document confirming the approval of the Queen, features emblems for Ms Markle including a rose, the national flower of the United States, two golden poppies from her home state of California, and olive branches adopted from the Great Seal of the United States.

The Queen signed the Instrument of Consent in March, at the top of a vellum document transcribed in calligraphy and issued under the Great Seal of the Realm.

The document features various emblems Credit: Victoria Jones/PA

The document states: "Now know ye that we have consented and do by these presents signify our consent to the contracting of matrimony between our most dearly beloved grandson Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales KCVO and Rachel Meghan Markle."

The wording differs from the instrument signed to give consent to the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, when the bride was described as "our trusty and well-beloved Catherine" in a phrase reserved for citizens of the United Kingdom and the Queen's realms.

Significantly, it includes a Commonwealth emblem, reflecting the couple's commitment as youth ambassadors in the family of nations, as well as images for Prince Harry's maternal heritage from the Spencer family.

The wording differs from the instrument signed to give consent to the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Credit: Victoria Jones/PA

The design to the left of the text incorporates a red dragon, the heraldic symbol of Wales, together with the UK's floral emblems, the rose, thistle and shamrock. It also features Prince Harrys Label, including three tiny red escallops from the Spencer family Arms.

The design to the right of the text, representing Ms Markle, also includes the rose, the national flower of the United States. To either side of it are two golden poppies, the state flower of California where Ms. Markle was born.

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Between the flowers is the Welsh leek, together with Prince Harrys Label with olive branches underneath. To the left, underneath the two main designs, is the coronet for Prince Harry with the Commonwealth emblem on the right.

The formal document gives Prince Harry the Queen's permission to marry Credit: Victoria Jones/PA

Prince Harry, as sixth-in-line to the throne following the birth of Prince Louis, had to seek the permission of the Queen under the Succession to the Crown Act 2013.

The Act requires the first six people in line to obtain the Queen's blessing to marry, unless they wish to be disqualified from succeeding to the Crown.
WASHINGTON  Did Russians target the key swing states with their social media advertising push, and did they have any help from the Trump campaign? The question has troubled Washington for months. But a review of Facebook advertisements from Russian trolls during the 2016 presidential election now shows that they barely targeted the states that would decide the presidency.

The striking revelation is the result of a review by Democrats on the House intelligence committee who looked at Facebook advertisements from July 2015 to November 2016 by the Internet Research Agency, a Russian company that operates online propaganda for the Putin government and others. The ad release includes previously undisclosed targeting information, including demographic groups and location.

It shows that fewer than 300 of the 3,000-plus Facebook advertisements purchased by the Russian troll factory targeted states that could determine the outcome of the 2016 election. Even fewer of these social media ads mentioned the election or the presidential candidates.

It appears the trolls strategy was to initially gain followers with unremarkable ads. Once someone followed an account, that user could receive the trolls posting in the Facebook News Feed. While most of the content of these accounts simply imitated activist content, toward the end of the election a few accounts bought ads, not targeted to any particular state, telling people either not to vote or to vote for a third-party candidate.

The vast majority of the 277 swing state ads purchased by the Russian agency were about non-electoral issues, including police violence, racism, LGBTQ rights, immigration and Islamophobia. Many of them centered on themes of the Black Lives Matter movement. They mixed calls for protest with denunciations of police misconduct and systemic racism with praise for black celebrities and the black experience. Aside from the inability to conform to the rules of any known North American English dialect, they were mostly indistinguishable from social media posts by actual activists. In fact, many of the ads were incredibly banal.

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(Photo: House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence/Facebook.com)

Join us because we care. Black Matters! said one ad for Black Matters US, a fake Black Lives Matter activist group set up by Russian trolls. The ad had the highest number of impressions (113,000) of all of the ads that targeted swing states. (Ad impressions are a common way to calculate digital advertising delivery, although an impression does not necessarily mean that a user viewed the ad.) The ad targeted the city of Atlanta and the state of Virginia, as well as non-swing-state regions including the cities of Ferguson and St. Louis in Missouri and the state of Maryland.

Keeping eye on our brothers cases and much more, the next two swing-state ads with the most impressions said. They were both pushed out by Black Matters US, targeted the same areas and reached 148,000 impressions combined.

Only a handful of ads in swing states made direct electoral appeals. Several of them originated in Being Patriotic, a Facebook group created by the Russian trolls that promoted pro-Trump rallies in Pennsylvania and Florida in the final months of the campaign. We could help Mr. Trump win Pennsylvania which is a battleground state, one read. We announce a patriotic flash mob in Florida on August, 2016. We either win Florida or lose. Florida Goes Trump, another read. The Florida ad, which reached 59,000 impressions, depicted Trump giving two thumbs up over a faked image of Hillary Clinton behind bars.

Pro-Trump troll accounts on Instagram joined in to urge Floridians to support the Republican candidate in July 2016.

(Photo: House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence/Facebook.com)

The swing state ads didnt only promote Trump. A Russian troll account called United Muslims of America ran ads in the Washington, D.C., area, which includes Northern Virginia, calling on Muslims to support Clinton. The time has come to understand one simple thing:we the American muslims are as American Support Hillary. Save American Muslims! said the the ad, which showed Clinton shaking hands with a woman wearing a hijab.

The Russian trolls attempts at directly targeting swing-state voters on social media with posts for or against particular candidates were limited, but that does not mean the influence campaign didnt affect those voters.

In the final months of the campaign, the trolls specifically targeted African-American audiences across the country with calls to boycott the election or vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

(Photo: House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence/Facebook.com)

Choose peace and vote for Jill Stein, said one ad from Blacktivist, a fake Black Lives Matter account, in an ad that ran from Nov. 3 through the election and received over 18,000 impressions. Trust me, its not a wasted vote.

The troll account Williams and Kalvin ran an ad on Nov. 7 and Nov. 8, 2016, that targeted users interested in Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, the civil rights movement and the presidential election. Hillary Clinton is a traitor! Hillary Clinton is a liar! Hillary Clinton is insane! the message started. I know that many black people support this old dirty bitch. I dont know why they do this, still its their personal choice and we are a free country yet. But, listen to my word of truth and dont let them fool you.

We dont have any other choice this time but boycott the election, said another Election Day ad run by Williams and Kalvin. This time we choose between two racists. No one represents Black people. Dont go to vote.

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Prominent senators on both sides of the aisle called upon the White House to apologize in the wake of various reports that a staffer mocked Sen. John McCains fight against brain cancer.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., both expressed disgust over the Trump administrations refusal to condemn Kelly Sadler, a special assistant to the president, for allegedly dismissing McCains opinion because hes dying anyway.

On Friday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that Sadler still works for the administration but declined to specifically address the comment in question: Im not going to validate a leak out of an internal staff meeting one way or the other.

Bernie Sanders told CNNs Jake Tapper on State of the Union that he cannot fathom why the White House has not apologized.

It is beyond my comprehension. It is one thing in the White House for somebody to say something crude and stupid and disrespectful about an American hero. It is another thing for them not to apologize, Sanders said. So it is beyond my comprehension. And I just dont know what goes on in that White House mentality for there not being an apology for that terrible remark.

Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who caucuses with the Democratic Party, pointed out that though he regularly disagrees with McCain, a conservative Republican from Arizona, over political matters, he personally likes him very, very much and said hes respected in the Senate and in the country.

Graham offered a similar opinion while speaking to Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan on CBS News. He said hes not satisfied with the White Houses response to the controversy.

Its a pretty disgusting thing to say. If it was a joke, it was a terrible joke. I just wish somebody from the White House would tell the country that was inappropriate [and] thats not who we are in the Trump administration, Graham said. John McCain can be criticized for any political decision hes ever made or any vote hes ever cast, but hes an American hero.

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Sen. John McCain urged his colleagues in the Senate on Wednesday to reject Gina Haspels nomination to lead the CIA. A White House staffer said his opinion didnt matter. (Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

Graham suggested that most Americans would like to see the Trump administration do better in these sorts of situations.

It doesnt hurt you at all to do the right thing and to be big, Graham continued.

When asked whether Trump should apologize, Graham said, Ill leave that up to him, but if something like that happened in my office  if somebody in my office said such a thing about somebody  I would apologize on behalf of the office.

This latest Trump administration controversy stems from conversations held behind closed doors about McCains opposition to Trumps nomination of Gina Haspel to lead the Central Intelligence Agency. Haspel has been acting director since April 26 when her predecessor, Mike Pompeo, was sworn in as secretary of state.

McCain, a Navy pilot who was tortured during the Vietnam War, urged his colleagues in the Senate on Wednesday to reject Haspels nomination because of her refusal to acknowledge tortures immorality. For McCain, this refusal is disqualifying.

The Senate should exercise its duty of advice and consent and reject this nomination, McCain said in a statement from Arizona, where he is fighting against brain cancer. His career as the Maverick has been defined in part by his willing to go against his own party.

During Haspels confirmation hearing on Wednesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee asked pointed questions about her role in former President George W. Bushs enhanced interrogation program.

According to the Hill and others, Sadler dismissed McCains critique in front of roughly two dozen communications staffers by saying, It doesnt matter, hes dying anyway. Sources told the Hill that they thought the comment was a joke but it created discomfort and that the rest of the conversation continued without it being addressed.

Read more from Yahoo News:

(Cover photo credit: Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The White House could have fired the aide who said that the opinion of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is meaningless because hes dying anyway. Instead, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders reportedly dressed down the White House communications team for leaking the remark to the press.

Then at least five White House staffers promptly leaked Sanders scolding to the media.

That likely came as no surprise to Sanders: I am sure this conversation is going to leak, too. And thats just disgusting, a furious Sanders said, according to one of five people at the meeting who spoke with Axios. White House officials also leaked details of the meeting to ABC News.

The mess started Thursday at a communications team meeting when aide Kelly Sadler reportedly mocked McCain, who has brain cancer. Referring to McCains opposition to the nomination of Gina Haspel as CIA chief, Sadler reportedly said, It doesnt matter. Hes dying anyway.

The comment was first reported by The Hill.

McCains wife, Cindy, and daughter Meghan both attacked the comment, with Meghan McCain calling for Sadlers firing.

White House sources reportedly dismissed Sadlers comment as a joke, and there has been no public mention of firing her. At Sanders briefing Friday, the press secretary refused to confirm or deny a leak ... out of an internal meeting.

A WH official confirms WH aide Kelly Sadler mocked John McCains cancer diagnosis saying hes dying anyway in response to his opposition to Haspel nomination. The joke... fell flat the official said.  Jim Acosta (@Acosta) May 10, 2018

The far bigger issue to Sanders appeared to be the leak. At Fridays closed-door meeting, Sanders called Sadlers comment unacceptable, according to ABC News, citing multiple sources. But the press secretary also said the comment didnt justify the selfish leak, Axios reported.

Also on HuffPost

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Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi troops have been deployed to the Yemeni island of Socotra following tensions over the United Arab Emirates' presence there, the Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen said Sunday.

"Saudi forces have arrived on the island of Socotra... to train and support Yemeni forces," the coalition announced through Saudi's state-owned Al-Ekhbariya channel.

The deployment was said to have been coordinated with the Yemeni government.

The United Arab Emirates is a key pillar of the Saudi-led coalition battling Huthi rebels in support of the Yemeni government, but has recently distanced itself from President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

A government source confirmed to AFP that Emirati soldiers were deployed to Socotra earlier this month without the approval of Hadi's government, which controls the Arabian Sea island.

The presence of UAE troops angered Socotra residents, who asserted there were no rebels on the island, the source said.

Socotra had been spared involvement in the Yemeni conflict, which has claimed nearly 10,000 lives since March 2015 and triggered what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
The U.S. is ready to allow investments in North Korea once it has verifiable proof of the Asian nations denuclearization, two of President Donald Trumps top national security officials said.

Were prepared to open the trade and investment with North Korea as soon as we can, National Security Adviser John Bolton said on ABCs This Week, one of two appearances on Sunday political shows.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went further in an interview on CBS. He talked of the potential for U.S. investment in the North Asian nation from Americas entrepreneurs, our risk takers, our capital providers to help North Koreas people get the opportunity that they so richly deserve.

Before any such benefits flow, though, Bolton and Pompeo said the U.S. must have proof that the denuclearization process is complete, verifiable, and irreversible.

The remarks come ahead of a historic summit between Trump and Kim in Singapore on June 12 that may pave the way for the North Korean dictator to give up his nuclear arsenal. It will be the first time a sitting U.S. president meets the leader of North Korea.

Not Seeing Stars

Kim is expected to seek swift relief from severe economic sanctions in exchange for steps to shut down its nuclear program. The U.S. has insisted that Pyongyang completely abandon its nuclear program before easing its maximum pressure campaign of sanctions and diplomatic isolation.

He sees the chance of a breakthrough, but I dont think he has stars in his eyes over this, Bolton said of Trump.

Pompeo said on Fox News Sunday that North Korea would be allowed access to private-sector U.S. capital for infrastructure projects if complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization occurs.

We can create conditions for real economic prosperity for the North Korean people that will rival that of the south, Pompeo added.

That will be a heavy lift, however: The Central Intelligence Agency estimates 2017 per-capita gross domestic product for South Korea at $39,400 against North Koreas $1,700 in 2015, the most recent figure available. North Koreas per-capita GDP ranked it 214 out of 228 countries.

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Energy Grid

Private-sector Americans, not the U.S. taxpayer would go into North Korea to help build out the energy grid, Pompeo said on Fox News Sunday. To work with them to develop infrastructure. All the things that the North Korean people need.

The Singapore summit comes amid a broader warming of North Koreas relations with the U.S. and South Korea thats gained momentum in amid steps by Kim to ease tensions. Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed in late April to finally put an end to the seven-decade war between the two nations and seek a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Pompeo has spenta great deal of time with Chairman Kim on two recent visits to Pyongyang, he said. Hes able to deal with complexity when the conversation requires it, he said of Kim, whose age is estimated at 34 to 36.

North Korea on Saturday said it would dismantle its nuclear test site and invite foreign journalists to observe, a largely symbolic move ahead of the meeting with Trump. North Korea also freed three U.S. citizens whod been imprisoned there.

On Face the Nation, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said getting North Korea to denuclearize is complicated, because its program is dramatically larger than Irans, with miles of tunnels, multiple sites and existing weapons. Gates put the odds of immediate success as very low.

But Trump goes into the meeting with a lot of cards to play, Gates said, including a possible peace treaty, diplomatic recognition and a promise not to overthrow the regime.
By Joey Roulette

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - An updated version of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, tailored for eventual crewed missions for NASA, made its debut launch on Friday from Florida's Cape Canaveral carrying a communications satellite for Bangladesh into orbit.

The newly minted Block-5 edition of the Falcon 9 - equipped with about 100 upgrades for greater power, safety and reusability than its Block-4 predecessor - lifted off at 4:14 p.m. EDT (2014 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center.

Minutes later, the rocket's main-stage booster flew itself back to Earth to achieve a safe return landing on an unmanned platform vessel floating in the Pacific Ocean.

The recoverable Block-5 booster is designed to be reused at least 10 times with minimal refurbishment between flights, allowing more frequent launches at lower cost - a key to the SpaceX business model.

Enhanced rocket reusability also is a core tenet of SpaceX owner and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's broader objectives of making space travel commonplace and ultimately sending humans to Mars.

SpaceX has safely return-landed 24 of its boosters and reflown 11 of them.

Friday's flight marked the ninth SpaceX launch so far this year, compared to five orbital-class missions the company had logged at the same point in 2017, according to Musk.

It came a day after the original launch countdown was halted one minute before blastoff time due to a technical problem detected by the rocket's onboard computers. Friday's second attempt by SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, appeared to have gone off without a hitch.

The rocket's payload, the Bangladeshi government's first communications satellite, Bangabandhu-1, was placed into Earth orbit at 4:47 p.m. EDT, just 33 minutes after launch, according to SpaceX.

The achievement was hailed by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a livestream appearance from her country's capital, Dhaka.

"Today is a very delightful and glorious day for our motherland, Bangladesh, and Bangalee nation," she said. "With launching of Bangabandhu Satellite-1, we are hoisting our national flag in the space."

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The Block-5 also marks another milestone for Musk's California-based company. It is expected to be the first SpaceX vehicle to satisfy NASA's standards for its Commercial Crew Program to carry agency astronauts to the International Space Station. NASA requires seven successful flights before the new rocket receives final certification for a manned mission.

Besides missions to the space station, the new rocket will be used to launch U.S. Air Force global positioning satellites and other high-value, military and national security payloads.

Block-5 marks the final version of the Falcon 9 lineup before SpaceX introduces its super heavy-lift launch vehicle, dubbed the Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR, which will be designed to send manned missions to Mars.

SpaceX is one of two private companies hired by NASA to ferry astronaut crews to the space station. The other is Boeing Co.

(Reporting by Joey Roulette in Cape Canaveral; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Richard Chang)
While Daniels lawyer has been ratcheting up pressure on the White House, she has been performing on her Make America Horny Again tour

Stormy Daniels outside US federal court with her lawyer Michael Avenatti in Lower Manhattan. Photograph: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AFP/Getty Images

It has been a good week for Stormy Daniels. Donald Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani have tied themselves in knots trying to explain revelations about the shell company used by Michael Cohen to make payments to Daniels. In the process, the affair has expanded from an old-fashioned sex scandal into a story about cash-for-access, campaign finance and Russian influence.

Daniels lawyer, Michael Avenatti, boldly told the Guardian he believes the revelations from the scandal will lead Trump to resign.

For the last two nights, the woman who may yet topple the president celebrated with a public appearance at the Penthouse Club in New Orleans. Footage obtained by TMZ shows the adult entertainer writhing topless while squirting baby oil up in the air.

Daniels has been making similar public appearances since the beginning of the year, lightly riffing on the Trump scandal: she often wears a stars and stripes bikini and performs to songs like Lenny Kravitzs American Woman and Sick Puppies Stick to Your Guns.

Last month, she played in the Ultra nightclub in Palm Beach, Florida, a 10-minute drive from Mar-a-Lago where, on the weekend in question, President Trump was hosting the Japanese leader Shinzo Abe. This weeks appearances in New Orleans were part of a nationwide tour sometimes referred to by promoters as the Make America Horny Again tour  although Daniels said she didnt choose that name herself and has asked for it to be changed. Its reported to culminate in a performance in Miami at Club Madonna on Memorial Day weekend.

Some might question whether Daniels case against the president is undermined by the tour. When she appeared on ABCs The View last month, she was accused by host Meghan McCain of just trying to get attention and her allegations of being a publicity stunt, something she refuted. But since revelations about the adult performer and the president first surfaced in January, her motives have always been hard to pin down.



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Daniels initial reason for filing the lawsuit against Trump was to be able to speak freely about their alleged affair. In that filing, it was suggested Daniels wants to further demonstrate to the public that Trump is a womanizer. It says that after the Access Hollywood tape was published several women came forward publicly to tell their personal stories about their sexual encounters with Mr Trump. Around this time, Ms Clifford likewise sought to share details surrounding her relationship and encounters with Mr Trump with various media outlets.

Daniels has used her media appearances to maintain pressure on the White House while her lawyer aggressively joins the dots between Cohen, Trump and the $130,000 paid to Daniels. She also joked on her Saturday Night Live appearance that the only thing the president could do to silence her was to resign, suggesting that this is a politically motivated crusade.

A poster promoting adult film star Stormy Daniels outside the Penthouse Club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Photograph: Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images

Yet this has all been interspersed with jokes about Trumps genitals, sexual performance, and his phobia of sharks. Daniels has plainly been enjoying the benefits of increased fame, relishing appearances on chatshows and becoming a headline act at strip clubs. She admitted she was being paid far more for nightclub appearances since January, but said she also had to spend more on security.



There has also been speculation as to whether Avenatti is acting purely as Daniels attorney or has other political goals or even secret financial backers. On 21 April, Daniels tweeted that she wasnt paying for Avenattis services, but this week Avenatti reiterated in a public statement that all funds for the case have come from either Daniels herself or from the cases crowd justice page, a crowdfunding platform for legal cases. According to the site about 14,000 users have raised $473,000.

Daniels is not a traditional political adversary, but in some ways this is what has made her such a good match for the White House. When Trump tries to dismiss her claims with his usual attention-grabbing one-liners  he tweeted that her claims that a man had threatened her to stay silent about the alleged affair was A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools  Daniels went further, providing intimate details about Trump and keeping the attention focused on her.

Most ordinary people would prefer not to be in the news. When they chase coverage, we normally assume its because they are either trying to use their platform to enact change, like the Parkland high school students, or are trying to cling to the news cycle in order to promote themselves, like a Kardashian.

What is fascinating about Stormy Daniels, and why it has been difficult to second-guess her, is that she appears to want both.
A student has stripped down to her bra and underwear during her thesis presentation in protest against her professor's comments that her choice of clothing was inappropriate.

Letitia Chai, a senior student at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, took off her clothes during her presentation, which was filmed on Facebook live, to stand up against "oppressive beliefs and discrimination".

Ms Chai organised the protest after her teacher allegedly questioned her choice of clothing during a test run of her thesis presentation and told her: "Your shorts are too short".

Describing the incident in a Facebook post, Chai wrote: "She proceeded to tell me in front of my whole class that I was inviting the male gaze away from the content of my presentation and onto my body."

"I think that I was so taken aback that I didn't really know how to respond," she told the Cornell Sun.

Ms Chai said that some students in the class were also surprised by the teacher's comment but one international student agreed with the teacher and told her she had "a moral obligation to dress more conservatively" in respect for her audience.

"Needless to say, I was shook," Ms Chai wrote.

After she left the classroom, her teacher came out to talk to her and according to Ms Chai, she asked her what her mother would think of her outfit.

"What would my mom think? My mom is a feminist, gender, sexuality studies professor. She has dedicated her life to the empowerment of people in all gender identities. So, I think my mother would [be] fine with my shorts," she wrote.

When asked what she was going to do, Ms Chai replied: "I'm going to give the best damn speech of my life."

Writing on Facebook, Ms Chai invited others to support her on the day of her actual presentation and asked people to "strip down" to their underwear with her during her 15-minute address.

The event was filmed on Facebook Live as Ms Chai removed her clothes and some of the students in the room joined her in support.

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She told the audience of several dozens that this was a call for "solidarity" with students like her who had been asked to "question themselves about their appearances for the comfort of others".

The teacher involved told local media: "I do not tell my students what to wear, nor do I define for them what constitutes appropriate dress. I ask them to reflect for themselves and make their own decisions."

Following the incident, 11 of the 13 other students in the class issued a statement saying they "supported Ms Chai's commitment to the cause of women's rights" but did not agree with her recollection of the events.

"All of us feel that out professor's words and actions were unfairly represented in the post, with certain quotes taken out of context and we wish to clarify any misunderstandings that may have occurred," they said.

The students described their teacher as an "outstanding member" of the university and "a gift to Cornell".

"In an environment like Cornell, where it is so easy to feel dismissed by both your peers and higher-ups, she is unparalleled in her support of us," the statement read.
N'Djamena (AFP) - Tens of thousands of people joined a march in N'Djamena on Saturday in support of Chadian troops heading to Nigeria and Cameroon to fight the Islamist group Boko Haram.

Marching some five kilometres (three miles) through Chad's capital, demonstrators waved the national flag and chanted in French and Arabic: "Kick the forces of evil out of our territory."

Prime Minister Kalzeube Pahimi Deubet said the march sent "a strong signal, a warning to Boko Haram".

The event came as a huge convoy set off from N'Djamena to combat the Islamists sowing terror in northeastern Nigeria and northern Cameroon.

Thousands of locals hailed the arrival of some 400 vehicles in the Cameroonian border town of Kousseri, an AFP journalist reported.

Early this month Boko Haram launched a full-scale assault on the strategic town of Baga on the banks of Lake Chad, which straddles the borders of Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon.

Chad is part of a regional force against Boko Haram that was based in Baga -- but both Chad and Niger had withdrawn their troops before the January 3 attack.

Chadian President Idriss Deby said in a speech read by the speaker of parliament that the new deployment aimed to recapture Baga.

"We answered the call of (Cameroon's) President Paul Biya. We cannot remain indifferent to what happens to our neighbours," Deby said as his troops crossed into Cameroon.

"Cameroon must not be left alone to face this threat that has so hurt innocent people in Cameroon and in Nigeria" he added, calling for a "broad coalition" to fight Boko Haram.

But Nigeria expressed lukewarm support for the Chad mission.

"All support for our operations will be welcome, but it must conform with our own ongoing operations," Nigerian army spokesman Chris Olukolade told AFP.

- 'Crimes against humanity' -

Cameroon's government said on Monday that its army killed 143 Boko Haram fighters who had attacked a military base in the northern town of Kolofata.

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This week French President Francois Hollande and US Secretary of State John Kerry accused Boko Haram of committing crimes against humanity, while a top UN official, Leila Zerrougui, called for a regional response to the crisis.

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, who heads the regional Economic Community of West African States, called Friday for a "specific plan of action to end the problem of terrorism" in Africa.

Satellite pictures released by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch last week showed around 3,700 buildings in Baga and nearby Doron Baga damaged or destroyed.

Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for Amnesty International, said as many as 2,000 civilians may have been massacred, but Nigeria's army objected to the "sensational" claims and said that the death toll in Baga was about 150.

Brutal raids, massacres, suicide bomb attacks and kidnappings by Boko Haram have claimed at least 13,000 lives and driven an estimated 1.5 million people from their homes, mainly in northeastern Nigeria.
Paris (AFP) - A knifeman shouting Allahu akbar was shot dead by police in central Paris late Saturday after he killed one person and injured four, prompting a terror probe.

The attack took place near the city's main opera house in an area full of bars, restaurants and theatres which were brimming on a weekend night.

French President Emmanuel Macron said: "France once again pays the price of blood." Prosecutors cited witnesses as saying the man shouted Allahu akbar as he went on the rampage, and added that a terror investigation had been launched.

The man attacked five people with a knife, one of whom died, police said. Two were in serious condition and all the victims are in hospital.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb hailed in a tweet the "sang-froid and reaction of the police who neutralised the attacker."

A large area was cordoned-off where police, fire and rescue vehicles converged.

Shocked tourists and residents looked on from behind the security perimeter.

"I was on the cafe terrace, I heard three, four shots, it happened very fast," said 47-year-old Gloria.

"Then the bartenders told us to come inside very quickly. Then I went out to see what was going on, and then I saw a man on the ground," she added.

Police said the attacker's motives were still unknown.

The attack comes as France is under a constant threat from terrorism. A string of jihadist attacks have claimed the lives of over 245 people around France in the past three years.

grd-pta-kap-tmo/lpt/je/ach
Paris (AFP) - French authorities released the parents of Paris knife attacker Khamzat Azimov from custody on Tuesday, while keeping his closest friend in detention, a judicial source said.

Azimov, a naturalised French citizen of Chechen origin who had lived in Strasbourg, was shot dead by police on Saturday night after stabbing a 29-year-old man to death in the Opera district of Paris and wounding four others in an assault claimed by the Islamic State group.

Azimov's parents were detained on Sunday morning. An apartment that his parents had rented in Paris was also searched.

The attacker's close friend, named as Abdoul Hakim A., a 20-year-old of Chechen origin from Strasbourg, was retained in custody until Thursday.

He was arrested by heavily armed, masked police on Sunday at his home in the eastern city.

A source close to the inquiry told AFP he had been under surveillance since marrying Ines Hamza, a woman from the Paris region who tried to leave for Syria in January 2017.

Police recovered seven cellphones during a search of his home but were unable to locate the main phone he used most often.

- 'Always together' -

Saturday's knife rampage followed a series of jihadist assaults that have now claimed 246 lives in France since 2015, including the Paris attacks of that year and the truck-ramming attack targeting Bastille Day revellers in Nice in 2016.

A former student in Strasbourg told AFP that Azimov and Hakim A. were in the same class during their final year, "and were very good friends, both Chechen -- they were always together, both in school and outside."

Azimov's family later moved to Paris, where they were renting rooms in the 18th arrondissement.

Azimov had been on both of France's main watchlists for suspected radicals since 2016 -- the so-called "S file" and a more targeted File for the Prevention of Terrorist Radicalisation (FSPRT), which focuses on people judged to be terror threats.

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The government has come under fire over the fact that Azimov had been flagged as a suspected extremist, just the same as several others behind deadly attacks including the brothers who carried out the Charlie Hebdo gun massacre in 2015.

- IS claim -

Azimov became a French citizen in 2010 after his mother was naturalised.

Hundreds of fighters from Chechnya have joined Islamist militant groups in recent years, following two bloody separatist wars against Russia.

Amaq, the IS propaganda agency, released a video Sunday in which it claimed responsibility for the attack, with footage claiming to show Azimov pledging allegiance to the jihadist group.

In Paris, witnesses said Azimov walked along stabbing people and yelling "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest).

The seriously injured included a 34-year-old Chinese man who lives in Luxembourg and a 54-year-old woman. Two others were lightly wounded but all four are out of danger.

The 29-year-old man who was killed has been identified as Ronan, whose neighbours in Paris's 13th arrondissement posted a letter announcing his death in the hall of their building.

Erik Gouenard, a nearby restaurant owner, described him as "discreet, quiet but always smiling. It was like a smile was part of his DNA."
The PM reiterated the UK's support for the deal: PA Images

Prime Minister Theresa May and US president Donald Trump have discussed the impact of America pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, Downing Street said.

The telephone talks covered a range of international issues, a spokesman for Ms May said,

"The Prime Minister reiterated the Government's position on the Iran nuclear deal, noting that we and our European partners remain firmly committed to ensuring the deal is upheld as the best way of preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon," they said. "The Prime Minister raised the potential impact of US sanctions on those firms which are currently conducting business in Iran.

"They agreed for talks to take place between our teams."

They added: "The Prime Minister began by congratulating the President on the safe return of three US citizens who had been held in prison in North Korea. The two leaders looked forward to the summit which will take place between President Trump and Kim Jong-un in Singapore. The PM said the UK would continue to work with the US to keep up the pressure on North Korea to denuclearise.

"The Prime Minister and the President condemned the Iranian rocket attacks against Israeli forces earlier this week and strongly supported Israel's right to defend itself against Iranian aggression. They agreed on the need for calm on all sides and on the importance of tackling Iran's destabilising activity in the region.

"The Prime Minister and the President looked forward to the President's visit to the UK in July."

Earlier this week Mr Trump ended the USs commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated between Iran, the EU, US, Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany, which was signed by his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015.

It set limits to Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium, which can be used to make reactor fuel but also nuclear weapons, until 2031.

It also limits the the number of centrifuges that can installed to enrich uranium until 2026. Iran also agreed to modify a heavy-water facility so it could not produce plutonium suitable for a bomb.

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In return the country was allowed to trade with other countries.

As he pulled the US out of the deal, Mr Trump claimed it was decaying and rotten, adding that it was an embarrassment to him as a citizen.

In the US the deal is politically-charged because it is seen as a key legacy as Barack Obama. It is also opposed by Israel, a close US ally in the region.

Press Association contributed to this report.
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Thousands of Romanians protested outside government headquarters in the capital Bucharest on Saturday against the ruling Social Democrats and their attempts to weaken the independence of the judiciary. The Social Democrats and their coalition partner ALDE used their majority to push a judicial overhaul through parliament in December, despite criticism from the European Commission, the United States, thousands of magistrates and centrist President Klaus Iohannis. The move is currently being challenged at the Constitutional Court and has yet to become law. An estimated 5,000 people gathered in Bucharest chanting "Thieves" and demanding the government's resignation, crowding around a giant European Union flag. Thousands more protested in cities across the country. "It is humiliating for the Romanian people to be led by politicians who are convicted or under investigation 28 years after the fall of communism," said Nicu Petrescu, a 56-year-old engineer in Bucharest. Transparency International ranks Romania among the European Union's most corrupt states, and Brussels, which keeps the countrys justice system under special monitoring, is especially concerned that the overhaul and the pending changes to the criminal code will reverse graft-fighting progress. Anti-corruption prosecutors have sent hundreds of lawmakers, ministers, mayors and other public officials across all parties to trial on corruption charges. The speakers of parliaments lower house and senate and ruling coalition leaders are both currently on trial in separate cases. Attempts by the ruling coalition to decriminalize several corruption offenses via emergency decree at the start of last year triggered Romania's largest street protests in decades. Lawmakers are also debating a new set of proposals to change the criminal code - including decriminalizing some offences and lowering prison sentences. Opinion surveys have shown that although the Social Democrats have lost some popularity, they would still rank first in an election with just under 40 percent of votes. (Reporting by Luiza Ilie and Sinisa Dragin; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Beirut (AFP) - Three key aides of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri were fired or resigned, his office has revealed, a week after a disastrous showing in the country's first general election in almost a decade.

Hariri's Future Movement lost a third of its seats in the May 6 vote, ceding ground to its Christian former allies and parties on the other side of Lebanon's political divide, including the Shiite Hezbollah movement.

The premier's chief of staff, his cousin Nader Hariri, "resigned from all his functions", according to a statement late Saturday, without specifying a reason.

The movement said its coordinator, who was also in charge of the party's election campaign, had been relieved of his duties following a review. It said another unnamed cabinet official had also been dismissed.

Despite seeing his movement lose its status as the largest party in parliament, Lebanon's delicate sectarian balance of power means Hariri is likely to remain prime minister once a deal on a new government is reached.

Hariri blamed some of the movement's losses on Lebanon's new electoral law, but admitted he and his party had "betted on a better result".
China on Monday hailed President Donald Trump's offer to prevent Chinese telecom giant ZTE from collapsing due to a US technology ban, as the two sides prepare for new negotiations this week to avert a trade war.

In an apparent olive branch, Trump announced on Twitter that he had discussed how to save ZTE with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The fate of ZTE has become a key part of the talks between the top two world economies, with Chinese officials protesting at the ban during discussions with top US officials in Beijing earlier this month.

"We highly commend the positive remark from the US on the ZTE issue and now we are communicating with the US side on the details," foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told a regular press briefing.

ZTE, which employs 80,000 people, said last week its major operations had "ceased" after being banned for seven years from buying crucial American technology, raising the possibility of its collapse.

Its fibre-optic networks depend on US components and its cheap smartphones sold en masse abroad are powered by US chips and the Android operating system.

"President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast," Trump tweeted on Sunday.

"Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!"

Trump's concern for Chinese workers comes despite his repeated vows to bring back US jobs which he complains have been lost to other countries, particularly China.

"How about helping some American companies first?" Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in response to Trump's tweet.

- Trade war fear -

US officials imposed the ban because of what they said were false statements by the firm over actions it claimed to have taken regarding the illegal sale of goods to Iran and North Korea. ZTE pleaded guilty to the charges in March last year and was hit with $1.2 billion in fines.

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Trump has insisted that relations between Washington and Beijing have never been better and has been working closely with Xi to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme.

At the same time, threats of mutual tariffs have sparked fears of a trade war after Trump accused China of unfair practices that have cost American jobs.

China's top economic official, Vice Premier Liu He, will be in Washington for a new round of trade talks from Tuesday until Saturday, the foreign ministry said, confirming the dates of the previously announced trip.

"The two sides will work together to ensure a positive and constructive outcome during the upcoming consultations," Lu said.

The Washington Post reported late Sunday that the White House and senior Chinese officials are discussing a deal that would relax the severe penalties on ZTE in exchange for unspecified demands from Trump.

It said ZTE has become a bargaining chip as Washington seeks trade-related concessions while pushing for cooperation on sanctions against North Korea and Iran.

The daily reported that a high-level Chinese delegation was in Washington on Friday and raised the issue of whether the US could relax its stance on ZTE.

The newspaper also cited a veteran lobbyist as saying the high-powered Hogan Lovells law firm, which has represented ZTE, has been asking people close to the Trump administration for ways to alter the US position.

There has been an intense rivalry for supremacy in emerging technology fields such as artificial intelligence and 5G, the next-generation superfast wireless system.

- Cybersecurity 'threat' -

Against that background, the Pentagon cited security risks in banning personnel on US military bases from buying equipment from ZTE and fellow Chinese smartphone maker Huawei.

Trump's conciliatory move quickly came under fire domestically.

"Our intelligence agencies have warned that ZTE technology and phones pose a major cyber security threat," said Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

"You should care more about our national security than Chinese jobs," he wrote on Twitter.

David Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, said Trump was sending mixed signals after scrapping the Iran nuclear deal and threatening sanctions on European countries that continue to do business with Tehran.

The US president earlier this year cited security concerns when he took the unusual step of blocking the proposed takeover, by a firm then-based in Singapore, of US chipmaker Qualcomm.

That case highlighted growing concerns about the rise of Chinese competitors.

"China and the United States are working well together on trade," Trump said on Sunday.

"But past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries," he tweeted. "But be cool, it will all work out!"
Paris (AFP) - US President Donald Trump's rejection of an accord curbing Iran's nuclear activities and the escalation in hostilities between Iran and Israel that followed herald a new strategic dynamic in the Middle East that has heightened fears of greater conflict.

While Europe is leading efforts to save the nuclear deal with Tehran, Iran's regional rivals Israel and Saudi Arabia both are behind Washington.

"The result is a coalition that rather goes against their nature," said Denis Bauchard, Middle East expert at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) in Paris.

As well as abandoning the nuclear agreement, Trump has controversially decided to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem -- a nod to Israel and and affront to Palestinians who claim part of the contested city.

"Trump has decided to give complete, unreserved satisfaction to the Israelis," said Agnes Levallois, vice-president of the Mediterranean and Middle East research institute IREMMO.

Israel launched strikes against Iranian targets in Syria on Thursday, alleging that Iranians had fired rockets at its positions. Iran denied the claim.

Any such action by Iran is a red line for Israel -- and therefore for Washington too.

- Saudi influence -

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for his part, wants his country to play a major role in the Gulf region and beyond.

He does not wish to see Tehran muscle in, says Hasni Abidi, director of the Study and Research Center for the Arab and Mediterranean World (CERMAM) in Geneva.

Joining Trump in denouncing an accord which limited Tehran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief was essential for Riyadh, Abidi said.

The lifting of economic sanctions under the deal was designed to boost the Iranian economy, allowing the country "to flourish on the regional and international stage", prompting Saudi concern.

Israel meanwhile said the accord failed to guarantee that Tehran would not ultimately develop nuclear weapons, having spent recent years developing a ballistic missiles programme.

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Defenders of the accord insisted it could keep Iran's nuclear ambitions under wraps in the medium term.

Israel's strikes on Thursday sent a message to Tehran, says Levallois: "Now go home, desist from being (militarily) present in different theatres and in particular on the border with Israel."

- Careful timing -

The timing of the Israeli strikes, two days after Trump's announcement that he was abandoning the nuclear accord, was telling.

"The Israelis have chosen this moment to strike as they know Iran cannot respond militarily if it insists on saving an accord, which for it, is very important both in economic and political terms," said Abidi.

Under Trump, the US approach moves away from multilateral diplomacy encouraging instead the "use of force or the threat of it," in the region, notably from Israel.

French presidential officials say Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called on European signatories to help keep the deal afloat.

In a phone call on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron told Rouhani, however, that Paris ultimately wants to see an expanded accord dealing with Iran's ballistic missile development and its involvement in several Mideast crises.

- Slide to conflict? -

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Thursday of the threat of a potential slide towards outright conflict in the Middle East.

Abidi believes neither Israel nor Iran want war.

Bauchard said Iran will exercise a "certain prudence to avoid an escalation which they could not counter."

Levallois says that while the situation could degenerate, "I do not think the Iranians will run the risk of entering a military confrontation with Israel as they know full well they would not win."

Even so, an escalation could result if the accord putting Iran's nuclear ambitions on hold for at least a decade becomes moribund.

One French diplomat warns that "If Iran had nuclear weapons it is clear that could unleash a major proliferation crisis ... opening a Pandora's box."

Such a scenario is not one Saudi Arabia and Israel would allow to go unchallenged.
A GOP congressman from California said Friday night that President Donald Trump wouldn't hold up well under torture, coming to the defense of Republican Senator John McCain as Trump surrogates continue to attack the Arizona legislator and veteran over his service record.

HBO's Bill Maher asked Representative Duncan Hunter how long he thought the president could withstand torture, to which the congressman, who served three overseas tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, quipped, "not very long." The comment was met with laughs from Maher's audience.

Maher agreed: "He'd probably torture his torturers, talking about the election. 'Nobody thought I'd get to 300," the HBO host said, referencing Trump's habit of invoking his electoral college win during interviews.

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Hunter's candor came after a week of Trump surrogates hurling insults at McCain, whose announcement that he would be opposing CIA pick Gina Haspel roiled some within his own party. On Thursday, a guest on Fox Business News accused McCain of succumbing to torture during the Vietnam war, dubbing him "Songbird John." Also on Thursday, special assistant to the president Kelly Sadler reportedly suggested that the views of McCain, who is battling brain cancer, are irrelevant since the Arizona Republican is "dying anyway."

Trump, too, has slung insults at the ailing senator, infamously insinuating in 2015 that McCain wasn't a war hero because he was captured and spent more than five years as a prisoner of war.

Hunter, who endorsed the president early during the 2016 campaign, went on to call the onslaught of attacks "rotten," but cushioned his criticism by saying that he had also made crass jokes during his time in the armed forces.

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"I've made the same John McCain joke with my friends, who are other Marines," the congressman said. 'If I were a better pilot, I wouldn't get shot down.'... I've made that joke. But I make it to my friends, not on national TV as the contender for the US presidency."

"It shouldn't be done," he conceded.

Hunter's appearance on Maher's show also came as the GOP congressman is facing mounting controversy over allegations that he violated campaign ethics. The Department of Justice is investigating the Southern California representative, The House Ethics Committee announced in March.

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Investigators said in a news release that Hunter "may have converted tens of thousands of dollars of campaign funds from his congressional campaign committee to personal use to pay for family travel, flights, utilities, healthcare, school uniforms and tuition, jewelry, groceries and other goods, services, and expenses."

"The Department of Justice is tricky business," Hunter said, when Maher briefly brought up the investigation.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
LONDON (Reuters) - Two Britons and their Congolese driver held hostage in Democratic Republic of Congo have been released, Virunga National Park said on Sunday. Robert Jesty and Bethan Davies were abducted along with their driver on Friday while visiting Africa's oldest national park. Park ranger Rachel Makissa Baraka, 25, was killed during the kidnapping, which took place near the village of Kibati just north of Goma. The two freed British hostages said they were "very grateful for the excellent support" they had received. They would not comment further, they said in a statement released by Britain's Foreign Office. Baraka was critically injured when the vehicle the four were traveling in was attacked by armed assailants, the park said on its website. She was transferred to a nearby hospital to receive emergency medical treatment, but died shortly afterwards of her injuries, the park said. "She was one of the Park's 26 female rangers and was highly committed, showing true bravery in her work," said Park Director Emmanuel de Merode. Eastern Congo has been the scene of waves of violence over the past 2-1/2 decades and was at the epicenter of two wars between 1996 and 2003 that killed millions, mainly through hunger and disease. Rebel groups and militias still control large swathes of the territory. More than 175 rangers have died protecting the park, which is in the rugged mountains and volcanic plains adjacent to Rwanda and Uganda. It has nevertheless attracted a growing number of visitors keen to visit its endangered mountain gorillas and the active Nyiragongo volcano. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson paid tribute to the DRC authorities and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation "for their tireless help during this terrible case". "My thoughts are now with the family of Virunga Park ranger Rachel Makissa Baraka who was killed during the kidnapping, and with the injured driver and the released British nationals as they recover from this traumatic incident," he said. (Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by John Stonestreet and Peter Cooney)
Dont scroll down on this post if the thought of a swollen, bloodied gruesome eye injury suffered during a UFC fight doesnt appeal to you. (Reuters)

This one is not for the squeamish.

Seriously. If the thought of a gruesome eye injury suffered during a UFC fight turns your stomach, dont scroll down.

Russias Sultan Aliev stepped into the Octagon at Rios Jeunesse Arena on Saturday to take on Brazilian welterweight Warlley Alves in a UFC 224 prelim.

For two rounds, Alves connected on punch after punch to Alievs face, prompting doctors to step in and examine Aliev before Round 3.

They had a fairly simple decision, calling the fight a TKO for Alves after examining the extensive damage to Alievs bloodied, swollen right eye.

Ok. This is your last warning.

and this fight is over pic.twitter.com/nLEuTX2EDN  John Pollock (@iamjohnpollock) May 12, 2018

If youve chosen to scroll down this far, then gnarly facial injuries are clearly your thing, so heres another angle.

Heres hoping Aliev escaped without suffering any long-term damage.

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London (AFP) - The head of the Anglican church in the United States will give the main speech at the wedding of Britain's Prince Harry and his US fiancee Meghan Markle, Kensington Palace announced Saturday.

The Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry, primate of the Episcopal Church, will deliver the address during the ceremony at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, west of London, on May 19.

"The love that has brought and will bind Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle together has its source and origin in God, and is the key to life and happiness," said Curry.

"And so we celebrate and pray for them today."

Kensington Palace previously announced that David Conner, the Dean of Windsor, will conduct the wedding service.

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury who is the spiritual head of the Church of England and the leader of the world's 85 million Anglicans, will officiate over the marriage vows.

Curry became the 27th presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church in November 2015. Aged 65 and from Chicago, he is the first African-American to serve in that capacity.

The Episcopal Church is a member of the global Anglican Communion led by Welby and counted 1.9 million active baptised members in 2015.

It caused a rift within the Communion in 2003 when it ordained the openly gay Gene Robinson as a bishop.

In 2012 it became the biggest faith group in the United States to approve a provisional rite for blessing same-sex unions.

- Markle baptised -

Markle was baptised and confirmed by Welby in March ahead of her marriage.

She is understood to have chosen to join the Church of England out of respect for the role Harry's grandmother Queen Elizabeth II has as supreme governor of the Anglican Communion's mother church.

Markle's father is an Episcopalian, while her mother belonged to another Protestant denomination.

Nonetheless, Markle attended a private Roman Catholic girls' school in Los Angeles.

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Harry is sixth in line to inherit the crown.

Catholics are excluded from succession to the throne, and the sovereign must be in communion with the Church of England, swear to preserve it and promise to uphold the Protestant succession.

Before a 2013 law came into force across the 16 Commonwealth realms that share Queen Elizabeth as head of state, people who married Catholics were also excluded from the order of succession.
The Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry - The Washington Post

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have invited a pioneering American bishop to deliver the address at their wedding, as the couple strive to reflect their transatlantic relationship amid the tradition of St George's Chapel.

The couple have asked the Most Rev Bishop Michael Curry, the first African-American elected as presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church, to delivering a rousing sermon about love during the ceremony on May 19.

The preacher, from Chicago, Illinois, does not have a personal relationship with the couple, but was chosen by them in discussion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

His inclusion is intended in part to reflect the background of Ms Markle, who is American. The Prince and Ms Markle have been striving to make their wedding day personal, with elements of "fun and joy" mixed in with tradition.

Bishop Curry, who has been praised for his "infectious laughter and self-deprecating humour", is the first African-American bishop to have served as the Episcopal Church's presiding bishop, a role he has held since November 2015.

The Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry Credit: Washington Post

Raised in the Civil Rights era, he is a passionate advocate of LGBT rights within the church and has spoken of how his own upbringing, as the descendant of slaves, influenced his commitment to accepting all within the church.

As his role at the Royal Wedding was announced, he said: "The love that has brought and will bind Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle together has its source and origin in God, and is the key to life and happiness.

"And so we celebrate and pray for them today."

The Episcopal Church is an offshoot of the Church of England in the US and forms part of the broader Anglican Communion worldwide.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby Credit: PA

Ms Markle was baptised by the Most Rev Justin Welby ahead of her wedding to the Prince, whose grandmother, the Queen, is head of the Anglican Church.

The Dean of Windsor, David Conner, is to conduct next week's service, before Archbishop Welby officiates as the couple make their marriage vows.

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In 2011, the Bishop of London delivered the address at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, speaking of the joy and meaning of marriage in a lively seven-minute sermon.

A spokesman for Kensington Palace said of the Prince and Ms Markle's choice: "The couple and the Archbishop discussed a number of possibilities for a preacher.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will marry on May 19 Credit: Samir Hussein

"Whilst Bishop Curry is not personally known to the couple, it was felt that given the fact that he the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church as well as a wonderful speaker and preacher, it would be highly appropriate for him to be invited to speak."

The Archbishop of Canterbury offered his fulsome public support, sharing his thoughts on Twitter to hail Bishop Curry as "a brilliant pastor, stunning preacher and someone with a great gift for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ".

"I'm thrilled that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have asked Bishop Michael Curry to preach at their wedding," he said.

"Marriage is a special and joyous commitment  please join me in praying for Gods blessing for the Royal couple on their wedding day, and for the whole of their lives together."

The recommendation from the Archbishop of Canterbury is particularly significant after a near-schism in the Anglican Church around gay marriage, after primates agreed to impose sanctions against the liberal US church.

In 2016, an agreement - hailed as partial victory for the Archbishop in that it avoided total division of the global Anglican communion - saw the Episcopal Church, which accepted gay marriage, banned from key bodies with its views ruled a "a fundamental departure from the faith".

Bishop Curry was also among members of the church to condemn the America First policies of Donald Trump, with a march on the White House and declaration that "we need wise political leadership" to deal with the issues of the day.
Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqis head to the polls on Saturday for parliamentary elections.

After the ballot, the 329 members of parliament elected from party lists will be tasked with forming a government and electing a prime minister and president.

Following the 2003 US-led invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq held its first general election in January 2005, selecting a national assembly tasked with drafting a new constitution.

It then held parliamentary elections in December 2005, with two subsequent polls in 2010 and 2014.

Here is what you need to know about Iraq's 2018 parliamentary elections:

- Voters -

Nearly 24.5 million of Iraq's roughly 38 million people are registered to vote. They are spread out across 18 provinces.

Voters can cast their ballots at 8,959 polling stations across the country, all of which are equipped for electronic voting.

According to Iraqi authorities, nearly 11 million biometric identity cards have been distributed to authenticate identities.

The 285,564 internal refugees eligible to vote can do so in one of 166 polling stations in 70 camps spread across eight provinces in the country.

Voters will select party lists and seats will be divided up according to the number of votes each list secures.

Polling for Iraq's roughly one million security force personnel and the one million voters living abroad was held ahead of the main election day.

- Candidates -

There are 6,990 candidates, including 2,011 women, set to run in the polls.

They will be competing for 329 seats, including nine reserved for minorities -- Christians, Shabaks, Yazidis, Mandeans and Fayli Kurds -- and 83 for women.

Candidates, selected based on their position in the party, will be elected to four-year terms in parliament.

There are 87 party lists in this year's election.

The main lists are as follows:

- VICTORY ALLIANCE, led by incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

This year, for the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the ranks of the executed leader's oldest opponents, the Shiite Dawa Party, are divided.

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Abadi, a key figure in the Dawa Party, has put together a list composed largely of civil society personalities that cross sectarian lines.

- CONQUEST ALLIANCE, led by Hadi al-Ameri, head of the Badr organisation and a leader of the mostly Shiite Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary units, which played a key role in rolling back Islamic State (IS) group jihadists.

His candidates officially quit their military roles to run for office.

- RULE OF LAW ALLIANCE, led by former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki.

This list relies principally on the Dawa Party, which Maliki heads.

But while it is popular with public servants hired under his mandate, the list suffers from criticisms aimed at Maliki because IS seized one-third of the country under his watch.

- MARCHING TOWARDS REFORM, an unprecedented alliance between Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr and communists.

It includes mostly secular groups including the Iraqi Communist Party and Istiqama (Arabic for righteousness), a party of technocrats backed by Sadr, who suspended his Ahrar bloc and called on his 33 ministers not to run in the polls.

- SUNNIS appear on several lists. The main list, "The National Alliance", is led by Vice President Iyad Allawi -- a Shiite who presents himself as secular -- and Sunni head of parliament Salim al-Juburi.

Weakened after three years of IS rule, Sunnis could be the biggest losers in this year's elections.

- KURDS will head to polls with divided ranks to fill their northern autonomous region's 46 seats, two of which are reserved for Christians.

The main Kurdish parties are the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Kurdistan Patriotic Union (PUK).

There are also three opposition parties: the main Jamaa Islamiya, the newly created New Generation movement, and Goran (Kurdish for change).
Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday urged war veterans to play a central role in campaigning for the ruling ZANU-PF party ahead of elections due in July or August.

The elections will be the first in Zimbabwe without Robert Mugabe who was forced from office last year, ending his authoritarian rule over the country since independence from Britain in 1980.

The veterans of the 1970s liberation struggle have been a vital cog in the ZANU-PF party, helping Mugabe to hold onto power and often being accused of violence during elections and over land seizures.

Mnangagwa -- himself a war veteran -- called for them "to go out full throttle in our huge numbers and campaign for a thunderous victory."

"We must win the hearts and minds of our people," he said, addressing about 5,000 veterans in the capital Harare.

Mnangagwa also pledged to improve the welfare of veterans by increasing their monthly allowances from the current $206.

Zimbabwe's past elections have been marred by violence and fraud.

But Mnangagwa, 75, has vowed to hold a free and fair vote that would boost his efforts to re-engage with international donors and bring in much-needed foreign investment.

Mnangagwa is a long-time ZANU-PF veteran who was one of Mugabe's closest allies before they fell out last year.

At the polls, he will face opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, 40, of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who took over his party's leadership after the death of Morgan Tsvangirai.
Lindsey Baum, 10, disappeared at about 9:30 p.m. on June 26, 2009, while walking home from a friends house. Despite extensive searches in the hours and days after she vanished, no sign of her was ever found.
Last week's desire to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh at the international level, voiced by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, can't be achieved. Obviously, after studying the Karabakh issue, directly responsible for strained interethnic relations between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, Pashinyan will have to change his own rhetoric.

Pashinyan's rhetoric hasn't radically changed since last escalation of situation in April of 2016. Previously, politician said that Armenia shouldn't fully adhere to the ceasefire agreement, but after he became Prime Minister he adjusted his position, making it more uncertain. Nevertheless, Pashinyan's desire to "overcome stereotypes" implies desire to approve Nagorno-Karabakh as a participant in the negotiation process. He wants to avoid direct confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan this way.

Nikol Pashinyan is a man of new political formation, not affiliated with the Karabakh clan. But he can't ignore the fact that current Armenia exists as a result of many years of leadership of the former political elite, whose legacy has affected national identity. Statements about liberation of occupied territories, as well as demonstration of loyalty to leadership of Azerbaijan are akin to political suicide for Pashinyan. He also worries about his own popularity level, thanks to which Pashinyan managed to ascend to the political Olympus of Armenia.

Current Armenia pursues policy of maintaining status quo on the Karabakh issue and is not ready to accept proposals that will lead to liberation of occupied territories. Accordingly, we shouldn't expect any changes in the format of the Karabakh issue settlement in the next six months or a year.

It's also necessary to remember about personnel issue, since it's obvious that Pashinyan's team has no one who could represent Armenia's foreign policy. Taking into account foreign policy realities of the republic, where the Karabakh issue is very important, in the near future Pashinyan should find politicians who will be able to take this responsibility and represent Yerevan at the talks on the Karabakh settlement, although changes in the negotiation process format are unlikely to happen.

What Pashinyan expects? "People's" Prime Minister, whose political success came largely as a result of support from population of the republic through numerous protests and demonstrations, needs support of leadership of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. If in the Sargsyan era, the power of political elite of the self-proclaimed republic was more conditional, today it has a real opportunity to act more independently, and Pashinyan expects this, so right now he has a priority to clarify relations with Russia. It will take time for new leadership of the republic to begin to take actions to confirm previously stated desire to maintain close economic and military cooperation with its primary partner. It's no coincidence that on May 8, even before becoming a Prime Minister, Pashinyan described deepening of relations between Russia and Armenia, which "must be based on friendship and equality," as one of his main tasks.

However, Azerbaijan won't allow representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh to participate in negotiations, and rightfully so, since during the entire period of Robert Kocharian's and Serzh Sargsyan's presidency, border between political space between Armenia and Karabakh was formal. Accordingly, if Baku will establish dialogue with Karabakh Armenians regarding their status, it will only be after withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. It's also important to take into account the fact that Nagorno-Karabakh is not a universally recognized side of the conflict, therefore it can't legitimately participate. So it would be absurd to discuss role of a third party, which legally doesn't exist. In case representatives of the Armenian community of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region will participate, participation of the Azerbaijani community of the former autonomy would be fair.

Despite his desire to save his own popularity, Pashinyan will refrain from unilateral recognition of "independence" of Nagorno-Karabakh, realizing probable diplomatic consequences. In the era of an active international sanctions policy, Armenia remains extremely vulnerable. Destabilization of the situation around Karabakh will somehow affect interests of Russia, on which Armenia depends when it comes to the field of security. It's obvious that the future vector of Armenia's foreign policy development should be guided by desire to establish favorable international relations in the Transcaucasian region, where a qualitative change of the established paradigm is possible only after Armenia's reconciliation with Azerbaijan and Turkey.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel lamented Saturday that US President Donald Trump's decision to pull his country out of the Iran nuclear accord was making the situation in the Middle East "even more difficult" and warned Europeans to be skeptical of "easy" solutions promised by populists.

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Speaking while in Italy to receive a peace prize, Merkel cited the recent escalation of Israeli-Iranian hostility that quickly followed Trump's announcement about the Iran accord as a reason for concern.

Angela Merkel accepts peace prize (Photo: AFP)

yet another reason for further effort to resolve the conflict."

The German leader made her remarks at St. Francis' Basilica, in Assisi, the saint's hometown, where Franciscan friars awarded her the St. Francis Lamp for peace. Merkel was honored for the welcome Germany gave to Syrian war refugees, a decision that carried political risks for the chancellor and her party.

Addressing conflicts on her own continent, Merkel decried what she called "nightly violations" in Ukraine of cease-fire agreements reached in 2014 and 2015 to end the conflict between pro-Kiev forces and pro-Russia fighters in the country's battered east.

Delivering a sweeping speech about challenges to a more peaceful world, the chancellor also cautioned against Europeans seeking easy solutions to their problems from populist politicians, whose clout has been on the rise across much of the continent.

"The harder the problem is, and the easier the solution is claimed to be, the more suspicious and critical everyone ....should be," Merkel said.

Even as she spoke, two Italian populist leaders, from the euroskeptic 5-Star Movement and the anti-migrant League, were meeting in Milan to try to hammer out a deal for a coalition government.

Merkel stressed the importance of countering populist statements with facts and of speaking out when people make sweeping claims about entire sections of society.

"I think we should try to do two things at once: be European, but also regard our home countries as part of our identity. They don't have to be opposites," she said.

St. Francis' Basilica (Photo: AFP)

Introducing her at the ceremony was Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos, who won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for dogged efforts to bring 50 years of violent conflict in his country to a peaceful end.

Santos praised Merkel for representing "those principles which ought to serve as antidotes in a world in which the ghosts of nationalism, of fundamentalism, of racism, of populism and of intolerance are surging with dangerous vigor."

For her part, Merkel warned of the damage national stereotypes can pose for European understanding.

She recalled how during the Eurozone crisis of the last decade, Greeks were branded as lazy in German media.

"There are lazy Germans (too,)" Merkel said. "As soon as we fall into stereotypes, we destroy Europe."

Addressing the divisions around the issue of migrants to Europe, Merkel said "tolerance must be always present in the European Union." She cited her own Christian faith, hailing Francis as "perhaps the most famous saint."

Francis, she noted, "broke the taboo of society. He embraced society's poor, which was then forbidden."
A little over a month ago, on April 9, Israel bombed the T-4 Airbase in Syria. seven Iranians were killed in the attack, including a senior officer, but now it appears they were never the target.

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The target of the strike was, in fact, the "3rd Khordad" (Khordad is the third month of the Iranian calendared) aerial defense system, an Iranian stand-in for the S-300 system Russia stalled on providing the Islamic republic.

The 3rd Khordad system's unveiling in 2014

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The 3d Khordad is one of four variants of the Raad aerial defense system, equipped with Taer-2B missiles and a phased array radar.

The 3rd Khordad was the true target of the attack on the T-4 Airbase

Once the system was unloaded off of an Iranian transport plane on the Syrian T-4 base, it was destroyed before even being unpacked.

The 3rd Khordad system, developed and manufactured by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)'s military industries, was seemingly a copy of the aforementioned Russian S-300a system capable of intercepting not only planes but also missiles, rockets, cruise missiles and drones deep within Israeli territory.

Israel could not independently verify the new system's efficacy, but Iran's own publications spoke volumes. It was first publicized in 2014 by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei examining the system

Iranians believed it was a tie-breaking system. Another matter attesting to its importance was the fact that senior IRGC officials stood by as it was being unpacked. Its destruction, and the subsequent deaths of Iranian officers, most likely led commander of the IRGC's elite Quds Force unit Qasem Soleimani to the decision to exact vengeance on Israel.

The aerial defense system seems to have been brought to the region by the Iranians after a different failure of theirsthe Israeli interception of an explosive drone in early February.

The drone was sent out, in fact, as an operational test for a device created using reverse engineeringimitating an American stealth drone that was downed in Iranian territory.

After that interception, Israel destroyed the control trailer in the T-4 base from which the drone was launched. This, in turn, made the Iranians realize their dire need of an aerial defense system of their own to protect them from both the aircraft and missiles Israel was using to bombard their Syria installations.

The T-4 Airbase destroyed earlier this year housed the Iranian system

Israel thus decided to take the 3rd Khordad system off the table before the Iranians ever had a chance of testing it, just as they failed in their stealth drone test earlier this year.

According to an Iranian publication from 2014, the system was developed over the course of 18 months and could track any aerial target at a range of up to 50 kilometers.

It could also monitor and intercept fighter jets, they claimed, as well as bombers and cruise missiles at an altitude of up to 25 kilometers. IRGC said the system was comparable to the Russian S-300, and added its effective range will be increased to 100km and then to 200km.

It was not the only weapons system destroyed recently, however, going back to before Iran's shooting at the Israeli border and Israel's harsh response.

The Uragan rocket launcher was destroyed by Israel Monday (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

The Uragan systema launch vessels bearing 16 especially massive Katyusha missiles with a 220 millimeter diameterwas targeted Monday night. That system had a range of 40km with a warhead of 70 to 100 kilograms.

A similar system was destroyed in Syria's Al-Kiswah the following night, along with its launcher and missiles. That particular system was the one Soleimani planned to use to avenge the destruction of the Khordad system's destruction, making the Israeli strike preemptory.

Another launch vehicle was destroyed Wednesday evening, but only after firing either a Fajr of Grad rocket at IDF bases near the border.
A man killed a passer-by in a knife attack in the heart of Paris Saturday night and wounded four others before being shot dead by police, French authorities said. The Europe 1 network reported the assailant cried out "Allahu akbar" during the attack.

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An unnamed police official, meanwhile, told the Le Parisien daily newspaper that before being shot, the attack shouted at cops, "Kill me, or I'll kill you."

Panic on the streets of Paris

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Pierre Gaudin, a senior official at the Paris prefecture, told reporters, "A person attacked five people in the second district of Paris. Police intervened immediately."

The scene of the Paris stabbing

"The individual died. Another person, seriously injured (by the attacked) died from their injuries."

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb called it an "odious" attack while extolling officers' "swift response in neutralizing the attacker."

The Paris prefecture had earlier said a person had carried out a knife attack in the second arrondissementor districtof the French capital. Paris's opera and landmark retail stores are located in that area.

Eyewitness described a panic in the streets of central Paris, saying people were attempting to hide in restaurants and cafes. According to unconfirmed reports, police attempted to use a taser gun to incapacitate the attacker, but later fired two bullets at him, killing him.

Police cordoned off the scene (Photo: AFP)

"I left a performance near Place de l'Opera in central Paris and was immediately told to go back inside because there was a madman with a knife," a local reporter recounted. "When I went back in, we heard sirens and two gunshots. I spoke with eyewitnesses then who told me a man stabbed a lot of people."

A man who resides on the street where the attack took place described seeing the "body of a man whose hands were bloodied."

France has been on high alert as a series of attacks commissioned or inspired by Islamic State have hit the country over the past three years in which dozens of people have been killed.

The Islamic State group's Aamaq news agency said in a statement early Sunday that the assailant carried out the attack in response to the group's calls for supporters to target members of the US-led military coalition squeezing the extremists out of Iraq and Syria.

The Aamaq statement did not provide evidence for its claim or details on the assailant's identity.
Germany wants to help its companies continue doing business in Iran after the US decision to reimpose sanctions against Tehran, but it could be difficult to shield them from any fallout, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Sunday.

Germanyalong with France and Britainhas said it remains committed to the nuclear deal. The foreign ministers of the three European powers will meet their Iranian counterpart in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss a way forward.

"I do not see a simple solution to shield companies from all risks of American sanctions," Maas told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

"The talks with the Europeans, Iran and the other signatories to the agreement are therefore also about how it can be possible to continue trade with Iran," Maas said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel on Sunday of using unnecessary aggression following the recent strikes in Syria. Erdogan told BBC Arabic that Israel was sowing fear in the Middle East and pushing the region to war.

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The Turkish leader also criticized US President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from the nuclear agreement with Iran.

Last week, Erdogan told CNN that the US embassy move to Jerusalem was a huge mistake. He repeated his claim that east Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine and that one day, when a Palestinian state will be established, a Turkish embassy will open there.

Erdogan. Another anti-Israel statement (Photo: EPA)

According to the Turkish president, the move further isolates the US diplomatically. He said that with its recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital, the US stands to lose allies.

Speaking to members of his AKP party, Erdogan said: Have you heard those criticizing us for our actions in Afrin (Kurdish Syria) condemn the massacre in Gaza yesterday? He was referring to Turkeys war against the YPG Kurdish militants whom Ankara views as terrorists. The YPG forces fight alongside the United States against the Islamic State.

In early April, Erdogan harshly criticized Israel after events in Gaza lead to the deaths of 16 Palestinians, referring to it as an inhumane attack.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded on Twitter: The most moral army in the world will not accept moral preaching from someone who for years has been bombing a civilian population indiscriminately. Thats apparently how Ankara marks April Fools Day. Netanyahu was apparently referring to ongoing battle against the Kurds.

Erdogan told supporters in the province of Adana in response: We dont have the shame of invading on us, Netanyahu. You are an invader and right now are present in those lands as an invader. At the same time, you are a terrorist.

He says our soldiers are oppressing people in Afrin. Netanyahu, you are very weak, very poor. We (Turkey) are dealing with terrorists. But you are not concerned about terrorists because you are a terror state, Erdogan said at the time.
Thousands of soldiers, some from the Nahal and Givati brigades, will reinforce the troops of the Gaza and Judea and Samaria divisions in the coming days as Israel faces a week of high tensions with the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday and Nakba Day on Tuesday.

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The Southern Command is preparing for tens of thousands of Palestinians, including children, who are expected to arrive at protest sites along the Gaza border, as well as to attempts by thousands of them to cross the border. So far, the border fence has not been breached in the six weeks of Hamas's "Great March of Return" campaign, which has included rioting every Friday.

The IDF is preparing soldiers for several extreme scenarios, as Hamas members, some armed, are expected to hide among the protests trying to breach the fence.

IDF snipers on the Gaza border (Photo: Reuters)

Troops might come under fire from the Palestinian side or encounter terrorists trying to plant an explosive device under the cover of the chaos created by the mass attempt to breach the border fence. Another extreme scenario is an attempt to abduct a soldier after the fence is breached.

The Gaza Division will have two seemingly contradictory missions. On the one hand, Israeli troops will fight to protect Israeli sovereignty and prevent Palestinian rioters from crossing the border. On the other hand, the IDF seeks to do so without causing dozens or even hundreds of unarmed Palestinian casualties.

The IDF doesn't rule out the possibility the fence will be breached, but troops are preparing to contain it no more than 1-2 kilometers from the fence, preventing Palestinians from infiltrating communities near the border, such as Nahal Oz, Netiv HaAsara, Kerem Shalom or Kissufim. To that end, the IDF will deploy hundreds of soldiers behind the front lines to stand between the Palestinian masses and the Israeli communities.

In an effort to prevent an attack by Hamas's elite Nukhba unit, teams from the IDF's elite units will also join the hundreds of snipers on the front line.

Thousands of Palestinian rioters expected to try to breach the border fence (Photo: EPA)

In the West Bank, where relative calm has prevailed in the recent months, the IDF is not taking any risks, fearing the events in Jerusalem would spill into the territories.

The forces are preparing for large-scale rioting in the regular friction points, as well as for lone wolf terrorists who might try to carry out a car-ramming, a stabbing or infiltrate one of the settlements.

The IDF has stressed the rules of engagement to soldiers during the briefings, in an effort to contain the violence without escalating the situation further.

Meanwhile, the Southern Command is continuing efforts to locate cross-border terror tunnels in Gaza after the ninth such tunnel found over the last six months was destroyed on Saturday evening near Beit Hanoun.

Jerusalem Day and US Embassy opening

The Jerusalem District Police has also bolstered its forces, deploying thousands of police and Border Police officers from other areas of the country in the capital starting Sunday.

During the US Embassy opening on Monday, police will boost up security across Jerusalem and particularly around the embassy and the streets leading to it.

Police will also operate a command center to provide quick response to any incident that may occur.

(Photo: Yuval Ozeri)

"The embassy opening ceremony has national and international importance and the police have been preparing for it accordingly in recent months," the police said. "As part of these preparations, police carried out overt and covert operations against any element planning to disrupt the peace and/or disrupt the ceremony."

The police said they will show "zero tolerance to any display of physical or verbal violence and will act with all measures at their disposal against lawbreakers and rioters."

Jerusalem Day, which is commemorated on Sunday, celebrates 51 years to the unification of the capital. Celebrations include the annual Flag Dancea march along the streets of the capitaland a state ceremony at Ammunition Hill.

The Flag Dance march will lead to road closures from 3pm to 9pm. The following streets, as well as the streets leading to them, will be closed to traffic: Ben Zvi, Bezalel, King George, Hillel, Jaffa, Tzahal Square, Haim Barlev, Sultan Suleiman, Jericho Road and HaOfel Road.

In addition, Shlomo Zalman Shragai Street will be closed to traffic from 6pm to 11pm during the state ceremony at Ammunition Hill.

Streets near the US embassy will be closed for traffic on Monday, including: David Flusser, Kfar Etsyon, Yam HaMelakh, Moshe Arye Kurtz, Klausner and Siegfried Moses. Only residents of the area will be allowed to drive on these streets.
Clashes broke out between Jews and Arabs on the Temple Mount on Sunday morning, which is Jerusalem Day.

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According to eye witnesses, the Jews who entered the holy site were singing, while the Arabs called out "Allahu Akbar."

Police forces that arrived at the scene had to separate the warring sides and remove the Jews from the Temple Mount.

Clashes on the Temple Mount

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The Jerusalem Police said that several Jewish visitors broke the rules of conduct and created provocation, leading to their removal from the site.

Nevertheless, visits to the Temple Mount were allowed to continue.

Clashes on the Temple Mount

This week is one of the more sensitive and explosive weeks in Israel in general and in Jerusalem in particular.

The Jerusalem District Police has bolstered its forces, bringing thousands of police and Border Police officers from other areas of the country to the capital starting Sunday ahead of Jerusalem Day celebrations, the opening of the US Embassy in the city and Nakba Day.
Last week was Iranian, but the coming week and the following week will likely be Palestinian.

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The US Embassy will open in an official ceremony in Jerusalem on Monday. The following day, the Palestinians will mark Nakba Day. The Ramadan fast will begin Wednesday night, and the March of Return will take place in the Gaza Strip on Friday.

The IDF and police are preparing for major physical clashes with crowds of young Palestinians. The residents of the Gaza vicinity, Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria should prepare for the coming week as well, to reduce friction with the Palestinians and keep the potential death toll low.

Israels main goal, and the IDFs core mission, is to prevent hundreds and perhaps thousands of Palestinians from infiltrating Israeli territory from Gaza and reaching communities in the western Negev.

Palestinians protest on the Gaza border fence, Friday (Photo: EPA)

In the West Bank, the core mission is to prevent terror attacks with firearms and cold weapons, as well as community infiltrations. So far, there is no apparent trend of an escalation in the West Bank, an arena which has remained calm in recent weeks even when the situation in Gaza escalated and young Gazans lost their lives on the fence. There are no indications or warnings of a flare-up in Jerusalem as well, for now.

In Jerusalem, the security forces mission is to prevent a religionization of the conflict with the Palestinians. Clashes with an angry crowd and terror attacks over the Muslim holy sites and around them will extend and intensify the conflicts, stir up things in the Muslim world (including Egypt and Jordan) and could even lead to border attacks from Lebanon, Syria and Sinai.

History shows its almost impossible to put out a fire started by religion. Religious violence erupts time and again and claims many victims. A religiously-motivated conflict could also lead to terror attacks against Israelis and Jews around the world.

The religious motive has been working for years in the service of the Iranian Quds Force, and the forces leader, Qassem Suleimani, may take advantage of the flare-up in the Muslim world following riots in Jerusalem to further a terror attack abroad and retaliate the victims among his people and the humiliations he has suffered from Israel in recent weeks in the Syrian Golan Heights.

Defense establishment officials are aware of all of this and are taking several measures to guarantee that the missions are accomplished in the three Palestinians arenas with zero victims on the Israeli side and by avoiding killing unarmed Palestinians, as long as they dont pose a clear and present danger to our forces or to Israeli citizens.

The reason isnt just ethical but also practical: Experience shows that a death toll of dozens and perhaps hundreds of Palestinians from IDF and police fire will only intensify the violence and the motivation to carry out terror attacks and may lead to a new wave of terror and possibly even to an intifada that will spill into Israeli territory.

Another important reason is that a lot of deaths among the Palestinians will push Israel into a difficult PR, diplomatic and legal cornerand this is exactly what Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are trying to do. As a result, Israel will become isolated and may face boycott initiatives and attempts to prosecute IDF officers in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. This will gradually reduce Israels legitimacy to defend itself and it may even be slapped with sanctions in the international arena.

Boosting forces and using technological means

The most important measure used by the security and law enforcement authorities is a massive boost of the forces along the Gaza border fence and between the fence and the Gaza vicinity communities, as well as in Judea and Samaria: Dozens of squadrons of qualified fighters from the IDFs regular field units will be stationed in possible friction areas, in addition to units on routine security missions. Other units will be stationed on the ground or put on a heightened state of alert as reserve forces. The large number of regular fighters in every point of friction will serve as a blanket that will be throw on the fire to suffocate ita measure which has proved itself in the past.

Furthermore, the army will use technological means to disperse the crowd and control it, including portable fences that can easily be erected, psychological warfare, etc. All the forces that have already been dispatched to the Gaza border or to the West Bank and the ones that will arrive there later, including elite units, have undergone specific training in the Central Command and Southern Command bases, where they learned to confront and take over an unruly crowd.

Preparations for US embassy move to Jerusalem (Photo courtesy of Jerusalem Municipality)

As part of the effort to prevent Palestinian casualties and unnecessary shooting, senior officers have been stationed in every point of friction and next to the snipers. They are the only ones authorized to give the soldiers permission to shoot if they are not in clear and present danger.

For the same reason, reserve units havent been called up to take part in the direct conflict with the unruly crowds. The reserve soldiers are excellent fighters when it comes to conventional fighting against an armed enemy, but most of them are unaccustomed to and have no experience with a close-range conflict with a wild crowd throwing Molotov cocktails and stones. As a result, many of them stress out and push the trigger unnecessarily.

The main concern is that thousands and perhaps tens of thousands of Palestinians will run towards the border fence as part of the March of Return on Nakba Day and on the following days. Hamas is going to great lengths to get more and more people to take part in the march, knowing that a large number of people storming the fence is likely to lead to a high death toll and harm Israel both internally and internationally.

The security forces are planning to wear out the human tsunami wave with different measures before it reaches the fence area, in a bid to reduce and control the number of Palestinians storming the fence. These measures cant and shouldnt be specified, to prevent Hamas from preparing an effective response.

In Judea and Samaria, the IDF has been focusing on prevention measures every single night: Conducting arrests by using intelligence and warnings gleaned from social media and public information on the Web. When the conflicts begin on the ground, and possibly earlier, the combat intelligence collection system will be activated too. The collection of intelligence through ground and aerial observations will make it possible to quickly locate points and friction and weak spots created during the events and send reinforcement to those areas.

Meanwhile, the army is working to continue the separation and distinction between actual and potential terrorists and the uninvolved population which doesnt wish to get involved. Efforts are being made to prevent the terroristsHamas people or Palestinians inspired by social media and shahidim who serve as their role modelsfrom executing their plans.

IDF checkpoint in the West Ban (Photo: AFP)

At the same time, the plan is to allow the uninvolved population to continue its routine life and move freely on the traffic routes. This is where Judea and Samaria settlers must plan an active role: They must help the Shin Bet and IDF restrain the price tag rioters and, if necessary, block them themselves. In this case too, the reason isnt just ethical but mainly practical: Jewish rioters endanger Judea and Samaria settlers in their activities, which increase both the Palestinian incitement and the criticism against Israel in the international arena.

The Palestinian security apparatuses have been instructed by Abbas to coordinate their activities and work together with the Israeli forces. The fact that the order is being implemented proves that Abbas still holds full control over his people despite the cognitive weakness he has been demonstrating latterly in his anti-Semitic speeches.

Even when he isnt at his best, Abbas knows that the cooperation between the Palestinian security apparatuses and their Israeli counterparts is vital for both sides. The Shin Bet and IDF want to prevent terror attacks initiated and encouraged by Hamas against Israel, while Abbas has an existential interest in stopping Hamas from taking over the West Bank. Both sides are also interested in preventing the protests and riots from spinning out of control, a situation which could threaten the Palestinian Authoritys survival.

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh, Shin Bet Director Nadav Argaman and their organizations top officials have already prepared the infrastructure, built up strength, trained the forces and decided on the modus operandi. The implementation, however, requires great skills as well as caution and experience from the commanders on the ground, who are operating under Gaza Division Commander Brigadier-General Yehuda Fuchs and Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brigadier-General Eran Niv. These two officers, alongside the Southern Command and Central Command chief, will largely determine how the State of Israel passes this testboth the physical test and the perceptual and diplomatic test.

Summary of the Iranian round

A moment before the Israeli public opinion shifts its focus and concerns from the more dangerous threat (Iran) to the more explosive threat (the Palestinians), we should take a moment to understand how the Iranian round ended last week and what might happen in the future.

The good news is that the ayatollah regime and its power base, the Revolutionary Guards, were dealt two painful blows last week. The first was a strategic blow from US President Donald Trump, who announced an American withdrawal from the nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers. Immediately after the Washington declaration, the Iranian rial tumbled, reaching a record low. In other words, the income and savings of millions of Iranians were slashed within hours, threatening the regimes survival in the long run.

Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Quds Force

The second, tactical blow, came from the IDF against the Revolutionary Guards and the Quds Force in Syria. The limited retaliation and deterrence operation that was planned by Qassem Suleimani against military targets in Israel was disrupted and eventually thwarted altogether thanks to the right combination between high-quality and accurate intelligence in real time, military and diplomatic discretion and activity, as well as the Air Forces excellent planning and performance abilities.

While Suleimani managed to sell his bosses in Tehran a classic fake news story about deaths and serious damage his forces allegedly inflicted on Israel, and although Ayatollah Ali Khamanei and the Iranian media likely fell for it, Suleimani knows the truthand thats what counts.

The good news is that Russian President Vladimir Putin has restored his original approach towards the relations with Israel which he had adopted at the start of the Russian involvement in Syria in 2015. Putin, who is very unhappy with the fact that NATO has placed sophisticated antiaircraft and antimissile systems on his countrys borders, has referred to it several times as an aggressive Western move.

Putin was likely quite satisfied, therefore, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister Zeev Elkin told him that the Israel Air Force had destroyed Iranian-made antimissile systems, which are remarkably similar to the Russian S-300 system, after they were placed on Israels border. Putin doesnt appreciate competition and has high regard for force. This was reflected not only in the way he honored the Israeli prime minister during the Moscow parade, but also in his decision to suspend the supply of the S-300 system to Syria.

Another positive development, as far as Israel is concerned, is the fact that Hezbollah has no intention of intervening in the conflict for now and using its missile arsenal and special forces to help the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria. In other words, the Israeli deterrence is working, particularly since Israel made it clear that Hezbollah equals Lebanon. This means that in the next war, Israel will make no distinction between Hezbollah and the state of Lebanon its infrastructure. If Hezbollahs missiles and rockets hit Israel, the damage inflicted on all of Lebanon will be disproportional.

This was explained very well recently by Education Minister Naftali Bennett, a member of the Political-Security Cabinet: There is no point in running after every Hezbollah rocket and after every Hezbollah missile launcher. It would also be a mistake to fight Hezbollah alone. We must fight the entire state of Lebanon, in Baalbek and in the villages of southern Lebanon, which is allowing Hezbollah to fire thousands of missiles on the citizens of the State of Israel.

Bennett has rich experience in fighting in Lebanon, and his perception is likely accepted by the rest of the cabinet members, especially after Hezbollah reifnroced its effective control over the parliament and the government in Beirut following last weeks elections in Lebanon.

Syrian President Bashar Assad is likely unsatisfied either with the conflict waged by the Iranians against Israel from his countrys territory. The bottom line is that Suleimani and his people are alone in this story.

Hezbollah fighters (Photo: AP)

We shouldnt get caught in the euphoria, however, as there is bad news as well. Its already clear that the serious blows suffered by the Iranians last week werent enough to change the regime and Revolutionary Guards vision and objectives in any way. They havent given up their nuclear aspirations, their ambition to reach an Iranian-Shiite hegemony in the Middle East and the desire to destroy the State of Israel by military entrenching themselves in Syria.

The Iranians have simply taken a timeout to recalculate their route. As a result, Israeli officials were able to order the closure of bomb shelters in the Golan Heights over the weekend and estimate that the current round with the Iranians has been put on hold.

Suleimani likely hasnt given up his plan to create a military front against Israel in Syria which would operate in addition to the Lebanese front, and separately too if necessary. He has also noticed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallahs growing independence in Lebanon. All signs indicate that Suleimani hasnt given up his desire to take revenge against Israel and that he will likely try to target Israelis and Jews abroad.

In any event, we should remember that the Shiites in general, and the Iranians in particular, are filled with a sense of self-victimization. This mentality contains an important advantage: Because they are prepared for the blows in advance, they recover quickly and move on. Its difficult to deter them or divert them from their path. So our conflict with the ayatollahs and with the Revolutionary Guards hasnt ended in the current round and wont end in the following round either. The same applies to the conflict with the Palestinians.
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri has replaced his chief of staff after his Future Party lost more than a third of its seats in parliamentary elections a week ago.

The Future Party won 20 seats, down from the 33 won in the country's last elections held in 2009.

In a post-election speech last week Hariri said the party had been expecting a better result and there had been "gaps" in how it conducted its campaign, for which people would be held responsible.

Hariri's office announced the resignation of Nader al-Hariri, a cousin of the prime minister, late on Saturday. It said Mohamed Mnaimne had replaced him in a temporary capacity.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh left Sunday for a flash visit to Egypt during which he will meet the Egyptian's intelligence head.

The urgent meeting was set in the wake of the "March of Return" and the fear it will lead to a security escalation.

Hamas senior officials Khalil al-Haya and Rouhi Mushataa will also attend the meeting.
Moscow and Beijing have the potential to boost cooperation to find ways of solving the Syrian issue, and the sides should continue efforts aimed at protecting the ceasefire regime, Chinese Special Envoy for Syria Xie Xiaoyan said on Sunday, TASS reported.

"The relations between China and Russia imply a sweeping strategic partnership and collaboration. We are constantly in touch and conduct consultations (regarding the Syrian issue - TASS). Each side contributes to the Syrian problem's settlement," he said.

According to the diplomat, the two countries are maintaining an efficient cooperation on the Syrian issue, which still has a "huge space" for expansion. "I assume that both sides should continue assuming efforts in such areas as protection of the ceasefire regime, a responsible ceasefire resolution compliance, promotion of the political process, as well as regarding the issues of postwar recovery," he emphasized.
Hamas, Gaza residents and emergency services are making preparations ahead of two days of mass demonstrations on the border protesting against the US Embassy move to Jerusalem and marking Nakba Day, with Hamas militants ordered to dismantles some of the terror organization's positions on the Gaza border in order to provide protesters with more convenient access to the border fence for an expected attempt at a mass breach.

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A video published by the IDF Spokesperson's Unit showed that Hamas operatives are scrambling to dismantle the positions.

Hamas dismantling military posts ahead of border protests (:  ")

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This "proves that Hamas is removing the restraints and is acting openly in order to intensify the violations of the riot," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement.

Rioter at Gaza border protest (Photo: MCT)

Hamas has also increased its propaganda and scare tactics in an effort to bring the masses to the border fence on Monday and Tuesday.

In a video in Hebrew, Israelis living near the Gaza border are warned: "don't stay, the Palestinians are swarming unrestrained, and we recommend you leave without hesitation."

The video, which is accompanied by dramatic music, adds: "Kites are the tip of the iceberg. Those who stay will bear the full consequences. You've been warned. We'll break through the border and reach all the way to your communities, and we will not die alone."

The scare video

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Protesters are also planning to carry out an exhibit in the form of a convoy of trucks carrying Palestinian refugees to the Erez Crossing, with each truck emblazoned with the name of a Palestinian village destroyed on Nakba Day.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, meanwhile, left Sunday morning for a quick visit to Cairo accompanied by two Hamas officials, Khalil al-Hayya and Ruhi Mushtaq, for a meeting with the Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel to discuss the risk of escalation between Israel and the Gaza Strip if Palestinian rioters succeed in breaching the border fence. He is stated to return on time for the mass protests.

The Hamas consultations in Egypt are part of an effort by several international elements to prevent the protests on Monday and Tuesday from escalating further. These international elements seek to allow the masses to protest at the border, but at the same time demand Hamas to not allow a mass charge at the fence in an effort to breach it.

Hamas leader Haniyeh at the border

The leadership of the Palestinian Authority will convene this evening in Ramallah to discuss the opening ceremony of the American embassy.

The Palestinians plan protests in numerous spots along the border, and not just in the five protest encampments set up ahead of the campaign. Hamas will try to cross the 100,000 protesters mark, something it has yet to achieve over the past six weeks.

In the West Bank and east Jerusalem, demonstrations are planned near the Green Line.

Kerem Shalom border crossing set ablaze during Friday's border protest (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

Israeli Air Force planes dropped warning leaflets into the Gaza Strip warning civilians against attempting to approach or sabotage the fence.

One such leaflet read: "Recently, Hamas has been waging violent and terrorist activities against the State of Israel along the border. Hamas hides its many failures and endangers your lives. At this time Hamas is stealing your money and is using it to dig tunnels at your expense. You deserve a better government and a better future. Do not go near the fence and do not participate in a Hamas show that endangers you."

IDF leaflet in Gaza warning residents against approaching or sabotaging the border fence (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

Emergency and rescue services in Gaza are preparing for a mass-casualty incident. Dar Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex and central hospital in the Gaza Strip, set up a field hospital in large tents near the border in order to prepare for mass absorption of casualties in demonstrations tomorrow.

Sami Obeid, an analyst for Gaza's Al-Manar radio station, said the demonstrations in the coming days are planned to be the biggest yet.

"All the residents of Gaza, children, women and adults are coming to the border fence," Obeid told Ynet, saying protesters all have "one goal" in coming there: "to lift the fence."

"We have been in jail for 12 years, which the Israeli government has imposed on the residents of Gaza," he elaborated. "There is no food, no water, no life, nothing. Even if a million people die, we will come to the fence."

Rioters near the border fence (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

Obeid stressed the feeling of imprisonment and hopelessness is shared by all residents of Gaza, not just by supporters of Hamas.

He then directly addressed IDF soldiers stationed at the border, imploring them not to "kill our children."

"I am there at the border every day and I see how the children get shot in their legs. In the end we will have a generation of paraplegics," he lamented. "This is the responsibility of the Israeli government and the people of Israel.

"We do not come with guns; we want to lift the blockade."

Border rioters (Photo: AP)

54 Palestinians have so far been killed in the weekly "March of Return" protests, which saw rioters burning tires, flying incendiary kites into Israel and throwing explosives at the border. Israel said about 20 percent of them had no connection to the Hamas terror organization.

Tens of millions of shekels in property damage has been caused to Israeli infrastructure near the border meant to supply Gaza with fuel and construction materials after rioters set it ablaze.

Israel has warned it will not allow anyone to breach the border, fearing infiltration of terrorists that will endanger the lives of Israeli residents leaving in the Gaza vicinity.
Norway's Foreign Affairs Ministry determined that boycotting products and services coming from Israeli settlements is legal and does not contradict Norway's international trade commitments.

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Nevertheless, the assertion was said to be inappropriate, according to an internal document signed by Norway's deputy foreign affairs minister published during the weekend.

Norway says boycotting Israeli goods coming from settlements is legal

"The government does not consider boycotting Israel's product to be helpful in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," the document said.

The document was sent as response to Troms district's governor's request to be updated about the juridical examination launched by Norway's Foreign Affairs Ministry in 2016.

The examination began after two Norwegian citiesTroms and Trondheimapplied boycott measures on products and services coming from Israeli settlements. Norway's foreign minister at the time, Brge Brende, criticized the move and announced Norway's government is against boycotting Israel in any shape or form.

Brende announced that Norway's Foreign Affairs Ministry would conduct a juridical examination meant to review whether the boycott measures appliedby local authorities and municipalities correspond with Norway's international trade commitments.

The juridical examination announcement halted further initiatives for boycotts by municipalities and local authorities.

City of Trondheim (Photo: shutterstock)

However, in 2017 another initiative for boycott was made in the town of Bod, but was rejected by the majority claiming such a decision cannot be made while the Foreign Affairs Ministry is examining its legality. Only recently a similar initiative was rejected in the second biggest city in NorwayBergen.

A similar boycott initiative was made in the town of Lillehammer in April 2017 and was implemented. This week another proposal to boycott Israeli goods was approved in one of Norway's town, despite efforts done by Friends of Zion organization to halt it.

Since the juridical examination had begun, countless inquiries were made to the Norwegian Foreign Ministry in order to receive updates about it. As time passed, many wondered why the ministry has been foot-dragging for so long.

Israel estimates that in the wake of the documented published by the Norway's Foreign Affairs Ministry, many boycott initiatives will follow in local authorities and municipalities.

Until now, all boycott initiatives against Israel focused on goods coming from the settlements. Only the Norwegian professional unions stood out by casting a comprehensive boycott on goods coming from all of Israel and not just from the settlements, but have not implemented it yet.

Recently the professional unions have been saying that practical options must be reviewed in the light of latest skirmishes between the IDF and the Palestinians along the Gaza border fence.

The Trondheim University's management had decided in 2009 to cast an academic boycott on Israel. The university's board of trustees decided two weeks later to cancel the boycott following the struggle against it led by Haifa University's rector.

The rector of Bergen Universityone of Norway's biggest academic establishmenthad declared in 2010 the university will cast an official academic boycott against Israel for alleged Apartheid behavior.
Israel marked the 51st anniversary of the Six-Day War Sunday, with President Reuven Rivlin and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman taking the podium at a commemoration ceremony to speak about the new great threat the country facesIran, its malign influence on the region and the imperiled international nuclear agreement signed with it.

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"51 years have passed since the Six-Day War and the war that followedthe War of Attrition," Rivlin said at the memorial hall on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. "Within days, weeks of anxiety for the fate of our country ended.

Lieberman (L) and Rivlin (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

"Those who lived here in those days will never forget the tension, the heroism, the victory and the sacrifice. It was a war of life and death.

"Our security and economic situation is immeasurably better, but there are other threats to us that must be addressed. The State of Israel is prepared and ready for any scenario. Anyone who tries to hit us with force will be hit hard."

He then went to speak about the US' withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, calling it "a significant step for the security of the region and the entire free world."

"Iran still poses a real threat to Israel's fate," he continued. "We do not for a moment forget the arms race that it is leading on our borders and we are closely monitoring (it)."

He concluded by reiterating that, while Israel "will continue to fight steadfastly and resolutely" to defend itself, it is, and never will be, "eager to fight."

Preperations for the US Embassy move to the capital (: AP)

Taking the stage, Lieberman opened his speech by thanking US President Donald Trump for his "brave decision" to recognize Jerusalem as the Israel's capital and transfer the US embassy there all while standing resolutely in the face of threats by Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as for his decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.

He continued by drawing similarities between the time of the Six-Day War and now, lamenting the international community's refusal to confront Iran's threat and military entrenchment in Syria.

"Even today, as back then, the international community is burying its head in the sand in light of the civil war in Syria," he lamented. "The conclusion is that we can rely only on ourselves and our ally, the United States, and its steadfast stance alongside Israel."
WASHINGTON - White House national security adviser John Bolton, who has in the past suggested the US government should push for a change in government in Iran, said on Sunday that is not the Trump administration's current policy.

"That's not the policy of the administration. The policy of the administration is to make sure that Iran never gets close to deliverable nuclear weapons," Bolton said on the ABC program "This Week."

I have written and said a lot of things over the years when I was a complete free agent," Bolton said when pressed on the issue regime change in Iran on CNN's "State of the Union."

Bolton, whom President Donald Trump tapped in March to replace former national security adviser H.R. McMaster, emphasized in the CNN interview that it was his job to advise Trump but that the president is the one who makes the decisions.

In a Fox News interview in January, Bolton said the United States should take steps such as increasing economic pressure on Iran and providing support to opponents of the government.

"There's a lot we can do to, and we should do it," said Bolton, who at the time was with the American Enterprise Institute think tank. "Our goal should be regime change in Iran."
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- The Gaza Strip is rapidly running out of cooking gas and diesel fuel for hospital generators will only last another 7-10 days, officials said Sunday, after Palestinian protesters destroyed the fuel terminal at the territory's only cargo crossing.

In Friday night's attack, a large crowd broke into the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and Israel, badly damaging a fuel and gas terminal and a conveyor belt for aggregate and animal feed.

Israel closed Kerem Shalom, saying it would take weeks or months to repair several million dollars in damages. It was not clear when the delivery of consumer goods by trucks would resume, said an army spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, adding that six trucks with medical supplies entered Gaza on Sunday.
DUBAI - President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that Iran would remain committed to the 2015 nuclear deal if its interests were protected, while his foreign minister hoped the pact could be redesigned without Washington as a member.

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The US withdrawal from the accord on Tuesday was a violation of morals, Rouhani said in remarks carried by state television.

If the remaining five countries continue to abide by the agreement, Iran will remain in the deal despite the will of America, he said.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (Photo: AFP)

President Donald Trumps pullout has upset European allies, cast uncertainty over global oil supplies and raised the risk of conflict in the Middle East.

It has also highlighted divisions among Irans political elite.

Rouhani made similarly conciliatory comments on Tuesday, and on Saturday, foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif began a tour of other signatory nations in an attempt to save the deal.

Zarif said in Beijing on Sunday: We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement.

Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Zarifs tour would improve understanding of Irans position and help Tehran protect its legitimate interests.

China is willing to maintain communication and coordination with all relevant parties, including Iran, and take an objective, fair and responsible attitude to continue to safeguard the ...agreement, Wang said.

Iran's Foreign Minister Zarif (Photo: AP)

Rouhani has said Iran will stay committed to the deal, which China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany also signed, provided those powers ensured Iran was protected from sanctions.

The three European states have recommitted to the agreement, but senior cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said on Friday that Europe was not to be trusted.

On Sunday, the head of the Assembly of Experts, a group of clerics responsible for choosing Irans supreme leader, said Rouhani should apologize for not having obtained guarantees from world powers for the agreement.

It is necessary for the president to honestly and openly apologize to the people over the damages caused by the nuclear accord, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a top conservative, said in a statement carried by state media.

The head of the elite Revolutionary Guards also warned against relying on foreign powers.

Americas exit aims to break the Iranian peoples resistance, which is not new ... but todays problem is not US sanctions, its that some officials look towards outside rather than looking at domestic potentials, Guards commander General Mohammad Ali Jafari said, the state news agency IRNA reported.

IRGC Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari (Photo: AP)

On Wednesday, Jafari cast doubt on European nations ability to save the accord.

With the deal opposed by hardliners at home, some analysts say the pragmatic Rouhani may now be a lame duck leader.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was hopeful that the United States and Europe could agree on how to deal with Iran, after Trump threatened to sanction European companies that continue doing business there.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Pompeo said the United States was not aiming at Europe when it withdrew from the deal.

Im hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well, he said

White House National Security Adviser John Bolton said sanctions could be imposed on European companies.

"Its possible. It depends on the conduct of other governments, Bolton said on CNNs State of the Union.
ISTANBUL -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan started a three-day visit to Britain by praising the country Sunday as "an ally and a strategic partner, but also a real friend."

The Turkish leader is scheduled to meet Queen Elizabeth II and British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday.

Speaking at a forum on Turkish-British relations, Erdogan noted that in July 2016, the British government quickly condemned a coup attempt against him and said "we will never forget this solidarity."

The Turkish president said bilateral cooperation between the two countries has grown, especially since the referendums that changed Turkey's governing system to an executive presidency and paved the way for Britain's departure from the European Union.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday attended an event welcoming the US delegation ahead of Monday's opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem at a ceremony held at the Foreign Ministry compound in Jerusalem.

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A red carpet stretched out from the building's entrance, while band played Israeli and American music at the foyer. Each guest received a pin of Israeli and US flags.

L to R: Steven Mnuchin, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

Most of the ambassadors of the European Union boycotted the event, with the exception of four: the ambassadors of Austria, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic.

Many Israeli minister and MKs from the Left and the Right attended the event. The American delegation numbered 250 people, including Congressmen, rabbis and administration officials.

It also included Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Trump's envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt, American Ambassador David Friedman, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Florida Governor Rick Scott, Senators Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Dean Heller, Congressmen Joe Wilson and Ted Deutch, Former US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro and First Daughter Ivanka Trump and her Husband Jared Kushner, who is Trump's special Middle East advisor.

During the event Prime Minister Netanyahu gave a letter of appreciation to US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman in gratitude for his activity on behalf of moving the embassy to Jerusalem.

"Dear friends, from Israel, from the United States, from around the world. This is a momentous time. President Trump is making history. We are deeply grateful and our people will be eternally grateful for his bold decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move the embassy there tomorrow," Netanyahu said in his opening remarks at the ceremony.

PM Netanyahu (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

He then boasted about Israel's recent Eurovision win, telling the US delegation, "You're coming at a time when Israel is a rising power in the world, you know, in cyber, in IT, in water, in judo, in singing. You know what we say: Those who didn't want Jerusalem in the Eurovision are going to get the Eurovision in Jerusalem."

"Well, that's next year, but tomorrow will be a historic day for our people and for our state," he continued. "President Trump's decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem affirms a great and simple truth: Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for the past three thousand years. It's been the capital of our state for the past 70 years. It will remain our capital for all time.

Netanyahu then thanked Trump for his "bold decision" that made "the alliance between Israel and the United States stronger than ever," saying he demonstrated leadership by paving the way for other countries to follow suit, and directly addressed those who followed in his footsteps.

"I thank Guatemala's Foreign Minister, who is here, Sandra Jovel, who has joined us today. We will open your embassy two days from tomorrow. Thank you," he said. "I thank the President of Paraguay and the incoming President of Paraguay, because they'll open their embassy a few days after that. And other nations are in the process of doing exactly that."

Netanyahu and his wife Sara with members of the US delegation (Photo: GPO)

Netanyahu then reiterated his advocacy for all to do the same, calling on all countries to "join the US in moving their embassies to Jerusalem," claiming it is not only the right thing to do, but that it would also promote peace.

"You base peace on the foundations of truth, and the truth is that not only has Jerusalem been the capital of the Jewish people for millennia and the capital of our state from its inception, the truth is that under any peace agreement you could possibly imagine, Jerusalem will remain Israel's capital," he affirmed.

Moving to another pressing Issue the Trump administration has stood firmly alongside Israel on, the premier spoke about Iran and it sponsorship of terrorism, stating that Trump's decision to confront the Mullah regime is yet another step towards achieving regional peace and criticizing Europe's unwavering support of the Iran nuclear agreement.

"To achieve peace, we have to do one other thing: We must confront the enemies of peace, and I thank President Trump for his decision to confront Iran rather than to appease it," he said. "Pulling out of the nuclear deal means that the world's greater sponsor of terrorism, greatest sponsor of terrorism, is no longer on a glide-path to attaining an arsenal of nuclear weapons. This is good for Israel, this is good for the region, and it's good for the world.

Netanyahu with David Friedman (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

"Now, I have something to say to part of the world: With all due respect to those sitting in European capitals, we here in the capitals of the Middle Eastin Jerusalem, in Riyadh and elsewherewe've seen the disastrous consequences of the Iran deal. And so when President Trump decides to pull out of this deal, to walk away from it, we know that when he walks away from a bad deal, he's doing a good thing for our region, for the United States and for the world.

He then took the time to greet the US delegation. "I welcome Deputy Secretary Sullivan, Secretary Mnuchin, Jason Greenblatt, Ambassador David Friedman, who I mentioned before, and of course a special welcome to Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka.

"I've known Jared for 15 years, and there's a special bond between our families, but I think the fact that you and Ivanka are here is a special, personal testament, but also a national and international statement. It is one that touches our hearts, and we are all delighted by your presence at any time, at any day, but especially on this day. Thank you.

"We value all of your friendships, all of you for coming here on this historic occasion. Thank you for standing up with Israel. Thank you for standing up for the truth. Thank you for standing up for Jerusalem. Thank you for coming here from all over the world.

"Thank you all."

Netanyahu meeting the First Daughter, her husband and the US Treasury Secretary (Photo: Israel Foreign Ministry)

In a following speech, Manucin later called the event "a historic moment in US-Israeli relations" and a "sign of lasting friendship between the two countries."

"This is appropriate, as Israel celebrates 70 years since its independence. We are celebrating 70 years of freedom and democracy," he said, noting that "In 1995, (The US) Congress passed a law to the move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, with the support of both parties, but for 20 years this promise has not been fulfilled. Trump pledged to fulfill this promise, and as a result of his leadership we are here."

"As Secretary of the Treasury, I am committed to using our financial tools to cut the terrorists out of financial systems until they change their behavior. These tools work" he added, referring to recent sanctions impose on Iran, making it clear it was one of the reasons Trump decided top withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement,

"(Iran) must not have nuclear weapons. Not today and not years from now. Never. We will continue to work closely with Israel and all of our allies on a real and comprehensive solution (to this issue)," he concluded.

Netanyahu with his wife Sara (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

Shapiro, a vocal supporter of Israel, said he is happy with Trump's decision to move the embassy, saying "Jerusalem is a suitable place for the US Embassy," and adding that he hopes the US will use this to advance the two-state solution, with Jerusalem being the capital of both.

"Opening the embassy will advance this, even if in the long run," he asserted.
The Israeli government allocated some NIS 2.5 billion on Sunday to bolster Jerusalem, including NIS 50 million for the regulation of all lands in east Jerusalem.

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The move, which will see all east Jerusalem lands registered within the next seven years, is meant to further strengthen Israeli sovereignty in the contested eastern part of the city, a day before the US moves its embassy to the capital.

The Justice Ministry's Land Registration and Settlement of Rights Department was tasked with leading the move, which was an initiative by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked in cooperation with the Jerusalem municipality.

East Jerusalem (Photo: Lin Levy)

This would be the first time Israel applies sovereignty to east Jerusalem in practice since it officially annexed it in 1980.

The residents are expected to benefit from the move, as anyone who claims ownership over land would be able to file a petition to the Registration Commissioner and be officially recognized by the state as the lands owner. If contradictory claims are made, a court will be required to rule on the matter.

The Land Registration and Settlement of Rights Department has already begun the process of regulating the lands in east Jerusalem over the past month.

According to the proposal approved on Sunday, at least 50 percent of the land registrations in east Jerusalem will be completed by the end of 2021, while the rest will be completed by 2025.

The plan will also see industrial zones built in east Jerusalem on some 260 dunams.

A team headed by the Justice Ministry director-general, which will include representatives from relevant ministries, will accompany the move. After a year, the team will be tasked with examining the progress made.

Another team led by the head of the Finance Ministry's Administration of Planning, which will also include representatives from relevant ministries, will be tasked with examining ways to remove barriers in planning and in connecting east Jerusalem neighborhoods to the citys sewage and water infrastructure.

A third team led by the Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Ministry will work with the residents of the eastern neighborhoods in an effort to carry out the decision with their consent and cooperation.

East Jerusalem

"A day before Jerusalem is bolstered by the move of the American embassy to the municipality, and after decades have passed since the applying of Israeli sovereignty in east Jerusalem, we're empowering the city and applying sovereignty in practice," Justice Minister Shaked said.

"This is important to the residents of east Jerusalem as well, as in the absence of such a move, those who own lands are unable to exercise their right to these lands, including by receiving building permits. Sovereignty and the benefit of the residents go hand-in-hand."

Bill sanctioning government ministries yet to move to Jerusalem struck down

Meanwhile, the ministers opposed one proposal Sunday to sanction government ministries that have yet to move all of their units and departments to Jerusalem.

According to the proposal, submitted by Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Ze'ev Elkin and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, fines will be given to ministries that don't move to the capital, while their rents will be doubled.

The sanctions are meant to help implement a 2007 government decision on the matter.

Ministers objecting to the sanctions argued there is no suitable supply of office space in the capital to house all ministries.

In response, Elkin said only a handful of government units sought the help of the Finance Ministry's Government Housing Administration to find suitable solutions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to postpone the discussion on the proposal and asked the Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Ministry to submit a new plan on the matter within a month.

A study recently published by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies found that the move of government units to the capital would have a great financial impact to the city. According to the study, moving government units to Jerusalem would add some NIS 400 million a year to the city's economy and add 10,000 jobs in the capital.
News

Washington, DC - Attorney General Sessions recognized the service and sacrifice of federal, state, local, and tribal police officers on the occasion of National Police Week, and commented on the FBI's 2017 Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted report.

One officer death is too many, Attorney General Sessions said. While we are inexpressibly grateful to have had a decrease in the number of officers killed in the line-of-duty last year, the number is still far too high. At the Department of Justice, we honor the memories of the fallen and we pray for their families. We are also following President Trump's Executive Orders to back the women and men in blue, to enhance law enforcement safety, and to reduce violent crime in America. Those priorities will help keep every American safe, including those who risk their lives for us. As always, we have their backs and they have our thanks.

According to statistics collected by the FBI, 93 law enforcement officers were killed in line-of-duty incidents in 2017  a 21 percent decrease from 2016 when 118 law enforcement officers were killed in line-of-duty incidents.

Additionally, in 2017 there were 46 law enforcement officers killed in line-of-duty incidents as a result of felonious acts  this is a 30 percent decrease from 2016, when 66 law enforcement officer were killed in line-of-duty incidents as a result of felonious acts.

For the full comprehensive data tables about these incidents and brief narratives describing the fatal attacks and selected assaults resulting in injury, please see the 2017 edition of Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted report, released today at www.fbi.gov.

In October 1962, Congress passed and President Kennedy signed a joint resolution declaring May 15th as National Peace Officers Memorial Day to honor law enforcement officers killed or disabled in the line of duty. The resolution also created National Police Week as an annual tribute to law enforcement service and sacrifice.

During Police Week, which is observed from Sunday, May 13 to Saturday, May 19, 2018, our nation celebrates the contributions of police officers from around the country, recognizing their hard work, dedication, loyalty and commitment in keeping our communities safe.

The names of all 93 fallen officers nationwide will be formally dedicated on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC, during the 30th Annual Candlelight Vigil on the evening of May 13, 2018. So that people across the country can experience this unique and powerful ceremony, the vigil will be livestreamed beginning at 8:00 PM (EDT) on May 13th. To register for this free online event, visit www.LawMemorial.org/webcast

The Candlelight Vigil is one of many commemorative events taking place in the nations capital during National Police Week 2018.

For more information about other National Police Week events, please visit www.policeweek.org
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov departed to Belgium to attend the international conference on the victims of ethnic and religious violence in the Middle East, the press service of the Azerbaijans Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, APA reported.

Within the framework of the visit Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will deliver a speech and have a number of bilateral meetings.
News

Washington, DC - The Department of Justice and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that expands their collaboration to better detect and eliminate fraud, abuse, and discrimination by employers bringing foreign visa workers to the United States. This new effort improves the way the agencies share information, collaborate on cases, and train each others investigators.

The MOU will increase the ability of the agencies to share information and help identify, investigate, and prosecute employers who may be discriminating against U.S. workers and/or violating immigration laws. In 2010, USCIS and the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division entered into an ongoing partnership to share information about E-Verify misuse and combat employment discrimination, and todays MOU expands upon the two agencies existing partnership.

In 2017, the Civil Rights Division launched the Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, which is aimed at targeting, investigating, and taking enforcement actions against companies that discriminate against U.S. workers in favor of foreign visa workers. Under this Initiative, the Civil Rights Division has opened dozens of investigations, filed one lawsuit, and reached settlement agreements with two employers. Since the Initiatives inception, employers have agreed to pay or have distributed over $200,000 in back pay to affected U.S. workers. The Division has also increased its collaboration with other federal agencies to combat discrimination and abuse by employers using foreign visa workers.

USCIS administers the nations immigration system and adjudicates requests for immigration benefits, including employment-based petitions. To advance the goals of the Buy American and Hire American Executive Order and promote the economic interests of U.S. workers, USCIS is taking concrete steps to ensure the integrity of the employment-based immigration programs and improve its ability to detect and prevent fraud. Among other things, USCIS has created dedicated tip lines for reporting H-1B and H-2B visa fraud and abuse and expanded its site visit programs. USCIS has also worked with other government agencies that have a role in immigration, such as DOJ, to ensure that they efficiently share and appropriately act upon information regarding potential fraud and abuse of immigration programs. For more information, visit the USCIS Buy American and Hire American page.

In the spirit of President Trumps Executive Order on Buy American and Hire American, todays partnership adds to the Civil Rights Divisions tools to stop employers from discriminating against U.S. workers by favoring foreign visa workers, said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division. The Division looks forward to expanding its partnerships with USCIS to hold accountable employers that discriminate against U.S. workers based on their citizenship status.

Protecting and maintaining the integrity of our immigration system remains a key priority for me, and underpins the exceptional work of the professionals at USCIS, said USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna. This agreement enhances the level of coordination among investigators who often work on the same issues at different agencies. Breaking down silos and working with our federal partners to combat employment discrimination will help ensure that U.S. workers have the advocate they need at the highest level.

The Civil Rights Divisions Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Among other things, the statute prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; retaliation and intimidation. An employer that prefers to hire temporary foreign visa workers over available, qualified U.S. workers may be discriminating in violation of this law.
News

Washington, DC - Two Hyattsville, Maryland men were both sentenced today to 26 years in prison for sex trafficking three minors throughout the East Coast from September through November 2016.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Tracy Doherty-McCormick for the Eastern District of Virginia, Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBIs Washington Field Office, Fairfax County Chief of Police Colonel Edwin C. Roessler Jr. and Chief Humberto I. Cardounel Jr. of Henrico County Police Division, made the announcement.

Dennis Davis Jr. aka Dee, 26, and Ivan Williams aka Lucci, 28, were sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Judge Ellis ordered Davis and Williams to serve 10 years of supervised release following their 312-month prison sentence. Both defendants were ordered to register as sex offenders. Davis and Williams were each found guilty by a federal jury on Jan. 10, 2018, of three counts of sex trafficking and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.

According to evidence presented at trial and court documents, Davis and Williams sex trafficked three underage girls while working with their convicted co-conspirators, Chelsea Canterbury aka Katt, 26, and Rebecca Hamilton aka Becca, 22, also of Hyattsville, Maryland. Davis, Williams and their co-conspirators recruited the three underage girls, whom they trafficked in numerous locations, including Northern Virginia; Richmond, Virginia; Maryland; Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia. They worked together to post online advertisements of the victims on websites such as Backpage.com offering them for commercial sex with men throughout the region; reserved hotel rooms at which they and the victims would stay when traveling to engage in commercial sex acts; drove the victims to the hotels and other locations where the commercial sex acts occurred; and collected the money given to the victims by the commercial sex customers. The evidence further showed that when two of the minors tried to leave the group, Davis and Williams resorted to violence, including physical force and brandishing firearms. Davis and Williams used the money earned by the victims to create rap music where they bragged about exploiting females, and to fund their day-to-day living expenses.

The FBIs Child Exploitation Task Force investigated the case with substantial assistance from the Fairfax County Police Department and the Henrico County Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen C. Cain of the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Jessica L. Urban of the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) prosecuted the case.
Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - On May 9, three members of Red Skin Kingz, also known as RSK, were sentenced to prison following their respective guilty pleas to RICO conspiracy for their participation in the violent RSK criminal street gang.

Devan Edward Leonard, 28, of Lukachukai, Arizona, the leader of RSK, was sentenced to 50 years in prison; Kyle Filbert Gray, 26, of Lukachukai, Arizona, was sentenced to 30 years in prison; and Lucille Jean Leonard, 48, of Lukachukai, Arizona, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. All defendants were sentenced by U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell in the District of Arizona

Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth A. Strange for the District of Arizona, Special Agent in Charge Michael DeLeon of FBIs Phoenix Field Office and Colonel Frank Milstead of the Arizona Department of Public Safety announced the sentencings. The Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety also provided significant assistance during the investigation.

As detailed in their three plea agreements, Devan Leonard, Kyle Gray, and Lucille Leonard are members of the RSK. RSK operated on the eastern side of the Navajo Nation in the District of Arizona. RSK was responsible for at least three murders, attempted murder, aggravated assaults, kidnappings, and drug trafficking, amongst other crimes.

On or between Dec. 12 and Dec. 13, 2014, Devan Leonard and another RSK member shot and killed two men, in Lukachukai, Arizona on the Navajo Indian Reservation, where the bodies were dismembered, burned and buried, to conceal the killings.

On Dec. 16, 2014, Kyle Gray and Devan Leonard shot and killed another victim immediately following a drug trafficking transaction. Later, Devan Leonard and Kyle Gray transported the victims body to a remote sheep camp on the reservation, where they dismembered, and burned the victims body.

Lucille Leonard held a leadership role in RSK, mostly participating in and overseeing RSKs drug trafficking organization, including the collection of debts owed to RSK.

The second superseding indictment in this matter was the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Arizona, and the Criminal Divisions Organized Crime and Gang Section. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dimitra Sampson and Tracy Van Buskirk of the District of Arizona, and Trial Attorneys Kelly Pearson and Hans Miller of the Criminal Divisions Organized Crime and Gang Section prosecuted the case.
Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - This week, Thane Epefanio, 45, of Avondale, Arizona, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Steven P. Logan to two years in prison for embezzling money from the Hopi Mission School located on the Hopi Reservation in Kykotsmovi, Arizona. Epefanio had previously pleaded guilty to money laundering and wire fraud.

Epefanio served as the Superintendent and Administrator of the Hopi Mission School, a private, charitable school funded primarily with donations and through participation in government programs. Beginning in 2012, Epefanio used his position and influence to embezzle school funds and also directed staff to provide him money to create the appearance that the funds were being used to operate the school. Epefanio obtained almost $1 million to support his gambling habit and to pay for personal expenses.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Social Security Administration, Inspector General Office of Investigation. The prosecution was handled by Monica B. Edelstein and Natalie Huddleston, Assistant U.S. Attorneys.
Arizona News

Yuma, Arizona - While no one anticipates that their day on the water will be cut short by an accident, all boaters should prepare for the unexpected and know what to do in the event of an incident.

If you are in a collision or accident while on one of the states waterways, Arizona law requires you to:

stop and render aid at the scene of the accident;

help those that have been injured and provide any assistance necessary unless doing so would endanger additional passengers or boats; and

exchange names, addresses, contact information and the boats identifying numbers with anyone injured in the accident and/or the owner of any property that was damaged.

If its an emergency, call 911 if cellphone service is available. When preparing for an outing, boaters should take note of which law enforcement agency has jurisdiction on the waterway in order to call for assistance if needed. In addition, the National Safe Boating Council recommends that boaters carry at least two communication devices that will work when wet. For example, an emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) and personal locator beacon (PLB) both transmit a coded message to the nearest rescue coordination center.

In addition, daytime and nighttime signaling devices (brightly colored flags, spotlights, flares, strobe lights, etc.) are required on the Colorado River and are a good idea for any emergency situation. Plan to be self-reliant until help arrives. Arizonas waterways are somewhat remote, and it may be an extended period before emergency personnel are able locate you. Carry plenty of water, be able to provide shelter from the sun and have first-aid supplies onboard. Above all, carry the required safety equipment and wear a life jacket. You can never put on a life jacket fast enough to save your life. Last year the majority of boating fatalities could have been prevented if the victims had been wearing a life jacket.

An accident must be reported to the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) within five days if an incident causes more than $500 in damage to the boat or personal property. Arizona Boating Accident and Casualty Report forms are available online as well as from law enforcement personnel and AZGFD offices. The report must be sent to: Arizona Game and Fish Department, Attn: Boating Law Administrator, 5000 W. Carefree Highway, Phoenix, AZ, 85086.

Arizona is required by federal law to report boating incidents to the United States Coast Guard. The Coast Guard reviews types and causes of incidents and determines if boating practices or the vessel can be made safer to ensure public safety. These reports help us identify issues to improve boating safety throughout the state, said Tim Baumgarten, boating law administrator for the AZGFD. We need to know what the causes of incidents are so that we can proactively address them.

Stay safe this summer by wearing a life jacket  and its mandatory in many cases. State law requires that children 12 and younger wear a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket while underway on any boat, each person on a personal watercraft like a Sea-Doo or Jet Ski must wear a personal flotation device, and each person being towed or surfing behind a boat on water skis or a similar device must wear a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket. In addition, all boats including paddleboards and kayaks must carry a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket that is the proper size for each person on board.

For more information on boating safety and best practices, AZGFD has many resources posted online at www.azgfd.gov/boating and also offers a free in-person class at multiple locations throughout the state each month.
Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) is accepting online applications for 2018 hunt permit-tags issued through the draw process for deer, fall turkey, fall javelina, bighorn sheep, fall bison and pheasant.

To apply online, visit https://draw.azgfd.gov/ and scroll down to Apply for a Draw. All online applications must be received by the department by 11:59 p.m. (Arizona time) Tuesday, June 12. As a reminder, applicants must possess a valid Arizona hunting license to apply online for a hunt permit-tag. That license must be valid on the last day of the online application period (June 12). Licenses are available online and at department offices and license dealers statewide.

AZGFD encourages applicants to consider adding PointGuard when applying online for a hunt permit-tag. PointGuard ensures if a successful applicant is unable to participate in a hunt for any reason, the accumulated bonus points that were expended to draw that hunt permit-tag will be reinstated.

All online applicants must sign up for a free AZGFD portal account to purchase PointGuard (visit https://accounts.azgfd.com/Account/Register). PointGuard is $5 per species, per applicant, purchased at the time of completing the online application or through June 28, which also is the deadline to update credit card or debit card information. For more information about PointGuard, visit https://www.azgfd.com/hunting/pointguard.

AZGFD encourages all hunters to open a free portal account. The portal allows customers to create a secure account where they can manage and view their contact information, as well as their license and draw results history and bonus points, in their personal My AZ Dashboard section. A portal account is a mobile-friendly, convenient way to access the online license purchase and hunt draw application systems.

Another benefit of having a portal account is the opportunity to sign up for the I Support Wildlife program, which helps fund wildlife conservation in Arizona. An annual membership for $25 includes access to the premium version of the Recreational Access Arizona (RAA) online mapping application, the latest fish stocking reports, an I Support Wildlife window decal and a one-year subscription to the award-winning Arizona Wildlife Views magazine.

The premium RAA mapping application is a significant upgrade over the free version and is a tremendous tool when planning your hunt. It is designed to work on all mobile devices (with active cell service) and lets you see your current location in reference to different data layers, including Game Management Units, wildlife waters, Arizona land ownership, an ESRI USA Topographic (USGS 24k Topo) basemap and more. Even better, the premium mapping application allows you to create your own point locations and automatically save and sync that data to all of your devices.

For questions about opening a portal account, call the department at (602) 942-3000 and press 7.
Latest News

Boston, Massachusetts - A Newton, Massachusetts man, who was charged with conducting an extensive cyberstalking campaign against his former housemate, her family members, co-workers, friends, and others, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to all charges in a 25-count Information.

Ryan S. Lin, 25, pleaded guilty to seven counts of cyberstalking, five counts of distribution of child pornography, nine counts of making hoax bomb threats, three counts of computer fraud and abuse and one count of aggravated identity theft. As part of Lins plea agreement, Lin agreed to be sentenced to a minimum of seven years and a maximum of 17  years in prison. Judge William G. Young scheduled the sentencing hearing for Sep. 14. Lin was arrested in October 2017 and has been held in custody since.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling for the District of Massachusetts, Special Agent in Charge Harold H. Shaw of the FBI Boston Field Office and Waltham Police Chief Keith MacPherson made the announcement today.

According to the Information to which Lin pleaded guilty, from about May 2016 through Oct. 5, 2017, Lin engaged in an extensive cyberstalking campaign against a 24-year-old female victim. Lin, the victims former housemate, hacked into the victims online accounts and devices and stole the victims private photographs, personally identifiable information, and private diary entries, which contained highly sensitive details about her medical, psychological and sexual history, and distributed the victims material to hundreds of people associated with her.

Lin also created and posted fraudulent online profiles in the victims name and solicited rape fantasies, including gang bang and other sexual activities, which in turn caused men to show up at the victims home. Lin engaged in a number of other activities targeting the female victim, including relentless anonymous text messaging and additional hoaxes, from shortly after he met her until October 2017.

In addition to his former housemate, Lin engaged in cyberstalking activity aimed at six additional individuals. Some were associated with the former housemate, and others were entirely unrelated. The additional victims include a female victim that was also Lins housemate in Newton at the time of his arrest. On multiple occasions, Lin sent sexually explicit images of prepubescent children on an unsolicited basis to the victims mother, the victims co-worker and housemate, a friend of the victim who resided in New Jersey, and two of Lins former classmates in New York.

In addition to the cyberstalking activity, Lin falsely and repeatedly reported to law enforcement that there were bombs at the victims Waltham, Massachusetts residence. Lin also created a false social media profile in the name of the victims housemate in Waltham and posted that he was going to shoot up a school in Waltham, stating that there would be blood and corpses everywhere. These threats expanded beyond Waltham and became part of an extensive and prolonged pattern of threats to local schools, private homes, businesses, and other institutions in the broader community. Ultimately, Lin pleaded guilty to having made over 100 bomb threats, including 24 in a single day.

The investigation was conducted by the FBIs Boston Field Office and the Waltham Police Department. The Middlesex County District Attorneys Office and Watertown, Newton and Wellesley Police Departments assisted in the investigation. Senior Trial Attorney Mona Sedky of the Criminal Divisions Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Harman Burkart, Chief of Lellings Cybercrime Unit are prosecuting the case.
Latest News

Miami, Florida - A Colombian citizen was extradited from Colombia to the United States to face a four-count federal indictment in the Southern District of Florida for his role in a scheme to smuggle illegal aliens from Colombia into the United States.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg of the Southern District of Florida, and Special Agent in Charge Mark Selby of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami Field Office made the announcement.

Fredis Valencia Palacios, 29, is charged along with three others in a Jan. 6 indictment with one count of conspiracy to encourage and induce aliens to come to the Unites States as well as three counts of encouraging and inducing aliens to come to the United States. Palacios had his initial court appearance earlier today and has a detention hearing on May 15 at 10 a.m. ET before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alicia M. Otazo-Reyes. Colombian nationals Carlos Emilio Ibarguen Palacios, 26, and Jhoan Stiven Carreazo Asprilla, 23, were previously extradited to the Southern District of Florida on Nov. 8, 2017 and Jan. 18., respectively. According to allegations in the indictment, from as early as November 2014, Valencia Palacios and other co-conspirators organized and arranged the unlawful smuggling of illegal aliens to the United States. The indictment alleges that in at least one instance, the defendants conduct resulted in the death of two individuals.

This case is scheduled for trial before U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez in Miami on Aug. 6.

The charges and allegations in the indictment are merely accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

This case is being investigated by HSI Miami, with assistance from the HSI Bogota field office. The Government of Colombia, including the Colombian Office of the Attorney General, provided significant assistance and support during the investigation. The Criminal Divisions Office of International Affairs provided significant support with the defendants extradition. The investigation is being conducted under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between the Justice Departments Criminal Division and HSI. The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks, or present grave humanitarian concerns. ECT has dedicated investigative, intelligence and prosecutorial resources. ECT coordinates and receives assistance from other U.S. government agencies and foreign law enforcement authorities.

This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Danielle Hickman of the Criminal Divisions Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Dobbins of the Southern District of Florida.
Latest News

Washington, DC - Reynaldo B. Regis, 53, of Fort Washington, Maryland, and a former CIA contractor, pleaded guilty yesterday to unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials, and making material false statements to federal law enforcement officers.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, Acting U.S. Attorney Tracy Doherty-McCormick for the Eastern District of Virginia and Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBIs Washington Field Office made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Liam OGrady accepted the plea.

According to court documents, Regis is a former employee of a government contractor who was assigned to the CIA between August 2006 and November 2016. During his time at the CIA, Regis conducted unauthorized searches in classified databases and copied classified information into personal notebooks, which he removed from his workspace at the CIA and stored in his home without authorization. When initially interviewed by federal law enforcement, Regis lied about having done so. During a search of his home, FBI agents recovered approximately 60 notebooks containing classified information. The classified information contained in the notebooks included information relating to highly sensitive intelligence reports, disclosure of which could cause serious damage to the national security.

Regis faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Regis is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 21. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes. The sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Trial Attorney Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Divisions Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Danya E. Atiyeh of the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting this case.
Latest News

Los Angeles, California - A now-defunct debt collection company that was based in Culver City was sentenced Monday for its role in a scheme that paid bribes to a public official in Arizona in exchange for confidential information that helped the company collect nearly $1 million in outstanding debts.

Professional Collection Consultants (PCC) was ordered to pay a $350,000 fine and to forfeit $946,770, which represent the amount of money PCC was able to collect in eight months as a result of the information obtained through bribes.

PCC was sentenced by United States District Judge S. James Otero, who is scheduled to sentence a PCC employee later this month for his role in the scheme.

According to court documents, PCC paid bribes to an employee of the Arizona Department of Economic Security, the state agency that provided unemployment insurance benefits, from approximately September 2010 through August 2013. In exchange for the bribes, the public official disclosed to PCC wage and earnings information for specific Social Security numbers that had been provided by a PCC employee. The state agency maintained employment-related data in its computer systems that were linked with federal and state databases containing confidential information for people across the nation.

The PCC employee who was charged in this case  Michael S. Flowers, 56, of Mid-City Los Angeles  provided the Arizona official with the names and social security numbers of thousands of people who owed money on accounts being serviced by PCC, and the official sent confidential information found on each individual or advise that no wages existed for a specific Social Security number. PCC used the confidential information to analyze the collectability of each debtors debt and to determine whether it made financial sense for PCC to sue a debtor in an effort to obtain a judgment that would allow PCC to garnish wages.

Flowers deposited the bribe payments into a local bank where the Arizona official maintained an account.

During the first eight months of 2013, the confidential information assisted PCCs efforts in collecting $946,770 in debts owed, and Flowers received a 10 percent commission on these recoveries.

PCC and Flowers each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning a program receiving federal funds. Flowers is scheduled to be sentenced on May 29.

This matter was investigated by the United States Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General, which received assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Elisa Fernandez of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section.
It won't be easy to protect German firms that continue business cooperation with Iran after the US has decided to introduce restrictive measures against the country, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Sunday, Sputnik reported.

"I don't see any simple solution to shield companies from all the risks of American sanctions," Maas told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

Although France, Germany and the United Kingdom have reiterated their commitment to the JCPOA, their firms are still facing serious challenges, as they are likely to become a subject to Washington's sanctions once they come into force.

"The talks with the Europeans, Iran and the other signatories to the agreement are therefore also about how it can be possible to continue trade with Iran," Maas said.

The top diplomat also added that European partners are working to ensure that Iran would remain committed to the rules of the nuclear deal.
- The perennial clashes between the two halls have gone on for decades

- Police are conducting criminal investigations into the incident

The University of Ghana on Friday evening witnessed renewed clashes between some residents of Commonwealth Hall also known as Vandals and their counterparts at Mensah Sarbah Hall, known as Okpo Mates.

READ ALSO: Ghanaian celebrities said to be weak in bed ("one-minute" men)

The incident occurred when the Vandals embarked on their traditional semester walk across the school campus. This time, they chose to use the road in front of Mensah-Sarbah Hall and this turned into fisticuffs.

One of the damaged cars at the car park. Photo credit: citinewsroom.com

According to a reporter with Radio Univers, the misunderstanding happened around 6pm. The semester walk by the Vandals is a pre-examination period ritual in which they embark on a procession. As challenge would have it, they used the road right in front of Mensah Sarbah Hall.

A confrontation ensued when the members of the Mensah Sarbah Hall took offence to the actions of the Vandals. Two vehicles, one of which belongs to the Sarbah Hallmaster, were badly destroyed at the Sarbah Hall car park.

Police arriving at the scene. Photo credit: citinewsroom.com

According to reports, the police arrived quickly to quell the situation. The Dean of Student Affairs, Prof. Godfred Bokpin visited the scene and remarked that the procession of the members of Commonwealth was against his direct orders.

READ ALSO: Akufo Addo is exaggerating J. B. Danquah's role in founding University of Ghana - Baako

The background to this particular clash is a long one. The two halls in question have been traditional enemies for decades.

There are no reports of fatalities but the Police and the University management have commenced investigations into the matter.

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Richard Brown, the estranged "baby daddy" of media personality, Nana Aba Anamoah, has taken to social media to wish her well on the occasion of Mother's Day.

Nana Aba Anamoah

Richard who has been engaged in a media cold war with Nana Aba over their son, Pow Kow Anamoah, sought to take the high road by putting his difference with the broadcaster aside and wishing her a happy Mother's Day.

Nana Aba's "baby daddy", Richard Brown.

READ ALSO: Facts about John Dumelos wife that you never knew

Sharing a beautiful picture of Nana Aba on his Facebook page, Brown praised her as the best mum in the world and asked for God's blessing for her.

"Happy Mothers Day to the best mother in the world. May God bless u and grants u all ur needs in his mighty name. Amen ," he wrote.

Brown recently made the news when he declared publicly for the first time that he was the father of Nana Aba's teenage son.

He made the declaration in a post on Facebook after Naba Aba had shared some fun photos of her with her son on Instagram.

One of the fun photos of Nana Aba and her son that prompted her baby daddy, Richard Brown, to claim Pow Kow as his

Before then, the identity of Pow Kow's father was not known to the public, and Brown's public declaration prompted Nana Aba to delete the pictures she had shared.

It is not known what caused the bad blood between Brown and his baby mama, but some reports suggest that he abandoned Nana Aba when she got pregnant with her son at a time she needed him most.

Other reports accused him of failing to taking responsibility for his son for many years and showing up to claim him only when it was convenient for him.

But Brown has denied those reports, stressing that he took care of Nana Aba and the child and even sponsored the broadcaster's education.

He said it was Nana Aba who had prevented him out of anger from seeing his son.

According to him, all effort he made privately to be part of his son's life were blocked by his baby mama.

Nana Aba Anamoah

It is not clear if Brown's latest gesture of goodwill will impress Nana Aba and prompt the top broadcaster to reconsider her relationship with him.

READ ALSO: More photos of the beautiful lady Dumelo "dumped" just two weeks to his wedding

What do you make of this? Share your views on this with us in the comments section below.

Source: Yen
- John Mahama says Nana Addo is practicing nepotism

- He is calling on the president to be embracing to all Ghanaians

- Mahama is yet to make known his intention to lead the 2020 election

Ex-president, John Dramani Mahama has bemoaned what he describes as the division that President Akufo-Addo has brought in the country ever since he was elected into office.

John Mahama believes the Akufo-Addo administration is only appointing friends and family into his administration instead of people with merit and experience to do the job.

READ ALSO: Photos of John Dumelo's reported angry and heartbroken ex-girlfriend

If were to build a nation then we must have that heart to accommodate everybody in the economic advancement of our country. But since the NPP came it was like. And they say it in a proverb, you have to feed your children before you feed somebody elses children, who are somebodys children..? he quizzed.

Mahama was speaking at the maiden National Conference of Ex-MMDCES where he expressed worry over developments in the country under the leadership of Nana Addo. Meanwhile, John Mahama is yet to announce his intention to lead the NDC in the 2020 elections.

READ ALSO: Wild photos of Ghanaian celebrities at John Dumelo's wedding mesmerise Ghanaians online

The former president has assured party members that he will make his annoucements sooner than most of us imagined.

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Actor, John Dumelo is now married, amidst all the shock, allegations and girlfriend drama - he is now a legally married man.

The marriage of John Dumelo came as a shock to so many social media fans and supporters especially when last minute photos of the actor and his wife got churned out on social media hours to his media.

4 lessons all single Ghanaian guys must learn from Dumelo's wedding

READ ALSO: Wild photos of Ghanaian celebrities at John Dumelo's wedding mesmerise Ghanaians online

The marriage of Dumelo leaves us with so many lessons, especially us young and single young men. In this article, we shall be looking at some of the key lessons we can take from Dumelo's wedding.

Lesson 1. You need to always think about the future. You will grow old sometime

No matter how long you choose to be single, it is obvious that you will not be that way forever. It's been years since Dumelo has been a single and yet successful man but his age never stayed as it used to be some five years ago.

Lesson 2. Make all the money you got to make while single

John Dumelo has explored all angles of wealth creation - from venturing to real estate, automobile to politics - John Dumelo has proved to us all that he can be successful in every area of life. He definitely is one of the richest actors in Ghana today.

Lesson 3. Never announce every good thing in your life.

It was until recently that we got word that John Dumelo was getting married. In fact, news of his marriage was given just hours to this wedding ceremony. Most of us single men are interested in blowing our horns and announcing every big thing that happens in our lives. This is not the way to go especially when you want to go far.

Lesson 4. Try to never break the heart of past or present lovers.

With barely 24 hours since the wedding of Dumelo, there have been wild claims and videos from a heartbroken ex-girlfriend who claims she once dated the actor who broke up with her two weeks before the wedding. What could have happened when indeed Dumelo could have 'remained loyal' to his past lovers and at least help them understand what is going on.

READ ALSO: Photos of John Dumelo's reported angry and heartbroken ex-girlfriend

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The Revolutionary Court of Iran has sentenced to death six militants belonging to the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) after they were found guilty of carrying out the 2017 terrorist attacks in Tehran, Al-Masdar News reported citing Iranian state media.

The state media noted that under the Iranian law, defendants will be able to appeal the verdict within 20 days after their conviction.

On June 7, 2017, a group of four men in womens clothing opened fire on the Iranian parliament building, causing many deaths in the process. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Iran confirmed the death of one of the terrorists. As a result of the terrorist attacks, about 20 people were killed and dozens of people were wounded.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that, if its interests were protected, Tehran would remain committed to its 2015 nuclear deal, which his foreign minister hoped could be redesigned without Washington, Reuters reported.

If the remaining five countries continue to abide by the agreement, Iran will remain in the deal despite the will of America, he said during a meeting with Sri Lankas president.
Today Russia celebrates the Day of the Black Sea Fleet. This holiday was established by the decree of commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy on July 15, 1996.

The Black Sea Fleet is the fleet of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Mediterranean Sea.

The fleet is considered to have been founded by Prince Potemkin on May 13, 1783. In 1918, the fleet was inherited by the Russian SFSR then the Soviet Union in 1922, where it became part of the Soviet Navy.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Black Sea Fleet and most of its vessels were inherited by the Russian Federation.

The Black Sea Fleet's official primary headquarters and facilities are located in the city of Sevastopol. The remainder of the fleet's facilities are based in various locations on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, including Krasnodar Krai, Rostov Oblast and Crimea.

The current commander is Admiral Aleksandr Viktorovich Vitko, who has held the position since April 2013.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who is in China to discuss the future of the nuclear deal in light of US withdrawal, said JCPOA would stay in place as long as EU guarantees that Irans interests are not violated, Mehr news agency reported.

Zarif made the remarks while speaking to reporters upon arrival at Beijing International Airport on Sunday morning. He added that the European Union has made the most demands on Iran after US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, urging us to stay committed to the international agreement.

European countries must guarantee that despite the US pullout from the JCPOA, the interests of the Iranian nation will be preserved, he added.
World stage: Chau plays the piano at an international contest. Photos courtesy of her parents

Viet Nam News By Thanh Ha Tran Minh Chau, 14, is one of the youngest people among 10 others receiving Viet Nams Outstanding Youth Awards for the Year 2017. She has successfully passed an exam to study culture and art for talent between now and 2025, approved by the Prime Minister. Her achievements last year included first prize at the Ricard Vines International Piano Contest in Lleida, Spain, first prize at the AFAF Piano International Concerto Competition in the US, first prize at the Future Stars Piano Competition in Poland, and more.

Young talent: Tran Minh Chau with her piano at home.

Born in Ha Noi, her parents were not artists, but from the age of four Chau displayed musical talent. She often sat side by side with her elder sister to watch her play the piano.

She seemed to be hypnotized when her sister was playing a melody. Despite her young age, we decided to allow her to learn the piano, said Chaus father Tran uc Minh.

Chaus piano teacher, Nguyen Thu Huong, told her parents that their daughter had a natural gift for the piano, and asked the family to create favourable conditions for her to develop her talent.

At the age of 10, Chau enrolled in the Viet Nam National Academy of Music to study piano, taught by Professor and Peoples Artist Tran Thu Ha.

Prof Ha has encouraged me so much, she pumped her musical passion into me, although she is very strict, she has invested much of her time into me," said Chau. "Each time I met with a challenge, I was carefully guided through it by her. She always goes along with me when I compete abroad, and telephones me to encourage me if she cant make a trip.

At the age of 11 she joined the 18th International Music Competition Pietro Argento in Italy for the first time. Chau won the first prize for competitors aged between 10 and 13. The competition had 100 competitors from 20 countries. Since then she has won many prizes at international piano contests.

Chau said she was challenged at the contest last year in Spain because she had to compete against many talented musicians from countries with long standing traditions of classic music such as Germany, Russia, Hungary, Portugal, Switzerland and South Korea.

I was dazzled by these competitors, who were taught by world famous teachers, but I just thought that I had to calm down and be confident to compete with them, she said.

Despite difficult contest panels, Chau won first prize for competitors aged 12-14. Upon returning from Spain, she continued to immerse herself in study at the Marie Curie school, and at the national music academy.

My dream is to become a pianist and perform in many countries. I would like to bring classical piano music to audiences around the world, particularly young ones, said Chau, noting that her favourite piece of music is the Hungarian Rhapsody No 11 of Franz Liszt.

Every day Chau spends around 3-4 hours playing the piano. To prepare for international contests, she has to invest between 6-8 hours per day, said her father Minh.

Hard work and international experiences have inspired my daughter to improve her playing of the piano, said Minh.

He recalled that Chaus learning of the art challenged his family. We worried that our daughter could not follow both school and music at the same time, but seeing her passion of the piano, and her adventures to conquer international contests, we now help her pursue her dream.

Chau still spends her time learning English and swimming, as well as reading. Chau plans to study the piano in Germany after graduating from high school in Viet Nam. VNS

A number of Chaus notable achievements so far include:

2015: Gold medal at Asia International Piano Academy & Festival in South Korea; third prize at International Rosario Marciano in Vienna, Austria.

2016: First prize at the Lansum International Music Festival, California, the US.

2017: First prize at the International Piano Contest Maria Herero in Spain.
Small but mighty: Betel leaf beef - a delicious starter though quite expensive for the small portion. VNS Photo The Nomad Quynh

Viet Nam News If you think you already know dishes like banh xeo, banh trang or nem nuong too well, Anan Saigons creative versions might surprise you. Plus, their unique location is a bonus. The Nomad Quynh reports. Opened just over a year ago, Anan Saigon has quickly made its mark in HCM Citys food scene. Peter Cuong Franklin  the chef, founder and the face behind Anan  is an award-winning overseas Vietnameese chef who has worked at famous overseas establishments such as Alinea and Next (in Chicago) and Four Seasons Hotel (in Hong Kong), as well as founded two restaurants before coming back to Viet Nam - his motherland to open Anan. In case you are wondering how to pronounce this name, it is an an meaning eat eat in English. Before coming here I already heard about the restaurants unique location, and indeed it is. Anan is located on Ton That am Street inside Cho Cu (Old Market)  one of the oldest wet markets in HCM City. I find this part of the city very special and charming by itself: On one side you have the Bitexco Tower  the current highest building in the city, a symbol of the new and modern, but on the other side there is this Cho Cu  the symbol of the old and traditional which has been standing there through decades, with hundreds of vendors and street shops that are known to provide some of the best quality ingredients in the city, some of them are famous even among the foreigners living here. Therefore, going to Anan isnt simply just a trip to any restaurant, its a sightseeing tour by itself for you to see a very special part of old Sai Gon. This location is perhaps one of the reasons why Anan has quickly become very popular since it was opened, and of course the food too. At Anan, under Chef Peters talent and creativity, you will find dishes you might not see anywhere else in HCM City. Just like the location, the food is also another fusion between the old and the new, the local and the foreign, the traditional ingredients and the modern cooking techniques. I have been here with my friends several times, and even on weekdays Anan still seems almost packed. If you come in a taxi, ask them to stop outside at the corner of Ham Nghi and Ton That am, and take a stroll in for just a short distance so you can have a look at the wet market. If you come by motorbike, let the staff point you to the small parking lot nearby. The restaurant is spread over several floors of a typical but renovated Vietnamese house, with a cool rooftop where you can come early to enjoy the sunset and the view to Bitexco during happy hour (when they provide Vietnamese brewed beer, aka bia hoi at only VN10,000 per glass), or come up after dinner to enjoy a few glasses of wine or cocktails from their interesting drinks menu. We started with a portion of betel leaf beef, aka bo la lot (VN125,000) which was creatively presented on a grilled mesh and clay pot plus some salad on the side. For this price the portion is probably a bit small, nonetheless it was delicious. The meat was of high quality and the taste was flavourful, with just the right amount of seasoning.

Order it: One of my favourite dishes here - lemongrass pork chop. VNS Photo The Nomad Quynh

From the sea: Crab fried rice - another delicious main course. VNS Photo The Nomad Quynh

Hustle and bustle: Visitors crowd inside the ground floor seating area.  VNS Photo

Our second dish and first main course  Lemongrass bone-in pork chop (VN350,000)  is another beautifully presented dish and easily one of my favorites here. I usually am not a big fan of pork chop because of their high fat content, however the pork chop here has the right balance and is perfectly grilled. Furthermore, the addition of lemongrass and cucumber salad creates a very interesting and wholesome flavour, setting it apart from most pork chops that Ive tried in restaurants here. The portion is also quite adequate to be shared among two people. This is a dish I would definitely order again on future visits, as well as recommend to other guests.

Our second main course  Crab fried rice  comes in quite a big portion to share, and very reasonably priced at VN95,000. Again, it arrives elaborately presented with the crab in a shell on the side and a poached egg on top, all of which youre supposed to mix together. Again, I love the addition of fresh herbs here. It was a delicious dish, and a good choice if you want something tasty that can keep you full.

Another one of Chef Peters signatures and also a must-try dish here is banh xeo tacos. As the name suggests, this is a very unique blend between tacos and the famous Southern Vietnamese dish banh xeo, the result being a crunchy exterior with a mixture of banh xeo ingredients inside including vermicelli, herbs, shrimp, pork, beef or fish depending on which type you choose. Alternatively if you want to try all, opt for the Ba Tacos (Three Tacos) which consists of all three choices for VN175,000.

As if having an award-winning chef, an interesting location and some creative food isnt enough, Anan is also well-known as the place that offers US$100 banh mi and pho. Yes you heard me, one hundred US dollars for the types of dishes you typically get at any street corner for $1 or 2. So what are the secrets in them? Foie gras, truffle, caviar, premium meat, you get the idea. Be advised that these one-of-a-kind treats are not on the usual menu, you have to order one day in advance for them to prepare. If you ever feel bored of the normal banh mi and pho and feel like splurging once in a while, then why not?

On the other hand, if going through all the options in the menu gives you a headache, check out their 4 tasting menu options which offer you all their specialties. Each of them has 6 to 8 dishes, with price ranging from VN390,000 to 490,000 per person. Veggie menu is also available.

Drinks is another special part of Anans menu as well. Besides the usual suspects, there are interesting signature cocktails such as Tra a (a very refreshing one made from gin-infused a Lat black tea, honey, lime and soda), Saigon Sunset (made from dark rum, sugarcane juice, ginger and calamansi), Phojito (from fragrant sticky rice wine and pho herbs), and many others. They also offer premium Vietnamese rice wine and spirits, in case you want to try.

The staff here are quite friendly and professional, which justifies the 15 per cent service charge on top of the above mentioned prices. It is indeed not a cheap place, but bear in mind you are going to experience unique and creative versions of the usual Southern Vietnamese dishes that probably no other places are able to offer. This explains why Anan is very popular especially among the expat community living in HCM City. Give it a try if you like Vietnamese food with a twist!

Anan Saigon

Address: 89 Ton That am Street, District 1, HCM City

Tel: 0904 792 920

Opening hours: Tuesday - Sunday from 5pm until late; Monday closed

Comment: Interesting place that offers a creative take on traditional Southern Vietnamese cuisine in a unique location. Reservation recommended during weekends.
Kentucky Mother of the Year Visits Washington, DC

Advertisement

By West Kentucky Star Staff

May. 11, 2018 | WASHINGTON, DC

By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 11, 2018 | 07:26 PM | WASHINGTON, DC

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) welcomed to his U.S. Capitol office, Tonya Moreland, the 2018 Kentucky Mother of the Year. She received the acclamation from American Mothers, Inc., a national non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of mothers and children in the United States and around the world.



Moreland and her husband David have two daughters and live in Corbin, Kentucky. In addition to homeschooling her children, Moreland is a published author of children's books. She earned her undergraduate degree in Special Education from the University of Kentucky and a Master's in Elementary Education from the University of the Cumberlands.



Senator McConnell said, "In advance of Mother's Day, I appreciated the opportunity to personally congratulate Tonya Moreland for being honored as the Kentucky Mother of the Year. This recognition speaks to her love of family and community and her desire to teach others about service and self-respect."



Moreland said, "Meeting with Senator McConnell was a highlight of my time at the American Mothers mother of the year convention. I was received by the Senator and his staff with wonderful southern hospitality. I was very pleased to hear of Senator McConnell's efforts to combat human trafficking and international parental child abduction and look forward to hearing of further work to help such victims."



As Kentucky Mother of the Year, Moreland serves as an ambassador for mothers across the country and was recognized during the American Mothers, Inc. annual national conference in Washington, D.C. last month.
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Camarones Enchilados Recipe (Puerto Rican Shrimp Creole)

Serves 4



Ingredients

Olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced

2 red bell peppers, diced

3 large cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon Smoked Spanish paprika

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

kosher salt

1/2 cup dry red wine

2 tablespoons capers

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes

3 large bay leaves

2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, plus more for serving

3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish



Cooked white rice, for serving.



Directions

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally until they start to soften (about 5 minutes). Add the garlic, paprika, cumin, red pepper, and a generous pinch of kosher salt, and cook until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes.



Add the wine, capers, and tomatoes, and bay leaves, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally until the liquid is slightly thickened (about 15 - 20 minutes).



Stir in the shrimp and cook until opaque, about 3 to five minutes.



Remove from heat, stir in the lime juice and fresh cilantro, remove the bay leaves, and serve with white rice.

I always used to take the Puerto Rican food I grew up with for granted. I loved and enjoyed eating the dishes of picadillo, tostones, and arroz con gandules my mom would serve us each night, but I never felt particularly curious about them. These were just the things we ate, and when it came to my own personal interests in food, I craved flavors from elsewhere.I started cooking as a young teen, but the first dishes I made were always the ones I couldnt get easily at home. Dishes like lasagna, souvlaki, and traditional American pastries were more exciting to me than what my mom made.It wasnt until I went away to college in a different city that I found myself suddenly craving those flavors Id grown up eating. Essentially it wasnt until I was away from home that I finally made it back to my mothers kitchen. Through my moms emailed recipes, and phone calls made while standing in the middle of the aisle at the grocery store, I was able to start recreating these flavors in my tiny college dorm room kitchen. And that was when I realized the power that food has to help us connect with and experience our history and culture no matter where we are in the world.For me, it started witha Puerto Rican dish of shrimp cooked in a spicy tomato sauce with peppers, onions, and plenty of garlic. This is a dish that I always loved, but especially because of the way it connected me to my mom.Due to our proximity to Mexico, people in the US tend to think of all Latin food as spicy, but the cuisine of the Latin Caribbean islands like Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic is actually not spicy. In fact, these(which translates roughly to Deviled Shrimp and which should definitely not be confused with Mexican, which are a totally different thing!) are one of the very few Puerto Rican dishes with any heat.Its that heat that made this dish special for my mom and me, because unlike my dad (and most Puerto Ricans!) we both really love spice. So this dish is one that she usually made just for the two of us to enjoy on the days when my dad was on a business trip or working through the weekend.It is also one of the first dishes I asked her to teach me how to make. I still remember the first time I did. I was about 20 or 21, and I kept her on the phone as I walked around the grocery store gathering ingredients, then later on again as I worked through the steps in my kitchen.It came out perfectly the first time (and ever since then!) and I remember marveling at the way just a few minutes of simmering spices and tomatoes together could suddenly surround me with the warmth and love of my mother.
Top Tories profit from the cannabis they say only criminals sell

Cannabis is a dull drug that induces apathy. Maybe something in the air confused Victoria Atkins, the drugs minister. Her husband, Paul Kenward, is managing director at British Sugar, operator of Britains biggest legal cannabis farm. But theres no conflict of interest between he and shes jobs. Perish the thought. The Home Office said she had voluntarily recused herself from policy or decisions relating to cannabis. Its all ok because the drugs minister wont talk about, er, drugs.

The drugs policy is a mess. If you grow cannabis illegally, you can be locked away for 14 years. Kenwards business is fine because it grows the banned weed for a new epilepsy medicine soon to be approved in the US  it was licensed in 2016; Atkins became a minister in 2017. Sill it all stinks stronger than that nasty skunk crap.

The Sundays Times adds:

[Atkins] She does not declare Kenwards role in the register of ministerial or MPs interests, though she mentioned it in a debate when she was a backbencher. Cabinet Office guidelines say interests held by the close family members of ministers should be declared where they are, or might reasonably be perceived to be, directly relevant to a ministers ministerial responsibilities.

Whoops!

Steve Moore, of Volteface, a think-tank on drug policy, tells the paper: The medical use of cannabis and its wider decriminalisation is rising up the political agenda. But we have the ridiculous situation of the drugs minister being unable to speak in parliament or make decisions on one of the most important parts of her job.

Ridiculous. Hypocritical. Wrong. Stupid. And useless for people who suffer from conditions that cannabis can alleviate.

Atkins, a barrister and former criminal drugs prosecutor, has been a firm opponent of decriminalising or regulating cannabis, saying its brief downgrading to a class C drug during the Blair government had a terrible impact and that the gun-toting criminals who control the trade would not suddenly become law-abiding citizens if it was legalised.

In 2017, she opined:

We are talking about gun-toting criminals, who think nothing of shooting each other and the people who carry their drugs for them. What on Earth does my Honorable Friend think their reaction will be to the idea of drugs being regulated? Does he really think that these awful people are suddenly going to become law-abiding citizens? I do not share the optimism of others about tackling the problem through regulation.

Maybe theyll all get jobs at her husbands firm?

The paper adds:

In her first three months in her post, between November and early February, Atkins gave 17 Commons speeches or ministerial parliamentary answers about drugs, including several on cannabis-based drugs known as cannabinoids. In the three months since, she has not spoken about drugs in the Commons and has answered only six written questions on the subject.

And theres more.

The majority of this legal cannabis is produced by one company: GW Pharmaceuticals. GW made headlines in 2010 after releasing Sativex: a controversial, cannabinoid-based, medication, legal to purchase in the UK. Sativex is an oromucosal spray of a formulated extract of the cannabis sativa plant that contains the principal cannabinoids delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) in a 1:1 ratio. GW is legally growing cannabis containing THC despite the British Government viewing cannabis as having no medicinal properties, refusing to remove it from Schedule I, the strictest level of drug schedule.

And:

GW was granted a licence from the Home Office in 1998 to grow cannabis plants for medical use and in 2010 the UK became the first country in the world to authorise a prescription medicine derived from cannabis.

This site adds:

[Theresa] Mays husband, Philip May works for Capital group, which has a 19% holding in GW through its subsidiary, Capital Research Management Company.

Bit hypocritial?

Its no what you know, it;s who you blow

Anorak

Posted: 13th, May 2018 | In: News Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
The four were identified as former Harkat-ul-Mujahideen terrorist Aijaz Ahmad, Mohammad Arif, Sajad Ahmad Malla and Khursheed Ahmad Thokar.

Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of police and army personnel intercepted a car at Kallar village along Rajouri-Jammu road and arrested the four, a police official said. (Photo: Representational | File)

Jammu: Security forces on Saturday claimed to have busted a Hizbul Mujahideen module involved in hawala transactions by arresting four people, including a former militant, in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of police and army personnel intercepted a car at Kallar village along Rajouri-Jammu road and arrested the four, a police official said.

One of the four is a local from Rajouri. The rest are residents of south Kashmir's Shopian district, he said.

He identified them as former Harkat-ul-Mujahideen terrorist Aijaz Ahmad, Mohammad Arif, Sajad Ahmad Malla and Khursheed Ahmad Thokar.

The official said the four people were working for terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen.

Ahmad had surrendered to security forces in 2005 and underwent two-year detention under the Public Safety Act. Malla too was detained under the PSA for months in 2016, the official told PTI.

The preliminary questioning of the four revealed they had come to Rajouri to collect money on the directions of Zeenat-ul-Islam, who took over as the leader of Hizbul Mujahideen after the killing of its commander Sadam Paddar last week, he said.

"Arif used to collect hawala money for the outfit and used to send it to Kashmir," he said, adding that Malla was in contact with Hizbul's finance head Khursheed Ahmad, who is based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The contact between the two was established by Paddar.

The official said the arrested persons were being questioned and more arrests should happen in the coming days.
In a sudden change of weather, the sky turned cloudy around 4:30 pm and gusty winds swept the city.

The dust storm interrupted a programme that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was to attend in east Delhi's IP Extension, news agency ANI reported. (Photo: PTI)

Delhi: Following an erratic weather pattern over the last 15 days, dust storm, strong winds and rainfall hit the national capital on Sunday evening.

In a sudden change of weather, the sky turned cloudy around 4:30 pm and gusty winds swept the city.

Dust storm hits Ghaziabad. (Photo: ANI)

Flight movements at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport were put on hold and a Srinagar flight to Delhi was diverted to Amritsar following bad weather conditions. At least 70 flight diversions are in place so far due to bad weather conditions.

Metro services, too, seem to be affected as the movement on the Noida Dwaraka line was stalled for 30 minutes. However, services resumed after a while.

Metro services between Indraprastha and Karol Bagh metro stations were disrupted after a tree fell on the tracks.

The strong winds knocked down a number of trees in the city. Four incidents of wall collapse were reported from Najafgarh, Transit Camp, Nehru Place, Mohan Garden in Uttam Nagar and Raj Nagar in Palam, said a senior officer from the Delhi Fire Service.

The Northern Railways said the train movement was disrupted on the section between the Hazrat Nizamuddin and Palwal stations due to tree felling. A few passenger and freight trains were held up for around 25 minutes because of the disruption. The Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi Express was also stopped near Sonepat due to uprooting of trees.

The dust storm interrupted a programme that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was to attend in east Delhi's IP Extension, news agency ANI reported.

The Met office has forecast light rains will follow the dust storm.

The Indian Meteorological Department had on Thursday predicted that Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh would witness thunderstorm accompanied by squall.

It had also forecast parts of Rajasthan might see the dust storm. Thunderstorm over these hill-states and its subsequent effect on plains in north Indian is due to a new western disturbance, the IMD had said.

(With inputs from PTI)
The chief ministers confidence stemmed from the unusually high 70 per cent voter turnout, recorded in the high-stakes Karnataka Assembly polls.

Mysuru/Bengaluru: As voting ended at 7 pm on an action-packed Saturday, replete with EVMs malfunctioning and shocked and upset voters of upmarket RR Nagar in the IT capital protesting at the last minute cancellation of voting, state chief minister Siddaramaiah was back in his hometown of Mysuru where, exuding confidence, he said that the Congress would come back to power with a clear majority, as he scoffed at exit polls that predicted a hung Assembly.

I will win in Chamundeswari, Badami and all our candidates in Mysuru district will win. If I have fear I will have tension, when I dont have fear, where is the room for tension?, the sunburnt chief minister said, adding he was going to relax for the next two days.

The chief ministers confidence stemmed from the unusually high 70 per cent voter turnout, recorded in the high-stakes Karnataka Assembly polls Saturday. The last Assembly election in the southern state in 2013 had witnessed 71.4 per cent polling, the poll panel said. The rural voters outnumbered their urban counterparts in exercising their franchise.

Speaking to media, the feisty CM dismissed claims by the BJP chief B.S. Yeddyurappa that the BJP leader would be sworn in as CM saying, Yeddyurappa is delusional, he is dreaming.

Mr Siddaramaiah said, Some of those surveys indicate that BJP will get majority. But in six to seven districts in old Mysuru region there is a fight between JD (S) and Congress, not the BJP. Except for KR Constituency in Mysuru district, where is the BJP in 10 other constituencies? Where is BJP in Mandya, in Hassan, in Ramanagara, Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Bengaluru rural? There is no fight at all between them and us in Old Mysuru region, except for three constituencies including Hanur, Gundlupet and Chamarajnagar town in Chamarajnagar district. BSP is strong in Kollegal. How can they get so many seats? Yeddyurappa has to grind machine at his house for Mission 150, he said. Chamundeshwari regsistered a 75.52% voting and Varuna was 78.59pc.

The pro-Siddaramaiah trend which went against popular perception that his JD(S) rival G.T. Deve Gowda would defeat him was visible in Varuna where 80-year-old Basavegowda, who had limped all the way from Kadvekattehundi to vote for chief minister Siddaramaiah at booth number 84 in Siddaramanahundi in Varuna constituency on Saturday.

Maganige vote haakak bande (I have come to vote for my son) said the octogenarian.

In coastal Karnataka which registered a huge voter turnout, the increase in polling percent has upped hopes of BJP of winning more than two seats in the coastal districts. However, Congress leaders too were not disheartened and claim that an increase in voting percentage would help them as their traditional voters  minorities have come out in large numbers. Udupi district registered 78.87 per cent turnout and Dakshina Kannada registered 77.63 per cent as against 76.15 percent and 74.48 per cent respectively in 2013.

Opposition leader B.S, Yeddyurappa, meanwhile, was unreachable after some reports emerged that he was upset over exit polls that showed the BJP may have to strike a deal with the JD(S). However, BJP leaders in the capital said they were confident they would cross halfway-mark in the Karnataka Assembly, which has a strength of 224.

The partys confidence was boosted after Todays Chanakya gave 120 seats to BJP with party leaders saying that Chanakya surveys had been accurate in recent UP elections.

Party senior leader and former deputy chief minister R. Ashok said that BJP will come back to power with a clear majority. Prime Minister Narendra Modis campaign had helped BJP to reach halfway mark, he added.

However, the party leadership was disappointed with the low turnout in Bengaluru, since the party was hoping to get 21 out of 28 seats. Sources said BJP is confident that they will sweep coastal Karnataka and Mumbai-Karnataka.
The Pashupatinath temple is regarded as the most sacred and the oldest temple of Shiva (Pashupati) in Nepal.

New Delhi/Kathmandu: Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to influence voters in Karnataka on polling day through his temple visits in Nepal, the Congress on Saturday alleged that the PM timed his visit to the Himalayan nation on the Karnataka poll date and was sending out a message to Hindus in the southern state. The external affairs ministry, however, refuted this allegation and said Mr Modis visit to Nepal was decided soon after K.P. Sharma Olis election as the Prime Minister.

Mr Modi on Saturday prayed at Nepals iconic Muktinath temple that is regarded sacred by both Hindus and Buddhists, becoming the first world leader to offer prayers there. He also offered prayers at the famous Pashupatinath temple, located on the banks of the Bagmati river. The Pashupatinath temple is regarded as the most sacred and the oldest temple of Shiva (Pashupati) in Nepal.

Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot alleged that Mr Modi had timed his visit to the Himalayan nation on the Karnataka poll dates, and was sending a message to Hindus in the southern state. Alleging violation of the model code of conduct, he said Mr Modis temple visits in Nepal were being aired on the day of polling in Karnataka.

This is not a good tradition in a democracy. In Gujarat also, he held a road show after voting. Today, he has adopted a new path. When Karnataka is polling, he has gone to Nepal and is worshipping in temples there, as he could not do so in the southern state due to elections, Mr Gehlot said. The AICC general secretary said Mr Modi, through his temple visits, was giving out a message to voters in Karnataka on how religious he is and what a staunch Hindu he is.

According to Mr Modi, no one other than the people of BJP, the RSS, Amit Shah and him qualify as Hindus, he said.

When Prime Minister Modi had telephoned Prime Minister Oli upon his election as the Prime Minister of Nepal, they had discussed the visit then. Prime Minister Oli had then expressed his desire for an early visit by Prime Minister Modi. They had discussed the visits, and the Prime Minister (Modi) had said you (Oli) come first.....So thats how the sequence has been, first Prime Minister Oli visited India and now Prime Minister (Modi) is in Nepal, Mr Gokhale said. Mr Oli had visited India in April.

Responding to a question on the issue, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale, in Kathmandu, said Mr Modi had telephoned Prime Minister Oli, who was sworn to the post on February 15, to congratulate him and the visits were discussed then. Whenever state visits take place they are decided as per the convenience of the two nations. No one but the Prime Minister alone can say that I will come at this time...So, dont focus on the dates, but focus on the content of this visit, he said.

The former Rajasthan chief minister, however, remained unconvinced with the MEAs explanation on the dates and reiterated that the PM had timed his Nepal visit to coincide with the Karnataka polls.
Shatrughan Sinha is at loggerhead with BJP leadership ever since being ignored in Bihar election in 2015.

In a series of tweets on a day when assembly polls are being held in Karnataka, the Patna Sahib BJP MP said the Congress president, who has 'matured in the past few years', was popular with the general public. (Photo: PTI)

Patna: Disgruntled BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Sunday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's criticism of Rahul Gandhi for expressing readiness to become PM, and alleged that he was indulging in "attention diversion politics" instead of answering the "pertinent" questions raised by the Congress president.

In a series of tweets on a day when assembly polls are being held in Karnataka, the Patna Sahib BJP MP said the Congress president, who has "matured in the past few years", was popular with the general public and asked what was wrong if the leader heading the biggest, oldest national party saw a possibility of becoming the next Prime Minister.

"Anybody can become PM in our country. Naamdar, Kaamdar, Daamdar or for that matter any average Samajhdaar, if he has the numbers and support. Why are we making such a hue and cry about it? After all, isn't it their internal matter and any PMship has to be through verdict of majority," Sinha said in a series of tweets tagging both Modi and the BJP and signing off with slogans of "Jai Karnataka, Jai Hindi!"

Anybody can become PM in our democracy. Naamdar, Kaamdar, Daamdar or for that matter any average Samajhdar, if he has the numbers & support. Why are we making such a hue and cry about it? After all isnt it their internal matter & any PMship has to be through verdict of majority.  Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) May 12, 2018

PM Modi had mocked Rahul Gandhi's remarks that he is ready to become the PM if Congress emerges as the largest party in the 2019 general election, calling him immature and "naamdar" (dynast). "You (Gandhi) are naamdar' , while I am kaamdar' (ordinary worker)," he had said earlier.

Sinha, who is at loggerhead with party leadership ever since being ignored in Bihar election in 2015, is frequently seen in company of former Union minister Yashwant Sinha who quit BJP recently after consistently attacking PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

He went to meet jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad and had also met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently in the national capital along with Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, another vocal critic of Modi Government.

Sinha, who served as Union minister in the NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said that instead of answering "pertinent questions" raised by Congress President "we go for attention diversion politics an art which we have mastered, far from development and other issues".

"Sir, you received our full support along with media support and now you are raising slogans so that it isn't taken over? What's wrong if the president of the biggest, oldest national party sees the possibility and wishes to become the next PM, if he wins the upcoming elections," Sinha said on Twitter, tagging the BJP.

Sir, you received our full support along with full media support & now you are raising slogans so that it isn't taken over?What's wrong if the President of biggest, oldest National Party sees the possibility & wishes to be next PM..if he wins the upcoming elections? @BJP4India  Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) May 12, 2018

"By the way, the president of the oldest party has really matured in the past few years and has been raising some pertinent questions which we are refusing to answer or even entertain. The Neerav, the Lalit, the Mallyas, the Bank, the Rafael deal and so on," Sinha said in another tweet, tagging both PM Modi and the BJP.

By the way, the president of the oldest party has really matured in last few years & has been raising some pertinent question which we are refusing to answer or even entertain. The Neerav/the Lalit/ the Mallyas/the Bank/the Raffael deal & so on..@narendramodi @BJP4India  Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) May 12, 2018

"Instead of answering, we go for attention diversion politics an art which we have mastered, far from development and other issues. However Sir, its a matter of our people, our politics and our policies, so less said the better. With regards to you! Jai Karnataka, Jai Hindi!," the BJP leader said in another tweet on the micro blogging site.
The Maoists were trying to mislead the tribals, but the latter have started realizing their design, he added.

Bhopal: Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday dubbed Naxals as enemy of the tribals, and regretted that the ultras are depriving the tribals of education by destroying schools in the area; whereas, on the other hand, they are sending their own kids to elite colleges and universities in India and abroad.

Flagging off the Vikas Yatra launched by Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh from Dantewada, in Bastar, the Union home minister said Maoists have mobilised huge money through extortions in the Left-wing extremism-affected areas of the country, and have been utilising the money for their personal benefits such as sending their children to reputed colleges and universities in India and abroad.

The Naxals created a roadblock in the development of tribal areas by stopping construction of roads and bridges and have destroyed school buildings there. They want the tribals to remain illiterate and poor. They deprived the tribal children from education and destroyed the school buildings, he said.

The Maoists were trying to mislead the tribals, but the latter have started realizing their design, he added.

He lauded the Chhattisgarh chief minister for carrying out developmental works and for spreading the road networks in Bastar despite the violence of the Naxals.

Mr Singh said he had never seen a chief minister with so much concern for all sections of the society, including the masons, carpenters, tendu leaf collectors, women and students.

But forces like Naxals do not want development to take place. They are misleading the tribals and poor people, he said. He also appreciated the measures taken by the Chhattisgarh government for improving the economic conditions in the tribal areas.Emphasis has been given to develop road and telecommunication networks in Bastar division speedily, he added.

Alleging that Naxal leaders were wallowing in luxury, he said they were, however, preventing the progress meant for the tribals and the poor. Naxal leaders have become crorepatis. They send their children to study in prominent colleges and universities. Some of their children even study abroad. But they want the children of our tribal brothers to remain uneducated, he said.
The bus, which is also known as Nepal-India Friendship bus, is aimed at increasing tourism between the two countries.

Lucknow: UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, on Saturday, welcomed the first Janakpur to Ayodhya bus as it arrived in Ayodhya at the Ram Katha Park.

The bus had been flagged off on its maiden journey jointly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hjsi Nepali counterpart K P Sharma Oli in Janakpur in Nepal as part of the Ramayana circuit bus service on Friday.

The bus, which is also known as Nepal-India Friendship bus, is aimed at increasing tourism between the two countries. It will link the birthplace of Lord Ram with the birthplace of Goddess Sita. The bus entered from Gorakhpur and travelled along the Sant Kabir Nagar highway where it was received by district and police officials and escorted to Ayodhya.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that relations between Ayodhya and Janakpur dated back to several centuries and the Ramayana circuit would not be complete without these two cities. The bus service has been started on the initiate to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will further cement the relationship between India and Nepal, UP CM said.

India and Nepal share cultural and social similarities. King Dashrath and King Janak (father of Sita) shared a strong bond. The Indian government has decided to bring Ayodhya and Janakpur closer by completing the Ram-Janki Marg which will reduce the travelling time between the two cities from the existing 10 hours to about six hours, he said.

Mr Adityanath said that his government had already set aside `133 crores for the development of Ayodhya and said that the Diwali celebrations last year, were only a beginning in this direction.
Yeddyurappa calculation had never went wrong in the past and his party would get around 130 seats, said the former CM.

Bengaluru: Sounding extremely confident, state BJP President and chief ministerial candidate, B.S. Yeddyurappa said his party would win 125 and 130 seats and form the next government on its own.

Talking to reporters here on Sunday, he said anyone can say anything but the BJP is sure to come back to power on its own.

His calculation had never went wrong in the past and his party would get around 130 seats, said the former CM.

Not ready to comment on the exit poll surveys, Mr Yeddyurappa said he was not afraid of the Assembly poll results as the party was confident of getting the required number of seats to form the government.

If you want, I will give you in writing that this time its BJP that will rule the state. I know which all constituencies we are going to win. Based on it, we are sure to get 125 to 130 seats. My calculation has never went wrong as I have travelled across the state and studied the pulse of the people. There is an anti-incumbency sentiment against the Congress party due to the anti-farmer attitude of chief minister Siddaramaiah. According to me, the Congress will not win more than 70 seats, Janata Dal (Secular) may get around 20-35 seats and Independents may get 2 to 4 seats.

The former CM said he would be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President Amit Shah on May 15 evening and fix the time and date for the formation of the new government in Karnataka.

After polling, Mr Siddaramaiah had become frustrated due to the fear of losing in both seats-Chamundeshwari and Badami, and was talking like someone suffering from mental instability, he added.
Indian diplomacy has failed to persuade neighbouring Myanmar for taking action against insurgent groups hiding in its territory.

Guwahati: Indian diplomacy has failed to persuade neighbouring Myanmar to rein in the Northeast insurgent groups who pose a serious threat to the security of the region.

The insurgent groups were earlier thriving in Bangladesh and Bhutan, but the diplomatic pressure of the Indian government in 2001 onwards forced these rebels to shift their operational headquarters to Myanmar. Not only Bangladesh but Bhutan also launched operations to drive out Indian insurgent groups from their territories.

If the security sources engaged in discussion with Myanmar are to be believed, the government has taken up the issue with Myanmar, but its military regime has failed to take any effective steps to drive out the insurgents from its territory.

Referring to an upsurge in the activities of Ulfa (Independent), sources pointed out that there have been reports of cross-border movements of Ulfa(I) rebels in the areas bordering Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Stressing the need to increase security presence along the inter-state border areas, sources said that the majority of the insurgents groups have been able to survive the onslaught of security forces because of their base in Myanmar.

Former director general of police Mukesh Sahay said that there is need to increase security presence not only in the inter-state border areas but also along the border with Myanmar to check the militants' movement. He admitted that Northeast insurgency was thriving on "safe sanctuary" in Myanmar only.

The tragic death of Bhaskar Kalita, the officer-in-charge of Bordumsa police outpost in an encounter with Ulfa(I) rebels, has again highlighted the fact that there is need for concerted efforts to check the militants' movement. Highly placed sources told this newspaper that the militants mostly come down from their Aarakan camp in Myanmar by taking advantage of the porous international border and then they enter Assam through Arunachal Pradesh and on a few occasions they also come to India through the trijunction of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Myanmar. They take shelter mostly in Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh or Mon district of Nagaland and look for an opportunity to sneak into Assam. On a few occasions, they tried to attack the security forces also.

Security sources reiterated that despite repeated pleas by the Government of India, the Myanmar government is yet to launch any concerted offensive to drive out the militants. However, security sources argued that Myanmar has its own compulsions, as the presence of militants on its territory is not one of the priority concerns of the neighbouring country. Moreover, the Myanmar administration has hardly any presence in the areas where the militants are having their bases. The presence of a large Naga population is also helping the militants as they are using the facilities of the NSCN (K) in Myanmar.

The Myanmar government assured India on several occasions that strong action would be taken against the rebels using the territory of its country and a proposal was mooted for setting up a base of Myanmar Army in frontier areas where the militants are taking shelter. But no serious move by Myanmar is seen on the ground, sources said adding that the Government of India has also assured to help Myanmar in intensifying its presence in the frontier areas adjoining Naga Hills.

The recent report of the ministry of home affairs has also admitted that Ulfa (I) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit faction) cadres frequent the state in the areas bordering Assam and Myanmar for shelter and transit. In 2017, there were 61 incidents in which nine insurgents were killed and 44 arrested. There were 27 cases of extortion and kidnapping in the state during the year. There was, however, no casualty in security forces in the state in 2017.

Though, the home ministry in its report has recorded a sharp decline in violence in Assam, security experts feared that most of the insurgents are trying to regroup in Myanmar.

The major militant outfits presently active in Assam are Ulfa(I), NDFB(S) and Karbi People's Liberation Tigers (KPLT).
The 2008 Mumbai attacks had almost pushed the two nuclear armed countries into war.

Islamabad: Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs statement that those who attacked Mumbai in 2008 were from Pakistan has created a stir in the political circles as the nation prepares for the general elections, which is expected to be held in July.

Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors; should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete the trial? he said in an interview.

Mr Sharifs remarks were played up by the media as an admission of Pakistans involvement in the terrorist attacks, even though similar questions and statements have been raised from civilian and security officials in Pakistan earlier. The 2008 Mumbai attacks had almost pushed the two nuclear armed countries into war.

On Sunday, senior PPP leader Sherry Rehman slammed Mr Sharif for his recent remarks on the Mumbai attacks.

Addressing the media in Karachi, she said the former Prime Ministers statement compromised Pakistans narrative in the war against terrorism and demanded that he retract his remarks. PPP rejects Nawaz Sharifs statement and stance (on Mumbai attacks). Is he an analyst that hes giving out such statements? she questioned.

Senator Rehman, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, said questions were being raised all around the world following Mr Sharifs remarks. Why didnt Nawaz Sharif also say that Pakistan tried (very) hard to cooperate with India in the Mumbai trials, she continued.

Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, meanwhile, decried Mr Sharifs statement terming it as a conspiracy to pressurise Pakistan and undermine its institutions.

In a statement, the PTI chief said, Nawaz Sharif is the modern-day Mir Jafar, who collaborated with the British to enslave his nation for personal gains. Nawaz Sharif is speaking Modis language against Pak simply to protect his ill-gotten `300 billion stashed in his sons companies abroad.
The board meeting on Monday is also likely to reconsider I&B ministrys direction to stop e-auction for channels available on DD Free Dish.

The board had contended that sacking contractual employees without properly arranging for an alternative would lead to the collapse of both the organisations.

New Delhi: Doordarshan and All India Radio could soon become organisations with lean work force as the Prasar Bharati board is set to reconsider a proposal for rightsizing of employees of these institutions, a contentious issue backed by the I&B ministry which was rejected by the board in February.

According to official sources, the board meeting on Monday is expected to examine suggestions from the ministry to let go of its contractual staff  casual, contractual and consultants  as the organisation is overstaffed. A sizeable number of employees, both in Doordarshan and All India Radio, work on contract.

The proposal was earlier brought up before the board in its last meeting held on February 15. However, it was not cleared by the board after taking strong exception to the wording of a direction by the I&B ministry to terminate the services of all contractual employees of the Prasar Bharati, sources added.

The board had contended that sacking contractual employees without properly arranging for an alternative would lead to the collapse of both the organisations.

The board meeting on Monday is also likely to reconsider I&B ministrys direction to stop e-auction for channels available on DD Free Dish. The proposal was deferred in its last meeting as the board had felt that the directive could wreck the finances of the Prasar Bharati and the corporation could lose `300 crore, it said.

Doordarshans Free Dish service was inaugurated in 2004 with 33 channels. It now carries 104 television channels and 40 radio channels and reaches 20 million homes.

The board members are also likely to consider signing an MoU between the I&B ministry and the public service broadcaster on financial issue related to Doordarshan and All India Radio.

Sources said that the ministry wants the Prasar Bharati to sign a MoU to clearly bringing out the physical and financial targets with timelines for activities to be done by utilising the grant during that financial year.

Recently, the I&B ministry had pointed out that the Prasar Bharati was as much bound by general financial rules of the Government of India as any other ministry or organisation receiving grants-in-aid from the government.

However, it is understood that the contentious issue of employment of senior journalists at unprecedented and huge salary packages is not likely to be taken up by the board.
Rally organizers say the average cost of insulin in the United States has tripled in the last 10 years.

CAMBRIDGE: Activists are rallying in Massachusetts, demanding more affordable insulin.

The Boston chapter of the Right Care Alliance is rallying Saturday in Cambridge to call for an end to what the organization calls "insulin profiteering."

The coalition of patients, health care professionals and community members says price increases have made an essential drug unaffordable for many with diabetes and resulted in unnecessary deaths.

Rally organizers say the average cost of insulin in the United States has tripled in the last 10 years, and it costs a person with Type 1 diabetes an average of $1,000 per month for insulin and supplies.

Speakers include Dr. Michelle Morse, a global health equity expert at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Attendees also will hear from patients and mothers of children with diabetes.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 14 cases of bloodstream infections in children.

SHANGHAI/CHICAGO: Health agencies are investigating an outbreak of bloodstream infections in children from four U.S. states that may be linked to heparin and saline syringes made by Becton Dickinson and Co, the agencies told Reuters. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 14 cases of bloodstream infections in children caused by the same strain of the Serratia marcescens bacterium, the agencys lead investigator on the outbreak said in a telephone interview.

All of the infections occurred in seriously ill children receiving intravenous medications through a catheter or central line, a device used to deliver medications such as chemotherapy. None of the children have died and the number of cases appears to be winding down, the investigator said.

Health officials said they began testing the Becton Dickinson products when their investigation found the syringes had been used to treat several of the infected children. Central lines are often flushed with saline or heparin, a blood thinner, to keep them clear.

So far, none of the Becton Dickinson products have tested positive for the bacterium. Last month, the company recalled 949 lots of its BD PosiFlush Pre-Filled Heparin Lock Flush Syringes and Pre-Filled Normal Saline saline flush syringes sold between February and December 2017 out of an abundance of caution. Becton Dickinson said it was cooperating with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and CDC.

The company immediately initiated an internal investigation after being notified of a potential connection between catheter-related blood stream infections and the Serratia marcescens bacterium, BD said in an emailed statement on Friday.

BD spokesman Troy Kirkpatrick said the company had checked records from its sterility testing, environmental testing and clean room validation. To date, no BD flush product has ever tested positive for this bacterium, Kirkpatrick said in an email.

Dr. Kiran Mayi Perkins of the CDCs Public Health Program, who is leading the investigation, said if there is contamination, its probably a very low amount, which makes it very hard to test for. Although the product tests have been negative to date, again, in an abundance of caution, we continue to take the steps we have, she said. Thats probably why BD has done the recall as well.

Perkins said the confirmed infections occurred in Tennessee, Colorado, Minnesota and Ohio and most of the children were recovering well.

Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said Serratia marcescens is found in the environment and is a common cause of bloodstream infections in hospitals. Whats dangerous is when its in something thats being directly injected into a person, he said. That bacteria doesnt have to go through any kind of barrier. Its a superhighway into the bloodstream.

All of the recalled products were made at Becton Dickinsons facility in Franklin, Wisconsin. Becton Dickinson also sells the heparin flush and saline syringe products in Canada, Bermuda, and Brazil. The company said it was working with regulators in those countries to issue advisories and recalls. The recalled products make up about 10 percent of the companys supply of heparin and flush syringes in the countries involved in the recall.
Consultant expected to create a progress plan for each town.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which is executing the ambitious Mumbai-Nagpur expressway, has recently floated tenders to appoint a consultant for developing 17 new towns that will come up at intersections of the proposed e-way.

The MSRDC has declared a new town development authority under provisions of the MRTP (Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning) Act, 1966. The consultant is expected to create a development plan for each of the proposed towns.

The 700 km expressway will connect 10 districts, 26 talukas and 392 villages in the state. As per the tenders, the villages that will be part of the towns are: Bid Nagjari, Bori, Khanapur, Mankapur, Nagazari, Rampur and Renkapur in Wardha district; Savargaonmal, Golegaon and Nimkhed in Buldhana district; Babtara, Lakhganga and Purangaon in Kopargaon district; and Dhotre in Ahmednagar district.

The tender document uploaded by the authority reads, MSRDC Ltd invites request for proposal for appointment of consultants to carry out collection of maps, data and information; conduct surveys, investigation, analysis and studies; and submit necessary reports as required at various stages in the process of formulating the development strategy; and preparation of the development plan for each of the notified new towns.

These towns will have basic amenities and related infrastructure. According to reports, managing director of MSRDC, Radheshyam Mopalwar initially claimed that educational institutes, too, have been proposed as part of some of these towns.

Recently, the state government passed an ordinance to increase compensation to land owners to four times the ready reckoner rate in order to expedite the land acquisition process of the expressway. According to figures revealed by MSRDC officials, nearly 80 per cent of the land has been acquired for the expressway project.
The import has taken place at a time when the sugar industry is facing an unprecedented crisis due to a crash in prices.

Mumbai: The import of 30,000 quintal sugar from Pakistan has irked the sugar industry leaders as well as the Opposition in Maharashtra.

The import has taken place at a time when the sugar industry is facing an unprecedented crisis due to a crash in prices. The bumper sugarcane crop has led to a serious dip in the price of sugar in domestic and international markets. In a bid to ride out the crisis, the Indian sugar industry is looking for avenues to export sugar to the countrys neighbours. In this situation, importing sugar from Pakistan has further weakened the industrys position.

Pakistani sugar is Rs 1 cheaper than Indian sugar. So a private industrialist importing 30 thousand quintal sugar in India from Pakistan is a big setback for Indian sugar producers. At a recently-held meeting in the city of all private as well as cooperative sugar mill leaders, it was decided that Indian sugar needs to be exported to neighbouring countries to help the farmers here. It is estimated that Indias sugar production this year will touch 316 lakh metric ton, of which Maharashtra alone will produce around 104 lakh metric ton.

Our industry is in need of central government. The government should empower mills to export their sugar. But here we are allowing Pakistani sugar to be imported. This is a complete mess on the part of government policies as well as cruel for farmers of India, said farmer leader and Member of Parliament Raju Shetti.

Congress leader Harshawardhan Patil said it was like rubbing salt on wounds. We are literally confused about how this government is allowing this to happen? Here farmers are waiting to get a price for their hard work and we are allowing other countrys production to be sold in India, he asked.

Meanwhile, sugar expert from Kolhapur, P. G. Medhe termed the issue as serious. Importing sugar by finding loopholes in the law is serious. The government should strictly intervene and stop such imports. Otherwise it will have long term impact on the Indian sugar industry and sugarcane growing farmers, said Mr Medhe.

Meanwhile, state marketing minister Subhash Deshmukh has clarified that the state government is looking into the matter and it will help sugarcane-growing farmers. Recently, the Union government took the decision of Rs 55 per quintal subsidy. It is ultimately benefiting farmers. So, we will find a way out and address other genuine and serious concerns of the industry, he said.
VIPs, crowded places and emergency services were selected for being attacked.

Officials are questioning Mirza to ascertain the places where he stayed and visited while in Mumbai and how did he came in contact with the wanted accused. (Representational image)

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a 32-year-old terror suspect  who recently arrived in the city after allegedly receiving arms training in Pakistan  in a joint operation with the Kolkata polices Special Task Force (STF).

ATS officials have claimed that the accused, Faisal Hasan Mirza, along with a few other wanted terrorists, had hatched a plan to carry out attacks on multiple targets across the country. The operation to nab one more terror suspect in the city is currently underway.

Counter-terror sources said that Mirza, an electrician by profession, was in touch with another terrorist who is wanted in a bomb blast case. Mirza  who is believed to be a close associate of another terror suspect, Amir Raza Khan  had allegedly summoned the nabbed suspect to Sharjah after which he travelled to Dubai then to Karachi. He visited terror-training camps under the patronage of Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI, officials said. A team of Juhu ATS and the Mumbai police arrested Mirza following credible information from the Kolkata STF.

The accused stayed for few days in Sharjah and later underwent arms training in Pakistan. He has been trained in using arms, making bombs, carrying out fidayeen attacks, arson and using diversionary tactics, said an ATS officer.

Officials are questioning Mirza to ascertain the places where he stayed and visited while in Mumbai and how did he came in contact with the wanted accused. There is also no clarity as to the identity of the person who funded his trip to Sharjah, Dubai and Pakistan.

We will question him on the identities of those who met him and the ISI contact who allegedly shadowed him to the terror camps, added an ATS source.

Mirzas questioning has revealed that reconnaissance was carried out and targets including VIPs, crowded places and emergency services were selected for being attacked. The accused was produced in a sessions court and he has been remanded in the ATS custody till May 21.
Politics in the Korean Peninsula is witnessing rapid changes, with both N and S Korea coming together after decades of mutual isolation.

Politics in the Korean Peninsula is witnessing rapid changes, with both North Korea and South Korea coming together after decades of mutual isolation and division. Pledging a no more war scenario, the historic Panmunjom declaration, released at the third inter-Korean summit on April 27, promises a new era of national reconciliation, peace and prosperity. Expectations in the Korean corridors are high on the prospects and outcome of the forthcoming meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un.

Welcoming the inter-Korean leadership meet between Kim Jong-un of North Korea and Moon Jae-in of South Korea, Beijing had stated that the summit was a positive outcome which would be beneficial for enhancing reconciliation and cooperation between the two Koreas. Stating that North Korea and South Korea belong to the same nation, China added that it would like to play a positive role in the future dialogue, denuclearisation effort and the political settlement of the peninsula issue. It goes without mentioning that Chinas role as a resident power in the region will be significant in shaping the future of the Korean Peninsula. Since the Korean Wars inception on June 25, 1950, Chinas role has been the most important single factor not only in dividing the Koreas but also in leading the non-Western bloc in global affairs. Yet, it needs to be seen how far China has protected its own interests as a key power after the Panmunjom summit. The Panmunjom declaration mentions Chinas role only in passing in a quadrilateral format. The declaration gave special importance to the role of the United States in a trilateral format with the Koreas apart from the quadrilateral format involving China with the Koreas. Does this imply that Chinas role and influence in the Korean Peninsula region has eroded in contrast to Trumps new outreach to the Koreas?

Beijing has reason to worry since the credit for the third inter-Korean summit goes more either to Moon Jae-ins responsible foreign policy or to Trumps smart outreach policy with the Koreas even though some might argue that Pyongyangs consent to have an inter-Korean meet with Seoul is a result of American maximum pressure strategy. The forthcoming Trump-Kim meeting further indicates that US diplomacy is working. Chinas primary worry concerns capricious American diplomacy, where Trump might like to have a bilateral understanding with Kim, taking South Korea into confidence. China fears that a trilateral understanding involving North Korea-South Korea-United States might be the order of the future in the Korean Peninsula. American troops presence in Northeast Asia over the years, South Koreas recent stated position to allow American stationed troops to stay back, and the refusal to remove THAAD from South Korea are additional reasons for China to worry.

Nevertheless, it would be premature to state that the inter-Korean peace process is unfolding more with American assent than Chinese consent. The Koreas have taken China into some sort of confidence long before approaching the Trump administration for any prospects of peace and reconciliation. If the two informal meetings that were held between Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping recently in Beijing and Dalian respectively have any clue to offer, China still maintains the edge as a resident power in the peninsula. It also acts silently to shape Korean Peninsula politics in times to come, especially with the cooperation of its traditional ally North Korea. Chinas strategic understanding with North Korea may have weakened in recent years due to the international pressure over Pyongyangs repeated missile and nuclear tests, but the Sino-North Korean political contacts and understanding are strong enough to shape the politics of the region in times to come. China continues to be North Koreas largest trading partner and would be the key economic partner for the return of normal economic conditions in North Korea with the possible removal of sanctions in the post-Panmunjom summit. Likewise, the prelude to the Panmunjom summit was the four cardinal principles  deterring war in the peninsula, its denuclearisation, promotion of peace and dialogue, and improvement of inter-Korean relations  that China and South Korea restated during Moon Jae-ins visit to China in December 2017. These figure highly in the Panmunjom declaration, reflecting the Chinese balancing approach towards the Koreas and the region itself. Sino-South Korean relations must have gone through a low phase after the deployment of THAAD, but neither China nor South Korea has abandoned each other as partners in the region. Rather, as a constant historical power in the peninsula, China is remodelling its policies and postures subtly in the Korean corridors, with new content and conditions to its customary Korean Peninsula policy. Chinas customary or traditionalist policy towards the peninsula would be witnessing certain changes in the post-Panmunjom summit with possibly a new revisionist policy.

The most important basis of Beijings traditionalist policy towards the Korean Peninsula is the China-North Korea Treaty of Friendship, which was signed on July 11, 1961. This treaty has been extended from time to time, extending to 2021. Articles II and VI of the treaty still guarantee Chinas role as a protector of North Korea, it also assures the role as a key strategic ally and, most importantly, as a peace-maker in the peninsula. North Korea would not really move ahead to forge any substantial understanding either with South Korea or with the US, virtually breaking away from this accord. Even though it appears from the Panmunjom declaration that Chinas role has been marginalised in the current context, the fundamentals of the declaration endorse more the Chinese historical essence than the American essence in the Korean Peninsula. If the peace process after the Panmunjom summit continues, China might even like to extend further the validity of the treaty or might slightly modify its context given the unfolding context between the Koreas. China has many cards to play as a resident power, including its flagship P-5 (permanent membership) card of the UNSC to influence the peace process in the peninsula, including the most sensitive issue of denuclearisation.

Both denuclearisation and unification are debatable subjects where both the positions and perspectives of critical actors, primarily China and the US, invariably differ from each other. The American pressure tactic of complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantling of North Koreas nuclear arsenals and facilities would be in juxtaposition with the Chinese standpoint that supports a gradual nuclear-free Korean Peninsula without really demanding a complete dismantling of North Koreas nuclear weapons. Further, China would protect North Korea from the US and from the UN inspection for an immediate and complete verification of Pyongyangs nuclear establishments, including helping to remove the UNSC sanctions. This shared perspective of China on denuclearisation with North Korea makes it the most important actor in the Korean Peninsula, which South Korea will find hard to object to. For Seoul, restoring peace is the utmost priority at the present scenario than complete denuclearisation. Such scenarios are only strengthening Chinas prospects in the region, making Beijing slowly emerge as the most significant player in the denuclearisation process in times to come, both within and outside the UN mandate.

Sino-South Korean relations may also witness steady progress where Beijing would aim to have a better consultative partaking in the prospects of inter-Korean peace process without losing North Koreas confidence. South Korea might be an American ally, but South Koreas trading economy is closely linked and somewhat regionally dependent on the trade and economic contacts with China. Even though the prospect of Korean unification is a distant dream and the meaning of unification is still an abstract concept, Chinas eventual aim would be to maintain a balance between the two Koreas and try to maximise its influence in the unification process. There is a hidden motive to this Chinese intention, though. Beijing under Xis leadership is aiming for reunification of Taiwan with mainland China under its new era foreign policy. Korean unification might offer China a conducive environment in the broader Northeast Asian/East Asian region which might encourage Taiwan to start preparing for a merger with mainland China at some point.

In brief, China is pursuing a wait and watch policy in the Korean corridor, and no matter what the prospects of peace in Korean Peninsula would be, Chinas role in the region would continue to remain the defining element in the Korean Peninsula.

Dr Jagannath Panda is a Research Fellow and Centre Coordinator for East Asia at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi.
In the absence of adequate police support, the Election Commission has evidently not played the part expected of it.

The process for the local bodies election in West Bengal  with polls due on May 14  has been thoroughly vitiated on account of violence let loose by the ruling partys cadres in the state. Recent orders of the Calcutta high court and the Supreme Court point to the extent of distortion that has occurred.

In the absence of adequate police support, the Election Commission has evidently not played the part expected of it. Surprisingly, chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who hopes to lead the nation, appears to have shown little concern for democratic norms as her partys cadres have gone on the rampage.

It is shocking that 34 per cent of all seats have been won uncontested. The ruling party allegedly did not permit its opponents to file nominations. Bodily harm was caused to those who attempted to do so. On Friday, senior Trinamul Congress leader Partha Chatterjee cynically noted that those who cannot even file nominations had no business being in politics.

Given the extraordinary state of affairs, the high court permitted candidates to email their nominations. This was stayed by the apex court, but the top court has said that the results of the seats that went uncontested will not be announced with the other results.

We seem to be on new terrain here. Does this mean that the poll body can entertain a challenge to the process for every constituency where there was a single nomination, and then order a collective re-poll?

Reports of ideological opponents the CPI(M) and BJP moving jointly in some places to cope with the violence have been shot down by the CPI(M), but the denial has been met with scepticism. The atmosphere evidently has been anything but democratic.
One can create tours by following these simple steps. First, you have to assign the tour a name and upload a cover photo.

Here is an app that helps school children design virtual tours on their own. Tour Creator, an app by Google lets users create their own VR tour with Googles Street View images or 360-degree photos. The editors note on the Google blog says that the arrival of the new app on Teacher Appreciation Week is to highlight the ways in which Google is supporting teachers. The app would work with Google Cardboard and Expeditions.

Since 2015, Google Expeditions has brought more than 3 million students to places like the Burj Khalifa, Antarctica, and Machu Picchu with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Both teachers and students have told us that theyd love to have a way to share their own experiences in VR, the blog post explains about the reason behind Tour Creator.

One can create tours by following these simple steps. First, you have to assign the tour a name and upload a cover photo. In the next level, you have to utilise Google Maps to find any place of interest or simply upload the 360-degree pictures of your tour scenes. You can also add buttons so that details on the photo can be learned. On completing this, you can publish the tour in Poly, the library of 3D content, embed it into any website or check it out with Expeditions. Google is also planning to get these videos uploaded into Expeditions.
Trump and Kim Jong Un will hold talks in Singapore on June 12, the first-ever meeting between sitting US president and North Korean leader.

The official Korean Central News Agency said dismantlement of the Punggye-ri nuclear test ground would involve collapsing all of its tunnels with explosions, blocking its entrances, and removing all observation facilities, research buildings and security posts. (Photo: AP)

Seoul/Washington: North Korea has scheduled the dismantlement of its nuclear bomb test site for sometime between May 23 and 25 in order to uphold its pledge to discontinue nuclear tests, the countrys state media reported on Saturday a month ahead of a historic summit.

The official Korean Central News Agency said dismantlement of the Punggye-ri nuclear test ground would involve collapsing all of its tunnels with explosions, blocking its entrances, and removing all observation facilities, research buildings and security posts. The Nuclear Weapon Institute and other concerned institutions are taking technical measures for dismantling the northern nuclear test ground  in order to ensure transparency of discontinuance of the nuclear test, KCNA said.

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will hold talks in Singapore on June 12, the first-ever meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader. Trumps Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that North Korea can look forward to a future brimming with peace and prosperity if it agrees to quickly give up its nuclear weapons.

Read: US ready to provide N Korea with assurances if it denuclearises: Mike Pompeo

Trump welcomed the North Korean announcement. North Korea has announced that they will dismantle Nuclear Test Site this month, ahead of the big Summit Meeting on June 12th, he tweeted. Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture! Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!

South Koreas presidential office echoed the sentiment on Sunday, saying it shows Pyongyangs willingness to denuclearise through actions beyond words. However, in spite of its pledge to stop testing, North Korea has given no indication it is willing to go beyond statements of broad conceptual support for denuclearization by unilaterally abandoning a nuclear weapons program its ruling family has seen as crucial to its survival.

In announcing the plan to shut Punggye-ri last month, Kim said North Korea no longer needed to conduct tests because it had completed its goal of developing nuclear weapons. KCNA said journalists, including from the United States and South Korea, would be invited to cover the event, to show in a transparent manner the dismantlement of the northern nuclear test ground to be carried out. The exact date of the closure will depend on weather conditions, the agency said. To accommodate the travelling journalists, North Korea said various measures would be taken including opening territorial air space.

No mention of experts

South Korean officials said in April that North Korea also planned to invite experts from the United States and South Korea for the Punggye-ri shutdown, but KCNA made no mention of this. Last month, South Korean President Moon Jae-in had asked the United Nations to help verify the shutdown.

South Koreas deputy nuclear envoy Jeong Yeon-doo will visit the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna this week to discuss the complete denuclearisation of North Korea the foreign ministry said on Sunday.

All of North Koreas six known nuclear bomb tests have taken place at Punggye-ri, in the northeastern of North Korea where a system of tunnels have been dug under Mount Mantap.

According to Chinese academic reports, North Koreas most recent nuclear test in September of what Pyongyang said was a hydrogen bomb, was so large it triggered a collapse inside the mountain, rendering the entire site unusable for future tests.

But US intelligence officials have said it remains usable and could be reactivated in a relatively short period of time if it was closed.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in raise their hands after signing a joint statement at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. (Photo: AP)

Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at Californias Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said in a blog post this week that recent satellite images had shown the removal of some buildings from the site.

On Saturday, he told Reuters that closure of Punggye-ri did not mean much in terms of disarmament, given that the United States, for example, stopped nuclear testing in 1992. It would, however, require North Korea to clear out the test tunnels and rebuild any infrastructure that might be removed  or dig new tunnels at the site or elsewhere. So, its a good confidence building measure, but not necessarily a sign of irreversible disarmament.

Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States and a leading expert on North Koreas nuclear program, said collapsing the Punggye-ri tunnels would be a big and positive step, given his belief that North Korea still required more nuclear and missile tests to reach the US mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile.

However, he said the other crucial steps North Korea needed to take to demilitarize its nuclear program were to shut its plutonium production reactor, and open its uranium processing to inspection.
French President Emmanuel Macron said: 'France once again pays the price of blood.'

The attack took place near the city's main opera house in an area full of bars, restaurants and theatres which were brimming on a weekend night. (Photo: AFP)

Paris: A knifeman shouting "Allahu akbar" was shot dead by police in central Paris late Saturday after he killed one person and injured four, prompting a terror probe.

The attack took place near the city's main opera house in an area full of bars, restaurants and theatres which were brimming on a weekend night.

French President Emmanuel Macron said: "France once again pays the price of blood."

Saturday's assault is the latest to strike a nation rocked by a series of jihadist attacks in the last three years that have killed more than 245 people.

Prosecutors cited witnesses as saying the man shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) as he went on the rampage, and added that a terror investigation had been launched.

The ISIS claimed responsibility, according to the SITE monitoring group, but provided no corroborating proof.

"The executor of the stabbing operation in the city of Paris is a soldier of the ISIS and the operation was carried out in response to the calls to target the coalition states," a "security source" told IS's official Amaq news agency, according to SITE.

The man, who has not yet been named, attacked five people with a knife, one of whom died, police said. Two were in serious condition and all the victims are in hospital.

A police source told AFP one officer tried to restrain the attacker with a taser but when that failed a colleague shot the man dead.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb hailed in a tweet the "sang-froid and reaction of the police who neutralised the attacker".

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who visited police in the district where the attack took place, added: "France is determined not to give in to threats that the attackers hope will grind her (the country) down."

Scenes of panic

The attack took place on Rue Monsigny in the 2nd arrondissement, an area that lies between the main opera house and the Louvre museum, two major tourist attractions. A large area was cordoned off where police, fire and rescue vehicles converged.

Shocked tourists and residents looked on from behind the security perimeter.

"I was on the cafe terrace, I heard three, four shots, it happened very fast," said 47-year-old Gloria.

"The bartenders told us to come inside very quickly. Then I went out to see what was going on, and then I saw a man on the ground," she added.

Another witness, who gave her first name Maxine, said panic spread as word got out that an attack was taking place.

"We saw someone coming out of a building who said he saw the assailant slaughter someone, so people took refuge in the bar," she said.

France has suffered a series of major Islamist attacks including the massacre at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the November 2015 attacks that killed 130 in Paris, and the 2016 Bastille Day truck attack in Nice that killed more than 80.

There have also been a string of less deadly but frequent attacks by lone wolf jihadists wielding knives or guns. Most of the attacks have either been claimed by the Islamic State group or been carried out in their name.

A state of emergency put in place just after the 2015 Paris attacks was lifted in October when Macron's centrist government passed a new law boosting the powers of security forces.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen called for greater security measures after Saturday's attack.

"The French people will no longer be content with talk, they expect action," she said.

Thousands of French troops remain on the streets under an anti-terror operation known as Sentinelle, patrolling transport hubs, tourist hotspots and other sensitive sites.
The violence caused damage to the terminal, where humanitarian supplies are delivered, which is estimated at more than USD 9 million.

Dozens of Palestinian demonstrators broke into the Gaza side of the terminal on Friday, setting a pipeline that delivers gas from Israel alight and torching a goods conveyor belt. (Photo: AFP)

Jerusalem: Israel closed the Kerem Shalom border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Saturday, a day after the terminal was damaged during protests by Palestinians that turned violent.

Dozens of Palestinian demonstrators broke into the Gaza side of the terminal on Friday, setting a pipeline that delivers gas from Israel alight and torching a goods conveyor belt.

The violence caused damage to the terminal, where humanitarian supplies are delivered, which is estimated at more than USD 9 million, Israeli officials said.

"The crossing will remain closed until the damage caused by the riots are repaired and will reopen in accordance with a situation assessment," the Israeli military said, adding that in the meantime it will be opened for humanitarian cases only.

More than two million people are packed into the narrow coastal enclave of Gaza, where poverty and unemployment rates are high.

The incursion took place during a weekly mass protest in which thousand of Palestinians gathered along the Israel-Gaza frontier. Crowds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers and one Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire.

More than 40 Palestinians have been killed during six weeks of protests and tens of thousands of Gazans are expected at tented border encampments in the coming days.

Gaza is run by the Islamist Hamas movement, which Israel and the West designate a terrorist organization. Citing security concerns, Israel maintains tight control over its land and sea borders. Egypt also restricts movement in and out of Gaza.
At the Regina Caeli Pope Francis prays for the victims and their relatives of the three churches targeted in suicide bomb attacks. A silent prayer. The solemnity of the Ascension "urges us to look up at heaven, and then immediately project it on earth". "The mission entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles ... continues today: it requires all our collaboration ". A "boundless mission", supported by the Holy Spirit. World Communications Day. Mother's Day.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis is "close to the dear people of Indonesia, especially the Christian communities of the city of Surabaya" following a series of attacks that targeted three churches, one Catholic and two Protestant this morning leaving many dead and dozens injured.

Speaking today after the recital of the Regina Caeli with the pilgrims gathered in St Peter's Square, the Pope added: "I raise my prayer for the victims and their relatives. Together we invoke the God of peace to stop these violent actions, and that feelings of hatred and violence be replaced in peoples heart with reconciliation and fraternity ". He then asked everyone to pray in silence.

Previously, the pontiff had explained the meaning of the solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus to heaven, which is celebrated today in Italy and in other parts of the world on the seventh Sunday of Easter time.

This feast, he said, "urges us to look up to heaven, and then immediately project it here on earth, carrying out the tasks that the risen Lord entrusts to us".

"The event of the Ascension - he continued - comes immediately after the mission that Jesus entrusts to the disciples. It is a boundless mission - that is, literally without boundaries - that exceeds human forces. In fact, Jesus says: "Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature" (Mk 16:15). It really seems too daring a task that Jesus entrusts to a small group of simple men and without great intellectual abilities! Yet this sparse company, irrelevant to the great powers of the world, is sent to bring the message of love and mercy of Jesus to every corner of the earth ".

"But this project of God can only be achieved by the power that God Himself grants to the Apostles. In this sense, Jesus assures them that their mission will be sustained by the Holy Spirit "(cf. Acts 1: 8).

"The mission entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles has continued throughout the centuries, and continues today: it requires all of our collaboration. In fact, each of them, by virtue of the baptism he has received, is entitled to proclaim the Gospel ... It is about being men and women of the Ascension, that is, seeking Christ along the paths of our time, carrying his word of salvation to the ends of the earth. In this journey we encounter Christ himself our brothers, especially in the poorest, in those who suffer in their own flesh the harsh and mortifying experience of old and new poverty. As at the beginning the Risen Christ sent his apostles with the power of the Holy Spirit, so today he sends us, with the same strength, to place concrete and visible signs of hope ".

"As the Virgin Mary - he concluded - who, as the Mother of the Lord died and rose, animated the faith of the first community of disciples, may she also help us to keep" our hearts high ", as he exhorts us to do the Liturgy. And at the same time help us to have 'our feet on the ground', and to sow the Gospel with courage in the concrete situations of life and history ".

The Pope then recalled that today the Church celebrates the World Day of Social Communications, on the theme "Fake news - that is false news - and journalism of peace ". In this regard, Francis has already published a message on the subject months ago. The pontiff then greeted "all media workers, especially journalists who are committed to seeking the truth of the news, contributing to a just and peaceful society".

Since in Italy and in other parts of the world Mother's Day is celebrated today, Francis asked "an applause for mothers" and added: "I would like to thank all the mothers for their safeguarding of families and I would also like to remember the mothers in heaven , who continue to help us ".
by Mathias Hariyadi

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - At least eight people were killed and 38 wounded in a series of explosions that took place around 7 am this morning in three different churches in Surabaya, the capital of the East Java province. Wisnu Sakti Buana, deputy mayor of the city, said the police arrested one of the bombers, who was about to attack the fourth target, the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.



A suicide attack hit the Catholic church of St. Mary Immaculate in the district of Ngagel (photo). The bomb exploded at the entrance of the parish before the 7.30 mass, while faithful were entering the church. In an initial death toll, a parishioner, a policeman and the bomber died; at least 13 people were injured.



A few minutes later, another explosion occurred at the Diponegoro building of the Christian Church of Indonesia (Gki), also in the centre of Surabaya, where two people died. Within a few minutes, another bomb exploded at the Pentecostal church of Jalan Arjuna, causing the death of one person.



At present the government has not issued any official statement, but East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera has told local media that "the identification of victims is underway." Chief Inspector of the East Java Police, Machfud Arifin, said that according to preliminary investigations the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers who used motorcycles or cars separately. Analysts fear that other churches in the country could be attacked in the coming hours.

In Indonesia, the most populous Islamic country in the world, Christians represent about 10% of the population. Protestants are 17 million, 7 million Catholics (3% of Indonesians). They are often targets of extremists and terrorists' threats. On Christmas Eve 2000, bomb attacks on 11 churches scattered across the country killing 13 people and wounded 100. On July 22, 2001, in the parish of St. Anna in Duren Sawit (East Jakarta), a bomb caused five dead and injured a dozen.



Today's attacks follow a revolt in the detention centre at the headquarters of the National Police Mobile Brigade (Mako Brimob) in Kelapa Dua, Depok regency (West Java). During the riots started by a group of prisoners linked to the Islamic State (IS), five police officers and one inmate lost their lives. Yesterday, near that building, security forces arrested two young women, accused of trying to stab a policeman with a pair of scissors.
Well my partner (Australian) and I are in a complicated situation, and I need advice.



I applied for the 820 visa on 13 July 2017 and haven't heard anything back yet. I'm currently on a 457 which expires May 2020 (4-year visa).



My partner has a potential job in another state (he has struggled to find work where my 457 is) but we are concerned about de facto status since I can not go with him as I do not want to quit my job and risk cancellation of my 457. So we'd be doing the long-distance thing again as we did for the first 3 years we were together!



What is the best course of action?



We are struggling to make ends meet money wise with just my income and he is sick of sitting around, not advancing in his career while we are waiting for my visa to be approved. Neither of us want to live in the location where my 457 visa is and frankly I've had enough of the job and want to leave.



We have been together for 6 years, not married but have been living together for almost 3 years. I've been in Australia for 4 years and we didn't apply for the 820 straight up as we were travelling and didn't have proof of 12-months de facto when my employer offered me the sponsorship.



If we do decide that him taking this job is for the best, I'd move down with him as soon as my visa is approved and I give enough notice to my employer. So if we do this, do we attach an explanation document to the visa? I'm hoping the case worker would consider our difficult situation but I really don't know how any of this works. The plan so far is that he takes the job, we move out of our rental home and he lives where his new job is and my employer is willing to rent me a room in a house the company owns.



Is this too much of a risk to our 820 application? We're really getting desperate. A coworker of mine had his wife's (of 6-weeks mind you) visa approved in 6 months and they applied one month after I did so I feel like this whole process is so unfair.



If anyone has any advice or has been in a similar situation, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks!
Hello everyone,



I want to lodge my visa on Monday 14/05/2018, or 15/05/2018, however my visitor visa finish on the 15.

My plan is to use a courrier for a same day delivery.



My worry is the payment, first I can't find to who I pay to? I want to pay by card but to who, which website, or should I do a transfer, but to which account?



I don't fancy going out of the country to apply for a new visitor visa, and I'm scared to get a 'no further stay' as I did that for a bit over a year.



Thanks in advanced
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- Every day, Mike Delancey is getting stronger.

Mike Delancey was wounded in Iraq, becoming paraplegic

He started the Wounded Warriors Abilities Ranch to help other veterans

Delancey has made working out accessible at a park in Pinellas Park

In September 2006, Delancey was serving with the Marines in Iraq when he was shot by a sniper. He woke up more than one month later to discover he was a paraplegic and couldn't feeling anything below his chest.

Ive had a strong family and friend support base around me, that kind of got me out of the house," Delancey said.



As Delancey learned to adapt, he wanted to help other veterans on their road to recovery as well and opened the Wounded Warriors Abilities Ranch.

Them just getting the sunshine on their skin and making them feel good, and really integrated back into the community is key about anybodys recovery," he said.



Delancey helped make working out entirely wheelchair accessible at a park located on 62nd Ave North in Pinellas Park. The park has a pavilion entirely of workout equipment for those in wheelchairs.

It's also paved and designed in a way that makes it easy to navigate.



Delancey says everyone is invited to work out at the park, it's not just for those who were in the military.
PLANT CITY, Fla. -- Hundreds packed St. Clement Catholic Church in Plant City on Saturday for the funeral of Jesus Navarro.

Hundreds attend teen's funeral

Jesus Navarro, 13, was killed in a hit-and-run

FHP is still looking for the driver

Navarro, 13, was hit and killed just after midnight May 6, while walking near his home in Dover. The driver took off.

During the funeral, they held communion and prayed over his soul. The priest stood in front of his family and told them in Spanish the community was there to support them. He also talked about how some in society have stopped valuing the lives of others, and questioned how someone could hit the teen and not call for help.

That night, the teen was with his brother sleeping over a friends house, according to his mother, Rosa Lopez. She said he told his brother he wasnt feeling good and left. Lopez said Jesus brother now feels guilty he let his brother leave, and didnt call home to notify their parents.

Lopez said in Spanish her heart was shattered. She said his death was the worst thing that could happen to a mother.

On Mothers Day, she said her son would usually hug her and give her a kiss and tell her he loved her. She said was sad she wouldnt receive that hug and kiss anymore.

She thanked the many families who have assisted them during this time of mourning.

Lopez said she also hopes troopers will figure out who hit her son, before someone else gets hurt.

All of the children are in danger, Lopez said in Spanish.

Troopers have taken a pickup truck into custody and are processing it for evidence. Its owners lawyer called troopers and told them to pick it up.

Troopers said theyve been unable to interview the owner, and are now trying to figure out who was behind the wheel at the time of the crash.
Reunited: graduate from Ethiopia relishes her moms presence at commencement

Roza Azene 18 graduated magna cum laude with honors after adjusting to life at Brandeis

Roza Muluken Azene 18 was keenly aware of Commencements concurrence with Mothers Day this year.

For Azene, a native of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, graduation marked just the third time in four years that shes seen her mother, Muchit Reta, who made a 27-hour journey to Waltham last week to see her daughter receive a bachelors degree in economics and mathematics.

The distance and time apart has been very hard and challenging for both of us. Getting my diploma this Sunday definitely feels more significant given that its also Mothers Day. Its such a great coincidence, Azene said.

Muchit, who works as a math teacher in Ethiopia, encouraged her daughter to pursue educational opportunities in the United States after a family friend recommended Brandeis.

Azene heeded her mothers encouragement and applied to Brandeis. She was subsequently accepted into the Class of 2018 and was named a Lawrence A. Wien International Scholar. The Wien Scholarship Program provides four years of free tuition to a select group of international students. Since its inception in 1958, the program has brought over 860 scholars from 112 countries to Brandeis.

Even so, Azene was hesitant to leave home and face a new country, language and culture on her own. Today, she remembers the moment her plane took off from Addis Ababa en route to a new adventure.

I remember sitting on the plane, waiting on the tarmac to takeoff, Azene said. And I remember saying to myself What are you doing? What have you done?

Azene credits Brandeis community for welcoming her on campus in the fall of 2014 and making her transition easier. She made friends and enjoyed new student orientation. That said, she also experienced homesickness and culture shock.

Cold New England winters, plus calculating time and distance were some of the first things Azene had to get used to. For one, Ethiopia has an eight hour time difference with Boston. It also operates on a 13-month calendar. Adapting to a new way of measuring time made Azene late to meetings and classes in her first semester.

Though she now has excellent command of English, her skills with the language were not yet fully developed when she arrived on campus in 2014, either.

I took English at school in Ethiopia, but its different learning it in a classroom versus in day to day life in an English-speaking country, Azene said. It was frustrating at times in class when Id know the answer to a question but I wouldnt raise my hand because I was nervous about speaking out loud. That was really difficult at times, as I was very outspoken and had always been raising my hand at home.

That said, Azene slowly found her comfort zone at Brandeis and excelled. Despite the distance from home, she stayed in close contact with her mother, who continued to provide her with encouragement. Azene also credits her fellow Wein Scholars, and the program staff, with helping her acclimate to her new surroundings and offering support.

Then came Azenes passion for economics. Azene served as a undergraduate departmental representative (UDR) and a Brandeis Undergraduate Group Study (BUGS) tutor for economics. She even served as an econometrics tutor while she was taking the class.

Azene won this years Outstanding UDR award, the BNC Presidential award and graduated with honors and magna cum laude on Sunday. Later this summer, she will move to Washington, D.C. and work for Edgeworth Economics where she will be a consultant. Azene is considering graduate school in the future, and maybe even a return to Ethiopia, but is looking forward to getting some work experience in the Nations Capital.

That said, Azene was glad to have the opportunity to celebrate her accomplishments so far with her mother.

Commencement is special, but its mostly about my mother, said Azene. I dedicate the day to her. Shes done so much for me. Both of us have sacrificed a lot in the last four years. She usually doesnt say too much, but I know she had a lot of feelings about seeing me graduate.
Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu Anshel Pfeffer Basic Books 423 pages; $32 Anshel Pfeffers biography is superbly timed  appearing as Israeli justice closes in on a man who has been in power for nearly a decade and is a major player in what he famously calls a tough neighbourhood for far longer. Bibi, as he is known at home (though the use of his childhood nickname does not automatically imply affection), comes across as a more complex figure than his legendary mastery of the sound byte suggests. Family background ...
has recorded a 20 per cent growth in revenue in March-April 2018. The carrier has also embarked on a route-analysis exercise, focusing on increasing flying hours of its aircraft, to add more trips, Chairman and Managing Director, Pradeep Singh Kharola, said.



The airline is focussing on improving the operational efficiency, both in the domestic and international sectors, even as it is buoyed over the load factor, on time performance and revenue growth, Kharola said.



"The revenue has increased by about 20 per cent as compared to the same period last year at roughly about Rs30 billion, though expenses continue to remain high," he said, adding the airline has benefitted from the overall growth in the aviation market.

He pinned high hopes on international routes, generating 70 per cent of Air India's total revenue, saying the new destinations are giving good returns.



The increase of frequency to the San Francisco route to nine a week is expected to give the airline Rs900 million a month.



According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, had a market share of 13.4 per cent in March 2018.



With a fleet of over 150 aircraft, currently boasts of over 2,500 international prime-time slots per week in 43 destinations and 3,800 domestic slots in 54 destinations.





Kharola, however, did not elaborate about the network-analysis exercise or the new routes the airline is eyeing, especially in the international sector.



However, he hinted the African continent promises to hold a better future for the airline.



In February, the civil said Air India has been "consistently improving" its overall performance and more than doubled its operating profit to Rs2.98 billion in 2016-17.





During the same period, the airline's net loss widened to Rs 57.65 billion. In 2015-16, Air India had an operating profit of Rs 1.05 billion, while its net loss stood at Rs 38.36 billion.



The ailing airline has been put on the block with the government proposing to divest 76 per cent of its stake in the airline.



(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.)
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How do you stand out in a category which is chock a block with players and there is very little technological differentiation between one brand and the other? You either turn goofy or try to tug at the potential consumers heartstrings. Samsung has increasingly followed the second path while offering a wide range at a competitive price.

The company claims that it is the leading player in the frost-free and side by side refrigerator segments with a market share of 40 per cent and 47 per cent respectively. The overall refrigerator market in the country is expected to grow to ...
After an updated version of the Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral carrying Bangladesh's first communications satellite into orbit, its Founder and CEO on Sunday said his company is set for over 300 missions in five years.

The "Block 5" booster, the final substantial upgrade to SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle, was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre on its maiden flight on Friday.

The rocket's first stage was successfully recovered, landing on the "Of Course I Still Love You" offshore droneship, about eight minutes after the launch, at an unmanned platform vessel in the Pacific Ocean.

" will probably build 30 to 40 rocket cores for 300 missions over 5 years. Then the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) takes over & Falcon retires. The goal of BFR is to enable anyone to move to moon, & eventually outer planets," Musk tweeted on Sunday.

The "Block-5" booster is designed to be capable of 10 or more flights with very limited refurbishment as continues to strive for rapid reusability and extremely high reliability,

"Rate at which things are getting more bizarre appears to be increasing. In the future, it will seem bizarre that we used to crash rockets into the ocean instead of reusing them," Musk added.

Falcon 9 rocket, aiming to bring astronauts to the (ISS) in the future, came with many design changes to improve its reusability and reliability. Those changes may make engineers easier to refurbish its first stages for more flights.

The new rocket has improved its helium tanks submerged in liquid oxygen propellant tanks in the second stage. The helium tanks were ruptured in a pre-launch test on September 1, 2016, causing an explosion.

The Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR, which will be used to explore -- a goal that Musk hopes to accomplish by 2022 -- will be built in the Port of Los Angeles.

According to media reports, the LA Board of Harbor Commissioners gave its unanimous approval to permit SpaceX to build the BFR rocket at a new facility on Terminal Island at the Port of Los Angeles.

The report said the new rocket manufacturing facility would be built on a 19-acre parcel on the mostly artificial island that's part of the port. The facility would provide employment to as many as 700 people, according to SpaceX.

According to Musk, the huge new rocket would be nearly 350 feet tall and span 30 feet in diameter.

Last month, NASA's next planet-hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (Tess), was successfully launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Tess is expected to find thousands of new exoplanets orbiting nearby stars, including some that could support life.
China's much-publicised announcement to slash tariffs on 28 medicines, including cancer drugs from India, has failed to create any buzz among the Indian pharmaceutical firms here as exports to China are possible only after lengthy field trials and approvals, which could take years, an official at an Indian firm has said.

On May 4, China, the second largest market for pharmaceuticals after the US, said it has removed import duties on as many as 28 medicines, including all cancer drugs, from May 1, a move which would help India to export these pharmaceuticals to the neighbouring country.

"China has exempted import tariffs (duties) for 28 drugs, including all cancer drugs, from May 1. Good for India's pharmaceutical industry and medicine export to China.

I believe this will help reduce trade imbalance between China and India in the future," Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui said in a tweet.

Luo's announcement generated optimism that India's persistent demand from China to provide opening for Indian pharmaceutical firms to market their economically priced drugs compared to the multinational firms may be realised.

However, the official with the Indian pharmaceutical company said it is surprising to see the reports from the Indian media that the move to reduce tariffs will pave the way for exports of Indian pharmaceutical firms.

"For Indian pharmaceutical companies, it is not going to be much different as imports of Indian drugs both generic and anti-cancer is possible only with the approval of China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA)," the official told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

The announcement has not created any enthusiasm among the Indian firms as for both oral and injectable drugs a lengthy process of clearances is required in China which may take anywhere between two and half years to three years.

India has been lobbying actively with China to ensure quick clearances but it has not worked so far, he said. Any exports to China at this point of time is possible only if Beijing accepts certification by US Food and Drug Administration, which has approved a whole host of Indian drugs.

"As regards India benefiting because China has lifted import tariffs, I do not see it as a measure that is specifically favouring the Indian pharmaceutical products alone," V Viswanath, a Beijing based senior consultant for Indian, Chinese as well as multi-national pharmaceutical firms told PTI.

"This will benefit all imported products irrespective of which the country of origin is," he said, highlighting the long drawn out struggle by Indian pharmaceutical firms to enter Chinese markets despite persistent campaign.

India has been asking China for long to open up its IT and pharmaceutical firms to reduce the trade deficit which has claimed to over $50 billion.

But ahead of Luo's announcement, China's Cabinet or State Council on April 12 has approved a proposal that China will exempt import tariffs on all cancer drugs and encourage the import of more innovative drugs.

From May 1, import tariffs on all common drugs including cancer drugs, cancer alkaloid-based drugs, and imported traditional Chinese medicine will be exempted, state-run Xinhua agency quoted an official statement as saying.

Value Added Tax in the production and import of drugs will drop by a large margin, it said.

The authorities will reduce the prices of cancer drugs through centralised government procurement and eliminate premium prices for drugs by means of cross-border e-commerce, it said.

Imported innovative drugs, especially much-needed cancer drugs, will be incorporated into the catalogue of medical insurance reimbursement, the statement said.

So as of now there is nothing specific for Indian pharmaceutical industry as such, the Indian pharma firm, the Indian pharma firm official said.

The move is aimed at reducing exorbitant costs of medicines in general and cancer drugs in particular by the multinational firms in China, he said.

The tariff reduction is also not going to amount much as it accounts to only about three to four percent, which is negligible, he said.

In fact, the reimbursement for cancer drugs by the provincial and central governments is aimed at prevailing on the innovator multinational companies to reduce their prices, which they will considering the size of the Chinese market, he said.

With reimbursement on cards the multinational companies are going to bring down their prices to cash in on the scheme, he said adding that this may even stop the rampant smuggling of Indian cancer drugs to China as prices will come down.

"Pharma companies in general and Indian Pharma companies in particular have struggled to get their products approved by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) which is the first step in commercialisation of products. Pharmaceuticals can only be imported and sold in China if they are registered with CFDA," Viswanath said.

The announcement by China to import Indian drugs need to be "followed up with a more specific bilateral arrangement between China and India", he said.

This is necessary as quality pharmaceutical products which are at very affordable prices are given fast-track approvals in CFDA.

"This could save China significant healthcare costs and also help the suffering Chinese patients to pay out of their own pocket for the treatment," he said.
Meanwhile, Janata Dal (Secular) (JD-S) supremo H D Deve Gowda said that he was not yet "prepared" to "accept or reject" anything and asked people to wait for the results day. His reaction came after the exit poll projections showed his party emerging as the kingmaker in Karnataka. "I am not prepared to accept or reject anything, let's wait for May 15 (counting of votes), we will get ...

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Dena Bank will request the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to modify the order of last week which bans any new lending by it. In the middle of last year, the government-owned lender was put under the Prompt Corrective Action framework, meant to stop things getting worse at ailing banks.

However, it is the first under this restrictive umbrella to also be told to stop all new lending. RBI took the extra step after more bad news from Mumbai-based Dena. It has made losses for three financial years in a row and its proportion of net non-performing assets to ...
At least five Taliban militants have been killed and seven others wounded during the joint operations launched by the security forces in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province.

Security forces from the army, border police, national police, national intelligence directorate, and public uprising forces have taken part in the operations, reported Khaama Press, citing the governor's office in Nangarhar, as saying in a statement.

The statement further stated that the Afghan armed forces also provided indirect artillery aid in association with the foreign forces which are responsible for providing close air support whilst the operations are being conducted.

An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was discovered and diffused during the operations, the report said.

This comes in tandem with various ongoing counter-terrorism operations in certain northern provinces as the militant and terrorist groups are attempting to expand their insurgency activities in the north.

The US military based in Afghanistan also conduct regular airstrikes against the IS, Taliban, and other militant and terrorist groups.

The US forces conduct airstrikes by using unmanned aerial vehicles in the province to clamp down the militants, according to the reports.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The total polling percentage in Karnataka Elections is 72.13 per cent, said Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Kumar on Sunday.

The Election Commission of India on Saturday had said that so far the voter turnout was 70 percent, compared to 71.4 percent in 2013 elections in Karnataka.

Addressing a press conference here, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha claimed that the figure was likely to increase, as polling was still underway in some areas.

The voting for 222 assembly constituencies began at 7 a.m. at 58,546 polling stations on Saturday and was scheduled to conclude at 6 p.m.

The election in two constituencies, Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar, both in Bengaluru was postponed earlier.

In a bid to curb the distribution of cash, liquor and other items to swing electoral process, the Election Commission had deployed three flying squads in every constituency, 154 general observers, 136 expenditure observers, 34 police observers, 10,000 micro observers, 3.2 lakh polling personnel and members of the Central police forces in all polling stations.

As per available data, the Election Commissiom said an 'alarming' Rs.186 worth of cash, liquor and other items had been seized from the state as of today, which, it said, was more than eight times the seizures made in the last assembly election.

However, the election-governing body noted that a marginal percentage of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) failures were reported.

A total of 2,654 candidates, including 216 women candidates were in the fray for Assembly Elections this year.

While Belagavi district had the highest number of voters (37,23,585), Kodagu district had the lowest voter share (4,33,846).

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Afghan forces on Saturday forestalled multiple coordinated assaults on the security checkpoints in Afghanistan, killing over 100 Taliban militants.

According to a ministry statement, 45 militants were killed in a bid to overrun Farah city bordering Iran and sixteen security personnel were killed in the clashes.

20 Taliban militants were killed in northern Farah province bordering Uzbekistan, 15 in northeastern Badakhshan province, 19 in eastern Ghazni province and 11 in Paktika province bordering Pakistan's restive tribal belt in the past 24 hours, Anadolu Agency reported.

23 Daesh militants were also killed in northeastern Nangarhar province.

The Taliban has claimed to have killed 27 security personnel, destroyed and seized a large cache of arms and vehicles in Farah.

The Taliban managed to enter Shahrak district. However, efforts are underway to reclaim the area.

The exact figures of casualties are yet to be ascertained.

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An agreement was signed between Afghan and Pakistani officials to resolve problems regarding transit and trade between the two countries, the Afghan Ministry of Commerce and Industries said on Sunday.

"Pakistani officials have agreed to reduce tariffs on Afghan fruit and vegetables. They will also allow the export of Afghan cotton to Pakistan", Tolo News quoted Ministry of Commerce and Industries spokesman Musafir Qoqandi as saying.

The agreement was made last week, in Islamabad during at a meeting between Afghan and Pakistani officials.

In return, Afghan officials agreed to lift limitations and conditions on quarantine certificates for Afghan goods which are being exported to Pakistan.

However, Afghan private sector is still are not optimistic about Pakistan's will to cooperate in solving transit and trade issues with Afghanistan.

On May 3, Pakistan reopened a major trade route with Afghanistan, the Ghulam Khan pass which wasn't functional for four years.

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Police said on Saturday that the situation in Aurangabad city was under control, a day after two persons died in communal clashes that broke out in multiple areas of the city.

Three FIRs have been registered and a few people have been detained too for rioting which left over 40 people injured, including police personnel.

Aurangabad Acting Commissioner and Special IG Milind Bharambe said necessary measures have been taken to control the situation which has become normal now.

"Seven companies of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and one company of riot control police have currently been deployed there," Bharambe told ANI.

Talking about the casualties, he said one person died due to a plastic bullet injury while the other lost his life as a slab had fallen on him.

Clashes broke out in the city two days ago following the removal of a water connection to a place of worship in Moti Karanja area.

About 50 shops were gutted in the clashes, and hundreds of youths took to the streets to pelt stones, as the issue took a communal colour.

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Reacting to the incident where freedom fighter and prominent activist Bal Gangadhar Tilak, also known as Lokmanya Tilak, was mentioned as the "father of terrorism" in a Class 8 book, Pune Mayor Mukta Tilak said that it was an insult to the freedom fighters who laid down their lives for the country.

Mukta, who is the wife of Lokmanya Tilak's great-grandson Shailesh Tilak, told ANI, "Lokmanya Tilak served the country for so long. He gave fifty years of his life to India. Even after doing so much, he is being portrayed as the father of the terrorism in a children's book. This is shameful and an insult to our freedom fighters. I request all citizens to ban this book."

She added that she would personally write a letter to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje regarding the incident.

Mukta further said that the culprits found guilty of publishing the book should be caught and strict action should be taken against them.

A reference book for Class 8 Social Studies has described freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak as the "father of terrorism."

The book by a Mathura-based publisher is being used by private English-medium schools affiliated to the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE).

"Tilak demonstrated a path towards movement, therefore, he is called as the father of terrorism," reads page 267 of chapter 22 of the book.

Tilak's description is part of sub-topic 'Incidents of Movement during 18th and 19th century.'

"Tilak clearly believed that we cannot achieve anything just by pleading the British officers. Through Shivaji and Ganpati festivals, Tilak aroused unique awareness in the country. He instilled the mantra of freedom among the masses, due to which he became a thorn in the eyes of the British," the book further reads.

Reacting to this, Private School Association Director Kailash Sharma said on Saturday, "Describing Tilak as the "father of terrorism" is highly condemnable. Before writing or making such controversial changes in texts, one should consult with the historians first.

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Marvel superheroes Deadpool and Cable will be once again teaming up for a comic, based on the concept of time-travel.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the latter will guide the loudmouthed superhero through a time-travel in the quest of a missing woman.

The character of Cable will be introduced to the new hordes of fans with the latest outing of Marvel, 'Deadpool 2', scheduled to hit the theatres on May 16.

Cable, the badass time-travelling warrior, first appeared in the Marvel universe in the comic 'Uncanny X-Men' in 1986, as an infant. The character is believed to have been transported to the future, before returning to the present as a skilled fighter.

The issue will be written by David F. Walker of 'Luke Cage' fame with the accompanying art designed by Paco Diaz.

The annual comic is set to release in August.

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Indian Ambassador to UAE Navdeep Singh Suri said that they are working on skill mapping programme to map the demands of the UAE job market with the skill development programmes in India.

Speaking to ANI about the 3.3 million Indian nationals in UAE, he said, "We are working on a very ambitious skill mapping programme, where we map the demands of the UAE job market with the skill development programmes in India. We align our skill development programmes with those requirements and make sure that the certifications we issue in India are accepted by the UAE authorities. So that our workers when they come, get much better wages."

While talking about important discussions that took place between India and the UAE, said, he further said that they are planning to set up a food corridor on the demand of UAE.

"It (food corridor) will be beneficial for our farmers who suffer when there's a glut in the market and prices crash. This fits into the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which would double the income of farmers in the next 5 years," Suri told ANI.

He further hailed the UAE for granting 55,000 square meters of land for the temple and said the generosity of the rulers of UAE is respected.

Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan is leading an official delegation to the UAE from May 12 to 14.

Pradhan is visiting UAE to follow up on the February 2018 UAE visit of Prime Minister Modi.

During the visit of the Prime Minister, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) signed an agreement with the ADNOC of UAE under which the latter will store about 5.86 million barrels of crude oil in India's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) facility at Mangalore at its own cost.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Hindu businessman and his son were recently shot dead during a robbery bid in Pakistan's Balochistan province.

Pakistan-based human rights activist and blogger Kapil Dev, in a tweet, "Hindu trader Jaipal & his son Haresh were shot dead while they were returning from their shop yesterday in Hub Choki. This is second double murder incident followed by two brothers' murder in Mithi in Jan. Media is busy in covering jalsas, so plz raise voice for the justice here!."

Jaipal Das and his son Haresh Das were returning to Hub from a nearby city when they were attacked by the robbers. The two tried to resist the robbery bid and were shot as a result.

Protests against the killing broke out on the Karachi-Quetta road leading to a road blockade.

Earlier, in January this year, the same kind of incident had taken place where two brothers, who were food grain traders by profession, were shot dead by robbers in Shahi Bazaar of Mithi town.

Daleep Maheshwari and his brother Chandar Maheshwari, who were 42 and 40 respectively, were busy handling the routine trading at their business place when two assailants riding a motorcycle shot them at point-blank range. They snatched money from them and drove away.

This had triggered a wave of protest in various towns of Tharparkar and Umerkot districts.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At a science session on Saturday, the government officials and former Jihadi leaders discussed the HIV/AIDS spread, prevention and control in Afghanistan.

At the same event, Public Minister Ferozuddin Feroz said more than 2,500 people who are infected with HIV/AIDS have been identified by the ministry, reported Tolo News.

Feroz mentioned, over three million people are addicted to drugs in Afghanistan. Most of them use the same syringes that provide the ground for HIV/AIDS to spread, he added.

Former Jihadi leader Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf said the virus poses a serious threat to the young generation in the country.

He said the drug addicts need to be treated and asked people to avoid drugs.

Sayyaf said, "Obey the teachings of Islam to stay safe from the disease and follow the directions of national control HIV/AIDS programme."

The Ministry of Public has 13 specific centres for HIV treatment in 13 provinces in Afghanistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will establish a dedicated web portal to spread information on filming locations and production facilities available in India.

The Ministry said in an official release, "The portal will help potential production companies looking to shoot in India to obtain permissions and explore locations in India."

According to the Ministry, it will facilitate the acceptance of the application for shooting feature films, TV and web reality shows, along with the online payments.

It will also provide information on locations and link to all state portals, the Ministry said.

It will capture detailed information pertaining to a particular location, resources or facilities available in a standardized format.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A staffer of budget carrier IndiGo was arrested on Sunday for allegedly making a hoax call regarding a bomb in a Mumbai bound flight at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI).

The 23-year-old accused, Kartik Madhav Bhat made a call from the unidentified number on May 2 at Indigo Airlines Office regarding the presence of a bomb in Mumbai-bound flight.

Following which few Mumbai-bound flights from IGI Airport were physically checked. However, the authority did not found anything.

A criminal case under appropriate sections of law was registered at IGI Airport Police Station and a search was initiated for the caller.

After tracing the number, the police apprehended Bhat, who during the course of the investigation, confessed his involvement in the case.

Bhat disclosed that his job performance was not up to the mark and he had been given verbal notice to improve his performance in three months or face the departmental action. He was depressed and made the call out of frustration to teach a lesson to the Airlines.

The accused, after passing his intermediate, did Diploma course in Hospitality and Aviation from Frankfinn Institute.

Thereafter he started his job in Aviation Sector and was presently serving in Indigo Airlines as 'Customer Service Officer' at Pune Airport.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Terrorist organisation ISIS has claimed the responsibility of Saturday's knife attack in central Paris, according to nydailynews.com.

The attacker was shot dead by the police after he killed one person and managed to injure four others near the Palais Garnier opera house in the Second Arrondissement.

According to Parisian police, two of the injured are in critical condition.

The ISIS claimed the responsibility on social media and stated "carried out the operation in response to calls targeting the coalition countries".

Citing local media reports, nydailynews.com stated that the attacker, a north-African man in his mid-twenties, shouted "Allahu Akbar" while carrying out the attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A person, who was injured in the firing in Kasauli during demolition drive on May 1, succumbed to his injuries on Saturday.

Shail Bala Sharma (51), an assistant town planner of Solan district, along with four teams of the Town and Country Planning Department, were razing unauthorised construction in the area on the order of the Supreme Court when the incident took place.

When Sharma and her team reached Narayani Guest House, its owner Vijay Singh asked them to keep off his property. After the team went ahead with the demolition and tried to get the place evacuated, Singh opened fire on them.

Assistant Town and Country Planning officer Shail Bala Sharma was killed in the firing.

Later, the main accused, Vijay Singh, was sent to the police custody for five days.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said that former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's statement on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks proved that India has been right all through the way.

Nawaz Sharif on May 12 said that terrorists sent by Pakistan were responsible for the deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks that had claimed over 160 lives.

"It is a serious disclosure. Hasn't India been following it? Saying that we strongly believe that the handlers of the 26/11 offences were in Pakistan. This only proves India's stand has been right all through the way," Sitharaman told reporters here.

She went on to add that Pakistan's claims about portraying itself as a victim are all bogus.

"For a state which has been continuously in denial, even when proofs have been absolutely unquestionable, it is not surprising. But it is absolutely something which has to be thrown to the whole world to see, so that they know that all the lectures that Pakistan gives to the whole world about human rights and about how Pakistan itself is a victim, is all bogus," she added.

Nawaz Sharif yesterday said, "Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial?" Nawaz noted in an interview to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper in a reference to the Mumbai attacks-related trials which have stalled in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court."

Pakistan has so far not completed trial in the 26/11 case.

On November 26, 2008, 10 Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists had sailed into Mumbai from Karachi and carried out coordinated attacks in different parts of the city, killing about 166 people and injuring over 600 others.

The lone survivor, Ajmal Amir Kasab, was caught and was sentenced to death at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune in 2012.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) was believed to have plotted the 26/11 attacks. Its mastermind, Hafiz Saeed, has been roaming freely in Pakistan.

New Delhi has, time and again, protested against Islamabad for harbouring Saeed, who is wanted for allegedly plotting the 2008 attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Energy Minister for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Suhail Al Mazroui on Sunday said that nobody could assure the stability of global crude oil prices.

Speaking to ANI, Suhail said at the Downstream Investment Forum here, "No one can assure the stability of oil prices. We are not concerned about the price. What we are concerned about is ensuring investments for the future that there is enough oil supply to satisfy the demand. Once that's there, the price will be certain and adequate for consumers and producers. We need to look at it at a larger or a longer time frame not just a month of the spike, but for the whole year."

Congratulating India and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for flagging off the first consignment of two million barrels of ADNOC crude to Mangalore, he added, "I am very proud of the Indian companies looking here to invest in the UAE. This is the result of excellent work done by Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi. His visit to the region, his alignment with our leadership have enabled such investments. India is our strategic partner."

The Emirati Minister hoped that there would be an increase in investments by Indian companies in the UAE and vice-versa.

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan is on a three-day visit to the UAE, to follow up on the February 2018 UAE visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

During the visit of the Prime Minister, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) signed an agreement with the ADNOC of UAE under which the latter will store about 5.86 million barrels of crude oil in India's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) facility at Mangalore at its own cost.

Pradhan also held a bilateral meeting with Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and ADNOC CEO. Pradhan was accompanied by Indian Ambassador to UAE, Navdeep Suri, senior officials and CEOs for Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.

Both sides discussed on the ongoing cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector and explored ways to further enhance the engagement. They had detailed discussions on the Indian downstream sector and explored the various opportunities for participation of UAE companies in the mega petroleum sector infrastructure projects in India.

Pradhan also invited UAE companies to participate as preferred partners in the entire hydrocarbon value chain of India.

While addressing a gathering at the Indian embassy, Pradhan stressed that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, the endeavour has been to provide affordable, sustainable and clean cooking fuel, energy and electricity to all, and has also made India an attractive investment spot, especially in the energy sector.

Pradhan added that about 300 US billion dollars will be invested in the energy sector in the next 10 years. He underlined that India had become the third largest energy consumer in the

"After US (United States) and China, India consumes maximum primary energy. But, India figures on the list of least per capita energy consuming countries. What does it mean? According to energy analysts, out of Rs. 100 worth energy sale in 2040, Rs. 33 will be sold in India," Pradhan said.

He added that energy is one of the three to four components of any developing country.

"There are four pillars of energy: It should be affordable, accessible, green, and sustainable. Once there were concerns in India regarding energy, but now it is becoming a happening energy spot in the world," Pradhan said.

He further highlighted the attractive investment opportunities in the Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill Development sectors in India and various government schemes of the Centre, and also extended an invitation to the business community in the UAE for greater collaborations and increased investments in India.

The Union minister said during the PM Modi government's regime, their endeavour has been to provide affordable, sustainable and clean cooking fuel, energy and electricity to all and that have also made India an attractive investment spot, especially in the energy sector, adding India had made tremendous strides in providing energy justice to all.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Highlighting the rise in Iran's military budget post the signing of the nuclear deal, United States President Donald Trump has indicated that the Shia majority nation had never been serious about the same and said it was all "big lie".

Taking to Twitter, the US President wrote, "Iran's Military Budget is up more than 40% since the Obama negotiated Nuclear Deal was reached...just another indicator that it was all a big lie. But not anymore!"

On May 9, President Trump announced the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or the Iran nuclear deal which limited the country's uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief.

Calling the accord as an "embarrassment" that was "defective at its core", he also warned of severe consequences if Iran resumes its nuclear programme.

The Iran nuclear deal was signed between six countries in 2015 - Iran, US, Britain, Germany, Russia, France and China for lifting economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limitations to the country's nuclear programme.

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The Pashtun Council of Canada staged a protest outside the Consulate General of Pakistan in Toronto to show their solidarity with the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) and urged the Government of Pakistan to release PTM workers.

They chanted anti-Pakistan slogans such as - "Yeh Jo Dehsht Gardi Hey, is ke piechey verdi hey."

A protester said, "We strongly condemn those who don't let do us do peaceful protests in Karachi. We going to pass this message to everyone that we will be with you, we will all be with you and all will stand shoulder to shoulder for conducting a peaceful protest and demand the release of missing persons of PTM."

The second protester asserted that Islamabad is harassing all PTM leaders and preventing them from undertaking peaceful protests.

"This peaceful protest is against the operation and harassment by the security agencies in Pakistan. The protest is against those tactics of the security agencies of Pakistan who are harassing the PTM leadership and activists," the second protester said.

He claimed that around 150 PTM activists were arrested before this protest.

"150 PTM activists were arrested yesterday. The leader of PTM Manzoor Pashteen was offloaded from the Islamabad airport. He was stopped from boarding the plane to Karachi, where he wanted to address a rally. After the airplane took off, he was later allowed to go. Currently, he is going to Karachi by road. We strongely condemn those policies of state to curtail the movement of PTM activists and leadership. This gathering here was on a short notice. We will organise larger protests throughout Europe and North America. We are in touch with pashtun organisations and peace-loving communities," he explained.

A third protester launched a blistering attack on the Pakistani security agencies, claiming that they wanted to destroy and create instability in Pakistan. He called for a truth and reconciliation commission to be formed to investigate the abuses of the Pashtun community, adding that the PTM was there to save the country.

The PTM was started by young Pashtun activists in 2014, who are demanding an end to what they say are human rights violations by authorities in the Pakistan's tribal regions.

The leaders have been calling for the removal of military checkpoints in tribal areas and an end to "enforced disappearances" in which suspects are detained by security forces without due process.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Commando Surendra Singh, who was a part of the team during 26/11 operations, on Sunday appealed to all the peace-loving countries to come together and fight against Pakistan.

"Pakistan is a terrorist country and entire world knew the truth behind the 26/11 attacks. Appeal to all peace-loving countries to come together and fight against Pak. Former Pakistan Prime Minister should have accepted the truth earlier," he told ANI.

Earlier, Nawaz Sharif had said that terrorists sent by Pakistan were responsible for the deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks that claimed over 160 lives.

"Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial?" Nawaz said in an interview to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper in a reference to the Mumbai attacks-related trials which have stalled in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.

Pakistan has so far not completed trial in the 26/11 case.

On November 26, 2008, 10 Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists had sailed into Mumbai from Karachi and carried out coordinated attacks in different parts of the city, killing about 166 people and injuring over 600 others.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) was believed to have plotted the 26/11 attacks. Its mastermind, Hafiz Saeed, has been roaming freely in Pakistan.

India has, time and again, protested against Islamabad for harbouring Saeed, who is wanted for allegedly plotting the 2008 attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As the mercury in most part of India is rising day by day, people are resorting to various means to keep themselves cool.

Residents of Surat are seeking respite in water parks and snow parks from the calescent heat. The intense heat wave is making another round to Gujarat with the temperature crossing 40 degree Celsius in most places.

For instance, in a Surat snow park resort, people were seen enjoying themselves and wearing jackets and warmers to get a feeling of the winter season of the park.

Minal Mandlewala, a tourist told ANI, "It is very hot here. The hot weather is also very harmful to your skin. The snow park here is the best."

Trisha Shah, a school student too shared her experiences of enjoying in the snow park.

"I am really enjoying it here. Right now, my summer vacations are going on. And coming here to the snow park is absolutely great. I am not in a mood to leave the snow park since I am enjoying myself to the fullest," she said.

"People are beating the heat in Surat with air conditioners and coolers. Animals are also facing many problems due to lack of water in the summer season," Trisha added.

In Amazonia water park, people have flocked to the resort in Surat and are dancing to the tunes of popular Hindi songs in the pool.

Vrunda Parmar, a Vadodara resident told ANI, "I have come all the way from Vadodara. I am having an amazing experience at the Amazonia water park. It is very hot here and we all get to spend some time with our family in the water park."

Explaining the heat wave in the city, she added, "Since it is so hot, people should stay at homes between 11am-4pm. If you are walking in the heat, there is a risk of skin infections. People should have fruits to keep themselves cool and fit in the summer season."

In Vijayawada, people were seen beating the heat by having fruits such as watermelon and water chestnuts.

Chetan Sharma, a scientist of the Indian Meteorological Department in Jaipur explained the reason of the current weather pattern.

He told ANI, "Right now the summer season is going on and the present conditions are heat wave conditions. The thunder activities, wind storms and low pressure generated is leading to a western disturbance which meets the Arabian Sea."

"When the heat rises in the day, the low pressure increases leading to pulling of moisture from the Arabian Sea. In the evening, convection cult takes place, wherein the wind uprises and then it gets cool. So after that, rainfall takes place along with windstorm. That's why because of the current heat wave, there is a phenomenon of low pressure in western states like Rajasthan, which observes windstorm and thunderstorm frequently. The heatwave will remain until the beginning of June," Sharma added.

In regards to this, the Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) conducted a meeting with 17 heat wave-prone states to review their preparedness and mitigation measures on Saturday.

In view of the recent incidents of thunderstorm and lightning, preparedness measures relating to these hazards were also assessed.

In the meeting conducted through video conference, NDMA member R. K. Jain requested the states to run extensive public awareness campaigns in local languages to educate people about the simple ways of mitigating the impact of heat waves and lightning. He also asked the states to work on developing thresholds at local levels and ensure wider dissemination of early warnings.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has informed that besides the regular five-day forecasts, it now comes out with a special heat bulletin at 07.30 hours to help people plan their day accordingly.

A detailed review of the preparedness of the states in terms of having heat action plans up to the district level, providing shelters, drinking water, rescheduling work timings to avoid peak heat impact for labourers, medical treatment, etc. was carried out as well.

The NDMA underlined the importance of training all stakeholders to build local capacities and ensure a better response to an emergency. It also asked the States to share a report on the activities carried out by them so that best practices followed by one State can be suitably adapted by others.

Besides, the NDMA has been running an all-out awareness campaign on social media on the do's and don'ts of a heat wave, thunderstorms and lightning. NDMA's "Beat the Heat India" campaign is being widely used and publicised by various other stakeholders.

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Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday called United Arab Emirates (UAE) a reliable partner of India while appealing to all the stakeholders of Downstream Investment Forum to invest in India.

Pradhan, who attended Downstream Investment Forum in UAE, organised by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), told ANI, "India is a new and emerging market. Downstream Investment Forum is a very important forum and UAE is a reliable partner of India. UAE is a very reliable partner of India in utilizing this forum. I appeal all the stakeholders in this energy business to come and invest in India."

Pradhan further hailed India as the number three absolute energy consumer and said the country's per capita energy consumption would increase in the coming years.

"Our energy appetite is very high. Our per capita energy consumption is very modest which will increase in the coming years. We have a growth rate of around 7 percent plus. In the near future the growth rate will be more stablised, we are expecting more energy requirement," he said.

"So we are inviting energies, stakeholders to come to India and invest in India, do business in all the aspect from upstream to downstream. We're welcoming any investment to India," he added.

Pradhan, who is on a three-day visit to the UAE which commenced on May 12, is visiting the Arab country to follow up on the February 2018 UAE visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Earlier, Pradhan had said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has made tremendous strides in providing energy justice to all.

While addressing a gathering at the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on Saturday, the Union minister said during the Modi government's regime, their endeavour has been to provide affordable, sustainable and clean cooking fuel, energy and electricity to all and that has also made India an attractive investment spot, especially in the energy sector.

"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India in the last four years has made tremendous strides in providing energy justice to all. Our government's endeavour to provide affordable, sustainable and clean cooking fuel, energy and electricity provides a plethora of investment opportunities in India," he said while addressing over 250 Indian professionals, business leaders and community representatives working in the UAE.

Further talking about the achievement of the Modi government, Pradhan, said, "It has been 70 years of Independence, still there was no electricity in 18,000 villages in last two years. But in last two months, the electricity has reached to almost every village."

"In about four crore houses, there is no electricity. But by 2019-20, we will provide electricity to every house in the country," he added.

He further highlighted the attractive investment opportunities in the Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill Development sectors in India and also extended an invitation to the business community in the UAE for greater collaborations and increased investments in India.

Yesterday, Pradhan and UAE Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO Dr. Sultan Al Jaber flagged off the first consignment of 2 million barrels of ADNOC crude for Mangalore Cavern.

During the day, Pradhan also held a bilateral meeting with H.E. Dr. Jaber. Minister Pradhan was accompanied by Ambassador Navdeep Suri, senior officials and CEOs for Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.

During the visit of the Prime Minister, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) signed an agreement with the ADNOC of UAE under which the latter will store about 5.86 million barrels of crude oil in India's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) facility at Mangalore at its own cost.

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The fifth death anniversary of popular Kashmiri leader Arif Shahid was observed today by his supporters across the

May 13 is observed as the martyrdom day if Shahid, who many believe was eliminated by Pakistan's infamous Inter-state Services Intelligence (ISI) in Rawalpindi in 2013.

Demonstrations and events are being held across Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and parts of Europe and the United Kingdom (UK).

Shahid, 62, the chairman of the All Parties National Alliance (APNA), was killed at his residence in Rawalpindi (Pakistan) by unidentified shooters.

In Rawalakote, people from all walks of life offered their prayers and obeisance to Shahid on his death anniversary and recalled how he championed the cause of freeing Pakistan-occupied Kashmir from the draconian clutches of Islamabad, General Headquarters Rawalpindi and the ISI in particular.

In Bagh district of PoK, activists of United Kashmir People's National Party (UKPNP) held a protest to demand the arrest of Arif Shahid's killers. They also raised slogans against Pakistan for illegally occupying their territory.

People are demanding justice for Arif Shahid as his killers are still at large and no justice has been delivered to the killed leader's family.

The Jammu Kashmir National Independence Alliance (JKNIA) organised a protest outside the Pakistani consulate in Bradford, UK, and raised slogans against Islamabad over denial of justice to Shahid and his next of kin.

They shouted slogans like 'Who killed Arif Shahid? ISI... ISI...' and 'Pakistani forces... out... out...'

In London, the Jammu Kashmir National Awami Party (JKNAP) is organising a candle march protest outside the Pakistan High Commission to demand immediate arrest of the killers of Arif Shahid.

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Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said that he is ready to sacrifice his chief ministerial post for a Dalit.

"I am ready to sacrifice Chief Minister's post for a Dalit," Tv9 Kannada reported.

Karnataka Congress has a strong presence of Dalit leaders, foremost among whom are Mallikarjun Kharge and G Parameshwara.

On a related note, the Karnataka Assembly has 224 seats and a party or an alliance needs 113-seats to form the government.

The Assembly polls, which began at 7 a.m. yesterday at 58,546 polling stations concluded at 7 p.m. The Election Commission (EC) said that voter turnout recorded was 70 percent, compared to 71.4 percent in 2013 elections in Karnataka.

A total of 2,654 candidates, including 216 women candidates were in the fray for the assembly elections this year.

India Today-Axis My India exit poll has predicted that Congress is likely to win 106-118 seats with 39 percent vote share and will be the single-largest party in Karnataka. It has said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win around 79-92 seats, JD (S) and its allies will bag 22-30 seats and 1-4 seats will go into the Independents' kitty.

ABP C-Voter exit poll has predicted 101-113 seats for BJP, claiming that the saffron party is likely to reach the 'magic figure' of 113 seats.

It predicts 82 to 94 seats for Congress, while JD(S) and others will get 18-31 seats and 1 to 8 seats respectively.

Republic TV-Jan ki Baat exit poll has said that the BJP is likely to emerge as the single largest party with 95-114 seats. It has given 73-82 seats to Congress, 32-43 seats to JD(S) and 2-3 seats to others.

According to Times Now-VMR exit poll, the Congress is likely to be the single largest party with 90-103 seats, the BJP second largest party with 80-93 seats. It said that JD (S) will win 30-39 seats and others 2-4 seats.

NDTV's Exit Poll said BJP will be single largest party with 98 seats, Congress second largest party with 88 seats, and JD (S) will be a Kingmaker with 33 seats.

NewsX-CNX exit poll has claimed that the BJP is set to be elected as the single largest party in the state, with close to 102-110 seats, followed by the Congress with 72-78 seats and JDS with 35-39 seats.

The Congress had won 122 seats and the BJP 40 seats in the last Karnataka Assembly election in 2013.

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Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, who is on a two-day state visit to Iran, is set to meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on Sunday.

During his visit, the Sri Lankan President is expected to obtain many economic and developmental benefits for Sri Lanka, Colombo Page reported.

In the meeting, the two leaders are expected to sign new Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) to further strengthen the economic and trade ties between the two countries.

Iran being one of the largest oil and natural gas producing and exporting nations in the world, provides assistance to many development activities in Sri Lanka.

The Government of Iran has invested in Sri Lanka's oil refinery to double its output capacity and reduce the cost of importing refined fuels. Iran also supports Sri Lanka to meet the rural electricity demand.

President Sirisena is also scheduled to attend a special Investment and Trade Forum organized by the Iran Chamber of Commerce.

After assuming duties as President, this is Sirisena's first state visit to Iran.

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United States President Donald Trump on Sunday greeted his country on Mother's Day in a video message, wherein he remembered his own mother as well.

"America's strength has come from the love and courage and devotion of our mothers. Through their grit, determination and incredible spirit, they pioneered the West and settled the frontier," Trump said in a minute-long video posted on his Twitter handle.

He used the opportunity to talk about his own mother Mary MacLeod, who was born in 1912 and died in 2000. She was a Scottish-born American.

"I learned so much from my mother. She was just incredible, warm, loving, really smart, could be tough if she had to be, but basically she was a really nice person," the US President said, adding, "So much of what I've done and so much of what I've become is because of my mother. I miss her a lot."

Trump's mother became a US citizen in 1942. As the wife of real estate developer Fred Trump she raised five children and engaged in philanthropic activities in the New York area.

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Accusing Pakistan of pursuing weak foreign policies, Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief and Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed has called on Pakistan to break the ties with both India and the United States.

"Modi ki dosti chordh do, America ki naukri chordh do (unfriend Modi and stop working for America)," Hafiz was heard saying during a public rally.

"The weakness lies in Islamabad," Saeed said, "as the administration is not making its policies clear on Kashmir under pressure. They should engage Kashmiris in an effective manner to meet their right to self-determination."

Saeed also accused India's Army Chief General Bipin Rawat of changing his statements every now and then.

General Rawat had earlier said that "azaadi" (freedom) was a far cry in the Valley and the security forces would fight those who sought it. He had also warned the Kashmiri youths against getting embroiled with the security forces and disrupting operations.

A Pakistan-based cyber analyst, Zechariah shared a video of Saeed speaking at a rally and captioned it as, "#Video: The statement of Indian Army chief #BipinRawan regarding #Kashmiris shows how much India is frustrated. Such kind of statements can't suppress the freedom voice of Kashmiris. #Azadi will surely happen to #Kashmir. #HafizSaeed #JuD @adgpi @SushmaSwaraj @MehboobaMufti."

"Predicting a time of anarchy in India, right thinking Muslims should take Jihad to its logical conclusion," Hafiz said in the video. "Mujahideen will be united.

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The engine of Patna-Kota express train derailed after it hit a fallen tree in Dariyabad town here on Saturday night.

The accident happened when the train moving towards Lucknow from Patna via Faizabad, collided with a tree that had fallen on the track due to the thunderstorm that struck Uttar Pradesh a few days ago.

The passengers who were inside the train escaped unhurt. Relief operations have been sent to the spot from Lucknow.

Train operations have been affected due to the incident.

Several states in north India have witnessed erratic weather pattern over the fortnight. Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have alone witnessed over 120 deaths due to thunderstorm and violent winds in the first week of May.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday predicted that the hill-states are likely to witness thunderstorm accompanied with squall, over the next 48 hours. Their subsequent effect on plains in north India will also be witnessed.

The states of Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh are likely to witness thunderstorm, while parts of Rajasthan might see a dust storm. The upcoming thunderstorm is the result of a new western disturbance.

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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued warning for next five days in Uttarakhand.

Hail, thunderstorm and squall is expected to occur in isolated areas in Garhwal and Kumaon region starting from today afternoon or evening,

The IMD also assumed that very light rain or thunderstorm can hit the isolated places of the state on May 15, May 16 and May 17.

Earlier, IMD predicted that hill-states are likely to witness thunderstorm accompanied with a squall.

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At least six persons were killed and 35 others injured as suicide bombers blew themselves up on Sunday during congregations in three churches in Surabaya city, capital of Indonesia's East Java province, officials said.

The deadly blasts took place in Santa Maria church in Ngagel Madya area, Gereja Kristen Indonesia church on Diponegoro street and Pantekosta church on Arjuno street, provincial police spokesman Frans Barung told media, Xinhua news agency reported.

The first explosion took place at 7.15 a.m. (Jakarta time) and was followed by others with the interval time of about five minutes, according to the police.

The attackers, disguising as followers of the morning sermon in the churches, detonated bombs which hit scores of followers, said the police spokesman.

The police have cordoned off all the scenes for investigation, said Barung.

--IANS

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At least seven people, including an assailant, were killed and 20 others wounded after two blasts and ensuing gunshots rocked Jalalabad city on Sunday.

The incident occurred around midday when militants armed with suicide jackets and automatic guns stormed the Nangarhar provincial government's customs and finance department, triggering a gun battle, reports Xinhua news agency.

Afghan Special Operations Forces arrived at the scene shortly after the blasts, and sporadic firing was ongoing as of Sunday afternoon, informed source added. The number of casualties may further go up.

Security forces have cordoned off the area. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Taliban militants and fighters of Islamic State outfit have presence in Nangarhar province, some 120 km east of Kabul.

--IANS

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Actress Alia Bhatt says that she feels really happy when she makes people cry through her films.

Alia was interacting with the media along with her "Raazi" co-star Vicky Kaushal on Saturday here.

Asked whether she expected a positive response from the audience for her latest release "Raazi", Alia said: "I didn't expect this kind of response. Since the beginning, we thought that we were making a small film, so we didn't feel we would get so much attention and love from the audience."

"We were proud of the film but the kind of unanimous reaction we are getting for the film is amazing. We all are pleasantly shocked. I am really happy, especially for Meghna Gulzar (director) because I think she hasn't slept for God knows how many months.

"She was so nervous before the release of the film but the audience has given so much love that we are so grateful. Some people were crying after watching the film and I feel really happy when I make people cry through my films. Then I feel we have done our job."

Alia has played different kinds of character in a short span of time.

What goes through her mind while playing both glam and de-glam roles in films?

She said: "I feel nervous from inside but I feel very excited and because of that I try do so many things in terms of my preparations.

"I think the biggest aspect of doing a film is that you have to be a good student of a director and whatever directors demands from you, you should be able to give that because it's a director's film and we are just actors who take forward the vision of the director and writer," said the "Student of the Year" actress.

"Raazi" is based on the 1971 India-Pakistan war.

Reacting to the Pakistan censor board's decision to ban "Raazi" in Pakistan, Alia said: "This is not a call that we are involved in. There are so many Indian films which don't get released in Pakistan. I don't think it's personal when it comes to our film.

"In this film, we are not taking anyone's side or doing any kind of bashing. Obviously, we will hope that it gets released there as well but we have no hard feelings whatsoever."

After "Raazi", Alia has an impressive line-up of films which includes "Gully Boy", "Kalank" and "Brahmastra".

"The shooting of films is continuously going on day and night.

"'Kalank' is an epic drama so there is so much fun doing it. I have kept my fingers crossed for 'Gully Boy', 'Kalank' and 'Brahmastra'," Alia said.

--IANS

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Delhi-based music producer Su Real says initially, he was intimidated by Amit Trivedi but later he found the popular composer, known for his work in films like "Wake Up Sid" and "English Vinglish", just a "cool dude".

Trivedi was one of the judges of the new music reality show "The Remix". Rashmeet Kaur and Su Real were announced as the winners of the digital show earlier this month.

"At first, I was most intimidated by Amit Sir. Sometimes, it seemed like we came from opposite ends of the universe in terms of music. As the show progressed, I was eager to show off my skills as a multi-instrumentalist, just like Amit Sir himself.

"By episodes four and five, we were finally receiving some positive comments from him and I started to relax. After the process of shooting the whole show and hanging out with him quite a bit, I'm pleased to report he is just a cool dude, with loads of jokes," Su Real told IANS.

A few producers involved in commercial projects have approached him since the finale of "The Remix".

"Everyone seems to want those 'chopped' vocals like I did for 'Dhak dhak'. I got to do some such programming for Amit Trivedi but I'm not sure if it made the final cut for the project; anyway, it was an honour to be asked by guru.

"I am working on tracks with Rashmeet as well as Manasi Scott from the show. Meanwhile, (rapper) Hard Kaur has supported me for a long time and we've almost got a new single ready together."

Su Real's #Winning tour will kick off in Delhi on May 18, before travelling to Jaipur (May 19) and then to cities like Guwahati, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

"Well this tour is different because we have something concrete to celebrate. I'm looking forward to linking with fans and supporters who have been cheering Rashmeet and me on during 'The Remix'.

"In Delhi and Mumbai, the shows will be extra special because I'll be sharing the stage with some of my friends from the show - for example, Rashmeet will join me in Mumbai and DJ Skip will join in Delhi.

"Also, I have a lot of my own new music almost ready, and I love to be able to test them out on the dance floor before officially releasing them."

--IANS

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Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat will visit Sri Lanka for four days from Monday as part of efforts to strengthen military cooperation between the two country, the Defence Ministry said on Sunday.

The Army chief is scheduled to meet the political and military brass of Sri Lanka during the visit, his first as Chief of Army Staff.

"The visit assumes significance in the light of India's persistent efforts to strengthen the existing bonds of friendship and military cooperation based on mutual interests and understanding," a Ministry statement said.

The Indian Army has been catering not only for training requirements of its Sri Lankan counterparts, including imparting specific tailor-made training in different fields, but also providing military hardware, it said.

During the visit, Gen Rawat will inaugurate a communication laboratory at the School of Signals in Kandy. The institute was conceptualised and established by the Indian Army to train Sri Lanka Army Signal Corps personnel.

Gen Rawat will also visit Sri Lanka's military academy at Diyatalawa as part of exchange of best practices related to pre-commissioning training followed by the two armies.

Apart from interaction with senior leadership of the three defence services, the Army chief will meet regional military commanders at Kandy and Trincomalee.

"The visit is yet another milestone in reaching out to our immediate neighborhood and take forward the military-to-military cooperation to the next level," the statement added.

--IANS

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Actress Charlize Theron, who was born in Benoni in the then-Transvaal Province (now Gauteng Province) of South Africa, says being an immigrant in the US encouraged her to work harder to make it in Hollywood.

The Academy Award-winning actress is currently one of Hollywood's most in-demand stars, but Theron says her original ambitions as a performer were much more modest, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"My dream was to pay my bills and not have to get a second job. I loved having the opportunities I got in acting, and I worked hard knowing that those opportunities could be fleeting," Theron told Total Film Magazine.

"I could be on a flight back to South Africa. I didn't have a family in the US; I didn't have a support system here. That drove me - I was responsible for myself, and I could not take anything for granted," she added.

The 42-year-old actress, known for her work in films like "Sweet November", "Monster" and "The Italian Job", said she has never been insecure in the industry.

"I have never felt that. This is common in actors. There are a few I've come across that have a very healthy ego about their status, but I do think this is an industry where there is such a constant turning of new talent.

"If you don't stay on your toes, challenge yourself, people won't want to work with you any more and people won't want to see your movies any more," she added.

--IANS

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Pointing out that BJP workers at one point in time celebrated if party candidates saved their security deposits, party President Amit Shah on Sunday said it had come a long way since then.

From celebrating salvaging of security deposits, the BJP has become a political party with the most number of MPs, MLAs, zila panchayat members, councillors in the country and the only non-Congress party to win a full majority after Independence, Shah said while addressing booth-level workers at an indoor stadium near Panaji.

He claimed that his party will win a majority in the Karnataka Assembly, the votes for which were polled on May 12. The votes will be counted on May 15.

"... there are many instances where party workers gave themselves a treat for barely managing to save forfeiture of deposits. The same BJP now has around 1,800 MLAs, 330 MPs, highest number of zilla panchayat members, councillors and the most state governments, Chief Ministers...," he remarked.

Shah said that he had a conversation with ailing Goa Chief Minister Parrikar on telephone. "I said you (Parrikar) take care of your health, the BJP will form a government with full majority in Karnataka," Shah said.

The BJP leader said that India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, was being looked at in a new light after the surgical strikes of 2016.

He also praised booth-level BJP workers, saying that it was due to them that the party had an organisational ability like no other.

--IANS

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced the appointment of Kanna Lakshminarayana as its President in Andhra Pradesh.

BJP President Amit Shah named Lakshminarayana as the new head of the state unit. He succeeds K. Haribabu, MP from Visakhapatnam.

The development came as a surprise as Lakshminarayana announced last month that he will quit the party and join the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

The 62-year-old leader, who hails from Kapu community, had aspired for the top post but after the BJP leadership indicated that he will not be given the responsibility, he decided to switch loyalties.

He had even fixed the date to join main opposition party but postponed his move, citing ill health. BJP sources said the party's central leaders persuaded him to wait till the Assembly elections in Karnataka.

Lakshminarayana, a five-time state legislator from Guntur district, severed his nearly four-decade association with the Congress to join the BJP in 2014, a few months after the elections.

He served as minister and held various portfolios in the cabinets of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, K. Rosaiah and Kiran Kumar Reddy.

He was given the responsibility to head the BJP weeks after state's ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) pulled out of BJP-led NDA at the Centre over the issue of special category status to the state. Later, the BJP also pulled out of the coalition government in the state.

Lakshminarayana will have the big task of leading the party's campaign for the 2019 elections which it may have to contest alone amid criticism from rivals for going back on the promise of according special status to Andhra Pradesh.

The BJP, which fought the 2014 elections in alliance with the TDP, bagged four Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats. The coalition won 17 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats and 106 of 175 Assembly constituencies.

BJP leaders point out that the party had polled about 7 per cent votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha and over 2 per cent in the Assembly polls. They claim that the party has huge scope for improvement in vote share and seat tally.

--IANS

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With no cutting-edge medical equipment, air-conditioning or critical care unit in place, the under-construction building in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district hardly matches the popular notion of a modern medical care facility. Yet, the hospital has become a national landmark as it tells the story of a grieving brother turning his droplets of tears into an ocean of determination that helped establish it.

Taxi driver Saidul Lashkar set out on what then seemed a near impossible journey in 2004 after his sister Marufa died of chest infection as he did not have the means to get her treated in a hospital. Marufa was only 17.

Though shattered and inconsolable, Saidul took a pledge not to let anyone else in his neighbourhood die without treatment.

"I felt I needed to do something so that no impoverished person dies like she did, without getting treatment. I wish no brother loses his sister like I did," Saidul said, leaning quietly on a wall of the newly constructed patients' waiting hall of Marufa Smriti Welfare Foundation in Punri village near Baruipur, about 55 km from Kolkata.

Twelve years were spent chasing the dream, as the cabbie criss-crossed the streets of Kolkata, never veering for a moment from his single-minded pursuit to make the project happen. It was not at all a walk in the park, he recalled.

Saidul would talk at length about his mission to the passengers while driving and show them the documents and receipts of the donations he had received so far. But a majority refused to lend him a helping hand.

However, some did oblige, particularly a young girl, Srishti Ghosh from south Kolkata, who was so moved by his story that she decided to donate her entire first month's salary to the hospital fund.

"I found my lost sister in Srishti. When she and her mother heard my story, they took down my number and promised to call back. I was not sure if they really would, but when she really came along and donated her first salary, I was overwhelmed," he said.

As strangers came in ones and twos, helping him gradually raise the funds for the hospital, back home, Saidul's wife Shamima stood by her husband like a rock.

"None of this would have been possible without my wife. When I started, a lot of people in my close circle distanced themselves from me thinking I am crazy, but my wife was there all along. She even gave me all her ornaments to collect the funds for the land," he said.

Finally, Saidul's dream came true on February 17 as the hospital started functioning, albeit partially, by opening its outdoor unit to patients.

In a touching gesture, Saidul got his new-found "sister" Srishti to inaugurate the hospital.

The response from the locals has been overwhelming, as the nearest hospital in the area is almost 11 km away.

"There is a buzz all around. Everybody in the area is talking about the hospital," said Sojol Das, while driving this correspondent in his e-rickshaw to the hospital premises.

Work is now on to make it a full-fledged 50-bed hospital with other necessary facilities like X-Ray and Electrocardiography (ECG).

"This is currently a two-storied building but we have plans to make it four-storied. On the opening day, our doctors could treat 286 patients while so many others were left out due to shortage of time and resources. I am sure once it becomes fully functional, people of nearly 100 villages would be benefited," Saidul said.

Saidul's courage to dream big indeed impressed lots of people, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who praised his efforts in his radio address to the nation, "Mann ki Baat" .

Modi talking about the hospital project, the 40-something taxi driver said, has certainly given him more courage and assured him that he is headed in the right direction.

"Since his speech, a lot of people got in touch with me. Many have offered help. Some local contractors have helped me out by supplying sand, bricks and cement needed for the construction work, while a doctor from Chennai has expressed his wish to join my hospital and treat patients."

Eight doctors are at present associated with the hospital where they would be providing free service for now. However, Saidul said, they have plans to provide healthcare in exchange of a bare minimum fee, necessary for the hospital's maintenance.

Dhiresh Chowdhury, in charge of the orthopaedic department, was all praise for Saidul.

"Building a hospital is a mammoth task. For Saidul to do it with such a meagre income is unthinkable. We all are with him," added the doctor, whose NGO Banchory is providing the medical equipment.

But the dreamer in Saidul now refuses to stop with only one hospital.

"Now that I have so many people with me, I feel I can go even further to fulfil my dream. Maybe I won't limit myself only to constructing one hospital. Maybe I'll go further in search of new dreams."

(The weekly feature series is part of a positive-journalism project of IANS and the Frank Islam Foundation. Milinda Ghosh Roy can be contacted at milinda.r@ians.in)

--IANS

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Daredevil 91-year-old thought to be UK's oldest wing walker

May 2018 at 7:50pm

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-44076799?

Norma Howard took to the skies to raise money for Dementia UK Credit: ITV West Country



A 91-year-old woman is thought to have set a new record as the UK's oldest wing-walker.

Norma Howard took to the skies above Cirencester, Gloucestershire, strapped to the top wing of a vintage biplane at 500 feet.

The retired physiotherapist, who is also a former pilot, beat the record set last year by 88-year-old Betty Bromage.

She took on the challenge at Rendcomb Airfield to raise funds for Dementia UK, rather than for thrills or record-breaker status.

Once back safely on the ground, she said: I feel very relieved but also invigorated.

It was cold up there and I had so many layers on me I looked like the Michelin Man. The hardest bit was actually getting up onto the plane wrapped in so many clothes.

Mrs Howard said the hardest bit was climbing onto the plane.

Mrs Howard, who spends her time helping elderly friends to and from hospital, now plans to abseil Portsmouth's Spinaker Tower.

She's no stranger to daredevil challenges. At the age of around 80, Mrs Howard twice swam the equivalent of the English Channel in a swimming pool.

Eight years ago, aged 83, she sat on the handlebars of a 1925 Indian motorbike riding the Wall of Death.

A spokeswoman for Dementia UK said: "We cannot thank Norma enough for her efforts. All the money she is continuing to raise through public support will help Dementia UK's Admiral Nurses reach more people facing dementia."

Flying high - Mrs Howard said it was amazing looking down at the green and yellow landscape. Credit: ITV West Country

Last updated Fri 11 May 2018
Hitting out at former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram over a disproportionate assets case, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said it was the Congress' "Nawaz Sharif moment" and wondered if party President Rahul Gandhi will probe the matter against one of his senior colleagues.

"For some time now, we have been hearing a lot of action by the Income Tax authorities against Chidambaram and his family. In India, for the Congress, this is the Nawaz Sharif moment," Sitharaman told the media here.

Citing media reports on the I-T Department's chargesheet against the Chidambarams for non-disclosure of assets held abroad, Sitharaman alleged that the family was under the I-T scanner for "immovable assets worth Rs 5.37 crore in Cambridge and property worth Rs 80 lakh probably elsewhere in that country, and also probably assets of around Rs 3.28 crore in the US".

She said there was a parallel in the Chidambarams case with that of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was barred from holding public office for life by that country's Supreme Court for not disclosing assets held abroad.

"In this (Chidambaram's) case, the parallels are hard to miss. Therefore, I am wondering if the Congress President -- who himself is also out on bail in a financial matter -- will comment and tell people if he is going to investigate one of his senior leaders (Chidambaram) for not disclosing assets held abroad," said Sitharaman, a senior BJP leader.

Sitharaman's comment came after the Income Tax department informed a special court in Chennai that Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti and daughter-in-law Srinidhi didn't disclose their foreign assets and investments while filing their income tax returns.

As per the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, not disclosing foreign assets and investments invites a heavy penalty, besides a jail term of up to 10 years.

The Minister pointed out that time was given to people to disclose their assets abroad but still the Chidambarams did not comply.

"It cannot be an oversight. They cannot say that the chartered accountant forgot to disclose it. He held a very important portfolio, and not one but several of them... a Minister forgets to state his assets abroad," she said.

Sitharaman also spoke on Nawaz Sharif's admission on Saturday that Pakistan terror outfits were behind the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai. She said that India strongly believed that the handlers of that attack were in Pakistan and Sharif's remarks vindicated India's stand.

On November 26, 2008, 10 armed Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists sneaked into Mumbai through the sea and carried out coordinated shootings and bombings in Mumbai, killing 166 persons.

--IANS

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Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai warned that some people in the United States are trying to place a "glass curtain" between the two countries.

Cui made the remarks on Friday at the panel discussion "Forty Years of US-China Relations" hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a policy research organization based in Washington, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

There are some people in the US who are trying to place a "glass curtain" between the two nations, so as to impede bilateral exchanges in economy, science and technology, and people-to-people engagements, and even stoke US suspicion against exchange students and research fellows from China, said the Chinese ambassador.

China hopes these ominous trends would not be recognized by US mainstream society, said Cui, who also called on the two sides to enhance dialogue to eliminate the "deficit of mutual understanding".

Beijing and Washington, after having come together 40 years ago united by common strategic interests, have seen the expansion of cooperation and common interests in bilateral, regional and global issues, the ambassador said.

Their wide-ranging common interests have stimulated bilateral relations in the past 40 years and will serve as an important foundation of their future ties, he said.

China has no desire to contend for global dominance with the US; rather, it wishes to work with the US side for a new type of relations featuring non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, he said.

The event gathered at least 200 participants from politics, business, academia and media.

--IANS

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Chinese researchers are digitizing ancient Tibetan manuscripts that were taken overseas from the famed Mogao Grottoes a century ago, amid efforts to study and preserve the distinctive Tibetan culture.

Launched by Northwest Minzu University in Gansu Province in 2013, the digitization programme has converted 11 volumes of photocopied ancient Tibetan literature into electronic files, with a database being built, reports Xinhua news agency.

The photocopied manuscripts were purchased by the university from libraries in Britain and France where the original documents are housed.

The university has compiled and published 31 volumes from the photocopies of ancient Tibetan literature since 2005 and the figure is expected to increase to 45 in the following two to three years.

The Dunhuang manuscripts were discovered in the Mogao Grottos in Gansu in 1900. There are more than 60,000 of them, featuring history, politics, religion and folk customs.

The Mogao Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, feature a huge collection of Buddhist art, including more than 2,000 coloured sculptures and 45,000 square meters of frescoes spread over 735 caves.

Dating from the 4th to 11th centuries, the majority are in Chinese, but some are represented in other ethnic languages such as Tibetan.

In the early 20th century, however, a large number of Dunhuang manuscripts were taken to foreign countries such as France, Britain and Russia.

--IANS

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Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor Khan on Sunday said educating girls should be the first step towards empowering women.

"There is a direct link between a girl being educated and empowered," the 37-year-old actress said, adding would enable a woman to shoulder the responsibilities of motherhood.

Kareena was speaking at an event here organised by Unicef India to discuss the importance of celebrating mothers and their newborns.

"There is a very important need to stress on of the girl child. Pregnancy during adolescence puts both the mother and child in danger and proper will help put a check on it," she said.

The event was organised to mark Mother's Day against the backdrop of Unicef's 'Every Child Alive', a signature neonatal campaign that supports and accelerates Unicef's efforts to eliminate preventable neonatal deaths by 2030, with a focus on the girl child.

"We need to give more emphasis of girl education. They are on their way to become mothers, they need to be given right guidance and right education - this is something we all need to look for," Kareena said.

The actress who will soon be seen in "Veere Di Wedding" also emphasised on the role of the father in parenthood and talked about her husband Saif Ali Khan's contribution in bringing up their first child.

"It is said what a mother can do father can't but there are lot of things that a father can do. And I am lucky to get the support from Saif. Even when I was exhausted after giving birth, I still insisted Saif to keep Taimur attached to his chest, give him the Kangaroo love.

"A father should step in when a mother undergoes changes post delivery. We must champion those fathers and give a shout out to them for their support," she said.

--IANS

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An Indigo airline employee has been arrested for making a hoax call regarding a bomb on a Mumbai-bound flight at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here this month, police said on Sunday.

Kartik Madhav Bhat, 23, made the call and it was received at the Indigo Airlines office in the cargo complex of the airport at 8.15 a.m. on May 2, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Bhatia.

Subsequently, a few Mumbai-bound flights were checked and the call was declared a hoax.

A case was registered and police zeroed in on the owner of the mobile phone from which the call was made. Bhat was finally located in Pune.

The accused is serving as customer service officer in Indigo airlines at the Pune airport.

Bhat told police that his job performance was not up to the mark and he had been given a verbal notice to improve his performance in three months or face action.

"He was depressed and made the call out of frustration and to teach a lesson to the airlines. The phone's SIM card has been seized from him," the official said.

--IANS

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Patients suffering from abnormal heart beat, also known as atrial fibrillation, and diagnosed with carotid artery disease could be at an increased risk of developing dementia, according to a research.

Blockages in the carotid artery, which gradually build up as people age, restrict blood flow to the brain.

The study showed that the impact on the blood flow due to a combination of both the diseases increases the risk for developing dementia.

"The study stresses the continued need for physicians to monitor and screen patients for both carotid artery disease and atrial fibrillation, especially patients who have risk factors of either disease," said Victoria Jacobs, a clinical researcher at Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Utah, US.

The findings were presented at the Heart Rhythm Society's 39th annual Scientific Sessions in Boston.

Previous studies had also proved that abnormal heart rhythms produce inconsistent blood flow to the brain contributing to the onset of dementia or a decrease in cognitive function.

Risk factors are similar for both the diseases and include age, weight, hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes. There is a higher chances of risk due to smoking.

However, "atrial fibrillation and carotid artery disease are treatable, and addressing early on can help reduce the risk of developing dementia", Jacobs said.

"Physicians should be discussing the treatment options with patients who are at risk to help educate them about what they can do to live the healthiest life possible."

For the study, the team looked at 6,786 patients of an average age of 71.6 years with carotid artery disease and no history of dementia and compared them with the group diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and those who were not diagnosed with it.

--IANS

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A day before the opening ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem that sparked off Palestinian protests, preparations in Israel were on in full swing on Sunday for the event.

US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, his senior adviser, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin will lead the US delegation.

The Israeli foreign ministry said that 86 foreign ambassadors to Israel were invited to the opening ceremony taking place on Monday. About 40 of them have accepted the invitation, Xinhua reported.

Four European countries -- Austria, the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary -- have confirmed their participation although the European Union opposes the relocation.

At the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the relocation would be "a truly historic thing".

Thousands of police officers were deployed throughout the Jerusalem districts to thwart any Palestinian protests and riots.

Additionally, police officers will stand in a "human wall" between the neighbourhood of Arnona, where the new embassy is located, and the Palestinian Sur Baher, the police said.

On December 16, 2017, Trump recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in a move that triggered new violence in the region.

The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Following Trump's move, they said the US cannot be considered as a fair peace broker in the Middle East.

--IANS

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The Kerala police found itself in the dock on Sunday over its lackadaisical attitude in a child sexual exploitation case, despite receiving a complaint along with documentary evidence.

In visuals played by a TV channel on Saturday, a businessman Moideen Kutty was seen sexually exploiting a 10-year-old girl and at times, getting close to her mother as well, at a movie hall in Edapal in Malappuram.

The incident took place on April 19 following which the movie hall manager complained to the Child Line and also presented the visuals. The Child Line approached the Changaramkulam police station on April 26.

However, the police got into the act only on Saturday following a furore after the airing of the visuals. Within an hour, Kutty, who has business interests in the Middle East, was arrested before he could leave on Saturday night.

The police also faced criticism for trying to take action against the Child Line officials as they gave the visuals to the media, which aired it.

On Sunday, police took into custody the victim's mother and after detailed questioning, a case under POCSO was registered. The woman used to stay on rent in a building that belonged to Kutty.

Kutty was taken for a medical check up and is expected to be presented before a magistrate soon.

The girl's statement was recorded by a magistrate and she was sent to a state-run rescue home.

Sub-Inspector K.G. Baby has been suspended for dereliction of duty.

According to sources in the know of things, Baby had approached his superior officer soon after receiving the complaint from Child Line but there was no action from the higher ups.

P. Sreeramakrishnan, Speaker of the Kerala Assembly, who hails from Malappuram, said the case has shamed everyone.

"The manner in which the police acted is a serious matter too, as they should have taken immediate action. I have asked for appropriate action against those who have erred," Sreeramakrishnan told the media.

State Women's Commission Chairperson M.C. Josephine said that the police failed to rise to the occasion.

"It's shocking that all this happened with the knowledge of the mother and an appropriate case should be registered against the mother too," said Josephine.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala demanded strict action against the police officials for not acting on time. "Criminal cases should be registered against all the erring police officials," he said.

Reacting to the criticism, Kerala Police chief Loknath Behra told the media that strict action will be taken against those who failed to do their job.

--IANS

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Nine people including three farmers died of lightning in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, officials said.

The three farmers died of lightning in Telangana's Mancherial district early in the day while six deaths were reported from Srikakulam district in north coastal Andhra.

The farmers were killed in their field in Arepalli village. According to police, the farmers had gone to their fields to protect the paddy from rains. The deceased have been identified as R. Rajaiah, K. Bapu and J. Ramesh.

The farmers were trying to place covers on the paddy kept in the field after cutting but did not succeed due to strong winds and rains. In the meantime, they were struck by lightning.

When they did not return home, their family members went to the field and found their bodies.

Meanwhile, six persons died of lightning in separate incidents in Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam district. Heavy rains accompanied by gusty winds have been lashing Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts since early Sunday.

Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have been experiencing thunderstorm and unseasonal rains for more than a week.

The Met office has forecast thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds at isolated places in various districts of Telangana and coastal Andhra on Sunday and Monday. Some parts of the two states are likely to record maximum temperature between 42 and 44 degrees Celsius.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least seven persons, including four teenagers, were killed in lightning strikes as a Northwester accompanied by heavy rain lashed parts of the Gangetic West Bengal on Sunday afternoon, a state disaster management official said.

While four youngsters lost their lives in a lightning strike in Howrah district's Uluberia, two men were killed in Nadia and one in Murshidabad.

"Four teenagers in 10-15 age group were killed by lightning near Uluberia's Damodarpur while returning home through an open field. One of their friends was injured," an officer posted at the Howrah police control room said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed anguish over the recurring natural disasters and said her government would do everything possible to support the affected people.

"Unfortunately, there has been a lot of natural calamities this year. It is happening not just in Bengal but across the country. A few people died during the thunderstorm today (Sunday). We are monitoring the situation. Our government will do whatever is possible for the affected," Banerjee told the reporters here.

Heavy rain and thunderstorm lashed parts of Kolkata, Hoogly and North 24 Parganas district for nearly 40 minutes to an hour, throwing traffic temporarily out of gear.

The city recorded 23.8 mm of rainfall while North 24 Parganas district's Barrackpore recorded 68 mm rain, the highest in the state on Sunday, a Met official said.

"The bad weather was not caused by any depression. It is due to Kalbaisakhi (Northwester). The weather condition is improving now but there is a chance of showers during late evening," the official added.

Nor'wester or Northwester is rain and thunderstorm occurring in India and Bangladesh. Kalbaishakhi occurs, with increasing frequency, from March till monsoon sets in over northeast India.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Three farmers died of lightning in Telangana's Mancherial district early on Sunday, police said.

The incident occurred in their field in Arepalli village. According to police, the farmers had gone to their fields to protect the paddy from rains. The deceased have been identified as R. Rajaiah, K. Bapu and J. Ramesh.

The farmers were trying to place covers on the paddy kept in the field after cutting but did not succeed due to strong winds and rains. In the meantime, they were struck by lightening resulting in their death.

When they did not return home, their family members went to the field and saw their bodies.

Telangana has been experiencing thunderstorm and unseasonal rains for last few days.

Meanwhile, the Met office has forecast thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds at isolated places in various districts of Telangana on Sunday and Monday, even as some parts of the state are likely to record maximum temperature between 42 and 44 degrees Celsius.

--IANS

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A federal judge condemned a cartel leader to 12 years in jail after finding him guilty of drug trafficking and illegal possession of firearms, Mexico's Prosecutor-General (PGR) said.

Martin Rosales Magana alias "El Terry" is considered by the government as one of the founders of the La Familia Michoacana cartel, which has terrorised the western state of Michoacan for the past decade.

The sixth district court of Toluca ruled that Rosales was guilty of drug trafficking, carrying military weapons and illegal ammunition, Xinhua news agency reported.

The judge also condemned three other men linked to Rosales to prison terms between six years and nine months and almost 10 years.

Rosales was captured in October 2011 by the federal police in Michoacan in an operation carried out after receiving information from the US.

--IANS

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In Nandita Dass directorial debut, the stunning "Firaaq" in 2008, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, then raw, wounded and bestial in his rage, played a man being chased by communal rioters during Gujarats notorious 2002 bloodbath.

There was something completely unrehearsed and refreshingly unpolished about Nawazuddin's indignation in "Firaaq".

Ten years later we see another actor in Nawazuddin, all prepared, rehearsed and exuding a ruminative dramatic tension as the writer-author Saadat Hassan Manto that the original "Manto" must have felt but never articulated with the precision of an actor who knows exactly how to control the space around him, even when the space is muddled, chaotic and in turmoil.

Of course, the central performance we see in the brief trailer is exceedingly accomplished.

We expect nothing less from Nawazuddin. And with the doyenne of the auteur Nandita Das at the helm we expect sparks to fly.

First of all, the trailer promises incredibly accomplished technical wherewithal. The cinematography by Kartik Vijay and sound design by Resul Pookutty affords a masterclass on cinematic excellence.

Rest assured "Manto" is a film that will transport us into the emotional turbulence and intellectual uncertainties of the time when India was severed into two clumsy halves.

Into the cauldron of friction "Manto" spread his provocative ideas on what violence does to civilisation. He was hated by the authorities and disapproved of by his family. These aspects of his contumacious art are well implanted into the trailer.

The trailer shows a very accomplished supporting cast. The forever reliable Rasika Dugal has some acerbic moments with her husband as she reminds him how his scathing writings damaged their family life.

There are other minor appearances in the trailer by interesting actors like Shashank Arora which I hope will grow into something interesting when the film releases in July.

There is an inbuilt tension in the plot connected with Manto's scandalous reputation as a litterateur. The trailer taps into that tension but with an austere rigour. But does not tell us anything about Manto's subconscious repudiation of conventional tropes that we don't already know.

Interestingly in 2015, Pakistan had made its own Saadat Hassan Manto biopic with Sarmad Sultan Khoosat playing the lead and directing the film. Khoosat's Manto bears an uncanny physical resemblance to Das-Nawazuddin's Manto.

The Pakistani film on Manto was very dramatic, very Sanjay Leela Bhansali in its images.

This "Manto" seems far more restrained, not willing to let go. In that sense, the film's mood is in defiant opposition to its protagonist who was forever outspoken.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actor-filmmaker Nandita Das, who is gearing up for her next directorial venture "Manto", has said she was not trying to put Sadat Hassan Manto, the author and playwright, on a pedestal.

Speaking at the teaser launch of "Manto" along with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rasika Dugal and Tahir Raj Bhasin, Nandita said "Manto" was not a message-driven film. "The idea is to tell a story for audience. We are not putting 'Manto' on a pedestal."

"He was somebody who used to speak the truth despite all challenges he faced. For youth, it is extremely inspirational to see someone like him. I think it's a film where the audience will be able to take home something and everyone will relate with his personality."

When asked how Nawazuddin has been able to play the character of Manto in the film, she said: "He has similar kind of personality in terms of views, anger, arrogance, sensitivity and humour. I think it was smooth ride for Nawazuddin to play this character. He used to tell me that he would not be able to do another film simultaneously because he had immersed himself so deep into the character of Manto."

Nandita, on being asked, whether audience would be able to accept this across the border, she said: "It's a story of a human being who happens to be a writer. There is no relation of borders between two countries. It's a very universal story."

"I don't think audience from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will not be able to relate with it, it's very relatable story. I think everyone will relate with this film on different levels.

"We are not offending anybody," she said.

"Manto" is written and directed by Nandita Das. The film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the titular character along with Rasika Dugal and Tahir Raj Bhasin in lead roles.

The film is produced by HP Studios, Filmstoc and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures.

"Manto" has been selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

--IANS

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A man randomly attacked bystanders with a knife on Saturday night in central Paris, prefecture confirmed.

"Five people in the 2nd district of were attacked by an individual armed with a knife," Xinhua quoted a tweet by the prefecture as saying.

"One victim died. Two were seriously injured and two were wounded slightly," it added.

The knife attacker, not identified yet, was shot dead by police, it added.

The incident took place in Opera district of central and the site was about 400 metres away from Paris Opera House.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb denounced "heinous act" and praised police "composure" and swift reaction to neutralise the attacker.

Citing a police source, French newspaper Le Figaro reported that the operating mode of the attacker, who shouted something during the stabbing rampage, suggested a terrorist motivation.

has become a major target of frequent terrorist attacks in recent years.

A wave of attacks, claimed by the Islamic State (IS), had broken several times the calm at home with the bloodiest was in Paris where a series of explosives and shootings left 130 victims in November of 2015.

In October 2017, French signed anti-terrorism law which he said was necessary to muscle security at home to combat high terrorism menace.

The bill enshrines emergency security rules into ordinary law that allow police will have more power to search, arrest without judge approval and restrict people movements and gathering.
Assam Leader of Opposition, Debabrata Saikia, has urged Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to summon a special session of the House to pass a pending resolution relating to upholding of the provisions of the Assam Accord of 1985, particularly Clause 6 of the pact.

"The situation prevailing in the state over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 made it imperative for the House to pass without delay the pending private member's resolution in question, which was moved by Congress member Abdul Khaleque," said Saikia in a statement issued on Sunday.

He added that a united stand by all legislators appeared all the more necessary following the escapist attitude displayed by Sonowal during his interaction with a delegation on Saturday.

Saikia pointed out that Sonowal had said he would quit if the citizenship amendment bill is pushed, but failed to assert that he would fight to protect the interests of Assam.

He said Sonowal needed to take the initiative as he is the Leader of the House and dates for Assembly sessions and list of business among other things are fixed as per his advice to the Governor and Speaker.

Assam has been witnessing protests against the bill which, if passed, would grant non-Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan Indian citizenship -- given they have completed six years in the country.

The protests got momentum recently after the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the bill visited the state and held a public hearing.

--IANS

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Pakistan has prevented a US diplomat from leaving the country after he allegedly killed a motorcyclist by driving through a red light last month.

Media reports said on Saturday that a plane was sent by the US to collect Col. Joseph Emanuel Hall, a military attache, but was denied clearance, BBC reported.

US officials have previously said he cannot be arrested or tried because he has diplomatic immunity.

The incident has increased political tension between the countries.

Ateeq Baig, 22, was killed in the crash in Daman-e-Koh, north of Islamabad, on April 7.

CCTV footage showed a white four-wheeler -- said to be driven by Col. Hall -- ignoring the red traffic light at an intersection, crashing with a bike at speed and then braking.

The US embassy has denied reports in Pakistan's media that Col Hall was drunk while driving.

The dead man's father has called for the colonel to stand trial at Islamabad High Court (IHC).

On Friday, the IHC had ruled Col. Hall does not have absolute immunity.

He had already been put on a travel "black list", which meant airports had been told not allow him to leave.

Neither the US or Pakistan has officially commented on Saturday's news.

Relations between Washington and Islamabad have been in the spotlight since US President Donald Trump's New Year's Day tweet, where he accused Pakistan of "lies and deceit".

In January, the US government said it was cutting almost all security aid to Pakistan, saying it has failed to deal with terrorist networks operating on its soil.

Pakistan has denied the accusations and responded by saying it would no longer share intelligence with the US.

--IANS

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Czech Petra Kvitova defeated Kiki Bertens 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-3 in a hard-fought battle to win the Madrid Open for a record third time.

Kvitova pushed herself to the limit over two hours and 52 minutes of play on Saturday to overcome the Dutchwoman, who used an assortment of shots, including numerous moon balls and drop shots, to counter the Czech's clean and powerful ball-striking, reports Efe.

Bertens was a point away from a 5-2 lead early on, but she would rue that missed opportunity as the two-time Wimbledon champion rallied to take the first set.

Undeterred, Bertens grabbed a service break in the seventh game of the second set and went on to force a decider.

Kvitova seemed to have the match in hand when she went up a break in the third, but Bertens refused to go away and got back on serve at 4-3.

One final break of Bertens' serve in the eighth game, however, would prove to be final blow, as Kvitova wrapped up the victory with a service hold in the ensuing game.

"My body is very exhausted... Every title feels great. Winning three times here in Madrid, it means something. It's not really happening every day, so I'm very proud of myself," the Czech star was quoted as saying on the WTA's website.

The Madrid Open is one of the biggest clay-court tournaments on the WTA calendar and a key tune-up for the French Open, which gets under way on May 27.

--IANS

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Industry body Assocham on Sunday advised investors to adopt a "wait and watch" attitude due to the impending state assembly elections which might lead to volatility in the country's financial markets.

According to an Assocham note, the political-economic narrative of 2018 and early part of 2019 will be centred around the impending polls in states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan or the general Lok Sabha elections.

"While there would be higher level of volatility in the financial markets as we further get into the election mode, the trend towards resolution of NPAs through the IBC will continue along with the focus of the government towards completion of the key infrastructure projects...," Assocham's Secretary General D.S. Rawat said.

Further, the note said that investors should focus more on sectors associated with rural consumption and healthcare which are likely to receive "increased opportunities".

As per the note, the roll out of Aayushman Bharat -- the national health scheme -- which has insurance as its core element, would gather traction.

"It is a flagship programme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the roll out is expected to be big enough, providing a huge opportunities to the health insurance service providers, as also those in the healthcare sector," the note said.

Besides, the note pointed out that the government will also focus more on the farm sector.

"With Monsoon expected to be normal and the government push likely in the next few months, the firms in the seeds, agri implements, including tractors, fertiliser, pesticides, dairy products and irrigation equipment would get a lot more business opportunities than in the previous few years," the note said.

Apart from domestic cues, the industry body noted concerns arising out of global factors like rising crude oil prices.

"The geo-political situation in the Middle East is key to the crude prices as also the financial markets. With dollar rising, India's total import bill in dollar terms would exert pressure on the country's current account position as well," the note added.

--IANS

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The death toll in ongoing anti-government protests in Nicaragua climbed to more than 50 with two new deaths reported from Masaya, prompting an appeal for peace from the Episcopal conference of Nicaragua (ECN) and the President.

Two young men were shot in the head while participating in a protest on Saturday, taking the toll to 54 in 25 days, reports Efe.

In Masaya, protesters fought pitched battles for least 14 hours with the National Police, the Sandinista groups and riot police, known as "turbas" (mobs).

"We are deeply hurt by the acts of violence and confrontation that are taking place in various parts of the country, particularly in Masaya, causing injuries and death. We ask that all kinds of violence be stopped," said the ECN in a statement.

President Daniel Ortega, who prefers live impromptu addresses, broke his custom to read a short statement, making an appeal "to put an end to death and destruction. May no blood of brothers be shed anymore".

"Peace is the way and the only door to coexistence and respect for the tranquility and safety of all. We ask God to give us the strength to achieve it," said Ortega.

His appeal, however, had no calming effect on the protesters and was criticized on social media, where many accused him of ordering a "student massacre", since most of the victims were university students.

The clashes had started 25 days back over proposed new social security reforms and had continued to escalate owing to a severe crackdown by the government.

--IANS

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World Rugby: May 13, 2018 - New Zealand, France and Australia all caught the eye on the opening day of the HSBC Canada Women's Sevens on Saturday with each producing some impressive displays of attacking rugby to finish the pool stages unbeaten at Westhills Stadium in Langford.



The three teams occupied the podium at the last round of the HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series 2018 in Japan and made it clear to everyone their intentions to be among the medallists once again as they finished top of their respective pools.

Pool B winners France will get the Cup quarter-finals underway on Sunday when they face Ireland at 09:20 local time (GMT -7) before series leaders and Pool C winners Australia meet Fiji in a repeat of their last eight encounter in Japan.

USA and hosts Canada meet in the third quarter-final after finishing second in their respective pools, with defending champions New Zealand to meet England, the side they beat 22-0 en route to topping Pool A.

VIEW FIXTURES AND RESULTS >>

VIEW POOL STANDINGS >>

In the Challenge Trophy semi-finals, Japan will face invitational team Brazil buoyed by their first-ever victory over Russia, who are pitted against Spain in the other.

POOL A

Fiji had comfortably beaten England en route to a first Cup quarter-final appearance of the series in Kitakyushu last month and did so again in their opening match in Langford, Luisa Basei Tisolo scoring two of their tries in a 24-14 victory. New Zealand then signalled their intent to claim a third gold medal in the space of a month with an impressive display of attacking rugby to beat invitational team Brazil by a record score of 51-0. Seven players scored their nine tries with Michaela Blyde and Niall Williams bagging a brace.

Fiji hit the ground running in their second match against Brazil, scoring three early tries before Bianca Silva raced 50 metres to score her side's first try of the tournament. Fiji regrouped to run in four further tries for a comfortable 47-14 victory, although Brazil battled bravely to the finish and scored a second try when Isadora Cerullo was put through into space. The Black Ferns Sevens then set up a Pool A decider with Fiji with a 22-0 defeat of England, Blyde scoring another double, either side of tries for Tyla Nathan-Wong and Williams, as the defending champions once again showed their ruthless streak.

Brazil had shown improvement throughout the day and gave England, winners in Langford in 2016, a massive scare before going down 31-17. Two tries for Mariana Nicolau either side of Bianca Silva's effort looked to have put Brazil on the way to victory at 17-12 ahead, but three England tries in quick succession in the final minutes  two of them by captain Abbie Brown  denied their opponents a big scalp and confirmed their place in the Cup quarter-finals as the second-best third-placed team. The final match of the day, the pool decider between New Zealand and Fiji, was an intense battle with neither side prepared to give an inch. Fiji opened the scoring after Tisolo burst through the defence and combined with Tima Ravia before receiving the return pass for a brilliant try. The Black Ferns Sevens hit back when they whipped the ball wide for Williams to score and she then fended off tackles to release Blyde for a 70-metre run in for what turned out to be the winning try.

.@BlackFerns finish top of Pool A and progress to the Cup quarter-finals of the #Canada7s. Heres @BlydeMichaelas take on the days action. pic.twitter.com/euLJGkYqNM  World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) May 13, 2018



POOL B

The opening match of the day saw milestone tries for USA duo Naya Tapper and Alev Kelter who brought up their 50th tries on the series with a record 35-14 victory over a much-changed Russian side missing many of their star names. USA led 35-0 before Russia scored two late consolation tries through captain Daria Noritsina and Aleksandra Kazantseva. France, fresh off the back of their first-ever Cup final appearance in Kitakyushu three weeks ago, then maintained their 100 per cent record against Japan with a 33-7 win. Montserrat Amedee bagged a brace, but the biggest cheer was reserved for Tomomi Kozasa's late try for Japan.

Japan kept themselves in the hunt for a first Cup quarter-final of the 2018 series with a hard-fought 24-7 victory over Russia  their first in series history in what was the ninth meeting between the sides  with Yume Hirano scoring two of their four tries. The meeting between France and USA was effectively the pool decider in round two and it lived up the billing as it swung one way then the other. Amedee scored another brace to give France a 15-5 half-time lead, but tries from Tapper and Kelter looked to have given USA the victory until Jade Le Pesq took a quick tap penalty and coasted through unchallenged to seal a 22-19 victory.

USA knew that victory was a must to guarantee their place in the Cup quarter-finals, but they were made to work hard early on by the Sakura Sevens with Hirano cancelling out Abby Gustaitis' opener. There was to be no second victory of the day for Japan, though, with two Tapper tries securing a 28-7 win for USA. France then made their experience count against Russia with Amedee, Grassineau, Le Pesq and Ciofani among their try scorers in a 45-0 victory, the latter running the length of the pitch to score.

Its Cup quarter-final time for @USAWomens7s tomorrow after taking two wins. Hear from Naya Tapper, who played a key role on day one. pic.twitter.com/D0zjryi5l7  World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) May 12, 2018



POOL C

For the second tournament running Ireland edged a closely-fought encounter with Spain on day one, this time by a margin of 7-0 thanks to Louise Galvin's first-half try. The noise levels then ratcheted up several notches as host nation Canada took on series leaders Australia in a rare meeting in the pool stages. Australia struck the first blow when Emma Tonegato found herself out wide in space in the opening minute and while every Canadian possession was greeted with cheers, they couldn't find a way over the line, instead seeing themselves turned over and Tonegato go the length of the pitch for her second try on the stroke of half-time. Yasmin Meakes and Dom du Toit added second-half tries before Bianca Farella finished off a move to give the home crowd something to cheer about in a 22-7 loss.

Canada knew that victory was a must after that opening loss to Australia and they were made to work hard for it by Spain. Patricia Garcia scored twice for the Kitakyushu Cup semi-finalists, but a try in each half from Charity Williams helped Canada secure a 24-10 win to the delight of the home crowd. Australia then came racing out of the blocks against Ireland, Emma Sykes and captain Shannon Parry among their scorers as the first half ended 24-0. Ireland did rally with tries from Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe and Eve Higgins, but Tonegato's second of the match ended any hopes they had of an unlikely comeback.

The battle for second place behind Australia was only decided at the death when Canada captain Ghislaine Landry converted Williams' breakaway try to snatch a 19-17 victory over Ireland. Two tries from Murphy Crowe had given Ireland, who had beaten Canada in the Challenge Trophy semi-finals in Kitakyushu three weeks ago, a 12-7 half-time lead and, while Natasha Watcham-Roy did level the scores, a clever dummy from Stacey Flood looked to have won it for her side until Williams broke through the defence to the delight of the home crowd. Spain had beaten Australia in pool play in Kitakyushu, but the Olympic champions ensured there would be no repeat performance with a clinical first-half display, Charlotte Caslick scoring two of their five tries for a 33-0 lead. Demi Hayes and Du Toit crossed in the second as Australia wrapped up an impressive 43-10 victory.
Repolling on three polling booths -- one in north Bengaluru's Hebbal constituency and two in Kushtagi in Koppal district -- will be held on Monday, the Election Commission said on Sunday.

"Repolling will be held from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. as an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) malfunctioned at a polling booth in Hebbal on May 12, while at two booths in Kushtagi voters' names were wrongly listed," state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sanjiv Kumar told reporters here.

The names of nearly 275 voters were mixed up at the two polling stations in Kushtagi, about 400 km northwest of Bengaluru. As a result, voters cast their ballots at wrong polling booth, Kumar said.

A single-day polling was held in 222 of the 224 Assembly segments on Saturday, with a record 72.13 voter turnout.

Votes will be counted on Tuesday.

--IANS

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Amid demands of prohibition by many social groups and allies of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh, the liquor lobby not only thinks this is a "bad idea" and an "an impractical demand", but believes the government should instead pitch for "responsible and moderate drinking", according to a prominent stakeholder in the space.

Citing the example of neighbouring Bihar, where the imposition of prohibition has "boomeranged on the state in more ways than one", industry veteran Amrit Kiran Singh suggested the state government should back responsible and moderate drinking so as not to disturb the revenue model of the state and still minimise risks that consumption of liquor may cause to society and human lives.

"Liquor is as old as the Gods themselves... it was soma for the devtaas (gods) and sura for the rakshasas (devils). There are three things on which the entire industry is based. These are revenue, ease of doing business and curbing irresponsible drinking," Singh, the executive chairman of the Indian Spirits and Wines Association of India (ISWAI), told IANS in an interview, adding that in his opinion the Yogi Adityanath government in the state had come out with a good and transparent excise policy.

Singh said Excise Minister J.P. Singh had asked the industry to help the state government with the responsible drinking aspect. As a follow up, while a seminar was held in the state capital this week, the state police, with the help of funds given by liquor majors, were seeking to ensure that bacchus lovers understood their responsibilities.

"We are not trying to reinvent the wheel but, yes, the industry needs to be regulated and we are all for it," said Singh, whose Association includes blue chip multinational companies in the spirits and wines business -- Diageo, United Spirits Ltd, Pernod Ricard, Moet Hennessey, Beam Santori, Bacardi, Remy Martin, Brown Forman, William Grants and Edrington.

Pointing to a study conducted in two villages of Satara in Maharashtra -- where the Tata Institute of Social Sciences did extensive research on the effect of irresponsible drinking on the women, families and society - Singh said a similar study has been approved in principle in Uttar Pradesh as well.

"We are very encouraged by the forthrightness of the state government and we are ready to walk hand-in-hand with it to ensure that there is a balanced approach to alcohol," Singh said, adding that a certain segment of the industry had earmarked Rs 10 crore for promoting responsible drinking in Uttar Pradesh.

The three-month drive would comprise outdoor publicity with a focus on highways, radio commercials, capacity-building of traffic police personnel in all major cities of the state and the acquiring of hundreds of breath analysers to check drunken driving.

"We also propose that country liquor manufacturers do similar things with the consumers of its segment," Singh said.

Singh, who was also the Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce (comprising approximately 500 companies that have invested in India) and has travelled to 88 countries, says he is not just passionate about improving the image of the sector but also "understands realistically the objectives and responsibilities".

(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)

--IANS

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South Korea's presidential Blue House on Sunday hailed North Korea's pledge to dismantle its nuclear test site.

Kim Eui-kyeom, spokesman for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, said in a statement that South Korea welcomed North Korea's announcement on Saturday to hold a ceremony for the dismantling of its nuclear test site from May 23-25, Xinhua news agency reported.

The spokesman said it was an expression of North Korea's willingness, not with a word but with an act, to keep on promise that Pyongyang made during the inter-Korean summit.

Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met on April 27 in the border village of Panmunjom.

During the meeting, Kim promised to dismantle the Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site in northeastern North Korea and transparently show the dismantlement to the world.

--IANS

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Actresses like Sameksha Singh and Palak Jain paid tribute to their "selfless" mothers who are no less than their best friend on Mother's Day on Sunday.

"They play the most crucial role in our lives, more important than education and society, major lessons of life are taught by our mothers only. My mother has always been a hard-working person and worked at the Punjab Secretariat. She has retired now and I still remember how she used to cook for us and then go to office," Sameksha, who plays the role of Olympia in "Porus", said in a statement.

"Whenever my mom is around, it's Mother's Day for me. I try to celebrate and make her happy as much as I can."

Palak, who essays the role of Anushka Reddy in "Yeh Pyaar Nahi Toh Kya Hai", believes mothers are the "most selfless people in the world who gladly sacrifice their own happiness for the sake of their children".

"One thing that I have learnt from my mother is not to hurt anyone and any work that we do with genuine effort and truthfulness will get us amazing results."

"I want to take my mother on a world tour."

For Akanksha Puri, who essays the role of Parvati in "Vighnaharta Ganesh", Mother's Day is a very important day.

"Whatever I have achieved in life is only because of her and I am very attached to her. She's my best friend, and my day begins and ends with a conversation with my mom," she said.

"She is a working woman and has always inspired me."

--IANS

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At least seven persons were killed and 12 injured when a bus skidded off the road and rolled down the hill in Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, an official said.

The private bus was on its way from Manva to Solan town when the accident occurred near the Nai Neti panchayat, around 25 km from Rajgarh town.

Most of the injured have been admitted to the Regional Hospital in Solan, about 55 km from the state capital.

Sirmaur Deputy Commissioner Lalit Jain told IANS the rescue operation was over. Most of the victims were from Rajgarh area.

He said the cause of the accident was yet to be ascertained.

Eyewitnesses said the administration had a tough time extricating the victims from the badly mangled bus.

People in the area began rescue operations even before authorities reached the spot.

--IANS

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Preceded by weeks of violence, intense court battles and alleged use of muscle power to prevent opponents from filing nominations, the West Bengal panchayat polls are all set to be held on Monday, which will give a clearer picture of the battle lines ahead of the 2019 general elections.

While the ruling Trinamool Congress has been doing consistently well in polls at all levels for the last few years, the main suspense has in recent past centred around which political force -- the BJP or the Left Front -- would be its main challenger.

While the LF-Congress alliance finished second in the 2016 Assembly elections, since then, the Bharatiya Janata Party has been ending runners-up in almost all elections in the state.

Pre-poll surveys have predicted that the coming rural elections could provide an emphatic answer to the questions, with the BJP predicted to leave the LF and the Congress far behind and emerge as the main rival to the Trinamool - which, the surveys claims, would walk away with the bulk of the seats at all three levels -- panchayat, panchayat samiti and the zila parishad.

The run-up to the polls has been both murky and high on drama.

As the nomination process started last month, all the opposition parties accused the Trinamool of indulging in strongarm tactics to prevent them from filing nominations.

Television pictures broadcast across the channels showed groups of armed mobs gathering before the offices of the Block Development Officers and the Sub-Divisional Officers in a number of districts and stopping prospective candidates from entering the poll fray.

The matter reached the Calcutta High Court, and the State Election Commission extended the deadline for submitting nominations by a day, only to reverse the order in less than 12 hours, allegedly under pressure from the Trinamool.

The judiciary then put a stay on the elections, then scheduled to be held on May 1, 3 and 5.

More bitter legal battles followed, at the end of which the SEC declared May 14 as the new polling date.

Statistics reveal that of the total 58,692 seats in the three tiers of rural local bodies, 20,076 seats or 34.2 per cent have already been decided uncontested, with the Trinamool bagging a whopping proportion of these seats.

These seats include 16,814 of the total 48,650 panchayats, 3,059 of the total 9,217 panchayat samitis and 203 of the total 825 zila parishads.

The Supreme Court has now asked the SEC not to issue winning certificates in case of the uncontested seats.

The opposition parties have, however, expressed grave doubts of free and fair elections, saying they have little faith in the SEC, or the state administration, which is in charge of security.

The SEC has, on the other hand, said all arrangements had been made for providing security for the polls. Around 71,500 armed personnel would be on duty, manning every booth.

"The state has promised deployment of Rapid Action Force, and undertaking area domination and naka checking in their final draft. The SEC is satisfied with the arrangement," said an election official.

Armed forces have also arrived from Assam, Odisha, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh to strengthen security arrangements.

However, there have been reports of a number of killings since the polling process began. The latest incident happened on Friday in Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district, where a supporter of an independent candidate was shot dead. A former Trinamool legislator Arabul Islam has been arrested in connection with the incident.

--IANS

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A Taliban offensive on Dasht-e-Archi district in northern Afghanistan's Kunduz province has been repulsed, leaving 10 militants and six security personnel dead, officials said on Sunday.

"A group of Taliban rebels launched a massive offensive to overrun the district headquarters. Security forces returned fire which lasted until 4 a.m. and finally the militants fled," an official told Xinhua news agency.

Up to 10 militants and six security personnel were killed and a dozen others from both sides sustained injuries in the fighting, the official said.

--IANS

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The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Saturday that stopping the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will be a serious, tough and costly challenge, which requires preparedness for all scenarios.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is scheduled to travel to DR Congo over the weekend to take stock of the situation and direct the continuing response in support of the national health authorities.

"WHO staff were in the team that first identified the outbreak. I myself am on my way to the DRC to assess the needs first-hand," Xinhua quoted Tedros as saying.

"I'm in contact in the Minister of health and have assured him that we're ready to do all that's needed to stop the spread of Ebola quickly. We are working with our partners to send more staff, equipment and supplies to the area."

An outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Bikoro health zone, Equateur Province, was declared four days ago.

The location is 250 km from Mbandaka, capital of Equateur Province in an area of the country that is that is very hard to reach.

As of Friday, 34 Ebola cases have been reported in the area in the past five weeks, including two confirmed, 18 probable (deceased) and 14 suspected cases. Five samples were collected from five patients and two have been confirmed by the laboratory.

"This is the country's ninth Ebola outbreak and there is considerable expertise in-country," Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, was quoted as saying.

"However, any country facing such a threat may require international assistance."

The current response plan to the outbreak includes surveillance, case investigation, and contact tracing; community engagement and social mobilisation; case management and infection prevention and control; safe and dignified burials; research response including the use of ring vaccination and antivirals; and coordination and operations support.

"It is too early to judge the extent of this outbreak," said Dr Peter Salama, WHO deputy director-general for Emergency Preparedness and Response.

"However, early signs including the infection of three health workers, the geographical extent of the outbreak, the proximity to transport routes and population centres, and the number of suspected cases indicate that stopping this outbreak will be a serious challenge. This will be tough and it will be costly. We need to be prepared for all scenarios," he added.

For now the WHO has listed the risks to surrounding countries as moderate, and has already alerted those countries and is working with them on border surveillance and preparedness for potential outbreaks.

--IANS

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A woman was arrested in the US state of Oregon for allegedly blinding a paraplegic man who was living with her, media reports said.

The 34-year-old Michel Roper was accused of attacking her roommate's eyes and genital areas on Saturday, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the Washington County Police, Roper was living with the 62-year-old victim in an apartment in Aloha. She had worked as the victim's caregiver for several years before she left the job.

She later moved back to live with the paraplegic man after she was kicked out of her sister's house for drug abuse, police said.

According to a local TV channel, the woman was involved in an hours-long standoff with the police in the apartment after law enforcement agents were alerted about the assault.

However, Roper was finally taken into custody on an assault charge after the police used a stun gun on her.

--IANS

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A 25-year-old youth killed his elder brother here after an argument over who will prepare food, police said on Sunday.

Police said the brothers were sharing rented accommodation in the Saraswati Enclave area. Balwant Singh Yadav was arrested after a neighbour filed a complaint.

Yadav told police that he and his brother, Jai Singh (29), used to work as welders in different areas.

"My brother would often come home late and force me to cook dinner. Three days back, we quarrelled over the issue."

A police officer told the media that Yadav killed his brother late on Saturday by slitting his throat.

In another incident, a charred body was found in a farmhouse on the Gurugram-Sohna road on Sunday.

"The deceased man seams to be in his 40s. The body was burnt beyond recognition," an officer said, adding prima faice, it looks like murder.

--IANS

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The Kashmere Gate metro station in the national capital went into tizzy after an unattended bag containing 10 kg of marijuana was recovered by the CISF, officials said today.

A CISF patrol late late night noticed an unclaimed bag kept near the gate number 7 of the station.

The team immediately called in the bomb disposal and sniffer dogs team which found that the bag did not contain explosives.

The worst was negated and the team opened the bag to find about 10 kg of marijuana kept wrapped in packets inside, a Central Industrial Security Force official said.

The contraband also known as cannabis or 'ganja' in Hindi is estimated to be worth Rs 3-4 lakh in the grey market and it was handed over to the Delhi Metro Police, he said.

The agencies are scanning CCTV recordings and gathering inputs from locals to identify the person who dumped the bag there, the official said.

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Two minor girls were allegedly raped in separate incidents in Balasore and Kendrapara districts of Odisha, police said.

The accused in both the cases were arrested, the police said.

A seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a man at Purusotampur village under the jurisdiction of Soro Police Station on May 11, Inspector In-Charge of Soro police station, Dilip Sahu, said.

The girl, a student of class 2, was sexually assaulted inside a lift irrigation point centre in an agriculture field, he said.

The accused was arrested today on the basis of a complaint by the girl's mother, the IIC said.

Both the girl and the accused were sent for medical examination, the police said.

In another incident, a seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her tutor at Ambapada village in Kendrapara district.

Sub Divisional Police Officer, Rajib Lochan Panda, said the tutor had taken nude photos of the girl and recorded it in his smartphone.

The accused committed the crime last week when the girl was alone in the house, with her parents visiting a neighbour.

The accused was arrested yesterday following a complaint lodged by the family members of the girl, he said.

The accused and the girl were medically examined, he said.

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Three farmers were killed after being struck by lightning in a paddy field in Mancherial district in the wee hours of today, police said.

The incident occurred in Arepalli village in the district, they said.

A case was registered in this connection.

Rain and thundershowers have been reported at isolated places in Telangana over the past few days.

The meteorological department had warned of thunderstorms and gusty winds.

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Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is undergoing treatment in the US since March this year, has sent a video message stating he will return in few weeks.

The message was played during Shah's address to BJP workers near here,



Shah told the gathering



of around 15,000 BJP workers at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium that he had conversed with Parrikar over phone and the latter had inquired about the Karnataka polls.

"When I called him (Parrikar), just after initial 'namaskar' he asked me about the Karnataka elections. Despite being in the USA for treatment, Parrikar is concerned about the party, which is a symbol of a true worker," Shah said.

"I told Parrikarji to take care of his health. I told him that the BJP will have full majority in Karnatka and that we will form the government on the evening of May 15," he said.

"He (Parrikar) said I am missing all my booth workers. I told him you come back healthy and we will hold a convention bigger than this, and I will be there to welcome you back," the BJP chief added.

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McCallie erupted for double digit runs against Pope John Paul II in a deciding game of a three-game set on Saturday in Nashville, winning 14-0.

The Blue Tornado advance to a meeting with Montgomery Bell Academy next week with the winner going to the state final four.

Daalen Adderley held Pope John Paul II scoreless in the one-sided victory.

On Friday, McCallie lost the opener 11-0, then came back to win 5-1.

Saturday's game was scoreless until the fifth when Max Riemer drove a ball to the right center gap to bring in two runs. Another run scored in the inning to put McCallie up 3-0.

In the sixth, Adderley doubled in a run. Another run scored on a passed ball. With the bases loaded, Kahler Youngblood was hit in the back by a pitch, forcing in the sixth run for McCallie. The Blue Tornado scored twice more to lead 8-0 at the end of the sixth.

McCallie scored six more runs in the seventh for plenty of insurance.

Adderley yielded only two hits and the defense played errorless ball.

Also, Chattanooga Christian won its playoff game at St. George's, 9-4.

The Chargers scored the first five runs of the game, then St. George's scored one in the third and two more in the fourth. However, CCS had a big sixth inning to pull away.

Amos Davenport had three hits, and John Rhodes and Nathaniel Kapp two each.

Kapp had three RBIs and was also the winning pitcher.
Braving the dust storm and rain that hit the national capital today, the alumni of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) gathered here in the evening to protest the attack on the students of the institute, allegedly by members of the right-wing Hindu Yuva Vahini group.

Despite the rain and strong winds, close to 100 former students of the university staged a sit-in in a lane opposite the FICCI auditorium at Barakhamba Road.

Members of the alumni association of the Jamia Millia Islamia as well as the Jawaharlal Nehru Unversity (JNU) also joined the "silent protest".

Holding placardsm, denouncing the attack on the university and its students, the AMU Old Boys' Association (AMUOBA) and others alleged that the incident was politically motivated to disrupt communal harmony.

AMUOBA president Irshad Ahmed, while speaking to mediapersons, sought a judicial enquiry into the attack earlier this month over a portrait of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah on the university campus.

They also demanded the suspension of the police officers who allegedly assaulted the students when they had gone to lodge an FIR against the attack, allegedly by the Hindu Yuva Vahini.

According to sources, about 20 students were treated for injuries suffered due to police action to disperse AMU students.

The alumni association demanded quashing of the FIRs lodged against the university students and action against the "actual culprits".

General secretary of the association Mudassir Hayat, who was also present at the protest, said the May 2 attack had nothing to do with Jinnah's portrait as it had been hanging there since 1938.

He alleged that it was an attempt to disrupt the function to grant life membership of the students' union to former vice-president Hamid Ansari. The event had to be called off due to the incident.

If the portrait was to be removed, there was a proper procedure and protocol to be followed for that, Hayat added.

The protest that started at 5 pm went on till about 7 pm.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union (AMUSU) leaders began their indefinite relay hunger strike late last night demanding judicial enquiry into the violence on the campus over the portrait of Pakistan's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

The protesters, however, announced that they would not disrupt the holding of annual and entrance examinations that began yesterday.

Today, the protesters allowed the opening of the main AMU gate, Baab-e-Syed, which had been locked for the past 11 days to facilitate the movement of those students who are appearing in the engineering entrance.

Earlier, several AMU students sat on an indefinite dharna after a clash with the police on May 2 when they were demanding action against the right-wing Hindu activists, who had entered the campus and shouted slogans against Jinnah's portrait.

They are asking for a judicial probe into the alleged police inaction and the manner in which the row erupted after Bharatiya Janata Party MP Satish Gautam had objected to the portrait in the students' union office.

Meanwhile, former AMU vice-chancellor Lt Gen. (retd) Zameer Uddin Shah alleged today that the recent attack by armed goons at the AMU campus, even while former vice president Hamid Ansari was visiting the campus, was "actually an attempt to target Ansari by forces inimical to him".

The incident which took place on May 2, was not concerning Jinnah's portrait on AMU premises, he said in a statement here.

Ansari had come to the varsity to receive the AMUSU life membership and deliver a lecture on the topic: 'Failure of India to Establish a Pluralistic Society'.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Army Chief General Bipin Rawat will begin a four-day visit to Sri Lanka tomorrow with an aim to take forward the military cooperation between the two countries to the "next level".

Gen Rawat's maiden visit to the island nation as the Army Chief comes amid growing concern in the security establishment here about China's persistent efforts to expand its influence over Colombo.

The Army said Gen Rawat will hold talks with top political and military leadership of Sri Lanka and explore new areas of military-to-military cooperation between the ground forces of the two countries.

"He is scheduled to meet the senior-most political and military hierarchy of Sri Lanka. The visit assumes significance in light of India's persistent efforts to strengthen the existing bonds of friendship and military cooperation based on mutual interests and understanding," the Army said in a statement.

It said the focus of the visit would be to take forward the military-to-military cooperation between the two countries to the "next level".

In December last, Sri Lanka had handed over the control of the southern sea port of Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease, triggering concerns here.

Sri Lanka had later clarified that the port will not be used as a military base and it will not engage in any activities which may harm India's security interests.

Apart from meeting the senior leadership of the three services of Sri Lanka, Gen Rawat is also scheduled to meet the regional military commanders in Kandy and Trincomalee, Army officials said.

The regional commanders of the Lankan army are considered very influential in military matters.

The Army said the visit of Gen Rawat is reflective of India's persistent efforts to strengthen the existing bonds of friendship and military cooperation based on mutual interests and understanding.

"Indian Army has been catering not only for varied training requirements of the Sri Lankan Army, including imparting specific tailor-made training in different fields, but also providing military hardware support," the Army said.

The Chief of the Army Staff will be inaugurating a communication laboratory at School of Signals in Kandy.

The laboratory has been established by the Indian Army to train the personnel of Sri Lanka Army's Signal Corps.

General Rawat will also be visiting the Sri Lanka Military Academy in Diyatalawa.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After years of deliberations, the Army has finalised a mega Rs 150-billion project under which a range of ammunition for its critical weapons and tanks will be produced indigenously to overcome long delays in imports and address the problem of a dwindling stockpile.

Official sources told PTI that 11 private firms would be involved in the ambitious project, the implementation of which is being monitored by the top brass of the Army and the Defence Ministry.

The immediate aim of the closely guarded project -- said to be the biggest ever initiative for the indigenisation of ammunition -- is to create an inventory for all major weapons to enable the forces to fight a 30-day war while the long-term objective is to cut dependence on imports.

"The overall cost of the project has been pegged at Rs 150 billion and we have set a specific target for the next 10 years in terms of the volume of ammunition to be produced," a senior government official involved in the project said, refusing to elaborate further.

Initially, ammunition for a range of rockets, air defence system, artillery guns, infantry combat vehicles, grenade launchers and various other field weapons would be produced under "strict timelines", a source said.

The production targets would be revised based on the result of the first phase of the implementation of the programme.

The sources indicated the broad contours of the project were discussed at a conference of the Army's top commanders here last month.

The initiative is seen as the first serious attempt by the government to address growing concerns voiced over the last many years by defence forces over the fast dwindling stockpile of key ammunition when China has been significantly ramping up its military capability, an issue that has been discussed by successive governments.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has been pushing for fast tracking the procurement of weapons and ammunition for the world's second largest standing Army, considering the evolving security threats in the region.

"The indigenisation of the ammunition project will be biggest such programme in decades," said the official.

In July last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in a report tabled in Parliament, said a stock of only 61 types of ammunition out of 152 varieties was available, and these would only last for 10 days in the event of a war.

According to laid down security protocol, the stockpile should be adequate for a month-long war.

The sources said long delays in negotiations and subsequent procedural hurdles in the import of ammunition had adversely impacted the country's defence preparedness and that was why the indigenisation programme had been initiated.

Last year, the government had empowered the Army to directly procure ammunition and spares for 10 types of weapon systems and equipment after an internal review found the optimum level of "war stores" was not being maintained.

Considering the Army's demand, the government has already finalised one of the biggest procurement plans for infantry modernisation under which large numbers of light machine guns, battle carbines and assault rifles are being purchased at a cost of nearly Rs 400 billion.
The fast-emerging field of Artificial Intelligence, which has suddenly caught the attention of the IT industry and the governments across the world, is facing a large skills shortage, a top Microsoft official has said.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also facing the challenge of appropriate use of data, group programme manager of Microsoft Learning Matt Winkler told PTI.

"There is a pretty large skills shortage. Lots of folks are talking about it (AI). A lot of folks are very, very excited about it and then they want to go and make that real. And when they go to make that real, there's a really large skills shortage," Winkler said.

That's why it's so exciting to be trying to bring these technologies to more developers because it's going to bring more people into the mix, he said.

Winkler said the second challenge is really around data.

"How do you get the data in the right shape? How do you prepare the data? Because all of the AI in the world is based on data, and so what makes it interesting is the data that you have, the data that your business has, that what you understand about your customers. So how do you most effectively use that data to go and produce models," he said.

Then within kind of any individual product project, one of the key challenges is the same thing that the industry has seen with software, which is, if one tries and do too much, the project gets much harder.

"And so we'll often times see failed projects, which are the result of trying to create just the most amazing thing having done nothing," he said.

At the recently concluded developers conference Build 2018 Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella talked about how to make AI accessible for everyone.

"Our guidance to a lot of customers to pick a domain and pick a used case where you have a high, high-quality data and that it is really well understood. Start there, get some wins with that and then start expanding the use cases so far," Winkler said.

Microsoft is partnering with multiple players in both the private and governmental sectors to use AI for public good.

"Absolutely, AI is being used for public good. For instance, it is being used in school districts in order to predict drop-out rates in India.

"We see a ton of healthcare applications: patient re-admission rates is very very popular one. We have seen medical image analysis. We are doing some really interesting work doing diabetes prediction through scans of retinas," Winkler said.

Microsoft is working with the Snow Leopard Trust, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation of the snow leopard and parts of Nepal and India to analyse in real time the presence of snow leopards.

"So it's fundamentally changed the way they do their research," he said, adding that the Microsoft is working with three-four other conservation agencies doing similar things.

"For a lot of the customers, what AI is enabling is not just an incremental... but It's something they fundamentally couldn't do before. So it really does introduce a step change for the things that they want to do in their business," Winkler added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Everest is the ultimate mountaineering "trophy", but the rising number of inexperienced climbers attempting to tackle the summit are running huge risks to reach the top of the world.

An Indian airline pilot, a builder from Ohio and a former online media sales executive are all waiting at base camp for a chance to scale the 8,848 metre (29,030 foot) mountain this climbing season.

They haul themselves up the same ropes to the top and face the same dangers of frostbite, avalanche and exhaustion -- and yet they pay vastly different amounts for the privilege.

Cheaper fees means far more people can attempt a lifelong dream of conquering the world's highest peak, but there are grim predictions that an increasing number will never make it home.

Critics warn bargain operators -- who have slashed the price of an Everest ticket to as low as $20,000 -- accept even the most inexperienced climbers. Meanwhile, more expensive rivals, who charge around $70,000, have smaller teams and require proven climbing ability from clients.

"It's a huge goal and a dream of mine to stand on top of the world," said Matt Brennan, who runs a construction company in the United States, and paid US-based Alpine Ascents $65,000 to try his first 8,000 metre climb.

"I always wanted to climb the big ones and I felt that if I'm going to do it now is the time," said the 57-year-old, who set his sights on Everest two years ago after tackling North America's highest mountain, Denali, at 6,194 metres.

In the 1980s the Nepal government only allowed one team per route on Everest, which meant only a handful of experienced climbers with national teams or those with major sponsorship deals could get a foothold.

Since the limit was scrapped in the 1990s operators have crowded the slopes for a slice of the lucrative industry.

This year there are 346 paying climbers on the south side in Nepal -- just shy of the record 373 permits granted in 2017 -- and another 180 climbing from Tibet, foreshadowing a bumper year. Last year six people died.

Guy Cotter, who has been guiding on Everest for 27 years, warned that many new climbers lack experience.

"Nowadays people can go on the internet and buy the cheapest expedition onto the mountain. But there is no criteria for experience with some of these operators," said the owner of New Zealand-based Adventure Consultants.

"They are not mountaineers. They are just people who want to claim the prize of climbing Mount Everest. They are hunting for that trophy." Tenzing Norgay, the first man to summit Everest together with New Zealander Edmund Hillary in 1953, only reached the top on his seventh attempt.

Concerns about paying clients have haunted Everest since the dawn of commercial expeditions.

Many predicted a turning point after 1996 when eight people died descending from Everest's summit, among them those with limited experience at extreme altitude.

"With enough determination, any bloody idiot can get up this hill. The trick is to get back down alive," Rob Hall -- a guide that year -- reportedly said.

But critics say Hall and rival guide Scott Fischer, who both died that season, were too focused on their clients' investment in getting to the summit.

"There are more incidents because people get into trouble because they have not learned how not to get into trouble. This is things such as dealing with altitude, even just technical climbing skills," said Cotter.

Many long-time Everest operators warn that inexperience -- among climbers and operators -- will lead to more deaths.

"I predict that we'll have more fatalities on the mountain until the operators mature," said Russell Brice, owner of Himalayan Experience, who has been taking people up Everest since 1994.

He also blamed the attitude of some climbers.

"Summit fever is a real disease. People just go on. It's the blaseness of 'It's just a toe'," he said, referring to the risk of losing digits to frostbite.

Indian pilot Sandeep Mansukhani hopes to bag his first major peak with Nepal-based company Asian Trekking, which charges around $30,000.

He said: "For people who are just starting, trying it for the first time, why not? Somebody has to try it, there has to be a chance given to everyone." But Everest guide Ang Tshering Lama, who last year rescued a climber and his guide who refused to turn around and give up his $20,000 fee, pointed the finger at climbers' egos.

"People say, 'I climbed'. But they can't say 'I am a climber'," said Lama.

"You need to be a climber to be on this mountain.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Cinema is a medium which can be used to tell important stories but actor Ashish Sharma says in India, films often serve as the escape route people use to avoid harsh realities of life.

The 33-year-old actor, who has been a part of various television shows, is trying to tell one such truth everyone shuns transgenders and their rightful place in the society through his film "Khejdi".

The movie, which questions the idea of individual identity as a transgender person goes on a journey of self-discovery, is Sharma's big-screen debut.

"It is about an individual journey to fit in. It's about an individual's quest to find their own identity. It is relatable for every gender. It doesn't matter which gender you belong to, we all go through that phase in our life where you want to fit into the society or a group, whether it is your peer group, your family or social circle.

"Every stage of our life we all fight to fit in and find a new identity. There are rules and regulations everywhere. We have to abide by them to be a part of the society. And if we don't, then we are cast away. So it's just about that fight to fit in," Sharma told PTI in an interview.

To get the film made, Sharma had to don multiple hats. Besides acting, he has also produced the movie. He, along with his wife Archana, penned the script.

"Five years ago, I came across a short story, which was suggested to me by my father and after reading, it stayed with me all this time. I shared with Archana and she also liked it.

"She told me 'If you ever going make a film, then this should be your first'. It took us almost two-and-a-half years to write the script. And finally we shot it last year," he says.

The story provided the actor an opportunity to confront the society about the treatment meted out to the transgenders and the stigma attached to them.

"We are scared of the truth. We try to run away from it. And that is why the kind of films we watch are most of the times aspirational. They take us away from our crude realities.

"As an actor, I have always been driven by the story as I feel it enhances me both as an individual and an actor. And this story not just enhanced me but also challenged me as an actor because I had to portray a point of view which I never experienced before. I didn't just have to write it but also enact on screen," he says.

The film also has cameos by real-life transgenders and Sharma said they lent authenticity to the story.

"We never wanted fake-looking people who are trying to portray a perceived image of another person. Till now whatever films I have seen about trans people, they are made from our perspective. Nobody has ever tried to see them from their perspective. So the film is told from their perspective. They were needed in the story as they will not come with any inhibitions."



Films in India have often tried to explore the lives of LGBTQ people but television has so far shied away from addressing such issues in the shows. Sharma believes that commercial aspect of the medium has often proved to be the hindrance in getting such stories highlighted on-screen.

Asked whether there will ever be a show that talks primarily of the LGBTQ people and their rights in India and he says, "I don't think so. Not in the next 10 years. People are scared to make films here, forget about making a television show. It is all commerce at the end of the day. As a society, I don't think we are still that evolved to face it upfront. They are still not included in our society.

"In TV and films, the LGBTQ people are represented in a very cliched way. They are normal people who are born that way. If they have a certain sexual preference, then its fine. But we as a society has norms and rules, and we have to fulfil certain criterion so as to be considered a part of it. There is a huge DNA change that needs to happen."



The film, directed by Rohit Dwivedi, will be showcased at the KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival on May 24 and Sharma says it is the first stop in the movie's journey.

"The journey is just beginning for us. I am happy to begin from this platform because KASHISH has become the Asia's biggest LGBTQ festival right now," he adds.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least four people were killed when militants detonated bombs and stormed a government building today in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, officials said.

There were two explosions near the city's directorate of finance, Nangarhar provincial governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP, adding that "a number of attackers" had entered the building.

"Security forces are in the area chasing and fighting them," he said.

Four bodies and about 20 wounded people had been brought to Jalalabad hospitals so far, said Dr Najibullah Kamawal, director of the city's health department.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of restive Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. Some areas of the province are a stronghold of the Islamic State group but Taliban fighters are also active there.

It was the latest deadly violence to strike Afghanistan as militant groups step up attacks and US-backed Afghan forces intensify air strikes and ground offensives.

The Taliban have rejected growing calls to accept President Ashraf Ghani's offer of talks to end the 16-year conflict.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least nine people were killed and more than 30 injured when militants detonated bombs and stormed a government building today in a continuing attack in an eastern Afghan city, officials said.

A thick column of smoke rose into the sky after two explosions near Jalalabad's directorate of finance, the Nangarhar provincial governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP, adding that "a number of attackers" had entered the building.

"Security forces are in the area chasing and fighting them," he said, adding that one attacker "is down" and the clearing operation was continuing.

"Around noon a big boom shook our building," Qaisar told AFP from a Jalalabad hospital.

"I then saw at least two armed attackers entering the building. My friends ran to hide and I jumped from a window.

"I have broken my leg and arm but was able to get out of the building. Some of my friends are still stuck there." The body of a policeman and eight civilians, along with 36 wounded people had been brought to hospitals in Jalalabad, said Dr Najibullah Kamawal, director of the city health department.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of restive Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. Some areas of the province are a stronghold of the Islamic State group but Taliban fighters are also active there.

It was the latest deadly violence to strike Afghanistan as militant groups step up attacks and US-backed Afghan forces intensify air strikes and ground offensives.

The assault came days after suicide bombers and gunmen launched apparently coordinated attacks on two Kabul police stations Wednesday, killing at least ten people.

April saw a series of attacks across the country targeting voter registration centres as Afghanistan gears up for long-delayed legislative elections due in October.

The Taliban and IS have made clear their intention of disrupting the elections. Officials are concerned that a low voter turnout will undermine the credibility of the poll.

The Taliban recently launched their annual spring offensive, in an apparent rejection of a peace overture by the Afghan government.

Operation Al Khandaq will target US forces and "their intelligence agents" as well as their "internal supporters", a Taliban statement said in late April.

But the Islamic State group has also stepped up attacks in recent months, particularly in Kabul.

Nine journalists, including AFP's chief photographer in Kabul Shah Marai, were among 25 people killed in a double suicide blast claimed by IS in the capital on April 30.

Kabul has become one of the deadliest places in the country for civilians as security forces struggle to keep the militants at bay following the withdrawal of NATO combat forces at the end of 2014.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least six civilians were killed when militants detonated bombs and stormed a government building today in an ongoing assault in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, officials said.

There were two explosions near the city's directorate of finance, the Nangarhar provincial governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP, adding that "a number of attackers" had entered the building.

"Security forces are in the area chasing and fighting them," he said.

"So far six civilians (have been) killed and 33 wounded. One attacker is also down. The clearing operation is ongoing." Earlier, health department officials in the city said hospitals had received at least four dead bodies and 20 wounded people. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of restive Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. Some areas of the province are a stronghold of the Islamic State group but Taliban fighters are also active there.

It was the latest deadly violence to strike Afghanistan as militant groups step up attacks and US-backed Afghan forces intensify air strikes and ground offensives.

The assault comes days after suicide bombers and gunmen launched apparently coordinated attacks on two Kabul police stations Wednesday, killing at least ten people.

April saw a series of attacks across the country targeting voter registration centres as the country gears up for long-delayed legislative elections due in October.

The Taliban and IS have made clear their intentions to disrupt the elections. Officials are concerned that a low voter turnout will undermine the credibility of the poll.

The Taliban recently launched their annual spring offensive, in an apparent rejection of a peace talks overture by the Afghan government.

Their Operation Al Khandaq will target US forces and "their intelligence agents" as well as their "internal supporters", a Taliban statement said on April 25. But the Islamic State group has also stepped up their attacks in recent months, particularly in Kabul.

Nine journalists, including AFP's chief photographer in Kabul Shah Marai, were among the 25 people killed in a double suicide blast claimed by IS in the capital on April 30.

Kabul has become one of the deadliest places in the country for civilians as security forces struggle to keep the militants at bay following the withdrawal of NATO combat forces at the end of 2014.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The part of UnifiEd's plan that concerns me the most isn't being talked about at all. Forget the prohibitively expensive busing for a minute. Forget "controlled" school choice (I assume that means only minorities and those below the poverty line will be allowed to choose their schools). The real concern is using zoning to "reduce socioeconomic segregation."



Translated, that means UnifiEd wants to use your property tax dollars to put an affordable housing project or Section 8 tenants in every neighborhood. Aside from the direct costs of such a program, reductions in property values would wreck the county budget and bankrupt homeowners. Those who can afford to move will, and those who can't will see their neighborhood become the next Alton Park or East Lake. Out-of-towners safe in their gated communities insist this is good for us because "Socioeconomic Diversity."

When they put their money where their mouths are, open their gated neighborhoods to low-income development, and sacrifice a few tens of thousands in home equity for the sake of Diversity, I'll believe it.



Charles McCullough
At least six civilians were killed when militants detonated bombs and stormed a government building today in an ongoing assault in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, officials said, underscoring deteriorating security in the country.

There were two explosions near the city's directorate of finance, the Nangarhar provincial governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP, adding that "a number of attackers" had entered the building.

"Security forces are in the area chasing and fighting them," he said. "So far six civilians (have been) killed and 33 wounded. One attacker is also down. The clearing operation is ongoing." "Around noon a big boom shook our building," Qaisar, an employee, told AFP from a Jalalabad hospital.

"I then saw at least two armed attackers entering the building. My friends ran to hide and I jumped from a window.

"I have broken my leg and arm but was able to get out of the building. Some of my friends are still stuck there." There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of restive Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. Some areas of the province are a stronghold of the Islamic State group but Taliban fighters are also active there.

It was the latest deadly violence to strike Afghanistan as militant groups step up attacks and US-backed Afghan forces intensify air strikes and ground offensives.

The assault comes days after suicide bombers and gunmen launched apparently coordinated attacks on two Kabul police stations Wednesday, killing at least ten people.

April saw a series of attacks across the country targeting voter registration centres as Afghanistan gears up for long-delayed legislative elections due in October.

The Taliban and IS have made clear their intentions to disrupt the elections. Officials are concerned that a low voter turnout will undermine the credibility of the poll.

The Taliban recently launched their annual spring offensive, in an apparent rejection of a peace talks overture by the Afghan government.

Their Operation Al Khandaq will target US forces and "their intelligence agents" as well as their "internal supporters", a Taliban statement said on April 25. But the Islamic State group has also stepped up their attacks in recent months, particularly in Kabul.

Nine journalists, including AFP's chief photographer in Kabul Shah Marai, were among the 25 people killed in a double suicide blast claimed by IS in the capital on April 30.

Kabul has become one of the deadliest places in the country for civilians as security forces struggle to keep the militants at bay following the withdrawal of NATO combat forces at the end of 2014.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China today condemned fighting on its border between Myanmar forces and ethnic rebels that has left 19 dead, mostly civilians, in some of the worst violence to rattle the restive frontier in recent years.

The fighting erupted yesterday when ethnic-minority insurgent groups, who are locked in a long-running battle with the Myanmar state, attacked security posts around Muse, a border town and trade hub in northeastern Shan state.

A local resident told AFP she heard gunfire through the night until early Sunday morning, with fear gripping a town that lives at the mercy of both government militias and ethnic armies fighting for more autonomy.

"We heard shooting the whole night until this morning around 6:00 am. We do not know what was going on and who was fighting," said Muse resident Aye Aye.

Yesterday's carnage, which also left at least 27 injured, was one of the bloodiest days in recent years in a long-running rebellion that is separate from the Rohingya crisis to the west.

Fighting in the remote region in early 2017 sent more 20,000 Myanmar refugees scrambling across the border into China's Yunnan province, raising tensions.

Today, the Chinese embassy in Yangon condemned the clashes and said it had urged "relevant parties" to reach an immediate ceasefire.

The violence "made people from the Myanmar side flee across the Chinese border, and stray bullets have entered into Chinese territory", the statement added.

Observers believe Beijing holds significant sway over the ethnic rebels near its border and is a key player in a faltering peace process steered by Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi placed the peace bid -- an effort to extinguish around two dozen complicated and long-running ethnic conflicts across the country -- at the top of her agenda after she was elected to office in landmark 2015 elections.

But the effort has been severely hampered by a surge in fighting between Myanmar security forces and an alliance of rebel groups in northeastern Shan and Kachin states.

Saturday's attacks were blamed on the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which claimed responsibility for operation and apologised for the civilian deaths.

Suu Kyi, the first civilian leader of the former junta-run country in decades, lacks control over security policy and the still-powerful military, which has retained key government posts in a delicate power-sharing arrangement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy today said it was important for the people of West Bengal to understand the rich multi-ethnicity of the North East, and that the region remains a very important part of the country.

Roy, who launched the Kolkata edition of English daily Eastern Chronicle here, said that Bengalis should understand the culture of the North East, particularly that of the Assamese.

The Governor, who talked about the unity among diversity in the region, said, "Lots of communities, tribes, ethnic groups - each having a culture of its own - live in the North East" and it is important for West Bengal and the rest of India to understand that.

" and views should never be mixed up. Any will be diluted by views and people will not get to know what happened in such situation," Roy said, while launching the city edition of the full-fledged daily based in the North East.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BJP Minority Morcha president Abdul Rasheed Ansari has said that the saffron party's network has increased among minorities in Tripura after the BJP-IPFT government came to power in the state.

Ansari, who was on a two-day visit to the state, told reporters yesterday that he had reviewed the activities of the party and its Minority Morcha in the state since his visit on Friday.

"I have reviewed the activities of the party and its Minority Morcha here. They have gained ground. Organisational work here has been accelerated since the new government came to power," he said.

Ansari claimed that with the BJP-IPFT combine coming to power two months ago by overthrowing the CPI(M)-led Left Front in Tripura, it had opened new possibilities of development for all sections of people, including the minorities.

"A change has come in Tripura. It is like the change that came at the Centre in 2014. Now developments will take place at a faster pace", he said.

The Minority Morcha leader alleged that the Left Front government during its 25-year rule that ended this year, had only committed 'rajnaitik dhokha' (political bluff) with the people of the state.

Asked about allegations of the Congress and the Left against the BJP being "anti-dalit and anti-minority", Ansari said the comments were made out of frustration.

Ansari claimed that his party will win the 2019 Lok Sabha election with a greater margin than before.

He claimed that people from the minority and dalit communities would extend more support to the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BJP president Amit Shah today



asserted the party would form the next government in Karnataka, a day after the polling for high-stake assembly polls in the southern state indicated a close contest between the saffron party and the Congress.

"The BJP will form the government in Karnataka on May 15 evening after the results," Shah said while addressing a gathering of around 15,000 BJP workers at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium near Panaji.

Most of the post-poll surveys have predicted the BJP to emerge as the single largest party in Karnataka, with the JD(S) of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda likely to emerge as the kingmaker.

Polling was held yesterday in 222 constituencies in Karnataka, currently ruled by the Congress.

Any party or alliance will need the support of 112 MLAs to form the new government.

Shah who spoke on various issues, recalled the cross-border surgical strike launched by Indian forces on terrorist launch pads in 2016.

He said after US and Israel, the country is now known to avenge the killings of its soldiers



During the meeting today, a video message of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is undergoing treatment in the USA since March this year, was also played.

In the message, Parrikar announced that he would return to his home state within the next few weeks.

Recalling Parrikar's tenure as defence minister, Shah described him as a "hardworking person with a grip on the administration".

"The Uri attack happened when Parrikar was the defence minister. In the attack, soldiers were burnt to death alive. The entire country was shocked. Parrikar was then the defence minister under the prime ministership of Narendra Modi.

"Within ten days of the attack, our soldiers went to the PoK and took revenge through the surgical strike," he said.

A total of 17 Army personnel were killed after four heavily-armed militants attacked an Indian Army brigade headquarters in Uri, near the Line of Control in a pre-dawn ambush on September 18, 2016.

"...Post this (surgical strike), India is known worldwide for two identities:a country before the surgical strike and the country after the strike.

"After America and Israel, India is now counted amongst the nations that take revenge of the death of its soldiers," he said.

On the mining crisis in the coastal state, Shah said the issue would be resolved through court only.

"I don't want to speak much on the issue, but I want to assure the people of Goa that the mining crisis which has arisen due to the court order would be solved through court only," he said.

The Goa government had last week resolved to file a review petition against the Supreme Court order of February this year quashing the second renewal of iron ore mining leases given to 88 companies in Goa in 2015, which brought the mining industry in the coastal state to a halt.

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Tamil and Hindi movie star Dhanush's first international film, "The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir", will feature a full-on Bollywood dance number in the company of Berenice Bejo.

While French composer Nicolas Errera has composed the film's music, Amit Trivedi has contributed three songs to the "Fakir" soundtrack.

Montreal-based director Ken Scott revealed that he was mindful of incorporating "Indian elements" because the opening portions of "The Extraordinary Journey" are set in Mumbai.

"Knowing Dhanush's exceptional dancing skills, I wanted a great dance number," Scott said during an interaction in the India Pavilion in the ongoing 71st Cannes Film Festival.

"Berenice is a good dancer too, but she was initially somewhat nervous because these dance moves involved a different kind of choreography. But it worked out perfectly well. It is a fun number," added the director, who made the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival hit, "Starbuck".

Adapted from a bestselling Romain Puertolas novel titled "The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an IKEA Wardrobe", the film will open in France on May 30 before it goes into worldwide distribution.

Co-producer Aditi Anand of Little Red Car Films revealed that a July release is being planned for the Dhanush-Berenice Bejo starrer. A Tamil version of the film, keeping Dhanush's fan following in mind, will be released simultaneously.

"The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir" is about a magician-conman from a nondescript Mumbai neighbourhood who finds himself in the midst of a series of adventures across Europe when he sets off for Paris to look for his father.

Besides Dhanush and Bejo, who won the best actress award in Cannes in 2013 for her performance in Asghar Farhadi's "The Past" and an Oscar nomination as supporting actress for "The Artist" (2011), the cast of the film includes Gerard Jugnot, Erin Moriarty and Barkhad Abdi.

"This was a completely new kind of experience for me," says Dhanush, "and I had to follow an unfamiliar set of rules. Ken guided me through the process while adjusting to my methods and sometimes even my tantrums," said the actor who is currently also focused on the upcoming release of the Rajinikanth starrer "Kaala".

Did he have to effect any major changes to his approach for the "Fakir" lead role? "Not really," says Dhanush. "Em0tions are universal, so once you understand a character and its impulses, you are fine."



Dhanush added: "To my mind, Fakir is an important film. The world needs more positivity today. The film delivers a strong message about the global refugee situation, but does so in a light, comedic manner."



The director, on his part, described the film as fable-like with dashes of comedy.

"In an international film such as Fakir, they plan long and hard so that there is absolute clarity when the shoot begins. In fact, we were aware of minute details like the colour of each backdrop well in advance," said Dhanush.

So is a steady international career in the offing for Dhanush? The actor replied: "More than that, I am concentrating on backing good and meaningful Indian films that can travel across the world."



One such film Vetri Maaran's "Vada Chennai" is already wrapped up. "The director is readying an international cut right now. We have received enquiries from several festivals," said the actor whose production credits include critically acclaimed independent Tamil films "Kakkaa Muttai" and "Visaranai".

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A Cambodian school director has become the first person to be arrested on charges of insulting the monarchy after posting comments on Facebook critical of the authoritarian government.

The law protecting the monarchy was passed in February. Critics say it further erodes freedom of speech and political activities, already under stress from Prime Minister Hun Sen's government.

Police said Khieng Navy was arrested in his home yesterday and could face five years in prison if convicted.

He is accused of posting comments online that allegedly insulted King Norodom Sihamoni by suggesting he was behind the November court decision to disband the main opposition party to benefit Cambodia's enemies.

Sihamoni is a constitutional monarch with a minimal role in public affairs, while Hun Sen exercises almost absolute control over politics.

The Kampong Thom provincial court formally charged Khieng Navy with "insulting of the monarch," said a statement released by the investigating judge, Khorn Kosal.

Offenders of the law on lese majeste, or insulting the monarch, could be punished by one to five years in prison and a fine of up to 10 million riels (USD 2,500).

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SSP Chawrasia let a great start slip with a bunch of bogeys thereafter and slipped from tied 38th to tied 68th as he carded 1-over 72 in the third round of the Rocco Forte Open Verdura.

Chawrasia, who is now 1-over after 54 holes, started the day with three birdies in first four holes but then dropped shots on sixth, 9th, 10th, 14th and 18th. He had only one more birdie on 12th.

Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera and Sweden's Joakim Lagergren played together and shot matching 8-under 63s, though Lorenzo-Vera held the lead at 15-under to Lagergren's 13-under.

Lagergren looked set for a new course record as he birdied second and third and added five in a row from the sixth. He also managed birdies on 12th and 16th but dropped a shot on 17th for a 63.

Lorenzo-Vera birdied second, seventh and ninth to turn in 3-under and then birdied five more in six holes from 11th to 16th as the duo shared the lowest rounds of the week with a pair of 63s. Julien Guerrier was alongside Lagergren at 13-under after signing for a 67.

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Making the final policy push, the government has decided to sanction a major manpower and infrastructure boost to the ITBP in the form of nine new battalions, a strategic sector headquarter on the front, a dozen patrol camps and 47 new BoPs to be raised along the China border over the next few years.

As per an official note accessed by PTI, the Union Home Ministry last month held a meeting for the creation of a number of operational border security requirements for the force that is mandated to guard the 3,488-km long Sino-India frontier.

As per the proposal, the Home Ministry has accorded an in-principle approval to raise 9 new battalions (comprising about 9,000 personnel), a sector headquarter on the China border in a north east state, 47 new border outposts (BoPs), 12 'staging camps' and augmenting the troops' strength at 18 BoPs in the Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh region.

PTI had first reported in January that the government is planning to raise15 new battalions in the country's two important border guarding forces to fortify defence along the strategic frontiers with Pakistan, Bangladesh and China.

Nine of these battalions were meant for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police while the rest were for the Border Security Force, which had been sanctioned sometime back by the ministry.

With the sanction coming in for the ITBP by the next month, a senior official said, the force will start fresh recruitment to raise the new battalions and also to fill its existing vacancy of about 6,000 personnel in the lower ranks.

The budgetary allocation is the last thing to be cleared by the Home Ministry, he said.

The new sector headquarter, the official said, will be headed by a deputy inspector general (DIG)-rank official and in all possibility will be based in Arunachal Pradesh to oversee the deployment of the force in the border state and adjoining Sikkim area.

The dozen new 'staging camps' or temporary huts are required to provide ITBP patrols rations, logistics and a place to stay during long-range patrols along the icy Himalayan frontier. They act as temporary BoPs for the troops out on operations.

The ITBP has been wanting to reduce the inter-BoP distance at the arduous border, that witnesses frequent blizzards and vagaries of sub-zero temperatures, and these new facilities will give it the wherewithal to do so, security officials had earlier said.

The frequent instances of transgressions and confrontations with the Chinese army at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is being seen as the major reason for the ITBP to enhance its numbers, infrastructure and logistics at the front.

The new battalions would also help the border guarding force to better rotate troops from forward locations to units in the mainland.

The ITBP is about 90,000 personnel strong force as of now and its border posts range from a height of 9,000 to over 14,000 feet.

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China's first domestically developed aircraft carrier has left for its sea trials today, the country's official media announced here.

The completely home-grown aircraft carrier has departed for sea trials this morning, state-run China Daily said in a brief report.

China launched the second aircraft carrier in April 2017 after it commissioned the first carrier, the Liaoning, a refitted Soviet Union-made vessel, in 2012.

Though Liaoning has become operational, it is being mostly used for research and improvements for the new carriers China plans to build.

Reports said China is also building its third aircraft carrier in Shanghai. The country reportedly plans to have four aircraft carriers by 2030 to operate from the disputed South China Sea as well as the Indian Ocean.

Some reports said China is also planning to build a nuclear aircraft carrier.

China has developed a new jet fighter called A J-15 fighter to operate from the decks of its carriers.

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When Staples at Hamilton Place discovered a large quantity of overstocked supplies, a team member contacted local Daughters of the American Revolution chapters. Members of the chapters were able to pick up needed, discounted school supplies for some of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution supported schools. The schools that benefited were Tamassee DAR School in Tamassee, N.C. and Kate Duncan Smith DAR School at Gunter Mountain, Al.

Tamassee DAR School was founded in 1919 by the Daughters of the American Revolution to serve the underprivileged children of Appalachia. The Gunter Mountain school, KDS, is a private kindergarten through high school that conforms to the state educational guidelines and provides a diverse education which focus on patriotism and service.

Both schools depend on the support DAR members. By providing school supplies, children receive the educational supplies ranging from backpacks to pencils and paper. This also offsets the financial obligations of the schools and provides both the teachers and students with needed items.

The Judge David Campbell Chapter presented certificates to DeWayne Barker, general manager; Jack Miller, sales manager; and Susan Henderson, technical support, in appreciation of their support of the DAR schools. Susan Henderson, a member of Nancy Ward Chapter, NSDAR, accepted the certificates.
A Delhi court has discharged seven volunteers of India Against Corruption in a case related to a protest outside the Prime Minister's Officer in August 2012, holding that citizens have a "fundamental right" to assemble peacefully and without arms.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal granted the relief to Anil Kumar Singh, Ranjit Singh Bist, Kishore Singhal, Gautam Kumar, Mohit, Jagdish and Jitender Kumar on a discharge plea filed by them.

The court noted that the demonstration was peaceful, which was evident from the fact that the police personnel controlling the protesters had not suffered any injury and also there was not any prominent damage to any public property.

The order of the police officer under section 144 CrPC to impose prohibition on the assembly was a non-speaking order without assigning any reason for passing it, it noted.

"It is not in dispute that the volunteers of an organisation, India Against Corruption, who have the fundamental right to assemble peacefully and without arms, were holding some kind of demonstration on the date of incident," the court said.

It noted that the prosecution had not alleged that that the accused persons were having arms or that they have any criminal intent in their assembly, nor was there any general problem of traffic.

"Since the assembly in this case was not an unlawful assembly and has not committed any offence, I have no doubt in my mind to opt for upholding the fundamental rights of citizens under Article 19 of the Constitution and finding that neither the prohibition of section 144 CrPC was valid nor validly communicated.

"Since the prohibition of section 144 was not valid therefore the accused of this case cannot be said to commit any offence under section 188 IPC and for that matter cannot be said to commit all other connected offences with which they are charged," the judge said.

According to the prosecution, on August 26, 2012, around 30 protesters held a demonstration in front of the PMO around noon and despite warning that prohibitory order under section 144 CrPC was imposed, they did not stop.

In the scuffle to stop the volunteers, one of the police personnel received injuries, the prosecution said.

The police had charged the accused persons with offences of obstructing public servants in the discharge of their public functions, assaulting them and disobeying the orders passed by them.

The accused had stated in their application that none of the demonstrations they have held in the past two years have been violent.

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The Goa Congress today demanded the appointment of a "full-time" chief minister for the coastal state in the absence of Manohar Parrikar, who is undergoing treatment in the US.

The Congress MLAs and office-bearers staged a demonstration here at the memorial of Goa's first chief minister, late Dayanand Bandodkar, in support of their demand.

Parrikar, 62, is currently undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment at a hospital in the US.

In his absence, a three-member advisory committee comprising cabinet ministers is looking into the day-to-day affairs of the state.

Goa Pradesh Congress Committee chief Girish Chodankar said, "We have petitioned everyone, including the governor, seeking the appointment of a full-time chief minister in the absence of Parrikar, but nothing seems to be happening."



Today, the party workers and legislators assembled at the memorial of Bandodkar and "prayed" that the ruling dispensation led by the BJP appoint a full-time chief minister, he said.

Bandodkar, the founder of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), was the first chief minister of Goa.

After Bandodkar's death in 1973, his memorial was built close to the Miramar beach in the state capital.

The MGP, Goa's oldest regional party, is currently a part of the Parrikar-led government.

"The MGP, which was formed by Bandodkar, is a part of the state government, but it also does not have guts to ask for the (appointment of full-time) chief minister," Chodankar told party workers at the demonstration site.

He said BJP president Amit Shah, who is scheduled to visit Goa later today, should look into the "misgovernance" in the state in Parrikar's absence.

Shah is expected to address party workers at a stadium near Panaji during his visit.

Chodankar said the Congress will continue with its demand.

The three-member panel formed by Parrikar comprises ministers Sudin Dhavalikar (MGP), Francis D'Souza (BJP) and Vijai Sardesai (Goa Forward Party, another ruling coalition partner).

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The BJP today mounted an attack on the Congress on corruption after charge sheets were filed against family members of former Union Minister P Chidambaram and said the party had not acted on a Supreme Court order for setting up a Special Investigation Team as it would have indicted its own leaders.

BJP president Amit Shah led his party's nationwide attack on the Congress and cited the four charge sheets filed by the Income Tax department against Chidambaram's family members to allege they had illegal assets worth 3 billion dollars, a claim dismissed by Chidambaram as a dream of the chief of "India's richest political party".

This explains why despite Supreme Court's orders Sonia Gandhi, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh & then FM P Chidambaram dragged their feet on formation of SIT, one of the first decisions taken by Modi govt, to fight black money! How could they indict their own selves, Shah tweeted.

Chidambaram retorted to Shah's charge in a tweet, urging the BJP to bring back black money stashed abroad -- as promised by the party before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The president of the richest political party in India is dreaming of billions of dollars! Bring the money back and put Rs 15 lakh in the account of every Indian as you promised, he said.

The BJP also directed its leaders across the country, including chief ministers, to target the Congress over the issue and fielded Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the national capital to attack the rival party.

She described the charge sheets against Chidambaram's family members as the Nawaz Sharif moment of the Congress, a reference to Pakistan Supreme Court's decision disqualifying its former prime minister from holding office because of non-disclosure of assets and income earned abroad.

The parallels cannot be missed out in this case. I am wondering if for Congress party in India, we are seeing the Nawaz Sharif moment," she told reporters here.

Chidambaram mocked her with a tongue-in-cheek tweet.

The buzz in Delhi is that Ms Nirmala Sitaraman will be removed as Defence Minister and appointed as lawyer of the Income-tax department. Welcome to the bar, Ms Sitaraman (sic), he said.

The Income Tax department on May 11 filed charge sheets against Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets.

Sitharaman asked if Congress president Rahul Gandhi would investigate the issue involving his party's senior leader.

The Congress party president, incidentally who is also out on bail on some financial transactions which are questionable, should certainly comment and tell the entire party and people of India whether he is going to investigate this, she said.

She pointed out that the Pakistan court had disqualified Sharif from holding office because of not disclosing assets held in foreign countries.

Sitharaman said the law on black money was brought in by the Modi government because it had pledged before the last Lok Sabha elections to fight unaccounted for money held in India and abroad.

The charge sheets or prosecution complaints have been filed by the IT department before a special court in Chennai under Section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, officials said.

Nalini Chidambaram, Karti and Srinidhi and a firm linked to Karti have been accused of not disclosing, either partly or fully, immovable assets such as one at Barton, Cambridge, UK, worth Rs 5.37 crore, property worth Rs 80 lakh in the same country and assets worth Rs 3.28 crore in the US.

The former finance minister's family members had said the Income Tax Department charge sheets against them under the black money law were "baseless allegations" as the overseas investments under question had been reflected in their IT returns.

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The Congress let its ally NCP contest in the by-election to the Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha constituency fearing that a section of NCP workers might not cooperate if it had fielded its leader Nana Patole from the seat, sources have said.

Patole, who as a BJP candidate had defeated NCP heavyweight Praful Patel from the constituency in the 2014 parliamentary election, was keen on contesting on a Congress ticket this time, the sources said.

Patole quit as the BJP MP and resigned from the ruling party to return to the Congress earlier this year, necessitating the by-election.

The sources added that fielding Patole, who quit the BJP criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over several issues including agrarian crisis, would have made the ruling party leave no stone unturned to see the former MP was defeated in the May 28 by-election.

Had Patole contested, the BJP would have launched an aggressive campaign to defeat him given his criticism of Modi and Fadnavis.

"Plus, in such a scenario, the possibility of local NCP workers helping the BJP was always there. To avoid this, the party gave up its claim on the seat, one of the sources added.

Besides Bhandara-Gondia, by-election will be held in Palghar constituency, where the Congress has fielded its candidate, on the same day.

The Congress is banking on former MP Damodar Shingda to win the Palghar seat, the sources added. The Congress and NCP have already decided to contest the bypolls in alliance.

The NCP has fielded Madhukar Kukade in BhandaraGondia.

Hemant Patle and Rajendra Gavit are the BJP candidates for the Bhandara-Gondia and Palghar seats respectively. Gavit had crossed over to the BJP from the Congress and given the party's ticket on May 8.

The bypoll in Bhandara-Gondia seat was necessitated after Patole resigned as the MP. The Palghar seat fell vacant after BJP MP Chintaman Vanaga passed away earlier this year.

The results of the by-elections will be announced on May 31.

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Countries that continue to deal with Iran could face American sanctions, the Trump administration said today, days after it announced its decision to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal.

The countries that continue to deal with Iran could face sanctions. Europeans are going to face the effect of US sanctions already really because much of what they'd like to sell to Iran involves US technology for which the licenses will not be available, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said.

This was part of the flaw of the deal to entice Europe and the United States into economic relations with Iran that eventually would have worked against really holding Iran accountable for violations of the deal. It's reminiscent of the saying attributed to Vladimir Lenin that the capitalists will sell us the rope with which we'll hang them," he said.

That's what's wrong with this deal. Why would any business? Why would the shareholders of any business want to do business with the world's central banker of international terrorism? he asked.

Acknowledging that the Europeans are disappointed that the US got out of the deal.

He said perhaps they feel that way in large part because representatives of the Obama administration were working in the past several weeks to try and prevent the deal from abrogating, which may have given the Europeans the false impression that they could prevail.

We are gonna work with all of the Europeans. President Trump has discussed with President Macron in France with Chancellor Merkel in Germany with Prime Minister May in England to move beyond the deal. We all share the common objective of making sure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons, are worried about their terribly destabilising and threatening military behaviour across the region and their ballistic missile program. We are going to work to stop that, he said.

Responding to a question, Bolton said that the leadership of the previous Obama administration lied to the American people.

Because in resolution 2231, the fifth preambular paragraph where it says, we welcome Iran's reaffirming that they don't have any intention to have a nuclear weapons program, it was a lie at the time. The administration then knew it was a lie and accepted anyway, he said.

If you look at the advances that Iran has made under cover of this agreement, it's conventional military and terrorists advances in Iraq, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Yemen since 2015, Iran was really on the march. They were shifting the balance of power in the Middle East until President Trump got out of this deal, he said adding that the policy of the administration is to make sure that Iran never gets close to a deliverable nuclear weapon.

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The Daily Mile - a popular initiative in the UK which involves children taking a 15-minute break from class to do physical activity - improves fitness, body composition and activity levels in school students, a study has found.

Researchers from University of Stirling and University of Edinburgh in the UK said that policymakers should consider introducing The Daily Mile to improve the health and fitness of schoolchildren around the world.

The findings indicate The Daily Mile can help combat global problems such as low physical activity, high sedentary behaviour, declining fitness levels and high levels of obesity.

"Our research observed positive changes in children who participated in The Daily Mile intervention, compared to our control school where the scheme was not introduced," said Colin Moran from University of Stirling.

"It suggests that The Daily Mile is a worthwhile intervention to introduce in schools and that it should be considered for inclusion in government policy, both at home and abroad," Moran said.

The Daily Mile was founded in February 2012 by Elaine Wyllie, the then headteacher of St Ninians Primary School in Stirling, to improve the fitness of her pupils.

Children are encouraged to run, jog or walk around their school grounds during a 15-minute break from class, which is in addition to normal intervals and physical lessons.

Following the scheme's success, the Scottish Government has outlined its desire for Scotland to become the first Daily Mile nation, with around half of the country's primary schools now implementing the approach.

There has been interest from the UK Government and the scheme has attracted the attention of other countries, with the Netherlands, Belgium and parts of the US among those to have already adopted the approach.

The research team conducted their research at two primary schools within the Stirling Council area, with 391 pupils, aged between four and 12, participating. Each child underwent an initial assessment and then a follow-up later in the academic year.

Between times, one school implemented The Daily Mile, while pupils at the other - known as the control school - followed their usual curriculum.

Children wore accelerometers to record their average daily minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) and average daily sedentary behaviour.

They also had skinfold measurements taken to check body fat, and were assessed on their performance at a multistage fitness test, where they ran between cones 20 metres apart between bleeps.

After correcting for age and gender, the team witnessed significant improvements in the intervention school, relative to the control school.

"We observed a relative increase of 9.1 minutes per day in terms of MPVA and a relative decrease of 18.2 minutes per day in sedentary time. Children at the intervention school covered, on average, 39.1 metres more during the shuttle run, while their body composition improved too," said Naomi Brooks of the University of Stirling.

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A Dalit man was killed for allegedly teasing a woman, following which her husband, the accused, was arrested today in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district, police said.

Pradip Rathod (21) was killed on March 29 in Timbi village in Umrala taluka of Bhavangar and his family, at the time, had complained to the police that he was murdered as some upper caste men were infuriated with the fact that he rode a horse.

Superintendent of Police P L Mal today said that a farm labourer, identified as Munna Koli, was arrested from his native Padna village in Ahmedabad district.

Koli has told police that Pradip used to tease his wife, the official said.

"Koli worked as a labourer in a nearby farm and has said that Pradip, while moving about the area on horseback, would tease his wife while he was away at work," Mal said.

The official said that the woman complained to Koli and he confronted Pradip on March 29.

"During the course of argument, Koli killed Pradip with a sickle," Mal said.

He said that Koli, along with his wife, mother and children, left the place soon after and moved back to their native Padna village in Ahmedabad.

"We zeroed in on them after finding out that the family had been missing from the village, where the incident happened, since the day of the murder. A police team reached Koli's village and picked him up," Mal said.

In his complaint to Umrala police immediately after the killing, the victim's father, Kalubhai Rathod, had claimed that some upper caste Rajput men held a grudge against his son after he bought a horse recently.

He had said in his complaint that these men had threatened to kill his son if he didn't sell off the horse.

The police today said that the people named in the victim's father's complaint were not behind the killing.

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Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police (DGP) S P Vaid today took stock of the law and order situation in south Kashmir, an official spokesman said.

South Kashmir has, inthe recent past, witnessed increased violence, including militancy-related incidents and clashes between protesters and security forces.

Vaid, accompanied by senior police officers of Kashmir Zone, today visited Shopian, Pulwama and Awantipora in a day-long tour, the spokesman said.

During his visit, the DGP interacted with the police officers at all the three places.He also held discussions with the jurisdictional officers of all the three areas.

Vaid informed them that the police headquarters (PHQ) has taken a number of welfare measures for officers and all other ranks.

Addressing the police officers, the DGP said that the PHQ has taken up issues, including increase in hardship allowance, pay anomalies and some other service matters, with the government through the administrative department.

Vaid also inaugurated an administrative block at the District Police Lines at Awantipora.

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De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer, has said the business in the country will continue to grow this year despite dampened sentiments following Nirav Modi-led PNB fraud.

"There has been this banking scandal, that is clearly a fraud, and had certainly dampened sentiments little bit.... But having said that, I think consumer demand in India, as we have Forevermark brand, is doing very well.

"It's been an unfortunate incident but the demand in India this year would be reversed, would be good and the business in India will continue to grow in 2018," De Beers Group CEO Bruce Cleaver told PTI here.

Diamond merchants Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are alleged to have perpetrated the country's biggest banking sector scam of Rs 13,000 crore at Punjab National Bank, mainly by way of issuance of fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs).

The Centre has also intervened in the bankruptcy proceedings of Nirav Modi firms in the US to protect the interests of PNB.

Meanwhile, Cleaver said the consumer sentiment clearly has been good at the moment as the first quarter result was robust in India.

"February has been a strong month followed by March, across the industry... we are conscious that we still need to create more awareness about diamonds as a commodity and business and there will be a lot of communication in that regard this year," he added.

India will grow exceptionally, which was affected since last two year due to implementation of goods and services tax (GST) and demonetisation, he said.

"We see tremendous opportunity in the consumer market, and India and China present enormous opportunity for us," he added.

Forevermark India President Sachin Jain said that last year has been exceptionally good for the brand.

"Our business grew over a 100 per cent, which was a rare year and we saw a continuation of this in the first quarter of this year. I see a emergence of lot of organised retail players.

"Organised players are expanding rapidly in bigger cities, also I see influx of bigger independents in smaller towns and gaining much faster," Jain added.

Forevermark is present in 48 markets across the country, which will expand to about 52 markets, mainly in tier II and III cities, he noted.

"We will be growing but the idea is also to increase our share with partners we work with. South has been our strongest market, which is followed by the east. West and north are at the same level," Jain said.

The company will now focus on the northern region of the country, which is going to to be its growth area, he added.

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DNA data banks will be set up at the national and state level to store profiles, and those who leak the information stored in such facilities will be punished with a jail term of up to three years, according to a draft bill on DNA technology being finalised by the Law Ministry.

The draft bill also states that all DNA data including DNA profiles, DNA samples and records, will only be used for identification of the person and not for "any other purpose".

The draft bill, based on the one prepared by the Law Commission recently, states that national and regional DNA data banks will be set up for maintaining a national database for identification of victims, accused, suspects, undertrials, missing persons and unidentified human remains.

The Department of Biotechnology was consulted by the law panel to draft the bill. The Law Ministry is now finalising the official draft before it goes to the Union Cabinet for final approval.

It states that those who leak the DNA profile information to people or entities, who are not entitled to have it, will be punished with a jail term of up to three years and a fine of up to Rs one lakh.

Similar punishment is also prescribed for those who seek the information on DNA profiles illegally.

The government had recently informed the Supreme Court that a bill for DNA profiling to enable maintenance of records of unidentified and unclaimed dead bodies or missing persons, is likely to be brought in the upcoming session of Parliament.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the statement made by Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand, appearing for the Centre, saying the government should take steps as expeditiously as possible.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by the NGO stating that India did not have a national DNA database to address the issue of thousands of unclaimed dead bodies that are reported annually.

It had suggested maintaining of DNA profiles of the bodies before their disposal which could help in their identification by the family members.

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The Chinese embassy in Myanmar has called for parties concerned to exercise restraint for an immediate ceasefire and take concrete and effective measures to prevent the worsening of the situation, following the outbreak of a fresh conflict between the Myanmar armed forces, police and armed groups in Muse Township, northern Myanmar, on Saturday.

A conflict between the Myanmar armed forces, police and armed groups breaks out in Muse Township, northern Myanmar, on Saturday, May 12, 2018. [Photo: cctv.com]

A statement of the Chinese embassy issued late on the day said some Myanmar inhabitants in the border area fled into the Chinese territory and some stray bullets were landed in the Chinese territory.

Condemning the violent incident and saddened by the injuries and death of the innocent people, China has urged the parties concerned to ensure life and property safety of the two countries' inhabitants in the border area.

Pointing out that at present, relevant parties in Myanmar are actively preparing for the third meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference and China has been providing required assistance in this regard, the statement voiced firm opposition to any attempt to undermine peace and stability along the China-Myanmar border and any act deliberately obstructing the Myanmar peace process.

The statement called on all parties concerned to enhance dialogue, promote mutual trust, and move forward in the same direction to play a due constructive role in promoting national reconciliation and Myanmar peace process.

At least 19 people, including a police, four militia and 14 civilians, were killed and 27 others injured in attacks by armed groups in Muse township, Myanmar's Shan state Saturday morning, according to a release from the office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Service of Myanmar.

The attacks targeting three areas were launched by a combined force of Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).
As many as 189 trees were uprooted in the national capital during a squall and dust storm with a wind speed of up to 109 kmph that barrelled through Delhi and neighbouring areas this evening, the police said.

According to a senior Delhi Traffic Police officer, traffic was affected in Lutyens' Delhi, West and South Delhi.

Traffic was affected due to uprooting of around 70 trees, and about 25 trees which have fallen on roads are yet to be removed, the traffic police said.

All traffic police cranes were deployed while disaster management vehicles of traffic and municipal bodies were being also involved in removing bigger trees which were uprooted, they said.

Delhi Police has received 40 calls about fallen poles which affected traffic movement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Come January 2019, low-risk foreign travellers will not have to wait in long queues at airport immigration counters as the government plans to install special automated kiosks for speedy document and identity verification.

Low-risk travellers from select countries from January 2019 can enter India without standing in long queues at immigration counters as the government has plans to install these automated kiosks, officials said today.

These kiosks will ensure smooth entry of foreigners in seconds after verification of antecedents, they said.

Electronic gates or e-Gates will be put in place at the arrival wing of international airports where foreigners can present their machine-readable passports, place their fingerprints on the scanner for verification and complete a customs declaration.

Without any human intervention, e-cameras will clear the travellers who present approved biometric. They can then go straight to the baggage claim area after de-boarding the plane and then to the exit, a Home Ministry official told PTI.

The whole exercise is expected to be completed within a minute a traveller hits any e-Gate kiosk.

The foreigners division of the ministry is working on the plan and putting up all logistics before its formal launch sometime later this year, the official said.

However, a final decision is yet to be taken on the countries whose citizens the facility would be offered.

"Initially, we are planning to roll out the service only to the low-risk travellers of a select few countries," another official said.

The plan may be a replica of the Global Entry programme of the United States, which also allows low-risk citizens of about a dozen countries, including India, to go through such a hassle-free service.

Under the US programme, the traveller just needs to visit the global entry kiosks, present their machine-readable passport, place their fingerprints on the scanner for verification and complete a customs declaration.

At the end of the process, travellers are issued a transaction receipt by the kiosk after which they are directed to the baggage claim and then to the exit.

However, travellers must be pre-approved for the US Global Entry programme. The applicants undergo a rigorous background check and in-person interview before enrolment.

In 2017, more than one crore foreigners had visited India. PTI ACB



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The family of a 73-year-old man, who died in a road accident involving a rashly-driven mini bus, has been awarded a compensation of over Rs 23 lakh by a claims tribunal here.

Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) presiding officer Hemani Malhotra directed National Insurance Company Ltd, insurer of the vehicle, to pay Rs 23,13,000 to the wife and three daughters of Ram Avtar Sikka, who was hit by the speeding vehicle in 2015 when he was crossing the road in west Delhi.

The tribunal, while deciding the petition in the victim's favour, relied on the relevant documents placed on record including the FIR, charge sheet, post mortem report of the victim and statement of an eyewitness of the accident.

The tribunal also noted that the driver of the offending bus did not cross examine the eyewitness or lead any evidence in his defence.

"Since, respondent/driver of the offending vehicle chose not to cross-examine the eyewitness and did not lead any evidence qua his noninvolvement in the accident, taking into consideration the unimpeached testimony the witness, it is established that the respondent was rash and negligent while driving the offending vehicle," the tribunal said.

According to the petition, on December 16, 2015, Sikka was waiting to cross Pankha road in west Delhi when suddenly the RTV bus came at a high speed and hit him.

He sustained grievous injuries and was immediately taken to a nearby hospital but he succumbed to his injuries during treatment, it said.

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Four persons, including two children from different families and their parents, were killed when a portion of a pandal collapsed in Gujarat's Rajkot district yesterday due to strong winds, police said today.

The incident occurred during the course of a religious function in Moti Paneli town in the district.

"A portion of the pandal collapsed due to stormy winds killing Rupa Koli (27) and her three-year-old son Ronak," said Bhayavadar police sub-inspector H H Dhadhal.

He said Mukesh Khatariya (35) and his nine-month-old daughter Shruti sustained severe injuries in the incident and were rushed to Rajkot civil hospital, where they succumbed to their injuries during treatment.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government is planning to bring an ordinance to overturn the Supreme Court verdict putting safeguards on arrests under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and subsequently introduce a bill to insulate it from further judicial scrutiny.

The government is likely to introduce the bill in monsoon session of Parliament to incorporate the legislation in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, laws under which cannot be challenged in courts.

Through the ordinance, the government will reintroduce provisions of the act which it feels were diluted by the Supreme Court verdict in March this year.

The "dilution" triggered massive protests by various Dalit and political outfits, during which nearly a dozen people were killed.

"While the bill is a permanent arrangement to ensure that the SC/ST Act's provisions are not diluted again, the ordinance is an interim arrangement to overturn the ruling," a senior government functionary explained.

The proposed ordinance would make it clear that notwithstanding any judgement or any other law in force, the provisions of the act shall remain valid.

"Once promulgated, this would mean the ordinance would overturn the SC order," a Law Ministry official said.

"The next hearing is on May 16 and much would depend on that," said a senior official in the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry.

Referring to the proposed bill, an official said, "Once included in the Ninth Schedule, the legislation gets protection under Article 31-B (validation of certain Acts and Regulations) and is not subject to judicial scrutiny."



Recently, the Supreme Court refused to stay its March 20 order diluting certain provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

While hearing observations by attorney general K K Venugopal on a review petition filed by the Centre, the apex court had said that it was not against the Act but the innocent should not be punished.

Dalit groups had organised protests across the country on April 2 against the "dilution" of the act through the Supreme Court's March 20 verdict.

The protests had turned violent at several places which left nearly a dozen people killed. Opposition parties also accused the government of failing to protect Dalit rights.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last month asserted that his government would not let any dilution in the law aimed at preventing atrocities against SCs and STs.

In its March 20 order, the apex court had laid down new guidelines for police officers on how to ensure that innocent people, especially public officials, are protected from false complaints under the act.

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As multiple agencies and regulators probe suspected use of 'only-on-paper' firms for financial irregularities, the government is looking to put in place a proper definition for 'shell companies' so that investigations are not hampered and prosecution can withstand scrutiny in courts of law.

A number of entities accused of using 'shell companies' for and other financial wrongdoings have challenged the regulatory action against them in recent months and there is a feeling that all regulatory gaps must be filled to avoid delay in bringing the guilty to book, officials said.

One key issue hampering the investigations and prosecution has been lack of a proper and uniform definition for 'shell companies' -- a term generally used for companies that are set up for financial manoeuvres only or are kept dormant for some future use. These companies generally exist only on paper and are often used by scamsters for their nefarious activities, officials said.

There have also been allegations about various political leaders using 'shell companies' to keep their business interests under the wraps.

The (MCA) has received preliminary suggestions from a multi-agency task force comprising officials from the (ED), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), capital regulator Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) and the Income Tax Department, among others, officials said.

The suggestions, which include a list of possible parameters for defining shell companies, will now be further discussed by the Corporate Affairs Ministry, the Finance Ministry, Sebi and the Besides, it may also be discussed at the level of the (FSDC), the officials said.

The definitions under consideration include those from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an inter-governmental organisation tasked with suggesting policy and regulatory framework globally.

However, the regulators and the government departments in are keen on a definition that is more suited in the Indian context.

The has defined shell company as a firm that is formally registered, incorporated or otherwise legally organised in an but which does not conduct any operations in that other than in a pass-through capacity.

At times, shell companies also tend to be conduits, holding firms and special purpose vehicles.

The Sebi has suggested that any entity having no significant operational assets or business activity of its own but acting in a pass-through capacity as a conduit may be called a shell company.

Among other points suggested by various agencies, it has been proposed that entities with insignificant business or assets can be called shell companies. Besides, these can be entities set-up mainly to facilitate cross-border currency and asset transfers along with transfer of large sums to related entities; or firms having no economic rationale in their transactions.

The parameters suggested for such firms also include multiple companies having the same address; no physical existence at the given address; high ticket transactions inconsistent with the business of the firms; and rotational transactions with no apparent legitimate business group.

According to the ministry and regulatory officials, defining a shell company will give more power to investigative agencies for acting against firms that have been stripping the government thousands of crores in tax revenues.

The crackdown on shell companies has been on an upswing since the government in November 2016 announced demonetisation of high denomination currency to crack down on the use of illicit fund flow, among other reasons.

Subsequently, the Corporate Affairs Ministry has struck-off names of lakhs of companies from the official records for not carrying out business activities for long, while lakhs of directors have also been disqualified.

Besides, the Sebi in August last year cracked down on 331 suspected shell companies that exist only on paper and were allegedly used for tax evasion and The list was referred to the regulator by the MCA.

The regulator had directed stock exchanges to restrict trading in shares of those companies, which resulted in trade suspension for many of them.

Following this, many firms including J Kumar Infraprojects, Prasvnath Developers, Prakash Industries, SQS and Kavit Industries, had moved (SAT), which lifted trading curbs in some cases.

Since then, the regulator has ordered forensic audit of several firms, including of their business credentials and financial statements.
Activists of the Goa Suraksha Manch, a political outfit floated by a former RSS functionary, staged a protest near the venue of BJP president Amit Shah's meeting here today.

The activists were upset over Shah's reported statement at an election rally in Karnataka that he would assure supply of the Mahadayi river water to farmers in the southern state, if the party was voted to power.

Karnataka and Goa, the riparian states of the Mahadayi river (known as Mandovi in Goa), have been locked in a bitter battle on sharing of the river water, which originates in Belagavi in the southern state.

"We want to convey to Shah that Goa does not welcome his statement on Mahadayi. Both the states are fighting the case before the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal," GSM president Anand Shirodkar told reporters.

He said it was a "symbolic" protest to convey their message to Shah.

The police stopped the protesters about 300 metres from a stadium close to Panaji, where Shah was to address the BJP workers.

The river water sharing issue is pending before the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal.

The Goa government had in January this year told the tribunal that the Mahadayi river water demanded by neighbouring Karnataka was actually for irrigating its sugarcane crop areas.

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier said his state could share the river water with Karnataka for drinking purposes and expressed his willingness for bilateral talks.

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A clash broke out today between police and farmers in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district when the agriculturists resisted the Gujarat Power Corporation Limited's (GPCL) bid to take possession of their land for a proposed lignite plant.

The incident occurred near Surka village when a group of farmers hailing from around 12-affected villages was marching towards the GPCL mining site, police said.

Bhavnagar Superintendent of Police P L Mal said the farmers hurled stones at the police personnel who resorted to baton-charge and fired 52 tear-gas shells to quell the protesters.

The GPCL had recently started the process to take possession of land from farmers which it had acquired for the proposed plant around 20 years back, he said.

"Police lobbed 52 tear-gas shells and baton charged farmers after they threw stones at the policemen deployed at the GPCL mining site.

"We have rounded up five persons and are in the process of registering an FIR against them on rioting charge," the SP said.

The GPCL had acquired over 3,000 acres of land from around 1,200 farmers of 12 villages in Ghogha taluka in the district for setting up a lignite plant around 20 years ago.

However, the land remained in the possession of farmers, as the GPCL failed to build the plant in the area. The company recently initiated the process to take back the land which has been cultivated by farmers.

Farmers, who have been protesting against the GPCL move since the last two months, alleged the police personnel attacked them without any provocation.

They alleged that police did not even spare women and children who were part of the march.

"We were protesting peacefully at the mining site when we were savagely attacked by police who lobbed several tear gas shells. Several women and children were also injured in the incident," said Narendrasinh Gohil, a member of the Gujarat Khedut Samaj, a farmers' body that had organised the march.

"We are protesting against the forceful eviction of farmers by the GPCL and the state government. They are trying to take possession of our land despite the land acquisition having lapsed in pursuance to the new Land Acquisition Act, 2013, which requires the company to initiate the acquisition process afresh," he claimed.

The farmers had recently written to president and prime minister seeking permission for ending their lives, saying they will be left with no source of livelihood if their lands are taken away.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Haryana Waqf Board has decided to allow Muslims to offer the Friday namaz on its properties to end a controversy that began after Hindutva outfits opposed prayers outdoors in Gurgaon, it said today.

A few people disrupted the Friday prayers a few weeks ago in Gurgaon, saying namaz should be offered only in mosques. Muslim groups say there are not enough mosques in the city.

The board said it has started identifying properties and found 20 in Gurgaon where Muslims can offer Friday namaz.

Some of these properties are encroached upon, however.

"We are identifying our properties in the state where Friday prayers can be offered. In Gurgaon, we have found 20. Some of these have been encroached upon but were working with the administration to get them removed," Rahish Khan, the board's chairman, told PTI-Bhasha.

The controversy began about three weeks ago when a group of youths objected to the namaz being offered in an open space in Gurgaon's Wazirabad area. Later, a few Hindutva organisations began their protest against namaz in the open.

After that, Haryana Chief Minister Manoharl Lal Khattar said namaz should be offered in mosques and idgahs, and not in pubilc spaces. The Gurgaon administration then thrashed out an agreement between the two sides to ensure the Friday prayers happen without trouble.

According to Khan, the board has 12,000 properties across Haryana but nearly 4,000 of them are encroached upon.

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A Hindu businessman and his son were shot dead during a robbery bid in Pakistan's Balochistan province, a media report said.

The incident occurred yesterday in the Gadani area of Hub district in Balochistan province, The Express Tribune reported.

Jay Pal Das and his son Girish Nath were shot dead killed by unidentified assailants near a cement factory whenthey resisted the robbery bid, police said.

The bodies were handed over to the family after completion of medico-legal formalities. The police lodged a case and opened investigation into the matter.

Meanwhile, Lasbela Senior Superintendent of Police Muhammad Hashim along with Adviser to Balochistan CM Dhanish Kumar met with the Hindu community and offered condolences.

"An investigation team has been assigned the task to nab the culprits and very soon they will be in police custody," Hashim said.

"Strict security measures have been adopted in residential areas of the Hindu community as it is our responsibility to make sure of your safety as well as of all others," he added.

Hindu business community in Balochistan province has faced violence often perpetrated by criminal groups.

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Beijing on Sunday.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on May 13, 2018. [Photo: VCG]

Wang said China attaches importance to the traditional friendship with Iran, as well as the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

China regards Iran as an important partner in the Belt and Road construction, Wang said, noting that China is willing to work with Iran to implement the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries to promote various cooperation.

Wang said China firmly safeguard multilateralism and international agreements.

The Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was hard-earned and the deal helped to safeguard the international system of non-proliferation and maintain the peace and stability in the Middle East, Wang said.

As an important party, China made a lot of work in the process of reaching and implementing the JCPOA, Wang said.

"China will take an objective, fair and responsible attitude, keep communication and cooperation with all parties concerned, and continue to work to maintain the deal," Wang said.

Zarif said Iran attaches great importance to traditional friendly ties with China and is willing to have cooperation with China in infrastructure and connectivity within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Iranian foreign minister spoke highly of China's stance on maintaining the JCPOA and stressed Iran is willing to keep communication and cooperation with the parties who still support the deal.

Zarif said it is the responsibility and obligation of all parties to ensure that the JCPOA should be implemented in a sustainable, comprehensive and effective way, and Iran is willing to make its own efforts.

Both sides also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern.
Claiming that most of the demands of the municipal workers have been met, Haryana's Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain asked them today to end their strike and join duty.

Nearly 30,000 employees and workers including Safai Karamcharis of over 80 municipal corporations, municipal committees and councils began a three-day strike on Wednesday last week in support of their demands, including regularisation of contractual employees.

On Friday, they decided to extend their strike to May 14.

"Most of their demands have already been met by the state government," Jain said, while speaking at a function in Sonipat.

"The demand of regularisation of contractual employees of municipality in urban areas of Haryana is unjustified as the court has put a stay on regularisation of employees under various policies since 2016," she said.

The other major demands of the striking employees include: implementation of cashless medical facilities for contractual employees, increasing allowances of both permanent and contractual employees, risk allowance and better safety equipment for those engaged in cleaning sewers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
She is one of the biggest stars in Hollywood and Charlize Theron credits her success to being an immigrant in the United States of America as it encouraged her to work extra hard to make it big.

The Oscar-winning actor says as a young girl in Hollywood she was aware about the fact that missing out on even a single opportunity can be harmful for her career.

"My dream was to pay my bills and not have to get a second job. I loved having the opportunities I got in acting, and I worked hard knowing that those opportunities could be fleeting.

"I could be on a flight back to South Africa. I didn't have a family in the US; I didn't have a support system here. That drove me - I was responsible for myself, and I could not take anything for granted," Theron told Total Film magazine.

Despite the success she has enjoyed in films, the 42-year-old star says she never feels fully secure as an actor.

"I have never felt that. This is common in actors. There are a few I've come across that have a very healthy ego about their status, but I do think this is an industry where there is such a constant turning of new talent, and if you don't stay on your toes, challenge yourself, people won't want to work with you any more and people won't want to see your movies any more," she says.

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Shiv Sena parliamentarian Sanjay Raut today said if the BJP-led NDA dispensation at the Centre had "pure Hindu blood" in its veins, it should confer the Bharat Ratna on late Hindutva icon V D Savarkar.

The NDA government put up pictures of Bharatiya Jan Sangh founder Deendayal Upadhyaya in offices and buildings across the country, but had no space for Savarkar, the Sena leader said.

"This current government should announce the Bharat Ratna for Savarkar, if it has pure Hindu blood in it... Otherwise it (the government) should declare that its Hindutva is only for politics," Raut said in an article in 'Utsav', a supplement that appears with the Sunday edition of party mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

The Shiv Sena is a constituent of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Raut said the demand for the removal of portraits of Savarkar from offices by some organisations, a move that followed a row over Pakistan founder Mohammah Ali Jinnah's portrait at Aligarh Muslim University, was itself a victory for the Hindutva icon.

"It is saddening that just because there is a demand to remove Jinnah's portrait (from a hall at AMU), some Muslim organisations now want Savarkar's portraits to be removed. Those who support Jinnah despise Savarkar," Raut wrote.

"Then the only question that remains is when will Savarkar get the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award," Raut wondered.

The Jinnah portrait issue, he said, was "a conspiracy being hatched to polarise society" before the 2019 general election.

"During the Congress regime, there was an overdose of pseudo-secularism. Hope a similar pattern does not get repeated with pseudo-Hinduism," he said.

He said issues revolving around Pakistan, Jinnah and Savarkar surfaced every time a major election drew close.

"It is a mystery. And it seems people like the Congress's Mani Shankar Aiyar are engaged for such controversies. This is condemnable," Raut said.

He said Savarkar was also a barrister like Jinnah "but the latter used his degree to create Pakistan and Savarkar sacrificed his education for this country".

Unlike other politicians, Savarkar was jailed in the Andaman islands and did not accept any recognition from the government, he said.

"He criticised the caste system, the four varnas (caste hierarchies), and supported non-vegetarian habits. He believed in Hinduism but never had blind faith in the religion," Raut said.

He had deep respect for Hinduism but was not gullible and so he had rejected the movement on cow protection, Raut wrote.

Claiming that civilian awards were given to "ordinary poets and authors", Raut said Savarkar's compositions deserved "at least a Padma Bhushan".

Savarkar died in 1966.

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In the wake of the stray dog menace in Uttar Pradesh, an animal rights activist has suggested that the administration should ensure that there is no "illegal extermination" of the canines as this would only "worsen" the situation and lead to more conflict.

Gauri Maulekhi, member of the Uttar Pradesh Animal Birth Control Monitoring Committee, has shot off a letter to the state chief secretary to ensure that the local administration "actively" informs the people about the scientific and legal steps that are being taken by the government and "discourage" them from taking law into their hands.

Feral dogs have created panic in Sitapur and have mauled to death around 12 children since November.

Maulekhi blamed the local municipal body for "knee jerk" reactions to deal with street dogs, which she said will lead to more conflict and bites and spread of disease in the long run.

"Instead of making any effort to implement the mandatory animal birth control programme to curb population of dogs and decrease man- animal conflict, the district administration is giving irresponsible statements leading to wanton killing of animals in Sitapur.

"May I please request you to issue necessary instructions to seek compliance reports from the 16 municipal corporations, with regard to the minutes of the Animal Birth Control Monitoring Committee, dated 06.09.2018," she wrote.

She also said that people should be informed about the scientific and legal steps that are being taken by the government and discouraged from taking law into their hands.

"Ensure that no steps for illegal extermination of dogs is being taken by the district administration or the municipal corporation," she suggested.

According to her, the Supreme Court had ordered the implementation of the Animal Birth Control Dog Rules, 2001 for population management and rabies eradication.

The rules also prescribe the obligations of the local authorities governments with respect to capturing, sterilisation, immunisation and release of dogs to control their population, she said.

Maulekhi claimed that widespread massacre of animals is going on in Sitapur in "complete violation of the law" and in "total disregard" of the directions of the Supreme Court.

"Rather than resorting to scientific and legal methods for dog population management, knee jerk reactions are being taken to deal with street dogs, which will lead to more conflict and bites and spread of disease in the long run," she added.

She asserted that this kind of violence is totally counterproductive and will not reduce but greatly increase man animal conflict.

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Two warships of the Indian Navy today began a four-day visit to Thailand while another ship has been dispatched to port of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia as part of growing naval cooperation with the two countries.

Indian Navy ships -- Shakti and Sahyadri -- entered the port of Sattahip in Thailand on a four-day visit as part of a deployment of the Eastern Fleet to South East Asia, an Indian Navy official said.

Another warship INS Kamorta, which is also part of the 'Eastern Fleet Ships' arrived at the port of Kota Kinabalu.

The ships are being sent to the two countries as part of efforts to enhance maritime cooperation and contribute towards security and stability in the region, the official said.

The Indian Navy has been expanding its cooperation with countries of the region with an aim to combat unlawful activities in critical sea lanes.

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Instamojo, an on-demand payments and e-commerce platform for SMEs, is targeting a six-fold increase in its gross merchandise value at Rs 6,000 crore by the end of this fiscal, co-founder Sampad Swain said.

"We have currently 4 lakh SMEs sellers on our platform. We can be profitable in the next 2-3 quarters. So, we are targeting gross merchandise value (GMV) of Rs 6,000 crore by end of 2018-19 from Rs 1,000 crore in the previous fiscal," Swain said in an interaction.

He said the company is currently focusing on growth metric rather than break even, which is seen achievable by the end of this fiscal.

Instamojo sees a lot of growth opportunities in facilitating small and medium enterprises (SMEs) since out of nearly 60 million small businesses in the country only 5 per cent are digitally active.

The company is also looking at raising about Rs 100-120 crore this fiscal from sources like venture capitals, private equity to fund the growth, Swain said.

Besides, the company is also planning to foray into business loans for which it is in talks with a few NBFCs and banks, he said.

Other than this, launching of logistics services and online advertising is also in the pipeline, said the company co-founder.

Swain also said the number of merchants on Instamojo's platform is seen rising to 10 lakh from 4 lakh now by the end of 2018-19.

With offices in Bengaluru and Delhi with team of 100 people, he said head count will be doubled by March 2019.

Instamojo said its insightful tools are poised to enable SMEs minimise cost and grow their business.

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As Iran's foreign minister embarked on a diplomatic tour today to save the nuclear deal, his government faced mounting pressure from hardliners at home who say the West should never have been trusted.

Ayatollah Ali Jannati, the ultra-conservative head of the Assembly of Experts whose responsibilities include choosing the next supreme leader, said the government had already failed to guarantee the country's interests.

President Hassan Rouhani, the key architect of the 2015 agreement, should "present his apologies to the Iranian people for the damage caused in the cadre of the nuclear deal," Jannati said.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in Beijing today for the first stop of his tour of the remaining members of the nuclear deal. He is due in Moscow and Brussels in the coming days.

Mirroring the line taken by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Jannati said there was little chance the Europeans would provide the assurances needed for Iran to stay in the deal.

The Europeans "have never stopped taking actions against Iran," he wrote.

The head of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, also criticised "certain officials" who "look to outsiders".

"I hope recent events will lead us ending our trust in the West and the Europeans. The Europeans have repeated on several occasions that they will not be able to resist US sanctions," said Jafari, according to the conservative Fars agency.

Around 100 Iranian lawmakers have also signed on to a parliament bill that would set a clear deadline for the government to "obtain necessary guarantees from the Europeans" without which Iran would resume high-level uranium enrichment, according to parliament's official website.

Although conservatives have tried to score political points against Rouhani in the wake of the US withdrawal, the president has essentially taken the same line.

Immediately after US President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the deal last Tuesday, Rouhani said he had instructed Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation to prepare for "industrial enrichment without limit" unless Iran's interests were guaranteed by the remaining parties.

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Iran's foreign minister said today he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the nuclear deal facing collapse after Washington's withdrawal, at the start of a diplomatic tour aimed at rescuing the agreement.

"We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement," Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters after talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

Zarif will later fly to Moscow and Brussels to consult the remaining signatories to the 2015 agreement denounced by US President Donald Trump. Washington's decision to withdraw from the deal and reimpose sanctions angered its European allies as well as China and Russia.

China was one of the six powers -- with the United States, Russia, France, the UK and Germany -- that signed the historic pact, which saw sanctions lifted in return for the commitment by Tehran not to acquire nuclear weapons.

As he arrived in Beijing, Zarif said Tehran was "ready for all option(s)", according to the semi-official ISNA agency.

"If the nuclear deal is to continue, the interests of the people of Iran must be assured," he added.

After their meeting, Zarif and Wang hailed the "comprehensive strategic partnership" between their countries, with the Chinese minister saying: "I hope and believe that these visits to multiple countries will... help protect Iran's legitimate national interests and peace and stability in the region."



Tehran's chief diplomat embarked on the tour as regional tensions spiked just days after unprecedented Israeli strikes in Syria which a monitor said killed at least 11 Iranian fighters, triggering fears of a broader conflict between the two arch-enemies.

Before leaving, Zarif published a government statement on his Twitter page, slamming Trump's "extremist administration" for abandoning "an accord recognised as a victory of diplomacy by the international community".

It reiterated that Iran was preparing to resume "industrial scale" uranium enrichment "without any restrictions" unless Europe provided solid guarantees it could maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions.

Trump hit back last evening, tweeting that the accord had failed to contain Iran's militarism.

"Iran's Military Budget is up more than 40 per cent since the Obama negotiated Nuclear Deal was reached... just another indicator that it was all a big lie," he wrote.

Zarif's delicate diplomatic mission was complicated by the reports of clashes between Iranian and Israeli forces in Syria on Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said Saturday that 11 Iranians were among the pro-regime fighters killed in strikes by Israel, which has vowed to prevent Iran from gaining a military foothold in neighbouring Syria.

Tehran, which has sought to avoid an escalation in a regional conflict that could alienate its European partners, has not commented on whether its forces were hit.

Israel and its allies have blamed Iran's Revolutionary Guards for initiating Thursday's exchange by launching missiles into the occupied Golan Heights. Iran denies the claims, saying the Israeli strikes were launched on "invented pretexts".

Meanwhile, European diplomats in Tehran fumed that Trump's decision to withdraw from the deal could undermine years of patient work to restore commercial and diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic.

"Since the signing of the JCPOA (nuclear deal), we have gone from an atmosphere like a gold rush, to one of utter depression," said a Western trade diplomat on condition of anonymity.

"We are waiting now for how the decision-makers in the European Union will react. If the EU leans towards accommodating the US, all the progress we have made since 2015 will be lost."



Iranian hardliners -- who have long opposed President Hassan Rouhani's moves to improve ties with the West -- are already mobilising against the efforts to save the nuclear deal.

Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the Revolutionary Guards, said the country could not rely on the West.

"We hope recent events will lead us not to trust in the West and even Europeans," he said Sunday, according to the conservative-linked Fars agency.

"The Europeans have repeated on several occasions that they will not be able to resist US sanctions." He added if the European powers were unable to make guarantees, "we must choose the path of self-sufficiency and nuclear industry with our own capabilities".

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As top leaders of the Congress and the BJP battled it out for the Karnataka Assembly polls, some prominent faces were missing from the high-voltage campaigns to the run up to the election.

Polling in the southern state took place yesterday and the results will be declared on Tuesday. Seventy per cent voter turnout was recorded in the high-stakes election.

Union Minister Sushma Swaraj did not participate in the campaign perhaps due to health reasons, BJP sources said.

On the other hand, the party did not invite actor and MP Hema Malini and Union Minister Manoj Sinha to bat for it in the state, said a BJP functionary.

"We only did not invite Hema Malini and Sinha. Their presence was not very much required here," he said.

From the Congress, the party's social media in-charge and actor Ramya did not participate in the election campaign.

"We invited her repeatedly, but she did not turn up. We have no idea what prevented her from campaigning actively," a party functionary said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and AAP leaders Atishi Marlena and Gul Panag featured in the party's list of star campaigners, but they, too, did not show up.

AAP sources said Kejriwal, Sisodia and Marlena were occupied with the issue pertaining to the removal of the advisors of Delhi ministers by the Centre.

The party had no information why Panag did not take part in the election campaign, they said.

"We tried our best to bring them. We were told that they were held up with the issue relating to the dismissal of Atishi Marlena (adviser to the Delhi education minister)," sources said.

The Centre had last month cancelled the appointments of nine advisors to Delhi Ministers, saying these posts were 'not sanctioned.'



"It is also a fact that if Kejriwal had come, he would have addressed a public meeting," an AAP functionary said.

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If the victory in Gorakhpur and Phulpur bye-elections provided a formula to the united opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh to check the BJP, the performance of there candidates in the coming bypolls, especially Kairana, might build the foundations of an alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The opposition parties have realised that sticking together, as of now, is the only formula to check the further march of the BJP.

That is why, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), having high-stakes in the western parts of Uttar Pradesh and keen to contest Kairana seat, had announced full support to the united opposition.

Later, it was decided that former BSP MP Tabassum Begum will contest the bypoll on RLD ticket.

The entire opposition was on the same page when it strategically decided to field Begum, who was in the Samajwadi Party earlier, from the seat for which she was made to join the RLD.

After a three-hour long meeting between SP's Akhilesh Yadav and RLD's Jayant Chaudhary here last week the deal was cleared. The public meeting addressed by Begum after filing nomination papers there reportedly saw the presence of workers of the SP, BSP, RLD and Congress.

There was speculation that Chaudhary will contest from the seat, but Tabassum's selection was dictated by the exigencies of coalition

While Tabassum had links with the BSP, the challenge was to ensure Jats voted for her and that's why the RLD symbol.

Tabassum is wife of former Samajwadi MP Munnawar Hasan. Their son Nahid Hasan is an SP legislator. It is unique in the sense that the candidate having such strong ties with the SP and BSP is contesting on RLD symbol.

After the 2013 riots in Muzaffarnagar, the social fabric of this region had gone awry. Tabassum's candidature is also an attempt to bring the dominant Jats together with Muslims and Dalits on a platform to withstand the challenge from the BJP.

For the ruling BJP, Kairana is important as it was represented by its senior leader Hukum Singh and retaining it was a necessity for the party which has recently faced reversals in the two by-polls and therefore it would not leave any stone unturned for the polls.

The party has fielded Hukum Singh's daughter Mriganka Singh also to capitalise on sympathy factor.

The BJP which had looked unconquerable after the 2017 Assembly polls recently showed chinks in its armour with the two major players in the caste based of Uttar Pradesh - the SP and BSP - came together for the Gorakhpur and Phulpur by elections.

The saffron party realises that Kairana and Noorpur (Assembly) seat which will also go to polls on May 28 are of significance for it.

The Opposition which appears to be grabbing the chance for a rewind of Gorakhpur and Phulpur for further redeeming its pride might also be faced with a tough task in Kairana as it was much easier for the BSP to transfer its dedicated votebank to the SP candidates to defeat the BJP in its stronghold .It will not be that easy for the RLD and Congress to repeat the same.

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Two British tourists who were kidnapped in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been freed, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said today.

"I am delighted to announce that two British nationals who were held hostage in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been released," he said in a statement.

"I pay tribute to the DRC authorities and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation for their tireless help during this terrible case." Authorities in DR Congo said the three were kidnapped in the Virunga national park on Friday.

One of the most important conservation sites in the world, it covers 7,800 square kilometres along a swathe of eastern DR Congo abutting the border with Uganda and Rwanda.

Virunga is home to about a quarter of the world's population of critically-endangered mountain gorillas, as well as to eastern lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, okapis, lions, elephants and hippos.

But it is located in DR Congo's North Kivu province, where armed groups are fighting for control of territorial and natural resources, and poaching is a major threat.

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Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be conferred with honorary D Litt at the 3rd convocation of Kazi Nazrul University (KNU) on May 26 in West Burdwan district.

According to the university's vice-chancellor Sadhan Chakraborty, the convocation will be held at the university campus.

Renowned physicist S M Yusuf of Bhaba Atomic Research Centre will also be conferred with honorary D Sc, he said.

Veteran actor Sharmila Tagore has also been selected as the recipient of honorary D Litt, he added.

Since Sharmila Tagore will not be able to be present on the appointed date, the 73-year-old actor will be handed over the honour - a citation, a scroll and a memento - on a later date at a place of her convenience, the KNU VC said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be the chief guest at the convocation and West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi will deliver the address as the chancellor of the institution, he said.

The KNU VC also said that West Bengal Higher minister Partha Chatterjee would be the guest of honour.

The Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata is coordinating Hasina's visit, Chakraborty said.

The dignitaries will be present during the first half of the convocation, called special convocation, to be held from 11.30 am to 1.30 pm, the vice-chancellor said.

An estimated 450 students will be given the post graduation citations and 19 will be conferred rank holder university medals at the convocation, he said.

The university was established under West Bengal Act XIX of 2012 and named after poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

The post graduate citations and medals will cover four streams - Arts, Science, Commerce and Law.

The university has 20 affiliated undergraduate colleges - all in West Burdwan district - having 42,000 students.

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A couple's tryst with the madness of a large intrusive family, interfering relatives, nosy neighbours and disapproving doctors is the subject of a new book which is a hilarious take on the Indian urban life.

"Koi Good " is a funny private journal of a highly public pregnancy by Zarreen Khan.

When Mona Mathur of Dehradun married her college sweetheart, Ramit Deol of Amritsar, there were two things she was unprepared for - the size and fertility rate of the Deol family.

When Mona and Ramit did the unthinkable in the family by remaining childless for four years, one question that they battled day-in and day-out was: "Koi good (Is there any good )"



The truth, however, is that Ramit and Mona had been trying to conceive for the past one year.

"Finally, aided by the wine at their highly glamorous neighbours' party, Mona gets pregnant. And so begins a crazy journey - complete with interfering relatives, nosy neighbours, disapproving doctors, and absolutely no privacy," the book's blurb says.

According to publisher HarperCollins India, "Koi Good News?" has been optioned for a feature film by a major production house.

According to Khan, her book basically is the "story of a lot of us".

Swati Daftuar, commissioning editor at HarperCollins says the novel is effortless, irreverent and entirely contemporary.

"This is the Indian urban life, laid out in all its hilarious glory warts and all," she says.

Publisher Diya Kar describes "Koi Good News?" as a "big-hearted, warm-blooded, real-India novel we've been waiting for".

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RJD national president Lalu Prasad will leave for Ranchi tomorrow on the expiry of the three-day parole granted to him by prison authorities in the Jharkhand capital for attending the wedding of his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, a close aide said here today.

The RJD supremo, who is serving sentences in a number of fodder scam cases, is also scheduled to complete formalities for availing a six-week provisional bail granted to him by the Jharkhand High Court last week for medical treatment.

"Lalu ji will leave for Ranchi tomorrow morning. We will try to get the formalities of bail competed as early as possible though it is unlikely before Tuesday.

"Once he secures bail and returns, a decision regarding his further treatment will be taken," RJD national general secretary and MLA Bhola Yadav, who had accompanied the party supremo on his flight from Ranchi to Patna on Thursday evening, told PTI.

The septuagenarian former Bihar chief minister, who suffers from diabetes, blood pressure, kidney problems and other ailments, had been serving his sentences at the RIMS hospital in Ranchi and was granted bail by the High Court on Friday on medical grounds.

He was also admitted to AIIMS, New Delhi, for several weeks from where he was brought back to RIMS earlier this month evoking strong protests from RJD members who alleged that their supremo was discharged at the instance of the NDA government at the Centre.

Meanwhile, hours after the solemnization of the marriage of his son, the RJD supremo enjoyed a feast of rice and fish curry at the house of Chandrika Rai, party MLA and father of his daughter-in-law Aishwarya. He was accompanied by a number of RJD leaders including national vice-president Shivanand Tiwari.

Feast of rice and fish curry is part of Bihari tradition of "Machhli Bhaat", wherein family members of the groom enjoy the meal at the house of the bride, a day after the marriage ceremony with the newly-weds in attendance.

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The Delhi government has decided to provide a last chance for registration to unrecognised private schools in the national capital which were earlier directed to discontinue all educational activities from this academic session.

The schools have been asked to furnish information including address, infrastructure, land area and number of students studying among other parameters, to consider granting them recognition.

"In order to provide an opportunity to the unrecognised schools of getting themselves registered, the department has created a proforma seeking relevant information," the Directorate of (DoE) said in a communication to the unrecognised schools.

The government also plans to use the information to "draw up a database for future policy decisions and monitoring by DoE".

"Besides, the information sought is also necessary to identify the addresses of such unrecognised schools as well as to fetch the information of students studying in these schools with a view to ensure their studies further in case the concerned schools face the action of closure," the DoE letter said.

The government had in February directed all societies, trusts, agencies, organisations or individuals running unrecognised schools to discontinue the educational activities from the academic session 2018-19 failing or face action.

Delhi residents were also advised to get their wards admitted only in those schools which are run as well as recognised by either DoE or any other local authorities such as municipal councils as it may jeopardise the academic future of the children.

The unrecognised schools have been asked to furnish the information by May 31.

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As it pursues efforts to ensure fair trade practices in the market place, CCI Chairperson D K Sikri has said the leniency provisions are "fantastic" in enforcement actions against cartels.

In recent months, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has passed quite a few orders against entities for indulging in cartelisation, especially in bidding process. In some cases, the regulator has slashed the penalties on the entities concerned after invoking leniency provisions under the competition law.

To a query on how leniency provisions have been helping in acting against cartels, Sikri told PTI that it has been "fantastic".

The CCI chief said that initially, when the competition law was being implemented, entities left "smoking gun evidence" and many did not know what a cartel means.

"When we have issued orders, they are very cautious. In the board room, they don't leave any evidence. So the only way is through leniency (provisions) and in the cartel there is a fundamental principle, one or the other member will cheat on the cartel," he said.

He also said that "leniency (provisions) is the way" for enforcement.

Under the Competition Act, enterprises as well as individuals can seek leniency.

Last month, the watchdog invoked leniency provisions wherein quantum of fines were reduced for various entities and for one entity the whole penalty amount was waived off in a case of cartelisation in pricing of zinc-carbon dry cell batteries.

A total fine of Rs 215 crore was imposed on Eveready, Indo National, industry grouping AIDCM (Association of Indian Dry Cell Manufacturers) and their officials for cartelisation in that case. However, the quantum of penalties on Eveready, Indo National as well as their officials were reduced.

The fine was completely waived in the case of Panasonic Energy India, which was also involved in anti-competitive practices.

Earlier this month, the regulator significantly reduced the penalties on four firms and their executives in the case of cartelisation with respect to tenders floated by Pune Municipal Corporation. In this matter, the CCI had imposed a total fine of more than Rs 3.5 crore on six firms and some of their executives.

The CCI has the mandate to keep a tab on unfair business practices across sectors.

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French President Emmanuel Macron has called his friend and ally US President Donald Trump to say he's very worried about tensions in the Middle East, after Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord.

Macron's office said the two leaders spoke today and the French leader expressed his "great concern about stability" in the region. Macron strongly opposes Trump's pullout from the 2015 global deal curbing Iran's nuclear activities. Hostilities between Iran and Israel have already escalated in recent days.

Macron and Trump also discussed trade issues. European governments are scrambling to save billions of dollars in trade with Iran that resumed thanks to the 2015 accord.

In addition, France and the EU are pressing Washington for exemption from Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs.

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The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has imposed a penalty of over Rs 6 crore on the AAP government for shifting prisoners from Tihar Jail to the newly-constructed Mandoli prisons without obtaining completion certificate from it.

The civic body, which is mandated to issue completion certificate to new buildings under its jurisdiction, has asked the prisons department of the Delhi government to pay pre-occupancy charges for the "violation" of laid down rules.

Government sources said that a file pertaining to the issue had been sent to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain, who would take a final decision on the payment of pre-occupancy charges.

Around 3,000 inmates of Tihar Jail have been shifted to Mandoli prisons in East Delhi so far, they said.

The first batch of 50 prisoners were moved to Mandoli in December 2016.

"The EDMC has asked the prisons department of the government to pay Rs 6,03,44,062 for shifting prisoners from Tihar to Mandoli without getting completion certificate from it," an official, who did not wish to be named, told PTI.

The official said that the department had sent a file to Sisodia and Jain, and asked them to take a decision on what the government should do in the matter.

Prisoners were shifted to Mandoli as part of the Delhi government's plan to de-congest the over-crowded Tihar Jail which currently houses around 10,500 inmates against the capacity of 7,000.

Mandoli Jail is mandated to accommodate around 3,700 prisoners. It has six prisons.

In April this year, Jain had said the Delhi government was planning to re-develop single-storey buildings of Tihar Jail into four-storey ones to decongest the central jail.

Besides decongesting it, the move would also provide sufficient playgrounds for inmates of the high-security jails, the minster had said.

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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti may have tried to follow in the footsteps of her father, the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in calling for a ceasefire within the state, but finds herself cornered with leaders from the BJP accusing her of playing over the issue.

Her call for a ceasefire to ease tension during the fasting period of Ramazan and the Amarnath Yatra has been questioned by the BJP, the coalition partner of the PDP in the Mehbooba-led government in the state.

Newly-inducted deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta had recently said the ceasefire appeal should come from militants attacking security forces.

If there is an appeal from their (militants') side, only then we can think of it Let them first make an appeal for it," he told reporters.

In November. 2003, India and Pakistan had agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Actual Ground Position Line at Siachen in Jammu and Kashmir, bringing much needed relief to people living close to the LoC on either side of the divide from nearly 14 years of hostilities.

Then Chief Minister Sayeed, heading a coalition government with the Congress in the state, had often claimed credit for the decision.

On May 9, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti convened an all-party meeting to discuss the situation arising out of frequent encounters, stone throwing incidents and civilian killings in the Valley.

After the meeting, Mehbooba claimed the participants had agreed to appeal to the Centre to announce a ceasefire within the state from the fasting month of Ramazan, starting later this week, to the end of the Amarnath Yatra to ease tension during these periods significant for devotees.

All parties participated in the all-party meeting. Everyone was concerned about the present situation (in the Valley), about the killings, the youth picking up guns, stone-pelting which also took the life of a tourist from Tamil Nadu. Everyone agreed that we should appeal to the government of India to consider a ceasefire like the unilateral ceasefire in (former Prime Minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee's time," Mehbooba told reporters after the four-hour meeting.

The PDP leader said the Centre should think of a ceasefire so that the people could get some relief "because they are facing many difficulties due to encounters, crackdowns and search operations".

Gupta, however, said there was no consensus on an appeal for a ceasefire to the Centre at the meeting.

" It cannot be accepted that we announce a ceasefire, despite their (militants') continuous attacks on our security forces, Gupta told reporters.

Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office, went a step further and, without naming Mehbooba, accused her of "playing politics" over Ramazan.

Opposition National Conference leader Omar Abdullah questioned the purpose of calling the all-party meet when the coalition partners -- PDP and BJP -- were not on the same page.

"What was the point of @MehboobaMufti calling an all party meeting to build a consensus around initiatives in Kashmir when her ally in the Govt doesn't agree with her! Yet she will shamelessly cling to power because that's all that matters to her," Omar wrote on Twitter.

However, the most damning indictment of the PDP came from the controversial independent MLA from Langate, Sheikh Abdul Rashid, who claimed that barring him, no other MLA had raised the issue of a unilateral ceasefire at the meeting.

They are all lying. No party spoke about ceasefire during the meeting, Rashid said, adding that the representative of the state unit of the Communist Party of India supported his demand for a ceasefire.

Rashid told PTI the chief minister only talked about the situation in Kashmir and sought the opinion of political parties for restoring peace in the region.

The chief minister did not talk about ceasefire and instead suggested that an all-party delegation meet the prime minister to discuss the Kashmir situation, he said.

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Gujarat MLA JigneshMevani today visited Dalit families in Alwar and enquired about the violence in the district during a Bharat bandh last month.

The Independent legislator from Vadgam constituency in Gujarat visited a residential area, near the Ambedkar chowk, at Khairthal in Alwar, where the affected families, including women, alleged that they were beaten up by the police after the Bandh turned violent.

He also visited the family of a man who was killed in police firing on April 2 and spoke to his parents.

"The Dalit families told us that they were brutally beaten up by the police during the April 2 Bharat bandh that was called by Dalit organisations. Women were beaten up, houses were damaged, around 70 people were arrested and most of them are still in jail," activist Nikhil Dey, who was accompanying Mevani during his visit to the Dalit locality, said over phone.

The MLA is also scheduled to meet the Dalit families of Neem Ka Thana in Sikar district in the evening. He will be in Jaipur tomorrow.

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The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) today opposed the sale and distribution of sugar imported from Pakistan at the Navi Mumbai market near here.

The Raj Thackeray-led party said the move would work against the interest of domestic sugarcane cultivators and would reduce their profit.

Local MNS leaders today visited wholesale traders in the Vashi agriculture produce market committee, the state's largest such entity, and warned the traders against distributing sugar.

"There is already a glut in production of sugar in the country, apart from the carry forward sugar stock from the previous year. On the top of it, Union government has imported sugar and that to from Pakistan. This will cause domestic sugar prices to crash. We are against such imports of sugar," said Gajanan Kale, who heads the Navi Mumbai unit of the MNS.

He said the imported sugar will affect the local farmers' prospects of getting better remuneration for their produce.

"Farmers from Maharashtra have sought loan for growing sugarcane. Many of them have even borrowed from local money-lenders. With such imports, the Union government is crushing the farmers' dream of better earnings from the sugarcane production. This is a highly unfair move by the government." he said.

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Police today seized more than 3,000 litres of liquor, brought in from Haryana and kept in over 300 cartons stacked inside a truck, in Vaishali district, an official said.

"Acting on a tip-off, a raid was conducted in the early hours close to a canal between Repura and Madaideeh villages, where cartons of liquor were being unloaded from a truck," said Ajay Kumar, the SHO of Patepur police station.

"Noticing policemen, those involved in the illegal activity fled from the spot. We seized the truck as well as the liquor kept in 354 cartons. The total quantity of liquor was 3049 litres. It was brought from Haryana on the truck bearing a Rajasthan number plate," he said.

Efforts are on to trace and nab the owner of the truck and others who may be involved in the business, the SHO added.

Sale and consumption of liquor had been completely banned in Bihar by the Nitish Kumar government in April 2016.

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The mother of the 10-year-old girl,who was allegedly sexually molested by a businessman in a cinema theatre, was today arrested after detailed questioning.

A case under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was registered against the woman, a senior police officer investigating the case said.

Police had last night arrested the 60-year-old businessman, MoideenKutty, after a Malayalam television channel aired CCTV visuals of the accused sexually abusing the child inside the theatre at nearby Edapal on April 18.

The girl's mother was sitting beside the man when the molestation took place.

Though the theatre authorities handed over the visuals through childline to police on April 28, no action was taken until yesterday.

MoideenKutty was booked under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and the POCSO Act.

The minor girl has been shifted to a Nirbhaya kendra, a children's home.

A Sub-Inspector, K G Baby, was suspended last night for the delay in registering an FIR in the case.

There was widespread condemnation against police for the delay in nabbing the accused.

Kerala assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan said it was a 'serious lapse' on the part of police for failing to act soon after hearing about the abuse.

DGP Loknath Behara said stringent action would be taken against the accused in the case.

Yesterday,Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala had demanded action against the 'erring' police personnel.

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North Korea will destroy its nuclear test site later this month, ahead of a summit with the United States, it has said, pledging to blow up its tunnels in front of invited foreign media.

US President Donald Trump praised the North's decision to dismantle the Punggye-ri test site in a ceremony scheduled between May 23-25, the latest step in leader Kim Jong Un's charm offensive.

"Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!" Trump tweeted.

Dialogue brokered by Seoul has seen US-North Korea relations go from trading personal insults and threats of war last year to a summit between Kim and Trump due in Singapore on June 12.

But sceptics warn that Pyongyang has yet to make any public commitment to give up its arsenal, which includes missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Washington is seeking the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation" of the North and stresses that verification will be key.

Punggye-ri, in the northeast of the country, has hosted all six of the North's nuclear tests, the latest and by far the most powerful in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.

Kim has declared the development of the North's nuclear force complete and that it had no further need for the site.

The latest measures will see the tunnels of the test site blown up and their entrances completely blocked, Pyongyang's foreign ministry said, according to the official KCNA agency.

All observation facilities and research institutes would be removed, along with guards, it said, "and the surrounding area of the test ground be completely closed".

Reporters from China, Russia, the United States, Britain and South Korea would be allowed to cover the event on site to show it "in a transparent manner".

Limits on foreign journalists were due to space constraints, it said, as the site was in an "uninhabited deep mountain area".

South Korea welcomed the announcement, which signalled the North's willingness to carry out its pledges "not just in words but in action".

"We hope the sound of the dynamite blowing up the tunnels at Punggye-ri will be the first salute in our journey towards a nuclear-free Korean peninsula," the South's presidential spokesman said.

Analysts said the move was positive but limited in its scope.

It was "not bad, but a cost-free signal", tweeted MIT political science professor Vipin Narang.

Given the stage it had already reached, Pyongyang "may feel like they don't need to test anything for a while", he said.

Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies, expected that the North "will sanitise the site before letting anyone see it".

Yesterday's announcement is the latest move in a rapid sequence of events on the Korean peninsula triggered by the Winter Olympics in the South.

Tensions had been mounting for years as Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes saw it subjected to multiple rounds of increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the US, EU, South Korea and others, and Trump last year threatened the North with "fire and fury".

But since the Pyeongchang Games, Pyongyang and Washington have agreed to the unprecedented Singapore meeting, and Kim has twice visited China to meet President Xi Jinping, after not paying respects in the six years since he inherited power from his father.

The head of the UN's World Food Programme said Saturday it appeared North Korea was "turning a new page in history", following a four-day visit to the country.

David Beasley said he had enjoyed unprecedented access to the secretive state, telling BBC radio that North Korea's leaders had a "sense of optimism".

Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month affirmed their commitment to the goal of "realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula" at a summit in the Demilitarized Zone that divides their countries.

But the phrase is a diplomatic euphemism open to interpretation on both sides.

Pyongyang has long wanted to see an end to the US military presence in -- and nuclear umbrella over -- the South, but it invaded its neighbour in 1950 and is the only one of the two Koreas to possess nuclear weapons.

This week the North released three Korean-Americans it had detained into the care of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was making his second trip to Pyongyang in two months.

However, Trump also withdrew the United States from a nuclear pact with Iran, raising questions over whether Pyongyang would trust Washington's promises.

Pompeo Friday promised the US would work to rebuild North Korea's sanctions-hit economy if it agreed to surrender its nuclear arsenal.

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Former IPS officer and Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi today pitched for a pan-India toll free number to gather intelligence on crime and security.

Speaking at a seminar on national security here, Bedi said she had set up such a number in Puducherry and it was working effectively.

"We should have a dedicated pan-India toll free number for criminal intelligence gathering to tackle the issue of internal security. We need to make everybody a stakeholder in order to augment internal as well as external security," said the former IPS officer.

On the toll free number, she said confidentiality of those who call in must be maintained and it could even have a reward system for such people.

She said that radicalisation was one of the main challenges to internal security and that "we as a system" were falling short of tools to handle it.

"Outfits (extremist groups) establishing links with local political parties is becoming a law and order issue for the administration and police," Bedi said.

Speaking on the occasion, former High Commissioner to Pakistan, TCA Raghavan, said national security could not be confined to a couple of cities.

"Our external environment and regional environment is evolving all the time and we should not leave national security to a few people, a small fraternity of foreign policy experts or strategic thinkers. It is something which every citizen has to be engaged in on a regular basis," he said.

On the subject of 'The Pakistan Afghanistan Factor', Raghavan said India needed to develop a strong narrative on it as it was more of a tactical war than an actual one.

"All the ground operations, incursions etc are on a tactical level rather than strategic," he said.

Lieutenant General (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain, former General officer Commanding of the 15 Corps based in Srinagar, said "no war is going to happen with China".

"China, Pakistan's collusive threat, if at all, is going to be (in the form) of hybrid or cyber war rather than a conventional one," the retired general said.

While, Air Marshal (retd) Bhushan Gokhale spoke about aerospace, Vice Admiral (retd) Anup Singh explained how India could play a strategic role in the Indian Ocean Region.

They were participating in a seminar titled "National Security-Opportunities and Challenges" organised by the Centre for Advanced Strategic Studies, Pune and Shashwat group of hospitals.

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India gifting a Bhabhatron radioactive teletherapy machine to Nepal's leading cancer hospital would be hugely beneficial to thousands of cancer patients waiting for treatment in the Himalayan nation, a top hospital official has said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was on a state visit to Nepal, announced on Friday that the Indian government would gift Bhabhatron Radioactive Cobalt-60 teletherapy machine to Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital in Kathmandu.

"Bhabhatron Cobalt therapy is the medical use of gamma rays from the radioisotope cobalt-60 to treat cancer," said Ishwor Shrestha, director at Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital.

"The hospital was in need of radiotherapy machine for treatment of cancer. There is only one Cobalt-60 radio therapy machine in the hospital and additional gift would help provide timely treatment to cancer patients," he was quoted as saying by The Himalayan Times.

Thanking Indian Prime Minister Modi, Shrestha said the number of patients at the hospital had been increasing, but they had to wait for months to receive treatment.

There are nearly 200 patients at the hospital waiting for the last three months to receive treatment.

He said the hospital had earlier requested the Indian embassy to provide the machine. The machine costs Rs 1,200,000, the report said.

Bhabhatron telecobalt machines were developed by scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre to meet the demand for affordable cancer treatment machines. Compared to imported telecobalt machines, the indigenous machines are cheaper and have superior features, according to BARC scientists.

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Nepal Premier K P Sharma Oli today thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after his visit to the Himalayan nation.

"Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi ji and I have agreed, during Modi Ji's successful state visit to Nepal, to address the outstanding tasks between the two countries in a time-bound manner," Oli tweeted as he thanked Modi for his visit here.

Modi yesterday wrapped up his two-day visit to Nepal during which he held talks with Oli and visited the famed 20th century Janaki temple, Mukhtinath and Pashupatinath temples.

Oli also briefed Nepal's Parliament about Modi's visit.

He said Nepal's engagement in the Ramayan Circuit, laying the foundation stone for Arun III Hydropower Project among others, were the major achievements of the trip.

He said the visit elevated the existing relationship between the two neighbouring countries to new heights.

The two countries have also agreed to expedite implementation of all pending projects of bilateral cooperation by Nepal's Constitution Day in September, said Oli adding that multiple bilateral ministerial meetings will be held.

The two countries have also agreed to form a taskforce of technicians to explore possibilities of developing railways and waterways, he said.

Oli also said he would soon pay an official visit to China but did not disclose the date of the trip.

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The new 12.3 km Akhaura rail line will reduce journey time between Agartala and Kolkata by 21 hours, by cutting through Bangladesh's capital Dhaka instead of Guwahati.

The travel time between Agartala and Kolkata will now be reduced to around 10 hours from current 31 hours as it will travel a mere 550 km instead of 1600.

India and Bangladesh currently have four operational rail links between West Bengal and Western Bangladesh - Petrapole-Benapole, Gede-Darshana, Radhikapur-Biral and Singhabad-Rohanpur.

Radhikapur-Biral and Singhabad-Rohanpur are also notified for use of Nepalese transit traffic.

The present line will go to Akhaura which is linked to Dhaka Chittagong rail route.

"Kolkata is a major destination for people in this area, but as of now there was no direct connectivity to the city. The line will help not only people from Agartala but also those from Mizoram which is 150 km away," Chief engineer of the Rs 570 crore project M S Chauhan said.

The line will be operational by 2020, he said.

The trains on the line will undergo security check once at Nishchintpur on the Indian side and Gangasagar on the Bangladesh side, sources said.

This line will be instrumental in freight movement as well as goods from the northeastern state can now reach Kolkata in one third the time. Similarly, goods from Chittagong port will reach Agartala quicker.

The number of Bangladeshi travellers to India increased from 7.5 lakh in 2015 to 9.33 lakh in 2016. In the first six months of 2017, seven lakh Bangladeshis visited India.

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Nine persons were struck dead by lightning and three injured in Srikakulam and Kadapa districts of Andhra Pradesh today, official sources said.

While seven persons were killed in Srikakulam district alone, two more were killed in Kadapa and three injured, they said.

Lightning struck at different places in Srikakulam since afternoon even as rain, coupled with gales, lashed the district.

Srikakulam district Collector Dhananjay Reddy told PTI that the seven casualties were reported from different mandals in the district.

Rain was also reported from Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts.

State Deputy Chief Minister (Home) N China Rajappa, while condoling the deaths of persons in lightning strikes, asked the respective district authorities to take necessary precautionary measures as per the warnings issued by the Disaster Management Department.

He said lightning strikes, rains and gales were likely in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts in north coastal Andhra, besides in Anantapuramu, Chittoor, Kadapa in Rayalaseema and SPS Nellore in the south coast.

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Chief Minister Sarbananda has said he had no reason to continue on his post if he could not protect the interest of the people of the state.

He was interacting with the editors of print and electronic media here last evening on the prevailing situation in the state following the recent visit of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016.

"If the interest of the state and its people are not secure, then what is the meaning for me in continuing as the chief minister of the state. That is why we will sincerely work for safeguarding the interests of the people of This is certain," said.

A key amendment in the Bill seeks to grant citizenship to people without valid documents from six minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- from Afghanistan, and after six years of residence in

"It is my duty as the chief minister to take all with me and not take decisions on my own. By taking the opinion of the people of Assam, we will take a decision on the issue.

"I will seriously think about the suggestions given by you all here and as advised, I will also discuss the matter with senior citizens and intellectuals in the coming days," he said.

He also appealed for peace and said there is no need for people to get agitated as the process for the JPC to take their opinion is still on.

"We will not take any decision that goes against the people of Assam, We all have to ensure peace across the state and keep faith in the government. I appeal all to maintain peace so that unwanted situations do not develop in the state," he said.

"The JPC Chairman had hinted the Committee will return to to further take the people's opinion on the Bill. The people should, however, continue to express their opinion and speak their mind to the JPC chairman through e-mail," he said.

The 16-member JPC headed by BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal had visited the state from May 7 to May 9 to elicit views from stakeholders on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955.

said there was an allegation against him that he was not allowing the JPC team to visit Assam.

"When I had got the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act repealed, no JPC had come then. This time, people have been given top priority," he said.

The JPC had heard individuals, political and other organisations on the bill in Guwahati on May 7 for 30 Brahmaputra valley districts and the next two days for the three Barak valley districts.

Protests were staged against the Bill in front of the venue where the JPC hearing was held as people feared that it would breach the clauses of the Assam Accord.

The Accord states that all illegal foreigners from who had settled in Assam after March 25, 1971 would have to be deported irrespective of religion.

In the Bengali-dominated Barak Valley, a majority of the 315 opinions submitted to the JPC were in favour of the Bill, and people carrying placards formed a human chain in its support.

The opposers of the Bill are apprehensive that the granting of Indian citizenship to the Hindus of to live in Assam would negatively impact the demographic pattern of the state and make the indigenous people minorities in their own state, besides threatening Assamese language and culture.

A human chain carrying placards also supported the Bill, while politicians of both the ruling BJP and opposition supported it even as their respective parties opposed it in the Brahmaputra valley.

Following the JPC hearings, protests have been taking place on a daily basis in the Brahmaputra valley against the Bill.
Noted Hindi film lyricist, Nandram Das Bairagi, popularly known as Balkavi Bairagi, died in his sleep today evening, his son said.

Bairagi, a Lok Sabha member between 1984 and 1989 and also a former Rajya Sabha MP, was 87.

"He went to sleep after coming back from a function in the afternoon. He did not wake up," his son, Gorki, told PTI.

Bairagi wrote lyrics for more than two dozen Hindi films and some like "Tu Chanda Main Chandni" from the film "Reshma aur Shera" are considered classics.

He wrote several Hindi poems, among which, "Jhar gaye paat, bisar gayi tehni" is considered a gem by many Hindi poets.

"He was given the name Balkavi as he wrote some classic poems in his childhood," veteran journalist CK Naidu said.

The multi-faceted personality, who was also MP minister in the Congress government earlier, was born in Manasa on February 10,1931.

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Top US officials insisted today that they could still push forward the troubled Israeli-Palestinian peace process despite outrage across the Arab world over the opening of the new American embassy in Jerusalem.

Speaking on the eve of the embassy opening, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was hopeful of success in efforts to end the decades-old conflict while National Security Advisor John Bolton said it should make peace "easier."



President Donald Trump's decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv broke with generations of international consensus that Jerusalem's status should be settled as part of a two-state peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are expected to gather along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Monday to protest the embassy opening.

The Palestinian Authority's leadership has effectively refused to speak to Trump's team since the move was announced, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is supposed to be spearheading a new drive for peace.

Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization's delegation in Washington described the move as another step toward "a full-fledged apartheid."



"Tragically, the US administration has chosen to side with Israel's exclusivist claims over a city that has for centuries been sacred to all faiths," he said in a statement. "Today's move of the US embassy gives life to a religious conflict instead of a dignified peace."Asked in an interview with Fox Sunday about whether there was any life left in the peace process, Pompeo responded by saying "the peace process is most decidedly not dead." "We're hard at work on it. We hope we can achieve a successful outcome there as well," said Pompeo whose first two weeks in office have been largely consumed with arranging a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

As well as the protests by the Palestinians, demonstrations are expected on Monday in other Arab capitals where governments have argued that the status of Jerusalem should only form part of a final peace agreement.

Pompeo said he was aware that there could be security concerns for US embassies and citizens in the region in the coming days. "The United States government has taken a number of actions to ensure that not only our governmental interests but the American people in that region are secure as well, and we're comfortable we've taken action that reduces that risk," said the top US diplomat.

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The pen can do wonders, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan said today, citing the example of journalists who stood for truth in trying times, such as the Emergency.

In the face of pressure, many members of the media showed tremendous courage and some even went to jail, the minister said.

"Those who have the power of the pen can accomplish huge tasks. Sometimes, they themselves may not have an idea of what they may achieve," the Union Science and Technology Minister said at the 43rd Matri Shree media awards here.

Recalling the contribution of freedom fighters, Vardhan recalled that people had sacrificed their lives for the nation.

But now, 70 years since Independence, people could contribute in their own ways to improving the lives of those around them, he added.

Referring to his tenure as the health minister in the Delhi government during the 90s, Vardhan said the media played a positive role in the campaign to eradicate polio.

He added that while uncovering social evils, journalists should also highlight the contribution of unsung heroes who inspire society.

Vardhan said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiatives such as the 'Jan Dhan Yojana' and 'Swachh Bharat' had greatly contributed towards improving people's lives.

The government had worked with zeal to take Internet to the rural masses, he said.

One of the organisers, Dinesh Sharma, said the award was instituted to honour the "fighting spirit of journalists" during the Emergency period.

The minister presented the awards to 26 journalists. Akshay Kumar's Toilet: Ek Prem Katha was adjudged the best film by the award organisers.

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Brawls over trivial issues -- such as not sharing a cigarette -- led to a spate of killings in the national capital in the first four months of the year, but the most common reason for fatal crimes was personal enmity and old disputes, according to newly released Delhi Police data.

Till April 30 this year, 27 of the 167 reported killings took place because of a sudden provocation or a trivial issue, the second most common reason for bloodshed.

Personal enmity was cited in the data as the most common motive in murder cases.

During the last two years, too, animosity occupied the top spot, followed by violence over sudden provocations or trivial issues.

In 2017, more than 45 per cent murder cases were due to personal enmity, the Delhi Police data showed.

As many as 65 people were killed till April 30 this year because of long-standing disputes or enmity, the Delhi Police said.

A 35-year-old woman and her teenaged son were gunned dead allegedly by her brother-in-law in southwest Delhi's Palam area in January because of a property dispute.

In March this year, a 45-year-old woman was shot dead in southwest Delhi while her brother was also killed and his body dumped in a remote part of Haryana. The brother and sister were allegedly killed by a man with whom they had a land dispute in Ghummanhera village.

That trivial issues or sudden provocations often lead to murder was highlighted in a case a few days ago when a gym trainer was stabbed to death in a bar in west Delhi's Punjabi Bagh by a disc jockey following a quarrel over the playing of Punjabi songs.

A 21-year-old software graphic student was killed on March 21 in the Netaji Subhash Place area in northwest Delhi by three people, including a juvenile, following a scuffle over the sharing of a cigarette.

In another incident, a 30-year-old man lost his life when he complained about the quality of food being served to him at an eatery in east Delhi's Preet Vihar. He was killed with a broken ladle allegedly by the eatery's employees in March this year.

A total of 462 cases of murder were reported last year as opposed to 501 in 2016.

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President Ram Nath Kovind arrived here today on a two-day visit.

He was received at the airport by Governor Kalyan Singh and Chief minister Vasundhara Raje.

The president, who came by a special Indian Air Force aircraft, was given a guard of honour at the state hanger in the presence of senior officers.

It is his first visit to Rajasthan after becoming the president.

Kovind is scheduled to meet high court judges in Raj Bhawan and also attend a function at Birla auditorium in the evening, an official of the general administration department said.

The president will leave for Ajmer by a helicopter tomorrow where he will visit Pushkar and dargah of sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti.

Tight security arrangements have been made for his visit.

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Goa Foundation director Claud Alvares was among two activists booked today by police on charge of damaging public property, a day after they locked state Mines and Geology department for being the "biggest source of illegalities in the mining sector" in a symbolic protest.

It is noted that Goa Foundation's petition had led the Supreme Court to quash renewal of 88 mining leases in the coastal state in February this year, which brought the mining industry to a halt since mid-March.

Another activists booked along with Alvares is identified as Rahul Basu.

A complaint was lodged against Alvares and Basu by an official of the State Mines and Geology department.

Alvares had yesterday led a group of people that locked the main door of the department.

The activists had later handed over the key to the Panaji police.

Police Inspector Siddhanth Shirodkar said the FIR was registered under appropriate sections of the IPC for causing damage to public property, wrongful confinement, and obstruction to public servant while discharging his/her duty.

"We are symbolically locking the mines department because this is the biggest source of illegalities. We are not interested in harming anybody. We want to pass on a political message to everybody that this department has let Goans down," Alvares had told reporters yesterday.

He alleged that the department had helped mining firms in illegally taking away the iron ore despite the supreme court order preventing to do so.

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Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has exhorted the industry to partner with the state government in implementing its social welfare agenda by contributing a part of their CSR budget to the recently launched Social Security Fund.

He was interacting informally with some of the states leading industrialists on Saturday evening, to elicit their views and feedback before finalising the operational guidelines of the new industrial policy.

The chief minister mooted the idea of the industry joining hands with the state government to build the social security network for the underprivileged sections of the state, particularly Dalits.

The industry stalwarts were quite receptive to the suggestion, which would pave the way for the state government to reinvest the savings thus secured for the exchequer into infrastructural development for promoting industry, an official spokesperson said today while giving details of the meeting.

The industrialists were unanimous in underscoring the need to improve road infrastructure in focal points across the state.

The chief minister also urged the industry to get together to set up an ITI in the state, as part of their CSR ambit.

The industry could support skill development of youth, thus also boosting employment generation in the state, he added.

The industry leaders expressed their willingness to explore the suggestions, which they felt could go a long way towards bringing the states economic growth back on track.

The chief minister invited the industry to provide frank and open feedback on the industrial policy so that the operational guidelines to strengthen it in order to woo more investment could be finalised in line with the industry concerns and demands.

The government proposes to incorporate time-bound steps in the operational guidelines for the industry to secure various clearances, he informed the meeting.

Though the state was not in a position to provide additional fiscal subsidies, apart from the power subsidy already being given by the state, in view of the financial constraints, the Congress government would do everything possible to create a favourable environment by streamlining systems and enabling ease of business, said Amarinder Singh.

Responding to the concern expressed by Avon Cycles Chairman and MD Onkar Pahwa about the power cost continuing to be too high for the small scale industry despite the power subsidy, the chief minister directed his Chief Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar to discuss the matter with the SMEs to find ways of reducing the expense.

Trident Group chairman Rajinder Gupta stressed the importance of strengthening the textiles business in the state, given the massive potential arising from export of textile goods. The chief minister assured of his governments full support to the sector.

On a suggestion from Ivy Healthcare Group Chairman Gurtej Singh, the Chief Minister promised to look into extending more benefits to the healthcare industry, though provisions were already included in the new industrial policy to treat it at par with various other industries, such as power.

The meeting also discussed steps to further promote medical tourism in the state.

Vardhman Group Executive Director Sachit Jain welcomed the suggestion of the chief minister for industry to proactively support the governments drive to improve the education system in Punjab.

Amarinder mooted the idea of industries monitoring the progress in schools.

Sachit Jain, who is also chairman of CII Northern region, appreciated the reduction in the power tariff, while underlining the need to encourage expansion of the existing industries to incentivise others to invest in the state.

While Anup Kumar, MD of Mrs Bectors Food Specialties Ltd, called for incentives from the government for 100 per cent export oriented units, Kamna Aggarwal, chairman of Engineering Export Promotion Council (North India) stressed that the Industries department needed to be more proactive to promote MSMEs.

Sonalika ITL Chairman LD Mittal raised the issue of "mismatch" of GST on input and output for goods like agricultural implements, while, Viren Popli, COO of Swaraj Tractor Division, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, pointed out that the industrial policy suffered a lacuna in not including concessions for encouraging Research and Development.

The chief minister said he would look into all the suggestions and ensure that the operational guidelines are structured to address all the major concerns of the industry.

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Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has given her official seal of approval for grandson Prince Harry to marry his American actress fiancee Meghan Markle.

Buckingham Palace released the ornate 'Instrument of Consent' today to mark nearly a week before the couple are to be married at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle next Saturday.

The document, signed by the 92-year-old monarch earlier, incorporates some symbols of America onto traditional vellum to represent the bride's origins. The first six people in line to the British throne must seek the Queen's formal approval to marry, without which Prince Harry the sixth in line would have been disqualified from the line of succession.

"Now know ye that we have consented and do by these presents signify our consent to the contracting of matrimony between our most dearly beloved grandson Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales KCVO and Rachel Meghan Markle," the instrument reads.

It also includes a Commonwealth emblem, reflecting the couple's commitment as youth ambassadors of the 53-nation organisation including India.

The Instrument of Consent began after the UK's Royal Marriages Act of 1772. It required descendants of King George II to get the sovereign's consent before they wed, otherwise their marriages would be invalid. It reportedly came in after King George III's younger brother, the Duke of Cumberland, secretly married Lady Anne Horton, deemed to be the highly disreputable widow of a commoner.

The law was replaced with the more recent Succession to the Crown Act 2013, which allows a member of the British royal family to marry a Roman Catholic but a Roman Catholic cannot become King or Queen. The act also removed male bias from the line of succession.

With the birth of Prince Louis, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's third child last month, Prince Harry is now sixth-in-line to the British throne after his father Prince Charles, brother Prince William, and nephew Prince George and niece Princess Charlotte.

Meanwhile, wedding preparations are on in full swing with thousands of royal fans and well-wishers expected to descend upon the town of Windsor next weekend.

Kensington Palace has announced that American bishop Most Reverend Michael Curry, the head of the Episcopal Church, will be part of the wedding ceremony next Saturday. The choice of an American pastor marks a break from custom as traditionally addresses at royal weddings are given by senior clergy from the Church of England.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the leader of the Church of England and spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, will conduct the wedding service. He also presided over Markle's baptism as an Anglican at a ceremony at Kensington Palace in March.

Harry, 33, and Markle, 36, are set for a very different kind of royal wedding, asking guests to consider donations to their chosen charities in place of showering them with wedding gifts. Among their chosen charities is the Myna Mahila Foundation, an organisation that works with women in Mumbai's slums to provide them with employment opportunities.

However, there are some reports that they also have a secret wedding list for gifts from Soho House the exclusive London club where the couple met on a blind date. That list is only for their inner circle of friends and family to choose a present from the club chain's high-end catalogue.

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The Rajasthan government has invited Gurjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla for talks tomorrow, after he threatened to revive the agitation for reservation to the community.

Bainsla has announced a sit-in on Tuesday to press for their demand of five-per-cent reservation within the Other Backward Class (OBC) quota. A faction of the community, opposed to Bainsla, is also planning to hold a separate meeting in Bharatpur district on the same day.

Bharatpur collector Sandesh Nayak said the message for talks with a group of ministers in Jaipur has been communicated to Bainsla.

Mobile Internet services were discontinued last night for 24 hours to prevent rumours. The decision will be reviewed later today, he told PTI.

A spokesperson of the Gurjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti, Himmat Singh, said they have called a meeting at 10am tomorrow morning to decide whether to accept or decline the government's invitation for the talks.

Meanwhile, a faction of the community has opposed Bainsla, alleging that he keeps the community people misguided all the time and it has become a "habit" for him to announce the revival of the agitation every summer.

"Bainsla has called for mahapadav (agitation) at Adda village on May 15. Members of the community in several villages are unhappy with Bainsla, who has just mislead us. Therefore, a decision has been taken that we will also call a meeting on the same day in Bharatpur, which will be addressed by our leader Ramvir Singh Bidhuri," Vijay Ram, a local Gurjar leader, said.

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Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here.
RINL, also known as Vizag Steel, is expecting to garner Rs 18,000 crore turnover in the current fiscal, a top company official has said.

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) is the second largest steel-making company in the public sector.

The company aims to achieve a turnover of over Rs 18,000 crore in 2018-19, RINL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) P Madhusudan has said in a statement.

The company's turnover in 2017-18 fiscal stood at Rs 16,625 crore.

Explaining further, the CMD said the company is targeting saleable steel output of 5.7 million tonnes (MT) in the ongoing fiscal.

In 2017-18, the company's saleable steel output was at 4.5 MT.

The company posted an EBIDTA of over Rs 200 crore (provisional) during 2017-18, the CMD said.

RINL, he said, is targeting hot metal production of 6.4 MT and liquid steel output of 6.3 MT this fiscal.

Last month, the company had said that it was expecting to be back in the black in 2018-19 after a gap of three years.

RINL produces special steel, including wire rod coils, rounds, billets of different grade and dimensions.

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An uneasy calm today prevailed in this central Maharashtra city where two persons were killed in clashes between groups of two communities over illegal water connections as police kept a tight vigil to avoid any untoward incident.

The situation in the riot-hit city in the Marathwada region, about 350 km from Mumbai, has been brought under control, but certain restrictions remain in place, police officials said.

Internet services remained suspended and prohibitory orders clamped under the CrPC section 144, banning assembly of people, were in force in the city, where a large number of police personnel were deployed, a senior police official said.

The last rites of the 17-year-old boy, who was killed allegedly in police firing, was performed today in the city where the situation is normal, Inspector General of Police (Aurangabad) Milind Bharambe told PTI.

"We have deployed adequate police force in the area to avoid any untoward situation. To curb rumour mongering through social media, we have suspended Internet services," he said.

"We have appealed to people not to believe in rumours and help the police in maintaining law and order," Bharambe added.

The clashes between groups of two communities started in Moti Karanja area around 10 on Friday night and spread to Gandhi Nagar, Raja Bazaar, Shah Ganj and Sarafa localities, another police official said.

The police fired in the air and lobbed teargas shells to control the situation, he said.

Two persons were killed in the violence, which also left more than 60 people, including police personnel, injured, he said.

The second deceased was a 65-year-old man who was trapped in his house when an adjoining shop was set on fire by rioters, the official said.

Around 100 shops were set on fire and more than 40 vehicles destroyed, he said.

Besides the local police, personnel from the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) have been deployed in the violence -affected areas, he said.

Petrol bombs and kerosene-soaked balls made of rags were found during a search operation, the official said.

More than a dozen people were taken into custody for interrogation, he said.

According to local sources, tension was brewing in Moti Karanja area for the last few days as the municipal corporation was carrying out a drive against illegal water connections.

It got a communal colour when an illegal water connection at a place of worship in the area was removed, sources added.

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The West Bengal panchayat polls have not only kicked off a political battle but also infighting within families at many places where relatives are pitted against each other in an intense contest.

The three-tier polls, spread across over 58,000 seats scheduled for tomorrow, have several instances where a father is pitted against his son, a mother is being challenged by her daughter, a son-in-law is taking on his father-in-law and a brother is slugging it out in the poll battlefield against his sister.

Prominent parties including the TMC, the BJP and the Left have obliged competing relatives by fielding them on their symbol to capitalise on the family popularity in the respective areas.

For instance, in Alipurduar district, a retired school teacher Bhognarayan Das is contesting on a TMC ticket against his son Amal, who is a BJP candidate.

Das, 68, had asked his son to refrain from contesting the polls as it might cause animosity within the family, but he refused to withdraw.

"I had told my father that is all about political belief and ideology. And our political battle won't cause any harm to our relations," Amal said.

In North 24 parganas district's Jagulia gram panchayat, two daughters-in-law of the same family are contesting each other. While Rima Das is in the field on a TMC ticket, her elder sister-in-law Bulbul Das is contesting as an Independent candidate.

However, the two are of the opinion that did not create a rift in their family as " has nothing to do with personal relationships".

In Nadias Taldaha-Majhdia gram panchayat, three members of the same family are pitted against each other but poll rivalry has not soured their bonding.

Bablu Roy, the sitting TMC candidate, is fighting against his sister-in-law Aduri Roy, who is a BJP candidate, while his uncle Laxman Roy is fighting as an Independent with support from the Left Front.

"Whoever wins the poll will be from our family and will work for the development of our village and the two defeated will support him or her," Bablu told PTI.

The three, who are part of a 10-member strong joint family, make it a point to have their lunch and dinner with other family members after a day's campaign, just as it used to be earlier.

There are also examples of family rivalry where relatives are taking on each other in the polls to settle score.

Partha Pratim Das, a TMC Zilla Parishad candidate from East Midnapore district, is miffed that his wife Lipika contesting on a BJP ticket in a nearby seat.

Lipika, on the other hand, said she wanted to teach her husband a lesson as her pleas to shun politics for several years have fallen on deaf ears.

"We are living separately for the past few years," Das said.

In Alipurduar district, two sisters-in-law -- Tushi Roy Sarkar and Aripta Roy Sarkar -- are fighting from Chaporerpar gram panchayat seats with Tushi as a TMC candidate and Arpita as Independent nominee.

According to their father-in-law Dhananjay Roy Sarkar, a TMC loyalist in Alipurduar district, Arpita is contesting as an Independent as she was denied a ticket despite being an old timer.

According to political leaders of various parties, rural polls in West Bengal, since its beginning in 1978, has witnessed a peculiar trend where family rivalry results in kin contesting against each other either on a party ticket or as Independents.

"Although there are cases of bonhomie between family members fighting against each other, in most cases family rivalry comes into politics where there is a competition to outdo each other in electoral battle," CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty told PTI.

Senior TMC leader Nirmal Ghosh also agreed with his views but added there were instances where political rivalry also divided a family.

"When you are in a political battle, it hardly matters what is your relation with your opponent. What matters is victory and this leads to the political fight entering into a family," Ghosh told PTI.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said as the elections were held across thousands of seats, in most cases political parties had no other choice but to give tickets to members of the same family.

According to West Bengal State Election Commission sources, of the 48,650 seats in 3,358 gram panchayats, 16,814 were uncontested and of the 9,217 seats in 341 panchayat samitis, 3,059 were uncontested. In the 20 zilla parishads, 203 of the 825 seats were uncontested.

They said tomorrow's elections will be held in 621 zilla parishads and 6,157 panchayat samitis, besides 31,827 gram panchayats.

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Sanskrit may be a 'dead' language for many.

At a time when scholars and linguists are seeking its revival, an award-winning filmmaker has come out with a film book in the classical language.

The script of the National Award winning Sanskrit movie, "Priyamanasam" has hit shelves in the format of a book, claimed to be the first such book in the language in the country.

The third ever Sanskrit movie in the history of Indian cinema, "Priyamanasam," revolves around the mental conflicts and agonies experienced by 17th century Keralite poet-scholar Unnayi Warrier while he had penned his magnum opus "Nalacharitham" aattakkatha (Kathakali play).

Filmmaker-cum-writer, Vinod Mankara said both the film and the book are part of his humble endeavour to revive the 'dead' language, which has a glorious legacy of several centuries.

"Now-a-days, Sanskrit is considered as a "dead language" by many. But, collective efforts can revive it and bring it back to its past glory," Mankara told PTI.

Unlike the traditional texts, the script of 'Priyamanasam' is written in simple Sanskrit, he said.

Designed in a two-in-one format, the book has Sanskrit cover page and text on one side and Malayalam cover and text on the other.

Glossy print and stills from the movie would help easily capture the attention of readers, Mankara, who has two feature films and over 600 documentaries in his credit besides 'Priyamanasam,' said.

"It is the first such film book in Sanskrit. Before Priyamanasam, two other Sanskrit movies were released in our country. But, the script of those movies had not been brought in the book format," he said.

Renowned Sanskrit scholar K G Paulose wrote a preface to the Sanskrit text of the book, while writers M Mukundan and Kalpetta Narayanan did that for the Malayalam portion.

Published by Thrissur-based 'Adayalam Publications, the book was released by writer and MP Shashi Tharoor by handing over it to eminent writer Methil Radhakrishnan in a function here last week.

Tharoor had later tweeted that it was a 'unique book' and shared his expectation for an English translation.

Mankara said he has plans to bring out an English translation of the book soon.

"Tharoor said the book should have an English translation as it deserves a wide audience. He also asked me to send the book soon to universities to be adopted as a textbook as not much Sanskrit books are coming out these days," he said.

The movie 'Priyamanasam', which bagged the best Sanskrit movie title in 2016, had already been screened in over 300 film festivals in various countries including Pakistan, Japan and Italy.

It would be screened in Germany next year, the director added.

"Adi Shankaracharya" (1983) and "Bhagavad Gita" (1993), directed by legendary film maker late G V Iyer, were the other movies made in Sanskrit other than "Priyamanasam".

Mankara said his movie and the book were also a tribute to Unnayi Warrier.

Hailing from Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district, Unnayi Warrier was a scholar, poet and playwright who was believed to be a contemporary of legendary Kunchan Nambiar, the master of satire poetry in Malayalam.

Warrier's 'Nalacharitham,' which deals with the Mahabharata anecdote on King Nala and his wife Damayanthi, is considered as one of the most romantic works of art,written on the format of Kathakali, the classical dance-drama of Kerala.

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The has expressed concern about overcrowding in prisons across the country, in some cases beyond 150 per cent of the capacity, and asked all the high courts to consider the issue as it involves "violation of human rights".

The apex court requested the chief justices of the high courts to take up the matter as a suo-motu (on its own) writ petition and referred to a note given by an advocate, assisting the court as an amicus curiae, in this regard.

"It appears from the note given by amicus curiae that the issue of overcrowding in prisons is not being taken seriously by the prison authorities. There are several prisons where the overcrowding is well beyond 100 per cent and in some cases, it exceeds 150 per cent," a bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said.

"In our opinion, this matter should be considered by each high court independently with the assistance of the State Legal Services Authority/High Court Legal Services Committee so that there is some sanity in the overcrowding in prisons since it involves violation of human rights," it said.

The bench asked the apex court's secretary general to send a copy of its order to the registrar general of every high court for necessary steps and report back to it.

The apex court also dealt with the issue of vacancy of staff in jails and observed that "little interest" was being shown by the authorities and state governments in recruiting staff in prisons.

It asked the chief justice of each high court to also take up this issue as a suo-motu writ petition.

Meanwhile, the Centre informed the bench that the Ministry of Women and Child Development was conducting a study through the National Commission for Women and the National Law University on women prisoners and their children and it would be completed by June 30.

The government said that the ministry would look into the study and take necessary steps within three weeks.

The bench has posted the matter for further hearing on August 2.

The Centre also apprised the court that steps were being taken to encourage setting up of 'open prisons' and a model uniform rules for the administration of open correctional institutions have already been framed.

Semi-open prisons or open prisons allow convicts to work outside the jail premises and earn a livelihood and return in the evening.

The concept was brought in to assimilate the convicts with the society and reduce their psychological pressure as they faced lack of confidence in leading normal lives outside.

During the hearing, the amicus informed the apex court that there were 63 open prisons across the country but the existing capacity was not being fully utilised.

"We expect the state governments concerned to not only try and utilise the existing capacity of these open prisons and if necessary increase the existing capacity of these open prisons in due course of time. The state governments and Union Territory administrations should also seriously consider the feasibility of establishing open prisons in as many locations as possible," the bench said.

Regarding undertrial review committees, the bench was informed by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) that a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the committee was ready.

These committees, set up in every district, deliberates and recommends the release of undertrials and convicts who have undergone their sentences or are entitled to be released from jail due to bail or remission granted to them.

The amicus said that he would look into it and might have some further discussions with the NALSA and the SOP would be finalised by June 30.

"As soon as the SOP is finalised, it should be circulated to all the district judges and undertrial review committees for implementation. If and when there are some constraints in the implementation of the SOP, it should be brought to the notice of NALSA so that necessary or corrective measures can be taken," the court said.

The bench was also told that the Bureau of Police Research and Development has prepared some training manuals for prison officers and prison warders.

The apex court had earlier taken strong exception to overcrowded jails and said that prisoners also have human rights and they cannot be kept in jail like "animals".

The court, which is hearing a matter relating to inhuman conditions prevailing in 1,382 prisons across the country, had earlier passed a slew of directions over unnatural deaths in jails and on prison reforms across India.
At least seven medical students drowned and nine others were missing as a wooden bridge on a river in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir collapsed while the students were taking pictures on it.

Around 25 students, in their early 20s, from two private colleges in Faisalabad and Lahore, were taking pictures on the bridge in Neelum Valley when it collapsed, officials were quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.

The temporarily erected hanging bridge could not withstand the load of people standing on it and came down, tumbling the visitors down in the stream, the daily said.

Rescue teams have recovered at least seven bodies from the water while search operation for the rest is under way.

The injured students were shifted to a local hospital and later flown to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) through army helicopters.

The students were on a college trip.

The Pakistan Army is assisting in the rescue and search operation. However, the extremely cold water of the stream and its strong current are hampering efforts to recover the persons, the officials said, adding that there was little hope of finding survivors.

Officials were quoted as saying that the bridge could only withstand a maximum of four persons and had relevant warning signs for the purpose as well but the tourists still thronged the bridge.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has directed the deputy commissioner to speed up rescue efforts and ensure anyone responsible for negligence is brought to book.

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BJP president Amit Shah today appointed Kanna Lakshminarayana, who had left the Congress to join the party in 2014, as its Andhra Pradesh chief and made Somu Veerraju, also a contender for the post, the state convener of the election management committee.

In a statement, the party also said that Shah has appointed Ravindra Raina as president of its Jammu and Kashmir unit following the induction of Raina's predecessor Sat Sharma into the PDP-BJP government as a minister.

The appointments made in Andhra Pradesh underlined Shah's efforts to do a balancing act as Lakshminarayana was said to be unhappy with the party over reports that he may be ignored for the top post.

He was a minister in several Congress governments in the state, but left it to join the BJP in 2014.

Lakshminarayana comes from the Kapu community, a group the BJP is eyeing to make inroads in the state.

Reports had said that he was set to quit the saffron party recently, but was prevailed on to continue and the appointment is seen as an effort to placate him and a number of other leaders who had left other parties, especially the Congress, to join it.

Veerraju is an old BJP hand and was considered till recently a favourite for the top post.

Following TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's decision to sever his party's ties with the BJP, the saffron party is keen to broaden its base in the state where it has long been a marginal player.

The assembly polls in the state are scheduled to be held together with the Lok Sabha elections next year.

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Defence Minister Nirmala on Sunday dubbed as a serious disclosure Pakistan's ousted prime minister publicly acknowledging that militant organisations were active in his country and said it proved India's position that the handlers of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack were in

For the first time, Sharif also questioned Pakistan's policy to allow the "non-state actors" to cross the border and "kill" people in Mumbai, according to a media report.

Well, it is very serious disclosure. India's position has been that the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack operated from We strongly believe that the handlers of the attack were in Pakistan," told a press conference, in response to a query..

"It (Sharif's remarks) only proves that India's stand has been right all the way, she said.

Sharif, who has been disqualified to hold public office for life by his country's Supreme Court in the case, said has isolated itself.

"We have isolated ourselves. Despite giving sacrifices, our narrative is not being accepted. Afghanistan's narrative is being accepted, but ours is not. We must look into it, Sharif had told Dawn.

Without naming Mumbai attack mastermind and Maulana Masood Azhar's militant organisations -- Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Jaish-e-Mohammad, -- operating in the country with impunity, Sharif said, Militant organisations are active in Pakistan."



To a question on Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's call for a unilateral ceasefire in the state during the month of Ramzan till completion of the Amarnath Yatra, said, I think it is important to handle J&K affairs with a great deal of sensitivity.

"The will have to make sure that India is a safe country. It has to handle firmly any terrorism which threatens peace and harmony of J&K and the rest of India also.

To a query on Karnataka exit polls, she said the BJP will form the government in the state as the Congress will face defeat.

On Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's comment that he was ready to make way for a Dalit to take his place in the government if the Congress leadership wished so, Sitharaman said, I never heard this during the campaigning.
The Central Information Commission has directed the Prime Minister's Office and the ministries of external affairs and home to make public the records of the Raj Narain committee, constituted in 1977 to look into the mysterious death of the then prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966.

The committee was reportedly constituted by the Janata Party government to look into the circumstances surrounding the death of Shastri on January 11, 1966 in Tashkent, hours after signing a declaration with Pakistan President Muhammad Ayub Khan post-1965 Indo-Pak war.

The records related to the committee are reportedly untraceable, the commission noted.

Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu also directed the PMO, the MEA and the MHA to publish the statement of categories of documents regarding the death of the second prime minister of the country that are available with them.

"The public authorities referred above have a constitutional duty to inform and the people have legitimate expectation to know the truth behind the death of their beloved leader. More so, it is the primary responsibility of the PMO to inform the people what happened to late Lal Bahadur Shastri, who once was its head," he said.

Acharyulu's directive came on an RTI application seeking to know from the Home Ministry whether Shastri's body was brought to India for cremation or he was cremated in the then USSR and copy of the post-mortem.

Shastri died in Tashkent where he had gone for talks with the Pakistan President moderated by Soviet premier Premier Alexei Kosygin.

Although he reportedly died from a massive heart attack, questions were raised on the circumstances of his death on foreign soil when cold war was at its peak.

The conspiracy theories were further fuelled after the central government started denying documents, under the RTI Act, related to his death calling them secret and disclosure prejudicial to the interests of the country.

The CIC in 2011 while hearing a separate case had directed disclosure of 11 pages related to the death of Shastri but allowed withholding one document of the External Affairs Ministry which had reference to 'Mukti Bahini'.

The Home Ministry had transferred the present application of Navdeep Gupta to the National Archives of India (NAI).

During the hearing, the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) representing the NAI told the commission that the information may be with MEA, Indian Embassy in Russia, MHA or some other authority.

"The CPIO stated that except information of some clippings they do not have any authentic document on Late PM's death or post-mortem," Acharyulu noted.

While researching on the subject, Acharyulu found an article which had claimed an inquiry committee under Raj Narain was formed by erstwhile Janata Party government in 1977.

It was also reported that two crucial witnesses -- the personal physician of Shastri R N Chugh and his personal servant Ram Nath --died in road accidents when they were coming to depose before the committee.

The article had claimed that the records related to the committee were not available even in the Parliament library.

Taking note, Acharyulu asked the PMO, MHA and MEA to look for the records related to the committee.

He recommended the Parliament Secretariat to search in their library whether any records regarding the inquiry committee could be retrieved and if they are traced, they should be transferred to the NAI.

"The Commission considers that these offices (PMO, MHA and MEA) especially that of MHA require to make a fresh effort to trace the details about Raj Narain inquiry report or related documents and tell the nation what was inquired and found," Acharyulu said.

He also directed the PMO, MEA and MHA to disclose records, including 11 pages related to the death held by Cabinet Secretariat which were earlier ordered to be disclosed by the CIC, pertaining to the issue.

Acharyulu said that if any of these public authorities feel that some records may be secret and confidential attracting exemption clause of Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act, they must produce it in a sealed cover before it to adjudicate whether assumptions are correct or not.

"This RTI request is an effort of a citizen to know information regarding the 'truth' behind the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri that cannot be brushed aside," he noted.

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Disgruntled BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha today hinted that he would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Patna Sahib constituency, from where he had won in 2014, "even if the situation is otherwise".

Sinha, who served as a Union minister in the NDA government of A B Vajpayee, is a Lok Sabha member from his native Patna Sahib seat for the second consecutive term.

Replying to a question, the actor-turned-politician, who was here to attend the marriage ceremony of RJD chief Lalu Prasad's son Tej Pratap Yadav, told PTI, "The location (of the constituency) will be the same, even if the situation is otherwise."



After his barrage of attacks on the current BJP leadership and firing salvos at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is hotly debated whether Sinha would be fielded by the BJP in the 2019 general election.

Popularly known as "Bihari babu", Sinha is at loggerheads with the party leadership ever since he was ignored during the 2015 Bihar Assembly election.

After he shared the dais at an event in Patna with former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, who quit the BJP recently after consistently attacking Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, through a tweet, had made an oblique dig at him, saying the "shatru" (enemy) of the saffron party should quit, instead of waiting for expulsion.

Sinha attended the marriage ceremony of Prasad' son here last night.

"We are family friends. Visiting each other on such an occasion is part of our sanskar (tradition)," he said, when asked if the visit had any hidden political message.

"It has emotional value and no should be read into it," Sinha said, while adding, "At least for now."



Sinha had also visited Prasad at the Ranchi jail, where the RJD chief was lodged after being convicted in fodder scam cases. He had yesterday congratulated Prasad on his son's marriage and for getting a six-week provisional bail on medical grounds.

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The Singapore government is resolute in its commitment to Tamil as an official language, Cabinet Minister S Iswaran has said, citing examples of it being used in parliament and as a subject in schools.

Iswaran's remarks appeared in an interview published in 'The Tamil Community and the Making of Modern Singapore' -- a book on the South Indian community -- launched by Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan today.

"The government's policy position and support for Tamil is clear. The rest is in the hands of the community, especially our youths, to embrace the language, use it in everyday life and make it a living language," Iswaran said.

"The 'Tamil Language Festival' is one way to achieve this by engaging and involving the younger generation and wider community in this effort to celebrate and promote Tamil language and culture," Iswaran, the minister in charge of Trade Relations as well as Communications and Information, said.

The book has been co-authored by NRIs Soundara Nayaki Vairavan, editor of 'Online Voice' with five other books to her credit, and A P Raman, a veteran local journalist.

Tamil is one of Singapore's four official languages used in parliament, in schools as mother's tongue subject and supported by print and broadcast media as well as in all other officials events. It is also printed on currency notes along with English, Chinese and Malay.

The book documents early days of Indians arriving in Singapore, some as sepoys, labourers, traders, money lenders, civil servants, among others.

The colonial government had been sending Indian convicts to Bencoolen in Sumatra since 1787 and to Penang in northern Peninsular Malaysia, since 1790, according to the book.

By 1830s, Singapore as well as Peninsula Malaysia's Malacca and Penang port cities became penal colonies under British colonial rule, it pointed out citing scholars.

India had been the British rulers' main source of unskilled labour and indentured labourers were used to build infrastructure and buildings in Singapore during the early days.

By nature, the South Indians, especially Tamils, were obedient in carrying out the orders of their superiors. They had little educational background and were ready to accept low pay and poor living conditions, according the book, which has references to a number of researches.

According to the book, as Singapore economically progressed after the colonial rulers left, the Tamil community progressed along and became part of the prosperous society.

The highest service to Singapore by the modern day community was the service of Sellapan Ramanathan, popularly known as S R Nathan, who served as the sixth President of Singapore from September 1, 1999 to August 31, 2011, as other Indians have served and are serving as ministers, senior civil servants, other civic positions as well as business leaders in the private sector.

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The Congress today hit back at Nirmala Sitharaman, saying that instead of protecting the country, she was coming in defence of her party leaders embroiled in corruption charges.

The Congress attack came after Sitharaman hit out at former union minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram over his family's foreign assets.

Sitharaman has no contribution as defence minister of the country...She is spending most of her time in defence of her party leaders, including Piyush Goyal and Ajay Shah.

"Sitharaman has been made the defence minister of the country and has been entrusted the task of protecting the country. Instead of that, she is protecting the corrupt in her party, Congress leader Pawan Khera said at a press conference here.

He also accused the BJP leadership and Union ministers in the NDA government of deflecting issues and not giving answers to questions raised by the opposition leaders.

Khera also accused Sitharaman of not disclosing the price of the Rafale fighter jet aircraft.

He also accused the BJP of cancelling the earlier Rafale deal negotiated during the UPA under which public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautic Ltd (HAL) was to make the aircraft in India under transfer of technology and through offset projects worth thousands of crores of rupees.

To a question on charges against Chidambaram's family, he said the statement given by Chidambaram's chartered accountant is clear that there was no wrongdoing and that the Income Tax Department's action would be challenged in the court of law.

He accused the BJP of misusing the I-T Department and targeting the opposition leaders.

The Income Tax department on May 11 filed charge sheets against Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets.

To a query on the Karnataka assembly election, he said he did not have faith in exit polls irrespective of whether they were in his party's favour or not, and exuded confidence that his party would win the election with majority and the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) would decide on the chief ministerial candidate.

To a question whether the Congress would ally with the JD(S) to form the government in case of a hung assembly, he said, That situation will not arise, I can promise you that.

On Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's comment that he was ready to make way for a Dalit to take his place in the government if the Congress leadership wished so, Khera said it shows the large heart of the Congress leader and the pro-Dalit policy of the party.

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Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram hit back at today with a tongue-in-cheek tweet, saying that there was a buzz she would be removed from the cabinet and appointed a lawyer of the

Chidambaram's dig on Twitter came soon after the wondered if the filing of charge sheets by the I-T department against his family members was the Congress party's "Nawaz Sharif moment".

The was referring to the Pakistan Supreme Court's decision disqualifying its former prime minister from holding office because of non-disclosure of assets and income earned abroad.

The buzz in Delhi is that Ms Nirmala Sitaraman will be removed as Defence Minister and appointed as lawyer of the Income-tax department. Welcome to the bar, Ms Sitaraman.  P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) May 13, 2018

The Congress leader reminded the ruling BJP of its failure to bring back from abroad and deposit Rs 1.5 million (15 lakh) in every Indian's bank account, as promised by it before the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

The buzz in Delhi is that Ms will be removed as Defence Minister and appointed as lawyer of the Income-tax department. Welcome to the bar, Ms Sitharaman,he tweeted.

The president of the richest political party in India is dreaming of billions of dollars! Bring the money back and put Rs 15 lakhs in the account of every Indian as you promised.  P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) May 13, 2018

The president of the richest political party in India is dreaming of billions of dollars! Bring the money back and put Rs 1.5 million (15 lakh) in the account of every Indian as you promised," he tweeted, without naming BJP president

The on May 11 filed charge sheets against Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm under the Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets.

Sitharaman also asked if Congress president Rahul Gandhi would investigate the issue involving his party's senior leader.
At least six Maoists, including two women, were gunned down in separate encounters with security forces in Odisha's Kandhamal and Balangir districts today, a senior police official said.

While four Maoists, including two women, were killed at Sudukumpa forest in Kandhamal's Golanki village, two naxals were shot dead in Dudkamal village of Balangir district, Additional Director General of Police (Operations), R P Koche told PTI.

Acting on a tip-off, an operation was launched by police and Special Operation Group (SOG) personnel in Sudukumpa forest of Kandhamal.

During the operation, the Maoists, who were holding a meeting there, opened fire at the security personnel who retaliated, the police said.

Bodies of four naxals were recovered from the encounter site. Eight rifles, including an AK-47 and an INSAS, ammunition and other materials were seized from the area, the ADGP said, adding no security personnel was injured in the encounter.

A massive combing operation has been launched in the area, he said.

In Balangir district, two Maoists, carrying a total bounty of Rs 9 lakh on their heads, were gunned down by security forces.

Acting on an information, a team of CRPF and District Voluntary Force (DVF) officials carried out an operation in the forest areas near Dudkamal village of the district around 1.30 am, a senior police officer said.

"We had information that around a dozen left wing extremists (LWE) had assembled at a hideout near Dudkamal village. When the security personnel approached the site, a fierce gun battle broke out between the two sides, resulting in the death of two rebels. The rest managed to flee taking advantage of the darkness," Balangir SP K Siba Subramani said.

Describing the elimination of two rebels a "major success", the SP said the operation would go a long way in breaking the network of Maoists in the region.

The slain extremists were identified as CPI (Maoist) members Sanjib and Rakesh. Both hailed from neighbouring Chhattisgarh, he said.

"Sanjib, a divisional committee member, carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh over his head, while the bounty amount for Rakesh, an area committee member of Balangi-Baragarh division, was Rs 4 lakh," the officer said, adding that one AK-47 rifle, an INSAS rifle and some ammunition were recovered from the encounter site.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Tripura government today said that social security pensions were not temporarily suspended and the process, to provide pensions to the beneficiaries, has been initiated.

An official statement issued by the government said that the Social Welfare and Social Education Department has clarified that reports of stopping social security pensions were far from true.

The payment file for 4.19 lakh beneficiaries of various social security pensions provided by the state and central governments in Tripura was issued on May 11, the statement said.

Earlier on March 14, a memo issued by the additional secretary of the Social Welfare and Social Education Department said, "It has been decided by the council of ministers in its meeting held on 10th March, 2018 that the process for grant of social pension shall be reviewed and pending such review, all the cases pending for sanction of social pension shall be kept in abeyance."



However, on Sunday, the government statement said that the payment file of pension benefits, which was issued on May 11, would clear pension dues for the month of April.

The social security benefits include destitute women's pension, old-age pension, pension scheme for differently-abled people, informal sector workers and others.

Recently, the Opposition Congress and the CPI(M) had criticised the government, alleging that it was a move by the state government to exclude Opposition supporters from getting government benefits.

Pradesh Congress vice-president Tapas De said that the government's statement was a 'victory' for his party.

"This statement is a victory for our party. However, the state government should announce Rs 2,000 as revised amount for all social security pensions as promised in the BJP's vision document before the Assembly polls," De said.

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The Congress today asked the government to take diplomatic measures to highlight before the international community the involvement of Pakistan in terror activities in India following its former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's admission on militant groups being active in the neighbouring country.

Congress leader Pawan Khera also called for action by the international community against Pakistan for carrying out terror activities in India.

For the first time, Sharif has publicly acknowledged that militant organisations are active in Pakistan and questioned the policy to allow "non-state actors" to cross the border and "kill" people in Mumbai during the 26/11 terror attack, a media report has said.

Khera also took a dig at the government, saying while it has not often shown its diplomatic muscle in the last four years, it should do it at least now.

The government should use its diplomatic muscle, though we have not seen the use of it often in the last four years.

"But we expect that the government will do it now and ensure that the international community takes notice of what Sharif has said and take appropriate action against Pakistan, he said.

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The tax department will seek share purchase agreement from on the mega $16 billion buyout by US retail giant to assess the tax liability and also to find out whether the GAAR provisions can be invoked, an official said.

The department currently is going through the Section 9(1) of the Income Tax law, which deals with indirect transfer provisions, to see if the benefits under the bilateral tax treaties with countries like Singapore and Mauritius, could be available for foreign investors selling stakes to

Singapore-registered Pvt Ltd holds a majority stake in India. As per the definitive agreement between the last week, will acquire about 77 per cent stake in the Singapore entity for USD 16 billion.

The agreement will effectively result in transfer of ultimate ownership in Flipkart India to Walmart.

To ascertain the exact tax liability, the revenue department will write to Flipkart seeking the share purchase agreement that the company had entered into with Walmart.

"The department will seek the share purchase agreement once the formalities for the sale are completed. The agreement will help in tracking the flow of funds and the ultimate beneficiary," the official told PTI.

As regards applicability of General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR), the official said it would apply in cases where the investments were made to avoid taxes.

In the Walmart-Flipkart deal, the revenue department will go through the share purchase agreement to ascertain the purpose of investment and the emanating gains.

On whether the benefits of bilateral tax treaties will be available in this deal, the official said the department will go through the details of different double taxation avoidance agreements (DTAAs) to ascertain whether taxes could be levied at concessional rate and investment made prior to a particular date can be grandfathered.

"There is likely to be capital gains withholding tax implications when the shares of Flipkart Singapore are sold by Softbank or other foreign investors. The tax rate will depend upon the facts of the case," V Lakshmikumaran, Managing Partner of law firm Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan said.

The tax department had last week written to Bentonville-Arkansas based Walmart saying that the US company can seek guidance about the tax liability under Section 195 (2) of the I-T Act.

Under Section 195 of the Act, anyone making payment to non-residents is required to deduct tax (commonly known as withholding tax).

As per Section 9 (1) of I-T Act dealing with indirect transfer provisions, the value of shares of a foreign company is deemed to be substantially derived from India, if the value of the Indian assets is greater than 50 per cent of its worldwide assets -- a criteria that is apparently met in Flipkart's case.

"In the Walmart-Flipkart deal, Section 9 (1) will apply as the assets of Flipkart Singapore are substantially based in India and hence the sellers would be liable to pay capital gains tax," Titus & Co Managing Partner Diljeet Titus opined.

As regards the capital gains tax made by Indian founders and Binny Bansal, the official said they would have to pay 20 per cent tax with indexation benefit, which is applicable on sale of unlisted shares by Indian residents.
Tension is brewing between IAS and IPS officers over a recent Home Department order of the Uttar Pradesh government making it mandatory for all district police chiefs to take the approval of district magistrates before the posting of station house officers.

Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar had issued the order on May 9, leading to a sharp reaction from IPS officers who alleged that it was an attempt to undermine their authority.

Even before the IPS officers could take up the matter with senior authorities, Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida) District Magistrate Brajesh Narayan Singh cancelled the recent posting of seven SHOs by SSP Ajay Pal Singh.

Narayan Singh wrote a letter to SSP Ajay Pal Singh on May 11 and objected to the new posting of the SHOs without his consent as per the new rules laid by the state government.

"The state government issued an order on May 9 stating that the superintendents of police will have to take the approval of district magistrates for posting and transfer of SHOs," the DM's letter said.

"But without taking approval of the DM, seven inspectors were posted at police stations in the district. This was clear violation of the state government order," it said.

The IPS Association had expressed its reservations to the order in a tweet on Thursday.

"Request @CMOfficeUP to withdraw the order requiring approval of DMs before posting SHOs. Order is in conflict with law laid down by Hon'ble Supreme Court and High Court. It displays distrust in the police leadership and will demoralise SPs. @PMOIndia @HMOIndia," it said.

The association also raised the matter with UP DGP OP Singh and urged him to take it up with the state government.

A senior IPS officer on condition of anonymity told PTI that it was a clear instance of oneupmanship.

'There appears to be no other reason for the move but for the IAS cadres' all too obvious desire to establish their supremacy...it has happened in the past as well and has come to the fore once again with this order...the association has taken up the matter with the authorities," he said.

IG Amitabh Thakur said the station officers were in direct contact with district superintendents of police.

"Hence, any third party intervention in their posting will have clear possibility of negative impact on policing and law and order," Thakur said.

According to another IPS officer, the order which vested more powers in the district magistrates, serves to undermine the authority of the SP and SSPs.

"There is no logic in the order. Why will a junior officer follow his superiors' order if his transfer and posting is subject to the approval of the district magistrates?



"The SPs and the SSPs will no longer be able to command the police force in their districts if the district magistrate is given these powers," the officer said.

"Under such circumstances, how can the SPs and SSPs be held responsible for maintaining law and order when they will not be in a position of authority over their subordinates," he said.

On the other hand, an IAS officer said there appeared to be no intention of undermining the authority of the police force.

"It could be aimed at making the working of the police force more objective and smooth with the heads of districts keeping an overall eye on the situation," the senior IAS officer said.

A similar situation has taken place last year when Chief Secretary Rajive Kumar had issued a letter, directing district magistrates to chair all law and order meetings in their respective districts.

After meetings between the top officials, a decision was taken to stick to the earlier format of law and order meetings at the district level.

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British Prime Minister Theresa May today made a plea for unity as she faces a major showdown with her Cabinet over the nature of a post-Brexit customs arrangement with the European Union (EU).

She seems to be headed for deadlock as prominent Brexiteers within her team have rubbished her proposal of a so-called "customs partnership", under which the UK would collect tariffs on behalf the EU after it has left the union.

A second proposal centres around a more technology-driven system of minimum customs checks dubbed "maximum facilitation" which is favoured by some members of the Cabinet over the other.

But there appears to be no consensus in sight for the British prime minister to progress on the issue.

You can trust me to deliver. The path I am setting out is the path to deliver the Brexit people voted for. I will not let you down, she writes in 'The Sunday Times'.

Of course, the details are incredibly complex and, as in any negotiation, there will have to be compromises. But if we stick to the task we will seize this once in a generation opportunity to build a stronger, fairer Britain that is respected around the world and confident and united at home, she adds.

Her intervention came after tensions in the Cabinet emerged into the public domain last week as UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson, a staunch Brexiteer, launched an attack on May's preferred option for a post-Brexit EU customs partnership.

He dismissed the proposal as "crazy", saying it would deny Britain control over its trade policy.

UK environment secretary Michael Gove, also from the Brexit camp in the Cabinet, went on to cast doubt over the proposal today as well.

"Because it is novel, because no model like this exists, there have to be significant question marks over the deliverability of it on time," Gove said.

"More than that, what it requires the British government to do is, in effect, act as the tax collector... for the European Union...It is my view that the new customs partnership has flaws and that they need to be tested," he added.

Keir Starmer, from the Opposition Labour party which favours remaining within a customs union with the EU post-Brexit, said as neither of the options were "workable nor acceptable to the EU" and, with time running out, UK Parliament must force the government's hand by backing a "comprehensive" customs union.

May has insisted that the final Brexit deal must honour the agreements in the Northern Ireland peace process and not create any hard border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, creating the prospect of impasse over the issue.

Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister, dismissed the idea of using any form of infrastructure or technology to maintain separate customs regimes between the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, and Northern Ireland, which will become a non-EU member after Brexit.

Meanwhile, a cross-party group of former Cabinet ministers including former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband are trying to build pressure on the British Parliament to vote to remain in both the customs union and the single market after Brexit, arguing it is vital for the economy.

Student organisations representing almost a million young people have also written to MPs demanding a referendum on any final Brexit deal.

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The BJP today took a dig at the Congress over charge sheets filed against former Union finance minister P Chidambaram's family, with party leader Nirmala Sitharaman wondering if this was the Congress party's "Nawaz Sharif moment".

The Defence Minister was referring to the Pakistan Supreme Court's decision disqualifying its former prime minister from holding office because of non-disclosure of assets and income earned abroad.

The parallels cannot be missed out in this case. I am wondering if for Congress party in India, we are seeing the Nawaz Sharif moment," she told reporters here.

The Income Tax department on May 11 filed charge sheets against Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti, daughter-in-law Srinidhi and a firm under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets.

Sitharaman asked if Congress president Rahul Gandhi would investigate the issue involving his party's senior leader.

The Congress party president, incidentally who is also out on bail on some financial transactions which are questionable, should certainly comment and tell the entire party and people of India whether he is going to investigate this, she said.

She pointed out that the Pakistan Supreme Court had disqualified Sharif from holding office because of not disclosing assets held in foreign countries.

Sitharaman said the law on black money was brought in by the Modi government because it had pledged to fight black money held in India and abroad before the last Lok Sabha elections.

The charge sheets or prosecution complaints have been filed by the IT department before a special court in Chennai under Section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, officials had said.

Nalini Chidambaram, Karti and Srinidhi and a firm linked to Karti have been accused of not disclosing, either partly or fully, immovable assets such as one at Barton, Cambridge, UK, worth Rs 5.37 crore, property worth Rs 80 lakh in the same country and assets worth Rs 3.28 crore in the US.

The family of the former finance minister had said the Income Tax Department (ITD) charge sheets against them under the black money law were "baseless allegations" as the overseas investments under question had been reflected in their IT returns.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 13) - The country's election body is now all set for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on Monday, where millions of Filipinos are expected to vote.

At the Commission on Election Command Center in Intramuros, Manila, about 200 officers are manning 24-hour public hotlines where voters can inquire about their names on the voter's list or ask about their precinct number.

This follows Comelec's move to shut down its online precinct finder to comply to the Data Privacy Law.

The hotline is also open to receive reports on vote buying, illegal campaigning, or voter harassment until Wednesday afternoon.

Command Center Secretariat Head Frances Arabe said Sunday they have already received 213 calls since Tuesday.

Officials will also give the status of their voting reports to the Command Center. Progress reports on elections nationwide and status of canvassing and counting would also be submitted.

Preparing for the polls

The barangay and SK polls will be conducted from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., but those who would line up by the cut-off time will be allowed to vote.

Meanwhile, about 500,000 volunteer teachers would act as the Board of Election Tellers to conduct the elections.

The Philippine National Police has also classified 597 areas in the country as red hotspots, 4,970 as orange hotspots, and 2,071 as yellow hotspots.

The "red spots" refer to areas which are in "critical situation," those under orange have "presence of armed groups and "organized movements outside the law," while those in "yellow spots" refer to places "with history of political unrest."

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has been marked as the region with the most election hotspots classified under red (438) and orange (823) areas.

What you can't do on election day

Campaigning and selling liquor are already prohibited as of Sunday, according to the Omnibus Election Code.

Selling in or near election precincts, cock-fighting, horse-racing, and jai-alai are also prohibited on the election day.

Citizens found guilty of any violation may face up to six years imprisonment, while erring candidates shall be disqualified from public office and stripped of the right to suffrage, the law states.
Taking affront to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's use of "abusive" language against the BJP, the saffron party's Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari dared him to resign from the government and fight elections to prove his political stature.

Kejriwal at an event in outer Delhi's Bawana area yesterday allegedly warned BJP workers and leaders to remain in their limits otherwise they will be beaten with shoes.

A few BJP workers from North West Delhi district staged a protest and waved black flags at Kejriwal for not approving the metro rail expansion to Bawana and Narela areas.

"The unparliamentarily and abusive words used for BJP workers by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal are a reflection of his political arrogance, which has shamed the culture & people of Delhi and will lead to political decimation of his party," Tiwari told reporters.

"If the CM wants to know his political stature, he should resign and face the BJP in election," he challenged Kejriwal.

He said the BJP had shown its stature in MCD elections last year by drubbing Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party.

Tiwari said Kejriwal, by using "unparliamentarily language", has tried to divert the attention from the corruption case against his nephew.

Kejriwal's nephew, Vinay Bansal, has been arrested in connection with an alleged scam in the Public Works Department.

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Two Maoists, carrying a total bounty of Rs 9 lakh on their heads, were gunned down by security forces in Odisha's Balangir district early today, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of CRPF and District Voluntary Force (DVF) officials carried out an operation in the forest areas near Dudkamal village of the district around 1.30 am, a senior police officer said.

"We had information that around a dozen leftwing extremists (LWE) had assembled at a hideout near Dudkamal village. When the security personnel approached the site, a fierce gun battle broke out between the two sides, resulting in the death of two rebels. The rest managed to flee taking advantage of the darkness, Balangir superintendent of Police K Siba Subramani said.

Describing the elimination of two rebels as a "major success", the SP said the operation would go a long way in breaking the network of the Maoists in the region.

The slain extremists were identified as CPI (Maoist) members Sanjib and Rakesh. Both hailed from neighbouring Chhattisgarh, he said.

"Sanjib, a divisional committee member, carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh over his head, while the bounty amount for Rakesh, an area committee member of Balangi-Baragarh division, was Rs 4 lakh," the officer stated, adding that one AK 47 rifle, an INSAS rifle and some ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter.

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Hailing Jammu and Kashmir government's decision to abolish stamp duty on sale of property owned by women in the state, a United Nations agency has termed it as a big step towards women empowerment.

".@unwomenindia acknowledges the positive measure taken by the J&K Government to abolish stamp duty on the sale of #property registered in the name of #females.

"Huge step towards #women's #empowerment! the UN Women India said on the Twitter handle.

The body is the United Nations agency for gender equality and women's empowerment.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government on Friday abolished stamp duty on the sale of property registered in the name of females.

This was with the view to encourage families to register property in the name of their female members.

Meanwhile, state Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti took to Twitter to thank The UN Women India for welcoming the decision.

Thank you @unwomenindia. I truly hope this small step towards encouraging families to give women their due resonates all over the country & sets a strong precedent, she said in the tweet.

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Aimed at empowering vulnerable and marginalised women by imparting skills training, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will soon set up a skill development centre at 'Bharosa,' an integrated support centre for distressed women and children here.

"UNDP has proposed to set up a skill development centre exclusively for clients of Bharosa. Necessary arrangements for setting up the training centre are underway and it will start in the next two-three months," Additional Commissioner of Police (Crimes and SIT, Hyderabad Police) Shikha Goel told PTI.

Last year, the Hyderabad Police had signed an agreement with UNDP under the 'Disha' project to build capacities and skills of women affected by violence to help make them economically self-sufficient.

The agreement extends support to enable these women to learn marketable skills and connect with income opportunities.

"We want to see that skill development should be associated with complete rehabilitation in terms of helping the individual (to skill women affected by violence) either for job connect or market linkage," Goel explained.

There are plans to impart various skills in the field of entrepreneurship and it will also be in certain fields like desk jobs, he noted.

'Bharosa,' an initiative of Hyderabad City Police, is a state-of-the-art centre to support women and children who are victims of violence.

Since its inception in 2016, a total of 3,560 victims have approached 'Bharosa' centre with a range of problems.

Of these over 2,600 sought aid with regard to domestic violence.

She said a large number of victims who approach 'Bharosa' centre are from those strata who are not highly educated and added "for them skills trainings depending on their education qualification will be given."



"Besides how many skills trainings to be provided are being worked out. Consultations with other agencies (training providers) are underway and based on which kind of skill to be imparted the duration of training will vary."



'Bharosa' provides under one roof, 24X7 services related to police, medical, legal, prosecution, psycho-therapeutic counselling and relief and rehabilitation services in completely private counselling rooms to maintain confidentiality and privacy.

The centre is equipped with well-trained staff and modern gadgets, including facilities like video conferencing, so that the victims need not go to the court.

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The Uttar Pradesh Police is interested in using advanced technologies, including drone surveillance, to enhance safety of citizens and desires to enter into an agreement with IIT-Kanpur in this regard, the institute's deputy director said.

Director General of Police (DGP) O P Singh had a detailed conversation with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, officials on the matter on Friday, and the state police is interested in signing an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the institute within a week, Deputy Director, IIT-K, Manindra Agarwal said.

The Uttar Pradesh police is looking for technical assistance from the institute on cyber crime, crowd management and database of criminals, a police spokesman in Lucknow said.

The IIT would also audit and provide consultation on the cyber and forensic lab that is being set up in the state on the directions of the Union Home Ministry, he said.

The deputy director said the proposed collaboration will be about effectively ensuring security of citizens through advanced research in fields of analysis, training, security, problem solving, management, communication and drone surveillance.

IIT-Kanpur officials will help the state police by analysing data obtained through calls made on 'UP-100' as well as from information on social media, Agarwal said.

The institute will also train police personnel on using advanced technologies to solve cyber crimes and other challenging cases, he said.

Researchers at IIT-Kanpur will also focus on enhancing the quality of communication systems of the Uttar Pradesh Police and modernising traffic management systems.

The police along with the institute's officials will also work on cyber security and cyber forensics to solve crime related to information technology, the deputy director said.

The IIT will also help the state police in determining effectiveness and functioning of drones and other advanced equipment during purchases, he said.

The IIT official said experts will aid the police in setting up a high-tech social media lab, improve transfer of information from police wireless systems, facilitate purchase of low cost breath analysers and also provide guidance in crowd management analytics.

The MoU will help smoothen the working of the state force, he said.

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The US is putting together a coalition of countries that will push back Iran's nuclear weapons programme and its alleged destabilising behaviour in the region, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said today.

US President Donald Trump wants to get a deal "that's right, a bigger" deal, he said.

"We are going to put together a coalition that pushes back against not only Iran's nuclear program which they still deny. No Iranian leader has admitted they had a weapons program, and the facts are now public that they did. They ought to at least be honest about that," Pompeo told CBS's 'Face the Nation'.

"But it's not going to just be the nuclear file. It will be their missile program. It will be their effort to build Hizballah. It'll be their threats against Israel. It'll be the work that they're doing in Yemen to launch missiles into Saudi Arabia, for goodness sakes, he said.

This is the activity that the Iranian regime has undertaken during the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, which was negotiated during the previous Obama Administration.

We're going to make a shift. We're going to deny them the benefit of the economic wealth that has been created and put real pressure, so that they'll stop the full scale of the sponsorship of terrorism with which they've been engaged in these past years, Pompeo said.

We will be hard at that in the weeks ahead. I hope to be a central part of achieving that. It would be a wonderful thing if we could get the Europeans to do this.

Fundamentally, what's happened during the time of the JCPOA was that the Iranian wealth creation fueled their malign behavior. The money that they had to go and launch missiles into Riyadh and Israel putting Americans at risk was provided by the economic benefits they got from the JCPOA. President Trump wants to starve them of that wealth, Pompeo said.

In another interview to Fox News, Pompeo strongly pushed back on the notion that US withdrawal from the nuclear deal makes it less constrained now. That's ludicrous, he said.

That's ludicrous to suggest that Iran feels less constrained when during the JCPOA they have now fired missiles into an airport where Americans travel each day in Riyadh, they've now fired missiles into Israel; to suggest that somehow the withdrawal from the JCPOA is driving the Iranian conduct that's taken place during the JCPOA in Yemen, the rise of Hizballah - all of those things took place during the JCPOA, Pompeo said.

Indeed, I would argue that they felt they could act with impunity. They watched. They watched Europe put exactly zero sanctions on their missile program during the JCPOA. I think Rouhani and Zarif need to explain why it's the case that while this agreement was in place Iran continued its march across the Middle East, he asserted.

The wealth that was created in Iran as a result of the JCPOA drove Iranian malign activity. It fueled Qasem Soleimani. It fueled the IRGC. It provided resources for their work in Syria and Iraq. President Trump's withdrawal is aimed at denying them that wealth, denying them the resources to continue their bad behavior, to take the money away from them, he said.

The withdrawal wasn't aimed at the Europeans, he said.

"I worked hard over the short time I've been the Secretary of State to try and fix the deal. We couldn't reach agreement with our E3 partners. I am hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program but their missiles and their malign behavior as well, Pompeo added.

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the sarpanch of a village in Rajanna Sircilla district was hacked to death by some persons here today, police said.

Goli Shankara Narayana (45), the sarpanch of Moodapalli village, was found dead with multiple stab wounds, they said.

Narayana, who was earlier with the congress party, had recently joined the BJP, they said.

the reason for the murder was not yet known and efforts are on to nab the culprits, they said.

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Haryana Minister O P Dhankar said today that the 'Vyayamshalas' being opened across the state by the government were common places for children, young and old, where yoga could be practised.

"These can also be utilized for public interest by social or youth organisations. We have no objection if the Congress party too wants to make use of these Vyayamshalas (gymnasiums)," Dhankar said responding to the opposition party's charge that there was a plan to use Vyayamshalas and public parks for holding RSS 'shakhas'.

The minister's remarks come at a time when Haryana has seen a row over the use of public places after right wing organisations in Gurgaon objected to 'namaz' in the open.

Replying to a question on INLD MP Dushyant Chautala's demand for a white-paper on foreign visits of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Dhankar, while talking to mediapersons in Hisar, said people knew well what used to happen during the foreign visits undertaken during the INLD regime.

"Before demanding a white paper from the present government, the INLD should release a white paper regarding the foreign visits during its tenure. If the chief minister or minister of the present government goes on foreign tour, they go for work, not for excursions," he added.

Dhankar informed that conceding the demand of the farmers of the state, the Haryana government had asked the Centre for permission to procure mustard crop over and above the 25 per cent limit imposed by the latter.

"On the demand of farmers, we have sought permission from the Central government for the procurement of more mustard crop, and, if we get the permission, we would procure more mustard crop," he added while referring to the 25 per cent limit.

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Hollywood star Will Smith has revealed he did "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" because he was broke and in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Smith shared the backstory of how he became part of the iconic sitcom on his YouTube channel.

The 49-year-old actor said after finding fame with his an DJ Jazzy Jeff's breakout hit "Parents Just Don't Understand" in the late 1980s, he spent all of his money.

The actor said he did not pay his taxes and then had a flop when the rap duo released their second album.

"I didn't forget. I didn't paid the IRS. In my mind I was not trying to avoid paying taxes. But I was like oh man they need their money. The IRS took all my stuff (bikes and cars). I was broke. Being famous and broke is a sh**** combination," Smith said



Smith said his then-girlfriend suggested him to hang out around Paramount studios in hopes of meeting someone influential.

The actor auditioned at Quincy Jones place and was soon roped in to play the lead in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air".

The series ran for six seasons from 1990 to 1996 and made Smith a superstar. PTI



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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 13)  Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque revealed the deployment ban of Filipino workers to Kuwait may be partially lifted soon.

I think on Tuesday it would be lifted and soon, we will await word from [Special Envoy Abdullah Mama-o] who will send in his recommendation on domestic helpers, Roque told the media on Saturday.

Roque earlier said the ban on skilled and semi-skilled workers will be lifted but not the one covering domestic workers.

This follows the signing of a memorandum of agreement on May 11 between the Philippines and Kuwait to protect Filipino workers in the Gulf State.

READ: PH-Kuwait deal offers better protection for domestic workers

The Presidential Spokesperson, however, said changes must be implemented once the ban is lifted.

Bagama't pwedeng ma-lift kaagad yan, merong malawakang reporma pagdating doon sa...hindi na dapat siya maging negosyo. Hindi na dapat tratuhing commodity ang ating mga kababayan. Kinakailangan talaga, maging propesyunal na placement ang mangyayari, Roque said.

[Translation: While the ban might be lifted soon, there should be an extensive reform where recruitment is not seen as just a business. Our countrymen should not be treated as commodities. Their placement should now be done professionally.]

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said they still need to study the regulations for deploying domestic workers.

Yung sa ating mga household service workers, kailangang pag-aralan nating mabuti at tignan natin yung epekto nung ating nilagdaan na [MOA] na may kalakip na template ng employment contract, Bello said.

[Translation: For our household service workers, we need to carefully study the effects of the signed MOA and the template of the employment contract.]

Roque added the Kuwaiti government wanted to standardize contracts for domestic workers, which would include better terms.

Sa kanila po, 12 hours rest, tapos meron pang 1 month salary for every year of service pag end of term. So kung ano yung mga benepisyo na natatanggap ng skilled and semi-skilled, mukhang maibibigay na rin po sa mga domestic workers, he said.

[Translation: They wanted the workers to have 12 hours of rest and 1 month salary for every year of service at the end of their term. So whatever benefits the skilled and semi-skilled workers receive, the domestic workers may get as well.]

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said he is open to lifting the ban, although it is unclear if he wants a full or partial lifting.

READ: Duterte open to lifting deployment ban in Kuwait

Duterte issued the ban in February, after a string of reports of Filipino workers being abused and killed in the Gulf state, including Filipina maid Joanna Demafelis who was found dead inside a freezer. Thousands of Filipino workers in Kuwait have been repatriated since then.

Kuwait is a top destination for overseas Filipino workers, with some 260,000 Filipinos working there as of 2018.

As of February 2018, remittances from Kuwait amounted to P5.5 billion, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. In 2017, a total of P42 billion was remitted from the Gulf State.
Women appearing for a competitive



exam in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district were in for a shock when the invigilators snipped off the sleeves of their dresses in "full public view" as a disciplinary measure, an official said today.

The footage of yesterday's incident was flashed on regional channels, sparking outrage by local people and the parents of the women, he said.

The female candidates, who enrolled for the nursing entrance exam of Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (BCECEB), were advised against wearing full-sleeved dresses, but some of them failed to adhere to the norm, District Officer Lalan Prasad Singh told PTI over phone.

"The footage showed that the staff members of the examination centre at a public school were cutting off the sleeves of candidates with scissors and blades," he explained.

The department conducted an inquiry into the incident and barred the school from holding competitive exams in future, Singh said.

"The intention of the exercise was not questionable and care was taken to involve only female staff, but the problem was that the candidates were made to resize the sleeves in full public view," the DEO said.

"The school, where the exam was held, has been blacklisted and it would no longer be entrusted with the duty of holding exams in the future. The official who served as exam superintendent has also been debarred for life," he added.

The BCECEB conducts exams across the state every year for admission in various professional courses of medical, engineering and agriculture streams.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Steel tycoon Lakshmi N Mittal's son Aditya Mittal has said he is working "very closely" with his father to shape up the future direction of and looking for strategic global opportunities rather than just expanding for the sake of expansion.

The world's largest steelmaker barely two months back elevated Aditya to the key position of Group President in addition to his role as Group CFO and CEO, Europe.

"I work very closely with the chairman and CEO (L N Mittal) on developing the future strategic direction of the group...Our global footprint is important to us but we don't expand for the sake of expansion, we look for strategic opportunities which add value to our current business model and provide exposure to future growth dynamics," Mittal junior told PTI.

Right on his radar at present for expanding global footprint are India, Mexico and Italy, to name a few geographies.

"In the case of India I think the opportunity is clear: steel demand growth is expected to intensify considerably," he said in an interview.

Keen to gain a firm foothold in India after failing to take off any of the announced projects, is in the race to acquire debt-laden which is undergoing

On March 2, 2018, ArcelorMittal had signed a joint venture formation agreement with Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) in relation to its offer to acquire

The company's subsidiary ArcelorMittal India Private Limited (AMIPL) had submitted a resolution plan for Essar on February 12, 2018 and believes it can leverage its experience in turning around underperforming steel assets as the plant offers strong significant growth and optionality.

"We are also making a big downstream investment in Mexico to satisfy the growing automotive industry," he said.

ArcelorMittal has already announced a major $1 billion investment programme at its Mexican operation, which is focussed on building ArcelorMittal Mexico's downstream capabilities, sustaining the competitiveness of its mining operations and modernising its existing asset base.

The programme is designed to enable ArcelorMittal Mexico to meet the anticipated increased demand requirements from domestic customers, realise in full ArcelorMittal Mexico's productive capacity of 5.3 million tonnes and significantly enhance the proportion of higher-value added products in its product mix, in-line with the Company's Action 2020 strategic plan.

Besides Mexico, Mittal said, "We are acquiring Italy's leading steel company because it is complementary to our European business."



Last week, the company said it has received a go-ahead from the European Commission (EC) to acquire Italian steelmaker Ilva.

The approval is a significant milestone in the transaction to acquire loss-making Ilva and represents a major step towards closing the deal, which is now expected to occur as soon as possible, the company has said.

Following completion of the acquisition, ArcelorMittal will fully consolidate Ilva.

It announced on May 11 after declaring financial results that upon completion, ArcelorMittal will immediately commence the industrial turnaround plan, which includes a 2.4 billion euros investment programme.

Detailing acquisition plans, Mittal said, "But our focus is not just on geography it is also on product and process. Over the past five to ten years we have seen higher value steels representing a growing part of our revenues. We have a real competitive advantage here with our steels for the automotive sector and other discerning customers and we are looking to grow further here and expand our market share."



Incidentally, ArcelorMittal supplies autograde steel for every second European car, a company official said.

Mittal said research is top on the ageda of the company for innovative special steel and "that's why we continue to invest heavily in research and development on an annual basis."



Gregory Ludkovsky, vice president head of research and development, Global R&D, said the company has 1,400 full time researchers and spent $278 million on research and development in 2017.

The Wharton-educated son of had joined Mittal Steel in 1997, and was president and CFO of Mittal Steel Company from 2004 to 2006. As CFO, he is said to have played a crucial role in its $32 billion merger deal with Arcelor in 2006.

The company has been trying for long to enter India but has not succeeded so far. Over a decade back, it had announced to set up two plants - 12 MTPA each- in Jharkhand and Odisha.

ArcelorMittal has presence in 60 countries and an industrial footprint in 18 countries. It is a leading supplier of steel in major global markets.

In 2017, ArcelorMittal had revenues of $68.7 billion and crude steel production of 93.1 MT, while its own iron ore production reached 57.4 MT.

It is listed on stock exchanges of New York, Amsterdam, Paris, Luxembourg and Spain.

The company on May 11 reported a 19 per cent jump in its net income to $1.19 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 and also saw its net debt decrease to $11.1 billion.
By Rania El GamalABU DHABI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) plans to invest $45 billion over the next five years to expand its refining and petrochemicals operations, it said on Sunday.Striving to become a global player in the downstream sector, the state oil giant wants to double its refining capacity and triple petrochemicals output potential by 2025 as it looks to capture new growth markets, ADNOC's Chief Executive Sultan al-Jaber told Reuters on Saturday.On Sunday al-Jaber presented ADNOC's downstream expansion strategy at an industry conference in Abu Dhabi, alongside ...
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 13)  The Philippine National Police (PNP) is looking into the attacks on two politicians allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade.

Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot and his family were ambushed by gunmen this morning.

Former La Union Representative Eufranio Eriguel and his two bodyguards, meanwhile, were shot dead in Agoo Saturday evening.

Both attacks occurred within 12 hours of each other.

Loot was previously named by President Rodrigo Duterte as a drug protector. He was also among those implicated by self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa during his testimony at the Senate.

Eriguel was also branded as a narcopolitican in September 2016 by Duterte, along with 1,000 other politicians with suspected drug links.

Both had denied the allegations.

Speaking to CNN Philippines Sunday, PNP spokesperson John Bulalacao said: "The cases are still being investigated. In fact, what we have just received are sketchy reports on these incidents."

He also said they are still investigating the alleged involvement of the politicians in the drug trade.

"In fact, our holdings about ...the involvement in drugs of Mayor Loot are still lacking to be filed in court. We have yet to gather the necessary physical evidence so that cases to be filed against him would stand in court," he said.

Bulalacao added no concrete evidence has been found in Eriguel's case as well, and that no cases have been filed against either politician.

"Kasalukuyan [Right now], we are still in the process of gathering physical evidence against these two politicians," he said.

The PNP spokesperson said "no stone will be left unturned" in the investigations into the attacks on Loot and Eriguel.